John and I painted the pottery we made.

It was fun to paint, but we really had no idea how exactly the pieces would turn out. The paint on the pottery looks very different before and after firing.

BEFORE:

John’s bowl

Shannon’s bowl

Shannon’s vase

A week or so later I went back to bring home our painted babies.

AFTER:

John’s bowl

Shannon’s bowl

Shannon’s vase

Last month John and I had a Saturday afternoon date where we got lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries (um, yum!) and then went to an art studio to make pottery. It was a Groupon deal that offered half off two pottery making classes (you make the pottery in the first class, paint it in the second).

The last time I remember using a pottery wheel was in the seventh grade, and if I remember right whatever I tried to make didn’t turn out great. John has never used one.

Thankfully we had help. The teacher really knew what she was doing and helped us significantly so what we were trying to make turned out decently.

We started by getting a ball of clay and kneading it to remove air pockets. Then it was time to sit at the wheel! This was the fun–but deceptively difficult–part.

It works a little like a sewing machine with a foot peddle to control speed. Our teacher said slower was better for beginners, but faster was funner!

Actually molding the clay on the wheel was tricky; it often had a mind of its own. It was fun to get our hands in the clay and work with it, but when it came to turning that clay into something beautiful our teacher had to help us a lot. She said that art students at BYU are required to spend 40 hours at the wheel before they’re considered competent. We had about one hour. So, like I said, she helped us a lot.

But doesn’t it look like we know what we’re doing?

After our bowls were molded we set them in the sun to dry a while. I also made a vase that’s not pictured.

We’ll go back next week to paint them. Now we’re pretty much artisans!

On Friday we had a date night that involved going to a cooking school and taking a class.

I have grouched on here before numerous times about my lack of cooking finesse (most recently here). When I saw Groupon offering a cooking class for 50% off I went for it and bought one for both me and John so we could go together.

It was a bit of a time commitment when you consider the cost of babysitters, but it was worth it. It took us an hour and a half just to get there, when it should have been an hour or less, so we were late. But the other students were just chilling, eating chips and homemade dip and drinking wine. We were in the minority for once; there were more wine-drinkers than not.

After we got our aprons on and introduced ourselves we got up and went to work. The class is three hours (actually, it went late and was four), and in that time you work in teams to make, and then eat, a four-course meal. We signed up for “Classic Steakhouse.” (Come on. You’re not surprised “steak” is in the title, are you?)

The menu was:

mushroom caps stuffed with crab imperial
iceberg wedge salad with homemade bleu cheese dressing
oven roasted asparagus
twice-baked tall potatoes
bacon-wrapped filet Mignon with Bearnaise sauce
bananas foster

This type of cooking was fantastic because all the ingredients you needed were already set out on neat little trays in the appropriate measurements. Oh, and someone else was there to clean up after you. So wish I had that at home. I’d cook all the time.

We were in a team of five. First up was the appetizer of crab-stuffed mushrooms.

Let me just say now that John hates both crab and mushrooms.

But here he is so diligently stirring the crab meat mixture anyway. Because he is a team player.

As we prepared the food our instructor, Shaun (female), guided us and occasionally I’d learn something new. Like about how you should clean mushrooms with a mushroom brush instead of in water. Huh. We didn’t believe there was such a thing as a mushroom brush until she whipped one out and showed us.

After preparing the appetizer we made homemade bleu cheese dressing. I don’t have pictures of it, but it was easy and I think I’d be silly to ever buy the stuff in a bottle again because this tasted so much better.

Next up was asparagus. We learned how to snap off the bottom third, and how if you want to keep asparagus fresher longer in the fridge, put the ends in a bowl of water. (Hear that, Mom?) We tossed the asparagus in olive oil with salt and pepper and arranged it on a tray (actually, a rack on top of a tray) to bake.

Then we made the steak. Which was pretty much the reason most people signed up for the class. We are all great steak lovers (or married to one).

Shaun said that the only grocery store she will buy fresh meat from is Harmons, but that mostly she gets it from CostCo.

We wrapped our filet in bacon (easy) and secured it with a toothpick. Then we heated olive oil in a skillet until it was smokin’ hot before adding the fillets. We seared them on each side and seared the bacon around the sides. Then the skillet went in the oven for a few minutes to finish cooking.

Then, The Beast: Bearnaise sauce. It’s one of those tricky sauces that can go wrong easily, like hollandaise sauce (which I’ve made twice–and I only had to do it twice because it failed the first time).

Bearnaise sauce has delicious fresh tarragon in it, which I’d never used before but it smells so good. It uses shallots, too, which was also new to me.

However. We completely goofed up the sauce the first time around. You have to whisk the base constantly while slowly adding melted butter, and if you add the butter too fast or too low or breathe wrong, the sauce will break–meaning it falls apart into a grainy mess instead of getting thicker and more beautiful. I don’t know what our problem was, but we flunked. Only one team out of three made their sauce right the first time around.

By the time we finished the sauce (twice), it was close to 9 pm (which is when the class was supposed to end). We hadn’t eaten anything except the chips and dip when we first came, and we were ready to dig in!

So we did. We sat around the table and talked and ate while the kitchen staff served up the food we made.

First up: mushroom caps stuffed with crab. John tasted it and then gladly gave up his serving to seafood-loving team members. I thought the crab mixture was good and would be really tasty on a toasted baguette, but I didn’t love the mushroom. (I really don’t like mushrooms in general.)

Our salad was good. The bleu cheese dressing was a little heavy on the lemon, but it was still miles ahead of the store-bought stuff.

Then the entree. We had our oven roasted asparagus, which was crispy and so tasty with the oil and salt and pepper. The twice-baked tall potatoes were good and creamy (although we realized we forgot the salt and pepper, and we all agreed next time we’d add more cheese). And, the steak! Crispy, juicy, melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Yum.

Last up was the bananas foster. We basically made a caramel sauce with bananas in the skillet, and then set the whole thing on fire. Except the flame was totally unimpressive. I didn’t get a picture of the piddly flame, or of the final product, but we ate the bananas with Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

It was such a wonderful night. We enjoyed the food, the company, and the experience. I have heard people say that they love getting together and cooking for friends, which I never really understood. But this was really fun, relaxed, and now I understand what it means to get together to break bread with friends.

So, I seem to have lost my camera. Last seen: on the top of the trunk of my car, as I buckled Wes and Carissa in their car seats.

Not a happy thing.

Today, in fact, I found myself oft times thinking not-happy thoughts and focusing on not-happy things. It took a lot of effort, and maybe some sprinkling of blessings from above, but the day turned into a very nice one. Even though I still can’t find my camera.

This morning we had a baby sitter early to attend a pottery making class. I signed us up for it as an excuse to get out of the house on a real date (hee hee). We barely made it to the class on time, only to find the place basically empty. We came to learn that 1) whoever scheduled us for a class signed us up for the kids’ class, not the adult one, and 2) the teacher canceled all classes today anyway and didn’t tell the pottery studio she wasn’t going to be there.

Our babysitter meter was already ticking away, and I maybe whined lightly to the attendant about how we got a babysitter especially to be there for the class that was scheduled wrong and then canceled. The word “discount” might have popped up a couple times.

So we’re going to reschedule that class. Since we were already out, we debated seeing a movie (a total rarity), but it would have put us getting home later than we had planned. And since it turned out I left our cell phone at home, and the movie theater didn’t have a phone we could use (really??), we opted to float around the mall and enjoy a sit-down lunch instead. It is always nice to walk around with one’s hand in your sweetheart’s, no matter what the occasion.

After we were home and the kids were settled into naps I found myself idly catching up on bookmarked blogs that I haven’t read in a while. One of these is the Nie Nie Dialogues. It’s written by a local woman who survived a private plan crash in 2008. Eight-five percent of her body burned, and her husband sustained substantial burns, too, but they survived. They have four lovely kids and–amazingly–one on the way. Pretty much, every time I read what this woman has gone through and still experiences daily I am in awe, and it gives me a healthy and needed dose of gratitude for my own life.

After dinner (grilled cheese) I needed to get out. Wes and Carissa gladly agreed to a ride in the stroller and off we went. Tonight was cool and brisk–the brink of Fall. We walked around our neighborhood and stopped at the playground behind Wesley’s school. (He was super excited to be at his school and kept pointing to the doors, saying, “Open!”)

Wes didn’t want to climb in the playground but preferred to race around the grassy field, playing with old deflated basketballs and soccer balls left behind. We chased each other and played tag (which, in Wesley’s world, means you run after him saying, “I’m gonna get you!” until you do and he giggles wildly and runs away as fast as he can so you can get him more). Carissa toddled after us, trying to catch up. It was dusk. The clouds were full and spread across the whole sky. The air was still, except for our shouts and laughter. Wes kept pointing up and declaring, “Moooooon!” It was a beautiful evening, and I wish I had my camera to take pictures to share with you. But at least we have the memories.

Last month my mom and dad came in town for a visit. Always much fun.

Wesley loves his Grandma and Grandpa.

Lunch at Malawi’s.

Wes rode the carousel and liked it.

Wes likes to make his sister laugh. I often have to tell him to stop tickling her, because he’s getting too rough. Here he is doing Five Little Piggies on her feet.

And playing peek-a-boo. “Boo!”

OK, John, forgive me, but I have to include this photo because I love it so much. Last month John and I had a date (!) at a murder mystery dinner theater. Basically, you eat a (really tasty) dinner while the actors mingle with you and put on a performance around you. Some audience members are asked to participate. John not only read a line, but they also asked him to strut around with other male audience members during a musical number. The song was “I’m Too Sexy.” Too bad I forgot that my cell phone has a video option. But at least I got a photo!

Carissa loves to sit on little seats, even if they’re not meant to be seats. Here she is making a pack of water bottles her chair. (Important note: I have since cleaned my pantry and it no longer looks this disastrous.)

I take the kids everywhere. Some places we’ve been:

Shopping.

The park.

Playing in the fountain.

The Bean Museum.

The splash park (that’s Wesley’s cousin in front).

Carissa was brave sometimes.

And sometimes not.

We’ve been eating spoons.

And playing by doors.

And exploring water.

And sorting markers.

We’ve had a very important birthday.

After the celebration we tried to snag a photo of me and John. Alone.

But that didn’t last long.