Blog Backlog

Yeah...I know...almost a month...

So much to post about. I'll get to it soon, I promise. Some hints at what's to come:

-Mountain bike
-Garden update
-Wasatch Back Relay - Ultra style
-Other goodness

I know your gripped with anticipation...

Timpanogos Cave

Yesterday the fam and I ventured up to Timpanogos Cave. I haven't been since I was a kid and Jessica didn't think she had ever been so we decided to go and take the girls. We didn't have high expectations going into it with the girls with us but we thought we'd give it a try.

First obstacle, receiving misinformation over the phone, showing up to buy tickets and being told the first tour they could fit us on was in 3 hours. Thankfully a nice young couple approached with some extra tickets they had for their group in and hour and half.

Early tickets in hand we set off. They say it's about a mile-and-a-half hike up with 1600 vertical feet gain. With Jessica just coming off the pregnancy and me carrying Penelope we figured it'd take about an hour. The hike was fantastic. For one, Penelope loves riding in the backpack and Maya loves the front carrier.



We made it to the top in 52 minutes, not bad I'd say. The next challenge was upon us. We thought for sure once inside the cave both girls would start crying and we wouldn't be able to do anything about it.





Right before we went in Maya fell asleep in the front carrier and stayed asleep for about 3/4 of the tour. Penelope was a little scared and had Jess carry her for awhile, but then was willing to get down and walk around. Penelope was enamored by many of the formations and the different colors that we saw.

Waiting to go in
Two of my girls
Me trying to not close my eyes during the flash
Love the colors in the background
The hike down went smoothly as well. We made it in about 30 minutes. Penelope was entertained by watching the people hiking up past us and asking me "where are there houses?". She also kept looking for the little brown signs with the number 5 on them. By the time we got down she was zonked sleeping with her head against my back in classic style.

The Garden

I've wanted a garden for awhile now. I should have started last year, the desire was there, I just never followed through. The combination of not being entirely sure what to do/how I wanted to do it, what to grow, and timing all helped me procrastinate long enough that I missed the season.

Radishes in back, peas on the right, zucchini up front, before the green onions went in.

This year I vowed it'd be different! This year started with some seeds we picked up from a Provident Living class early in the spring. They had packets of zucchini, peas, and radish seeds. We picked up one of each. When it finally stopped snowing I went out to the bare patch of dirt outside our kitchen window and sowed some of each to see if they'd grow. Within a couple of weeks small plants started sprouting.

After the green onions went in.

Next I found out about an heirloom plant sale being put on by the Wasatch Community Gardens so I picked up some tomato and pepper plants. Then while at the neighborhood nursery I got some strawberry starts and a packet of lettuce seed.

Pole beans with ski poles for the upward growth and cucumbers on the right.

Saturday I ran over to the small nursery across the street to get a couple some pole beans and I ended up coming home with poles beans, basil, another tomato plant, pickling cucumbers, swiss chard, and green onions.

Swiss chard in red.

I'm growing the 'big' foods in pots and self-watering containers (homemade, I have step-by-step instructions I'll post in a few days) and then the other foods is spread out in a couple of small patches in the backyard.

Strawberries, Brandywine tomato (looking sad), Basil

Lettuce planter box

Amish Paste and Purple Russian Heirloom Tomatoes in self-watering containers

King of the North Red Pepper, Jalepeno, Isis Candy Cherry Tomato (heirloom)

Hopefully it all grows!

Bread or Turkey?

Which is it?



If you said turkey, you are wrong, but it does look like a turkey, not bread. Funny stuff...

So I've been trying to make my own sourdough starter and it was finally time to make some bread. The place where I got the instructions for the starter had a recipe for some bread that is supposed to be very similar to the old style French sourdough. Not having all the stuff they said to have I improvised.

Instead of a proofing basket I used a fruit bowl. Instead of a proofing cloth (linen or canvas) I used a kitchen towel that had a waffle pattern. Things went awry when trying to remove the cloth from the dough and it ended up in the shape in the photo.

It's currently cooling so I can't say how it turned out. I'll let you know.

Bedtime Denial

I think for as long as I can remember I have suffered from what I like to call 'bedtime denial' (BD for short). BD is usually most prevalent in young children and school-age kids. Kids usually scream and cry when they don't want to go to bed or they get really sweet to you.

But can it still manifest in adults? Yes! You know what I am talking about. You look at the clock and you say to yourself "Man it's late, I have to get up and go to work in the morning, I really should go to bed, I know I'll be dead when the alarm starts going off". Then you proceed to find many other things to do because you don't want to go to bed.

I thought to perhaps one day I'd grow out of it. Nope, still have it, hence the blogpost about it at 11:50 pm. :)

Anyone else suffer from bedtime denial?

Domestic Weekend

I've always liked to cook. Working full-time has definitely cut into the amount that I'm able to cook. With Jessica home with the two kids she has been doing most of the cooking.

The weekends are really my time to cook. Here's what I made this weekend:

• Bread (two loaves)


• Granola Bars


• Chicken Biscuit Stew (Saturday's dinner)


• Spicy Veggie Stir Fry (tonight's dinner)


• Coffee Cake


• Breakfast Burritos for tomorrow's breakfast (Edit - I forgot to put this in before)

I've made the coffee cake before, but it hasn't ever turned out quite right. Usually the topping is too heavy so it causes the cake to cave. I've tried putting it on afterwards but that isn't right.

This time I put it in a bigger pan and almost had the desired result:



Still caved a little near the middle, but it looks better than it ever has. Now it just needs to cool so we can eat it!

Oh yeah, Jessica likes 'domestic weekends' because she doesn't have to cook!

I Like the Way Kids Think

Setting: We're getting into the car tonight after going to dinner at Citrus Grill. As I'm backing out of the parking space Jessica says "I'd like to get an I-C-E C-R-E-A-M C-O-N-E" (gotta spell this stuff out around the kids).

I replied with "hey, there's a M-C-D just up the road, we could go get on there".

Penelope, hearing us spelling stuff out says "I want one of those".

We asked her "one of what?"

She gets a confused look on her face. We ask her "you want one of things mommy and daddy were talking about?"

She says "yeah, I want one of those."

She had no clue what we were talking about, but she must have know that since we were spelling something out it must be good. Blows my mind how she figures things out!

Crab 'n Climb 2009

Two weekends ago was our annual "Crab 'n Climb" trip that we take with some friends every year to St. George. This year was a little later than usual, but that was perfectly fine since it was warmer and gave us a few more weeks with Maya before the trip.

We drove down Friday morning. We left just before 6:00 am to get in a few hours before the girls woke us. I figured we'd probably get in 90 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised when we got in about three hours! We stopped, had breakfast, then Maya went back to sleep and we drove the remaining 90 minutes without any interruptions! It was the smoothest trip in the car we've ever had!

Friday consisted of checking into the condo, saying hello to everyone, and climbing. The wives were gracious enough to watch the kids this extra time so we could get out and climb. We went to an area named "Utah Hills". This was my first time out since the fall in Colorado that shook me up. I spent my time top roping and getting comfortable on the rock again. It was nice, I got in about 5 routes.

Saturday we went to this awesome park that had "perpetual motion" toys. The ones where you start spinning and they just keep going. Penelope had an awesome time running around, climbing up and sliding down.



They also had a little 'bouldering' wall for the kids to play on. Penelope got her first feel for climbing on it:



We also got a good family picture (don't mind the random lady in the background):



We also had a few 'battles' on the round, sliding toy:



After lunch and naps we spent awhile playing in the swimming pool. I love swimming and it's even better that Penelope is a fish.

Saturday night was crab dinner night. We used to go to Mesquite to the seafood buffet for crab but since we now have kids, we just buy some at the store and cook it up. It's the one time a year that we eat crab and it was gooo-oood!

Sunday was more playing, swimming, and climbing. We went to Chuckwalla to climb. I got in my first lead since Colorado and it felt good to get it out of the way. Jessica also got in her first climb since Colorado and since having Maya. She did really well and is super stoked for the coming season.

Me:



Jessica:



The drive home was almost as smooth as the drive down. It was a killer weekend, good to get out with friends, climbing, enjoy nice weather, and be with the family.

Here's a short album of the trip:

My New Obsession...

Bikes...Jessica just shakes her head at me. It's an expensive obsession but so far I haven't spent much money. We actually have fewer bikes now than we did six months ago.

Jessica will say "how many bikes do you really need?" To this I reply "five". She shakes her head some more. Currently I have one. My next goal is a mountain bike. If anyone would like to contribute to the "help Eric buy a mountain bike fund" please let me know. All monetary donations are welcomed and appreciated! ;)

Curls

Penelope's is finally getting hair and it has some curl to it (especially when it's wet):



I love it! Oh yeah, she doesn't look like me at all! ;)

Baked Apple Dessert

I tried making a new recipe tonight that I got from a Whole Foods magazine that I picked up for free at the Whole Foods the other day. The recipe title is "Baked Apples with Pecans and Raisins". It turned out to be "Baked Apples with Walnuts and Raisins" because we didn't have pecans.

The first time I (we) had ever had baked apples was with our friends Matt & Bri. It was ridiculously simple. Take four apples, core them (but don't pierce the bottom), pour in sweet and condensed milk, bake until tender. Voila, delicious dessert!

This recipe takes it to the next level. That sounds fancy, but in reality I had the apples cored and the filling made in probably 7 minutes. Here's what they looked like before they baked:



And the finished product (picture is a little fuzzy and I should have left them in the pan for the picture):



They were absolutely delicious! I don't really like walnuts but we didn't have pecans. The recipe seemed a little different than what we usually make and have for dessert. I'm glad we tried it because it was good. Here's how we made them (this is altered from the Whole Foods Recipe based on what we had on hand):

*2 Granny Smith apples
*Couple finger-fulls of raisins
*Couple finger-fulls of brown sugar
*Small finger-full of walnuts broken into small pieces
*A few shakes of cinnamon
*A few shakes of nutmeg
*1 pat of butter cut in half
*Some apple cider

Core the apples but don't break through the bottom. Mix everything else, except cider and butter, together (this is the filling). Place filling into apples. Place butter on top of filling. Place apples into small baking dish. Pour in cider (maybe half an inch up the apples).

Place baking dish into 350 degree oven 30-40 minutes, until apples are tender. You'll want to baste the apples every 10 minutes or so.

The original recipe calls for dried apricots in the filling. We didn't have any but they would be delicious.

Try it out, let me know what you think. If you've had good baked apples before, tell me how they were made.

Beh-Beh

We had a baby, a week ago today. She's adorable and beautiful. We named her Maya Reese.



I'm a slacker at blogging about it. Good thing my wife rules. You can see more pictures and get the details here. Why write it twice if Jessica did a fantastic job writing about it and I'd say the exact same things?

Baffling Dinner Event

Tonight at dinner we had some cucumber slices. After Penelope finished eating her dinner we offered her some cucumber slices (slightly under the guise of 'treats'). She took one a little reluctantly and had a bite. She then took two others and had bites.

We finished dinner off with some homemade caramel cookies. Afterward we were cleaning up and I saw that there was one cucumber slice left. Penelope was still in her chair so I said "Penelope, would you like this cucumber slice?" She said no and so I popped it in my mouth. This is where the baffling event occurred. She looked up at me, got teary-eyed, starting crying, and said 'Penelope that one' pointing to my mouth.

Yup she was crying because I ate the last cucumber slice and she wanted it! We partially assuaged the hurt feelings by giving her one that she didn't finish at dinner. It still wasn't enough so we told her that we could go to the store to get another cucumber tomorrow. That helped cheer her up.

And this from the girl who still won't really eat any vegetables that aren't in the pureed form. Crazy...

Thank You Pollution Mask

If you've been around northern Utah lately you've noticed the air looks like this:



It's an old photo but it's actually a little worse than that. When the air looks like that the air quality forecast looks like this:



Kind of bad when they say that "healthy individuals" shouldn't go outside.

This year I decided to buy a pollution mask. Knowing that I'd be biking through the winter I knew I'd face quite a few days with less than stellar air quality. Concerned for the health of lungs I took the plunge. At the start of the winter a lot of people kind of mocked me and made fun of me. Now that they see the air as bad as it is they are kind of eating their words.

Pollution mask you say? What kind of pollution mask? Is it a gas mask? Does it look like it came from WWI? Well no it doesn't. It likes like a modified neoprene ski mask from the 80's. Check it out:



It's the Respro Techno Mask from www.gotpollution.com. This thing is money. I've worn it everyday this winter while bike commuting. The past two weeks when the air has been wicked bad this thing has been well worth the money. It fully works and I don't feel the effects of exercising outside. It may look a little cheesy to some but I don't care. I highly recommend it everyone.

Ancestors

Over the last couple of years I'll get the urge to do family history or at least read up on family. It usually lasts about a day and nothing comes of it. Last year when my grandmother passed away I realized that outside of my lifetime I knew absolutely nothing about her or my grandfather. I got the urge again to learn more but never did anything about it.

The last couple of weeks I've had the urge again and this time I'm actually going to do something about it. We've recently been given the stories of Jessica's grandfather's ancestors who first came from Europe to America. It's been very interesting to read and learn about these people's stories.

Yesterday I learned that my late-grandmother and grandfather have a lot of family history documents, journals, and letters. I'm very excited to learn about my ancestors and to learn where I came from and more about my family.

Pzookies at the Millers

For Christmas my brother Zach gave me a Pzookie kit. It came with two cast iron pans, a recipe book, and mix for one set of Pzookies. Tonight Jessica and I finally made the first batch. Here's what they looked like before they went in the oven:



Here's what they looked like after they cooked and were 'fixed up' (we only had enough ice cream for one, haha):



And about five minutes later:



Yum.

Big thanks to Zach, this present rules. Tomorrow morning I think I'll try making Omelets in them.

If you want to come over and eat some Pzookies, just let me know, we'll have you over. And if you're like my friend Maxfield and you don't like warm desserts, I'll put yours in the freezer.

The Things Kids Say

Everyone with kids knows how they say the craziest things. They have a knack for saying stuff you didn't think they knew or things you wouldn't expect them to know.

Yesterday at church during sacrament meeting Penelope starting singing something and it took us a minute to figure it out. She was singing "J-I-M-B-O, J-I-M-B-O". It cracked me up. It's the chorus from Reverend Horton Heat's Jimbo song.

The Reverend is top on my playlist for past six months, but I never really thought Penelope was listening and paying attention to the lyrics, let alone remember them. Thankfully there isn't anything that a two-year-old shouldn't hear.

Absolutely cracked me up.

The First Snowy Commute

Winter has taken an extremely long time to come this year. This afternoon was my first real commute in the snow. At about 12:30 we started to get absolutely hammered with snow. Our vanpool left work early. Parley's Canyon was sli-ick. It took about an hour to get from PC to the vanpool meeting spot, we bypassed a bunch of traffic and saved a ton of time.

There were many inches of accumulation and I was looking forward to trying out the bike for the first time in the snow. I have it fully outfitted with fenders, lights, and cross tires (racks and panniers are still in the works). It looked like this when I got to it:



I was a little disappointed when I started riding because the plows had done a good job. I was, however, able to bypass about 3 blocks worth of cars waiting for one stoplight, that was nice. Once I got off main roads things started looking up:



Some may say I am crazy but anyone can ride their bike when roads are dry and the weather is perfect. I'm not a fair weather person and I love it when conditions are sub-optimal when doing stuff. The fun part for me is the challenge to see if I could ride through the snow, make decent time, and not wreck. Mission accomplished. I look forward to many more days of commuting through the snow. Who else got to say "I played in the snow on my way home from work today" or "I had fun coming from work today"?

Here's one last shot of my track through the snow:

7 Years

It was seven years ago today that Jessica and I began dating, went on our first date, hooked up...however you want to say it. In a lot of ways it's hard to believe that it's been seven years. It definitely doesn't feel like it. Last night we were discussing it and we looked at each other and said "I've known you for seven years? Weird."

We celebrated by going out to dinner to Bombay House. Oh man that place is good! Then we went and got custard at a little place just down the road from us.

Jessica is the best wife. I feel extremely lucky that she picked me...especially when I think about myself. :)

This is a picture of us about 7 months after we started dating, I think we look young!

Last Week in Review

Last week was a fun-filled, activity packed week. It was probably the most we've done in a week in an extremely long time. Here's a recap:

Sunday we made gingerbread houses with Penelope. We cheated though and used graham crackers for the gingerbread. Penelope mostly ate candy and crackers and helped Jessica a little. It was fun, they turned out great, and it was an awesome way to spend some family time on a Sunday evening.







Then Penelope thought it'd be fun to play in the laundry basket:



Monday night we had a neighborhood party. This was our first year participating and it was awesome. Some people get together, make scones and hot chocolate, and have a big get together for the neighborhood. Instead of exchanging neighbor gifts they ask everyone to bring donations of food, clothing, or cash for a local charity. It was cold and a little snowy so the hot chocolate and scones fit perfectly. It was good to see a bunch of neighbors that we don't see or talk to all that much.

Wednesday was the Ward Christmas Party. Our ward puts on the best Christmas party out of all the wards I've ever attended. Jessica and I have discussed it and we aren't quite sure what makes it so great. This year they mixed it up and sponsored a 'giving tree' for three families in the community that are in need and also collected money for some families in the ward that are need. We started out by wrapping all the presents that were purchased for the families. Then we moved to the eating portion. Instead of the usual lame lasagna or pasta with crappy salad, every year the ward gets BBQ from a local caterer. It's good. Then we had a little Christmas message, followed with a hot chocolate and little treat bar. Santa Claus made an appearance. We tried getting Penelope amped beforehand and she seemed excited. When we asked her what she was going to ask Santa for Christmas she would respond "Candy".

As soon as Santa walked into the gym her bottom lip started to quiver, the tears started to come, and she would point and say "that guy". It was kind of funny in way. We walked over to Santa and pointed out all of Penelope's little friends and kids she knew as they would sit on Santa's lap. I got in line and tried to distract her. As soon as it was her turn she bear-hugged my neck, started crying, and saying "no sit Santa, no sit Santa". I ended up sitting on his knee with her in my lap for quick picture.



Thursday we watched The Office. Hilarious!

Friday night brother Zach, his wife Alisa, their son Aiden, came down with their friends Danny & Julie and their son Taven. We ate dinner at Pei Wei then went to go see the lights at Temple Square. We had fun reminiscing about how we did something similar two years ago (Zach and Alisa came down, we ate dinner, then went to go see the lights) and the next day Penelope was born!

Saturday it snowed a ton! Jessica went to a baby shower and Penelope and I played in the snow. It was awesome. We walked around, made snow angels, pulled Penelope around in the sled, and my favorite part, I taught Penelope to eat snow! Here's a picture and fun little video:





Sunday we hung out, went to church, the usual Sunday stuff. Penelope did wear her Christmas dress from Nana Faerber for the first time:



Jessica also crocheted Penelope a scarf. She put the little flower in her hair and Penelope decided that she needed to wear her 'church shoes':



And one last photo because Penelope is so cute: