My Day

Road bike ride
SD Blenders smoothie
Beach
Mountain bike ride
Barbecued turkey burgers

Tomorrow, it's back to work with a vengeance, as I'm working overnight.  I'm going to sleep well tonight.

African Ice

"African ice?" you say? "Mmmmmmm!" I say.

This summer, our girl is working hard at a shave ice shack in Lehi. What makes this different from other shave ices? Well, for one thing, the juice is completely distributed throughout the ice, instead of pooling at the bottom of the cup.

More importantly, the mission of African Ice is to provide microloans for people in third-world countries. Isn't that cool?

We've Made Our Decision

Beautiful Roma!

It won the consensus vote. It is one of my most favorite places ever, so I'm totally excited about it.

And we can have gelato two-a-days!

Graduation Day

Darling Jo graduated from high school yesterday at the top of her class. This year was a tough one for her, but she pulled it out in the end. We're so proud of her for being the young woman that she is. She is definitely virtuous, lovely and praiseworthy.

The graduation was in the Marriott Center at BYU. (Oh the memories--devotionals, firesides, basketball games, concerts and graduations.) The best part was watching the kids walk up to get their diplomas. A video camera was trained on them as they walked out, and then they were projected on the jumbotron. R, Tory and I were waiting for someone to bust out the back flip, but it didn't come until probably the 20th-to-last kid.

Vacation Plans

We've decided to scrub our plans to travel to Poland and Russia with Steph and Eva.  For a variety of reasons, it just wasn't coming together for us this year.

So, we've been mulling over different ideas.  We were all hyped up about the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu for about a day or so, but now we're exploring the idea of driving around Norway.  We also considered Washington, DC/LDS historical sites/NYC/Norway, but DC and NYC in the summer are hot, sticky, and even-more filled to the brim with crowds and lines.  Doable, certainly, but driving through the gorgeous Scandinavian countryside sounds very appealing for now.

We're going to have a family meeting next week in Utah, where we will present some ideas.  The kids have been excited about whatever ideas we've floated by them.  Who wouldn't be excited to get out of your regular existence and travel the world on someone else's dime?  But we have to make a decision and get things planned pretty soon.


Any input, loyal readers?  We have 10-14 days or so, two adults and three teenagers who are all good travelers and interested in the world.

You've Got To Be Freaking Kidding Me

We have to talk to our son's guidance counselor about K's "poor attendance" at school.  He was out for two days because of our cruise.  The school does not accept anything but illnesses, medical appointments, or "justifiable family or personal emergency" as an excused absence.

Well, guess what, there is a "family emergency" brewing--his sister has very severe Senoritis and will be undergoing a curative procedure next Thursday, and we need to be there from Wednesday until Monday to make sure she recovers well.  Deal with it, school district!

A Pleasant Spring Afternoon Ride

This afternoon's MTB ride at a nearby set of trails was just perfect.  The pictures show how you can feel like you're out in the wilderness, even when you're within the limits of a fairly-large city. 

Even though I haven't been on PBOD for about five months, I'm overall much fitter than I used to be and was much more comfortable on the bike.  There were no accidents, not even near-misses.  And I only saw one snake, and it was of the non-poisonous variety.  It changed its mind about coming onto the trail when it saw me coming.

Dinner With the Martins

Our friends, Jessica and Kenny Martin, came over for dinner tonight. I made enchiladas from a recipe in the May issue of Cooking Light. They were delicious, but it took me about 2.5 or 3 hours to make them. Definitely worth the effort, but not something to throw together for a quick dinner.

I doubled the recipe, so we had 16 or so total. This was what was left over.

You Can't Predict the Future

On Mother's Day in the year 2000, there's no way that I could have known that ten years later, a terrific teenage boy would say to me, "You're an awesome mom. I love you."

Thanks Killer, Jeweled Malicious Barbie and Pancho Juicebox for letting me be your mom whenever possible. Thanks Rowdstar for wanting me to mother your children. I love you guys!

Have faith and just keep doing your best. Be like the Nephites who were in bondage, and be cheerful and patient. You never know what the future holds, and in the meantime, there's so much happiness in life. Enjoy each day as it comes.

Mother's Day Eve

Unlike my friends with small children, I don't need much help or excuse to have a day where I can do pretty much whatever I want.

So, my day consisted of working out for three and a half hours in the morning, spending an hour or two at our neighborhood street fair (a yearly event, complete with midway rides, fair food and at least three different musical acts going at the same time all day), taking a two-hour nap and going to the movies with the man who made it possible for me to be a mom.

We saw Exit Through the Gift Shop.   You might say that it's a documentary about a documentary that was never made, good street art, derivative art, obsession, self-promotion and what is art anyway.  I highly recommend it. (It is rated R, for those who are interested in ratings, for language only.  I heard the F-word twice as much in the car on the way home than I did in the movie.)

We Won! We Won!

R and I added Ravi, The Boy Wonder, to our trivia team last night and ended up spanking everyone.  It helped quite a bit that there were no sports questions.  Ravi actually is a Boy Wonder.  He is finishing his PhD in Math and he's only 25.  He's single and looking for a relationship, so if any of you know an intelligent, fun, pretty young woman who is interested in dating an intelligent, fun, cute, Hindu vegetarian, let us know. 

In other news, I went running this morning, and it felt great.  I love when running feels good, and not like a chore.  It definitely helps to listen to Wait!  Wait!  Don't Tell Me! while I'm working out.

It being Cinco de Mayo today and us living in San Diego, we visited our local taco shop for dinner tonight.  I had the Flying Saucer tostada--lots of chicken, lettuce, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole and cheese.  Mmmmmm!

Gone are the days of my getting off work at 4:15 while I'm working in IR.  I had to work my "free" half-day yesterday to help clear up our patient load.  Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.  My poor team at work has been slaving away for several long days, so I'm going to make them cupcakes.  Of course, there will be extras for home consumption. 

That is all...for now!

Grazie, Saveur!

Saveur's April issue featured "classic Roman food".  Now, I'm a sucker for just about anything to do with Rome, so I've been looking forward to trying out some of the recipes.  Tonight was mailale in agrodolce (sweet and sour glazed pork chops) and piselli al prosciutto (sweet peas with prosciutto).  K wished that we had some gelato for dessert.  I did, too.

Miracles

It's amazing to me how many miracles I saw at church today.   Looking around, I saw a family there that I never thought would come to Sacrament Meeting--and they brought a friend.  A couple who I know has been estranged was also there with their children, and I saw the husband put his arm around his wife and give her a quick hug as they smiled lovingly at each other.  A young, divorced father who has made a real effort to come back to activity was there with his sweet little girl (who I know from my days in Primary) and a girlfriend that looked pretty serious and seems like a good match for him (and his little girl).  Friends who have long struggled with infertility now are looking at the distinct possibility of expanding their family*.  Our chapel, which has at times seemed sparsely-populated, was filled to the brim, to the point that I think we need to open the dividers up into the cultural hall and put at least three rows of chairs back there to fit everyone in.  There was probably much, much more going on, but those were just some things that I was able to see.

Yesterday, R and I went to San Diego Blenders for Brazilian fruit bowls.  It's a place frequented by a lot of R's jiu jitsu buds, so it was not surprising to find K and J, a married couple from the BJJ academy, there too.  We sat and talked with them for three hours, and the conversation was mainly about the gospel.  They are Seventh-Day Adventists, and we talked about our religions' similarities and differences.  It was just...really cool.  I can't say that I have had many missionary experiences like that in my life, but both R and I have been praying to have more opportunities to share the gospel.  You just never know!

In more secular adventures, we had grilled hamburgers (ground beef mixed with onion soup mix) and oven fries for dinner.  Before that, we went for a 45-minute bike ride.  I took out my road bike, nicknamed "The White Bicycle of Anxiety", as a companion to "The Pink Bicycle of Death".  I stayed on the bike the whole time, and I just have a little chain ring scratch on my left shin (how it came to be on my left shin, rather than my right, I do not know).

*Well, since Andy has posted it on FB, I guess that I can come out and say that my friends the Kleiners are pregnant with their first and long-awaited child.

Because I Know That You're All Waiting For The Next Food Post....

For dinner last night, we had grilled portobello mushroom sandwiches and corn on the cob.

Tonight was spaghetti with sausage and simple tomato sauce from the April issue of Cooking Light, green salad and garlic knots. Yummy yum yum! It's a good way to start our fast.

Boot Camp Wrap Up

I lost some inches and 2% body fat over the last month. I didn't lose pounds, but I did start my period on Thursday. Still...it was all about getting a jump-start with the extra-added benefit of making friends at the gym. That is going to help me want to go more often.

Oh, and I can do 41 "regular" push-ups in a minute. Any by "regular", I mean, up on my toes and not on my knees. Don't call them "guy-style" anymore--this girl rules those push-ups!

Let's All Go To The Lobby...

Okay, so this is not about movie snacks, but about the movies we saw last week.

R and I went to see The Secret In Their Eyes, an Argentinian movie that won the Oscar for Best Foreign Film this past year. It was well-made, interesting and thought-provoking. However, it is rated R.

In the PG-rated realm, we took the boys to see How To Train Your Dragon the other day. That was an enjoyable film. The main character had ShiaLeBoeuf-itis a couple of times. You know..."No no no no no no no..." passing for dialogue. That bugs.