March Recap

Oh, I knew I should've written this a while ago. Do you really expect me to remember clear back to March?! Sigh.... Alright. I will try my best.

* Date-night-movie-of-the-month was non-existent once again. Sad, I know! But, never fear, I think we have found a couple to do some baby-sitting trading with. Be sure to check out the April Recap once it's posted - we got our movie night thanks to them!

* Surprise Party! Early in the month we went to a 50th surprise party for the wife of one of the teacher's at the school (she actually used to work at WSSB a few years ago). She was told she was going to a St. Patrick's themed party and showed up in green, complete with a shamrock antenna headband! Meanwhile, everyone else was dressed in purple - her favorite color. Yeah, she was pretty surprised!! The couple who hosted had the most kid-friendly dog I have ever seen. It was a black lab and he was SO GOOD with Ethan. They played fetch for quite a while and most of the time he could catch the ball after the first bounce, then drop it back at Ethan's feet. They were instant friends!

* Girls Night Out... times two! It's been a little weird for me to be the "new girl" in the ward. The first group sorta ended up kidnapping me when I was a little late meeting up at one of their houses (I was running behind, so I was just going to meet them at the restaurant) but I was glad they did. We went to dinner to celebrate a birthday, then had ice cream sundaes and played the game 'Ticket to Ride: Europe' at one of their homes. It was a fun evening and great to meet some new people! The second night out was just a few days later when I met up with a big group from the ward for appetizers/dessert at Applebee's to celebrate all the March birthdays. Another late night, but so fun to get to know the women outside of church.

* Bad CAR-ma. March was not a good month for our poor vehicles. Mid-month Sean got side-swiped on his way to work early one morning. Of course, this was one of few times a month that he drives the Explorer because I had drove the "commuter car" Honda down to Oregon to work. My poor baby! And yes, I am referring to the vehicle! Why did the nice car have to be hit?! Luckily, the damage is just on one side and mainly limited to the passenger door on the driver's side. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, about a week later the Honda died on Sean's way home from work! Ethan and I had to go pick him up. We were hoping for just a dead battery, but as luck would have it, the distributor assembly had gone out. A $250+ part. But it is repaired and back in our possession. Oh yeah, loved getting that estimate from the mechanic - had completely forgotten about the sales tax... even on car repairs. Blech!

* Culinary adventures. I tried my hand at a couple new recipes this month including cooking a whole chicken! They were on sale at Fred Meyer and I decided to take the plunge. After a brief moment of panic and a pep-talk phone conversation with my friend Danae, I ended up rubbing the bird down with salt, quartering some fresh lemons to insert in the cavity and then also putting some fresh lemon slices between the skin and breast meat. It turned out so good!! I was very excited and will definitely do it again. Also on the menu that night was homemade cornbread, garlic-pepper sauteed green beans and real mashed potatoes. The potatoes were courtesy of my lovely husband who washed, peeled, chopped, cooked and mashed . My mashed potatoes usually consist of a cup of potato pearls from our food storage thrown into a pot of boiling water and buttered to perfection. I enjoy both versions!

This was Sean's plate. A whole chicken works out great for us - I eat the breast meat and he enjoys the legs and wings. If you ask me, though, his plate was lacking a little in green beans!

My other cooking first was stuffed manicotti. I saw the shells at the grocery store and decided to make them on a whim. That night's menu included 3-cheese stuffed manicotti with marinara sauce, green salad, cheesy garlic rolls and key lime tarts. There was a dual-purpose for this meal, though. I made a full recipe of everything and took half over to my cousin and his family. His wife, Steph, had thrown her back out earlier that week and I was hoping to ease her burden a little - seeing as they have 2 small boys and my cousin is an accountant (aka a super-busy guy during tax season!). Luckily, she was able to get into the chiropractor and was feeling much better by the time we were able to come on Friday (since I work in Oregon Wed/Thurs) so it was fun to be able to visit with them!

* Random Pictures!!

It was a long day...

He's quite the acrobat!


Trying to get a mommy/Ethan shot...

Didn't realize the zoom was still on...

Zoom turned off, but now no smiles...

Got a smile, but now I am a floating head!! Oh, well - we tried!

And this is a shot Ethan got of me... not too bad.


Arms filled with that day's must-have treasures.

Treasures included: VW bug, fruit snack, important piece of paper and Lightning McQueen car. All the essentials!