Wanted: MENU PLANNING IDEAS!!

For my Family Finance class this semester I have an assignment to work with a group of classmates to teach people (esp. families) how to do menu planning. The problem is...none of us actually DO menu planning! I joined the group because I wanted to learn how to do menu planning more efficiently myself, and I think that's why most of the other people joined the group as well.

I want to know:

• if any of you do menu planning

• what works best for you
  

*Any tips would be WONDERFUL and MUCH appreciated!

P.S. I got this scrumptious looking picture from Stirring Stories...I think I'm definitely going to have to try some of these recipes!!

P.P.S. Not that any of you care, but I've finally hit my 100th post since I've been blogging! Woo Hoo!

In Memory of Georgia Angelos

I wanted to take a moment to recognize Georgia Angelos, a teacher at my school at Union Middle in Sandy. She recently has passed away in a fight against cancer. I am sad that I didn't get a better chance to know her as she was absent for a good portion of this year and parts of last year, it also being my first year at Union. From what I did know, she was a caring teacher who thought about the best welfare of the students. It gives us a moment to reflect upon our lives and how fragile they can be, and focus our thoughts on what is to become hereafter. I am grateful for the testimony I have of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and am comforted by the knowledge that there is a Spirit World in death. I encourage all to maintain regular physical check-ups to prevent any health problems. Georgia will be greatly missed by her family, school faculty, and students.

Aquarium, Anyone?

The McSweeney's, D & I all took advantage of an extra day off for President's Day to take a trip up to Sandy to check out the new exhibit at the Aquarium--unfortunately we were misinformed and the new exhibit isn't open yet, but we still had a good time. Then we went out to lunch at Johnny Corino's, an Italian restaurant in Sandy, and it was DELICIOUS!! We'll totally be going back there to eat again!! Here are some pictures from our trip:

Super cool eel

This fish was beautiful!!
We found Nemo!!
D touching a sting-ray. They are soo stinkin' slimey!
The shark was totally attacking a piece of coral. Weird-o!
Cool looking shrimp.
T, R, and J
Us :)

Thanks for such a great weekend, everyone!! We need more 3-day weekends, for sure!!
*Be sure to scroll down and look at my previous post!!

Six

My good friend, Carrie tagged me again, and this one is fun.
Sixth photo file on my computer, sixth picture:

This is a picture of some Bison up at Yellowstone National Park. This was our September 2006 trip with my dad and my younger brother and sister (I can't say "little brother and sister" anymore because they're both taller than me). Just because this picture is kind of lame, here are some more pictures from that trip :)

Dar was only like 40 feet from this Elk when he took the picture...so awesome!
Me, Bri, Dad, and Sky

Old Faithful--so amazing!!

Cutest couple in the world, if I might say so myself. ;)

There were soo many people watching Old Faithful!!

I tag: Tracee, Mel, Christy, Rebekah, Marci, Kirsten, and anyone else who wants to do it!

HaPpY VaLeNtiNe'S DaY!!

We hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!! Here are some pictures from our Valentine's weekend:

We went to an Institute dance Friday night and they gave all the married people dancing lessons before hand to make us look cooler than the singles ;) Yep--that's D (in the red) dancing by himself cuz I wanted to take a picture :)

Us at the dance

Our good friends, Matt & Sandy, came with us. This is them getting ready for the tango they requested--we had a live 16-piece band as our dancing music. They were wonderful!!Saturday morning we woke up to huge, beautiful snowflakes coming down. D made breakfast for me, and then we babysat R for a few hours so J & T could go to a birthday party.

R loved Dr. Seuss's "Mr. Brown Can Moo" book, we had to keep going back to the train page. (We're both signing "choo, choo" which is how R says train in sign language.)
R showing D where the train is.
I just loved this picture and had to put it up.
R loves to play with the Wii remotes when she comes over. She's gunna be a Wii pro someday!!

And she loves making herself look even more beautiful with Aunt K's chapstick.

We colored some pictures for Mom & Dad for V-day.
R practicing to be a bell-hop when she gets older :)

After babysitting R we went to get lunch and see a movie, but the movie was sold out. So, we brought lunch home and watched Mask of Zorro. It was totally a fun, relaxing, low-key Valentine's Day, and we loved it!! We hope yours was just as nice as ours. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone!!

Happy 3 1/2!!

Dear, D:

Today is our 3 1/2 year anniversary! Can you believe it? I hardly can. Time flies sooo stinkin' fast, but we've loved every single minute of it. I really can't say enough how lucky and blessed we are to have found each other. We hear other couples say how hard marriage is, but for us it's been a piece of cake! We're so much alike that it's scary sometimes, and we hate when we can't be together. It truly is amazing to be married to my best friend, and I absolutely wouldn't have it any other way.

Thank you for everything you do for me, and for keeping your promise to make me laugh every day. You are the best husband in the world, and I know you'll be the best dad too! Thank you for your example to me, for your testimony of the Savior and the Gospel, and for all the sacrifices you make for our little family. Thank you for being a worthy Priesthood holder and for always taking me back to the temple. Thank you for being so smart and for teaching me a TON since we've been married. You truly are the best, and I thank Heavenly Father every day that I have you. I love you, D!!

Tagged!!

6 Random Things/Quirks Tag

1-Post the rules on your blog.
2-List 6 random things about yourself.
3-Tag 6 people at the end of your post.
4-Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

1-In my short life of 22 1/2 years, I have had at least 10 surgeries (that I can count and remember). It used to be a joke between me and my friend TJ for him to ask me at the beginning of each school year what surgery I would be having by the end of that same school year. :)

2-When I eat Lucky Charms (or Marshmallow Mateys) I eat all the cereal pieces first, and then the marshmallows. When I get to the marshmallows, I have to eat them in a certain order. Also, when I eat sandwiches I have to eat all the crust off first before I eat the rest of the sandwich. This goes for hamburgers and stuff too--I have to eat around the outside edge first. Don't ask me...it's just something I do.

3-I LOVE Frank Sinatra. And thanks to Frank Sinatra I love Michael Buble. I could listen to their music 24/7!!

4-I had the top grade in both of the Astronomy classes I've taken in the last year, and I did it by myself, despite what some people think...Dar did NOT help me with them! Thank you! Thank you!

5-I really want a West Highland Terrier and I want to name it Zero, after the dog on Nightmare Before Christmas....me & D are both BIG Tim Burton fans!

(Isn't he so stinkin' cute?)

6-I HATE scary/creepy movies. I pretty much refuse to watch them anymore. I'm okay with suspenseful and intense movies, but scary is out of the question.

I tag: Tracee, Bean, Andrea, Mel, Gretchen, Paige

I should be in Punxsutawney, PA

I have a slight obsession over Groundhog Day. Not really sure why, but it's my first favorite holiday of the year ;) (it IS the first holiday of the year by the way, minus MLK Day) I was reminding people in my classes at school all week last week that Monday was going to be Groundhog Day!! I was soo excited!

So, yesterday morning on the way to school, we heard that Punxsutawney Phil (the famous weather-predicting groundhog) saw his shadow, which means...6 more weeks of Winter. Sorry to disappoint some of you with that news, but we ALWAYS have 6 more weeks of Winter, regardless of whether Phil sees his shadow or not.

After school, D & I decided to enjoy some Groundhog Day festivities. We watched/listened to the movie Groundhog Day while we made Groundhog Day treats* (see picture below). I have to say that I really do like the movie, Groundhog Day, with Bill Murray in it. I'll be the first to tell you that I am NOT a Bill Murray fan, but I absolutely love this one movie that he's in.

I have officially made a goal to someday travel to Punxsutawney, PA to participate in the REAL Groundhog Day festivities. I think it would be awesome!! I told D we can wait to do it until he retires...being a school teacher makes it difficult to travel in the winter, if ya know what I mean.

We hope you all had as great of a G-hog Day as we did!!

*We took the Pilgrim Hat treat idea we used for Thanksgiving and altered it to make cute little Groundhog treats....we might need to make some adjustments for next year :)