cedar city and vegas weekend!

DISCLAIMER: this is going to be a long post.

shelly, cory's mom, flew into vegas and spent two weeks in cedar city at cory's granny's house. on her last weekend in cedar city, all of us kids went down to visit shelly, granny and dorothy! on friday, chad (brother) hitched a ride down from idaho and drove with cory and i in our car and adam and jodie (sister and future brother-in-law) drove in the prius. we arrived in cedar city about three hours later, around 11 pm. we were exhausted! cory's granny lives with her gal pal dorothy...they literally are like thelma and louise. on saturday morning, we went to ihop and DI where i scored some AWESOME samsonite suitcases for $3 apiece! i'm planning on making end tables of them. they're shades of grey/black, so i want some that are bright yellow, orange or blue. anyway, after that, adam and jodie took engagement pictures and we prepared for a mini thanksgiving with the fam. the star of the show? why, that would be the turducken that granny cooked! it was pretty good-i only ate the turkey with cranberry sauce, my fave. we ate up because granny and dorothy are notorious for their game marathons. usually it's five crowns, wizards and mexican train. we had brought our own games down this time and taught everyone how to play bang. it took forever because we had so many people and some people couldn't really cheat at the game...afterwards we played five crowns, which shelly won, wresting the title of "granny's favorite" from chad to herself.

sunday morning, we woke up and said goodbye to chad, who drove our car back to provo where he met his ride back to ideaho. we then went to church and came home to leave for VEGAS! oh man, i had never been to las vegas and just pictured girls in skimpy clothes walking around and lots of fluorescent lights. we arrived around 2ish and walked through the aria hotel and the bellagio hotel. mostly vegas is hotels, with casinos and malls inside them. those are the two nicest hotels, according to adam-our vegas guide :) he's been there a bunch of times and has this membership which allows him to stay at those hotels for free or for very little. unfortunately, we were not staying at those AMAZING works of art. seriously, they had tons of pools and floors and restaurants and lights. all the parking is free because they want you to gamble. which people do like crazy! we stayed at the new york new york hotel because adam had originally booked it for shelly and her sister, who couldn't come out and so they had it reserved for two nights and only needed it for one after aunt steph couldn't go...so that's why we went. the new york new york hotel's pool was closed for the season which was really sad. we are already planning a trip back to stay at the aria in the next few months.

so we walked around and looked at all the crazy sights and went in all the couture shops like jimmy choo and fendi...where cory talked to the sales girl in japanese and totally made her day. at fendi, she showed us a purple alligator skin coat that was...$245,000! INSANE. jodie and i lusted after the diamonds at tiffany's (not really) and we made our way to the hotel to check. after relaxing for a bit, and a little bit of football, we walked about 20 minutes to the bellagio. we walked everywhere in vegas, but it doesn't really feel like a long walk because there's so much action and so much to see! we were all famished by the time we made it to the infamous bellagio buffet! this meal was the only thing we paid for on the whole trip, and it was the most expensive meal we've ever eaten (about $30 per person) but i daresay it was worth it. the buffet was this huge dining room and at the end was the kitchen/buffet area with all these stations with every food you can imagine! they had the grill with all the meats and the vegetables and the fruits and desserts and asian, mexican, italian, pizzas, ice cream, breads...everything! i was determined to eat at least $30 of food, so cory and i started off with the BEST kobe beef we had ever eaten. it was delish. after that, we both stuck to our favorites. i had steak, ribs, crab, SUSHI, SUSHI, SUSHI, pesto mashed potatoes and dessert-oh man. all the desserts were somewhat bite-sized, so i grabbed carrot cake, chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse in a waffle cone, pecan tart, and the most amazing cheesecake. cory, adam and jodie all had their favorite foods too. it was GOOD. and we stayed for over two hours, so as to make sure we ate as much as humanly possible. i'm really craving sushi right now.

after our meal/experience, we decided to check out the bellagio fountain show. it was really beautiful. it plays every fifteen minutes and the water shoots up almost as high as the hotel! it reminded me of disneyworld. adam then wanted us to see the volcano at casesar's palace. so we walked another 20-30 minutes down to that hotel/casino and looked at the aquarium and waited for the mechanical volcano to erupt...which never happened. nobody bothered to put up a "out of order" sign either. lame. it took us about 45 minutes to walk back to our hotel (which i timed) and didn't even realize it took us that long. all the lights were glowing and there's always music playing (songs that i know!). oh, a major downside to vegas and this is SO prevalent, is the SMOKE. people smoke cigarettes like no other! it is everywhere you go, especially as you walk through the casinos, which you have to do to get most places. gross. it's funny cause everything smells like smoke, even the restaurant lobbies, and then the stores/malls are all WAY overperfumed. like it's sickening how much perfume they pump in. when we got back to the hotel, jodie and i went to bed right away. adam and cory decided to go check out the hotel casino. cory had a budget of $20...i don't know adam's :) in the morning, i woke up and cory was out $20 and adam had made $369! he was very happy. i think they had a good time people watching and being grateful for their standards. one other thing the casinos do is not have drinking fountains because they want you to buy drinks. and they pump oxygen in to make you stay awake. it's also very dry. and there are no windows so you don't know what time it is. the casinos have the gambling thing down to a science, and boy, it works! (or so it appears)

on monday, the boys slept in till 11 am. i was up around 8, so i just napped and played on my phone, read restaurant reviews...etc. adam wanted us to try hash house a-go-go...which if you're ever in vegas, GO THERE! it was fantastic. it's in the quad hotel/casino. we checked out and drove there. it was gorgeous outside! like in the sixties. and when we walked through the hotel, there was a tina turner impersonator singing on stage. it was awesome. the restaurant usually has a wait. we waited maybe 20 minutes and there are not a lot of servers. food ranges from $7-$16, but they give you a TON. everything on the menu looked so good. i settled on the brown sugar and banana pancakes, and i got a side of the grilled mashed potatoes. the pancakes were HUGE, as evidenced in the picture and they were DIVINE. the best pancakes i have EVER eaten. ever. the potatoes were alright-good, but nothing special, however they were like a family size portion. cory got the vanilla waffle and bacon and eggs. jodie got the same. adam got the snickers pancakes combo. he loves them and i had a bite-they were good. but not as good as mine ;) oh while, we were waiting for our table, adam stuck a $5 bill in a machine and won $215. no big deal. so he bought us breakfast! thanks adam!

shelly, granny and dorothy drove down to vegas that day so they could spend the night in the new york new york hotel and then shelly flew home the next day. anyway, so after breakfast, we met them at the hotel and went to M&M world! which was crazy huge and i had no idea that people loved those candies so much. we got a bag of the 22 color mix for trey (who watched sienna again, THANKS!) and some coconut ones for us. they had so many colors! and a few flavors. it was cool to see though. while in the check-out line, we hugged gran, dorth and shelly and headed to the prius to drive back to provo. the drive was pretty fast, about 6 hours and we watched my big, fat, greek wedding...cory's favorite movie. overall, it was a super fun weekend :) i'm so grateful for my family! i feel very blessed to have my awesome immediate family, but also be a part of cory's family, who i love so much. it amazes me how comfortable i feel with them now and it also weirds me out that chad and i say the same things so often. yay for blessngs :)

leaky sink!

my man! (cory posted this).

macaroni and cheeeese!

i never really cared about macaroni and cheese, or grilled cheese for that matter, until i married cory. i knew he loved grilled cheese-i'm pretty sure he had ten grilled cheese sandwiches a week during our engagement. he makes them himself, i make them, or he gets them from various restaurants! anyway, during our first few months of marriage, with our own kitchen and a stocked pantry, i made my way through my mom's repertoire of delicious meals. one day, i decided to make her adaption of martha stewart's macaroni and cheese (http://www.marthastewart.com/271998/perfect-macaroni-and-cheese). we had this every so often growing up and i loved it, but i never craved it, you know? however, when i made it for cory, i got a reprimand for having withheld it from him so long! and then he made me make it for guests and for a work bbq/pool party and other various occasions. this mac and cheese is the kind that you bake in a glass 9x13 pan and cut it with a knife and it comes out in a nice square. it is cheesy and delicious, but it is not oozing with creamy cheese...which is why i included the second recipe!

the second recipe i've included is one i found online in my search into the wonderful world of CROCK POT MACARONI AND CHEESE. yes, you can put all the ingredients in a slow cooker and come home to yummy, cheesy goodness. i've only made this once (tonight, actually). i've made other macaroni crock pot recipes, but they weren't as creamy as this one. the only thing i don't like about this is it was a little grainy-i did use pre-shredded cheese-and i felt like it needed a little more spice. in my personal opinion, you can't make a good mac and cheese without DRY/GROUND MUSTARD. mom's recipe adds onions/bread and this recipe calls for cayenne (which i omitted for cor, but will probably include next time. or maybe some onions. we'll see :) personal preference. anyway, if anyone else has favorite macaroni and cheese recipes, let me know! 

our favorite mac and cheese (serves a lot of people. like 8-10 easily).

 
8 T butter
3-6 slices white bread crust removed, small pieces (i usually use about 4 slices)
2.5-5 c milk (i usually use 3 c)
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 onion finely chopped
1/2 c flour
1 lb noodles-elbow, rotini, shells..
1 tsp dry ground mustard  
about 6 c cheese-usually i use what's on hand-colby jack, cheddar, mexican
 
1. preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. melt 2 T butter in large sauté pan  
3. pour melted butter over bread pieces in a bowl. mix. set to side.  
4. make noodles according to package while making cheese sauce. takes same amount of time for both roughly.
5. spray 13x9 pan with Pam or rub with butter, set to side
6. melt remaining 6 T butter in saute pan, add onions to it. sauté them. once butter is all melted and bubbly，add flour. you are making a rue here. keep over medium heat. stir until all blended. then slowly whisk the milk in. this is a little tricky. add a little milk at a time. keep whisking (is that a word?) so it's smooth. you want it to be thick and smooth.  i usually add about 3 c milk total to the rue. it takes maybe about ten minutes to make the rue. once you stop stirring, it starts to thicken. 
7. when it's done and a nice smooth sauce, remove from heat and add salt, pepper, dry mustard and 4 c cheese. stir it all till it's blended. 
8. then add the noodles. mix them in. (make sure you drain the noodles-obvious but you never know). 9. pour cheese and noodles into 13x9 pan. spread evenly and then add more cheese to the top! like 1.5-2 c. then top with bread crumbs.
10. put in the oven for thirty minutes. i always check it about halfway and usually cover with foil then because I don't want the bread crumbs getting burnt. if the bread topping is not brown at the end of cooking, remove the foil and let brown for a few minutes.
11. enjoy! we usually eat this with fruit and vegetables. mom has served it with ham before too. it's mostly a main dish for cory and i. it also refrigerates well! 

sorry i don't have a picture. just picture a casserole dish with mac and cheese in it.

creamy crock pot mac and cheese  
(from http://www.101cookingfortwo.com/2012/08/creamy-crock-pot-mac-and-cheese.html?m=1)
i followed this recipe exactly. i will do bread crumbs, spices and better cheese next time i make this!

2 c noodles (cooked)
1/2 c sour cream
1 can cheddar cheese soup
1/2 stick butter (4 T)
1 c milk
1/2 tsp ground mustard
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 1/2 c shredded cheese
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional-i did not use)

1. cook pasta according to package, except cook for 2/3 cooking time. i cooked mine for about seven minutes, instead of ten. 
2. combine pasta, milk, cheese, soup, sour cream, salt, pepper, butter and dry mustard into crock pot. 
3. stir until blended and then turn to low.
4. cook on low for about two hours. stir when done.

that's exactly what i did. i went to class after i assembled it and then came home and it was a little brown on the edges, but barely. cory actually took a picture! it's not super appetizing i guess, but trust me, it's good. otherwise i wouldn't put it on the blog, and my crock pot wouldn't be empty. also, it doesn't make a ton...i would say it serves about 4-6 single servings. and that's like 1 c servings, not cory size. (he used my mom's serving bowl as his cereal bowl when we were home for christmas! :) he must burn some serious calories working so hard on the grounds crew!) 

 happy cooking!



 

mr. & mrs. pillows!

i am so excited to finally debut my new favorite pillows! they are made of burlap and we used iron-on paper to write the "mr. & mrs." i saw something like this on etsy, but the pillows were over $100! when i went home to illinois for winter break, i had one goal-to make these pillows. i wasn't sure about sewing burlap and i had planned on using stencils to paint on the fabric, like most of the pillows i had seen. however, my mom, who is all about making life easier for the most part :), suggested iron-on paper! we finished this project in a few hours, because of a few unexpected occurrences, otherwise i imagine it wouldn't take more than 2 hours. i love, love, love these pillows! you could do any words on them. one of my favorite ideas is "mr. right & mrs. always right".

supplies:
2 yards burlap
scissors
measuring tape
thread
pins
sewing machine
computer/printer
iron on paper
3 14x14 pillow forms

1. cut out six 15x15 squares of burlap
2. mom and i ironed down each of the sides 1/4 in. to make sewing easier (we didn't use chalk)
3. i went on to microsoft powerpoint and used like 350 pt. font (can't remember exactly what size)  to write out the words in the font of my choice-courier new
4. we got the paper at jo-ann's, as well as the fabric-use their app on your smartphone because you can use as many coupons as you want and save so much money!
5. so here's where it gets crazy-we thought the iron on paper would iron the ink onto the fabric. luckily we did a sample and found out that it ironed the entire paper to the fabric! we tested out a period and we got a nice patch of white, as well as the period. my darling husband, who happens to be a perfectionist, painstakingly cut out each of the letters/symbols
6. mom and i sewed straight seams across three sides of each pillowcase-making a sort of sleeve to slip the pillow into. don't forget to put the right sides together! just use a smaller seam, like 2.0 when sewing with burlap
7. i then turned them right side out and stuck a piece of cardboard on the inside and ironed the letters onto the pillowcase, following the instructions on the paper packet
8. we got some pillow forms on sale at joanns, and used more coupons and then cory, surprising me while i was cooking, folded the open side down and sewed  a straight seam across the bottom and voila! three adorable pillows made for under $25!

shout-out to my mother for shopping with me and helping me out...sorry i'm so impatient! also, thanks to cor for your cutting and sewing skills-what a stud! i'm hoping to make an awesome headboard soon...hopefully a tufted one.

oh fudge!

here's the easiest fudge recipe ever! it's pretty good, too. i'm not really a fudge expert because i don't eat it that often. but this tasted pretty good to me, my friends loved it and it didn't even last a week in our house. i made it because i had friends coming over for game night and needed to use the marshmallow creme in my cupboard...so great success ;)

i found this via google, sorry i don't have the link!

3 c. sugar
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 stick butter (2 T.)
1 12 oz. package of chocolate chips
1 7 oz. container of marshmallow creme

first, mix the sugar, evaporated milk and butter in a saucepan. cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring frequently. when it begins to bubble, let it boil for five minutes, still stirring constantly. after the five minutes, remove from heat and add marshmallow creme and chocolate chips. stir until very smooth (no chocolate chip lumps!) and pour into a buttered 9x9 pan. let cool for a few hours until it sets. i put mine in the refrigerator after about an hour of setting out.

it's very sweet and rich! we liked it because it doesn't taste like chocolate chips. and as a disclaimer-the picture is not of the fudge i made, it's just one i included to tempt you into making this recipe :)

dates, sushi and pokemon.

cory and i don't really have a set "date night". honestly, we try to make every outing into a date/quality time. since i can't drive, we run all our errands together and that's basically our alone time. and since we love food, most of our would-be dates involve going out to eat. we usually have friends that come along, like last night! i've been making an effort to be healthier so we haven't eaten out in about two weeks and i've been cooking all our meals. it's been good because i've loosened up on the idea that all meals have to be fancy and contain entree, fruit, vegetable, side dish, bread, a set table...etc. cory's low-keyness is starting to rub off on me. anyway, i'm trying to justify us eating out twice in two days.

we had a fab double date with matt and katie at the cracker barrel! basically, our fave place ever. lots of good food for a good price (under $10)! cory prides himself on eating six scrambled eggs along with the rest of his "country boy" breakfast. after, we played "wits and wagers" again (love it!) and watched "take it all"-this crazy show i have a hard time watching. so, yeah official date night accomplished!

aside-this is a really funny story, fyi. matt and adam were katie and i's home teachers my sophomore year. the first time they came, adam couldn't make it...and cory came instead. which is how we all first met! cory and i hit it off right away. i kept thinking, "is this real life?" and to make a long story short (or make for another blog post!) cory and i got married about eighteen months later and matt and katie got married nineteen months later :) and adam? yeah, he's marrying cory's little sister in two months!

saturday, cor had to shovel some more. i got straight across bangs (ahhhhhh!!!) and later we went out to my favorite sushi place, yamato. we like it cause it's decently priced sushi ($6-$15) and it's pretty authentic, at least according to trey and cory. and they both served in japan. we always get the yam roll, which is AMAZING, and the white or liz roll, which have salmon, cream cheese and apple or green onions...and an order of beef gyudon, rice, egg, beef and sauce mixed together. i love it. last night, trey came with us and thus, he and cory saw it as the perfect opportunity to play their gameboys. yep, you read that right. my 24 year-old husband and our 25 year-old friend have gameboys and play their pokemon game pretty much every other day or so. it started up last month. we have a pokemon game on our wii and all the boys became obsessed (reliving their crazy childhoods i guess). so to game stop we went and cory chose a gameboy as his christmas present from yours' truly. i'm so romantic. cory works hard to take care of our family-getting up at 3 am to work (shovel in freezing temperatures), and drive me places and play with pup and go to class and work between classes, so playing a little pokemon is not a big deal, right? my only hope was that people wouldn't judge because we were in a japanese restaurant, and the japanese invented pokemon...i love my life. really i do though :)

today was great because we went to our new ward at church-the family ward! it was crazy crowded but it seemed good! afterward, adam grilled some chicken in the frigid temperature outside and we all took long naps. we facetimed with cory's family simultaneously from four locations in the country via two laptops and a phone and ipad in our family room :)

anyway, LOVELY weekend in all. except for the fact that cor has a blog for his english class and it already has over 400 views and he keeps rubbing it in my face. rude.

lists about the last week.

as evidenced, the other half of this "couple's blog" has now posted...much to my chagrin. i get these ideas in my head and am very inflexible. cory's away at scuba diving class right now, so i can blog to my heart's content! it's been a few days and yet in those few days, much has happened! i've included some lists of things that have occurred, because i love lists. i use my reminders app and my wunderlist app so much on my phone.

1. chad and jodie came to utah!

2. jodie moved in with us until she gets married march 8, 2013!

3. cory and i took chad up to rexburg, id to byu-i.

4. we shared cheese curds (surprisingly good) and a root beer freeze from a&w's.

5. i started running again (almost every day-woohoo!)

6. school started up again!

7. we had an awesome game night at our house and played this fabulous game called "wits and wagers". it's so fun-all about betting and trivia.

8. i made delicious fudge with only six easy ingredients-butter, sugar, evaporated milk, chocolate chips and marshmallow creme. 

9. we finished sewing all the pillows in the front room and my decorative pillows for the bedroom. ABOUT TIME.

so thursday night, cory and i took chad to the local wal-mart and literally picked out everything he would need for his new adventure...COLLEGE. he pushed the cart and couldn't care less about things like sheets and skillets and toiletries. except for choosing the color of everything-black-cory mostly just grabbed stuff that i told him to and we prayed that chad would actually USE the stuff he bought :) i'm so excited for him up in idaho! i kinda felt like a mom, helping her child begin his first step towards independence. after that first (of four three) trips to wal-mart, we headed to the byu basketball game! it was the last one of the season and they crushed the other team. i don't remember who they played. i mostly just talked to all our friends who came with us. cory and i had received 13 free tickets from the bookstore after we bought christmas presents there. the next day after work, we drove up to idaho with chad. we stayed at one of his mission families' homes-the jones' were SO super nice. we helped chad check in and unpack at his new apartment. i rearranged furniture for a better ambiance. who wants to walk into an apartment and run into a kitchen table, anyway? on saturday we hit up wal-mart for food for chaddy and he got his id...where we witnessed a boy being turned away because he had holes in his jeans. luckily he traded pants with his dad. makes me grateful for byu! 

cory and i are still adjusting our school schedules and getting used to this new lifestyle in which i work out every day, i cook healthy meals and we don't eat out, jodie lives with us (yay!), and our class/work times are totally different from last semester and from each other's. 

and another list of funny things that happened to us to end this post...

1. i accidentally stole my co-worker's lunch today because we have the same tupperware. whoops!

2. as we were taking in chad's groceries, cory shut the trunk without taking in a lot of chad's food...and we drove home with us!

3. i was bending down and whacked my head super hard on our kitchen chair. it was the bone right above my eye and it's all bruised and swollen and cory is worried about domestic abuse charges.

4. for one of my classes, we are doing a masterpiece theatre production in place of all papers and tests. YEP, just like downton abbey-only the history of the english language.

5. cory and i have been accidentally charged way more the amount we owe on two different companies in the last week, which has overdrafted our account, but we've gotten it all worked out and don't have to pay anything (cause it wasn't our fault, itunes and winder farms!).

6. we're trying to "bell-train" sienna and it's not working very well. this isn't funny, it's just horrible and frustrating.

7. shelly is coming to visit utah. TOMORROW-for like two weeks! woohoo-cedar city trip in two weekends :)

8. oh, someone at costco made a rude comment to us about how we don't "look" very handicapped after we parked in the handicapped spot (with my pass-because i'm legally blind) and i had to casually shrug it off. RUDE. 

the end! hope our life get's more exciting soon. i'll have some pillow tutorials and some recipes up soon.