I'm sharing a secret...

For the past while I have been putting my cooking skills to the test every night making homemade meals for my family at my parent's house. It's great practice for my future family & I have come to enjoy it a lot! I think Tyler likes it too, because he gets a home cooked meal every night when he comes home from work.

Well for those of you who know me you know that I am a crazy psycho about eating healthy. Don't get me wrong I don't forget to indulge a little every once in a while but for 90% of the time I am pretty darn strict. So how do I come up with yummy healthy dinners you ask?

Meet my secret weapons...

These beauties are my favorite cookbooks so far that I've obtained. Prerequisites are that they must contain meals for 400 calories or less, use wholesome ingredients, & taste delicious!

...and boy have they yet to disappoint.

Some favorite meals pictured below.

{Buffalo Chicken Blue Cheese Sandwiches}

{Chicken fried steak with turkey sausage gravy}

{Loaded Nachos}

{Lasagna}

{Chicken Noodle Soup}

Other favorites:

*A-1 Swiss burgers

*Cheesy Turkey Enchiladas

*Apple butter pork chops

*General Tso's chicken

*Chicken nuggets & steak fries

*Chicken Parmesan pizza

*Fettuccine Alfredo

*Baked potato soup

*Chicken pot pie

*Mac n' cheese

*Crouton breaded chicken

*Spaghetti w/ meatballs

*Spaghetti Carbonara

*Chicken Cordon Bleu

*Bacon burgers

I know you're probably asking yourself, "how on earth can these be healthy meals?!"

They are.

And since I know you don't believe me.. I DARE you to go buy one or all of these books & see for yourself.

You can thank me later..

{happy birthday to me}

My family often teases me about getting presents on other sibling's birthdays. Apparently when I was younger I seemed to always receive gifts on my other sibling's birthdays. I don't remember this but it is a general consensus in the family that it truly did happen.

Well this year I will admit that this statement, whether true or false, has become a reality.

On January 19th, aka Devanee's 18th birthday, I received this beauty...

{Canon S95}

My husband's birthday gift to me. What a nice husband.

& this...

{a leather case}

from sister Karli & bf Chase. What a nice sister & bf.

Before you form a negative assumption about this selfish indulgence..

Let me tell you - I have been searching EVERYWHERE for this camera..

It was out of stock in EVERY store in Utah.

SO I was anxious to get my hands on the first one I could find.

This camera was the last one left at Pictureline & I barely snagged it in the nick of time..

POPULAR much?

As it should be.

I love you Canon S95, you make me happy about throwing my Samsung at the wall.

Devanee's 18th Birthday

So yesterday was my littlest sister Devanee's 18th birthday! It made me feel old because I swear I just turned 18. It was a busy day for most of us running around doing things in honor of Dev's bday. Karli & I made a huge sign to put on the garage of my parents home (sorry forgot to take a pic) then we went to Davis High & found her car with the help of her boyfriend Jake. We decorated it & filled it with balloons!

Later that night we had a homemade meal, Devanee's choice, of Chicken Cordon Bleu, salad & carrots. It was DELICIOUS!

Karli & my mom were the master chefs for the evening. I made the carrots.

{The birthday girl with niece Avalynn}

{Big girl Emerie with her daddy}

{Everyone hung out & enjoyed each other's company}

{My mom & Karli slaving away}

{Dev was spoiled with lots of presents!}

{When each of us girls in the family turned 18, my Dad got us a special keepsake with our names engraved. Usually some type of jewelry box & inside is a necklace with our name or initial}

{Dev & Jake}

{We picked up yummy cupcakes from Cutsie Cakes in Layton}

{Mine & Tyler's picks - Peanut butter & Red velvet - mmm...}

Only one sibling left to turn 18 & officially be an adult. Crazy how fast life seems to fly by..

I'll leave you with this video of Roxi from last night :)

LG Quantum

**UPDATE-- THIS PHONE HAS BEEN SOLD! **

This is probably way lame to do this again, but it worked last time so I am willing to try again. But I promise I will try to make a habit of not just posting when I am trying to sell something!

Tyler won a brand new cell phone through another contest at work & so we are trying to sell it. It is the new LG Quantum which is one of the new Windows 7 phones from AT&T.

It is a slider, with a full QWERTY keyboard.

It has a 16 GB memory, a 5 megapixel camera & it also does video.

Asking $375 or best offer.

It really looks like an awesome phone so if you're interested or know someone who is, send us a text (801) 628-6261.

TV anyone?

*UPDATE**** IT HAS BEEN SOLD!

Tyler, being the amazing salesman that he is, won, yet again, a BIG SCREEN TV at work.

This would be great, only it seems that we are running out of room in our home for these monsters.

So that's where you come in, or your mom, aunt, cousin, friend - whoever!

We are selling this monster for $998 OBO.

It is a 55" LCD Vizio - still in original box - NEVER opened.

Call/Text (801) 628-9772

or

Email rachael@gelter.com

...Christmas 2010

We had a great Christmas this year, jam packed with family, presents, food, & fun. I always love the Christmas season with the music, the decorations & the reason we celebrate it.

{our Christmas tree}

*it looks better all lit up but this was taken during the day

{We always put all the cards we get up on our back door windows so that we are constantly reminded of how lucky we are to know so many wonderful people}

We decided not to do a huge Christmas for each other this year so we got a few things.

I got Tyler the new book by Jay-Z called Decoded. He got me books as well, a new cookbook (yay!) & He Shall Fulfill All of His Promises by Lloyd D. Newell.

We also purchased this..

{Finally decided on a new comforter!}

On Christmas day, we are always awakened by Tyler's bro Carson telling us to get up & come over so that everyone can open gifts. So this year was the same & we were up at 7:30am.

{Tyler's family's humongous tree}

{We decided to get Tyler's family lots of gifts this year, this is the pile we gave them}

{I printed and framed a bunch of the family pictures we took back in October for Amy}

{We got Braden his dream gift, a Kevin Durant Jersey}

{Kalen was so excited to get the Curious George 2 movie}

{One of our gifts to Jeff was 6 months of Netflix}

{We got Carson the NERF gun he wanted, it's HUGE}

This is my favorite picture of the day, Tyler captured Amy opening the new computer monitor from us & as you can see she was shocked. She was in dyer need of a new one.. the one it replaced was ancient, huge & weighed about 80 lbs!

We got season tickets again to the Desert Star Theater from Amy & Jeff. I had told them it was all I wanted! I enjoyed going this past year with them & it's something we can all have fun together doing.

After we were finished opening gifts, we ate German pancakes for breakfast, yum! And then relaxed for a bit before it was time to head over to my parent's house to start making "brunch" which was the traditional Aeblskivers.

My Mom had to work a graveyard shift the night before so this was perfect timing for her waking up & having breakfast ready.

* I am super bummed because Tyler & I left our camera at home on accident in between his family & my family's get togethers..

After we ate we all exchanged secret santa gifts. Tyler had Aaron & he got him a water belt for running. I had Devanee who I made a big print of one of her senior portraits & had it framed. Megan had me & I got a UofU snuggie (yay!) & Tim had Tyler & got him a movie bundle from the Megaplex with vouchers for tickets, popcorn, drinks & lots of candy.

We then did stockings & then opened gifts from my parents. They always outdo themselves & we are always SO spoiled on Christmas. Tyler had to get used to this when he joined our family because his family is kind of the opposite!

We got spoiled with clothes, new tools, a new blender I had been wanting, gift certificates - I got a new purse & shoes & I can't even think of everything because there was too much!

We got my Dad a digital photo frame which he loved. And my Mom we had a print made of our family portrait taken in October & had it framed.

We then got to go to Tyler's grandparent's house for Christmas dinner. It was great to see lots of Tyler's Aunts, Uncles & cousins that we only see a few times a year.

Now that Christmas is over, we can reflect on the past year & make new goals that we want to accomplish in the new year. Tyler and I have made a couple & we are SO excited to accomplish them! Here's to 2011! Happy New Year everyone!

Scavenger Hunt & Sugar Cookies!

Last year we started a tradition of having a scavenger hunt around Christmas time. The past two years it has been at the Gateway in SLC. Last year Tim & Megan organized it, this year it was Aaron & Meghann's turn. Of course, Tyler couldn't make it again this year so I was paired up with my lil bro, Micah. I was totally fine with this because he & I were team mates last year & we totally kicked butt & won 1st place!

We all get a list of things we have to find. Some are physical items we have to bring back & some are things we have to take pictures with. Micah is a trooper because I make him pose for every single picture. Here are just a couple from this year...

{Picture with a "build - a - bear"}

{Picture with a hat (most clever wins the extra credit point & I am happy to report that this beauty from Urban Outfitters won us that extra point!)}

We always have started & ended at Barnes & Noble. While we were meeting back there we just happened to run into Elder Holland who was shopping there. I saw him shopping around & had to look at him a few times before I really realized it was him.

Devanee & her bf Jake were outgoing enough to go up to him & say Hi, I guess I am a coward but I just tell myself that I was respecting his space :)

Anyway, they got this picture with him & it won them an extra credit point for "picture with a genius" on the scavenger hunt.

Well after all the scores were tallied, Tim & Megan came out on top & won 1st place. Micah & I were slackers this year coming in at 3rd. Oh well there is always next year...

On Christmas Eve, Tyler & I left his family party at his grandma's a little early so that we could decorate sugar cookies at my parent's house. It was lots of fun & they were yummy too. We decided to dye the frosting neon colors which made them look extra fabulous :)

I apologize yet again for the horrible quality of the pictures. My iPhone just isn't the same as my 5D..

{a few I decorated}