Merry Christmas!!!

If there were more days like Christmas, our world would be filled with the joy of song . . . the spirit of goodness, the colors of happiness, and the hope of believers everywhere. May it always be Christmas in your heart.

Holiday Cookies

Peppermint Snowball Cookies
These are some of my favorite cookies to make at Christmas time!

1/4 cup crushed peppermint hard candies
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup crushed peppermint hard candies
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups Gold Medal ® all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS
Heat oven to 325 . Mix 1/4 cup crushed candies and 1/4 cup powdered sugar; reserve. Mix butter, 1/3 cup powdered sugar, 1/4 cup crushed candies and the vanilla in medium bowl. Stir in flour and salt.
Shape dough by level measuring tablespoonfuls into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet; roll in reserved candy mixture. Cool completely on wire rack. Roll in candy mixture again.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!

May your stuffing be tastyMay your turkey plump,May your potatoes and gravyHave nary a lump.May your yams be deliciousAnd your pies take the prize,And may your Thanksgiving dinnerStay off your thighs!

www.angelfire.com/super2/lilbitcountry

Happy 2nd Birthday to our little ladybug Grace! She is two today! I can't believe how fast these two years have gone by. Our big birthday plans for today include Chik fil a for dinner and a birthday ice cream at Baskin Robbins!

Our Little Pirate!!!

Here's a picture of Grace from Halloween. She did so good with keeping up with the kids trick or treating. We were out there for at least an hour. I of course ate most of her candy! :) She had a great time at the party we went to and wore herself out!

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween Everyone! Just wanted to share one of my favorite recipes that I make every year for Halloween. Sounds a little odd but it is soooooo good!

Pasta with Creamy Pumpkin Sauce
1 pkg. (16 oz.) penne pasta, uncooked

1 lb. of maple flavored sausage
1 pkg. (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Cream Cheese, cubed
1/2 cup KRAFT Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp. ground red pepper
ground nutmeg to taste

COOK pasta as directed on package and brown the sausage in a skillet.
MEANWHILE, place cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, butter and milk in large saucepan; cook on low heat until cream cheese is melted, stirring frequently. Add pumpkin and spices; cook until heated through, stirring occasionally.
ADD pasta and sausage; toss lightly. Serve topped with additional Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Heartbroken!

I'm incredibly sad to announce that Richard's mom passed away sometime Monday night. We are devastated. It's such a shock because she was fairly young and healthy. Richard found her at her home. She appeared to go very peacefully in her sleep, which is a comfort. She will be horribly missed and we love her very much. I'm so sad that she won't be here to watch Grace grow up. I know she'll be watching from above though!

Happy Birthday Tina

Yesterday was my very great friend Tina's birthday. The big 30. We had so much fun hanging out with her at the U of U tailgate lot to celebrate her big day! Tina is an absolutely AWESOME friend!

Woo Hoo! It's October!!! My favorite month. I love everything about October! The weather, the football, Halloween! I'm planning on taking Grace to Gardner Village this month to look at all the fun Halloween stuff. They've got a thing going on later in the month called Wee Witches Weekend with some really fun activities for kids. I think Grace will love Halloween this year. She points out pumpkins, "ghosties" & witches everytime we pass a decorated yard or store. So much fun!

A day at the Zoo!!!

We took Grace to the zoo yesterday and she had a blast. She had a great time seeing all of the animals and riding on their little train there. It was fun to watch her reaction to all the different animals. :)

Ute Game

Woo hoo! Utes won the first game of the season. Here's a pic of Richard, Scott & Brian hanging out after the game!

Woo Hoo! It's almost Football season. The first Ute game is this Saturday and then Sunday Richard & his friends have their annual fantasy football draft. GOOOOOOOO Utes!!!!! I admit I'm not a HUGE football fanatic but I love the start of football season because it means Fall is coming and I adore the Fall. It it hands down my favorite time of year. The weather, the food, the holidays and even the clothes are awesome. Yay for Fall!

Yummy New Recipe

Felt like sharing this recipe from the new Pampered Chef season! SOOOOO delicious!

The Pampered Chef ®Lemony Moroccan Chicken PitasRecipe
1 lemon, divided
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil, divided
6 (6-in.) flat pita bread rounds (without pockets)
1 large red bell pepper (about 1 cup finely diced)
2 cups finely diced cooked chicken
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro
2 tbsp Moroccan Rub
1/4 cup water
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese
Crumbled feta cheese (optional)
Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut lemon in half crosswise using (5-in.) Santoku Knife; set half aside for later use. Slice remaining lemon half using Ultimate Mandoline fitted with v-shaped blade. Sprinkle lemon slices with salt and place in Prep Bowl; drizzle with 1 tbsp of the oil. Microwave on HIGH 1-2 minutes or until slices are softened. Set aside to cool.
Trim pitas to form 6-in. squares using Bread Knife; discard trimmings. Cut pitas in half diagonally to create triangles. Arrange pitas close together on Large Bar Pan. Bake 8-10 minutes or until pitas begin to brown.
Meanwhile, finely dice bell pepper and chicken. Pat lemon slices dry with paper towels. Finely chop lemon slices and cilantro using Chef's Knife.
Heat rub and remaining 2 tbsp oil in (10-in.) Skillet over medium-high heat 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add bell pepper; sauté 1-2 minutes or until crisp-tender. Add chicken, chopped lemon, cilantro and water. Juice reserved lemon half into Skillet using Citrus Press; cook and stir 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Add mozzarella cheese to Skillet; stir until cheese is melted and fully incorporated.
Remove bar pan from oven to Stackable Cooling Rack. Spread chicken mixture over pitas. Sprinkle with feta cheese, if desired. Serve immediately.
Yield: 6 servings

Feelin' good...sort of....finally!

Yay, I'm finally starting to feel like a normal person. For those who I haven't been in touch with lately, after about 4 months of weird pain that nobody could explain, and after 2 surgeries, I had a third and hopefully final surgery on June 24th to have my right kidney removed, which I believe was causing my pain all along. Back in March, I started having some pain in my lower back and abdomen on my left side, had a ct scan done and found out I had a narrowing of my ureter, which was causing some swelling in my right kidney. The narrowing was caused by a blockage, what was blocking it is unknown, they think it was scar tissue. SO I had that done and then my pain on my left side came back, thinking it was possibly endometriosis or something, I went to my OBGYN and ended up going in for exploratory surgery. Didn't have endometriosis, but I did have a huge cyst on my right ovary that was about to burst. After a couple of weeks the pain in my left side was back so I had another ct scan thinking it may be kidney stones, it wasn't, but they saw that my right kidney had gotten worse and was pretty much not functioning anymore. So surgery was scheduled. They did it laporoscopically so I only had to stay overnight in the hospital, and I only missed a week & a half of work and just have four small incision sites. Whhheeewww, long story huh. Just wanted to catch people up because I know that there are lots of friends that haven't heard about the surgery yet. Anyway, I'm feeling much better and believe that even though the bad kidney was on the opposite side as the pain I was having that the bad kidney was somehow causing the pain....because the pain hasn't returned. For those of you who had already heard about the surgery, thanks for all your prayers & thoughts! :)

Four random things I like about my boyfriend:
1. He makes me laugh.
2. He's smart.
3. He's a great daddy.
4. He's cute.
Four jobs I have had:
1. Sweeper at my old elementary school.
2. Invoice clerk for a trucking company.
3. Admin Assistant at Axiom Financial.
4. Admin Secretary at IHC.
4 Movies I have watched more than once:
1. Pirates of the Caribbean
2. Steel Magnolias
3. Sweet Home Alabama
4. Anchorman
Four TV shows I watch:
1. House
2. Heroes
3. My Boys
4. Family Guy
Four places I have been:
1. Las Vegas
2. Denver
3. Los Angeles
4. Jamaica
Four people who email me regularly:
1. Tina
2. Michele
3. Di
4. Chris
Four of my favorite foods:
1. Rice
2. Pasta
3. Artichoke Dip
4. Thai food
Four places I would like to visit:
1. Greece
2. Ireland
3. England
4. Portland Oregon
Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Watching Grace grow
2. Halloween/Fall
3. Hopefully taking a vacation
4. Christmas

Happy Birthday Richard

Today is Richard's birthday! The big 33. I'm taking him out for some yummy BBQ tonight!

Our date

Richard and I went on a date today. We had dinner at The Mayan (so much better since they restyled the restaurant and the menu) and we went to see Will Ferrell's new movie, StepBrothers. So funny. I highly recommend it. It's silly humor but it kept me laughing the whole way through.

Dancing Queen!

Weeee....I'm having a fun day at home with Grace. Right now we're dancing to music from my playlist. Rock on!!!

First Post

Wooo, it's my first blog post. Nothing much going on at the moment. Just learning how to do this blog stuff. More posts to come!