Happy Valentines Day!

We decided since the whole town of Rexburg goes out to eat on Valentines day, we were not! I made breakfast, and Marc made dinner, we kept it pretty much a secret until we went shopping Friday. I decided to make breakfast sandwiches. Marc likes bacon, so I put it on the sandwiches, but, bacon makes EVEERYTHING smell when you cook it, so Marc decided to take the griddle outside. It was 18 degrees, but the bacon cooked and our house didn't smell! There was a lot of smoke because of the cold, but it looked pretty funny!

Breakfast turned out so yummy! Marc loved it!

Marc got me a cake decorating kit, I told him I wanted one, and he listened! Of course I had to try it out right away, and lucky for me, we had all the stuff to make a good one! Marc did not have dessert planned, so it was perfect, here is me working on my cake!



And, here is what it looked like when I was done, making it! I wouldn't say I am the next Ace of Cakes, but I think I could do this more, I just can't eat more!



Marc decided to do a little surf and turf dinner. Thanks to Albertsons, london broil was buy one get one free! We did some tempura shrimp, tempura zucchini, and salad. Here we are with our champagne glasses, no worries, just a little soda, and my plate, I needed another plate just for my salad! It was delicious and I am so glad we made dinner at home, it was cheaper, and tastier!



We decided to go see Marley & Me about 30 minutes before it started. We got in and we so glad we did. It was so cute, except for the babies in the back that cried the whole time, and the kids that kept running in and out like there was a party in the hall or something. Beware, it is a tear jerker! We both had to hold back tears, but it was super cute and well worth the $6, thank goodness for cheap theaters! It was a great day!

More Cookies!

I had so much fun decorating the cookies Monday night, and we had tons of frosting left, so I made a few more cookies to give to the girls I visit teach. They turned out so cute I just had to post some pictures!





Maybe I should take this up as a hobby? Cookies anyone?

A Sweet FHE

I have been wanting to make and decorate Valentines cookies for awhile, but sometimes it just takes so long! Plus, we didn't need to have a ton of decorated cookies just waiting for us to eat them. We decided to invite a few friends, the Marshalls, the Briggs, the Hawthornes, and the Christophers, over to help. I made the frosting and cookies earlier in the day so they were ready to go. We asked everyone to bring sprinkles and/or candy to decorate with. We had so much fun chatting and decorating. I think more cookies went home in stomachs than on plates, but they looked so good you just had to eat them! Belle had so much fun playing while we decorated. She kept getting the really good colored things all over her hands, we tried to take a picture, but she got a little camera shy!

Here is how we set up the room before people came over,


Here we are decorating, we only got one picture and not everyone made it in...


Here is my plate as I was decorating, I didn't know Marc was taking the picture,


And this is what they looked like, Shaylen got really creative and made a 3-layer cookie, it looked so yummy!




We had so much fun with all our friends, and eating the cookies! Thanks to everyone who came and played with us!

Superbowl!

Since the Cards were in the Superbowl, we had to have a little party to celebrate! We invited a few of our friends and had lots of food! Marc made little smokies, we had nachos, chex mix, delicious apple dip, and red velvet cupcakes with white frosting. The Bennions brought potato chips, dip, and candy bars. The Hawthornes brought Doritos, and ate so many cupcakes, really thanks guys!

Before everyone came over Marc was trying to decide what to do with the drinks to keep them cool, so he put them in the snow, here is what our makeshift cooler looked like, they stayed really cold!




Here is the spread before the guests came over, after they came table was so full, it emptied fast too!



And, our yummy cupcakes...



I didn't take any pictures of the party, we were too into the game and the commercials. It was a lot of fun, even though the Cards lost. We were really hoping. There is always next year!

Crossbow Park

My grandfather passed away in April of last year. It was extremely unexpected and still sometimes hard to think about. But he had accomplished many great things before he left this earth. One of his biggest projects was helping to pass no smoking bans in Arizona, he was extremely successful in doing this! Thanks to him, none of his 12 grandchildren will have to go into a restaurant and smell cigarette smoke, he really wanted to make things better for everyone!

He was very loving and kind, but he did it in his own way. He would do anything he could to serve, but he never let anyone know what he was doing. He loved planes and even had a license. He would take friends and family to breakfast at small local airports. He chose his houses based on the fact that there were airports close by.

My entire life, he did what he could to share his love with us. One of his favorite things to do as we got in the car after family parties was to throw money in the car. For the most part it was the change he grabbed off his dresser, occasionally there would be a $1 or $5 that would get tossed in. I am not sure what caused this, but he always did it!

This past Saturday one of his biggest projects was completed. A few years ago, my grandparents moved into a newly developed area. Shortly after moving there a park was put into construction. The Home Owners Association announced that it would be named Canal Park. My grandpa didn't think this was a good name for a park, so he got to work. He petitioned for the name to be changed to Crossbow Park. After trying for months, and talking to people in the community about changing the name, the HOA decided they would agree. Unfortunately, he had already passed when the made the final decisions. My grandmother received a call asking what they could do in the park to remember him. My grandma told them a plane would be good, he didn't like a lot of attention. They put a toy plane, and a plaque in the park just for him. Saturday as the park was dedicated, they unveiled the plane. My grandmother was given roses, and had all the family, there to support her. Here are a few pictures to show what a great man he was!

Here is the plaque remembering him


Here is my grandma and her sister with grandpa's plane


This is the family in Maine, the cabin is my dad's grandparent's, but he love spending time with us here!


All the grandkids sang Families Can Be Together Forever, here we are practicing before, we were missing Caleb who was on his was to Madagascar, and Asa who was 6 months and just wanted mom

Thanks Becky, I took the picture from your blog!

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to be at the park with everyone, but I heard it was a great time, one grandpa would have loved!

Apple Pie!

Marc's family has a tradition that Marc wants to have in our family. Every Christmas morning his mom makes turnovers. She usually buys the Pillsbury boxed ones, but those can be hard to find. Luckily, for Christmas we got a wonderful Barefoot Contessa cookbook! We found a recipe for turnovers and decided to give it a try before we made it a tradition. They turned out wonderful, except we had quite a bit of filling left, we followed the recipe! While we were at the store we saw that pie crusts were 50 cents! So we decided to use the rest of our turnover filling to make pie. Of course this doesn't fit into our healthy eating, but it was delicious! The turnover called for dried cranberries, so we put them in the pie too! It turned out so good, except we aren't eating it so good! If you want some come on over! It was so fun to make together!

Midnight Snacks!

I have been trying to eat healthier the last couple of weeks to get rid of the holiday weight. Unfortunately, part of losing weight is craving food, not like I was starving myself, I just get hungry more. I have been trying to eat healthy snacks, but sometimes it is so hard! I am so glad I have a wonderful husband who supports my new diet! Last week at about 9 o'clock, I was really wanting to eat. I kept telling my self that I didn't need to eat that late at night. I was too tired to just go to bed, and watching Food Network just kept the cravings coming. I think Marc got sick of it because at about 10:30 he got up and made us both a snack. He told me I had to eat it so I wouldn't complain anymore! About 5 minutes later he walked out of the kitchen with this

This is only about half of what he made, we ate it before I decided to take a picture of it. He was so proud of his ants on a log, he even convinced me that the chocolate chips were healthy!

Then Tuesday night I had a RS Presidency meeting. They had dinner for us, but the sugar cookies were bigger than the meal and I needed something more. When I came home Marc said he would make me dinner. I told him I wanted salad with tomato and hard-boiled egg. We had a bag of salad in the fridge, (again to help me eat better), Marc added a little cheese and Goldfish crackers to what I asked. He was so happy of his salad! So, I took a picture


This was before he tossed it, he really didn't add that much too it. After I ate my delicious salad, Marc told me that he likes our blog because it is the only place he gets recognized. This isn't true, he knows how much I love him, especially when he makes me yummy snacks!