My Trukey

Happy Mothers Day

Oh first here is a pretty pic of lilacs that I cut from Joanne and Dennie's yard for the table. Reminded me of all the lilacs we planted in Montana.

So this weekend was mothers day!!! I got a call last week from my lil sister in law asking if we could help out with mother day dinner, we decided we would go all out and roast a turkey. I had seen a method called brining (brine - ing) it is kinda like a seasoned salt water bath for the turkey.



So here is my brine while it is simmering on the stove. I use thyme, rosemary, sage, onion, carrots, celery, paprika, and some bay leaves.


After it came down to room temp and the turkey was thawed it go to hop into its bath overnight.

then drum roll please ..... brummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
The finished product!!! It was really moist, this was the first time I have not used one of those reynolds cooking bags. I also rubbed a compote butter of sage and some other stuff under the skin.

Exciting weekend

So this weekend was packed and so wonderful! First my sister Stephanie drove back down from Missoula, Montana to meet our friend Amber in Salt Lake. Amber flew in from the east coast to do her mothers temple work in the SLC temple. Thurs we went out for dinner up here in Ogden, Friday I was able to head down to SLC where we went out to lunch, met up with some more of Ambers friends, then went through the SLC temple. It was a very special occasion and extra special for me as it was the first time through the SLC temple and the first time with my sister Steph. I was preparing to go to dinner with the clan when I checked my email and had a notice from my professor that I had apx 4 hours left to take my online final. OOPS- So I had to pass on dinner and take my final as Ben drove down from Ogden to come pick me up.
As I went to start my final I got a call from my brother Derek and his wife Beth (they also live in Missoula, Mt) they had come down on a quick trip to Ogden for a family friends wedding and wanted to know if we were free for dinner.
At this point I was so frustrated that I had to miss both dinners to take this stupid test!!!! Oh well, Ben came and got me and we were able to see Beth and Bud for a few minutes before Charloette became, as they so lovelingly dubbed her " the screaming hornet" CharHar was really tired and had not slept all day so we excused ourselves and went home.
Wait I'm not finished yet.......
Then came Saturday! Tafton Jay Passeys first birthday. Ben and I spent some time in the morning running errands and buying last minute presents (really is there any other kind). We headed over to the Megan and Bens for the party. Tafton was in a really good mood got even more excited when Matt(megan and my bens older brother) and Val brought there lil dog with them. Tafton opened presents, played with ballons (which scared me because I could hear my Uncle Scott in the background telling me stories about lil kids choking on the pieces when they popped, he is a firefighter chief and EMT). Then ate some cake and made a much smaller mess than expected. After all the family went home Ben and Megan Passey, Ben and I and our friends Kip and Jackie with there little 2 year old Zach stayed to hang out. We ate some nutrisous pizza from dominoes and watched Harry Potter cause it was already on TV. Kip and Jackie had to head out early cause Zach we getting tired so the 4 of use left broke out a game of scrabble. The game was doing well but ended early because as Megan was passing Tafton to me to say goodnight-he was smack dab above the board- and then lost his dinner. Funny but you probably had to be there. And no I did not get pics of that.
Today I went to church alone cause Ben was sick and didn't get much sleep last night. The big man upstairs must have known what was going on cause only one girl in our class came today.

ahhhhhh So that was our/my weekend. I think it was the most exciting one we have had in a while. Thanks family for being our entertainment.

Pics below

Me with my little niece, if you look close you can see she is starting to fuss.



Full blown fuss mode aka "the screaming hornet"


Tafton with his cake and candle, the pic you don't see here is the one were he had pushed himself as far back in his chair as he can to get away from that candle.


Tafton ready to do some damage. He really didn't get that messy but he did fling a good bit of cake around with the fork.

Two signs summer is coming

YES I finally bought my first watermelon this means there are soon to be many more to follow. Not much else happened this week (I know our lives are pretty sedate when a watermelon is the top of the list).
Steph got back from DC, I picked her up and she headed right up to home in Missoula only to be returning on Thursday.

I will have some new pics this weekend from Steph and Amber being here.

More Painting Pics

So I took a photo half way through the first wall cause I was afraid if I just took a photo at the end no one would be able to tell the difference.



I was wrong, at least I can see the difference. I love it, this color makes our room seem so much bigger and brighter than before. I promise to post photos when we get the finishing touches on it.

This weekend

So mom I forgot to tell you this is what the Easter package you sent me came to me looking like. Thankfully everything was intact when it got here.


Ben came home from work this afternoon and surprised me with these........

He just felt like getting me flowers. I love him! I look so awesome cause we didn't take this pic till tonight after I got into my sweats.

We finally started prepping our room for painting this weekend. So like any good home/apartment project I thought we needed to have some photo documentation. Here is the horrid color that it is currently.


As we were removing some tape stuck to the wall we accidentally removed a chunk of the wall with the tape and made this awesome discovery, some old horrid wallpaper!! It looks like some white palm trees on a blue/green background, classic.


So here are our first two coats of primer. Hopefully we can finish priming all the walls tomorrow and maybe even paint. We are thankful that we have an inflatable bed so we can bum it in the living room while the paint fumes clear out.

Lazy Sunday

Hello all,
Again we have been lax in out posts, oops. Not much new going on, just life. Work, school, blah blah blah.
The weather has been crazy here in Utah, one day it is sunny and clear then the next there are snow flurries. We keep waiting for winter to be out the door and spring to get here. I do get to see Stephanie tonight as she is coming into town with Duke, on their way to Falls Church to be with my Mom while she is recovering from knee surgery. Bens mom also had shoulder replacement surgery so both moms are semi out of commission.

We wish them well and hope that they keep getting stronger every day.

Hopefully something more exciting will happen soon so we have some fun updates!!!

Ben and Sarina

Wild Hair

Sorry it has been a while from out last post.

We have seen a lot of people in the past few weeks. We were able to travel out to DC/MD area for Treys baptism, last night one of my best friends and her hubby were in town from Washington state and stayed with us in our lil apartment. Now I have just booked a ticket to fly up to Montana tomorrow to visit my sisters, brother, in laws and lil niece. I'm excited and this time I will take my camera so I can capture some photos. I could not believe that I have not taken any pictures for a while, not like me at all.

Last night was a lot of fun, Christine and Josh came up to stay with us. Christine and I went out to eat sushi while Josh went with Ben to play some basketball. I wish they could of stayed longer but they had to get home to wash come clothes before they head out to Cali for a beach stay.

I do have to say sorry to Katie cause I will miss her Baby shower but I'll drop off my gift with Meg.

I'm so excited now!!! I have been missing my siblings. SEE YA SOON!