Desert Rats

Justin told me not to announce the following (why? I don't know but anyways...): we are MOVING! Ahh! I have such a whirlwind of emotions at the moment...I am excited, sad, nervous, and or course stressed out! But I know this will be a good thing.

Justin got a position with the FS in Camp Verde and we will be moving pretty soon. We visited CV this past weekend and had a great time. The town itself seems like a good place-handful of stores, LDS chapel, and the Verde River-what more could you ask for?! I am also excited to be in such a central location. We will be within an hour or so of Flagstaff, Prescott, and the great metro of Phoenix. Although many of you may think Justin and I are outdoors people, we actually have been more like house hermits these past two years. (Not that Round Valley isn't full of great places to go...we just haven't made the effort to go, ahh!) But CV is FULL of AWESOME places to go YEAR-ROUND and there will be absolutely NO excuse for us not to embrace our inner outdoor spirit once again.

Beaver Creek at its best!

During our visit we spent some time at Beaver Creek and Montezuma Well...SO BEAUTIFUL! I just love that central AZ desert/river drainage/limestone mesa country! Of course, I am going to miss the mountains (especially when the temp. hits over 100!)but I am looking forward to becoming a G-E-N-U-I-N-E AZ desert rat (or should I say desert mouse?).
Here's some pics from our trip:

Justin and Montezuma Well in the back

Do you see the cliff dwelling? Cool huh?! J seems to think that the National Park Service employees party on the lake after hours...he also believes that there is a "Nessie" monster in the water...who knows maybe both are true...

One of the pueblo rooms at the base of the cliff.

Yes, it was hot! Between the two of us, J and I must have drank 3 gallons of water.

Poison Ivy--How many kids do you think touched the darn poison ivy because it was pointed out to them?! To the right is the irrigation ditch made by the Natives which took advantage of a water outlet on the side of Montezuma Well. The water was SOOO clear...I so wanted a drink ot it!

Okay, so I realized something this trip...there are NO, absolutely not one good picture of Justin and I. Somehow, every time I decide to take a picture of us one of three things happens: #1 the lighting turns bad, #2 J's sunglasses dominate the shot, or #3 the camera takes the picture after the perfect moment. Actually, during this trip, all of the pictures of us included 2, sometimes all 3, of these features. For proof please see Exhibit A-C

Exhibit A

"I see THE light!"

Exhibit B

Aviator King

Exhibit C

The stoic side shot

Here's some more proof:

--A

Laughing Samoans

Okay, so I just had to show everyone some Poly-style humor. Bucky told me about these guys the other day and I couldn't stop laughing once I saw the video. It is so characteristic of Samoans!!

Just a little background info...The guy in this video is one of two comedians that do a show called, "Laughing Samoans." In this clip, he is supposed to be a real F.O.B. ("Fresh-Off the Boat") who is giving a motivational speech at a high school graduation. If you don't get the humor, don't feel bad. It may just be a Poly thing...poor Justin...I don't think he found it quite as amusing as I did. But ENJOY IT anyways!

Frying Feud

So today I made a new recipe for fried tacos. Justin has a friend that grew up in El Paso, TX and passed it on. It goes something like this:

• finely chop a potato
• mix potato with 1 lb. ground beef and boil until cooked
• season meat and potato mixture (taco seasoning works great)
• heat enough oil to fill a pot about 2-3 inches
• place a couple of spoonfuls of meat/potato in the center of a corn tortilla
• fold tortilla, place in hot oil
• fry each side about 20-30 sec. and remove

Once the tacos were done, we topped them with shredded cabbage, cheese, and chipotle salsa and then added some homemade beans (I can hardly stand the store bought kind now--Justin has spoiled me on this one) and rice on the side. They were sooo good! I would totally endorse these goodies with a picture BUT, as it always goes, my camera batteries are dead and I really shouldn't break the Sabbath for such a self-indulgent thing.

Which brings me to my real story...I think I can be the most awful person frying food. I really wanted these tacos to taste good (you know, the pressure of a new recipe), but I kept getting attacked by exploding taco grease bubbles. Here's how it went down...

ME: "AHHH! I hate frying!," "Stupid tacos!,"

JUSTIN: "Hey hon, need some help?!"

ME: "NO! I can handle it!"

Meanwhile, grease bubbles keep raging. My thumb gets hit next.

ME: "Ughhh! I am SOO sick of this!"

JUSTIN: "Hon, are you okay?"

ME: "YESSS! I AM FINE! UGHHH!"

10 minutes pass by, this time a huge grease monster of a bubble hits my left eye.

ME: "AHHHHHH! UGHHH! DA** IT!!"

JUSTIN: "Honey! What's wrong?! Can you see? Do you need to see the doctor?"

ME: "No!" "AHHHH! UGHHHH! DA** IT! NO! I AM FINE!!"

To say the least, there was quite a ruckus in my kitchen. (I am ashamed to admit I occasionally use the D-Bomb...I know I really need to repent...but ahhh, I was so mad!)

Anyways, so here's my top ten reasons for not frying foods:

#10 No matter what apron you wear, somehow grease always ends up on your clothes...which knowing me, I never change out of my church clothes to cook (laziness I guess).

#9 With the price of oil, cooking oil that is, I feel like I am wasting half a bottle for one measly meal....unless of course we had one of those cool grease-running diesel trucks.

#8 Exploding grease bubbles are conducive to using "choice" words...which of course = MORE Repentance

#7 Frying ruins all my good pans.

#6 Frying doubles my cooking and cleaning time in the kitchen...who needs that?

#5 EVERY time I fry, the smoke alarm goes off...I guess this is a good thing (it works right?)

#4 I seem to attract twice the number of neighborhood strays when the smell of hot grease is emanating out of my kitchen window.

#3 Frying makes my hair smell like some kind of horrible...but on a positive note, I guess it's a good conditioner?

#2 I just know one of these days that that boiling pot of grease is going to do a somersault and land right on my face. On a somber note, one of my greatest fears is being a severe burn victim...I just think it would be horrible to have your face and body completely ruined like that...my heart goes out to those poor people who have to live like a social outcast because they have had this happen.

#1 Okay, so here's the obvious...Fried foods are soo bad! Yeah I know, I am such a hypocrite...I LOVE the taste of hot grease, but dude, they are so heart-clogging, constipation-making, cellulite-forming B-A-D for you. It's bad enough that I eat fried chicken, those fried green chili burritos at Short Stop, and the maple-chocolate covered donuts at Safeway, but to eat fried foods at home only adds to the unnecessary frequency.

--A