Secret Words

I spoke in Sacrament Meeting today. My friends and I have a little game we like to play. Every time one of speaks in church, we think of a funny word they have to use in their talk.

It all started when I challenged Melinda to use the word "bun" in her talk. She didn't think she could do it and keep a straight face, but our friend Jayna did. And boy, did she! She made up a whole story about who knows what, but it involved her putting her hair up in a bun. And we were off.

After that, Betsy Johnson had to use the word "lunch." But drawn out, like this: "lllllunch." She did it.

Somehow I have come out the loser in this scenario, speaking three times since the game began. I have had to use "moist" ("I'm nervous, so if my forehead is moist please ignore it"), "throbbing" ("you know those moments when you get up to bear your testimony and your heart is throbbing") and today I used the word "lunge" ("please don't lunge to your feet to give me a standing ovation after this talk"). Others have been challenged to use "bulge" (which was turned into "bulging* congregations") and "pungent" ("the pungent smell of car exhaust").

I love this game.

*Yes, it is a bit of a foul to change the word to another tense. The integrity of the game is best preserved when you use the word in its original form.

Seminary Graduation

We recently had Seminary graduation, which was a proud moment since I have been with these lovely young women for three years. It was quite the adventure because our power had been out for several hours. I had to unhook my garage door to even get my car out. And the graduation was done in the chapel in the dark. Thank goodness for iPhone apps which helped the speakers read their talks. And luckily it does get darker later now so there was some light through the windows streaming in. I like to get the graduates a little gift to celebrate the occasion and this year gave temple slippers to each along with a thought about having a goal to make it to the temple and saving these shoes for then.

Scroll forward to this week's activity at the Family History Library. I see our graduated Priest trying to catch my attention and excitedly showing me that he was in fact wearing those temple slippers. I told him that he was supposed to save them for when he got to the temple. He said that he wouldn't be going to the temple for a while, so he was wearing them. Lovely . . . not quite what I imagined with my hopefully sentimental gift that I had gotten with my own recommend. Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry and here's to hoping that he makes it to the temple someday.

Lady and the Tramp

Growing up, we had a trampoline, and I loved it! I loved performing tricks, sliding across it when the sprinklers were on and sleeping outside on it during the Summer. Alas, once we got older, the trampoline had to go to the farm with all of the other trampolines who have been retired. I thought that my days of jumping on a trampoline were over, because you know, I'm old and could break a hip. Well my friends, my hips and I are back!

My friend, Kris, told me about this delightful class called Airobics, which is offered at this joint: http://www.airbornesports.com/, and I tell you, my life will never be the same. Last week, a group of us went, because your first class is free! I was beyond delighted when I walked in and found a room filled to the brim with trampolines! Our pocket sized instructor arrived, and like Van Halen said, we might as well jump. Pretty soon we were flying through the air, and I was happy as a lark. I had forgotten how much fun jumping is! The class flew by, (pun intended) and I even came thisclose to sweating! But the best part came at the end of the class when we got to fly into what we lovingly called the foam pit of death!

I'm pretty sure I looked like as I soared through the air:Graceful, right?

And this is what I looked like afterward, when I could not for the life of me haul myself out!


It was real hard! Don't worry, I eventually made it out. I have not laughed that hard in a long time, and I shall return. So if you live within a 10 mile radius of me, buckle up because I will be taking you with me!

We Bit Off More Than We Could Chew

I may or may not have mentioned before that I quite enjoy eating out. I know I hide it well, since only 87% of my posts are food related, but I really do love food, and it's even better if the food is delicious. So, imagine my sheer and utter delight when Salt Lake magazine decided to sponsor an event that consisted of me getting to eat food all night! Yes, please! This magical event was Tastemakers of Salt Lake, and it consisted of twenty different restaurants providing samples of their food for one low price!

Julie and Kristen joined me in putting on our stretchy pants, and we headed downtown. This was a two day event, and most normal people spread out the eating over those two days. Because you know, twenty different items of food is kind of a lot. But not us. For some reason, we thought that the samples would be small, and that we wouldn't get that full. Wouldn't you know it, math is hard, and we figured wrong!

Our first stop was a tent that had six or seven restaurants in one location, and we found that we loved the Park City representatives, Talisker on Main and Easy Street, which served us some freaking amazing lobster mac and cheese. They did not appreciate it when I tried to slather it on like lotion as a keepsake, so we had to leave that area pretty quickly. This picture doesn't show it, but those little cones contain some serious nuggets of mac and cheese love:

I was distracted from the task at hand when I was served some food by this incredibly handsome chef.

If loving him is wrong, then I don't want to be right! When I was informed that he was not my free sample, my elastic-waisted pants and I had to move on to other tents. :( But we loved walking around downtown, eating delicious food, and seeing fun gadgets like these little guys:

By the end of the night, we were Thanksgiving full, and we had to call it quits after 17 restaurants.
While I am still incredibly full, we had a great time, and next year, we plan to attend both days so that we can conquer all twenty items!

Shouldn't Someone Tell Her?

In my Sacrament Meeting program today, I read this:
Indexing: Contact Gennie Hooker at xxx-xxx-xxxx or lghooker@yahoo.com

I'm actually surprised this email address was still available.

But seriously, does she not know? And if she doesn't, who is going to tell her?

Food Truck Race

A few weeks ago, the Food Network show, the Great Food Truck Race, was headed to Salt Lake for filming. I watched it last year and thought it was fun, so luckily Kristen was available to travel around with me. I had commitments most of the day and had a small window of time when I could get to Salt Lake and we could see which trucks we could find. There were supposed to be 7 trucks coming here and five of them were supposed to be in one location, so we started there. However, only two trucks showed up at the first location - a grilled cheese truck that wasn't open yet and our local Chow Truck that was open and doing a great business with everyone who had braved the rain and snow! (so sick of this weather!) like we had. We started there and had the monthly taco special which was a pork belly taco. And, boy, was it good. I have a love for all things bacon, so a taco with pork belly . . . yes please. And we ended with a peanut butter and jelly slider. Some women in line were raving about it, which made me want to try it even more, and it was yummy. We couldn't wait any longer for the grilled cheese truck to open, so off to our next location. There we found three trucks - one in the race from San Diego called Devilicious and two local trucks. We got in line, paid our money, and only then were told that the San Diego truck had run out of food. Turns out a local man who was also waiting in line offered to get them food and had gone to the grocery store and everyone in the parking lot was waiting. Apparently the Food Network only gives them a small amount to start and they have to make sales throughout the day to get more money for more food. Waiting for the food took longer than expected - and if we hadn't already paid - we would have bailed for sure. Finally, the man came with the food, which was a great story they got on camera, and just like that they were out of food again because of all the orders they had taken. So, another man volunteered to go again. While we were waiting, we sampled food from the other local trucks and it was just okay. When we did get our food from the racing truck . . a BBBLT with what else - bacon and a fried egg on top, a special grilled cheese and some apple fritters . . . yum! But, it was raining/snowing again and we were stuck eating in the car . . . not to mention my short time was up. I wished I had all day to follow along and race, but we did get some good food. And, it will be fun to watch when it's on again this summer.

Bieber Fever. . . Never Say Never

I was telling my co-worker that I had not only watched, but actually paid to see, the Justin Bieber documentary, Never Say Never, and . . . I liked it. I had heard that it was pretty good, so took a chance this weekend and watched it and even I was surprised that I liked it. From this, my co-worker was stunned and thinks that I have now lost all my reasonable judgment and any credibility. Come on . . . who's with me? Has anyone else seen it? Perhaps my stapler-loving twin, Kim? What did you think? Or, perhaps it's just me with the tweens.

You Go, Denise!

My friend showed me this today, and I was rolling all afternoon:

Dear GOD,
If we come back as something, please don't let me be Jennifer Horton because I hate her.
-Denise

Preach it, Denise. I know some Jennifer Horton's myself.

New Favorite Office Supply

I have always been a sucker for office supplies. When I was little, I would create a play office in the basement and stock it with supplies and the all-important red phone. Today, I could peruse Office Max and Staples all day long. I try to keep my home office stocked with every kind of paper, clip and various other supplies so that I am ready for anything. I had always thought that the Swingline stapler was the way to go . . . thank you Milton and OfficeSpace. However, our legal department introduced me to this little beauty, which has become my new favorite. If you have ever had papers jam or the stapler not go through all the way, or your fingers hurting from so much stapling, this is for you - the Paper Pro. With one light touch this baby can go easily through 25 sheets. Since I had my very own ordered and delivered, I have been inviting people into my office to try it. So fun . . . and, yes, I'm a dork.

Family Night Fun

We recently had a family home evening activity at Fat Cats. We enjoyed pizza, drinks, bowling and games . . . so fun! We sure love spending time with our family . . . especially our cute little kids.

Aiden and Grandpa

Jena and Maia

The boys . . . trying to intimidate the competition

Jacob and Melinda

Emma and Sara

Grace

Grace was the best cheerleader . . . encouraging everyone. She was great with Maggie and always helped her roll her ball down.

And this is Grace willing her ball down the lane.

Jacob ready to go

Emma . . . so excited with her winning score

At the end of the night . . . Jena was done and Sara, Maggie and Grace wanted just one more ride.

#6: Make a Perfect English Custard Sauce - DONE!

Once upon a time, when I did my study abroad in London, we all lived together in a great big flat. We had the most lovely couple – Tony and Tina – who lived in the flat with us and took care of it (and us). Tina, bless her, made all the meals for the 60 of us every night, and she was an amazing cook. My favorite thing she made us was her custard. We don’t have anything like it in America. It’s a vanilla-y sauce that you can put on anything (though it was best on Tina’s bread pudding).

Ever since I got back, I’ve been wanting to re-create that custard sauce. And who better to help me than my friend Allison, who was there with me in London and got to experience Tina’s custard nirvana firsthand? (Beth – wish you were here!)

Together we embarked on the rather complex directions. I even used a real vanilla bean for the first time! Here I am smelling it:

The result? We both agreed it wasn’t as thick as Tina’s custard, but the taste was pretty darn good. And served up over – what else? – bread pudding, it almost made me feel like I was back in the London Centre dining room. Almost.

And after Allison left, I stood over the sink and licked the ladle.

Get the recipe we used here:

http://www.joyofbaking.com/CremeAnglaise.html

I'll Take My Chances

I was minding my own business heading in to work the other day. I was sitting at a light by the City and County building in downtown SLC. You know how they have those sweet bright orange flags that you are supposed to proudly take with you when you cross the street so that cars can see you? Well, I watched two punk guys take those flags, stuff them down the front of their pants, and then proceed to cross the street. No lie! We definitely had clear visibility of them. I think from now on I'll take my chances on just crossing the street sans flag. Yuck!

Mother's Day Memories

Julie, Mom with Brent, and Brian

Mom and Dad with twins, Emma and Jacob. Oh, how Mom loved our little kids!

We love and admire the mothers in our lives and are grateful we get to be a part of of the lives of our nieces and nephews. We may be biased, but we think our little kids are the best! And that is thanks to their awesome parents. We are also grateful for the time we had and everything we learned from our sweet Mom. I have a quote by Abraham Lincoln in my house that I love, "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel mother". So true. And a shout out to the best Dad who got his daughters a bouquet of roses to celebrate the day. He's the best!

Dear Melinda . . .

Ti Amo! I can't believe I didn't include this in the San Antonio recap. This is a belated birthday present for you. Enjoy! RIP Laura Branigan.

Rub a Dub Dub

One of the things I miss about the singles ward is watching the parade of back rubs in all of the meetings. The people in the family ward just don't have time for it, as they are busy chasing their children and frankly, most of them have given up at this point. But the singles know how to do it right! At any one time you can be surrounded by a variety of back rubs, with different patterns, angles and moves with high degrees of difficulty. A few years ago, there was a guy who would get his back rubbed by a different girl every week, so we would play, "Who's Rubbing *Breg Bith's Back?" and the weekly winner would get a small prize. That's not considered gambling at church, right? I hope not, because that's how I got the down payment for my car.

On Sunday, a new couple in my ward came to play! This was their second week at church, so nobody really knew much about them. Well, we do now! They have now been dubbed the inappropriate backrubbers, because boy howdy, it was awkward. They walked into Sunday School and of course sat on the front row so they that everyone could see them from all sides. The wife stated to rub her husband's back in a fairly normal manner. After about 5 minutes of this, she started to dib her elbows into him, and was kneading his back like a loaf of sourdough. This apparently was not good enough, because she then took BOTH hands, thrust them onto his shaved head, and proceeded to give him a deep tissue scalp massage. For 20 minutes. This combo went on for the entire 50 minutes! I kept waiting for her to brace her foot on the piano to really get some leverage. But, she was working really hard, so I tipped her on my way out.

*Name has been carefully changed to protect the skeezy guy.

Just the Crows and the Beef

I was at the Winco Foods yesterday (when I go there, you know I'm desperate), and I always think it's interesting to see what people buy. The man in line ahead of me had obviously sent his wife back to get something while he waited. She returned with a package of meat and...a package of temporary tattoos. Because, why not?

As soon as I saw it, it reminded me of a great scene from Parks and Recreation:

PS. Remember the time I called Parks and Recreation a "boring wasteland?" I tried it again a few weeks ago, and I LOVE it. Here are a few more of my favorites:

Favorite New App

Brent introduced me to one of my new favorite apps . . . the Mozy Online Backup. I learned a very expensive lesson a few years ago about the importance of regularly backing up my computer. Thanks to Mozy, my computer is backed up regularly, which is such a relief. Now, they have a new app where I can link to my computer backup from my phone. It's the best! While I am at the store I have looked up a family recipe, I have been able to search through family photos, found a file for a church lesson, retrieved clip art . . . literally anything on my computer at my fingertips and boy have I been using it. Loving Mozy!!

Love it.

I love this kid's little face.

#25: Give Something Up for Lent: DONE!

I did it - I gave up candy for 40 days!

Not only did I bypass the candy dishes at work, but I did not partake even when the Bird gals got together and made candy during the Priesthood session last month. Check another off the list.

And when Easter arrived, my Dad made sure I had my favorite: a Cadbury egg ready and waiting.

San Antone

We were looking to try somewhere different for a vacation, so we planned a trip to San Antonio over Melinda's April birthday hopeful that we would find some sunshine. As soon as we touched town, we knew we had left the desert since our hair started to immediately curl up.

Highs:

1. Going to Dough Pizzeria on Melinda's actual birthday. Apparently they were featured on Diners Drive Ins and Dives just a few weeks earlier, so us and everyone else, were there waiting at least an hour and a half to get in. But, boy, was it worth it. We actually loved the pizza in San Antonio way better than the Mexican food. The pizza at both Dough and Grimaldi's was yummy. At Dough, after the pizza, we had this amazing dessert . . . panna cotta with caramel and macerated cherries . . . yum!

2. We loved the location we were at. The hotel was about 15 minutes away from downtown San Antonio and they had so much to do right at the resort. Mom would have loved the huge porches and rocking chairs that were placed all over. I was giddy about the weekly schedule you were provided with activities happening all throughout the days. Each night they had movies on the lawn (with popcorn!) and you go to roast your own s'more . . . what could be better! One of our favorite things was hanging out at the pool . . . yay for sunshine! And ordering and having food delivered right to our chair. We snarfed chips and salsa and guaacamole and cold beverages and were in heaven.


3. Melinda and I took a "Foodie Tour" around San Antonio trying samples from different restaurants.

Our first stop had this sweet decor throughout. Nice, right?

And, Luther's made us feel right at home. Of course, my favorite part was finding a nice cold fountain Coke to sip in between stops.


We were on the tour with people from Alaska to South Carolina and lots of places in between. Another Diners and Drive In stop was The Cove that is, get this, a car wash, a laundromat and a restaurant. Not to mention it serves organic, fresh food. The fish tacos were delish!

Kristen wasn't on the tour with us, so we brought her back a scrumptious chocolate cake . . . and 3 forks. It didn't last long!


We ventured into San Antonio and ate some yummy food, took a riverboat cruise and toured around the Alamo.




On Easter Sunday we had an incredible brunch at the hotel and then went to find the temple nearby. The grounds were closed, but it was a lot of fun to see.


Our lows of the trip included the humidity and our first meal at Tiago. Other than that, we had a lot of fun together and area ready for our next adventure city.