Thursday, October 21, 2010

My Birthday Festivities

I had the best birthday this week. It included tasty dinners and lot's of time spent with family and friends. It was the perfect week ;) It's crazy that I am 25, it seems like I was just 15, I still feel that immature too. Really though, where does the time go? Too fast that's for sure.

On Sunday, Wren's family had a birthday party for me. Hollie and McKell made yet again, another amazing dinner. They made my favorites: funeral potatoes, steak, amazing salad, and Hollie picked up my favorite cake from Nothing Bundt Cake. Seriously, that is one naughty cake! If you haven't been there you must... It was so fun and I love hanging out at their cozy new house and spending time with them.

Dreamy boat Skler, he gets cuter and cuter everyday! He says so many words and makes so many noises and says "HI!" to everyone. He hates stickers and ghost peeps. We LOVE HIM!
My cutie pie
Kinely in his usual position. Falling asleep on the couch ;)
Look how cute that cake is??? Cute Willow and Carter gave me this adorable plant! I love it SO much!
Cute little Eden ;) Thanks for the Cold Stone gift certificate.
My amazing in-laws, love them!
It was as good as it looks.
Kinely is so proud of his sister in law growing up so fast ;) Ha ha
Thanks to the Withers for making me feel special on my birthday!

Monday night my friends got together for my birthday. We went to Texas Roadhouse and ate too much. And don't worry yourselves, I ate like five of those satanic rolls, and I enjoyed every moment of them. As always, it was a fun time catching up with everyone. It's funny to think I have known most of these girls since I was 15. We all still seem the same too... it's fun to see everyone growing up, getting married, having babies, accomplishing the things that they have. I have such fun memories with each of these girls and they will always hold a place in my heart. Thanks sistas for coming to celebrate!
Haylie and her adorable and mini her little boy Maddox. He is so cute!
Hailey and her son Cash... kidding Hay, it's Dana's baby boy. He is so dang cute and has the cutest little clothes. Our friend Carrie that was there too is expecting a baby girl, she wanted a girl so bad, I am so excited for her, and all of the new little additions that are slowly working their way into our circle of friends!
Me and my baby Sara... ;)
Everyone forced me to sit on the saddle, I quite enjoyed my time there though ;) I think the guy behind me was not so amused...
On my birthday Wren surprised me with a gift that I had been wanting for awhile, a TV in my room. He hung it above our closet so I can be as lazy as possible: lay my tired head on my pillow and see the TV. It's cool too because it has wifi so I can stream any TV show through netflix. You'll all know where to find me....

He took me to breakfast at The Blue Plate, has anyone ever been? If you haven't GO. It was TO DIE FOR! See for yourselves...
Next we went to the Zoo, I have been wanting to go back for sometime now, but we just haven't found the time to go. So I was far too excited when Wren told me we were headed there after breakfast. And I have to say, I enjoyed it WAY more than I did when I was younger. You're old enough to realize just how crazy the animals are that share this world with us. I stared at all of the animals for way too long and thoroughly enjoyed my bad self. If you haven't been for awhile, go! In no particular order....

My my, awfully forward Mister
How do we measure up? Is this Wren's mugshot?
Okay below are some of my favorites and worsts from the zoo...

These monkeys topped the list for the day, not only because they are spitting image of my mom's naughty little lover dog Horhay, but because they sat and tickled each others backs for hours, and then they would rotate and the next little chimp would get a turn, and then the next and so on and so forth. I sat and stared in amazement for FAR too long. I love these little guys, in fact I want to pick myself up one and WE can take turns tickling each other's backs...
Now this gorilla's got some boootay going on! Hilarious, I couldn't stop laughing or staring, it was like a bad train wreck! And the funniest part of all, it pees this way! No manners...
I'm not a cat person but if I were one, I would pay big bucks for this cat, it was the cutest cuddliest thing I have ever seen, and it's so sad, it was just sitting in the area all by itself staring at me with it's big green eyes, if I wasn't allergic, and if I liked cats, I would have maybe snuck it out..
I remember alway being terrified of these stick bugs whenever I would hear about when I was little, well I'm one hundred percent sure if one of them ever crawled on or anywhere near me I would die of a heart attack, no ifs, ands, OR butts! How creepy is it that if they were crawling amongst sticks you would NEVER know they were there, and also do you see that creeptacular leaf bug? No joke, it looks exactly like a leaf. Watch out for both of these nasties next time you decide to go climb up on your next tree.... I know I will!
My husband is so brave getting this close to the lion and her cub...
I LOVE the giraffes, I mean seriously, who's necks are that long?
Now that's ONE flexible black tongue if I've ever seen one. I loved watching this giraffe lick every inch of this pole almost as much as HE enjoyed licking every inch of it. I don't care who you are, this is talent and he should be proud of himself. The funniest part was he was right in front of my face and kept making eye contact with me as he was doing it, ha ha!
The hub, he's perfect! This tree was incredible!
I would one happy camper if I saw the world through polarized sunglasses all the time... It makes everything golden and pop, I have always loved them ever since I was little. Well it was SO beautiful at the zoo, the trees were all changing colors and the weather was incredible, and it was even MORE incredible through the lenses of our new polarized sunglasses that Wren's cute sister Allyssum helped us get for cheap using her discount. Thanks Allyssum! I put the lenses in front of our camera and it illustrates the lighting that we saw all of the autumn leaves in all day, amazing!
After the zoo we went to my grandparent house for dinner. My cute dad brought over KFC and we ate and talked. My grandpa has been feeling under the weather lately, and it's so sad to see everyone getting older. I have such fun memories of sleeping over at their house when I was little and my grandpa making strawberry pancakes. My grandma is so sweet too, she would do anything for us! I'm glad I got to eat dinner with them and my dad for my birthday! Because my sister Kate had dance while we had dinner, her and my mom came over to our place after dinner and we opened gifts. I feel so terrible, I didn't get any pictures of my family so I decided to take pictures of my favorites from my mom and dad...

My mother dearest picked me out this fancy little number that I LOVE
And my Dad went and picked out the sexiest pair of shoes he could find, they are sexy and I LOVE THEM!
Kate also made me the cutest vintage little books, I LOVE THEM! Thanks Katela!

Last, I wanted to share this picture I snapped on my birthday while driving past what has got to be the funniest shopping complex in all of the Salt Lake valley. See for yourselves.... It makes me smile every time I drive past it ;) Extreme bargain shoppers anyone? I found your haven. Competition? Well there's got to be more here than in any other place...
AND, I found the best cookbook called $7 dollar a meal guide to eating healthy. It popped out at me like a little miracle, because I had been looking all over the internet for cheap healthy meals, but they were all either really healthy, BUT really expensive, OR really bad for you and cheap... Stories of our lives I guess, but I planned out all of our meals using this cookbook and then went and bought ONLY the ingredients that we needed for the recipes. Normally I buy anything and everything with NOTHING to go with it, and then it just goes bad, so I'm hoping this pans out, here is the first meal...
To year 25! Here I come!

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Our new place....

So we have been living here now for about a month. We absolutely love our new place and I love my job. The first couple of weeks were a big adjustment and I was stressed with all of the responsibilities that I will have here, but at the same time, love the challenge. Now that we have settled in and I have learned the lovely joys that come with new jobs, I LOVE it! I love the owners here and they worked so hard to make our apartment look awesome and helped me feel included in the process (which I loved of course;), they are also amazing to work for. We feel so so blessed that this opportunity was given to us.

We also love the area too, it is right across the street from DayBreak and we have a view of the new temple out here. We are also only a five minute really pretty walk away from The District which has become my new "fort union" and in fact I like it more! And it has my beloved Harmons, so that is really all I need ;), doesn't everyone LOVE Harmons? HAAAAMUNS! Ha ha, get it the song? It's all I can hear when I even think of Harmons. Did you know that Harmons has drive up service too? Talk about good customer service huh?! Like you drive through this little drive-up thing and they will put your groceries in your trunk for you. I have never done it because I would feel extremely lazy, BUT, one of these days if I get the courage, I WILL take advantage! Maybe on a snowy day? And if my trunk isn't scary like it is now....that would be embarrassing, I'd be like "just smash everything down", ha ha, "but not my fresh homeade sour dough bread!"... That's why I love HAAAAAmuns. Anyway, everything out here is new and open and we have really started to feel at home.

As most people know, I love to decorate, and change things, and move things, and decorate, and change things, and move things....so I have been in heaven decorating, well almost, I would be in REAL decorating Heaven if money was not a factor, but this chicks on a budget, but that's part of the fun right?! Great finds for a steal. I posted tons of picture, I'm sure way too many and you'll get bored, but I always want to look back and remember everything about each place we have lived in ;) AND I love detail, so hopefully you do to if you look at the pics. By the way, have any of you ever printed a book out of your blog? I have done two now, one from the first year we were married, and one from the second year. I am obsessed with how cute and easy they are, and because I suck at keeping a journal AND printing off pictures, it kills two birds with one stone. Anyway, you all should do it!

ALSO, as you can see below, I need to find some barstools, but I don't just want any old ones, I want some really different, comfy, modern ones, so if anyone knows of anywhere fun, or sees any cool ones, please be so kind to let me know, I have looked for a month and can't find anything I have liked, but really really want to be able to eat at the bar :(

Kitchen
Love these pictures....
Can you tell?
Love him, he's my favorite part of the decor ;)
Dining Area
Our skylights that we love
Guest Bedroom
Family Room
The pillows my mom covered for me, she's so nice, I couldn't bear to cover them all so she offered, I love moms! And I LOVE these pillows!
Area right when you walk up the stairs, bookshelf I painted, thanks again Sara!
My vintage milk glass china that I bartered down from $150 to $25! I just love them ;) GO ME!
Our Bathroom
Necklace holder I made
Master Bedroom
I put this material in these frames, I think they go great over the bed
Love my new plant... pray I don't kill it ;)
Wren's parents were so kind to give us this piano, we decided to stain it dark, I love having a piano again!
We don't have a coat closet so I ran across these hooks at hobby lobby to hang purses or coats on.
My new office, I got to buy everything for it so it's super girly and I love it!

I hope everyone enjoys this fall weather, I know I AM!