mister's birthday

This weekend we celebrated Mister's birthday. On Saturday we went to the Jazz game. We lost, but it was a really fun game to watch. Before the game with ate at Crown Burger. It's our Jazz game tradition. Did you know that you can park at Crown Burger for events? All you need to do is buy $18 worth of food and ask for a parking pass. We figure if we are going to pay for parking we might as well get delicious food out of it.  Sunday night we had Mister's siblings over for some dinner and ice cream cake.

Lately we have been so over winter in our house, and been going through a huge salad phase. Cobb salad is one of our favorites. This time we couldn't get to the grill because of all of the snow. We ended up using our George Foreman grill, and it worked out perfectly. This salad it plenty filling with the grilled chicken, hard boiled egg, and bacon. For those of you who hate de-shelling hard boiled eggs check out this post. 

Cobb Salad

Ingredients

Tomatoes, diced
Hard boiled egg, sliced
Grilled chicken, sliced
Croutons
Bacon, crumbled
Lettuce
Ranch dressing (or dressing of your choice)

Instructions

Placed desired amount of lettuce (I use Romaine) on plate. Top with remaining ingredients and drizzle with ranch dressing. You can also add bleu cheese (we just aren't fans at our house). Enjoy!

creamy caramel apple dip

Creamy Caramel Apple Dip

Ingredients

1 (8 oz) pkg cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple butter
1/2 cup caramel sauce
1/2 -1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup toffee bits
sliced apples

Instructions

Head over to Six Sisters' Stuff for the directions. Enjoy!

slow cooker loaded potato soup

Slow Cooker Loaded Potato Soup

Ingredients

5 lb russet potatoes (washed and diced - not peeled)
1 medium onion (diced)
10 cloves garlic (minced)
64 oz chicken stock or broth
16 oz cream cheese
1 Tbsp salt
Garnishes: bacon, chives, cheddar cheese (optional)

Instructions

Head to Mama Loves Food for the cooking directions. This soup was very thick. I thinned it out using some milk and chicken broth until it was the desired thickness. Enjoy!

the secret to boiled eggs

It snowed more this weekend. We have mounds of snow in our front yard that are taller than four feet. It's insane. It doesn't help that we have a north-facing house, so the snow never melts. Elle loved coming out and helping Mister and me shovel the snow. I don't know for sure, but I feel like we got 6-8" of snow. It really was crazy! I am more than ready for winter to end. Spring could come today and I would cry tears of joy. Today's recipe isn't really a recipe, but it is the most successful way I have had with boiling eggs. I hate when it comes time to peel the shell off the egg, and by the time you are done your egg looks like it has been through the war. This method has proven to create easy to peel eggs time and time again.

Easy to Peel Boiled Eggs

Ingredients

Eggs
Water

Instructions

In a sauce pan, place the amount of eggs you would like boiled. Make sure there is enough room for the eggs to lay in a single layer. Cover the eggs with cold water. Place on a burner and turn it on. Once the eggs start boiling wait 1 minute then turn the burner off. Cover the pan with a lid, and let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes, drain the water out of the pan and immediately run cold water over the eggs. I just fill up the pan with cold water then drain again, and repeat a couple of times. Fill the pan with cold water one last time, but don't drain it out. Take each of the eggs and crack them (but don't peel), then place them back in the pan of cold water and let them sit for about 5 minutes. After they have been in the water for a bit you can go ahead and peel them. The shells should come right off!

how are you making a difference in the world?

Before I had Elle I was an elementary school teacher. It was the most rewarding and challenging job I have ever had. I loved teaching and I loved the students. I hated the hoops and all the people I had to please. I had to please the parents, the principal, the district, the state, and the list went on and on. Let's focus on what I loved. I loved seeing students light up when they finally caught on to a math concept. I loved seeing the pride in a child when they moved up a reading level. I loved seeing the surprise on a girl's face when she received 100% on a spelling test for the first time.

I loved the challenge of building a relationship with students that have been down on their luck for years -- who were known as the "bad kid". I have story after story of challenging students, and the transformation they had throughout the school year. I can testify that the children that are the hardest to love truly are the ones that need it the most. I also can attest to the fact that once you have earned their trust they will stay by your side forever. There are some students that will always have a piece of my heart. I won't ever forget them. I can't possibly forget them. They have helped make me who I am today. I never thought I could say that about nine and ten-year-olds, but it is true.

Although I am no longer a teacher, my influence on children remains. I have an influence on my own child, and hopefully future children. I have the opportunity to teach them how to be good people. I can show them the importance of integrity. I can prove to them that nothing feels better than honest, hard work. I can help them see that fairness doesn't necessarily mean equality. I can be an example of sympathy and kind-heartedness. I'm not a perfect parent, not will I ever be, but you better believe that I will try my hardest. The world needs that.

what is your perfect day?

My life is good. I really can't complain. Of course there are things I wouldn't mind changing, but I am so blessed. Mister is amazing, and Elle is the sweetest little toddler. We live in a great area with neighbors that would do just about anything for each other. However, if I could pick a perfect day it would probably look like this:

It would begin with me waking up on my own. No cat pawing at my face, no toddler yelling, "Mommy!" I would go downstairs and find Elle eating her breakfast perfectly. I would eat my own magically appearing plate of French toast with a glass of orange juice. The dishes would clean themselves, of course.

The morning weather would be sunny and beautiful. Elle and I would go for a walk, and when we got home she would play perfectly so I could take a nice shower and have plenty of time to get ready for the day. My mom would show up and we would shop the rest of the morning away. We would go to lunch and chat forever because Elle is eating her lunch like a champ.

When Elle and I get home we have some quality coloring time together before her nap. During her three hour nap I will read a good book while taking a bubble bath. After my bath, I would watch American Housewife while making a wreath. Mister would get home early, and we would drop Elle off to a babysitter so we could have a date night.

To start out the date Mister would take me to the mall and help me pick out a new outfit. We would then eat a delicious dinner. After dinner we would make our way to a Jazz game, then spend the night at a nice hotel.

Oh, man. That is what dreams are made of.

mom's meatloaf

It keeps snowing. It never stops. I have needed to go to the grocery store for days, but refuse to go in the snow. Luckily I'm a hoarder and we have a overloaded freezer and pantry. Lately, I have refused to make dinner meals focused on what Elle will eat. We have a standing rule in our house that if she won't eat dinner then she just doesn't eat. She doesn't get a snack before bedtime either. Last night I asked her if she wanted to come eat dinner. She responded, "No thank you." At least she was polite, I guess.

Meatloaf sounded so good tonight. A nice comfort food meal for a snowy day. As I was looking at the recipe I realized I didn't have some of the ingredients - that was not going to stop me. The nice thing about meatloaf is that it is really hard to mess up. As long as you have beef, and you make sure it is the right consistency you are probably good to go. Here's how much I deviated: we didn't have sausage, so I left it out. We didn't have eggs, so I substituted 1 teaspoon of baking soda and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar. We didn't have bread crumbs, so I ground up saltine crackers. We didn't have tomato sauce, so I used ketchup. I also added a 1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder because I'm obsessed with garlic powder. Guess what, it still turned out great! Elle even ate tonight!

Mom's Meatloaf

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef
1/2 lb sausage
1 egg
1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs (finely ground)
small can of tomato sauce (divided)
3 Tbsp dried onion
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl combined beef, sausage, egg, half of the can of tomato sauce, onion, and seasonings (I use my hands). The mixture should stick together like you are making a giant meatball. If the mixture is too wet, add more bread crumbs. If the mixture is too dry, add more tomato sauce. Press the meat mixture into a 5x9 bread pan. Pour a thin layer of left over tomato sauce on top of meat. Cover with foil and bake for one hour. Half way through remove foil and finish baking. I like to broil my meatloaf at the end for a bit to make sure the tomato sauce isn't liquidy (nice English, I know). If you choose to broil, make sure to keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn.

pink & gold baby shower

This weekend I had the opportunity to go down to St. George all by myself. All.by.myself. Of course, the laws of nature decided that they wanted me to stay home. Even St. George was hit with snow, and the entire state's temperatures were below freezing. I made up my mind that I wouldn't chance it on icy roads and stay home.

Early Friday afternoon, a neighbor of mine mentioned on Facebook that they were on their way to St. George. After some conversation back and forth, I decided the roads were safe enough to be traveled. I'm so glad I went because the roads were just fine, and I had a blast hanging out with my sisters and mom.

My youngest sister, Rylee, is due with her first little baby at the beginning of February, so we wanted to shower her with some love and gifts. When planning her shower we decided to forgo a theme, and just go with the colors gold, pink, and peach. It turned out perfectly!

When the guests walked in they were asked to write their address on an envelope for Rylee to use for "thank you" cards. They also had the chance to name the baby. Rylee got a lot of really cute name suggestions. I might even steal a few...

The food table was the best! We made Caesar salad, artichoke dip, cream cheese raspberry chipotle dip, and ham & cheese sliders. The desserts were just as yummy. We had knock-off Swig sugar cookies, white chocolate dipped rice crispy treats, and popcorn. Many guests commented on how they liked Whitnee's sugar cookies better than Swig's. Sorry Swig!

The biggest hit of the party was the drink bar. We had vanilla, raspberry, peach, coconut, and pomegranate syrups; vanilla Coffee Mate cream; and Dr. Pepper, Diet Coke, and Sprite sodas. I made a drink menu with some mix ideas, and we made sure to have an ice bucket full of pellet ice.

For the drink menu, I added the baby mama and dad's favorite drinks, and other family favorites. I assigned each drink a baby shower appropriate name, and categorized them according the the base soda in the drink. It was a fun to talk about the different drinks everyone chose to mix. (Free download at the bottom of the post.)

My mom and my sister Jessica were the brains behind the decor. This banner was made out of treat bags. It was such a cheap and easy way to decorate. Don't you worry, I won't leave you high a dry without a tutorial.

Materials you will need are enough treat bags for the size of banner you want to make, scissors, ruler, pencil, double sided tape or glue stick, and ribbon or string.

On the opening side of the treat bag, make a mark with a pencil in the middle of the bag.

Draw a straight line connecting the corner of the bottom of the bag to the pencil mark you made in the middle of the bag. Repeat for the other bottom corner.

Cut along you lines and you will be left with a triangle. The top of the triangle should be the sealed bottom part of the bag - perfect for draping over a ribbon or string.

Open your bag triangle, and insert the ribbon or string.

Glue or tape the top and bottom triangles together so they won't separate and fall off the ribbon. Repeat steps until you have the desired length of banner. You can add letters to spell something, or just leave the triangles.

Click the picture to download the drink menu.

what was your childhood dream?

First thing that came to mind when I saw this question was the game M.A.S.H. that I played all.the.time growing up. You know the one:

M.A.S.H.

Occupation
Dentist
Lawyer
Teacher
Plumber

Car
Infinity QX80
1950's Chevy Truck
Jeep Wrangler
School Bus

Husband
George Clooney
Harrison Ford
Jake Gyllenhaal
Mr. Bean

Number of Kids
2
3
4
25

City I Live In
Paris
New York
Los Angeles
Bunkerville

Pet
Dog
Cat
Fish
Porcupine

I had Google randomly pick a number between 1 and 10, here are my results: I live in a shack in Los Angeles with Jake Gyllenhaal. We have 4 kids and a pet fish. I drive my Infinity to my dental office everyday for work. Thank you lucky number seven!

Seriously though, as a kid I didn't have one huge dream that I held onto forever. I was pretty flippant. I guess the most stable wish I had for my future was that I would marry and have kids. I wanted to be like my mom. Heck, I still want to be like my mom. I know I did toss around the idea of being a dentist, lawyer, teacher, and orthodontist. None of them stuck for a long period of time though.

I would love to hear your childhood dreams, and your M.A.S.H. stories. Nothing is more realistic than M.A.S.H. results.

what challenge do you want to overcome?

I have learned that I have very little self-control. Do you want to watch another 4 hours of Netflix even though you shouldn't? Sure! Do you want to eat that brownie even though you ate half the brownie batter while it was cooking? Sure! Do you want to sleep an extra 10 minutes instead of showering? Absolutely! I've learned that being a stay-at-home mom makes it even worse. I don't really have anyone to answer to. I mean, I have Mister, but he is so understanding and kind that he wouldn't judge me even if he knew how.

It's really easy for me to watch an extra show or two, or double-tap a million more pictures on Instagram while Elle is playing nicely instead of cleaning up the kitchen or vacuuming. This challenge has been hard for me to overcome because I don't have anyone around during the day to cheer me on, or nudge me in the right direction. It is just me and my limited self-control. I know it isn't going to happen overnight, but I need to come up with some benchmarks to help me see improvement. If I don't see improvement I give up on most things pretty easily.

I'm opening myself up here. If any of you have any suggestions for me I would love to hear them!

what would you do if you were not afraid?

Immature, late bloomer, loud, obnoxious, impulsive, overweight... I grew up with these labels. As an adult I am scared of what others think of me. First impressions terrify me; they matter a lot to humans. I prefer sitting at home and being with my family, mostly because I love spending time with my family, also because social situations give me anxiety. I hate small talk. I fail at it every time. Unless I am talking to a person that is great at carrying conversation, the chatting dies fairly quickly.

A lot of my friends have told me that when they first met me they thought I was full of myself. I am very talkative and animated when I am in a familiar crowd, but stick in a stranger and my lips are sealed. Many perceive this as me thinking that I am too good for them, when in reality I am terrified of what they might think of me.

I am fully aware that this is something I need to work on. I am missing out on a lot of great relationships because of my self-consciousness. I am making progress though. Little by little, I am accepting myself for who I am. It helps that I have a great husband. Mister hates it when I put myself down. It has made me really think about what I say. My friends help me too. It helps to know that people like me for who I am. I like being surrounded by people who know my weaknesses and love me anyway - there is nothing my empowering.

what risk are you happy that you took?

My final year of college I had a choice to finish like the majority - student teaching, teacher work sample, Praxis tests, and graduation - or I could do an internship. With an internship I would teach my final semester of school; skip student teaching (since I would already be teaching); finish college classes, my teacher work sample, and pass the Praxis test while teaching full-time; and graduate from college halfway through the elementary school year. I decided pretty quickly that an internship sounded too difficult so I would go the normal route, and do my student teaching.

A couple weeks after my decision my friend Chelci told me that they were doing teaching internship interviews in northern Utah. She told me I should apply. I laughed at her. If I didn't think I could handle doing an internship while being close to home, what made me think I could do it across the state from my family? The more I thought about it, the more I felt I should try, so I applied to intern up north. I figured my odds were pretty low since they had never selected anyone from my college before for this particular internship.

Much to my surprise, I received a phone call days later from a principal that was interested in interviewing me for an intern position. I didn't know what to do. It happened so fast. I agreed to a phone interview that would happen in a few more days. The next day I was telling one of my professors about the opportunity I had to interview for the internship. She wisely suggested that if there was any way that I could get up north and interview in person, that I should do it. It just turned out that my friend Chelci had a teaching interview up north the same day that the face-to-face intern interviews were happening. We ended up carpooling up north together for our interviews.

I still remember the shock on my dad's face when he asked why I was packing, and I explained to him about the interview. Days earlier I wasn't even considering an internship. I was a mess during the interview. I stumbled through the questions and tried to use as much "teacher lingo" as  I could. I thought I had completely blew it. What were the odds that they would pick someone like me from a very small college when they could get any student they wanted from the bigger universities up north? Believe it or not, I received a phone call a few days later from a principal at a school in Spanish Fork offering me a job as a 4th grade intern at his elementary school. It was so surreal.

I was so nervous. I had next to no teaching experience on  my own, and I was moving to an area where I knew no one. This would be my first time living away from home. What was I getting myself into? I'm not going to lie, it was a hard year. When I look back to any photos taken of me that year I had dark circles under my eyes, my hair was in desperate need of a haircut, and none of my clothes fit me from a dramatic weight-loss. I couldn't afford to go home and visit my family, and I'm pretty sure I was one step away from a complete nervous breakdown.

Although this internship taught me a lot, and opened up a lot of doors in my career for me, that isn't why I am glad I took the risk. I very much believe that if it weren't for that internship I wouldn't have moved to northern Utah, and if I wouldn't have moved up north I wouldn't have met the love of my life. It took me a couple of years to meet him, but Mister just lived up the street from me. Talk about a blessing in disguise.

what is most important to you?

Elle's blessing day

When I first saw this question I thought I knew my answer immediately, family. As I thought more about it, however, I realized that the most important part of my life is my faith, my beliefs, my religion. To be fair, though, my religion is centered around families.

Who I am, and my actions are based off of my belief system. I love my parents and my family because I know the importance of families in God's plan for me. I respect my parents because it is commanded of me, and I know it's right. Education is important to me. I love learning, and it is because the more I learn the more I see God's hand in everything.

The theory of evolution makes me laugh. With everything I know about the human body and is complexities I cannot fathom the idea that it happened by a single cell splitting over and over again. The big bang theory is just as hilarious to me. This earth is in the perfect condition for life, and you want me to believe it was out if luck? We have a living Heavenly Father that sent His son to create this world for us. That same son came down to Earth later, as a baby boy, and lived a perfect life so he could become our Savior.

My religion has taught me that I am a daughter of God, and that I should live my life in a way that He would see fit. I should serve and love others. I should respect my spirit and my body enough to reserve myself for the man that will become my husband. I should learn more about my Father in Heaven and my brother, Jesus Christ so I can emulate their attributes and become more like them.

I know, through my religion, that there is life after death. I know that I can be with my family forever of I live a life worthy of that blessing. That is why my religion is the most important to me. I want my family forever, and because of my religion I know how.