Easter, Ontario and Enduring 5 Years

It's time to play catch-up again! not to be confused with Ketchup, because that is a totally different game, and a little bit messy.

I sit around and talk about how I don't have a life and I never do anything, and then I look through my photos and realize maybe life isn't as boring as I think it is. 

It March my sister Kim came down to hang out with me for a weekend. I had tickets to the Women's session of General Conference so she headed down Friday after work. Friday night we ordered pizza and watched movies. Saturday we went to lunch, shopping and a movie. That evening we went downtown and went to conference.

I've been to conference before but I'd never been to the women's session. It was fun to be surrounded by so many lovely women. It was a full house.

It was a perfectly beautiful day that day too. One of the first truly beautiful spring days we've had. The sky was blue, the sun was shiny and there was a House of the Lord in the background. Photo op!

It was Easter weekend so that night I got the urge to decorate eggs. They were done sometime between 11 pm and Midnight- but they were ready for Easter either way.

Sunday morning Kim woke up to a visit from the Easter Bunny! Ok... it's possible that the Easter bunny is not at all stealthy and woke her up.

Because I had a guest I decided I would attempt to make Easter dinner. My aunt didn't have all her usual people coming to dinner, so I invited her to join us.  Dinner was a complete fiasco. I attempted a cake I saw on pinterest. It turns out that following the recipe is a pretty big deal because instead of a gooey layer of ganache, I had a thick layer of fudge. It was okaaaay, but not at all what I had planned. I also thought I would attempt to make my mom's homemade rolls. They are a holiday tradition. Once again, turns out that following the steps is also a big part of a recipe. I added the scalded milk too soon and killed the yeast (most of it, anyway) so the dough wouldn't rise.

It's a lucky thing I had some frozen rolls in the freezer. I popped some in a muffin pan and thought, "you know, we all really like rolls, I'll make another dozen (even though there are only three of us) and got another pan out. The first pan of dough was from a bag that had been opened a while ago and has been in the freezer for a while. It's a good thing I did that second pan because they were from a new package. The first pan didn't rise. The yeast was dead. Ugh... so of all the like 6 dozen rolls I attempted to make- I got one dozen. One dozen and even they were pretty scrawny.

My aunt showed up in her Easter bonnet. Isn't she the cutest thing?

The silver lining to the whole homemade roll debacle was that I had a lot of dough on my hands- and a lot of time. My mom suggested to leave it and see if it ever rose. After a few hours it rose a little- so not all the yeast was totally dead. So I decided to try my hand at cinnamon rolls. I've never made cinnamon rolls before in my life (not counting the Pillsbury kind). I rolled them out, sugared them up real nice and put them in the oven... and forgot about them. They raised for like, six hours. About 10 pm I remembered I had rolls in the oven and turned them on to bake.

Oh. My. Gosh. Can I just tell you that this was the happiest accident ever in my life? I just happened to have a can of cream cheese frosting in my pantry (I NEVER have store bought frosting!) so I drenched them while they were still hot and these little babies were the best thing I've ever eaten that were created by my own two hands. I would attempt to make them again, but I have a hunch that this was a happy accident and if I ever attempt to make these divine little devils again, I'll just screw it up. We'll just chalk it up to a one hit wonder.

It took me a week to do it- but I ate the whole pan myself. (except for one. Kim ate one and regretted later that she didn't take more)

The next weekend I went home. I spent Saturday at a volleyball tourney for this kid, and then Sunday we watched Conference.

I learned a new crochet stitch. That's pretty exciting, right?

Fast forward a week or so. I drove up to Nampa and hung out with my brother and his little crew. My mom, Sister and niece (see above) were also there. The next day my older brother, my sister in law and their crew also came up. We caravaned to Ontario Oregon because my niece, Shayla who had a double header softball game at Treasure Valley Community College.

She knew her mom and bestie were going, but she had no idea the rest of us were going. We made her cry. Awww... :)

She played really well. She is an amazing pitcher. They lost, but it's ok, it was just fun to see her play.

But my favorite part of the whole weekend was when she was up to bat. She hit a beautiful pop fly that went over the fence. Not the outfield fence... the behind the batter fence.

CRASH!

It smashed in the windshield of a big, black truck. It smashed right where the rear view mirror is hooked on. The mirror was left dangling... seriously, it was awesome.

The thing that was the most awesome- was that was where we were parked but we moved because we didn't want to be hit...

As fun as it was to watch her play, it was a long day in the bleachers.We entertained ourselves the best we could.

 

Some got bored and played iPad. Others took naps.

And still more of us took lots and lots of selfies.

It was a special birthday weekend for Macy. So she made cupcakes to take to share with Shayla's team. (please take a closer look at the background of this first picture...)

Besties... who else is allowed to smash cake in your face?

My brother and his cute family. All girls. Even the dog.

These girls sure are special. I love them all so much. Even the little hairy one.

That evening I took Macy to dinner for her birthday. I took her to my favorite restaurant. And ordered my favorite appetizer. I don't live near an Old Chicago so I have to get my fill whenever I'm near one. Even if it is a selfish, selfish choice. Luckily Macy was a good sport.

She's 16 boys. I've got a shotgun and a shovel... (ok, I own neither, but you get the idea.)

While staying with my little brother and his family, I got to be the one to sleep in the room with my little nephews. They're still little enough that it's not weird. Only... if you look closely at this picture, you'll see that in this full size bed there is a tiny human body... and about 600 stuffed animals. There was very little room for me on that bed. But it was still worth it. Sweet little devils.

It was an awesome weekend. When I got back to Salt Lake and the rat race, I had plans to go to an awards dinner for my work. They were celebrating people who do a lot in the community, and who work really hard. They also honored the employees who have stuck around for a while.

I put the invitation out there and my dear sweet aunt was the only person willing and able to go with me. The ceremony was the teeniest bit boring- but I hear that it went a lot faster than it has in the past. so for that I am grateful.

The entertainment was a couple of dueling piano guys. Even though they didn't pick my song it was awesome. I sang so loud and had so much fun- even though I'm pretty sure everyone around me thought I was insane. They were boring. But, I got to stand up when they applauded the five year people. Which compared to the 40 year people seems like pretty small potatoes.

But, I got to spend the evening with my sweet auntie. I sure do love her. She's so sweet. And she very sweetly endured my ridiculous wildness and headbanging to Bohemian Rhapsody. That's what family does.

It's only five years... but I've only ever once been at a job for five years (or more) and that was my very first job so I guess it's kind of a big deal. Well... not a BIG deal... like, a minuscule deal.