Can't I just chop it up?

As a Hall Advisor I'm sometimes asked to help my RAs with their building programs (program=activity with purpose). Next month I will be showing a group of young men how to cook a Thanksgiving feast, or at least the most important parts: turkey and pie.

So here's my problem: I know how to cook a turkey. But how do you carve it? Carving a turkey seems like a fancy thing that you see on TV or in a cookbook, but I'm sure that normal people do it occassionally. Is there a reason to carve it other than to make it look nice? I'm always just content to cut it into smaller pieces, whatever shape those may be. But I thought it would be neat to teach them how to carve it for real. Then they can go home and impress their mothers, and later their wives.

So this is me asking if anyone out there knows how to carve a turkey, and if you could share that wisdom with me. If not, I'll just Google it.

Go 148!

I've had some requests from some old 148th Ward friends to see the pictures from our 2006 co-ed softball team. Here they are! I'm just going to put them all on so you can see which ones you or your spouse are in. I would e-mail them to you all, but the files are just too big. I'm sure you can copy and paste those that you want to save in your own files.

So enjoy! (And sorry for the unflattering shots--when are sports really flattering?)

Mr. Independent

Benjamin recently decided that he no longer wants to be fed by his parents. No matter what we try to offer him with a spoon, he adamantly rejects it with a determined turn of his head (with the exception of certain sweet treats such as ice cream or fruit slushie). However, he will happily pick it up off his tray with his own fingers and eat it. Usually.

First, I had to include these pictures because it seems like EVERY baby needs a spaghetti sauce shot.

Another recent Benjamin thing is his eager "Cheese!" for the camera. We feel so blessed to have such a happy son!

Now, when we were visiting Grandma Key, we had some Mac-n-Cheese for lunch. It was Sunday afternoon, Benjamin had already had a bath, and we didn't have a high chair for him. I hoped he would be hungry enough--and like maccaroni enough--to just let me feed it to him.

No. Not happenin', Mom.


So in the end it was between his fingers and in his hair. And he loved it!

Now, cereal has been a battle for us. I want him to eat it. He's tired of eating it. It's one of those things he just has to eat with a spoon but, again, the spoon is not so much his thing. So, I figured, hey, he's gotta learn eventually, right? Let him have at it! So I have started giving him the spoon with some cereal on it (after he utterly refuses to eat another bite from me), and he happily puts it in his mouth. The first time. After that he generally just waves it around while grabbing fistfuls of sticky goodness and smearing them in the general vicinity of his mouth.


In the end, though, I think he consumes most of it. We wash more of his clothes, and I cannot vouch for the cleanliness of my kitchen floor, but he's learning to do it himself, which is okay with me.

Dilbert -- The Knack

Last week at our (School of Construction Management) weekly seminar the guest lecturer showed us this video. As CM grads we will be working with engineers all the time. I wonder if that is why we share a small number or courses with these guys. So in honor to them, our engineering friends, here is a funny video titled, "Dilbert --The Knack."

If you didn't think that was funny, I'm sorry. CM guys and engineers will usually take any chance to poke fun at each other.

Ottoman

Here are some pictures of an ottoman that I recently built. This was a fun project that came to exsistence because of how small our living room is. Just before we moved into our Wyview apartment we purchased a love seat from the DI because our three seat couch was not going to fit. The love seat was just right for Vicky, Benjamin, and I to sit on and have our own space. But Vicky and I wanted something to rest our feet on and an ottoman was just the trick. So after a couple sleepless nights (I can't sleep at night if I am very involved and exticed about building something) and a few Saturdays in my Dad's garage, the ottoman was completed. This was a fun and rewarding project, and I can't wait until I have my own work shed/garage someday (hopefully very soon).

Special thanks to Dad for helping me with the padding on the seat and to my sweatheart for helping me stain the ottoman.

It’s about 36" long, 15" wide, and 18" tall.

A break from the daily grind

What a weekend! Last Thursday we drove all the way to Albuquerque, NM with Grandma Duersch and Aunt Ruth. The main event was the baptism of Benjamin's cousin Lane Sego, but we did so many other fun things, too.

Our 10-hour drive down took a few hours more than planned since we decided to stop at Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. We saw some really cool ruins that look like this:

We arrived in Albuquerque late on Thursday night, and after a few hours of sleep woke up to go to the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta. This is an annual event in Albuquerque that I went to a few times growing up, but I haven't been to it since high school. Even then I didn't get the full experience, so it was great to go again. Paul thought it was amazing, and in a few years Benjamin will think so, too.

We got to Balloon Fiesta Park at about 6:30 a.m. There were yummy breakfast burritos, fun balloon shapes, chainsaw carvers, and plenty of people bundled up against the cold just like us. There were even Storm Troopers.

Early morning

Balloons starting to go up

Benjamin thought this guy was so cool

Balloon Gondola

Chainsaw carver guy

After a long morning, we were all pretty beat.

But there was more to do....

Next stop, Santa Fe. After a quick stop for the diapers we forgot to pack, we headed off with the Sego family to the capital of New Mexico. You would think that, having lived in NM for 18 years, I would have visited Santa Fe at least once. Well, I did go there once, but I didn't go anywhere in the city or see anything outside the campus of St. John's College, so it doesn't count.

We ate at a place called The Burrito Co. Cafe. It's so nice to have some real New Mexican food once in a while!



We spent the afternoon walking around the plaza and visiting galleries and shops. Below is a picture of Native American vendors selling their crafts and jewelery.



Saturday morning we finally got to sleep in! Than Paul and I drove with Grandma and Ruth around the neighborhood where I grew up. I wish I could show a good picture of the house I grew up in, but it's too depressing to look at now. (The new owner has let everything go to waste.) We also drove by the Ernie Pyle library, Bandelier Elementary, and Highland High School. Fun to see old spots, but so glad to be where I am now!

A very wonderful and important part of our visit to Albuquerque was our visits with my parents. We saw my dad in Rio Rancho first. Unfortunately, Benjamin was a little grumpy during our visit with Grandpa Key, but at least they could spend some time together.


Saturday evening I was going to go to the Rio Grande Arts & Crafts Festival with Paul's mom and his sisters Heidi and Ruth but I just didn't feel like spending $6 on admission that we thought was free. So instead Ruth and I stayed in the car and did homework, which really wasn't all that bad. (Sorry for the boring details. I'm just trying to be thorough.)

That night we joined Heidi's husband Landon's family (the Segos) for a hamburger cookout, and Paul's oldest brother Brett flew in from Pennsylvania with his son Tom. This is a picture of us playing a card game called "Big Fish, Little Fish," or something like that.

Sunday we had a nice visit with my mom. Benjamin had his first taste of Mac & Cheese from a box, and although I wanted to keep it clean and feed it to him myself, he has now decided that he won't eat anything unless he can do it himself. And I mean anything. But that's a post for another time.

Church with Grandma Key was fun because we got to visit with Brother Croasdell, a member of my old ward, and we got to watch the Primary practice their Sacrament Meeting Program since my mom is a Primary teacher.
We also got to visit with Benjamin's aunts Sarah and Melissa. Sorry, Sarah, we didn't get a picture with you!


Lane was baptized on Sunday evening, and it was wonderful! We're so proud of you, buddy! Thanks for inviting us! (Sorry, no pictures of that one... we left the camera in the car.)

And that was our vacation! Thanks to Grandma Duersch for taking us in her van, and to both her and Ruth for keeping Benjamin content in the back seat! And thanks to Lane for being baptised so we could have such a great mid-semester break!