Pesach (Passover Haggadah)

"Great is the reward for whoever who finds the Afikomen!" I found it! Well... I already knew where it was, it was hiding under some Matzah, next to the Seder Plate. I sneaked a peek, while I was eating my Karpas, when it was hidden. Dayenu! ..."Gesundheit"? Nope, it's not German, it's Hebrew! Amy and I had the opportunity to attend a Passover at the Isaiah Institute in Provo Friday night. It was a wonderful and very educational event! I was disappointment however, we didn't have the opportunity to eat any Zeroah.. (mutten). It's been my quest to find mutten in Utah County. Well.. to be more specific, to find "year old lamb." I suppose this may exist in someone's deep freeze somewhere, considering it has to be frozen for at least a year. One of my favorite parts of this evening.. dancing a Jewish dance around the room and toasting and drinking 4 glasses of grape juice. I love learning about the rich traditions and symbolism associated with the Passover. This was a wonderful event to help prepare me for my Easter Celebration! (2 Nephi 11:4).

Amy's first bike ride!! Since Amy had Friday off, and I took the day off ... (I needed a short vacation, and a day away from the office),
we decided to test Amy's new wheels and ride our bikes to Utah Lake Friday morning! It took us 41.3 mins to hit the lake and return. Not bad! I had to do some serious peddling on my "Big Wheel" to keep up with Amy's new bike! ;) Check out the shocks on those front tires! I think we need to test this bike on some jumps next...

Later Friday afternoon, we sat with Amy's adorable niece Madeline. Such a cutie! Amy's new niece! Isn't she adorable!!

Speaking of adorable nieces and nephews! We had our annual family Easter egg hunt on Saturday. I have 11 beautiful nieces and nephews who are a blast! Better yet... check out the telephone my brother hooked up on his shed.. how convenient.


HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

"Saturday" #5, April 10, 2009

Nope, the date isn't wrong! Jen and I actually did all our Fun Saturday things on Friday since we both had the day off.

We started our adventures with a bike ride--my first ride on the new bike I bought a couple of Saturdays ago. Friday was the first good day of weather when I've actually had some time to get out and ride. And good thing we went on Friday, because Saturday was cold and rainy! Note to self...get a new softer seat for the bike before the next ride!

We took a 6 mile round trip ride to Utah Lake and back. Not too far, but a good bit of exercise! Along the way, we saw "wild life!" I had to take this picture of Jen with the cougar...a photo reference to a comment she made about our 1st Saturday of Fun. Oh, and how do you think one of these will look in my front yard?

Jen and I regrouped around 11:30 and spent the next couple of hours babysitting Jen's adopted niece, Madeline! We took turns cuddling her and while she was napping, we watched The Duchess.

Our next adventure was later in the evening. We attended a Passover Haggadah hosted by The Isaiah Institute. We enjoyed 'Four Cups of the Fruit of the Vine' representing the four aspects of Jewish bondage and deliverance. We ate Matzah and recited the Ten Plagues as we dropped grape juice on to our plates. We even learned Jewish dances and a few traditional songs. I'm glad Jen suggested this activity...I learned a lot and really enjoyed the evening.

Jen's Saturday # 4 Spring Cleaning!

Most of my Saturday consisted of Spring Cleaning! Why do I associate April General Conference with Spring Cleaning? With conference blaring in the back-ground, my usual goal is to have everything "squeaky clean" and beautifully polished before the 4:00 session is over. I finished my Saturday cleaning at 4:02! That's a new record! Fyi.. my cleaning sessions never seem to end.. I start in one area and continue throughout the house until I'm completely exhausted.
It wasn't until the Mormon Tab Choir started singing "Consider The Lilies" I realized my yard was next on the list.. this may have to wait for Fall General Conference.

Here are a couple cleaning tips I've picked up..

Company will arrive in 30 mins. your house is a mess. What will you do?
1. Door Locks. Employ the Locked Door Method of cleaning.
2. Duct Tap. Great way to fix drapes, tablecloths, pants. No muss, no fuss.
3. Ovens. If you think ovens are just for baking, thing again. Ovens represent at least 9 cubic feet of hidden storage space.
4. Dryers, washing machines, & freezers. Like tip #3, except bigger.
5. Dusting. Never dust under what you can dust around.
6. Dishes. Never use them. Use plastic or paper.
7. Lighting. The key here is low, low, and lower. It's not only romantic, it hides the dirt.
8. Use air freshener on the front door. While your guests wait they will smell the fresh lemon scent and think you've cleaned all day.
Happy Spring Cleaning!

Saturday #4, April 5, 2009

Amy's Fun Saturday Activity:
I started my day bright and early with a hair appointment with my friend Kim. I was anxious to cover the gray and maybe do something fun and different...even extreme. Luckily, Kim is more conservative than I am, so rather than ending up with crazy hair (I'd asked for purple), I got some red and blond highlights and they look GREAT! Here's photos...during the weave, in the foils and then after all cut, colored and styled. Kim took a close up shot so you can see the cross sections of color. THANKS KIM!!! (Kim has a blog...H2K Family Blog. I've posted a link to the right.)

Amy & Jen Fun Saturday Activities:

It's the first Saturday in April. Guess what that means? Fabric shopping for our block-of-the-month quilt.

Jen and I started a quilting project in January and every month we work on a new block for our quilts. April's block is three tulips and we had fun shopping for the fabric. Here's our first step... labeling and categorizing the fabric we already have and determining what new fabric we need.

When our quilt is finished (all 12 squares!) we'll post a picture of the finished projects!

After buying fabric we decided to go see a movie. Have you seen TAKEN with Liam Neeson? Makes me rethink my next European vacation. Lessons from the movie:

1. Listen to your father when he says, "I don't feel good about this!"

2. Don't ever share a cab with a stranger!

3. Hiding under the bed NEVER works.

We followed up the movie with a visit to Jen's favorite cookie place SMART COOKIE COMPANY for the best sugar cookies ever!

(See how loyal I am to my brand? I love their sugar cookies too, but since I work for MFC, can't claim SCC as my favorite cookie place.)

Jen's Fun Saturday Activity...to be added

Saturday #3, March 28 2009

I escaped Utah--the snow and cold--and flew down to Arizona for the weekend. Part of my Saturday fun included the following:

Holding a snake...

Playing with my nieces and nephews...

Styling Fiona's hair for her fashion show...

Shopping for IKEA Billy bookcases with Joseph and Amy M. and then assembling IKEA Billy bookcases with Angela and Kendra...

Did I mention HOLDING A SNAKE???

Saturday #2, March 21, 2009

Activity: Random things that made this Saturday fun.

We started our second Saturday 'O Fun by going to the gym. Aren't we so healthy? It's a good thing we went, but we'll get to that later. After the gym we went our separate ways...me to get my toes painted (I saw this weird Loch Ness type monster on the drive home) and Jen to take a nap. I'm sure she did other things too, but I envy her nap. I didn't get one.

In the afternoon we decided to see a movie...Duplicity (three stars, maybe) where I ran into random friends from the past. Weird. Oh, and at the movie we both got the kid's snack box of popcorn with a small drink and a sour apple candy chew. Yum! I need to remember the kid's size is always perfect...just the right amount of popcorn, not too much beverage so you have to leave in the middle of the movie for a run to the restroom, and just enough sweet to balance out the salt.

After the movie we headed to Wal-mart to purchase accessories for our custom-made Draper Temple Dedication handkerchiefs. What started out as kind of a joke (how gaudy and outlandish can we make them) turned out not half bad. Jen has lace and a few white flowers sewn to her hankie and I have lace and white puff paint lettering on mine.

Oh yeah, and I bought a new bike at Wal-mart. A bike! A BIKE! I'm so excited (Jen told me to say that...but really I am excited!). It's a lovely shade of steel blue. And yes Mom, I bought a helmet too. It's grey and matches the bike perfectly (of course it matches! Although it was a toss up between the grey one and the Hannah Montana one!)

We also bought new shoes! They were only $10.00 and in lovely spring shades. I guess we are craving spring! Plus, a girl can never have too many shoes. See Jen's cute spring shoes? She promises me she will never wear them again with black socks.

We ended our Saturday with a quick bite to eat at the Whistle Stop Ice Cream Chinese cafe. Odd, but tasty. But, really it's a good thing we started the day at the gym.

Saturday #1 March 14, 2009

Activity: Snowshoeing in Midway, Utah

We started our Year of Saturday Fun by snowshoeing on one of the last good snow days in Wasatch Cougar Country (Jen told me to call it that). Here we are at the top of the hill I made Jennifer climb. I've discovered that if I issue a challenge, she doesn't often say no. So even though we were both exhausted...I mean drop dead tired!...I said, "Let's go to that tree up there" and she said, "Okay. Last one there gets eaten by the cougar." Jennifer won...I stopped to use my inhaler. The sick one always gets taken out first...


We had so much fun! In fact, we are thinking of investing in snowshoes for next winter. Expect to see more snowshoeing adventures in about 45 weeks. Does this next photo remind you of Big Foot, sans the hair? At least Jen is smiling!

Okay, by her own admission, Jennifer needs to take a photography class, as indicated by following the video clip, which was suppose to be me, posing for a photo and somehow ended up being a lovely shot of blue sky and aspen trees. Listen for Jennifer's self satisfied "yeah" indicating that she got the photo. Umm..."yeah"???