BRRRR......

Wow, it is cold outside! It's been in the teens all this week as we're going to work and school, and barely getting above freezing during the day! We got hit with a bunch of snow this weekend, and it's still coming down. The commute wasn't too bad, just had to go slowly. Luckily I left early enough so I was still on time.

Well, a lot has happened since I last blogged, so I'll try to give you a quick update. It's been pretty busy around here with school and work. We've got finals next weeks, so there's been a lot of preparation for them. Steve has been rocking his classes too! He's really enjoying the work he's doing, and recently he's decided he'd like to become a Physicians Assistant. He also met w/ a counselor this week and found out he can finish up with Medical Assistant Degree and associates by next fall. He's pretty excited! He also took a CPR class on Saturday and passed w/ a 100%.

On Saturday evening, we got together w/ the Snow College Ambassadors that I served with back in 2002-2004. We got together for dinner at Johnny Carinos. It was fun to see everyone and catch up over the years. I can't believe how fast time goes by.

For Thanksgiving we went down to Highland to be w/ my mom's side of the family. We helped get set up and make potatoes. After dinner, we hurried back up to Steve's parents place for an honor dinner. This is something they do every year to honor someone in the family, this year it was their grandma LuDean. We went around the circle and said why we appreciate her and gave her a little something that reminded us of her. My dad also came up w/ us and as soon as we were done, Steve, his dad and my dad left to the cabin to go fishing. Steve wanted to go fishing for his birthday, and since my dad was down here, he decided to take him.


They had a BLAST fishing I hear. They slept overnight at the cabin, then went out the next morning and stayed until the afternoon. I heard my dad had a blast, though it took him a while to get the hang of rowing the pontoon boat and fishing at the same time. They all caught something, and even caught a couple BIG ones too!!!!! My dad thought it was going to be too cold to fish, but from the sounds of it, they had to pull him out of the water to leave! ;)

Steve's 24th birthday was the 29th. I made Steve crepes for breakfast and gave him a couple gifts. He already got his BBQ 2 months ago, but since he needed them....I got him a new wallet and some shorts (he won't sleep in pants though it's freezer). We then went out to Rose/Jared's for Sophia's baby blessing. Since it wasn't fast Sunday the Bishop didn't want it to be done in the church, so it was done at their home. Afterwards we ate, talked, and played games. I made Steve a chocolate cake w/ carmel in the middle and whip cream and chocolate shavings on the top; we sung Steve Happy Birthday We then went over to Steve's parents to play games too; Zach and Rob came over to play as well.


The night before I made Steve one of his favorite dinners, Shepherd's Pie. We then took the trax downtown to look at the lights at Temple Square. It was the first day the lights were on, so there were a lot of people there. The lights were beautiful and fun to see.

Last Saturday we had Carrie over. We made stuffed peppers and watched "Hitch." It was good to spend some time w/ her; it seems we haven't seen her in a while. Also, this Friday we had Zach and Rob over. We made fajitas on the grill (soooo good) and watched "Angels and Demons." We then went to the hot tub to warm up. We love having the hot tub...it's huge like 12x8!

Well, we hope all is well. It's Christmas time soon. Steve and I have been married 11 months now, almost a full year. Crazy I know!

Love ya :)

Update....

I just wanted to give a quick update on what Steve and I have been up to these days, besides just loving life ;) For the most part, we have both been fairly busy w/ school and me at work. Steve is on the downward slope for his classed this fall. He's got another three weeks then he's done. Needless to say he's getting pretty excited to be done. He'll then have one more full semester of classes, then his intern per say and he can start working as a Medical Assistant!

I've been pretty busy at work. We've been in a campaign the past 8 weeks, so I've been working extra hard to do well. If we're in the top 30% nationally we qualify to receive gift cards of $500-$1500; pretty motivating eh? There's also a trip we could win and other "perk points" which we can use to buy stuff. We just got our last results in yesterday and I'm definitely in the top 30%, what spot exactly I won't know until Friday though. It's always nice to have your hard work pay off. Last campaign I used the gift cards to pay for gas, and we also went to a couple restaurants. Gotta love not have to pay it yourself.

I've also been busy w/ school. We're at our midterms this week. So far so good, I just need to keep pushing through and get them done. I should finish up the second week of December, so just after Steve, which will be nice for the Holidays.

We also bought a space heater recently. Our place gets pretty cold on the bottom floor, but we don't want to heat up the whole place when we're only in one room. We had Dave and Joann over last week for pizza and a movie and Joann got pretty cold, sorry Bojam (We watched the movie "Up" so cute!). We also had a guy come bid us on our windows this week. We need to replace them also since they're letting warm air out and cold air in; that will help w/ heating cost too. Another bonus is our hot tub. We just love it! It's huge too. We think it's 12 feet long and 8 feet wide, almost like a warm swimming pool. We go there every couple days to warm up and it's good for Steve's knee.

Oh, and on Sunday Steve and I gave talks in church. We talked about the Book of Mormon. We didn't have too much time to talk since they were putting in a new counselor in our branch presidency, but what can you do? Everyone said they enjoyed our thoughts at least and we got to study the Book of Mormon more intensely and deepen our testimony of it. We love that book!

We also had tithing settlement right after, and that night we went over to our neighbors (a couple in the branch) and played games. It was really fun to get to know others in the branch and relate to other young married couples. :)

I love the Gospel !!!!

So yesterday Steve picked up 2 copies of "Preach My Gospel" for us to study. We figured that since we have been called as branch missionaries, we should be reading it. Since both of our copies had markings from our missions, we decided to get new ones and remark them w/ different insights and thoughts.

Ironically, earlier that day during class, Steve actually had a missionary opportunity. One of his teachers didn't show up, so a couple of the students decided to stay and work on homework or something. While there, a couple of them started to talk about the "Mormons" and had questions. Since they knew Steve served a mission, they started asking him about the Church. Most of them were just trying to pick on the Church, but one girl was actually listening to Steve's responses and wanted to know more. Eventually the other students left and it was just Steve and the other girl. She then started to ask Steve about our beliefs on the after life; apparently her mother had recently passed away and she was curious to know what would happen. Steve then went on to explain about the plan of salvation, and basically taught a second lesson from "Preach My Gospel." They ended up talking for quite a while. After they were done, she thanked him for his time and being so willing to answer her personal questions. She said never before had her ever felt anyone had actually took the time to answer her questions and that she wanted to know more. Steve of course said he'd love to talk to her about the Gospel whenever she wanted. Right after they were done Steve sent me a text to tell me about it; we were both soooo excited for the opportunity he had to share the Gospel!

We are looking forward to our new callings as branch missionaries and can't wait to be sharing the Gospel again. We almost forgot how much we love being missionaries and sharing this amazing message w/ others. You can't help but be happy when you're doing it!!!

Winter is here!!!

Brrrr it's cold outside!!! It's been snowing all day practically, and I hate to admit it but I think Winter is finally here. This morning it was hard to get out of bed. It was cold outside and nice and warm in our bed, but we had signed up to help clean the church, so we forced ourselves out. We hurried and got dressed, then walked over to the church to help clean. There were 2 other couples that came, so we got done in a hour or so luckily.



Afterwards, Steve went to help his dad put the tracks on the ATV's and some other things, while I stayed home to do laundry and stuff. Lately I've been looking for some more crockpot recipes, so I printed some off of the Internet. While I was putting them in my recipe book, I found this recipe I got back in college from our bishop's wife, called Taco Soup. Since it was cold outside and warm soup sounded good, I decided to make it. It's sooooo easy and yummy! I just make taco meat like normal, then dumped everything in the crockpot on high for 1-2 hrs and vwala, you're done! Here's the recipe:


Taco Soup

1 lb Ground Beef
1 Medium Onion
1 Pkg Taco Seasoning
1 16 oz can corn w/ juice (I used frozen corn)
2 16 oz can of kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes (I used 14 oz diced tomatoes)
1 8 oz tomato sauce (I used my mom's homemade tomato soup)
1 8 oz green chiles
(I also added 1 can of black beans)

Top w/ cheese and serve w/ tortilla chips. Enjoy! It's soooo easy, anyone can make it!

Weekend Fun!

This has been a fun weekend, full of events. Friday night we invited Eve and Aaron over to make pizza and play games. I made the dough Thursday night after class, then just put it in the fridge overnight. After work on Friday, Steve got the dough out and we let it rise for a while, then put the pizzas together. We made a Canadian bacon w/ pineapple one, and one w/ pepperoni. I also had some red peppers, so we added them to half of each. We also put string cheese in the crust to make a cheese crust, which was so yummy as well. We then ate the pizza and watched "Enchanted." We also had brownies and ice cream, so good ! When the movie was over we went to our hot tub and relaxed for a while. It was our first time going to our new hot tub, and let me tell you what....it's great! It's rather large actually and very cozy; we could fit our whole family in it. After a while, we then went back to our condo and played a couple games...Blokus and pig pile. We were having so much fun and actually ended up staying up pretty late.

The next morning, Steve woke up at 7 a.m. to go w/ his dad to the cabin to get the pontoon boats. Steve decided this week that for his birthday he wants to go fishing, imagine that. So he invited my dad and his dad to go the day after Thanksgiving. My parents are coming down for Thanksgiving this year, so it'll work out just great. Needless to say Steve is rather excited to go.

While Steve was out playing, I was home tiddying up and then went to Stacie's baby shower. It was really fun to see everyone there and especially for Stacie and Phill, I think they're getting pretty excited to have their baby girl come soon. On the way to the shower my "check engine" light came on, but since I was running a little late, I just called Steve and kept going. After the shower I went to Dave/Joann's where Steve was so they could look at my car. I popped the hood and we immediately noticed that the oil cap hadn't been put on properly. It was actually just sitting on top of the oil resevoir, and oil was all over. We then went and took it to Big O'Tires to have them look at it since they were the ones who serviced it a couple weeks ago. While they were looking at things, they also found that when I filled up the day before I hadn't fully tightenend the gas cap, so that would cause the light to come on too. Luckily both were easy fixes and they didn't cause any damage. It was such a relief to me.

A couple hours later, Dave/Joann picked us up and we went to the temple. We met everyone there to do a session. We decided this year for Christmas we wouldn't do gifts, but instead just do service, temple service. After we all got there we went in for the session. It was a really neat session and it was neat to have everyone in the family there together, in the Temple.

Today at church, I lead the music in sacrament meeting again. Then after the 2nd hour, Steve and I went to a rehabilitation hospital where Steve helped bless the sacrament and also gave short talk. Our branch goes over every week to help their even smaller branch. The sacrament meeting only lasted a half hour, but it was still neat to experience. We then went w/ another guy and took the sacrament to those who were in rooms that couldn't attend. We both enjoyed the opportunity to serve and help others experience the blessing of taking the sacrament.

Well, it was an eventful week and this week will be the same. We've actually got talk assignments in our branch this week and of course the normal stuff.....school and work. I'm really enjoying my schedule and spending more time at home w/ Steve. Love ya :)

Beautiful Weather!!!

Wow! Can you believe the beautiful weather we've been having this week? Me neither! So this week I ironically switched my schedule to 5 8 hour shifts, instead of the 4 10 hour shifts. Steve and I decided that we just haven't been seeing each other enough nor do we have much time to do anything but homework, so I decided to change my shift. I started taking 2 night classes last week, so I'd get home at 9:30 or 10 pm on Tuesday and Thursday, and the other nights I wouldn't get home until 7:30pm. So w/ the new switch, I get off at 4:30 pm on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday so I'm actually home by 5 pm! I still have classes on Tuesday/Thursday, but at least this way the other 3 nights we get to spend more time together.

So, today after I got home from work we went for a walk. With the time change and getting home a LOT earlier it was actually still light outside. We went on a walk to a couple stores and just enjoyed the evening! We then had dinner together (before 8 pm, crazy I know), did laundry, homework, etc. On Monday, we also had dinner together, rented the new Ice Age, Dawn of the Dinosaurs (sooo cute!), went to a bookstore, and had time to study our scriptures. There is just soooo much time to do things I can't believe it. We've also been making more of an effort to study our scriptures, more than just a verse, but actual study....and now we have more time for that too! We've already been seeing the blessing by making more time for spiritual matters. We are slower to anger and get frustrated w/ each other, and their is a stronger Spirit in our home. I am so thankful for the blessing we have and also now being able to spend more time together and have some "dates" too. ;)

Fajitas

So last weekend Steve and I decided to make Fajitas on the grill. They were sooooo good! I found this recipe on the Internet and then modified it according to what ingredients we had.

For the marinara sauce we just used the cumin, lemon juice, soy sauce, and Worcestershire sauce and let it soak for about 4 hrs until I got home from work. Then Steve grilled them on the bbq. I also cut up red peppers and onions, put them in tin foil, and grilled them too. While Steve was grilling I made some rice and put black beans in it, along w/ refried bean. I put the rice and beans on the side, but Steve just put it all together. The chicken was soooooo good and moist, you'll have to try it. Here's the official recipe. Enjoy!!!


Bubba s Fajitas

Ingredients:
1 pound beef skirt steak
1 centiliter garlic -- chopped
juice from 1 large lime
1 teaspoon cumin
1 medium yellow onion -- sliced in rings
1 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
pepper to taste
green and yellow peppers
guacamole
refried beans
Mexican rice
warm flour tortillas

Instructions:
Serves 4 regular people or two hungry Texans. Trim fat from steak. Pound lightly to tenderize. Place meat in non-metallic container. Top with onion rings. Combine remaining ingredients. Pour over meat and onions. Cover and refrigerate overnight. (At this point he says to go out and just party, party, party -- just forget about these tasty fajitas 'til tomorrow.) Next day - or whenever you find your way back home, remove the meat and onions, reserving the marinade. Separate the meat and onions. Place meat on grill, basting often with the marinade and turning often to prevent charring. You gotta do this on a grill - it's not the same in a broiler. Meanwhile, sauté'' the onions in butter with some green and maybe some yellow peppers sliced into strips. When the meat's done, slice it into thin strips, cutting across the grain. Serve with homemade refried beans, Mexican rice, guacamole, picante sauce or salsa, sour cream, grated cheddar, your sauté''ed veggies and of course, warm flour tortillas to hold it all together. Bubba uses handmade tortillas he gets from a nearby restaurant. They're much better than store bought. Hint: I think this recipe is even better with chicken, but don't tell Bubba I said that, 'cause he thinks real men eat beef, and only sissies eat chicken! Thanks again Bill, Bubba and Billy Joe.