The Last 8

Its was another busy week of state making, but I was determined to have this project done by the time Ethan went on trek. The Monday night before trek I finished. I know this is a project that I decided to take on, but it is such a relief to have it done. I think it is especially satisfying because I finished right in the middle of all the moving drama or packing, throwing, trying to find a place to live, and having Ethan gone for a week. It just nice to win one.

Louisiana: Shrimp Gumbo

Oklahoma: Corn Pudding

Montana: Bison Burgers

I decided that if I was going to do this right, I needed to actually suck it up and buy bison. It was pricey, but it was delicious and now I can say that I did all states right

Wyoming: Tin Foil Dinner

The official state meal for Wyoming is Rocky Mountain Oysters. If you don't know what those are, please look it up and applaud me for NOT making those. I still wanted to stay true to the Wyoming theme and so I decided that cowboy grub would be the best fit which led to tin foil dinners. We cooked them in the oven and so they were probably the best tin foil dinners either of us has ever had. I mean when the veggies actually cook, there are no sticks in the foil, and you don't have to wait for 4 hours, things are generally going to taste better.

Nebraska: Runza and Corn (Hand meat pies)

These kinda made us sick because there was so much bread involved. The filling was delicious but the bread was over powering which was kinda a bummer.

 

 Rhode Island: Johnny Cakes (cornmeal pancakes)

Texas: Chili con carne

A very spicy chili

Alabama: Fried Green Tomatoes

Surprisingly sweet. They are like biting into a zucchini with a fried crust

And that's all folks! I did it! All 50 states!

The Case of the Silver Bullet

When Diana and Robert were moving out of their Centerville house, we inherited a murder mystery dinner party game. Neither of us had ever tried one and so we thought that it would be especially fun. We also have some awesome friends who jump into any game with guns blazing so we knew that this was going to be a great night.

Because so much of the game depends on our pamphlets and the DVD, there was not too much work for us to do. We set up a little crime scene and made some dinner and appetizers and the night was set. 

            The table setting                                                                         The weapons

Everyone came more than amazingly dressed. It seriously knocked my socks off how prepared everyone was and how in character they stayed the whole night

The Cowans

Jack E Jackson and Countess Von Orlock

 The Johnsons

Juan Pinto and Chastity Darling

 The Duncans

Rev. Marlow Bates and Grace Dubnar (OUR MURDERER!!)

 The Wings

J. Neil Gibson and Anne E Winslow

 The Clarks

Mary-Lou Gibson and Detective Sam Silverman

Anne Winslow was the Nanny and Neil's hired help and so I thought that this character was most fitting as the hostess. It was also a lot of fun.

 Appetizers

(I was able to knock out 4 states at this dinner including South Dakota, the last appetizer)

 The game is played in stages. We eat, we discuss, we watch a DVD, we eat, we discuss, we watch a DVD etc. It was slow moving at first because no one had played before but once we got rolling it was a good time. For dinner we had Delaware chicken and salads that everyone brought.

 

 While the parents discussed and ate, Ralphie and Kelsey just played and played and played! They also ate a lot of food off the floor, but they were happy most of the night.

 When the murder was solved we all enjoyed a Mississippi Mud Pie and an Indiana Sugar Cream pie, both delicious and 2 states done!

Over all people had a really great time. If I were to host one of these again, I would not be a character and I would read everyone's booklets so that I would know where the story is going. Our story got kinda weird in the middle and no one knew what to do. We didn't know if things were real or fake especially when someone pulled a werewolf card on us. Any way, it was still really fun, I just think that if I were ever a host again I would be the "detective" and help the story moving forward easier.

24th of July

This was probably the first year, since I have moved to Utah, that I have actually remembered that the 24th of July is a holiday. And it was awesome! It is like two 4th of Julys. Fireworks, day off of work, parades, and picnics. Wonderful bliss.
At Overstock, the 24th is a floating holiday along with your birthday, and typically Ethan takes his birthday which falls right next to the Labor day weekend thus allowing a SUPER long weekend. (Just as a side note, we have gone to Phoenix and Las Vegas during these long weekends for the past two years. ) This year because we will be at school for Ethan's birthday, he took the 24th off.
I have been begging to go to the Red Butte Gardens and luckily for me they are free on the 24th. I don't think I would ever pay the 12 dollars to go to the gardens, but man for a free day, they were GORGEOUS!!! To make it more gorgeous, it was a cool 85 and overcast. PERFECT! 

This was an arbor with FRUIT TREES growing up the side! My dad would have LOVED this

These flowers totally reminded me of the flowers on the hill behind our Spokane house before they built the houses.

Oh Smooch face! We love you

 Okay, this was easily my favorite part of the whole thing. It was a giant gazebo with a roof made of this bright green plant and hanging flowers. Of course the picture does not capture how cool it was, but it was awesome. My second favorite part was probably the herb garden because it smelt like spaghetti sauce

 We let Kelsey crawl around the wild flower garden which was a huge mistake because she did not want to get back in her stroller!

 Herb Garden. Seriously this place smelled AMAZING!!

 Cute little "cave" in the kiddy gardens

 I had to fight 5 kids for the head of this lizard. They (and their parents) were not pleased

 After the gardens, we tried to find the Salt Lake Cemetery but parade traffic discouraged us from being so adventurous and so we turned around to go take a  nap. In the afternoon we went down to Provo to look at a potential house (it was a spitting image of our very first home which if you had the privilege of visiting tells you much about the house) and while we were looking, Jed and Andrea watched Kelsey. They played dress up while we were away and although this picture is blurry I love it. Andrea put Kelsey in her cross country singlet and Kelsey looked adorable!

 From Provo we made the long trek up to Bountiful to see Aunt Kay and partake of a delicious BBQ and smores! The new patio was a huge hit and although it was literally roasting outside, it was still fun to make smores. I mean who doesn't love a good smore!

 I made Kelsey a mini non toasted one, and she took it apart layer by layer, but it got her to stop eating the rocks so I can't complain.

This pic pretty much sums it all up

 Wing Ladies who were present

 Wing Gents who were present. 

(It was shortly after this photo that Reo epically told us all that Julie married a Gale and not a Peeta)

We only get to see Aunt Kay about once a year and this visit did not disappoint. 

So here goes my tangent: Aunt Kay was one of the very first extended Wing members that I met. She was kind enough to come to our wedding reception and the following summer she came to visit Grandma a lot and we would go see her every visit. Its safe to say that I had met Aunt Kay at least 7 times by the time we had been married 6 months, give or take. When Ethan and I would go visit Grandma Wing while we were living in Provo, and an Aunt Kay visit was around the corner, Grandma would ALWAYS ask "have you met Aunt Kay? You would just love her" I mean ALWAYS!!! She asked me that for about a year. And the cutest part was that she was dead serious. I would always remind her that I had in fact met Aunt Kay several times and she would just start laughing, "Oh that's right. I just don't remember like I used to."

In Grandma's memory, whenever Aunt Kay is coming to town, at least 50% of the Wing families asks me "have you met Aunt Kay?" and when Aunt Kay sees me she often says "Its nice to finally meet you!" Oh Grandma Wing. Thanks for still making us laugh!
Wing Family bookends~

Smore faces...

Fire starters

The loot that had not been eaten yet

 This was my second favorite moment (next to Reo telling us that he was like Gale). Julie wanted to Instagram a pic of the smore night, but she didn't want to upset Reo's one Instagram a day rule. He bent the rule for smore night and they then took like 5 min posing for the perfect instagram pic! It made me laugh because I totally do stuff like this all the time. I mean you gotta have the perfect pic right?!Plus their commentary was hilarious

 Enjoying the new patio

 Believe it or not this was meant to be a serious picture...

as was this!

And there is was, the first 24th of July that felt like a holiday! It was a great day and although we only saw fireworks on the drive home, I'd say the holiday was complete.