Happy Now--July 8

Here are my Happy Now 10 for the past couple of weeks:

1.  Blue Apron Meals--I recently discovered Blue Apron Meals and have had such a fun time using them in the kitchen!  Every week I get a refrigerated box with the recipes and ingredients for three yummy meals. The ingredients come pre-measured and labeled (practically fool-proof), and the meals are healthy and flavorful.  It takes me about an hour to prepare the meals, but I have loved the experience and the opportunity to use kitchen tools we received for our wedding that, until now, have just sat in drawers.  It has exposed us to meals I KNOW we never would have had otherwise.  Blue Apron has given me four free weeks to share with friends if anyone is interested (one week--3 meals for two people--per person).  If anyone is interest, let me know!  Here are some recent meals I've made:

First 3 Meals:  Lemon Thyme Turkey Cutlets, Meatball Subs, Ratatouille-filled Zucchini

Recent Meal: Beef and Bulgur-Stuffed Squash

Recent Meal: Lemon and Pea Tendril Risotto

2.  Bike Riding--Darren and I recently spent a day in Jackson Hole and rode our bikes through Grand Teton National Park.  It was gorgeous!  I'm grateful to live in a place where we're surrounded by so many of Heavenly Father's beautiful creations.

Darren riding with no helmet and no hands, that daredevil.  You can see below that I took a slightly different approach ...

3.  Babysitting Animals--Two weeks ago, Darren and I were asked to babysit the animals of the sweet family that lives next door.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  Remember this post when I said my perfect combination of pets would be a dog, a cat, and a horse?  Well ... I got to live the dream for a week.  The fact that their cats had just recently had kittens was the cherry on top.  It was about all I could do to keep from spending all of my time over there!  The first picture is a group shot, but I also had to include some close-ups of the kittens.  Their little faces kill me!

This was the only little boy ... and Darren's favorite. :)

This little girl was the adventurer in the group, and frankly made me a little nervous.  She was the most difficult to keep in her cage (we had to keep the cage door open so that Mama Kitty could get in and out) and loved getting under and behind things where we couldn't reach her.  You know what they say about curiosity and cats ... I'm just glad our neighbors still had all three kittens when they returned home!

This little sweetheart might have been my favorite.  She was pretty calm and even tempered, but still had a playful side.   I may or may not have picked out a name for her.

4.  Horse Meds--One of our responsibilities while taking care of the animals next door was to give the  horse two types of oral medications for a leg injury she received right before our neighbors went out of town.  I haven't spent significant time with horses in years, so I was pretty nervous about this responsibility.  In the end, it was so gratifying to work closely with this sweet girl.  She was very cooperative, and Darren and I both had the chance to work with her.  I actually really miss it now, though I doubt she does. ;)

5.  Cartoon--Maybe it's because I lost two hamsters to our cat, Ariel, when I was younger, but I about died when I saw this cartoon last week.

6.  FHE Date Night--In an effort to have more regular FHEs in the Myler household (something we definitely need to work on) Darren and I decided to create a schedule and assign a theme to each Monday of the month.  We made the fourth Monday of each month a "Bonding FHE" where we just find a fun activity to do together.  We have kept it pretty simple so far, usually just carving out time to take a walk together or some such thing.  Two Mondays ago we decided to make reservations for dinner at the Half Moon Lake Lodge that recently reopened for the season.  I'm so glad we did.  It was beautiful and peaceful and the food was delicious.  Maybe in the future we'll decide to do some more adventurous activities, but for now I'm thinking this might be an activity we need to repeat again soon!

7.  4th of July Fudge--My friend, Kristal, and I got together to make some 4th of July fudge.  It was my first time making fudge, so I was glad to have an expert on hand!

8.  4th of July--The 4th of July is one of my favorite holidays.  Darren had to work last Friday, so we kept our celebrations pretty low key.  I made chicken sliders and coleslaw (thanks, Blue Apron!), and we had a great view of the fireworks show from our front porch.  I'm so grateful to be an American and for the freedoms we enjoy!

9.  Harp Practice--I have been really bad about practicing the harp since Christmas.  When I was reminded a few weeks ago that I had agreed to play for the Pioneer Day-themed Sacrament Meeting on July 20th,  I went into full panic mode replacing broken strings and finding appropriate music.  The music I found is a little above my ability level, so I'm really hoping I can pull it together, but I'm so grateful for this reason to be back behind the harp.  Wish me luck!

10.  The Giver--I just started listening to the audiobook of Lois Lowry's The Giver.  I'm a little embarrassed I've gone this long without reading it.  I've had it on my list of books to read for a while, and with the movie coming out soon I realized that now was the time.  I've heard mixed reviews on the book, so I'm really surprised by how much I'm loving it! I realize it's a classic and I'm probably the last 30 year old to read it, but I love finding little literary gems like this one.  I'm only half-way done, but I highly recommend it!

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