Summer Stuff.

Congratulations everyone! We made it to the first day of summer! Although Utah has done everything in its power to ensure summer came as late as possible, good weather has finally arrived. So this post is all about the fun stuff we've been up to in the sun!

First, for Father's Day the Regis siblings took pictures for my Dad's new office. Since there are five kids (G and I count as one) and five letters in REGIS we had a great idea. We cut out letters from poster board and headed out to the Farmington Trail by Lagoon. Each kid held their letter and we put them in the picture frame so that when your looking at it you read REGIS held by all my dads kids. It was green and wonderful! Ashley did a wonderful job! See what you think!

Next, my sister Melissa and I believe in always stopping when you see a lemonade stand. It may only be fifteen or twenty five cents to you but it is everything to these little kids! Its so great to watch their eyes light up as the kids see a car pull over for them. Summer is the season for lemonade stands, so I encourage everyone to stop when they see one. You never know when you are going to inspire the next great entrepreneur!

cutest little boy! Don't worry he runs a hot cocoa stand in the winter!

Lemonade 25 cents, otterpops 10 cents. :)

After that G and I spent a weekend in Bountiful. We started the morning with a chuck wagon breakfast provided by the Bountiful 20th ward young women as a fund raiser for girls camp! It was delicious! If only it didn't start at 7:30 in the morning. When we finished breakfast G and my dad did some work in our basement. (my family is renovating the basement for our summer project.) Isn't my man handy?

As G and my dad were finishing up taking off the sheet rock and doing manly stuff. G's sister Shan and her family invited us to hike up Adams Canyon with G's other sister Caitlin. It was a beautiful hike, one of my favorites from growing up. Her kids were troopers even though the first chunk of the hike is switch backs in the sand the rest is lush and green and beautiful and you end up at a waterfall at the end. Since there has been so much rain and snow late in the season the river was overflowing and powerful! It was a little scary with children but they did great!

Last but not least Sunday was Father's day. This year I get to recognize not one, but TWO great dads.

Although G's Dad was in Denmark on Sunday I still thought about him! He is a great man. My first time I met George I had been dating G for only 2 weeks. G invited me down to California with him for his best friends mission farewell. As we were driving to Cali G's friend Seth warned me that George was a very intimidating man. Seth said growing up when he used to try to call G if George answered the phone he would be to scared to talk so he would just hang up. When we finally got to Cali I was a little nervous. Instead I found a kind, smart and hilarious man. (who is only a bit intimidating!) I am so thankful for my new Father-in-law for teaching G to be the man he is today. One of the first things G told me when we got engaged is that he couldn't wait to love someone the way his Dad loves his Mom. :)

And of course I have my own dad. Lance is a great man. My Dad is one of my best friends. He raised my family to be hard workers, and to trust in the Lord and in each other. My dad taught me to love the scriptures. My dad would wake us up every morning before he left for work so we could have family scripture study. My dad is a fisherman, a Bishop, a penny-pincher, a handy man, a singer, a man full of integrity and love. I love my dad so much!! This year for Fathers day not only did we get him the pictures we got him some new clothes. Kind of an inside joke in our family is my Dads wardrobe. He doesn't like to throw things away often so his clothing is all VERY old! Since my dad has four daughters the last couple of christmas/birthday/fathers day gifts have been us trying to help him update. With all his new clothes my Dad didn't know what matched with what anymore. So we spent the night helping him coordinate all his shirts with all his pants. It was a great evening I will never forget!

Teaching my Dad how to match clothes!

Sorry this was such a long post!  Happy Summer everyone! Don't forget your sunscreen!

A Yummy Tradition!

One tradition my husband grew up with was eating Aebleskiver. He said when he was younger his mom would only make it around Christmas, but as he grew older she would make it more and more. Aebleskiver (pronounced EH-bel-skee-ver) is a favorite of my husband and one of the first traditions we started as a family. I received not one but TWO aebleskiver pans as wedding gifts (from my awesome sister-in-law Caitlin and Liechty cousins) I got the hint loud and clear: O'Briens eat aebleskiver. My first attempt was awful, but thankfully each time I make them I get better and better. Tonight we decided to make these delicious danish puff pancakes for dinner and G finally said it, "These taste exactly like my Mom makes them!" SUCCESS!!
These are delicious and fun to make, especially with children! I would encourage you all to try them at least once!!
First you need a pan. There are aluminum pans or cast iron pans. You can find them at Target, Williams Sonoma, Bed Bath and Beyond even places like T.J Maxx! They can be anywhere from $15 to $40 dollars for your basic pan. They look like this:

Second you need a great recipe. I have a great recipe. My mother-in-law gave me this recipe and I LOVE IT! You need:
3 eggs
1 t sugar
2 C flour*
1 t baking soda*
2 C buttermilk
1/2 t salt*
1 T baking powder*
1/4 t cardamom
* if you really want to cheat, substitute * items with 2 C bisquick. DONT CHEAT!! It tastes better if you don't!

• Separate the eggs and beat the yolks. Add buttermilk, sugar and salt.
• Sift together flour, powder, soda and cardamom.(the cardamom is KEY to a delicious aebleskiver) Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites
• Heat aebleskive pan. Put 1 t oil in each hold and fill completely with batter.
• I don't use oil, I just use a little butter. Also I don't fill it to the top it makes it easier to turn.
• Let bake until slightly crusty on bottom. Then use a knitting needle or skewer to turn.
• Continue cooking and turning every once in a while to keep from burning until your skewer comes out clean when stuck in the center.
• Enjoy while its hot! We eat it with Jam or dip it into sugar!



Don't you love my apron?
My Mom made it for me
for Christmas



ENJOY!! And let me know if you try it! Its actually a lot easier to make then it sounds!!

Touch of Class!

For date night this week G and I decided to mix things up a bit and try something new!
 First I bought two tickets to the BYU opera! Beatrice en Benedict was the name of this particular opera. Its a two act opera about an hour and half long. Basically if you didn't catch on by the title its the story of Much Ado About Nothing by Shakespeare. My friend from my freshman ward Jennifer Mckay (In the link above at about 0:45 you can see her singing!) was playing Beatrice. Since I knew G was being such a trooper by tagging along with me I decided to make him a DELICIOUS dinner so that he would be in a good mood!! I made New York steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, rolls (okay okay so I bought the rolls from the store) corn and topped it all off with a glass of cold milk! I was quite impressed with  myself! haha needless to say that was just the ticket to start off our date night on the right foot!

Our hearty dinner!

After dinner we changed into our "fancy opera going clothes". Although dress code was just business casual I still wanted to get dressed up! I remember going to operas and symphonies as a child and always picking out my fanciest dress to wear. After we were both got dressed up I made G stand still for a picture! I just wanted everyone to see how handsome a guy I have!

Beautiful day outside!

 After the the opera was done we both felt more cultured and educated. We felt like better people... okay okay so I felt more educated and cultured and like a better person. G just really really wanted to know the score of the Heat vs. Maverick game...so we went out for ice cream! As I enjoyed my Creme Brulee and Dark chocolate ice cream with caramel sauce and strawberries on top, G watched the last minutes of the game while eating his chocolate ice cream.

He was so wrapped up in the game he
didn't even notice me take this picture! haha

Sad to say the Heat lost... but that's okay because our ice cream was still so delicious! We went home and G admitted he had a good time and would like to do it again! See what a good guy I have?!? And that is how we have a classy date night!!

Midnight Miracles!

Tonight G and I had a great experience together. So because of the little fender bender we got in earlier this week (see my last post) G's car hasn't been as reliable as usual. He has to take the side roads to work now turning his fifteen min. commute turned into a forty minute drive both ways. Leaving my 16 yr. old drives-like-a-grandma car our primary form of transportation. Then disaster struck!

I got off of work a little after 10 o'clock and my car was one of the only ones left in the mall parking lot. I climbed in and stuck my key in the ignition.... Silence. I tried again.... not even one click came from my engine. My lights worked just fine and my radio could turn on so I knew it wasn't my battery. I tried one more time.... not a sound. So I called my husband to come rescue me. After looking over my car for a while, we decided there was nothing we could do. We drove home in silence. Both of us were frustrated. Now we had TWO cars that weren't working properly. We were trying to figure out how we were going to afford fixing the car. Last month we dropped nearly $1200 on much needed repairs to G's car. This completely wiped out what was left in our "just in case" car fund. (aka my tax return) Tension was high as made cold cereal for dinner. We ate in silence. I climbed into bed pulled up the covers and tried to close my eyes and leave today behind. That's when G came in the room and pulled out our scriptures.
Miracle number one: Reading the Book of Mormon daily strengthens a marriage.
Within two words of the first verse I could feel the tension melt away. By the end of the chapter we were snuggling and smiling. One piece of advice you hear a thousand times when getting married is "Never go to bed angry at each other." I strongly suggest reading the Book of Mormon as an answer to that problem. When we were done reading I was reminded why I love G so much.
Miracle number two: Prayers are heard.
G offered our family prayer when we were done reading our scriptures. I heard him humbly ask for blessings on our family both extended and immediate. He thanked the Lord for our blessings. Then he asked for a blessing on my car. Not that it would be miraculously fixed or that we wouldn't have to pay for anything, just asked for a blessing on my car.
Miracle number three: The Lord answers prayers in strange ways.
After he prayed we tried to go to bed. I couldn't get something off my mind tho. I kept thinking about my pendleton wool blanket my mom gave us as a wedding gift. I knew it was in the back of my car. Suddenly my thoughts ran to Is someone going to break into my car and steal it? and Maybe my car is going to be towed for parking over-night and my stuff will be lost! I voiced my concerns to G and he offered to drive me up to my car again so I could empty it of its contents just in case. So at five after midnight we drove back to the Mall. When we got up there G suggested we try starting my car again. We tried with no luck. Then I noticed that my car was parked in the darkest corner of the parking lot. And that a good 500 yards (1/3 mile) away there were still many cars. This is where the parking lot for the mall meets the parking lot to the movie theatre apparently not all the movies were done for the night. We thought if we could just push my car towards those cars it could blend in better. So we got out and pushed. and pushed. and pushed. When we finally finished I tiredly pulled the key out of the ignition, ready to go home. Then G asked one more time for us to try starting my car. I turned the key and... click click... Vavoom!!! The engine started!! When we were pushing the car it did something that allowed us to start the engine!! I drove home quickly before it decided to die on us again.
Conclusion: Ether 12:6 says

... I would show unto the world that faith is things which are hoped for and not seen; wherefore, dispute not because ye see not, for ye receive no witness until after the trial of your faith.

The Lord will always hear and answer our prayers. He knows our situation in life. And he knows what we can and cannot handle. But it is only AFTER the trial of our faith that we receive our blessings. G had faith and trusted that the Lord would take care of our car. I trust G. We pushed my car across an entire parking lot based on that belief. (although I will admit it was much easier than pushing a handcart across the plains) The Lord loves us. I hope you can hear the truth of my words.