My Day

Monday was my 28th Birthday! Daniel is now officially married to an older woman! Ha ha! Even if only for 6 weeks.

My day was just wonderful! I really couldn't have asked for a better day! I woke up to hugs and kisses from my darling daughter! Who also handed me a beautiful gift and card (both handmade!) and who brought me breakfast in bed after! She's such a lovebug! The most thoughtful girl a mom could have! (Dan is a sleeper. He was sleeping in.)

It took us a while to get out of the house in the morning (as usual). So we did A & W in the car for lunch! Yum! Then we started my day in South Edmonton Common for a couple stops there and to meet up for a little bit with my best friend Amanda.

Then, we used a voucher I had for a new place called Twisted Yogurt. It was so cool! There's a whole wall of different flavours of frozen yogurt and a million toppings! It's all self-serve. So I picked two kinds of frozen yogurt. Purple Cow and Pomegranate! Then I went crazy on the toppings! I had some blueberries, sour worms, Dino Sours, Skor bits, pineapple and CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH!!! I love that stuff! I was so pumped!

Here's what it looked like:

Daniel picked two kinds of frozen yogurt as well, except he got fancy and layered them with toppings in the middle. It may look all healthy on top with the kiwi, but the hidden layer in the middle is filled with gummies!

Here's a look:

Layla picked Bubble Gum flavored frozen yogurt. She also topped hers with a maraschino cherry. She's the only one in our family who likes them! Her only wish was that she had put in more Swedish Berries.

Here's hers:

After that, it was off to West Edmonton Mall! I had the whole day off work and I wanted to spend my Birthday shopping! I'm not necessarily a shopaholic or anything, it's more that I never have the time to just shop. I only seem to be able to go if I'm desperate for something, and even then it's a super quick in and out stop. No strolling and window shopping. So that was what I wanted to do! It was lovely!

Here's Dan and Layla checking the place out!

I saw this in Chapters, and it cracked me up! It was a real paper doll book!

Luckily, I had some gift cards to use, so I was able to go shopping without spending much money! It was so fun!

For dinner, I picked to go to Red Lobster. Neither Layla or Daniel had been there before, and I think I have only been there once or twice before. My mom being severely allergic to fish and seafood played a big part in my family never going there. It was so good!

So that was my special day! Next, we'll recap Layla's awesome day!

Sunny Afternoon

Although we recently had some more snowfall, this afternoon was quite enjoyable! The clouds parted and we saw the sun again!

Only a day or two ago, Layla and I were wondering what Tom-Tom our cat was so focused on out the window, and he had spotted a couple Robins!

Today when we took Lewis out for a walk to the playground, we spotted a ladybug in the grass!

Spring is slowly, but surely coming!

While at the playground, we happened to meet up with Arika, a friend of Layla's from her class at school. After playing at the playground together for a while, Arika came over for a little impromptu playdate! And the girls made the first sidewalk masterpieces of the year! I always love seeing children's artwork on sidewalks!

So here's a look at what the girls came up with:

This last one is a photo of Lewis at the playground! It's one of his favorite places in the world! He had so much energy today and was so happy to be back at the playground! This is a picture of him sliding down the slide. Yes, that's right. Last fall I taught him to slide down a slide! It's really quite funny to see, as his legs are so thin that he looks so top heavy.

It's really quite a sight! But we are still on the look out for more signs of spring! I'm looking for plants, Dan's looking for gophers and Layla's looking for opportunities to not wear her jacket!

Ice Cream Bread

I couldn't believe it when I first read it.

Ice Cream Bread.

But it's true! It wasn't an April Fool's Day joke. It was a real, legitimate recipe.

Not only was the name amazing, but it looked SUPER EASY to make! So, I just HAD to give it a try! And it turned out awesome! So here it is!

Apparently you can pick any flavour you want. The recipe I read used Pralines & Cream. One woman in the comments used a Butterscotch Ripple. The possibilities are as limitless as your imagination! I went and picked up a Maple Crunch to try.

So, measure out 2 cups of ice cream and let it soften.

While you're waiting, you can grease a cake loaf pan.

Or paint your toenails.

Or watch Hoarders. Whatever you feel like. This is a pretty casual, feel-good recipe.

Ah! Nice and soft now!

Now you just need 1 and a half cups of self-rising flour. Believe it or not, I already had this in my cupboard. I love baking products!

But if you're not a random kitchen product collector like I am, don't fret. You don't need to run to the store. To make this yourself, just add 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt for each 1 cup of regular flour. This is probably more economical anyway than buying fancy pastry flour.

Put your 1 and a half cups of fancy flour or self-made flour mix in a bowl.

Add the softened ice cream into it.

And mix!

When it's mixed well, pat yourself on the back. It also surprised me how much the consistency was like a normal batter. And just two ingredients! Who knew?

Put the mixture into your greased loaf pan.

Put in pre-heated oven at 350F for 45 minutes.

Now you can finish your finger nails, or watch a new TV show while you wait.

When your buzzer goes, check out your masterpiece! It smells delicious, no?

Take it out of the oven to cool a bit. When you're ready, flip it over so it comes out and enjoy yourself a slice of fabulous ice cream bread!

It's quite cakey and yummy. Not quite as heavy as banana bread.

Layla sure enjoyed it! Give it a try and let me know what you think! And if you have any good ideas for other flavours of ice cream to use!

You can find the original post that I found the recipe from at:

http://www.sweetspot.ca/SweetHome/bonnie_mo/34386/ice_cream_bread/

5 Monthiversary!

I finally uploaded the pictures from my mom's camera from our wedding day. And since it's 5 months today, I thought I'd share the pictures from the grounds of the Temple! Enjoy!

Yeah! We're a family!

Us with our parents!

My fancy jacket I bought (it was November, after all!)

Everyone liked my jacket, so we had to do more pictures with it too!

I like this one!!!

Just for fun!

More fun!

Silly pictures!

Hey. We just got hitched, y'all.

Let's go to dinner!

March Update

Dear Winter,

It was fun, but it's time for you to go now.

Dan and Layla's snowgirl.

Layla eating her nose!

She has since passed on to a better place... and I'm okay with that.

Since being married, Dan and I had a whole long weekend apart when Layla and I headed down to Fort Steele to visit one of my best friends and her new little man (3 months old!). However, I was super duper sick the whole time. I didn't get a single picture of him. I didn't even get to hold him. I just slept all day, every day I was there, and ate all their vitamins and medicine.

The above two pictures are of Layla napping in the car on the way home. That was the first time I remembered my camera and thought I should take at least a couple pictures to document our trip.

And one scenic shot.

But now! Things are slowly warming up! The days are getting gloriously longer! And look! Layla and I were even rockin' the sunroof on the way home from school one day!

Lovely signs of spring! Can't wait to see more!