Are you wondering what this picture is? If you look closely, you will see nail marks (as in “fingernail”) in both of our arms. This is what happens when sisters fight…they revert back to the most childish versions of themselves and dig nails into arms. And just to be clear…I was the mature one who started it.
A few pics are missing because I can’t get one of my disks to upload and I didn’t take any race pictures, so I have to wait for my sis-in-law to send them my way…sad!
This weekend was the second occasional (as opposed to annual) family reunion for my mom’s side of the fam. The last one we had was 12 years ago (we’re tight like that…actually, I really do see them all relatively regularly, just not all at the same time). Two of my cousins couldn’t make it as they are one missions for our church, and my uber pregnant wasn’t able to attend, but otherwise we were all there. I got back to P-town Sunday night and had a week full of fun and activities including Lagoon, model plane flying (I only observed), running, picnics, Seven Peaks, shooting, a talent show, and fireworks.
I have about 500 (literally) pictures to sift through, but for now, I’ll leave you with a few from my shooting experience with my two brothers. It was quite fun. I must say that I’m a fan of shooting…especially once I managed to finally pull the trigger.
I only shared this last one because we all got such a good laugh from it. Yes, both my eyes are totally closed. I tried to keep the one open, but only managed to on occasion. I’ll get better.
One of my sisters has been working on the same case at her law firm for the last 2 and a half years and the trial finally starts today (unless the judge decides to push it back at the last minute, which he might). She is the reason that I was in California and will be returning there at the beginning of next week. She is currently living in a hotel with several other people from her firm (doesn’t that sound fun???) for the next month while they try this case and I get to work as her personal assistant (or slave, as she likes to call me).
Anyway, I doubt she’ll have time to read this (so I’ll probably email her, too), but I just wanted to send her a little love via the blogosphere. I seriously don’t know how she survives her job sometimes!
So, since the iPhone became a part of my life, I rarely get on the computer to use the internet, and while posting from the iPhone is possible, pictures aren’t so easy…because they aren’t all on my iPhone. (And to those of you who read my blog and have heard about the new, smaller, faster, cheaper iPhone, here’s the thing, I have no intention of parting with my more expensive, bigger iPhone…I don’t know how I ever lived without this). Back to my point, so, I rarely get on my computer to get online.
Tonight, however, I needed to send a longer email (and I type much faster on a regular keyboard with ten fingers), so I’m on the laptop and decided that I needed to post some pics.
These are from my trip to Vegas a couple of weeks ago (and for those of you wondering why I never post pics of my adorable niece with whom I’m spending most of my waking – and sleeping – hours, it’s because her parents have asked me not to, and not because I don’t love her or think she’s photo worthy…I have taken over 400 pics of her since I’ve been here).
Okay, so here are the Vegas cuties. I took these with my brother and sis-in-law’s camera (same as mine, but they have a 55-200 mm lens that I covet regularly); just a little fun at the park:
This is the only one that I wanted to caption (the rest speak for themselves, I think), but this is my sweet nephew, who loves to give hugs (when he’s in the mood) and he randomly decided he needed to give this little girl a hug. It was absolutely adorable. My favorite is that he says “hug” before he hugs you!
One more caption. T. is a sponge and just, as most 2 year olds, absorbs everything around him. Anyway, this is him in the process of doing a little power grunt that he learned while watching Flushed Away (a surprisingly cute movie). He also learned how to “spit and shake” (although the spitting T. does is fake…just a little ptoo) from that movie. Seriously adorable!
So, once again I’ve stolen a recipe (and post) from Mel, but I did modify it a bit. I have now made this twice (both times in Las Vegas because Justin and Cherity like coconut as much as I do); once as a regular cake (in a 9×13 inch pan with no layering or anything) and once as cupcakes. Both were delicious. The pics, obviously, are the cupcakes and should explain what I did. The only modification that won’t be shown in the pictures is the bake time…which I just got from looking at a box mix. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes…except you can half the glaze.
Cake: (don’t you dare use a coconut flavored box mix. The cake is A-MAZING and not too time consuming to make from scratch.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.
Add coconut extract and eggs 1 at a time. In a mixing bowl or on a sheet of parchment paper, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder. To mixer add coconut milk and flour to creamed mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes then turn out of pans onto rack(s) over a sheet pan and allow to cool completely.
My little scraper cleaner!
Lime Glaze
In a medium bowl combine sour cream or yogurt, sugar, lime zest and juice, coconut milk, shredded coconut. With a bamboo skewer, poke holes in cake and spread glaze on both sides of both cakes. Cover with plastic wrap, chill until ready to frost cake.
Icing: (if you’re making an actual layer cake, you may need all of the icing this recipe calls for. If you’re just going to frost the top of the cake, 1/2 or even 1/4 of this amount will be enough.)
In an electric mixer or using a hand mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar gradually at low speed. Beat in coconut milk and vanilla. Frost cake. Coat top and sides with shredded coconut.
existential dilemmas 