Capitol Reef!

This past weekend we took a trip up to Capitol Reef National Park for Mark's family reunion. His mom's family has a ranch house up there, so we spent the weekend there enjoying the gorgeous scenery and good company. When we got there on Friday night we had a big fire to roast hot dogs, brats and s'mores. So good! Unfortunately my camera battery died that night, so I only got a few pictures. Then on Saturday I woke up with a fever and chills so I stayed in bed all day, but Sunday we took a drive in the National Park to see the gorgeous red rock cliffs. On the way home we ate at the delicious Mom's Cafe in Salina, Utah.

Here are some pictures of the festivities:

Our nephew Kimball doing what boys do best: getting dirty!

Kimball digging up some horseshoes out of the storage shed

Mark and I hanging out by the fire

Kimball found a fishing net and kept "catching" himself with it...hilarious!

Our adorable niece Audrey. She already knows how to work it for the camera, and she's not even a year old!

Mark and his sister Janae eating some delicious S'mores!

Janae roasting some of Uncle Andy's homemade marshmallows...delicious!

L to R: Janae, Uncle Andy, Aunt Michelle, their daughter Thyme and Mark enjoying the fire.

Sitting around the campfire

Just after the microburst of pouring rain...and we forgot our jackets!

Ranch House

Gorgeous views at the Ranch House!


We had a blast this past weekend, and we can't wait to go again!!

Tomorrow...

I will be here, and I will be a happy girl.

In the mean time, have a fantastic weekend, be sure to watch Team USA as they take on Ghana this Saturday (don't worry...in the midst of a family reunion, I'm going to try my hardest to catch some of the game), and stay tuned for a recap of the trip!

Oh, and have you heard about the record breaking shenanigans happening at Wimbeldon this week?

Weekend Happiness

Go see this...we laughed, got a little teary-eyed and got surprised. It was amazing!

Two More Reasons Why I Love My Husband...

I'm almost certain to come home to this after work:

(a beautifully made bed)

(and a dish rack full of clean dishes and a sink full of nothing)

Ti amo amore mio!

Ravioli

Being the sort of person that loves to cook and try new recipes (especially Italian ones), I've been wanting to make homemade ravioli for quite some time now. I finally gathered up the courage to make it happen when I was watching the Food Network (at least BYU got one thing right when they added the Food Network to their cable listing...as for their lack of the USA network, well, that's an entirely different story) the other day and chef Anne Berrell guided me painlessly through the steps of making homemade ravioli. After the show I felt empowered and knew I could tackle the job. I also knew that it could very well take all afternoon, but I didn't mind, and I figured the floor had already waited two extra days to be swept, so was one more day really going to make a difference? I didn't think it would, and now I can share my journey of ravioli making with you. So without further delay...

Step One: Making the Pasta Dough

I figured that if I was going to make homemade ravioli I was going to go all out, like an authentic Italiana. I started with a pile of dough, eggs, olive oil, water and salt.

After putting my arms to use and kneading the dough, I wrapped it and set it aside to rest for about an hour.

Step Two: Make Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Filling.

It took a little longer than it probably should have, but this was due to the fact that I had to open up and take my beautiful food processor (!!!) out of the box and put it together. It is a beauty, and I'll be using it a lot more often!

Step Three: Roll Out the Pasta

This was probably the part where I wish I would have had one of two things: 1.) a husband who isn't working until 9pm and could crank the pasta machine OR 2.) a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a pasta maker attachment. Either way, it was still fun to be adventurous and do it all on my own.

Step Three: Assemble the Ravioli

This part was fun...it was great to see everything come together!

I used a simple sauce of butter, chicken stock, Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and topped it all off with some chopped pistachios for a nutty finish.

Step Five: Mangia! (Eat!)

I was pretty impressed with how they turned out for my first time handling homemade pasta without the direct supervision of a Tuscan chef (a reference to our awesome cooking class on my Study Abroad in Siena). I only ran into one speed bump, and that was an apparent mistake on my part, thinking that the pasta wouldn't stick to my silicone NONSTICK liner. Instead I was left with the middles of the ravioli not coming off of the liner and a goopy mess to clean up. Lesson learned! In the future, if I ever make spinach and ricotta filling, I think I'll leave the spinach raw. I boiled it for a minute, but I think it made it way too soggy, and the filling was a little too watery, and that may have been why the ravioli stuck to the liner. Next time I want to try a meatier and more flavorful filling. It turned out really well though, and the husband ate a plateful! Success!

Oh, Percy!

This past weekend for the husband and I was pretty eventful. The fun started on Friday night with shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond. We picked up some great things to complete our itty-bitty kitchen, including this beautiful set of flatware:

We love how lightweight they are and how well they stack together compared to our previous set of mix-and-match silverware that we were using before. And everything was 20% off, so that made the shopping even better!

Afterwards, we monopolized on a buy one get one free coupon for burritos at Rubio's (one of our favorite places to eat). We even scored free street tacos...just because Rubio's is awesome like that, and they like to give away free stuff. I definitely don't mind that...we had a ton of leftovers! Thanks, Rubio's!

After the delicious dinner we headed off to the Dollar Theatre to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Lightening Thief with my sister and her husband. Both myself and the husband loved it! I was really entertained the whole time...and that may or may not have been due to the fact that we also shared some mango sorbet as we watched the film...something else that we love!

Saturday was filled with soccer watching (I'm a Robert Green super-fan now), CSI:Miami watching, and playing games with the husband's sister and husband. We tried out a new game called "What's Yours Like?"

It was pretty hilarious guessing game, and we'll definitely play it again.

All in all it was a pretty fantastic weekend, and we're hoping next weekend is the same! But we're hoping for less rainy weather so that we can do something outside...I'm ready for some frisbee throwing at Rock Canyon Park!

60 Years in the Making

Today the USA men's soccer team takes on England in it's debut match in the 2010 World Cup. The last time that USA came away victorious in a match like this the year was 1950, and Harry S. Truman was President of the United States. It's been a long time, and I'm excited to see who will come away with the win. On a side note, Team USA's jerseys are pretty rad...apparently they're a tribute to those 1950 Team USA jerseys that were worn the last time Team USA defeated England. For a visual comparison, on the top photo is of the 1950 jerseys, and the bottom is the 2010 jersey:

A victory for the USA would be amazing, and would put them one step closer to this little beauty:

I'm just excited to see what excitement the rest of this month brings. The World Cup definitely brings me back to those memories of where I was during the last World Cup 4 years ago. I remember sitting in a tiny one bedroom apartment watching Team USA take on Italy on a TV screen that couldn't have been more than 12" wide, and rushing up the inclined cobblestone streets of Siena to quickly grab some gelato from the Kopa Cabana before the game began. Then, a few days later, I remember running around the entire town searching for a bar or any other small restaurant where we could watch Italy defeat it's next opponent. It was an amazing feeling to be surrounded by the fans when goals were scored and cheers were heard by the countrymen of the future World Cup champions. I love World Cup time, and the opportunity that the world has to be captivated by this awesome sport.

I just hope that no headbutting happens this time around.

Arachnophobia

I hate spiders. I loathe them, actually. They're so creepy in the way that they crawl around, and lately they've been inhabiting our apartment. We find them by the front door, in the hallway, and in the bathroom...especially on the shower curtain.

A few days ago we purchased some bug killer spray in order to eradicate these pests, and for two days we were spider-free...that is, until yesterday, when I found another one on the shower curtain! After just about being sent into shock I was able to locate it and kill it, but I then had to re-spray our entire apartment, and now I fear even walking into the bathroom. It's a shame we only have one bathroom in our apartment, but I guess I'll have to get used to shaking the shower curtain every time I go into the bathroom. Either that, or I'll have to get over my silly fear of spiders.

I think I'll stick with shaking the curtains for now.