Cousin Julia

Lizzie has a bucket load of cousins.  One of the nice things about spending some time in Utah is that she's gotten to know some of them even better.  Another perk is that her aunt Kate has been around with her nice camera to document this process.  Here's Lizzie playing mostly with her cousin Julia, but Ellie and Sophia sneak into a couple of the pictures as well.

Crepe Cake

We saw a variation of this on the Food Network and decided to give it a try.  Basically, you slather whatever you want between crepes until its as tall as a cake, then ice it.  We did alternating layers of strawberry jam and chocolate ganache and a cream cheese frosting.  It was delicious, and the options for flavors are pretty endless.

A couple books

Joe co-edited a book called "Movies, Music, and More: Advancing Popular Culture in the Writing Classroom."  It's part of a book series published about professional development for composition teachers and writing center workers.  He also wrote the introductory essay.

He also had a chapter published in "Green Lantern and Philosophy." 

Little brother

Sure he looks tough now, what with all the military training he's had, but once upon a time I could take this kid in physical competitions.  Those days are long past.  I'm proud of you, Alex.  He's out of focus, but that's really my little brother there.

Lizzie and the Dark Lord of the Sith

Yup, that's a fist bump.

Half-Marathoners

Emily and my sister Kate ran a half-marathon Saturday morning.  The day before Emily sent off a full draft of her dissertation to her committee chair.  That's a pretty successful two-day combo for Emily.  Way to go, Luv!

The Lollipop

Some years ago (possibly ten or more) Joe received a gigantic lollipop as a gift.  He never ate it.  For years it sat on a shelf in his room and visiting nieces and nephews would ask if they could eat it.  For no particular reason, Joe never let them have it.

Cut to the present day, and amongst various possessions still tucked away at his parents' house Joe and Lizzie came across the giant lollipop.  Whereas the appeals of nieces and nephews were never given into to, Joe could not refuse the pleas of his daughter.  It's a good thing sugar doesn't spoil.

Behold, the lollipop:

The light at the end of the grad school tunnel

We've both been hired for one-year faculty positions at BYU-Idaho.  Emily is in the Psychology department, and Joe is in the English department.  

We need to be in Rexburg by mid-August for training. So now we know when this temporary-post-grad-school-crashing-at-our-parents'-houses experiment has to come to an end.  We love that our parents made their homes available to us while we've sorted out our employment, but we're grateful we get to move on to the next stage of our lives.

Back in Utah

We're back in Utah and that means that Lizzie is spending time with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.  Her Aunt Kate has a nice camera and has found Lizzie to be a very photogenic subject.  But taking pictures is far from all Kate has done with Lizzie.

There has been toenail painting:

Cake decorating:

And Lizzie has tried on Kate's hats, shoes, and other accessories:

Captain America