What I have been up to..

I thought I should update you all on what I have been doing. As you may all know I am doing my student teaching in a preschool and that has kept me extremly busy. I have been planning center and lesson plans. I have to teach 6 times and I have taught 3 times already. So far I have taught on the postman, I am special and ladybugs. I know that sounds very exciting!! Believe me I been working hard planning, gathering and actually teaching lessons. You wouldn't believe how intimidating to get up in front of a group of children and sing silly songs with them. A week or so ago I spent a saturday night making ladybug matching cards. Next week I have to teach a couple of lessons on spring and I have not even started planning. If you have any ideas please let me know as I should get started on that soon. I just have a few more weeks and so much to do. I apologize now if you call me and I don't answer I will probably be making something creative for the children.

recipe time

Hello all. Allison, I'll post some pictures of our house. Now that our bathrooms our done, I feel we can finally put pictures up. And you're right, the house is partly yours, anyway. : ) And I also agree that we could use some more posts, so here's one:

This is a recipe (and maybe you can use this one, Kelli : ) ) that Matt and I love. I discovered it one day in a cookbook we have called Cheap, Fast, Good. You may already have a tortilla soup recipe, but this one is so good! I think it rivals Cafe Rio's soup, and my changes are in blue.

Super Saver Tortilla Soup
2/3 pound boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion (we leave this out)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
3 cups pork broth
1 cup chicken stock (Rather than using 3 cups pork broth and 1 cup chicken stock, I use 2 cups beef broth and 2 cups of chicken broth, made from water and bullion cubes.)
1 cup bottled salsa (I use part salsa and part petite diced tomatoes, and it turns out really well.)
Cream Cheese (I put a heaping spoonful of cream cheese in the pot, and it makes it less watery and a little more creamy.)

4 ounces tortilla strips
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup shredded cheese
Guacamole (this just makes everything better)

Heat oil in a 4 1/2 quart soup pan over medium heat. Peel the onion and finely chop it, adding it to the pot as you chop. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces, adding them to the pot as you cut. Add cumin and chili powder.
Add the pork broth and chicken stock and raise the heat to high. Add the salsa. Cover the pot and cook until the soup is steaming hot, about 6 minutes.
To serve, ladle the soup into four bowls and garnish with crushed tortilla strips, 1 tablespoon sour cream, and 1 tablespoon cheese.
Sometimes I'll put the chicken in the crockpot earlier in the day and when I get home I shred it, and it usually shreds pretty easily. I think the chicken is better shredded than in cubes. It's more like Cafe Rio. : )

Ultra Marathon Man

So, I think people need to start posting more. I get on like every other day and am very disappointed to see nothing new. Brad & Matt, I'd like to see more of you homes. Especially Matt, because it's my home too. Mandy, would you like to teach me over the blog how to make your flat bread? Stacy, since you are crafty maybe you could teach me to be crafty as well? Were you born with your talent? Kelli and Jake need to start a blog of their own and fill us in on the new stuff. And for the rest of you, write something.
This blog is going to be about a book I just read called "Ultra Marathon Man" It is written by Dean Karnazes and he shares his story about becoming an ultra marathon runner. The man is nuts. Please read the book becuase I'm sure you will all agree. One night he started running and ran 30 miles, yes 30! (I think it's gross that he hadn't picked up running shoes in 15 years and can just run 30 miles). His biggest feat yet is running 226.2 miles. You guys have heard about those relay races where they follow in vans and they do intervals of 5 miles at a time? Well, Dean joined as his own team and ran 100 miles to the starting line and then another 26.2 miles after. He is going to attempt 300 miles very soon. He has a website: ultramarathonman.com. Might I suggest watching the video of him on David Letterman. Good stuff. My new motto is "If Dean can do it, I can do it" or "Dean wouldn't stop now!" This book has changed my running life.
Well, I've got to go to class, so I hope all of you have a wonderful day!

Recipes

Does anyone have a good crockpot recipe? I need to start cooking. Make is simple please :)

hard to believe it's been 17 years since Mom and Dad let Matt and I stay home from church so they could go to the hospital to have you

and we all know what happened in the NBA that day. happy birthday from Jane and the rest of us.



Magic lost to the Suns 121-105 in Phoenix. Shaq had 20 points. Danny Ainge had 13 for the Suns.

Guy's I'm famous :)

Hey folks, how's everyone doing? Why hasn't anyone posted for a while? Oh well, I'll share my news. So, I've been on a BYU football player kick recently and many of you know that I adore Mckay Jacobson. He's great, and one day, I will meet him. On saturday I went to the BYU U of U game, I was on the 11th row and got to sit right next to several collegiate football players such as, Chambers, Logan, Heaps and my new best friend Ross Apo. We high fived them all and kind of made a fuss but left them alone. Then on Monday for FHE we took cookies to the BYU testing center and gave them to people who had just taken a test. This is a really fun activity, even though it sounds totally lame. One of the people we gave a cookie to was Ross Apo, I recognized him from the game and he was wearing BYU football apparel so I asked if we could take a picture! He agreed. When I got home, I added him as a friend on Facebook and tagged him in the picture, which he commented on! It was great. It wasn't until later that I found out he is 17, graduated early from high school and has two children...Oops!

My long awaited miracle

As many have already found out my latest news I thought I would announce it offically on the blog. I got a job!! After searching since last August I found a job on campus. It is nothing glamorous or exciting but it is a job. I work 7-11 Monday-Friday which works great with my schedule as I have all afternoon and evening classes. This job will require me to wake up at the crack of dawn but who is to complain!! Also if you really want to know what the job entails you will have to contact me as it will not be posted.

New Car

Hello team. Just a real quick update. I bought a new car today. 2008 Honda Civic LX. Pictures and details to follow. If anyone knows anyone who wants a piece of junk jetta please send them my way. Thanks.

Jars+Family=Christmas Miracle

I think that some of you guys may recall the Christmas Jar service activity the extended Bradshaw family participated in a few years back. Each individual family kept a jar in their home for a whole year and collected spare change. Right before Christmas we delivered the jars to a family in need. It was a wonderful experience to know that the small sacrifice we made had a large influence on a family who needed some extra support. Not only does the money help financially in providing a Christmas, but it also reminds people of what Christmas really is for. It provides them with feelings of love and gratitude. It was truly a blessing to be a part of this and it had a profound impact on me.

This year I decided that since I wasn't living at home and with my own family that it would be a good idea to do something similar with my Family Home evening Group here at school. It just so happens that I have the best husband and family EVER. This whole year we have really enjoyed spending time together and have had great success in getting most everyone to attend and bond with others. As the mother I headed up the Christmas jar service project. I did, however, have tremendous support from my husband and children :) We had small jars for each apartment in our group and for three weeks they left it on their counter to collect change. We found the good cause through Mom who had told me about a little girl in one of her classes that had had some recent trauma in her family. They were suffering financially. She was one of seven children under the age of 12.

When Adam(the husband) and I went and collected them on Sunday we were SHOCKED to find that there was $134.00 total!! It took a while to count but every second was a treat as each came from someone sacrificing just small change for such a good cause. We got a list of ideas for presents and hit up the nearest Wal-mart! We took several members of the family that were able to come (it's a busy time of year... finals) We ended up buying so much stuff! Get ready it's a long list: Diapers, teething rings, hotwheels cars, memory, baby doll, polly pockets, basketball, football, sled, Sorry!, Uno, Candyland, some books, crayons, puzzles, coloring books amongst several others!! We went over our budget a little bit but we got everything on our list and more! We came right home and wrapped them all up! It took a lot of time and effort from everyone in our group to accomplish what we did. I can't wait to deliver these presents to the cute family. I am still amazed at what a small group of people can do when they have a goal and a little determination.

I have truly enjoyed being a part of such a wonderful experience. It has been a pleasure to work with this group. I am grateful for this time of year and the opportunity it gives us to serve and remember Christ. Merry Christmas!!

Special shout out to Adam Porter and the best family ever!!

These are our jars full of coins after we counted and sorted!!

Out family at Wal-mart. We were going to take a second with me in the picture but an associate kindly warned us that pictures weren't allowed to be taken inside the store. Darn.This is part of the stack of wrapped presents. It's hard to tell how many there are because they are piled. But take my word for it. There was tons.

I have no idea how this picture got on or how to remove it... just ignore.

Taking a break :)

So, I thought I'd take a quick study break and tell you about my study break from last night!! As some of you may know, I am the FHE mother for my group. I LOVE this calling. My little family is the best and my husband is even better. Anyway, last night we went to see the Utah Flash (a lower division bball team- I don't really know how it works) take on Dakota (Funny because they never mentioned which Dakota they were from). Someone in our group managed to get 26 tickets for free. There were rumors that Michael Jordan was supposed to be there and play a little one on one with Brian Russell. They had announced the challenge on ESPN, but many of us doubted he would actaully show. At half time they turned out the lights and got everyone hyped up. Spotlights came out and they announced Brian Russell who walks out in a sweatshirt jacket and converse shoes. (we were suspicioius at this point). He comes out and is trash talking MJ saying, "Where are you MJ??? Are you going to show? Is he going to chicken out??" Yeah, that's right everyone he was trash talking a fifty year old basketball legend who crossed him over in that one game (and by that one game I mean the NBA finals game). Then, the lights go out again and they "present" MJ and some black dude walks out surrounded by four body guards. He is wearing jeans and sunglasses. Brian Russell starts laughing and taunting him and then the fake MJ picks up the ball, and turns around to leave. Brian Russell went on about how MJ wasn't gutsy enough to show and leaves himself.

I didn't really think he would come and I guess I was right. About 75% of the crowd left immediately because everyone was so disappointed. They really hyped it up. Our group was really sad but that didn't stop us from enjoying the game! Afterwards we went underground to find the team. We just happened to run into Brian Russell. I put my arm around his waist but couldn't reach the other side. It was a real treat.