on the crust of a supervolcano...

Then on to Yellowstone.

We arrived minutes before Old Faithful spewed up. (It goes off about every 2 hours-ish).

Best treat of the day by far was getting up close to this guy. He is so cute!  Reminds me of bobby. Well! Look at how fuzzy his head is! cute.

See how close I was to it! about 30 feet!!

Okay. I also really enjoyed LOVED the thermal pools.

BE WARNED:

There are a lot of photos of them...

This is Chromatic Pool.

I am just so fascinated by how different they all are from one to the next. And I love how being on the caldera reminds me of how old, old can be.

wyoming

Mom and aunt Terri and I made it to Thayne, WY today to visit Rozellen. It's gorgeous here... and tomorrow we are going to Yellowstone!!

miss you zed! hope you're enjoying a little time for yourself.

we did it!!

For the record, I am not collapsing in this photo. I am grinning big and getting ready to jump up and down.

It took a long time (3 hours 3 minutes) but we didn't stop running for ANYTHING, for 13.32 miles! It was longer than 13.1 because we started running behind the start line, and I know precisely what we ran because I was wearing my dad's GPS watch!

Big NEWS! Zed placed in the top 100 male racers of his age group 30-34. He placed 98! haha! better than me though, I didn't place at all... even though I was one step ahead of him at the finish line!

Garden update

I ate our first carrot today. It tasted mighty good. And I gave away a head of lettuce to our lovely neighbors. I am anxiously awaiting tomatoes and green onion...

Tomorrow is race day. I'm feeling a little anxious about it. Nothing specifically to worry about, there will just be so much going on in a short amount of time... I hope it all goes smoothly. Zed is worried about getting up at 4am, so we decided he could probably get away with sleeping in until 4:10am.

Race starts at 6am, party starts at 9am!

Happy 4th!

We had a great day, and I hope you did too. I made flan, we went to 2 parties, and we sat on our lawn and admired our garden and simultaneously our lives. We are so happy and grateful.

And after all that I am so sleepy and just want some puppy.

coconut milkshake!

This is what happens when zed takes over the picture taking. HEHE!

We went for a walk to the Big Dipper for ice cream!! I love their coconut ice cream... so much that i've decided to make my own 'cause it's getting expensive. Bobby did great, but more frightful cuteness (he wanted zed and I to pick him up).

12. twelve is the number of mosquitos that got me on that walk. eeep.

our weekend walk

Sunday we took a beautiful walk in the Rattlesnake. Bobby did so great! He apprehensively let a couple of kids pet him, and we forced him to walk by other dogs without picking him up. I think it's ok for him to be scared, and learn we won't let him get hurt.

It's nice to have mornings with my family, but I'm ready for a full day off! Tomorrow is the day, finally.

i love my garden

i love going out, especially in my overalls, to dig in the dirt. I very much enjoy pulling up unruly looking weeds and grass sprouts to make beautiful clean rows of veggies.

spinach and radishes are officially gone. bok choy and a second row of garlic in their place.

next year doesn't look like...

I've been sitting with this information, essentially, since the middle/end of March when they put me on the waiting list. Although it doesn't sound good, I assure you the slow, drawn out maybe that led to a rejection wasn't all that bad. I started to imagine my life in the next year without school, and it looks pretty good. I will work more at Youth Homes, audition for a couple of musicals, and enjoy a year free of homework.

bideo dames

all day everyday. grrr

ten miles: two hours and seventeen minutes!

Today's run was great! zed and I had a great conversation... hehe heated "conversation", about the need to disseminate information cited from various news sources responsibly, and trusting such sources enough to formulate an opinion worthy of disseminating. a quote is a quote! but only a quote. I promise you WE found it interesting and it helped the first 30 minutes go by really quickly.

The next 4 miles were boring. Mile 6 was fun scary because we got to run along the railroad tracks and listen to gun shots from the firing range. Mile 8 was awesome because every step we took was one more step further than we have ever run. Really great feeling. And then it rained a little, and that felt refreshing.

Mile 9-10, no way around it, the last mile is always hard. It doesn't matter if it's 2 miles or 10. Psychologically it gets tough. But we did it and we didn't collapse at the end of it. I think we may do this thing. and do it well!

I'm hungry.

spinach=spanakopita

What to do with home grown spinach? Make a greek feast of course! Zed says my spanakopita was the best, I say his lamb kebab/patty was the best, so what are we to do but just enjoy some REALLY good food?!! (good thing we're running a lot)

It's fun, yet slightly disappointing, to pull up our own veggies for dinner. We're already planning what to resow in the absence of spinach. Bok choy? MMMMMMM!!

MORE Bobby, the cutest!

i know... I KNOW!! but he's just so dang cute! I love even the blurry pictures. He enjoys bounding and running fast in circles around me and around the garden. The last few days I've had so many comfy cute moments with him. I can't stop giving him kisses and snuggles, and I don't know if his breath is getting better because I'm brushing his teeth, or if I am forgiving more because I'm loving him more...? probably both.

we're loving him, he's loving us!

Happy Birthday!

I threw Zed a semi-surprise barbecue party for his birthday on Friday. I called it semi-surprise because he kind of figured it out.

We had a great time. Played croquet, grilled hot dogs and asparagus, and enjoyed the sunshine during the day- and a warm fire pit (which max gave to us) at night.

We wish our families could have joined us, we had to eat lots of mini empanadas to make up for their absence. 

Empanadaaaas!!

Smoked chicken empanadas, bacon wrapped medjool dates, and patatas bravas... quite a production, let me tell you. A dinner fit for a birthday boy!

A few days ago Zed smoked the chicken in our smoker, along with cod,  and some ribs (we are really getting great stuff from that smoker, thank you Jared and Galen). So, the empanadas had smoked chicken, onion, chorizo, golden raisins, green olives, white wine, and paprika.

To go with it I stole some ideas from Toro Bravo in Portland... the bacon wrapped dates with warm honey, and potatoes with harissa! Plus some greens from the garden. It sounds like a lot of meat, but it worked out to be just a few bites for each meal because of the ratio to all other ingredients.

making potions!

Zed and I made potions today!! I have been wanting to make my own deodorant, like the Weleda spray deodorant ($15) for a while. I have a lemon verbena plant, so i crushed some leaves in alcohol and voila! I'm going to let it sit for a while to see what happens. Maybe add some other essential oils, but the less money I put into this project the better. The alcohol cost $9, but is much more than we both need. Zed is making a lilac potion, don't know for what yet... but he says "maybe a deodorant. I want to be like you." awwwwww!

i think the bees might follow him.

Lord Bad Breatherton

Sometimes Bobby smells really, really bad. The bridge of his nose had a scrape on it for a while and that was pretty stinky, and his muzzle is stinky after eating... and his breath can be, oh boy, pretty bad. So I wipe his face everyday, and now he has his own designated towels. I also bought some baby tooth brushes and I am determined to brush his teeth often- he only minds a little.

He is doing great besides the occasional stinkyness. We haven't had any indoor accidents in a while, and he and Cassidy are still getting along... a little better each day actually.