I Miss Summer

Now that we're into November (crazy, huh?), the weather here in Utah is starting to cool off, the air is completely dried out (and so are my lips, my hands, and my hair), and we're expecting snow this weekend. Sigh. As much as I love the holiday season, I'm really not a fan of the cold and the snow. So today I figured I'd finally post those pictures of our summer vacation we took in July! What better timing, right?

[Just a note: We really do mean to post on here more often. It's just that life has thrown us a few curveballs lately, so it's been hard to think of what to post. We'll fill you in on what's been going on a little later, but for now just rest assured that we're doing fine and feeling (relatively) well.]

In case you don't remember our last post (it was only 2 whole months ago...), Darren and I were lucky enough to get to take a vacation this summer. We visited my family & friends in California (and got to meet my older brother's fiance, Courtney), and then we went up to Seattle to visit Darren's brother and, well, more of my friends (hi, O'Neal family!). It was a great trip, and it was SO nice to go enjoy the California sunshine & the Seattle/western Washington scenery.

Enjoy the pictures!

Happy September! (And a summer recap)

I cannot believe it's September already! But Darren's back in school and the singles in our complex are having pool parties non-stop again, so it MUST be September, whether I was ready for it or not. Summer's almost gone, and we haven't really updated our blog at all -- oops. Sorry about that. It's probably because we spent most of our time doing rather hum-drum typical day-to-day things, like going to work and playing video games and working around the house (and by house I mean apartment). But we've also gotten to do some really fun things, like take a trip to California and Seattle! That was great. We got to spend a ton of time with family and friends in California, then we went up to Seattle to rest and relax for a few days. We also got to spend time with Darren's brother David while we were in Seattle, and we did some sight-seeing too. There are pictures somewhere on my camera, and we'll upload those soon. (This trip was in July, so you can see how "on top of things" we are around here lately...)

I spent my time working (as an editor), working (as a babysitter/nanny of sorts for my cousin Tara), working/playing (as a Stampin' Up! demonstrator), and doing all sorts of fun things in the kitchen. Darren spent his summer working (on feeling better), prepping for school, and enjoying his rather vast video game collection. Oh, and we also had my little brother, Michael, come and stay with us for a week after he went to EFY here in Provo. That was fun! Well, for us anyway; Michael may or may not have been bored out of his mind....   :)

It's weird having Darren back in school when I'm not going back. This is the first September in my life (since I was 4, anyway) that I haven't been in school, so it's a bizarre feeling! But I'm really glad that Darren is feeling better and is able to be in classes full-time again. He switched his major from Information Systems (a more business-oriented route) to Information Technology (the more technical, geeky side); don't worry if that sounds confusing -- I'm still trying to get it all straight! This seems to be a really good move for him, since he's always been interested in how things work and how to fix them and such, and not so much into being a businessman.

So Happy September! And Happy Labor Day! Enjoy the last bits of summer while you can, because it will be gone all too soon. But then we get to move on to Fall, which is probably my favorite season. Except that it's MUCH too short here in Provo. We get a couple days to a week or so of the leaves changing color and cool weather and all that, and then it starts to snow (which is NOT my favorite season).

Brief Update

It's smoky here in Provo. There seem to be fires all over the state, and every day (or so it seems) I hear about new forced or recommended evacuations. We're praying for rain and cooler weather to help the firemen put out those fires, but the forecast isn't looking good. Keep those who have been affected in your prayers!

On a lighter note, my little brother, Michael, is here! He came up today for EFY next week, straight off of his Scouting "High Adventure" trip. After he goes to EFY next week, he'll be staying with us for a week -- yay! We're so excited to have him around, but we're pretty sure he'll figure out soon enough that we're really pretty boring people. Hopefully we can keep him entertained.

Also, I have found my next food project to tackle: Homemade Snickers. We'll see if it really happens as soon as I'd like it to, but this recipe sounds AMAZING! And it makes a whole 9x13 pan of Snickers. Yum!! http://www.howsweeteats.com/2012/01/homemade-snickers-bars/

Other pictures from our anniversary celebrations

We had a ton of fun celebrating our first anniversary. A picnic, relaxing together, and some great gifts & treats made the whole thing a lot of fun. Here are some pictures we took throughout the day.

We went on a picnic in the park.
We had sandwiches...

... and donuts and fruit salad.

Darren threw his boomerang in the giant crater at the park.
(I was a wuss and sat on the bench and took pictures.)

As promised, pictures from our anniversary

Hi there again. It's been a while. Sorry about that. Now that summer vacation is in full swing here, life has definitely fallen into a rather uneventful routine. We're loving life still, though, don't worry. Here's a quick synopsis of our life over the last month:

Darren finished up his Spring term Accounting class, and Michelle is still working as an editor. She also started working as a nanny/babysitter/mommy's aid for her cousin, Tara, which so far has been a ton of fun. We participated in the Springville Art City Days 5k a few weekends ago, which was quite a feat for us! Neither of us is particularly into running, so we walked most of the 5k (ran about 2 blocks of it, total) and finished under our goal time! Woo hoo!

We're planning a trip out to California & Washington next month, which should be great. We're so excited to see Michelle's family -- including her brother, John, and his fiancee, who will both be up there when we are -- and spend some time relaxing in the cooler weather WA has to offer in mid-July.

And . . . that's about it, really. Still lots of cooking and projects going on around here. Michelle is bored fairly easily, so things in the apartment keep getting rearranged and re-organized, and there's plenty of baking going on, too. Now, on to the promised pictures from our anniversary trip!

Bear Lake! Isn't it beautiful?

Darren is actually writing a post!

I thought I would put in a post, since I normally neglect to do so and leave it up to Michelle to write everything (she's a much better writer than I am).

It's halfway through the month of May, and it's hard to believe that almost a month ago, Michelle graduated from BYU with a degree in English Language (minoring in Editing)! It was great to have her family as well as mine in town for that, and we're all proud of Michelle for her latest accomplishment. She's enjoying life now, continuing in her job as an editor and having more time to dedicate with new projects that's she been wanting to engage herself in for quite some time.

After her graduation, and for our anniversary, we took a weekend trip up to Bear Lake and spent a couple of days there.

Conference Weekend

This weekend was the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We got to spend 4 hours listening to the uplifting, guiding words of inspired leaders of the Church. This weekend in April (and the second Conference weekend in October) are some of my favorite days -- so many great speakers, such a great spirit, and such wonderful guidance! It reminds me again how blessed we are to have the Gospel of Christ in our lives.

But another reason I love Conference weekend is the food tradition that Darren and I have started for our family: We make Creme Brulee French Toast, and man, is it delicious! The 'tradition' started when we were dating, actually; we've continued it since then, and plan to continue it into the future. It's easy, delicious, and can feed a crowd (or feed the two of us for a few days' worth of breakfast). We also make various muffins, scrambled eggs, bacon/sausage, and whatever else sounds good for brunch. But today, we'll just share the French Toast recipe.

Homemade Ice Cream Party!

I LOVE ice cream. Let's just get that out of the way right up front. I will eat ice cream year-round, even when we have snow here in Utah, and I don't like being cold. But buying ice cream year-round can get pretty expensive, especially if you like the fun flavors like I do. (Darren is easy to buy ice cream for -- he likes plain ol' vanilla.) Because of all of this, making homemade ice cream sounded like a brilliant idea for me. There's just one problem -- we don't have an ice cream machine, the extra cash to buy one, or (perhaps most important) the space to put one!

So imagine my delight when I came across this recipe for homemade, super-easy, amazingly creamy ice cream without an ice cream machine! And only a few ingredients required to make the basic vanilla ice cream! YAY!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (And a holiday-themed treat recipe)

We spent the weekend with Darren's family, celebrating his dad's birthday. Since the celebration fell on St. Patty's day, I decided to make some sort of holiday-themed treat and bring it with us.

I found a recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip cookies on Betty Crocker's website. I laughed at their instructions to begin with a sugar cookie mix-from-a-box and instead turned to my go-to source for delicious recipes: Our Best Bites. These cookies were simple, quick, fun, and absolutely yummy! My mother-in-law said, and I quote, "I think these might just rival Thin Mints!" To me, they tasted a lot like the Christmas cookies my dad's side of the family bakes each year -- the peppermint-topped ones, to any family members that are reading this. Delicious, soft, and with just enough mint and chocolate to be simply fantastic.

Alfredo sauce

Whenever Darren and I go out to eat at an Italian restaurant, the one item on the menu that always, without fail, catches my eye is the seafood Alfredo. Doesn't matter if it has shrimp, scallops, or any other seafood combination. But as nearly the most expensive item on the menu, seafood Alfredo simply seemed out of our price range; it was an indulgence.

Then, one day, our local Smith's grocery store had scallops on sale. I figured I could get just enough to make a few servings of seafood Alfredo for about $2-3, add some bottled sauce, and put it over some pasta. The next day, though, as I was watching Rachael Ray's talk show (a recent "study break" habit of mine on campus), I watched her make Alfredo sauce from scratch. It was so simple! Butter, garlic, milk (and chicken stock, if you want), and flour--that's it!

And so I decided to make scallops in Alfredo sauce totally from scratch. Here's the process, my second time around making it.

Written while sleep-deprived and watching TopGear

Let the title serve as a warning, if past posts haven't -- this might be slightly incoherent, poorly edited, and maybe even pointless, but that's ok! Because at least we're posting something , right? Right.

First things first -- the update on our lives.

Darren:

They (doctors) still aren't quite sure what's been plaguing him for the past 6 months, but they think it might be migraine-related. The anti-migraine meds he's been taking have been helping, so that's a good sign. He's doing PT and what he calls "dizzy therapy" (I think it's called balance rehab, officially) and both seem to help, as well. Yay for progress!

He'll be starting back to school during the Spring term - end of April to mid-June -- taking an accounting class. Then it's back to school full-time in the fall to get back into the swing of things with his Information Systems major!

Michelle:

I received my graduation announcements in the mail last week, and I'm sending them out this week! You know what that means? I'm almost done with school!

Filler Post

I know, I know. I said I'd keep up with this blog better. But y'know what? This month has been insane. I had every intention of posting a few recipes, a few fun stories of what we've been up to, yadda yadda yadda... Then life pretty much laughed at me and said, "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. Instead, I'm going to give you .... MIDTERMS! And migraines as a bonus."

So this is a filler post, just to remind you few faithful readers that, yes, we are still alive and mostly well, and once life calms down a bit we'll get back to posting interesting things here on our little blog.

On a side note, in an attempt to put at least a little bit of update into this stream-of-consciousness rambling: I've just ordered my graduation cap, gown, and announcements! Yay!! That means I'm almost done! :)

And now, off to bed. Good night.

Home-made Potstickers -- Delicious and pretty darn easy

I have to admit, when I first found this recipe for potstickers, I was a little intimidated. And by a little, I mean a lot. They're potstickers! They seemed so... well, foreign. And difficult. But it turns out, they're really not all that difficult. Yes, they are time-consuming. Let me emphasize that: These are time-consuming and so very worth it! One other disclaimer: These do use a few "specialty" ingredients, things you might not have on hand. But they're worth it. Definitely.

Happy Groundhog Day!

I know Groundhog Day was yesterday, but better late than never, right? So they say Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow and we'll have 6 more weeks of winter. But winter here in Provo hasn't been that bad so far -- it's early February and the ground is clear & dry! I definitely don't mind not trudging through snow to get to and from school, and I really, really don't mind the snow-free drive to work each day. I just hope we'll get enough "moisture" (as Utahns seem so fond of calling any wetness from the sky) so that we don't have a drought this summer.

Life is still pretty unexciting for us, overall. Darren's been feeling slightly better (hooray!) and I'm 1/4 of the way through my very last semester of school. It's hard to believe that on April 19, I will be officially done with school for pretty much forever. Crazy! We have a pretty fun summer ahead of us, with my graduation (and lots of family time with it), my little brother coming to stay with us for a while (mostly for EFY, but that's ok), and a trip with the Stolls to see some Church history sites and other places back East. I've never been further East than Indiana, so I'm pretty excited for the trip.

In other news, slightly related to this whole "turn the blog into a foodblog" thing: I've been asked to submit a query/proposal for a beginner's cookbook! Cedar Fort, who I work for, asked employees to submit book & product ideas, so I pitched this idea for a "cooking 101" kind of book, but said that I had no clue who should write it. They said I should, so... now I'm working on compiling recipes, tips, and how-to's. I've already sent in the query letter, so now it's just down to waiting to hear back from acquisitions. I'll keep you posted.

Easy-peasy Taco Soup

When I was a senior in high school, my Young Women's leader Shelley Brown gave all the girls that were heading off to college a bunch of her favorite recipes. This was one of them. I love this soup recipe -- it's easy, filling, delicious, and it makes a ton of soup! We made this a few days ago, and it's such a hearty wintertime meal.

Taco Soup

2 lbs hamburger, cooked

1T minced onion

1tsp minced garlic

1can corn, drained

1can chili

1can kidney beans, drained

2- 14oz cans stewed tomatoes

2- 8oz cans tomato sauce

1pkg taco seasoning

Add water to desired thickness. Heat through until warm.

That's all the directions the original recipe gave. So I took some liberties: I cooked the hamburger with the garlic, onion, and (about) half of the taco seasoning. Then I dumped all the canned goods in a stock pot and added the meat and the rest of the taco seasoning. Add water until it's as thick as you like (I added about 3 can fulls of the little tomato sauce can). Heat through until it's warm. Ladle into bowls, add shredded cheese, and serve with tortilla chips. Delicious!

How easy is that?!