Everything's Coming Up Roses

Okay, and clematis. Here are a few shots this morning from my front yard. You can see the garage eco-roof in progress in the background of one of them.







Oh, and the second awaited nephew did finally make his grand appearance last night in the wee hours. Yay! Can hardly wait to see pictures.

I Guess the Cat is Out of the Bag

I must confess: I've been harboring a secret lo these months. In early February, I found myself quite unexpectedly expecting. As no one else expected it either (Number Two is not yet two years old, and was conceived through in vitro fertilization), I was able to keep my secret for quite some time. We started telling people here in town (who would start to wonder about my oddly localized weight gain) about six weeks ago, and I finally surprised my Utah siblings with the news last weekend. So yes, I am going to have a third child, probably some time in mid-October. Shocking!

Then today was my regularly scheduled 20-week ultrasound, and we found out to our delight that Number Three will be a GIRL! So here she is; bid her welcome!

Trip to Utard

As I mentioned, I went to Utah last weekend to see my new nephews. I did get to see one of them:



The other, though, was shockingly uncooperative, and did not make his appearance as scheduled. Here is his increasingly uncomfortable mother (who still has not delivered!):



At a family gathering, we managed to get Number Two's cohort (which includes boy cousins three and ten months older) to sit still with their favorite aunt long enough for a snapshot:



Number Two also enjoyed greatly (as per usual) a bath in Grandma and Grandpa's tub:





Monday afternoon after our return we went to a barbecue at my brother's house. Here are Number Two and Mavis playing catch in the backyard (Number One spent most of his time out of sight in a tree):

Housekeeping

I promised Sarah I'd post the link for finding u-pick farms in Oregon. Unfortunately they seem to be in the process of revamping their websites, and a quick look didn't reveal any of the information I used to depend on them for. The info used to be at the Agri-Business Council of Oregon website; it looks like they will be moving the info to a sister website, but the transfer is not complete. The old website used to have lists of farms and what they grew, including phone numbers. Hopefully they'll get this information back up in a useful format and soon, as berry season is hard upon us.

On another note, apparently run-of-the-mill Mormons (at least those with Internet access) would welcome a more unvarnished presentation of church history from official sources, according to an article published Sunday in the Deseret News. Hear hear. And this is completely irrelevant to the point of the article, but I used to sing in a choir with Rebecca Olpin, who is quoted at length in the article. Didn't know she is now working in the COB.

It's That Time of Year Again

The roses are starting to bloom (not for nothing is this place called the City of Roses), and the first local strawberries are starting to appear at the market. Not the best varieties, yet, but still exponentially better than the pretty-yet-woody California imports. The day before Mothers' Day my sister was in town, and for a family dinner I put together this trifle:



I used about three pints of berries, one and a half purchased pound cakes, six egg yolks-worth of pastry cream, a pint of cream (whipped and sweetened), diced roasted hazelnuts, chopped crystallized ginger, and homemade rhubarb-ginger jam. I made it last year without the pastry cream, and it was delectable. Pound cake + pastry cream, though, is just a tad rich. I think if I use the pastry cream again, I'll use a lighter cake, like the chiffon cake I made for the Burns Supper trifle, or even an angel food cake.

The benefit to making the pastry cream, of course, is to have leftover egg whites to make into almond macaroons, which I did.

The most spectacular of my roses aren't blooming yet, but when I get back from my weekend in Utard (gotta see those new nephews!) I'll start snapping. Too bad this blog does not include Smellovision (tm)!

Addendum to Ho Hum.

Mavis pointed out that I forgot to mention how much the boys ate of their Subway sandwiches last week. Both boys had turkey with minimal condiments, on wheat bread. Number One ate 10 inches, and Number Two (age 21 months) ate a whole six-inch sandwich, plus half of a Thai salad roll (!). I tell you, we are really in trouble when they get to be teenagers.

Another big hit with Number Two this week was a jambalaya made with a quite-spicy andouille. The sausage was his favorite part! The recipe was from Cook's a few years back--let me know if you're interested and maybe I'll type it in.

A final note about the chili: make sure sure sure that the beans are fully cooked before adding the tomatoes. The acid in the tomatoes will arrest the beans at whatever stage they are at, and they won't get any softer no matter how long you cook them. It is possible to partially remedy the crunchy-beans dilemma (by adding a little baking soda, an alkali, to neutralize the pH), but it is much much preferable to just avoid the situation in the first place (because the baking soda makes it taste just the slightest bit funny).

It is SO on.

So, e-invitations for my birthday bash have gone out. If you didn't get one but want to, let me know.