Not too much going on....

Well at our house not a lot has gone on so that is one reason why I haven't posted anything. The other main reason why I haven't posted anything is that I have been horribly sick. I have been in bed for 5 straight days and wish I could be in bed for another 5. It all started out Wednesday when I woke up not feeling great, but thought I could handle the day. By 11:00 I was running a high fever and could barely walk without feeling dizzy. Thursday was about the same. Fever, headache, and chills. Friday my fever finally went away but still had the headache so I decided to play it real easy. At this point still not feeling the best, but hoping that 3 days in bed would cure what I had. Saturday rolled around and I thought I was feeling ok in the morning, come to find out that was the calm before the storm. I ended up having a huge headache with the fever coming back and horrible sinus pressure and pain along with a stuffed up nose where I could barely breathe. It was not good. Sunday woke up with so much pressure in my sinuses that I could barely open my eyes and could barely breathe I was so clogged up. I had my headache again for the 5th day in a row and just layed in bed all day. Monday (today) came and I am up and am at least able to open my eyes and walk around. It has been a horrible 5 days and I hope NO ONE will ever get what I had. To tell you the truth, I don't even know what I would call what I had/have, but it is the worst. I still am clogged up and have a headache, but able to do a few things. The biggest part is that I am exhausted. After 5 days of laying in bed all day long, coming to work and being expected to be up for 8 hours teaching and running around is a lot. I am sitting at my desk wondering how I'm going to have the energy to finish out the day! So sorry for the graphic post, just hope none of you get this AWFUL HORRIBLE sickness. Stay healthy everyone! I'll try and recoup and post after I feel better.

P.S. And to clear up everyone's suspisions, no I am NOT pregnant. This is me really sick.

Big Snow Fall

As some of you might have heard, South Ogden got a ton of snow this last Tuesday.....A TON! I was lucky enough to be in school all day and not have to drive in it. Jedd had a big presentation in Salt Lake that he had give so on his way home from that, he stopped and picked me up from school so I didn't have to drive. What a great husband I have! He knows how stressed I am when I have to drive in the snow! After we got home, Jedd had quite a few things to bring in from the car so we both bundled up and went outside. Since most of you didn't get as much snow as we did, I thought I would take a picture of what it looked like outside our apartment at 4:00 in the afternoon. This first picture is shocking to me, only because the day before, there was maybe 1 inch on the ground, maybe? Now look at it. I snagged a picture of Jedd before we made our first trip in. He wasn't really happy to pose for the picture, but he did it anyway to humor me. What a great hubby! And here I am posing for the camera. If you notice, the snow we received came up to my knees. I know my pants look funny being tucked into my jeans, but I didn't want my pants soaked by the time we walked in and out!

Babysitting Extravaganza

On Friday night, Jedd and I were able to go babysit for my sister and husband so they could go out to dinner, just the two of them, for Valentine's Day. Jedd and I went down and were there at about 5:50, thanks to the crazy traffic. We fed them dinner (Jerilyn had it cooked for us...THANKS!) and then we just got to play for the rest of the time. During dinner, I wish someone was there to take a picture because it was hilarious! If any of you know Zach and Hailey, they talk non-stop. At some point, Zach was talking to Jedd and Hailey was talking to me and Jedd and I looked at each other and busted out laughing because we realized we weren't even paying attention to what they were saying at the moment. It was so funny! (I guess had to be there moment!) Zach and Hailey just went on as if nothing had happened and kept telling us their stories.

After that, we went our separate ways. Hailey and I painted toenails and Zach and Jedd went and played XBOX. This is us painting toes. Yes, paper towels so the paint didn't get on the floor.It was so hard for Hailey to wait for them to dry. I tried to keep her occupied with candy and taking pictures for as long as possible. Look at that smile!!

And the finished product. Hailey wouldn't let me get away with not painting my toes too, so of course we had to get a picture of our matching toes. While the girls painted, the boys were a little less interested in that so they had their own fun playing Golf and basketball. Hailey was so excited to show the boys her toes, and ketp running back and forth. Jedd acted a little more excited than her brother, but she didn't care! And then after everything was over, Hailey just HAD to play XBOX with Jedd and Zach. If you notice, her controller isn't really plugged in. Jedd was so good with her and made her feel like she was playing with the boys. Jedd kept telling her good shot while playing basketball, and she would just jump up and down saying I did it! IT WAS JUST TOO CUTE! It was such a fun night. After playing for a little while, we fed them popcorn and ice cream and sugared them all up for when their parents came home to put them in bed. (OH, THE JOYS OF BEING AN AUNT AND UNCLE!) It was such a fun night. Thanks, Hailey and Zach, for all the laughs and fun!

Our Own Movie Theater

On Saturday night, Jedd wasn't feeling too great so we decided to just hang out at our house. The wind was just ripping through where we live (which it normally does most nights), but it was so bad that it was affecting our cable and we couldn't watch our tv. Jedd had some movies on his ipod and so we decided to hook his projector up to his ipod and watch movies on that. It was so much fun, it was like our own little movie theater, except for it was clean! We had to rearrange my whole living room, which was quite interesting, but it turned out to be such a fun date night. This is a picture of the set up.And this is just a cheesy picture of us getting ready to watch the movie!

Superbowl or Barbies?

Yesterday, which I'm sure you all know was the Superbowl. Last year Jedd and I spent it with Jedd's family, so this year we spent it with mine. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone! We missed those of you who weren't there. We had a great meal, and even better treats and snacks! After dinner and talking with my sister and mom at the dinner table about grocery shopping, I had the biggest decision of the day. Go watch the kick-off for the game or go play Barbie's. (it was an easy day for me I guess, if that was my hardest decision right?) Well of course I decided to head in with my niece to play Barbie's with her. I'm not going to lie, it was so much fun to go back in my memory to those days of playing dress up and Barbie's with my sister. This was Jerilyn's, Michelle's and my collection plus a few things from my mom's barbie collection.

And even after playing and cleaning up everything, I still made it in to watch the kick-off. I missed nothing, lucky me! Ha ha. Thanks, Hailey-Bailey, for playing with me! Next year I might choose Barbie's again instead of watching the game.

Recipe

Ok due to a few asking for the recipe of my amazing meal, here it is....

Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups multigrain penne pasta, uncooked
1 pkg. (9 oz.) fresh spinach leaves*
1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-size pieces
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1 jar (14-1/2 oz.) spaghetti sauce
1 can (14-1/2 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
2 oz. (1/4 of 8-oz. pkg.) PHILADELPHIA Neufchatel Cheese, cubed
1 cup KRAFT 2% Milk Shredded Mozzarella Cheese, divided
2 Tbsp. KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese

*Advice: I used a frozen 9 oz. package of Spinach and it was way too much. When I make it again, I'll use about half of the frozen package.

Directions:
1. HEAT oven to 375ºF. Cook pasta as directed on package, adding spinach to the boiling water for the last 1 min.
2. COOK and stir chicken and basil in large nonstick skillet on medium-high heat 3 min. Add spaghetti sauce and tomatoes; bring to boil. Simmer 3 min. or until chicken is done. Stir in Neufchatel cheese.
3. DRAIN pasta mixture; return to pan. Stir in chicken mixture and 1/2 cup mozzarella. Spoon into 2-qt. or 8-inch square baking dish.
4. BAKE 20 min. Sprinkle with remaining cheeses. Bake 3 min.


Chocolate Mousse

Ingredients:
4 squares BAKER'S Semi Sweet Chocolate
1 tub (8 oz.) COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

Directions:
1. MICROWAVE chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 min., stirring with whisk every 45 sec. until melted.
2. ADD 1 cup COOL WHIP; stir until blended. Stir in remaining COOL WHIP.
3. SPOON into dessert dishes

*By the way, be prepared. That chocolate mousse is richer than rich. For me one small tiny serving was plenty!

And of course the last step to all of this..... is to ENJOY!

Proud Chef

I am not the world's best chef, and I never have been known to brag about my cooking successes, only my cooking failures. My family has heard all my funny stories. For example, say the words "Rice-Krispie Treats" around me and you can see me cringe. (I'm sorry but everyone says making those dang things is so easy. NOT TO ME!) So the other night with inspiration from probably one of my MOST FAVORITE shows ever "30 Minute Meals" by Rachel Ray, I decided to take on the kitchen and cook this yummy looking Three Cheese Chicken Penne Pasta Bake. And not only that, the best part was that I used everything from my pantry except a quick trip to the store for $0.94 worth of frozen spinach. These first two pictures are of the mess that I had created in my kitchen. Luckily for Jedd, he was working and didn't see me cook, it was a disaster area! And this was the meal. Ok it is a little hard to see and I'm shocked my camera didn't take a better picture but I'm not going to lie, I even patted myself on the back for this one. This dinner was amazing! It is full of pasta, chicken, spinach, cheese, tomatoes, sauce, and seasoning. I'm not going to lie, probably one of Jedd's and my favorite meals I've tried from the show. I normally cook the regular things of what Jedd and I are used to, from his and my mom's recipe books. Let's just say that Jedd is not a huge fan of "new" recipes. He has been really great to give things a try, and for the most part, everything has been really pretty good. This was the best one though, HANDS DOWN!
And not only did I slave away in the kitchen for dinner, I also made dessert! I'm not a huge fan of chocolate; it's definitely not my first choice for desserts or treats but Jedd just LOVES chocolate! When he got home this last time from Florida, he was telling me how he had chocolate mousse one day and how good it was. Well, to give him a surprise, I made chocolate mousse. And this is what it turned out to be. And let's just say that after eating probably about 4 bites of this rich mousse, where I didn't even make a dent into the bowl, I was done and probably won't eat chocolate for at least another couple days. It was good, but man it was rich and so chocolaty!

All in all, this is one cooking success I'm going to brag about! Not only that, but make for years to come!

New Calling.....

As some of you know, I am the Sacrament Chorister in my ward. Yes, I get to stand up every week in Sacrament meeting and lead the music for our ward. I've had this calling for about 3 months and yesterday, I was released and got a new calling. And my new calling IS.......Mia Maid Advisor in the Young Women's. OH MY HEAVENS! Can you believe that? Ok so let's first preface this with a few things that happened before my Bishop asked me to do this.

#1. My friend Emilee just got called to be the Laurel Advisor in her ward about 2 weeks ago and I was not making fun of her, but pretty much telling her how much I didn't envy that calling. It is a huge time commitment!
#2. I work with 15-18 year olds EVERY SINGLE DAY of my life! Ok, that's exaggerating, but 5 out of the 7 days a week.
#3. In Sacrament yesterday (before I got called) they announced that they were going to have a meeting for Girl's Camp and that everyone going and Leaders needed to attend. I was laughing thinking how great it was that I was not involved with that, since this will be the first summer since I was 18 that I have been in a family ward.

Ok so can you believe that? I'm just warning all of you think before you speak about having specific callings in your ward. It might come back to bite you in the butt! Ok not really, I am getting used to the idea, and am actually pretty excited about it. It is a huge time commitment every week to go to activities, but I think it should be pretty fun. We have a big Young Women's group so it will be good. And who knows, I'll probably end up going to Girl's Camp since I don't work summers, thanks to my job! No getting out of that one right? Ha ha!

One Year Yesterday....

Ok so I know that this is pretty boring for most of you, but I wanted to post it anyway for me. Exactly one year ago yesterday, January 19th, Jedd and I met for the first time on our blind date. Boy, how much has changed from that day. I thought I would just write down a few things from my memory, just so I have them written down.

Jedd and I were set up on a blind date by his mom and my head secretary here at my high school. I was going into it thinking "Ok just a typical blind date...won't go anywhere." I was still so very nervous though. I remember giving Jedd directions to my house and from what he says...I asked him if he was writing it down... We laugh at that now, it is the teacher in me for sure! So I remember they were a little late, I guess they couldn't find my house, it was tucked in a little bit and we didn't have our house number on it. So I remember sitting on my stairs just freaking out the moments before he picked me up. What would he look like, what did he drive, was he funny,would I like him, would he make me laugh, would he be interested...and everything else that runs through your head. He picked me up and I literally didn't stop laughing until I got home. We went with his friends (our friends now since I consider them my friends as well!!) to California Pizza Kitchen and then back to Bountiful to Orchard Lanes to go bowling. Seriously my cheeks hurt from laughing so hard. Jedd says I was quiet and I agree, it was hard to get a word in with them telling stories and just talking. Jedd and I were able to talk a little bit, but on first impressions, we are both really quiet people. I got to talk to him a little bit more while bowling and I remember thinking, hmmm..this guy is kind of awesome! So after bowling he took me home and talk about an awkward doorstep scene. Zann and Em were in the truck just watching us as we were involved with the door-step scene. (All of you know exactly what I'm talking about!!) So I ended up loosing my keys and digging in my purse to find them. Jedd says I found them and ran into my house, and I think I gave him plenty of time to ask me out again...I guess we'll never know which one happened. So I gave him a hug and left....without talking about another date.

The day after, I went to Stake Conference with my parents and my sister; she was down because her husband was out of town. They of course asked how it went and all I could say was it was so much fun, but I'll never see him again. I didn't think he was interested and come to find out later, Jedd didn't think I was interested. So after much prodding from my mom and sisters, I decided to take things into my own hands and text him about how much fun I had on that Tuesday night, 3 days after our first date. Jedd swears that if I hadn't texted him, he would have texted me, but I'm not so sure about that. And of course the rest was history! Fast forward one year and we are married, and just loving life!

It is interesting as most people ask me why I chose to work at the high school I do when I had so many other opportunities and options. I used to say, "I have no idea, it was the best option?" (As even I was a little perplexed by the question.) Well, I can finally say now, without just shrugging my shoulders, it was JEDD. Had I not come here, there was no way we would have met and our paths would have never crossed. How grateful I am to have made that decision to work here! My life has been changed forever and he seriously is the best thing that has ever happened to me! (I know, corny.) I love you honey and happy one year anniversary from our first meeting!

Florida Business Trip

So this last week Jedd went on a business trip to Marcos Island down in Florida. (I'm not sure how to spell that!!) He was gone from Wednesday morning at like 6:00 am to Saturday night at about 1:00 am. (Sunday morning more like). So while he was gone, I sure got a lot done. I deep cleaned my house, which has been needed to be done for a while. I did school work, and just tried to keep myself busy. It was so sad to see him go, and I was so excited for him to come home. He leaves again for another couple days for Florida next week, but at least this week he will be home. So this is the sign I made for him to welcome him home. The program I printed it in wouldn't let me print the graphics unless I had the actual CD for the software. So I made my own graphics, a sun, sun glasses, and an airplane. Pretty good huh??

Before Jedd left, we made a deal that if he spent less than a certain amount of money out of his own pocket (not business expenses) then we would be able to buy Mario Kart for our Wii. He called me one day and said he might have gone over. So I decided to buy the game anyway and surprise him with it when he came home. Let me tell you, Mario Kart is EXTREMELY hard to find, especially this time of year. Stores are all sold out, online stores are all sold out and no one knows when they are going to get more in. Well, after calling store after store AFTER STORE, I finally found a store that had them...Shopko in Bountiful. They had 3 of them. I think the guy in the electronics department thought I was a huge "gamer" because I called him and asked him to save it for me, I was going to drive down there right then from Ogden and get it. Well when Jedd got home at 1 in the morning on Saturday night, I couldn't wait any longer to give it to him, I was so dang excited! He loved it! It made all the struggle to find it worth while, just to see the smile on his face.
We don't play our X-Box, Playstation 2 or Wii very often. We played this Mario Kart game up at the cabin over New Years and Jedd absolutely loved it. I loved it to, as the only games I play are driving ones. Anyway, I am enjoying my husband being back home....at least until the next trip. I wonder what I can surprise him with then....Any ideas???