Costume Dilemma

It seems no matter how clever or creative we try to be, or how much lead time we have, finding Halloween costumes is always a dilemma. We wanted to go as Kriss Kross - the band from the 90's that wore their baseball jersey's and baggy jeans backward but could not find baseball jersey's anywhere! And it is even baseball season! So we walked through multiple stores trying to come up with some idea for the party we went to Friday night and turns out we decided to be Punk Rock. Me being a Puck from the late 90's and Kent being Rock from the 80's. It was fun, but Kent is terrible at holding his lips right for lip stick. It was kind of like putting shoes on a toddler where they curl their toes, arch their feet and point their toe - anything to make it hard on you. Well, I guess it wasn't that bad, just funny. No one even recognized us at first. Well, I don't have much to write now that I have time to blog more frequently. It's kind of weird... It is quite the adjustment - only working part time, but my house is clean and we have a real meal for dinner every night. I just can't wait to get a calling. That will help.
We kind of look like the people from Guitar Hero don't you think?

Late night Halloween treat party with myself...

Yummy Food

Since moving to Utah and reducing my working hours to part time I have enjoyed re-learning how to cook. Here are a couple of my favories new recipes. They have proven to be a big hit with friends and family.

Hot Spinich Artichoke Dip

1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
1/8 cup mayo
1/8 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
1 clove garlic, peeled and minced
1.2 tea. dried basil
1/4 tea. garlic salt
Pepper to taste
1 can (14 oz.) artichoke hearts drained & chopped
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed& drained
1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup white onion, diced

Preheat oven to 350

Lightly grease a small baking dish. In a med bowl, mix together all ingredients except spinich, artichokes and half the mozzarella cheese. Gently stir in artichoke hearts and spinich. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking dish. Top with remainig Mozzarella cheese. Bake for 25 minutes, until bubble and lightly browned. If not browned enough, turn up oven heat to broil for 1 to 2 min. Servie with baguettes, crackers, or tortilla chips.

Ranch and Cheddar Cheese Ball

1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese
1 1/2 cups finely grated cheddar cheese
1 Tbs. dried chives
2 Tbs. dried ranch dressing mix
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Set pecans aside. Mix all other ingredients together until well mixed. Form into a ball or log and roll in chopped pecans. Refridgerate until ready to eat. Great with Wheat thins!

Our new place...

Everyone keeps asking me to post pictures of our new place, so here they are. Here is the front of our house and the front living room/dining area.



Here is the kitchen...

Master Bedroom with the new bed set that Lori Hahn from Pepperdine gave us...

Our master bathroom. Funny story, I bought nice dark yellow rugs and towels to go in this bathroom - playing off the picture on the wall going with a brown and yellow theme; well Kent came home and all he said was, "looks like puke". Needless to say I took them back and went a little more neutral. And even worse, the guy at the customer service desk said as I was exchanging them, "the mustard didn't go over well huh?" I guess I don't have very good taste or something.

Here is the guest bedroom with the quilt I made that didn't match our bed. And the picture on the wall is a place holder for one I am painting to go in that room. The one on the wall now is a joke that got passed around work for like a year. It is a colorful piece to say the least.

And the guest bathroom.

We also have an office, but it is the last room to be unpacked so it looks like a bomb struck it. I will post pictures of it later once I get is unpacked and settled in.

Moving back to Utah

WOW! It feels like forever since I last blogged. We have been so busy. So, here is the scoop. Kent got a job working for KKO Lawyers doing litigation and loss mitigation. YEA! SO - we packed up all out stuff and moved to Cedar City over Labor Day weekend. We are thrilled to have a house for a reasonable rate instead of our insanely high price one bedroom California Apartment, but we will miss the ward and our friends who are still trudging through law school. I will be moving out there this week after finishing up work here. Pepperdine has offered me the opportunity to continue working for them part-time remotely through December to finish up their online community project. What a blessing to be able to do so from home.

Just to catch up... Last July we took a trip to Bryce Canyon with my sister Sammy. It was so amazing! I think I had been there once before, but I was too little to remember. We got some amazing pictures. This is my favorite.

Our totem Pole...

We got in some fun bowling time with our buddies Tom and Jesse. We are always such goofs. It's a wonder anyone wants to be seen with us. :)

AND THEN...Drum Roll Please... Kent and I tried out for WipeOut! It is a hilarious story. We found out about try outs, I made shirts at 8 am right before leaving to try our luck at getting our chance to jump on those big red balls.

As we got there we saw that we were going to be a the back of a line comprised of 450 random WipeOut enthusiasts wearing outfits that hit every end of the spectrum. As the WipeOut staff came running down the incredibly long line of people with a camcorder apparently Kent thought, "This is my chance". Just as the camera was on him he literally wiped out on the ground. It was hilarious, and a little painful. I was of course contributing to the yelling and wild flailing of arms too. They thought we were so cool that they told everyone else they should be more like us and took us all the way to the front of the line. We went through the first interview and they made an appointment for us to come back. We then had to strut our stuff on camera to show our outstanding TV personalities - that was interesting. We even did the jump in the air and bump your chests together move - TWICE. Only once successfully. The second time I got slammed by Kent pretty hard, but everyone else seemed to think we had planned it that way. Hmmm. We then had to fill out the disclosure packet that is a million pages on and now... we wait. Turns out all our waiting paid off. Kent is moving on and may be appearing on your television screen soon while wildly maneuvering big red balls and out avoiding the motivator.

Last story, My sweet mother got me into making this quilt. While I tend to be fairly crafty, I don't sew. So after 6 months of strugling with this quilt and finally completing it succesfully, I realized that my new homeade bed set look atrocious with my cherry wood bed. The colors by themselves I love, but they just don't match the wood. So all that work goes to the guest room. But our guests should feel loved knowing how much time I put into their comfort, Right?

Graduation Weekend

The Pepperdine School of Law graduation was last Friday. It was so exciting. Kent's parents came out to stay with us and to come to the graduation. The Graduation was out on Alumni Park and although the weather couldn't have been better, it did get pretty hot - especially for Kent with all robe, hood and cap. He was "melting". He thought he better take advantage of his one legitimate opportunity to wear a "cape" like Superman and strike a pose. We all thought we would humor him. It was a great day.> The commencement speakers gave some really great speeches. Much better than I expected. The main messages that stood out were, no matter how successful you are in your profession and how much you accomplish, you are replaceable - there will always be someone else waiting to full your shoes, BUT to your family you are irreplaceable. The other speaker said that the most important thing he thought he could share with new attorneys entering the law profession was to "Enjoy your life", that if you don't make time for your family and serve in an area of law that speaks to you or has purpose - you may be successful, but you won't be happy and enjoying your life and your family is more important than earning the highest salary. We went out to eat at Paradise Cove afterward then enjoyed an evening in the pool at home. Saturday we went to The Getty Museum. I've been wanting to go since we moved here, and was grateful to have Kent's parents to give me a good excuse. It was really amazing. Aside from all the painting, furniture, sculpture, photography, and drawings, there were breath taking gardens. They also had a kid zone that we all played in of course. They had this cool room with all these mirrors and a back drop for interesting photo opps. It was pretty cool. We spent some time at the beach, and walked the Hollywood walk of fame. It was a good time and tomorrow I go back to work. I still need to add some pictures from our Utah trip. I got some great food shots of Sammy and Jello and Nathan with a whole fortune cookie in his mouth. Plus a special bonus picture of Kent, my dad and I doing "Scary face" which is a family joke after I started the tradition as a three year old. So, since I don't seem to have much time to write, I will at least upload the Utah pictures soon and let this post be the official description for them. I am now going to enjoy the rest of my Memorial Day watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith with Kent. I hope every one else had as good of a holiday as I did. Too bad it can't last longer. It's been such a nice weekend with family in town. See ya later!

Exciting News!

Sorry, I'm not pregnant, but KENT PASSED THE BAR! We just found out last Friday and have been celebrating ever since. We were even more relieved when we found out that only 33% of those who took the test actually passed. So it is finally offical. Kent is a licenced attorney and will get sworn in on June 2. I have a lot to blog, but so little time so I promise to post soon about our recent trip to Utah and Kent’s graduation.