Cilantro

I come from a line of marvelous women... who don't like to cook. To us, cooking is something you do in order to eat, in order to survive. Luckily, I married the perfect man for me, Luke wouldn't mind if we ate spaghetti and stir fry on rotation every night for the rest of our lives.

Sometimes, however, I notice people (primarily women) around me who enjoy cooking. They make amazing food every night! They follow something called a recipe and try new and exciting food, with successful results. And they get a lot of joy out of it!

I've never been good at following a recipe. I get bored. I got my Mothers' dislike of cooking but my Fathers' creative desire to throw things into a dish and see how it turns out (my Dad is a great cook). Which is why I get along with stir fry. It's easy to throw things into a stir fry and hard to mess up. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure the best way to increase my desire to cook will be to get better at it and the way to get better at cooking is to practice (by following.... recipes).

The other night, I was feeling pretty motivated and decided to try a recipe I have for a quiche. Quiches are pretty simple, right? I followed the recipe perfectly. I even measured out all the ingredients with all those little spoons (something I never do). It smelled great... it looked beautiful... and I MADE it! We tasted it and...

...discovered we hate cilantro.

So we swapped out quiche for this.....

YUM!

Bon Appetit!

Family Fun!

A few weeks ago, Luke and I got to play host to Luke's Mom. She stopped by for a visit after a trip up to Minnesota to visit her sister. We played games, went shopping, played games, visited an animal shelter, played games, walked around the U of I, and played games. Did I mention we played games... well, to be a more accurate blogger... we played one game. We played the board game Ticket to Ride about eight times. Luke won every game but one (he admitted to cheating later.... yep, you have to watch him like a hawk). It was really fun (well as fun as losing 8 games of Ticket to Ride can be).

If no one is cheating (and even if someone is) it's a really fun game. Thanks to our friends for letting us borrow it.

Mostly, we just enjoyed each others company. It is wonderful to have family around. As much as we've come to like Illinois, Luke and I both miss having family nearby. It sure is great when friends and family come to visit us (hint, hint).

St. Louis Temple

While Luke and I were in St. Louis we had the opportunity to visit the temple. Although the St. Louis Temple is three hours away it is 'our' temple while we live in Champaign. It is such a pretty little temple.

Visiting the temple was the highlight of our St. Louis trip! It is amazing how visiting a temple, no matter where it is located, can make you feel at home. We loved the time we spent together in the temple. It did wonders to brighten an otherwise foggy grey day. We hope we can return to the temple very soon.

Meet me in St. Louis!

St. Louis is probably a pretty city. The Gateway Arch must be really tall. It's surprising that I don't know any of this for sure, since Luke and I spent a weekend in St. Louis and visited the Gateway Arch. The reason I'm not sure St. Louis is a pretty city and the Gateway Arch is really tall.... fog.

Luke had to go to Scott AFB to take a fluency test in Mandarin on Friday so we decided to make a fun weekend out of it and visit St. Louis. Unfortunately, because of the dense fog that hung over us the two days we were there, we couldn't actually see very much of St. Louis.

The following pictures are all in black in white. Black and white is how we experienced St. Louis.

Luke and I at the base of the Gateway Arch.

A surprisingly clear moment. You can see all the way to the top of the arch.

I really like this picture. You can see how the fog just obliterates the city in the background. Yes... St. Louis is back there somewhere.

My husband is so handsome!

Yes... I'm wearing a dress and yes... it was pretty chilly. We headed over to the St. Louis temple after visiting the Arch (pictures coming soon).

St. Louis was, well, to be honest, ok. Maybe we'll visit again... if it's a clear day.

Illini Basketball!

Last night, Luke and I attended our first Illinois Basketball game! Thanks to some sweet friends we had great seats. The Fighting Illini beat Penn State in an extremely close game. Now, the University of Illinois is #1 in the Big 10 Conference!

We were excited to break out our University of Illinois gear and support Luke's school! It's safe to say I've never seen so much orange in one place before.

Thanks Vance and Ali! We had a wonderful time! Go Illini!

Officially Graduated

I graduated from the University of Utah May 8th, 2009. Even though I've had my degree since that time, something funny happened when Luke and I hung it up today....

It felt official.

Christmas in TX

**Special guest column by Luke**

Marquette and I spent Christmas in Amarillo, Texas with my family. It was a lot of fun to see my family again, especially as they start to feel more comfortable with Marquette as part of the family. Basically this meant that we got to see a little more of Si's chest and Marquette was made fun of slightly more than usual. We had a great time though and it felt way too short.

also, as shown in the picture below, whenever we get together we have to compete in as many mental competitions/games as possible. here's how the tally ended: Scrabble: Luke. Boggle: Si, second game i would have won, but Si quit. Monopoly: My Dad. Mad Gab: Luke & Si. one on one scrabble Luke vs. Su: Su. Si vs. Su: Si.

as you can see, i was not pleased with how this monopoly game was turning out

We got to talk to Travis and that was a load of fun. It was great to hear from him and he seems to be doing very well, although having been on a mission myself, i know it's easy to fake good for an hour two times a year (but i believe him).

Lastly we took a family picture because Marquette's in the family and that seemed like the appropriate thing to do now that we have more of a female presence in the family. It's right here.