Gotta Love a Bargain!

So I LOVE to find good deals!! I just get so excited and loving telling people how cheap I can find somethings! I think its because my mom was so frugal and taught us how to be frugal growing up. We shopped at Good Will all the time and if someone commented on my outfit, I loved saying I got it at Good Will and people being like, "Really?!" There's this store called Plato's Closet and I really fell in love when I was living in Utah. Its the best!! Its all these nice hand-me-downs clothes for a WAY good price! Well in Augusta there's a Plato's Closet but also they have another one called Uptown Cheapskate and its just as good! So for my birthday I went shopping and here's what I found!

All for a grand total of $23.50!!! I got 4 really cute (well at least I think so) shirts for less than $25! I was so excited and love them all! I love deals! Don't be ashamed to shop at thrift stores, I think its smart, saves money, and is fun!

Birthday Party!

I turned 24 last Friday and it was a GREAT Birthday! I was able to talk to lots of family and friends and Ryan made the day so special! He is so cute and knows that since we moved to the south and I discovered Cracker Barrel it is my favorite restaurant! They have this blackberry jam that is delicious and Ryan bought me some! So when I woke up he had made me homemade biscuits (he is an AMAZING cook btw) and had this present for me to open in the morning and said it was thefirst thing I had to do! So I did and it was a box of Christmas lights!! I love Christmas lights and we have a couple strands around our apt and I have them on like all day, literally, lol! So i was excited for more but really didn't understand why I had to open that first thing in the morning. So I make my biscuit and put honey on it and Ryan texts me asking if I opened my present and I said, "Yes! Thanks for the Christmas lights!" Then he was like, "Did you open the Christmas lights box?" At that point I felt like a Melvin and realized he just used that empty box to hide the Cracker Barrel jam in and I was supposed to use that on my biscuits that he made, BEFORE work which he had to get up at like 5:30!!! He's seriously the best husband in the world!!

So around noon I was talking to Laurie who had called to wish me a Happy Birthday and in walks Ryan!!! I was so surprised to see him and he said that the sewer lines at work broke and they had to send everyone home!!! So poop made my day even more special by letting my husband come home early from work! haha We got to go shopping and Ryan was so patient and waited probably over an hour at least while I was shopping and trying on clothes. Then he took me out to...... Cracker Barrel! haha But he made it super special!! So little background story. When we were driving out to Augusta it was Sunday and we had to eat dinner and we went to Cracker Barrel. They have these daily specials and on Sunday, is Sunday fried chicken, and oh my!! It is amazing! Although, it was bitter sweet because the food was so good, but I could never get it again because we don't go out on Sundays!!! So Ryan called Cracker Barrel a couple days before my birthday and asked if they could specially make me the Sunday fried chicken!!! It was amazing and awesome!!

Then we came home and he made made me BTS cake!! Its so good (as you can see we had some the night before when he was making it! haha) It was such a great birthday! I love my husband so much!!! He always makes me feel so loved!! Thanks everyone for all the birthday wishes and I love all my family and friends too!

Egg Rolls

We had a combined FHE with some friends last night and we all bring a food to share and I brought egg rolls. Now these are the best egg rolls I've ever had and the reason is because, when I was probably a miamaid in Young Womens for an activity we had a man from Vietnam in our stake named Bro Skanchy and he taught us how to make them and I've been in love ever since!! I only made a half a batch last night so the portions might look a little small compared to what the recipe is calling for but you have to try them! They are delicious and really easy!

Ingredients:

2 or 3 packages of sausage (cook them first before mixing with other ingredients)

3-4 eggs, raw (first use 3 and see if the mixture sticks together well enough, whenever I use 4 there's a lot of liquid at the bottom)

1/2 head of cabbage, shredded

2 large carrots, shredded

2 bundles green onions, chopped

2 large white onions, chopped

Garlic powder to taste

Salt and pepper to taste

3-4 packages egg roll skins

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients together except skins, using your hands is usually best

2. Put about a 1/3 cup of mix in egg roll skin and roll up folding ends in as you go.

3. Seal with a dab of water on the skin

4. Deep fry until golden brown, about 2-3 min at 350

Thanksgiving and After

We had a great Thanksgiving in Georgia! We got to go to my aunt Joans house and celebrate with family there! I have so much to be thankful for including my amazing husband Ryan, my family, the gospel, friends, health, education, America, food, shelter and much much more!! On black Friday we got up at 3:00AM and snagged some great deals!! Then pretty much napped and hung around the rest of the day. Saturday we were able to go to the Atlanta temple then did some shopping and found this HUGE Christmas tree!!

I love Christmas and everything about it! Its such a great time! I especially love decorating for it! Since we only were able to take our car down to Georgia and whatever we could fit in it, we really couldn't bring any Christmas stuff. So I decided to improvise and make some of my own things and decorate with what I had! I did buy some cheap lights at Walmart but made some little ornaments and decorated the fake tree that came with the apartment! haha
Yesterday I really wanted a treat but didn't know what to make and Ryan came up with the great idea to make a little cake from scratch and it turned out so good and cute! I love the decorations I made! ;) haha

Pumpkin Roll

My husband LOVES pumpkin rolls and I love making food that he gets so excited about, so I had to make him one! Its perfect for the fall season and tastes amazing! This recipe was easy and tasted great! I got it from a recipe book one of my old wards made but it doesn't say who gave the recipe so I really don't know who to give credit to except someone in the Rexburg 58th ward!

Cake:

1/4 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

2/3 can pumpkin

Filling:

1 pkg (8 oz) cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

6 Tbsp butter

1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line greased pan with wax paper. ( I used aluminum foil because I didn't have wax paper and it worked really well.) Lay out a hand towel and sprinkle surface with powdered sugar (it will be used after cake is finished baking.)

2. Combine flour, baking powder and soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in a small bowl.

3. Beat eggs and sugar in separate large bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin.

4. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into a prepared pan.

5. bake for 13-15 min, or until top of cake springs back when touched. Remove cake from oven. Immediately loosen wax paper from pan and turn cake onto prepared towel. Cool on wire rack. Spread filling on cake and carefully roll up the cake. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Then keep refrigerated after eating!

Ethans Baby Blessing Weekend

I got a new haircut! I've been thinking about going back to my natural hair color for various reasons but especially because I was sick of having to get my hair re-highlighted every couple months and spending all that money! So now I'm back to brown and love it! I also cut off about 5 inches and love the change! (Ryan wouldn't let me cut my hair above my shoulders, which is fine, he loves long hair! :) This weekend we got to go up to North Carolina to see Shalyse, Ben, Andrea and Ethan for Ethan's baby blessing! Since we only live about 5 hours away we HAD to come! On our way up we stopped at this big tourist place that was South of the North Carolina border! It was pretty cool but, out of season so we just looked in one of the shops. We got to stay the night at Shalyse and Ben's and had tons of fun! Andrea showed us all her books and baby Ethan was so cute and much bigger than we saw him in August! It was really fun just being with everyone and the blessing was great! We're so glad we had the opportunity to go and see everyone and the blessing!

October

A couple weekends ago we went up to the Appalachians in northeast Georgia to see the mountains and fall colors which was fun! At the state park they had these owls that were partially blind and couldn't live in the wilderness alone, so these people cared for them and were showing them off!

So Ive been lacking on the blog and need to update! Since living in Georgia I have a lot more free time and Ive been trying to pick up cooking/baking. Ryans birthday was Sept 27th and he's 25!! What a man! We went to this really good seafood place called Rhineharts and was way good! I also made him his favorite pie, Lemon Cream Pie ( I got from dana-made-it blog) which is AMAZING! But since we dont have all our usual baking tools I really couldn't "whip" the whip cream very well and it turned out a little soupy but, he still loved it!