Lemon Garlic Tilapia

One thing I've been trying to do over the last couple months is to collect healthy delicious recipes. I feel like I've found a few favorites that I must share! The one I'd like to share today is a Lemon Garlic Tilapia. I've prepared quite a few variations on lemon tilapia, but my husband said this was his favorite yet. It's also a favorite of mine, and so easy to make! I like to serve this dish with a rice pilaf and usually a broccoli or asparagus. Let me know what you think!

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

Ingredients
• 4 tilapia fillets
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• pepper to taste

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Rinse tilapia fillets under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter on top. Sprinkle with garlic, parsley, and pepper.
4. Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 30 minutes.

Nutritional Information
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 142 | Total Fat: 4.4g | Cholesterol: 49mg

*These recipes are not my own. I found this one on allrecipes.com.

Season of Love

Brandon and I celebrated our first Valentine's day as a married couple this year. With our crazy schedules and tight budget for this month we decided to celebrate simply. The morning of we exchanged letters to one another. I made Brandon a cute card, and he wrote me a beautiful letter. It was a great way to start our busy day. :) I had finals week, and Brandon had an 8 page paper due the next day- he even stayed up until 4 am to finish it- so there wasn't much time to do anything else, except small acts of service throughout the day. It was simple, but it was still perfect for me. I love my husband so much! :)
This was also a busy month as I learned how to do my new calling better. I was called as the 2nd counselor in the Relief Society at the end of January, and was put straight to work on assisting the Sunday School presidency and the RS Activities committee in planning our ward Valentine's Day party. It was quite an event too! We had Roll Up come and cater our dessert crepes, and they were delicious! We also had a Valentine's Box competition. So couples put together Valentine boxes and then voted on the top 3 for prizes. I was so impressed, people in our ward are so creative! The first place box was a cute kissing booth, and it was perfect down to every last detail. The two runners up were so creative too. Our good friends, the Errors, did a headless cupid (complete with arms and legs from a baby doll) it was hilarious! The Wilsons did a huge Martin the martian pez dispenser, which was a lot of fun. Brandon and I made a bird cage with two little love birds inside of it. I had a lot of fun making it with Brandon. It's great when you're married to such a creative man!
Earlier that morning I also helped throw a baby shower for our good friend, Heather Stephenson. She's expecting a baby boy in April, and we're all very excited for her. The girls from 2110 (Heather's freshmen roommates: me, Natalie, Michelle, Beka, and Kyli) decided to throw her a baby shower. It turned out beautifully, and I'm glad we were able to have a great party for Heather, who has done so much for us. Heather's mom was kind to offer to help and assisted me in making a diaper cake, which I always thought was a cute idea. It turned out pretty great too! Hopefully Heather is now a bit more prepared for her upcoming motherhood duties. :)
With only one more final to go, I hope things will be able to return a little closer to normal at least for a little while. It's been great having President's Day off. Our next big project is possibly starting our own little business. Brandon is very skilled in filming and making videos, and has been asked to play the part of videographer in a friend's wedding. With the summer coming up, and Brandon always looking out for new business opportunities, we've decided to try to start breaking in to the wedding biz. So if any if you know someone who is looking for a killer deal in videography this summer let us know! We are not limited to just wedding events. Birthdays, anniversarys, just a fun summer film- we can do it!

This is a picture of the card I made Brandon. My favorite part is the little rose on front!

Here's our Valentine's Box, "Love Birds".

New Year

Wow! Time does fly! Already we're nearing the end of January and well into the new year 2012. So much for my new years resolution of blogging more often. Well if the truth be told this is going to be quite a busy year for Brandon and I, so a blog a month will be worth applause for me.
Brandon and I ended the 2011 year with a bang! We were able to go on a ski trip with our friends, the Errors, to Tahoe! It was fantastic! Brandon entered a ski design contest in October and won 10 free day passes to Alpine Meadows. So after finals week and right before Christmas we headed with our friends in a very packed car for Sparks, Nevada- the place where our lodge was. It was such a fun little lodge. We had the living room and kitchen down stairs, with the bedrooms upstairs. It was so nice to live with that much room for a couple days. We also planned great meals and entertainment. So we ate like kings, and enjoyed getting to know our friends better.

Here's a picture of us at the lodge.

First of Many

I've finally done it. I've finally decided to write in our blog. I thought I was taking a big step months ago when I first created a blog for Brandon and I, but somehow writing a post seems to make it official. It'll be interesting to see how I keep up on it because I'm usually horrible at keeping up on things. Just take a look at my journal, Facebook messages, mail correspondence, etc. and you'll see that I'm not very good at keeping everyone up on current news in our lives. Here's my new motivation: being told at a church meeting that we really need to start an inspiring and uplifting blog for others to read. So here I go....

Brandon and I have been married for almost 5 months! 5 wonderful months! Where does the time go? I love being married to my best friend, and I feel like our eternal commitment and faithfulness has added so much to who we are as a whole. I'm so happy for our marriage in the Salt Lake LDS temple almost 5 months ago. There's nothing that can bring greater happiness than knowing that you did the right thing, with the right person, at the right time. I'm grateful each day for the blessings that God gives me, and the blessings I am able to receive because I made this crucial decision with Brandon months ago. I get warm butterflies in my stomach even now as a think about it.

Brandon and I both attend Brigham Young University. I am nearing my last year at this wonderful school, and although I sometimes can't wait to escape stress, homework, and tests I can't help but feel a little sad as well. I've spent some of the best 4 years of my life here. I've met great people, had some amazing experiences, and even met my dear husband here. It's been the place where I've probably experienced the best personal growth of my life, and I can say I'm a better person leaving this university than when I first entered it. "Come to learn, go forth to serve." This is the motto at our university, and I love it! This education that I've gained in Clinical Laboratory Science seems to be only a small part of what I've actually learned here. I've learned how to make long-lasting relationships with people, how to serve those around me better, how to separate but also integrate the secular with the spiritual, and much more. I wish I would have kept a better record of experiences I've had, but like I said before I've never been very good at that. But here's to a new leaf, a new chapter of my life, a fresh start, and I'm looking forward to it. What's better than having amazing and uplifting experiences? I'll tell you. Sharing amazing and uplifting experiences with others. When you truly have something that brings you great joy, you can't help but share it. And dear readers, I am excited to share it with you.