The Civil War

In our free time over the last several evenings, Sam and I have been watching the documentary The Civil War by Ken Burns and loving it. It reminds me of my mom and all the forts and battlefields we saw growing up. It reminds me how little we know about our own history as Americans and how many people we have to thank for preserving that title. The Civil War was really more than the growing pains of a new nation, it took our country from many united states, each with their own identity, to "The United States" as we know it today. I also love hearing the stories of individual soldiers and generals and how much we have in common with men and women who lived centuries ago.

It also feels good to be choosing more entertainment that's both educational and uplifting. I'm adding one more thing to my ever-expanding list of goals. :)

Spring Wreath

This year's first craft!

I think it could still use a bird or two and some feathers.  What do you think?

And the bracket goes up in flames

It's been a tense night. Both BYU and Duke were eliminated tonight. (The latter was particularly surprising.)

I may have to make the hubs a cake. 

I've Got the Itch...

... the itch to create. If I let myself go long enough without drawing, creating artful inspiration boards, playing the piano to my heart's content, or bursting out in song I get like this. It just escapes like a waterfall of desire to express myself through art and music. Like all uplifting and wonderful things, my soul craves it.

With that in mind, I'm making it my new goal (in addition to everything else busying up my life) I want to take at least a few minutes every day to do something creative. It may be small, but it's gonna do good things for me, I can feel it.

The Realities of Life

When bosses become tyrants, it's nice to have coworkers who become close friends.

My New Favorite Pizza

Sam and I love making homemade pizza together - experimenting with flavor combinations, sharing responsibilities, and just being together in the kitchen. It's one of the things we cook best. This weekend we discovered a new winner:

1. Start with pizza dough - whichever you like best.  (We use a homemade honey wheat. Maybe I'll post that one later.)
2. Top with green pesto, mozzerella, fresh Roma tomatoes, and diced artichoke hearts.
3. Bake for about 18 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is melted.

Image via Coconut & Lime. They used sun-dried tomatoes.

Haaaaaaalelujah! Try it, you'll love it too.

 Also, BYU is in the Sweet Sixteen. Now that's something to shout about. Go Cougars!

Oh I wish

So maybe I shouldn't announce this, because you'll all want to sign up and create more competition against meeeee, but Ancestry.com is doing a sweepstakes for a seven day Grand Prize trip to Ireland! Holy cow!

Ireland is one of the countries I MUST see before I die. And now that I'm a Shannon and married into a VERY Irish family, it's even more important!

I normally don't sign up for this kind of thing, but that's what makes me even more excited - I can't stop thinking about it! And anyway, the good news is that we'll probably go someday, even if not on an all expense paid trip. I'm sure the odds are terrible, but here's for hoping!

P.S. Remember the laundry soap recipe I made over a month ago? Guess who still hasn't gone through even half of the first batch? Yeah...genius money-saving idea.

Weeked Getaway! (Plus a bit about how much I love St. George)

Since it was long overdue, Sam and I left on Saturday afternoon for a one night trip down to St. George to visit my grandparents and to see Katie! We love St. George and always wish we could stay longer!

We love everything about the town: the beautiful red cliffs that give the entire town that Flintstone's "Town of Bedrock" thing (they even have plenty of dinosaur fossils!), the palm trees, the mild winters, the historic St. George temple and the way it jumps out from the landscape in white grandeur, how well-developed but still peacefully residential it feels, not to mention that my grandparents call it home! It's just a really great place to be.

 As a recap, we came down the last time in September 2009 and spent the whole weekend there. We enjoyed dinner out at the new Brick Oven, went to the St. George Temple, hung out with my grandparents and watched some BYU football together, and enjoyed an INCREDIBLE performance of Aida at the outdoor amphitheater at Tuacahn. Forget Red Rocks, this theater is the coolest place to see a show...period!

Being tied up on Friday and Saturday morning, we had to shorten this particular trip, but we still had a great time. We got there in time to see Katie's play Seussical that she was directing at her school. SO cute!

The costumes were great, all the actors (only 6th and 7th graders!) did an outsanding job, and I was so proud to see Katie now directing her own theater program! You're awesome, Katie!

My grandma made us some delicious food, as always, and we also got to share some great laughs, as always. (You know you have awesome grandparents when, at almost 80, they can both still name-drop Brandon Davies and Deron Williams.) Thanks to all our hosts! We'll be back, St. George!

Jonsi - "Go Do"

Why did it take a Ford commercial for me to figure out that Jonsi from Sigur Ros went solo? Oh right, probably because I stopped paying attention to most popular music 2 years ago. Enjoy this little bit of inspirational joy anyway.



P.S. Go here for lyrics (if you're like me and the Icelandic accent is a little rough the first listen.)