A Slow Clap for my Cookies

As some of you may know, I published my chocolate chip cookie recipe on Allrecipes.com a while back  

They are called "Felix K.'s 'Don't even try to say these aren't the best you've ever eaten, because they are' Chocolate Chip Cookies."

 They have gotten fairly good reviews.  Out of 299 reviews, they have a 4.5 out of 5 average!  Also, 6,217 people have saved the recipe to their allrecipes.com recipe box, 105 have posted pictures and 4 people have posted variations of their own.  Not too shabby.  Every once in a while the website sends me an email alerting me of new reviews.  Some are negative, but usually because they tried to alter the recipe and it didn't work . . . or they just have horrible taste in cookies (HA!).  Well, tonight I got one of the funniest reviews yet.  

And I quote, "I am doing the slow clap for you right now Felix...these cookies were amazing. Wonderful taste, great texture & a hit with the boys (I promised to make my guy friends cookies). Didn't change a thing about the recipe & never will. Thanks for sharing!"

An overly-dramatic slow clap?!?!  AWESOME!  I am so honored.

I imagine something along these lines occured:

Minus the Bear (Omni), J. Tillman (Year in the Kingdom) and Cake (Motorcade of Generosity) mp3 download codes for sale

I have 3 mp3 download codes for sale - all came with vinyl purchases I made.  Email or comment if you are interested.


Minus the Bear - Omni

J. Tillman Year in the Kingdom

Cake Motorcade of Generosity

Its a Boy!

Its a Boy!  Due early October.  More info later.

Family Bike Ride + HUGE Snakes + Sun Burn = Awesome Saturday

Warning: lots of text with no pictures!!!

A few days ago we bought a child carrier bike seat to go on the back of my Mtn. Bike so I could go on day trips with Emmie these weeks while playing Mr. Mom.  Unfortunately, the weather has not been (and apparently will not be) cooperating.  We ventured out today as a family before it got too hot.  We rode down the new Antelope Valley Trial to Antelope Park where Emmie played on all of the slides.  Then, we had a picnic and made our way back to the house.  By the time we made it home at 11:15 or so, it was alreayd 83 degrees and muggy.  Ugh.  The wind was horrendous, making the trip to the park brutal (headwind) but the trip back almost effortless (tailwind).  We hope to do a bunch more of these before it gets too hot in the upcoming months.

The best part of the ride was at the end when we spotting a HUGE (14-18 inches!!!) garter snake on the trail.  I promptly jumped off my bike (Julianne held it) and tried to catch the thing.  After making a dash for the grass, it turned around and headed straight for Julianne.  Julianne absolutely freaked out and started screaming.  Emmie, who until this point was pretty excited about the snake, started crying too.  In any case, they girls calmed down, I caught it and Emmie ended up having fun looking at it (but not touching) and immitiating its flickering tongue.

Also - tonight after an evening with the Brad, Emily and Mya  at Five Guys Burgers and Ivanna Cone, we noticed that Emmie's arms were pretty pink.  Sun burn!  Worth it for such a great day though.

Random photos

Brenden set up the desktop on our computer to rotate though our pictures every 10 seconds. I sit mesmerized by old photos and after a while think to myself, how long have I just been spacing out? Here is a random sampling of what I had forgotten about...

How young my cousins were when Brenden and I got married.

When our niece, Jenna, came to visit. She is now in kindergarten.

When our piano was sea foam green.

When our neighbors put fish in all of our sinks while we were on vacation.

When we used to throw amazing parties.


When I was watching the 4th of July parade in D.C. and Uncle Sam fell over.

When I was pregnant and my legs were so much more than cankles.


When Emmie was a tiny baby.

When we were totally good looking and awesome . . . oh wait . . . we still are!

Graduation photoshoot

On Friday (graduation day) it was SOOO windy. We didn't really get a chance to take any pictures outside. I think if we did Brenden's cap would have flown off and hood would have literally looked like a superhero cape. So we went out on Sunday and these turned out much nicer.

Graduation party III

Yes, Brenden had three graduation parties this weekend. The first was on Friday at his advising professor's house. It was lovely with all of Brenden's history professors and friends.

The second was a party was on Saturday for all the graduates in our ward. Unfortunately Emmie decided to get a couple of teeth this weekend and had a fever so Pete and Linda were nice enough to stay with her while Brenden and I went.

The third was thrown by me on Sunday. We just invited a few friends over and had a good time. Brenden made brisket. Linda and I made cupcakes for the occasion.

When Brenden picked up this beast the girl working jokingly said that Brenden's dissertation was the biggest she had ever seen. Brenden of course ask if he gets a discount for being the biggest and she said no, if anything he had to pay more.

Fun with Pete and Linda

We have been having such a good time having Pete and Linda here. Emmie loves "papa" and "bama". We went to the park the other day. Here are some pics...

Of course Brenden had to show us all up with his crazy swing jumping skills.

We went to the zoo this afternoon. It had been raining all day but we thought we could beat the rain for a couple of hours. The good thing about going to the zoo in the rain is they let you in for free and you are the only ones in the zoo. The bad thing about going to the zoo in the rain is the animals smell terrible when wet. Have you ever taken a whiff of a wet dog? Try out wet camel.

Happy Mother's Day!

Moms are the best but especially OUR moms. Obviously we turned out pretty amazing and its no wonder why we are our mothers' favorite children. If you have ever wondered how or why we turned out so great it's because of these two ladies pictured below. We appreciate all you did and still do. We really do think you are wonderful.

If you have ever wondered how our moms turned out so great it was because of these lovely ladies pictured below. If moms are awesome then grandmas are extra awesome, especially OUR grandmas.


Linda, Jody, Joanne, Lorraine, and Olive... Thanks for raising us well and setting a good example of how we should raise our kids. Happy Mother's Day!

Brenden = officially done.

Yesterday was Brenden's official graduation. Pete and Linda flew in for the event. It was pretty much amazing...especially the part where we realized we were forever done with school.

This is Brenden being hooded. I told him he should wear his hood like a cape all day but he didn't want to. If I got my Ph.D. I would wear it around for like a week. It would be like a Ph.D. superhero cape.

Ta Da! Brenden or should we say Doctor?

Dr. and Mrs. "That has a nice ring to it.

Dr. and the proud parents. Sorry the red it a bit extreme. We are in Nebraska you know and the state color is RED.

Congratulations B! We sure do love you and we are proud of you! You get a huge double thumbs up.

Bubbles

I want to tell everyone about the bubble wand. While we were at the park the other day I saw this woman who had one. There was no blowing, no getting out of breath or going cross-eyed trying to get those stinking bubbles out of the little hole. She just waved the wand gracefully through the air and out came hundreds of bubbles.

I found one at Target for $1.99. Go out and buy one. Emmie can blow the bubbles on her own and she loves it. It was the best $1.99 ever spent.



For all of you who already knew about these wonderful things... why didn't you tell me! What else am I missing out on?

Fun at the Park

We took Emmie to the park this week. This park was huge. If you ever visit Lincoln, or if you live in Lincoln it is on 33rd and Normal. I don't know how we didn't know about this place.

Emmie loves the slides. She is a dare-devil... check out this slide! I wouldn't even go on it. Mostly because of the static once you get off. I don't like having my hair go all Don King.

Brenden tried to impress us with his manliness and he did. This is Mya on the left. She is one of Emmie's best buds. Em only says Mya's name about 100 times a day.

I had to put this picture in here because I think this is the only time Emmie's hair has actually blown in the wind. Check out her luscious locks!

We had fun and will be going back soon. Anyone want to join us?