CHINA..TAIWAN...CHINA!!

Ok, so eversince Daniel and I started talking about moving to China, I have always been a little iffy about it..more cause i'm scared! well today, i got news from my good friend from middle/high school Alicia Garcia, that she is moving to TAIWAN this July/August!!! She is half taiwanese and is super excited to have finally get the opportunity to get to know that side of her family! although alicia and I won't be in the same walking or driving distance, i am more content about knowing someone else from home! I am almost positive that we will be in and out of Taiwan. (daniel served his mission there and loves the people)...that means i get to see Ally and go on shopping sprees!!! lol...i can speak english to someone else other than my husband now! ;) however, the benefits from learning mandarin............daniel said to me today.."stop it woman! you're learning too fast!"..lol..i guess i have Shen Lao Shi to thank! (Teacher Shen)

How to cheat-cookies recipe!

ok, so i haven't been so honest about my baking when daniel want cookies at the last minute!...so i cheat... ;/ My relief society president from 2 years ago gave me the recipe.. i'm sure all you ladies that don't want to spend all that time measuring all the ingredients would LOVE this! Your kids would love making them too. Daniel enjoys eating them! ;)

-1 box of cake mix (any kind you like, i usually use devils chocolate)
-1 stick of melted butter
-2 large eggs (make sure you add the butter with the cake mix and mix it well before you add the egg or you'll have scramble eggs in your cookie dough! lol)

THATS IT! you can add as much chocolate chips or your favs into the mix. i usually put 1 cup-1 1/2 of vanilla chocolate morsels to the devils chocolate cookies. i top it with macadamia nuts, almonds, pecans, walnuts, or whatever you like!! you can even use yellow or white cake mix for chocolate chip cookies.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 8 minutes. (no need to grease the pan because there is enough butter in the cookie dough) when you take it out of the oven, let it sit on the cookie sheet for 30-40 seconds before transferring it to a cooling rack (place a sheet of wax paper on top of rack). ENJOY!!

6 months...

Daniel and I will be married for 6 months this weekend! Even though its not quite a year, we are very close! We just can't believe how much time flies...a lot of things happened in the last 6 months..most of it has to do with eating and gaining A LOT of weight! lol. but don't worry....we are gettinig on it! we'd like to thank all of our family and friends who have been very supportive. We love each other more and more each day! ps i'm excited to eat yummy food this weekend.....haha. ;D

Valentine Weekend!

Valentine was great!! Daniel and I started a little early and gave the other person their present early! thursday that is...daniel couldn't wait...hehe...or should i say "I" couldn't wait... :) On saturday morning, I surprised him with snowshoeing! he wanted to do this for a while now but we never got the chance. little to my knowledge, i didn't know how exhausting and tough it would be! My body is sore. some more than the others! lol. We did a 6 mile snowshoeing up Mesa Falls. However, we only hiked up to the lower falls because it was starting to get dark and another 2 miles to the upper falls was not what I had planned! haha. Halfway up there, daniel told me he had a secret to tell me. and i was just SO excited i pushed myself even harder. he told me he'd tell me when we were done. After a looooong afternoon of snowshoeing, he finally told me the secret...DAniel: you want to know my secret? me: yes! Daniel: WOW! that was hard!!--haha....and to think, I complained for the first 30 minutes cause it took all my energy!!! lol..when it seemed like daniel couldn't take it anymore of my complaints, i shut myself up for the next 3 hours!! and here he was, secretively thinking it was hard! lol...gotta love him!!

Whew!! WE WERE FINALLY DONE!

As soon as we got back into town, we took a very short nap and went to the Valentine's Ball! For a moment, it felt like prom because everyone dressed up in their formal dresses. We saw some of our friends there also. We stood in line for pictures for about an hour and a half...but we didn't waste anytime dancing! Daniel was showing me what he got as we waited in line! lol. Overall, it was the perfect ending to a perfect day!

My last surprise for daniel on Valentine's day, a plate of cookies and a bunch of his favorite goodies! He went straight for the chocolate cookies! ;D That evening, Daniel made me a rib eye steak dinner..hmmm SO DELICIOUS! I love my husband!

L.O.V.E.

I know its been awhile since i'veposted something...it just seems like we've been busy busy busy! all i know now is that im excited for this weekend! its our first VALENTINES together and our first valentines being married! being as sneaky as i am, i found what he got me for valentines day... ;) yup! very sneaky me! about a couple of weeks ago, i was in the kitchen and daniel was sitting at the dinner table. he looks at me and says, "monica" and i said "yes sweetie"....he paused a bit, looking as nervous as ever like when he asked me to marry him and said "will you go to the valentines ball with me"? i said YES OF COURSE! isnt he the cutest thing ever? im super excited about that! just wait til what i have in store for daniel...its something he's wanted to do for awhile now! ahhh gotta love him...will soon post pictures from the adventure of Valentines day!