Sunday, November 29, 2009

The Great State of UTAHHHH!

mmmm I left for the great state of Utah last Thursday morning. I landed, got in my rental car and headed down I-15. I rolled down the windows and breathed in that mountain air. What a recharge that was! I needed just a moment and I was all pumped for the up coming week!

Once I made it to Provo, I went to Jenni and Michael's apt. {SUPER cute!} They are amazing! They live quite a hectic little life style, but some how they seem to
make it through with few to no complaints! Man I could learn a thing or two from them. :) I learned that Jenni and I have tons in common! She is such an awesome person, and I am an in awe of all of the things I can learn from her! I love being around her happy self! And that silly Michael is so wise beyond his years! I love him soooo much! He is all grown up, it's hard to believe that he is all grown up and so smart! I can't wait to see what life brings him and Jenni! They are amazing examples in my life and very special to me! I just know that any blessing sent their way is well deserved!

Thursday was fun. I followed Michael all over campus while he printed a paper and turned it in. It was super fun getting to chit chat with him. I sure do learn more
and more about him every time we get to chat like that!

Friday was fun! I picked Nathaniel and Benjamin up at school and brought them home. It was supposed to be a surprise, but of course now days you can't surprising
ly pick up children from school! They are getting soooooo big!! It makes me just a bit sad when I see just how big they get with each visit! We went over to Robert and Tamara's new house and I visited with Tamara while the kiddos opened their late birthday presents from me. {bad aunt shellie}
Friday night we had a fun game night with Jenni and Michael's dear friends, Stephanie, Jarom, Lauren, and her bf Josh. We played Loaded Questions. If you have ne
ver played, it's a great way to get to know people and a great way to "re-get-to-know" your siblings! I dont think I have ever seen Michael laugh as hard as I did that night!! {he's a lil weird btw} Lauren and Josh brought yummy hot chocolate and a Cocoa-motion Machine... I need one!! That crew is just to much fun! I love how peeps in Provo know how to have a great time... the "real way."
Saturday we went to Gateway Mall in Salt Lake City. It was a teeny bit chilly, but we still managed to have a great time. We found Michael some handsome sweaters and a some "Jenni Approved" jeans. Then on our way back to Provo we stopped off in Draper and had us some yummy Frogurt! If you are from Carrollton and love the yougurtland and all those yummy places, you would love Frogurt even more! They had yummier flavors and more fixin's. (I am actually thankful there isn't a Frogurt here. I would be super duper fat! That night Mikey scored some tickets to New Moon. It was really good! I can't wait til Eclipse! it's gonna be great!!I loved that when I was getting ready I saw Jenni was wearing this cute black dress... I didnt think anything of it until she completed her Sunday best with a cute gray cardigan. Well... all I brought was a (lil too short) gray dress with black boots. And well Michael came out of the closet wearing his handsome gray suit! We all coordinated for church that morning. HILARIOUS! this was unintended, but none of us cared enough to change! We had to take a pic! We went to Jenni's friend's baby blessing and then came home for some yummy supper!

Sundays are for spending time with family, so we went over to Robert and Tamara's house to visit for a bit! Look how stinkin' big LuCille is getting! She is two and super cute! She had just gotten up from a nap and it took a bit before she would warm up to me, but after that we were buds! We read a few books and put together an Advent Calendar for Christmas! Man that little family is soo cute! Little missy was too shy to smile I think! But thats ok... she is like her Aunt Shellie and likes to stick her tongue out! It was fun visiting the little Woodmansee Family! I hope they get all settled in their new house soon!

The last night with Michael and Jenni was the perfect way to end my stay with them. I got some sweet tickets for us! Row 10 Center Stage! David sang some songs from his self titled album and then changed super fast and sang his little heart out to the audience during his "last set" Make fun of me if you will, but you will never understand the awesomeness of the Archuleta until you hear him live. He is just so real. He is a "take me as I am" kind of guy! He has nothing to hide. He poured out emotion with each song. And shared his pure feelings of Christmas between each set! I love that he is not afraid to take every moment to share his testimony of the Gospel and that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas! Oh and check this next picture out!! David had a very special guest!! HIS MOM!! She sang Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas with David! How cute is that?!? I think that is very special. Her dream in life was to sing in front of a large audience, and well how cool is it that her own son helped make that dream come true!! So cute!!! I got the chance of bumping into dear friends and meeting new ones! The night was simply divine!
Ok well that is all for now! When I get more pictures, I will have to finish my story of Utah! There is lots to share, so stay tuned! I will finish tomorrow. As for now, Judd and I are going to put up the Christmas tree!!!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

One of my goals

...is to get better at baking. A few weeks ago when Megan and I were looking for cans of pumpkin for out pumpkin cakes...we had to search several stores before finding any. SO, when I found some, I bought three extra cans of it, JUST in case I had the craving for some pumpkin goodies. Last week a lady from Relief Society brought me some yummy pumpkin bread and I ran out and was craving more.... Soooo this morning I saw an easy recipe for pumpkin muffins and I decided to give them a try. I know how to make pumpkin pie...how hard would muffins be right? Well, I followed the recipe STEP BY STEP and they didn't turn out! What on earth could I be doing wrong? The picture looked so yummy, and mine tasted like gooey pumpkin mess... URGH!

If any of you have any good pumpkin muffin recipes lemme know pleaseeee!!

Monday, November 9, 2009

I felt the need...

to eat the pizza crust that Judd didn't want. I had tried my hardest to avoid Judd while he was sick....but I just couldn't resist the yummy Frecshetta taste! Now I have a sinus headache that I am praying doesn't turn into something worse!

Friday, November 6, 2009

"A good neighbor is a great blessing."

Today I took the step... I met my neighbors! I am certain my husband thinks I'm a weirdo...

Oh, and tomorrow I am getting a new phone! Yay! I have not bought a new phone since 2002!! I can't wait! This is going to monumental! Which is better the itouch ot moto cliq?

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Story of Jack! (and Jackie-O)

A couple of weeks ago my dear friend Megan showed me a cute picture on the cover of her Family Circle Magazine. It was a picture of a pumpkin cake! I thought it was adorable so I said, "let's make one!" Funny thing is, I had never made a cake from scratch. I was really just half joking. (and scared at the thought of making a REAL cake) I am usually the person that gets a cake mix adds the eggs and water, and calls it good. Megan however...is very much NOT! She is like the baking queen!

We went to Sam's, bought all of the ingredients that we needed and waited til Wednesday to bake the cakes. DO you know how hard it is to find pumpkin this time of year! we went to several different stores to find a few cans of pumpkin!!! ahhhhh but Megan found some!! YAY!!

The recipe calls for a small Pyrex bowl, but we wanted to make the cake bigger so we used bigger bowls (and added in some of our own ingredients)...and each cake to over and hour to bake!! (we got smart and decided to go running while the cakes were baking!!) We let them cool Wednesday night. Thursday came and we made cream cheese frosting, (Ummm yummm! I could eat a whole bowl of that stuff!!) We used it to stick the two half circle cakes together to form our pumpkins...then we colored the rest of it orange and iced our cakes to look like basketballs... then, for what seemed to be hours, after sorting a bag of reese's pieces, we put them on...ONE-by-ONE to cover the entire cake to look like a pumpkin!! (good thing we had Vampire Diaries to keep us entertained!) I finished faster than Megan cuz I just started getting restless... if you know me, you know I canNOT do the same thing for more than like 15 minutes. Megan however is a perfetionist and well took longer. :) so I took all the reese's and we had to get more from the store at like 10pm... it could have been because I used them all... or I couldn't stop eating them! I LOOOOVE sugar more than any other food!!! Next year... I think everyone should make these cutie pie cakes!

OH YEAH! I almost forgot... then I saw these super cute owls in my Southern Living Magazine and thought I just had to make some! The cookie I am holding is a chocolate moon pie that you use candies to turn it into an owl! Soooo fun!

And I made Jack, Megan made Jacki-O! they were soooo yummmmmy!