Spring Brings Wonderful Things

Some of you reading this might be saying to yourself, 'spring is past and gone.' But, here in Laramie, it is just beginning. Leaves on small trees are coming out, blossoms are getting ready to burst, tulips and daffodils are in full sway, the grass is greener, and it now rains before it snows:) I look out my window in the morning to give Keefe a weather report, which he uses to determine whether to ride his bike to work or not, and I say, "Sunny. Looks like rain!" I am usually right just because it rains almost every day!!! One thing that we are very excited about is our tulips. I secretly planted about 10 bulbs for purple parrot tulips last October. Not only did they all come up, but in the past two days they have bloomed. They started opening and were still green, but the next day they were beautiful purple!

Note the baby tulip:)

Along with all of nature's beauties, spring brings watermelon!!! I love me a good watermelon! I usually am very timid about choosing the melon, because no matter how I try to find one that sounds hollow, has sugar spots, does or does not have a big yellow spot on one side, is sticky, or ugly, I have not had the most success with my selections in the past. I picked the ugliest one I could find, gave it a bath in the kitchen sink, named her Penelope (ugly on the outside, but should be sweet on the inside) and, sure enough, she was near perfect! Keefe and I had fun pretending to be Rudolf and clowns with our melon balls:) Here is to a season of wonderful watermelons!

His nose matches his rosy cheeks:)

One more wonderful thing that spring brings in Laramie is garage sales!!! I think I saw at least three signs for sales tomorrow morning! We are putting some stuff in one, including some bundles of rhubarb. I don't know if you noticed, but I planted the tulips in the rhubarb patch and the rhubarb is not being a friendly neighbor, so it is time to thin the plants out. Laramie has some really fun garage sales!

Happy spring everybody!!!

End of the school year!

Keefe invited me to the end of the year luau at the University cafeteria. He made and decorated all 860 cookies for the event- he is famous for his sugar cookies! They are delicious!

So, when I ordered the Lobster I did not realize it was a whole lobster-ya, funny. Luckily Keefe learned on his mission how to eat them and so he did most of the cracking. I was quite grossed out by the smell of the thing, but it tasted good. I thought dad might appreciate this:)

Keefe made these adorable bunny sugar cookies for Easter. The girl bunnies fashion a pearl necklace and pink floral broach. The boy bunnies are sporting a carefree artsy look. If you notice the card on side- it is my favorite- one chick is pulling the other in an egg on wheels, "Faster little chick. Faster!" Keefe also made the crepe paper hyacinth in the back. A man with so many skills- how did I get so lucky?

Happy Easter everyone!!!

Murder Mystery Dinner

Keefe and I were invited to a murder mystery dinner masquerade. I was to play the part of tramp wife of the deceased Melissa DuPree and Keefe was a Jazz musician from the french quarter named Bourbon. We made these masks ourselves and they were really fun to act with. The stunning dress is my mothers:) Let's just say our friends were impressed!

CALIFORNIA!!!

Keefe and I got to take a long spring break and so we decided to go visit Keefe's sister Gwynne and her husband Bennett in Redlands, California. We flew on a plane! The first thing we did was go rock Climbing in Joshua Tree National Park. I had come prepared with my rock climbing shoes that I purchased in 2007 when I took a rock climbing class. The shoes had never been used outdoors and they were awesome! I was a little tired because we had been awake since 2 am, but I climbed a few routes and it was scary fun! Here are some beach pictures from our last day there. We went to Newport Beach.

Keefe made this sand castle.

Here is our little pic-nic area. Bennett's sister and her husband also came to CA for a few days. The little girl is their niece who had never been to the beach before.

What an adorable couple! Crazzzzy hair.

Keefe and Gwynne in deep conversation. Yes, Keefe is wearing a T-shirt with the Muppet Animal on it.

Oh, I forgot to mention, Keefe had never been in an ocean before! This was his first time and ooohhhhhh, burrrrrr! Ya, he didn't go all the way in...this time.

Special treat! Keefe took me to see my friends, the Wilsons, in Saugus, CA. Little Colby isn't so little anymore:) We so enjoyed the visit and I was glad that they were able to meet Keefe!

Thanks Gwynne and Bennett for a wonderful week!

Wedding in Rexburg

Val and Lev Warton with Keefe at their daughter Mary's wedding reception in Rexburg Idaho in February. Keefe taught their family while on his mission in Rhode Island. Mary went on a mission to Pocatello, Idaho and then returned there for school. It was fun!

This is the rustic cake Keefe made (Ann:"And I helped!"). The top and bottom layers are a wonderful carrot cake with pina colada cream cheese icing. The middle layer is a divine german chocolate cake with a milk chocolate mousse (Ann: which I made). It was so delicious that the guests ate all but the top, which was saved for the bride and groom, and all over people were proclaiming it's deliciousness! It was fun to work with Keefe in his work mode and to be a part of something awesome. SO FUN!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Keefe and I have been substituting in Primary for the CTR 5 class this year and absolutely LOVE it! The primary presidency put on a couple's night for the teachers and Keefe and I were able to do the desserts. The funny story is that we thought the dinner was Friday night, when it was really Saturday night, so when Keefe got home from work late Friday and realized the dinner was that night- which it wasn't- he changed all his plans of making cocoa nib panna cottas to this wonderful milk chocolate mousse in a dark chocolate bowl with whipped cream, chocolate sauce, grated chocolate, and cherries and black berries on the side. We made all this in an hour, rushed to the church, found out that the dinner was on Saturday, went to Arby's, watched a movie and the next day made the cute cookies! Considering how much time we had, this was an amazing feat! Just tempering the chocolate for the bowls usually takes an hour, but we were able to speed it up by periodically putting the bowl in a bowl of cool water for a few seconds so as not to shock the chocolate. It was a big hit and everyone was pleasantly surprised by having such a fancy gourmet dessert. One of our class members was there and thinks "Brother Fillerup is fancy" because he can carry a tray with one hand. When she got home, she and her brother played 'Brother and Sister Fillerup.' Ya, we're that cool! It was really fun for me to be part of a fast paced culinary operation.

Keefe and I are excited for our first Valentine's Day as a married couple even though we will be at work and school all day and night. But it is wonderful to have a Valentine as sweet as Keefe, so I could not ask for more.

I just want to wish you all a very happy Valentine's Day full of love and joy!