Free Buffalo Wild Wings

Click HERE to get SIX free wings at Buffalo Wild Wings. (PS - There aren't any in Utah. Sorry.)

Click HERE to find a location near you.

Friday Foto Fix

Geocaching
The story of a treasure hunt

You log on to geocaching.com, get the coordinates of a geocache near you and you plug them in to your GPS. You follow the GPS toward your coordinates, which may take you to a place like this:

Where you may have to follow a man who looks like this:

When you get to the exact coordinates, you may find something that looks like this:

And on the other side, it may say something like this:

The geocache could also look something like this:

You will have to open it to see what's inside:

It may look like this:

But it will almost always have one of these (a log of visitors):

Once you have opened the geocache and signed the log, you may take something from the geocache and/or leave something in the geocache:

(In Jed's left hand is another [small] geocache we found, and in his right hand is an LCD blinking light thing that we took from it.)

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for my true friends.
I am thankful that we have pretty flowers in our kitchen.
I am thankful that we had a generous gift left on our doorstep this week.
I am thankful that Easter is coming up.
I am thankful that I was able to watch General Conference this past weekend.
I am thankful that my school project is over with and I don't have to worry about it anymore.
I am thankful that this semester is almost over.
I am thankful that I still have TWO and a half out of three boxes of Thin Mints left. :)
I am thankful that I have lost over 10 pounds so far!
I am thankful that I moved down a notch on my belt.
I am thankful that we don't have extra mouths to feed (except the fish and shark).
I am thankful that we have the opportunity to go to the temple tonight.

Wednesday Weigh-In

Well I started a waist disposal program...a while ago.
It's totally paying off:

241.2
38.76

I've moved down a notch on my belt. :)

No Job #2

Oh, by the way, I didn't get that construction job. You know, that one that was perfect for me? Yeah, didn't get it. :\ The search continues...

Resurrection Buns

This is not my recipe and I have never tried these, but they sound like a great idea!
(For the Resurrection Cookies recipe, go to my food blog)

Resurrection Buns

Yeast Mixture:
2 Tbsp yeast
2 tsp sugar
1 cup warm water

The Rest:
3 cups warm water
1 cup oil
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
10 cups white flour
1 bag large marshmallows
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cinnamon-sugar mixture

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 390*.
2. Combine yeast mixture ingredients and let rise while you combine water, oil, eggs, salt, and sugar in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the yeast mixture to ingredients in mixing bowl and then add flour and mix together until no longer sticky. You will probably need to add more flour as you adjust the texture.
4. Knead until smooth and elastic. (Approx. 8-10 minutes) Let rise in a greased bowl until doubled.
5. To form buns, cut off egg size pieces from the dough. Pop a large marshmallow into the center of each dough piece and pinch securely around the marshmallow.
6. Roll on the the table to smooth the ball of dough into a nice bun shape around the marshmallow.
7. Dip top of ball into melted butter and roll in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon.
8. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise for 90 minutes.
9. Bake for 16-18 minutes.

Makes 40-50 buns.

Monday Memoirs

Friday - We rented some movies and went to Justin and Amanda's house with Nathan. We ended up watching The Haunting of Molly Hartley. It was alright... Not the best.

Saturday - Jed was at work all day because he does satellite support for General Conference. I woke up late and watched a little of the first session of General Conference. I went to a free lunch at Zupas - so yummy!
Then I went over to Amanda's house to watch the second session of General Conference; she was home alone because her husband was on campus all day. She scrapbooked and I was going to work on my Tshirt quilt that I've recently started, but I forgot my scissors. :( Amanda's sister-in-law came over with her daughter and we all ate dinner together. After Jed got off work, I met him at home and we watched Bedtime Stories. I had heard mixed reviews about it, but I liked it. Maybe not enough to buy it, but I thought it was pretty cute.

Sunday - Jed had to work most of the day again, so I went back over to Amanda's house to watch General Conference. Adam was there this time, and I remembered my scissors, so I worked on my quilt during the first session.
Amanda's sister and brother came over for lunch and to watch the second session of General Conference. It was good to see them again - I hadn't seen them in a while.
After the second session, I met Jed at home and we decided to do some Gecaching (our new favorite activity) around Provo and up the canyon. We didn't have much success finding any on campus - we think they were placed in areas with too much traffic and random people saw them and took them.


**The talks that stood out to me the most this weekend were:
President Monson's talk, about overcoming [the recession and economic] hardship, during the Sunday morning session
Elder Teixeira's talk, with the analogy of using a GPS, during the Sunday afternoon session
Elder Stevenson's talk about temples and temple attendance, during the Sunday afternoon session

What were your favorite/most inspiring talks?**


Jed wanted me to direct your attention to the post below. He wrote it.

A Letter From Jed

I just wanted our faithful blog readers to have a little peace of mind about our financial situation. While we aren't doing that great, we are going to be ok, and we are not starving to death.

For any noobs reading our blog, Ali was let go from her job a little more than a month ago. Since then, we have been living off of my part time paychecks and Ali's severance pay (we received her last check this week).

For the next two weeks, I will only be working part time (20 hours per week). Then, for the rest of the summer, I will start working full time and will be making twice as much. That will help a lot. So Ali has all summer to find a job, which is much easier to do when all of the students are out of town!

Apart from the doubled income, Ali has been responsible enough to get me to start putting money into my savings account. Over the last 3 months, we have been able to save up some extra money which we can use if we ever get short on our bills (we haven't had to use any of it yet).

Also, we have learned the skill of being frugal. Ali loves finding good deals and clipping coupons. We have also had a lot of fun doing things for free (like Geocaching...which is my new favorite thing to do - google it if you don't know what it is).

Additionally, we have a lot of food storage (once again thanks to Ali, and Grams) so by no means do we ever go without eating, even though I could do without it....

No Job

Well I found out yesterday (finally, after almost a month of waiting) that I did not get the job at the business that my friend works. That still leaves me with the construction job that I interviewed for on Thursday. I really hope I get that job. Thoughts and prayers would still be VERY appreciated. Thank you so much!

Mission Call

My cousin, David, got his mission call yesterday! He's going to the Chile Concepcion Mission!! His dad went to Chile Santiago and Jed went to Chile Osorno. Isn't that interesting?

We walked to David's dorm from our house in the rain. A mile and a half both ways! We were soaked by the time we got there. :\

David, with his unopened mission call.

Getting his parents on the line.

He opened the envelope with a huge knife...

***FYI: As soon as he says Chile Concepcion, it gets RIDICULOUSLY loud. So plug your ears or turn the volume down real quick***

David was shaking, he was so happy and excited!!

We're so proud of you, David! You're going to love Chile and the people down there. And you're going to make an excellent missionary!! You're awesome. We love you so much!












***You can generate your own pretend mission call at this website***

New Quiznos Torpedo

Have you seen the commercials for the new Torpedo sandwiches at Quiznos?? They look SO yummy!!

Go HERE and get a great coupon for a buy one, get one free. :)

Thoughts and Prayers

Normally I don't ask for thoughts and especially prayers, but I really feel like I need/could use them now. I went in for an interview early this morning with a construction company (my last job was in construction) and I feel like it went really well. I also thought that interview three weeks ago went really well, but I still haven't heard anything from that one.

So, if you would send your thoughts (and prayers if you're religious) my way, I would be so grateful. I need to find a job ASAP for the sake of my marriage and our family. We simply cannot live off of the part time money that Jed makes - it just doesn't stretch far enough.

Thank you for your love and support. :)

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful that I had an interview this morning.
I feel like it went well.
I am thankful that I was able to find a job posting that was actually legit and not spam. (You'd be surprised how many are out there...)
I am thankful for Jed and his optimism.
I am thankful that Grams gave us food storage for Christmas. ;)
I am thankful that I was able to talk to my mom this morning.
I am thankful that I only have three more weeks of school.
I am thankful that I have another interview tomorrow. (Not as excited about that one)
I am thankful that we don't have to pay utilities.
I am thankful that my car is paid off.
I am thankful that my flowers are still alive (almost two weeks)!
I am thankful that we have a working computer (and internet).
I am thankful that I haven't gotten a ticket in a while. (knock on wood)
I am thankful that Jed still has his job.
Oh yeah! And I'm thankful that I've lost almost 10 pounds! (Even though I don't feel like I've lost that much...)

Wednesday Weigh-In

242.1!!! YES!!
38.90

I am .3 pounds away from having lost 10 pounds!!

(and this is totally NOT an April Fool's joke!!)

Happy Birthday Laurel!!

Today is my sister's birthday! She's an April Fool's Baby! [I remember one time giving her a box of Ex-Lax for her birthday when I was younger. How hilarious and original... :\ ]

She was so cute when she was little, even when she was a green alien (inside joke - nothing to do with this picture).

Laurel has a really pretty smile that's contagious.

She lives in California and I'm so jealous that she's close enough to the beach to make a day trip out of it. Jed and I visit her more than anyone else, for that reason. (Just kidding) We LOVE visiting Laurel and her family.

She has a great husband who treats her like the princess she deserves to be. He and she work wonderfully together and we're so glad that they found each other.

Laurel is always there when you need her. She's always got an ear and will stop and talk to you, even if things are going crazy for her at the moment.

Laurel is one of the most kind and gentle people I've ever met. She has a very soft spot for those in pain or who have difficult circumstances. She is always looking out for other people and that's something I admire about her.

Laurel has two beautiful little boys. Eli and West are adorable and she is an amazing mom to them both. Watching her interact with her kids gives me a good model for how I want to be when I'm a mom.

Last, but certainly not least, Laurel is an incredible scrapbooker. She even has a job in the field and teaches classes on the subject. I'm so impressed with her talents.

Happy Birthday, Laurel! I love you so much and I'm eternally grateful that you're my sister! I hope you have a great day!! :)