First Day of FanX!

Fantastic First Day of FanX! So many beautiful things and unforgettable moments.

Recipe Review- Blue Apron: Chicken & Brown Butter Rice with Corn and Tomatoes

We'd just come home from a trip and I forgot to postpone our Blue Apron box; so very glad I did!

This recipe is AMAZING! One of our new favorites. We love it so much that we made it the next week for our friends visiting from Spain!

Pros: ingredients looked nice and fresh on arrival. It turned out just like the picture on the recipe card. Best of all? Our very picky children loved it! 

Cons: recipe steps are tricky to follow. We've discovered that our Blue Apron recipes are more confusing than meal boxes from other companies. This recipe only has 5 steps, but you'll need to read through all of them before starting in order to figure out how everything goes together. 

Time estimate is waaaay off! This one says it'll take 30-40 minutes to make. It took us almost an hour, and this was our 2nd time making it, with 2 people! (It is nice to slow down a bit and enjoy cooking, but if you're in a time crunch, choose a different recipe :) )

We're Home! Summer 2019 Reunion and Family Road Trip

We're home!!! We had an amazing time, and are so grateful to be home safe and sound.

Our trip was: wonderful, beautiful, difficult, exhausting, fun, exciting, scary, stressful, learning, growing, blessed, and incredible. So many emotions.

* The first week, my 5 kiddos, my Mom, and I drove from Provo, Utah to Williamsburg, Virginia for the Borrowman reunion. My husband flew and met us there on Sunday (6 days after we'd left home). We had a lovely time with the Borrowmans visiting Williamsburg, Jamestown, Yorktown, Virginia Beach, playing with cousins, talking with brothers and sisters-in-law, and celebrating my parents-in-law's 50th Wedding Anniversary! I'm so blessed to have such fantastic in-laws.

* The next week, we drove to Gaithersburg, Maryland (where my family had lived when I was in High School!) and stayed with my parents-in-law. They are two of the most gracious, kind, loving hosts! We enjoyed visiting DC, many Smithsonian Museums, Gettysburg, fun with Virginia cousins, yummy food, 4th of July fireworks in DC, and Church. Keith had to fly home that Sunday for work, and it was hard to see him go.

* Our third week, the kiddos had more sleepovers, swimming, and fun with cousins, we met up with long-time friends, and we explored as much of DC as we could! It was hard saying goodbye to my wonderful parents-in-law.

* Our last "week", my Mom and I drove with my 5 kiddos and we visited Niagara Falls, Hill Cumorah, Kirtland, Nauvoo (where we enjoyed spending time with my Uncle Peter and his beautiful new wife, Sarah), and Carthage. Niagara was breathtaking, and the 4 Church History sites were beautiful, thought-provoking, and holy.

* We arrived home last Saturday after midnight, and are slowly getting back to normal life again.

* Our summer road trip was 33 days long, more than 6,400 miles, crossed 12 states, 3 time zones, stayed in many different places (9 hotels, 1 house, 1 AirBnb, 1 RV trailer, and 1 rest stop), and we loaded the car top a total of 13 times! Phew!

* Thankfully, the kiddos did (mostly) well on our travels. They range in age from 3-15, and we discovered that a built-in DVD player is worth its weight in gold! Several weeks before our trip, we'd traded in our 15-year-old minivan for a 4-year-old minivan. It drove beautifully, has 8 seats, our 1st built-in DVD player, and has been a huge blessing for us. Mom and I had mostly good health during our travels (and when 1 of us wasn't feeling well, the other was having a good day; we were watched over!)

* One of the most difficult experiences is when my sweet husband was very sick while we were gone. He had a tooth extracted AND strep throat, an extremely high fever, and he felt miserable. At the time, we had just arrived in Nauvoo (19+ hours away from home). I was so worried about him and feeling awful that I wasn't home to take care of him. My kind sister Tanya took him to InstaCare where he was given a shot for the strep throat, and the next day he had a painful tooth extraction. He's finally feeling better, and I'm glad to be home with him.

* Our Road Trip was difficult but worth it. Spending time with family was the best! We also enjoyed visiting so many historical sites and museums, and learning about our country and Church history (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). I'm so grateful for the opportunity that I had to experience so many amazing things this summer.

* Thank you Keith for working hard and supporting us on our travels. Thank you Mom Cynthia for driving with us and taking care of me and the kiddos (thanks Dad Craig for supporting Mom in going with us!) Thank you Mom Saralyn and Dad Keith Borrowman for hosting us, loving us and our kiddos, and watching out for us. Thank you to my brothers and sisters-in-law for your kindness and friendship, and for raising wonderful children. Thank you to Peter and Sarah for caring for us while we were in Nauvoo. Thank you to my brother and sisters for watching out for my husband while he was home alone. Thank you to our friends far away, who spent time with us while we were visiting. And thank you to our friends at home who've been kind enough to ask about our trip and listen to me talk about it forever. :)

#roadtrip2019 #summer2019 #borrowmanreunion #family #ushistory #churchhistory #williamsburg #yorktown #jamestown #gettysburg #washingtondc #smithsonian #niagarafalls #palmyra #kirtland #nauvoo #carthage

Merry Christmas from JoyfulRose!

Our customs have been closed the past two weeks and we've had a lot of busy fun creating gifts for family, relatives, and friends. :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Tina :)

Our silly little guys posing for the camera. These are their "Santa smiles" - lol!