Picture the birds from Finding Nemo saying, "Mine, mine, mine . . . "

Todd and I have lots of glass pans, which I always hesitate to bring anywhere public, like a church activity, because you never get them back. Because they're hard to mark (Sharpie doesn't stand a chance against a dishwasher).

But I saw the coolest thing--my friend had her name etched into her glass pan. I love that idea! It's on the bottom, so it doesn't affect what you bake, but you can see the name from the top. Super easy to identify your pan. I started thinking what a great gift an etched pan would be, so I Googled it thinking I'd have to special order a pre-etched pan. Nope, turns out there's a glass etching cream you can get at a craft store for under $30. Meaning, you can do it at home! A gift AND you feel crafty. Perfect. The best site I found to explain the process is here (I've added my changes to these instructions below).

Contact paper is amazingly hard to find where we live. So finding the recommended clear contact paper is a joke. I bought a thick clear one, without stickiness on the other side, and that didn't work well--you need to seal around the letters you use to etch the name. Without a seal the etching cream seeped through and made the name blobby. Readable, but blobby. Not gift-worthy. Luckily that was my test pan.

Because I didn't have the right clear contact paper, necessity became the mother of invention. I came up with a much easier way to cut out the letters than to trace it on the opposite side of the printer paper, then trace that onto clear contact paper.

I had colored contact paper, with stickiness on the other side (nothing you had to peel--the side was just sticky, like on a Post-it note). I just stuck the sticky side to the back of the printer paper where I printed the name template, then cut out the name from the page I printed. No tracing necessary. The name was upside down on the contact paper, but facing the right way when I applied the sticky side to the bottom of the pan.

Viola! Less tracing by two. Which is nice because I get impatient, and X-acto knives are hard to use (especially if you're impatient). Though I did use the thick clear non-sticky not effective contact paper as a cutting mat, and that was excellent. When life gives you lemons . . .. This system worked much better and I was quite happy with the results.

The clerk at the craft store told me to save the extra etching cream to make it all last longer. What a great tip! After the cream had been on the pan for 30 minutes, I just used the sponge brush to push the cream off the pan back into the plastic container.

Also, letters like "o" and "e" are tough because you need to save the little hole thingie so it's not just a big space instead of a letter. I didn't cut out the holes--I just placed masking tape where necessary to make the letter look correct (look at the "e" below). Much easier than cutting out and saving a tiny piece.

Yea for visitors

My parents and sister visited during the past week (yea, they were here for the ultrasound!), and it was so fun to have them here with us. We did all the fun tourist things on Oahu, and we also went to the big island to see the volcano. It was a really fun week.

We went to Waikiki and saw a turtle! It's the first time I've seen one, and we were all quite excited to see it.

We got to go to Pearl Harbor, and we found the name of my great-uncle who died on the USS Snook. I hadn't realized I had a relative whose name was involved with the Pearl Harbor memorial.

We went on a movie sites tour at Kualoa Ranch. Todd and I stumbled on a pamphlet for this place and only noticed it because it said Lost is filmed there. And because we're superdorks, that drew us in. The ranch is on the way to North Shore, so we've passed it several times. It's at the foot of one of my favorite views on the island, the Ko'olau Range, which is stunning. They filmed parts of Jurassic Park there--in the picture below, imagine a flock of dinosaurs chasing the doctor and the two kids down the hill. They also filmed Godzilla and several other movies there. AND, this location is where Hurley golfed in Lost. And where he ran down the hill with the VW van. If you're lucky you can catch them filming Lost during the tour. We were not so fortunate, though it's still an amazingly beautiful location. We went to the big island for the weekend and were fortunate to stay in a military camp located inside the Volcanoes National Park. We went through a lighted lava tube and then through the dark flashlights-only tube. That part was really neat. (The end of the tube is just a wall, so you have to double back, but apparently it's also a good place for locals to smoke pot. The end of that hike for us was very . . . herbal.)

We saw where the lava flows into the ocean. The plume of steam is so cool.

As it got darker, we also got to watch the fireworks as the spouts of lava became visible as they hit the ocean. It was spectacular.

The cake test never lies

According to the ultrasound today,

Yea! She's developing well, and she likes to suck her fingers.

A book for religion buffs, sports fanatics, and fans of Rudy-esque triumphs

I just read a great autobiography, Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA.

Lance grew up in a polygamous society and tells the story of his family fleeing from the cultish crazies. He gives a fascinating insight into that lifestyle.

He's deaf, and it's surprisingly hilarious to read him talk about trying to communicate with a hearing world, and it's heartbreaking to read how others relate to him.

Lance started playing basketball late in junior high, and it tells the story of him playing for the University of Utah, then Weber State, then struggling to enter the NBA through playing in Europe. If you're at all fascinated by that journey, or your spouse is, that part is very interesting. As one critic said, you'll never look the same way at the guys sitting on the NBA benches.

The following are reasons to read the book:

• The stories about polygamy and its societal effects are fascinating. This is a world its leaders carefully conceal, but we get to catch a glimpse.
  
  
• If you've ever wanted a legitimate reason to dislike Rick Majerus, this is it.
  
  
• Lance seamlessly throws in arguments against communism, argues that if you use the F word extensively you need to expand your vocabulary, and discusses the history of Europe . . . mostly in footnotes and asides, and it's great. He's brilliant, which is especially surprising for an athlete.
  
  
• His story of persistence will motivate anyone.
  
  
• He's my cousin, so I have a personal interest in cheering for his success, on and off the court.

Life's been good to me so far

I love living in a place where you can buy a beautiful orchid plant at Costco for under $20.

And on the way to Costco, you get a view like this.

We're going to be so spoiled being here.

For the 4th we watched fireworks on the ocean, launched from this boat.

It was breathtaking.

And we didn't get sunburned this outing, because we came prepared.

(This post feels like an Emma post, and I like it.)

It's tough to be a bug

Just so you don't think our Hawaii adventure is all about the beach, I'll tell you about our first real, nasty bug experience (note to the cosmos--thank you this isn't about the rumored centipedes). This morning Todd went to the hardware store to get me a flag hanger (yea!). This is what he found on our gate, right below the latch you have to touch with your unsuspecting skin.

We did an "after" shot of the nickel to show you how big this thing is. Well, was.

I know it's not a thick desert spider of nastiness, and that it doesn't have a red hourglass, but still. Look at it! And apparently in all my worrying about ginormous stinging centipedes and flying cockroaches I forgot there might actually be abnormally large spiders here too. I was thinking maybe spiders are like how snakes aren't supposed to be on an island.

So after taking the above picture, Todd ran into the house to get (1) Raid* and (2) his combat boots. Because, seriously, who's going to step on that thing with flip flops? He sprayed it with Raid and it JUMPED and ran away, quickly. Jumped! Good thing he had boots. Then he tried to step on it and it was too fast. Eeew! Apparently it just ran about a foot away then stopped. Probably taunting him.

Luckily the second attempt at stepping on it worked. He sprayed it again, just in case, and sprayed a circle around it, which is always a good idea. Then he sprayed the gate lock. Then he woke me up. Probably so I could take a Bone Collector picture.

This is a nickel, but still! Look how big it is, even smooshed and drenched in Raid.

And here's my hero. Combat boots and all. They come in handy even on his day off.

* Yes, when I move into a new place I buy food, cleaning supplies, and a can of Raid. You must always have a can of Raid. Maybe even before you have food.