We spent last week in Steamboat Springs with some of our friends, Khale and Sarah, and their daughter Lily.

Of course we had to go snowshoeing while we were there! The weather was beautiful, and it was so fun to see our friends after almost a year of being apart.

On our way home from Steamboat we stopped at Dinosaur National Park in Vernal, Utah. Eric and I were soooo excited, being former archaeology buffs and all. That's a joke; I can't tell you how many people out there think that archaeologists study dinosaurs.
When we got to the park, however, it was closed and quiet. We went on a short walk following a quarry (supposedly full of fossils, but we didn't see any). It was pretty, though. It reminded me of Escalante, in southern Utah, where Eric and I did our field study (and where we met).

So we decided to stop at the Museum of Natural History in Vernal, and were not disappointed. There were dinosaurs everywhere!

Aspen loved them too. Maybe we've got a future archaeologist on our hands, he he.

Eric's parents got Aspen a bike for her birthday. Whenever we're at a store and she sees a bike, she wants to sit on it.
Now that she has her own bike, however, all she wants to do is push it around herself. This is partly because her legs are still a little too short for her to reach the pedals, but mostly because she likes to be in control of the bike. She does this with her strollers, too, which can get a little dangerous in public.

Meineke strikes again

Last Saturday we headed off to Steamboat Springs to visit some wonderful friends of ours. We had a marvelous time! More on that later.

As we left Boise and passed Mountain Home (about 45 miles outside of Boise), our front left wheel popped off. Not the tire, the entire wheel. Lug nuts, hubcap, tire, everything. Thank goodness Eric is a smart driver and knew how to handle the situation, thus all Aspen and I noticed was that our Jeep was tipping (of course after a couple seconds I realized the full situation).

The first thought that entered my mind was, We're alive! It's a miracle.

The second thought was, Meineke.......

As you can see in the photo, after the wheel came off the Jeep, we drug along the side of the road for about 500 feet, leaving a nice trail behind us. Honestly, I couldn't believe that we were okay, and that the only damage done was to our car. I am so grateful that we prayed before we started the trip, and that the Lord was watching over us. I'm also so grateful to my husband, who did not freak out, but simply slowed down.

We were delayed about 2.5 hours (I won't bore you with all the details), but were still able to go on our trip, thanks to Eric's wonderful family, who brought us their truck to Mountain Home, and let us take it on our trip.

Meineke has offered to pay for our Jeep to get fixed, and that's all I'm saying about that.

Camel's Back Park

Baby Eli makes me happy. He can be puking up his lunch, and he's doing it with a smile on his face. I like to grab his little love handles when I'm frustrated, and toss him in the air. I always feel better after he's given me that huge smile of his.

We took Aspen and Baby Eli to the park the other day, and let Aspen run wild. Which she mastered in a very short amount of time.

A final goodbye

This is my brother Ian and me near the house we grew up. My parents owned an acre about 20 miles outside of town, and had received it from my father's parents, who owned a surrounding 80 acres. Growing up we were free to roam a vast green terrain, mudding up our hands as much as we possibly could. I spent the majority of my childhood there, and was a witness to the changes in the house my parents built there, all the way from the foundation to the remodel my father did before he sold it.

When I was little I always thought it would be cool to live in a neighborhood nearer to town, with trick-or-treaters coming to our door, my father putting Christmas tree lights on the house, and our friends being so much closer. Now that I look back, I realize what a spoiled little thing I was, and I wouldn't change it for anything.

My grandparents have both passed away, and the property they owned is now being sold. My parents are now divorced, and I have only extended family remaining in the beautiful state I grew up in. I'm saddened that our family is losing the property; this has been harder for me than when my father sold our house. I have so many memories playing with our cousins in the forest, running in the huge field across the way, and exploring near the creek. Now all those things will officially be only memories. I wonder how things would be different if my parents were still together. We would probably be coming home for the holidays every year, and hopefully would have held on to at least part of my grandparents' property. I'm a little sad today, and also so grateful for the muddy memories on Daystar Drive.

I feel old now/stay away from Meineke

Today I went to Meineke for an oil change. Sasha drove over to the shop with me, so we could run errands while the Jeep was being taken care of. When I went to pick the Jeep up later, it wasn't ready yet, so I decided to wait in the car with Sasha and Aspen instead of in the shop. As it turns out, the mechanic working on the Jeep came out to the car to inform me that something was wrong with the Jeep.

"Can you come inside for a minute so I can show you something on your car?" He asked me.

So I followed him. On our way to the car, he said, "So, was that your daughter and granddaughter?"

Pause.

I was thinking to myself, is this guy talking to me? My daughter and granddaughter? As in, I gave birth to Sasha, and Sasha to Aspen? And this is the guy that's been in contact with my car? (Here's a photo of all three of us, just for reference).

"That's my sister and baby!" I choked out. I seriously didn't know whether to burst out laughing or turn around and have Sasha take me home.

The mechanic then said, "oh, so she's your daughter?" And I had no idea if he was talking about Sasha, or Aspen. Then he pointed to my front brake system and said, "do you see this, your router?" And I wanted to say, "do you?!"

Needless to say, Meineke did not get our business in replacing our front routers and discs, and I'm feeling a little bit old today. But laughing pretty hard.

There's something about having people over for dinner that makes me want to branch out and try cooking something new. So having Sasha and James stay with us has been a lot of fun. For the last several weeks I've been wanting to try roasting a chicken, and tonight I finally took the plunge. Now I know I may sound like an amateur to some of you expert cooks out there, but I've never roasted a turkey, a cornish game hen, etc, so this was a big thing for me. And let me tell you, it was delicious!! I found the recipe in a Mediterranean cookbook, and it's pretty simple. I was actually surprised at how much flavor it had, given that the only spices in the recipe were thyme, salt and pepper. I basically just slathered the chicken in olive oil, added some salt and pepper, and stuffed it with lemon and thyme. Put it into the oven for 2 hours, adding the vegetables after an hour, and viola! I will definitely make this again.