Time in Alpine

It's been two weeks since we've posted. The past two weekends were spent with family at Sam's house. It has been a great chance to be together and get back to the quality of relationship that we *should* have with family, but that so easily is replaced by busyness. Busy is the illusion of being occupied with important matters. Busy is (often) the enemy of a truly fulfilling life. And more than anything, Busy just might be the mask that regret wears so we can justify (if not glory in) his existence without ever recognizing his true identity.

My hope is, that I can rip that mask from his face and always recognize him for who he really is – to ensure my days are filled with important, rather than urgent things.

With that soap box well trampled under my feet, I'll get back to general updates.

This past week, Clay (Holly's brother and one of my partners at Advent) and I were asked to give a "lecture" on creativity to appx 150 interior design students at USU. We probably spent a few too many hours preparing, but if you heard the details of our presentation, you'd understand why we needed it to be so. It seemed to go over very well and we hope to give it more often, I think it has a lot of value for those in the creative field. See some photos of the "Making Of" below.

Olivia is back in soccer and doing less of the sweeping-the-floor-and-spinning-in-circles type of soccer and more of the kind that applies to the game. It's fun to watch. She's also in a tumbling class, which she loves. Essentially they just run around and do funny poses ... so what's not to love?

Both Ruby and Olivia are having a blast in preschool. A few days ago they made small loaves of bread at school, and they were so excited to come home, bake them, and eat them. They also participated in a fundraiser for their school by going out to eat at a local restaurant. At the fundraiser, the children auctioned off a collaborative painting that they made in order to raise money for recent earthquake victims - part of a service-learning project that they worked on. It was awesome. See photos below.

We had a great time last weekend in Alpine ... and had to come back for another dose this weekend. Not only is it a great place for conversation, Mac talk, and discussions about design, architecture and the like, but now there is an exciting new attraction for the girls. Sam bought two baby lambs and some chicks. They have a small stable on their acre property and Sam wanted to find a healthy/fun distraction for the kids, specifically 8-year-old Charlie. The lambs are named Snowflake and Oreo. They are only a week old, so they need several feedings a day and a lot of attention ... but they're pretty darn cute and friendly. The girls are loving it.

They are also loving the crazy attention that they are getting from their Aunt Kristen. She took them to a very girly shop, bought them magic wands, lollipops, headbands, sparkly shoes, and put sparkles in their hair. They were in absolute heaven. Adam and I never do that sort of thing for them. Then this week Kristen went and bought some dress-ups, and fairy-girly type things including paint and plans to paint a giant princess castle on a wall downstairs (much to the surprise of her 3 sons) so that her nieces could be in heaven all the time when they come to visit. It is truly adorable!

Recipe of the week: Au Gratin Potatoes

provided by our awesome sister-in-law, Jen Adair...

So, this probably isn't the healthiest recipe of all time, but it is all natural. It took some work to find a potato recipe without sour cream, cream of chicken soup and a whole lot of butter. And the best part, they are delicious with out all of that stuff!

4-5 Medium potatoes

1 onion or a bunch of green onions

salt and pepper to taste

3 tbsp. butter

3 tbsp. flour

2 c. milk

1 1/2 c. cheddar cheese

1. Slice potatoes and layer in a 9X13 dish (spray with cooking spray)

2. Layer sliced onions on top.

3. Melt butter in a saucepan, whisk in flour. Add milk and lastly cheese.

4. Pour mixture over potatoes

5. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes to 1 hour (till potatoes are soft)

Ingredients used: We use organic milk from Smith's marketplace, and I even used wheat flour for the recipe. We grated the cheese from a block, we found out that pre shredded cheese has additives to help it not to clump.