Stale Peeps

Does anyone actually like fresh peeps? I don't know if I've met the person that does. Every year, when shopping for Easter candy, we crack open the plastic several days in advance in order to get the crunchy-on-the-ouside-chewy-on-the-inside goodness that is stale peeps. We were a bit late this year in puncturing the plastic and, therefore, are just now enjoying the beauty of days left out, processed sugar candy.

In other 'news', we had a nice, fairly uneventful Easter holiday. The kids searched for eggs in Emmy's backyard and we ate delicious, Karin-cooked food. Daph joined us and introduced us to a truly violent Eurogame - warning to the deli family: Don't let Aunt Daph play Milk Money with you! :)
We discovered we have HBO - score for us (it's chanel 372 or something crazy like that which is the reason it was just discovered).
LB realized just how out of shape she is by joining a women's outdoor soccer team and BB continues to plug away on the basement. Hopefully we'll have guest rooms for anyone by the summer. Pictures will follow when there is something more exciting than framing to show.

Harry Potter Questions and So Forth...

As I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, I have been rereading the first six books. This morning, I finished Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. As I reread, I have seen a few inconsistencies and have a few questions - some may have answers that I've forgotten and some may not. Here are a few:
1- What happened to James Potter's family? Was he an orphan? Why are the Dursleys Harry's only family?
2- Why, in THBP, does Dumbledore have to do a series of spells to allow himself and Harry to fly into Hogwarts when, in TSS, Charlie Weasley's friends are able to fly in and pick up Norbert the dragon from the Astronomy Tower and in TCoS, Harry and Ron fly a car onto Hogwarts' grounds???
3- I know this one is dumb - but it's always bothered me. The Weasleys are MAGIC! Why don't they conjure themselves a bigger, nicer house??? How is there ANY poverty in the magic world?
I'm sure as I continue reading, I'll have more questions come up so I'll periodically bring them up...

Countdown!

New Season of Life

Remember being about 17 years old? I do. I thought it was a fabulous age to be and I never wanted to get any older. That was more than half my life ago now.
Gone are the days of after-school basketball practice, soccer trips, and sleeping in on the weekend (not to mention insane summer nights where we climbed through windows and emptied bedrooms). My plans on Friday nights vary very little from my plans on Mondays or Wednesdays (actually - that just changed - my Wednesdays will now be booked with lots of Young Women:)
If I play any soccer now, that's it. No going out for hotwings after games or meeting my teammates to play pick up at the park during the week. Those were good times - no doubt.

Now everything revolves around two little people I'd never even dreamed of only a few years ago. It is definitely a new season of my life.


Last week, we hosted a birthday party for our now 4-year-old Anushka. While we have celebrated her birthday every year, this was the first where we had 12 girls running wild. Actually, to my surprise, the 12 girls were quite well behaved. Perhaps because we had an activity planned (notice the girls' necklaces) or maybe because they are just really good girls - either way, while it was stressful, the party was nowhere near the hair-ripping nightmare I was bracing for. Now, the big test will be Diggity's 4-year-old party.

Check out a great way to get your putt putt ball in the hole:

Blue Tongues, Teriyaki, Etc.

Once upon a time, there were a bunch of goofy teenagers who lived in the LP hood. Some of their adventures truly are novel-worthy and hopefully one day will be read by the masses - after the names have been changed to protect the guilty (as well as our posterity).
Occasionally, we still commiserate about past escapades as well as some incidents we wish everyone would forget. However, none of this can be done properly without Leslie's teriyaki and some robin eggs.



My personal wish is that everyone would erase the image of me running through LP with a certain piece of 'clothing' tied around my head... Anyone else have a good one to share?

4 Things

I have received this email a few times from friends. I thought I'd post it here just for fun:

Four Things About Me You May Not Have Known...

Four jobs I have had in my life:
1. English teacher/translator
2. Paralegal for the anti-trust division of the Justice Department
3. Karmelkorn worker
4. eBay analyst

Four movies you would watch over and over...in no particular order:
1. Casablanca
2. It Happened One Night
3. School of Rock
4. Star Wars or Nanook of the North

Four places you have lived:
1. Washington, DC
2. Chungli, Taiwan
3. Bergen, Norway
4. Providence, Utah

Four TV shows you love to watch:
1. The Office
2. Lost
3. Seinfeld reruns
4. ???

Four places you have been on vacation:
1. Camping in Mexico - on my friend's school bus
2. New York City
3. Thailand
4. Guatemala

Four favorite foods:
1. Thai
2. Other Asian - fresh, not deep fried
3. Indian
4. Barbecue

Four favorite Restaurants
1. Thaifoon
2. India House
3. Cafe Rio
4. Spencer's

Four places I would rather be right now:
1. Playing with my kids
2. Camping at Arches National Park
3. On vacation...maybe in Hawaii
4. Working on my basement

While I would like to take credit for having done so many cool things and having been so many places, these answers actually represent BB. This is just a sampling of him but I have to say - I'm proud :)

A Bit of a Rant

So, we have this neighbor. She and her family moved here about a year and a half ago and now they are being forced to go back to Oregon because of her husband's job. I was talking to her last week and she said, "We can't wait to go. We hate Utah." I was thinking, Wow, hate is a really strong word. I said, "Really? You HATE it here?" "Oh yes," she said, "it's so ugly."
UGLY??
Serious?
I have heard Utah described as a lot of things: conservative, white, no-night life... but not ugly. I have traveled across this country and up and down both of its coasts and I know that there is a lot of beauty out there - the lush green of the south and Pacific NW, the rocky shores of New England, beaches, plains, rolling valleys, mountains...
Now, in defense of my homestate I am compiling a list of beautiful and unique places that Utah offers:

Just this last weekend, BB and I cross-country skiied in the beautiful Big Cottonwood Canyons
There is the really cool landscape of Goblin Valley


Spring in Big Cottonwood

Cedar Breaks



The Uintahs

Not to mention:
Bryce Canyon, Arches, Zion National Park, Coral Pink Sand Dunes (see pictures previously posted to this blog), Cache Valley, The Salt Lake Valley (of course, on a non-inversion day:), the red rocks of southern Utah, some even find the salt flats beautiful, the Oquirrhs, Mt. Timpanogos... I think I've made my point. Did I miss anything?
Whew - I feel better...