Of Farm Animal Revenge and Lame Cafe Rio Guys

It's been quite the week for Alyssa, who went all out Thursday night at Costco and bought her little ol' self a cell phone. No foolin'! Now we can actually COMMUNICATE, which is quite a plus in this hectic, workaday world in which we live. She's also been getting on Ebay roughly once an hour looking for Wiis. She says it's for exercise, but I think she really just wants to play Cooking Mama. And, finally, on Tuesday she decided to get revenge on me for going to the This Is the Place thing on Saturday, by going to her OWN place with farm animals. Why I oughta... ooooh...

Not as much going on with me. Work has been off-and-on busy and nothing extremely noteworthy has happened, although last night as I was leaving, my manager told me I was doing a good job. Score! Also, one of my coworkers told me my flan was the best he'd ever had and wanted the recipe. Score again! Oh yeah, Thursday night I went to Cafe Rio with Alyssa and her parents and received a free meal for having filled up my card. Triple score! (We of course got the most expensive item on the menu.) Like I told Alyssa, I've had that card since I got back off my mission. So yeah, it was looking a little ratty. I was disappointed, however, that the Cafe Rio guys did not yell "Free meal!" like they usually do when somebody gets a free meal. I'd been waiting for that for seven years. What bums, huh?

Of Pioneering, Rockin' Flan, and Soggy Jello Cake

Today I went with Laura, Becca, and all of their respective children (no Alyssa because she had to work 12 hours straight today) to the This Is the Place park for their annual "free day." Jolly good times were had by all--we rode in a horse-drawn wagon, ate ice cream sandwiches and pizza, visited the petting zoo (which was mostly just farm animals but it was fun, especially when some bozo opened both of the corral gates at once, a big no-no, and half of the sheep and goats escaped) and visited the Brigham Young monument. Brayden and McKell also got to ride horses and play carnival games, and they probably had about 20 prizes each by the time they were done. Me, I was satisfied with my one prize, a rubber ducky with a sombrero, which I gave to Alyssa as a romantic gift when she got off work. I figure he will make a boon companion for our rubber ducky for the last few years, who has a pirate hat. Quaarrrrk, matey! I also made a visit to the plaque that lists all of the handcart companies. Guess whose great-great grandpappy Edmund Lovell Ellsworth led the first company? That's right. Ben Green's. Don't you forget it.

Yesterday was my office picnic, for which I made flan. I was pretty apprehensive about it, since pretty much nothing went right as I was making it, but apparently it turned out good because there were only two pieces left at the end of the picnic. While we're on the subject of dessert, Last Sunday, for the luncheon that followed Bethany and Tyson's baby blessing, I made Jello cake (I guess I'm on a dessert kick lately) and that was popular as well, at least with Tyson's side of the family. Just about all of the Sakamotos, Alyssa included (dang that devastatingly hot woman), felt that it was too soggy. Can't put my finger on it, but this might have had something to do with my putting in twice as much Jello as the recipe called for. But, either way, MAN, Jello cake is good.