**Look What I Did**

I attempted this year to add a little baking to the holidays and anyone who knows me knows that I am not the best baker because I hold zero patience when it comes to waiting, this my friends is why I stick to cooking cause that is easy. So it took me four attempts to get these caramels just right but I was determined and I did and they are fantastic. I will be making more of them soon. I also made fudge and that was really easy I was surprised because I thought that would be a lot harder. I took these lovely treats to a family party and they were a hit so that is always a good sign.

*A Little Update*

It has been awhile since you last heard from me (if anyone is even reading this) So I thought that I would let you all know what is going on.

Jeff started a new job a little over a month ago and we could not be more excited that he has a job. We made it through the 4 months of no job and it is good to be back on board. He is working a night audit job at Marriot and he has also taken on helping coach the sophomore basketball team at Murray. He is way excited about that he loves it. He is very busy with all of that and school and so we rarely get to see each other but we know that this is just a right now thing and soon he will be done with school and hopefully get a different job at that time that he loves.

As for me I am just doing work and school and keeping myself busy while I dont have a husband around. There is not a whole lot going on with me.

A couple weekends ago Jeff surprised me with a night downtown at the Marriot and so we had a little date night. We went to dinner at Ruby River (Love It!!) and then we walked around Gateway for a little while until our movie started. We saw Blind Side and WE LOVED IT!!!

We also went to see the Festival of Trees with some friends and it was great because I like to see all of the different types of decorating and the crazy things that people think of. The best part was hearing Mariannes comments, she cracks me up!!

Last weekend we went to a christmas party and Bert and Ambers beautiful new house. It was a lot of fun we did white elephant gifts, ate yummy food and played some really fun games.

My most recent activity was the christmas concert and I do have pictures but I am writing this at work so I dont have my camera with me. We went with Chandee and Hyrum and it was such a great concert the music was great and the dancing was a little funny but I really liked it a lot. I heard from others that the Sunday concert was by far the best because of the great gifts that were given to the performers and just the emotion that you felt there. That would have been great to see but Saturday was great.

Now it is time for Christmas and I am being honest I am so not ready. I think that this year has just gone by so fast that my mind does not realize that it is Christmas so I just bought my decorations last night, which is sad because normally I am on top of it and ready to decorate right when Thanksgiving is over. I have realized that I am not going to get everything done and I need to just be in the moment for this Holiday and not worry or stress about things that I can not change. This whole post might be all over the place but I have a lot of things on my mind and so it is hard to put it all together. So I hope you can understand it at least a little.

Albertsons $0.99 trip :)

I went to Albertsons this morning to use my double coupons and I only spent $0.99 can you believe it that is the best the I have done and I hope it just keeps getting better.

I bought:

2 marie calenders pasta al denta frozen lunches

1 eyeliner

1 Smart Balance PB

A dozen large eggs

6 yoplait yogurt

If you want to learn how to do this then go to http://grocerysmarts.com/utah/lists/splashg84ckv.php

It has really helped my family a lot and I have even started collecting food for food storage it is so fantastic. I feel very blessed that we are able to have so much food in our house and if something does happen like another lay off or something I know that we will be ok for a couple of months.

Caramel Apple Sticky Buns

I got this recipe from a blog that pioneer woman and I have to say that it was very good. This blog had the recipe for the actual rolls but I used rhodes cinnamon rolls.

Caramel Topping:
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon dark brown corn syrup
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons of apple juice (optional)
1 Granny smith apple, peeled and finely diced

Add 1 stick of butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, cream and optional apple juice.

Allow to melt over low heat until totally combined. Let boil for a few seconds then remove from heat and set aside.


peel and finely chop the apple


In a round pan add half of the caramel and all of the apples.

This is were I added the rhodes rolls cinnamon rolls and then I added the rest of the caramel sauce over the top.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, covered in foil for the first 25 minutes. I I then added the frosting on top of everything and it was yummy!!

My Review:

I loved these they were so good and I will be making them again for sure.

Almay Makeup at Walgreens

Money Saving Mom posted a way to get Almay Eye Make-up for $.49 this week at Walgreens. Here are the details:

Almay Bright Eyes Cosmetic Products - On Sale for BOGO @ $8.99 ea. (Buy 2)*Use 2 $1/1 Almay manufacturer coupons from 8/2 or 9/13SS*

Stack with $3/1 Walgreens coupon (from the October coupon booklet -will deduct $3 Each)FINAL PRICE = $0.49 each

Glade deals at Target

Glade Holiday Scent Items are $2.50 at Target
Through 12/26, Get a $5 Gift Card wyb 5
Kristin at Couponing to Disney has put together FIVE great scenarios for this. Here is one for everyone, which does not require any coupons of your own.

Buy 5 holiday scented Glade candle tins
Use 5 $1.50 off a scented candle tin found inside the tins themselves
Total: $5 and get a $5 gift card!
Final Price: FREE

Turn this into a moneymaker by submitting for a $5 rebate from SC Johnson.
Many of the scenarios mention a Buy a Holder Get a Free Refill Blinkie , which I don't have.

However, you can print one here. If you have that blinkie coupon, where did you find it?

~*~Picture Overload~*~

So I have uploaded a bunch of pictures from the last two weeks. Life has been so crazy lately I have not even had time to breath so when I get the chance to be with friends and just not think about anything it is fantastic. The pictures are in no particular order but they are from our yummy dinner at chandees, vampire diaries night, and pumpkin carving so enjoy. He was afraid the sheep was gonna take off a very important part!!!

HA HA!!!!



Chris told us that in order to take a good picture you can not smile and look at the camera at the same time so all night we were practicing. good times!!



SCARY!!!

I love this picture of us.

I was practicing what chris said and that was no good obviously.

His tip worked in this picture it looks very natural.

We won the contest!!!

Concentrate...

A little fed up!!

We were practicing our model poses.

SO CUTE!!

I don't know how to frown.

LOVE HIM!!!

Right before our cupcake fight.

Margies great idea these were so so good.

I am always trying to follow the rules of the picture taking and I look like the fool.

Aiden is so CUTE!!

{Utah Man Am I?}

So Mar and Andy asked us to be part of the Muss with them this year and we accepted of course. Jeff was really excited because well if you know my husband he is the Utes #1 fan and he does not hesitate to ever show his pride for them. We went to the game early for the tailgating excitement. I don't really know how exciting it was because there was not a whole lot to do it was really just an atmosphere thing because everyone there was excited for the season to begin also. Jeff and Andy did a little race thing and I caught some pretty sweet action shots of my swift husband {hee hee} So after the tailgating we went to our seats an hour before the game started and let me just tell you the sun sits perfect on our seats so Mar and I were slowing melting away as the seconds ticked on.

This is us at the start of the game after we sweated our life away waiting for the good times. Jeff was really excited to be apart of it which was nice for me because I was able to sit and talk with Mar and Jeff did not really care because he was in his own little world. AWESOME!!!

This is me and my extra cheesy grin before the game. I really did like being there but anyone who knows me knows that I am not into this whole sports excitement as much as my husband is but I do try to get into it for as long as I can for his sake. SNAP!!!

Lasagna Bake

Here goes...I just want everyone to remember that I am not a photographer or a cook so the pictures might not make everything look as good and maybe you wont like what I make. So this week I was looking at some recipes online and nothing was working for me so I took a little from here and a little from there to make something that I thought was fantastic. I do not ever really measure anything so my recipe is not so accurate I am just giving an estimate of what I did. I call it Lasagna bake and it might be called something else somewhere but that is the only thing I could think of.

Lasagna Bake

1 box of bow tie noodles

1 zucchini

1 corn on the cob (corn taken off of the cob)

1 celery stalk

Shredded cheese

1/2 pound of meat

1 can of stewed tomatoes

spaghetti sauce of any kind

herbs that you like the most (I used like oregano, basil, etc..)

I started out preheating the oven to 400 degrees and boiled the noodles.
While the noodles were boiling I chopped up the celery, zucchini, and took the corn off of the cob. You can use corn from the can or frozen corn if you want I just had this left over.

When the noodles were done I added them to this bowl along with the diced tomatoes and a little bit of meat that I had left over from a previous meal.

Then I added the celery, corn and zucchini.

The next step was to add the different spices that I had in my spice rack and some spaghetti sauce that had more veggies. I mixed it all together with a wooden spoon and then put it all into a foiled dish and covered the top with cheese.

I put it in the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes or until the veggies are as soft as you would like them.

Here is the end result....

I know someone liked it

My Review: This is for sure going in my recipe book because it was so good. I loved it and I will be making it again. It is even better as a leftover.

{Cheap Tip}

If you are like my husband you probably do not like steak just cooked plain. I on the other hand love it plain because then I get to use A1 which is the second love of my life:) I have found that it is really easy to get Jeff to eat steak if we marinate it in something good before. And this is where these beauties come into play. {dun dun dun}




They are 99 cents a bottle at your local smiths and you do not need a lot of sauce to make your food extra yummy. We have used these for four meals already and this particular brand has about 6 or 7 different flavors. Some of the things that we have tried these on in the past are steak, pork, chicken and hamburgers and they made every one of them taste really good and different. So that is a easy cheap trick that adds a little more pizazz to your normal meals.

Baked Summer Squash

So because of Jeffs recent layoff I am trying to be a better cook and try new things so that Jeff and I are not eating out all of the time. I am going to try and post the things that I make for dinner and maybe even how I did it so that you can see and either make it or add your own spin to it. I am also going to give reviews of things that I make because it will most likely be the first time I have made something. So last week we started this and we made yummy pork chops, cheese and zucchini pizza (we even made the dough) we had hamburgers with corn on the cob, crispy chicken and Navajo tacos. I wish I would of thought of this for my blog sooner because then I would of showed you how we did it all. My recipes are going to be semi home made like the show on food network because I don't always have the means and the stuff that I need to make everything. Rhodes rolls is all that I have to say because those have provided a lot of yummy dinners for Jeff and I. I just want to add another side note and just let everyone know that sometimes my food might seem pretty plain and that's because my husband is picky picky so a lot of the time I try to make things we both will eat because I am far from picky.

So my first little recipe that I tried was one from the lady at the farmers market that sold this summer squash to me. Chandee and I went to the farmers market that is at thanksgiving point and we got some pretty good stuff along with this little beauty.

First I cut it open and took the seeds out of it. They like to fly everywhere so I would suggest the scraping them out in the sink not the garbage because you will have a bigger space to work with. Then I put it on a cookie sheet and added butter and brown sugar inside to add yummy flavor.

I baked it for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees. When the ten minutes were up I rolled the squash back together, wrapped it in tin foil, poked hole in both sides of the squash and cooked it for 10 more minutes. I think that I could of wrapped it together in the first place and cooked it for 15 min instead of baking it in two halves and it would of turned out just the same.

My Review:

I feel that this was pretty good. The taste was a little strong for me but I think it would be good to eat every once in a while with dinner. I would not eat it every day though that is for sure.

Donna Jene Cooke

Donna Jene Cooke "Dharma C" Our beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend-passed away peacefully at her home in Chandler, Arizona on the morning of August 14, 2009.Born in Salt Lake City, Utah on April 14, 1969 to Paul and Elva Soderstrom, she was the second of four daughters. She married her high school sweetheart, David Grant Cooke, on February 2, 1985. Solemnized May 15, 2001 in the Salt Lake City LDS Temple. Together they have raised four wonderful children. Donna was eagerly anticipating the birth of her first grandson. Donna's husband and children are the loves of her life. Nothing gave her greater joy than being able to have her family together for boating, camping trips, holidays, and random get togethers. For her, laughter truly was the best medicine. She also loved the time she was able to spend with her granddaughter Brianna. They loved playing board games and going to Build-A-Bear together. Donna's home is a testament to her love for her family, as she was constantly taking pictures and adding new photographs to her collection. Her love and devotion to her family is truly a gift from the Savior, and her greatest legacy. Survived by her husband, Grant, four children: Joshua (Anna), Cammie (Brandon), Trevor and Kody, granddaughter Brianna, parents Paul (Elia) Soderstrom, and Elva Cline, sisters April (Jack) Riggs, Bonnie (Doug) Stephan; her faithful companion, Malone; preceded in death by her sister, Teresa Pixton.

Donna is my mothers best friend and she has been like a mother to me. Her funeral was beautiful and it was so great to see the family and be a part of it. I am going to miss her like crazy but I know that I will be able to see her again and that gives me peace. Donna is one of the best people I have ever met and she has raised the greatest family. We will miss you Dharma thank you for the memories that we all have in our hearts. Love You!!!

FLoRiDa 09 & BiRtHdAyS

We went to Florida and we are now back and ready to tell the tale. We had a great time and we will be going back for sure. We stayed in a great hotel that had two pools with slides and ships that you could play in. There was a bar that we would get daquiris from and it was funny to see their faces when we asked for them virgin style ha ha because they don't get that at all so they would stop and stare for a second and process it and them make our drinks. We both had a birthday during our vacation and it was a great present going to Florida. For my birthday we were packing and getting all of the last minute things we needed for our trip. That night we went to dinner with my family cause Ken came home from Japan for a couple weeks. :) For Jeff's birthday we went swimming and played miniature golf and then went to dinner at ESPN CLUB. We then went shopping at the outlets. I have major picture overload so enjoy.This is a picture of Jeff getting his spray tan for our trip ha ha right when he was getting undressed to get in the booth he got a call and it was an interview so he could not call them back later so he was walking around with no pants on and he was trying to be all serious and I was cracking up cause the site of it was just so funny.My Birthday dinner with my yummy Blondie from applebees {LoVe It} I have now found another great dessert though because of Britt and Matt it is the Molten Lava thing from Chili's {iT iS FaNtAsTiC} Sarah came along to dinner with my family and got me some cute shoes that wore in Florida the whole time.Then the trip began and we were so excited to get going. This is a picture of us on the plane getting ready to take off. The rest of the pictures are in a random order from our trip. Jeff getting ready to kick some trash ha ha this was at the outlets.

In Sea World they let the flamingos go on a morning stroll and we were lucky enough to stroll with them.

We also got the chance to feed the dolphins in Sea World which was a lot of fun cause they come right up to you to get the fish.

THE SPORTS DOMINATOR this is a store that Jeff really wanted to go to and let me tell you it was ghetto for sure. I had to take a picture of the front just to catch some of the ghettoness but it is one of those you had to be there kind of things to really take it all in. I just love the huge wrestler with a little little head ha ha too good.

We also had the opportunity to go to the Orlando temple and it was so beautiful. We were by far the youngest people in the temple and in our session there were only 18 of us. It was small but I loved every second of it because it was just so pretty and I think it is number one on my list of temples as of right now.

Hanging out by the pool which is what we did a lot. My great tan line to ha ha cause I had two different swimsuits that I wore and they did not match up at all. {Too Funny}

Note the man in the background with a speedo right above my head ha ha perfect pic that's for sure. I could not believe the speedos that people had. I saw old men, fathers and little kids in speedos and they do not do anyone justice and they do not hide ANYTHING!!!

The Shamu show and note my hair man Florida really kicked its butt because of the heat and humidity. I even had curly hair at some points and for those of you who don't know my hair is straighter then anything it has no curl at all.

Jeff in front of the ESPN club sign for his birthday dinner.

The plane ride home that seemed to take triple the time then getting to Florida because I was spent and ready to be home. This is a picture of the clouds outside of my window that I thought looked really cool.