Happy Holidays!!!

Well once again it has been awhile. It always seems like not a lot has happened but then when I really think about it I think of the changes. I was released from Young Womens and Jon and I are now teachers in Primary. We teach the 8-11 year old boys. It has been a big change for me but I am enjoying it. It is nice to be able to work with Jon. We had a great Thanksgiving and we both went shopping on black friday and then I went to work while Jon stayed home. We also went to Park City and stayed at Hotel Park City. It was wonderful! I would love to go back. We had a wonderful experience eating at Ruth's Chris Steak House... there aren't words to describe how good it is. Needless to say we both really enjoyed it. Jon has been working on the bathroom a lot lately and we are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel. It is looking amazing. Jon does really good work. We had a great Christmas! As always Jon spoiled me with fun gifts and Santa came as well. I love Christmas and I am sad to see it over. I took down all the Christmas decorations last week but I wasn't ready to take the tree down.

I am looking forward to a new year and I have been debating on what goals to set. I don't remember really setting goals ever but I think it might be a good thing to do. Of course the exercise is at the top but I started that in September and took a couple weeks off for the holidays. It is time to get back in gear for that! One of my goals is to do more reading. I don't really read books at all but I think it is time to start. As for the rest of my goals I am sure you don't want to hear them so I will just write them down and start working hard. Well I hope you have a great New Year! Thanks for stopping by.

Canning

Its been awhile since I last posted but we have been doing a lot of canning. We bottled beans, peaches, salsa, and grape juice. I also did frozen corn and my mom did stewed tomatoes. It has been a lot of fun and it is nice to have the food storage! Here are some pictures of all the fun!My sister and I picking beans! When I have kids that will be their chore!



My Dad
My Mom
All the beans we picked in the back of my car.
How pretty!
We have a fun tradition when we snip beans and that is watching Grease. My sister and I enjoyed it, I am not sure what my Dad thought. Oh well we didn't want to break that tradition!
We worked on beans all Saturday and then my Mom still had more to process on Sunday.
Some beans all done,
Here is a picture of my parents peach tree. They have 2 and they got a ton of peaches this year. Jon and I had peaches and cream for an entire week! I loved it!

Here are some peaches that are done. They are way easier and quicker to do than beans.
This is a picture of my corn. I only did 5 dozen so hopefully that will last Jon and I until next year.
These are the grapes! Jon says they are golden! He was so sad we were out of grape juice so lucky for us my neighbor said we could have all of her grapes. So we were able to get a little bit extra grape juice. It smelled so good!
I think they are so pretty in the bottles!

One day I went to Kent's to get some strawberries they had on sale but they were all gone! I was disappointed but glad to find blackberries on sale instead. So my mom came up that night and we made a few batches of black berry jam... to go along with all the apricot jam we have.

Apricot Jam

When we bought our house almost 3 years ago we didn't really know what we were getting into. The house has been so much work and once it is done we will move on to the yard... which is pretty bad! One great thing about our yard is the different things growing. We have a small peach tree, a lot of grapes, raspberries, walnuts, and apricots. Jon and I did 5 batches of apricot jam and we still had our tree full of fruit. We waited a week and did 5 more batches. We still probably have a another 5 batches growing on the tree that we need to do. (YIKES) It has been fun doing the jam and giving some away. Jon is pretty particular about his apricot jam. His request is that all of the apricots need to be peeled... (ya if you ask any one that makes apricot jam, they think it is crazy) but Jon happily peeled the apricots with me. So we peeled them all and then followed the directions on the pectin box. We have over 70 containers of jam and still more to come. Jon is just hoping one day I will make homemade bread. One day! Here are some pictures of our Jam making experience!

Cherries!

Every year my mother in law gets sour cherries from Payson. This year I placed my order and she brought me back a 5 gallon bucket full of cherries with the sugar. My mom came over to help me bottle them. She stirred the cherries and then we put them in the bottles and then you just cold pack them. I was amazed at how easy it was. Next year I think I will do 10 gallons. Jon decided he wanted to help too! So here are some pictures of the process and the result!













The deal Jon and I made was that I had to learn how to make his mom's cherry pie if I was going to bottle cherries. I agreed and one day after work we went to his mom's and she taught us how to make her cherry pie! This pie is Jon's. Notice the little hole at the bottom from his finger!


This is my master piece!

The pies were delicious. Now hopefully I can make them right! I am excited to try on my own!
Thanks for stopping by!

Flowers

Back in May I bought some fun flowers with my mom and sister. I planted them and watered them and then they died and Jon brought them back to life. I was so excited to have these flowers and they have been fun watching all summer. Hopefully next year I will do better at keeping flowers alive!

Park City

A couple weeks ago I was looking on KSL.com and found a deal for the Park City Peaks Hotel. It came with a one night stay with an upgraded room (ours had a heart shaped tub), 4 ice creams at the gift shop, sparkling cider, a snack which was 2 bags of chips and 2 bottles of water, and some other certificates for a good price. The only catch was you had to stay July 22-25. Jon and I decided to stay the 24th-25th. It was a lot of fun! We went shopping at the Tanger Outlets then after we checked into our hotel and watched tv. We decided to go to old Park City for dinner and to walk around. We took a shuttle that was right across the street of the hotel and went for dinner. We decided to go to a Deli but when we got there they closed... so we went to a pizza place. It was really good! After dinner we took the shuttle back to our hotel however we got on the wrong one so we had to get off and wait for a different one. I would not to good if I had to ride the bus around town! The next morning my mom, sister, grandma, niece, and nephews came to up to go shopping with me because Jon had to work. It was a fun weekend! Here are some pictures!

Long Time... No Post!

Hello,
Wow it has been awhile. We are still alive and well just living life. Eating, sleeping, working. That is what has been happening with some fun weekends on the side. Well from what I have planned (which we will see if I follow through) I have some great posts I need to type up and some pictures to post. Hopefully I will do good! But for now we will play catch up. Since last time Jon had a Birthday! I had a fun weekend planned but of course it didn't go as planned but it was still great! I did a surprise party for him with his family however our downstairs fridge broke so he found the food a day early. Which worked out because then he got to help me set up and put the house together for the party. We also went and had a couples massage and it was amazing. We are saving our money so we can go back (hopefully soon). Here are some pictures from his birthday! I will try to post soon! Thanks for stopping by!

This is a banner I made for Birthdays!


Jon's presents before he opened them...


And after...

The Sun & Saturday

It has been really depressing weather I think but I was so excited to see the sun Saturday! It was rainy all week. I wore long sleeves everyday to work and one day I was so cold I drank hot chocolate. I have been looking forward to Saturday all week because it was supposed to be such nice weather.... and it was. I went with my mom and sister to buy flowers and then went home and planted them in two pots for my back patio. It made me so happy to see the sun and all of the flowers. It was a great Saturday.
Later Saturday night Jon and I went to dinner with his brother and sister in law and then we went and saw the new pirates movie. I thought it was good. Jon didn't think it was great. It was a lot of fun to spend more time with him. It has been so nice having Saturday's off and being able to see Jon more. Well I am going to make this a short post but thank you for stopping by!

3 Years

Jon and I have been married for 3 years now! It is crazy to think about before we knew each other. I am so grateful to have him in my life! He is such a great husband and a good man! I am so glad he works hard to provide for us.
For our anniversary we went to Tepanyaki for dinner. I have been wanting to go for awhile and Jon said he would go but he probably would not like it... so we went. He really liked it and wants to go back. After dinner we went to Salt Lake and stayed at the Grand America. We have stayed there every year since we have been married. We enjoy going there! This year we stayed on the 22nd floor. There are 24 floors (I think) so the view was amazing. We got room service last night. Jon ordered Mac and Cheese and I ordered Creme Brulee. It was really good! We also go to Sunday brunch. Can I just tell you it is amazing!!! I look forward to it every year. They have crepes to order, omelets to order, salad bar, carved meats, smoothies, fresh juice, sushi, crab and a table full of desserts. It was wonderful! When we checked out we got a bottle of Pink Lemonade. It is good also. They gave it to us for our anniversary. It was a great weekend. I love being able to spend time with Jon. Well here are a few pictures. Thank you for stopping by!

Busy

Things have seemed busy for us lately. We are refinancing our house so we have a lot of work to do fast. Speaking of work I am getting use to my new position. It is great! I love it! It is so nice to have a regular schedule and to have Saturday's off with Jon. We have been able to spend a lot more time together and it has been really nice! This weekend will be our 3rd anniversary. I can't believe it will be 3 years! Well this is going to be a short post but thank you for stopping by!

Changes

It does not seem like much is going on. But when I look back at the last few weeks there has been some changes. Jon has lost some weight and is still losing weight! I got a different position at work and that starts tomorrow. It will be in the mortgage department. I am excited and nervous! I worked my last Saturday yesterday and now I will have Saturday's off with Jon. Jon got a brand new work van so he moved out of his old one. That took about a week. I am very happy he has a new van because the gas gauge in the old one did not work. He would run out of gas often and some times I would have to go bring him gas. As far as other changes not too much is different. We had a great Easter weekend with both of our families. I will probably need to go on the treadmill everyday this week because of all of the candy we have! Thanks for stopping by. I will try to get some pictures in the next post or two!

Parmesan Chicken

I shop at a Maceys Grocery store near my house and each week they have a dinner with the ingredients to purchase. I decided to give this one a try and Jon and I loved it. We will make it again soon I am sure. The ingredients are:
2 lbs Fresh Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
15 Oz Bread Crumbs
5 Oz Bel Gioioso Grated Parmesan Cheese
10.75 Oz Campbell's Cream of Chick Soup
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Pepper
Milk
Paprika (I didn't use this because I did not have any and it was good without)

First preheat oven to 400 degrees
Then you combine 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, 1/4 teaspoon oregano, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper in a bowl.
Roll the chicken in the mixture
Arrange the chicken in a 2 quart shallow baking dish
Bake for 20 minutes
Turn chicken and bake another 20 minutes
Blend 1 can cream of chicken soup and 1/2 cup milk and pour over chicken


Sprinkle with paprika and remaining Parmesan cheese

Bake another 20 minutes or until done






We had some vegetables but they didn't not get done in time. We also had left overs and they reheat very well. Hope you enjoy! If you try it let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday.... to me!

Tuesday was my Birthday and it was a lot of fun! My mom came over in the morning and then we met Cami's family and Jon at Cafe Rio. It was yummy! And a lot of fun! Then my Mom, Cami, and I went to TJ Maxx and looked around for awhile. My Mom and I also made a craft. I then went home and Jon and I went to Ruby River for dinner. I love that place! After dinner Jon gave me some of my presents. He gave me a camera, a 16 gig sd card and a cute pink case. (Some of my presents did not get here until Wednesday so I opened them on Thursday.) Jon's parents came over and gave me a present too! My neighbor also came over and gave me a cute Easter decoration. It was a great birthday and on Sunday I get to go over to my parents to get more presents. I can't wait! Here are some pictures! Thanks for stopping by!