Powerful: Derek + Laura

So I've been getting a little frustrated recently. I want to be able to cook so badly but I just don't know how to. I can cook simple things but I am tired of that. I am currently in love with the Food Network Channel and I think I should be on that worst cook's in America show so i could learn how. Anyways, I am trying to compile different recipes that I can cook for me a Derek. I want to start making a weekly menu and buying only the food we need for that week. I hate when things sit in the pantry for months and I have no idea what to do with that can of whatever. I also want to learn to cook healthy with this new adventure of mine. I don't have any children yet but I feel it's important to start before we add an addition. I want my children to grow up loving healthy food. Ok so long story short I guess -- If you have any healthy recipe ideas I would love them. Post them here. Email them to me: topaz859@gmail.com Anything. I know many of you out there ...

So yesterday we celebrated our 1st anniversary. We also celebrated it a little bit on Saturday. Saturday: -Derek bought me a dozen red roses. -I got him some cool looking cuff-links. -Dinner at Olive Garden. My favorite restaurant. -My friend Na's Hawaiian wedding reception. -Nickel City. This is where we kind of had our first date. It was so much fun. -Finished it off by watching The Princess and the Frog in bed. Sunday: -My dad made a fabulously delicious dinner. Steak. Potato Soup. Green Salad. Amazing bread. -We all played a couple grueling rounds of Disney SceneIt and Just Dance 2. -We thawed the top of our wedding cake and ate it. Actually it was so delicious. It kept really well. Cling wrap is the best. Everyone was shocked at how good it tasted. This past year has been wonderful. I have experienced more joy than ever before. I feel so blessed to have such a wonderful man in my life who loves me for who I am. Plus he's patient and for me that's ...

So 2010 was crazy but a great year and a year of a lot of firsts. Here's my wrap up for 2010: -I got married January 16, 2010. -I left the US of A for the first time and went to Cancun on our honeymoon. (Pretty excited about my first passport stamp!) -We moved from Utah to CA. CA to Idaho. Idaho to CA. CA to Utah. (This is ridiculous and has purely exhausted me. -I graduated from college ! Not that this has amounted to much yet but maybe someday...just maybe. -Derek got into BYU . I am so proud of him. -I got promoted at my mediocre job. -We went to Hawaii this summer for a family vacation. So pretty there. Can't wait to go back someday. This year should be just as great. Who knows what will happen. Maybe a real grown-up job? Maybe a new addition? Maybe another awesome vacation to somewhere warm? I'd even go for Europe. :) Anyways Happy New Year Everyone! Enjoy 2011! This was when we actually still lived in warm weather. ha This was our boat cruise down in Newport Bea...

So I've been very blessed to now work a lot of Friday's and Derek doesn't have school on Friday so we really take advantage of our weekends and try to spend a lot of time together. I always look forward to them. Here are some things we've been up to lately. I apologize for always having so many pictures to tell me stories. If I updated more often it wouldn't be so bad. At Vasquez Rocks. Tons of movies and shows have been filmed here. Monk, NCIS, The Flinstone Movie, etc Me in a small cave Derek rock climbing. Amazing isn't it? ha Enjoying our time together Christmas lights in Santa Clarita are a huge deal. They have neighboorhood contests every year. Seriously they have place where you have to find Rudolph and people pass out candy canes. So festive. I loved it. Th...

And I couldn't be more excited. There is a lot going on and so I've been bad at blogging. Derek and I have been busy with work, school, and of course, our fun weekend adventures. We had a fun one this last weekend at Vasquez Rocks. Anyways, I'll blog later on today with some new pictures but at least my blog isn't stuck in a transitional fall/Halloween phase anymore.

So yesterday was my birthday. It started the day before: 1.) My fruit tart cake that we had after going out to dinner at the Olive Garden with Derek's family. That's when i opened up all my present. Teapot, Coat, Hat, Gloves, Boots, new purse, perfume, flip flops, Olive Garden gift card, and movie gift certificate. It was wonderful. 2.) My free PinkBerry! After work on my birthday I had Derek meet me at the mall to get PinkBerry. We go up and get ready to pay and the guy says the cash register is broken and he can't ring it up and said this one was on him and he even stamped our cards. Yeah! Love free pinkberry borthday surprises. The other pictures are just of my opening gifts. Derek also made me dinner for my birthday for just the two of us. Candle lit and everything. Honey BBQ grilled chicken. Homemade mashed potatoes. Ceaser salad. Garlic Artisan bread. I also got a lot of great cards, phone calls, and texts from those I love that love me very much. I ap...

So for so reason blogger isn't working right with my pictures so I'll give a brief synopsis from here: 1-3: Lombardi Farms: It is this pumpkin patch, petting zoo, corn maze, sunflower maze and so much more. We went and spent the afternoon there. It was so fun. Some of the pumpkins were huge as you can see. 4: Johnnie's New York. It was a restaurant down on the Promenade in Santa Monica. It was beautiful down there. We walked around the Promenade, ate dinner, rode the ferris wheel down on the pier, and finished the night off with some gelato. It was so good. Such a fun evening. Before we leave California I am trying to do a lot of the California things. 5: Hollywood. I guess it's an experience you have to have once but I really hated it. It was dirty and nothing like I imagine and you could just really see the sin all around. On the bonus side I found the Olsen twins & John Stamo's star. That was fun. No Miley Cyrus though. 6-7: Griffith Observator...