Go and Read!

I just posted two entries, a total of 4 recipes, on my food blog. Go check it out and let me know if you try any of them out! My food blog is goodeatinrecipes.blogspot.com

Don't You Wish You Were Me?

Fresh peaches + heavy cream = total bliss

P.S. Check out my food blog for my fresh peach pie recipe as well as directions on how to bottle peaches. :)

A Few Sweet Mysteries of Life of My Own

I got my hair cut! We're talking chopped. I took around 6 inches off in length and added layers. Kelli is awesome and I'm way grateful she cut it for me. I love it! Its been a year since I got it cut so the change was great! Here are the before and after pics:

Before

After

I styled it curly yesterday and it looks great! The sweet mystery in this is why is feels so good to run my fingers through my freshly cut hair. That first shower after a hair cut is great too.

In other news, I was a regular domestic housewife yesterday. I stained a quilt shelf that my mom gave me and I did 5 bottles of peaches! I love the red oak stain! It makes the shelf look like its made out of cherry wood which is awesome! Its sitting on cans of green beans right now to dry for a few days but I can't wait to hang it. :) We got a big box of peaches from Bro. Johnson in our stake and I decided to bottle a bunch of them. I had to call my mom 4 or 5 times to clarify and make sure I was doing everything right but they turned out great. They're now sitting in the pantry in food storage. The mystery in peaches is that I hated helping my mom bottle tons and tons of peaches as a kid but now I love doing it! Thanks mom for bringing me up right even if I didn't appreciate it at the time!

Snowbird 2009!

I'm back! I haven't blogged in forever but no one seems to read it any more so its more for my records that I write these things. Haha. So we just got back from Snowbird with Sam's family and it was awesome! We were able to stay almost the entire week and the rest and relaxing were just what we wanted. :) Here's a break down of what happened:

Day 1: Saturday August 1st

Left Cedar in the early afternoon and got to Snowbird around 5:00 and hung out with family for the evening. We had dinner at Josi's apartment. White chili with mango cornbread, it was super tasty. After dinner we went to the adult pool with Nick and Crystal to relax and spend time with Nick since he had to leave the next day.

Day 2: Sunday August 2nd

Got up and went to church at 9:00 with the family. Went back to the room after and had breakfast. 3:00 we had family bingo in 613. It was super fun, especially since I won twice. The prizes I picked were strawberry Pop-Tarts and a Warm Delights thing. After bingo we had dinner in Jen's room. AMAZING roast, baked potatoes, frog-eye salad and home made strawberry ice cream for dessert. We watched the Glen Beck story with the whole family then it was off to our rooms to chill.

Day 3: Monday August 3rd

We bought all day activities passes and got to do all sorts of fun things. First it was the bungee tramps which will work you out hard core! I loved it but it made Sam sick. Next we did the alpine slide. It was my first time on an alpine slide and it was pretty fun. Then we rode the ski lift to the top of the mountain and walked through The Peruvian. We hiked to the Tram and rode it down. It was pretty awesome. We took a break for lunch because I was getting grumpy, haha. After a nap we went and climbed the rock wall. My forearms and hands got SO sore! It was crazy hard. Sam mastered the expert side of the wall and wants everyone to know it. I was very impressed. :) We then rode the zip line. Now, for everyone that doesn't know I have a phobia of zip lines. I don't know why or when it started but I've always been afraid of them. This zip line was pretty awesome though. Its my favorite one I've ever tried. Then it was time for dinner in 613 with Crystal W. Delicious enchiladas and rice with trifle as dessert. It was awesome. All the exercise wore me out and more so because I had gone to the gym that morning. After dinner I taught Crystal S., Eric, Jen, Breanna, and Josi how to play Nertz. I ended up winning for the first time in my life. We had a great time. We went to the pool that night too.

Day 4: Tuesday August 4th

Sam and I spent the day in Salt Lake shopping for nothing in particular. I got two new shirts, Sam got new flip flops and tried a new restaurant, Ichiban. Neither of us was impressed with the food though the ambiance was great. We hung out with Ryan, Emilee, Madison, Mike and Melissa that night for Mike's birthday. Ate a lot of sugar and played a lot of Wii. Great night.

Day 5: Wednesday August 5th

We spent the morning relaxing and watching tv. We went to Mom and Dad's room for BLT's for lunch and played ImaginIff with them and shot the breeze. It was really fun. We went back to our room and I took a nap. That night it was our turn to make dinner with Crystal S. We made tacos and had cinnamon rolls and ice cream with peaches for dessert. It was a big hit. :) After that we played Moods and ImaginIff with Eric, Jen, Mom, Breanna, and Madison. We went to the pool with a handful of family members before bed.

Day 6: Thursday August 6th

Sam and I went down into SLC and had a private pole fitness lesson with Lizz. Oh. My. Goodness. It was so hard but SO fun! She and Sam were impressed at my almost-splits while doing a worship handstand. Haha. My calves, thighs, triceps, forearms, hips, back . . . ok everything was and still is sore! A bruise just showed up on my right thigh. I totally want to go again! She recommended Este's pizza for lunch and it was awesome! We went to two different gun shops and Sam got a plug and two grip extenders for his gun which he was totally excited about. We went to the Hogle Zoo with Josi and her family. Sam and I hadn't been in many years so it was a fun trip. We went and relaxed at Mom and Dad's house till 6:30 and then we met Ry, Em, Chelsey and Dan at Cafe Trang for dinner. FYI Cafe Trang is absolutely amazing! I totally recommend it! Sam and I went there in Park City on our anniversary trip and it was awesome so we wanted to share it with our friends. Everything we had was great. :) We all headed up to Snowbird after that and went swimming and hot tubbing for a while then went back to our room to play Beyond Balderdash. I miss all our friends!

Day 7: Friday August 7th

We spent the whole day in our room watching tv and relaxing until 4:00. Then it was time to end the fun and head home. We went the long way home through Milford so I could experience the "tickle bumps" and the scenery. It was pretty cool.

We spent a lot of time at the pool and stayed up late till like 2:00 in the morning watching tv and playing on the computer. We played a few games in the arcade and just had an overall great time. Now its back to the hum drum life in Cedar. I gotta find a job ASAP so Sam doesn't have to keep working two jobs. If any body hears about anything let me know. School starts the last week of this month so finding a job fast is in the forefront of my mind. Any way, it was a great vacation and we can't wait till next year!

The Man Crush written by Sam

I wonder if, like me, everyone else in the world has that one actor who they love today only because they loved that particular actor when they were kids. You know, that actor who's movies you seemed to always watch growing up (And cartoons don't count or else this post would be all about the ninja turtles . . . and it's not. That's for another day). When I was growing up it seemed like we were always watching movies like Overboard, Captain Ron, Backdraft, Tombstone, Stargate, and the infamous Big Trouble in Little China which is one of my all time favorites. Now, what do all those movies have in common? Yes, the Oh so talented Kurt Russell. The "Kurt" is awesome. How can one NOT like a "Kurt" movie. I mean they are all so crowd pleasing. Just try to watch Captain Ron and not laugh or watch Tombstone and not get that rush of adrenaline that makes you want to go shoot something, a lot of something! And watch Big Trouble in Little China. . . and then watch it again because usually the first time you ask yourself "What? Huh? Was that for real?" because it is slightly ridiculous. So when you watch the movie the second time be aware that yes, that was "for real" and while the movie sure seemed like it was trying to be a "real" action flick it is actually very funny and fun to make fun of. I mean just look at this photo from the movie below. Need I say more.

 Awesome! This guy's super power is filling himself with air. . . And look at this guy. His secret weapon is a mini leaf rake.

And this guy shoots light out of his mouth and eyes and he is also able to send warriors of light from his grossly long pinky nails.

But all their powers pale in comparison to "the Kurt" who's secret power is that he's an all too confident american truck driver who delivers pork chops.

And yes, that is lipstick smeared on his face, what a playa! Wow, this movie sounds better and better every time I explain it to others. So there you go, today's sweet mystery of life is "the Kurt" and his movies, with a special emphasis on Big Trouble in Little China. I own it and will let anyone borrow it if and when they get the itch to. Watch it, love it, and respect it/him with a cult like loyalty!

This Made My Day . . .

Be brave . . . . but its ok to be afraid sometimes

Zombies! written by Sam

I really like writing with the "sweet mystery of life" theme, which is my way of telling you of things that make me happy or that I hate. That way I get to do you all a favor by letting you know of things that are awesome just because I said so, and also those things that suck. So far I've never been wrong, and if you disagree with me then. . . you're wrong, sorry. Today's sweet mystery is, yes, zombies. Lovely lovely zombies. This takes some background to explain. I do not do horror movies well. I just don't like them, mainly because I'm a man and thus am expected to be tough and unafraid, however, when I watch horror movies I am neither of those things. I once walked a girl home after watching a scary movie with a big group of friends only to find that once she was inside her warm house that I was very very alone. In the dark. In a small town. . . alone. So I ran to catch up with the other guys who were walking girls home blocks away only to NOT find anyone. alone. Then I ran home but only made it to my friends house scaring his mom to death when I leaped though the side door and slammed to door behind me. So yeah, I don't do horror movies well. Maybe part of it is from the time I dressed up in the Scream costume and scared the girls who were watching that movie in the other room. All I got out of it was a few screams and a hooker boot in the crotch and maybe the inability to procreate. The latter is yet to be proven. Now with all that background it would seem odd that today's sweet mystery of life is, in fact, a horror movie, a zombie movie. But I just like it! If you haven't seen 28 Days Later, you must. I would say it's my guilty pleasure because of the R rating and blood and cuss words but I really don't feel guilty. I am of the opinion that the movie rating system is not divinely inspired and that in this case the R stands for "R-eally R-eally good" and that sometimes PG-13 are worse than R's. I make it a point to research movies before I see them for a little clue of what I'm going to be exposed to. The reason this graphic zombie is awesome is that it is not your ordinary zombie movie. Usually zombies will have their head cocked to one side, slow walking, spasms, and easily avoided as well as killed because they are just slow and dumb. However in 28 days later the zombies don't slowly stumble along chanting "braains, braains", they run at top speeds and are not easily thwarted. The movie starts with a man waking up in london in a hospital only to find the entire city abandoned. Turns out the zombies are just people who have been infected with "Rage" and they are just hiding in the dark and starving because they have run out of fresh meat to eat. And as odd as it seems this zombie movie is very artsy and has deep lessons embedded in it and that is hard to do with a zombie movie. My only hurdle in enjoying this movie is the wife, she watched it once and liked it but doesn't want to see it again, so it will be MY movie from now on and since I just bought it at a pawn shop for $3 I can enjoy it whenever I want, as long as she is not present. Woot! Go Zombies!