Chocolate Bunny anyone?

Me personally, I've always wondered how rabbits fit into Easter. Furthermore, how did chocolate Easter bunnies become the official food of Easter?

I have my answer.

Jason had to be to the church earlier than normal for scouts tonight. They were having Pack meeting which was actually the Blue and Gold Dinner and Jason's boys, the 11 year olds, were performing the flag ceremony. It was turning into a pretty hectic day and as I was about to make a quick trip to Walgreen's, this is what greeted me on my front doorstep...


I quickly went inside to explain to Jason that the myth about rabbits being able to beat cats is false as the proof is on our front porch.

I got in the car and as I was pulling out of the driveway, I see the cat pouncing on the poor helpless bunny bunny, assuring there was no life left in it.

I was gone for about 15 minutes and got back home to see there was no bunny on the sidewalk anymore, for the cat drug it into the rocks, crouched on top of it and had already eaten half it's neck. I honked at the cat, I yelled at the cat, but the disgusting thing still would not let off the neck of the rabbit. I finally nudged him with my foot and he got off it and started licking his beastly lips.

Jason came outside and we were on our way to the Pack Meeting. We get home about 8 o'clock and find this...

The cat has ripped this poor bunny rabbit to shreds! And, ah-ha! See that weird ripply thing hanging out the top part of the body? That looks like chocolate. Seriously. The perfect milk chocolate chocolate. I think back in the 1800's when Germans were trying to find a better "treat" for the Easter bunny to bring to good little children, there were a bunch of parents sitting around eating rabbit stew and talking about what they could make, and that's when one of the mothers (who had killed the rabbit earlier) came up with chocolate bunnies as the Easter "treat"!

Volunteering

Jason and I have been talking for a while about maybe becoming volunteers at the temple. We thought it would be good for our spirituality and also get us out of the house a little more. We were concerned with our schedules, but knew that everything would work out the way Heavenly Father wants since he's the one ultimately in charge.

So, in Merry Julianuary, before leaving the temple one night, I talked with a lady and she helped me get signed up for a phone call to have an interview with the Temple President. Since talking to someone, I've been thinking, maybe we're not supposed to be volunteers and kind of letting my guard down to the adversary.

Friday, February 19th, I found out my sorority is being reestablished at UNLV. I emailed them to ask how I go about being part of it again and was so extremely excited to be involved in Zeta again! I called Jason to tell him my exciting news, and then he said, Jess, I'm not sure how much you'll be able to be involved, cause I just got a call from Sister Bell and we need to set a time to go meet with the Temple President. I have to admit, that I got slightly bummed at first, but then 2 seconds later I thought, HOLY MOLY! That is awesome! What a great day!!!

I told Jason that I was still waiting for my email back from Zeta and that I knew we would have everything work out the way it is supposed to. So, we set up our appointment with the Temple President on Saturday at 5. I also got an email back from Zeta telling me that my information has been given to the alumnae coordinator and that I will be able to get involved that way. I was pretty excited cause as an Alum, you don't go to chapter every week, you don't do as many things as the collegiate girls because you are supposed to be busy either with your career, husband or kids. So, that works out great!

We then had our interview with the Temple President. What a spiritual uplifting experience. He is amazing himself, but what he told us impressed me even more. Jason and I on our way to the temple had talked about the different things we could do there. The baptistry was one that we thought could be fun to do as some of the ordinance things could be kind of scary since we're still learning all that is entailed in those. President Ballard told us that earlier in the day he had been asked by the baptistry if he could help find more volunteers for Saturday afternoon and night to work in there. He said that it's a position for a younger couple, such as us, and that it will be the best position for us right now. It's kind of exciting to hear a Temple President tell you that you are the answer to his prayers. =)

We finished some small details, and as it is, we will be working the 4th Saturday of every month at the temple in the Baptistry. This next Saturday is our first day! We are both really excited.

Valentine's Day

The 13th of February, Jason and I both had to work, we also were invited to a wedding, there was a baptism and many other activities going on and being that I hate crowds, I asked Jason a few weeks prior to this weekend if we could go out for Valentine's Day on Monday the 15th. He agreed.
On Friday the 12th, Jason told me the place he wanted to take me to on Sunday was booked and would it be ok if we celebrated on the 15th? I laughed and told him it was fine since that's what we agreed on a few weeks ago.

(I also didn't want to go out on the 14th just cause it's always a hot mess wherever you go in Vegas. If we ever move from Vegas, I think that will be one thing I love... being able to go out on Valentine's Day and not get bum rushed by crowds.)

Monday was great. Jason had to work, but it was a short day luckily. He got home, showered and shaved and we were on our way to our fun night!

We started with seeing Valentine's Day at Aliante Station. Many critics gave this movie a thumbs down, but I disagree. There were a few dumb parts, but if I were 18 again and had a boyfriend that I completely loved, I wouldn't think those parts were as dumb. As for the rest of the cast, I loved it! And to stand on my soapbox a little longer, some people love Valentine's Day and some people hate it. There are very few of us that love being able to celebrate the purpose of love. I think the critics are haters or either love or the day of love and that's why they gave it bad reviews.

Anyway, after watching the movie, we headed downtown. We had about an hour or so to kill before our reservation. Since we were downtown and the last time we were there we didn't get our Deep Fried Oreo's, I asked Jason if we could share an order and of course he didn't turn me down! We also thought we should try a Deep Fried Twinkie, so we ordered that also.

I have to admit, the deep fried Oreo's were delicious as usual, but I didn't really care for the Twinkie. It was deep fried, yum; a Twinkie, yum; but it was so greasy and just not what I thought and hoped it would be. Jason finished it and loved every morsel! I did love seeing the powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkles cover his lips and goatee when he took a bite.

We walked around a little longer and found lots of fun stuff... some of it was supposed to be there, and some was just the wonderful different people of the world walking around out there. Mermaids is the place to be. That is where Nathan's is located. Nathan's is the place that you get the deep fried Tinkie, Oreo's among many other delectables. For those of you looking for a place with good drinks, they have plastic football cups you can fill with beer or any kind of margarita mixture you can think of (you can also fill a yard drink there instead of a football). Mermaids is towards the west end of the Fremont Street Experience, on the north side. For a holiday Monday night, the Experience seemed a little slow, but maybe Saturday or Sunday was the happening days down there.

I told Jason that while we were down there I wanted to get a tattoo. Not a real one. I wanted to find a fake tattoo kiosk and get "Jason" written in script in big letters across my chest. That was going to be my Valentine present to him. ha ha ha

After searching the entire Experience, a had a brilliant thought, people down here aren't wanting to get fake tattoos, and if you're old enough to be down here, you are old enough to get a real one. This would explain why we couldn't find a kiosk and why I didn't get a "Jason" tattoo.

It was nearly time for our reservation, so we went to the 4 Queens. Jason was trying to pretend like it was a secret on where we were going, but I already knew. We were going to Hugo's Cellar. If you have never been there, I would suggest, you save some money, cause it is a little pricey - bout $40-50 a plate, and take someone very special to it.

I have only been here one time. When I first started hanging out with Jason, nearly 6 years ago while he was preparing to go on a mission, he told my friend Kitty and I that we needed to "experience" Hugo's. He treated us. I was so angry that he spent so much money on two girls he didn't really know. He should've been saving that money for his mission. However, in the following years, Jason tried to find places that would compare to Hugo's and there hasn't been a place.

Hugo's Cellar is just like a cellar should be, below the main floor. It's not directly below the main floor, but you do have to go down some stairs to a secluded, no trafficing, area. You check in at the hostess stand and wait for them to come get you so they can seat you. Everything is the same as a regular restaurant. Well, once they come to get you - cause they don't yell out your name, the hostess brigns a long stem red rose for all the ladies in the party. They then escort you to your table. The first time we came we were in a booth, but this time we were sat at a square table. Prior to us being sat, they had removed the extra settings and had only 2 plates with their utensils set according to table setting standards and a napkin folding in a tent on our plate. So far, it's just as perfect as I remembered it before.

They handed us our menu's, took our drink order and let us be for a few minutes. Jason got a strawberry lemonade which was absolutely divine! We're not sure what was put in it, but it wasn't just lemonade and strawberry extract/puree. This had bubbliness and a little limeness to it. So good! I just had water. I didn't want to get soda or anything that would ruin my tastebuds for the delicious meal I knew I would be getting. What I love about Hugo's, is even though you get water, they make you feel special about it by bringing a bottle of Hugo's Cellar water out and pouring it in your glass. No ice, just chilled water being poured.

Jason and I ordered. He was torn between quite a few things, but I was going to have the filet mignon. Jason was torn between the duck, veal oscar and veal chop. He decided to go with the chop. Our server went and put our order in, and then came the salad cart! YES, A CART!

The salad cart is something I haven't seen anywhere before. You get to pick out what you would like on your salad and then they prepare and toss the salad right in front of you. A few simple yes and no answers, and there you have a perfect salad! Tomatoes? yes. Mushrooms? yes. Pine nuts? yes. Red Onion? no. Parmesan cheese? yes. Bleu Cheese crumbles? no. Hard boiled egg? yes. Anchovies? no. (though last time I did try them.) Baby shrimp? yes. Croutons? yes. Cheese? yes. Which dressing would you like; caesar, orange honey walnut vinaigrette, or creamy pepper? creamy pepper. And there is my perfect salad!

While sitting at our table, enjoying my salad, I realized, Hugo's takes such good care of their patrons that they have people sit on the opposite side of the table from where the other patrons walk by. So essentially, on the opposite side of the aisle way. There is room for 4 at each table, but while we were there, everyone at the aisle tables only had 2 people and they sat on the opposite side of the aisle. How awesome is that? That was one thing I hated about last year at Ruth's Chris as that not only did we sit at a table directly in the front, right by where everyone was waiting to be sat, we had someone's butt resting on our table nearly the whole time. Last year was quite tragic.

Our salads were done and the server helper brought our little raspberry sorbet's to cleanse our pallets. Isn't that awesome? When I saw Princess Diaries I thought that only at royalty events or parties people did that. It's only a teeny tiny bit of sorbet, but it's more than enough to make me feel like royalty! Shortly after cleansing our pallets, our entrees arrive. Oh how perfect it looked! Side of garlic mashed potatoes, fresh steamed vegetable, and they're not the chips you usually get, these are strings of vegetables. LOVED IT! Then, there sitting on my plate was a perfect steak. It was so tender to cut into, but once it hit my mouth, it melted all over my tongue. Jason was full from his dinner, but he still helped me finish mine it was that good.

Our plates were taken and if I had room ,I would've tried the Banana's Foster. However, we told them there was no room and we'll just take the check. I forgot about the dessert they bring! They brought our check, along with a heated towel, yes to clean your hands and face and whatever else you do with a heated towel, and then they bring a little assortment of chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate dipped figs and chocolate dipped dried apricots to dip in a fruit cream dip. Though none of those leaped at me and screamed "EAT ME!", I still loved that they brought it out. I did try half a dried apricot, the part with the chocolate. It will take getting use to. ha ha ha

Jason and I explained to one of our friends before that we aren't materialistic, that we like to experience things. This is one of those "experiences".

Family

Sheila, Jason's mom, went into the hospital last Saturday. She had some chest pain and upper back spinal/rib pain and to this day, the doctors still don't know what's wrong. She's had echographs, x-rays, among many other tests ran. She went in for another x-ray last night, and I hope we will hear results of that today. The doctors did assure us her heart is ok. We thought it was enlarged, but it is normal. The upper parts of her lungs are working great, but they're trying to find out why the lower parts of her lungs aren't working. They ruled out parrelsy (? pretty sure that's not spelled right), but they are now thinking it might be. The doctors are saying her COPD has been caused from her history of bronchitis and pneumonia.

Jason and I were able to go visit her Tuesday when he got off work. She had quite a room full of visitors. I was really excited to spend the whole day with her yesterday. Carla was there too and June joined us after a while. I brought a word find for her, the newest Dan Brown book, playing cards, things to keep her busy or us busy while she sleeps. It was fun having a girls day.

I love the Graf family. Sheila will get better. They have her on oxygen nearly all the time, and she will be on oxygen probably for some time. I'm thankful that she is in my life. She truly is an amazing person. I don't know if I have ever gotten to spend this much time with her, but it truly has been a fun experience. Probably not for her, but I love being next to her and talking about whatever comes to her.

Kickin it Old School

Last week I got a call from the air conditioning people who replaced our A/C system 2 years ago wanting to do their 6 month check up. I wasn't available last week, so I picked Wednesday this week hoping they would show on the latter part of 2-6. As luck has it, they called at 1:40 to let me know they were on their way. Sheesh!

(Mark Darcy, Fitzwiliam Darcy, Lord Wessex, Henry Dashwood, Jamie Bennett, any part he plays he's very dreamy. In fact I loved Austenland before I even started reading just because of the dedication - For Colin Firth You're a really great guy, but I'm married, so I think we should just be friends.)

I called my mom to see if she would let him do what he needs to do cause I won't be home til about 2:30 ish and he may be gone by then. Well, situations happen and I didn't get home til about 5:30, but Jason got home. The tech told him about a crack that "might" be in our furnace. They never actually said there was one, but they said over time there will be a crack and we'll need a new system.

Jason and I talked the whole situation over and came to the conclusion that we are good with no heat since our fireplace works and I like to snuggle up to him at night anyway. And seriously, there's only a month or two left of cold weather. We will stick it out, save money and replace it next year if needed.

Jason turned on what we thought was the heater, but still today, after 3 days, our house temperature hasn't seen the 70s. It hasn't even seen the 80s! That's right. When I got home from work today, the house is sitting at a slightly chilly 62. I am all for keeping it cold, my family is half polar bear, but I do like a little heat and since my heater went to the movies with a friend, I lit our fireplace. (I later found out from mom that the tech blew out our pilot light.)

I finished up some homework tonight and needed some reading time. (I have found a huge relaxation in reading. A lot of the stuff I read is almost better than TV. There is still some TV that is better than books, but I've been reading good books lately.) I borrowed Austenland from the library and started reading it a few days ago. I haven't gotten too far into it since I have school work and I work quite a bit this week, but after my studies, I picked it up, pulled the rocking chair in front of the fire and began to read.

What I love about Shannon Hale, the author of Austenland, Princess Academy and Goose Girl, is that she's easy to read, but so detailed that I lose myself int eh story. The story is of a girl obsessed with Pride and Prejudice who goes on a "holiday" to Pembrook Park to live like they would have in Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. The girl, Jane, is getting used to using lamps and candles as lighting and getting use to all the new clothes and way of talking, etc. I think it was even more fun to just get lost in the book by sitting by a fire that is my only source of heat at the moment.

(Aren't these girls absolutely beautiful?! I would have loved to live in those days where the most important thing of the day was what bonnet to wear with which ribbons. Oh, and to learn how to hoist your boulders up in one of those corsets wouldn't have been too bad either. I would not have the terrible posture I do today if I had worn corsets my whole life! I just love the hair styles, the clothes, their MANNERS!!!)

I had to keep changing my feet to be taken off the step so my cute little lamb slippers wouldn't burn. I kept having flashes of Jo Marches dress being burned from sitting too close to the fire. Yes, I would be a Jo. Always too close to fire. I must say though, it was quite relaxing. In so much that I can barely keep my eyes awake any longer and must retire to a freezing bed that will be warmed up by me and my heating pad. HA HA HA

Ode to Drugs

Advil, Midol, Ibuprofen, Aleve,
I had a terrible headache and you helped me fight it off.
But, like the cat, it came back the next day so I tried something stronger
and we still couldn't find a way to make it leave.

I then got a cough
which then made my lungs hurt to breathe
which didn't help my headache

I thought Robitussin was the answer, but I was wrong
Though you helped me sleep through the night,
I woke up feeling like a bus ran me over.

Time to call in the big guns.

Oh Penicillin, how I love the way you make me feel after I take you.
You get rid of my cough,
You get rid of the yucky bacteria that has tried to take over my body,
You make me feel like a woman again.

Don't worry Immunization Steroid,
I'm not leaving you out.
How can I forget how you helped me feel 10 times better after
having you be jabbed in my buttocks.
You mixed with Orange juice sure made me feel like an Incredible.

Though you guys are fantastic,
and you've helped me live through my terrible sore throat,
I sarcastically want to express "Thanks for screwing with a cycle I've been monitoring very closely."

Yes, I had a severe sore throat at the beginning of the year and thought I could fix it myself with Robitussin PM, lots of pain relievers and other over the counter drugs I have at home. Nothing was working, so I had to go to the Dr. Befoer I left his office, they gave me a B12 in the right cheek and an immunization steroid on the left! OUCH! I was prescribed Amoxicillin which is a penicillin. I knew it messes with certain things but I had too much faith in my body. Now here it is, a month later and all the drugs I took I'm sure have effected my cycle which is late, but the test is negative.