Family Pictures!

(looks like a Levi's ad, right?!)

The Miller family has grown,

so Perry and Donna decided to have us take new pictures.

I was so happy to be part of this fun day!

Being a Miller is pretty cool!

This must mean they like that Alex married me,

and that Meghann married Emy.

Meg & Emy's sister in law took the pictures for us.

She did an awesome job!

Me and Alex!

Emily

Katy

Perry and Donna

I love how the argyle sweaters turned out.

Awesome idea Meghann!

As many of the pictures show... it was a fun afternoon!

My favorites are the jumping ones! So cool!

Free Giveaway!

A friend of mine is having a giveaway.

I wanted to share this with my friends,

for whoever is interested.

Here is a link to her super cute blog.

http://santasgiftshoppe.blogspot.com/

She does a Santa's Workshop each year

with many cute crafts and treats you can buy.

Check out her blog!

This giveaway is for an awesome

12x12 Italian stone with vinyl lettering.

A rockin' new recipe!

Thursday's are our fabulous Miller evenings.

We meet up at Perry & Donna's house,

and take turns bringing parts of dinner,

and then spend the rest of the night

watching good shows...

Survivor, The Office, & Community.

Yesterday it was our assignment to bring the main dish.

We all have been trying new recipes.

This one sounded healthy, and good,

and supposedly a quick meal.

A forewarning, it takes more than 30 minutes...

Maybe just because it was my first time trying it...

next time, I am sure it will be quicker.

Everyone loved it, so it is a must share!

I found it on myrecipes.com

It's a recipe from Cooking Light Magazine.

It's a site that offers healthier recipe ideas.

It even throws in the nutrional facts, which is cool.

I will add some side notes of things I changed on the recipe,

that turned out well. For one thing I added chicken,

so it would be more filling and more protein.

(LOOKS GOOD ALREADY, RIGHT?!)

Here's the website address if you want to print your own recipe card off the website:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1898541

Pair flavorful pasta with olive tapenade breadsticks for a superfast and delicious meal in minutes.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

• 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 tablespoons minced shallots
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 (9-ounce) package refrigerated linguine
• (I used boxed lunguine noodles, it worked the same)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
• 3 cups chopped zucchini (about 1 pound) (I quarted them in size)
• (I did about 2 cups zucchini, and 2 cups yellow squash to add more for a larger serving)
• 3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint, divided
• 1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese
• (I served it with the option of grated Parmesan cheese, if people wanted it)
• 3 tablespoons sliced almonds, toasted
• 
  

Preparation

1. Combine first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add 2 teaspoons oil, tossing to coat.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain well.

3. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan, swirling to coat. Add garlic to pan; sauté 30 seconds. Add zucchini; sauté 3 minutes or until crisp-tender.(This is where I added the chicken I previously cooked, and cut into cubes) Add broth; bring to a simmer. Stir in pasta and 1 1/2 tablespoons mint; toss well. Remove from heat; stir in tomato mixture. Place 1 1/2 cups pasta mixture in each of 4 bowls; top evenly with remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons mint. Sprinkle each serving with 4 teaspoons cheese and 2 teaspoons almonds.

Olive tapenade breadsticks: Combine 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, and 15 finely chopped pitted kalamata olives in a small bowl. Spread olive mixture over 1 (11-ounce) can refrigerated breadsticks dough. Twist each breadstick; bake at 375° for 15 minutes or until browned.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

344

Fat:

12.7g (sat 3.1g,mono 6.6g,poly 2g)

Protein:

14g

Carbohydrate:

45.5g

Fiber:

5.3g

Cholesterol:

58mg

Iron:

3.4mg

Sodium:

601mg

Calcium:

163mg

I just put all the ingredients in a big bowl at the end, rather than each bowl individually, and left the option of people putting cheese on top, almonds, and/or mint. It was great with the chicken cooked in, I used a Mrs. Dash lemon marinade to cook the chicken in, just to give it a little flavor. To accomodate 7 servings instead of 4, I used zucchini and yellow squash, added chicken, and of course more noodles. Also, this time around, we did not make the breadsticks, but I think it would have been a great addition to the meal, so next time I am going to try that part of the recipe.

It was definitely a fun night.

Meghann & Emy brought a salad,

we all thought it tasted like the salad

at The Olive Garden.

Donna made some cute pumpkin, peanut butter treats,

and some delicious Chocolate Mousse.

Meet Jenna!

Monday Alex got to go to the Big Fresno Fair

with the special needs kids he works with.

On my way home from work,

I recieved a text message saying,

"I have a surprise for you when you get home."

I knew he had won something at the fair.

I shouldn't have been so surprised,

Alex always talks about getting a fish or some sort of animal.

So he did it, he won a goldfish!

We officially have our first pet!

Now I feel like one of those couples

that gets a pet to fill the void of no kids yet.

I think it's fairly common... haha.

So if this fish can survive, that is a good sign.

Here's the happy boy with the fish he won!

Of course we had to hurry and go get

a bowl and some food right away.

I said, as long as you let me take pictures!

We flipped a coin to find out if it was a boy or girl,

because we didn't know which we'd want.

We flipped boy, but ended up deciding we wanted a girl name.

We picked the name Jenna.

One of the girls in Alex's class

named her stuffed animal Alex,

so we decided to name our fish after her.

Love it!

I guess it would be weird now to name

a future child of ours, Jenna, and now I am

really starting to like it. oh well.

So that is our newest excitement!

That was Monday that Alex won Jenna,

and here it is wednesday

and the water already is pretty merky...

I am glad he agreed to clean the bowl.

Childhood home!

MY CHILDHOOD HOME IS FOR SALE!!!

Less than $100,000.... but Alex just won't let me get it. Just kidding...I wouldn't really want to live there. I did only live there until I was 5 years old, so you would think my memories were pretty little. It was a very special house though, I remember lots about it! Terra probably remembers even more about it. Loved it!

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/166-West-National-Ave_Clovis_CA_93612_1112553583?source=hp

Here are some pictures of us in front of the house on National Ave.

Terra and I in front of the door for our "First Day of the School Year Picture"

There we are in front of the fireplace!

There I am in the backyard...

Terra and I in the kitchen! (The cabinets are different now)

Those are all the pictures I have off hand, but I know my mom has tons more of us in that house. It was a very special house to us!

wow!

I am back!

I was waiting until I had some fun pics to show what we've been up to.

I didn't come up with much, but here's the latest....

In late September I headed to Visalia to meet up with some of my girlies from Dental Hygiene School. It was a blast! We went out to dinner, talked about work, laughed really hard, and had tons of fun! So here we are....

Random... one day, I needed to make some cookies for visiting teaching, and a survivor party we were having at the Millers. I so kindly asked my wonderful hubby to help me out. He asked if I mixed the dough, he would bake the cookies. Well, late morning start for me, and I didn't get time.... Thankfully I came home and he had at least started the job for me. haha. I had to take a picture because this is what I found in the fridge when I came home from work.

I am so glad he tried to be helpful. I just laugh because he tried mixing it with a wooden spoon I guess, and the dough just didn't gather very well... it was very chunky. I was able to work it though, and make some decent sugar cookies. It just made me smile!

In September we got a much needed new computer! That was exciting! I love having a labtop, but we were in much need of a fast desk top with lots of room on the hard drive. Since our computer desk looks so neat and tidy now, I had to of course organize the desk drawer. Look at all the beautiful and color coordinated files! LOVE IT!

Another highlight. The dentist I work for, one day a week in Sanger, is pregnant. She's due this month. Well, our combined offices had a shower for her. I should have taken the picture with her, but I didn't, and the cake covers her cute pregnant belly. This cake was pretty cute that one of the girls made.

This summer Alex decided he wanted to grow his hair out. I wasn't too excited, because I love his clean cut look. Well, he went for it anyways with the encouragement of his sisters.

This is as far as he got though before he was ready to cut it...

Maybe he will try that another time...

Can you tell he loves that I love taking pictures...haha.

Meghann cutting his hair!

We had to have some fun of course making some funny hair do's before cutting it off.

I was very pleased though with the outcome. He just looks so good with shorter hair!

So for some reason I was really into baking this month...

I tried a new recipe I found online, I will have to post that later.... but here's a picture of how yummy they turned out. Hard to tell, but they tasted great!

I am bad...

I gave into an infommercial....yikes!

It was a great deal though!!!

It's called 'Fix-it'. I have yet to try it...but I will.

When you go to purchase it online they try an get you to buy all this other stuff too... I only fell for part of it...haha.

So I have a handy tire repair kit to keep in my car, and a cordless vacuum, which will come in very handy!

On to October....

I enjoyed this wonderful conference weekend! It was great! Very uplifting, and inspiring! We also celebrated my dad's birthday. Very cool! Enjoyed yummy cake! It was pretty fun. We had a delicious breakfast at the Miller's and watched the Sunday morning session, and then went to Grandma Clinton's house for the afternoon session. I almost got away with no make, and pjs all day, but then I had to go to choir practice that night. I am going to sing in our stake women's Christmas concert. It is pretty fun so far, and should turn into a great performance! Fun stuff to look forward too.

So saturday a friend from elementary school got married. It was fun to see some friends that I haven't seen in awhile. Here are some pictures from the night.

Me and my friend Shelly. She's a blast! It was great catching up.

Stephanie and her hubby Shamus dancing...

Us girlies...

Stephanie's the one who caught the bouquet at our wedding. I was hoping Michelle would catch hers... but she didn't. I am happy for Stephanie and her hubby, they look like they know how to have fun together!

So that basically sums up September and the beginning of October...maybe I will be better about my posting this month. Who knows!

Oh, also... from August. I found this picture that Alex took on his phone that I forgot about. It is me holding my cousins (Felicity & Rob's) baby, Beckham. He is too cute!

Lastly....

Best of all about this month, is that we can say...

NEXT MONTH TYSON COMES HOME!!!

Santa Maria Trip- Justin's homecoming

Last weekend was very exciting.

My cousin Justin returned home from his mission.

He served in Croatia for two years.

We were super excited to go see lots of family!

It got me really excited thinking

that my brother will be coming home in November!

Here's some pictures of the wonderful time we had.

This is everyone that got to be there.

This is Justin and his family (minus Uncle Tom,

who's working hard in Africa right now.)

Gracey was being pretty cute during the pictures

and lifting her skirt to show off her tummy.

This is Justin with Grandma Betty.

Stud muffin Jason shootin' a pose!

Matt and Terra looking good

Alex and Jason looking hot...

Our family -Tyson +Justin

Our cousin Jay, with Justin and Aunt Brenda and Skip

Justin and Jeff smiling for pictures

Me holding Maddy, only 1 of the 5 kids my cousins have.

They are all adorable, but I only could snatch a picture with this one.

In the picture, you can see Grandma Betty with her hand out.  She was tickling Maddy's arm with her long fingernails.  This must have gone on for like 15 minutes.  After she tickled one arm, Maddy would stick out her next arm, and then lift her shirt for a belly rub, and then her back, and then go back to the other arm.  Over and over.  She loved it!

It was so much fun being able to visit with Justin about his experiences. He gave such a great talk on sunday, talking about his opportunity to become closer to Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ over the past 2 years.  It truly inspires me to strive harder for focus on those important things.  It was fun to talk with aunts, uncles and cousins. We had such a nice time. I am so grateful to have such wonderful family!