Giveaway!

So, one of my favorite sites is kevinandamanda.com and Amanda is doing one of her famous giveaways. Check it out, I promise you will love her site! I love the fonts!! :)

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/other/giveaway-time.html

Hodge Podge Tomato Soup

So, I was thinking about what to make for lunch today and I had a thought. I know, shocker, I had a thought! See, I have all these tomatoes that I got from my friend Candy's garden that I need to use up before they go bad. So, I decided to make some Tomato Soup. See the problem with making things from a recipe is sometimes you don't always have all the ingredients. So, being broke I REALLY did not want to go to the store. So I made up my own recipe! Here's what I made:

4 large tomatoes, peeled (I hate skin)

2 tablespoons of garlic, minced

2-3 tablespoons dried savory herbs (or just use whatever you have)

2 cups (or so, i didn't really measure) of milk

1/2 cup of water

1 can of cream of potato soup (undiluted)

1 teaspoon of cinnamon (yes, cinnamon)

Cut up tomatoes into small chunks. Put all ingredients into a saucepan. Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Turn down heat to medium and cook for approx. 10 minutes.

Now this next part is optional, but I loved it. In a small bowl mix together a cup of biscuit mix and 1/4 approx (again, I don't measure stuff when I make it up) water or milk. Drop spoonfuls of biscuit batter into the soup (before you let the soup cook for 10 minutes). Yummy dumplings! I'm all about tomato soup and dumplings, it is yum!

And that's it. You're done and enjoy. I forgot to take a picture because I was so excited to eat it. Did I mention I was hungry and hadn't had lunch??

Trick or Treat!

These are the pics from my work today. A bunch of us dressed up for Halloween, I was actually surprised by the number of people that actually did dress up! It was kind of a crazy, fun day. People brought their kids in to go trick or treating at our desks. Man those kids made out like bandits!!

Cute Pics!

I had to share these cute pics I took of Jasper recently.
I love that his toy tiger is almost as big as he is!!

Here's a picture of the hat I finished last night. I think it turned out pretty cute! I especially love the flower! And it didn't take that long to make! :)

Projects

Occassionally I get crafty. This week is one of those weeks, so I decided to shar what I've made. Here are some pictures of things I made this week. The first is a crocheted newborn beanie that I made for my co-worker who is about to have a baby. The other picutre is some flower clips I made. I love flower clips, I wear them in my hair almost every day! :)

The Freak Honey Incident

A few weeks ago, I did something really stupid! I was trying to warm up some honey so that I could get it out of the little plastic bottle, so I plopped it into the microwave for 30 seconds. Not a good idea!! Apparently, sugar gets real hot, real quick! When I pulled it out, it started shooting out of the plastic bottle right onto my arm. Let me just tell you, that hot honey hurts like the dickens! I put my arm under cold water, but it wasn't working. It was so bad I was crying. So I decided to run down to the InstaCare around the corner. They put some burn ointment on my arm and wrapped it up. Of course, since my body was "compromised" I had to have a tetanus shot. So, I got some pain meds and some bacitracin (topical antibiotics) and went home to die. I was able to make it to work the next day (barely) which I only did because some of my coworkers were on vacation. Luckily, I was able to leave early. I felt pretty stupid when I had to relate the circumstances of my burns (two second degree burns by the way). As one of my coworkers put it, "so basically the honey bear crapped all over you." Yes, yes it did.

Here's one of my burns. The other is on the inside of my arm, right above my elbow. Ouch!

She's Here!

My new little niece!

Addilyn Frisby

Born 08-26-09

6 lbs 6 oz

Campin' Out

This weekend was the branch campout. Friday night we went up to Kamas (which is east of Park City) to the stake campgrounds. We had a lot of fun. I got to meet some people in the branch that I hadn't met yet, so it was good that I went. Especially now that I'm the Sunday School Secretary and have to take the roll! :) All in all, there were about 25 of us which is a decent turnout. We roasted some yummy hot dogs and hamburgers on the campfire and of course S'Mores!! We played games and had a devotional around the campfire. Thankfully, I had my mom send me my sleeping bag. It wasn't too cold, although it was 30 degrees cooler up there than in the Salt Lake Valley. I love camping but the ground was pretty hard. I was pretty sore when I woke up. Next time I go camping, I'm bringing a mattress!

Backgrounds

I spent a couple of hours last night making a blog background last night. I think it's pretty cute for my first (officially anyway) background. I have a photobucket album where you can see all (two) of my backgrounds (see the sidebar). I'm getting quite addicted creating backgrounds, so you might see more soon! :)

Anybody want a peanut?

For FHE on Monday, we watched a movie outside. It was pretty fun, except I was freezing! We watched The Princess Bride. We've been doing a lot of fun activities lately. This weekend we are going camping up in Kamas. I went last year and it was a lot of fun. This time I made sure to get a sleeping bag so I could stay the night! Now, if only I could find a tent! :)

I've been experimenting with creating my own blog backgrounds. The one up right now is a practice, I wanted to make sure it would work before I spent too much time and energy on it! So, you may see a few different ones and if you like any or want me to make you one, let me know. It's not too difficult to upload it onto your blog, but you have to change the actual code instead of adding a gadget. So it's a little different.

Oh, and I guess I should also mention that I got a calling on Sunday. If you haven't hear, I'm the new Sunday School Secretary. I'll pretty much be just taking the roll. I know, I know, such a hard job! I told my branch president that I didn't want a teaching job or Relief Society President, so I'm pretty happy.

Horray for fonts!

Check out the new fonts on my blog! I found a tutorial on how to change fonts on blogger, so I tried it. It's not difficult, just a lot of steps. I thought I'd share the knowledge since I know there are other people out there who don't like the boring standard fonts.

They also have really cute fonts that you can download and the best part is, it's free! I love free!

http://www.kevinandamanda.com/whatsnew/tutorials/how-to-use-a-cute-font-for-your-blogger-post-titles.html

This is the Place

Last night for FHE our branch did a service project up at This is the Place park. I'd never been up there, but it's pretty cool. They have lots of old buildings up there that have either been relocated or are replicas. For our service project, we were building a granite pathway to the Halfway House. Apparently, this house was the halfway point between Salt Lake and Provo. Travelers could stop here for food and lodging before continuing on their trip. The granite was interesting. It was from the quarry that was used to build the conference center. The pieces of granite were not even, so it took a lot of digging to get them level. Hopefully we did a good job so that they won't dig them up (they threatened to do so if it was wrong)!

Aftewards we went up to the original marker. It was kind of cool to be standing where Brigham Young and the rest of the pioneers were when they entered the valley. It has a great view! Someone mentioned that they wondered what Brigham saw when he was shown the valley and it got me thinking. Do you think he saw it in our day or when there was nothing? Food for thought. This gave me a whole new appreciation for the pioneers!


Stephanie and Barry

Carolyn and Tiffany

The Halfway House

Pat's BBQ

Ok, so this is my new favorite place! If you like meat, then this is the place to go. It's SO good! But be forewarned that there is nothing green there!! Well except for the mustard greens (yuck).

http://patsbbq.com

Gettin' Jiggy With It

I went to the Brigham Young Historic Park last night for a free concert by a Celtic band called Walking Erin. They also had some dancers doing some jigs (hence the reference to "jiggy" - haha I'm so clever). It was pretty good, however we couldn't really see where we were sitting. Andrea and I sat on a blanket in the grass and just listened to the music. It was very relaxing, so relaxing that I almost fell asleep! Although, I was pretty tired to begin with! Jasper woke me up at 4:30 in the morning so he could go out and then he wouldn't let me go back to sleep! Every time I tried to, he would growl at me! What a rude little pup!

http://www.cynthiadouglass.com/band.html

Pioneers and Bees

On Pioneer Day I went with some friends to the Bees Game. Of course, the other team didn't show up so we didn't get to see the Bees play. Instead, they had a Home Run Derby and then some other high school age teams played. It was interesting. The best part was just hanging out with my friends, I hadn't seen them in awhile. And of course the fireworks were fun to watch. We also won a free frosty for doing the chicken dance, oh yeah I know you're all jealous! :) I was able to take a couple of pics on my phone, they're not the greatest but they'll do!

Snoozin'

I woke up this morning to find Jasper sprawled out on my bed. He was cuddled up next to my back with his head on a pillow and sleeping pretty soundly (he was also partially on me). I thought it was kind of funny. I could barely move because of where he was! Silly little boy.

Opportunities

From time to time we will get word from our HR dept that we have job openings. Well, today I decided to apply for one of these openings. I've been in one of those stressful moods lately due to financial reasons, so I felt I should either look for a second job or apply for a higher paying position in my company. Obviously, the later is the most appealing! Wish me luck!!

Painting

I've been painting a lot lately and I have to say, I really hate it! I'm trying to create a faux tile backsplash which is coming along slowly. I have to find better tape to use because the blue painter's tape keeps peeling off the paint! Here's what I've started so everyone can see (sorry, the pictures were taken on my cell phone, so they're not great).

Then I decided I was going to paint one wall in my kitchen/dining room a dark red. I finally finished that last night (horray!). My kitchen's coming along pretty good, I'm liking it more and more. Of course, I'll be happier once the tile part gets done, it's very time consuming! :)

Help! What should I do?

Ok, I think I need to do something to my kitchen. I love my new countertops, but something seems "off." Should I paint my cabinets? Maybe an Ivory White? Should I do a tile backsplash? What color would look good?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!! :)

Been awhile.....

I know, I know. I have been a huge slacker when it comes to blogging these days. I've been pretty busy now that I have a new job. I've been working since the end of February. It was about time that I found a job. There wasn't much out there, but I was lucky. In fact I was the only one they interviewed for this position. I originally interviewed for another position, but it was filled internally. They called me back to interview for the newly opened position and I was offered it the next day.

I really like what I'm doing now, I work with retirement plans for teachers in Southern California. Basically I do a lot of processing and I also answer calls from participants. It's great, I love the people I'm working with. It's like night and day from my last job. I almost forgot what it felt like to be appreciated and to work as a team.

Here's a picture of my team! This was Bailey's farewell luncheon (Bailey is sitting next to me). She's in the MTC now and will be headed to Rome, Italy in a few weeks. So sad.....we all miss her! (I hate this pic of me by the way, yech!)

Jasper has gotten pretty big, well big for him anyway! He's a whole 9 pounds! He thinks he's so tough. He has started barking a lot, which is not so good for my neighbors. It's also not very good for me when he starts up at 11:30 or midnight, so he got a bark collar last week. He hates it, but he needs to learn that it's not ok to bark at every single thing. We live right next to the back door of our building and when ever someone goes in or out, he freaks! He's getting better though. He's only had to be shocked 6 times. Oh course, I feel terrible about it Here's some recent pics of him....my cute little baby dog!

There's more going on, but I'm getting kind of tired. I'll try to be better at posting, but no promises!

Nite all....