the park!!

last wednesday me and mom took emery and evan to the park. i know she's been waiting for these, and i'm just now getting around to it. yep, i'm that busy.

emery

evan

now you may think that the pictures below are of evan trying to climb UP the slide, but you'd be wrong. this is what happens when he tries to go DOWN the slide by himself. if you look close, you can see his little fingers clinging to the metal for deal life. it was hilarious!

who says you only get new toys for christmas?

here's my new toy!! i went and bought a new tent today. it's just a little 2-man tent (or 1-woman, as the case may be) and really light. i got this one just in case i decide to go backpacking. lighter is better. this is the same view of the tent, one with the fly, the other without. and it fit just right in my living room, so for those of you who have been there, you know how big my tent is. now i just need to get a camp stove. . . i'm ready to play!!

montoya's bridge farm, continued

i'm pleased to announce that montoya's bridge farm is growing!! the number of bridges currently being constructed is now 5! it's like the just sprouted up out of the ground or something. maybe someday when i have a bit of time, i'll go for a little walk with my camera so that you all can be part of the excitement. . . don't lie to yourself, i know you're excited for this one.

mission story #17, or the mtc ducks

as i was driving to work today near sugarhouse park, i almost ran over a mallard. i turned the corner to see her waddling across the street. i thought it odd, until i saw she was chasing after a her man duck. it made me smile as i remembered that there was a pair of mallards that waddled around the mtc the whole time i was there. you'd see them pretty much everywhere, and they were always together. i forget if they had ducklings. i want to say no, but if i said yes, the picture in your mind would be so much cuter. anyway, the mallards always minded their own business and didn't seem to get mad, even when elder baucom chased after them like a mad man. they just ran away as fast as they could, probably wondering if there was any way they could get out of the mortgage on their current nest, in hopes of finding one with better neighbors.

awol

i really wish i could be. spring break doesn't count as spring break if you still have to go to work every day. i'm kinda grouchy about having to be back in school already. i'm even grouchier at the thought of how little i was able to accomplish during the break. i'm still super tired and want to go to bed right now, but still have a good 2 hours of homework time to put in before i turn in. the two big projects of the week are to write a rough draft of my term paper for my international political economy class (exact topic still undetermined) and to write a rough draft of my teaching philosophy (also still undetermined). it's going to be a great week. but at least my dinner made me happy tonight. black beans and rice and patacones (because i found a perfectly green plaintain at walmart today). aaah, comfort food.

kitchen gadget of the day

this is my favorite kitchen gadget today: the chip bag closer. it usually takes a month or more for me to eat a whole bag of chips, and thanks to this little gadget, it's like opening a new bag every time. and the nice thing about them is that they are not exclusively for chip bags. they also work well for frozen veggie bags or pasta bags or cereal bags or any other stale-prone item bags. way to go to whoever thought this one up.

on the way to work

today as i was driving to work, i saw a great sign. there's some construction being done on I-80 and they are replacing a bunch of the overpasses. rather than closing a city street for a month or more, they are building the bridges off site and then moving them into place. right now they are making 3 such bridges at the 13th east exit because there's some extra space there. today there was a new construction sign (the orange ones with the black lettering) that says "montoya's bridge farm." 1. who knew that bridges grew on farms? 2. that guy montoya has some sweet hook ups if he can get a sign like that. i want to know who he knows.