Cooking

I have been trying new recipies all week long - here are some of my triumphs.

1. Home made french fries with a special fry sauce.
2. Home made french bread.
3. Bisquick baggets

Lots of carbs - good carbs and lots of practice. All of the sudden bread is my friend where before killed everything with yeast.

Maya's Play

On a day that started out pretty cold - we were lucky to watch sweet Maya perform in "Going Buggy." It was so cute! She did great. The room was filled with really proud parents. Tyson loved being around the bright colors and just the fun of kid. He is so good at appreciating children.

Back + Pain = Ty

Tyson back started hurting again. The same hurt that took him to the hospital in December. It's been so frustrating because they could not find anything wrong. We dont get insurance until the end of May either. Urg. His only pain relief is hot baths - he refuses to take any medicine unless it's absolutly necesary. Me? I pop a pill the minute anything hurt :) It's been healthy to be married to Ty.

Still, Tyson got up and went to work. He does not complain much and it makes me sad when I know he is in pain. He came home after his recruiting interview, took his second bath of the day (it's only noon) and changed into his PJ's. Sad.

To make him feel better I am making yummy home made fries and some good sandwiches. A man needs two things when he is sick. 1. lots of hugs and 2. a full tummy.

It has been pouring non-stop the last 6 hours. I love it. I love gray days. The rain turned to snow for an hour and now has altogether stopped. I am hoping Dave the handyman can finish my pantry today. Extra Space is building me a pantry - more room baby. It will double my current kitchen storage. I am not sure what could make a girl happier!

Utah vs Colorado

(This is not actually us but the clouds looked like this all day)

Utah vs Colorado

Utah: green jello at all parties
Colorado: coffee at all parties

Utah: no NFL team
Colorado: home to the Broncos

Utah: pretty tame when it comes to natural disasters
Colorado: tornado warnings during April

Truth be told I was excited about our two hour tornado warning. Call me weird but I have always wanted to be part of one. Not earthquakes or tsunamies .... tornados. Or hurricanes, but that is just a tornado on water.

Denver had a warning due to the bad storms. I'm having thoughts of food storage and if that dang heater that we bought would help us out at all if anything did happen. It began pouring last night - my favorite way to fall sleep.

They skyes have been all sorts of cool clouds and dark undertones. It was super dark in the morning, following a bright sunny afternoon and now it's getting dark again. Gotta love that Colorado weather.

Monday

Gorgeous! Monday was gorgeous. So what to do? Spent time outside and hang out with the cool Robbins family. I played with Camrin and Kayden all day - flying kites, walking down the street, raking leaves, bouncing balls, relaxing in the sun. Rebecca Robbins is not only gorgeous but has really great kids. They are such a fun family.

Rolls + Success

The weekend was very successful. My rolls turned out amazing. The Elders though I bought them fresh from Costco - I'll take it as a compliment. My new recipe for pasta carborana was smashing hit. The stake dinner was really fun and we met several great members. The funny thing is that we all knew Utah people and when I would mention a Utah city, they all knew exactly where it was.

We hosted the missionaries on Sunday along with a new investigator Brad, his kids and Bob and Danielle Gardner, PLUS we watched the Scottorn children. It was a FULL house to say the least - but we loved it. Everyone brough great food to share and clean up took 45 minutes to make everything look perfect.

The boys played card games while Danielle, Brad and I talked cooking and family.

Rainy Day's

It's been a rainy day - perfect for making 3 dozen dinner rolls! I attempted two ways. I made one dough yesterday, let is rise, shaped it and froze it. I followed instructions and they are thawing out right now. My goal is to maybe learn how to make rolls and breads ahead of time so I can start a food storage of it. Pizza and rolls are my main objective to learn to make head - oh and scones for parties!

The second batch was just the same and is currently rising. I am learning a couple of things: 1. Adding of cup of "bread flour" really helps. 2. The longer the rise, the softer the bread. Making rolls has been such a crazy experience. I sucked at first and I mean s.u.c.k.e.d, yet I never gave up. I am hoping my curse is broken and I learn to not just make fresh rolls - but how to freeze and prepare for future stuff.

Debbie called us last night and informed us that there was an earthquake in Logan yesterday. Utah has been said to be due for a big earthquake and to have a 5.0 close by made me want to make sure I am ready. Tyson attended a stake prepareness activity and we are finished with our 72 hour kits. It's funny because when I talk about 72 hour kits, everyone outside the church in CO gives me the weirdest look.

It feels good to be prepared though.

We are having a church investigator over tomorrow for dinner and I am trying a new pasta dish - Pasta Carboana. We had it at Buca di Bepo and I loved it.

Perfect Day

I am reading the book "Beyond Success". Great book. Last night I was reading about how you need to picture your perfect day and why that would make you happy. The book specifically talks about how you cannot tie that specific day to a "certain money amount", rather to strong emotions. I have thought about that. Over the last two years I have really narrowed down what my perfect day would look like and so reading this book really got me thinking again about my perfect day.

Here is a recap of my perfect day:

7:30 am - Get up and work out at home with my personal trainer
8:45 am - Go to kitchen where Ty is playing with kids and eat breakfast
9:15 am- Tyson holds an RVP call
9:30 am - I take kids to a special "positive and learning" pre -school. I come home to get ready
12:00 pm - Kids are brought back via limo to the home. I am preparing lunch
12:30 pm - Eat lunch as family out in patio
1: 00 pm - We pack up the kids in my Escalade and head to the zoo
4: 00 pm - We head back home, the kids are pretty tired. Tyson and I are holding hands. There is no stress and I feel so blessed and contempt
4:30 pm - I put the kids down for a nap, the house is clean because my maid cleaned it earlier. I read a book. Ty goes on a training appointment
5:30 pm - The door bell rings, it's my family with a car load of groceries. She hands me the receipt because I paid for all the food :) I love that I can pay for it. We start to cook and make a gorgeous dinner table out in patio
6:30 pm - Tyson gets home from a recruiting and closing a sale. We invite the recruit to come eat with us. We eat out in the warm summer night. The food is amazing, bubble lights in the ceiling, beautiful music in the background. I'm wearing a beautiful outfit
8:30 pm - Ty and I take the kids up to bed. We read scriptures and say prayers
10:30 pm - Everyone leaves to go home. The night is warm. Tyson and I sit in the outside swing and read. I feel so good. I feel at peace. I'm grateful for my blessings and abundance
11:00 pm - Tyson and I go to bed

You know from the look of it, it sounds fairly simple. The details are what really make this powerful. This dream includes my gorgeous home and having the freedom of time and resources to help my parents ,amazing food and a personal trainer. My perfect day always is timed during summer. There is nothing more that I love than a warm summer night.

I told Tyson my dream day last night. He loved it. I am so happy for my future! And who wouldn't be with that kind of perfect dream?!

Auction

I witnessed my first auction for storage today. It was such a weird experience. At 11:30 am there were more than 30 people at my property. After they all signed in, I took them to each unit, opened up the unit and the bidding began. One unit had a Lexus convertible hardtop and sold for more than $600. Sadly though the owner owned like $1400 so they will be sent to collections for the difference. Its sad to see people lose everything by not being able to pay for stuff. The other two units, although full of some person's memories - only sold for $85.

These auctions happen once a month and some people make a living out of it. They buy the stuff and hopefully are able to sell it for more on ebay or swapmeets. About an hour after we were done another client came in and wanted to know how to get in the auction action. This experience makes me realize why we do what we do. Although difficult, Ty and I are really laying down a foundating for success so we never have to experience that. It's pretty amazing how it all works out. We are truly blessed.

Ty got back on Monday and man it's great to have him home. I missed him terribly. We made home made pizza and watched V last night. Tyson loves that show. I attemped to make Tres Leches for my coworker - not pretty. I will keep trying though. This weekend we have a big dinner at the Stake Center and I will make 3 dozen rolls - glad I finally learned how to make good one eh?A

Kmart Double Coupon Trip

Wow wow wow. I just finished my first run at the annual Kmart double coupon week and I'm really impressed. The nice thing is that Colorado actually runs it. Utah never does - with good reason, they would probably go out of business. I remember the one time I tried to take advantage of the Smiths annual coupon day - EVERYTHING was gone. It was insane.

I was so dumb and forgot until the middle of the week that this was running, so I had to make up a lot of time. I was happy to get a lot of household stuff, specially laundry detergent. I also realized that I use way too much of the concentrated soap - specially since our clothes don't get that dirty. I honestly think I could stretch this out for a year worths of detergent.



So here is the recap:

4 All laundry detergent
3 Tampax tampons
7 Halls cough drops - Tyson goes through these like candy!
2 St. Ive's face wash
2 Dial hands0aps
2 Turtles candy packages
2 Bic disposable razors
2 Soft Scrub all in one kitchen cleaners

Retail: $88.50 including taxes.
I paid: $5.97 including taxes.

I basically paid only taxes! Man this was fun event. It look some strategizing since you could only use 5 coupons per day but I am very proud of myself for it. Until next year.

Book GIVEAWAY!

Book GIVEAWAY!

Miss Him Already

Tyson just left for Salt Lake for a conference event. I miss him already, which is funny since two nights ago we got really annoyed with each other over whether we should watch Hulu in bed or in the office. Oh the things humans argue over. Every time Tyson goes away for any reason I always became grateful for him.

I had a client come in this week and tell me his elderly mom is moving in with him. After 58 years of marriage, her sweet husband died. I've thought about that. Tyson and I have been married three years - I can honestly say they have been wonderful. Yes there were tense moments, who doesn't have that, but I am so attached to my Tyson. He is so funny and really able to have such a happy disposition. I cannot sleep without him next to me. Tonight I will stuff pillows and lay next to them and I will probably take some sleeping pills. Melissa and Jon are nice enough to have me sleep over, but it's just not the same.

I know I don't say enough to Tyson on how much I love him. In a weird way, having him leave for a couple of days lets me know how much I really would miss his constant cuddling in bed, his whistling in the morning, his love of Reese's Pieces cereal and the way he kisses my hand when we are driving.

I love you Superman.

Come back soon.

PS. Don't forget my Mary Kay bag I left at my parents house :)

We survived our first holiday in Colorado. I honestly believe the trick is just staying busy and doing your own traditions.

Tyson and I had a grown-up Easter egg hunt in our apartment Saturday night. It was really fun actually, even with just two people.

Sunday we woke up and made a gorgeous table for our Waffle Sunday tradition. Melissa Scottorn and her kids came over and they had a little egg hunt and enjoyed the food. We topped it off by watching the first session of conference.

After they left we really thought we were going to be alone the rest of the night - until .....sweet Rebbeca Robbins invited us over for dinner! I was so happy. I made funeral potatoes and we were on our way. Dinner was awesome and reminded me so much of home: ham, potatoes, jello and veggies. It screamed LDS. I loved it. We payed a game called "Wacky Six" and had a Scookie dessert.

Rebecca actually let me borrow a really cool book named Babywise. It's on a way to have babies but actually have them sleep through the night. It has blown my mind. It's made the thought of babies so much better :) She has 1. beautiful children 2. happy children and 3. children that sleep through the night. Who wouldn't want that? I am half way through the book and already I feel much more prepared.

We got home and counted our blessings. Colorado has been so good to us and will continue to be good to us. Chenille one time told me that the key to moving is to stay busy busy busy - she is SO right. We have really reached out to our ward, our baseshop and just put ourselves on the line. It's been great.

Easter

This marks our first big family in Colorado. Easter. We love Easter.

The Gerber's always hide our baskets and we run around like crazy trying to find it.

The Goez family always have a dinner and last year we had an adult Easter egg hunt - so fun.

So here we are. No family. Tyson and I are not sad but want to take advantage of this and start our own traditions. Today Tyson is going to go buy stuff to make baskets and an Easter egg hunt.

Tomorrow we will have Sunday Waffles with Strawberries with the Scottorns.

We will watch Conference. Then dinner. My goal is to invite someone over to have dinner with us.

Moving has helped us make the best out of all of this and reach out to new people. It's a great experience. Don't get me wrong. I would adore being with my family or Tyson's family. But this move is about us establishing our own things and learning to be happy with just each other. Who knows though, I will probably just cry tomorrow. Today though I am strong and great.

Watching The Kids

We have have loved watching Maya, Alec and Kayla the last couple of days. I'll be honest and say that I am surprise how much the house gets dirty but I am learing ton's about what to do when I am a mom. Tyson had a blast with them last night playing soldiers. We had Mac and Cheese for dinner and were all in bed by 9:30.

I have to admit that I was so worried about missing school in the morning that I did not sleep. I got up at 6:40, followed the directions perfectly and everyone got to school on time :) It was really weird being awake for TWO hours before even starting work. Man mom's are tough. So some of the thing that just caught my mind are:

1. Keep your house simple in decor. Too many nick nacks would just drive me crazy trying to just keep it clean.

2. Big storage that looks nice is vital. For example there is a big square coffee table that is also for storage. Easy to access kids toys and even easier to clean up right before bed.

3. Put plastic on tables. Kids will naturally scratch stuff. Plastic covers have really improved since the days of my mom using it - it makes so much sense now :)

4. Don't organize every single item but do get bins so that you know the general areas where things are.

5. Throw stuff away. Melissa is great at keep the house clean and one of the reasons - she throws it away baby.

Now I realize that two days is nothing compare to actually having babies and raising them. In a weird way, its like I'm getting ready for it. There were some tender moments when Ty and I looked at each other and just soaked in the moment of a picture of the future. I'm excited for that day to come.

Recap of Public Day!

This morning was just filled with so much excited as the Primerica stock opened and just climbed up up up up and up. Trading started at $15 and within an hour it was over $19. CRAZY! Tyson and Debbie were hooked on the CNN channel to check up to minute status.

Tonight we are having a big party at the office and will have food and watch the big party from NYC. I'm sure they will recap the moment they run the bell - just the thought gives me shivers.

The million dollar earners have been busy staying at the hotels and holding meetings with our CEO's. So many great memories are being build and I'm not even there. They have been posting some awesome pictures of the this great moment. Way better than any I could have taken.