Chicken Salad and Dressing....yummy

We love Cafe Rio, but can not afford it as often as we would like. The part I love the most is the dressing...uuummmm. My mom mentioned that she had received a Chicken Salad and dressing recipe from a neighbor that is like the Cafe Rio salads. There is a bit of prep time needed and we weren't sure if the payoff was going to be worth it. Well it was, it makes a lot but is so good. The dressing alone is worth the time. We usually make the full amount of dressing so we can have some left over for later. The chicken and rice are really good as well.

Just like my last cards these ones are ready to be saved and printed when you need them.

ENJOY!!!!

Christmas Music

Lately I have heard a lot of people who have mentioned and do not really like it when people play Christmas music "too early." Now I am not one who can listen to it before Halloween - mixing the two seems a bit odd to me but I will start listening to it in November.

Christmas is not about making a list to make sure you get exactly what you want or even about the presents. To me it is a feeling - I am happier and seem to have a smile on my face for two months straight, no matter what. People are better to each other and more forgiving. Except on those few day right before Christmas when all the last minute shopping is being done.

Listening to Christmas music is a way for me to make that feeling and cheer stretch. Ask my mission companions, since we don't get involved in Halloween it was all they could do to keep me from listening to Christmas carols in October. So to those who say it is too early, I do not think so.

I have changed my player on the blog to Christmas. Normally I don't have the player start automatically either. Having the music play while trying to read someones blog can be kind of hard. But in honor of the season and reason, the player will start automatically if you scroll down to it - just pause it yourself.

I Love......My Husband!!!!

With everything that has gone on this past week, Paul has been absolutely wonderful. Taking care of me, Bentley, school, dinners and the house he has truly been great. Today was a great day - I was able to get up and move around and no pain pills were needed. Since I am feeling better today and felt like I could handle more then just a bowl of Raisin Bran or Cream of Wheat, Paul decided to make me one of my favorite dishes. Growing up my mom would always make us our favorite meal on our birthday and I always wanted Apricot Chicken. Tonight it turned out just as good as my moms. There are two different recipes but they only very slightly. Just fix up the chicken and serve over rice.

Just click on the cards, to open them, then right click on them and 'save image as.'
Now you can save them where you want and print them off.

~Enjoy

Family Birthday Party

The last Sunday of every month my grandma holds a monthly birthday party. We are not able to make it every month so when we are in town on those Sundays we always try to make it. For the month of September it was my grandma and a son of one of my cousins. It is always a great time to catch up with the family. It wasn't warm enough to pull out the slip-n-slid but my grandpa made sure that the bikes were all working. My niece and nephew do not have bikes of their own and so they haven't mastered the skill of riding a bike without training wheels. I got on the little bike and showed my niece how easy it was. Since I was on the bike I was not able to get a picture to share with everyone.

Uncle Ryan tried to teach my nephew how to ride the bike and my mom tried to help my niece.

This is the little pink bike I was riding

Bike lessons

What a Weekend

This last weekend we had so much stuff going on. Paul did the lighting design for The Glass Menagerie and it was the opening weekend. On Thursday night we went to see it for a date night. We always hate leaving Bentley in the kennel when we head out. He hasn't had an accident in a really long time and since we were only going to be gone for a few hours we decided to leave him alone at home and not in the kennel. The show was interesting, not one of my fav's but it was fun to go and see Pauls lighting design. I thought it was great, one of his bests, he keeps getting better every show. He loves what he does and I think that is such a blessing. When the show was over we offered to give a friend a ride home. She was working the show and here husband was at home with their sleeping baby. By the time we got home we were both excited to find that the house was in order. Bentley was able to stay at home by himself and not make a mess.

On Friday we went to the Hale Center Theatre and saw The Scarlet Pimpernel. My friend was playing in it but we got the one with a different caste. Then we noticed that one of Pauls friends from school was in the show. I didn't know the story behind the show, which I think is better. The costumes and set were amazing, it is so fun to see all of them.

On Saturday Paul was going to the Hale to work on change-over and I went to the Relief Society Broadcast with my mom, aunt, Grandma and sister-in-law. It was such a good session and it was fun to be there with so much family. After that we went to Arctic Circle for ice cream and fries. We sat and visited for almost an hour. My mom, aunt and Grandma shared stories with us about when they were growing up. We started talking about the weather as well and how cold Wednesday was going to be, we all call it 'sweater weather.' Of course we are all excited about it and my aunt told us that she already had the sweater picked out that she was going to wear.

I really enjoy being able to spend time with my family when we get a chance.

A New Calling

This was actually two Sundays ago. We went to ward council and one the councilors in the Bishopric said he wanted to visit with us for a bit. As soon as we sat down I knew what it was about, we were getting a new calling. It was hard because we have only been in the calling we have now for a little less than a year and I did not want it to be over.

Paul is now the second councilor in the Sunday School and we are teachers for the kids that are 12-13. We were told that there were a number of names that was suggested to the Bishopric, then one of the councilors brought up our names and the Bishop said he wanted us back in the ward. He also told us that they wanted teachers for the class who could bare strong testimony as they taught and that is when they thought of us. Such a nice compliment.

We started teaching that Sunday because no substitute had been found yet to teach the class and the last teachers to be over that class just up and moved taking the manual with them. I was not to nervous about going into the class because we already know the kids in there. They are just a year older than the primary kids we used to teach, which means, soon our primary class will be our Sunday School class. I had no idea what we were going to do for a lesson and I did not want to spend the hour playing hangman. Paul, however, was right on top of it. He started out in Abraham 3:22-23 'the noble and great ones.' We then went on discussing who these noble and great ones where. One thing that Paul and I both came home from our missions with is an even greater love for the scriptures and a knowledge of how all the scriptures work together. Abr 3:26 was next, talking about our 'estate' and what glory we could have. We ended up taking about giving away our sins to know the Lord and those who are here on earth that want to follow in word but not deed. I added and bore testimony when I felt to. But the rest of the time I sat there smiling to myself to have such a wonderful husband. Someone so familiar with the scriptures to be able to teach at a moments notice, he can testify of the gospel and know its truth. He is a great husband and will be a great father.

I love you Paul.

Family Vacation

Last weekend my family went camping up at Marsh Lake. The whole family as able to make it except my sister, she stayed home sick. My youngest brothers girlfriend came up as well, it was fun to be able to spend time with her and get to know her. She went out on the canoe with me to take my niece and nephew. One morning when we were having breakfast we got talking about the our families last name and how she can never remember how to spell it. Then it was brought up that Paul and I are the only ones in the family with a different last name. Long story short, when Brittany found out Paul's full name she said that was her Grandpa's name as well. Turns out she is another cousin of Paul's, the same way that most everyone we have met here at school, they all go back to the same great-grandparents.

Thanks to everyone in the family that helped make it so we could come down. We had a GREAT TIME.

This is a video my brother put together so I thought I would just post it instead of making another one or adding tons of pictures.