Christmas Memories

So we had quite the Christmas this year, and since this was our first Christmas all on our own, we were able to create some traditions of our own for Christmas. It took a little bit of creativity since Alan had to work the 24th, 25th and 26th, but I think we had a wonderful Christmas and were able to keep the true meaning of Christmas with us. (Side note-It was also the quitest Christmas I have ever had, which was kinda wierd)

We started off our festivities on the 20th after we celebrated my Birthday was drove around Highland Park to see the Christmas lights, I don't know which was more beautiful...the homes or the lights!

The next day we made our apples and then made deliveries that night and the following day for Family Home Evening.

Christmas Eve I made dinner and we exchanged our Christmas ornaments. I decided to go a little non traditional and made a pork loin with a cumin rub with vegatbles, a spinach salad with pears, cherries and apples with a balsamic vinigrette, and butternut squash soup. They were all new recipes and I think they turning out great. Some friends of ours had brought up back some Concord Grape juice from Branson, MO-it was the best grape juice I have ever had! YUM! It was fun to have a candlelit dinner for Christmas.

Christmas Day I made breakfast and then after Alan woke up we opened our presents. I got a new Camera which I am excited to use and post on our blog! I think Alan's favorite gift was his IPod-I can see this becoming an addiction for him. :)

The best part about the holiday though I think was this scripture list that Erin sent us. It had a list of scriptures to read every day in December leading up to Christmas in which to read about the Savior. It really helped me keep my focus during the month. Thanks Erin!

On the 27th we headed to Idaho to visit the Jensen Clan. As believe it or not, got stuck in Denver again! AGH! Even though we did not have our clothes or anything they at least put us up in a hotel and gave us food vouchers. We finally made it to Idaho a day late so we had a short but visit. We went swimming one day with everyone, including my Naithan's family and Sarah, went sledding, visited the Rexsburg Temple, went and had a reflexology massage and spent New Year's playing games and eating way too much food.

Christmas Fun with Caramel

So this year we decided to try our hand at making caramel apples for Christmas instead of Sugar Cookies, we figured it was a healthier alternative to cookies-with the apples and all. :) So with Alan being the resident Caramel Apple expert we set to work deciding on the different types of apples we wanted, stocked the panty with all the goodies (mainly so Alan would not accidently eat them) and waiting for Christmas to come. (We started planning around Thanksgiving)

We decided that Sunday the 21st would be the best day since we both would be available and it was closest to Christmas. I wish I had taken pictures of the process of making them, but since I usually had caramel or melted chocolate stuck to my hands because I was the one covering the apples after Alan dipped them in caramel, I did not have a chance.

But...we did get some after shots in. We made 48 apples in about 4 hours...pretty impressive if I do say so myself!

Still 25 and loving it!

So I am officially another year older...whoohoo! The wierd thing about Birthdays for me is that I don't ever feel like I am older. That is until I go an try to do something like play volleyball or go dancing...and realize I can't jump as high or dance as long...then I feel a little old, but other than that I still feel 25! So I have decided that until I feel otherwise, that is what I will be, 25 years old! I think it is a great plan, I just hope my body decides to play along. :)

Alan and I went out to the Melting Pot for dinner to celebrate my 25+ Birthday and the food was so tasty! It is amazing how full you can get with such a small amount of food, especially when you take the time to enjoy it! (If you ever plan to go-which I highly suggest-plan at least 2 hours) It was fun to get all dressed up and go out to dinner and Alan suprised me with a beautiful pearl necklace-it is so beautiful! He spoils me so much! :)

Memorial

So we had a death in the "family"recently...our orange beta fish Mani died the week we could not figure out why our heat wasn't working (Note: if you install a digital thermostat make sure you fidn out if it is set for gas or electric heat. There is a little switch you have to flip or your heat won't come on. Too bad that don't tell you that in the instructions...) Alan came down to feed the frogs and Mani and you guessed it, there was Mani laying on the bottom of the bowl. (Alan says the cold killed him, but I still think the frogs ganged up on him) I have since found out that the orange betta fish is one of the most rare, so this is a memorial to our unusual fish Mani-may he enjoy the ride to the sewer!

Crazy update...

Ok, so it only took 3 days of bathing in the sink and we now have working hot water in the shower thanks to your hand man from "HoneyDoIt"! And, thanks to an angel of a mechanic, who I will now refer every person I know to, my truck is running smooth and I didn't have to sell my arm or leg to fix it! It really was one of those everday miracles and I am so grateful to a loving Father who is always keeping and eye on me and for those who listen and lend a hand! We are truely blessed!

Crazy is as Crazy does!

This has been a definte blog day! So my morning started of course with a waking up still tired to my alarm and heading to the shower to help wake me up among other things and much to my dismay as I went to turn on the hot water...the knob kept turning but no water came out! Cold showers are no fun in December so needless to say it was short, and it was a good thing I had straightened my hair cause I was not about to wash it!

So then I get to work and the Physician I am working with this week says he needed a custom brace overnighted yesterday for a HS football player who needs it for the State playoffs this weekend, so I ordered it yesterday and then this morning as I am speaking with the physician I find out he had measured it wrong and I had now ordered it wrong! Blah! A few phone calls, a remeasurement and a 3 hours later I have a new brace being shipped.

I was feeling a little exhausted by the time I left work but was excited as I was going to be able to make the pilates class at the gym. And then about 7 minutes later as my check engine light comes on, (the red blinking light of death)my temperature gauge shoots to the red zone and I smell burning oil...I realize no pilates for me tonight! I ended up home around 8:30pm, which was faster than it would have been if I had to walk, and very thankful for insurance and 24 hour tow services!

I am still not sure how I am going to make it to work tomorrow...but the handyman comes in the morning to try to fix the shower so at least we will have hot water...hopefully!

Anyway, just wanted to share a day in my crazy life!

Picture Tag

Ok, so I am really behind on this tag..but here you go!

This is from when we went to Sea World in San Antonio this last spring.


I Tag Nate and Jessica..post your fourth picture from your fourth folder.

T-Day

We had a busy but fun Thanksgiving this year. Due to Alan's new work schedule we were not able to go visit anyone out of town so we spent the holiday with our close friends here. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiay to cook for so I spent most of the day Preparing food with Alan's help of course! :) We split the cooking between the people coming so I didn't have to worry about a turkey, which was great because I find that unless you have a double oven the timing can get tricky! We of course make Gma K's cranberrry salad, my favorite stuffing (cornbread, sausage, cherries, apricots, pecans, yumm!) rolls (thanks to Mrs H) and this fun Sweet Potatoe receipe that I found from Paula Dean a few years ago, and believe it or not it does not invlove any butter!



After dinner we went to another friends house for desert and games. We played the Worst Case Scenario Game and even though we did not win, we now know how to escape a swarm of killer bees, what to do if you are standed on a lifeboat and there is an oil spill and what to do if you find a wounded bird! :) We made a pumpkin cake recipe that I thought I would share, I forgot to take a picture of ours but it looked pretty close to the sample-and it is FABULOUS!

Recipe links:

http://www.kraftfoods.com/kf/recipes/luscious-four-layer-pumpkin-cake-65930.aspx



http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/sweet-potato-balls-recipe/index.html

Halloween

Ok, so I am a bit late with this post, but to my credit I spend most of Halloween in an airplane or airport, so Alan being the trooper that he is went to the ward trunk or treat by himself, dressed in my clothes even! Here are a few pictures to enjoy.

Alan and the little karate kid...

He handed out chop sticks and fortune cookies, guess which went first!

Our "adopted" niece-that is flour, not crusties :)

One cute frog!

By the time I got home, it was quite late so we watched the "Corpse Bride" (Tim Burton has quite the imagination) and had apple cider. I really did miss getting to dress up, that is my favorite part of Halloween. But, I guess there is always next year!

Coastal Living

So I have been in Oregon this past week-which stinks because Alan had the week off work before he starts his new job, ask him how his Physicis is going! But everytime I come out here I am reminded how much I love the Ocean. I love the smells, the sounds, the sunsets, the fog, the hippies, all of it-well maybe not the big storms. I thought I would share some of the pictures I have taken while I have been visiting here for work

Ok-so this one is from our honeymoon, but I love it!

I am determined that one of these times I will see a whale-you never know earlier this month I was in Colorado Springs hiking in Garden of the Gods and I hiked right up to 3 deer, they just stared an me then walked away! Glad it was deer and not a bear! :)

Don't Forget to Vote!

Ok, so I know I am a week early-but just a reminder for the procrastinators out there! Regardless of who your "candidate" is I really do think that this will be an interesting election and that in these times that we live in we cannot afford to not let our voice be heard. As I have traveled through different states during this election year I have seen and heard many different ideas and thoughts, and I find it still amazing how the media can spin so many different stories from the same event. So I guess my soapbox is this, study the candidates, learn about what they support and really pray and think about who you believe will lead our country the best. I don't think we are at a point yet in this world that we are in the minority, so stand and be heard.

Oh, I am down now! :)


Happy Voting!

Apple Pie

I was at Walmart the other day to buy a new rug for the front entryway since we just got our carpets clean and I noticed that apples were on sale for 98 cents a pound! So I of course bought like three pounds and then when I got home wondered how we were going to eat 3 pounds of apples. And then genius struck! Alan loves apple pie so I thought it would be fun to make one, so we did! The only problem is that my pie dish is a litlle small so as you can see, we had quite the mountain of pie!

I kept telling Alan that if we put all the apples in it was going to be soupy, but he insisted. So we popped the pie in the oven, with a pan underneath to catch what I was sure was going to bubble over.

35 Minutes later, we had a beautiful goldern brown pie!

Until we cut into it that is...and then we realized that yes, we now have a very tasty apple soup! So back in the oven it went and about 20 minutes later and we had a much denser and even tastier pie. Finally! Never mind it was almost midnight, it still tasted wonderful!

I guess we will just have to keep trying until we make it perfect! YUMM!

Autumn is here...I hope to stay!

I love Autumn-thus the new layout for our blog. I love the colors, I love the smells, I love the weather! It actually dropped below 60 degress last night. I had the windows open and it was quite chilly in the house in the morning but when I came home from work, Alan had closed the windows and the crisp, cool air was gone. He said he was cold! I love it though, nothing beats being able to wear jeans and a sweatshirt-I could live in those clothes everyday. Too bad I can't wear that to work anymore!

Slackers

Ok...so I know that we have not been keeping up with the blogging world and some might call us slackers. But I promise, we have been super busy-so instead of writing a novel on what we have been up to since July, I will recap the past 3 months:

July- ok so we obvioulsy survived our week with out AC just in time to fly to Illinois for Sarah's wedding in Nauvoo. The temple was beautiful, it was so fun to see family and gosh, I'm old! I can't believe my little sister is married!

Nauvoo Temple

Sarah and Elijah-the newlyweds!

Alan and Kaylee

The Cake

We then stayed the night at my parents so that we could go to church with them and attend Leslie's baptism. Alan and I bought her a hot pink CTR ring for her special day, although we did have to special order it since she wears a size 8!

The illegal picture of Leslie before her baptism (Alan forgot that you are not supposed to take pictures in the chapel-which Leslie reminded him of!)

Newest Member of the Church!

Family pictures

Michelle and Kaylee

Cami and Lucas

Racquel and Brandon

Bradley

Adam, Amanda and Emma (a little over a week old)

August- 2 weeks later we flew to Idao for Alan's brother Daniel's homecoming. The trip out there was a little rough since there were weather dealys and we ended up spending the night on the floor at the airport-we made ourselves a nice little fort for some quite but goodness are those floors hard! I swear I could feel the concrete through the carpet. But we did finally make it safe and sound if just a little tired and stiff!

We all went to the Zoo in Idaho Falls and met up with my brother Naithan and his family.

Grandpa and Hannah

Hannah posing in her stroller

Jamie and her Chicken friends

Dianna and Brandon

Erin and Jason

Daniel

We went on a session to the temple and then went to feed the ducks one evening.

Grandma and Hannah

Marci and Hannah

Alan and Grandma Jensen

Since it was our wedding aniversay-can you belive it, one year already!!! We went to a day spa and had hot stone massages which felt heavenly after sleeping in the airport! We spent the next few days visiting with Alan's family and preparing for Daniel's homecoming dinner.

The Jensen Clan (well minus Lara and her family)

September - Alan took his CCRN test and passed of course, like anyone had any doubt that he wouldn't, well he did, but I kept telling him he was silly! So that was one more item checked off the list for grad school. Alan also finished up all his applications and sent them off. All he has to do now is finish a physics course that he is taking on-line. He has to have that done by mid December.


I was called as the YW President-I sure did not see that one coming! I love it of course, but boy do those girls keep me on my toes! :) Thankfully my travel schedule has been reduced as I am now officially the training manger for my company so I stay more local. That has been a wonderful change.

So, that is our past few months-I told you we had a lot going on!!