Mother's Day, Provo, Shooting, Tacos, Cakepops and more!

So I love Pinterest:) and one day I found this idea to make vintage bookmarks and thought it would be a great Mother's Day gift! On the right is what they turned out like:) Pretty fun!

Kyle and I drove down to Provo one day and stopped at Sammy's and bought a peanut butter chocolate cupcake shake.. sooo good!

While we were in Provo we also stopped by Jdawgs with Jessalyn! Cutest prego girl:)

So.. Not sure if I already put on here but Kyle recently bought a new pistol:) So we took it out for some balloon shooting! Way fun!

If you are ever in Salt Lake: Crown Burger definitely wins for having the best burger ever.

So there is a restaurant in Mesa AZ that has better Mexican food then anywhere else. My favorite dish there is by far their shrimp tacos. They are AMAZING! I have been trying to recreate that dish and I think I found it:)

First, in a bowl I put in some chopped/cubed pineapple (fresh would be the best but I just used canned). Then add some chopped cilantro, chopped red bell pepper, and lime juice. (I honestly am not sure how much of each I did but it just depends on how much of each you like:) I bought cooked shrimp from the store and just cooked it until hot over the stove in fresh lime juice. Then added the mixture in bowl to the shrimp to heat everything up. Walaa! Top mixture on TWO corn tortillas each then top with shredded mozzarella cheese and more lime juice. *You can't have too much fresh lime juice I promise:) I was in heaven when I made this! Seriously my new favorite dish! 

Cake Pops = AMAZING!

All you do is bake a cake (I used a Betty-Crocker funfetti cake), let it cool, crumble it up in a bowl, then add frosting just until it forms to a ball: Do not add too much frosting or it will make it wayyy too runny! I used about 2/3 of store-bought funfetti frosting. Roll into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Put in freezer for a minute or two while you decide what kind of dipping chocolate to use. I used white chocolate (Almond Bark brand) and also, after the chocolate is melted, pour in like a teaspoon of vegetable oil - this will help the chocolate coat better and not be so thick. Purchase lollypop sticks from Hobby Lobby. Dip the tip of each lollypop stick into the melted chocolate then place quickly into the top of each cake ball. Dipping the tip of the stick in chocolate first will allow the cake to hold on better. After each stick is placed in, put back in freezer for a minute or two. Then dip each cake pop into melted chocolate and immediately top with sprinkles, shredded chocolate, or whatever else because the chocolate coating dries VERY quick! You will notice when the chocolate mixture is cooling too much or the cakepops aren't so cold anymore when one starts to fall off the stick when dipping. Just stick the cookie sheet back in the freezer and heat the chocolate up more. After each is dipped you can eat right then! PS make sure you keep them in the fridge and not left out:) Enjoy!

Last but not least: my one goal this summer has been to plant tomatoes! I am soo excited! I just planted them today and tomorrow I am going to plant strawberries yum!

Delicious Food PLUS Learn how to make your hair grow:)

Alright so here is an amazing breakfast dish that can also be made for dinner if you have the desire:

Spinach Tart

9 in tart pan, lined with pie dough

9 oz baby spinach

2 T butter

2 heaping cups cheddar cheese

2 whole eggs, plus 2 yolks

2/3 c heavy cream

1 tsp Dijon mustard

salt and freshly ground black pepper

*Preheat oven to 400'. Bake tart for 10-15 min. Gently cook spinach with butter until wilted. Drain and chop finely. Spread spinach over bottom of crust. In processor, pulse cheese, eggs, yolks, cream, mustard, and seasoning. Pour over spinach and return to oven for 20-25 min until top is golden. Turn off oven and let sit in oven for additional 5 min. Serve.

Easy quick last-second dinner:

Poppyseed chicken

*Cook 2 chicken breasts (this serves about 2-4 people) and shred. Place shredded chicken on bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Mix 1/2 can cream of chicken soup with 2 big scoops of sour cream. Spread over chicken in dish. Sprinkle poppyseeds. Layer 1 package crushed Ritz crackers over poppyseeds. Sprinkle with more poppyseeds. Melt half cube of butter and drizzle on top. Bake 350' around 20 min or until golden brown.

Now for my favorite and healthiest meal: Super easy and quick!

Lemon Garlic Pasta

(serves 2)

4 oz dry spaghetti (I used about 8 oz)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp pine nuts
5-6 fresh basil leaves, chiffonaded

*First, start your garlic oil. Pour in olive oil and chopped up garlic into a small frying pan and let it cook over low, until the garlic starts to brown on edges. Immediately remove from heat and reserve.

While that’s starting up, boil up some spaghetti.  Chiffonade some basil leaves.  Add cheese, pine nuts, And dump it into a large bowl, with the garlic oil, garlic chunks and all. Squeeze in lemon juice. Throw in the spaghetti and toss until well combined. Plate, crack some black pepper on it, and nom.

My new favorite bread:

Almond Poppyseed Bread

(Or Cake as Kyle calls it:)

3 c. all-purpose flour
2 1/2 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/8 c. canola oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. milk
2 tsp. poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

Glaze:

3/4 c. white granulated sugar

1/4 c. orange juice

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. almond flavoring

*Preheat oven to 350. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, oil, sugar, and flavorings and beat for 2 minutes. Alternate adding in flour mixture and milk and then mix until just combined. Add poppyseeds and mix until just combined. Pour into prepared pans (5 mini pans or 2 regular loaf pans) and bake (35-40 minutes for mini pans, 1 hour for large pans; keep an eye on them). While baking, prepare glaze by combining all glaze ingredients. Drizzle over loaves right after they come out of oven.

Ladies: I have recently found a miracle product called Flaxseed. Not Flaxseed oil, but the actual seeds (milled). It is high in fiber and Omega-3, along with providing the same benefits as fish oil without the cholesterol and fishy taste. It also.. dun dun dun... helps your hair and nails grow:) Yay! A serving size is 2 Tablespoons. It has a light nutty taste and you can sprinkle it on your cereal, on yogurt, oatmeal, etc... It's about $4 at Walmart found in the breakfast isle. You're welcome:)

Easter, RSL Soccer, Golf, ETC...

So this is random but Kyle and I thought it was hilarious. We found this little guy called "Shoulder Buddy" at our friends house that clips on your shirt. So funny. Kyle did his hair also:)

Happy Easter! Kyle and I colored Easter Eggs on Saturday before we headed down towards family:

Kyle's favorite egg:

My fave:

That night we headed down to go to the Real Salt Lake game! Kyle's parents have season tix with great seats! So fun!

Kyle bought me a new golf glove, then we went and hit golf balls:)

Ladies: New way to organize your boots - this made my day seeing our closet floor:)

MEXICO Spring Break!

Rocky Point MEXICO here we come!! Think we got enough groceries? Ha

The condo we stayed at was gorgeous! Seriously perfect weather there.

View from the balcony:

Cute little Ansley

One night we had crab boil - mmmm so good!

On the way home to AZ we just had to stop at Tia Roses - my absolute favorite restaurant! Orange Mango Salmon tacos and mango lime shrimp tacos. Oh. My. Goodness they are the best in the world:

It is perfect that Kyle's parents have a condo in St George because it is half way between Mesa and our home so we always drive half way there and stay the night before completing the trip to AZ.

Gorgeous view from their condo:

Raquel's Birthday, General Conference, ETC...

So my birthday was last Sunday March 25 in which I finally turned 21 years old:) My husband is so sweet to me and definitely spoiled me on my birthday. He woke me up at 9:00 in the morning singing happy birthday to me in which he handed me cards from my parents, his parents, and him. Then he gave me the piece of paper below that read:

So we ran downstairs to find this:

Kyle and I love to play tennis (when it is warm) but never have enough balls so I was very excited to find that gift along with a season of Friends and a huge bag of my favorite chocolate:) Then Kyle handed me a second note that read:

A tennis racket! And a white and pink one! I LOVE it! I had to borrow one each time and never expected him to get this for me! So awesome! Then Kyle gave me another paper. I thought for sure that was the last gift. But the last paper read:

A sewing machine!! Oh my gosh I was in awe I was soo excited! I have always wanted my own sewing machine and Kyle picked out the perfect one:)

Kyle made macadamia nut waffles for breakfast and then after church we had a yummy roast that was cooking during church. Just when I thought that day was perfect enough, Kyle then brought out a Lemon Meringue Pie - YUM! Then Sang Happy Birthday to me a second time:)

Here are some miscellaneous things that have happened after: I sewed a cute pincushion for my first sewing project: 

For Easter time I made some cute cupcakes! It said to sprinkle shredded coconut on the cupcakes but I grated white chocolate instead and it still looked the same.

One night after work Kyle made me dinner: Pretty impressive:)

Kyle's new excitement: hitting foam golf balls against our curtains - Ha

I found this picture on my dad's phone - it was the day I received my Endowments along with Sterling. Such a cool day!

Funny face:

General Conference was amazing! Thanks to Kyle's brother Tyson and his wife Marie, they gave us 2 tix to the morning session and it was amazing! It was the first time for both Kyle and I to actually go to conference and we had such amazing seats! We were in like the 20th row up front. Such an amazing experience being there.

It was pouring like crazy outside as we waited in a huge line. Luckily Kyle had an umbrella in his car we brought.