Finally some time

The past few days have been so very busy for both Kent and I, with meetings every night for church or for school group projects. And I've been running around trying to change my schedule because I finally had to admit to myself that the three upper-level English courses I was taking were just too hard for me to do at the same time. So yes, nearly four weeks into the semester, I'm dropping a class and adding two others to replace it. Today is the very last day you can drop a class. whew. But the two I'm picking up are going to be really easy...piano lessons and a little gospel-discussion online course. I think it will be much better. I just felt so stressed before (couldn't be my tendency towards stressing out acting up again...). I feel so much better now that I dropped the one class. And last night I was finally feeling a little relaxed again, and we both actually had time to sit down and eat dinner, so I decided to try a new recipe.


Chicken Nacho Bake


Chicken Breasts, thawed and sliced three times on top with sharp knife
Spread an even layer of salsa on top of each breast
Spread a layer of sour cream on top of salsa
Cover with crushed tortilla chips.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes on a foil-covered baking sheet.
Remove from oven, cover with shredded cheese and a few more sprinkled tortilla chips, and bake for 10 more minutes or until chicken is done and cheese is melted.

We absolutley loved this recipe! It was probably the easiest thing I've ever made for dinner, had almost no clean-up, and it was delicious! It's definitely a "do again" recipe.

We'll Miss Him

Gordon B. Hinckley, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the past 13 years, passed away last night. He was 97 years old. We are very saddened by the loss, but it's great to know that the Church will always move forward. He will always be known for his integrity and optimism, and for the growth the Church saw under his direction. The number of LDS temples worldwide increased from 49 to over 120 during the past thirteen years. I remember when I was little and President Hinckley had just been ordained as President my family had a special family home evening about temples and we had a map where we placed a red dot to represent every temple. There were only 50. And now, with the dedication of the Rexburg temple this Sunday, that number is 125! You can see the list of them at http://www.lds.org/temples/chronological/0,11206,1900-1,00.html.

I was always amazed at President Hinckley's optimism and joyful outlook. For a man who knew more about the situations of the world than most of the rest of us, he also knew without a doubt that this world is only a temporary situation, and there is so much hope in the gospel!

We'll sure miss him. I remember President Hunter (the president before Hinckley) only a little, but most of my life I have known Gordon B. Hinckley as the prophet. My prayers are for the Hinckley family, and also for President Thomas S. Monson, who will now follow President Hinckley and be ordained the next prophet of this church. I'm sure that is an overwhelming feeling! But he will do a great job, too, because that's how this Church works, and because it is surely led by the Lord, not by man.

"We toss 'em!"

Last night, right before we fell asleep, Kent suddenly rolls over to face me and he says, "you remind me of a slogan."
"Okay. What is it?"
"We toss 'em, they're Awesome."
Me, laughing, "What?"
"Well, I'm not sure where the tossing part comes in, but you are awesome."
More laughing. "Where did that come from?"
"A pizza place in Gustine." And then he rolls back over to go to sleep.

What a funny guy! I sure love him! And it's nice to know that he thinks I'm awesome. :D

Nun's Puffs

For breakfast this morning I made Nun's Puffs. The subtitle for the recipe is "No one knows how these were named." The first time I made these, I did it just because I thought the name was so neat.

I love this recipe because it is so simple and quick, and the puffs are light and fluffy (or should I say puffy?) and surprisingly yummy.

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup milk

3/4 cup flour

4 eggs

1 tsp sugar

Melt butter in a saucepan, add milk, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat, and mix in flour all at once, stirring vigorously until the dough forms a soft ball that holds its shape. Cool for five minutes.

Add in eggs one at a time, stirring in completely with a wooden spoon before adding the next egg. Place in well-greased muffin tin, and sprinkle sugar on top of each individual puff. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. (*today I had to bake it at 400 for 20 minutes because we were going to be late for classes. It was okay, but kind of doughy. I guess next time I'll have to get up a little earlier if i want to actually make something for breakfast.)

Serve as individual "puffs" with syrup, jam, honey, fruit, or whatever else you think might be good on them.

So Cold...

This morning as we were driving to class, it was -17 degrees. The low from this morning was -22. Every school district in Idaho cancelled today...except BYU-Idaho. I wonder if it's too late to transfer to BYU-Hawaii...

Happy Anniversary!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the day Kent and I met. It's been an amazing year, that's for sure. We are absolutely loving being married. It's great! Last night we were sitting on our couch in our pajamas watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition and eating cookies and cream ice cream and we both realized how great it is to be married and just be together in our own little home.

We got our wedding photos this week. Wahoo! It's been so fun to look through them. (a.k.a. I haven't been doing my homework because I've been too busy looking at pictures) I'm making a Blurb book www.blurb.com of pictures from our wedding day so we'll have a nice photo album to remember everything. Kent says that making blurb books is my form of video games. It's addicting! And today we had a bunch of our pictures printed off. Now there are only a few empty picture frames on our walls. :D

So here's a few of them (our photographer gave us 2735 pictures total!):

It's been a very, very busy week. Between school and work and homework, there's really no free time for Kent and I. But we're doing very good. We got a new car because of a problem with the auction and the first one we had, and we really like the new one. It's a 2001 Volkswagon Passat. And the best part is, it has heated leather seats! In Rexburg, that's like a little taste of heaven early in the mornings.

I'm officially a blogger: I've been tagged.

A- Attached or single- We've been married for 3 weeks and 6 days. :D
B-Best Friend- Kent; he's such a great example to me and makes me want to be better. Also, I'm always laughing when I'm with him. He is so silly and it makes me very happy.
C- Cake or pie- Cheesecake--kind of a pie but with cake in the name.
D- Day of choice- Friday
E- Essential item- Chapstick
F- Favorite color- Light Green
G- Gummy bears or worms- Gummy bears, but never in ice cream! They're too hard when they get cold.
H-Hometown- Logan, Utah
I- Indulgences- I love graham crackers with frosting dipped in milk. I can eat that forever.
J- January or July- July
K- Kids- none yet. Kent keeps saying we're going to have 18 total. I think (hope) he's joking.
L- Life is incomplete without- My husband
M-Marriage date- December 18, 2007
N- Number of siblings- 3 brothers, 1 sister. I'm the oldest.
O- Oranges or apples- Apples with the dip I make with cream cheese, vanilla flavoring, brown sugar, and peanut butter.
P- Phobias or fears- I'm always afraid of writing something with grammar or punctuation errors. It doesn't bother me in other people's stuff, but in my own I am a perfectionist! (I've just gone through this whole list to make sure the capitalization and punctuation is consistent with all the letters and my answers.) :D
Q- Quotes- "In living, laugh often. Life is to be enjoyed, not just endured." -President Hinckley. This quote has always been my favorite, and I've tried to make it a motto of sorts.
R- Reason to smile- Kent singing along to the radio (actually there's usually no radio involved--he just sings all the time) or while he's in the shower as if he's in a boy band.
S- Season- Definitely Spring
T- Tag three (or two)- Everyone has already been tagged...
U- Unknown fact about me- I am ambidextrous in my feet. (Kent told me to put that one. I have very movable toes and I use them to pick things up off the floor so I don't have to bend down quite as far and he thinks it's hilarious.)
V- what happened to "V"?
W- Worst habit- Stressing out about things that I don't need to worry about.
X- X-ray or ultrasound-I've only ever had x-rays, but they were never for happy reasons. (broken bones, etc.)
Y- Your favorite food- It really depends on the time of year. Right now my favorite food is a creamy soup or warm pasta with bread.
Z- Zodiac- Gemini

Rexburg Temple

Yesterday morning, before our classes started, Kent and I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Rexburg Idaho Temple's open house. They placed us as ushers on the third floor, where all the sealing rooms are. That temple is so beautiful! The chandeliers and the stained-glass windows are especially incredible.

It was such a neat experience to be in that beautiful building and see the sealing rooms there. It reminded me of the incredibly special spirit that Kent and I felt while we were in the Logan Temple waiting together in the sealing room before our marriage ceremony, as well as the powerful witness of the Holy Ghost that we were able to experience with all our family and friends there in the temple. I'm so grateful for the blessing we have of being married for all eternity. For more information about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and our temples, visit http://www.lds.org/temples/purpose/0,11298,1897-1,00.html and www.mormon.org.

There really is a special feeling about Rexburg that wasn't here before because of the new temple on the hill and the open house that is going on right now. It makes this cold, windy place seem more beautiful, and more bearable. :D We're so excited for the dedication of this temple on Feb 3rd and the opportunity that we'll have to attend a temple that is nearly on campus here.

Lost...and found

Two days after we got back from our honeymoon, Kent went outside at my parent's house to scrape the snow off of our car so we could go run some errands. He stepped in a huge snowdrift and got snow in his shoe, so he took off his shoe there on the driveway and used his hand to brush the snow off his sock. The combination of cold, snow, and movement created the perfect situation for his brand-new wedding ring to go flying off into the snow-covered driveway.

We searched for about 6 or 7 hours out there, using brooms, shovels, hands, and eventually three different metal detectors, but to no luck. His ring was gone for good, or so I thought. We even started shopping around for a new one, but really were hesitating to get one because of the financial factor.

This morning we got a call from my mom. Keep in mind it has snowed a total of 10" in Logan since the day Kent lost his ring, and my parents have shoveled the driveway a number of times since then. But this morning, as she was about to leave somewhere, my mom happened to go walk over the gravel where Kent lost his ring and there it was, just sticking sideways up out of the frozen gravel! We searched that exact spot like 15 times but we just didn't see it. It's incredible that she found it like that. So now Kent only has to use his CTR ring for two more weeks until my family comes up here for the temple dedication and they can bring it with them. Sometimes, little things can be miraculous.

Our Apartment

Here's some before moving, during the move, and semi-after pictures. We're not done unpacking yet, so the "after" shots are more like "for now" shots. :D We should be able to get some more of our stuff out of our storage unit tomorrow and then I can get things all set up just how I want them and get all my decorations up.
Sorry the pictures are all kind of poor quality. We're still trying to figure out how to get our camera to take good indoor pictures.

Kent takes a rest while setting up our bed
Our first meal!

The Leaning Tower of boxes

Living Room My kitchen. I love having my own kitchen. It's the best! Now I just can't wait until we get all my pots and pans out of the storage so I can actually cook something... :D

Moving...

We moved into our apartment today! We woke up early and decided to come today instead of tomorrow, Saturday, because there is supposed to be a huge snowstorm that we didn't want to be driving the moving trailer through. My parents came up to help us move things in and they drove the truck and trailer for us. So we rushed around like crazy this morning trying to finish packing everything up and then we left Logan around noon, got here and unpacked, then Kent and I started to set things up. I love our little apartment! It is so cute, and it already feels like home to us. It is really, really fun to have a place of our own!! I'm taking lots of pictures of the process; I'll post them either tomorrow or on Sunday.

Oh, and I still absolutely love my new haircut. Kent likes it a lot, too.

Ta Da!

Here's my new hair! I LOVE it! I think it is so cute and fun! I just got back from getting it done. So here are the before and after pictures:

I'm really excited to see what I can do with my new hair now! Wahoo!

New Haircut

So I've pretty much had the same basic hairstyle my entire life. I grew it out extra long for the wedding, and it is kind of driving me crazy right now, so it's time for something new. And I mean really new. I'm making this post because Kent told me I had to so I don't chicken out. :D I'm so excited to see how I like it--I picked out a style from some pictures I found online and I have an appointment to get it cut and highlighted on Thursday. I'll post pictures then!

Here's the idea I'm going off of. Both pictures are essentially the same cut, just styled differently. I'll do the same cut, but not go quite so blonde as it is in the picture. I'll probably just highlight my natural color.