barbecue and stuff

How do you have a barbecue when your grill is 40 miles away? Invite the neighbors, of course! We joined forces with the Burtons and had a barbecue this week which was very nice. I was worried it would be too hot at 5:00 to eat outside, but it was downright pleasant in the shade. We also pulled out a baby pool and let the boys try it out. They weren't sure at first, but after a while the splashing was out of control (until they started scooping dirt and leaves into the pool that is).

Other items of note:

• Quintin is back up in Idaho for the summer. [Insert sad face] This means, however, that he will probably be posting more regularly [Insert happy face].
• So You Think You Can Dance is back. I love that show.
• My nephew turned 18 this week. Man, that makes me old. We had a good time texting although he blows me out of the water when it comes to text-conversation skill.
• Josh probably has a paid summer internship with the BLM. I say probably because it's all been rather vague. He did just find out that his start date will be June 8, so that implies yes on the position, wouldn't you think?
• I picked up 4 new books at the library today; let's hope one is better than the last one I read.
• Josh got 4 A's and 2 B's. He's blowing me out of the water when it comes to grades this semester. At least I have a lead of my entire high school career (and first 2 years of college) he has to work through before he can claim to be the nerd of the family. He does have to wear lab goggles, though, so maybe he's closer than I thought.
  

Frank Lloyd Wright

Remember when June sent me that ridiculously cool picture of a huge Lego church? If I wasn't clear then, let me be so now: I really love Legos. Although I may have missed out on some of the fun a sister closer in age may have been growing up, Quintin and I found plenty of things to do that interested us both. One of the best was Lego creation. Not only did we spend hours designing things (I'll admit, mine were always perfectly square red houses. I was a forward thinker, I know) but we pooled our allowance to buy awesome Lego sets to build the collection. In fact, typing this makes me want to build with some right now.

New topic: architecture. We did an architecture unit in elementary school and I fell in love with Frank Lloyd Wright. Megan and I agreed that we would go halfsies on our favorite of his homes: Falling Water. While my love of architecture was limited to Frank Lloyd Wright and building Sim houses for a long time, when I was in college I dabbled in it in some of my humanities classes. While we only covered the old stuff (read: Gothic) it touched another part of my brain and I liked that.

Combining topics: Lego is coming out with an architecture series starting with Frank Lloyd Wright! It was Megan who alerted me to this happy news. Their Taj Majal set is like $300. The FLW sets, it looks like, sell for around 50. I'm really interested to see what other architects they feature. How many more years until I can use Jonah as an excuse to start buying these, again?

a whole new world

Why didn't anyone tell me about this?!

You know how there are things that you find out about and change your world forever? For example, hyenas are in the cat family (not dog) and it's the veins of peppers that are hot (not the seeds). Well, I want to know why I've never heard of Powell's City of Books. Um, an independent bookstore that covers an entire city block and has guided tours? Well, no, I don't want a guided tour (I'd rather get lost for a few days) but that is so cool I may never sleep again until I get to see it myself. Now, to find tickets to Portland. I wonder if they'd let me sleep there in the bookstore or if I'd have to leave at night?

birthday cake

After much debate and the decision that Funfetti is always a good option, Jonah enjoyed his birthday cake.
Thanks Scott and Jen for taking these pictures!

Happy Birthday, baby doll.

Happy Birthday!

This May 15th was way more fun than last year. I got to hold my baby all day, for one, and I got to eat real food. Already two big improvements. Our camera may or may not be broken (any good camera recommendations anyone?) so this is the best birthday picture I took before the crash.
At the Arizona Museum of Youth playing in the kitchen. I was expecting bigger and better things, to be honest, but the boys seemed to love it and stayed pretty well entertained, so that's a good vote in its favor.

I hate US Airways.

I'm sorry, Ann, but I really can't handle feeling abused as a customer.

ho hum

What do I do when nothing seems appealing?Take pictures of my baby. Then I go home and sit in front of the fan with a tall glass of chocolate milk. We can survive 3 1/2 more months of summer (as long as I keep my camera charged).

Jonah fell asleep

...but it's not this picture I want to discuss (although he a cute little stinkbug.)

He fell asleep eating! I'd heard this happens, but I was a little skeptical. I missed it since I was napping, but Josh said he fell asleep between grapes yesterday. Crazy kid.

what a great recipe

So, when perusing foodnetwork.com looking for recipes, I ofen rely on the ratings to guide me in the right direction. I have also had success following modifications suggested (and tried) by a few reviewers. Josh and I, however, have a few pet peeves when it comes to reviewing recipes:

1. Reviewing the recipe based on what you think it will taste like. "I haven't tried it yet, but it looks great!" is not very helpful.
2. Giving a recipe 5 (of 5) stars and saying "but it wasn't very good."
3. Saying how delicious the recipe was but not following the recipe. Don't get me wrong, I have gotten a few good suggestions from reviewers, but when deciding whether or not to try a recipe, the following is never helpful (from a blueberry muffin recipe): "These are the best blueberry muffins from scratch I have ever had or baked...I used AP Flour instead of cake flour. I also use vanilla yogurt and this adds to the taste, I felt. I added some lemon juice and baked them in loaves. Yum!" Uh...