Christmas shtuff

I made these as a gift for my friend. Didn't take me very long at all. Made me excited to make some for my house!

Ho Ho Ho wooden blocks

Modge podged washer ornaments

Gift basket with Merry Christmas vinyl lettering I cut.

Makes for an easy, cute gift, ya?! =)

Fabric flowers!

Alright, as promised... here are the fabric flowers I've been working on! And I'm sorry the pic is not that good...I SO need to get another charger for my camera!

They're all SO SO eeeeeeeeeeeeeasy cheeeeeeeesy! And there's no one way to do them and they don't have to be perfect...it actually looks better when they're not perfect circles. They're not pro by any means, but a lot better than paying $44 at the store!

Here's some tutorials that I used on some of my flowers.

Tutorial

Tutorial

Tutorial

I still have a bunch that I wanna whip up, I'm excited to try some other tutorials out, so stay tuned!!

First Hair cut

Faith is almost 3 years old and she just BARELY got her first hair cut ever.....well, besides the little bangs incident with my dad... =) haha It took her a while to grow some hair.

She's started looking like a lil rag doll, so it was chop chop time. She did a great job of holding still!

Love the new do and we can now see her gorgeous face better!

Gettin' in the media....

Been busy out n about makin friends with the media... ;)

Last week we won tickets and went to the Premiere of New Moon, so we enjoyed an early anniversary as well, with Maria and her friend. I must say this movie was MUCH better than the first. We really liked it...including Tim...oops I wasn't supposed to say that out loud. ;) I snagged this pic from City Weekly.

My next appearance in the media was for my sister and BIL's salon, Radiance Salon. They're partnering with ABC4 "Good Things Utah" and did a show with them on Tuesday. It was for their new laser hair removal treatment and to show off some do's..which was where me, my sister and 2 friends came in! It was pretty fun, I felt a lil awkward tho and once I watched it after, we laughed at ourselves...especially at my sister who looked mad/serious the whole time! haha The video below doesn't show up in feed readers...cuz it's javascript.... lame.

If you heard them talk about a free makeover at the end...it's AWESOME! and if you wanna sign up for the contest, go HERE.

Btw..the pink and white flowers in the 2 girls hair are some of the fabric flowers I've been making..which I Promise I will post right after Thanksgiving!

Attitude of Gratitude: What I'm thankful for

A fun, inspiring lil clip for Thanksgiving.

Let's get into the Attitude of Gratitude....if you haven't, take a minute right now to ask yourself, What are YOU thankful for?

I am grateful for so much, I could make a whole list, but I don't know if there's enough cyber space for it all! =)

• First and foremost, I'm extremely grateful for the church and to be part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I love these little movie clips they put out, they are so inspiring and make you feel so good! I'm grateful for a living prophet to guide us in these last days.

• My family. I'm so comforted and happy to know that our family can be together forever. I love them so much and cherish every moment with them.

• Friends. I've always been blessed with incredible friends!

• Support. I've been realizing more and more how important it is to show your support to family and friends. so, I'm grateful for everyone who has supported me and my family...and ANY of my loved ones.

• Good health. This year has been extremely trying and stressful being sick so much. I'm always making sure to thank my Father in Heaven for good health every minute I can.

• Beautiful views. I'm in awe at God's creations.

• Being a mom. Our little girls are my greatest treasures.

• That my hubby has a great job, allowing me to be able to stay home with our children. This means so much to me.

• Food. I'm especially grateful that I don't have food allergies and can enjoy these in particular: Pomegranates, popcorn, milk chocolate, pizza, Italian food, Ice cream, cinnamon roasted almonds,

• Fingernails. I love a good back tickle.

• Rear ends. It's nice to be able to sit down and rest!

• Flowers. They can always cheer me up!

• Foundation- to cover up hideous zits.

• Baby toes....aren't they just the cutest EVER?!?!

• Baby laughs and smiles. You'd have to be pretty hard hearted to not feel good by these!

• My talents. I'm grateful for the talents I've been blessed with especially when I'm able to help others while doing so.

• Talents of others. I'm also grateful for everyone else's talents. I have benefited greatly by many. It's amazing how creative some people are!

• Light. I hate the dark.

• Hoodies. Who doesn't like getting all cuddly and bundled up in a nice, warm. soft hoodie!

•Cars. I would've made an awful pioneer. I'm very grateful we have working cars (and that I have my own) that get us to places much faster than walking.

• Water. Nothing quenches your thirst like a nice cup of cold water!

• Christmas music. It gives me warm fuzzies and makes me Happy!

• Technology. It's AMAZING what we can do nowadays compared to 10-15 years ago. I'm excited to see the advances in the future.

• Comfy, soft, warm bed...which is where I'm headed now for some MUCH needed rest!

Obviously, this is just a tiny, minuscule part of my Thankful list, but are some of the most important to me. I wish everyone a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!! Enjoy all the yummy food and special time with your loved ones!

Settebello's

We officially celebrated our anniversary yesterday...ALL day long, it was fun! We pretty much got all our Christmas Shopping done!! That's what makes me most excited...cuz I do NOT, absolutely NOT want to go shopping after Thanksgiving. The claustrophobic crowds drive me nuts.

Anyways, for dinner we went to Settebello's, a very authentic Italian restaurant downtown and I was SO not disappointed. I remember Tim making me a "Caprese" tomato/cheese salad when he proposed to me and I immediately fell in love with it. So I got one here also! We got our own pizza's (perfect sizes) and my oh my they were super duper tasty! I got the original"Settebello" pizza and he got the "Diavolo" which was Wayyyyy spicy. So glad I didn't get that. The crust was so thin, we had to roll it up like a pizza roll and eat it. Tim also introduced me to "Sparkling Water"...yea, not very exciting. It looks like Sprite...but tastes like water with a flavorless zing to it. It kinda grew on me and we ended up drinking the whole liter we got! I wouldn't be able to do that with soda pop. yuck.

Right next to it is their Gelato cafe....also YUMMY! I've never seen so many gelato flavors before. They had like 30 somethin'. I got Nutella (I say Nuh-tella; Tim says "new-tella"....who's right?!) with Sweet Cream and Tim got Nutella with Raspberry. I must say it felt sinful to eat the Sweet Cream....It. Was. That. Good.

Tim thinks I'm supposed to be an Italian...I agree, there has to be Some Italian blood in me!

Bottom line? You MUST go try this place! Another plus is the Great prices! If you've been there already, it's time to go again! hah I'M ready to go again already! Good thing I have some leftover pizza to eat............right now, SeE yA! =)

♥♥ Here's to 4 years!!!! ♥♥

In honor of 4 super, duper, awesomely, amazingly wonderful years being married to the♥love♥ of my life....a fun lil thing about us!

1. Where did you and your husband meet? My brother Dale who set us up on a blind date, to which Tim replied "great, we'll be family!".....little did he know. =)

2. How long before you kissed? My 20th birthday. We had known eachother for 6 months, we were "just friends" at the moment, but after he laid one on me, there was no way we were going to stay just friends!

3. Who kissed who first? He did. I was actually a lil nervous.

4. How long from the time you met until you were engaged? How long from the engagement to the wedding? We went on our first date on New Years Eve 2004, he broke it off right before Valentines (After would have been a lil less rough), We became "official" on my bday June 14, got engaged on Labor day- Sept. 5 then got married on a beautiful day November 19 2005.

5. How did he propose? When we were dating, he asked me what my dream date was. For proposal, he created my dream date which was: Must have a beautiful view, Italian food (yea baby!), dancing (he put together a romantic playlist), and just having fun talking together. He outdid himself, it was better than my dream date.

6. Did he pick out the ring or did you? He did. I showed him many rings I loved, but he decided to surprise me.

7. Do you still like the ring? To be honest, not at first. It took awhile to grow on me. I love love it!

8. Where was your wedding and reception? Salt Lake City Temple. I love how it looks like a castle. Reception was held at the Lion House, where I was working at the time...got some sweet deals!

9. How many bridesmaids did you have and who was your maid of honor? I didn't really have bridesmaids.... all of my sisters and Tim's, how about that? =) Maid of Honor was Janae.....I think. Since she was the only girl not married.
10. What color were your bridesmaid dresses? My colors were bright pink (NOT hot pink, but bright pink), tropical green, and white.

11. What was your bouquet made of? Pink Stargazer lilies, white Calla Lilies, small white flowers with pink gem centers and some other kind of flower.

12. Who gave you away? My dad.

13. Did you cry during your wedding? No, not really.

14. What style was your dress? Empire waist, sheer fabric (over silk) split at waist and elbows. Sleeves were my favorite, the sheer part hung down long, so flowy and princess like! In fact there were kids who thought I was a real princes...haha did I fool them!

15. Was your wedding kiss sweet or sexy? I dunno, there were lots of people around, so I'm sure it was very sweet.

16. Who caught your bouquet? My cousin Charisse!

17. What flavor was your cake? I think it was applesauce cake. My boss, Julie made it for me and did a fantastic job!

18. Did you smash the cake onto each other's faces or feed it to each other nicely?
It took a lot of restraint not to shove it in his face, but I did give him a nice big piece! =)

19. What was "your song" that you danced to at your wedding? "The Reggae Song" by Colors. Interesting name for a wedding song, but the lyrics are very sweet!

20. What did you serve your guests to eat? Let's see.....chicken salad croissant sandwhiches, nut cups, punch, mints and raspberry cream tarts. The Lion House has THE BEST food! Olive Garden comes in next.

21. What did your friends do to decorate your car? oh, the only thing I remember is there were condoms ALL over and Dale unplugged something or 'nother so our car wouldn't start. Once we had a lil freak out session, Dale told us and plugged it back in. It wasn't funny at the moment, but we can laugh about it now.

22. What was your favorite wedding gift? Favorite?? All my family and friends supporting us!

23. What was the worst wedding gift you got? There were no bad gifts. i heard someone got the movie "Ben Hur" though....hah

24. Where did you go on your honeymoon? Park City in a nice condo.

25. Looking back, is there anything you would have changed about your wedding? Yes, I would've eloped! haha ok, not really, but it's a LOT of stress to plan a wedding....I blacked out at the mall one time. I wish it was warmer so we could've had the Reception outside, also giving us more room for a dancing floor. Oh, and I wish I didn't have that monstrous zit right smack between my eyes. lovely. Other than that, I wouldn't have changed a thing.

Thanks Handsome, for making these past 4 years some of the greatest times in my life! I will treasure them forever and ever and ever! ♥♥♥♥ I love you sweets! ♥♥♥♥

9th & 9th + embarrassing moment

We went to check out a clump of stores downtown on 9th & 9th that we saw on studio 5. I wouldn't have really found them otherwise. One of the stores, Children's Hour, seriously had THEE cutest, CUTEST clothes ever! I love loved the styles. Most were from the Netherlands....boy do they know how to dress over there! There were sooo many things that I was just drooling over and wishing upon a star to have.....then I saw the price tag and yea, it's gonna take wishing on a hecka lot of stars to get those puppies!! woo.... One of the children's dresses came to $500...I kid you not! WHO has that kind of money to spend on clothes??? and especially just one thing...AND it being a child's dress? man, I was bummed out that I can't and never will be able to afford such adorable things.... then again, even if I DID have the money, I don't think I'd ever be able to justify spending that much on a piece of clothing. Oh well, it's nice to dream and wish.....right?!

Next store was Apt. 202. weird name for a store, but they had some great stuff! Compared to the prices at the children's hour, these were nothin! I love the different, fun, unique styles they have around there.

We took a lunch break at Great Harvest....and this is where my embarrassing moment comes into play. First of all, their pumpkin chocolate chip bread is AMAZING!! oh sweet heaven, it was yummy! So we get in there and there's a table with butter and honey right? The girls are getting whiny, so I see half a loaf of bread sitting on the table and cut off a chunk for Faith to eat. As I was struggling to cut off another piece for Mikkie, a guy walks in and waits for me to finish. As I give it to Mikkie, he picks up the bread and asks if I took a bite out of it..... Say wha?? Why would I take a bite out of bread the public is sharing? Weirdo!!!......Is what I was thinking. No, I just cut off a little bit with the knife, sir. Then it dawned on me, "is that your bread??" Yes. "....................OH!!!!! I thought it was the Sample bread!!! I'm so sorry!!" I stood there I'm sure with a red face as he walks out the door. Oh, I felt so stupid. My mom and sister were laughin at me while Faith & Mikkie had absolutely no clue they were eating "stolen" bread. As I was waiting for my order, I noticed people setting their bread on that table getting ready to butter and honey it before they left. What I couldn't figure is why that guy left it THERE, of all places, and left! anyways.....I'm still trying to get over the embarrassment. .....although, it DOES make me laugh.

To make myself feel better, we went across the street to Garden Gate- homemade toffee and chocolates. mmmmmmmm the toffee was delish!

After we went to the Peach Boutique. I had the "wantsies" in there too! Good thing these wantsies don't cost an arm and leg. They had some fabric flower headbands there that were way cute, but $33 was still not convincing enough to buy. I took one look at them and thought...my heck i could whip those up quicker and cheaper (maybe not as cute), but wanted to give it a try. So, I made a bunch last night and as soon as I finish up some odds n ends, I will post the finished products! You excited?? Cuz I am! =)

It was fun to go somewhere different and check out some fun places!

Christmas cards!

For the gorgeous family pictures we got taken by Marcie, I, in turn, designed some Christmas card templates for her photography! I'm excited with how they turned out! She of course took all these pictures except theirs....the first one. She does a fantastic job!

Blast from the past!

The other night I had an excuse to eat at my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden, to meet up with some friends from my childhood that I grew up with! We've known each other since we were babies, then I moved in 5th grade, Nick moved the year after and then Kortney later. We haven't seen each other in 12-14 years!! It's a funny story how we got together. We're all friends on FB and Kortney(aka "Shortney"-my dad would always call her that ;) posted a status that said she met the inventor of bubble tape. Nick called her a liar, and I said who would lie about a thing like that! ;) It went on from there and 94 comments later we had a reunion at Olive Garden planned! haha How's that for awesome!

We were all a lil nervous, not sure how things would go, if it would be awkward or what not. Totally not! We had a great time laughing, reminiscing on childhood memories and catching up with each other's lives. I'm excited for our next outing to Cheesecake Factory...mmmmmm

Good times, good times......

The big 1!!

My lil baby turned 1 Tuesday!! People weren't lying when they said kids grow up too fast. It feels just like yesterday that I had her. Thank goodness it wasn't though. =)

I'm very glad we had Mikkie when we did. She's the perfect lil sister and friend for Faith. They are good buddies. It's so sweet to see them play with eachother now. It makes their mama happy. =) She was a bit tougher of a baby. Except labor....it was quicker and better than Faith's....45 minutes man! I'm dang proud of that! Recovery was also quicker and nicer with her. But she did have colic. I think I grayed a lil and lost some hair during that phase.

Some things that describe her and some of her favorite things:

She has the best, cutest puppy face

She loves playing with her big sister

She is a precious lil angel

She could eat a whole box of cheerios

She'll put anything in her mouth..but especially likes to chew and eat the crayons.

She pulls books off shelf all the time and takes after her sister in ripping them.

She loves to climb the stairs. She's had it mastered going up for a while, going down...not so much and scares me when she attempts to by herself.

She loves her bottle, she's a very good eater.

She LOVES, loves phones and anything else that glows. I can always count on it to keep her quiet.

She loves bath time, especially playing with Faith and toys in there.

She is a chomper...loves to bite toes, fingers, cheek and noses....and pretty much anywhere else she can get to. Tim's nose is especially her favorite.

She likes to munch on grapes all day long.

We had a pumpkin themed party, cuz she's my lil Punkin'. Her birthday snuck up on me, so it was a little more low key but was still fun! Oh and btw, these pix are all from my phone, so they're not the highest quality, but hey it's better than nothing, right?! Faithy decided it would be fun to break my camera's battery charger. So....yea ;)

A pumpkin bundt cake * decided to try something different for a sign instead of paper, I used gourds * cute lil treat bags for the kids and I DID remember to give them out this time!! * Mikkie in her 3 cute outfits she got! She looks so cutsie in all of them!

Yummy Pumpkin cream cheese spread with bagels that I will share the recipe for cuz it was so good * Pumpkin butter we got from CT with saltines were quite tasty * Orange cream punch which I'm also going to share the wealth cuz I likey so much * All of our guests who made the night so much fun- I thought it was cool how Coleman was twirling a balloon and with my bad camera it made it look more like a cool burst of orange light

Present time- got some cute stuff! It was so nice of everyone. * I got a personal chocolate fudge cake for Mikkie to dig into * She got the hang of it pretty fast * big bow from present on her head* Look how strong she is standing all by herself * orange banner to go along with the orange/pumpkin theme.

Wow, long post! Just so much to say about our sweet baby girl and how much fun it is to have her in our family!

RECIPES:

Pumpkin cream cheese spread

Ingredients:
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Beat all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours. Makes 1-1/2 cups (24, 1-tablespoon servings).

Orange Cream Punch

ingredients

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 12-ounce can frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
• Orange food coloring
• 2 1-liter bottles club soda or ginger ale, chilled
• Orange sherbet

directions

1. In a punch bowl combine sweetened condensed milk and orange juice concentrate. Tint with orange food coloring, if desired. Add club soda.

2. Top with small scoops of orange sherbet. Serve immediately. Makes 16 servings.

Baby bum dance

Faithy and I were dancing today (yes, to Christmas music, so sue me ;) and Mikkie started doing her hilarious version of a bum dance. =) and once again, ignore my weird laugh..haha I hate how I sound on videos/tapes.

Emmet's & Ethel's

My mom and I just tried this place out today for the first time. It sound like a gram & gramps place to go (reminds me of Earl & Pearl from the "Pickles" comic- and they're older...just sayin'). It was higher quality than Wendy's and DEF. McDonald's. Emmet's was the burger n' fries joint, and Ethel's was the ice cream part of the store. I got a Bacon Ranch Chicken burger. I'm a sucker for all 3 of those....especially the chikin(yes, I realize it's supposed to be spelled chicken)...hence my blog name.. hehe ;) I tried a frozen mug of their "special" rootbeer... was good, but I've tasted many great homemade rootbeers. My mom got their turkey burger....which ya gotta admit, that's not usually an option at most places.....and a raspberry lemonade. We could taste the raspberry, but where did the lemonade go?? It was more like raspberry water. You know who had thee BEST raspberry lemonade? Pioneer Pies. Too bad they closed down long ago. Although I do have a pretty awesome recipe I found that I'll have to post on here soon!

Off the lemonade wagon now. All in all, it was a good place, I wouldn't mind going there again, but I wouldn't go out of my way just to go there.

Red Mango New Flava!

I posted about Red Mango before, but that was about my favorite, Pomegranate. This is also my fav! Pumpkin Spice fro yo!!! Don't dis it til you try it! I couldn't decide which one to get, so I asked for half of each! Wow...was that awesome! Topped with some crushed graham crackers, it was heaven. I'm hoping it's not just a seasonal thing. My luck, it probably is.....if so, hurry and go try it!!! =)

Freebie Fall Kit!

** NO LONGER DOWNLOADABLE FOR FREE **

I have very much been enjoying Fall! It def. brings a smile to my face.

I didn't used to really like Thanksgiving....thought it was boring. Now that I've matured (hahaha), I've come to appreciate the holiday. It's so peaceful, relaxing and it's all about spending time with loved ones while stuffing your faces with num-a-licious food til you're blue in the face! How could anyone not love that?!

SO.........this kit is dedicated to all my loved ones- friends and family! I'm grateful for all of you. Each of you have touched or inspired me in some way; my life would not be the same without it. So, thank you for your love, kindness and friendship. I truly love and appreciate all of you! =)

Enjoy! And the usual....Free for Personal use Only...yada yada yada. =)