Random Old Phone Photo's

The good thing about going back to the stone age and using my old flip phone while waiting for a new one is that I found a bunch of pictures I'd forgotten about.  I think I already blogged a few, but they make me happy so I'm sharing them again.

I was obsessed with combining canned peaches with peaches and cream ice cream last year.

I think this was the salad at a fancy Seattle restaurant my boss took us to as a thank you for going up there without complaining... too much...

This carrot is happy to see me!

I sent this picture to Jenny to show why I don't normally use variegated yarn, especially in the round... I'm too even so it comes out in stripes!

random car picture... guessing its from one of the drives up to Orem.

That's supposed to be a fist raised in triumph at reaching the top of the switchbacks for the first time... instead it looks like I want to punch the phone.  I think this is from BA! (before accident)

The sign we girls made for our office door over at the design build project office.  I miss those girls but I bet Arvid misses them more.  Now he has to listen to all my stories :)

My cleaned out office at the Design Build project... I wanted to remember my window.

My current office not too long after moving in (there are a lot more papers now and things hanging on the wall).  See why I miss the bright and sunny office?

Emily hiding in the leaves!

Another random car shot.  Probably on one of the trips back from NM.



Jenny cheering at a Texas Football game many Thanksgivings ago.

I miss that sweater so much!  Maybe I'll knit myself another one.... Ya right, like that would ever happen.

Emily car surfing after the game... OK, so the car's not moving, but it shore looks like it!

Emily and Mom looking delighted to have their picture taken in front of the St. George (Kokopelli a few years ago)

And of course the obligatory steel bracing picture.

Barrier rail and Sleeper slab at Bridge 1 approach.   I'm an engineer.. this is what I have on my phone.

I could bore you with more engineering pictures but instead...

I will end with Penelope Clearwater from Halloween last year (wanted to show my Mom all my hard work)

Still can't decide what to do for Halloween this year and I only have a few weeks left... Probably have to go with the pioneer theme since that was all ready to go last year and I didn't do it. 

I love looking though and posting old pictures.  Too bad for you, gentle readers :)

Labor Day Sheep Dog Trials

I meant to blog about this earlier but with my phone going through the wash, I don't have quite as many pictures to share.  But I did happen to take out my camera at the sheep dog trials cuz Bethanie wanted some pictures of the scenery to maybe paint.

And yes, my phone went through the wash two Sundays ago.  After 3.5 days being dried out in front of a fan, I took it to a shop Friday afternoon to be fixed (it turned on but wouldn't get service and then the battery died) "in 2 hrs".  Three hours later, they called to say they couldn't fix it.  I was too embarrassed to post about it on Facebook which is why many of you are hearing about it for the first time.  Still embarrassed and trying to decide which option to take.  I've got my old phone but as Emily says, "you now understand the withdrawals of poor missionaries".  I so do!  4 days without a phone is 4 days too many. 

But back to the photo's.  Remember last year when I went up and Bethanie and family came down to meet at Emily's house to can peaches for labor day? And we went to the Soldiers Hollow Sheep Dog Trials?  It appears to have become a bit of a tradition.  This year the weather was nice and cool and we got to watch more of the actual trials cuz we didn't have to hurry back and float down the river.  Phew.  We remember how well that turned out.. not.

Here are the pictures Bethanie wanted.. the sheep start out up in that field behind the wooden house and the dog has to go gather them.

She liked that rock outcropping.

And the beautiful fall colors.

Then as long as I had my camera out I took a couple more.  Emily with her rootbeer (Emily actually makes better than this company but she and Bethanie are enamored of the bottles).

Bethanie and Emily watching.

And of course none of these were staged.  I love my sisters.

Here the dog is pushing the sheep down the mountain toward the handler.

Across the road...

and around the post... to grandmothers house.

They then push the sheep out and across through the gates on the hill and back again where they sort and pen them... all in 13 minutes.  Since these were the trials alot of the dogs don't actually get that far.  It also rained on us so I didn't get anymore pictures of that.  Shoulda though.

On the way back we stopped at a war memorial at the top of a mountain in the valley where once again I miraculously pulled out my camera.

Andrew wanted his picture taken here.

Natalie and Hannah saluting the soldiers.  You can see Soldier Hollows right behind them... and a little to the left.

Megan put her hair in a braid after she saw we three sisters were sporting the same hairdo.

The little cousins LOVE their big cousin Megan.  She's such a good sport.

Looking out over the valley.

You could actually walk all the way around and get a 360 degree view of the valley but for some reason I only took pictures in this area.

There's the crew.

And of course I needed one with me in it.  Thanks for making it look unstaged Natalie!

Then Emily lost her keys and after fruitless searching the memorial Megan once again saved the day by finding them in Emily's car.  Megan's faith is miraculous.

I shore dew love spending time with my family and do wish I would remember to put the camera out more often.  Wouldn't it have been fun to have a few more pictures of the dog pushing the sheep out?  Oh well. 

PS. Funny story, as soon as I mention the phone disaster to anyone their first response was always "did you put it in rice?" regardless of how long it has been.  When I try to answer with, "No, I looked up...",  they say "You should put it in rice because that takes the moisture out.  I read about it on the Internet."  Thanks... I read all about that too but past that point already!  I mean, thank you for your loving concern :)

Random Thoughts

I wanted to post more than once a month this year (the goal was originally once a week but I've made it somewhat more reasonable... for me) so this is my second post for August.

Are people getting blinder or is it cuz we can go faster?  Don't know if you were aware but lettering size requirements have gotten larger on highway/freeway signs.  Just a little engineering knowledge for your day.

And on that note, engineers look like they just got out of the shower and went to work because they just got out of the shower and went to work.  Yes, I'm working on changing that but getting up earlier just to do your hair and make-up?  Not high on my list of priorities.

Why do I feel sorry for the songs with low "plays" numbers on my itunes?  They certainly don't care.

Why is free yarn always ugly?  This is from my Jehovah Witness Saturday morning visitor as a sorta payment for some baby booties (I'm guessing... it was on my doorknob a couple Saturday mornings later when I came home along with a JW pamphlet).

OK.. not ugly exactly, just not useful.

Why are pink and blue baby things so much more fun to make then gender neutral?  Gender neutral is blah.  These parents that want to be surprised. Sigh.  Don't they think about us poor crafters that need a color? 

Why do family and friends suggestions for projects never sound as exciting as the ones you see urself?

I've been needing a project I can get excited about after the family reunion grab bags so I've been thinking about Halloween coming up (2 months.. its not weird to think of Halloween 2 months in advance, right?  Say no).  I've trolled my family and friends for ideas, especially reusing old costumes (reusing = finally finishing), but none of their ideas sound way fun.  I have lately gotten into knitting again (hats) now that my crocheted baby stash is full (except gender neutral) but I'm fairly certain that won't last long and really... no fun application to Halloween.

And on a final note...

I need some way to eat popcorn without getting butter all over the yarn while knitting.  Any ideas?

Veggie Patties

My sister has been suggesting I post about the black bean veggie burger I've been making.  Don't worry, I'm not going crazy wild in the vegetarian department or anything, just trying to add more beans to my life. Beans have never been my favorite food (ick) but seeing how they are in my food storage, I thought I should learn to make things from them that I do like.  In this vein, I've discovered Garbanzo beans (or chickpea's) but that is another story/post.

Of course, the beans I have in storage are pinto and not black but you have to start somewhere, right?

I saw this recipe on a Pioneer Woman's Tasty Kitchen  post a while back.  It looked easy cuz all you do is throw everything into your food processor and then cook/fry the patties on the stove.  Easy peasy, right?

Pretty much... if you follow the recipe.

The main problem I have is getting them to stay a patty rather than turning into a pate which gets all squished out as you eat.  Of course, now that I just read over the recipe again, she doesn't puree everything... perhaps that's why my patties don't keep their forms.  But throwing everything in and hitting the button is  easier, so I'll still do it my way but continue to complain.

The only other issue is that I don't measure much so when the batch two times back came out my best yet... I have no idea why and haven't been able to recreate it.

Which reminds me, I should probably tell you how I deviate from the recipe.  I put in alot more cilantro (I just use the whole bunch cuz otherwise the other half goes bad in my fridge), use a green pepper cuz it's cheaper, no onion powder (hello! There is already an onion all zueshed up in the recipe and beside, I don't have onion powder), more chili powder cuz I don't have hot sauce, and I make them flatter and longer to fit on bread. Originally I didn't see the instructions to put crumbs on the outside before cooking and let me tell you... that does help the whole "stay together" issue.

This is how I eat them... cheese and pattie on one slice of bread, onion on the other, toaster oven for 10 minutes, then tomato and lettuce.  Mm...

So, if you like cilantro and hot Mexican spices, you will like this.  Its me branching out from the typical weeknight hot dog sandwich.

PS.. the other bean recipe I've tried and liked is Mels Kitchen Cafe confetti rice and bean salad.  Such a nice cold summer meal where changing up the veggies and/or type of beans works well... except I've kinda overmade it (three weeks straight) so not a huge fan right now, but I was originally :). 

A Birthday Visitor

I never did blog about my birthday (over 3 months ago), but that's because I wasn't really going to celebrate it until I went up to Utah to play with my sisters later that month... which I did blog about. I've been meaning to blog more but apparently its not high on my to-do list.  Its superseded with things like reading and sleeping.... and in the case of June, going through family reunion withdrawals.

Anyway, besides being invited over to Melissa's for a Saturday party (she invited me to celebrate Sunday with the whole Bunn family (which was really nice of them) but I knew I'd be busy talking to my whole family on Sunday), I had a visitor or two.

Can you see it?

There it is trying to get back behind the TV.

OK, so this little rat is one of two, came out of a cage, and does not live in my house.

A coworker was going on vacation and asked if I could watch them since the original rat sitter fell through.  They were still just babies cuz she had just gotten them for her kids for Easter (I know, what kind of present is that?).

There was a white one named Jellybean.

And a black one named... um, I can't remember.

I guess the coworker thought I would take good care of them since I told her I had a rat named Rosemary growing up.  I made her a wagon and harness out of plastic canvas that she wouldn't even try to pull around.  Just sat in her traces and started trying to chew her way out.

It felt a little strange taking rats in a big cage home from work and then bringing them back a couple of days later.

They were really cute and fun to have over the weekend but I was glad to take them back.

Although I did love my pet cockatiel (Spree) and was so sad to see him go, its hard work to have any type of pet.  I'm not able (or willing) to put in the time and effort (or cash :) to ensure a good home life. Until I have my own house and am more settled, I'll just have to continue to borrow others. 

So it was fun for a couple of days.  A good reminder of how fun, annoying, poopy, silly, loud, cute, smelly, and entertaining little rodents can be :)