Missionary Dinners

We fed the missionaries last night. We got two brand new missionaries in our ward. Elder Sanchez is from Mexico, has been a convert for 2 years TODAY and this is the first time he has been in the USA. Elder Ashmore is from Arizona and has been on his mission for SIX days. They were so sweet. They were new and so anxious. We talked about families and the gosple and learning new languages. I fed them salad, homemade rolls and chicken cassarole. The liked it.

Thanksgiving Recap

What a great time. I think that this first "big" holiday away from family was a great experience for us.
Thursday started at 5 am when I got up to start the turkey. Melissa came over the night before to help me prep it and told me it had to cook for a 6 hours. So I got up at 5 am to start the turkey.








At 9 am I went with Tyson to play a Turkey Bowl with Jon's ward. He thought we were all meeting by the church but when we got there we could not recognize anyone. We called Jon and realized we were at the wrong place. After we found the real park we started to walk to them an realized how FREEZING it was. It was 18 degrees, sunny and windy. I saw Melissa and the kids but by the time we got closer they were all running toward us headed home because they kids could not hack it. What am I saying, I could not hack it. So I left Ty to play and I went home, enjoyed a long shower, cleaned the house.




Tyson got home around 11 am and started to get ready. I checked on the turkey and it was looking great. The only problem is that I also had the THREE dozen rolls I needed to cook. I thought "no problem, I'll just put them in the oven WITH the turkey". Bad mistake. The top of the rolls looked cooked but the bottom were undercooked. I had to take my half-baked rolls to Melissa's house to finish it off. The hardest part was getting the 18 lbs turkey from my oven to theirs. We did not buy any of the fancy pans and so our pans were covered with Turkey liquids. It took a while for us to empty some liquids and sort a plan to transport the turkey via car. We were super careful and put big towels in my car and ruined a good 5 small towels with all the grease. We got there and Melissa was still cooking some potatoes. So we stared munching on her yummy appetizers.








We finally started to eat around 1:30 but Tyson had an appoinment at 2 so he ate quick and left. He came back an hour later and said the person he was going to meet was 30 minutes late and there were kicked out of the Starbucks because it was Thanksgiving. We have so many funny memories! Tyson enjoyed the meal and we were all full and had so much food left over!!! We watched Stealth, Knight and Day and slept.

For dessert we ate pumpkin pie and chocolate mousse pie - it was awesome. Tyson had 4 Dr. Peppers - he was in caffine heaven. Around 6 pm Katie and Curtis came over. We talked business, played Rock Band and just hung out.





Ty and I got home around 10:30 and tried to get some sleep before ....

That's right. We hit BLACK FRIDAY in Colorado. We went to Walmart at Midnight and got some tuberware and were suppose to get a heat blanket but theirs sucked! So we kinda went for nothing :( We got home at 1 am and slept unitl 4 am. We got up at 4 am and went to get Melissa. We hit Flatirons Mall. Tyson hit Dick's for Gaylans present and Melissa and I hit Forever21 and Charlotte Russe. I got some stuff for our mom's.

Were done with FlatIron's around 5:45 am. We headed to JcPenney - but not before getting SUPER lost. We finally hit JcPenny at 6:20 and also Target. We got home at 7:15 and slept until 9:15 when I got up and went to work. WE ARE SO CRAZY. Our favorite thing we bought is Tyson's blanket. We love it. It's soooo soft. Tyson is in heaven.





We had a great Thaksgiving. We are having so many great experiences. We feel blessed to have good friends and to have a great family. This weekend we are hoping to get the Christmas tree up.

Boys vs Girls

I can't believe it. After taking some awesome family pictures in August I finally am able to put one on the blog. Lauren sent me this one and I'm pretty excited. These family pics were so much fun to do. I specially love this one. I love the color, where we stand and how fun it was. I'm hoping to post more soon.

10 Things I'm Grateful For

10. My warm bed. So many don't have one.
9. My family. They are crazy, they are so funny. They are my family.
8. The gosple. Without nothing else really matters.
7. Our business. Its the reason we acomplish any and all of the things we really want.
6. My friends. New and old, they make life so much funner.
5. My little storage apartment. It's a daily reminder that the Lord takes care of us.
4. Tyson's family. They are such an inspiration. Tyson's parents raised the man that I love.
3. Dreams. I believe God gave us dreams to make life worth living. The saddest thing is someone with no dreams.
2. My testimony. There is so much more outside of myself that matters. A testimony keep my life and my goals in perspective.
1. Tyson. As I sat in bed that night I realized that Tyson is just the part of my life that can never let go of. Life without him would be meaningless.

Turkey Time

T-minus 2 days until our first Thanksgiving away from family. I feel really blessed to have had atleast four invitations to join several families for the big day. Part of me saw visions of a sad Thanksgiving all alone eating rice & beans - not that there's anything wrong with rice and beans :)

The Scottorns were so generous to invite us over. Melissa put me in charge of the following:

A green salad. Check.
Stuffing. Check.
Homemade rolls. Double check.
The turkey..... wait what?

Yeah I got worried when I was put in charge of the main bird of the day. To be fair Melissa just told me to bring it over and she will show me how to do it! Sweet. So Tyson and I bought our first turkey ever last week. We got it for $.35/lb at Albertsons. For 18 lbs we paid about $6.5. Not bad.

My goal is to learn how to do well enough that I can buy two more turkeys, make them during the year and freeze the rest. It will be a pretty big experiement.

Thrusday morning Tyson is joining a stake wide Turkey Bowl. He is so excited. The Scottorns eat around 1 pm, which is SUPER early for us. My family usually eat around 8 pm. Tyson and I are planning to go shopping on Black Friday. We hope to get Gaylan's present as well as some fun things for us. Tomorrow I plan to make the homemade rolls ahead of time and freeze them during the night and let them rise slowly all morning long. I'm excited.

I have to say that these last 9 months being in Colorado has taught us so much. In my list of "thankful things" moving to Colorado has to be a big one. I miss my family terribly - but I love, love, love being here with Tyson. I love what we are learning and the new found skills that I have been forced to learn.

Sunday

This has been a nice Sunday. I've had major cramps all weekend so I have felt less than social. Last night after work we went to the new Safeway - it's a value store so things are cheaper. I caught the last day of their grand opening sale. I got free eggs, free apple juice, free peanut butter and potatoes! After we came home and had left over for dinners. We also watched Inception. The movie freaked me out because it was all about tapping into dreams and subconscious.

Today we got up and went to church. We had a great lesson on the Holy Ghost and how it effects our lives. I felt strongly that I have a lot of pride. I feel I have a lot of ego issues and maybe the spirit is withdrawn. Its hard. It's hard not get get the results you want specially when you have prepared for it. It was a good lesson for me to hear.

After church we had lunch and headed to the missionary correlation meeting. We always have a good time with the Hammonds and Hutchinsons. Both of our full time missionaries are being transferred so we are getting "white washed" because we are getting two totally new elders. We are feeding them on November 27th.

Brilliant Idea

Oh man! I was driving the golf cart around the property this morning and had the most BRILLIANT idea for our Christmas traditions!!! I want a Christmas that is simple and fun. I want to be surrounded by family and memories - not materialism and stress and inevitable depression that comes after it. I've always felt that the as soon as the presents were opened - the magic dies and you are left kinda lonely. January comes and it's SOOO depressing to have nothing to look forward to. I don't want that. I also don't want my kids to think Christmas is the "End All" for presents. I want them happy but also looking into the future. So here is my ideas:

Christmas eve: yummy dinner, PJ's and maybe looking at lights
Christmas morning: Do Christmas socks like the Gerbers, after socks we take turns and
each person get 1. three presents a. 1 toy b. clothes c. something creative.
2. gets a personal letter from mom and dad
3. a favorite treat.

The last part is where the kids will then go around the house picking up clues and then they get it together they come back to figure out the trip that we will take in MARCH!!! I like March because of spring break , its the off season and its not in the middle of a crazy month for PFS.

I like this because I love hunting for stuff and then the excited is NOT just on Christmas. This way we can plan our family vacations around the same time and we can spend the whole month preparing for our vacation :)

I talked to Tyson and he agreed. He liked it. He told me his mom did that when they announced the trip to Cancun. I remember when my parents took us to Disneyland they morning of Christmas. It was SOOO exciting. I want that. Even if its just somewhere small - presentation is the key.

Christmas Project

My ward had Fantastic Friday and Tyson and I made the cutest fun thing. It was so organized. I've never really been crafty but this is my kind of craft.




I also just wanted to post a cute picture of my sweet nephew Andrew. I love him and miss him.

Tom Hopkins

Yesterday we attended the first day of Tom Hopkins bootcamp specifically for PFS. This is the third one for Tyson and 2nd for me. It was awesome. The best part though was Tyson. He placed 2nd out of 300 people when he attended the Boise event. Tom was so impressed with Tyson that he invited him and me to be his guest for the event yesterday. After our first hour there, Tyson went to Tom to say hello and thanks for the invite. Tom asked about his progress and was so impressed with Tyson's success that he asked for Tyson to speak infront of the entire event!!!

So Tyson had 10 minutes to prepare. He stood in front of 200 people and told about how hard those first 6 months were and how he kept going and studied Tom and gave three top advice 1. never lose hope 2. self improve and 3. hang around the kind of people you want to be like. He really rocked it up. He sounded so confident. When he was over the get a STANDING OVATION! Mark MArchesani came to him and told him he was awesome and what a great job he did. Tyson was glowing the entire night. It was so fun!

Tyson is great.

Cold Weather, Great Deals

The weather has finally turned chillier - glad I got all my winter prep done.This week King Soopers had an amazing sale! I must have gone six times!!! In total I got:

30 cans of diced tomatoes
30 cans of cream of chicken/mushroom
5 can of evaporated milk
15 cans of turkey chili
2 pizza's
5 frozen cookies doughs
7 boxes of quick cook pasta
5 packets of ramen noodles
8 jars of La Victoria salsa

The total retail would have been about $168 dollars and I paid $30! that's roughly $.28 cents per item. Couponing has been such a blessing. I've now taught 2 other girls to coupon and they are loving it. Granted not all sales are this great, but I am in constant shock by how full our pantry now is, while still keeping with my budget.

Yesterday Jessice Moya brough her sweet week old baby over and I watched her while Jessica rested. We had lunch, and I stayed with Eliana while Jessice picked up her little boy from pre-school. I was so proud of myself. I changed her, kept her awake, fed her, played with her ... all without freaking out. It was actually a pretty amazing experience. Tyson was home making calls and even he said it was a little freaky to see my being so comfortable with a newborn - not just a baby, but newborn.

I took Jessica to Kings and had her shop with coupons for the first time. She loved it. She loved getting out of the house, getting help with groceries and just learning. She is a really amazing person.

Tonight we had opp night and then we always go to Applebees with the team. They are having their "late night" specials and we get half priced appetizers. We have been doing this for about 5 months now and Ty and I always share the same thing - hot boneless buffalo wings with extra ranch and sauce. We just love it

Rolls and Such

Not much has happened the last couple of days. Tyson's birthday came and went and we did some fun things but more on that later.

Halloween was really cool. We crashed the Trunk or Treat for the Scottorn's ward. We spent Halloween going to church, having brownie/ice cream with friends for Tyson's birthday, trick or treating with Maya, Kayla and Alec and finally watching a movie that I thought was pretty scary - but Tyson thought it was weak. It was great.

Jessica Moya had her baby on Friday and today Melissa and I watched her THREE-DAY old baby for six hours today. It was insanely small and I learned a ton. I'm so glad for the experience.

The other cool thing is that I have successfully made FREEZER rolls - I have been trying to make decent bread since we first got married and it's been a lot of failed attempts and hard bread. Ever since getting to Colorado I've really had better luck. Now my next attempt was making the dough but then freezing it and then taking them out as needed - and I did it! Sunday I took out four frozen rolls and let them rise for a good 4-5 hours. I baked them for 8 minutes and they were AWESOME! Melissa even said they were amazing.