Today was a loooooong day for Joel. Poor guy was out working on our cars for hours!!! A job that normally takes him about two hours or so somehow took like 6. Whatever could go wrong, did....after a very smashed and stripped nut and bolt, oil ALL over the place, 4 trips back and forth to Lowe's and Auto Zone.....he finally got it all done. It was just one of those days I guess.....by the end of it all he was laughing and even brought me girl scout cookies home on trip #4! I love him so!

Afterwards we got all dressed up and went to a play. Everyone around us seemed to think it was the funniest thing they had EVER seen! They must not get out much. It was entertaining but by far not hilarious! So we did most of our laughing at all the funny quirky things said around us :)

Now we are back at home just hanging out.....listening to the sound of the nightly trains going by off in the distance......we love it. There is something really soothing about their sound. They lull us to sleep every night....something I'm sure we will miss when our little adventure here in Arkansas is over.

Happy Valentines Day!!

Mine was a BUSY one! Valentines day at a flower shop is kind of crazy! We started the morning off with an 18 wheeler full of arrangements people had been ordering all week that we had to come in on sunday night and put together so they would be ready for all the drivers to load them up and start delivering first thing in the morning....
It was a constant rush of people all day long! I was on my feet running around like crazy for 11 hours straight only taking a minute to inhale my lunch....we had to take the phones off the hook just so we could get the people in the shop taken care of.....

Talking with men all day who are trying to be romantic is pretty funny. Some of them are super lame and wanted me to just pick something out and write whatever I want on the card....uh....I don't love your wife....you are supposed to. Some are sweet.....and some are over the top and super cheesy.....I became more and more thankful for my husband all day long......
There were cards that ranged anywhere from-
"You have a nice rack" to the typical "Happy Valentines Day! I love you!" to "Meeting you was fate...becoming friends was a choice....but falling in love with you was beyond my control".....oh men.......

Did you know there are Rainbow roses???

Not my idea of a romantic flower arrangement but they are kinda cool and kinda ugly at the same time....they actually look way better in this picture than they look in person....

When 6 o'clock rolled around I was so grateful to go home! And so happy to have my sweet husband to celebrate with. We went out on Friday night since I knew I was going to be oh so tired after work on Monday....but I came home to some beautiful flowers and delicious chocolates and lots of cute little love notes scattered around the house....2 of which I haven't found yet :) And I was starving! So we ran and grabbed some Chick-Fil-A, and were pleasantly surprised with red table cloths and roses on each table and a piano player playing all sorts of love music....it was the fanciest fast food we've ever had...... :)

SNOW DAY!!!!!
Only the 4th one in 3 1/2 weeks........ :) I love Arkansas! But today was the first one I would consider even close to a REAL one.....it has been snowing and snowing and snowing all day.

So we made some hot chocolate and played a little game of Monopoly...........

Which did not end well..............

for me :(
I lost very shortly after this picture was taken......

P.S. Snow days here are a little different than in Idaho. The other day we closed down the shop when it started snowing, "just in case" it got bad :)

Yesterday, with the talk of 4-8 inches of snow, walmart sold out of gas......

and.....

It took a guy in Joel's class who lives in a town 15 minutes away an hour and a half to get to school, and he doesn't plan on making the loooooong trek back home tonight so he was sure to pack a cooler with 2 days worth of food :)

MMMMMMMMMM.......Superbowl :)

I love Superbowl Sunday............there is always lots of yummy food! :) We watched the game with friends, and ate......and ate...........

and ATE..........

I'm usually just there for the food....but this year my families team played, so........even better........Plus they won! Go Packers!

Sweet and Spicy Noodles-

2-3 chicken breasts cut into chunks and cooked (I used 6 chicken tenders and I like to cook it with some teriyaki sauce to give the chicken some flavor)

1 lb noodles, fully cooked and drained (any kind you want I use spaghetti noodles)

In a small sauce pan brown 4 tsp minced garlic in some olive oil then add:

1/4 c. vegetable oil

1/3 c. white vinegar

1/4 c. sugar

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

1 Tbsp. red pepper flakes
I add a heaping T. of peanut butter once sugar is melted
2 C. steamed broccoli
2 C. steamed carrots
(Ive done sauteed onions in it too...really you could do any vegetables and it would be good...I haven't put too many veggies in it yet, you think you have a lot but then they disappear so I'll try adding even more in next time..)
green onions, chopped

Toss the chicken, noodles, vegetables and sauce together in a large fry pan or wok on medium heat. Let it all simmer together for about five minutes so the noodles absorb some of the sauce. Serve hot. Its also good with just a little sriracha chili sauce on it, but not too much it can kind of over power the other flavors.


*I made this the other night and doubled the sauce so I could add a little more when I heat up leftovers....it tends to be a little dry the next day. I probably wouldn't quite double the red pepper flakes....it was a little spicy!!