jacob & sarah jane

bebitos.

2012-01-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

All I want in life is for my babies to look exactly like this.

I mean, look at that mug.

not going to see "the vow", books, etc.

2012-01-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

I am just throwing it out there, but the movie "The Vow" that is coming out soon and getting a ton of hype... looks nauseating to me. Let's be honest. I love Rachel McAdams and usually her presence alone gets me to the theater. However, her male counterpart in the film, Channing Tatum does exact opposite for me, unless it is one of the Step Up's in which case I will (shamefully) oblige. You need more than a pretty face to be a leading man, and he does not have that. He does not act well. He even freely admitted that this week in an interview. Anyway, he does have a nice face and good for him that the world is shallow and they don't care if he stutters over every line, my real guff is really just that this movie looks gross to me. The first time I watched the preview I literally almost cried because of how sad the story looks. Real tears were on the brink of coming out of my eyes. Then I kept watching and got annoyed with the whole rest of the trailer. Since today I have been so sedentary and am pretending that I am not in college, and don't have a job (because I can do that for another 12 hours when fun but busy reality will again set in) I decided to rant about this on my blog.

Another few things that I want to point out. Reading books is the best. Today I have finished one and read half of another and it has been so incredibly pleasurable. I highly recommend Mindy Kaling's book "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? And Other Concerns" as well as "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society" -not by Mindy. While reading Mindy's book, I was literally laughing out loud on almost every page. This, much like Tina Fey's "Bossypants" which I read earlier this year, only made me one step closer to feeling like celebrities are really my friends, and I know them on a personal basis.

Examples of this:

-While I am reading I forget that I can't text Mindy and say "Hey Minz want to meet up for some sushi this Monday?

I am craving it so bad!"

-I truly missed Leslie, Ben, Ron Swanson, Tom Haverford, & Donna over Christmas break and Liz, Jack, Kenneth, Tracy, Grizz and Dot Com over the last nine months. (Not Jenna. She's horrible! Frenemy.)

-When I watch SNL I feel like I can say "Oh Andy! That is so you!"

-I said out loud to Jacob yesterday: "I miss Stefon."

Am I pathetic? Don't answer that. I like to think I just suspend myself in disbelief really well. Jacob and I are both quite happy to plop ourselves on the couch after a long day at school slash work and chat between commercials of our favorite TV shows. It is therapeutic to put aside real-life worries and instead stress about when Ben & Leslie are gonna cut the crap and make up already! Spoiler alert: They did. (Hooray!)

favorite moments of 2011.

2012-01-03T11:39:00.003-07:00

ENERO

We had the opportunity to attend McKall & Ty's gorgeous wedding on the 11th. Weddings are the best! Gathering of friends and family, everyone is genuinely happy, and tons of dancing! Here I am pictured with one of my bff's, Syb.

We were invited to spend a weekend at a cabin with some of our good friends Patti & Bryon and another couple. We had a blast snowmobiling, sledding, playing games and enjoying good company. It was so incredibly BEAUTIFUL up in the mountains where we were. The kind of beauty you just can't stop staring at.

FEBRERO

I took cake decorating classes in January so for Matt's birthday I tried out my new skills and made a Chewbaccake.

Valentine's Day. Love him.

MARZO

Brandee turned 16 and I got to help her ask a boy to her first girls choice dance!

Gathering with friends for some delicious Thai food.

For Jacob's birthday we celebrated at his fave restaurant, Tucano's. I'm full just thinking about it. Yum!

Our rad home teacher brought us a huge case of little milks. They had extra over at the army base or something? We were pumped!

Fact: you can freeze milk and it stays good.

ABRIL

Decorating easter eggs with the Fieldings.

For my birthday, we got to dress up and go to Ruth's Chris! BEST FOOD EVER.

MAYO

Our Hawaiian adventure! Take me back there...

Brotherly bonding with pizza & wings.

JUNIO

A perfect party complete with a pinata.

Cory swore into the Navy!

JULIO

Up in the canyon for Cam's birthdee.

Our road trip to Washington for the 4th.

A real fun backyard BBQ with friends.

The final Harry Potter movie came out. Oh how I loved it! I'm sad that there will be no more movies coming out, but I will always have my books to read over and over again. Top drawer entertainment.

AGUSTO

Thanks to my friend Lexie, we got to go to Lagoon for an evening. I love roller coasters! and swings! I also love the homeboys who hang out there with their bandanas hanging out of their back pockets. They know how to party.

Jill & Gavin got married, hooray! Like I said before, wedding festivities are the best.

Aunt Steph took all of us to the Bees game for the 24th and Jacob caught a foul ball. American pastime, phenom fireworks, kettle corn.

Jacob went on a Father and Sons campout with the boys.

SEPTIEMBRE

We attended the Utah State Fair with the Fieldings. It was stinky and we ate deep fried concoctions, people watched and gawked at the huge animals/veggies/scrapbook pages.

Our #2 anniversary! We splurged on a bed & breakfast, dinner and pictured below, seeing the Flaming Lips live.

Confetti canons, giant balloons, giant balloons filled with confetti, lasers, and more. It was literally the most phenomenal show you could ever see. And the music was fantastic! (Imagine me saying this like Rob Lowe as Chris Trager)

OCTUBRE

Luchadores. Lucha libre!

Our family halloween celebration.

NOVIEMBRE

For Jer's b-day we went to Tucano's and then had pumpkin pie at my house. This is the first birthday picture we have ever taken that is not in the west-most chair at my mom's kitchen table. Worth documenting.

We got to have 2 Thanksgiving dinners this year. The first: antipasto, caesar salad, calamari & lasagna at my Dads.

While there, we took some pictures to send to Steve, my little brother in Taiwan on his mission.

Our second dinner was your traditional Thanksgiving dinner and it was delicioso. Then we took pictures with them for Steve, and for our almost brother Hayden. Cory got to come home for Thanksgiving! Since July he has survived bootcamp, basic training and is almost graduated from his job training. We are so proud of him. He is stationed in Pensacola, Florida right now.

This is my favorite picture ever.

DICIEMBRE

We gathered together as friends to wear cool sweaters and drink hot cocoa and play around the world ping pong.

Our tree.

Love it this year.

My mom knitted us baby sweaters to put on it as ornaments and I spray painted some toy dinosaurs to hang on it as well.

Also, I don't have any pictures of Christmas... too busy enjoying it to remember to pull out the camera! But it was amazing and we were so happy to get to spend it with family, especially the Rogers' and Dan since we never get to see them.

When a fine PYT walks in front of your tree...

2011-12-14T13:58:00.002-07:00

Funniest. Ever. It's my new favorite dance. Ummm in other news sometimes I wake up and throw on whatever to take Jacob to school and then end up running errands like that since I am already out. You'll probably see me on people of wal-mart or something. I have finished school for the semester and also had a few days off of work so I've spent my days happily meandering the aisles of craft and secondhand stores, reading for pleasure, playing with Jen the sister in law and her two melt your face cute boys while they are in town, and working on my gift list for that holiday we have coming up. Couldn't be happier about it.

XOXO, GG.

occupying my mind.

2011-11-11T14:08:00.003-07:00

Pues... the Occupy Wall Street movement has been on my mind lately. This is because:

1. I have a close family member heavily involved with it.
2. I work at the largest bank in the U.S.
3. It is all over the news and what-not.

(Sidenote: I mentioned the protests to a classmate the other day and she literally had no idea what I was talking about. I had to explain the entire thing to her. She still said it didn't ring a bell. Where has she been?) Anyway, I think about it and I honestly think the whole thing is silly. No offense. But I work at the big evil bank and I happen to know that they offer a butt-load of jobs. They are always hiring. And I, being barely qualified, got a job there over 2 years ago and have loved it. I mean I am not passionate about banking but it's a great job. Anyway, back to my point. I know that there are definitely greedy people and/or corporations in America. But what is protesting it going to do? We are lucky to live in a free country where people have the right to be greedy if they want. If they work hard, they can get lots of money and keep it all if they are so inclined. They shouldn't be greedy, but who are we to tell them what to do. And also, most of the people I have seen protesting on the news and around here are actually quite well-off and I feel that they need to stop complaining. Jacob put it well when his friend shared this on his facebook wall. You have probably seen this image circulating the social networks.

Jacob: "While I agree with this to a degree, why is it that 150,000,000 Americans feel entitled when 5,700,000,000 human beings living in developing countries live on less than $6 a day. Just something for Americans to think about while driving their car to a protest, while listening to their ipods, while eating a grilled cheese and drinking a coke, having just left school. Be thankful peeps!"

So no, maybe lazy is not the right word. But entitled might be.

Disclaimer: I would like to say before anyone gets their panties all up in a wad, that I really do not know the whole of the reasons for this movement and I really don't know what is true and what isn't as far as government corruption and all that jazz. What I do know is that the things that I have seen and heard about this tell me that people are looking for someone to blame for their situation instead of doing something about it. I would like to be better educated about it and if someone has something to say to the contrary of this I am open to listening.

And those are my thoughts. Hope everyone is having a wonderful Veterans Day! I am thankful to live in this country, enjoying my freedoms thanks to the brave men and women who selflessly go forward to protect us. Shout out to my little brother Cory who just began his naval service in June. So proud!

the best way to spread christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear.

2011-11-08T10:16:00.000-07:00

I'm in love I'm in love and I don't care who knows it! With the HOLIDAYS. Now that it's freaking freezing outside all I can think about is Christmas! And husband is sad because he really hates that Thanksgiving gets ignored by FM 100 and me. But here's the thing. Thanksgiving is great and all, but it doesn't mean school is out. It doesn't mean a bunch of festive decorations and parties. It's just one day, and I have just never been that big on the food anyway. I'd be happier with a Lasagna or something. Anyway, I may have made a paper chain last night. And... I blogged over at H&L too. And also, I took a break between writing this and took J to school, stopped at Savers, and bought a christmas decoration! It's a sparkly PEACE banner. I got two of them for $3. No, I didn't go there for that purpose but with all this on my mind of course that is the outcome.

terrible phone picture.

Anyone else so excited that the most wonderful time of year is upon us?

gratefulness.

2011-11-02T15:55:00.002-06:00

those are crepes.

So! Can't believe it is November. That is nuts. I attended an event called The Clothesline Project at school today and I am feeling very thankful as well as very motivated right now. It is fitting since it is November and Thanksgiving is coming up that I express some of my thankfulness today. (This is going to be one of those Seriously So Blessed posts, only i'm serious.)

I am so thankful for Jacob. Sorry for the gushing (so annoying, i know!) but he is such a good, kind, perfect husband to me, I just could not have been luckier.

I am thankful for my dad being overprotective. I now understand why. Kind of... I am sure when I actually have my own chillins that understanding will increase.

I am thankful for all of my family.

I am thankful for good friends.

I am thankful for chocolate in all forms and sweet baked goods.

I am thankful for music. I am in passionate love with music.

I am thankful for college.

I am thankful for dancing and for fun people who will dance with me.

I am thankful for the good news of the gospel.

I am thankful for chicken nuggets. Yes. I said it.

I am thankful for the library.

I am thankful for creative people who make pretty things for me to look at and listen to.

I am thankful for blankets.

I am thankful for funny movies and tv.

I am thankful for happiness in this exact moment and not feeling like I have to wait for my "golden ticket."

This is where the magic happens.

2011-10-04T18:58:00.000-06:00

FACEBOOK

Date: February 9, 2009
From: Ed Eyre
Subject: a little secret

hey. So Jacob wants your number but I don't have your number. he's totally interested. If you want him to have your phone number then give it to me and I will give it to him or you can just call him. His number is 801-471-4991.

Found this beautiful little message in my fb box today while going to send Ed one. Ha! The good old days. Still giddy about my tall drink of water.

road trippin' with my favorite ally.

2011-07-17T14:49:00.001-06:00

we took a quick trip to washington for the 4th. it was so pretty i could just die. i loved driving through montana, pretty parts of idaho (couer d'alene is amazing!) and washington itself. jacob's grandpa dean has a lake resort at deer lake outside of spokane and i finally got to see it and we quite enjoyed spending time with that side of his family. here is a quick photo log of the trip.

just some nonsense.

2011-06-21T09:36:00.004-06:00

1. The sewing machine I got for my birthday is begging me to use it.

2. I love the student life. I don't know how much I like the idea of it ending in the near-ish future.

3. Playing badminton is all I want to do lately.

4. I also really want to play corn hole. Why don't I have a set yet?

5. Cory left for the Navy last week, I want to post about it but my mom has all the pictures of him before he left. Coming soon!

6. HP7

7. I don't usually care about having fancy technology aka the iphone but lately I just wish I could have instagram.

8. I think me and Jacob got burned out on the DDP since I got all those bottles of it. It has gone untouched for a couple of months now. Oh well, it's food storage right? You know where to come when there is a disaster and you need some fizz.

Jack: “Imagine, a dessert for two, consisting of a Tahitian vanilla bean ice cream in a pool cognac, drizzled in the world’s most expensive chocolate, Amadei Porcelana, covered in shaved white, black and clear truffles, topped with edible 25-carat gold leaf. Can you imagine anything better?”

Liz: “I don’t know, ever put a doughnut in the microwave?”

Thanks Tina. I love you forever.

how to have fun with a pinata.

2011-06-16T10:28:00.002-06:00

small miracles and bountiful baskets.

2011-06-13T08:40:00.004-06:00

I love Bountiful Baskets, (a local produce co-op!) but I don't order them very often because I never end up using all of the fruits and veggies, a lot of times because I don't know how to cook them correctly, or because I am just too busy to prepare food, and there are only two of us, etc. I decided to order one last week and I was supposed to go pick it up at 7:30 on the dot Saturday morning. I always wake up before that but I was paranoid about setting my alarm because you only have 20 minutes to get your basket before they donate it! Very small window. I was also just too excited to see what we'd get. So I set two alarms on my phone and put it right by my head when I went to sleep. I woke up Saturday morning and realized it was light but my alarm had not gone off. I reached around for my phone and couldn't find it! I was freaking out. I got up and looked for it and low and behold- on the floor in three pieces, the battery was on the other side of the room! I was thinking "nonononono!" I ran to find out what time it was and hallelujah, I had woken up at exactly ten minutes til I needed to be there. I got in the car and started thinking about the little miracles that I see in my life every day. I am so grateful to the Lord for little blessings like those. I got my basket and now I am as of this moment savoring a juicy juicy peach! here is a list of what we got:

Apples
Bananas
Nectarines
Peaches
Pears
Onions
Artichokes
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Romaine Lettuce
Spinach
Tomatoes
and a bunch of different Peppers

ABUNDANCE!

Also, we are kittysitting and it turns out that Margot LOVES lettuce.

This time I am determined to eat all of this, and hopefully reap health benefits from so many fruits and veggies, save money since I won't need to buy much else this week on groceries, and also learn how to cook a few new things! I need ideas, so if you have any suggestions or recipes please share!

Love the idea of this pear pistachio tartlet.

Happy Monday!

and now, a thank you.

2011-06-06T09:39:00.000-06:00

to paul and deb! who we traveled with. the trip would not have been possible without them and they are excellent travel companions, we had so much fun with them!

also thank you kellie, for letting me borrow your swim cover ups and that bikini top i am wearing in all the pictures. you are the best!

and to my dad, because his birthday gift to us made it possible for us to eat while in hawaii.

ono food.

2011-06-05T21:58:00.004-06:00

ono: delicious, delightful

this is a 'to eat' list if you happen to find yourself on oahu. my favorite thing about a vacation is trying new dishes and restaurants that i can't get at home, it's not my fault my parents raised me to be a food snob. they are too good at cooking.

like the sign, i highly recommend the chocolate haupia pie. grind it!

had to post this picture. i am totally creepin on the pineapple soft serve! too good to even see straight. dole plantation.

jewel or juice! the best acai bowl on the island! oh my stars and stripes, they really were the best. we kept going back.

the rainbow drive-in was a pleasant surprise. we kind of didn't know where to go in the area but we saw a car that had a bumper sticker that said "got loco moco? rainbow drive-in." so we decided it must be good and we had seen it a few blocks back. the loco moco was surprisingly ono.

hukilau cafe, a classic, must-visit in laie. i love it but i totes ordered the wrong side dishes. still the best french toast err.

so melona bars are phenom. they are like creamies, but melon flavored! i ate a boatload of them and i am considering having some shipped to me packed in ice.

BEST BEST BEST THAI FOOD! all caps cause you have to go there. it is incredible.

ok so i know this picture is bad quality but these fluffy macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup were too good to be true! i had heard from a friend that i should have gotten the macnut french toast at hukilau but it was too late, so i made up for it by getting this the next day. i didn't have my camera so i whipped out my cell phone to remember it by. eggs n' things.

matsumoto's shave ice. ok i got ice cream and beans in the bottom. who would have thought those would go together? they do. they are delish together.

aoki's, also excellent shave ice.

haole adventures 2.

2011-06-04T21:45:00.002-06:00

jacob and the giant leaf.

beach! beach! beach! beach!

coconuts are pretty much footballs in hawaii.

dole. did you know that every pineapple takes one year to grow?

us and the duke!

oh, we're going to the hukilau...

haole adventures.

2011-06-03T21:17:00.003-06:00

smallest fish ever caught

hike. my hair + jungle = ...that.

boogie boarding. hukilau beach.

pcc!

banyan tree, so big, so crazy!

we're home from hawaii, but we totally wish we weren't.

2011-06-02T21:08:00.002-06:00

pali highway view

upsides to being in hawaii- warm all the time, it smells good, laziness is expected and even encouraged, you have an excuse to eat lots, pidgin is fun to listen to, oh and umm its warm all the time.

downsides to being in hawaii- bahahaha. did you really think i was going to name any? none.

current events.

2011-05-16T21:47:00.004-06:00

So! I started working at a different branch of the bank I work for today, this one is only five minutes from my home! So excited, because I have been commuting 35+ minutes each way forever and I am finally going to be saving tons of time and gasoline money that could be spent in other, more rad ways.

We also stared going to a family ward too, because our byu student married ward was dissolved. I know that they have a reputation for being not very cool but ours really was! We made lots of great friends and loved it a lot so we were sad to have to say goodbye to that chapter, but our family ward seems great too and it's time we be big kids now.

We finally put up the frames I have been collecting and planning on hanging for a million years and finished the decoration of the family room. It feels great. Maybe sometime I will get around to posting some pictures. Maybe not? We will just see. But if you come over you will for sure get to see the wall.

With all of these changes I kind of feel like we moved, but we didn't. Change is good sometimes. You know what other change I am quite enjoying? The weather! Finally Utah is coming through- giving us a season I actually like. It is called spring. It believes in being fashionably late. But I forgive spring, because I have decided that our friendship is worth it. In order to show our appreciation for it showing up at all, we have even been going on lots of walks and spending time eating our dinner at parks.

WHOA totally boring post!

oahu i'm coming for youuu!

2011-05-10T11:10:00.003-06:00

13 days and the cutie and I will be enjoying all the pleasures of OAHU. How I've missed it so! Can't wait for some sun, sand, delicious shave ice, lots of other yummies, R & R, and whatever else we want really.

all moms go to heaven.

2011-05-08T10:03:00.003-06:00

I love my mom Lynnette, my stepmom Jenny, Deb my mom-in-law (I am lucky to have so many!) and all of the other moms in my life who have been amazing examples, and I hope I can be half as good as they have been someday. Happy Mother's Day.

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!

2011-05-05T14:53:00.003-06:00

Cinco de Mayo is one of the best holidays because it is celebrated with delicious (non-alcoholic) margaritas, delicious Mexican food, and all kinds of fiesta-ish behavior. I have always sort of wished I were Mexican. They are the best! We are off to Cafe Rio and then we will be watching Nacho Libre with friends. Get that corn out of my face!

x0x0 X x x O o o O o X x X oo OooOo

mmm!

2011-05-03T10:29:00.003-06:00

Last week I wore my fancy dress, Jacob wore a cardi and we went out on the town to eat the most delicious food we could find. For a while, I saved up my debit card rewards and I redeemed it last week, as a birthday present to myself, for a gift card to Ruth's Chris Steak House! I am not even a steak person but I had been once before and oh my goodness was that food good. I wanted to go back so badly. Well, it was no disappointment. Jacob got the filet and shrimp, I got garlic crusted halibut and we shared broccoli au gratin and garlic mashed potatoes. Then we got some complimentary chocolate cake with raspberries a la mode.

tomorrow.

2011-04-28T07:36:00.000-06:00

myspace.

2011-04-20T22:46:00.008-06:00

Um hi! So I was half baking a paper for extra credit and I got bored and you know how it goes... So I remembered that once upon a time I had a myspace and I wondered if it was still there. It is.

A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain?

About Me:
what it is hoe? a wass up. I am sar'. I like to spend time with loved ones! I like my birthday to an abnormal extent. In the A.M. I learn, In the P.M. I earn. I like to explore thrift stores and I have a favorite park and a favorite place that I won't tell you about unless you are my friend. I love E! News and HGTV. Take me to the movies it's my favorite thing to do. Listen to the music on the bottom rows of my top friends you i'm sarah

i'm sometimes tater.

i'm sometimes rice cake.

your nano.

or little john.

any name you feel inclined to call me.

interests?

glitter glue masterpieces.

music from other times.

all things spanish.

weddings.

and probably you.

i'd like to give a shout out to adam brody, chace crawford, james caveziel and jeffery morgan dean. just for being suave.

SWAG BUCKS

2011-04-18T07:25:00.007-06:00

Now kids, it's time for me to introduce you to a little thing that is going to change your life for the better! It is called Swag Bucks. This is a web site where when you register (for free) and use their search engine, or do their special offers, or basically participate in anything on the site you earn points that are called, if you can believe it, Swag Bucks. These points translate into prizes. These prizes can be anything from gift cards to books, dvd's, beauty products and whatever else. The best prize in my opinion is gift cards to amazon.com through which you can basically get anything in the world you might need or want. I started using swag bucks in the middle of January and I was skeptical about it but I have enough confidence and even excitement about it now that it is time I share it with my friends and family! You guys, you have to try it. I have earned over $50 in amazon credit just in three months and I plan on using this forever and hopefully getting all of my Christmas gifts with it. I did order these cute shoes that I have been wanting forever and they are on their way! YES! So to break it down- search like you regularly do on google, get points, get free stuff! So anyway I don't know what you are waiting for...please click the toolbar!

And if you are signing up here are a few tidbits I have found out as I have gone along.

You may redeem 2 prizes per day and 5 per month.
Your amazon gift cards (and probably other stuff) do not show up immediately, it takes a few days to process.
The fastest and most painless ways to earn swag bucks are: click through NOSO every day (just skip through each offer), click on Trusted Surveys every day and you earn 1 SB just for that, and do the Daily Poll as well as just use it as your search engine.
If you can win 15 SB per day that's enough for $5 to amazon per month.
There are a lot of other ways to earn SB so just explore the site. Buying Groupons through their link usually gets you over 400 SB. Just printing off and redeeming coupons from their site will get you 10 each.
Also! SB has a great referral program. For everyone you refer, you win when they win for the first 1,000 SB! That is amazing.
My little indulgence...

So what are you dreaming of getting for free with your SB?

button...

2011-04-17T11:17:00.003-06:00

So I made a cuter and happier looking button. It is better in my opinion anyway. So thank you to all those who added the first one to their pages, I love you guys and here is le new one if you feel inclined to switch it or add it or whatev. Also I might mention that I am in love with basking in this super rad weather and I hope it lasts forever. Utah isn't so bad sometimes. xoxo gossip girl.

best steal ever.

2011-04-13T15:38:00.003-06:00

hallelujah!

I paid 29 cents for 18 two-liter bottles of Diet Dr. Pepper.

A few months ago I was at the grocery store and there were some "peelies" as they are called (coupons that are stuck to bottles/boxes or what-not at the store) on the ddp for 55 cents off each. Naturally I took like twenty of them because coupons never come out for my favorite drink! Couldn't just leave them... Anyway this store doubles coupons on Tuesdays so I was hoping that with the doubling I'd get a whole dollar off sometime and if it was on sale it would be really really cheap. So last night I was driving home and I wasn't planning on going shopping but I realized it was Tuesday and these coupons had been burning a hole in my wallet for a couple of months and were about to expire. I went into the store, found the ddp and couldn't believe my eyes: 10 for $10 with my shoppers card! Coupons doubled! They were free. I had 18 coupons and low and behold look at this beautiful sight. I did have to pay taxes on it though so that's why I paid 29 cents. Totally fine. Literally pocket change.

birthday week!

2011-03-28T06:07:00.004-06:00

The day of Jacob's birth is on Wednesday! We are keeping the celebrations simple. We have too many school, work and band obligations this week but I do have Wednesday off and hopefully we can spend a good amount of time avoiding those things. I wish that I could give him a real break for his birthday, he has been so stressed lately. But I am grateful for how hard he works and how even when he is stressed he is still the nicest. He is so good.

blah blah blog.

2011-03-23T21:00:00.005-06:00

So this semester and more specifically these past few weeks have been nuts. I decided the other day that I was going to buy the cheapest day planner I could find and of course the school bookstore had a 2010-2011 school year planner on clearance for $2 so I got it. I knew that without something to keep me organized I would fall (more) behind, not get things done and then be sad. It's a cycle you know? So with all the things I needed to do today was the day. I had the day off of work and most of the time I decide all of the things I am going to do and I think I will be so productive and then.... I spend half the day doing nothing. Which I love! So I'm not complaining about that, but today was different. I went to class, then rounded up all of the things I needed for my errands and took two hours to complete the following:

Pick up a book at the Library
Sell some shirts at Plato's closet (not worth the trip)
Drop some other stuff at D.I.
Put in my 30 day notice at Gold's
Emissions test at Jiffy Lube
Ship a book back to where it came from
Costco (picked up a few things- ummm not used to spending so much in one trip! but it will be cheaper in the long run)
Wal-mart

THEN guess what? I actually went back to school and did homework and found the stats lab and wow, my life is 100 times easier now that someone decided to inform me that there is a lab just for stats! The tutor that helped me was so good I honestly want to send him a thank you card or something. Nerdy? Probably. Sometimes I think about how good a student I could be if I didn't work every day while going to school. I could spend all day long with tutors and at the library just sippin' on some green smoothie and reading. Wow that would be the life.

But believe it or not guys, this post is about to get even nerdier than it was before! You can call me P. Dexter from now on if you want. I am in love with school. I do not always love having homework and being too busy to do other fun things that I would like to do, but that is trivial. My classes are so rad, and I honestly want to talk about them and think about them and read the books my profs assign me. I even want to read extra books because they mention it and I want to know more! I am constantly thinking about what I am learning and I am excited to go to class. I am majoring in Behavioral Science and my emphasis is undecided as of now between Psych and Family Studies. I might double up on those. Everything that I learn is so USABLE in every day life. I want to share everything with my friends and family because they are such important things to know! Especially my Marriage & Relationship Skills class. This needs to be a required general. If you go to UVU- take it! With the divorce rate what it is these days why wouldn't you want to work hard to make sure your current or future relationship is strong enough to withstand trials? Why wouldn't you want to be an emotionally healthy person who can make good choices using your heart AND your head? These are the things I think.

I might share some small tidbits. Okay - You know how when someone is getting married one of the most common pieces of advice is "Never go to bed mad." Guess what ya'll? This advice is terrible! Should you really stay up all night arguing? Is that the solution? The more tired you get, and the longer it lasts, the more escalated the situation becomes. When people do this they are usually worried that if they don't hash it out right away then the problem will not be resolved and the anger will fester inside us every day until we explode. Better solution: Take a time-out(this is hard to do, but it's worth it), if it is bed time try to sleep it off (also hard), and decide a good time to come back to the issue (very important, both people need to agree on this time and be ready to work it out.) This gives both parties time to calm down, think about it, and then later hopefully communicate about it and find a constructive way to resolve the problem.

I hope all is well wherever you all might be.

dream giver.

2011-03-20T09:51:00.003-06:00

So! I have a friend named Tyler who happens to be an animation genius. He is graduating from BYU and a few weeks ago Jacob and I were lucky enough to get to go see the premiere of the film he has been working on for 2 years, Dream Giver. You guys, it was incredible! You would not think it was a student film, it's even better than most professional short films. It has won a ton of awards at film festivals (professional as well as student) and it is going to keep winning awards because it is so good. Anyway, as Tyler is graduating soon he is applying for jobs in his field and though there is no doubt people are going to be fighting over who gets to employ him, he still feels that he should make himself look even better. He needs followers on his blog- the more he has the better he looks. So you guys should all check out his blog and click the little follow button in the top left corner! Your eyes will thank you. His art is phenom and let's be real in a few years we all want to be able to say that we know the guy who made the next Toy Story or Tangled. (Seriously. He has already interned with Disney and Pixar.) So! Click HERE to go view his blog take the shortcut and just click HERE to just follow your little hearts out. Thanks guys!

ok do you guys wanna see it?

2011-03-05T01:45:00.000-07:00

I am in it....
So is Jacob (Obvi)

Hope you enjoy!

chewbaccake.

2011-02-22T10:38:00.003-07:00

So, as I mentioned in another post, I decided to make my brother-in-law Matt his birthday cake at the beginning of this month. Matt is the biggest Star Wars fan ever, so we thought it would be appropriate to make his cake look like Chewbacca. He is always making Chewie sounds and he is has facial hair so he identifies with Chewie the most we think. So this is the turn out! Jacob helped a lot because I don't know Star Wars from Battlestar Galactica. We were pleased, Matt was pleased and it was a great party! (Also it was tasty. Peanut butter cake with chocolate frosting! Mmmm

i don't know.

2011-02-17T07:40:00.004-07:00

So yesterday I decided to google something, but I was not using the actual google search engine, but it is still called "googling" to me okay? (Insert inappropriate 30 rock quote here.) Anyway, I wanted to know how common it was to develop allergies to things you eat too much. It was just something I have heard and I have been eating (drinking) so many bananas and spinach lately in my smoothies because those are the two best things for green smoothies. Okay I know TMI no one cares so I decided to search that but you know how when you start to type something the internet likes to be creepy and start finishing your sentence for you? I typed "How common is" and this is what came up, and I began L-ing OL and totally forgot to actually even search what I was going to search. I will do that right after this. Anyway I thought I would share it so here is the list.

How common is umbilical hurnia in horses
How common is pervasive development disorder
How common is hacking into facebook
How common is a blood
How common is the name atlantis

Okay! Can anyone tell me why those are the ones that come up? They can't be the most commonly searched items right? And person searching the name Atlantis- just don't! please...

Speaking of 30 Rock, I am still laughing about this scene from last week. If you are not yet a religious fan of this show it is time for you to get off your high horse. Watch and love!

you really got a hold on me.

2011-02-15T10:37:00.002-07:00

Wow, he continues to exceed my every expectation. Jacob surprised me at work yesterday with these gorgeous flowers and chocolates- and then took me to dinner at Gloria's Little Italy. Okay. Best food ever. It was a glorious night.

Jacob was out of town last weekend so I built this fort while he was gone to surprise him and I also picked up a little banana cream cheesecake from the cheesecake factory. This is our first themed fort. I just wanted it to look like a valentine's fort. Hopefully there will be more to come.

2 years of lovin'

2011-02-14T10:18:00.003-07:00

We had our first date on Valentine's day 2009. He brought me flowers, we went to dinner, made home-made valentines for each other and watched Raising Arizona and then part of a John Mayer DVD (we didn't really pay attention the movies because we were talking.) The next Monday he took me to Diego's and bowling with his friends. Tuesday we went to color me mine, once again with his friends on a group date. This is our first photo together, self-timer on our fourth date- Friday of that same week Jacob rented out the black box theater at BYU and we watched Hot Rod. He had popped popcorn and hidden it in his backpack along with drinks and he was so sweet and I couldn't stand it anymore! I kissed him first. We didn't spend a day apart after that. We love each other and I honestly can't believe it has been 2 years since that fateful day. Happy Valentine's Day to all of you. Single and coupled and otherwise. XOXO

pj's birthday at the cabin.

2011-02-13T10:35:00.005-07:00

Once upon a time I had a wonderful roommate named Patti. We had the opportunity a few weekends ago to go up to a cabin to celebrate her birthday with her! She and her husband Bryon, us, and another couple Erin and Dustin spent the night and most of another day up there playing games, snowmobiling, sledding, and enjoying the phenomenal scenery. You guys, I have not been to a place like that in my life- it was so so so beautiful! There was 8 feet of snow surrounding all of the cabins so we had to park super far away and then they came and picked us up on snowmobiles to drive us in to where the cabin was. And the cabin was everything a cabin should be. A freeeezing and fun adventure!

Yes, we got to ride in this tank.

the birthday girl

attempting to make two saucers into one big sled...

mmmm!

shut the front door!

2011-02-12T08:43:00.002-07:00

Did you guys see what H&M just announced? Here. Hooray!

preserving religious freedom...

2011-02-08T19:55:00.005-07:00

So I just read this speech that Dallin H. Oaks gave a few days ago and I am strongly affected, and impressed by what he said. I am an active LDS person and I have a firm faith that the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I know that there are people who do not believe the same way as I do, but we are all free to believe and worship as we choose and that is one of those things that makes this country great. I can't imagine not being allowed to write that on this blog, or say it in front of a group of people if I feel inclined to do so. I encourage you all to read this and to think about what Elder Oaks has to say. I am not trying to be an alarmist or promote any certain religion or political belief- but I do want freedom of religion! I'm just pretty sure that the whole point of this country's existence is to have that so....

Read it here.

march the 4th.

2011-02-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

taking a two-hour lunch break, very much needed.

2011-02-03T12:52:00.006-07:00

I am going to be honest here. There are few things more relaxing for me than catching up with my friends' blogs, stalking others, looking at fun websites and reading little tidbits of wit or pictures of beautiful homes. That is what I do when I have an hour to kill and no desire to leave the couch (or in today's case, chair.) January was the craziest month I have ever had, I think. I literally sped from one place to another with no breaks in between and even though some of those things were very fun, I was so exhausted all of the time. I also fell into some bad eating habits as I often do when time is a factor. (I love you, Wendy's.) So February is a new month and I am dubbing it the month of rejuvenation! This is good because usually February is the hardest month of the year for me (followed closely by march) because I HATE winter. I hate being cold. And these last few days-oh have they been cold! But I have started a green smoothie kick that I hope to keep up with forever, but if not then at least this month. Read more about green smoothies here or here. I am already feeling so much better, I have more energy and honestly am less stressed. Anyway-enough of my rant. I have been looking at one of my favorite e-card sites for the last few minutes and wanted to share a little bit of funny with whoever needs it today.

I will jump on this bandwagon for Black History Month.

A couple of lovey-dovey cards for my man.

And for my other loved ones.

courtesy of someecards.com

not the new cake boss...

2011-01-30T08:04:00.004-07:00

fish cake.

cupcake.

Here are some of the things i have done in the past month. It might be unbelievable, but i am indeed improving! Click here to see my past cake attempts. Now I will just keep practicing and practicing because it is fun and yummy.

half off shabby apple!

2011-01-27T09:53:00.009-07:00

Okay so if you haven't already heard of them, Shabby Apple is a company that sells the cutest, MODEST dresses that exist, I'm pretty sure. They only thing is that they are not usually quite in my price range! So you can imagine my excitement when today's Eversave deal was for 55% off Shabby Apple! I had to share it with all my girls, because, what kind of friend would I be if I kept this to myself?

click here to see this amazing deal!

This orange one is so cute! I can't really choose a favorite though. There are so many adorable ones.

unbirthday cakes.

2011-01-20T11:25:00.003-07:00

I have been making a buttload of CAKES/COOKIES/CUPCAKES/FROSTING lately for my class. Once a week we have a baking and icing making assignment and we bring them and decorate them and practice the techniques we are learning.
It is not easy:

1. baking that much when I have school, work and a cute husband distracting me.
2. decorating said baked goods! I need lots of practice before I will be one of those pros.

But I will say that it is so fun! I really really love that I am taking this class and that I will have the tools and somewhat know-how the next time I need to make a cake! Speaking of which I have decided to hijack my brother-in-law Matt's birthday (feb 2) as my first official cake project after my class is over. He likes peanut butter so I am looking for a recipe for peanut butter cake. I have never heard of it or tried it but I did find out recently that it exists and I think that he/everyone else will love it if I can just find a trusted recipe. Anyone know of one? Please share if you do. And also, if you are interested in helping us eat some cake next week please let me know. I don't like being wasteful and so far we have ended up throwing a lot of it away. (My philosophy is never to eat more than you need/want just because it is sitting there. But it is still sad to throw most of a whole cake away, you know?) Anyway. I love cake, and decorating, and I need to be on the freeway in 5 minutes. Peace out girl scouts!

some little improvements.

2011-01-09T18:47:00.003-07:00

A new year, a new wall color! We chose midnight stroll, and so far we are happy with it.
We have spent a lot of the last week and a half doing projects around the house and we are still not even close to done. I guess it's one of those things that you never really feel done with. I personally don't ever feel organized enough.

So like everyone else I have been evaluating my progress from 2010's new years resolutions and honestly part of the problem for me is that I don't remember the resolutions I made! I remember at least one of them, and that was to drink more water. I did do well at that, but I could still work on it and do better so I am rolling that one over to this year again.

Some of my new ones are:
100% Visiting Teaching and Temple attendance monthly.
to save a $1000 emergency fund and then enough to live off of for six months. Talk about financial peace! That second part will probably take longer than a year but I can try at least.
to go to Hawaii in May (does that count as a resolution?)
To learn three new skills. First up? The cake decorating classes that Jacob got me for Christmas! Second? I guess I should re-learn the glockenspiel since that was another gift from my honey. I played it in Kindermusik. What should the third one be? Suggestions would be appreciated.

feliz cumpleanos a velour!

2011-01-04T08:53:00.001-07:00

favorite moments of 2010

2011-01-01T10:15:00.005-07:00

Another great year has passed. Every year I like to highlight some of the best times that I had, it is always fun to reflect on them later.

JANUARY

Ok so we didn't take any pictures the first few months of this year but luckily facebook supplied a few to me. This is us sledding with luke. He refused to wear his gloves. Kids are the darnedest.

FEBRUARY

Another sledding trip, this time just the big kids.

Husband got a new Gretsch New Classic drum set and this was its Velour debut.

MARCH

Jacob's birthday party that almost didn't happen!

Baby Ry was born!

APRIL

My birthday is always the best. This year it was on Sunday and it happened to also be Steve's farewell day. He is now serving in Taiwan and we miss him a lot but we're so proud!

MAY

We decided we had to get out of town for a week after finals so we took a road trip to San Diego and LA, went to The Price is Right, and also spent a lot of time on the beach- basking, skating, and eating. It was heavenly.

I got the west elm rug I had been dreaming of for a long time for my birthday and we got an unexpected killer deal on it too. Yusss! I'll love it forever.

We had and attended a lot of fun barbecues this year. What is better than a fire, an old couch, and super cool people? We party.

JUNE

We spent a few days down at Lake Powell with Cory & the SG and lots of fun friends. We never wanted to leave.

Is this picture the best or what? Please check yes or no should I blow it up as art in my house? I kind of want to. Thanks to Annette for bringing the fisheye.

Definately worth highlighting: Jacob bowled a 198. Amazazing.

JULY

The 4th of July fireworks at Sugarhouse park, after a long day of swimming at Jessie's dad's pool! Perfection.

We babysat a ton in the summer and had so much fun with Luke and Tay. They are so adorable.
I just couldn't not photograph them napping.

Blanket forts are important to us. We made this one and didn't take it down for probably three weeks. It was just too good. We also watched a lot of My Name Is Earl.

Cory's birthday barbecue, we watched the movie Blue Crush (his favorite movie) a total of 3 times while we were there as it was just on replay the whole day long. These guys know how to party.

We had so many opportunities to go out on my mom and Jerry's boat this year! A day at the lake really can't be beat.

AUGUST

Our first time cooking a full meal for friends, we had a Force our Wives to watch Star Wars/Mexican Food BBQ. It was delicious
and I fell asleep during star wars. Oops. Thank goodness Matt had all of that paraphernalia for us to decorate the kitchen with.

Bear Lake with the Packer family! There is no place more beautiful.

SEPTEMBER

This is the only picture of the both of us at the fair the night we celebrated our anniversary. I was not aware yet that that's what we were doing! He surprised me with a trip to our favorite B&B.
He is the bombtrack.

Our actual anniversary was on Sunday so I made this fancy dinner for us to celebrate the day. It turned out pretty great thanks to a lot of help from my mom. I probably called her 10 times that afternoon!

I had to say goodbye to my wedding couch and chair and it was sad but my parents just didn't want it in their garage anymore and I didn't have time to find a better place to store it. I will miss you most magnificent discarded couch and chair set!

OCTOBER

Fork fest! The phenomenal music festival we were able to be a part of this year. It was the kind of day that you walk away from feeling refreshed and inspired to do creative things and appreciate things more.

Cameron came home! Yusss! I know you hate this picture cam. Sorry. But I had to post it because look at his first meal in the U.S. it's a huge bowl of Mac n' Cheese and a breakfast burrito from Gual's.

Jacob got hip hop for Chelsea's birthday.

I know what it looks like, but I promise we were complimenting Kellie's cupcakes! Yum. Funfetti.

And then we both got hip hop for Halloween but let's be real guys, it wasn't really a costume.
I'm not gonna say I invented hip hop, but I was there.

NOVEMBER

I hosted a swap party that I had been dying to do for a long time. I think it turned out pretty fun, everyone seemed happy with their take-homes. I had a blast putting it together. I have really never met a party I didn't like.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 was an event we weren't going to miss. If you haven't figured out already, to me it might as well be a holiday. There is no better story than HP! And the movie did not disappoint.

I spent Thanksgiving with the Skaggy's for the first time this year and loved it. I was in charge of the table. What do you think?

Us with Pa Paul & Tay

We got snowed in at my moms a few times in November and December and this night it worked to our advantage because it was Erin's birthday! We got FroYo to celebrate.

DECEMBER

Ryan is now 9 months, so much bigger than in April, no? Ok tell us that onesie we gave him isn't the best? I dare you.

I couldn't withhold this cuteness from you guys. Look at her! She is our favorite niece.

Christmas at my dad's, a smoked turkey and good company.

Sammie's surprise party! This one's my favorite. We love you Ram. Have fun being 20.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Sorry we look/are sweaty, Dance Dance Vinyl Monster will do that to you...

now bring us some figgy pudding!

2010-12-23T08:57:00.005-07:00

The other day Jacob got all bundled up and went outside to scrape the snow off of the car. When he didn't come back for a long time I got confused. I looked out the window and what did I see?

He was making a snowman.

THEN when we got home his head was missing! So the next morning he was out there rebuilding his head.

Pretty much I just wanted to know why he didn't invite me. But you can't be upset when you have a snowman in the yard.

So this week has been so fun having a break from school and we are basically filled with the Christmas spirit. Here is one 'awkward family photo' shot from our party on Saturday. Yes I just safety pinned a stocking onto my brother's sweater. I liked it.

Still, I really just can't wait to give all these presents away! But even though there are so many things to look forward to, right now is rad. The whole week is filled with family and friends we love. We hope you all have a great and phenomenal Christmas!

driving slow on sunday morning.

2010-12-19T09:47:00.003-07:00

So happy today because:

1. it is Sunday (the best day of the week)

2. it is basically the beginning of Christmas today! we are celebrating it at my dad's tonight - a delicious turkey from Siegfried (jenny's German friend who is a phenomenal caterer) and some holiday cheer are in store!

3. my husband is fast asleep in the other room dreaming of sugarplums. (maybe) and it makes me happy because lately he has not had many chances to do so. he deserves it. he's just so good, you know?

4. i could not be more excited for everyone that i bought gifts for to just open them. i feel like this year i have really done well at the gift buying and i just want to blurt out what they are but i can't! that would ruin it. so i'm counting down until they do. especially husband.

5. family is gathering. i love when jacob's sis and her family come into town, it is a treat and always makes things just a little bit more fun!

6. my mom is home and doing great. she had an accident last week which i won't get into-long story but we are all glad to see her home and recovering.

7. no more anatomy and physiology forever! the class itself was fine, i really learned a lot. the knowledge will be useful so i'm glad i took it. but the tests.... oh how glad i am that i never have to take another one of those tests again.

i could think of more. it is easy to keep going once you start counting your blessings, but i think i will stop now and go whip up some sort of breakfast.

picture from a christmas party last year, dancing with santa.

ugly sweater parties of yore.

2010-12-18T09:04:00.002-07:00

I'm feeling nostalgic today about a sweater party that Jess, Abby & their roommates had a few years ago. Syb, Cass, Lou & I couldn't find sweaters so we decided to make them. It is one of the funnest nights that I remember! Crafts and parties both in one night? I mean come on.

All 5 of us won 1st place! If you look closely you can see that Marcus' sweater has lights in it.

Things got a little out of hand.

Anyway, this year we are hosting a sweater party! Hooray! I am not going to try to compete with that one, It was just too much fun. I will definately be documenting it though. Happity Holidays!

nerd alert! my money saving tutorial.

2010-12-12T09:00:00.009-07:00

So, I have had a few too many requests for info on how I have been saving all this money doing grocery shopping and what-not so I decided that I would do a post about it- it's the easiest way to explain it to everyone. Nothing would make me happier than to see all of my friends doing this too. I feel almost a responsibility to share it with people.

First, I would like to explain what got me into this lifestyle in the first place. My brother-in-law gave Jacob and me a book as a wedding gift and he said "I know it looks boring but just read it, it will change your life." The book was Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. Indeed it did look boring, but I started skimming through it one day and I liked what I saw. I became totally obsessed with Dave's philosophy! I had never been super responsible with money, and this book absolutely opened my eyes to what kind of trouble I could get myself into but more importantly how to avoid it. First things first to all of you who have not read it- please do! I am sure your library has it, or in my family we have a few copies now so if you need to you may borrow one. His advice is simple and it directly parallels with that same advice that our LDS church leaders have been giving for years. Here is a great article, if that's what you're into. Also, I probably don't have to tell you but for those who are married, money problems and debt literally destroy good marriages sometimes- so that's not very rad.

After we decided that our lifestyle was going to change and we were going to start saving more and spending less, we had to figure out how we were going to do that. We cut down our budget in almost every category- food, entertainment, and everything else that we have control over. I couldn't seem to stop spending so much at the grocery store. We always went to the store, spent $30-$50 a week and still felt like we didn't have anything to make good meals. I started trying out meal planning. There is a great blog that I used and I like a lot of her recipes but it still wasn't really a good fit for us. We only actually cook maybe two nights out of the week because with the two of us, there are always a lot of left-overs and I don't get home from work til seven, Jacob is at school late and it kind of seems like there's no point when you're trying to cook dinner at 10 pm.

This is where the coupons came in! I found all of these blogs and started trying to find out how these women were cutting their grocery bills in half and still feeding their families of five. It was so impressive but honestly the first few months of using coupons for me were frustrating. I felt like half the time I would not be getting a good deal. Even though I was using a $1.00 coupon, the generic brand would be a dollar cheaper than that. So here is what I have learned and this is purely my mixture of things here and there that are working great for me. I do not claim to be an expert on this subject- but if it's working for me it can probably work for you too.

-You want to find coupons that are paired with sale priced items. That is when you are really going to get a great deal. If it is regularly priced, the coupon is most likely not going to give you a better price than a generic brand item.

-Always plan your grocery list before you go shopping, and stick to your list. We keep a pad on the fridge and when we run out of something we write it down so it can be replaced. I log onto a few of the coupon blogs/websites, find what's on sale and try to either plan a couple of meals from that, or if there is something specific i am already planning on making I try to find the best deals on the ingredients I need.

-I try to only go to one store per week. There are times every once in a while where I will do a few if it is convenient, for example in my town Ridley's, Target & Smiths are all right next to each other so on occasion I will run to each of them if there are deals I can't pass up. As far as deciding on what the best store to shop at is, there are a few really great ones. Wal-Mart has an excellent coupon/price-matching policy but I know sometimes it is different from store to store so if you live near one ask them about it and you might be able to get most of your deals just at Wal-Mart if you bring your other store ads. Here is a link to a post about Winco, and here is a link to a Utah grocery store comparison list. Basically it comes down to Winco being the best, then Smith's, then Wal-Mart.

-Always keep the ingredients for a few tried and true meals on hand! If you like to eat pasta, make sure you always have pasta. Our staples are mostly these: we keep tortillas, chicken, avocados, canned black beans and lettuce around all the time. In doing that we have two different options for our favorite meals that we can make out of just those. BBQ chicken salad (the recipe we got from Court!) or tacos, quesadillas, anything like that. I might add that all of those things are super affordable.

-Find out where the sales are. My two FAVORITE coupon blogs are these: Utah Deal Diva and Money Saving Mom I check them almost every day and there are links to other blogs like theirs that they refer to sometimes so you really can explore if you want. They almost all have Couponing 101 tutorials too, among other rad things. They post about big sales going on at grocery stores, weekly drug store deals, new coupons, and other kinds of deals.

-Go to the website Grocerysmarts.com. This website takes the local ads each week, posts what's in them and they rate things on a scale of how great the deal is (whether it's worth it to stock-up or not) and also if there is a coupon that goes along with the sale price they will post where to find it on the right hand side.

-If there is an item that you eat a lot or that you love that is a ridiculously good deal- stock up on it! You will save a lot of money this way. When canned items go on case lot sales you can save tons of money and it is a great way to get a little food storage going. You can still use them for meals whenever and you don't have to go to the store every time you need a can of something. This goes for non-canned items as well though as long as they don't perish too fast. Pasta, cereal, etc.

-At first I tried to avoid getting the newspaper to get coupons, but I couldn't hold out for long. If you have a family member or neighbor that gets it but doesn't use coupons - ask them for the ads each week. Free coupons = free money. Unfortunately I couldn't find anyone that got it so I went ahead and bought a subscription. Since August it has paid for itself probably at least ten times. If you don't want to commit to that though, there really are a lot of coupons you can print from your home computer.
There are 3 main coupon inserts to watch for. Red Plum, Smart Source, and Proctor & Gamble. The second two will be in newspapers only, but the first one will be in the "junk"mail as well as the newspaper most weeks.

-The most important advice I can give you! Do not clip the coupons until you are going to use them! This was such a rookie mistake that I made. I was spending so much time printing coupons off and gathering them and then clipping them out and sorting them. It was taking up so much time and then I didn't even use most of them, and when I did it took an hour to find them in the piles and piles of cut out coupons that I had. When you get an insert, grab a sharpie and write the date of it on the front, big and bold. Sometimes they come on a different date than they are supposed to so look at the left edge and in the tiny fine print there will be a date. You need this because these blogs and grocery smarts use them which I will explain soon. Then put it into the folder and leave it there until you need it. Recycle after 5 months. If they are printable: if it is for something you absolutely know you'll use print it immediately, if not just wait til there is a good deal on it and if the coupon is still printable then print it off. You will save paper, ink and time.

-The code: When you are on grocery smarts and coupon blogs the peeps are going to say something like this.

Cheap cereal at Smiths!

Kellogg's Froot Loops, $1.49

Use $1.50/3 coupon from 11/14 RP

at first I was like what the heck does that mean!? It took me a while to figure out. So here is a crash course- 1.50 off of 3 boxes, from the 11/14 (November 14) Red Plum. The others will be abbreviated as SS=Smart Source PG= Procter & Gamble.

I have found that doing this coupon stuff makes grocery shopping fun. For real- I know it is so nerdy but it is like a challenge now and as I started saving a lot of money I started challenging myself to spend less and less each week and it is so satisfying, let me tell you. I hope that if you were bored by this post that you are no longer reading it, and if you were interested I hope that it helps in your money saving endeavors. If any of you are interested in talking to me more about it feel free to e-mail or call me!

If you need a little push just look at this again. Or this. Or I will show you what I did this week.

8 cookie mixes $4
3 bags of AB pasta FREE
2 boxes Ronzoni Garden Delight Pasta FREE
1 Yakisoba FREE
1 Pioneer Gravy Mix .29 cents
1 Blistex .39 Cents
3 Martha white muffin mixes FREE
3 boxes Green Giant veggies 1.50
4 bags Idahoan potatoes FREE

Total $6.50 but I was buying the cookie mixes for someone else so technically take those out and I paid $2.50.

Reason # 93 that you should marry someone who is a million times cooler than you.

2010-11-30T08:11:00.001-07:00

because you get to brag about them and show off neat videos of them doing their thing.

another groupon i have to share.

2010-11-20T08:14:00.002-07:00

Click here! For $25 for $50 at Nordstrom Rack.
American Apparel still available as well! Don't miss out on these!!!
Just check the sidebar when you get to the page because they are not the "main deal" on the page today.

shopping! american apparel! food! deals!

2010-11-18T08:55:00.008-07:00

I am going to go ahead and begin this post by apologizing for the fact that I always am talking about "deals" and being a total cheapskate on this blog and in general in life. It is a disease that I love to have though. So! Now that I have done that, I would like to let you know in case you do not know already about these daily coupons I subscribe to. The deals usually run for 24 hours and are 50% off or more! Perfect way to shop for Christmas gifts and/or eat out more often! (who doesn't love that?) I can't get enough of these e-mails every day though. Here are all of the ones I subscribe to, and their deals for today.

TODAY'S GROUPON is amazing, it's $25 for $50 to American Apparel! (any store nationwide) Can you say yes please? CLICK THIS LINK and get yours! (this one is so rad.. I'm so excited!)

DEALS THAT MATTER is $9 for $20 worth of Indian food at Star of India in Salt Lake! CLICK HERE -also if you are a first timer at this one you get $5 credit so this deal would really cost you $4! What? Phenomenal.

DAILY DEAL Two months of Unlimited Jazzercise Classes for $35! Ok I would SO do this if Salt Lake wasn't too far to go just to excercise. Who knew that Jazzercise was real? CLICK HERE

LIVING SOCIAL $10 for $20 to Asian Potato in Salt Lake. Has anyone tried this restaurant? I want to know if it is good! Maybe I will just have to go try it... CLICK HERE

MAMAPEDIA -This one is usually mom/baby stuff, I love it because I have many baby showers to be going to in the near future!
CLICK HERE

SCREAMIN' DAILY DEALS Utah County- $39 for full dental exam and teeth cleaning and x-rays, or $25 for $50 worth of cute custom labels from labeldaddy.com! CLICK HERE

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, My personal favorite way to shop is the website CITY DEALS! This is not a daily deal site so you don't have a deadline to buy the gift certificates -other than the fact that the really good ones sell out in only a few days. The deal outlet is where the cheapest ones are so that's what I linked you to. It is the best there are hundreds of businesses to choose from and we personally have saved tons of money and still been able to go on our date nights and eat like kings each week due to this site. There are other businesses too, not just food but you know, I like food. So yeah.

dollar film society.

2010-11-16T10:01:00.003-07:00

I love going to the movies! It is one of my favorite pastimes. We have a tradish that we only go to dollar movies. It began when we had absolutely no other means to go, and now we just like it because spending $18 vs. $2.50 is just not debatable. We are currently excited to finally see Inception sometime this week. Also we will be attending the Harry Potter 12:40 showing on
Friday morning! (an exception to the dollar rule) I absolutely cannot wait. So glad that the fall movie drought is finally over, the holidays are the best time for movies. HOOAH

If you are interested in joining the society all you have to do is let me know and you are in.

velcro

2010-11-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

borrowing this kitty for a few days.
he is a good snuggler.
purrrrrrrrrr.

holy guacamole!

2010-11-09T19:30:00.004-07:00

$22.24

This might not look like much, but I have been sticking strictly to a $20 a week grocery budget, and we try to eat out only once a week. As of late I have not been able to get enough of anything that includes avocado-especially guacamole! So when there was a $4 off wholly guacamole coupon printable this morning I could not resist but round up as many as I could. This guacamole was priced at $4.18 at walmart! Woop there it IS! So I got 9. The total of all 9 boxes was $3.36. So that is less than I would have paid for just one. All of the other stuff was a good deal too so I was lucky! I know it is not the most healthy looking stuff but I got a lot of veggies and whatnot last week so we didn't need much this week. I went over a few dollars but you can't tell me it's not worth it when I will be enjoying my night guac for months to come....

et tu brute?

2010-11-08T12:35:00.002-07:00

last weekend we took a little day trip to rexburg. we rode up in one van and back home in another, named brutus. brutus decided to start leaking transmission fluid and start smoking out of the hood but luckily he waited until we were in ed's driveway. so we were able to pack ourselves in ed's pt cruiser and get home ok at 3 am sunday morning. talk about little blessings! brute could have started spazzing when we were in the middle of nowhere idaho but he didn't. thanks brutus! and sorry.... we hope you feel better soon.

halloween is so fun guys.

2010-11-02T21:04:00.001-06:00

we basically kept it real last weekend.

mabuhay!

2010-10-21T11:15:00.002-06:00

my little brother is home! he served an honorable one year and six days in the philippines but he had no choice but to come home because he is sick. it was a huge surprise to us all. sunday morning we got the phone call and wednesday morning he arrived. it is bittersweet because he does not really want to be home right now but obviously it is so great to see him because we missed him a lot! now he just needs to get better... and he needs to eat. he has absolutely no appetite (to my mom's despair! she keeps shoving pieces of banana muffin and protein shake down his throat- he loves it) but hopefully within a few days or weeks the doctors can figure out what is wrong and how to treat him and he can be on the road to recovery. we are so proud of him!

spray paint and festivals!

2010-10-19T13:04:00.003-06:00

picture by michelle at forkfest '10

fall break was a huge success, thank the high heavens that my kitchen table is now brown instead of red! something i have been dreaming of doing for a very long while... it isn't quite put back together yet so pictures will come later. fork fest though, was huge! it was so amazing. there was a way bigger turn out than any of us expected and every artist was absolutely incredible. i am literally speechless sometimes when i listen to the things that people can create. such beautiful sounds. i wish i could pick up an instrument and use my voice to touch people that way. alas, i will just admire. it is something rare in this day and age when artists are better live than they are on an album. better! what? you mean... without the help of computer software to keep their voices on key and their instruments don't have to be plugged into a computer and altered? YES. that is what i mean friends. so, in other news, i am happy with life and i have other exciting/bittersweet news that i am not going to reveal quite yet. oh i know i am such a tease.

dunder mifflin this is pam.

little notes.

2010-10-12T09:47:00.004-06:00

Dear deep fried Oreos @ the fair,
I want you again. Should I try to make you? I bet I could do it with batter blaster.

Dear philosophy paper,
I do not want to write you. I'm sorry you will probably be total b.s.

Dear husband,
Thank you for agreeing to eat cup a noodles this week so we could get Thriller tickets.

Dear Thriller,
I can't wait to see you!

you really don't want to miss this.

2010-10-11T19:12:00.002-06:00

First let me tell you why I love local music. It's real. It's people you know writing songs about their lives, their experiences, and sharing it. It's so beautiful. i know that not everyone feels something the same way that I do when they hear amazing music, but I know some people do. To those people who love it, who feel like shouting hallelujah at live shows because you know that without music you would feel empty- you will love this. It will make you want to pick up an instrument and sing. It will give you goosebumps. It will make you giddy like a 13 year-old girl. Every artist or group in this festival is so worth coming out to see. And oh, I am not sure if you saw on the poster but IT'S FREE. Please come.

true love.

2010-09-27T13:28:00.003-06:00

Super fun news guys, The Dallas News did a story on Edna & Larry, my step-grandparents! They have been married 47 years and are so cute. I have only been able to visit them once, when I was in middle school, but Grandad comes every few years. They have always accepted me and Cameron into their family, sent me cards and gifts for every occasion they are just the sweetest. Here is an excerpt from the article:

"To have money for his blind date with Edna, Larry sold his radio for $3. It doesn't sound like much now, but in May 1962, "you could get a hamburger for a quarter," Larry says. "Gas was 20 cents a gallon."
They took in a movie, The Horizontal Lieutenant (starring Paula Prentiss and Jim Hutton), then had a Coke at a drive-in restaurant.
Larry was smitten.
"I knew the odds were long – she was dating a doctor," he says, and she did not return his kiss on their first date. He steeled himself and called her again anyway."

here is the link if you want to see the whole article.

On top of that, Granny is an incredible garage sale scavenger and she made $19,000 last year with her ebay business selling the things she has found garage saling! Tell me that is not awesome?

word of the day.

2010-09-23T21:07:00.002-06:00

Ever read Seriously So Blessed?
New favorite word brought to us by TAMN:

poligafrump.

bahahahahaha

have a great weekend!

batter blaster.

2010-09-23T16:06:00.002-06:00

so if you have not heard of batter blaster you are in for a real treat right now. it is ORGANIC pancake batter in an aerosol can- like whipped cream. we originally found it and bought it for my lil sis as a joke for her birthday but then it turned out to be really delicious. and so easy. and there is no mess to clean up. and fun to make shaped pancakes with. so we basically fell in love with batter blaster! so, jacob decided to send them a little e-mail one day asking for coupons and praising them for their super rad product. they replied, not only offering coupons but said they would send us so extra swag too! they sent us each a t-shirt, two refrigerator magnets and tons of coupons. (and we all know i love me some coupons.) so we are going to continue spreading the word about this wonderful product. try it- you will love it! (we seriously think it's way better than bisquick.)

happy blasting.

kesha songs are like the car accidents you can't look away from.

2010-09-22T12:18:00.006-06:00

today is so blah. you know when you wake up on the wrong side of the bed? and then it rains?
got a ddp and some trail mix though and it significantly helped my mood. but i think i still need some spicy chicken nuggets.

happy birthday to my daddy.
this picture is us in cali on theroad trip we got to go on this summer. we're hoping to make it a family tradish.
can't wait for the funny business to start. modern family, 30 rock, the office, community, (parks & rec)
this post is dumb but i am still going to post it.
heading off to the library to pick up a few neat books and cd's on the way to work -new ray lamontagne anyone?

big gulps huh?

having our cake, and eating it too.

2010-09-19T12:09:00.003-06:00

Today is our first anniversary. We can't really believe that it has been a year, time really flies. We will be enjoying the top layer of our cake tonight and we hope it won't be dry. Last year we only had one bite so this time we will actually enjoy a full slice! We love each other. Marriage is the bombtrack and this past year has been so full and amazing there really aren't words. All we can really say is- life is a party. It being sunday, we are just doing our regular sunday routine but I am making a special dinner. Jacob sneakily surprised me Friday night with a special anniversary date and it was so fun. I keep thinking in my head that I don't want another year to go by- I wish I could just freeze time because I love everything just how it is! Can't do that though, so I will have to be confident that being with him will make me feel like this forever. Here's to many more years like this one!

I have to express it.

2010-09-07T22:03:00.004-06:00

BURN A QURAN DAY? IGNORANT. I WANT TO GO SLAP THAT PASTOR UPSIDE THE HEAD. WHAT HAPPENED TO FREEDOM OF RELIGION. AH. I AM SO ANNOYED WITH PEOPLE THINKING THAT ALL MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS. THAT THEY CAN TAKE AWAY THEIR RIGHTS BECAUSE THEY ARE A CERTAIN RELIGION. UGH. DISGUSTED. Yeah that's right. All caps. Who is with me? If one is going to persecute those who are different from them they have no right to call themselves American.

dirty dishes are bad feng shui

2010-08-31T10:25:00.003-06:00

I might have done some dishes in my front yard today, with the hose. Our kitchen sink may not be draining very well. And I may not like to have dirty dishes sitting around and piling up and messing up my chi.

quick summer photo log

2010-07-30T12:07:00.002-06:00

we have been having so much fun this summer and i haven't blogged about any of it. well, i guess that's WHY i haven't blogged about it. too busy having fun. so here is a small catch up.

we have been able to go out on my mother's boat the pink ranger a few times and it is so fun! we are currently looking forward to a trip to BEAR LAKE in august. i can not wait! it is the most beautiful of places and the shakes are indescribable.

gatherings with friends have been priority and we have been able to attend a lot of barbecues including this one, where all the boys decided to drink their yoohoo on the curb. and it was a photo op no one could pass up. michelle was allowed in because she is chocolate.

saturday mornings we get up early and scour the garage sales! we have found so much awesome stuff i'll have to do a separate post for all of it but this is one of my most prized findings. the crate and all the bottles were $4. if you know antique stores at all, they are worth way more than that. i am still deciding what to do with them!

court and i got all dressed up and went to be in the vs music video, which was way fun cause 1. i hadn't seen her in such a long time it was depressing and 2. we got to get ready together like we used to back in hike school. it was so fun to have a reason to get all dressed up again.

and last but probably most of all my obsession with food is growing daily. i am trying new recipes all the time and we love love love to go to new restaurants. just yesterday we tried THE JERK SHACK in orem. I had wanted to go there forever and we finally did it on a whim. It was so good! It turns out, if you can't tell from my enthusiastic thumbs up, Jamaican food is delicious. We totally recommend it to all.

So that's a nutshell! We are looking forward to Jacob's sister and two cute nephews coming in town this week and before that, on sunday we are hosting Jacob and his friend Jeff Stone's "Force our wives to like Star Wars BBQ" so we'll see how that goes. I don't really think Shasta or myself are really going to ever like Star Wars but we'll play along because we like our husbands and getting together for any reason is better than not.

my spoils

2010-07-28T11:21:00.003-06:00

i am actually figuring this coupon stuff out. i got ALL this for $3.84. yes, i really did. i am so happy. in case you can't tell from the picture here is what i got:

4 boxes of nature valley granola bars
2 bottles sobe life water
2 bottles kikkoman teriyaki sauce
2 chef boyardee canned foods
1 country crock "butter"
1 hunts pasta sauce
1 ragu pasta sauce
1 lb. ground beef
1 package linguine
2 trident white gum

if i had posessed more than one of each of these coupons, like the real pro's usually do, i could've gotten more of each of these but still, i think i did very well. what i would've spent without coupons: $27.64. we (ok not me but my smart husband) figured out that i spent about 10.6% of what i would have. so, since i started doing this i have a feeling i will never be okay with spending full price on anything. which is really fine with me because if i can get all my groceries for this cheap why would i ever stop!?

happy fourth ya'll

2010-07-04T10:26:00.003-06:00

I am feeling very patriotic today. I am going to try making these - the winning recipe from the Pillsbury Bake-Off this year. They look so good right? And kind of patriotic too hopefully? There is raspberry jam hiding in there too guys.... Anyway I really do feel so lucky to live in the United States of America. It is so common to hear the complaints and criticisms about our government and how things are going right now but I really feel like, though no government or country can be perfect, it can still be great. My list of reasons why I love America.

I can worship how I feel it is right, and so can everyone else.
I can read whatever book I want.
I can have an "I love Tina Fey" themed party. (who wants to come?)
I can Google.
I can say the lines along with Wayne's World while I watch it.
I can say anything, and write anything on this blog, or out on my roof for the world to hear, and no one could stop me.
I can drink as much DDP as I want.
I can live happily with other people that are night and day different from me.
I can go to school and learn about History of Rock N' Roll.
I can vote on who I want to be making decisions on behalf of me.
I can wear jeans, a dress, or sweat pants depending on how I feel that day.
I can kiss my husband in public.
I can dance in a parking lot to Sir Mix a Lot or Earth Wind & Fire.
I CAN.

THIS IS FREEDOM guys! Not everyone enjoys it. Even in today's world it is not this way some places. I am proud to be American!

coupons guys.

2010-07-01T09:55:00.007-06:00

COUPONS. these coupon ladies are totally amazing. it is seriously blowing my mind! check out this blog: utahdealdiva.com (there are many more though) they find like every coupon in the world and are kind enough to SHARE them! i have recently become really into coupons but i was trying to do it all by myself and let me tell you its HARD and it takes up a lot of time so i had kind of given up for the last two months but these blogs are so helpful i feel a burst of motivation! yay for saving lots and lots of money (and hopefully going to HAWAII in january if we can save up enough!)

nerds

2010-06-29T08:51:00.001-06:00

we saw the commercial for harry potter legos last night and jacob says "our worlds collide, hun!"

i have butterflies.

2010-06-24T19:00:00.003-06:00

you guys, it's open. the wizarding world of harry potter in orlando florida. i need to go there! it's my dreams becoming reality. the hogwarts express, hogwarts, hogsmeade, diagon alley, and so much more. they actually have delicious frothy butterbeer!

is this blowing your mind too?

sharing time.

2010-06-23T22:08:00.002-06:00

life begins at the end of your comfort zone.
-neale donald walsch-

and a tip:
if you ever want to have a great day ( hello ) start it with the temptations. the grease soundtrack also works.
and if you ever want to taste the most delicious of all fro-yo, visit spoon it up (next to j-dawgs in provo.) i know, i'm not crazy about the name either but the CREME BRULEE flavor will leave you with the most satisfied taste buds ever and you'll forget all about that.

auntie sarah

2010-06-17T07:47:00.004-06:00

just want to share a little bit of cuteness today. this is riggs' trick he did for us on memorial day. pretty rad right?

and below are my neice and neph that i get to babysit a few times a week! love them.

tay is impossible to get a picture of she is just so wiggly lately!
i love being an aunt. it gives me a little bit of practice for later. much later.

love ya'll

the price is right ya'll

2010-06-11T08:35:00.004-06:00

as you might have seen on our post about our vacation in may, we were lucky enough to attend the price is right in LA! our episode finally aired. we are totally famous now. before you get too excited, no, we didn't get to be contestants but we decided it is going to be a family tradition to go every year until we win big! oh and rich fields commented on our shirts when he was talking to the audience! Jaaacob I like your shirt oh and Sarah too. BOO yah.

here is the link to watch our episode if you are interested. i am not sure if it will work forever or not.
http://www.cbs.com/daytime/the_price_is_right/video/?pid=fSQ1RAN6JuZDdS8t_VFURO_gleTa_QDu&play=true&vs=Default

big water, utawww

2010-06-07T22:05:00.003-06:00

First I feel like I need to say that the people of Big Water, who threw the festival this weekend, are the most down to earth people I have ever met. In the world. They were SO hospitable. They put us up in a killer houseboat on the beach, fed us, quenched our thirst, and became our friends! The first night they really invited us over to their house and made us all dinner (like 15 of us!) and then we all just hung out forever talking and the musical ones took turns sharing their songs. Really... that kind of friendliness could not be found somewhere else! It was so wonderful. It was such a tease too, because we only got to be there for two days before having to leave and as you know if you have been and done, leaving lake powell is the WORST! We are already looking forward to next year.

here are the best pictures, credit goes to annette!

the raddest place on earth.

2010-06-07T12:37:00.003-06:00

just got home, this weekend was perfect. i have lots to tell about it but no time right this second. i couldn't resist posting this picture of my cute husband in mid-air.

tgi almost f.

2010-05-27T19:12:00.005-06:00

happy birthday to my wonderful mother and peter (my brah in law) this week. and happy long weekend to everyone. i'm going to do summa this.

i think i'll look for a few other things including but not limited to:
corn on the cob
garage sales
visit park city
plant flowers in my yard/jungle

and maybe if i'm feeling really motivated i'll do some organizing of my house.
have i turned into a fool... or is organizing stuff fun now?

i can't believe this was 8 almost 1/2 months ago!

2010-05-23T09:20:00.005-06:00

time flies when you are unrealistically happy. i got a CD from kate on friday of some of the wedding pictures that i still wanted but did not get earlier! kate osborne was our 2nd photographer to courtney brooke. i haven't even started my wedding album yet, eee, i really need to. so i will post a few here just cause i feel like it.

i really have the best looking friends in the world.

it was the most beautiful day i could have asked for.

can i have s'more?

2010-05-18T08:34:00.003-06:00

"This is smores stuff. First you take the graham. You stick the chocolate on the graham. Then, you roast the mallow. When the mallows flamin', you stick it on the chocolate and cover it with the other end. Then, YOU SCARF"

Have you guys ever tried putting peanut butter on your s'mores? Maybe I am just out of the loop, but the Skaggy's introduced me and... I. love. it. Also, I opt for chocolate grahams. Could a s'more be better? I submit that it cannot. Try it ya'll.

adventuring this morning.

2010-05-17T12:27:00.002-06:00

currently we are loving the free time we have together. my work schedule is super lax during the week since i am working all day saturday (again.) i won't even complain because this morning we took a long walk together and on the way met some nice people and a not so nice blind wiener dog with pink tags. but what a wonderful day huh?! we also played a little badminton this weekend and decided we need to set up a net in our yard. HOORAY FOR SPRING ACTUALLY BEING HERE!!!

a few highlights.

2010-05-11T22:19:00.002-06:00

We got to meet Stanton Moore, put simply he is the funkiest and one of the most skilled of all drummers. For real though.

Pacific Beach was so good to us! We didn't ever want to leave. Seriously.

The Price is Right! Our episode airs June 7th hoooray! It was so fun. More about it later.
Shirts: I heart Rich Fields and he is Jacob's hero.

Skateboarding/Rollerblading down the pacific beach boardwalk.

happy mothers day!

2010-05-09T11:45:00.004-06:00

We are lucky enough to have lots of wonderful mothers in our lives. They are all such great examples of love, service, and selflessness. Lynnette, Deb, and Jenny have helped show us what good mothers are and I personally hope that someday I can be a mix of all three of them. A lot of my friends' moms have also been wonderful to me throughout the years. Now we also have sisters and friends who are mommas and they are super as well. These amazing women are doing one of the hardest and most rewarding jobs on this earth and they really deserve more appreciation. We are sad that we can't be with all of them this mothers day but we still wanted to shout to the rooftops how grateful we are to have them. Do something nice for a mom or two today! We love ya'll...

i. love. it. here.

2010-05-08T10:16:00.004-06:00

we're in california. san diego area! woop! this is the best. normally i wouldn't blog on vaca. but i have a few minutes to kill before we head out to the beach. what kind of things are we doing here? not sea world. we are kind of traitors because we are staying in a sea world hotel but not actually going there. we like cheapsie things to do. beach. eating delicious food. we saw one of jacob's top 5 fave drummers last night. stuff like that. ask me if we're ever coming home? ..... not likely.

vacation all i ever wanted!

2010-05-04T20:16:00.002-06:00

FOR ONE WEEK
no more....
work
babysitting
dishes
laundry
cold weather
separation from one another
other stuff that's not rad

WE ARE OUT OF HERE

see ya bye

you're the one that i want.

2010-04-11T00:19:00.003-06:00

So, I freaking love Grease. Who doesn't right? One of the songs from this movie came on at the bowling alley tonight and this thought occurred to me. It's kind of sad that at the end of the movie cute, virtuous Sandy has to throw her standards out la ventana to win Danny over. He did try to turn clean but when she showed up with that cigarette it was all over. I mean, it's a great movie, but not so great a message. Am I right? Is this super nerdy of me? Don't answer that.

cafe rio is the boss

2010-04-06T12:29:00.002-06:00

giving my creepiest i love cafe rio look.

You guys! In case you hadn't heard, the most glorious of all restaurants CAFE RIO has been honored at last! Yesterday, April 5th was named Cafe Rio Day by the governor. Of course we had to go there, I can't skip doing my favorite hobby on its own day! I mean any time this place is mentioned my mouth waters. Cafe Rio was also recently named the number one Mexican restaurant in the country! It's about time. Love you Cafe Rio! Thanks for keeping me and my tummy happy.

happy birthday to the most perfect of all boys.

2010-03-30T13:05:00.002-06:00

Today is the anniversary of Jacob Aaron Skaggs' birth! YES! Of course this is a huge reason to celebrate. I love birthdays. They are pretty much my favorite thing. Jacob really doesn't think that birthdays are as exciting as I do (especially his own... so modest) so I am going to keep it low-key like he wants even though I did try to convince him on more than a few occasions to let me throw a big party with all of our friends. (I did however convince him to let me invite his five local family members over tomorrow-- I'll take what I can get.)

Some highlights of why he really is the best:

He is tall and handsome and makes everything from bolo ties to old grandma-ish t-shirts with the alphabet on them look good.
He is a good sport about everything. He can just go with the flow. Nothing I ever suggest doing is "not his thing" or "too girly" or "I don't know them" or anything... he is up for whatever and makes it fun regardless.
He writes me notes that begin with "honey lump" or "beautiful nugget of joy" which are sweet and also hilarious. (to me.)
He busts out the beastie boys lyrics like whoa. (Really this is when I knew he was for me!)
His material goal in life is to have enough money to wear Adidas Original Firebird Tracksuits all day every day.

Anyway I am truly grateful for his birth and for who he is! I am truly blessed to have him in my life and so is everyone that knows him. Happy birthday baby!

she and him volume 2

2010-03-24T09:24:00.005-06:00

the new and much anticipated (by me!) second album is out! i love love love this collaboration. zooey and m. ward are so talented. if only i were so indie... haha. ummm so i am so excited about that i decided to actually blog! i didn't realize how little i have posted lately. oops. we are just super busy with school it's pretty ridiculous how much homework we are always doing (especially jacob) but thank heavens we only have a month left til summer begins! we have a nephew on the way (woop!) and lots of tentative vacation ideas but nothing actually planned. oh and jacob is debuting his new 'gretsch new classic' drum set on thursday at velour! (it's gold and sparkly!) it's going to be an amazing show and you all should come if you can. starts around 8:00ish. peace out girl scout.

favorite moments of 2009.

2010-02-18T23:21:00.018-07:00

I know I am late on this- but considering that 2009 was the best year of my life so far, I had to still do this. Here are some of my favorite memories!

JANUARY

I started off my year with these girls (plus a few) doing a lot of these things: starting dance parties whenever and wherever we could, eating lots of muddy buddies, and watching prime time teen dramas.

We found ourselves in Hawaii mid-january for a relaxing break from the first week of school.

FEBRUARY

We (the girls) all went to this show in January to see our friend McKay's band at Velour. This is where I met HIM--->Jacob Aaron Skaggs!

We had a date on February 14th and then pretty much every day after that until forever.

This is our first picture together, documenting the rice krispy treat cereal he found for me. Mmm!

MARCH

Jakey's birthday- I was super nervous about making it fun!

We got spring fever and did fun activities whenever we could, like rollerblading and skateboarding, attending concerts, and color festivals.

APRIL

My birthday, it was a perfect day!

We began a tradition, Fort Friday. Self-explanatory.

MAY

Our bf's Syb and Mike tied the knot to kick off the summer season of one wedding per month.

We also took lots of fun road trips like this one to the polygamist colony of Big Water, Utah. No, i'm not kidding.

JULY

Got engaged on the fourth of July!

AUGUST

Kell and Chris' (other bf's) wedding happened!

Twilight concert series' with friends..

Said bye to Jilly (I for some reason did not take a picture with her but this one is cute of her and Mack right?!)

Cass and Trev (other bf's) married too and we got to wear cute yellow skirts!
SEPTEMBER

Married in the temple for eternity!!! Best day of my life fo'real.

Our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas was heaven and I hope we can go back very soon.
OCTOBER

Halloween and Chelsea's birthday party was a blast.

Said goodbye to Cameron... these goodbye's were not my favorite moments but they were significant so that's why I think they belong here.

NOVEMBER

It began to get freezing so we bundled up for an outdoor VS show at Revolution snowboards and Jo and I went inside to the photobooth! super fun. (Music employs most of our weekends which is the best because we love music and love to be around it as much as is possible!)

DECEMBER
Baby Taylor born!!! She is so cute! Ah!

presh!!!

(i am now officially a gushing obsessed aunt...!)

today is the weirdest.

2010-02-11T11:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, I am blogging from school. This never happens because I usually don't have time for such nonsense but today I do. I have a Psychology of Interpersonal Relationships class this semester. I was so excited to take this class because it sounded really interesting and my counselor highly recommended it. Hello? Who doesn't want to know how to more effectively communicate with other people so that life is more harmonious?! But this class has been a roller coaster. I will not use my teacher's name. All I can really say is that he was the sweetest man and you could tell that he was so passionate about what he was trying to teach, but he was just not meant to teach... our entire class (which is small, only about 20 of us) has become friends and before class every day we would pretty much ask each other if anyone understood what was happening and what he was lecturing about... and honestly none of us had a clue. We didn't know what was expected of us, and we did the assignments just by guessing and it was just so confusing. This class quickly turned from my most exciting to most dreaded. We took a test on tuesday and today we were all wondering if we would be getting scores today and if we failed or what. Me and one friend walked up to the door and our teacher was right behind us, he opened the door from us and we were all filing in. Then he walked back out the door without having said anything. Class hadn't started yet so none of us really noticed. The next thing we knew there was a man sitting down in front of our class and he said "I'm very sorry to tell you this but your teacher is no longer working here and you will have a new teacher on tuesday. We don't know who it will be yet but we promise they will be good." Everyone started laughing and telling him to stop pulling our legs, but he insisted that he was serious. He said that the assignments we were working on due later in the semester are canceled and our tests and presentations that we already did we will receive full credit on. He told us that he couldn't tell us why our teach got fired but he hoped that we could go on with the rest of the semester and learn something from our new teacher. We all sat there kind of in shock for a while. A few people asked questions but he couldn't really answer them for privacy reasons. So today is weird and I have extra time and I am kind of discombobulated right now, for lack of a better word. It is bittersweet, because he is such a nice guy and it is sad that it happened that way, especially in the middle of a semester. On the other hand, it is exciting because we will hopefully actually get some useful knowledge from this class that we are paying lots of money for and investing a lot of time into. I am still trying to process it all though... what a craysssy day.

little tidbit

2010-02-08T08:53:00.004-07:00

So for some fun news... Reghan Syb was so nice to send me this link! Our wedding got featured on www.marryyoume.com thanks to Court and her cute photog of our wedding. Just thought i'd share! I have never posted my wedding pics on here I guess just because they are already on fb and everything but maybe I will get around to it someday.

http://www.marryyoume.com/2010/01/real-wedding-sarah-and-jacobs-backyard.html

"the most dangerous cake in the world"

2010-01-30T08:21:00.011-07:00

So we got a late wedding gift yesterday, it is the worldwide ward christmas cookbook. I think I have seen them at wal-mart before, and there are a few versions other than the christmas one. We were flipping through it and were curious about this title: The Most Dangerous Cake in the World. There is a side note that says "And why is this the most dangerous cake recipe in the world? Because now you are only five minutes away from chocolate cake at any time of the day or night! You are going to make this right away, aren't you?" ... and we did. We had to! Five minute cake? check it out ya'll...

You make it in a mug, in the microwave! And it seriously only takes five minutes. If you want to try it here is the recipe.

We all made our own (we probably should have shared it's kind of a lot for just one person) and I had mine with some vanilla ice cream and heath bar chips! So yummy.

P.S. A facebook status update that made me laugh out loud the other morning:

Please let the indie era pass. Please. Greasy hair is not attractive girlfriend. Get it did. -Evan Vilos

social networking ruins....

2010-01-20T22:17:00.004-07:00

Sometimes I can't focus. Even if I want to. I absolutely can't focus after ten o clock. I have known that for a long time but it still bothers me... because sometimes I have things to do and it is after ten o clock! Like homework for instance, or calling my visiting teaching companion. Or! Really anything other than looking at stupid facebook. Nothing about facebook is satisfying. It is so boring and I would so rather see a friend or talk to them on the phone or anything then just find out what's going on with them via status updates and pictures that they post. But no! I am a slave to it. I check it a few times a week. I look, and I am immediately ten times more bored than I was pre-logging in. I look again, I am bored again. It is so laaaaame. Why.. Is it a weird addiction? Help me. This is just what is going through my head right now. As far as good things to say- I got a haircut today and I like it. Also I saw four of my friends today, in person. This is no common occurence these days (not including Jacob because I am the luckiest girl ever and get to see/snuggle him every day.) Also I got to the dmv finally and changed my name! At least as far as the dmv is concerned. I still have a lot of things to do to get that finalized. My little bro steven has gotten his mission call to Taiwan today as well which is very exciting! Last but not lease this weekend looks promising and I like biology (for now.)

xoxo gg

happy martin luther king day.

2010-01-18T10:33:00.002-07:00

i wish i was sledding today, but this slush won't do! at least i have the day off to wander aimlessly around antique shops and thrift stores. nothing could be lovelier. hope you all are having a wonderful long weekend or a great day at work! xoxo

now...

2010-01-07T19:19:00.006-07:00

this week has been fantastic.

i made curtains for my kitchen. yellow floral. yes, i might really be a grandma in a 21 year old's body.

i went back to school today and oh how i loved it!!!

jake went back too but he doesn't love it so much. good thing he will be done in a year.

he is also recording with cory and the slg and chad this week which has been very fun for him.

we still get to share a car. we really like it because we get to see each other more this way. i think we should never fix the jeep! okay... we still should.

we also found some time last week to fix up our bathroom a little! wanna see?? okay.. fine. since you begged. the pictures are really bad, so forgive me. also i am not going to post very many because they are so ghastly, you can get the gist. our house is so old that its funny and the hardware in the bathroom was painted this lovely (ha!) forest green. it had been neglected so long and not painted well in the first place so this shelf is what it all looked like. i painted it white. (my temporary fix for those shelves was bamboo placemats!) we also hung up a cute hook shelf thingy that we got as a wedding gift. i love it. if we owned this home oh the things we would do... it was so fun i love fixing things up we can not wait to be house flippers!

before after

tell me something good? xoxo gg

now bring us some figgy pudding.

2009-12-30T23:25:00.005-07:00

Dear friends, I hope that your christmas was as good as mine! I love christmas time but this year was TOP SHELF. I will elaborate. We kicked off the christmas season by going to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's annual christmas spectacular! Natalie Cole was the guest singer this year and it was all phenom. It is such a great way to get into the spirit of Christmas and think about what we are really celebrating. We took our friends Jessie and Keith with us and they were lovely company. The plan was to go to that and then to walk around Temple Square admiring the lights and the nativity and all that jazz but the temperature this day happened to be around ZERO so we were way too cold to even attempt it. We snapped a few pictures while speeding through instead.

Keith and Jacob obliged but they weren't really into it. As you can tell by their non-planned matching facial expressions.Also Northplatte Records had a christmas party for which Jacob dressed up his Northplatte T-shirt a little to make it more christmasy.
Here are some of our ornaments that we made for our tree! With a little help from Debbi. We thought the popcorn we strung and the ornaments looked nice. Couldn't have been happier with it. Pine needles and popcorn EVERYWHERE though.

And we got to spend a lot of time with family too, which was lovely! All of Jacob's family was in town which does not happen often and it was a lot of fun hanging out with them and playing tons of games and watching the children play with their new toys! (Little kids make christmas exciting again, right?)

Welp see ya later.