Chinese Pie Year

and that was my attempt at a witty title.

Yesterday was National Pie Day (which, I still think should be celebrated on March 14th along with National Pi day, but whatever) AND Chinese New Year!

To celebrate Cata and I went and got a slice of carrot cake to share. We were going to get pie, but they only had pumpkin pie, so we opted for the carrot cake instead saying....its a circle and if it was Pi day it would still totally count.

Delicious carrot cake!

That night, the wonderful Pratt's had us over to celebrate Chinese New Year Chinese food style. Sara made a delicious and, as confirmed by her fellow Chinese graduate students, authentic Kung Pao chicken. Mmm....yummy. It was spicy and peanuty and awesome. I made gyoza for the event and ate many.

gotta love my boredom, yes?

cuteness

What did YOU do to celebrate Pie day and Chinese New Year??

It's a Dog-Eat-Dog World

Bret and I are reading Cesar Milan's (you know, the Dog Whisperer??) second book to try and be better dog owners. It's a great book, and I found the prologue especially interesting.

"I worry about the fact that my kids are growing up in a very unstable world; a world that is going to require some incredible pack leaders if it is going to be made right again. I believe that women hold the key to helping put our world back into balance. But they can’t do that until men truly acknowledge and honor the unique wisdom and the leadership women have to offer—and until women can embrace the pack leaders within themselves. More than most men, many women seem to instinctively know that leadership doesn’t mean negative energy. It doesn’t mean pitting one person against another, one country against another, one religion against another. I also believe that women are more likely than men to act for the good of the pack. And like dogs, we humans need to remember that without the pack we are nothing. I have seen more compassion from women in my life than I have seen from men. Women have taught me true calm-assertive leadership, and because of them I have become a better, more balanced leader in all areas of my life, not just with dogs."

Cesar Milan

Sounds like a General Authority huh? 

Other posts of note:

Feminine Idea: Class vs Crass

The Death of Pretty

The reason for it all. She's too big to cuddle with us in bed, so she tries to claim her spot early on. This usually happens when we start getting ready for bed. She's just a little too smart. 

PS Don't even act like you aren't jealous of the plaid Grandma Bonnie quilt. Keeps me nice and toasty ;)

Red Head Inspiration, An Epic Tale of Spinach

Or not so epic tale of spinach. Last night I took some inspiration from Redhead Cuisine and made homemade gnocci. I have never even had gnocci, so this was quite the experiment. I have tons of spinach and potatoes so I tried out THIS recipe from the tasty kitchen blog. It was quite tasty. I used 4-5 red potatoes instead of russet and steamed them instead of microwaved (I love my steamer) I also used fresh spinach (~3 or 4 C) and threw them in the steamer for the last couple of minutes with the potatoes. I served the gnocci with a creamy red sauce which I made making an extra thick white sauce and adding some ready made spaghetti sauce, a few sun-dried tomatoes,  and some extra spices. The result was quite tasty!

Happy cooking!

Top 10 reasons why Bret should be clean-cut

Reason #10. Homeless guy.

Reason #9. Patchy Goatee

Reason #8. Colonel Mustard Wannabe

Reason #7. Lopsided ‘Stache

Reason #6. The Frenchy

(not gonna lie I actually kinda like this one, minus the chops and soulless patch)

Reason #5. Chops? I think not.

Reason #4. Patch sold its soul to the not-chops

Reason #3. You’ve got food or something on your chin

  Reason #2. So. Much. Hair.

And the #1 reason why Bret should be clean-cut.......

Tabby Mountain

This past weekend one of Erika's ChemE professors, Dr. Pitt, was kind enough to take us up to his cabin in Tabiona  to go snowshoeing. We had a blast! It was our first time snowshoeing and it took a little more coordination than I anticipated, but it was still super fun. There wasn't a ton of snow so we had to take  different route up the mountain (yes we went TOWARDS the snow, sounds strange huh?) and hit up some very steep and powdery areas. Snow shoeing on the side of a steep mountain in powder=Naomi falling into deep powder and sliding down mountain=Erika laughing hysterically behind me. And I'm supposed to be the graceful one.....

We drove up Friday evening, enjoyed dinner and brownies, Vietnamese card games-courtesy of another student there, and boys vs girl catch phrase. We couldn't drive all of the way up to the cabin so Dr. Pitt shuttled us up on a 4 wheeler, but I ended up walking most of the 3 miles up hill. It was absolutely beautiful. I couldn't believe how many stars you could see! I wish I had a really nice camera so I could have taken a picture of it.

Saturday morning a few of us went on a short little walk where Dr. Pitt showed us a few landmarks including  tree that had a story carved into it from 1914 (i think?) about a man who was killed by a bear in that spot. Then we headed out for the main event: getting to the top of Tabby mountain!

On top of the ridge, overlooking the valley where Tabiona is. 

Erika and Dr. Pitt

With the Uintah's in the background. On the right are Brooke and Wyatt, Dr. Pitt's son-in-laws brother and wife. Why did I think my body would look normal standing like that? Seriously Naomi, stand in normal ways please!

In the cabin. Looking like a terrorist. Yes. 

The tree with the story carved into it. The tree was dying so it was peeling off a little bit, but it was really cool to see how the tree was healing over the words. 

We were already at bout 9000 ft, so we only had about a 1000 feet to go before getting to the top. It was a pretty warm day, plus once you get moving you get pretty warm, so we didn't need too many layers. The view from the top was beautiful! We stopped to eat lunch, then headed back down the mountain on a less-snowy terrain. The way we had come up was steep and full of trees and Dr. Pitt didn't want anybody sliding down the mountain in such a thickly-wooded area.

At the summit. 

We're cute. 

The whole group minus Dr. Pitt. Left to Right, Christen, Drake, Wyatt, Brooke,  Erika,  and Me. 

Coming down the mountain. 

I was sliding down the mountain when my snowshoe got caught on a log. Off went my snow shoe and into the snow I went!

We had to head out pretty quickly once we got home so we could return our snow shoes on time.

On the way out of Tabiona some ranchers were herding about 50 cattle in the middle of the road. That was quite a sight to see. They kept motioning to Erika to go around, but she was scared of going off of the road. We finally got her to do it, but not before one cow turned around and glared directly at us.

Creeper

Is it creepy to tell people you know that you read their blog? How about if you only know the husband but the wife is the main blogger? What if you don't know them at all?

I'm probably a creepy creeper.

Happy Weekend!

You've had a Birthday!

We've had THREE birthdays this week. First, on Sunday, my mom turned an undisclosed age that makes her frown a little bit. BUT, she still looks great doesn't she??

Next, my awesome father-in-law turned 65 yesterday! If he were a normal person he might retire soon, but instead he's taking a new job working for the LDS church in Mexico City. Can't wait to visit them in South Africa this year!

And finally, my little baby Mia is ONE today! I can't believe how much she has grown in just the past year. She's pretty much an adult, minus the crazy puppy spasms and incredible amount of energy and...never mind she's still a puppy 100%. I'm funni so I made her a carrot muffin for her birthday. She was scared of the candle so this picture was pretty difficult to take, but she enjoyed the muffin so much she cried by the counter top wanting more when she was done. Silly dog!