Trip Ideas

I’ve (Julie) finally come to semi-peace with the idea that I’m no longer able to go on trips to faraway places. Those days are in the past, at least for the next decade. But I still love to travel so I’ve become happy, even thrilled, to be able to explore the area in which I live.

Winter is no fun and I’m getting really anxious to get out of town. Spring can’t come fast enough!! So I’ve started planning our family trips for the year and would like any ideas and/or experiences you may have regarding my list of potential weekend getaways.

Careful consideration must be made to insure fun for a toddler and preschooler along with an overly excited shutter-clicker of a husband. I guess my biggest worry is that we’d get somewhere and I’d have to just sit and watch the kids play (get hurt and lost) instead of doing my own playing. One more consideration, Madeleine hasn’t been camping yet and I’m not sure how well she’d do. We’d first like to take her somewhere close before we venture camping in Southern Utah. We’re also open to motels/hotels/lodges/cabins.

(Most of the below images are not ours. Click on them for the source.)

• Loop from Bonneville Salt Flats to Lehman Caves and Great Basin National Park to Little Sahara Sand Dunes and through Eureka ghost town.

• Arches National Park. Enough interest for adults who won’t be able to hike much due to the kids?

• Canyonlands National Park. Same as above.

• Goblin Valley State Park. A little afraid of the kids getting lost… and I’d love to do this and the above two parks on the same trip, but I’d be afraid of whizzing by everything in order to see it all.

• Capitol Reef/Calf Creek Falls. We did this last year and LOVED it, but didn’t do all the hikes we wanted. But again, the kids aren’t big hikers.

• Kolob Canyon on the way to Valley of Fire State Park. Love the park, but not sure it’s worth the long drive.

• We’d love to do Grand Teton and Yellowstone but are afraid that the kids aren’t old enough yet.

We also want to do some 1-night camping trips to Bear Lake and anywhere else close.

We’re, as always, open to friends and family joining us in the fun. Let me know your experiences with these locales and if you’re interested in planning a weekend trip with us. We’d love to have you!!

Nicole & Mike – Engaged

Rob’s cousin Nicole asked us to take some engagement portraits of her and her fiancé, Mike. They drove down from Brigham Young University – Idaho for the occasion. We’re so glad they did!

It was absolutely freezing but they told us it was 30 degrees colder in Rexburg so they weren’t worried and were good sports, especially Nicole since she had on a skirt half the time. Luckily, there was a spare blanket stashed in the car that she could use between shots in order to keep somewhat warm. 

These two are such a cute couple. Mike is so affectionate towards Nicole and she just eats it up! Love it! Being engaged is so exciting and fun. We wish them the best!

 

The top 5 pics were taken by Julie and the rest by Rob.

 

My Family

I forgot to blog a bunch of pictures from December. They are mostly some fun pictures taken around the house but a few of them were taken on a white seamless background. I hope you enjoy them. 

I love the image above so much.  Julie and Madeleine have the same look and it’s just too cute.

I love the curls in Madeleine’s hair and the intimate mother daughter moment I was able to capture. So cute.

Madeleine thought is was really funny to wear her gloves on her feet!  I agree and it totally works for her.

After falling down she decided just to hang around for a while!

Madeleine doesn’t always appreciate fatherly affection.  In fact, she usually doesn’t want any of it.  :)

Nate was so fascinated with the lines on his body when I showed him this image.  He is a total stud.

I left this one in color to make it easier to make out what is going on here.  Nate is obsessed with motocross, ramps, jumps, and everything else with the potential to launch people and random objects into the air.  This is one of the many modifications to his train table that allows him to make a good ramp for his cars.  He’ll also use random objects like the rug, waves on the blanket, chairs, and even grinds his cars on the edges of large bowls. you want to see more visit December’s gallery.

Julie’s Current Soundtrack

The songs of our life come and go. Here are some of my current favorites.

I tried to narrow down the list but it was just impossible. And yes, it took me forever to put this post together, so do me a favor and check out these songs! I also highly recommend checking out more music by these artists because, in my opinion, they really are true artists.

And TONS of credit goes to Rob because without him, I would have never even heard most of these songs. To quote a friend, “He’s the Master Yoda of Music”. We have over 16 DAYS worth!!!

Makes me want to get down! Lisztomania Alex Metric Remix (Phoenix)

Makes me want to curl under the covers and stare out the window. Forever & Always Piano Version (Taylor Swift) 

Makes me happy people are so musically talented. Harold T. Wilkins, Or How to Wait for a Very Long Time (Fanfarlo)

Makes me nostalgic. Push Acoustic (Matchbox 20)

Makes me long for summer. When the Day Met the Night (Panic at the Disco)

Makes me sing. New Soul (Yael Naim)

Makes me break a sweat. Shut Up and Let Me Go (The Ting Tings) 

Makes me glad to know that guys pine, too. There Was No Thief (Relient K)

Makes me chill. Strawberry Swing (Coldplay)

Makes me grateful for the sixties. Stay LP Version (Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons)

Makes me remember their amazing concert last summer. Sunset, breeze, dark storm clouds rolling in, and great live music with the man I love. Never Say Never (The Fray)

Makes me appreciate turntables. Are You In? (Incubus)

Makes me feel lucky. Lucky featuring Colbie Caillat (Jason Mraz)

Makes me wish I had kept taking piano lessons. Theme from Nicholas and Alexandria (John Arpin)

Makes me wish I knew any of the lyrics besides the chorus (as do many, many songs).  Nothing In My Way (Keane)

Makes me sing “doo.doo.doo.doo.doo.doo.doo.”  Always Where I Need to Be (The Kooks)

Makes me slow down. Falling In Love at a Coffee Shop (Landon Pigg)

Makes me sing in a British accent. It Must Be Love (Madness)

Makes me want to drive. Fire & Rain (Mat Kearney)

Makes me tap my toe.  Float On (Modest Mouse)

Makes me excited for their concert this week. Someone Like You (Safety Suit)

Makes me glad my Wednesday night yoga instructor doesn’t make us listen to zen music. Redemption Song (Bob Marley)

Makes me want to slow dance. You are the Best Thing (Ray LaMontagne)

Makes me wish I could be this sexy. Your Heart Is as Black as Night (Melody Gardot)

Makes me remember that I always wanted to learn the cello. Clocks (Vitamin String Quartet)

Makes me giddy. Love Story Meets Viva la Vida (John Schmidt)

Cook

I’ve (Julie) found myself reading and watching a lot of media involving food, both the of cooking and the of eating food. It’s made me, well, want to cook and eat food.

I’ve found myself more and more interested in the creating and devouring of not just any food, but good food. Homemade with love.

Growing up I was known as the one who would never be able to cook an edible meal in her life. Ha! I’ve proved them all wrong, ah ah ah! For example, some of my recent specialties include: Chicken and Tomato Risotto, Lamb Gyros with Tzatziki, Lasagna Rolls, Assyrian Chicken Stew, Cheesecake Supreme, and many others.

I’m by no means a chef or a foodie. I wish. Unfortunately I hate most veggies. And fish. Otherwise I’d be unstoppable. Although a few months ago I caved and made Balsamic Glazed Tilapia with Asparagus and another night I tried Eggplant Parmesan. So maybe there’s hope.

Wow. After reading what I just wrote I realize I sound AMAZING!! Sadly, that’s really not the case. The above recipes are exceptions to the rule of French Toast, Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, and plain old Burritos. But I’m slowly learning. Better yet, I’m learning how to cook with two spunky kids on top of the counter who pour extra flour, dip their licked hands, and put foreign objects into the Bosch.

But to improve our skills and practice our hobby, Rob and I are enrolling in a free MIT OpenCourseWare called Kitchen Chemistry. We’ll learn how to make cheese soufflé and crème brulee among other fancy, schmancy fare.  I can’t wait to start.

Here’s to cooking!

 

 

*Disclosure: I pulled the most exotic and impressive sounding recipes from my repertoire of the last seven years in order to maximize the level of my coolness.

Skepticism

Okay, yes, I’m (Julie) a skeptical person.

• I re-signed up for Netflix and spent forever creating my settings. I went through a whole long process of categorizing my preferences for movies with “coming of age”, “apocalyptic events”, and even “monkeys”. But why can I NOT categorize by MPAA Ratings and/or critic/viewer ratings???!!!!! All I want is to be able to see a list of movies up to PG-13 with 3 stars and above. A completely obvious search filter. But it’s impossible. GRRRRR!!!!! Netflix totally lost my trust because of this flaw (which I’m sure must have been on purpose since it’s so completely lame). If anyone knows a trick, let me know PLEASE.
• Fake food. Plumped chicken (meaning the saline solution that is syringed into whole and pieced chicken to make it more juicy just makes it taste more fake). I even had one so bad from Sam’s Club that after being in the fridge, the rotisserie chicken had bands of gelatinous goo marbled throughout it’s body. Gross! I’m not even going to mention the reconstituted chicken powder with rib meat that makes up virtually all frozen and pre-made chicken meals. I also heard on the news that most hamburger patties are made of cow scraps from up to 8 countries. Just give me some real food, please…except for funyuns…
• SYTYCD judges. They really don’t give enough props to the technically excellent dancers, only the dancers with the biggest smiles. For example, they tell one guy over and over again, “You’re the best dancer we’ve ever had in the history of the show.” Except they say it in such a nonchalant way it seems more like they’re downplaying his talent instead of commending him. Then the dancer who really is not that great but has a beaming face gets poured upon with compliments. What?  
• Hallmark ecards. They used to all be free and now only the lamest of them are. I hate it when it says “Your ecard is loading” and in the meantime they show me an annoying ad for their products. My questions are: Why doesn’t the ad need loading? And why does it still take 5 seconds for my ecard to show up even after supposedly loading while the ad was playing?
• It’s just too convenient for the cell phone companies that our phones seem to act up and break right before the 2-year contract is about to expire. So instead of enjoying a low-rate, non-contract for a while, we have to sign up for 2 more years at a higher monthly rate just so we can replace our dying phones without forking out $250 each.

Holiday Recap

Did anyone notice that as everyone was posting Christmas stuff we finally posted Thanksgiving? We’re always a holiday behind…

Well not this time! But that’s only because we shot video and didn’t take a single picture! Weird!

Our Christmas and New Year’s weekends were fantastic. Lots of family, gifts, and love. Rob was around a whole lot which meant more relaxation for me ;) and we went and saw Avatar Imax 3D and watched lots of movies in bed (both of these things happen rarely).

So we had a great time!! Hope all of you did, too!