Cooking Adventures

The last couple of weeks, David & I have been trying lots of new recipes for different reasons.

1. We are tired of the things I make normally

2. We are trying to be more healthy.

The cookbook we have been using is It's Good For You by Pampered Chef. Most people know I covet anything Pampered Chef, so while using my cookbook, I'm using all of my items too!

Last week, I was making Quick Curried Chicken for dinner. I bought the wrong spice at the grocery store the weekend before hand. I bought Cumin Powder, thinking Curry Powder (I know, silly me). Not even realizing it even when making the meal, I used the Cumin Powder. Now for the spices, the Curry Powder is the big ingredient in the recipe. Once I poured all the Cumin powder into the bowl, I was choking. I couldn't even finish making the dish, so I bagged it all up and threw it in the trash. David came into the house about 15 minutes later and started choking as soon as he walked in the door, from the Cumin powder. We ended up eating out that night.

Tonight, i re-tried making the Quick Curried Chicken, with curry powder this time. It was a big success. We LOVED it! Glad that when I use the correct spices, dinner is a big hit!

Our Children

Sally has inspired me to post a picture every Sunday our children, Moose & Stella. Since we don't have children and have 2 doggies, we have lots of pictures!



Stella is a bit of a loner dog. She kind of reminds me of a cat. She doesn't like to be touched unless she wants to be touched. She would rather sleep upstairs while everyone is downstairs. It just cracks me up!

A Week Later

Lion
Originally uploaded by DanMcLean

Almost exactly a week after we moved into our new house, my parents came for a long weekend visit.

We had lots of fun.

On Friday, we ate at Rubio's (yummy fast mexican)

On Saturday we went to the Wild Animal Safari Park - it's part of the zoo. I got a year pass and David gets in free year round due to being in the military. The zoo wasn't enough for my dad, so we also went to Lowe's & IKEA. = Long day. Thankfully, I thought ahead and we had pulled pork for dinner that I had put into the crock pot before we had left that morning. After the zoo, we felt like this lion!

On Sunday, we went to Church and took a walk.

On Monday, I worked while David & my parents went to Old Town to check out the Mormon Battalion. I heard it's way cool & David is going to take me back once he has a free weekend. After I finished working, we walked around an outdoor mall & then went to Old Town for dinner. I LOVE mexican!

On Tuesday, it was a hard day. My parents left.

Finding a House

The Monday after we arrived, we went to the military housing office. David had called ahead of time and for all them military housing in San Diego (which is a lot) they only have 2 neighborhoods that allow dogs. We were not actually expecting to get a house on base. David had called ahead of the move and we were told we would only get a 2 bedroom of 900 sq ft and the wait was 6 to 9 months!
When we sat down, the housing assistant tried showing us houses that wouldn't allow pets. We kept reminding her we had 2 dogs, we were not giving them up! Then she found us a 2 bedroom in a neighborhood that allows pets. I asked how many square feet and she said about 900.
I then told her that I thought it was crazy that just because we don't have children we only get 900 sq feet. At our last duty station we had 1600 because the Air Force went by rank and not how many dependents David has. She goes, oh, wow, we don't have anything with 1600 square feet, but let me talk to my boss.
The housing assistant talked to her boss and she authorized us to get a 3 bedroom if any were available. None were available and we went back out to the waiting area as we were going to get someone to help us find a house out in town.
As we were sitting, our housing assistant came back and said she found us a house if we were still interested. We went to the neighborhood and checked out the house. We loved the house, it has a big backyard, a living room, a dining room, a smaller kitchen and another room (suppose to be family room but it's my office) & a laundry room. The bedrooms are really small, but that's my only complaint!

I totally love my house and we signed the lease the very next day! Our household goods came the day after that! It was a miracle we had been praying for!

Seasoned Driver

It has been a while and I will do more short posts.

We left Albuquerque, NM for San Diego, CA on Feb 25 late that night. We drove for about 5 hours and then stopped late that night.

The next day, we continued our drive. It was a pretty good drive.

I was super excited because we drove on Interstate 8. I had never been on that interstate. I realized at that moment, that I like to travel and move, a lot.

We made it to San Diego safely. It was a bit crazy coming down the mountain right outside of San Diego. It was SNOWING! Other then that, it was a great drive!

January

Can you believe how fast this month has gone!!! Where has the time gone!

For us, we have been sick, working and getting ready to move! (in that order)

We did make a fun trip to Old Town to grab a few things for when we move so we can take Albuquerque with us!

I'm counting the days down to perfect weather!

I'm ready to be a California Girl!!!

December & January

Well, it's been a couple of crazy months again! I can't believe how quickly time is moving right now! I'm not ready for Feb and to move!

A few highlights:

I turned 26 - David took me out to the Melting Pot & we walked around Old Town that evening

David worked a third and last year for Toys for Tots (great program, excited to be done though)

David's work had a Christmas Party 3 days before Christmas

We went to Denver and spent it with the Allen's. We had SO much fun!

Spent the New Years with David's co-workers playing poker to bring in the new year.

David was promoted to SSGT (E-6) rank - this is about 2/3rd of the way up the enlisted (no degree) rank.

We had a party for David getting promoted - he made his extremely yummy Carne Asada - if you come visit us we will be sure to make you some!

It's been a very eventful year and in just a little over a month we start our trek to San Diego. We will be visiting both of our parents along the way while also looking for a house. We are EXTREMELY excited to be moving. We are very lucky for the fact that my work wants to keep working for them and will have me working from home. I feel very blessed for this opportunity and I know Moose & Stella will love it!

We hope everyone had a great new year.