My Christmas Gift

Last night I got my Christmas Present from Eddie! We took a bunch of our return missionaries to dinner at Pizza Pie Cafe! It was so good to see them and spend some time together! Enjoy some photos from the evening!

Jessica Riches & Eddie "Ewww!"

Eddie & "Heraldo" aka David Herrera

Pitt Bull aka Paul Rasmussen, Kayla Bradfield, The Legend aka Jon Horan

Opie aka Pete Copeland, The Legend, Pitt Bull, and ET aka Steven Elliott

"Elder Choi" aka Ryan! and Me!

Kelsey & Dane Sorensen & me!

The Majors!!! Ben & Tasha

The Majors, The Sorensens and Eddie

Jessica and Sandy

Eddie & Scotty Catt and their matching shirts!

The Bowman's!!! Zack & Brittany!!!!

Heraldo & Ryan

Jessica, Me, Scotty, Zack & Brittany

Opie & The Legend!

Once Companions....Now Roommates!!!!! Pitt Bull & ET

Good Times!!! The best Christmas Present Ever!!!

Let's do it again!!!!

My big 5-0 is coming up the end of January!!!!

Halloween Photos

Adam, Tessa & Ares on Halloween night before Truck-or-treating!

The Adams' Halloween Party. Christine was Janis Joplin and Chris was Jimi Hendrix.

The Wanlass Gang

Me at my finest!

I made Adam & Tessa's costumes!

An adorable Dorothy!

FUN!

Turkey Chili with Chipotle Peppers

1 TBSP Canola Oil
2 Med. Onions, Chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 lbs ground turkey meat
1/4 cup chili powder
2 bay leaves
1 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes (including juices)
2 TBSP tomato paste
2 chipotle peppers in adobo, chopped
2 tsp adobo sauce (from chipotle can)
3 cups chicken broth
1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 (15 oz) can small white beans, rinsed and drained
sour cream
Fresh cilantro, chopped

Heat oil in large, heavy pot set over medium heat. Add 0nions and saute until tender and light brown, about 10 minutes. Add cumin and oregano. Stir for 30 seconds, then add garlic cloves. Stir for an additional 30 seconds. Increase heat to med=high. Add ground turkey, breaking it up with a wooden spoon until it is cooked through. Add chili powder, bay leaves, cocoa powder, salt and cinnamon. Add whole tomatoes, including their juices. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon while cooking. Mix in tomato paste, chiptole peppers, adobo sauce, and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove and discard bay leaves. Add black and white beans to the chili. Simmer for an additional 10 minutes. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with sour cream and chopped cilantro.
Serves 8
If you want to tame the heat, scrape the seeds out of the chipotle peppers and discard!!!!

Things are lookig UP!

Sunday morning, Sept. 11th we woke up and opened our dining room blinds to this!

It was pretty cool!!!

Yesterday, Sept. 13, 2011 was a big day for me! I had my first meeting in my new assignment on my Mission and it was my first night back to school!!! I'm taking a bunch of computer classes from UVU's Community Education to brush up on my skills so I can get a job when my Mission is over! So before all the madness of the day started we took a little drive to Herriman, UT.
We just had to go see the UP House!!!

Yes, Bangeter Construction actually got permission from Disney/Pixar to build an actual UP House! Unfortunately the house was closed, so we didn't get to see the interior, but just the outside made you smile!!!

I loved it!

Yes, it even has the mailbox!

I love the colors!!!

It was a beautiful day too!

They even have the hose!!!

So this was Eddie's favorite part! Next door to the UP House was a port-a-potty!

Eddie loves Port-a-potties! He especially liked the name of this one! Honey Bucket!

September 11th

On Friday we went to the Healing Field in Sandy, UT

It will be on display until 9/13/2011! If you've never been....GO!

55!

Happy Birthday Eddie!!!!

Now we qualify for Senior Housing!!!!

Tessa's Birthday! The Big 3!

For some reason I got it into my head, that Tessa needed a Dorothy dress. Maybe it's because we gave her ruby slippers last year! I don't know. I've had the material....since oh....sometime last fall. I started making the dress at 6:30 p.m. August 8th! I finished the dress at 3:30 p.m. August 9th. Birthday Party started at 6:30 p.m. (I did get a good night's sleep too!)

I even had enough time to hide all my boo-boos! I was creative in fixing things I had totally done wrong!!! All in all....not too shabby and the bows I added to hide some of the flaws actually make the dress cuter!!!

I basted the hem because I wanted to be able to hem it properly after Tessa had tried it on. The back hem of the dress is way longer than the front, but that's easy to fix!!!
The Princess Party!
The Princess Cake!The Princess! Blowin' out the candles! Ma & Pa Lemley gave her roller skates and I'm sure she just might be the next Roller Derby Queen!!!! Go get 'em Tessa!