Day 31: Gound Beef?

Congratulations to me, I have finished my first month. My goal was to do a picture a day and I haven't missed a day! Granted I had a few days where I didn't have access to a computer, but I made those days up, so I think that still counts. Honestly I think that the rest of my blog year will be interesting, funny, and Completely Random! Like today's post.

There's nothing like hot steamy ground beef on a Monday night.


I guess that is what we do for family night, cook loads of ground beef and put it in the freezer. Actually ground beef hasn't been on sale for a long long time, and when it finally did go on sale we ended up buying 8 lbs of it. These pictures only show half of what we bought!

Boyd is such a good ground beefer. Look at him so skillfully brown that beef.

There is another reason why I'm posting pictures of beef and that's because Boyd wants me to give our critical opinion of Metro Burger. We went there on a date Saturday night. Boyd said it was like going to the grocery store, buying a 1/3 lb of burger, slapping it on a griddle, no spices, letting it sit there till it gets burned, and then flipping it over, putting it on a bun, letting it sit there till it gets cold, then putting a see through slice of tasteless cheese on it, and serving it up cold. My opinion, the fries were great but eating the burger just makes your stummy hurt. I'm glad we went because we had heard this was a place we just needed to try out. Well, we tried it and now we know that we will never go back. Boyd and I are burger connoisseurs. We love burgers, but just not Metro Burgers. I did however like the set up of the restaurant. You go in, grab a clipboard, circle what you want out of your many options, and then just give it to the cashier. It was a unique idea.

Day 30: Christmas Card Pictures

I'm being lazy today. Here are a few of our Christmas card pictures that my sis in-law Katie took. Thanks Katie!

Day 29: Pillowcases

It is a Bills family tradition to have pillowcases for the various holidays. Being new(er) to the Bills family I had a lot of pillowcase catching up to do. Today I finished 4 holidays, Valentines Day, St. Patty's Day, The 4th of July, and Halloween. Here are a few pictures of pillowcases I have sewn so far.




Now we both have cute lovey dovey Valentine's Day pillowcases. Aren't they so cute!

Day 28: Nailpolish

I LOVE nail polish. Today I looked down at my nails and saw the crackly, crusty, old, chipped off nail polish and it reminded me of my good ol' junior high days. When I was in junior high I painted my nails every single day! I always had time before school started so I would scamper off to my locker and paint my nails. Back then I thought I would never have ugly nails and that my nails would always look perfect. HA! What was I thinking? Maybe I had sniffed too many fumes or something. Anyway, I still love nail polish and painting my nails, along with painting my nieces's nails, even if I can't do it every day.

Day 27: Asian Market

Boyd and I went to the Asian market today! We found all sorts of fun stuff! Here are the goodies we purchased. We are so excited to go back and get food for Chinese New Year. The thing I'm most excited for is strawberry mochi ice cream! Yum! Walking around brought back so many memories from my childhood and going to my Ging Ging's (Grandma) house. It was so fun walking around having no clue what anything was and just finding things that look familiar.

Day 26: Chair Makeover Part 2

Ta Da! Here is the AFTER. Amazing what a little fabric can do.

Day 25: Chair makeover Part 1

Since my last post was about being a good wifey, this post will be about how to be a good husband. So, what makes a good husband? Boyd helped me pick out fabric to reupholster our chairs and also helped me actually do the reupholstering. We had purchased these chairs on Craig's list when we moved out to Ohio. We found a great deal but I hated the fabric. Then after we brought them home we discovered that the seat used to be wicker and she just put a piece of foam in the middle to make it appear to be a softer chair. So every time we would sit on our chairs we would get a square shaped indent left on our bottoms. Needless to say, something had to be done with these chairs.

Here is the BEFORE

Notice the oh so lovely fabric.

Stay tuned for the AFTER pictures coming tomorrow.

Day 24: Bagles

What makes a good Wifey? Well, according to all the men at Boyd's school, a good wifey cooks dinner for her husband. Apparently every time people at Boyd's school find out he is married the first question they always ask him is "So, does your wife cook dinner for you?" Psh, who do they think I am! Well, today, I was a good wifey and surprised Boyd with homemade bagels. What else am I supposed to do on a cold, snowy day?

The recipe I used came from my sister in-law Carrie. Thanks Carrie!

Ingredients
*4 Tsp Yeast
*1 1/2 C Warm Water
*4 1/2 ish C Flour
*3 T Sugar
1 T Salt

Soak yeast, water, sugar and salt for 2 min till foamy
Add flour and kneed for 5-10 Minutes

I absolutely love my Kitchen Aid. It was a battle when we first got married between getting a Kitchen Aid or a Bosch Mixer. Needless to say, I won and we have a Kitchen Aid. I wouldn't know what to do without it.

The dough should look something like this.



Then divide the dough into 6-8 pieces and shape into a round ball. Poke a hole in the middle to make it into a bagel looking thing. Place on a greased cookie sheet.

The dough was kinda pasty looking and it reminded me of the way my skin looks right now, since I haven't seen the sun in quite some time. Then I thought of Boyd's old roommate who would grab his belly and hold it in a circle and call it his "hairy bagel" eeeewwwww.

Let it rise for 15 minutes. Meanwhile boil water in a pot. Personally, I like to add a tiny bit of oil and salt to my water.
Every time I see water boiling I think of when I was a little kid. My mom would ask me to watch the water and let her know when the water started to boil. I always thought that the bubbles looked like little eyeballs staring up at me.

Drop the bagels into the boiling water and remove immediately. (One time Boyd and I made bagels and it said to boil them for 7 minutes. They were so dense! I prefer the remove immediately method)

Bake at 475 degrees for 10-15 minutes or golden brown

Maybe I should clean my oven window before I start taking pictures of it. Sorry.
Again, this reminds me of being a little kid and watching things bake in the oven. I loved looking through the glass to see if it was done.


Let cool on a wire rack so they don't get soggy on the bottom. Enjoy! Thanks again Carrie, they are super yummy!

Day 23: Hi Hi's Birthday

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEIDI!

Heidi's favorite present: Chapstick.
Notice how she is holding it in every single picture.


My favorite thing about Heidi is how she will point to something and innocently ask "Heidi's?" What a cutie! We love her so much. Happy Birthday Heidi!

Day 22: Playdough

Tomorrow is Heidi's birthday party. I decided to make her some homemade playdough because Beth had told me she loves the one she got for Christmas, but she only had yellow. Plus it is edible and safe for little kids.

Here's the recipe I used
*1 cup water
*1 tablespoon vegetable oil
*1/2 cup salt
*1 tablespoon cream of tartar
*Food coloring
*1 cup flour

Ta Da!


Note:
Cream of tartar is crazy hard to find at a good price. Boyd and I went to Marc's because we thought we could get some rip off brand and not have to pay as much but all they had was McCormick for $3.28. Booo! So we went to Giant Eagle who had McCormick for $4.98! WHAT! They had the Giant Eagle brand for $4.19, but who wants to pay that much for the store brand when you could get the name brand for less. So we tried our luck at ACME: $4.98. What were we going to do? So we took our chances and went to the expensive grocery store, Heinen's. $2.99! WE WON! Now we know, when you are looking for cream of tartar, go to Heinen's!

Day 21: Choo Choo

We got a train for Christmas, and it rocks. Go Legos!

Day 20: Mickey and Minnie

I'm sick. I feel like blaah. A happy picture for a crummy day.

Day 19: Photography Blog

How about a bunch of pictures on my other blog?

thebillsbankphotography.blogspot.com/


p.s. it just took me about 30 minutes trying to figure out how to make the billsbankphotography into a link. Go me! I'm so proud it works.

Day 18: Columbus Temple

Tried to call the Columbus temple to set up an appointment to go in and do a session. They were full. Living in Ohio is super different than Provo, Utah. I took for granted having a temple that was a two minute walk away, and being able to go whenever we felt like it. During ward conference our Bishop emphasized the importance of going to the temple.
Another goal for 2011: Go to the temple more often.

This is a picture of the Columbus Temple.




Boyd took this during Katie and Michael's wedding.

Day 17: Christmas Break

Ok, I know these aren't pictures, rather some of my favorite movies from Christmas break.

Boyd and Micah Loved playing sports resort the whole break. I love the intensity


Good thing Boyd is Tall



Bed Time? What happens when uncle Boyd tries putting all three of Dave's kids to bed?

Day 16: Giant Icicle

Tribute to the snow. Exactly one week ago Boyd and I were in Las Vegas walking around in light jackets / no jackets. I miss the warm! Came back to snowy Ohio. Here is a picture of an icicle that fell from our gutter. Every time I walk outside I think to my self "What if one of those fell on someone, would it go right through their head?"

Day 15: Micah

My nephew Micah is a perfect model. He loves getting his picture taken and I love taking his picture. His dad Dave saw this and said "Oh no, that's the face he gives Amber(his mom) when he wants to get away with anything"

Day 14: Lamborghini

My new car when I finish building my street-shoe empire.
We saw this car in the Bellagio Parking lot. We decided to take some pictures of it, so we can remember what kind of car we want when Boyd's shoe empire strikes it rich.

Day 13: Happy Birthday Christian

Happy Birthday to my Brother Christian!








Christian and I graduated from BYU at the same time, in the same major.

Day 12: Alice and Allison

I love all of my nieces, but especially Alice. We are team Alice and Allison. It can't get much better than that!

Day 11: Christmas pup

I'm always taking pictures of my dog. Over Christmas I had a little photo shoot with Boyd's dog Ginger.

Day 10: Reflection

I recently photographed my sister in-laws wedding reception and Boyd took this picture of our nephew Micah. I love this one.



p.s. sorry this is late, I was on a plane yesterday and didn't get a chance to post.