Family Dinner at the Murek's!

Last week, Tony and I celebrated Easter with Lori, Mitch, Shelby, and Rob.  Unfortunately, Haley and Josh couldn’t join us, but hopefully next time!  We had a lot of fun, and Butters thoroughly enjoyed himself as well.  We look forward to these dinners together as a family.  Weekend trips home, like this one, have helped keep us grounded during our time in medical school.  It makes me sad that they won’t be as often when we move to Texas next month.  However, they certainly will give us a great incentive to come home!

Mitch made a new cheese dip!  It was so tasty, especially paired with the mini sausages. 

Mitch loves to take new recipes and add his own finishing touches.  He has done this in the past with stews and soups, which always are a big hit!  This time was no different, as I couldn’t help but have a few extra samplings! 

These two crack me up! What a great couple!

Shelby, Tony's sister, met her boyfriend, Rob, last year.  They go to college together at Niagara University, and it is obvious that they both kinda like each other :) Even though I have met Rob a few times in the past, this was the first time we really had a chance to sit down to chat for a while.  Both are doing great in school.  They are carefully considering career choices, and thinking about grad schools: law for Rob and education Masters or PhD for Shelby.  However, it seems their hardest decision right now is deciding on the kind of dog to join them in the coming years:  Rob is not too keen on the Maltese that Shelby wants.  However, we are working on him :)

Lori made two of my FAVORITE dinner items: twice baked potatoes and seasoned steaks right off the grill. 

Her twice-baked recipe is so good.  She bakes the potatoes first, cuts them in half, and scoops out the potato center.  Using a mixer, she beats the potatoes and adds cheddar cheese plus real bacon (sometimes also sour cream).  Each is topped off with some bacon bits, after stuffing the mix back into the potato shells.  They are baked in the oven for a second time and come out absolutely delicious. 

The steaks came from the Alabama Store, which has the best cuts of meat I have ever tasted.  After adding some seasoning, Lori cooked them to perfection on the grill… didn’t even need steak sauce!

The meal was topped off with this delicious two-tiered cake (vanilla with a raspberry center).  Aren’t the peep decorations a great idea for Easter?  So creative

I liked this cake so much, I just had to pin it (I love Pinterest!)  And, the jellybeans were Tony and my favorite: Starburst Jellybeans!

Butters of course was also pretty happy with the whole visit.  

With all of the food around, he certainly was on his worst best begging behavior. The plate of chocolate eggs had to be temporarily moved, as we all knew what he was thinking by the crazy eyes over the coffee table.  I am pretty sure that he had a few helpings of mini-sausages, as he smelled a bit of BBQ sauce by the end of the night.  Grandma Lori surprised him with a new sock monkey, which he thoroughly enjoyed when he got home.  But, during the visit he preferred to test out one of his all time favorite toys: the good ole’ paper towel cardboard roll.  

As always, a fun and memorable visit!  

Easter Celebrations!

Easter was the first real holiday that Tony and I spent together.  Over Easter dinner, Tony met my grandparents for the first time in 2005.  He settled so easily into conversations with all of the family members, as if he had been coming over for years.  That Easter, I also happened to be fostering and bottle-feeding 3 young puppies.  Watching that handsome man juggle three adorable puppies melted my heart.  I remember, by the end of the day, I got the feeling that I would never be bringing another boyfriend home to meet the parents.  No one else would ever fit in so perfectly with my family. 

As a holiday dedicated to new beginnings through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it was fitting again to see this Easter as one of “firsts.”  It was the first Easter in my life spent outside of Albion, as we celebrated at my parent’s house in Ithaca.  Margie, Paul’s girlfriend, joined us for the first time and quickly won over the whole family.  And, our furbaby Butters enjoyed his introduction to Easter as well.  On the difficult side, it was the first holiday spent together since the loss of my Grandmom Lucy earlier this year.  This really would have been an Easter she would have enjoyed.

As always, Mom cooked the food to perfection and the decorations were gorgeous.  The large ham and excellent quiches kept people coming back for seconds and thirds.  

It was such a blessing to gather with family and friends, enjoying wine, watching movies, and sharing stories.   

Paul and Margie surprised the family Easter morning with some great treats and special cards.  And, somewhere in the excitement of Easter, “Cookies and Cream Bunny” lost his head.

Butters was also very satisfied with his new “muscle shirt.”  Jessica, Margie’s daughter, picked it out (we all missed you, Jess, but look forward to seeing you at graduation!!).  It looked great on the little guy, and he happily modeled it around the house!  

I know this coming year will certainly be filled with many more “firsts” when Tony and I make our big move to Texas.  But, we will continue to look forward to special moments like these when we can come home to family and friends.  

A little light on the Easter decorations

Between the distractions of medical school and enjoying March break, Easter kind of snuck up on Tony and I.  It really didn’t seem like we had eaten enough Friday fish fries.  Hadn’t it just been Ash Wednesday?  And, somehow we made it almost all the way through March without purchasing a single bag of candy (something that never happens)!  However, last week we got our act together and finally bought bags of our Easter favorites: Reese’s mini eggs and Starburst jellybeans.

With our move to San Antonio right around the corner, we have promised ourselves to stay away from buying holiday decorations.  Tony and I have been working through the difficult task of sorting through all of the odds and ends.  It is amazing what accumulates in just a few short years.  We have already taken 6 bags of holiday items to the Salvation Army. Most of these items were long forgotten in the deep corners of closets.  So, we saved some money and storage space by using items we already had around the house to get a little Easter cheer going.

Butters also offered to help us out with the spring-cleaning by eating all of the Easter candy.  Much to his disappointment… no chocolate (or jellybeans) for little doggies