Escalante, Population 850

We went and visited our favorite residents of Escalante, UT: Stacy, Bryan, and Baby Ada! This was my first time visiting them even though they've lived there for 5 years or so. We had a lot of fun! Stacy & Bryan have a small (but absolutely gorgeous) place so we didn't stay them, and instead stayed in a giant cabin owned by their friends. Ellie had a fantastic time breaking in all of Ada's toys. I can't wait until they're both a little older and can start playing with each other.

Ada has changed so much in the month and a half it's been since we saw her last. She is rolling over (3 months before Ellie could) and she'll probably have teeth before Ellie too. She is a super cute baby! Her little baby squeals are by far my favorite thing about her.

Stacy and Bryan took us to Devils Garden, just outside of town. It was a really neat place where you could just wander amongst the rock formations. Really, really beautiful!

This is my favorite picture we got of Ellie. She looks so grown up, standing up all by herself (kind of... you can see Mike's arm behind her if you look really closely).

We had a really good time visiting family! Stacy & Bryan are excellent cooks and we enjoyed lots of vegetables picked from their garden. Mike ate a Santa Fe Pepper, which was pretty spicy. I touched my tongue to it and boy did it burn! I can't imagine what it would feel like to eat a big chunk of that.

On our way home, we stopped at Bryce Canyon with my parents.

Here's Ellie, posing in front of the majestic backdrop of Bryce Canyon. The only thing separating her from the sheer cliff below was her papa's arms. (Actually, she was very safely seated on a post, securely held by Mike... but it sure felt like she was flirting with death to me. I hate heights.)

This is at the Inspiration Point Overlook. When we headed back to the parking lot, Mike pointed at a car and said, "Oh! Someone's missing their license plate. Poor people!" As we got closer, we realized WE were those poor people.

Someone stole our rear license plate! And they even stole the bolts that attached it to the car. Really? Who does that in a crowded parking lot in the middle of the day? We had to go to the Visitor's Center and file a police report and then they gave us a copy of our signed affidavit so if we got pulled over on the way home, we'd have proof we reported it. By some miracle, we didn't get pulled over at all on the way home and we went to the DMV the next day and paid $10 to get new plates. So to you, Mr. License Plate Stealer, I say, "Thanks a lot! I could've bought lots of delicious ice cream for that $10."

Tummy-Time Blanket

This is something I made for my upcoming little nephew so he can have a stylish place to practice tummy time. It's star-shaped, so it's not really practical to use as a blanket... but it's great to sit on and play with toys. Ellie can vouch for that. I found the pattern online and not to brag or anything, but I think it turned out really well!

Jungle Shower

My sister-in-law, Tiffany, is having a baby in October and we couldn't be more excited for her! We did a Jungle Baby Shower, to match her nursery. It turned out really cute! I made the cupcakes, and my mother-in-law did all of the decorating, which is why it turned out so well. I'm not really that good in the "Cute-Department." I actually used up all of my domesticity in one afternoon making those cupcakes. Don't expect anything else from me for the rest of the year!


So, the cupcakes were pretty fun to make, albeit very time-consuming. My co-worker had the book, "What's up, cupcake?" and lent it to me when I told her I was trying to come up with ideas for a jungle-themed baby shower. So I got the idea for the hippo, flamingo, and crocodile in the book, and made up my own monkey. The amazing thing about that book (which I loved) was that their instructions were very reasonable. I am by no means an amazing cook, but these were very do-able. Here are the ingredients for each animal:

Monkey: Nilla wafers (chopped in half for the mouth), M&Ms (for the eyes)
Hippo: Nutter Butters, Cheerios (for the nostrils and the ears), mini choco chips for the eyes
Alligator: Nutter Butters (with the sides shaved off to make the right shape), Fruit Loops (for the eyes) , mini choco chips, white frosting (for the teeth)
Flamingo: Pretzel covered in pink chocolate (for the neck), pink jelly bean (for the head), banana runt (chopped in half for the beak), pink starburst (flattened and cut to make the wings)

Green Thumbs

Mike and I have fallen in love with Arugula. Mike ate a bunch on his mission and introduced it to me and now we can't stop eating it! We decided to try out our green thumbs and see if we could grow some in our living room.

We planted them on Thursday evening. Please note our most awesome gardening tools.

And I'm proud to report that when we got home from our camping trip on Saturday night, it looked like this:

Only another month or so until we can eat it! Mike said it's often called "The Rocket" for how fast it grows! That's going to be some fine eatin'!

Mosquito Bait

This year the mosquitoes had some new blood to suck on! Ellie had her first camping trip up in the Uintahs with my family at Trial Lake. My dad was there for 5 days, but we only stayed 2. Ellie did remarkably well! She slept pretty good the one night we were up there and enjoyed all the attention she got from my parents.

Extra eye-protection for our phylctenule-baby.

Ellie vs. Food

Ellie vs. Milk

Ellie vs. Cereal

Ellie vs. Sweet Potatoes

Ellie vs. Peaches

Ellie vs. Plums

Ellie vs. Pepsi (an unopened can, of course)

Baby Blanket

I enjoy crocheting, I really do. But remind me never to do another granny-square blanket. Here's the blanket I made for my new niece, Ada.