Blog Face-Lift

YAY!!! I have been wanting to change the look of my blog for a few weeks now. I loved the three-column lay out, since I can fit more things on my page and there's tons of things I want to share! Anyway, I spent like all Sunday afternoon and evening trying to figure it out and in the end it just looked incredibly dumb. I've spent the last few days thinking and analyzing, looking for ideas on other blogs, looking for directions... and voila! My new blog look. This post isn't going to be much of anything other than I wanted to give myself a public pat on the back. Go me!


P.S. I actually am not a big fan of our header picture. Jared looks fantastic and I look not so fantastic. Isn't that how it always goes? Grr... So in case you are looking at it and think, what the heck?, don't worry. I am working out like a mad woman and dilligently following Weight Watchers. So looking at this picture everyday will hopefully keep the motivation high!

Movie Review

So Jared and I were shopping around Wal-Mart last night looking for a new DVD player, as ours broke. I was browsing through the movie section and found this. I have been wanting to see it since it came out, but never got around to it. Anyway, I had heard good things about it so I decided to buy it without watching it first. It was SO cute. Not an Oscar award winning movie by any means, but it had a really good message and it was just a cute, warm feelings kinda movie. Amy Adams of course, is adorable and she does great in this role. It's funny and and I think worth watching. So hit up your local Blockbuster and check it out!

New Coupon Website

So one of my New Year's Resolutions this year was to learn to be more frugal. Other than buying the cheapest thing at the store, or only buying clothes on clearance or basically just not buying anything at all.. I have no concept of being frugal. I think it's especially important now to make the dollar stretch and make the most out of it when there isn't a whole lot of it to go around! That said, the first thing I though I could definitely improve on was my grocery bill. I've been paying attention to sales and going through the coupons that come in the mail and have actually found some great deals! At least I think they are. I mean, even if the coupone is for only a dollar off, that's a dollar I don't have to pay for AND if I use several of those.. that's several dollars I don't have to pay for. I found a new website, www.redplum.com. This company sends out the coupon books in the mail, I'm not sure if everyone gets this or just my area... don't know. Anyway, all you couponers will have to visit it and tell me what you think. I've found better deals with the coupon booklets that come in the mail, but I guess it doesn't hurt to take a look at it before I go shopping.

Also, my first answer to when I want to learn anything new is to go read a book about it. Is that weird?! I haven't had a chance to do that yet, but I'm asking for tips and tricks of the trade for those of you masters at being frugal!

Sister Missionaries!!

Our "Missionary Weekend" started off driving down to Provo on Thursday night to be there while my sister opened her call. Her little tiny apartment at BYU was PACKED with all of her friends, but it was fun to be there. She got her call and is going to Brazil! She reports to the Sao Paulo MTC (in Brazil) on May 20th. It was super exciting to be there and take part in that special event. The funny thing about her call is I got my mission call to Brazil too! That was before Jared decided he couldn't live without me and I got married instead, but it's cool that we got the same call. Different missions, but same country. Weird!! I know she's excited and she is going to be great!



Th rest of the weekend was spent in TX welcoming home Jared's sister, Jessie, from serving an honorable mission in Argentina. We, along with Alicia (Jared's sister) flew up the day before to surprise her at the airport. She thought that since we were just there for Christmas we weren't going to be able to come and boy was she surprised to see us there! It was so fun to welcome her home and be there for her momentous occasion. She loved her mission and has funky tan lines to prove it! She was released on Saturday afternoon and we spent the afternoon after that looking at pictures and opening up our presents. She gave a great talk in church on Sunday and it's always so amazing to see the spiritual growth of a return missionary. She spent a lot of time in poor areas of her mission, and so it was pretty funny to see her adjust back into the American life. Anyway, we had a great weekend and even though it was too short we're so glad that Audrey (my sister) is making such a good decision to serve the Lord and Jessie is coming home from that.

Tribute to Momma's Mini

This Is Jared. My first post!! Go me!

This is a tribute to my momma's mini. My dad and I made it our Christmas break project. We tinted windows, installed aftermarket rims, K & N Intake, and detailed it. It drives just as good as it looks.

Christmas Pics

Yay! I've finally posted our Christmas adventures. What a great Christmas! We spent it down in TX with Jared's family and had a great time. Some of the highlights include:

Jared's first pedicure. The pic is blurry, but out of the 20 pics I tried to take of this event, this was the best one. Oh, the perils of taking pictures when you are mechanically challenged. The boys went to get pedicures and must I say, even after all the beef they gave, they're converted.

I didn't actually contribute a ton to the puzzle. Like, maybe 20 pieces out of 1000. But I killed those 20 pieces!

The LARGE sugar cookie we left Santa on Christmas Eve. This is the best sugar cookie recipe ever!

Christmas morning tradition: biscuits and gravy! Oh.. my.. gosh. So, so good!

12ft Christmas tree. The kicker is, my awesome mother-in-law decorates the whole thing herself! Amazing.

The stockings hanging over the fire place. You'll note that the in-laws have the biggest stockings. That's cause Santa likes them the best. ;-)

I have to say, even though Brooklyn wasn't quite getting the whole unwrapping the present thing, Christmas is SOO much more fun with kids around! She was so cute!

Helping out Grandpa

The gang hanging out, enjoying eachother's company and relaxin' after the present opening.The woman! Or for those of you don't know, my totally amazing mother-in-law. Supa cool.

And me. Random pic that Jared took and yes, you can see the two weeks of non-stop eating on my face. Don't worry, the situation is being rectified.

So, that's it! We also got to talk to Jared's sister and brother who are serving missions (Jessie in Argentina and Cory in Dominican Republic) over the holiday and that was pretty awesome. They had cool stories to tell. Speaking of which, Jessie is coming home this weekend! All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas and a great time doing the traditions that Jared grew up with and loves so much.

New Recipe

Even though it's way past Christmas, I want to post my pictures still. However, I can't remember to do it when I'm actually with the camera at home, so they'll come later. I do need to post still, so I thought I'd share a new recipe that I made last night. I'm sure everyone has their own beef stroganoff recipe, but this one is the BEST I've ever tasted!

BEEF STROGANOFF

1 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped (1/2 cup)
1/4 c. butter or margarine
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. garlic, minced (or garlic salt/powder)
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 can cream 0' chicken soup
1 can cream o' mushroom soup
1 c. sour cream (or 2 c., depending on how much you like sour cream)
2 c. cooked egg noodles

Cook ground beef and onion in butter until onion is tender. Sit in flour, salt, garlic, pepper. Cook 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in soup, simmer uncovered 10 min. Stir in sour cream, heat through.

Serve over noodles or mix with noodles.


My favorite kind of recipes are shared ones with friends, so if I try something yummy I'll share.
Enjoy!