Biltmore Mansion, Asheville NC

For my birthday, I received 2 wonderful tickets from my in-laws to visit the Biltmore Mansion. It was gorgeous! It is so fun for me to think about how a building was designed and the intricate details and designs that go into them. I love architecture and interior design and even better, I got to spend the WHOLE day with Adam. We drove the 2 hours to Asheville, enjoyed the house tour, some delicious hot chocolate & apple cider, had a little picnic lunch that I packed in the car, then went to a restaurant a friend of ours recommended for dinner. It was such a fun day & I am so glad we got to go!

Favorite food blogs

Lately I have been trying to mix it up and not make the same meals over and over again. I have some amazing cookbooks, (my sister in law made one for us for our wedding & I use it on a weekly basis for ideas on what to make. I also like it because I can trust it! I know that they have made that recipe before & that it is yummy!) but I was wanting to try some new recipes. So, I started to search the internet and I found some awesome websites/blogs.

Here are my favorites:

1. http://www.ourbestbites.com/- This one is by far my favorite. I have made a few recipes from this site & have loved all of them. My favorites are the Chicken Tortilla soup recipe and the bread-sticks recipe. Delicious!
- This site just printed a recipe book that I think you can purchase through Deseret Book.2. http://rhrecipes.blogspot.com/- My favorite thing about this blog is that she posts what fruits/vegetables are in season that month. It helps me know how much I should be paying at the grocery store for fruits/veggies and how I can plan my menu for the week. She has some great recipes, but she also posts about her family life - so its not completely focused on food.
3. http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/
- This one I don't use quite as much, but I found a few fun recipes. Like the ever-famous BYU mint brownies! I haven't made them yet, but when the right occasion comes around I will.So- i thought it would be fun to share these. Do you have any favorites?

Cute Kids!

In November I took these cute photos & I love the way they turned out! Kids are always an adventure to photograph because their real smile, turns quickly into a fake smile. I think the best way to get them to smile is to let them play with something, and then catch them while they are happy.

Corina's Bridals

I did this wedding last August & I am so glad we took the time to do these bridals! I was counting on doing some silhouettes against the sunset, and just as we were finishing up, the sun illuminated the clouds to be that bright orange color. It was beautiful! Colorado always seems to have the best sunsets!

Scrabble!

I love a good game of speed scrabble! I am not very good, but Adam and I like to play. Try not to look to closely at some of exceptions as to what constitutes being a word... We tend to be pretty flexible with the rules when it's just the two of us playing!

Cabin

Last winter while we were still in Utah, we got to spend a weekend with Adam's aunts, uncles, & cousins at a cabin! It was so fun and we enjoyed playing games, sledding, and snowmobiling. We are missing them out in Tennessee!

Christmas Card

I ended up using this photo that I took last year in Utah for our Christmas Card background. I love how it turned out. As soon as I took the photo I thought it would be such a fun background.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! We hope you were able to enjoy celebrating the holidays with family & friends!

Colorado Wedding

In September, I had some clients fly me out to Colorado to shoot their wedding in Colorado Springs. It was beautiful & I just wanted to share some of the images from the day. (I was lucky enough to have my friend Kristen come shoot with me & I couldn't have done it without her.) I played soccer with the Bride in high school, and it was so fun to see her again. The ceremony was beautiful & I just can't get enough of weddings!

New Favorite Recipe

Sorry we have been MIA lately, the move and getting settled in to the new place have kept us busy. We had dinner at our friend's place and they made this recipe in a little bit of a variation, but I LOVE IT! Its pretty quick & easy- try it out!

Chicken Saltimbocca

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

Prep Time:

15 min

Inactive Prep Time:

--

Cook Time:

20 min

Serves:

6 servings

Ingredients

• 6 (3-ounce) chicken cutlets, pounded to evenly flatten
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 paper-thin slices prosciutto ( we used Ham slices instead)
• 1 (10-ounce) box frozen chopped spinach, thawed ( I think this is optional)
  
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
• 1 (14-ounce) can low-salt chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

Place the chicken cutlets flat on the work surface. Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Lay 1 slice of prosciutto atop each chicken cutlet.

Squeeze the frozen spinach to remove the excess water. Season the spinach with salt and pepper. In a small bowl, toss the spinach with 1 tablespoon of oil to coat.

Arrange an even, thin layer of spinach atop the prosciutto slices. Sprinkle the Parmesan evenly over each. Beginning at the short tapered end, roll up each chicken cutlet as for a jellyroll. Secure with a toothpick.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy large skillet over high heat. Add the chicken and cook just until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side. Add the chicken broth and lemon juice, and scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon. Bring the liquid to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium. Cover and simmer until the chicken is just cooked through, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the chicken to a platter. Simmer the cooking liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Season the cooking liquid with salt and pepper, to taste. Remove toothpicks from the chicken. Drizzle the reduced cooking liquid over the chicken and serve immediately.

(These are her instructions from the food network website).

Forgiveness

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

This morning while I was eating breakfast I went over to lds.org and decided to watch some of the Mormon messages. I loved watching this video and it is a great reminder to me of the atonement in our lives. Our Savior is such a great comfort in our lives if we let him in. Something that really struck me from this video was when a friend said that he believed that this man had decided long before the accident, before he ever knew anything would happen like this, that he would forgive. I wonder if we have each made that same decision in our lives. I also enjoyed hearing how much this man was able to rely on our Savior to help him forgive and begin the healing process. Our savior is an incredible being, who was sent to help us in our lives.

If you get a chance- watch this video and if you have even more time, watch all of the video's on lds.org "Mormon Messages". What a blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives and the technology to share it.

Engagement Photos

On Monday I went with a couple to take their engagement photos and I LOVE how they turned out so I couldn't wait to share some. There are a couple that we took on a polaroid camera too that are fun! I am so excited for their wedding in August!