the letter

To: enm2@email.byu.edu, ESM21@aol.com
From: BigPapa535@aol.com
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1998

sisters,
hear ye hear ye.
i figured while i'm at it i might as well hit two birds with the same stone. liza wiza, that letter that i sent you a long time ago, i don't think i sent it.  i went looking for it yet couldn't find it! nevertheless i stand firmly by my claim that i did write it.  liza wiza Scudder Budder cleaned my room for me today!  it looks excellent.  merc aka meric van sant told me that it was great what i did for Carrie.  i said what are you doing? don't tell me.  go tell all of the girls!!!
j/k
she asked me if it was my idea and i said "of course it was SILLY!!!"
j/k liza wiza i told her that it was your idea.
nevertheless, bring me your finest meats and cheeses throughout all the land. ie: write me back a studly email.
melou (aka Im Bim Slim Jim) Judy is awesome.  She's still not 100%, but she's getting there. She gave me a great response to the "convenient factor email".

Your favorite brother (even if you had more than one)
Walter

*names of non-family members have been changed to protect the innocent.

Quotes from the Past

I was going through old papers the other day and came across a few quotes from a few years back.  I wish I had written the dates on these, but they are great none the less.

We were talking about Herb Stemple in the Quiz Show.  Mom said 'Because of his wacky personality people don't take him seriously.'
Carrie responded, 'Kind of like Dad, huh?'
---------------
Emily told dad that his hair is turning from grey to white.  I said, 'You're getting old.'  Dad said, 'It's my hair that's getting old.'
---------------
Walter found a quote and said: 'Hey Carrie, this on's for you.'

'You are never so alone as when you are the only one in the room who doesn't get the joke.'
(from James Bond article in the Readers' Digest.
Carrie perked up and said....'Hey, read it again.'
Comment on the note: The epitome of Carrie at the dinner table.

These were all followed by a lot of laughter.

Chicken Trombino Dinner Date

Tonight, I had a dinner date.  We have dinner night every Thursday.  Last week we made my recipe of Italian Casserole (thanks to Kari Brown). Keep in mind, I'm dating a guy on the other side of the country.  So since we are 3,000 miles apart, we each go to the grocery store and buy the ingredients for the same recipe. Then we go home and cook it.  He has a 2 hour head start, but if we're lucky, we eat at the same time. This week, he wanted to make Chicken Trombino, a new recipe neither of us had tried before.  I love trying out new recipes.  And I usually forget an ingredient, or have to improvise with some part of the recipe.  Tonight, I spaced the cheese at the store.  And I apparently don't have any oregano.  Well, after scouring our apartment (no luck), I reached out to the girls that live in the apartment two doors down.  No one was home.  So I tried even harder - texted two girls in my ward - way out of my comfort zone to do that.  One gal had some, but she wasn't home.  So I made my way back to the store to get the cheese, and picked up some oregano as well....and everything turned out fine.

These are the flowers he sent me to start off the evening...that's the good thing about technology these days. A click of the camera phone sends several dozen bouquets of flowers to your special someone far far away.

Who made the better looking meal? Cast your votes.

Contestant #1

PS - he actually did give me the flowers in the back of this photo and they were dyed so they turned the water purple and pink. 

Contestant #2

And it was delicious!   Lightly breaded chicken with a tomato and roasted red pepper sauce, ooey gooey cheesiness on top.  Mmm.  You should try it.  Speaking of ooey gooey.  We're going to make the ooey gooey Deep South Gooey Butter Bars next week.  Dinner is pretty stressful and I think this will be a nice change-up - especially since I won't be around to eat leftovers....Carrie made them tonight and apparently they were a hit.  I can't wait!

How's that for long-distance dating?  Definitely trying to make the most of it!  It does require some creativity.  Luckily Darren's pretty creative in that sense, cause I sure didn't come up with any of the ideas.  

Best Cupcakes Ever

I made cupcakes for my roommate's bridal shower yesterday.  I added a special ingredient to the french vanilla  box cake mix and the cupcakes were OH So Divine!  I also tried a new frosting recipe and put pearly sprinkles on top.  Man, they looked great on my new cupcake tree.

I  might have had 2 for breakfast this morning.

Best Frosting I've Ever Had - I added about an extra cup of sugar and vanilla.  Then it was good.  And I did like how fluffy and whipped it was.

As I found the frosting link, I found these I'd like to try:

Deep South Gooey Butter Bars
Healthy Lemon Cheesecake

Back East

I took a trip back East last weekend to visit this guy...

While I was there, we went to Palmyra to see some Church sites.  I was thinking it would be a great day for pictures and to enjoy being outside.  Well, if you think you're the only one with crazy weather, think again.  Everyone is having crazy weather.  Like one day it's 64 degrees and the next it snows and two days later it's 60 degrees again.  Well, last weekend, we did have snow flurries, mixed with sunny skies, and warm enough weather I had the windows down driving around town at one point.  Add to that some really strong winds and they might be the reason there are no photos of me that day.  After being on top of the Hill Cumorah and getting blown around - seriously it was hard to walk straight - we just got back in the car as fast as we could.

Here are a couple from the Sacred Grove..

it was a little chilly to sit and ponder for long

can you see the temple through the trees?

I loved how the light was breaking through the clouds from this direction

The Grove actually was closed when we got there because of the high winds.  When I went a few years ago, I think they closed it because of lightning, we were stuck in one of the houses for a little bit to wait for the rain downpour to pass.  Great memories.  And next time, I'll be sure to go in the Spring so the Chill and Grill will be open.  Can't miss those 5 scoop high ice cream cones!