Christmas Time is Here!

Although our apartment is a little small, we still really wanted to get a tree! It smells so yummy and looks so great. It makes it feel like Christmas. It was also fun, since this is our first married Christmas, we got to pick out ornaments and stuff to go on the tree. Here's how it turned out!

Thanksgiving Fun!

We spent the last week in Arizona with Jeff's family. We had a great time hanging out with everybody, shopping, working on the car, going to the shooting range, playing with the kids, and eating! Here is one of my new favorite recipes.



CRANBERRY PUFFS (a.k.a. try 'em you'll like 'em wontons)
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup fresh cranberries
1 jalapeno pepper, stem removed
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 (14 ounce) package wonton wrappers
3 cups canola oil for frying

DIRECTIONS
In a food processor, combine the cranberries, jalapeno pepper, sugar and mayonnaise. Process until smooth. This will be your cranberry relish. Set aside half of this mixture, and pour the rest into a medium bowl. Mix cream cheese into this half until well blended.
Lay a few wonton wrappers at a time out on a clean surface. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture onto the center of each one. Pinch the corners together to make a triangle shape. If they don't stick, wet them with a little water using your finger. Set aside on a piece of waxed paper while you assemble the remaining puffs.
Heat the oil in a large deep skillet over medium to medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, carefully set 5 to 10 of the dumplings in the pan. Do not over crowd the pan. Fry on each side until golden brown. Remove from the hot oil using tongs and place on paper towels to drain. Serve on a platter with the reserved cranberry relish as a dipping sauce. The sooner you eat them, the better they taste.

Fall is for Football

This past Saturday we were hanging out at the apartment when Jeff received a text message. It was his friend asking if we wanted two free tickets to the USC game at 5:00. Thankfully we hadn't made any solid plans that day and we were able to go. It was fun because it was their homecoming game. There were a ton of things going on around the coliseum. The thing that made the game the most fun was the fact that USC finally won! Here is a picture of us at the game.












I also went to a shower for my friend Jessica. It was so fun. We ate a really good egg dish and fruit, yummy coffee cake, and scones.
I actually was able to wear my new coat because it was a little chilly outside. Then we played games and opened presents, which was a time filled with much laughter. She is living out in Detroit right now because that's where her fiance is doing his residency, so we miss her a ton!

Life is Good and so is God

First off, I want to start by saying that I really stink at this blogging business. I love the idea and I love to read other people's blogs, but when it comes to my own, I can never think of what to write and feel like it's not exciting to read. I guess I need to just get over that, huh?!

Things are staying pretty busy down here in California. The fires have been the biggest news lately. We feel so sorry for all the families that have been effected. Luckily, we don't live close to where the fires are/were, so we didn't have to be breathing in the smoke all the time. It seems that things are starting to slow down and almost all the fires have been put out. We both are enjoying our jobs, which is always good! Jeff was asked to be the engineer in charge of an emergency shut down at the refinery, which will happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I am so proud of him! The only bad part is that he will probably have to work 6 days a week 12 hours a day. ROCKHARBOR is going well. I have been making some really good friends and I love being there. I feel like I am being developed a lot and am growing in a lot of different ways.

The thing that has been on my heart the most lately is God's grace and the peace He continually gives to us. As I have been going through trials in my own life and watching many of my close friends go through trials, God has been so gracious. A lot of times it is hard to see the good that comes out of hard times, but in the midst of these events, God is allowing me little glimpses of the way he is working.

Everyday I am in awe of the way God is working in my life and the lives of the people around me. I love that none of us deserve his grace or his mercy or the peace he so freely gives us, but the great thing is that he is holding it out in his hands just waiting for us to accept it. That's all we have to do. It is a daily choice to accept the things he so graciously offers, and I hope that each morning you will remember that and choose each of those things.

Chopped Veggie Salad

Okay, so for one of my wedding showers people were supposed to bring me recipes. I hadn't made any of them until yesterday and boy was it good. Here is the recipe.

3 cups each:
Celery, cauliflower, broccoli, petite frozen peas.

1 cup each:
Spanish peanuts, dried cranberries.

Dressing:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. Rice vinegar
2 T. Grated onion
1/4 cup parmesean cheese (ultra fine)
1 1/2 cup mayo

It is so refreshing and yummy! Jeff doesn't like mayonaise and won't even try the salad, so I guess that means more for me! :)

The Crazy Life

Wow...I didn't realize it had been over a month since I had written. I promise I am going to get better at it and maybe even Jeff will post something. Life has been pretty crazy in the past month. We went up to Washington to celebrate my birthday with my family, and went to Arizona for a wedding reception and in the midst of that craziness, Jeff was gone for a week and a half at training. Since then things haven't been getting back to "normal"...and I'm seeming to think that I don't know what "normal" is anymore. I thought it was where life was crazy busy, but I am starting to think it's the other way around. I know it's probably going to get even worse from here on out.

We did get some amazing news yesterday. Most of you know that one of our close family friends, who is like my brother, has been re-diagnosed with osteosarcoma. He has three tumors and has been in a lot of pain. They tried one type of chemo and it wasn't working very well, so they did a couple treatments with another type. He went in yesterday for tests and scans and found out that the tumors are shrinking! We were so relieved and encouraged to hear that news. Praise God!

This weekend we plan on laying low and resting a little bit...I am slowly becoming somebody who likes to be home and have my downtime. Weird...

"The Big Easy"

Last week we experienced our first days and nights apart since we have been married. I led a trip to New Orleans with 9 other people. Everybody was from ROCKHARBOR except for my parents. Let me just tell you, it was HOT! It was hot and the humidity was probably like 80 or 90%. We all had a wonderful time and really grew close as a team.

We did a bunch of different things. We tore town a garage/shop, distributed food to members of the community, did yardwork, helped at a barbecue, and fed the homeless at a place caled the wall. The two things I felt impacted me the most were distributing food and feeding the homeless. We were able to pray with people and hear their stories from when hurricane Katrina hit. Here is a picture of when we were handing out food. We were in a church parking lot and some of our team members were holding up signs that said free food. There were all kinds of people who came and got food. Some had evacuated before the hurricane and some didn't, but most of them had one thing in common...their house had been destroyed by the storm. Most of them were living in trailers.

God really worked in the lives of all the people on the team. Since I have been home, I continually think of the people there pray that they have hope and will be able to help get their city back to "normal" someday.