Cereal

This morning I had cereal for breakfast. This is a pretty normal thing for me, even though I go through stages where I think I'm lactose intolerant (separate issue). This morning I got out my cereal bowl, and grabbed the corn chex and life, sat down and enjoyed my breakfast.

I have been a cereal mixer for my whole life, and I never thought anything of it until Daniel and I were dating. When he found out I mix cereals, he acted like that was in the top ten of the most bizarre things he'd ever heard. He couldn't imagine mixing two, maybe even three cereals in one bowl, and I haven't been able to convince him to give it a try.

I have my personal favorite combinations, depending on what I have on hand. One of them has grape nuts on the bottom, then a layer of chex (corn or rice), and granola on top. The grape nuts give it a good crunch, the chex are good filler, and the granola (homemade and delicious) has just a light sweetness to make it a perfect topping. Other favorites include corn flakes, honey bunches of oats, and of course, granola. I don't know if this cereal mixing phenomenon came from my moms or dads side of the family, or if it is something unique they created in their own early years of marriage. Either way, I enjoy a good variety of cereals in the morning, and if you're like Daniel, I'd suggest you give it a try.

Is there anybody else out there who mixes it up in the morning, or are you all purists, afraid of a little cereal pizazz?

Today began with a 10 mile bike ride. It was a good way to get up and going, but it felt a lot earlier than 8:00 should feel on a Saturday. I really prefer to be asleep at that time! I went though, and it was good. I like exercising with others, so it was nice to get out with some of the women from my ward. This summer the Olympia Stake is doing a women's only triathlon. So far it has been good at getting me motivated to go to the gym and exercise each day. The first week I did very well with the training schedule until Friday when I rolled my ankle. The second week I kept pace and continued to do well. This last week I slacked. Until this morning. I'm also going to exercise Monday morning before work, so that will at least start me off with a good work out for the week. My problem is that each week the training schedule gets more difficult...as it should...but that doesn't make it any easier. Instead of going for a 15 minute run, I'm now supposed to go for a 40 minute run. I wasn't crazy about running for 15 minutes, and not surprisingly, 40 minutes isn't any more better. I'm hoping that I'll be able to build up some endurance that will make this whole thing a little more realistic.


This afternoon Daniel and I ventured up to downtown Tacoma for our niece Emma's ballet recital. She had the part of a sheep and a bunny. She's also three, energetic, adorable, and quite the little performer.

We all gave Emma some flowers which she adored!

The Pantages Theater in downtown Tacoma

We were lucky enough to get to see 'Peter and the Wolf'. With three year old's dancing around like sheep/bunnies, there's no way it isn't great!

Recent Pictures

On Tuesday we had our last cub scout activity before the boys go to Cub scout day camp. (thank goodness I wasn't asked to attend). To celebrate a successful year of cub scouttery and because all of our remaining wolf boys have summer birthdays, we had a cub scout birthday party. We made chocolate mint brownies with whipped cream, and played games. We ignored the sign in the church kitchen about only warming and re-heating foods, and had a blast. As the nazi den leader, I made sure the boys washed their hands and followed the directions. Part way through, one of the boys cracked open the egg, and out spilled two yolks! This was fascinating to see, and the boys loved talking about the twin chicks that might have been.

Sadly, this is the only picture of the brownies, but they were delicious. The boys saw to it that there weren't any extras to bring home.

Also, I'm sure some of you think I'm a bit obsessed with my cats...but you can skip the rest of this post. For the rest of you, who care to indulge me...This was what Wesley got to do on Sunday morning.

We got clearance pet Halloween costumes last fall, and we made the cats try them on. Wesley was more tolerant than Skipper, but neither cat really enjoyed it. Also, whenever I take pictures of Wesley indoors, he gets major red eye. Because I have no photo editing skills whatsoever, I tried to spray paint over the red-eye in a paint document....Any photo editing tips/advice are welcome!

Skipper, looking thoroughly pissed off.

He does make a cute pirate.

I guess that's about all for this post. Hopefully I'll stumble over something a little more post worthy this weekend to give you a break from the crazy cat lady side of me.

Graduation

On the off chance that you may have been getting bored with my little garden updates, I figured I'd share pictures from my day today.

Today I went to work at 7:30. We're doing a summer flex schedule, so I come in a little early each day, take a half an hour lunch, and get an extra day off every other week. I'm excited because tomorrow's my day. I have big plans to visit my favorite baby and kick it in Fircrest with Mike and Cindy!

Anyway, after a long day at work in my extra hot office, I got to go to dinner with my family to celebrate my sister's graduation from high school. I then got to return to Saint Martin's and sit in a stuffy pavilion while hundreds of students were celebrated. I think we were all ready to bolt after the 50th round of Pomp and Circumstance...I really should find that song and attach it to this post. That way you don't have to be jealous that I got to sit through an hour of it. I was assuming this would be the second to last graduation I'd have to attend, because my youngest brother is the only one left now. I was informed after sitting through this one that the exchange student my parents will be hosting next year will also be graduating next June. I think I'm going to be better prepared next time with a Slurpee in one hand and a noise maker in the other. Because really, who wants to clap when there are so many other fun noises to choose from.

The real fun started after graduation ended and we got to take pictures!
My favorite thing was to make Rachel pose with me!

The whole family and Rachel's best friend Holly. (After almost posting this, I just realized this is not the whole family. Nathan will return from his mission in three weeks...is it normal to totally space that I have another sibling, he's just been gone for two years...?)

Proud parents. Three down, one to go.

Lots of picture taking going down.

A brief (and relatively rare) moment of satisfaction about my employment with Saint Martin's. If only I'd realized beforehand that there was reserved parking right out front. I'm sure the walk from the regular employee lot was good though since I skipped the gym in order to make it to these festivities.

Can you believe it?

I took these pictures on Friday morning, so it had only been a week, but look at how much my basil has grown!

It's crazy, and I almost feel like if I sat still long enough, I'd be able to see it grow, and watch new leaves pop out of nowhere. The other little herbs are still growing, but this basil is by far the most impressive!

The New Adventures of Wesley the Cat.

Last weekend we went up to visit Daniel's parents in Gig Harbor. His dad has a project boat, and needed Daniel's help with a couple things. It was a long hot day on Friday, so it was nice to hop in the car with the air conditioning going. We headed over the bridge right around sunset, and it was gorgeous.

We don't usually bring Wesley with us when we go up because he hates the car ride, specifically his carrier. We dragged him along this time with the promise of outside time. So Saturday morning, while Daniel was being helpful and working on the boat, I ventured out to enjoy the glorious morning sunshine.

I've always been a morning person, and beautiful summer mornings are my favorite. The air always feels so crisp and fresh...and I imagine the grass is tastier. Wesley seemed to enjoy it. He got to be an outside cat for the day, and we had a backyard to enjoy the gorgeous weather. Saturday afternoon we did get to see "Up" which was a fabulous movie. I loved it.

We finished up with an evening barbecuing fillet Mignon. Wesley couldn't quite handle the delicious smell of fresh meat, and he begged and begged for some.

"please nanna please, just a small taste"

Wesley was fairly persistent with his begging, and made his point all over her black pants. Good thing for lint rollers!

He was happy after dinner when we fed him some of the left overs. He's definitely one spoiled cat...after all, what kind of cat gets left over Fillet Mignon?