Weekend

I’m sitting here heating my back on a Sunday afternoon, looking through this cookbook I just ordered. I absolutely would make every single thing in this book. They're all healthy but normal. It’s rare to find a cookbook like that for me. I’m excited to have new ideas and start making these recipes.

It’s a heavy 2 weeks of midterms for Paige. And she's famous! Her college featured her studying in the library on their Instagram page. 

Dan and I laughed hard at this next news. Carson’s been waiting over 2 months for his driver’s license to come in the mail. Yesterday we thought he finally got it, but he opened the envelope and found a letter saying he needs a new photo. 2 months ago his hair was starting to cover his eyes just a little. The person who took the picture said it was fine. It’s not. The state is now joining the long list of people asking Carson to cut his hair or at least put it to the side so we can see him. He was in disbelief at first, especially because it took 2 months for the driver's license bureau to let him know his picture was unacceptable. Then he laughed and said maybe it really is time for a haircut. 

For his Spanish class, Carson has to cook two Spanish dishes of his choice and then take pictures of him making the food and his family enjoying it. This weekend he made a Peruvian potato soup.

He also made Arroz con Pollo from Spain.

I helped with a luncheon to celebrate the 180th birthday of Relief Society. Mostly it was an excuse for women to eat and visit together. We had a salad bar and sourdough bread. 

I'm not a fan of cupcakes, so instead I made sugar cookies. 22 years ago a friend gave me her sugar cookie recipe and it’s the only recipe I’ve used since. They’re so soft, my top requirement for any cookie. I always roll them extra thick because if we're going to eat a cookie, let's not eat a thin one. Let's enjoy it fully.

It was fun to decorate and pick bright colors for a celebration. Here's what I came up with for the tables. 

There’s a women’s shelter we donate items to throughout the year. In keeping with our birthday theme, for this activity we asked for donations of toys that can be used for gifts when kids have birthdays while at the shelter. The moms can "shop" and have something to give their child when so many things are traumatic and uncertain in their lives. We also made blank birthday cards the moms can use. It's a life I can't imagine, getting the courage to leave an abusive relationship and save yourself and your children, uprooting everything in the middle of the night and trying to sneak away without getting caught and abused more, hiding in a shelter sometimes for months, trying to figure out what's next.