The Cook's

Happy New year!

2012-01-08T14:11:00.000-08:00

Well we have some good news! On June 21st 2012 we will be welcoming a baby girl into our family! We couldn't be happier and are so excited to be parents! It has been a rough few months for me, this little one has been making me very sick, but things are getting better and I don't throw up every day anymore.. I'm just nauseous. I just keep telling myself it will all be worth it in the end! I am just so grateful to have a wonderful boss who is so understanding. Our families are so excited! It will be the 1st grand-baby in both of our families. Hope these next 6 months fly by!

We haven't really been up to much since the last time I posted. We did celebrate our 5 year anniversary on Thanksgiving this year and I can't believe it has been that long!

Christmas was kind of quiet this year. We stayed here in St. George and spent Christmas by ourselves due to Braeden having to work Christmas, but we were able to spend some time with family here in St. George.

I was able to see my family over New years weekend when my family drove to Salt lake for my mom's family Christmas party at my grandparents cabin. It was so good to see them! My brother just got his mission call to the Argentina Bahia Blanca mission. It was good to spend some time with him since we probably won't make it back to see him before he leaves. He is going to be an awesome missionary!

Here are some pictures for you to enjoy!

Dad and brothers

Me and my mom

Had lots of fun shooting

Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!

Adventures

2011-11-10T18:40:00.000-08:00

Well we have been very busy the last few months. Braeden's dad was in Anahiem for a business trip staying at the Grand Californian Hotel, so we drove down with Cameron and Cassidy and had a wonderful weekend. Disneyland was all decorated for halloween so it was fun.

A few weeks after that Braeden and I went home for my sister's wedding. It had been 2 1/2 years since I had been home and it was so good to be home! Braeden stayed for a short 3 days, but I got to stay longer and spend some time with my family. Right when we got home from Washington we moved right next door to where we used to live. I am so glad to be out of our small two bedroom dungeon and now we have lots more space and WINDOWS!

Braeden just got accepted into BYU-Idaho's bachelor of nursing online program and will be starting in January. I will hopefully start that program shortly after. We are looking forward to the holidays!

Disneyland

Seattle

We took on of my sister's bridesmaids the fastest tour of Seattle. Had to show her the gum wall.

Cousins :)

My brothers have sure grown up!

Halloween
Braeden always does the best job on his pumpkins

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Aloha

2011-09-01T19:13:00.001-07:00

Our vacation to Kauai, Hawaii was awesome! We were there 6 nights and had a wondering time. I loved the smell when we walked off the air plane.. it smelled tropical. Yes, we did take millions of pictures and sorry I couldn't decide on a few so there are a ton!

(click to enlarge)

This was our luxurious hotel, The Kauai Sands. Ha ha it was really old.. we had some sweet green shag carpet though. It was cheap, it was right on the beach and we left early in the morning and came back and crashed so cheap was the way to go.

This was the beach at our hotel

Wailua Falls

Hanalei

Spent all day every day at the beach relaxing

We went on a kayak trip that had amazing views and hiked to Secret Falls

Secret Falls

This was tree tunnel road, it was my favorite road

Waimea caynon- they call it the grand canyon of the islands

The upper right picture is a mountain called King Kong. It was in an old Indiana Jones movie

Pu'u o Kila lookout- this was the most breath taking view we had ever seen. I wanted to just sit there all day and take it in.

This is a monk seal that came and slept on our beach the whole day. There are only 33 that come to the island of kauai. There are volunteers that you call if you see one and they come and rope it off and educate you about the animal and sit there until they leave.

Snorkeling was amazing! The fish were so bright and colorful. We snorkeled every day for hours and hours

This is Po'ipu beach, our favorite place to snorkel

The food was amazing there and especially the banana pancakes at a small family restaurant.
Our favorite place to eat had these delicious hawaiian polish dogs with pineapple relish..yum.. I still crave them. If you ever go to this island you have to go to Puka dog. More favorites were this Korean bbq restuarant, shave ice with macadamia nut ice cream, kalua pork tacos and fresh pineapple.

Hanalei Bay

Tunnels beach- also a great place to snorkel. We got to swim with a sea turtle and it was awesome.

View of the Napali coast- 17 miles of no beach

Opaeka'a Falls

I love this tree

I got up at 5:30 our last morning there and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful and Braeden sure missed out! It was so hard to leave this amazing place. Every time we drove by the hospital we wanted to stop in and see if there were any jobs, but we didn't and decided we could go back real soon! For those who want to go to Hawaii I would definitely recommend Kauai.

July Fun

2011-08-07T12:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that summer is almost over! We have been very busy this past month. We went to southern California with our best friends Travis, Amanda and their little one Treyden. We stayed at their grandparents house and it was so much fun. We spent a lot of time at Huntington Beach and the boys had fun body surfing and boogie boarding. It was a nice relaxing trip that was much needed. Then we had a family reunion in Mount Pleasant, Utah. Braeden's parents flew out to come to the reunion and we all had a great time. After the reunion his parents came down to hang out with us for a few days before heading home. Next week we are off to Kauai, Hawaii! Sorry there are a lot of pictures.. I took a lot!

Cassidy, Amanda and I at the Tuacahn amphitheater watching The Little Mermaid

Family Reunion, Zion & New Harmony

Smore time!

Braed and Cam acting as oxen for our pioneer day skits.. ha ha I love this picture

Zion

Cute little Harper

Cousins

California

Boston, Vegas and Girls Camp

2011-07-07T19:56:00.000-07:00

Well June has been a very busy month for me. I went to Boston at the beginning of June and it was beautiful there. I was only there for a short 23 hours (yes I said short). After my work meeting I only had a couple hours to walk around and explore, but some day I hope to go back and stay a bit longer!

We went to Vegas for Braeden's 27th birthday. Braeden wanted to eat at the Bellagio buffet and then after we went shopping at the outlets.

Then it was girls camp and it sure came fast! Our theme was "your happily ever after" it was a talk given by Elder Uchtdorf and if you have never read it, it's a good one. Our theme song was your happily ever after by Jenny Phillips, it is a beautiful song and I think you should listen to it. Each ward chose a young womens value and we chose Knowledge. We wanted to dress like nerds at camp. It was so fun to hang out and have fun with the girls. I loved girls camp and it was where I gained my testimony of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I loved how peaceful it was and how there were no worldly distractions. Sometimes I forget the important things in life and I was reminded of those things. It was a great experience to plan and prepare and make it a wonderful experience for these girls and I learned so much. Can't wait till next year! Enjoy all of the pictures!

Boston

Vegas

Amanda and I

Amanda, Travis and Treyden waiting in the long line for the buffet

Girls Camp

I must of got a flat tire on the dirt road driving to camp... thank goodness for the kind gentleman who went off the mountain into town to get my tire fixed

Update

2011-05-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well I guess it is about time for an update. People keep asking me if we still exist. Yes we are here! You know how in the last post how I said we would have more time now that we are graduated and everything? Well I was wrong. We are even busier than before.

Braeden is working night shift at the hospital and I am working full time during the day. Sometimes if our schedules are off we don't see each other for a few days, but when we do have some time together we try to do something fun to make our boring life a little more lively! I have been traveling here and there for work and that has been kind of fun to see new places. I have been to Atlanta, GA, Fort Worth, Tx and this week I am off to Boston. We both just got mountain bikes and have been biking everywhere, well mainly just to go get snow cones because Braed wants one like every day. I think by the end on summer he is going to turn into one.

I got called as camp director and a young women's advisor in my ward and that has been keeping me plenty busy. It has been the best working with the young women and I love it. Three more weeks till girls camp and then I can relax!

We are planning a few trips this summer that we are looking forward to. A trip to California with our good friends Travis, Amanda and little Trey, a few camping trips and Hawaii! So stay tuned and I will try and keep you updated on our summer.

I can only remember what we have done these last few months by looking at pictures so I'd just like to warn you now for the picture overload.

Centennial Park in Atlanta

Went the the worlds largest indoor aquarium in Atlanta. It was pretty cool

This is the only picture I got of me in Fort Worth, but I loved it there

Got to see my family over conference weekend. My younger brothers are growing up so fast!

Jut had to share this picture cause I thought it was so cute. That is my cute cousin Rilynn, she loves Braeden

Braeden's brother Spencer got off his mission a few months ago and came to visit us before going back to school in Idaho. We went to Zion and hiked around

What a lovely bunch

Cook boys

Cass and I getting ready to go out to find some rocks in our cool outfits

Cameron, Braed and I hiking around Red Cliff's recreation area

BamMMM done! You all should be extremely happy now :)

It's Over!

2011-02-12T12:06:00.000-08:00

Ever since the end of December we have been working our butts off studying for our nursing board exam. We took our test this week and we PASSED! We are officially nurses! What an accomplishment. We can finally put our books away and have more free time!

HaPpy mE

2011-01-26T19:57:00.000-08:00

Something that makes me smile:

when Braeden is in the other room singing and playing his guitar and I just listen...

That makes my whole day happier

Christmas Break

2011-01-08T14:15:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we went to spend some time with Braeden's family in Pennsylvania. It was so nice to get away and not worry about school and jobs. When we got there we did some last minute shopping and relaxed. We have some good friends going to school at Penn State and they were able to come and visit us. It was so good to see them and to see their cute little Cosette and how much she has grown. Another day we went to Philadelphia with Braeden's brother Clayton and his girlfriend and walked around and saw a cool light show in Macy's and ate really greasy, yummy philly cheese steaks. We pretty much ate lots of food the whole time we were there. Eating tons of food was one thing that Braeden was really looking forward to. Christmas eve morning Braed's grandpa used to take all the cousins and go to McDonald's for breakfast, so we are keeping that tradition and we went to McDonald's and had a good time. Christmas Eve night we had a big dinner and had some people over. Christmas morning came and it was nice to sleep in. We opened presents, ate a big breakfast, went to visit a family friend at the nursing home and went to Braeden's mom's favorite place, Longwood Gardens. It's basically a huge estate with tons of crazy landscape and flowers. We also got to talk to Braeden's brother who is on a mission in Mexico. It was good to hear how he is doing. We were there for that huge blizzard that was on the east coast and got a little bit of snow at his parent's house. We were hoping to get snowed in. Sadly, they got the runway cleared and we came back to reality. It was such a nice trip and we love spending time there. I am so lucky to have such wonderful in-laws! Here are some pictures of our trip!

Braed and Nate freezing walking around Valley Forge

Cute little Cosette and Rachael

Philadelphia

Reading Terminal Market

The boys playing with Christmas toys

This is what they did A LOT

Cute picture of Braeden's parents at Longwood Gardens

This wall was so cool!

On a side note... I got a nursing job this week!

Graduation!

2010-12-28T18:39:00.000-08:00

We did it! I can't believe we have FINALLY graduated and are done with school (for now). I never thought this day would come. It's a happy/sad moment for me. Happy that I accomplished something I never thought I could do and sad that I won't have class with some of my friends anymore. One thing I have learned is that you can do anything if you believe in yourself. It has been a great two years! We still will be studying hard for the NCLEX, so wish us luck!

Braeden's brother Cameron pinning us

Braeden being creepy

Braeden and his friends from class

What are our plans now?
Well... Braeden found out two days before Christmas that he got a job at the hospital here in St. George. Looks like we will be here for another year! I will apply everywhere and hopefully something will work out! Nursing jobs are hard to come by here, so we are blessed Braeden got a job.

Happy 4 years!

2010-11-24T13:55:00.000-08:00

Us four years ago today!
I have been so blessed to have Braeden in my life and am so grateful for everything he does for me. Love you Braed!

November is here already?

2010-11-07T16:56:00.000-08:00

40 DAYS
till graduation!
woo hoo!

Just wanted to remind myself that there is an end in sight... :)

Carving Pumpkins

2010-11-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

It had been a long time since we have carved pumpkins so we decided to this year. We carved pumpkins with our friends Alicia and Brant while we listened to spooky music. Hope everyone had a FUN Halloween!

Braeden's is the Phillies pumpkin... unfortunately it was not good luck and mine I just did a silly face, but it kind of looks like an old man.

Alicia and Brant are much more creative and talented then we are!

HaLLoWeEn

2010-10-13T14:34:00.000-07:00

We LOVE Halloween time because...

of all the yummy TREATS!

Hope you eat lots of yummy treats too :)

Family

2010-10-07T08:51:00.000-07:00

So we started our last semester of school and as of today we graduate in 72 DAYS! I still don't feel the excitement and realization that we are graduating, but I am sure it will come sooner or later. We both are working 2 part time jobs along with school so we keep pretty busy these days. Braeden's mom and brother were here over labor day and then the next weekend we drove to Anaheim to stay with my family. They were on vacation and we figured 5 1/2 hours was a much better drive to see them than a 17 hour drive and my brother is turning 19 and we probably wont see him again before his mission. So I just wanted to post some pictures of all the fun times we HAD before we got really busy!

Labor Day: Kanarraville Falls Hike

Cassidy, Susan and Me

Braeden and his momma

Huntington Beach, California

My uncle Spence lives in Huntington Beach so we got to go to dinner with him and the fam

My beautiful Momma

Gotta love this photo of the segways

My brother Nathan and I looking for shells

Pirate Dinner Show

Santa Monica, California

Brothers and dad

Santa Monica Pier

Me and Travis diggin' for things

Mom and Nikki freezing on the beach

September : Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

2010-09-30T17:18:00.000-07:00

I stumbled upon this blog today about a sweet little boy and would like to share it with you.

Skyler's Story

What a heartbreaking story. My heart and prayers go out to this family.

There is a place to donate if you feel the need to.

Disneyland!

2010-08-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

All summer long we have been trying to plan a trip to southern California and it finally happened! We went with Cameron and Cassidy and it was such a fun trip. I was super excited because I had never been to DISNEYLAND! It was really the happiest place on earth. I just felt like a little kid again. We stayed in Oceanside a couple blocks away from the beach and it was such nice weather. I am really tired of the HEAT in St. George and can't wait for it to cool down! I really miss the ocean (Puget Sound) and I hope we can live somewhere close by some day. Well we took a lot of pictures so you all better be prepared.

Cass and I

This was our second attempt to get a picture with Sully.. he does not stop walking so we just had to jump in front and snap a picture

Braed and Cam eating their giant turkey legs

It's a Small World

Mini's bed is not all that comfortable

Take a look at creepy Cameron in the background

Visiting Mickey in his house

A Bug's Life

Tarzan's Tree House

Tinkerbell's Fairy Land

I love the Tea Cups!

Playing paddle ball waiting for the sun to come out and the tide to go out so we could skimboard

It was a little chilly out

We finally found a good spot to skim...

but the sun never came out

This was a much needed vacation full of fun! I think our favorite part was going to Disneyland. Braeden had not been since he was 8 and I had NEVER been. It brought a lot of memories back for him and I made 1st time memories! My favorite rides were Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Matterhorn and all the princess story rides. Wish we could have done everything. Hopefully we can go back to Disneyland again before we start having kids!

Cliff Jumping

2010-08-11T11:42:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago we went to Sand Hollow to go cliff jumping. It was fun watching Braeden, Cassidy, Cameron and Dan jump while I took pictures. Maybe some day I will be brave enough and jump! :)

Braeden

Cassidy

The reservoir is so pretty with the bright blue water and red rock all around

Cameron and Dan

We will miss you!

2010-08-01T18:59:00.001-07:00

We went to Vegas last week to visit our friends who are moving to go to school at Penn State. We will miss having them some what close by! They just had a beautiful baby girl named Cosette and we had a fun time holding her and hanging out with Nate and Rachael :)

It seems like we always make kabobs when we get together... they are delicious!

Thanks guys, we had fun!

Visit from the Flint's

2010-07-25T16:36:00.000-07:00

Our friends Tyler, Brittany and little Calvin came to visit us last weekend. It was so much fun to have them here. We miss them and of course our other friends we left behind in Rexburg too! Here are some pictures of all the fun things we did.

Went to the river and played around in the water

Went to the pool because it was so HOT. This is Calvin.. he is my little buddy.

Tyler and Brit have never been Zion before so we took a day trip

Picnic lunch

Dixie rock... best view of St. George

We wanted a picture with Jesus, but the person who took the picture was clueless

Brigham Young's winter home

It was so much fun having them here. Thanks so much for coming to visit guys!
It is now the END of July and it is finally starting to feel like summer and now we have one month till school starts... where did the rest of the summer go? Oh well at least we graduate in DECEMBER!

Long or Short and Ice Blocking

2010-07-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

LONG ( keep growing it out)?Or SHORT?

I am having a hard time deciding if I should cut my hair short again. I like my hair short because its easy to do and with this heat it will cool me down. I kind of don't want to cut it because I can put my hair up and it's a change from what I normally have. Braeden will not help me decide, so I need your help.. do you like it short or longer?

Ice Blocking!

I had not been ice blocking in forever until the other day when we went with Cameron, Cassidy, Brittnie and Dan. It was so much fun! Thanks for the idea Cass!

Cass, me and Brittnie had the ride of our lives!

This was supposed to be a race, but Braeden took off way early...

Our nice wet bums!

Awhile ago...

2010-06-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

This was quite some time ago... over Memorial Day, but I thought I would share some pictures since I have nothing else to blog about. We went and did some camping with some of my family at Zion Ponderosa Ranch resort. It was a lot of fun! Camping is the best! :)

It was nice and sunny! Not too hot, just perfect. Lexie, Kenna and I were having fun blowing bubbles.

Waiting to go through the tunnel. I am glad I have such fun family... ha ha they were yelling the whole way through the tunnel and its a pretty long one!

In Zion at Weeping Rock

While we were in Zion we ran into some familiar faces
(Braeden, his cousin Christian and Cameron)

Getting ready for our ride

Me and my little buddy

My sister is in St. George on a mission and next week she will be leaving to go home. I am sad she wont be so close anymore! She is a great missionary and a great example to me. Hope she will come back and visit me now that she knows people here!

Its bday time!

2010-06-19T07:56:00.000-07:00

Happy 26th Birthday
to Braeden!!!

Pictures

2010-06-02T11:58:00.000-07:00

My next door neighbor's friend took beautiful pictures of their little family and it got me thinking that I want some nice picture of Braeden and I. We have been married for almost 4 years and we have never had our pictures taken by a talented photographer before. Nope not even for our engagements or our wedding pictures, which I regret now. I often joke to braeden that we are going to rent him a tux and take wedding pictures again ha ha, but he would never do it. So we got some cute pictures of us! They look like engagements, but that's okay, I love them.

Hope you enjoyed them! Thanks Morgan for showing me her beautiful pictures and giving me the idea and thanks to Kim who took them!
Kimberly Henrie Photography

Cheers to Fresh Salsa!

2010-05-28T16:00:00.000-07:00

Yea I know its been awhile since I have posted and I have been meaning to I promise. I mentioned before in a previous post about bountiful baskets. It is wonderful and you should check it out to see if you have it in your area! The link again is... http://www.bountifulbaskets.org/. I got a whole bunch of tomatoes in our basket and Braed and I don't like to eat them, so I made some delicious salsa! It is sure good to eat on a hot summer day! More posts to come, I just wanted to share this recipe!

Fresh California Salsa

From: Allrecipes.com

4 Lrg tomatoes, diced

1/2 Lrg onion, minced

3 cloves garlic, minced

2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I put way more than that cause I LOVE cilantro)

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all together and add salt and pepper to taste! If you don't like chunky salsa like us, put half your tomatoes and all onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro into a food processor to chop it up a little more. Then put into a bowl and add the rest of your tomatoes and lime juice and it makes a perfect blend!

Valley of Fire

2010-03-28T19:08:00.000-07:00

Camping! We love camping and this past weekend we got invited to go camping with some of our friends. We went to the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and it was an awesome place to camp! Hope you enjoy the pictures and look forward to lots more adventure pictures through out the summer cause we are going to have some fun! Hopefully :)

Braeden, Kyle, Nate, Brant and Alicia

Playing some wiffle ball

Rachel and I getting smoked out by the fire.. the wind was blowing so hard while we were there! We all thought our tents were going to blow away. It was a rough night sleeping with all that wind!

There were petroglyphs everywhere and the park says that they are over 3000 years old. They were way cool and I wish I knew what they meant!

Nate found this hole and climbed in it and it was huge inside. Those are Braeden's feet.. he climbed in an odd way and didn't want to continue in, haha it looked like the rock ate him up. The next picture there were four people in the hole you can only see Nate, Brant (through the crack) and Braed's feet.

We all went rapelling before we headed back home. Everyone had a great time especially me, Rachel, and Melanie. We were sitting on this hill watching everyone and each of us had a bag of chips. It was like we were watching a movie and cheering everyone on haha it was fun. I wish I could have repelled... the last time we went rapelling was RIGHT before my wrists got bad so I didn't want to chance it because my wrists are better now. Maybe someday I can do it again! (click image to enlarge)

Left to right.. Nate & Rachel, Brant and Alicia, Braed & me, Jared (his wife Melanie left the night before.. wish she could have stayed!) and Melanie & Kyle. Thanks so much for inviting us Nate & Rachel and especially Jared! We are going to have to go again sometime this summer when it's a little warmer!

Bountiful Baskets

2010-03-18T16:35:00.001-07:00

Hello! My aunt told me about this great program called Bountiful Baskets Food co-op. You can get a laundry size basket full of produce for ONLY $15! They also have other things you can add to your basket like bread and granola. Go to bountifulbaskets.org and learn more about this program and see if its in your area! I know in some areas this program is really big so the baskets go fast, if your interested make sure you sign up for a basket around the start time in your area. It was confusing when I first got started so read carefully. If you need any help let me know!

Spring Break

2010-03-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

This past week was spring break and it was a much needed break from school. We went to back to Rexburg to visit some of our good friends and Braeden's brother. Everyone kept asking why are you going to Rexburg on your BREAK? Yes we could have gone some place warmer, but it's been almost 2 years since we moved from rexburg and since we have seen our friends, Kyle and Heather, Clay and Danielle and Brittany and Tyler, who still live there. It was just like old times, but with babies :)

My good friends Brittany and Heather just had babies about a month ago and they are 4 days apart. They are cute little buddies.

This is Calvin on the left, Brit's little one and Heathers babe, Kacen

It was so much fun to hold these little ones! Kacen was just starting to smile and it was so cute. Calvin had lots of happy smiley dreams. They were always in our arms :)

Everyone eating breakfast for dinner, yum my favorite! (From left to right: Kyle, Tyler, Braed, Calvin, me and Kacen, Danielle, Heather and Clay.) I wish we lived closer to all our friends! We miss you guys!

We had to get a picture with the BYU-Idaho sign. We didn't graduate there, but we sure have lots of memories and of course we met there :) I can't believe how much campus has changed since we have been gone. They are building a new conference center and it is huge! I didn't realize how much I miss Rexburg, until we drove into town. I was getting kind of emotional and Braeden was just looking at me like are you kidding me? haha. I just have ALOT of good memories there and I just miss the atmosphere there and our friends.

Me being so excited!

Yes it did snow there when we were there, but it was kind of fun. Our friends Clay and Danielle have a great dane named Dante and braed has wanted one for awhile now and he loves Dante! He now can't wait to get done with school and move into a place of our own so we can get one.

Braeden's brother Clayton is also going to school at BYU-Idaho and we got to spend some time with him. I am glad that we spent our spring break in Rexburg, because if all our friends move away who knows when we will ever make it back there! It was so good to see our friends and I hope we will see you guys again soon!!

Thanks again guys for the good time!

Kyle I hope this post makes you happy! :)

Chicken with Green Curry Sauce

2010-02-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

This recipe was delicious! If you like curry you will love this recipe and it is very easy to make. I found this recipe at My Kitchen Cafe

Chicken with Green Curry Sauce
adapted slightly from Robin Miller from the Food Network

2-3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
Salt and freshly grounded black pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 (14 oz) can coconut milk
1 (4 oz) can diced green chilies
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp Garam masala
1 tsp ground cumin
1 cup couscous, cooked according to package directions
2 Tbsp freshly chopped cilantro leaves

Season both sides of chicken with salt and black pepper. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook 2 minutes per side until golden brown.

In a medium bowl, whisk together coconut milk, green chilies, curry powder, garam masala, and cumin. Add mixture to chicken and bring to a simmer. Simmer 5 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and sauce reduces slightly. The sauce will be quite runny.. To thicken it up a bit, mix one tsp cornstarch with 2 Tbsp cold water and add it to the sauce and let it simmer for a few minutes to thicken. Serve chicken and green curry sauce over couscous (or rice) and garnish with cilantro.

Side note: The garam masala spice was hard to find, but I ended up finding it at walmart... just search hard.

New Favorite Recipe!

2010-01-30T19:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry if blogging about food is boring! That's all I really have to blog about because all we do is sleep, eat, study and exercise. We have found our new favorite recipe though! This is seriously soooo yummy. It is a recipe from Rachel Ray and everyone should try it if you like spicy thai food!

Thai Lettuce Cups

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
Salt and ground black pepper
1 red bell pepper, cut into strips
1/4 c. sweet chili sauce
1/4 c. honey
2 iceberg lettuce heads, cut into quaters and leaves gently removed to make lettuce cups
1/2 c. honey-roasted peanuts, chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1 handful basil, chopped (I just used 1 tsp chopped dry basil, I probably could of used more, but I didnt want to add too much)

Place in a large skillet over medium-high heat with EVOO, season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in pan until golden brown on all sides. If there is a lot of water in your pan because chicken was not completely thawed you will want to drain it. Add in the red pepper and cook until soft, about 3 minutes. Add in the chili sauce and honey and simmer to reduce it and coat the chicken. To serve, lay the leaves on a platter. Scoop some chicken mixture onto each leaf. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts, lime juice and basil (I just added it to the mixure at the end and it was good). Serve and enjoy!

We actually put the chicken mixture into a tortilla with some lettuce and rolled it up. It was very yummy! Next time we are going to try it as lettuce wraps.

We love pie

2010-01-20T19:45:00.000-08:00

We have a huge box of apples that are about to go to waste so I decided I needed to make something with them. I decided to make some apple pie, I have never made apple pie before so I was excited to try. It was so yummy! I found the recipe on allrecipes.com and I changed it a little to what the reviewers were saying. So here you go!

Aunt Bev's Famous Apple Pie

From: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

7 tart apples peeled and cored (I didn't use tart apples)

1 cup white sugar (I put half white half brown sugar)

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, or to taste (I put 2 tsp)

2 tbsp all purpose flour (I put 3 tbsp of flour and 3 tbsp of corn starch, made it so it wasn't runny)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (I put 3/4 tsp)

salt to taste (I forgot the salt and it was still was good)

2 unbaked pie shells

1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and cut apples into 1/4 inch slices. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, flour, corn starch, nutmeg, and salt; mix thoroughly. Pour the spice mix over the apples and stir until apples are coated. Line one crust in a 9 inch pie pan. A reviewer told me to brush on egg whites on the crust before you put the apples in, it helps so it doesnt get soggy. Place apples in the pie crust. Dot the apple filling evenly with butter. Fit the top crust over the apples. Press the crust down gently and cut 3 or 4 slits in the top. I also brushed egg whites on the top and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Check pie after 30 min of cooking: if the crust is already browned reduce the heat to 350 to allow apples to cook without the crust burning.

A reviewer also suggested to preheat a baking stone and cook pie on that so the dough can cook at the bottom all the way.

Thanks to Braeden for cutting all the apples and doing a lot of the work. I just told him what to do :)

I still have lots of apples so I will probably make another one!

This is Braeden's sweet potato pie he made a few days ago and it was surprisingly good! It was very similar to pumpkin pie.

Love it!

2010-01-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

Lately I have been finding all new recipes and making them to see if they are a keeper or if they are no good and thrown in the trash. This recipe is from a ward cookbook that I have and it was SO good! Everyone should try it! It was very easy to make.

Chili's Chicken Enchilada Soup

1 1/4 c. chicken broth
10 (6 inch) corn tortilla's, cut into 1/2 inch strips
1 c. green enchilada sauce
1 (10 oz) red enchilada sauce
1 tsp cumin
4 cooked, boneless, skinless chicken breasts, shredded or cubed
1 c. half and half
1 tomato, chopped (optional garnish)
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced (optional garnish)
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese (optional garnish)

Combine chicken stock and tortilla strips in a large pot. Cook over medium heat until soften and broth thickens somewhat. Stir in enchilada sauces and cumin. Stir in chicken and half and half; heat through. Garnish with diced tomato, jalapeno pepper, and cheese. Serve with tortilla chips, dorito's or frito's

The garnishes make it even better so use them! I used 4 large chicken breasts and it was too much for me so if they are small use 4 breasts if large I would use 2 or 3.

I am going to try and post my favorite new recipe every week! TRY I said... school starts next week and that means its time for life to get BUSY again! Half way done though so ONLY 2 more semesters to go! YAY! :)

Christmas

2009-12-29T21:40:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year with my family in Utah! I am so glad my family was able to travel from washington to spend Christmas with us. We had alot of family parties, went shopping, went to my grandparents cabin in Woodland, visited the Brown's and lots more! Hope everyone else had a wonderful Christmas!

Thanksgiving

2009-12-04T21:30:00.000-08:00

This year we were able to spend Thanksgiving with Braeden's family in Arizona. It was great to see everyone! We have not seen the Keil's that live in California for over 2 years so it was nice to see them. We ate lots and lots of yummy food and went to see Blind Side (good movie!) and New Moon (also good!). Family pictures! We missed those who could not come!

Played a crazy game of spoons, took turns singing some karaoke songs (not my favorite.. haha) luckily I got the shortest song and I was glad! We also went to see the Mesa Temple lights.

Cassidy, Tegan and I at temple lights

We were so glad to be able to go visit Ashley everyday and that she loved having all the family in town. Wish we were there all the time to make her happy!

One last visit to see Ash before we left. We love her and hope she gets feeling better so she can go home!

What a wonderful thanksgiving! It was a loooooong drive home (stupid hoover dam) but it was well worth it.

A dinner worth making...

2009-11-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

Tomato Tortellini Soup

1 can chicken broth
8 oz. tortellini
1 can tomato soup
1/2 tub of chive & onion cream cheese

Boil tortellini in chicken broth until tender. In a separate bowl, using about 1/4 cup of the hot chicken broth, combine with cream cheese. Whisk until melted. Add tomato soup to tortellini. Pour melted cream cheese and broth back into soup. Stir all together.
Makes about 4 servings
**I would double the recipe and use the whole tub of cream cheese doesn't make much and you will want more!

Yummy Breadsticks
(Read directions carefully)

1 1/2 cup warm water
1 TBSP yeast
2 TBSP sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 TSP salt
1/2 cup butter
Garlic salt
Parmesan cheese

Mix first 5 ingredients and knead for 3 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes. Heat oven to 375. Melt 1/2 butter on cookie sheet in oven. Roll out dough and cut into long thin strips. Twist and place in butter, put them very close together, they will easily peel apart. Sprinkle with garlic and parmesan cheese ( a little more than a sprinkle is good!). Let rise for 30 minutes. Bake for 20 minutes at 375. Makes lots and they are yummy for a few days!

Pictures are not very good, but these recipes are YUMMY! Enjoy!

Happy 3rd and Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

Tuesday the 24th is our 3rd year anniversary! I cannot believe it has been three years.. time sure goes by fast. It has been a great three years and I am so grateful for everything Braeden does for me. We went for a nice sunday walk today at Snow Canyon State Park. It was nice to just relax and have some fun with each other.
Being Thanksgiving this week I was thinking of the things I am grateful for. I am so grateful for the beautiful earth that we live on that Heavenly Father and Jesus created for us. I am so grateful for my family and friends and for the gospel we have in our lives. I love this time of year! Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving this week! Thanks to everyone who has made me smile :)

Still HERE!

2009-11-22T16:28:00.000-08:00

So we have been way busy this semester and glad it is almost over! Two more semesters till we are done! YAY! We really have not been up to much so I never had anything to blog about. Yes our life is pretty boring right now, but hey it will get more exciting in years to come! The only real exciting thing we have done this last semester that was adventurous was we went repelling with our friends Nate and Rachel in Vegas. That was so much fun. It was kind of scary, but I did it and I was proud of myself!

It doesn't look like I'm scared... but I was

We had so much fun thanks guys!

Home Sweet Home

2009-08-11T12:56:00.001-07:00

Last week I went home to visit my family. I was there for a week, but it sure went by fast! I hope it won't be another year before I can go home again. Oh how I miss the water and the green trees! Enjoy the pictures! Redondo Beach
Boy have my brothers grown!

Top of Rattle Snake Mountain

Brown's Point

Skimboarding and hanging out at the beach

Friends I have not seen in forever!

It had been almost 3 years since I have done a session at the Seattle temple. Temples are wonderful :)

Silly Girls

2009-07-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Having some fun with my little cousins Rilynn and Mckenna

Visiting the Brown's

2009-07-22T16:20:00.000-07:00

We went to visit Brooke, Chris and her cute little boys, Landon and Carter. Carter is so cute and cuddly! We hope when we have kids they will be as cute as their boys! It was so good to see them. I miss living by Brooke. We grew up down the street from each other so we have known each other for a long time and I hope some day we will live close by again!

Cute little Carter

Braeden is going to be a great dad some day. He loved holding little Carter!

We miss you guys and next time we visit it will be for longer!

Someday...

2009-06-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

I am going to get a sewing machine and learn how to sew

I want to take a photography class and learn how to use photoshop

I want learn how to cut hair. I already know some basics, but I have always wanted to go to beauty school to learn more

I want to take piano lessons again... My mom teaches piano lessons and she used to teach me, but I got frustrated a lot back then, {sorry mom :) } and now I regret quiting.

There are so many things I want to do! I hope I can get to do these things someday!

Sis. Wheelwright

2009-05-20T16:18:00.000-07:00

My sister is on her mission in St. George right now. I can't believe she got called here right before we moved here! Crazy! She has been here for over two months and is loving every minute of it. She spends half her time at the Visitors Center/ Tabernacle and the other half teaching investigators. I am lucky to see her every once in a while. It's so crazy that she lives 2 blocks from us. It's kind of hard for me because I just want to go see her all the time! She is a great missionary and has grown so much since she has been out here. We went to the VC today to see her and to get a tour. She is a different person than before her mission, in a very good way :). I am greatful that she is able to serve a mission and to learn and grow through all her experiences. I hope someday we can go on a mission and serve the Lord.

What we have been up to...

2009-04-30T10:38:00.000-07:00

Well hi! I know it has been a long time. We just finished our first semester of nursing school! Woo Hoo! We both feel really blessed to be in the program and that we are doing well in it. We are loving St. George. What beautiful weather, but I must say I do miss rexburg, especially our friends we left behind. I also must say I do miss living in Clearfield. We had some fun times there! Maybe we will come back someday. :) But really I do love it here too. All we really have been up to is school! So, I do have some more time and I will try to update our blog more often! I know I always say that but I will! (If anything is going on). Here are some pictures of what we have been up to...

We have been up to my grandparents cabin a few times this last winter

We went to Arizona to visit some of Braeden's family and on the way back we went to Sedona. It is such a beautiful town!

I had never been to Arizona before and I just had to take a picture of the cacti (is that plural for more than one cactus?)

We also went to the Grand Canyon. It was so cool! Braeden was done looking after 2 minutes but I just found it so facinating!

We just got back from camping in Moab with some family this past weekend. This was on our ATV adventure. It was a cool ride

Mr. cool Braeden

We went and hiked at the arches

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-21T22:53:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I have blogged. We didn't have the internet and we still don't. We just moved to St. George and are now heading to PA to be with Braeden's family for Christmas. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I will try and do better about blogging next year!

Here we come St George!

2008-10-09T13:41:00.000-07:00

Braeden and I found out yesterday that we both have been accepted into the nursing program at Dixie! I have been so nervous to get our letters, but no worries we are in! I can finally see an end to my education! We start school on January 5th so we will be packing up and moving again probably before Christmas. I am just so excited!

The house

2008-09-29T17:25:00.000-07:00

So this is the house we are renting. It is so nice to have our own place. I wish we had the money to buy a house, but we probably wont be in one place long enough to have buy a house.

This is the front living room with nothing in it.

Our TV room

This was my picture frame collage I have been working on. I saw this in a magazine one time and you just put scrapbook paper or wall paper in the frames. I think it turned out pretty cute.

The kitchen

This is our walk in closet and master bathroom

These are the other two rooms and another bathroom. One of the rooms I use as my craft room. It's nice to have a place I can put all my craft crap. I had a picture of our bedroom but it wouldn't upload for some reason. There is also another bathroom, washer and dryer room and a full basement that isn't finished. I don't know how we are going to move into an apartment in a couple of months. I just love having all the space! Sorry it took so long!

Pictures are coming soon!

2008-09-24T17:05:00.000-07:00

Pictures are coming soon of our house. The problem is we don't have the internet so we have to go to the public library. It sucks. We are doing good though and having fun living in Utah. We finished our CNA program in 3 weeks and we are now looking for jobs. So stay tuned and I will upload some photos soon.

Not homeless anymore!

2008-08-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

We finally found some where to live. We did had a place, but the guy gave it to someone else and we were waiting on this other place for 2 1/2 weeks. So we moved down to utah not having a place. That was very stressful, but we have just been living at my grandparents for the week and going to school. I am glad we didn't get that apartment cause we got a sweet place and a good deal too! I am super excited. It's a three bedroom house, only a couple years old. I'll post some pictures when we move in!

Guitar Lessons

2008-08-20T20:47:00.000-07:00

Not to many people know that Braeden plays the guitar. He is quite good. He needs to play more though! He got out Megan's guitar and started teaching my cousin Taylore. It was cute so I took a picture.

Megan your guitar lessons are next!

Cameron and Cassidy's Wedding

2008-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Utah for Braeden's brothers wedding. What a wonderful sealing and reception. We had a lot of fun. We haven't seen Braeden's family for a year and we were missing them so much. It was fun to get to know more of his family. We had a family reunion on the Keil side last year where I got to know his family on that side and now this weekend I got to know his family on the Cook side. That was fun. Hope we can move to St. George soon then we will have lots of fun! Cameron and Cassidy are so good together. We are so happy for them! Congrats!

2008-08-02T12:32:00.000-07:00

Not a lot has been going on. Just trying to pack up and get cleaning. We did find a place to move into so that is good! We just don't know exactly when we can move into the place yet. Braeden just has been working on the grounds on campus and I have been at home trying to get stuff done. We are in the process of filling out applications for nursing. Man it's stressful! Just wish us luck. I did get my hair cut yesterday! I was scared to cut it the way I did, but I'm glad I did cause I like it! I got some new shoes too. If anyone is looking for the most comfortable shoes ever you should get a pair on Sanuk shoes. They feel like your wearing sandals. I love them. I just love shoes :) We probably wont be posting a lot this fall. We aren't going to have the internet which really stinks, but I will try to post.

Summer Semester is Over!!

2008-07-19T22:28:00.000-07:00

It was a very busy week for the both of us. For some reason more busy for me which does not make sense cause I was a part time student and braeden was a full time student. How does that work out? I am just glad it's over! It is kind of starting to hit me that we are moving in a few weeks and we are not coming back. We have both been here for 4 years and it is time to move on, but I will miss Rexburg. Braeden's brother came into town and we are playing mom and dad. We got him all checked in for freshman academy and took him grocery shopping and got him all settled in. It is good to see some of braeden's family, it has been awhile. His other brother is coming here in the fall too. Right when we are about to move his family comes to school here. It sure would have been nice to have family around! We did have family around, but they graduated and moved away to wa. Well all I can say right now is that...

FINALS ARE OVER!! yeah!

The end

The Fourth of July

2008-07-09T10:05:00.001-07:00

I love the fourth of July. I love parades and fire works and the whole shabang. We made a big delicious breakfast!

Yum yum

The parade from our living room window. Best seats.

Camping at Wade Lake

2008-07-05T13:39:00.000-07:00

We haven't been camping in awhile so we decided to go last weekend, before things start getting busy with school ending. We had a great time and it was such a beautiful lake! We were right outside of Yellow Stone. We went with a couple of our neighbors. We did however get a flat tire right when we pulled in our camping spot. That was not fun, but good thing there was a spare tire. No mosquitoes either is was great!

Me and Brittany. We used to be roommates and now we are neighbors, it's fun!

We could not figure out how to set this tent up. The instructions were to hard to follow.

It was to cold to get in.

Sorry it's been awhile!

2008-06-23T20:28:00.000-07:00

Braeden's birthday was last week. He is 24 now! He had to celebrate his birthday by himself because I went home to Washington! I miss that place and the smell of the ocean! My best friend got married and I got to see my family. It was a short trip, but it was fun. We have been very busy with school and we are in the process of applying to nursing programs and looking for somewhere to live in the fall.

Brooke's wedding. She was a beautiful bride!!

We have known each other since we were 5 and I am so glad she has found
someone to make her so happy!

Um this is a cute picture of Braeden when he was a little boy.
Now he is getting old, but I guess he is still cute :) I'm sure he
will be glad I put this on here haha

ABC Tag

2008-05-18T20:10:00.001-07:00

A- Attached or Single? Attached
B- Best Friend- Braeden!
C- Cake or Pie? Oh I love cake but I like pie too. I just like all sweets!!
D- Day of Choice? Friday for sure
E- Essential item? chapstick
F- Favorite Color? Green but sometimes black (I'm not gothic though okay?)
G- Gummy Bears or Worms? Gummy Bears
H- Hometown? Federal Way, Wa
I- Favorite indulgence? Buying a new pair of shoes!! I love shoes
J- January or July? July, I think I would rather be hot
K- Kids: None now but someday!
L- Life isn't complete without? Food, my family, friends and the church
M- Marriage date: November 24, 2006
N- Number of Brothers and Sisters: 1 younger sister and 2 younger brothers
O- Oranges or Apples? Apples
P- Phobia and fears: I have a fear of jumping into deep water
Q- Quote:

"May we pledge to rededicate our lives to the work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who so willingly died that we might live. May we follow in His footsteps each day." -Thomas S. Monson
R- Reason to Smile: watching and listening to Braeden play his guitar
S- Season of choice: I like the fall
T- Tag: Brooke and Brittany
U- Unknown fact about me: well its probably well known but I can't make decisions
V- Vegetable? carrots or corn
W- Worst Habit? Not putting my clothes away when I change
X- ray or ultrasound? ultrasound
Y- Your favorite food? Thai
Z- Zodiac sign? Virgo

My New Hobby

2008-05-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I have blogged. I've been busy and I just don't know what to blog about. Nothing is really going on right now! My friend taught me how to do embroidery. So that has been fun. I have done 4 projects so far and it is very easy! You just have to have the patience. Here are two of my projects I've done.

Semester Break

2008-04-24T20:46:00.001-07:00

Over the semester break we went on a road trip. It was a lot of fun. My cousin got blessed, so we went to her blessing. We also went down to St. George and visited Braeden's brother. We also checked out Dixie's campus. We hope to be moving down their and going to school there soon. Then we drove down to Las Vegas to visit some friends. It was good to see them. After a few days we made our way back up to New harmony and had lots of fun there. Went four wheeling, swimming, hot tubbing and just relaxed. We went back to my grandma's and I went to Brooke's bridal shower. I am so excited for you Brooke! Then we had to come back to school where it was nice and cold!

This is my cousin Taylore with one of the six puppies. We wanted to get one so bad!

My sister came down to hang out with us. That was fun.

We went to Zion's national Park and it was so beautiful!

My best friend Brooke is getting married in June, and I was able to go to her bridal shower!
It was a fun vacation and it was so nice to relax and get out of Rexburg.