My thumb is definitely a shade of green.

I love gardening! I love planting a dried out seed and watching it grow. I am like a little child on Christmas Eve, anxiously awaiting the morning to run down to the tree and see what presents they received from Santa. Only it's not Christmas, and the presents are little green heads popping out of the moist dirt to say hello to the warm sun.

This year I wanted to plant an entire garden because last year I had tomatoes shoved into a pot, that was the extent of my garden. I asked our landlords where I could plant on the mass of land that there is. I was directed to the garden just outside their home.
At first I was mad because the dirt is crap and it wasn't what I had pictured in my head. Then I realized it was all I had, and since the weeds grow like crazy out there then my plants might actually have some luck. I bought my seeds and couldn't wait to get started. I soaked the dirt so that it would be easy to maneuver. Bad idea! I stepped into the dirt which I figured would be a little muddy, and sunk up to my knees!!! This made for an interesting experience. I got tired of trying to dig myself out of the mud so I just started planting Zucchini where ever I had made a footprint. Then wherever I could find dry land. I would dig and inch then cover it back up with dry dirt and planned to water them later. I did this with my pees and tomatoes too. There wasn't much of a system at this point because I was COVERED in mud!

I watered what I had done and waited for it to grow. My mom came and visited me and was shocked at my garden. Why was she shocked you ask? Well because evidently when you plant an entire package of Zucchini seeds you are looking at well, a LOAD of Zucchini. I was then told that 2 or 3 plants would have been Plenty for Nels and me, along with some to give away. Well I have now over 20 plants growing. At last count there were 23, but the magically keep popping up. I have a billion and a half snap pee plants and more tomato plants than I can count. I also planted mint in a Terra cota pot and that is growing beautifully.
Oh and I was making a watermelon slushy and decided that maybe since I have to seed the entire watermelon before blending that I might as well see if the seeds would grow. I remember everyone always being so shocked when they found a watermelon growing in their garden because someone spit a seed. I thought it was a rare thing that happened. I gave my watermelon seeds a chance and now I have probably 50 plants all growing right now!!!

If you are bored of reading then here are the pictures of MY garden!!!

The whole Garden

Pees

20+ Zucchini Plants

Tomatoes

Watermelon

Tomatoes

More tomatoes

Mint!

Bonsai

BAAAHHHHAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHA Gotcha!

Take a look at our new Tattoos!

Nels needed new glasses and while we were waiting for them to be made, which miraculously only took an hour, we decided to go check out the mall. I have a husband who HATES shopping so I was trying to find a way to entertain him. So we went and got a pretzel and then stumbled on a Henna and eyebrow shaping store. We weren't interested in the eyebrow shaping because basically it's like waxing, but instead of wax they use strings to rip the hair from your body. No thanks!
We got some awesome tattoos! For those of you who don't know henna just dyes the skin for about 10 days or so. It's not permanent DAD :). It comes of by itself in a few weeks. Nelsie got an awesome motorcycle engulfed in a flame on his arm, and I got some flowery thing down my arm.
They put the henna on and it looks like black puffy paint. When it dries you just brush it off and you have your design.

Year old cake

Nels and I did what most if not every newly married couple does and that is save the top layer of our wedding cake. We were gone for our anniversary so we didn't eat the cake on our anniversary we ate it a few days later. So really the cake is 1 year old and a few days.
We had fondant on our cake which we quickly learned does not hold for a year. It was disgusting! I was gagging while trying to choke down my little bite, so I just peeled all the fondant off. However the chocolate cake part was still yummy and with a little of Mrs. Richardsons butterscotch topping it was delectable! I ate the rest of the cake for the next two weeks, just adding a little bit more butterscotch with eat round of eating.

Happy 1 year to Us!!!!

This is a forever long post so if you want the short version. We went to Tahoe, here's some pictures. Scroll down.
Four years ago I met Nels. He had a beard and longer hair. He had just returned home from Puerto Rico from a summer job. I had just started working that the traffic office as a freshman. He was supposed to be my supervisor. I didn't like him from the beginning. He was cocky, arrogant, and not my type. After a few months we decided when Rebecca, (my sister) went to New Zealand for a study abroad we would tell her we were dating, the one thing she told me Not to do before she left. She came home and we still acted like we were dating. From there we became good friends, a few months later I started to fall for him, a few months later I was really in love with him, and a few years later I KNEW I was going to marry him. Whether he knew it or not. We went through a lot together and not so together in those 4 years. One morning very early in a freezing barn in Colorado he asked me to marry him. I said yes and 6 months later we were married for time and all eternity in the draper temple.
I love Nels Johnson more than anything on this green earth! He walks in the door and I get giddy with excitement for him to be home. When I first met Nels I thought he wasn't my type. He was short and blond. Me like any other woman wanted a tall, dark, and handsome man to be with for ever. Well I got a handsome one! Nels is great provider for our family of 2. He makes me laugh uncontrollably, he knows how to make me happier when I'm sad, make the illogical woman in me more logical, and all in all he makes my world go round. I love you Nels.
For our anniversary this year we got to go to Tahoe! It was a gorgeous trip. We went up Sunday night. It was snowing a tiny bit on the way up there, but only visible through headlights. We got in late checked out our room, and then of course I was hungry. We walked over to McDonald's in the freezing weather and got some delicious home cooked food and went to bed.
The next day we woke up and drove around the lake looking for some place nice to eat at for our anniversary dinner. We ate and headed back to the resort for a nap since we slept so crappy the night before. We took a nap and woke up to 6" of snow!!!!! It covered everything! So of course we decided the smart thing to do would be to go swim. The pool was awesome. Half indoors half outdoors with a small tunnel leading from one to another. So imagine this we are swimming in a blizzard. It was a very cool experience.
We ate again and then I wanted to go back and swim, so we did. We drove home this morning and luckily had clean roads to drive on. The trees were gorgeous all covered in snow. And since that's all I took pictures of, that's what you get to see.

So Happy Anniversary To Us! 1 year down, Many more to go! I love you Nelsie.

I want this cabin! Such a gorgeous location.

River running along the road.

How cool is this? That's not a blurry picture that's steam rising from the road.

GORGEOUS!!!

This was right before our nap. NO Snow!

What Kara asks for, Kara gets!!

Kara, my freshmen roommate and one of my bestest friends asked for the house dressing recipe so without further ado.

Cafe Rio Creamy Tomatillo Ranch

3 Large Tomatillos
1 Cup Buttermilk
1 Cup Fresh Cilantro
1/2 Cup Mayo
1/2 Cup sour Cream
1 Packet of Ranch Dressing mix
1Tbsp Fresh Lime juice

2 Jalapeno peppers- I quartered mine and took out the seeds to make sure it wasn't going to be too spicy. I added one and it didn't give it a kick, so taste it after adding one and see if it meets yours standards. If not add more.

Remove Husks from the tomatills, wash, quarter and broil until soft. About 7 minutes. combine Everything in a blender until smooth. Chill for an hour to thicken and blend.

p.s it's very Cilantro-ish so if cilantro isn't your cup of tea add more jalapeno or less cilantro! I love it with just added peppers! Yum

Recipe by Cyndi

Cafe Rio!!!

While I was home this last time I got some recipes from my friend Wendi. She always talks about cafe rio salad that she makes, yet I have not had ANY! So I got the recipe from her. She gave me the recipe for the rice, chicken, and my FAVORITE the pork!!! You would think that working there for quite a while would make me an expert, but I never learned the trade.
I haven't tried the chicken, well because I don't like Cafe Rio's regular chicken. I love their grilled chicken, but the regular is boiled in it's own water or something nasty!! I'm sure the recipe that I have is delicious, but why have chicken when you can have pork? Yesterday I made some tomatillo Ranch dressing which is their house dressing. I liked it alot but the recipe that I have doesn't add any jalapenos which I know the original calls for so I added some to give it that extra delish kick!
Are you interested in how my pork turned out? Well you should be. It was delicious!!!! I loved every bite of my dinner tonight, and it tasted almost identical. At least I thought. Nels doesn't like Cafe Rio and is still having his Sunday nap to attest to that.

The Recipe!!!

I started with a shoulder cut of pork. To be honest I had no idea what cut of pork is good, but all I wanted was something CHEAP! So I got a 2 LB roast threw that in the crock pot. The recipe calls for a bigger roast and different measurements then I used.

Pork Roast
1 Can Coke- I bought a bigger one than you needed, but that's just because it was cheaper and so I could drink the rest without feeling guilty that I bought coke for no reason besides my own guilty pleasure.
1 tsp Cumin
1 c brown sugar
1 8 oz. can of taco sauce.

Cook the roast covered in water for 3 hours on high. Drain, add all other ingredients and cook for another 2 hours on low.

I threw everything in the crock pot, minus the water Covering the roast in coke instead, then let it cook on high for 3 hours and low for 2 hours. Make sure you adjust accordingly. The original is for a 4-5LB roast. I used a smaller roast so used less cumin.

P.s if you want any of the other recipes let me know.