Has it been three weeks?

ME AND MY SISTER!!! 

A mini reunion with my mission sister! My goodness how I'm grateful to have Kelli in my life. A good friend is a blessing to have! Here is a quote I found that I feel summarizes our relationship

 "A strong friendship doesn't need daily togetherness. As long as the relationship lives in the heart, true friends will never part..." anonymous 

CHRISTMAS FAMILY HOME EVENING

Nate and I went over to the Hancock's for a Christmas Family home evening. Last year we decorated ginger bread houses, this year we decorated ginger people. It may be difficult to see, but Nate decorated his as Wendy from the fast food restaurant Wendy's. Mine was decorated as Nate in a Kilt outfit!  I wondered if Nate and I decorated people that were on our minds. I think Nate was craving a spicy chicken sandwich from Wendy's! haha 

 CHRISTMAS DAY!

Growing up I can't recall a traditional meal that our family has had on Christmas, it's been food that we wanted to try. This year we decided to have tamales. Nate brought up the idea and mentioned that He can make really good tamales! We were all excited to try Nate's tamales. For those of you who don't know anything about tamales let me take a moment to briefly educate you. Tamales take a very long time to make. Once they are made the tamales must steam up to 2-3 hours. The process takes all day if one is dong it by themselves. The whole family helped out! 

The tamales took 4 hours to steam! My parents didn't have a tamale pot, so we had to improvise with what we had. All I can say, is the wait was worth it. I don't know if it's because I was hungry or if Nate really is an excellent cook, but the tamales were delicious! Nate might have started a tradition in our family. We will see what happened next year. My dad LOVES tamales, I can see my dad suggesting to have tamales for Christmas dinner next year!

NEW YEARS 

St. George Temple. 

In preparation for his mission, Nate choose to take his endowments out in the St. George Temple. For the first time in FIVE years Nate was able to visit that temple. This Temple is where he took upon himself a further commitment to serve God and the Savior Jesus Christ. I'm so grateful to be married to this wonderful man for eternity. I continue to see his commitment every time we visit the Temple. Our sealing gives me a secure comfort of love for Nate and our Heavenly Father.

Our hotel room

As you may have guessed, Nate and I took a small get away trip to St. George. It was much colder than I expected, but it didn't matter because our hotel room had everything we could need. The get away was needed. No commitments to keep, only creating our schedule as we went along our day.

Nate bundled up in blankets watching a movie

Nate getting comfy while watching a movie. After I took the picture I started laughing at Nate's face, to me he looks anxious as to what is going to happen next in the movie. If I remember correctly Nate said he was scared! haha Either way I'm just happy that I was able to capture one of Nate's facial expressions.When Nate and I hang out, there are moments I wish I had my camera out to take a picture of a facial expression Nate does. 

Maybe one day someone will invent  camera contact lenses. Two blinks will take a picture, send it to your phone where you then can save it.  I'm sure there are times every mother wish they had a camera to capture faces of children or a spouse. Being able to capture certain faces you wish to treasure and remember whether they are funny, caring or sincere. I have one day and many, many more to go. 

AVERY ALEXANDER IS 9 YEARS OLD

Avery turned 9 at the beginning of the year! What a special girl we are related to. 

YUMMY DINNERS

Nate and I made chicken fajitas and strawberry salad. Every spot in my body was satisfied with this meal. Here is the recipe for all those fajita lovers. All ingredients can be found at Winco or any common grocery store.

                                                                       Fajitas

1. corn tortillas ( Need to warm up either in the microwave or in a pan)

2. chicken         

3. red and green peppers

4. Your favorite seasonings (we did garlic, onion and sea salt)

5. Optional: salsa, sour cream.( We like salsa)

Salad

1. Baby Spinach or Mix Greens (Romaine gives it a different taste)

2. Strawberries

3. Feta cheese

4. Strawberry vinaigrette (very important to have)

"That's okay I didn't want a receipt anyway"

                                             

 Thursdays are Nate's long day. He is at UVU until 10:30pm or 11pm sometimes midnight if something goes wrong with the network system. As his observant and loving wife ;) I know Nate has a goal to eat more healthy. I was supportive by driving to Cafe Fresh and bought Nate his favorite healthy BBQ chicken wrap. After I paid I watch my receipt print out. As I watch I see a small strip of paper escape the receipt machine. The cashier and I look at each other, laughed and I say "That's okay I didn't want a receipt anyway." I took it to show Nate and all of you, because If I told you the story I don't think you would have believed me.

   In all my experience working with and in the food industry I have never heard of this happening. I still laugh at the thought of a quarter of the receipt printing out for a customer! haha 

FLASH BACK

 

One of my new years resolutions or solutions is to scrapbook all my pictures I have taken. Including my mission pictures, college pictures, and baby/ growing up pictures. I started this week by minimizing pictures and binders. As I was sorting I came across this NSYNC photo album. Memories flooded back to the days that I memorized NSYNC'S dance moves and songs. It was fun to walk down memory lane. I first heard about the band from my cousin Jenna, who was obsessed with them. It's interesting to think about where all those boys are today, only Justin has made his name well known among the music industry. If I remember correctly there were three boy bands with the most competition; 98 degrees, Backstreet Boys and NSYNC. Which one of these three was your favorite in the 90's?