Christmas Shin Dig

We had an ugly sweater christmas party tonight and it was tons of fun. The sweaters were the greatest part. I loved opening the door and seeing everyone show up with different sweaters on. Some people made theirs, and some were able to find some in stores. I found mine at walmart - the classic christmas vest with snowflake turtle-neck underneath. Jake made his. It was great! We had a big christmas dinner, complete with Ham and the fixins'. We played a few games - pictionary with the names of christmas songs, and a few minute to win it games. Of course the girls dominated. It was fun and I think we might even venture to do it again next year! It was great to see everyone. Mike and Amy won the prizes for best sweaters - I think Mike's vest and bow won everyone over. Merry Christmas!

Shiloh's festive sweatshirt!

The Grand Prize Winners!

Tanner and Allie

Kim and Kent - ken had a beautiful design with fluffy pon pons on his sweater

Fruit to the FACE

Okay, do you watch Amazing Race on Sunday nights? We do. And we L.O.V.E. it. (well, i do at least). This week's was especially exciting. Here's a little glimpse at what happened:







Can you believe that? How bad would that hurt! Kind of funny, but not at the same time....

P.S. I will be back to blog about normal things soon :)

Link Love

I like to peruse home decorating blogs and websites such as pottery barn and crate & barrel. I have always dreamed about my house looking like it came out of an interior design magazine but realize that will never happen. This site I found pretty much puts it into perspective: click here . Catalog Living. Here's an example of what they say:

All the comforts of home…

We’re so happy you could visit! The room’s all made up for you, and I ripped out some pages of my favorite book and taped them to your wall in case you’re like me and enjoy reading before bed.

I laugh when I read them... Enjoy!

Back to Being Cool!

Remember when riding bikes was cool in elementary school, not so cool in middle school, and totally opposite of cool in High School? Well I have news for you...Biking is back to AWESOME when you are an adult.

Jake and I got back from our trip to Michigan (AWESOME trip!) two weeks ago. We rode my parent's bikes a few times and had tons of fun! We rode on the Rail Trail which is similar to the Jordan River Parkway. I forgot how much fun it was to ride bikes. Don't think we (meaning me) are extreme bikers, I just like to ride for fun and go at a normal speed. Anyways, when we got back from the trip we headed out and got some bikes! Mine is a pretty pale blue and Jake's is black so you can't see him at night - he likes to sneak up on people.

We went for a bike ride today on the Jordan River Parkway and I am worn out! I am happy to say that I only walked my bike up a hill ONCE. I know that sounds ridiculous, but it was incredibly steep - if you saw it you would want to walk your bike too. We went up a path and actually found an outdoor swimming pool in Riverton! We will have to make a couple trips there this summer.

Anyways, just wanted to express my excitement about our new adventure.


One last thing... How cool is this new background?!! I signed in finally after forever, and they had a new blog designer thing! I feel super trendy and super savvy with this new design! If you don't love it, just humor me :)

I have a problem : Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jake left for swat training on Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon I made half a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I counted them - I made 18 cookies. I have eaten ALL of them by myself in two and a half days. I have only had two real meals since Sunday morning (both were dinners), but the rest of the days were filled with cookies. I need some help. I decided that it's a good thing I don't live by myself because I would only eat cookies and junk food.

Some Good Old Home Renovation...

Well, I am finally putting some pictures up of what we have been working on lately. This project was started on a whim - Jake and I were bored one night and he asked if I wanted him to just take the fireplace down. I said yes, so that night we (mostly Jake) ripped down the fireplace. Here's what it looked like before:


During the process of tearing it down:

Yes, it was incredibly dusty and everything was dusty for days even after I cleaned everything multiple times.

With a LOT of help painting from this lovely lady:

and alot of hard work and persistence, we come out with our fireplace looking like this:

Doesn't it look super updated and beautiful? Jake did an awesome job! Now I just have to find some things to decorate it....That's the fun part!

We are getting ready to do our outside projects with the nice weather coming. On our to do list:

1. Fix sprinklers in the backyard
2. Put up a fence around our yard
3. Plant grass in the backyard
4. Landscape (trees,bushes, flowers, etc) around the perimeter of the backyard

Wish us luck! We hope to get everything done, but everyone knows how long it takes to do things, especially outside :)

I have a little problem...

So we had a few warm days last week and of course I got VERY excited. I bought a huge planter for our front porch at costco a few weeks ago and went out to find a plant for it. I found a huge fern that would look awesome on the front porch, so I bought it and put it in that afternoon. Three days later it snowed and was FROZEN. But, with dedication I decided to water it and hoped it would get better. Of course it didnt so I decided to bring it inside. The fern is dying and it STINKS...BAD (as in smelly, as in I thought it was me, but was relieved when it was the stinky fern). That shows me for trying to make my front porch look nice. Has anyone ever had a frostbitten fern before? What do i do?

Are these not the cutest kids you have ever seen? Of course all of my nieces and nephews are adorable, but these are the cutest little girls on the East Coast! I just needed to show them off...



Great work with the cute kids Jon and Christy!

is it Lady Liberty or Man Liberty?

This has got to be one of the worst jobs ever. I don't know anyone, especially a MAN, who wants to sign up to dress up in a Lady Liberty costume and wave to cars passing by. The other day I was driving home and spotted a bearded Lady Liberty. I think it's the worst when they make them dance without even letting them wear an Ipod. NOT FUN. I guess everyone's got to work to pay the bills, but I would rather work as a circus clown than a dancing Lady Liberty.

And yes, this is probably the most times anyone has said Lady Liberty in a paragraph :)

Sorry, I'll have to ask my husband...

Just one of the wonderful perks of being married. I do NOT like door to door sales. I guess it used to work back when people didn't use the internet, or grocery stores, but I will not buy anything door to door. (unless it's girl scout cookies-they are THE BEST). I will not buy your magazine subscriptions to help you go to college, I will not buy your cable packages so you can get commission, and I will not buy any meat that you have in the back of your truck. I don't trust random people trying to sell me meat out of their truck. I don't think it's sanitary, and I don't know the last time you washed your hands. SORRY.

This afternoon I went outside to get the mail, and some guy ran up beside me and asked if I have ever heard of Ponderosa. I said yes - (there was a restaurant back home called Ponderosa SteakHouse), but I didn't realize it would lead into a discussion of him trying to sell me meat. He handed me a brochure and asked what types of meat my family typically eats. I should have said waterfowl and nothing else so that he would leave. Of course I am dumb and too nice, so I told him we typically eat chicken. He then ran to his truck and brought out a huge box of chicken. Inside were individual boxes of chicken (frozen) marinated in different sauces. He told me that I would get 72 pieces of chicken for $350, but since we're friends (um, NO we aren't), he would give it to me for $150. So then I asked him how much that costs per pound, and he just avoided it. Of course I am scrambling trying to think of anything to get him to leave me alone, so I simply said "Well, I am supposed to talk to my husband about big purchases like this one, so I will have to talk to him about it and I will give you a call if we decide to do it". Thanks to Jake for marrying me. I use this excuse ANYTIME someone comes to my door. Of course, I have to try to think of something else when it is a small purchase ( like dumb magazine subscriptions), and I usually say I don't read magazines (i know i am totally lying), and no one I know wants a magazine subscription. Last time I used that one I got the worst dirty look ever. I don't even remember what excuse I used to use. I am grateful I'll be able to use this one from now on :)

Goodbye 2009, thanks for the Good Times...

I was on a call today with someone who had these sentiments: "I am glad 2009 is over, it was the year of people swindling me left and right." Sorry if your year felt like this, but mine was pretty good. Lots of good times, I'm sure there were some down times, but the good ones outweigh them. As 2010 comes full swing, I just wanted to share with you some of my favorite discoveries (new to me) from 2009.

Clorox Disinfectant wipes. I love these. I just wipe down the bathroom counter, or whatever and it looks clean and beautiful and all the germs are gone. While everyone was getting the swine flu, I was wiping down with clorox wipes. I don't ever want to go to life before I knew the clorox wipe.

Yes, I have had peanut butter before 2009, but what I didn't know was that it is an AMAZING agent to get construction adhesive out of a coat. Jake was bravely fixing a frozen water pipe and got construction adhesive all over one side of his coat. I did a little research online and found that if you let peanut butter sit on the adhesive for a little while, you can just scrape it right off with your finger nail. I sprayed the area first with Shout so that the oil from the peanut butter wouldn't stay on the coat. It worked like a charm! I heard you can also use this for stickers left on certain clothing and other sticky things...

3M command hooks. I love these babies too. I have a new found love of putting wreaths on the front door, but the heavy magnet wreath holder was ripping the paint off the door when taking the magnet off. I think Jake was the one who suggested using these, but I didn't think it would hold a big wreath, especially a heavy Christmas one. It worked! It has been holding my big Christmas wreath on the door for about a month and a half now, and it hasn't even fallen once. I used the other one that came in the package to hang my necklaces on in our bedroom. I will keep buying these for any hanging needs I have.

Good old Pumice stone. Not just useful for making your feet nice and smooth, but also for cleaning your toilet. The toilet downstairs had a nice ring around it and I tried cleaning it with normal bathroom cleaner, magic eraser sponge, and anything else I could think of, it still wouldn't come off. After some research on the internet, I found that if you use a pumice stone it will scrub that ring right off, and it won't even scratch the ceramic. Worked beautifully! I thought we might have to buy a new toilet, but It looked as good as new. Oh the wonderful things you find on the internet.

Thanks 2009 for the great discoveries, please provide some more in 2010...