her first girls day.

my niece, jade, is twelve today.  my mom wanted to do something special to celebrate so on monday we had a girls day.  just her, my mom, my sister, and me.  we were together for 7 hours.  we shopped for 5 and 1/2 of them, and ate for the other hour and a half.  my niece had "so much fun" (her exact words).  we talked a lot about justin bieber.  apparently she's like every other girl her age and has "bieber fever".  i must admit, i caught a little of it while watching last week's episode of glee.  they did a couple of his songs and i like them.  the glee versions of course.

food blog?

my brother in law, justin, recently told me that he doesn't like to look at my blog anymore because all i post about is food. well it's a good thing he stopped looking at it because once again i'm going to talk about food. i sort of live for good food.

 gordon wanted to try something new...shrimp stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon, and deep fried.  that's new.  and heart healthy.

this weekend we did not go on a double date with my sister (or did we? he paid for her...but she insists we all hung out as friends...) to a new mexican restaurant, ventanas, sort of in the ghetto of our town. we were a little nervous at first to go there because of the sketchiness of the neighborhood, but gordon made a good point that if we want areas like this to pull out of the slums we've got to support them. they said their food was authentic mexican food. when mexican restaurants say this i always have to try them. and i compare every last bite to my grandma j's food. which is real authentic mexican food. this restaurant passed the test. their beans and rice tasted just like my grandma j's. and the chicken enchiladas i got...heaven. they had a salsa bar with four different kinds of salsa. we tried all four and loved them all. we dipped their homemade tortilla chips in each one.

we'll be going back. that's for sure.

dew tour

we had a fabulous time this weekend spending time with family and old friends at this year's dew tour held at snowbasin ski resort. i hadn't been on a school bus for ages and i felt like i was in elementary school again going on a field trip as we were on the shuttle. we had front row spots for the main event: men and women's snowboard half pipe final. we were able to see some of the best snowboarders (which included louie vito, who you might also recognize as being a dancer on a show called dancing with the stars) ride down the half pipe busting out their best tricks. one wrong move and they would have taken our heads off. we made friends with an nbc photographer who kept us updated on who was coming down the pipe next and what their rankings were.
after our adventures up on the mountain we were starving so we decided to try a new thai restaurant down the street from our house called aroy-d. we're incredibly excited that it's so close because the food was terrific. their massaman curry was to die for. gordon and i decided we could eat it everyday. if we wanted to have heart attacks of course. coconut milk is not the healthiest thing.

valentine's past

since valentine's was this week, gordon and i were reminiscing all of the many (seven to be exact) valentine’s we’ve spent together. there are two that stand out most in both of our minds...

our second valentine’s day spent together we were dating.  i told gordon i was going to make him dinner. when he came to my house i served him a heart shaped peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheetos, chocolate covered strawberries, and chocolate milk. a dinner of all of his favorite things. he said to me as we were reminiscing that he should have know i didn’t cook.

our first married valentine’s day we were both in college. i worked part-time so i was able to be home before him and make him a surprise dinner. i don’t remember what was on the menu. i do remember wearing something special for him. and having something special planned for dessert. i remember gordon had just gotten home when there was a knock on our door. neither of us were expecting visitors. gordon answered the door. it was his mom. she was dropping off a valentine’s treat. i remember hearing her voice. i was hoping she wouldn’t ask to come inside. i could feel the awkwardness as gordon told her it was best if she not come in. he closed the door. we both stared at each other. speechless. i’m still speechless when i think about it. one of my most embarrassing moments. that sunday dinner was a little uncomfortable, i remember that too.

he is the cheese to my macaroni

our valentines day was super. immediately when I got home gordon wanted his gift. said he couldn’t wait any longer. i was a little bashful giving him my gift. i don’t know why. maybe because i had never made anything like this before. and I put a lot of time and thought into it and was worried he would think it was silly. i wanted to just give it to him and walk away. let him look at it alone. but he wanted me to sit with him. right next to him. hand in hand. as he looked through the book i made him. full of some of my favorite photos of the two of us. with reasons why I loved him next to each photo. i held back my tears as turned each page. he read through them all. then gave me kisses. and told me he loved me too.

we ate dinner.

then gordon handed me a box. with four gourmet cupcakes from my favorite local cafe, café ville bella. one of them just so happened to be double coconut. i love coconut.

next gordon handed me a tin. inside the tin was massage oil. i also love massages. when it was time for bed gordon had transformed our bedroom to a relaxation sanctuary. candlelit. relaxing music. it was like a spa. only i was much more comfortable since i knew the masseur.

i’ve decided i don’t want to wait until next valentine’s day to do something romantic like this again. so we’re not going to. (i should probably let gordon know this too)

best gift giver

That is something I am not. However, the man I married is. He always out-shines me. But this year I’ve stepped up my game. I’ve put a lot of thought and time into his Valentine’s gift. It’s handmade. With love.

I’m also making a delicious dinner. With real meat. Gordon is excited. We don’t have real meat very often at our house. I’m making all of his favorites. Well besides the vegetable. Asparagus is my favorite. And it’s my lover’s day too.

Happy Valentine's Day!

super bowl.

family.  friends.  homemade sandwich buns shaped like footballs.  gordon played bartender.  jesus was thank a lot (my dad: "thank you jesus, thank you jesus" every time something good happened).  my dad was out of control.  his team won.  his wife's team lost.

there wasn't any other place we would have rather been for the super bowl.  this was the first year we actually watched the game.  i guess you can say we're fans now.  green bay fans.

crash

this past weekend we went on our annual hardcastle snowmobiling trip.  gordon's parents rent a log cabin at bear river lodge where we are able to spend quality time together as a family.  we play games, watch movies, eat a lot of yummy food (the sweet kind), and snowmobile.  this year was not the last year.  we added four more adults (aunt karen, uncle wade, uncle paul, and trevor), one new little baby (baby k), received some sad news, and then 20 minutes and two miles into our snowmobiling adventure we had a crash.  my mother-in-law crashed into my brother-in-law's (justin) snowmobile.  she flew off her snowmobile, crashed into her windshield, then her body slammed into justin and she landed on the ground, not moving.  we were the tail end of the group so when we arrived at the crash we didn't know what had happened.  gordon's uncle wade came up to gordon, told him to go back to the lodge and have someone call 9-1-1 because we need an ambulance.  we waited for what felt like an eternity for medical help to arrive.  once they did they concluded she had broken her arm and her helmet had pushed her sunglasses into her head causing some cuts.  she was towed away to a hospital in wyoming, told she would need surgery on her arm, then returned home saturday evening to a hospital close to home for surgery.  her trip ended early.  she was adamant that we all enjoy the rest of our trip, continue snowmobiling, play games, and have a big breakfast sunday morning (seriously, she said all of those things while she was lying on the ground waiting for help...she's that kind of person that worries about everyone else but herself.  she's amazing).  so we did as she requested.  it wasn't the same trip, but the memories we've made will last forever.

we're so glad gordon's mom is doing well and recovery nicely.  we love her very much and are so thankful for all the time and effort she puts into the family events she plans.  thanks for another fun trip!  now how about we go back to being boring?