Easter Eggs

Sorry these are late for all of you who have been waiting.  Brad's computer died last week taking with it his picture files and editing software.  We thought everything was gone.  We even bought a new laptop.  Luckily, Brad found out that there was a recall on his graphics card from someone who had their computer die in the same exact way.  So, Brad brought his computer into the Mac store and they fixed it for free.  The new laptop we ordered has been cancelled and even though Brad isn't getting a new computer he is so happy to have his old computer back.  And having his old computer back to life means you get to see the easter eggs we dyed last week.  Enjoy! 

Can you tell what all of these are?

Happy Easter!

HDR Photography

So I'm dabbling with a new photography technique. It's called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography. I've learned about it from Trey Ratcliff. It requires a lot of post processing and Trey is much better at it than I am. Here is what I've been able to produce so far. What do you think?

I GOT A JOB!!!

Finally!  I'm going to be working for Mountainland Head Start as a Social Services Specialist.  I'll be working with Head Start families setting them up with services from Head Start and within the community, and planning classes and activities for families.  It's here in Provo (only about ten minutes away), but I'll be going out to do home visits in the Provo area.  I start on Monday.  It's a full time job and I'm really, really excited.

I didn't think I would get this job since there was a lot of competition.   When I went in for my interview they had 8 or 9 people in the waiting room filling out written interviews.  They were interviewing all day and had interviews every 20 minutes.  They did have 4 different positions open, but still there were a lot of people applying.  I was going to go see my sister in St. George for her birthday, but I cancelled my trip because they were only holding interviews while I was going to be gone.  But I'm so glad I did.  

After my interview they told me they would let me know in two weeks if I got the job.  What I long time to wait to hear back.  But I didn't think I would get the job so I put it in the back of my mind.  Tomorrow would have been two weeks, but they called a day early so I wasn't even nervous yet over whether I would get the job or not.  I seriously thought they were calling early to let me know I didn't get the job.  I was completely shocked when it was actually a job offer.  I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised.  I had a really good interview and my resume is decent, but I've been looking for a job for so long and had lots of rejection letters, phone calls, and emails.  It's really nice to finally get a job and have that stress gone.  Thank you everyone who has been praying for me to find a job.  I know it helped.  I'm super excited to have a job and to be working for Head Start.  I wanted to be working with children and families so I'm really happy that this job encompasses both.  YAY!

Update on Life

So, I realized it's been a while since we've posted about what we're up to in normal, day-to-day life.  I've been making a little money working for my grandparents.  I haven't ever put anything up on our blog about this, so for all of you who I haven't told, a little over a year ago my grandpa Palmer had a massive stroke that has left him handicapped.  He was left unable to move the right side of his body and had a hard time talking and making sense.  He's made so much progress since then.  He walks with a special cane, can lift his right hand almost up to shoulder height, and is progressing well with his speech abilities.  So, I've been working with my grandpa doing his physical therapy and speech therapy. Most of the time we do really well, but sometimes he gets really tired.  And not usually with physical therapy.  It's speech therapy that gets him.  It's kind of interesting to me to hear what he is saying, the "mistakes" he is making, and for me to try and figure out how is brain is working, why the mistake he is saying seems correct to his mind.  I got to study the brain in a lot of my classes at BYU, especially cognitive development.  So, I find it very interesting to see how his brain is re-wiring itself after his stroke.  My grandpa does say some rather ridiculous and funny things during speech therapy.  For example, yesterday I was asking my grandpa to make a sentence with the word "remember" in it.  His answer, "I remember when you were thinner."  Thanks Grandpa.  Another day I was asking what the opposite of boys was.  He said, "The opposite of boys are buzzards."  At least it was a full sentence.

I've also been working for my mom doing lots of left over projects from the addition to the house last year.  I've been painting, caulking, organizing, polishing, washing, you name it.  I'm so grateful to have had something to do while I was looking for a full time job and it's been nice to see my mom more often.

To fill up the rest of my time, I've been reading like crazy.  Nine books since the beginning of the year.  That also doesn't include listening to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows or The Fellowship of the Ring with Brad.  Mostly I've been reading Agatha Christie books.  I'm getting a little tired of mysteries so if anyone has a good book to recommend I'd love your suggestions.

While I've had oodles of time, Brad has had the complete opposite.  Brad's got another tough semester, plus a DAT prep course, and the Men's Chorus has performances every week from now to the end of semester.  This weekend the Men's Chorus is going on tour to St. George.  They are singing as part of Dixie College's celebrity concert series.

Brad also figured out when he is taking the DAT.  It's going to be June 11.  He's studying a lot for it right now with his DAT prep course, but he'll be doing a lot more once school gets out in April.  But not until after he goes to Nicaragua.  Yes, you read that right.  Brad's going to Nicaragua from April 23 to May 2.  He's going to be gone for his birthday, but it's for a good cause.  He's going to Nicaragua with a group called Smiles.  It's a group of dentist who are going down to do pre-missionary dental work so people can go on missions.  Brad got an email this week that said they have 500 people on the waiting list to get their teeth done so they can go on missions.  It should be a really good experience for Brad.

Life is good though.  Brad's busy, I try and find things to keep me busy, but it's nice to have Friday nights and Sundays together.  I guess I'll be getting busy starting Monday!

Dear Mom and Dad,

While you were gone in Jamaica, I made sure that Adrianne and Byron were taken care of.  We made really healthy food.

I also made sure everyone was in bed on time.

So next time you go out town, there's no need to worry.  I've got it all covered.

Wedding Book

A year and a half later I've finally finished our wedding book. I can't believe it's been that long, but I love being married to my best friend. Here's what our book looks like.

Happy Valentine's Day!

cBrad and I had a great Valentine's Day.  Brad got me these beautiful roses.  He had placed them in a few different vases so I could see them throughout the house.

I made a few valentine's decorations.  The globes weren't hard to make, just time consuming.  You can find the tutorial here.  The hanging heart was an idea from Martha Stewart that was super easy.  It can be found here.  (Side note: Can you guess which picture Brad took and the ones I took?  I'll give you a hint, mine are the ones with terrible lighting and less artistic flair.)

I tried something new for Valentine's dinner.  I attempted homemade ravioli with a lemon basil sauce.  Yumm.  I don't really have a recipe for it since I kind of went off what I thought would work.  The filling in the ravioli was ricotta, mozzarella, and parmesan while the sauce was a reduction of cream, butter, lemon juice, basil, and some salt and pepper.  Maybe because there was enough fat in it to make anything taste good, but I think my creativity was actually better than straight browned butter sauces I read about in my cookbooks.

I also made Brad homemade truffles, carmels, and turtles for Valentine's.  I made them secretly while Brad was in class or at his DAT prep course.  He was completely surprised when I brought them out.

The truffles weren't actually that hard to make.  I had the most difficulty while dipping the chocolate, but that was mostly because I couldn't keep the chocolate at a good temperature.  Here's the recipe for them.

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate (divided)
3 oz milk chocolate
2 tbsp butter
1 cup heavy cream
1 teas vanilla

Chop the 9 oz of semi-sweet chocolate and all of the milk chocolate finely and put inside a glass bowl.  Heat the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until bubble form around the edge.  Remove from the heat and add a fourth of the chocolate.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour the cream mixture over the remaining chocolate in the bowl and let sit until chocolate melts (about 30 seconds).  Beat with a whisk until all the lumps disappear and the ganache is smooth (you can also use an immersion blender).  Stir in butter until smooth and then add the vanilla.

Line a deep plate or shallow bowl with plastic wrap leaving overhang on one side.  Pour ganache into the plate/bowl and spread evenly.  Fold the plastic wrap over the ganache, pressing directly onto the surface.  Let cool at room temperature at least 4 hours or overnight.

Once ganache has set, use a small cookie scoop or two teaspoons to scoop small mounds of the ganache onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Put in refrigerator for about 15 minutes or until firm enough to roll.  Then place the chocolate mounds between both palms, squeezing slightly and roll into balls.  Refrigerate until ready to coat.

Using the remaining 3 oz of chocolate (you may need more depending on how thick of a shell you want) melt in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted.  Once melted, let the chocolate cool a little bit so the ganache doesn't melt too much when dipped.  One at a time, dip each truffle in the chocolate with a two-prong fork (a plastic fork with the middle tines broken off works great),  lift the truffle and let excess chocolate drip off.  You can let them dry as is or roll them in cocoa powder, coconut or nuts.


I'm sure from this weekend alone I have gained weight from eating chocolate truffles and fattening ravioli cream sauces, but it's back to lighter meals from now on.  Happy Valentine's Day!