hope

Faith is things which are hoped for, and not seen.

Tonight Sadie participates in the annual Relay for Life.  This is an amazing organization created to fight cancer.  Their motto: Celebrate, Remember, Fight back.  This will be Sadie's fourth year participating.  Pictures tomorrow.  

My friend Shawni (71toes) is also involved in an incredible effort to help increase awareness and provide research money to fight blindness.  Please see the story of her daughter Lucy here.

Hope is a wonderful thing.  Hope matters.  Hope is what can give us peace when a problem seems insurmountable.  Our God is a god of love and hope. I am grateful today (and everyday) for hope.

retail therapy

Bought some red, skinny jeans today.....and I think I'm going to like em'.

And can we just have a moment of silence for Picnik. Closing on april 17th...why, why, why???

the good, the bad, and the septic tank

Five years ago we purchased a little acreage to build our home.  Five years ago our builder told us that we would not be able to tap into our city's sewage system and that we were going to need a septic tank. "Noooooo! Not a septic tank!!!"(me).   I begged, I pleaded, I rationalized.  Then our builder explained something to Gregg about a twenty-five thousand dollar cost to have the city sewer connected,  and boom, we were getting a septic tank.  For the first four years and eleven months that we lived here, I would obsess, "I know it's going to happen...I know it's going to happen, backup. Just a matter of time".  But, I was reassured by our builder, that our system was self-contained and would never need any service.  Two weeks ago, I looked into our backyard, breathed a long over due sigh of relief and told myself, "See, there was nothing to worry about. I mean it's been five years, and nothing."

           

 Fast forward to Saturday.  I'm standing in our bathroom, when suddenly our toilet starts bubbling and percolating like a coffee pot.  I try and ignore the toilet's strange behavior.  I jump in the shower, turn on the water, and immediately, I have a small lake ("no, no, NOOOOOO!!!!"). Yep, septic tank failure. Back up. It was a weekend, but fortunately, we have friends in the business (who were willing to come on a Saturday).  Unfortunately, because it was a  weekend, every dump truck (so appropriately named) was full (let's not discuss) and we wouldn't be getting any "relief" until Monday.  Do you know how many house hold appliances are affected when you don't have sewage??? No toilets, no showers, no washing machine, no garbage disposal, and not even my dishwasher could function.  And, the odor proliferating every corner of my house!? Hard to describe.  The girls and I finally gave up and did one night in a hotel. 

     So, today is Monday and this was a lovely sight...

and I've decided that the sound of a flushing toilet is an absolutely beautiful  thing.

we play with fondant

Do you ever watch Cake Boss? My kids are big fans.  I even get corrected when I pronounce fondant without using a New York accent.  For weeks Gentry has been asking to make a "polar bear" cake with an arctic scene.  Finally, we gave it a shot using fondant and everything.  We started by hitting Hobby Lobby for all the supplies.    We got a 16 inch cake pan (that took three regular mixes to fill). 

My kids tried to tell me that Buddy on Cake Boss always shapes things out of rice crispy treats and then covers them in fondant.  I didn't listen.  We shaped Gentry's polar bear using only fondant.  I snapped these pics because our creation was about to go "down" literally.  It was too heavy and started sinking into the cake.

Gentry tried to reposition the bear several times, and then just gave up and started eating the frosting. 

I decided to try emergency surgery.  We cut out all the polar bear's inner fondant and replaced it with rice crispy treats (poor guy).  

The result: he was still too heavy.  So, this was our final scene.

Gentry decided that her eskimo was rescuing the polar bear from falling into the ice cracks (never mind that polar bears can swim).

I did use rice crispy treats for the igloo and then covered it.   I molded my eskimo by hand.  I found playing with fondant to be quite therapeutic.  It's kind of like glorified play dough.  

Overall, I think our first adventure in cake decorating was a success.

Brianhead, Ut.

A few more pics from our trip.  Can I just say I am still trying to a handle on the laundry?! Great vaca.

Me....trying to find more oxygen.

Aidan and his boys

Laura and Aidan

Gregg and I

Georg's Ski shop....established 1965, owners Georg and Tatiana. The nicest, most down to earth people you will ever meet...Click here for their site.

 And what's this next set of pics?  We asked the boys to take out the trash ( to a dumpster a quarter of a mile away).    It was 28 degrees.  They decided to travel with nothing more than bandanas and their skivvy's.  Why? I don't know, I'm not a fourteen year old boy.

self-portrait

Sierra 

the photographer

Laura and McKay

Bella

Jack

Drew

Sam

Sadie, Diana, and McKay

Jonah

Gentry

Again, special thanks to Aidan....so nice to have a professional photographer along on the family trip.