Kelly Times Two

I LOVE to cook. In particular, I love baking. Cookies, pies, cakes, cinnamon rolls, muffins, brownies, etc. And I really enjoy presenting it in a decorative way and sharing it with others. I just need to make sure I hit the bike too to help offset all the sugar, butter, etc. Today for dinner, I whipped up this FATTENING pasta dish with scallions, mushrooms, tortellini, heavy cream, butter, and shrimp. It was scrumptious. I've baked several batches of my caramel corn snack mix for friends and family. I've got guests arriving in town tomorrow (Kelly's mom and dad), so I'll have some good taste testers.

Today is the first "official" day of autumn and I have enjoyed this summer more than any summer I can remember. I feel abundantly blessed and grateful for my friends, family, and life. This group picture was taken of some of my awesome friends whom I know through church, on a leisurely summer evening, after all of us went cruising along in two separate ski boats on the captivating, breathtaking Lake Austin at sunset recently. Clockwise, from the bottom left, are Michele, Wendy, Conni, Holly, me, Shauna, Stephanie, Monica, Buddy, Wanda, Aren, and Jenny. What a total blast we had on the lake that evening in August, my very first time to wakeboard. We had SO MUCH FUN! Life is truly a thing of beauty. When I look at the faces of all my friends, each one has a heart of gold, and a unique, wonderful personality, and so much more. Plus, I have so many more fantastic friends that aren't even mentioned here who have brightened my life with joy. That fun night on Lake Austi...

I'm patiently waiting for my husband to get ready before we head over to the Dew's house to watch the BYU Cougars football game. I hope it's a good game! Lindsey is playing volleyball at the church this morning. I went out to breakfast to Village Inn this morning to celebrate my friend Jane's birthday with some other friends. Last night when Kelly was working late, I went over to my neighbor's house and sat in the hot tub with her and some friends for a couple of hours. It was fun. Tonight Kelly is deejaying the stake dance and Lindsey is excited about going. So far, it's a fun weekend!

Today at our monthly group that we call lunch bunch, I gathered up the registrations for the next card camp from those who plan to join me. Once a month, the lunch bunch goes to different places in Austin and today we went to Mama Fu's. There was a huge turnout today, with Conni (plus Claire), Cristin, Peggy, me, Aren (plus Micael), Michelle, Caroline (plus Olivia), Jenny (plus Jolie and JJ), Sue, Sierra (plus Abby), Paige (plus Tyson), Molly (plus Liam and the baby), Molly's mother-in-law, La Nan (plus Dalin and Rhett), Michele, Kim, Holly (plus Kennedy), Jillian (plus Simone), Lonna (plus Gwen), and Lindsay (plus Adelyn). Wow! What a turnout--twenty women and fifteen children! My deadline for registering was today for my card making shindig that I'm going to hold two weeks from tonight and I wanted to plan what cards we'll be doing so I could show everyone. I came up with an entire Halloween theme and most everyone seemed excited about them, so I was pleased. Afte...

Kelly and I stopped by Jamba Juice in NYC three times while we were there, since I didn't have my handy dandy blender and I make smoothies at home almost daily. Unfortunately, one night the not-too-friendly clerk carelessly slid the order toward him and his raspberry frozen drink splashed all over, just before we were heading to the theater to see Mama Mia in Times Square. She replaced it, and though his shirt has splashes all over it, he still looked excessively handsome. We were both a bit sun-burned from being on outside tours all day. Here's how I make a typical smoothie at home: 2 1/2 to 3 cups cold water 1 banana 1 small container light yogurt, any flavor 1 cup frozen strawberries 1 cup frozen peaches 1 cup frozen mangoes 1 cup frozen raspberries Blend until smooth. It makes a pitcher full. Sometimes to make it more sweet, I'll add another container of yogurt. I never really measure the fruit, and I put different variations of frozen fruit in it, always at least t...

My girlfriend, Shana, insists that this is the best book, so I'm going to read it next. I just got it from her yesterday and am trading with her a book that I picked up at the JFK airport in August when I had a three-hour delay in my departure back to Austin. Since Heidi had mentioned she would be reading it soon, and the fact that our 20th anniversary was the next day, The History of Love , seemed to be an appropriate choice at the airport bookstore which was about to close. As it turned out, I didn't exactly like The History of Love , which was nothing like I had pictured it to be. It was quite depressing actually. So, I'll be sure to add a post about this novel, as soon as I find out what's going on in The Diary of Mattie Spenser by Sandra Dallas. Thanks for the recommendation, Shana!

I love college football. We were delighted to be at the season opener of the National Champions, University of Texas Longhorns football team! Woohoo! It was a fun game, although extra hot outside. I thought I was going to die. We took Stephanie and Brett with us, who moved here recently from Arizona, to enjoy their first ever UT football game. Brett was actually a BYU football player a while back and a big football fan, so it was fun to have them with us. The Longhorns beat North Texas 56 to 7. Later than night, Kelly and I watched football on television. Ben Olson, of UCLA, did an incredible job as their new quarterback, beating the University of Utah in a great game. Olson had not played football since his high school glory days five years previously. He went to BYU initially then redshirted, then went on a mission to Canada for two years. He must have thought he'd have a better chance at playing by going to UCLA, not too far from where he'd been a super star in high ...