My mom is braver than me

Lately I've been thinking how the generation of women before mine seems to be so much more courageous than we are. On Sunday, I got more proof of that! Remember how I roasted a chicken?

It was the first time I have cooked a whole bird. Violet was sleeping and Glenn was still at church when I got started. I have read how to roast a bird a thousand times, so I knew there would be some scary stuff in the cavity, but I still almost jumped out of my skin when the liver poked out the chicken's bum. Oh my goodness, that was the scariest thing I have ever seen! I was too scared to touch it, so I just shook the chicken until most the stuff had fallen out. There was one pesky innard that would not come out, so I did have to reach my hand in there eventually. Here's the thing: it was traumatizing. And my mom, and your mom, and every mom ever do this every year on Thanksgiving and never mention how scary it is!

Anyway, the next part wasn't so bad. After I rinsed the chicken, I smeared butter all over the skin, salted it, and put it in the oven. It smelled so good cooking!

We had a lot of chicken left over (the smallest bird they had at the store was 5.5 lbs, which is way to much for two people) and some squash left over. For lunch yesterday, I made some delicious curry with the left overs! Yum!

Easter

Here is what Easter looked like around here!

The family all dressed up (yes, we had to take our camera to church and have someone take a picture of us there so we could all be in it):

There was a feast of roasted chicken, squash, and strawberry shortcakes for dessert:

Now here is the real story. This little girl:

look like this for most of the day.

Poor Violet was so sick! I took her to sacrament meeting just so she could wear her easter dress. She started having a fever on Saturday night, and woke up on Sunday so miserable. She wasn't her normal self at all. In that picture where she is laying on Glenn, she is completely awake. She would just lay there on us, moaning occasionally. She seemed to feel better by the evening, but she was so sleepy. We were video chatting with Glenn's family, and she fell asleep right on Glenn's lap!

We put her down for bed at 7, as usual, and now it is 7:07 in the morning, and she is still sleeping! Woo hoo!

p.s. A BIG CONGRATULATIONS to... actually I don't want to ruin it if they don't want me to tell anyone yet. But I also don't want them to think I don't care about their news enough to publicly congratulate them. I know you read this blog, and you know who you are, so congratulations!

My little helper

How about another laundry day picture to kick the weekend off right?

I got a little help from a friend today:

Have a nice weekend!

Dinner last night

I tried a new recipe for dinner last night, and took this dorky picture because I was so impressed with myself for making it look so much like the magazine!

Yum! They were called "Singapore-style street noodles" or something. I loved it, and Glenn said he really liked it too. It was just a bunch of vegetables (mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, cabbage, garlic) sauteed with curry powder and then mixed with noodles and a sauce made of soy sauce and brown sugar. It made a TON though, so it looks like we'll be having it for lunch today as well!

p.s. Glenn is cool. Look when came in the mail yesterday??

He surprised me because he know I wanted these shoes!

Another picnic/NYR #3

We ate dinner at the park yesterday (again). We are trying to take advantage of all this lovely weather, and Violet sure enjoys herself outdoors!

Remember how I made 4 New Years Resolutions? Well, I have completed 1 and 2, and I later remembered that #4 was learn how to made wheat bread really well, and I've done it three times and it has been better every time, so that one is a work in progress. As for #3...

I am doing a triathalon on May 29th! My official training starts today. I am going to work out at the YMCA with my friend Courtney, who will be doing the race with me! It is a 5k run, 13 mile bike ride, and 175m swim. I could probably do any of those three parts right now, but it is putting it all together that will be a challenge.

Originally, I wanted to do a triathalon that had an open water swim. A friend in my ward does a lot of open water swimming, and offered to go out in the ocean with me a few times to give me some tips. She knows of a well-established triathalon in October, so for now I am planning on doing that one too. This one in May will be good practice for the one in October!

My Other Baby

Last fall, my mom sent me a packet of basil seeds. When I was pretty sure it wasn't going to freeze around here anymore, I planted them and ever since have been tending them with the greatest care.

And guess what I found on Sunday?? A sprout! My first seed had germinated, right within the time window suggested on the back of the seed packet. Now I have a whole pot full of seedlings. Look closer:

I am already dreaming of gallons of pesto this summer. The back of the seed packet also said that when the seedlings are a few inches tall, I have to pull some out so there are a few inches between each seedling. It is going to break my heart when I have to do it. Let's just hope I don't kill them all before that. I definitely don't have a green thumb!

Tennis again!

Last Friday, Glenn noticed there was another tennis match at USC, but it was during his class. It was a beautiful day though, so Violet and I decided to go anyway! We biked over, and sat in the stands and watched the doubles matches. The weather was so nice!

It turned out there was a special offer that day, and the first 100 USC fans got a free grilled cheese from a food truck after doubles! We were leaving after doubles anyway, so I got the sandwich and ate it in the grass near the courts. Violet helped me eat a little of the bread, and mostly enjoyed crawling around in the nice soft grass.

(the sandwich was just white bread with kraft cheese in the middle, but I was starving, it was grilled perfectly, and so it tasted wonderful!)

It was so sunny, and we were gone a long time, so I could tell Violet was getting pretty tired by the time we left. She grunted in her seat most the way home, and then suddenly flopped forward. I thought she was just being weird, like looking at the bike really closely, but then I realized she was sleeping! I had to hold her up by her helmet while she slept the rest of the way home!

A closer look: