January was a month of birthdays....

January 19

I turned twenty! (Olive Garden makes the best Lemon Cake. Yum.)

January 27

Sage turned twenty six! (My mom's cheese cake recipe is so much better at her house but this was a pretty yummy second.)

Still Here!

This break from work and school has been everything I hoped it would be. It has been so nice spending time with my husband, seeing family, eating good food, celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and welcoming in the New Year. I hope that you all have had a safe and happy holiday as well. I took a few pictures over the break that I thought would sum up the fun we have been having pretty well. Here you go!

The day we left our little home in Logan.

In-law's house. (Before presents.)

In-law's house. (After presents.) Not sure how I managed to get feet in each picture :) Check out the stocking I made Sage! It is on the far left of the mantle. I have  one just like it. The white fabric is super soft.

Temple Square visit with my side of the family.

Beautiful Salt Lake City Temple.

Tucanos Brazilian Grill with In-Law's. (Celebrating my father-in-law's birthday) Delicious grilled pineapple.

Skype video call with brother-in-law on a mission to Chile. 

Cute sister-in-law and mother-in-law playing Jenga during Skype call.

Back in Logan now and still playing Jenga. Thank you Holly! Had no idea that Sage loved it so much.

First day with Naomi for the semester! Naomi and I have been good friends for a little over a year now. Here is a picture of her the first week I began my nanny job last year: 

Love this little darling.

We have a lot of fun together.

And that is what we have been up to for the past few weeks.
Have a great Day!

Ps. I have finally updated the About Me tab! Took me a while to get those baby pictures. Click here to check it out.

Final note: For those who were keeping track, I have not posted the remaining twelve dates of Christmas. I was having too much fun to post all of them. (that and I just stopped counting!)

Our Fourth Date of Christmas...

Today we enjoyed a nice dinner date in the engineering building. One thing that I love about our marriage is that we always have dinner together. Even on our busiest days we will find a place to meet and eat. I so look forward to that time we get to sit and talk together. I am really excited for winter break when we can spend more than just a few hours at a time together. That will be very nice.

Here is what we ate tonight:

Chicken Fajitas:
Cut chicken breast into strips, cook in a skillet. When almost done cooking add sliced green pepper and sliced red onion and a little butter if needed. When veggies are tender add a little water to your skillet along with one packet of taco seasoning. Let simmer for a little bit. Put in a tortilla with your favorite topping. We like black beans, cheese, salsa, sour cream, and tonight we are adding some baby spinach, cilantro and chopped green onions (leftovers from Thai Curry Soup). Wrap it up and eat. (If you feel like it, you can toast the tortilla after it is all assembled by placing it on a clean skillet or griddle over medium heat. Watch it closely so it does not burn. We like to do this sometimes because it gives the fajita it a nice crunch.)

This recipe is pretty simple and I probably do it a little different every time. That is why I was not very specific with this recipe post. Enjoy!

Our Third Date of Christmas...

Yesterday we had a wonderful Family Home Evening Date. We played the piano and sang Christmas songs, ate dinner, and played a "dating game". Sage wrote down some questions earlier that we each took turns answering. A few were, "How many different kinds of cheese have you tried?", "What is a family tradition you want to establish?", "What scripture has helped you this week?", and "What is one of your favorite memories of our dating and courtship?" It was such a nice date. I love Sage :)

Have a great day! 

Our Second Date of Christmas... With a Recipe!

Yesterday was our second date of Christmas. (If you missed the explanation of these dates click here.) We ate good food and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. I love my husband! We had so much fun together on our sweet and simple date.

This was our devotional setup. Very cozy :)

 Devotional Goodies: Kettle Corn, Hot Chocolate, and a Christmas scarf from my sister Kelley!

Dinner: Thia Curry Soup with mozzarella and basil toasted whole wheat dipping bread.

To make bread:
Cut any bread you have on hand into slices. Arrange on a cookie sheet.  Sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and basil. Turn oven to broil and watch closely until cheese melts or turns slightly golden if you like it extra crunchy. (The middle is not supper crunchy but it is perfect to dip in soup!

To make soup:
I got this recipe many years ago from an online source that I do not remember. I was looking for a recipe similar to the Thia Curry Soup at Noodles and Company. This is perfect. Here you go!

Thia Curry Soup
prep time: 15 min.
cook time: 35-40 min.

Ingredients:
- 2 oz rice noodles
- 1 T. olive oil
- 1 clove garlic (minced)
- 1 1/2 T. minced lemon grass (I just used a little lemon juice)
- 1 t. ground ginger
- 2 t. red curry paste
- 1 (32 oz) carton chicken broth
- 2 T. soy sauce
- 1 T. white sugar
- 1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
- 1/2 c. sliced mushrooms (if you like them!)
- 1 (10 oz) bag baby spinach leaves
- 2 T. fresh lime juice (I used lemon juice because that is what I had)
- 1/4 c. chopped cilantro
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rice noodles and cook until al dente, about 3 min.
2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic, lemon grass, and ginger, about 30-60 seconds. add curry paste and cook 30 seconds more. Pour in about 1/2 c. chicken broth, and stir until curry paste dissolves, then pour in remaining broth along with souy sauce and sugar. Bring to a boil, reduce head and cover. Simmer 20 min.
3. Stir in coconut milk, mushrooms, spinach, lime juice, and cilantro. Increase heat to medium-high and simmer 5 min.
4. To serve, place some noodles into each serving bowl, and ladle soup on top of them. Garnish each bowl with a sprinkle of sliced green onion.

Tips:
- if the package says, "Rice Sticks" they are either the same thing or they work just the same.
- if you don't have lemon grass or line juice, lemon juice tastes fine. The real ingredients will taste better but the soup I made without them was very yummy.
- I don't like a lot of spinach in my soup, the whole 10  oz is kind of a lot for me. Maybe add a little then go from there instead of adding the whole bag all at once.
- getting your ingredients ready to go before you start cooking will make things go so much better.
- I am not a huge fan of mushrooms so instead, I like to put in thinly sliced red onions.

Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Recap & Our Early Christmas Present!

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend. Sage and I sure did. We traveled to Lolo, Montana so spend Thanksgiving with my family. (We sure missed you Kelley, Chris, Molly, Brock, Brooklyn, Zachary, Matthew, Heidi, Jacob, Paige, Joseph, Nanny, and Poppop!) Here are a few photos of our stay there.

We all stayed at my sister Sara's house. She and her husband Ken were so great to have us all there.

The "grownups" enjoyed playing Apples to Apples at night when the kids were all in bed, or watching a movie. From left to right, Daniel (brother), Brook (brother), Hannah (sister), Sara (sister), Mom, Tasha (sister-in-law, married to Daniel), Amy (sister), and Sage (husband).

We made little turkey and acorn treats with the kids one afternoon. Very fun and easy!

Cute little Grace (niece) posing for a picture with the treats.

Benjamin (nephew) asked me to take a picture of his turkey. I think he liked it.

Brook (brother) and Payton (nephew) blending up a yummy shake for our Traditional Robison Family Shake off.

Sample shakes. (And anxious taste testers!)

Sorry this is blurry. These are all of the presentation shakes. (Ours is in the white Mug! Pumpkin Pie shake with a small slice of pumpkin pie on the. Complete with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg. 

Winning Shake made by Brook. Apple Cinnamon Pie shake topped with Apple Cinnamon Cheerios.

The shake off clean up. 

Not pictured is our delicious Thanksgiving Dinner, our walk around the neighborhood, The Sock Swap, Black Friday shopping, jewelry making lessons from Amy, Pizza night,  and the everyday fun we had there. What a great Thanksgiving weekend!

Also, I failed to credit the photos on the pre-Thanksgiving post. They were found on KSL. But good news! All of today's pictures were taken by ME! Using our early Christmas present! I am having so much fun with our new little Camera. Here a a picture of it (that I did not take):

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sony-16.1MP-DSCWWM570BDL/17254379

We shopped our first Black Friday to get this cute little camera. We are very pleased with it. It has A fun panorama feature that I used to take the first and last photo on this post with.

Did anyone else get a new toy this Black Friday? I would love to hear about it.

Have a great day everyone and good luck studying for finals week all of you students our there!

Look Up

Photo found on Google Images. Source is: www.adventuroo.com

The General Conference edition of the Ensign came to our home today. I love being able to read and reread these wonderful talks.

I stayed awake through all of conference this year. But, I did miss most of one talk when I needed to slip out of the room for a moment. It was the talk given by Elder Carl B. Cook of the Seventy titled: "It Is Better to Look Up."

In this talk he tells of an experience he had shortly after being called as a general authority. On a day when he was feeling particularly overwhelmed by his new calling, he learned a great lesson from our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. Elder Cook had been looking down at the floor of the elevator he was in when President Monson joined him asking, "What are you looking at down there?" He replied, "Oh, nothing." Then smiling, President Monson said to him while pointing heavenward, "It is better to look up!"

I would continue paraphrasing his great talk but then you would have no need to read it yourself! So, go read it. It will be well worth your time. I have a testimony that by looking to the Savoir, Jesus Christ, our burdens will be made lighter and we will have more motivation to continue our journey in this life. I know He lives and I am grateful for his guiding hand in my life.

If ever you are feeling particularly overwhelmed, remember, it is better to look up!

"Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; 

And lean not unto thine own understanding. 

In all thy ways, acknowledge Him, 

And He will direct thy paths. "

~ Proverbs 3:5-6

My New Ring

The photo shown above was taken on our wedding day. There you can see two beautiful rings given to me by my sweet husband. The pearl is the ring Sage proposed to me with. The diamond band is my "wedding band", even though I wore it for most of our engagement. (The pearl is oh so fragile and is not worn all of the time.) These rings make me so happy. I remember before we were married, I would wake up, look at my hand and get so excited to see them there. But .... the cute little diamond band did not hold up and was replaced after 9 diamonds fell out. Let me tell how each of them were lost:

# 1- We were on our honeymoon in California visiting some family when the first diamond fell out. I am pretty sure it happened when I was helping dry off my niece after she had been swimming. As soon as we came home we took it straight into the jeweler who replaced it free of charge.

# 2- The second diamond fell out while on a visit to see my parents in Tooele. My mom noticed a small black speck on my ring and asked me what it was. What looked like a black speck was a small whole where a diamond should have been. Bummer. Back to the jeweler we went for another free replacement.

# 3- While on a walk home from class one day my hand brushed against Sage's backpack and I felt a little tug. I looked down at the ring and to my disappointment, another empty whole where the third diamond had fallen out. After searching the ground for quite a while we gave up and headed to the jeweler once again for a replacement. He then sent the ring in for a closer look. 

#'s 4-9- The ring was put into an ultra-sonic cleaner overnight to test its stability when six, yes six, more diamonds fell out. The ring which we had received a great deal on was discontinued, we were given the full amount we paid for it in credit and were told to pick another ring. 

What might be frustrating to some was so much fun for me! How many girls get to go ring shopping twice (with the same husband, no divorces)? After about a week, of shopping we finally picked a replacement. I had thought about choosing another style, maybe with a center stone, but I kept coming back to the dainty little diamond bands. (I wanted to be able to wear my pearl with it.)

Here is what we picked. And after three long weeks of waiting, I finally have it on my finger and oh how I just adore this little ring.

I hope you all have enjoyed your Saturday like I have. :)

http://www.blissweddingblog.com/2010_01_01_archive.html

*All of my rings were purchased at Jerrick's Fine Jewelry here in Logan. Sage and I highly recommend this place. Jerrick and his wife are so nice. They work very well with you and have a beautiful selection to pick from. If you happen to stop by, let them know we sent you! (They have a referral program :)  And be sure to check out their website here.

Things that make me happy...

Left to right:Tasha, Amy, Sara, Emma, Molly, Hannah, Kelley, and my cute Mom on the bottom.

I recently received an email from Tasha with this picture attached. It made me so happy! These beautiful ladies are all of my sisters and my sweet Mom on our trip to Washington DC for Kelley's graduation (May  2010). I said "all" but we are missing Heidi who could not make it. And my lovely Nanny (grandma) came as well and was the one who took the picture. We had so much fun on our all girl vacation. I am so glad that we were able to do this because I am not sure when we will all be able to get together again. But like Hannah said in an email, I am so glad that this life is not the end and that one day we will all be together forever. I am grateful for this knowledge. Oh, I do love these girls!

Also, to all of my "other" sisters out there, I hope you had a chance to watch the General Relief Society Broadcast Saturday. I was at working at the computer lab but was able to sneak in some headphones and watched it online. It was a wonderful hour and a half and the words spoken were very much needed. If you didn't have a chance to see it, I have good news! Click here to watch and read highlights or for the complete archives of the conference click here.

The Conference Center for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Salt Lake City, UT.

One more very good news: General Conference is on its way! (Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, 2011)  Click here for more information.

Have a great day! 

Conference Center picture taken from here.

My Love

This is me and my love outside the Logan Temple the day we were sealed. We met exactly one year ago to the date on the day this picture was taken. He is my very best friend and the person who makes me the happiest. I love being his wife. Here are  a few reasons why....

This picture is of Sage the day we got engaged. He is so cute to always give me flowers. Maybe a week or so after we started dating he picked a little white rose for me out of his moms flower bed and put it in my hair.  No one had ever done that for me before! So I saved it to better remember that day.

Sage can dance! I always hoped I would marry a man who could dance. We did a lot of dancing while we were dating. I am not a great dancer by my self but I quickly learned to follow his lead. One day after we were married I was having a bad day. As I was doing dishes, Sage turned on our favorite song (All the Pennies by Mindy Gledhill) and danced around the kitchen with me. I was instantly put into a better mood.

 
Sage is silly. A day has not got by where he has not made me laugh. I remember someone telling me that same thing about her own husband before we were married and how grateful she was for that. I share that feeling. It is so fun being married to someone you can laugh with.

Isn't that dimple cute? I absolutely adore this man. And I love that he loves me as well. I hope that after reading this you have thought about that special person you love (a spouse, roommate, friend, dog, etc.) and some of the reasons why they make you so happy. And I hope those happy thoughts help you have a great day.

Thanks for visiting!