Orangina at Trader Joe's!

Thought you ought to know...(Maggie)

Living Death Valley by Ryan C.

Before pushing play: Scroll to almost the bottom of the screen to pause the music player. Otherwise the video will sound all messed up. Thanks!

Adam's cousin, Ryan, is what you might call an outdoors man. A nature enthusiast. A Yosemite Park Ranger.

Once he hiked the Pacific Rim Crest Trail (from the Mexican border to the Canadian border) and documented it with photos and video set to music. I have a copy and it is fantastic!

Ryan's new undertaking is USC film school. Check out this trailer for his most recent video. It is his first professional film! It is being played in the Death Valley Visitor Center in the auditorium. I've seen parts of the film and it is really good.

Do you love Death Valley? Purchase the DVD here: www.bristleconemedia.com/store.

Ryan's also working on a documentary for the Discovery Channel, or National Geographic, or something like that. I can't wait to see it!

Diet and Exercise

Exercise:

One of Katelyn's favorite things to do is run. We can get her to eat almost any vegetable by assuring her that it will help her run faster. (We can get her to eat all the rest by telling her pink sparkles will trail behind her as she runs.) She wants to be the fastest. Much faster than daddy! Maybe someday she will beat him, but I don't know--he's pretty fast. So in the meantime she eats her veggies and dreams of the day that she will run, trailing pink sparkles, right past her daddy and off into the distance. She's such an interesting and funny girl.

Diet:

My sister, Maggie, was in town visiting last week and we made her a special dinner the Sunday before she left. It turned out so good, I want to share the recipes again...plus I'm tired of digging into my archives to find them. So here are the recipes I love for a baked salmon and a peach cobbler. They're both quick and easy, and even my kids love to eat it. Doesn't get much better than that.

Baked Salmon
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 tablespoons light olive oil
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
2 (6 ounce) salmon fillets

Directions
1. In a medium glass bowl, prepare marinade by mixing garlic, light olive oil, basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice and parsley.
2. Place salmon fillets in a medium glass baking dish, and cover with the marinade.
3. Marinate in the refrigerator about 1 hour, turning occasionally.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
5. Place fillets in aluminum foil, cover with marinade, and seal.
6. Place sealed salmon in the glass dish, and bake 35 to 45 minutes, until easily flaked with a fork.

Peach Cobbler

I like to use more peaches...three of the small cans instead of two. And you can also use less sugar if you like. This recipe is from the Salt Lick restaurant in Texas.

12 Servings (but we ate the whole thing in a day!)

Batter:
1/2 cup melted butter

1 cup flour
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup room temperature milk
1 room temperature egg

Filling:
1 (28 ounce) can sliced peaches, drained
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in a 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, baking powder & salt. Stir in milk & egg. Pour evenly over melted butter.
3. Combine peaches, sugar & spices and spread over batter-DO NOT STIR! Bake 35-45 minutes until batter comes to the top and is golden brown.
4. Serve warm with ice cream.

P.S. Did you have a favorite summer movie this year? Ours was Ponyo. Six thumbs up! (Me, Kate, and Zach).

Ballet Summer

Fashion Island

According to Katelyn, if you step on the BLACK tiles you don't die, so we spent the rest of our time in Bloomingdale's tile-hopping. We didn't die, so maybe there's something to it.

Long Time, No Blog

Has it really been that long since I last posted? I feel some back-blogging coming on! Stay tuned...

P.S. Happy anniversary (yesterday) Adam! Love you.

Muah, Muah!!

Chalk Buns

A little of this...
(chalk pictures)
Plus a lot of this...
(buns rubbing on sidewalk)

Equals this...
(Chalk buns)

The End

What The World Needs...

...More Trees...

...More love...

...More Beaches...

I love NorCal!
My pictures don't do it justice; the North Coast was breathtaking!

Crashing

This morning I woke up and shaved my legs.

You see, I have big plans for today.

I feel pretty ashamed to be doing this, but you must understand where I'm coming from. I'm staying at my parent's house in the middle of nowhere with no car and no Adam. I'm really bored!

Today I am crashing weddings.

(Please don't judge me...)

For the first wedding, I have a semi-invite. My sister is a bridesmaid and the bride said I can come. I can't pass up this chance to see my little sis all decked out in a fabulous bright orange bridesmaid dress...Plus I'm really happy for the bride...so I'm crashing (I hope my kids behave).

The second wedding...I feel totally guilty about coming uninvited, but I'm going anyway. My mom is invited and I can't let her go alone, right?...Right?

I knew Allie back when I was in college. She was about 12 years old then, but now she's probably 21. I met her through my ex-boyfriend. He was her babysitter, and I became her piano teacher. He used to joke about how gorgeous she was (which was true), but I think he might have really liked her. For instance, once upon a time he stood me up at a dance because he was giving 12-year-old Allie a driving lesson. Needless to say, the relationship didn't last long after that! He and I are still friends on facebook, but Allie and I aren't even facebook friends. So, what am I doing crashing her wedding? I don't know! I hope she doesn't hate me for it!! (I know the groom's family, too. Doesn't that count for something?)

So, dear brides and grooms of the Chico/Orland area who I only know through distant connections, please don't hate me if I show up to your celebration uninvited. I don't eat much and I promise not to make a scene. I'll just blend and mingle, and probably write my name on the gift my mom brings. You'll hardly even know I'm there.

Congratulations!!

Love, Dana

Update: We never made it to wedding #2. Littleman is home with a high fever. Kids are so unpredictable!!