Decorating Cookies!

 Jared's family has a tradition that they make and decorate sugar cookies each Christmas.  I loved this tradition from the start, especially the intricate and imaginative ways that his family makes each cookie.  When I was in college I started a "Muppet's Christmas Carol watching party."  This year, we invited my sister and her husband over and had combined traditions party!  It was so much fun.

Kaitlyn especially enjoyed the frosting part of the cookies :)

Scott joined us a little later and helped out as well.

Above are some of the favorites!

Wall E

While my parents were in Disneyland they treated us to go see the latest Disney/Pixar movie: Wall E. This was a cute movie and I really liked it. However, Jared got a little bored as there was very few dialogue in the movie and pretty much you just watched these two robots trying to stay together and do what is required of them. The characters were really cute, though, and that kept my attention - and the animators did a GREAT job at giving both Wall E and Eve some great emotions. The movie did get a bit preachy on the people are too fat and people need to take care of the environment angles - but then, that was the plot. Overall, I'd say this is a great dollar theater pic unless you have a small child that really wants to go see it now. Basically, you won't be bored, but it's not Cars, The Incredibles, Toy Story, either.

Missed It By That Much...

Holy cow! We went to see Get Smart this past Saturday and it was hilarious! It is rare that a funny movie comes out and the trailer doesn't give away all the good parts, but this wasn't one of those times. In fact, I think the trailer showed the least funny parts. I am seriously considering paying full price to go see it again rather than merely waiting for the dollar theatres. Jared and I are in Idaho right now and we went with his parents, his brothers, Matt, Chris, and Tyler, and Tyler's fiancee, Karissa. I haven't heard Jared laugh so much in a long time. Steve Carell landed the part of Maxwell Smart so well, even down to the same voice inflections at times as the original TV series. Anne Hathaway was beautiful and charming as well as the comedianne that I loved in her when I first saw Princess Diaries. I will definiely see this movie again and definitely own it when it comes out. I encourage all of you to go see this movie. My favorite line? "Are you thinking what I'm thinking, chief?..." I won't ruin it for you guys, you'll know the line when you hear it.

And Now a Review:

Jared and I went to dinner and a movie last night. I have to say that we had so much fun! We went to see Iron Man (mainly because we were in the mood for a not-too-serious movie and because we both love superhero movies). I really enjoyed it. I have to say that having a husband who read the comics as a kid and knows the background story of different heroes helps whenever I have questions. However, Iron Man was very close (I'm told) to the way Stan Lee wrote the story. I for one thought it was just a good movie about redemption with lots of good special effects and some great acting (especially by Gwyneth Paltrow in a very understated role). Overall, I will definitely buy this one and I recommend it to anyone who liked Spiderman One or Two.
Before the movie we went to Ottavio's Restaurant. I would have put this first but I am saving the best for last. For quite a while Jared's and my favorite Italian restaurant has been the Macaroni Grill. However, last night's dinner puts in a bid to be considered. It was AMAZING! The price was comparable to Olive Garden and Macaroni Grill; the food was a lot better. Each table was given several pieces of very good, moist, crumbly bread and the traditional olive oil and vinegar dipping. Jared ordered Chicken Pasta Caprese which had chicken topped with gobs of mozzerella and topped with several fresh tomato chunks. The pasta part was cheese-filled tortellini. I had tomato soup (Jared liked it better than Zupa's; I thought it was good but not that good) and then ordered Ravioli Pescatora. It was BEAUTIFUL! It had ravioli stuffed with cheese, lobster and shrimp. When they say lobster and shrimp, I mean it. You can taste it. All of this was covered in a creamy lobster butter sauce (and by covered I mean swimming). It was so good. I literally took a bite and thought, "this is one of the best things I've eaten in a long long time." I also think it safe to tell you that I don't in general like Italian food - especially marinara sauce. So the fact that I'm raving about this restaurant means that you all should try it. Like I said, the price was a little on the higher end of the medium scale restaurants, but it was well worth it! The only thing I was disappointed about was the fact that I didn't have room for dessert.

Catching Up

I very much need to update this blog, so here goes...
Christmas was wonderful, we got to spend this year with my parents. I bought Jared a Wii, for which he claims to be mad at me but loves to play Strikers (and soon to be Brawl) with his brothers over the internet connection. Jared continues to make me smile all the time, from the little gifts to putting up with me when I can't sleep well and take it out (literally) on him. We were so excited to spend our New Year together in our home. We spent much of our time cleaning out our back bedroom. There was a super sale at Shopko and we were able to purchase a book shelf and several totes to store various items. It's amazing to find that we do have carpet back there after all!
For Martin Luther King, Jr. Day we went up to Boise to spend some time with Jared's family. Mom, Chris and I went to see August Rush. I love this movie! It's a great story about music and family, and it's clean and it has a wonderful soundtrack. I'm tempted to schedule a ward activity around watching it, I love it so much. While in Idaho, I got a call from my parents letting me know that our family dog had died. I was sad, but Soukie was old and sick and it was time for her to go. My parents have since bought a new dog, Elroy, who is a puppy and a handful.
Jared and I were so excited to spend Valentine's day together. We had plans to go to dinner and maybe a movie or bowling or something. Instead, I pulled a muscle in my back and was out of commission for the whole week! I all but missed the Valentine's dance at my school, and I missed the pajama party we had been planning for months. Oh, well, at least now I can move. And the time at home gave me the opportunity to catch up on my scrapbooking.
Basically life is just moving along, and I'm enjoying it. I love spending time with my husband, and I love the great friends we've made. I woke up last Saturday, March 1, to Jared calling me from the front room letting me know that my guinea pig, Raven, had had her babies. I now have three little pigs squeaking about in my classroom and being thoroughly adored by all of my students. Raven is old and I was worried about her, so I'm very glad that she survived the delivery. Hopefully I'll be more on top of things in the future, I love you all.