The Great Northwest

It's now or never.  This post, I mean.  I know if I don't write about our trip up to the Northwest right now, it'll never happen.  Something else will come up -  my need to go get another handful of peanut butter m&ms, a trip to the bathroom (for the umpteenth time today), or the tired bus is likely to hit at any moment.  So here goes.

Our first stop was Seattle, Washington, to visit several of Dave's aunts who live in a closeby town called Enumclaw.  They couldn't have been more accomodating - and it was great seeing both Karyn and Kamele and their families.

Our first real day we took a trip to the horse races, a first for all of us.  Dave loved it because he picked the winners three out of the five times . . . too bad we don't gamble, we could have struck it big!  (Sorry no pictures, I was too busy chasing after Kate).

The next day Karyn and Chris showed us around Seattle.  Our first stop was Pike Place Market - one of my favorites! 

We had freshly made donuts, saw them throwing fish, and looked upon row after row of fresh and delicious looking produce  -

We bought some fresh peaches which we made into peach pie later that night!  Scrumptious!

We saw the original Starbucks -

In Seattle, people are crazy about their coffee.  There are about two Starbucks per street.

We also just walked up and down the streets and enjoyed all the shops, here was one of my favorites -

I love their motto, if you look carefully at the bottom of the sign, it says, "Forgive me chocolate for I have sinned.  I have not yet had my daily confection."  Pretty sure that's one sin I've never committed.

After a lunch of gyros and some delicious mini cheesecakes, we made our way to the city center where we got a lovely view of the fountain and Space Needle.

It was pretty windy, but Kate had a great time -



The next day we headed to the zoo.  For some reason, I failed to take any pictures.  But my favorite were the new baby leopard cubs.  There were two of them, and they were fast asleep.  We have this game with Kate where we pretend to be asleep and she says, "Boo!" and wakes us up.  She just couldn't understand why the baby leopards wouldn't wake up when she pounded on the glass and said, "Boo!"

That night we got to see a Mariners game.  The field was amazing.  Too bad they lost horribly to the Angels.



We still managed to have a great time.

The next day, we headed down to Portland to spend some time with Lisa and Matt, my sister and brother-in-law.

We spent one day at the Portland Children's Museum and Kate loved it.

Along with many other things, she got to do construction,

go grocery shopping,

spend some time at the vet's office,

and drive a bus (Daddy is the passenger in the back - he fell asleep).

We also visited the famous Portland Rose Garden.

The flowers were AMAZING -

Kate enjoyed them too.

Since Matt and Lisa had to work during the day, we got babysitters so we could go out at night.  They showed us the best places to eat in Portland - including Little Big Burger, Le Happy (a crepe place), and Torro Bravo (our favorite - divine Spanish food).

On Saturday, we all took a trip to Mt. Saint Helens.

I'd been there before, but it's still pretty amazing.  Here is the picture before Mt. Saint Helens erupted in 1980.

See what I mean?  Pretty big difference.

Looking at this picture makes ME want to erupt.  Except hopefully I'd look better than Mt. Saint Helen's in an after picture.

After all that, we were exhausted.  Luckily, the flight home wasn't too crowded, so Kate could do this -

And so did Dave and I, just as soon as we walked in our front door.

Thank you family, for the wonderful time!

BIG

BIG NEWS . . .

[Excuse the lack of a picture, you'll understand why when you keep reading]

I can't believe I've gotten so behind, but maybe once I explain why, you'll understand.  Our big news.  Baby #2 is a going to be another little girl.  We had our ultrasound about a month ago, and caught little Emma Rose sucking her thumb, just like her big sister.  We can't wait for her arrival in 3 months!

BIG BELLY . . .

I'm not sure how accurate my own opinion is, but I feel SO MUCH bigger this pregnancy.  Maybe I am.  Maybe it's the heat of the summer.  Maybe I'm growing two placentas instead of one.  I can't say - all I know is that I feel HUGE, and I still have three months to go.  At least I'm not an elephant - or I'd be pregnant for 2 years and give birth to a 200 lb. baby.  Things could be worse.

BIG MOVE . . .

Have I mentioned that we're moving?  Yep, again.  One week from today, to be precise.  It's a long story, but the short end of it is that Dave's parents are moving to the Caribbean (poor things, right?), and they've basically asked us to house sit for them for the next couple of years.  It was a tough decision . . .

Dave's parents: Will you please move into our huge and very nice house for dirt-cheap rent?

Us:  Well . . .

Dave's parents: Did we mention that we're repainting the whole house and getting brand new wood flooring?

Us: Okay, fine.

So yeah, it's actually great timing for us, since little Emma isn't far away, and Kate really doesn't sleep well with anyone else in her room.  Tender mercies from the Lord.

Sorry I've been such a bad blogger recently.  I'll make it up to you by inviting you over to my nice big house once we get all moved in.

Just Call Me Lucy

You may think that looks like Lucy, but it's actually me.  No, really.  I made chocolates.  No, I didn't go to the store, buy some, and say that I made them, I actually did it!  That's my big surprise, and it's one of the reasons I've been a little MIA.

I have to admit, making chocolates has been a life-long dream for me . . . my grandma used to make them when I was young, but she got to the point where it wasn't a physical possibility for her to continue, so I never got the chance to learn from her.  So when I found out that Dave's aunt makes chocolates every year . . . to be honest, that's what sealed the deal for me (just kidding, honey - love you!).

So out of the goodness of her heart wonderful, wonderful Rachelle decided to set aside some time to not only teach me how to make chocolates, but help me.  Did I mention she has 5 kids all under the age of 12?  She's seriously superwoman.  And she makes hundreds, no closer to thousands, of them every year to give away to neighbors and take to family parties and such - and she doesn't even make excuses like December is really busy or my kids don't take naps any more.  She just does it.  Superwoman I tell ya.

Let me tell you about this adventure - not quite over yet, but I was honestly too proud to wait and tell you.

The kind I made is chocolate maple - the fondant is maple, and then it's dipped in chocolate.  Really good chocolate, but we'll get to that part.

First, you bring all the ingredients (lots of good stuff like whipping cream and sugar and such) to a boil until it reaches a certain temperature.

Before you take it off the heat, you have to test it multiples times for the "soft ball" state.  I don't really know what I'm talking about, I'm just using impressive terms so you will be impressed.  Are you impressed?  You should be.

Like so.  

Once it's reached that phase, you pour it out into a large glass pan.

Like so.

Then you let it cool completely - usually in the fridge, or outside if it's cold.

 The next part makes me tired just thinking about it.  It's called "turning" the fondant, and I dare any man who thinks he has legitimate arm muscle to try it.  Basically you just keep the fondant moving - kind of like stirring - but you have to keep it all at the center of the pan.  Keep in mind - it's still soft, so it runs, but it's just hard enough to make your arm ache.  Once your arm has started aching, you have to do it for another 20 minutes.  Rachelle makes 4-5 batches of this stuff every year (plus all the other kinds of candy/chocolate) - are you starting to see why I call her superwoman?

When you're done, it reaches the "hard ball" state -

Like so.  At this point, you add the flavoring.

By this time, you're tuckered out.  You call it a day and hold off on the dipping once you've given your arm all sorts of recovery treatments.

Now we get to the REALLY good part.

CHOCOLATE.

And when I say chocolate, I mean chocolate.  We're not messing around here.

Yes, that is TEN POUNDS of gourmet chocolate.  And yes, it is taking up the entire cutting board.

When I saw that 10 lb. block, my life seriously flashed before my eyes.  And you know what I learned?  That one of those is maybe a tenth of all the chocolate I've consumed in my life.  Probably less than a tenth.  I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing.  No, it's good.

So then you melt that chocolate, roll the maple fondant into small balls, and dip it into the extremely delicious chocolate.  The worst part is you do it with your fingers, and they get all chocolatey, and every time you stop you have to lick them off (and then wash them, of course!).

This is what the finished product looks like:

Voila, delicious chocolates!  Handmade!  By me!

(Actually, the two above were probably Rachelle's - they look way too beautiful to be mine)

Thus far, I'm really enjoying my chocolate making experience.  I only have two disappointments.  

1) Rachelle did not slap me and slather my face in chocolate.

 

Sad, because I really would have enjoyed that.

2) I did not work on a chocolate wrapping assembly line in which I was forced to shove large quantities of chocolate in my mouth, in my hat, and down my shirt in order to keep up.

But I did sneak a few when Rachelle went and picked up her kids' carpool. :)

P.S. You are welcome to come over and watch I Love Lucy reruns with me.  Just bring some chocolate.

Just for you:

Delinquency

For those of you out there who read my blog, I have a LOT of excuses up my sleeve as to why I haven't posted for so long.  For example,

My dog ate my computer.

He is NOT as innocent as he looks.

I needed a mental health week.

Is it that obvious?

I have a solar-powered computer and it was cloudy.

Honest, it was.

I was kidnapped by terrorists and they only just let me go, so I didn't have time to do it.

 Look at the bright side, at least they let me go.

Or, it could be that I've been really busy.

Cleaning up after Kate.

Decorating for Christmas.

Christmas shopping!

 Watching Law & Order (at least I can admit I have a problem).

Seeing White Christmas at Pioneer Theater!  I'm gleeful about this :)

Working on a secret project that I will reveal soon.  And, if you don't already, after seeing this, you will think I'm awesome!

Anyway, please forgive my delinquency.  Please! Please!

With a cherry on top.

No, with three cherries on top.

I knew you'd forgive me.

Now, on to other matters.  I will be posting soon: some new recipes, book reviews, and a current event that's been on my mind.  And we all know how you've been dying to know what's on my mind.

Like literally, dying.

So stay tuned!

Down on the Farm

Kate and I decided to take advantage of the unusually warm weather last week, and we went to Farm Country at Thanksgiving Point with some friends in the ward, Carla and Jersey (6 months).  It was so much fun, and it was definitely nice to get out of the house!

I can't wait until Kate is old enough to actually ride on the ponies herself!  Instead, we took the wagon ride.  Kate insisted on standing up and holding on to the side.  I insisted on holding on to her.

We saw lots of cool animals, but especially liked the llamas, pigs, goats, and horses.

This llama is too cool for school.  Look at that shaggy hair.

I love the curly tail!!

Cute little old man goat.

Kate thought the horse was so interesting, but didn't like it when he would breathe on her :)

So fun!  I would recommend a visit to anyone, we had a great time.  Plus, they have an ice cream shoppe with 50 cent ice cream cones, yum!