Leopold

Leo is the newest addition to our little family. He is seriously the cutest, sweetest thing in the world. We LOVE him. I never considered myself a "cat" person, but I am in LOVE. Just look at that cute face...and tell me how you can resist haha. He looks like a little stuffed animal. Something great about cats...they are SO easy! He came already litter box trained, he entertains himself and is quiet. He is super playful and so funny to watch as he jumps and pounces and climbs up everything.

With Love,

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Simplify

"We would do well to slow down a little and focus on the significant things that matter most. 'Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.'" Deiter F. Uchtdorf

I am working on simplifying my life this week and focusing on the things that are most important. In Relief Society a couple weeks ago, the teacher challenged us to find something in our life that was distracting us from being our best selves or from doing better things with our time. This week, I am giving up TV and Facebook...technology...and spending time instead with my husband, with my sister, reading good books, reading the scriptures, going to the temple and so much more. Of course, my very supportive husband has agreed to give up TV for a week also! :)

...and since we are starting tomorrow, we are laying in bed watching the Discovery Channel for the last time until next week. haha. :)

With Love,

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Ghosts...BOO!

"Teacher, teacher! Come quick!" I heard yesterday during morning recess. I recognized this voice all too well...it was the voice of a "tattle-tale." A little hand grabbed mine and tugged me across the field to the very back of the playground.

"See?" the concerned tattle-tale pointed at a group of three boys in my class throwing rocks through the chain-link fence at a house just over the fence's border, trying to break its windows.

"Boys!" I called sternly, "come here please." Three little pairs of eyes were suddenly upon me, mouths wide open...caught! "You know the rules, boys. No throwing anything at school, it's not safe." I pointed to the empty outside wall of the school, indicating the boys' punishment. Knowingly, they trudged back across the field and plopped down, backs against the wall and buried their little heads in their folded arms.

I was shocked. These were not my usual "trouble makers." These were great kids who caused me no trouble at all. These were in all actuality some of the "rock stars" of my class. "Great," I thought to myself with a slight frown. :) I pondered on this for the rest of the morning. During lunch, in the teacher work room, I turned to my teammate. "I had three boys throwing rocks at a house this morning during recess. They were trying to break the windows."

"Yeah," she did not seem surprised, "for some reason, all the kids think that house is haunted. Someone started that rumor a while ago...we need to lay that to rest once and for all."

Later, I questioned the culprits. "Why were you throwing rocks at that house, boys?"

"Well...." they hesitated.

"I need to know...why were you throwing rocks?" I prodded.

"Well...because we saw a ghost inside!" one boy piped up while the other two nodded in unison.

"Yeah, it's haunted and we saw a ghost and we needed to GET HIM THE HECK OUTTA THERE!" said another.

Truly...truly, these boys TRULY believed that house was haunted, that they had seen a ghost and that by throwing rocks, they were heroically saving the school.

I smiled. It was genuine, good-intentioned, albeit not allowable in this instance, boys being boys. There was no mischief, no intentional breaking of rules, and no "true colors" showing through. :) Boys...cute, sweet, hilarious boys.

With Love,

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PAzookie!!

There is a DELICIOUS little dessert place in Orem called The Chocolate. Kaitlyn and I or Bryson and I go there WAY too often and always order the same thing. The cazookie...a right-out-of-the-oven hot, gooey, giant, deep-dish style cookie topped with ice cream - peanut butter cookie flavor. It's big enough that you MUST share with at least one other person and have plenty of milk on hand. :) The only problem with this delectable dessert is the $6+tax price tag that comes with it. SO, tonight during our Grey's Anatomy "party," Kaitlyn and I decided to take a stab at making our very own version of the Pizza Cookie. :) Please try it, and PLEASE enjoy every last bite! :) Ours is big enough for 3 or 4. OR just one if you are feeling especially hungry. :) We eat it right out of the pan, no plates needed.

You will need:

1 package of pre-made cookie dough (we used the package of peanut butter cup cookie dough that comes in pre-cut little squares)

1 pie pan (we used the disposable 8-inch pans)

1 carton of ice cream

Pre-heat your oven to 475 degrees. Smoosh the cookie dough into the pie pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the outside of the cookie is golden brown. You want the outside to be crisp and done, while the inside/middle will still be gooey and delicious! Take out of the oven and top with ice cream. Eat, eat, eat. :)

With Love,

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Fall Butterscotch Apple Dip

Every year in elementary school, my mom was the mom that every teacher hoped for. She volunteered in the classroom, befriended all of my teachers, worked on the PTA and brought special treats for the teachers. I remember one particular day, I came home from school to a kitchen full of apples and the smell of butterscotch filling the air. "I made the BEST apple dip today," she said excitedly as she poured the gooey dip from the stovetop pot into a glass canning jar, twisted a square plaid cloth under the lid and tied a big orange bow around the jar. The next day, I walked proudly into school with a busshel of apples and a jar of apple dip in my arms. I presented it with a smile spread across my face to my teacher.

Over the years, my mother gave this dip to many teachers, friends and neighbors. Everyone LOVES this dip and everyone asks for the recipe. Bryson asks for this dip throughout the year, but I refuse to make it at any time during the year except fall. It is FALL apple dip, after all.

Fall Apple Dip

1 cup Butterscotch chips

1 can Sweetened, condensed milk

¼ tsp Salt

2 tsp White vinegar

¼ tsp Cinnamon

Heat chips and milk until melted (in microwave). Add remaining ingredients. Stir. Enjoy!

With Love,

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Brazilian Lemonade

I was at work the other day, when I get an email from Bryson. I opened it and there was a link to a website and a little note that said, "Tonight we're making these!" We LOVE Tucanos for this VERY reason...Brazilian Lemonades! I would go to Tucanos and pay $20 per person if ONLY to get a Brazilian Lemonade to go with it. They are seriously SO good! I was so excited that Bryson had found a recipe and we could pass on the expensive (but delicious) meal and make the delicious lemonade at home! It ended up being very easy to make...and they taste exactly like the ones at Tucanos. SO...if you are craving an amazing drink, go buy some limes and sweetened condensed milk and enjoy!! :)

Brazilian Lemonade

4 juicy limes (not key limes)
1 cup of sugar
6 cup of cold water
6 Tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk

Mix cold water and sugar and chill until ready to use. We did this ahead of time.

Wash limes and then cut each lime into 8ths. Place 1/2 of the limes in your blender. Add 1/2 of the sugar water, place the lid on your blender, and pulse 5 times. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a pitcher (the one you'll serve the lemonade in) and pour the blended mixture through the strainer and into the pitcher. Use a spoon to press the rest of the liquid into the pitcher. Dump the pulp and stuff in the strainer into the trash. Repeat with remaining limes and sugar water. Add sweetened condensed milk.
Serve immediately over lots of ice.

For more pictures and instructions, go here.

ENJOY! :)

With Love,

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Delicious and Nutritious Green Smoothie

Bryson and I have never had luck with blenders. Don't ask me why...but every blender we have bought since we have been married has been a dud. Our first one just didn't work at all, never even turned on. The 2nd one we bought wouldn't blend anything. The third one started smoking the first time we used it. Finally, we thought "let's splurge a little, spend a little extra money, and do it right this time." So, we bought a $40 blender haha, which for us...is a splurge. :) We've been making smoothies and salsa and great drinks because we FINALLY have a blender that works! So, for your enjoyment here is one AWESOME, amazing, DELICIOUS recipe that we hope you ENJOY as much as we do!

P.S. Don't be scared of the spinach...you can't even taste it! :)

Delicious Green Smoothie

White grape juice concentrate (completely thawed)

1 big chunk of pineapple (remove the rind)

1 half of a lime with the peel

1 chunk of orange w/out the zest (but with the white part still on)

1 banana (broken into pieces)

fresh spinach

ice

**optional: a couple baby carrots, a chunk of cabbage, pineapple juice concentrate

Pour just enough grape juice concentrate to cover the blades of your blender. Put the pineapple, lime and banana into the blender. Fill with spinach to the top of the blender and then cover with ice. Blend until smooth. Add more ice depending on how thick you want it.

Ahhh...delicious! :) AND nutritious!

With Love,

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Twins?

I haven't lived in the same state as my sister in a long time. The last time we lived in Provo together was when Kaitlyn was a freshman at BYU and I was starting my junior year of college. Before that, she had been in high school and our 4 year age difference distinguished us as older sister and younger sister easily. Once we were both in college, we started hearing the "are you girls sisters?" A lot and people would instantly recognize us as sisters based upon first impression. Slowly, we started hearing the "you guys look so much alike," and we got asked often "are you girls twins?" This startled us, and would often look at each other, eyes wide open and answer "nooo." As the years went by, we started hearing more and more how much we looked like twins. Now, I hear it literally every single day. Kaitlyn and I will walk into a restaurant, talk to the clerk ringing up our food at the grocery store, or just be standing around talking to each other and immediately hear "Are you girls TWINS?" Everywhere we go...everywhere, without exception. Kaitlyn told me under her breath the other day as our waitress at Carabas was walking to our table, "if she asks us if we are twins, just say yes and go with it." "Why?" I asked. "Because, if we say no, it turns into a 20 minute conversation of how they can't believe we aren't twins. But if we say yes...they just say, 'Oh, cool,' and move on." And so...in case you wanted to know...YES, we are twins. Identical, in every way...just 3 years and 4 months apart.

Personally, I will take this as a huge compliment, because have you seen my sister? She's gorgeous. So...although I do not see how we look like twins...I will take it and not complain.

With Love,

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GI Joes and Rockstars

The best part of teaching is the funny, funny things that kids say.

On Monday, we started learning about rocks and I asked the class, "What do you already know about rocks?"

This one little boy raised his hand and with a smile, began sharing his story. He starts, "My brother has these things called GI Joes ... and you take a hammer ... and smash them ... and they break open ... and inside are these shiny crystals."

I pause....and ask sweetly, hoping for some clarification, "Where did he get these GI Joes?" as I am thinking, "What in the world is this kid talking about? GI Joes with crystals inside?"

He goes on and on and on about these special GI Joes when it hits me....

"Ohhhh," I say, "you mean Geodes!" It all made sense.

"Yeah, that's what I said," he assured me, "GI Joes."

"Geodes," I repeated and he nods, "Uh huh, GI Joes."

Geodes, GI Joes .... same thing, right? :)

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AND one more sweet little story....

At the end of the day, a little girl came up to me and gave me a hug on her way out the door.

She looked up at me and said so matter-of-fact, "I've been thinking this all day, and I just HAD to tell you this...you look JUST like a rock star and I LOVE it! My teacher is a rock star."

... thank you? :)

With Love,

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I love fall!!

I really, really do! I love when the air turns crisp and cool. I love digging to the back of my closet for my jackets and long-sleeves. I love wearing black tights and closed toed shoes. I love the smells of apples and cinnamon, of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and warm soup. I love the beautiful trees that turn the mountains red, orange and yellow. I love snuggling up in a blanket with a warm cup of hot chocolate. I love Halloween and Thanksgiving and all the fun things that come with each holiday. Every year, I forget and it surprises me again how much I really do love fall! :)

With Love,

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