Great Meal

So I've been really lame about cooking for the past few weeks partly because I have been working full time and partly because I've just been really disorganized. So I have to post a picture of the gorgeous and really tasty meal that I made tonight with Blair's help. Blair always makes fun of me for using adjectives like "gorgeous" for food, but I think that a tasty meal is even better when it is pretty. Kind of weird, I know. Tonight we had firecracker salmon with steamed zucchini and polenta medallions. I didn't anticipate liking the salmon very much, but it was very tasty and had just enough spice. I'm trying to accommodate Blair's love of spiciness more, but I'm a big wuss when it comes to spices. I'm getting better, though. And if you've never had polenta--so good! It's made of cornmeal and is very creamy and just good stuff. You can make it from scratch, but it takes an hour or something ridiculous, so I always buy a package of the premade stuff if they have it when I'm at Target. So here's the picture:
The picture doesn't really do it justice, but take my word for it that it was both really tasty and aesthetically pleasing. I'm thinking I'll do a post later this week of some good recipes that I have found, including Honey Curry Chicken and my favorite summer salad for Linsey. I might throw in some of the good salmon recipes that I have found recently as well as the Lime Cheesecake Bars that I made for the family party on Sunday and the Custard Pie that I've been wanting to make...

I love July

I have to apologize to July for certain disparaging remarks that I have made about it in the past. Said remarks have typically been made as I have remembered the ridiculous heat of past July days--anyone remember the 4th a few years ago when the 109 degree heat in Delta broke records? Enough said. However, I actually really enjoy July for several reasons. First is the Fourth of July. Who doesn't love this holiday? (Besides anarchists and conspiracy theorists, I mean.) I went ahead and didn't take any pictures, but rest assured that we had a great Fourth. We went to Seven Peaks (a water park in Utah County) for most of the day, and you can tell that we're getting old because we stopped to reapply our sunscreen every few hours. We had a ton of fun hanging out with Lynn & Jeff and the Bartold family, going on rides and eating way too much. The wave pool, which was my favorite when we went growing up, was totally lame because the pumps were broken--really, on the Fourth of July? Figure it out! But they had a few rides that were new since the last time I had been there 10 years ago. Good times! Be glad, actually, that I didn't take any pictures--I'm doing everyone a favor. Then we went down to Fool Creek to hang out with Jon & Rita (my parents), my brother Dylan, and Isaac and Ella (nephew and niece). Isaac is really funny when it comes to fireworks, so that was a good time. We went down to Delta and made it just in time to catch the fireworks, which are actually quite good for a small town. Then we rounded out our Fourth with a Slurpee from the one and only 7-Eleven. We couldn't hear the patriotic music during the fireworks show because we were too far away, but we were able to listen to our own lineup of patriotic tunes on the way from Orem to Fool Creek. We started it off with "God Bless the USA," which always gets me a little choked up, and then listened to the songs for the various armed forces, including my favorite, The Marines Hymn ("From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we fight our country's battles in the air, on land, and sea..."). And obviously we had to listen to "My Country! Tis of Thee," "America the Beautiful," and "God Bless America." I love our national anthem, and I told Blair how I wish that more people would sing the fourth verse, which says "O thus be it ever, when free men shall stand between their loved homes and the war's desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven rescued land praise the Power that hath made and preserved it a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, and this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.' And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." It definitely makes me proud to be an American and grateful to the men (and women) who stand between our homes and war's desolation, and I love how it acknowledges God's hand in the creation and sustaining of our country. We are definitely so blessed to have the freedoms and luxuries we have, especially compared to other parts of the world.

Another thing I love about July is the Ute Stampede, the best rodeo in Utah! I think that we have gone to this just about every year since I was 12. I tried to get some good pictures, but apparently my camera skills are not quite good enough yet to get action shots of bulls and whatnot. But I did manage to get a few. This is the arena from where we were sitting. A pretty good view of the chutes, which are at the right of the picture. It was a great night for a rodeo!
These are the buffaloes that were part of an act between events. They're pretty cool looking animals, but I don't know if they need to have dreadlocks...
Here's one of the shots that I got of the bulls. The blue blur behind the bull is the rider getting bucked off. It was a good night for bull riders--there were a lot that stayed on. I really enjoy a good bull ride, so I was getting into it, giving the fist pump and yelling and cheering a lot. I know, I'm kind of a dork, but I was having a good time.
Here's another bull rider. They had some pretty good bulls that were doing a lot of spinning and sideways jumping stuff.
I tried to get a picture of the fireworks that they do before the bull riding, but my timing wasn't good enough. I love it, though. They get the crowd all fired up for the bull riding (as if everyone isn't fired up enough about it already--I mean, isn't that what everyone comes to see?) by turning off all the lights in the arena and shooting off fireworks all around the edges. And it definitely works to get you fired up for the bulls!

I tried to get some good pictures of me and my sisters, but apparently I was a little shaky because most of the pictures are blurry...
So we had 2 extra tickets and our good friends Cole Riding and Chance Rich came and sat with us, but Chance had already ditched us by this point. As you can see, Cole was very pleased to be hanging out with us.
The Sisters Finlinson having a good time at the rodeo.
Seriously, having a good time!
I didn't get a picture of my absolute favorite part about the Ute Stampede because we got there a few minutes late, so you'll just have to visualize it. Instead of just having someone sing the national anthem, they have a guy who jumps out of a plane with the biggest American flag you have ever seen and slowly comes down into the arena as "God Bless the USA" is playing. When he lands, they have a bunch of armed forces guys who are in uniform run out and pick up the edges of the flag so that it's not on the ground for very long, and then they hold it while someone sings the national anthem. It is so fantastic, and it prolongs the patriotism of the Fourth just a little bit longer. I would recommend going to the Ute Stampede for this feature alone, even if you're not a big rodeo-goer.

Another thing I love about July is getting together with the fam. Nicole is in town this week, so we had to have a get together at my house on Sunday to hang out. Everyone was there except Andre & Brooke and their kids, so it was a pretty full house. Then this weekend, we have the Finlinson reunion, which is always a highlight of the summer. We have some pretty great extended family members, so it'll be fun to hang out with my dad's side this weekend and then my mom's side next weekend. We're going to have a fun-filled weekend, including hiking the Peak on Saturday morning, hanging out with the relatives most of the day on Saturday, and then having an Oak City dance to round out the weekend. I'll have to make sure to take the camera and get some good pics. Then next week is also Fiesta Days in Spanish Fork, which will include another rodeo and my very first 10k! Pioneer Day will be the best ever this year because it is a paid holiday for me, besides being a good opportunity to remember our ancestors. So July--pretty great month for us and full of fun activities.

I'm a Bailiff!

Since I passed POST, I am officially a law clerk/bailiff for the Fourth District Court. Yesterday was my first day, and it went better than I anticipated. We were supposed to have a criminal jury trial today and tomorrow, but luckily for me, it got cancelled--thank goodness! But it should be a good time tomorrow--bail hearings and an eviction hearing--and on Thursday--criminal law in motion day, which includes initial appearances, preliminary hearings, entry of pleas and stuff like that. So it should be an interesting week. As a sidenote, feel free to not only come and check out our courtroom specifically, but any proceedings in district court because it is open court. It can be really interesting if you get in on something good, like a rape case (not necessarily interesting, but horrifying, rather) or a theft case where the defendant is 75 and committed the thefts from one of those driveable wheelchairs (seriously, I sat in on this today, and I was thinking, "Really? You're going to spend your retirement in jail, you dillweed!). And the job is pretty laid back, so it will be a good year for me to learn the law more in depth while I figure out the procedure and what I want to do. We'll see.

Tribute

June is a big month for the Sisters Finlinson. We were all 3 born in June, so we usually have a good birthday celebration. My sisters are both so great, and we're all really good friends. We have a great time when we get together, and they make me laugh a ton. So I thought I better throw out a few pictures of the good times we've had since we are both devastatingly beautiful (kidding!) and completely ridiculous at the same time.






I also have to say that in June, I always think about my Grandma Shields since her birthday is June 25th. I tried to find a picture of her, but I guess I don't have any scanned in. It's not like we have a lot since she avoided cameras about as much as my mom does, but there are a few, so I'll have to try and get some. She was such a great lady and a really great example of charity and unconditional love. Miss that Grannie May!

Randomocity

Not actually a word, in case you're wondering, but this is the word that Aimee came up with to describe Dylan's knack for being completely random, kind of a game. But in keeping with my tradition of posting monthly, I have a ton of things/pictures to post about, most of which are not necessarily related. First of all, I passed POST! I was so nervous for the PT test, especially because 2 of the girls in the class who went before me didn't get the 15 pushups. I didn't think I would be able to do them because I was shaking. But good news--I busted out 16! I thought I would go ahead and throw in an extra one, but that was all I had. Then I shaved a minute and a half off my mile and half run, so that was cool. So I made it through POST, and now I am officially certified as an SFO (special functions officer), which means that I have all the police powers of a regular officer when I am in the court room. How impressive is that?

Then I had a week and a half off after we ended POST, and it worked out perfectly for me to be able to celebrate my birthday. We went camping the weekend after POST was over, and this is what I woke up to:
Our tent is totally open on 2 sides (just mesh)--we usually sleep with the rain cover on, but that night we didn't because our campground was pretty secluded. I woke up to this, looking straight up at trees with the sun coming through. And this was a pretty good view too.
There was a scenic lookout up the road from our campground and Blair and Jeff found a shopping cart and a big box down in the ravine. First they were just chucking rocks at the box to try and make it in, but then they went down and got shopping cart, loaded it up with rocks, then pushed it back down. So we thought it was appropriate to get a good white trash pose.

On my birthday, I went visiting teaching and then baked myself a really fantastic birthday cake. Here is a picture of it the batter, which consisted of flour, sugar, eggs, and whipping cream (yum!):
Then I made a pastry cream/custard to go in between the layers and threw some raspberries in the middle:
Then I frosted it with whipping cream mixed with cream cheese and sugar plus a few more raspberries on top. Needless to say, it was really good! Here's a pic after we had eaten a lot of it since I forgot to take one when I finished frosting it:
One of my friends felt bad that I had to make my own birthday cake, but I told her that it was great because then I got exactly what I wanted. Plus, we got to hang out with our new friends Scott and Candice that night and play games, so it was way fun and a great way to celebrate the big 2-6. It seems weird that I'm that old and that Blair is 28, especially since most of the people we know our age have a kid or two. And I know that late 20s is not even old at all, but it's weird that we are nearing 30 in the next few years... Anyway, Blair got me the Manti Temple picture that he gave me a few weeks early, plus a little statuette of a couple that is really cute. He did a great job, as usual.

So the day after my birthday I went down to Fool Creek to hang out with my parents a little bit and babysit Ella and Isaac while my brother Andre and his wife Brooke went to Las Vegas. They are so stinkin cute. I told Isaac to pull some good faces for Nicole, and here's what he gave me--a lame one at first and then a series of good faces:
Seriously, I love this kid! Not only is he stinkin cute, but he is also really smart and says some really funny stuff. His latest thing is telling jokes and then laughing hysterically, so we were having a good time on Wednesday with him trying to tell me and everyone else jokes. Ella is a little more serious than Isaac--she doesn't smile as often, but when she does, it is great! She loves when my mom does patty cake with her too.

So cute!! And I better throw in a few of Taryn since I have some pretty good ones on my camera of her right now. These were taken in May, I think.
She is so smiley, and I love the faces she pulls! So stinkin cute! And how cute are Ian and Brenda, though! What a cute little fam. I'm so lucky to have such cutie little nieces and nephews.