Random Winter Activities

This winter we've been busy with school but we have managed to find time for lots of fun activities and events. First up we had the dinner for my induction into the national nursing honor society Sigma Theta Tau. The BYU nursing program hosted a nice dinner catered by Kneaders and then each of the inductees were called up to receive our certificate and a cool purple tassel we could save to wear at graduation the next year. We only had our cellphones so the pictures are a bit blurry but I was glad Jacob had captured some. We lucked out at the end to and got to take a whole bucket of Kneaders soup home with us because there were so many leftovers after the dinner.

Next up was a wedding reception for one of Jacob's mission buddies. Not only was it great to support one of Jacob's friends on his big day, it was also the perfect opportunity to see a bunch of Jacob's other mission friends in one place as several showed up at the reception. Before leaving I made sure I got a group picture of them all. After the reception at least half the group continued on to Applebee's for a late night dinner so everyone could keep catching up. We had a lot of fun and I know Jacob loved the chance to see his mission friends since there aren't many opportunities for them to all get together.

The following weekend Jacob and I took day trip up to Salt Lake City. Our first stop was the Hogle Zoo. Unfortunately, a big chunk of it was under construction but we still were able to see a lot of cool exhibits. I always enjoy the elephants and the giraffes but I think the best animal this trip was the giant gorilla. He came right up to the glass, grunting and pawing the ground. He was actually pretty terrifying; I can't imagine what it would be like to run into one out in the wild! After the zoo we headed to the Gateway mall. After strolling through the shops we ended up in the movie theater/ planetarium. We purchased tickets for the new movie "Jack the Giant Slayer" in 3D. While we were waiting for our showtime we looked around the small planetarium which was more fun than expected. They had these backdrops you could take pictures in front of that make you look like you were on the moon or on mars, so naturally we had to snap a few pics of us "floating" on the moon :). Then we headed into the movie which ended up being quite entertaining, we both really enjoyed it!

The fourth winter adventure involved baking. I love when I get the chance to a more elaborate dessert. This particular one involved lots of chocolate and fresh raspberries. I found the recipe for this cake on ahintofhoney.com, my sister-in-law's cooking blog. It turned out absolutely delicious and there was plenty to go around. This added the double benefit of having extra slices to give as a thank you treat to Jacob's grandparents for agreeing to let us get a pet to live with us in their basement apartment (a story to be revisited).