Goodbye Winter, Hello Spring

Goodbye winter, hello spring. Can I say that yet? It seems like winter has dragged on and on and on! Even now, I'm sitting in my family room with the balcony door open and my winter coat on, hoping for a ray of sunshine! Granted, it is a lot warmer than it was over the weekend (did anyone else have to scrape their car Friday morning of ice??). It's sufficiently cold and overcast today that my door should not be open. I guess I'm desperate! Besides, doesn't the saying go "April showers bring May flowers"? Well, incase mother nature is not aware, it is officially MAY and I want some flowers! :) I guess I should be smart enough by now to know that Utah goes directly from unbearably cold to unbearably hot. 

Anyhow, I have some fun pics from Blake and my comings and goings through this pseudo-spring time.

So random question-Blake is completely obsessed with these things. His car always smells like "New Car Scent", and mine smells like "Very Berry", which is great. But does anyone else think these little hanging trees look kind of trashy??....What do you think?

Anyhow, back on track: Dinner at my grandma Money's

Hahahahhahahahahaha-I love my mom. Not to mention my grandma's funny expression, is she eating something sour? IDK, all I know is the jello we're all eating is delic. (Does Nate have a little mexi-stache going on??)

Nelson Family Party

We had a family party at my Aunt Sandra's. Here's Kristen and our cousin's daughter, Addison. Isn't she so cute?

Emily's Twelfth Birthday Party

Emily (center) is my sister-in-law. She turned twelve and I helped out with her party by making pizza for the group.

McDonnalds Grand Opening

On to the next event, McDonnalds! So, Blake decided that he wanted to go the the McDonnalds "grand opening" for the new McDonnalds in Herriman. His motivation being that if he stayed over night he'd get a coveted free combo meal for a year (I personally think that sounds kind of disgusting...but whatev'). There was only one hitch, he didn't get off work in time. Enter, me and Denny.

I couldn't tell you why I'm smiling in this picture, it was freezing cold, even Denny was cold, and I sat for several hours waiting. When Blake got off work he switched me places and stayed all night long with his brother and friend Nick.

Journey to the Center of the Earth!

Have you ever been to Bingham Copper Mine? Well Blake and I live about ten minutes away, and since I"ve never been before, we headed on over. The pit was unbelievably deep, this picture really doesn't do it justice. They've truly dug thruogh an entire mountain. It was pretty awesome, they have monster trucks there that make buses look like toys.

Ruth's Diner up Immigration Canyon

With Blakes new job, he doesn't have many saturdays off. A couple saturdays ago he was actually off! And we were wasting it! Just sitting around, not sure what to do when bam we saw an episode of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network, telling us to head over to Ruth's Diner up Immigration Canyon for a superb breakfast. And it was to die for!

I had a smoked salmon omelet

Blake had their famous biscuits and gravy. It was delic! You should check it out.

Summer Clothes Shopping

Even though there arestill skiffs of snow on the ground, we couldn't stop oursleves from going summer clothes shopping!

Kristen, Bri, mom, and I went. Isn't this bag cute?

Oh yeah, and Blake was there too! He got some Tom's shoes.

Days at the Park

Flying Denny!

Now that the snow is gone we've really enjoyed taking Denny to parks and letting him run around. 

Finally, we had a family party for Easter and I tried out a Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake bar recipe. I forgot to take a pretty picture, and took one half way through dessert-they don't look like much but they are SO great! In fact, most of the recipes I try just end up saved on my computer, very few actually make it to my recipe box, on a recipe card, but this one did. So I'm not lying when I say, this is a keeper and you should try it out.

Blueberry Lemon Cheesecake Bars

Preheat oven at 325 degrees.

Base Crust:

2 T Sugar

1/8 t Cinnamon

9 graham crackers

1/2 stick butter

Put all these ingredients in a food processor (or blender), and pulse until they're only crumbs. Press into the bottom of a 9*9 inch pan, bake in oven 12 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool before adding the filling.

Filling:

16 oz cream cheese (two packages)

2 eggs

2 lemons zest and juice

1/2 c sugar

Mix all these very well, I use the same food processor (or blender). Once the crust has cooled, pour the mix over the it. Drop 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries into the filling. The blueberries break down as they bake and are SO delicious by the time it's all done.

Bake 35 min, when you take it out it'll still be jiggly, just allow it to cool and put it in the refrigerator for at least three hours. By the time it's done cooling, it'll be nice and firm.

You really have to try these, they are SO good!

Curtesy Food Network, Tyler Florence

T=Tablespoons

t=teaspoons

Can't wait until I have some warm, summer pictures!

Carl Bloch

So as you may (or may not) know, there's currently a Carl Bloch exhibition at the BYU Museum of Art. He was a truly inspirational figure and amazing painter. The painting above is a really well known one, and one of my personal favorites. He has such an amazing way of capturing emotions and has a unique view of Christs emotions.

Me, my mom, my sisters, my aunt Leslie and cousin Kim went to it yesterday and absolutely loved it! It's free, you can go online to reserve tickets (which I'd recommend doing, there were a lot of people "standing-by" because they didn't have tickets). You can rent an i-pad for three dollars which guides you through the paintings, various analytical views, and meanings. Afterwhich, we stopped at the Creamery on 9th. It was lovely, even Blake (who really didn't want to go) ended up enjoying it.

It's a great, cheap date! You should go!

Tie-Dye Cupcakes!

How would I describe these scrumptious little concoctions?

YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMY!!! 

Very cute.

SUPER easy.

Crowd Pleaser.

Could it get any better?

My family has been making these little morsels for a while now. We call them Tie-Dye Cupcakes because we like to color the batter and frosting fun and crazy colors (as you can see!).

Here's what I do:

1. Prepare a white cake mix without egg yolks according to package directions. If you want to color the batter, keeping the egg yolks out will ensure the batter is true to color, and the yellow in the yolks won't make your colors funky.

2. Add an entire, 8 oz package of cream cheese and mix until well blended.

Keep in mind, the batter will be lumpy because of the cream cheese. Don't worry, it's totally worth it. The cake will turn out very moist and won't crumble apart because of the lumpy cream cheese.

3. (Optional) Divide the batter into three bowls and add correlating colors-this is the tie-dye part. :)

4. Drop batter into lined cupcake tins. Bake according to package instructions

Having a good frosting recipe is also key. In the picture above I piped the frosting on, but it looks yummy and homemade if you just spread it on.

Frosting

1/2 cup Butter (room temperature)

4 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon extract (I usually go with either Almond extract or Lemon extract, but you could use any extract, vanilla included.)

Using an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugar until smooth. Add extract and milk until it reaches the desired consistency (1 tablespoon does it for me, but you can add more or less if necessary.) It's also noteworthy that if you are piping the frosting onto the cupcakes, you'll likely need more frosting than you'd need if just spreading it on-double this recipe.

Enjoy!

A little story I like to call, "What the?...."

Has life ever given you an opportunity that was scary, unexpected, and maybe a little questionable? Have you ever made a decision to go with that opportunity, even though it was scary, because you had a feeling that it was the right decision? Call it intuition, inspiration, or faith, whatever you call it, you go with the unexpected opportunity but later find yourself saying "What the...?" Why did we do this again? Why am I here? What was I feeling? Was it the wrong choice?

As you all know, at the beginning of the year Blake was given the opportunity to take a new job. Part of this new job required that we move out to Herriman, I had to transfer branches with America First, we left friends and comfort behind, and we really had to rearrange our lives because of this change. But we did it because it just felt right.

As the weeks ticked by we began to question the move in jobs as well as homes. The ward felt awkward because we were going to church with residents Blake has to deal with during the week. Blake was working 50+ hour weeks, as well as feeling an enormous amount of pressure from his manager. Not to mention a whole fiasco concerning a time-off request. Though he was successfully leasing apartments, he continued to feel discouraged. The primary reason for the move was because he wanted more opportunities to grow, but after a couple weeks he’d been delegated to little more than a glorified leasing agent. While the commission and overtime-pay was awesome (usually doubling his paycheck), the stress and disappointment had begun to overwhelm.

We’d hit a brick wall. Here we’d done the scary thing because we were sure it was the right course for our lives. Yet all we had to show for the decision was stress and frustration. It’d become so overwhelming we had to start looking at other options.

Moving was our first priority. We needed to put some distance between family and work. With almost perfect timing the basement apartment in Blake’s dad’s house came open. A two bedroom apartment, twice the size of the one we’re currently in, centrally located to school and work, it just made sense. Thrity-days ago Blake submitted a notice that he’d be leaving. We started packing Monday, and had arrangements to be out by Friday.

Amidst all these changes, Blake’s entire office staff was changed. His manager and all the leasing agents who had become his friends were moved to a different (easier) property, leaving him with a new manager an entirely new staff, a huge leasing mess. It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Blake started exploring other employment options. Not seriously, casually, knowing that where ever he went, he’d have issues. But also knowing that if things continued down the same course, switching jobs would be an inevitability.

So why the crap were we brought out here?! I kept feeling we needed to give the entire situation more time, and after a while Blake started feeling like patience was key. But it was SO hard! Time, when you’re unhappy and struggling, DRAGS ON AND ON!

With that said, Monday morning Blake received a phone call from corporate, requesting Blake and his former manager to come down to visit with them. The entire meeting was centered around Blake’s needs, and how they can help him overcome previously experienced obstacles to get the property in a better situation, as well as Blake. The company expressed their desire to keep Blake on their team, that they wanted him with the company as a career not a transient job.

Huh…okay…a step in the right direction.

Fast forward three days, they offer Blake a $155.00 deduction off rent to keep him living on-site. We decline the offer. Then this morning, they offer us free rent, a better apartment, and a raise. And suddenly “What the..?” becomes, “Oh, I see.”

Without the financial burden of rent, we’ll be able to save for a mortgage, pay-off our cars, and who knows what else!

All I can say is I’m glad we followed.

Vegas Baby!!

Last week we went to Va-va-va-vegas! My dad has to do so many "extended education hours" to keep his license, so he went their for a conference, and of course the rest of the family are more than willing to take any opportunity to take a vacation! Here's some pics (taken by my phone b/c I forgot my camera!!).

So we found this delic breakfast shop called the Egg and I. You should definitely give it a try if you make it down there. Look how cute! It's a smily face! 

I think Nate had his fill. ;)

We also checked out the Hoover Dam. This is the bridge you now drive over (instead of the dam). My dad really wanted to check this out because he's a structural engineer.

Nate and my dad. Their eyes are all squinty because it was nice and sunny at the dam.

Bri and myself

Oh my! We found the absolutely fantastic little shop call Max Brenners. It's located inside of Caesars Palace and is entirely dedicated to chocolate. Hello heaven.

Here's Kristen choosing some delic truffles.

Here's Blake as we enjoy our Max Brenner, chocola-tastic breakfast.

While we don't enjoy what most enjoy in Vegas, we had a good time. We went to the outlet malls, the Strip, Hoover dam, New York, New York Roller coaster, and a super cool Cirque Du Soleil show. 

It was great!

Um...Is it too late?

It's never too late!....right?....

I just realized today I never downloaded these pictures off of my camera-didn't want to waste him so I present to you.....CHRISTMAS PICTURES! Please stop laughing.

Two of Brianna's Many Reactions (or as I like to call her Mer-anna)

Kristen looking way too picturesque

Nate looking not-so-picturesque (but very excited-it's an i-touch)

An oversized pile of presents!

Me trying on the lovely (surprise) new addition to my wedding ring!

Love, Love, LOVE it.

Merry Christmas!

Oh YouTube....

Is anyone else curious to know why Peter is always at the park? Is he like twelve or something?