The Melting Pot

What is better than food dipped in cheese? Food dipped in cheese and then more food dipped in chocolate...mmmmm.....

So Bryant won a gift card to a restaurant of his choice from his boss at work, and someone had told him to try out the Melting Pot in downtown Salt Lake City. So he did.
It's kind of a fancy place so I decided to dress up just a bit.
There was even valet parking (for really cheap) which made me feel really rich and sophisticated.
So The Melting Pot is a fondue restaurant which is really fun. We did this thing that gives you four courses. The first two was a salad, and then you picked a cheese and they gave you fruits, vegetables and bread to dip in them. Bryant's boss Tyler and his girlfriend came with us so we had two cheeses. They got artichoke and spinach in swiss and we got a sharp cheddar. But it's not just cheese, there is all sorts of stuff thrown in there for flavor.
Mmmmmm... yummy cheese!

The third course was a mix of lobster, steak, chicken, shrimp, beef, bratwurst, ravioli and potatoes.
They also gave us a ton of dipping sauces like cocktail sauce and curry.
At first we were confused because it was all raw, but then the waitress brought out two more pots of oil stuff. We got one called the Caribbean Mojo which was chicken bouillon, lime juice, garlic, orange juice and a few other things I can't remember, and Tyler and his date got Bougennon, which is just like a simple chicken bouillon in oil.Now the fun part is that with your raw meats and such, you are supposed to dip them in the oil and cook them yourself. Steak and chicken took 2 minutes to cook, potatoes about 10-15 and everything else a minute and a half.
Then came the best part...

Dessert!
Now I'm talking bananas, strawberries, marshmallows, pound cake, brownies and cheesecake, all dusted in powdered sugar and dipped in your choice of chocolate. Tyler and his date chose Smore, which was chocolate with melted marshmallows, and Bryant and I chose "The original" which was chocolate with peanut butter chunks in it. It. Was. AMAZING!
And yes... That pot of Smore flavored chocolate is On Fire! But it was only flaming for a brief moment.... No worries...

So I know I enjoyed the Melting Pot, and I'm pretty sure Bryant did too...

Welcome Baby River!

Happy Birthday to Russel River Peacock!
Born today, February 18th, 2010 at 3:36 (I could be slightly off on the time.) Weighing in at a healthy 8lbs, 3oz and 19 inches long.
Congrats to my cousin Layne and his wife Carrie!
With big brother Colter.And big sister Macy!
I knew Carrie was being induced today so I texted a bunch of family members after school trying to figure out if she had had him yet. Two hours later my grandma texted me saying he had arrived so Bryant and I headed to the hospital asap.

We got there around 6:00 and we couldn't have timed it any better. My grandparents were just leaving, and a few family friends were on their way out too so it was just us and Carrie, Layne, Colter, Macy and my cousins mom Danna so we were able to hold him for a bit.

We were only going to stay for a second, but then the baby was hungry so I decided to take the kids downstairs to get them treats and let Layne and Carrie have some time alone with the baby. While we were down there, my cousin Mikey and her husband Daniel came with their daughter Jaylea and 6 month old baby Jackson, So Bryant and I bought Jaylea a candy too and let Mikey and Daniel go up and see the baby.
After about a half hour, we all headed back up and my uncle Russel and my cousin Kara had shown up. So we realized there were too many people so we said our goodbyes and headed out.

He was adorable! He had the funniest pout and looked exactly like Layne with Carries nose! And a full head of super blond hair!

They named him Russle, after his grandpa, my uncle, Russle. And his middle name, which he will go by is River because every year my uncles family goes river rafting in Jackson Hole and the trip is simply known as "the river". It's also the place where my cousin proposed to Carrie, AND where they told everyone they were pregnant the next year.
River with his happy mama. (sorry for the dark pics!)
And just as a side note, this is a baby blanket I made for Mikey's baby Jackson. The colors look weird in the picture, but they are really cool close up.

Some days I really really wish I had a baby on the way, but then I realize that I know like, 5 people that got married the same month I did (9 months ago, actually) that are all due the end of this month and next month. I have plenty of babies to play with, and I get to give them back if they start to cry hah!

But someday... Just you wait!

Dreamin' of you babe...

So for some reason, I get crazy dreams. I mean really crazy dreams. I remember my dreams almost every single night but unfortunately, I tend to have more nightmares than good dreams. My mom and Bryant say it's because I stress and worry too much and I believe it. It takes a lot for my brain to slow down enough for me to fall asleep.

But last night I actually had a really good dream, so I thought I'd share it.
Mind you, it's still a super crazy one...

So in my dream, I was wandering around down by my old grade school in a bathrobe. I'm not sure why but, oh well, it's just a dream. So then I tell Bryant, "I really have to get home" so I walk back and I change into a dress.

Next think I know, I hear a knock at the door and when I answer it, a whole group of young married couples with no kids are standing on my doorstep. When I ask how I can help them, they all say they are all new in my ward and had heard that I needed help decorating a cake. Thats when I look behind me at my kitchen counter and notice that I have a cake disaster sitting there with frosting all over the walls.

Everyone pushes their way through and they start whipping up a french vanilla cake in seconds. Then they all realize that they don't know how to make fondant (in real life, I don't know how to either...) so I walk over to my counter and I smash some marshmallows together and it instantly turns into a perfect chunk of fondant. So we put it on the cake, and the cake looked so amazing that no one wanted to eat it, So we decided to nail it up on the kitchen wall as art.

I told you... Weird...
I can't help it, it's just what my brain likes to do when I sleep.
I'm not sure why I dreamed this, but I have a feeling it might mean that I'm a little desperate for friends and maybe my brain was just pretending that I am a great cake decorator, which is definitely something I hope to be known for some day.
I think this picture is hilarious. This is me a few years ago asleep in the London Airport. Those bags that I'm using for a pillow are not even mine.

Thrifty Fifties

Re-cap of the weekend:

So Sunday was valentines day, and despite the fact that my primary class drives me nuts and the brownie smashing incident from the last time I brought treats, I decided to be nice and make valentines day cupcakes for my class.
Thankfully, none of them smashed them on the floor, but one kid did smash one in his face. Gross, but at least I didn't spend time scraping it out of the carpet.

After church, my parents invited us up for a special dinner. We had steak and potatoes and my mom went all out. She brought out the nice china and decorated the table with flowers. It was really nice of her. My parents always made valentines really special. And this year, they did a "14 days of Valentines" and they both surprised each other with little gifts every day
leading up to valentines day. Cute huh?

Yesterday was Presidents Day, so I had no school and I didn't have to go to work. Last night after Bryant got home, we realized we were both hungry and that we didn't have anything to eat at home so we decided to go to taco bell. Originally we were thinking of going bowling, but we passed savers on our way to grab tacos and I mentioned how much I like to go thrifting. Surprisingly, Bryant said he thought it would be fun to go too and actually sounded like he meant it haha! So we canned the bowling idea and headed there after some munchies.
So we get there, and come to find out, it's "thrifty fifties" night. Everything was half off, and they had fifties music playing, trivia to win money (well, to win a dollar...) and all the employees were dressed in poodle skirts. It was really fun!

Bryant wanted to find an old three-piece suit and I was on the lookout for a black leather jacket to wear on the motorcycle this summer. We both found what we were looking for, unfortunately
the suit didn't fit Bryant and the jacket had some major holes in it.
Oh well, better luck next time...

However, we DID find a Jim Croche's greatest hits record to add to my collection.

It was a really good night. And i'm glad Bryant was willing to wander around in a thrift store with me. He's amazing.

Don't you just love date nights?

I Do!
And it had been WAY too long since hubby and I had a proper date.

Lets rewind real quick here and talk about SUPERBOWL SUNDAY first!

My grandparents invited us to their house to watch the game, and I was lucky enough to find a girl at work that would work from 3:30 to close for me. The ONE Sunday a month I have to work and it falls on superbowl Sunday, Sheesh!

Don't they all look like a happy bunch? The girl on the left is my little brothers friend Missy. She was super cute and I think everyone was pretty shocked that Colter actually had a date for once. That, of course is Bryant in the middle, and my Grandpa Peacock on the right.
My brother Colter, and My mom Anna.And thats my other brother Sawyer, My dad Lance, and my uncles wife Nicole playing mancala with my little sister. Nicole is the one who owns Reggie, if you remember him from a couple posts ago...

Now, on the the highlight of MY week.
Bryant and I.... well, mostly me... Have been dying to go on a date. Usually when we go out, it's just to go to a movie, but there was NOTHING playing that we wanted to see. Not one thing. We needed to go to the mall to Kay jewlers to get my ring cleaned, since I have to have it done every 6 months to keep the warranty on it. So we went there first to window shop while it was being cleaned. Next, we headed to my work (yeah, I know, but i'm not the only one who goes there on her day off...) where we bought Bryant the next 3 books in his series (it's been less than a week and he's almost done with those!)

Then, since there were absolutely no good movies playing, we decided to go to trafalga and go mini-golfing! They have a cool glow in the dark course!
It's an under water theme, it's pretty cool.
Bryant even got a hole in one on the last hole and won us a free game!
We had bought this date-night pass thing which was pretty awesome. It's 25 bucks and it gets you golf for 2, dippin dots for 2, 8 tokens for the arcade and 2 activites which you choose from either the batting cages, the go-carts, a 3d ride thing or you could exchange one activity for 50 tokens. We did the tokens and they said we could come back another time and do the batting cages or the go-carts. We didn't do the 3d ride cause in sea world, we did a helicopter one and we both left it super sick. We didn't want a repeat.

So between the two of us, we won about 100 tickets in the arcade, then one of the guys that worked there gave us 300 free tickets for no reason! I really wanted a stuffed animal, but you had to have over 1000 just to get a small one, but the guy let us have one anyway, and since Ace chewed up my mickey, we got him a stuffed Brian Griffin from family guy that he can chew up.

So overall, it was an AMAZING date night! I absolutely loved it! In fact, I liked it so much I made Bryant take me to see the lightning thief tonight (he got a gift certificate for the theaters from his work!)

I thought it was actually pretty good. Now I understand why I get a million people a day asking for the books at work. Plus, I love me a little Greek mythology every now and then...
Speaking of mythology, this is one of my favorite stories, Psyche and Eros. I got to see this scultpure in the Louvre and it's one of my favorite sculptures as well. I even have it on my fridge...

Did you know that I took honors english in high school? That whole class was about mythology from all over the world. Pretty awesome eh?

And guess what? We might even get to go on a THIRD date early next week in honor of valentines day (plus, bryant got another gift certificate for a restaurant from his boss!)

I'm so excited!

An anniversary of sorts....

Any reason to celebrate right? Well, I know it's super weird that I even remember this, and even weirder that Bryant remembered this and the weirdest thing of all is that Bryant brought it up. So what is this weird event?

The anniversary of the day Bryant proposed to me. Yup, we actually remember the day....

We say it was February 1st, but it was actually Feb 2nd at 1:00 in the morning. So here is a quick little story of how we took our first step to being together forever.

So it's February 1st, 2009. It was a sunny, very pretty Saturday morning and Bryant and I had the day off. First thing in the morning we drove to Lehi to finish buying his brand new car. I was really excited because I love new cars, even if it's not mine. So we decided to spend the day testing it out. First place we go is Tucanos. I was actually a little confused as to why we were there because we had just been there 2 days before, and it's a little too pricey to eat there more than once in a while, but he knew I loved it there and insisted that we go. He even teased me when I asked what the special occasion was by saying "what? you think i'm going to propose to you or something?"

I had no idea...

After lunch, we went for a long drive to test out his new car. We even stopped at my grandparents for a visit. We then went back to my apartment when I got a phone call from my friend Hettie who works for a local movie theater and who asked if I would like to come and watch a movie after the theater closed. We do it all the time because one of the theaters has a DVD player so we can watch our own movies and it's always fun to have a few friends around and get a whole theater to yourself. So I said yes, and invited all of my roommates and friends, all of whom said no except for my friend Katie.

So we go to the theater, and the four of us get settled in our seats and then Hettie says "ok well I'm going up to the booth to put the movie in" and Katie jumped up and said she wanted to help. Then Bryant said he couldn't remember if he turned his lights off in his car or not so he left too.

So here I am, all by my lonesom in a theater waiting for everyone to come back, when all of a sudden, the lights go dim and my favorite song starts playing. Up on the screen was a slideshow of my life, which progressed into a slideshow of Bryant and I. As the movie ended, Bryant came around the bottom stairs and I walked down to meet him. Then, as you can predict this next part, he got down on one knee, pulled out the most unique and beautiful ring I have ever seen and asked me to marry him. I think I was crying so much from happiness that I'm not sure if he heard me say yes.

Next thing I know, ALL of my friends and roommates and my parents are behind us clapping and cheering, complete with cupcakes. I was so surprised! I was so happy that everyone was able to be there and I can't belive they all had kept it a secret. They had all known for a week and Bryant had had the ring in his car all that day and I never found it. On my list of happiest days of my life, it was number 2, right behind my wedding day.

Cute story huh? I think it's adorable.

We didn't do anything special on the "anniversary". We were on our way to the theater to watch a movie to kind of celebrate it, but I got super sick on the way there and I made Bryant turn around and I had some toast and sprite for dinner and then went straight to bed (i'm fine now by the way...) but today we took advantage of the sunshine and (ever so slightly) warmer weather to take Ace out for a super long walk.
Bryant taking a break in some random persons yard...
So I had this Micky Mouse that I let Ace play with when he was little and would only nibble on it while he was in his chewing stage. And I let him keep playing with it because it was so cute when he would carry it around and then cuddle up to it when he took a nap.

But he's not puppy-sized any more and his chewing stage turned into a tug-of-war stage. Poor Micky... He wasn't even salvageable at this point because Acer Spacer would have just torn him apart again. But the walk was great, there is no better way to celebrate the beginning of our life together than being out in the sun with my little family...