Make this for dinner

I have recently been re-introduced to the pioneer woman. I know, I know, it sounds totally mormon. But really, she doesn't even live in Utah. She is fantastic! Very classy and hilarious. I made this for dinner last night and we all about died with how over the top it was. (Kevin is adoring me, which we all know that is the goal, to make our husbands so madly in love with us and our cooking that they are completely wrapped around our little finger.) I wanted to just put the sauce in a cup and drink it. I "tested" the sauce with little "tastes" no less than 987 times.

Anyway, I followed this recipe to a "T" minus two points: I didn't have crushed tomatoes, so I used Italian style stewed tomatoes and pureed them in my food processor (blender would work fine). Also, for the wine, I used chicken broth plus 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/10/chicken-parmigiana/

We are having some friends over for the football game tomorrow and I am making another one of her recipes: Bacon-Wrapped Jalapeno Thingies. Love the title! With only three ingredients, all of which I love, I can't imagine them being bad, unless of course I burn them.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/07/bacon-wrapped_j/

Dave and Carol's Big Adventure

Kevin's parents, my beloved in-laws, have been on a 5 week trek across the nation. They have sent all of their grandchildren postcards from every significant stop along the way. I hung up a string over our mantle and we have been clothes-pinning each card we get. It's like we've been on the big adventure with them the whole way! To date (and I think we have them all) we have close to 20 postcards. Everywhere from Las Vegas to Washington D.C., Graceland to Arches. It has been so fun reading all the postcards. Ian was in charge of the sharing bag in Preschool and decided to take 3 of the postcards: Mount Rushmore, the Statue of Liberty, and the Liberty Bell. (He would've taken them all, but I had to put a little limit on him!) These pictures are from about 2 weeks into their vacation:

Viva LV!

I surprised Kevin over the weekend with his Birthday trip to Las Vegas. It was fabulous! He had no idea. I had to weave the biggest web of lies to make sure he didn't find out. I showed up at his work on Friday morning around 9 am and whisked him away!

I told him that he was in charge all weekend. So, of course, the first stop was in St. George for lunch at Outback (then I got some shopping in :). We traveled on to Las Vegas, stayed at the Hilton (which has been totally remodeled and is gorgeous). Then, yup, we transformed into 60 year olds and went to the Barry Manilow concert. (I was named after the song "Mandy", just in case you were wondering.) The concert was completely cheesy, which made it supremely entertaining and hilarious. Saturday morning, we woke up and went to Hoover Dam, then shopping. Then, we again transformed into 60 year olds, and went to dinner at the Bellagio Buffet at 3:30 in the afternoon. Oh yum! ( we were even more pathetic, when we just paid the lunch price, but stayed long enough to get all the dinner items.)

After gaining 10 lbs at the Bellagio, we met up with our good friends, the Cox's, at the BYU v. UNLV game. Great game, great conversation, great friends. It was fantastic!

Prima Ballerina

I have Ian involved in so many things, I have been feeling guilty that Meggie didn't have some little activity to be involved in. I am not a dancer. I repeat, not a dancer. Ballets that last longer than 45 minutes are too long for me. When Kevin and I were dating, he surprised me with tickets to Ballet West's "Beauty and The Beast". Little did he know I would MUCH prefer a Jazz Game. (Luckily for me, that is what he prefers as well.) Don't get me wrong, I completely appreciate the work and talent it takes, it's just not my cup o' tea. Anyway, my dear little Meggie has been begging for me to put her in dance lessons. I had to go all over town to find the ballet and tap shoes that were small enough. Miss Barbara is her teacher and we talk about her ALL of the time. They have the Nutcracker in December, which I am ecstatic about (unless, of course, it goes longer than 45 minutes.)

Her favorite thing to do is the "Singin' in the Rain" dance. They all get to pick out umbrellas and scream at the beginning of the song when the thunder roars.
Shuffle, step! (She can barely reach the kid-height ballet bar).
Notice below, my delicate little feminine flower has her sweet little finger up her tiny little nostril.