Freezer Meals

The last month or so has been a month of preserving. I kind of feel like a chipmunk storing for the long winter to come. I have canned salsa, marinara sauce, peaches, jams, I froze tomatoes ( to exhausted to use them). On Saturday I got together with Chalet and we did freezer meals. This idea is genius. We decided to start small because we had no idea what we were in for. We each chose 4 meals. We didn't really double anything because we both feed ourselves and our husbands so we figured if we split each recipe that would be enough for 4 people. Chalet's choices were: baked spaghetti, cream cheese chicken, meatloaf, and she prepared chicken tortillas soup the night before. My meals were: cheesy spaghetti bake, traditional lasagna, chicken pot pie, beef enchiladas. We also cooked ground beef in onions so we would have some on hand. I went to Chalet's at 8:15 am and walked out by 12:30. Huge success and we had a great time. We each went home with about 12 meals because we froze the enchiladas on a cookie sheet with no sauce then put them in freezer bags and froze the sauce separately, then we will take how many enchiladas we want and put the sauce on top and done. The chicken pot pie made a lot of filling so we each go an extra filling, just add crust. When I cook meals at home I have been cooking only half of the recipe and putting the other half in the freezer. Most meals are designed for 4-6 servings and Chris dislikes leftovers so this works great. We will do this again.

Annual Lava Float

Every year Chris and I go to Lava Hot Spings to float the river and this year my mom, Chelsey and Cindrie came too. We camped for two nights, at times camping was not enjoyable but we made the best of it. We went during the week so it wasn't very busy compared to weekends. The water was higher this year and we suffered injuries and losses. Everyone got dumped at least once really good except Cindrie, which is ok. (She has been injured previously with my Dad so he will never do again, but she was brave and had a good time.) Mom scraped her back real good on the lava rocks when she went over backward, Chelsey got dumped and hit a rock real hard and scared her, I fell off on the easy part but got caught in the current and thought for sure I would be making a trip to the ER but turned out fine, Chris on the other hand came out unharmed but his glasses will forever remain at the bottom of the river. Needless, to say that was an expensive trip. Great times and we'll be back next year. The pictures are Chris, Mom and Cindrie.

4th of July

Chris had Friday- Sunday off with me for once. Friday consisted of the never ending yard work and gardening. I have my first crop of peas ready to eat and ate my first tomato. We are excited about our garden this year. I plan on learning how can this fall . So we are currently weed free thanks to Preen (weed preventer). We went and bought the first Transformers movie cause Chris slept through it the first time we watched, unbelievable. He loved it. I caught a glimpse of what he was like as a boy for the first time. (this happened a few times this weekend) Then on the 4th we went a watched the 2 nd Transformers at the theatre this is the first movie we have gone to since we moved to Cache Valley 3 years ago! Great show, absolutely would not take any children under the age of 18 due to language :(



Chris went and got some fireworks and yes they were the wussy safe and sane because we have lots of dry grass around and I don't want to be responsible for fires. I am pretty sure the one he is holding isn't supposed to be held while going off. The pyro came out in him.

Bridal Shower

This is Chantae, the bride. She was pretty nervous about what she was in for. We were actually pretty nice to her.

The funnest thing we did was to divide into four groups and each group got 4 rolls of toilet paper and they had to make a wedding dress.

We were pretty impressed about how well they did. It was a pretty big pile of TP when we took it off.

These are the cupcakes that nearly caused me to have a mental breakdown. I baked them two days before and the cake mixes weren't cooperating (lesson learned was always use Betty Crocker cake mix). Our local grocery store sold cupcake holders so I could transport them safely, which saved my life. Then the night before the shower I frosted them. My parents don't have AC and their house was crazy hot and my frosting was melting faster than Chelsey and I could get it on. We stopped and waited until about 10 pm to finish. However, I think they turned out so cute...all 60 of them!

The bridal shower turned out to be a success but I don't think I will ever volunteer to do another one. Thanks Julia for your help.
I forgot my camera for her wedding but it turned out perfect and we had a great time sharing the experience with them. Congratulations Kyle and Chantae!!!

I'm Can't believe I did It.

My little sister is getting married in a couple of weeks and her maid of honor and I are throwing her a bridal shower. Come to find out when I finally got her invitation list she has 50 people on it! Well, needless to say that many people sure changed my entire plan. No more handmade cards, party favors and really great punch (requires a lot of expensive ingredients). So I had to rethink things. First was invitations, to send that many invites was going to cost me around $80 at least. Then I thought if I could do a post card that would cut postage in half, Yeah! Well I couldn't find a post style anywhere unless I had them special made and then my price went back up so I thought well why can't I make one. So I don't know how to digital scrapbook even though I have been wanting to start. So I downloaded the program, purchased a few items and 5 hours later...urgh.... viola. I scribbled out the personal info so if there are any freaks out there.