SPRING FINALLY

It's officially getting warm in our neck of the woods and not a moment too soon! David is opening the complex pool next week and I'm pretty excited...mostly to get people off my backs with their pestering "When will the pool be open? The place across the street opened theirs last week." My normal response is "Feel free to go swim across the street then!" What children (or students in our case) forget to remember is that we will most likely have another snow or extremely cold day before it's officially warm and safe to have it open. Whatever, if the pipes bust I"ll just put it their bill! Other than the normal idiocy I deal with most days, I"m in a very good mood because it's warm out. I'm dreaming of swimming in the ocean and relaxing on the beach. I still can't remember why I live in Utah. Oh yeah, David is a forever student! One can dream...

Happy Easter

Hoppy Easter! This year our Easter was pretty low-key with General Conference but it was still fun. I am drowning in chocolate and candy! If anyone wants some PLEASE OH PLEASE come to my house first. I got a giant box from my mom and dad, followed by an overflowing basket from David (I mean the E.B.), and then of course I got him a basket too. Not to mention we still had leftover candy/treats from my birthday. Good thing we're joining the gym tonight or it could be a scary sight in a couple weeks. David and I did the whole hide-baskets thing which was super fun. He made mine really easy this year because last year it took me like an hour to find and this year I made his really hard to find because I made it too easy last year. Needless to say, I was enjoying chomping away at my candy while he was getting frustrated. Like I said, it was a great Easter! :)
I'm thankful for holiday that are focused on Christ. I am so thankful for Him and the gospel and the resurrection that allows us all to return back to our Father in heaven. I am so thankful for family and friends and the blessings we enjoy. Happy Easter!

Festival of Colors

David and I and our friends from Salt Lake went to the Festival of Colors on Saturday at some Hindu Temple in Spanish Fork. I've been meaning to go for years but never really got around to going for some reason. Apparently it's a pretty popular event because we left like an hour and fifteen minutes early and ended up getting there 30 minutes late. And let me just remind you that Spanish Fork is literally the next town over! We saw a ton of people walking so we decided to abandon ship and walk too. What we didn't realize is that when we left our car we were still like MILES away from the temple. Oh well, I guess we got our exercise in.

When we finally arrived at the temple, we saw tons of colors being thrown everywhere and on everyone. It was so fun. David and I were determined to get colored as much as possible. We quickly got in line to purchase our own bags of pretty colors but right before we got to the front the lady announced "We're out of colors. Now leave!" Sad day. If we would have walked literally 5 minutes faster we could have been apart of the cool crowd with colors. I'm telling you, David is horribly unlucky! If I would have went by myself I would have been early and never had to deal with traffic. Every since we got married, he's been sucking the luck right outta me. I used to be one of the luckiest people ever. :(

We did end up getting as much color as we had hoped on us though. We just got in the crowd and everyone started throwing the "stuff" up in the air at once. If I had asthma, I would have died. We were breathing that stuff into our lungs like crazy and it made us cough so badly. What people won't do for "culture." Hey, it's hard to come by in Utah, especially Utah county. All and all it was a fabulous way to spend Saturday.

Birthday, Skiing, and more

SO comfortable bed. I miss the Venetian!

Isn't my piggy cake adorable? Amy made it for me. I accidentally
ate off one of the ears and David ate the other piggy cupcake

YUM! Giant frozen hot chocolate that was Amaz-ZA-zing!

I've been such a blogger slacker lately and for that I apologize. I have actually been really busy at work lately...I know, I'm suprised too. Today was the first day that I actually looked at other people's blogs. Since I get so antsy when other people won't blog, I decided that I better do a little update of what we've been up to lately. Now people, GO BLOG TOO! I need some entertainment and pics of your cute children.

1-My birthday was completely AWESOME! David surprised me with a 3 day/night trip to Vegas that included staying at the Venetian in a super-duper nice SUITE. Teri was so nice to give me that as a present. She's the best! The hotel was so nice and the bed was so comfy. We need that bed because coming home to ours was not fun. David also got me tickets to Mystere' by Cirque Du Soleil, which I can't even begin to describe. It was so fabulous and I just want to see it again so badly. We had such a fun time and it was nice to see Teri and Cassie. Besides having to turn 25 it was wonderful.

2-Amy had her baby. She is so dang adorable and chubby and cute. I want to die when I see her. All I ever want to do is hold her. I'm afraid of going over too much in fear that I might overstay my welcome. Her cheeks are so chubby and cute. I love her girls. Kate's a riot now too and is talking up a storm. I hope I have as cute of kids as she has. I was hoping she would have Alli on my bday but she came on the 10th. What a sweetheart.

3-David and I finally went skiing/snowboarding. I got David a pass to Snowbird for Christmas and we just barely got around to using it. We decided that since it's like 60 degrees every day now we better use it soon or it would be too late. David snowboarded and I skiied and it was great. We were both fried a little crispy since we forgot sunscreen, but other than that it was a perfect day. Utah really does have the best snow on earth.

4-This job is stressing me out big time. Ok, so it's not that bad but I haven't been sleeping much because all I do is have nightmares of not being able to sell all the contracts. We have to sell 30 a week (yeah, that's 5 a DAY people!) to make our sales goals. That makes for a lot of sleepless nights. I will be so happy when it is over. Come on chillins' you know you want to live here. David and I are cool cats. haha

Happy Love day!

David and I had a great Valentine's day. We went up to Salt Lake City for a nice dinner, "Valentines Day" movie, and then stayed the night at the Radisson in downtown. It was the perfect day and made me feel so much better. I think it was the first time I had been outside the apartment in 2 weeks. I hope everyone had a beautiful day with their honey!

We just want to say THANK YOU also for all the kind words and advice, meals, flowers, emails, visits, and strawberry chocolate bouquet that made us feel so loved. We truly appreciate all the niceness that everyone showed towards us during this time. We've been super sad but are finally feeling a little better. I had surgery last Wednesday and everything went great. My mom was able to come down and be with me and help me, which was so helpful and nice. I am so thankful to have such a loving mom who will drop anything to be with us. I'm not sore anymore and am feeling a lot happier. We love you all. Thank you again for all that you did for us. We won't forget it!

MAKE THIS NOW!

Ok, so David and I had Amy and Nathan over for dinner and I attempted a new recipe. I have been wanting a good pasta recipe FOREVER. I looked online forever for something suitable but ended up on the Olive Garden website instead to look at their beloved food that I never get. Well, low and behold they put some of their delicious dishes online for you to make at home. Talk about YUM! (To be honest, I would rather have THEM make it for ME, but I'm just happy to get to eat it!) I made Chicken Castellina and you must too RIGHT NOW! No serioulsy, it was delicious. Go get the ingredients. I am making my most favorite dish of theirs, Tuscan Garlic chicken, tomorrow and I expect deliciousness again. Here is the recipe...


Chicken Castellina
Sauce
1/4 cup diced bacon
6 T. butter (I never said it was remotely healthy)
1 tsp fresh chopped garlic
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
1.5 cups heavy whipping cream (once again very fattening but scrumptious)
1.5 cups milk
1 0z cornstarch
1/4 cup grated fresh parmesan cheese
1/2 cup smoked gouda cheese, chopped
1/4 tsp salt
1 T. fresh rosemary (I omitted this because I couldnt find it and dont care about it)
8.5 oz artichokes, drained
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms


pasta of your choice


Chicken
1.5 lbs chicken breasts, cut in cubes
3/4 c. flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3 T. olive oil
1/4 c. white wine (you dont have to use this or can use chicken broth instead)


Saute bacon in large pot over medium/high heat until crisp and golden brown. Reduce heat, add butter, and let melt. Add garlic and sundried tomatoes and cook approximately 1 minute (stirring frequently); do not brown.

Whisk in together whipping cream, milk, and cornstarch together. Raise heat to medium/high heat. Add parmesan and gouda cheeses. Once cheese melts, stir in remaing sauce ingredients and bring to a boil; stirring continuously.

Remove from heat and let stand uncovered.

Chicken
Mix flour, salt, and pepper together and coat chicken in it. Shake off excess.
Heat oil in pan and brown chicken thoroughly on both sides; until juices run clear. Add wine (if wanted) to chicken pan and toss until evaporated. Add chicken to sauce and let heat up again.
Place on pasta and ENJOY! Yum Yum in my tum tum.

Hope you all enjoy!

Time to get back to real Life

We had a fabulous Christmas break filled with lazing around, spending time with family, eating, treats, parties, David's 50th birthday party, fun at Six flags, opening presents, getting lost in L.A., playing my new Original Nintendo system (Super Mario 3 baby) that David got me, playing games, sleeping in, being WARM, riding bikes at the beach,and just enjoying the time off. We were able to get a week and a half off of work and it was just what the doctor ordered. David is now back in school and I"m back to work but we're loving 2010 already. I hope everyone had a great break.