Marathon Crazy

Call me & Scott crazy, but we are running this marathon in 11 days whether we are ready or not! 

And I will keep repeating the phrase "You can do it!" over and over until I am finished.

It will be tough and hard, but it will be great to finally accomplish a goal I've had for years.

It will also be great because I will be running with my best friend.

I will also be listening to this song as I run. :)

Creamy Lemon-Pesto Chicken Pasta

Time for another pinterest update! This was a spur of the moment let's make this tonight recipe and it turned out really well!  Scott and I had just ran 6 miles at the gym and then went grocery shopping, so we were starving and the best way to replace all that energy is by getting carbohydrates and pasta is a great way to do that.  Since this was so spur of the moment, I didn't follow this recipe exactly.  I didn't do the marinade, which I'm sure is delicious, but is hard to do for a weeknight dinner.  I didn't change much, but I like the changes I made and I want to remember them.  Here is a link to the original, but this is my version of this Creamy Lemon-Pesto Chicken Pasta.

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 Tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
Juice from half a lemon (approximately 1 Tbsp.)
Packet of pesto sauce mix (.5 oz)

6 oz. spaghetti, angel hair, linguine, any type of long pasta

1 tomato,diced

Season your chicken breasts with salt & pepper and grill until done (165 degrees). I used a George Foreman grill to do this.

While the chicken is grilling, cook pasta according to package directions; drain. Set pasta aside and keep warm.

Meanwhile, prepare the pesto sauce. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Whisk in flour until it thickens and bubbles, then whisk in milk and lemon juice. Continue to whisk mixture and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Add whole packet of pesto sauce and mix well.

Slice the chicken into strips, pour sauce over your noodles and then top with chicken and garnish with tomatoes.

It was pretty yummy and it was filling without being too heavy.  At the last minute, I decided to take a picture, so it's not the best because it was with my phone, but it at least gives you an idea.

Home Update

So, I wrote on April 29th a post about a home that we were really excited about purchasing.  You can see that post here.  Unfortunately, maybe it was bad karma to write and post pictures because that home did not end up working out.  Short story is that the seller's agent put the home on the market for a lot higher than what it was worth (about $25,000) and the seller's realized that they wouldn't get their money's worth and so they took the home off of the market. 

It was a real big bummer because it was the one home I was super excited about.  We actually went out looking for homes the next day and it was a little hard to be excited while looking at homes.  I didn't really enjoy it, but the home we are looking at purchasing now is one that we saw that day.  I don't want to jinx it again, so I'm not going to say anything about the house or post pictures, but it is a nice home in a nice neighborhood and we are excited.

We are just waiting for final approval and once that happens, we can get going on doing a home inspection and getting ready to move.  We are excited and nervous and can't wait to tell you all about it.

Safari Park

The day after the wedding, the 12th, we headed to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with Scott's family.  The Safari Park is different than the zoo in that you get a little more up close and personal with the animals.  It is also a lot larger of an area as well.  It was a lot of fun and I have to thank David & Kristene for getting us in for free!

This is a golden eagle. This & a bald eagle are the only two types of eagles.

Glad that Scott is not as large as a gorilla.

Overview of some of the park.

Okapi. Part of the giraffe family.

Secretary bird

Forgot the name of this bird, but I do remember that it has giant eyelashes.

Wallaby!

This little guy was about an inch away from me.

So, these next 3 pictures share a funny story.  While on the tram, we saw this wildebeest trying to take on this giant buffalo. Even though there was a huge herd of buffalo right next to them and the wildebeest were on the other side of the park, the wildebeest kept charging at the buffalo to prove that he was in charge and probably show off for the ladies. It was hilarious and awesome to see.  

Charge!

Bow down to me buffalo!

They had 3 baby elephants and they were adorable!

Scott, me & my elephant earrings.

Cheetah run! We got to see a cheetah run the length of a football field in 5.8 seconds.

 Video of the cheetah run!

The cheetah chased this stuffed purple octopus.

Scott & Becky. We had a great view!

Group shot!

It was a lot of fun and I'm grateful we were able to spend time with Scott's family while we were down there.  We really didn't see all of it since it's so huge, so we'll have to go back again!

Brianna's Wedding

Last weekend, we went to California to see Brianna get married to Kyle Dawson.  We left Wednesday the 9th at about 3:30pm and arrived in California at about 11:30pm.  I drove most of the way, but I will say that Aaron and Scott both work graveyard shifts, so they did not get any sleep the night before.  I was afraid I would struggle with driving because I sometimes start to get sleepy just driving home from school, but I actually stayed pretty awake.  When we stopped for gas in Mesquite, NV, Scott drove for about 2 hours, but poor guy was still tired from only taking a 2 hour nap the day before, then being up all night and then school until we left.  I took over again and drove until we ended up at Scott's brother's house.

David & Kristene were so nice to let us stay there and even the next morning, they made us a breakfast of pancakes, bacon and eggs.  We hung out at their place until about 10:00am and then we headed to Scott's parents house.  We met them for lunch first and then just relaxed until it was time to head down to San Diego for the dinner.  The Old Spaghetti House is where we had dinner and it was yummy.  We then headed back to Kyle's parents house and played a few games until it was time for bed.

Friday, the 11th was the day of the wedding!  Scott and I slept on this uncomfortable air mattress at Kyle's parents house, so we didn't get the best sleep.  The sealing was at 11:00am and we had to be there a half an hour beforehand.  Kyle & Brianna got married at the San Diego Temple, which is beautiful.  Scott & I went there last year on our California vacation, but it was fun to go back again.  The sealing was beautiful and their sealer is actually an old friend of Kyle's family, so that was fun for them.  After the sealing, we all waited until Brianna and Kyle came out of the temple.  Once they came out, lots of pictures commenced.  It was a little windy that day, but still nice and sunny.

After taking pictures, we headed to this Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Scott & I then had to leave to take Julie (my Uncle Brian's sister who did the flowers & decorating for the wedding) to the airport.  After taking her to the airport, we went to the reception.  The reception was very nice and looked great.  Some of Scott's family showed up, so it was fun talking to them.  There was cutting of the cake, the bouquet didn't get caught and exploded on the ground, some dancing happened and Brianna and Kyle were sent off with sparklers.  We helped stay about an hour afterwards to clean up.  Since we were headed to the Safari Park the next day with Scott's family, they were staying in a hotel for the night.  Scott & I decided we didn't want to sleep on that air mattress again, so we got to stay in a nice hotel bed that night with free breakfast in the morning.

It was a beautiful day and it was fun celebrating a temple marriage.  Congratulations Brianna! And Kyle, welcome to the family!