A day in the life

Lake Powell

2008-10-08T06:17:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am finally posting pictures of Lake Powell. It has been crazy, and I am way behind, but I can't post anything new until I do Lake Powell. I have to say it is my favorite place. This was our 30th year(obviously we love it). Powell has always been our big vacation growing up. I am so glad that we have been able to carry on the tradition with our kids.

The kids had a blast catching frogs and tadpoles on a hike.

Our newest wakeboarder

Pioneer Trek

2008-07-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great experience as Ma and Pa on the pioneer trek. We had such an awesome family. It was tough, but we made it! It was such a cool experience, we are so glad we got to be a part of it. We are so grateful for Deanna (Bill's mom) for watching the kids for us so we could go.

Utah family reunion

2008-07-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in Utah for the Montegue family reunion (Bill's side). It was a little cold on the drive up we had about 2 feet of snow in one part (in June)! It was so much fun to see family and cousins we hadn't seen for years. We can't wait till the next one. We especially loved the Sorensen's Sand Hill where the kids got to ride horses.

Easter Outfits

2008-04-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

The kids looked so cute in their easter outfits, I told Bill to take a quick picture before they got messed up eating our annual easter ebelskiver feast. It looks like they are ready to make a run for it.

Christmas in Utah

2008-01-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

We decided at the last minute to go to Utah for Christmas. We surprised my parents at the big cousins Christmas party on Sunday. We had a great time in the snow- skiing, sledding, snowboarding, and riding on and behind the snowmobile.

O-R-E-O

2008-01-02T08:40:00.000-08:00

Confessions of and Oreo-aholic

Sometimes I think that sugar is an evil thing. We have a love hate relationship, sugar and I. I love it, and I hate that I love it. Hello, my name is Rachele, and I am a sugarholic.
Okay. Admitting you have a problem is supposed to be the first step to recovery. When an alcoholic seeks help for their addiction they are eventually required to stop partaking of alcohol all together. I haven't heard of many plans that say, You can just cut back and only drink on the weekends and you will be okay. Or, just drinking on holidays or special occasions is acceptable. Treating alcohol addiction is not like going on a diet. Its cold turkey.
I am not ready for cold turkey (although a nice Panini sandwich from Paradise Bakery sounds good about now). Sugar though...in many forms it calls to me. (Especially he Oreo form.) Maybe I am not beyond saving though. I haven't sunk to eating sugar in its pure and overly processed form (not in years). Maybe there is still hope.

My reviews on the 12 main varieties of Oreos:
1. Original- I loved these as a kid. Only I think they don't have enough filling, so my method of eating is to twist two cookies apart, eat the halves that don't have filling, and put the two filling covered halves together to make a double stuf!
2. Mini- you can eat these by the handful, but there is still the same kind of imbalance of cream to cookie ratio that you will experience with Original Oreos. Sorry, not my bag (and they do come in a bag)
3. Chocolate Crème- These are good but do not have the same yummy filling flavor
4. Original Golden- Not bad for a chocolateless cookie..
5. Reduced Fat- That is just not right...
6. Oreo Double Stuf- Okay. . Now we are talking! The only thing better is to make a double double stuf with my method described above put the two filling covered halves together to form the ultimate Oreo... OREO QUADRUPLE! If Oreo filling came by the tub, I would be first in line to buy it. I would eat it with a spoon, I would spread it on toast (okay...on second thought...eww). I would scoop it out with a melon baller and coat it in chocolate and eat it like a truffle. I know a few of you are thinking about my childhood love of eating tubs of frosting, (remember I stopped doing that years ago), but come on! Oreo filling! As it is I will have to stick with making my Oreo Quadruples, and wishing for a gallon sized container of just the filling. I wonder if they take special orders!
7. Fudge Covered- The only thing besides milk that can redeem an original oreo is covering the whole thing in fudge. I approve!
8. Fudge Mint Covered- Even better
9. Double Stuf (PB and Chocolate)- Ok, but not a favorite.
10. DS(Cool Mint Creme)-My very favorite!!!!!!- the only thing better that a regular double double stuf is the Cool Mint Creme Quadruple,
11. DS(Coffee Creme).- Ewwww. Haven't tried it...won't EVER.
12. DS(Dulche de Leche)- This is supposed to be caramel flavored, but it tastes like butterscotch. I can’t believe that I am saying this- TOO SWEET!
Oreo Promotion -- UhOh Oreos lasted for 5 months (opposite oreos – Vanilla cookie with Chocolate creme filling)- yuck!
There are a few seasonal varieties Christmas, Halloween, Spring, White Chocolate Covered, Always fun for a change, but still not my favorites.
There are also a few varieties that have come and gone, but as we all know, It is hard to improve on perfection.

Trip to Sea Diego

2007-10-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

We took a quick trip to San Diego for Fall Break. As we started getting close to Sea World, Bill and I started telling the kids we were almost to San Diego and Sea World. Cole got so excited that he could hardly stand it, and kept saying Sea Diego , Sea Diego. Suddenly we realized that he thought we were going to see Diego (His favorite cartoon), not San Diego and Sea World. He did end up loving Shamu and went crazy over the endless supply of sand at the beach. We met my mom and dad there and had a great time at Sea World. Hanna was picked to do the dolphin show, but she told them no thanks, she might do it some other time. We spent the next day at mission bay on the beach and riding all the rides and roller coaster. After lunch we took the kids to LaJolla cove and searched for crabs and sea anemones. It was very fun. The only complaint was that it was just to short.

New York, New York

2007-10-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

I just got back from a girl's trip to New York. It was a blast. We ran as fast as we could for 4 days to see all the things we could think of. It was amazing. I think that my jaw was permantly dropped the first two days. The first day we saw the empire state buliding, took a bus tour, saw ground zero, walked through battery park, took a ferry to the statue of liberty, took ferry to ellis island, finished the bus tour, saw chicago on broadway and then checked out times square. whew. . . that was just day 1. Jackie was the perfect tour guide not only has she gone the past few years for her birthday, but her spanish speaking skills gave us a great advantage. We took almost every form of transportation, taxi, bus, ferry, subway and even a bicycle cab (we were going to be late for wicked, he promised to get us there on time).

Mothers Day

2007-08-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today is the first day of school for Sydney, Sam and Hanna. Sydney is in Jr. High now. Wow! that is so weird. Sam is in 3rd grade and Hanna is going to school all day in 1st grade. Cole and I will be pals at home all day. I think it is going to be a great year!

Utah pictures

2007-07-24T19:16:00.001-07:00

Fun pictures from our trip

2007-07-24T18:44:00.000-07:00

We eventually got to Idaho and floated down the Salmon River. The kids had a great time.

Cole taking a little nap in the boat
My thong (he he)
Sam's favorite part of the trip was finding this snake

Our Trip to Utah

2007-07-24T18:19:00.001-07:00

We had a good time on our trip to Utah. It started out pretty rough with our little car accident, but we are so grateful that everyone is doing well. It was such a miracle that no one was seriously injured in the accident. We are so blessed to still have our little family. We are so grateful for Tom and Jerelyn, Brett, Pam and Glen, Brandon, and Craig and Sandi that came down to the hospital and spent the day with us. And Steve and Sierra for coming to the accident scene and getting all our stuff. I was great to have such support from family. It was almost like a family reunion.

Watermelon

2007-06-18T09:42:00.000-07:00

Cole's first taste of watermelon. I think he liked it.

even more lake powell pictures

2007-06-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

Thumbs up

My attempt at surfing

More lake powell pictures

2007-06-18T08:59:00.001-07:00

Sydney, Hanna and Aunt AnnieGo Sam!

Lake Powell

2007-06-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

We had a great time at Lake Powell last week. Hanna celebrated her 6th birthday by wakeboarding for the first time. Way to go Hanna! Sydney and Sam started out the week with a wakeboading competition (the first one to cross both wakes wins). Sydney won! Then they spent the rest of the time just having fun. The kids fished, wakeboarded, tubed, cliff jumped, hiked and just floated in the water. We had a great time!

Hanna's 1st attempt at wakeboarding

Sam

Sydney

Where's Waldo (oh, I mean Brandon)

2007-05-03T19:37:00.000-07:00

We had a great time in California last week for Brandon's graduation. The kids played hard at the beach. They tryed boogie boarding and skim boarding, and they all buried Sam in the sand. The beach house that we rented was great, although It must have been at least a mile walk to the beach. I thought that I took more pictures, but the only one I got was at the graduation. It was a beautiful campus, and it was really cool to hear Laura Bush speak. I just wish had another graduation to go to in California next week.