mama sherrie

Happy Birthday to mama Sherrie! She is one of the sweetest people I have ever met, and although I haven't met nearly even a small percentage of the people in the world, I would venture to bet she's one of the sweetest people in the entire world. seriously, that sweet.

Not just sweet, but fun too. And cute! We always have so much fun together! We talk and laugh, and laugh and talk. and cry too- sometimes we cry lots. She is one of my all time favorite people and I am so lucky to have her in my life. And incredibly lucky to be her daughter in law. (I feel sorry for all the ladies out there who fear their mother in laws... if only they were as lucky as I!)

We love you so much and hope you have a fabulous birthday! We are so excited to see you soon!

tearjerker

Am the only one who cries because of American Idol?

I know- that sounds totally lame. I don't know what it is. I cry when I watch "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition". Seriously, without fail, every time. But, that makes a little more sense to me. They take a family with an emotional story behind it all and change their lives- that's a big deal, definitely tear worthy.

American Idol on the other hand? Almost every time that stupid "golden ticket" comes running out of the judges room and the screaming and hugging and jumping begin, so do my little watery eyes. Don't get me wrong, I don't sit on my couch and sob... but my eyes get all watery. I suppose it's because I get so excited for that person, for their dreams being taken to the next level and the possibilities ahead of them.

I cried at my sister's graduation. Not because she's my baby sister and she's so grown up (well, maybe a little because of that too) but because there was so much cheering and excitement. My emotions are weird like that, I've yet to comprehend that part of me. Quite honestly, it's a little embarrassing- crying over an auditorium of applause?

To see a stranger's dream fulfilled, life changed, or family united is all great and exciting, but tear worthy? Please, tell me I'm not the only one?!

energizer jeffery

Utah was so much fun, it's hard to do a recap on all of the excitement!

Let's just start by saying Jeff was the energizer bunny (in a more manly way than a bunny might be...) No joke. He flew in to SLC a couple of days after I got there, his brothers picked him up from the airport, went to my house said hello to my dad (I was at my cousin's baby shower) and then they went up the mountain and built their own jump somewhere. Sunday he took it easy- but that was the only day. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday he went snowboarding.... all day. Friday we (me, jeff, chad, mom, dad and their cool friends) all went up to Snow Basin, it was a lot of fun. I hung out in the lodge and on the patio- such a beautiful resort. (I've only been on skis once in my life. I was 10, I lived in California. I would do it again, if I had more than one day on the mountain.... one day is just enough to fall too many times, get bruises and get discouraged. I figured I'd enjoy some hot chocolate and sightseeing instead.)

And one of those days he woke up early before snowboarding to play racquetball with my dad. Sunday him and his brothers drove down to Las Vegas for a Pennywise show. They stopped in St. George to visit cousins and then off they went... again.

Our flight left Salt Lake at 6:15am last Tuesday, we got to Tampa around 4:00pm and he had to go straight to work from the airport. I was praying for patience... I figured I would need it. Turns out, I didn't. (More like the other way around but we wont dwell on that.) He is so good to me- always. After being sick in the morning and just about missing our flight, I wasn't feelin' so hot the next couple of days. My sweet, sweet husband asked what I wanted to do. nothing. really nothing, was what I wanted to do. He said he knew there were things on my list, what would be the first thing I would do. I said, "clean our bathroom". In the time I fell asleep on the couch he cleaned the bathroom and vacuumed our room and then off to work he went.

I am so blessed. so very, very blessed.

(More to come on our adventures Utah.)

19

It's a happy day for my little brother (brother in law, but I always hate how that sounds...so just brother!) Chad! He's 19 now! We were actually able to celebrate with him while we were in Utah, it was a fun night. First we were rejected at Bajio's (I think it was on University Ave.- you should all boycott that one! We got there at 8:50pm, they close at 9:00pm and they wouldn't serve us! Ridiculous people...anyways) then we went to Brick Oven and had a delicious dinner! We got 2 humongous pizzas, they were both so yummy! I've had a couple of different pizzas there, this time I found a favorite- the Garlic Chicken. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! We ate pizza and drank root beer until our tummies were about to burst, and then they brought out some chocolate mousse for the birthday boy!

And to top it all off we ate some tasty chocolate cake that Rachel and Bryan made. So, bottom line- we ate too much, laughed a lot, and had a great birthday celebration for Chad!

We had such a great time! Chad is so incredibly smart and talented... he plays sports and skates like a pro and he's quickly learned how to be a rock star on the guitar!

We hope you have a great day Chaddy! We loved the new memories we made and enjoyed the time we had together! We're so proud of you and all that you are! (that's the big brother and sister comin' out in us. And by us, I mean Jeff and I... because of course whatever I say, he agrees with! haha) We love you!

friday's favorites

being an aunt.

It is seriously one of the coolest things I get to do in my life. Especially because I'm an aunt to the three cutest kids in the entire world!





Look at those adorable, silly, precious faces! Now tell me you wouldn't feel like the luckiest aunt in the world to have those three little darlings. I just love them.

baby it's cold outside

I know all you Utah folk probably think I'm a big wimp... but, I live in Florida and it's 30 somethin' degrees outside, that's cold! We had a great trip to Utah, and I'll post more about that soon.

I know I went MIA for a little while and I haven't had the chance to wish you all a happy new year! 2009 is going to be a good one, I can feel it in my bones!

To ring in the New Year, Jeff and I had a party.

a party of 2. just the 2 of us. it was wonderful!

We ate, a lot. We ate a seven layer bean dip, artichoke dip, crab, and a delicious chocolate molten cake dessert. It was all so delicious! (and I'll be back to share some recipes)

here's my sweet and silly husband... that crab's gettin the best of him.

Here were are right after the clock struck 12! Drinkin' our sparkling cider and partyin' hard all through the night!

We had a great 2008! We have no idea what 2009 has in store for us, but we're sure it'll be good. Thanks to each of you who helped make our 08 a successful year.

Here's to a new year, a new page, and a new story!

a cozy Christmas

This Christmas was a little different than any in the past. This was the first Christmas Jeff and I woke up alone in our own home. It was very quiet and calm... and a little strange! We loved it though, it was so nice to have the time, just the two of us. It was relaxing and fun to be able to give all of our attention to each other. We really missed being with all of the family though, that's for sure! Luckily, we were able to spend Christmas Eve with the Packer's and we also went over to their house Christmas evening.

We were able to hear Elder Trevor's voice all the way from Brasil, that was a huge Christmas gift! He sounds great, happy and healthy! He is such a great missionary! We miss him a lot but we are so grateful for the work he is doing.

Jeff and I were extremely spoiled by all of our family- thanks to each of you, so very much! We love Christmas, it's such a special time of year. I love being able to feel the Christmas spirit, and see people happy and smiling amidst all of the others who are rushing around and being grumpy. (Not to say I haven't been one of those grumpy people from time to time... I've definitely had my Scrooge days!) What a wonderful thing it is to celebrate the birth of our Savior and to feel His spirit. It's always a reminder to me of the greatness of the good in this World, even if it's sometimes hard to find.

I hope each of you had a very Merry Christmas and that you were able to feel the joy and spend time with those you love!
(sorry for the lack of pictures... I was so wrapped up in the moments that I didn't even pull my camera out! I know, I can't believe myself either!)

more birthdays!

Yesterday marked the births of two of my favorite girls....

Rachel and Kirra

Rachel is such a great sister-in-law! It's so fun to have another girl in the family of boys and to have someone else who understands the silly movies I like to watch and books I like to read. She teaches elementary school and her kids are so lucky to have her! Rach- I hope you had a fabulous day! We miss you and wish we could be there with all of you to celebrate! Love you!

My little Kirra goose is 3!! I can't believe it! She's grown so fast, it's amazing to me how quick these kids grow! Seriously, if I go more than 2 days without seeing them, it's like they're a new person! Kirra is so stinkin' adorable and so sweet. She knows how to shake her booty like a pro and she cracks me up with all of her silly faces. One of my favorite things is when she brushes my hair, she's so gentle and she cups my face in her hands and moves my head side to side. I love living so close to her and being able to watch her grow and enjoy her fun personality.

Happy Birthday girls, I hope you both had a very special day!

We love you!

Birthday Bash

Happy Happy Birthday to my big little Sis Tiff and to my sweet Grandma Pat! (how cool that they get to share a birthday!)

Grandma,
I hope you have a great day, and stay warm! I am so grateful for all that you do for me and for your kindness to everyone around. I will definitely miss Christmas Eve at your house this year but will be thinking about you and looking forward to January! I love you so much!! Happy Birthday!

Tiffi,
Happy Birthday! I love living by you and being able to share our special days together. You are the greatest big sister anybody could ever ask for! You are so talented and creative. I don't' know how you do it.... run a restaurant, (almost 2 restaurants) have 3 adorable kids, a chocolate fountain, and planning events. You're crazy- but I admire your energy and ability to balance and handle so much on your plate. I love how we can talk about anything and have our secret sister society! It's always fun to be able to understand exactly what you're saying, even when you only say two words! I love you so much and I'm excited to come party with you, and I hope you have a fabulous day!

(I wish I had some pictures to show you how beautiful they both are, but I don't have any pictures on this computer yet... so you'll have to take my word for it!)

Happy Birthday ladies!

back in business

hello world.

it's us again.

it's been a long time.

not a whole lot has changed.

we have a new, working computer. woo hoo!

my family was here for thanksgiving and we had a great time.

{Lots of food, lots of work, lots of love and lots of adventures. We went to Sea World and saw the crazy penguins, scary sharks, Shamu, dolphins and some flying bird ladies. (I had pictures to prove there were flying bird ladies, but they are on my dead computer so you'll just have to believe me.) The girls all went to see "Twilight", verdicts still out on my vote. Love the books, not so sure about the movie. I found myself laughing in all the wrong parts- come on Jasper, really... and Dr. Cullen, was his face suppose to look like a sack of flour just dumped on his head? But, don't judge- like I said, I still love the books.}

and now Christmas is here- holy moly! I can't believe it! I have a big long list of things I'm still working on, I got a late start this year. And of course, I just added to my list by sitting here blogging instead- haha, that's me for ya! So, on that note....

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the Christmas season!

alive

I'm alive.

My computer is not.

So- I have been MIA for a while due to fun family adventures, a broken computer, Christmas projects and a little r&r.

Hope all the holiday cheer is spreading your way... I'm feeling it! Woo Hoo!

I'll catch up as soon as I can, wish us luck with the stinkin computer!

friday's favorite

this week has been CRAZY! Party central is in action and we're getting ready for a big event tomorrow night, wish us luck!

One of my favorite things of all time: when family comes to visit!

and I'm one lucky girl- today mom, dad, and little sis are coming to town! WOO HOO! I can't wait to see them!

birthdays galore

Wow- November's a rockin' birthday month for our family! I wish we were able to be there physically to celebrate with each of you birthday folk, but unfortunately we can't... but our birthday wishes party to the other side of the country for each of you!


Today's my Mommy's birthday!


Woo Hoo! Happy birthday Mommy! Oh, I love you sooo much! I'm so grateful for you and the friendship we share!


I'm glad we can be silly together! We always have so much fun and I love our special bonding time! I love playing games, going to movies, getting pedicures, eating caramel popcorn, running around and shopping like crazy and just sitting and staring at the wall together. (okay, so maybe we don't really do that last one... but we could, and I'd still have fun and love it because I'd be with you!

I love doing crafts, and learning from all of your talent and creativity. You are wise and witty and I will be happy to have half of the greatness you posses.

I love that you were born, and that the four of us can be together and be goofy together because of YOU!

You are BEAUTIFUL! Absolutely beautiful. You are a great nonnie and the little ones are so lucky to have you spoil them rotten with love.

And I'm so lucky to have you spoil me rotten with love too! You are truly one of my bestest friends in the whole universe and I'm such a lucky girl to be able to say that! I miss you so bad and wish I could be there to give you a giant birthday hug and some great big birthday spankin's! I love you past the moon, around the moon, and back x 100,000 bagillion, trillion, million! I hope you have a very special day!



On the 9th we wished a happy birthday to this awesome dad:

Happy Birthday! Thanks for finding time out of your busy schedule to have fun with us and teach me how to play tennis (and for not laughing when I struggle to hit the ball!)

Thanks for visiting us in Florida! We had so much fun and loved being able to spend that time with you! We miss you and wish we could spend more time together, but we are so grateful for each moment that we are able to! And thanks for bringing that goofy guy into this world, well, all 4 of your goofy guys actually.

They are all talented, dedicated, and adventurous... and that is in big part thanks to you and all that you are!

{I had to share this picture... it's too funny not to, and yes, that's me hunched over like a baby. But, hey- come on now, it was scary! You might not believe it because every one else is smiling so nicely... but trust me, it was!}

Thanks for being so fun and so generous! You are always so kind and I love our talks about books, the gospel, and life in general. I'm so lucky to be part of your incredible family. Thanks for taking me in and loving me, I love you!

Hope you had a very happy day!

And then we have Bryan, who celebrated his big day on the 4th.

Bryan- you are awesome... not only for growing up with 3 other guys and surviving the craziness, but for putting up with me as a sister! :) You know you love me! You are such a great brother and I'm a lucky girl to be able to call you one!

I love that you can be goofy with me- and laugh with me, and not at me! (Although, I'm sure you're probably very tempted, I don't blame you...I would!) Thanks for having fun with me!

And thanks so much for marrying this cute girl and adding another sister to the mix! I'm so happy you love her, because so do I and I am so grateful to have her as a friend!!

You are so talented and smart! I love when you guys all jam out on your guitars and when we eat ice cream and breakfast cake and giant pizzas! I wish you weren't so far away- but I'm so glad that we can visit and it was so fun to have you and Rachel come out, thanks for that!

You're a great big bro, and I love ya! And hope you had a fabulous day celebrating you and all the coolness you are!

Happy birthday to all of you, we love you all and we are so grateful for the support and love you give us! We love you!

friday's favorite

I love pizza.

Jeff and I have had fun making our own pizza lately. Well, I guess almost making our own pizza. We buy the dough at the bakery in our grocery store. Then we roll the dough, add our toppings and stick it in the oven! About a month or so ago, I was going to try out a recipe for a whole wheat pizza dough. When we went to the grocery store to buy some toppings, we found the wonderful dough the bakery has... and for $2.95 you can't beat that! They have regular pizza dough and also whole wheat. (last week when I was buying some dough, the guy in the bakery department told me the secret to their whole wheat pizza dough- they just sell the whole wheat bread dough!)

Our favorite toppings (besides the sauce and cheese of course) are pepperoni, fresh tomatoes, feta cheese and green olives. I know, green olives? The first time I was apprehensive to try it... but now, it's hard to make anything different.

These are the faces of two happy pizza eatin' people!

Do you have a favorite pizza recipe?

oh, now cards.

Now that I've been pondering my handmade Christmas gifts... I've been doing some more pondering about my Christmas cards. I wish I new how to use Photoshop so I could design something unique and "me", but I don't... so I could opt for the handmade route like I did last year, or I could let someone else design my cards! There are so many companies out there that design cute cards, once again- so many talented people! Skip To My Lou is having a card giveaway, maybe I could win my Christmas cards along with some Christmas gifts. (Now, maybe I'm just being too hopeful, but it doesn't hurt!)

Do you send out Christmas cards? A letter? A picture? All of the above?! I want to know the details of your Christmas card secrets...

inspiration station

I'm a fan of handmade Christmas gifts. I've done my best to be the maker the past few years, this year I'm feeling a little stumped. I came upon Tip Junkie's "Mom Prenuer Shop-A-Thon" and glanced through a few of the shops... wow! There are some seriously talented people out there! I think it's great to support these women and if I can't make it, I can buy it from them- it's still handmade, just not by my hands!

So, you should stop by Tip Junkie and check out the shop-a-thon. Oh yeah, and they're doing a shop-a-thon giveaway for the next 12 days! Maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to win a Christmas present!

In the years past I've made a box of cards, a Christmas quilt, photo frames, blankets, vases... I have some ideas bubblin' around in my little head, but I'm still trying to pull them together. What about you, are you a fan of having a handmade Christmas? What gifts have you made?

friday's favorite

I confess... I was a naughty girl. But what's a girl to do when she's sick, alone and in need of a "pick me up"? I turned to one of my tried and true boosters, none other than Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry. Okay so, definitely not the best choice when dealing with a wicked sinus infection- but like I said, I was naughty, I couldn't help myself. (At least I resisted the temptation of eating the entire carton by myself!)

How happy would I be to see this truck pull up to my driveway?! It could live here with me, no problem.

I love ice cream... duh! I LOVE Ben & Jerry's! It's nearly impossible for me to choose a favorite flavor, there are so many incredible options. Last night I opted for "Neapolitan Dynamite"- delicious! My other top choices include "cherry garcia" and "half baked". The "pistachio, pistachio" is a great pick too- especially for a lighter taste. There are so many flavors I've yet to delight my taste buds with, so many options! Check out all of the "original" flavors, what's your favorite?

update

It's November. November 2008. Where in the world does time go?

Halloween's gone. Thanksgiving is in 22 days and Christmas is right around the corner. Wow!

So, what have I been up to lately?

Well I made some sweet treats with these little munchkins:


Actually, that's not really true. I made the dough and put them in the oven, they did the rest all by themselves. I was thoroughly impressed.

Participated in the yearly pumpkin carving with this handsome man:

Here's his awesome pirate pumpkin:

And after about 2 hours of trying to come up with some cute and clever face to carve... My creativity just wasn't flowin right at 12:30am so I ended up with a simple:

Spent some trick or treat fun with the three cutest kids in the world. We went to our branch trunk or treat earlier in the week and on Halloween night went to a friend's for some more candy fun.


This weekend we went on a little camping getaway. It was so much fun to have the Packer family there with us as well. Reef was a trooper for his first ever camping trip and both of the girls were sad when it was time to pack up the tents. The weather was perfect for camping, a little chilly at times but just perfect for a sweatshirt and jeans around the camp fire. And yes, my dog's wearing a sweater. We're not typically the "dog sweater" type of people, (not that there is anything wrong with that. nothing wrong at all) I was just worried Ziggie would be too cold, his fur is a little short right now. Of course Jeff laughed at me, but I couldn't help it- it was only $2.50 at Target.

This camping trip I was finally able to test out my revamped smores idea, and it was delicious! Nothing too fancy- just a reeses peanut butter cup instead of a plan hershey's bar. Oh yummy.

And take a look at this little monster friend we found:

Is that not the largest caterpillar you've ever laid eyes on? Crazy looking bug!

And yes, I'm still sick. Thanks to those of you who shared some of your favorite remedies. I'm always up for trying something new! And always up for testing out the old faithful... so now I will go shut my little peepers for some more quality rest.