A little of this, a little of that.

First of all, I hate adding pictures to this blog because it takes so blasted long!! So I always put off posting when it involves pictures. However, I think blogs are a little more interesting with pictures, so I suffer through it.

These first pictures are definitely random. This first one is of the perfect Breakfast-For-Dinner meal: Lil' Smokies, Amazing Potatoes, and German Apple Pancakes! My pancake was almost gone when I took the picture...

This is the German Apple Pancake. It was so good!

Randy and I are poor, and therefore come up with fun activities to do, such as roasting dough boys on the stove! If you've never made a dough boy, just buy a Pillsbury biscuit thing in the refrigerated section, roast it on the end of a large dowel, and then add pie filling and whipped cream when it's done! They're wonderfully delicious. They are supposed to be done over a camp fire, but hey, we improvised.

This next group of pictures is from a recent fishing trip at Spencer's parent's cabin at Strawberry Reservoir. Spencer, Kristen, and Aiden...

Spencer, showing off his amazing catch. The ONLY catch of the day.

Me, chilling, without my husband :( Randy couldn't come up until later in the day. I tried singing to the fish, coaxing them onto my hook, but alas. We ended up going night fishing together, but it was so miserably cold that I made him go home with me.

My dad was obsessed with trying to catch crawdads, and look, they got at least 20 in the trap they put out! They have very little meat on them, but were still pretty good. This is when they were alive... and then they were boiled. Poor things.

And that's that!

Dinner this Week

Monday: Chicken Tetrazzini

Tuesday: Chili Chip Casserole

Wednesday: leftovers or Potato Soup if I feel all energized

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner

Friday: Chicken and Dumplings!

I am most excited to try and make chicken and dumplings this week. They look sooo good! I think it will be a great way to start off October :) Can you believe it? It will be October THIS week! Oh my, time flies. I hope everyone has a good week!

State Fair!

We forgot our camera, like always. We went to the State Fair and had a blast! I have never been before, so it was really fun for Randy and I to go. We saw the sheep, goats, cows, pigs, pigeons, and bunnies. I have never seen a pig that big in my life... We walked around and went on the Big Yellow Slide (so fun!) and saw the butter sculpture. Jamie was absolutely scared of the animals there. She wouldn't touch a cow, or a sheep.

Towards the end, we went into the agriculture part of the fair, and we totally should have entered something! They had giant zucchini, pumpkins, tomatoes, and best of show everything. I am totally entering something next year. Amy and Travis and their kids came along, and we all had a good time. The fair is also the BEST place to buy Watkins Vanilla. If you have never tried this vanilla, you'd better run to the fair and buy some! It makes everything better. Seriously.

Watkins Vanilla.

Next time, I will remember my camera!

Fall

I cannot believe that we are already in September!! This past month has brought a lot of change: change in the weather, the trees, and jobs for both Randy and me! Randy is now working part-time for the LDS church designing training materials for the New Family Search, and he LOVES it. Seriously! He is so excited and I am so excited for him :) I started my new job at AMES, and it is one of the best jobs I have ever had. I love my schedule, and working with the students is really fun (for the most part). I knew I was going to have some tough kids, as I'm working with Special Ed and the lowest math class, but it's really rewarding.

I had my birthday last week, and Randy was sweet and bought a calla lily for me, and gave me an awesome lego star-wars game that didn't work (that's okay sweetheart!) and a picture for us to hang on our wall. He is the best. I got some cute presents from a girl that I work with, and my Aunt Nancy decorated my desk :)

We threw a surprise birthday party for my dad's 60th birthday, and it was so much fun! He was so surprised! I went through my parent's house searching for some of my dad's old things to put on display, and my brother-in-law created a fun DVD with pictures of my dad and his family. I hope he loved it!

Other than that, I haven't really been up to much. Oh! I created a menu for the next two weeks. If you need any ideas for cheap dinners, here's what we ate this week, and will be eating in the future:

Tuesday: Burritos

Wednesday: Spaghetti

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner

Friday: Bacon Zucchini Lasagna

Monday: Chicken Alfredo

Tuesday: Teriyaki Burgers

Wednesday: Leftovers or fend for yourself

Thursday: Breakfast for Dinner

Friday: BBQ meatballs

We don't include Saturdays or Sundays because we never know where we'll be. I also decided that I will be trying a new recipe every Friday. Well, goodbye for now!

My Life, My Love, My Clorox?

An update on my life to date:

First of all, Clorox wipes are my life. I use them on the counters, sinks, and table at least 3 times a week, and sometimes on a daily basis.

Okay, on to other topics. Randy will begin driving his good ol' bus soon, but will be able to continue working part time for at least one of the many companies he has been working with for these past months. I will soon be done, finished forever, at the financial aid office. It's been a good job, but I am soo ready to be done. Then I get to work with the special ed department and help high school kids with math! I'm pretty sure that I'm just proving to myself that math really wasn't the bane of my existence. I even took a couple of tests and did really well! So I'm glad I haven't forgotten everything that I ever learned in that department. It will be nice to have our schedules match up a bit more, and be able to spend more time with each other at night.

I just finished Jane Eyre, and I LOVED IT! For those of you who haven't read it, please do. If you have a hard time getting into it, keep reading! For your own sake! I seriously could not put it down! The language is absolutely beautiful, the plot is fantastic, and I am a hopeless romantic. I also finished reading the Shadow Children series, which was also great! Very interesting read about the future government and how having more than two children is illegal. Told from the point of a third child. Very good. Any other suggestions? What do you enjoy reading most?

One last very important update- I got a fishing license! A One-Year-Fishing-License, meaning I have to go every day! Okay, not every day, but we already went once, and I plan on going again! The last time we went, we didn't have very much time, so the only thing I caught was a nice stick. My dad caught sunglasses, and my brother caught two fish. Oh, and we tried to save a bat's life, too. I saw a bat swinging in a tree on a fishing line that someone had gotten stuck up there. The hook was attached to its head, but we couldn't get close enough to try to get the hook out. We ended up cutting the line, and the bat flew away. Don't bats have rabies??

Alright, that's it for now. Clorox wipes are still amazing. Try them.

Disneyland Trip Pt. 1

We got back about a week ago from Disneyland, and I decided I'd better blog about it right away before I lose any motivation! We had such a good time. We left on a Friday night and stayed in St. George, and left at 5:30 the next morning to Grandma and Grandpa Hackett's house. We got there around noon, and got to spend some quality time with them. My grandma asked me to sing in church the next day, even though I didn't bring any music, and arranged everything before I could say no. She then got really sick and ended up in the hospital, and missed church. Part of her intestine was blocked, so she had to have a surgery, but is doing much better now. We then went to a hotel on Monday and spent the rest of the week at Disneyland and the beach. I warn you- there are lots of pictures, which is why there are two parts to this post!

Day 1- okay, it's amazing how much faster Randy walks at Disneyland! He was zooming all over the place, and never seemed to get tired.

The tram is my favorite.

The Matterhorn!! Love it!!

Mom and Lizzie on the tea cups.

Me and Randy on the tea cups.

Look how strong I am!

Look how strong Randy is!

We went to Minnie's house, and she was gracious enough to let us take a picture with her. What a nice mouse.

Mickey let us take a picture too, but got mad when we slouched. I think he was offended because we thought he was short.

On the Jungle Cruise with the best tour guide ever! Really, he did a great job. Very into character, and weird, and we liked him.

Randy is giving me mouse ears, but covered his face. I included this picture because Kristen and Spencer were with us.

Disneyland Trip Pt. 2

On Mickey's Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel). The first time we went on it, we went on a non-moving car. That's why I'm not crying in this picture.

Lookin' mighty fine in our Bug's Life glasses.

Jamie was soooo excited to go on Soarin' Over California! It was probably her favorite ride- but then they wouldn't let her go on it again because she was "too short". So how did she get on it the first time when they measured her three times???

We can't wait to go Soarin'!

Randy took this awesome picture of Mickey's Fun Wheel in California Adventure. Go see World of Color- it's fantastic!

We love this ride :) Faces=priceless. Randy might start crying.

Lizzie and I on her favorite ride- King Tritan's Carousel.

Davis fam, Hackett fam, and Hoffman fam. The lady that took our picture was named Kristen, and I yelled for my sister Kristen, and she responded by taking a picture :)

Travis? or Dad? in the water with Randy at Huntington Beach. I'm so glad Randy had people to go and be in the water with! I don't like to go too far out.

Ethan- sporting his sandy diaper bum.

Awkward beach picture, but we like it.

Randy, riding on the old fire truck on Main Street :) Yeah, he's cool.

Blue Bayou

Oh. My. Gosh. BEST salmon I have EVER had in my life! We ate at the Blue Bayou (in celebration of our Nine Monthiversary, but really, we just wanted to eat there) and it was amazing! It was the most expensive meal we've ever had, but it was so worth it.

This place was so cool! It is in California Adventure, and it's called Off the Page. They had all sorts of fun things to do- like learning how to draw like animators, talking with Crush the turtle, and voicing over animation. So fun!! It was a new discovery for us, and we will definitely go back there.

Here we are, sporting our awesome "Honorary J.R. Firefighters" stickers :)