A couple new IKEA things and a few left from Flag....

Here are some new pillow covers for the couch, we needed a summer update.

Our guest room/office has always posed a challenge in that the door leading to the living room was always in the way of the desk and futon. We removed the door alltogether, and replaced it with these sleek, modern, almost Japanese-style sliding panels. The back two panels are a rich brownish/gray grasscloth-like material, and the sheer white panel slides over the top to create a cool, textile art look.

When not in use, they then slide behind one another against the wall like a cool wall art hanging.

Lake Powell on the way home from Flagstaff.

Summer Vacation...so far...

Well, here is a massive picture posting of all the happenings of the occupants of 1864 Lake St. A summary of what's been going on:

• we got an ice cream maker in our neighboorhood garage sale, and Adam made a delicious homeade chocolate ice cream. There is a pic of Winnie sitting next to it.
• winnie decided to take herself on a walk, and got 2 of our shoes stuck in her leash, then as she exited the house via the dog door, got the shoes anchored in the flaps. this made her slightly crazy as she tugged the leash on the other side trying to pull the whole mess thru the door. in an annoyed frenzy, she stuck her head back thru the dog door and grabbed the shoes, pulling everything thru the hole and continuing on her journey- totally hilarious!
• during Memorial weekend, we went to Cedar Breaks national monument in southern utah, the really cool orangey looking rock formations, and explored nearby climbing. both dogs managed to get skunked, point blank...weekend immediately over.
• eric and leigh came to town from denver, and we went out to a nice dinner with their beautiful one year old daughter Blythe, and friends jon and ellie.
• we went on vacation to flagstaff, arizona to celebrate our 3 year wedding anniversary and check out the town and the climbing where we befriended a huge great dane named abe.
• we had a romantic dinner and even got a room in a "historic" or should i say "hysteric" hotel...here you can see the (no joke) Esther Williams suite. ha ha!
• in a day of sheer relaxation and boredome, we decided to take family portraits with graham crackers- we all had a lot of laughs posing for our self portraits

That's what's been going on. Good times. Hope you enjoy and get a laugh out of our adventures.

The Esther William's Suite- Monte Vista Hotel, Flagstaff, Arizona

Flagstaff...

Tigg's Graham portait

Breakfast: banana with peanut butter, and cereal stuck to the top

Josephine's Bistro-our annivesary dinner in Flag

Late night cocktails at the Rendevouz in the lobby of the Monte Vista historic hotel

More Flag...

Adam on one of the classics at the Gloria boulders, Flagstaff

Winn's Graham portrait- the best!

melissa's graham portrait

Adam's graham portrait

More Flag...

Adam sending the classic Bat Roof at the Priest Draw

Adam on a nice boulder at the Gloria boulders

Tigg's- he has a goiter in this pic- he had a small seizure and had to go to the vet where he got some IV fluids- they squeezed a whole bag into him at once and he looked like a camel, until gravity pulled the fluidous hump off of his back and it dropped under his neck- here is the fluid at about 1/4 of it's original size. Tigg's is doing great now!

Abe "the BABE" is he a cow or a dog?!

Pre Flagstaff launch!

brother and sister ready to go!

Eric, Leigh, and Blythe visited the night before we left for Flag- we had a lot of fun

A great meal with friends Jon, Ellie, Eric, Leigh and Melissa at Trio

One of our first stops on the way to Flag...a bizarre boulder field with a rickety house-like structure that some people who owned the old gas station next door used to live in.

odds and ends

Winn displaying Adam's new prize possession- a vintage ice cream maker

Winn taking herself on a walk dragging a couple of shoes she picked up along the way

Winn after she picked up shoe #1...

Cedar Breaks National Monument- southern Utah memorial day weekend

Well, Adam's birthday was a huge success. On his birthday, which he shares with our neighbor Rayna, I made homeade cannelloni (like manicotti) and fried eggplant- their favorite! Then on Friday, despite cold and somewhat damp weather, we still managed to pull off a great bbq and party. Good times had by all. Earlier in the week, we put woodchips down in the backyard, with the help of some good old fasioned child labor- thanks to 3 year old Gavin for raking like a champ!

The Agony of Defeat - aka Powder Keg 2007

I (Adam) had this bright idea to do the Black Diamond Powder Keg race. It's a ski race where you hike up and down hills with a total elevation gain (and loss) of 5400'. There was a race division and a rec division. I had to try and be macho and enter race. Bad idea. These guys had skinny skis, lycra tights, and thunder thighs waiting to leave me in the snowy dust. The first hill went up an icy mogul run at Alta. Super heinous with bodies and ski poles slipping and sliding to the bottom. I redlined early and couldn't catch my breath from that moment on. But the skiing was great---NOT. There had been no snow for 2 weeks and we had blistering high temps so the snow was icy, death cookie material. I made it to the top of 3 out of 4 hills but by then the hot sun had made avys possible and all remaining competitors had to stop and head straight to the finish. Thank God I didn't have to slog up that last hill.

Here's to doing it next year and hoping for a middle-of-the-pack finish in the rec division.