Life is Fantasmic

If you've ever been to Disneyland, Disney's Hollywood Studios, or Tokyo DisneySea you may be familiar with my favorite nighttime spectacular, Fantasmic!

All three versions are different, but have the same basic outline.

Although I've never been to the Tokyo Disney resort, I would love to go someday to check it out!

Anywho,

So in Fantasmic...

Mickey is dreaming and his imagination gets the better of him.

It's an epic battle between good vs evil,

and as we all know,

good always conquers evil in the end.

Life is a constant battle between choosing good over evil or right over wrong.

and although evil may be enticing at times,

we will be much happier in the long run when we choose good.

My life is quite similar to Mickey's dream.

I have a powerful imagination.

I love to dream.

There have been times in my life where I have let my imagination get the better of me.

I have made wrong choices.

However,

much like the power of Mickey's imagination that defeats the evil in his dream,

the power of Christ's atonement has helped me overcome the wrong choices I've made.

It has helped me become much happier & I am forever thankful for that.

Dreams can seem incredibly real while we are having them,

no matter how bizarre they may be.

I remember my dreams quite often & they are almost always bizarre.

When I tell Hubby that "I had a weird dream last night"

he always responds with, "You mean you had a dream last night",

because he already knows all of my dreams are weird.

"Some imagination, huh?"

Think about actual life for a second.

The exact moment we are in seems real, right?

Think back to your childhood,

last year,

last week,

yesterday,

5 minutes ago,

or even 5 seconds ago.

To me, those moments now seem like a dream.

They seem surreal.

We can never recapture that moment exactly.

It's weird to think about actually.

That's why it's so great to live in the now.

Enjoy the moment while it lasts,

because that exact moment will never happen again.

I want to be able to remember those great moments in my life before I forget them.

I want to be able to re-live them through my blog.

I used to be absolutely wonderful at journaling.

Writing every day about the silly mundane things going on in my life.

Writing about friends & boys I had a crush on.

Writing about my thoughts or even the weather.

For the most part, I enjoy re-reading my journals.

There are plenty of happy parts,

& also some sad parts.

"Oh yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it you can either run from it, or... learn from it."

- Rafiki -

I choose to learn from it & hope my posterity can do the same.

I created this blog for that reason among many others.

We've been married almost 6 years & I have yet to write about our wedding.

That's how much I've slacked on writing in my journal.

I regret that entirely.

I hope to be better at writing on this blog much in the way that I used to write in my journal.

I want to remember the important things & learn from the tough moments.

I want to write about the fantastic but ever so surreal moments that happen in my life.

Because life is fantasmic.

Cheesy Chicken Bacon Ranch

Cheesy CBR.
Parmesan Chicken meets Chicken Bacon Ranch.
They fall in love.
So do my taste buds.
It's quite the love triangle.

4 Tbsp butter (melted)

1 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 dry ranch packet

4-5 large chicken breasts

bacon bits

grated cheese (I use cheddar & monterey jack)

Melt butter in small microwaveable bowl. Combine parmesan cheese & 1/2 of a dry ranch packet in another bowl. Dip chicken in butter, then coat with parmesan ranch mixture on both sides. Place coated chicken into glass 9x13 pan. Sprinkle generous amount of bacon bits & grated cheese on each piece of chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes.

Featured at:

Alice Springs Braided Chicken Roll

I love Outback Steakhouse's Alice Springs Chicken.

Every single time I drive by Outback Steakhouse, I crave it.

I've been seeing a lot of copycat recipes lately on Pinterest & Facebook that have been making my mouth water.

So I decided I was going to make it to see if it tasted just as good.

That was the plan, but I had a couple cans of crescent rolls I needed to use up.

So I decided to dress-it-down a bit & turn it into a Braided Chicken Roll.

It was bonza mate!

2 cans crescent rolls

2 large chicken breasts (shredded)

1/4 cup mustard

1/3 cup honey

2 Tbsp mayo

1/4 tsp seasoning salt

1 1/2 tsp dried onion flakes

2-3 Tbsp bacon bits

1 cup colby jack cheese (shredded)

optional: Sliced fresh mushrooms (Outback Steakhouse uses mushrooms, but we don't like them so we left them out)

Cook & shred chicken. Mix mustard, honey, mayo, seasoning salt, & dried onion flakes until well combined. Add shredded chicken to sauce and stir until coated. Add bacon bits & colby jack cheese, and stir until completely coated. Unroll crescent roll dough & arrange flat on a cookie sheet. Pinch perforations together until it is one large, flat piece of dough. Cut inch-wide slits in the dough towards the center across the length of the sheet forming a fringe on 2 sides. Leave a solid 3-4" strip in the middle for the chicken mixture. Spread chicken mixture evenly onto the solid section. Fold the strips over the chicken mixture, alternating strips from each side and pinch to seal. Sprinkle with cheese if desired. Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown & no longer doughy.

Note: I left out the dried onion flakes since I didn't have any, so that measurement was based off of the recipes I've seen that call for 1/2 Tbsp. Next time I will be sure to try it with the dried onion flakes!

Kuzco Rafiki

Gratitude Journal - Little Dudeman

11/2/11 (fb) - "Day 2: I am thankful for Little Dudeman & for all the joy he brings to my life! He's so stinkin' adorable & always puts a smile on my face! He's gonna be one awesome big broha (:"

__________________________________________________♥__________________________________________________

4/17/13 - Let me rephrase that... He IS one awesome big broha!

He knew his little sister's name before she was born.
He would hug my tummy & give her kisses all the time.
It was absolutely precious.
When our Little Princess was born he would run to her when she was crying to make sure she was okay.
When he's sick, he asks me what she is doing, & wants her to stay where he can see her.
He reads to her, sings with her, & dances with her.
He loves to play with her and make her laugh & smile.
She wants to be just like him.
Sure, they get on each other's nerves every now & then;
but they love each other.
A lot.

He's absolutely adorable.
So is Little Princess, but I'll save that for another post...

Some of his signature sayings when he was younger:

"Goygoygoy."
"Oh yes."

Other fun tidbits about Little Dudeman:
He was born right on his due date.
Hubby reeeally wanted to name him Kuzco Rafiki, but I felt like the name just didn't suit him.
He knows his ABCs & CBAs.
He's small for his age - almost 3 & he wears 18 month clothes.
He is the sweetest & smartest little boy I know.

He is supposed to have eye muscle surgery for strabismic amblyopia in the morning.
The surgery will be about 45 minutes & he will be completely out for it.
Although I'm sure he will be fine, I still worry.
I hate seeing him miserable.
I am hoping for a quick recovery & that he won't be in a lot of pain.
I want him to be back to his normal, chipper, cheerful self as soon as possible.
Thoughts & prayers would be greatly appreciated.

Easter Minute to Win It

Sooo I'm a tad late with my post about our Easter activities...

Sorry 'bout that.

Early in March I was in charge of planning an Easter Minute to Win It for the youth in our ward at church.

We split into two teams & I wrote the name of the mini-games on the board.

I had searched the Minute To Win It site for ideas that I could twist into an Easter theme

& these were the ones that I decided on (although there are plenty to choose from):

Bucket Head

We used the same distance requirement of 5', but used plastic Easter eggs instead of ping pong balls & a plastic Easter bucket from the dollar store. We turned it into a two person mini-game by having one person hold the bucket on their head behind a taped-off line & another person from their team throwing the eggs from 5' away into the bucket on the other person's head. We had each team doing this at the same time.

Egg Roll

We did this mini-game one team at a time & followed the actual rules except for using plastic Easter eggs instead of raw eggs.

Egg Tower

We had each team playing this at the same time & followed the rules except for using plastic Easter eggs instead of raw eggs.

Face the Cookie

We used store-bought springtime frosted mini sugar cookies & had each team playing this at the same time. We followed the rules but only required them to get one into their mouth.

High Strung

We had each team playing this at the same time, but used plastic Easter eggs instead of real ones. You would think that the groove from the Easter eggs would make it easier to carry from one soda bottle to the other, but neither team succeeded in the minute time limit.

Matchmaker

We did this mini-game one team at a time & used jellybeans for the candies.

Sticker Picker Upper

We played this mini-game one team at a time, used a plastic Easter egg instead of a raw one, & started out with them holding the tray rather than using the tables. Somehow I missed that part of the rules when I read through it. This was probably the easiest mini-game that they played.

Whippersnapper

We played this mini-game one team at a time & used plastic Easter eggs instead of ping pong balls & a medium-sized box instead of a laundry basket. We found that the 15' was quite difficult, so we moved it up a few feet. We also found that it was really hard while the box was stationary so we allowed another team member to move the box around as long as they stayed behind the new boundary line.

As you can see, we changed things up a bit to fit the Easter theme...

I think we had about nine youth show up that night, so most of them got to participate in 2 games for their team. We let the winning team of each mini-game pick the next game. 

It was a lot of fun!

While writing this post, I found an awesome link to more Easter Minute to Win It ideas...

I may have to try some of those next year!

Don't worry... I haven't forgotten about Oswald.

I've just been kinda busy & side-tracked lately.

I'll have a post up about that soon!

Breakfast Casserole

We eat this yummy Breakfast Casserole & Pull-A-Part Bread for breakfast every LDS General Conference weekend!
We usually eat it on Christmas & Easter too, but since Easter & Conference were so close this year we decided to just make it for Conference.

1 bag frozen hash browns (shredded)

2 cups shredded cheese (I use more)

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp garlic or onion salt

bacon, ham, sausage, beaten eggs, & other things typically found in omelettes (optional)

Put the potatoes in a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle the grated cheese & seasonings over the potatoes. Then pour the cream on top. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45-60 minutes.

Note: Mix the bacon, ham, sausage, beaten eggs, & other mix-ins with the potatoes prior to the cheese & cream if you want them in your casserole.

Both the Breakfast Casserole & Pull-A-Part Bread are delicious enough on their own,

but personally, I feel like they need to be served together.

It could just be the tradition factor of always having them together that is making me say that,

but every time I make one without the other I feel like something is missing.

Breakfast Casserole is the best friend to the sweet & sugary Pull-A-Part Bread.
It's kind of like that saying, "You're the peanut butter to my jelly."
You can't have one without the other.
Well, technically you can...
but your taste buds may disagree.

Pull-A-Part Bread

It's that time of year again...
Time to watch LDS General Conference!
That means no rushing in late to church with the kids on Sunday morning.
It means Hubby can sleep in since he doesn't have to be at the church at 6:30 am for early morning meetings.
It means we get to be spiritually uplifted by watching/listening to talks from the prophet, apostles, & other church leaders as a family in the comfort of our own home.
It means we get to lounge around in our pajamas and eat our traditional conference brunch of Breakfast Casserole & this yummy Pull Apart Bread.

1 square butter or margarine

1 Tbsp water

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 (7.5-oz) cans Pillsbury biscuits

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

In saucepan, melt butter. Coat bottom & sides of 8x8 with 2 Tbsp melted butter. Add brown sugar & water to butter. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Mix sugar & cinnamon together in a large ziplock bag. Break each biscuit in half, place in bag and shake until well coated with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Loosely place coated biscuits in buttered pan. Pour caramel over top of dough. Bake 20-25 minutes at 375 degrees. Invert immediately onto cookie sheet or large plate and remove from pan.

Note: Double this recipe for a 9x13 pan

This post was featured: