Throwback!

All these layaway commercials about Christmas make me think of my own childhood. There some things I really really wanted but never got, and other toys I was lucky enough to get. Toys in the 90's were just dang good. Want to reminisce with me?

#1 Skydancers! You were nobody in first grade if you did not have one of these. They were seriously so awesome. Just pull the string and they fly up in the air. This was one of those toys I was lucky enough to have.


#2 Real Polly Pockets. Not these rubbery ones that my little sisters play with. The ones that you actually lost because they were so tiny and you could fit their whole play house in your pocket.


#3 KerPlunk!!! So fun! Try to pull out as many sticks as you can without making the marbles fall!


#4 Pound Puppies! I never got one of these, but I did get something similar and I loved it to death.


#5 I love this game too. It had credit cards and everything. Who doesn't love a game about shopping with an automated voice that told you when you were out of money?


#6 Probably not everybody remembers this one. It was a doll that came with a stroller that could convert to a carrier and a doll bed. Basically awesome right? I asked and asked for this one and was so disappointed when I didn't get it that year. I did get it the next year, and trust me, it was awesome just like I thought it would be. But i was not as into dolls by then. Oh well :) still was fun!


#7 My favorite computer game of all time. Designing Barbie's outfits. You could actually print them out on a fabric paper and use them too.


#8 The ever popular Nano Pet! I lost mine and it was devastating. But boy did I love that little electronic puppy.


#9 Lite Bright! So cool!


#10 Easy Bake Oven. Yes when I was little my mom bought mine at a yard sale. But it was the best thing in my life. My love of baking started at an early age.


Wow this post has a lot of  pink. Obviously I was a girly-girl when I was little. And if you could write blogs in pen, this one would be written in gel pen. Now wasn't that fun? Ok back to present day where if toys don't have a light up screen, lights, or automatic sounds they are boring. Oh goodness.

Married Friends

The world has been set right again. Fall came back and winter ran away! Sunshine and 65+ degrees outside is what I'm talking about! Love it! But I am still anxious for the holidays to come. I might have to start decorating for Christmas as soon as Halloween is over.

So remember this beauty?

Well this weekend I performed some intense surgery on the poor fellow. I think he came out looking much better than when he went in. Pretty hard to look any worse actually. I am still not totally in love with it, but it could look cute hanging on the wall or the door. 

Doug and I were discussing the differences between being married and being single and how it relates to making couple friends. Basically when you are married, you still have to date, only this time you have to date another couple. Becoming friends with another couple is a delicate matter.

First, you have to get the other couple's number. We all know how hard and potentially awkward it can be to ask attractive, smart, funny people for their number. It's intimidating! You don't want to ask after the first time you talk. That would totally freak them out. But you don't want to wait too long or else you will miss your chance. Do you look up their number in the directory and come up with an excuse to text them? Do you wait for them to ask for your number? Should you add them on Facebook and start to just to casually become online friends? What to do?!

Ok whew, getting their number was tough. The next part though... even tougher! Now you want to start developing that relationship further than just acknowledging each other on campus. I mean you don't want to seem totally over anxious and desperate for friends by texting them too soon. But if you don't text or call them, maybe they think you don't want to be their friend. Perhaps a safe thing to do would be to casually invite them to a group get-together so the pressure is lower. Or just a casual bite to eat. Low-key. Nothing fancy. Sound familiar at all? 

Time to really get down to business. The first official "date." Going to dinner, playing games, or going bowling. One-on-one... Or i guess in this case two-on-two... Time to really get to know them. How did they meet? How long did they date? What are they up to in their lives? Making the connection. So the date went well. Everybody had fun. No awkward silences or pauses in conversation. Perfect. This friendship is going to work. We thank them for coming etc etc. Get home and agree that we should do that again. So we move on to the PDT-the post date text. You know this one. It sets up for a second date and lets the couple know you are really interested. So we send the "Thanks so much for coming! We had a really good time and we should do it again sometime :)"  to move the relationship along. 

See how much work this is? It is seriously like dating all over.  But its worth it. I love all the new friends I have met since being married. The similarities between dating and making friends was too funny not to share. Friends are so wonderful and necessary and without them where would we be in life?

Thanks for visiting, come again Fall!

Bye, see ya later Fall! Thanks for the quick visit. Hello Winter?? Already?! Fall was only like a week and a half long! I was just enjoying the crisp fall air, the falling leaves, the cardigans and light sweaters. But I guess Mother Nature has something else in mind. This is what was outside when I was getting ready for class this morning:

I had to drag out the heavy wool coat, the umbrella, and the rain boots! I mean snow is pretty and I love a white Christmas, but it is not even Halloween yet!!!

But nevertheless (whoa that is all one word, who knew?) it got me in a holiday mood. So this evening I drove myself over to Hobby Lobby with a couple craft ideas in mind for my next project. Maybe something with a Thanksgiving/autumn feel. This is what I ended up buying: 

Yup, I bought a craft for Christmas! I couldn't help myself. They had all the Christmas decorations up and they were so alluring and pretty with all the lit trees and ornaments! I just gravitated towards them. Plus it was snowing when I came out of the store. I half expected to hear Christmas songs on the radio when I turned on the car. Now I want to curl up in my sweats with a cup of hot cocoa, and turn on some Christmas tunes as I do this holiday craft. Too soon? Ya I agree. I should at least wait till Halloween is over right? Ooops! 

Hopefully a few fall days squeeze their way in before winter sets in for good. Even though I love the winter holidays, the snow does get a little cold after 6 months. And yes, it does snow for 6 months in Provo, Utah. A couple years ago it snowed in May! Not fun. But hey, lets just enjoy it for now.

Taco Soup

I am so enjoying the cooler weather. Soup weather! Yum! One of my favorites, which is so easy, is this taco soup. It is amazing! So delicious and so simple. You can make it in the crockpot or on the stove.
Ready for this easy yumminess??

Step 1: brown 1 lb. hamburger with 1 chopped small yellow onion

Step 2: Combine in large pot corn, tomatoes, kidney beans, chili powder and garlic powder. 

Step 3: Add in your hamburger and onions. Heat until boiling. Then turn down the heat, cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Serve with cheese, sour cream, and corn/tortilla chips

How easy was that? SO doable right!? I think this is just as easy as making mac&cheese from a box and tastes infinity times as good. If you are going to make it in the crock pot just do the same thing. Stick all the ingredients in the pot and turn it on low for probably 4ish hours. Its really just to heat up the soup so it is not going to ruin it if stays in the crockpot for longer.

Taco Soup:

1 small yellow onion chopped

1 lb. hamburger

    Brown onion and hamburger together in a pan

16 oz stewed tomatoes (I like to just dump in a jar of my home canned tomatoes)

1 can kidney beans (undrained)

1 can corn (undrained)

2-3 tsp chili powder

1 tsp garlic powder

    Empty all cans into a large pot. Add spices and stir in. Add hamburger. Heat to boiling. Cover pot and reduce heat. Simmer for 15 minutes

    Serve with sour cream, cheese, and corn/tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Bestest of friends

One of my very bestest friends from high school is engaged! I am so excited for her. My friend Alyssa (aka Lissy) has been such a great friend to me over the years. I cannot wait for her to experience the joy of marriage. And I finally won't be the only girl of our high school friends who is married. Lissy and I have had some really great times together. We always got together before school dances to help all our friends do their hair. One of my favorite memories with her is when we did our hair and make up silly. We put scrunchies in our hair and used every color of the rainbow eye shadow. It was pretty silly but pretty fun. A long time ago I taught Lissy piano lessons. She was a fabulous student. Lissy even helped me do my hair for my wedding. I was so so grateful to her. She is so sweet and so beautiful and will be a gorgeous bride.

Halloween Party (2008)

Winter Formal (2007) pre-dinner dance.
Yes, we know we have creepy faces

All decked out for the rivalry football game! (2009)

At the drive-in movie (2009)

Summer days (2010)

Summer nights (2010)

The magic hair stylist on my big day! Thanks so much Lissy! (2012)

You're next Lissy!

Her beautiful engagement ring.

I am so happy for you Lissy! You are going to be a wonderful wife. We have had so many great memories together and thanks for being such an amazing friend!

Cheating the system

Are you like me? Do you have gift cards to places you just really don't want to buy anything at? Doug and I got lots of gift cards to Bed Bath & Beyond for our wedding. I have been there about 6 times and have bought everything I can possibly think of that I need (or want). I feel bad buying stuff there because every time I get something I think to myself, "I can get this so much cheaper somewhere else!" Nothing personal against BB&B, they have nice and expensive stuff, and I do not need so much fancy in my small apartment. So after winding our way around the store last night and getting a bathroom scale and a soup ladle  we seriously could not think of anything else to get. BUT.... we found a way to cheat the system. We found out we could buy gift cards with our gift cards! Bed Bath & Beyond has some good gift card options! We traded our $65 card for 3 restaurant cards. Now we can go on more dates yay! So, if you have cards to a place and can't think of anything to buy, buy another gift card! Doug and I are pretty proud of ourselves for discovering that little kink in the system.

We rewarded ourselves with some Cold Stone ice cream and we had a coupon for buy 1 get 1 half off so might as well right?
My absolute guilty pleasure at that place is the Founder's Favorite. SO GOOD! It has brownies, fudge, caramel and pecans in it. It is a pretty sweet combo (pun intended). Doug is a fan of the Peanut Butter Cup Perfection. The name pretty much sums up that one! I would take Cold Stone ice cream over an overpriced cheese-grater any day.

This is Halloween

Here is the grand reveal of our costumes. I know you are all just dying of suspense. But don't hold your breath. I mean, I thought they were creative and classy, but maybe not...
So without further ado, I bring you Douglas Parker as Tony Stark, and Natalie Parker as Pepper Potts.

We had a really fun time at our party last night. That is probably the only time you will ever see me with blonde hair. It looks pretty different. We tried hard to get full body shots, ha but nobody taking pictures of us  did... Oh well.. You get the gist of it.

A story worth sharing

Today I was reminded of this woman's amazing story of healing and faith. I admire her so much and the positive outlook she has maintained through all her hardships.
The video is about 31 year old, mother of 5 Stephanie Nielson who was severely injured in a plane crash just over 4 years ago. This is her story of overcoming her struggle to find out who she is and how to live with her pains and scars while still being a wife and mother.
I invite you to watch this inspiring story. You will not regret it. It has reminded me how blessed I am and how grateful I am for my healthy body, my Savior, and my loved ones. My daily complaints are trivial compared to other people's struggles in this life. I hope that you will be inspired by this story as I have.

EASY Tulle Wreath

This is one of the easiest crafts ever. It would be pretty hard to mess up on it. It is a fabulous tulle wreath. I got the idea from Pinterest. It linked to an Etsy shop that sold them for $40!!! I thought I could definently make the same thing for cheaper.

My wreath inspiration

 This wreath is relatively inexpensive to make. I think total I ended up making mine for around $20 ($14-ish for the tulle and $6-ish for the wreath frame) I bought the tulle online from a cheap site and they had lots of colors to choose from! Then I used a coupon for the wreath frame.

So all you need is:

• approx. 100 yards of tulle
• styrofoam wreath frame (I recommend using one that is 8-10")
• scissors
• crafty accesories

Step 1: Play around with different lengths of tulle to see what you like on your wreath. Mine were pretty long, but I wanted a really big, full wreath.
Step 2: Cut strips of tulle your desired length
Step 3: Tie tulle on styrofoam frame. I used just a double knot like if you were tying your shoelaces in double knots aka the square not.
Step 4: Push tulle together to start forming wreath.

Step 5: Once all the tulle is tied, trim the ends if necessary/desired.
Step 6: Accessorize! I like to keep mine simple since one of the highlights in mine was all the colors of tulle, but add as much fluff as you like! Flowers, ribbon, bows, birds, leaves, whatever you want.

This craft is seriously so easy and fast. I like to do it in front of the TV or while the Husband is enraptured in a football game and I am bored to tears. Obviously the smaller the wreath frame, or the shorter you want your tulle, the less you use. I used pretty much all 100 yards of mine. Right now, I am loving how big and full my wreath is, but I can always trim it down if I don't want it so long.

Finished Item!

I made a more wintery themed wreath for my mom for Christmas last year that I will have to take a picture of sometime. Ha and now looking at the picture of my wreath it looks kind of lopsided, but maybe it is just the way the tulle had flopped a little. Or maybe I need to trim it up a bit.
I love this wreath because it can hang on my door till after Thanksgiving. And I love fall colors :)
Happy Crafting!

Pumpkiness

Doug and I carved our first pumpkin last night. Aww so precious. I forgot to take pictures of the carving process. But this is how it went: Doug cuts the opening and proceeds to have me reach inside and get all the goop and seeds out. I asked if he wanted a turn, but he graciously said that I could do it. Oh thank you hun!
Actually I kind of like sticking my hand in all the orange squishy goop. It is such a weird yet fun texture. Plus who doesn't want to get a little messy every now and again?

It is sorta difficult to take a picture of a glowing pumpkin. The picture was either too bright, or too dark and it just wasn't working out. 

Basically I am ready for Halloween to be over so that Thanksgiving and Christmas can be here!!! 

This is what we were last year for Halloween. I was a magician, and Doug was a Mexican.

Doug and I have a Halloween costume party to attend this Friday. We ordered essential parts of our costume from Amazon on Sunday night, so hopefully they arrive in time. If not, we might be scrambling and taking a last minute trip to DI. Or maybe we will dart back to my house and resurrect last year's look.

Pinterest fail, among other things

Yeah, yeah I know, the Beavers won. Whoopie. Okay so my team lost, but no biggie. OSU mostly won because of some lucky things that happened in their favor. It was a pretty close game until 4th quarter. I am still a Cougar fan don't you worry. And I can still be happy for the Beavers.

Moving on.
Friday was a great day! I of course did my 30 Day Shred workout in the morning, then I felt very sophisticated and important as I drove into Salt Lake City for an interview. I was super nervous, not for the interview, but because I was afraid I was not going to be able to find the place. Driving in big cities kinda freaks me out a little. But no worries. The GPS took me right to the place. I loved the place where I interviewed and hopefully they loved me too :)

All spiffed up for my interview. Here I come world!

The rest of Friday I spent with my best friend Doug. That included the classic pizza and a movie combo. If you haven't seen Dan in Real Life, we recommend it. And I actually stayed up for the whole thing! Its pretty miraculous if I can make it through a whole movie. Usually by Friday night, I am wiped and can only make it through 30 minutes of anything we are watching.

We even splurged and got a Papa Murphey's pizza on Friday. I know!! What were we thinking spending $7 for a pizza when you can get one for $5 at Little Caesars?! All I know is Papa uses a lot of cheese on his pizzas. Just the way I like it.

Satuday. Now that was an exciting day. If you thought what I did on Friday was good, just wait. Saturday included an epic Pinterest fail. Now I am slightly embarrassed to post this. It is not blog worthy in the slightest. 

This is what I was going for:

This is what I ended up creating: 

For the life of me, I could not get the whole letter to be covered. It started out great, at the bottom, but the curve just got crazy, and then I could not get those 2 triangles to all be covered. I don't know if I wasn't using enough yarn or what! It seriously needs a makeover. I think I am going to have to perform some surgery next weekend. Stay tuned on this project. 

I felt like I had to redeem myself and prove to the world that I can be crafty. So to make up for the failure, I made this little card for my beautiful friend Emily. Its cute right? Better than that yarn letter anyways. Do I get any redemption points in the craft sphere?

Also, I made more cookies this weekend! Gah! I know! I'm horrible. Here I am trying to work so hard to get fit and I go and make cookies. But they were peanut butter and chocolate. and they were soo delicious! And it was the only sugar I had this weekend if that counts for anything. First thing tomorrow morning I will be back on track with good eating. 

Go to THIS site if you want to find out how to make these beyond good peanut butter and chocolate beauties.

Saturday night ended with an awesome BYU women's volleyball game. The football team would do well to take some pointers from them about winning. After which we stuffed ourselves with warm gooey cookies and the Avengers. I promptly fell asleep after 45 minutes.