Cooking like a Newlywed

When cooking with my grandma and if she would make a mistake or accidentally burn something she would say, "You would think I was a newlywed with how I made this meal." Now as my newlywed status is slowly getting less, ( coming up on one year whoo!) you would think that all my cooking disasters would be getting less. Au contraire, lately I have been doing some really good mix-ups.

I do like cooking, I feel really good about myself when I make a good dinner that we like to eat and when it all turns out. Does that mean I cook every night, um no. Possibly 2-3 nights a week or more if I happen to make a menu that week. I like to try and make new things I've never made before like scones, breads, different meals or salads.

Last week my cooking whoops was when I was making the ever famous Stoddard Frog Eye salad. In it you have to cook these really tiny balls of pasta at the same time as making the goo. A pudding type mix that must be stirred or else it will burn. So I am going along everything is going good. The pudding is thickening and the pasta is almost done. Without thinking I dump my teeny tiny pasta into my colander, and get the water running on them to cool it down. ...Yeah...my colander has very big holes see:

Do'h! It's a good thing that I put in a little more of the pasta because a good portion of them got washed away. It's a good thing realized what was going on before I lost all of them. In the end it all turned out great and just as good as I remember.

Another time I was making stuffed shells one of Justin's favorites. Well this time I decided to add some shredded vegetables to the cheese mixture for some fun. I shredded them all and mixed them in the cheese before I read the directions that said, " Saute the shredded vegetables before putting in mixture." Whoops, oh well. I felt bad because there was nothing I could do but comforted myself in the fact that the were shredded pretty small and would probably be okay. Then I was seasoning the mixture with some salt and pepper, right after I put two eggs on the top. While dashing some pepper in, the lid to my shaker falls off and poof! Tons of pepper all stuck to the eggs and cheese. Do'h! I got out what I could and just mixed it really good.

I did a taste test to see how peppery they were. It was pretty potent. I fretted over it the whole rest of the time I spent putting the shells together. Now when I make shells it's a lot like two pans worth so I am hoping and praying that they taste ok or else....that's a lot of wasted food. After they baked and we tried them they were actually not that bad, still peppery but not as strong.

While I will probably continue to make mistakes in cooking even after not being a newlywed anymore I still enjoy it. It also helps that my husband is not that picky and is sweet enough to tell me loves whatever I cook. =)

The New and Improved Crafty

( I know that this a repeat post but my sister-in-law posted it on her craft blog so it needed some more information and pictures. But it's still cool and since I am trying to post more it all works right? =) )


Growing up my mom always had some project going on. Whether it was sewing, embroidery, knitting, or just a fun craft for us kids to do. Needless to say I picked up a lot of different skills and hobbies from it. I can sew my buttons back on, sew a quilt or make something that I saw in the store for half the price.

A while ago I was really struggling with staying awake at work and needed something to do to help me stay awake. While at my mom's house I came across this:

How cute are they right? They also had patterns for fruit, vegetables, bread and sandwich makings, sushi, stir fry, and pretty cakes. Since my niece's birthday was coming up I thought how awesome would that be. I loved playing with some play food, and dishes my grandma sent me. It was really fun and pretty easy to learn. I was familiar with crochet but usually had a hard time getting my lines straight. However, most of these items are really easy to make and had understandable instructions. I did have to do a few items a couple of times to get it the right way but I think they turned out pretty cute.

So much fun and they won't hurt if you step on them. They were about the size of the actual fruit which was fun. They also don't take that much yarn so they are a perfect project for any leftover yarn. After that I was getting a little bit bored and needed something different. Well these were too cute to pass up and were perfect for little babies or toddlers. I got the book at my local Hobby Lobby for about 5 dollars.

The elephant turned out a little wonky and the monkey really tiny but still adorable and fun to play with. . So cute and easy to make. I did have some trouble finding the eyes at my local craft stores so I ended up getting them at etsy.com. The end product measures small so if you want them bigger use a bigger sized needle and yarn and vice versa. If at first you don't succeed try again. The top is my first attempt at the elephant the bottom the second.

They make the perfect friends.

I have been having a lot of fun and at times just feel my creative juices flowing and it keeps me awake when I go to work! My next project is to try my hand at hats, slippers, and baby booties. There are a lot of free patterns out there in the internet world here are some you might like to try:

http://www.allcrafts.net/crochet/crochetflowers.htm

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/flowers.php

http://www.headhuggers.org/patterns/patterns.htm

Or if you want something more specific check out the patterns at etsy.com . They always have super cute stuff. Happy crocheting!

Ask and ye shall receive

For my job I work with kids which I have really been loving, especially my little baby patients. The only bummer about my job is that it's at night. I watch the kids so that their parents can sleep to be able to take care of them during the day. It's not too bad it just gets really hard when I am scheduled to work 5-6 nights out of the week.

So....as you can imagine it's been a struggle for me and for my husband. Me being a variety of tired and my husband being consistently patient and kind. I have always been trying for other jobs and praying for more opportunities. It was only when I accepted my fate (for now) and changed my thoughts and prayers to having a good time at work.

I have a particularly difficult patient who on occasion can get out of control, hitting and crying and being very unpleasant. It's not only a physically but emotionally draining shift.

So....I have been praying, at times pleading ,for good times at work, able to stay awake , and more importantly a good attitude. I have also been talking to Justin about me asking to have part time hours since he is now making the big bucks. I decided to wait on asking and just keep going to save up some money and pay off our debt. All the while praying and asking for help at work.

My schedule for the month of May was rough 5-6 nights a week consistent but it went by really fast and my patients were all good. June I had less work and so-so on the patient's being good or not. Then July it got even better. I had less nights and more then once my patients would sleep all night. (YES!) Now it's not bad if they wake up it just makes me feel better to tell the parents that they slept well. Now comes August and I thought that I would have to work a lot. I didn't request very many days off and school is starting so some of the nurses are on different times.

However, I received the greatest blessing and answer to my prayers. I only am scheduled to work 11 times in the month of August. At times only once a week. I think I could get used to that.

I was so overwhelmed by the love I felt from my Heavenly Father who has heard me all these months through my tears, my struggles and pleading for a break or change. I am so grateful and amazed by this blessing. Some things I started doing at work to help was to not watch t.v. ( not that there is much on a 3 in the morning.), read my scriptures, write down what I am grateful for and read a conference talk. It only took about an hour and I almost always had an hour in which my patients would sleep. It was so great! I learned so much and I believe it made the night more bearable.

So...now that I have all this free time what will I do. Well I already made a trip here:

I've already spent the day deep cleaning my apartment, organizing, decluttering and other fun stuff.

Other stuff on the to-do list:
Go to a Bee's Game
Check out the fairs that are going on
Reading
Exercising

Visiting with Family
and enjoying sleeping normal for a while. =)

Meeting the Messengers

Over this past weekend was Justin's extended family reunion in Washington. We went with his mom and little sister. It was a really long drive to a beautiful place and great to meet "some" of the Messenger clan.

We started out driving for Washington on Thursday night around 9 p.m. Justin was a trooper and was the one to drive all night. I did my best to stay awake with him and help keep him awake, but I had to doze off here and there.

As usual with working nights the hardest part was between 2-5 in the morning. After that the sun started to come up when we were in Oregon and it was so pretty.

Needless to say that the ride got a lot more exciting after we could see what was all around us. Not that we missed a whole lot going through Idaho, but it still was nice. =) We drove by the Columbia River for a long time. It is amazing. For those of you who used to play the old Oregon Trail game, it's the river that you have to ford at the end that had rocks and other problems come at you. It really goes on forever and is super wide.

We finally reached Justin's Aunt's house in Centralia, Washington and it was beautiful. It had a huge yard with trees everywhere and just smelled so clean and foresty. We set up tents and helped get things set up as we were the first ones there. They had all sorts of fun games to play such as: Badminton, Hill Billy Golf, a basketball court, Frisbee's, and other fun toys.



On Saturday, we floated down the Skookumchuck River ( isn't that a fun name =) ), visited Justin's old house and hometown, and played a epic game of capture the flag. Followed by yummy smore's, visiting and meeting more Messengers.

We both come from a small town, but Justin totally has me beat on size. If you blink, you would miss it.

We headed home on Sunday and it took us all day. I was super excited to finally be back in Utah after what seemed like forever on the road. It was a fun trip, we were glad to get to spend some time with the Messengers, driving together and learning about the fun times had in Washington.

Day four and Five (coming home)

Day four: Island of Adventure.

On our last day in the parks we went and explored the other rides in Island of Adventure. It wasn't that crowded everywhere else because everyone was at Harry Potter Land. Some of our favorite rides there were: The Hulk! Dr. Doom's Fear Fall ( like the Rocket Re-entry) and Poseidon's Fury. There weren't that many rides there and Justin didn't want to go on the get wet rides. So after lunch we went back to Harry Potter land and rode the castle ride again and the other track on the Dragon Challenge. It was awesome because we walked right up to the front of the line. Hardly any wait. It was awesome.

So then we said goodbye to the parks and went home. We had fun but were ready to be done.

Highlights: Hardly any wait time for rides again! Getting a fast pass privilege for the Jurassic Park River Ride.

Bummers: Saying goodbye.

Day five Coming home!

After all the fun at the parks we were ready to come home and enjoy the hot but not humid weather of Utah.

Except it wouldn't be a complete trip with a stop at the Happiest Place on Earth, no not DisneyWorld but the Orlando Temple.

It was a really pretty temple and the day was really bright and the temple was so white it was blinding. It is very similar to the Bountiful Temple. They were built around the same time. Instead of arches at the front they had big white columns. But the inside layout was almost exactly the same. The celestial room was the same concept but just different colors. So it really did feel like home away from home. It was really nice to get away and just relax in the temple.

We had rented a car to get us to the temple and then the airport. It turns out that the temple was not to far away from where we were staying so that was cool. After the temple we went to lunch and then the airport. We felt a little bit better going this time since we had been there before. We get there, return our car and get everything taken care of. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 4:40 to New York then from New York to Salt Lake. Well when we got to our gate it said our plane was delayed. It continued to be delayed throughout the night. Eventually JFK was shut down due to a bad thunderstorm and rain in New York. All the people around us waiting were getting really impatient and it was a long wait. Finally at 11:00 p.m. we were allowed to board and get ready to leave. We just wanted to go somewhere! We got to New York at about 2 in the morning and nobody was there. No other planes were leaving and we had obviously missed our connecting flight so we were looking at other options.

The next plane for Salt Lake from New York was at 8 p.m. We would have had to wait over 16 hours in the same place. We were both so tired and at this point really frustrated. We ended up getting a flight to Long Beach. I figured if we get stuck there I have family close by that could come and help us. So we got on a 1:00 flight to Long Beach, then a flight to Salt Lake city later that evening. I called my sister in California and said " Hey want to play for a few hours?" So when we got to Long Beach my sister and husband graciously took us out to dinner and to get some fresh air. After waiting for almost 12 hours in the airport unable to get more then 20 minutes of sleep at a time it was a welcome break. We had a great dinner and then headed back to the airport. Of course our plane home was delayed about 30 minutes and there was a heart racing minute when we thought we almost didn't have a seat but all was well.

We finally made it home back to Utah 24 hours later then we were scheduled to. We had to wait for the 8 p.m. flight from New York to make it in so we could get the bag that we checked so even more waiting. But at least we were home! We got everything and made it home and crashed. It was quite the experience. No pictures were taken as I didn't really want to remember this . =) We did however keep a really positive attitude throughout it all. Justin was very calm and only near the end was expressing his frustration. It made it so much more pleasant to travel with. We were doing all that we could and so at times we just had to wait.

Home Sweet Home.

Day Three Harry Potter Land

Day Three: Harry Potter land and The Three Broomsticks.

We started out early and walking over to the parks since we had to be to the Three Broomsticks by 8:30. Harry Potter Land is in the Island of Adventure park in the very back so it was a long walk. I didn't realize how small the Harry Potter part actually is. It's just a "island" in the whole big park. It's like Froniter land inside Disneyland. So it was a very crowded area and there was only one way in or out so it got very congested. I was glad that we got there early cause even then there were a lot of people. We went to breakfast and I had a traditional English breakfast with pumpkin juice. It was actually pretty good and I tried a bite of my blood sausage, that was interesting. I had a little geeking out moment in the restaurant as they only play the music from the Harry Potter movies. I recognized it as the part when they dance in the 4th movie and got all excited.

After breakfast I took a trip to the Ladies room where I could hear Moaning Myrtle saying something. I only mention this because of Moaning Myrtle and I thought that was a nice touch. There were little decoration shops everywhere and a few actual shops that were just as tiny but made our way to the castle. The main ride is called Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. You go through a tour of the castle essentially as you wait and then you have to help Harry, Ron and Hermione with something. It was fun and the though the wait was kind of long about 45 minutes. We were walking the whole time so it didn't feel that long. The best part of that ride feeling like you are flying.

Then they had a few roller coaster type rides. One for little kids called The Hippogriff Challenge or something like that and you get to see Hagrid's hut. Then the big ones were called the Dragon Challenge. It is based off of the 4th movie where they have to fight a Dragon. That was actually two different roller coaster going at the same time in between each other. The scariest part was when you are essentially playing chicken with the other dragon and then you turn at the last minute. It was really fun and we went back the next day to do the other track.

Then we attempted to buy souvenirs. In the tiny shops. It was a hard shopping experience for me because I like to touch and look at everything before I get it. But inside the shops was worse then the lines to the rides. I ended up just grabbing some stuff and getting out of the shops. We got some sweets from Honeydukes...but same story tiny shop lots of people. By that time I was ready to get out of there.

It was fun to be in Harry Potter Land. It did seem magical and it was fun. I just wish they would have made it bigger with more things from the books/movies. Butterbeer was kind of a let down. I was so excited to try it because ever since it was introduced in the books I wanted to try it. So you get it cold with the foam on top. The foam was delicious and probably the best part. Just trying the drink wasn't so great. However, pumpkin juice was awesome! It was like cold cider and juice mixed. Yum.

After exploring all that we wanted of Harry Potter land we went to the movie Super 8 on the IMAX screen by the park. It was a welcome break because it was blazing hot and humid there. While waiting for our movie I snapped this beauty.




It's a portable chest shocker that they use on Dr. shows. I really got a kick out of it because I had recently redid my CPR and all the instructions say do this or that..and get the AED. That's what it's called, I don't remember what the acronym stands for. But the nurse in me was glad to see it EVERYWHERE! It was I think at the end of every ride I only saw it at the end of a few, but in the airport ,all over the park and I think in a few of the restaurants we went to. I felt safer. I told Justin " If I or you collapse we need to know where they are," after pointing them out every time I saw them. =)

The movie Super 8 was pretty good. It's not the type of movie that I usually see but I was most definitely entertained. The main characters are a bunch of 13 year old boys in the 70's making a zombie movie. So it had some funny lines. Then we walked back to our hotel and relaxed the rest of the night.

Highlights: The Rides at Harry Potter land. Our Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks. A nice cool movie. Feeling a little bit magical.

Bummers: All the stinkin' lines for the shops. My goodness. The heat.

The Magical Land of Florida

I get so behind on blogging if only I could do it work then I'd be a blogging fool. =) Well with our lovely tax return money my sweet husband suggested a trip to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I am a BIG Harry Potter fan and always talk about going there so that's what we decided to do. We found a vacation package that included a three day park pass to Universal Studios and their neighbor park Island of Adventure, Breakfast at the Three Broomsticks, and our hotel was thrown in there as well.

Then we found our flights there and back courtesy of Southwest and JetBlue and it all added up to just under the amount of our tax return awesome. So we headed out for Florida right after our marathon on that Monday June 13 and were scheduled to be back home that Friday the 17th ( more on that later).

Day One: Traveling to Florida. We started out early with a 7 am flight which went off with no problems. We stopped in Chicago and stayed in the plane for about 20 minutes since it was taking us the rest of the way. That was kind of fun to have full reign of the plane with not that many people there. Then we made it to Florida about 3:30 Florida time, had a fun time navigating our way through the airport. ( It was HUGE) Then got a taxi to our hotel. We chilled the rest of the day, went to the pool and planned out our week.

( top pic: chilling in the plane, bottom the view of chicago from the plane.)

Highlights: Me tipping over my water on the plane two minutes after getting it. Supposedly I get really clumsy up in the air. It was a funny moment. Justin getting a job offer! Paying the Cab a reasonable amount. Pool Time.

Bummers: Forgetting our boarding passes but that was easily fixed. A not so great dinner. =( No internet in our hotel.

Day Two: Universal Studios, Hard Rock Cafe, and Blue Man Group.

We went to Universal Studios and just went on whatever ride was closest and walking around. There was a HUGE scary looking roller coaster called the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. It was a head banger that's for sure. Not my favorite ride. We went on almost every ride and saw lots of the shows. Some of our favorites were: The Men in Black ride, The Simpson's, and The Mummy. Some of the rides that need either a revamp or to possibly be shut down were: Jaws, ( way to long of a wait for what you got) and E.T. E.T did have a fun part where you are "flying" with E.T over the town and it's all small, so that was cool.

We had fun and after a while we had done everything and went looking for other stuff to do. We got a caricature drawn, had dippin' dots and looked through the Lucy Tribute. That was neat, Lucille Ball is quite the accomplished lady. I really liked looking at the old costumes and jewerly that they used.

Then we had dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I admit that I felt a little bit out of place since I am not that into rock and roll. But it was a fun and exciting place to eat dinner. They had music videos going, and the servers were dressed up like fun rock icons. They had lots of fun memorabilia from famous people. It is the largest Hard Rock so they had the most stuff. Funny story: We got a special glass since it's their 40th anniversary this year and when we got our bill our server told us to go downstairs and they would give us a new one in a cool box and all that jazz. So.....we thought we were supposed to go down to pay. Uhm....that was not the case. So we went downstairs asking if this is where we pay and the lady just looks at us and tells us that our server would take care of our bill. At this point we felt like crap because it looked like we had just Dined and Dashed. We saw our server head down and talk to someone but then we couldn't find her. We then went back to our table and it was already all cleared off. We eventually found our server and paid. Needless to say she got a fairly generous tip. It was pretty boss because I got a $25 gift card for Hard Rock from my credit card points so we only had to pay half of our bill. Sweet. So we hurried out of there pretty embarrassed.

Then Blue Man Group! They are crazy. They are the guys who have blue heads, and hands and then are dressed in black. They make music out of random objects and have brightly colored paint bouncing everywhere. It was the most entertaining show. They didn't say anything but it was awesome. We weren't allowed to take pictures or else I would have especially since Justin was asked to participate! Justin had been to a Blue Man group concert in Vegas and was familiar with it. They had other audience members participate and Justin's part wasn't till the end. They pulled him from his seat up on stage and dressed him in a white jumpsuit. They then took him back stage and dumped a bunch of blue paint on him. They put a helmet on him then strung him up by his feet. They pulled him back then let him fly right onto a big piece of white canvas. They did it twice to get a funny ink blot type of picture. Then while onstage the blue men were looking at this big thing of Jello on top of a box. They had done something with Jello at the beginning as well. Then they tore the Jello off and Justin's head came popping out of the box. It was a crazy magic trick. He then got a touch of paint on his cheek by one of the blue men and they then took their bows. Justin was over the moon. He was so excited. I really wanted to film it but it they wouldn't allow it. Then we took a Cab home and crashed it was a fun filled day.

Highlights: not having to wait more then 20 minutes for a ride. dippin' dots. Blue man group! Almost dining and dashing. Justin not getting sick on any of the rides.

Bummers: The massive headache I got from the Hollywood Rip Ride Rocket. Almost dining and dashing. Breaking my favorite pair of sunglasses.