Pink Nightgown Kind of Night

Anyone who knows me well, knows that I have a pink nightgown. And when I put on that pink nightgown, it's not going to be a good night. I put it on when I want comfort, I put it on when I'm sad. I put it on when I'm mad. Just ask my Boston friends about a certain 4th of July.........

Last week after making cookies for our neighbor (situation all cleared up!), I started in on making dinner. For this dinner I needed to crumble some bread and garlic for a crumbled topping. I tried doing it in my itty bitty food processor. When the blade kept coming undone for the 400th time, I unplugged it in a fit of anger and threw it away. I couldn't deal with it anymore. Another weakness of mine is to throw stuff away....ask Ellen, she has stories to tell!

Next I tried the blender. Bad, Bad idea Alicia. I think a few choice words may have escaped from my lips. The bread kept getting clogged in the bottom ( I didn't throw the blender away). At that point I put on my nightgown. I was desperate. I turned to Jeff with frustration and maybe a few tears and asked him if I could PLEASE have my present early.

Jeff in his infinite wisdom gave in:) I think he's been married to me long enough to know when it's better to give in then deal with my crazy Pre-PMS emotions.

I bet you're wondering how I knew what present I was most likely getting?

1. I've been BEGGING him for a food processor for MONTHS!

2. I saw on his phone he was researching food processors.

3. Last week I saw him carrying in a big box! He told me not to look:)

So, he led me into the guest room (that I was warned not to go in), and he let me open my present!!! Guess what it was?????If you look closely, you can see the nightgown:)

A gorgeous 14 cup food processor! It came with a french fry grater, a slicer and a dicer. I'm seriously in heaven. Jeff said he had never seen me that excited the whole time he's known me.

I love my husband.

And I love that he fears the pink nightgown.

A year ago today

A year ago today, my best friend, sister-in-law and twin lost her husband when he died unexpectedly. I'll never forget the phone call I got from Jodi telling me that something had happened and that I needed to get over to Jen's house right away.

I'll never forget that first long night I stayed with Jen at their home so she wouldn't be alone.

I stayed that night in the guest room but had trouble falling asleep. I just couldn't seem to wrap my my mind around the fact that Dave was gone. I mean it was DAVE. He was larger than life. He made me laugh, he shared my love of sauces. He shared my love of all Boston sports. He was a dad to the most precious little boy you've ever met. He was a husband to my twin. How could he just be gone? I had just seen him yesterday at church. I remember talking to him in my car as we were both going home. He was going to come by and get my primary manual. And now.........he was just gone.

I remember at about 2:30ish I was laying there in the dark and for some reason their computer turned on to the screen saver. It was a recent picture of Dave that Ellen had taken the previous fall. I remember for one thing being freaked out. I hadn't moved the mouse to turn it on. But I also remember feeling a sense of comfort. It was almost as if Dave was there in that room saying it's okay. I'm still me. I still exist. You'll see me again.

I remember texting Jeff who seemed SO far away and asking him if he really believed we would see Dave again. If there was life after death. My sweet, strong, never wavering in his faith Jeff immediately sent me back a "yes I do." He also shared a scripture in Alma chapter 40 with me about eternal life that brought me such peace. I know I'll see Dave again. I know Jen and Adler will be reunited with him again. I know my Savior died for us to make Eternal families possible.

When I get sad thinking about the loss of my brother-in-law I think of my favorite memories of him. The summer he passed away I got to spend a lot of time with him and Jennifer because that is the summer I fell in love with Jeff and he spent 6 weeks staying with them while we dated/got engaged.. We went to dinner together a lot. We watched "The Office" almost every night, we had barbecues, we went camping, we went whale watching, we went to Nantucket.....We had so much fun. I'm so grateful for that summer. It will always be some of my most treasured memories.

The following are some of my favorite memories of Dave:
The first time I met him was at Chick-fil-A. Jen and I had spent the day in Maine with Ellen, and Jen called Dave to see if he wanted to meet us for dinner. I immediately thought he was cool because he was wearing a Red Sox hat. What sent my likeness for him to to the top was because he loves sauces as MUCH as I do. We spent a good 5 minutes talking about our favorite sauces.

A couple years ago I hosted a BYU/OU football watching party (A game which Jeff claims didn't take place). I had a bunch of friends come over and told them I would provide the food, they just needed to show up. But Dave being Dave(He was an Eagle Scout and always prepared...sometimes OVER prepared)brought 2 roma tomatoes and a bottle of peppercinis just in case we wanted to make salsa. That memory still makes me laugh today when I think about it.

I miss you Dave. And I know Jennifer and Adler miss you more than words can say. I'll do my best to take watch out for your precious family until you can be with them again.

Dear Abby

I have a soft spot for my little niece Abigail. For one thing she is adorable. I mean just look at this picture:Who looks that cute in goggles and a swimming vest? And she is SUPER brave. She was jumping off the diving board all day long, all by herself. I don't think I ever did that until I was an adult.

I have a soft spot for her because she's the middle child. Kelli (her mom) tells me stories about her that instantly bring me back to my own childhood. Case in point: On my recent trip out to Utah Jeff and I bought her a princess Barbie that lets you cut her hair. She had been wanting it for MONTHS. She was at my mom's still, so when I called to tell her we bought it, she asked: "Is it still in the box." I laughed and told her yes. When I told Kelli what she said, she started laughing. I guess Sophia had tried to get into the barbie earlier with some scissors! I remember those feelings of being fiercely protective of your toys and trying to keep them away from other siblings.

I have a soft spot for her because she is feisty and hilarious. One of my favorite examples of this is a couple of Christmas's ago I was visiting them. Abby got in trouble for something and Kelli sent her to time out. Her way of speaking up about the unfairness of it all? She was sitting by Kelli's cute little lighted trees. Abby: "I'll break all theses trees. And the ornaments too." Morgan and I still laugh about it this day. I definitely had those thoughts when I was in trouble back in the day, but she definitely speaks up more than I did! And that same night when she suffered some injustice from her older brother Kody, she planned her revenge. Bob saw her walking up the stairs with something behind her back. He asked her what she was doing......She had a fondue stick that she was going to "poke" Kody with. I could not stop laughing.

I have a soft spot for her because she is an emotional mess sometimes....Just like me. Must be a middle child thing.

And maybe I have a soft spot for her because she looks just like me!

So, my sweet precious little Abby. If you ever feel like nobody cares or understands you, trust me, your Aunt Alicia does, and she is just a phone call away Love you my little twin Abby-Lou!

Love Hate Relationship

Yeast......I love you, and I also hate you at the same time. You have brought tears of joy to my eyes when you work out well, and you have brought tears of frustration when recipes involving you go terribly, terribly wrong.

In the past I've mostly stayed away from anything involving yeast. But lately, I've been giving it a go again. I got a little cocky with a bread stick recipe that has turned out well the last few times. I decided to make some more complicated rolls last week using you as the star ingredient. I'm pretty sure 1 roll was eaten, and the rest tossed in the garbage. I decided to take a break from all things involving yeast.

That is until I got an email from my mom today with a recipe for cinnamon rolls that she said were out of this world. My mom said it was the easiest dough she has ever worked with. My mom has never lied to me, so I thought I would give it a shot. Besides when I told Jeff about the recipe I think his mouth started watering. And to be honest with myself, the thought of a gooey cinnamon roll covered in frosting finding it's way to my mouth was hard to resist!

And my mom was right (like she has been, and will most likely be the rest of my life). There was minimal mess, not very much flour in the recipe(I've found that's the key with me and yeast products), and the best dough I have EVER worked with.

This part was a little messy......But not difficult at all. I just scooped up the extra filling, and put it on top of the rolls once they were in the pan!

The end result were these:

Delicious, light, amazing and wonderful cinnamon rolls! And I only ate 1(tonight), so that's healthy right?

So my dear frenemy......Tonight I love and adore you!

Recipe:

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of milk

1/4 cup of butter(softened not melted)

3 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 package instant yeast

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup water

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 T ground cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, softened (not melted)

Directions:

Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, the remove from heat. Mix in butter;stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm. This part is important because if the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt: mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface (or a new trick of mine is to spray the counter with pam instead of using flour, this way you don't add too much flour to the dough and end up with heavy dough) and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.

Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and softened butter.

Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread onto the dough the butter/sugar mixture. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal sizes (I use non-flavored dental floss to cute the rolls) and place in sprayed cake pan. Cover and let rise until doubles, about 30 minutes. With about 10 minutes left in the rising process, Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned.

Once I took them out I let them rest for a few minutes and then frost them with (gasp) store bought cream cheese frosting. They were DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!!!!

A little Summer Snack!

Yesterday for dinner I planned on making homemade pesto. Can you guess where my love of pesto started?!? Boston. It is REALLY delicious. I've always just bought it pre-made, but I decided I was up for the challenge of making it from scratch. It turned out really great. Anyway, the point of this post isn't about the pesto, but what I did with my leftover Basil.I had a bunch of fresh Basil that I didn't want to go to waste. And as I was thinking of what to do with it, I had a great idea.....A Mozzarella, Tomato, and Basil salad! It turned out so yummy and was super simple and quick to make. And if you can believe it....my meat and potato loving husband LOVED it!

All I did was chop up some tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and then tore up a few basil leaves and layered it on a plate. That by itself would have been wonderful, but I decided to kick it up a notch and sprinkled a little kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper on top. And the final touch? A little drizzle of olive oil and then a few splashes of balsamic vinaigrette ( I read yesterday about a lady who pays a $100.00 per bottle of the balsamic. I don't think I've ever paid over $6.00!).

It was like a little summer party of deliciousness in my mouth. And look at the grin on my cute husband's faceDon't worry, I got a few bites:)

P.S. Do you spy the handle of a bat in this picture? I don't know why it made me laugh when I saw it. Some could say I need more sleep.

Wish List

As I was making dinner yesterday and cursing my flimsy tongs, I told Jeff I was going to make a wish list and hang it on the fridge. This Wish List will include (but not limited to) mostly kitchen items. Some of the things I told him just yesterday were:

A glass measuring cup. Every time it seems I need it, it's in the dishwasher!

Wooden Spoons. Somehow I've managed to break all but 1 of mine. Again, every time I need it.....

Better Tongs: Mine are REALLY flimsy. Trying to grip anything with my tongs is difficult!

Well, when I woke up this morning, guess what was in a bag by my bed?????

My Mr. Fix it is seriously the sweetest husband ever. He takes such good care of me and is always trying to make me happy. Although, with my new kitchen tools (A brand new knife was even included that I didn't even ask for!) I will be able to make him delicious food! So he benefits as well!

Here's what the rest of my wish list looks like:

A food processor. I've been telling Jeff I need one for about 240 days now:)

A hand mixer. I LOVE my kitchen Aid, but sometimes a girl just needs a quick mix!

A big dutch oven I can use on my stove. Think of the stews I could make! And the Roasts!

A baby

A roasting pan

A Wok

A garlic press

A BIG glass or metal mixing bowl. My future bread products would appreciate this.

Jeff is set on birthday and Christmas gifts for awhile......:)

A Healthier Me.

Recently I've decided to get myself back into a more healthy place. And I'm not just talking hip size and thigh size. Although that is a huge part.....Pun intended:) Part of making myself healthier includes my attitude. I have started to accept that I won't be moving back to Boston or Utah anytime soon, if ever, and that my home is here in Oklahoma with Jeff. My bad attitude about living here didn't REALLY have anything to do with Oklahoma itself I've learned. It was about me being stubborn and thinking that it was just a temporary thing. That it wasn't ever going to really be my home. Once I decided to give it a chance, I actuallydecided I quite like it. And I know it makes Jeff happier to see me happier. A couple weeks ago I think I finally figured out a couple reasons why I was having such a hard time adjusting in the first place.

1. For the past 12ish years I've been in control of my own destiny. If I woke up and saw an ad in the paper looking for nannies (True story!), I could answer that ad, and move across country. Now I have a husband to consider. It's not just me anymore making the decisions.

2. Boston and Utah have both been such a HUGE part of my identity for so long, I've felt a little lost without either of them being the place I call home.

3. I'm married to and living with a BOY for the first time. And while it being an answer to many years of prayers, and having the MOST wonderful husband in the world....it's still a little strange to have to put the toilet seat down. And it's a little strange to see shaving cream in my bathroom:).

4. I don't have my friends or sisters or mom near me. It's been a little lonely at times.

Thank goodness for great in-laws or it could have been REALLY lonely around here.

5. My husband works over-night. So I'm adjusting to a new place, a new relationship and I feel like I NEVER get to see him!

I'm not trying to make anyone feel sorry for me. I'm seriously so lucky and blessed. It's just been a learning period for me.

The other problem in my life? The physical one? I have my OWN kitchen for the first time ever. And whether it was a good decision for my waistline to make cream puffs in the middle of the night, I've pretty much made whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted if something struck my fancy! Trust me that is changing. I can't promise I won't ever bake at midnight when I want cookies, but it won't be happening every night of the week:)

So after all that soul bearing, I'll get to the original idea I had for this post (who knew I had so much I wanted to say?). Last week, I made myself a promise that I would go to the gym at least 3 times that week ( I did achieve that!) As I got out to my car after working out one day, it was already this hot outside:Bearing that in mind, what bright idea do you think I had? I thought I could sweat a little bit more by rolling up the windows in this INSANE heat and turning the heater on. That lasted for about 1 minute. It felt like the flames of hell were literally eating me alive. When I told Jeff what I did, he just looked at me like I was a crazy person. So the point of that story? Some ideas are better in my head than acted out!

But I am going to stick with making myself healthier. Inside and out.....And I when I eat delicious things like this salad for lunch, it's not too hard to be healthy....Most of the time:)

And something I love about Oklahoma? It's not hard to find evidence all around you that God is important to people here. I love that about my new home!

P.S. I've decided this blog thing is actually pretty awesome. Whether or not anybody reads it, I like being able to write about what I want. I'm finding it pretty therapeutic and FUN!