A moving article in commemoration of Memorial Day

I read this article the other night...moved me to tears! Such a fantastic thing these women do to honor the men and women who have served our country. The link is below:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37416579/ns/us_news-life/

Chicken and...pancakes?

I think most of us have heard of chicken and waffles. Quite a delicious combination.
Since we missed church today we decided to nourish our souls with some soul food.
Clark wanted chicken and waffles but we don't own a waffle maker...yet.
So Clark decided to make chicken and pancakes. Pancake and waffle batter is the same, after all.

Taste testing.
Oh my yummy.

Complete with a giant dallop of whipped cream.

We really do need to stop frying chicken. It is soo soo good, but I don't even want to think of how it may be transforming my arteries.

My post work treat

I had a rough night at work last night. Luckily, I came home to see this:

That husband of mine...he is just so sweet!

And then there was this rose blooming out in front of our apartment:

Pretty soon the whole bush will be blooming!

Lo Mein

Last weekend Clark attempted Lo Mein. He made it with both wheat noodles and rice noodles. The question is, which noodle is most authentic for this dish?

Here is the lo mein with wheat noodles...

And here is the lo mein with rice noodles...

Here is the chef himself.

So... is lo mein typically made with wheat or rice noodles? Anyone have any idea?

Three days

is all it takes for us not to be able to use our faucet.

Dang, a dishwasher would be really nice right about now.

Meet Darby

We have the most friendly, outgoing cat that patrols our neighborhood. I am very jealous. She is, what her owners call her, the Queen of 6th Avenue. Yes, she sure is:

Everyone loves her. She comes out from under her gate to greet anyone at any time of the day. She often falls over on her side so that people can pet her belly. She is so sweet and I wish she were ours. Instead we are stuck with this Gretchen Doodle. And though sometimes she'll cuddle and let us hold her, (please don't judge me by this photo. I know that normal people wear sweaters--I wear a robe. My Mother would be happy to know that it is getting a lot of use!)and sometimes she'll sleep in really cute positions with her front legs drawn in and her right foot crossed over her left,she's still skittish and hides whenever company's over. But when I look at the above picture I can't help but love her. She's getting so fat and round and I've always wanted an overweight cat. We (I) chose her and now we're stuck with her. Is that how parents sometimes feel about their children I wonder??

On a side note: more beautiful tulips! Is it bad to covet your neighbor's flowers? I so want to uproot these and plant them by our mailboxes. Spring can stay forever, the temperature has been perfect. In fact, 80 degrees was a bit too warm on my run today...

(Right now I am enjoying this nice Italian soda whilst I finish this blog. YUM. )

I hope everyone has an enjoyable rest of the week. Our work week starts tomorrow and we can readily admit we are not looking forward to it.

***And a big shout out to Ashley and Cameron Treu. Thank you guys so much for having us over for the bbq! Such good food and good company. It was so nice to see Brian and his wife Carly, and meet all the little ones. We've got to do it again! Orange chicken extravaganza, here we come!

Drive By Truckers

My oh my, this show ROCKED my ballet flats off. We love this band but never had the opportunity to see them in Phoenix. Whenever they came through AZ they would bypass Phoenix (why?? I can only speculate) and head for Tucson or Flagstaff. And I was always in school or working or running and Clark was in school or working...so we never could make the drive to their shows. Thank goodness they don't bypass SLC. But I wonder if they'll stop touring through SLC since there were three fights in the crowd during their show. Seriously, drunk a-holes treating it like punk rock show. Not. Cool. Anywho...

We just had to get a picture with the marquee :)


I had to have my own personal picture with the marquee. Rock on.


Can you tell we were super stoked?!



Anticipation!

Let there be rock! Truly there is nothing like good old Southern rock and roll. And I would know. I've been doing some family history and loads of my ancestors came from Tennessee. SO I think that qualifies me to know the good old Southern rock and roll from the bad.

I love Shonna Tucker. She is so talented. Plays a mean bass and has a beautiful voice to boot.

Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley doing their thing.


Cooley for President!

Ahhh, seeing a fantastic live show is so refreshing. I am so lucky that Clark and I have the same interest in music and that we enjoy live shows just as much as his orange chicken.

Beauty in our back yard Part II

Moab is kind of in our back yard...it's only four hours away. So that counts as our "back yard" right?

I think Moab might be one of the windiest places on this Earth. Seriously, I thought our tent was going to blow away- with us in it. But it was a fun little adventure, even if Clark was complaining about the wind and our camping location the whole time.

This tent was by far the most poorly designed tent I have ever helped assemble. But we did it, wind and all! And as you can tell, we camped at some sort of tent resort...there were cabins and RV sites all over the place. Clark was not a fan but I didn't mind too much. Later, as we drove through the Arches and Canyonlands we discovered that primative camping was available...we were a little upset that we paid to camp when we could have camped for free. But I guess having a shower facility is always nice too, right?

The doggy door?

Canyonlands.
Getting a little close to the edge.

Clark blazing on ahead.

Dangling.

Noooooooooo!

Awe inspiring.

One of many trails we hiked.

One of many canyons we viewed.
We've officially been to the Canyonlands!
Mmmmmm. Foil bakes a-baking. We couldn't bake them our first night at the camp due to the ferocious wind. Clark was sorely disappointed. But they stayed frozen in our cooler and we were able to enjoy them the next afternoon.
Oh, Clark.
Arches National Park. Though the two parks can't really be compared because they are very different, we both enjoyed Arches much more than the Canyonlands.
Clark helping a rock stay balanced.A male foreign tourist sporting capris. When we backpacked Europe in 2006 we noticed that all the males wore capris. Not a look we admire...
An adult themed rock.
Lovers' shadow.
Clark making the signature Clark face.
Sandstone Arch. Trekked the trail just in time to snap a few pictures before the sun went down and our camera died.

Some more fun rock formations.
Another cool arch with a name I cannot recall.

Weenie roasting.
The trail to the Delicate Arch. This picture cracks me up. Why Clark wanted to wear the Camelback...I have no idea. You have to click on the photo to enlarge it and enjoy the humor in this photo.
So cool!



A preserved cabin from the early 1900's.
Rock climbers doing their thing.
We've officially been to Arches!
And what do you know. We had the wonderful opportunity to drive home through a hail/snow storm. Oh Utah, you never cease to confuse me with your inconsistent weather.
I just love sharing life's adventures with my husband. He makes everything just that much more fun and special. Thanks Clark, for enjoying the trip even when you realized that we'd be camping 5 feet away from strangers and when the wind just didn't let up. You rock my world!