Some exciting news, although a little late.

I know...I am a lame blogger lately. I don't know what my problem is.

So, here's the latest news. As most of you know, I've been in school for court reporting for the last 5 years (yes, it really has been that long). I've been close to being done for a while and last Thursday I passed on of my mocks, which is a big test that basically is the ticket to taking the state test. Now, I do have to pass 3 mocks, so I've got one down and two to go, but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel and it's really GREAT! I'm so excited, as is Josh since he's been waiting for me to get done with school before he goes (thanks for being so patient, honey). That's basically the only news I have. I have to pass the two more mocks before November 26th, and I totally think I can do it. Wish me luck.

In other news:

Do you remember this post that I did a month or so ago. Well, we got two more caricatures back today. We have started on the celebrity caricatures and the ones that we got back today are of Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura and Audrey Hepburn. They turned out so good! I'm excited about getting the other ones back. The next two are going to be Danny Devito as the Penguin in Batman and Angelina Jolie in Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I'll post some more pictures of these once we get a few more back and start getting them on the wall.

Brad gets home from his mission in Piura, Peru in less than two months already. We are really excited for that. I can't wait! I can't believe it's already been two years. Crazy!

Cooking Yourself Thin

So, I bought the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook, and I really enjoy it. I haven't tried everything but I will share a few of my favorite things.

This is what we're eating tonight. It's the Southwestern Turkey Burgers. We have tried it a few times, and I absolute love it. Josh really likes it as well.

Now at first glance, I would never have wanted to try a turkey burger, but I just happened to have everything for it the first time I made it, and it was one of those days that you just didn't have anything to make, so I ended up with this. And it was really, really good. Very flavorful! We even had the sweet potato fries, and they were good, even for someone who isn't a huge fan of sweet potatoes. The only thing I didn't like about those was that they come out kind of soft, and I haven't quite figured out how to fix that, but besides that, they were great.

We're not having the sweet potato fries tonight, because I'm too lazy to go to the store for just two sweet potatoes, but here's the recipe, in case you're interested.

Serves 4

Calories per serving, turkey burger: 342

Calories per serving, sweet potato fries: 89

For the sweet potato fries:

2 sweet potatoes, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, plus more for sprinkling, Juice of 1/2 lime.

For the turkey burger:

1 1/3 pounds lean ground turkey, 1 4-ounce can diced green chiles, drained, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 2–3 spritzes canola oil in a mister, 3 ounces 50%-reduced-fat pepper-jack cheese, cut into thin slices, 4 whole-wheat Kaiser rolls, Romaine lettuce leaves, Tomato, slicedRed onion, sliced1/2 avocado, sliced

1. For the sweet potato fries, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2. Wash and dry the potatoes and, with the skin on, slice into 1/2-inch-thick rounds; cut the rounds into 1/2-inch-thick finger-shaped pieces. Toss the potatoes in a bowl with the oil, chili powder, garlic powder and salt.

3. On a baking sheet, spread the sweet potato fries in a single layer and roast, stirring every 10 minutes, until brown and tender, 30 to 35 minutes. Remove from the oven, transfer to a platter or bowl and sprinkle with a little more salt.
Recipes From This Episode

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix the lean ground turkey with the diced chiles and season with salt and pepper. Shape into patties and refrigerate until ready to cook.

5. Heat a large grill pan or nonstick skillet on medium heat and spritz with canola oil. Add the turkey patties to the grill pan and cook until browned on one side, about 4 minutes. Flip, reduce the heat to low, cover (if using a skillet) and cook until the juices run pale pink, about 4 more minutes. Top with the reduced-fat pepper-jack cheese during the last minute.

6. Toast the rolls in the oven or in a toaster oven. Alternatively, grill them 1 minute on each side.

7. To assemble: On a platter, place the fries and a burger on a bun and top with lettuce, tomato, onion and avocado slices. Squeeze lime juice over the fries and serve.

Hope you enjoy!

Media Room

So, after a lot of bumping heads on how to decorate the media room, we have both come to an agreement, and I must say, I am pretty excited about it!

We got a caricature for our one year anniversary at Universal Studios: Hollywood, and who would have thought that that would become the inspiration. Well, it has.

We decided that it would go well in the room since it has a movie theme, Spiderman, and since it was a cartoon. So, we decided to go this way all around. We are going to have a total of 3 caricatures that are of us in different superhero movies. Here are the other two. We just got them in the mail two days ago, and love them.
Batman and Catwoman

Iron Man and secretary

These are going to go right next to each other on the wall as soon as you walk in the room. You can see that wall in the below picture. There's one caricature already on the wall, the other ones will be on either side of it.Then, on the large wall that is totally blank right now, we are going to have caricatures done of our favorite actors/actresses in our favorite movies. Also, on the wall right next to the curtains, we are going to have a caricature done of our favorite TV show, Gilmore Girls, with the whole cast.

I think it's going to look really good when it's done. Although it will be a work in progress because we can only afford to do about 2 caricatures a month. Still super excited, though!

My family

So, sometimes, this is what I come home to, and I just love it!

Shocker Collars

My poor dogs not only have had to wear shocker collars for their underground fence but now, may I introduce you to the barking collars...



Yes, maybe you think we are bad owners, but let me just explain. When we first got the dogs, we would let them go outside and they would just stay in our yard, without the shocking collars for the fence. Well, as they got older, they wanted to expand their horizons, which lead to them pooping in neighbors yards, going across the street, etc. So, much to my demise, we got the shocker collars and the underground fence. I am definitely now a fan.


It was really great to be able to let the dogs outside and not have to worry about them. I'm sure they have enjoyed it as well.


The neighbors...not so much.


I think they would rather have poop on their yard then have to hear them bark one more time. Not only are they sick of it (they haven't said so, but who wouldn't be annoyed at constant barking) but so am I. So, we finally gave in and got them barking collars. So, yes, they have to wear two collars now when they are outside instead of one. They should have pretty strong necks pretty soon, cuz I'm sure they are heavy.


Now, before you go on and think we are bad owners, let me assure you that we take all precautions to make sure these things are okay for the dogs. Maybe these pictures will help you understand what I mean.







Yes, third time's a charm. He finally barked loud enough for it to work...the red light shows that it's working.

Cinnamon roll with a side of dessert.

So, we walked around the Riverwalk pretty much all day in San Antonio. After all was said and done, we decided to go to Lulu's which has the largest Cinnamon roll. For some reason, can't quite figure out why, we decided to walk there. Now, I know a mile doesn't seem like a long way...but after walking all day, it definitely was. We were all the biggest complainers! But we made it, and the cinnamon roll was actually very delicious. It was featured on the Food Network. So, here are the pictures from that.


Before we dug in. This is what 3 pounds of cinnamon roll looks like:
After we devoured it. We couldn't even finish it between the four of us. I just couldn't believe they asked us if we wanted one or two...

Now, on the way home, walking was much easier. I think it's because we sat about an hour, and had a bunch of water. So, we get to the car, I look down, and a bird pooped on me! Seriously! So, I drove home the entire way from San Antonio to Kyle trying not to accidentally touch it or get it anywhere in my car. It was pretty much disgusting.

3-D ride.

It was kind of a lame ride, but here's the pics.