Miss my Sis

I think this is the first time since we moved away that I have REALLY missed home. All of a sudden my life went from easy breezy to a lot of different little trials happening...and I wish I could pop over to my sister's and lay on her couch and tell her all about life's little dramas, or how my heart is breaking for so many of my friends over huge things people should not have to deal with at all. :(
So, our annual 'girl's weekend' could not be coming at a better time. I am so excited to be going away with my sister, my sister in law, and her sister. We have a blast every time we go, and I know this year will not disappoint!!!
I hate that I can't see them whenever I want, but I know that I am one of many who lives away from family, and those other people seem to be surviving, so I guess I can, too, hahaha.

Another thing that came at JUST the right moment was the General Relief Socitey broadcast. Oh, my. The words that were spoken were so uplifting and inspiring and edifying. I look up to our General Relief Society presidency so much, and admire those women and their testimonies. I also loved Elder Ukdorf's talk, he is such a darling man! And I felt like he was speaking right at me, it was great.
Immediately after it was over, the lonelyness for my sisters was eased, as I looked around and saw all of my other 'sisters' sitting around me, recieving the same message I was. It was good to feel that even though I am so far from home, that I will always have my ward family, and that is very comforting!!

gNOcchi good.

Tonight I wanted to branch out and make a delicious, gourmet meal for our family. We recently had some delicious gnocchi with cheese sauce at a nice restaurant, so I tried to recreate it for dinner tonight. The picture above is exactly what I made. It was a mixture of butter, heavy cream, shallots, fontina and parmesan cheeses, and basil. And it was....well...

It was not good. At all.

Mike and I tried to gag down each little gnocchi dumpling with a smile on our faces, but by the end I had had enough. I was so disappointed!!!!

Does anyone have a delicious cheese sauce recipe? I would really like to try this again.

Do you think....

that the book I just finished MIGHT have influenced my pedicure color choice?

I just finished this series and I was very pleasantly surprised. I read Twilight about 2 years ago and I just wasn't that into it...but it has become such a sensation that I decided to give the other books a try. I am SO glad I did, I really enjoyed them!

I am really bummed that Stephanie Meyer decided to stop writing her new book, Midnight Sun. Boo, hoo. To read more about that, click HERE.

Also, Stephanie Meyer is going to be on Ellen today, JUST in case you want to watch. :)

One last SUPER cool announcement. This is totally unrelated to my vampire post above, but it is awesome!!!
My friend, Candra, just launched a new business where she creates amazingly cute crafts AND assembles kits for groups to make the crafts as well. (cough, cough, Super Saturday). Here is the link:
CREATIONS MADE BY MOI

No, No, No, No....NO.

Last night we discovered that our dresser was flooded...so our clothes were all soaked. Big deal, right? RIGHT, because also in that dresser were the journals that I write in to my girls. I have been writing in one for each of them since they were born...and they were beyond repair. Rachel's was definitely the soggiest of the two, but I can still read it, so I am now rewriting it. My right hand is aching as I type. I copied the words from the wet journal to the new one last night for 3 hours...and when I stopped for the night I was only at her 3 month mark!! Yikes.

When I finished what I could last night, I was too nervous to go to bed with it so wet, because I was scared that the pages would stick together (it was really, really, wet.) so I stuck toothpicks in between the pages to they would dry individually and I could read what was on them.



I guess it could have been worse. I mean, I KNOW it could have been worse. But seriously, when I first pulled the dripping journals out of the drawer, I couldn't breathe. I can't imagine losing them completely, they are so precious to me....

Back to Reality...

Mike and I just returned from the best trip ever!! We went on a retreat with his company to Orlando. It was 'couples only' and so we had to leave the kids at home (and go to Disneyworld without them...sniff) but hey, I guess you gotta do what you gotta do, right? ;)

Cook really took care of us on this trip. I had a pedicure, Mike and I got massages, we went to the Magic Kingdom for the day, and the Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios for dinner and fun two of the other nights.


Warning. A lot of really bad pictures ahead. A: I took most of them myself- self portrait style. B: We were in the humidity of Florida...not pretty for my hair or make-up. C: My point and shoot SUCKS!!!


Magic Kingdom....ahhh the excitement!

It is 'Halloween' celebrations there. My FAVORITE time of year!! I was so unbelievably excited to walk in and see all the pumpkins. (Me and Jenna)
Another Halloween example. Our cup from lunch.

All of us (Mike, Me, Curt, Jenna) with Goofy.



Mike, Curt, and Jenna after Space Mountain...which we rode about a thousand times since there was NO LINE!

Random Picture, but a funny memory none-the-less. This was taken on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and the lady running the ride nearly had a heart attack when she saw me taking this picture. She practically fell over the edge yelling 'NO FLASH!!!!!' in an ugly man-voice. Boy, did she feel like an idiot when my camera snapped and there was-you guessed it- no flash....On Peter Pan. A stunning example of the Florida humidity on our faces. Yikes.

Mike on Small World. Quite possibly the most disappointing-now-that-we-are-adults ride.

Moving on from the Magic Kingdom.... We went to the Disney Marketplace for dinner and dessert.

Here is the picture I took of my half eaten Ghiradelli brownie. It was UNBELIEVABLE, and warranted some kind of documentation.

More Mickey pumpkins in the Marketplace. Mike accentuating his dessert-belly bulge. The next night they closed down the Animal Kingdom for our group for dinner. It was an amazingly delicious dinner that we will not forget anytime soon...then they did a private showing of The Lion King for us. It was SO COOL!

The next night they shut down part of Hollywood Studios. When we got off the bus, there was a red carpet rolled out for us, and people taking pictures and screaming for autographs. Pretty embarrassing, but also cool that they could put that together!! I tried to get a picture from afar, but I won't bore you with my camera frustrations. Here's the best I could get.

We had dinner in 'Downtown Hollywood' and then a huge party outside of Aerosmith's Rockin Roller coaster...

The best part? We had TOTAL access to the Aerosmith Rollercoaster, the Star Wars ride, and the Tower of Terror. We went on them so many times that I think I will be sick for months to come. (waiting in line for Star Wars)

Well, thanks for listening to me blog it all, now I will remember when I scrapbook it a hundred years from now (yes I am that far behind). It was a GREAT trip and I don't want to forget a minute!

Back from Vegas...

I just returned from my trip to Vegas. I met a bunch of girls for our third annual mommy meet-up. We all met online when we were pregnant with our first children (due in March) and we have kept in touch (daily) and met up with eachother a few times. This year we decided to go to Vegas 'just with the girls', and it was so fun! It got a little too wild for me at times, but all in all, I loved relaxing by the pool, having girl chat, and living it up!

The first day we were there, we got a cabana by the pool to relax in. It was awesome!

(angie, stacey, shelly, me)

My friend, Brooke, who I had not seen in a million years, met me at the hotel, since she now lives in Vegas. I am so glad she came and we were able to catch up! Later that night, we got all dressed up for dinner at Fix (at the Bellagio) and dancing at The Bank (also at the Bellagio).

(shelly, me, angie, kristen, stacey, and marie (shelly's friend.))
Shelly and I before we left for dinner.

Stacey and I in the cab on the way to the Bellagio.

Dinner at The Fix. (Candi, me, shelly, maria, kristen, stacey)Candi and I at The Fix. (another lovely self portrait)

and...another one at The Bank.

We got a private table at The Bank due to some awesome hookups Shelly had. This tiny table cost a bundle....
Stacey and I in front of the Wynn waterfall.
Dinner at RA. (Stacey, Angie, Shelly, Lauren, Me, Kristen)
A quick snap of the strip before I left.
Thank you girls for such a fun trip!! It was so fun to see everyone again and meet some of you for the first time. We will have stories to tell for a long time.....

Back from Vegas...

I just returned from my trip to Vegas. I met a bunch of girls for our third annual mommy meet-up. We all met online when we were pregnant with our first children (due in March) and we have kept in touch (daily) and met up with eachother a few times. This year we decided to go to Vegas 'just with the girls', and it was so fun! It got a little too wild for me at times, but all in all, I loved relaxing by the pool, having girl chat, and living it up!

The first day we were there, we got a cabana by the pool to relax in. It was awesome!

(angie, stacey, shelly, me)

My friend, Brooke, who I had not seen in a million years, met me at the hotel, since she now lives in Vegas. I am so glad she came and we were able to catch up! Later that night, we got all dressed up for dinner at Fix (at the Bellagio) and dancing at The Bank (also at the Bellagio).

(shelly, me, angie, kristen, stacey, and marie (shelly's friend.))
Shelly and I before we left for dinner.

Stacey and I in the cab on the way to the Bellagio.

Dinner at The Fix. (Candi, me, shelly, maria, kristen, stacey)Candi and I at The Fix. (another lovely self portrait)

and...another one at The Bank.

We got a private table at The Bank due to some awesome hookups Shelly had. This tiny table cost a bundle....
Stacey and I in front of the Wynn waterfall.
Dinner at RA. (Stacey, Angie, Shelly, Lauren, Me, Kristen)
A quick snap of the strip before I left.
Thank you girls for such a fun trip!! It was so fun to see everyone again and meet some of you for the first time. We will have stories to tell for a long time.....

A sigh of relief...

After two extremely sad months of not knowing where my ring was, Mike found it today. I didn't know he had found it, so he put it in a velvet box, took me out to a nice restaurant, got down on one knee and asked me to marry him again!! Awwwww.

I am totally kidding, you can stop gagging.

He was outside doing yardwork and found it in the rocks!! Huh? Anyway, he brought it in from outside and I was SHOCKED!! I am so happy to see it again, let me tell you what. I thought it was gone forever. How sad would that be?