Jazz lead 3-1

We went to the Jazz game last night. I had never been to a playoff game before...you think the crowd gets into it during the regular season, well it's 10X louder and more intense for the playoffs. It was so much fun! The Jazz played really well, and besides the first few minutes, they were up the entire game! I was hoping to win a free shirt or something, or at least get my minute of fame on the "kiss cam", but that never happened. People got really creative with their posters; I was impressed. My favorite one was this one: "Nuggets are the worst part of the chicken". Notice they are right behind the Nugget's bench...hilarious.


The half time show didn't look very promising at first, but I am still losing sleep until I figure out the secret behind it! It was a magic show and I can't remember the name of the act, so I will make it up, "Changing outfits in magical record breaking time" Yeah, the assistant changed outfits in the blink of an eye...like ten times. Sometimes she was in plain site too... Sheesshh...for those of you who saw it or know the trick, please share :)

We sat on the third row of the upper bowl at center court...we had the perfect view

And now, off to Denver they go to win again...let's hope!

Another Banana Cream Delight!

Today was a slow day at work, so bored as I was I thought about what I could do to pass the time. Yes, my dishes needed to be washed, and I still haven't quite started spring cleaning yet, but really where's the fun in that?! So, I pulled out my handy-dandy cookbook and found another recipe that was calling my name...Banana Cream Pie. I have been in a banana mood lately. I made everything from the crust to the whipped cream from scratch. My cookbook made "fluting" the crust look so easy, but for the life of me I could not get it to look just right. Being that it was my first time making this, I was a frantic mess around the kitchen trying to do everything at the same time. I had a lot of fun though! Cleaning up the mess afterwards was a different story. My pie could've passed as a Villiage Inn pie, it was that good!

This was my fluting at it's best lol

I soaked the top bananas in fresh lemon juice then added a bit of lemon peel on the top. It was delious!

I had so much extra filling, so I used a graham cracker crust I had on hand to finish it up!

After work Dan and I headed down to Payson for my sister's 17th birthday party. It was a lot of fun, but I have not been around high-schoolers for many years, nor do I want to be...please tell me I was never that loud or immature lol!!! We played Catch Phrase, Heads up 7 up, and a bunch of other games. My sister got some new Nike tennis shoes. They are so cute! Here are some pictures of the fun :)

Happy Birthday Kelee!

Betcha Didn't Know I was *This* Sweet

I now realize that the cookbook Dan gave me for Christmas was one of those gifts that keeps on giving. Luckily it's been one of the few gifts I have gotten that hasn't sat collecting dust since I got it (i.e. my cuddlebug...one day I will start scrap-booking again, and my sewing machine...one day I will learn to sew!)

Tacy and Benny invited us over for dinner tonight, and I offered to bring dessert. I was flipping through my cookbook looking for something delicious, but also not *too* complicated because I know myself (meaning melt down if it did not turn out right!) Now, I'm not the most experienced chef, but these banana cream puffs turned out perfect! They are definitely not the most healthy treat, but well worth the calories! Let me know if you want the recipe :)

Bon Appetit!

Home office

Dan-the-man recently built us a new computer. Now, being that I am pretty much technology ignorant, I could not tell you the technical difference between this computer and one you would find for free at a garage sale. (Although I have heard Dan use words like i7, motherboard, cpu, power source, blah, blah, blah ...some times he gets carried away and actually starts explaining to me what these things do and mean, but I quickly reassure him it's gone in one ear and out the other)! BUT I can tell you it runs so much faster that any other computer I have ever used before. I can watch TV shows and movies online without having to wait for them to load, I can open up any internet page in the blink of an eye, and i don't feel like ripping my own head off every time I try to download something and browse the internet at the same time :) And look wise, it's pretty flashy :). Plus, the fact that he is smart enough to build a computer is a major turn on!

Since we have a new computer we needed a place to put it. Here is where I come in! We had an extra bedroom that was pretty much just used as a junk/storage room. But I cleaned it up real nice, and turned it into a home office. I found a new desk, a futon which can double as a guest bed when someone comes to visit, and some cute accessories. It was fun having a project to work on for a few weeks. Now, the room is far from done, but it's a great start, and a much better use of the space! I think we had set foot in that room maybe five times, and now we just hang out in there, read, play computer games, and admire our work.

I painted the doors from an ugly wood to white, and spray painted the hardware silver.

I am thinking of getting some black clocks and having some sort of display like this where it shows the times in other parts of the world...only mine will look much cuter!

I can't wait!

P.S Dan is going to start his own blog where he will have more pics of the computer he built. If any of you are interested in having him build you a computer let me know.

Softball

Last weekend Dan played in the March Madness Softball tournament in St George; he was originally going to ride down with the boys, and have a boys weekend, but I decided last minute to go with him. His parents and siblings also came down to watch him, so we decided to stay the whole weekend, and make a little vacation out of it. His team did pretty good considering it was their first game of the season. They started off a little rusty, but had a lot of fun! The team looks to be pretty promising, and I'm hoping they will play in a few more tourney's down there so I have an excuse to get out of this cold weather!! A few of the other guy's families came down to watch as well, so we had the best fans, and we made quite a bit of noise for the team! Dan played really well! He was able to use the bat I got him for Christmas for the first time; he had an in the park homer, and a few amazing catches. I forgot my camera :( boo! But his sister Whitney came to my rescue and took some cool pictures (that I haven't got from her yet).

We decided to take Yuki down with us this time. She was really good on the ride there and back. Our first night at the hotel she kept growling every time she heard anyone in the hall ways, and our room was right next to the entrance, so it was pretty noisy, but she finally went to sleep. It definitely was not as relaxing as when it's just Dan and I on vacation because we had to bring her everywhere with us! In between the softball games we swam in the pool, went rollerblading on a really neat trail, and had a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse!

By definition, a Jensen family vacation wouldn't be a vacation with out some sort of accident.(no matter the means of transportation...kayak, boat, expedition, and now add to the list:ford focus) This time it happened to be a flat tire. Dan and I had already made it to Beaver when we got the call. They didn't have a spare tire on them, so we drove back to Kolob Canyon thinking that our spare would work just fine...not so! They have a ford and we have a nissan...and our spare was not the right size. Our wrench was also too big for their lug nuts, but the park ranger at the visitor's center luckily had a universal wrench. They finally got the tire off and were able to run to the Cedar City Wal-mart and replace the tire. Luckily, Dan's family were able to make it to the visitor's center without the tire blowing, and we were not stranded on the side of the freeway waiting for Dan and his dad to return with a new tire! So ... four hours later we were on our way home again!!!

P.S. Yay for finally figuring out how to change font sizes and colors!!

Valentine's Weekend

When I am filthy rich (one can dream) I am going to have a winter home in St George. It's officially on my wish list. Dan and I spent Valentine's weekend down there, in 65 degree weather. It was perfect, and I really never wanted to come home. We went hiking in Zions, played tennis, and went golfing at Southgate...all things I have been wanting to do so badly, but it's been freaking cold here! We stayed at Casa Blanca the first night and at The Crystal Inn the second night. I would totally recommend the Crystal Inn. It was so nice. They served us a full breakfast each morning; I'm talking eggs, sausage, hash browns, fruit, biscuits and gravy, waffles...the whole shebang...free! They also had a heated tub, spa, hot tub, fitness room, and on-site tennis courts. It was seriously the bomb. We spent a lot of time in the pool/hot tub.

Zion's was amazing. So beautiful. I had never been! It was very muddy in some parts though! I thought I was going to lose my shoes a few times. I wish we had, had more time to go back and hike more trails and take the scenic drive. Along the way, we exchanged photo taking services with different couples wanting the same thing. I kept thinking I wish we had our own personal photographer who just followed us around and took endless pics :)



Golfing was fun, but I'm pretty sure we chose the wrong course! Southgate was not for a beginner like myself. There was a pond on seven of the nine holes....needless to mention, I lost a lot of balls. And I can't understand why anyone would build a million dollar home on a golf course...hello! That is just asking for windows to be shattered every other day. This course was also right next to a car dealership and the freeway.... I wonder what Southgate's accident reports look like?? I did par one hole :) Dan played like a pro.

For our Valentine's dinner we went to Outback because we had a gift card. It was busy, so I had a lot of fun with the camera while we waited for our food :) We went all out... I got the ribs and Dan got the 11 oz steak with mushroom/lobster sauce. Even though we had food coming out our ears, we couldn't turn down a "chocolate thunder from down under" to share. 10,000 calories later we were stuffed!


This year I wanted to give Dan a gift that was more sentimental...I am not the sentimental type most of the time, but I made him a jar with "50 wonderful things I love about you" inside. He really liked it, but because he is color blind he had a hard time reading the top of the jar, and couldn't figure out what it said for a minute. It was pretty funny. I love him so much. How he continues to put up with me, I'll never know, but I am glad he finds the strength somehow :) This was our 4th Valentine's together...crazy how time flies.

Hope you all had a fun V-day too! Picture overload is an understatement, right?!

Manti Temple Trip

Last night Dan and I went with Matt, Cathy, Misty, Adam, DJ and Amy to the Manti temple to do an endowment session. It was my first time in a live session! It was really neat. It gave me a new appreciation for temple workers and all they do! Old people are just so cute! After the session the temple President gave us a short tour of the spiral staircase. I cannot believe how beautiful that temple is, and it blows my mind that the pioneers were able to create such beauty with the limited tools they had. Their attention to detail was impeccable. Afterward, we ate at a local pizza place (which I guess used to be owned by the same people who own Fat Jacks in Payson). It was yummy! We saw a few deer on the sides of the highway, but luckily made it home without any messy encounters :)