Jay-do

Jay-doo
Originally uploaded by uglypeaches

A few weeks ago I decided to bust out the hair gel and give Jaden a new 'do. He's stylin' in this pic, complete with a Mohawk. The last time I did his hair I parted it on the side, and combed it really nice. Everyone said that he looked like a sissy, but I thought it was better than his "Albert Einstein" look. Everyone seemed to approve of this, though. For those of you who don't know, my awesome nephew is now walking hard core. He can take about six steps at a time, when he wants to.
Jaden is also my biggest fan when it comes to cooking. I made some cake the other day, and that his little hands were shaking from excitement making it hard to get the crumbs in his mouth. Jaden's pretty much a big deal.

A Discovery

I just returned from Summerfest. I love Summerfest because it's become somewhat of a tradition for me. When the trees leaf out, and the sun starts baking the sidewalk, it's time to go to Summerfest. There's really nothing extraordinary about the entire thing: it's really just a gathering of artists, some are local, some aren't. Last year I got a wreath for my door. This year I came back with a discovery. I found a booth that immediately captured my attention with it's vibrant picture of two monks, dressed in red, leaning out a window. It was phenomenal; a work of art. And then glancing around, I felt like I'd stepped into a National Geographic photographers studio. There were pictures from every place imaginable-Nepal, Guatemala, Zimbabwe, China,...just about every people, place and culture. Every picture was beautiful, and powerful in it's own way. Some made you laugh, some made you want to cry, and others just made you think. The artists name was Emerson Matabele, and he has somehow managed to capture hundreds of the various facets that make the human spirit sparkle.

The Question...

Photo courtesy of StephenieMeyer.com


I know the question that has been on all of your minds..."Is the Host worth reading?" And this question can be easily answered by reading my latest Book Review Blogspot!
...I don't know if you've noticed or not, but on the right side of this blogspot is a link to "Formulated Phrase", it's a new blogspot that I've started that has all of my book reviews. I've been toying with the idea of starting an on-line book club of sorts, and plan to make it very viewer interactive. So, check it out, and tell me whether or not you agree with me, or if you don't. I plan on reading at least a book a month this summer. I actually have a whole reading schedule lined up until next summer, so feel free to join me. No pressure.

Starburst

It is a well known fact that I am a candy-monger. I could horde candy until pigs fly. It's a gift, really. It makes it a tricky situation because we always seem to have candy in our apartment. Don has an unusually large sweet-tooth. And my sister, Aubrey, who has deprived herself for nearly a decade due to her running career, has an even larger one. So whenever she comes over to my apartment, and sees some candy, it's always a temptation. I discovered that to her it's a deadly game to eat candy in my house. Like a form of Russian Roulette. To quote her verbatim,
"Whenever Don buys candy, you know it will be okay...
...if Erin has candy it was probably found with the Dead Sea Scrolls."
Now, by itself, this comment isn't quite as funny. But, the fact that she said this while chewing madly on a Starburst for the past five minutes made it pretty funny. The fact that Ashley had given it to her, and then started doing a sadistic happy dance in the background made it even funnier. And the realization that I had no idea where the mystery petrified Starburst came from made it...priceless. As Aubrey observed after her chewing frenzy, "It's like giving a dog peanut butter."
I'll slowly stop candy addicts, one fossilized Starburst at a time...

Cruisin'

When my Grandpa Leavitt was still alive, and when I was a little girl, he would take me "crusin'". Crusin' consisted of just hanging out with grandpa, going to flea markets, and where-ever the wind would take us. I liked it because it was some one-on-one time and I was spoiled rotten. All I would have to do is tug on his sleeve, look up at him with my bright green eyes, and say, "look grandpa!" while pointing to the desired object. It worked like a charm every time.
Don and I went "crusin'" this past spring break to Ensenada, Mexico and Catalina Island. It was wonderful, being surrounded by the smell of the salty air, and the sound of the rolling waves on our Cruise ship which was named, oddly enough, the Paradise, and forgetting for 3 blissful days that we had any care in the world. Time passes fast when you go "cruisin'" and I've found that the past time hasn't changed. Only now my grandpa is replaced with Don.
We went with our friends Eric and Kim Larsen, and carpooled to Las Vegas where we spent the night with some family friends. We walked down the entire strip just to ride the Stratusphere, which turned out to be too much money for the entertainment it offered. So then we walked all the way back. The strip is forever long, and not really all that exciting when you don't smoke, gamble or want to pay $7 for a Ben and Jerry's ice cream cone. Stupid Vegas.
Our next part of the trip was sunny San Diego. I like the name Diego, I think that our next pet will have that name. (*Just a note: Floppy Joe died this Christmas, it wasn't quite Christmas without Joe... infact I wrote a limerick-eulogy for him, well, it was actually just something I said before the flush. It went:

There was an ol' fish named Joe,
who always went with the flow,
His fins were all frayed,
We're glad that you stayed,
But now it's time to go.

And that's the end of Joe's story.)
Back on topic, San Diego was really nice, especially compared to Vegas. They had really good food there, and we went to this fun little beach called La Jolla, which, they say, means, "the Jewel".
The next day we went to Sea World. It was my first time, and I must say, I'm impressed. I could be a marine biologist. Seriously. I didn't know that sea turtles could absorb oxygen through their skin. Go figure. I was also impressed with how clean they kept the park, and how well they trained the animals. I didn't think those animals could be trained. I did think that the whole killer whale presentation was cheesy. I think I ruined it for some of the people around me when I bust out laughing at what was supposed to be one of the most touching parts.
That night we hopped the boarder into Tiajuana. It's exactly what they say it is: an armpit. We did however get some really good tamales. When we came back across the boarder we had to wait in a line that was at least five city blocks long, for about 45 minutes. This was my first experience outside of the country.
But the next day we boarded the cruise ship. Complete with about 50 other Utah State University students. I kid you not. If we were to take a poll of the biggest group of people from one place aboard that ship it would be good old Logan, Utah.
I liked being on the ship. Someone made my bed every single day, and folded a cute little towel animal, which we didn't have the heart to destroy because they were so dang cute. And they left chocolate on my pillow. Does life get any better? Never mind the fact that for the first time in my life I could order anything I wanted (several times) from the menu and not feel the least guilty because there were no prices listed on the menu. And I was waited on several times by our professional Thai waiters, who were impressed that I could say hello to them in their native tongue. We could also eat up to 7 times a day on the ship, which is a stark comparison to now. Now we've been living off of Sundays lasagna because neither of us have time to cook. Oh! I also had tea time on the ship. It was really nice, and one of my favorite memories about the trip...I was sitting in a lounge with the sunlight flooding through the window with the gentle swaying of the boat and an emerald sea outside of my window, all while delicately sipping a cup of tea...okay, it was three cups of tea, and several cucumber sandwiches, among the other sandwiches. After a while the waiters started avoiding me. I also met a charming lady with an English accent who was from no other place than...Orange County California. Anti-climatic, I know, that's exactly what I thought when she said it. I thought I was having tea with a bona-fide english lady. She made up for it and admitted that she'd lived in Oxford, Paris, and Italy. When she asked where I was from I told her,
"Utah."
"Oh," she replied, "land of the 'lost' people."
...what the heck does that mean? They knew where they were going when they came here.
We also stopped off at Catalina Island. How come no one ever told me how amazing it was? And by amazing I mean, "lush, tropical, no-shoes, casual wear, bike riding, mural tiles, kick-butt snorkeling and sea kayaking packages, 1920's get-away with the smell of waffle cones and ice cream while reggae music magically plays off of the waves and dolphins jump off shore," amazing. I fell in love with Catalina. It is the only place I would even consider getting merchandise that had it's name on it. Usually I avoid all of those stupid sweatshirts and hats with the annoying, "Yellowstone", "Jackson Hole" banners labeled across them. But I would wear a Catalina shirt with pride!! I think it would also be good for my psyche. I could look down at the shirt the day I was wearing it and think of how amazing it was...and in would float the memories of all the previously mentioned things. I have to admit that while we were pulling away from the island, I forlornly watched it's profile disappear from my window.
Our last stop was Ensenada. It was probably the second most educational place that we visited aside from Sea World. And that's because we had a kick-butt tourist guide. I could tell you all about the economy, history, religion, and language of Ensenada, and how it's connected to sushi. But I won't bore you with the details. We went and saw the La Bufadora, which means the "blow hole."
Ensenada was a really big tourist trap. I felt bad for the poor woman with her daughter who sold necklaces day-after-day, and wished that I had enough money just to give to the store owners who seemed so desperate so sell an item...any item to us. I wish I could've explained that we weren't really rich, that we were really college students who would be living off of ramen noodles for the next month or two, or three because of this trip. I felt that the places I saw in Mexico poorly represented the country as a whole. It would be like going to North Ogden and thinking that all of Utah looked like that. People don't know about Zion's, Capital Reef, Arches, etc. All they see is the butt-ugly, concrete encrusted, city.
I learned on this trip that I am an engineer:
~I read all of the signs at Sea World so that I can learn more, because I'm not in school and my brain is bored.
~I think about the roads when we drove from Utah to California...are they using HD-21-W.B., or epoxy?...By the way, Nevada has really weird roads the colors were weird, and on some parts there wasn't any crown...???
~I wonder if the cruise ship treats it's own water system,..and how the heck do they get the toilets to flush that much? You really could suck a pound cake or small child down one of those things.
~ I also wondered how the pipes work on the boat. I stared at the pipe network above my head while I was eating dinner every night.
So, that was my crusin' time. It was pretty awesome.