25 years!

Today is my parent's 25th anniversary!
They are such awesome parents who have given me so much love, support and care. I feel blessed to have parents that raised me in the gospel and have loved me unconditionally.
I love them both with all my heart!
Happy anniversary!!

Also, happy birthday to Hayes and Olivia!
I'm so grateful to have such fun and cute nieces and nephews and great in-laws!

my sweet hubby

1. Where did you meet your husband? at our single's ward.

2. How long did you date? about 3 months.

3. How long have you been married? 10 months on the 16th.

4. What does he do that surprises you? he's full of surprises. :) it always surprises me how much he knows about the gospel. I looove that about him.

5. What is your favorite feature of his? his hair. his sweet smile. his humor. his fun personality...

6. What is his best quality? how caring he is.

7. Does he have a nick name for you? baby, honey, Andie, sweetie, sweetheart..

8. What is his favorite food? anything I put in front of him. he isn't picky. he loves lots of kinds of food.

9. What is his favorite sport? probably football or basketball.

10. When and where was your first kiss? our first kiss was on our second date out on the deck while looking at the lit up valley. so romantic! ;)

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? we love watching movies together, being outdoors.. just about anything where we're with each other.

12. Do you have children? not yet.

13. Does he have hidden talents? he is quite a good chef! I love nights when he helps me cook or when he takes over and cooks himself!

14. How old is he? 28.

15. Who said I love you first? Jake did.

16. His favorite music? he likes almost anything. no rap though.

17. What to you admire most about him? soo much. he always inspires me to be a better person.

18. What is his favorite color? i don't know if he really has one. maybe green, i think?

19. Will he read this? yeah, he will. I love you, honey! ;)

20. Who do you tag? whoever misses their husband like me and wants to talk about him! ;)

We're coming in the morning!

Jake and I will be flying in to Utah tomorrow (tuesday) morning!

We're so excited to spend the holidays with family and see everyone!

Happy Holidays, everybody!!

Twilight

Looooooved it! I was so giddy sitting there watching the movie!
So great. I want more!

updated blog look!

I went all out today and changed the look of my blog around! The original plain blue background just wasn't fun enough.
We'll be flying to Utah on the 25th!! I'm very excited for the holidays!
I would totally have most of my Christmas shopping done but I'm waiting to buy everything until we're there in Utah. I can't wait to see my families and friends! I definitely need to get a baby fix since the baby hunger is creeping up again! The Taylor family has the cutest kids!
I have realized that I am going to miss being here at home though! I have grown to love it here and have made so many sweet, fun friends. I'm glad that I don't dread being here.
Sorry if this post is rather random! I also wanted to say that my skin is clearing up! I don't know how many people knew about my skin acting up but just to fill you all in... In August, I started getting these patches of really dry skin and they ended up spreading on my arms and all over my legs over time. Finally, on monday, we got in to see a Dermatologist and they said it was a certain form of eczema called Nummular Eczema. Fun, right? They prescribed me this ointment and I started using it last night and put some more on this morning (they said to use it twice a day) and I'm already seeing big improvements! Such a relief. I always seem to get the weird sicknesses. Anyways, my skin is getting better and I'm feeling healthy and strong!
P.S. I'm already listening to Christmas music! I love this time of year!

My friend told me about this cool walking trail that is near by us that leads down to the bottom of the sound. Out in the water there is an old shipwreck! Jake and I went down there two sundays ago to check it out and had a very enjoyable time. There were big trees that were changing into many pretty fall colors and leaves all over the trail. Near the end of the trail was a sign that explained where the ship came from and why it is out there in the water. Jake knows the story better since he read the whole thing while I was wandering around snapping pictures but what I understand is that it was originally tied up in the Port of Olymipa and some Sea Scouts were going to renovate it but the ship ended up getting blown away in a storm one night and ended up in the bottom of the Sound and that is where it has stayed.

When we got down to the water, it was high tide and we weren't able to get around some trees to get closer to the ship but we did get to see the pier where they used to load ships full of weapons and ammunition during WWII! We'll have to get back there soon when it's low tide and show you guys pictures of the ship! Here's some pictures that I took during our outing. Enjoy!

sorry.

I've been trying to load some pictures on here but the uploader is being ridiculous.

Pictures and an update to come!

Motionless 2039

I thought I would share this with you guys. Good thing we're not relying on my acting skills to bring in the dough! This was the summer before my senior year of high school. There's a website called filmfights.com and they give a topic and requirements for the video and people make a script and film a video. Then people can watch all the videos online and vote. This one won! (no thanks to my wonderful acting skills) ;) enjoy.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2502518

haha so embarassing.

Halloween time!

We were invited to a Halloween Progressive Dinner party this year. A group of couples have been putting this party together for the past 6 years! We were excited to have been invited into their group of friends and to be a part of this fun tradition! We had a blast. Jake and I dressed up as cavepeople! This first picture is at the first house we went to for appetizers.

After the first house, we moved to the next house for the main dish which was chicken chili, corn bread and candy corns! I was asked to make the chicken chili and I was so nervous to cook something that I had never made before for that many people! Everyone said it tasted great and like it was supposed to so it was a success! What a relief.

Once dinner was finished, it was time for everyone to meet up at one house for dessert! It was hilarious to see some of the other costumes and so fun to be around all the other couples. They kept us laughing the rest of the night! You can see some more pictures from the night on my friend, Julina's, blog.
I made Jake's costume by hand and all I had to work with was 3 little sewing kits that you get from hotels. Imagine what I'm capable of if I had a sewing machine! ;)

Here's my primary class! They're a handful but they are so fun! We were learning about talents on sunday so I brought my camera to show one of my talents. Each kid got to show off one of their talents for the class. It was a good lesson for that day because they all had the wiggles! It was our primary program last sunday (which went so much better than the practices) and they gave the kids rice krispy treats during sharing time while they watched a movie as their reward for doing well in the program. Well, each kid got TWO rice krispies and were full of sugar by the time we got to class. yikes! They definitely had the wiggles.
My friend, Stephanie, had her baby on thursday! Everything went well with her C-section and her baby boy is healthy! Jake and I visited them on sunday evening at their home. He is only 5 pounds and something ounces.. He's tiny! I got to hold him and feed him and burp him. It made me wish I could be around the new nieces in the family! I'm excited to be in Utah for so long this holiday season!

picture.

I got picture tagged!
Choose the fourth picture from the fourth picture folder on your computer...
This is a picture that I took in my old apartment and a poem that I wrote forever ago. I have a few other pictures like this, too. Click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read the text.
I now tag... Diane and Heather S.!

Great night.

I had such a great time tonight at the baby shower! I pretty much only knew one of the girls that was there tonight and only knew the one who invited me by name and through seeing her in sacrament meeting but it turned out to be a very fun night. There was great food and great company. They all kept me laughing the whole time! I made some fun new friends and I'm so excited to have other women to do things with up here! I certainly learned more about having babies just from hanging around these guys for a night!
My other friend up here is going in for a C-section on the 16th since her baby is breech and they can't get him to turn. It's her first baby and she's kinda nervous about the C-section though. I'm so excited to see her new baby boy!
Life is so good. :)
I'll be seeing the Taylor family soon! I'm flying on monday!

I love my ward.

I think that having such a great ward has really helped me in being so far away from family. I have made so many new friends here and have felt warmly welcomed. I am so grateful for the ladies in my ward that have reached out to me and showed me that they care. It's so uplifting to see that people have an interest in me and go out of their way to get to know Jake and I both.
We were invited to a Halloween progressive dinner with people from our ward and people from the ward that we were split from before Jake and I moved in. It's a costume party so I've been researching ideas of what we could dress up as! Any ideas?
Jake and I both haven't dressed up for Halloween in years but I'm so excited to get together a costume for us! I need some more creative outlets!
I am way excited to see the Taylor clan in a week! And, yay for Tom not getting into the CIA so that they can still live close to us! I would miss you guys if you were so far away!!
I can't wait for Conference this weekend! I really enjoyed Uchtdorf's talk during the RS Broadcast.
Oh yes, I thought I would share that I made my first not-so-good meal since we've been married. Stupid goulash. It was my own fault. I decided to stay home and watch the RS Broadcast on the internet instead of going to the stake center and being social. I was about to make goulash and realized that my recipe didn't have all the info I needed. My mom and sister were both at the broadcast, where I should have been, too. I couldn't get a hold of either of them to ask my questions so.. I winged it! It turned out okay (meaning it was edible) but it wasn't my best. Jake didn't even want to save the rest for leftovers and he doesn't throw any food away! So sad. I guess that's my punishment for staying home and being a hermit.
On the other hand, I did make some really good cookies that have rolos on the inside! Yum.

under the weather with a fat lip.

I came down with a cold yesterday. I was barely able to change the bedsheets and empty the bathroom garbage before I was feeling exhausted. No fun! I sent Jake to the grocery store to buy some things we needed and especially to get me some OJ to sip on, yummy chicken noodle soup for dinner and another box of tissues. I went through 2 boxes in one day! I'm feeling better today. My nose isn't running constantly.
Well, thanks to my sickness, I wasn't able to sleep very well last night. Okay, just to set this story up.. I don't know if I'm the only one that this happens to but, if I fall asleep with my arm resting above my head, the blood gets blocked and my arm goes dead. The first time it happened to me, I could have sworn my arm was paralyzed. Weird, I know. So, I guess I ended up falling asleep in a funny position last night and woke up in the middle of the night feeling uncomfortable. I moved my right arm out from under the pillow and went to cross it over my body as I rolled to my side. Instead, my arm was temporarily paralyzed and my fist decided to punch me in the mouth. I gave myself a fat lip! Apparently I have a mean right hook. All Jake could do this morning as I'm telling him about it was laugh! Also, we both kept talking to the other in our sleep last night. Maybe that's why I wasn't sleeping well, I was trying to carry on a conversation in my sleep!
I would post a picture of my fat upperlip but I'll spare you the visual.

dinner.

We got creative this week with our pizza we made. We used a Boboli pre-made whole wheat crust, alfredo sauce, italian four cheese blend and, for the toppings, artichoke hearts, broccoli and chicken. It tasted so good! I made a peach crisp last night that turned out to be very tasty. I'll have to post a picture of it when I'm serving us up the rest of it tonight! Yum.

Also, I thought I would quickly share a picture of the "mosquitos" that we have here. (I'm assuming they are mosquitos...) These things are about the size of the palm of your hand- that's including the legs. They are all over our apartment building! This one in the picture was just hanging out on our screen door.

Hey Taylor family!

My mom called me a while ago and offered to pay for a flight to Utah to see family for a few days. How could I pass that up, right? So, I'll be flying to Utah late on October 6th (monday) and leaving on the 10th (friday). I'm going to be at Candy and Jerry's wednesday night at, I think, 6:30ish. (I haven't worked out details for sure with Candy. I'll be calling you this week about it, Candy, and to ask you about making Grandma's Chicken!) I would love for as many of you to be there as possible! It's okay if you can't make it, Jake and I will be back for Thanksgiving not too long after that! I hope to see many of you! Especially the beautiful new nieces!
Last tuesday, Jake and I drove up to Auburn and got to go to dinner with Zak! He was up here for a night for business and got to hang out with us for a bit. We ate dinner at Panera Bread-it's kind of like Kneaders-and chatted there for a while. Then we went to get some ice cream at Cold Stone and chatted some more there before dropping Zak back off at his hotel. It was so fun to have him up here! We enjoyed spending so much time with him.
No primary lessons for 3 whole weeks! The primary program is coming up next month for our ward so we're going to be meeting all together to practice during primary time and General Conference is coming up. That means I'm off for 3 weeks! All I have to do is be at practices and make sure my kids are behaving somewhat civilly...
I had a girl in my class that was especially chatty last sunday tell me about her dog that had fleas and then he brought them inside and on and on. (all the while she's itching her legs... ) I'm hoping my class doesn't get infested with fleas..
There's a boy in my class that is one of 5 boys in his family and his response to everything I ask him is "I would punch them in the face". Cute.
Another boy doesn't know how to speak very well. at all. He was telling me all about his picture he drew but all I got out of it was "cookie monster".
I love it! That class is teaching me so much. It's so fun to come up with creative ways to teach the kids in my class and so fun when the participate. I'm really trying to bring the spirit more into our class and focusing on one simple idea to drill into their brains for them to remember.
Well, Jake and I are still enjoying life in Washington! I'm thinking the summer is officially over here. It's getting colder and more overcast. Boo. I hate being cold. But I love wearing cute coats!

finally.

I've been slacking on updating my blog lately! We were in San Francisco all last week and I've been cleaning and getting our apartment back in order all this week. Everything is put away and cleaned up! Whew. Now to finish preparing my primary lesson..

On our trip, we left on monday morning and drove all day and stopped in at the giant Redwoods to camp for the night. The drive was beautiful and the trees were so huge! We were driving next to the ocean and winding through the mountain roads the whole way there. We stopped at the beach to stretch our legs and be out by the ocean. One our way through the Redwoods, almost to our campsite, we came across a huuuge elk! There is a preservation for Elk in the park so these things are able to get quite big! Good thing he didn't step out infront of our car-we would have been squashed for sure! We got to our campsite a little after dark and set up our tent and mattress. There were soooo many stars that you could see out there! I was loving that. I was cold all through the night and didn't sleep well. I think Jake could have had a good night's sleep except I kept waking him up everytime I moved. Sorry, Jake! We got up the next morning and took down camp and headed the rest of the way to San Francisco!

We got there tuesday evening and checked into our room at the Palace Hotel. We planned on walking around the hotel and the area around us after Jake got registered for his business stuff but we crashed. Jake went to business meetings and gatherings the next day while I took my time getting ready, ate a yummy belgian waffle from room service, chatted on the phone with my mom for a bit and then Jake came back to the room with some lunch for me! We ate lunch in our room and then I walked Jake back to his next meeting. I took my camera along with me and went exploring after that. I relaxed by this awesome fountain, walked around the small park, walked the city streets and took a tour of an art school I'll possibly be taking online photography classes from! I have been talking to this school a bit before we went there and they just happened to be a few blocks down from the hotel!

Jake and I took the cable car that night all the way up to Ghirardelli Square where we had dinner and dessert and bought some chocolates from the Ghirardelli store. We hung on to the side of the cable car on the ride up and it felt like we were going to get swiped off by the other cable car or the parked cars on the side of the street! It was quite an adventure.

The next day, I met Jake for lunch by the park area and we got to hang out together for a bit. After Jake went back to work, I headed back to the hotel room so that I could prepare my primary lesson. That night, we got dressed up and went to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. It was so delicious. We were definitely in San Fran because the two guys that were in the elevator with us, then in front of us in line to put your name on the list and then at the table next to ours were holding hands, on a date, together, with each other.

Friday, we packed our stuff in the car and drove the whole 11 hours home. I think it's safe to say that half of our marriage so far has been spent driving in a car for long distances. No more.

Saturday was the BYU vs. U-dub and we had tickets to be there!! We were pretty far up there in the nose-bleeders but we were surrounded by BYU fans so it made it way fun. Our friends Brady and Tracy hooked us up with the tickets and we all rode up together with Brady's BYU car window flag flying on our drive up there. We were sporting our BYU blue and hung out at the Cougar Town rally area a little bit before the game. The game was so intense and so fun. I'm way glad that we went to it!

Well, my primary class is going pretty well. I feel pretty drained after church is over though. I love making activities for them to do. It is hard to get some of them to focus and participate but I don't have any kids that give me major problems. I usually have about 6 kids in there each week. Speaking of my calling, I really should finish preparing my props for it. We're learning about paying our tithing this week!

I think that's it for the updating. I'm sure that I'm forgetting something..
Sorry it's so long! Hopefully I'll keep this updated more often so the entries don't get so long!

ward calling!

On sunday, I was called to teach the 5 and 6 year olds in primary! I got to sit in on their class on sunday and see how things go. I'll have 6 or 7 kids in my class! It's going to be so much fun. I sure hope that I can keep them in control and be able to have fun and interesting lessons and activities for them! I need to brush up on my primary songs for sure though! It's been a while since I've been in Primary..

moms.

So, I was searching through some blogs to find old friends and I came across this one woman's blog and she had a post about an email forward that she received. I read it and I really wanted to share it! This is the reason that I am so excited about being a mom and why it's so hard to put it off. I've heard all of my sister-in-laws tell stories just like this. I hope you guys enjoy!!

“People think I'm crazy when I tell them I love childbirth. It's not that I like pain-I don't. But there is just something about working really hard to get something really good. My husband and I have the routine down: we do whatever it takes to get through a contraction, then I slump back on the bed, as limp and peaceful as a noodle (as peaceful as a noodle can be) and rest before the next one hits. It's hard work, but when the baby is finally born, the pain doesn't matter anymore-and I experience joy beyond description. (Then I swear I'll never do it again.)
It has recently occurred to me that childbirth can be one huge metaphor for motherhood. We ‘labor’ day in and day out, moment by moment-scrubbing, brushing, wiping, flushing, buckling, holding, washing, folding-it's a wonder more mothers don't drop dead from pure exhaustion!So here's my theory: Heavenly Father knew how challenging motherhood would be for each of us-physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. So He sends us ‘mother mercies.’ You know the moments-the ones that sneak up on you and make you smile or laugh-or teary-eyed. It's like the time I caught a whiff of my five-year-old and realized he'd put on his daddy's deodorant that morning. Or when he used to pray nightly, ‘Please bless that morning will come in five minutes.’ It's the time I found a bar of soap in my bathroom with one (and only one) set of teeth marks in it. Or when my preschooler asked me, ‘Why did Jesus cover our bones with skin?’
Perhaps these little mercies are like the pauses between our contractions of motherhood-the moments that make us say, ‘Oh yeah. I really love this mothering stuff.’

Contraction: Baby spits up.
Mother Mercy: Three-year-old cries in alarm, ‘Mom! She's spilling!’

Contraction: Five-year-old climbs on counter to find sweets.
Mother Mercy: He explains he was simply finding desert for ‘Family Home Ming-Ming.’

Contraction: Patting your squishy tummy left over from pregnancy.
Mother Mercy: Patting your baby's squishy tummy that you got in return.

Contraction: Feeling overwhelmed and grumpy.
Mother Mercy: Oldest child says sweetly, ‘Mommy, if you say a prayer, Heavenly Father will help you feel better.’

Think about it-what an interesting phenomenon-in our very hardest moments of mothering, Heavenly Father sends us these little flashes of reprieve to help us keep going with a smile. True, we have diapers and back-talking and tantrums and spills, but we also get kisses and first steps and stick-figure drawings and hand-pulled bouquets.Look for the Mother Mercies in your own life. I promise they will pop up everywhere-when your toddler trips the alarm at the library (like mine did) or when he pours pop down the bowling alley lane (yes, mine) or when you find your envious child stripped down to his nothings at the park, staring longingly through the fence into the city pool (Whose kid is that? Oh, it's mine). The Mother Mercies are always there. Don't miss them!
One Sunday while I was juggling my three little ones, an older sister in my ward leaned over and said, ‘This will all end someday, believe me.’ To which I replied, ‘Oh don't tell me that! I'm having so much fun.’ Who knew that doing something so hard could bring me so much happiness? And just like the finale of childbirth, I'm hopeful that this mothering thing-this exhausting labor of love-will someday bring us joy we could never comprehend was possible.”

crazy eyes.

I just got home from the eye doctor and I was going to take a picture of my dilated eyes because they look freaky! Buuut... it's really hard to keep your eyes open in bright light long enough to snap a decent picture. haha. So, no picture!
I think the heat wave is finally over. It was soo hot here for a few days there. It's killer with no A/C. Here's an example of just how hot it was here in our apartment on saturday.. I was wanting to bake some cookies and Jake was craving some Snickerdoodles. The recipe I found said to have the butter be at room temperature. So, I set two sticks of butter on the counter while we went to the store real quick. When I checked on it later, the butter was starting to melt! Ridiculous.
(the snickerdoodles were quite tasty though!)
I found some fun new dinner recipes online today that I'm excited to try out! I'll for sure have to post the recipes if they are a hit. Pepperoni rolls and Crescent Chicken roll-ups...sounds good! Can't wait to make them! Tonight for dinner is Pizza Chicken! Yum.

Another anniversary!

Happy 2 year anniversary to my wonderful sister and my awesome brother-in-law! I miss Heather a lot since we live so far away from each other but I'm so glad she has such a great husband! I'm grateful to have Tom in our family, he's been the perfect addition!

I hope you two have a great time in PA with the in-laws! I love you both!

This one was taken when Tom proposed to Heather in France!! ^^^

6 whole months!

Happy 6 month-a-versary to Jake and me! The time has gone by so quickly!

Life is so wonderful and I'm so grateful to have such an amazing husband.

I love you so much, Jake!!

new hair cut!

I had about 6 inches cut off of my hair! It's still considered long hair but it feels soo short to me! I put in some more brown to match my natural color that seems to be getting darker and darker the older I get. I wanted a little less blonde than the hairdresser put in but I still like it! She also styled it for me so it's styled a bit different than I would. Most importantly, Jake approves! ;)

Here's some pictures! (Thanks to Jake and his amazing photography skills! He shot them in manual mode!)

All done.

I finished Breaking Dawn last night and I looooved it! Ah!
I can't wait for the Twilight movie to come out now!
I'm going to have to find another book series to obsess over now.

No sleep.

Last night was sooo hot here. I couldn't get comfortable in the heat so I kept tossing and turing all night long. Boo. PLUS! I'm halfway through Breaking Dawn and my mind was racing trying to think of what was going to happen next and this and that and UGH! What a crazy night. I can't wait to find out what else happens in this book! I really should be focusing on writing my talk for sunday...yikes! I haven't spoken in church since high school! Wish me luck! ;)

wahoooo!

I just reserved a copy of Breaking Dawn for me to pick up tomorrow!!
I'm so excited! :)

decisions, decisions..

Okay, let me start from the beginning.. A girl just moved into my ward who I actually know from when I lived in Vegas and we know all of the same people and even hung out with the same group of friends a few times wayyy back in the day. We have been hanging out a bit lately since she gets off of work at noon and we both need some social interaction every now and then. She's 6 months pregnant and hates the part time job she is at right now. She has been looking for another job and interviewing at other places so I told her that I would love to take over her job she has now when she finds a new one! It's from 8-12:30 M-F and I would be scanning in files for different companies. Sounds boring and tedious but I love busy work! It would be perfect because it gets me up and going in the mornings but I still have time to come home and clean things up and bake! ;) Buuut, this girl has also mentioned that she would love to have me nanny her little baby boy when she has him in November so she doesn't have to take him to the day care on the military base. That would be so fun but so scary! It may curb my baby hunger or it could make it worse! Right now we live so close to this girl but we aren't going to be in this apartment for much longer and I don't know where we could be moving to. Also, there's the option of taking a photoshop class and improving on my pictures and getting my photography going up here.
There's just soo many options!! I'm going to go after this part time job and see if that falls into place. If not, it's time to try out a different option. I'm not liking all these big decisions. Boo.

Another new favorite recipe!

The apron I'm wearing is the cute one that Jane made for me for my birthday! Thanks so much!

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/8 teaspoon salt 5 tablespoons butter 7 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cooking spray
PreparationPreheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray.
Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks.

P.S. Jake left on his high adventure scout campout this morning and won't be back until saturday. I'm so jealous! And I miss him already!

Portland Temple

Our temple in Seattle is closed for cleaning right now so Jake and I drove down to Portland on saturday to go to the temple there. This temple is soo gorgeous! We got to do a session at this temple when we visited from Raleigh but I forgot how pretty it is! It has beautiful white and black marble and there are these awesome stars on the wooden doors and hidden on the spires. The weather was so perfect when we came out of the temple that we couldn't resist taking a stroll around the grounds. I brought the camera along to get some pictures. We love being in the temple! The spirit is so strong there and we can feel so much closer to the Lord there. I feel so blessed to have had a temple so close to me my whole life.

Remember?

Write down your favorite memory with me and add this to your blog so I can do the same for you!!1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you remember me a little or a lot, anything you remember!2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you! If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing and leave a memory about you on your blog!

Tagged once more!

My sister tagged me to share 10 interesting things about myself. I love these so that you guys can get to know me better and I get you know you! Here are some things that I have found out about myself since getting married and living with another person. You really do find out so much about yourself when you get married!

1. Like my sister put down too, I hate having dishes in the sink. I guess it was the way we were raised but I can't stand to have dishes pile up in the sink.
2. I think I've always known that I had an introverted personality but I'm realizing now what that means. I love being social but I get nervous to plan my own social events that I host. I can tell when I reach my social limit and I'm needing some alone time to recharge my social batteries.
3. I love cooking meals, baking goodies and just being a stay-at-home wife. I love to create things and to look around my house and see it is clean and taken care of.
4. I love listening. Sometimes I don't say much but I sure am listening. I love to read people by the way they speak, act, move. I probably should have become a psychologist. I love that stuff. Or maybe a detective. Some say I'm very observant.
5. I cannot wait to be a mom. Just like I was so prepared and ready to be married, I'm preparing as much as I can for when I'm finally a mom.
6. I have a major sweet tooth. I love brownies, cookies, cake, ice cream, pie....anything sweet!
7. I love the outdoors. Four-wheeling, hiking, camping, guns, hunting.. I would love to live out in a place with lots of land around my house and a lot less people.
8. I'm a bit of a clean-freak, I get it from my dad. My car is always clean and clutter-free and I love everything in my house to have a place.
9. I'm a terrible friend. ;) I don't enjoy talking on the phone and so it's hard for me to keep in touch with friends. Luckily the internet has saved me from losing all contact with friends.
10. I hate shopping but I love to get new things. I have about an hour and a half limit on shopping. Once I hit my limit, I can no longer shop. My mom used to bribe me with food to come shopping with her. I'm all about speed shopping.

Well, there's some more random things about me! Poor Jake has to live with all of this! ;)
I tag...Everyone! I really want to know more random things about all of you! Kelly, Jane, Ally, Shannon, Heather T., Candace, Diane... anyone who is reading this!

Happy Birthday, Jake!

Happy birthday to my cute, sweet, loving, woderful and all-around amazing husband!! I feel so blessed to have Jake as a husband and I'm so grateful to have him in my life. Jake is so helpful and attentive to me and the things that I need. He is so spiritual and intelligent and has taught me so much. I love spending as much time with him as I possibly can, we have such a fun time together! Jake is a hard worker and does so well to provide for us. I can't believe that I am so blessed to be his wife and I'm grateful to be married to him for eternity! I look forward to many more birthday's with Jake and so many more great memories. I love you, Jake!

I tried out the Company Chicken recipe on sunday and it got great reviews! Here's the recipe for you all. It's so easy to put together and tastes soo good! (this recipe says only 2 chicken breasts but you can increase the chicken and ingredients to fit your family!)

Company Chicken

2 chicken breasts

1 can cream of chicken soup

1/2 pint sour cream

1/2 parmesan cheese, grated

salt and pepper to taste

• Mix last four ingredients and pour mixture over raw chicken in baking dish.


• Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Serve over rice.

Enjoy!!

Banana Bread

I made banana bread yesterday from a recipe that I found on MyRecipes.com and it is very good. Here's the recipe for it! I'll for sure post the Company Chicken recipe after I test it out!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup butter, softened 2 large eggs 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas) 1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Cooking spray
PreparationPreheat oven to 350°.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Spoon batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.
Yield
1 loaf, 14 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

visitors

My mom and brother are flying here from Utah this afternoon to stay with us for the weekend! My dad flies in tomorrow evening since he had to work. I'm very excited to have my family here to show them our apartment and where we live! Friday, we got tickets to go see the new Batman movie for Jake's birthday! We are all sooo excited to go see it! Saturday, we are heading up to Seattle to Pike's market to look around, then on a boat tour and finally to the Spaceneedle. We'll probably stop by to show them the temple on the way back home that evening. Sunday, my family is coming to church with us and then I'm cooking "company chicken". It's a recipe that my sister gave me and it sounds really good but I haven't made it yet. Monday, we're just doing whatever during the day and then my family drives up to the airport to fly home at 5. I can't wait to have them here!

Jake and I went with the missionaries last night to meet with the investigating couple that I mentioned before. It was so awesome! I had no idea what to expect since I have never had an opportunity like this before but it was such a great experience. They are both in their 30's and expecting a little baby girl in 2 months. The husband has been raised in the church and even served a mission but fell away after his first marriage fell apart and he got a divorce. His wife doesn't know much about the gospel yet. They are quite cautious about being "rushed" into anything and don't want to commit to much. We invited them to church on sunday and they said they would "try". Hopefully they will come. They're such a cute couple and I hope to see them come to church and change their lives. It was so amazing to hear the testimonies of the missionaries and Jake and feel of the spirit so strongly. I don't know if the investigators felt the spirit as strong as I did but I know that the spirit was there with us. That was such a great experience for me and I'm so grateful to have this missionary opportunity.

P.S. Jake and I have been married for 5 months as of yesterday! (I still haven't run him off!) ;)

Welcome!

My best friend from high school, Diane, just started blogging!

I'm so glad to be on here and be updated on what everyone is up to even though we're all so far away! So, it will be so nice to hear from my best friend more often since she lives in Cedar City and I'm aaaall the way in Washington.

I'm so glad you're on here, Diane! Welcome!

P.S. we need to take more pictures together next time we see each other!!