Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day was great. We didn't do anything really exciting. Nels was a sweetheart and made me pancakes with strawberries and bought me flowers. Then we decided to make these heart shaped rice crispie treats for friends and neighbors. Wow, it turned out to be quite the project, but it was fun doing it together. This is how they turned out, and they tasted pretty good too, if I do say so myself. Of course not all of them turned out so unfortunately Nels and I had to eat them. :)I found the idea from this site my sister Melissa recommended. So thank you!
Hope everyone had a fun and loving Valentine's.

Great Recipe

I had been looking for a good chicken taco soup and came across this one. It takes a little bit of time, but Nels and I both loved it. It's from Betty Crocker.

Tortilla Soup
6 corn tortillas (6 inch)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped (1/3 cup)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium Anaheim, poblano or jalapeño chile, seeded, chopped
1 carton (32 oz) Progresso® reduced-sodium chicken broth (4 cups)
1 can (14.5 oz) Muir Glen® organic fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 teaspoon coarse (kosher or sea) salt
1 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken
1 ripe medium avocado
1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese (2 oz)
Chopped fresh cilantro, if desired
1 lime, cut into wedges


1. Cut tortillas in half; cut halves into 1/4-inch strips. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Cook strips in oil, 1/3 at a time, until light brown and crisp. Remove from pan; drain on paper towels.


2. Heat oil remaining in saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic and chile; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until vegetables are crisp-tender. Stir in broth, tomatoes and salt. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 minutes. Add chicken; heat until hot.

3. To serve, peel and pit avocado. Cut into 1-inch slices. Divide half of tortilla strips among 4 individual serving bowls. Ladle in soup. Top with avocado and cheese; garnish with remaining tortilla strips and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

Makes 4 servings

Bangs

After looking online for haircuts, I decided that bangs would be a fun and different look for me. My haircut was inspired by the following pictures.

and me:

I'm still getting used to it, but I'm enjoying it so far.

Random Post

I started a full time job in December and so this is why I haven't posted for a while. Here's a few things that we've done.

A big project that I did for a Christmas present was typing all my recipes that I like, printing and laminating them and then making this recipe box.

Before:

After:
I gave it to Nels' sister Kierstin. I think she really liked it. Now I'm making one for myself.

After Christmas Nels' family came to visit us. We tried out a new restaurant called Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was a fun place to eat and the food was delicious. My favorite was the milkshakes made with Blue Bell ice cream. Mmmm good!

That's about all for now. I did cut my hair so I'll have to post pictures of that soon. Enjoy the cold weather!

Our Lucky Seventh Place to Live

We are finally going to get a house! A real house. No landlords, no loud or stinky neighbors, no more overpriced rent. We even got to choose the location, the flooring, the cabinetry, the bathroom layouts, and the exterior and floor plan. Yep, we're building it. Well, we're not; we wouldn't even know how to put up the first wall, but you know what we mean. So, hopefully, you'll check out the pictures below.

Below is the house that we'll build on the lot above. We will have this same layout (not flip-flopped).

This is a view of the entry way.

This is a view of the living room. BUT, imagine the ceiling being ten feet higher and 3 matching windows above the 3 shown here. That's how our house will be. Also, no sliding glass door; we like the normal glass door better.

Looking into the dining area from the living room. Perfect area to set out a huge game of Settlers or Carcassone or Ticket to Ride. Oh, and we'll eat there, too.

Whoever's cooking can watch the activity in the living room, so she (he?) won't feel left out.

We're not sure what color cabinetry/counter tops we want yet, so let us know your thoughts. (Stainless steel appliances are available, but we like the white best anyway.) Also, we'll have another window on that big empty wall in the corner.

Upstairs, there are 2 'so far' spare rooms (which share a bathroom) and a master bedroom with a vaulted ceiling, a master bath (with a garden tub, a stand-up shower, and TWO sinks).

These are the exterior color choices. The jury has yet to reach a final verdict in this department also, so tell us what you think.

We will be going with one of these brick colors, though.

This is our "cool-feel" color scheme. Cabinetry color may change. But, we only like the flooring colors shown in these two pictures.

This is our "warm-feel" color scheme.

Ok, now let us know what you think! We're expecting emails from all of you. Hopefully, you'll come visit us even if you don't get the colors you're hoping for. (We close June 15, so any moving help is appreciated.) Visiting reservations will be kept to a 'first come, first served' basis, well, unless you prefer the 'more the merrier' option. :)

Shining Stars

All day yesterday I helped set up for enrichment. I was in charge of decorations. The activity was a presentation where we spotlighted each sister. (Shining Stars) So we gave awards to each sister and told a little bit about them. In order to find out unique things about each of them, four of us called friends and husbands of the girls. It took a while, but they were surprised when they received their award. I got the surprise symphany award. Nels told them that I play the violin and french horn. HA, I haven't played the french horn since high school! Oh, well. Everyone dressed up...Sunday best to Black tie. This picture is a little blurry, but as you can see some girls did wear their prom dresses!I think overall it turned out pretty well, and of course we had a nice dinner that was served by our Bishopric.

So here's how the decor turned out. We used red paper for the "red carpet." We made a huge balloon arch and then hung stars from it. The balloon arch looked better 6 hours before. I believe some of the helium leaked out.

The center pieces were floating roses, hershey kisses and star confetti.
One of the highlights for the evening was the relief society presidents lip sync. They really got into it. The video doesn't have the best lighting, but at least it will give you an idea of what they did. We were laughing the whole time.



So Mom, now you know what to do with your presidency for the next enrichment. :)

Oh, by the way, even though it was a busy day, Nels and I voted early in the morning. Indiana State Senator Brent Waltz was there to greet us at the Murphy's Landing Community Church. It was pretty cool, and he got re-elected.

How To Host a Murder

On Saturday we hosted a "How to Host a Murder" party. The theme was western... the good, the bad and the guilty. We had sent the invitations with their character and suggested costume. So everyone came dressed up and really got into their character. We laughed and had a great time. The character's names are pretty funny. One of my favorites was Elias Truist-Heath interpretation: He lies through his teeth. Nels and I kept switching our accents back and forth on accident. I would speak like the Indian Chief and he would speak like a cowboy and vice versa. Everyone would just laugh. We served salsa and chips. Nels grilled 8 chicken breasts. We had baked potatoes, salad and green beans with pink lemonade. I think everyone had a good time.

Check out the mustache! Haha, he couldn't eat with it on so it came off pretty quick. Pretty funny though.