My wonderful husband, Tom

My wonderful husband, Tom

I love Fall! I love the colors, the weather, the smells... basically I love everything about Fall! Tom and I were able to go up to the canyon yesterday. It is so beautiful right now! For some reason Fall always reminds me of when I was single and living in "The Party Barge". I had great roommates who taught me so much about myself and how to be a better me. And although I had so many great times with my girls I was so anxious to meet the man I would spend eternity with.

Enter Tom. We had known each other for about 9 months before he asked me out. We had been flirting with each other just for fun (we were both interested in other people at this point.) I am so grateful for that time we had to get to know each other as friends. Our first date was so much fun! He was so easy to talk to and be myself around. He started winning my heart on that first date! And the rest is history.

He is such a wonderful man and husband! I am eternally grateful to our Heavenly Father for allowing me the privilege of marrying my best friend. I could honestly spend all day everyday with Tom and be perfectly content. I love spending time with him. I am grateful for all he does for me... especially working a job he hates so he can help support us. I am grateful for his unconditional love and his easy-going attitude. I am grateful that he (for some reason) thinks I am beautiful and tries to get me to see that in myself more. I am grateful that he will someday be a wonderful father to our children. I will take great delight in seeing him hold our newborn... you see, he is afraid he will break little ones :) He makes me want to be a better wife, daughter, sister, friend and woman. I am so grateful for him. I love him the mostest of the mostest cuz he's the grandest of grandest prizes.

I have been inspired by my family's and friends' blogs... obviously! This is one of our new favorite recipes. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Black Bean Lasagna Rolls

1 C (4 oz) shredded, reduced fat Montery-Jack cheese

1(15 oz) carton part skim Ricotta cheese

1 (4.5 oz) can chopped green chilies, drained

1/2 tsp chili powder (this makes it super spicy... HOT! I would cut back.)

1/8 tsp salt

8 lasagna noodles

2 C cannned no salt added black beans, drained

cooking spray

1 (15.5 oz) jar no salt added salsa

Combine first 5 ingredients, stir well. Set aside.

Cook lasagna noodles as directed on package; drain well.

Spread cheese mixture over one side of each noodle. Spoon beans evenly over cheese mixture. Roll up noodles, jelly-roll fashion, beginning at narrow end.

Place rolls, seam sides down, in an 11x7x1.5 inch baking dish coated with spray. Pour salsa over rolls. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until heated thoroughly.

My favorite photos I've taken

The Bicycle Fairy

Once upon a time (back in May) my wonderful husband and I were driving down the freeway, at about 70 miles an hour, when the back wheels of his truck decided to lock up and stop spinning. As you can imagine that was about the scariest thing to have ever happened to me. So... realizing he still needed to be able to get to school and work we decided to buy a bike for him. (This was not a visit from the Bicycle Fairy) In the two weeks he has ridden his bike he has lost 10 pounds. (Totally unfair... but he is a boy so I will continue on with the story.) I had toyed around with the idea of buying a bike for me. But I had serious doubts that I would use it enough to justify buying it. So we didn't get one for me.
Now... if you know me at all you know that I have struggles with my weight. I have been trying, unsuccessfully, to eat healthier and become more active. We did really well with working out every other day for about a month and a half. So when I heard Tom's weight loss I started to think about the bike again. I had mentioned to my family and a few friends that I was thinking about getting a bike too but wondered if I would really use it. Then one day I came home from work and sitting in front of my front door was a bike. I didn't think anything of it at first - I thought it was our neighbor's. But it sat in the same position all night and well into the morning. So... I have been visited by the Bicycle Fairy.
Tom and I went for a bike ride yesterday to see how long it would take me to ride to work. I haven't been on a bike in over 20 years but I thought, "How hard can it be? Tom does it every day." Boy... if I didn't feel bad about myself before I sure do now. I realize that I am not in the best shape - but that bike ride kicked my butt! We didn't even make it to my classroom. I started showing signs of either heat stroke or heat exhaustion and had to turn around. So my plans to ride to work everyday in order to get in better shape have been chucked out the window. I have a new and improved plan. I will still go on bike rides; just not everyday. I will stop by the Rec Center everyday on my way home from work to exercise in the beauty of air conditioning. Yay for the cool indoors. And Yay for the Bicycle fairy!