Memorial Day Weekend

I really wish every weekend was a 3-day weekend. Doesn't it just make life better!? 

Friday night we went up near Hobble Creek for our ward's campout, but we just went up for dinner. Tanner's allergies haven't been too great this year, and it wouldn't have been a fun experience! Though, I would love to camp where our ward did, because it was just a beautiful grass field! We enjoyed dinner and games, and meeting new people!

Saturday Shelley and I ran errands for Morgan's shower (post coming soon) and took a stop at Called to Surf at The Riverwoods. We EVENT WENT SURFING! Jk, that's not real.

When I was picking up new gel polishes (I'm startin back up, ladies!) Shelley got some color, and asked me to do her hair. Of course I said yes! It turned out great.

^^You can never have too many wrinkles! :/

Then that evening, Tanner and I enjoyed a homemade meal on Saturday (I feel like that never happens?) Outside on our picnic table!

^^ Carb loading? They were small!

Sunday I enjoyed holding Mr. Caleb, my little Cafe Rio burrito baby. Seriously, he's so teensy, and I love him. Look at that blondie!

We then headed up the Canyon with everyone else and their sisters, and had a picnic. We didn't make time for s'mores, but I know it'll be happening soon. It was such a beautiful day! 

This is my friend Morgan, and her fiance Mckay...they're my friends.

Then I got started working on a "flower wall" for the shower.

I found a nifty stick in the backyard, got flowers from the dollar store, and got gluin!

I really loved how it turned out!

Monday came, and we (Shelley and I) set up the tables outside, got donuts with my husband, ran last minute errands, hung up the lights, and chilled by the pool for a couple hours. 

I also forgot that it was my first real time in the sun this summer, so not putting sunscreen on my legs (which usually never burn) was a mistake. And, I have a HUGE bright red v on my neck, but I'll spare the pictures.

We then had a last minute BBQ with friends, and played lots of corn hole. I would say it was a success!

HAPPY FRIDAY!

If you want a good laugh, go here

A mid-afternoon blog post

Just 3 things to make this post completely random...

1. On my way to work, there was a colliding semi crash, on the freeway, so that was interesting. There's two cars in the front, and one on the side, and yes that semi is going the wrong way... Luckily,and thankfully, everyone walked it off? #miracle

2. We finally stained our picnic table, and I love it! I loved the raw wood, but it just looks so sleek now! And look at our cute wild flowers. I die. 

don't look at the legs...we haven't flipped it over yet, ok?

3. Yesterday was Shell Bell's birthday, and we of course went to In N Out for dinner, and then celebrated with cake & ice cream, scotcharoos, and music.

Holla it's a three day weekend coming up. Lot's of fun. Can't wait.

Our Weekend

I say this every time, but this weekend was full of fun. Friday night we were able to attend the temple together, and then grab some dinner. It was a perfect evening.

Saturday was pretty crazy, and we were running around all day! Stating with an 8am kickball game with our ward, that was cancelled. We had to go pick something up at City Creek, Tanner watered our front and backyard, and I noticed some new, pretty, purple flowers coming in! It's fun to see what the seasons do, since we haven't been in the house for long. It's so exciting to me!

That night, we went to dinner with Brim and Scott, took a rest, and then grabbed some ice cream, at my favorite IKE'S! Then we chatted until 1am. It always happens, and we always regret it Sunday morning, but it was such a great night. 

Sunday, we had a picnic in the canyon with the Zylstra's, complete with hot dogs, watermelon, chips, and s'mores! It was such a hot day, and then was chilly when we left! I love how green everything is right now!

s'mores & babies=nothing better

A Beautiful Evening Hike

The other night I was able to leave work early (thanks to not taking my lunch!) and we decided to hike the Y! It was such a beautiful evening, and we loved the time together. Surprisingly, it was my very first time hiking it, and it's true...it is hard! It was a good workout though! We should have maybe gone a different day, because we just worked out our legs the day before, and on those steep switchbacks, I felt like my legs were about to fall off if I took one more step! 

It was a great night together, and after already having dinner, we ended it with In N Out, for some "fuel"! ;)

Trying to walk different ways so that my legs would stop aching! We finally just started running down! I love going on last minute adventures with my man.

Layered Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I think I'm too obsessed with Castle, and 24! Today walking out of the elevator, a man in all black was holding his hand to the side, and sort of started following me. I immediately started to think he was going to stab me in the back. Then, on my drive home, a black escalade was driving close to me, and I started panicking that they were bad guys. Haha! All I think about is how much I love Jack Bauer, and I'm serious. After watching a full season, I've been dying to see another episode. 

Tonight I made a delicious Layered Chicken Enchilada Casserole. I make Enchiladas quite a bit in our house, so having a new spin on things was nice. They're layered, instead of rolled, and even though I didn't make the homemade enchilada sauce like she suggested, the Old El Paso brand was DELICIOUS. My Enchiladas don't have Enchilada sauce, they're more of a white-girl-mormon version, so it's nice to have another option when I crave Mexican food, which is most of the time. Anyways, make this Enchilada Casserole right now. I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Ingredients

3 cups red enchilada sauce (I highly recommend my homemade red enchilada sauce recipe)

16 corn tortillas, halved

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained

6 scallions (green onions), thinly sliced

4 cups (about 1.5 pounds) shredded cooked chicken

3 cups shredded Monterrey Jack or Mexican blend cheese

1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced

1/2 cup loosely-packed chopped fresh cilantro

Method

Heat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Pour about 3/4 cup enchilada sauce in the baking dish, and spread until the bottom of the dish is coated. Top with a layer of about 8 tortilla halves so that the entire dish is covered. Sprinkle evenly with about 1 cup black beans, 1/2 cup corn and a fourth of the green onions. Then sprinkle with a heaping cup of the chicken, and about 3/4 cup shredded cheese.

Repeat with a second layer of tortillas, then sauce, then beans, corn, green onions, chicken, and cheese. Then a final layer of tortillas, sauce, beans, corn, green onions, chicken and cheese. Then conclude with a final layer of tortillas and sauce (reserving about 3/4 cup of cheese to add partway through baking).

Cover the pan with aluminum foil, then bake for 20 minutes. Remove pan and remove aluminum foil. Sprinkle the top of the enchiladas evenly with the remaining 3/4 cup of cheese, then return to the oven (uncovered) and bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Remove pan, and sprinkle with avocado, cilantro, and remaining green onions. Serve warm.

right outta the oven

delicioso 

Also, a good cover.

i love my mom

Mother's Day was on Sunday, and the Zylstra's had to speak. It was nerve racking, especially to be talking about mother's, when I'm not one, in front of other mothers. I think we did alright though, and it's always such a relief when you're finished! One of my favorite quotes that I based my talk on, came from Patricia Holland's talk, "Becoming Women of Greater Faith in Christ". I think this is a great talk for everyone to read.

As I tenderly acknowledge the very real pain that many single women, or married women who have not borne children, feel about any discussion of motherhood, could we consider this one possibility about our eternal female identity—our unity in our diversity? Eve was given the identity of “the mother of all living”—years, decades, perhaps centuries before she ever bore a child. It would appear that her motherhood preceded her maternity, just as surely as the perfection of the Garden preceded the struggles of mortality. I believe mother is one of those very carefully chosen words, one of those rich words—with meaning after meaning after meaning. We must not, at all costs, let that word divide us. I believe with all my heart that it is first and foremost a statement about our nature, not a head count of our children.

That last line ^^ is so powerful. Mother's Day isn't just for those that have already borne children. I know plenty of people, that I listed during my talk, who are motherly figures to me, that haven't had children, and probably never will. I then described what attributes mother's have, and how we can try to have those same attributes in our lives daily.

Then, I shared this story, and man, it makes my heart so happy. 

classy snapchat before we spoke.

as I've mentioned before, my parents moved. my sister's and i got a watercolor done of our old house, and i think it's beautiful! i loved seeing my moms reaction via video message too, because it was just how i imagined it! 

last week our friends started watching the new season of 24, and Tan had never seen it. i grew up watching it, and my mom actually just gave us the first 3 seasons. so, because we have never done the "season" thing, we decided to start watching it-we are already done. seriously, i loved having this be what our nights and weekend consisted of! we decided we can't start the second season until he takes the DAT though! 

I LOVE JACK BAUER.

Food Trucks

As I've said before, Food Trucks are all the rage in Provo right now. On Thursday's they even have a "food truck round up" where all the trucks park in a little circle, and basically you're in heaven. We've been to Fiore multiple times, and Art City Donuts multiple times, and I think they're both fabulous. There's a couple I probably won't ever buy from, but I think we now have our staples! :)

We've been wanting to go to the round up for a while now, but we always have something on Thursday's, or by the time we realize it's Thursday, I've already had dinner preparing, etc. This Thursday, I was so not in the mood to cook, and that meant, we were officially going. We tracked down Fiore, and ordered a pizza. We enjoyed it outside on their tables, and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!

I mean...look at that!

We then headed to The Matterhorn, a new food truck, with gourmet French Toast. And let me tell ya, we wish we had more! We got the berry avalanche, and it had biscoff, mixed berries, cream, AND coconut syrup. Are you salivating yet? We will definetly be tracking this one down, along with our other favorites. SO yum!

Reminiscing

Since it's "throwback Thursday", and because I like to reminisce on old pictures, especially when i was somewhere warm, and it's cold in Utah (like always), let's take a look at some Honeymoon pics. (sorry for that unbelievably long sentence.)

I had dreamed about visiting The Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas ever since Mary-Kate and Ashley filmed Holiday in the Sun (remember-I'm still obsessed). After begging every Spring Break, and holiday, and never making it with my parents, my sweet Tanner surprised me with this trip. We were married in October, smack dab in the school year, so we went during Thanksgiving, and it was perfect. I loved having a trip to look forward to, having a little bit of time to get to know each other first, and spending our first real holiday together, just the two of us! And, we didn't care to get international service, so we just used our phones for strictly pictures. I loved not having a worry in the world, and really being able to enjoy each other. 

When we first got there, I couldn't believe my dream had really come true. And I'm serious... I'm the type of person that sent links to my parents any time I would get a discounted email sent from the Atlantis. I really wanted to visit! And although my favorite twins didn't surprise me with a visit like I had hoped, we truly had a blast, and I will never forget this trip! I don't know the next time we will have a trip like this-just the two of us-so I love looking back on it. Now for some pictures, because who doesn't like pictures!? 

Also...man we were babies.

When we finally walked around in the daytime, and I saw ^that^ view, I couldn't stop being so giddy. 

They're known for their miles and miles of aquarium. You walk through tunnels and halls, you can go down a slide in a tunnel of sharks, and every pool of water (besides the actual pools of course) have animals that you wouldn't particularly want to swim with.

We were able to check out the Casino every night, along with seeing a movie in the free theater! I think that was the only free thing in the resort! :) The Bahamas law allowed me to gamble even when I was 20! Cha Ching. But, we only did penny slots, because we didn't want to be even poorer when we went home!

We swam with the dolphins at Dolphin Cay, and my second dream came true. We loved it. We even got to swim next to them under water, because we had those electric scooter things! They're pretty amazing animals. And, our dolphin even spat on Tanner and laughed, and it was seriously the funniest thing ever. One of my favorites memories though would've been lounging on the chairs after our session was done, watching the dolphins doing tricks, listening to Beach Boys Christmas. Besides laughing at each other getting into those great wet-suits, of course.

We had a delicious feast on Thanksgiving, and loved that everything was decorated for Christmas.

We can't forget the great Thanksgiving festival that went down!

We had lots of great food that week, and my favorite was the Ben & Jerry's down by the marina. 

This boy doesn't crave desserts like his wife does-but for some reason one night, he decided to crave them, and forget about his frugal-ness! ;)

If you're ever in Nassau, you MUST go to Twin Brothers. Seriously, so sad that we went on one of our last nights, and that the cab ride was $50 just to go over the bridge. That's our one regret of the trip-not going more than once!

I loved the day that we snuck into "The Cove" adult resort, and enjoyed their laid back beach, and went jet skiing-eventhough I was screaming/crying the whole time because the water was so clear-and because those waves were so scary-and because those Bahamian peeps didn't really get the whole "explaining of how to drive back to shore" thing.

I read and finished this book during the week-yep, on our Honeymoon!

And, unfortunately, our flights got changed the week before, so we ended getting there later, and leaving earlier, but they hooked us up on First Class for the whole way, with a limo included, and we didn't know what we were doing. 

The pools were gorgeous, and we sat in the lazy rapids (yes...it wasn't just relaxing, but fun too!) all day long. I will have to post the videos of us in the Shark tunnel, because man that was scary. 

Flying away I may have shed a tear or two. 

It was the trip of a lifetime, and we hope to visit soon, Nassau!