Ice Fishing!!

I'm not sure why but for some reason I have wanted to go ice fishing. Probably because I like to try new unique things. Ice fishing has been on my bucket list for a few years. I mean come on, how often do you get the chance to go ice fishing. I became friends with a girl who ice fishes with her husband. I invited Adam and I along. Adam was not too keen on the idea. He said, "Fishing is so boring". But he was willing to humor me and didn't want me to go without him. My parents thought I was crazy and worried about the ice breaking. My brother Steven thought, "That's awesome, I want to try it".

Our day started at 5:30 in the morning. Let me repeat that again 5:30, to go fishing!! I thought we would go sometime in the afternoon. Apparently the morning is a better time to fish, the fish are waking and more likely to bite. Jason and Belky picked us up and we drove about an hour away to Strawberry Lake. We walked out a ways on the lake and began making holes to fish. The ice was 18 inches thick and a work out for the guys. Adam will demonstrate in the following video:

Jason and Adam made 4 holes, they were getting pretty tired on the 3rd and 4th. After the holes were made, we set up a fishing tent over the holes. I was so grateful for the tent, a snow storm came through while fishing. It snowed 3-4 inches during the time we were there. When we packed up to leave the sled below was buried in snow.

  One of my favorite parts about ice fishing is you can see your bait in the water and watch the fish swim by and nip at your bait.  

 Do you see the bait? It is about 5 feet below the water. I had my bait stolen a couple times and several nips but no luck catching a fish. Even though I didn't catch anything it was fun to play with the fish as they were nipping. Adam had the lucky hole, he caught 4 fish, unfortunately 2 got away. Jason caught 1 and Belky none. It's funny that the holes are only about 3 feet away from each other but the outcome for each hole is dramatically different.

Adam and his 1st fish. He was a happy boy. Remember how I told you he wasn't excited to go. During fishing he said the following: "I like ice fishing", "Next time.....", "I want to buy different types of bait to try next time".

Me fishing, I preferred holding the fishing line instead of the pole. To attract the fish we would move the fishing line up and down.

Jason and Belky brought a heater to keep us warm. The heater melted the ice inside the tent. At times it could be a little slick. We made a square ice rink!

Packed up and heading home. I was told I can't cross ice fishing off my bucket list since I didn't catch anything. So I will have to go again. The boys won this trip, next time it's on and the girls are going to win! :)

Valentine Celebrations

This year was our first Valentines as a married couple. Adam is not a fan of a holiday telling him to express his love, however he did humor me. We spent the evening with Adam's family. We had tickets to go see Cinderella at the Capital Theater. We thought we were going to see a play, instead it turned out to be ballet. Adam was not thrilled and slept through half the production. I have to say I was disappointed too, however I did enjoy certain dances despite my confusion with the story changes. We celebrated Valentines together over the weekend. We often go out to eat so I thought it would be nice to stay home and make a nice dinner. Here's a look at our evening:

Beautiful Flowers from my husband

 We divided up dinner. I made the salad, notice the tomatoes are hearts. The salad consists of romaine lettuce, bacon, avocado, tomato basil feta cheese, grape tomatoes, croutons, and red bell pepper Italian salad dressing.

Adam wanted to make his favorite food Pizza. The pizza consists of pizza sauce, pesto sauce, pepper jack cheese, and smokey sausages. It was yummy!

I love making desserts so I of course had to make something. I made chocolate cake with mini chocolate chips added to the batter, fresh strawberries between the layers, chocolate ganache poured over the top and hearts made with sprinkles. Not a perfect job but it was delicious!

 A happy husband and the final set up. I wanted to pull out our china but didn't have time. I did pull out the crystal goblets from Grammy and Gramps. As I pulled them out, I began to get emotional, thinking back on fond memories using these goblets with Grammy and Gramps. Very special to have these to celebrate with.

 Happy Valentines Day!!

February: Love is in the air!

I had fun decorating for Valentines this year! Take a peek!

 Candy of course!

 I've become obsessed with my heart tree. I'm planning to keep them around for Easter time and change out the hearts. Made with tree branches from the yard, dollar store hearts, and string attached.

 I love birds. Adam hates birds. This is the only time Adam has approved decorating with birds :)