Surprise! Suprise! A Pretty Surprise for Cinderelli!

My favorite movie to quote when it comes to birthdays is from Cinderella.

"Dah, dah... Happy Birthday!" - Gus, the fat mouse. It's not much of a quote. It's mostly in how he says it...

So this is now a month late - but I am officially wishing myself a belated happy birthday. Truthfully, this post is late because I was waiting for the perfect picture to go along with it. I had it all planned out in my mind, but the opportunity never presented itself. Oh well.

My actual birthday was on a Wednesday and I had to work. (Well, I think if I had really tried I might have been able to find someone to work, but Ryan had to work anyway and what was I going to do all day without him? Better to get paid on your birthday, right?)

So we had a joint celebration for James and myself on Sunday since our birthdays are 5 days apart. We also celebrated two of my nieces birthdays, but they just turned 2 and didn't really know the difference.


As always, it was fun to hang out with the family and enjoy some delicious birthday cake, ice cream and unwrap some wonderful gifts. Thanks family!

Wednesday before work, Ryan and I went to the gym and then went to celebrate my birthday with Denny's. Yum!!! They just so happened to have a tropical theme going on so I was able to get some pancakes with coconut whipped topping, macadamia nuts and pineapple chunks along with my bacon and eggs. So good!

Work was fairly normal. I was lucky enough to only have to work a 6 hour shift instead of 12. When I got off I hung out with Ryan for a while and then took myself window shopping and then off to clean the car. By the time I got around to washing the car it was almost 9 pm and totally dark. The whole time I was scrubbing away frantically at one of those outdoor do-it-yourself joints, I was praying, "Please don't let anyone mug me! Please don't let anyone hurt me! This is by far the stupidest thing I have done in a long time. I promise I will never do it again. Please let me make it out alive!" Thankfully that prayer was answered and no strange men decided to attack a lone blond chick cleaning her car in the dark. Lesson learned. Funny thing was, in the morning I noticed what a horrible job I had done. There were still bugs plastered to the front. It didn't even look like I had done anything. Well - that's another reason not to was the car alone at night.

Anyway, the following day I had a few piano lessons in the morning. When I returned I noticed a present sitting in the middle of the living room. It was a 14 inch Lodge Dutch Oven! Ryan and I have both been wanting a bigger dutch oven for a while now - and a birthday was a perfect excuse. Ryan had filled the inside with candy and a gift card to Joann's Fabric! Is that boy sweet or what?! Something for our outdoorsiness and something for my feminine side (and sweet tooth too). I love him so much! Which, I think that if anyone wants to come over before the weather gets too cold, we should make some cobbler in the dutch oven and enjoy the deliciousness!



We also went out to eat at our favorite place - Mi Ranchito! Seriously so good. Get #6. Two Beef Tacos. Sounds simple - and it is, but there is just something about it... Fantastic stuff. And get the strawberry daiquiri (non-alcoholic of course) to go along with it if you can. :)

It was a very chill, but good birthday.

Now, going back for a minute, you may be wondering why, on my birthday, I would choose to wash the car at 9 pm by myself. Well, it all goes back to that desire for the perfect picture. The one that still doesn't exist...

A couple weeks before my birthday I decided to "buy" myself a gift. I came home one day and forced a worried confession look onto my face. I told Ryan that I had bought myself a gift. A big one. An expensive one. He looked at me curious - not at all upset, but the wheels were certainly spinning. I told him it was in the car - too big for me to bring in. I took him upstairs and outside. As we approached the car I jumped into my cheerleader presentation stance with my arms showcasing the car. He looked at me, and then the car, and then back to me as realization dawned,

"You paid off the car?!" he asked.

"Yup! I paid it off! Happy birthday to me!!!"

At that he threw his arms around me and gave me a big hug. We had planned to pay it off before baby came, but I was going to draw it out a few more months and pay it in smaller chunks. But I decided to just pay it off as a birthday present.

The title arrived later that week. It was for this reason that I wanted the car to be all cleaned and spiffy so I could take a picture with the title. Maybe I still will. But I don't want to put of posting any longer. I am so very far behind as it is.

So here it is - our 2008 Toyota Highlander, purchased Sept of 2009. This picture was taken the day we bought it. It has been the best purchase ever. I love the way that it drives. It gets great gas mileage. Plenty of room. And it has been amazing for all of our trips. Certainly big enough for our new 14 inch dutch oven and baby on the way cause you better believe we will be taking this little guy camping and fishing. :)

I suppose it is appropriate that I postponed this post for a while because I had a funny experience this week. Wednesday night I ordered a book off Amazon. Friday night I had a package from Amazon in the mail. I was very much surprised, but also very impressed. I thought to myself, "I have got to give them a 5 star rating!" I opened the package and found that the book inside was not the book I had ordered at all, but instead 'The Hiding Place' that I had read earlier this year. I looked for a shipping slip, but there was none. The outside had a returned mailing address in Nevada, but no explanation. I was immensely confused. I had looked at buying that book months ago - right after I read it. I loved it so much it was one I really wanted to own. But I never bought it. In fact, I never even put it in my shopping cart or on my wish list on the time. Just looked. I simply didn't know what to do. I checked my credit cards and emails and couldn't find anything related to the purchase. I decided to leave it sitting on my desk for a few days while I tried to decide what course of action to take.

Finally today I sent a text to my sister and to my best friend Nicia to explain the situation. My sister said it was certainly bizarre, but maybe someone had sent it to me. Nicia responded almost right after that said, "Hmm... no packing slip huh? So there was no note that said losa - happy birthday (a month late!) I love you. - Nicia in there? Because if there was one in there that is what it would have said! :) (which p.s. it was suppose to!)

Hahahaha. Oh my Nicia. How well she knows me. And to think that I fretted about it for days trying to decide what to do when all along it was a birthday gift! Well thanks Nicia! And if anyone still hasn't read it yet - what are you waiting for?! Read it!

What's The Point of Jam Without Bread?

Yesterday Ryan and I had the opportunity to go to the Lindon Cannery to help can peaches. I have been to the cannery twice before in my life - but both were before Ryan and I were married. One was dry pack - which I don't remember what we were doing, and the other time was for none other than peaches!
We signed up for a 3.5 hour shift, which seemed pretty daunting, but the opportunity is worth it. When we first arrived, the lady at the sign in desk asked me if I was pregnant. For a split second I was afraid they were going to turn me away. Instead, she told me that the earlier shift had a pregnant girl who wasn't even showing yet (but told them she was pregnant) pass out while on the floor. She cautioned me to be very careful and that if I started feeling dizzy, lightheaded, or needed a drink or a break to just walk away. Grateful for the word of caution, we went out onto the floor to get our assignments. As I looked around I realized there really is no place that would be "good" to pass out. Nothing but hard floors, equipment, and platforms. Poor girl.

Ironically, Ryan and I were placed in the exact same spot that I was assigned years ago when I came with my mom. We were the head of the line, the ones at the front of the conveyor belt. Our job was to sort out the peaches as quick as we could, looking for ones too small or too squishy. Ryan was also in charge of controlling how fast them came down and stopping the system if the other stations were getting too behind. We had a few bumps along the way, but we worked out a nice system and had things moving at 100% capacity for the majority of the time.

For the most part the shift went by pretty fast. It is super loud in there, so conversation is limited. Several times I looked up to see Ryan practicing his fly fishing cast in between loads of peaches. I just laughed. At last I heard him yell, "30 more minutes!" Unfortunately at that point I felt it should have been well past that - but at least things were winding down. Thankfully I couldn't see the clock, so I wasn't watching it constantly. After what seemed like at least 10 minutes, Ryan yelled, "25 minutes!"

"Stop it!" I shouted back, laughing. "I don't want to know! It's making it worse!"

Another "10" minute interval went by and Ryan shouted,

"22 more minutes!"

"Ahhh! Stop!!!!" Those last 22 minutes were painfully long, but at long last our replacements came and we stumbled out the door.

Even though we were tired and hungry, being able to serve out there really is a neat experience. I strongly suggest taking the chance if you are ever offered the opportunity to serve there or somewhere like it. It is amazing to see the mass amounts of food that can be produced to help those in need. And it really would be impossible without the help of volunteers. I know that service is a vital part of things, and I frequently feel that I am not doing enough. But I often feel at a loss on things I could do or ways I could serve. So this was a wonderful chance for me to give of my time. (And it gave me a good appreciation for my job. I admire those that work on assembly lines. I don't think I could do it! It's hard work!)

Another perk of helping out there is that you are then able to buy a few products they have available. This time they had salsa, spaghetti sauce, strawberry jam and marionberry jam. Ryan decided he wanted to get the salsa, spaghetti sauce, and marionberry jam (which was described as something like a blackberry jam). I asked him if he really wanted to get a whole case of jam since he really doesn't eat it much. He responded simply,

"Well that's cause we don't ever have homemade bread."

It was not meant as a jab. Just a statement of truth. We both love homemade bread, but it's time consuming. And besides, I have never attempted homemade bread in my life. Meaning white or wheat bread. I can make banana bread and such, but anything involving the whole yeast, raising, punching down, raising, punching down again process is intimidating to me!

We bought the case of jam anyway with the hope that someday we would have bread worth eating it with.

Well today after church I decided to make some banana bread since I had 4 overly ripe bananas. One loaf was the intention, but 4 bananas was perfect for doubling the recipe. As the bread was baking in the oven, I decided to look in my recipe book and read the instructions for white bread and see what it would really take. (My coworker gave me a recipe of his mom's but I couldn't remember where I put it.) And just like that I decided to jump in. Ryan was going to be gone for hours between home teaching and care center assignments anyway, so it seemed like a good excuse.

I don't have an electric mixer, so I had to follow the "by hand" directions, which is tough by the way, and soon I had a good mound of dough which I left to rise - hoping that I got the yeast right and that it would work.

40 minutes later I came back to discover that it had doubled in size, just like it said, and I very enthusiastically punched it back down and divided into the two smaller pieces it called for.


I followed the next several steps and managed to get it in the oven shortly after Ryan came home. It said to cook it for 40-50 minutes, but I am pretty sure it had only been in there 20 by the time we checked on it and it was definitely done. Not sure if my oven just cooks really hot or what...

Anyway, doesn't it look good? The loaf on the right is a little short a squatty. It didn't fill out the way I thought it would - but oh well. I have years left ahead of my to practice my loaf shaping skills. It takes a lot of time, but the results are worth it.

I cannot express how proud of myself I am. First homemade bread ever! And it was good! It was a little dense, but not in a bad way. And like I said - I have lots of time to practice and try different recipes and techniques. So eat your heart out Ryan! Your little wife is turning into a homemaking queen!

Realization

Thursday night, Ryan and I were invited to a BBQ at our neighbor's home. We were a little surprised by the invite, but decided we definitely wanted to go. We didn't know what to expect or who else would be there. As we rounded the corner to their house, we noticed another young couple from our ward crossing the street heading to the same place we were. Ryan jokingly said, "What is this? A young couple BBQ?" (The couple that invited us have 5 kids and the dad is a member of the Bishopric.) Once we were inside, we both laughed as we realized that yes, that is exactly what it was. There were about 6 young couples in the living room - some who I already knew, and a few that I at least recognized - mostly because they were pulled into the primary the moment they moved in like we were. I sat looking around the room, enjoying the feeling of being surrounded by other young couples when a very distinct and somewhat depressing thought crossed my mind...

Ryan came up behind me at this very moment and whispered, "Dude - you're old."

I spun around to face him. "That's exactly what I was just thinking!" I explained. Together we looked back at the room full of couples and realized that we are so NOT young any more. Most of them have only been married a year or less. One couple has been married for 3 months. 3 months! Compared to our 5 years - that feels like nothing! And the difference in marriage time was one thing - but what really brought it home was the fact that I was the only one sporting a baby belly. In fact, I think that if this little get together had been a few months down the road instead of now - there is a chance our invite might have been forfeited by right of the "no children allowed" clause.

It was the strangest feeling in the world. For the most part on any given day I feel like I just graduated from high school. The fact that my little sister who is 7.5 years younger than me is now a senior is so incredibly strange. It's like my mind simply won't accept that time has moved on. (I am not saying I am stuck in the high school phase- I just don't feel like I have gotten any older.) In fact, earlier this spring while I was substituting a dance class, I recognized the music the ballet class was dancing to and realized that it was the same music I had danced to as the Crystal Fountain Fairy from 'Sleeping Beauty' as my first solo. The girls I was teaching became very excited and asked, "Oh! So did you dance with so-and-so?"

"Who?" I asked.

"You know! So-and-so!" (There really was a name, but I don't remember.)

I told them that I didn't know who that was and a suddenly the girls jaws dropped.

"You mean you were in the 'Sleeping Beauty' before that one?! How old are you?!"

I quickly defended myself telling them that I really am not that old - it just so happens that the last time they performed that show, besides obviously the one they were referring to, was when I was like - 14 or so. This seemed to pacify them, but the truth of it is - I really am that old! It's insane how quick it goes by.

I don't know why it takes little moments like that - teaching the next generation of 14-15 year old dancers, or standing in a room full of truly "young couples" to make you realize where you are in your life.

For a moment, I felt like we were the ones having the honeymoon baby. But then I realized that it really has been 5 years, and that 5 years is actually a pretty long time. A very long time around here anyway. It was a surreal feeling. There are times I still can't believe that there is a child growing in me. In fact, it really is beyond anything my brain can comprehend. But it's exciting. It's a whole new chapter! All of those other couples are where they are supposed to be in their lives, just like we are in ours. And it's a wonderful thing! Yes - it was "sad" to realize that I am not as young as I think I am sometimes, but life is amazing. Exactly where it should be.

As we guessed, the BBQ was to help the young couples in the ward get to know each other. Funny, how it took someone outside this "group" to think of that and arrange it. We had a blast. We all enjoyed great food and played games outside. It was a ton of fun! Hopefully this will lead to some good friendships and at least a connection in the ward. Sometimes it's hard to feel very connected to a ward when you are young and childless. It was a great idea and I am thankful to our sweet neighbor for putting it together.

We were all asked to bring a side dish, and so I thought I would share mine - a delicious recipe for a quick, easy salad that is sure to be a huge hit.

1 package vanilla pudding (I use the big box)

1 container whipped topping

2-3 Granny Smith apples

1 package (or more) fun size Snicker bars (meaning 8 individual snack size bars)

Make the pudding as directed. Fold in the whipped topping. Chop up apples and Snickers. Tada! Pure delicious goodness.

There are many variations of this recipe, but this is the one I went with for our BBQ and it was devoured. So I may have been the only pregnant girl there, and we may have been the "old" married couple of our young couple group - but I can still make a mean "fruit" salad.