Day 51: Proud of Boyd

There are no words for this picture


I promise we are not wii junkies or completely addicted to video games. I just have a very talented husband who can bowl a perfect game.

Over Christmas break, Boyd played wii with Micah and I would hear fits coming from the family room. Apparently Micah would blow up because he wasn't as good as uncle Boyd . . . Even though he was only missing ONE PIN! He would get 99 out of 100 for cryin out loud and still be red in the face because he wasn't "as good as Boyd". The same thing happen to Emelie, only she would cry. These poor kids don't realize who they are playing against! We tried to tell them that it's because Boyd practices a lot and that this is their first time, but apparently getting 99 out of 100 pins is upsetting when you are just a chill bean (child).

This is not the only reason why I'm so proud of Boyd. This week was the week of relaxation. Two weeks ago was exam week. What a nightmare! I thought it would never end. Even though I'm not the one taking the exam I still get really bad anxiety. Plus, I was tired of having words like popliteal artery stuck in my head all day. Boyd made it through exam week like a champ and even managed to do well on most of his exams (minus one, that everybody else in his class failed, literally). Even though Boyd didn't think he was going to do well in microbiology, he still got a B and that is better than most of his class. The thing that makes me the most proud of Boyd is that he still has his priorities straight. While other students would spend endless hours at school and in lab studying, Boyd puts his family first. We spent the weekend before exam week down in Columbus for Florence's baby blessing and during exam week Boyd would make sure he was still spending time with me. I'm grateful for a husband who does better than most students and still has his priorities in the right place.

Day 50: Dinosaurs, Rar

Last night Boyd and I went to Joann Fabrics after his basketball game. Boyd loves coming to Joann Fabrics with me. While looking for more pillowcase fabric we stumbled upon this! I HAD to have it! It could be for a summer pillowcase, like June when there isn't a holiday. Boyd liked it so much he wanted a dinosaur pillowcase too! I'm so excited to make more pillowcases!

Day 49: Sushi

Ever since we have been back from Vegas I have been craving sushi. Boyd did some research and found out through urban spoon that there is apparently this place called Ohashi Sushi and it is supposed to be one of the best. So after Boyd's basketball game we stopped in for a taste, since it was so close to our stake center. Ummm, can you say AMAZING! Wow! We were impressed and better yet they have happy hour half price sushi every Monday-Thursday between 5-6. We decided to try two different rolls tonight, the shrimp Cali Roll, and the Super Dreamy Roll. Yes, it was dreamy, crab, salmon and crunchies on top. To give you an idea of how good it was here is a picture of what was left by the time we got home . . . (Nothing). This was supposed to be for take out for us to take home. Poor sushi didn't stand a chance.

To say the least, we will definitely go back to Ohashi and my sushi craving is finally fulfilled.

Day 48: Gym

Finally got around to renewing our Rec Center membership today. Ahhhhh, it feels so good getting back to the gym.

This is a picture of my stinkin cute shoes Boyd got me for Christmas. I love pink, and I love Asics! Thank goodness Boyd gets a discount on Asics shoes. When we were dating Boyd bought me my first pair of Asics. At first I thought it was funny he bought me shoes but after wearing them and comparing them to what I used to wear I will never put any other running shoe on my feet.

Day 47: Flowers

Boyd gets me one flower for every Valentine's Day we have been together. They also aren't just any flowers, they are my favorite flowers, gerbera daisies. I love love love gerbera daisies. As my floral design teacher would say "they're the type of flower that screams I'M A FLOWER" They are just so cute! So this year will be our 4th Valentine's day together.


We went to costco and I picked out some flowers because it had been forever since I had done some arranging. I miss floral design and having fresh flowers in our house. So I picked out a bouquet I liked and took it home. There was one problem. There were only two gerbera daisies. So on Monday Boyd went to our local floral shop to pick up two more. Somehow they were all out of pink gerbera daisies. . . and they only gave him a yellow one and an orange one. . . . They also only gave it to him in an arrangement, instead of just the individual flower, and they didn't let him pick out which ones he wanted. I guess we have been spoiled by going to BYU's Campus Craft and Floral. But I still love my Valentine's day flowers!

I was able to make two arrangements with all the flowers from Costco.


p.s. Lilies are my second favorite flowers. I love this pictures because it looks so cool with the lily half open.

Day 46: Warmth in February

We finally had a truly warm and sunny day after months of overexposure to snow and frigged temperatures. For Boyd it was a day of, as he puts it, "Relaxation. Experimentation. Inspiration."
Boyd is in desperate need of relaxation after last week. He had an exam Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and a quiz yesterday. Yuck! They weren't easy exams either.

Here are some pictures that Boyd experimented with:


This one is edited and the one below isn't.

He was trying to capture more light and color with the manual settings of the camera.

The icicles are crazy out here. We live in a 2 story building and sometimes the icicles from the roof go all the way down to the ground! Every time I look at them I think to myself what if one of those fell on someone's head?
Now that it is warming up the icicles present a new excitement.They also make crazy sounds when they fall. Boyd and I will be sitting in our living room in the afternoon and hear CRACK, smash, thump. It sounds like someone is falling off our roof and falling into our window.

This is "Boyd's post" since he did the pictures for today. He wanted to post different pictures but I wouldn't let him because they were pictures of me and I thought I looked fat, plus I have been breaking out really bad. I guess it is time to hit the gym again.

Day 45: Happy Valentine's Day

It's about time for a Hong family tradition to be posted.
One of my favorite things to do is watch old family home videos (yes videos). Every Valentine's Day we would find cards at our seats in the kitchen. In one particular video we got McDonalds coupons and later on went to McDonalds. For us, going to McDonalds was a big deal, because we went about once a year.
Fast forward 20ish years to Valentine's Day at BYU.
All four of the Hong kids were living together in our condo and we decided to keep up the McDonalds tradition.
So there we were 4 college kids excited to go to McDonalds on Valentine's day.
Now that Boyd and I aren't in Utah we still decided to keep up the tradition and go to McDonalds and I got my Valentine's Day Happy Meal.
The funny thing about where we are currently living is that everything has to have a colonial style to it. Our McDonalds is crazy fancy. It has two levels, giant windows, and chandeliers everywhere. Even my Happy Meal feels fancy.



Yay Happy Meals! I got a My Little Pony toy. It's great feeling like a kid!


Boyd must be in deep thought before he eats his lunch.


Boyd told me to do the same and pretend that I was in deep thought.


Happy Valentine's Day everybody. Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun tradition!

Day 44: Warm Weather

Today it was 40 ° ish! WoW! Talk about a refreshing change! I saw the sun, it was warm, aaahhhhhh. One of the hardest things I've been dealing with since we moved to Ohio is the lack of sun. We went to Costco and I stood by the happy lamps for a while and felt much better. I'm so used to Utah where it snows one minute and then ten minutes later the sun is shining. Out here, I can go weeks without seeing the sun! Ugggg. So today, was a beautiful day!

Found some funny pictures on our camera today.
Boyd took these while I was busy doing something.
Rex apparently likes the sun too. He somehow snuck up to the window to peek outside and see the wondrous sight.

This picture makes me giggle. It looks like he is afraid of getting caught.
It's as if he's saying "Oh no here they come!"

As I was photoshopping these pictures Boyd said to me
"I like taking pictures of toys so much better than people, they don't move"

Day 43: Rice Krispies

What's cuter than pink, heart-shaped Rice Krispies?
My adorable little sunbeams I'm giving them to.

I love being a sunbeam teacher! I honestly think it is the greatest calling in the world. Granted, the kids are amazing for me because I bribe them with Skittles to answer questions. Anyway, decided to have fun today and made treats for my little beamers!

Who knew adding red food coloring could look so cool

Day 42: Pizza

To celebrate the end of Boyd's exam week we made pizza! Yay! Pizza is a Bills family favorite! We made it over Christmas break with Dave and Amber's kids and they loved it! When we visit Carrie we somehow usually end up making pizza, mostly because Carrie knows Boyd is coming. When we went to California to visit Grandma Miller, Aunt Dara made us pizza. She kept telling us how she has the most amazing home-made pizza recipe. We watched, and helped, her make it. Boyd and I kept giggling because she offered us the recipe, but she was talking to the pizza making son of the woman who probably gave her the recipe in the first place. To sum it up, Boyd is notorious for making pizza in his family.

Pizza Dough

1 C. Warm Water

1 T Yeast

1 T Sugar

Combine and let foam

(Don't forget the other ingredients mentioned later on.)

Ohio is a strange place. Your white sugar gets lumps, but your brown sugar doesn't get lumpy . . . This is completely opposite from what I'm used to. In Utah you have to buy "brown sugar bears" that you soak in water, just to keep your brown sugar soft. Go figure.


The Foam is important. Boyd is so good about asking me when it is foamy, then we can start to add the other ingredients.



Meanwhile, you can make the sauce

1 can of tomato sauce
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Sugar


This picture reminds me of when I'm doing family shoots. I always tell the families to do a group hug and squish really close together. I felt like this when I was pushing the ingredients together. "Now Tomato Sauce, scoot really close to Mr. Italian Seasoning"



Hint: You need a lot of Italian Seasoning!

Back to the dough:
Add
1 tsp Salt
1/4 C oil

Slowly mix in 2 C flour.
By the way, Boyd is the dough master! I have tried and tried and it never turns out as good as Boyd's. He taught me his trick today. You sprinkle the flour on the top and then mix from the bottom. P.S. I have tried using my mixer and the dough hook, but hand mixing is by far a better option.

When the dough it done, it should look really moist and soft, but workable.

Roll dough out onto a greased jelly roll pan. Some people like to put flour down on the pan but Boyd and I think it is gross and coats your mouth with flour later on when you are eating it. We prefer to do just spray because it gives the crust a nice crispy bottom.

We found this soft mozzarella at Costco today and it Rocks! Talk about creamy yummy perfect for pizza making cheese!
The knife practically sinks in just sitting there.
Boyd says "no this is not butter"

So when Boyd and I were first married, Boyd kept saying "we need a mouli, we need a mouli!"

What in the world is a mouli?!? Growing up, we didn't eat much cheese because my mom thought it was really fattening.

"You know, a mouli, like those cheese things at Olive Garden!"

Light Bulb! Well, why in the world do we need one of those!

Well, to say the least, we got a mouli and I hated it at first because we didn't have a dishwasher and it was a pain to clean! Why couldn't we just get a cheese grater! BUT ever since we have had a dishwasher, I love our mouli! It is a fantastic part of the pizza team!

Happy Valentine's Day Pizza!

Bake at 350° for 20 min or until dough is cook thoroughly. ENJOY! We did. In fact, we enjoyed the pizza so much I forgot to take after pictures! woops!