Tchaikovsky & Ballet

We did it, we went to the ballet.  We saw Sleeping Beauty by Ballet West with orchestration from Tchaikovsky.  It was very fun and definitely something I would recommend to others!  I figured Raymond was giving up a night of his life to...well something he would never pick on his own...so before the ballet instead of the fancy dinner I had imagined, we hit up Fuddrucker's and the RV Show!  Both of which made him very happy which made me happy! Then we hit up the Ballet!  Raymond surprisingly didn't detest it, he actually enjoyed the first 1.5 hours but when it turned out being just over 3 hours...he was done. Way done! I loved it all!  Especially the music, I am a sucker for classical!  Thanks for a great night babe, you sure are good to me!

Beautiful building, so fun to experience!

Horrible picture, but we weren't supposed to take pictures in there!

Baby B

I got to hang out with this cute gal one day last week and one day this week while her mama was workin!  Aren't I one lucky aunt!

Daddy-O Gets Checked!

"Pre" ( In all fairness he was very willing to have his picture taken!)

He will love that I am posting this!  Today I took my dad to get "Checked" because he is turning the big 5-0 this year!  Yay, go dad for being pro-active about your health!  (Note**Everyone 50 or older should have regular colonoscopies! Go here for another affirmation!)  Dad faired very well! He was very lucid afterwards and was up walking around and came home with me within an hour after his procedure and we even hit up Jimmy John's for lunch! 

"Post" (I told him he would not be aware that I took this, and he wasn't!)

Kinda reminds me of when I took this handsome guy to get his when he was having some health trouble.  We had only been married a few months so it was kind of scary to see him all out of it!

Raymond was completely zonked, it took about 1.5 hours to get him concsious enough for us to load him into a wheelchair and load him into the car.  Something I kept secret from him for about a year is that he crashed in the car on our way from the hospital in Bountiful to Garland.  I had a couple stops to make so...I just cracked the windows and left him in the car while I went shopping!  Mean huh!

While Raymond was a bit loopy he kept asking to see the Dr.  I told him the Dr had been in and gave Ray the pictures/report that he had gone over with us (Raymond actually talked to the Dr himself, just doesn't remember!).  Every few minutes he would get upset that the Dr was taking so long to come talk to us, I just kept showing him the report!  The nurse told me to talk to him in attempts to wake him up and one of my favorite conversations I had with him was...Me: Honey, whats your favorite color?  Ray: I don't know, what is it? Me: You tell me. Ray: You know it better than me. Me: Okay, usually you like blue.  Ray: Yeah, thats a good one.  Do I get a blue sucker now? Me: I don't have a sucker, sorry.  Ray: Damn, I really want a blue sucker. Haha! It was kinda fun talking with him!

Gosh I love this man.  Even when he is all doped up and clueless.  Dad thanks for letting me chill with you, you are not nearly the light weight Raymond is :)

Happy Love Day!

Valentine's Day wasn't all gushy and romantic for us...we did what we always do and we LOVED it!  We had movie night with the Thurston's & Blake!  The 15th is Michelle's birthday so I made a funfetti cake...a little big for 5 of us but oh well, it was all funfetti from the cake to frosting to candles!  By the way, funfetti frosting melts even at room temperature hence the cake is a little saggy! We enjoyed the cake, indiana jones was timeless, and as always, the company was wonderful! 

I did make a nice dinner, chicken parmesan, for us and gave the honey a nice card...that sings! My favorite kind of cards!  Raymond surprised me with a Teddy Bear (we had joked that he has never given me a cheesy stuffed something so he got me one...and I love it!).  He also very much surprised me with a night on the town.  This Saturday we are going to dinner and the BALLET!  I am so excited!  Ray really bit the bullet so that I could finally get some intellectual cultural!  Thanks babe I am stoked!

Super Bowl Sunday

We had a small SUPER BOWL PARTY at our house this year!  It was great!  We watched the game on a projector screen with a newly improved sound system (just old stuff but newly put in the sunroom!), enjoyed good company, and lots of good eats!

This is just a portion of our spread! We had wrapped jalepenos, wrapped water chestnuts, lil smokies, meatballs, cowboy caviar, nachos (with a variety of three types of chips olives jalepenos onions tomatoes chili taco meat sour cream guacamole and salsa...we are very serious about our NACHOS), fresh sushi, cookies, oreo truffles and ice cream!  We seriously had way to much food but it was well worth the effort!

Lexi was a great helper with making sushi!

Mom in her Packers get-up!

Raymond loving the game!

Lexi would randomly cheer Go! Packers! Go!

Dad and I made sushi for the first time, this is some shrimp and tuna nigiri with a side of pickled ginger leaves

Our first attempt at california rolls, nori paper sticky rice cucumber avocado and crab...not exactly beautiful but i think it was a pretty good first try!  And it was delicious!

We were so lucky to party with Cody, Lisa, Lexi, Mom, Dad, Brenda, Ashley, Dani, Michelle and Mackenley!  Thanks so much for coming everyone and for all that you brought!  It was a very fun night, unfortunately the Packers won!  Raymond was going for the Steelers!

Fresh Garlic...Has My Heart

I like to cook. I really do. And most of the time, I am really good at it.  Most of the time, I have no time for it.  Tonight, however, I took the time.  It was glorious.  I minced.  I chopped.  I sautéed.  I boiled, whipped, sliced, sprinkled, baked, tossed, and grated.  It was a wonderful time spent with my kitchen.  I love my new Browning Knife Set.  I love fresh garlic, why don't I use you more often?  It makes everything so much better!  Dinner was a success.  It may not look like much but it was lip-smacking good! Chicken tetrazzini with fresh mushrooms and asparagus! Yum!

In other great cooking news, I finally made JELLO that was a success! If the above meal didn't make me feel like I could metaphorically "move mountains" in the kitchen, successfully making Jello sure did.  Lame, I know, but its been a life struggle.

Bag Party!!!

I am having a bag/luggage party at my house this Saturday!  I love these bags!! They are my new obsession!!  It's an open house from 11-2!  Anyone is welcome just email me for my address! raymondandnicole@msn.com

These are some of the different styles and you can pretty much get them in any of these prints/colors/styles!! Hope to see you there!!

  

Love Willard Sunsets

Raymond and I were driving around taking pictures of house designs for his class and we caught this beauty.  I love the area we live in!