The Best Pasta I Have Ever Had

So the other night I was knocking around in the kitchen trying to decide what to make for dinner.  I had seen this recipe for "Million Dollar Spaghetti" It looks good, but I didn't have all the ingredients for it.  Mostly, I was missing Cottage Cheese. So I had to look for something else. Then I found the mother of all pasta bakes.  Honestly, I've never eaten anything so good, ever in recent memory. :) So, here is the link to the best pasta I have ever eaten, but for those of you that are lazy, here's the recipe below.

The Best Spaghetti You Will Ever Eat

Ingredients:

8 oz. spaghetti (I didn't have spaghetti in the cupboard so I just used Rotini)

1 lb. ground beef

1 (26.5 oz) can spaghetti sauce (I used Hunt's Four Cheese)

1 Tbsp Butter

1/2 c chopped green peppers (I actually used a small can of diced green chilies- drained)

1/3 c chopped onions (Half a small onion, roughly)

8 oz. cream cheese (softened)

2 Tbsp milk

Fresh grated Parmesan Cheese

French Fried Onions (I like the cheddar ones, but regular is fine)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Cook pasta according to directions on the package, but cook to al dente, because it will continue to cook later in the oven. 

3. Brown the ground beef. Drain grease, Add spaghetti sauce to skillet and simmer. 

4. Combine veggies and butter, cover and microwave 4 minutes until soft.  Add cream cheese and milk and stir well.
5. Layer a 9x13 glass baking dish in the following order, thin layer of sauce, cooked pasta, cream cheese mixture, remaining sauce, parmesan cheese.
6. Bake for 25 minutes. Top with french-friend onions and bake for 5 more minutes.

So really, try this. You won't regret it. It's delicious. and you don't want to deny your stomach such crazy goodness. :) 

Bless This House... And All the Crazy People In It.

Ryan and I had a kind of last minute Christmas Party last week. Because it was so last minute, not very many people were able to come so it was just six of us. Luckily, the two couples that were able to come are some of my favorite people. :) So we divided up into boys versus girls (or in this case- husbands versus wives) and got into cars and did a scavenger hunt! It was SO much fun! We did so many things. Here's our list:

-- Wash someone’s car windows 
-- Help someone load their groceries onto the check-out line. (extra points if you help them load them in their car)
-- Find a house lit up with only white Christmas Lights 
-- Christmas Carol at a member of the Bishoprics house
-- Penny from before 2005
-- A schedule of activities or pamphlet or information of volunteer opportunities from a local nursing home –OR- hospital.
-- Christmas Wrapping Paper
-- A Decorated Mailbox 
-- A Stuffed Animal (extra point if it’s Christmas themed) 
-- Inflatable decoration 
-- A Restaurant Menu
-- A Nativity (extra points if you dress up and participate)
-- 3 Non-Perishable food items to donate to a food pantry 
-- Sweep someone’s front porch 
-- Leave five uplifting notes on cars in a parking lot
-- Put away 10 stray shopping carts 
-- Take Out Someone’s Trash
-- Deliver 5 boxes of cookies! (Anonymous or not—your choice!!) 

     Anyway, So we went out and had fun trying to get as many items crossed off as possible in an hour (we took pictures, I'll post them later), and then we met back at our house, added up our points and the winners got to pick the movie! The wives won the scavenger hunt with a total of 114 points to the husbands 77 points, So we picked National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Before we watched the movie, we played a quick game of dirty Santa (or Yankee swap, whatever you want to call it, I call it fun) where Ryan and I got some great stuff!  I got this great Magnet!

 This is perfect because we have been wanting to get better at Family Home Evening So this will be awesome to put on our front door Sunday nights so that Ryan can see it when he leaves Monday morning! It's sure to help us make Family Night a more regular part of our busy lives.

Ryan picked out this frame that we both love!

When we first moved here I was excited but also terrified. I didn't think that I would be able to love anywhere as much as I loved Jacksonville. I thought no one would like me and that I would just be lonely all the time.  How happy I am to be wrong! Now, our home is a revolving door for our friends. They come and go as they please and we wouldn't have it any other way. I fervently pray and thank my Father in Heaven for giving us a place to belong here. May He bless our home and all the crazy people in it, whether they live here or not. :)

Peppermint Meringue and What it Taught Me About Humility.

Yesterday, I made a Peppermint Meringue.

Let me rephrase that.

Yesterday, I TRIED to make a Peppermint Meringue.

It didn't go well.

I had no idea what went wrong! I thought I followed the recipe EXACTLY as it said to. but after beating that sucker for almost an hour and a half, (call me what you want, but I'm no quitter.) It still only resembled a slightly thicker and better smelling bowl of elmers glue. Like this:

See? Not a peak in sight! So I gave up and dumped the whole thing in the trash. Of course, I wasn't satisfied with not knowing what the problem was so I investigated. I found that although I followed the recipe to the T, I still made the meringue wrong. I added the sugar too quickly, and I added it too soon. So really, my meringue never had a chance.  It would have stayed this way no matter how long or fast I was beating it. I didn't have all the information I needed to be successful.

So I went on with my chores, and I thought about that darn Meringue all day long.  I thought about how I wished that I had had someone there to teach me how to do it correctly, and I realized that I had had that opportunity, and I didn't take it.  A woman from our church brought Ryan and I a pie yesterday as a thank you for helping her with her roof. It was delicious. Chocolate cream pie with a- you guessed it- meringue on top.  She made the whole thing from scratch and she was right there, RIGHT when I was freaking out over my bowl of paste, and I could have just asked her! I even thought about doing it but, I was too embarrassed to show her my messy house and my failure of a recipe.

I do this a lot.  I don't like being looked at like I'm dumb so I don't ask for help. I just act like I know what I'm doing until I can figure out how to make it look passable. I did it with school, I did it with sewing, I do it REGULARLY with Ryan, I did it with this stupid meringue, and I even do it in my relationship with Christ. Why do I do this? What is my problem?!?!? The answer is simple.

I'm a prideful person.

It's not the first time I've heard it. but I've never admitted how much of a problem it is. Pride really is the definition of getting in your own way  Being embarrassed? Being afraid of what someone will think of you? It's a vanity, and it prevents you from being the best that you can be.

So over the past 24 hours I've had this HUGE  piece of revelation dawn on me.but changing is a lot easier said than done.  How do you just stop being afraid? One of my favorite things I have ever heard is this. "Fear is the opposite of Faith." So in this situation, by being afraid of what others will think, that shows a lack of faith in my friends, and even worse, a lack of faith in myself. And it's all completely unfounded. They've never done anything to make me think that they wouldn't continue to love me, even if I was an imbecile. I am not stupid, so why would they think that I am? It's just a big bag of silliness. It's a waste of time. and I hate wasting time.  This guy said something really neat about discovering humility in ourselves. "We don't discover humility by thinking less of ourselves; We discover humility by thinking less about ourselves." So let's think less about ourselves, and think more of those around us. In every way.

Isn't it amazing what you can learn from a bowl of sugar and egg whites?

New Layout! New Outlook!

It looks great right?

I'm IN LOVE with the new look of my blog! It's all thanks to my friend Ashley Ziegler over at  From A to Z. She is a talented, beautiful and inspirational person to me, and I'm so glad that she was willing to help me make my blog look like me!

With this new layout, I'm looking forward to a new year! I'm going to be writing a lot more often, and about a lot of new things! I'll be writing about new recipes that I try, my scripture studies, new fitness plans (I have to be accountable somewhere, amiright?)  memories I create with my family, and parties/activities I'm planning! As I look forward to 2015, I have a lot of goals for myself. Most of these I will talk about in a later post. However, I want to be more Christ-centered in my life. I want to be more open about my testimony and come closer to Christ. So really, why wait? I'm starting now and I'm looking forward to the journey! I can't wait to share this holiday season and coming year with you! Thank you for coming along with me!

Humility

With Humble Heart

Text by: Zara Sabin

With humble heart, 

I bow my head and think of thee,

O Savior, Lord. 

I take the water and the bread

To show remembrance of thy word. 

Help me remember, I implore,

Thou gav'st thy life on Calvary,

That I might live forevermore

And grow, dear Lord, to be like thee

To be like thee! I lift my eyes

From earth below 

Toward heaven above

That I may learn from vaulted skies

How I my worthiness can prove. 

As I walk daily here on earth,

Give me thy Spirit as I seek

A change of heart,

Another birth, 

And grow, dear Lord, 

To be like thee. 

Hotel Living

So, Ryan and I are moving into our new place tomorrow. We are really excited about this new step in getting settled here in Texas. Mostly though, we are excited to not be living in hotels anymore.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of pros to living in hotels and when I was younger it was definitely one of my bucket list things to live in a hotel. But now that I can successfully say that I've crossed that off of my bucket list, I'm pretty sure that I won't be needing to have this experience anymore.

We've been staying in the Quality Inn and Suites in Irving, and I have to say, as low-budget hotels go, this is absolutely the place to stay. They are remodeling so they have some quirks, but all in all it's a really lovely place to stay, and it's definitely worth the $50 a night.  Free breakfast, nice gym and business center, and super comfy beds. :) We stayed in a different room every week so we're well acquainted with all the different areas of the building. Personally, I liked the 3rd floor the most, but that's not surprising since they are renovating from the top floor down, and all of the rooms are pretty good. And the breakfast is delicious.  There's just ONE THING about hotel life that I really really dislike.

HOUSEKEEPING 

Now let me be clear. The housekeeping staff in this hotel is excellent. Really. Top shelf. The problem is me.

I hate it when people clean my space.  I just hate it.  I don't even like it when people do my laundry at the dry cleaners. I don't know what's wrong with me. Some people would kill to have a maid service come in and take care of their house. Some people just get stressed when it's time for cleaning, but not me. Nope, for me, I find it therapeutic and relaxing. I know what you're thinking, "Wait 'til you have kids. It won't be so relaxing." and that may be true. but for now, I'll happily hang the Do Not Disturb sign on the hotel door and wash out my own cups. :)

~Cheryl

Testimony Tuesday- Faith

First of all. I'm fully aware that's it's Wednesday, although, the days are starting to run together.

I was trying to decide what to write about this week but every single thing I came up with was "blah, I hate that." or "ugh. I not this week." and THEN I saw that a couple of my blogger friends are starting a blog series called "Testimony Tuesday", where on the first Tuesday of every month, they write about a given topic. All members of different faiths are invited to join this blog series, and you can find the post to link up to here. By the time I actually decided that I wanted to join, it was too late for me to write on Tuesday, so here's my Testimony Tuesday one day late. For the record. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. and you can learn more about my worldwide, 16 million member church, here.

This months topic is: Faith

I'm a big believer that music is one of my greatest teachers. There is a children's song sung in our church with the simple title of "Faith" It reads as thus:
1. Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.
Faith is knowing the Lord will hear, my prayers each time I pray.
Faith is like a little seed: If planted, it will grow.
Faith is a swelling within my heart.
When I do right, I know.

2. Faith is knowing I lived with God before my mortal birth.
Faith is knowing I can return when my life ends on earth.
Faith is trust in God above; In Christ, who showed the way.
Faith is strengthened; I feel it grow, whenever I obey.

This goes along with Hebrews 11:1 (KJV) "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

Here we find the basic concept of faith. Faith is a knowledge of things that you cannot see but that you know to be true. Just as when the sun sets in the evening, we have know definite knowledge that the sun will rise again the next morning, but we believe that it will.

In the Book of Mormon, as well as the Bible, we compare faith to a seed. In Matthew 17:20 (KJV) Jesus says "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you."

Faith is an incredible source of power. It gives us the power to move mountains if we believe that we can. It gives us power and strength to endure impossible trials that we would be unable to handle if we had no belief that there was a purpose to it and that it would be for our good. There is an OLD one woman show by Steven Kapp Perry called "Polly" and in one of the songs she says:

"Could you celebrate a birthday knowing life would soon be past you? Could you spend the sweat to build a house you knew would not outlast you? Could you bear to love the children, who would die before their season? We'd miss so much of happiness and maybe that's the reason not to know! To free us from the burden of the future, and make a space for joy!"

So that's the answer isn't it? Faith in God and Faith in His Plan allows us to have a fullness of joy in our lives. That one day, we will be free from our pains and afflictions. That even now, as we go through them, we are never alone. I love the peace that my faith brings to me and I love knowing that with that faith, comes a perfect brightness of hope.

~Cheryl