i want to buy a zoo

Firstly, I just have to tell you about the movie Steven and I finally saw this weekend. Because it was basically the cutest movie i have ever seen EVER. Has everyone seen "We Bought a Zoo?" For shame. For SHAME. First of all, it's the most awesome story of all time. Secondly, it convinced me that no matter what I accomplish in life, it will be totally lame and anti-climactic compared to owning a zoo. A zoo with tigers no less. Love me some tigers.

And thirdly, the little girl is the the most adorable thing i have ever seen in my life. It kinda made my ovaries ache a little. tmi? well, it's true. I challenge any childless female to watch that movie and not come out baby hungry. Seriously.

Steven and I also became offically part of our ward on sunday when I was called as a YW advisor and him as the YM second counselor! Obviously our bishop thinks our maturity levels are better suited to be with the teenagers. But we aren't complaining. Some people (cough cough aimee and nina) think it's funny I'm back in YW, considering i never went when I was in it myself. And to that I say....why yes, it is quite histerical. But your just jealous that I'm not your leader. so hah.

Tax season is slowly creepying up on us at my work. And I'm in no way prepared for it. I can't believe I even made it through one season. And I don't think any of my co-workers can either. I always thought working in an office would be a party. And then I realized not every office is going to be exactly like the tv show. I'm pretty sure if I started jamming the accountant's drawers and putting their staplers in jello... they wouldn't think it was too funny. Granted, we do ice cream cake for birthdays, it gives me plenty of time to make use of the $8 a month we spend on netflix, and I've occasionally recieved awkward emails from a co-worker that were suppose to be going to his wife. (His wife and I have the same exact name you see.) Those parts are pretty awesome.

I'm really loving that Steven works so close to home ever since he got transferred! I'm wondering how I use to survive without spending the whole lunch hour with him. Spoiled, I know. I had this dream the other night that Steven was Jim, and I was Pam and we worked together in my office and it was pretty much the most magnicificent thing ever. Except for that Voldemort was our boss, and not Michael Scott. And he fired us and sent us to Afganistan because Flynn went potty on his favorite chair.

That dream sounds so much weirder once I've typed it out.

Maybe my subconsious is really sick of cleaning up Flynn's accidecnts.

And seeing so many pictures of Voldemort on pinterest.

And watching every single episode of the office to catch Steven up.

Just maybe.

Also, Steven said something last night that just has to be written down for history's sake.

And because yes Steven, you are just so dang funny.

He looked at me and said, "woooww your eyes are like extra-terrestrial!"

A little hurt by that I said,"rude! why would you say that??"

And to that he replied, "because they are out of this world."

oh yes he did.

sibling saturdays

Sometimes it's kinda fun to have the little siblings over for pizza-making, quirkle-playing, and cowboys & aliens-watching on a Saturday night. And just so you know, that show doesn't get any less weird watching it the second time around. Pretty sure alien movies will never NOT be weird and distrubing. Acutally, not true. Avatar is so bomb. So I guess there are some exceptions.

Another delish snack/lunch/dinner side that's super healthy!
Get 1/4-1/2 can of chicken broth boiling in a frying pan on the stove.
add 1-2 sliced zuchini and yellow squash. (they are the best if brightly colored and under 8in long)
sprinkle with garlic, dried onion and salt.
sautee till tender.
voila! so tastey.

Beef and beans.

My husband is a picky eater. Not to any extreme extent, but finding meals that we both love AND are healthy AND easy-ish... is kinda difficult. Thank goodness for pinterest! I probably spend wayyy too much time looking at food on there though.

Behold! The beef and bean enchilada casserole!

Husband rates this a ten. That's unheard of, p.s.

So naturally, I must share to all the other wives of picky eaters.

Ingredients:

3 oz. ground beef

¼ cup dried onion

¾ tsp chili powder (I used chili peppers… the little round flakes?)

¾ tsp cumin

one 15 oz can pinto beans (drained)

one 4 oz can diced green chili peppers (I only put in half because we are spicy weaklings)

¾ cup sour cream

1 ½ Tbs. flour

¼ tsp. garlic powder (I just used normal garlic)

three 6 in corn tortillas (I used two 12in flour ones)

one 10 oz can enchilada sauce (we used the mild – original kind... and only about 3/4 the can)

½ cup shredded cheese (i used a little more than that on his)

1. Spray 9x13 pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In skillet cook onion and beef, drain fat. Stir in chili powder and cumin. Stir in pinto beans, enchilada sauce, green chilies and half of the cheese. Set aside.

2. In small bowl stir together sour cream, flour and garlic powder.

3. Spread sour cream mixture onto tortillas. Top with meat mixture and cheese. Roll tortillas and place in pan. Top with enchilada sauce, remaining meat mixture, and sour cream.

I have a thing with adding vegetables to all recipes. So before I put it in the oven for the last five  minutes, I cut up and added a tomato, half an avocado, half a green pepper, and a couple green onions and put them on the top. I Think it really made a difference!

4.Bake 30 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese (and vegetables if you so desire). Bake 5 more minutes.

Disclaimer: All measurements, amounts etc are just approximations. Most the time I don't even measure it. That's the beauty of this recipe, you can make it just how you like it and it still turns out. I've used taco seasoning on the meat instead of the spices, added green onions, black beans instead of pinto, used wheat tortillas, made my enchilada vegetarian, you could use cooked chicken instead of beef... the list goes on and on.

In other news, we have taken a liking to staying on the phone/face-timing for hours whilst I'm dead bored at work, and he is home without me. You know that office episode where Pam is in NY and she and Jim get the microscopic bluetooths and stay on the phone all day long and Dwight thinks Jim is going crazy because he keeps talking to himself, but he is really just talking to Pam? Yeah same thing. People think I'm just listening to music on my ipod, when I'm really listening to Steven singing on the other end. Awesome.

Steven is spoiled. That is all. But who could say no to that face?

And what's a post without a cute picture of flynn and a video of him going crazy?

Peace and love. And chocolate.

Weekending

Did I ever tell you how much I love Saturdays? Especially Saturdays that Steven is home, and not working? I love them. Those days we should probably spend doing the deep cleaning, laundry, dishes, replacing tires, and other boring thing... but we are cool. And like to not do any of them. Instead, we spend the whole day together. And I don't know about you, but I think that's wayyyy better then laundry.

Steven had to take a psychology test up at Weber State in the morning, so Flynn and I decided to tag along. I took Flynn out to play in the sun while we waited and oh my, does that poochie love to run. He spent a good twenty minutes just running full speed up and down the hill. Sometimes I think we should have named him Flash. Or Dash.

Here's the videos I took of him running and playing in the snow!

In the afternoon we went to go see Beauty and the Beast with Aimee. We might have been the only people in the theater without little kids, but who cares right?? It's a classic!

We decided that eating Cold Stone for dinner that night would be more than appropriate. After all of our healthy eating, we deserve a few thousand extra calories of sugar on the weekends. Right?  Especially if those calories are mint chocolate chip and brownies. Steven was so excited.

After "dinner," we headed to Boondocks to use our free bowling passes. We won't talk about how that game turned out. But for the record, my finger grip hole thingy's were much too small. You think they would make a 6 pound ball for adults.

And of course, there was lots of puppy snuggling and watching of The Office. I officially have Steven addicted, and he swore he would never watch it! But now, he thinks it's the funniest show ever. Because it is. It goes to show even the biggest haters can be converted.

Also, I may have watched Justin Bieber's movie on Netflix. Twice. I use to be a major hater, and now I have the fever. I even leave it on for Flynn when we leave.

Good ol' Netflix. It's pretty much changing lives.

healthyness

This year, along with the rest of america, I wanted to try to eat healthier and take care of my slowly but inevitably deteriorating body. And poor Steven has had to deal with my obsessive nutritional craze. Gym memberships, large grocery bills, my whining over lack of chocolate, and garbaging of his heart-disease-in-a-box frozen pizzas... all within two months of being married. He's a trooper!

After a couple nutrition classes, and countless hours researching recipes and snacks on the internet... I'm finally getting into a healthy buying and eating routine. Here's a couple of my healthy favorites I've tried and loved so far.

Breakfast: Strawberry Banana Gronola Yogurt

I use 1/2 cup chobani's vanilla flavored greek yogurt

drizzeled with some honey

added some granola with dark chocolate chunks

and some sliced bananas and strawberries

yum.

Breakfast/Snack: Monster Smoothie (*that actually doesn't tast like ogre poo)

I found the recipe through pinterest HERE.

1 frozen sliced banana
*I added about 6 frozen sliced strawberries
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/2 cup 0% Vanilla Chobani Greek yogurt
1 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or other kind of milk)
4 cups baby spinach (or more, or less)

The thing I love, is that a lot of the recipes I'm finding call for the same ingredients... lots of fruit, vegetables, greek yogart, almond milk, etc... so I can use the seemingly random grocery items for lots of healthy meals! And that's all for now. Happy weekending!

First Christmas

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone again! It doesn't feel real to me. But this year has been the best Christmas ever. Hands down. Christmas morning is pretty dang fun when you're married. Even if you are dragged out of bed at 6:30am.

We had a day filled with family, puppy lovin', coconut banana pancakes, new wii games playing, and lots and lots of chocolate. Obviously.

Here's a little look-see of some of my favorite holiday moments...

2011 suprised me by ending up to be my favorite year so far.

And I have a feeling 2012 will be even better :)

Have a Happy New Year, from the Collins Family!

Plus Aimee. Because she likes to sneak into pictures.