I Jinxed It...

The other day I was thinking about a month before my graduation from BYU-Idaho I got mono, Marc is about a month away, what could happen to him? Wrong question to think! Here is what happened...

My poor husband broke his hand! Here is the story. He has been working out with a friend to help fill an assignment for the friends class. They have been lifting weights and boxing. I usually go and sit in the grass at the park and read. I decided to stay home on Saturday. Marc got home about 5:30 and when he walked in the door I knew something was wrong. The look on his face was pretty readable. I asked what was wrong and he said "I'm really really sorry", again I asked what was wrong. After a little hesitation he said, "I think I broke my hand", he held it up for me to see and his right hand along his pinky was pretty swollen. I got up and said let's got to the hospital. He reminded me that there is an urgent care just down the street. I don't know how I kept so calm, I am a panicer when it comes to any kind of pain, me or others! We grabbed ice, and got in the car. I didn't realize until we were almost home that I was in such a rush to leave, I forgot to lock the door! Good thing we are in Rexburg! We got in and out in about an hour. They took some x-rays and told us that it was displaced, meaning the bone moved, but also that the bone was broken just under the knuckle on his pinky. Since it was Saturday, we couldn't go to the Orthopedic Surgeon, and they aren't authorized to set bones in their office. They were going to call and make the appointment then call us. We waited until 1 when we finally called, they still hadn't done anything so we offered to do it ourselves. They wouldn't let us and about 10 minutes later said the doctor would meet us at the urgent care office. They had us go into what looked like the supply/emergency room. They explained that they could give him an IV into his hand that would help block the pain of setting the bone, or they could give him a few numbing shots in his knuckles to dull the pain, or they could just do it without anything. Marc decided for sake of money and our shared fear of needles, he was going to do it, as my mom said, "the Joseph Smith" way, and just tough it out. I couldn't look, but they laid him down on the bed, pulled up the side to let him squeeze the railing and popped it back. I heard one loud pop, and a big sigh. Marc said he felt like yelling bad words, but when I asked him if he would have rather had meds, he said no. It is now is a water activated fiberglass and an ace bandage. He isn't too happy about having to wear it at graduation!
So, how did it happen? Well, I told him we should make up a good story like, we were at the mall and some guy started cay calling to me and he got mad and decked the guy. He didn't like that, but the truth is, he did hit someone in the head! While boxing with wraps and gloves, he hit the other guy hard in the head. They were both wearing helmets, but his wrist tweaked and broke it. He hit a wall about 6 years ago and broke the same hand in the same spot. He said he got in the car and knew that it was broken! Poor guy! He doesn't like having to do things left handed, but I am trying to teach and help him! Moral of the story, try not to jinx someone into breaking a bone!

Marc's Mission Anniversary!

This last week Marc and I remembered that on June 12th we missed celebrating the anniversary of his mission homecoming! He served in Kiev, Ukraine and has now been home for 2 years and if you ask me, he has done pretty good for himself! He will be graduating with his Bachelors degree in a few weeks and then starting his career! He has worked so hard to finish up so fast! I am so proud of him! He loved his mission so much! Before he left and we dated almost 5 years ago, he told me that going on a mission was the most important thing to him. When we started talking again after he got home I asked if it was as wonderful as he hoped and he said better! I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband who loves to follow the Prophet and serve the Lord! Here are a few mission pics. This one is probably my favorite! This was at a ward activity on P-day. There was a little hike into the clearing and he befriended this ward member to walk with, actually the little boy wanted to walk with him, but still precious! I am so glad he loves kids!Before you think what are all those missionaries doing not dressed to mission standards, let me explain. For a few months of Marc's mission they were a non-proselyting mission. They could not wear anything to identify them with missionary work. It is a long story, so if you really want to know he will tell you, besides, I might mess it up! This was while the missionaries couldn't teach on the street and got to do a little sight seeing!

This is a family that Marc helped bring into the church. The parents were members, but moved out of the city and were not able to attend church. The mom found out that there was a new branch in their city and brought the children to church. Marc was able to help teach and baptize them.
This is the family after the baptism. Look at Marc's Missionary cut! Gotta love it!
I am so happy that Marc is such a great guy! I am so blessed to be his wife and see the changes that he has brought to so many on the other side of the world! He loved his mission so much and grew is so many was from the things he saw and learned while he was there!

Cupcakes, Airplanes, and Friends!

A few months ago I made Crab Cupcakes. A friend of mine saw them and asked if I would make cupcakes for her luau birthday party this last weekend. Even though it was still a month and a half away, I agreed. I started thinking of all kinds of ideas for them. We finally decided on flip flops and umbrellas. I made 48 pairs of flip flops out of fondant. After the birthday girl and I looked all over town we couldn't find the umbrellas, so I took matters into my own hands and used my creativity and photoshop to make these:

I did have a few umbrellas left from the crab cupcakes, so I added one for the birthday girl to have a special one. I found some tiki color pages and used them for the template for the ones I made.

I think they turned out pretty cute. I hear they were a hit at the party!

Saturday was also the Rexburg Air Show. Air Shows are something that my family always went to. My grandpa LOVED planes and love to share that with all his family. Our friends Steve and Christine came into town and we went and watched the show in the park. There were some pretty cool planes. It was so loud. We live a little less than a mile from the airport here, it is just a tiny private plane airport, but it was so loud all day! I only got a few pictures, but the planes were doing some pretty cool tricks.


They did tons of formations, loops, spins, one even stalled in the air and hovered for a little while. It was a lot of fun to be outside! The weather was perfect and decided to hold the rain until after the air show! Over all it was a fun and busy weekend!

I Should Have Been a News Anchor...

Last Tuesday, I know I should have posted it sooner, we had the opportunity to go and see a local 10 o'clock news cast. Marc is taking an Intro to Broadcasting class to finish his elective credits. I always wanted to take the class but couldn't ever fit it into my schedule. I was excited for Marc to take it. His teacher is a news anchor for a local news channel, part of an assignment was to go and watch a live news cast. Since it was late and only 4 students from the class were going at that time, I got to tag along. We had to drive to Idaho Falls, it poured the whole way, for a little bit we couldn't even see the road! It was a lot of fun to see how they work. Of course it is a small area, so it wasn't as big as some at home I'm sure, actually, when I asked how they deal with breaking news, they didn't have a straight answer, they never really have to add to or change a script during a news cast. I was going to take the camera, but Marc didn't think I would be able to take a picture of him at the news desk, he was wrong, and I left the camera at home! It was a lot of fun to learn about, it kind of made me wish I would have pursued that dream a little more! Oh well. If you ever get a chance to go and see a live news cast, do it.

Happy Birthday Marc!!

Yesterday was Marc's 23 birthday. He claims he doesn't like them, but I think secretly he LOVES them! Marc has two classes on Monday with a 3 1/2 hour break in between. That meant that if I wanted to do anything big, I had to get is done while he was gone. He tried get me to tell him he could stay home from school, but that wasn't going to happen.
I started getting ready Sunday night by putting a dry rub on the ribs we were having for his birthday dinner and baking the cake so it would be cool and ready to decorate Monday morning. When he came home at 11:30, I had only put the cookies and creme mousse in between the layers of his cake! I was pretty behind, I wanted the cake to be completely done. When he came home, we ate lunch and finished polishing his resume so he could get it sent out. Then I had him help me make the frosting for the cake. I used a box for the cake, but made the frosting from scratch. it was a chocolate butter cream frosting. We didn't have bakers chocolate, so when we bought it at the store this weekend I let Marc pick it out. If you know his love of dark chocolate, it wouldn't surprise you that he picked one with 100% Cacao! We made the frosting and it was delicious! Marc left for class, and that is when things got crazy. I had to frost and decorate the cake, put up decorations, wrap his present, write in his card, and get dinner started all in an hour! I had ordered his presents online and only one had come. I was a little stressed, but it worked out. I worked right up until he opened the door! Here is what he came home to!


He was surprised I had decorated so much! He wasn't expecting anything!
Here is a before dinner shot, he was ready for those ribs!

Here is the after dinner shot, he was so full, I had to take another picture and make him smile so he didn't look sick. I wish there was some sauce on his face though!

After dinner we were so full! We went and rented a movie, then came home and ate cake. Here is what the cake looked like. I crushed Oreos in a food processor and used them for the decoration.


Here is Marc with the cake. I wanted to use candles, but forgot. Marc didn't care, he didn't want them anyway!

Marc says he had a good birthday, so I will believe him! We can't wait for to be with our families on our next birthdays!

Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup!

I love trying new recipes and being creative. Luckily so does Marc, he also loves to help me cook, so I feel like I can take on a little bit more challenging recipes. Last week we were watching Tyler's Ultimate on Food Network. He was making the Ultimate Rainy day lunch. He made amazing brownies, grilled cheese with mozzarella and pesto, and the Ultimate Chicken Noodle Soup. In place of the chicken he used chicken apple sausage, and in place of the noodles he used torteillini! We both love soups and got really excited to try it. When we made our dinner list it was the first thing on there. It has been raining for about a week and sounded so good, especially since it hasn't been higher than 60 degrees! We were so excited we couldn't wait until Thursday like we planned, so we made it Sunday! Delicious!! Mine did not look quite as pretty as this

We will definitely be making this again! It really is a time consuming meal. I put Marc on meatball duty and I took over the rest. If their weren't tow of us it would have taken about 3 hours to make. If you do the meatballs before of have someone help you, you can put them in in the right step. Marc said he bragged to everyone at school about how good it was! It is kind of expensive if you have to buy a lot for it. Most of it we usually have but happened to run out before we made it! I halved the recipe and there were still too many noodles. Anyway, here is the recipe. Let me know if you try it and what you think!

Ingredients
For the soup:
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, smashed
2 large carrots, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 ribs celery, sliced
1 bay leaf
4 fresh thyme sprigs
3 quarts low-sodium chicken broth
5 parsley stems, plus 1/4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
4 black peppercorns
Kosher salt
Grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for garnish
For the meatballs:
1 medium onion, diced
Olive oil
6 links organic chicken-apple sausage meat
1 egg
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
1 handful fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 pounds frozen cheese tortellini, store bought
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Directions
For the soup:
Set a large stock pot over medium heat. Add olive oil, half the garlic, carrot, onion, celery, bay leaf, and thyme and gently saute until fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes. Pour in chicken broth, add parsley stems, black peppercorns and salt, to taste. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to simmer while you work on meatballs and tortellini.
For the meatballs:
Caramelize the diced onion in a saute pan with a little olive oil over medium heat. Add the sausage, egg, onion, thyme, parsley, and cheese to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they all come together. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet with a few tablespoons of olive oil until just smoking. Use a small ice cream scoop to drop meatballs onto skillet. Cook, turning, until golden brown.
Drop tortellini straight from freezer into soup. Cook until they float. Once meatballs are browned, add to pot of chicken broth. Bring to a simmer and cook for 2 or 3 minutes. Give soup a final seasoning and serve in shallow bowls with a small shower of Parmesan, olive oil, and parsley.

We didn't add the extra olive oil, and used dried thyme, but next time, we are going to do it all! Have fun and enjoy!

Oh, and Today is Marc's birthday, despite the fact that he wishes it were not! Look for pictures and updates for that!