Things That I Have Learned In The Last Month

1. Hurricanes happen in New York.  
2. If you park beside the bishop's cool decorated truck at the Ward Trunk or Treat, you will be passed by for his candy:)
3. 3 1/2 lbs of candy can be gone in 20 minutes if it starts snowing at a Trunk or Treat.
4. Spray inside of carved pumpkins with bleach and water to help them last longer.
5. Miracles continue to happen.
6. Sometimes you meet people that you know are important but you don't know just how important they really are. 
7. A fan in the big rubber head  of Rocky the Eagle mascot suit, does nothing to keep you cool.
8. Never say "I don't know"
9. When having painful contractions at the end of a miscarriage, take a really hot shower and you will feel a whole lot better. 
10. Wait to tell people you are pregnant until after you have a good ultrasound.
11. A two year old nephey is really missed after only 2 weeks. 
12. I need to write in my journal more. 
13. Unfailable roll recipes, sometimes fail. 
14. Post-partum depression is a terrible thing and sometimes she just needs someone with her. 
15. Never order a movie from Australia, for someone who is expecting the movie within a week. 
16. Always let bundt cakes cool before attempting to take them out of a pan, especially for a party when you want the cake to look nice. 
17. Saying goodbye to 9 and 10 year olds is terrible.
18. Doing homework really does help with how you do on a tests.
19. Laundry never ends. 
20. I need a job where I can be of service and feel useful. 
21. Emma Smith remarried and then adopted the son of the woman her husband had an affair with. 
22. Foot surgery can become a nightmare. 
23. Sometimes your best really just isn't enough. 
24. EIRMC Women's Center is just a nice big maze. 
25. Don't assume that if you are South of Shelley you will be back home in Idaho Falls for 20 minutes. 
26. Pheasants and other wild bird meat should be put in salt water overnight before being cooked. 
27. Never assume you know the changes that will be made in a new ward. 
28. Its really nice to just have Mike and I at home. 
29. Christmas music can really make any day better, even in October. 
30. Russia now has 2 stakes. 
31. 140 temples have now been dedicated around the world. 
32. Missionaries can now leave earlier. Boys at 18 and girls at 19. 
33. Individuals must have their own names to take to do baptisms for the dead now. The temple won't supply you any additional names. 
34. Temple ca call a bishop about a limited time recommend if a youth doesn't have a paper copy. 
35. New borns' belly buttons can bleed from crying too hard. 
36. Some people need to remember that other people have rights too and that individuals don't always get what they think they deserve because of it.
37. Mike's mission band played for the Princess of Thailand. 
38. Butchering deer and beef are much less gross than cutting up birds.
39. Amazon's trade-in program will give you a higher trade in amount for books and dvds than other sites, but its only for amazon.com gift cards.
40. Make meatloaf with stuffing instead of crackers and or oatmeal. 
41. A great new dinner is a box of au gratin potatoes, sour cream, cubed cheese and leftover meatloaf, baked. 
42. I can no longer stand quiet if I'm home alone. 
43. Bram Stoker was Scottish and never went to Transylvania. 
44. Mini loaf pans, green frosting and cereal make cute Frankenstiens. 
45. Kids get really bored practicing for Primary Programs and million times. 
46. We can kind of live within a budget now. 
47. Sometimes people get to a point where you just can no longer accept their actions. 
48. Cheese Whiz is great in boxed mac and cheese.
49. We can see the brains of all our fish, not just Frankenfish. 
50. Sometimes people just need held. 
51. 2 year olds at Boo at the Zoo are only interested in candy.
52. One of the grossest things is to have the inside of a sweaty rubber mascot mask touch your face.
53. I need to help Mike make little decisions so we can always be working together. 
54. Zucchini casserole can be made better with only cream of mushroom soup instead of that and cream of chicken.
55. Cream of something soup mix can be made at home. 
56. Half empty malls at 9:00 at night can feel like Las Vegas, even malls in Salt Lake. 
57. Anniversaries will always be great as long as we can be together. 
58. Never assume you know where your library card is. 
59. Sometimes complaining about unfair treatment at a Kiwi Loco can get you a gift certificate for $10 next time. 
60. Sometimes all someone needs is a Pepsi and a kiss.  
61. If my washer is set on large and cold loads, it won't stop in the middle of a cycle. 
62. Melaleuca oil is great on bugbites. 
63. The Lord always knows whe I need. 
64. Flavian women wore their hair in curly updos. 
65. Toothpaste cleans hazy headlights. 
66. Missing just 2 days of math class can make a whole lot of difference in understanding the subject matter.
67. Zucchini doesn't have to be shredded, it can be cubed and then frozen to use in baking. 
68. It was reaffirmed to me how much I hate chili.
69. I am a flaky friend who can never show up when I say I will. 
70. There were soldiers standing by the unknown tomb at Arlington Cemetery even during the hurricane.  

Well, I figure its about time to just post something, so I'll just give some details of what we've been doing lately. Though, just to warn you, its pretty boring :) 


Saturday Mike and I went to Rigby Lake with our friends Nate and Emily. They have been going to school during the summer and just got out for a few weeks so we finally could get together. We had a so much fun just floating and swimming in the lake. Then we went and had a FANTASTIC dinner over at their house. Emily made a chicken recipe that I will definitely be using in our regular meal plan. (as if I really make a meal plan, but it will be a regular meal in our house now) and her cornbread was like dessert. It was amazing. We talked together till midnight. We love to get together with them and can't wait till the next time. 


Sunday was a normal day. Our Primary lesson was about Moroni and putting on the Armour of God. We love our class. Mike and I teach kids who are 9 turning 10 and some that are 10 turning 11. They are so much fun. We taught some of these kids last year and then have some new ones this year. And then we got a new girl that just moved into the ward a few weeks ago. They are usually very good and they are all trying so hard to understand everything that we discuss but they are so courageous and have such great testimonies. On Sunday we had the addition of one girl who is here for the summer, she's really cute and it will be fun to have her with us for a while. There also was a boy who's family just moved into the area. He was really cute and it didn't take too long before he was quite comfortable with me if not with the kids. Hopefully he will be in our class for a long time. So that puts our primary class to 11. We have one girl that we had last year that is moving to New Mexico this week. We will miss her but she's off to new adventures. Then after Sharing Time on Sunday we found out that there is another new boy that just moved into our ward who was put in the wrong class so we will have him next week and hereafter. So, we have a very real possibility of have a full dozen kids in class this week. It will be good, but it makes it a little tough for them to focus. These week's lesson is about the Title of Liberty. Its a great lesson and I hope that the message gets across like the Spirit wants it to. I don't think I will make it a really strict lesson this week since there has been so much change going on. I think I'll have them do something besides sit for a while, I still have to think of what it will be. I also need to make a treat this week. We have them read their scriptures for 10 minutes a day throughout the whole day. For every day they read they get to mark a square off the chart. When the chart is full I make them a treat. That way they don't ask me for one every week and its a special thing. I'd like it to be something relating to the lesson but I'm kind of stuck. I'm also a little worried about bringing a treat because I don't know anything about these new kids and I don't know if they like anything or have allergies to anything. I might just make a couple things so that my bases are covered. 


Sunday evening, we went over to Mike's parents for dinner. His Uncle Paul and Aunt Deb are in from Kansas and so we just went over to visit. His grandpa came in for dinner too. He lives in an assisted living home and its nice to see him out sometimes. Its good for him. Ellie (Mike's Mom) made zucchini casserole for dinner. It is so yummy. And the zucchini came from our garden! That is so cool. I've never had a garden before so it was really cool to have something we planted cooked. We have zucchini coming out of our ears so I'm sure we'll have this amazing dinner again. Here's the recipe for it because everyone should eat this: 


Zucchini Casserole: 


2-3 Chicken breasts
1 large zucchini
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can cream of chicken soup 
1 can corn drained 
1 1/2 c. sour cream 
2 c. shredded cheese
1 box instant stuffing mix
1/2 c. butter 
Salt and pepper to taste. 


Peel and grate the zucchini. Boil with chicken until chicken is cooked all the way through. Drain. Combine chicken, zucchini with all other ingredients except stuffing and 1/2 c. cheese. In a separate bowl combine stuffing mix and butter. Microwave for 1-2 minutes until butter is melted. Mix and coat all stuffing with butter. Put chicken mixture into greased casserole dish. Top the chicken mixture with the stuffing crumbs.  Top stuffing with remaining cheese. Bake at 375 degrees for 40-60 minutes until chicken stuff in bubbly. 


This stuff is amazing. I would like to make it lots here but I don't want to make too many casseroles because Mike is trying really hard to watch what he is eating. Maybe I'll have to next week. I'm just going to have to freeze some of the zucchini to use later for this casserole, chocolate zucchini cake and zucchini bread. Hopefully it lasts and is good later when I need to use it. 


The rest of the week has been pretty boring. Nothing too exciting. Mike has been working really hard to get his stuff done for this conference he's going to in Wisconsin in a few weeks. He's doing everything he can to make sure all his stuff will be ready. I am so proud of him and how hard he is working. He always tries to do his very best. I've been working on a gift for a friend's wedding reception that we are going to tomorrow. I've been finding date ideas and I've come up with or found over 200 ideas. So I've typed them up and I'm going to put elements from a few of the ideas into a box so they can be ready for when they want to do some of them. Finding all these ideas, makes me really want to do a lot of these ideas with Mike. We'll let you know how the dates go if we do them. 


Grisham and I went to Community Park with some of the other kids/moms in our ward. They go every Thursday morning and we've been going for a few weeks. Grisham doesn't really play with the other kids, but he introduces himself "Minum" to everyone. He does love to play. He loves to go on the slide but won't go down unless someone puts him onto the slide. Its so much fun to chase him around. Thank goodness that today he didn't decide to run up and down the hill 50 times like the last few park trips. He does not get tired while he's there. He plays and I get to know these other ladies better. Today we brought chocolate cookies which were really dry, but Grisham liked them and was ready to share with everyone. I'm so glad that he shares. He really is a good kid. He's so cute and generally pretty well behaved. Then we ran Mike some lunch to work and then came back for a nap. He'll sleep for a couple hours and then get up to conquer the world again. This morning he told me he wanted to party in the afternoon. OK. I could really go for a party. Just can't come up with a good excuse for one at the moment. Mike says we should have a party when he gets all his stuff turned in for this conference. Can't wait. 

Intro to Mike and Mandi

We are just going through life and loving it. We just thought this would be a nice little change in our usual routine. Something different, something fun that we can do together. Mike and Mandi live in Idaho Falls and are both going to school. We were married October 2008. We enjoy spending time together and doing projects, watching movies, traveling and cooking together. This blog is to give us a new chance to do something together and share a little bit about our everyday lives. We don't have any kids yet but we enjoy spending time with our 2 year old nephew Grisham and the rest of our family. We currently are living with Mandi's sister Viola and her son Grisham, a dalmatian named Pepper, a rabbit named Abby and a tank full of fish that are slowly dying off one by one. Mike is currently getting his Masters Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Idaho and Mandi is starting to go back to school again to become an Elementary Teacher. We have a whole lot of adventures and think that maybe we should write them out so we remember more of them.