Up the Canyon

Friday night Jeff and I went up Provo canyon for some quality time together. We cooked hot dogs and smores, looked up at the stars and broke Jeff's sunglasses. It was gorgeous up there!



I tried to tweak our blog to make the pictures bigger...and I succeeded in not only making them bigger, but also screwing up our background and layout and everything. And I'm not sure how to fix it. :-(

With Honor

I love this video, made by some of the talented people on the communications team at LDSP (not me, unfortunately.)

Dear Stephenie Meyer,

Earlier this week my attention was drawn to the rumor of the Midnight Sun leak - and I was able to find and download (illegally, unfortunately, I'm very sorry - but it was so good I would be willing to pay you for it) the first 12 chapters. And I loved it.
Today I saw on your website that you responded to the leak, and that you feel so unhappy that it was leaked that you may not write the rest...and have put off the project indefinitely.
This breaks my heart. Please please please write the rest, and publish it so I can finish reading it.
Oh, and then if you'd like to continue and write the rest of the books from Edward's point of view too, I would fully support you.
Thanks,
Linnea

To read what Stephenie had to say, go here. And she has posted the leak there as well, so you don't have to resort to illegal means.

Ballet Shoes

Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild, was one of my favorite books when I was younger. (And still is today, in fact.) So I was thrilled to find out that a movie based on the book was going to be released next week here in the US. It was originally a made-for-television movie in the UK. I've always been a fan of Emma Watson, who plays Pauline in the film.
Its only showing for a limited engagement at one theater here in Utah...you can bet I'll be there. :-)
Here is the preview...

ConGRADulations Daniel!

Daniel was lucky enough to graduate today. We went out and took some pictures of him in his robes last night. He's so excited to finally graduate, and he and Holly will be moving to China for his internship on the 21st.
Congratulations Daniel!

Sundance Outdoor Film Festival

Jeff and I have enjoyed going up to Sundance's Outdoor Film
Festival this summer. Every week they project a movie out in their
theater area, and its free to the public. Last night we went with Kari
and Ryan and watched one of my personal favorites, Moulin Rouge.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Last fall, my roommate Katie made this delicious zucchini bread - a lot of it. I think we lived off it for about a week, eating a slice for every meal as well as snacks and dessert. Jeff helped me make some tonight, and now I'm all set to have it for every meal tomorrow. :-)

Here's the recipe -

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon baking powder

3 eggs

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup vegetable oil

1 Tablespoon grated orange peel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking powder. In another bowl, beat the eggs, applesauce, oil, orange peel and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the zucchini, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Transfer to two greased 9 in x 5 in x 3 in loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: 2 loaves.

My new camera!!

So we've been after this camera for a while - and this weekend we finally purchased it. I'm thrilled - we got such an amazing deal and the camera is spectacular. Its a Nikon D80, and we got it with two lenses as well as a wide angle lens attachment.

Jeff and Christian were my models yesterday. The rest of the boys complain that Christian is a camera hog..which in all actuality he is. I had to tell them not to worry - we'd get pictures taken of the older boys soon enough.

Mom calls this his "jack-o-lantern" smile.

And my handsome husband...


In other news, we're excited for the olympics, and I was really impressed with the opening ceremonies. The precision and exactness - it was incredible!

Christian is rooting for both the American and Norwegian teams.