Shredded, Premature

Shredded - Cut or torn into shreds.

September 29, 2009

It was supposed to be chicken for dinner. While looking for chicken the freezer - and finding none - I found a pork roast. That reminded me in the way, way, WAY back of my mind that I still have some sweet and sour sauce that I bottled a year or two ago. So I threw the pork roast in the crock pot at 7 in the morning, with a quart of my sweet and sour sauce and let it cook all day. At about 4 o'clock I started to shred it and it just fell apart when I poked it with a fork. I let it continue to cook until 6:30. I had made some rolls, so we had the shredded pork on the rolls with some fresh applesauce that I had made over the weekend. It was so good!

Premature - Happening or done before the normal or expected time.

September 30, 2009

It was about 85 degrees yesterday and beautiful. When I drove home from work today at 3 it was 49 degrees. And rainy off and on. I know, snow on the mountains at the end of September isn't really preamture, or even that unusual, but I'm just not ready yet. I am not prepared yet for October! My Christmas cards aren't even designed! (Ok, the design has been started, but not finished.) October beginning is giving me a small sense of panic thinking of things still undone and that Christmas will be here far too soon! I haven't even made my lists yet! Oh, dear, I feel my small sense of panic quickly evolving into a full blown anxiety attack which will manifest itself in me crying on Lane's shoulder that I have taken on too much and why does he let me do this every year? Then he calmly talks me down from the ledge as I promise that next year will be different . . . It has become the natural course of events around here, and, thankfully, he is kind enough to look away from me BEFORE he rolls his eyes.

Day 7 - 9/24

And . . . the trip is over. Nothing like a fun-filled day of aiports and the screaming child that is ALWAYS on my flight.


Angie, Jesse, Kassie and Flat Addie playing Phase 10 to kill time at the New Orleans airport.

Flat Addie

Airborne - In flight; flying.

September 24, 2009

Somewhere over Louisiana I think. The clouds were super fluffy, and between them I could see all the way to the ground. Overall the flights were all on time and as painless as it could be. Except for the screaming child . . . Why always on my flight? Why?

So that's the end. Thanks for bearing with me.

Day 6 - 9/23

Addie sent us on the cruise with a "Flat Addie," like unto a "Flat Stanley," because she didn't want us to forget her, like that would ever happen. She does this with every cruise, but usually just sends us with a picture, so this was extra cute. On the last day of the cruise we decided to take our Flat Addie on an adventure on the cruise. We had her everywhere. More pictures on my facebook, Cruise 2009 album.

Flat Addie and Lane taking a nap.

Flat Addie in the casino.

Flat Addie at dinner.

Lane, sans Flat Addie. It was pretty breezy on the back deck, and the last thing we wanted was a suicidal Flat Addie.

Trick - A special skill; a knack.

September 23, 2009

This is my neice's husband, Jesse (is nephew-in-law a word?), showing off. He teased us first with just one spoon, and then went for the double. We are all so proud.

Day 5 - 9/22

Spray - Water or other liquid moving in a mass of dispersed droplets, as from a wave.

September 22, 2009

Since Lane & I don't snorkel, we decided to take a tour of the island of Cozumel. The tour took us from the west side of the island, where the ship docked, around to the east side of the island and back. So this is the Carribbean Sea. There were lovely white sand beaches, but it was mostly very rocky. The western side is the tourist side and that's where all the good beaches and resorts are. Since the eastern side is more rocky, it is very undeveloped. Our tour bus did find a nice beach area to stop for a little while.




The crystal clear waters of the Carribbean.

We also went on a tour of a museum-ish place called Discover Mexico. We watched a short video about Mexico, and then toured some gardens where they had little miniatures of the significant buildings in Mexico, including ruins, government buildings and cathedrals. The gardens were gorgeous, very tropical and jungle-y.

This is just one of the miniatures. There are more on Facebook in my Cruise 2009 photo album. We also got to go to a Tequila factory and participate in a tasting, but since we don't go for that sort of thing, we just wandered around.

Generally speaking, I didn't love Cozumel. It is really a place for beach goers and people who want to snorkel or scuba dive. The shopping area was too much like Tijuana or Ensenada. I don't know that I'm that interested in going back. There was one funny thing about the shopping. We all had tags on our shirts that said "Alex" (our tour guide's name) so we wouldn't get lost (hello kindergarten!). He told us as we were headed to the shopping area that merchants would tell us "Hey, Alex is my brother" so we would buy from them. He said he had no brothers, sisters, neighbors, etc that sold anything downtown, so just ignore that. Sure enough, several merchants shouted out to us, "Hey, Alex is my brother!" "Hey, Alex is my neighbor!" We got a bunch of tshirts downtown, and went back to the ship.

Vibrant

Vibrant - Strong and bright

September 28, 2009

We went on a picnic in American Fork Canyon tonight for family night. It was kind of a last minute thing, and we know we have to get up there early on a Monday night. It fills up fast. So Lane and I got everything packed up to go (the kids were at my mom's and we picked them up on the way), and even commented on how quickly we got ready. Once we got up to a picnic site we found out why it was so quick. We had left half the stuff at home! Somewhere along the way, I took my tablecloth out of my picnic basket - probably to wash it - and never put it back. So no tablecloth. We forgot to bring the camping chairs so all we had was the hard picnic table for seating. We also forgot bags for trash and dirty dishes. No wonder it was quick packing! We got along all right without it, but felt pretty dumb about forgetting. I need to remember to find my tablecloth and get it back in the basket before I forget again!

Sty, Quick, Autumn

Sorry, I'm out of order. I'll get back to the cruise stuff soon. It's taking me longer to sort through my pictures than I thought it would. Several crazy days haven't helped, either.

Sty - A filthy place.

September 25, 2009

I left an immaculate house. See what I come home to? And somehow it looks less horrific in the picture than it does in real life.

Quick - Occuring, achieved or acquired in a relatively brief period of time.

Septmeber 26, 2009

Sometimes there just isn't time to do things the right way. Luckily Nestle makes a pretty good frozen dough, and Lane tends to keep me stocked in frozen dough for cookie emergencies. Yes, we do have cookie emergencies. Doesn't everyone?

Autumn - The season of the year between summer and winter.

September 27, 2009

Another view from my kitchen window. I live in the best place!

Day 4 - Part I 9/21

On the way to Uxmal, our tour guide stopped at a local open air market and had us sample this fruit. I don't remember what it was called, but it tasted good. Kinda like a kiwi.

This is our tour guide, Helaman. No really, that's his real name. Calvin accidentally met him a bunch of years ago when he was at Tulum, so when we went to Tulum two years ago we arranged for Helaman to take us privately instead of going with the ship excursion. Yes, with a name like Helaman he is a member of the Church, as are all of his brothers and sisters, except for the one or two who were born before his parents joined the church. There is a Mosiah, Alma, Nephi, and even a Lemuel, that Helaman jokes "is starting to come around." The whole family does tours, primarily down in the Tulum area since they all live in Cancun. We asked if he would be willing to show us Uxmal, and he was since it is the slow season. It took him 4 hours to drive up from Cancun. He came up the day before with his wife, stayed the night, spent the day with us, and then they were going to stay over night again and go to the temple the next day, since whatever temple that is is their closest one. Then after doing two sessions they would make the 4 hour drive home. We were so glad that he was willing to come and show us Uxmal. If anyone ever plans to go to Tulum or Uxmal, or even Chitzen Itza, let me know and I'll let you know how to contact him. Since he is a Mormon, and a seminary teacher, he puts everything in a Book of Mormon context that is very interesting. Uxmal isn't very Book of Mormon-y, though, since it was way after Book of Mormon times.

Lane, Calvin, Angie, my Dad, Kassie and Jesse all listening to Helaman.

This is the big main temple that is the first thing you see when you enter the complex. The temple was undergoing some cleaning work. They were removing rocks, numbering them, cleaning them and putting them back. Up close it looked funny to see the numbers on the rocks.

This is the altar where human sacrifice was performed.