Our Vacation

Last week, Dwight and I took a much needed vacation. We decided to revisit the Northwest. We thought this time of year would be a good time to go because we would be able to catch the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. We also decided to go up to Canada. We never made it to Victoria when we lived in Washington, so we thought we'd do it this time around.

Tulip Festival

We are always amazed when we see the fields of tulips in Washington's Skagit Valley. The endless fields of color, set against a backdrop of green are so beautiful.


Sunshine Coast

We decided to take the Sunshine Coast tour through Canada. This tour consisted of four ferry rides. The first left Horseshoe Bay just outside of Vancouver and traveled to Langdale. Once we reached Langdale, we decided we should get some Canadian money, especially after the situation we had with Nathan at the Wendy's in Vancouver a few years ago. We found a Credit Union in Gibsons, stood in line and listened to the hard rock music playing over the speaker system. We drove a couple of hours to Earls Cove where we enjoyed wonderful peace and quiet, until the country-music-loving-beer-chugging-lady pulled up next to us to wait for the ferry. We took the ferry to Saltery Bay and drove up to Powell River, where we spent the night. We had been looking forward to eating at the Laughing Oyster, which came highly recommend by many family members, but it was closed on Tuesday nights.


On Wednesday, we left Powell River and took a third ferry to Comox. When we arrived in Comox, we decided to get some fish and chips at a restaurant that Dwight's Dad recommended. It was wonderful! We got all you can eat cod that was so large it was hanging off the plate. We then drove down to Victoria. We stayed in downtown Victoria and enjoyed walking around the city. It is a beautiful place.


On Thursday, we visited the Butchart Gardens in Victoria. It was a little early in the year so there weren't as many flowers as we had imagined, but it was still beautiful.


We had a wonderful time seeing so many beautiful sites and visiting with friends and family in Washington.

Mt. Rainer finally revealed itself while we were flying out. I always love seeing Mt. Rainier. It was a great way to end our vacation.

It's all fun and games, until...

It is well known in my family that when a video camera is rolling, I inevitably do something silly. I don't try to be silly, I just come across that way. I will always be known for my video appearances.

Here's one that I think is hilarious. One of the things that makes me laugh the hardest is that no one is behind the camera. Dwight's Dad had been filming us and he set the camera on the mantle and walked away. None of us, including Dwight's Dad, had any idea that the camera was still rolling.

Dwight and I were trying our hand at playing Rock Band on the X-box. Dwight's brother, Darren, was on guitar, Dwight was the singer and I was on drums. We were rockin' it. As you can see from the clip, I am concentrating quite hard. It was the end of the song and I was trying to go out in a blaze of glory. Dwight was tapping the microphone because he got bonus points for every sound that he made in the microphone.



Leave it to me to figure out how to poke myself in the eye with a 12 inch drumstick - not while frantically drumming the beats of the music, mind you. I didn't just graze the corner of my eye. Somehow I actually poked that little ball at the end of the stick right into my eyeball. That Rock Band can be a dangerous game. I think they need to add a new warning to the box. It's just as dangerous as a Red Ryder BB gun.

Yummy Strawberry Sauce

I love to eat dessert, but I don't like making it very much. I'm glad when I find quick and easy dessert recipes. Here's a recipe that I found for a great strawberry sauce. It's super easy and tastes wonderful. They were handing out samples at our neighborhood grocery store, Harmons.

I used the sauce on chocolate cake. I liked the balsamic vinegar and chocolate together.

Balsamic Strawberries

1 pound fresh strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Wash, hull and slice strawberries and place in a large bowl. Add sugar and stir with a rubber spatula, gently until sugar is dissolved. Add balsamic vinegar and mix well. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Serve over sponge cake or ice cream.

Jessica

Today is my sister, Jessica's, birthday. I won't say how old she turned just in case she is keeping that confidential, and because I'm her older sister.

It still amazes me that my little sister has grown up. She got married a year ago, on April 12th, has a good job and a cute house. I still think of her as the little girl wearing my veil at my wedding reception, the little girl who used to sing an operatic version of "Meg the Flamingo", the little girl who was devastated when I ran over her favorite bike, and the young girl who would come swimming at my apartment in Bountiful. I have folders full of pictures that she drew for me and plenty of journal entries that contain my favorite Jessica quotes.

She makes me laugh and is one of the wittiest people I know. It has been fun to have that little girl turn into one of my best friends.

I love you Jess! Happy Birthday!

Spring Cleaning

I have been in an organizing mood lately (my dad would say "What's new about you being in an organizing mood?") . I think it's because of the Pottery Barn book my sister, Amy, got me hooked on.

On Thursday, I went to put something away in the craft closet and ended up tearing everything apart so that I could organize it. It has been on my t0-do list for awhile, so I had been planning in my head how I wanted it to look, but I didn't think I would get around to it for awhile. That's usually how my projects get started. I get doing one thing, and end up doing another.

After I tore everything out of the closet in one room, I tore everything out of the closet in another, so I could combine everything into one. Our guest room now has a real closet - not one that's packed with craft supplies. Our office closet is now the craft closet. It's nice to have everything in one place.

It took two days to get the closet finished, but it was worth all of the work. Now I want to figure out how to turn the sliding closet doors into doors that pull open so I can see all of the closet at the same time.

Burrowing Ellie

I have mentioned before that Ellie loves to climb underneath as many blankets as possible. She and I are alike in this regard. Her favorite thing to do in the morning is run upstairs, from her kennel, and sleep with me in the bed. I don't like having her on my sheets, but I do let her under the top comforter. She will stay in bed most of the morning until I kick her out so I can make it.

I know, I know, my brothers and sisters are reading this and thinking, "Wait a minute...she wouldn't even let us sit on her blankets, but she lets a dog in her bed?". Yeah, I have become a little more soft in my old age. Although, there is still the rule that there is no sitting on the sheets, or taking naps, when clothed in something other than pajamas.

Ellie always watches with a look of disappointment when I make the bed. She still gets to lay on it when it's made, but it's not the same as being underneath the covers. I even put another blanket out so she has something to cover her. I have to wash the throw pillows quite frequently because she also likes to burrow into them and drool.

This week, Ellie figured out that just because the bed is made, it can't stop her from getting underneath her favorite blanket. I made the bed and started getting ready for the day. When I came back in the room the throw pillows were strewn about and there was a lump in the bed, as well as a rumply corner. She figured out that she could burrow in from the top corner of the bed. I found her snoring and drooling away. Thank goodness for a washing machine that can fit a queen sized duvet.

Quote Collection

"We are born helpless. As soon as we are fully conscious we discover loneliness. We need others physically, emotionally, intellectually; we need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves."

C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

Sprouts

I took a class on sprouting at a local store called Kitchen Kneads. I have always loved eating alfalfa sprouts so I am enjoying being able to sprout them myself. I like to eat them on sandwiches and in salads. I also think that the seeds have been a great addition to our food storage.

So far I have sprouted alfalfa, pro-vita mix (which is a combination of wheat, fenugreek, lentils, peas, mung beans, adzuki beans and triticale), and garbanzo beans. I like to eat the sprouted pro-vita mix on peanut butter sandwiches. I tried to sprout the garbanzo beans and then make hommos (Dwight's family calls it hommos, but it's also called hummus). It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I think next time I will sprout them for a couple of days and then cook them a little.

Where is Spring?

I was so excited when I took these pictures last week because I thought that spring had finally arrived. As I type this post the snow is flying. It is snowing so hard I can barely see across the street. I thought that it was supposed to stop snowing in March and that April showers, not snow, brought May flowers.

Popcorn Popping

The branches I stuck in my vases last week bloomed!

I also added some apricot blossoms, which make my kitchen smell like spring.

Quote Collection

"Our perfect Father does not expect us to be perfect children yet. He has only one such child. Meanwhile, therefore, with smudges on our cheeks, dirt on our hands, and shoes untied, stammeringly but smilingly we present God with a dandelion - as if it were an orchid or a rose! If for now the dandelion is the best we have to offer, He receives it, knowing what we may later place on the altar. It is good to remember how young we are spiritually."

Neal A. Maxwell

Stephanie's Visit

This week, my sister, Stephanie, came for a visit from Georgia. Whenever we get together there is a lot of laughing and reminiscing. We decided to have a slumber party at my parents home. She and I stayed up entirely too late talking, which is what we used to do when we shared a room back in the good old days. It brought back many memories.

She is my older sister, so I often tagged along with her when she went out with friends. I also did plenty of spying on her when she returned home from her dates. Sometimes she was glad for the spying. If I knew her date was lingering and Stephanie was ready for him to go home, I would think of excuses to keep coming into the room, and drop hints that it was time to say goodnight.

One day, I was cutting out a pattern on our bedroom floor - I wouldn't be surprised if I was making one of the many U-Knits outfits that I stylishly wore back in the '80's. I didn't realize that the scissors were still on the fabric when I picked up one end and flipped the fabric to get the stray threads off. The scissors went flying into the air, soared across the room and into the open shelf above our desk. It perfectly decapitated one of her ceramic clowns. I thought it was the funniest thing that I had ever seen. At the time, Stephanie didn't think it was so funny. I got a long lecture about repentance from one of her boyfriends. We now laugh about it often.

When we would lay in our beds at night we liked to play "radio". Stephanie would sing to me and if I didn't like the song I would make noises to "change the channel". We also talked and threw things at each other. One night, in the darkness of our room, I was hit with a flying Barbie.

Since I wasn't a big fan of the dark, I always tried to get in bed before Stephanie so she would have to be the one to turn out the light and try to find her way to her bed in the blackness. One night, she beat me to bed. I turned out the light and tried to make it to my bed by leaping to it from the light switch (since jumping in the dark is much safer than walking). I made it to the bed, but the bed didn't make it. I broke it in two.

I am so blessed that I have great parents, the best brothers (I wish they were with us in the picture) and the craziest sisters.

April Fools

I am not very clever when it comes to April Fools jokes. I have been trying to think of a clever posting for April Fools for a few days now. I have a hard time with April Fools because I don't want to play a prank that will forever change how someone trusts me. So, most of my jokes have been "Nathan, you have a bug on you...April Fools!" or "Stephen, your hair is turning pink...April Fools!". I have never been able to pull of a good April Fools.

My Mom and Grandma are good when it comes to tricking people on April Fools. My Mom made us graham cracker sandwich cookies (which are usually filled with powdered sugar icing), filled with toothpaste. One year my Grandma gave me something that looked like spaghetti, but it was really soap. Those were good ones!

My neighbor recommended that I take the shower head off and put a chicken bullion cube in it so when Dwight took a nice warm shower, he would be showering in chicken soup. But I think I'll save that idea for one of my Recipe postings How get ready for the day, and eat at the same time.

So, since I don't have anything clever to post...Watch out! Your mouse is going to bite you...April Fools!