Happiness Is...

I'm not sure what to say... I guess I'll let the picture speak for me...

I don't understand Luke's love of Fantasy Basketball. But then, when things go well, he smiles like this...

and it makes me smile.

Two winning seasons. One shiny trophy sitting on our tv. One happy husband.

~Si, Brandon, and Shawn.... you know you're jealous!~

By the way, Luke didn't take a week off. He still hasn't missed a day.

Championship Game!

I know everyone has been waiting on pins and needles to find out how this year's all important Fantasy Basketball season ended up, so we won't hold you in suspense any longer!

This week Luke's team, the Stormin Mormons, played in the Championship! It was pretty intense... ALL WEEK! Last night, while Luke was out playing basketball, he got a call from his brother telling him he only needed one more block to win the championship! Luke rushed home (from real basketball to fantasy.... hmm) to find out the result of all of this year's hard work.

Looking up the scores.... is the anticipation killing you?

And....

VICTORY!

The final score was 6-5-1

Thanks to Pau Gasol, Luke has a Fantasy Basketball winning streak!

Luke said he will try to take a week off before he starts preparing for next season. Because.... it's important!

Happy Easter!

How does a young married couple living in Illinois celebrate Easter? They help the Easter Bunny with basket set up. Then, eat some of the candy he left with breakfast.

They color Easter eggs while listening to prophets and apostles bear testimony of a living Jesus Christ. They continue eating candy.

They share an amazing Easter Dinner (as well as stories, jokes and laughter) with good friends.

They talk to family and wish them a Happy Easter. They (well, really just she) continues eating candy. They study the scriptures. They know that He lives.

Happy Easter!

More St. Louis Fun!

Last weekend, Luke and I visited St. Louis. We traveled back to the city of fog and mist for two exciting reasons. 1) Old English Sheepdogs were gathering to walk in the St. Patrick's Day Parade. 2) Luke's brother Si was visiting St. Louis.

Luke and I are planning on getting a puppy in couple months. YAY! After doing a lot of research an Old English Sheepdog looked like the best fit for us (on paper). Easy going, great with families, docile, and funny (they're nicknamed the clown of the dog world) an old english sheepdog seems like the perfect dog. The only problem was that we had only ever seen pictures and read books and articles, we hadn't ever been around an old english sheepdog. So, when we found out a whole group of Sheepdogs would be in St. Louis to march in the parade Luke emailed the group and asked them if we could come meet them and play with their dogs. They were super excited and offered to take us out to drinks after the parade to talk about sheepdogs! We politely declined their offer for drinks but told them we were thrilled we could meet them before the parade.

I took a lot of pictures for my mom, who is almost as excited as me and my husband.

Here I am with Heart.

Heart, Harry, and Murphy all dressed up in green! They won't get pinched! (We both thought the outfits were a little extreme. Nobody would pinch such sweet dogs :)) That's me holding onto Harry's leash.


Luke with Charlie and Charlie's owner. Charlie was such a beautiful dog!

The Sheepies were so much fun! The people who let us play with their dogs were great too! They gave us a lot of good advice. Now we are even more excited about getting our puppy!

The day got even better when we met Luke's brother Si for dinner! Si caught us up on what is happening at USAFA, what his plans are after graduation (which happens in 2 and a half months!) and (of course) the all important fantasy basketball latest.

I just noticed I only have one good picture from our dinner with Si. Awkward.... it may look like the dogs win this blog entry but we really were excited to see you Si : ) Living in the Midwest can get lonely sometimes so visits from family are very special.

St. Louis is growing on us!

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.