Kid's Books

I've been getting into the baby books for Annie at the library. We can't get ones with real, paper pages because she mostly just likes to put them in her mouth. So we checked out this board book called Ship Shapes. The book shows the kid a bunch of shapes at the beginning and then has the kid identify the shapes throughout the rest of the book. But according to the blurb on the back of the book, here is what the book can do for your child:

"At Barefoot Books, we celebrate art and story that opens the hearts and minds of children from all walks of life, inspiring them to read deeper, search further, and explore their own creative gifts. We focus on themes that encourage independence of spirit, enthusiasm for learning, and sharing of the world's diversity. Interactive, playful, and beautiful, our products combine the best of the present with the best of the past to educate our children as caretakers of tomorrow. Live Barefoot!"

Gag me! Having my daughter recognize a triangle will help her to open her heart and mind? One of the characters is black, so thankfully that covers the "diversity" requirement. I'm so glad that my child, as a "caretaker of tomorrow," will be able to tell the difference between a square and a rectangle. And learning shapes encourages Annie's "independence of spirit!?" What! "Other people call this a square, but you can call it whatever you want." To be brief...I think their description is a bit of a stretch.

A San Francisco Treat

Aaron and I, being the adventurous folk that we are, decided to stay in California longer than the rest of the family so we could spend a day in San Francisco. It was a bit of a last minute decision. We didn't look up our route on Google Maps. We didn't plan what attractions we would see. We didn't have a map of the city. We were just going to go with the flow.
However, we weren't very good at going with the flow...we almost died 4 times trying to maneuver our way in and out of narrow, steep, one-way, there's-a-trolley-car-coming-this-way, San Francisco streets.
Aaron was feeling tired when we left Woodland, so I followed the freeway signs for San Francisco. That wasn't too hard. But when we got outside Oakland, we realized that they charge people to go across the Bay Bridge into San Francisco, and that they only take cash. Rude. So we got off the freeway at the last possible exit and made our way into the ghetto of Oakland. We found a gas station, got some cash, and had near-death experience #1 when I almost ran a red light.
Things were going great. We got across the lovely bay bridge, and made our way into San Francisco. We both wanted to see Chinatown since Aaron served his mission in Taiwan, I took 4 semesters of Mandarin, and I saw David Bowie's music video "China Girl." (Worst experience of my life) So we took what we thought was the exit. But there was not anything Chinese about that exit. We were lost, had near-death experience #2, I started crying, and Aaron took over the driving.
We finally decided we needed to find a map, but in order to find a map, we not only had to find a gas station, but we also had to be in the correct lane, at the correct time, going the right way so we could turn into the gas station. But we eventually found a map. Things only got better from here.
We found Chinatown on the map and headed that way. We got close to the right spot and decided to park...which also cost money, but parking meters only take change, not cash. So after making cash with a guy in Walgreen's, we parked and headed to Chinatown. Did somebody mix Chinatown with Italytown? Seriously, it was Italy and China side by side. Weird. And we ate at a Vietnamese restaurant in Chinatown. We still wonder if we were in the right place. But there were lots of Chinese shops and Chinese people, so it was something.
Our next stop was Fisherman's wharf. This went a lot more smoothly. Remember how I thought California was supposed to be sunny and warm? Well, nowhere was that less true than here by the ocean. We were cold, but Annie got to see the ocean, and we got to look at Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge from afar.

Alcatraz looked so cool, and Al Capone Does My Shirts is a really great book that includes some stuff about Alcatraz.




After Fisherman's Wharf, we went for a drive down Lombard Street after having near-death experience #4. I don't remember where near-death experience #3 happened, but I know it was in there somewhere.


And then took the scenic route (on purpose--we were not lost) to the Golden Gate Park. By now we were really having a nice time. Annie was being a pretty good sport, all things considered. But she was not keen on the wind.


It was 5:00 by the time we were ready to leave, and we thought traffic would be nasty on the Bay Bridge. So we decided to take another scenic route across the Golden Gate Bridge. And you don't have to pay when you're leaving the city! It was a lovely drive home.

The trip started out rough, but we ended up having a nice time in this great American city.

Here are just a few final observations:
1. We saw a lot of rainbows in San Francisco, a symbol of gay pride. In that same section of town we saw lots of signs for the Aids Walk. It was an interesting juxtaposition.

2. I saw an amazing number of mothers with young children in strollers. How would you like to raise a family (or rollerblade) on these streets?

3. Aaron and I never want to live in a big city.

The end.

Mawwiage: That Dweam Within a Dweam...

Once upon a time there was a boy named William. He lived at the same apartment complex as a girl named Heather. They dated. Then she went on a mission to Chile for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Then she came home. Then William and Heather decided to get married in the Sacramento, California temple.


That's when Aaron and Maren decided to go to California. I had never been to California before, but naturally I had a few preconceived notions about the place. To me, California equals sunny and warm with big cities and lots of people. Hence, I brought shorts and t-shirts and whimpy little onsies and shorts for Annie. Why didn't I get the memo that California was going to be frigid and windy? I guess the stereotypes I had about California mostly apply to southern California. It's a big state and northern California was a lot different. It wasn't cold the whole time, but it was windy the whole time.

Anyway, we drove to California taking I-80. Nevada was actually kind of pretty, but west Utah is ugly! There was this:

and these lovely salt flats for our viewing pleasure:


Once in California, we spent a lot of time at Heather's house. They own a ranch, and have a ton of horses. Heather and her family were nice enough to take time to let us ride them the day before the wedding. Here are some of the things we saw on the ranch:






Doesn't this look just a little bit like a guillotine? It wasn't.

The wedding itself was great. Heather and William are perfect for each other. We're so happy they got together. Heather really impressed me as a bride. Everything went so smoothly, and she was calm, happy, and easy to get along with the whole time. William was a pretty good groom, too. Here are some wedding pics. I didn't get any really good ones of the bride and groom. It was too stressful with juggling Annie and everyone else trying to get pictures. But here's our little family:


And the ladies:


And the men:


Annie was hot and somewhat fussy while we were waiting for pictures. She was really sad that she didn't get any flowers.



The reception was back at the Padilla ranch. The wind finally calmed down a little.


And this was my contribution to the decorating of the car. They were serving chocolate dip...I had a diaper...it had to happen.


So, as my mom would say, the wedding came of with a hitch, and we had a grand time. More on our California adventure later.

Wheat Flour

I bought wheat flour. It was a milestone in my life, and I feel like a real Mormon mother/wife/woman. As a single person, I never bought wheat flour because it was more expensive, and I didn't really cook things that needed wheat flour. Now I cook pancakes about once a week, because I love pancakes, but we were getting tired of the flimsier white flour version. So I made the plunge and bought the $15.00 bag of wheat flour.
My experience got me thinking about the difference between wheat flour and white flour. How are they different? Now you experienced cooks, moms, MFHD majors out there already know the answer to this query. But I did a little research (wikipedia), and it was quite enlightening for me.
Here's what I learned: Obviously, white flour and wheat flour are both made out of wheat. The wheat flour, however, includes the bran, germ, and endosperm while the white flour only has the endosperm. Bran is the hard outer layer of the wheat that has most of the nutrition. The germ is the seed of the plant, and the endosperm is the starchy part of the plant. White flour only has the endosperm which makes it a lot less healthy. Interesting.

But Aaron and I were also wondering why wheat flour would be more expensive if it required less refining. Wikipedia says the cost is due to wheat flour's unpopularity and the fact that the people who make white flour can make a profit from the wheat germ and wheat bran by selling them separate from the flour.
Also, whole wheat flour can goes rancid a lot more quickly than regular flour. Apparently, the germ has some oil in it that makes it more likely to spoil. My sources tell me that you can definitely tell by the smell if your wheat flour goes bad. That would make some nasty bread.
Now that I have discovered the mysteries of flour, the next step on my journey to reaching the pinnacle of womanhood should be learning how to make dinner rolls that could be used for something other than medieval castle fortifications. What am I doing wrong!?

Welcome Home!

About a week and half ago, Aaron's brother Russell got home from serving a mission in England for the LDS church. Many families were at the airport waiting for their missionaries. They had huge signs and balloons. This was the only sign Russell got:

But he definitely had the cutest sign holder.

We had to wait a long time for the missionaries to actually appear. There was a group of about 8 missionaries and they all waited until everyone else had come down the escalator. So we eventually saw this big group of missionaries coming down together, and none of the family could spot Russell. We all said, "The guy in the middle looks the most like Russell, but...no that's not him." Even when Russell started walking toward us, we couldn't believe it was him. Sorry, Russell. He looks great, just older. It wasn't as bad as the other missionary whose family did not show up. I saw him borrowing a phone later, though, and he was smiling. There must have been a miscommunication. Mother guilt trip of the century.

So we spent a lovely weekend in with the Dennis family. Alan brought his parrot, Goose, up to visit, and Annie was fascinated with him.


Annie also got some quality time in studying with her Dad:


We came home on Memorial Day and had a picnic at the duck pond. Annie is too young to think the ducks are cool. Sad. But she looked pretty cute sporting her picnic duds.


Now it is officially hot in P-town and summer has begun.