Cinnamon Roll Heaven

Sunday night Jeff and I both got a craving for cinnamon rolls. However much to our dismay we discovered that we didn't have enough flour. I figured after that the craving would pass and by Monday we would move on. However Jeff and I were still thinking of those soft sweet rolls covered in cream cheese frosting. So after work we went to the store and got the necessary ingredients. Jeff looked up a recipe that claimed to meet all of our expectations of a perfect cinnamon roll and began the delicate art of making the perfect roll. I assisted him in this matter and soon the rolls were in the pan rising. A while later Jeff asked me to check on the rolls to see if they were ready to go in the oven, I lifted the towel to discover that the pan was not full. Now I had not been present when Jeff filled the pan so I wanted to ask him before I jumped to any conclusions. But as I turned to ask Jeff how many rolls he had originally put in the pan I saw my dog out of the corner of my eye licking his lips. It was at this moment that I began to laugh and could hardly ask Jeff how many rolls he had originally put in the pan. I went over and smelled my dogs face and it was pretty evident what had happened to six rolls. I can't believe it myself that he could put away six raw cinnamon rolls. I was also impressed because he had barely disturbed the dish towel that was covering the pan. After Jeff and I sat and laughed a minute we realized that Remmy was going to have to throw the rolls up. So instead of waiting for the raw dough to work it's magic on his stomach some time in the middle of the night, I gave him a little hydrogen peroxide and within 10 min the whole thing was over. I felt so bad for him. Jeff and I baked and frosted the rolls but after the whole ordeal neither of us wanted cinnamon rolls. When we get around to trying them I'll let you know if the recipe was good. And poor Remmy will probably never enjoy the smell of cinnamon rolls again. Who am I kidding he would probably do it again if given the chance.

Washington Coast

Over Labor Day weekend Jeff and I took our much talked about trip to the Washington Coast. We had been talking about doing this for years and finally decided to go ahead and do it. We brought along Remmy (this was his first road trip) who had a blast as you can see. This was his first time seeing the ocean and Jeff was teaching him how to run at the waves as they receded and how to run from them as they washed up on shore. It wasn't long before he caught onto the game and decided that he loved the ocean. It also worked out that no one was on the beach so he could run and explore as much as he wanted.

We spent the night at the Hoh River Rain Forest which you'll see pictures of below. It's absolutely gorgeous. And the next day we took Remmy to the river to play. He's not too keen on water but we kept throwing in sticks and he was slowly getting farther from the shore to go get them. We tried exercising him as much as possible since he wasn't aloud to hike in the rain forest with us and since we had spent a lot of time in the car. At the end of this trip I think it's the first time I've seen him worn out since he was a puppy. He sat in the back seat of the car slightly catatonic and drooling.

This is part of the Rain Forest. It's one of the few temperate rainforests in the world and one of the largest. These trees had fallen down on their own and so they created this cool trail out of them. This is a place I think everyone should see in their lives. It is so beautiful and so close if you live in Washington. No matter what time of year you go it's going to be damp so dress in layers. And just as an FYI dogs aren't aloud on the trail. We camped here as I said and so we hit the trail early and pretty much had the place to ourselves. I can't say what it would be like on a busy day but I think it's a perfect family trip especially if you do the coast afterwards.

There were many trees like this in the forest. They are created by nurse logs. Trees fall over and begin to decay and other trees begin to grow out of the logs. Eventually their roots take over the tree and it develops this really intricate above ground root system. It was so amazing to me how the forest sustains itself.

This tree was one of many in whats call the "Hall of Mosses". This trail is a must in the forest, everything is green and you feel tiny because these enormous trees are dropping over you with moss. The amazing thing is that you can go on a different trail and you don't really see the moss. The forest is really diverse so it's not like you are walking and seeing the same thing over again on a different trail.

This was our camp site. One of the things we enjoyed the most about camping in the rainforest was that it wasn't very crowded. We passed many camp sites along the way that had a lot more people in them, but the rainforest is about a 20 min drive off of the highway so that's probably why there weren't as many people. We set up underneath a tree so we didn't have to worry about rain and it was really peaceful. The one drawback about this site is that there were no showers, however there were toilets and a place where you could get fresh water. But we didn't really plan this trip around civilization. It was really nice to just explore a bit of the state without a lot of people around. I know that there are places like this all over so I would encourage all of you to explore your state a little, it's a cheap easy way to have a mini vacation.

Ode to a Chapped Runny Nose

You nose,
who are washed and moisturized,
masked and exfoliated,
protected from the sun and occasionally powdered.
You who are pampered far more than my feet
yet they rarely complain
when steeped in mud a foot and a half deep.
You begin to drip and within an hour
are red and chapped and cause me to cower
Tissues with lotion or soft silky cloths
cannot appease you or lessen your blush
And so with disdain I write you this ode
you spoiled, dainty, occasionally powdered,
red, chapped, dripping, hose of a nose.

Original silly poem by Lauren who is somewhat over medicated and recovering from the flu.

Poulsbo Trip

Jeff sister and family came in to town from Switzerland for Christmas and for their last weekend in the states we decided to take the Ferry over to Poulsbo and wander around. This is an old Norwegian town that was settled around 1830. They have several bakeries, we ate at Sluy's which is famous for it's huge doughnuts. There are also lots of antique shops and a park along the water.


This a shot of the piers and the view of Seattle from the Ferry. We just got a new camera before we took this trip so we were having fun taking pictures and playing with all the features of the camera. This was actually a really fun day trip, we walked onto the Ferry so we didn't have to wait in a line and it was cheaper. The only thing that was slightly difficult was catching the bus once we got to Bainbridge Island. The bus schedule is a little different on weekends but not really bad.


For those of you who haven't been to Seattle it's a port town and these are what I call the dinosaurs. For obvious reasons they look like dinosaurs but they are actually the cranes used to load and unload all the cargo that comes into port. The ship in the foreground is the front of another Ferry. This picture was also taken from the Ferry.


Jeff's parents (Larry and Tara) also came on the trip.


Jeff and I on the Ferry. You can see the space needle to the left of me.


Jeff and his dad on the Ferry over to Poulsbo. It's a very short trip but 30 min is definitely long enough for us to do a lot of playing with the new camera and catch some pretty cute candid moments.


I would never have gotten this shot with our old camera. I was using a faster speed and Jeff was making funny faces cause I was asking him to smile. I shot several pictures in a row and somehow got this shot. I actually didn't even know I had taken it until I was reviewing the pictures.


This is our Ferry after we got back to Seattle. We spend pretty much the whole day over in the Poulsbo area and we came back just around sunset. We did a quick tour of Pike's Place just as it was closing and took advantage of the sunset light to get some pretty cool pictures.


Everyone except for Jeff in front of the piers.




Myself, Jeff's sister Elisa and his mom.

This is me on the Ferry to Bainbridge Island.

Jeff and I in Poulsbo waiting for the bus.

I know this is just about the same picture but it shows the bench more. They have these benches all over town with these cool Norwegian ships on them. They are very proud of their history.

This is my new niece Eden (Jeff's sisters baby). She is now 4 months old and loves to touch and feel things so I entertained her for quite a while with this branch, who needs toys when you've got nature? (Ok that just sounded totally hippie)

Mt. Rainier Igloo Making

My brother Daniel and I went up to Rainier and built some igloos. This picture is about 3/4 of the way complete and about 2 hours in, notice all of the blocks cut out around the edges.

This was in late winter of 2008. With record snow there was about 12 feet + snow in this area right around paradise lodge.






Here is Daniel carving out the door, with a gnarly looking snow saw.



The tricky part of staking blocks is angling them in to make the dome. You really have to have 2 people to construct one of these efficiently.



I loved the cool blue glow from inside the igloo. Here Daniel is building us a cover for the trench to help keep us warm. The cold air settles in the trench and we slept up on the platform inside and stuffed our bags in the door way.



We were actually quite comfortable. Not the worst sleep I've ever had. Here is Daniel hunkering down for the night. Also, our frozen gloves are thawing out.



We woke up to this in the morning. What a view up to camp Muir. See those deep tracks, I had to hike back to this area without snowshoes, I wouldn't recommend it unless you want the leg workout of your life! I thought I was going to die.



Here is a pic of the mountain from the paradise lot.



All of our hard work! It took us about 3-4 hours to build and we only slept in it for one night. Oh well it was worth it.



This was a last minute trip and we really didn't plan the meals out. We then remembered that we had a loaf of jalapeno bread that we picked up on the way out from my grandma's house. It was the best tasting bread we had ever had. Thanks Grandma! We toasted it on my little gas stove.



What a trip. Did i mention that we drove up here from the gate (about 20 miles) on empty. We held our breath on the way down and managed to make it to the gas station. Looks like Daniel got a little sunburn as well.

Our Dog Remmy

We adopted Remmy in January of 2007 from the Humane Society when he was 10 weeks old. He came from a huge litter, his mom is boarder collie and they think his dad is german shepherd. As you can tell from the many pictures we thought he was pretty much adorable and I have spoiled him rotten (I now regret some of the spoiling, but live and learn).

We got Remmy as we were moving out of an apartment and into our brother-in-laws house (who moved to Switzerland and let us rent his house). While we were moving Remmy climbed into the bottom cabinet and hung out.

He also thought the cabinet was a pretty good place for a nap and actually it was perfect because he stayed out of the way while we packed.

This was his first bath, it's hard to imagine he was that small since he now weighs 70lbs (a little more that I would like him to weigh if I'm honest, and yet before we got him I wanted a Great Dane).

I think this is my favorite picture I have of him. He ran around like crazy after his first bath (he still does when we bath him now) and ended up on the living room floor in this position. I love how his tongue is sticking out and his eyes look blue, it just really captured his funny personality.

Ok so I know this looks a little cruel, however this is crate training for those of you who are unfamiliar with the technique. You let them sleep in a crate and the method is they won't potty where they sleep, however the crate was too big and he would potty in the back and sleep in the front so we put this rubbermaid container in the back to solve that problem. Eventually he started climbing on top of it and sleeping which is the whole story behind this picture. He actually loved his crate, some nights he would just put himself to bed in his crate when he got tired of waiting for us. However we don't use it anymore. He has a bed and is perfectly house trained.

A lot of times Jeff and I will grab a blanket and pillow out of our bedroom and snuggle up on the couch after a long day. Well Remmy had a blanket too and believe it or not he would grab his when we grabbed ours and bring it out to play and snuggle with us. I know it sounds unbelievable, but really this dog is too smart for his own good.

You can see he's a bit bigger in these pictures.

This is pretty much what he looks like now, he's not a huge looking dog and in fact he thinks he's smaller than he is. He loves to lay on the back of the couch like a cat so I call him my "Remmy Cat". He also loves to lay on top of you and the few times he has been allowed to sleep in the bed he snuggled up between Jeff and I and slept the whole night there. I have never had a dog do that because they always got too hot, but Remmy loves to snuggle and is quite attached to the both of us, and I suppose we are just as much attached to him.

Yurts

I forgot to include Yurts in my blog about the Oregon coast. Jeff and I stayed in Yurts the whole time. They are usually available at campsites and the nice thing about them is that they have electricity and heat. However they are rustic. They have beds in them but you provide your own bedding and everything. The campgrounds usually have showers which is nice and they only cost about $12 a night. Depending on the time of year you might want to reserve one which you can do online through the park service. If any of you haven't slept in a Yurt yet I would totally recommend doing it. The pic below isn't from our trip as I forgot to take one but this is basically what they looked like.

Vegas

In July 2008 Jeff and I went to Vegas. Initially when Jeff had talked about going I wasn't so keen on the idea. I was trying to figure out what we would do since we don't drink or gamble. I had heard a lot about Vegas as most people had and I was a bit skeptical. However we ended up getting an amazing deal and had a blast. It was about 80 after the sun went down so it reminded me of VA. It was nice to be in the heat, but I must admit it was pretty uncomfortable during the day. We stayed at Mandalay Bay, which is all the way at the end of the strip but it was a really nice hotel and I would stay there again. It had several pools which was nice but the pools were packed most of the time. We actually only used the pool once and that was around 8am when it first opened. Speaking of our hotel being at the end of the strip. We actually walked pretty much the entire strip our first night there but then were exhausted and didn't feel like walking back but we didn't want to pay a ton for a taxi. That's when we discovered the Deuce. It's $5 for 24 hours and you can ride a bus up and down the strip all you want. What a great deal. Most people do it the only problem is that it can get really full during the day or it may take a while due to many stops but it's still totally worth it and a great way to do Vegas on a budget.

These are a parasol display in the Wynn hotel which is an incredibly beautiful hotel and had we had a lot of expendable cash it would have been cool to stay there. I would say I prefer this hotel over the Bellagio. It has a lot of class and elegance not to mention beautiful things to look at. It also had a ton of stores, which I didn't go into because I feel it's a little ridiculous to spend $1000 on a pair of shoes. Call me crazy.

This was the light display in the old part of Vegas. It goes on every night, with the last show being at Midnight. Which we went to the last show and then got hungry. I thought it was the city that never slept but apparently if you are out late and you get hungry it's a little hard to find food. We ended eating at some sketchy old casino which was serving breakfast food 24/7. Maybe had we gone to a club or bar we would have been able to find food. Either way I would totally recommend going to see this light show it's really cool.

The ceiling to the Bellagio hotel. This is Chihuly glass, he's a glass maker just down the road from us in Tacoma WA. He's amazing and if you are ever in Tacoma you can go to his museum and even into his "hot house" and watch him make these sculptures.

This statue is in Cesar's Palace and is a full size replica of Michelangelo's David. I have always loved this statue and was happy to at least see a replica since I may never see the real thing. Vegas is full of all kinds of replicas which is part of the fun. There actually is a ton to see.

It wouldn't be Vegas without the Bellagio fountain. It was so loud when the water shot up in the air. But it takes a lot of power to get that much water into the air. They play a different song and show every time and they always draw a huge crowd. In fact if you want to get a close up view you have to get their a little early and wait a while or just snuggle in with a bunch of strangers, which is gross since everyone is hot and sweaty. Anyways I would recommend Vegas to any of you who have thought about it. There really is plenty to do and see even if you don't drink or gamble. I would totally go again but maybe the next time I go we will rent a car and go see the Hover Dam (which is only 40 min from the strip).