A Blissful 8 Years...

Earlier this month, we celebrated our 8th anniversary.  I wanted a picture of us on our special day, so our dear photographer and Kindergartener, Lily, put her camera skills to work and turned out this beauty.  Both our heads made it in the picture, so it was a keeper.

So, this year I wanted some killer-good food for our anniversary, and going out to eat at one of the rural-ville restaurants around here just would not appease my standards of quality and flavor.  So, I began to brainstorm appetizers that I love and after making that list, I decided that I would just make 3 appetizers and we would eat that as our dinner along with a specialty drink. 

The Menu:

• Crab-stuffed mushrooms (with 3 options for the cheese melted over the top- pepperjack, swiss, or cheddar)
• Vegetable Egg Rolls
• Chicken Queliguin Lettuce Wraps (jalapenos for the heat)
• Brazillian Limeade

Food of this caliber is a labor of love and that's what I wanted to share with my honey and our sweet children.  I spent 3 hours making it all, and it was worth it.  Everyone LOVED dinner.  As a side note, I got to break open my first coconut all by myself just for the Queliguin.  I can't tell you how accomplished I feel having done that!  I had my dad on the phone talking me through every step.  I must thank my dad for always being happy to have me as a helper in the kitchen.  I learned how to make every one of these dishes from him and I still think he's the best cook I've ever met.  Shredding the coconut meat from the shell was labor-intensive, and it probably took a half hour (that's with my mom's help).  I broke our zester in the process of scraping coconut.

Sadly, Steve was sick for the whole week of our anniversary; however, he managed to plan a date for us (and yes, he even arranged a babysitter) for the weekend.  We had fun shopping and eating in Vernal.  We had such a good time, just the two of us.

Steve also proposed that after school gets out, we get a sitter to watch the kids and we go spend a night somewhere.  I scoured the deals online and I eventually came across what I thought would be a really good deal for a bed and breakfast in Salt Lake.  It's the Anniversary Inn and it's a room that's newly renovated and usually costs $250 a night and we're getting it for $129, breakfast included.  Sounds like a plan to us!  Next step- find babysitters.

If you're interested in finding the deal for yourself, here's the link: http://www.anniversaryinn.com/south-temple/specials

Our kids make us laugh.

I must explain this picture. We had some friends over for Sunday dinner, a few weeks ago. They have 4 kids all under the age of 5 and they were in our last ward. We ate frozen pizza, salad, and ice cream (I was trying to please the kids since there were more of them, and happy kids= happy parents). We had a great time visiting and it was time for them to leave. Lily and Amara were in their bedroom as we were saying goodbye, so I called to them to come say bye. "Okay!" was the response, and they ran down the hall. This is what we saw next.

Lily was in the middle of putting on her pajamas and instead of putting a shirt on, she just stuffed her upper body into her oversized pants and came out to say goodbye. Our friends had a good laugh, and so did we.

MORE LAUGHS...

This is what I overheard this morning as we were rushing to get out the door. As Lily was putting on her shoes, she turned to Amara and said, "I know why we're always late. It's because we always eat breakfast as a family, and because we always like to be at home more than we like to go to school."

As parents, we love overhearing our children's revelations.

As I'm typing this, Amara brings me a toothpick and says, "Mom, maybe we could put some chocolate on this. Like, chocolate, cherry, chocolate, cherry. That's a good idea. Maybe you should buy that."

I love it~ Great idea!

Visiting Family in Vegas!

Last month a bunch of us met in Las Vegas to visit with my mom's family from Hawaii. It was a fun and memorable time! I tried my best to work on family history, and thanks to Aunty Leo, Aunty Mina, Uncle Joe, and Grandma Linda (via Uncle Joe's cell phone), I was able to fill in some gaps in my family tree and get to know my ancestors at the same time. It is priceless to share in the lives of those who've "been there before."

We were also blessed to be able to stay the night with Doralee's family and we enjoyed every moment we spent with them. Lily even lost her first tooth while there!

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Steve and Lily's show of ART!

Last month, our family got to enjoy a night of creative expression.  East Elementary held it's annual art show, and it showcased the student's art and a short performance by each class.  It may take a few moments to upload, but I made a smilebox presentation of what we saw at the art show.  Steve's class did a series of math chants, and Lily's class performed the bunny hop.  Then we got to go around the school and view the art from all of the students.  It was a fun night and both Steve's and Lily's classes presented spectacular work!

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