Another year older...and wiser too....

Happy Birthday to me!
I realize it's been a while since I have put anything of any substance on my blog. I just haven't had the blogging spirit lately. On my birthday I was pleased to receive many an email and text, and in the process realized I haven't really been doing much by way of the Internet lately. I just haven't been sure what to post about....life seems so repetitive at the moment. The beautiful weather allowed for some nice outside time. I was able to get in a few walks, albeit short, with my mom and enjoyed doing some work outside. My dad has most of the garden in and has been hard at work outside. I have been running a lot of errons and doing work around the house.
This past weekend was busy but fun. I enjoyed a evening out on Friday with my friend Katie who treated me to a movie for my birthday. Saturday we had the Harward clan out for a belated birthday bash for my grandpa. We had Hawaiian haystacks...Alla Jessica. It was a little different concoction. Perhaps worthy of Ollie's tasty Tuesday. I am well known with my former roommates for my zesty Italian chicken crockpot recipe. (Heather will note the crockpot part is important as I also have a zesty italian chicken grill recipe which we spent the better part of ten text messages confusing each other over) Once I made the recipe here at home and my mom thought it might be good for Hawaiian haystacks. So I decided to try it out on the family. When I make the zesty italian (crockpot) chicken I usually add one can of cream of celery and about 3/4 a block of cream cheese and 3/4-1/2 soup can full of milk over about 3 chicken breasts with a package of dry zesty italian dressing mix. To make the sauce thinner for haystacks I decided to add 1 can of cream of chicken and 1 can of cream of celery and a whole package of cream cheese and then 1 & 1/2 packages of dry italian seasoning. I also used canned chicken, but only because I was too lazy to pull out and shred the real deal after it cooked for the family party. It turned out really yummy. We had a bazillion toppings for the haystacks and grandpa and Maxine went all our on the Hawaiian theme and brought Hawaiian music & shell lays for people. Here is part of the celebratory clan.

My mom and her sisters had fun pictures taken during one of their sisters weekends and had decided to give their dad a framed picture for his birthday. My mom and I decided to make a fun picture matte to go around the 5x7 picture they had decided to frame. It turned out nice. We made two versions so we could see what people liked best. Here are pics of the finished product.



My birthday was very relaxing. We had a delicious dinner of steak sandwiches and homemade boardwalk fries and fruit. It was so filling I think we all felt sick the rest of the night. When we had cake I could only eat a small piece because my stomach was still so full from out dinner several hours earlier. I'm supposed to be getting a new phone for my b-day, assuming we ever make it over to the store. I will be switching to an Oregon number since I now know I will be in Oregon for the next two years...no sense in keeping the Utah number. So just a heads up there if you have my number...it will be changing soon. My birthday this year was pretty low key. But it's hard to compete with last year. Last year I spent my birthday in Cali with one of my best friend and we spent the day at disneyland. These are my reminiss pics....good times Thanks Jess!




Thanks to all my great friends for the calls and notes. I have been so greatful for my friends and I think in lou of any exciting news in my life I'm going to start highlighting some of the many great people in my life...so beware...