Natalie's Birthday & Summer Stuff

My little sister Natalie turned 23 on Saturday. It was her "golden" b-day, 23, on the 23rd. She's living it up in SLC and currently has a cute new boyfriend whom she likes rather a lot:) We had a little party at Mom and Dads yesterday. Ginger, one of my older sisters came with her 3, Emily, Leia and Max. The girls had fun playing with Naomi and they treated her super special, it was adorable to watch.

Natalie

The CAKE! It was a cookies and cream ice cream cake. Leia and Emily watching it all.

Zach & Naomi

Emily & Leia

Mom!

Dad, soon to retire and turning 62 on Wednesday!

Birthday girl and her dad, note the 8 foot tall hollyhock plant in the background!

Natalie, Ginger, Trisha

Emily giving Nominomi a ride, what a cute little red wagon.

And, more fun- on Friday we were at the Champlin's for an informal get-together. Dylan and Naomi were the life of the party (of course) as they jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler underneath.

For dinner I made my new specialty, california rolls! This time I had the help of a bamboo mat, that helped the final product's look quite a bit. Too bad we ate them before I could get a picture! My sister-in-law, Talia (very pregnant) is trying her hand at them tonight, Wes is total sushi addict:)

Naomi, Talia and Dylan

Cute cousins!

Natalee, Jeff & Linda (background) & Tal

Weird..... do I know him??

All those cute Champlin girls: Talia, Linda, Naomi, Trisha, Heidi, Natalee

Almost all those cute Champlin Boys: Jeff, Dylan, Luke, Chad, Brock & Zach.
Wes was finishing up his last hole at the golf course...

SUSHI!

I did it, I made California Rolls! And they are good:)
I first made them with the nori on the outside, they're easier to make that way.
The second time I made them "inside-out" like a bona fide Sushi chef made California roll.
They didn't turn out quite as well that 2nd round.
I made them too fat, I'm going to attempt again tomorrow.
I did a little more research online and found a helpful video about how to make a California roll on about.com. I just need a bamboo mat so I can make them even better!
I'm going to make them for the family when we are home this summer, I'm excited.
Here's a funny thing- I bought a little ginger root because we wanted to have ginger with the rolls too. Well Zach peeled one side of it and then sliced of a little and then popped a chunk in his mouth. Never mind that it was yellow, not orange-pink like at restaurants. Anyway, he made a funny gaging sound and spit it out in the sink.
Silly me, I opened my mouth when he said, "here, try this, just a little tiny piece."
WOW! It was sooooo spicy! Like nothing I've had before or want to have again. It was hot and tangy and sharp. Sort of like a radish but much stronger.
Well, it turns out that the ginger we were looking for is pickled ginger. Like with vinegar, etc. Zach googled it and found that you can pickle it at home or buy pickled. So we're going to get us a jar:)
The wasabi paste I got was smoother and softer than what Zach had eaten before but tasted just fine- HOT I'm sure.
These are pictures of my culinary masterpiece!