Jen's Life

So, it's time to say goodbye...

So much has changed since I started this blog a few years ago and I can honestly say that I did become a new and improved Jen Taylor, so much so that I have a new name.  Ha ha.

Brian and I decided that it would be fun to create a new blog for our family.  Please come check us out here: 

http://jenandbrianingram.blogspot.com/

I think Brian will even post sometime which would be quite a treat, because he is a much better writer than me.

We began the month of May with a fiesta for Cinco de Mayo!  Aye Aye!  We decided to make shrimp tacos!  So so good!  Here's our festive spread!

 Brian is showing off the shrimp and the homemade guacamole we made.  Yum!

And here we are enjoying our feast!

So, the month before the wedding was quite chaotic, filled with tons of errands to run and things to finalize, but it was also filled with fun!  3 weeks before the wedding Brian and I headed to San Diego for the last time (besides just days before the wedding, of course) and boy was it a busy day.  I met with a girl to do a hair run through!  She was fabulous!  Then my three great friends Erin, Andrea, and Paulina threw me a Bridal Shower!  It was so much fun.  It was held in Erin's mom's backyard, which was so beautiful!  We ate amazing food (I still need to steal those recipes) and mingled, played games and I opened tons of gifts!  I'm going to just post lots of pictures since they tell the story better.

Seriously delicious food!

The girls let Brian come at the beginning to enjoy the food as well and we started off with a game.  I was asked questions about Brian and we had to see if my response matched his.  I really didn't do as well as I thought I would.  Oh well!  :)

 This is the pot and pan set that Brian's parents gave me!  Thank you Ingram's! 

I could believe how many things we were given.  Brian and I are truly blessed with great family and friends.  It was such a fun day!  Thanks again ladies!

That night was also very special for us.  Brian and I had the opportunity to go through the Temple together.  It was such a wonderful experience and I loved being able to share it with my future Eternal Companion.  Here is a picture of us outside the Temple before.

We had close friends with us to share the special event with.  I am so grateful for my friends who have been such great examples to me and helped get me to the Temple!  

So, about 10 days after the shower in San Diego I was surprised with a shower at work!  It was so cool and I definitely had no idea.  Here are some pictures from that shower.

My desk was all decorated as was the rest of our little office.  It was so fun!

 It was a pot luck, so here is our spread!  Lots of really yummy food.

This is the accounting/billing department at the company I work for.  Yes, there's a lot of us!  What another fun day to celebrate me getting married!  Ha ha.  Love it!  Thanks Myriam for putting all this together!

We ended the month with this bad boy!

Oh, you're confused?  I'm talking about the ECLAIR!  We desperately wanted some sort of pastry and this is what we came home with!  

So, here I was thinking that April was a pretty slow month, but after going through the pictures, boy was I wrong.  We kept pretty busy.

First we had the Michael Buble concert!  It was so great!  When Brian was buying the tickets he asked me if I wanted the good seats.  I had a feeling they might be expensive, so I told him that I would be perfectly fine with the cheap seats.  We were almost at the top of the Staples Center, but I think we still got the full experience.  Here's some of the pictures.

This was before the concert.  Brian was loving my hair that night.  Ha ha.  This is the best of the bunch he took and I still don't think it's that great.  Oh well.  :)  On to the actual concert...

I think we've got a video here too, so you can all feel like you were there with us.  

He was seriously wonderful to listen to and very funny!  It was such a great night!  I think Brian was singing his songs for the next week or so too. 

So, April also appears to be a little strange in that there are just several pictures of me doing nothing.  Like I mentioned before, Brian was loving my hair and it looks extra long the month of April, so I'm assuming that why there are so many pictures of me and my hair.  I promise that by posting these, it doesn't mean I'm vain...ha ha.  

So, I'll admit this was a self taken picture because Brian had probably taken 10 or so and I hated them all so I tried a different angle and this was much better.

This was at one of our favorite restaurants Northwoods Inn.  We LOVE it!  It has the best salads and garlic bread ever!  We are now trying to go once a month because we love it so much.

One night Brian and I had a craving for some ice cream!  He found a super cute diner in Encino where we got some delicious milkshakes.  Here we are enjoying them.  

Brian enjoying his brownie shake...

Me with my snickers shake.  Yum!

A good picture of my hair...not so much my face!  Ha ha.  I still scrunch my nose.  

So, at the end of April we thought it was finally warm enough to hit the beach.  We put on our swimsuits, packed a bag of snacks with our towels and a newly purchased umbrella, and we headed to Malibu, since it's the closest.  It was a beautiful day!

We got everything settled decided to lay down and after about 5 minutes decided we were freezing!  It was really windy that day and the wind was cold.  Brian put his clothes back on and proceeded to read.  Here's a good picture of him.  :)

I forgot that at the end of March, Brian and I headed to San Diego to get our engagement pictures taken by Blue Lily Photography!  I absolutely love them!  They totally make us look good (oh wait, you think we already look good...thank you)  Ha ha

Here are our favorite...Enjoy!

We had to get the bling shot!  Ha ha.  

So, I'm getting better, right?  :)

As I'm looking back at our pictures we really didn't do a whole lot of exciting things while I was busy planning the wedding.  So, most of the pictures from this month are different dinners that we made.  We've been proud of the cooking we've done so we like to take pictures when we're finished of our meals.  Here's what we got:

 This is Brian's famous shrimp!  He makes his own mix to marinade them in and I love it.  It has a nice kick to it.

Brian and I celebrated Valentine's day again in March when I got to plan a day.  We got up early one morning and I took him to a place near my work called Cici's Cafe.  I was told they had really good breakfasts.  This is what we got.

All I can say is yum!  Loved it.

Here's me cutting our homemade pizza.  I love to make pizza because I have a really great dough recipe.  Also, we wanted to show off the pizza cutter that Brian's mom gave us.  It works great and I love having one!

I made a green dinner for St. Patrick's day.  It wasn't really an Irish meal, more Italian, but it was green!

Here's Brian tasting with the Pesto pasta and garlic bread.

I also made a key lime pie for dessert.  It's so yummy and really simple!

Well, so much has happened in the last month and I promise that I will get to that, but first I need to get 

caught up.  Here is the month of February in pictures. 

This was me on Superbowl Sunday.  Brian and I put together awesome snacks to eat while we enjoyed cheering for the Saints.

Valentine's Day was on a Sunday so we decided to celebrate Saturday and Monday with each of us being in charge for the day of activities.  Brian planned Saturday's activities and here's what we did:

First we had lunch at the Paradise Cove restruant in Malibu.  We enjoyed some yummy seafood while looking out at the ocean.  I ordered coconut macadamia nut crusted shrimp and Brian got a couple of fish tacos.  The food was good!

And here's a picture of us at the beach after wards.  

We then drove to Thousand Oaks for some gelato at a place we both love.  Yum!  And we made a stop at Great Harvest a bakery that sells delicious breads and treats.  Brian offered to take me to see a Chick Flick at a movie theater, but I opted to watch a movie we had at home instead to save us some $$.  Movies in theaters are expensive these days.  It was a great day!

Unfortunately the day did not end very well.  My grandmother who had been put in the hospital Friday night wasn't doing well and I was called and told that she was going to pass away.  Brian and I headed to San Diego Sunday morning to be with my parents and I got to say goodbye to my grandmother.  She did indeed pass on Sunday evening.  I'm grateful I was able to say goodbye and that I could be there for my mother at this difficult time.

Brian and I traveled back to LA Monday afternoon and we decided to exchange Valentine's gifts and decided that I would plan our special day on another day.

I got Brian some chocolate, and the movie "UP".  I hadn't seen it yet, but I knew he liked it and I had a feeling I would too.  :)

Brian spoiled me.  He got me some sparkling cider, a box of chocolates, a movie, and then 2 beautiful cider glasses and an awesome apron.

Here we are with our cider in the new glasses.  Oh, and yes we wore red on purpose.  Ha ha.  

Brian and I also happened to celebrate our anniversary in February.  We decided to start dating (via long distance) on February 22, 2009.  I thought we had decided not to give gifts since we just celebrated Valentine's day, Brian got me another book!  I do love to read, so it was perfect!

So, since I am so far behind I'm going to have to just go with the highlights for each month, starting with January.  We've been trying out lots of new recipes and trying to incorporate more seafood into our life.  This is pretty easy for Brian, but has been an adjustment for me.  I have liked what we've made though.

This is some shrimp that Brian marinated and cooked.  It's really good and I ask for it everytime we decide to make shrimp.

This is a cod fillet turned Mexican dish.  It was okay.  Not my favorite, but an interesting recipe.

So, this isn't fish, but it was a delicious sweet and sour chicken recipe.  We loved it!  

So, January also happens to be the month that Brian was born.  We celebrated his 33rd Birthday on January 28 (his actual birthday).  When I asked what Brian wanted for dinner he of course said pot roast, which is his favorite, but since I didn't think that it would work as well during the week, I mentioned that there was something I hadn't made for him yet that I think he would like.  So, I made...

Chicken Rolls!  Thanks Danielle for the awesome recipe so many years ago.  These are so great and Brian did love them!

 Now, on to the presents!

So, there wasn't going to be a cake because Brian and I were trying to limit eating so many sweets and desserts, but the day before his birthday Brian mentioned wanting a cake.  Sheesh!  :)

I really didn't have time to bake a cake so I went to a bakery and got us a small chocolate cake.  It was really, really rich, but good.

I think Brian had a great birthday.  It was fun surprising him.

Oh, and I ended up making him a pot roast for dinner a few days later on Sunday.  Lucky Boy!