Easter and Mellow Days

This was our second Easter in Utah.  Our second Easter together as well.  This year we didn't do much.  We dyed eggs and got to hang out with both sides of Dennis' family.  Which is awesome.  I was originally uncertain how I felt about living so close to family.  We lived in Virginia our first few months of marriage where the only person we knew was his sister. Before that we had both of our immediate families and it was a little stressful at times.  So I was nervous about all the family we have out here. We really like it. Not only do we have both sides of Dennis' family, we have my dad's side up here as well.  We get to see all of them on a regular basis.  It's fun. We spent Easter morning with his aunt and all his cousins and their babies.  That evening we spent with his grandpa and all sorts of related or somewhat related cousins.

We tried the whipped cream dying method for some of our eggs and it was super fun!  They looked like chalk or water color eggs. It was neat. I was really proud of my bunny.  I drew him all by myself. 
Dennis has been playing a lot of soccer lately.  Mostly indoor but he has recently joined an outdoor team.  Or maybe two... I'm not entirely sure.  I just go when I'm told there's a game.
Oh!  The other night we came home kind of late.  I was really tired. I am still waking up with the sun (around 7:40 now). Dennis got out of the car before me and then disappeared. I opened my door to find him pointing to two kittens.  I have a really bad weakness for babies and things that are alone. So of course I needed to take care of them. I sat in the dirt at 1 am in the morning holding tiny kittens. Then I realized one was missing a leg.  First they were babies then alone and now one was hurt.  All things I can't handle put together. I was so sad. Our neighbors took the cats in the morning since we couldn't have them but all night I was heartbroken because I didn't think they would survive.
So that is my sad story for the week. 

Where were you when...

So lately I've been thinking.  Which is a dangerous thing to do. (-- Gaston song). Anyway.  I have been sort of doing a time line comparason between family and friends about where we were or what we were doing or had done by a certain age.  It's interesting to think about. Dennis and I have both had birthdays in the last month, so we were comparing mostly to our age. 

My grandpa: Was serving in the Navy.  Had not yet met my grandma.  Was not yet a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  May have started college. Had lived through 3 wars by that point. 

My grandma: Was attending college to become a teacher.  It was terribly important to her parents for her to do so.  She may have met my grandpa by this point and he may have been seeing the missionaries.
 
His grandma: Had married her childhood sweetheart two years earlier. She had just had her first baby.  They hadn't been sealed as a family yet. 

His grandpa (paternal): he had eloped with his high school sweetheart years before and kept it a secret and still continued to live with their families to maintain the secret.  By this point they had told everyone and were living together.


My parents: Had been married about a year.  They were attending college together.  My dad had been home from his mission for almost two years. My mom was graduating college and working as a chemist.

His parents: They'd been married over a year about and had just had their first baby.   His dad had been playing baseball at college and had been training with the Red Sox. He had blown out both his knees already. 

Something that is even crazier to do is to think about where we were at younger people's ages.  My brother is getting ready to leave on his mission.  His sister wants to get married.  It's crazy to think either how different or how similar our lives were then compared to theirs now.

Birthday Everything

Yesterday it was Dennis' birthday.  We both had work, so we didn't have any birthday adventures.  Yet.  We may still have one or two on Saturday in honor of his birthday.  So yesterday I made him a lemon meringue pie from scratch.  It is one of the few things I make that I don't worry constantly that someone will hate.  I only worry most of the time. Just not constantly. Anyway he really likes lemon meringue pie and he really likes when I make it.  He thinks I do amazingly.  He's so sweet. We went to Apollo burger again for his birthday dinner and he got a bunch of super awesome birthday presents.  He is one lucky dude.  New beats boombox, indoor soccer cleats, new shirts, paints... and hopefully more to come in the mail. Even though it was his birthday, I got a surprise package in the mail.  He bought me earrings.  He is so sweet.  He makes my heart melt. 

He also got punched in the face at a soccer game the night before his birthday. So he still has a fat lip.  His team is the new team of the league so they are the underdogs.  But look how adorable he is.

Apollo, God of Hamburger

I thoroughly enjoy trying new things and going new places.  Tonight, we went and tried Apollo Burger.  I love local (non-chain) food places.  Back in Virgina we used to go to this place called T-n-T Ta Go.  It was heavenly.  It was all home made food run by these awesome ladies.  They were so nice.  They had a potato soup to die for.  I've been trying in vain to replicate the soup.  They also had this amazing chicken salad sandwich.  Honestly, there wasn't a single thing we could find that wasn't good.
I digress.  So we go to this burger place.  I pass it every day on the way to work and we finally decided to try it.  It was as good as I thought.  I have this theory on how to tell a good restaurant before even eating there.  If you see (classy) old people coupled with other generations of people in a hole in the wall restaurant, it is probably good.  They've probably been going there for years and they usually know what's good as far as older food joints.  I created this theory based on where my grandpa goes to eat or why he says somewhere is good and through observation.  Apollo did not fail us today.  It looks run down but it has got some good burgers.  The Apollo burger has pastrami on it with the hamburger and it is surprisingly really good.

On a totally different subject, a year ago Dennis and I started a notebook together.  Originally we wrote to each other and took turns with who had it.  Once we got married, we used it to document our travels.  Since it has been a year, I am going to show off a few of my favorite pages.

Plants from Illinois

The leaf on the right was written on while drying and has words engraved on it.  We think its awesome.

There are so many pages.  I chose my favorites.  Which happened to be all plant pages. There are so many pages filled with writing and postcards and packets and maps.  We started it a week before we got engaged.  So our wedding, honeymoon, trips across the country, life in Virginia, and any other adventures can be found in its cover.  We have to hold it closed with thick rubber bands.  We also have a postcard from every place we stop with a short description on the back.  At the end of our first year we're going to bind them together to make a book.  So!  A sneak peak at our book. 

Scones

So those who know me know that bread and I have been good friends for a very long time.  I love freshly baked bread of any and all sort.
Today, I made one of my favorites.  Cream scones.  These are my favorite any time of day but especially for breakfast.  I got the recipe years ago from a blog of a lady who was living in England.  I can't remember what its called though. It is my all time favorite scone recipe. I grew up with an aunt and a great aunt who loved England and all things tea and scone.  So the fact that this recipe is my favorite is a big deal.
So here it is.
Cream Scone
2 Cups Flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 Cup sugar
1 pint (2 Cups) Heavy cream (this needs to be the thickest, heaviest cream you can find.)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Combine the first 4 ingredients with a fork.
Slowly mix in the cream.  You may not use all the cream so do it slowly.  I usually put an entire cup in and then slowly add it till its sticky to the touch.
Knead it a bit.  Then transfer to a baking sheet (or a cutting board). Pat into a 10"circle and cut into 8 wedges. Seperate them.
Melt the butter and brush on the scones then sprinkle the sugar on the scones.
Bake for 17 minutes. 

Oh honey

So last week was my birthday.  My sweet husband made me a cake on my birthday.  I worked all day and I came home to a birthday cake.  I was so excited.  That Sunday my uncle made me cinnamon rolls and a birthday dinner.

That is a candle on a cinnamon roll.

We've just been hanging out.  We took an adventure to Cheesecake Factory, but other than that we've had a pretty quiet existence lately.  Dennis just got a job at Home Depot so he has started working there.  I'm excited.  I want an herb garden so badly.  I even bought cilantro from the dollar section at Target. I just want them so badly.  I'd also love fresh vegetables.  I want to do the Bountiful Baskets so badly but I've been trying to wait till we both had built up a steady amount of money.  So.  Fresh food!  Huzzah.  We also took a trip to the library.  I've picked up reading again. Which I love. 

Cadberry Eggs are Manna

So this weekend we took a trip down to see his grandma and both his parents who drove her home from good ol' California.  We celebrated my birthday, his uncles, and his grandma's all of which are this week.  We had too much cake and it was fun.  My mother in law got me so many bee themed things.  So bees are the theme this year.  Side note:  Every birthday or gift giving holiday results in an overwhleming theme for me for some reason.  Christmas it was puzzles this year.  My birthday is bees.  One year it was red.  Another it was kitchen supplies. A different time it was headbands.  Its kind of funny and unintentional but it is a real pattern.  I enjoy it. I didn't take a picture but BEE THINGS. Oh and boots.  Both of which suit me just fine. 

I've been a bit out of it due to being headachy and generally achy and feverish for a few nights.  It has been a bit of a rough day and night for me. However, I got a picture with that beaver.  Bam. 
Also to make my weekend even better and add a factor of complete surprise I got a package from my dearest friend. I was so excited! It was full of wonderful amazing things and I am so lucky I have an amazing friend/pen pal/once upon a time roommate/and fellow Disney lover.  It is seriously the best.

In case you can't tell, my birthday is this week.  Which is pretty cool.