Weekend and week day adventures!

Even though I am working 10 hours days and Colton just started 

working full time for the summer, we are having a blast!

Here are some pictures from our dates this week.

Friday night 

^Applebees dinner and a visit to the Jordan River Temple^

Saturday night 

^Barnes & Nobel, Utah Blaze arena football game and frozen yogurt at Juicy Berry^

Monday Night

^walk to Sugarhouse park to feed the ducks & geese and movie night^

Tuesday Night

^hike up Millcreek Canyon to look over the valley and McDonald's ice cream cones for a treat!^

We are SO in love!

Happy Mother's Day

I have the most incredible mother.

I wish I could be there with her on Mother's Day.

I love her so much and want her to know that I am thinking of her.

Thank you for being my role model, my running partner, 

my cheerleader, and my best friend.

I miss shopping the Dillards sale with you.

I miss cruising in the convertible bug and soaking up the sun.

I miss frozen yogurt runs and cooking Sunday dinner with you.

I miss laying out at the pool with you.

I miss your early morning seminary lessons.

I miss your hugs.

Thank you for talking to me on the phone all the time.

You give the best advice!

Thank you for always being there for me and teaching me everything I know.

Thank you for being everything a mom should be and more.

I love you mom.

I hope to be as amazing a mother as you are one day.

In honor of my mother and all the mothers out there...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PTfOA0gF08

Isn't she beautiful?!

I am such a lucky girl because I also

 have the BEST mother-in-law in the entire world!

I love and admire her so much.

Thank you for raising you son to be the most incredible husband.

This weekend I had the opportunity to go jeeping in Moab with Laura and Alan.

They are awesome. period.

I love spending time with them.

Jeeping was pretty cool too. :)

I also would like to mention my incredible grandmas and great grandmas...

Shirley Nelson, Great Grandma B, Great Grandma Nelson (not pictured),
Mimi Matheson, and Lynne McDonough

I look up to them all so much and love spending time with each of them.
I have been lucky enough to know 7 of my 8 great-grandparents.
I treasure my relationship with each of them.
My grandmas are the best.

They are such classy ladies!

I hope to be as incredible a woman, mother, and grandmother as each of them are.

So proud of my Grandma McDonough serving a mission at the
Hawaii Temple Visitor's Center!

Graduation

University of Utah

David Eccles School of Business

Accounting BS - Honors Certificate

Summa Cum Laude

So I actually graduated back in December...

But now it is official!

I actually will be returning to the U of U this fall for my Master of Accounting.

So this is only step 1 of the journey.

Rouzbeh, Trevor, Matt, and Andrew

I could not have made it with out these guys!

From spending hundreds of hours together on case studies and projects to

trading books each semester,

we helped each other get here.

I can't wait to have more classes with all my friends this fall!

Roses from my parents since they are in Texas!

I was so surprised when these showed up at my work.

I work for a bio medical defense contractor

so they had to be delivered in the "sanitary" elevator.
It made my day.

My handsome husband


Colton's dad loves to jump in the back of pictures :)

...even my bridals!
my father-in-law is the best.

Cutest poster from my cute little sis!

She was in Moab during my graduation so she dropped this off on her way out of town 

What I came home to that night!
My husband decorated our room.
He is the sweetest...

3 Month Anniversary!

Today marks three months of marriage!

I can't believe it has already been 3 months!

It has flown by but it also seems like we have been married for much longer.

I love being married to my best friend.

I have never been happier or more in love!

XOXO

We love leaving each other little notes every single day.

I have the cutest husband!!

Our new little puppy! 

Since we are not allowed to have pets in our apartment 

and Colton is still warming up to my love for small dogs...

I brought home this little cockapoo stuffed animal. 

I named her "Cali" :)

DATE NIGHT!

To celebrate our anniversary we went to "The Screwtape Letters" at Kingsbury Hall on Saturday night.
My husband was so sweet to surprise me with tickets!
I have been telling him to read this book for a while now and we were so excited for a fun night out.
It was so well done and gave us a lot to think and talk about after. 

On Sunday we walked to the park and fed the ducks, geese, pigeons and seagulls.

This is one of our new favorite things to do!

I call Colton the "goose-whisperer" now because they were eating right out of his hand.

What a perfect Sunday afternoon.

He even climbed this crazy huge tree to get some little kid's soccer ball.

He is constantly impressing me every single day. 

Such a manly man...

Today was our actual 3 month anniversary and it has been the best day. 

We ate breakfast together and spent the afternoon together at home when he got home from class.

Tonight we went to Costco together for the first time, did laundry, watched the new Modern family and cooked dinner. We love being together!

A few little surprises for my sweet husband this morning!

And his little note to me...

P.S. This week I received my social security card and I am officially

"Allison Kristina Matheson"

Mrs. Matheson...I love the sound of that!

Homemade BBQ Chicken Pizza and Pandebono!

We loved the BBQ chicken we had the other night so much we made 

BBQ chicken quesadillas for lunch the next day 

and still had enough to make BBQ chicken pizza for dinner! 

This is a great way to stretch one meal. Good thing we love BBQ!

This pizza was incredible and my husband is still talking about it. 

We should have made more than one!

I made the crust from scratch. 

I absolutely love making homemade bread so I thought I would give it a try.

It was so easy, fast and tasted AMAZING.  

If you have some extra time to let it rise it is definitely a delicious way to save some money 

and have a MUCH better pizza crust. 

I just threw it together in the afternoon and let it rise until that night.

I even substituted some whole wheat flour to add flavor and texture. I highly recommend it!

Here is my recipe for the 

Best Pizza Crust:

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour **Replace 1 cup all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.
• 1 envelope of RapidRise Yeast
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup of very warm water
• 2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
• cornmeal (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

• In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, and salt. 
• Stir very warm water and olive oil into flour mixture. 
• Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough. 
• Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4 to 6 minutes.
• Cover; let rest on floured surface 10 minutes.
• Lightly oil 1 (14-inch) or 2 (12-inch) round pizza pan(s).** Sprinkle with cornmeal if desired. 
• Shape dough into smooth ball. Divide and roll dough to fit desired pan. 
• Top your pizza and bake at 400 degrees F for 20 to 30 minutes or until done. 

**I baked it on a Pampered Chef pizza stone. It is amazing. It cooks the crust so evenly and nothing will stick to this stone!

• **Garlic and Herb Pizza Dough: add 2 teaspoons Sweet Basil, Oregano, or Rosemary and 1 clove finely minced garlic along with dry ingredients.
• 
  

BBQ Chicken Pizza:

So I didn't follow a recipe here.

First, I spread Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce over the uncooked crust

Then, I diced 4 chicken tenders baked in the same BBQ sauce
**Chicken tenders are smaller than chicken breasts so this equals about 2 chicken breasts. I like to cook with chicken tenders because they cook much faster and are easier to work with :)

Finally, I sprinkled the sliced red onion, about 1 cup of a pizza cheese blend, and a handful of chopped cilantro on top.

I baked it for about 20-25 minutes and it was perfect! 

Simple. Easy. Delicious.

Pandebono:

While I was cooking the pizza, my husband was making his favorite...Pandebono!

On his mission in Tempe, AZ he served with a mission companion from Colombia who first introduced him to these little cheese breads.

Ever since he has been home, he has been craving them.

So, the other night he researched recipes online to find the best one.

He even went to Rancho Markets to buy all of the exotic ingredients.

Everything from Masarepa to the most important ingredient...Queso Fresco. 

Good thing they sell it by the pound!

After making these three times, and even making the traditional recipe from scratch...it turns out the best version was actually the mix! We brought these to our friend's surprise party and made them for our crepe party and they were gone in seconds.

My little note on our refrigerator to celebrate. :)

Late Night Mexican Dinner

My husband loves Mexican food and I am starting to love it as well! 
I loved surprising him after work with these enchiladas. 
I decided to try a new recipe and found myself frantically running around Walmart when I got off work around 9:30 pm. I raced home to bake them before he got off. 
I some how made the sauce, cooked the chicken, and put it all together to bake just in time for it to come out of the oven when he walked through the door. 
Our schedules are so crazy that we often end up eating dinner at 11:00.
This is such a fun time of life!

My husband kept saying how incredible these were and we are definitely putting them on the list of regulars in the Matheson home!

Cilantro Chicken Enchiladas

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch cilantro 1 cup sour cream 2 (7 ounce) cans jalapeno salsa* 2 (7 ounce) cans prepared green chile salsa 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and shredded 1 onion 12 (6 inch) flour tortillas (you can also use corn but my husband loves flour) 2 cups shredded cheese (I used a shredded Mexican cheese blend)

DIRECTIONS:

1.	To Make Sour Cream Mixture: In a blender or food processor, puree cilantro, sour cream, jalapeno salsa and 1/2 can of the green chile salsa. Set aside.
2.	To Make Chicken Mixture: In a large bowl, combine shredded chicken, onion and the remaining 1 1/2 cans of green chile salsa. Mix well.
3.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.	Heat tortillas in conventional or microwave oven until soft. Pour enough of the sour cream mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish to coat the bottom. Place 2 heaping tablespoonfuls of the chicken mixture in each tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in the baking dish. Pour remaining sour cream mixture over all and top with shredded cheese.
5.	Cover dish tightly with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 30 minutes, or until dish is heated through and bubbling. *I am in love with this jalapeno salsa that I found. It isn't spicy and I put it on everything now!  I put it on this spinach, mushroom, broccoli, onion, and cheese omelet for lunch today! Delicious

Best Black Beans

INGREDIENTS:

1 (16 oz) can black beans

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1 tbs chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt to taste

DIRECTIONS: In a medium saucepan, combine beans, onion, and garlic, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Season with cilantro, cayenne, and salt. Simmer for 5 minutes, and serve.