adventures in the land of the north

For some reason after our last baby shopping experience, Tim and I came home inspired to cook.  Who knows how these things happen.

The funny part?  In our relationship, I am the cook and Tim is the baker.  This isn't always the case, but if we're talking majority here, that's usually how things end up.

I decided I was going to get a roast ready for our Sunday dinner [and in the process make some yummy sausage-rice casserole for our dinner that night]:

Tim decided to make cinnamon swirl bread...

...and homemade ice cream.

Which were both out of this world.  [In fact, we loved the cinnamon bread so much that he made another loaf last night.]  [Which is mostly gone now.]  [Shhh.]

Remember our old ice cream making adventures?  Well, this time was a little different since we actually had an ice-cream maker this time.  [Other than our muscular arms and superior skipping ability, that is.]  This meant two things.  The first was that we got to make a lot more this time.  And the second was that we got to use snow instead of ice.  [The second part might actually have more to do with where we live now than the fact that we now have an ice-cream maker, but I digress.]

And the good news is that the roast and the casserole turned out awesome, too!  And we have leftovers from both, which means less work for me this week!  Win!

Moving on to non-food related subjects.  Which sounds infinitely less interesting, but I promise it's not.

Yesterday, as you probably know, was MLK Day.  A federal holiday.  A federal holiday on which Tim still had to work.  [But I'm not bitter.]  The good news, however, is that I got to go hang out with my sister-in-law, Ali, and her daughter, Kenzie, who did actually have this federal holiday off!  [Again, so not bitter.]

The truth is that having these in-laws nearby has made this transition so much easier, and I was so excited to spend the afternoon with them.

First, Ali got out her beads, and she had the amazing idea to make baby bracelets!  Something I never would have done on my own [you know, that whole Least-Crafty-Person-on-the-Planet-Award thing].  Luckily Ali inspired me with some bracelets that she'd made when Kenzie was a baby.  [And she did the tricky parts for me.  Something about "toggling."  Which I believe is also a synonym for "complicated."]

Aren't they so precious?  Maybe you can't tell, but these things are tiny.  Like, tiny enough to only fit around two of my fingers kind of tiny.  It's so hard for me to believe that she'll start out that tiny, and it makes my heart melt a little every time I look at them.

Then we drove over to the mall in Logan, and I may have gotten a little carried away where buying bows and flowers was concerned:

I just couldn't help myself.  I bought some crocheted headbands online [without any pre-attached bows] about a week ago, and started imagining how all of these would look on her teeny little head.  And then I bought them all.  [Thankfully they were having a buy one, get one 50% off sale.  Yesss.]

I had an amazing time with Ali and Kenzie, and can't wait until we hang out again!  Ali is so sweet and fun, and Kenzie is hilarious and always keeps things entertaining.

The moral of the story?  Even though I still think I might hyperventilate from the cold each time I step outside, and even though I miss AZ every single day, we are having a blast in the Land of the North.  And we plan on having many more adventures in the days to come!