Here are some pictures from this past week!

Here are pictures from Dad's Birthday party!

high school musical....I mean reunion

So this weekend I went with a bunch of my high school friends to St. George. There were 11 of us that met up for golfing, hiking, eating and making fun of each other. It was a blast, and it was great to see everyone even though they all made fun of me for being too skinny, having too much hair, and being too single! All my friends are married with kids and I was the blunt of many a joke down there. Anyways, we really had a great time! We woke up on Saturday morning at 6:30am to hike Angels Landing at Zions and then golfed 18 holes for 6 hours that afternoon. I averaged about 4-5 hours of sleep a night and it took 8.5 hours to drive each way from Phoenix, so needless to say I'm bloody tired! Well, hope all's amazing for everyone. Dad, it was great to talk to you for a minute on your birthday, I'm so grateful that you're our dad and I love you a ton! and I'm glad you like the Havianas (Brazilian brand flip flops)too!

Love ya'll!

_ Christian

P.S. I'm posting a couple of pictures from the weekend. (The Hoover Dam one is random, but I thought it turned out so well that I wanted to show you guys)

Sad Goodbyes

It was so great seeing everyone over spring break and it was so sad to leave. I thought about making a surprise visit this weekend, but couldn't find a flight under $320 -a bit out of my budget.

The week back has been good. I've gotten a lot of studying done and am gearing up for finals in a little over a month. The weather has been chilly and finally started to rain today. I normally don't mind the rain until I have to walk in it and no matter how I hold my umbrella, my pants and shoes get soaked. The wind is blowing hard and is whistling through my single-paned windows -brrrr!

I have posted two pics -the first of me with the nieces and nephews on Easter Sunday and the other is from the camping trip I took with some people in my ward in January. We were down in Big Sur National Park in Carmel and Point Lobos in Monterey. It was a fun but cold weekend.

Lots of love,
Kara

The Cafe Rio Recipes!

I have been telling everyone that I have been experimenting like crazy to come up with a somewhat similar Cafe Rio Sweet Pork salad. Honestly, it tastes REALLY good! I found this copycat recipe off of the internet...hopefully you like it. We have leftovers for a week and I love to put the pork in quesadillas. The dressing, I am not going to lie, it tastes more like Cafe Rio than when you actually go to cafe rio! Put the whole jalapeno in, it's not spicy, at all! Try it out and let me know how it goes! It takes a while, but I really enjoy trying it out because it is yummy!
-Savanna

SWEET PORK

2 pounds pork
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce (I used Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness)
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry). Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!


CILANTRO-LIME RICE

1 c. uncooked rice
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.


BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this even though it's not "traditional Cafe Rio")


CILANTRO RANCH

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 whole jalepeno

Mix all ingredients together in the blender. Thats it!

K so now to make it all PERFECT...Lay a tortilla in the bottom of pan, sprinkle cheese on it, and put in the oven at 375 for about 5 min or until the cheese is melted. Remove from oven, add beans, rice, pork, then lettuce (I used the romaine lettuce, NOT ICEBURG) and a little scoop of diced tomato and onions (pico de gallo). You can make up some gaucamole and put some of that on the salad (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). We also added a little spoonful of sour cream. Add some crushed tortilla chips, a shake of parmesan cheese, and top with a few cilantro leaves. Serve with the cilantro ranch dressing and there you have it!

Savanna's Baby Ticker

So, this is a cool thing that I just found on the internet. I put it on my blog also so that people can see the baby. It's actual footage of my uterus, which is cool! Chris, your little getaway looked awesome and warm! I am jealous! It snowed yesterday....what is happening to the world! Luckily Steve, Bo and I are leaving for San Diego on Wednesday to stay with the Weddles. They warned us that we need to bring our beach gear because it is so hot there! Praise everything! Love you all!

Oh heya! So what's up everyone! I apologize up front for being "hard to reach" this last week. I was really busy with school and I had friends in town some nights so that took away some talking time to call people back. This last week I went up to a cabin in Show Low, Arizona. It's up in the White Mtns about 3 hours away from Phoenix. I went up with my roommate Scott and a bunch of random LDS people. It was a lot of fun and I always enjoy seeing different parts of Arizona. I even destroyed a clay pigeon from the top of a mountain with a shotgun. It was umm...nice!
School is going well, although I can't seem to get ahead. I'd like to report though that my tennis game is improving. The weather is getting amazing lately and the orange blossoms make the air smell like heaven. Needless to say, it's tough to be indoors studying on those days, hence the improved tennis game! ;) Anyways, love ya'll and hope your Easter was great and that you have fun with Marisa's family while they're in town!

Yo Mutha & yo Fatha

Hello darlings!
Your dad just said "do you think this is how I talk?" No, but I am writing for the two of us and so be it. We are so delighted that Marisa got this thing going and I know it will be such a blessing to all of us.
We will send pictures of our San Francisco trip later when we figure out what we are doing. Please know that we love you and that you have been in our prayers and we say thank you for remembering McCormack in them too.
Our love,
Mutha and POP

THE BLACK FAMILY

HOly crap, I love this idea. AS I am sure you have all heard I have been very sick this freaking pregnancy and I don't really like it. I smell things, see things and sometimes talk about things that make me want to throw up or even really throw up, even our new apartment makes me sick, and I have not quite figured out why yet. But Peter and I are doing great. Peter is making the BIG bucks at work and we are just having fun realizing how expensive having a baby in Utah really is. We are very happy though. I am not going to post a picture right now, because I don't have any on my computer. But I love that we are doing this. It is such a fun way to communicate with each other. Marisa your freaking family pictures are the cutest things ever, and Savanna I love that Bo got so messy eating with a fork. I love you all. Eliza

The Tate's are in the house!

Wazzup! I love this idea....we saw how well my blog went, I haven't posted since October or something, so I am glad we are doing one that will motivate me a little more! We have been somewhat busy in the last little while. As you all know, Steve is a train-a-holic; he trains all day, everyday...Corm, you should look into this kind of addiction....(not to lighten the situation, I hope that isn't pushing it too far.) But, Steve's pro-day is on Monday, so it all comes down to this! This is HIS try-out for the NFL, it all comes down to this, so hopefully we have a better idea of what our possibilities are after Monday. Sixteen scouts are coming out to see him, so hopefully he impresses the Broncos...keep your fingers crossed!

Bo is so smart and crazy. He tells me something amazing everyday. He just out of the blue a couple of days ago, pointed to our round jet thing in the tub and said, "Circle" and traced it with his finger. It definitely took me off gaurd and as it turns out, he knows square and triangle as well....and not to brag, he even knows rhombus which I am still trying to figure out which shape that is for myself! He's hilarious when he eats right now because he insists on a fork....which frankly is driving me crazy cause he trys to eat dry cereal, not in milk, with a fork, so kix are flying all over our kitchen. I attached some pictures of his first attempt with a spoon and yogurt. Valiant effort for sure!



As you all know, we are having a girl and are having a hard time narrowing our name choices down to just one name, but we both really like the name Mia....pronounced "Mee uh" not "My uh"! But, here is the cutest little ultrasound picture of her sucking her thumb...it really is pretty cute!



As for me, I am just trying to stir up some business for the spring so that Steve, Bo and I don't have to live in a cardboard box downtown. I have been so wussy and tired this pregnancy, so I have had no motivation to make any extra efforts, but finally I have decided to kick my butt into gear. So, I have put together some postcards to send out with a SPRING SPECIAL to some of my past clients. I hope it goes well, the last time I sent these out, I had a ton of success.

Anyway, I hope I didn't put you all to sleep, but I figured I would just dive into it! I love you all and can't wait to see what you all have to post!
Love, The Tate's

Christian Groovin' to the Music

I don't have much to contribute to the blog about myself, but I thought you would all enjoy seeing Christian shake his groove thang. Unfortunately I don't know how to flip the video to be right side up.

Kara

Let's Try Blogging

Hey Everybody. So the Bentleys started communicating this way, and I thought it would be a fun way to communicate too. It is a great place to keep in touch and keep everything together. You can write as much or as little as possible, but for someone who doesn't live around everyone else - I feel totally out of touch.


If you want to change the format - go crazy. I just picked what they had and went with it. I've never done this before. I'll post a few pictures just to get everyone excited.

I love you all and hope that this will be fun and easy. Lots of love, Marisa et al.