This is how my mom makes yams..

Mmmmm.....Yummy?

They didn't quite turn out like she had hoped, and we all had a good laugh about her cooking skills. It was really disgusting looking. If you're wondering why there is two missing, Adam ate them. Yuck!

Thanksgiving 2010

I have so many things to be thankful for, and I count my blessings daily. I remember one day, back when I was a teenager, and my mom and I were having a fight about something. She yelled at me saying, "Sometimes you are the most ungrateful little brat!" At that moment I didn't know what to say, I just felt bad for making my mom feel like I wasn't grateful for all the millions of things she has done for me over the years. Since that day, I try to express gratitude towards my mom, my husband, my Heavenly Father, and others who I love and care about. I've made it a habit to list all the things I'm thankful for on my way from work everyday, and it's become one of my favorite parts of my day. I also took time this month to make a list of all the things I'm thankful for and hung it on my fridge. I'm so blessed to be surrounded by such great family and friends. Adam and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families. We spent the weekend at my parent's house, so that I could help my mom cook dinner and decorate for Christmas. We got to my parents on Wednesday night, and my mom and I got started on making the pies for Thanksgiving dinner. It's kind of become a tradition that I help my mom with Thanksgiving dinner. She makes the crusts for the pies and I make the filling. We always make a big mess, but there is never a dull moment with us in the kitchen.

I made my very first pie crust, but not without lots of help from my mom.

It was a cherry pie, and it turned out delicious!

After finishing up two pumpkin pies, two cherry pies and a pecan pie we were ready to go bed. The next morning we woke up early and started making the sides for Thanksgiving dinner.  We were busy for several hours making green bean casserole, dressing and fruit salad. Around noon my Aunt Kathy and Unc came over for dinner. Unc brought his delicious rolls he always makes, and Aunt Kathy brought a yummy grape salad. It was fun having them here, and we really love them. Dinner was so good! For a long time I didn't like a lot of the food at Thanksgiving, but maybe my taste buds are changing. The Patriots were playing during dinner, and Adam kept making up excuses that he needed to wash his hands, but he was really going to check the score.  After dinner I laid down because I was so tired from all the calories I'd just consumed. At 2:30 we went over to Adam's Aunt Elizabeth's house for Thanksgiving with all of his family. I couldn't get myself to eat one more thing, so we decided to just sit and talk with his family. We had a great Thanksgiving surrounded by lots of family. After dinner we went back to my house and Adam and Unc watched the rest of the Cowboys game. I think Adam was glad to have a man in the house that actually watches football because my dad does not. All the girls hid in the mom room and talked for a while. Later that night we played American Idol singing competition game on the Wii, and my mom won!

On Black Friday Adam made me get up at 4 a.m. and go to Wal-mart. I wasn't very happy about having to get up to fight crowds and stand in line for an hour! I wrapped our cat, Zoey up into a blanket and took her with us, and she kept me entertained. She didn't even meow very much. Adam had mapped out his whole shopping plan, and he got everything he wanted, except the waffle iron that I wanted. We were back home by six a.m. and I went back to bed for a few hours before getting up for work. After a long day of work I was ready to go to bed. On Saturday morning my mom and I got up and decorated outside. I hung the lights on the bushes and the trees while my mom trimmed bushes. It looks like Christmas outside! Zoey also had fun chasing my mom around, and eating the bushes. It's always fun decorating with my mom!

It's a lot of work trimming all of those bushes, but they look great!

Mom teasing Zoey

Wrapping several strands of lights around bushes and trees is time consuming!

Zoey loves having her picture taken

And how cute is she!

That afternoon I got ready for the day and met Adam at the park. His cousin Tiffani was taking our family pictures, and I was so excited. She is so talented, and we had so much fun with her. I can't wait to see them! When I got home my mom and I got out all the Christmas decorations and started decorating the house! I love unwrapping everything and finding all the treasures inside. My mom has SO much Christmas stuff, and we scatter it around the room every year.

Christmas Chaos

My dad and I have our own little Christmas tradition. Every year we drive up to Kolob and cut down our own tree. It's always fun talking to my dad, and playing in the snow. This year we weren't able to go to Kolob because of the "Artic Blast" and there was too much snow up there now. I was really sad, and now we have a domesticated Christmas tree. My dad bought a Christmas tree for the first time in a long time. On Sunday morning my mom and I woke up early and started decorating the tree.

Half way done! I always put the lights on the Christmas tree for my mom because she hates doing it, and I'm not letting her buy a pre-light fake tree.

We finally got everything set up and on the tree! Everything looks fabulous! My mom and I make a great team! We had a great weekend hanging out with my parents, and we can't wait for Christmas!

Zoey can't wait for Christmas either. She has been eating all the christmas decorations she can reach. It's been so much fun, and I'm sad to be going home. I miss laughing and goofin' off with my mommy.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adam's mom gave us a big Kitchenaid mixer for our wedding present, and since we've ALMOST been married for six months we decided to use it. I had some left over pumpkin puree from a recipe I had used earlier in the week, and so we decided to make pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I love baking, but I usually try to avoid cookies. It seems like everytime I make cookies, they turn out to be more like little hard frisbee's instead. I'm praying that these will be as delicious as they sound. I got the recipe from Food Network online, and those people usually know what they're talking about, right?

I was thrilled when Adam told me he wanted to help me make cookies. I should have known that what he meant by "help" was help get rid of the extra cookie dough. He mostly sat in the living room playing XBOX, but I really can't complain because when he did come in the kitchen he wanted to tell me how to do it.

This is my favorite face that Adam makes. He usually makes this face when he's doing something I told him not to, and then he tells me how much he loves me and somehow he's forgiven.

I am so proud of myself! I made a delicious cookie, and it was soft, chewy and perfect!

And of course, my husband loved them too.

On a side note: I have so much Christmas Spirit! I have been listening to Christmas music, going to the mall and every home decorating store in St. George. I just can't get enough! I love this time of year, and the warm fuzzies I get inside!

BUT

I do have one complaint about something not related to Christmas. When I FINALLY convince my husband that I need a new sweater, and I go online to order it, it's out of stock! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING? I never buy clothes unless I really love it, and lately I haven't loved anything. When I do love it, it's already gone! This has happened more than once now, and it's making me very sad.

November 8, 2010

Back in Octorber Adam and I bought a pumpkin to carve because we thought we were going to be home for Halloween. When we decided to go to Big Bear instead of celebrating at home, we were left with a pumpkin, and no idea what to do with it. It's been sitting on our dryer for almost a month now, and today we decided to crave it into....

Adam decided it would be a good idea to put the pumpkin guts into his mouth, it was really disgusting. I even think it's pretty gross just to hold the slimey, stringy, cold guts that come out of the pumpkin. I can't imagine what that tastses like.

We turned our pumpkin into DINNER!

And it was sooo good, and it turned out perfect!

One year ago today Adam and I got engaged, so we decided today would be the perfect day to make dinner in a pumpkin. It was fun pulling out the pumpkin guts, and cooking together. I'm so blessed to have Adam in my life, and I'm so thankful for all of the things he does for me.

K-I-S-S-I-N-G

HOW CUTE IS THIS??

A few weeks ago my sister, my niece Kimber and I went to the park in St. George for some fresh air. Kimber was playing with the little kid statues and it was so cute. She is so adorable, and I love being her aunt!

Halloween in Big Bear

This year for Halloween we celebrated in Big Bear California, and I loved every minute of it! I only had to watch one scary movie, and I hid behind a pillow the whole time. On Friday morning I got up early to finish our laundry and to pack our suitcase. We were packed and ready to go by 8 a.m. We drove over to the hospital to get the keys to Devon's dad's truck. We moved all our stuff from the saturn to the Toyota. It was so much fun driving a truck, and Adam looks so hot driving a big truck. I can't wait til we have one of our own.

Adam and I driving to Las Vegas. We had a lot of fun laughing and talking on the way down. I love spending time with Adam, and we always have the best driving conversations.

When we got to Las Vegas we picked up Devon and Vanessa and went to Smith's to pick up some groceries for the trip. Vanessa and I ran around the store trying to find the most unhealthy food possible.

 The drive to California was fun, and a little scary since we had no idea where we were going or what the place we would be staying at looked like. I started getting a little nervous when I didn't see pine trees, just desert. Within 5 minutes the desert turned to forest and it got really cold outside. I got really excited at the nice World Mark condo's we would be staying at.

 We had a nice living room, a fully stocked kitchen, 2 big bathrooms and 3 bedrooms. It was so nice!

 That night we unpacked our stuff and watched a scary movie while we waited for the other couple to arrive.

 The next morning it was snowing when Adam and I woke up, so we decided to walk over and see how much the pancake breakfast was. We didn't feel like paying 5 dollars for pancakes so we went back to our room. When everyone else woke up Devon made us breakfast. It was so good, he made breakfast burrito things. After breakfast, we all went down to the hot tub! Vanessa and I made George Washington hair, we looked ridiculous but it was fun.

 After relaxing in the hot tub for an hour we went back to our room and got ready for the day. Since none of us had ever been to Big Bear we didn't know what to do, so we drove around looking for something that looked fun. We found a place that rents out kayacks in the phone book, so we decided to call and see how much it would be. The lady told us that since it was a little breezing it wouldn't be any fun to go out. It was only 20 dollars a boat so we decided that we would try it anyways.

 And we had tons of fun! It was only cold and breezy for a few minutes, and then the rest of the time was so calm and pretty. We had fun trying to tip each other over and chasing ducks, and it was a good workout for my arms. I enjoyed going out on the lake and it was really relaxing, and I didn't have to wear a life jacket.

We chased this duck almost all the way to the shore, but he swam into the swamp.

And we got stuck

Big Bear lake is so beautiful

 We both loved kayacking on the lake. It was so much fun and it was the perfect day!

 When we got back from kayacking Mary and Tyson were back from their hike and making dinner for us. Mary made this really delicious cheesy chili hashbrown casserole. While Mary was making dinner, Vanessa and I went to the store to buy hashbrowns and eggnog. We are causing trouble where ever we go. After dinner all of us made carmel apples. It's harder than it looks, and my carmel kept falling off.

 Adam put hot chocolate mix on his apple, and it looked really gross. He said it tasted good though.

While all the guys were watching the Oregen vs. USC game the girls went shopping. The only stores open at 8 p.m. were Dollar Tree and Kmart. We found silly string in Dollar Tree and decided it would be hilarious to spray the guys. We went to Kmart just for fun then headed back to the condo. The game had just ended and Oregen won and we won ten dollars from Devon. We gave him a really hard time. When we walked into the condo the guys know we were up to something, but they didn't know what. We got the silly string out of our purses and started spraying. It was a such a mess, and Adam was able to get the can from me and spray my hair. The silly string was everywhere, and it was really smelly. After cleaning it off the fridge, dish washer, lamps, walls, couches and floor we watched a movie and went to bed. I wish I had gotten a better picture of the mess but Adam's face pretty much tells it all.

 The next morning we got up early and started packing and getting ready to leave. While Adam was in the shower Devon and Vanessa decided to dump ice water on him. They asked if I would help so they wouldn't think anything when they opened the door. When I entered the bathroom I asked if Adam had clothes to change into when he got out of the shower. Before he could answer, Devon dumped the pitcher of water over the shower and Adam was yelling he was going to get us back. We were all laughing when Adam came out of the bathroom. Later Devon and Vanessa had to take a shower and Adam had already came up with a brillant plan to get them back. Since the bathroom door didn't lock, they put a chair up againest the bathroom door so he couldn't get in. He waited until they came out of the bathroom, while they were still wet, and dumps several cups of flower on them. When it combined with the water it became sticky and like glue. They had to take a shower all over again. I think we've just started a war between us. After an hour of clean up we watched football until it was time to check out.

Before heading back to Las Vegas we stopped at the boardwalk that went over the lake.

This trip was such a great vacation and it was fun to hang out with our friends and make new ones!

I slept most of the way back to Las Vegas, and the guys were watching the Patirots game on Adam's Iphone. I'm glad that the Patriots won. We stopped in Primm to ride the roller coaster at Buffalo Bills. Devon and Vanessa sat in the front and Adam and I sat behind them. I haven't ridden that roller coaster since I was little. It was such a blast. I had my camera in my pocket during the ride, and when we got off it was gone. I was so sad but Adam looked down by our feet and in Vanessa's spot. Somehow, my camera flew out of my pocket and up into Vanessa's seat. It was so crazy! We also rode the log ride, and got a little soaked. Nessa won, she shot the most bad guys! When we got into Vegas we ate at Buffalo Wild Wings, and I loved it. I usually don't like places that I've never eaten at, but it was delicious, or I was just starving. After that we went to Green Valley Resort and gambled a little, but we didn't have very much luck. It was such a fun trip, and Big Bear reminded Adam and I a little of Lake Tahoe. We are so glad Devon and Vanessa invited us.