Pancake Day!

I just learned about a new holiday--Pancake Day! It's apparently a celebration before Lent starts where people used up rich foods. Most European countries have a food they typically make ranging from pancakes or crepes to pastries, etc. Except for Estonia. . . apparently they eat split pea soup and go sledding (according to widipedia). . . so random! It is also known as Shrove Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, or Mardi Gras (I had heard of that last one-but that only brought me images of New Orleans and beads for some reason).

Here's how my roommates and I celebrated Pancake Day:
Blueberry Pancakes in the morningCrepes (or Croatian pancakes) in the afternoon (with chicken/cheese/spinach or banana/nutella). Michelle is once again refusing to be in a picture.German pancakes at night. (with some scrumptious blackberries and powdered sugar. Mmmm)
I think I like Pancake Day.

More from st. george

St, George Trip

I spent last weekend on a trip to St. George with a bunch of other single friends, where we pretended it wasn't Valentine's Day, but rather a great vacation in sunny St. George.

About 20 friends from my ward crashed at my bishop's condo there and had fun playing games, taking hikes, eating out, reading, playing guitar and so forth. Ok-so I only pulled out my camera for the snowy hike we did in Zions, but the view is pretty, huh!Doing some yoga in a picturesque canyon with my gals, Emily and Alison.

I like to climb big rocks!!!

Happy Valentines Day

This is one of the times each year I pull out my craftiness and make fun cards (or valentines). I like to include funny love quotes in each one. Here are some of my favorites from years past for those of you who didn't get a card this year. Anyone have more that I should add to my collection?

"God help the man who won't marry until he finds the perfect woman, and God help him more still if he actually finds her" --Benjamin Tillett

"Forget Love, this year I'm falling into Chocolate!"

"The sincerest love is the love of food" --Bernard Shaw

"Love is a fire; but whether it is going to warm your heart or burn down your house, you never can tell" --Joan Crawford

"You can't buy love, but you can pay heavily for it" --Henry Youngman

"Perfection is what American women expect to find in their husbands...but English women only hope to find in their butlers" --W. Somerset Maughan

"Women always worry about the things men forget, while men usually worry about the things women remember"

"Beneath every cynic there lies a romantic, and probably an injured one" --Glenn Beck

Church-going Raccoon

So, I was sitting listening to an audiobook in my car in the church parking lot waiting for the other ward missionaries to arrive (I have a new calling, by the way!) and I suddenly see this small animal trotting down the sidewalk. I first thought it was a hunchback cat but then saw the striped tail and as it got closer-it was a raccoon! A quick raccoon. As soon as I got my phone out to take a picture, it had already darted into the shadows near the corner of the church. You probably can't even see it in the picture but I posted it anyway. Pretty darn unexpected but why not. Raccoons probably like to peruse neighborhoods just as much as cats and dogs, right? Or maybe it was just a very spiritual raccoon.

The new "roadshow"

What do you get when you combine face paint, PVC pipes, cultural hall, tinfoil and canned foods?? My ward's FHE activity tonight.

So apparently, singles wards have now come up with an alternative to the old "roadshows" of the past. It has been replaced with a 3 minute stake video competition. Don't worry, there is still an obtuse theme phrase that must be incorporated somehow. Because these are coming from singles wards, you just KNOW that there will be little preparation and lots of randomness...

I was a Lamanite warrior, armed with a PVC pipe javelin, fighting off a tinfoil covered person holding canned green beans, yelling "I can". Yeah, I still don't get it either. But I looked menacing (don't I?) and my war cry was pretty amazing.