Weekend with my Family

Last weekend my family came up to visit before school starts. It was so much fun to have them come and stay with us. I can't believe how old my younger brothers and sister are getting! Or how tall! Sheesh! I am just a little shorty in my family! 

We had a blast together! We watched a couple of movies, went to the farmers market, walked around the green belt, had a picnic (With delicious sandwiches from Sandwich Tree of course!), played croquet (My dad was the champion and proud of it!), ate a yummy BBQ, homemade ice cream, and homemade muffins! It was all so great!

The weather was a little questionable while Nathan and I went to the store to get supplies for the homemade ice cream! When we were on our way out of the store it went from sprinkling, to windy sprinkling, to rain, to flash flood, to hail all in the minute it took us to run to the car! It was insane!! And so much fun to get caught in that down pour! Needless to say, we got drenched!

I'm super glad my family was able to come up and see us! Next time I hope Stefan can come too! We missed you Bro! 

Mountain Biking

At the beginning of last weekend Nathan really wanted to go mountain biking. He's been wanting to go all summer long! So we finally made it happen. We packed our bikes in the car (That was quite the challenge!) and headed off to Kelly Canyon.

We weren't really sure which trail was a good biking trail, so we tried out a few of them. I'm not sure the first trail we went on was really even a trail, at least not a good one for mountain biking. The second one we went on was great for biking! There were also quite a few cows off in meadows and right next to the trail. (The first ones we noticed close to the trail scared me! I think I'm still a little shaken up over the moose and bear encounter from our hike up Table Rock.)

Nathan and I had a blast mountain biking! It was so fun to try something new and adventurous together. I love that Nathan always wants to do awesome things!

The Pickle Jar

With school starting up again it makes me think of the first time I met Nathan at Utah State over six years ago:

End of August 2007

The very first time we both remember seeing each other was at the first big Family Home Evening activity in the "Aztec" church at Utah State University. We sat at the same table because we were from the same building, Apartment A from Old Farm. My first impression of him was that he was a cute skinny blonde with glasses, who just got home from his mission. (I am strangely attracted to skinny men with glasses, but I didn't think I would end up dating him. Plus, I kind of thought I had a missionary in that moment of time.) When I was walking home with my roommates they kept telling me how "that blonde guy with glasses" kept staring at me and they were convinced he liked me. Ha ha yeah, whatever. 

Later that week I was making a sandwich in my apartment, A4, and I couldn't get the massive pickle jar open. I felt a little dumb, but I really wanted it open, so I went over to the guy apartment, A3. I knocked, and the skinny blonde kid with glasses opened the door. I asked if he could open the jar of pickles and he noticed my initials "NB" on the top of the lid. 

"NB?", he said, "Who's that?" 
"Me, I'm Nicole Blietschau." 
"We have the same initials."
"Seriously, what's your name?"
"Nathan Ballard."
"That's so cool! We have to be best friends!", I told him with my overly excited freshman spunk.

Nathan opened my pickle jar, and the friendship began.

The initials and jar that started it all. (Yes, I kept the pickle jar from my freshman year. Crazy, I know.)

Teacher Friends

I went down to Logan this last Monday to visit a couple of friends. It's Maddie's first year teaching and I wanted to help out with (and check out) her classroom. I'm super excited for her to start teaching 4th grade! Her room is coming together so well and it is really nice! She decided to go with a bee/beehive theme because in 4th grade you learn about the state of Utah, the "Beehive State". She also has lots of teal, yellow, and gray for a color scheme. I love how it all looks and it's such a creative idea!

These name tags are so flippin cute!

I also stopped by to see my other friend Karli. We had a ton of ELED classes together at Utah State and became the best of friends. She has been teaching Kindergarten and is pregnant with TWINS! She is amazing! I cannot wait for her sweet little boys to come! I made her two baby beanies for a baby gift and we just sat and caught up on everything in life!

I love these girls both so much! Good luck with the new school year!

Roommates Reunited and a New Nephew

It's so weird for me to think that I've been graduated from Utah State for over 2 years now... I have the best of memories from the good ol' college days and they are all centered around my best friends. I could not have asked for better roommates and neighbors! Now that the whole gang has graduated we are all getting grown up jobs, starting families, and moving to far off places.

I was so excited when Maddie and Brooke had the brilliant idea for all of us to get together before Brooke and Brad move to far away Washington for more school. We all met up at The Pie in Ogden. We ordered way to much pizza (but honestly you can never have too much pizza from The Pie) and had a great time catching up and reminiscing the college life!

After pizza we all went bowling. It was a blast! Some of us were really good and others not so much... (That would be me, but don't worry I at least broke 50....) I loved being with everyone again and it was really kind of sad when we all said goodbye. We will definitely need to get together as often as possible!

I love you guys so much! Thanks Maddie, Brooke, Jennie, Annie, Spencer, and Nathan for the best of times at Utah State! Our group is pretty awesome and I'm a big fan of the additions as well.

While we were down we were also able to visit Nathan's sister, Meg, and her cute little family. I have been dying to meet our new baby nephew. He is so sweet and tiny! I love him so much! We also got to check out their new chickens and chicken coop. Super cool!

My Mom's Spaghetti

One of my all time favorite meals growing up was my Mom's spaghetti. (In fact it is my all time favorite still!) I can never get enough of the yummy meat sauce. Sometimes I would even just have a bowl full of the sauce with lots of cheddar cheese, no noodles, just the sauce and cheese. Heaven!

This recipe was a constant go to in college for me. It's super easy and makes quite a bit.  I could feed all my roomies and friends or save it for later. It freezes great! Nathan and I love having it stocked up in the freezer ready to go for a quick delicious meal.

Here's what you will need for the Meat Base:

¼ tsp salt

1 lb. hamburger

1 lb. Italian sausage

1 tsp garlic powder (or one crushed garlic clove)

1 yellow onion (chopped)

4 cans (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes (Italian or regular…I use both)

2 Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Packets (Walmart brand)

Directions:

• Spread salt on the bottom of a large pot. On medium heat, brown 1 lb. hamburger and 1 lb. Italian sausage together.
• While meat is still slightly pink, add 1 tsp garlic and 1 chopped onion to the pot.
• Once the meat and onion are cooked thoroughly, add 4 cans of diced tomatoes and 2 Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce packets. Stir until mixed well.
• Let simmer for 20 minutes, stirring about every 5 minutes or so. Then cool and divide into fourths to freeze. (About 2 ½ cups) For a bigger family divide in half. (About 5 cups)

To finish the sauce you will need:

1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce

1 Thick & Zesty Spaghetti Sauce Packet

2 ½ cups of thawed meat base

Directions:

• Thaw spaghetti mixture from above. Warm in a saucepan on medium low to medium heat.
•  Add 1 can of tomato sauce and 1 packet of Thick and Zesty Spaghetti Sauce.
• Occasionally stir until heated through and serve over noodles of your choice.

Serves 3-4 

Seriously so good!!!

Here's a picture of the recipe:

Hiking Table Mountain aka "Table Rock"

Nathan and I woke up Thursday morning and decided we wanted to go hiking. We've heard Table Mountain (also known as Table Rock) was an awesome hike with amazing views, but would take a good junk of the day to finish. There was no time to waste! We quickly packed our camping and hiking gear, stopped at Walmart for some Bear Spray, and we were off!

As soon as we got to the base of the trail in Teton Canyon we set up our tent at a camp site and started our hike. (It was about 2:30 p.m.). Nathan told me that we were starting at 7000 ft elevation and would get up to 11000 ft during our 7 mile hike in. At the time my body didn't know what it was getting into.

We passed a couple of people on their way back down after we had hiked in about 30 minutes...

"Are you planning on going all the way to the top?", one man asked with a tired voice.
"Yeah we are!", we responded excitedly!
"No you won't."
"Yes we will."
"No you won't. There's no way you're going to make it... You're leaving too late in the day."
"We'll be fine. We'll make it!"

With more motivation to prove we could do this hike, we picked up the pace. It wasn't bad at all. It was a pretty gradual incline with beautiful patches of meadows with wild flowers and forests. I was loving everything about the hike! As we continued to get further up the mountain and passed more people on their way back down, we received more positive comments that we could make it, but that we were cutting it close. (We kept telling ourselves, "WE CAN DO THIS!")

Two hours into our hike I was getting a little tired. We passed a friendly guy who had just come down from the top. He told us we just had to do a couple of switch backs and then walk across the ridge. Sweet! It sounded like we were almost done and it shouldn't be too hard... One hour later...

Straight up to the top!

Oh my goodness we pretty much walked straight up the mountain. After the switch backs we were on top of the ridge and the views were beautiful! Totally worth it! Walking on top of the ridge was exhilarating and gave us the motivation and energy to do the last stretch to the top of Table Rock. With about half a mile left of our hike it was so rocky and I felt like I was walking up a million uneven stairs. My legs were barely moving. We were so close to reaching our goal and my legs just didn't want to move anymore! (I partially blame running a 10k for the first time ever the day before this hike, and waking up with a cold, that made my body struggle in the end. Don't get me wrong. I know it's a harder hike that takes most of the day, but I definitely think those contributed to making it even harder.)

Almost there!

We ate our dinner on the side of Table Rock, using it as shelter from the wind, then climbed the last 20 ft to the very top. We had made it! And it only took us 4 hours to reach the top. It was incredible! You feel so close to the Tetons you could practically touch them! Nathan and I loved being on top of the world together! (Except for the fact that it was super windy and freezing cold!) Sadly we had to head back down a little sooner then we would have liked. We needed to make sure we made it back down the mountain before it got too dark.

The hike back down was a piece of cake! Nathan and I were booking it down the mountain and my body wasn't tired anymore! We felt like we were making such good time, and wouldn't even need to use our headlamps.... Boy were we in for a surprise....

About half way back down the mountain it was starting to get a little darker, but we could see just fine. We heard a couple of twigs break. "What is that?", Nathan asked. I honestly didn't think anything of it and thought it was just us. We heard more twigs break and again Nathan asked what was making that noise. We got out our head lamps just in case because it was starting to get even darker, but still didn't turn them on.

I continued on, with no hesitation, leading us down the trail, turned a corner, and out of no where there were two HUGE animals right in the middle of the trail!! We both scared the other and ran opposite directions! Nathan was about 5 ft behind me and around the corner, so he didn't see anything, but heard all the commotion. I clung to Nathan's arms and told him what I had just ran into. "There's a momma moose and her baby right around the corner! What do we do? We don't want to make her mad at us!" Nathan was so calm and basically said, "We had better be careful, but we've got to get down the mountain. It's getting dark a lot faster than we expected."With our headlamps on I carefully lead us around the corner. The moose and her baby were no longer on the trail so we walked by quickly and carefully, looking all around us. Two eyes reflected back at me about 10 ft off the trail. The momma moose was standing over her baby watching us closely. I said a little prayer in my heart that all would be well.

We made it past safe and sound and were a little more anxious to get back to our tent. Picking up the pace and paying a lot more attention to our surroundings we continued our hike. It was to the point where you could still see without a light, but at the same time you could hardly see anything. I was very grateful we had headlamps to help us on our way down.

The trees gave way and opened up to the first meadow of many we would need to cross. I stopped dead in my tracks... In the middle of the meadow were two more large animals. They weren't as tall as the moose and were walking a little differently. All of a sudden I realized what they were.... BLACK BEARS!!! One was definitely a cub and the other was probably the mom! This realization happened within a second but felt like eternity! Bears?! It's dark! We are still no where near camp! And there are bears on the trail!!! Again I turned around and ran into Nathan's arms informing him of what I had just seen! I was nervous! What should we do? Turn back up the trail? No because we hadn't even gone that far away from the moose yet. Use the bear spray? I didn't want to use that. We didn't even know why we bought it in the first place! Ok.. What did we read about on the bear information board? 

My mind was thinking so many things at once. Nathan seemed so put together though. We got the bear spray out and ready if worse came to worse. Then discussed what we needed to do. We had to continue on and get back to our campsite. We needed to let the bears know we were there and not sneak up on them. We started clapping and making loud noises... IT WORKED! We had scared the bears and they ran toward the river and away from the trail! My heart was racing! We walked as fast as we dared through the meadow looking at everything around us!

You better believe the rest of the way down we were clapping and looking everywhere! I was praying the whole way down that we would make it to our camp safely and wouldn't be hurt. We were talking loud and motivating each other to get down the mountain. It was completely dark by then and I was nervous we would run into more wild life. We were walking so fast and I kept tripping and stubbing my toes because I wasn't paying attention to the path at my feet.

It seemed like it had taken us way longer than it should have to get to the end of the trail. When we had finally reached it we were so relieved! We had done it! We made it to the top of Table Rock and back! We survived running into a mama moose with her baby and a mama black bear with her cub! We made it through the dark of night! We made it back by 10 p.m. like we had planned! WE DID IT!!!

As we walked in comfort and safety to our tent it dawned on us... We should have taken pictures of the moose and bears!!!!!! In the moment we were too nervous to even think of that! It was also a little too dark and the pictures wouldn't have turned out. But it would have been so sweet to have pictures of how close we were to those amazing animals!

We slept like babies that night in our tent! It felt so good to lay down and take our shoes off! (My toes were so mad at me!) We woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of rain, and were very grateful we decided to put the rainfly on when we had set up the tent earlier that day. The sound and smell of rain while camping is so refreshing to me! In the morning we woke up sorer than sore! Our bodies hated us! But it was totally worth it!

Before we headed home we stopped at the local farmers market in Driggs. Fresh baked pizza in a brick oven, a delicious juicy peach, a creamy chocolate shake, and a cool cream soda were exactly what we needed to end our adventure!

Chicken Burritos (Enchilada Style)

Last night I made chicken burritos for dinner and put a picture up on Instagram because I was so pleased with how they turned out. A couple of friends asked for the recipe so I thought I'd blog about it. I just kind of made it up on the spot yesterday and didn't measure anything so I'll try my best to remember about how much I did of everything.

Chicken Burritos (Enchilada Style)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 thawed chicken breasts
1 1/2 to 2 cups salsa (I used my mom's homemade salsa! Yummy!)
4 oz. cream cheese (cubed)

1 cup cooked rice (I did 1/2 cup rice 1/2 cup quinoa)
1 can black beans (drained)

1/4 cup salsa verde
medium tortillas
shredded cheddar cheese (I honestly have no idea how much I used because I love a lot of cheese!)

Directions:

• Layer half of the salsa and cream cheese on the bottom of a crockpot. Then put the thawed chicken with the rest of the salsa and cream cheese on top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 4-5 hours.
• When the chicken has about an hour left in the crockpot, shred the chicken and let cook for remaining hour or so.
• In a medium bowl mix together finished chicken, cooked rice, and beans. (Make sure to leave as much sauce in the crockpot as possible.)
• Grease a 9x13 in  pan and spread 1/4 cup salsa verde on the bottom.
• Fill tortillas with the chicken, rice, and beans with some shredded cheese. Roll up and place rolled end on the bottom to hold it in place.
• Pour the remaining sauce from the crockpot over the top of your burritos and as much shredded cheese as you want. Bake at 350 for 20 to 30 min. 

Notes:

I used my cute little crockpot (I think it's 2 qts?) and it was the perfect size for how much I was cooking. I love love love that crockpot because it is perfect for making meals for two with leftovers for lunches. :)

I only made 4 burritos and froze the remaining chicken, rice, and beans for a future meal. I think this recipe would make 6-8 burritos depending on how full you pack them. I was only able to eat one and it was the perfect amount of food. Nathan ate one and a half and was a little too full after. So about one burrito per person should be pretty good.

I put a spoonful of pico on top for a little extra flavor and color. 

These seriously turned out so good and were super easy! I hope you enjoy them as much as we did! :)

Pioneer Celebrations

Nathan and I decided to go visit family and friends during Pioneer Day and the weekend. The 24th was awesome! We started off the day right by going to the "Days of '47" Parade in Salt Lake with Nathan's family. The floats were all super fancy and President Uchtdorf was there to start off the parade!

In the afternoon we went up to a cabin and partied with the Blietschau side of my family. They are all super crazy and awesome! It was fun to get to see most of my aunts, uncles, and cousins.

I totally stole these picture collages from Facebook... Thanks Heather for being good about taking pictures!

For fireworks that night, Nathan and I went to Liberty Park. We totally sat in a horrible spot and had to move to the road when they started going off, but it worked. The fire works were average for most of the show, but the finale was AMAZING!!! So many fireworks! We would think it would be done, and then it would get even bigger, louder, and more colorful! Totally awesome! I think our 24th of July turned out perfectly.

We owed our brothers birthday presents so we went to Raging Waters (now 7 Peaks) the next day. The big tall slides with mats are my favorite! When you catch air going down and for a brief second you are flying.... Takes my breath away!  I love it! It was a lot of fun to go with Zach and Karl. We also celebrated our friend Mitch's birthday at Red Robin. (Really wish I would have gotten a picture of us...)

Since we weren't tired enough from the water park the first time, we went back the next day with Spencer and Jackie, and Jackie's sisters. Man oh man playing in water on a hot summer day is seriously the best! By the end we were totally wiped out, but still managed to find the energy to play some tennis. When we went to dinner everyone was wanting hamburgers and I just wasn't feeling it... But guess what was right next to the hamburger place... A GRILLED CHEESE gourmet restaurant! Yes please!!!!

(For those of you who follow me on Instagram, you've probably noticed that I'm weird and often post pictures of delicious food. So naturally when I find a grilled cheese restaurant I'm going to Instagram it.... You will not believe what it said on the menu... "If you post a picture to Instagram of your visit we will give you a free ice cream sandwich of your choice." My dinner was getting better by the second!!!)   

You better believe I got that free ice cream sandwich! I cannot think of a better dinner! To top it off we got frozen yogurt for dessert. mmm mmm

The next morning we enjoyed Salt Lake with Spencer and Jackie. We ate a delicious breakfast, went to the farmers market, Trader Joe's, and the Dutch Store to get me some German pickles! It was a very successful day!

We finished out our trip at my parents place. For some reason there was an awesome firework show set up at the park right by our house and we were so close to them. It was cool to see them shoot up right in front of us.

Not sure this video attachment worked very well... I'll work on it...

Our trip was a lot of fun! It was so good to see everyone and do all of those awesome things together!

Summer Projects

Last summer I had three projects I worked on and it was so much fun. I loved taking something not so pretty, or out dated, and turning it into something perfect for our home. Here are the projects from last year.

Coffee Table $5 at DI

For the coffee table I just sanded everything down the best I could and it took quite a while. I think it was worth it though. The darker stain makes it look brand new!

Nightstand $10 at DI. I love how it turned out.

Side Table $8 at DI

For the nightstand and side table I covered them in primer and then painted two coats of paint. (They had laminate on them and there wasn't much point in sanding.)

It was so fun to work on these and we love having them in our home!

This summer I found myself two new projects. My parents gave me my dad's old desk and I have been dying to paint it a fun color and change it up a bit. I'm going to use it as my sewing/craft table. I also got a cedar hope chest. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Me and My Flowers

So I kind of have this obsession with taking pictures of flowers. Whether they are at my house, the wilderness, or wherever I am on vacation I want to take pictures of them! I'll even climb a fence to take pictures if I have to! Whatever I'm doing, if I see a pretty flower, I'll stop and take lots of pictures. They make me so happy!

I have a million pictures of flowers and have never done anything with them, so I'm going to plaster them all over this blog post!  It was hard to try and pick just a few. I seriously have so many.... Hope you enjoy them as much as I do! :)

From our house!

Hawaii!!!!! 

 

Utah State University