Happiness

This is my quote of the day from Brent. First let me give a little background so you understand why this was worth remembering. Pet names are not really our thing. I call Brent hunny, which sometimes turns into hunny bunny. I will call him puppy because he loves puppies and often acts like a puppy. That is about it. Brent in return will call me hunny which makes me melt a little, but for the most part he calls me nerd, crazy, and many other names which I can't think of at the moment. Not your typical "cute" name, but I totally know that is his term of endearment for me and it cracks me up.

Yesterday while we were sitting on the couch finishing up dinner (yeah not my favorite place, but it's not worth debating, especially after a long day of work)... Brent looks at me and asks "Do you think we are always going to be this happy?" Yeah we are, because happiness is a choice and we decided a long time ago that we are going to be happy together.

Utah Winter Weddings

Brent's Sister Jennifer got married on January 21st in the Bountiful temple. We are super excited for her and Kasey to be married. It was a weekend full of so many wonderful and crazy memories all wrapped up into a couple of days.

We decided to take off work on Friday and go down to Utah early. In the end, we did not really get to Utah as early as we would have like because we did not leave here until probably 1pm. I was okay with that because it meant we had time to pack and get ready for the weekend. Normally we decide to work half of the day, so the night before we are up late packing and we can never leave at noon. This way we were actually able to leave at at 1pm and get to Utah at a somewhat decent hour.

I love having Michelle and Derrick live in Ogden. Ogden is so much closer than Provo, so it makes the drive so much better. I don't have the fondest memories of driving to BYU because it felt soooo long. We stayed with Michelle and Derrick and went to dinner with them. I was a little bummed because we were going to go to a sushi restaurant because Brent and Michelle love sushi. I detest the idea of raw fish but I figure it would be a good time out and I can afford to starve for a night. Unfortunately when we got to the restaurant there was a 45 minute wait, and we were starving. Instead we found a little hole in the wall sandwich shop which was great. After dinner we went back to the house and played Ticket to Ride. So much fun!!! We had never played before, but Brent won, and we had a good time. Michelle does not like games to take a lot of time so I feel like we played a speed version of Ticket to Ride, but we managed to end at a decent hour. That is a game on my list that I want to get!!

I remember back in the good old days when Brent and I used to be able to cuddle on the couch, but it just doesn't seem to work as well for long periods of time. I was in charge of packing our stuff (basically because Brent didn't) and the thought never crossed my mind to bring a sleeping bag/pad. We attempted to sleep together on the couch, but it was so cramped!! About half way through the night I decided that it would be better to be uncomfortable on the floor instead of on the couch with Brent happily snoring I mean purring in my ear. Needless to say, that was not the best night of sleep I've ever had. I think we decided before important things like weddings we would splurge and stay at a hotel...just so we look somewhat decent in the morning.

The Big Day!!!

Jenn and Kasey's wedding was at 10:30 in the Bountiful Temple so we left with plenty of time to get us there by 10:00am. Thankfully it was not snowing, but it was raining like CRAZY!!!!! We had umbrellas but I don't know if it did us any good. I felt like I was soaked by the time we got in. We walked into the temple right at 10:00 and Joanna informed us the Jenn and Kasey were still not there. (FYI you are supposed to be to the temple at least an hour before you are sealed). I was able to meet some of Brent's family that lives in Utah that I have not met before so we were able to use our waiting time wisely.

This is the first sealing that I have been to since we were married. I just love sealings!! They are so powerful. It brought back a flood of memories from July and I am so glad that we were able to be apart of that with them. A sealing does not last long and is not glamorous, but it always focuses on those things that are most important. I am so grateful to know that families can be sealed for time and eternity and that there is no reason to be afraid of death. Life is a journey we get to take together and a fun one at that!!

After the wedding it was still pouring down rain. We were behind schedule so we left to go to the luncheon in downtown Bountiful. After the luncheon some of the family was going back to the temple to take pictures, but we already had plans to see Kailia and her new baby, so we didn't head back to the temple. When we were driving to Kailia's house the rain turned into huge snowflakes! The weather was crazy! We were driving along 4 lane roads where the two outside lanes were flooding because there had been so much rain. This was the first day that I had ever seen Brent hold a baby. I don't know if it was by his choice or the fact that Kailia put her in his arms and no one would take her back. It was too cute. She didn't cry once while he was holding her, but we are pretty sure that there was a possibility he might freak out a little bit if she did.

While we were at Kailia's house Brent got a call from his Mom saying how they were stuck at the temple and they could not get down the roads because of the snow. It was beginning to turn into a crazy night. We were supposed to be heading to Randolph Utah, which was about 2 hours up the Mountains near Evanston Wyoming. I am not a fan of driving in the snow even though we have a truck and the ability to handle it, it is still not my favorite thing. Brent's family was in a car so they were not as equipped as we were. I did not feel good at all about going to the reception because the roads were terrible! They were closing the canyon roads and everyone kept telling us to stay and not go.

Finally Brent made the final decision that we should not go, and man was I happy! By the time we would have got to the reception it would be ending. I am sad that we missed the reception but I am so grateful that we stayed behind. I feel so strongly that I cannot pray for safety if I am not going to listen to the promptings of the spirit. I remember President Hinckley telling a group of missionaries to not do stupid things and they will be protected (or something like that!) Another determining factor was the opportunity to stay in Salt Lake City. We found a sweet hotel deal on Priceline for only $69 so it cost about the same to stay.

Our Fun Date Night!!

Brent and I love Texas Roadhouse and that is normally where we go out to dinner. Nothing fancy, but we love it like that. We hadn't stayed in a hotel and done anything nice since our honeymoon 6 months ago. (yeah even on our honeymoon we went to Texas Roadhouse in IF). Like I said we got a hotel from Priceline for only $69. We stayed at the Sheraton in downtown SLC. We were only 4 blocks away from Temple Square, which was really nice. They put us is a King Suite (originally $249:) and we were feeling a little spoiled. Since we did not get sushi on Friday night, we went to Benihana's where Brent was able to get sushi. What a blast!! They cooked the food right in front of us and put on a bit of a show. We had a fantastic time together doing something a little bit out of the ordinary. We got a chance to walk around downtown as it was snowing and just enjoy the simplicities of life. Unfortunately it was not as good of a time because we were worried about family that was driving, but we made the best of it.

Sunday morning we woke up early... but it was hard because we had such a huge and comfy bed. Just for the record I am not a fan of a king size bed (I am sure that will change when we have kids that take over though) because Brent was so far away. I have gotten used to the fact that we are always bumping into each other in our Queen bed...but that's how I know Brent is there :) Anyhow...back on topic...we went to Music and the spoken word on Sunday. AMAZING!! I have always wanted to go, but I have never made it before. We were late, but it was still fantastic. Afterwords we walked around temple square that had a fresh blanket of snow on it. What a beautiful place it is. I love the spirit that you can feel when you are at the house of the Lord. We did not stay there long because we had to check out of the hotel and drive home, but we were there long enough. I love being able to go at our own pace and do what we want. No one was rushing us and we were able to bask in the great beauty around us.

It was amazing to be on Temple Square. I love the contrast from the day before. It was overcast all day long and pouring down rain/snow. The next day is absolutely gorgeous. It was definitely worth the wait, just like most things in life!

I love this picture...my favorite is the light post, not sure why.

Thank goodness for little tripods!

Isn't she a beauty? Yeah that's right, this flower is a she because she is a fighter. Blooming through the snow and cold. That is how I want to be!

Happy Birthday to Brent and Joanna!

My Sister-in-law Lisa invited all the family over on Sunday to celebrate Brent and Joanna's birthdays. I have been thinking for a long time what kind of cake to make Brent for his birthday and I decided to do a lemon cake. I have no idea what his favorite dessert is because he likes everything! He likes lemon, so I thought this would be a good option. I used the same recipe that Ashley used to make our cupcakes for our wedding. (It works out because today was our 6 mo anniversary too :)

Anyhow, back on topic...Ashley made cupcakes, but I wanted to try my hand at a double layer lemon cake with lemon custard deliciousness in the middle. I am always skeptical, because I can mess up anything really well...I would almost go so far as to say it is my gift haha. It was pretty fun to work on Saturday night because Brent had a bachelor party he went to so I got to have the night to baking by myself! I learned that when you put a cake on top of the custard it manages to ooze out the sides. It was really quite an adventure, but I really enjoyed taking lots and lots of time to make the cake, filling, frosting, and candied lemons. It was definitely worth the time too because it was nothing like an ordinary cake. I am not a fan of cake, but this is a whole new ball game. I am so so glad that Ashley shared her masterpiece with me...and I will share it with you. If you like lemons...do yourself a flavor and try this :)

Triple Lemon Cupcakes

24 cupcakes

*I used Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix… but any lemon cake mix should be fine.

Filling:

3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 T lemon zest
2 eggs
2/3 cup fresh lemon juice (about 5 large lemons)
2 T butter

Combine sugar, zest, and eggs in saucepan over medium heat, stirring with a whisk. Cook until sugar dissolves and mixture is light in color (about 3-5 minutes). Add lemon juice and butter; cook for 5 minutes (whisking constantly) or until mixture thinly coats the back of the spoon. Remove from heat, pour into container. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill. The mixture will thicken as it cools.

Frosting:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 T lemon juice
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon zest

Beat together butter, cream cheese and lemon juice on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated. Add lemon zest and increase speed to medium-high and beat until smooth.

To assemble:
I used a Wilton #230 round tip to fill the cupcakes (I bought mine at Walmart in the wedding supply isle). Fill a piping bag fitted with tip 230 with lemon curd, and pipe into the center of each cupcake. It can be tricky to know HOW MUCH to pipe- but just squeeze a little bit in until you notice the cupcake puff up a little bit. You will know you’re using too much filling if a lot of it leaks out, or the cupcake explodes. If some filling leaks out the top- don’t panic, just wipe it softly with a dry paper towel.

Fill a second piping bag fitted with a large star tip with frosting and pipe a swirl onto the top of each cupcake.

I want a Bosch...oh wait I have never made bread before

One day I decided that I want a Bosch mixer. Why you might ask? Hmm that is a good question and I am not sure that I know the answer but I can tell you that it feels right. Until you look and see how much one costs and then I am not so convinced anymore. Before I can get a mixer I need to have a plan of how to use it, so I decided I am going to make bread. This bread making endeavor is two-fold. One, we have already discussed- I like the idea of a Bosch. Two, what's not to love about a sammich made on home made wheat bread with all the fixin's? So with those two combined I head to the store to get my whole wheat flour. (Thankfully I married a genius who told me it would be cheaper to buy the whole wheat flour for $3 instead of buying a grinder and wheat for $XX before I knew if I would actually like making bread lol.)

I found a "no fail" recipie online, and I was feeling pretty optamist about all the raving reviews. I head to the grocery store and pick up my whole wheat supplies and I call Brent on the way home and tell him about my scheme. His only question to me is, Gaylene, how are you going to make it, we don't have a mixer. My only response to him was, if they could do it back in the day, then why can't I?!?!?!?!? (I have to admit, I kinda forgot that I didn't have any way to knead the bread, but it has now become a part of my exercise plan lol.)

Here we go... I have made bread three times and it has worked out every time!!! I could not be more proud of myself. I am pretty mediocre and all things I do, but I want to be good at something darnit! You know, the lady who can make pies, or the lady that can make bread ect. Well I can't make pies so I had to move on to something else that I could do. Brent is really good when it comes to most things in the Kitchen so I kinda wanted to be successful at one thing...I not asking for a lot, just one thing. Now that I am writing this I am sure I will never be able to make bread again because I will have jinxed myself, but trust me, I know I have a lot to learn still. I am just banking on beginners luck and a "no fail" recipie. (check it out- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/simple-whole-wheat-bread/detail.aspx )

Here is a picture from batch #2 (btw it has melted butter on top to make it extra delicious...it's not waxy)

It's amazing what a little success will do to your spirits. I am really starting to like this bread making business!

Christmas Day

So here it is January 16th and I am finally getting around to writing about Christmas. My huge problem with writing in a journal or anything of that sort is I write a lot of details about one thing, and then I get behind. Here I am again...behind haha.

I already wrote about Christmas eve, but I left out the details of my retardedness and I wanted to include it, becuase it became my favorite memory of our first Christmas in the Johnston family :) Christmas eve Brent started to not feel well. Everyone was getting sick, so it was only a matter of time before we got sick too. We have church at 10:00am and since Christmas was on Sunday we still got to go to Sacrament meeting. We have learned that if we want to wake up on time for church we cannot stay up until the weee hours of the morning playing video games (and by we I mean Brent lol.) We are getting ready for bed and after we say our prayers Brent decides that he wants to play video games. It does not make sense in my mind because it is late, he is sick, we have church early ect. ect. I am trying so hard to not be mad, but I am not very good at that yet. After laying in bed for about 10 minutes I hear Brent go into the other bedroom and I realized he was not playing video games, but wrapping presents. Man well who felt like a retard now!!! Yep that would be me. Sadly, that was not the first time I got upset at Brent for trying to surprise me, but I think I am starting to learn my lesson.

This is what Brent was working on setting up while I was trying to go to sleep without him. I can be a sentimental sap, and this is definitely the best gift I could have received. It is a gift that I can remember each and every year.

I woke up on Christmas morning all by myself because Brent was too sick to get out of bed and I had time to go and take a few pictures of our Christmas. My nativity is my favorite because it has all the right things in focus...meaning Jesus and our tree and gifts are in the background. That is how I always want my Christmases to be.

But on a side note, Brent really took lots of effort while wrapping- even making sure that all the lines matched up!

Sadly I went to Church all by myself, but I was able to spend some great time with my little sicky later that afternoon. Christmas evening we went to Brent's mom's and got to hang out with most of the siblings. I am so grateful that the kids can all play together and destroy the house while the adults can talk and enjoy each others company...and I am grateful its not at our house haha! Seriously though, I feel very blessed for the small things from Christmas. It's not about my cool sewing machine or lunch bag that I picked out...it's about spending time with those you love and serving one another through those small act of kindness.

Christmas Eve 2011

For Christmas this year we stayed here in Boise and were able to spend time with all of our family that lives here. That was such a fantastic thing. I have become a bit of a Scrooge when it comes to Holidays because I hate to be stressed and forced to get together with family. I would rather relax and enjoy the time that we have together. I really feel like we accomplished that this year, and I am so grateful for that. Now that I am married there is twice as much family (if not more) to juggle with and that thought can be overwhelming, but we had a fantastic weekend.

The holiday started getting together with my siblings on Christmas eve morning. We pushed it back so we were able to have lunch together and then we decorated sugar cookies. I learned that Brent hates sugar cookies, and he is very vocal about that. In the end I think that the little kiddos just attacked James the whole time and chased each other through Kelly and Ashley's house. It is always fun when we get together and all the kids can just play together. I only remember seeing one fight break out...between the girls of course. Ashley is pretty much amazing when it comes to making desserts and she made and decorated this Beautiful Chocolate cake. It tasted just as good it looked too. Sadly we were not able to stay a long time with my siblings because kids needed naps and we had other plans for the evening as well.

Audrey in Savannah's car

Kiddos attacking James

Lizzie decorating cookies

Christian- Proud of his cookie

Savannah, eating M&M...not really decorating cookies

The Cake!

Us girls- I asked Josh to take the picture for us and I tried to get him to take it the other direction, but I think my camera was too bulky for that. We are all in there though!

A few of the non cranky kiddos

Preparing for Christmas this year was kind of interesting for me. I was thought that all of my siblings in-laws were going to be here, so I did not try to make plans with them, assuming they would be with other family. All month long I have been asking Brent what his plans were for Christmas and he would groan or grunt at me. This is what I get for making an concerted effort to make plans with his family lol. We ended up arranging plans with his Mom and siblings on Christmas evening for dinner. That still left us open for Christmas eve.

Brent's Dad is a truck driver so he is often on the road during the holidays. Brent invited him over and he was able to make it! A few weeks ago we got a new meat thermometer and ever since then, Brent has been using it for all sorts of meats. I'm okay with that because Brent cooks more :) We found out on the 23rd that Brent and his sister and her 4 kids were coming to our apartment for dinner on Christmas eve. We were both really excited to be hosting the party. We had prime rib, potatoes, rolls, garlic sauteed green beans, and cheese cake. Brent had to go to work in the afternoon, so we got a later start than we expected, but it still turned out okay. Brent's sister Gayle had two sick kids that she stayed home with, so in the end it was only his dad and two little nieces. They were such fun girlies. I am really glad that they came because I kept telling Brent that we were going to read the Christmas story. He acted like that was a foreign idea to him, but we did it anyways. I just loved how Brent helped get everyone's attention and said we were going to do The First Noel. It didn't last long, but that is what Christmas is all about. It's not just about getting together with family, we can do that any day, it is about Christ and there was no way I was going to start our Christmas with out the story of the Nativity...or The First Noel as it is now known in our house.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is such an interesting time of year. I have a love hate relationship with Christmas. I love it because it is all about the birth of our Savior but I hate it because I feel like people forget that detail. I think that my biggest pet peeve is when people say or write Xmas. What the heck is that all about??? Anyhow getting in the mood for Christmas was kind of hard this year because we were so busy. There were quite a few times when I thought we were going to go out and get a Christmas tree, but Brent didn't realize that was on my agenda. Finally one week before Christmas we broke down and bought a fake tree. That was not top on the list for either of us, but I wanted a tree so badly I knew that I could not be picky. We only had our tree up for a week, but it is amazing how much better I feel with a tree up. There is no snow outside and I avoid the malls, so it is sometimes hard to remember that it is Christmas time. I spent many nights this past week just looking at our Christmas tree. Brent would look over and ask me what I was doing, and I would just smile and say I am looking at our tree. Now don't get me wrong, it's not a fancy tree...heck it doesn't even have a star on top, but it is my little tree. It's truly the simple things in life that can bring the most joy into my life.