Dear Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake,

If only I hadn't made you with bread flour...

Love,

Becky

P.S. Thank you for still tasting delicious.

To the mountain peak--and beyond!

Noah and I went hiking--again.

 It was a really beautiful loop and Noah informed me later that it was 8.4 miles instead of 6 (which he told me beforehand it would be).  My butt hurt a lot afterwards and I walked really funny because everything hurt.

 We got our feet VERY dirty.  I still can't get all the dirt off.

 My Chaco lines...

 And Noah's sweet sock tan...

 The undergrowth was SUPER tall.  Sometimes it was over my head.

One of the coolest things was a few springs scattered along the trail.  It was GORGEOUS and the water tasted like snow!

Luxurious

"Noah you live in a girlie room." -Miranda

Before:


After:

We couldn't put up a canopy in the old place because I could touch the ceilings and Noah would scrape his knuckles getting undressed. I was super excited to create something for the bed. One trip to IKEA sealed the deal. They were getting rid of fabric in their As-Is section and I jumped on it. I finished right before Miranda came to pick us up for the reunion.

Also before the reunion this weekend Noah went fishing and caught this guy:


He was delicious.

P.S. Jorgensen Family Reunion was a BLAST!!! I'm sure there will be more details on Sara's blog.

Our Arduous Journey

Dear Devoted Followers,

I know how much you've missed me so I've compiled a little show for all of you...

Our journey into the unknown (it was Nebraska, a lot of what goes on there is unknown) began at a rest stop in good old Nebraska. We took a little hike, checked out this sweet archeological site and Noah climbed a rock.

I know, I married a goober.

Our destination for the fourth of July was CHICAGO!!! Noah has lived with this sweet windmill practically in his backyard so we went to see it. Here, Noah is attempting to push Seth off the edge...




We also took a little detour and went shopping at Rachel's favorite consignment store where we found oodles of delicious outfits.

No trip is complete without a repeat of our honeymoon pictures:

We headed out on the fifth to upstate New York's Alfred University, which Noah and I both immediately fell in love with. Sigh.

If you haven't noticed yet, Noah and I decided to take the cheap way out. We camped all along the way. Which was great, except, remember that skunk I told you about that visited us in Utah. I'm pretty sure he hitch hiked.

During dinner I'm happily eating my couscous and Noah again says, "Don't move."

I personally thought there was a bear, so of course I immediately disobey and turn my head around to see Skunky taking a little traipse through our campsite. We didn't see him again, luckily.

Next up, BOSTON! We took a nice little trip to visit Krista and drop off her new BFF. Thanks Jess from Urban Patchwork! This is where we stayed. :) I felt very odd blow drying my hair at a campsite.

Krista showed us some of her favorite spots and took pictures which are sure to follow soon!

After Boston was Hackettstown, New Jersey. Home to Mars Chocolate factory and Brandon and Katie (plus baby). We have no photos of us there, but I swear we slept there in luxurious conditions.

The journey didn't end there though! We took off for Maryland and Rhea's baptism and my mom's birthday. I volunteered to make an angel food cake. I've never made one before, and all were a little nervous due to past grievous sins in the Whipple kitchen, but look how fantastic it is!

And it was seriously delicious as well!

Finally, we were homeward bound, but not without a little stop off to Assateague Island. We backpacked in along the beach and spent a fabulous night with the wild ponies.

Literally, they surrounded our camp. I woke up in the middle of the night to stomping in the sand. I peaked out and there they were. The camera was in the bags on the table, so we didn't get pictures (because we weren't going out there for the following reasons: those horses bite, so do the flies, and so do the mosquitos). They stuck around until the early morning.


Next stop was VCU and we were off to Kansas. There aren't any pictures from there either, but it was a blast hangin' with the boys.

And finally, Saturday around noon we started our final leg of the journey.

Whew.

To finish off my little recount of our trip I thought I'd share some things we've learned along the way:

-Vampire flies live on Assateague.
-Massachusetts drivers are scary fast, New Yorkers are scarier, but nothing really tops Utah.
-Colorado hires drunk line painters...

(It was seriously crooked.)

-Nebraska is not for the avid camper.
-Columbus, Ohio successfully hides OSU, which we wanted to go see, but couldn't because it's impossible to find.
-Upstate New York is one of the most beautiful places on earth.
-Hacketstown, NJ is surprisingly pleasant considering it's in New Jersey.
-Wegman's is Winco's classy older brother.
-People will do anything to amuse themselves while driving through Kansas. Including driving up next to people as many times as possible and waving.
-You can use a lawnmower and a wheelchair to make a very effective zombie weapon.

The End.