May and Mamma Mia

Well it's a Monday night after a day of work, Jared's out backpacking and I'm watching Mamma Mia, fighting tears as I watch this scene:

Meryl Streep - Dancing Queen from Mamma Mia by gokhanh

Is it weird that that scene chokes me up a little bit every time? I'm not sure why, it might be because I wish I could dance around and sing and jump in the water. Or maybe I'm just nastalgic, wishing I could be a 17 year old dancing queen--though I don't think I really learned to dance until I was 20.

I always forget, but this movie just does it for me every time. I'm a sucker for any movie that has bright colors, a good love story, synchronized dancing and singing, maybe a little girl power and a wedding or two. Mamma Mia has it all. And now I'm done with that little commercial :)

The last couple weeks have been wonderful here in Langley. Jared and I are finally adjusted to my working--just in time for me to go full time :)

We had a wonderful Easter weekend last week--Jared had Good Friday and Canada's very own Easter Monday off, so we had some nice free time to dilly dally. And as has become a usual little trend that I love, we spent our free time exploring and cooking up culinary masterpieces.

Here's a photo taste for you, with recipes too:

We made a delicious spaghetti and meatball dish, making sauce by hand. The recipe called for crushing tomatoes with your hands--

 --it resulted in one tomato massacre throughout the kitchen. A violent, tomato juice mess. But it tasted sooo good.

 The recipe for tomato sauce with leek and lemon juice meatballs is here.
I mentioned last time that Jared is a fan of pancakes of all shapes and sizes. This weekend, he perfected the crepe. Then, whipping up a lemon curd filling, he assembled this delicious crepe cake:

It was tangy and delicious. The recipe for the lemon curd is here. We shared it on Sunday nights with our Young Life friends Seth and Chad, twin brothers from BC. It was a bit of a non-traditional Sunday, we spent the evening cheering on the Canucks over pizza.

But I've discovered that no Easter is complete without sticky buns. So I made a batch for our Easter Breakfast.

They weren't ready until noon, but were still sticky and delicious. I used the recipe here.

And that's all in the food department, I promise. :)

I've finally uploaded photos from our last hikes and explorations. There's a couple different hikes in here.

 First hike with the Young Life leaders.

 Its been warm for a while now, but we hiked into some pretty slippery snow.

 Fortunately I didn't fall, but I can't say the same for Julie (one of the YL leaders)

 Saturday we went to White Rock with Jared and Elise for fish and chips. I'm not a fan of the fish and chips, but the beach was beautiful. And suprise of all surprises, there's a giant white rock at White Rock. They cheat though--it gets vandalized so often that they paint it white every year. We climbed to the top--it was a bit scary, but a little boy around 5 years old was mustering the courage, so I figured I probably could too.

 We made it!

Getting down was a bit more nerve-wracking, but fortunately I had some help :)

 The beaches are pretty and salty and oceany, but to be honest they're nothing compared to Michigan. Walking on the half salty mud half pebble and stone beaches makes me ache for Michigan sands and dunes.

We may be a long way from home, but I think I can safely say Jared and I are both still "smitten with the mitten" :)

Happy May!