Look a like?

I found this picture of Christina when she was a baby and I thought Ava looks just like her mommy did. What do you think?

I'm obsessed with fried eggs

I can't stop thinking about fried eggs, I go to bed thinking about them and wake up thinking about them. I absolutley love them, which is funny because up until a couple of months ago I hated them. Growing up I never much cared for eggs in general, the only kind I would eat were scrambled and they had to be accompanied by other foods such as potatoes, ham, bacon, or something like that. I tried a fried egg when I was about ten and could not stomach it. This last year while living at Matt's parents house we ate eggs a lot, they are egg people. The kids and I would always eat scrambled eggs and Matt's parents would always eat fried eggs. Well a couple of months ago I decided to try a fried egg again, and well I'm hooked. I can't stop eating them. I use to think the Royal Burger from Red Robin sounded disgusting now I'm THINKING of trying it, and don't even get me started on the Spanglish sandwich. I think I'm going to the store today so we can have it for dinner tonight. Sorry I had to blog about fried eggs, I just can't get them off my mind!

Broccoli Salad

Here it is, the Broccoli Salad recipe. A lot of you have had it already because I try to bring it to every gathering I go to because it's my favorite. It reminds me of summer along with Frog Eyed Salad (which I had never heard of until I moved to Utah, and then I thought it sounded disgusting, I mean come on pasta and cool whip, Gross! But now I love it). This is my mother in laws recipe which she got from who knows where, but we believe this broccoli salad recipe is better then others we've tried because of the dressing. Instead of calling for 1 cup mayonnaise it calls for a half cup mayonnaise and half cup miracle whip. I think it adds that extra kick it needs. So without further adieux........

Broccoli Salad

Dressing:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup miracle whip
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup golden raisins

Mix all the ingredients together and let set in refrigerator overnight. (If you don't have that long, I've let it set for only 45 minutes before and I thought it tasted just as good.)

2-3 broccoli heads (I like to use the bag of cut up broccoli from Costco, use about half the bag)
1 cup celery, sliced (2-3 stalks)
1/2 cup red onion, chopped
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup cooked bacon, crumbled

Cut broccoli into small pieces. Add in the rest of the ingredients. Just before serving add the dressing. (I think if you add the dressing too soon before you eat it, the vinegar in the dressing starts to cook the broccoli and then the broccoli isn't as crisp as it should be.)

Well, I hope you enjoy one of my favorite tastes of summer, I would love it if you shared some of your favorite summer recipes too, I need some new ones to add to my repertoire!

Hold on Texas here come the Stevulak's!

Sorry it's been forever since our last post, but we have a good reason, we are now residing in Dallas Texas. Two weeks ago Matt and I flew down to Dallas to try and find somewhere to live since he is now based out of the Dallas Fort Worth airport. We flew down Monday found a place Wednesday, signed the papers on Thursday, flew back to Seattle Thursday night, packed on Friday, and started our four day drive early Saturday morning. We decided to move right away because Matt found out he had about a week off before he officially started his new job, so it was now or never (or Christina and the kids moving without Matt's help). We made it to northern Utah the first night, (Matt, Christina, and the kids in the Durango and Matt's dad driving the Penske truck with the Acura being towed behind it) stayed the night there, drove to Provo the next morning, and then loaded everything from our storage unit into the truck (with the help of our beloved Provo friends on a Sunday morning before church). Christina's step dad Bill and brother Joe met us in Provo to help us pack up the truck and then drive with us the rest of the way to Dallas. I should put in here that I didn't actually help pack up the truck, I drove to Ali's house and had a yummy pancake breakfast with some friends (thanks Ali, your the best!), but let's face it, I wouldn't have been that much help since I'm pretty weak, and I have a 2 and 3 year old in toe. We left Provo around noon and made it to Denver that night. We stayed the night at my mom's house, and when we got there we had a delicious Mexican meal waiting for us. We left Denver Monday morning and drove through the exciting prairies of Kansas. OK, so there not that exciting, but we stopped in the middle of Kansas to eat some Sonic and a big gust of wind came up and blew my father in laws food over onto his lap and the ground, the people at Sonic quickly made him a new meal at no extra cost, and explained that that's pretty normal around here. The prairies did seem to go on forever, but we finally made it to Wichita Kansas and stayed there for the night. We left early the next morning with only 350 miles between us and Dallas. Oklahoma was the only state that we passed through that I had never been before. The drive from Wichita to Dallas slowly grew more wooded, especially after we passed through Oklahoma City, I was expecting a lot more open land like the prairies of Kansas, but what we saw were a lot of green trees, they weren't like the trees in Washington, but I'll take them. Honestly when I found out we were moving to Dallas, I imagined brown flat land with sagebrush blowing everywhere, those places probably exist, I'm sure, but it's a lot more green around here then I expected. We made it in to Dallas at about 3:30pm, and had one guy from the Elders Quorum show up, others tried to come and help but it was to early in the day and we had it all unpacked by the time they were off work, I mean the truck unpacked, we are still up to our eye balls in boxes. Well, we are just trying to adjust to our new life in Texas. We attended our new ward for the first time today and they already had our records, I was shocked as they announced it in sacrament meeting today and had us stand up, but it was great everyone was so nice and came over and introduced themselves to us. That is one thing I've noticed since I've been here in Texas, that southern hospitality thing is no joke. Everyone is always smiling at you and saying Hi, even when your just walking through the parking lot at the grocery store. I think we should be like that everywhere. My mom can't wait until Quinn and Ava start talking with a southern accent and start saying y'all, and ma am and sir. She wants to record them now and then again in 6 months so we can here the difference. I already have an accent, all I have to do is be around someone with an accent for five seconds and I start talking like them. Well sorry this has turned into a book, I've been thinking about blogging everyday and have finally found five seconds to do it. We miss you all and hope to visit again soon.


At a rest area somewhere in Colorado along the Colorado river.
The dad's driving the Penske truck.
Snoozin' in the middle of the Kansas prairie.
Welcome to Texas! Y'all have an open invitation to visit whenever you like. (Notice my death grip on Quinn, this is a little closer then I like him to be to the freeway). Thanks again for all who helped, we truly appreciate it.