Always Good for a Laugh

My roomate from college (shiloh) and I would sometimes disappear to her bedroom and watch youtube for hours. We always watched people falling because it is our favorite. We would laugh so hard our stomachs would hurt and we would cry. I still sometimes hop on youtube when I have a hard day and need to laugh. Just thought I would share my favorites! I love watching people fall down- so hilarious! When you watch the lady stepping on the grapes, turn your volume up at the end because it is SO FUNNY.

Watch the model's ankles in this one....

YES, we are alive and YES, I know you are all as tired of seeing that dumb bowl of popcorn on our blog as I am. You can now relax and not worry any longer, because I have returned to blogging.

The past month in three words: JAKE'S BIRTHDAY and DISNEYLAND. Probably Jake's favorite month of his entire life. The week before we left for Disneyland we celebrated Jake's birthday with friends. Of course in Fall Fashion. We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point and did the corn maze and all of the fall festivities there. We even played some good old fashion tether ball, which of course I lost at. Afterwards we came back to our house for cheesecake and fun. We had everyone wear birthday glasses, which is what Jake is wearing in the picture. Jake's birthday was on one of the days we were in Disneyland, so he was able to celebrate it there! We made sure the whole week that we told the restaurants it was his birthday so he would get tons of free desserts.




Disneyland was GREAT! As you all know, it was my very first time. We flew in Saturday afternoon and met up with Jake's family. (Dad, Mom, and sister Amy's family) Jake and I went in on Saturday night because it was the only night they were having the Fantasmic show. We got there and it was INSANELY busy. We were getting slammed around by people walking by, and dodging strollers. We went and rode a few rides and then were a little late for the Fantasmic show and got stuck with the great view of a tree in our faces. We stood there moving our heads back and forth for a few minutes until we decided it wasn't worth it, so we went to ride more rides. I guess I was expecting thrill rides and was expecting to be scared for some reason. After Jake reminded me a few times that Disneyland was made for kids, I was able to chill out and have fun. Lame, I know.

We spent 5 days between Disneyland and California Adventures and it was SUPER fun. We went on almost every single ride in Disneyland, and a select few in California Adventures. We even rode the teacups- which I only ever need to do once. For those of you who have been there before, I HATE the "Honey I Shrunk the Audience" show/ride. You put on these 3D glasses and they do experiments and there is a part where mice get multiplied and then where you are sitting they blow shots of air at your feet so it feels like mice are running by you. FREAKED me out. I lifted my legs up and screamed because i HATE mice more than anything. I don't think I'll go on that one ever again. Other than that, everything was great - I can see why kids love it. We didn't end up taking as many pictures as I had hoped, but here are a few. I guess we'll have to go back so we can take more!

Everyone excited to be standing in line

Outside the Haunted Mansion

The Front Entrance Gate

The Tea Cups - I thought it was so cute!

Sully at California Adventures

I love this stuff. I love it air popped, microwave popped, popped from a pan on the stove, at the movies, or in those little metal things that you can put over the fire. I love it buttered, salted, with cheese, with lemon pepper salt, caramelized, toffeed (is that even a word? well i love it), even plain. Any way you can serve it, I will eat it.

I ate it for dinner tonight. That's one thing I kind of regret - eating a cookie for breakfast, and popcorn for dinner. Whenever we have kids I will have to get better eating habits or they will turn into 5,000 lb monsters. I think my love of popcorn definitely comes from my mom. I can remember her getting bags of cheese popcorn from Krogers and after eating it, my fingers would be completely orange and i would have to suck on my fingers to get all the cheesy goodness off. There's nothing quite like Krogers cheese popcorn.

My mom also had a specific pot she would use to pop it on the stove growing up. I don't know if she ever used that pot for anything else but popcorn, and boy did it always turn out super tastey. It had a specific taste because of that pot.

I loved when she would make caramel popcorn. She would always pop the corn in the pot, then make the caramel and toss it all together in a paper bag (from the Meijer's grocery store). She would lay it out on the dining room table and we would all walk in and out of the dining room throughout the night grabbing handfuls of caramel popcorn. Those were the good old days.


In another random note: I saw this picture in someone's facebook account. For those of you from MI, this is the HUGE Santa Clause at Bronners (the most amazing christmas store EVER). Thought you might like to see what happened after a storm (i hope they were able to put him back together):

Notice the head behind the tree

I ate a $75 piece of steak. And it was DELICIOUS. Was it amazing because i didn't have to pay for it? NO - it was amazing because it felt like it MELTED in my mouth. Talk about never wanting to leave the restaurant.

I had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas last week for a couple days for work. Vegas is full of many of my favorite things - awesome shows, the Rainforest Cafe, amazing hotels, and H&M. It is also full of many of my NOT SO favorite things. I don't want to talk about those.

I stayed in the Palazzo hotel while I was there - it's attached to the Venetian and it is BEAUtiful. I stayed in one of the suites and it was definitely sweet. I had three TV's, a remote for the curtains for the window, a jetted tub (with a tv in the bathroom so I could watch while I was taking a bath), and stale gummy bears in the cupboard. The hotel was great, and I had a nice time sleeping in a humungous bed all by myself - although I stayed to one side, so I could have had a smaller bed. One thing I didn't like were the towels. They felt like sandpaper on my face, which no one likes. If I could change one thing it would be the towels (oh, and the stale gummy bears that i had to eat for dinner one night because it was too late for room service).

The night before I left to come back home, my boss took some of us to eat at The Cut. It's a restaurant by Wolfgang Puck, and it was awesome. I don't think I will ever eat like that again. I decided to go all out and order a 10 oz. New York Strip that was from a cow from asia. I guess they feed it special stuff to make the meat so tender. I think they also soaked it in butter for weeks, because i felt like I was going to have a heart attack after eating half of it. I couldn't even finish it because it was so rich! I wanted to bring the other half home for Jake to try, but I didn't think it could last that long - and the people in the airport security might look at me weird for bringing a doggy bag with a piece of steak in it.

I also walked to H&M that's on the vegas strip. I usually find tons of things that I LOVE and can't live without, but I walked away with only one pair of gray tights. Talk about lame. That store was so tiny and full of flourescent clothing. I could close my eyes and still see the bright pink and green clothes. I am not big into the eighties - it's not really my style, although I did try to wear a side pony tail in college one night (low on the side, so it looked halfway normal) but i still looked like an idiot. Anyways, i wish I could have gone to the HUGE H&M store further down on the strip, but I didn't feel like getting in another taxi and hearing sob story about how bad the economy is in Vegas - i swear the taxi driver took a HUGE detour on the way from the airport to my hotel so that he could get paid more.

Vegas was fun, but I am now looking forward to Disneyland. And YES - i am going to get a pair of mickey mouse ears and take pictures at EVERY attraction. You have THAT to look forward to...

It Worked!

So Jake and I planted our first ever garden this year to see if we could get anything from it. I decided that even if we just got ONE vegetable then it was a success. I faithfully watered and not so faithfully pulled weeds, but it still worked! We are very proud of our small garden. We planted corn, peas, cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, carrots, squash, lettuce, and green peppers. The peas, cucumbers and carrots didn't really make it, so let's not talk about those. As for the corn, it grew and grew but then was attacked by earwigs. Everytime I peeled back some of the leaves on the corn, tons of earwigs would come out. NOT COOL. The squash grew like CRAZY. It was huge and beautiful, but we don't really enjoy eating squash, so that one was just fun to look at. We will probably not ever plant that again. The watermelon grew (we still have two more out there), but of course I picked it too soon because i was excited and it was NOT ready. The inside was still a light green. BUT, we did get plenty of green peppers and tomatoes. Jake and I decided to make salsa today, so I thought I would take pictures of this momentous occasion!

I LOVE FALL! I don't know what i love more - the crisp air, the fall colors, or the yummy meals of soup and rolls. I know it is probably a bit early to start getting so excited, but it is NOT AUGUST anymore! The first day of September I put away our summer decorations and put up the fall ones. I don't have tons of them, but I love the ones I have. I even got into the spirit and made my own fall wreath for the front door. I love this time of year because I can start wearing my scarves again. I love the fall jackets, the fall colored clothes, and even the fall shoes. It is all just so wonderful! I just wanted everyone to know.

Just to bring you up to speed on our life:

• Our basement now has carpet! The carpet is wonderful and is extremely soft. Jake and I carried our sectional downstairs and I wanted to SCREAM OUT LOUD because parts of it were so incredibly heavy. I am enjoying the fruits of our labor though, and watch the tv that Jake hung above the fireplace while reclining on our sectional. We can finally use the basement and it feels SO good :) This weekend we are putting up our baseboards and trim, then after that all we have to do is finish the tile around the fireplace.
  
• Our front yard is looking AMAZING. If you saw it before, you probably wouldn't even recognize it anymore. The flagpole and spotlight are gone! hooray! The huge rotten pile of rocks is gone, and the front yard is flat! Our wonderful neighbor came over with his bobcat and got rid of all the rocks, and then flattened out our front yard. We planted grass and it is slowly growing. In the spring it should look great!

Oh the joys of home renovations :) We are just living day by day and getting VERY excited to go to disneyland. It will be my first time there, and I hear it is just amazing. Happy Fall!

This is a summary of our past two weeks:

My brother Mike has been staying with us for a couple weeks until BYU starts up again. It's been alot of man time for mike and jake and I have walked in on a few wrestling matches. My friend Shiloh came over the other day and made a remark about how when guys get together they tackle eachother and wrestle, whereas girls normally sit and talk about what's going on in their lives. How funny would it be if when girls got together they tackled eachother and wrestled? I would probably bust out laughing if I saw that. At the end of one wrestling match between Mike and Jake, this was pulled out:

Then mike tried it on and Jake felt a little left out so he made his own mask:

It's been alot of fun with Mike here - he has helped out alot with doing work around our house - cutting down a cherry tree in our backyard, texturing the basement ceiling, priming all the walls and ceiling in the basement and whatever we need help with. It's been great! Jake and mike took the cherry tree down in the backyard with a machete until our hometeacher came over and offered to cut the stump down with a chainsaw.


We went to Zion National Park this past weekend which was alot of fun. We hiked Angel's Landing, Weeping Rock, Emerald Pools, and did the Subway. The Subway is a hike they say is "technical", but you don't really need any extreme gear. We just needed a rope and we were all set! We had to swim in some parts, do some bouldering, and then repel down one part. Here are some pictures of our adventure!

Weeping Rock


This is part of the subway where we had to swim

I think mike looks like he was photo shopped in here

Climbing up Angel's Landing

Creepy Faces in the Subway

This Video is of Mike and Jake running up "Walter's Wiggles". These are switchbacks on the way up to Angel's Landing. I stayed at the bottom and then took my time going up. They are intense!

This video is in the Subway - there were quite a few of these types of "water slides" but this one was on you could actually slide on.

We've had a great past couple of weeks and have gotten alot of things done! We hope you are doing well and enjoying the end of summer! Fall is just around the corner and I am VERY excited :) It is my favorite time of year!

Oh the good old days...

This past week I went to lunch with my friend Dara who is moving this coming week to go back to VA. We met in our first semester of college at BYU. We always talk about how the first time she met me she had walked into our bedroom (we were roomates) and I was reading celebrity gossip magazines on my bed and crying because i missed home. We had alot of fun together and are still good friends! I can't believe it has been about six years since we met each other. I feel really old! So at lunch this week we ate at Pita Pit, which is by the old Baskin Robbins I used to work at during college. I got to talking about the great times at Baskin Robbins and for some reason it reminded me of all the funny dates I had been on in college. I had alot of interesting experiences. I thought I would throw a few out there for you guys to help you think of the crazy dates you have been on!

1. I went on a couple dates with a 17 year old high school graduate and on one of our dates we jumped into a swimming pool with all our clothes on and i walked into my apartment and my roomates looked at me like i was a complete idiot because i was soaking wet. I realized after that date I shouldn't go out with a 17 year old when I was 21.

2. When i was at BYU-I my friend knew a guy in our ward and one time he came over to visit when he got a new car. He asked if I wanted to go on a ride in the new car so i went along. The next night he asked me on a date - the "italian stallion" is what everyone called him. The first night I met him he looked completely normal, but then when he showed up for our date he had his shirt unbuttoned so you could see his chest hair, the hair on his head was slicked back (think the movie grease), and he had a massive chain wallet. He took me to dinner and told me that he thought it would be nice if I played the piano for him while he sang, then after dinner he took me for a ride in his car and told me about how when we got married i could stay home with the kids and I wouldn't have to finish school. I never went out with him again.

3. There was a guy in one of my wards who was an awesome soccer player - and asked me on a date. We played soccer together a few times and had fun so I thought it would be fun. We went on a date and then the next morning he left a rose and a poem written on paper (with burned edges) on my doorstep. My roomates asked him what he meant by that and he told them that he had a good time on our date, but didn't want to go on another one with me. I couldn't stop laughing that he tried to "let me down easy" by putting a hand written poem and a rose on my doorstep.

4. I dated a guy at BYU-I who my roomates and I nicknamed "superfly". After a couple weeks of dating I asked to borrow his truck to go to the grocery store. I got in his truck and discovered foundation (covergirl foundation) under his driver's seat. After I got back from the store I looked at his face and realized that he wore makeup! We didn't date much longer after that.

5. This last one didn't happen in college, but in High School. I went on a date with a guy who said we were going to go someplace "fancy" for dinner and a movie. When he came to pick me up, his friend was in the back seat and came on our date with us. He took me to a drive through place that serves soups and sandwiches. We were running late, so we grabbed our food and drove to the movies. I only got a muffin because i was NOT taking food into the movie. He got a tuna fish sandwich and hid it in his shirt so he could eat it in the movie theater. (if you know me, i HATE the smell of fish, especially tuna). So at the beginning of the movie he broke out his sandwich. A few minutes later the theater manager came in and told him he either needed to throw the sandwich away or finish it outside. ( i am guessing they could smell the tuna all the way out in the hall). So, he went out in the hall to finish his sandwich and then came back in and breathed his rotten fish breath in my face and said "what did i miss?". That was the last date we went on.

I am so grateful I met Jake. We didn't ever go on any awkward dates - it has always been so fun! It's fun to remember all the crazy people I went on dates with before I met Jake.

Skydiving!

I went on my third skydiving trip yesterday. Usually on your third jump (and after the ground school) you can jump by yourself. NO WAY was I doing that. For one, I haven't taken the ground school, and two - i don't trust myself enough to jump by myself. So, I went tandem yesterday. I was able to have my own altimeter and pull the parachute. I was trained out to read my altimeter and pull the parachute about 20 minutes before we jumped. I was super nervous because I didn't want to mess up (of course the guy who i was strapped to could have taken over), but i did it! I did all the things I needed to do in order for us to pull the parachute in time. It was so fun! Learning how to do everything yourself makes it more fun than just hanging out being strapped to someone. If you haven't done it- you should do it! But remember to wear a cap because I didn't and my hair was a crazy mess and super tangley after we were done : )

Fourth of July Fun!

Fourth of July weekend was a fun one! On Friday, Jake's brother was married in the Draper Temple. It was a beautiful wedding, and it was fun to be with his whole family. It was an all day affair; with the wedding in the morning, luncheon, and then the reception that night. Katherine looked beautiful (and steve looked handsome) and it was fun to be at their wedding!

On the fourth, Jake and I had a lazy morning but then decided we needed to get out of the house and do something fun! The "Riverton Town Days" had been going on for a few days so we thought we'd walk down to the fairgrounds and check it out. On the way there we were talking about this ride called "the gravitron" that they used to have at the fairs when we were growing up. We talked about how awesome it was to ride it and how they probably don't have it anymore because it didn't even have anything to strap you in. (If you don't know what ride I am talking about, it is one that looks like a capsule - you walk in, and stand against these pads lining the wall. They shut the door and turn on the lights and then start spinning the capsule really fast. As you are spinning you get "stuck" to the pad and then you travel up and down the wall while you're stuck to the pad. Kids used to lay sideways and then fall onto the ground when the ride was slowing down = NOT SAFE). Anyways, we walked into the fair and to our amazement they had the gravitron! It wasn't called the gravitron - something different, but it was the same thing. That was the only ride we went on. We got in and rode it, and afterwards talked about how we could only ride it once because we felt like we were going to hurl. Not a good idea to drink slurpees right before going on it. After the gravitron we went on the tall slides where you sit on the potato sack. We raced, and of course Jake won. Seeing the slide gave me flashbacks to an amusement park we went to when I was little - King's Island. I went down the same slide and somehow skinned my arm on the slide and had to get ice for it. Doesn't seem like a big deal, but i'll let you in on a little secret: I was nervous to go on it when Jake and I saw it. After the rides we went to the pavillion and played bingo. There were tons of people there so we had to sit on the outside in the scalding sun. Of course I had a black shirt on, so I was super sweaty. Jake won one of the rounds and got a gift certificatae to Bajio. I wasn't as lucky...

After the fair we headed to Jake's grandparent's house for a bbq. It was fun to see his family again and eat lots of food! Happy Belated Fourth of July!

The fair - sorry, no picture of the awesome Gravitron

WARNING: I took these pictures from the photographer's website. I know they would probably get ticked if they saw this, so here is my citing:

Photos courtesy of Mike's Photo
www.mikesphotolifepics.com

THANK YOU VIC for the lovely edible arrangement. This came today for Jake in celebration of his "Officer of the Month". We both loved eating it for dessert! We've always talked about how awesome these are, so thanks!
"This is the first time anyone's ever sent me a real bouquet" (Jake)

On a different note: I was reminded of one of my pet peeves today. I'm sorry if this includes you, but why do people insist on sitting right next to eachother when you are driving? One person in the driver's seat, and then the other person in the middle seat right next to them, when there is NO ONE else in the car? I'm sorry, but that drives me nuts. I saw two people doing it today in a normal car. I don't think there was even a middle seat in the front, so she was probably sitting on a glove compartment. It is incredibly awkward and I don't see the point. If you like to do it- that's cool, just please don't ever ask me to join in.

Officer of the Month!

So a couple weeks ago Jake finally broke the news to me that he was Salt Lake City's Officer of the Month for May. I couldn't believe he waited a couple weeks to tell me. He is super humble - I would have called him the second I found out (if I were given officer of the month) and cheered to him on the phone. He said it so nonchalant, as if it were no big deal. This is time to celebrate! Jake went out of his way to make sure he solved a case that he had been on the night before. He went out and sought the guy out on his next shift. I won't go into too much detail - he can fill you in :) Anyways - he gets to go to a big staff meeting to "receive the recognition he deserves" (as said in his award letter) and he gets to go to lunch with the chief of police. Talk about AWESOME! I am very proud of him - he's such a hard worker and I'm glad he is being recognized!
Here's the website - I am not sure if it will be up much longer, but you can always hit the "archived officers of the month" if you don't see him....click here

Boy it has been a long time! I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats waiting to see what is going on in our lives! I wish I had some amazing things to tell you, but normal life just keeps keepin' on.

Some of my family and I have committed to running a 10k in September so the training begins! Today was the first day of training and it was NOT FUN. I only needed to run 2 miles, but my feet felt like lead, and my chicken fajita dinner came back to haunt me in the form of an excruciating side ache (okay not that bad, but it wasn't a good feeling). When I'm running I like to picture myself on the cover of this magazine:


I hope to someday run like this, but I am afraid to admit I look more along the lines of this:


I didn't go too slow, but I know I can improve! I will try to keep updated on the progress and will definitely post pictures when we complete our first ever 10k!

In other news - Jake did get a new truck. He loves it, which is all that matters. I am glad he found a good thing out of a not so fun situation. An image for your viewing pleasure:

We have been doing alot of fun things lately - we went fishing for my first time ever! Jake has gone before so he helped me figure out how to throw the fishing line out and sit there until a fish comes. I didn't catch anything, but I did get some bites on my bait which was equally exciting. I screamed when it bit my line, which probably scared it away. I am excited to go again - and maybe catch something. Of course I will not touch the fish or eat it - i will give Jake that pleasure. Jake wasn't able to catch anything either, but our friends did catch some small fish.

We went camping a couple weekends ago and had fun with some friends. We went up Provo Canyon and stayed at a campsite with a camp host who wore a kilt. We did all the fun camping stuff - sitting in front of the fire for hours and eating nonstop (hot dogs, smores, roasted starbursts, etc), playing games in the tent, and then hiking in the morning. I LOVE living in Utah. You can drive 20 minutes and be in the mountains to hike or camp, whatever you choose. It is great!

This past weekend our nephew was baptized. My parents flew out, and my sister came down with her family and it was wonderful! We also had another nephew have his baby blessing and were able to see Jake's family. It was great to spend time with both of our families! Nothing is better than hanging out with family. We are off to go boating and camping this weekend with some of Jake's family, and we are excited to be out on the lake. I'll be sure to take pictures!

In other news - I planted my very first garden! I planted carrots, green peppers, squash, watermelon, corn, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes, and lots of lettuce. I am hoping we get at least one piece of fruit or vegetable. I will be happy with just one piece! I decided to start some seeds inside first, and after planting them I only have three seedlings left alive outside. I am guessing i wasn't doing things right because we had a neighbor come over and explain to me how i needed to soak the base of the plants with water, rather than shower them with water. We'll see how it goes!

Our friend Elisa with her prize fish!

Jake getting ready to fish!

Maureen, Austin and me before our 5k "Race for the Cure"

Cutie McKell riding a horse at Thanksgiving Point

Cutie Tyler

Cutie Austin

Grandma and Ellie watching the horses

I knew you were wondering - YES this horse is wearing sunglasses because MAN it was sunny!

Stinkin' Punk Kids...

before you read this, please know that everyone is safe and i would have not been so upset if someone had actually been hurt....

Last night was quite an experience. Jake had just left for work, I was settling in bed watching the great "gilmore girls" when all of a sudden I heard a crazy crash outside. I thought it was a garbage truck (it sounded like a garbage truck slamming it's crane down), but to my suprise I opened the blinds to see this: (click on the pic if you want to see a larger version)

the boy in the cast was NOT in the accident - he is our neighbor and I have no idea what happened to his leg.

sorry about the fuzzy picture - i'm not the best photog

That's right - there is a random car flipped on it's side, slammed into Jake's car. Jake's car was parked on the street when somehow the white car flipped over and totaled both cars. So, I ran outside the house and first came to a lady who was on her cell phone with 911 screaming at me to tell her my address. After I said it about 10 times I ran up to the scene and saw the two punk kids climb out of the driver's side window. I guess at first the driver was knocked out for a minute, but then came to and was fine. He just had a small cut on his hand, and the other kid was fine. After I saw them jump out, i ran inside to call jake and tell him to come home. Of course I didn't know how to handle my emotions and started crying the second I heard his voice. He turned around to come home.

I don't want to go into all the crazy details because I start remembering how ticked off I was, but i will tell you a few key facts:

1. The two punk kids claimed that someone cut them off and they had to swerve out of the way, thus slamming into Jake's car. The two witnesses both stated that there were no cars that cut them off. (how would this happen anyways when we live in a neighborhood where no one can drive fast on the street because there are speed bumps?)
2. The mom of the driver was explaining to Jake how it was sad that this happened because the kid had just gotten his car out of the shop a couple days ago after a "hit and run accident" ( i guess the guy who hit him ran off because he didn't have insurance or something). To say the least I was not feeling one bit sorry for the car or about the money he spent to "supe" his car up.
3. The punk kids called all their friends and probably every family member to come check out the damage. Once again - I was not amused. By the time their car was towed away i think there were 40 friends and family who came to "check out the damage"
4. After Jake's car was towed away and the white car flipped back on it's wheels, the punk driver proceeds to say "Hey guys (announcing to all of his crowd) you wanna see $10k down the tubes?", then opens his hood for all to admire his "stellar" engine or whatever is under there. - once again not amused.

It stinks, but at least no one was hurt. Once again, as in probably every crazy situation, I was the one in hysterics and Jake was extremely calm. It must be that police training. I was about ready to throw some punches once I found out everyone was okay. It was nice to have our neighborhood come out to make sure everything was okay (also to investigate what had happened), and our neighbors help me and jake get everything out of the car and make sure everything was taken care of. It's nice to know that people are there to help. I think Jake's favorite thing about this whole situation is that he can now look for a truck! Oh the joys of car shopping...

Side note - the car was driving down the street the opposite direction it is facing in these pictures. It was driving the same direction Jake's car is faced. So spin, flip, and whatever else it had to do to get into this situation.

On a random note - i know you are all wondering, but I haven't eaten ANY french fries since my last post about Hawaii!

After Jake and I went shopping for new clothes for me tonight I left with nothing. Shopping for clothes always makes me sad. I decided I need to take slow steps to make shopping happier for me! Jake made a bet with me and I HAVE to follow through! If I don't eat french fries for a year (which are my all time favorite thing, besides diet coke) we will go to Hawaii, either on a cruise or trip, for our second anniversary! Starting today I cannot eat ANY french fries. Wish me luck! Hawaii here I come! (in a year)...

So i was looking at the Martha Stewart site, as I so often do when i am trying to not go to sleep, and came across some asparagus recipes. I clicked on the link and flipped through lots of recipes and it made me think... I remember when I was little and I absolutely hated certain vegetables. I hated tomatoes (still to this day - except for in salsa i LOVE them), broccoli, asparagus, green beens, basically anything green that was cooked. I hated steamed vegetables and would always pick them out of anything we had for dinner.

Times have changed....It is funny how tastes change. I now like things that i used to hate eating. I love spinach (not cooked) and like eating roast. I also suprisingly branched out and now love eating some cooked vegetables. I have my sister to thank for the asparagus. She is an amazing cook and can make anything taste good. She made asparagus with mozzarella on it and I LOVED it. Thank you Maureen! I also like it because it can make any meal feel fancy. Just look at this asparagus...doesn't it just scream fancy?

One other thing I discovered I like is edamame. I tried it first when I was at a business lunch and we went to Happy Sumo. Everyone wanted tons of sushi to share between all of us (I do not like sushi or the smell of fish for that matter), so i ate a lunch of edamame. It is the tastiest thing ever. It is the best when you have lots of salt on it, and pop the little soy beans in your mouth...yummy! I introduced it to jake a couple weeks ago when we went to Pei Wei. And the other day i found some in the store! If you haven't ever had any, you definitely should try it.


I know this is a random post, but it's just my thoughts for the night. I have some other fun things to post about later- our trip to vegas, more indoor skydiving, and a fun weekend backyard tilling adventure. But for now, I thought I'd leave all you working people out there with a thought I came across tonight....