Oh Christmas Tree!

So the day after Thanksgiving, and still digesting the dinner from the night before, The Steineckert family decided to take a trip up to the National Malheur Forest to find the perfect Christmas tree. It was a perfect day. The air was crisp, cool & with no snow yet we were able to pick whatever tree we wanted without wading through snow to get it. We looked at a lot of trees and right before we turned around to go down another way ....we found her...Zola, the perfect Christmas tree. We cut her town, tagged her & brought her home. Doesn't she look fabulous!!! With the house full of the pine tree scent.......it's begining to seem alot like Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

There was much to be thankful for this year!
#1. Family. Ryan's family came up to be with us this Thanksgiving. It was wonderful to have a house full. Watching movies, puzzles, games (I've learned that singing my clues really gets me no where!), cooking & eating!! It was soooo much fun. We are always thankful for visitors!
#2. Food-a-Plenty! Ryan & I loooove cooking together and it was soooo much fun to cook with him and my sister-in-law Allie. Our turkey was rubbed down with butter and herbs......aaaahhhh so tasty! We also had our sweet potato balls - if you don't like sweet potatoes you NEED to try Paula Deen's stuffed sweet potato balls:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/sweet-potato-balls-recipe/index.html
Our apple walnut salad was great, but the cranberry vinaigrette on top of it was devine!!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Apple-Walnut-Salad-with-Cranberry-Vinaigrette/Detail.aspx?prop31=1
And of course dessert and since it's Thanksgiving it must be pumpkin!! This year I tried the beautiful Turtle Pumpkin Cheesecake!! A total winner. And, for the pumpkin haters in our family (Ryan hates the stuff) Bubba's Buttermilk Pie.
http://www.recipezaar.com/Turtle-Pumpkin-Cheesecake-332592
#3. Ryan. I'm so grateful for Ryan. He truely is the perfect husband & I love him more than anything!
#4. All of you my friends. I love you all and hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My Inner 14 year-old Michelle

So a group of my friends & I took a trip to the "Big City" to go see Twilight on Friday! It was so much fun! Talking, shopping, talking, eating, talking & then....Edward. The gals that came with us had T-shirts just for the occasion. Rivka's (blue shirt) said: What do you mean that Edward isn't real?, Shyanne's(middle): I (heart) Edward and Shelby (far right): Edward is mine (and on the back) Just call me Bella. While I think the book is a billion times better than the movie (what book isn't?); I am glad that I went- it fulfilled the little 14 year-old Michelle in me! The week before I got to see High School Musical 3....what can I say? I want it all!!!!! I thought the soundtrack rocked (to both movies) so you are listening to "Bella's Lullaby" from Twilight & "I Want It All" from HSM3

I did it....I really did

That's right I did! ....I listened to Christmas music BEFORE THANKSGIVING!!!! Many of you that know me are probably picking yourselves up off the floor - Michelle listening to Christmas music!?!? And BEFORE Thanksgiving!?! I know - totally not me, but I did .....and I enjoyed it! I don't know if it's because I'm putting together our Christmas cards, busy planning the Relief society Christmas party, or the fact that I really wasn't up to celebrating it too much last year, but I am totally excited for Christmas this year - I'm totally in the mood! And today I couldn't help myself from listening to some Bing Crosby - it was fun.
So if I have created some ripple in the cosmos or jinxed some kind of holiday law (which I know that there is one & before now I really upheld it)...it's my fault. I did it.
(BTW: Yahoo Music has a host of holiday music stations. I personally enjoy "Holiday Lounge")

Happy Halloween!

We hope that everyone had a wonderful, spooky & candy filled Halloween! We had a bit of fun too! After seeing the Halloween episode from The Office Season 2 (that's right! We are totally employee's of Dundermifflin) where Micheal has a second head; we were instantly inspired to do the same thing for our costumes this year. It took about a week to complete the full thing, but we had a lot of fun doing it!! Pumpkin carving was second on the Halloween-To-List. We grow our own pumpkins (alot cheaper than buying, but you need ALOT of room for the plant) and this fall we had an early frost so, we only had one orange pumpkin and the other three where green!! Lots of good ideas though. The Frankenpumpkin is mine, the Calvinpumpkin is Ryan's and I designed the Headless Horsman Pumpkin head and Ryan executed it. Next year? I'm thinking of David & Posh Spice Beckham.....better start working out.....

Happy Anniversary Baby!

I can't believe it has already been 4 years since we have been sealed for time & all eternity! What a blessed marriage we have been able to have. I love you so much & I am grateful for every day that we have together. Thank you for being my husband. best friend, kissing companion, support & backup singer/dancer. I hope that I can be the kind of wife that is worthy of you. You are the BEST & I love you soooo much. Here is to many more years together!!

VOTE!

So yesterday I just recieved my ballott in the mail along with a book of information on all canidates that are running for public offices. I remember when I turned 18 that my Dad made it his responsibility to teach me the importance of voting. He said the most important thing you can do as a United States citizen is to vote & not just fill in a bubble, but fill it in with education behind you - KNOW WHO YOU ARE VOTING FOR!
Now, I do not support a specific side, I think there is good everywhere, but I encourage all of you to vote & vote with a full knowledge of who you are actually voting for. This year seems really hard to pick who should move into the white house, but it is SOOOOOOO important that we make our voices heard.
Something that I always do is ignore the campaign promises and look at their past track record. Where both Presidential canidates have served on the United States senate I would look at their work there. What bills did they support, write, how did they vote, what did they push through, what did they deny? It will open your eyes to see what they say & how they really feel about it.
I have added the links of both Barack Obama's & John McCain's senate pages so you can see what they supported and what they didn't. Again, I am not endorsing ANYONE - I am just endorsing how IMPORTANT it is to VOTE!!!
http://obama.senate.gov/votes/
http://mccain.senate.gov/public/