Pesto Baked Chicken

I fixed baked pesto chicken for dinner tonight and it was really yummy.  Below are my pictures, with the picture from kalynskitchen.com as the last picture (I forgot to take a picture before we ate dinner). Here is what is needed. Tip, don’t skimp on the pesto sauce.

• 4 chicken breasts
• 4 Tbsp pesto
• 4 Tbsp sour cream
• 4 Tbsp mozzarella cheese
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cup Parmesan
• 1/3 cup almond wheat

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Pound out chicken so that it is as flat as possible.
3. Mix 4 Tbsp pesto, 4 Tbsp sour cream and 4 Tbsp mozzarella cheese. Spread the mixture on the 4 chicken breasts, leaving a little room on the edges.
4. Roll chicken breasts and stick a toothpick in to hold in rolled position.
5. Dip rolled chicken in egg mixture (I used 4  eggs and it was more than enough), then in a mixture of 1/3 cup Parmesan and 1/3 cup almond wheat.
6. Place on greased baking sheet.  Cook for around 40 minutes, or until hard and golden brown.

RePlumbing Made Easy With Mike

Bade recently bought a new house.  This house is a halfway gutted cabin-house, that has been vacant for a year. The good things: it has a nice basic setup, it is located in a secluded area but still has close neighbors, it has a river in the backyard and front door access to dirt bike trails and snowmobile runs, and since it is halfway gutted, Bade gets to pick the majority of the interior (flooring, paint, cabinet hardware, etc). The big negative, all the pipes have burst.  Getting into this house, Bade didn’t know that the pipes had burst but he was aware that could be the case.  He expected that he would need to re-plumb some of the main pipes, but did not expect that he would need to re-plumb 100% of the pipes and valves.  Mike to the rescue.  Em’s Mike comes in and without stress or worry, leads the charge in re-plumbing the ENTIRE house in a day and a half! Mike, you rock! Now, all the plumbing is brand spanking new, with better pipes that won’t burst like the last. This was one huge headache avoided :)!

Snowshoe Fail

It was a gorgeous day out this President’s Day.  We gathered our snowshoes, put on our snow clothes, left the condo in Midway, Utah, and headed up towards Snake Creek to do some snowshoeing.  As we drove, we were very aware of how little snow there was on the roads, and even in some of the fields.  This was not looking good for our day of snowshoeing. When we chose a place to park and got out of the cars, we decided that we were just going to hike because the snow would be packed enough.  This turned out to be very accurate and we were able to just enjoy a very steep but very relaxing hike through the aspens.

One thing that I was not expecting, was how energized I would feel and how easy the hike would be.  There were a few of us, all of us I would say are in decent shape.  No one was overweight; no one is a couch potato; all of us like to be active and are pretty fit.  Yet, since the entire hike was straight uphill, everyone was a little tired.  We all were breathing a little harder than a regular walk. Some talked about their thighs getting really warm.  Well, I was extremely surprised when I wasn’t tired at all. We were hiking, and I was wearing many layers, all signs point to be being tired of hiking and ready to turn around at any moment, but I did not have that feeling at all.  In fact, instead of being a little on the tired side, I was more energized when I realized that my working out on a regular basis is paying off.  That made this hike even better!

Fairview Spaces

I spent the weekend at a cabin down in Fairview, Utah; with lots of people.  There were so many people sleeping at this cabin that we had every bed, room, cot, couch, or any place possible to sleep on being slept on by more than should be sleeping there. We had a group ranging from 70-year-olds who still ride snowmobiles, down to 6-month-olds who were just excited to have new people to look at.

The snowmobiling was awesome.  The area we went to had lots of natural jumps, hills that were way beyond a comfortable amount of steep, and large open fields lined up next to each other. This made for a great day of snowmobiling.  In fact, it was so sunny and nice, that many of the pictures I took are simply too bright to see details. It was a little on a chilly side, but there was good powder, so you forgot how chilly it was. Check out some of the snowmobiling pictures below.

 

Wish Reminiscing

Chilling at the mall, Bade and I came across a fountain.  Ah, the memories I have of trying to get my pennies and nickels to land on a rock ledge that has water flowing over it, and to get stuck there. We tried, and failed, but it was fun to attempt something I haven’t thought about in years.

Halloween Half Sign Up

I have signed up for the Halloween Half this coming October.  This is my first commitment for being able to run more than a 5K comfortably.

Humans Are Not All Self-Centered

I am generally a pretty pessimistic person.  Most people who know me would say I am somewhat of an optimist, but really I am an optimist-masquerading pessimist who desires to be an optimist. I guess here is where Frankfurt would say that I have a second order volition to be an optimist. But, I digress.

Being a pessimist, I think that people are self-centered and egotistical. Maybe I think this because I am self-centered and egotistical. Regardless of the reason, this is what I think. However, on those occasions where I am proven wrong, that not only are people NOT self-centered, but that they are much better that I, I become a typical girl, “ahhh”ing and tearing up. I had one of those moments today.

I had a man that I found fairly boring telling me about himself.  The more I actually listened, the more I liked what he had to say and I found him more interesting.  (Ok, I’ll listen to what this guy has to say.)  Once he had finished telling about himself, another man jumped in and began to talk about the first man in a way that I don’t often hear.  This second man was boasting on behalf of the first, on all the anonymous (or nearly anonymous) things that this once-boring-but-no-longer-boring man does on a weekly basis.  (Now I am very interested and impressed.) The most impressive part about it wasn’t that I was moved with what this man was boasting, but that I then found out, those anonymous acts of service had all been within the last week! (What is beyond impressed?…flabbergasted?)

Pause for a moment of humility.

I, being self-centered, want to be a service oriented person so that people can boast about me the way that man B boasted about man A. And my smaller, better part wants to be a service oriented person so that people will get the feeling that they matter more than they know. I should add this to my goals for this year…do random acts of service.  I will make this a goal, but not one that I will blog about.  That would feed into my self-centered side, and that side is already big enough :).

Cabin Weekend

Saturday morning, wake up in Bade’s childhood bed at his parents house (don’t worry, he was in another bedroom), and rush to get ready to go up to Mount Aire for snowshoeing, only to wait because Bade takes FORRR-EVVVV-ER (thank you Sandlot) to get ready.

Almost an hour later than planned, we make out way up the canyon to play in the snow. We park at the bottom, switch to a snowmobile, drive that up a few miles, park at a cabin.  Warm up for a bit with French Toast made by Em and Mike, then back on the snowmobiles, up as far as we can go, park, then put on the snowshoes.  This will be my second time ever snowshoeing…Bade’s second time ever snowshoeing, and my first time in deeper powder.  It was awesome!

So the hike up wasn’t bad at all.  It had a few short spots of a slight incline, but the majority of a snowshoeing was on a barely noticeable incline that was really enjoyable. About half the trail up to the ridge line was an actual trail (although really snowy with fresh powder) and half the trail was untouched fresh snow.

Once at the top, there was a gorgeous view of nothing but clouds.  It was so peaceful, and was a good ‘take it all in’ moment before we began running down the side of the mountain in deep powder, looking like frolicking ducks. Running downhill in deep powder was more difficult and more fun than I had anticipated.

 

 

 

After snowshoeing, we spent the afternoon and evening socializing with friends and family at a few different cabins, grazing on various food items, and playing Monopoly late into the night.  Good job Bade for kicking our butts!

Utah Jazz vs Chicago Bulls

Tonight I sat on the second row, in the Energy Solutions Arena, watching our Utah Jazz take on the Chicago Bulls.  The Bulls were in the lead for the entire first half, with the Jazz trailing up to around 15 points. This was not a good showing, especially since the Bulls star center, Rose 1, was out this game and was being replaced by a 5’8 second stringer.  (I know, I sound so knowledgeable right now ;)). After returning to my seat after half time, I watched the Jazz make a swift come back, closing the gap and even surpassing the Bulls on the scoreboard. In the last 2 minutes of the game, the Jazz handed over 6 points to the Bulls by continually fouling them. This allowed the Bulls to pull into the lead and win the game.  Even though we lost, it was a good game. And a special thanks to Johnny for inviting Bade and I to enjoy these AWESOME seats.

Night In and Skinny Dipping

So tonight was interesting. We have a hot tub in our backyard that has been broken for some time.  Well, since I have been gone so much lately, cruising and just out and about, I thought “maybe the hot tub was fixed while I was gone.” After switching a load of laundry I went out back to check the temperature of the hot tub.  It was HOT! Yay!! I turn around to run back inside because my little feet are freezing, and I find that the door shut behind me and locked me out.  “No problem,” I thought, “I’ll just run around to the front.” Front door was locked too. “Dang.”

So I spend the next 15-20 minutes going around to all the windows, taking the screens out, and pushing up, hoping that they are shut, but unlocked.  No luck, all the windows are locked.

I am freezing and don’t want to wait in the cold for my roommates to get home, so I run a block or so down the street where some of my friends live in an apartment complex.  I knock on a few doors AND ring the doorbells, to no avail.  None of my friends answer (although, later on I find out that all of them were home).

It has now been around 30 minutes of freezing cold, bare feet, and no jacket.  What else am I to do?  I return home, jump the fence, strip down, and hop in the hot tub.  I always thought that my first time skinny dipping would be with people, and out in the middle of nowhere.  I didn’t think that I would be skinny dipping by myself, in my own backyard, just so that I wouldn’t freeze. It was kind of a fun experience though, and definitely made for a good story tonight!

Snowshoeing Big Springs

Today was my first snowshoeing experience ever! I found snowshoeing to be more relaxing than I had anticipated. I went with my parents up Big Springs in Provo Canyon. The snow wasn’t that great but I got a general sense of what it is like and I like it.