Youve Had a Birthday Shout Hooray!!!!

Matthew turned 27 on Tuesday! To celebrate we headed north to Salt Lake. We saw the Joseph Smith movie for the first time, walked around temple square, and visited our favorite Thai restaurant! Then we came home to Caramel Pumpkin Gingersnap Cheesecake and presents! I am so lucky to be married to such a fun, energetic, goofy, loving, handsome, 27 year old man! He will be a great father (when the time comes) and already is an amazing husband!!!

Here he is with some of his presents (jacket, shoes and running water bottle)

But most importantly, his favorite present from his parents, a flash for his camera!!!!

Turkey for Me, Turkey for You, Lets Eat Turkey in my Big Brown Shoe

This year Matthew and I decided to stay home for Thanksgiving and have our own turkey dinner. We shared it with my best friend from high school, Colette, and her family.

There was a lot of homemade french toast for breakfast...

a lot of this by the men....

a lot of this by the women...a lot of this for dinner...
and a lot of this for dessert!

We love leftovers and loved spending time with friends and family.

Hike up Dry Canyon

On the last day before the stormy weather hit Utah, Matthew and I were able to hike up dry canyon. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the scenery and saying goodbye to fall.

Here are a couple pictures of our day.

Move to Utah!

We packed our bags and moved to Utah! Matthew and I both quit our jobs and headed out to the Beehive state to start a new journey. Matthew is getting started in marketing, and I have been working as a floral designer. We look forward to the many adventures that will come our way and have already loved being close to family.

To say goodbye we went to the Academy of Science in San Francisco and enjoyed the beauty that surrounds Lafayette.

Parable of the Talents

Im sure most of you have heard of the parable of talents. In case you haven't... here it is...

"And unto one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two, but he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more."

If anyone typifies this parable of the talents, it is Victoria McDaniel. (Yes I have written a blog about her before, she is that good!) I am convinced that she started off with twenty talents, only to multiply them even further. Her latest example is a Christmas cd that she has composed and produced. If there is anyone looking for original and uplifting compositions, amazing vocals, a great Christmas gift, or simply a dose of Christmas cheer, click here.

Because you cant listen to a blog on your ipod, Im grateful to know that Victoria has made these songs available for purchase. Dont miss out, there is only a limited amount of cds. Once they're gone, they're gone!

Sunday Stroll

Here are a couple pics from our most recent Sunday stroll. Enjoy!

Grapes of Wrath

You wouldnt think cutting grapes could be dangerous... however I'm here to prove you wrong. I know a lot of people dont like gorey pictures, but you should be grateful I am showing the post stitches. One good thing that comes from having a gimp finger is that your husband feels bad for you and does the dishes! Also, because I managed to slice my index finger, my typing is extremely slow which means this blog will be short. Lets hope for a quick recovery so I can get back to blogging!

Small Victories

Corinne and I like to watch movies. Every now and again we will go to the local supermarket and check out a movie from Redbox. The concept behind Redbox is simple, you look through the selection of available movies within what looks like a vending machine, choose the movie or movies you want to watch, and pay one dollar to rent a movie. In theory this is how it works, but the reality is far different. Every time we go to rent a movie from Redbox I think to myself “I am so smart, I only pay $1 for a movie that people at Blockbuster are paying $5 dollars for.” The trick is that I get charged $1 for every day (24 hours) I have the movie rented out for. So even though I tell myself I am paying only $1, we always end up taking at least three days to return the movie, and subsequently end up paying more than that $1.

That is what made this past weekend so amazing. We finally did it; we finally returned a movie within 24 hours of renting it. It only took a good thirty plus tries, but we did it. The movie we ended up watching was Yes Man! I intentionally choose not to see this movie in the theatre because the concept behind it reminded me to much of another Jim Carey movie Liar Liar. (With movie production companies making sequels to movies I thought were bad the first time; i.e., Transformers, Fast and the Furious, the Hulk, I thought it was my duty as a consumer to not support such reckless production of unoriginal movies aimed to appease the mass market.) With a lack of alternative movies to rent from Redbox, I finally succumbed to the inevitable and rented it. After watching the movie I would give it a solid B. I see it this way, the movie, while funny, was unoriginal and uninspiring. Jim Carey is getting old, and to see him dating a girl twenty years younger than himself just seems a little to unrealistic and creepy for me. On the plus side, it had Jim Carey in it. As crazy and bizarre as he is in his movies, he has a way of making the most unnatural behavior seem within the bounds of reality. His attractive co-star Zooey Deschanel, also in 500 Days of Summer, a movie I would give an A, did a great job. Her voice was great as usual, a notable characteristic of every movie I have seen her in, and she continued to play a character that I would consider somewhere in-between indie and hipster. All in all, I would say it was a dollar well spent.

Flaaaava Flaaaaav!

I read a lot of food blogs to inspire me to cook. I love cooking, but dont always know what to make. I tell Matthew to pretend like he is in a restaurant and to order anything he wants, but it doesnt always work. Which means, I end up making the same things over and over again. One of my staples has become homemade pizza. Usually its BBQ chicken pizza topped with cilantro and red onions. Lately I havent even wanted to cook the chicken, so tonight it was pepperoni. Last week I made a great vegetarian pizza topped with zuchini, squash, tomatoes, mushrooms, and feta cheese. I wish I had taken a picture, it was beautiful!

I have included the dough recipe below in case you want it to become one of your staples as well. However, I am needing some more inspiration for my toppings. So.... what's your flava... tell me whats your flava?

P.S. Matthew wont eat any other pizza, and he doesnt like CPK after having homemade.

1 c warm water
1 T yeast

2 1/2 c flour

1 t salt

1 t sugar

2 T oil

Mix 1 c water and yeast together. Let sit for 5 min while mixing remaining ingredients. Combine yeast mixture with flour mixture and let sit for 10 min. (I am usually too impatient to let it sit, but it turns out better if you do.) Roll out, add your toppings and cook for 20 min at 425.

Families are Forever

Nick came home from his mission!!!!! To celebrate, the whole family was able to get together. My mom couldnt have been happier, and of course... needed to have family photos taken. We went to Irvine Park and had a photo shoot. These are some taken with our camera. The rest of the week was spent going wakeboarding, to the beach, to the temple, to Billabong, making a cool Thomas the train cake, and eating good food. We are so proud of you Nickypoo! In love Nixon model The Women

Cute Couple

Hot

Nanna and Poppa

Isnt he adorable?!

Such Handsome Men