changes

I've made some changes to the layout of my blog, but yes, this is still me, and I'm just having fun with new colors. Hope you enjoy. The mountain picture at the bottom is one that I really like, and wouldn't mind having that view off of my back porch some day.

the report

Some of you may be wondering how the fated Easter ham turned out... and the verdict is good!

The prime rib wasn't too shabby either. We had a good time preparing dinner, and sharing it with our friends. Joe and I made Easter eggs together on Saturday morning, while it was snowing outside! Crazy weather... Check out our homepage to the right to see more pictures of the weekend, and Joseph's birthday.

Life continues to stay busy here. Tomorrow morning will be Brittany's bridal shower at the Mud Room (local paint-your-own-pottery store), and in the evening our sunday school class is coming over for a BBQ. After the bbq, Joe and I are headed up to Tech campus for the Relay for Life with his SPE chapter until 6am! Not sure if we're going to make it til morning, but we'll give it... (wait for it)... the "ole college try". Sorry, couldn't resist using that line.

Joe was elected Treasurer of his SPE chapter this week. SPE is Society of Petroleum Engineers, which is an international organization that has a very large influence in the oil and gas industry. I'm very proud of him for getting that position already, since most underclassmen don't make the top four positions of the chapter until their junior or senior year. At this rate, we're hoping he'll be President of his chapter by the time he's a senior! We've been stressing a little bit about what Joe should do for the summer. There is one class that he needed as a pre-requisite to his fall semester classes, but there are also some really good job opportunities that he'd like to follow up on. We've been praying that God would show us what would be the best plan for him. When Joe met with his advisor this week, she waived the pre-requisite requirement, and allowed him to take it as a co-requisite, meaning he can wait to take the class this fall alongside his other classes. So now he's free to pursue a job this summer! Yea!

Here's a cutie picture of little Megan, new princess at the Armour home. I think this is just so precious, so I couldn't resist adding it to the post.

anticipation

I have to confess I'm getting very excited about Easter. And one reason is the anticipation of cooking Easter dinner. OK- so you know by now that I'm a foodie, and you also know that I really like to cook. Well, I've been thinking about Easter dinner since the beginning of February. And the main reason is because of this wonder ham Erin cooked for us when we were back in OH in December. It was AMAZING! Since it's coated with brown sugar and molasses, I can't really justify sticking it in our regular weekday diet as it's not real consistent with the South Beach plan. However, Easter presents the perfect opportunity. It's an Alton Brown recipe, and seems pretty easy. It's going to be an early morning though as it takes 6 hours to cook... kinda reminds me of Thanksgiving. I might just have my own little Easter sunrise service. :)

I'm also planning on a prime rib, lemon caper mashed potatoes, and fresh green beans. I haven't made the lemon caper mashed potatoes since our family all went to Gatlinburg together for Thanksgiving several years ago. I've been thinking about those in the back of my head for a while. Potatoes aren't on the diet, and so I'm tedious in planning the ways in which I'll splurge at holidays - the mashed potatoes are at the top of my list. We're having a bunch of our friends over for dinner on Sunday, and I'm looking forward to their dishes as well. Hopefully we won't be too full for a little boccie ball afterwards outside.

I'm going to try to decorate some Easter eggs on Saturday morning. I haven't done that in quite a while, and seems like an appropriate year to pick it back up. It will be a fun new thing for Joe and I to do together.