Minnesooooota

A few observations I've made in the last few weeks...
There is no sales tax on clothing! Yahoo!
There are more potholes in the road than actual flat road.
When speaking you should drag out your "o"s. Always.
Every street is named after a lake (Bass Lake, Schmidt Lake, Weaver lake, etc.)
I'm pretty excited about no sales tax on clothing.
A 15% discount at Target is a significant chunk of change.
I haven't seen any mountain men with rifles and fur hats like I had imagined.
Snow does eventually melt over time...
We have our own 2 missionaries for our ward, not the surrounding 4 stakes.
I can hear my neighbors beside and below me, apartment living is much different.
Ellen DeGeneres is my new best friend.
I miss spending almost every minute of every day with my hubby.
So far so good. I give Minnesota a stamp of my approval. For now.

Yummers

Marshmallow Cinnamon Popcorn



I was supposed to take a treat to a little get together the other night at a friends. I was planning on making my white chocolate popcorn, but minutes before we were supposed to leave I totally forgot we didn't have white chocolate. Ah! So I made do with what we had, and came up with this easy yummy treat! (I don't usually measure when I cook/bake, so my measurements are guess-taments)

One bag of popped popcorn

2 Tbsp butter

A 1/2 of a bag of marshmallows (about 8 oz.)

A splash of vanilla (about 1 tsp.)

A dash of cinnamon (about 1/4 tsp.)

Pop the pocorn. Melt the butter in a pan on the stove, add the marshmallows, vanilla and cinnamon. When the marshmallows are all melted add it to the popcorn, mix it really well. And yum! Enjoy!

Big Eyes

Since Olivia has been born I have heard 2 words more than any others. It's been said several different ways, but when people see Olivia, and I mean strangers at the grocery store, nurses, neighbors, friends and family, almost everyone that sees her face can't help but say these two words some how...

"Big Eyes!" 



My baby girl does have the biggest, prettiest eyes I've ever seen. It's as if she's trying to take it all in and she just can't quite do it fast enough. She loves to look around, stare at people, stare at Sargie, and open those eyes as wide as possible.  I love my baby big eyes. 

The BE

We made a great investment for little Livy. People call them exer-saucers, or bouncers, but this is kind of both of those. So I call our "Baby Einstein" play thingy the "BE". She loves being overwhelmed with the little toys, lights, and noises. She's just figuring out she can bounce and use her feet, and she's loving it. Mom is loving it probably that much more!

Fabric Flower DIY

As requested, I decided to do a "How To" on making a fabric flower. There are several different strategies, tips and tricks, but here's what I've found works for me. Here's everything you'll need:
4 or 5 square pieces of fabric, make them all different sizes.
3 or 4 small triangle pieces of fabric.
Scissors
Thread and a needle

Cut a long piece of thread, and tie the end of it in a knot.

Round the edges randomly, don't make the petals too perfectly even.

Take the biggest petal and go up through the petal so your knot is on the back side. Go in a square and do 4 or 5 stitches.

Then pull on the thread to scrunch up the petal to give it some dimension. 

Go down and up through the petal to help keep the scrunching in place.

Now add the petal that is a little smaller than the petal you just completed. Put the petal all the way down to the other petal so they are touching.

Do as you did above on the other petal by doing 4 or 5 stitches in square.

Pull the thread to scrunch up the petal. Then go up and down through both petals to help keep them in place.

Repeat these steps for the other 2 or 3 petals that you have.

Take one of the smaller rounded triangles and roll it up for the middle of your flower.

Sew this petal right in the middle of your other petals.

With the other two small rounded triangles sew the bottom as pictured below and pull down on to your flower. These petals should surround your rolled up middle petal.

Glue it to a hair clip or headband and enjoy!!

St. Patty's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate this funny green holiday, we went all out. I couldn't resist I had to make Livy a little shamrock onesie.

I have always wanted to do a green dinner on St. Patty's, but it's not as fun if you go all out for just your hubby. So since the Wrights were coming over to watch the BYU game anyway, I decided to go for it. I labored over these delicious Lion House green rolls... (they looked more green in person). I also made the cute little shamrock table runner...

Then we had a yummy fruit salad with honeydew, kiwis, green grapes, marshmallows, green apples, and pears.

Then a little green pasta primavera... (also looked more green in person).

And for dessert, Oreo Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Fudge Pie. Yum!!

I love a good excuse to make lots of yummy food. It was glorious. It was every more enjoyable since the Cougars won! Let's go BYU!

Nap Time

Thank heavens for Livy's nap time. It gives me a chance to clean, craft and watch Ellen or Rachael, depending on which nap time. I love the girl, but I love my little projects. I made some headbands today, my hair needed some accessorizing.

I can't wait for St. Patty's Day tomorrow, I've got some fun things up my sleeve!

Yellow Cake Cornbread Muffins

I think I've been out of the loop on this one. Whenever I had cornbread I always wanted to put lots of butter and honey on it to make it sweet. But I have found a delicious solution! Liz Hawkins introduced me to the idea, and I'm never going back.

Mix your yellow cake batter and cornbread batter, then combine the two batters. Let it sit for about 3-4 minutes. Then fill up your muffin tin about 1/2 way. Bake for about 11-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

It's so yummy! I love it because it's not as crumbly, more moist, and already the perfect amount of sweetness. Try it, seriously my new favorite thing.

Meet the Wrights

We owe a huge thank you to Alex and Annie Grow for introducing us the Brandon and Rachel Wright. Brandon also works for Target, they're both big BYU fans, and they have the cutest little boy named Corbin. They invited us out yesterday for some bowling (girls beat the boys!), then we grabbed a bite to eat at a delicious little place called 'Yum!'. It seriously was so yummy! I can't wait to go back. Then, we watched the BYU vs. SDSU game, not the best game I've seen, but we had some fabulous cookies to wallow in our sorrows. Despite the loss, we had a blast.

5 Months

Sweet little Olivia turned 5 months old yesterday. What a crazy 5 months it has been. Livy has grown up so much these last few weeks. I feel as if she has gone from being my little newborn, to my bouncy baby girl! She is so strong. She loves to stand and use her legs. If she's not standing then she's either kicking her feet or trying to grab them. She has also become a lot more aware of Sarge. She'll just sit and watch him run around the room. She'll stare at him, smile at him and try to grab his collar.

Sarge on the other hand isn't very interested. He will be someday soon when she can play fetch with him :) Olivia is an amazing little traveler. We drove her across the country and she hardly made a peep. As long as she has a full tummy and her binky she is as happy as can be. She's a great sleeper, which makes mom and dad great sleepers now too! She has been sick this last week, probably because all of the traveling and "germ-free" hotel rooms. But it's been a blessing in disguise because she has been sleeping a whole bunch, so we've been able to get our apartment all unpacked and put together. I've absolutely hated seeing her sick. My poor little baby. But besides her being sick, she is so happy. She's developed the cutest little giggle these past few weeks. She is getting more and more interactive. We love her more and more each day and we are so lucky to have this pretty girl as part of our family. We love you Livy!

The Grand Tour

We were very anxious to get all moved in and settled so that we could feel right at home! We worked hard all day yesterday and today, and we're getting so close. We're excited for a few more additions, but here's how it is so far:

Walking in through our door this is what you see...

To the right we have an awesome little office nook and coat closet...

Then up on your right is our little dining nook...

Turn to your left and it's the kitchen and Olivia's suite...

The kitchen (and laundry room off to the right)...

Close up of our make-shift sectional and living room...

The guest/Livy's bathroom...

Our bedroom and awesome new bed! There are a few more additions to come (nightstands, lamps, bed skirt...), but here it is for now...

Our bathroom/closet...

We love our new apartment. We're not used to living in an apartment, so there have been quite a few changes we're trying to get used to, but I'm sure we'll survive! Hope you enjoyed our tour :)

We made it!

We are here. We're really here. It was such a long time coming, it's crazy to actually be here. Twenty hours on the road - and the baby, the hubby, and the doggy all did great. We stopped overnight in Cheyenne and Des Moines and got here Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately our furniture couldn't come until Monday (tonight - alleluia!), so we've forgotten what it's like to sit down on a couch, on a bed or in a chair. Pull up some carpet! We also didn't think about bringing a shower curtain, towels, or even a blanket for our air mattress...so our first big trip to Costco and Target was a must. At least our electricity, water and heat were turned on!

On Sunday we were lucky enough to have been invited over to dinner from two different people, it being the night after we moved in we feel pretty lucky. Joel and Liz Hawkins we met at Christmas at our cousins ward, and they were so kind to have us over for dinner and make us feel so welcomed to the frozen over state of Minnesota (affectionately called "The Sota"). They are the nicest couple, and they have the cutest like 16 month old girl named Halle. Liz sent us home with a bunch of food, which was heaven sent since we only have cereal, milk, and grapes. Then we went to have some cake and ice cream at Brandon and Rachel Wrights apartment, some friends of a friend. They are an adorable couple with a little 13 month old little boy Corbin. Brandon also works for Target and has loved it. Olivia is so excited to have some friends!!

We can't wait to have our furniture, get settled in and explore the city this week. Ryan starts next Monday, and he can't wait to begin this new job and career opportunity! It amazes me how we have gotten to this point in our lives. We have been sooo blessed, and we can't wait to see what this phase of life will bring us.

Love him

We boxed up our house and moved it all temporarily to the Jacksons. 3 days later the moving truck dropped off the trailor, and I felt like we moved all over again packing up that truck. Since we moved on a weekday during the day it was difficult to find anyone who wasn't working come to help. So between the two of us, we made it work! We did it all in the snow, this was Ry's cute little get-up.

He was Hercules throwing around all of our heavy furniture like it was nothing. The truck came and drove away with our life, the moving company is driving it out there, and then we get to unload it all! I'm so happy the "moving out" is finished, now the "moving in" process begins.