Mr. Big Sniffer

"Mom, something in my room smells like mint," Ami complained.

"It's just the peppermint oil from the foot massage, the fan is blowing it into your room." 

"No, seriously, my room smells like mint."

I walked into the hall to see Tim making breakfast in the kitchen.  "I need Mr. Big Sniffer to find out where the mint smell is coming from."

Tim paused, realizing that both he and his father got the bloodhound noses from the genepool.  He turned around, saw me looking at him...

...he circled his head to the side, down, and then up looking to the other side.  His hands balled into fists and came to his hips as his legs moved shoulder length apart, completing the 1940's comic book pose.  He flashed a momentary monster grin, but quickly stifled it, realizing that was un-superhero-like.  He blew the air in his lungs out of his mouth, and inhaled a massive scenting breath.

He started walking around the house tracking the smell.  Final diagonsis:  Ami's sniffer is broke, the coconut oil is the primary source of the smell, even though it was mixed with peppermint, she should be smelling both.

Bryce Canyon / Tuacahn Vacation

For our summer vacation, we went to Bryce Canyon National Park, then down to Saint George to see "Mary Poppins" and "Mulan" at the Tuacahn Amphitheater.  We could not have asked for better company, better views, and better weather.  The Stoners and one of our mature nieces joined us.

We arrived Monday and set up camp.  Our campsites were large with excellent trees for climbing and playing.  We made sandwiches, and invited a Dutch family over for dutch-oven brownies.  They had never heard of a dutch oven.


On Tuesday we hiked Queen's garden / Navajo loop.  Susanna - unlike last year - wanted to be carried almost the entire time.  After a nap, we went to the evening astronomy program and went outside to look through high-powered telescopes at stars, the milky way, and Saturn.  It gets very dark in the park, allowing for amazing star gazing.

On Wednesday we went to Rainbow point and hiked the briscone loop.  Gorgeous views and great fun continued.

On Thursday we headed through Zion's national park on the way to Saint George, just so one of the kids could get car sick and puke on her cousin.  After recovering, we cleaned up, got pizza, went swimming and crashed.

Relaxing Friday with time at the pool, our favorite Thai/Sushi resturant "Benja's" and Mary Poppins. The performance was great, the story is - as you know - the biggest problem.


Saturday we packed up, visited the temple and Brigham Young's winter home, and then were blown away by "Mulan;" it was an absolute riot with amazing singing and comedy.

Three of us made it through the week healthy, the others crashed as we drove home.  Great time, great kids, great company.   

Geared up

Above the rim

Lunch snack

Vogue

 

 At the bottom of the "canyon" (Bryce canyon is inappropriately named)

Love the deep blue sky - no photoshop here

 

Getting carried for hours is exhausting

The kids loved dead trees.  They pointed out every one and wanted pictures.  ???

 Don't step back

 Selfee

Shameless Gatorade plug

 

 Cheetos fingers on the cooler...

 Tim learns how to grill steak.  Guess who's missing arm hairs?

 Chipmunk stalking

 Who needs monkey bars?

 

 Ami's favorite part is meeting the cast

Cast poses were awesome.  Recognize Mushu?  (David LaMarr)

Same guy who we saw as Sabastian!  He made both shows awesome!

 More great cast photos.

Lots of fun.

Drive-in

The activity days leaders planned a father-daughter drive-in.  Maggie made a "Harley Daviddaughter" side car and we enjoyed a well-planned, fun evening!  Movies, games, and popcorn.

From Reward To Extortion In 2 Weeks Flat.

David really likes his sunglasses.  They are polarized, fit, and safety-glass spec. 

On Friday, they went missing from the top of his dresser.

Two weeks ago, the family started an "offer a reward if you lose something important" option.  If someone lost something important, they would offer a $0.50 reward to the finder.  Since then, Tim paid Ami for finding his Leatherman.  Maggie paid Tim for finding her iPod. 

Susanna wanted to get paid.

After looking around carefully and asking all Saturday if anyone had seen or touched his glasses, David finally offered a reward for finding them. 

Susanna perked up.   "Money for sum-gwasses?" 

"Uh-huh."

"YES!  YES! YES! YES!  I gewt yur gwasses Dad!"  She gleefully screamed.  She then ran to a drawer in our room, pulled out an old glasses case, and pulled the glasses out of the case.

What is more disturbing?  Extortion, or that she realized that by hiding them in our room in a glasses case, she could not get consequences for taking them.

"Tay was put away Dad."  She said with a smile and an outstretched hand. 

First time he ever paid up for extortion. 

And it was done by a 3 year old.

This is a cow patty. This is a cow patty all over you. Any Questions?

So David lead us on one of those no-notice-mini-vacations.

He was kind enough to give me two hours to pack this time. :)

We grabbed the camping gear Friday night and went up the canyon.  Found a nice campsite near a brook and spent the evening in the crisp outdoors.

The first thing we did at the campsite before taking a hike was show the children what a cow patty was, and informed them emphatically that they were not to step near these under any circumstances.

 

Tim completes Cub Scout Requirement to lead a hike. 

 

Susanna gives up on hike after 3 steps.

 

The pasture summit

 

Girls identified plants on the way (Silky Lupine)

 

(Could not determine)

 

(Finally determined it was Ami)

After the hike came the fail.

Though it might not have been his fault.  Tim thought it was a boulder.  It was four feet wide (1.5) and 10 feet tall (2) and the outside had solidified.

But the inside was still foul mushy.

David saw the danger of Tim jumping towards it too late...

Time slowed...

"N...N...N...N...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O...O"

crap. crapitdy crap crap, a crap, crap.

David picked Him up out of the warm filth. 

Tim went shoeless for the rest of the trip, except to borrow sandals to go to the loo.

ugh.

Only salvaged the trip with strawberry S'mores (or as Susanna says: sta-ar-bur-dy!)

Father's Day Moments

David received the following gifts for Father's day:

- Maggie sang a solo in Sacrament meeting about fathers.
- Blueberry pancakes
- Nachos
- The Star Trek Into Darkness Soundtrack
- (Amazingly) Susanna logged into itunes on Saturday and bought him the "Man of Steel" soundtrack.  Need to watch her...
- The Pirate Code (funny book).

David received the following "gifts" for Father's day:
- A "Lego-heart-firework-dropper"... which he took back:




- Maggie and Tim made hearts out of Legos...
and took them back.

- When Susanna and Ami saw that Lego gifts counted, they made lego guns...
and took them back.
 - Maggie made a coupon book with the following:
* 1 free massage (from Maggie or Mom)
* 1 movie at the theater with me
* 4 bear hugs from me (not all at once)
* 1 tickle war with me
* Another tickle war with me
* 1 ball fight with my balls (verbatim, not going there)
* 1 free meal from the Lego fake food restaurant
* Maggie (or Mom) actually makes dinner and a smoothie
* A still life drawing by me
* A quiet nap

Worth it! Once.

David was responsible for a colleague's birthday cake.  So we used this as an excuse to try a crazy multi-day recipe.  Even better?  David does not like chocolate very much (allergic to too much), and we are avoiding "bad" calories, so we could try it without "buying the farm."

Here was the psychotic recipe:

32-Layer French Style 

Chocolate-Hazelnut-Caramel-Root Beer-Crepe Cake

Yield: 1 Cake, 2 weeks' caloric intake

Chocolate Crepes

• 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces,

• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

• 1 ½ Cups flour

• 1/3 Cup sugar

• 2 ½ Cup whole milk, room temperature

• 6 large eggs, room temperature

• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Bring 1/4 cup water to a rolling boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add butter, 1 piece at a time, whisking to combine after each addition. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate until completely melted. Set aside. 

2. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together milk, eggs, and vanilla in another medium bowl. Gradually add milk mixture to flour mixture, whisking until smooth. Add chocolate-butter mixture, whisking until smooth. Pour through a fine sieve into an airtight container; discard lumps. Refrigerate overnight (2-24 hours).

3. Lightly coat an 8-inch crepe pan or nonstick skillet with melted butter. Heat over medium heat until just starting to smoke. Remove pan from heat; pour about 2 tablespoons batter into pan, swirling to cover bottom. Reduce heat to medium-low; return pan to heat. Cook, flipping once, until edges are golden and center is dry, about 30 seconds per side.

4. Slide crepe onto a plate. Repeat process with remaining batter, coating pan with butter as needed. Crepes can be covered and refrigerated up to 1 day (2-12 hours).

5. Make Filling Layers (Simultaneously – so they are all ready at the same time – recommended 3 people)

Hazelnut Filling

• 2/3 cup heavy cream

• 6 large egg whites

• 1 2/3 cups sugar

• 1 3/4 cups (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, softened

• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

• 1/3 cup Nutella or Hazelnut cream

• Pinch of salt

A. Put cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Refrigerate 1 hour.

B. Whisk egg whites and sugar in the clean bowl of mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar has dissolved and mixture registers 160 degrees.

C. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment; beat on high speed until slightly cooled and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 5 minutes.

D. Fit mixer with paddle attachment. With mixer on medium low speed, add butter, several pieces at a time, mixing well after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Add vanilla, hazelnut cream, and salt; mix until mixture comes together, 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Use immediately!

Root Beer (or alternative like Raspberry or Cherry) Filling

• 1/6 cup heavy cream

• 1 large egg white

• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• Just less than 1/3 C sugar

• 1 teaspoon root beer extract (can use raspberry extract, cherry extract, or another desired flavor)

• 1 Tablespoon sweetened condensed milk

A. Put cream into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; beat on medium-high speed until soft peaks form, about 4 minutes. Transfer to a medium bowl. Refrigerate 1 hour.

B. Whisk egg whites and sugar in the clean bowl of mixer set over a pan of simmering water until sugar has dissolved and mixture registers 160 degrees.

C. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the clean whisk attachment; beat on high speed until slightly cooled and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 5 minutes.

D. Fit mixer with paddle attachment. With mixer on medium low speed, add butter, several pieces at a time, mixing well after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Add root beer extract, sweetened condensed milk, and salt; mix until mixture comes together, 3 to 5 minutes. Fold in whipped cream with a rubber spatula. Use immediately!

Caramel Filling

• 24 Caramels

• 3 Tbsp Sweetened Condensed Milk

A. Place ingredients in small saucepan, heat slowly, stirring regularly until melted and mixed. Use immediately.

6. Place a crepe on a wire rack set over a rimmed baking sheet (Or just on a plate like I did). Spread with about 3 tablespoons hazelnut filling. Top with another crepe. Continue layering with hazelnut filling and crepes, substitituting Root Beer Filling every 6 crepes (5 total), and caramel filling about every 10 (3 total) using 32 crepes and ending with a crepe on top. Refrigerate until firm (About an hour).

7. Make chocolate glaze

Chocolate Glaze

• 2/3 Cups heavy cream

•1/2 Tbsp Corn Starch

• Pinch of Salt

•5 ounces finely chopped high-end European dark chocolate (Harmon's grocery!)

A. Bring the first three ingredients to a boil in a medium sauce pan on medium heat.

B. Remove from heat.  Add chocolate.  Swirl pan to cover chocolate with cream.  Let stand 5 minutes.

C. Stir until smooth.  Let cool completely.  (1/2 hour in fridge!)

8. Spoon 1/2 glaze on top of the cake, spreading to edges. Spread remaining glaze around sides of cake, coating completely. (May need to heat glaze slightly) Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 30 minutes.

9. Spread second layer of glaze.  (Add optional candied hazelnut crumb topping now). Refrigerate until glaze is firm and set, about 30 minutes.

Optional Candied Hazelnut Crumb Topping

• ½ Cube Butter

• 2 TBSP Crushed Hazelnuts

• 1 TBSP Brown Sugar

A. Melt butter in pan on stovetop on medium-low temperature, add Crushed Hazelnuts and Brown Sugar.  Do not burn! Stir constantly until moisture from butter is gone.  Remove from pan immediately and cool on glass plate 5 minutes.  Crumble and sprinkle on cake.

10. Serve, enter sugar coma, gain 5 pounds.

Trained Dogs

Another great moment from family night:

We were going through peer pressure situations and ethical situations to work on teaching principles behind kindness and courtesy.  One situation came from the Cub Scout manual:

Scout book: "Imagine your friends see a blind individual with a guide dog crossing the street, they want you to help them call to the dog and get it to leave its owner, what should you do?"

Ami: "Ignore them."

Tim: "This is not a problem, the dogs are trained good enough to not do that, but you should tell them to stop."

Mom: "But what if they keep doing it?"

Tim: "You could go make sure the blind person gets to their car safe. Then they could drive and it wouldn't be a problem."

Dad: "That is very nice...ok. Next..."

Mom: "Wait, Dad.  We need to discuss this further. Tim, I don't think you are thinking this through."

Tim: "What?"

Dad: "Do blind people drive?"

Tim: "Maybe."

Dad: "I've seen some in Utah that act like they are blind and driving, but no."

Kids in unison: "OOOOHhhhhhhhh!!!"

Ami: "It's not the blind person that drives-"

Tim: "It's the dog!"

Ami: "Now that totally makes sense."

[Mom rolling on the floor clutching stomach.]

Susanne: "My doggie drive?"

Dad: "No-oh my head- dogs do not drive."

Tim: "Guide dogs could tell the driver where to go!"

Dad: "No.  They can't."

[Now Maggie is on the floor.]

Tim: "Why not?"

Dad: "Because, um, just trust me, they can't."

Yea. That just happened.