Pictures!!

I am really bad about uploading pictures so here are some for your delight! These three are from a recent hockey game that we went to! Later I will upload pictures of our new place...

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining here since last Saturday and it is making me sad. I like it when it is nice and sunny and warm. Hopefully the rain will go away soon!

Tonight Brandon and I are going to an NHL game. Yeah that is National Hockey League. Brandon got a steal of a deal on tickets through his work so we are going to go cheer for a team that we have never heard of and have a blast doing it! I will be sure to post pictures next time!

Ice Cream in a Bag

We had a couple of friends over this last friday and we had such a good time. We had dinner (which was awesome) and then we made ice cream. But we didn't make it using an ice cream maker we made it with our bare hands :) kind of. What you do is you mix a yummy mix of whipping cream, milk, sugar and vanilla. Put that in a quart size bag and then put the quart size bag into a large zip lock bag. The large zip lock bag has ice and rock salt in it. Then you seal the bags and wrap them in newspaper and tape it all together so that the newspaper is really thick around it and that it wont come lose. THEN YOU SHAKE IT!!! You shake and you shake and you shake and then you pull off the newspaper and enjoy! You don't have to freeze it longer if you don't want but we had so much fun doing this. You could do it for FHE with the family and play a tossing game or pass it to each family member throughout the lesson or something but it sure is fun to eat what you have made. ** Side note is that it doesn't make that much so you may have to make a couple batches** Email me if you want the exact ingredients and amounts and I will be happy to email you back with those. It really is fun!!

meghebdon@gmail.com

Becoming a Foodie not a Baker

So most of you know I always loved to Bake. BAKE BAKE BAKE....thats all I ever wanted to do but after a while you can only make so many things that are sweet and delicious before you actually have to cook real food...ya know the meat and potatoes kind of stuff. So with this new year I have decided to cut WAY back on my baking and start trying new recipes from all of my wonderful cookbooks that I have been collecting. (Thats right I collect cookbooks...kind of odd....but I do) And so I told Brandon that I am going to start cooking real food and he was so excited.... he said "yay! How much is that going to cost me?" hahaha

So last night I cooked a smothered chicken dish that I got out of my William Sanoma Comfort Food Recipe book (most everything in this book is cooked in loads of butter and cream...SO GOOD) and it turned out good. I mean everything was cooked as it should be but it wasn't like a blow your socks off recipe. Brandon was asked to pick one recipe out of this cookbook that he wanted me to cook and guess what he chose.....Sloppy Joes! Seriously Brandon? I was hoping he would choose the crab cakes or the bananas foster french toast....but he didn't and that is OK because sloppy joes are always good right?

The next big meal that I am going to be cooking is on saturday (tonight we are grilling steaks which is a no brainer) so Saturday I am making Linguine with a white wine clam sauce reduction! It is going to be wonderful I just know it!!!

Running Against the Wind

okay so I have ALWAYS wanted to run a 1/2 Marathon but I would get up to about seven miles and then I would get bored and say forget it. With the new year and motivation from my best friend I have decided to do it! I am going to run a 1/2 marathon in June and I am going to finish! SO i can run about 3 miles...I say about because sometimes I get a cramp and so I stop and walk for a min and then start running again. I am not fast by any means (the tortoise did win the race) but I figure that if I am consistent and I really work at it that I can run a half marathon after training for six months! On biggest loser they have people that were the biggest couch potatoes and after 3 months they are running 1/2 marathons so I am pretty sure NO I am 100% sure that if they can do it...SO CAN I!

Yesterday I ran 3 miles in 36:22
(Again...not claiming to be fast)

Self Analysis----- FINISHED

OKAY.... So in my last post I was trying to figure out what it is in life that I was "called" to do...besides be a Mom. and I think this is a lot like the belief in soul mates. The myth is that you have just one person in the whole world that you are supposed to be love. Prophets (and Apostles) have since corrected our silly ways of thinking and have said that there is no such thing as a soul mate and that there are plenty of people that we would be compatible with and that we could love....that being said I am SURE (most of the time) that Brandon is my soul mate :)

Moving on I think that jobs are the same way.... I think that we are taught that there is one true calling that we have and that we would be good at and that we would enjoy where in reality there are TONS of things that we would love and be good at and could totally rock if given the opportunity. So I have decided that it is more about your frame of mind then what you are actually doing....so I chose to become a Teacher. Let me explain all the positives to this....Lets start with the most important; June, July, August. Thats right...three months of paid time when you are not working... downside you don't get paid that much- upside- the more education you have the more money you make. Plus you get to help mold the minds of youth in the Latter Days which is a pretty important time to be molding...if you know what I mean. In reality I was looking for something that I could do that would be family friendly if in fact I do have to work after having children and teaching would be that perfect job for me. Not only that but there are opportunities to coach as well which would be SO exciting! So you get every possible government vacation day even ones like President's Day (thank you for whoever thought that up) plus you get two weeks off for Christmas which means no worrying about having time off to see family no matter how far away they are.

Now you are probably wondering what subject it is that I would like to teach...and although I wish Volleyball, Basketball, and Soccer were it's own class, they aren't, so I am left with my next favorite...HISTORY!! I love American Government and I love the History behind it all and I find history of different countries and people all over the world fascinating as well, so I think it will be a perfect match. Hopefully I can help change the country one young mind at a time. Now I just have to go back to school....but only for a couple more years!

Change

Change is so great! It is a time of growth and a time to renew. We have made some changes in our lives recently and they are going to be really great for us. First.... I quit my job. THANK GOODNESS! There were some not so great things happening at work and I just didn't want to but my spirit in such a toxic place anymore and so I quit! Then we decided to move because there was nothing for me to do on the mountain as far as job opportunities and or school and so we moved to a place called Rancho Cucamonga (I know it sounds like a name I made up but it really is a real place....) and it is BEAUTIFUL! I really feel like I live in Southern California now! We have palm trees and Banana trees right outside our front door and when we were unpacking our Uhaul it was seriously 75 degrees....and it is JANUARY!! Can you believe that? If we were still in Idaho I am pretty sure we would be freezing our tails off...instead we were thinking of jumping in the pool because it was so hot! I love it! Our apartment is small but it is so perfect for us and it is helping us to get rid of a lot of the "stuff" that you acquire without really realizing that you have acquired it....if that makes any sense? So we are healthy, happy and looking forward to a new year. I am still struggling to figure out what I want to do with my life and trying to decide if I want to go back to school or find a job or what. I feel kind of lost but I am determined to figure out what exactly the Lord wants me to do with my life. Some of my options are Teaching (college level... I don't think i could handle any other age) Law, Getting a Masters in Business with an emphasis on Human Resources, going to Culinary school, becoming a stewardess so I can see the world, and Vampire slayer yet the hours could be bad for a family. So as you can see I have a lot of ideas yet no real direction...maybe some of you could help me figure it out or at least tell me how you figured it out for yourself?

Anyway we are sorry we haven't posted in a long time but we are alive and we do love you all! Happy New Year! Let's make 2010 the best year yet!!

not getting a house

So this saturday was our home inspection on the house that we talked about in the previous post. It was also pouring cats and dogs while the house was getting inspected. We walk into the master bath and there is water running down the walls!!! Needless to say the whole roof needed to be replaced among many other problems so we will not be buying that house. When we prayed we asked Heavenly Father to stop us if it was wrong and it rained! Thank goodness for answered prayers!

Getting a House!

Our how has come through~ We are so excited, scared, nervous, sad (to be leaving wrightwood) and every emotion that you can think of! We are supposed to close no later than Dec 31st and we are supposed to be moving in no later than Jan 4th!!! WOW... I KNOW! Here are some pictures...enjoy!!

So Excited!

Many of you who know me may already know, but CHRISTMAS is my FAVORITE time of year!! Not because of presents or anything like that.... I don't even want ANYTHING for Christmas this year (don't forget that Brandon). I just love the feeling that is in the air around the Holidays! Everyone is nicer, people go out of their way to give, and it is just so loving. This year I get to spend Christmas with a lot of my family members which is really exciting because I have not had a holiday with so many family members on my side since I was about 5 or 6. I am sad that we will not be seeing Brandon's Mom and Dad and all of our friends and family that live in Washington...but hopefully they know that we love them and that we hope they have a wonderful Christmas. Next year we will be in WA for Christmas and for the Family Reunion which means we are going to be there for about a week or so! WAHOO! Anyway, just wanted to let you know how much I love Christmas! I posted some of my favorite Christmas Tunes...so I hope you enjoy them too!