Successful...and not so successful

First, the successful adventure this week:

I found a great recipe this week for beef stroganoff. It's cheap and very easy, hence the name "cheap and easy beef stroganoff". I always love a good recipe that's fast, so ... here ya go! It was really yummy. We had it over pasta. Speaking of which ... I love whole wheat pasta, and that's pretty much all we eat. However...has anyone else noticed how spaghetti and angel hair whole wheat gets a weird texture when you cook it? We really like all of the other noodles in whole wheat, and they taste very normal. But, spaghetti and angel hair get a strange texture and sort of just break apart as you're eating them. Any suggestions? Maybe I'm just buying the wrong brand. Sorry for the side note, here's the recipe:

Cheap and Easy Beef Stroganoff

¼ lb ground beef

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can milk

1 cup sour cream

¼ t. garlic

¼ t. herbs (I used rosemary, I think)

Brown ground beef with garlic and herbs. Add cream of mushroom soup and milk and sour cream. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Serve over rice or pasta.

Now, the not so successful adventure this week:

Last night, the son of one of Gordon's home teaching families had a wedding reception. It's always hard for me to pick out a wedding present for someone who I don't know at all. We know the family pretty well, but he's been out at college this whole time, so we've never even met him. But, we decided we'd go and get them some games. That was one of our favorite wedding presents because we use them all the time! So, I went out and bought Uno and some dominoes and while I was at the store I decided to make it a whole game night kit. I bought some popcorn and a cute red bowl to put it all in. I had this vision that it'd be so cute to find some cellophane and put all of the goodies inside the bowl and wrap it up with some bright and colorful ribbon around the outside.

I brought it all home and I was excited to be creative and figure out how to put it together. My mom is always so good at putting gifts together and I love to bring a gift that looks really nice. However ... the cellophane that I bought was not quite what I thought it was. I opened it up, and it was three long pieces, not one huge one that could wrap the bowl. I had to piece it together for it to fit around the whole thing. Yikes...it was not pretty.

I wasn't quite sure what to do...but I knew that I couldn't leave it looking like that! So, I just ripped off the wrapping and went for an "open gift". I know it's not as fun when you can see right into the gift, but that was how it was going to be. A little better, I hope.

And, ta da! The final product. In the end, I guess the wrapping doesn't really matter, as long as they enjoy the gift. It only stays wrapped for a little bit of time.
The reception was at the Hyatt hotel here in town, and it was beautiful!!! Her colors were brown and light blue, and it looked so elegant. It was outside in the garden and there was a band playing and beautiful flowers and really, really pretty food. Wedding receptions are so fun. It always makes me think of ours. Almost four years ago! Man, time flies. :)