Thoughts on Lemon Juice

Lemon juice was always one of those items that was kept in the fridge; I had/have no clue what my mom use to use it for. I'd see it come out, or at least be replaced every now and again which ment it was getting used in something . . . I probably didn't/don't want to know what ;) But lemon juice is something I've never kept in my fridge and I've been living on my own for something like 5 years, I never saw the point; that is until now.

There have been a few times here or there that I thought about getting some lemon juice, or maybe needed it for something, but I always justified not getting it for this reason or that. Until I took a class a few months ago and the recipe called for lemon juice, well we all know how I feel about that. I've yet to make the recipe inpart because it would mean that I'd have to break this unspoken "take that lemon juice" attitude I've had about keeping it in the apartment. I've thought about making the product a time or two but when I'd review the recipe I'd end up not because . . . I didn't have the lemon juice on hand.

Well tonight that all changed. I decided since Tuesday was National Vanilla ________ Day that I'd break down and finally buy the lemon juice. I don't think I ever really realized I have the whole "take that lemon juice I don't need you" attitude until I had to buy it today. I felt like I was losing the battle against the lemon juice.

So I said, ok, today on my way home I'll get some lemon juice and make the recipe . . . but I think today the lemon juice said "take that for giving me a take that" all these years. I thought about it like 20 minutes before I left work (where I drive by a store right on the way home), and didn't remember until I was about 30 seconds from my apartment that I forgot the lemon juice. I made a quick right into the mini-mart and the lemon juice gave me the second "take that" of the night (the first was forgetting it already) because the mini-mart (who has never failed me on a product before) only had the giant bottle of lemon juice. I decided to pass, come home put dinner in the oven and head back out to the store for the lemon juice.

At the store there was the little lemon shaped bottle, and the big lemon shaped bottle. Well I'd forgotten how much the recipe called for, and I didn't really want to have excess lemon juice on hand (don't want to become dependent on it!) but was afraid if I got the little one I wouldn't have enough . . . so I went with the big one. I came home and checked the recipe . . . 1/4 tsp of course . . . the lemon juice gave me a real what for today.

But alas I'll now have it on hand for next time I need to make . . . cupcakes . . . yeah of all things I broke down in my battle against lemon juice for cupcakes . . . what can I say, I'm devoted to my art!!!!!

Next thing you know I'll be stocking lime juice. . .

Airi's Arrival and the rest . . .

Airi made her way into the world Monday night (8/24) just after 10pm and came in at 8lbs 15oz and 20.5 inches long. Such a sweet little thing; here is a first photo of the family of four. You can see that big sister Alani is so very proud of her new little sister. She was awesome running back and forth between her parens and mom and I giving us updates . . . . she's here, oh, no she's not here yet . . . she's going to be big like me . . . I tired to look at her with a flashlight . . . she's got hair . . . etc. It was way too cute!

Pondering her sweet "baby sister names Airi" (as Al referred to her for the first few days after she was born!)

Grannie and Alani sharing a celebratory hug

Mike checking out the youngest lady of his life!

And one VERY excited Auntie Haley and Airi

The girls all snug in bed!

Mom and I headed out so they could have some family time for the rest of the evening, I think we left around 1 maybe.

Airi (and everyone else) came home Tuesday morning around 10ish, and mom and I met them at the house. Mom had to head home Tuesday afternoon so she got to do most of the holding between when we got there and when she had to leave.

Here's Airi in the cradle Gramps made when Alani was a baby.

Grannie and her second granddaughter, she's not proud or anything!

Airi all stretched out and trying out a cloth diaper for the first time

Sister Kisses

Thursday Alani and I went to Music Together, momma had to stay home with Airi. We went to class and picked up some bagels (as is tradition) afterwards. Later that day the midwife came by to do the 3 day check up . . . and the rest is history. I'm sure most of you were all well informed via Timbra's blog or facebook or emails about Airi's bilirubin issues so no need to recount them here. Thursday night they left for the hospital and the next few days Alani and I busied ourselves with a little of this and a little of that while Mike and Timbra did the back and forth between Airi at the hospital and Alani with me. We all survived and Airi turned out just fine in the end!!!

Orange Baby on Thursday

Auntie Haley and her little "pumpkin!"

Alani and I borrowed a truck from Timbra's friend Emily so we could go about our business. It's just a single cab so Alani got to ride up front with me and she thought she was hot stuff. By Monday (this is Friday morning now) she knew which peddle you had to push to go and which you had to push to stop, which light colors meant what, what the "clock" (speedometer) said, and what all the radio/temp buttons did. . . a regular expert!!!

Friday we went to the zoo and then met up with Mike and Timbra for a little treat before heading home for a sleepover, Alani's first one without mommy, she was a super star. She woke up once during the night, looked at me and said "oh hi" and then went back to sleep!

On our way to the zoo

Alani having a little moment with this sad little monkey

There was a baby elephant who'd just been born two weeks before but she was having quality time with her mom while we were there so we didn't get to see her. Her name was Zuri

We saw lots of animals, had some lunch, rode the train and the merry-go-round, and got some cotton candy on the way out . . . because Auntie Haley Rocks

Here we are riding the merry-go-round

The baby elephant was not out and the 3 baby tigers were sleeping too far away for us to see, but we did get to see this litte guy!

She's so chill

Having a little treat with mommy and daddy, except she was asleep most of the time they were there; they had to go back to the hospital and here is the tired monkey finishing her yogurt!

Friday night we went to the store and picked up Madagascar 2; Alani had been requesting the "other madagascar" all day, you know the one with the lady and the purse (that's all we had to go on to figure out what movie she was talking about in the first place!) I must have worn her out good because on the way home from Target she said "can we just go home now?" Poor thing!!

Saturday we got to see Mike and Timbra a little more which was good for Alani, we went to the park to play; get nice and dirty!!!!! We met up with Mike and Timbra for dinner and then Timbra was able to come home to put Alani to bed that night, and Mike was there when she woke up Sunday morning.

Sunday I was able to hold Airi, so Alani got to go to the park with her momma for a bit while I was at the hospital with Mike. We switched off after a bit so Mike and I were with Alani at the park while Timbra went to be with Airi. That evening, after going home for a change, we were able to having dinner with Mike and Timbra again, and again Timbra was able to come home and put Alani to bed (she feel asleep on me both night before Timbra made it home, I know how to wear a kid out I guess!)

Playing some music with daddy at the park

Nothing better than a little treat from the ice cream truck!

Alani master of the water!

Some impromptu tribal dancing we stumbled upon at the park

Alani had to wear one of Timbra's shirts like a dress because her clothes were soaked!

Dinner at Chili's

Monday we got the good news that Airi was finally going to be coming home. I'd extended my trip by and extra day so I could help out and had to leave Monday afternoon. Once Mike, Timbra and Airi got home Mike and I ran the truck back and picked up some Sonic treats. Then I spent some time playing with Alani and holding Airi before heading back home.

Alani giving Grannie and update

Sweet baby girl back to her natural coloring!

Me and my girlies!

It was a fun trip, stressful, happy, emotional, busy but wonderful . . . and now I've got two super cute nieces!!! (and this post is only a little over two months late; Airi don't let this reflect on how much I love you ;)

Posts to Come

Perhaps if I write a list of posts on my blog I'll actually have to blog about them!! Seriously there has been lots and lots going on over the last few months that I need to blog about . . . be looking out for them this week.

What to look for.

The actual arrival post of Airi (way back on August 24th) and days following
The second trip back to UT post Airi
What I've been up to with the youth (LDYR, Jr. High Retreat, Scary Monsters, Amazing Pumpkin Race)
The Wiist Girl visit to CA (Grannie and Gramps too)
and Halloween

So come back soon . . .

Pre Airi Arrival

The anticipation of Airi's arrival lasted a LONG time because she was overdue . . . and since I had a free ticket and was going to fly out last minute, I didn't know when I'd go. It was torture on all of us, but mostly on Alani who really just wanted her super cool Auntie Haley to get there to hang out with her! It was decided that I'd fly out early Friday morning and stay through the next week. It was of course a few more days before she came, but we didn't let that stop us from having fun!!

I arrived Friday afternoon and we mostly just hung out for the rest of the day, me and Al got some good play time in!! Don't really remember that we did anything super fancy because I don't have any photographic evidence of it!!

Saturday we also just hung out (we did a lot of hanging out and holding our breath waiting for Airi to come!) We met up at Craker Barel for breakfast which is always a fun time!! That afternoon Mike and Timbra snuck out for a bit while Gramps, Grannie, Al and I played with some bubbles in the backyard . . . Al is the best bubble blower in the whole world; she has a
special oscillating lip technique! After that we watched Pete's Dragon for the 100th time!!

Mom and I "playing" checkers before breakfast

Mike's post-breakfast rock

Gramps and Alani having a rock

Her special blowing technique

Sunday Gramps had to head home (he'd already been there for a week waiting for Airi and in the end had to go home without meeting her . . . important meeting he was hosting and all!) After church the Wiist clan and mom and I headed up to Park City for Park Silly market. We wandered around trying the elevation trick to invite Airi to join us, had some shaved ice and saw what there was to see. Of course Al needed a purple giraffe balloon too from this super friendly clown named Scooter Bug! We went back home and hung out for the evening.

Some sweet loves for Auntie Haley

The Wiist family waiting for Airi

Al and the purple giraffe

Enjoying some Hawaiian shaved ice

Monday Timbra and Mike had an appointment with the Mid-Wife so Grannie, Al and I headed to Nickelmania to have a date. After having all the fun we could and winning some tasty prizes, we headed to the cheese cake factory for lunch. We took a few desserts home to share and then mom and I headed out so I could get a pedi. She and Timbra went earlier in the week, so she said she'd "sponsor" a pedi for me; such a sweet momma! Afterwards we went to a few shops and then called Mike to see if they wanted us to come back over and hang out. Upon calling we heard that Timbra was having some more intense labor so maybe we should entertain ourselves for a while, but to take some dinner over to them. We picked up dinners for everyone, dropped theirs off and took ours back to the cottage. We'd only been back to the cottage for a bit when Mike called and said they were headed over to the meet the mid-wife and we should meet them there. That was just after 7 . . .

Al and I trying our hand at DDR

Al and Grannie Ski Balling

This was Grannie's favorite game

Eating our winnings (75 tix each and hand picked by Al)

Grannie, Alani and I did some coloring, played with some blocks, watched a little over half of Chicken Run; all the while Alani was running back and forth reporting the progress to us, and then before we knew it . . .

Passing the time with coloring

And block building

And puppet playing . . . Where's Grannie!?!

Because it's what we do while we wait!

Blue LIke Jazz

Because I'm such a blog slacker and I have a lot to cover from this past month . . . I'm putting it off. I'll work on it this weeks; all about my trip to UT and Airi and Alani and all that good stuff. But for now just a few quotes, from the second to last book I read, to get you thinking.

Quotes from Blue Like Jazz:

"I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil but rather have us wasting time. This is why the devil tries so hard to get Christians to be religious. If he can sink a man's mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging God."

"If you don't love somebody, it gets annoying when they tell you what to do or what to feel. When you love them you get pleasure from their pleasure, and it makes it easy to serve."

"I mean to be in a relationship with God is to be loved purely and furiously. And a person who thinks himself unlovable cannot be in a relationship with God because he can't accept who God is; a Being that is love."

"If loving other people is a bit of heaven then certainly isolation is a bit of hell, and to that degree, here on earth, we decide in which state we would like to live."

"The most difficult lie I have ever contended with is this: Life is a story about me."

The Infamous Photo

Crime: Haley caught in the act of what appears to be . . . coming out of the Sani-Hut talking on her cell phone

Date: July 29th, 2009; approximately 7:15 pm

Location: Tahoe, CA

As it appears: Haley is walking out of the port-a-potty in Tahoe while talking on her cell phone, and unbeknownst to her, Laura is waiting at the ready with camera in hand to document the crime.

The Truth (according to defendant): "Laura and I have a running joke because a few years back we were taking a picture of ourselves at TFE (Tahoe Family Encampment); and upon review of the picture we discovered that the Sani-Hut was our backdrop. After that things sort of fell into place to make a tradition out of it; so we have several pictures of ourselves in front of said Sani-Hut. Believe it or not now we go out of our way to make sure we get a picture in front of the Sani-Hut every year. Well this year started out like any other, we went over to have our picture taken in front of the Sani-Hut and on the way I said that after our picture I'd actually need to use the Sani-Hut. Laura then told me she was going to take a picture of me coming out of the Sani-Hut. So I went in to use the 'facilities' and apparently forgot to lock the door (and apparently Laura was too busy talking on the phone to pause for 2 seconds to tell me I forgot to lock the door; yeah she noticed . . . she was also apparently too busy to stop what happened next.) while I was pulling my pants up a little girl opened the door on me and then quickly dropped it (by the way second 'walking in' incident I had in Tahoe this year, but the first time I was the 'walker inner'). I was distracted by this and came out, and Laura thought it was funny and said; ' good thing I didn't take a picture of that' but after having said this she realized she forgot to take a picture at all. So back into the Sani-Hut I went (see this time it was staged!) I thought I'd add an extra element to the already comical picture, so I whipped out my cell phone and pretended to be chatting away."

Jury Conclusion: So there you have it folks, the jury concludes that Haley is not at fault of talking on the phone while using the Sani-Hut . . . though upon questioning she did make this statement; "Port-A-Potties are kind of creepy and gross so safety in numbers is always a good idea, and since two people can't actually fit in there, a buddy on the phone is the next best option."

But what do you think: Do you think that Haley is innocent and this was a staged photo, or . . . do you think she really was on the phone and has concocted this elaborate story to"cover up" the truth.

*As of the writing of this post, we have not been able to gather a statement from Laura . . .

Sani-Hut Photo 2008

Sani-Hut Photo 2009

The Great Race

So a few weeks ago (umm almost a month ago the 18th of July) I participated in my first triathlon; granted I only did two portions of the race, but still I can now say I've done a tri! This particular tri is a run/bike/paddle as opposed to the traditional run/bike/swim tri. Apparently (she confessed this) my mom has been wanting to do this tri for like 15 years or something crazy like that but it was just never the right time. Well this was her lucky year, and she was so lucky in fact, she got to do the whole thing herself and with her family!

A Sea (or should I say River Front) of Kayaks: Pre-Race Set-up

Through a series of unfortunate events we went from having two teams of 3 to having my mom do the whole thing herself, and a team of 2, which was Bill and I. The biker on my mom's team dropped out two weeks pre-race due to a back injury and her husband (the runner) decided to drop out as well. One week prior to the race we found out that my brother (my team's runner) had a few broken ribs and punctured lung; so he was out! After several failed attempts to find new runners we just gave up and the Tuesday before the race my mom and I decided we'd just do the run ourselves.*Side note, I'm not a runner at all and 5 day's isn't really a lot of time to prepare for a 5.8mile run! I went to the gym Tuesday night and walked 4 miles in an hour which helped me realize that I could do it!* But alas it was decided and we were just gonna do it; the point wasn't to win anything but to have some good family fun!

My mom came in on Wednesday for a few days of extra visiting time which is always a treat! We had mexican food for dinner and then ran a few errands; one of which was to get matching shirts for the race. . . we ended up with the same shirt in different colors! Picking shirts at 9pm at night was and adventure in and of itself!

Thursday I had to work but my mom met me and we walked to Jacks for lunch; man it was hot, but as my mom pointed out it was good for her because that way she could acclimate to the heat a little before Saturday. We didn't do anything strenuous, just about 2.5 miles round trip. After work my mom treated us to a massage which is always nice; I got worked really hard and had several bruises Friday, but all the knots and tight muscles were gone! We grabbed some mexican food, headed home to finish up folding the bulletins for church and then just hung around for the evening. (I love when my mom comes to town because we get to have LOTS of mexican food;)

Friday morning we were supposed to go kayaking but our original trip fell through so some quick rearranging of the day's schedule and we were good to go! We ran some errands in the morning and then met up with Bill and Justin along with the family I work for, for a nice lunch downtown. After a lovely lunch and visit we headed home for a wardrobe change and the boys dropped us off at on the river so we could kayak the course in prep for the big day. I've kayaked the river several times, but my mom wanted to do a test run; and who am I to complain about kayaking!!! It worked out well because the end of the course is exactly where the pre-race packet pick up was Friday night. We were able to pick up or packets, make the changes to our teams and dash off. We spend Friday evening with Ben and Katie, talking race strategy and getting everything gathered together for the big day!

*Katie also signed up to do the whole race herself; her first tri! Funny story; mom wanted to tie ribbons to our kayak paddlesso we each needed one. At this point Katie looks at me and says "don't we need one for each paddle?" She's never kayaked before; I then had to explain (through laughter) that you connect the two paddles together! I could just picture Katie out there on the river paddling with two paddles while everyone else only had one!

The race stared at 8 on Saturday, so we had to meet up at 6:30 to drop kayaks off. Now stay with me here; here's what we had mapped out for the day (and thank goodness Justin was there to be our "crew" because without him we couldn't have done the race!) We dropped kayaks off at 6:30, from there Mom and I went in one car to the start line for the run, Bill, Justin and Katie went to drop off bikes. Katie then met us at the start line about one second before the race started! Bill and Justin were waiting at the bike transition where mom and Bill rode off and Justin drove me to the kayak transition. From there mom and I took off in kayaks and Bill and Justin loaded the bikes in the car and drove to the finish line to meet us! Complicated but all went as smooth as it possibly could!

Kayaks Unloaded and Ready to Go

The Crew/(Bill)Teammate

Serious News Coverage of this Race

My Kayak ready to go

Katie and Mom prepping their Kayaks

One Side of the Bridge: All the Iron-person Kayaks

These were on the Other side: Tandem and Team Kayak groups

The "Rat Pack" headed back to the cars!

Mom and I finishing the Run Strong

Bill headed out on the Bike Leg

Mom taking off for the Bike Leg

Bike to Kayak Transition/Handoff of Red Wristband!

She's still going Strong!

The Last leg/My Favorite Leg!

Mom headed out for the last leg

Pulling in for the Big Finish

Mom Crossing the Finish Line

Our goal was to finish the race in under 3 and a half hours; that a lotted 1 and a half hours for the run (remember we mostly walked I think we rand like 6 or 7 minutes?) an hour for the bike and an hour for kayaking. We totally rocked; mom and I did the run/mostly walk in under an hour and a half and then mom and Bill did the bike in like 45 minutes; the kayak took about 50 minutes. . . . whew 5.82 mile run/12.5 mile bike/6.25 mile paddle.

Post-Race Photo Shoot

Us Girls

Me and my Teammate!

Mom and Bill

The Family/Teammate/Crew Members

The Racers

The whole day was a blast! I'm so glad my mom talked me into it ;) I'm hoping that maybe next year I'll be brave enough to do the whole thing myself!!!!! We went to see Harry Potter in the afternoon and then after dinner played cards for a while; so it was a wonderful day all together!

Kayaks loaded up post-race; they look go up there!!

Not to Shabby looking for post-race self-portrait!

Sunday my parents departed with Justin and I went about my day feeling wonderfully sore all over . . . you know, the kind that feels really good!!

So who wants to do The Great Race 37 next year?? By the way The Great Race is "The World's Oldest Triathlon" check it out here