Two things about getting to school at 7 am:

1: The library, unstirred by the comings and goings of students, smells like mulberries and dust.

and

2: You will be the only person in the bathroom, along with the girl who vigorously flosses her teeth at school.

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It was too early for pictures.

Bountiful Baskets

We woke up bright and early this Saturday morning to go and pick up our first ever bountiful basket. 

We had no idea what to expect, but we were surprised by the length of the line waiting to pick up their produce. I think there were more people because they were offering a flat of strawberries for $11.

Since it was our first time, we had to pay a small ($3.50) fee so our total came out to $19.50, but from now on it'll be $15.

We got:

3 bunches of broccoli

about 1.5 lbs string beans

1 pineapple

strawberries

1 mango

1 baby watermelon

4 tomatoes

2 cucumbers

3 lbs of apples

green cauliflower

6 bananas

Not a bad deal for $15!

Food Fridays: Brownies

Am I the only one that makes things from scratch simply so I can justify wearing a cute apron?

Last night I made brownies, and couldn't help but be giddy over the fact that this will probably be our family's go to brownie recipe. The one I'll make the kiddos for Sunday desserts.

They turned out chewy, moist, crunchy (but not hard) and just super.

- 1 stick butter (8 tbsp)

- 1/2 C. brown sugar

- 1 C white sugar

- 2 Large Eggs

- 3/4 C flour

- 1/2 C cocoa

- pinch salt

-generous tbsp vanilla

Melt butter. Add sugars. Add Eggs, flour, cocoa, salt and vanilla , mix the hecka out of it. Grease pan or use parchment paper. Bake 20-25 min at 390 degrees in an 8" square baking dish.

The original recipe says to let it cool for an hour - overnight, I'm amending that to say, eat rapidly as soon as your mouth can stand the heat.

Skymall Rhetoric

You know how high-end magazines always advertise expensive retail items to their upper-crust target audience with slogans like 'you've arrived' and 'you earned it', yadda, yadda, hooey?

Well, it got me to thinking...

When I fly, I am Sky Mall's target audience and apparently I am fancy enough to buy things like this: 

THE GRAN DAMA EXPRESSO MACHINE! 

Pocket change at $3,000.

or this:

FULL SUIT OF ARMOR (man included)

Only $3,250

I feel like Sky Mall is telling me:

"You fly Delta economy class, you deserve it ."

Tutorial Tuesday: How to ride a bike in a skirt

There are flowers and birds and bees and finally leaves on trees, which means it is primo bike riding weather!

If your a big fan of skirts, and also a big fan of bikes you may want to take into count these handy hints when your skirt encounters a breezy day while pedaling your bike.

1. The obvious: wear leggings or shorts. These can get really hot and take away some of the bare-legged breeze that benefits riding a bike in a skirt, but are a sure way to keep you modest.

2. Try a garter. You don't have to buy anything fancy, a knit headband (like they have at the dollar store) worn around your lower-mid thigh is great to attach a safety pin to. Simply remove the pin when you are off of your bike.

3. Angle your knees in towards each other a little bit. This gives the skirt less of a chance to throw modesty {and your dignity} to the wind.

4. Ride in lighter weight fabrics, I know that may seem counter-intuitive but heavier fabrics actually move up and down a lot more with your legs and catch wind better. Whereas, lighter fabrics ripple backwards instead of straight up.

5. Don't ride in anything shorter than knee length. Let's be ladies here.

6. If you are riding in a long skirt, you know that maxi you love, make sure your bike has a skirt guard to keep it from tangling up your skirt.

7. If you don't have a skirt frame or step through bike, try standing on a curb to get on your bike.

8. When cruising, extend one leg straight while keeping the other leg bent to minimize the amount of air being caught by your skirt.

9. Do some fancy tucking. There are many ways to tuck a skirt under your thighs that aren't obvious or awkward looking.

AND

10. You can always hold the hem of your skirt with your non-steering hand.

Happy biking!

The day we got stuck in a convection oven...and more

I'm not sure if you can tell by the video, but we were battling some high mph winds up there. Our first official day of climbing, we headed over to the Confluence Area. The boys conquered the Crimson King and I dinked around on a 5.9 sport route (the one Jack is being blown off of in the video).

Since we were on the edge of a cliff, at the mouth of a giant canyon, on a warm sandy day...we got blasted.

As the boys sunk their fingertips into some harder trad routes, I discovered that I am a master cairn balancer.

We also hit up the Big Bend climbing area and climbed cave crack, cherry crack and several others after the rest of the group got there.

and a millionty other pictures that would bore you to see!

Date Night!!

Russ and I are both very practical when it comes to money (Okay, so he is very practical and I'm pretty practical). 

We don't eat out much, and we rarely go to the store just to get "treats"

So when I get a really strong hankering for something sweet, I convince him to take me out on a date (his weakness to saying yes...don't tell him I told you this.)

So we hopped in the shower, got all spiffied up and scooted our patooties down to the Cocoa Bean to share a Grasshopper cupcake. (We justify the sugar load by splitting one) and since we were already 'downtown' we went to the Craze to play some Ski Ball.

I don't know when we became arcade junkies, but we love running in their with our 4 (six if we are feeling crazy) tokens apiece and entering into an epic unspoken battle, yet alliance to see who can get the most tickets/see how many we can earn all together.

I know this is blurry, but I was just so gosh darn excited about winning the jackpot (333 tickets) on a balloon burst game. I couldn't hold still, they just kept coming!! Russell and I decided that we could never gamble, because we would be those people who didn't know when to quit at the high risk tables. Although I did get this first try. Yea, I'm bragging about this. Judge me. 

(Oh, and this is my new favorite skirt, I made it with some fabric I found at the DI for a buck, there'll be one in my Etsy shop once that gets going...again...er..yea...moving on)

If you ever go to the Craze and win the balloon jackpot, just play along with the guy behind the counter while he gives you his whole uncomfortably drawn out 'we need to call the cops because there was a reported balloon homicide' shpeel. It'll be less awkward that way.

We giddily ran our tickets over to the ticket counter (We learned to always, always, tear long strands of tickets apart. Otherwise, the machine will jip you.) fed our tickets into the machine and budgeted out the most bang for our buck.

We walked away with:

• 1 jumbo parachute guy (yet to be named, but residing on our rear view mirror for the perfect launch moment)
• 1 box of Jolly Rancher Chews
• 2 ring pops
• 1 bottle of glow in the dark goo
• two starburst 

We then bought the cheapest burgers available at Arctic Circle (not to be bought again) and shared a small fry then came back to our apartment and talked in our car for an hour and a half until our windows were fogged up. Then came back inside and watched Homestar Runner (not as funny as I remembered it, but still fun).

---

I'm so very happy that I'm married to my best friend! We have so much dorky fun together.

Some Zion stuff!

I know I said I would be posting this pictures from Zion throughout this week...

but all of my pictures are on Russell's computer and he's had it with him at school

and I've been at work.

--

That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

--

The boys and I got into Rockville around 8 pm on Wednesday, watched some chick-flicks (their choice) and hit the hay for an early start the next morning.

We took the quick hike/walk to the mouth of the Narrows at the Temple of Sinawava. 

(Side note: If you ever want to feel like a rockstar [no pun intended], just hike around Zion with all of your climbing gear. People  will think you're awesome and sneakily take pictures of you in the background, or ask you to pose with them. I felt like a redhead in China!)

One of the days after everyone got there, we hiked into Kolob Canyon for, what I thought was, the most aesthetically amazing thing we saw during the whole trip.

The canyon floor is pretty packed with trees and surprisingly; snow. If you stand in the middle and lean your head back just enough, you can see both walls of the canyon making a narrow strip of the sky.

The side of the canyon we were climbing on was at an impressive, overhung, angle 

....

Making for some pretty awesome falls.

In attempts to avoid the batch of trees on my right, I mauled shin up a lil bit by the trees on the left. It was freezing, we got hailed on, and several people in our group had their first go with the screaming barfies.

---

On possibly the warmest day we were there, Easter Sunday, we went to church where we met a couple hikers (the strangers in this pic) and then hopped on the park buses to hike Angels Landing.

(This pictures documents the very last time that week that I was ever in the front and Jack was ever in the back! )

Once at the top, we DIDN'T  feed the chipmunks (or chick-monks...which are technically nuns). They did however snatch up some apple cores that I kicked away from me when I realized several of them were fighting underneath my legs. I find all wildlife to only be cute at a distance, up close they get real mangy real fast.

Mostly, I was just stoked that I made it to the top without dying or cursing Walter and his wiggles too much.

Still to come:

The day we got stuck in a convection oven

-

My first sport lead/multi pitch/slab climb/simul-climb

-

and more! ooo baiting!

Excuse my absence..

I was blissfully climbing the side of a cliff on this blustery Idaho day, when I realized.....

I start my second to last semester of school tomorrow.

And

A new job.

----

Don't wanna!

----

I informed Russell that I need some school supplies so I suckered him into letting me buy colored pens. (Who am I kidding, he talked me into getting the nicer ones).

Our conversation went as such:

Cambra: "Babe, I need some notebooks, pens and pencils."

Russell: "Okay. Do you want to go to the Dollar Store?"

Cambra: "Their pens only write for half an hour and then you have to shake them until you get carpal tunnel"

Russell: "Well, we can go somewhere nicer. Do you want to go to Wal-Mart?"

....

Russell: "AHHHH Our life!! I just said that and I meant it and..OOOUURRR LIIIIFFFEEEE!!!!"

The man was in agony.

----

So yes, we bought our fancy school supplies at the fancy Walmart Store and then he took me to the D.I. to buy a new clothing item for my first day of school.

Which translates to... a bright purple pants tutorial coming your way so very soon.

Spring Break.

We are back to our old routine in the Burg...

Just a little more tan and gung-ho for summer.

The view from the back deck of the cabin we stayed in.

More to come!

Happy Spring Break

Peace out home-skillets!

I'll be rocking out in Zion and then climbing this bad boy.

Cya in a week and a half!

Tutorial Tuesdays: Baby Ruffle Swimsuit

Okay, so it's no secret that I am absolutely in love with Lil Miss. She's by far my favorite niece (I'll update this status after I get another).

We are going swimming later today (a perk of living in a converted hotel: indoor pool. Win.)

But, since she's been growing like a little weed, she didn't have a swimsuit. 

Since I'm an awesome aunt and what-not, I whipped one up for her. Here's how:

What You Need:

A pre-ruffled fabric tank top 

(or pre ruffled fabric if you want to draft the top yourself)

(You want this to be a poly-spandex blend, a cotton blend will take heat away from the body and take forever to dry.)

(enough parenthetical inserts)

Scissors

A sewing machine

needle and thread

Your Lil Miss' measurements-- neck to between the legs, thighs, and around the widest part of the torso.

Optional: swimsuit lining cut to same measurements as ruffle fabric and serged together along all edges and flipped to wrong side through the crotch seam.

------

After measuring, you are going to essentially make a rectangle starting from the center front of the neck and going down, cut in between the ruffles adding a seam allowance only to the crotch seam as ruffle fabric is generally only two way stretch. The spaghetti straps are going to act as halter ties.

You don't need to add side seam allowances seeing as the fabric is a knit, and will also stretch further when in the water.

(if you aren't using an old shirt, simply add two straps to the top of a tube top type suit.) 

Cut along the side seams and cut the spaghetti straps where they are connected to the back. (I cut mine in the middle and now wish they were longer)

Right Sides together, fold the front of the shirt and sew down center back, try to line up the ruffles as you sew.

Flip the suit right side out and measure in from each side half the width of your Lil Miss' legs (Since it is on the fold). Cut in between the ruffles horizontally and then straight down. Sew together using 1/4" seam allowances.

Since the neck was originally made for an adult it will gap --even when tied in a halter-- So we are going to pinch in the neck (you can make this same alteration to formal or woven patterns, before sewing them up, for tops to eliminate gaping at the neck)

To keep things even, form a box pleat (two pleats facing each other) and sew.

Your pleat should look like this, each side measuring about half an inch:

I didn't care for the look of the pleat itself, so I made a little drapey bow to cover it. Simply take a rectangle of fabric. About 5" by 3" and gather it down the middle, hand sew it on.

And that's it! Quick little babe swimsuit!

You may want to fidget with the curve of the underarm area to suit your Lil Miss' needs.

Where'd the week go?

We started out with taking a trip up to Spokane last weekend to visit Mama Gordon for a little birthday surprise. The boys and I (along with a passenger from ride board- gotta love it) hopped in the car early Friday evening and shot up for a quick weekend. 

It was great to see everyone and to just hang out with family...especially because finals were coming up (they are here! ugh) and I'd been feeling really cooped up round these parts.

Since we've been back, it's been a flurry of errands, a little bit of climbing at a new crag and Midget Widget (which I must say, not such the fan when it is snowing, my fingers are frozen, and the only sensation in your fingers is that of being scrubbed with a jagged pumice stone).

Hung out with just the wives while the boys watched climbing videos and got geared up for the Zion trip.

And sadly, but excitingly, my big brother and his little fam are moving for the semester to go and sell in Kansas City...so we got all of their dry food.

Now to just keep Russ calm through his finals, get some plasma donations in and find room for all this stuff before Wednesday!!

Fun post right?

Oh yea, and I'm thinking about going to graduate school....eeps!

What are your thoughts on that?

Totally forgot it was April fools day today..

Today was one of those days that just felt awesome, even though we didn't do much. 

Maybe it's because we got to watch General Conference all weekend.

We visited Corey and Noelle for a little while, and I'm going to hang out with Lil Miss tomorrow while they pack up their apartment. 

We had the brothers over for dinner and games, Jenga to be specific...Which lead to Russell making up his own version and playing an intense game against himself.

He even enlisted the help of a spatula, haha.

You know you're in love with someone when them doing silly things like this makes you feel giddy. :}

(Oh, and our apartment looks like a hotel room because...well, it is.)