Le Creuset vs. Lodge

I want this absolutely gorgeous Le Creuset Enameled 6 qt French Oven pot. It is very expensive however, and If I purchased this pot I would have to eat Ramen noodles thus negating the need for super awesome pot. I want to make Coq au Vin and Boeuf Bourguignon and Osso Bucco! I need this pot!

I could however, purchase this very similar Lodge pot at a fifth of the price and still afford to fill it with food. Any thoughts?

Oh who knows what to do?

Meet Mr. Trout

This is a Cutthroat Trout. Bret spent the day up the canyon last week hunting him down. Bret is pretty skilled with a fishing rod and has recently expanded his fish catching repertoire to include fly fishing. He shared his bounty with me and we grilled Mr. Trout up good and served him alongside some creamy Parmesan Penne.

Crossing the border

aka

How Julie almost became a drug dealer.

This is a Kinder egg...

Did you know Kinder eggs are illegal in the United States? I sure didn't.

Did you know that border patrol security considers smuggling Kinder eggs into the country to be just as serious an offense as drug smuggling? I sure didn't.

Did you know that when border patrol security peoples are accusing you of smuggling candy crimes its not a good idea to laugh at them and ask "Is this a joke!?" I sure didn't... but I do now and I would like to share with you my story. Consider this your scared straight, don't you dare try to smuggle a candy chocolate egg with a fun surprise toy across the U.S. border story.

Border Control Guy "Did you purchase anything while in Canada?"

Christian "hmm... No."

Border Control Guy "Really. You were there for a week and you didn't purchase ANYTHING to bring back?"

Me "Well I bought some Kinder eggs and a couple of Wunderbars."

Border Control Guy "Kinder eggs are illegal in this country ma'am."

Me "Bwahahaha!!! yeah right!"

Border Control Guy "Where are the Kinder eggs right now?"

Me (giggling still) "Right here in the side door... Would you like one?" Me to Christian "...wait. Is he serious? He's kidding right?"

Christian "I don't think Border Control kids."

Border Control guy slaps a big orange paper on the car and directs us to the left where we are instructed to leave everything in the unlocked vehicle and enter the holding area inside the security building.

Me to Christian "Whats going on... do you think he was really serous about the Kinder eggs? They better not confiscate my Kinder eggs... those things are delicious!"

We walk toward the building and when we see an officer we ask if this is a random search, to which the officer yells at us to leave our car unlocked and to enter the building to speak to someone. Once in the building we pass several more very cranky officers with guns who all look very upset at us. We approach the front desk and meet with a lady officer who I was hoping might be more friendly. She was not.

Mean lady officer "Who has the Kinder eggs?"

Me "I do."

Mean lady officer "Kinder eggs are illegal in this country ma'am."

Me (slightly giggling as I say) "Is this a joke!? You realize a Kinder egg is chocolate candy right?"

Mean lady officer "No this is not a joke! Kinder eggs pose a serious choking hazard to children. They are illegal."

Almost immediately three large men approach us as if we are causing a disturbance, and the mean lady motions for us to talk to them instead. After explaining once again that Kinder eggs are illegal for their uber dangerous choking hazard abilities, the guy explains that bringing Kinder eggs into the country is the same to them as bringing drugs into the country. Both are illegal and their presence is not tolerated. After his lengthy discussion of my serious crime he asked "Does this make sense to you?"

Our awesome friend Chris "No. I mean I understand what you are saying... but no... none of this makes sense to me."

Officer "We don't make the rules sir! We just enforce them!"

Me "So how about I go and get my chocolate eggs and give them to you to throw away. Then perhaps we can continue on our way more quickly?"

Mean lady officer starts shaking her head and glaring at me again. "You cannot dispose of the eggs on American soil."

Officer (motions us further from the desk and back toward the exit) "Ok here's the deal... I realize its Kinder eggs and this may seem silly but its the rule and we have to follow them no matter how silly it seems. This is the United States. We like to make things complicated. We can give you two options. If we do a confiscation of the eggs it will be a minimum of a three hour delay to search the entire vehicle and do a whole lot of paperwork. The second option, which would be best for everyone, is to take the eggs and walk them back across the border, dispose of them on Canadian soil, then walk across the border free of any illegal items and we can let you continue on with no delay."

Me "Sounds good. We'll take the second option."

Officer "Good choice."

We were escorted back to the truck where I collected the Kinder eggs and all of us walked the eggs back over to Canadian soil. We quickly ate the eggs near the peace arch but most definitely on the Canadian side (you didn't think I'd toss them did you?!) and tried really hard not to choke on the very large plastic ball that encased the toy. We played with our toys briefly and threw away the contraband in a Canadian garbage can. Then we walked back onto U.S. soil got in our huge Ford F150 and continued on our way Kinder egg free. Although technically the chocolate was digesting in our bellies and would later be disposed of on American soil (aka the Jack in the Box bathroom).

I hope this tale has made you all feel better knowing that our borders are saving children one Kinder egg at a time.

CANADA

We just returned from an amazing biking trip in Canada. We were there for just over a week and had an awesome time. There were a few epics that occurred but overall we persevered and rode our little hearts out.

Introducing our crew.

Chris

Dave

Christian and Me.

Epic #1 The bike rack holding our bikes to the back of our friend Chris' F150 broke. The boys are clever and were able to MacGyver some webbing to hold it together to finish our our trip.

Epic #2 First day we came across drunk dude who drove his car into a ditch and needed our help pulling him out of the ditch. Somewhat creepy in that he had no knowledge of the night before and insisted he wasn't driving. We did not argue with him as he had a gun in his car and decided it would be best to just help pull him out.

Epic #3 My bike had some serious break issues on the second day, and Dave's bike had some serious shifting problems. Luckily Dave is a genius when it comes to bike repairs and was able to fix all problems.

Epic #4 Dave got charged $41,000 for a blueberry scone and a glass of milk at the local bakery. Luckily he called his bank and all was worked out.

Epic #5 Chris took a nasty fall at Whistler and suffered some internal damage.

Epic #6 Chris broke his bike at Whistler. Luckily it was at the end of the day and he was able to rent a bike for the next day.

Epic #7 Kinder eggs are illegal in the U.S. (see above post)

The 20 hour drive.

We are bored.

Alice Lake. Canada has beautiful parks and it seems on a sunny day the whole town is out enjoying them. Very pretty.

This trail is called Cheshire Cat. Everything was covered in this pretty green moss and the trail was almost soft and pillow like from all the pine needles.

Me crossing a fallen log (Julie on a log pic!)

Biking at Whistler. Amazing downhill trails with the added convenience of taking a lift up the hill. I love it!!

Me getting a little bit of air on a black diamond trail called A-line.

We took a little break from biking to eat at our favorite Whistler restaurant Blacks. While the food was very tasty it was not quite as good as we had remembered it being on our last visit. Christian had the Blue Cheese Bacon Burger and I had the Pancetta and Provolone Burger. Both with sweet potato fries!

Christian took most of the photos so you'll notice there are no actual photos of him biking :(

I did take a photo of him doing a warm up climb on our biking rest day in Squamish.

While bouldering we met up with our friends Matt and Cassie. They are on a two year climbing adventure and Squamish is their current stop for the month. They are both looking really strong and sending projects like crazy!

Matt

Cassie

Me trying to look as cool as Cassie.

Try as I might I never did get this problem. It just means I'll have to go back and finish it next year.

Another biking rest day activity was to hike the Chief. The Chief is claimed to be the second largest granite monolith in the world. At a mere 2,297 feet it is clearly dwarfed by both El Cap and Half Dome in Yosemite. However when you are hiking it in jeans and you skipped lunch those 2,297 feet feel awfully far.

You get to climb a ladder.

The view is gorgeous!

I got really hangry (hungry + angry) by the end of our hike so Christian ran down the trail at lightning speed scaring many a slow hiker as he seemingly levitated down the trail. When I finally got to the parking lot this is what I found.

I love this boy!

On our last day we wanted to ride a trail called Wonderland but it was closed due to Cougar sightings. We thought about braving the Cougar anyway but decided with the hundreds of classic trails in the area we should probably just move on to another. We decided on a trail called Half Nelson. This is a government sponsored trail and was REALLY fun to ride. It had lots of wood bridges and rolly jumps. I though it was cool to see the local government spending the time and money to support the local biking trails. Squamish sure does know how to show a tourist a really good time.

Can't wait to visit Canada again.

Mrawmin photos

Sar-Ha and I took Mrawmin to the gym while she was visiting. We made her do an abdominal workout with us before throwing her into our hardcore yoga workout class. You may be thinking yoga is peaceful and relaxing, how fun. When Jim Knight is your Yogi instructor it is all those things with the added benefit of kicking your booty into ridiculously great shape. No saggy bottoms in this class. We had fun but I'm pretty sure we almost broke Mom.

The Ranch

Last weekend we visited the Knight family Ranch in Tetonia Idaho. Tetonia is a little farm town just outside of Driggs Idaho. Even though the circumstances surrounding our visit were sad, it was nice to spend time with Christian's family and see the Ranch he spent many a childhood summers visiting.

I took all these photos with my iPhone because I forgot to bring my camera. I didn't think I'd need a camera but when we got to the Ranch there were just so many beautiful aspects I wanted to remember.

(Yes I now have an iPhone. It is a very addictive piece of technology and I caution all to be very careful when making such an AWESOME purchase!)

The views were peaceful and relaxing and I could see how spending time here was one of Christian's favorite things.

The Tractor.

Christian's cute Grandpa on the Tractor with a view of the Tetons in the background.

We found a coloring book that all the grandchildren had colored in over the years. I found this page with Christian's autograph.

I loved all the farming equipment stuff.

The drinking water here all comes from a well. It was the most delicious water ever! Here is the the little hobbit house top that covers the well.

Old licence plate.

Rusty horseshoes hanging on a tree.

Shed filled with tools.

Tools.

Cool fireplace.

Christian.

I think he'd look great with a cowboy hat here... maybe some chaps.

These are Nauvoo Roses. Grandpa Knight told me about how the Pioneers brought these flowers over from Nauvoo when they settled the area. These roses are everywhere and are so pretty. I'm thinking I want to plant some.

I think I'd enjoy living on a ranch and tending to crops, milking goats, making cheese and other wholesome homemade things. I would definitely need to learn to drive the Tractor first. And I might need better cellphone/WiFi reception.