I am NOT a hippie!

I recently visited my friend Sally, and found that we have something in common. What is that you might ask? People often call us "hippies". My sister commented to me that when she and her husband first read my birth story, they both thought I was a "flaming hippie". One man my husband works with said to him, "Carl, you and Hilary are two of the most conservative hippies I have ever met."

I agree with Sally when she said, "I don't even know what that means. What's a hippie?" I think hippies are from a bygone era. . . like 1960's. Here are the characteristics I think of when I hear the word "hippie". . .

1) They smoked pot
2) didn't have jobs
3) had all kinds of sex with all kinds of other hippies.
4) Their value system consisted of "free love"
5) Believing in nature as their god
6) not wearing bras.

I am opposite of all of these things. Here are my characteristics. . .

1) I am strongly opposed to ANY kind of illegal drug use.
2) I have a job and believe every adult male under the age of 65 and every under-65 female not raising children should too
3) I am 100% monogomous and committed to my marriage relationship and I think people who have premarital sex are stupid (at the very least because they will contract a venereal disease and their children will be put at risk).
4) God gives us commandments for our own good so we don't become miserable and self-destructive.
5) I strongly strongly believe there is a God with a loving plan for us.
6) I SURE DO wear a bra at all times in public

You know, I think I've been called a hippie because I believe in natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and making my own yogurt. Maybe some people feel threatened by the fact that my baby has always been a good breastfeeder and they are jealous and want to find something wrong with me. Oh geez! Maybe they don't think I wear a bra so I can just whip 'em out at any time to feed the baby! How embarrassing! I really am "supported" if you know what I mean.
I also believe in the healing powers of herbs, that might be the clincher. It's not because I think nature is god, though. It's because herbs have up to 24 different protective chemical compounds in one plant that make it impossible for bacteria to mutate and penetrate. Pharmaceuticals, on the other hand, are made up of just one or a few chemicals in very pure form, so bacteria can walk right up to a commercial antibiotic, change clothes, and walk right through the door. This is how we end up with antibiotic resistance. Get it? It's impossible for a bacteria to find an outfit that none of 24 different compounds would recognize. Plants are very complex and naturally produce toxins when they are physically threatened.



Anyway, enough of that. I don't believe in anything unless I can make sense of it. I don't believe in voting for a president with an atrocious voting record while in the Senate. Apparently, my sister and her husband who called me a hippe do. I just do what makes sense and Sally and I came to the conclusion that you just can't categorize that. What do you think?

Jude getting beat up by the other kids

Jude and the Park

Today Jude and I went to a little park by our house. I was pleasantly surprised to see a baby swing actually open. At Liberty Park, ALL the swings are being occupied ALL the time, so it's been frustrating to go there. I think this new little park might be Salt Lake's best-kept secret.
Jude became better acquainted with grass. He loves to feel the grass between his fingers and he cries if I take him away from it.
Here he is looking a little more intense.
Oh those pudgy little fingers!! I want to EAT them!
Here's the little baby swing at the park. I think it's not quite up to safety code, but it seems to work for us.

Thanks for reading this!

The Great Salt Lake

Here's something weird. . . up until last Saturday, I had never been to the Great Salt Lake. Carl and I decided to go to Antelope Island for my maiden voyage. It was SO COOL! I think the reason I liked it so much is because I got to be in the middle of the very unique ecosystem that gave our city its name. Here are some pictures we took. . .

It's kind of hard to see, but there are some seagulls (our state bird) flying along the shore there. I always viewed seagulls as the rude, annoying birds that try to steal your food when you're trying to have a picnic. After seeing them in their natural habitat, however, I realized what cool birds they are. . . perfectly adapted to that salt water and all the brine flies, brine shrimp, and grasshoppers they could possibly eat. They are so much better to see at the Great Salt Lake.

And here is the sego lilly, our state flower. They don't grow very many places in Utah, but at the Great Salt Lake, they are abundant and beautiful. They are smaller than I thought, with maybe a 1" diameter.


Here are Carl and Jude with one of the many buffalo statues placed throughout the state park. There are between 550 and 700 American bison on Antelope Island. We saw one, and its herd was nowhere to be seen.

We went on a short hike on a trail that would probably be way more fun to bike. It was nice to be out there with the salt air and breeze. We saw lots of lizards and got landed-on by grasshoppers.




Jude was having a lot of fun on this hike. I think he smiled for about 30 minutes without stopping! Of course, that's probably because his dad was doing such a good job of keeping him entertained.






As we were leaving the island, I thought the water looked so smooth and glass-like, and I had a new appreciation for the interesting natural phenomenon that is the Great Salt Lake.

The shoreline kept getting smaller as the lake got bigger and reflected the sky.

My eyes were going crazy when I looked at the lake because I couldn't tell where the horizon was. It just looked like sky out there. The only way you could tell where the water was, was by the waterfowl floating on top of it.

If you haven't been to Antelope Island, you should go! I always thought the Great Salt Lake would be too stinky to even get near it, but the smell is just salty, like the ocean. People tell me the brine shrimp are totally disgusting and they would NEVER swim in the lake. Well, I really want to feel the unique buoyancy of the salty water there, plus the state park has really nice showers for when you're done swimming. So. . . we're planning to go back when it's really hot outside, and I'm going to swim in this amazing lake! Let me know if you want to come!

Some Funny New Stories

Carl often surprises me with stories from his past. Just when I think I know everything about him, he throws in another zinger, and sometimes makes me laugh so hard I cry. I thought I would share with you two stories Carl recently told me. I will never be able to tell them in his style (which is WAY better!), but there must be someone out there who enjoys these. So, here goes. . .

When Carl was little, he was learning to play the violin. He had been playing for quite some time and couldn't figure out why it always sounded so squeaky. He began learning a certain song, and his mom checked in on him while he was practicing. She noticed his fingers were not going down in quite the right place. Carl thought you're supposed to put your fingers down on the fingerboard BETWEEN the strings instead of ON the strings! After clearing up this misunderstanding, Carl's tone greatly improved.

Now, that's just a cute little story. What I think is funny about this story, which Carl left until the end to tell me, is that the name of the song he was learning was called "A Sad Song with a Happy Ending." How fitting.

STORY #2

I personally think the next story is much funnier than the first one. When Carl was younger, probably in junior high or something, he and his sister, Laura, and two of their cousins were riding in a van. The driver of the van was Carl's older cousin, a girl, who was in high school at the time. Carl and Laura lived at the end of a long country road with big irrigation ditches on either side. Can you guess where this story is going??

The driving cousin noticed a fly buzzing around and started swatting at it, at which point she lost control of the van and drove it nose-first into an irrigation ditch. You can imagine the activity that must have followed as water began rushing in through the broken windows. After some scrambling around, everyone got out okay. Carl and Laura split responsibilities. Laura walked the two younger cousins the rest of the way home and got help. Carl stayed with his hysterical cousin in hopes of calming her down.

Now, if you were the driver of this van, you might be thinking, "Holy Moly! We could have died! I can't BELIEVE we all made it out without any injuries!". Or perhaps, since you were a teenager, you might be thinking, "Oh geez! My parents will NEVER let me drive again! I will be riding the bus 'til my dying day". But Carl's cousin's thoughts were more noble than these, and turned toward the poor van, smashed, filling with water, never to be driven again. Even at this point, you might be thinking, "Dangit! We probably can't even salvage the parts, they're so smashed and wet." But no, in this moment of hysteria, do you know what came out of her mouth?? Over and over again, Carl said, his cousin repeated the phrase, "Hundreds of dollars in carpet damage! (sob, sob, sob)".

Carpet damage? Carpet damage?? Really? Now, I'm no mechanic, but it seems to me that there would be other parts of the van more deeply affected by the crash than the carpet, but what do I know? Sure, even if the axles were intact enough to pull the van out of the ditch with any ease at all, and even if the electrical system had any tiny glimmer of hope of surviving, even then, the carpet WOULD be damaged. So I guess I see her point.

Making Yogurt

My mother-in-law (who isn't afraid of trying ANYTHING!) introduced me to yogurt-making. At first I thought, "Why should I make it instead of buy it? What is the benefit?" I quickly found the answer to my own question. . . IT IS WAY CHEAPER! Also, this yogurt tastes considerably better than anything you'd buy at the store, plus, if you're into this kind of thing, it is totally organic and you know exactly what is in your yogurt.

Now, I will never go back to buying yogurt. Carl and I have pretty much perfected this homemade yogurt recipe, and I want to share with you how we do it, and also encourage everyone out there to try it, just once!

I will put this foreword on it. . . just start with making a quart at a time because your first batch will inevitably be a flop. Well, it was for me, anyway. If you learn with just a quart at a time, you won't waste a gallon of milk if it goes wrong.

Carl & Hilary’s Homemade Yogurt

Ingredients (for 1 gallon of yogurt):

1 gallon of milk (I use fat free)

1 cup instant dry milk powder

1 ½ cups sugar or your choice of sweetener

2 Tablespoons vanilla

6-8 oz. plain yogurt or you can use a start (6-8 oz.) from your previous batch (with the sugar and vanilla in it and everything)

*Just a note: If you’re going to add fruit (which I always do), wait until the yogurt is totally finished. You add fruit at the very end.

Supplies:

Large pot

Candy thermometer

Insulated Cooler with towel to drape over the lid

4 quart jars or other glass or plastic containers

Here is our candy thermometer

This is the insulated cooler we use. I thought the Mother's Day flowers in the background would add a nice touch. . . ha!

Directions:

1. Pour milk into pot and add the powdered milk. Heat the milk on medium or medium high until it reaches 185 degrees F. You have to stir it constantly or it will definitely burn. This is the part that takes the longest and is the most boring. It really can take up to 45 minutes to do this part.

2. Take the pot off the stove and set it into a sink full of cold water if you want. This is the part where you let it cool. It’s a good time to prepare the insulated cooler (#5 below).

3. Add the sugar and vanilla and stir them in until dissolved. Let the sugary milk cool to 115-120 degrees F.

4. Add the yogurt start. If the start is cold, it can bring the temp. down a little, so prepare for a 2-3 degree drop after adding the start. Stir it in so it’s evenly distributed. The yogurt start needs be a little clumpy so it has other bacteria to “breed” with. So, small clumps are good.

5. Prepare the very technologically advanced thermal regulator. . . the insulated cooler! Fill your cooler about half full with water that is between 105-110 degrees F. Don’t worry, it will stay this temperature for a long time in a cooler. No need to keep adding hot water to it throughout the entire culturing process.

6. The mixture in the pot should be right around 115 degrees F when you transfer it into your quart jars. Fill your jars/containers, screw on their lids, and place them in your cooler full of water. The water level should go at least as high as the lids on the jars. I’ve also found it doesn’t matter if your containers are floating.

7. Put the lid on your cooler, put a towel over the top to insulate it a little better, and wait 4-6 hours while the yogurt cultures. The longer you wait, the more of a “bite” your yogurt will have. I personally believe that 5 hours makes the perfect balance between mild and bite. But everyone is different.

8. Refrigerate it after it comes out of the cooler. I add fruit to it 1 jar at a time so my no-preservative fruit doesn’t rot in the other jars before we eat it. You can thaw some frozen berries and add them, put in some canned peaches, you can even try putting pie filling in your yogurt.

Here's what the finished product looks like when you first take it out of the cooler. Then you just stick it in the fridge and eat it when it's chilled.

Here's the finished product with pureed strawberries mixed in. I have to say, this is the BEST flavored yogurt we've ever made. You can tell because it's already half-way eaten!

Anyway, thanks for reading this. Happy yogurt making!

Here is a bonus picture of Jude waiting for the yogurt to culture.

Something funny

Here is the most annoying conversation a wife can possibly have with her husband. . .

Husband: "Wow! (baby's name) didn't wake up once last night! That was a really good sleep for him!

Wife: Actually, he woke up twice; once at 1:30 and once at 4:30. I nursed him back to sleep both times.

Husband: No way! I must have been in such a deep sleep! (laughs hysterically)