New Job

Mark got a new job today and we are so happy. This is an answer to a lot of prayers, our prayers and so many others. Mark has a very very tough commute of literally 2 blocks from our house to his new work. He will be be building new modular classrooms. We are so blessed to get this job, especially with the state of the economy and it gets him away from a difficult job he is currently in. We are so thankful for this change and know Heavenly Father's hand helped to make this happen. Can't wait for Feb 9th, his start date!

My Mom the Snow Angel

I love this picture! My Dad emailed it to us this weekend and I had to post it. It is my mom laying on the trampoline in the back yard in all her snow gid-up doing snow angels. They have tons and tons of snow as you can see. The snow is almost as tall as the trampoline.
Life is good for a Montana Mom!

O Holy Night

I just had to write about Christmas and how each Christmas I reflect when I was in Bethlehem and we went to the feilds outside of Bethlehem in late November. I walked out into the feilds and the light was much like in this picture, we sang Christmas hymns and I looked up at the sky and how I knew that the Jesus Christ was a real man that was born in that town many years ago to bring peace to the earth. The world is forever changed because of the love of our Heavenly Father and the sacrifice of his Son. Christmas is such a beautiful season because it is the season that is about love, giving and forgiveness. All of these attributes of the Prince of Peace. I love the spirit of Christmas.

ABC's of me! Tagged

ABC's About Me
A - Attached or Single: Attached- Got Hitched to Mark!
B - Best Friend: Mark, my sisters, mom, courtney, alycia. Okay I got lots of wonderful friends
C - Cake or Pie: This one is tough, because I love both, but I think pie, a good berry pie can't be beat!
D - Day of choice: Saturday, its the day Mark and I get to do fun stuff and no work!
E - Essential Item: my whisk and heat resistant spatulas, a whisk is so nice when you are cooking and baking. I think I could never have too many spatulas!
F - Favorite Color: Probably red, I love all the different shades of red, it just catches my eye!
G - Gummy Bears or Worms: Worms, worms are more fun to eat and last a little longer
H - Hometown: Kalispell, Montana
I - Indulgence(s): I got my fist pedicure this summer and I am definitly a fan, I will keep up that indulgence up!
J - January or July: I love JULY! The fourth is always so fun, and has so many good memories.
K - Kids: Not yet! But hopefully someday soon! I will crack up if all we have are girls cause Mark is really rooting hard for boys!
L - Life is incomplete without: My Family
M - Marriage Date: September 15, 2007
N - Number of Siblings: 3 sisters one brother
O - Oranges or Apples: Apples, I love the fall here with all the different kinds of apples, and I love apple crisp, my sister Gabe, is a trophy winning apple crisp maker, so I am lucky to have her!
P - Phobias or Fears: I really hate moths, they are so gross and dumb, they just fly straight into you, yuck it grosses me out!
Q - Quotes: My favorite of all time has to be when Audrey, Gabe and I were standing in my parents kitchen and Audrey starts out the conversation by saying "The other day Homer was telling me....." I know I laughed so hard with Gabe I thought we were going to pee our pants.
R - Reason to smile: Mark and I are healthy and happy and have good jobs. Oh and my really cute neice and nephews too!
S - Season: SUMMER, I really loved this summer, being married, going camping, boating and enjoying the sun!
T - Tag Five Friends: Maile, Laura, Gabrielle, Andrea, Julie
U - Unknown fact about me:I set the sit and reach record in 9th grade!It was still up there last time I looked about 3 years ago! Woohoo Me!
V - Very favorite Store: Okay I love going to Grocery outlet and finding deals. I also love going to any sort of kitchen store and dreaming about all the fun things I could make!
W - Worst habit: not putting away our clean clothes, I will do the laudry but then not want to fold it and put it away!
X - X-ray or Ultrasound: Well I am going with Ultrasound, x-rays that I have had are not fun at all, especially those dentist ones, they make you bite down and it always cuts my cheeck or gums! Ultrasounds can bring such great news, like having babies
Y - Your favorite food: I love homemade salsa, any sort of vegetables. This question is way to hard, basically I love food!
Z - Zodiac: pieces

Apple Cheesecake Bars with Caramel Sauce

These are fantastically amazing tasting! I got this recipe from a Paula Dean cookbook and made them for the missionaries coming over to dinner last night. We all loved them a lot!!! The receipe is below. A word of caution you won't be able to stop eating these. Oh I used 5 apples instead of three. I like more apple.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 tablespoons, divided
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Streusel topping, recipe follows
1/2 cup caramel topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a medium bowl, combine flour and brown sugar. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly. Press evenly into a 13 by 9 by 2-inch baking pan lined with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Bake 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese with 1/2 cup sugar in an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth. Then add eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour over warm crust.
In a small bowl, stir together chopped apples, remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture. Sprinkle evenly with Streusel topping. Bake 30 minutes, or until filling is set. Drizzle with caramel topping.

Streusel Topping:
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup quick cooking oats
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
In a small bowl, combine all ingredients.

One Year!!!

One Year Anniversary!

I can't believe it has already been one year. I have a picture of the beautiful roses Mark got me on our camera, but the camera is having issues so I will post that later. I came home to a dozen beautiful roses on table with a very nice card. We went to dinner at a great Italian restaurant and had a really nice evening. We talked alot about our wedding day one year ago. I am so glad I married Mark. He loves me a lot and is a good man. The first year of marriage has been such a good thing for the both of us. I do love him more and more each day. Thanks again to all those of you who supported us and shared that day.

Montana Vacation

We got to go to Montana for week and it was lots of fun. We had so much fun that by Saturday it was hard to get off the couch and want to anything more. It was so fun to be home, and go mountain biking, boating, kyaking, hiking, shopping and be with my family. All of the kids were home that week so it was so fun and busy! Thanks to Mom and Dad for being such good hosts and we had a great time. Even when Mark and Dad were hiking out of Jewel Basin as fast as they could in a torrential hurricane weather makes for great memories!

Mark, Dave, Nate and Gabe got to do some serious mountain biking on Big Mountain and loved it! It was Mark's first experience with riding the chair up and going down on the bike. He loved it! Which isn't suprising, mainly because it involves a whole bunch of speed!