30 April 2010

when you wish upon a star

i bought a Bosch mixer. my dreams have come true. yes, yes. i've had it for about three weeks now and it's, well, awesome. i made the purchase over Easter weekend, which was also General Conference weekend and i got a GCW discount. where else could you get a Conference weekend special but Utah? a friend of mine here has a connection with a seller in Utah. complicated but well worth the discount. now i can make a 4-loaf batch of fresh bread (just made some this morning) with ease and i'll be honest, i love that machine. but i will refrain from writing sonnets about it. maybe a haiku...

five ingredients
left to rise, double in size.
simple. fresh. thanks, Bosch.



we've also been watching Pinocchio lately, hence the title.

23 April 2010

for the beauty of the Earth

for someone who has lived her entire life in the desert, a lot California - more specifically, Grass Valley - feels like a different country. last weekend our friends introduced us to this gorgeous, lush, pine-filled area of the Sierra and the wild flowers were in bloom.


Yuba River (where we spotted a bobcat) | Tom's future is bright


newt pond waterfall | Sierra newt with gold eyes


cat's ear | wild carnation


old covered bridge (Ash eating an apple)


dudleya | pretty face | purple Chinese house


lupine and ladybug


hiking up the grass stairs | if you get tired enough...


snakehead? | blue dick | white globe lily


Tom plays with a lizard tail (still moving) | hand prints


purple Chinese house pods


playing on the sand bar of the Yuba River


tree squirrel | a strong wind blew the kids over while napping


a 'vista point' on the way home

10 April 2010

picnic in the charcoal forest

a Saturday afternoon in the Sierra...







and looking forward to more.

06 April 2010

shaking it off

so i have a few thoughts about today, none of which would make a very interesting post on its own. so i'm letting them tag along at the end of this post of our Easter weekend.




i like Easter. so do these kids. we had a very nice, relaxing weekend dyeing eggs, searching for hidden Reese's peanut butter cups, watching some conference (first Sunday session of GC: President Uchtdorf's talk, awesome). since then, Ash and i have had at least one discussion a day about when we can have some candy and why we don't eat it for breakfast. but we do love those marshmallow Peeps!

today i got a ticket for going 26mph in a 15mph school zone. if i'm ever going to get a ticket for going too fast i'd prefer it to be in a school zone. however, (of course, there has to be a 'however') the major frustration here was that this school zone - in front of McQueen High - doesn't have the usual 15 mph sign with flashing lights. instead a small, 'FROM 7:00 AM TO 3:00PM' is printed under the standard 15 mph sign. yes, it's my fault i didn't see it. yes, i deserve the ticket. but it really, really ($255) bugs me. and i think they should get a couple yellow flashers over there.

but here's the weirdest part. as i was driving down the road, approaching the school zone a memory popped into my head: when i was about 17 i was in the car with my mom when she got a ticket for going 30 or so in a 25 mph zone on the way to my grandma's house. i remember thinking, come on cop. my mom is one of the best, safest, most speed limit-abiding drivers i know. this is not necessary. i was remembering how i felt bad for my mom when she got that ticket and then bam! real time. i see the motorcycle cop in the church parking lot and well, you know the rest. crazy. maybe my mom was trying to send me a message. i didn't get it quick enough, Mom. nuts!

but things are looking better. i just picked up the second batch of prints from our back-dated photo library. i made a goal a while back to get up to date printing our digital photos, then staying current. fall of 2004 through spring of 2007 is printed and in the process of being put into albums. that's pretty good, yeah? oh, and i'm a big fan of Costco's online photo center (13¢ a print!).

and though it doesn't quite equalize the stupid ticket, after thinking i was out of onions and forgetting to drop by the grocery store while we were running errands, i found one for the al pastor chicken tacos i'm making for dinner tonight. and the avocados are just right.