Tis' the Christmas Season

Hello friends!  Sorry it's been awhile since we have posted anything, but between work and school it's been a little crazy around here.  Let's do a quick update on the Murdock's.  Steven is about to finish his second to last semester at BYU, and is dominating his classes.  I'm about to finish my BSN on Wednesday!  Starting in January, I will be going from part-time to full-time at the hospital (yay!), and will unfortunately be leaving Idaho Water Sports after almost three years.  It's sad, but I'm kind of excited to focus on nursing and to maybe have at least one day off during the week; keep your fingers crossed!

In other news, Steve and I are staying in Burley for Christmas, since I work a ton, and I work on the 25th.  But, my mom and Jim are coming out to SLC right after Christmas, so Steven and I will meet up with them there.  Steve's brother, Thomas, and his wife, Chrystelle, have been generous to lend us their fake Christmas tree, because they don't want their 9 month old son, and crazy hyper dog to knock it over and break everything, so we got it!  And I was smart enough to take pictures of Steve's and I amazing decorations!

My grandma sent this to us, which is funny, because this is the first Christmas Steve and I will actually be together on Christmas!

One of our ornaments; we got these from Wal-Mart. 

This one we got from Target.

This is the other ornament my grandma got us; it's of the Twin Falls temple, where Steve and I were married.  Oh the memories!

Our tree topper from Target, that I actually saw in one of their commercials!

 

My wonderful mother got us this awesome tree skirt!  She's so amazing!

Steve and I saw these at Target and we knew that we had found our stockings, even though they don't match the rest of our Christmas decorations, we love them anyway!

We have no fire place to hang the stockings, so we put them next to my Visit Palestine poster I brought back from Jerusalem.

Our tree all lit up, with one lone present, that isn't actually for either of us, but for my mom!  Go figure.  Our presents are hiding at Steve's parents house, so that we won't be tempted too early.

Our Christmas set up!  Not bad if I do say so myself!

We hope that all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Yumminess!

So Steven and I love to cook, especially together, and we love to try new things.  Steven introduced me to this cooking blog called Our Best Bites, and my mom introduced me to The Pioneer Woman, both of which have proved to be great places to get recipes.  So this post is all about some of the great recipes we've tried and have found to be 1) super easy and B) super delicious (isn't that the most important part?).

The first two recipes comes from Our Best Bites:

First is a Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing.  I probably wouldn't have tried it, but Steven made it and it was super delicious.  We ate it with chicken and celery (random I know), but let me tell you it made both really so much better.  It has a cool refreshing, yet spicy flavor that would be good on plain bread if you wanted to eat it that way (and it is good that way, I've tried).

(Does that not look cool and yummy?)

The next recipe is Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos.  Again, this was a Steven find; he's definitely a keeper.  These were super yummy, freeze really well, and cook super fast.  Best combo in my opinion.  I would recommend using flour tortillas instead of corn, because the flour roll better and cook better, and let's be honest, they taste better. 

 

(These clearly aren't the ones we made, but don't they make you want to make some right now?)

The last recipe is from The Pioneer Woman.

This has been the best recipe of the summer.  Drum roll please..... Restaurant Style Salsa.  For all of you who know of Chevy's salsa and how good it is, this is a very very close second.  So this one was my find, and I can't get enough of it.  So when we make it, we do some adjusting.  First we use fire roasted tomatoes (from a can...I'm not that ambitious), but it gives it a nice smokey flavor that is just right for the recipe.  We definitely add more garlic and salt than what is called for, and really I don't measure either of those two, I just season to taste.  As for the jalapeno we just buy a small one, and take out a few of the seeds, and it's spicy, but if you dropped the whole thing in I don't think it would burn your tongue off, but that's something you need to judge for yourself and how spicy you like things.  And we cut the recipe in half, because it makes a ton when you make the whole recipe, and it makes a lot when you cut it in half, and for two people a lot is enough for us.  I took this to work at the hospital on the Fourth of July and it was gone in about 20 minutes.  I also took it to a work part for Idaho Water Sports, and seriously I think some of the guys licked the bowl clean...there was nothing left.  It really is something that you and pretty much everyone else will love.

    

(Totally delicious!)

Seriously if this post doesn't make you hungry, something is wrong, because all of these recipes are really YUMMY!  Enjoy!

Another Blog?!?

You're probably wondering about the title of this blog, and yes, you have read it right.  I have started another blog.  It's called through the looking glass (though the website is named differently...apparently I'm not as creative as I thought).  It's a blog for the photos I take randomly.  I like to think of myself as somewhat of a photographer, and love to take pictures, but in no way do I think I'm great.  I know enough to get by, but hopefully with time I can get better!  Here is the link to the blog.  Check it out and enjoy!

Through The Looking Glass

Blogging

Hello All,
 While there won't be many people who read this, I figured I might as well start it, because let's face it, there's no time like the present.  Steven and I were married about two months ago, and it's been a whirlwind.  I've started a new job in the ICU at CRMC here in Burley, and Steve is doing what he loves second to me, mowing lawns.  I also still work at IWS, and am finishing up my second to last semester of my Bachelor's for nursing.  Let me tell you, I can't wait to be done with school...for awhile.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to die of over exerting myself, but that's the part of being young right?  I know many of you are still asking where our wedding photos are, but I'm going to blame my family and friends for that one, because come on people, do you think I was snapping photos on my wedding day...NO!  So if any of you have ANY pictures from that wonderful day, please either tag me on facebook or email them to me.  Well, that's really it for now.  Hopefully we can keep this updated.  I don't want to go months without posting anything, but let's be honest, there's a real possibility of that happening.  Just hang in there with us!