July 2007 Photos
One of the most prolific months of photography has finally come to a close. I think I have posted more pictures in the last month than I ever have before... at least the stretch in the last few days made it seem that way. And I didn't publish everything on my blog that I uploaded to the kid's galleries! Now that we are back in Washington, perhaps we will take less pictures and return to our normal boring lives.

You can review the full galleries either by accessing the "July 2007" links on Berkeley's web site or Eliana's web site. Or you can simply access the galleries directly using the following links:

Berkeley's July 2007 Gallery ... (5 years old)
Eliana's July 2007 Gallery ... (3 years, 4 months old)
Olivia's July 2007 Gallery ... (1 year old)

(Update Wed Aug 15 21:24:42 PDT 2007 // fixed links june->july)

Bowling with Uncle Robert and Aunt Jessica
We spent the evening with Kristy's brother Robert and his wife Jessica (Uncle Robert and Aunt Jessica). Jessica works up by my folks, so we made Robert drive up to North Salt Lake to meet us at a bowling alley for some pizza and bowling. Here are a couple of pictures of Olivia with her aunt and uncle.

Any day that Eliana and Berkeley can bowl is a good day. Berkeley probably enjoys it more than Eliana. Eliana will lose interest after bowling 4 or 5 frames. But Berkeley was intense tonight... intent on getting a "strike" (Berkeley counts both strikes and spares as "strikes"). He managed to get one just before we had to leave and he was pretty elated about it. I didn't get a picture of his strike, but here are a few others (you can tell they got a bit of sun at the water park:

Murray Park Water Slide
We spent much of the day at Murray Park Water Slide today to allow the kids one more day of water play before we return home (tomorrow). I'm not sure why, but there just isn't many water parks up in the State of Washington. So today was a real treat for the kids. Berkeley remembered the park from two years ago when we attended the same park on his third birthday.

Like two years ago, the kids spent most of the time at the park riding the open-air water slide. Here is a sequence of pictures of Berkeley riding by himself down the slide.

This second sequence (shown below) is of Eliana. She would not go down by herself (Berkeley wouldn't either at 3 years old), so either Kristy or I would hold her.

Olivia went down the slide quite a few times too. But we didn't get any pictures of her on the slide. I did get this one picture (the only shot I took of Olivia the whole day... oops):

When the kids were not on the slide, Eliana was playing in the waterfalls and Berkeley was on the diving board. Here are a couple of action shots of Berkeley jumping off of the diving board:

And this sequence is particularly hilarious... I asked Berkeley to "dive" instead of jump. As can be seen, the results were not textbook.

July/August Birthday Party
We left Snowbird this morning and met up with Bryan for Church and then we were back at my Mom/Dad's for dinner. Since today is my son's actual birthday (he turns 5) as well as Aunt Shantell's birthday (who was unable to attend due to illness), we celebrated not only their birthdays but the birthdays of Olivia (July 24th) and my wife and my brother Brent (who were both born on August 3rd, 1971).

All of my family came up to the folks house for dinner and birthday pie (with the exception of Shantell, Tyler, and Amanda). Berkeley and Olivia both blew out candles on cupcakes and then opened some presents. Here are some pictures of the birthday boy and birthday girl (with one of Eliana tacked on for good measure).

While everyone was congregated in one place, I took a few pictures. Including those listed above, there are several others located here. Among the pictures that I took are some of the cousins grouped by age. The grandkids on my folks side seem to come in threes. Berkeley was born within a year of Ryan and Brielle (Berkeley is the youngest of the three). Eliana was born within just a couple of months of Heather and Rees (Eliana is also the youngest of the three). And Olivia was born within a few months of Hailey and James (Olivia is the oldest of the three).

Ryan (5), Berkeley (5), Brielle (5)	Eliana (3), Heather (3), Rees (3)	James (10mo), Olivia (1), Hailey (8mo)

20 Year High School Reunion: Saturday Evening Dinner
Today we traveled to Snowbird from my parents house. I rented a couple of adjoining rooms - one for Berkeley and Eliana, and one for Kristy, myself, and Olivia. Berkeley and Eliana love hotels. They go nuts in them... it's like a some grand adventure or something. They tested all of beds (by jumping on them) and then we went down to the pool. The reunion dinner started at 7pm. I arranged by way of Dave and Heather to have our kids watched by a young woman (she was great with them btw... thanks Dave!).

The reunion dinner and program was fantastic. The highlight of the evening was the debut of the Reunion DVD produced by Dave (Christenson). The committee was able to screen it on Thursday evening. The production quality of the DVD was astounding... I tip my hat to Dave(c) for his hard work. (Note: To view a sample of the Reunion DVD, go here.)

Kristy accompanied me to the dinner and was able to meet many of my old chums. I didn't talk to near as many people tonight as I did last night. I'm kind of reunion'd out I guess. I didn't take very many pictures either - I guess I had camera fatigue. Actually, as fun as it was, I'm glad it is behind me know. I think Kristy is too... I put in a lot of late night work on the web site and a lot of time these past couple of days involved in last minute planning and rehearsal.

Anyway, here are the pictures:

	These are my childhood friends going back to kindergarten at Morningside elementary. We spent many a day (and night) playing kick the can, having water fights, watching movies, jumping on a backyard trampoline... you name it. More often than not, these activities were held at Gretchen's home on Lisa Drive. Good times. From left to right: Tony Coombs, Mark Shepard, Gretchen Soffe, Rus Berrett, Dave Barnes, Mark Erekson. This is the first time we have all been together since the 80s.
	This is the group of us that pretty much were in Sunday School together every week since the time we were wee lads.... through High School. Well, pretty much. There were some other move-ins and move-outs. From left to right: Mark Shepard, Tony Coombs, Gretchen Soffe, Mark Erekson, Bret Black, Rus Berrett, Leanne Tanner, Dave Barnes.
	Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces Baby Jesus... thank you for my red hot smokin' wife!
	One of the members of our Skyline swim team, Portia Early (Class of 1989), was in charge of our music for the evening. She happens to be employed as a DJ for X96 (a Salt Lake City alternative music radio station). From left to right: Rus Berrett, Portia Early, Dave Barnes.
	The night would not be complete without a couples shot posing with my good friend Dave.
	Except for Crag Teel (who was missed), this is the complete Class of 1987 Swim Team Members from Skyline High. From left to right: Rus Berrett, Aaron Baar, Dave Barnes, Diana Sherwood, Kevin Buchan, Sue Benner, Chris Krueger, Andrea Levy

This is picture of the reunion committee (also known as "Gretchen's 13"). From left to right: Rus Berrett, Chris Krueger, Dave Barnes, Kay Shields, Kevin Buchan, Kristi McMillan, Mark Fankhauser, Sue Johnson, Steve Sherwood, Heidi Coon, David Christenson, Gretchen Soffe, Suzy Ellis.

(Update Fri Aug 03 00:22:49 PDT 2007 // added link to DVD sample)

Swim Team Reunion
Since all of the Class of 1987 members of the swim team were in town today (because of my ongoing 20-year class reunion), it was decided to get together and have a small swim team reunion. In addition to our own class, one class above us and one class below were also invited. Sue volunteered her backyard, and everyone else chipped in by bringing some snacks, drinks, desserts, etc. The was an "entire family" affair, so Kristy and kids came along. There was a slip-n-slide set up for the kids to stay cool and there were plenty of toys. While Eliana busied herself with the toys, Berkeley spent most of his time console gaming on a Nintendo Wii that Sue's son Blake has. This was Berkeley's first exposure to console gaming... needless to say, I didn't see much of Berkeley.

The adults all congregated out in the backyard of Sue and Mike's Salt Lake home. Coach Marsing was also invited and was able to attend. Diana was there with her significant other, Sue and Mike (of course), Chris and Lisa, Randi and her family, Andrea and her family, Dave and Carson and Madison, Shelley, Jennie, Julie, Mike (Nelson), Chris and Lisa, Chris (Keller) and her family, and Aaron and his son. (I probably missed listing someone.) This isn't the first swim team reunion we have had since high school, but it was still nice to catch up with my old teammates - get the latest news, meet the newest kids, etc.

Here are a couple of thumbnails from the event; a complete photo gallery is available.

20 Year High School Reunion: Friday Alumni-Only Event
After many months of preparation, my 20-year high school reunion events are finally here. Tonight in the Skyline High School courtyard, we (e.g. the reunion committee) held our alumni-only casual mixer event. It was a tremendous success (despite the high 90° heat) and I had a great time.

I was able to see many of my old friends from the neighborhood I grew up in - Mark Erekson, Mark Shepard, Tony Coombs (and fellow reunion committee members Gretchen and Dave). I saw Tony at the 10-year reunion, but had not seen Mark and Mark since high school. The six of us spent some time together standing in a circle in the courtyard remembering some of the old times and catching each other up on our current lives. It was great to be there with them. They are all doing well. I was so glad to speak with each of them.

The event began at 6:30 pm and ended 3½ hours later. The time elapsed far too quickly as I was very much engaged in conversation for much of the evening. After we had to leave the school courtyard, just about everyone that attended lingered outside the doors instead of returning home. A few dozen of us then meandered over to a local bar (Kevin's choice), then drove to The Pie for late-night pizza.

As the self-designated photographer at the event, I snapped quite a few pictures - that was my excuse to get around to as many alumni as I could and speak with them (even if it was only briefly). Most of what I snapped did not include me, but I was able to find one that I took and two that others snapped that included me... see below (click to enlarge):

My good friend Dave Barnes and myself.	From left to right: myself and fellow committee members Sue Johnson and Mark Fankhauser.	From left to right: Dave, myself, Tony Coombs, Kristi McMillin, Jeff Wright. Taken at The Pie.

The Kids at Seven Peaks
While I spent the day at work today (in Orem), Kristy took the kids to Seven Peaks (and met Jen and Jessica and several of the cousins there). Kristy said the kids had a blast. Berkeley is asking us when he can go again. Here are some pictures:

(Update Sun Aug 12 20:11:14 PDT 2007 // added descriptive titles for images)
(Update Mon Aug 13 10:29:47 PDT 2007 // added link to Seven Peaks)

Travel Day to Utah
We are in Utah now... we traveled here today... by plane. Due to our last-minute decision to fly, I purchased tickets at an airline that I'm not particuarly fond of (because of past experiences), but they still had semi-reasonable prices... namely, Southwest Airlines. Unbeknowst to me however, is that if you travel with kids on Southwest, you are treated like VIPs. Families with kids under 5 do not have to queue up in the cattle line to get on board. Instead, Southwest allows families with young children to board first and get the first pick of any vacant seat on the plane.

Since Seattle is generally a starting point or ending destination for flights, when we boarded our Southwest flight the plane was literally empty (we were the third party to board). We picked some very nice seats right up near the front. Frankly, I'm not sure why anyone would fly Southwest if they weren't flying with kids. I saw the length of the queue to board on the flight... and it wasn't short.

Here are a few pictures I snapped in the gate area while we waited to board. Eliana was mad I was snapping pictures... she kept stammering: "No pictures Dad! No Pictures!" Then when I did snap her picture, she blurted out: "I'm so mad at you Dad! No pictures I said.", and she stood there in a huff.

(Update Thu Aug 9 09:03:12 PDT 2007 // added text for clarity)

Olivia Turns 1
Today marks the first anniversary of Olivia's birth. She has been a wonderful addition to the family. She is very loving to all of us, especially to Berkeley and Kristy. She loves to point at things and babble on the phone. At times she gets frustrated that she can't do everything that she sees her brother and sister do; hopefully in the next year she can make up some ground on them.

Berkeley and Eliana gave Olivia some pink ladybug jammies and Kristy and I got her a toy rocking horse. Here are the pictures:

Home Renovation Project: Attic Conversion: Permit Approved
Our permit was granted by the City of Sammamish (see permit details), so we are free to start work on the project. Tad came over and we talked about the construction process. He is about two weeks out but indicated he may start while we are in Utah this week or next. We gave him an initial deposit to begin work, a house key, and a security code to disarm the home alarm. The project should provide plenty of fodder for blogging. Heh.

Back From Clarkston
Our very short 36 hour trip to Clarkston came to a merciful end today. Yikes. The day started out well enough. We arose early and had a nice breakfast at the hotel (Berkeley's favorite breakfast is now Eggs Benedict). We went to Church (first hour only). We were a bit surprised to find that we were the only ones there... everyone else decided to skip I guess (we must have missed the memo). We caught up with the group over at Aunt Vi and Uncle Bud's house for some, uh, "lunch" (all I will say is that I'm glad we had the foresight to get a bite before arriving).

Grandma Sorenson was there and the kids (well, Berkeley and Eliana) spent as much time as they could with her. We were only there maybe one or two hours before we had to hit the road and start our drive back to *cough* civilization. It was not a very pleasant journey. The kids were tired and cranky and each had more than one crying spell. After a couple of hours on the road in such close quarters, we (i.e. myself and Kristy) decided that we had our fill of driving with 3 kids under 5 (and, uh, the speeding ticket I got didn't help matters much).

Near the end of the trip, the kids managed to all fall asleep. Wow, what a difference! We actually could talk to each other and think and stuff. I snapped a couple pictures of our sleeping girls.

We are going to be traveling down to Utah this coming weekend for my 20-year reunion and the plan was to drive. Um, no... we won't be doing that. I've already looked at airfare. Even at the steep last-minute price of $325/person for a ticket from SEA->SLC, it is still worth it.

Hartung Family Reunion
We traveled to Clarkston (Washington) this morning. It is about a 4½ hour drive from Sammamish. The occasion is Kristy's Aunt Viola and Uncle Bud's 50th wedding anniversary. Viola is my Bertha's oldest sister (Note: Bertha is my mother-in-law). We arrived early in the afternoon and checked into the Quality Inn, unpacked, and relaxed a little bit. Berkeley and Eliana and I spent some time in the pool while Olivia napped. The kids love staying in hotels. They are having a great time.

In the evening we drove across town to an LDS chapel for the anniversary party. Bertha flew into town in the afternoon and met us there... we were the only Sorensons that attended. Bertha has seven siblings - all were in attendance. A few of Kristy's cousins were there. But most in attendance were 60+ years in age. I still had a good time talking with many people. I've been to a few of these Hartung get-togethers now... they are good people and fun to be around. The kids enjoyed the time with their Grandma Sorenson (we don't see Dick/Bertha as often as we would like).

	Kristy's Aunt Viola and Uncle Bud cutting into their 50th anniversary cake. I'm not entirely sure why Viola is cracking that weird face. Bud is stoic... per usual... the guy doesn't talk that much.
	This is a picture of all of Bertha's siblings except her youngest brother, David. From left to right: Viola, Marilyn, Bertha, Pat, Carol Jean, and Herman.

Tomorrow we will attend church, have lunch with Grandma, and journey back home... a fast trip.

Salt Lake City Tap Water Rated #1
By way of my wife Kristy, it has been (unscientifically) determined that Salt Lake City has the best tap water in the nation.

  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19865855/

Take a sip! America's best tap water
Salt Lake City's is the winner, followed by Boston and Columbia, S.C.


By Mike Celizic
Updated: 8:39 a.m. PT July 20, 2007


Its namesake lake may be saltier than the ocean, but, according to two wine-tasting experts, Salt Lake City's tap water is, in a word, "delicious."

"Viscous, thick and rich," was how professional wine taster David Lynch described the water to TODAY co-hosts Meredith Vieira and Matt Lauer.

"Nonflawed, clean and delicious," added his colleague, Joe Bastianich.

[more]

Kristy grew up in San Diego. Ever since we started dating I have been complaining about the poor quality of the tap water at her home. It is absolutely terrible stuff... I won't drink it. The in-laws think I'm a bit "off" with my apparent pre-occupation with drinking water quality (hey... I'm a Civil Engineer by training... what do you expect!) and have probably long since grown tired of me standing on my soapbox and preaching about poor tasting drinking water in SoCal and the brilliant tasting stuff in Salt Lake City (where I grew up). So, this is a small vindication... I think I shall print it out, take it down to San Diego this Thanksgiving, and post it on the Sorenson kitchen refrigerator!

Riding Bikes in the Cul-de-Sac
Kristy took some pictures of the kids riding bikes in the cul-de-sac in front of our house today. This was the first time Olivia has played on a bike of her own... so she participated in her own small way.

More Early Morning Eliana
This morning over the breakfast table:

"Dad... Dad... come closer... I need to tell you something.", Eliana whispered, beckoning to me with her eyes wide open.

"What is it?"

"Dad... Santa Claus is coming to Grandma Berrett's house. We need to go there and get some toys."

"Eliana, sweetheart... it's summertime. It's July. Christmas is a long time away... in December."

"Oh... pickles!"

Sammamish... the 11th Best Place to Live!
Money Magazine released its annual "America's Best Places to Live" list recently. Our fair city, Sammamish, logged in at #11. w00t!

Here is the local news clipping about the ranking:

 "Sammamish on Money Magazine's Best Places to Live list"

Two Northwest cities have made the top 25 in MONEY magazine's annual list of America's Best Places to Live. Sammamish, located east of Seattle, comes in at No. 11. [...]

The magazine said Sammamish is a "comfortable place to raise children, with great schools and an array of organized youth activities." The city was also praised for its wetlands. On the downside - high home prices.

Summer Softball
All of the summer rituals are returning. Tonight I played some softball with the team I have been playing with for the last few years. We actually won both games tonight... which matches the win total for the last two seasons combined. I ended up pulled my hamstring during my second at bat.... a ball I nailed BTW (it one-hopped over the center field fence at 315). There were the first games, but I'm probably done for the year. The hamstring pull fells like it is high up at where it connects to my pelvis. I did some digging on-line just now and it appears that they are the slowest to heal.

That's a shame.

Summer is Here
We spent the evening with family and friends. We grilled some ribs, burgers, and dogs for dinner, prepared a fruit salad, and ate outside enjoying the mild summer evening temperature. Later in the evening the kids watched a movie, while the adults played some board games until about 10pm. It has been awhile since we had a late night - we figured the kids can sleep in (which they probably won't do). But the summer (non-)schedule allows for such flexibility. Nice.

Symphony Review: Carmina Burana
After our meal at Matt's in the Market, Kristy and I walked over to Benaroya to catch the performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana performed by the Seattle Symphony, the Seattle Symphony Chorale, the Northwest Boychoir, and some featured soloists as conducted by Carolyn Kuan. We first heard Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto performed. It was done very capably by soloist (Joan Kwuon). But, really, the concerto was nothing more than a nice little piece of candy to consume before the big stuff.

After we dispensed with the concerto and the ensuing intermission, the chorale entered and began to fill up the expanded stage row by row. The chorale was followed by the boychoir, which appeared to be about half the size of the chorale. After the symphony members returned to the stage, the combined mass of musicians was impressive. Our seats weren't great... but they were still serviceable. We had tickets for row 7 left orchestra, but the expanded stage gobbled up the first four rows... so we were actually seated just three rows from the action, seated squarely in front of the section of first violins.

Once the conductor brought everyone to attention, the chorus that brackets the work, O Fortuna, began with verve, vigor, and plenty of volume! The O Fortuna piece is famous and as the program notes "shamelessly" if not effectively appropriated for all manner of popular culture such as movies, radio, and television (such as this humorous commercial for Carlton Draught beer). Nonetheless, it is nothing less than spectacular when consumed live by such a vast array of musicians. The tight singing and enunciation, led by the precise Kuan (who mouthed the words to the entire piece) was awe-inspiring. Wow!

The baritone and soprano soloists were wonderful... they brought life and drama to the pieces they performed and the audience responded. There wasn't much for the tenor, but he was also very good with the one piece he had to perform. Also of note: the soprano was dressed in an especially impressive and exquisite red dress. Ask Kristy about it.

The entire performance earned the three standing ovations it received. This is a piece, no... a spectacle, that - like Beethoven's Ninth - just must be witnessed in person, live and in color. If we had attended Friday night's performance (which we had originally intended to attend but had to exchange because of our conflict with the Birthday Hoedown), then we would have returned tonight to see Carmina Burana performed again. If we ever have the chance to see it performed by such a capable ensemble, we will not even think to pass on such an opportunity. Tonight was a rare treat we will remember for many years to come.

Restaurant Review: Matt's in the Market

Matt's in the market is located right next door to Chez Shea the third floor right in the heart of the Pike Place Market. Look closely to your left just as you get to the third floor, because you might miss it... Matt's is a bit small, but very quaint (in a good way). The kitchen is open and can be seen from any table in the restaurant; you can watch your food be prepared if you like.

We arrived for our 5:15 seating and were seated right next to one of the third story windows in Matt's. We looked down on the entrance to the Pike Place Market and watched the fish being thrown and the tourists posing on the pig throughout the evening. We saw two different wedding couples show up, take pictures, and leave. It was kind of fun spot to people watch and have some good eats. We were fortunate to have the benefit of being able to take our time this evening as our date at the symphony (to see the magnificent Carmina Burana) was not to start until 8:00pm.

For our appetizers, I ordered the mussels and Kristy ordered a beet salad. My mussels were served in a deep bowl with this great tasting broth accompanied with chorizo sausage, chermoula, and these large hand-made wonderfully seasoned saffron crutons. The appetizer was hearty and had a wonderful flavor. The dish reminded me of the mussels I would eat in a little town in Taiwan called 淡水. where I served as a LDS missionary. The church was located down by the fishing boat docks, and we would often go down to the docks and get this wonderful bowl of mussels and fish broth made with the freshest catch. It was good, but this dish at Matt's is probably better than what I had back in 淡水. Kristy's salad was a bit disappointing. The menu seemed to suggest that the salad was composed primarily of beets but it was not (beet salad is one of our favorite salad selections recently). So Kristy ate the beets and picked at the rest. She didn't appear to enjoy it.

For our main courses, Kristy ordered the pan roasted wild salmon with fingerling potatoes, corn relish, and a tomato vinaigrette. I ordered a pork loin chop served with yellow wax beans and a smoked chile and tomato salsa. Both of our dishes consisted of freshly prepared and hot meat served over chilled vegetables... very appropriate for our warm summer evening. We both were very satisfied with our meals. I ordered a non-alcoholic Bitburger Beer to go with my appetizer and entree... I wasn't keen on the flavour of the beer at first, but as I consumed it I grew more accustomed to it (I'd order it again with my next Matt's meal if it seemed like an appropriate complement).

For dessert I ordered the peach bread pudding and Kristy ordered the dark chocolate pudding. The bread pudding was a bit of a disappointment... not quite "peachy" enough. But despite my protestations (which I voiced to the very amiable server), I finished every last bite of my dessert. Kristy's dark chocolate pudding was quite good; the consistency and flavor of the pudding reminded me of my Mom's best-on-the-face-of-the-earth chocolate cream pie. The dessert was actually not called pudding but something else, but it tasted exactly like pudding - egg yolks, melted chocolate, a small amount of sugar possibly, cream, and butter.

Summary: Very tasty food. Great location for people watching, especially in the summer during tourist season. We will return for more of Matt's food. Recommended.

(Update Thu Sep 6 11:43:44 PDT 2007 // sections -> selections)

July 2007 Happy Birthday Hoedown Photos
We held a combined birthday party for Berkeley and Olivia this evening... a happy birthday hoedown, complete with a western theme in honor of two of our favorite outlaws We sent out about 20-25 invitations and much to our surprise we had about 20 kids show up at the party. There were a lot of kids at the party... like a lot.

When each guest arrived, I took pictures of each of them and then print out custom "Wanted" posters of each of the kids (like this one of Eliana). Here are the individual pictures of most of the party guests (Bethany refused to pose for a picture... oh, and my kids are not listed here either):

Um... did I mention there were a lot of kids?

We had plenty of grub for our guests to eat... we prepared just enough food for all that stayed, but way more dessert than was necessary. Here are a couple pictures of the "chuck wagon":

There were many activities that the kids were involved in, including: panning for "gold" in the sandbox, making cowboy vests out of grocery paper bags, coloring, target practice, and lasso roping. But the most popular activity of the party was, by far, the pony rides. *grin* We snapped a bunch of pictures of the party guests riding ponies, but here are just some of our kids. There was quite a line for the pony rides - I have included one of Berkeley standing in line waiting his turn... it's a great picture of him.

After the pony rides, then there was the small matter of the cake. As this was a shared birthday party for both Olivia and Berkeley, we had two cakes prepared. Berkeley and Olivia blew out the candles on their respective cakes at the same time.

We then set Olivia down in her high chair for a piece and let her go:

What next? Opening presents of course!

After the party was over the boys (myself and Berkeley) were exhausted... but the girls (Kristy and Eliana) were all smiles! See below:

Finally... here are a couple of the best pictures taken tonight. The first is of Berkeley; it was snapped while everyone was singing Happy Birthday to him. He is absolutely ecstatic... looking at the picture almost makes me want to cry because he is so happy. The second picture is of Olivia riding the fake little pony we had set up for the lasso roping activity.

Great pictures both... makes all of the work to organize, set up, run, and clean up after the party completely worth it.

Dave/Shelli Wedding
My nephew David (Kristy's oldest sister's eldest son) was married today. Kristy traveled down to Mesa in the early morning hours, attended the wedding and the wedding reception, then returned home in the evening. While in Mesa she was able to visit with her sisters Tamra, Karen, and Tonya, her brother Dan, her Dad (Richard) and Mom (Bertha), as well as Windsor and Tamra/Windsor's other children (Aaron, Ben, Andrew, and Kate). It was a whirlwind trip, but she is glad she went.

Here are the pictures she took, click to enlarge:

Allergy Blood Test Results
The allergy testing on my blood all came back negative... but my skin test was positive. My doctor said this could mean that my allergy is so new that if I avoided the foods my skin reacted to (almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts), that I may be able to outgrow the negative reaction if I avoid those nuts completely for the next two years. Or it could be in two years when I retest, that both the skin and blood results will come back positive. The likelihood of outgrowing the allergy, at my age, is very slim I was told.

Book Review: Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
I began the 850+ page Book 5 of the Harry Potter series, Order of the Phoenix, during my down time at scout camp last weekend and finished it off tonight. I will not typically read the Harry Potter books when they are originally published, but instead wait and read them when the corresponding movie is released. The movie, Order of the Phoenix, opens tomorrow (but we probably won't get around to seeing it for a couple of weeks).

I was extremely unimpressed by the last of the Potter books, Goblet of Fire, thinking that Rowling had set the bar pretty low. Well, she has lowered the bar with Order of the Phoenix... it is, by far, the worst of the series. The entire premise of the book is just too far-fetched. The apparent unbelievability of Voldemort's return as told my Harry Potter, Dumbledore, et al could simply be solved with a little bit of the "veritaserum". Why none of these smart wizards ever figured that out is never explained. The fact that Professor Umbridge thought of using the truth-telling potion to trick Harry into divulging the location of Sirius just adds insult to injury. Um... hello? Why not just give young Mr. Potter the serum and have him relate the entire matter of Voldemort to the Daily Prophet and be done with it? We can't have that, as it would probably eliminate about 600 pages of worthless material from this colossal book. Argh.

The ending to the book is just pathetic. We find out that the Order of the Phoenix is going to great lengths to prevent Voldemort from getting something that Dumbledore explains can just be re-created by himself (on a whim) at any time. So if it so important that Voldemort does not get the "prophecy", why dontcha just destroy it now, and then maybe - I dunno - wait until Voldemort is finally thwarted, and then recreate the prophecy then? Meh. Never mind the fact that Voldemort was extending all this energy to try and get a "prophecy" which just would have told him that he must kill Harry Potter before Harry kills him?! Something Voldemort has been trying to do all along anyway! Um, gee... thanks for that Mrs. Rowling... what a compelling narrative for a book you have created. Wow. Just... wow.

78°
Water temperature taken during my open water swim today... 78°. Ambient air temperature... 82°. This is best time of the year around here.

"Let's Go Storm"
One more ritual of summer was fulfilled today: attendance to our first Seattle Storm WNBA game of the season. I took just Berkeley and Eliana. The kids like the games (at least I think they do). They will both cheer "Let's Go Storm" with the crowd and will clap when they notice everyone else is clapping. The snacks and treats (popcorn, cotton candy, soda pop, cookies) probably don't hurt either.

The game was pretty lousy from a basketball point of view. The Storm are without all-star point guard Sue Bird due to recent knee surgery. Without Bird running things, the Storm played pretty sloppily and committed quite a number of turnovers. They lost badly to the visiting Connecticut Sun. I don't think the kids really noticed who won or lost. They just had a fun time.

Stealing A Movie at the Top of the Stairs
While watching Superman Returns tonight with Kristy, there was a point in the movie where I had that kind of feeling you get when someone is watching you. So I glanced around and noticed that up at the top of the stairwell was a little blond head of Eliana hair watching the movie too. As soon as she saw that I had noticed her, she bolted. I chuckled to myself and pointed out what had happened to Kristy. We paused the movie and I walked up the stairs to Eliana's room. When I got there, I opened the door:

"Hello? Eliana? Are you awake or asleep in here?", I whispered.

*pause*

"I'm asleep Dad.", Eliana responded.

"OK. Just checking.", a smile widening on my face.

I closed the door and went back downstairs. As far as I know, she stayed in bed.

Movie Review: Superman Returns

This movie was not on my radar, so I did not have any expectations. But the opening credits, complete with the music and credit effects from the original Christopher Reeve movie gave me a big smile. The movie, however, was a bit of a bore. Superman did save the airplane pictured on the cover, but he did little else. Lex Luthor (played by Kevin Spacey) ahd a plot to foil... and, yes, it is foiled, albeit with the help of Luthor's girlfriend who coincidentally feels regretful about the diabolical scheme Luthor has cooked up. How convenient. *yawn*

At times, the movie lingered so much on the history between Superman and the now-married Lois Lane, that the movie only seemed to made in order to (warning: spoiler ahead) lay out the fact that there would be a sequel... where we see how Lois Lane's son grows up. It turns out the son is biologically fathered by Superman, and Lois Lane's current husband is unaware of that fact. Uh, oops. Maybe she should have mentioned that... her husband seems like a nice enough guy.

The film (rated PG-13) is too violent for Berkeley; but he really wants to see it. I'll let him watch the sequence where Superman saves the airplane... Berkeley is convinced that the title of the movie is not "Superman Returns" but "Superman Saves the Airplane" so I'd hate to spoil that for him.

Summary: Just so-so.

Pine Lake Swimming Lessons
The daughter of one of our lakeside neighbors, Becca, teaches private swimming lessons. So we signed up with her for a couple weeks worth of lessons for Berkeley and Eliana. Today was the first day. I attended parts of both of the lessons, which seemed to go really well.

It was a beautiful day on the lake. Kristy just sat on the dock and watched each half-hour lesson in turn. The temperature of the water was about 76° - very pleasant, but perhaps still a bit cold for the kids and their little bodies.

We took some pictures (see below, click to enlarge):

Note: I'm in my robe and have wet hair because I took the opportunity during my lunch hour to swim in the lake. When I was finished, the lesson with Berkeley had just started.

Berkeley's Talk
Berkeley gave a small talk in Primary today at Church. It was about faith. It was only a couple of minutes long, but he was vastly more confident and at ease while speaking than he was during the last talk he gave (about a year ago). I held up his pictures while he repeated his talk from memory (aided by some visual cues). We dressed him in a white shirt and tie for his talk; he looked like a little man.

The Return of Camp Pigott
I spent last night and today up at Camp Pigott with seven of my 11-yr-old scouts and their Dads. I went to Pigott last year. I think the camp has improved some year over year - but for some wacky reason, they dropped the firem' chit / toten' chip class in favor of doing the fingerprinting merit badge (!). The 11-yr-old kids don't need merit badges at this point, but they do need the firem' chit and toten' chip for low-level (second-class) rank advancement... so this decision was baffling to say the least. They did do some orienteering and first aid, so that was an improvement. However, their swimming program was in complete disarray. I left behind a scathing review when I left the camp... I guess I'm hard to please.

One of the Dads sent me some pictures he snapped on his phone camera. They are of very poor quality... I was meaning to bring my own camera, but forgot. Oops.

Happy I Love You Day
Eliana is in fine form most any morning... talkative, happy, and completely random. This morning she walked downstairs and announced:

"Happy I Love You Day Daddy!"

Then she gave me a big hug. She's funny.

July 4th Party at the Bells
Last Fall the City of Sammamish announced that they would be performing a fireworks show on Independence Day 2007. I can't give them too much credit for doing so, since they banned home fireworks within city limits starting last year... so we had to journey over to Bellevue to watch a fireworks show. Despite having a great time watching the fireworks, we had to fight the Bellevue traffic and the crowds. It was mildly annoying. So anyway... as soon as I heard that the City was going to run a fireworks show, I contacted Jana and Daurell and invited myself over for July 4th (which back then was about 10 months into the future). The Bells live very close to Sammamish City Hall and would (I figured) have an excellent view of the show, without having to deal with the crowds. The Bells typically leave town for the 4th anyway, so it was not going to be an imposition (or so I rationalized).

The Bells did not end up leaving town, so the Sorenson clan crashed at their place while they were there. They were happy to oblige. Some other friends (the Allen family, some members of the Vikari family, and the Quintons) joined us as well. Kristy and I arranged the menu and coordinated with the Bells to provide food for the affair. I prepared 6 racks of ribs (Bertha style). Kristy and I baked two large cakes. And between the four Sorenson families we also brought along chips, salads, and drinks for all in our clan and enough for the rest of the party guests as well. The Bells also pulled out all the stops, so there was no shortage of goodies to eat.

Kristy and I had kind of a "bake off" with our cakes. I prepared a layered lemon cake while Kristy prepared a layered chocolate hazelnut cake. I didn't try Kristy's cake (since I recently discovered I'm allergic to hazelnuts), but my cake was excellent. Both cakes were cut into quite heavily. I'd probably have to admit that a little more of my cake came back home than Kristy's. So I guess she won the bake off.

The Bell home is an ideal place for a party. They have a large back yard that includes a tree house, a rope swing, a fire pit, a hot tub, a trampoline, and a small hill ideally suited for a slip-n-slide. The kids had a blast running from one play activity to the next. We had a very good dinner and dessert. See here for pictures taken throughout the day (I should have taken pictures of the cakes!).

After dinner, the kids watched movies and played in the hot tub while we waited for 10:15pm to roll around and the fireworks show to start. It was a very good show and lasted for half an hour. The kids loved it.

Independence Day 2007 Photos
We snapped these picture while we spent the afternoon and evening at the Bell home for our indepence day party (more about the party here). The kids had a blast and spent much of the time on the slip-n-slide. The slide was situated partially on a small hill. David (the Bell's 12-yr-old son) extended the slide with a blue tarp... which you can see in some of the pictures below (click to enlarge).

When the kids weren't sliding, they were busy doing other activities (or eating). We adults pretty much just sat around on the grass... see below.

Lemon Layer Cake with Lemon Icing
I made this today for our July 4th party. It's good... really good.

For the curd filling:

4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup fresh lemon juice
4 tbs unsalted butter
zest of 2 lemons

Whisk together egg yolks and eggs in small saucepan. Add sugar and lemon juice and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture coats the back of a spoon (or until curd registers 165° on a thermometer). Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. Add butter in tablespoon size pieces (one at a time) and stir until smooth. Stir in zest. Cover surface with plastic wrap and refrigerate until cooled completely.

For the cake:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tbs baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1¼ cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
zest of 2 lemons

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour two round 8-inch cake pans. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Cream butter in an electric mixer, add sugar, and beat until fluffy. Beat eggs and add to butter/sugar mixture (scrape down the sides as required). Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk. Beat in vanilla, and lemon zest. Divide batter evenly between the two pans and bake for 45 minutes.

For the icing:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp lemon extract
3½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
¼ cup cream

Beat butter, vanilla, and lemon extract until fluffy. Alternately add sugar and cream and mix thoroughly. Add more sugar or cream until desired spreading consistency is achieved.

To assemble the cake, reserve prettiest dome top of the two cake layers. Place the other cake layer, dome-side down, on a cake or serving platter. Spread lemon curd to withing about ½ inch from the edge. Place the reserved cake on top of bottom layer. Crumb coat the side of the cake and refrigerate until firm. Just before serving, spead remaining icing over cake.

Garnish with candied lemon slices or fresh raspberries (if desired).

Product Review: Wilcox Farms Organic Milk
Our local Costco has stopped stocking the privately labeled Kirkland Organic Milk. In its place, they now sell single gallon sized containers of Wilcox Farms Organic Milk. After sampling a bit of this new product, I am very disappointed by the switch. The Wilcox Farms Organic Milk tastes no better than the discount $2/gallon non-organic garbage stocked at many of the local grocery chains. It is utterly undrinkable.

I am a bit surprised, since am a very big fan of the Wilcox Farms Egg Nog (see here). But the egg nog (like Kirkland's Organic Milk and most other organic milk I have tried) is packaged in paper (cardboard) containers. It may be that the plastic container reacts badly with the milk, leaching some kind of component into to the milk that give the Wilcox Farms brand an acidic and foul aftertaste. Blech. I can hardly write this review without cringing. We won't be buying any more milk from Costco if they continue to stock this.

Update: As JT Wilcox (Chief Financial Officer, Wilcox Farms) notes in comments:

"You're right. We quickly re-directed and switched to paper."

    - JT Wilcox

Wilcox Farms switched to paper containers not long after Costco switched to the Wilcox Farms brand (and *ahem* not long after I posted my original scathing review ).

The new paper-packaged Wilcox Organic Farms milk is an improvement over the plastic-packaged Wilcox Organic Farms milk. However, it still does not taste as good as many other organic milk brands that I have tasted (which I sampled while I was boycotting the Wilcox Farms plastic-ky stuff). Furthermore, it does not taste as good as the product it replaced, Costco's privately-labeled Kirkland Organic Milk. And I say that despite the recent allegations that Costco's privately-labeled organic milk (from Aurora Organic Diary) may not have been 100% organic (maybe it was 96% organic?). The Wilcox Farms organic milk still leaves a sour aftertaste that I find annoying (though certainly not as strong as it previously was). I really can't drink the Organic Farms milk straight out of a glass without eating something else to chase away the aftertaste. So the new paper-packaged Wilcox Farm organic milk is not undrinkable, but nearly so (sorry JT).

We buy the Wilcox Farms brand now only because Kristy is at Costco so often and we consume a lot of milk - so it is convenient to buy milk there. I encourage Kristy to buy elsewhere, but she is loathe to make a separate trip to Albertson's, QFC, or Safeway just to buy better tasting milk (the Wilcox Farms brand is "good enough" for her). But if I had my druthers, we would buy better tasting organic milk to stock in the fridge, such as the organic milk by Organic Valley (my new favorite) or Horizon.

(Update Wed Dec 26 06:32:06 PST 2007 // promoted comments by JT Wilcox)

Slip-n-Slide
Today, the kids had a go at the slip-n-slide that I brought back for them from my recent business trip. The kids had some fun in the sun... see pictures below:

My Office
Last week while I was in Utah, I spent an evening with Dave and Heather. I met Dave at his place and then we travelled to a nearby restaurant for dinner. While at Dave's house, I noted that his office was in a similar state to that of my own... I'm glad I'm not the only one (see below, click to enlarge).

Note: I have my new desktop (barely visible on left) torn apart because the power supply recently failed (drat!)... the PS is covered under a 90-day warranty, so hopefully I can get a replacement without too much trouble.

Immunology Doctor Visit
I traveled downtown to the Polyclinic to see an immunologist, Dr. Arvin Mokha. I was given an allergy skin test to identify the substance(s) that caused my recent allergic reaction. My skin reacted to the almonds, hazelnuts, and walnuts... everything else (including peanuts and pecans) was OK. The lab collected some blood and will test it to see how severe my allergy is. I'll get the results next week.

Gerkeley
It has been just over a year since I documented the way in which Eliana prounounced Berkeley's as "Gerky". Eliana now does the full three-syllable pronunciation of Berkeley's name, but still hasn't converted from the 'G' sound to the 'B' sound. So Berkeley will answer to "Gerkeley" ... at least for the benefit of Eliana. Eliana will say "Gerkeley [do this]" and "Gerkeley [do that]" ... it's cute.