Never Take Friday's for Granted

Never take Friday night date nights for granted.

This is a lesson I have learned as I have been with Nephi. For the first year of us knowing each other, we had like 3 Friday's together. Nephi is a manager at the biggest movie theater in town and works the weekends when he is in school. That means, Friday he gets home from school at 6, leaves for work at 6:30, gets home at 2 AM, and then wakes up and goes to work again from 10-5. This is a major hinder on our weekend.

I have learned how to be a single lady on the weekends. This consists of shopping (taking my time), cleaning, girls nights, movies, and catching up on my tv shows he hates. It's good but every once in a while when we get a Friday together I remember how I need to never take them for granted and suddenly it feels like a holiday. I LOVE IT!

On Friday, Nephi and I went to Bill Cosby at BYU-Idaho. Yes, he actually came to BYU-I! Unfortunately we had awful seats. I sat next to an old lady who told me that my phone was distracting when I got it out to tweet (my bad), my knees touched the back on this obnoxious laugher-guy in front of me the whole time, AND it was HOT! Besides all that, it was great. But really. I wish we didn't have terrible seats because I would have appreciated the experience more. He was hilarious of course but I realized his humor is very different from any other typical comedian. He told looooong stories and basically bashed on women being controlling. You know--the usual. Comedians bash on women, and commercials bash on men. I think we are even, right?

 Afterwards, we went home and enjoyed some chips and salsa and watched Lost. PS-I never eat or buy Dorritos and this weekend I remembered why...they are so addicting. Blah.

Saturday morning I got up and at Nephi's request made some breakfast burritos. He ate a few and then ran off to work and I ran to go and get my Bountiful Basket.

If you are in the Idaho Falls area you need to go get one at Bonneville High School! They threatened to close down the site if we don't get enough people signed up! For those of you who don't know what Bountiful Basket is, check them out here to see if there is a station in your area.

I got:

• 2 romain lettuce heads  
• celery
• kale
• 3 tomotoes
• 1 cucumber
• bananas
• 3 acorn squash....recipes please?!
• A weird melon? 
• 4 mangos 
• tons of plums
• ten million green apples...okay, it only feels like that. Homemade applesauce? I am going to try it.
• more apricots...I guess I will be making jam this week? (I don't have the slightest idea how to.) 

I got this ALL for $16.50! Great deal I would say. I always like going to the store and pricing it all out to see how much I really did save. It's a good deal and it lasts us about 2 weeks.

After I got my basket, I loaded my car with stuff to take to the DI and then hit up the gym and then headed over to the DI. It was busy on Saturday but I found some AWESOME stuff! I gave away a bunch of stuff so I felt justified get a few things that wouldn't invite clutter. 

In fact, here are 2 of the crafts that I did with the stuff I bought:

The rope was $2 for a bag full of rope that ended up being the perfect amount to cover this vase. Whew! Literally, it was the exact amount. And then the door numbers are my fav! I saw this idea years ago in a magazine and have been wanting to do it forever! Sure, I only have 2 bedrooms but it added the perfect character upstairs and I love it. Those wooden circles were $2 a piece and I already had chalkboard vinyl, paint, and the ribbon. 

So after DI I went to the grocery store and spent way more than I planned. This month I am trying to shop on a weekly basis rather than monthly but that didn't really work out. Hopefully the rest of the month will go well. 

I got home and then went to work on my car. I hate to admit it but I think the last time I cleaned out my car was summer 2010. Yep, pretty sure. I mean, I throw away trash and stuff but actually dust, wipe down and vacuum...it's been awhile. 

Instead of going to a car wash, I used my new vacuum that I LOVE. Totally worth the money I spent. It is amazing and we will keep it forever. I vacuumed that car, big time. The attachments helps me get in the areas that I have never been able to get to! Needless to say, it looked amazing compared to what it looked like before....

I didn't wash the outside because it looked like it was going to rain, and it did a little. I may take it through this week sometime. When Nephi got home I made him look at it and compliment me, a LOT. He did. I was happy.

Saturday night Nephi had homework so I made dinner and he studied. I felt like I was in the kitchen constantly from all the goodies I made this weekend. Sheesh. I don't even know if I will cook all week...okay, I will.

I made this pizza on Saturday. This is our second time having it and I am pretty sure I could eat it every weekend and never get sick of it! This time I doubled the recipe so I could make dessert pizza too.

2 tips for pizza lovers: 1. MAKE THIS PIZZA! It tasted AMAZING! 2. Convert to turkey kielbasa instead of pepperonis. Half the calories and the flavor combo is divine. The end.

And the dessert pizza? Really? Why haven't I done this before? It was amazing. Half apple and half strawberry. My mom canned and gave me a few jars of strawberry sauce. Never thought it would come in handy until now! It was delicious and EASY PEEZY.

SO we planned on going to MIB:3 on Saturday after homework but after I showered at 9:30 PM, I crashed and we just watched "She's All That" in bed. Yep, one of my favorites. I love Freddie. Always, always.

Sunday was a great day. It was the first time back in our ward in a month and people asked us if we were new. Nope, not new, just busy. But we really do like our ward. I especially love that it is at 11 AM. Sleep in, come home, nap, tons of time to play, late dinner and then bedtime.

I had to get a shot at our outfits. It was a good dressing day for the both of us. I love Nephi's tie and I love, love my new necklace and shirt.

It was a great weekend and we are hoping for an even better week!

Recent Dishes

I have had people ask me the recipes of a few dishes I have made lately so I thought I would share the wealth!

First of all, I love to cook. The food is good but presentation and delivery is my ultimate favorite part. I like colorful foods, variety, and trying new recipes. My husband on the other hand...not so much. He is a meat and potatoes boy which has presented me with new challenges in the kitchen. One year later and I think I am starting to understand how to cook for him and how to not be so sensitive to his reactions to my cooking.

We made a deal, however, that I can try whatever new recipes I want to and if they don't work out, he is allowed to go pick up a pizza. Any time and any day of the week this deal is in play and it's only happened ONCE. (Tried this recipe and failed. Ugh.) So, my experiments continue.

BTW...Nephi started feeling sick after eating something really fatty the other day and said, "I think you've gotten my body used to eating healthy because I get sick if I eat bad stuff now." UH, score. We do eat fairly healthy...you wouldn't guess it but we actually do. 

Where do I get my recipes? PINTEREST. Someone told me the other day that I should make a recipe blog but really I can't take credit for these recipes that I find. If I post about them, I will always provide the source so you can see what I have made. I do have a few cookbooks that are my go-to books but other than that, you can find all my recipes on my Pinterest account. My favorite recipes comes from my Weekly Menu Feeds board, The Healthy Stuff board, I Shouldn't board, and Event Planning board.

Anyway, here are the recipes people asked me to post and some additional notes from me.

I made this banana bread but hardly followed directions. I used sour cream instead of yogurt, used more bananas, and I didn't put the cereal on top. I also put it in mini loaves to take to our neighbors! It turned out amazing. I always make healthy banana bread and this was my first fatty one and I died. It was delish. Everyone must try this! Next time I will add the cereal.

Source: kirabug-yummyinmytummy.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

This Brie Dip is amazing. Nephi asked if I could make it once a week...I told him if he wanted to get a second job to buy the brie cheese every week, I would be happy to. Kidding...brie cheese is not that expensive. I get mine at Sam's Club.

I had some left over from celebrating our anniversary {don't worry, I put it in the freezer to keep} and so I used that. It keeps pretty well in the freezer. I thawed it out the night before, cut off the sides {which is edible but not suggested to use in this dip} and warmed it with the cream cheese. I thought it would harden back up again but it didn't. I followed the instructions and even added a little more sour cream to make it go a little farther. I baked it on a higher temp for a little more than half the time and then put it in a crockpot about 1/2 hour before the party started.

It was a huge hit! If you haven't had brie cheese before, it may shock you. I suggest testing out brie cheese before attempting making a full dip.

Source: franksredhot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

The next dip is Franks Buffalo Chicken Dip. I have tasted this before but I didn't believe it was this easy to make but it is!

Have you ever been to Wingers? It's a west coast thing and we have one in Rexburg and Idaho Falls and Nephi and I LOVE it! They have this sauce that is made with the Franks Red Sauce that is used in this dip and that is so easy to make too! {I made it for dinner last week and we put the chicken in salad to balance the spice and it was great.}

I followed this recipe by using blue cheese instead of ranch and gorgonzola cheese crumbles instead of blue cheese {already had some in the freezer} and even added some sour cream, even though it doesn't ask for any. Again, I wanted to make it go a little farther. It was my favorite part of the party! This will be another must have at our parties.

OH, and it tastes great warmed up the next day.

And finally...this drink.

Source: highstreetmarket.blogspot.com via Mallory on Pinterest

I could have drank this* allllll day. It's so fresh and light and quenches your thirst. I love the color. If you add the fresca first then the white grape juice it will create an ombre look. It's looks fancy.

I added fresh whole apricots to ours and it looks great it my glass drink dispenser. It added a little flavor and looked really nice.

*The original recipe says to use white wine, I used white grape fruit juice. 



So there are my latest tests in the kitchen!

Our House is Warm

This weekend we had our house warming party. It turned out really well but I am glad it is over!

The invitation I made and mailed out to our guests. 

I had all of last week to prepare and I waited to do the grocery shopping, cleaning, organizing, and cleaning on Saturday. I did a little on Friday but I did most on Saturday and just about died!

I made this checklist in Excel to help me remember everything. This does not make me OCD, just organized. :) 

Friday I did a little cleaning and tested out our new vacuum. That is a whole other story...note to self, never buy a needed item last minute like that again because you will end up spending too much money impulsively out of desperation. BUT, I do LOVE the vacuum and I look forward to using it often because it is amazing.

Saturday morning I woke up later than planned, ran to the gym and the grocery store and then got home at noon. I figured I had enough time to clean and cook considering I had like 6 hours---all the time in the world, right? NOT.

Luckily my mother-in-law came over and helped me cook and clean. She was the BIGGEST lifesaver, ever! Seriously I could have not pulled it off without her. We cooked and cleaned dishes together and then I ran upstairs to clean and organize and she dusted, swept and mopped my whole kitchen! I was shocked! I just asked her to dust but by the time I came down an hour later she had done it all. I was so relieved! If she wouldn't have done that I would have not gotten everything done in time. THANK YOU CONNIE!!!!

So I finished my room, 3 bathrooms, vacuumed the stairs and all floors, and organized our crazy 2nd bedroom in like 1 hour. (AKA-I threw everything in the closet.) I will be finishing that room up this week...esh.

I ran downstairs, literally sweating, and threw in some loads of laundry and cooked a few more things and while they were baking did some last minute crafts. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to do along the wall of the stairs. It's a small space but the walls looked weird with nothing on them. I know what I truly WANTED to do, but I didn't want to spend that much money. My original idea that I had and bought all the supplies for ended up not working the way I planned so I improvised. It turned out AWESOME and I can't wait to show you the pics. I did that in like 30 minutes and quickly hung it on the wall and then got back to cooking.

Nephi got home and I had him do a few things and then Neal and Angie came over to help. I had them do stuff but I still had other things to do!  It was 6:45 and it started at 7 but I still had things to do. I figured people wouldn't show up until 7:30 so I thought I was fine--nope. Some family showed up at 7 and so I was still in my gym clothes all gross and VERY sweaty. *Yeah, I sweat in my own home.* I didn't even get to make name cards for all the food! Bummer :(

At 7:15 I put them in charge and I ran upstairs to take the shortest shower in record history. Literally I was showered, dressed, make-up and hair done, by about 7:30. I was still sweating because I was rushed but I ran down stairs and more people were there but everything looked great and I am so thankful Neal and Angie came to help. Again, couldn't have done it without them either. I have great family.

We ended up having about 25 guests. I planned for 40 but I was happy that we had so many come and support. There were a few people who didn't come that upset me. I didn't ask for RSVP's but really, I expect too much out of people so I always get let down. Oh well.

Here are a few pics that I took with my phone. Since the house is all clean, I plan on taking legit pictures this week and having a post done soon with the tour. I am going to change our blog a little bit to have more features and our home will be one of the new features. I am excited.

Here is some of our family in the family room. Nephi's uncles are so savvy and turned our pilot light off in our fireplace. Whew! That will save us money on our electricity bill AND not make our house so warm.

Nephi eating some snacks. I made these awesome dips that I will blog about later. They were a HUGE hit and will be a must for all our parties in the future. 

The desserts! This photo was taken about an hour after the party had started so people already dove into the treats but I think we had a pretty good variety. Thank you Pinterest for inspiring our how food spread. I could not have done it without Pinterest!

More desserts!

The drinks and candy table. We had water with lemon, limeade, and then this other drink that is amazing. It's white grape juice and fresca. It was a huge hit! I even put some whole fresh apricots in there for appeal and it ended up adding some great flavoring as well. This will be a new staple for all our parties. 

The party went very well and our house is officially "warmed" by our friends and family. Maybe that is why I hardly slept last night because I was so hot? Probably.