Happy Birthday Jon Part II!

We had a great turn-out for Jonathan's 25th B-day celebration. There was excellent food (wish I would have gotten a picture of the yummy spinach artichoke dip, hot cheese dip, fruit kabobs, bacon wrapped date appetizers, chicken drumsticks, yummy green spinach salad and pink bubbly punch), fun games, great company. Thank you for helping to make this one of Jon's favorite birthdays ever!-

Friends from the band-Soothsayers rock!

Both friends and family came

Better than you-know-what cake!


Fun presents


the funnest present

and gingerbread house making...all of which we were very creative.

We loved having everyone in our home--it's such a fun feeling to be able to have a place of our own for our friends and family to gather together.

The Soothsayers

About 6 months ago, Jon's old boss asked him to put together a band to perform at her and her husband's joint B-day party in November. He made a few attempts to get together a band, but ultimately had to call it quits because a few of the members had flaked out on him. Then, in September, his boss approached him again pleading with him to try again-she hadn't been able to find anyone. So, Jon made a few calls and got a new group of friends together. They began practicing and soon had a set list of about 20 pretty well polished cover songs, ranging from the Def Tones to Britney Spears' Toxic. They performed on November 8th at the Flamingo hotel in one of their grand ballrooms. It was a really fun party and the Soothsayers were definately the highlight of the evening.

I have to brag for a minute to say that although all the members of the band were experienced musicians and fun to watch, Jon was by FAR the most talented and versitile. He played lead guitar, bass, piano AND sang backup and lead vocals. It was SO fun to see him up on the stage totally in his element. I'm so glad he had this opportunity and hope he'll get to do it again soon. Thanks to all who came to support-it was a blast to be there with everyone!

My Talented Husband...

OK--its taken me forever to post this entry b/c I can't figure out how to add his song, but read on and hopefully one of our more computer saavy family members will take pitty on me and help me figure out how to do this...

Last month was our 2nd Anniversary--and Jon gave me a really great gift that I was not expecting.

Jon and I decided last year that we would switch off years planning something fun for our anniversary. This year it was Jon's turn. Things have been a little tight for us lately, so I asked him a few days in advance if he was planning on spending any money-to which he said, "not much". So, I took this to mean that I should prepare something inexpensive and sentimental for him. I made him a cd of songs that remind me of him. I relate my emotions a lot to the music I listen to and I often find myself repeating certain phrases from songs over and over again because I think they are SO us or SO Jon and I love them. So, on my card to him with the cd, I had written all the key phrases that stick out to me and remind me of him in those songs. It's not the most creative gift, but I did it with love. Well, come to find out, my gift was NOTHING compared to his sweet, thoughtful, time-consuming, and talented gift.


He picked me up from work and made me close my eyes all the way home. When we got there, he brought me up to our courtyard and had me open my eyes-he had put white Christmas lights on our house and had a song playing that we just heard and loved on the Twilight soundtrack (I know we're geeks). We danced there in the courtyard to this really romantic song. I just loved this gift. I'm HUGE on surprises-I love them. So, when I saw that he surprised me by putting up Christmas lights and dancing with me to that song, I was really touched. When the song ended, he asked me if I liked it--I said, "YES! I love the lights and that song from Twilight, and dancing-you know how much that means to me!" he said, "but, you really liked the song?" I said, "yeah, I love that song." he said, "you know I did that right?" shocked. what??


He had learned all three guitar parts, vocals and drums and asked his friend to record and mix him playing/singing it. That was HIM that we had been dancing to! I was shocked and touched all over again. It sounded awesome. I started bawling. I've always known Jon was talented in many ways and been proud of him for that. But, it's just so neat to have a great recording of him and be able to listen to it over and over again.

Jon, thank you for being such a wonderfully thoughtful best friend and husband. You always go above and beyond to help me feel loved and appreciated. You give the greatest surprises and presents. I don't know what I'd do without you. Thanks again.

To everybody else--have a listen to his rendition of Iron and Wine's "Flightless Bird, American Mouth"...

Happy 25th B-Day to Jonathan!

Come join us for a great time celebrating Jon's 25th Birthday and the Holiday Season! There will be great food, music, games and ginger-bread house decorating (byog-b-h). Bring your own gingerbread, icing and decorations and we will have a contest to see who can build the coolest ginerbread house. Hope you can make it!

When: December 20, 2008 at 6pm

Where: The Rojas Residence

tagged-7 Random Things About Myself...

I got "tagged" by my my sister Laura to tell 7 Random things about myself...

#1 I'd secretly LOVE to be the lead singer of a rock band. In many ways, I'd love to be Gwen Stefani

#2 I LOVE to dance-any time I get the opportunity, I do. Jon has caught me dancing around the house while cleaning, trying to get a work out, or just practicing my moves for the dance floor. And I would have LOVED to be in this movie-I think every girl wants to, really...



#3 I would LOVE to move to California and get a job working on the pre-production of movies (designing sets/props and conceptual ideas for the film, etc.)

Bilbo Baggins hobbit hole set, Lord of the Rings

#4 This is one of my FAVORITE sights. I'll have the $0.99 Chicken Sandwich + tomato, please. Thanks, Jack.

#5 Here is one of my FAVORITE things to listen to lately...(talk by Elder Uctdorf on the power of HOPE) btw, isn't he so handsome?http://www.lds.org/conference/talk/display/0,5232,23-1-947-7,00.html

#6 This is one of my favorite movies-I WILL bawl like a baby (I mean the ugly cry where your face looks like a punching bag and you have snot [for lack of a better word] dripping down your face) each time I see it-I think it has everything, comedy, romance, touching story and heart wrenching drama.

#7 I have THE most crazy bed-head I've ever personally witnessed or heard about-however, I do not have any actual pictures to testify to this fact-for eye witnesses, you may contact:

• Jonathan Rojas


• Paul & Anne Michaelson


• John, Amy, Laura, Adam and Jake Michaelson

These were about as close to it I could find...

The Upside of Anger

Nacho before we got Lady...

Nacho and Lady when they first met...

Nacho after one month together...

Our lives have changed in many ways since we got Lady and here is some proof, since I know none of you will believe me...Vegas Sunrise

A Really Great Recipe

I have to admit it--I am one of the 99.9% of mormons that LOVE Cafe Rio. For those of you who aren't in the know about this fabulous place, every time you walk in to a restaurant, you must wait in a line almost out the door full of people who just have that mormon look about them. In fact, once when we were there, we saw our stake president and his entire extended family, and about 3 other unrelated LDS families. This is not an unusual occurence at this restaurant. Anyway, the food is fabulous-In fact, Jon and I became so infatuated with their pork salad, that we searched high and low to find a recipe that comes close to replicating that sweet, juicy, succulent, ooey gooey (I could go on describing just how yummy I think it is, but you probably get the point) pork. After a few attemps, I beleive I have perfected a great adaptation of the pork salad. So, I invite one and all to give it a go. You WILL NOT regret it!

Meat:
1-3lb pork loin (substitute 4-5 large boneless skinless chicken breasts if desired)
2 C brown sugar
1 can of CHERRY Coke
½ C water
1 jar of Salsa-the smaller kind (medium heat)
Season w/ Dried Onions, Salt and Pepper
Place ingredients into Crockpot on high for 3-4 hours; ½ hr before taking it out, place on low and shred meat.

Dressing:
1 packet of Ranch Seasoning mix (follow directions on packet for making Ranch)
2 tomatillos
1-2 fresh small green chilies (2 is obviously pretty darn hot)
2 squirts of lime juice
1 clove of garlic
Fresh Cilantro (to taste-I think it’s disgusting if you can actually taste it, but it will give it that green look that you like)
In a blender or food processor blend garlic, tomatillos and chilies; pour in ranch dressing and lime juice; blend together until everything is smooth and creamy.

Rice:
1-2 boxes of Rice a Roni (Mexican Rice)
Follow instructions on packet

Beans:
1-2 cans of black beans
Stir over Med heat

Other Ingredients:
Tortilla chips
Lettuce (I use either Romaine or Spinach)

Put it all together:
I put it in this order because I think this is the order that Café Rio does—although I don’t think it really matters, it all gets pretty mashed together anyway.
1. Beans
2. Rice
3. Meat (make sure to drizzle a little bit of that sweet juice over the top, but you don’t want to get it too runny)
4. Lettuce
5. Chips (crumbled)
6. Dressing

Optional topping:

Fresh Guacamole:
4 ripe avocados
2 tsp lime/lemon/even orange juice
Raw white onion (chopped) to taste
Salt & pepper to taste
A few shakes of Garlic powder
Blend onion in food processor until smoothe, add avocados, lime juice, salt & pepper and garlic powder. Blend all ingredients together, but not for too long (we like to have chunks of avocado in our guac)

This is probably 4-8 servings (depending on how much you eat/serving). I’ve found that if you cook a pork loin, the meat will last for a few more meals. Meat is also yummy on sandwiches.

Enjoy!!