Back to life... Back to Reality!

Hey guys! Its been forever since I have posted. Yesterday I finished summer classes and finals, so I should be able to post a little more often. Lots of fun stuff has been happening though, just not enough time to jot in down on here. Here are a couple highlights for the past few weeks!

1. School starts in 2 weeks! wo hoo! Last semester of classes for me (I can practically see that graduation day-the gown, pics, fam etc.- will it just come already!?!) and Ben just got accepted to the Marriot school of business!!! We are SUPER excited for him to get started. Wohoo congrats to you Benny!

2. Family In Town- Mom and Dad came in town last week for a few days before getting out on their Jackson/Yellowstone camping trip! It was so fun! We made time for some of our usual favorites- Jamba juices, homemade pizza, shopping!! Unforunately we have no pics for you, but get Miriam to post. She should have some because this was Sadie's first campout! :)

3. Stargazing Tonight!- 2009 Perseid METEOR SHOWER- August 12th and 13th- Check it Out!!



Shooting stars will be flying tonight. We love doing this- well we did this last year around the same time. You should check it out. Go to a dark safe spot away from city lights and enjoy the starlights of the sky! It should be pretty good tomorrow night too!

FLAN! mm mmmh Delish!

So this is one of my many creations I tried that actually turned out. Ben teases me for the inability to follow a recipe even when its right in front of me!! He always comments "You always think you know better than the recipe Manda, and you think you know what to change to make it better." I tell him, its just impossible to follow it because I do know better than the recipe sometimes. just kidding. as most of you know rarely these cooking experiments turn out. Anyways flan is one of Bens favorites, so I made it. by pulling from two different recipes.. I think I really found one that rocked! He loved it. haha. Here's the recipe! Now I'm not a chef or anything but I am a connoisseur of fine food- and it was gooood. so... if you feel like flan Try it!

FLAN (steamed not baked- my oven is on its way to its grave so cooking it over the stove worked well, and it cooked evenly)

3/4 c white sugar
1/4 c brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 can (11 oz) evaporated milk (i hear reg milk works even better)
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Beat together eggs, milks, vanilla, 1/2 cup sugar.

Combine 1/4 c white sugar, and 1/4 c brown sugar, with butter on stove, stirring constantly until caramelized.

Spray pie plate lightly with pam. Pour in caramel sugar mixture and follow by pouring in the custard. Cover with foil.

Fill a large pot approximately 3/4 full with water and bring to a simmer on the stove. Place the pie plate over the simmering water and cook for 65 to 70 minutes, until flan has set. Remove flan from the boiling water and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Cool in fridge if you like or eat it warm. Enjoy!!

Every great thing has to end.....

As of June 9th our wedding adventures officially came to an end.
Here a few quick snap shots from the WI reception. Great seeing you all and partying it up for one last hoorah!! Thank you to Mom, Dad, Maralee, Dan, and many others for making it all happen! It was a blessing to come in at 12am saturday, party saturday night, and leave sunday afternoon!! We even had time kopps icecream and and viper riding in the mix. Ben drove me to the reception hall in the sweet ride, and then we partied all night long!! pic to come!


Personal Reflection: So how does it feel for it all to be over?
Great!!!


For all you blogger friends Check out the cute pics of Jack and Addison!!

Catchup... Sadie Sadie Sadie!

So my Mom and dad came in for Sadies blessing. It was great having them in town again so soon. We ate out, played LOTS of nertz and five crowns, swam some, sat with Sadie (as you can see), and just had a good time. Here is Mom and Dad with Sadie Lynn the day they left for home.
Marcia doing her usual with Sadie.. Sleeping!!

Sadie and her Momma on her blessing day.

Our Apartment!! New and Improved...

Wish you could have seen our living r00m when we first moved in(Actually when I moved in). I moved in all my stuff while Ben was working that first friday. Ben seemed quite shocked as he walked in the door that night , ready to unload his stuff. His comment was "Woah, will we even be able to fit my stuff in here Manda?, there's not even space to walk here!". Can't imagine why he was so shocked, I thought I warned him about being a little overloaded in the clothes/stuff dept...... We fit it all in. Nothing to worry about!

Here's Our Kitchen fully equipped with everything we could ever need including a wind chime.
Our Bathroom!

Heres the newest improvement we've made to our home lately. We got a new shower curtain!!Our original Pink striped shower curtain Ben pretended to stand had to go, Miriam and Chase got us a new one- much more masculine don't you think?

Last Post for the Non-Facebookers. Enjoy!

Here are our Mothers enjoying a laugh at the end of the day!!

Here is the whole Wedding Party outside of the Salt Lake Temple! All our greatest friends and family were there to celebrate with us. How blest we felt to have them all there!! We love you all. Thanks for your love and support and for the poppin' day!! Cutting the Cake!

What started out as cutting the cake, ended with a cake fight, and got so ugly that my headband got torn off, and frosting flew!

Here are some of the Pic from the reception. Thank you for all who helped making everything so beautiful. An extra special thanks to Melissa, who coordinated almost all the decorating, and did the flowers with Marcia!! What beautiful special touches their were Melissa. Thank you!!

What Cute Kiddies We got here. Micah was quite the camera stud of the day!! Everyone was asking who he was. What a premature Hunk we have on our hands here. (This last pic here is of Micah signing his name on the back of the Jeep. So funny!)
Lauren smiles came a long as the day went on too! I don't know who was giving out bribes to her, but she's a beauty and smiled lots too. And Jack did't even need smiles or manly good looks to win peoples hearts- he's just too cute period!