Easter

Easter is one of my most favorite times of the year. It means the weather is starting to get better, trees and flowers come alive, and some of the best candy of the year. The kids had Easter activities at school....We colored eggs as a family.....
Had our traditional egg hunt Easter morning.....

found the hidden Easter baskets.....

enjoyed Grandma's famous egg hunt....

and this year, a visit from the "Easter Jeff." (A tiny bit disturbing.)
Don't worry, he got what he deserved.

Landon's 6th Birthday Weekend

Despite the fact that Landon agreed not to have anymore birthdays so he wouldn't grow up, he still ended up turning 6 - nothing we could do about it. With his birthday being on Sunday, we had a full weekend of "Landon". They celebrated his birthday at school on Friday and he came home with a crown, a birthday bag, and a book of notes from his classmates. He was the "King of the Day" and sure felt like it.

On Saturday we celebrated by going to Pirate Island with the Lee family. Landon loves this place and never stopped smiling the whole time. We played a lot of games and ate a lot of pizza.
The kids had a crazy, good time. Then, on Sunday, his actual birthday, we had his cousins over for cake and presents.

Landon loves presents, can ya' tell?

Everyone loves Landon, or "Boots" as he's been called since a baby. Being the youngest Landon has the typical vibrant personality.

Landon still loves to snuggle with his mom.

Landon's favorite color is yellow, which makes it hard to see his artwork - boo!

Landon's favorite food is soup and requested Split Pea Soup for his birthday dinner. Say what?

Landon keeps us all smiling.

Happy Birthday, Boots!

Winning Good Food

I've entered a fair amount of giveaways over the years and hardly ever win. But a week or so ago I entered to win tickets to a Williams-Sonoma cooking event and was surprised when I WON! A few days later I got a gift card in the mail good towards 2 tickets, worth $150, to their next Cookbook Club cooking class. When you enter a giveaway, you just might win. The class was being taught at the Williams-Sonoma in Salt Lake City at Trolley Square, so it was a bit of a drive and some juggling of children, but it was worth it. There were 6 of us seated around the counter, watching the chef cook a few recipes from the featured cookbook.

(Warning to non-foodies - Here comes a long paragraph with a lot of food details.) We had Fattoush Salad with Romaine lettuce, rapini, Italian parsley, mint leaves, grape tomatoes, English cucumber, fried Naan bread (which was one of Leon's favorite ingredients of the night), sprinkled with Sumac - an interesting herb/spice, and topped with hard, grated Rocotta cheese. The dressing was made with olive oil, lemon, and more Sumac. For the main course we had Fennel-Roasted Whole Salmon, which was really good - even to a non-seafood lover like me. The fennel was cut in big chunks and was the perfect compliment to the salmon which was tender and juicy - melted in your mouth. The salmon was served with an aioli made with sun-dried garlic, grape sead oil, olive oil, and lemon zest. We also had a Spring Vegetable Ragout with peas, asparagus, and Fava beans cooked in butter and wine, served with pea shoots and a sauce made with olive oil and a chicken paste - so good. For dessert we had Strawberries Dressed Three Ways with pound cake, orange liqueur flavored cream, and a chocolate ganache - super yum. At the end of the night we also got a copy of the cookbook - a nice, big, hardbound book. In all it was an experience that taught and showed us new things. Leon was in 7th Heaven with all the interesting, good food and watching someone cook it. It was one of the most fun things we've ever done together and we might do something like it again in the future, but not one that costs $150. Having the evening cost us nothing made the experience even better for me.