Awesome and QUICK meal!

I was lucky enough to get to keep leftover homemade bruschetta (made by my friend Rochelle), and I put together a really tasty and creative meal. I had a hamburger to cook, but no buns!! So...I used an english muffin instead. Here's what all I threw together:

english muffin
hamburger patty
bruschetta
cheese (colby & monterey jack is what I had on hand)
lettuce

I opened up the english muffin and stacked grated cheese on one of the halves, placed them both in the oven for a bit to melt the cheese and warm the muffin.

I threw the hamburger patty on the Foreman and cooked that sucker!

Put cooked burger on cheesy half of muffin, topped with bruschetta and lettuce, topped with other half of the muffin.

YUM, YUM, and YUUUMMM!!!

Patrick loved it too. :) So, I'll have to make this again! Maybe next time I'll take a picture before I devour the whole thing...

Friendship

Among intelligent people the surest basis for marriage is friendship - the sharing of real interests - the ability to fight out ideas together and understand each other's thoughts and dreams.

~Kahlil Gibran, quoted from MaryHaskell's journal, dated 26th May 1923

I really like this quote. I registered on scribd and searched out Paulo Coelho and Kahlil Gibran, two of my favorite authors. I found Kahlil Gibran's Love Letters and started reading. He says things in such a beautiful way.

Family Visit in February

I'm playing catch-up on the blog today.

In Febraury, my parents, my sis, and her boyfriend came to visit us for a weekend. It was nice to have family visit.

My Mom and Dad hanging out on our couch just after arriving.

Par for the Mecham Course, we ate a lot. We had Indian food one night, my dad filled my fridge with groceries, we snacked, I introduced my mom and sis to Costa Vida, we all ate at Thaifoon, etc. Soooo much food.

On Friday and Saturday that weekend, we girls went up to Ogden to Time Out For Women. Patrick's mom was able to attend the event as well, and we stayed the night at her house. It always amazes me how hard it is to be away from Patrick overnight. Even when it's just one little night. What can I say? I love snuggling with him!

Time Out For Women was amazing. I know I got a lot out of it, and I hope everyone else did to.

My dad and Kosette's boyfriend, Matt, went skiing on Friday and toured around Salt Lake City on Saturday. Patrick unfortunately had to work during both days.

On Sunday, Patrick and I spent some time with my parents, and we went to the library so my dad could take some architectural photographs. I love watching my dad look at awesome architecture. It's when I see the passion for what he does for a living, rather than the day-to-day lethargy that we all kind of develop towards our careers. My dad is a great architect.

The view from the top of the Salt Lake City Public Library.

I've lived in Utah for almost 8 years, and I finally got a library card. :)

My parents at the top of the library. It was a bright and windy day!

These little books are hung in the shape of a head in the library. It made me think of the tv show, Reading Rainbow that I watched allllll the time as a kid. And then the song was stuck in my head for the remainder of the day.


There you go...now it can be stuck in your head all day. :)



Kosette and Matt (sitting in a tree...K-I-S-S-I-N-G...)

The last night we were together, my sis and her boyfriend made a vegetarian feast for us. I think they thought we were feeding 10 more people. I had leftovers for a week! It was a great meal, though. I really enjoyed sitting around the dinner table and just enjoying conversation and time together as a family.

Thanks, Mom, Dad, Kosette, and Matt for visiting and staying with us. I'm so grateful for a wonderful family!!!

Playing with food

The kitties have been at it again:







What talented kitties we have!!! :)

Dear Phoenix, You Are So Beautiful!

Patrick and I just returned from a much needed vacation to Phoenix, where most of my family lives. It was almost 5 days of beautiful sunny weather and fun times spent with family (and quality do-nothing time).

We flew in on Thursday and did a whole bunch of nothing. We watched movies and spent the day with my mom, Philip, and my dad when he got home from work.

On Friday, we went shopping with my mom and Philip and got the ingredients for the amazing feast that Patrick and I prepared with the help of the fam. We made shrimp summer rolls as an appetizer, and Patrick made a pork dumpling soup that was absolutely delicious. We ate entirely too much that night! :)

Saturday, we went to the open house for the new water treatment plant where Jeremiah is the Superintendent. It's a really nice facility. We went with my dad and my grandparents, Grandpa Jones and Verla. It's so strange to see my grandpa aging. He's 90 years old now, but when I think of Grandpa Jones, I think of an ornery old fart who is a gruff teddy bear, full of life. In my mind, my grandpas will always be around, since they always have been. I've had 7 grandmas, so it really is strange to see my grandpas getting oooolllldddd.

After the open house, we went on a double-date with my brother, Jonathan, and his wife, Ashlee. We went bowling and ate pizza. I was bowling left-handed quite a bit to be nice to my right arm (old injury from July), and still bowled mostly over 100. Not too shabby! Patrick and Jonathan were the star bowlers of the night, and Ashlee consistently kicked my butt, too.

That night, we hung out with Jeremiah and his kids, then stayed up way too late talking with Jeremiah and Christy. They were sweet enough to stay up past their normal bedtime to hang out with us. Unfortunately, their daughter got sick that night, so they didn't get much sleep.

Sunday was more family time. Jonathan's family came over to my parents' house for dinner, and it is always fun to spend time with them. Grandpa Mecham came over, too. I'm glad we got to see him on this trip. My mom's friend, Susan, came over for dinner, too, and she let Patrick take her Harley for a ride. I loved the grin on his face when he came back in the house. I could tell he needed and appreciated that little bit of therapy.

Today, we spent the morning hanging out at my parents' house. We spent some good time sitting on the porch swing soaking in the sun. It felt so amazing to have some warmth, knowing we'd be coming back to nasty freezing temperatures in a matter of hours. We also had sushi for lunch. My dad met us at the restaurant, and we ate again, entirely too much. It was so good!

My friend, Jenny, picked us up and took us to the airport. I try to visit her when we go down to Phoenix, so even though it was a short visit, it was entertaining and quite nice. That girl can talk!

And it was 28˚ when we arrived in Salt Lake City. Yuck.

We're contemplating moving down to Phoenix. Year round motorcycle and softball weather is very appealing.

Thanks for the great visit, my wonderful family!!! I love you all, and I love seeing how much your kids have grown.

Back to my roots

Ah, the new year...

Weight to lose, debt to eliminate, trips to go on, money to make, etc., etc. It is a little bit overwhelming to think about all that I would like to do this year. And all that Patrick would like to do. And of course there is also the list of things we want to do together.

So, I will return to my roots and find comfort in food. :) I found some great lists of recipes that are healthy (a lot of them, anyway), and quite affordable.

Slow Cooker Recipes

Low Fat, Low Cost Freezer Cookbook

Did you know baking was so sexy? :)

I really like the idea of getting a meal going in my crock pot before I go to work and voila!, dinner is ready when I get home. And I love the idea of making great recipes, freezing servings, and having meals ready to be heated up and devoured at any given time. Do you know how many unnecessary trips to Taco Bell, McDonalds, the grocery store, and the number of frozen pizzas we eat will be vastly reduced?!?!

This would be a great transition to make in our kitchen at home. It will save us time and money, and help us trim our waistlines too! Apparently one of our Christmas gifts was an extra inch or so in the belly-area. I'm not so happy about that, and would love to exchange it for a better gift...

Happy Anniversary

Today is our 2 year anniversary. In some ways, it has gone so incredibly fast! In other ways, it seems like it's been 5 years. :) We spent the day working at our jobs, doing side jobs, working on Mary Kay, making banana bread, doing laundry, and the night is still young. It hasn't been the most romantic day, yet it has been full of love and gratitude. How I love hearing my hubby tell me how much he loves me and that I make his heart beat kind of funny!

Here is our list of the top 10 things we've experienced, learned, etc. in the past 2 years of marriage:

1. "They" were right...LOVE DOES CONQUER ALL!!!
2. When God is involved, life is so much easier, and love is so much better.
3. Having 3 kitties really is like having 2 kids. Sometimes 1...sometimes 4. Depends on the day.
4. Sometimes the littlest things make the biggest difference.
5. Patrick makes the BEST biscuits and gravy. Ever.
6. If you need something fixed, something heavy picked up, or a wise-crack, just call Patrick.
7. Alison can communicate with ducks via fart. And she gets Patrick. Both very rare skills.
8. We love Redbox.
9. Dreams keep you moving. We both have big dreams, and truly support each other in reaching those dreams.
10. Two years is just the beginning. We're looking forward to the rest of our lives and eternity together.

We want to thank our family and friends for their support over the last almost 3 years of knowing each other. Through thick and thin, your support has helped us to grow, and for that we are grateful!

The Spirit of CHRISTmas

We've had some great in-depth conversations about Christmas in our home lately.

Patrick has fond memories of Christmas as a young child, when the simplest things captured his imagination.

I have fond memories of delivering boxes of little presents, a turkey, other fun food items including baked goods my mom helped us make, leaving them on the doorstep of a family that needed a little extra something, knocking on their door on Christmas Eve, and running away before we could be discovered.

Christmas has its own unique memories and feelings for every individual, and quite often, as adults, the commercial gift-giving aspect of Christmas can taint what this holiday is all about. It begins with all of the stores setting up their Christmas displays in the middle of November, if not earlier, and continues on through Christmas Day with the frustrating traffic and business at stores, the impatience of other shoppers, the list of presents to give that cost more than the allotted budget, thousands of commercials telling us to buy-buy-buy, etc. Christmas can easily become a huge list of wants presented to Santa accompanied by the expectations of society, the media, our social network, and our family. The simple need of feeling and expressing pure love to everyone we encounter is often overlooked, or overshadowed by the superficial flurry.

As a young couple planning on starting a family very soon, we have discussed what we would like Christmas to be all about in our home. Our hope is to make sure that the Spirit of Christ is greater than the Spirit of Christmas. Simplicity and Service will be our focus.



I've heard some great ideas over the last month from other families and my own in how to refocus Christmas.

My parents have expressed that they would like their children and grandchildren to come up with some act of service and love to do for someone this season and to write them a letter expressing what we did and how we feel about the experience. I love this idea, although it can be a challenge to choose what we want to do. :)

An older couple from church shared that this year they aren't giving gifts to their children or grandchildren, and aren't accepting gifts from them either. As a family, they are going to pick names from and Angel Tree, find gifts for those individuals who are in need, and give as a family to someone else.

A guy who eats at the restaurant where I work has 2 little boys, and he and his wife have taught their boys that Santa isn't a person; Santa is the Spirit of Giving. So, the boys can make a list of 3 things that they want, and they broke it down into categories that I can't remember. I think it was something along the lines of a necessity, something bigger that they really want, and something educational. They also make sure they participate in volunteering at a homeless shelter, donating food to the food banks, and anything else like that. He did say that in theory it sounds simple and easy, but in practice, it can be a challenge. Especially when the grandparents want to spoil the kids rotten. :)

Patrick and I talked about limiting the number of gifts that our kids can ask for as well. I think of the first Harry Potter movie where on Dudley's birthday, he gets upset that he has one less gift than the huge number of gifts he received the previous birthday, so his parents tell him they'll get him 2 more gifts that day. Frivolity. At its worst. And I'm pretty sure we all laughed and thought, "what a spoiled little shit!" Yet, for just about everyone, it's easy to have that same attitude without even realizing it. You can say, "Nuh-uhhh!" but chances are, you probably enable that attitude in someone else, too. :)

My ex-husband was alllll about getting a lot of gifts. I'd end up buying a lot of little gifts for him so he would feel good about unwrapping a lot of presents. Why did I enable that attitude??

When I was a kid, I remember asking Santa for a pink bike with a white basket and ribbons hanging off the handle bars. I was actually pissed that the bike I did get was purple, and I can't even remember if it had a basket or ribbons. So silly.

I heard a story years ago about a family that would open their presents Christmas morning, and each of the children would choose one of their brand new presents to give to a family in need. They would wrap them back up and deliver a box full of presents to a family with kids that wouldn't otherwise get much. I love that idea!

So, this year, we may or may not get a tree, and we probably won't exchange presents as a couple. We'll focus on giving to others, especially giving our love, time, service, and anything else that we can give.

Recently Patrick and I read in The Book of Mormon, Mosiah chapter 4, which talks about giving. Verse 26 always stands out to me:

Mosiah - Chapter 4

26 And now, for the sake of these things which I have spoken unto you—that is, for the sake of retaining a remission of your sins from day to day, that ye may walk guiltless before God—I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.

What a beautiful reminder. :)

I am so grateful for the comfortable life that Patrick and I are able to live. We have most of our needs met, and we try to be aware of our many blessings and that the origin of our blessings is unquestionably our Heavenly Father. Without Him, we would have nothing; be nothing. Fortunately, He is a loving god, and everything about us is evidence of that.

I hope you all have a special Christmas and that you feel the Spirit of Christ, not just this month, but hopefully daily. Life is beautiful, and there's plenty of wonder and goodness to go all around!

xoxo

Review of Food Storage Analyzer

I was raised in a family where food storage was important, and not only did we have food storage, we used it in preparing our meals for a large family of seven. As an adult, I haven't been the greatest about building up my own supply of food storage. It's been on my to-do list...a very neglected to-do list.

I played around with Emergency Essentials Food Storage Analyzer, selecting items that I think Patrick and I would actually eat, and it was a lot of fun! It really wouldn't cost toooo much money to have a 30-day supply of food, but the plan is to buy something every week and transition into having a decent food storage supply on hand.

If food storage is something you are interested in, or are already doing, you should check out the analyzer and see the exact content and nutritional value, as well as how long it will feed you. Pretty stinkin' awesome! Have fun!!

$10 Gift Card Giveaway for Emergency Essentials

Just add one of their buttons to you blog/website and they'll send you a $10 gift card. Easy.

The deadline is Sept. 30th, this Wednesday, so don't delay!!!

Here's the LINK.