A Year in Unpublished Pictures - 2011: Part 2

Part 2 saw us in 5 different living locations, 4 flights, 3 states, 1 wedding, and 1 graduation. There was much rejoicing and much turmoil. Here you will see more of the rejoicing. If you want to read about the turmoil, check out the post: Not the way I thought it would be.

July in California: 

We flew to California the day before Kaleia's 2nd birthday to take advantage of one last free flight. We joined Brian at Azusa Pacific University for his graduate exhibition and graduation. Nana flew with us, and Grandpa Gracey and Grandma and Grandpa Rush joined us later in the week. We managed to fit in birthday celebrations for Kaleia and Brian in the midst of frantic art show preparations. Make sure to click read more. 

Breakfast at SeaTac airport, on our way to join Brian in California. This is one of Maggie's favorite pictures. 

A Year in Unpublished Pictures - 2011: Part 1

2011 was filled with many Rushcapades. Much is missing from our blog archive - like all of May through August. So this year's unpublished picture list grew to more than just the one or two per month I like to keep it to. I decided we needed a three part installment. Part 1 - The Lead Up. Part 2 - Travels, or Insanity. Part 3 - Intro to China. There are many more pictures on our flickr site if you are interested. Hope you enjoy! Make sure to click Read More to see the whole post.

January: 

Sisters love each other. 

Brian goes to California for his last Jan term and begins the final stretch to graduation. 

Shannon has her first skype interviews for international school jobs.

Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue

Recently, I had the honor of throwing a bridal shower for my little sister, Allison.

Significant women from every stage of her life gathered to celebrate her upcoming wedding to her college sweetheart.

Alli loves tradition but she's also fashionable. So our party for her was themed around the old saying "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue." She was s good sport, and wore my mom's heavy veil the entire day. We borrowed tea cups from many faithful friends and served traditional and trendy shower fare. There were several games that drew out information about Alli and Taylor as well as solicited advice for the new couple. But the most memorable activity was our Love themed sing off. See for yourself:

If you are interested in seeing all the pictures from the event, visit my flickr site. 

Exercising with Auntie Alli

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. I moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you are inspired to do the same, leave a link to your moment in the comments for all to find and see.

Iron Chef

While in Everett for Thanksgiving, we also celebrated my dad's birthday. Since he loves cooking and watching cooking shows, my mom arranged for 10 family members to go to the Blue Ribbon Cooking and Culinary Center. There we split into teams (Parents vs. Kids) to compete in an Iron Chef competition! We had access to a professional kitchen, including a stocked refrigerator and pantry, as well as a professional chef for assistance. Both teams had to create a dish with steak and a dish with salmon and a dessert with chocolate.

Brian was our documentarian as well as childcare specialist. Magnolia did super, happily playing well past her bedtime!

The Parents (my mom and dad, and Aunt Sherri and Uncle Craig) may have had fewer people but they had more experience, not to mention all the menu-planning phone calls weeks in advance. 

Mom and Aunt Sherri are making fake raspberry caviar for their dessert garnish!

The "Kids" team consisted of my sister Alli, her boyfriend Taylor, my cousins Matt and Adam, me. Alli and Taylor headed up the dessert and learned how to prepare white chocolate to dip dried fruit in. Adam got a lesson on how to use a knife and Matt learned how to deal with lemongrass after the chef saw us looking confused!

I learned how to make szechuan beans and how to choose which oil to use for a stirfry.

We had so much fun and made so many memories in addition to a great meal! In the end the judges gave the victory to the parents. It might have to do with the fact that it was my dad's birthday, or maybe that our rice never cooked.

Our family in pumpkins

S'mores

During weekly camp outs at Camp Firwood I perfected my favorite standard S'more recipe:

• Spread peanut butter on half a graham cracker


• Put chocolate on top of peanut butter


• Place cracker combo on foil on a rock at the edge of the coals so the chocolate softens


• Roast marshmallow until golden brown


• Squeeze marshmallow off roasting stick between prepared cracker and a second cracker

In the years following my summers at Firwood, my sister and I have experimented with various candy bars to replace the traditional Hershey's chocolate -- Our favorites are Milky Way and Peppermint Patties -- so we were excited to see coconut marshmellows at the store yesterday. We had yet to experiment with the marshmallow in s'mores and we both love chocolate dipped macaroons so we had to try them.

Our verdict: They tasted very similar to a macaroon, were best with dark chocolate, rich enough that you didn't want to eat many.

Warning: If you try the coconut marshmallows, they are very HOT after they are roasted. I recieved a huge blister on my finger when trying to position mine on my cracker.

What are your favorite ways to enjoy this campfire treat? Leave a recipe in the comments and participate in the poll!

Congratulations Little Sis!

Almost 22 years ago, my little sister Alli came along. I was 7 1/2 and yes, I did have a mullet. We shared a room most of our growing up years. Lots of my things were broken by Alli's curious little hands. I was often frustrated by my constant shadow. This was the first day of school. If you look closely you can see that Alli's eyes are red from crying. She wanted to go to school too.
It was hard on Alli when I went to college. She came to visit often, staying overnight in my dormroom, dreaming of her college experience.

Despite our a few early frustrations and our nearly 8 year age difference, Alli has become one of my closest friends. Almost 6 years ago she was my maid-of-honor.
Eventually when it was her turn to go to college. She deliberated long over where to go -- she didn't want to just go to Seattle Pacific University because that is where I went. In the end, that is where she decided fit her best. (This picture is one of my favorites of the two of us. It was taken at her highschool graduation four years ago.)
This weekend she graduated again. This time with a BA in Visual Communication! Congratulations Little Sis!
Eight years later and the other sister is wearing the gown. And by the way, her boyfriend, Taylor, who she met during her freshman orientation, also graduated. Congratulations Taylor!

While Brian was in Portland...

Magnolia, Trudy, Otis, and I headed to Everett to stay with my parents. While we were there...I taught Magnolia how to play Mexican Train.

My mom was rejuvinated by Magnolia after spending the last three weeks caring for my ill grandfather. (That's the same chair she rock me in)

Nobody made it through the movie (Alvin and the Chipmunks) we tried to watch.

The dogs wrestled with their cousin Murphy.

In an effort to save some money, I asked my sister Alli to give me a haircut. It was her first girl haircut besides her own. I think she did a pretty good job.

After a long morning of yard-saling, Taylor and Maggie sacked out on the couch.

My dad enjoyed talking "philosophies" with Magnolia.

But adhering to his own fatherhood philosophy of only dealing with education and entertainment, quickly passed her back when she started to get fussy.

He also decided this weekend that he can never eat guacamole again after an unfortunate incident at Azteca. Let me just say that I spent the majority of our time at the restuarant in the women's restroom cleaning up Magnolia, myself and the carseat. Warning to all other new parents: If your child has been in their carseat for a long time and you suspect they might need a diaper change, do not pass them across the table to an eager grandparent without first checking said diaper.

A walk in the woods requires a bath

Yesterday, my sister Alli and I took Magnolia and my two dogs for a walk on North Lake Whatcom Trail. We stopped 1 mile in to let the dogs swim and take some pictures of cute Maggie. One of the wet dogs shook near the camera, thus the blurred spots in the pictures.

Magnolia sported her new bear hat made by her Auntie Alli. It matches her dad's favorite hat with the addition of ears.
Maggie got hungry on our walk. So I fed her while sitting on a log by the lake. But later when we were going over a bumpy part of the trail, she decided to spit it all back up. Alli and I cleaned her up the best we could while in the woods. When we got home I discovered that her hair was crusty with dried milk. Brian and I decided it was a great time for her first real bath.

Not so bad at first...
Then, it got worse.

What a cute toosh! (This one is especially for you Jodi)

Then Maggie and I sacked out exhausted from a long day in our favorite napping places; me in my chair and she on my chest.

For all of you that can't get enough pictures, I started a flickr account for Magnolia pics. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/magnoliarush/ to view more from these events. You should be able to share and print any favorites. I'll be working on putting some older ones on there too, so check back often.

Bunny Beanie

"cast on 3 sts, cast off 1 st, slip stitch now on right needle back onto left needle...

k2tog, k5 8 times (48 sts)...
purl 2tog, purl 6, purl 2tog, k2tog, k8, k2tog,..."

Those were excerpts from the knitting pattern of my first project. I recently saw this really cute baby hat in a pregnancy magazine, and thought it would be great if my sister made it for our baby. She had another idea: "You should make it, and I will help you."

My sister, Alli has taught me the basics before, but it was definitely like starting from scratch. I had to learn how to cast on, knit, purl, work with two colors, and join stitches! Fortunately, I didn't have to do any "character building" (undoing your work to fix a mistake), mostly because Alli was there to save the day. I did have to finish the last ear on my own at home though, a little scary, but it worked out ok.

If you walked past me while I was working you would see how hard I was concentrating, and might mistakenly think I wasn't having much fun. On the contrary, it was a blast to do a project again (I haven't had much time for my sewing hobby lately), especially one for our baby!

"I'm knitting, I'm a knitter, way far away from the Alli" -- in the voice of Bill Murray in What About Bob?