Adventures in Married Life

INGREDIENTS

1 package (12 oz.) tri-color rotini pasta
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 package (1 oz.) dry ranch dressing mix
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup milk
8 slices cooked bacon, chopped)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 can (4.25 oz.) sliced black olives, drained
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add rotini pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain water. Rinse pasta with cold water to cool. Set aside.In a large bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream, dry ranch mix, garlic powder and milk. Add pasta, cooked bacon pieces, tomato, olives and cheese to the bowl. Gently toss to combine everything.Cover and chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours before serving.

photo credit and recipe from here

INGREDIENTS

1 pound lean ground beef
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 Tablespoons ketchup
1 teaspoon dried minced onion,  pepper and salt, to taste
5 large flour tortillas
shredded Cheddar cheese
mustard
tomato slices
lettuce

INSTRUCTIONS

Brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain any grease. Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, minced onion and salt and pepper to beef. Stir to combine.Reduce heat to low and let mixture heat thoroughly, about 5 minutes or so.Sprinkle some cheddar cheese down the center of each tortilla. Add a few heaping Tablespoons of the beef mixture on top of cheese. Drizzle a little mustard (and more ketchup, if desired) on top of the beef, and then add a couple tomato slices. Roll up each tortilla burrito-style.Place wraps, a couple at a time, onto a preheated indoor grill and grill for 3-5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Carefully remove wraps from grill and place on a plate. Gently unravel wrap to add some lettuce. Re-roll wrap and then cut in center diagonally. Serve immediately and enjoy!

recipe credits here

All the delicious flavors of beef enchiladas rolled up in lasagna noodles!

INGREDIENTS

8 lasagna noodles
1 pound lean ground beef
1 (1 oz.) packet taco seasoning mix
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 (10 oz.) can mild red enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

TOPPINGS

sour cream
salsa
diced tomato
guacamole
sliced olives

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350° F. Boil lasagna noodles in a large pot of water, until al dente, according to package directions. Drain water, then lay noodles out flat onto parchment paper.Meanwhile, cook and brown ground beef in a large skillet. Drain grease. Add taco seasoning (and water it calls for on packet). Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer 10 minutes. Remove from heat.Pour half the can of enchilada sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish.Spread 2 Tablespoons of cream cheese down the center of each lasagna noodle. Top cream cheese with a few Tablespoons of meat mixture and a little cheddar cheese. Roll up tight. Repeat with all noodles, cheese and meat mixture.Place lasagna rolls in the prepared baking dish. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tops and then sprinkle evenly with the remaining cheddar cheese.Bake rolls, uncovered, for 25 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving. Serve with all your favorite toppings!

POPCORN BALLS

Ingredients:

Directions:

We welcomed Mr. Weenie the Chiweenie earlier this year. Pacer wanted him to be his dog but Mr. Weenie had other plans. He literally has attached himself to me. I go no where without the idiot. So it made Pacer a little sad. 

Luckily we happened into an adorable orange kitten. Thank you Arroyo family. So now Pacer has his pet. Mango is officially his. I do not want to be accused of trying to steal his cat.

So on the record he is all his!

Tiny house or not doesn't stop us from collecting animals. We love our little zoo…

All I can say is WOW! I can't believe we actually survived this year. Well most of us. {We lost our Misha kitty, after the fire.}

I sit her staring at this blank screen and my mind goes blank.  I can not believe how lucky we have been this year.  February was my last full month of child care. I closed my doors and started a brand new adventure...basically I decided it was time for me to start living my dream. March 1st was day one of an incredible journey. I was officially a full time photographer. I don't know why this didn't happen years ago. I was terrified...actually I am still a little. It's crazy to give a full time gig up for something scary and unknown. My first month was sad, I was super depressed. I worked my tail off to market and promote and get the word out. I thought I must be a fraud, this will never work. I looked at other photographers work and thought I could never be that good. I am far from being perfect but I am a work in progress. 

My summer slowly booked up and then I realized I had booked up every weekend throughout the rest of the year. I was shocked. Thrilled but shocked. It gave me the confidence I needed to work my buns off. 

2 Sprained ankles & a broken foot: Can't keep me down. I started wedding season in a wheelchair...thank you to those who were so patient with me. Not easy to photograph a wedding with crutches but man I did it!

August 5, 2016 at 6pm: Our lives were turned upside down. We suddenly found ourselves homeless. A fire ravaged our home and destroyed 95% of everything we owned. The greatest blessing of all was that Pacer was home when it happened. He saved the animals. Very little was saved after that. I canceled my photo shoot that evening and came racing home...at a safe speed of course.  We spent weeks pulling out stuff and trying to salvage bits and pieces of our lives. It was devastating. I was an emotional wreck. I tried to remind myself it was just stuff. But its hard to sift through so many memories and not feel something.  I will be forever grateful for my parents for sweeping in like a mother hen and bringing us into their already crowded house. Going from a king size bed to a full was traumatic… I did overcome that. {barely} 

So many people were there to help us and our dear Briana & Aden. Who PS are doing amazing now. 

October 4, 2016: The day we signed the dotted line...actually it wasn't dotted. But we did dot our i's and crossed our t's. McMinnville here we come. We bought a new house. 2 months after losing everything we were starting over.  It was kinda fun buying a brand new everything. Our house literally is an Ikea showroom. I think pretty much everything came from there. We have half the size of our old house. So we had to go small, compact everything.  As I sat at my new kitchen table, in my new house, looking at my new furniture, new paintings, new clothes, new everything… it just didn't feel like home. There was nothing from our old house. It was just like an Ikea showroom. Kinda cold and impersonal. I knew that we were going to be making new memories here but it just didn't feel the same.  Sometimes I think this is just temporary and that I will be going back to my home.  But then I realize that everything from that past life is now buried in the landfill. 

It is sometimes hard to leave behind the past and move forward. I have always adjusted to change, but this one has made a real difference in my life. 

Jade Photography: I love what I do so much. I love meeting new people and sharing in on the most amazing day of their lives. Being my first official year of business, I have learned so much. I want to apologize for all my mistakes. What a learning curve! I can not wait to start the 2017 year. I have so many ideas and plans. I know that this year will be so much better. I am not anticipating my house burning down, or any thing else so horribly traumatic. I definitely can not promise that I will not sprain an ankle or two… I do that a lot. {lame weak ankles} But I can promise that I will just as hard and fix past mistakes.

 I promise to learn more, gain more experience, laugh more, give more, & love more!

Merry Christmas to all my friends and family. May you be blessed throughout the New Year. Remember all your blessings and give thanks to a loving Heavenly Father & our Savior Jesus Christ. 

Long time no see

We have done so many wonderful things this year so far. 

#1 

 Our Arely got married in Mesa AZ. I was so lucky to be able to photograph her day. I am so proud of her for making such wonderful choices in her life. We love her to pieces. 

 I became a member of the McMinnville Chamber of Commerce. I am loving it. It is so great to be able to network with so many great people. 

#3

 I closed my day care doors. I have loved taking care of these amazing little people. I love them all so much. I love watching them grow up on Facebook. Thank goodness for Facebook

#4

We went and stayed the new year with our dearest friends Wendy & Brian Coughanour in Klamath Falls.  We love them and miss them like crazy.

#5

 So far we are enjoying our 2016.