May in Review

It has been a busy month. Enjoy a few highlights:

St. George {It was perfect weather and we had a great time tagging along with Russ while he was working. If only we could have stayed longer}

Neil with his favorite flowers: yellow snapdragons :-)

The boys at weeping rock

Josh's 1st soccer season {He loved it and enjoyed playing with several of his buddies. Now the repeated question is, "when does my soccer start again?"}



My Grandma's 90th birthday {A lovely event for Ellen Jones.. my wonderful Grandma. It included a dinner and a musical performance of music that was written for my Great Grandmother}

Finally, we had a nice and busy Memorial Day weekend with time spent on our sprinkler system, then a day at the cabin with the Bartons and a picnic in Morgan with the Dicksons. I didn't bring my camera.. Now on with summer!

My 1st "TRI"

Not sure if you noticed the weather on Saturday morning-- raining, 40 degrees, windy... It was the perfect day to attempt my 1st triathlon, right? When we arrived, we were told that the swim would be replaced with a 1 mile run... so run/bike/run. I was a little relieved at the time to not be riding a bike soaking wet in 40 degree wind, but now I feel like I need to do another one. So my friend Em and I just signed up for our 2nd "TRI" in a couple of weeks. We'll see how it goes. This really was fun.. glad to do it with some of my favorite people-- former roommates, Emily, Misha & Melissa. I didn't end up with many in action photos, but here's us at the end:

The boys were thrilled to see me.. can you tell?

Please notice the snow on the mountains:

The girls: Misha, Meliss, Christie & Em

Much thanks goes to Meesh for all the great tips for us 1st timers. I'm kind of excited for #2.

Run #1(1 mile): 11:44

T1: 2:31

Bike (12.5 miles) 51:34

T2: 1:09

Run #2 (3 miles): 31:30

Overall time: 1 hr 38 min.

June 13 Edit: On June 12, Em and I completed the Desert Sharks Tri in Riverton. For my own record:

Swim (300 y): 9:27

T1: 3:08

Bike (11.5 mi): 49:39

T2: 1:26

Run (5K): 36:45

Overall: 1 hr. 40 minutes

Future Firefighter

Sorting through all sorts of spring photos & events.. this one is my favorite today:

Kyle. Preschool field trip to the fire station.

Moab

Every spring, Russ has a work obligation that brings him to Moab. I always look forward to this as a chance to enjoy some warm sunshine and red rocks.. This year, we had the red rocks, and a little bit of sunshine, but unfortunately it was COLD for most of the trip. We had some fun despite the unfortunate weather though..

Josh is not a bad photographer.. he took these two:

Before & After

After much deliberation and careful consideration, we decided it was time to cut the boy's hair. Why is it so difficult for me to let it go?

BEFORE

THE HOSE-DOWN

THE NEW LOOK

Who is that kid? And yes.. he's working on some molars. Its been fun.

Happy Presidents Day

This is a picture of George Washington that Josh drew in preschool. I love children's artwork!

After I posted this, he came home with Abe too, so had to add this:

A picture, a story and a recipe (all unrelated)

(This picture has nothing to do with the post. It just makes me laugh.)

Josh came home from preschool the other day all excited about Valentine's Day. He wanted to make some Valentines and leave them on someone's pillow. We got out the construction paper, markers, scissors and some stickers. Josh cut out two construction paper hearts and snuck in to leave them on Neil's pillow. Then I helped Neil made a heart with stickers on it and he left it on Josh's pillow. So sweet.. and so much love. Later that afternoon, I came in to the room to find Josh and Neil with scissors cutting the Valentines into little tiny bits. All that was left was a pile of cut up paper. I love boys.

--

I have had several requests for this lemon cake recipe. Its embarassing how simple it is and that it comes from a box. Try it though. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Christie's Embarassingly Easy Lemon Cake

1 box Betty Crocker lemon cake mix

1 small box lemon pudding (just the dry mix)

4 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1/2 c. water

1 c. lowfat plain yogurt

Mix together. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour into pan (any shape- 9x13, 2 rounds or cupcakes). Bake at 350. Use the time on the cake box depending on the shape of pan you use. Cupcakes are 22-25 minutes.

Top with cream cheese frosting or sprinkle with powdered sugar. Homemade cream cheese frosting is my fave:

1 stick butter

8 oz cream cheese

1 t. vanilla

~3 1/2 to 4 c. powdered sugar

a little milk to get it to the desired consistency

Make sure butter & cream cheese are at room temp. Mix together with a hand mixer until smooth. You could add a little lemon juice or zest to make it extra lemony, but I just use it as is. This makes more frosting than you need for the lemon cake, so eat it on graham crackers or make some sweet rolls to go with it :-).