EASTER AT THE CARLSONS

Duane, Madi & I went back to Illinois for Easter this year. It was at Duanes parents house.




Duanes mom always makes Easter baskets for the kids, Madi helped.


The "Family" Easter basket..for everyone to share.




Mom bought a Calla Lilly.



We had fun getting creative taking pictures of it, Madi took this one.



Dad decorating Easter eggs.



Everyone arriving



How many Carlson brothers & nephews does it take to put up the awning?!?!



Anita, Henry, Dad, Kim, Laura, Kristy & Debbie chatting.

The weather was beautiful for Easter this year, & it was great to see everyone that was able to come.

WHAT I'VE BEEN UP TO AT WORK...

Marshas is expanding their business, and so they are putting out a brochure & will be updating their website, they are also on facebook. So they asked me to come in to take a few pictures to use for this. I took about 750...BECAUSE THATS HOW I ROLL!!





Buckeyes in the fetus stage. (Oh that sounds grosser than it did in my head!)



NOW WE'RE TALKING!!!



A happy buckeye! We have to have some fun too!




This is a perfect time for smell-a-blog!
When you open the frig door it is DE-LIGHT-FUL!

Our aprons & stools at the end of the day.

A mock up of one of the brochures.

And another one...they were trying to choose between about 8 mock-ups. They even had us all vote on which one we liked the best.

When they decide which one they are going to use...I'll post it on the blog.

I was pretty thrilled to take pictures for them. They wanted to give me a "by line" on the brochure, but I dont think I could handle the business it might bring my way. Besides, then I'd have to figure out how to use the camera for one thing! (Well, other than just pushing the little doomahickey!) But then again...JDC PHOTOGRAPHY kinda has a ring to it! ; ) so does JDC PROFESSIONAL FOOD TASTER or JDC's PERFECT NAP or JDC TRAVELS...

THE FOOD AT SUZ'S SPA

Going to Suzannes, to me, is like going to a Spa. Well except I never get a massage or a pedicure...so she'll have to work on that!! ; ) However, her family really lives a healthy lifestyle. They are vegetarians, & they love to exercise. So I am always excited to see what we are going to eat! I only ate meat one night, when Suz & I went out for dinner. But that was because the restaurant had Chicken Marsala & I LOVE THAT!! It did have mushrooms & fresh vegetables for pete's sake! And to tell you the truth, I did not miss having meat the rest of the time AT ALL! And this is why....



When we got back to their house from the airport, Suz made us a little snack, one of her favorites. Its a rice cake with almond butter & bananas. It is really filling & tasty! This is Brandon enjoying his. (fyi: he has a balloon tied to his wrist)





They eat raw eggs for protein. So "when in Rome", I had to have one. This is Suz mixing it with grape fruit juice, (ruined grape fruit juice for me let me tell ya!) Honestly...blended up, it just tasted like an EGG! I would recommend drinking it plain, without the juice. It wasnt bad at all!

Several mornings Suz & I had a protein drink. It was pretty good as well. She likes to drink hers in a mason jar. I was laying on the bed in "Auntie Janets secret hideout" playing with Bre & Brandon, in this photo.

BONES ARE DELICIOUS!!! This is Joel & Tiffs (Suzannes brother & sis-in-law) recipe for pizza crust, turned into breadsticks & then dipped in marinara. I could eat these all day! Wait...I think the marinara was homemade too!

This is Ricki (Suz mom) putting the finishing touches on the pizza...look at all of those MUSHROOMS!!! I WAS IN HEAVEN! In MY house, my family feels mushrooms are a fungus...& not to be eaten!! They don't know what they are missing!!! Oh & THANK YOU RICKI SO MUCH FOR DOING SO MUCH WHILE I WAS THERE!! I had planned on helping out & learning more...but ended up playing with the kids or distracting Suzanne & you ended up doing all of the work! AND IT WAS DE-LI-CIOUS!

Ok, by this shot you may not realize just how ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL this is! But I'm here to tell you...IT WAS!! Its a cinnamon roll dish that we had one morning. Walnuts, raisins, brown sugar & Rhodes rolls. YUUUMMMMM! I think this is a Joel/Tiff recipe as well.

Home made tortillas! She made me HOME MADE TORTILLAS!!

And then filled them with this! Spinach, olives, tomatoes, onions. Its ALL GOOD!

The next night, she took the remaining tortillas, & filled them with this. Its potatoes & onions & cheese &...some other stuff, I can't remember, cause I was playing with the kids & missed the rest!

OH...YOU HAVE TO GET ONE OF THESE!! Its a vegetable steamer! It is wonderful! Vegetables have never tasted so good!! So we had veggies on the side...of this:

OH MY GOSH!! SO GOOD!! Home made enchillada sauce! I'm not kidding here!

And then Suz "plated" it! Beautiful!! A work of edible art!

And this for dessert. Its a wonder I didnt come home weighing 10 lbs more!

And not to mention the grapefruits & lemons that we ate that Suz & Brian had just picked off of a friends tree & the freshly squeezed orange juice that we had. There was also a juice with spinach & lemon & apple...that was unbelievable!! Who knew that that combo could be so good!?!

Is there any wonder why I love to go to SUZANNES SPA?!?!