Summer Reading

Our internet's been a little shifty for the last few weeks, and so I've just spent the last hour or so catching up on everyone's lives, and loving it. I love all the funny little things that happen from day to day- I think that's one of the greatest things about blogging. It's fantastic that we suddenly feel confident and justified in publishing the otherwise overlooked and seeemingly insignificant nothings of our life for the world to see. I'm a huge fan of nothings.

Well, life in Montana is great- quite the vacation-land. True, most everything closes up around 5 or 6 (or sometimes earlier), and while we went through a little detox our first month (i.e. "So, do you want to hang out at Walmart or Barnes and Noble for our date tonight?) the gorgeous scenery and outdoor adventures are winning us over. It is absolutely beautiful here.

One of the things that makes me feel like I'm on vacation the most is that I'm reading like crazy. The best part about summer to me when I was a kid was the fact that I could stay up pretty much however late I wanted reading. I know, I'm a nerd. But still, I didn't have to get up for school, so it was ok if I blitzed my brain by staying up to finish an extra book. Ahh, those crazy summer nights!

Getting back to it, in the last week I've tucked three novels under my belt, read through countless cookbooks (you had to see that one coming), and am halfway through two others. I have loved them all so much I just had to share.

Heartbeat by Sharon Creech- She is one of my favorite authors (see other recommendation further down), and this book was wonderful. I love the strong character role-models she gives for young girls.

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown- I heard from so many people that they liked this one better than the first, and after reading it. . . I still don't know. I suppose I'm partial to the first for Parisian reasons, but I gotta say this guy definitely knows how to write a page-turner!

The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo- LOVE LOVE LOVED it! It was charming and delightful and I felt myself tear up just a bit, which is always a sign of an excellent book.

Here are the books I'm currently in the middle of, and I'm LOVING them. Both highly recommendable!

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

Prelude to Glory Series by Ron Carter


Reading the young adult books this last week reminded me of so many others great ones, so here are some of my favorites if you are looking for something to read to your kids or happen to love the genre yourself.


Everything on a Waffle by Polly Horvath


Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech- this is quite possibly my favorite book of all time!


Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

So there you go, just a few of my favorites. I hope you pick one of them up- and yes I know, titles should be underlined instead of italicized, but where in the world is the underline button?!
My English professors would be ashamed.

Update

We totally caved.

Reese got to stay up an extra hour with us. I just couldn't put her back until the little hyperventilaty sniffles had completely passed.

The smart little stinkpot.

Bedtime

We just put Reese to bed. It's normal for her to cry for a few minutes before settling down since it's still light outside and she feels like she got put to bed early, but tonight through the tears and sobs we hear,

"Mommy, Daddy. . . I love you! I LOVE you!"

Normally it doesn't bother me 'cause I know she's tired, but I feel like the meanest person in the world right now.

Up

After hearing so much about Pixar's new movie, "Up" we decided the rainy weather made yesterday a perfect movie day. We hit the matinee and found ourselves in the midst of about 10 or 12 birthday parties. Finding seats was tough, but having little kids all around us was great-peals of kiddie laughter filled the air- especially through the preview of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and watching everything through 3D glasses made it even more fun.

It was a fantastic movie- different from others they've done before in that the story is just. . .a beautifully touching thing. I was wiping away tears before we'd even made it thirty minutes into the show. I know, I'm a baby, but it was so good. And really funny too- Reese loved it and we heard her giggle all the way through. We give it two thumbs way up! (No pun intended there)

As the movie wrapped up and the credits started to roll, I felt a warmth starting to spread through me. It was definitely a happy ending, and a sweet storyline, but that wasn't what I was feeling. This kind of warmth came from something else entirely. Her name is Reese, and I guess in our rush to get there before the movie started, neglecting to change her diaper was a bad decision since this particular warmth was slowly spreading to cover my entire lap.

To Tame the Beast

Reese and I go to the park almost every day. Sometimes twice a day. When we first started she was pretty much against all toys- she'd rather spend her time chasing ducks and trying to pet baby geese. Well, lately, since we've started walking with other girls and their boys from our ward, she's gotten much braver. She climbs up on the big toy with the rest of them and runs around and has a great time. That is until she gets stuck on the bridge. It's one of those short, black shiny rubber things that sags a little in the middle.

Well, from the very start it made her nervous and so instead of walking or running across it like everyone else, she stops, drops to all fours, and attempts to army crawl her way across. Nothing wrong with a bit of caution, right? Wrong. She gets stuck in the middle every single time, and since she doesn't dare stand she spends most of her time hanging onto the opposite side while her knees go a mile a minute up and down the rubber. Eventually she gives up and goes with one of two options:

1-) Yelling, "Mama!!! Stuck!" at the top of her lungs until I come give her bottom a little shove in the right direction
or
2-) Consigning herself to the role of Permanant Playtoy Greeter as she plops herself down and gives a warm "Hi" to every child that passes by.

It's tough tangle, but one of these days we'll get this rubber monster to admit defeat.

Scones

Have you ever had a baked scone? Worlds different than their deep-fried cousins, baked are, in my opinion, far superior. Soft muffin texture, slight crunch on the outside edges, and filled with any variety of fruits, spices, and chocolate. When made right, they're a hard thing not to love. And, you can even eat it for breakfast! Oh yes. Bring it baby!

I remember the first time I tried one: I was visiting a friend and she took me to the Puyallup Washington State Fair. Amidst racing piglets in colored jerseys (no joke) was a seemingly simple scone stand. A long line snaked its way through the other booths, and we waited our turn. One bite took me to comfort food heaven- they were that good. Warm, fresh scones spread with butter and homemade raspberry jam wrapped in waxed paper. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. Yum!

Since then I've sampled plenty of varieties, but have yet to find a recipe I love. . . until now. Leave it to one of my favorite San Francisco bloggers to nail it. I couldn't decide which way to go when I made them the other night so I'll include both variations, and you can take your pick. Each came out equally fantastic!

Buttermilk Scones w/ Dried Cherries & Almonds
16 scones(adapted from "The Baker's Dozen Cookbook")

3 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

6 ounces (12 tbsp/ 1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

2/3 cup dried cherries, chopped coarsely

1/3 cup almonds, chopped coarsely

2 tbsp sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Preheat oven to 425F. Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a large mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a pastry blender or your fingertips until the mixture resembles small peas.Stir the buttermilk, vanilla and almond extracts together and add all at once to the mixture. Stir with a fork until the dough becomes sticky and shaggy. Stir in cherries and almonds. Turn your dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Knead the about 10 times. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into an 8-inch circle about 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle each circle with 1 tbsp sugar (if using) and press the sugar gently into the surface of the dough. Using a sharp knife cut each circle into 8 wedges. Repeat with other half. (Or you can just divide the dough into 16 round patties like I did.) Brush each generously with cream or half-and-half (If you haven't got it, regular milk will work just fine). Bake the scones until light brown and slightly puffy, about 15 to 18 minutes. Cool about 5-10 minutes before serving.

*The real secret here is how much you knead the dough- do more than the 10 times and your scones will be tough and dense. There are some situations where less is more, and this is one of them.

Here are my variations:

Cherry Dark Chocolate Scones:

In place of almonds substitute 2/3 c. chopped dark chocolate

Omit almond extract and add an extra 1/4 tsp vanilla

Cinnamon Scones:

Omit cherries, almonds and almond extract. In place stir in 1 c. cinnamon chips. After brushing tops with cream, sprinkle on cinnamon sugar and give it a good pat to make sure it sticks.

Hope you give it a try and absolute LOVE your results!

Puppy Love

Ruby is our landlord's german shepherd mix, and Reese's new best friend. She's a sweet black dog that loves kids and balls and sticks.
Quick tangent here- I can't help but think of my Grandma Derr when I say that Ruby's black- she had it in for all black dogs and had an unmistakable tone of distain in her voice every time she referred to them. In fact, I'm pretty sure she never bothered to learn their names; Mese's dog Pepper, was simply, "That black dog." Poor thing! She was probably the sweetest dog we ever had. She was definitely a quirky old lady, and I think we all love her for her quirks more than anything else.

Well, I hadn't meant that to turn into a tribute to my Grandma, but oh well. Tangents are what life is really made of while you try to get back on track.

Anyway, everytime we step outside Reese grabs a stick and runs around going, "Puppy? Puppy?" Unfortunately the puppy lives several streets away, hence the offering of her sticks to passing geese.

Imagine her joy when, today, while I was out getting a flowerbed ready for our first real garden (more on that later!), Ruby came bounding over to meet her since Jim was going to mow our lawn.

The word joy does not begin to describe the sensation that filled little Reesie. We tossed sticks, and threw ball and each time Ruby sprinted after it Reese fell into a new heap of giggles. Both Jim and I cracked up ourselves. There is nothing so open and unabashed as toddler joy. And as most of you know, Reese is quite possibly the most open and unabashed of them all. It was fantastic to watch!

We're counting the days until we can get our own puppy. Come on graduation!

The New Girl in Town

In a fit of sponteneity bred by great weather we took a day trip up to Glacier Nat'l Park this weekend. This is a place that I have been dying to visit for several years now, and was one of the major selling points that got me on board for Great Falls this summer. So now that we're in Montana, I think I've casually mentioned some 40 or so times that we should go. It turns out we're only a little over 2 hours away so the real question here is why not pack up and go for a day trip?

And oh my goodness - it was AMAZING!

For all of you that have never seen Glacier up close and personal you are SERIOUSLY missing out. Most of us have been to a few parks- Yellostone, Zions, etc. Ryan's analogy was this, which I thought both hilarious and accurate,

" Yellowstone is the girl-next-door. She's cute, you know her really well, and you like her a lot.

But Glacier. Glacier is the hot new girl that just moved in down the street!!!"

Everywhere we looked was breathtaking. And it was great to go at the beginning of the season since there weren't as many people to compete with. We went on some great hikes and loved every minute of it!

Here are a few of the pics- be prepared, you will ooh and ahh and wish you were there.

Just wanted to prep you. :)

Loved the moss and ferns everywhere- so pretty!

I love this picture- I just love the facial expressions. Reese had a bit too much juice on the way up, so when we got there she was soaked through her clothes. This was right after she got changed on the side of the road.

Enjoying the great outdoors!

Reese LOVED drinking from my Camelback!

This is St. Mary Falls. Absolutely gorgeous!

Ta-Da! And we didn't even fall in.

By far Reese's favorite were all the rocks she collected along our walks. She had an urgent call on this one she just had to take. Whoever it was must have been cracking jokes like crazy 'cause she giggled all the way down to the lake.

Isn't this a cool tree? It was calling Reese's name.

Glacier is cool in that there is only one road that goes through the park, the only other way through is on all the trails. We only hit a handful of them while we were there and decided that we will definitely be back several times throughout the summer to check as many of them out as possible.

So basically,

Love, Love, Loved it. I'm not sure I could get enough of it, even if I tried.

But I think I'll try anyway. :)