Idaho!

Did you really expect me to post this on time?? So I totally planned to have this post done right after we got home from Idaho, but unfortunately that just didn't happen. Health issues set me back a couple of weeks, but I'm here now, so let's get this done!

JJ and I drove up to Meridian, Idaho on Friday June 3rd to visit his sister's family and to take part in his niece's baptism. JJ was honored to be a witness for the baptism and to stand in the circle when confirming her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

We joined the family afterwards at their neighborhood pool to hang out, swim, play on the playground and just enjoy the amazing weather!

Carol Anne taking a turn on the slide - what a kid! :)

J playing soccer in the backyard - I can't believe how much he's grown. I hate that this family is so far away!

My studly husband getting ready for a vigorous game of Tetherball!

JJ's sister Gina & her hubby Joe - thanks for inviting us! We'll come back to visit soon!!

Mr. & Mrs.

The other big part of our vacation - inspired by my brother's challenge to find & visit one of Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" We looked online and found "Donnie Mac's Trailer Park Cuisine" and knew that's where we would be headed. I Loved the decor and couldn't stop looking around throughout the entire meal. JJ was embarrassed to be with me as I wandered around and took picture after picture.

The building is an old garage - complete with doors that slide up for a nice breeze.

The kitchen is made to look like an old trailer - the orders are sent to the cooks on a zip-line!

The counters are old truck tailgates.

I got the 'single wide cheeseburger' and it was ohhh so tasty!

J got the 'Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich' complete with made from scratch coleslaw & sweet potato fries.

This lovely dish is called the "Thunder Plate" It was created by Guy Fieri when he filmed the show about Donnie Mac's. The ingredients are: Tortilla Strips, Red Onions, Olives, Red Peppers, Cheetos, Cheddar Cheese, 1/3 Lb Ground Beef, a Hot Dawg, Sweet Potato Fries, Regular Fries, Onion Rings, drizzled with the Macaroni Cheese Sauce and topped with a Bacon Weave - served nacho style for $17.99.

We couldn't bring ourselves to order it because it said it could feed six people! I got lucky though and the couple next to us ordered it and allowed me to take a picture. Crazy!!

We ended our meal with some awesome shakes made with frozen custard instead of ice cream. Oh they were heaven!!!

Awesome old car that you can eat your meal in.

Thanks for the fantastic experience Donnie Mac's!

Memorial Day

Memorial Day commemorates U.S. soldiers who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War - it was extended after World War I to honor Americans who have died in all wars.

I want to thank my family and friends that have served in our military - past, present, or future. My Grandpa Anderson, Uncle Kent, Mandy & Mike McTiernan, Nick Vigus, Jon Whall, Johnny Kafer, Jay Alba, Jared, Tausha and Caden Lowry, Matt Stratton and Derrek Child.

I also want to give a shout out to all those that love this great nation as much as I do. American people that haven't served in the military but love this country with all their hearts.

I'm Proud to be an American!

Nerd!!

My big sister and I were talking the other day about how funny it is that we, my sisters, have taken on the quirks, attributes and/or hobbies of our spouses. She goes camping and hunting and my other big sister goes to Moab every year for rock crawling. While my husband doesn't share quite the same interests, I too have taken on his "hobby"... of being a total nerd.

As some of you know, JJ and I LOVE the website www.thinkgeek.com, they have everything a nerd would ever dream of... well... almost.

Here we have the "Pop Quiz Math Clock." You first have to solve the equation before you're actually able to tell what time it is. Not nerdy enough?

We also have the "Periodic Table Shower Curtain." JJ loves that he can learn while showering. Are you in agreement with me yet?

Incase I haven't proved our nerdiness enough, take a gander at this last picture... As I said before, you can find ALMOST anything on thinkgeek... except for a Rubik's Cube Kleenex cover.

Our favorite tv show, The Big Bang Theory, has one of these on set - a fan made one and sent it in. You can't purchase one of these anywhere, believe me, I searched. So after many ideas, plans, plotting & scheming, I finally decided to make my own. I visited the Wood Connection with a sketch, measurements, and a hope that they would be willing to build my idea. They built me a box, then cut out 44 little squares. I messed up JJ's Rubik's Cube (which he noticed and almost ruined my surprise...), got the pattern I wanted and started painting. This is my final product!! I know I don't usually say I'm good at things, but I have to say, I'm freaking awesome when it comes to this project!!

Happy Birthday to ME!

Better late than never... that's what they say, right? So we'll go with that!

Happy Birthday to ME!! The celebration started with the day off of work, doing what I love the very mostest - spending time with my hubby :)

And here he is receiving a mouthful of whip cream... which of course got all over his shirt. Yep, that's my JJ! :) We went shopping, ate out, relaxed and just enjoyed being with one another without a schedule to stick to. Best day!

That night we celebrated at my mommy's house with all my siblings and my grandparents. We ate pizza (one of my favorite foods), ate yummy desserts (my curviness proves that's one of my absolute favorites), and opened presents (I love this day!!).

My Aunt J crashed the party, but since she brought me balloons and sparkling cider, I didn't get too upset. :)

Happy Birthday to Candace 28 and Grandpa 82! I was born on his birthday, now that's a great present, don't ya think??

Amy, being the awesome big sister that she is, made me caramel brownies... is your mouth watering yet, cuz it should be!!

Ok, so this is one of the coolest presents ever... back story: it's Very important that your cell phone remain silent whilst at work - stupid & annoying ringtones are a no-no. So, for quite a while my phone was sitting on a stack of Kleenex because even on the vibrate setting my phone could be pretty loud. My husband, the ever sweet nerd that he is, bought me a cell phone beanbag from thinkgeek.com! I Love It!!!

Tunes!! I love, love, love music!! You kinda have to, with 'Rock' in your last name :)

Smile!

I can always count on this little guy to take a freaking awesome picture with me!

The birthday festivities continued through the weekend, as is customary, to a family party. For this shindig, I made a PW chocolate sheet cake... you just can't go wrong with her recipes!

Birthday Girl!

Best way to finish out the weekend... a love from my brother's baby girl, she just melts my heart!!

If you could....

I know I failed at the Blog Challenge... but there were some questions/topics that I just couldn't pass up, so here's one of the topics: If you could, who would you switch lives with for 1 day and why: I could obviously pick someone famous, someone who has a lot of power, fame and money… but as I thought about it, I didn’t like the feeling that, well, that’ll never be me, so why dream that big? Why get a taste of something that isn’t realistically within reach? So I went and hopped on a different train of thought and this is the stop I chose… If I could switch lives with one person for a day, I would choose my sister-in-law Courtney. Here’s why: 1. Goofy reason: I’ve never been a size 2 – how amazing would it be to be able to fit into absolutely anything I wanted? To eat an entire foot-long Subway sandwich and not have it cost me an hour on the treadmill the next day? (Yes, I have seen her accomplish this feat).

2. Obvious reason: She’s amazing! She’s one of the prettiest women I know, she’s funny, smart, sweet, easy going, outgoing, caring, crafty & creative, and has grownup taste buds.

3. Maybe not so well-known reason: She’s great at sticking to her budget and doing whatever she can to accomplish her goals. For example: eating peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, canned soup or fruit rollups for lunch. I can’t do this… I have to go out to lunch at least once a week, if not more. When Courtney and my brother wanted to get into a house of their own, she never strayed, she held onto every penny she had so that she could achieve what she really wanted. I wish I had that money savvy quality.

4. Biggest reason: Courtney is the most amazing mommy and I look up to her for the choices she’s made and continues to make concerning this part of her life. And really, she has THE cutest baby girl – who wouldn’t want to spend a whole day with that adorable munchkin? Now, we all know I’ve never been one of those girls who can’t wait to have kids or one who instantly bonds with kids… but I do love her little one. I love that Courtney has been able to be a stay-at-home mother, something I’ve always thought was imperative if I actually did have kids, so I praise her for being able to do this. I’m proud of both her and Joe for setting this as a priority in their parenting goals. Again, she helped bring that into reality when she saved her dollars and stayed out of debt so her income wasn't completely necessary.

So that’s it… If I could switch, it would be with my cutest sister-in-law Courtney, I’m pretty sure she’d be bored out of her mind while in my shoes… but at least we wear the same size!

Missed me?

Hi readers... all 4 of you... ;) I know it's been a long time since I posted anything. It's just so hard for me to find the time to post. I spend 10 hours sitting at a computer all day at work so the last thing I want to do when I get home is spend more time staring at a screen... So instead of reading my book today at lunch I thought I'd jump on here and post a little life update. I'm busy busy busy at work these days. I was given full responsibility of a big project and it keeps me running till 5:30 most days. Our evaluations are coming up next month so we'll see if my Supervisor thinks I've done a good job or not. I've finally gotten back into scrapbooking... I am sooooo far behind that whenever I sat down to try and get a page done, I'd look at my box of pictures, throw up my hands and say 'forget it!' But I was flipping through an old book and thought, ok, I'll just do one event and see how that goes. I spent the whole weekend on it since JJ was at work and I finished 5 layouts. Go me! JJ accepted a new position at a new branch; this is a big change for him since he's not 3 minutes away from home anymore and he doesn't know a single person there. It's still pretty new, but we're hoping he'll love it. JJ is still at the U and getting really great grades, my hubby is so smart! :) He'll hopefully receive his Bachelor's Degree next year... then it's onto the Masters program. Eeek! Kind of daunting, but worth it in the long run. Then just maybe we'll get into a house of our own and (maybe) start a little family. :) That's it for us these days... Until next time!

Red Velvet Cake - Success!!

We must first begin by reminding you of the cutest blogger turned cookbook writer turned romance novelist :) This is Ree Drummond, Pioneer Woman. She started out as just a blogger, writing about her life story - living in the city but ending up on a ranch with the hottest cowboy around... adding recipes as she went, of course. She became so popular that she published a cookbook. After numerous requests were made for her to write her whole love story, she published yet another book, this one about her romance with Marlboro Man.

My sister, her mother-in-law, a good friend and I attended her book signing last month and had an absolute blast.

P-Dub & Me

In line for P-Dub to sign our books...

Being reminded of her awesomeness, I pulled out her cookbook and was determined to try out one of her recipes... I don't know what made me think I could tackle such a project as Red Velvet Cake, but I did!

...and the mess begins....

mix...add...mix...add....

One whole ounce of red food coloring.....

Messy kitchen... cleaning up was a-whole-nother project - I'm so grateful to have a sweet supportive husband who was there to help me every step of the way!

Ta-Da!!! I even made the cream cheese frosting from scratch!! I was a bit worried about the actual taste of my cake, but I served it anyway. It was a huge hit!! My 5-year-old nephew took one bite and exclaimed, "This is GREAT!!" After finishing his piece he came right up to me and asked if I'd make that cake for his birthday - so stinkin' cute!

Superbowl!

Are you ready for some football???

We partied at my dad's, of course, and even though my team lost (I still love you Ward!) we had a great time! Lots of food, laughing, football, more food - what could be better?

Me & my baby!

The kidlets with their Terrible Towels!

Me & my big sis sporting our love for the Steelers!

Me & baby sis - she cheered for the other guys :)

You should try new things Candace...

People tell me all the time that I need to try new things, eat more "grown-up foods," or expand my culinary horizons (thanks Amy)... so, this year I told myself that I would add in a some new recipes to our weekly menu. So far... not so impressed. What's so neat about struggling and stressing your way through making dinner, freaking out when you're not sure if the sauce has 'thickened' enough, not liking how it tastes after all that work, then getting depressed about all the money wasted on ingredients, then wanting to cry when you look at your kitchen and the Huge Freaking Mess that I get clean up?! How do people enjoy this?!

I got this recipe from my sister-in-law: "Tortellini with Proscuitto and Peas"
I'm not entirely sure why I picked it... I'm not a huge noodle fan and I'm picky with cheese... so why would I pick cheese filled noodles?! I must be crazy... though this is a step up from last week's failure with "Pasta with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce." Maybe I should just stay away from pasta?


Close up of the disaster...


The counter opposite my oven was just as messy with measuring cups, utensils, the recipe, etc. I'm sooo not looking forward to washing all those freaking dishes.

Any words of encouragement? I dare you to try! :)