We're all a little Nutty

As you recall, I had my own harrowing dog encounter in January, but on Tuesday I heard a story that is even more scary -- and would you believe it, too, happened in our dogs-can-do-no-wrong neighborhood? This poor 11 year old kid got attacked by a German Shepherd who jumped a fence. I looked at the fence today and it is 6 feet tall. If it weren't for Juan intervening, I can't imagine what would have happened. This poor kid will probably have a hard time daring to walk to school again. I found this story about it on ksl.com: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=8485486 Forget, "He's so sweet and he's never done anything like that before." It only takes one time to ruin someone's life.

Yesterday, I was moving as quickly as possible to orchestrate soup and rolls in the 1 1/2 hours between when I got home from church and when everyone would be starving for dinner. I had it perfectly planned and was halfway through the soup process, with dough rising in a covered bowl nearby on the warm stovetop. Then, I heard a POP and turned to find that my pyrex bowl of dough had exploded --not the dough, but the BOWL. I had accidently turned on the burner underneath the bowl, instead of underneath the soup pan, and it had been heating up the glass bowl for several minutes before the bowl shattered. My beautiful buns (pun intended) were ruined and I had to start all over, with only 45 minutes remaining in my window of time. What a mess. Long story short, it all worked out okay. A miracle occurred that gave me dough that had risen sufficiently to make tasty rolls, and we ate a nutritious meal without anyone passing out from starvation. But, what a mess to clean up hot shattered...

Sam and I spent Fall Break in NYC, doing as much as we could squeeze in. We've been planning it since spring and almost everything went off without a hitch! Here's some of the highlights: I love people watching in Time Square. Notice the lines on both sides of these steps for discount theater tickets. We just walked into the theaters and got great cheap seats! Ready for Wicked! From the Empire State Building at night. I loved this picture because the neon lights from Time Square are reflecting pink off the buildings in the distance. We started off Day 2 at the Manhattan Temple. Very neat. This is Sam with the doorman at FAO Schwartz, where we had fun exploring for over an hour. I love this picture because it shows how truly wet we were this afternoon. We went all the way up to the Guggenheim and then I made Sam walk all the way back down along Central Park ("Mom, please can we stop walking? I'm cold and my feet have blisters..."), past the Metropolitan Museum...

In my effort to find a way to be involved at the middle school, I saw that there was a vacancy on their Community Council (basically the group that oversees the trust lands money distribution at each school, and ensures that the school is moving in a positive direction that meets the needs of all students, etc.), and submitted my name for the election. I served on the CC at the elementary school for 4 years and there was no one fighting to be on it (which is unfortunate, because it is an awesome way to stay informed and involved), so when I sent in my name, I expected no competition. I found out on "election day" that there were 4 of us and the odds of me winning seemed slim since no one that knew me knew I was even running, and you had to vote in person. I called a few neighbors at the last minute, but to my knowledge, no one was able to go in. So, I figured, oh well...one less thing to worry about. Anyway, I'd sort of forgotten about it, and never heard anything, so...

Having recently completed a week full of celebrating birthdays, I wanted to share pictures of my cakes. I love creating them with my kids and usually the results are surprisingly good, but not this year! Lizzie's ladybug turned out awesome, but Dillon's cake...not so much. He had an architect party and the cake was supposed to be an unfinished skyscraper with pretzel scaffolding at the top. It was apparently in need of some concrete footings. We stored it on an angle until party time and it fell down shortly after Dillon blew out the candles...it lasted long enough, and despite how it looked, it tasted fabulous! Now that I think about it, his rocket cake tipped over last year, too!

Just yesterday, my sister and I were discussing how someday soon Copper will have dug completely to China. Kim said that when he starts wearing little pointy hats and has ramen on his face, we will know he's arrived. Well, apparently, he just wanted OUT...not a vacation. This morning, lo and behold, Lee saw him hopping merrily around the yard. Here's the exit point...The hole is in the bottom center and Copper is on the grass at the top right. and the re-entrance... Despite his freedom, he has spent most of the day voluntarily in his cage. We'll see what a couple more days of testing his boundaries will bring. I anticipate retrieving him from the neighbor's yard in just a few days.