Super, Satisfying, Sunny Saturday!

My day today started off at 5:40 yes, that is AM. I went to the temple with my RS president and our RS secretary. We had a wonderful time and I was even able to keep my eyes open the entire time. We went to the 830 session and were out by 1030. Spring is in full swing here and it was great to be the passenger so that I could take it all in. I was home by 1, changed clothes and then hit the road again to south Charlotte where I met my cousin Deborah and her family; husband, daughter age 13, son age 10, and daughter age 5. I haven't seen Deborah since May 2003 when I was in my first year of grad school. Sad, I know. Deborah lives in Phoenix area and for some reason I have always been a week early or a week late when she visits Nampa. Her husband has been in Columbia, SC doing a training for work for the past 2 months and is here for 1 more month. So on a spur of the moment decision, she decided to brave the airport and come to the east coast for spring break. Her words, "I want to try southern BBQ and fresh seafood." So of course I met her right after landing down in Charlotte for BBQ, first things first. We went to Hill Billys BBQ. It was delicious.
The only thing is they don't have the vinegar based sauce which is truly eastern BBQ, but it was still delicious. They were tired from their early flight and so they took off to Columbia for the night. I on the other hand had plenty of day light hours to enjoy the spring weather. I drove to the mall with the thought of going to Joseph Beth's Book Store, but when I got there, it was not longer there but a Container Store was being constructed in its place. I have been to one of these stores once and loved it. Can't wait for it to be finished in August. I was however disappointed about the book store. I did visit Anthropology. I love that store. I love to look at the books and then come home and order them on half.com for $1.03, which I did. Jack my GPS took me through some streets in Charlotte that I haven't been on, which gave me some beautiful views of the city.






I then went to my friends for a dinner party, to try out the new cream cheese recipes. They were all delicious and I had a lovely time. Since we are losing an hour tonight I'm making it to bed by 11, really 10, but you get my jest. It was a very super, sunny, satisfying Saturday indeed!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

I'm not from New Orleans and I've only been there once and let me tell you it was a trip I shall never forget. Great memories for sure! I don't even really know what fat tuesday means except that the catholic people go on lent. And I only know this because my grandfather's wife use to be catholic, but she still goes on lent. So in celebration I decided to make Jambalaya. Since going to Disneyland in September I have had this weird craving for Jambalaya and Gumbo. I think it is because I had an amazing dish of Jambalaya at Disneyland. Since I never blogged about Disneyland, I thought I would share a few pictures. We ate at the Pirates of the Carribean restaurant.
Please note I'm not looking my best here given the fact that I got drenched on not one but 2 rides. And this is my sister's friend Tyler...no attachment to me for sure.


So after looking on line for the easiest recipe, I took my cousins advice and bought the box and then added my own stuff to it. I must admit it turned out pretty darn good. The sad thing is I really am not hungry, because I had lunch with girlfriends at IKEA and because my fiend Karen couldn't make it because one of her children was sick, I had to stop by her house to share IKEA cinnamon rolls with her. I'm not kidding every time Karen and I plan lunch one of her kids gets sick. Anyway, here is my recipe for Jambalya:
Follow the directions on Zatarains Jambalaya Mix at the same time saute' green peppers, red peppers, and celery. The Jambalaya mix suggests you add sausage, shrimp, or chicken. I added shrimp and sausage. It's not Disneylands Jambalaya, but it hit the spot.



It was a little spicy. I would maybe get the mild one next time. And as you see I cut up my peppers and sausage and am freezing them for the next time I get the craving. So when you need something fast and easy. There you go and I have lunch/dinner for the rest of my work week. I've had the last three days off and it has been great, but I admit I'm ready to go back to work but only for 3 days then 4 whole days off!

It's Monday Again

Today I have a cold. I don't get colds very often, in fact the last one I had was 14 months ago. I woke up this morning a little before 6am. Seriously. Went back to sleep and got up at 730. I really would have liked to have slept in this morning. So because of that I eventually went back to bed. I had snot stuffed up my nose, pressure in my sinuses, a headache, thankfully my sore throat is gone and dang it I wanted a sick day. So I didn't go to the gym today. I know bad, bad me, but I knew I would have snot running down my face if I had gone. Now that it is the end of the day I feel really bad, but that's life. I missed another Monday work out. Will not happen next week, I promise. I decided that because it was Monday that I needed to clean something. My house is pretty clean, so it wasn't as if I needed to do much cleaning. There is a closest that I open often that is a total mess and really bugs me, so today I cleaned it out.
So when I got into this I realized the heinz box that was holding my little pharmacy and home medical needs needed to be replaced. And because of the slots in the closet shelves things seem to always tip over. So I decided to take a break from the closet cleaning. All day long I have wanted to go to the thrift stores. Friday night I had a few minutes and stopped by one and had some huge success, but didn't have time to brows but a few racks. So I gave into my desire and drove 12 miles to thrift store drive. There are actually three thrift stores right by each other. I first went to Value Village and found gobs of darling skirts from the children's place for my niece. I also got myself a few skirts, a shirt, and a book. There wasn't a dressing room however so when I got home to try on my skirts my very favorite one with tags from the store still on it didn't fit, so my friend Karen is going to get it, because I know it is going to look darling on her. I also got my in the womb niece a pair of shoes. I went to The Good Will where I had previously been last week and found a pair of shoes for Aidree and another skirt. I also got me two pairs of shoes for $2.75 each. In my shopping I also got Aidree a snow suit for next year because when I was home for Christmas they were trying to find one for her at the last minute. One of the twins will get a new pair of church shoes and so will Gavin if he wears a size 10 1/2. I had actually initially gone to the thrift store to find a black shirt with white polka dots because I saw one on a friend that looked so cute. Glad I found what I was looking for!
I also got Aidree 2 pairs of pants and a darling dress. By the way Alisha if Ava wears a 6 then she gets to use the blue skirt, because Aidree won't fit in it for a while. It is so cute too.
Last week I got a sweater from j-crew, a calvin klein shirt, and another shirt.
I did hit the dollar store and finished the closet. Walla!

RS Harvest Pumpkin Birthday Muffins

I made some pretty delicious muffins for the RS birthday bash. Really however they were a cupcake recipe that I got from a cookbook that my sister gave me for Christmas of all sorts of different cupcakes. I promised that I would put the recipe up on my blog, so here it is.

Harvest Pumpkin Cupcakes
1 box spice cake mix
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup milk
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Mix
Cook 15-18 minutes, for mini cupcakes I cooked them about 12 minutes on 350