Dinner Time!

This is what we ate for our very delicious Father's Day/Anniversary dinner. I've been watching a lot of Food Network during the hours I spend feeding Dallin every day, so I've started trying new things and being more creative with cooking.

Our dinner consisted of: Spice rubbed Sirloin Steak, Basil and Parmesan Red potatoes, Fire Grilled Bell Pepper, and my famous fluffy butter rolls.

and of course, dessert:

milk chocolate covered strawberries.

It was all very tasty. Too bad there weren't many leftovers. There are a few more strawberries though.

I think I'll eat one now.

Happy Anniversary/Father's Day!

Today is a double celebration for our family. It's Mckay's first Father's day as a father.

Mckay is a great father. He loves taking care of Dallin and he's really excited to teach Dallin all kinds of things and play with him when he gets bigger. Mckay is really good at calming Dallin and getting him to sleep. I'm so glad to have a wonderful father for my son, and I'm grateful for Mckay's father, who helped to make Mckay the amazing person he is. I'm also very grateful for my own father. He has taught me so much in my life. He is a great example to me. He has a great love for the gospel and I can always see that through his actions. I have learned a lot about many things from him; cooking, gardening, how to check the oil on a car, being frugal, how to tell where a movie was filmed (most likely it's southern California), and some really cheesy jokes. I love my Dad!

Today is also mine and Mckay's first anniversary.

It seems like we've been married for a long time, so it's hard to believe it's only been a year. We've been through a lot in this first year, and it's made our relationship stronger. I love spending time with Mckay. He is such a wonderful person. He loves learning about things and loves to teach me about those things. His passion for learning makes me want to continue learning and understanding the world. He has a strong testimony of the gospel and continues to teach me about how amazing it is. I'm greatful that he holds the priesthood and can exercise that through blessing me and Dallin. He works hard to support our family and I really appreciate all he does. Even after a long day of work, he can't wait to come home and take care of Dallin. He is very sweet and loving. We are very similar in many ways and also very different. But our differences complement each other. On the day we got married, I was so full of love for Mckay. In just a short year, that love has grown so much. I can only imagine how much more that love will grow over the years and for eternity.

I love you, Mckay.

Anniversary Date

Mine and Mckay's anniversary is tomorrow, so we celebrated by going out on a date last night. It's been a while since we've had the chance to go out and have fun, just the two of us. My sister Sarah was kind enough to babysit for us so we could go out. Even though Sarah is a very experienced babysitter and has been around Dallin a lot, I still felt like I needed to tell her how to take care of him, how to heat a bottle, and what to do while we were gone. Luckily, I didn't spend the whole time we were out worrying about how he was doing, because I knew he was in good hands.

First we went to dinner at Macaroni Grill.

We ate dinner at Macaroni Grill the night we got engaged, and I love italian food, so we like going there. After we ate we went to the Nickel arcade.

There were lots of really fun games there and we had a good time. We even managed to win some tickets. And with our abundance of tickets, Mckay got me a special anniversary present.

I think I'm gonna wear it every day. Dallin was asleep when we got home and stayed asleep for about 4 hours. We rented "Seven Pounds" (with Will Smith). It wasn't a very good movie. It was very confusing and slow. I think it was meant to be really cool and artistic the way they did it, but it just didn't work. We had fun trying to figure out why the movie was supposed to be good though.

It was a really good day and we had a good time. I love my husband so much and I'm glad I married him!

Recipe for BBQ Beef Brisket

When everyone was out here this past weekend for Dallin's baby blessing, we had a BBQ with our two families and we made this really delicious brisket. Here is the recipe for those that were wanting it.

Barbecued Beef Brisket Sandwiches

Courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

8 to 10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 (5 to 6 pound) beef brisket, trimmed
• 3 tablespoons Essence, recipe follows
• 3 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 4 cups Barbecue Sauce, recipe follows
• 2 cups veal stock or low-sodium beef broth
• 8 to 10 onion rolls, warmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Season the brisket on both sides with the Essence and 1 1/2 teaspoons of the salt.

Heat the oil in a large heavy skillet or large roasting pan over high heat. Add the meat and sear, turning once, until evenly browned, about 3 minutes per side. Transfer to a large roasting pan.

Combine the barbecue sauce, stock, and the remaining 2 teaspoons salt in a large mixing bowl and mix well. Pour the mixture over the brisket and cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 2 1/2 hours.

Turn the meat over, cover again, and continue baking for another 2 1/2 hours, or until very tender.

Let stand for 15 minutes before carving. Slice the meat across the grain and arrange onto warm onion rolls. Serve with the pan juices spooned over each sandwich.

Emeril's ESSENCE Creole Seasoning (also referred to as Bayou Blast):

2 1/2 tablespoons paprika

2 tablespoons salt

2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 tablespoon black pepper

1 tablespoon onion powder

1 tablespoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon dried thyme

Combine all ingredients thoroughly.

Yield: 2/3 cup

Recipe from "New New Orleans Cooking", by Emeril Lagasse and Jessie Tirsch, published by William and Morrow, 1993.

Barbecue Sauce:

4 cups ketchup

1 cup finely chopped yellow onions

1/2 cup Steen's 100% Pure Cane Syrup

1/2 cup dry red wine

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons Creole mustard

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon minced jalapenos

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir to mix well. Use immediately, or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to three days.

Yield: 5 cups

Note: We made it a little differently. I'm sure following the recipe exactly will produce a very delicious brisket, but if you want a taste like the one we had, this is what we did differently. For the sake of time, we didn't brown the meat on both sides before putting in the oven, and it was still delicious and tender. Instead of putting 3 Tablespoons of the essence seasoning on it, we used the whole 2/3 cup that the recipe makes. This was an accident, but I think it tased really good that way, though prehaps a little on the spicy side for some. (I believe you can also buy the essence already made at the grocery store.) Again, for the sake of time we didn't make Emeril's barbecue sauce, we just used a bottle of regular old BBQ sauce (Tony Romas if you want the specific brand), I'm sure any brand will work.

First Smile!

Dallin smiled at me for the first time today.  He has been smiling since his first week of life, but it was more of an involuntary smile.  He would smile when he was asleep or just randomly when nothing specific would spark a smile.  Recently he's been more interested in looking at people's faces and at things.  I knew it was only a matter of time before he smiled at me, so I've been trying for a week or so to get him to respond to me smiling at and talking to him.  And today we finally succeeded!

Two months old!

Our little baby is two month old now. He had a two month check up on Monday (one day short of 9 weeks) and he is a healthy little baby.

New weight: 10 lbs 13 oz

New height: 21 1/4 in

Head circumference: 38 cm (in case you really wanted to know)

He's getting more control of his body. He can hold his head up fabulously, and he's even working on his stomach muscles too. If you have him sitting up on your lap and then start to lean him back, he will use his stomach muscles to try to stay sitting up. He can't quite do it on his own yet, but he's getting there. Here is a video of him learning to use his arms and legs. I'm not quite sure what he's trying to do, but I love it.