Easter Weekend

This past weekend, Ryan and I headed north to my sister Hillary's house in Duluth for Easter. Since her Ryan has Fridays off and my Ryan is currently unemployed {his last day at Gerard was last Wednesday - he's taking this time off before we move to Omaha to finish his dissertation} we drove up on Thursday.

Friday was a busy day. We hooked up their trailer and brought some stuff to the dump {they recently redid their upstairs bathroom}, picked Hillary up at work and brought her out to lunch down in Canal Park {froze our tushes off walking from the parking lot, down the block, to the restaurant}, went to the grocery store {Why do I go to grocery stores the day before holidays?! It's a form of torture!}, went to Menards {where Ryan kindly showed us everything Ryan and I need to hook up a sink downstairs and likely saved us multiple trips to Lowe's in the near future}, stopped at the liquor store {you can't have a bon fire with the boys with out a couple a brewskis} and then went to Sam's {to pick up a big bag of frozen strawberries for frozen drinks} before heading back to Hill and Ryan's place.  Shortly after we got home, Hillary got home and shortly after that my parents and Sophie arrived. Kristin and Dave weren't able to make it up to Duluth :-(

For dinner, I had found a recipe online for cheddar broccoli stuff chicken. So I prepared all the chicken and left the cooking up to the guys. But, low and behold, they went to throw them on the grill and the grill was out of propane. So they guys took a roadtrip to the gas station to fill the propane tank. While they were gone, I wondered and asked if we should just start the oven and cook them in there. Hill told me "No, we'll just throw them on the grill when they get back. They'll cook faster on the grill." I guess I should add that it is about 730ish at this point in time. We waited a little longer for the guys to get back with the propane. They finally got home, came inside and asked "Is it okay if we just cook the chicken in the oven? It's raining outside!" Ha! So into the oven it went.

Lookin' good!

 Saturday we woke up to snow. Of course, who doesn't wake up to snow at the end of April?!? Geez!

:-(

Ryan was super excited about the snow!

The Food Network has a show called Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. When we have the opportunity, we like to visit featured establishments. Just last year Sara's Table up in Duluth was on the show which focused on their famous cranberry wild rice french toast. So to Sara's Table we went for breakfast and boy was it delicious!

Ryan had the plate-sized pancakes. Wowzers, those are big pancakes!!

There it is. The Cranberry Wild Rice French Toast!

Proof that Guy Fieri from the Food Network ate here.

After breakfast we did what every other family does after breakfast {just kidding}....we went and picked out tuxes for Hillary and Ryan's wedding :-)

Ryan getting measured by the tux lady {while all the high school prom-goers picked out tuxes}.

The two Ryans standing around while Hillary is making important decisions.

Now the other Ryan is getting measured.

Ryan trying to hide as he no longer wanted his picture being  taken in his penguin suit.

Picking out the tuxes and trying clothes on for size took a little time. For a while, my dad and I sat in the store's wicker chairs and messed around/played games/read the newspaper on our smart phones. But after awhile, my dad gave up. He went out to the truck to take a nap - ha! I was not far behind. After getting home I took a three hour nap. Ahhh, nothing like napping on the weekends. I think I could be a professional napper :-)

After nap time, it was invitation time! Hillary, mom and I set up shop and got to work on invitations for Hill's wedding. I didn't take any pictures but the invitations were looking good by the time we finished. Just a few more weeks and they will be in the mail! Can't wait for the wedding!!

Hillary's Ryan was itching to build a bonfire and since it was chilly outside, the heat of the fire felt really good.

Love these action shot photos!

Chopping wood so we can have a Ryan-sized bonfire.

Nice chopping Ryan!

This is just the beginning of the bonfire {yes, we burned some cardboard boxes too}.

Saturday night we had our Easter dinner complete with spiral cut ham, green bean casserole, cheesy potatoes and fruit salad. It was SO tasty! After dinner, it was back to the bonfire.

This is a Ryan-sized bonfire.

And it burned well into the night.

On Sunday after church, Hillary, mom and and I took Sophie and Hillary's two dogs for a walk around the block {which happens to be about 3 miles}. Hillary's dogs enjoyed marking about every ten feet. Sophie loved being out in the fresh air and being picked up by mom every time we approached other people's dog as Sophie would be the perfect snack-sized treat.

Here are a few more pictures from the weekend.

Sophie never wants to miss out on any action.

Honestly, she doesn't like to be left out. While mom was outside, she perched on the chair to keep an eye on her.

She didn't care who was sitting in the chair, she had her look out. I love this picture of her. I was calling her name and she was ignoring me. Then she finally turned around and was like "What?! You talkin' to me!?" ha!

My dad installed a "retro camera" on his photo and was trying it out.

Hill and mom being techies :)

It was a fun weekend. I wish it wasn't such a far drive! Ryan and I got home Sunday night around 10pm and I went right to bed :-) A good time was had by all!

~Ashley

Sigh

Today

Today is April 27th and it snowed. What is going on?

~Ashley

Soft Pretzel Bites

Soft Pretzel Bites
{again taken from some website, somewhere on the internet!}

1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp light brown sugar
1 package active dry yeast
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
2 1/2 tsp salt
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 quarts of water
3/4 cup baking soda
1 whole egg, beaten with 1 Tbsp cold water
coarse sea salt

On low speed, mix the water, sugar, yeast and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook until combined {this was my first time using the dough hook! It worked great!}. Let sit for 5 minutes. {I started the cinnamon roasted almonds at this point and got them in the oven - you know, multi-task.}

Add the salt and 4 1/2 cups flour and mix on low speed until combined. Continue to knead dough on low speed until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl {about 3-4 minutes}. If the sough appears too wet, add additional flour one Tbsp at a time until the dough clears the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball with your hands.

Spray a bowl with cooking spray {or oil with vegetable oil}, add dough and turn to coat. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot {for me that was the microwave with the door closed but not latched so the light stayed on} until the dough doubles in size {about 1 hour - just long enough to roast the cinnamon roasted almonds}.

Preheat oven to 425 F and spray two baking sheets liberally with cooking spray

Bring the water to a boil over high heat and add the baking soda {slowly add, as is really bubbles - trust me on this one}.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the sough into 8 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring about 22 inches {I pulled out a rule and got really exact - ha - just kidding - I did NOT pull out the ruler}. Cut the dough into one inch pieces to make pretzel bites. {Next time I'm going to make them like three inches so that I can serve them with cheese dip.} Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches of 10-15 for 30 seconds {I just grabbed big hand fulls and dropped them in the water. I'd wait until you have all the dough cut up in little pieces before adding the baking soda to the water though.} Remove with a large slotted spoon and place on prepared baking sheets, making sure they aren't touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden brown. {This only took me 10-12 minutes}.

Remove to a cooling rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating.

Delicious!

Just a side note. I started both these pretzels and cinnamon roasted almonds at noon when I had to be out the door by 3:00pm. Both were finished by 2:45pm and I even had time to shower and pack an overnight bag for Ryan and I during this time as well {we went to Iowa for his dad's knee surgery, which went well by the way}.

~Ashley

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds

Cinnamon Roasted Almonds
(recipe taken from some website, somewhere on the internet!)

1 egg white
1 tsp water
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups whole almonds
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar {ha! I just realized I forgot this ingredient!}
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Beat egg white, water and vanilla in large glass bowl till frothy. Stir in almonds. Mix sugars, salt and cinnamon and sprinkle over almonds. Stir until well coated. Pour onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 250 for 60-90 minutes, stirring occasionally. {I only cooked mine for 60 minutes because I had something else to get into the oven and I didn't have a lot of time before I needed to leave the house.} You want the almonds to be toasted but you don't want them to burn.

Wonderful!

~Ashley

Snow Day & Mail Day

It's snowing again. *sigh* Hopefully this is the last snow of the season.

Ryan and I were at his folks place as his dad just had knee surgery. When I got home today, I hit the jackpot! To packages on the front step for me! Usually they are for Ryan as he is ordering some computer part.

Shoes for my sister's wedding and a dual flusher for our toilet {super exciting, I know!}

~Ashley

Best Neighborhood Ever!

This morning I had to run to the grocery store to pick up cat food and yeast {yes, I know those two things are random, but it's what I needed}. Today the Epilepsy Foundation is picking up donations in my neighborhood and on my drive to the store I was amazed at how many people in my neighborhood put things out to be picked up. Now, it might be that people were spring cleaning since the weather has been so nasty lately but but none-the-less, tons of people are donating to a good cause. At one point, there were over a dozen houses all in a row that had bags outside waiting to get picked up. I pulled over and snapped a couple pictures with my phone. If you look closely enough, you can see the little piles of stuff sitting at the end of people's driveways.

Just another reason why I love the neighborhood we live in!

~Ashley

Two Hairy Situations

Decided to brush Zoey out tonight. Wowzer! I was not prepared to get as much hair out of her as I did and I only brushed for maybe five minutes! She is one hairy little big kitty.

Unlike normal, Zoikes actually liked getting brushed even though it may look like I'm holding her down. {Can you see the big pile of hair in the background - holy moly!}

An action shot of Zoey running from the camera, but it gives you a better view of the pile of fur. It's the size of Cooper! {Check out Coop's scary eyes!}

While we are on the topic of hairy situations, Coop has a favorite spot on the back of the couch downstairs. Well, when Ryan sat down in front of him today, this hairy situation ensued...

Coop is grooming Ryan's hair!

I'm sure I could write about other hairy situations at our house like the lint trap in our dryer after washing couch covers and the drain in our shower...but I think I've leave it at that.

Goodnight!

~Ashley

Fingerprints & Snow

It was a downpour last night. It rained and rained and rained until it turned into snow :( Ryan and I were in Austin last night for his work going-away party and when we got home this morning, it was 31 degree and the snow was still on the ground. We hope this is the last snow of the season!

Home Sweet Snow :)

An iced over mailbox. (Looks like we could use some new stickers on our mailbox.)

This is the flower bed on the side of the garage I wrote about earlier this week. The one where I dug out tons of grass roots. The one I went to Lowe's and got edging for only to be a few feet short (yes, I realize the edging is a little wavy, it's a work in progress). The one that I planted my mom's day lilies in (I hope the snow didn't hurt them.) Yep, this is the flower garden :)

For residency, I needed to get finger printed. The FBI is gonna have my prints! They inked my fingers up good at the county jail and each finger was printed four times.

Displaying my prints prior to mailing them off to get filed at the FBI.

Pretty good lookin' prints if I do say so myself!

~Ashley

What's with this weather?!

Seriously! What's with the weather lately? I wish spring would get here and stay here. It's a balmy 44 degrees outside right now and the wind these past few days has been nuts! We had such beautiful weather at the beginning of the week, and now this?! I think mother nature is confused. Flooding, tornadoes, temps in the upper 70s, snow, rain, what's next?

On another note, today is Ryan's work going-away party. His official last day isn't until Tuesday but everyone from work are getting together. Look out Austin, you never know what will happen when they all get together :)

-Ashley

Getting Lots Done

This week has been a week of progress here at the Thorson house!

Saturday:
Had a late lunch at Ryan's parent's house for his birthday. We cooked up a turkey with all the fixings and had DQ ice cream cake for dessert. Once we got home, Ryan and I cleaned the kitchen which was in pretty tough shape and started on our mountain of laundry.

Sunday:
Continued doing the laundry, finished it all and put it all away (this usually doesn't happen on the same day - ha!). Ryan and I both went through our clothes and pulled out things we no longer wear and packed it all up for the Epilepsy Foundation. When we packed it all up, we didn't know when the next time they'd be around but just yesterday I got the flyer in the mail and they'll be here on Monday - perfect timing! Ryan cleaned up the downstairs and I cleaned the dining room, front room and entryway. I was out the door by 5:30pm to go to my parent's house. After an excellent dinner of chicken, steak and shrimp I dropped my Explorer off at the dealership.

Monday:
Dentist day! I had a cracked filling repaired in the morning, relaxed the rest of the morning and into the afternoon, took Sophie for a ride into town, shipped our disappointing Litter Robot back to the manufacturer, visited with some of the staff at work, picked up my Explorer (got an oil, anti-freeze, coolant, spark plugs and air filter changed) and then went back home. My car should be good to go for another 100,000 miles ;) After my mom got off work, we went to Edenvale Garden Center as they just re-opened for the spring. Unfortunately they only had trees and shurbs but we looked around and got some ideas for my house. I tell ya, the things I'd do if my cash flow was endless! We ate dinner at Panera and then picked up a few groceries before heading home. Before falling asleep, I tired calling Hillary (who was already asleep), to wish her a happy birthday.

Tuesday:
Dug up some day lilies and a bleeding heart from my mom's garden. Got my stuff packed up and headed into town. They were a person short out in production so I went out back and helped for a while. After having lunch with my parents, I started the hour drive back home. It was SO beautiful outside. Once I was home, I changed clothes and started working on the gardens outside. First I planted the bleeding heart. Then I pruned the hydrangeas and cleaned out all the dead tree leaves from around their bases. Then I dragged out the hose and fertilized everything. Since it was SO nice out, I decided I'd work on this flower bed on the side of our garage, which is something I've been meaning to do since we moved in. Well, a small project turned into a big project. I started to pulled all the grass out of the bed and digging up the roots. Then I decided to dig up all the hostas which were in the bed but haven't been growing well due to the grass and really get all the grass roots out of there. This was a pain, but it needed to be done. Then after dividing the hostas, I re-planted them. Hopefully they will come up better this year. After I finished that, it was still beautiful out that I didn't want to go back inside (plus the cats were enjoying sitting at the front door as we took the glass out and put the screen in the door) and I also had a bunch of hostas left over that I didn't want to compost. So I decided to extend the flower bed the entire length of the garage which made it twice as big. There I sat until 8:30 pm - working on digging the grass up, planting the rest of the hostas and finally planting the day lilies from my mom's garden as well. It wasn't fun, but it's done now and it looks awesome!

Wednesday:
Not wanting all that grass to grow back into the garden, I went to Lowe's to pick up some edging. It was cold and a little rainy out and I could NOT find the motivation to put the edging in. So what did I do? I cleaned out the garage! What? That's not what people normally do? Oh :) After cleaning the garage I figured the edging wasn't going to put itself in so I bit the bullet and put the edging in. What do you know, I was two feet short on the edging - ugh! Back to Lowe's I will be going to get more edging, but not today. I hate making multiple trips to Lowe's. We ALWAYS have to make multiple trips to Lowe's whenever we are going any sort of home improvement project. Good thing they are close by! After finishing the edging that I had, I pounded a dozen fertilizer spikes into the ground around the pine tress in the back yard and then fertilized the hydrangeas once again (I want them to be big and beautiful this year!). Then, I called it a day and spent a good chunk of the night on the phone with Kristin, looking at shoes online for Hillary's wedding. Oh yeah, earlier in the morning I put an order in for some tulips!! YAY! I wish we were going to be here next year when they come up - oh well, I'll see them in four years :)

Today:
My motivation is dwindling! After eating breakfast and watching the morning news, I snuggled with the kiddos (aka Cooper and Zoey) for a bit. Still not having much motivation I made my way downstairs to clean the basement. But first I cleaned the cat litter as today is garbage day. I like to throw as much stuff away on Thursdays prior to the garbage truck coming - fill up that kirby. Our basement wasn't really that messy, well, ok it was messy but just because we were wiring it up and putting in lights, etc. So there was saw dust everywhere and bits and pieces of wiring remnants here and there. So I cleaned it all up - filled a garage bag of crap and got it in the kirby prior to the garbage people coming - yes! I love the feeling of getting more stuff in the garbage :) Weird? Yes, most likely, but I like de-cluttering our life :) Now the basement is cleaned and ready for us to move the stuff that isn't moving to Omaha with us down there. Now I'm really feeling lazy. We'll see what I do this afternoon.

~Ashley

Movie Review: Source Code

Last week Ryan and I went to two movies. The first being The Adjustment Bureau and the second being Source Code. For both movies, since we went at odd times (like a Tuesday at 7pm) we have the entire theater to ourselves. As we sat watching the previews for Source Code I mentioned to Ryan that rich people usually only get to have theaters to themselves and pay big bucks for it. We go it for $15 - ha! (Lifestyles of the rich and the famous...)

Source: Google Images

Ryan: 3 3/4 stars our of 5 - "it was good, but it was still a love story." (to which I replied "See Ry, everyone loves a good love story!" he then rolled his eyes)

Ashley: 3 out of 5 stars - I thought the story line was a little shallow. The movie could have been more suspenseful, but it wasn't

Our recommendation would be: wait until it comes out for $1/night in RedBox :)

~Ashley

Happy Birthday Ryan!

Today is Ryan's 3rd annual 29th birthday, as he likes to call it :-)

Yesterday while Ryan was at work I was a busy baker in the kitchen. I baked three dozen cupcakes, from scratch, for the first time ever, for Ryan to take to work today. I do a lot of baking but I've never baked cupcakes from scratch so I was a little nervous that they weren't going to turn out. I made white cupcakes and chocolate cupcakes - both for very different recipes I've collected from one of the many baking blogs I read. Both turned our yummy! I topped them with homemade buttercream frosting - mmm mmm good :-)

The calm before the storm - I make a mess when I bake!!

The white cupcakes look pretty darn good!

Mixing up the chocolate cupcakes :-)

Woah - that's a lot of buttercream frosting. I did not use all of this but I didn't want to run out half way through frosting the cupcakes!

The finished product! Yum!!

All packed up and ready for Ryan to take to work with him.

Ryan made me chuckle this morning. First he almost ran out the door this morning without the cupcakes (what we would have done with all these cupcakes?!) and then about 45 minutes later I get a call from him.
Ryan: "Hun, do we have any cupcakes at home?"
Ashley: "Yeah, we have three. Why?"    I'm thinking that he dropped them and got the frosting all messed up or something
Ryan: "Well, I have this other tupperware with eight cupcakes, and I'll just leave it in the car so that we have some for home."   :)

I taste-tested the white cupcake last night and Ryan taste-tested the chocolate one. He must have really liked them since he wanted to hoard those eight cupcakes and bring them home. The last time I made cupcakes from a box mix, we ended up throwing away a bunch of them as they didn't turn out good at all.

Happy Birthday Ryan! I love you!!

~Ashley

Movie Review: The Adjustment Bureau

Google Images

This past weekend, Ryan and I went and saw The Adjustment Bureau. I was a good movie. Surprisingly, the first time Ryan asked if I wanted to see this movie, I said no. It must have sounded to violent or SciFi-y for me - I don't know - but it ended up being a good flick.

Ryan gives it:
Four Stars (out of 5)

He couldn't quite give it five stars as he told me "It was still a chick flick with a mussy love story." Love story - yes, but chick flick?! - no, I don't think so! Chick flick is something like Legally Blonde or Nights in Rodanthe (*wink)....not The Adjustment Bureau.


I give it:
Four Stars

It was a good movie. Would I pay to see it in the theater again? Probably not (going to the movie theater is expensive these days!). Would I consider buying it on DVD in the future? Most likely. No violence, no guts, no shoot-em-up screens, good story line which at first has you questioning just what the heck is going on...it was a good flick.

~Ashley

Family Weekend - March 2011

Two weekends ago, my sisters and I all got together at my parents house. I was still up in Duluth on my neurology rotation so I road down to their house Friday afternoon with Hillary and Ryan. My Ryan drove up from Austin after work (I was sleeping by the time he actually showed up) and Kristin and Dave came over from LeCenter.

On our way down from Duluth, we stopped in Jordon to pick up a few select items for my parent's liquor cabinet. When we finally put all of our stuff on the check out counter, the lady told us, "Either you guys have a big problem or you're going to have a lot of fun this weekend!" HA - we had a lot of fun. Then while Hillary was grabbing a bag of ice, the lady asked "How old is the other girl with you." I laughed and told her she was older than me - she didn't even card me :-) I must look pretty mature :-)

We pulled out the old blender once we got to my parents house and mixed up some strawberry daiquiris to go with our sloppy joe dinner. Hillary's Ryan was mixing the second batch of drinks in the blender when the speed started to slow and then I hear him in the kitchen "Uh oh, it's smoking!" So outside the blender went...

Another one bites the dust!

Later Friday evening, we started to watch Inception. I think this is a great movie - really makes you think, but you can't fall asleep half way through. I didn't make it, I headed to bed before it was over and as mentioned before, I was sleeping by the time my Ryan made it to my parent's house.

Saturday morning, my dad made us all breakfast - eggs, bacon and hash browns :-) The two Ryans decided they needed a little bonding time so they went to Mankato to pick up a new blender (and also stop at Patrick's in St. Peter for a few beers as this is their tradition now). While they were gone, I studying some neurology for a bit as the I had my neurology shelf that next Friday and Hillary worked on making some necklaces for her bridesmaids. We got a call from the Ryans around 11:30 so we all loaded up and headed to Patrick's in St. Peter for lunch. Kristin met us there, but Dave was at home studying up for an upcoming engineering exam he has. It took FOREVER for us to get our food and we didn't leave Patrick's until 3:00. But we had a good time and shared a lot of laughs.

We had Hillary try on her wedding dress multiple times and we were trying to decide: no veil, veil, single layer veil or double layer veil - ha! She looked fantastic in her dress! Can't wait for her and Ryan's big day in July!! After a day of studying, Dave came over for dinner. My grandparents, Chris and Dean also came over for a big dinner of BBQ ribs. We had such a good time and laughed a ton! It was so nice to have everyone together. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Ryan trying out the new blender! It works pretty slick!

The whole crew eating form DQ ice cream cake for desert!

Dean, Chris and Hillary

Goof Balls :)

Desert Liquor drinks. Hillary didn't think it was that bad.

Kristin on the other hand thought it was terrible!

Dad and Mom

By the looks on Dean and my grandma's face, something must have been very exciting!

Dean is so animated! I love it!

Lots of laughs!

Dean, Chris, Grandma, Grandpa, mom and dad

The two Ryans maybe shouldn't be able to drink together - ha! lol

Grandma and Grandpa with the Loewe girls and their significant others.

The best grandparents anyone could ask for!

Can't leave Sophie out! She was SO excited to have so many people over for the weekend.

 ~Ashley