Zions/St. George

We had a great trip with Jon, Amy, Emily, Tim, and Claire this weekend. Unfortunately for us our camera battery was dead so we were reduced to taking photos with my blackberry. Surprisingly they don't look that bad.

The golf was amazing. Tim finagled a discount at The Ledges and although no one at the course confirmed it, I may have set a new course record for highest score.

We were a little late coming back from golfing, and because we hadn't been getting cell phone service, we weren't able to call until we were back in St. George. Apparently the girls were complaining a little about our being late for babysitting duty (didn't Claire deserve a pedicure too?), and one of the classier nail girls picked up on it. She explained to our wives that:

A: We were clearly lying about not getting cell service, and

B: Her man knew how to treat a woman. He was always knowing which flavor of Monster Energy drink to surprise her with, and as the girls were getting their nails done he even brought her a diet Pepsi being held by a stuffed koala. Touche'.

Claire still feeling a little angry she didn't get her nails done.

Pre-hike planning meeting prior to hiking Emerald Gardens

"Beautiful" Emerald Pools (I'm not great on colors but is that Emerald?).

Kristin who as many of you know is afraid of heights, made it up Angel's Landing along with Amy and I (and in record time). She got a little nervous but really pushed through it. The hike climbs 1500 ft over 2.5 miles and gets pretty airy toward the end where you have to hold on to chains. She was pretty excited to have made it to the top. I was proud of her.

On top we met a young couple from Germany (not pictured). They told us all about their trip to Vegas. Kristin taught them the word skanky as they were trying to describe some girls they saw at a club. That's my little diplomat.

Lodging: $150

Park Admission: $25

Having your zipper down in your "top of the mountain photograph" on top of Angel's Landing: priceless.

I heart Hatch, NM

When our Subway client from Albuquerque brought fresh Hatch green chiles for our TV shoot, I snagged the left overs. I somewhat felt like I was stealing the mini shampoo bottle out of a hotel room, but hey, my job doesn't have many perks, so I got to take what I can get. Craig has been hating his life since because I have been obsessed with creating our week-long dinner plan around these stupid chiles. But, as Amy can attest, my single-minded thinking led to some good.

Here is the recipe (for Amy).

Green Chile Fettuccine Alfredo

Alfredo sauce (I used this recipe from Cooking Light- to make the dish somewhat healthy)
Walnuts, toasted and chopped
A bunch of fresh green chiles (I probably used 1/3 cup. I think you can buy these at Rico)
Fresh fettuccine

When I was sauteeing the garlic, I also sauteed the green chiles with it. Then, I followed the recipe and topped the dish with toasted walnuts, freshly ground black pepper, and parmesan reggiano.

I know Fettuccine Alfredo is pretty old school, but this version was really spicy, delicious and easy to make. Long live the 90s!

Making a difference

Can you change the world with a job like advertising? Some naysayers may say that advertising "doesn't really matter" but I beg to differ.

Amy and I came up with the concept of having a live turkey promote Albuquerque's new turkey sandwich (don't ask). We thought it was funny but even funnier when our client said yes. Next thing we know, we are looking far and wide to find a turkey wrangler with a tame turkey. We posted an ad on craigslist, called the zoo, tried to track down that one lady in Tooele that always drives around with a turkey in her car. No luck. And then we found Billy Joe Bob.



Billy Joe Bob on our New Mexico set.



Amy making friends.


The crew.



The best part: Billy Joe Bob's handler said that since Billy was a star and got paid for the shoot, she might not kill him.

The moral of the story?

I saved a life today. I saved a life.

San Francisco

This weekend we went to SF to see Karin and Bobby get married, spend Mother's Day with Nikki, and to see Jordan on his 18th birthday.

Outside the Oakland Temple waiting for Karin and Bobby to emerge.

Our boredom led to Tyler and Ashley learning some new tie tricks.

Karin and Bobby making their debut.

Then it was photo time.

On to the ring ceremony

Grandma and Grandpa Robbins had great seats.

The Anderson boys (middle three) agreed it wasn't a good idea to mess with Bobby's best man.

The next morning Perry treated us at the Top of the Mark for brunch to celebrate Mother's Day and Jordan's birthday.

We all tried the "famous bread pudding" and agreed its fame was justified.

After desert Jordan started feeling a little bored

He seemed a little happier after opening his new computer.

Kristin made sure Jordan's present didn't look too girly (note: the computer wasn't from us).

We gave Nikki a decoration for her classroom. Lucky for us the decoration was pretty strong because I dropped it at the airport.

The restaurant had a great view of the bridge.

Another notable part of the trip was when one of Kristin's friends from junior high school recognized her only by her voice in a big crowd of people. Wow.

Tough Competition

So as many of you have already discovered Kristin has been having some phone issues. She's been trying to hold out on getting a new phone so she can leave Verizon and switch to AT&T (so she can get an IPhone). This means she's had the same old Verizon phone for years.

Problem one: these phones are designed to fall apart after a year. As a result, as of late last week Kristin's phone would no longer ring. It vibrates but won't ring. A few days later her phone disappears, so she now has no phone. Kristin has lost her phone before but this time seems permanent, so I suggest she get a phone on EBay to get her through the last few months of her contract. Being a nice husband I find a decent phone on EBay and email her a link so she can bid on it. I never hear back from her, so I bid on the phone for her. After a few hours I notice some jerk seems determined to out bid me on this phone. The idiot obviously had set a pretty high automatic bid so I keep bidding thinking I no longer even want the phone, but at least I'll make them pay more for it. That'll teach'em. As planned I lose the bid but force the jerk to pay more than they would have.

So last night Kristin and I are talking and I'm complaining about how she didn't respond to my email. She tells me that she did respond to my email (I never got it), and good news, she had won the bid for the phone.

Karin's Wedding

My cousin, Karin, is getting married this Saturday which means two things. One, Craig and I get to go to San Francisco this weekend. Hooray! And two, I am hand-making my gift. I have started designing this cook book with all of my favorite recipes. If anyone has any goods ones (and I know you do), I would love you to post them so I can include them with my own.

(The side benefit- I get to have them, too!)

And no, Craig, that does not include posting how to heat up SpaghettiO's.

Happy 50th, Mom!

Last Saturday, my mom turned 50. So my family all knew we had to make this one good. We had a lot of stuff up our sleeve. First, I flew to CA for the weekend to be with my mom (in my opinion, the best present that she got.)

Next, we threw a big family party for her. Everyone who was anyone was there.



Grandma and Grandpa Blake came from Villa Park.



Grandma and Grandpa Robbins came from Palm Desert.



Heather and Matt came from Riverside. (Who knows where my fake baby came from.)



Tyler and Ashley came from Echo Park.



My dad even flew all the way from Boston. Very impressive.



Jordan came from his bedroom upstairs. Not as impressive.

(Kelly and Cameron came too but convienently avoided photos so they wouldn't be exploited on the blog.)



I made a delicious dinner with the help of Ashley and Jordan. (Thanks guys!) We had Thai-style halibut in coconut curry, wasabi mashed potatoes, citrus ginger scallops, sesame green beans, Asian salad, fortune cookies and homemade carrot cake compliments of Grandma Robbins.

(I know some people wanted the recipes, so the only thing I changed was instead of using 4 parts chicken broth, one part light coconut milk for the fish, I used 4 parts full-fat coconut milk, one part chicken broth. It made it really creamy and delicious.)

Next, we opened presents. To surprise my mom, I had everyone write her a letter and I put it together in a book. I printed the pages on Crane's paper, made the cover from hand-made Japanese paper, french-folded the pages and sewed it up the side with white thread.





Then, we watched a slide show that Jordan put together with great pics like these and Tyler remixed and sang "Stand By Me" to go behind the photos.



Then best of all, my dad revealed the biggest trick he had up his sleeve.




I thought that only happened on Lexus commercials. Turns out, if you're the best wife ever, it can happen to you for real. (Hint, hint Craig.)

We all had the best time ever. Thanks to all who came. Happy birthday, Mom!