Washington DC, Part 1

Once again we were fortunate to be able to travel. This trip: Washington D.C. where we met up with DeeAnn's sister, Dorie and nephew, Jimmy. It was a great trip.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures. DeeAnn will post pictures from her camera later.



A lot of the history of the city and of the country can be told in the artwork, including the sculptures and architecture. Here we have statues in front of Union Station, the iconic Jefferson Memorial, the new World War II Memorial, and of course the Washington Monument.



On Friday we took a tour of the city that included the sites above, plus one of my favorites, the National Cathedral. When I was in high school, the band performed a concert there and this was the first chance to go back, now that it has been finished! The stained glass is absolutely breathtaking, as is the view from the tower. Helen Keller and her teacher, Anne Sullivan are buried there though it can be difficult to find their crypt.



Saturday included a visit to the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum. Perhaps Jimmy found his future profession, my favorite bachelor relic, the sunstone from the Nauvoo Temple and a number of other wonderful American treasures.

Lastly, one of our favorites, quite a lot bigger than the last time we saw him in April.

Did Someone Say Ribs?

Ribs are a favorite Sunday meal around the house. And it's not just the humans that look forward to them. Lexie licks her chops at the very thought. Even taking them out of the freezer gets her going.



So here's my secret recipe: Good beef ribs (we cook two each) smothered with Masterpiece barbecue sauce (and about 1/8th bottle of water to rinse it out and to water down the sauce a little). Cook in a dutch oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. I begin with 7 or 8 coals on the bottom of a 12" oven and 6 on top. After about 30 to 45 minutes, or when the sauce begins to boil, reduce the heat to 6 coals on the bottom and 6 on top. After the first hour, turn the ribs every 15 minutes and replace half of the coals on both top and bottom. I also put in 6 more coals in the hopper so they will be ready at the next turn. If it is windy or cold out, you may have to replace the coals every 10 minutes to keep the heat on. But you want to keep it low and slow. When the meat begins to come off the bone, I cook for about 30 minutes more, but do not replace the coals at all (unless it is cold or extremely windy and the coals are burning faster than normal.

Here's the result.


And the other result:

Disneyland, Part 4

Meeting up with friends.....
On our last day, we met up with a family from DeeAnn's school. Above, Alyssa is recreating her shocked look when she first saw us (Repeated quote: "I just can't believe my teacher is at Disneyland with me!"). In the middle is Alyssa and Kent exchanging Disney hats and the last picture is some of us after riding Haunted Mansion.

Disneyland, Part 3

More pictures from Disneyland.....

Left corner, Kent and Brian in the doghouse at Toontown.
Middle, Kent and DeeAnn outside one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. Right upper corner, Kent getting ready to ride California Screamin' (notice DeeAnn taking picture from a safe distance from the ride), and lower left, Kent and Brian showing how they really feel about "It's a Small World."

Disneyland, Part 2

Brian's Miserable Time at Disneyland

As one can see from the pictures, Brian just "hated" his time at Disneyland. He had plenty of driver's practice on rides such as Autopia, Buzz Astro Blasters, and Roger Rabbit. His driving skills were, well, let's just say that he'll need lots and lots of practice before we get into a real car with him.

Disneyland, Part 1

After another trip to Disneyland, here are some of our favorite photos. This time, we took my 14-year-old nephew, Brian. After a very early flight, we wanted to get the worst over first. So it was off to It's a Small World! Pirates, Haunted House, Winnie the Pooh, and others wore us out. As the crowds started getting larger, we escaped to the more leisurely pace of California Adventures. Here we enjoyed a visit to the Aladdin show and It's a Bugs Life, among others.

Review - Fresh Disasters

After this weekend and some time on the plane and in the airport, I finished Fresh Disasters by Stuart Woods.

Woods writes with a lot of dialog. This really makes the pages fly by. And he writes a gripping story. In this one, Stone Barrington takes on the mafia. He is asked (forcefully) to represent a client that wishes to sue a mob boss for roughing him up. At the same time, he has to deal with a sculptor with a fixation on tall, beautiful women that end up hurt or dead.

Stone sleeps around, and as one Amazon reviewer, didn't even seem to have time to change the sheets between his "episodes." The Stone Barrington series always has some sex and this one was no different. I thought the different women he took to bed was excessive. I almost had a hard time keeping track of his latest conquest. Too bad, because his Holly barker series doesn't have to have all that to provide a great story. Other than the sex, I enjoyed the book. But I wouldn't recommend it to everyone.

It was 277 pages and reads very fast. Now it's on to Simple Genius by David Baldacci.

Lexie's New Look

Lexie has had her summer cut, and boy, is it short. But it will grow back in no time, so she can shed again. She's been quieter since the cut so we don't know how she feels about it. At least she'll be cooler this summer.

Pirates and Pain

Just for fun.....

http://thebloghive.com/audio/aplfm.mp3

and for a little pain....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APmHR2bmQgw (it gets much better after about 30-40 seconds).


Okay, I'm officially trunky (a missionary term "My trunks are packed, I'm ready to go").

Review - I Heard That Song Before

I was finally able to finish off I heard That Song Before, by Mary Higgins Clark. I like her books, they are clean, and nothing really offensive in it, thought those kind of things don't generally bother me.

The premise of this book was the story of Kay Lansing, the daughter of a landscaper. She is a librarian (really) and talks to Peter Carrington, businessman, owner of the lavish Carrington estate, and "person of interest" in two murders. Kay and Peter fall in love. Peter is finally formally accused of murder and Kay works to clear his name. The plot was riveting. The chapters were not really too long, making it easier to read.

Now it's on to Fresh Disasters, by Stuart Woods.

Welcome to June

In observance of June, one of our favorite months of the year. we celebrated! Schools out and we now have 71 days before DeeAnn has to return to work. Birds are really enjoying the new bird feeder.

Friday took us shopping where we both found clothes that were nice and actually fit. After shopping, we came home, changed, and left for Salt Lake City. We boarded Trax and rode it to the Gateway Center, where we enjoyed another shopping trip, this time to Sur La Table, a very nice kitchen store. We bought a new timer, a couple of silicone brushes, a spoon ladle that attached to the edge of a pot, and a rotary grater. We then made our way to Market Street Grill to eat an early dinner. DeeAnn had the halibut (delicious) while I has the four cheese ravioli (also delicious). This was followed by a very enjoyable evening at the Utah Symphony, listening to Elgar's In the South, Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto in D major, and Mendelssohn's Symphony no 5 in D major.

Saturday was a leisure day other than a little gardening. We finally finished off the east side of the front of the house. Tomatoes are growing like weeds, and we now have 4 potato plants coming up.

I installed a drip irrigation system for the front flower bed and will eventually extend it to the two other flower beds we have.

This morning I once again spoiled DeeAnn and cooked crepes with our fresh strawberries, and store-bought blueberries.