day trippin' : bull pen / beaver dam

Anyone know what the high temp was for the Phoenix valley yesterday?

113. 

Seriously, it's like we're livin' next door to Hell.  I had to sweep brimstone off and away from my sidewalk this morning.  (not that this has anything to do with my two neighbors, who are actually very lovely women)

So we decided to get out of the Valley of the Sweat and take a little day trip with a friend up north a bit.

We went up past Camp Verde, off road for a bit, and found a (relatively) cool little spot near Bull Pen/Beaver Dam.  We hiked in about 1/2 a mile, which worked out just fine for the boys.  Then, we swam and had some fun in the water.  In the shade it was perfect!

Here are some of our favorite shots from the  trip.

           

 

 

As you can see, it was filled with thrills, spills, and chills (pretty much in that order, too) and was the perfect little day getaway, only about 2 hours north of us.  We hope to search out and find other fun sites within a day's drive to keep our summer interesting. 

happy summer break to me! for two weeks anyway

I took the Chem final yesterday--finished the 8 week class in 6 weeks, yay!--and am so happy to be done with it! Still waiting on some final labs to be graded, but I think I'll end up with a high B, if not a low A. Good to have that finished! Now I'll help Dan get through his last two weeks. We're very much looking forward to getting out of the AZ heat (113 yesterday!) and into the CA heat over the 4th. *grin* At present they're about 10-15 cooler than us, but really, once you hit 100, anything over that is just HOT.

I'm hosting a little scrappy party this Saturday night, haven't done that in months (years?) so I'm excited for a little girl time. I pretty much lost all my friends this past year (LOL) due to school and my crazy schedule. Hangin' out with the gals will be good for me I'm sur, even if I don't actually scrapbook!

I'm babysitting today and tmrw (5 yr old, 3 yr old, and 6 month old), have to reteach myself how to take care of little ones! My big boys are so independent, I don't realize quite how much. Ethan seems like such a big boy (figuratively, not literally, all my kiddos are pipsqueaks!) in comparison. It'll be nice to have some other children for them to play with. Sean's already enamored with the baby, which leaves my hands free, so that works for me!

We made mint chocolate chip ice cream this morning as per Cameron's request. Mint is not my favorite, but I was happy to oblige as we try a couple new recipes a week; a few days ago I made Rocky Road but that hasn't been a family favorite. Hopefully the mint will work out--it's pretty if nothing else!

in the household news today...

Well, once again, things are pretty boring on my side of the world.

People ask how our summer is going and what we're doing to stay busy, to which I respond School and Reading. That pretty much sums up my days. Other than the occasional clean-up disaster after the boys--yesterday, taco grease all over the kitchen. Don't. Even. Ask. I'm pretty sure the neighbors even heard me yelling. And even now, they are at their grandmother's repairing a fence they helped destroy.

Chemistry is just about over, thank heavens. It is far from my favorite subject, even though I am doing well enough. I hope to take my final tomorrow and then I will have a couple of weeks before Pathophysiology starts after the 4th. It'll be nice to have a couple weeks' break. If you remember, I started Chem before my nursing block finished, and Patho will go 2 weeks into the next nursing block. So my 'summer break' will be these next two weeks. Whoopee! *eye roll*

Other trivial facts on my mind this day:

We bought a new kitchen table & chairs last week to go along with the new white/black kitchen. Now I need to finish the curtain rod and valance and figure out what I'm going to do with the remaining blank wall. Ideas? I really hate to clutter it up with more dust-catching knick-knacks. I think ideally I'd put a bit mirror there (framed in red) but I haven't done any searching for one of those yet.

My children have discovered The Animaniacs cartoons. <--my favorite cartoons from the early 90s. I still can quote a lot of them. Too funny. As we watch, I'll laugh and laugh. So many of them were really written for adults, so the humor goes right over the kids' heads. They laugh because it's silly, I laugh because I get it.

We're heading to Cali over the 4th of July. So looking forward to that. Great-Grandpa is putting on another Family Summer Olympics which should be stinkin' FUN! That is one of our favorite things EVER. We also plan on going to Pismo Beach and doing some fishing (Dan, at least), and squeezing in every ounce of fun with our 5 days with the family that we can.

We make ice cream nearly every day. Tee hee. My diet has started and stopped so many times already this summer, it's humorous. Started again yesterday--have a goal in mind by the start of our Cali vacay, so I'm motivated!

I'm babysitting Thursday for 3 little ones for a friend who is moving; haven't done that in quite some time, have I? In fact, I'm nervous that we won't have anything for them to do...I have no high chairs or playpens or anything for the little ones, but I think the boys will enjoy having the other kids here. Sean loves babies so he'll be a big help.

As I've mentioned several times, I've been reading lots. Some have been duds, but you never know until you try 'em, right? I always have a book with me, in the car, the doc's office, whatever. I won't really have that opportunity come Fall Semester, might as well take advantage while I can!

We have a little pool table we're selling (to help pay for my kitchen table!) Anyone interested? It has the entire ball set but no sticks. It's approx 3.5 x 6 feet, really decent shape. I have it listed on craigslist for $180 but that's totally negotiable.

Well, that's it for us 'til my next boring update!

a new book review, discovery of witches

You may remember that I read a book last month that seems to be working its way through my friends and fellow readers, A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

This is one I really got into and highly recommend.

Check out my review over on the BlogHer Book Club page, and read other's reviews while you're there. This one is definitely worth your while.

win jane austen's complete novels

Remember last month when I read and reviewed A Jane Austen Education ?

I was given these two lovely books--William Deresiewicz's memoir as well as a beautiful deluxe copy of Jane Austen, the Complete Novels.

Now you have a chance to win both of these as well!

Just go here and enter to win by telling how Austen has changed your life!

Enter as many times as you like--contest ends June 24th when 5 random winners will be chosen and notified by email. (You might have to register with BlogHer and log in to the site to enter, but over the years they have hosted many contests--several of which I've won--so it's really worth your while to sign up and give it a try.)

Good luck!

lately uploaded on my ipod

So it's been many moons since I've done a little ipod update blog post. It's also been many moons since I've downloaded any songs AND/OR found any songs I liked enough to download AND/OR listened to radio for just music. Let's face it, most songs out there are crap. As I've been discussing with my oldest son, most songs nowadays, if you listen closely, are about one thing. So I try not to listen to words too much. Yeah, denial and ignorance are beautiful things. Not.

Anyway, on that note, I do have a few I've recently downloaded. We always try to get edited versions, but the youtube versions are not, so listen at your own risk.

Good Life -- One Republic. I've decided if I had to listen to one band the rest of my life, they would be it. Well, it'd be a toss-up between them, The Fray, or Blue October. I include the video because I think it's perty interesting.

Price Tag -- Jessie J. This gets stuck in my head and it's a good message besides.

Show Goes On -- Lupe Fiasco. I don't really care for the rap part, but the chorus is fun.

Keep Your Head Up -- Andy Grammar. This guy reminds me of Michael Buble. (Dwight is in this video!)

The Lazy Song -- Bruno Mars. This song would be ideal if one line was missing. You know which. Oh, and the video is retarded.

Give a Little -- Hanson. Aww...Hanson grows up. This still has a bit of an MmmBop feel to it, and I'm ok with that.

What Are Words -- Chris Medina. I didn't follow American Idol for the first time this year, but I still heard about this guy and his story (long-time girlfriend completely disabled in an accident), so I find the song very sweet.

E.T. -- Katy Perry (the version WITHOUT Kanye West for crying out loud. That man ruins everything he touches)

Sing -- My Chemical Romance

Hidden Away -- Josh Groban

Colder Weather -- Zac Brown Band. Love the song. Love the video. Love.

And Waiting for the End -- Linkin Park. This one's been out for a while but I still luuuurve it, so I include the very interesting video as well.

les miserables

We had a nice little date night last night and went to see Les Miserables at Gammage.  I hadn't seen this one since 1995-ish, so I was very excited to go!  This play is one of my favorites because there is so much to it.  So much more plot and music and intensity than Phantom -- don't get me wrong, I LOVE Phantom, but there's just so much more to this story.  It covers something like 60 years of history before and during the French Revolution. 

Dan and I had a really nice time.

Well. . . I did, Dan fell asleep.  :)  It's hard when you're not as familiar with the words and songs and stories; he really couldn't understand the words being sung (he hates vibrato) nor could he follow what was going on.  We should have studied up before we went.  Oh well!

 

We had great seats on the floor and sat next to our friends Casey Lu and and Ehren.  I would have taken more pics but immediately after I took this one, I was politely informed by staff that "cameras are not allowed inside the theatre, ma'am".  (He was nice about it, so I immediately put my camera away)

That's our last play til "Wicked" next February.  Can't wait!

i scream, you scream. . .

My parents gave us the coolest gift last week.

(Cool in more ways than one!)

It's a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker!  (in red to match my kitchen!)

We've been making a different flavor of ice cream every day--it's literally that easy, takes about 5 minutes to set up and mix up the ingredients, then it mixes for about 25, you pop it in the freezer overnight and voila!  Ice cream.  :)

'Course, I haven't eaten any of it (eternal dieter, here) but the boys and Dan and loving it and yes, I have snuck a taste every now and then.

Here's some of our yummies, strawberry, chocolate chip, caramel, and cookies n' cream <--that's the best, seriously, ya'll!

  

So. . . anyone wanna come over?  I have the snacks!  :)

wind in the willow springs -- a camping adventure

We always love a little jaunt up north for cooler temps, big campfires, and making pishy in the woods. But our last camping trip didn't quite go as planned!

The weather called for wind, but we had no idea we'd be experiencing hurricane-like winds while roughing it in the wild! The first day, it was just inconvenient. The temperature was lovely and perfect--until that wind picked up, or you stood in the shadows. We even braved the lake for a bit of fishing--which again, when there was no wind, was perfect. But as soon as the hurricane forces started up again, we were a tad chilly!

I swear the first night it sounded like we were sleeping next to a racing freight train it was so loud, but that's just the effect of wind through those tall tall trees.

The second day, the boys' tent zipper broke (after, count 'em, TWO times of using it), and then mid-day whilst Dan and I were studying Chemistry in our tent (really, honest, I swear) the nailed-down gazebo snapped in half and flipped over. I said to Dan, "Do you wanna just go home?" he said, "Yes!" and off we went. Well, after 2 hours of packing up camp.

So, it ended up being a bit of a costly adventure. But there were some good times. Just see:

There's the gazebo and tent before the wild wilderness claimed them. (No, we did not leave our broken items in the wilderness, but it was definitely a pain trying to close up that gazebo once it had snapped in half! My big muscley man did it though!)

Seriously, look at that dirty face. Like 2 hours after we'd been there.

This is why we were here, a little time out on the boat.

It didn't take the boys long to learn that "Fishing is Boring!" Yes, I quite agree. A lot of sit and wait. Though all they wanted to do was reel in their lines over and over. Fortunately, no one got stuck with a hook in the eye throughout the whole thing.

Onto dinner! Yummm.

And dessert.

And breakfast. :) You already know my happiest times revolve around food.

Dan made this awesome rope swing for us.

Everyone got a turn.

Everyone!

So it was still full of fun times--a rough day camping beats a boring day at home any ol' day--but we'll have to buy some more equipment before we go out again.

Check out the wind!