I've started a recipe blog, if anyone is interested in seeing it. Just a collection of things I make (recipes I love, ones I adapt, etc). Anyway, I know my mom gets bored with the same old thing all the time (and so do I, which is why I've started this!) So I thought I'd share my cooking adventures, in case anyone is interested. Most of it's pretty simple stuff, but we have fun, and it's yummy!
I've decided to dye my hair with henna for my birthday next week. Henna adds color (it'll make it redder) but it is also really healthy for hair (protecting it, reducing split ends, etc). My hair has gotten so thin since the baby, and it's so tortured by the dry air here, that I have decided this might be the best way to get it to grow long! SO, prepare for another redhead in August!!!!!
In other news, well, Dave is still on the job hunt. Nothing has turned up yet. He's had over a dozen teaching interviews (including a couple of times when he's been called back to a school to interview for a different job, and the principal has expressed surprise that Dave hasn't been snatched up yet...) He's also applying at a few non-teaching places--post office, car dealership, and a welding place (which pays well, and since it's blue collar and most of the guys there barely finished high school if that, and Dave has a BS, so he could be short-tracked to management, which would pay quite well!) It's stressful not knowing what the future holds, but we went to the temple about it a few weeks ago and felt only peace, so we know that SOMETHING will come through, we just don't know what...
Sammy is trying to crawl. He rolls around all over the house, and is more and more frequently getting up onto his hands and toes (he's done hands and knees a couple of times, but mostly hands and toes--like a push up. He's very strong!) He's close to crawling, but for the moment all his efforts only move him backwards, much to his frustration. He loves nursing, and has figured out exactly where the milk is, so if he's hungry and I'm not getting the picture, he'll try to help himself by grabbing and even latching on even through my shirt. It's pretty cute. He has also decided that he wants people food, and will wail pitifully if I don't let him suck on my apple or nectarine or apricot or whatever I'm eating. We got a baby safe feeder for him (it has a plastic handle with a little mesh bag, so I can put a piece of fruit in it and he can hold it himself and suck all the juice out without danger of choking). The other day Dave put in a piece of watermelon for him, and I don't think I've ever seen a child so happy!
William loves riding his bike and his scooter. We got him the bike for his birthday, and within a week he'd run over a thorn and had a flat tire. So we got it fixed (took a few days to get to it), and then within a week he'd gotten a flat on the other tire... it's not that he's a careless rider, it's that there are obnoxious weeds ('goat heads') and they have nasty little spiky seed pods which just get everywhere...and can go right through tires. So Dave is picking up a new innertube today and we'll fix the other tire.
As always, pictures and lots of updates (and opinionated rambling) can be found at my blog. :-)
jenni
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Cruise
Dear Family,
For anyone who hasn't been told, we had a wonderful time on our cruise to Alaska. What a beautiful place. We started in Juneau where we stayed overnight and it rained hard. We thought this would be typical weather the entire trip but were pleasantly surprised by mostly good weather. While there, we enjoyed the most delicious salmon ever (fresh and char-broiled).
We boarded our ship there. I was so glad we were not on one of those huge floating apartment buildings from Princess or Holland America, etc. Our ship looked miniature beside them but it was just right. It was about 250 feet long with 130 passengers. Our accomodations were small but comfortable and the food was really great. Our first stop was at Skagway where we took a side trip on a narrow-gauge railroad to White Pass summit at the Canadian border. Amazing accomplishment to carve that line out of solid rock way back during the gold rush of 1898. From there we sailed to the little town of Haines where we took a walking tour of old Fort Seward and learned its interesting history. It's a neat little town. We spent all the next day on the ship in Glacier Bay. After threading our way through beautiful blue ice bergs near the top of the Bay, we watched Margerie Glacier calve a couple of times. The sounds a glacier makes are incredible especially a fast moving one like this. We spotted mountain goats. eagles, and many other glaciers. It was really cold at the glacier and we wore our coats, sweaters, gloves and hats All that night we sailed through the narrow passages on our way to Sitka arriving there about noon. The exploration leaders on the ship kept a constant lookout for wildlife and would alert the passengers. Sometimes the captain would change the course of the ship to follow something that had been spotted. Over several days we had many whale sightings (one right outside our window while we were eating dinner), seals, sea lions, orcas, puffins and many other water birds, otters, Dall porpoises. The porpoises were my favorite. They played with the boat swimming under and around it and frolicing in its wake. In places the eagles were as thick a sparrows and we all learned to look for the white heads in the trees as we sailed around the tree-covered islands that make up the inland passage. Sitka is a delightful town which was settled by Russians. Part of the tour there was a beautiful national park with many totem poles and a small museum. We would have liked to spend more time there but had to return to the boat. Many eagles nested there and we could hear them calling to each other. That night we were wakened from a sound sleep about 1:00am when we collided with a fishing boat. Fortunately no one was hurt but the fishing boat had some damage and had to be towed back to Sitka. Of course, rumors abounded but apparantly inexperienced help on the fishing boat contributed to the incident. The next day we continued cruising up Tracy Arm hoping to see other glaciers that were active but they had been too active and there was too much ice in the water for us to get through. That was a disappointment but it was a beautiful place. A glacial bay is very deep (this was about 1000 feet) and rounded at the bottom so the mountains come straight out of the water. Our next stop was Petersburg which was a Norwegian settlement. We enjoyed our time at the Sons of Norway hall where we were served Norwegian pastries and treated to some lively dances in authentic costume by some of the town young people. This is a fishing town as is Sitka. Our favorite day began with a visit to Metlakatla on Annette Island. This is the only tribal reservation in Alaska and we went to the community long house where we were introduced to their culture, songs, and dances. Dad helped "make song" by playing one of the drums. They were very warm and gracious. We then sailed to Misty Fjords. This has to be one of the loveliest places on earth. A fjord is glacier carved so very deep with straight up mountains. Punchbowl mountain is 2000 feet of bare rock above the water. As we sailed toward it, a rainbow formed across it making a breathtaking picture. This fjord has a lot of small inlets with estuaries where rivers run in and create some flat area. As we sailed near one, we spotted a grizzly bear. The captain brought the boat around so we could watch the bear which we did for a long while. There was a very small boat in the inlet and he was really close to that bear until the tide came in and he could move out a bit. We sailed back out of the fjord with waterfalls cascading down everywhere and were on our way to Ketchikan. The next morning we docked there and left the ship. We visited the museum there then spent the night at a small hotel and took a water taxi to the airport the next morning (the airport is on another island). Cheryl met us at the airport, we picnicked at a park on the ocean then spent a couple of days with her family. It was a wonderful adventure.
Love, Dad and Mom
For anyone who hasn't been told, we had a wonderful time on our cruise to Alaska. What a beautiful place. We started in Juneau where we stayed overnight and it rained hard. We thought this would be typical weather the entire trip but were pleasantly surprised by mostly good weather. While there, we enjoyed the most delicious salmon ever (fresh and char-broiled).
We boarded our ship there. I was so glad we were not on one of those huge floating apartment buildings from Princess or Holland America, etc. Our ship looked miniature beside them but it was just right. It was about 250 feet long with 130 passengers. Our accomodations were small but comfortable and the food was really great. Our first stop was at Skagway where we took a side trip on a narrow-gauge railroad to White Pass summit at the Canadian border. Amazing accomplishment to carve that line out of solid rock way back during the gold rush of 1898. From there we sailed to the little town of Haines where we took a walking tour of old Fort Seward and learned its interesting history. It's a neat little town. We spent all the next day on the ship in Glacier Bay. After threading our way through beautiful blue ice bergs near the top of the Bay, we watched Margerie Glacier calve a couple of times. The sounds a glacier makes are incredible especially a fast moving one like this. We spotted mountain goats. eagles, and many other glaciers. It was really cold at the glacier and we wore our coats, sweaters, gloves and hats All that night we sailed through the narrow passages on our way to Sitka arriving there about noon. The exploration leaders on the ship kept a constant lookout for wildlife and would alert the passengers. Sometimes the captain would change the course of the ship to follow something that had been spotted. Over several days we had many whale sightings (one right outside our window while we were eating dinner), seals, sea lions, orcas, puffins and many other water birds, otters, Dall porpoises. The porpoises were my favorite. They played with the boat swimming under and around it and frolicing in its wake. In places the eagles were as thick a sparrows and we all learned to look for the white heads in the trees as we sailed around the tree-covered islands that make up the inland passage. Sitka is a delightful town which was settled by Russians. Part of the tour there was a beautiful national park with many totem poles and a small museum. We would have liked to spend more time there but had to return to the boat. Many eagles nested there and we could hear them calling to each other. That night we were wakened from a sound sleep about 1:00am when we collided with a fishing boat. Fortunately no one was hurt but the fishing boat had some damage and had to be towed back to Sitka. Of course, rumors abounded but apparantly inexperienced help on the fishing boat contributed to the incident. The next day we continued cruising up Tracy Arm hoping to see other glaciers that were active but they had been too active and there was too much ice in the water for us to get through. That was a disappointment but it was a beautiful place. A glacial bay is very deep (this was about 1000 feet) and rounded at the bottom so the mountains come straight out of the water. Our next stop was Petersburg which was a Norwegian settlement. We enjoyed our time at the Sons of Norway hall where we were served Norwegian pastries and treated to some lively dances in authentic costume by some of the town young people. This is a fishing town as is Sitka. Our favorite day began with a visit to Metlakatla on Annette Island. This is the only tribal reservation in Alaska and we went to the community long house where we were introduced to their culture, songs, and dances. Dad helped "make song" by playing one of the drums. They were very warm and gracious. We then sailed to Misty Fjords. This has to be one of the loveliest places on earth. A fjord is glacier carved so very deep with straight up mountains. Punchbowl mountain is 2000 feet of bare rock above the water. As we sailed toward it, a rainbow formed across it making a breathtaking picture. This fjord has a lot of small inlets with estuaries where rivers run in and create some flat area. As we sailed near one, we spotted a grizzly bear. The captain brought the boat around so we could watch the bear which we did for a long while. There was a very small boat in the inlet and he was really close to that bear until the tide came in and he could move out a bit. We sailed back out of the fjord with waterfalls cascading down everywhere and were on our way to Ketchikan. The next morning we docked there and left the ship. We visited the museum there then spent the night at a small hotel and took a water taxi to the airport the next morning (the airport is on another island). Cheryl met us at the airport, we picnicked at a park on the ocean then spent a couple of days with her family. It was a wonderful adventure.
Love, Dad and Mom
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