Our First Christmas

Because Mike and I are going to China for Christmas we celebrated on our own a few days early! It was such an exciting first Christmas together. This being married thing is so much fun!

More Wedding Day Photos

Formal Wedding Pictures

We took some of our wedding pictures before the actual day due to the unpredictable weather we get here in November. These are some of our favorites.

More of the wedding

Honeymooning and Christmas Trees!

Mike and I had a phenominal time staying out at the coast for the weekend! We set goals to spend a percentage of our wedding money (yes, I married an economist) but found that we were having so much fun just walking and talking we didn't get any money spent while on the town! So we had to spend a whole dinner discussing how to drop at least a hundred and finally decided on buying a fancy Christmas tree skirt and some books! Thus our Christmas tree hunt upon returning to Portland. You can't have a nice Christmas tree skirt and no tree. And the tree looks so gorgeous in our little apartment, which we have loved setting up and combining all of our stuff! Being married is so much fun!

Wedding Festivities

Walking to the temple with Lisa and getting very excited to marry Mike!
Mom and I outside the temple
Mike and I about to get married
Starting to get intense but the day ended up being without stress!

Our wedding day was amazing. It went shockingly smooth and we enjoyed to entire day. It was delightful to be with so many friends and family and to have them with us as we celebrated the start of our new Wecker family. These are the photos from my mom but more are to come.

Recipes To Try

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 cup flour
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. each of cinnamon, ginger, and salt
pinch cloves
1 cup milk
6 Tbsp. pumpkin puree
2 Tbsp. melted butter
1 egg

Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and spices. In a seperate bowl, mix the milk, pumpkin, butter and egg. Fold together and cook on a greased griddle over medium-to-medium-high heat. Use about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake.

Curry Chicken

3 chicken breasts (sprinkle with season salt)
1 pt. sour cream
1 c mayo (less if you want, Best Foods w/ green lid, less cal)
1/2-1 TBS curry
1 can cream of chicken
Optional: (makes it alot better)
cut carrots and potato.
Spread sauce on bottom of pan, then cover chicken. 350 for 1 hour.

I cook this in a crockpot for a few hours with the sauce in, tasted great. Add potatoes and carrots later so they aren't too soft. You can add as much curry as you like, just taste as you go. The potatoes and carrots really made this great.

Tomato soup

3 c. vegetable broth
5 or 6 c. tomatoes, halved or quartered
1 large-ish carrot
1 or 2 jalapeño peppers (can omit if you're not into spicy stuff)
1 large-ish zucchini
2 T. butter
3/4 c. chopped onion
2 T. flour
thyme, salt, or any other spice you want
grated cheese, if desired

1. Bring the broth to a boil. Add the tomatoes, carrots, and zucchini--everything should be cut up, but it doesn't need to be small, just smaller to fit. Cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes, until vegetables are softened. Add the jalapeños in toward the end so they cook just a little bit. Add thyme or whatever spice you like (I bet cilantro or basil would be good). Set aside.

2. (For this next step I just put my broth and veggies in a blender to get them out of the way and use the same pot.) In a saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onions, cook until softened. Stir in the flour until absorbed.

3. Blend the broth, veggies, and flour/onion mixture all together. You can do it in 2 batches if needed. Return to the pot and salt to taste. Then add cheese if desired and serve!

Bridal Shower

Some of my amazing friends from the Westlake Ward put on a beautiful bridal shower this past weekend. We had delicious food and got a chance to catch up on everyone's life. The highlight was watching a video they had made of Mike. Mike has this amazing sense of humor that manifested itself in various skits on the video. We all got a chance to see the karate moves that won him second place in elementary school as well as witness the hard truth that he will indeed eat anything for one dollar.

Amy and Ashley who, with Heather, put on the shower.

The cleverest Jeopardy game I am ever seen. My favorite was the category of "economical literature" which asked questions about books with an interesting economical focus. My major at BYU was literature and Mike's was economics.

All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Ma and Pa Joad in the dust bowl during the great depression.

The seedy underbelly of the swinging american 1920's high life.

answer at the bottom of this entry

Animal Farm

The Grapes of Wrath

The Great Gatsby

Trip to Utah

Although under sad circumstances, the trip to Panguitch for grandpa's funeral was a nice opportunity to catch up with all the Prince family.

Camping at Whistler's Bend

Mike didn't believe I could set up a tent!

Mike was the star of the trip with the phenominal steak dinner he cooked.

Adam and Savannah - Mike's dear friends from his BYU days.

Lisa's Visit

At Moonstruck Chocolate on 23rd

Multnomah Falls

At the Kennedy School, which is an old elementary schoolhouse they turned into a restaurant and hotel.

At Saint Cupcake downtown

It was so wonderful to have my dear friend from BYU here. We met just a few weeks after I got home from my mission and after a 10 minutes conversation and a 4 hour drive to Panguitch we knew it was "the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Engagement Pictures

We are getting so excited to get married! Our engagement pictures were done by Holland Studios and were taken in downtown Portland.