how to play "greasy corn"

kids go hide somewhere in the house.
mom calls out, "where's my greasy corn?"
mom searches for the greasy corn (kids).
mom finds a corn, scoops them up, slathers them with more butter, salt and pepper and eats the greasy corn while the greasy corn laughs wildly.
mom then throws the greasy corn in the oven (on the couch) to bake.
repeat.

"when i'm 4 i'm a big kid and i can do so many things 'cause i'm big"

you're spot on Ash. happy birthday to my best girl who loves pink, purple and blue, books, singing, using her imagination, and the Beatles.


fresh strawberry cupcakes with pink heart marshmallow strawberries (by the way, this cake was awesome... here is the recipe)



taking a spin and reading birthday books in the new princess dress Ash and i made (she is a fabulous assistant)

ten years

"I'm so glad I found you, darling. Let's get married and we'll have a family, a family. Life is so wonderful."
- Mademoiselle, Joe Higgs

fear of planes

i have a fear of planes. not flying, just planes. when i see an empty plane (especially an older one) just standing still (especially just on the side of the road for display) it really creeps me out. park a few together... even creepier. this doesn't really happen so much at the airport because most of those planes are in use. it's the big, heavy, metal shells that loom on the side of the road (like the ones parked in front of the Hill Air Force Base museum). those enormous bombers. ahhhh! the pointy fighter jets, yikes! but especially the really huge, heavy ones. so, so creepy.

celebrations

Happy 2nd Birthday to Tom! thanks for joining us on President's day two years ago, bubba. Cookie Monster cupcakes, by Tom's request...




and Happy Marriage T.R. & Ari! you guys are swell together.




and some Valentine tulips that i must share. i love them.

hail the conquering heros

Ash and Tom are now thumb-free! four weeks ago we had a pep talk, painted a little Mavala Stop (the harmless, yet effective thumb-sucking prevention nail polish, made in Switzerland) on each of their thumbs, and hoped for the best.

the first few days were a bit rocky. Tom gagged (and then threw up) in Costco on day one but we were in no way defeated... just a little stinky and sour on the way home. Ash woke up with "the bitter!" taste in her mouth for three or four nights but we stayed strong. both kids even got nasty colds - with fevers to boot - and they still made it through.

i think they had a handle on it after only a week but we kept the bitter polish on for three whole weeks just to be sure. and now, here we are! no more thumbs and two happy kids. we celebrated with some swirl-your-own frozen yogurt. good work kiddos.

our Sugar-Ball and Coco-Chum days are over

well, we're at it again. the post-holiday sweets and treats fast has begun. yes, yes, it's been done in the past but i'm feeling a greater necessity this time. this year it's about change. serious, lasting, welcome change. over the last couple years i've been looking more at food - what we eat, how we grow/produce it, where it comes from and so on - and i'm feeling the need to get off the Western diet. we've been making progress here and there and it's been a good experience so far. but our addiction to treats (a.k.a. desserts, sweets, goodies, yum-yums, etc.) has stayed strong. so what was the straw that broke the camel's back? it was definitely the culmination of several things but it has one face: i give you the Berenstain Bears...

Ash got this book for Christmas (by her request) and after reading it, i was sold. there was something about the fact that it's a kids book and it was published in 1985 (five years after the national obesity rate skyrocketed and 15 years after the industrialization of food really exploded) that provided that extra push toward real change. and the time is now.

so, here we go. it's been two weeks since we've begun and i'll be honest - at first it was pretty rough. withdrawal headaches and frequent "visions of sugar plums" tormented us for about three days. Ash, and Tom especially, expressed their frustration much more vocally than English and i but we were all feeling it. however, by the end of that week, we were already feeling much better.

indeed, we still think about days (and treats) gone by, but the longing for coconut cake or chocolate chip cookies, etc., etc., etc. is gone. one thing that is helping the overall will and keeping morale high is that it's not a complete sugar fast. we will enjoy the occasional french toast breakfast with real maple syrup. we're looking forward to chocolate cupcakes for Tom's birthday and T.R. & Ari's wedding cake next month. we're re-training ourselves to enjoy these things on a limited basis - for special occasions. and the best part is that it makes perfect sense this time.

brothers & sisters

To the outside world we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were . . . We live outside the touch of time. - Clara Ortega

my sister posted this on her blog and, well i had to do the same - especially since i just recently spent some good time with all of my siblings. i so love my brothers and sisters.

the lot of us in 1988

get 'em while you can, folks

for you dark chocolate lovers out there...


i've seen these at the dollar store - but not the grocery store - perhaps you'll have better luck. snatch them up while supplies last. (indeed, i've gotten a few for myself already).

that's what i should have said!

today at the grocery store a friendly fellow shopper started interacting with Ash and Tom. he said something typical like" how much you pay for 'em?" and stuff like that. then he asked their names and when Ash said hers he said, "Ash, for Ashley?"

Ash is already used to this question and she promptly responded, "just Ash." At that point the guy looked at me and said, "Ash? what a terrible name."

seriously? are you a social idiot or just a jerk (or both)?

i gave a shocked laugh and replied, "what a terrible thing to say. her name is Ash and we happen like it."

"so is it Ash for Ashley?"

"no. just Ash. like the beautiful tree." by now i'm annoyed and done.

then he says, quite genuinely concerned, "but what if some one mispronounces her name and says Ass? that wouldn't be good."

"yep." we start walking away a the guy says to Tom, "don't suck your thumb, it'll make your teeth poke out."

"he's going to be fine." (yeah, definitely both.)

now, i like people in general and i'm used to playing the whole game where the random person interacts with my kids at the store and i stand by as the omniscient narrator. but this guy pushed it too far. so at what point do you say, "alright, well that's enough" or "all done" or "yeah, don't talk to us anymore"? in hindsight it seems like it should have been said early on. i hate that.

oh, yeah! and Merry Christmas everyone!

paint the house

about a month ago i asked our landlord to teach me karate. i just got so tired of people pushing me around, busting up my bike and stuff. anyway, the morning we were to begin training we met on my driveway. he handed me a paint brush and said, "paint the house. side-side." i was so ticked! i thought he was going to teach me karate. crazy old man!

the front: before and after

the back: before and after - and yes, i painted the sides of the house too.

fortunately Ash helped me out with the back - my forearms and wrists were killing me. as we were painting we decided to abandon the karate idea and go in together as luchadores. i think it's a sound decision.

and so, after about a month (with a total of 10 or so working days spread throughout) listening to several hours of This American Life, Radio Lab, and Radio West podcasts, which i really enjoyed, it's done... and just in time for snow to fly.

p.s. please say it's an improvement, even if you don't agree.

glow stick patterns

two kids + glow sticks + crazy tunes + no lights + 20 second exposure =

it's starting to get night time

a couple days ago as Ash, Tom and I were driving home (around 4:30pm) from running some errands Ash said, "Mom! it's getting dark too fast! it's too late." Ash, you are exactly right. i really like daylight savings. Arizona has the right idea.

Oo-de-lolly!

it happens once every five or six years... two days of Halloween fun. hope y'all had a sweet one.


to the trees! (remember that line from Robin Hood, Price of Thieves? | robbing the rich

jack-o-lanterns + sugar skulls (Ash's idea to have the winking one - she's learning how to wink)

Tom goes for a mouthful of M&Ms | Ash savors the Smarties

standing up to the test of time

what is your oldest article of clothing that you still wear on a regular basis?

i bought this shirt at the Salt Lake Greek Festival in 1996. i love this shirt and i still wear it - perfect for those summer months.

this photo was taken in May of 1997
young and in love - that hasn't changed much either

the runner-up is this orange fleece purchased in 2000, pictured here in 2008 at the Krishna Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork (look at little Asha). i wore this fleece a couple weeks ago. love that bright orange.

i also have a couple t-shirts, some button-downs, and a handful of sweaters (several of which are hand-knit by my G'ma Jones) at least a decade old but i can't say i wear them on a regular basis. and yet i don't plan on letting them go. they'll get another chance, if not two or three.

so now, what's your oldest article of clothing that you still wear on a regular basis?

burning the midnight oil

last night while English worked on a midterm i stayed up way too late making these felted wool slippers for Ash. aren't they great? way better than any midterm.



lately Ash has been squeezing into last year's pair to do her slip-slide-spin dance moves and you know it's kind of cramping her style. plus, it's getting chilly around here and when you have no carpet in your house, like us, you need some good slippers. so yesterday evening i did a little research and decided to combine this idea from Martha plus this pattern (pattern II) i found for free. i was pretty excited to try it out. see, i was given a new sewing machine for my birthday (it's so quiet and smooth) and luckily i still had an old yellow ocher (my favorite color) sweater that i accidentally felted and could never part with (the perfect material to work with) and what do you know? my idea actually worked, Ash digs the slippers, i finally got to use my felted sweater, and this new sewing machine is awesome. while i could be better rested, i couldn't be more pleased. ding! (sparkle).

like the Love Boat

hi all. just thought i'd post about my new and improved website here. i'm quite excited about it because it's pretty much everything i want and would have designed in a custom site and it's powered by Blogger, which means it'll be so incredibly easy to update! so now i'll really have to be good about making new work and publishing it. exciting! feel free to drop by and take a look. any feedback is greatly appreciated.



p.s. the old site is still up, but won't be for long. so if you were really in love with it, this is your chance to say your good-byes.

p.p.s. do you have the Love Boat song in your head now? bah-ha-ha-ha!

how 'bout them apples?

ah, the fall. it's arrived. we had a beautiful Indian Summer but i'll admit the 93 degree days during the last week of September were a little, shall we say, much. but now, now it's cider weather. harvest weather. sweater weather. doughnut weather. yes!


we made these beauties to compliment fall conference. care for the recipe? visit the agreeable recipe book.

with fall came the rains... consistent rains for three days now. the last time i was in this much rain was two years ago in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. but we are soaking it up like desert dwellers. however, we did decide to harvest our pumpkins to avoid "the rot".



we got a good variety this year - even one white pumpkin. it was a great surprise.

and today we decided to visit Apple Hill (just over the mountains and down the winding road) with our pals. the last time i went apple picking was at U-Pick Phil's Apples in Massachusetts exactly 10 years ago.


Ash double-fisting her apple cider doughnut (heaven!) | lift, twist, pluck the golden delicious


Tom badgers the scarecrow | classic kids-on-the-rusted-out-machinery-on-the-farm photo

for more apple-picking fun, check out Mr. T picking apples with Conan O'Brien.

what would you do if a clown had a crush on you?

we've been watching this little number for a couple of years now and well, we still can't get enough. no questions, just watch.

so, these are cute

if you have baby girl feet in your life, momo baby footwear. the baby boy shoes are really cute too... but these are just, well the cutest shoes i've see for a while. so cute i couldn't help but post them.

did you say Gragle or Grey Eagle?

well, it's Graeagle but some folks say Gragle, namely the young women in this here ward. we had some swell times on our High Adventure, which is perhaps a misnomer but all the alternative names we thought of were pretty dorky. i know, i know, you'd never expect dorky from a group like this but you win some, lose some. so we're keeping High Adventure. deal.


the chilly cold pool | "Big Booty" with a dance circle addition. who thought that up?

Big Bear Lake

overlooking Long Lake and feeling mighty chipper

Ash spots duckies at Salmon Lake | group rock jumping: for the brave only