Sunday Adventures

Anth has been gone since Thursday.

I applaud myself for the following:
-Not getting murdered
-Remembering to close the garage every morning on my way to work
-Getting out of bed no later than 7:30
-Not watching Dateline or 48 Hours Mysteries
-Watering the plants Remembering that I need to water the plants. I'm sure it will get done eventually.

It's been lonely without him, but I hear he is having a delightful time in St. George with his Dad.

Before we continue any further....

Lindsey's Weekend Without Husband Soundtrack:
(Because I love to be judged by my choice of music)

Rascal Flatts: Rewind
Christina Perri: Human (I sing this so passionately)
Justin Timberlake: Not a Bad Thing (Edited Version)
Lorde: Team
Demi Lavato: Let it Go (Don't pretend you don't have this on your player)
Danelle Bradbery: The Heart Of Dixie
Sara Bareilles: I Choose You
Dan + Shay: 19 You + Me (Who are these people? I love this song!)
Dierks Bentley: I Hold On

Now pull up a couple of songs while you read this. Picture me repeating the same 9 songs all weekend. I love them all right now, but give me another day....or so.....and they will all be highly hated. Just in case you care to know, I do this will all new music. I repeat it over, and over, and over over over again. Until I have the lyrics perfected and until I can hardly stand to hear it one more time. Then I listen 3 more times. Then I complain that all my music, my hundreds of songs suck. It's a vicious cycle.

Today I decided that the weather was just too beautiful. A walk/asthmatic run had to happen. I got all geared up and off I went.

Does anyone care to see the photo's I took while on my walk? Probably not, but I always feel the same way on this trail....."God is good!" The mountains, lake, horrifically moody deviled geese, and sky are just beautiful! I always feel so blessed to be surrounded by such beauty.

Half way on the trail I realized that the course was changed due to some housing construction. I wandered around some new homes, took a turn down a newly paved road and then abruptly realized that west, north and east were all closed off. I stood in the middle of the road while the wind howled and track #3 played in my ears again..."You get it J.T....You tell em!"

I stood in the middle of the road for a good minute or two turning in different directions wondering where to go and then realized that a couple construction men were watching me. I'm sure they wondered why I didn't just turn around and head back in the same direction, but that seemed...well not progressive. I ran around one house, two, three, four. Stopped to dry heave catch my breath and then saw more men give me the same confused look at me. In all reality it was probably the highlight of their day, watching me work this out in my head. FINE! I turned around in defeat. There clearly was no way around this mess.... The encounter with the men reminded me of my awkward moment on Friday.

I was returning to work. I had made a deposit at the bank and was walking from my car to the building when I came upon a man with a very petite dog. Does anyone else find it funny when you see a very masculine man walking a 1 pound dog....basically a rat? Anyway, as I approached the odd couple I heard him say, "HI!" I can't tell you how happy I was to be in the company of such a friendly person!

Bending down, I clutched my knees and in my most obnoxious baby voice I said, "WELL HELLLLO!" I was meaning to say hello to the dog.  What happened next was in slow motion....

I stood up......
He looked my way in surprise....
My face went hot and red....
He proceeded to continue his conversation with the person on the phone that he had called....
I quickly ran into the building.....

I'm sure he then told his significant other/Mommy/boss/rat groomer about the sad schmuck that misunderstood him.

Oh well.....

Today for late lunch/early dinner I tried a new recipe from a cook book I recently purchased. Every Friday night I plan our meals for the following week and then purchase all the goods on Saturday morning. Tonight was Spaghetti with Spicy Red Sauce. It was delightful!!!

-Recipe from, "Cook This Not That".

Lucky for you, I'm going to give you the recipe. It is healthy and it you use wheat pasta like I did, it won't weigh you down like normal pasta would leave you feeling.

THE GOODS:
4 strips bacon (I used turkey bacon...which is sad but it really tastes just fine. Go ahead and give me cyber brownie points for not getting juicy fatty tasty regular bacon (mmm brownies)
1 sm yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced (or just buy a big jar of diced garlic like me. I used one heaping tbl.)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can (28oz) crushed tomatoes
salt and black pepper to taste
10 oz spaghetti (wheat yo)
parsley (to garnish)
parmesan (to garnish)

-Bring a large pot of salted water to boil
-Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until the fat is mostly rendered, about 5 minutes. Discard all but 1 tbl of the fat (if you use the turkey bacon you won't have much fat and won't have to discard any...bonus! Lazy people unite!) Add the onion, garlic, and pepper flakes to the pan. Saute for about 5 minutes, until the onion has begun to lightly brown. Add the tomatoes and season with salt and lots of black pepper. Bring to a simmer.
-Meanwhile, cook the pasta in the boiling water until al dente.
-Drain the pasta and add directly to the simmering tomato sauce. Stir together so that the sauce and noodles are evenly incorporated. Stir in the parsley. Top with grated cheese.

It really is a delightful meal, which is good because there are a ton of leftovers that we will be eating for the next few meals. Also at the end you'll feel impressed with yourself, "Dude, I totally made my own sauce...not from a jar!"

Thanks for stopping by. It's time for me to get back to my singing (:

Have a happy first week of March!

Happy 1st Anniversary, Home

Today is our 1st Happy House Anniversary! Can you believe we have been here for a year? I think I am mostly surprised that all of the closets aren't completely over run with crap. Could we really have gone a whole year without hoarding this house to the brink? True markings of a grownup......

This last year has been a beautiful year. I remember back in the old house thinking that as soon as we moved to the new house, things would be completely different. The house would magically stay clean, we would have a billion friends, we would somehow produce 4 beautiful children, we would become more spiritually in tune. Everything was going to fall into place, instantaneously. Have I ever mentioned that I can be extremely naive?

We didn't miraculously inherit a maid when the house keys were placed in our hands, the back room with the bassinet is still sitting empty but filled with lots of hope for the future and although we don't have many friends, we still fill incredibly blessed to know that there are many people in the ward that think of us and at the very least, know who we are.

I often find myself sitting in a quiet moment and recognizing that the way I truly feel is, "content". We don't have a lot of money. We don't have brand new furniture and the best of everything. We don't get to go on vacations every couple months. The list could go on and on. But I really am content. Understanding that finding joy in the small things, staying positive in hard times, and realizing that sometimes, "Life just isn't fair." has been something I have had to learn. Is it easy to remember those vital lessons 100% of the time? Absolutely not, but I hope that I can continue to realize that the world doesn't revolve around me and that there are worse things in life than not having everything go as planned. Not easy.

This post was suppose to be about our year at this house..... I don't know what it has turned into. The bamboo flooring downstairs has a nice dent in it from the metal stocking holder that took a dive one December night. It is sad to think that one day this whole house will be filled with all sorts of dents, scratches, holes and mishaps but I guess that is inevitable. I wish it could stay 1 forever....yes, this house is considered our baby.

I love the life that we are leading right now. I love Anthony. I love that sometimes we don't get our way but we are adult enough to work through said issues. I have hope that we will continue to love the life we lead.

Hope is a wonderful thing. Hope is defined in many ways, but the definition I love the most is, "A feeling of trust". I also love, "Hope is the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best."

I have hope that we will continue to thrive in this little home that we have built.

The Christmas Post

The tree is shoved back in the box, the majority of the candy is in my gut, and the Christmas hangover is starting to fade. Yes, Christmas is over. Yet again, we had a wonderful season. I know that you probably don't care to hear about every little detail about our Christmas, but I post about our events for really one reason....so that next year we know whose house to go to at what point. Because we have the 3 families to visit, it is convenient to look back and go..."Oh yes!, we were there in the morning, therefore we will be here.".... It doesn't matter if that doesn't make sense, again, this post is entirely for me.

But while you are here, grab that last broken candy cane and let me go through our Christmas adventures.

It started at the Lyman home this year.

After work on Christmas Eve, (yes, I worked a whole hour on Christmas Eve...worthless) we met Debbie and Leonard at the movie theatre. We saw Frozen. Have you seen it? I leaned over and whispered in Anthony's ear during a song, "I can't wait til I have all these songs memorized so I can sing to you!" He gave me a look of sheer terror...although I secretly think he enjoys my angelic voice as I prance around the house. 

After the movie we met back at their house with Zupas for lunch and then opened our presents. Luckily his Step Sister Shelby (say that 3 times...) was able to join us. It is sad that we were the only kids again, but it is so hard to get on the same schedule as everyone. 

They had the most beautiful tree and I love being with his Dad and Step Mom. They always have such a festive, welcoming home and I thoroughly enjoy being around them. Also, they make timbles, the delicious cookie/pastry like treat. MMM! 

We left their house and drove over to the Kemme home. Every year we pick a different place to base our meal around. Last year was Chinese food, this year was Italian food. 

Menu:

Spaghetti with homemade sauce and meatballs (YuM!!)

Bread sticks

Bruschetta

Veggies

Pana Cotta 

Italian Soda

It all was so delicious! I did the bruschetta and my house smelled of roasted garlic for days. But it turned out amazing. I love trying new recipes!

After dinner we did our other tradition, which consists of reading a Christmas book. We then opened presents from everyone. It was a nice quiet evening and I love our Kemme Christmas traditions. 

(I had to do to photos in black and white....the lighting wasn't the best for color)

Around 10, filling fat and happy we headed to Tremonton. After arriving around 11:30 we quickly made our breakfast item (baked french toast) and then collapsed in bed.

The next morning we made breakfast of french toast, homemade hash browns (my fav!) and sausage. Then Mom, Dad, Kristi, Anthony and I opened our presents. As soon as we finished, Josh, Varinia, Jaden and Alexa arrived and we watched them open their presents. It was so fun to watch the kids open. They are at such a fun age. They soon left and the 5 of us enjoyed lunch, movies, and each others company. I love family!

Check out Mom's "Ugly Sweater 2013". She's so adorable.

Oh....and this happened during dinner. Picture this, I am sitting at the counter building a beautiful pulled pork sandwich. What could it use? Ah yes, some bbq sauce. I picked up the bottle, and decided to give it a sniff before slathering it on my sandwich. I might have squeezed the bottle a bit too much...

Probably the most unattractive photo of me....ever

Everyone, including me sat with a shocked look on their face for a moment or two before we all started laughing hysterically.

Christmas Miracle: After a good scrubbing, the sweater is saved! 

Thank you everyone for a wonderful Christmas. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family members!

Updates & Photos

I am posting on our new laptop. Do you hear that?......Choirs of angels are singing right now. Okay, so maybe that is me singing. I sound like a dying cat. A dying cat that is super happy to have a new laptop.

The old computer had a long life. It lived a prosperous, fulfilling life. I might have avoided her in the end, but she was great for a long time. If you remember right I had discussed an issue with her, was it:

A: Poor battery life (Meaning: Don't you dare bump the cord or it died within milliseconds!)
B: Poor Ventilation (Meaning: AHHH! Lava hot legs within 20 minutes of use!)
C: Poor Ventilation Part Deux (Meaning: Sounds like someone's vacuuming..PSYCH!)
D: All of the above

You know the answer. It was ridiculous.

Moving on....

Life is good. I cannot believe this year is already over!!! We have been in this house for a year in 2 weeks. Insane!

I feel the need to recap a couple of things throughout the year since I have super sucked at updating:

*Anthony finished one of his hardest licensing exams last week. The structures exam. I heard it was brutal and we look forward to hearing his score in a couple of weeks. Only 5 more to go.
* We spoke in church last week. First (and hopefully last) time in this ward. Last ward we spoke in we were never asked again, hopefully this ward follows suit. Side Note: Neither of us passed out or threw up!
* I have self diagnosed myself with social anxiety. I have asked around and the answers I have gotten have been either, "Vodka or medication". Hmmm....Test me out....come start small talk with me and see how I do....
*Anthony is healthy and sleeping much better now. He had some sleeping issues for awhile but has finally got them resolved and we both couldn't be happier.
*Did I tell you about that time I was almost late for work because I misplaced my toothbrush? How does that happen? I searched high and low......um yeah, Anth took it in the shower with him......to scrub the tiles! Needless to say I bought a new toothbrush. I wasn't happy. But at least the tiles are clean. Married life is grand.
*Anthony turned 30! He's adorable.
*Favorite books this year include: "Before I Go To Sleep", "The Rent Collector" and "When She Woke".
* No kids yet. We've been trying for over 2 years now. We are in the process of testing and should be starting IUI treatments at the beginning of next year. Thanks for your support (:

We are doing so good!

Here are some photos from Thanksgiving at his Dad's house. His Step Mom always, ALWAYS, is so creative with her food and activities. She is so much fun and we love seeing what she has planned. This year we made apple swans! They turned out amazing!

 And some gingerbread making skills from my parents house. We won, "Most Creative". It is sitting on our kitchen table, we are incredibly proud. Okay, so maybe each kid won. Mom and Dad just didn't have the heart to exclude anyone. We each won in different categories and the prize was an awesome ornament. It was hilarious and fun! Oh and we celebrated Anth's birthday that day.

Weather advisories, slick roads, 15 degree weather. Perfect day for outdoor family photos. They turned out pretty cute though. Here's two....

I'll be updating more often, now that I don't have to worry about any 3rd degree burns on my thighs.

Love you all and I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving Day Stuffing

I posted this on our ward website and decided I would share on this page as well....I hope everyone is doing well and let me know if you have any fun recipes you want to share with me :)
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I absolutely loathed stuffing when I was a youngster. I had no understanding as to why anyone would want to consume "wet salty bread". Oh dear....

What I couldn't comprehend was how complex stuffing could be. I'm not talking about stuffing from a box, I mean the homemade stuffing that perfumes your home for days with the scent of sage, onions, and sourdough bread. If I understood how much time and love went into the preparation of said dish, maybe.....just maybe I would have given it the applause and appreciation it so deserves.

Now, my friends, now I love stuffing.

I am going to give you a recipe that I tried for the first time last week. The husband and I go to his Mom's house once a month for Sunday dinner and she mentioned that she was going to do a tester Thanksgiving Day meal. I told her I would bring this recipe.

Before we left I chopped and sauteed my heart out all the while hoping that this recipe I stumbled upon would be worth my time.

As we sat down for dinner, stuffing, potatoes, smoked chicken, corn, homemade rolls and delicious gravy encircled me. I eagerly scooped up some stuffing and tried the first bite. It. Was. Amazing. The crunchy sourdough, the perfectly moist wheat bread, carrots and onions infused with love sweat and tears (that was a lot of onions to cut) was perfection. My father in law ranted and raved about it and even mentioned that it was better than my Mother in Laws and his deceased Mother's recipe. Wow....wow.

Needless to say, it is a great recipe and I hope it finds a home on your Thanksgiving tablecloth next to that delicious Turkey you've been babying in preparation.

Happy Cooking and Happy Thanksgiving Day!

{P.S One change I did make was some rosemary and I think next time I will add some sausage to add some complexity.}

Recipe and Photo Courtesy of Better Homes & Garden

Caramelized Onion and Carrot Stuffing:

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  olive oil
• 2  large sweet onions, coarsely chopped (2 cups)
• 4  medium carrots, cut in chunks and/or slices (2 cups)
• 1/3  cup  butter
• 1/4  cup  coarsely torn fresh sage or 1 tablespoon dried sage, crushed
• 1/2  teaspoon  kosher salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground pepper
• 1  pound  sourdough bread and/or whole wheat bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (12 cups) and dried*
• 1 - 1 1/2  cups  chicken broth
•  Fresh sage sprigs (optional)

Directions

1. In a 4-to 5- quart Dutch oven heat oil over medium-low heat. Add onions and carrots. Cook, covered, for 15 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Uncover; increase heat to medium-high. Cook for 5 to 8 minutes more or until onions are golden**, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; add butter. Stir until melted. Add 1/4 cup sage, salt, and pepper. Add bread; toss to combine. Drizzle with enough broth to moisten, tossing lightly to combine.

2. Place stuffing in a 3-quart casserole. Bake, covered, alongside turkey for 45 to 60 minutes or until heated through. Or, use to stuff one 12- to 14-pound turkey. Garnish with fresh sage.

• To dry bread cubes, spread cubes in a 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Bake in a 300 degrees F oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until cubes are dry, stirring twice; cool. Or let bread cubes stand loosely covered at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours.
• 

Fall Poem....

There once was a girl who really loved fall

"Come downtown with me! It will be a ball!"

Her man came along as she watched her friend succeed

Does this photo make me look short? Yes, Guaranteed

After the run they strolled down the street

He took a photo, it was blurry, off beat

 No more photo taking! Time for Trader Joes

There's no photo for proof, we didn't want to impose

 -------

This was our weekend, it was one of the best

This girl get's giddy when the leaves infest

Halloween Party

The Hill Halloween Party was at our place this year. I have been eagerly waiting for this day for awhile. Cobwebs were hung, food was prepared, costumes were planned and finally the quests arrived.

Josh and Jaden were zombies (of course), Varinia was a dead bride, Alexa was a pirate. Dad and Mom were a riot in their Breaking Bad costumes. Anth was Aaron, you know the poor guy that had to cut off his arm while hiking in Utah? Yikes. Kristi was a witch and I was a black widow.

We ate lots of yummy food which consisted of: rotten eggs, intestines, and worms. But we also ate pizza, breadsticks, veggies, cookies galore and carmel corn. We were stuffed by time the night ended.

After food and photos we played a couple of games. First we played a dice game. Depending on what number you rolled, you would get a piece to put on your pumpkin to make a jack o lantern. It was fun to see how all the different pumpkins turned out. Ours are proudly on our porch. Mom won, she was the first to complete her pumpkin and she was quite proud.

After pumpkins we went outside and played pumpkin bowling. You just add some faces to toilet paper, stack em up and bowl with a small pumpkin. No photos....it was dark out.

We had a fabulous night and I love that everyone actually dressed up. Apparently nagging works!!! I love my family, they crack me up.