The Clay Hills

This weekend we went to the Clay Hills with Adam's family. Adam's family has been going to this area for a long time to picnic and hike around. It is a very desolate area that has absolutley no vegitation and is pretty much the desert. But the formation of the clay and sand is spectacular and very fun to hike around. Over the years that Adam's family has been going the formations and caves change so dramatically that it is a great place to explore.

Here is a picture of how one of the cliff walls looked.As you can see, a nice fire and picnic was had. There is Adam's dad waiving to the masses and Camille and Adam's mom hanging in the back. While on a hike throug the cliffs, Adam could not be swayed from flexing his amazing muscles. This impressed Camille so much that she had to run over and give him a kiss following this picture.
Smiles were had for us both following the kiss.
Adam and his nephew, Dylan, ran up a hill and stood in the mouth of a cave. Adam was so proud that he made it up the hill, he raised a hand to rejoice...yea!!Ah, taking a repose on the side of a giant dirt clod. Adam's nephew, Dylan, and his Grandpa catch some shut eye before we set off on a big hike.
The crew getting ready to start a hike up into the mountains (The crew was was quite large...we had Eric and Aimei, Carli, Jim and Julie, and the niece and nephews).
Adam's niece, Brookie, eating some food, hiking, and shooting us with a squirt-gun.
Adam's other nephew, Hanky, saying "Cheeeeeese!" and having a good time.
When we finally got on top of all the giant dirt clods we were surprised what we found. On one side of us was desert and giant dirt clods, on the othe was grassy rolling hills. The contrast was amazing!! It was actually a wonderful day. Here is Adam's sister, Carli, and Camille taking in the sights. (Carli also looks like a giant, but Camille is just that short).

Bonfire, Kinda

Well, it is finally summer in Wyoming. We had some sunshine last weekend and decided to make the best of it by having a bonfire and cooking some braats and smores with our good friends Ruth and Steve. Sadly enough, we drove all over Green River and could not find a single fire pit. We finally just used a bbq pit at a local park along the river and pretended to be "roughing it."

Here is Adam getting ready to go.

Camille and Ruth enjoying the great outdoors and fire.

Adam, being as goofy as ever. He built the fire and then pretended to be a jedi Knight with a hot dog cooker being his lite saber. We doubt he could kill too many Storm troopers with it, but he could sure cook a mean smore.

The crew, hard at work making dinner. Can you tell where Ruth and Steve went to college?

Here is a great pic of the dogs themselves broiling over the hot flames.

The smores were fantastic and we both probably ate too much.

Ruth liked the smores so much that she had to get it all over her face. She insisted that the chocolate be melted on the graham before her mellow went on. So, she placed the graham with chocolate next to the fire until it melted. The only problem was that she had put an entire bar of chocolate on the graham. When she finally attempted to eat it...well, she looked like she was a 3 year-old.

Happy Doughnut Day - June 6, 2008

The first Friday in June is National Doughnut Day. We didn't really know about this monumental holiday until we woke up on Friday and it was all over the radio and internet. Adam was surprised that no one had the day off, and was even more surprised to see Policemen working.

So, Camille came up with a brilliant plan that Adam was in no way opposed of: Camille wanted to start a new tradition of making homemade doughnuts. The recipe comes from her Great-Great-Grandma Eliza, and they tasted great. We had so many left over that we delivered them to various families in our ward, wishing them a Happy Doughnut Day. Most of the familes that we went to didn't have a clue what we were talking about, but the kids all cheered and had eaten at least two doughnuts before we left. We think Doughnut Day will be the new Christmas, just you wait. We could foresee the future where a big fat man runs around dressed in white chef's outfit and hat, delivering doughnuts to all the good boys and girls. Ehh, maybe we should just leave that to Santa and the Elves.

Camille preparing the doughnuts...she was a good little doughnut elf.

Adam is extremely happy about this new tradition. It looks as though he is holding an onion ring, but it is in fact a doughnut and it was quickly consumed following the taking of this picture. Adam was an expert doughnut elf becuase he was the deep-frying elf. He kept saying he should have a "wife beater t-shirt" on with grease stains all over it, with his fat gut hanging out and a 5'o-clock shadow. But, Camille said doughnut elves don't look like that. Camille said that Doughnut Elves look more like the Kebbler Elves, but fatter.
A close-up, artsy, picture of the finished doughnut.
Another angle of the same doughnut...these were so good that the doughnut elves around the world are weeping.
This pic didn't turn out as well as we thought. It was our doughnut elf workshop. In the background was the pan with grease, then a bowl with cinnamon and sugar, then onto the plate.A slew of doughnuts for all the little girls and boys.
"Mmmmmmmmmmm....Doughnuts....arrggghhghghghghghghg" Homer J. Simpson

Roast This, Part II - The Return of the Roast

We stayed the entire weekend in Evanston with Adam's Dad, and continued the birthday celebration on Sunday. Adam's Dad wanted Camille to try her luck with cooking another roast. She took the advice of so many that commented on our blog and cooked the roast in the Crock Pot. She looks much happier in this picture considering she is not burning down the house. Adam's dad was also very happy that no fires were started and the roast tasted very good.The roast is cooking slowly, without fire or destruction of the pan....mmmmmm
The finished product!! No charred sides, no blackened areas, no injuries, no broken pans, and NO fires. Camille has finally become that much more domestic...her Grandma would be so proud (except that we used gravy from a package, sorry).

Dad' Birthday - Indiana Jones

It was Adam's Dad's Birthday on May 27th. Adam's Mom was in Ohio seeing her new grand baby, and as such, we wanted to do something fun for Jim's birthday. All he wanted to do was go out to eat and see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Jim was so excited that he rustled up his leather coat and a Fedora; however, he failed to sport a whip.

As for Adam, he wanted to fit in and be just like his dad, but the only hat that he could find was a blue Fedora (it was actually a cowboy hat, but who cares).

Adam eventually took over the role of Indiana Jones...Unfortunatley he looks more like the geeky wanna be Indiana Jones. Ah well, the movie was a lot of fun and it was a great way to celebrate Jim's birthday.

Camille was not able to actually go to the movie as she was forced to study for her final CPA exam. So, Adam snapped a picture of her while she studied...we didn't want her to be excluded.

The birthday boy himself, looking suave, sexy, and powerful. Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Cruise - St. Thomas (Our Favorite)

St. Thomas was our favorite island. It had some history, gorgeous beaches, and good food. The main thing that St. Thomas had and what we were looking forward to the entire trip was Magen's Bay. We had read that it was considered one of the top ten beaches in the world. Megan's Bay lived up to its billing. It was so stunning from afar and so fun to swim in up close. Another pic of us together looking over Megan's Bay.
The water was so clear and calm. It was spectacular. Here is Camille getting ready to jump in the water.
Adam in the water. As we were swimming a Dolphin began to swim around us and jump up and down. It was quite amazing and almost perfect. Just a beautiful day at the beach.
Another fun spot for us was Blackbeard's Castle. It was a former pirate stronghold and had some statues and historical items that were interesting to look at. Here is Blackbeard himself and Adam doing the Captain Morgan pose.
Blackbeard's Castle of course had a Skull and Crossbones flying overhead. Something interesting about Blackbeard was that when he was killed they found over 27 stab wounds. He also wanted to scare and intimidate people, so he would wear cannon wicks in his beard and light them, so it would look like his head was on fire.Adam, trying his best to be a mean pirate. Instead he looks more like he is doing the chicken dance.Camille is posing with one of the only female pirates known on record. According to history, when there was a fight, right before the men were going to kill her she would rip open her shirt and expose herself. The other pirates were so astonished that she would then kill them. Camille opted not to rip off her shirt.During the bus tour the guide continually told us about the "99 Steps," but he never would explain what they were or their significance. When we arrived, there actually was 99 steps, but no one knew what they were about. They said they had been there for a long time an were called "99 Steps."Our final stop on the tour was at the rum factory, which is what the Caribbean is famous for. Camille is filling up a cup of non-alcoholic rum, which was just fruit punch.

That was a our cruise. We LOVED every moment of it and are counting down the days until we can go again.

Cruise - St. Martin or Maarten

This is a scenic picture of downtown St. Martin. A very touristy, but nice shopping area. The only problem we had was there were a lot of solicitors on the street trying to get you to come into their stores. Camille hated to even look at them.

St. Martin was a beautiful island. We went on a bus tour around both the French side and Dutch side. The Dutch side was known for its shopping, while the French side was known for its amazing beaches. This picture was taken from the bus, thus, the blue thing in the corner.

This picture was taken on the French side and is the mall. It wasn't big, but it sure had a great location. We ate lunch at a French restaurant next to it and no one spoke a word of english. It was neat to hear Adam speaking in French as he had to order our food and drinks. The waiter was actually from one of the cities that Adam had served (Toulon).

Camille showing her stuff at the port.

FREE WILLY!!! Ok, that is Adam body surfing. This was a great beach; however, it was on the French side, and as such, there were some topless women walking around. Note: They were not attractive and were old...Puke!!

Camille decided to go back to her roots, literally. We were solicited to have Camille's hair braided. Camille said she used to do it a lot in the summers as a youth. This big black lady took us into some back ally and into a children's clothing store. There, she had Camille sit down and the black lady went to town!!

Here is the end result. It looked amazing. The sad thing was that Camille sunburned her forehead extremely bad and was peeling and scabbing. She was upset that she couldn't cover up the scabs with her bangs. Ah well, the hair looked cool.

What would a trip to the Carribean be without a couple of scarvy pirates!!