Where Am I Going?!

Can anyone guess where I'll be in less than 4 hours?

Have no clue?

Do these colors help you any?

I'll give you a hint:  It's a play!!

Yep, you guessed right. It's WICKED!!!

One of my awesome friends had an extra ticket and she told me I could trade it for some of my necklaces.  Hello? Am I stupid? Of course I accepted.

Thanks a ton Wendy!!

{Another super duper plus to tonight:  PF Chang's for dinner :)  Yippy Skippy!!}

Oh, I Love This! {Scarves}

I guess I should explain my title for this blog.  This is a saying that my husband and his brothers (all 4 of them) say.  They got it from their funny father who one day in church went up to the pulpit and said, "Oh, I love this!" {For those LDS stalkers readers out there, it was for fast and testimony meeting. You also have to imagine him saying it in a funny French-Canadian accent ;)}  So of course all the boys in his family have a hay-day repeating this saying when they really like something.  Being the wonderful daughter-in-law that I am, I have also stolen this awesome phrase for things that I love, ie: my scarves!

My husband and I were asked by our very good friends in LV to go with them on a vacation to D.C.  What?!  D.C?!  Um, yes.  The only problem?  It's in February {only 3 1/2 weeks away!} so it is going to be C-O-L-D!  Does a girl who has lived in LV for the last 12 years have freezing cold weather clothes?  Yeah, that would be a big fat NO.  So, I decided to make some more scarves out of knit. {All you cold weather people are probably thinking, "Yeah, she thinks that's going to keep her warm!"  I know it's not going to keep me warm, per say, but they're really stinking cute, kay?!} I knew there had to be a better way than adjusting the tension on your sewing machine.  {That didn't work as well as I'd have liked it to on my ancient machine.}  Of course my brain muscles were working, and I remembered that there is a thing called elastic thread.  Boy, oh boy, did it work a lot better!  They came out all cute and ruffly without having to change tensions a million times and resew down the last seam in the exact same spot.  

 Anyway, enough of my rambling....

 

 blue and grey (goes with anything)

 this actually is 2 different colors of pink-striped

(gotta love the hand-raising)

 black and white: <3 it

 had to show you  the $1 socks I am rocking today

they'll be a nice barrier between my jeans and my chicken-skin pokey leg hairs when we're in D.C. ;)

Hope you enjoyed them as much as I do!

{even if you didn't, keep it to yourself -JK!! ;)}

Goody Plate

Look at my new V-Day goody plate!!  {I just love my new Silhouette :)}  I did this in about 5 mins.  My kind of craft ;-)

The only problem now is deciding what to put on it.  YUM!!

Friday Confessional

I love linking up with Glamazon Mom and Mamarazzi on Fridays because it's like free therapy.  Oh, and they are seriously hilarious!  You should do it to.  Come one, everyone else is ;)

-I love having girl time

-Last night was no exception

-Every girl that was there I love to hate

-There are skinny girls (you know who you are ;))

-There are talented girls

-There are totally better than me in every way girls

-I love to hate them all :)

-No, seriously, I do love them

-I just am so insecure about myself

-There, I said it

-I never feel that I can measure up to anyone

-I'll never have the "guns" (arms people!)

-I'll never not have the muffin top

-I'll never be skinny-minny

-I'll never have flawless skin

-I'll never be super-duper smart

-I'll never be a "molly"

-I'll never be able to have an adorably decorated house 

{-I'm so not creative in any way

-I just stalk copy other people's creativeness

-Why not?!

-I give them the credit :)}

-I need to learn to be okay with who I am

-I need to be able to know that I am accepted for me

-I guess I should work on that

-Sometime

-In the future

-Right now I'm secure with being insecure

-How sad is that?!

-Every time I try to think about accepting who I am I have an anxiety attack

-Once again, I'll work on that

-How seriously serious was this confessional?!?!

-This was not the way I was going to go with today's confessional

-I guess it just needed to come out :(

Valentine's Day Decor

Seriously!  How cute is this?!

(sorry for the crap pictures!)

I stole this off of a blog I stalk read.  Can't remember where, but thank you for the idea!

I would've rather had red glitter hearts, but I think the pink turned out cute, too.

If any of my ABQ friends want to do this, I still have some glitter hearts left over. :)

1st Basketball Game

Cole's first basketball game was on Saturday.  He did a great job, and we are so proud of him!  We were really nervous because at practice he just stands around the court with his arms open wide saying, "I'm open, I'm open!"  He doesn't quite get how to play the game yet.  Nevertheless, we were excited to see him play his first game.  He can only get better, right?!

 Most of the time he was picking his fingernails.

 SO excited to get the ball!  Still doesn't know what to do with it ;)

 This is the, "Dad, leave me alone" look.

 I'm open! I'm open!

 Eye on the ball, but ever so cautious.

I'm still open!

Good job Cole!  We love you :)

Bestest, Easiest, Tastiest Bread EVER

One of my "besties" (you can read about her here) made this bread for me one day.  It was to die for!  So, of course with my addiction to carbs, I had to have the recipe.  Since some of my "friendies" have asked her for the recipe I thought I'd post it on my blog so everyone can have their life forever changed :)

First bring 2 c. water to a boil in the microwave (about 3 mins.)

Then stir in 1 c. rolled oats (not instant) and 3 T. butter

Let cool.  Place in the fridge or freezer until warm, not super hot.

Add 1 1/2 c. flour, 1/4 c. sugar, 2 t. salt, 2 T. yeast, and 1 egg. 

Beat on medium for 2-3 mins.

Then it will look like this :)

Next add 2 c. flour and stir until incorporated.

Until it looks somewhat like this.

Scrape out of mixing bowl onto floured counter and knead in another 3/4 c. flour until you have a nice, thick dough.  Let rise on counter for 15 mins.

Grease a 9x13 pan and place dough in it and spread it out.  Spread almost melted butter (recipe doesn't say how much, but I used a little under a 1/4 c.) over the top and let it rise for another hour.

This is what it looks like after it's risen.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 mins. until golden brown and a knife comes out totally clean.

 This is how good it is:

We started eating it without getting its picture taken!

(sorry about the crap picture!)

We always love to eat it with lots a little more butter and a little jam never hurt anyone ;)

Thanks to Liz for giving me the recipe.  I hope I did it justice :)

Oatmeal Pan Bread

Bring 2 c. water to boil in microwave

Stir in 1 c. rolled oats (not instant) and

3 T. butter

Let cool.  Place in fridge until warm, not super not.

Add 1 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. sugar

2 t. salt

2 T. yeast

1 egg

Beat on medium for 2-3 mins.

Add in 2 c. flour

Dump out of mixing bowl onto floured counter and knead in 3/4 c. flour til you have a nice, thick, soft dough.  Let rise on counter for 15 mins.  Grease 9x13 pan then place dough in it and spread out the dough.  Spread almost melted butter (recipe doesn't say how much, but I use a little under a half a stick of butter) over the dough and let rise for an hour.  Bake at 375 for 20-25 mins. until golden brown and a knife comes out totally clean.  Feel free to put a little more butter on the top when it comes out.

Friday Confessional

Once again I'm linking up with Glamazon and Mamarazzi for my Friday Confessional.

Here it goes:

*I have a deep need for dark chocolate

*I thought I had kicked that habit, but yesterday it came back

*I mean back in a big way

*I ate *gasp* 1/2 a bag of those mint M&M's

*Do you know the ones I'm talking about?

*The uberly-delicious ones?

*The only M&M's I will now eat?

(*If you don't, you're missing out!!)

*I am absolutely obsessed with food right now

*You can't tell, right?

*I had lost a few pounds

*But then I ate a few carbs

*And, tada, those few pounds came back

*I think I'm going to go get me some spankin' new Spanx this weekend

*That'll solve the problem, right?!

*Last confession (my husband would kill me if he knew I admitted this):  I have no clue how to "link" up with Glamazon and Mamarazzi with their cute little button.  Sorry guys! 

1st Silhouette Project!

I'm so excited that I finally got my Silhouette :)  Everyone has been asking what I'm going to make and, honestly, I can't decide!!  The machine has literally been sitting on my kitchen table waiting to be used.  There are so many things I could and want to make that I don't know where to start, so I've been taking my time brainstorming.  After getting all of my "chores" done today I sat down at the table and made this:

(excuse the horrible picture)

I made a heart!  Lame, I know, but it turned out cute (I think).  It's even cuter in person ;)

Any ideas on some super cute stuff I should make?  I'll add them to my list!~

Friday Confessional

* I've read Glamazon's confessions for a while now and just never had the gumption to do one myself
*Yes, I'm one of those blog-stalkers who doesn't comment
*Yes, you can hate me now
*I'm going to try to do a lot better with commenting
*It's just so much easier to read everyone's blogs in my reader where you don't have a place to comment unless you click on the title, which takes you to the blog, then you have to find the comment area, blah, blah, blah, blah
*Does anyone else find that totally frustrating, or is there a way to do it and I'm just completely computer illiterate?
*There's probably a way to do it and I'm just a blog-loser
*Anyway... I'm totally lazy
*I've been up for hours and have done nothing
*Except for "working" on my computer
*At least that's the excuse I give my kiddos
*I really need to take a shower, but I don't want to
*I think showering is totally overrated
*Because then I have to do my hair (which I have a ton of)
*And do my make-up (because I am fugly without it)
*Or maybe I'm just really, really lazy
*Yep, today I am
*If I have to play one more game of "army men" I'm going to shoot myself
*Not really, you don't have to call a suicide watch on me
*It just takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to set up the 300 little guys so meticulously so they don't fall over just to have your 4 year old and 2 year old knock them over in milliseconds
*Can I say this again?
*Yes, I'm totally lazy...
*Today
*Ok, sometimes twice a week
*Ok, sometimes a lot more than that
*Final confession: 
*This was a ton of fun! :)

Snow...in ABQ!!

One day the boys and I were going through our normal routine, when all of a sudden I looked out the window and saw this:

I know you probably can't tell because of my wonderful photography skills, but it was snowing!!  Not only were we excited to see snow, but these flakes were the biggest I have ever seen.  They were just wistfully floating down from the sky.  I have never seen it snow like this before.  It was breathtaking!

The kids were ecstatic and, of course, had to go right out an play in it.  It snowed pretty hard and fast, so there was a lot to play in.  This is where you can tell we're desert folks, because I didn't have any warm-weather gear to dress them up in.  We did our best, but when they came in I was sure I had given Ty frostbite!!  They had fun and that's all that mattered.  Usually, we're told, snow in ABQ doesn't stick around for very long, but this snow lasted for a couple of days.  I cannot tell you how many times I was asked to go outside and have snowball fights!!  Overall, it was great fun, and a good experience 

for my boys.  I would gladly welcome snow any day :)  (Don't hate me for saying that!)

 Watching if fall (he never wears pants!).

 See, told you they were huge flakes!

 View from our front window.

 View from front door.

 Having fun :)

 Dad is such a good sport to have a snow ball fight. 

(I think he likes it just as much as the boys, though!)

One of the many times we played outside in the snow ;)

Easiest Pumpkin Muffins EVER

For those of you who are not sick of pumpkin, and who do not think it's a sin to eat it after Fall, here is the easiest pumpkin chocolate chip muffin recipe ever:

2 boxes of spice flavored cake mix

1 30 oz. can of pumpkin

12 oz. of chocolate chips

(I prefer mini chips because there's more of them in each muffin!  Sneaky, I know :).)

Bake at 350 for 22-25 mins.

Don't mind the one on top with a bite taken out of it :)

(I know, I really need to take a photography class!  You get the idea, right?!)

Thank you to one of the fabulous blogs I stalk.  You made my night ;)

New Year's Eve

Growing up we had the tradition of having appetizers for dinner on New Year's Eve.  Being the fabulous mom that I am (can you sense the sarcasm?), I have carried on this tradition in my family, so that I can enjoy all the yummy food they can enjoy it like I did and pass it on to their families.  I didn't plan too well for NYE, but I wanted to have some kind of theme, so I gathered all of the white bowls/plates I could fine (which wasn't much) and served the food up in that.  Honestly, it was quite sad, but the kids didn't care or notice.  Next year I will definitely plan ahead!

Told you! Sad!!  It was a seriously sad spread, but the more food we had the more I would've been the one to end up eating it all.  We still have a TON of dip left over.  Anyone want some?

Here's to a better year!

(Honestly, it better be better than last year.  How could it get any worse?  Actually, it could get worse, so I shouldn't even say that.  Knock on wood!)

Christmas Day

This was the first Christmas in probably 10 years that we haven't been with family for Christmas.  I hadn't really given this too much thought until Christmas day.  It was really sad!  I didn't think we would notice or really even mind that our little family was on our own, but we did.  I told Alain that next year we have to be with family.  Isn't that what the holidays are about?  (We've sent out the invite for 2011, that's how sad serious we are about this.)  I think it would make for a much more enjoyable Christmas.

 Ty is obsessed with Mickey, and he needed new sippy cups, so ta-da!

 Isn't he too stinkin' cute?!

 SO excited!

 HaPpY DaY

 More ships to fly around the house-yippee! (Did you sense the sarcasm in that?)

 Again, he loves his "mouse" as he calls it.  He loved on him all day, and Mickey hasn't left his side since.

 More ships to fly around the house!  (YAY!!)

 See what I mean?  Those are all ships :)

Here's the loot.  They were all happy, so that's all that matters :)

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve this year was very low-key.  We I ended up baking all day, so by night time I was done.  Luckily we had my besties, Pei Wei, cook us up some yummy dinner.  Afterwards we opened up our traditional Christmas Eve present (pajamas) and sent the kiddos to bed.  Alain and I had wrapped most of the presents a couple of weeks early, so we just had some final things to do.  We wanted to go look at the Christmas lights around our neighborhood because we have a doosy of a house by us (the picture is at the end of this post), but Ty didn't have a nap, so you all know what that means:  early bed time!  Overall it was a very busy day, but a nice, relaxing, night.

 Boy, Ty sure got the hang of opening presents really fast!

(He got Mickey Mouse pj's-his favorite)

 For some reason I don't have a picture of Cole opening his pj's.  Probably because he ripped through the wrapping like a Tasmanian devil.

(He got Star Wars pj's- his favorite.)

Oh, there's Cole opening his present!  

I just love that Logan is happy with everything he gets :)

(He got some from Old Navy.  I couldn't find his favorite-Star Trek- at a reasonable price.)

Here it is in all it's glory:

I think it's better than the National Lampoon's House!!!  Isn't it awesome?!