2012 Review

2012 has been a good year to us.

In January we started the year off right with a trip to the Everglades and a cruise to Mexico, Honduras, and the Cayman Islands.  

February I started work at Wilson Diamonds.  I have made some great friends and I really love working there. 

Finally, after 5 years of college I graduated in April 2012!  I don't miss school one bit.  

We went to Randal's family reunion in June up at Swan Valley.  It was my first time there and it was so beautiful.  

In August we celebrated our 2nd anniversary!  We made some predictions for our next anniversary, thinking about if we will have kids, where we will live, what we will be doing etc.  

August was a busy month and we even headed to California for a Loud family reunion.  We spent a few days at a cabin in Yosemite, and the rest traveling to Monterey and Carmel.  

Also in August was my birthday.  Randal surprised me with a beautiful big camera; I'm in love. 

We spent the summer working and going swimming at Seven Peaks (like the rest of Provo), and I even lost my shorts on the water slide.

 In September we went up to Boise and saw the Boise State Broncos play and hung out with all of Randal's friends.  A few weeks later we ran the "Race to the Altar 5k" that my work put on.  Even the Sal pup ran.  

Then came the holidays; Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  During Thanksgiving we moved out of our cute old little house and into a new house over by the Provo temple.  I'll probably do a post about Christmas and the new house later.  

But the BIG news is that Drake comes home from his mission soon, like tomorrow.  I know that technically isn't this year but it is still so exciting I think the joy is spilling over into my 2012.  

Oh, you are still reading?  Well okay, really the BIGGEST news of 2012 is the excitement of our new little baby.  I'm due June 16th, 2013 (Father's day, fitting I know).  We are excited but I'm mostly just terrified, ha.

And some other 2012 photos.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle

Why is it when fall comes around all I want to do bake with pumpkin.

Made these this week.  They are heavenly.  Either make some for yourself or come on over.
I made plenty.

Recipe from A Bitchin' Kitchen

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles
For the cookies:

3 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract

For the coating:
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Dash of allspice

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk together to blend.  In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined.  Next, still on medium speed, beat in pumpkin.  Then, add the egg and vanilla extract.  Lastly, add in the dry ingredients.  Beat until combined, but do not over mix.  Cover the dough, and refrigerate for one hour, until firm.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  In a small bowl, mix together the sugar and spices for the sugar coating.  Scoop dough and roll into a ball.  Roll the dough ball in the sugar mixture, and place on the lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.  Take a drinking glass with a flat bottom and moisten with water.  Dip the glass in the sugar mixture, and use it to flatten the dough balls.  Re-sugar the glass as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes.  Remove when the centers of the cookies have set.  Let cool on the baking pan for approximately 5 minutes, and then transfer to wire cooling racks to cool completely.

Salsa

Our friends have a rockin garden and since I was too lazy to dig up the weeds in our front yard they are graciously giving us some of their produce.  We had so many tomatoes and what not that we decided to make salsa.  Being the incredible friends that they were, not only did they give us the vegetables, they also let us borrow all of their canning equipment so we could can some salsa. We left their house with grocery sacks full of food.  The next morning we got to canning.  It really wasn't hard and the salsa is so very good.  I've never liked canning but now I see why people do it.  After this, I also want a garden.  I just need to man up and deal with the weeds in order to plant one next year.  We'll see if I actually do it.  

Making the salsa.  It is better than it looks.

Sal had to get in on the action.

The finished product.  Oh so good.

"Sitting Pretty" aka begging-Just hoping she could snag a bite.

Birthday

For my birthday I got my present a few days early from Randal.  He surprised me with this camera.

 A Canon Rebel T3i.  It's pretty frustrating to learn, but rewarding when I figure something out.  After just a week I can already tell a difference in the quality of my pictures.  Not that I am good by any means, but it is fun.  

I was not expecting a camera at all.  I had been telling Randal that someday when we have kids I want a nice camera but I didn't think we would get a nice one for awhile.  Oh that Randal, he did good.

My very first picture.  So terrible.  Now I know better than to use flash.

On my actual birthday, I woke up with a huge swollen eye, and I was peeing blood (tmi).  So I spent the morning at the doctors office with a UTI while Randal went to his morning class.  Not a real great start.  Also, I had to work all afternoon/night, but we were able to get a little celebration time in and we got breakfast at Awful Waffle.  Who knew they moved!?  I certainly didn't.  I got to their old store front and I was ticked.  Luckily their new location is pretty awesome.  If I was single (and rich) those are the apartments I would want to live in!

Awful Waffle

Oh this guy...

My coworkers let me off work an hour early so Randal picked me up and we headed to our friends house to watch the BYU game for the remainder of my big day.  Swollen eye, doctor visits and work aside, it was a great birthday.  

That time I lost my shorts at Seven Peaks.

We decided to get the "Pass of All Passes" and have loved going to Seven Peaks, especially since it is so close to our house.  Earlier in the summer some of the  highest rides weren't open yet so we knew when we saw them open we had to go give them a try.  We decided on the orange tall slide.  If you have been, you know what I mean.  It drops you straight down. I tried looking for a pic on their website, but no luck.  Anyway, you have the option of either head first on a mat or feet first on your back with no mat.  It was my turn and I marched up to the slide determined to go head first like Randal had done before me and then got way too scared, wimped out and threw my mat aside and went on my back.  I knew the risk of a wedgie was high.  I was not expecting the opposite.  Somehow going down my shorts fell off of my rump and my top flipped up revealing my whole backside and my entire stomach.  Luckily the built in bra part kept my suit from exposing my entire chest, but all of Seven Peaks, or at least those watching me go down the orange slide were lucky enough to see me moon them.  I frantically adjusted my swim bottoms and was met with Randal doubled over in laughter.  It's a good thing I don't get embarrassed to easily...

Celeb Look-A-Like

At work the other day, my friend told me that I look like Robin off of "How I Met Your Mother".  Other than being a tall brunette, I don't see it.

I have also been told I look like Kate Middleton (I wish!), Audrey Hepburn, Zooey Deschanel (Randal thinks so but I certainly do not see it), and Chelsea Hobbs from this show.

So, while avoiding cleaning up my desk turned sewing table, I decided to take it to the professionals.  I used the face recognition and this is what I came up as.

I suppose I should probably just be happy that people think I look like pretty brunettes instead of middle aged Asian men.

2 Year Anniversary

Randal and I celebrated 2 years of marriage yesterday.  I woke up early and made breakfast in bed complete with coconut pancakes with coconut syrup (one of our favorite treats from our honeymoon in Oahu), bacon, and granola with strawberries.  Randal is still in school and I had work so we couldn't spend the whole day together but later that night we headed up to Park City to go eat at The Farm.  I don't think I have ever spent so much on dinner.  We ordered our meals, Randal had the lamb and I had the barley risotto, and we had the squash soup appetizer to share.  After about an hour we got our meals and Randal asked our waitress if maybe they had run out of the soup or something since we never got it.  She was so apologetic and quickly got our soup, took it off the bill, and gave us our choice of dessert on the house.  I was seriously impressed with her.  I don't think we have ever had better service.  So we ate our meal and our soup, and she brought out some hot tea for us and blankets since we were eating outdoors.  We chose the lemon pie for dessert and it did not disappoint.  Our reservation was at 7:45 and we didn't end up leaving until 10:30.  During dinner we talked about our lives right now and started a new tradition of making predictions on what our lives will be like on our 3rd anniversary.  It was fun to be able to relax and talk about us and our futures instead of the humdrum of everyday life that we get caught up in.  We have been together almost 3 years, and married for 2 of them now.  I can't even believe it.  As cheesy as it sounds, we are perfect for each other.  Randal complements me so well.  I love our little life together (complete with Sal gal of course) and I am excited (and freaking out) about what our future brings.

Snuggled in his complimentary blanket.

This was the only container our waitress could find for a soda.  She cut a hole in the top of a plastic container so she could fit a straw in it.  We laughed so hard.

Foggy picture, but writing our predictions for our 3rd year of marriage.

Oh, and in honor of tradition wedding presents, the 2nd anniversary is Cotton.  So our only gifts to each other besides cards were robes.  A blue and a pink one.  hahahaha!  I feel so luxurious in it, and yet a lot like a frumpy housewife.

Bathroom Babies

One of the best (and worst) qualities about Sally is that she alerts us whenever someone is coming to our house.

Imagine me, lounging in bed, watching Dawson's Creek, wearing sweats and a T-shirt, house a mess, completely not expecting house guests when I hear a car pull up and Sal starts going nuts.  I peeked out the window to see a little hispanic family, a mom, dad, and four kids pile out of their car with a video camera and start walking towards the back of the house.  As quick as I can, I start cleaning up the living room and I hear them knock on our front door.  They were very friendly and explained that their second to youngest son was born in this house, right in the bathroom, and that his birthday is coming up and they wanted to show him.  Hoping they meant the basement bathroom, I asked and they kindly responded that it was in fact not the basement, but my upstairs bathroom and they were hoping to come in and see it.  Mortified, I let them in.  The VERY last thing I was expecting to do was let a Latin family in my bathroom to see where their son was birthed.  I wasn't even wearing a bra for the day! But they came in and I apologized for the mess (cleaning up today is on my to do list...I just haven't felt like getting up for the day yet...) and 5 minutes and 10 pictures later they were gone.

Now that they are gone I honestly don't think I will be able to look at my bathroom the same way again.  There is also incentive for me to always keep my house clean, even the bathroom and our office/junkroom where they insisted on showing their kids their old bedroom.  It was very bizarre but they looked so happy and were so friendly that it probably wasn't as weird as it could have been.

So that's about it.  A baby was born in my bathroom.  How has your Friday been?

The very bathroom!

Summer so far - get ready to read

Since graduating, I have been sort of floundering in life.  Going to school for (5!) years and having a job you could have done in high school is not all that fulfilling.  I am very grateful for my job, and I really do enjoy it, I just wish it was related to something I worked on for years in school.  When you graduate people ALWAYS ask you, so what are you doing now?  Well, basically the exact same thing I was doing 6 months ago when I was still a student, thanks for bringing it up.  I wish I had a career where I was using my education, but I don't, and for now, that's okay.  But it does make me feel like a failure every time someone asks what my plans are now.  Oh well, I'm guilty of asking the same thing.

Randal just finished an internship up at Northstar Alarms and got another internship at Zagg in South Salt Lake.  If I wasn't married to the guy I'd probably be jealous of how well his work life is going.  At least I get to cash in on his success!  He started Zagg last week and already loves it.  He told me there are free snacks anytime, basketball, and one of his good friends from the mission works there too.  The only downside is that we still live in Provo and he has to commute up there.  A few nights of the week he stays with his brother so he doesn't have to make the drive daily (Anybody reading this better not get any ideas about sneaking over here because they think I'm alone.  I have a guard dog and I sleep with a gun and I'm not afraid to use it).  The other days he has class and goes from work at 7am straight to class at 4pm until 6:30pm.  I feel so bad for him.  He hasn't worked this crazy of a schedule in a long time.  Gone are the endless days of golf.  Also, I have a mom and a sister who are married to pilots that are gone for days at a time, so I realize I don't have much room to complain about not seeing Randal.  Still isn't fun though.

I'm working at Wilson Diamonds.  It really is a great job.  Everyone I work with is awesome and I like being there.  Up until now I have always worked both Fridays and Saturdays but yesterday I was able to get my schedule worked out so I am only working M-F!  This will be great because I already am not seeing Randal a whole lot so now we will have the weekends together.  Oh the possibilities!

A few weekends ago we went up to Randal's family reunion in Swan Valley.  It really was incredible.  It was maybe even a little bit prettier than the Valley, and that is saying a lot.  The lodge was nestled in a canyon next to a creek.  The best part was the GIANT slide.  It was seriously huge.  Being with all that family was fun, but we were grateful to be back in our own beds with our Sal (pets were not invited).

This is the lodge.  You can't really tell but next to those stairs are a slide that starts at the top and goes beyond the picture.  You have to ride carpet down.  It was intense.

I stole this from Heather B.  Forgive me?  

A few Saturdays ago Randal got up bright and early and went dirt biking (think motorcyles, not pedal bikes) with a friend.  I was leaving for work at 11am when I heard them pull up.  They usually are gone all day so I was happy I got to see him before I left.  Turns out, they were back because Randal crashed after 30 minutes of the ride.  The night before he had been cleaning his bike and making sure it ran well and he thinks it gave it a bit more pep than he was expecting.  He knew he was going to crash and he thought he could run out from underneath it but his boot got stuck and it fell on him.  His friend was a few minutes behind him and he said he passed out from the pain.  After his friend found him, they had to ride back to our truck and he didn't think he had broken anything.  Well when they told me this I panicked and wasn't going to go to work but Randal said he was fine and insisted I go.  Of course during this my phone decided to fall apart and not work anymore so as I was calling my sister Shelby for help it dies so I had to spend my whole shift wondering exactly what was happening.  Randal ended up going to the doctor at BYU and he broke his collar bone.  After wearing the sling for maybe a day, he decided he didn't need it anymore.  It has been a week and a half and he keeps telling me that he is like wolverine and heals almost instantly.  Basically, he feels almost 100% now.

My fragile little husband.

Oh and we also bought a little A/C unit for our bedroom.  It is just too damn hot in here (excuse my language, the heat is too much to handle!)  For some reason our swamp cooler won't cool down our bedroom.  It works alright for the rest of the house but our room was way too hot.  I was afraid for little sal being home in the heat and we could barely sleep.  It has saved us.

Previously 90 degrees in our house, now down to about 62 at night.  It is heaven.   

This weekend we are going up to visit my brother Zack who is leaving to medical school next week.  I'm so excited for him.  His life is pretty great now and we love having him back.  It will be sad to see him gone for so long, but hopefully he will make friends and even find a girl.  He has dated a few girls, but none that have really stuck.  He deserves the best after what he has been through.

Follower

Apparently I have a new, not-so-secret admirer.  

Pinterest

Gmail

I'm flattered...?

DI Finds

This morning I snuggled with Salamander (Sally) in bed, cleaned up the house, and went off to the DI.  I was only hoping to find some T-shirts so I could make some of this.  Which I did.  Some perfect bright orange shirts.  I have big plans, people! 

Anyway, I wandered through the store and while casually perusing the dish section I found a gold mine.  I usually find regular plates and dishes, but this time, I found a few perfect little pieces for my kitchen collection.  

First I spotted this Corelle Crazy Daisy/Spring Blossom Pattern.  There were four in the dinner plate size, and only one has the tiniest of chips on the underneath.  The best part is that I already own the saucer plate in this pattern, so I am just building up my set.  I also have the Pyrex mixing bowl that matches it as well.  I got the saucer at Goodwill in Plano, TX.  

Since I found those plates I was franticly searching for more.  Next I found the two of the Corelle dessert plates in the Butterfly Gold Pattern.  They are just as lovely.

I even found some more saucers.  Two Corelle saucers in the Old Town Blue Pattern.  They are pretty great too.  

As I was searching, I saw this little green hammered glass goblet.  It's perfect.  I knew I needed it because I already owned one glass that I found on my same trip to the Goodwill in Texas.  Now I have a pair!

Apparently, I have a thing for this green color.  This bowl made its way into my cart.  Looking around my living room, A LOT of things (our sofa and matching chair, a giant mirror, various other decorations) are that same avocado color.  I think it stems from green being my mom's favorite color.  I never realized it would be such a prominent color in my house.  

My favorite thing I got was this little casserole dish.  Originally I thought it was Corningware, but it is stamped "Glasbake".  It is still just as lovely though.  I love the design (Green Daisy Milk Glass 1qt dish with lid).  So at $1.50 I snatched it up.  It wasn't until I came home and researched it that I knew exactly what it was.  Apparently Glasbake, or Glasbak, was McKee Glass Company's idea in order to compete with Corning's Pyrex ovenware.  So it is the same idea as Pyrex.  Either way, it is the perfect size.  

If you aren't into these little retro kitchen finds like I am, then this won't seem very exciting.  I was so excited to bring them home.  I got all of it for 10.50!  Some of these plates sell for that much.  It was a big day for my modest collection.