One joy scatters a hundred Griefs

catch up

2012-01-29T16:29:00.000-08:00

here's another video of Miley from 4.5 months... just cause we love them, and she's funny.

SO to catch up since it has been awahile:

Here is Miley. Her favorite activities include:

Laying with her feet in the air

Riding her alphabet train (love this toy)

Watching Eric and me play Carcassonne

and getting wheeled around the house in this awesome 80's style stroller

She is 5 months old now and in the 90th % in height, go figure.

Eric got a bunch of stickers in the mail that say random things like "smoke detector battery" or "vet appointment". One day as Eric's birthday approached, I looked at Miley and saw this:

(birthday reminder)

I thought it was pretty funny.

For Thanksgiving we traveled to Utah and Miley got to meet her cousins and aunts and uncles (she's in the middle if you can't tell)

When we got home from the 7 hour car ride, Miley laid down and kept her feet in the air. I thought it was funny. Either she really wanted to sprawl out, or she was stuck in car seat position.

We played Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus at our ward Christmas party

Miley's 1st Christmas

I just like this picture of her

More recently, look who I met (on the left)

A couple weeks ago we set out to Boulder to explore the terrain and hit a restaurant that was featured on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives. Apparently Robert Redford used to work there too. The food was good but the atmosphere was not my thing.

Other than that, we haven't been up to anything too exciting.

Miley laughs

2011-11-30T13:59:00.000-08:00

We are getting a kick out of this little girl. She laughs all the time- including in her sleep.
This video was when she was 2 1/2 months... she's now just over 3 months.

Festivities

2011-11-06T17:33:00.001-08:00

We have a fun neighborhood. A lot of houses decorate for the season and a phantom goes around Spooking houses (you become the phantom once you get spooked). I was so excited to get Spooked!! I am like a kid with things like this. And I wanted Miley to get spooked.

Our phantom was very good to us, candy and a candle.

I mentioned these scarecrows last year. People put them out on their trees, so this year we got in on the action.

Our friends did some skeletons (below) climbing their house that I thought were awesome! This picture is not of their house, this one is from the net, but this gives you the idea.

We went to a street festival where kids could trick or treat. We didn't try trick or treating for Miley because everyone would know we would be doing it for us. But it was fun to be around all the celebrations.

And part of the fun is the after Halloween sales. We bought lots of candy and I got the things pictured below. I took a picture because it just looks fun!

I bought the bucket because I saw this idea (below) on pinterest. They get a bunch of books and do a Halloween countdown by reading books.

And...

there is this hot air balloon that appears all over our city. It just brightens my day whenever I see it. I love the rainbow. A couple of Sunday's ago it flew right over our house. I'm not sure how anyone is brave enough to actually set foot in one of these things, but I'm glad they do because I love seeing it.

2 Months of this:

2011-10-23T15:17:00.000-07:00

Our little squaw is 2 months old now. We love it when she starts laughing hard and all of the other cute noises she makes. And last night she slept from 9:30-6:30 so we are on our way to restfulness, hopefully.
Before she was waking up twice a night, sometimes only once. And she would guzzle down abt 2 oz and then fall asleep again 10 minutes later. So all in all, we've been pretty lucky.

Eric's parents came out for her blessing last week.

and my mom came out when she was just a couple weeks old

So, the other day when Eric walked in the door from work, he had these 2 pink balloons and some candy for me. 1 balloon said Happy UnBirthday (to me) and the other balloon was for Miley and said Happy 2 month birthday.... loved it!

I'd seen 2 of these car seat covers, so I had to make one. Here's the finished product.

Also in home project news, Eric made this tv stand for me in the summer. This was his 2nd project. The first was the shelf with baskets that I posted about for Miley's room.

Here are some more pictures:

Thanks for the cute outfit Hatsuho!

I highly reccommend these sleep sacks, they're terrific. I settled for some boyish colors b/c they were only $10 for 3 on amazon. I think they're usually at least $20. She looks so cute in them and they keep those arms from waking her up from sleep.

Welcome Miley!

2011-08-29T15:12:00.000-07:00

The long awaited day came August 20.

Miley was born at 3:59 pm and weighed 7 lbs 5 oz

and was 19.5 inches long,

coming a week and 2 days after our due date.

We headed in to get induced Friday night (Aug 19), knowing we would just start things up that night, but nothing big would happen til the 20th.

Pretty, new hospital.

They put me on some meds to get contractions going and I started feeling them around 1 am. Until then we passed the time w/free snacks down the hall and movies, and of course answering a bunch of ?'s.

After awhile the pain started getting intense! I wanted to hold off on the epidural though, b/c they reminded me that once I got it I would be stuck in bed. They also said some people would be stuck in bed for 2-3 days. I figured we'd just gotten started, so I waited. At that point, I was dialated to 4cm.

By the time I got the epidural b/c I couldn't stand another second of pain, they came to check me again and I was almost at 9 cm! Had I known that, I would've gotten it much earlier. I progressed much faster than they expected.

And then the dr said let's start pushing. Here is a pic while we waited for them to get Miley's little bed ready.

It was strange to think I would meet our daughter in that room (or so we thought). And once we started pushing, it was strange only 2 nurses were in there, I always pictured labor a big deal with tons of people in there.

2 hours of pushing came and went. The food in my stomach came and went as well (first time throwing up since I was 10). And the pain returned. No one ever told me that you can still feel the pain. And it got worse. It was not as bad as w/o the epidural, but I couldn't stand much more of it.

The dr said our baby was not lined up just right, and without any progress with pushing, he suggested a c section. Now, I had not been too excited about getting induced b/c most people that I've talked to who got induced, ended up with a csection. And I didn't know what we would do while I recovered, who would take care of our baby?

But, I hurt and was exhausted, I wanted the c section- and fast!!

So we got started and Eric was at my side watching over the sheet, and recording it all.

I asked him if he could see our baby. Then before I knew it, they were holding her up over the sheet for me to see. I couldn't believe it! I knew they were going to hold a baby up, but actually seeing a real baby in the flesh, and it was ours, was so unreal. I teared up right away. Then they took her to clean her up then brought her over and held her by me.

1st Family Picture:

It turns out the umbillical cord was wrapped around her neck twice.

Eric followed her to watch her get her measurements and cleaned up more while they finished me. Then we were all reunited. The rest of the day was a blur and I'm sad to say I can't remember much of it. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open.

Everyone was amazed at how quickly I recovered. I'm not sure how most people recover, but I was up that night walking. So thankfully, we didn't need to worry about how to care for her while I recovered.

Misc Pictures:

Here's a picture of her hearing test.

Walking the halls on our last day in the hospital.

We are so happy to have Miley in our family!! Thanks to everyone for helping welcome our little girl!

Nine or Ten Months?

2011-06-29T11:34:00.000-07:00

About a month to go until our little girl arrives- Aug 10 is our due date.

So our ? is: why do people say pregnancy lasts 9 months, when 40 weeks = 10 months??

So that puts me at either 8 or 9 months pregnant, whichever way you look at it. I've just resorted to saying a month left.

People have been asking about her room so here it is:

The shelf below with the baskets is Eric's first building project. He did such a great job! The picture doesn't do it justice. And we were so fortunate as we went in search of baskets that would fit the tall shelves- not only did we find the perfect size, but they were on clearance too! So we got them for about $6 each!

and here I am relaxin' in the glider.

I had an ultrasound the other day, and the tech told me (I couldn't make it out) that our baby was trying to grab her toes with her hand. And I got to see her yawn again. It is so fun to see her and we can't wait to see her and hold her!

On another note, Eric always calls me on the drive home from work so we can talk. So a couple days ago when he called, I answered and he said, "Knock Knock" and then I heard a knock on our back door. I turned around to see this:

There he was, already home, with flowers, my favorite candy bar, and a note asking me to be his date. I Loved it!!

And lastly, check out this guy. Eric spotted him on his drive home from work. This wolf was hanging out really close to our house. We go on walks over this way- kinda scary.

Spring Time!

2011-05-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile, and even though I think there's not much to say, I do appreciate seeing my friends' updates, so here you go to everyone wondering what is going on here.

We had a terrifice day on Sat. We hit a large yard sale event, went semi hiking, and went out to our new favorite pizza place for some lunch.

I am now about 27 weeks pregnant.

The pregnancy has treated me pretty well, I never got sick, and mostly don't even feel pregnant. My only symptoms are terrible (occassional) heart burn, I tire easily, and restrictions on exercise and what I can lift.

We got our stroller and just set up the crib. I'm on to the decorating phase, so I'll post a picture of her room once we get it all squared away.

From the ultrasounds, we've gotten to see her suck her thumb and take a BIIIG yawn.

Switching gears completely, am I the only one who did not know about this show? I just realized it existed, and am hooked. This clip is really funny if you want to watch it.

Once it starts, skip ahead and play from 2:17 until 8:10.

General Conference

2011-03-30T08:30:00.000-07:00

I thought these were really cute ideas for General Confernece.

Buckets and tents And More from Pioneer Party

Conference Kits from Parties and Holidays.

I like this youth packet from sugardoodle. I think I might print one off for myself this time around.

Another great Year!

2011-03-11T10:27:00.000-08:00

We just celebrated our 8th anniversary.

I'm lucky to have such a creative husband who always goes out of his way to do something for me that he knows I will love.

And this year:

He hung a bunch of 8's in our living room. Each 8 had an hour of the day written on it (11am , 12 pm, 1 pm, etc). At that time, I was to take a special pair of scissors he fancied up with ribbon and a poem, and snip the bottom of the 8 off.

When I would cut the bottom, immediately a string would come falling out from inside and dangle well below the 8. At the end of the string would be some candy and a note attached. The notes were little love notes, a note presenting my gift and card, or "coupons" for things he'd give me or do for me.

We used to hate giving each other "coupons" when we were in school since money was tight, and we wished it wouldn't resort to that, but now we request them.

For Eric, I used the theme Crazy 8's (you know, the card game?).

I compiled a notebook for him of memories and surprises and started off by making a message to him using the cards- similar to a candy gram- about our "Wonderful and Crazy 8 years of marriage."

Any page that gave him a Crazy 8 card, he'd get a surprise.

One page had an envelope he pulled out with a Crazy 8 card that lead him on a computer scavenger hunt. He had messages leading to the next clue in various email accounts, a word document, the sticky notes on our computer, etc. They lead to a receipt in his email for a song he has been wanting, so I got it for him.

Another page with a crazy 8 instructed him to check the freezer where he'd find a surprise. That sort of thing.

Another idea I had, we always laugh when we go back and read our journal entries about funny things that have happened in the past. So I went through my journal and compiled 4 pages worth of funny memories from the past year of our marriage. I enjoyed Eric's comments and laughs as he read them. He said that was one of his favorite things all day.

I scattered these 4 pages throughout the notebook, and introduced each page by using a playing card to say "1st" or "4th" page of memories from the last year of our marriage.

I threw in some other activities, again using the cards, to introduce what we were doing.

Each anniversary, we watch our wedding video and eat carrot cake, which was our wedding cake. We are now sick of carrot cake, so I made eclairs (which were served at our reception and which we are not sick of). I put them in a heart box.

To tie it all together and make it look a little nicer, I just put the notebook, the eclair box, and video in a basket.

And here's the happy couple 8 years later.

Get Ready Get Set

2011-03-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

St. Patricks Day Ideas for this year:

Pot of gold at the end of the rainbow from it is what it is

various ideas for Luck 'o the Irish from Wants and Wishes.

Basket, Jar, Cereal, Tags, and Socks from the dating divas (NOT Pictured)

Scavenger Hunt from the dating divas

and here is a link to the ideas I liked last year and since then

A Minute to Win IT

2011-02-26T08:58:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we had some people over for a game night to play A Minute to Win It (idea from the dating divas)

For each game, the first place couple got 3 pts, 2nd place got 2, etc.

Ties were awarded based on how long each couple took to complete the challenge.

And of course, you have 1 minute to complete the challenge.

We kept track of points on a large scoreboard:

(team names written across the top, scores kept below, then added at the very bottom to determine winners)

The games:

1. Breakfast Scramble: pretty much putting a ceral box together after its been cut into a puzzle

2. Bucket Head: trying to toss balls from across the room into a bucket on your partner's head.

3. Free Fall: (we made this one up b/c we needed more games), dropping ping pong balls from the top of the stairs into a small container

4. Don't Blow the Joker: blowing a deck of cards off of a bottle top, leaving 1 card

5. Office Tennis: played as a couple. You start at one end of the room and hit a ball back and forth with clip boards trying to land the ball in a bucket on the other end of the room.

6. Flip Your Lid: A cup sits hanging off the edge of the counter, and you have to flip it with your hand onto a bottle (impossible!!)

7. Defying Gravity: keep 3 balloons in the air for 1 minute (impossible!) For this, the points were based on time.

Each team got 3 lives. If you did not complete the challenge, you could choose to use a life -or all 3- or save them for later. But you could not go back to a previous game and use a life after moving on.

I thought we would do pretty well, but the end result:

Ouch!! We never considered the possibility of the loser medals coming to us.

In all fairness, we did complete the challenges in a minute that everyone else did, so it wasn't like we were totally uncordinated. It all came down to a matter of seconds in each game, and we decided not to retry the breakfast scramble which ended up costing us, so it isn't as bad as it looks.

We had all of the winners line up in medal order- gold in the middle, the others on their sides respectively.

All in all, it was a fun night. I was surprised 2 of the couples had never seen the show, in fact they didn't even know what it was about. If that describes you, and you want to plan a date night, you can view how the games are played by going to this website.

And if you want ideas in addition to what we did, here is how the divas played, and another person's experience.

xoxo

2011-02-20T14:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some Valentines Day celebrations from our home front.

First, what Eric did for Me:

About a week before Valentines Day, I got in bed and saw a heart taped to the ceiling- a mistletoe heart (pictured below). Fun little surprise.

When I went downstairs on Valentines day morning, the windows had been decorated with heart garlands made by Eric. I loved it. He did a great job, so good I am keeping them for future use.

I also told him not to get real flowers since they die and are costly, so he made me some roses. He found some little vases and put a rose in each window. You can see it below. Loved it.

We've had these little mailboxes for about 5 years now, but they've been collecting dust for a couple years now. He set out my mailbox and filled it with candy and a note. It was fun to see the old red flag raised high.

He told me he had some games for me to play and when I turned the corner I just laughed. He had set up a mini casino, he even made his own card dealer's visor (so great!). The games were way fun (I'll write them at the bottom for anyone interested). He also set out an assortment of fine prizes that I could win as seen below.

Note: He made some cute little heart packets with the prizes inside, not even knowing I'd just posted a pic of a similar idea b/c I liked it so much. This husband is in tune!

And now, what I did for him:

I taped a sign up for him to see when he got home from work.

I hung hearts throughout the house. On the back of each heart, I wrote down my very favorite moments with him throughout all of our years together: specific things he has done that attracted me to him, or specific moments that touched me most, that made me laugh, etc.

I also taped a gift card to one bigger heart in the middle in the picture above

I also made some chocolates then placed them in cones that I hung around the house, or put them on lollipop sticks in a vase. (If you've never had choc covered oreos sprinkled with finely crushed candy canes, you are seriously missing out!)

The heart basket above has some history. That was 1 of the things Eric did for me our 1st Vday together. He filled the basket with the same candle and m&m's, so I recreated the memory.

The chocolate milk I put in the refrigerator for him b/c he LOVES the stuff but will never buy it for himself.

You can see Eric's awesome casino visor above.

Casion Games:

For the casion games, I had to bet however many chips before each game, and here is the jist of the games:

1. A version of roulette. He had a board where I tossed a marshmallow, and I had to call out red or black to see where it landed, and I won or lost chips accordingly.

2. Black jack.

3. High/Low: I'd cut the deck and he'd flip a card and I'd have to say if the next card was going to be higher or lower.

4. I rolled dice and for every 6 rolled I would get 2 chips, and every 1 I would get 1. If a 1 or 6 was not rolled, I'd lose.

5. He did the old cup trick where you put an object under 1 of 3 cups (a die in this case) and I had to follow it as he moved them around. This one made us both laugh b/c the cup kept flipping and revealing the die, or there was a shadow, or the die would make noise.

After playing each game several times, I got to choose which I wanted to try again.

The Time Has Arrived...

2011-02-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

One year ago, we had our 1st appointment with our doctor to start IVF.
It seemed like that was the only way I would ever be able to get pregnant, and I just planned on it working.

We should've had the transfer done in March or April, but it didn't happen until November b/c we kept running in to setbacks- the lab was scheduled to close during the 1 week we needed it, (and timing is key so it threw us back another month), I had a polyp that they had to remove which set us back another month and a half (add in another $2,000 that the insurance wouldn't pay), I got sick for a whole month, just one thing after another.

So it took much longer than expected.

Here is my 1st shipment of meds, some of which were to be given by injection. Many other shipments came after.

To give you an idea of what the ivf process entails, there were times when I had to drive down passed Denver every other day to be monitored (an hour and a half each way). I would have to get my blood drawn pretty much at every visit, then the nurse would call in the afternoon with the results and instructions on which meds to take or change up.

There were other lifestyle changes too. Things like no chocolate (b/c of the caffeine) the entire time which was hard to do. I never realized how many desserts have chocolate in them! Additionally, I had to keep my heart rate low, so I haven't really exercised since the summer.

The cycle and the meds are way too expensive, and all the while you're just hoping this is not a HUGE waste of money and energy. And just our luck, the clinic in Denver is way more expensive than others around the country.

Oddly enough, through all the driving, arranging schedules, money, injections, and fragile high hopes, we never really got stressed out.

So we had 2 embryos transferred on Nov 19th and I was put on bed rest for a few days- laying down only. Then we had to wait until Dec 1 when they called with the great news. I am pregnant!!

Our last pictures as non parents.

And here is our baby at 14 weeks.
I am 15 weeks now, so the baby's due date is Aug 10th.

I am still supposed to be taking it easy b/c they found that I have placenta previa. So more sitting around.

So that is our story. We never would have thought we'd be the ones to struggle with not be able to get pregnant. I am so grateful to live in a time when we have this opportunity, and can't wait for August to arrive! I'm also grateful for all the prayers extended in our behalf.

Valentines Day Round Up 2011

2011-02-10T17:57:00.000-08:00

I love seeing what people throw together for Valentines Day. Here are my Favorites from blogs that I've seen. click links below

Above picture from Dana Made It blog. Her family uses these bags as mailboxes and exchanges notes each day for a couple weeks.

3 Quick Ideas of gifting to your spouse from the Dating Divas

Matchbook Valentines from the Creative Itch (fun to give as class Valentines, or to set all over the house for your husband or kids)

TIED idea from the Dating Divas (theme and way to present gifts)

Love Notes for the family, from Clean and Scentsible

Candy filled sewn hearts from Dukes' and Duchesses and

Heart breaker Postcard Valentines from Sun Scholar Blogger

Hershey Kiss Rose Boquet from Sun Scholar

I Dig You Valentine from Itsy Bitsy Paper

Valentines Mail Pouch so cute! from at Second Street

jump start

2011-01-27T07:29:00.000-08:00

Valentines Day is coming up, which is forever present on my mind.

In case you need any ideas, here is a list. It is a post I did last year, but I've added some new ideas since then so you can refresh your memory or find some new plans.

I also have a list of holidays on the upper right of my blog under "Celebrate", that has ideas from what we've done for eachother in the past for valentines day. I always appreciate inspiration so this is me giving back :)

Do you have any good plans, or am I the only one thinking about it this early?

yes to divas

2011-01-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

I recently discovered my new favorite blog, the Dating Divas. I wouldn't mind moving to Utah and being part of their little group to go on their group dates. They have so many dates that look like so much fun.

Some of my favorites are:

Minute to Win It Date

The Iron Chef Date

LOST date

Amazing Race

Choose your own Adventure Date ...I really liked the part where they were at the restaurant, I think the tasks at the restaurant would be hilarious

the Book store Date

Perscription for Fun

The Choose Your Own Adventure date reminded me that I have wanted to plan a date with this same theme since Eric and I started dating back in college. So I finally did it.

My date was much more simple than the one on their website.

I had a sign welcoming Eric when he got home. Then we had dinner. At the end of the night when I asked what his favorite part of the date was, first he couldn't choose but when I made him, Eric actually said it was coming home and seeing the table all decked out. Little touches make all the difference.

Then we went to the library to pick up a couple of the Choose your own Adventure books, then went home to read them.

I inserted slips of paper throughout the book, so that once we got to a page with a paper, he'd read the slip of paper. The papers gave him some choices to make, just like the book. For example: If you Choose to continue reading, turn to the next page, if you choose to stop reading and bake a treat of your choice, do so now.

The books were totally LAME!! Not at all what I remembered from my days of reading them. Just as it was getting good, the author went and added a spaceship appearing with aliens in a normal life situation, or human - like enemy chimps loading up giant eggs.

They are a newer version, so maybe the books of my day are actually as good as I remember them to be.

But we did get a good laugh later, as Eric admitted he wanted to know what would've happened if he had gotten on the spaceship.

One of the slips I included let him choose a movie if he wanted to watch one, so we made some Cinnamon Pull Aparts (click here for the recipe), and picked up a movie from Red Box.

We ended the night playing ping pong.

I think it is really easy to get into a rut and do the normal dates. As dull as reading a kids book might sound, as we rounded out the whole night, I actually felt like we did something new and it made me feel good to do something different.

So enjoy that website and some dates.

Happy Holidays

2010-12-29T13:21:00.000-08:00

Before moving on to the Christmas season, I have to give one last hoorah for the scarecrows that line the streets in our neighborhood. I love them! Everyone ties the scarecrows to the trees in front of their home. I held out and bought ours for $1 at the end of the season sale, so I'll proudly join the scarecrow display next year.

If you didn't see the news on facebook, on black friday we stood in line at Sports Authority for one of the gift cards they handed out to the first 85 people in line. Eric got the top dog amount, $500!! We were stunned! $500 for anything in the store. So we've been playing a lot of ping pong.

And on to Christmas!!

We tried to find some fun things to do to be festive, and we found this tradition here in our fair city. Carolfest. People meet in Old Town and we all go caroling. They even had cookies for us afterward. Thankfully the weather was amazing. No freezing occurred.

Have you ever seen cars dressed up as Rudolph? I've seen a few around town and I love it.

Another place we went was decked out with lights. We arrived too early for the fun though, and it was too cold to stick around, so we'll try again next year.

Some friends also had us over on Christmas eve for a little party. We had a great time.

Happy New Year!

Projects/ Home Improvemnt/Decorating

2010-11-16T16:33:00.000-08:00

This post is technically for me. I needed a convenient place to put all of these links for projet ideas, so this was the best solution for me. I am putting a link under Projects to the right, so if you ever need ideas, you can look there. I will be adding as I find more ideas, and deleting as complete projects, just a heads up.

To View, click the #'s.
Blog:
Help videos from sneaky mama
blog banner from clover lane

Furniture:
#1 How to distress

Vinyl Lettering: #1 for sale at wonderfully wordy #2 for sale at poppies #3 at gigglygumbdrops
vinyl expressions

Window Treatments: #1 DIY Roman Shades #2 Roman Shades
.........................

BUILDING:
Bed: #1 Farm bed, CA KING and page #2 bed w/o footboard bed with arch
Benches: #1 #2 #3 #1 Bench w/cushions and storage #2 Bench w/cushion and storage #3 bench w/cushion (or storage bed) and here how to make the cushion
bench video from the lettered cottage

Bookcases: #1 #2 #3 #4
Coffee Table: Page 1 and 2
Console Table: #1 #2 #3 #4 (love #4!)
Lockers for the mudroom: #1 I want to paint it this shade of blue (scroll down) #2
more ideas for mudroom and 1 more entryway

Nightstand: #1 and 2
Office Work Space Desk: #1 with cubbies #2 corner desk w/cubbies
Paneled walls from ucreate
Pedastal for laundry room: #1 #2 and #3
Tables: #1 farmhouse table #2 farmhouse table easy way
TV Stands: Hudson Media Chest 2. Kirkwood 3. Leena Media Console

november 14

2010-11-15T07:42:00.000-08:00

Eric's birthday.

I don't like birthdays to be celebrated for a total of 10 mins during cake, presents, and ice cream, I think it should feel like a birthday the whole day, so we always add something extra to the festivities.

This year, I set out a bucket and I hid a bunch of candy, soda, and other things for him to run in to throughout the day. The bucket was to hold it all. (Added bonus for us, his bday lands around the after Halloween candy sales so we get the candy for half price- score!)

I got him 1 gift, but instead of buying more, I set out a $ jar and hid money around the house as well. The jar was created b/c there are a ton of projects we'd like to do for our empty house, like building this locker for our mudroom, but we don't have tools or anything. So this will get us on our way along w/the contributions from family.

A sample from the hunt: in the picture below you can see 2 hidden pieces of candy and some money for the 'ol jar.

I also have a bday stocking for him, so I filled that w/some things for the morning of. And the week prior, I had him reach inside the stocking each day and pull out a piece of candy and a slip of paper giving hints to how we'd be celebrating on his bday.

That is the gist of what we did. Other than that, we went to dinner on Saturday evening, made his favorite cake, had sticky buns for breakfast. That sort of thing.

Now, on to Thanksgiving, Black Friday shopping, and Christmas time!!

Birthday Idea Round Up

2010-11-09T19:08:00.000-08:00

Pillowcases here . She also has a special dining chair cover for the birthday person.

PARTIES:

airplane party

Candy land Hunt + Invites from angbrimwil

Construction party, these lunch pails are great (scroll down a little once at the site) from me and my insanity

Ice Cream Party from cjane blog

Carnival from lil luna

Carnival 2

Movie Party. from angbrimwil

Race Car Party from gwynn wasson designs

Race Car party 2 from juicy bits

Rocker Girl Party from pumpkin petunia

Rocket Party and more on that here from me and my insanity

wii party

November Deals

2010-11-08T09:58:00.001-08:00

Getting excited for black friday!! Here is the site I use to easily see which ads are out and here the ads are easier to view (once you select a store, click ad scan on the left). So I like them both.

and here is a rebate form for crayola and toys r us board games

Office Depot printable coupon

we're in business

2010-11-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

Here he is, man at work. I helped.

We have a food storage shelf, built for next to nothing.

If you haven't seen this kind before, the rows are slanted, so that you drop a can from the front, it rolls to the back and falls to the next shelf, then rolls to the front. Love it, love it, love it.

Here's a website with some pointers if anyone else catches the building fever.

Polls Now Open

2010-10-21T17:00:00.000-07:00

In honor of Halloween: Results: I'm the reigning champ!! Mine won- the frankenstein. Thanks for your votes.

A couple years ago, we did a cookie decorating contest. We decided to go for it again, so we need your votes. Polls close October 31, 12am mountain standard time. Poll to the right side of the blog.

We didn't have as much time as I wanted, we were kind of rushed.
So without further adieu, here are the 2010 contestants:

Contestant #1

Contestant # 2

The previous contestants can be seen here

Aside from the cookie contest, Eric made this for me in our backyard. If you look closely you can see some fingers sticking out. He'd have me go out there each day and pick a finger. If it had a star on it (the part that had been covered by the dirt) then by the time I came back inside, I'd have a bag of candy waiting for me.

Halloween Time

2010-10-19T14:33:00.000-07:00

Time to celebrate!!!! *UPDATED 10-27-10
click links below

Celebration Ideas:
We've Been Booed
Fun with the family

Countdown:
Found here

Decorating:
I love the witch set up at the coat rack
sleeping witch
*new cute trick or treating sign
*new DIY tombstone

Candy Jars
Boo
jars from house of smiths
Venom label
cute buckets

don't forget the food:
note: I have not tried all of these, *= recipes I know are winners!

Caramel Corn + Nut Mix
Halloween Chex Mix
Oreo Mummies (great idea!) *
Several recipes from Your Home Based Mom
Monster Eyes 1 and 2 *
Lil Luna has more ideas here
Cute idea for bones *
scroll down to the mummies

Parties:
Witch's Party (adults)
For Kiddos
Roast

Party Invites:
Skeletons

Party Treat Table #:
1 2 3

Photo Editing:
using picnik

ENJOY!!

Wrapping Up The Summer

2010-09-21T12:02:00.000-07:00

(this picture is obviously not my work b/c that there is no Eric)

I always do an end of the summer date for Eric.
This year I used this idea as my inspiration & here
I made a cardstock wallet for him, and then changed the original idea up a bit.
I filled the wallet with lots of coupons & gift cards that we already had for various restaurants and activities.
The idea was that he got to choose what he wanted to do throughout the day from all the coupons and cards in the wallet.

Inside included things like mini golf, zoo tickets, lots of restaurants to pick from, ice cream, movie rental, etc. We both thought it was a fun idea.

Tomorrow is our moving day!! We are excited. We're so glad for the bonus benefits benefits of our Church b/c everywhere we go, we have total strangers show up to help us move. We're grateful for everyone who has helped us move, or who will be helping us tomorrow.

Gifts for Others

2010-09-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

Gifts:
Favorites

Presentation:

Lable prints

Milk Carton

A quick Jaunt

2010-09-08T09:47:00.000-07:00

3 day weekends are great so we can head over to Eric's home town.

On Saturday, I got to seal my dad to my grandparents at the temple with Eric & his dad (the family came too). We then went to Eric's favorite pizza place for lunch, played tennis, and then went on a ride up the canyon in our sister in law's Ranger.

That evening we had a cookout in the canyon which I haven't done in a long time. We told ghost stories that made us laugh more than anything, and told jokes around the bonfire. We also enjoyed great food!

On Sunday we went to church and later got to visit old friends from college who still live in town.

Monday Eric got up way early to go play bball w/some friends. I went too b/c once he got up, I couldn't sleep. We played more tennis w/the family, had lunch, then headed home. Before leaving, we stopped by Charlie's because Eric LOVES their shakes.

On Friday before we ever left, we stopped by our house to check on the progress. It LOOKS all finished, except for the missing kitchen faucet and some things they need to polish off or patch up. It feels like home though. We can't wait to move in in just 2 weeks!

I've been updating the slide show so it has up to date pictures.

Report Card

2010-09-07T15:03:00.000-07:00

I find so many cute ideas on the internet, and don't want to bookmark them all, so I have started linking ideas I like on the side of my blog under "Celebrate". I should've been doing it all along, but if you need ideas for parties or holidays, I'm going to be linking them there. Enjoy.

To start:

I thought this was a cute idea.

Eric and I do at least 1 surprise for each other every week, so for this week I made him a quick version of this report card idea. Since he's not in school anymore, I just based if off of how much he made today.

Under Construction: Home Sweet Home

2010-08-01T21:30:00.000-07:00

Vacation

2010-07-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

We are back from our trip to Las Vegas.
We stayed at the Monte Carlo. Our days pretty much consisted of a TON of walking to check out the hotels, eating at buffets and restaurants, swimming (they have a wave pool there and lazy river), and the last night we saw the Lion King.
We had such a great time.

We could often be seen with these yellow cups full of lemonade to beat the scorching heat!

We are glad we went to the Lion King since I've wanted to see it for years, but having seen Beauty and the Beast (which was amazing) and then hearing all the hype for the Lion King, it was kind of a let down. Everyone else seems to love it, but for me, it was alright.

We had a great time getting to spend all day together.

Summer weekend

2010-07-13T06:47:00.001-07:00

Friday night we got ourselves a Slurpee and some popcorn and went to a concert in the park.

Saturday Eric planned a packed full date day for me. We played tennis (which is a common occurance around here) and he even had this trophy specially ordered for me.

Then we headed out to go tubing.

Next we went to Old Town and had some really good pizza. Strolling Old Town is always fun becuase it is always packed with people, and they had bands playing and street musicians and other performers.

Next stop- Vegas! Can't wait!

Sweet Relief

2010-06-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

June weather is a killer for me. Once temps hit 81 and up, my insides go weak and I have no energy.

Relief came when Free National Park day rolled around on Saturday and we headed UP.... to snow. The cold up there sure beat the HEAT wave back here!

Here Eric is going up a steep hill side so he can "shoe sled" down. I love that about Eric, he's always up for fun like that, even if I don't want to participate.

Here's the visitors center which, in June mind you, is still nearly covered in snow.

When you drive into the national park, you pass through Estes Park. Here's the famous Stanley Hotel, if it means anything to you. Stephen King stayed at this hotel and it inspired him to write the Shining. I've never seen the movie or read the book, but people claim the hotel is haunted, not that I'm saying I believe that. But that's the scoop.

and this is for you ol Casey, your pic of the mountains, if you really wanted it or not, you've got it now. Not the greatest, and they never look as good in pictures as actually seeing them for yourself.

and so it begins

2010-06-01T09:58:00.001-07:00

we are all moved in to our "summer home".

Our landlady where we were living, understandably didn't want to have to try to rent the unit during the winter, so we had to find another place to live while we are building our home.

So here we are. A flashback to our newlywed days. A small one bedroom apartment. I didn't think I'd ever live in a complex like this again. But we are saving $350 a month and gas money from not having the 25 minute commute each way for Eric to get to work. So we are pushing through it.

We have way too much stuff for a one bedroom. Even if the apartment had enough space for everything, we don't want to have to pack it up again in a few months so this is what our bedroom looks like, all the way up to the ceiling:

We are hopefully looking at only 4 months here instead of 6.

Memorial Day was our first chance after all the busy moving and cleaning to get out and have some fun. We went tubing down a river we'd never been to before, had a great lunch, and waited out the day to get the pool all to ourselves in the evening. It was a perfect day.

one day agenda

2010-05-23T07:43:00.000-07:00

1. We gave away our squirrel again to the same person. Yes I am aware that I am too indecisive. However, this time we were emotionally prepared for it, so we are doing alright.

2. Schedules and weather finally alligned and we got to go on a hike. I'm very angelic (shining white) in this picture, but everything else is too so I won't take it to heart.

At the base of the mountain we watched people on their rafts and kayaks take on the river. Looks like it is time for tubing again.

3. Lunch at a little Mexican place- we are at the point where most of our food is packed away for our move this week to our transition home, so eating out sometimes is a must, that's what I like to tell myself.

4. Some friends had a bbq which was a lot of fun. We ate and then played a game and the losers (also known as the husbands) had to stand against the wall and have water balloons thrown at them.

Take Two

2010-05-16T19:58:00.000-07:00

We had our first visitors out here. Our friends from Ohio came to see us and play some games.

For those who have ever played mafia with us, this might sound familiar.

Eric wanted to play so he got a rice krispie treat for the mafia to throw at the person who they would eliminate.

Then it progressed to a 1/4 c of water. Thankfully I was the mafia that round so I was the water- tosser. So for those of you either thinking, "ya those were fun times" or possibly Heather or the Cooks thinking, "No More Mafia", just know we miss you and we miss playing!

Thanks for the fun times Yearsley's!

Greener Pastures

2010-05-01T18:28:00.000-07:00

Life has taken several turns for us, for the better.

First off, we got to enjoy another fun time in the suite at the Rockies game.
Secondly-- We are heading to Vegas in July!!

Third-- WE ARE BUILDING A HOME!!

We had looked at homes a little bit, not sure if we would actually buy. But from the first step inside this home, I was "Wowed" and kept saying I loved it and wanted to buy it. Still, we kept looking, always comparing everything to this home. Finally when the right lot opened up, we went for it! The price was amazing for this home! Even the homes for $100,000-$200 more couldn't compare.

Here is a finished home that we are going to copy.

Below we are standing in front of our lot, you can't see very well in this picture, but we chose it for the great mountain views and no one behind us.

Below are pictures of things I loved in OTHER homes we walked through.

cute mud room

This reminded me of a nice restaurant's bathroom sink

I loved this shower with the arch, and with the walls around it, its so castle like

and lastly this tucked in bath tub

Birthday Celebrations

2010-04-21T07:34:00.000-07:00

I had such a fun birthday this year. We went out to a fun dinner, and then Eric gave me a shopping spree- we'd go to 5 stores and he gave me $ at each store. If I wanted I could keep the $ and use it at the next store, and in the end, I could choose 1 store to go back to.

Then we had cake and ice cream, got my free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's, and opened my gift - which was a game I'd been wanting called Dominion- I reccomend it! Its also happens to be the 2009 game of the year.

Lastly, Eric had picked up a 'lil surprise from me on his way home from work- a box of See's candy since they just opened a store near us. Let me tell you why I was so excited that I kissed him for a minute straight once I saw it.

My mom always used to get me See's for birthdays and Valentines Day and its always been a fond memory- something I've always loved getting!
Secondly, Eric and I used to dream of the day when we'd have $ to do things like him stopping off at a chocolate store after work and picking me up a surprise box of chocoaltes. So now those days are here!

It was a perfect idea that he had to get that for me! And if you know me, you'll know that most of those chocolates are gone now.

My in-laws and my mom also added to the fun by showering me with itunes gift cards. I've been enjoying my musical shopping spree and new music!!

Thanks to everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday, and if you didn't, you will have bad luck for the next 3 hours. LOL. Ok I'll take the hex back. You are safe. If something bad happens to you, do not blame me.

Surprise Night Out

2010-04-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Something is in the water here, my last post talked about how my visiting teaching partner brought me that amazing Easter basket. This post is about my visiting teacher. She called me up and told me that her parents had been visiting and left early, so they had a room at Holiday Inn that was paid for and not being used, and that we could use it.

And so we did. We had a great time getting pizza, watching a movie, swimming in a perfectly heated pool, breakfast, and king sized bed. It was a fun time.

Strangely enough, Eric had said about 4 days earlier that for my birthday, which is coming up, he thought about getting a hotel here in town to stay in for the night. But we are saving up for other ventures, so we decided not to. But we got to do it after all! It was fun feeling like we were on vacation. So thank you to Megan!

Lucky ME!!!

2010-04-04T21:11:00.000-07:00

As we were driving home, I caught a glimpse of our door from far away and wished aloud for someone to SURPRISE me with some Easter goods.

We pulled in through our garage in the back. When we got inside through the garage, Eric headed to the living room, and, just for kicks, I went to open the front door and just check to see if someone had left some surprise on our doorstep (which never happens). Much to my amazement, someone HAD actually left us this huge basket along with a card!! I couldn't stop smiling. See :D
Not to mention there was a Great and vast selection of candy in there.

It was from my visiting teaching partner! She is the best. I've liked her since the first time I heard her voice on my answering machine. She's just a lot of fun and so easy to feel comfortable with. I'm so grateful to know her, she's been such a good friend.
Thank you Heidi!

Creative ideas for Easter

2010-04-03T12:04:00.001-07:00

Countdown

Egging You've Been Egged

Gift/Candy Boxes

Magic Jelly Beans and Magic Beans Redone

Peter's betrayal

2010-04-01T10:11:00.000-07:00

I came across this talk by President Kimball years ago and LOVE it! It is worth reading!

Click the link,
scroll down to Appendix
Go to Appendix D, Peter, My Brother

This talk is found in the LDS New Testament Institute Manual

Seven

2010-03-09T08:11:00.000-08:00

We just celebrated our 7th Anniversary together.

Eric and I have always been such good friends and had so much fun together, that I cannot believe I have known him for ten years!

Eric had this basket sitting out for me:

Who wouldn't love a big red basket filled with red roses and other things?

Each item in the basket had a slip of paper on it. Each paper had the year at the top (starting with the year we got married, 2003). The paper highlighted events of the year- places we'd always visit, jokes that still make us laugh, food we always ate, etc. It was truly an amazing gift!

One of the slips talked about an ice cream place that we LOVED in Ohio, and instead of being attached to something, the note instructed me to "Check the freezer." There in the freezer were sundaes he created to duplicate the sundaes we'd always get at Taggarts, and they tasted just like the real thing! (they are amazing there because they have these heavily salted pecans that are Divine with ice cream!)

Also written on one of the slips was, "check your email" where I found an itunes gift card. One of my favorite gifts.

At the end of the night, he gave me a card, and also played a slide show for me that he had created, set to music, starting with our engagement.

As the Ohio years were coming to an end in the slide show, I found myself feeling such a love for Ohio and in a way, not wanting it to end. We had such great memories there! At the same time, it was fun to move along in the slide show to our new home, and I love it here as well.

For Eric, I duplicated an idea I had used years ago for our anniversary, but updated it. I made him these scratch off lottery tickets.

The theme was LUCKY 7. I wrote him a note explaining the tickets- that I have been so LUCKY for 7 years to be married to him. And to show my appreciation for my Lucky 7 years, I wanted to get him something that I know he loves- ice cream. So I enrolled him in the "Ice Cream Flavor of the Month Club" and how many months he would get depended on how many he could win by scratching the tickets.

(side note, for me, this would not be a good gift, but for Eric who talks about ice cream all the time, and who can't ever think of anything he wants for a real gift, this worked well!)

I gave him 7 tickets during the day. I taped them to his card, or to notes I gave him. Notes like- 7 things I love about you, Where I'd be w/o you & where he'd be w/o me (I listed some funny inside jokes and some sentimental). One of our favorite kind of notes to give to each other is to draw pictures with captions of funny things that have happened to us (they always make us laugh) so I attached a ticket to a picture note as well.

He ended up winning 9 months of ice cream for those who are curious.

Also for the inquisitive, I have no idea if any company actually offers this service, I'm just going to have a fun time picking out various flavors each month and forcing him away from his traditional Oreo.

To top off the night, we went to the Macaroni Grill for the first time and watched our wedding video. We always have carrot cake since that was our wedding cake, but I think we are going to let that tradition die out.

I woke up this morning smiling at what a wonderful day we had had. Eric wouldn't want me going on and on about how great he is, but I'll just say that I am so lucky to have him! I wish everyone could know him the way I do. He's simply The Best!

Valentines...

2010-02-15T17:39:00.000-08:00

It was really nice and relaxing to have Valentines Day on a Sunday this year.

We started off each doing some type of count down. I made this advent countdown for him.

For Vday, I made him these Conversation Hearts out of the Oreo Truffles recipe, shaped them into hearts, and dipped them in white chocolate (with food coloring obviously), and I even fashioned the box to look like the actual box.

I also made the recipe into regular truffles and put them in candy liners in a heart shaped box b/c its just fun to get a heart shaped box of candy ( but if I remember correctly, the candy is always less than average, which is why he got the truffles).

We made Eric's favorite meal and had a romantic dinner complete with sprakling cider.

I also set out festive bags of candy for him to find.

I also got him a 7-11 gift card since he's always wanting a slurpee.

For me, Eric made a string of hanging hearts as a countdown -seen below. He put a heart up each day before Valentines (with a little note inside) and a bag of cinnamon bears.

The day of, he put up a banner (below each letter of "VALENTINE" he wrote something he loves about me). He also made me an awesome candy poster (if you try to enlarge, too bad, I blurred some out b/c he didn't want everyone to read it). He also got me a sweatshirt, and a rose (I only wanted one b/c I'd rather spend the $ elsewhere but still want to see one).

That's the gist of our celebrations, there are a few things I've left out I'm sure.
I'd love to see what all of you did for Valentines Day since our anniversary is coming us in t-minus 24 days.

trip planner

2010-01-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

We've been talking about taking some kind of vacation for this summer. I don't want to spend very much money so we've been thinking about taking a trip right here in Colorado. I've heard a lot about the Great Sand Dunes National park, where people go to snow board or ride sleds down the sand hills. Today we came across some sleds on sale, and that settled it- the sand dunes were in our future!
Right?? We got home and wanted to see some videos of other people on the dunes so we knew what to expect, and here's what we found.

It's gotta be better than that!

We'll have to ask around to find out what it's really like, but quite possibly, we may need to look in to plan B.

St. Patrick's Day

2010-01-22T07:07:00.001-08:00

Food:
leprachaun bark

Footprints + milk from angbrimwil.blogspot.com

Leprachaun Trouble cjaneblog

Lunch Footprints + treasure from gourmet mom

Lucky Pennies from pumpkinpetunia.blogspot.com

Idea List from angbrimwil.blogspot.com

Party for Kids from partiesandholidays

Playdate from partiesandholidays.blogspot.com

Treasure box from partiesandholidays.blogspot.com

Video of Ideas

17 ways to celebrate from secrets of a super mommy

Ringing in the new year

2010-01-04T07:53:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! With the long weekend, Eric and I were able to drive to Utah to spend time with his family. We played lots of games, went bowling, went to this wagon ride/elk place as seen below, made watches, and had a great time.

2009

2009-12-30T21:53:00.000-08:00

2009 brought a milestone in our lives- graduation, new state, partnership. So I thought it'd only be fitting to wrap up the year with a look back:
Starting off was Eric's last semester in dental school!

A highly anticipated trip took place in March, where Eric signed on as a partner at a dental office.
We found the perfect condo in the town I wanted to live in. Everything by the condo is all new- the homes, the stores, etc. And its is all pretty much on one main street, a block away from our house. We were so excited to move here.

In May, Eric had his LAST DAY as a dental student. Even after moving, when people asked what Eric did, it was hard not to say, "Oh he's a dental student". A welcome change though.

Ok now this is great!! We decided to have a moving sale, inside our house, because we had a lot of furniture and didn't want to move it outside.

And this...

..this is what I did DURING the moving sale. I made cinnamon rolls ON the merchandise. I agree, this would have not look very good IF customers had actually been there to see it.

I think we had about 3 customers the whole 2 days of our sale. And those customers were people who'd made appointments for certain items b/c we'd advertised on craigslist. One person even called us and asked if they could come early to get the loot they wanted (before the big rush"). ha! Luckily they were buying our big ticket items so our time was well spent. We got a lot done during our sale.

Shortly there after, we said goodbye to the seminary class, friends, our house (too bad we haven't said a permanent goodbye to that yet!), and to Cleveland and Kirtland.
I did not cry as Eric predicted. I love Cleveland for better or worse, but moving is so fun to me, I love the moving trucks and all.

After the long drive, it felt TERRIFIC to finally make it "home!"

You bet we sold our old pink couch!! No hauling that across the country. So we "had" to get a new one. Of course that meant we were couchless for a few days. In the mean time, Eric and I shared our recliner. We'd both squish into it- tight fit.
Eric had gotten so accustomed to the recliner sharing situation, that even after we got our new couch, he walked right past the new- huge- spacious couch- right to the recliner. He scooted over, leaving me the tiny spot, and when I asked him what he was doing, he started laughing - he totally forgot abt the mass amount of comfort just a foot away.

Look at all that couch below that he walked past, and he is scooted far over to one side of the recliner.

Once settled in, we wasted no time exploring the Rocky Mountains and other sites of CO.

I should let you believe that I am so athletic, but here's the truth of the matter:

great tubing here! If you just glance, you'll easily miss that I am in this picture. But there I am.

Finally being back west, we were able to make a trip to Utah to visit family for the first time in 4 years.

We finally got to get a new car and say goodbye to the car that sent personal invites to let rain and spiders inside, the same car who broke down every two years as if computerized to do so.

We went to the denver area and to see some of the houses I lived in (for those wondering what's going on here b/c I always said I'm from CA, I lived in CO til I was 9.)

Summer gave way to fall, and my favorite 3 months began. Fall was a bit of a let-down after living in Cleveland if I'm being honest, but I'll still take it over no color and no weather changing.

Thanksgiving was fun, just the two of us, with weather so amazing that tons of families, including us, enjoyed a walk. We went out that night to get a newspaper, and mapped out our Early Black Friday shopping!!

At the superwalmart here, since its open constantly, there's no line up outside for the sale to start. You can go inside and stand by the item that you want to buy. The items are in shrink wrap inside the stand they are sitting on, so that no one can take it before the stroke of 5. So we got there bright and early to get our $59 Tom Tom. No pushing or fighting went on to report on.
Early morning black friday sales are a definite highlight for us each year.

Christmas always seems to arrive out of no where. This year we went to a friends house to have dinner on Christmas eve and decorate gingerbread houses, which was a lot of fun. Then we spent the day together cooking, eating, playing new games, watching movies, etc.

(heather, I tried to copy your roof from last year)

New Years eve will not make it in this post for obvious reasons, but we are counting on it being a good one. Happy New Year to all of you!!!

advertising

2009-11-19T18:31:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do a little advertising for someone in my ward. She wrote a book that just came out, and it was #10 on the NY Times Best Sellers list. It is called Hush Hush... read abt it on her website http://beccafitzpatrick.com/I just finished it and really liked it. It is similar to Twilight so its a good read. Anyway, I recommend you check it out.

Movie Birthday

2009-11-15T18:29:00.000-08:00

We just celebrated a birthday.
I like birthdays to be fun the whole day, I don't like birthdays that consist of dinner and presents and that's it.
So here's a look at what we did:
A few years back I made Eric a birthday stocking, and its been tradition since.

9 days before I started a birthday countdown. Each day I'd add a new balloon with a number written on it to count down the days (like, "9" more days). Each day he'd get candy too.
Then the balloon would be added to the archway.

We had to get up bright and early because we went with the youth to the temple. Eric and I stopped at Krispie Kreme and had some of those melt in your mouth doughnuts.

Other things we did:

*I decorated the car with one of those window car markers to surprise him

*We had a movie theme b/c Eric would love nothing more than to sit back and watch some good movies, so we went to see the Christmas Carol Imax 3D (not worth it) and later went to rent some movies

*I got him 2 plastic movie popcorn containers and filled them with candy. I put them out for him to run into at different times of the day

We also went out to eat and did the cake and ice cream.

It was a packed and fun day.

________________________________

On another note, we have so much candy from the amazing after halloween sales.

Well, when you take a naughty husband (tickling) and a big container of candy (defense mechanism for the victim), pretty soon you end up with a candy war. Candy flying across the room, dodging... highly recommend it.

The battlefield:

Someone Famous, you might recognize him

2009-11-08T13:39:00.001-08:00

We met someone famous this weekend who happens to live really close to us. I introduce to you, Wheeler, a Budweiser draft horse. He was even in a superbowl commercial last year.

You won't see pictures like this one below in their advertising. This is what a celebrity's life is really like. This is not the same horse as above. Still a star though.

They do tours out here, we skipped it and went straight to the horses.

Halloween

2009-11-02T13:44:00.001-08:00

I have a wonderful visiting teaching partner. She gave me this Halloween container filled with some goods. I loved it!! A few days later, my friend who knew I was really wishing I could go trick-or-treating gave me a bag filled with candy. It was such a wonderful surprise!! She is so thoughtful!! It really made my day.

Here are our costumes. Mine is my usual fall back costume. It was either this or put on some scrubs. But I liked Eric's costume.

At our ward party I started stalking the children who dressed up like Harry Potter characters to snap their picture! I've seen kids dress up like Harry Potter characters before, but this girl blew me away, she looked JUST like Hermione!!!

Lastly, we made some amazing egg rolls!!! You've got to try these.

You should probably go to an asian market to get the ingredients. I am still not sure if we got the right kind of spring rolls. The person who posted the recipe used frozen. We had dry (see below) and had to wet them, and we double wrapped to ensure no holes once in the oil. They are heavenly!!! Make sure you buy the sauce she talks about. It's not really listed as an ingredient.

http://mykitchencafe.blogspot.com/2008/02/marys-very-authentic-egg-rolls.html

Fall Fun

2009-10-18T17:23:00.000-07:00

Each October, Eric plans a fun day for me. We went to dinner, then we went to a fall festival, and when we came home, Eric had a note for me. It was the start of a scavenger hunt.
To start, one note was at the stairs, and another in the kitchen. That note led to another above the fireplace which instructed me to "Look to your left", so I did.
To my left was a note on a light switch that controlled the fan. It said, "Flip on" so I did.
So I flipped it and...
(play reenactment video now)

I was facing away from the fan and all of a sudden behind me I heard candy raining from the ceiling and hitting the floor. It was awesome. I loved it!!! Eric always thinks of the best surprises. Now I must say, it was better in person than watching the video so you'll need to add 60% of awesomeness to what you got from the video. It seemed to last longer in person as well.

The spider at the start of the video was a countdown to our fun day. Eric left me notes on the spider each day.

new recipe on blog

2009-10-16T15:03:00.001-07:00

http://recipeboxfiles.blogspot.com/2009/10/japanese-chicken-wings.html

entertainment value

2009-09-23T06:06:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to a really lame magic show. To set the tone for the evening, the MC started us off with a hand shadow show- not even kidding. It was the best shadow show we'd ever seen, but it was what it was. We were not the only adults there either. There were lots of people w/o kids.

I think from the 6 "magicians" we saw, we got to see about 7 magic tricks, mostly card tricks.
I couldn't beileve it when one "magician" did the 'ol, wave of the hand and a ball appears sort of tricks. At one point I just wanted to go home.
During one 15 minute long comedy/magic act consisting of a pick a card and I'll find what it is- kind of trick, Eric SAW the stagehand slip the card on a guy's seat as he was about to sit down, and yes, at the end the magician told him his card magically appeared on his chair and if he stood up he'd see it.

This past weekend we went to the temple and then stopped at a restaurant my mom reccomended from when we lived here when I was a youngin before moving to CA.

And then we went to a place called Heritage Square, which is kind of like a permanat fair. It is free to get in but you pay p/ride or can get an all day pass.

They have the Alpine Slide there which is a slide that does a switchback across the mountain all the way down, and riders are taken to the top via the scare-lift. The sleds ridden down have breaks so you can go as fast as you want. Ther person in the video chose to ride slowly.

Greyrock

2009-09-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun labor day!

We hiked greyrock trail which means a regular hike up a mountain, then once at the top, there was a small valley before getting to Greyrock (pictured below), which was a lot of climbing up rocks.

Once at the top of greyrock, there is a fun area with lots of walking area, places to explore, and more boulder hills to climb to make it to the top. With all of the various terrain, this was my favorite hike to date.

Just before the final climb up the last boulders, we stopped and had a picnic.

At the top, there were a couple of rocks with hoards of lady bugs!

I liked this picture of this girl and her dog on the highest point. That dog was really brave.
It is harder to get to that point than it looks in the picture.

At the base of the mountain is the river, and I had come prepared to play and tube. Perfect way to cool off after hours and hours of hiking. I LOVE tubing! It is so fun! We are going again later in the week.

We ran short on water for the trip down and suffered a drought.

After tubing, on the drive home, Eric couldn't even talk b/c he was so thirsty, ha ha. We had brought our slurpee refill cup and he just couldn't wait to get to 7-11. After filling up, we hit another drought by the time we hit another 7-11 so we had to stop and get another refill.

Great day- hiking, tubing, and slurpees.

Summer festivites continued

2009-08-08T13:05:00.000-07:00

We are just loving it out here!! Here are a few more of our activities.

We went tubing this week and I predict many returns until our tubes pop (there was a tube graveyard along the way on the side of the river) or until it gets cold.

The river here is the best I've ever been tubing on. It moves along at a good pace and has small rapids every now and then. Big enough to take you quickly and drop you about a foot, really fun! And the scenery was beautiful with the mountains around. No good rapid pictures b/c we didn't want to lose the camera amongst all the action (steering, holding on, etc)

We had to walk up the hill since we only have one car.

After we went tubing, we stopped at a little place called smashburger, which is along the main street we always drive on. Its always packed with people dining outside on the patio next to the fire pit and waterfall. It always looks so pleasant so I had to try it.

Another stop we've made this month was the fair.
My favorite part was the pig showing. I finally had to ask someone what the point of it was to figure out what was going on. So basically, these kids walk around with their pigs and are judged on showmenship. There wasn't much showmenship going on though. The guy in the blue shirt was the big winner, I called it.

There was also this dog competition. The dogs had to jump and catch the...well, whatever it is. They raised the bar higher and higher. By the time we left it was past 6'5.

And lastly, we went out to dinner to celebrate Eric's first paycheck! There is a restaurant here that looked so fun to eat at with the patio dining and concert going on just a stone's toss away, and with all the bustle of the Friday night crowd. The menus were great- newspaperish. Doesn't it look so pretty?

Chili's Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie

2009-08-03T07:41:00.001-07:00

I thought I would post my recipes here when I add them to the recipe blog since it is not private anymore so those who haven't seen the blog can access the recipes.

We made this the other day and we enjoyed it. To access the recipe, see http://recipeboxfiles.blogspot.com/

The time has come

2009-07-31T18:02:00.000-07:00

We got a new car!!!

We knew we wanted a new car relatively soon after graduation...but due to costly cirumstances, it came sooner than later.

Just 15 days ago, our car died in Target's parking lot and then at a gas station. Then 14 days ago it died on Eric when he was leaving work. To make matters worse, when he went to lift the hood, the latch to open it came off in his hand. Cost of the car tow, the repair, and rental car, $275. Ugh. Didn't end there though-

The next week, another problem hit costing us another $334, and then the next day the AC went out. I refused to spend another penny on this car that wasn't even worth what we were putting into it. Still ever present in my mind were the past two oil changes which cost about $80 EACH b/c of an engine leak, and the $200 to tow it across the country behind our Budget truck in May.

As much as it hurts to fork out the money for repairs, I count my blessing and believe that paying our tithing made our car last us through school. And come to think of it, I remember my dad saying a couple years ago that he was in disbelief that our car was still working and that it must have been our tithing.

We did a lot of research on cars through Consumer Reports and decided this would be the right car for us- it was rated one of their top 10 cars of the year based on various factors.

They also rated it as one of the top cars for "Bang for the Buck"- which takes into account various factors like depreciation, costs to insure, fuel economy, etc and shows what you will pay after 5 years of owning the car.

Tour #2

2009-07-18T16:40:00.001-07:00

Today was a free National Park day.... so we packed up some food and headed up to those mountains. Today we went to see Bear Lake and Alberta Falls. I love the fresh mountain air scent!!

If you know me at all the way Eric does (something like how I'm part child) you will know that every stream we got to cross, I took the way through the stream while everyone else crossed over the bridge.

recipe blog now public

2009-07-16T13:14:00.000-07:00

The recipe blog is now public, I hope that's ok with everyone.
http://recipeboxfiles.blogspot.com/

Anyone is welcome to join in on posting, let me know if you're interested.

Initiation Factor #8- go to a Rockies game

2009-07-05T20:33:00.000-07:00

Eric's company has a suite at the stadium where the Rockies play, so we got to go to a game. I've never gotten to do anything like that before (free suite and free parking right across from the stadium) but I could definitely get used to this! It was fun having the suite filled with food (pizza, hot dogs, hot wings, veggies and dip, peanuts, popcorn, dessert, chips, drinks, etc) the option to sit inside or out, and the game itself was really exciting, the crowd got into it, we had a really great time!

New topic:

Denver claims +300 days of sunshine a year- "more annual hours of sun than San Diego and Miami." This year though, we are getting record rainfall, including on the 4th of July. Luckily the rain let up to let us enjoy a fireworks show. When I saw this raindbow outside our window, I had to take a picture. And then another down the street.

Eric has been going in to the office to learn the ropes there, but...

Tomorrow is his first real day on the job!! It's exciting to finally be at this point after years, and years...and years of waiting!

12,090 feet above sea level

2009-06-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Free weekend at Rocky Mountain National Park. Eric couldn't get over the amazing views, up close elk and other wildlife, natural streams and things, insomuch that he nearly drove our car off several cliffs. I had to tell him to keep his eyes on the road more times than I can count. Someone in one of the 11 Colorado books I checked out from the library said you'll feel like you're on top of the world, I must say I did feel that way at one point. when we were up higher than anything else I could see.

The picture below is one of the visitors centers (to the left of Eric) which gets covered with snow in the winters, and they have to dig it out.

On the way back home we stopped at Estes park. There is a great little town for shopping. We ate at a bad Mexican restaurant but it was very pleasant. That white blob in the background is a river running down from the mountain.

Here is a part of the string of shops:

On Friday we went to the Denver temple and we went to a sad little museum in Littleton. However, there was a neat Columbine exhibit there since Littelton is by Columbine. It was very humbling seeing the artifacts there and even some letters written by people in the community.

Memory Lane

2009-06-17T09:46:00.001-07:00

With all of the free time on our hands, we decided to head to Eric's hometown, a 6.5 hour drive.
We haven't been back for 3 years so it was strange at first to see all of the changes. It was also good to see family and friends.

It was fun to watch Eric play tennis with the family, my sister in law taught me how to make watches, and I got to check out our first apartment- we had the lower right apartment, behind the bush. It was really great to see everyone again, and Logan will always be a special place to us. We went on a walk one night up to campus like old times, and were flooded with memories and feelings of our college days.

the round up

2009-05-31T17:29:00.000-07:00

Another week gone by. Here's what it looked like:

We climbed up to the top right side of the bat looking rock. You have to actually climb to get to the very top... everyone there was a little scared of slipping since it was raining and it isn't a "walk" up there.

We also went to the Denver temple, Eric did work for my own grandpa

Down town here reminds me a lot of Laguna Beach for anyone who has any connection with Laguna. Lots of cute shops, lots of people walking around, eating, etc. We stopped in at the Bike Library and checked ourselves out some bikes (a free service), and went riding.

below is Eric's snazy red bike, it was the bomb!

Below is the bike library:

Back to my bunny obsession:
Yes there are lots of rabbits here and baby rabbits. However, the other day we discovered the home of some tiny babies. They are the size of hampsters! SO adorable!

Just in passing, here are 2 songs I love that always make me feel the Spirit so strongly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtWVWoqIOe0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmhY7aorT4U

Guess this means we are really adults now??

2009-05-24T17:02:00.000-07:00

So this is it. After 4 years of wondering and waiting, we now know what life is like for us after dental school.

We made the 21 hour trek in 2 days and ended up staying Sat night at a "Dead Zone" motel due to every hotel being full from here to there. I avoided contact with surfaces by skipping a shower and sleeping in full body clothing.

Our landlady was so sweet and got us towel sets, and a card welcoming us to our new home.

There are things we already miss about Cleveland- friends, blue jays, cardnials, fireflies, but we are also happy to be moving on to the next phase of life.

We really like our neighborhood, and the rabbits here are as plentiful as squirrels are in Clev, which we like. We almost always can find one right outside our window.

And, we saw a fox tonight trotting down the sidewalk. This pic was taken from our balcony! He started out directly across from our house.

Tonight on our walk in our neighborhood, we counted 31 rabbits, 3 of which were adorable babies!!!

We have pretty much settled in, but we are seeking out furniture since we sold most of ours in cleveland.

Here are a few last pics from Cleveland.

last words

2009-05-02T10:30:00.000-07:00

Time in Cleveland is really winding down for us. Boards are over, house is getting packed, and soon we will be heading out. But I can't go without a look back at Cleveland, so here we go:

Memories include going to Williamsburg just before we moved here from VA, the White Coat Ceremony, Eric studying tons the 1st semester- but after that, he gave up that bad habit, oohh...he was so cool when he got to go do sealants!

Misc memories, not by year:

Kirltand stake! Having sacrament mtg in the Kirtland temple
Visits w/Eric's sis and fam in Columbus Great ward and friends

Amish country in spring break; Very late game nights; Temple calling

Pattersons farm!!!! Square dancing at Malabar; The bird park.

Summers will seem strangely incomplete w/o Girls Camp...but I am about 100% sure this will not be my last trip to girls camp.... I KNOW I will get called back in. Wait and see.

The majorly discounted row boat lake; MAFIA!!! -the "lacking-in participants" way

Picking strawberries and making jam and choc covered strawberries;

Catching fireflies in a jar (yes Each Summer) in our front yard- gonna miss those guys!

Picking apples;

And I remember the summer when Eric got to pick his little cart and moved in to his cube!

He's had some hilarious patients/experiences in those 2 years in the clinic.

We will miss these things! Ohio has been good to us, and for us. There will always be a special place in our hearts for "The Ohio!"

To Celebrate

2009-02-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

To intro what I was going to be doing for Eric for Valentines Day, I taped some envelopes to the wall that were filled with notes and hints as to what his gift was. For example, 1 envelope had a packet of hot chocolate, another had an Oreo. Sitting beside the notes, was a bear that Eric had given to me in '01 as part of our fesitivities. This time, the bear was holding a note telling Eric he could open the envelopes whenever he wanted to throughout the day. Note: He opened them all in 1 sitting.

After he opened all of the notes, I later set out his gift on the table for him to run in to on our way out for the day. I had seen some candy boquets on line and decided to make my own for him. It was filled with different types of candy, hot cocoa, homemade mint marshmallows, chocolate covered Oreos, & a huge Hershey Kiss which was actually an Oreo truffle wrapped up to look like a Kiss.

For the basket, I planned way ahead which made me wise beyond my years because I saved a lot of money shopping the after Christmas sales. I saved about $3 per bag of candy! I just sorted the red from the green candies (I'll use the green for St. P Day).

I think this whole basket cost me $3 to buy the things I didn't already have at home.

I also made a huge heart cookie for Eric and left it on the bed for him to find later.

We went to lunch at Mapleside Farms which is an apple orchard + restaurant. We had gone there once before and loved it and wanted to go back before we left Ohio. To our dismay, it wasn't as good, or cost efficient as we remembered. It was still fun though.

For me, Eric came up from behind me and slipped a ribbon around my neck that had a key on the end (which he had made). I turned around and there was a heart on the ground with a keyhole. I opened it up and there was a note inside telling me what the gift was and by the time I read it, Eric handed me a gift. He told me to close it up again and throughout the day, I could check it again and new notes would appear with new gifts.

At night we were both pretty tired and put in a movie and ate all the treats we had given each other. We had a great Valentines Day 2009.

Here's what you get with a Cleveland Christmas

2008-12-23T15:36:00.000-08:00

For most people, Christmas time brings with it holiday music, my favorites songs are by Roger Whittaker (Christmas is Here Again, Tiny Angels, and the traditional songs), and Christmas Cannon by Trans Siberean Orchestra. If you haven't heard these, you're missing out!

Tradition goes I must bake sugar cookies and datenut pinwheels (and then anything else I desire), and deliver them around town.

Here is Eric with our friends the Carr's at the ward Christmas party

Gingerbread House construction with some friends:

Nativity Exhibit at Historic Kirtland, through the window you can see the Newel K. Whitney Store.

Cleveland is home to many things, one being the Christmas Story house.
We've loved getting your cards and we'd love to see them again next year, hopefully addressed to Denver! Merry Christmas!!

cumpleaños feliz

2008-11-15T15:41:00.000-08:00

Friday was Eric's Birthday!!! I love holidays and it was a great one:

*I made some cinnamon rolls to take to seminary with us to celebrate but Eric wanted to eat them the night before. Birthday wish granted.
Since we didn't have that going for us the morning of, we stopped and got donuts on our way home from seminary.

*tradition goes that Eric gets a birthday stocking (I made one 4 years ago and have been filling it ever since) so he got a few things in there

*I also made a Happy Bday Sign made of candy (see above) and taped it to the wall

*dinner, ice cream cake, gifts, free bday movie from Hollywood, Honey Hut ice cream, etc. etc.

*I also took him to a place called Monsters Mini Golf that I found on line (and got a buy 1 get 1 so that made it even better). We had a good time.

Happy Birthday to you Eric!

......side note, thanks for all the votes on the cookies. When the polls closed, the cookies had tied. However, 3 absentee ballots came in after the polls closed -which I think we should take into consideration because they were for MY cookie- the mummy.

a 'lil competition

2008-10-29T07:55:00.000-07:00

Eric and I had a Sugar Cookie Decorating Contest.
We each selected our top cookie to submit (we're not telling which cookie belongs to who yet) and post here to determine the winner- so be sure to vote via the poll gadget on the right.
With that said, don't expect anything spectacular.
We were going to allow so many words to describe our cookie, but Eric is at school so I will just say that the mummy has bandage shadowing, and the witch comes as a scene (ignore the rusted over cheap cookie sheet). Other witch features, the nose Is 3D and made from extra cookie. Furthermore, it has 3D hairs on the nose as well.

the best of October

2008-10-20T05:10:00.000-07:00

Saturday was another of our self made holidays. I get one every fall and summer for sure- since the first year Eric and I started dating. Additional holidays may be added, but always a fall and summer holiday.

For this year's fall holiday, here is how it went down:
-for a countdown to our holiday, he made me this coffin, and put candy inside it each day.

-Saturday we went to a park to do their Bike Aboard. We loaded our bikes on the train for a steal of a deal at $2 a person and rode the train to our destination. Upon exiting, we rode through the beautiful fall foilage back to our car.

-afterward we had hot soup and rolls at Hartville Kitchen, then got some candy to snack on while we headed out to Maize Valley! (a working farm and winery)

We had a really good time at this place. We got a coupon from discoverohio.org, so we got in for $4 a person, deal! Here's what we got for our $4:

*Our favorite- the hog race! Hilarious! There were 3 heats with 3 pigs at a time. The last 3 pigs were seriously going crazy because they could see the other 6 pigs hoarding all the food and they still yet had to run around the track to get to the food.

*A pumpkin cannon that was awesome. Sounds interesting, but watching it, I found myself laughing even. They'd hit a van with pumpkins, then they'd shoot the pumpkins out for hundreds and hundreds of yards, probably about 600 yards!

*a hayride that took you all around their estate

*Another highlight, climb inside these tubes and roll down a hill. Very entertaining. Kinda scary.

*And the reason for going to Maize in the first place- the corn maze. This was the largest corn maze that is closest to us. It didn't have a map though, you just had to find the victory bell and ring it. We made it more fun by making up totally lame Halloween jokes while finding our way through, and taking turns running up ahead to hide in the corn to scare each other.

....In more disheartening news, a legacy is coming to a close. Our first year out here, we discovered a place called Patterson's Fruit Farm. For my non Cleveland friends, this is a fruit farm that comes alive during the fall. They bring in a company to make the best kettle corn I've ever tasted, they have a shop, which, upon entering the aroma of fresh donuts (apple cider and pumpkin are our favorites) summons you to their counter. I also love sampling their apples and the cider before going out to pick apples. We have been going out here several weekends in October and hope to squeeze one more time in.
Although, I have to admit, we were Benedict Sutherland's this year and picked at Eddy's down the street b/c Janil told us it is 10 cents cheaper a lb there. Times are tough.
We will miss Patterson's!

I like this tag

2008-09-09T05:24:00.000-07:00

I usually: am chilly, cold, or freezing.

I search: for my chapstick and hair clips. They are always missing even though I own a ton. And lead pencils. Where is my pink pearl eraser while I'm at it?

I wonder: about my immediate future - how quickly will our house sell, where we will end up in May, when will we find out, will Eric get reqs done, when will the estate stuff be over, and more.

I regret: mostly things from college, the way I acted sometimes I guess.

I love: my husband, the fall, surprises, Swedish Fish, funny people, and buying anything that is not a necessity-- I'd even get excited to buy a pack of sticky notes.

I care: about doing the right thing and being a good person

I always: want an Egg McMuffin if we are out early in the morning. It is a good thing McDonald's is not on the way to seminary!

I worry: but usually only tell Eric

I am not: good at confronting people when I need to (so if you owe me money, give it back, jj. I stopped loaning money for this reason.)

I remember: when dinner comprised of flavored rice packets or noodles w/powdered sauce in a box, and cereal (college and newly wed days)

I believe: in Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is His son, that Joseph Smith restored the church to how it was when Christ lived on the earth.

I dance: at Malabar Farms.

I sing: along to music while Eric just listens. He will occasionally hum. I get excited when he sings b/c he only does a few times a year. And, it doesn't help that he never knows the words.

I don't always: act like a kid, but if I pay good money to go to Lake Farm Park and the only thing to do there is walk the llama through the obstacle coarse or milk the cow, you'd better believe I'm doing it! Ok, really. I do think those things can be fun! Why am I the only adult doing these things?

I argue: never. I hate arguments of any kind, I avoid them at all costs.

I write: my journal on the computer- it is so much faster and I hate having stuff just sitting around my house. So this eliminates a collection of books.

I win: when I play mad gab and family feud. Monopoly I will win if I am on a winning streak.

I lose: at Mario Party basketball, rock paper scissors, and I lose at Mafia b/c I guess I talk too much so people suspect me. They vote me out and never listen to me--- and I am always innocent btw. I am -mostly- not bitter.

I wish: life didn't require trials

I listen: when someone tells me their name, but it will be forgotten by the time I tell them my own name.

I don't understand: why the world starts before 9 am

I can usually be found: with Eric at my side, on the phone, or over the computer chatting during class (I'm not a girls night kind of girl, invite the husbands too!)

I am scared of: anything serious that could hurt and change my life

I need: Eric and the Gospel

I am happy: on stormy days when I get to be cuddled up with nothing I have to do

I tag: Sherrie, Cheryl, Heather, JG, Janil, Suzy, & Audrey

Summer Break

2008-08-04T19:18:00.000-07:00

Summer break has hit an end. It has been wonderful to stay up as late as we want (2ish was the average), sleep in as late as we want (but never too late), and have all day to be together!

Here's a piece of the fun:

we rented a row boat at Sippo Lake Park and went to Taggart's ice cream again which I've written about before.

we did my family files and did baptisms at the temple for my family-- including my grandparents! that was such a neat experience!

got to see Narnia at the $ theater

One Saturday we went square dancing at Malabar Farms which was SO FUN!

We also went to Towpath Trail to go on a bike ride. They have train stops where you can board with your bike to another stop for $2. But the fare is only good for bikers.

After about an hour of bike riding, I started grabbing the strap of the camera case around Eric and had him pull me. He can go really fast pulling us both! But in all fairness, my bike weighs like 3x his bike's weight and doesn't have any gears, so I am not that big of a wimp. We rode for about 14 miles.

tons of game nights

and... we went swimming. I LOVE to swim!

Now back to the grind. Luckily it is not all bad. It will bring us closer to graduation! And I am SO EXCITED for the fall!! I love the change in the weather, the colors, the donuts (Patterson's), all of the fall desserts, pumpkins, decorations, I can't wait!

for our enjoyment

2008-06-17T12:19:00.000-07:00

PYO strawberries is going on now.

*Eric's family came to visit us last week. They also went in to get some dental work and luckily, they gave Eric a lot of what he needs for requirements. They're all big into tennis and get into tournaments, so its a fun family thing.

*We went to Kirtland on Saturday and although the tour gets longer and longer with each visit, and even though we left saying we didn't think we'd go back again before we leave Cleveland, I found myself with a sense of gratitude that lasted for days that I don't want to forget. And I DO want to go back. I don't want those experiences to stop. I felt a greater appreciation for Joseph Smith and a thankfulness for the Gospel. It will be sad to leave the Kirtland Stake. Each time I go to a stake activity for YW or go to stake conference, I am reawakened to this special special place we get to be apart of. It will be sad when it is not close anymore.

*Girls camp next week... I can't believe it is already here. I am really hoping for cool weather!

Our Valentine's Day

2008-02-11T06:15:00.000-08:00

It all started out by Eric hanging strings from the ceiling.
He added 2 strings each night the week of Valentine's Day.

On Wed. night when I came home from the Young Women's activity, all of the strings had been tied together with a flower hanging in the middle. Each string had a paper attached to it. Each paper was folded over and he had written down a time (10:00, 12:00, etc.) on each one. At those times the next day, Valentine's Day, I was supposed to cut down each string and open and read the paper attached. They were little meaningful notes to me. I loved this idea! He always comes up with the best surprises for me.

After dinner, he showed me a video he made for me which was a video scavenger hunt. He gave me clues to find little gifts. The clues were all him talking in backward sentences that I had to figure out. It was really fun.

For him- I did a theme of A Dozen Ways to Show I Love You, and I did things for him throughout the day- each that went with a number 1-12. For example, I left a bag of 6 cookies in his cube at school for him to find, I had 3 people deliver some candy to him throughout the day at school. I filled 8 prescription bottles with candy and changed the label to look real, and to read, "For Love Sickness", or "Seperation Anxiety." I also called him at lunch and told him there was a surprise for him in the front of the school. I was waiting there to take him on a lunch date.

We finished off the night at the Carr's house to celebrate Heather's birthday, which is also on Valentine's Day.

Valentines Day

2008-02-06T14:29:00.000-08:00

Let the Countdown Begin:

Post Office

Silly Sock Advent

Countdown to Vday

IDEAS & Gift Giving:

** New 1.31.11: Cookie Container

Video of ideas

Various Ideas

Candy bar Boquet

Cupcake Craft

DIY bags here and here

Parties:

Party for adults

Back to School Ideas

2008-02-05T07:36:00.000-08:00

A cute idea for back to school- chocolate pretzel rods. I just put these up on the recipe blog as well.

Edible Crayons