Ever since Wicked came out in 2003, I've been wanting to see this Tony Award winning musical. After six years of it playing on Broadway, I finally have the opportunity to see it!!! Steve and I are going on July 4th and our tickets arrived in the mail today. Although I've never seen the show, I already know every lyric to every song by heart. I feel like I've seen the show many times already in my head. We traded fireworks for a musical instead on the 4th of July, but I wouldn't have it any other way! ** note: For those of you who are not familiar with this show, Wicked is about everything that happened before Dorothy arrives in Oz. You primarily see how the Wicked Witch became wicked.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one...

So this is my adorable little niece Mikayla ( a.k.a, "kayla-bee"). Last weekend I was able to go home to S.L.C. for a very quick trip. My sister was in town with her girls and I just didn't want to miss the opportunity. After a very long day at work last Friday, I flew out that evening to find the little kiddos sound asleep.

We played all day on Saturday and Sunday.

I bought these adorable sunglasses for Kayla-bee at Children's place.I got Audrey sunglasses as well, but....she seemed to prefer Kayla's.Mom, Abby, and I went on a little hike Sunday afternoon. We still had our dresses on from church along with our tennis shoes. I refused to go home without doing a hike... I miss the mountains soooo much (the hikes in Arizona just don't compare).

My brother, Isaac, with the caramel popcorn tower. He made his special "mixed drinks" (non-alcoholic of course).After a fun-filled weekend, I flew back very early Monday morning and drove straight from the airport to work (I made it there by 9:00 and worked 10 hrs... let's just say I was sooooo exhausted).

Calling All Recipes

Steve and I love to eat out. This could really be considered one of our hobbies. Over the past few months we've tried to cut back and limit ourselves to only once or twice a week, but it just didn't seem to work. Luckily we are both active and the effects haven't shown up on the scale, but it really isn't the best thing when you are trying to be health conscious. Eating out also isn't the best when you are trying to budget (although, you can find some really good deals out there).

A couple weeks ago, I decided to start planning meals for the week and then make a grocery list according to the menu.... it totally worked! Steve and I didn't eat out at all that week, and I actually liked the things that I cooked. It was nice to come home from work and know immediately what we were having for dinner and not having to worry about missing ingredients. We then made the goal to do this for an entire month. So far things have gone pretty well. We went to Olive Garden last week because we had a gift card. Interestingly, we both kind of felt sick after because we ate too much and the food was really rich. I guess our bodies are getting used to the healthy home cooked meals.

Since I am still working on my domestic side with all this cooking, I would love to get any of your favorite recipes (hopefully they aren't too complicated, I am still a beginner). So, my challenge to you is to write a post or leave a comment with your favorite recipe to share. I know many of you are awesome cooks!

Here is mine:

Macaroni Lasagna

Ingredients:

*2 1/2 cups of macaroni/elbow noodles

*1 lb of lean ground beef or ground turkey

*1 cup low fat cottage cheese

*1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar or mozzarella cheese (I like to use cheddar).

* 26 oz can of spaghetti sauce (about 3 cups)

*1 tbs of dehydrated onion

Directions:

1. pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

2. cook noodles until tender, set aside.

3. cook ground beef/turkey with dehydrated onion (I like to use seasoning salt as well for more flavor).

4. spray/grease a 9x12 baking pan (I use a stone one, but glass works as well).

5. place a small layer of noodles in the bottom of the pan (about 1/3 of the noodles)

6. next layer some meat, continued by the shredded cheese, cottage cheese, and then some sauce.

7. add another layer of noodles. Repeat above step 6 above.

8. add one more layer (as said in steps 6 & 7) ending with the shredded cheese so it is on top.

** all of the ingredients should be divided into 3rds so you can layer each ingredient 3 times (the layers should be small).

9. cook at 400 degrees for about 30-45 min.

Time to Say Goodbye...

In only a few hours the cast and crew of E.R. will take their final bow. Many of you may know how big of an E.R. fan I am. In 1994 the first pilot season of E.R. was shown on NBC. It became a huge sucess and I became a true blue fan at the age of 11. Ever since then, there are very few episodes I have missed. In fact, I can remeber many times recording the show so I could watch it over and over again. The cast has completely changed over the years. I was absolutely devistated when Dr. Ross left (played by George Clooney). It's somewhat strange that I had a huge crush on that guy when I was only 12. I must say that the original cast was my favorite, but I have continued to watch it even with the changes. I will miss my Thursday night E.R. ritual, but it seems that Grey's Anatomy is also becoming a favorite (it does not however amount to E.R.... there's a little too much drama in it for me).

The original cast...

Dr. Doug Ross...

Dr. John Carter...
The current cast...

Lots of Updates

So, the past few weeks have been a little busy... sorry for not posting in a while. We were in Salt Lake this past weekend for Steve's brothers wedding. The wedding was beautiful and it was so much fun to see family and friends. A few days prior to leaving Steve and I went to the zoo and aquarium... it's been forever since I went to the zoo. For St. Patrick's day I cooked a green dinner. I always thought the whole green food on St. Patrick's day was kind of weird, but I really had fun with it. Here are some pics/videos from the past few weeks:

This is my niece Emma... she is soooo much fun!

The kids love to jump on the tramp. I love how their stands on end because of the static.It's so hard to get kids to look at the camera at the same time.


This is a video of my nephew Jacob... he is so adorable. He loves to talk, but it is all nonsense... I love it!

The kids love their uncle Steve.

This is Jacob in his jumping swing. He loves jumping around.

My dad with Jacob.

This is my sister Abby. She has an incredible musical talent. She made up this song about the 5 food groups for her nutrition class... it's pretty funny.

Here is Steve's brother, Richard, with his beautiful wife Shannon. They got married in the Salt Lake Temple this past weekend. We are so happy for them!

Before going up to Salt Lake, Steve and I went to the zoo. Here are a few pics:For St. Patrick's day, I made this green dinner. Although it looked kind of strange, I think it tasted pretty good.

Disneyland Getaway

So, it had been a while since Steve and I had a trip to Disneyland (we were both in high school). Since this destination is only 5 1/2 hours away, we thought it would be a fun trip since Steve is on his spring break right now. We stayed at the Anaheim Marriot... it was beautiful, but it's too bad that nice hotels don't have a continental breakfast ( I think an omlet was nearly $13 !). We spent 3 days there. On Saturday we met up with some of our friends, Kristin & Brian and John & Liz.What is a Disney trip without a classic picture with Mickey Mouse?Lightning McQueen...Me with my 3D bug eye glasses... quite the fashion statement.Steve playing the organ at Mickey's house... he had way to much fun with this picture.

This was at "Minnie's House" in Toon Town. One of my favorite rides is the Tower of Terror. About a year ago my sister Abby went to Disneyland and recorded a video on her phone of the ride... it was so funny to hear her scream. I decided to do the same. I had no idea a screamed this much... maybe I was just nervous about losing my camera on the ride. (warning: you may want to turn down the volume on your speakers if you view the 2nd video.)

This picture was taken while waiting in line for Midway Mania... it was so much fun (one of Steve's favorites).The only downside to the whole trip was the expensive food. Can you believe this, $5.99 for a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich!