A Feast for the Eyes!

So I thought I would post some pictures of our wonderful Italian night! There was more food than anyone could have possibly thought of eating. It was so AMAZING! Brian and Emma made Italian Wedding Soup (best I have ever had), Homemade Bread (the sea salt was a great touch!), Eggplant Parm. (some chicken for me and the wee ones, Yummmy!), and Italian Ice that tasted JUST like Johnnie's! Aaron and Michelle made Toasted Ravioli (from scratch, one of my favorite foods in the world, and they were awesome!), Cream Puffs (to die for), and Italian Cream Cake (this pictures says it all!) Rich and I took Sangria, Fettuccine Alfredo, and Goat Cheese and Garlic. I will say no more. The pictures tell the story!

Italian Night

Tonight we are getting together with our dear friends the O's and the G's. It is Italian night! Everyone is bringing great Italian food. I am bringing my sangria, roasted garlic and goat cheese to go on Brian's homemade bread, and my 4 Cheese Fettuccine! I thought you might enjoy the recipe for the fettuccine. It is really great. Not for any of you watching your calorie intake, but perfect for a fun not of no caloric worries! Enjoy!

4 Cheese Fettuccine

1 can cream of chicken soup
1 8 oz. package for cream cheese, cubed
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
3/4 cups grated Parm. Cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup shredded swiss cheese
2 1/2 cup cooked diced chicken if you wish.

topping:
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
2 Tbs. melted butter
1 to 2 Tbs. grated Parm. Cheese

Cook fettuccine according to directions. Meanwhile, in a large kettle, combine soup, cream cheese, cream, butter, and garlic powder. Stir in cheeses, cook and stir until melted. Add chicken. Drain fettuccine and add to sauce. Transfer to a shallow baking dish. I use a 9x13. Add topping. cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Uncover and bake 10 more minutes until golden brown.


I will post pictures after the big night tonight!

42

My 42nd birthday was almost 2 weeks ago. It was one of the best ever! My favorite birthday had to have been my 30th. I have never been one to be upset when another year rolls around. I am not sad that I am getting older. I have never gotten all weepy when Ben turns another year older. That is just not me. But when I turned 25 and every year after that until I was 29, birthdays were difficult. I thought I would be married and have children by then, and there was not even a prospect of a husband in my life! On my 30th birthday I spent my first birthday married and my first birthday pregnant. No gift from anyone could have been as wonderful as that!

Turning 42 was not extremely eventful, but it was a great birthday! I had mentioned to Rich and Ben that I think the edible bouquets are really neat. When I saw how much they cost I told Rich that he shouldn't get me one. He didn't get me one, but he MADE me one! I was so surprised! It was so neat! He cut the pineapple like Mickey heads, the cantaloupe like stars, and dipped the strawberries in chocolate! It was better than one from the shop! What a great husband I have.

My mom took us to The Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I love going there! We had a yummy piece of turtle cheesecake. They decorated the plate for my birthday and sang. It was very cute.

My Ozzie girls gave me some lovely gifts! They are all so sweet! They made it a very special birthday!

On my actual birthday I spent the day judging Instant challenge at the Destination Imagination competition. If you haven't heard of DI, it is a wonderful program. It is a creative problem solving competition where the students are give and problem and have to practice solving it and planning a production. They also have to do an instant challenge. They come into a room and find a problem they have to solve without any prior knowledge. They have a few minutes to plan and a few minutes to carry out the task. When judging it is very important to treat each team the same so that their attitude is not changed and affect their performance. Our runner told the first group that we saw that it was my birthday, so she then had to tell every group! I was sung to 15 times! My friend Emma, who organizes the judging of Instant Challenge, put a candle in my danish in the morning and had all the judges sing to me. At the awards ceremony there were about 500 people. My friends Tyler and Mackenzie told the DJ it was my birthday and I had to stand up and have the entire place sing to me! When I arrived home there were three messages on my phone where people were singing to me also!

On Sunday our morning bible class sang Happy Birthday. In the afternoon we had our small group bible study and my friends John and Jessica had a cake for me and they all sang to me. I cannot remember a birthday where I had been sung to sooooo many times! It was sure fun!