Heaven...

During our annual June Utah visit, we stopped at Orson Gygi which has an amazing assortment of baking and cooking supplies. I did not know what to expect but the moment I walked in and saw the huge selection, I knew I was in heaven.  This first picture does not do the store justice.  It was huge!

This is PART of the sprinkle section.  HELLO!!!  $4.99 for a ginormous tub.  You spend that much on a little jar in the grocery store.  I could have bought all of them!

Wall of paper liners.  So many possibilities!

This is now a MUST when we come to Utah.  I can't even imagine what it would be like in December over the holidays.  I highly recommend you visiting if you're ever in the Salt Lake area.  I may have to move to Utah just to visit this store whenever I want.  Better yet, maybe I can find and marry Orson Gygi so I can just have anything I want.  Our reception would be very tasty!

Master of the House

After 2 long years, my Master's journey has almost come to an end. I graduated on Saturday, June 19th at Key Arena.  It was a little anti climatic because I had finals the following weekend and I still have to finish another class in mid July.  I really had no desire to walk but my cohort wanted all of us to go together.  It has been a LONG two years and the eleven teachers in my cohort were exactly what I needed to survive working full time and going to school full time. 

I do have to kindly say that the graduation was extremely boring.  However, I was able to make my long to-do list and plan for the upcoming week.  The difference between my Master's graduation and Bachelor's graduation was having cell phones.  My family and I texted throughout the entire ceremony trying to keep each other alert and listening to the "hidden messages". 

Outside the Key Arena by the fountain at the Seattle Center.

"Master Sister" for spending a lot of time looking over paper after paper over the past two years.

My favorite part of the "graduation weekend" was our CRAB FEST dinner!  I wasn't looking forward to sitting through graduation, but I sure was excited to eat a scrumptious meal!  I enjoyed it so much, I am thinking about going back for my Doctorate just to have another tasty meal.

After getting my Bachelor's Degree, I headed off to Mexico to spend an amazing week in the sun.  I moved to Washington excited to interview and find a job.  I moved into a new apartment with my sister and ready for many new adventures. 

After getting my Master's Degree, I headed home to do more homework, complete 24 report cards and portfolios for my students, move classrooms and prepare for my presentations and finals the following weekend.  I started checking off my to-do list I created during graduation while continually adding new things to it.  In seven years, my life has changed dramatically.  As I look back on my journey the past couple of years, I am grateful for the opportunity to grow.  I didn't think I could accomplish everything I have accomplished. It has been a great lesson of personal growth and sacrifice.  And after all that, I have officially earned the title "Master of the House" given to me by my father.  It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?

Happy 2nd Birthday Tab!

I was fortunate to go and celebrate Tabitha's 2nd birthday this year.  She is an absolute character and has grown up so much...even from when I was there in February.  She was so proud and happy to be turning 2 and enjoyed every moment of her party on Saturday.  On Thursday when she woke up from her nap, she started singing 'Happy Birthday' to herself while waiting for someone to get her.  I just love her so much! 

Tabitha's ABC Book

For Gabrielle's 2nd birthday, I made her an ABC book.  (see here) 

I can't believe Tabitha is already 2 and ready for her own book.  Now each of the girls have their own ABC books that are unique to each of them. 

Elmo Pops!

Tabitha wanted an Elmo birthday party and being the planner Tami is, she started requesting these adorable Elmo pops back in December.  They were very cute on the website but looked hard to make.  I was stressing for months over these pops and I think in the end, they turned out Elmo-licious. 

There were many steps to the process and I was a little slow.  My brother and sister-in-law helped and finished about 5 to my one. 

Gabrielle liked her pop!  She only ate the face...first the nose, then eyes, then a bite to get the mouth. 

This sweet thing kept saying "Elmo Pops" every single day while I was there.  It was adorable.  She was so excited for her Elmo pops.

Tami made these cupcake toppers.  Aren't they adorable? 

Dinner with Morgan Freeman

Here is my story of how a fun filled weekend with good friends turned into a quiet weekend with Morgan Freeman. 

Spring Break is starting this week and I made plans over a month ago with my good friend Mary to visit her and her family in Twisp, WA. They all moved there a few years back and I have not been over to visit. I was excited for the time off to go visit. Mary and I communicated almost every day about what we were going to do. Eat, shop, eat, hike, eat, scrapbook, eat.

 (Mary and her family-minus the boys…of course I didn't photo shop myself in J)

 (Me and Mary a few years back)

 On Thursday, I dropped off my mom, sister and roommate at the airport to enjoy their Easter weekend in Utah. I went home to start packing to leave on Friday when I notice the weather report. That dreaded weather report… "Expect 1 foot of snow in the pass and local areas". After arguing with the weather forecast for quite awhile and realizing I was not going to win, I gave up the fight and had to call off the fun filled Twisp weekend.

(Twisp: what could have been so beautiful) 

That left me plan-less, friend-less, roommate-less and family-less. In other words, alone. I usually love being alone but wasn't looking forward to this on Easter. I woke up Friday morning with the thought in my head, "You can still enjoy your Easter weekend by yourself!" I made a decision to still have a good Easter even if I was a little lonesome. Sunday was General Conference (Mormon Definition: A conference that happens 2 times a year – April and October – where the leaders of the church share incite, wisdom and council with all the members of the church across the world. In order to reach the masses across the world, you are able to watch it at home via the internet. This means, you can (and I do) stay in your sweats while attending church. You can find more info here.) I always enjoy conference, and loved that it was held on Easter Sunday this year. Here's a look at my day:

 

 Instead of boring cereal for breakfast, I made myself yummy Dutch Babies. Yum! You can tell I was paying attention to conference because I added ¼ cup too much flour into the mix and they turned out a lot thicker than usual. Still very tasty!

 

 I continued to watch conference cuddled up on the couch with the illusion of a fire burning.

 I finished watching conference by preparing my family's traditional Easter dinner.

 

What Was Tradition: ham, company potatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, lots of dirty cooking dishes
What Wasn't Tradition: pre-cooked ham, watermelon, cupcakes (we usually have strawberry shortcake), not having my mom's homemade bunny rolls (Yes! She does actually shape them into bunnies), one place setting

After a great morning and afternoon of uplifting stories, I had a strong desire to watch March of the Penguins. It must have been the talk about the cattle herding and motherly love??? So, as my meal was coming to completion, I decided to watch March of the Penguins during my Easter dinner so I wasn't alone in silence. Morgan Freeman actually was just what I needed in the background. His voice was soothing and we had a great conversation about monogamy, child bird birth, unbelievable trials and true love. I will admit, there were a couple times I did make a couple comments out loud. It's hard not to when you are in such good company.
Well, that was my story of how I had dinner with Morgan Freeman.

Morgan and I both hope you all had a wonderful Easter!