I have a few dinner stories and I thought I would put them together. It is long, but kinda funny!
The first is when I invited the missionaries over for dinner. I was worried they weren't coming because they didn't call me until 4 pm. Then they wanted to eat at 7. I told them that was okay, but we were going to eat at 5. Sorry, I cannot wait until 7 to eat, that is Rome's bedtime. Anyway, I invited my other friends, the Wallaces, over too so we could eat with them. I made a roast chicken that I got from my friend
Alissa. It was so good and so easy! Then, I made a salad and my friend brought homemade rolls. It was so good. I also wanted to make a pie because there were strawberries on sale for $1. Yea, really! The strawberry pie was pretty easy. Just cut up strawberries, pile them in the crust and cover with homemade sauce. Done! So, I made the crust, but I use a box and it makes 2. So, I decided to also make a chocolate pie. Not too hard. I looked up a recipe in my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook. Here it is: 2/3 cup butter, 2/3 cup sugar, 1 cup melted chocolate chips. Yup, that is it. I really should have realized that it was not going to turn out, but my pregnancy brain must be starting early, because I didn't. We ate it, well, we tried. It was TeRrIbLe. How could it not be? It was only chocolate butter and grainy sugar. Yuck! Afterwards, I took out the yucky filling and made a different kind. 1/3 cup milk, 1 cup mini marshmallows, 1 cup chocolate chips. Melt in the microwave and add whip cream. Mmmm! Much better! Sorry Missionaries for making you eat gross chocolate-butter pie!
The Wallaces and the pretty chicken, strawberry pie and bad chocolate pie
the chocolate pie - fixed
#2. Dan, Clare and Abi were coming down to visit Clare's parents for Father's Day. (they live an hour away from me) They wanted to stop by and visit. So, I made them dinner. It was pretty easy (I am all about easy). I just did BBQ ribs in the crock pot, veggies and homemade rolls. (my friend gave me her recipe) It didn't turn out quite right however. The ribs are usually really tender and just fall of the bones, but they didn't. They were still tasty though, so it was okay. The rolls, just didn't want to work. I do not do well with raising things like bread or rolls. I put in extra yeast. It looked like it raised too much in the bread machine. I rolled them into rolls and tried to let them raise again and they did a little, and then they fell. They still tasted okay, but they looked really funny. I don't know what I did, but next time I am skipping the second raise. I also made a cheesecake from a mix. It called for a graham cracker crust, so I made one from scratch. Except, I don't think I measured and there was tons of crust. It was filling the whole pie plate. I kept taking it out until I decided to just make a second one. So, I made 2 cheesecakes. Luckily I had 2 mixes, Strawberry Swirl and Chocolate Heaven. They were supposed to have a whole tub of whipped cream added, but I only had one, so they both got half. They were good, but SUPER sweet. I ate the chocolate one and it made me feel yucky. I really have to quit doing that. I don't need any help feeling sick. Anyway, it was such a nice dinner! The babies played, we ate, we chatted and hung out for a while. Dan and Josh watched Boxing. Altogether, a very pleasant evening. We were so glad you guys could come and visit!
The babies playing, wish I got more pics of you guys and dinner, oh well!
Lastly, Father's Day. Josh's dad wanted us to come up and visit him. I was worried about seeing my parents too in such a short visit, but they were in Spain. I never heard they were going there, but they were not home, so I didn't have to worry. We got up early on Sunday and drove the 6, supposed to be 5, hour drive to Evanston, WY. Rome did not sleep, but loved his Baby Einstein videos. So, yay for DVD players! When we got there we played, showed off Rome's walking, and tried to get him to sleep (yea, right). Then we ate dinner. It was delicious! Steak, crab, asparagus, twice baked potatoes and peach cheesecake with ice cream. Mmmm-mmm. The best part was that Rome loved the crab. Who knew! We thought it would be a funny texture, but he liked it and ate everything we gave him. He did so well with out a high chair and just being tied up with grandpa's belt. Grandpa shared ice cream with him too. What a spoiled kid! It was fun and we are glad we got to see them for Father's day!
the chocolate pie - fixed
Yes, you are funny little guy!
The Living Room
The Master Bedroom
The Master Bath
Guest Bed, Bath and Office
My friend's boys came over and watched Rome while we went to see Terminator Salvation. (I really liked it!) I told them to pick out a recipe from my new cookbook and I would make it for them. They picked Marble Cupcakes. Great, I wanted to make those. They started out okay, but I knew something was wrong when the batter was really thick. It worked for swirling the cakes, but they never rose and they turned into muffin or cookie texture. Not cake, but still tasty. Then, the frosting. I used frozen cream cheese and it would not set up. I added more sugar, but it was still a very runny 
glaze. Nothing like the picture. Ugh. I tried to drizzle and marble the frosting anyway. I used chocolate sauce because I don't have caramel. (you know that dumb food color thing) They turned out okay, but I think they look more like spider cakes than marble. The boys liked them and they were still tasty so I guess it doesn't matter. 
.JPG)
