Catch up

Blogging just hasn't been on my mind lately, but I have been keeping up with all of yours!  Here's an update...

Jen - You need to tell me how you lose all the baby weight so fast, you're seriously a twig and you JUST had Greyson. You know, so I can prepare for when Ry and I have a baby.

I got into UMass Boston for grad school!  I'll be starting this fall for my masters in special education.  Can't wait to be back in school (never thought I'd say that).

I've been watching the Holiday 1-3 times a week.  I do this thing and it's bad, but take Christmas music for example.  I begin listening to it in like October, and come December, I'm sick of it.  I don't want to do that with the Holiday, but I seriously cannot stop.  I did this before Ryan and I were married with How the Grinch Stole Christmas and I couldn't stand watching it for a good year or so.

I got a really bad haircut and it's growing out finally.  I'm also taking prenatal vitamins to try to make it grow faster.  Ugh it's like super 1990's layered.  I asked for half an inch off, and she cut 4 (plus layers) off! I need to find a good hair person.

Last night was Willa's wedding!  I'll post some pics below (there are a ton to chose from.  It was definitely bitter sweet, and I was constantly looking for Bev and Maddie to make sure they were okay, even though they both had their awesome guys there to comfort them.  Willa was just glowing, and she looked beautiful.  I'm very happy for Willa and Mike! And my mom did all the flowers, bless her heart, and they turned out beautiful.

Ya, ya..

I'll blog sometime this week, I promise..

And I'll update my background.  I think I was mid-change and stopped, hence the ugly colors haha

I'll be back!

Summer in February

You know, I'd like to consider myself a giving person.  I put thought and consideration into everything I give, especially when I give to people I love.  For this Valentine's Day, I wanted to give Ryan something that would last longer than a day, unlike a box of chocolates or anything edible.  I thought long and hard about what to get him.

And so, I gave him my cold.

He usually likes things I give him.  I was shocked to see how disappointed he was when he got this from me!

Oops  :)

But honestly, I have felt absolutely terrible that I got him sick.  My cold lasted from Thursday until Tuesday, causing me to use two of my sick days at work!  If Ryan's cold lasts as long as mine did, he should be through with it on... hmmm... Sunday.

For Valentine's Day, I made him his FAVORITE dinner: Southwestern Egg Rolls with Chipotle Dipping Sauce, and I bought him a slice of Chocolate Nightmare cake from a little Italian bakery down the road.

However, I still didn't feel like I had made up for the fact that I gave him my cold!  So tonight, I went to the store and bought ingredients for strawberry shortcake, a summer favorite!  My hopes behind making strawberry shortcake are that his body will get excited for warm weather and kick this cold virus's butt!

Ryan's all about presentation, so I made sure it looked like it was served from a 5-star restaurant before I gave it to him.  It looked so yummy I HAD to take pictures!

Pasta Creation

I really enjoy being in the kitchen.  Unfortunately, working three jobs does not allow a lot of time during the week for me to cook.  Ryan has luckily learned how to make grilled burritos from his father on our panini maker, and he is also successful at making himself macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and reheating leftovers.

That being said, Sundays are my time to cook and experiment in the kitchen.  Above all, I love experimenting with pastas.  Pasta can be a great blank canvas to have fun with.  Yesterday, Ryan and I were planning to head downtown for the evening, but needed some lunch quick before we left.  So, I threw together a dish with what I had.

And it turned out delicious.  Ryan said that it tasted like something you'd get in a restaurant (probably because I usually don't cook with butter!), and I have to agree that this recipe is pretty fantastic.

Today, I recreated the dish but made it so I had leftovers for the week.  I also wrote down how I made it so I could share it with all of you!

Ingredients:

1 lb. pasta (I prefer shells or rigatoni, but you can use whatever)
4-5 Tbsp butter (depending on how much you'd like to use)
4-6 cloves garlic, minced (depending on how much you like garlic! I like garlic, so I used 6)
Salt and pepper
18-24 oz of your favorite tomato sauce (The only sauce I ever use is Francesco Rinaldi's Sweet and Tasty Tomato)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan and Romano cheese
1/8 cup red wine (you can add more or less of this, depending on your preference)

Directions:

Cook pasta as directed on the package in salted water.

While the pasta is cooking, melt butter over low-medium heat in a large heavy-bottom skillet.  Once butter is melted, add garlic.  Watch garlic carefully; do not let it brown.  If necessary, turn head down a bit.  While garlic is cooking, add salt and pepper to season.  Cook garlic until it is tender.

Add in tomato sauce.  Stir until fully mixed with butter and garlic.  Add cheese and wine, stirring to blend it all together.

Strain water from cooked pasta in a colander.  Rinse pasta briefly with cold water.  Add pasta to tomato mixture.  Toss to coat.  Add additional pepper to season.

I used ziti today when I made it, only because that was the only pasta I had in the house, and I do not recommend using ziti.  Use a pasta that has the grooves in it.  That allows the sauce to stick to the pasta.  Today, my noodles were too slippery because ziti doesn't have lines on it to make the sauce stick.  Yesterday I used medium shells when I made it, and it was fabulous!

If any of you make this, please let me know how you like it so I can make any adjustment necessary to the recipe!

Missing things

Most of whoever is reading this has probably heard me say at one point, "I can't wait to live in New England again," during the 3 years we lived in Utah.  But, now that I'm here, I find myself missing Utah more than I thought I would.

I love our condo.  Luckily we still own it, but I miss living in it.  I miss walking up the three flights of stairs.  I miss the smell of our condo (I thought it smelled good... but if it had a weird smell that I didn't know, don't tell me).  I miss the jetted bath tubs!  And the central air conditioning.  And the granite counter tops.  And the vaulted ceilings, and the ceiling fans, and having a washer and dryer.  I know I'll have a house that has all that some day, but I still miss it all.  And I miss my Utah friends.  I know we're all still close, but we're all so far away... from Los Angeles to Dallas to Salt Lake to Boston.  That's a lot of miles to travel.

I miss the park in Orem behind Orem High School that I'd run in, and go to play with Jen and Jersey while Rob and Ryan would play tennis.  Jen.. remember that crazy thunder storm that came while Rob and Ryan were playing that summer evening?  And the skies suddenly turned black?  That was awesome.

I think I miss the memories most of all.

Going to San Diego and Las Vegas with everyone

Yoga and Zumba Thursday nights and Saturday mornings with Jen

Staying up till 3 a.m. with Jed and Jess during our sleepovers

"Buddy stories"

Jersey's cuteness

The excitement of family visiting from Connecticut

Park City outlets on Black Friday

How the sky looks over the mountains when it storms in the summer

One word: Bailey

Christmas parties with the friends

Maybe the reason I miss all of this is because it is where Ryan and I started our lives together.  And don't get me wrong; I love Boston.  And I'll miss Boston one day.

But right now, I'm missing Utah.

Sigh.

Oh, and guess what..  I've stopped biting my nails!  I know I say this every 5 months or so, and then go back to biting, but I'm hoping this time it's for good!  Thought I'd throw that in there :)

So sweet!

When you make plans, God laughs

"When you make plans, God laughs."

Bev told me that about a month ago during one of our walks along the beach.

Am I crazy for having a bucket list of things I want to accomplish before I have my first child?  I mean, seriously, am I nuts for actually having an excel document with each year planned out: when we'll buy a new car, when we'll get a house, when we'll start trying to have kids, and so on?

Every time I think about my "parenthood bucket list", does God look down on me and laugh?  Kind of like He's saying, "Ha, that's what YOU think...".

Oh, no.

Tips, please.

This post is really just for those who have been to Europe before.

We are WICKED excited to announce that we are starting to plan a trip to Europe with two of our best friends, Jed and Jess!  Here's what we have so far... We would like to stay for a minimum of 2 weeks, and we would like to do one of two trips: France, England, Scotland, Ireland, all those places up there, OR Italy, Spain, Greece, all those places down there.

After FaceTiming tonight with Jed and Jess, we threw around some really great ideas, but still don't know where we want to go.

With that said, we need advice.

Should we devote a whole 2 weeks to just one or two countries? If we do Italy, should we do the entire trip in Italy?  Hostiles or hotels? European cruise or no? And so on.

To anyone who has been to Europe before, what tips can you give us? And obviously, we will research beyond the advice.  But advice will give us a good place to start.

A New Era?

Oh. My. Gosh. How have I lived for so long without a Mac?

My wonderful husband has paid attention to my griping about my HP laptop that I hate so so SO much, and for Christmas he got me a MacBook Pro.  Knowing that I don't have to ever (except for when I'm at work or at my parents' house) use a PC again is incredibly comforting.

Never ever again do I plan on owning anything but Apple computers.

Apple, I love you.