Happy Fourth of July!

 This is my first time ever blogging on the Fourth of July! The last time it fell on a Sunday was in 2010, but I didn't start my blog until 2011. 

I love all the cookie shops we have, and they make me want to be creative with flavors. One iconic treat is the red, white, and blue ice pop, which have the flavors of cherry, lemon or lime, and blue raspberry. I wanted to turn that into a cookie.

My mom had an old recipe for lemonade cookies from like the 1970s. So last Sunday I made them, then put cherry-flavored baking chips in the batter. (I wanted to make these last year, but I couldn't find the cherry chips.) Then I made a buttercream frosting with raspberry extract and blue food coloring.

I need to work on my food photography skills, I guess. Though I can take some impressive pictures if I try.

I think my family liked them better than I did. They were overly sweet and artificial, and I think the frosting really needs some tweaking. But they were reminiscent of Bomb Pops! I'm really pleased with how the concept turned out, even if I'm disappointed with the flavor outcome.

On Tuesday evening after work, I headed up to Moosehorn Lake in the Uintas, where my parents and nephews were camping. We have camped at Moosehorn for longer than I can remember, but I'm pretty sure this was our first time going in June. I can remember driving by on July 1, 1999, and the campground was closed because it was covered in several feet of snow. This time there was nary a patch of snow in the campground. As I was driving into Kamas, there was a severe cloudburst. I was scared—I couldn't see very well because the rain was so thick, and I worried about hydroplaning. I slowed down, but I worried that other drivers wouldn't and might crash into me.

On Wednesday, it rained off and on all day. We had wanted to climb Bald Mountain, but we couldn't. My nephews were disappointed. But we were able to spend some time out in our inflatable boats between showers. I came home Wednesday night since I had to be at work the next morning, and my nephews decided to come home with me because they were bored, leaving my parents by themselves for the last night.

On Thursday, I did my fourth kit from Utah Taste Off, this time a red, white, and blue one. I had my nephews participate, and Franklin (13) said he felt fancy being a food reviewer. But my nephews complained about some of the treats being too sweet. They don't have the incurable sweet tooth I have.

That same day, I had a lucky, "right place at the right time" experience. I had clocked out at work, but as I was pulling out of the employee parking lot, I second-guessed myself. So I pulled off into the public parking lot to make sure I had indeed clocked out. Since I stopped to check, I found myself behind a slow-moving pickup truck. "Ugh," I thought, "I did clock out, but since I stopped to check, now I'm behind this slow truck! I didn't need to check!" But then I noticed that the tailgate was open, and there were things that could potentially fall out. So when we got to the stop sign out of the park, I parked my car and went up to him and said, "The back of your truck is open!" So he went and closed it. If I had not felt a need to double check that I had clocked out, then I would not have been able to tell him his truck was open—and would anyone else have done it? (I can't decide whether it's good or bad that I didn't tell him, "It appears that your blinker lights aren't working." 🙄)

Yesterday, July 3, was the traditional North Salt Lake July 3 fireworks after last year's hiatus. I took my nephews and niece up to visit the food trucks. I'm pretty sure it was busier than usual, but I think we also got there later, so the food trucks had lots more people. My nephews and niece got their food, and then I got food from the slowest food truck. But while I was waiting in line, I found myself next to Brady and Megan Parks of the band the National Parks. I said to them, "Are you guys working on a new album?" So we had a brief conversation; I told them they were in my top five favorite artists, and they complimented my patriotic outfit (flag hat, patriotic shirt, flag shorts, flag socks, flag shoes). Was that creepy? I tried not to be creepy. And then later another guy came and asked for a picture with Brady. 

It was fun to be at this tradition again. My nephews like the fireworks but are concerned about the pollution impact.

Then today, for the Fourth of July, I wore my flag suit to church and got several compliments. I also had to teach the Course 15 Sunday School. I still haven't figured out the best way to teach teenagers and get them to participate. Oh well.

This afternoon we made various Fourth of July foods and took them to my sister's house to eat outside. I made some apple pies using the pie filling my mom made from the apples that fell on the ground after last fall's windstorm. I already posted this on Facebook, but after I was done cutting out the stars for the top crust, I randomly threw the remaining dough on top. I later realized it made a perfect turkey, complete with head, wattle, feet, wing, and feathers. I could not have made a better turkey if I had tried. Ben Franklin would be proud.

It cracks me up every time I look at it.

We ate the pie with vanilla frozen yogurt, and my cousin Quin was eating when he said, "I'm done!" There was a spider in the puddle of frozen yogurt on his plate! We have no idea how it got in there. But I didn't get to take a picture before my sister forcefully threw it away. 

I have been reading a book called Celebrating the Fourth all about the Fourth of July between 1777 and 1826. During this period, the iconic holiday foods were turtle soup and ice cream. Turtle soup is obviously obsolete, but ice cream has kind of taken on a life of its own. I have often seen ice cream in accounts of July 4 and July 24 celebrations of the nineteenth century in my research. And I can think of many more recent pop-culture references connecting ice cream with Independence Day. In recent years, I have seen many decorations and pieces of clothing with patriotic ice cream images. So it appears that ice cream is definitely a Fourth of July food. But it just seems so generic and broad to be that special.

Tonight my mom and I watched We the People on Netflix, which is like an updated version of Schoolhouse Rock: ten animated songs about different aspects of American civics. It is executive produced by the Obamas, and a lot of the musical style is R&B and hip-hop. I love Schoolhouse Rock. I even bought a used copy of the America Rock CD to add to my Fourth of July playlist; it is a little dated, but overall I think it has held up very well. So what do I think about We the People? I really like it, and I hope to add its songs to my playlist next Independence Day. But I feel like the animation tries too hard to be trendy, so I don't think it will age as well as Schoolhouse Rock. It's fairly neutral, but at times it does lean a little to the left, which made me, a left-leaning person, mildly uncomfortable. But I would give it 7/10.

Ever since I started officially celebrating Pioneer Day six years ago, it has made the end of the Fourth of July less sad, because the red, white, and blue extends three more weeks!

Cherries, water, and trails

 Now that I have finished picking cherries from my sister's tree, I have enjoyed cooking with them. I've used up all the fresh ones, but we still have some frozen ones (mostly from last year).

For Father's Day, I made a cherry pie and a cherry, apple, and blueberry pie, but I just used Costco crust leftover from Thanksgiving and Christmas. We ate the multifruit one and took the cherry one to my grandpa. 

I also made a s'mores cherry crisp. I make cherry crisp so much that I like to experiment with the topping. This time I ground up some graham crackers in the flour, then added chocolate chips and marshmallows.

And I can't let summer go by without making cherry salsa.

I also added cherries to German pancakes,

and I made a cherry chocolate tart, which might be my favorite cherry dessert.

On Monday evening, I was running up my beloved Woodbriar Trail when I was startled to see a new trail intersecting it! I had no idea this was happening!

Part of me feels sad about this. I like this trail because it feels secluded, and now it will be less secluded. But I have gone a few times to see the progress of the new trail, and it looks like it will be a fun, relatively easy one when it's done. For now, it's still soft with a lot of roots and branches. I had heard they were going to extend the Bonneville Shoreline Trail (which is what this new trail is), but I expected it to be at a lower elevation. 

On Wednesday, I finally got to use my Christmas present, an inflatable paddleboard. My parents took me and my nephews to Jordanelle Reservoir, my first time there.

Do you like this ice pop inflatable I bought?

My paddleboard

It was a fun day out on the reservoir. I spent a lot of time on my knees on the paddleboard, because I still don't feel entirely comfortable standing up, especially when there's a slight wake. But I did spend some time standing up. As I was paddling around on my knees, it was fun to think, "This paddleboard is my very own! I can take it wherever and whenever I want!" When I heard of inflatable paddleboards, I imagined them being like our inflatable boats. But it was much more solid than I expected. My oldest nephew, Preston (16), when out on it for a bit, and he thought it was made of styrofoam. My nephews weren't overly impressed with the reservoir, because it was mildly chilly, and the water was too murky to see through. But I'm glad that I went and that I now have a paddleboard.

Some evenings, I've been taking my youngest nephew, Nathaniel (11), on little hikes on the trails, because he is the one most interested in doing that. He is very talkative, and he likes to talk about outlandish scenarios. For example, he was saying it would be funny if trees could talk and make rude comments as you walked past. These boys love Costa Vida, and once he said, "What if they put ants in the beans to troll people?"

Sometimes I think these boys live in a different world than I do. Nathaniel and Franklin (13) don't even know all the months of the year, and of course that is something dear to my heart. They also have more political opinions than any child should.

On Thursday, I was in the barbershop at work. One little girl came in and was very confused. She kept asking about the barbershop, and she tried to go into the back door because she wanted to see the barbershop. It wasn't until they were leaving that I realized what she was asking. She thought they were going to the Barbie shop: "I want to go to the Barbie shop! I want to get a Barbie there!"

I also worked in the print shop, my favorite spot. Since typesetting one letter at a time takes such a long time, we just print off of plates, and I swapped out the Deseret News plates for the Declaration of Independence. I had never done that before, so I was a little nervous about getting all the furniture (spacing) right. But I did it! But I only printed one copy that day, so I might have to make some adjustments if I see that it's not printing great.

As I think about my historical knowledge and experiences, I am vastly underpaid at the park. When I think about what I actually do at the park, I'm not overpaid. We get lunch breaks, but we don't have regularly scheduled fifteen-minute breaks, because basically our entire shift is one big break with occasional bursts of working. Except when I'm driving the train. I could work fast food making more money, but this is a fun summer job.

Fremont, Bryce, Cedar

 It was a fun week! 

I went camping with my parents, brother, and nephews at Fremont Indian State Park. I had never been there before, and I really enjoyed it. State parks are well kept in Utah. Most of our attractions in the state are sandstone or other sedimentary rocks, but Fremont Indian is largely volcanic. It's nice to see extrusive igneous rocks for a change. 

On Monday, we drove down to Bryce Canyon. The last time I was there was in 2013 with my geology class. We hiked down from Sunset Point to Sunrise Point. 

 It was spectacular but busy. It was warmer than I would have liked, but I ran in the heat every day last summer, so it wasn't too bad. My California nephews didn't love it, however. 

That evening, I enjoyed running on trails near our campsite. (There were coin-operated showers, so I didn't have to remain sweaty.) I came across a Fremont sheep shelter, which had a mirror where you could see the rock art tucked under the alcove.

There was also a viewpoint of Paiute blanket art across the road. A baby was buried there, so the mother came back and painted a blanket for it.

The next day we went to Cedar Breaks National Monument before visiting my aunt and uncle in Cedar City. Cedar Breaks has similar topography to Bryce, except it also has lush alpine settings. I don't think it's worth a special trip, but if you're in the area anyway, it's a fun place to check out. 

Since we were in another part of the state at a higher elevation, we avoided the 107-degree day in Salt Lake. But part of me feels like I missed out, even though I hate heat.

That evening, I ran to the Cave of a Hundred Hands, which had Fremont handprints. Fascinating! But there has been some graffiti on or near them. I have little patience or tolerance for people who do that. If they want to deface something, they should deface themselves.

Then the next day, we saw a little more rock art before we packed up the trailer to leave.

 My nephews and brother rode with my dad in the new truck, which pulled the trailer, while I rode home with my mom in the Suburban. (The whole purpose of the truck is to tow the trailer.) I wanted to stop at Cove Fort on our way home. The last time I stopped there was with my late grandparents back in 2004. My grandmother had even lived there for a time when it was owned by her uncle, since her father was not a good person.

We also got lunch in Fillmore.

When I got home that day, Jimmy jumped up on my bed! Guys, this is a big deal! It was the first time he jumped on my bed in three months, even though it used to be a regular occurrence. It's like he forgot he could do it, or he was afraid to do it after he hurt his leg a few months ago. But he just needed that one boost of confidence: he has been jumping on my bed and my chair frequently now, just like old times. 

Whenever I come back from a trip, Jimmy likes to use my suitcase as a bed.

June is one of those months when I don't have time to do everything I want to. I spent two nights picking cherries from my sister's tree. But we waited too long, and the worms have already spoiled a great number of them. So I won't have as big of a stash of frozen cherries this year. Oh well. 

I am looking forward to more fun June adventures!

June happenings

 On Monday, I had to work in the livery at work. That's my least favorite place to work. I'm not super comfortable around animals (except cats, of course), which means I don't know what I'm doing, and I feel super stupid. I had to help with pony rides. For some reason, pony rides are very popular, even though the kids just go around in circles. Why is that fun? Some of the kids get freaked out by the ride, especially those on the autism spectrum. But some really enjoy it; there was a tiny girl, who looked less than two years old, who was giggling with delight. That was fun to watch. But overall I don't like being at the livery. 

It would be easy to say, "I didn't go to grad school just to work in the livery." But I think there's danger in thinking of yourself as too good for a certain job, and it's always useful to learn something new. 

Speaking of jobs, Monday was my mom's last day as a teacher. She is now retired just like my dad. It's sad to me that they are no longer working. That means they're old, which also means that I am old.

Wednesdays appear to be my days off these days, so I went up North Canyon, just the usual seven-mile run. Even though we're in a severe drought, everything was still green and amazing up there! This really is the best hobby.

Thursday was mercifully cool while I was driving the train. Friday I was in the print shop, and my boss told me he put me there that day because he knows it's my favorite and I've been doing not-so-good sites recently. And Saturday, I had to drive the train in the heat; the AC doesn't work. Oh well. I'm going on a trip this week, so I'll get a brief reprieve. (I'm keeping this blog short, since I still have to pack.)

On Friday, my nephews came into town for a few weeks! We haven't seen them since they left on July 5. It will be fun to spend time with them!

Hot June

I had to work on Memorial Day (driving the mini train), so it wasn't very exciting. In the evening, we roasted hot dogs at my sister's house, but it was a pretty low-key holiday. Someday I won't work in the tourism industry.

Wednesday was my day off, and I decided to run up North Canyon. My plan was to run to Rudy's Flat, then run farther if I felt up to it. Even though it was warmer than it has been for a while, I felt surprisingly good, and I thought I would turn around at five miles, making it ten miles. But I didn't even notice when I hit five miles, so I ended up going down to Elephant Rock before I turned around. I did this run three times last year, but this time I went on parts of the new trail, which made it exactly thirteen miles when I was done—the longest trail run I have ever done! It was exactly one year since I first did that run, but I didn't plan it that way. I like to do these long ones once in a while so I know I can still do them—and now I don't need to do one again for a while, especially since it will be hot.

I saw plenty of interesting things, such as showy stickseed,

someone's shoes,

and a snake. It might have been a rattlesnake; I didn't see a rattle, but its tail was blunt instead of pointy, so maybe it was just a young snake that hadn't developed a rattle yet.

Even after such a long run, I still did almost all the things I feel obligated to do on a day off. But instead of going out to find goathead plants to pull up, I just played Super Mario Galaxy instead. Oh well. If I ran thirteen miles, I guess I'm entitled to relax a bit. June is the month when I seek out goathead plants, so I found a few that had sprouted this week. (Last month I saw that Provo had a community event to get rid of them, but that confused me, because I have never seen them before June!)

The mulesears on the Woodbriar Trail have peaked! There are few things so visually stunning.

And apparently North Salt Lake has been building a new portion of the Wild Rose Trail that goes through all of the city's new developments. So I went on part of it, but I didn't have time to see all of it before it got too late. I've been doing later, shorter runs now that it's hot again.

Friday was our earliest 100-degree day ever in Salt Lake. I'm glad we hit it, because if it's going to be that hot, it might as well be significant. 

On Thursday, I got to work in the print shop for the first time this season. They're so short staffed that it's only staffed about three days a week. It was good to be there again! It's my favorite place to work in. I'm just sad I won't be there more often. So if anyone is looking for a fun summer job, you can come to This Is the Place, and then I'll get to be in the print shop more often.

Today was my first time teaching my Sunday School class in person, and it was awkward. I still don't know the best way to teach teenagers, but I remember being their age, so I can't fault them for not participating more. Last time, no one joined on Zoom, so I didn't take my laptop this time. But someone did join via Zoom today, so I just had to use the app on my phone, which was a little awkward. I'll be sure to be more accommodating next time.