Teamwork

Recently at work, Craig was asked if he helps with the cooking at home.  He answered, "Alanna does about 95% of the cooking, but I usually help out whenever it's stuff that needs to be flipped."  His coworkers were understandably confused by this, so he went on to explain, "You know, like pancakes, grilled cheese sandwiches, or quesadillas.  Alanna doesn't like cooking things where she can't see if it's done or not."

Truer words were never spoken.  But I certainly had never thought it through in such clear terms.  But I honestly do hate cooking flippy stuff*.  I always get worried that it's burning on the bottom, so then I end up flipping it too soon and making a big old mess.  Seriously-- if you flip a pancake or a quesadilla before it's ready, the ingredients fly all over the place and all the bits and pieces burn all over the pan and it's just the worst.  I hate that.  All that work and you're left with a burnt mess.  

I will also point out that if Craig is around, I like to make him grate cheese or shred meat.  Those chores often make my wrists hurt and I hate that.

But Craig is the best sous chef ever!

*The one exception is when I make fried ramen, which is basically a ramen pancake-- similar to Okonomiyaki, except with ramen noodles instead of cabbage, so obviously WAY yummier; I can usually see the egg cooking around the edges and get a pretty good idea of when to flip these babies.  I don't know why they're so much easier for me than anything else!

UVA Stuff, the Rodeo, and Everything In Between

A couple weeks ago it was "Paint the Town Orange" night, so we donned our best UVA swag and headed to the downtown mall to watch the festivities-- welcome back, students!!!

We ended up being right next to where the drums were playing, so that was fun!  (But could Craig have gotten a worse angle on me???)

Which reminds me-- this video that UVA released a couple years ago was so great!!!  (And goodbye, Jim Ryan, sniff!)

And then the YM went to a fire station for their weeknight activity:

Craig was super excited to see how the jaws of life have changed since his firefighting days

There's Wylan showing them stuff

And now all the young men (and half of the leaders) want to be firefighters!  Success!

We went to another football game, just to watch the marching band!

As they marched past us, Camille commented, "Ryder looks taller in a uniform!"  They all do, Camille, they all do...  (That's Ryder in the back, holding an FSY bag in one hand!)

Camille was very proud of this sunset picture that she took

There's Kendra playing the bass drum

They held a multi-ward YM/YWs activity to watch a church broadcast.  Everyone watched it outside at a member's home, and I love the young men all grouped together being adorable:

And there's a pretty sunset!

Can you read their shirts?  It says, "I read the whole Book of Mormon and all I got was this T-shirt...  And a testimony"  😂

Camille got a Costco hotdog with her father

Craig and I had another temple date (I'm wearing the same dress as last time!) and then went to Torchy's after-- a lovely evening!

Tracy sent me this awesome picture of the family-- 

My Aunt Ann, Tracy, Cora, Adam, Dad, and Bentley!

To celebrate Adam's birthday (my friend, not my BIL), we joined him and the Holbeins for a little kayaking!

But then Hazel was offended by something (probably me asking her if she wanted to get in the kayak?) and had to go sit and pout at the end of the dock....

THAT FACE!!!  No one can hold a pout like Hazel!!!

Adam with two of the Holbein children on the paddle board

Craig and Camille took a spin in the double kayak

They rowed so perfectly in sync!

Camille really likes paddle boarding

She decided this little hideout should be called Camille's Cove

Oh, look, I got in the water, too!  (But not for very long-- I'm pretty happy sitting on the shore letting everyone take their turns)

Colton went home with the Huffs after church one Sunday, and then after my nap Craig and I called Bentley and were chatting with him when we suddenly realized we should probably pick up Colton!  So Craig headed out and I texted Megan to let her know Craig was on his way, when she suddenly called me back to inform me that she had dropped Colton off at our house a half hour ago!  Somehow we'd missed him!  I felt terrible, until I went looking for him and this was what I found:

Well no wonder we hadn't seen or heard him!

Parents of the Year, right here!

Within a week of arriving in Seattle, Bentley started his new job at Ace Hardware Store on the island!  We were very proud of him for finding work so fast.  It pays slightly less than the job he had here at the SPCA Store, but they give him way more hours AND overtime pay, so he's making more (and keeping busier), so that's all great stuff!  In the same vein as first day of school pictures, Tracy sent us a first day of work picture:

The really funny thing about this is that Tracy has always thought it would be really great working at the hardware store on the island!  She was literally telling me this as Bentley was on the plane flying to Seattle and I was like, "Actually, I'm pretty sure he has a job interview there this week!"  You can't plan stuff like this!  A few weeks later Adam stopped by and got a couple pictures of Bentley working so we could see!  

I'm not sure what he's doing here, but I DO know that sorting out all the screws (in the foreground) is the bane of Bentley's existence these days!

And THIS is a very Bentley look!  I'm glad he gives it to his uncle, too, and not just his parents!!!

A couple more Bentley shots-- here are he and Cora enjoying some time on their electronics.  Cousin bonding at its finest!

And here the Nilsen's decided to go out in their boat one evening-- it looks very windy!

This picture makes me laugh

Meanwhile, back in Virginia, we hosted another new member open house (I feel like this was the third one we've had, but there could have been more and I've just lost count).  It was...  not well attended: several people who said they would come just seemed to forget or something.  Which is kind of annoying because I cleaned the entire house and made a ton of food for it.  But the good news is, that should be the last one we ever do!  (Fingers crossed...!)

But the bishopric was all there, and they were all wearing blue polo shirts!  How cute are they?

Kendra loves calling people "silly little guys" so this random bumper sticker that I saw in a parking lot made me laugh

Gotta love a girl using power tools!  Craig has been taking down the wreck of our deck stairs...

Colton manages to grab my phone when I'm not looking...

Oop, and he did it again at home!

And THEN, on another night, we decided to go to the rodeo in Orange!  It was the last one of the season, so even though we were all really tired, we decided it would be a shame to miss out.  And I'm so glad we went-- I LOVE the rodeo!!!  (It was two nights in a row sitting on very hard bleachers since this was the day after a football game, but our tushes survived!)

(Ryder was at a friend's house, and Camille spent the entire night standing by the fence so she could see better)

Like so

Watching the horses warm up for the barrel races

At one point they put out a line of candy and then let the kids race for it.  But who wants to eat a tootsie roll that's been sitting in that dirt???  (Camille threw hers away)

Craig lucked out and video-ed one of the best rides of the night!

This is the absolute craziest thing ever, right?  But it's so awesome!

Hodge Podge

They had a cowboy-themed stake dance recently, and I thought Kendra and Ryder looked so cute for it!

With Melisse.  Kendra borrowed the hat from Wylan, who actually lives on a farm

McKinley, Luci, and Kendra

Ryder was thrilled to get to bring home this leftover root beer!

I feel like the handkerchief really makes the costume.  (Ryder's cowboy hat was a gift from Wylan to Camille; it was nice of Camille to let him borrow it!)

Brittney and I carpooled to book club and discovered that we'd dressed so similarly, with our soft greens and purple crocs!!!

Temple date!

We couldn't decide if we should focus on the flowers...

...or the building and sunset?  It's all pretty!!!

I mentioned once to Kendra that seeing bales of hay always makes me happy (that's not just me, right?), and she took note and convinced her siblings to all chip in with her to buy these for Craig and me for our birthdays!!!

Mine is the happy one.  But if I'm feeling grumpy, I can turn it upside down!

We had our annual Summer Party at the Snow's and it was the same hit it always is!  

Camille was excited to see the horses (I should explain-- this is where Wylan lives!  So he's actually a legit cowboy!)

I didn't get video of this, but Ryder's friends managed to get him spinning as he went down the slip and slide!  It was surprisingly impressive!

Ember, Jadyn, Kendra, and Lilyann

Luci was smart enough to NOT go down the slide, but she and Kendra appreciated that their swimsuits matched!

They aren't kidding when they call them "blades" of grass!!!

Camille and Peter enjoying all the soap at the bottom!

And while we were there, Bentley was off at King's Dominion with a bunch of other boys from the stake-- he totally blew off his last day of work before moving to Seattle, and I couldn't even blame him!

Camille having fun at Activities Days (which I think is now called Valiant Activities?  I dunno, I can't keep up with all the name changes...)

Sarah and I rewarded ourselves for surviving our first week teaching seminary by going to the temple!

Just hanging out with the chickens!

I had seminary training in DC on a Saturday morning, so Adam offered to take Colton and Camille to the farmer's market while I was done-- he sent the cutest pictures!

With the Holbein kids, Carter, Emma, and Hazel.  I DIE over how cute Hazel is with her popsicle there!!!

They're all so colorful together!

Kendra and Ryder have been busy with marching band-- here they are in their costumes, looking so dapper!

Kendra is one of two drum majors, which is very exciting, but also logistically complicated...

Kendra about to start the show, Ryder is up front on the xylophone

And now Evan, the other drum major, has taken over.  You can see Ryder playing trombone to the left of him, and Kendra on his right playing bass drum

And the moon looked cool, too!

That's probably enough for now-- I'm sure I'll have more to share soon!