Saturday, May 30, 2009

Buckwheats & Berries

The season is early and already we're seeing some great buys on fruit here locally. Yesterday I bought a pint of strawberries and blueberries at a great price, even though we still have a golden pineapple sitting on the counter from last week's trip the store.

This morning I made buckwheat pancakes for breakfast. As a topping I cut up some strawberries and added some of the blueberries to a mixture of sugar, water and maple syrup, which I heated up on the stove. Buckwheats can sometimes be heavy but I thought the combination of sugar, water and syrup was just right. Now that I think about it, some whipped cream on top would have been just right and very comparible to I-Hop. Oh Well!

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Ride

Our annual Memorial Day ride was once again a lot of fun. The weather was perfect, not too hot or too cool. The short people are getting older and can ride on their own, without mom or dad -- except Frank, who rode in a borrowed kiddie bike trailer pulled by his dad, Bert. Kate did much better this year and showed everyone she could do it. Instead of riding a bike Wart bladed. Below are (in order) Kate, Sparky, Wart, Lou, and Ernie.

As usual there are speed demons and those who enjoyed the ride. (When will they learn that after they beat their guts out being the first, they just have to sit an wait.) Here's a portion of our group in a shot by Bridal Veil Falls. The place was packed; on the way down I passed 250 people between the falls and the small park below. So we must have passed more than a thousand people along the trail. A zoo, but that's OK. It was the Memorial Day Weekend.


While waiting for the rest, and with the energy of a Gazelle, the 3 older short people climbed the rock slide until called back down. At 2 years, Frank's not quite into rock climbing.


Back at base-camp we cooked hamburgers and hot dogs with the usual trimmings. A little too cool, we didn't do water balloons this year--maybe next.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Dr. Wart?

After only five years, she's done with schooling -- for now!

Today, Wart graduated from the University of Utah's Department of Oncology with a Doctoral Degree in Molecular Biology. Huh?


So is it now Dr. Wart? Do we have to give her more respect, or is she still family. For sure, and to the best of our knowledge (and a quick check on Google) she's the first (and only) Zumbrennen to be awarded a Ph.D. So maybe she's not our little girl any more. With a half dozen professional scientific papers published with titles such as: A Novel IRP2-/- Mouse Model Displays Locomotor Dysfunction And Neuronal Iron Accumulation, or Hyperglycemia and Impaired Beta-cell Function Caused by Iron Regulatory Protein 2 Deficiency maybe she DOES deserve more respect.

The ceremony was held at Kingsbury Hall on the U's campus. 250 individuals were awarded degrees today ranging from a few Bachelors, to Masters, to 96 Doctorates to 108 Graduates of the U's Medical school.

It was a beautiful day; the weather was perfect -- not too hot, and not too cool. As the MC stated probably a few thousand photos were taken afterwards.


(Although her research is technical, and over our heads (what's an IRP2?), we still felt a need to give her a Graduation Card with sound, which she wouldn't have to read . . . SHE IS BLONDE!)

Afterwards all four of us (Nic spend the day with us also) drove up Immigration Canyon and had lunch outside on the back patio of Ruth's Diner, a favorite of Wart's.
With school overwith, she plans to continue her research at the U and publish a few more papers within the next year. In June she travels to Porto, Portugal to give two presentations and one poster.

What should we expect next from her?

What color is the Sky!

In the mean time checkout her blog to see the latest wedding cakes she made for friends during the last two weeks. http://kymmiescakes.blogspot.com/