Easter

Our Easter was pretty laid back. We had no eggs. We had no Easter Egg Hunt. We had only a little real Easter candy. And no little children around. But we hung out and enjoyed a lazy Sunday together.



The night before, I got off of work and went to the store. It was crazy!! And there was NO Easter candy left. There was a million people there doing last minute shopping for Easter. One guy got really mad "There are no Peeps left!" and threw the empty box on the ground. I thought "Whoa. Easy tiger." There was a Smith's worker nearby who heard him and told him that there were three packages up front that was from people who got to the register and decided not to buy them. He bolted for the front of the store, along with 5 other people. It was really, really crazy. I decided that it wasn't worth risking my life for. So I left the Easter Isle.



Instead, I went to the regular candy isle. I got a whole bunch of candy that Spencer and I like. I felt really bad that I didn't find him any Peeps, but like I said, it was just too risky. He really likes them. I think he likes them better when they are hard. I think that they are gross. In fact, I don't like Easter candy that much. So I wasn't nearly as disappointed as Spencer.

We had candy like Nibs, Starburst, Sweetheart Ropes, gum, Robin eggs, m&m's, and Jelly Belly's.

I had planned to get Spencer some jeans for Easter. The tradition is supposed to be church clothes, but he really needs jeans. I didn't have time before Easter to drag his butt to the store, so I'm going to have to get him some later.



That night, we watched about a half-an-hour of the Ten Commandments. I also consider this a sacred Easter tradition. It's always on. Every year. Then we went to bed because we were both exhausted from work.



The next morning we went to church and then made crepes. Except something was wrong with them because they kept falling apart. They tasted good, but I couldn't get them to form well. I felt really bad. I hate when I mess up cooking food. It makes me feel like a bad wifey.



I surprised Spencer with the Easter baskets. But HE surprised ME, too. He is so freakin' good at that! He can keep a surprise much better than I can. He got me some real Easter candy and some yummy smelling stuff from Victoria's Secret. It was really nice. He is so sweet. I guess that he had gone out the night before and fought the crowds at Wal-Mart. Maybe that's why he was so tired...



I also got Spencer the Godfather III to complete our collection and I got me Gladiator. We like movies. It was a good Easter. We laid around the rest of the day and I tried to take cat naps because I had to go to work that night. I made some dinner (yes I sometimes actually cook) and went to work.



Easter isn't one of my favorite holidays, but I still enjoy it. I really like to do Easter Egg Hunts with people my age. I get really competitive. I think that it would be fun to do a Couple's Easter Egg Hunt with all of my sisters and in-laws and parents. One that allows tackling and stuff. It would be fun! I hope that Easter becomes more fun when we have children. Not that it was bad...but that it just doesn't have as much excitement or magic.







Here is an article I found interesting...or maybe depressing...I'm not sure...




You can add Easter to the list of holidays on which Americans are willing to abandon their low-sugar and low-carb diets. In fact, spending on Easter candy increased 5.6 percent between 2006 and 2007. Easter typically ranks as the holiday with the second-highest spending on candy, right behind Halloween. If these trends continue, an excess of bunnies and eggs is likely right around the corner. But not all of these treats are equal when it comes to nutrition. Here's where eight of the most popular Easter candies land on the calorie scale. They range from a demure 130 to a whopping 1,050 calories. (For the scary truth about Halloween treats, check out the 8 Most Fattening Foods of Fall.)





1. Peeps. A few of these fluffy, sugar-filled treats can add up quickly. Go through a row of four bunnies and you're at 130 calories. Peeps are fat-free but do weigh in heavy on the carb count--each little rabbit has 8 grams of sugar alone, adding up to 32 grams in a serving of four.





2. Jelly Beans. These can be your worst foe or your best friend in the Easter basket, depending on how many you eat. Each individual bean is pretty low in calorie count, with usually around 5 or 6 calories, but munching through a handful or worse, an entire bagful, of Jelly Bellys adds up quickly. The recommended 35-bean serving comes in at 140 calories from 37 grams of sugar. To avoid jelly-bean overdose, it's probably best to grab a handful and then keep the Easter basket out of reach.





3. Cadbury Chocolate Eggs. These eggs may look tiny, but their calorie count is anything but. A handful of 12 eggs comes with 190 calories and 8 grams of fat. You might want to skip over these high-cal eggs if you come across them on the hunt.





4. Cadbury Creme Egg. It's possibly the quintessential Easter treat, but most people won't be surprised to find out that the creamy egg packs in the calories. The 1.2-ounce egg comes with 150 calories, 5 grams of fat and 25 grams of carbs. If you're looking for an excuse to indulge, there is a slight silver lining: the tasty milk chocolate comes with 40mg of calcium, which is about 5 percent of the recommended daily value.





5. Reese's Peanut Butter Egg. This egg slightly edges out its creme-filled rival in the unhealthy Easter-egg competition. All three varieties of the Reese's egg--milk chocolate, fudge and white chocolate--have a calorie count of 180. The fat content weighs in around 10 grams, double that of the Cadbury Creme Egg, with the white-chocolate egg the worst, at 11 grams. Stick to the traditional Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, which, though it lacks the festive Easter element, has nearly half the calories of its egg-shaped relatives.









6. Lindt Chocolate Carrots. In a sea of eggs and bunnies, chocolate carrots are one of the more unusual Easter candy options--Lindt only started offering them seven years ago. Sadly, they have little nutritional value in common with their vegetable counterparts: a box of four carrot-shaped chocolates has 210 calories.





7. Hershey's Hollow Milk Chocolate Egg. This might come as the biggest surprise: one hollow Hershey's egg (4.65 ounces) has more than three times as many calories as the Cadbury Creme Egg. The shell alone has 570 calories. Start munching on the four Hershey's kisses included inside and you're up to a whooping 660 calories and 41 grams of fat. This may be one of the few Easter offerings that makes a Reese's Peanut Butter Egg look like health food.





8. Large Chocolate Bunny. Not surprisingly, the bunny reigns as king when it comes to Easter calories. But the calorie count may still raise a few eyebrows: the average seven-ounce rabbit clocks an impressive 1,050 calories. Smaller bunnies are better--rabbits of the one-ounce variety only rack up 140 calories.


And here's someone else's Easter. Dubya looks like a little boy to me. He just so excited to blow that whistle.





Ahhh...best friends.



They have similar looks of confusion, don't they...



"It's like looking in a mirror!"

Which Jane Austen Heroine Are You?

I saw this quiz on someone else's blog, so I decided to do it.

You Are...Marianne Dashwood!

You are Marianne Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are impulsive, romantic, impatient, and perhaps a bit too brutally honest. You enjoy romantic poetry and novels, and play the pianoforte beautifully. To boot, your singing voice is captivating. You feel deeply, and love passionately.

I guess that I am most like her because I am so passionate. I never really felt like I was like her, but maybe I am. I don't like how she treats poor Brandon. It makes me mad. I don't think that I would ever do that. I certainly hope that I am not as shallow as she is. But she didn't really love Brandon. She loved Mr. Willoughby. And HE ended up the shallow one. So maybe I am like her. I don't know.





Here are all of the possible results:

Elinor Dashwood
You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.

Elizabeth Bennet
You are Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! You are intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. You have a good head on your shoulders, and oftentimes find yourself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. You take great pleasure in many things. You are proficient in nearly all of them, though you will never own it. Lest you seem too perfect, you have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves you very ill indeed.

Fanny Price
You are Fanny Price of Mansfield Park! You are quiet, faithful, and moral, but those around you may think you priggish. You love deeply...and jealously.

Emma Woodhouse
You are Emma Woodhouse of Emma! You like being the queen of your social circle (small and provincial as it may be), and feel it's your duty to help those less influential than you. You often meddle in the affairs of others, though you do it with a pure heart. You are often deluded in your flights of fancy, but your good intentions and creative spirit make you someone anyone could like.

Catherine Morland
You are Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey! You love a good Gothic romance - so much, in fact, that you'll fool yourself into thinking you're living one! You are imaginative and naive, which is at once endearing and perplexing. Perhaps your heart is TOO pure...but it is adventurous. After all, you love a trip to Bath or a stay at an ancient Abbey.

Anne Elliot
You are Anne Elliot of Persuasion! Let's face it; you're easily persuaded, particularly when friends and relatives try to use "the Elliot way" against you. But this doesn't mean that you don't have conviction. Actually, your sense of duty is overwhelming. And though you won't stick your neck out too often, you have learned to speak up when it counts. To boot, you know how to handle sticky situations. You love deeply and constantly.


I guess of all of the choices, it does fit the best.


Click here to take the quiz yourself.

A Quote...

Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am - a reluctant enthusiast.... a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can! While it is still here! So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators, I promise you this; you will outlive the bastards.

Edward Abbey (1927 – 1989), author of the Monkey Wrench Gang and Desert Solitaire, at a 1987 Earth First! Rally at the Grand Canyon.

First Day of Spring

Today is the first day of Spring!! It started out really cold and really windy and rainy/slushy. Then it suddenly became very sunny and warm. I was at work so I couldn't enjoy it at all. I love spring. It is one of my favorite seasons. I love pussy willows and crocuses. I changed the background of our blog to celebrate spring. The flower kind of looked like a crocus. They are one of my favorite flowers because they signify the beginning of spring. They are the first flower to poke out of the snow. When I was little I would watch for them to come out because that meant that spring was on its way. It was exciting to me to come home from school and see them in bloom. I also got excited when the first leaves would show on the quaky aspen trees.

Here are some crocus pictures. Aren't they pretty?!?









Anyways, happy spring to everyone!!

Deer Valley

On Saturday this last weekend, my parents came down to stay in Salt Lake and go skiing. My sister came, too. We went out to eat at Benihana the night before. If you haven't had this experience, I totally recommend it. It is a tepanyaki style meal where they cook the food in front of you. It is very good Japanese food. They have the best fried rice in the whole world. It is entertaining and delicious.

They stayed at our house on Friday night. The next morning, we went to Deer Valley to ski. It was a lot of fun. It was snowy and kind of cold, which we didn't expect because it is March and supposed to be spring skiing, but we still had a blast! We skied really hard. We stopped once to get some food and warm up. It was a touch icy at the top and the light got flat near the end of the day so it was hard to see the powder patches and be prepared for it. We had a lot of fun, though. We got a little silly. We just did a half a day because between my mom's knees, my sister's knees, and my knees...we just couldn't last more than that. Again, it was a lot of fun.

After that, my sister had to go up to Idaho Falls. My parents stayed at the Little America in downtown Salt Lake so that we could swim. We swam and sat in the hot tub to feel better after a hard day of skiing. Spencer came up to join us and swim. After that we ate dinner at the Little America restaurant. We were so tired that we slept through church again. We are bad Mormons. Church at 8:30 am is a bad idea, especially after daylight savings. We slept in and then met my parents for breakfast and to say goodbye.

Thanks mom and dad for an awesome weekend!! We really, really appreciate it. Thank you for all of the food and for taking us skiing and for staying at the hotel so we could swim. We had so much fun with you guys. I wish that we could do it more often.

Here is a picture of someone skiing at Deer Valley. It is a huge mountain and a great place to ski.

St. Patrick's Day Miracle!!

The title is copying Seinfeld's quote: "It's a Festivus Miracle!"

So last night, I get a call from Spencer at ten minutes to seven. He tells me to hurry and get ready because we were going to a party at Dan and Jordan's house that started at seven. I was like "Thanks, Spence, for the advanced warning." We had talked about a St. Patrick's party on Sunday when we had our get together for March Madness, but Dan had tickets to the Jazz game, so I didn't think that it would happen. I think that perhaps he could tell my disappointment.

Well, Dan is so cute and sweet, that he gave up his Jazz tickets to his dad and grandpa. And he cooked a real Irish meal for his friends and put together a last minute St. Patrick's Day Party. It was awesome!! I had so much fun.

I got there late because Spencer didn't tell me sooner or text me or leave me a message. I felt really bad. But I got there as fast as possible. So Dan, Jordan, Spencer, and I sat down for a home-cooked Irish meal. It was really good! We had corned beef and colcannon, which is mashed potatoes with cabbage in it. It was really good. We also had bread and cream soda and root beer in bottles. We topped it all off with mint chocolate chip ice cream (it's green).

We played poker (Texas-Hold-Em) and watched the Jazz game on their big HD tv. Then we watched a movie called No Country For Old Men. It was good, but the bad guy was really freaky. I didn't completely get the point of it, but it was exciting.

Our friends Dave and Brooke couldn't make it, and they were missed. I hope that they still had a great holiday, though.

All in all, I had a great St. Patty's. I even won in Poker! I never win, especially with Spencer playing. He wins everything. Thank you Dan and Jordan for helping us to celebrate. It was really great. On my way home last night, I was really sad about not being able to hang out with you guys anymore. I was really depressed. I have just loved hanging out with you guys and getting to know you. I even wish that we lived closer so that it was easier to hang out. I will desperately miss you guys. I think that we should try to hang out a lot before we all move away. And thanks, Jordan, for the book. It was sweet of you to remember our conversation and to offer that to me. You are too thoughtful!! Love you guys!

These are pictures from the movie.

March Madness

On Sunday, we went to our friends' parents' house in West Valley. Mark and Lisa. They have become like pseudo-parents to us. They throw the best parties ever. They have a huge HD television and Lisa makes a feast every time we go over there. This year we decided to have a party the day that the brackets for March Madness comes out. We fill in our brackets. The guys also take turns picking teams, and then you get points for each game that they win. So it's just a couple of fun games that we play each year. It's funny because every year a girl wins the bracketology contest. And the boys won't let us play the other game (probably because they don't want us to win it too!).

So we had a really good time on Sunday. Dave and Brooke, Dan and Jordan, Me and Spence, and Mark and Lisa. We played pool and ping-pong. We watched the brackets come out. We filled in our brackets. The boys did their Fantasy Baseball draft. We played cards and games. Lisa made us a turkey dinner to die for and stuffed us like a good mother always does. We talked and joked and had a great time.

It made me really, really sad, though. This coming year Dave and Brooke and Spence and I will be leaving the area to go to school. It is really depressing to me. I have really loved being near our friends. I hope that we stay close and that we can all still come together for the Super Bowl and other important activities in our lives. I am really grateful to them all and have enjoyed their friendship.

So Mark, Lisa, Jordan, Dan, Brooke, and Dave. I love you all. And thank you for everything. Let's stay good friends and not let physical distance change our friendship. Okay?





Here is an article that I found funny about March Madness:

You’ll hear this time of year referred to by many different names — Bracketology 101, The Big Dance and more commonly as March Madness. But if you’re a college basketball fan, the rest of this month amounts to three weeks of basketball bliss.
However, the annual basketball tournament is apparently taking a negative toll on workplace production.
Last year, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., the nation’s oldest consulting firm, projected the cost to employers in lost productivity over the three weeks of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament exceeded $1.2 billion.
The first two days alone of the 2006 NCAA men’s basketball tournament cost employers around $260 mil-lion in wages paid to unproductive workers, according to the Chicago-based firm.
Add that to the $86 million lost each day due to workers spending an average of 13.5 minutes surfing sports Web sites and the lost profits add up quickly.
“It’s become the workplace tradition of our era,” said Chief executive officer of CGC Inc. John Challenger. “Unlike the Super Bowl or the World Series, you have the NCAA men’s basketball tournament that has 65 teams, so just about everyone in the office can find a team that represents where they’re from and track their progress.”
The fact that many of the games during the first two weeks of the tournament take place during the work-day doesn’t help out workplace productivity either, according to Challenger.
While employees will visit sports Web sites like ESPN.com to download and print their basketball tournament brackets, the added element of streaming content and following games in real-time via the Internet can add to lost workplace productivity according to Challenger.
“In December 2007, Internet users watched more than 10 billion videos online; and these weren’t low quality video feeds either,” Challenger said.
In response to the annual college basketball tournament, some employers have blocked their office’s computers access to sports-related Web sites. But according to a Challenger survey of 100 resource executives, only six percent of companies plan to go that route.
Other companies, however, are taking a different approach to the matter, according to Challenger.
“If you can’t beat them, join them,” Challenger said.
And that’s exactly what some employers are doing, capitalizing on the atmosphere in the office that the NCAA basketball tournament creates to build a little corporate camaraderie.
Some employers even encouraged their employees to wear their favorite college basketball team’s gear to work during the tournament, despite the obvious loss of workplace productivity.
“Employers ultimately have to make a decision on whether they will measure employees in terms of the quality of the work they do or solely on their productivity,” Challenger said.