2 is better than 1

Yesterday was our 2 year wedding anniversary! We celebrated by going out to dinner at the Red Iguana, and exploring City Creek and Temple Square.

Red Iguana was delicious as usual. We both got enchiladas and I was happy to finally fulfill my Piña colada craving. 

I love the lights downtown and I was glad we finally got to see them this year. 

I sure love my bestest friend :) I love him more every day... 

Traditional second anniversary gifts are made of cotton so we bought each other new cotton shirts. 

We sure had fun celebrating our 2 year anniversary! 

You can read about our wedding HERE & HERE

& Read about our first anniversary HERE. 

BBQ Chicken Pizza Pinwheels

I haven't posted a recipe on the blog in a while (mostly because I've been too busy to make anything from scratch). I found this recipe for BBQ Chicken Pizza Pinwheels on Pinterest (originally posted HERE) last night and I had the urge to try it for dinner tonight. This recipe is husband tested and approved and it's not hard to make although it is a little time consuming-about 2 hours from start to finish. 

Here's what you'll need: 

• 1 lb. Pizza dough-I used my favorite recipe that I posted HERE. 
• 1/2 Cup of your favorite BBQ sauce 
• 1 Cup shredded cheese
• 1/2 Cup shredded cooked chicken
• 3 Tablespoons of cilantro 
• 1/3 Cup finely minced red onion (I'm not a big onion fan so I left this out)

Directions: 

1. Start by preheating your oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a floured surface, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a 12 inch x 15 inch rectangle. The dough should be about 3/8'' thick. 
3. Use the back of a spoon to spread the BBQ sauce onto the dough. After you have a nice even layer of sauce spread the cheese, chicken, cilantro, and onions evenly over the dough. 
4. Once the toppings have been added, start rolling up the dough along the long side of the rectangle. For the best results, be sure to keep the roll tight, moving from left to right and back again. After rolling the dough place it seam side down on your workspace. 
5. Using a bread knife, gently cut the roll into 3/4” slices and place them an inch apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 15-17 minutes until they are golden and fully cooked. Allow to cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a plate and serve with additional barbecue sauce for dipping.

Enjoy! :) 

From Puppy To Pug

Pongo has been going through some major changes lately. He is so big! He is now 5 1/2 months old and weighs 13 lbs. 

On Wednesday he lost his first tooth! I caught him chewing on something and when I reached to get it I was surprised to see it was his tooth he was mouthing on.

Today we took Pongo to the vet to get neutered... poor baby... He cried the whole way home, but since then he's been acting like a champ! He's already eating and acting like his old self. 

 This is a picture of him from Christmas day playing with his new favorite toy. 

We sure love our growing puppy! It's so fun to watch him grow up :]

White Christmas

Merry Christmas! 

Marty and I had a family-filled Christmas this year and it was perfect. Christmas Eve we drove down to my family's house in Sandy. We kept our traditions of Christmas Eve PJs and going for a drive to see Christmas lights. Usually I'm not a big fan of snow, but the having snow fall outside the window while we were cozy inside made me glad that a white Christmas wasn't only in my dreams. 

Of course we had to have a little PJ photo shoot before heading out to look at lights...

The picture on the left is from 2008 and the one on the right is from this Christmas. I sure love my sister Missy and I can't believe how grown up she is! 

We didn't want to leave my missionary brother Bryce out of our picture so we held up his missionary pictures so he could be there in spirit. We got to talk to Elder Boswell on Christmas day and he sounds great! Only 5 more months! Ps. Aren't my parents cute? :) 

The first stop on our Christmas lights tour was to the night before Christmas street (at least that's what we call it). Each house on this street has a sign on their lawn with a different piece of the Night before Christmas poem. My parents have been going to this street on Christmas Eve's long before I was born.

Next, we went to Christmas Street. I loved the quaint little houses that were so tastefully decked out in twinkling lights. I especially liked the Christmas dragon in the bottom middle picture. 

This house was the unanimous favorite-the picture does not do it justice. 

After Christmas Street we experienced one of those moments in life that can only be labeled as an unexpected pleasure. As we were headed east towards the mountains we noticed some lights floating in the sky. Upon further inspection we discovered that they were lanterns like the ones in Tangled. At the next available exit we pulled over and watched in awe as the lanterns blended in with the Christmas stars. 

Then we decided to drive through Sandy and on to Draper. We stopped briefly at Draper park and admired the lights on the trees and the view of the Draper Temple. 

Our final stop before heading home for the night was to the whisper dome. This place was seriously cool! The acoustics of the dome are set up so that whoever is standing across the dome from each other can hear whispers as clear as if they were being whispered directly into their ears. Also, if you speak in the middle of the dome you hear your voice as though you were speaking in a microphone. 

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve! Christmas day we had breakfast with my family, opened presents, talked to my brother on the phone, and ate Christmas lasagna before heading up to Marty's parents house. Christmas evening we had dinner with Bruce and Karen, exchanged gifts, and watched Pongo try to play with Buddy and Jenny. Spending time with our families helped us remember the reason for the season...

We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! 

Walkin' in a winter wonderland ❄

Tonight Marty and I went on a date in downtown Ogden. We had dinner at our favorite sandwich shop, Gandolfo's, on 25th street. After we ate, we walked around and looked at the fun Christmas lights and little vignettes that were sponsored by local auxiliaries and local businesses. 

Walking around and looking at the lights really put us in the Christmas spirit, we didn't even mind the  freezing temperatures. 

We came home to our decked out little cottage and baked some gingerbread cake and sipped hot chocolate while we watched Elf. 

These pictures are from last week's storm-Pongo loves the snow!

And here are more pictures of our little puggers... the far right pic is him trying to get to his food while the dishwasher door is down.. he is so silly. But, he sure knows how to keep warm on a cold winter's night. 

We hope everyone is enjoying this magical time of year! We're sure glad the world didn't end today, but if today was our last day-then we sure had a great one :) 

Gray Cliff Lodge & Alaska Inn

Last night Marty and I went to a work party for my office at the Gray Cliff Lodge in Ogden Canyon. It was such a cute and cozy restaurant! It was originally built as a summer home in 1912 so it had an old-fashion charm to it. Even though steak was their specialty Marty and I both got their chicken and it was heavenly! Dessert comes with your meal so even though we were stuffed we got pie, Marty of course go the banana creme and I got the house special-oatmeal pie-Yummmm! 

We also really enjoyed spending time with my boss Brad and co-writer Lany and their spouses :]

After dinner we all went down the street to our "rooms" at the Alaska Inn. Rooms is in quotes because we each got our own mini cabins! Marty and I had so much fun in our own little cozy cabin watching the snow fall outside our window.  We stayed in the Glacier cabin which had polar bears and ice themed decor. 

Our little cabin at night  ⇡

Our mini cabin inside⇡ I especially liked the faux bear skin rug on the bed 

I loved that the towel rack was shaped like moose antlers ⇡ (this makes me excited to decorate the Abbott cabin someday :) ) 

Nothing better than sipping Martinelli's in a warm cabin while it's snowing outside...

As if we didn't already feel spoiled enough, we got breakfast delivered to our door this morning! Best French Toast and hash browns we've ever had. And the view from our door was beautiful this morning! 

We're so proud of Pongo... he made it through the night by himself with no problems :) He was pretty happy to see us when we got home and we caught him enjoying the snow when we took him outside. 

Thanks for the awesome weekend OTM! We sure enjoyed a little unexpected get-a-way... Now all I have to do is survive finals! 

Black, Blue, and Bah humbug

Black Friday
After work on Friday, Marty and I decided to venture out and see if we could score any black Friday deals. Marty ended up scoring some sweet old school white dress shoes and a watch & I got a sparkly sweater and a matching necklace.

Blue Sweater
Pongo's been growing like crazy! He's almost 5 months and weighs about 11 lbs! Since he's a growing boy and winter is almost here he needed a new sweater. We got him a new blue striped sweater at Pet Smart on Black Friday. Our favorite part is the hood- he looks pretty gangster... haha

Bah Humbug 
Saturday night we were feeling spontaneous so we decided to go on a date to the Terrace Playhouse to see Scrooge. We really enjoyed the play and it was just what we needed to get into the holiday spirit, but my favorite part was when we discovered that a boy in our primary class was in the play! He was the boy at the end who's carrying the big Christmas turkey. He gave us a hug when he saw us after the play-I really enjoy getting to teach such awesome kids in primary. We ended the night with ice cream cones and smiles :)

We had an awesome Thanksgiving weekend! I'm so glad I got to spend some quality time with my best friend. 

Thanksgiving 2012

Happy Thanksgiving! Marty and I decided to have our own quite little Thanksgiving today. We started our day with cinnamon rolls and a nice drive through East Canyon. 

We picked up Buddy because Bruce & Karen were having Thanksgiving at Brian & Jill's house and we didn't want him to be alone (and he loves rides). 

Despite the look on Pongo's face, he was enjoying it too ;)

Around 3 o'clock we had a tasty feast of chicken Alfredo, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, and pumpkin bread. 

We had a wonderful meal together as our own little family... We did miss our families though, we wish we had more time away from work and school so we could have gone to St. George or Salem. 

After dinner we took a nice full belly nap, went for a walk, and decorated for Christmas! 

It's the most wonderful time of the year and we have so much to be thankful for today! :) 

We wish all of our friends and family near and far a happy Thanksgiving! 

Happy Halloween 2012!

Happy Halloween! 

I couldn't resist dressing up as the MIB and dressing Pongo as Frank the alien pug.

I think we look pretty legit ;) 

I made Pongo's suit out of an old vest I used for a Halloween costume 3 years ago. I thought he fit the part pretty well. 

He was pretty happy when I took the suit off and he returned to eating the leaves in the yard.. 

We celebrated Halloween last weekend with the Abbotts & Cottons at a Clue murder mystery party. Karen did such a good job of making the whole house look spooky!

Tonight we are celebrating by watching Netflix and pretending we aren't home so we can eat all of out trick-or-treat candy :) 

Happy Halloween! 

~ A.I.B. (Abbotts in black)