Q-tips

My name is Celiece and I am a Q-tip addict. My addiction started in High School during a young women activity. We were doing a skit and a young women leader looked in my ear and asked me if I could hear her. At the time I wondered if she meant something by it but now I just think it was part of her skit. But from that point on I have used about 2-3 Q-tips a day. I hate to go on vacation and leave them home. I love clean ears, about a couple times a month when I grab a Q-tip and remember that I have already cleaned them a few times that day I go to Nathan's office and make him clean his. I was also grateful that for Parkers baby shower I got baby safe q-tips. With that being said, I think that even this is an exaggeration.

Labor Day

For the past 10 years my in-laws have had a great tradition of throwing an ice-cream freeze off on Labor day. I have been lucky to be a taste tester for the last 3 years (every one who shows up gets that job). Shannon starts the day off by having lunch for everyone and we all sit, eat and mingle, then the freeze off begins. Suddenly those people who were your friends and family minutes ago are trying to sneak a peak at your ice cream making secrets. Flavors are being guarded until the unveiling of the ice cream and the loud humming of the ice cream makers fill the air.
The ice cream is separated into categories giving a few people the chance to make it big. At previous freeze off''s the categories were adult and kid choice, however certain members of the board (Nathan) felt like the only way to win the adult category was to enter a fruit flavor and since he was now considered an adult he wanted more of a say. To put it in his own words he didn't want to feel like he was voting for democrats in Utah. Now the categories are Chocolate, Fruit and Specialty(just a fancy word for other or both chocolate and fruit).
At an appointed time we all place our ice cream in its appropriate category and the tasting begins. We then vote for our favorite flavors in each category and a non-biased judge(one who did not enter the freeze off) counts the votes. We actually won the chocolate category this year-our flavor was yummy!
Cindy pulled out the big guns by entering this. It is vanilla ice cream as the noodles and strawberry rhubarb-peach as the red sauce with Ferrero Rocher chocolates as the meat balls. The noodles and sauce tasted great together.
Each year the winner has to bring back the golden spoon that they one the year before so that it can be handed to the new winner. At 10:00 that morning we were called by a hysteric Leif who accused us of stealing his golden spoon so that he would be disqualified. He later found the spoon at his house but at the beginning of the ice cream freeze off he made an announcement that he had found it in Parkers diaper bag. Does this sweet face look like the face of a criminal? I wish we really had stolen the spoon it would have been funny.This is the firm of Ryan and Jayna. They counted the votes this year but we are expecting them to make an entry next year!!

This is all the craziness of taste testing. But here is a tip from a seasoned pro: only take enough ice cream to taste the flavor or you will be sorry by the end of the day!

Which office character are you?

Which Office Character Are You? You are Pam. You are sweet and likable, but your shyness makes it hard for you to express yourself sometimes. Regardless, you are always there for your friends and will usually come out of your shell to help anyone. Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

Blog Stalking

So I have been trying to make it to bed earlier and tonight looked like the night I was going to be there by 11. Well it is now 12:50 in the morning and I am still up. I was headed there about an hour ago until Nathan wanted to show me his latest movie for his business and then all the sudden the laptop was free. What do I do with a free laptop? Blog stalk of course and I must say tonight I am disappointed, not many updates. Summer is just too busy to keep us creepy stalkers updated on your lives I guess. Well now I really am off to bed.

Solid Foods

Aside from family reunions,over the past month Parker has started eating solids. He loves all fruits, mashed potatoes, and he tolerates rice cereal. While Nathan and I are eating our dinner or lunch, if Parker can con us into feeding him some of our fruit then we are there for half an hour feeding him all of our fruit and scrambling to cut more so that he will stop crying. He likes to eat in his high chair while we have our dinner, it makes him feel like a big boy. And while we make breakfast he will crawl into the kitchen, usually to the base of Nathan's feet and just stare until he picks him up. Maybe Parker could be a gerber baby.







Now, a month later we rarely see this face when introducing more foods. He usually gets excited and wants more.

Camping

For 8 days we have been camping. You might wonder what we can do for 8 days while up in the mountains. Well not a lot and that makes camping all the better. This year was a big bear year so a couple of night we were woken up by the bears and had to chase them away. We saw a mom and her cubs and a few other bears. It was very exciting. I walked 5 miles almost every day with Nathan's aunt, with Parker in his stroller for his nap. Every morning we wake up and make camp toast which is toasted over hot coals, so yummy! Every afternoon we would go to the river to cool off and clean off the dirt. Then we would come home at dusk and start a fire .Nathan played his usual Frisbee golf game and biked 6 miles up hill to the river a few times. It was a great trip and it is always good to come home. The babies can't help but play in the dirt. Cecelia is more mobile so she got to play in the dirt. Parker will still let you hold him for a few more weeks-luckily. Next year this will be Parker.



Parker loved the river. He would splash and splash and cry when he wanted back in. He didn't even care that the water was so cold!!


Also one of the best things about camping is relaxing!! We all were able to take our shares of naps. Parker slept good at night too, he slept for 10 hour straight some nights.
We also like to sit around the camp fire and talk. This is our three generation pose of Nathan, Jim and Parker.
Nathan asked me to marry him here three years ago at sunset. The view is beautiful.
On our last day we went for a couple of walks to see the sights.

Harry Potter

Last night with all the other Potter Fans I stood in line at Wal-Mart at midnight to get my copy of the seventh book of Harry Potter. The line never seemed to end as it went out the door and wrapped around the store. We patiently waited with our Gryffindor arm bands that said that we would get a book. Then the time came and we got our books!! This is Stephanie Brookann, our neighbor Colby and me with our books. Looks like I know what I am going to be reading for the next few weeks. I haven't read 100 pages yet and someone has already died. It is going to be intense!!