Tempura and Sandra

John had never seen Love Potion No. 9! We scheduled an intervention.

We went to Amanda's apartment to cook and mock the nineties.

The master chef.

The tempura was perfect!

We all felt the effects . . .

Mint Oreo

I love mint oreo ice cream. So much. And Jack-in-the-Box started making it into a milkshake. After John came home from Phoenix today with a crossword instead of an edible treat (a hint perhaps?), we used a coupon that came in the mail for a free milkshake. New favorite.

Last week he brought me a yummy brownie. It looks a little off in this picture, but trust me, it was delish.

Now John's at a friends of scouting meeting then going home teaching, which leaves me home all alone to get some homework finished. Or blog about desserts.

President's Day

We had a busy day involving lots of chores for John and homework for me. John also whipped up a carrot cake and loaf of bread to take to dinner with his dad. Alan grilled veggies and chicken and roasted Yukon Gold potatoes. Every single bite was delicious.

We usually buy 10 lb. bags of carrots, but it's only one dollar more for a 25 lb. bag. So this time we went big and brought half of it over to Karen and Alan's. The result? Fresh-squeezed carrot juice. It was a lovely evening and the only thing missing was Karen.

Two Down, One To Go

John puttied the floor with wood filler last night, so it was all ready to be sanded this morning.

This picture was taken with flash, and the dust in the air is visible.

Alan came to help after lunch.

It's been a rainy week, which is nice because it's cooler and less dusty, but also inhibits drying. Monday is supposed to be sunny, so we'll seal the floor then, after the sand has settled and we can properly clean the room.

This is our muddy backyard, where the rain has caused all kinds of blooming.

Poor sick little Bubba stayed inside today and napped through all the noise.

All sanded down. The room looks so huge empty.

We only rented the sander 4 hours this time, so it's been a sandathon and we're exhausted!

Ebelskiver Night

The Harlines wanted to come spend some time with Bubba and we were anxious for taste testers to try out some of the recipes from our new cookbook.

They brought their pan, so we were flying through them.

Austin played while we cooked.

Corry enjoying a lemon poppyseed morsel.

This time we also tried the chocolate chip, chicken (we added garlic), and apple filling ebelskivers. We also made the mozzarella again but with sausage, too.

Uvas Canyon

We just can't get enough hiking, apparently, so we tagged along with Karen and Alan to Morgan Hill today.

It was nice and cool--just the way I like it!

Naturally we included a little geocaching. (I found one! Go me!)

Alan found this "ammo box." Then I found another little medicine bottle hidden in "poo rocks." That was the hint. Very successful searches overall.

Karen found this cool tree.

And I considered starting a style blog so I can feature outfits like this:

The first one we found had the "10 Commandments of Geocaching:"

Thou shalt have no other hobbies before geocaching

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven avatar

Thou shalt not take the name of Dave Ulmer in vain (the father of geocaching. I looked it up)

Remember the caching day to keep it holy

Honor thy coordinates and thy waypoints

Thou shalt not kill the joy of other geocachers

Thou shalt not commit geocide

Thou shalt not steal a cache

Thou shalt not bear false witness in thy neighbor's cache logs

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's GPS.

Charlotte's Blessing

The guest of honor smiling for her grandma.

And making faces at Uncle John.

She is such a happy baby!

Precious.

(love that big cloth diaper booty)

Play time with the walkie talkies.

The men in the blessing circle

The Arizona Crapos

Neil's side (I look like a giant next to John's family)

The kidletts

Ashley's side

The blesser and blessee

She was bored with pictures.

The blessing was beautiful.

Then we had to head home. Karen shared her neck pillow with us and John made himself into a lovely flower.

Sabino Canyon

We drove through the night to Sahuarita to see little Charlotte and her minions.

We went to see some Tucson sights.

We saw this road runner at the canyon.

We took a tram up to the top first.

Grandpa Alan and Madoc

Neil and Charlotte

Me and the girls

Some of us went on a little hike around the top and Alan wanted to take a picture with all of us. This is him setting up the camera. Neil only had 10 seconds to make it back to us from there, but luckily he is very speedy.

I think this was our favorite part of the trip.

And I think the drive there and back was Charlotte's.

It's been a fun day in Arizona!