So I am back in the office after one of the busiest vacations of my life. One of those vacations you need a vacation from when you’re done. Over the last week and a half, we visited or stayed at the following IN ORDER:

Lagoon, Layton, Provo, Layton, Park City, West Jordan, Park City, Lagoon, Layton, Pineview Reservoir, Layton, Logan, Layton, Logan, Layton, Provo, and finally back to Layton.

It’s been a CRAZY 10 days. But it was a lot of fun, and hopefully I’ll write a bit more about all the events later. In the meantime I wanted to post my winning guacamole recipe from the 4th of July party “Guac-Off” at Charlotte and Dave’s house, since there were many requests for it. Yes I was one of the judges, but even if I had given my recipe less than I honestly thought it deserved, it still would have won, so I don’t feel bad.

Here, then, is the recipe:

2 Avocados (ripe ones, Dad, not the Costco bulk supply!)
1/2 red onion
1 Serrano pepper chopped up with seeds removed
a bunch of cilantro chopped up (start with maybe 1/3 cup chopped up and increase to taste)
juice from 1 lime
1 tomato with the seeds and pulp removed, chopped (I used a yellow tomato but obviously any kind will work)
salt and pepper to taste

Obviously, any of the ingredients can be adjusted to taste, but the above is pretty close to the Guac-Off version I made. Be sure to let the flavors blend well for an hour or so in the fridge before adding final salt and cilantro. Throw the avocado pits in and/or cover with saran wrap touching the guacamole to prevent browning from oxidation.

All other participants, if you want, please add your recipes here (especially Jessica, whose chunky version was my second favorite) .

I just got back from 3 days in San Francisco where I was doing some training. It was enjoyable, but I definitely missed Julie and the kids. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to check out the sights but when I did I kept thinking how much they would have enjoyed it. The cable car in particular. The boys would have absolutely loved it. My hotel was right next to the famous Powell Street cable car, which is the original San Francisco cable car line. There are a bunch of others now and the newer ones are all done with overhead cables but this one is the classic with a big cable under the street that’s pulled along the route by a massive motor and pulleys in a big building on Powell Street. Very cool. I frankly couldn’t believe that in this day and age where people aren’t responsible for their own mistakes, that the cable car was still wide open. You’d think SOMEONE would have taken a spill off of it, or got off in front of an approaching car and got hit and sued the city and everything would be ultra-safe now but no, it’s still the classic wide-open trolley where you can literally kick the cars that are passing you on either side — not that I did that or anything, but you could .  The Powell Street car goes past Lombard Street, the famous windy road, and as you pass it and look straight ahead you’ve got an incredible view down to fisherman’s wharf and the sea and Alcatraz Island, which is my favorite place in S.F. I’ve had an ultra-fascination with Alcatraz ever since we toured it when I was a kid. I’d love to go back again, but the latest tour leaves at 4:00 and I was in training until 5:00 each day, so unfortunately missed out. But we went to a great restaurant, Scomas, located right on the end of Pier 47 with a nice view of the Golden Gate Bridge. Oh it was good seafood. My hotel was also just 2 blocks from the Chinatown gate, so of course we did that too. But after a short while it became nothing but a mass of eclectic junk-filled shops — along with some good Chinese restaurants of course.

This was a great opportunity for me to go and along with the Microsoft training I attended a few weeks ago, I’ve had to be gone for quite a bit the last month. It definitely would have been impossible without all the help Julie got from her mom and Jessie and Megan and Katie. Julie didn’t have to go through a single night with the twins on her own and hardly even had a day when she was by herself. Come to think of it, she probably had more help with me out of the house than she has when I’ve been home. So thank you to all those who have served and helped us so much, not just the last month but since the twins were born especially. It’s been awesome to be on the receiving end of so much service.

OK, well, many of you have already seen the new car, because I’ve been very slow in blogging this month. But a couple weeks ago, we found a beautiful suburban that had leather, DVD and VHS system, low miles, immaculate inside, and $3000 tires and fancy rims. Not that the tires and rims were on my list of requirements, but they sure look cool. And the real kicker was, we got it for the same price we sold my beloved Tacoma for. Not bad! It’s so roomy and comfy inside! We still have the van and will keep it. It’s all paid for and we’ve only had to do one repair to it ever and it’s still under 100,000 miles so it’s still got tons of life. With the Energizer beater truck (it keeps going and going and going) that I got from my dad, I can get back and forth to work and Julie and the kids (including the twins once they’re born) can get around during the day just fine in the minivan to save gas. But we have the Suburban for family trips or those days when we just want to look cool with $3000 tires and fancy rims. Here’s some pics…

Well, we had an interesting vacation at Bear Lake last weekend. The Lehman family always goes camping around the end of July, first part of August up to Bear Lake. Most go for at least 2 nights, and come back Saturday. But we just went up on Friday afternoon.

The adventure began with multiple stops at grocery stores and gas stations as we made our way from Layton to Logan to Garden City with some slow going between Layton and Logan where they’re doing all the construction on the freeway. So we finally got up there at about 6:00 pm.

The 2-man tent in the wind

Julie and the kids in the wind storm with Eden getting her diaper changed

Peyton holding the stick caterpillar

We were able to head down to the lake for a bit just to wade. But as we were getting ready we realized that we had left Eden’s bag with her swimsuit, clothes, and diapers at home. So she had nothing to wear but what she had on. You’d think as a former European missionary I would have known to just let her go Euro style and run around naked on the sand (then this blog could have been titled “Going Bare at Bear” and that would have been pretty cool). But the thought didn’t occur to me until after I’d just rolled her pants up and let her play in the water for a while and get everything soaked. Eden decided though that she did NOT like walking on the sand and made me put her shoes back on her. Pretty funny. After the wading and a good mud fight between the boys, we headed back for some good foil dinners and scones.

As we were finishing the scones, a stiff wind started rolling in from the lake and just got stronger and stronger. Soon, our tent was only about 2 feet tall because it was getting blown to the side so hard.

Katie and Megan had brought our little 2 man tent and it was almost flat on the ground. Julie and the kids got in our tent and sat against the back wall to keep it up while I stood outside and held the rope tie-downs. For some reason our tent seemed to be getting the worst of it. This was strong wind, apparently around 50 – 60 miles an hour. It lasted about an hour and by the time it was done, we had 2 cracked fiberglass poles that will need replacing before our next camping trip.

The next day was pretty rainy and cool. Not much fun for swimming. But we did find this cool caterpillar crawling on the back of my shirt. It looks just like a twig. Sorry I didn’t get a closer shot. So after a while we just packed up and headed home, with a stop at the famous Fredrico’s in Logan for pizza and salad.

So with the news that we’re having twins, one of the first things we realized is that we will no longer all fit in our minivan. We’ve had a Grand Caravan for the last few years and it’s been great. Except it only seats 7. So here’s my criteria for a new vehicle:

1. Seats at least 8
2. Leather. I’m sick of cleaning up (or trying unsuccessfully to clean up) soaked in kid stains and spilled food, etc off cloth. (on another topic we’ve now made a rule that only Julie, while pregnant, is allowed to eat in the van. Will this be successful? Stay tuned…)
3. NO big square vans allowed. Sorry, I just can’t do it.
4. DVD system required – With 6 kids, unless I start racking up serious frequent flyer miles (which may be a possibility – I’ll talk about that in a future blog), the only place we’ll be flying is to Hawaii or Italy, whenever we make those trips. Anything else in the continental U.S. we’re probably driving to. So we need a good entertainment system.
5. Good cargo space. See explanation for number 4.

Other than that, I don’t really care too much. So with those criteria in mind, we’ve basically narrowed down the list to 3 options: Chevy Suburban, Honda Odyssey, and Toyota Sienna. At first I was leaning heavily toward the minivans, because of the bad gas mileage and pure juggernaut size of the Suburban. But then we drove one and wow. It sure was nice and roomy inside. There’s something to be said for not feeling cramped every time you get in the car. But then we looked at Jared and Jamie’s Odyssey, which they drove from Minnesota a week ago. It’s got a lot more cargo space than our Grand Caravan does and it still seats 8. Plus it’s a Honda, of course, so that’s a bonus over Chevy from a long-term financial and mechanical standpoint. We haven’t driven a Sienna yet, but I’m sure once we do, we’ll have even more questions and be more confused. Fortunately we have 4 or 5 months before we really have to decide, but I’d like to decide what we want sooner so I can have my eyes open for good deals. So does anyone have input?