Member Missionaries: Instruments in God's hand

            “And as all have not faith, seek ye diligently and teach one another words of wisdom; yea, seek ye out of the best books words of wisdom; seek learning, even by study and also by faith.”

            Justin and I had an amazing experience yesterday with missionary work. It was one of those moments that all of a sudden everything in your life lines up on its own as you suddenly remember what is most important in this life for you to be doing: sharing the gospel.

            This life is a test, a series of trials, challenges, and temptations to see if we, God’s children, will turn to Him, keep our faith strong, and endure to the end and receive the blessings which He has for us. This life is only a test and at times when I strongly feel the Spirit with me, I remember that having the cleanest apartment, doing fun things with friends, getting a great job, or Justin spending countless hours every day studying are not the most important things. Although those are not bad goals to have, in fact they are very good goals and can lead to greater opportunity in the future, I realize that Heavenly Father has a plan for me as He does for each one of His children and He needs us all to be spreading the beautiful gospel that we have been blessed with in our lives. I don’t know what I would do without the gospel. If I couldn’t look at this life with an eternal perspective, it would be a very bleak world. And so I want to share it and share this experience with you.

            As Justin and I prayed about coming out to Virginia three months ago, we prayed for increased opportunity to do missionary work. Personally, I found it kind of hard in Orem, UT to reach out to strangers to share the gospel because I felt like everybody there had already heard of the LDS church and knew about it…plus I felt like it was difficult to find those who weren’t members since most of the people I hung out with and worked with were. As we prepared to move to Charlottesville, we prayed that we’d be able to accomplish what Heavenly Father would have us do out here in addition to schooling, especially when it came to missionary work.

            We’ve had the missionaries come visit us three times since we moved here about three weeks ago, but last night was the first night they brought an investigator with them—Shay (changed for anonymity). The missionaries had met Shay on Sunday when her friend, another investigator, invited her to come to church. That was the first night the missionaries met with Tori. Yesterday was Monday and they already had their second appt with her at our house.

            The discussion was on the Restoration and the missionaries had brought the Restoration video to explain a little more clearly to Shay about the restoration of the gospel and Joseph Smith’s part in the organization of the church. The Restoration video always touches my heart and brings the Spirit into the room. After the movie ended, the missionaries asked Shay what she thought and felt. She described the Spirit—a peaceful, calm. She seemed really interested in the LDS church and had read the introduction to the Book of Mormon on Sunday. The missionaries then asked Justin and I to share our thoughts on the restoration and the Book of Mormon as the missionaries were testifying that the Book of Mormon was true and would guide and help Shay.

            Justin started explaining how the Book of Mormon has influenced him and then said, “Well Kim actually has a really cool experience with the Book of Mormon.” I’d thought about sharing this experience with her, but I’d given a talk on the Book of Mormon on Sunday and Shay had come to Sacrament meeting so I figured she’d already heard it. When Justin prodded me, however, I asked Shay if she remembered me talking about it. It turns out she hadn’t made it to Sacrament meeting until just after my talk. So I shared my experience personally with her:

 When I 14 years old, I had my first real trial that made me fall to my knees often in prayer. It sounds silly now but I struggled with feeling like I had any real friends and I struggled knowing who I was—I felt so completely, utterly alone. I prayed often to know what to do and soon found my answer.

In seminary, I often had teachers and peers share experiences where either they or someone they knew struggled with something and they would pray to Heavenly Father and then open their scriptures and point to a verse and that would miraculously be the one that helped them through their trial.

I’d always thought that maybe that was just a coincidence, but at this time in my life, I needed Heavenly Father’s help so I decided to go on faith and to try this. I knelt down and said a prayer to my Father in Heaven asking for His help and then I opened my scriptures and pointed to a verse—Alma 18:21

I’ll let you read it on your own, but I read it with Tori. I explained how this one little verse brought me such strength as I read how Heavenly Father would guard me with His armies and suddenly I didn’t feel so alone anymore. At this point in my life, I’d never read the BoM all the way through, cover to cover and so my knowledge of what happened in what books in the Book of Mormon was lacking.

Later, when I did finally read straight though the BoM I realized something interesting—Alma 18:21 is not Heavenly Father speaking, but King Lamoni speaking to Ammon. And I thought, How did I get this so wrong? And I had the thought, You didn’t. At that particular time in my life, I needed to know that Heavenly Father was with me, that He was guiding me, that He loved me, that He was protecting me and as I prayed about it, He answered me in a way I’d understand. That scripture still brings me strength because not only did I gain a testimony of the BoM, but the BoM helped me to gain a testimony of my Father in Heaven’s true, everlasting love for me as His daughter.

           I bore my testimony to Shay that I know the Book of Mormon is true and that it had been given to us to help us. I told her that I know Heavenly Father loves her so much because He is her father. I shared my testimony with her and I can’t even remember what I said, I just remember feeling such conviction behind my words and I felt the Spirit pouring out of me. Later Justin told me that the Spirit really was so strong when I bore my testimony.

            By the time I finished, Shay was tearing up, her face flushed, and she said, “You don’t know how much I needed to hear that.” She said a few times how much she needed to hear those things and she wrote down in her study journal, “Read the Book of Alma” and said that she wanted to go through and read that whole book because she thinks it could really help her.

The missionaries pointed out to us and to Shay what a blessing this was that she hadn’t heard my experience and my testimony of the Book of Mormon on Sunday so that I could share it with her personally today! I love it when the Lord’s hand in our lives becomes so clear!

It was such an amazing experience, getting to be a part of missionary work and to willingly be an instrument in the Lord’s hand to bring others unto Him. I love missionary work and am excited for the opportunity to do more!

Go Missionary Work! Woot! J

Quesadilla con Carne Macho

One of our goals this semester is to save $6,000 this semester to help us pay for grad school in upcoming semesters. One of the ways we're doing this is by cutting our grocery bill in half, meaning we plan to only go grocery shopping once a month. This is our first go at it so we'll see how it actually works out, but so far at least one good thing has come from Justin and I only grocery shopping once a month: we have to get creative sometimes. 

Last night, after deciding we were sick of Top Ramen and after looking at the random, leftover ingredients in our fridge from previous meals, we created this delicious beast--I'm not even kidding, it was SO good. So I thought I'd post it here for all you others who need to use leftover ingredients in your fridge. 

Check it out and enjoy!

Quesadilla con Carne Macho

Serves 2

1 Chicken Breast, cubed

2 TBS Grill Time Chicken Seasoning

4 Flour Tortillas (10-inch)

2 cups Shredded Colby Cheese

1 cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

4 Slices Brown Sugar Deli Ham

1 Green Onion, chopped

1. Grease a small frying pan with Pam or other cooking spray. Place cubed chicken in pan and sprinkle with Grill Time Chicken Seasoning (or another seasoning of your choice). Cook until there's no pink left.

2. In a separate frying pan, heat one tortilla on medium to medium-high heat. Sprinkle with 1 cup of Shredded Colby Cheese and heat until it begins to melt. Divide chicken evenly and place half of the chicken pieces on the cheese. Sprinkle with half the chopped green onions. Place two slices of ham down center of tortilla and sprinkle with 1/2 cup of Shredded Mozzarella Cheese. Place second tortilla on top. 

3. Heat quesadilla for about a minute then flip using a pancake turner. **The melted cheese should hold everything in place. Briefly heat this side of the quesadilla before moving to a plate

4. Repeat steps for second quesadilla

**Great with Sour Cream, Salsa, and Guacamole.

What do you think?

Welcome to Our New Home!

Virginia is amazing. It really is so beautiful here, even on the rainy days...but then again, I love the rain.

Justin and I finished unpacking all of our stuff and sealing off our apartment (to keep cigarette smoke out) a day or two ago. We used a ton of weather stripping around the front door, we duct taped gaps around the washer and dryer hookups and around piping under the bathroom sink, and he even disconnected the dishwasher and pulled it out from the counter so he could fill in a 3' x 2" gap that really let the smell in from the apartment next door. We've put a lot of work into this place over the last week and I really do love it like home. It's set up cute and even our 2nd bedroom/office looks good even though it's part storage room, too.

Ready to see our home? Welcome to the Barracks West Apartments!

See the top left? That's us :) 

Check our new place...

The Kitchen:

Before

After (Cleaned and moved into)

The Living Room/Dining Room:

Before

After

After 

The Bathroom:

Before

After

The Bedroom:

Before

After
(We also built the best dresser ever that you can't see in the pic)

So that's our home for the next year or two...I think it'll work out quite nicely :) There's one more addition we made to our family this last week--her name's RJ (Rhonda Junior). Welcome to the family! 

We Made It! One Week Complete

Well we’re here! After over 33 hours of driving more than 2000 miles across 10 states of the country on just 15 hours of sleep, we made it to Charlottesville, VA. And it is beautiful here! You can’t see to the next street over (or really any distance for that matter) because lush green trees line the sides of every road. It is amazing. It feels like we get to drive through Provo Canyon when we’re just trying to get to the Post Office or somewhere simple…it’s like Provo Canyon but better.

The road trip across the United States was actually really fun, and really pretty. Yep, we even thought the flat, never-ending drive through Wyoming and Nebraska was pretty (it’s probably a good thing we saw those on the first day though). Kentucky was really pretty. St. Louis was fun with the bustle of the big city and we road the metro to the Gateway Arch. That thing is massive and way cool! We tried to get a ride to the top but by the time we made it (blame a crazy, scam artist taxi driver…I am ;)) we’d just missed the last tram by 10 minutes. That’s okay though. We got to walk along the Mississippi River and get out of the motel. Plus, now we have a reason to go back: The Gateway Arch and Buttercake.

Before we got to St. Louis, we did a Church History tour that second day. We saw Adam-Ondi-Ahman, Liberty Jail, Far West, and the RLDS Temple. The first three were absolutely amazing! We sat at Adam-Ondi-Ahman and read scriptures about this beautiful place that Christ will come to during the Second Coming. I thought Adam-Ondi-Ahman was going to just be like a hill, but it’s not. It’s like a valley—it’s huge! And so green! There were butterflies everywhere, too. As we sat and read scriptures about Adam blessing his posterity here, butterflies would come rest on our legs and sit and lick our fingers. (The licking kind of freaked me out).

Far West was absolutely amazing. There is no temple there, but there is dedicated ground for a temple. The saints got as far as dedicating the ground and laying the cornerstones before mobs forced them out. The temple at Far West will be built again for the Second Coming though. Even though there wasn’t a physical temple on that ground, it was a very spiritual experience. A quiet, peaceful hush filled the area. It was amazing, and really interesting because the big RLDS temple did not have that type of peaceful spirit despite the large, expensive structure. It was the quiet, peaceful spirit that filled up the ground at Far West.

Liberty Jail was awesome too. The missionaries there walked us through the history and then showed us the jail where the basement is still the exact same basement, except for a few wall boards, that Joseph Smith and others were locked in for so long. All three places we visited were places that the Prophet Joseph Smith once stood in. It was an awesome experience.

Despite the occasional smell of secondhand smoke drifting into our apartment from around the poorly sealed door, the baseboards, and possibly the pipes, our apartment here in Virginia is pretty nice. It didn’t used to be…when we arrived the white carpets were stained with black and yellow spots, the cupboards were left with food (I found a Chewy bar) and crumbs everywhere, even some sticky residue in the cupboards. Food and grease splattered the outside of the cupboards and we immediately thought, “What are we doing?”

Both Justin and I have known that us coming to Virginia wasn't just to study at UVA but that there was something else that we both need to learn and need to do by doing this. We've only been here three days and we've already learned a ton!

There wasn’t much else we could do so we got to work. We vacuumed the carpets as best we could, scrubbed every inch of the kitchen, even on top of the fridge and cupboards, washed the bathroom, and cleaned walls until it felt a little bit cleaner. Justin, and his handy toolbox, fixed a broken closet door, rogue screws poking through the cupboards, and rogue cables extending from what feels like every corner of the room. We then started the process of unpacking. Today is day 3…or maybe 4 and we still haven't unpacked all the way. This is a HUGE job, especially when there’s only one closet for clothes to go and the coat closet is too risky of a place to put things you don’t want to smell like smoke :/. Yesterday we assembled our bed, dresser, kitchen table, office desk, and set up our couch and TV. It’s really starting to look like home.

We bought a TV stand, contact paper for inside the kitchen cupboards, a 5-shelf storage unit to put all our big appliances on since the cupboards are too small for such things, a super cute area rug to hide some spots and to bring in color, and some more.

Although I didn’t like the place when we first moved in, I really like it now. All except that pesky smoke smell coming from the neighbors. When the smell came in the other night while we were trying to relax and watch TV, we were both super disheartened. We didn’t want to have to get rid of all of our stuff when we’re done here because it and us smell like smoke. We didn't know what to do. We’ve narrowed the smoke smell coming from the hallway (which always smells heavily of smoke) and then possibly through the baseboards.

The only thing we can think to do is to get to work. Today we’re going shopping and going to look into getting weather stripping to put around the door so that hallway smoke can’t come in. I’m hoping that with that and some Wallflower plug ins throughout our home, it’ll stop smelling like smoke and stop letting the smoke in.

Do you have any suggestion for what we should do??  We could use some ideas!

Three Days and Counting

It is so crazy! We only have three days until we head out to Virginia--three days! I told Justin earlier today that I don't know how I feel about it... well, I do actually. Excited, sad, nervous, antsy to get gone, pumped for the adventure, panicked, loved, and a whole lot of other stuff.

This last week has flown by what with work, hanging out with some of our absolute favorite people! (Mom & Dad, Kris & Trent, Kathy & Kirk, the Stockwells, Grandma Downs, Josh & Rache, the Blenders, the Biesingers, Jared & Heather, the Turners, and Jen and her kiddos!), packing, looking for jobs, and everything else. It has been crazy busy, which unfortunately always makes time feel like it's speeding up. The closer we get to actually leaving the harder it is to say goodbye.

Rebecca told me something cool though. It isn't goodbye...you never say "goodbye" to family, only "see you soon." I have to keep reminding myself that each time I hang out with these amazing people I am going to miss so much!

Kristy gave me this amazing goodbye gift to remember her by and to remember that we are sisters for eternity. I am so lucky to have such wonderful people to call my brothers, sisters, and mom and dad. I haven't been able to take the necklace off yet.

Today mom and Stephanie came over for about four hours to help me finish packing up everything in our house. Justin and I have been gradually packing over the past few months and so we didn't have a ton to do, but I still couldn't believe it took us four hours. Our house is practically bare now, including all of our bedding, our closets, and kitchen cupboards, and the boxes in the living room are practically touching the ceiling.

Tomorrow the plan is to finish boxing everything up, go to the temple, and then job hunt all day. Yep, we're still looking for jobs out in VA. I have a part time job with a company called River Runners, a company that does brand management for manufacturer's on Amazon. They are letting me work remotely from Virginia, but I'm looking for a full time job, too--maybe something in the restaurant business, childcare workplace, or at UVA will open up. Other than that, this is now the time to enjoy every moment we can with those we love most.

So far this week we have gone out to eat with the Stockwells; played with Caleb, Morgyn, and Jon at their house; visited with Rebecca and Tate and played at their house; went and visited with Grandma D; packed and cleaned with mom and Stephanie; karaoked all night with all our ward friends and youth; had a fondue night with Kris & Trent, not to mention played games; went shopping with Kris and Mom; went to an Owlz game with the whole fam; visited with Jared and Heather; hung out with Kathy & Kirk and sang at Grandma Benson's devotional. We're going to top it all off with a goodbye party Saturday night with the Lender family and a goodbye party Sunday night with the Benson family. Man, this weekend is going to be rough, but fantastic! It can never really be that bad when you have so many people to love. I feel so lucky and happy to have so many loved ones so close.

And we're just three days and counting.

Virginia Bound & Blessed

We've got one more week until we head out for Virginia and let me tell you it has been a roller coaster ride so far. In the last five days alone I've gone from super stoked to super nervous, fearful to faithful and back again, happy to sad, and everything in between.

Most of you know Justin and I are heading out to live in Charlottesville, VA--the Happiest City in America--for Justin to go to grad school for Speech Therapy. It's going to be an amazing, and hard, experience but we are both ready for it and are overall excited to dive right in. I plan on keeping this blog so that all of my favorite people in the world can keep tabs on us even though we'll be living on the other side of the country (Trust me, I never thought this was going to happen to me!).

As we've been preparing for Virginia, we have been so blessed to see such miracles and blessing emerge from the faithful decisions we've tried to make. Some of the blessings have been pretty simple such as saving an extra $60 on a new pair of glasses I needed because the eye care center receptionist gave me the "friends and family discount" because it saved me more money than my insurance. Others have been a bit larger...

I quit my job at Emergency Essentials last week, something that was actually really hard because I loved the work I was doing and I loved the people I worked with even more. On my last day there, my wonderful boss bought a big cake with lots and lots of frosting (my favorite!) to wish me luck and to say good bye. Everyone signed a card for me and my boss gave me a card because she "needed an entire card to herself" to say good bye.

As I left for the day, my boss (Sarah) called me into an office with her boss (Dean), the CEO (Kyle), and my other supervisor (Taylor) and they told me how much they appreciated all that I had done for the company and how hard I worked. They all told me how much they'd miss me and Kyle even told me to come work here again when I get back from Virginia because they'd take me. And then the biggest surprise of all! They gave me a Trekker II Emergency Kit (a $150 value!) as a good bye gift! This was an amazing blessing to me! Justin and I have been trying to pull together our food storage and 72 hour kits, but they were no where near complete. The Trekker II gave us everything we need for both of us to survive for 3 days after a disaster...and knowing Virginia, we may need to use this sooner rather than later. It was an amazing blessing to me to receive this gift because I was worried about not being prepared, but now I have peace of mind that we'll be okay if something happens. 

I felt such love from all of my coworkers and am really going to miss them all. I am so grateful for the things that I learned from working with this company and with my coworkers. Before I got the job at Emergency Essentials, I prayed a ton about what job I should take. When I got an offer from EE, I also was really confident that I had an offer from 2 other companies as well...one of which paid more than EE. I prayed about it and felt like I should take the part time job at EE. So I did. Nine months later I had learned so much about writing, marketing, and creating company emails. I'd learned more than I thought I could about social media and how to optimize it for a company. I'd made amazing friends and had been hired on full time. I know I was supposed to work at EE so I could learn the things I needed to in order to make me a more marketable candidate for future jobs...which ended up getting me a part time job at a company called River Runners. River Runners is letting me work remotely from Virginia so it is a great job to have to help us through the transition of this big move!

I've felt blessed as I've received this job, as we received loans, as we found the cutest housing only a 40 min bus ride from campus within our budget, as we had such support and love from friends and family donating items to our moving sale and allowing us to keep the money...all within this last week! I definitely feel Heavenly Father watching out for us. In fact, I have felt Him telling me, "I'm watching over you, do not fear. Doubt your doubt before you doubt your faith."

This is the biggest change I've ever made in my entire life (besides getting married) and I am overwhelmed with excitement to go and be with my amazing husband, and sorrow to leave behind my wonderful family and friends. This will definitely be one of the biggest adventures of our lives and it all starts in one week!

Roasted Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

I eat sandwiches practically every day. I really do like them, but when it comes to eating PB&J or even ham & cheese over and over again... it gets kind of old. I found a recipe for a Tomato Pesto and Chicken Sandwich from FavFamilyRecipes.com and adapted to fit my taste buds--and budget. Now, I don't just have to eat PB&Js every day, but I can have the sophisticated taste of chicken, cheese, and a whole lot of flavor. I guarantee you'll like this sandwich just as much as my husband and me :)

(PS. This is a great way to use some leftover grilled chicken)

Roasted Chipotle Chicken Sandwich

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

1/4 cup Mezzetta Roasted Bell Pepper & Chipotle Sandwich Spread

2 TBS Mayonnaise

2-4 Medium Chicken Breasts

Sprinkle Grill Time Chicken Seasoning

1 TBS Olive Oil

4 Slices of Wheat Bread

1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

1 large Tomato, sliced

1 Avocado, sliced

Lettuce

Directions:

1. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add chicken to skillet, sprinkling each side with Grill Time Chicken Seasoning. Cook for 3-5 minutes on each side or until cooked through. 
2. Meanwhile, combine mayonnaise and sandwich spread in a small bowl. Set aside.
3. Remove chicken from skillet, and slice into even strips. Set on a plate to cool a bit. 
4. Toast bread until lightly browned. Slice tomato and avocado.
5. When toast is ready, evenly spread the mayonnaise/sandwich spread mixture onto one side of each piece of toast. Layer chicken slices over the spread (only covering one piece of toast per sandwich). Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over chicken.  
6. Place the two pieces of toast layered with the spread, chicken, and cheese onto a cookie sheet and broil on high for 3-4 minutes or until the cheese has melted. 
7. Remove from broiler and top with tomato, avocado, and lettuce. Cover with the top half of the bread and eat up! 

 

A Writer's World

So before heading off to Virginia I really, really, REALLY want to get further on all of my books (and by further, we all know I mean finished). I have two in the process for those of you who don't know: "Forever & Always" and "The Harvest".

I'm a speculative fiction writer--I've always loved it and I always will. My goal, which I'm publicly posting so you can make sure to hold me accountable, is to write 1,000 words a day. It's not much, but I need to get myself out of my writer's block rut that has been holding me hostage for about 5 months now! Today was the first day (1,000 words is about 2 1/2 pages, double-spaced) and it was pretty easy. Once I get into the habit of writing 1,000 words a day, I'm going to bump it up to 1,500, then 2,000, and so on. If you're interested, check out the novels I've been working on:

Forever & Always:

I struggle to hear any footsteps or creaks; but it's silent, too silent. Edmund had at least made a little noise when he'd come into my room the other night. This isn't Edmund. I try to open my eyes, but I don't dare. I don't want this intruder to know that I know they are here.

Before I can decide what to do, rough hands grip around my neck. My eyes fly open as a scream erupts from my throat. The hands grip tighter, cutting off my scream and airway in an instant. Slowly my body is pulled from the bed. I claw at the hands wound around my neck, they are too tight, too welded on. I can't find a hold. I struggle to bring any amount of air as I kick and thrash around as much as possible. Within seconds my feet leave the floor, my back pinned against the wall, nothing but the hand grasped securely around my neck holding me dangling in the air. 

Forever & Always is a young adult/science fiction book that follows Chloe as she tries to escape the problems of her life, including the death of her father, by travelling into the past. Unfortunately, Chloe ends up in the wrong time and her journey turns from one of saving her father, to scrambling for her own life. She must learn to live in this new world in order to return to the old one. However, as fate would have it, this new world slowly becomes her life as she grows to be self-reliant, to face her problems head on, and as she falls in love with the one man she always thought she'd despise: Edmund.

The Harvest:

How do you control desire? How do you survive obsession? You don't.

Two young lovers must fight against life and death in this Paranormal Fantasy novel of unconventional and impossible love. Jace never thought what he once knew as myth would turn into reality. Let alone, he'd be the one to uncover the truth about the disappearances of males from Santa Cruz...

That is until he fell for Iris—a hauntingly beautiful girl that looked more stunning in the moonlight with the glow of the ocean on her skin than anywhere else on the planet. Sirens, after all, tend to captivate the male species the closer they are to their feeding grounds. Troubled by her own life, Iris doesn't mean to complicate it by letting Jace pull at her heart strings; but before she knows it, it's too late—she's in love with her prey.

It isn't until the only boy who Iris has ever fallen for hears her song (a pure, hypnotic melody of notes that lures men into the ocean, sealing their deaths with her words) that her world turns completely upside down. Suddenly Iris must choose who she stands with: her family or the humans?

Either way, many will die.  

Ham & Cheese Garden Vegetable Wrap

I love eating wraps. I'm not sure why, but they just taste healthier, more refreshing, and overall more delicious than sandwiches. This basic wrap recipe is simple, but I love it because it is so easy to add any of your favorite garden vegetables to create a blend of all your favorite crisp vegetables.

Go ahead and give it a try--you won't be disappointed.

Ham & Cheese Garden Vegetable Wrap

Serving: 1 Wrap

Ingredients:

1- 8 in. Flour Tortilla

1 TBS Mayonnaise

1/8 tsp Mustard

4 Slices Deli Honey Ham (Approx. 2 oz)

1/8-1/4 cup Colby Cheese, shredded or sliced

1 TBS Green Onions, sliced and separated

1 TBS Ranch Dressing

2 Leaves of  Iceberg Lettuce, washed

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Spread mayo and mustard across entire tortilla with butter knife.

2. Lay 4 slices (approx. 2 ounces) of ham down center of tortilla, topping with cheese, green onions, and other vegetables (*see "For a Variation"). 

3. Drizzle ranch dressing over vegetables and then lay lettuce leaves on top.

4. Tuck the top end of the tortilla (one of the ends closest to the meat of the wrap) in towards the center about an inch. Carefully fold one of the open ends over the toppings, tucking it tightly underneath them. Roll tortilla until the entire thing is folded into a wrap. 

5. Enjoy!

For a variation: Try adding some of your favorite garden vegetables to the wrap: juicy tomatoes, shredded carrots, shredded red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, avocado, banana peppers, red/green peppers, pickles, olives, or whatever else you love!

What's your favorite kind of wrap? Let me know so I can try it out, too!

BananaRazzango Smoothie

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, so obviously it's important to make your breakfast as good and as healthy for you as you can to start your morning off right. We love eating breakfast smoothies at our house and we're always trying new ones. I've found that I typically like to eat (or drink) sweeter smoothies over tart ones.

This tangy breakfast smoothie, however, combines the sweetness I love along with fruits that add just a spark of tartness. Enjoy the delicious flavor of vanilla, raspberries, bananas, and mangoes all in one heart-healthy breakfast.

BananaRazzango Smoothie
Yields: About 4 cups

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups Vanilla Bean Yogurt
1 heaping cup Frozen Raspberries
1 whole Banana
1/4 cup Quick Oats
1 cup Frozen Mango Chunks

Directions
1. Combine the first three ingredients into blender and mix until smooth.
2. Add remaining ingredients; blend.
3. Serve immediately.

Easy Garlic Guacamole

Lately I've been getting quite a bit of practice mixing spices, herbs, berries, and more to create different blends of butters and dips, complete side dishes and entrees (not to mention desserts--my favorite!), and more! With all of this practice, I am definitely learning a lot!

The other night I made up this mouthwatering guacamole that I swear will have you coming back for more no matter the dish you plan to eat (not pancakes though... ;) ). And the best part about making this savory dip: it's super simple with only three ingredients!

Let's get started:

Ingredients:
3 Small Avocados
2 TBS Mayonnaise
1 tsp Garlic Salt

Directions:
1. Remove avocado from peel. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mash avocado pieces with a spoon or beaters until smooth, leaving as little avocado chunks left as possible.
2. Mix in Mayo and Garlic Salt
3. You're done! Use your delicious guacamole on practically any dish for an easy way to impress guests and family members alike.

I'm sorry I don't have a photo for this guy, but trust me...it looks just as amazing as it tastes! I'll try to upload one later.

What do you like to blend into your homemade guacamole?