Backfired..

Last weekend we were able to babysit Payton for a few hours. We had a fun time with her even though Payton LOVES Mat and wants basically nothing to do with me. Mat had to work on a lesson for church so for most of the time I had to try and entertain Payton and keep her away from Mat. So I read books with her, fed her lunch, watched part of a movie, jumped and jumped on the mini-tramp, and even went outside for a little bit. She kept asking for Mat, but I was able to keep her mostly entertained so Mat could work on his lesson. Meanwhile, Payton was jumping on the tramp and I noticed she had a poopy diaper. So I decided to be cheeky and see if I could get Mat to change the diaper. I asked Payton who she wanted to change her diaper, Uncle Mat or Aunt Shel (thinking in my head that for sure she will say Mat cause she loves him so much) well it backfired on me because she said she wanted me to change her diaper. The only time this kid wants me over Mat is to change her stinkin' poopy diaper. That'll teach me.

What a doll.

Payton all bundled up to go outside in the freezing cold. She loves being outside and does not care that it is cold. We stayed outside for like 10 minutes and then I made her come back in cause it was SO COLD.

We also went to one of our friends home, Mark and Emily. They just build a new home and it was fun to see. Everything is nice and new. We played the game of Life with them. It was really fun. One of their little boys played with us too. Some of the things he said were so funny. Right now I can't remember what they were, but he cracks me up. I also jinxed Mark while playing because it was his turn to pick a new salary (he currently held the $30,000 salary card) and I said I will laugh so hard when you get the salary card of $20,000 and sure enough he got that card. It was real funny. Then later on in the game it was Mark's turn to spin the wheel and I said I hope you don't spin a 1 because if he did he would have to pay lots of money to the back and sure enough he spun a 1. We laughed and laughed about it (I did feel a little bad though.) Funny how that happens sometimes. We had a great time hanging out with them.

The Game

We watched the BYU vs UTAH game on Saturday and I made some treats to snack on. I've never made orange rolls before and decided to attempt them. I found the recipe on My Kitchen Cafe and they turned out delicious. So we took the orange rolls with us and headed down to Lehi to watch the game over at Mat's cousins home. Mats brother Josh and wife Melissa came as well. We had a good time. Too bad BYU won, but it was a good game to watch because it was down to the wire on who was going to win. Dan (Mat's cousin) was really happy they won cause he is a huge BYU fan. Until next year.

Thanksgiving such a wonderful time of the year.

So Mat and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We both have so much to be grateful for. We are truly blessed. We are so grateful this year for a new home, great support from family and friends, and that Mat was able to find new job so quickly. So the day started off my going to my mom's to eat. There were lots of people and lots of good food. I made some homemade crescents from scratch. They were really yummy.

I also made some yams. They were pretty tasty.

Mat and Me.

Some of the gang.

More of the gang.

Cute Payton who still absolutely loves Mat and doesn't want anything to do with me.

After eating some of us played a little bingo (for prizes) to help us burn off some calories. It was fun even though I didn't win.

After that we went to Mat's mom's and had another meal. It was good. I ate way to much food. I also made some yams to take there. Mat really enjoyed them. He loves yams. We had a nice time. We played some Yahtzee after we ate. It was fun.
Here is Mat with his mom.

Here is a cute picture of one of our step-nieces (I think that's what she would be to us). She is cute and sure likes her olives.

Thanksgiving was great. It is so nice to spend time with family and to have a couple days off of work. On Friday we went and saw New Moon. We had a great couple of days off, but it always goes by way to fast.

Cafe Rio Style

So the other weekend we had some friends over for dinner and I made some homemade Cafe Rio and it was delicious. Here is the recipe:

Pork (I used chicken, but pork is delicious too)

3 to 4 lbs. Pork loin (I used about 4 to5 chicken breast)

1 cup brown sugar

1 bottle red taco sauce

1 Tbls cumin

1 can coke (12 ounces)

Cook pork/or chicken on low in crock pot with water covering ½ pork for 6 hours or until able to shred. Three hours before serving, drain liquid off pork, and add coke, taco sauce, brown sugar, and cumin. Continue to cook for approximately 3 more hours.

Tomatillo Dressing

1 pkg Dry Buttermilk Dressing (ranch)

3 Tomatillos

1 cup Mayo

1 cup Buttermilk

1 cup Cilantro (chopped)

1 Garlic glove

¼ to ½ tsp Cayenne Pepper

Rice (This is a rice recipe that I have done before, but I did not do this time)

White rice

Chicken Broth

Chopped Cilantro

Chopped White Onions

Lime Juice

You get to experiment on the portion sizes. Cook the rice in chicken broth instead of water with cilantro, onions, and lime juice

Rice (This is what I did this time)

2 cups white rice

2 cups chicken broth

2 cups water

1 garlic clove

A Little olive oil

Chopped up garlic glove, put a little oil olive in pot, add garlic to pot. Stir constantly for a couple of minutes until garlic is golden. Add chicken broth, water, and rice. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is tender.

Then I get a tortilla and load it up with lettuce, rice, beans, meat, tomatoes, cheese, and then top it with the tomatillo dressing. It is really tasty.

Finally some pictures of our Home with our Furniture

Here is our cute little home that we love.

Here is our backyard with our nice deck that Mat helped build.

Front entry-way, that still needs more decorating.

Our living room with our new couches (at least they seem new cause we bought them in January and have never used them until now).

Dining room.

Kitchen

In our bedroom, the entry-way to the bathroom.

Master bathroom.

The study

Extra bedroom which will be a baby's room someday.

Spare bathroom.

We really love our new house. It is so nice, clean, and perfect for us. We are so glad we decided to build it. We love the area and our neighborhood. We are so lucky and blessed.

Kids are smarter these days...

A couple of weeks ago I babysat my niece and nephew. They are so stinkin' cute even if my 5 year old niece can beat me at pool on the Wii. I was terrible at pool and my niece was getting impatient with my lack of Wii skills, but to my defense I did beat her in ping pong, but only by 2. So, I'll keep my day job. Here is a cute picture of us. I was trying to hold the camera in front us while trying to take a picture. After each picture I took my niece wanted to see the results. I usually cut off part of us and she just laughed and laughed and thought it was so funny.

Here is me trying to take a picture of the three of us.

They are getting so big. I wish I could just make time stop so they don't get any bigger. I had a nice evening babysitting them. We played the Wii and then Uno and yes I lost to my 5 year old niece in the first game and lost to my 4 year old nephew in the second game. I was not letting them win either. I guess I need some practice on the Wii and in playing Uno.

Job Offer...

We are so very excited. Mat got a job offer today- yeah!!! He was unemployed for exactly 4 weeks and finally got a job offer. He had several interviews this week and one that worked out really well. He will be a client accountant and will be working downtown. He starts next Thursday. We are so grateful for how blessed we are.

Halloween Festivities of Fun

On Friday night we were babysitting and we took some of our nieces and nephews to a trunk-or-treat. Sydney was a cute little witch, Will was a skeleton, and Drew (not pictured) had a little ghost bib.

My brother and his wife came to the trunk-or-treat as well. They wanted to take Payton our niece. She was a little fairy. She is getting so big.

Here are the kids in the trunk before it started. They are sure adorable.

Trying to stay warm in the back of the car with Drew, Syd, and Will while Mat was still passing out candy to other kids at the trunk-or-treat.

Last Monday night at Family Night we carved pumpkins. Mat and I look pretty intense and serious about carving our pumpkins.

Here's some of the fam carving away.

Cute baby Drew sleeping through most of the pumpkin carving.

Will was having a good old time dancing around while I was taking pictures of him. After each picture I took he had to come and see it. It was really cute.

The kids jumping in a big pile of leaves.

Aidan and his pumpkin.

The kids pumpkins. I think this is a great idea because it is less messy and easier for kids because they don't have to carve anything.

Here are just some of the pumpkins that the family carved that night.
Cinderella (I think)

Captain Jack Sparrow

Yoda

Cat

This is my pumpkin. I always do very simple because I don't like to spend forever carving pumpkins. I just stuck with the traditional jack-o-lantern look. It works for me.

Mat spent a lot longer on his pumpkin and he did a little gremlin. He did a great job.

Next Halloween activity we did a couple Saturday's ago was the Fun Fall Family Festival which this year got changed to the Freaky Family Fun Fall Festival. It has too many f's if you ask me, but we had a nice time. We started out with pumpkin carving. Mat and I passed, but it was fun to watch the others carve their pumpkins.

Me just chillin' and snackin' on some yummy food.

Very cute picture of my cousin Mindy and her niece Lilly.

This was an attempt of mine to take pictures of the pumpkins in the dark. The picture kind of turned out cool looking.

Here is another attempt at taking pictures of the beautiful carved pumpkins.

We had a nice time and had lots of good food to eat afterwords. We had fun with all of our Halloween festivities this year.

Unemployment Rate in Utah Has Increased

Mat got laid off yesterday morning. So we are currently looking for employment for him. Mat's degree is in Business Finance and he is looking for something related to this industry, but is definitely willing to seek other opportunities as well. He is a great example to me because instead of sulking around he took the bull by its horns and started networking with family, friends, and old co-workers to find a new job as soon as he found out. So if anyone hears about a job opportunity please let us know. We are doing just fine and know that everything will work out because it always does. God is in charge of our lives and we will put our trust in Him. We appreciate the prayers and support that so many have already shown. We are not worried, stressed, or afraid. We are looking at this as a growth opportunity and the sky is the limit.

Conference Weekend

Conference weekend is always a great treat. We enjoy listen to the words of the latter-day prophet and apostles along with eating lots of good food. Sunday morning before Conference started we had a huge breakfast at my mom's like we do every conference. This time we had egg casserole, hash browns, sausage, egg and bacon wraps, waffles, muffins, OJ, and apple juice. We usually also have caramel rolls, but my mom did not do them this time. Everything was delicious.

Snacks for after the first session and for the second session. I don't even remember everything we had. I always eat way too much.

Another delicious "snack" we enjoyed in between sessions. This is a raspberry, pudding, brownie dessert. I don't know the official name, but I do love it. It has cool whip, chocolate pudding, vanilla pudding, raspberries, and brownie chunks in it.

Cute Ellie and Ben.

Cute Payton.

Mat playing with the kids.

Cute Mat and Michelle

After snacks and before the Sunday afternoon session started Mat and I went to Mat's Dad's home to watch Conference and eat more food. I got the lovely task of carving the turkey. It was a big task, but someone had to do it. We had lots of good food to eat as well. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, rolls, zucchini, and some peach cake. I probably gained 7 pounds on Sunday alone. We had a really nice Conference weekend. We felt uplifted and know have a greater desire to do good and to do what is right. We will also be increasing our exercise habits.