Mesa falls and Bear Gultch tunnel

Mesa Falls

Scott and Sarina came for a short visit this week-end so we went snow machining, it was snowing but it was so beautiful. I have never seen Mesa Falls in the winter. I thought the pictures turned out really cool because everything looks black and white except for the clothes everyone has on.

Me and my true love!

Idaho roads

Joe took us to see some snow piles up on the bench here in Rexburg. I tried to get the pick-up in the picture so you can see how high the piles are. Holy cow!

Healthy Recipe

Fiesta Quesadillas with Black Beans
This recipe serves: 4

Preparation time : 20 minutes Cooking time : 10 minutes
Ingredients,

For the salsa:

1/2 cup chopped tomatoes

3 tablespoons chopped red onion

1 teaspoon minced jalapeño chili pepper, or to taste

3 tablespoons diced red or green peppers

1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

salt to taste

freshly ground black pepper

hot sauce (optional), to taste

For the quesadillas:

4 large whole wheat flour tortillas

1 cup low-fat Monterey jack cheese

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves

3/4 cup chopped red onion

3/4 cup chopped tomatoes
Cooking Instructions

For the salsa:

1. In a mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients. (This can be made up to 2 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.)

For the quesadillas:

1. Preheat the oven to 200�F.
2. Lay the tortillas out on a work surface and arrange the cheese, beans, cilantro, red onion and tomatoes on half of each tortilla. Fold the tortilla in half to cover the filling.
3. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Carefully cook one quesadilla at a time in the skillet until lightly browned on both sides. Transfer the browned quesadillas to a baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while cooking the rest.
4. Slice each quesadilla into 4 wedges and serve with salsa and sour cream.

Nutrition Facts:

Serving Size 1 quesadilla

Amount Per Serving

Calories 356

Protein 19 g

Total Carbohydrate 55 g

Dietary Fiber 6 g

Soluble Fiber 0 g

Insoluble Fiber 1 g

Sugar 10 g

Total Fat 8 g

Saturated Fat 4 g

Monounsaturated Fat 1 g

Exercise of the Month

Stability Ball Abdominal Roll-ups
Stability balls have many uses and benefits. Use your stability ball to execute this month’s free exercise, Abdominal Roll-ups, and get started on that New Year’s resolution! This exercise targets your abdominal muscles, including the rectus abdominus and obliques, the stabilizing muscles, and the hip flexors.
Step 1: Kneel on the floor and place the ball in front of your knees.
Step 2: Lie on top of the ball.
Step 3: Reach forward and let your hands touch the ground rolling the ball toward your thighs
Step 4: Walk your hands out until your shins are resting on the ball. Make sure your shoulders are aligned with your hands. Keep the abdominals tight and back flat.
Step 5: Slowly contract your abdominals and pull the ball forward with the legs.
Step 6: Bend your knees in toward your chest while rolling the ball beneath the body until your knees are at your chest.
Step 7: Slowly roll the ball back to the starting position.

More storms coming......

I know it's a good thing and we all have been praying for it, but I think we can all stop now. This is our mail box, notice the snow is having to be removed all around it now and it is almost as high as the trees! The entrance to our neighborhood looks like you are driving through a snow tunnel. This is so cool!

Scrabble night

Here we are on a cold winter night playing Scrabble.

This is me and my "I'm losing to Mazie" face. Mazie is amazing at this game.

Some color in Winter

Arrel and Marcia brought me some flowers and it was really nice to have a little color in the middle of all this snow. I was trying to figure out my camera so I took some close ups of the flowers. I need to take a photography class or something. I just can't seem to get my pictures to turn out the way I want.