Iron Chef -- Battle GRILL

To start off the summer season, Nikki & Joshua hosted the next installment of the Iron Chef cook-off. This time, it was battle GRILL. We had to use the grill, and only had 15 minutes to prepare and present the dish. As we have done for other cook-offs, we ranked entries on taste, originality, and presentation. Kim & Nick won for "originality" with their grilled cactus tacos. Todd & Michelle won for "presentation" with their jalpeno poppers wrapped in bacon. And, Zak & Tess won for "taste" with their delicious grilled zuchini with a trio of sauces (feta, red pepper, basil). The Altman entry was pretty lame - we made grilled fruit kabobs. Pretty good, by the way, but not nearly a winner among this group of culinary delights.

Like all good cook-outs, we played backyard games and relays. Tess was, by far, the best hula-hooper.

12-month Challenge

Don't worry, I am not going to review some sort of crazy fitness or culinary challenge that I am going to take on over the next 12 months (Though, I am impressed by some of the challenges that people I know have taken on lately, many reminiscent of "Julia and Julie "or "The Biggest Loser," but I already know that I would fail those) .... instead, my challenge is to take more family photos. I know that most of you who read this blog only want to see Carolyn, but as I was flipping through my photo archives this weekend, I realized that I have very few photos of us as a family. That ought to change.

So here is the challenge that I have given myself - at some point each month, I am going to have someone snap a photo of the three of us. It does not matter where we are, what we are doing, if we are dressed up or down, but it has to include all three of us in the same frame. We might look good, we might look bad; it doesn't really matter. I would just like to document our family through the years. And what better place than the blog.

Here is the first installment of the Altman 12-month Family Photo Challenge. It was taken on May 30th, 2010. We were at the Mihalopoulos' house for a Memorial Day cook-off.

Well, at least it did not stick around long!

Snow on May 24 - ALL GONE
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

This picture was taken when I got home from work. The one below with the snow was taken when I left for work.

I swear the calendar says May 24. Right?

May 24 - really?
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

No joke, this is what we woke up to this morning!

I was getting into wearing my short pants and sandles; I was not too excited to break out the winter coat and scrape the car this morning.

I really hope my plants survive this.

Ah, you have to love the fickle weather in the mountains in the spring. I am sure it will be sunny and in the 70s tomorrow. It is 11am and the sun is already starting to peek through the clouds.

Fish Flying in the Air

On Sunday, we took Carolyn downtown to the "Living Traditions Festival." It is a great FREE event hosted by the city. All of the vendors are non-profit cultural groups, and they dish up some great food. There are several stages where singers and dancers from all over the world perform. As you probably know, Utah is an incredibly "white" place, but this event reminds you that there are so many cultures living within our community. And, much of that diversity comes from refugees who have been resettled here. It was nice to experience the cultural traditions of so many people.

While there, Carolyn made a kite with some of the volunteers from the Buddhist Temple. And she could not stop running! She kept saying, "Fish flying in air"

Mama, can I play with the kids?

As we were walking back to our car from the festival on Sunday, Carolyn asked me if she could play with the kids? She even said, "Please, Mama" I did not know what she was talking about until she pointed up the hill to the statue garden on the grounds of the downtown library. She first went to the tumbling boy, and told me "Fall down, so I hold him"

Then, she went to "Sit on the Mama"

And her favorite was the kid on the bike.

She kept patting his back and saying, "Go Fast! Whee!"

Neighborhood Block Party

It starts with all the neighbors gathering on one end of the street to decorate bikes and dogs and wagons with streamers. We then parade down to the cul-de-sac .... to tell you the truth, the parade is kind of lame, but one of the kids on the street (she is now 14) started the dog parade years ago and the tradition is kept alive in her honor. This year, she helped all of the kids decorate their bikes and was sure to pass out her phone number for possible babysitting gigs.

After the parade, the kids run around the cul-de-sac and try to do a May pole. They are a bit young to get it right, but they have fun nonetheless. This year, we also had crafts and facepaints and a few other games for the kids. While the kids are playing, the adults fire up the grills and cook burgers and hot dogs, while all the neighbors bring a side-dish to share.

We were fortunate to have a beautiful spring day for this year's party. It was nice to spend some time with neighbors I know, and I also met plenty of neighbors who I had never even seen before. It is amazing to me that I know so few of our neighbors. I walk the dog almost every day, so I know a lot more than most, but still I have never seen some of these people come or go from their houses. Kind of sad, really, that we do not interact with our neighbors too much. It was even more sad that two of the neighbors who live directly across the street from where the party was taking place were outside washing cars and puttering around their yards. Even after someone went over, introduced themselves, and asked if they would like to join us, they still declined. Oh well. Their loss.

One of the invisible neighbors we met that day was a family about 6 houses down who has two daughters, one three and one 18 months. Carolyn immediately found her new best friend, Abbey. Hopefully, we can get them out of their house more often so the girls can play together sometime.

Take me out to the ballgame...

Temperature was in the 80s, the sun was out, and we enjoyed peanuts and crackerjacks at the Salt Lake Bees game on Sunday. There were about 10 families from my mom's group that went.
Fun Family Sunday!

Pizza

Carolyn helping mama make pizza.

Carolyn can't wait to taste the pizza.

Yummy. Carolyn loves pizza for dinner.

Carolyn making and eating pizza 005
Originally uploaded by boo4172002

A video of Carolyn and her pizza; 22 months old

Mom & Dad, I wasn't lying .....

You remember when I was a little girl and would pout and cry when I had to do any sort of yardwork? Then, I would come in with itchy bumps all over my arms and tell you that I was allergic to yardwork. Well, I wasn't lying. Seriously. A doctor confirmed it today.

Over the past several years, I have been having asthma-like attacks and lots of sinus problems, so my ENT doc did an allergy test to see what may be setting off these respiratory problems.

Here are the results: I have consistent reactions to dust, dust mites, and molds. And, I am highly allergic to almost all weeds and all grasses. This did not surprise me at all considering that I break out into some sort of rash anytime I touch anything outside, but I was surprised to find out that I had hardly any reactions to dogs or cats since lately I get wheezy, itchy, and swollen eyes when I am in houses with cats. The reason for this mystery is, likely, because houses with cats or shedding dogs typically have a much higher rate of dust and dust mites. Oh yeah, and I am not allergic at all to trees. So, bring on the spring when all of the trees are in bloom. I can handle those.

Although it is interesting, I am not sure what I can do with this knowledge. The doc said he will evaluate my sinuses again in the fall when my seasonal allergies are the highest. Apparently, my sinuses are very narrow, which traps in all of the congestion, which then leads to post-nasal drip, which then sets off my respiratory infections (asthma). The solution = surgery. Not sure I bargained for that.

never wake a sleeping baby

....that is what I have always heard. And that is generally what I always practice, but come on Carolyn, we are meeting people at noon. I think it is time to get up. I will wake her up at 1130 today; yesterday I had to wake her up at 1030 so I could get out day started. She may not nap on the weekends, but she sure does like to sleep in. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I love the quiet time in the mornings. When else would I have time to update the blog or make my grocery shopping list or sleep in myself?

Back to Ohio ... for no real reason at all

One weekend, steve was out of town, and I decided that I was homesick and wanted to book a trip back to Ohio to spend some time with my family ..... I figured I may as well do it while Carolyn still flies for free. So in mid-April, Carolyn and I packed up and flew home for a long weekend in April. It ended up that Steve was able to join us, as he was already in Ohio for training for his new job. Emerson had a birthday party on saturday, but mostly the trip was spent watching and laughing at Carolyn's antics. It was fun to show Carolyn off to my family. She loved spending time with Sadie (the dog) and her cousins Addie and Emerson. She also loved having grandma and grandpa run after her and watch her every move.

What a great trip!

A few weeks ago when we were in Ohio, Carolyn was introduced to soda. I have to say I was not all that happy about that, but it did make for a pretty funny story. ....

When Emerson set down his can of Sprite, Carolyn quickly found it and started gulping it down. I took it away from her, primarily because she was sticking her fingers and tongue into the can and I did not want to deal with a kid who was high on sugar and bleeding. As I took the can, she looked up at me and started whining with the most pathetic voice ever,

"BEER"

You would have thought I was taking this child's arm, not a can of beer away from her.

Hmm, not sure where she learned that. In our house, yes, we drink plenty of beer, but it is almost always from a bottle. I am amazed every day at the words that are coming out of her mouth.