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My parents were in Florida this year for Easter, so I offered to host dinner at my house. This was my very first time cooking a ham, let alone an entire Easter dinner, but I did a pretty good job, I think. :)

(Really it was just an excuse to get some family members over to see my many new apartment furnishings from IKEA. :D)

It was just Randy and I, my brother, and my grandmother, so it was a nice, relaxed day. Randy made delicious chips and onion dip (and by "made", I mean that he picked out some of the large onion bits from the package of dip mix and stirred that in with a container of sour cream :D), I cooked a 9.82lb half of a ham (with a bone, which I guess is good... :D), green beans, and mashed potatoes. Randy also "carved" the ham (and by that I mean he poked at it a bit and it fell apart on its own accord, it being a SPIRAL ham :D). Greg brought dinner rolls, and Grammy was told to bring ONE dessert. How many desserts did Grammy actually bring? This is debatable, but I'm calling it FOUR:

O. Henry bars (mmmm)

Chocolate cream pie (SO good)

Easter baskets from my parents (yes we're in our twenties and we still get them, shut up! :D)

Byrne and Carlson chocolates (can't complain about that!!!).

This is debatable of course because each item in the Easter baskets could be considered a separate dessert because really, who actually eats all that candy in one sitting (except for people who really really want to throw up, or, in Mike's case, die)? :D All desserts were insanely delicious of course and I've been battling with a horrible sugar addiction since. Easter always does me in! It's those damn Cadbury Creme Eggs, they might as well be heroin! :D Suddenly I want them for breakfast, lunch and dinner—it's sick!

But back to our 9.82lb half of a ham. Um, yeah I guess that was a bit much. This is the pile of ham AFTER we ate. Note how Nikita has already stolen Randy's chair and is longingly eyeing the ham. :D Needless to say, we sent Greg home with a bunch for him and his roommate, tons of scraps and the bone for Quannum (my darling nephew-puppy), and gave as much as we could to Grammy even though she said she only wanted "a little". ;) And we still managed to get five more meals out of the thing (two meals for me, three for Randy)!

Overall, it was a really nice Easter!

Last weekend, we got together with Jenna, Jason, Mike, Doug, Adam and Jen at Bugaboo for dinner (mmm... prime rib...). It was nice to see Adam and Jen for what Doug joked was our "once a year" get-together with them. :D

Afterward, Adam and Jen went off to celebrate their one year anniversary, and the rest of us went back to Doug and Mike's apartment so Jenna could open her birthday presents. Mike, Randy and I gave her a game and a couple of things from her registry (a vaporizer and a learning table for Emily). :)

Then Emily was introduced to the wonderful world of hockey by "uncle" Mike. She was enthralled! :D I'm not being sarcastic, she really liked watching it!

Here she is looking adorable. Can you believe how much she's grown already???

This picture is for Brandie. Remember for Mike's birthday back in October, Brandie and I gave him some bandages that look like bacon. Well, on that container, it was declared prominently that inside he would find a free gift! Mike hadn't opened the bandages yet, and at Jenna's birthday celebration I was finally able to coerce him into opening them. And guess what the free gift was? Okay, there's a picture right there showing it, but that's besides the point—it's a tiny pink plastic pig! :D And now you're slapping your forehead like, "OF COURSE it's a tiny pink plastic pig! What ELSE would be the free gift with bacon band-aids!?!?!" Exactly. Brilliant!

I'll end this blog with what is quite possibly the funniest picture I have seen in a very long time. I can't take any credit for this at all. See, my parents just got back from a trip to Florida, where they went to Sea World. And my dad has a similar sense of humor to myself (emphasis on the -similar- and NOT exact, but I digress) and will take pictures of random humorous items. Dad saw this gentleman at Sea World and thought it was too good to pass up. I can only imagine how embarassed my mother must have been, but that only adds to the hilarity in my mind. :D

If you can't tell what it is, it's a tattoo of a man pushing a lawnmower across the bald patch of this gentleman's head. LOVE IT! :D

The funny thing was that when I just glanced at the email that Dad sent me with this picture, I thought it was a forward at first, and it very well could turn into one. :D Who knows, maybe it'll be the thing that finally brings hits to this blog! :D

I know, that's just not going to happen, but whatever. :D

NOTICE: The next trip to IKEA in Stoughton, Massachusetts is MAY 6th. If you want in, please let me know! The trip will be led by Janicanne "North Star" and myself. :)

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