Saturday, June 20, 2009

Welcome Home Elder DeLange


On June 17th around 12:00PM, my little brother Jason got home from his mission in Detroit, MI. He flew into Sacramento, CA, which isn't quite his "home" but that's where the family is. Jason was greeted by my mom, dad, sister, grandma and grandpa DeLange and a family from my parents ward who happened to be at the airport at the same time. Eric and I weren't able to go out to California for it, which I was a little sad about. Most of my family will be coming out to Utah in a few days which made us not being able to go out there alright. Anyways, while I was at work I was checking his flight status online so I could feel a little bit of the excitement. I also told my sister to send me a picture of him from her phone. I went to lunch about 15 minutes after he arrived so I got to call him and talk to him for a few minutes. That was fun. It sounds like he is adjusting just fine. He signed onto facebook that night and then got a new cell phone the next day. He wasn't wasting anytime reconnecting with people! Eric and I are very excited for him to be home and even more excited for him to be out here in the fall so that we can have some family out here again. Welcome home Jason!

The group waiting for him:

Jason with my parents:

Jason with my grandparents:

Jason wanted In-n-Out for his first meal back:

Jason showing off his Detroit clothes:

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Pedicures and Beef Jerky

Last Saturday my wonderful husband surprised me with a coupon for a pedicure. Him and our friend Mike both went out and bought coupons so that Mike's wife, Lisa, and I could relax a little and have pretty toes. It sure was nice and relaxing. I love getting pedicures. They feel so good. I wish I could get them once a month. If only we could afford that!! I have such a great husband. He is so good to me.

Can you tell which foot is mine?

Thanks Eric!

Growing up my family used to always make homemade beef jerky whenever we went on road trips or anything. I've really wanted to make some, but didn't have a dehydrator to do so. The last time we went to Las Vegas to visit my grandparents, Eric mentioned this to my Grandpa, and so he gave us theirs. They don't use it anymore. Ever since then we have been trying to find jerky seasoning but couldn't. One day we were at Wal-Mart and called my mom to see if she knew where to get some. Turns out that the seasoning is not with all of the other seasonings, but with the appliances. Interesting... Eric and I ventured over that way and found it! A couple of days later we pulled out the dehydrator, got some ground beef, pulled out our cookie press, and got out the seasoning packet. Then we did the following:
Mix the ground beef and the seasoning:


Put the mix into the cookie press or jerky maker:

Push the meat out onto the dehydrator into strips:

Turn the dehydrator on: (it should only take a few hours, ours took like 16... the machine is a little old.)

Then eat! This stuff is delicious. I highly recommend it. We are definetely going to do this again!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Picnic in the Park

This past Saturday we went on a picnic with our friends Mike and Lisa. Eric and I got a picnic basket and blanket for our wedding. I love to use them. It's a perfect set-up: 4 plates, 4 sets of silverware, and 4 cups in a convenient basket. The basket is meant to carry the food, but we decided to go unhealhty for this picnic. We went to KFC and got the greasiest chicken possible, a few side dishes, and drinks. We went to a park near our apartment that has a little duck pond. The only place that had shade that wasn't taken was right by the pond. We took bread to distract the ducks, but they still found our picnic sight. It was pretty funny to watch Lisa run at them to make them go away! The food was mostly good. I wouldn't recommend the corn on the cob or the mac'n'cheese to anyone. Eric loved the mac'n'cheese, so I guess it's all about preference. After we stuffed our faces we were just sitting around talking. Eric really likes to hold babies, once the are not so fragile, so he was holding Carter. Mike was throwing bread towards Eric so that the ducks would go towards him. Eric didn't want them to come near him since he was holding Carter, so he turned to pick up the bread. Well, let's just say he wasn't holding onto Carter as tight as he should have been and the poor little kid face planted it into the blanket. He got pretty scared and started crying. Eric felt really bad. Once he calmed down, Eric picked him up again and they were best buds once more. For all of you parents out there, don't worry, Eric is usually really good with kids! It was a fun picnic. I think we should do them more often. If anyone wants to go on one, let me know. I will be there so fast!

Eric with his bud Carter:


Mike and Lisa:


Eric and I: (Eric made me do this)


Our picnic spot, after we ate. I was too excited to eat to take a picture before:

Game Playing

For anyone who has ever played a game with Eric and I, you will know that we are both VERY competitive. We take our game playing seriously. Whenever we play a game where you have to keep score, if either of us wins, we take the paper and put it on our fridge at home. It stays up there until we have another one. Recently we have been keeping records of scoreless games. Let me show you how:

Example 1: Sorry. If you look closely you can see a thumbs up. Eric won this game. I never knew Sorry could be so intense. We were yelling. It was pretty funny.



Example 2: Ticket to Ride. If you look closely on this one you can see a finger pointing at a yellow marker. This is MY score. If you look behind it, you can see Eric's score shown by the black marker. Now let me just say that Eric ALWAYS wins this game. This was the best game ever, because not only did I beat him, but I creamed him. I was so happy. I don't think he was. Sorry babe!

My mom is amazing!

For our wedding, my mom made us a quilt. When she was out here over Mother's Day she brought out some pillow shams that match the quilt. Our bed looks even better now. Isn't the quilt beautiful? My mom is talented. I hope that I can make something like that someday.

Shooting

I figured that I better put up some pictures of us actually shooting that gun that I last posted about. One Saturday afternoon we went out and shot in this field in Mapleton, UT. It was an interesting place. There were random animal carcasses just laying there. Weird! Anyways, our friends Mike and Lisa, and Ryan and Amber came with us. We all shot a little bit excpet for Lisa. She stayed inside the warm car with her cute kid Carter. Mike brought a big box of clay pigeons. Now, this is a little embarrasing, but I have always heard about shooting clay pigeons. The only problem is that I have never seen one. I was a little surprised when he pulled out this little box that supposedly held 90 or something like that. I was thinking, "how do 90 clay birds fit in there?" Well, much to my surprise, they are actually clay disks. Why don't they call them clay disks then? Man did I feel like an idiot! That just goes to show how much I really know about guns! We had a fun time. Eric bought a box of 100 bullets, and came home with 20. Poor little pigeons! Enjoy!

Eric shooting. If you look closely you can see the "pigeon."


Allison shooting. I have a strange look on my face...


We had a good time. If anyone ever wants to go shoot guns, just ask Eric. He would be glad to go.