Fruit Dip & Mother's Day Weekend

The past few weekends have been crazy. Luckily this weekend slowed down a bit for us. Friday night Jace and I went to Lowes to pick up some yard tools. Then we went to dinner with Jace’s cousin Cody and his wife Christine at Sonny Bryan’s.  It’s a BBQ place that has only ever been in Texas so I was pretty excited when I saw they had opened one by us.

Saturday was spent cleaning the house, working in the yard, grocery shopping and Jace working on the Truck and RZR. That night we went to dinner at Buca Di Beppo downtown with my family, Aunt Paula and Uncle Mark from California, their daughter Nicole and her boyfriend Scott along with my grandparents. It was good to see the family and have yummy food.

Then Sunday we had church first thing in the morning. When we got home we got ready for a brunch with Jace’s mom for Mother’s Day. My sister-in-law Marci made a yummy French Toast casserole and eggs. Jace and I were in charge of bacon and fruit. I made this super easy fruit dip to go with all the fresh cut fruit.

Fruit Dip

Karen Lewis

Ingredients:

8-oz cream cheese

1 jar marshmallow cream

1-2 Tbsp. Frozen Orange juice concentrate

Dash of vanilla (add according to taste)

*can add orange rind

Directions:

Mix all together and serve with fresh fruit.

Seriously easy and delicious! After brunch we went over to my parents house since my younger brother on his mission was calling! He is in St. Louis, Missouri and has been out for almost a year now. He sounds like he is doing amazing and loves it there. It was really great to talk to him and crazy to think that this time next year he will be coming home soon. Time is flying by. We finished the night with cards and yummy food then went home to veg on the couch before the work week starts. Its going to be a busy week and I need to figure something out for Jace’s birthday since it’s this Saturday!

Jace and I before date night Friday. 

Jace's new edger-he was pretty excited about this.

Downtown Saturday with Jace. 

My little brother Ridge and sister Paige before dinner Saturday.

New Year-2012

Well to catch up quickly on the past weekend, it was not only New Years but our 2 year anniversary on December 30^th. Looking at it now it wasn’t too smart to get married 5 days after Christmas but we needed to get married back in 2009 before the end of the year so when we filed taxes together we could file jointly and get the wonderful first time home buyer tax credit (very romantic I know). Even though it makes for smaller anniversary celebrations it is nice to celebrate during holidays and be able to take time off from work and relax. Jace took the entire day off Friday so we relaxed all morning, made breakfast even went to the gym and then went out to Cheesecake Factory (counter productive? Yes) for late lunch early dinner (hoping to miss most of the crowds). It was still pretty crazy busy but not too bad. Then we did a little shopping and saw Sherlock Holmes. It was just ok, not as good as the first one. After that we went home and just relaxed the rest of the night and hung out. It may not sound very exciting but it was a great day to just spend the whole day together.

On our anniversary outside Cheesecake Factory

New Years Eve wasn’t too exciting. We just cleaned the house (I put away all the Christmas decorations and I’m not sure how I accumulated so much more this year. I ended up having to buy 2 more storage tubs to store it all-thank you mom for all your old decorations to add to my collection) That night we went to my parents friends house and had lots of good food, played some Texas Hold’em and watched the ball drop. It was a struggle for us to stay awake much past midnight so we went home shortly after and went to bed. The next morning we had church at our new time, 9am rough getting up early but nice to be home early. We have a new Primary class, age 6. There are 9+ kids in our class. It may be a bit of a handful but we like being in Primary. Then we had Jace’s mom and brothers over to celebrate Janalyn’s birthday that was earlier in the week. Monday I had the day off from work but was sick so just laid around all day. Yesterday was hard going back to work but will be good to get back into the regular schedule. Last night was my sister-in-law’s birthday so we had cake and ice cream at their place. After tonight everything should be going back to normal. I always hate the first of the year when the excitement of the holidays are over and its back to reality. I start school up next Monday and am not looking forward to it. The break has been really nice and I’ve loved being able to spend lots of time with family. No new years goals for me, at least not yet.

Busy Weekend

So this weekend was super busy but lots of fun. Friday night Jace and I did nothing all night. It was great just to lay on the couch and relax after a long week of finals and everything. Saturday I cleaned the house, did some grocery shopping and laundry while Jace worked in the garage and on his RC cars. Then Saturday night we had my roommate from college, Stephanie and her husband over for dinner. Then we went to the new Mission Impossible. It was great to catch up with them. It had been over a year but so glad we got to see them. The movie was also really good.

Stephanie and I

Sunday we had church and then went to my parent’s house for “The Second Annual Lewis Gingerbread Wars”. It was my youngest brother Ridge, Jace, my cousin Nicole and I against my younger sister Paige, my older brother’s girlfriend Kami and her younger sister Taylor. Naturally our gingerbread house was the best J It was fun though to put them together. Jace helped with the construction of keeping the house together and then let us do the decorating while he supervised. Then last night we went to dinner at Olive Garden with Jace’s brothers and the wives along with his cousin Cody and his wife Christine. It was great seeing them since it had been awhile. I love how at the holidays everyone gets together even though it gets crazy busy. Looking forward to the rest of the crazy week to come ahead and getting to see everyone and the family coming in town.

I love Kami's face in this. 

Jace, Ridge and Nicole working 

I had icing all over my hands and was obviously confused... 

Our finished product. 

Kami still working on theirs. 

Me, Jace and Nicole with the gingerbread houses. 

Ours on the left, the competition on the right.

Relaxing Friday

Finals are all done!! Now that they are done I’ve actually had some time to get things done I wanted. Last night after work and finals I came home and wrapped the pile of presents that had been stacking up. I got everything wrapped, under the tree and then moved onto my little goodie bags for a few friends. I got the cute idea from pintrest here. I did the “We Wisk You A Merry KISSSmas”. It was super easy and really cute in my opinion.

Then today I did a half day at work since my father in law took the family to Little America buffet for lunch. It was yummy and fun to get together with Jace’s brothers and the wives.

Jace and I at lunch.

Bonnie and Jedd.

Owen acting silly.

Noah loved taking pictures by Santa with Marci.

Tonight Jace and I are excited to just sit back and relax. Jace is working on his RCs and I’m catching up on my TV shows, reading magazines and browsing pintrest while munching on chips and queso and virgin pina coloda’s. Such a great break!

What my night looks like!!

White Elephant

This weekend was pretty busy but good. Friday Jace and I went downtown to have dinner at the Blue Iguana (one of our favorite’s downtown). We had a groupon deal we needed to use up this weekend and apparently so did a lot of other people. It was about an hour wait but once we finally sat down it was worth it. Then we went home to relax. Jace played with his RC cars and watched a movie while I studied for upcoming exams (this week, have 1 down 2 more to go and a final project!) Saturday morning we had the ward Christmas party. It was “Christmas’s around the World” there were different booths for different countries and lots of breakfast food. The rest of the day was spent cleaning the house, doing grocery shopping, and Jace playing RC cars with his brother Jedd in the backyard. Saturday night then we went to do some final Christmas shopping (I hate shopping the weekend before so like to get it done early). We also went to dinner in Bountiful at The Salt Lake Burger Co. because our happenings book had a buy one burger get one free. (I love having 2 meals for the price of 1!) We got everything we needed except for a few small things I will pick up this week. Then Sunday we had church and went to Janalyn’s for dinner. It was super yummy! We had Olive Garden salad (I didn’t know you could buy their dressing there, I need to go pick myself up a bottle!) Then we read Christmas stories and did a white elephant exchange. It was a lot of fun and made me ready for finals to be over and celebrate Christmas. I’m looking forward to taking some time off from work, not having school to worry about and spending lots of time with lots of family! I’m also looking forward to getting to talk to my brother Dillan on his mission in Missouri. Its been weird not having him around for the holidays so it will be great to talk on Christmas. Looking forward to lots more picture taking over the next few weeks and lots of yummy food!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving turned out great. We had it at our house this year with my family, grandparents and my Aunt Dee and cousin Kylie. Everyone came into town Wednesday night and my grandparents spent the night at our house which was good because I needed help Thursday morning figuring out the Turkey! I was in charge of the turkey, sweet potatoes (Aunt Paula’s recipe so yummy!) and mashed potatoes. My mom and grandma brought pies, rolls, stuffing and everything else we needed to have a great meal. Everything turned out great and it was fun to spend time with everyone eating good food, playing games and watching movies.

Grandma helping with the turkey 

Dad, Grandpa, Dee, Grandma and Kylie going through photos

Mom and Dee working in the kitchen

Kylie, Grandma and I

Me, Dee, Kylie, Grandma and Mom

The table set up

Dad ready for dinner

Dad, Ridge and Jace

Grandma and Grandpa

Jace and I

Jace cutting the turkey

Paige and Ridge had their own cute little table :)

2 week update

So I’ve been sick for awhile now so I’ve been really bad about updating my blog so this is a recap of everything going on since we got back from Colorado. We got back Sunday night on the 23^rd. Monday and Tuesday we just worked and then Wednesday I got a really bad cold. I laid in bed pretty well through the weekend. We did end up going out for a little bit to a Halloween party Saturday night. Jace and I dressed up like a biker couple.

 Then Sunday we went over to my parents to celebrate my little brother Ridge, my grandma and grandpa’s birthdays. They were all within the last few weeks so we did a big dinner for them. Monday was Halloween so we had some people over for soup and breadsticks. I’ve been starting to feel a little better luckily and getting caught up on everything now. One thing that helped me feel better is that my table came in (2 weeks early!) I was so excited to have it put up and bring all the new chairs we bought around it. Since we got our new table I’ve been cooking a bunch of different things.

The new table and chairs! I need a new/bigger centerpiece now.

I recently signed up for Taste of Home magazine and found this really easy recipe

Refried Bean Taco Pizza

Taste of Home-Mary Detweiler

Ingredients:

1 ¼ lb ground beef

Small onion chopped (I just used minced onion)

Envelope taco seasoning

1 prebaked 12-in pizza crust (I used 2 separate small ones so Jace and I could put different things on our own)

1 can refried beans

2 taco shells crushed (I just used tortilla chips)

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Shredded lettuce

Tomatoes, diced

Sliced ripe olives

Directions:

Cook meat with onion and taco seasoning until no longer pink. Place crust on ungreased baking sheet. Spread refried beans, beef, taco shells and cheeses. Cook at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Pull out and top with miscellaneous ingredients.

The best thing about this meal is its only $2/serving! Since its just Jace and I we didn’t use up much of the meat so I saved the rest to do tacos later this week.

Mine is on the left and Jace's on the right (he didn't want any topping but salsa).

Earlier in the week I also made Potato Pie. A really easy recipe I got from my mom.

Potato Pie

Karen Lewis

Ingredients:

1.5 lb hamburger

1 can Campbell Tomato Soup

1 bag/can of corn

Potatoes

Directions:

Brown hamburger meat, season with garlic salt, onion salt, onion powder to taste. Drain meat, add tomato soup to meat. Add corn to meat mixture-don’t overcook corn just thaw out. Line casserole dish with meat mixture on bottom topped with mashed potatoes. Cook at 350 degrees covered for 30 minutes. Check the middle-should be bubbling. Add cheese last 5-10 minutes on top.

Jace took a scoop out before the picture.

While we were in Colorado my cousin Matt and his wife Natalie gave us a big hutch they weren’t using anymore. It ended up working perfectly in our upstairs guest bedroom. It was so heavy though and took 4 guys to get it upstairs but I love it J

The big hutch. 

The hutch in the bedroom. 

I also finally hung up the picture that matches the bedroom my sister Paige gave us last Christmas

Other than that there isn’t a whole lot else going on. I am excited for the holidays coming up though. Were doing Thanksgiving this year at our house so that will be interesting. I’ve decided that since we might be going out of town next weekend to the dunes (depending on weather) I need to get Christmas stuff up before it gets too close to Thanksgiving so that will be this weekends project! I will be sure to post more later!