Stove Saturday

Today my Mom cooked for me with love. Yep, love. And delicousness :) We went to Errol's basketball game this morning, Go, Errol!!! Was greeted with a huge hug by Wick, Mom charmed Cora with Smarties and saw Errol score a basket. Awesome!!!!

On the way home, I was thinking a cheese quesadilla sounded really good. I don't know why that is such a comfort food for me but it IS. We looked for a taco bell on the way home but didn't see one so Mom cooked one when we got home! She didn't have a lot of time, but she made a big one anyone and we shared it. When I make a quesadilla it's cheese sliceso on a tortilla nuked in the microwave for 42 seconds. Yes, 42 seconds.

Mom's was much more high class. Cheese, 2 tortillas, bacon bits, hashbrowns. Cooked not in the microwave, but on the stove. Hence the blog title :) Mom didn't have a whole lot of time but she really gave of herself. Thanks, Mom!

Babysitting at the Broadhead's that night? LOTS of fun. Watching Annie get ready for Sweethearts Dance looking absolutely beautiful in a red dress handmade by her Mom, snuggling with Lexi, Brandon & Johnathon on the couch while watching Toy Stor y 3. Chillin' with Sara. Helping Davey & Ethan with their Valentines Day boxes-loved reverting to my childhood memories, creativeness, living the childhood excitement of it all through my nephews, having them ask for my ideas but really thinking outside the box themselves! Ethan made a chuckwagon with a toy horse and Davey made an airplane. Got the kids in bed (and according to Jeff, Brandon woke up the next morning saying "Where's Heather? I want her to come stay with us!") and after Annie got home and before Mel & Jeff got home, she got me hooked on Psych, with us watching it together.

Also had a chance to visit with Katie and Addison yesterday. LOVED hearing about Katie's college dates and ward callings, class adventures. Addison getting a tie that will match his date's dress for Sweetheart's, arranging his work schedule, taking the ACT. So awesome watching them grow up for little kids that I used to babysit to competent teens and young adults!

Frozen Friday

Tonight I went with the Folks to a BYU concert. LOVE the BYU fine arts dept and the shows they produce. Seriously love it a LOT. This night it was the "Living Legends" which featureddances from Polynesia, Native America, Latin America. The costumes were original for each dance-no repeats!

A few insights/highlights-Polynesian have an amazing sense of rhythm! In one of their chants they even added "B-Y-U COUGARS!!!!" They also have great abs! Just sayin...... I liked how men in the Native American dances had bells on their legs-it kind of made me want to walk around will bells on me, I like the sound of them :) They had the most beautiful white dresses for a Hawaiian dance, and yellow fringe for a Tahitian dance that shook gracefully at the slightest movement.

My favorite dance? The Native American "Hoop Dance" watching two talented men pick up 6-8 hoops, spin them on arm AND legs, fashion them into a ball, into wings, etc. and doing it quickly while still keeping the rhythm of the song. Truly amazing. We overheard after the show that one of the hoop dancers had only been doing it for about 4 months!!!!

A bonus? We were looking at the program and saw that one of the girls was from Bloomfield where sister Cristine and family live!!! I texted Cristine to see if she/they knew her and she knew her well! We made a concerted effort to find this girl after the show and just as we were about to leave the fine arts building, Mom spotted her! We had a great visit with her and Mom took pictures of her in the costume :)

We then went to BYU Creamery on 9th because hello, we were in Provo so how could we pass that up?!?! I got chocolate fudge mousse ice cream because I really have a thing for chocolate mousse in any form and..... it was delicious :) Good times with the show, the ice cream and the folks. Really good times.

Tortilla Tuesday

Tonight was a stake Relief Society activity, all about Patchwork quilts and "lives pieced together" Well, actually first Alli & I stopped at Article Circle on the way home to let food take our mind off of work for awhile...... Corn dog and fry sauce totally took care of that!

I brought my Grandma Litster's pink patchwork quilt to display and as soon as I get my camera battery charged I'll share a picture of it but for now the story will have to do..... I don't know the story behind the patches of the quilt but it's significant to me because of all the memories associated with it. When I was a little girl, visiting Grandma at her home in Huntington, I was too scared to sleep in the spare room downstairs by myself, so every night grandma got a foam pad, pillow, fitted sheet and the pink quit to make me a bed on her bedroom floor. When I grew older and she moved to Provo, I was OK sleeping in a room by myself but Grandma still made me a bed on the couch with the pink quilt. It reminds me of days with Grandma spent watching the sound of music, eating her special tuna-fish sandwiches, and drinking ruby red grapefruit juice which I still don't like, but never had the heart to tell her so!

The evening started off with some beautiful music from Linda Mansfield on the piano who I've known for years through the Messiah, and Aleena Hatch on the violin, whom I've heard about from Mom and Aunt Elizabeth-that she plays beautifully and they are right! I introduced myself to her :)

There was a taco salad/tortilla bar of sorts for dinner-delicious!!!! It's funny though, from a distance the bowl of olives looked like blueberries and I thought, "Who eats blueberries with Mexican???" then I realized they were olives :) My claim to fame is that this time I did NOT stuff my tortilla so full that I couldn't roll it up!

Sister Zillner was the speaker, I had never met her but I'd heard about from Grandpa, husband Josef Zillner was one of his good friends. She shared various life experiences like serving a mission in Germany/Switzerland, meeting her husband, etc and how those "patchwork pieces" influenced her life.

We also took time to look at the quilts and the stories-some heartbreaking, touching stories! Quilts made by a mother who passed when the daughter was only 14, quilts made by a ward when a family moved, quilt square inherited by a grandmother, etc. Truly touching.

What a good night I had!
Tortilla/taco dinner @ stake RS, quilt display, went with Kerri, grandma litster quilt displayed. Greeted sisters in the stake, aleena & sister mansfield music, sister zilner-guest speaker.

Merciful Monday

Don't you love it when your prayers are answered in a unexpected, beautiful way? Personally, I find the idea rather amazing :) I have been needing to get to the bank for awhile but with recent work changes, the time I get home, sometimes I stop at the gym, etc.... it makes it much harder to get to the bank! Today was a day when I was able to get a ride home with a coworker who is a neighbor of mine-she doesn't often have her car but today she did! And.... she goes to the same bank which she gave me a ride to, sweet and so grateful! My bank account is happier, too :)

Then Kerri came over for dinner-I made chicken noodle soup & Kerri brought rolls and we began to plan our spring trip to Boston. Boston bound-yay!!!! My favorite part of the trip planning? Choosing a restaurant to eat at while we there. We consulted the Guy Fieri, "Diners, Drive In's & Dives" and chose Sam La Grassas- a family business since '68. We watched a youtube clip from the show where they made a pastrami sandwich with special mustard dressing, freshly smoked pastrami and coleslaw. Never been a fan of coleslaw but LOVE pastrami and it looked legendary and delicious!

Finally, wore my new pair of skinny jean leggings today "jeggings" Find the name atrocious but seriously, they are SO comfortable to wear. They have "fit" of jeans to they are slipping or falling down but they are so soft and feel so good on my legs. Seriously, forgot I was wearing them at times today.

Found Friday

About a month ago, somewhere being get out of my friend's car and walking in the door at work..... I lost one of my gloves,didn't realize it until a couple days later. (Brown, faux-fur lined, matches my coat.... Yep, really liked those gloves!) I generally looked around on the school playground to see if I could find my glove, but nuttin'...... At home, I decided I should keep the other glove-just in case I guess?

But I came to be VERY glad I kept that glove. Last Friday getting back to work after a meeting I stopped by a 7-11 next to the school, got some fruit and some chocolate and then walked along the fence back to the classroom. Along the fence I found my other brown glove-yay! Feelings of happiness and gratitude followed :)

Shouting Saturday

Had a VERY good Saturday. Got my hair cut & colored by April Judd, stylist extraordinaire. Mom dropped me off so I didnt' have take the bus out there so early in the morning. Loved how my hair turned out and then stopped at Kneaders for a bacon, turkey, avocaod on focacia sandwich while I waited for the bus. The turkey was really moist. Mmmmm........

Then headed to the mall to get some new jeans since I have pretty much been wearing the same 2 pairs since August and they are looking a bit ragged...... Went to my favorite store, Vanity. Got one pair of regular and my first pair ever of "skinny jeans" so that I can now wear boots over my jeans! Yeah, I got to admit, I'm pretty excited about the new fashion possibilities.... :)

Took a quick nap at home and then got ready to to my first NBA game!!!!! My friend Amy Jensen recieved some tickets for her birthday and was kind enough to share them with me. We had planned to go out for dinner that night but then her Grandma surprised her with the tickets so we went to Plan B.

LOVED my first NBA game experience! I felt like it was my birthday, instead of Amy's :) We had dinner at a mexican restaurant in the arena (of course Amy's dinner was on me) and my smothered sweet pork was satisfying until the point at which I simply could not eat any more! My stomach was too full and happy :) More stomach space was available though for some red mango yogurt during halftime! I got my yogurt with strawberries and blueberries. It was so. refeshing. and so. delicious.

Got a free poster of the Jazz which I forgot to take with me after the game-left it under my seat, cheered, yelled, (I do like to yell. Loudly and sometimes a lot). watched the Lakers coach get ejected from the game in the 4th quarter. Watched the Jazz bear interact with the crowd and an awesome bmx stunt bike show during halftime..... and saw when the final buzzer sounded and the scoreboard read.....Jazz 96-Lakers 87!!!

Fake Spike Friday

Dec 28, 2011. A very important day. BYU bowl game!!!!! vs Tulsa. Some of the family was still in GA, but the Neerings, Broadheads & Litster's joined as at M&D's so the kids could play together, the adults could watch the game and we could all. eat. good food. Dave & Sabrina had a veggie tray, Melanie had a 7 layer dip (and you can never go wrong with that!!!) I blue BYU football shaped tortilla chips and I got some Inca Cola soda from M&D's stash in the garage..... Oh, yeah and I also made a batch of salsa chicken in the crockpot. And there were those who had some/a lot of 7 layer dip with their chips but everyone got plenty to eat! Oh, yeah. I was also a big fan of the "cheese puffs" that Derbs brought.

As a sidenote, Carter decided he wants to be a Ute fan now, not so much because he is passionate about college football, but like as he said to him Mom, "I just think the family needs a UT fan." There was some initial ribbing from his cousins but it all got sorted out with help from Mom's and Dad's......

To sum up the game, BYU beat Tulsa, 24-21. Cody Hoffman scored all 3 touchdowns for the Cougars. There was also a field goal scored. There were memorable plays-like Matt Reynolds making a helmet-less block and leveling a Tulsa defender giving Nelson the time to complete a touchdown pass to Hoffman. Also, when it was 4th & 9 at the end of the game, Nelson kept the ball and made an awesome 14 yard run to keep the Cougar's victory hopes alive.

The game was won in the final 20 seconds with some awesome plays from Riley Nelson QB and Hoffman. BYU lined up like and Tulsa believed that BYU would spike the ball in the final seconds to run time off the clock, get a better play off, etc. A spike was the call from the coaches. But Nelson recalled a Dan Marino play he saw as a kid where Marino did a fake spike and won the game. So Nelson acted like he was going to spike the ball, then brought it up and then a pass to Hoffman in the endzone who had a defender behind him but wasn't heavily guarded because of the supposed spike/end of play. Then all merriment, yelling & cheering exploded. Yep. Awesome.

About a week after the game, when M&D were home from GA and I was visiting them, we were watching a dvr recording of the game highlights. Mom and I both had the same thought,"Ww know what a fake spike is in theory, but how is that a great play to win the game???" So we paused the dvr and moved it forward in slow motion. Dad was kind enough to walk us through step by step. Nelson looking to spike the ball, Hoffman casually jogging into the endzone, Nelson bringing the ball back up, etc. Thanks, Dad! It was memorable :)