Work Out

This is my new favorite workout video. I love Jillian on the biggest loser so when I saw this workout on sale the 1st of January I bought it. It is a great overall body toning workout but especially great for the abs, which mine have needed some TLC after having Shane. I highly recommend this video if you like to workout at home.

Holy Snow

A few weekends ago my family rented a cabin up at Sundance for the weekend. It was such a great time with lots of eating, talking and playing. My mom of course made matching PJ's for all the kids. Parker went skiing again for the 2ND time but he didn't love it so much since it was snowing and the wind was blowing. On Saturday night the adults played a game of battle of the sexes. Surprisingly the guys won, but only because the girls picked the card to go back to the start twice. It turned out to be quite the experience. On Saturday night we went to bed and then at 1:00 in the morning I woke up and realized the power was out. I didn't think much of it I just made sure all the kids had a blanket on them so nobody got cold and went back to bed. Well when we woke up the next morning the power was still out and we realized it had snowed 3 feet. It was so crazy. The guys spent a lot of the day digging out our cars and trying to get the attention of the snow plow to come plow the driveway since we were suppose to leave that day. Well as the day went on the snow plow hadn't come. We called the owner of the cabin a few times and he had to finally drive up from Orem and get the snow plows attention to get us out. It was kind of a crazy feeling to know that you literally couldn't go anywhere until you were dug out. When we got home Sunday night there was literally an inch of snow at our house. I couldn't believe that only 15 mins away they got almost no snow and we were snowed in. Fun times!

New Family Picture

Yes I know that the family picture above is pretty out of date and doesn't include Shane. My mother in law actually gave us a gift certificate for family pictures for Christmas I am just waiting for it to warm up a bit so we can do them outside. So hopefully we will have an updated family picture soon.

Brian Head

Back in January we had a chance to go to Brian Head resort. My nephew was getting ordained a deacon and my sister-in-law manages a bunch of properties there so she put us up in a ski in ski out condo. It was a blast!!!!! I was even able to ski for a bit and leave Shane since I literally just went out the back door and could ski to the lift. I truly love skiing and look forward to the day when I can go all the time again. Parker skied for the 1st time there and he like it OK. He was a bit nervous but he wanted to go again so that is a good sign. The kids played in the snow all day, building snow forts and sledding hills. They have a great pizza place we went to one night as well. On Sunday we drove down to Parawon for Ryland's ordination and then we had a lunch at their house which Chef Ryland prepared himself. Which is pretty impressive for a 12 year old. It was fun and relaxing. We are going again over the 4th of July for a Johnson Family reunion. I am excited to see what Brian head has to offer in the summer.

Recipes

Lately I have become obsessed with recipe blogs. Whenever I find a new one I seriously spend like 2 hours looking through and finding some good recipes. I think it is partly because I am home so much with a newborn and it is something I can do here. It has been fun trying new foods, and I have found that I really do love to cook. Some girls in my ward started a recipe group as well. We get together once every few months and share recipes. It has been a lot of fun. This is the latest one I found that Dave and I both loved so I thought I would pass it along. If you know of any other great cooking blogs please let me know.




Chicken Vegetable Chow Mein


1 pkg spaghetti (or udon noodles if you want to get fancy)
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into really thin strips
2 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs oil
1 small onion, cut in half, then sliced (half moon shaped)
3 garlic cloves, sliced
3/4 head napa cabbage, thinly shredded
1 1/2 c frozen Chinese snow peas (or any vegetable you want)
1 carrot, peeled, and sliced into matchstick size
2 1/2 tbs soy sauce
2 1/2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper

Cook spaghetti according to package directions, making sure to add plenty of salt to the boiling water to flavor the noodles. While noodles are cooking season chicken with salt and pepper, and toss with cornstarch. Heat 2 tbs oil in wok or large skillet on high. Cook chicken until brown and crispy, (this takes about 10 minutes). Remove chicken onto a plate with slotted spoon. Add onion, carrot and garlic and stir fry for 3-4 minutes, then add cabbage, stir fry for 3 minutes or until tender. Add chicken, frozen vegetables, cooked, drained noodles, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, and soy sauce. Toss until noodles and vegetables are warmed through, about 3 minutes. Serve!