Reminiscing...Part Deux!

So I thought I would post the rest of the pictures I have from fun summer events! I always get so sad that I forget to take pictures of all the fun things we do..so I was glad I at least got some of the big things we did this summer! Yay! Well..here goes:

So Ben and I were lucky enough to buy Disneyland Season passes last year, and we knew they were going to be expiring in the middle of August..Sooo..we got to make one last trip! We went for 2 days at the beginning of August and got to spend one of those days with my sister and a friend of hers, Cheryl!

For some reason, I felt the need to get some pictures that day in places I hadn't gotten pictures before. This is us, in front of Thunder Mountain!

In front of the BACK of Sleeping Beauty's castle!

Scared faces in line for Tower of Terror! LOVE this ride!

I always have a hard time figuring out a fun face for Tower's picture. I hate how cute dizzle looks in this..not fair.  I also like the lady's face on the far left in the middle row. Classic. 

This picture is ridiculous. I wanted to get a picture of me on the new Little Mermaid ride, but it didn't work out like I thought it would. By the way, I LOVED the ride!

Our scores on Toy Story Mania! Ben (the blue side) had the highest score of the hour! 

A couple weeks later, we celebrated my birthday with The Hammerens at one of our favorite restaurants, Tucanos. Afterwards we went to the best toy store EVER...Blickenstaffs!! Seriously, if you haven't gone there..you absolutely need to!

The cake that Ben made for me!

We love Tucanos!

And we LOVE The Hammerens! Adorbs!

Playing dress-up! Seriously, the coolest toy store!

Nachooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I need this shopping cart. I need it. 

And then that weekend, we went camping! Apparently, I like camping! I don't think I would like to do it for more than a day or two, but I really had fun and we all considered the trip a success. We went with The Hammerens and The Breitenbekers! 

The Breitenbekers! 

Us! Our tent looks so tiny, but it fit us and our air mattresses (a camping-must for me. I know, I'm a wussy)

The Hammerens!

Just hanging out!

The Men around the fire!

Eating pancakes I made in the morning! It was a dream of mine to cook pancakes over a fire when camping..and I did it! And they were..ok. I would definitely make some changes, but at least I did it!

Well, and then the very next week school started..and well, all we have been doing since then is work and school and watching football! Oh, and playing games with friends as much as possible! Here's hoping we have time for a ton of Fall activities!

Reminiscing...

So school started last week and I am already soo tired and stressing out! I'm only taking 15 credits this semester, but I'm up to all my upper-division classes so things are getting pretty difficult. BUT, if all goes to plan I should be graduating in April! Yay! Yeah, it only took me six years and 3 schools to get my bachelors! Jeez! Anywho, so while I should be doing my massive amounts of reading and homework right now, I'd rather be looking at all the pictures from fun things Ben and I did this summer instead! So I thought I would post on here and reminisce a little bit!

First was our Disneyland trip with The Hamms in May! It was seriously so much fun and one of my best Disneyland trips ever. We were so glad to go with Forrest and Melissa! Especially because it was Forrest's first time going! Here are just a couple pictures:

We braved the line to go meet Mickey!

CLASSIC =)

Our friends Priscila and Nick met us down there one of the days! It was so good to see them! They are just the cutest couple..ever!

Best Friends! We got to celebrate both of their birthdays while we were there!

The whole gang! We got to go to an Angels baseball game with my family the last night we were in California.

Next was the Scottish Festival! Ben is very very proud of his Scottish heritage and ever since we first started dating he has wanted us to go the the Pay Scottish Festival, but for some reason or another we have never gotten to in the past 3 years. So finally this year we got to go, and it was way fun..and half way through the day we got to meet up with his parents too! Here it is:

We saw our friend Josh there too, and he told us we HAD to get this Bison Beer Root Beer. Oh my goodness it was so good! And it comes in these cool bottles, that you can refill there every year!

Scottish Games! This one is Ben's favorite, but I can't remember what it was called.

Oh yeah. There were A LOT of kilts that day.

Us watching the games, pretty much DYING of the heat!

This was my favorite game..but I also can't remember what it was called. I just liked that they used a pitchfork to toss the hay bale over the thing! The arrow is pointing to the hay bale...just so you know....

I'm pretty sure I am strong enough to win any of these games! Haha!

Then of course...Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out this summer and you better believe we were at a midnight showing! Ben is not so much a fan of sitting around in the heat for hours, but it was worth it! Admittedly I cried the entire way home after the movie..anyone else?? It's probably a good ting we didn't get a picture of that!

Just waiting! There were about 10 or 12 showings at midnight at the theater we were at.

Ben was restless after about an hour.. By the way...did I mention Ben has a beard now?

Forrest and Melissa showed up after their early showing of the movie. Their costumes were AWESOME! Forrest couldn't get away from crowds wanting to take pictures with him..at one point there was a line of about 15 people!

Almost time!

I'll have to make another post with the rest of our summer memories! Stay tuned!

Camping? Yup...Camping :/

For most of you who know me, you know I'm not much of an outdoor-sy person? I mean, I'm all for a nice walk or playing some "one-on-one hoop" (haha!) outside, but when it comes to camping or hiking..well, they're just not my cup of tea. So when Ben and I were asked a couple of months ago to be youth Team Leaders for the upcoming Stake Youth Conference where we would be camping..I was a little wary. But we agreed and got pretty stoked about it. Well..then a couple weeks ago, Ben and I were released as wolf and bear cub scout den leaders (we had been in for almost two years and were getting a little burnt out.) I was then asked to be the new Young Women's Beehive Adviser! Yay! (For those who may not know what this is, it basically means I am an adviser over 12 and 13 girls) Super exciting, right? I know. Well it turns out, Girls Camp was just right around the corner and they would love for me to come. So wait..more camping? And for a whole week?!? And just a couple days after camping for youth conference?!?!?!?

Remember when I'm said I'm not an outdoor-sy person? Well suffice to say that went out the window! So iin the last week and a half, I went camping for youth conference and Girls Camp...I was a little nervous to say the least!

But off we went to youth conference! We were the leaders of a group of about 8 kids..which eventually dwindled fown to 6 kids when two of our kids got sick and had to go home (yeah, doesn't exactly bode well for our future children, huh?) The weekend was filled with a service project, one horrible night's sleep, the "amazing race," and some NASTY sunburns. Unfortunately we didn't really get any pictures...but there were a few "choice" pictures of us taken by other people:

I look pretty happy to be there, huh? And check out the buurrrnnn!!

Ben being his Pirate-y Self!

We were looking pretty excellent, yeah? All in all it was a pretty fun experience, but we were feeling pretty beat afterwards.

Sadly, I did not get much of a break because 3 days after we got home I left for Girls Camp - SIDENOTE: Ben actually went to Girls Camp the night before I left to be one of the priesthood there and we only got to see each other for about 15 minutes on Tuesday morning before I left to go and when he got home.

Girls Camp was so much fun! I remember hating a lot of things about Girls Camp growing up, and believe me..there were stull a couple things I could have done without, but mostly it was just fun!! Until.. Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon is when things start to go down hill. It started raining..hard. Very very hard. And the toilets stopped working..and then it hailed on Thursday morning. And finally by afternoon on Thursday we were leaing early! Some people were calling us wimps, but frankly, we saw no point in sitting in wet clothes, wet shoes, wet tents, wet sleeping bags and being miserable. So we came home early and did testimony meeting down at the church. It was really great!

Despite all the fun I had, it was so nice coming home to my nice warm bed and my amazing husband! He had put Operation Clean the House for Kelsie in action while I was away which was so sweet of him, and definitely helped me relax when I got home. It had been Ben and I first nights away from each other since we've been married, and that was a bit hard to adjust to, but we braved through it!

I also didn't take any pictures of me at Girls Camp, but this is one Tammy took of the both of us:

My sister-in-law/the YW president Tammy and me!

We were both just so happy to have had the opportunity to help at each of these events and hopefully help the youth in our ward and stake make some great memories!

Total Nerd! =)

::nerd post begin::

I have a little obsession. Just a little one. Nothing major. Do you want to know what it is? I'll give you a hint...it has to do with hair. A lot of it. =)

Any guesses?

Well here it is...



Yup, it's Tangled. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie. I feel like a kid when I watch it. Which by the way, I've watched it about 7 or 8 times since we bought it a couple weeks ago. Including twice last night. If you haven't seen it, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. I feel like such a nerd talking about it. But honestly, it completely goes back to Disney's classic princess movies. Ok, and the characters are hilarious, especially Pascal and Maximus, and the little old man!! And the music is amazing. So good! In fact, I am listening to one of the songs from the movie right now. And every time we watch the movie, Ben and I can't believe that "I See the Light" (from the scene above) didn't win the Oscar - I mean it did go to Toy Story 3, but still! Ok..I'm getting too nerdy now. Haha!

Ok, that was really all I wanted to say. Really though, if you haven't seen it... please do! You will not be disappointed!


::nerd post over::

So..Remember when I used to post on our blog???

Yeah, that was cool.

Haha! So.. this weekend Ben and I were in California with Forrest and Melissa, who I think I will forever call "Fo Fo & Melis" on this blog, and when we stopped in at my parent's house my mom got on my case about not posting on here. She even had to show me the icon for our blog on her iPad! So here I am posting! But not really.

I've got a couple posts in the works and I definitely want to fill you all in on our trip and the projects I am going to be working on soon! The projects I have literally had in the works for like MONTHS but didn't have time to touch because of how crazy the past semester has been. Which by the way, for all of you who care, I ended up with 2 A's, 2 A -'s, and one B-! So not a horrible semester in all.

I will definitely be posting soon, I promise! But for now, I will leave with you my two favorite songs of the moment.



That video is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. Haha! I love it!!



And this both Ben's and my favorite song right now. :)

All these things that I've done!

So I thought I would put a list on here of all the new recipes I have tried. One - So that I would remember all the things I've tried so that I can make them in the future. and Two - So that if any of you avid readers are curious. I will also tell you how good/not good they turned out. Ok, let's see how good my memory is...

- Sweet and Sour Chicken: Good, but too much sour not enough sweet. Ben liked it more than I did.
- Lemon Parmesan Pasta (I added Shrimp): I really really liked this, but Ben said he thought it was too lemony! He says "really really lemony - all I could taste was lemon." I think he is just being weird.
- Chocolate Crepes with Banana Filling: SOO delicious, BUT the crepe turns too hard to really wrap the banana filling in. But holy cow that banana filling was SOOO good.
- Baked Mac'n'Cheese: Haha - I accidentally burnt the rue, so this turned out nasty. But I am on the hunt for the perfect baked mac'n'cheese recipe and I am trying out a new one this Tuesday. I'll let you know how it goes
- White Chicken Chili: I love this soup! Oh it is so good. I also heated some up the other night and put it in a tortilla and it was super delish!
- Salsa Chicken: Ben loves this and wishes I made it like every night. And so simple!
- Skillet Lasagna: Turned out good, but honestly, I'd rather just have regular lasagna. And I didn't season this one well enough.
- Homemade Pizza: I had technically made this before, but I wanted to add it on here cause it's just so darn good!
- Teriyaki Beef: Really tasty! That's all I have to say about that.
- Chicken Manicotti: This recipe was really good, but a little time intensive.
- Carillon Bell Tower Twists - LOVE THESE. LOVE LOVE LOVE THESE!
- Parmesan Rolls - ALSO LOVE THESE!!!
- Bacon Cheddar Potato Wedges - I made these for super bowl sunday and they were devoured in minutes!

There are a couple new ones I've tried that I just can't remember right now. Throughout the weeks I also added some of our favorite recipes that we use all the time. Things like PoppySeed Chicken, Julianne's Chicken Enchiladas, Chocolate Chip Waffles, and Rice and Whatever!

I'm really enjoying trying out all these new recipes and I've planned out all my meals for the coming two weeks and we are doing our shopping tomorrow! I'll let you know how they all go....if you want.

Updatesies!

Nothing too thrilling has been going on with us, but I felt like I should write something so here I am! The past couple weeks have just been full of school and work, school and work. I'm taking another 3 credits than I normally do.. so school is pretty much killing me right now! I just can't wait to be done next year! It still a long ways away, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, thank goodness! Ben was really really sick last week so he was pretty much out of it the whole week sadly. I waited on him hand and foot, of course! :P Other than that not much has been going on.. we are on the hunt for new couches, so any advice on that account would be great!

Oh, and I don't remember if I said on here what my new years resolutions were, but one of them was to plan my meals out two weeks in advance and to shop for everything I would need for those two weeks and to try and use coupons! I decided to make this resolution cause I was AWFUL at making dinner for Ben every night! Before Ben and I got married he was still living at home, and his mom made dinner like every single night...so he got used to having a full meal every night! So I felt like I was slacking cause I would make dinner maybe like twice a week. Well, update on my resolution.. I've been doing great! Another great part of this resolution is that I've been using the 4 cookbooks I got for Christmas and the 20 or so other cookbooks I have to make new things almost every single night! Most of the things I've made haven't been SUPER successes, but with a few tweaks they could be great. So here is my plea to the...4 or people who might actually look at this... I need more recipes! Tried and true recipes! Favorite ones that you make for your family.. preferably ones with not very much vegetables cause Ben and I won't eat those! Ha ha! Comment with any recipes you've got!

Anyway.. that's all I've got for today! Off to church!