I've mentioned before that one of the things that I miss most about Kevin is cooking with him. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed being in the kitchen with him and I was even more shocked that he wanted to be cooking with me in the first place.

He even brought his own recipe and it was one of my favorites of his visit.

Butterbeer is something that I've wanted to try since it was first mentioned in Harry Potter. I've wondered how it would taste and wished that it actually existed somewhere.

Boyfriend, who is also a Harry Potter fan, found a recipe online that was duplicating the flavor of Butterbeer at the Harry Potter theme park. And we decided to try it.

I definitely think you should check out Kevin's post about making Butterbeer, because he uses pictures of the steps and I forgot to document that.

Here's what you need!

Living nine hours away from my family is hard. I lived in my parents basement, and though I was ready to get out of there, it has been so difficult to go from seeing them every day to being lucky to talk to them once a week.

The distance means that I will probably only see them a few times a year, if that. It's hard to think about sometimes.

I've always been really close with my parents. When I was a teenager, I kept expecting to hit an age where they would drive me crazy and embarrass me on an hourly basis like all of my friend's parents. That never happened. They have always been the ones that I go to when I'm having a really bad day. 

But it's so much harder to go to them with my problems now that I'm in Las Vegas. Talking is good, if I can catch them; but nothing is better than a hug from them. And that's simply not available.

On Saturday I was able to hug my mom.

My aunt had surgery, and my mom is staying there to take care of her. Just a mere two and a half hours away.

So Alyson and I hopped in the car and shuffled off to Utah to give my mom a great big hug. It felt amazing.

All of my aunt's children were there as well, and while Susan slept in her bedroom, we played games at the kitchen table, which is known to happen when a bunch of family gets together. I won. Of course. 

Around 8:00pm, we hugged one more time before Aly and I got back in the car and drove back to Nevada. It was a short, perfect trip. Those few hours were just enough to last me until the next time I see my parents. I hope.

I love you mom!

Kevin and I spent a LOT of time in the kitchen while he was here. I've never had that much fun cooking. 

They were absolutely delicious.
We made pancakes from scratch and topped them with strawberries, whipped cream and maple syrup.

I've been thinking about all of my past relationships. Some of them are pretty laughable. Enjoy yourselves in my failed relationships.

Justin (age five): A boy that lived across the street. His two older sisters forced us to get married in my back yard on my trampoline. The marriage didn't last for more than a few hours, but we remained really good friends.

Brogan (age six): A boy from my neighborhood. Our relationship consisted of swimming in ponds and climbing the tree in my back yard. While climbing said tree, he dared me to kiss him. I did. We didn't talk much after that.

Mike (age seven): A boy from down the street. He was eleven. We were pretty good buddies until he and two of his friends followed me to the park and forced me into the boys bathroom. Mike made me french kiss him. My seven year old self did not enjoy it. Yes. I was lip raped.

Quinn (age nine): A boy I met at the canal my friends and I used to swim in. After five minutes he asked me to be his girlfriend and I said yes. The next night I ran into him at the movie theater. I was going to see a movie with my parents and he asked me to ditch them and see the movie he came to see. I agreed. "Can I carry you to our seats?" He asked. I laughed at him and went back to sit with my parents.

Manny (age twelve): A boy who moved in down the street. Me and my four best friends were walking down the street to scope him out and he decided that he thought I was the cutest. After a week of "dating," we went to the water slide with a bunch of friends. Two of my cousins were there and were very clingy, meaning that I wasn't able to spend time with Manny. He decided to date another of my girl friends. By the end of the night he was back with me, and there was a tizzy in the girl group.

Jeremy (age fourteen): A boy from school. He was my walk on the wild side. I tried to sneak out to go to his house once. I was caught. (Thanks parents.) We went to the water slide on a date. He wanted to stop in the slide and kiss me. I called my dad to come and pick me up. I broke up with him that night.

Justin (age fifteen): A boy from school. We "dated" for the summer. We always brought an extra person to throw the number off because I wasn't 16 yet, therefore I shouldn't have been dating. (I don't know why all the previous boys didn't bother me.) He was apparently using me to make another girl jealous.

Adam (age fifteen-twenty): A boy that made my life a complicated mess. I was crazy about him for nearly 5 years and he never felt the same. I finally decided that I was being a moron and forgot all about him.

James (age eighteen): A boy I knew from school. We dated for a week. Lots of kissing. Oh, the kissing was fun. He broke up with me. A week later he changed his mind. I didn't kiss him again after that and I broke it off after another week.

CJ (age twenty): He lived in Canada. I didn't. As amazing as he was, he wasn't good enough to make me move to Canada. I like living in the States. I like spelling favorite without a U. The U is for Unnecessary!

Tim (age twenty-one): The quintessential bad boy. He was a bad influence on me. It's okay. I had fun. He was a jerk. It's all good.

Kevin (age twenty-one): The boy I'm with now. He's a great kisser, he's the sweetest guy I've ever met, we have fun doing anything and he's amazing. I love him. A lot.

The morning was spent kissing and cuddling but was dampened for a moment when Kevin broke the news that he would have to leave a day early.

His parents came to Vegas with him, and his mom found out that she had to work on Thursday or risk losing a much desired day off in a few weeks.

It was so hard to hear that I had to say goodbye to him a bit earlier than I had anticipated. I knew it would be so hard for him to leave on Thursday, it broke my heart a little knowing he'd leave in less than 24 hours.

But we made the best of the day. 

We found a pass under the interstate that was covered in graffiti and took some of the most amazing pictures together. The lighting was perfect and they look so good!

After a few hours of taking pictures together, smiling, kissing and laughing, we went back to my place to begin making dinner.

We both invited his parents and my sister for a wonderful dinner of lasagna, garlic bread and salad. BIG hit, if I do say so myself. It was so yummy.

I like cooking okay, but cooking with Kevin is one of the best things. I've decided. It's so much fun being in the kitchen with him, both of us working on creating something delicious to eat while we sing Disney songs and take a few kissing breaks. It's one of my all time favorite things and I can't wait until we get to do it again.

After dinner, Kevin's parents took us to the strip where we strolled around the Palazzo, the Venetian and the Wynn. I can now add these three casinos to the list of casinos I've been in. It's incredible how much detail goes into the interior of these casinos. It's beautiful. 

We dropped off his parents after a while and went back to walk around a bit more. It's so crazy how empty the casinos are at 11pm on a Wednesday. Planet Hollywood looked like it was closed. I've never seen it so abandoned. 

The night was wonderful. The perfect ending to a perfect three days.

I can't wait until he's here again. It's going to be amazing. I already know it.

I've mentioned this before, but I LOVE writing letters. 

I don't do it as often as I would like, but I've been making an effort to send at least five letters every month.

It's been so much easier since I bought adorable Hallmark stationary.

I bought these cute cards a few months ago at Wal-Mart. They are the perfect size, are adorable, blank and come with envelopes. Did I mention that there are 50 of them in one box?

And the best part? It only cost $8.00.

I've noticed that there are a bunch of other designs and so I've been a card writing machine so I can justify getting more stationary.

Today, I sat down and I wrote 11 cards to 11 people that I love. 

It was so much fun to walk out to the mailbox and shove them all inside and picture the happy faces they'll have on their faces when they check their mail and find something other than bills and junk.

It makes me feel pretty darn happy.

I think I might write a few more once my hand is done cramping. And once I buy more stamps.