Summer Salads

In the winter, we eat warm soup once a week. But in the summer, I substitute a great salad for the soup in my weekly menu. It is finally warm enough and last night we had a beautiful Asian Chicken Salad. Yay for Summer!!!!

Shoshone Falls

Emily, Kirsten, Shelby

The weather was perfect. We had Stake Conference so church was out at noon. It seemed like the perfect day to drive to Shoshone Falls. Right now the falls are at peak water flow. It seemed everyone else thought it would be a great time to see the falls also. It took us 1 hour and 15 minutes to travel the last 2 miles. It was crazy! When we finally got to the ticket taker, she told us that the car count so far was 13,000! I have never seen such a zoo. We couldn't find a parking spot. People were everywhere. There were even buses. We walked to the lookout and took a picture or two. We then found a scrap of grass to have a picnic and then we were out of there. I'm glad I saw the falls so full but I won't do that again.

Shelby's Toe Shoes

The only thing that Shelby has wanted for a long time is toe shoes. She wants to dance like a real ballerina. Her amazing dance teacher, Amber, has been working with her for 8 months to become strong enough to dance on her toes. Amber finally decided that she was ready. So we made an appointment to get fitted at a dance store. Each girl needs to be specifically fitted because there are many different types of toe shoes. Who knew? On the appointed day, I was very sick. Sweet Aunt Rachel took her and was the photographer for this big event. She ended up having to order her shoes online because they didn't have her size in stock. She is very excited to be dancing with toe shoes. She was at the top of her game skill wise and now she is having to start all over again. She has to learn new skills and use new muscles. It has not been as easy as she expected it to be. She tends to be a perfectionist and gets very frustrated when she is not perfect. Amazing Amber calls her each evening after class and reminds her not get frustrated but just keep practicing. Shelby impresses me with her great determination. She won't give up, she just tries harder.

Ed is BACK

Three years ago, Kyle wanted a red-ear slider. A slider is a turtle. I did not want a turtle, so I told Kyle that if he did some research, we would talk again. So for three months he studied and researched and learned all there was to learn about red-ear sliders. Finally, I gave in and we went to the pet store to buy all the equipment and get the little turtle. Kyle named him Ed. On the way home with the turtle safely in his hands, Kyle mentions that turtles live for 40 years in captivity. I assured him that when he got home from his mission the turtle would be going to college with him and he better find a wife that loves turtles.

Over the next two years, Ed just got bigger and bigger. He ate everthing, including all his tank mates. He was very aggressive and would happily eat your finger. I really didn't love him. Turtles are really just pond pigs. They are messy and not cuddley. Why anyone would want a turtle for a pet, I don't know. Anyway, last August, Kyle got the great idea to put Ed in our little pond in the front yard. He stayed there for four days with no problems. Then, on the fifth day, I saw him in the morning but we never saw him again. Oh too bad, Ed ran away from home. I never wanted anything bad to happen to Ed because he was very entertaining, devouring fish and grasshoppers and slurping up worms. Kyle was just trying to give him a change of scenery.

Yesterday, Emily was watching the pond and she said she saw a big frog. We put tadpoles in there last summer so that didn't surprise me. Then she started screaming that she saw ED!! I didn't believe her. Then Christopher went outside with her and said he saw that darn turtle too.

I watched today and guess what??? Ed is BACK. Actually, he never left. He just lived in the pond and hid in the rose bushes and hibernated nicely over the winter. They wake up mid March to mid April. We will just leave him in the pond and see what happens. I am glad to know that he is still alive and well!!

Car Shopping

When I was a teenage driver, my dad gave me the "privilege" of driving a '72 International Travellall. It was the biggest vehicle on the road besides a semi-truck. Ours was a faded green color. It scared me to drive it because I always felt like there could be people living in the far back. It was also unpredictable. If my dad was around, it ran flawlessly. If my sister or I were driving it, we were likely to be stranded somewhere. In fact, my 16 year old sister was on her way home from a volleyball game and the car died outside a bar one night. The car was way too heavy for her to move. It was also the in the days before cell phones. She had to go into the bar and ask someone to help her get the car out of the road. The men were very nice, but talk about unsafe!!! Then she went back in the bar to call my dad to come and get her.
So Christopher needed a car. We wanted him to have some say in what he drove. At first, he said anything was fine because that is the kind of kid he is. Then when we pushed him a bit, he did have some definite ideas. He wanted white. All of our cars are white. There is something about cleanliness and heat absorbsion. He wanted four doors. I thought that was kind of funny. But he wants Zach and his date to be comfortable in the back seat. I told him as long as HE was comfortable who cares about the back seat people. Christopher does, because that is just the kind of kid he is. He wanted an automatic, with a/c, and cruise control. We gave him a budget. And we looked and we looked. We looked at 10 cars. He kept saying he wasn't "feeling it". Finally, we went up to look at a car on Bogus Basin road. These nice people live on the hill right behind Simplot's hill. Mr. and Mrs G. were in their 60's and had had the car for 10 years. He gave us a printout of everything he had purchased for the car, from every gallon of gas with gas mileage to the $1.59 he spent on new fuses in 1999. The car was perfect. Every latch works, every button and lever works. Christopher got a huge smile on his face and declared that he was "feeling it". I even teased him that it was a bit grannyish. Mrs. G drove the car around the block one last time and came back with tears in her eyes. As we were leaving, Mr. G brought out 4 new snow tires in the original bags from Les Schwab. So this is it. A '95 well loved, well cared for Ford Taurus LX. It was even well below budget.