It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

I love this time of year! I am so much happier! It's the season of giving and spending time with loved ones. It just makes me smile thinking about it!! I especially love the holiday music, movies, and goodies! (ok, you caught me, especially the goodies :) ) I will sit and cook/bake for hours with my Christmas toons blaring in the background. I also enjoy snuggling up to my husband... (when I can cuz he is always studying, especially with finals starting this week) and watching a Christmas movie!! I love love love Miracle on 34th Street, the newer version, Elf, Home Alone, and the Family Stone.

So make some delicious holiday cookies and some hot chocolate or apple cider and get snuggling!!!

Merry Christmas!

Lakers Baby!

First of all we had a great Thanksgiving! My sister-in-law, Rachel, and I made dinner for our little group. We spent three days in the kitchen and after our delicious meal was devoured we knew it was worth all the time spent in the kitchen! We had so much fun and we will make the same exact menu next year because everything was just so perfect!

Onto the main highlight! I mentioned in a previous blog post that I got Brian Laker tickets for his birthday. Yesterday was the big game!! We sat 11th row, 50-yard line! It was AmAzInG! We had such a blast! We were literally feet away from KOBE and all of the Lakers it was so much fun! (Even though they lost...It was so much fun to be there:) )

The pre-game huddle!

The view from our seats! YES! It was so wonderful and we were so lucky to be there!

KOBE BRYANT, 3-point giant!

Tip-off! My handy workmanship with the photos!

KOBE owning peoples lives! I wish I had a little nicer camera but I am glad my point and shoot could do the job!

GO LAKERS!!!!

Harry Potter!

We saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 last night at midnight!!! I highly recommend this movie!! The acting was great, best yet!! I loved all of it!! I was on the edge of my seat the whole movie! I just wish they weren't splitting into 2 movies! I could easily have sat there for 5 hours just to see the whole thing play out!!! MUST SEE!!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

It was Brian's birthday on the 9th!! He turned 28! He is growing up so fast (he he). His birthday requests this year were easily satisfied because all he wanted was good meals to eat on his birthday! So when the day finally arrived I woke up early and made homemade waffles. Yummy. For lunch I brought him In N Out. Tasty. For dinner he wanted homemade Won-Tons! So so delicious! And last but not least he wanted Chocolate Cake with peanut butter filling... Which is exactly what I would have chosen!! I love love love chocolate and peanut butter!!

Two layer chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting and peanut butter frosting filling, if your wondering how tasty it was... Let me just say it was so so so so so tasty!

(Yes, that is a Santa to the right of the cake.. I put up Christmas decorations as soon as November hit!!! )
Last but not least, I got Brian Laker tickets!!! We will be going to the Lakers/Jazz game over Thanksgiving break!

Cloak Making...

For Halloween Brian and I decided that we wanted to be Harry Potter and Hermoine... yes, we know they aren't a "couple" but they are best friends and we like to think we're best friends too! At least that was our logic anyway... he he
I looked around quite a bit for legitimate Harry Potter, Gryffindor, cloaks but they were SOo0o0o pricey! So i decided we'd make them! I am not a seamstress by any means, but I wasn't willing to pay $200 for a cloak either... so I did what I had to do.
My sister-in-law, Rachy, let me burrow her sewing machine and it was off to the races!!

We looked up online how other people made cloaks and kinda just copied.
After looking at several different pictures of Harry Potter cloaks we set out on making them!

We sewed in the red lining and it looked pretty legit!!

The final touch was ironing on the Gryffindor patch, which we did and you can see that in the Halloween pictures to come!

Harry Potter Halloween!

First of all, I hope everyone had a great Halloween!! Our's was very fun and fattening!! Love all the yummy snacks that come with that great day!
Brian and I dressed as Harry Potter and Hermoine and had a party at Aaron and Rachel's house where we played Minute to Win It games!! So super fun!! I have some great video footage too!!
I love Halloween!! Favorite time of year!!!

Brian and my nephew Luke were both Harry Potter!!

Spencer and Amy were Shaggy and Daphne from Scooby-Doo!

M niece Sarah was a Geisha, her costume is AmAzInG!

This is most of the gang in their get-up!! Super fun night, can't wait until next year!!

My sweeeet tooth!!

O gosh... is it really that time of year?? When everything I can imagine to make I want to make it with pumpkin! The other day I made a pumpkin cheesecake with a graham cracker crust, it was delicious. BUT (small confession) it was my first time making a cheesecake so I made a rookie mistake and pulled it out of the oven a hair too early... Needless to say everywhere but the middle set just fine... Taste was there though!!!
Another confession, I love anything chocolate and peanut butter!! I have loved this combination since before I can remember. And it's not just like an occasional craving, it's more of a, "what can I make or bake or buy to satisfy this massive craving of peanut butter and chocolate?" (most everyday) Well, I was perusing one of my favorite blogs to find wonderful recipes and found, Dark Chocolate Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting!! Thinking it was too good to be true I read over the recipe. I have a pretty good eye at discerning between a good recipe and an even better one... But this one checked out!! I made those delicious little pieces of heaven today and I was not disappointed!!

(picture taken from the blog)

Picture of mine (not as pretty, but I'm still figuring out how to make frosting pretty)...With Brian's big boy bite taken out of one!

I know I got his stamp of approval, he loves chocolate but his favorite is when he gets a really chocolaty rich flavor, these accomplished that!!!

Tuesday Dinner

Cooking, for me, is a chance to unwind, I know most people see it as a chore, but I truly enjoy being in the kitchen...Especially after a long day of school and tests!!
Just this last Tuesday I made western style burgers for dinner! So yummy!! Organic beef, of course. I made shoe string onion rings to go with it, along with THICK cut bacon, a delicious homemade BBQ sauce, some cheese, mayonnaise, and lettuce. Some times I add pineapple to this mouthwatering morsel but this time I didn't need it...
The shoestring onion rings are what seal the deal for me!! I love this burger, may not be the healthiest but you have to allow yourself at least two meals like this a week:) It's good for the soul!

Next to the main event of the dish are sweet potato fries, with herbs and olive oil and then just baked them... I love dinner time!!

Sunday Dinner...

As most of you know, my major is "Hospitality Management" with an emphasis in "Food and Beverage." Which basically means a Culinary Arts degree mixed with business management classes... Currently my classes are all the managerial classes, no cooking yet. But next semester I start culinary classes, thank goodness because that is what I have been waiting for!! I love food, I love talking about food, and thinking of new ways to make something delicious!
Anyway, long story short Brian lately has told me that he really wants to try making delicious ribs so we scoured the internet for different rib ideas(since I'm not legit in the Culinary world yet.) He knew he wanted to dry rub it, which means rub lots of dry spices onto the meat a couple hours before cooking it. So, we found a few ideas and kinda concocted our own!
We slow cooked it in the BBQ for 4 hours and here is what it looked like!

They were fall off the bone, finger-licking good! The dry rub was perfect!! There isn't even sauce on the ribs in the picture yet either! He did an amazing job! I'm still perfecting my BBQ sauce recipe though!

Extreme Make-Over: Home Edition

So, I have come to realize something about myself, or so at least I thought, and that was that I am not very crafty... But I labeled myself this way without trying many crafts! So, I turned over a new leaf and got as creative as I could!
In my kitchen there is exactly one counter, and that counter is half of a counter...so technically not even one counter... Anyway, long story short Brian and I have been looking for a kitchen island since we moved here last November, needless to say the hunt for the perfect island took a while (because we weren't willing to spend more than $50)!!! But over Labor Day weekend I was doing my usual search on KSL and found an island!! We drove up to Draper to look at it and $47 later we were driving away with this little piece in our trunk!!!!
It is everything I have been looking for and more!! Shelves, cupboard, spice rack on the side, wheels... I could go on!!!
But as I promised myself, I did want to give creative a shot! So here is what I came up with...
-Sand it
-Paint it
-New hardware....
and the work began..........

(The BEFORE)

(THE AFTER!!!)

The finished product!!!!!!!!

I love this little island and I put it to use everyday!!!!! Thank you KSL!!!

Bezza's Wedding!

Bezza's Wedding aka Spencer and Amy's wedding was unreal!! So beautiful!!! Amy looked right out of a magazine and Bezza is Bezza (we love him) :)
They got married in the Las Vegas temple and the reception was at Amy's house in a large white tent outside!!! Fresh with air conditioning! Nothing beats Nevada in August!
They are so happy and I love them!!
Fireworks went off when the reception was coming to a close!!! So amazing!

They are awesome!

The guys!

The Bridesmaids! Megan, Shelby, Ashley, Me, and Jessica!

Hawaii Trip!!!

What a blast this summer has turned out to be!!!!! First we got to spend 3 weeks in California!! Then ten days in Oahu, HI, and then Spencer and Amy's Wedding in Vegas!!!! So much fun!!! Brian and I were truly blessed this summer to spend lots of time together, he starts BYU Law School this week, therefore I am never going to see him!! So I am grateful for the month that we could spend together without any responsibilities, except be TOGETHER :)

Hawaii!!! What a beautiful place! We stayed at the same place we stayed at for our Honeymoon!! So gorgeous! We also stayed with a family for a couple of days that Brian lived with when he went to High School out their for 6 months! They live in an amazing home!

They were filming Pirates!! So we go to see the Black Pearl nice and close!! We missed Johnny Depp by 5 minutes!!!! Oh well!!!

We got to hang out with Brian's best friend Clark, who is going to school out in BYU H.

That is Brian in front of his old high school!! He took a similar photo while in school there and I had to replicate it!! So cute! He humored his wifey!

I love this place!

Earnest Family Reunion 2010!!!!!

Gotta love the Earnest family reunion!! We look forward to it all year, the food, the food, and did I mention the food?? He he... We also enjoy spending time together too!! ;) But in all seriousness I am really grateful to my sister Adrienne for opening up her home to ALL of us!! All ten kids an their spouses and kids (if they had them) stayed in my sisters house up in Folsom, CA. (near Sacramento)

It was an absolute blast from start to finish and I am sad to see it end... Oh well, I guess there is next year!!!

Mark and Madeline

My hot man!!!

Stella, Mark's daughter

Ty, Adrienne's youngest, anytime you say smile to him he turns his head and gives a big grin!!

Uncle David playing with all the nieces and nephews

Aaron and Rachel playing the toothpick game

Lot's of doubles ping-pong was played

Me and some of my beautiful nieces!!

Remember how I mention "food?" The proof is in the pudding!

My sister's church building is next door to the Sacramento temple, so after church we walked around and took pictures, these are just some of the grandkids with Grandma and Grandpa :)

Mary with her eldest Daughter Kay, and Jocelyn my sister Rachel's daughter

Lot's of basketball playing!

I had all the kids jump in the pool at the same time... kinda...

Mary, Me, and Rachel

Brian and Lydia, my sister Rachel's youngest

Me and my two nieces, Alexa and Sadie (Adrienne's daughters)