home made pesto

So this summer I decided to get a little crazy and plant some herbs on my balcony -I consider this is crazy because I kill everything green aside from a bamboo plant that my sister in law Becca got me. (I'm going on three years with that bad boy now ...I know)

Well, One of the herbs is a basil plant. I thought that I would use it a lot, but I just didn't make anything requiring fresh basil this summer. Well, I knew I had to use it soon because winter's a com'n, so I decided on my first batch of pesto. -the pine nuts sitting on my shelf helped inspire this decision.

I was AMAZED at how much basil it took to make just a small amount of pesto. Geeeez, it nearly took the whole plant to make like a cup. A client recently informed me that you can use parsley as well to help cut back on basil usage.

We threw it on some sandwiches with a bit of rotisserie chicken and arugula and it was so good! Sadly my basil plant is practically gone now, but one can hardly be sad about that fact whilst eating delicious pesto

Portland!!!

I went to visit my best Allison in Portland a couple of weeks ago. She's the best host you could ever ask for. She took work off to hang out with me and did a lot of random things that she new I'd love! Sadly I never remember to take pictures but I did manage a few. The above is of us attending Mozart's Grand Mass. Yes I am in jeans -that's what they do here. Yes I picked the naked lady to be in our background. Along the concert line, we also went to see Pagliacci and Carmina Burana neither of which I had seen live. I really liked them both -Pagliacci the best. Way fun.

She also took me to this way cool hotel up on hood mountain where we got the most insanely delicious hot chocolates of my life. This hotel was way cool on the inside but is mostly known for the outside. This hotel is the one they used in the Shining -one of the creepiest movies ever. AWESOME eh? I was so excited to be there. On the movie whenever they show the outside of the Overlook hotel they're showing this hotel that we were at.

A close up because I know you wanted one. She also took me to all of the markets which was awesome. I even bought a print from a painting there and it's hanging on my wall right now (it's very halloweenie and I love it -I'll show it in another post) I did manage to get a picture of this awesomeness though. Allison has become quite the amazing parallel parker. In this particular spot neither of us realized that there were tiny columns along the sidewalk, and she ended up getting this close to one of them without knowing it. Lucky? Uh ya. I couldn't get out of my door and we ended up having to wait for a Chinese class to get out before we could move -long story.

We went on a super awesome ghost tour around downtown Portland at night and we had some EXTREMELY interesting people on the tour with us. It was quite comical actually. We went to a ton of cool farms and saw some beautiful produce and stuff, we ate at some great places, and we saw the coolest old pub/haunted hotel ever. It was really fun. Thanks so much Allison for letting me come and hang and spending so much time with me -and for the delicious sandwiches that you made me!

Derby

Ryan's been most anxious for me to post about the derby. So here it is sweetheart in all its white trash glory.


So, this may quite well be my favorite thing to buy a ticket for. I first became acquainted with the demolition derby my first semester at USU. (every year at the beginning of fall semester Preston ID throws a big) I could not BELIEVE that I'd never even heard of such a thing before. I instantly fell in love and have enjoyed the smashing of cars since. It had been a few years since I'd been though and Ryan and I had never been together so we found one way out west this summer and went with our awesome friends the Ferres.

I'm really lame and didn't get a lot of pictures but it was a really good derby. They even had a figure 8 race where cars got flipped over! It's funny because you want to cheer but at the same time you're like,... uhm, are they ok? -and they were. In fact, both times the driver shimmied out the window, grabbed a few other guys to help and they flipped the car back over climbed in again and started back in at the race. Awesome.

My Golden Retriever

I've decided that were Ryan to wake up next to me tomorrow as an animal he would be a Golden retriever. I've come to that conclusion because of a few traits that he shares with our canine friends.

He's always happy and loving, food has the noticeable ability to heighten said happiness to extreme proportions, he's really quick to forgive, he's always excited to see me, and he loves naps. So maybe a lot of guys have all these things going for them, but there's one thing my Ryno has that I doubt many other guys exhibit.

Search and retrieve.

Not with just anything though -as dogs typically bring their "masters" items such as dead birds and rats, bones etc, Ryan brings me the remotes. Anytime we sit down to watch TV he hunts down all of the remotes, tv/dvd/cable, and lays them out in a neat row before me then stands back to gauge my approval. He seems to take pleasure in this too

Maybe you have to see it in action to appreciate the humor, but it's funny.

I should note as well, that this does not only apply to the TV in the family room. We usually fall asleep to the TV in our bedroom (I know I know,...terrible habit) and if there's a time when I get home after he has already fallen asleep (usually after a late night of hanging with my Logan gals) I find him tucked into bed with the remotes to the bedroom TV laid out in a neat row on my pillow. hehehehe. He's so wonderful. How in the world did I end up in a marriage with total control of the TV? -and I don't even have to look for it or find it first, it's handed to me!

Maybe he figures if I have total reign over the TV at my fingers I'll feel my control need met and won't try to interfere in other areas of his life. If so, smart Ryan,...very smart. I do try to be a fair ruler though and not abuse the power of the remote. -I keep it on mutually enjoyed shows and save Iron chef for when he's not home.

UFO

My mom came up in Aug JUST for me!!!! She flew in Wed night and then Thursday we headed up to Logan for the Utah festival operas! We've done this before (a few years ago) and believe me, it is not for the faint of heart. On the first day you hit a matinee and then you have a few hours after that before you have to be back for an evening performance. Then you crash at a hotel and do it all over again the next day. -another matinee and evening performance. It's super awesome if you like musicals and operas (which we do) but I think that Ryan would rather be whipped than try to sit through four performances in a row.

This year the performances were as follows

The sound of music -which I thought would be my favorite and turned out to be my LEAST favorite

Guys and Dolls -which I didn't realize "luck be a lady" and "I love you a bushel and a peck" were both from (all of the old people in the audience did though ...and believe me, there were a LOT of white heads bobbing to bushel and a peck)

La Triaviata which I'd never seen performed before and totally fell in love with but had to laugh because it was the stereotypical opera with a fat lady dying at the end

and the barber of seville which I have seen before, but I've never seen it done this well. It was hilarious. I think even Ryan would have enjoyed it. I have to say though, I feel like an idiot because during the overture my mom leaned over and asked who wrote it and I said Mozart. DUH Rossini wrote it. a few days later I realized what I had said and have been meaning to call her and set the record straight, but forget to mention it. I hope you're reading this mom.

So here's the thing about the sound of music. (and guys and dolls too) The lead female roll they gave to (big surprise) Vanessa Ballam -Michael Ballam's daughter. (he runs the whole thing) I wouldn't really care except that she sucks. She sucks SO bad. It was really quite ridiculous and I don't even know what to say about it other than just thinking about it right now is making me pissed all over again. There are so many talented girls out there that it kind of breaks my heart that they would give BOTH leads to her when she's so bad (both at singing AND acting) that it ruined the show. I'm seriously considering writing a letter of protest to UFO cuz really, I can't sit through another performance with her in it and I REALLY hope that my mom and I can do this again.

Other than the Vanessa business, it was so much fun. I love my mom and I'm so glad we share this love of the fine arts. It was such a blast bunking with her and walking to our shows and having dinner together. OH, and kind of cool, the prophet showed up for sound of music too! (that kind of thing happens in Utah) I wonder if he was as offended by Vanessa Ballam as I was. Even if he was, he probably wouldn't say anything mean like I do. He definitely wouldn't blog about how much he hated her. I really hate her.

Thanks for an AWESOME time mom !!!!!!

"I was saving sugar for my wedding night"

There's a boy in my ward that I have to post about. He's a really sweet well mannered nice boy, and every time Ryan and I see him we crack up laughing. He has the coolest hair EVER but we just can't help thinking it reminds us of,...well,...














Are we crazy? All it takes is for one of us to bust out a Tod quote and we're gone. Our personal favorite is actually a Ned quote "well I wish you didn't have the devil's curley red hair" We love this kid. He makes Sacrament meeting entertaining.

grassy knoll more

The other day Ryan and I were in the family room and all of a sudden Ryno's eyes lit up, his ears perked and he exclaimed, "THAT'S A BACK HOE!" ummmm,...excuse me? He ran to the window, threw open the blinds, and sure enough a back hoe was driving down our street. As funny as that is, Ryan's uncanny ability to identify construction equipment by sound is not the reason for this post. A back hoe was driving down our street because our little creek across the way was very close to overflowing and the city was bringing in sandbagging goods. We were headed out to our date a bit later and saw a bunch of people in the condos across the street (condos that back up to the creek) sandbagging.

Well we decided to join the sandbagging festivities. An hour or so into it, word got out (as it always does) and the Mormon battalion showed up and there were so many people there that we thought we could sneak away for dinner and a movie (Loco lizard in park city and Iron man 2) Around midnight we got a call that they still needed people so we came home changed clothes and were at it again until around 1 ish. yuck.

It flooded SOOOOO much. the river spilled out into the street and parking lot and the park that the river goes by had water up to six feet deep where there's usually no water. Sad Day. traffic's been a nightmare and there's tons of debris all over the place. It's since gone down a bit, but it's still really high. my arms are seriously sore from hauling all those 50 lb bags. lots of fun. And the poor geese lost the little grassy knoll that they so enjoy hanging out on.

So the picture above is of the bridge that the water goes under to cross the street. Usually there's a good 3/4 feet clearance and as you can see, that's not the case. That picture was taken in the evening when we started sandbagging and the river rose at least two more feet by the time it peaked. Some of the bridges in Murray park are submerged. Pretty crazy.

Scissor to the knuckle.

The other night I was over at someone's home cutting their hair when all of a sudden...woops, a big flap of skin had been chunked off the top of my knuckle. It was some kind of gnarly and my whole arm kind of went numb with a touch of shock. luckily I stopped my sheers in time and it didn't cut completely through so I gingerly placed the flap back down, put a few band-aids on and finished up the haircut. I am a soldier. When I was walking home (they're in my ward -right across the way) I looked down and blood had soaked through all three layers of band-aid. sick huh? The picture above doesn't do it justice -stupid 4 megapixel camera, but it's gross and I'll probably have a scar. =( Of course I've nipped myself here and there before, but this is my biggest wound yet. I'm hoping this is as bad as I'll ever get. I'm just glad i got had made the apt to have my sheers sharpened the next day instead of that morning. -they were extremely dull when the damage was done. Imagine if they had been at their peak.

two interesting tidbits

So there are a couple of interesting things relating to the picture above. First is that it is actually NOT a plate of potato salad that Ryan has brought home for me and Second is the manner in which he acquired this plate of interest.
So the stuff looks JUST like potato salad. It's so weird. You shove a fork full into your mouth preparing for savory mushy potato goodness and your buds are immediately hit with,....sweet and creamy??? This, my friend, is the trickery of the snickers salad. snickers candy bars chopped up into small pieces with diced granny smith apples all tied together in a vanilla pudding whipped cream concoction. Weird? absolutely. Delicious? absolutely. Ya, you're kind of sad that you're not getting to eat potato salad and you do feel a little misled, but you can't really be bummed for too long because, um, it's snickers salad. Who in the world would be sad to be eating snickers salad. Not me.
So now you're wondering how in the world Ryan came to bring this home or even know about it. (I had certainly never heard of it before) Well people, how do I even phrase this...ryan ryan ryan. He,...well he works it. I'm not even sure what he's doing, but it's working because he is CONSTANTLY bringing home treats from all the female students at his school. (If you can't remember or didn't know), Ryan works for everest college and although he doesn't teach anymore, he still has a lot of interaction with the students. I'm thinking that somehow, somewhere along the way he sent some sort of message that could have been any number of things; my wife doesn't feed me enough treats, you'll get a better grade if you bring me a delicious tasty, my wife doesn't know how to make very good treats...the list goes on. -NONE of the above are true, bye-the-way. Or maybe that's not even it. Maybe he pulls a high school girl maneuver and sneaks a backpack of skanky clothes out the door with him in the morning, changing before he gets to work. Would a little leg be enough to make those girls want to shower him with sugar? perhaps. and they do. FULL PIES! not even kidding. More than one student has given him a full pie of his very own and one student even made him TWO full pies. The last pie that he got came with a brand new can of whipping cream. I feel the need to point out that Ryan doesn't even like pie. In fact, he barely eats treats of any kind (a terrible thing that I've been working relentlessly on curing him of for the last three years). So,... who ends up eating all this crap? me. of course me. no wonder I'm turning out to be such a little butterball. This is my cross to bare. -and if you hadn't already guessed, the snickers salad did, in fact, come from a student. but he did eat most of that one -thank heavens.

hair on hold

So unfortunately I'm not going to be able to do hair for about a month and a half. =( This morning as I was headed out to do the usual day off errands I may have hit the guy in front of me at a stop light. The Mazda wasn't harmed toooooooo much, but unfortunately my wrist can't claim the same. The air bag was deployed and my hand happened to be in the wrong place. Ryan and I spent all day in the ER only to discover that I now have a hairline fracture in my radius. oh fun. How crappy is this though? The last time I had a cast it was made of this awesome plaster of Paris stuff that was easily taggable. I was kind of expecting the same thing -despite the fact that the medical industry has had at least twenty years of advancement since then. The new stuff, albeit baby blue, is so rough and fibrous that you can barely get a set of initials on that cast without destroying your sharpie. It sucks! Everything about this cast is so extremely annoying ESPECIALLY typing. All I have to work with good old lefty is a couple of fingertips and a thumb that occasionally makes an appearance. On the up side, Ryan will be doing a lot more for me around the house; cleaning, cooking, massaging my feet, typical servant boy stuff. I'm already thinking of possible outfits for him to don. ...something slutty. Hey, whatever it takes to distract from the tight annoying cast right?

I guess it's a kind of a good thing that the cast has put me out of commission work-wise, because we're down to one car now while they decide if the Mazda is salvageable. I'm secretly hoping it's not, because obviously the only thing that's kept us from getting a Maserati is the fact that we already have a Mazda that's been in perfect working condition. So we'll see I guess. Maybe THAT's what I'll do all day long. shop online for Maseratis. (just in case).

oh, ps, my hair is dark now. Even though the red/orange was really pretty and I've never had so many people say to me, "is that your natural color?" or "oh! you guys are going to have red headed kids for sure" it was just fading way too quickly all the time. But the dark is good too! and, AND it has a really awesome green streak in it. I was trying to talk everyone I know into putting some green in their hair but no one would do it so I had to step up and handle it. You can't see it in this picture, but trust me, it is very cool looking. I get a lot of comments on it too, but happily no one has yet mistaken THAT for something my body produced naturally.

I need a fly swatter

I am coming down off a total adrenaline rush and now I have a bit of a situation. It's a nice spring day (I can say spring day right??? it's almost APRIL for crying out loud -I'm choosing to ignore the forecast for the weekend) So I got back from the Dr this morning and what did I find? a freaking WASP in my home -and were it ONLY a white Anglo-Saxon protestant. No no...it was the awful huge flying bug that can sting relentlessly and never dies. (I should have said "sting relentlessly without dying" but in my nightmares they never die so I'm letting it ride)

It was downstairs swooping through the air and checking out our light fixtures for potential nests, I'm sure, and I couldn't handle it so I went upstairs to hide. What else was I supposed to do? We don't currently own a fly swatter, it was flying all over the place, and I really really really hate them. I figured, Fine. If it wants to busy itself making a home in my light instead of trying to find a way out and then getting pissed because it can't and then getting in the stinging mood, I'm ok with that. I'll just have Ryan destroy our lights when he gets home. Problem solved.

So I ventured downstairs briefly to grab some water (avoiding the nest making zone) and on my way back upstairs happened to look down (thank you Divine power of intervention) RIGHT before I was about to step on THE WASP! yes, that is correct. It was CLIMBING the stairs to find me. What. The. Hell. I ran into my bathroom and shut the door.

Now I realize this all sounds dramatic over a stupid bug, but really...I hate them. a lot. I hate bees because they sting you, but at least then they die. I like to think that they take that into consideration and thus only sting when left with no other choice. wasps do not have such thoughts in their head and they're a lot bigger. I must have had a traumatic experience when I was little or something because I really do just freak to a ridiculous extent.

So my rational side had a bit of a chance to catch up to me whilst sequestered in the loo and I realized that I could not spend the entire day in there. I also realized that 'it' being on the ground was actually an advantage for me so I looked around frantically for something to kill it with. (things that I didn't care if they got wasp juice on). I grabbed a hand towel and whipped it with it. Let me explain. In times without a fly swatter I have seen people do this and kill flying bugs with it. mistake. it is NOT the ideal tool for eliminating a wasp. It just got so pissed. --maybe a tiny bit stunned, but certainly not dead, just really pissed. I knew it was going to attack so I grabbed a nearby shoe and slammed it a couple of times. STILL not dead but a little dazed. Crap. crap crap crap. Back to the bathroom for something else. HAIRSPRAY! I sprayed it with a rather extensive stream of aerosol Sebastian maximum hold and still it crawled around. HOW IS IT DOING THIS? I figured the shoe idea was good, my shoe just wasn't heavy enough. RYAN's shoe to the rescue and it died. At this time I would just like to say, that it's seriously a bummer he just wasn't here in the first place. Isn't that supposed to be one of the perks to being married? bug removal?

Now I'm faced with a dilemma. This tragedy happened right at the top of my stairs. I am not interested in picking the thing up and I don't want to accidentally step on any dismembered limbs that went flying in the take down. Is it wrong the I'm really going to leave it there until Ryan gets home to remove of it? Of course I'm going to put a glass over the top of it in case it really isn't dead and just tricking me, but that's about as close as I'm willing to get. Sorry for the long post. I feel better after letting it all out though.

Ryanism

So the other morning Ryan and I were in the bathroom getting ready and we were discussing a text that I had sent him the day before. The conversation ended, a silent minute or so passed, and then Ryan turned to me and said, "honey, we're textually active" hehehe. Good one. And yes. Yes we are.

the rest of Florida and Savannah

After the manatees we went to a zoo and saw...MORE manatees. But not just manatees, HIPPOS TOO!

This is Lou. The first hippo I think I've ever been this close too. He was AWESOME! I think these big fellas just passed up giraffes to top the list of favorite zoo animals. I love a good long neck, but these things are so meaty and have such stubby little legs. i love it.

After Florida we drove to Savannah and it was AWESOME. I love it there. love it. We went on a ghost tour one of the nights and went down into the rum cellar of the pirate house (where all the pirates used to hang out and the first two chapters of treasure island were written) We saw the rum tunnels that led out to the water where sailors were kidnapped and we ate there too. It was awesome.

We also took a day tour and walked through an amazing house, we ate at the Lady and sons, (Paula's restaurant), we went out to Tybee Island and saw the lighthouse and Ryan found a Georgia bulldogs restaurant. -he was really really excited about that. -besides, he needed a little pick me up after the abuse he got the previous night.

You see, when the trolley picked us up at the hotel for our ghost tour, we stepped on board to find about twenty five tipsy elderly woman ....and that's it. Even the DRIVER was a woman. They were all over Ryan it was hilARious. The first thing we heard when we stepped on the trolley was some 60 year old yelling "fresh meat" followed by an uproar of cackling. Cat calls, ...asking him if he "needed a mommy"... and then from one even more mature, "hell, I'll be his grandma!" hehehe They were on him all night poor thing. I tried to defend him as best I could, but it was me against a hoard of drinking daisies. there was nothing I could do. Finally when the night was over and they dropped us off at the hotel, I figured if you can't beat'em, join'em. I looked back as we were walking in, to make sure we had all the ladys' attention still on the trolly (of course they were all enjoying the view of Ryan's back side) and slap-grabbed his bum for all to see. You should have heard thr roar that went up from inside that trolly. The Windows were all closed because it had gotten cold, but you could hear the eruption within. A wave of squeels whoops and laughter swept out into the night while we continued to walk through the doors; Ryan's head help high the whole time. (I think he liked all the attention)

Our hotel was beautiful, the city was incredible, the weather was great and we even got to eat at Noble Fare (an insanely delicious fancy restaurant with an ever changing menu and truffles galore) courtesy of Kev-dawg and Kay (it's their favorite restaurant of ALL time). It was the best three days ever and I'm so glad we made it one of our stops.

Manatees

So Ryan and I took a trip down south in Feb. It was an awesome road trip that started in Crystal River Florida and ended in St Louis. I'll explain the whole trip, but this post alone is dedicated to Florida and the manatees. Three years ago I met Ryan's uncle who happens to live in a place that sees the highest influx of manatees in the winter months. Turns out,.. you can go swim with them and he does it all the time. I wanted to swim with them. Who wouldn't right?

It took us a few years, but we made it and it was a-ma-zing! Seriously. THey were evereywhere. You had to be careful not to hit them with your fins. the little babies were so cool and playful and the moms didn't care if you were touching them. I am SO glad that we got to do it. Thanks to uncle James and aunt Joy for letting us come out. Above is Ryan with a baby and I'm below with a baby.

Funny anecdote for you. before we got in the water the guide told us that they really liked to be scratched under their arm pit and if we wanted them to stick around for a while just do that. Fine. Easy enough and it's true, they loved it. Toward the end we noticed some babies sucking on their mom's armpits though,...weird we thought. Oh wait,...they were nursing. that's right, manatees nipples are in their arm pits. NO freaking wonder they liked us rubbing them there. We got to second base with a whole lot of manatee that day. It was awesome!

Chili cook off

Every year the park ward has a chili cook off. This is pretty much the highlight event for our ward. Last year Ryan and I didn't realize what a huge event it was (please excuse us, we were new) and arrived late. Mistake. All the chili was gone by the time we got there. Well this year we were determined to make up for that. Well, Ryan has developed quite the rapport in our ward and we were asked to be judges this year too -ensuring all the chili we could possibly want. Side note, You should have seen the way Ryan's eyes lit up when they asked him; as if every hope and dream he'd ever had was being fulfilled. My eyes probably looked like they could already feel the heart burn coming on.

Of course we wanted to submit a chili of our own, but we had a bit of a disagreement. I wanted to submit the best chili I've ever tasted, Halloween Chili (named so because my mother-in-law D.A.O. makes it every Halloween for her trick-or-treating children and grand children) Ryan, however, does not adore her chili the same way that I do (how does it feel under that bus Ryan?) and wanted to submit something with a little more spice. Thus, two entries.

That's right, brother Ostler against Sister Ostler going head to head. (we were judging the other half of the room so it was completely fair) Tension was high when the awards began, but then they called it. Best in show goes to......Brother ostler. Now let me throw a few things out there. FIRST, Ryan's pot had a good two inches left in it at the end of the night, and mine was scraped to the bowl. to the bowl! SECOND, our entire primary class AND one of the judges from our side said that mine was way better by far. THIRD, Ryan had a whole lot of time left home with my chili while I was at work and he was making his. ----I'm not calling foul play...just saying. FOURTH, my cause may not have been helped by the fact that I made a sign with arrows pointing to our individual chilis with a note asking people to let us know if they thought mine was better. -I'm guessing that the judges don't respond well to poor sportsmanship. FIFTH and finally, DAO and I were robbed. This is all I have to say.