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