As Seen On My Morning Walks

Hello dear blog readers!   

If you happened to live in the same neighborhood as me (or if you read this blog regularly), you already know that walking is my sanity saver.  I have yet to figure out the secret for making friends in Utah (or anywhere for that matter), so I just walk a lot...by myself, unless Glen is home, then it's with him.  And when I say I walk "a lot", I mean like 35+ miles a week a lot.  During those long treks around and about the area, I mostly just  wander and explore until I feel done, then I go home.   It works for me and it keeps my mental health on the positive side.  

With all the miles I log, I see  glimpses of a lot of interesting things out and about.   Here are a few from the last week or so...

One day I returned from my 7.25 mile walk to what I can only describe as wild sunflower "kisses"...

They confused me at first, then I realized that they're from walking through overgrown sidewalks like this one.  The wild sunflowers are everywhere right now and when they hit my leg head-on, the pollen leaves a little "kiss' mark.   I like it! 

This lovely dragonfly caught my eye and didn't fly away when I approached to take a picture.  It was definitely still alive, but I worried it may have been on its way out with how close it let me get. 

You've all heard of a "snake in the grass", but have you ever heard of a snake in a bush?   Not me, until the other day.   This snake was about 2 feet off the ground and just slithering around the bush!   I very much kept my distance from that one! 

Spence and I took the doggos out for a little jaunt around the block and found the loveliest double rainbow.   It looked like we could have walked right behind that house and found that elusive pot of gold right there. 

I am not normally much of a cat person, but this cute little kitty was super friendly  and had the most beautiful coloring.   I actually even gave it a little love, which is not very Lara-like of me.  

The Halloween decor is starting to pop up around town and this one was wild to me!   I thought it was supposed to be a skeleton basketball game until I saw there was an extra player in there.   I wonder how many small children are scared to walk by their house this time of year! 

Road closures are EVERYWHERE right now!   We just had our road paved a week or two ago  and now it's closed again for them to do work on the manholes.   It's rare for me not to run into at least one closed road on my walks each morning.    On the plus side, that means the massive potholes that popped up everywhere during our endless winter last year, are finally disappearing! 

So, that's it.  Thanks for reading my blog today. 

boring boring boring

April 4: 
No one wins the grand prize on the quiz from yesterday.   Winning requires guessing, which requires reading the quiz in the first place, which means that no one was ever going to win even if I waited 48 years.   So you'll never know what the right answer is.   Please don't cry.   Or cheer.   Or whatever.  

Today I saw a rainbow and wrote the most boring blogpost ever.  

Good night. 

Not This Time

During an afternoon storm last week, we looked out the window and saw this rainbow that looked like it was meant just for us. 

  From our angle it looked like it started at our next door neighbor's house and arced its way to the house across the street from us.   We were hoping that with how nearby the ends of the rainbow appeared to be that we might be lucky enough to find a pot of gold, but alas not this time.  

Willpower and Rainbow Cakes

A number of years ago Stanford University performed a study that tested the self-control of preschool age children.  Each child was given a marshmallow and told that they could eat it now or if they waited a specified amount of time that they could have two marshmallows instead.   They followed the children for a number of years and found that those children who were able to delay gratification and resist eating the marshmallow (about one-third), were more likely to be effective, positive, contributing adults.  The children who ate it the most quickly were more likely to be troubled and less successful as adults. 

I was disappointed that I never heard of this study until my children were too old to try it out on, but I've speculated probable outcomes for each of my children based on how I remember them at that age.    (I think most of them would have waited.  Two I am unsure about.) 

Although Glen and I aren't much into dieting (please don't start laughing maniacally about what a shock that piece of info isn't), we do regularly go through periods of time that we avoid sugar.  At one point we went several months without.    In all those times, however, we never have felt the need to inflict the same restrictions on our children.  We just simply didn't want to make sugar the forbidden fruit.     

So this past Monday, when Ellie told me that she was having a sugar-free week,  I nodded my head and assumed she would forget about it the second a treat was presented to her.   It's not that I doubted her willpower, but rather figured that since the decision to do it was made 100% by her and she was the only one in the family doing it, that it would be easy to "forget" her goal.  That and the fact that she is only seven. 

On Thursday I had to bring all the kids with me to YW,  where we were learning how to make rainbow layer cakes (in the YW value colors).  We spent the entire time baking and frosting and waiting in anticipating for the finished product! 

It turned out beautifully....

And the girls were so, so excited to sample the finished product! 

Look at Ellie's face as she caught sight of that first piece being cut...

And look at her face when they handed her her own piece...

That is a look of consternation and disappointment as she realized that she was in the middle of her sweet-free week and couldn't indulge if she wanted to stay true to the goal she had set for herself.

All of the YW, the leaders, and her siblings were eating their pieces and yet she utterly refused to cheat on her commitment and decided instead, that she would wrap up her treat and put it in the freezer for another day.  Yep, I'm pretty sure she would have done just fine on that marshmallow test. 

She may only be seven-years-old, but her determination and willpower (among other things) are an inspiration to me! 


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Somewhere Over the Rainbow...

After the coolest full-arced double rainbow today
I finally found the pot of gold at the end.

The. Best. Cupcake. Recipe. Ever. (combined with the best frosting ever)

Seriously, you must try these moist, delectable treats....today!

BEST CUPCAKES
3 egg whites
1 egg
1/2 cup butter
1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
juice of 1 fresh lemon
1 container (5.3-oz.) Stonyfield Farms OIKOS Honey Greek Yogurt (no substitutions)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 pkg. (4-oz.) vanilla pudding mix
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 cups flour

In a medium bowl, whip egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine egg, butter, and sugar. Beat until well creamed. Mix milk and lemon juice together, then pour curdled milk and yogurt into bowl with sugar mixture. Beat until well-mixed. Spoon into prepared cupcake papers. Bake at 325° for 22-25 minutes. Makes 24 cupcakes.

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Then for optimal enjoyment try this fresh strawberry frosting recipe below. This will take these awesome cupcakes to TOTALLY AMAZING and you'll never look at cake mixes the same ever again!!!!

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FRESH STRAWBERRY FROSTING
Here's what you need:
5 medium or 4 large strawberries
1/4 c. butter
1/4 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
up to 2 lbs. powdered sugar
4 tsp. (or 1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp.) lemon juice

Start by washing and destemming the strawberries. Then mash them with your hands, allowing the juice and pulp to fall into a mixing bowl.
Add butter, shortening, and vanilla. (You could use all butter, or all shortening - just personal preference.) Follow with about a cup of powdered sugar. Mix thoroughly with electric mixer.

Continue adding powdered sugar a little at a time and mixing thoroughly until the mixture is creamy and frosting-ish. Add the lemon juice and blend till evenly distributed. The lemon juice really balances the sugar and brings out that fresh strawberry flavor. Now for the important part: Lick those beaters!

Now stop drooling and start baking (and invite me over when you're done)!

Somewhere over the rainbow...

We love the National Zoo...it's close to home, it's free, has cute panda bears...

...emus, elephants, eagle statues to climb on...

...AND water misters to cool us off after climbing all those hills!