Update

Other random things lately (like forEVER ago)

probably not even worth posting anymore cause it's so old!

but better late than never right??

(WAY back when... haha) We went to a BYU game to watch Trent’s home teaching companion (Noah Hartsock) play some ball!

After a million and a half computer issues and headaches and hours of frustration, we made the plunge and both got new Macs. Best decision we’ve ever made (besides getting married of course). Love them!

My new motto: Once you get a Mac, you’ll never go back. 

 

haha dork!

Trent’s mom and sister came to stay with us for a night! We love when someone is willing to come stay with us! We all went bowling :)

(Take note: the first round, I tied my husband. Next round, not so much)

We have stayed with my siblings a couple times while my mom & matt go out of town. And I must admit, being the mommy of six isn’t so bad after all! We had lots of fun with them. We had lots of good food, (eight people eat a LOT more than two people!),

did lots of hair,

Melissa even did my hair and had us be in a “pageant,” haha

Trent used the snowblower,

went to the Treehouse,

I ran home (uphill! In the snow!),

as I was trying to ask Siri if Nate had a girlfriend, she said…

and Amy and I snuck away for some shopping, took lots of pictures, and did some crafts (see my melted crayon art post!)

Besides all these fun-filled adventures, our life mostly consists of school, work, school, school, writing multiple annoying 10 page papers, and more school.

Zupas Tomato Basil Soup Recipe & Tutorial

Zupas Tomato Basil Soup!

If you have some time and are dying to eat Zupas Tomato Basil Soup for a week, here ya go.

I love this soup at Zupas and I found the recipe (I’ve been informed that it is, in fact, not the EXACT recipe, but I think it tastes exactly like it and so I, in fact, don’t care.)

It actually took a lot longer than I expected, but if you want to save money and make way more soup than you would get at Zupas, then go for it! But just know you have been warned that it takes a little bit of time, like as much as it would take to make home made rolls. Both are amazing though, so maybe it is worth the time :) And if there are only two of you, you have also been warned that I had this soup probably six times before it was gone, haha.

But it was good and worth it and I would love to eat it six times, 

so here it is!

 Ingredients:

4 lb tomatoes, halved lengthwise (apparently plum tomatoes make the flavor even better, but I use normal tomatoes and it works perfect)

6-8 garlic cloves, left unpeeled

3 tbsp. olive oil

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp black pepper

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 tsp fresh oregano, minced (only ½ tsp if using dried)

2 Tbsp. fresh basil, minced (only 1 tsp if using dried)

2 tsp sugar

2 Tbsp unsalted butter

3 cups chicken stock or low-sodium broth

¾ cup heavy cream

Directions:

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 350.

Cut all stems off tomatoes, and cut in half lengthwise.

Arrange tomatoes, cut sides up, in one layer on a large shallow baking pan and add garlic to the pan.

Drizzle tomatoes with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Roast in oven for 1 hour, then cool in pan on rack.

 While that is cooling, cook onion, oregano, basil, and sugar in butter in a 6-8 qt pot over moderately low, stirring frequently, until onion is softened (about 5 min).

Peel garlic (should squeeze right out)

Add tomatoes, garlic, and stock and simmer covered for 20 min.

Puree soup in batches in a blender (be careful with the hot soup!)

then force through a sieve and into a clean pot or bowl. I put all the unblended soup into a bowl, and then put the blended and strained soup into the same pot

Please forgive my lovely kitchen... :)

Stir in cream, and salt & pepper to taste (you need hardly any, if at all)

Simmer 2 min.

Also, Zupas adds in orzo pasta, so I made some of that too for the full effect!

I found it at Winco in the bulk section, but you don’t need to add this if you don’t want to!

 We had these with grilled cheese sandwiches, and it was AMAZING. So yummy!!! Let me know if you try it!

PS If you're interested in more restaurant recipes, you may wanna check out this book with tons of recipes from good restaurants like California Pizza Kitchen, Olive Garden, Applebees, etc!

Now Sleeping With One Eye Open!

We had an incident in December I also wanted to post…

Trent and I were peacefully sleeping one night, 

when out of nowhere Trent gets SLAMMED in the face by something, and this something (or someone for all we know!) hits me in the nose too! 

So we both wake up at the same time, doing who knows what... just freaking out. 

He immediately thinks someone is in our room attacking us or beating us up or something, so he shoots up just about throwing punches, and I am clinging onto him having no idea what in the world is going on. 

We both sit up and he gets up to turn on the light. I started feeling around on the bed to see if I can find anything. I felt something warm, and when it hit Trent’s face I heard the slam! Like it made a crashing noise! So my first thought was someone had thrown a grenade through our window, naturally, and there it was sitting next to me on the bed, about to blow. (We had just had a conversation about grenades the day before, haha!) 

And can i just say... 

being completely asleep and then being suddenly awaken by something slamming you in the face... is just weird. Like you are not expecting it to say the least and are just completely out of it and can't see a darn thing and are really frazzled, for lack of a better word!

This all happened in a matter of like ten seconds.

Come to find out, it was the vent on our ceiling!! What the?!

We had been living at our apartment for a good 8 months, why in the world would the ceiling vent fall from the ceiling that much later, and what are the odds that we happen to be asleep, DIRECTLY UNDER IT!? And not only that, what are the odds it hits BOTH of us!? And the fact that we have vaulted ceilings doesn’t help either.

Poor Trent got a gash on his nose and eyebrow. Yes, eyebrow, see the pic! What if it had hit his eyeball?! I could have a blind husband! And by the way, those vents are heavy! And sharp!

Most of all, what if there had been a baby sleeping under it?! Could be death!!

SO…

Check your ceiling vents! Make sure they are nice and secure. First of all, make sure they are screwed in...!!! Someone, not to mention names Landlord, had not screwed it in…?? Looks like someone needs to take Landlording 101. We couldn’t go back to sleep for ever, about gave us a heart attack! I know, weirdest thing ever. 

 Sharp!!!

 Yes that is blood on the vent.

Latest Post of the Century...

Well Happy Easter everyone!

Speaking of holidays, uh, the last time I updated my blog was Christmas.

I always told myself I wasn’t going to be one of those people that goes forever without updating their blog, but here I am. Whatever.

So anyways… I still have more to say about Christmas, haha.

My mom was so cute and did the 12 Days of Christmas for us.

It was so fun and cute I couldn’t let it slip from my blog!

Before December started she gave us 12 presents, (as well as supplied us with a tree!) so it was fun to have lots of gifts under our tree to start the Christmas season. Every day we got a cute Christmas story and a gift (usually food!)

Here are some pics :)

Cute huh? 

And here was my family’s Christmas card, Brady Bunch style

 Anyways, Merry Christmas & Happy Easter! haha