Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!

We have a new addition in our family, a Nintendo Wii! David wanted a Playstation 2 more that anything. On Craigslist, we found a used one with 9 games or something for a pretty good deal. I emailed the seller and was planning on picking it up after work to surprise David. The more I thought about it throughout the day, the less I wanted it... haha I talked to David about it and we decided that if we were going to get a gaming system, we wanted a Wii. The next day we got our federal tax return and decided to check around for the best deal. Basically everyone sells it for about the same price. Best Buy was our decision and we purchased our Wii in a packaged deal along with two remotes with motion plus, two nunchucks, a charging station, Wii Sports, and Wii Sports Resort. David is hooked!

This past weekend David's parents visited! It was fun to have company and we even got them to try out the Wii! They brought me a graduation gift and brought us an Easter basket. My mom also sent an Easter basket down with Derek, so we are loaded with treats. Thanks for everything, parents!These were fun little bird's nest treats I made...

David wanted to try to paint eggs this Easter. We blew out the eggs, dyed them pastel colors, and then attempted to paint. Our eggs had nothing on the ones he saw in Slovakia on his mission... We lost interest pretty fast. The best egg was painted by David's mom, Tracey.

Graham Canyon

Nearly four years ago I volunteered as a freshman to help at the senior celebration night at BYU.  It was an event with various activities and lots of food for all about to graduate and leave BYU.  I was on condiment duty near the hamburgers.  Next to me was a lady serving BYU Creamery ice cream.  She asked me if I had tried "Graham Canyon".  I had not, so she gave me a scoop.  I was a little skeptical at first. I like ice cream and I like graham crackers, but this seemed wrong. Oh was I wrong! It was the best creation in the whole wide world. It is graham cracker flavored ice cream with graham cracker swirl and chocolate covered honey comb things (I don't remember the chocolate things from my first experience...).  AMAZING.  My life has forever been changed.  

Well the school year ended and I went back to Moses Lake to work and save for the next year of school.  When I returned that fall and had a chance to get some ice cream, I was told that there was no more graham canyon.  BYU halted production on all of their varieties for a time.  I was bummed.  Occasionally I would peak in and see if they had any, but was always out of luck. 

When I started dating David I asked him if he had ever tried it.  He hadn't and I don't think he was in any hurry to try it either... After we were married, toward the end of this last summer, I heard that BYU was back in production.  I was elated! We stopped by three, maybe four times, but every time they were out of Graham Canyon... Bummer! 

Today was our lucky day! They had Graham Canyon!! David and I bought a carton.  I anxiously waited for David's reaction.  It wouldn't be the worse thing if he hated it... More for me, right? Turns out he likes it.  I am happy to have finally shared this little joy with David after my three year drought. 

You should definitely put this on your list of things to try!

R.I.P.

    Walter, also known as Wally, passed away today.   This brave beta was rescued from his little blue cup of water and adopted to my family on November 11, 2007. 

 

For a little over a month or so, he has been lying on the top bend of that rainbow rock thing.  He would occasionally swim up for food, or miss that and "eat" an air bubble. It was the poor guy's time. Walter lost most of his color this week and was no longer with us this morning.

Valentine's Day Married Style

As you know, Valentine's Day landed on a Sunday this year.  This day was our first Valentine's celebration together as a married couple.  I didn't want David to spend lots of money on flowers like the rest of the crazy boys in the world do and I don't exactly need extra candy in my life.... We decided that we would just savor the time together and I wanted to make a nice dinner. Outback Steakhouse's Alice Spring's Chicken was my main dish choice. When I told David my plan and explained what it was, he didn't seemed too thrilled.  My goal was to prove his doubts wrong.  Let's just say he was more than impressed. :)

 

Alice Spring's Chicken is chicken marinated in honey mustard, covered in sauteed mushrooms, bacon, jack, and cheddar cheese.  Delicious! I got the recipe here: http://www.ichef.com/recipe.cfm/recipe/Outback%20Steakhouse%20Alice%20Springs%20Chicken/task/display/itemid/508379/recipeid/117827

 

David wanted potato salad, but it turned out we didn't have enough mayo. :( So the only side was amazing asparagus, which was plenty.
Well, no special dinner is special enough without dessert...SO, I decided to use the ramekins my mom gave us for Christmas for the first time and I made Chocolate Souffle with Creamy Caramel Sauce. WOW. The caramel sauce was superb.

 

I tried to just drizzle it...Okay, that is a lie! I went a little over board with the tasty caramel.  I don't even regret it! You can find the recipe here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chocolate-Souffles-with-Creamy-Caramel-Sauce-15813 

I love my adorable valentine, David. We are happy together and excited for all the adventures that we will experience together.  He is talented, smart, and encouraging. I can always count on him to make a hard day better or to help me with an overwhelming project. He is working hard toward challenging goals for the benefit of our family. I am so proud of him. Spending the WHOLE day with my Valentine was enough for me this Valentine's Day.  I wish every day could be like today. <3

The Tale of the Broken Cookie Jar

So strange things happen sometimes when you least expect them. For instance, you can be in the kitchen with your wife doing dishes while she is cooking breakfast and your cookie jar can just jump off the fridge and break into a thousand tiny pieces.

 So the story behind the cookie jar is that Deidra's friends took her to a pottery painting place and she made it for us. It took hours of hard work. She brought it home and was so proud of making our first family cookie jar. It was definitely cute and, of course, held special meaning for us as a new couple. Then again everything for us is a first still so anything like that holds special meaning. So, as you can see, it was seriously bustecated (broken) into about a thousand pieces. We picked up the pieces and put them in a box lid to get ready to throw them away. But this just couldn't be. How could we let this go so easily? I decided to buy some super glue (Gorilla Glue brand) and piece together the broken shards of our cookie jar. It was more than just preserving a receptacle for cookies; it was about memories for us...well, we like cookies too. So, after an evening of trying to piece this thing back together this is what we have.

We like the busted look. It has character. It tells a story. Plus it is 40 dollars and a few hours of effort to try to go and make the same one over again. So, we have a disaster, a moment of despair, a moment of hope, and then, a busted glued-together cookie jar.

 Once the cookie jar had given up hope of ever seeing cookies again, David saved the day! Deidra made cookies this very day and the jar is happily back to full operating condition (with some nice battle scars ;)).

Burning down the house...not really

So Deidra decided to burn down the house. I don't know why. Maybe she was mad at me or something. Maybe she was tired of living in a little apartment. Or maybe it was an accident. Yeah that was probably it.

Actually she got home before I did and thought she would make some dinner for us. She was being the nice housewife and trying to make her husband happy. What you see in the picture is the result of trying to preheat the oven. Deidra came home and wanted to put something in the oven so she turned it on and left to go do something in the bedroom for just a couple minutes. Soon she heard the smoke alarm go off. Now, this is not an unusual, considering that we have the most sensitive smoke alarm in the world right above our oven. If it even gets a wiff of heat from the oven it goes off. I think it is just nervous. But in this case it was right. Deidra went into the kitchen to find the whole apartment filled with smoke. She rushed and opened the oven, thinking something was in there burning up. Inside the oven was nothing but flames coming from the bottom of the oven. After smartly turning the oven off, she opened the bottom of the oven where you normally keep pans and such. What she found was our silicone cookie sheet on fire. She put the fire out somehow and opened the front door to let the smoke outside. All this time I was calling her from school to tell her I was coming home. People kept walking by to see if she was all right as the smoke alarm had not stopped. By the time I got home the manager had come and was trying to rip the smoke alarm out of the ceiling. After I switched the breaker to the smoke alarm and got things under control we all had a good laugh and tried to clean up all of the nasty silicone particles that had spread all over the house. We are still finding them every once and a while. Note to self and all others. Even though it says that you can put it in the oven, silicone cookie sheets will light on fire. Oops.

When the moon hits your eye, like a big PIZZA PIE...

Warning: This post is me bragging!

David and I have made two pizzas in our lifetime together. They have both been amazing. Made from scratch (dough and sauce) with our favorite toppings, bell peppers and pepperoni, they have been delightful! Yum!
I must be an AMAZING teacher because look at the size of that apple! I am now realizing that I should have put that apple next to something that provides better perspective for the picture... Oh well, it has long since rotted. I am always afraid to eat the concoctions that my students bring me and I am not a fan of red delicious apples. I do love apples and a few hungry days, a student has saved me from becoming grumpy! It is always sweet when a student brings me surprises. I still have no idea where this "bring your teacher an apple" thing started, but it must mean that they like me, right?!

...Bells'll ring
Ting-a-ling-a-ling
Ting-a-ling-a-ling
And you'll sing "Vita bella"
Hearts'll play
Tippi-tippi-tay
Tippi-tippi-tay
Like a gay tarantella

Lucky Fella...