My Golden Birthday

This year I turned 23, and what a special Golden Birthday I had!! We were in New Mexico for my birthday, so after a day of working in the hotel room, we got the party started with Tommy's family!!

On our flight down to Albuquerque, the plane was super empty so Oliver got to keep his car seat...he slept the whole time but he was also flipping his mama off the whole time so...not sure how we feel about that...

We got to go to a BBQ house in Albuquerque that was on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives called The Cube! It was sooo yummy! Tommy got a burger and it was HUGE and delicious, and I got beef brisket and smoked beans that were amazing! I felt so special walking where Guy Fieri has walked haha.

Oliver's Aunts all gave him a bath in Grandma's living room, which is the same spot where Grandma use to give Tommy baths when he was a baby. She showed us a picture of her and all her friends circled around Tommy's bucket/tub just like Oliver's aunts were circled around him; it was pretty sweet :)

After dinner, Tommy and I went shopping with Pam and Monica at Target. I've decided recently that I need to change up my style for a couple of reasons...1. I am a 23 year old now, hello mature., 2. Have you been in American Eagle lately? a little too hipster for me..., and 3. I'm a mama so I should probably look the part, right? haha, so anyway, we went to Target and I got some cute skirts and blouses to help my style out. They are way cute!! Then we also got to go to the mall that weekend (long live the birthday) and I got even more cute stuff from Express! I felt so special in my new clothes! :) I also got surprised with an iPhone from Tommy!! that's right, my first ever smart phone, I felt so special!!

Here we are at the Zoo...you can see me in one of my cute new shirts :)

We also got to go to the New Mexico Zoo while we were down there, which was pretty special since Tommy went there a lot growing up and he loves to go to the Zoo! He was super excited to take Oliver there for his first time, but, of course, Oliver slept through the whole thing...we did get him a monkey toy (his new favorite) and some giraffe play toys for the bath while we were there, so the zoo trip will not be forgotten.

Oliver loved hanging out with his Great Grandma. He laughed SOO much for her; it was adorable! And I got to talk to Great Grandma a lot while we were there about growing up in Japan and how her and Great Grandpa met, which was way cool. It was a very fun weekend with lots of love for the Oliver and the Mama :)

Trip to Germany!

This month our destination was Germany. We really wished we could've gone to the real place and visited Kenna, but our much cheaper solution was the following:

For dinner, we had homemade cheese spaetzle (Americanized with cheddar cheese as opposed to Emmentaler cheese) and mashed potato pancakes...yummy :)

Spaetzle Noodles

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups flour, all-purpose
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• about 1/2 cup water

Instructions:

• Mix flour and salt in a bowl.
• Add eggs and mix well.
• Gradually add just enough water to make a smooth, light, and firm dough.
• Let stand for 10 minutes. Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
• Push dough through the largest holes of a grater or metal colander directly into the boiling water. If dough is firm, it can be pushed through a ricer.
• Noodles will float when they are done (will take a few minutes). Remove with slotted spoon.

Cheese Spaetzle

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cooked Spaetzle (12 oz. dry Spaetzle)
• 2 - 3 cups shredded Emmentaler cheese
• 2 tbsp. butter (or olive oil)
• 2 small onions (sliced)
• salt and pepper

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325° F.
• Heat butter (or oil) in skillet and sautee onions until tender, about 5 minutes.
• Butter casserole dish. Begin by layering with 1/3 of the spaetzle, season with salt and pepper, sprinkle with 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat, until you have layered 3 times.
• Top with the sauteed onions.
• Bake, uncovered, about 20 - 30 minutes, or until bubbly and slightly browned on top

Then we watched the Bourne Supremacy (since it's the one in Berlin).

Stayed tuned for our next (real) trip to New Mexico next week :)

Oliver's First Easter

I'm a little behind in posting, but we had a very fun Easter this year and I need to document it! Even though Oliver will have no recollection of this Easter, Tommy and I had a lot of fun making it a memorable, special day for him. I decided to make Oliver an Easter basket this year-I always loved the special basket that my mom had made for me and I wanted him to have something that I worked hard on for him. Of course, I don't quite have the skills my mom did, so I searched on pinterest for a basket idea that didn't require a sewing machine...what I came up with was one made out of construction paper. Sounds silly, but it actually turned out pretty cute (though I don't know how long it'll last). Tommy and I picked out Hop for Oliver and a couple of fun toys that he will hopefully start being interested in sometime in the next few months...I also stole one of Tommy's Reese's eggs to put in his basket, cuz even though he can't eat candy, I thought he might like one piece in there haha. When we woke up that morning, I locked Oliver and Tommy in our bedroom so I could assemble their baskets and hide them in the house. Tommy helped Oliver search (I was actually surprised out how long it took him to find them...I must be a good hider...). And Tommy surprised me by setting up some Easter presents for me on the bed while he was locked away.

We took pictures of smiling Oliver, then played with his toys (i.e. I put them in his hands and he waved his arms around until the toys fell out), watched Hop (which made me miss/talk about Jenna a lot since I use to watch it with her all the time), and then we went to church! Our sacrament meeting was really cool that day; they had a narrator sharing testimonies from different apostles and prophets on the atonement and then, between each testimony, the choir would sing a song. It was very cool! It reminded me of the Christmas programs we normally have each year and it was very moving to see all the work that went into creating an Easter program that was just as special.
Then we picked up Monica from the airport because she was on her way back up to school after spending a week in Arizona. She got to play with Oliver for a little while, which was very fun for him; he always loves his auntie time. We had Tommy's aunt and uncle and their family come over for Sunday dinner so they could see our new place, so we made ham, mashed potatoes, and salad and Cheri brought yummy rolls and strawberry shortcake. We had a lot of fun eating and chatting and, of course, playing with Oliver. Man, I wish I had taken more pictures (as always), but here is a video of Oliver laughing to make up for it.