The Harrisons

M.I.A

2012-01-03T21:40:00.000-08:00

I'm always so sad to write the first blog post in months because that usually means that my life has become too insane to take on the simple pleasure of blogging.
That also usually means that my life became so filled with boring stuff that I didn't have much to blog about! That was definitely the case yet again. As some of you may know, I had the semester from h.e.double.hockey. sticks. I had a horrible professor that made my life not so grand! In one of of his classes (I say that because I had TWO classes from him) I wrote over 220 pages of papers. That was just one of his classes and ONE of my 5 classes. Needless to say I have never been so stressed over school and I have also never worked so hard for an A in my life. I have never been more proud of my straight A's-I can say that I definitely deserved it!

This is my last night of freedom before I begin yet another semester at BYU and I couldn't be more excited that it is my LAST! I never thought this day would come but I guess I should save the rejoicing for when the last day of my last semester arrives. This semester is sure to kick my butt with 19 credit hours, two out of town trips with my research team to San Diego and Las Vegas, preparing for my trip to Mexico in May with a group from BYU (to study the sociology of development), and the usual desire to maintain some sort of social life and squeeze some crafts in if I'm lucky. Unfortunately that means that I can't promise a ton more posts for the next couple of months-I will try my best.

So, what am I doing this last night of freedom you might ask? I took Christmas down at my house (always sad and exhausting), I played bunco with my monthly bunco girls and I worked out for an hour and a half! I pretty proud of that last one-I just kept going and worked up quite a stank! I don't own a scale and I know I probably should, but right now I'm just focusing on feeling better about myself and looking better in my clothes. I can't obsess about a number until I feel like I look good again-for me that's just a healthier approach. Once I feel comfortable with the way that I look, then bring on the scale. Only then will I be able to look at the number and say "That's higher than I want it to be, but at least I feel good about myself." I can work on it from there!

Here's to maintaining my stress over school and leading a healthier, happier life in 2012! That's all anyone of us can do...improve in whatever ways possible!

Coffee Table turned Bench

2011-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

I know I have a lot of posts to still catch up on, but I was so excited to show you my little DIY project that I finished this weekend! I just couldn't wait to post the before and after pictures! I did take pictures along the whole time so that I can post a tutorial, but that will have to be another time...I've got too much homework and not enough time!

Before

I saw this coffee table at DI (thrift store) in all it's palm tree glory for $5! I looked past the mosaic palm trees made out of crushed up orange and green tile and saw this wonderful thing I call "potential." I wanted it so bad but didn't think that it would fit in my car. I knew that I would have to talk Devin into letting me take on another project. Not only that, but I would also have to talk him into going to DI with me because I needed his car (to fit the table into) and I can't drive stick-shift. Somehow I convinced him to come with me to take another look at it and when we got there I think he thought I was crazy. It looked pretty white trash! I promised him that I could make it awesome and I told him worse case scenario, we wasted $5...no biggie either way! We loaded it up and I dismissed all homeowrk assignments and other productive activities that I had planned for this weekend in order to start and finish it! Start to finish it ended up taking about 2 hours (if you don't include the time it took to dry). I'm slightly obsessed with it and it turned out better than I imagined!

Take a look:
After

Total cost: $35
Level of happiness this bench brings me: priceless

So, What do you think!?

August Happenings

2011-09-15T10:30:00.000-07:00

My brother Alex married the sweetest girl on August 5, 2011. I came home early from Dallas to attend the wedding and make their wedding cake. Originally, I didn't think that I'd be returning to Dallas after the wedding, so I drove my car home from Dallas for my brother's wedding and planned on going to Colorado right after the wedding to hang out with my sister and nieces. Since my parents were going too, the plan was to drive out with my sister in her car, stay for a week and a half or so, and return to Utah with my parents. Devin would finish up the month of August in Dallas and drive back (he flew in for the day of the wedding and returned to Dallas super early the next day). Well, the plans changed slightly and Devin was strongly considering staying in Dallas until the end of September and take block classes for the Fall Semester. The night before I left Dallas, I had a meltdown because I realized I may not see Devin for close to two months. That was not okay! We found a pretty cheap one way ticket from Colorado to Dallas so that became the new plan. I would drive home for Alex's wedding, drive out to Colorado and hang out for about a week, and then return to Dallas to be with Devin. If Devin stayed the month of September then we would have just bought a one way ticket for me back to Utah so that I could start school, but if he left at the end of August I would be able to drive back with him. Luckily, Devin and I ultimately decided to leave Dallas together at the end of August so that he could take a full semester of classes and we wouldn't have to spend September apart.
So, August for me meant a lot of time in transition! One of the other girls out in Dallas for the summer also had to be back early and she drove her own car to Dallas as well, so at least we were able to caravan. I drove the 20 hour drive back to Utah alone. Then, after my brother's wedding, I drove the 8 (which turned out to be a 10 hours with traffic) drive to Colorado with my sister, flew out to Dallas, and drove the 20 hour drive back to Utah with Devin. Devin was all hopped up on Rockstars the entire time so we were able to make that 20 hour drive in one looooonnng day. He's the trooper though because he did all of the driving! We planned on staying somewhere overnight, but every time we stopped, he had TONS of energy and was ready to push on! He never once felt tired!
Well, we made it back to Utah a few days before school started and now our lives are devoted to studying and doing homework!

Posts to look forward to:

Alex's wedding
The Incline
2 Year Anniversary

Dear Haitham,

2011-09-15T10:17:00.000-07:00

We miss you! We can't wait for you and Mizi to come visit! When you come, you guys are required to bring Oscar so he can be reunited with his lover Rush! He also needs to meet his future best friends Tucker and Cricket (my parent's cavaliers)! Also, you need to go down to the pool (at any given time past 10pm) and say hi to Kes for us and give her a big hug! We miss Dallas and we miss you guys!

In case you couldn't tell, they're saying "Please Bring Oscar!"

Rush says "Hi!"

You know you miss seeing that orange shirt everyday!

JFK Museum

2011-09-14T22:46:00.000-07:00

This museum was one of the best museums I have ever been to. There are no cameras allowed inside so I guess you'll just have to visit Dallas to get the full effect of what I'm talking about. The museum consisted of an audio tour which made for a pleasant visit. It was very well organized, quiet, and you could stop and start the tour at your own pace. There were videos throughout the tour that had actual footage from JFK's life as wells as footage from the day of his death, funeral procession and also Lee Harvey Oswald's murder. I learned so much about JFK, America, and Dallas from that museum! My dad bought us a book about JFK that's amazing!

The Sixth Floor Museum

This building used to be the Textbook Depository where Lee Harvey Oswald shot JFK out of the sixth floor window.

The "X" marks the spot where JFK was fatally shot

Downtown Dallas

Heart Attack Grill-Dallas

2011-09-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

Devin and I saw this place on one of those shows on the Food Network and since we were in Dallas, we thought we'd check it out! This all happened back in July...that's how far behind I am!
Okay, so when you walk in the door, two "nurses" are waiting to dress you in your patient smock. Then you are seated and all of the waiters and cooks were "doctors" and the waitresses were "nurses." It was such a fun atmosphere, but definitely a one time thing because of how bad everything is for you there! There were four choices of burgers; single, double, triple and quadruple bypass burger. If you weigh over 350 lbs, you eat anything on the menu for free. We were lucky enough to be there and witness a 427 lb. man step on the scale and receive a free meal. I wonder how often people are willing enough to step on a scale in front of an entire restaurant. Devin and I split the single bypass burger and an order of fries. Two months later and I am still running off that half of a meal!

Here's the menu's picture of the quadruple bypass burger! Gross!

We recognized the owner from the show on Food Network so we waved him over and he offered to take Devin's vitals...We talked to him about the restaurant and he said that he is talking about opening one down in Vegas.

Paximus Maximus

2011-09-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

STEPHANIE! This is for you to steal pictures!

Devin teaching Pax to fly helicopters

Keeping Pax entertained with cameras

I just adore this kid!

Catch-up

2011-09-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

I've got A LOT to update so here's the first string of the new, old blog posts!

Do It Myself Bookshelf

2011-09-13T10:40:00.001-07:00

BEFORE

I've gone garage sale-ing almost every weekend since I've been back from Dallas. Most of the time I don't find anything too grand and I usually end up buying more things for nieces and nephews and other relatives than I do for myself! Last week, I got this bookshelf at a garage sale that I didn't even plan on stopping at. It was $20 but I talked that lady down to $10. It's solid wood (so $10 is a GREAT deal) and a good size. I have a bookshelf that was my grandmother's bookshelf before she passed and I've wanted to re-do it for a long time but I've been terrified of ruining it. I decided that this little bookshelf was a good practice. If I messed it up, I would either learn from any mistakes or I would know to leave my grandmother's bookshelf alone! Well, I think it turned out awesome and I can't wait to refinishing my grandma's shelf!

AFTER

Well, I went to Lowes and got some spray paint (antique white) and some sand paper. If you notice in the "before" picture, the back of the bookshelf has two pieces of wood. The backing, although solid wood, was warped and made in two pieces. Lame design and I couldn't handle it so I also got a sheet of wood and had it cut to fit the back instead. I also looked at the wallpaper because I had seen many cute furniture refurbishes that used wallpaper or contact paper on the back. It was all super pricey and I would have ended up with WAY more than I needed for my small project! So, I decided to use FABRIC! Anyone that knows me knows that I have TONS of fabric so it was perfect. I had never heard of that done before (I know it probably has been done) so I was kind of nervous not having any tutorials but it worked GREAT! I used some Mod Podge to make sure the fabric was in place before I staple gunned the heck out of it!

I miss my pool time

2011-09-13T10:36:00.001-07:00

Belated Birthdays

2011-09-13T10:31:00.001-07:00

Trey, one of the technicians out in Dallas, had a birthday over the summer. No one told me about it until after the fact and I think he felt a little bummed that no one knew. So, I made his favorite cake (better than "anything" cake) and surprised him one Sunday! We planned on all marching down there and singing to him, but he had run back to his apartment for something so we ended up beating him down there. Luckily I got a picture because by the time he had come back, the whipped cream icing was melted (thank you Dallas heat wave). It still tasted great though!

(The writing on the cake looks like a third grader did it because all I had was whipped cream to decorate with! For those of you that have written with whipped cream before-you share my frustration)

Cheesecake Factory

2011-09-13T10:26:00.001-07:00

Notice that we all go out to dinner to spend some quality time with...our phones! Every guy at the table was on their phones! It was pretty funny (especially Dane's face). To give them a little credit, I think they were talking about their phones and they all whipped them out to compare...it still makes a funny picture :)

Oh yeah, and thank you Vivint for paying for our food!
It's always one of the highlights of our weeks!

Twisted Root

2011-09-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

Twisted Root is a YUMMY burger place just minutes from our apartments in Dallas. We went there for lunch before I left Dallas at the end of July (yes, I am behind). Mizi, one of our dear Dallas friends, came with us but refused to take pictures. When you order, instead of a number they call when your food is ready, they give you a celebrity name. You are then referred to as that celebrity the rest of the time there. The burgers were SO good! Whenever someone famous comes into their restaurant, they paint the wall above their booth marking "their booth." We ended up sitting at the bench that Mark Cuban (owner of the Dallas Mavs) sat at after the Mavs won the championship! George W. Bush had also visited the Twisted Root and had a booth painted for him and his secret service men! It was a fun atmosphere and really good!

Mini-Golfing

2011-07-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

Before I left Dallas, Devin and I and a group of friends went to mini golfing at a place near our apartments. We went at 11 am thinking we could beat the heat at least a little bit but we were sadly mistaken! It was SO hot! There isn't a time of day that feels good to hang around outside unless you are in or near the pool. We still had a lot of fun though! This place had three different 18 hole courses that we could have played, but after the first course we were dying so we headed for the pool back home!

Fun with Mizi and Haitham

2011-07-30T14:31:00.000-07:00

Mizi is our neighbor's (in Dallas)awesome girlfriend! Whenever she comes down to visit (about every other week) I spend my days with her and we always have a blast! I love her to death and miss her and Haitham so much! Anyways, my last weekend in Dallas, Mizi invited me to her sister's house (45 minutes away) for a backyard BBQ. They have a BEAUTIFUL house backed up to a golf course with an awesome pool! It was on a Saturday so Devin couldn't take off work to come. I had SO much fun just playing in the pool, eating amazing food, and hanging out with Mizi's family.

The pool

Mizi's niece Sarah doing a cannonball. I had fun with her and it made me miss my nieces (they are about her age). I got her in mid-air!

I tried multiple times to get Mizi's brother-in-law in mid air, but I got the same pose over and over again!

I tried really, really hard to get a picture of Mizi and Haitham, but Haitham thought it would be a better idea to close his eyes in EVERY stinkin shot! Talk about frustrating! Now, as payback Haitham, I am going to post every single picture I took of you...take that :)

Almost

Nope

Not even close

Nope

Not quite

Then everyone thought it would be funny to just plain sabatoge the picture by throwing Sarah in front of Haitham.

FINALLY one with his eyes open and it's blurry! My picture taking skills had expired by that point I guess!

Haitham, I hope you've learned your lesson...don't mess with the person with a camera in her hand! hahahaha

Anyways, then we had dessert. I was in a sugar coma for an hour afterwards! There was fruit tart, strawberry cheesecake, peanut butter ripple brownies (by yours truly), and cupcakes from Sprinkles (see previous post).

Planking

2011-07-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Before reading any further, watch this video.

Devin, his friends and I thought this was HILARIOUS! Pointless? Yes, but hilarious. We thought we'd take a stab at it at our pool one day. These are Devin and Kevin planking on top of our pool's waterfall. Then they proceeded to be typical Devin and Kevin (goofing off and being their silly selves).

The Single Plank

The Double Plank

Birthday Dress for Callie

2011-07-20T11:43:00.001-07:00

This is the first piece of clothing that I have ever made and I LOVE IT! I bought the pattern at Hobby Lobby while they were having a sale on all of their patterns. Eventhough their McCall patterns are always 40% off, this time every pattern was $1.99. I spent about an hour just looking through the book having the time of my life til I decided on the pattern for this dress. My niece Callie is turning two at the end of August so I made this dress for her. When I took the pattern out of the package I was a little overwhelmed. Since I self-taught myself how to read patterns, that means there is a lot of trial and error. The pattern turned out to be pretty easy and it didn't even take too long once I had all of the pieces cut out and ready to sew!

Fun at the pool

2011-07-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

This is the best one! Everyone was in place for literally 2 seconds and I managed to get the shot! You can see that Devin's head is almost completely under water.

We spent yet another day at the pool but this time Ryan decided to go buy a queen size air mattress to use as a pool toy. After lounging around on it, we decided to make pyramids. I'm just impressed that no one cracked their head open on the side of the pool!

Neighborly Love

2011-07-18T12:47:00.000-07:00

We have the best neighbor EVER here in Dallas. We invited him over for dinner a couple of weeks ago (see previous post here)so he felt like it was his turn. He made us a three course meal including pasta with AMAZING homemade red sauce. Filet Mignon marinated overnight and slow cooked in the oven. Then, delicious cupcakes from an upscale bakery in Dallas called Sprinkles. He has more pictures on his camera, but i did manage to get some shots of the cupcakes and a few of Devin and me :)

Sprinkles also has cupcakes for dogs. Haitham got one for Rush and he loved it! They are just mini cupcakes made without any sugar or other things that are bad for dogs.

Pax's Wall Hangings

2011-07-18T12:30:00.001-07:00

Stephanie really wanted to make some wall hangings for Pax's room back in Utah so we headed to Michaels. She wanted them to look like child's artwork and I knew I could help with that since I have no real artistic abilities! Here's what we made:

Dallas Farmers Market

2011-07-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a weekly tradition (for the next two weeks I'm here) for Devin and me. We had SO much fun! In downtown Dallas, there is a Farmers Market that is open daily from 8am-6pm. It's HUGE! There are four giant sheds filled with local farmers selling amazing produce. The quality of the produce to unbelievable and most of the produce is cheaper than the crappy stuff at the grocery store.

You walk up and down the aisle and the vendors give out free samples of everything. We were full by the time we got back to the car!
Here is what we got for $12:

*GIANT romaine lettuce
*MONSTROUS Limes
*HUMONGOUS tomatoes
*GARGANTUAN green onions (seriously...look at them)
*Normal cilantro
*Regular-sized pineapple
*Average cucumbers
*Itsy-Bitsy Cantalope

We then proceeded to spend $18 on two bottle of honey. That's right, honey. If you have never had expensive honey, you are missing out. It actually helps with allergies and other health problems because of the pollen that they give the bees. The reason we ended up getting the honey is because of my dad. He has started a new hobby...beekeeping! He has a suit, beehive, and an order of bees and everything. He's even taken beekeeping classes! Anyways, his birthday was a couple of days ago so we decided to get him some nice honey as part of his gift. We loved it so much though that we couldn't bear the thought of giving him the honey without getting some for ourselves as well! haha Now when I walk in the kitchen, I always see Devin with the honey bottle in his mouth and a smile on his face!
Even more exciting than the honey is the fact that I can FINALLY make my homemade SALSA! Every single time I go to the grocery store, I check out the tomatoes and walk away disappointed. I don't know what the tomatoes are like in Utah this season, but they are definitely lacking down here in Texas. The Farmer's Market had a plethora of juicy tomatoes. The second we got home I made the salsa! I love my salsa chunky pico style and this salsa is just that. It's very fresh tasting and has hardly any calories (15 calories for 1/4 cup!)

Here's the recipe:
3 large tomatoes seeded, chopped
4 green onions sliced (1/4 cup)
1 green pepper, chopped (1/2 cup)
3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
2-3 Tbsp Lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
I use my "slap-chop" and chop all of the ingredients up and mix them together in a bowl. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving just so that all of the flavors can blend! I dare you to make it!

Catch up

2011-07-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

5 new posts...I have a lot more catching up to do, but I'm all blogged out for today!!!

Creepy Crawly

2011-07-09T19:21:00.000-07:00

Our complex has a hot tub that feels oh-so-nice at night so Devin and me and his friends have made it a nightly tradition...when it is actually working. (The hot tub was MIA for about a month but it is officially working as of YESTERDAY...such a glorious day!) Anyways, one night towards the beginning of the summer, I was sitting in front of the drain "thingy", no big deal. Then I felt something on my back. I assumed it was just water dripping from my hair. I turned my back to Devin and asked him if there was anything there and he immediately leapt up and started brushing off my back.

THIS...WAS...ON...MY...BACK!!!

The picture is fuzzy (phone camera pic) so I'm not sure if you will understand the heebie-jeebies that I had for days following this little incident. A security guard at the hot tub was convinced that it was a brown recluse...kinda freaky since when they bite, the venom ROTS YOUR SKIN AWAY!!! AHHHH after about an hour of freaking out and examining the markings on the spider, we realized that it was not a brown recluse, it was a funnel weaver spider. Not dangerous or deadly, just disgusting when crawling on your back.
Sometimes I still feel like bugs are crawling on me and I'm sure to always make sure to verify with whoever is near!

Brownie Kabobs

2011-07-09T18:51:00.000-07:00

I made these for a BBQ for all of the technicians. They went over so well there that I made another batch for a grill out with friends! If I'm ever in charge of the dessert at a BBQ, you can bet that I will be bringing these along with me!!!

Dinner for 10

2011-07-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Our neighbor Haitham has had a lot of questions about our religion and decided to come to church with us a couple of weeks ago. We set up a dinner with the missionaries and it turned out really well. I'm not used to cooking for 10 but it was a lot of fun and it went off without a hitch!

Slow cooked pulled pork

Toasted Kaiser rolls with melted swiss cheese

Roasted Red Potatoes

Corn on the Cob

Individual Brownie Trifle

Italian Pasta Pie

2011-07-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

THIS recipe is one of my new favorites! It is so easy and SO yummy!

Rush's New Best Friends

2011-07-09T16:36:00.001-07:00

Look at the smile on that dog!

Rush has been having the time of his life out here in Dallas. Minus the heat and humidity, this is probably his most favorite summer because he was able to come with us this year! He has made just as many friends as Devin and I have! His best friend is a little puppy Cavalier. Cavaliers are no strangers to Rush because my parents happen to have two of them back home. Imagine our happiness when our neighbor directly across the hall just got one! His name is Oscar and he is the cutest! His owner works all day so he pays me to take Oscar out twice a day. I spoil Oscar and Rush by letting Oscar come play for about a half hour after I let him out to do his business.

Rush's other new best friend is a super young puppy, Nola. She is a Pitbull-Doberman mix and has the most energy out of the three. She is so cute and has the biggest paws so we know that she will be huge one day. She is a lot feistier with Rush than Oscar so Rush can be more rough with her! Nola has a way of clinging on to Rush's mane and leaving with a clump of Rush's hair in her mouth. She's ruthless but Rush still has so much fun with her! They tire each other out!

In this next one, you can barely see Nola, but they love sleeping next to each other!

By the time that he is done with these two, he is dirty and tired!

No one believes us when we tell them how small he is until they see him when he's all wet!

He comes up with the funniest sleeping positions. He sleeps so lightly that he always opens his eyes when we try to take pictures, but you can still see his feet all bunched together.

$1.50

2011-07-01T21:03:00.000-07:00

Sorry if shopping feats are a bore to you, but I just couldn't keep in my excitement about the deals I got.
So there are outlets just 20 minutes from our apartments. Last minute, some of the girls and I decided to take advantage of the 50% off the entire store deal + my coupon for an extra 15% off of my entire purchase. While at the outlets, Jessica decided to go next door to Pac Sun (I used to shop there before I was married but it just isn't really my style anymore). Courtney and I went to get her so we could carry on and she was in a conversation with a very animated guy that worked there. Courtney and I were ready to go until the sales guy started going on about how cheap their sale stuff was. We skimmed through and didn't see any sale prices marked so we made him prove to us how cheap some of the clothes were. As this post title explains, there was some cute fall/winter merchandise for, get this, $1.50. We got so excited about the $1.50 mark that anything we asked him to price check was, again, $1.50 whether or not that is what the computer said or not! I ended up getting a jacket, hoodie, and 4 cardigans for $9.70 INCLUDING TAX. I really just couldn't wait to share the good deal...we were all pretty stoked!
So, the moral of the story is to go to the outlets on a holiday weekend and go to the stores that the employees are all high. It makes for an enjoyable shopping experience for everyone!
I was also really happy with my trip to Banana Republic. There was a skirt there that I have been eying for over a month now. It was $70 so definitely out of my price range for a new skirt. I think about this skirt often so when we went back, I made sure to search for it. I couldn't find it anywhere until I had made my selections and was heading towards the register. There it was on the rack of leftovers from the dressing room...my skirt, ON SALE! I freaked out especially when I noticed that the skirt was a size too small. Bummer. I asked the sales girl to help me look for more skirts so she searched the computer and said that was the absolute last one in the store. I tried it on to make sure I couldn't get it, and IT FIT! I was so excited! There was a tiny spot on it so I asked the girl if I could get a discount so it was another 20% off for a spot that I'm positive I can either get out, or live with. So, my $70 skirt was on sale for $55 then 50% off then 20% off of that and then 15% off of that ending the price at $21. Whew! I also got a dress for my brother's wedding normally $90 but with the holiday and my coupon, $38.
Gap was nice to me as always. I spent $30 and got a pair of shorts, cute, cute sandals, and another (yes, another) swim suit.
I really can't pay full price for clothes anymore! I'm definitely on a shopping high right now :)

Fabric Flower Wall Hangings

2011-06-02T11:44:00.001-07:00

If you know me at all then you know that I am a sucker for anything and everything damask. I found this tutorial and couldn't wait to try it! I found the canvases on sale a Michaels in a pack of 2 for less than $5! The damask material was a remnant from Hobby Lobby so I got that for a steal. I can't wait til I get home to Utah and can put them on the wall above our bed. I've got these pillows on the bed already (that I made last summer). I've made 5 new pillows this summer (pictures coming as soon as I stuff them and finish them up!). Anyways, I had so much fun making these wall hangings that I need to find excuses to make more!
The coloring of these pictures is a little off...I couldn't figure out the right lighting. (The flowers aren't as shiny as they look in the pictures and the colors are prettier in real life.)

Yarn Wreath

2011-06-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

I saw this tutorial and had nothing but time so I tried it out! This is the first one that I've made, and I have learned a few things from my mistakes, but I really like it! It was super easy but a little time consuming. I didn't have a variety of felt for the flowers so I made them with what I had. I can't wait to make another one and pick out the colors. I want to make different ones for easy season to put on my front door!

Another Birthday Cake

2011-05-30T14:34:00.000-07:00

Devin's Aunt (I am so grateful that this means she is now my Aunt too!) had a birthday right before we left for Dallas. I offered to make a cake for a little get together Devin's dad had for her. Aunt Diane is so gracious, humble, generous, loving, and not to mention stylish. She is always thinking about others and is such an amazing example to me. I couldn't decide on a theme so I just went for YUMMY!

I filled this three layered triple chocolate fudge cake with two different types of chocolate mousse (between each layer). I then iced it with a homemade whipped cream frosting (I personally believe that it is THE BEST TASTING FROSTING EVER. I used Pepperidge Farm Pirouette cookies around the edges and garnished the cake with raspberries and chocolate shavings.

Books

2011-05-30T13:30:00.000-07:00

I have built up my library over the last four months in preparation for this summer. I frequented good ole DI and Savers in order to find crazy deals. Over those few months, I spent about $50 and got 35 books! All of them are newer titles that I have been wanting to read for ages. Thrift stores are the way to go to get great deals on books! I've decided to write a little bit about each book I read throughout the summer so that if you're trying to find a good book, you'll have my opinion.

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
(For a summary of the book: click here )
The little girl in the book is raped and murdered and it broke my heart. However, this book is precious because it is from Susie's view in heaven, she can see and hear everything that is happening on earth. The book follows Susie's family and close friends as they learn to cope with her disappearance, the gruesome evidence of her murder, and the discovery of who the criminal is. This book is written so well that you can feel the intense grief that the family feels, but you can also feel the peace that eventually comes to them when they come to terms with the reality of the situation. You can see how they carry on with their lives after Susie's death and see how many people were effected as a result of her death. Each member of Susie's family dealt with her death differently and the way that they each coped with the tragedy affected the rest of their lives. This book is very powerful.

Harry Potter
I know I'm a little late in the game, but I finished all of the Harry Potter books last week! I listened to the first Harry Potter book on my 30 hour solo drive to Georgia last year. I read books 2-5 throughout the summer (among many, many other books). I planned on reading books 6 and 7 during the school year but I laugh at the thought of having time to actually read for fun either of my last two semesters! Book Six was GREAT, but it wasn't very action packed. It gave a lot of much needed detail and background leading to Book 7 and it was suspenseful in the end, but Book 7 was my favorite by far. I read all 828 pages in two days. I'm excited to start a Harry Potter Movie Marathon because I have not watched any of the movies. I guess I knew that I would read the books eventually and I didn't want the movies to give away the plot!

The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom
(For a summary of the book: Click Here)
While on Earth, Eddie felt like his life was unimportant and a waste. He always wished he had moved away and amounted to more. After his death, he is scheduled to meet 5 different people that his life effected in order to help him come to terms with his life and make sense of his death. This book is really short (200 pages) and can be read in a day.
I highlighted my very favorite quotes/ideas from the book:

"No life is a waste. The only time we waste is the time we spend thinking we are alone."

"...He wakes up in the morning and he has a fresh new world to work with, but he has something else , too. He has his yesterday. The way I see it, that's what we're getting here. You get to make sense of your yesterdays." (I love this. Today is the day that you makes sense of your yesterday. Take the mistakes that you have made in your "yesterdays" and help them make your "today" better. Learn from yourself.)

"Sometimes when you sacrifice something precious, you're not really losing it. You're just passing it on to someone else."

If you have read any of these books, let me know what you thought of the books!
The next book on my list is "The Time Traveler's Wife" and "The Secret Life of Bees," and "The Lost Symbol". If you have read any of them, let me know what you thought!!!

Pax's 2nd 1st Birthday Party

2011-05-30T13:13:00.000-07:00

Pax turned 1 on May 15th. Because of this whole "summer uproot your life" thing, Dane and Stephanie decided to throw a party back in April so that all of Pax's family and friends could be there to celebrate. Stephanie planned a huge breakfast birthday party so a cake was unnecessary. Well, Pax just so happened to be visiting Dallas on his actual birthday so I was able to make a birthday cake for the little guy and he was able to have a second birthday party with all of the wonderful technicians of the Vivint Dallas office. Stephanie and I turned to Hobby Lobby (my favorite store in the world) for inspiration and she decided on a Pirate theme. The theme was perfect for his pool party!

A Pirate's Life for PAX!

(I made 12 cupcakes but only pictured a couple)

Stephanie, feel free to take any of these pictures :)

Homeless in Dallas

2011-04-27T13:50:00.000-07:00

We arrived to Dallas late last night after an uneventful (that's the way we like 'em) drive. I can say that I am beginning to lose my voice from an all out jam session in my car last night and talking for hours to different people. It definitely made the drive through no-man's-land a lot more enjoyable. After our horrendous drive to Georgia last year, I was very nervous for another cross country drive. The weather channel definitely didn't soothe my nerves because Dallas has been all over the news for tornadoes and other craziness. Needless to say, we packed up anyways and headed out. We left at about 7 pm (what kind of crazy people start a 20 hour drive at night, right?) and drove about 6 hours to the middle of nowhere to stay in a "podunk" little town. We woke up at about 8am the next day to shove off by 9 and drove the rest of the way until about 11:30 pm (12:30 local time because of the time change). Overall, we drove through about everything, a little bit of rain, hail, snow, and a lotta bit of wind. Nothing we couldn't handle!
Anyways, we arrived in Dallas late last night to our extended stay hotel. This is because the company still has not found us apartments to stay in! I was a little bugged about the whole situation but knew there was nothing I could do to hurry the process up. The extended-stays are actually very nice suites. The only downfall is that we had to unload both of our cars because we didn't want to get anything stolen. In a week or so we'll have to load everything back up and re-unload everything into our actual apartments. Luckily our suite it on the first floor right next to one of the exits and right by the pet area for Rush! Definitely the best-case for this specific scenario! Other than the fact that we have to pack, unpack, repack, and unpack again, there is nothing to complain about! These suites have kitchenettes, a nice little gym, a big pool, courtyards, internet, housekeeping, etc.

So this will be our home for the next little bit! I'll update you with our actual apartments!

Family Pictures 2011

2011-04-02T23:07:00.001-07:00

I feel so blessed to have Greg and Mckenzie (photographybymckenzie) as in-laws. They are so great to us and we just love them. Not only do we hang out pretty much all of the time, we have a hootin-hollerin good time when we do! It's an added bonus that they are both the most talented photographers around. I asked them if they could take some updated pictures of our little family because it's been a year and a half since our wedding (crazy, I know) and it's always nice to have great quality pictures to look back at. We decided to make a trip out of it and went to the Great Salt Lake. Mckenzie wanted to take Ellie's 4 year old pictures out there and wanted another reason to justify the long drive.

Harrison Danger Deakins

2011-03-10T21:47:00.001-08:00

Harrison (Devin and my nephew) turned one on February 22. He is the freaking cutest kid around with the biggest brown eyes and the sweetest smile. If you don't believe me, you can find out yourself!

This is a video that the talented Lilly McDowell made to commemorate Harrison's first birthday! It's so precious that I've watched it several times (mainly because Ellie has been slightly obsessed with it and thinks that it should be played at her house non-stop).

http://picketfencefilms.blogspot.com/2011/03/harrison-day-in-life.html

He's such a stud and he's ALWAYS happy! Lilly is in my Bunco group and I'm proud to say that she did my wedding video as well! Her work is never a disappointment!

Anyways, Harrison, birthday...back on track! McKenzie trusted me enough to make the birthday cake for Harrison's first birthday. It was a monkey theme and I wanted to make something other than a tiered cake. I've done that tons of times before and I never seem to have time to make cakes anymore so I wanted to challenge myself. I found a cake online that I thought was too cute for words and wanted to use that cake as the inspiration for Harrison's Monkey Cake (I'm not going to post the inspiration photo because it was professionally done and would definitely put my cake to shame)

Here's the end product :)

This was my first attempt at shaping a cake, meaning I made a bunch of cakes, put filling between each layer and then had to carve the shape of the monkey's body out of the tower of cake...not as easy as it sounds but it went off without a hitch! I was surprised at my undiscovered shaping skills.

The problem was in trying to cover the head with the fondant. The head was obviously a circle and gravity wanted to remind of its continual pull on everything including monkey heads made out of cake. The head was one of the last things that I created for the cake so it was late and I was running out of patience. I felt defeated when the head eventually crumbled in my hands. I knew that baking another cake would take close to an hour and I knew that even if I baked a whole new cake, gravity would still crumble that darn head. I sank defeated into the couch and watched an entire episode of Ugly Betty before I had an epiphany. I used to cater weddings and I remembered all of the people that had a layer of their wedding cake made out of Rice Krispy Treats. (Note: this is an EVIL thing to do to caterers or whoever plans on cutting the said Rice Krispy Treat layer because 4 inches of rice krispies simply shouldn't ever be cut!)Bad idea for wedding cakes but GREAT idea for Monkey heads! I knew that I could probably go outside and play baseball with the monkey head which meant that covering the head in fondant would be a "piece of cake." (lame, sorry-I had to!)I was right. The rest of the cake went off without a hitch and I was very proud of the end result considering all of the obstacles I ran into!

The only thing that I would have liked to find out ahead of time would be that the homemade chocolate fondant is a lot drier than the regular marshmallow fondant that I usually make. This made it a lot more difficult to roll out and cover the giant cake. Also, the spots that seemed fine when I covered the cake dried out and cracked a little over night...no biggie but just made my heart hurt a little bit.
It was also good to know that (homemade) chocolate fondant is SO good. McKenzie and I decided that it tasted like tootsie rolls. I may just have to make an extra batch just to make little bite-sized balls of goodness.

One of my favorite sayings about making cakes is, "There's no such thing as a perfect cake, you just have to know how to cover up or fix the mistakes." So, don't get sad when things don't turn out perfect, just get a little creative. I did have to do some damage control. The head was pretty lumpy because the rice krispy treat head was a lot bumpier than cake would have been. I covered most of it up by adding a little baseball cap for the monkey to wear. I also covered up some of the cracks in the chocolate fondant by making a little blankie to drape over the monkey's shoulder.

I'm Game...(pun intended)

2011-03-06T23:03:00.000-08:00

I seriously would play board games all day, everyday if someone would play with me. I think I might have burned Devin out so I'm available for new board game buddies. It's probably one of my favoritest (yes, I know it is not a word, but I think it truly expresses how I feel about the subject) things to do. I've decided to post the most recent additions to my board game collection so that all of you potential board gamers out there will know my opinion on them. Let's get real, no one wants to spend $30 on something that might be fun. Another reason for posting I guess would be so that you know which games I have so that you can go buy other games. Then you can call me over and I play with you (night or day, I'm there).

Monopoly Deal ($5)
Your house is not a home without this game. You don't have to like Monopoly AT ALL, you just have to like something called "fun." For $5 do you really have an excuse not to own it?

Monopoly-Electronic Banking ($24)
Throw your old board away and upgrade. I have never in my life had so much fun playing Monopoly. I've never been a fan of the tediously long game, but when you have debit cards instead of cash, it is SO fun. Also, all of the properties are US landmarks, the utilities are now cellphones and internet, and the railroads are now airports. It's my newest purchase and definitely one of my favorites.

Ligretto ($10 each set)
This is on my wishlist. Even though I don't own it, I've played it enough to know that this is another game that no one should live without. I've only been able to find it online. Each set is a different color and can accommodate up to 4 people. The more sets you have, the more people can play at once!

Blokus ($20)
This is up to 4 players and is only 20 maybe 30 minutes per round. This game is a slower paced game and definitely makes you think strategically. We played it the other night with a 5 year old (the youngest listed age recommended to play) and she did pretty well considering her age. So all of you with kiddles, it definitely gets them thinking! Love it!

Parcheesi ($8-Walmart)
I grew up playing this game but Devin had never heard of it until I brought it home a couple of months ago. I've always loved this game and it's SUPER cheap at Walmart. It's fun with adults and children catch on pretty quick with a little bit of help. I played with my nieces and nephews (ages 5-8) and they all loved it. Adults have just as much fun! 2-4 players

Cranium ($25)
I got this for my birthday and I love it! I'd played it a ton before but I was so happy to get one of my own. I also love party games that a lot of people can be included in. The best part is that out of all of the friends that we know of that already has the game, we have the newest edition with brand new questions and a cool new board. The board can be folded three different ways to make the length of the game longer or shorter.

Imaginiff ($13)
This game is such a fun party game. You need to play with people that you know, but lets get real, you play games with people you know, right?

Okay so...who wants to have a game night?

(I think I should get some advertising money for all of the good things I said about all of those board games!)

Disconnected

2011-02-10T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling strangely out of touch with myself lately. Maybe it's because this last week was filled with study groups and exams. I hated how fast time was going because that meant that I was that much closer to entering the dreaded testing center again for yet another three hour exam. I studied my heart out and still never felt quite prepared enough walking through those doors. This is not some plea for pity because I feel very capable, overwhelmed at times, but capable. For that I am very blessed. Even though the week was hard and I haven't gotten all of my test scores back, I knew all of the material on each of my four tests. Nothing came as a surprise to me and I feel like I got really good scores. I won't have another week like this for a couple more weeks so I'm luckily able to breathe. When I got done with my classes today and I knew I was done for the week I seriously felt like skipping.
I do have to say, I feel like I've learned and retained more in the last few weeks of this semester than I have in the last two semesters combined. I love my major and I'm starting to meet people that are in multiple classes of mine. By meeting these people and forming study groups, studying hasn't been nearly as tedious and it's been SO productive. Ironically, I feel like that is the reason I've felt so unprepared for the tests. Studying hasn't felt like studying and learning hasn't even felt like learning!
I'm so grateful for Devin for understanding when I'm stressed out and doing anything he can to help me feel better. He knows when I need to set my books down and play some Wii. He knows when to say a prayer for me to help me fall asleep at night. He knows when to laugh at me when I'm being completely illogical and we both know it. I just love him.
After a week of having every second of my life being scheduled out and feel like I'm on fast-forward, I'm ready to relax and live life at a normal speed! So now, I need something to do! Who wants to hang out?

When Devin's away...

2011-01-27T00:20:00.000-08:00

I craft all day! Okay not ALL day, but this whole evening. I had to watch a 4 hour movie for my Humanities class so I stocked up on crafts to get me through it! I got the idea for these from my blog-surfing adventures! I am SO excited about how they turned out! These all started as plain blocks of wood that I picked up from Hobby Lobby. I used crackle glaze to achieve the distressed look.

The new addition for my wall

I made these for our nephew, Harrison. I'm hoping that McKenzie won't see this before Harrison's birthday on the 22nd of February, but I knew that if I didn't post these pictures now then I wouldn't remember later. I'm just too excited to wait :) The colors match his nursery! The colors look a lot better in person, but you get the idea.

My DI craft

2011-01-27T00:07:00.000-08:00

I found these frames at DI and I saw past their 90's gaudiness and saw their potential. I paid $5 for all three frames and I paid $1 for the paint!

Before

Here are the frames in all their glory!

This is "The Living Christ" message that I just had framed in a plain black frame before.

After

I LOVE them! I painted the two frames yellow and then distressed them around the edges to give them that vintage look that is so fabulous right now. I painted the middle frame a pale blue color that I found for 50 cents in the "mistint" pile at Lowe's. I then took scrapbook paper and mod podge them onto the frame and then placed "The Living Christ" in the middle. It's an upgrade from the plain black frame I was using before! It was my first time "mod podging" so it's kind of bubbled, but now I know what to do better next time!

This is my favorite picture from our engagements and now it's in a cute frame ready to be hung!

What do you think?!

Puppies+Summer

2011-01-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

Even though this happened earlier than a lot of my posts that follow, I had to post it here so that you were sure to see it! I babysat one of the APX sales-guy's puppy when he was out knocking on doors all day. It was a love-hate relationship with the little guy because he was the CUTEST thing ever, but he was not potty trained! I've never been the one to deal with a puppy that wasn't already potty trained! Anyways, these pictures just make me melt!

2011-01-26T23:53:00.000-08:00

Dane and Stephanie had everyone over for a pumpkin carving contest for Halloween! It was so much racing to see who could do the best! I thought my owl was pretty cute but I tied for second (I think! It's been a while since Halloween)!

Here's the mummy cake I made! I thought it was pretty cute but some people didn't know what it was without me telling them!

The Crew :)

The Pumpkins...in all of their glory!

My pumpkin!

Our little hot dog! We re-costumed him this year but what else were we to do when we had a perfectly good stuffed hot dog in the closet!?

Kylie's Bridal Shower

2011-01-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

Kylie, Devin's stepsister, got married in October and these are pictures from her bridal shower!

Lissy Flower Rose

2011-01-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

So Devin's mom got a little kitten and Jack (Dev's stepdad) named her Pepper. Well, Devin's niece Ellie wanted nothing to do with that name. She refused to let a girl be named Pepper because "that's a boy name." So, she proceeded to name that kitty "Flower." Then it was "Flower Rose." Then it was Lissy. Then it was "Lissy Flower Rose" because she remembered that she had already named it "Flower Rose." So to the best of my knowledge that's the name.

So, here she is, "Lissy Flower Rose."

Miss Callie

2011-01-26T23:39:00.000-08:00

This is my precious niece, Callie. This was on her first birthday...hence the cake in the face.

BEST Pizza

2011-01-26T23:36:00.001-08:00

Stephanie and I made this pizza over the summer and it was SO yummy! I'll have to find the recipe we used and let you all in on the yumminess...or I could hog it all to myself and make ya'll jealous!

The Nephews

2011-01-26T22:59:00.000-08:00

Babysittin' the nephews! They're so great :)

Fabric Giveaway

2011-01-25T22:46:00.000-08:00

I never win anything but I figured it couldn't hurt to enter! I love using fat quarters of fabric to make fabric flowers and I LOVE Lila Tueller's designs!
As part of the entry to the giveaway I must post the link to her blog, but the only rule is that you are not allowed to go enter the contest after me...I studied statistics and I know what happens to my chances when more people enter the contest!

http://lilatuellerdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/01/its-giveaway-time-again.html

Let Me Riddle You a Ditty.

2011-01-25T17:01:00.000-08:00

I Wouldn't Mind

2011-01-25T16:55:00.000-08:00

I adore this song.

Merrily we fall
Out of line, out of line
I'd fall anywhere with you
I'm by your side

Swinging in the rain
Humming melodies
We're not going anywhere until we freeze

I'm not afraid, anymore
I'm not afraid

Forever is a long time
But I wouldn't mind spending it by your side

Carefully we'll place our destiny
You came and you took this heart, and set it free
Every word you write or sing is so warm to me, so warm to me
I'm torn, I'm torn to be right where you are

I'm not afraid, anymore
I'm not afraid

Forever is a long time
But I wouldn't mind spending it by your side
Tell me everyday I get to wake up to that smile
I wouldn't mind it at all
I wouldn't mind it at all

You so know me
Pinch me gently
I can hardly breathe

Forever is a long, long time
But I wouldn't mind spending it by your side
Tell me everyday I get to wake up to that smile
I wouldn't mind it at all
I wouldn't mind it at all

Snow Day

2010-12-21T17:16:00.000-08:00

I LOVE the snow when there is no where that I have to be and I think that snow is an appropriate accessory for Christmas. That means that this morning I was ecstatic when I walked out my door to who knows how much snow! I'm just glad that I didn't have a timeline to dig my car out!

This is a video of Rush playing in the snow. I think it is the most hilarious thing to watch him literally hop around because the snow is way to deep for him. He loves the snow and he loves when anyone will throw him snowballs that he never can find. He really is just finding an excuse to bury his head in the snow and walk around. I just love him so much!
Sorry it's sideways, but it's pretty funny so crank your head to the left and press play!

He also loves when we shovel. He will wait so eagerly until you drop pounds of snow on top of him as he frantically tries to eat it before it hits the ground.

Needless to say, he is very tired after our snow day!

Santa's Helper

2010-12-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

As some of you may know, I have been working up at the santa set at Valley Fair Mall. This job is perfect for me because I get a little bit of extra money coming in for the holidays and it also worked perfectly with my psycho school schedule. Originally it started out as me helping out my brother in law, Greg, but I think that this seasonal job has gotten me more in the Christmas spirit than anything else I could ever do. I just wanted to share some of the most precious experiences that I have had so far this season:

While I was at work today we got a group of like 8 little kids that were all cousins there with their aunt. They didn't have the money to get pictures taken, but they were able to still visit. There wasn't anyone else in line to see Santa at the time so we let this group take as much time as they wanted hanging out with Santa. The little kids in the group couldn't wait to sit on his lap and start rattling off their memorized lists. They took up the majority of the Santa's lap time. However, in the same group was a girl that couldn't have been more than ten. She is right at that age where she's too cool for everything and Christmas is beginning to lose that childhood magic that we all cherish so much. Although VERY reluctant, her aunt eventually convinced her to sit on Santa's lap. I am so blessed that I was standing right next to Santa when I heard her Christmas wish. She said, very quietly, "All I want is for my daddy to stop being sick all of the time. No more surgeries." Santa replied, "That just shows how wonderful of a person you are that you are thinking of someone else."
I had to go hide behind the register for a second so that I didn't burst into tears in front of that amazing little girl. She has probably dealt with more hard times than most children her age and unfortunately enough, it sounds like she the hard times are not over.I hope that wherever that little girl's father is that he knows how much his little girl loves him.

About ten minutes later I had another girl about the same age, maybe a little younger, come up to Santa and ask for her mom to get better. Santa asked if she wanted any toys and she said no, just her mom getting better could be her Christmas present. These children must be under so much stress and they are so selfless.

The last little child before our break had just lost his father and he seemed like he was kind of in a daze while he was waiting in line. When it was finally his turn, he lit up. He was about five so I don't know how much of his father's death and can understand at his age, but it was so precious to see him light up among all of the sadness that must be around him right now.

On a happier note, I had a group of about eight handicap adults come on to the set a couple of days ago. I started tearing up because of the sincerity in their joy. It was so precious to see people that were in their 30's and 40's still carrying that childhood magic of Christmas. You could tell that seeing Santa made their day.

Another benefit of working with Santa is that I am the coolest Aunt ever! Devin's niece would not believe that I work with Santa so she began to quiz be on Santa facts. Luckily for me, I love Christmas movies so I knew all of the answers to her questions. My favorite was when she asked me questions like, "Have you met Buddy the Elf?" and without hesitation said, "No, because Buddy moved to New York." After a series of questions, she finally believed me. She went from total disbelief to silence and awe. Her silence was broken by her making me promise to put in a good word for her with the big man :)

I still can't believe that the semester is over and Christmas is pretty much here. I'm sad that I am only working two more days, but I am so blessed that I am able to be surrounded by the little ones that make Christmas magical.

Did I mention how much I love this job?!

Black Friday

2010-11-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

I can guarantee that we had a better Black Friday experience weather wise than all of our Utah friends. Devin and I "bundled up" in our fleeces and were perfectly content waiting outside at Target. We heard the news that Utah was nearing single digits and we felt very fortunate that Arizona was in the 40's at 3am. So yes, we waited at Target but we decided not to camp out. We really wanted to get a new TV this Black Friday, but all of the "amazing" deals were on brands that we had never heard of so we decided to keep looking around. We did however, get great deals on presents for almost everyone on our list this year. I made a list of everyone we were giving gifts to and the count got up in the twenties so Black Friday was a must! We had a couple of minor let downs (a long story would be sure to follow so I'll just have to tell you in person!) but overall Target was a success.
We went home and slept for a couple of hours and went on the mini-golf outing mentioned in my previous post. Then Devin convinced me to muster up enough courage to take on Walmart. Walmart on Black Friday has always seemed like the scariest thing someone could intentionally do to themselves, but it was later in the day so we went. We ended up finding more deals there than we had at Target. Without spoiling any gifts we got people, I can tell you about what we got for our home. We got a 46" Sony LCD TV and it is GREAT! We also got an LG Blu-Ray DVD player that can hook up to the internet so we can stream netflix straight to our TV...I can't wait! We also got a much needed printer. The printer was $20 and came with $30 worth of ink for free...I'd say we made out like bandits! We had a minor fiasco paying for our purchases because we were out of state and making a large purchase, VISA and UCCU thought our cards had been stolen. We had fraud services calling our phones non-stop and even after we verified who were were and verified the purchases, our cards were still frozen! We had to trick them by just going to the ATM and taking the money out that way. So luckily it all worked out and we got our TV we've been looking for for MONTHS! On the way down to Arizona Rush had the entire back seat, but on the way home, his luxury was compromised. We were just lucky to fit the TV in the back seat of my car with only 1" of clearance. We couldn't have planned it more perfectly if we had tried!

When we got back to Utah we rearranged everything and now our living room feels a lot more homey!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-30T10:06:00.001-08:00

This year for Thanksgiving, Devin and I ventured off on our own to visit my grandparents in Arizona. It was one of the best trips we've ever been on together. Devin was a trooper because he had just gotten back from working in California on Sunday at 5 am and we left Monday in the late afternoon. I wanted to get down there as soon as we could because we don't make it down there very often (Devin still hadn't even met them yet!) and I wanted to spend as much time with my grandparents as we could! It was so cute, when I told my grandma that we wanted to come, she said that she was tickled. I told Devin and he didn't believe that she would say tickled, but at Thanksgiving dinner, she said it again and he was amazed!
Our stay was very relaxing and we were able to bring Rush along! By the end of the trip, Rush was best friends with my grandparent's dog, Ben. Rush has so much fun having other dogs to run around with that he often forgets to settle down. But now that we are home, we are seeing the effects of the trip on Rush because he has been asleep non-stop since we got back. This is the position we find him in the majority of the time...

He had never been on a long car ride so on the way down he had a hard time falling asleep. I think that if he could talk he would have been constantly asking "Are we there yet." He never whined though and we were glad that he was invited!

Even though Rush can't talk, I know what his favorite part of the trip was. The doggy park. (I have to admit that it was one of my favorite parts of the trip too!) The Doggy Park has two fenced in areas where people can bring their dog(s) to run around with other dogs without leashes! It was amazing how well kept the area was and how many dogs were there! Pictures will come later, but while we were there, there were over 20 dogs! Rush was in HEAVEN! There were water bowls and tennis balls everywhere. Rush made so many friends and all of the adult loved him too! Every dog I saw, I wanted! There were about 4 other Shelties there and it was amazing how little Rush really is. I mean, we knew he was the runt of his litter, but compared to the other Shelties, Rush was dinky! Oh it was SO much fun!

Thanksgiving Day was great too! My Aunt Loraine, Uncle Randy, and Aunt Eileen came to my grandparent's house as well. It was fun for Devin to meet them and to share stories. (I got to show off all of my wedding pictures again and I appreciate their interest!) We ate and played games and watched the Macy's Parade. It was fun, but having all of my dad's siblings there made it hard that my parents weren't there as well! It was funny to hear stories about his childhood as the youngest of the family though! We had a really great time and my grandparents were so sweet and generous opening up their house to us.

The day after Thanksgiving was BLACK FRIDAY and I'll have to do an entire separate post, but Devin and I decided that we didn't want to waste our last full day there by sleeping so we slept for a little bit and then woke up at a decent hour. We all went mini-golfing and it was SO fun. To make all of you jealous I will let you know that Devin wore shorts and a T-shirt and didn't get cold once. I wore a light cardigan and got a little too warm. I wish I could move to Arizona in the winter and come back to Utah for the summers! That would be the life.

I guess I've gone on enough about our trip but it really was so amazing to take a little road trip with Devin to visit family. My Grandma said to me a couple days into our stay, "Well now we know why you wanted to come down here and show Devin off!" They just loved him and could tell how happy we were together. We had such a good time and we can't wait to take another trip down there!

Halloween Cake

2010-10-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

I love Halloween! This was a cake that I made two years ago for my best friend Becky's Halloween party. I'm pretty proud of it considering that was two years ago and I feel like I've only gotten better!
I want to make a Halloween cake this year and I've got a couple of ideas, but I'm still open for new ideas. Go ahead, find a picture and challenge me! It can be fondant or butter cream but I'd have to say that I prefer working with fondant!

Books, Books, Books

2010-10-12T16:34:00.000-07:00

In the last three weeks, I have had five midterms, three 300 page books to read, and too many papers to count. I'm not saying all of this to complain, but rather as an explanation as to where I disappeared to! I actually enjoy being busy, I just wish the stress that comes along with it would take a hike!
The three books I read have actually been the highlight of my school work. It was my favorite homework, but also my most time consuming homework. Over the summer I tried to read a lot and it was really the first time in my life that I was able to read for pure enjoyment. I am so grateful for the time I had over the summer to develop an interest in reading because it has come in handy this semester! I am so glad to be taking classes that I enjoy with material I can't wait to learn! (With the exception of one horrible, horrible class)I wanted to post something about the books that I've read so far so that anyone looking for good, powerful books could look into them.

Outliers: The Story of Success. By Malcolm Gladwell
This book which took home the #1 New York Times Bestseller for 11 consecutive weeks, was SO fun to read. This book basically gives several reasons how our nations most successful people got to the top. The reasons might surprise you. Malcolm goes on to explain that these people that seemingly are pure talent or have amazing knowledge and abilities have been given special opportunities (that were not earned) that allowed them to be as successful as they are. That may not be the most clear summary of the book, but it was highly enjoyable and the author had a great sense of humor. I can't wait to read his other books, "The Tipping Point," and "Blink" but they will probably have to wait until the summer or at least Christmas break!

Black Like Me by John Howard Griffin
This book was so powerful. This book is set up as a journal of the author's experiences posing as a black man in the south in the thick of black persecution. He dyes his skin by taking pills prescribed by a dermatologist and then using dye to make his skin even darker. By the end of his transformation, people that he had interacted with as a white man could no longer recognize him. He got a true and untainted perspective of how it felt to be discriminated against because of the color of your skin. This book recounts several experiences he had. This book was hard to read at times because it was painful to read about the things that he and the people around him experienced. This book does contain some language because the author "tells it like it is." I still loved it and would still recommend it!

There are no Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America by Alex Kotlowitz
This book goes into detail describing the life of two young colored boys with high dreams,growing up in the projects of Chicago in the 1980's. This book was powerful because it showed how discrimination strongly continued well after the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960's. It showed how helpless the people living in this area were and how they earnestly tried to make a better life for themselves. The two little boys promised themselves everyday that they would get out of the projects and graduate high school. Gangs were prevalent in their neighborhood and fatal shootings were very common especially in the summer months. This book depicts how even the youngest, most innocent children are forced to grow up as they watch their friends, neighborhood, and families deteriorate all around them. I loved this book, but I was so sad reading it wishing that the children of the projects could just relax and be children without fear of their lives. So powerful.

I loved all three of these books and I am so grateful because it made reading them enjoyable. I usually hate being forced to read something, but I couldn't put any of these books down. I think I'm going to write a little bit about every book I read just so that I can look back and remember them.

October 5th

2010-10-06T14:45:00.000-07:00

I meant to write this yesterday but I'm having a hard time keeping up with the clock this week.
Anyways, I dropped by my parent's house yesterday where my mom reminded me what day it was. October 5th. This may not mean much to most people, but for me, that's the day I became part of my family. No, it's not my birthday, it's much more important than that. I was adopted when I was four and October 5th was the day that my (and my sister, Renee) adoption was official. In my family, we celebrated October 5th because that was the day our family was completed. I remember being told by my case workers that Renee and I were only living with our foster parents until they could find us a forever family, and we never quite felt like we belonged until we were adopted into our "forever family."
That day has affected everything about who I am. Everyone reading this, I know you as a result of that day. If my parent's had not adopted me, I would have grown up in poverty, with no real advantage in this life. Words cannot describe how blessed I feel. Thank you mom and dad for having that feeling that your family of 5 was missing someone and I'm grateful that the Lord placed Renee and I into the family to fill that void!

Happy Children's Day (yesterday)!

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2010-09-23T14:23:00.000-07:00

The day has finally come that I get to go down to California and meet up with Devin to bring that boy home! It's been a long month without him but there have been hidden blessings in his absence...I feel like our love has grown stronger and the extra money definitely isn't a bad thing either! It was so weird living completely alone for an entire month. I've always either lived with my family, roommates, or Devin, but never completely alone. I didn't get scared even once (I think it had something to do with living near Atlanta for four months:)

This is the first time in my life that I'm kind of nervous to fly! I've always loved flying and having flown pretty much around the world, I'm a pretty seasoned flyer! BUT I had to read this book this last week for one of my classes and there was an entire chapter about plane crashes! I can't help but feel a twinge of nervousness! I've even thought out that since my flight is short,if I we crash, the plane won't catch fire as fast because there won't be as much jet fuel! haha I'm not super nervous but enough that I've thought about it!

Well, tomorrow we are going to Disneyland and the significance of this is that it will be my first time to Disneyland. Before everyone chokes or gasps because they can't imagine life without Disneyland, I can explain! I grew up in Wisconsin which is 20+ hours from Disney World and 35+ hours from Disneyland and with a family of 7, flying there wasn't really an option! I moved here in high school and got too involved with swimming and singing and everything else to make a trip down there! When Devin's family found out that I had never been, it pretty much brought them to tears. Even now after they are all aware of that fact, they are still shocked when I remind them that I have no idea what they are talking about! They go to Disneyland AT LEAST once a year and Devin's little 6 month old nephew has already been twice. I've been one-upped by a baby :(

Also, possibly on the agenda is Six Flags Magic Mountain! Devin and I got season passes to Six Flags in Georgia and we realized that the pass works at every park! We may be too tired from Disneyland to make it up there but it'll be fun and FREE!

So, I'm flying out there, we're going to Disneyland and I'm driving back with Devin. We're going to break up the driving by stopping in Vegas and I'm so excited! Vegas is always fun and it'll be nice not to drive the whole way in one day. As most of you will recall, Devin and I have done our fair share of driving in the last couple of months!

SOOOO...I guess we'll be back to real life on Tuesday, but until then...Devin and I are going to be out having the time of our lives! WOO HOO!

Remembering 09-09-09

2010-09-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Two days ago was Devin and my one year anniversary. I cannot believe how fast it went! It seems like yesterday we were surrounded by our family and closest friends being married in the Temple for eternity. Unfortunately, Devin is working in LA for the whole month of September, so we have not officially celebrated our anniversary yet, but that will make seeing him at the end of this month that much better.
I can't wait for what the future holds for us! I can't wait until we buy a house and have children and any other blessings the Lord gives us!

Moving In and Heading Out

2010-08-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

Great News
Devin and I are moving into our apartment today! We will be living in the basement apartment of Devin's Dad's rental property. This is where we lived before we moved to Georgia and walking into the apartment brought back so many precious memories from our first married year! I'm so excited!

Horrific News
Devin will be leaving for LA tomorrow (Wednesday) to install more security systems. The original plan, after much prayer and careful consideration of all aspects of our lives, was for Devin to attend classes Monday and Wednesday at UVU and drive down to LA to work Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and drive home Sunday. However, last night, one of Devin's regional bosses pleaded with him to stay for the whole month and forgo school this semester. (Devin was only able to get into 2 classes anyway). He was made an offer that he couldn't pass up so here we are about to say goodbye for a month. I try not to think about it because the thought of him gone for a whole month just makes me cry.
Thinking positively, the good that will come out of this stinky situation is:
1) He will make very good money
2) He will still be able to take the same classes, just crammed into the second block of this semester.
3) I will fly down halfway through the month to visit and to CELEBRATE OUR 1 YEAR!
4) I'm taking a SUPER heavy school load so I will be plenty busy with reading and writing papers!

Although these are lame, they are the happy things that I will be clinging to for the next month! Rush and I will desperately miss Devin!

Savannah

2010-08-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Savannah was so pretty but I didn't get a lot of pictures around the city. We went down there without any plans so when we weren't at the beach (see Tybee Island post) or at the Wormsloe Planatation (see below), then we were just driving around. This sounds boring, but Savannah is actually set up in a way that driving around in circles is not only enjoyable, but educational. The City of Savannah has a ton of roundabouts with statues and parks in the center of them. So we literally drove around in circles. The houses there were so pretty and classy. Then we went out to dinner at Outback and the best part of that was that APX paid for it (we had dinner incentive money and half the office with us!) Then we took a walk down Riverstreet, which is literally a street with cute shops, diners, and bars along the river. The sun was setting and a saxophonist was playing songs to a huge crowd. It was so fun because he knew tons of songs and would play songs that matched the people that walked by. A woman dressed in all black walked by and he started playing the Darth Vader anthem. A woman dressed in a pink t-shirt and matching pink hat walked by and he played the Pink Panther theme song. A couple walked by hand in hand and he played "When I Fall in Love." He was very entertaining.

Wormsloe Plantation Ruins

2010-08-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

While we were in Savannah driving around aimlessly finding things to do, we came across the Wormsloe Historic Site. It was $5 a person and so Devin, me, Dane, Eric, and Jeremy decided to soak up some history. We drove through an archway of live oaks covered in Spanish moss to get to the mini museum where we watched a short (low budget) production about the first settlers. The museum consisted of one room in which different artifacts dug up from the were displayed. It turns out that the Wormsloe Plantation was home to Noble Jones, a settler of the first Georgia colony. Noble Jones used tabby, a mixture of limestone, sand, and shells, to build fortifications at Wormsloe in 1740 for the defense of Savannah. In 1793, Noble Jones constructed new homes out of the tabby mixture and parts of the ruins are still standing today! They are the oldest structures in Georgia.

After the one roomed museum, we went on a mile nature walk in which we were able to see the ruins and the burial site for Noble Jones. Along the trail there were also homes built recently to show visitors what the homes looked like back then. The boys had fun pretending to sell a security system to the settlers and trying to upgrade them glass breaks for their two glass-less windows. They thoroughly investigated the one room home to find the perfect location for the panel...they're goofs!

Unfortunately, being the only girl also meant being subject to boy-entertainment including torturing the BIGGEST, UGLIEST, HAIRIEST and MOST COLORFUL spider I have EVER seen in the wild. They spent a good 15 minutes oogliing over it at a distance until one of the boys decided to ruin it's hard spun nest and capture it on a stick. It was pretty funny though because I have never seen a guy afraid of a spider until that day. Haha they were freaking out! Now they know how I feel every time I see ANY spider! I definately made sure to keep a safe distance (unless I was snapping a picture). Who knows what kind of horrible pain a spider like that could inflict! Sorry some of them are a little blurry! I was a little too concerned with not dying to make sure they weren't fuzzy!

I can't leave out the hermit crabs! While we were walking, the boys were once again sidetracked by hundreds of hermit crabs. I guess I can't blame them for that one though, because they were SO cool! There was a tree growing sideways over a sandy area covered in hundreds upon hundreds of holes in which little crabs were poking their heads in and out of. They all had one huge claw and one tiny claw and enjoyed walking sideways. I wasn't able to get good pictures because the crabs totally blend in to the sand. After oogling over these creatures, the boys once again began torturing these creatures. (Mothers of little boys-you think they grow up fast, but the truth is that they never do!) After at least another 15 minute detour, I knew we had to keep going. The only way to tear them away from their endeavors was to continue walking and saying come on, the park closed a half hour ago! I seriously felt like a sheep herder. Our 1 mile walk literally turned into an hour and a half adventure and I can guarantee that if you ask any of those boys what their favorite part was, they wouldn't list the tabby ruins or the ancient live oaks, but the deadly looking spiders and the hermit crabs!

Funny, Funny

2010-08-04T18:57:00.000-07:00

Fun times at Tybee Beach

Tybee Island Beach

2010-07-28T11:46:00.001-07:00

Tybee Island sits right on the Atlantic Ocean and is just east of Savannah. This past weekend, we took a mini trip to Savannah so we made sure to drive out to the beach! The water was SO warm and we definitely had a lot of fun!

PUPPY-sitting

2010-07-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

This is my new friend CJ. He is 8 weeks old and his daddy, Clayton, is a salesman for APX. This means that he is gone all day and needs me to watch him. CJ and I are fast becoming bestest buds. He cuddles with me and is always inventing new games! I just love him! Clayton (CJ's actual owner) told me that if CJ is ever really bad and I need to call him by his full name it is Clayton Junior. When CJ got dropped off this morning he went crazy when he saw me! He couldn't stop jumping on me and licking me! I never want him to grow up!

Puzzle-mania

2010-07-28T11:23:00.001-07:00

I've done two puzzles all by my lonesome. Devin a.k.a "Kent Puzzle King" is gone all day so he can't help me :(

Summer Birthdays

2010-07-28T11:11:00.000-07:00

Here are two of the birthday cakes I've made for people over the summer (I used the same batch of fondant, that's why they look so similar)

Welcome to McDonough

2010-07-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

These are our new apartments in McDonough, Georgia.

Here is the pool! It looks bigger in the picture than it actually is, but you get the idea!

The gym is a lot nicer than the gym in Cartersville, but it's always a gamble whether the TV or the machine is going to work. At least the AC works!

These were taken on a walk at a local park.

Crazy bugs!
This was a cool dragonfly looking bug with black and white wings. They were everywhere!

This was a crazy spider web that looked like a giant cacoon! Luckily there were no spiders in sight!

We miss our hot dog

2010-07-05T21:42:00.001-07:00

Happy 4th of July

2010-07-05T19:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of the best 4th of July holidays I've ever had. I was really sad that I missed Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood this year, but a day away in South Carolina helped make up for it! Stephanie's (Dane's, Devin's step-brother, wife) aunt lives in South Carolina in a beautiful lake front home. Since we are only 2 hours away, we were invited to spend the holiday there. The 4th has always been such a family holiday, so being away from home was hard, but spending it with Stephanie's family reminded us of home. It was SO fun to just relax by the amazing pool, eat tons of food, hang out at the lake, play in the pool some more, and blow stuff up. Unlike Georgia and Utah, South Carolina has not yet outlawed fireworks. We found this out very quickly because the first thing you see when you cross the border are HUGE firework mega stores! We had to make a stop. Our $30 firework budget quickly turned into $50 so I had to drag Devin, Dane, and Jeremy out of the store before our wallet took a bigger hit!

Here is the front of Aunt Jean's beautiful home and her pool.

The back

The view from the back patio

Pool Time!

Lake Time!

Getting ready for fireworks!

Thanks Aunt Jean and we are excited to come visit again before we go back to Utah!

BUGS in South Carolina

2010-07-05T19:50:00.000-07:00

Okay, really? Now South Carolina is just inventing bugs! What in the freak kind of bug is this?! Someone enlighten me!

Booth Western Art Museum

2010-06-07T12:12:00.001-07:00

Statue at the entrance

Last Thursday some of us went to the Booth Western Art Museum because the first Thursday of the month admission is free after 4! It was so fun and the paintings and sculptures were amazing! I've put off posting anything about it because I have SO many pictures that I can't even begin to figure out which ones to post! I was amazed that there was such a quality art museum in the little town of Cartersville! My pictures don't do the paintings any justice but hopefully you can tell how beautiful the artwork is!

This was made out of different aluminum metal objects

Brown Paper bags

Pencil Drawing

My FAvorite...This was done with Charcoal!

Un-Helpful Security Guard

2010-06-07T12:01:00.001-07:00

When we went to the Booth Western Museum we saw this security guard and I kept wondering how he was staying so still! We asked him questions and he didn't answer. He was like a guard at the Buckingham Palace! It wasn't until later that we realized that he was a statue! Ok, so I'm kidding about asking him questions and stuff, I'm not THAT dumb, but he did look so real that it was kind of eerie. Even after we told Eve that he was fake she didn't know what we were talking about because she thought he was real!

World of Coca Cola

2010-06-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went down to Atlanta to the World of Coca Cola and it was pretty fun. A lot of money, but fun. They had different videos, memorabilia, and even a mini bottling factory behind Plexiglas. The best and worst part of the tour in my opinion was the tasting room. There were over 60 different flavors of coke product from all over the world and we were allowed to taste all of them! I got through most of South America and Africa's drinks and about made myself sick in the Europe ones. The WORST taste I have probably ever tasted was called Beverly. Apparently it is popular in Italy as a pallet cleansing drink. Well, it definitely cleansed my pallet because everything after that drink tasted so good!

Un-welcomed Visitor

2010-06-07T11:28:00.001-07:00

This was the 20" visitor we found on our back porch. I looked it up online and it turned out to be a garter snake (from what I can tell) but we don't get garter snakes like this in Utah! Although it was harmless, it was still terrifying!

Downtown Cartersville

2010-06-03T19:41:00.000-07:00

Cartersville has the cutest little downtown with fun shops and a lot of history! After we went to the park we went exploring.

These were a couple of little eccentric shops that had so many fun trinkets!

River Walk

2010-06-03T19:25:00.000-07:00

This is a public park just a couple of miles from our apartments! It is so pretty and has a well kept path all of the way around the park. We walked for about an hour, but the path is over 5 miles long! The geese were hilarious and as we were leaving, a bunch of kids showed up with bread and they went crazy! Can you believe how beautiful it is!

Birthday Wishes

2010-06-02T22:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was one of the salesmen wive's (Jenny) birthday so we celebrated in style! A couple of the girls got season passes to Six Flags too so that's where we spent the majority of the day. It was SO fun but unfortunately none of us brought our cameras into the park because we didn't want to have to figure out what to do with them while we went on the rides. I found my new favorite...the Superman. Anyways, later that night we went over to Jenny's house for cake. Devin was a trooper. He walked in the door from working all day and he still came with me so that we get to know the salesmen and their wives better. It was so fun! Here's the cake I made. I haven't worked with icing in SO long because all of the cakes I've made recently have been out of fondant. It was kind of frustrating because fondant looks so much more finished than butter cream, but it made me realize that I need to keep up on decorating with butter cream. It's hard because now that I'm comfortable with fondant, I'd so much rather decorate a cake with that than butter cream, but butter cream tastes so much better. My next cake project is going to be practicing making a topsy turvy (aka mad hatter) cake for Kylie's wedding! I'm nervous but excited that I have the time to "broaden my horizons."

I need to get me one of these!

2010-06-02T22:30:00.000-07:00

After this blog you will all understand why I want a baby! Since all the girls hang out all day long, that also means we hang out with this sweet creature. All of the babble that comes out of her mouth just translates into "have a friend for me to play with!" She's pretty convincing! I've got the cutest video of her blowing raspberries but I can't figure out how to upload it! I'll get it on here and then everyone that sees it will be baby hungry too!

Swim Time

2010-06-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

Devin made his debut at the Stone Mill pool this morning. He's had such long work days lately that we haven't really been able to spend time in the mornings! We had a fun time at the pool this morning and he loved my green floatie (best $5 I've ever made Devin spend!). Jeremy, the inventive and random guy he is, decided to bring a chair into the pool because he was so jealous of the floatie! Never a dull moment with those two!

Can you guess what I'm about to blog about...?

2010-05-31T11:26:00.000-07:00

Fabric Flowers! I made a ton of flowers at a time to get ready for the Dixie Highway Annual 90 mile yard sale. That's right! There is a yard sale that stretches 90 miles through Georgia and I got a booth to sell my flowers! Hopefully Georgia will like them as much as Utah does! I like these flowers because the colors are perfect for spring and summer!I've got about 60 ready to sell right now and I'm going to get working on making more giraffes! The sale is this weekend so we'll see what I can get made before then!

SIX FLAGS!!!

2010-05-31T11:18:00.000-07:00

I told Devin that no matter what, I wanted to go to Six Flags at least once this summer. Well, I was online and noticed that the season passes were only $49.99 (only $5 more than a one day ticket) so we got season passes yesterday! It's SO fun and it's nice because we got there and went on 4 roller coasters and left knowing we can go back whenever we want! It's great because we won't have to ever go and tire ourselves out too much trying to get our money's worth for the day! Jeremy also got a season pass with us! All of the rides we went on yesterday were all 4 seater rides so there was never an odd man out! We are going to have so much fun this summer!

Friendly Locals

2010-05-31T11:11:00.000-07:00

The people here are so friendly and SO welcoming. A couple that attends our church invited everyone (which could have been upwards of 50 people) to her home for a potluck dinner. It was so nice to get to know them and also to have an excuse to get together with all of the salesmen and their wives as well! I can tell that this summer is just going to keep getting better because we are surrounded by such fun people!

Shopping!

2010-05-31T11:08:00.001-07:00

This summer has been so fun because there are so many wives here to hang out with! I already knew all of the tech wives but we had no idea that there were going to be so many salesman wives too! We had a great day shopping at a mall down in Atlanta.

Woe is me

2010-05-30T02:06:00.000-07:00

So I had a "woe is me" day today (yesterday now I guess). That's what I like to call them and I know everyone can relate to these days. It's a day when nothing in particular goes wrong, but you're just feeling down on yourself. I don't have these days all that often, but when I do, the only thing that helps snap me out of it is my husband. Today I realized how absolutely lucky I am just because he is who he is and he's mine forever.
Sorry, I just got done watching "Dear John" (of course I cried) so that should explain my gushy post!

Pillows

2010-05-27T16:15:00.000-07:00

I love the fabric of these pillows! The purple fabric is thanks to McKenzie. For my birthday she got me a bunch of different remnants of fabric because she knew how much I love making the fabric flowers. Well, the purple fabric was way too heavy for flowers and too gorgeous to make flowers out of just to sell, so while twiddling my thumbs yesterday, I had the idea to make pillows out of them! I LOVE them! It just makes me want to have a house. I also had a TON of the yellow-leaf fabric thanks to a super-duper sale at Hancock forever ago. After making about 14 flowers out of the fabric, I still had about a yard left so I decided to make pillows with that fabric too! I love the colors together and it was fun and easy!

Burp Rag

2010-05-27T16:11:00.000-07:00

Stephanie asked me to sew this cute ribbon on her burp rags to make them cuter than the plain white. They turned out really cute and it was SO easy to do! I just ironed the ribbon in half and pinned it onto the rag and sewed!

New Flowers

2010-05-24T10:11:00.001-07:00

(My favorite)

The best thing about being out here in Georgia is that I finally have the time to do the little things I never had time to do before! It was definitely a welcome change from working full time and going to school full time! Well I've been wanting to learn how to make this new type of flower for a couple of months now and, again because my mom let me bring her sewing machine out here, I was able to make them! They are my favorite type because they look a lot more finished and professional looking! Here are some of the other ones that I've made. They're the same style that I've been making in the past except instead of putting a button in the middle, I sewed fabric in the middle. I really like the fabric middle and I think it definitely makes them look more unique than all the other flowers out there. And McKenzie, I apologize ahead of time for the crappy pictures! I guess you'll just need to make a trip out here to visit so you can take amazing pictures of all my flowers and craft projects!

Buttons

2010-05-24T09:57:00.000-07:00

I love buttons! I found a grab bag of miscellaneous buttons at Michaels and I was kind of nervous because I couldn't tell if there were any cute ones. Well, I used my 40% off coupon like the thrifty shopper I am and got a bag of over 300 buttons for about $2.50! I separated out the bag and found a TON of really, really cute ones! Here's a couple of my favorite buttons!

My Fabric Zoo

2010-05-18T21:56:00.000-07:00

I found this pattern at Hobby Lobby and fell in love with it! Devin let me go back and get it because I couldn't stop thinking about it! I've made a couple of the giraffes and they've turned out so cute! They're not too hard to make, they're just very time consuming. My mom let me bring out her sewing machine to Georgia and it's definitely saved my sanity! I also started making a new type of fabric flower which will make its debut on my blog here in the next couple of days!

Baby Pax(ton)

2010-05-18T21:49:00.000-07:00

Baby Pax was born on May 15th and is the cutest little baby! He's got bright blonde hair, looks exactly like baby version of Dane and is so little! Stephanie is doing so well and already cleaning her house and running errands! I had to steal Pax away so that she would take a nap! I'm so excited for Dane and Stephanie and I know they're going to be great parents!

Permanent Residency

2010-05-14T12:17:00.000-07:00

I'm trying to convince Devin that we need to move to Georgia because the real estate is ridiculous! I found a REALLY cute starter house for about $70,000. If you plopped that same house on a lot out in Utah, it would be at LEAST $150,000. There are soooo many houses that I could see myself living in for the rest of my life that are $150,000 out here! Georgia-humidity+family+mountains=PERFECTION!
While the boys are at work, we (the girls) are always trying to find something to do. One of my favorite pastimes out here has just been driving around looking at all the different houses! LOOK at these!

I want them all, and for the price of one house in Utah, I could probably have them all!

Stone Mill

2010-05-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

Here are our apartment buildings and the clubhouse. I think they're great!

Georgia

2010-05-14T11:40:00.000-07:00

I would say that we made it safely to Georgia, but as I think about the 30 hour drive out here, there are probably more instances in which we were not safe. So, I rephrase that statement; We made it to Georgia in one piece.
Our epic adventure started with a trip to Colorado Spring to see my sister Kristen and her family. We figured making a stop there would be wise because we were able to break up the 30 hour drive with some home cookin', cute kids, warm beds, and...a blizzard. That's right, we went to bed in the 60 degree weather only to wake up and find that my nieces' school had been cancelled due to an overnight snow storm. Thinking that the skies would clear up quickly, we ate a big breakfast and set out for Saint Louis, our next stopping point before Georgia. About 30 miles outside of Colorado Springs, which in the sideways snow ended up being about an hour out, my anti-traction control started locking my tires when I tried to accelerate. I called Devin freaking out and we decided to see what would happen. Unfortunately, turning off traction control means giving your car a mind of its own. My car decided to take that opportunity to fly off the freeway into a 15+ foot ditch. Needless to say I was a bit more than hysterical. Devin calmed me down and he and Joe (one of the other techs that followed me down the ditch) were able to reverse my car down the ditch until the ditch leveled with the freeway. Considering my car hit a pole on its way down, my car suffered minor scratches and cracks to the bottom of the bumper. No biggie! I just can't believe my car didn't roll!
You would think that a story like that would be the end of the life threatening adventures for one road trip, but then you would be wrong. We picked the perfectly wrong weekend to travel cross country, because that same stupid storm followed us all the way to Tennessee. Luckily in Kansas all we got were high winds that slowed us down a little bit. We didn't quite make it to Saint Louis the second night due to our adventure earlier that day, but we got close. At about 1:30 am we decided that 14 hours was enough for one day and stopped in a town out in the boonies. Unfortunately, every baseball team, business conference, and expo decided to stay in the exact town we stopped in. Deliriously tired, we searched for a non-smoking room (which turned out to be pretty impossible in hick-town Kansas) with vacancy. We finally found one and got a good night's sleep and shoved off again. Next stop, Georgia!
Our third day of driving brought us relentless rainstorms. For those of you who don't know,torrential downpour in Kansas and Missouri very easily turns into Tornadoes. Well, that very thunderstorm that we were driving in did indeed turn into a tornado that touched down just off the freeway 10 miles behind us (we didn't see it, but other travelers that trickled into the gas station to wait out the storm with us had!) You may have seen stories on the news about the tornadoes that killed over 10 people the last week of April...yeah, now close your eyes and imagine driving through that! My mom, who has always been known to have the weather channel constantly on when one of her children is traveling, was on the line updating us to the second on the happenings of the storm. We all decided to shove off and try to get out in front of the storm. If we could make it 30 more miles in the rain, we would be out of the storm. Slowly we crept through the rain and made it to Nashville and had mostly blue skies for the next couple of hours. The rest of the trip (all 4 hours of it) was uneventful.
Sorry about the lengthy story, but it was a lengthy drive! I'm just wondering what will happen on the trip back to Utah!

He Loves Me

2010-04-14T19:26:00.001-07:00

Look at the excitement in his face! I love my man and he loves me! Life couldn't get any better!

Merry Christmas...Last year!

2010-04-14T19:13:00.000-07:00

I'm just looking through some of the picture on Devin's computer and came across this one from Aunt Diane's annual Christmas party last Christmas (not the one that just happened!) Notice our unintended color coordination...We didn't even plan it!

He Won

2010-04-14T19:11:00.001-07:00

One of My Proud-est Cake Moments

2010-03-31T22:20:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for Stephanie's baby shower. I knew I wanted to include jungle animals on the cake because her changing table has cute little animals on it. I looked up different cakes to get inspired.

Here is MY INSPIRATION...

And here is MY CREATION...

Happy Birthday Alex!

2010-03-31T22:13:00.000-07:00

Alex turned 23 yesterday so we celebrated his birthday at Sunday dinner! I made a YUMMY chocolate cake from scratch with my peanut butter torte center and topped with peanut butter frosting! I drizzled it with melted Ghirardelli chocolate.

Pho House

2010-03-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

First off, we need to establish the correct pronunciation of this restaurant. Pho is pronounced Fu. I have a secret way of remembering this, but it may or may not be appropriate. I'm going against my better judgement to tell you! Just start saying the bad word and stop. If you can't figure out what I'm hinting to, just move on...It's not important! Any who...We went to Pho house for dinner two weeks ago with a couple of friends and had a lot of fun! We had good company and yummy, new, and interesting food. If you are up for trying new things (your taste buds don't have to be too adventerous to try this type of food) this is a great restaurant for date night! Perhaps the photos will be more convincing than my confusing explanation!