Hey everyone I just wanted to let all of you know about this great deal. Supposedly nordroms is going to start carrying a new line of makeup called e.l.f and for some promotional thing they are doing, everything is on sale for $1.00. I didn't want to email everyone separately so this will have to do. I got on last night and ordered a bunch of stuff, I think all of you should at least check it out. The website is eyeslipsface.com and when you check out enter CAROLINA in the coupon code box and it will take off an extra $12.50. It looks like pretty good stuff and they have really cute little gift sets and stuff too. Anyway hope everyone is doing good, miss you all!!
-Talise

Working Machine

Hi Ladies! Awesome pictures! Keep 'em coming. It was great to see everyone at Marnae's the other day. Derrick was bummed he missed it. We've just been working away. I work 4 days a week at Dr. Sands' office and every other friday at my brother-in-law's and Derrick has been working 60 hour weeks. Crazy! I don't know how he does it. He finally starts a 40 hour a week job tomorrow. One night last week I came home and slept from six in the evening til six the next morning. It's a good thing my hubby is a superman. Please tell me this is normal and i'll get used to being away from the house ten hours a day. I do love the paychecks though! Derrick and I are thinking a new house is possible soon :)

Talise i'm so sorry about your course! That sucks! I hope things are better now. I can't wait to see pictures of Bella. Everyone be safe during your travels. Miss you guys lots! Oh and Laurel is still alive. I don't think we'll ever get her to blog, but she's doing well. Yard work and refinishing furniture and chillin' with her girls. Chat later. Erin :)

That sounds awful, Talise! Vent away! I was thinking about you this last month wondering how you were doing with Jeff being away and wondering how Bella has been growing. You have to show us pictures.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to let you all know we as well have a family blog. I created direct links for ours, marnae's , and stefani's. if anyone else has one add it on. Stefani, yours says we have to be invited in order to view it. We want to see those pictures.

Hope you all enjoy.

~Denise

Worst month EVER

Hey guys, its Talise. I miss you all so much!! I am so jealous reading about all of you having such a fun summer. This has been the worst month of my entire life! Right now I am in Vancouver, WA for my restorative course. I got here on monday and within the first hour of class I found out that i really didn't have to do this after all. I can get a licence for just hygiene in washington as long as i have 560 hours in another state(which I will next year). I almost started crying in the middle of class. I would have left right then if this didn't cost me $3000.00, but i am still here. I can not believe how hard this is. On monday they showed us a 10 minute video on how to do amalgam fillings and then expected us to just do it. I feel like the biggest idiot! Then today after a really informative Gordon Christensen video on composites, my instructor handed me a high speed and expects me to see a full day of patients tommorrow. I am Terrified!! I just do not understand how they expect us to do this on real people after 4 days of training. So, yeah i'm sorry to be so negative on my very first blog, but i just needed to vent a little and I know that all of you will understand. On a happier note, Bella is the cutest thing in the universe. She is trying so hard to crawl. She is such a sweetie! I promise that next week when I am done with this restorative crap I will post some pics. Well I am so glad that everyone is doing well and I miss you all so much.

Team dental hygiene

My first pic on the blog!

Hey everyone! I will die if this actually works! This is a pic of "our first car", we sold it last week! We weren't planning on selling it till the end of the summer, but one of betsy's friends asked if she could buy it and we sold it to her the next day. there was just no hassle at all. Well, I'm going to try to find some more pictures to post!
em

Just waiting for take off . . .

Wow! Ya miss a few days and it feels like I have so much to catch up on from everyone. So how was K-Fed's reception? Sorry I couldn't make it, or respond to anyone, I had the worst case of strep I've ever had, layed me out for 5 days. I wish I could have gone, just to see you all. McKenzie and Emily, I am so proud of you for your tri!! again. . . inspirations. Denise - Brayden is so FREAKING cute, it's ridiculous how much she's growing up. Keep the pictures coming all you want. Stefani - I am so excited for your new house! I can't wait to get back out of my parents and have one! Kara I will miss you so much in Cali . . . please have fun and know I wish I could be there . . I was so close to quitting just one week early. Natalie and Kenz - I hope you have fun working for Dr. Erickson. Maybe I'll have to come by and see you some day. Except I don't know when ya'll will be working? If you tell me I might bring you a treat ;) Katie - if I hadn't known you in person I'd think it was impossible for someone to look as beautiful as you! Goodness you two looked amazing. I'm glad you're liking Dr. Ashman, I really liked his office. And the excitement about the paycheck is what will get me back to work after my vacation... Speaking of. . 27 days ladies and I will have the biggest dream come true. I'm sure I will write before then, but we went over our official packing lists this weekend and I got so excited I wanted to pack right then, strep and all couldn't get me down.
Thank ya'll for the recipes, don't have too much use for them now, but I'm sure someday I will. and I can use all the help I can get. So here's my one small contribution:

MUDDY BUDDIES (were you expecting anything else ;)
9 cups Rice Chex
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Powdered sugar

melt chocolate, peanut butter and butter till smooth and creamy add vanilla. Pour over chex coating evenly. Then pour in a bunch of p. sugar. Enough to give it a good coating. I usually use about 1-2 cups and then shake. Then I check and if I think it's coated enough I'm done, if not, just keep adding until you do. (make sure you use a BIG enough bowl with a lid, or I usually dump my chocolate covered chex into a plastic sack and shake.) and enjoy!!

Love you ladies all so very much. What's happening to the rest who never blog? ...
LP Captain - Elisabeth

hey kara you should chat with kim about the other doctor that she's not working for. or you could always call this dr. bennett guy that i know... 375-1414. he just needs a friday hygienist right now, but i think you can work more after awhile. talk to sue and tell her that you graduated from UVSC. i gave the number to em, but i think they might want someone more permanent. so yeah, have fun in cali!! btw... for all those wanting to float the river, it's super fun and a tire tube at Big-O Tires is like 10 bucks and you can get tan :) kenz, we can wait for you if we need to, but last summer we went like 5 times so we will have lots of opportunities! did anyone go to the reception???

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey everybody I just wanted to write and say hi. I am getting ready to go to California for the weekend. We are leaving on Saturday and coming back on Wednesday sometime. I am so excited to have a vacation and get away from the Sports Authority for a while. I am still liking my job there for the most part. I go through those bad days but most days I really like my job.

I was only planning on working 2 1/2 days a week and then I had kind of changed my mind to go full time at the end of the summer. Well, I just found out that I will probably only be working the original 2 1/2 I had planned on at first. We don't think we can find a hygienist to only work for the summer. So he is just going to hire this girl that wants to work part time permanently and I might have to try and find one or two more days a week. So if anybody knows of anything will you let me know.

Here is the recipe for my chocolate chip cookies that I make almost every Sunday afternoon (that is if I am in Provo). So if anybody ever wants to come visit on Sunday I usually have fresh hot cookies lying around my house. Here it is:

3/4 cup crisco
1 1/3 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 Tbls. milk
1 Tbls. vanilla

Combine in large bowl.
Beat in:
1 egg

Add:
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. baking soda

Stir in chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

This is actually just from the Crisco sticks package so an easy way to find it is to buy some of those.

I hope all is going well for everybody. I love and miss you all. I will post pictures of my trip to Cali next week

Kara

Greetings from AZ!

This is Stef! I tried to write something before and I didn't know how so i ended up writing a comment on something Kenz wrote. I don't think anyone saw it. Anyway, I am in AZ right now. We just got back from Mexico and it was so fun! And of course I got sunburned on the first day. We are driving back to UT on Sunday and we are going to move down to AZ on the 27th so we can be back in time for Brett's cousin's wedding. Our house is coming along good. They had just put in the windows before we left for Mexico. I am going to drive over and see it again today! I'll attach a picture of it from last week. I took around some resumes and I have talked to a couple of Drs. but I can't do much till we move down here. I found a job for one day a week but they understand that if I find something for four days a week I will take that instead, if I can't find another part time. I love you guys and miss you! (not enough to go back to school, but a whole lot)

Stef

PS. I just made a blog for brett and me. http://brettandstef.blogspot.com/ It has pictures from our vacation. My camera card isn't working so I can't post the picture of our house. But it is on my blog.

A message from Texas

Your wedding pictures are beautiful Katie! McKenzie, I'm jealous of your cruise. Looks like it was my kind of vacation. I wish I could've been at the party. Sounds like it was fun. I love our new little house here in Texas. It's a lot more than what I expected. It's been fun making it our own. Lots of painting and decorating. However the excitement of moving in has faded and home sickness for Utah has set in. Hopefully making new friends won't be hard since when Brandon starts school I'll be a single mother for four years. The people have been really friendly so far. On the bright side I got my Texas hygiene license now which feels good. Hopefully ya'll don't mind seeing pictures of Brayden because I love sharing them. Her little personality is shining through and she is so much fun. Have fun at Kristen's reception for those of you that are going.

~Denise

Some wedding pictures!

Hey Everyone! I'm getting my wedding pictures organized so I thought I'd show you some. Sorry we couldn't make it to Marnae's! We had a crazy weeked. Kip's taking the 2nd half of O-chem right now (summer term stinks for that!) and has tests some weeks from 7pm - 10:45! Major bummer. They always schedule them at the most random times too. Luckily us girls don't have to worry about tests any more!

I really love working at the 2 offices I'm at. I'm at Ashman dental on MW (soon to be 1/2 Fri) and then a place up in Orem on T Th. It keeps me busy since kip is at school and work from 7:30 - 5 or 7 at night. And I just got my first paychecks (being a hygienist is the greatest thing in the world!). It feels good now that I'm getting comfortable with what to bill out and how to deal with patients in a private practice. It's a lot different.

So anyway, I think I have a present for Kristen so I won't be able to go in on the group gift. Hopefully I'll be able to drag Kip to the reception. I'll just have to convince him there will be good food there! Is anyone else going? Good luck in the triathalon! Sounds crazy but I'm sure it will be fun!

Hey gallies...

Hey girls,

I'm out for the group gift. I have something (maybe a re-gift) that I'm going to give her...I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to go now anyway though, one of my girlfriends is getting home from her mission. If I don't make it, give the k-fed a Geisha bow for me....
em

Lemony Poppy Chicken

Hi gals. It's Kenz again. Sorry if your getting sick of me. I wanted to say that I am totally down for going in on a present, but if we are going to do it lets decided quick. Reason being is I am running errands tomorrow and I want to grab a gift card while I am out. I was just wondering if it will be to hard to all pay back one person since we don't see a ton of each other anymore. Just let me know.

So grizz got a really short haircut yesterday, and he looks like a total dork. Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure. It's ok you can totally laugh. Even HE looks sad about it:(

Ken makes fun of me now because I am such a blogging dork. What can I say... I totally heart blogging!

I think that Em mentioned that triathlon we are doing this Saturday. It is in Utah Lake. I am petrified that I am going to touch a dead body, have a panic attack, and drowned. If this is that last blog I ever post, I love you all! :)

Here is an AMAZING recipe that I got off of the Rachael Ray Show. I love her! I made this and Ken said it was the best thing I had made in a LONG time. I didn't know if I should take that as a compliment or not... Em also made this and loved it!

Oh PS, before I write the recipe. I want to float the Provo river bad bad bad. I am going to be in Lake Powell next Sat. so if you guys do it then, just promise me that you will do it again with me someday:)

2 1/2 cups chicken stock, divided

1 10-ounce box frozen peas1

1/2 cups couscous

3-4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)

1 cup flour

Salt and pepper

2 lemons zested, 1 juiced

1 1/2 to 2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast cutlets, cut into bite-size pieces

2 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

10 leaves of basil, chopped

10 leaves of mint, chopped

(I didn't especially love the mint and basil. It was good but I think that cilantro would be better)

Place a medium-size saucepot over high heat and add 1 1/2 cups of the chicken stock. Bring to a boil then add the peas and the couscous. Place a lid on the pot and turn off the heat. Let sit for 5 minutes.While the stock is coming up to a boil for the couscous, place a large skillet over high heat with 3 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 3-4 tablespoons. While the skillet is heating up, place the flour on a plate. Toss the chicken in the flour to coat, shaking off any excess. Add the chicken pieces to the hot skillet. Season the chicken liberally with salt, pepper and the lemon zest, and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring every now and then to get them brown all over.

With a microplane or the smallest grade of a handheld box grater, grate in the garlic the last 2 minutes of cooking.

Once the chicken has browned, add the remaining cup chicken stock to the skillet. Once the stock is hot, add the butter and poppy seeds.

Stir until the butter has melted and the sauce has thickened up a bit, about a minute. Turn off the heat and squeeze the juice of 1 lemon into the pan.

Remove the lid from the pot of couscous, add the basil and mint and fluff with a fork. Place a portion of couscous on a plate and top with the chicken. Enjoy!
Yields 4 servings.

K-fed's wedding gift?

so are we going in on a gift or what? i talked to kenz today and she's up for it and it seemed like most girls at marnae's house thought that could work... so are we actually gonna do it. just let me know cuz if not i'll just send her a nice card with a gift card in it. i can't go to the reception cuz i'll be at the sports authority that day yelling at all the customers buying last minute father's day gifts. anyway, about the quart of fruit, we used just a quart jar of home canned fruit... yeah, very unrealistic when we run out of the fruit the mother-in-law gave me. but she said you could use just regular old fruit out of a can. (by the way, one quart would be about 4 cups... maybe 2 cans) but you can use peaches, apricots, fruit cocktail... ENJOY! i want to float the provo riv next saturday, like a week from two days from now... let me know!!!!

question soren the spice cake master

hey nat and soren, 1 quart of fruit without seeds? what does that mean? What do you guys use?
Nat, thanks for the job tip. I talked to Sue and sent in a resume. I'm pretty sure there's no way they'd hire me once they find out that I will only be here until August. Oh well! I heard that you were told 6 weeks until our liccenses come?!? what a joke!

PS I have a honkin cold sore where what you might call the "commisural lip pit", It's on my upper and lower lip (might as well be my whole right cheek), so I can't open my mouth that wide, it's a real treat. Maybe I'll have Ty take a picture of it and I'll try to post it. Ha! That'd be awesome.

Me and Mckenzie are doing a triathlon on Saturday, I'm going to have a sleepover with her and ken on Friday night, I don't know if Ty will come, he loves his own bed too much.

Still not working and loving it,
Em

Picture Time!

Hi y'all! How is everyone? We are doing great! I am really trying to enjoy the last of my empty summer days. Part of me is dreading starting my job, but I am sure once I get that first pay check I will be feeling better about it all. Has everyone that wants a job found one? I hope Dr. Erickson isn't a weiner. At least if he is Natters and I can talk crap about him over our lunch breaks:) So I finally figured out how to post pictures. Here are some from the cruise and whatever else we find. Love you all! Kenz

SOREN'S SPICY SPICE CAKE

4 c. unsifted flour 1 tsp. salt

4 tsp. baking soda 2 c. sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon 1 quart fruit w/o seeds

1 tsp. cloves 2 eggs

1 tsp. nutmeg 1 c. oil

Frosting:

½ c. butter 4-5 c. powdered sugar

1 c. brown sugar 1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. evaporated milk (or 2% milk)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour jelly roll pan. Blend fruit in blender. Add oil and eggs. Mix all dry ingredients together; add wet ingredients to dry. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool before frosting. Bring to a soft boil butter, brown sugar, and milk together. Beat in powdered sugar. Add vanilla.

nothing exciting to say...

Hey girls....how is everyone? It was so fun to see everyone at Marnae's last weekend. So....when are we going to float the Provo River?? I think maybe next saturday...just throwin' it out there. Ty just walked in, he says hi. Hmm....what else do I have exciting to say? Oh I might just have my first RDH job, just filling in for a prego lady in July. I don't want to jump in the working world too fast so I thought July sounded like a good time to start.

We're selling our cars, one of Betsy's friends is out test driving it right now..I'm sorry I have nothing to say. I just fill like I'm talking to you all. P.S. Eliza- you are the funniest person in the world! When you referred to "K-fed"- I about died laughing. It took me a second to figure out who you were referring to, but then it was so funny to me! You need to post again- everyone does!

Ok, I'm reading the best book. It's called the Secret Life of Bees and you should all read it. It's a way fast read. The day we went to Marnae's, I rode the bus from SLC to meet Ty in Provo and I was reading it and it was a good part and I could stop the tears from streaming down my face! It was so embarassing- but the book was too good, I couldn't put it down. Any suggestions on what I should read next? Nico- how did the tri go?

Loves and kisses,
em

hey... just was checking the blog to see if anything new has happened... guess not. today is our one year anniversary!!! so happy anniversary to me and soren. we ate dessert at melting pot yesterday, and i have to say, i think it's a bit over-priced because it's such a novelty to eat there. fun, nonetheless. and we also saw shrek the third... pretty funny. i know, it was pretty sweet anniversary, don't be jealous :) and while i'm here i might as well give a good recipe:
THAI PEANUT CHICKEN
1 Tbsp. wok oil (peanut or canola)
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken cut in bite-size pieces
1 red bell pepper
1 1/2 c. chicken broth
2 tsp. soy sauce
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1 tsp. ginger
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1 1/2 Tbsp. crunchy peanut butter
1 handful cilantro, chopped
green onion to your liking
2 c. dry roasted peanuts

Heat oil in a wok (or good size pan) over medium heat. Cook chicken in wok until juices run clear. Mix in red bell pepper, and continue cooking until tender. In a bowl, mix the broth, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, cayenne pepper, ginger, cornstarch, and peanut butter. (JUST A TIP: WHEN YOU MIX IN CORNSTARCH WITH ANYTHING, ALWAYS MIX IT WITH A LITTLE BIT OF COLD WATER AND THEN POUR IT INTO YOUR MIXTURE SO THAT IT DOESN'T CLUMP UP) Pour into wok. Toss green onions and cilantro (reserve some for garnish) into wok and continue to cook for 5 minutes until thickened. Mix in peanuts.

don't worry, it looks like a bunch of stuff, but it's SUPER EASY AND DELICIOUS!!
-natters

Good Job Em!! Okay so the party is this Friday night at Marnae's house at about 6 or 6:30. Marnae just said for all of us to bring a dessert to share with each other. It will be a blast to see everybody.

Kara

DH 2007 cook book

Since I only got recipes from Mckenzie and Nicole for our cook book, I decided not to bind the 5 recipes and give them out to you all. ha! ha! and Nic already posted hers so here are the ones from Mckenzie- keep posting your tasty recipes becuase I'm going to print them all out. The California boards went as good as they could have. Edna was accepted on her first submission, I was so relieved- I think I passed, but I don't know. I'm pretty sure I passed the 2 written ethics/law tests, but there were a few questions that I had know idea about. Oh my gosh- it was psycho there! There were over 150 people taking theclinicals. They did 77 in the morning and 80 in the afternoon- the clinic is GINORMOUS!! Who cares though. I've been way busy with my classes at the U- I didn't do one thing before the cali boards so I'm doing alot of catch up now. I'm at the U right now- obviously not getting alot of work done. I love you all and will write more later!

love, em

BBQ Pork Chops

6 Red potatoes, cut into quarters

6 Med. carrots, cut into 1-inch peices

8 Bone-in-loin, OR pork Chops (cut 1 inch thick)

Salt/pepper/season (to taste)-I use canadian steak seasoning, but whatever you like/have works.

1 (20 oz) Bottle of favorite BBQ sauce

1 Cup Ketsup

1 Cup Cola

2-3 Tbs. Worchestershire sauce

Place veggies in slow cooker. Top with pork chops. Sprinkle with salt, perpper and seasoning (optional). Combine BBQ sauce, ketchup, cola and W sauce. Pour over chops.

Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours or until meat and veggies are tender.

German Pancakes

(is life really complete without a good GP recipe?)

6 eggs

1t. salt

1c. milk

1c. flour

1 cube butter

Melt butter in 9X13 pan while preheating oven too 400 degrees. Mix remaining ingredients well and pour over melted butter. Bake 20 minutes. Serve with syrup or jam and pwd sugar.

Pegs Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cream

1 cup butter (I have learned that it works best if you can take the butter out of the fridge early and use it at room temp. for this recipe)

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

Add

1-2t. vanilla

1t. baking soda

1t. baking pwd

1t. salt

3 cups flour (packed)

2-3 cups choc chips

Bake at 400 degrees for 7-9 minutes

Asian Beef and Noodles

(So easy and So yummy)

1 lb. groud beef

2 pkg. (3 oz each) oriental flavor Ramen noodles

2 cups frozen vegetable mixture

1 t. ground ginger

2 Tbs. thinkly sliced green onions (we love onions so I use way more than that!)

Brown meat and onions, drain fat, season with one packet of seasoning. In skillet combine 2 Cups water, veggies, noodles (broken up) ginger and remaining seasoning packet. Cover, simmer for 3 mins. Combine with meat and grean onions. Enjoy!

News from the Johnsons

Hi all of my sweet RDH's!! Congrats to everyone on their passing scores! How wonderful is this summer? I read by the pool for two hours today and did not feel one bit guilty about it! I might go into serious depression when I actually have to start working.
So I just thought I would let you all know that Kenny and I have decided to deffer (how do you even spell that?) law school for one year. Basically that means that Oklahoma City University will hold Kennys spot in their program for the 2008 school year. This has been a really hard decision for us to make but we have fasted and prayed a TON and, although we are sad to not be embarking on a new adventure, we really do feel good about our decision. You see... OKU is a VERY expensive law school and it basically comes down to us feeling really anxious about getting into that much dept. Ken's dream is still to work for the FBI/DEA, and their salaries are just not quite as special as an attorny's might be:) But he WILL get to carry a gun someday, and who can put a price tag on that, really? So anyways, I am just going to spend this year working my butt off and saving every penny for our little law school fund. Kenny is also going to work his little butt off trying to increase his LSAT score, with the hopes of getting into a cheaper school next year.
So all you UTAH GALS... Hollaaa! Lets party all the time, and lets make regular visits to NYC, London, Washington, Texas, and Arizona!
Speaking of parties... I will not be able to make it to out get together next Friday:( I am totally bummed about it. I wish so badly that I could be there but my parents are taking us to Les Miserable that night. I will be thinking about you all. Everyone eat an extra "Soren Brownie" for me:)
I hope to see some of you at Milly's blessing tomorrow. I love and miss you all!!!

McKenzie
PS stay tuned for some sweet pictures just as soon as I fugure out how to post them!