updates?! we don't need no stinkin' updates.

Just a quick post because I've been a little lazy to update lately.

I've been working on honing my sewing skills and found blankets to be fairly simple (then again, mine are only baby stroller sized!) and figured I'd try little shoes that I'd seen. This was my attempt. They need some work still, but I'm quite proud of them! They're sooo darling! I want a baby so I can stick her little chubby toes in them.




My old roommate Audrey had a baby so I put together a quick little girly blanket for her new one and then figured I'd send a book about being a big sister to her other little girl. I just need to get them in the mail soon. And post pictures!

The other day i get this phone call and it's from the lady I made those boxes for (but hers are quite a bit bigger). She seriously went on for 5 min about how much she loved them. And then went on to tell me I didn't charge her enough and she's going to pay me $10 for each of the next order instead of $7. Works for me!

Other than that, not too much has happened. Ryan surprised me with a bee-uutiful bouquet of flowers the day after our anniversary. I would post a picture, but I'm lame and didn't take any. but they were pretty pretty.

oh! and i got a new car. Pictures as soon as it's in my possession (in 2 weeks).

Anniversary Inn

Ryan and I celebrated our first anniversary yesterday. Because of his work schedule, I told him to take Saturday and Sunday off, in addition to his regular days off of Thursday and Friday.

We started our extra long weekend off Thursday afternoon. We went to Rodizio Grill in Salt Lake for dinner (so delicious, too much meat - what else did i expect?!) and then went to the Anniversary Inn. I reserved the Jungle Safari room (there was a whole theme to the weekend), which turned out to be bordering on hilarious and tacky and cool, all at the same time. We showered from the trunk of an elephant (they totally should have installed the shower in the ceiling and had a waterfall effect) and slept next to a peeping Zebra.

Breakfast was good, though. They brought us juice and hot chocolate with a yogurt parfait and some sort of ham and cheese turnover and a delicious cinnamon roll. Seriously, so good.

So Friday morning we left the Inn and went to the Zoo! Ryan's been wanting to go for a long time and figured this was as good of time as any. So we got there right around noon and saw every single exhibit they had. Every. single. one. It was a disappointment (a tad one) that they didn't have the hippo anymore, nor did they have a lion, but they had rhinos and elephants (what do you get if you mix an elephant and a rhino?) and monkeys and a really fun bird show. Left there at 3ish and went to the in-laws.

Dad-in-law was heading on a scouting overnighter and mom-in-law was heading with Jani to California, so James was going to be left with a car he couldn't drive (stick shift). We were happy to offer my automatic as a trade for Joey's Jeep for the weekend.

Saturday morning we got up at 7 and went to the Scera theater for Pirates. We got tickets from my office and figured, eh, it's free...and we can always sleep later. Great movie.

But we didn't! We went home, I showered, got ready for the day, then we met Ki and Micah for lunch and went shopping for a bbq we were throwing together for that night. Alan and Tiffany came with their little baby, and my sisters Tara and Kayleigh came, as did Dan and Casey Ritter. I think everyone had a great time. We bought $40 in steaks and I think we have more than half left. Yum!

Tiffany and Alan were the last to leave around 12:30 and Ryan and I were sooo ready to hit the hay. I ended up sleeping until 2 the next afternoon because I had a scratchy and phlegmy throat and a terrible headache. And I'd slept so poorly that night.

Anyways, all in all it was a great milestone. Around 11:30 last night Ryan cut into the top tier of cake we'd saved from our wedding. Chocolate something or other...dang, it was GOOD! Thanks to mom for wrapping it so perfectly to save it.

~I want this house~

Ryan's been looking more at schools for his PhD and I've fallen in love with this house in Greeley Colorado (University of Northern Colorado), even though I haven't seen the inside, Ryan agrees it's pretty awesome looking from the outside and would be fun to have a charming old house like that.

It's too damn bad we won't be moving this fall for school, but really, it's such a blessing. Our house value should increase with UVU coming next July and if we don't sell before we've occupied for two years, we'll get out without having to pay property gains taxes. Hoo-rah!

Bless Ry's heart - he's agreed we can get a fixer-upper if I can prove to him that I can finish projects I start: refinishing the chairs, the dresser, etc.

On a more positive note(and completely off subject): Ryan's car issue is almost resolved!! We won the war with Parts4Less in Tucson and they arranged pick up of the lemon engine they sent us FIVE MONTHS AGO. So we don't have to pay for a piece of shite and worry about it ruining the rest of his car. We've been paying 5 months for a car we haven't been driving and we'll finally be able to get his car back. My car is paid off now and we're thinking of trading it in and getting something more dependable (Honda, Toyota, ya know).

Even though we're inactive heathens, Heavenly Father is blessing us and things are getting straightened out.

Now pray for me that I can stop hating my job (not the office itself - love it).

Melt In Your Mouth Babycakes

Another gem from the internet. I found this recipe for a chocolate cake. I think my issue is the altitude. Most of these recipes are made in Cali, so i'm thinking that's it. Anyone have any advice?

Ryan and I went to Arby's for lunch so I could snag a pile of the sauce cups (mini cups) for a recipe for Melt in Your Mouth Cake.

Here are the results. You can't really tell the size ratio, except in my blurry close up picture. For some reason the macro setting on my camera isn't as clear and I'd like. Maybe I should read the manual. The recipe made almost 6 dozen of these puppies.

Samoas in Cupcake Form

I mentioned in my last post that I've been addicted to CupCake Bake Shop. Well, I took one of her recipes and set to work. They didn't turn out as great as they should have (or I've lost a bit of my baking magic...naw, that can't be it), but they are SO. FREAKING. GOOD.

Eat.your.heart.out., Martha!

Luckiest 11-yr Old

My youngest brothers-in-law are only 10 (Ben) and 11 (Joey) and are quite fun to hang out with. Ryan called me on Thursday and said, "Wanna hear something hilarious?" Um...yes...

"Joey won a car." WHAT?!

Entered his name at the Scout-O-Rama last weekend. The lady said they probably had about 20,000 entries and Joey's name was the first one drawn. WHO THE HECK WINS A JEEP?

We all kept it a secret from him until the BSA could arrange to present it to him at school. Here are a few pictures of him after he walked out and found out he won (oh, btw, he had a ton of new 'best friends'). Doesn't that smile look like the happiest boy in the world? Lucky bastard.

cupcakemania

I got the coolest stuff in the mail the other day. (I've been a little out of control...dunno why..) First, I got a few of these: Cup-a-Cake Cupcake holders! They're actually cheaper ordering directly from the manuf's site here. I got a set of four. I'm sad they don't make a whole carrier of 12 like this. How awesome would that be for transporting...But my obsession with cupcakes started with this blog: CupCakeBlog.

I also got a shipment of paper mache fun. I've mentioned my box project (waiting for the special order of paper to come in) and I had to have a minimum order of $100, so I got these fun 18" stars. You might be wondering what i'll do with them...but i have a plan! Around christmas time, they are going to be sooo incredibly festive and make everything dazzle. Who knows? Maybe I'll drill a hole in the bottom and make one a christmas tree topper.

I've also been up to my elbows in decopouge...to which Ryan gave me some new rules. When you bake and when you craft...clean up ALL evidence. Nothing must remain!
That's going to be tough, but for his sanity, probably something I should be more consciencious of.
Here are the fru-eets of my labor: