Au Revoir Soeur Evans

Today I spent the day with my little sister McKay and my mom, just before she enters the Missionary Training Center (MTC) tomorrow. She will be serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Port Vila Vanuatu Mission--New Caledonia Region, speaking French, for the next 18 Months.

We are so excited for her, but of course are going to miss her immensely. This is my first family member serving a mission, so I'm a newbie at this, even though I actually talk to missionaries every day for work. Any suggestions from you more experienced out there? I couldn't be more proud of my little sister for making this decision, and for her faithfulness, her spirit and her diligence. She is a truly amazing young woman. 

I had the chance to go to the temple with her today! What a cool experience. Words don't really describe the temple. I am so grateful to be able to go to them so frequently--it's a blessing about living in Utah that we have so many nearby. I'll try not to take that for granted.

We shopped around and tonight went to dinner. We missed our Dad a lot, and wish he could have been there too. Since McKay already speaks French pretty well, her date to report was changed, and Dad's big meeting at work was well, the same day as her report date.

This is probably my favorite Thai place in Provo/Orem. The lemongrass soup (Tom Kai Ka?) is the BEST! 

From dinner in Maryland at Christmas. 

After dinner, we celebrated Mum's birthday! Yay January 28 :) a major celebration--we had shortbread chocolate pudding pie ( I woke up at 6 am this morning to make it. I guess I do love them after all ;).

And then proceeded the after-dinner laughter and rumble-glomming on the sofa as per usual. We also enjoyed a fashion show by Jared, tales of how mom can sell ANYTHING and Haley ALMOST....crossing the line. And of course lots of pictures. Most of which I would be lynched for publicly displaying, so here are the best ones.

This was going to be a picture of just H and M, but J jumped in with that lamp at the perfect moment--this picture is purely candid.

Sweet sisters. 

M to H: "let's laugh at each other!" H to Me: "Why do you ALWAYS zoom in so much?!"

"Let's all look at McKay!"

Date night and restaurant review

BLACK SHEEP CAFE
Provo, UT

Jared and I have been wanting to go to this hip new restaurant on University Avenue. I run by there fairly often and the aroma surrounding the place is mouthwatering. The restaurant is always packed full of people. Several friends of ours had been, and recommended it highly.

When the opportunity came and Jared and I decided one night to have a date out on the town, we chose this as the restaurant. (We have a running list, so far there are 7 places we really want to try.)

Our first impressions were good, the place is family run and owned, and it is much smaller inside than one might expect, with only about 15 tables (they each seat 4 people). The lighting is somewhat dim, and  the vibe inside is kind of contemporary urban meets Native American.

We were told it would be a 35 minute wait, and although longer than we wanted to wait, we decided it would be worth it, and we took a long walk around Center (and added another restaurant to our list while doing so). Going back to the restaurant, our appetites and expectations mounted higher and higher.

We placed our order: Shrimp and polenta for an appetizer, Jared ordered a Goat Burger, goat cheese in the burger patty, sauteed mushrooms and served on nandiskaadi bread (a Navajo flatbread) and sweet potato fries, and I a Green Chile stew with Indian Fry Bread.

We were so excited.


1 hour later the waitress said that the kitchen was behind because there were several large groups in front of us. Did we want Fry Bread with honeybutter? No, but thank you, we want to be hungry for the food.

The appetizer came out and was AMAAAAAZING!! Blue and yellow polenta with tons of cheese in it, and a chili adobo sauce on the shrimp. Seriously, it was heaven. I wish I had taken a picture, but we were so hungry we didn't think of it until there was only a smear of chili sauce left of the plate...

Again, we ate most of the burger before I remembered to take a picture. It was really really good.

Thirty minutes later, still no entree. The waitress came back and told us she has misplaced our order, and written down items different than we had ordered, which were almost ready. The waitress apologized so profusely and actually told us she was going to buy our whole dinner for us, since she had made such a mistake. We were not going to argue with that :) So Jared got a delicious Bleu Burger and I got the Navajo taco trio. This is actually the specialty of the house. The trio has three different kinds of taco: green chili, red chili and bean (a special mix of their own.) They did bring us the sweet potato fries, which were the best I have ever had. They were thick and full of flavor and best of all did not taste deep fried at all.

They were all extremely courteous, and although the food we ended up eating was not what we ordered, we loved it. I probably would not order the Trio again; it tasted great but I don't particularly love that kind of food. The red chili was my favorite of the three (it's on the right). I think the burgers are better than the tacos. I definitely want to go back and try the soup. And Jared wants to get the goat burger. So back we will go. And we plan to take some friends with us.

For atmosphere, food and service (mistake included) I would rate this place a 4 out of 5.

You can never have too many Holloways

My brother in law just had a birthday. He turned 20 this year, and to celebrate, we feasted.

Jared and I celebrated first by going on an early morning run. We ran 45 minutes, which considering his recent accident (back in July when he AC III separated his shoulder. Yes, I did use a noun as a verb. Forgive me.) I thought the run was a grand success.

Then the family and we drove the scenic route to Snowbird ski resort to visit Oktoberfest. Great German food and music, lots of happy people, and fun music were everywhere.

 Brothers, you'll never guess what they will come up with next. My man is the one on the right. Lucky me eh?--------------->

Yes. Totally.

It's okay, he's a great dancer.

We feasted that day on brats and kraut, pickles, German chocolate cake, garlic fries and Liege waffles. Turns out they make these by washing the waffle iron in between waffles with a rag soaked in beer. That was one powerful waffle.

 We took the tram to the top for a breathtaking view of the mountain side. I'm not a skier, in fact I'm deathly afraid of skiing. And my family would know that is with good reason. Plus I look like a total idiot when I try. you know those pictures you see on pinterest and other social media sites with the hashtag or caption that says, FAIL. Someone would definitely make one of those with a picture of me skiing.

 This is apparently the highest tram in the West and Snowbird has the only ski tunnel in North America; a 600 ft long tunnel under the mountain (by 200 feet) that has a conveyor belt for your skis. It was excellent. Because I thought it was interesting, it wasn't operating that day.

Want to know a nerdy fact? See the shape of the valley, how it is shaped like a U? That is because it was carved by a glacier. If the valley were carved by a river it would be shaped like a V.

 See, Geography majors DO learn something in college...


Good thing I married me such a good man.

Family photo op! Just FYI, if you go to the top of Snowbird, take a jacket. It is FREEZING up there. And by freezing I mean 62 degrees.

Utah is a desert.

 Dinner that night was another feast. Have you captured a theme of our lives yet? I'll help you. Get together with family. Have a feast.
Went to Sweet Home Chicago for DEEP DISH dun dun dun.

 Even the birthday boy couldn't eat it all.

How Puzzling

Anniversary number one was spent in Park City, UT. A happy event made more fun by the Kimball Arts festival, which was in town that weekend. All of Main Street was lined with stalls of glass, pottery, paintings, photographs, statues and all other imaginable kinds of artwork. Since year one anniversary gifts are meant to be something paper, Jared and I searched everywhere with some little success for such a gift. We thought about getting a photograph of a beautiful vista of the American west, or a painting of an Italian countryside. Unfortunately at this point in our lives, any of those items were a good $2500+ out of our price range (unless we wanted to buy a 4x6 print...which we didn't). Instead I did what I always do when faced with a financial dilemma: to buy or not to buy? The answer is always not to buy.

We decided instead to use our many overseas experiences to print out some smashing good shots at Costco and use those for decoration instead. Not that we didn't get any souvenirs. Quite the contrary.

However, those souvenirs were more along the lines of, That looks delicious. Take a bite. Confirm. Purchase. So, at the Mount Olive Oil Co. we bought a bottle of Maple Balsamic vinegar to be used on waffles in the future (come back for details). From a stall we bought a strawberry rhubarb jam. At Harry and David we bought 3 jars of salsa: peach, black bean and corn, and raspberry chardonnay. And of course we ate ice cream at Java Cow (Strawberry and Coconut Joy), and bought a caramel apple at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Co. Dinner was a succulent Kobe Bleu burger at Bandit's Grill and Bar.

For us, those kinds of souvenirs are the typical, the standard, and the tradition. On our honeymoon we bought a Blueberry Balsamic in California; a gem that features amazingly on salad and surprisingly well on vanilla ice cream. I also want to try the Maple on some pork chops.

But enough about food, we also finally were able to watch the Olympics since the Opening Ceremonies. Since our apartment does not have cable we have been trying to satisfy ourselves by reading the news, and the social network feeds, and hearing the gossip about who is winning what. With wondering awe we watched Michael Phelps win the 200 m butterfly final, and Katie Ledecky win the woman's 800 m freestyle. Our room was situated literally right next to the pool, so with our cheering echoing around our small room, and the smell and splashing sounds from the pool outside our door,  it seemed almost as if we were there.

Saturday saw us at the Outlets for the majority of the day. We made an excellent haul, and I even bought Jared's Christmas present. Dinner at Caffe Molise, Salt Lake City was divine. Truly, if you live within 80 miles of this place you must dine there at least once, it is that phenomenal. I will spare you my raving and just let you slobber over these pictures. I have never wanted to lick my plate clean more than that night. My mother would be proud to know that I did not.

Finalement a le fin de la notre, nous trouvons un cadeau. We bought a puzzle! Which is of course, French themed. Not that you can really tell from looking at it. It's a taste theme.