Happy new year.

Love The Ross Family, and Moose (who is still available for adoption, but barely because I really love him a lot and want to keep him).

PS: I designed this. Not that bad, eh? Photoshop: I will learn you.

A wedding anniversary.

We are not perfect and life is not a fairytale, but I am sure glad I'm married to him. He's a gift I sometimes feel I don't deserve.

This morning I woke him with sweet orange rolls fresh out of the oven then he surprised me with lunch at Poplar Pub (one of our favorite SLC spots to eat). The real celebrating happens this weekend though. I have a few surprises up my sleeve.

Here's a tune in honor of our special day. We walked down the aisle to an acoustic version of this song, played by Chris's sweet cousin Josh.

Why we don't celebrate Valentine's Day.

Several people ask. So here goes.
We don't celebrate V-day in the traditional sense, because: 

1. We already go out to eat quite a bit.
2. Exchanging gifts is awkward and unnecessary. (Receiving gifts isn't either of our love languages.)
3. We already celebrate a love day once a year (our anniversary) and that's plenty.
4. Sharing the day with a hundred strangers in a crowded restaurant doesn't sound romantic.
5. Traffic jams aren't romantic.
6. Dressing up fancy isn't comfortable (hence, not romantic).
7. I would trip and fall down in high heels, and that's not romantic.
8. Jewelry equals love? No.  
9. We love each other an equal amount all 365 days per year.
10. I believe in chivalry and I do love flowers once in a while, but it means more when it's unexpected or for no particular reason.
11. It's a catholic holiday, and we're not religious.
12. I don't fully understand the origins of the day or Saint Valentine himself, but it seems its true meaning (and his legacy) has been lost and cheapened by all the consumer-driven hoopla.

This isn't meant to offend anyone who does celebrate the day, just an explanation about why it's not for us.

Tonight, my sweetie is cooking dinner (which he does pretty regularly) and we'll snack on yummies that my mom dropped off last night. Sam will probably get a new bone to gnaw and we might just uncork a bottle of wine.

understated love. 

Photo from Bloom.

A new year.

May this year be better than the last!

xo

Xmas recap.

Confession: I did not get my Christmas tree out this year. This, however, does not mean I didn't have any Christmas spirit. It just means I was tired from all the excitement of life lately. New job, new friends, keeping up on my writing, keeping up on my reading, etc. Some things just took priority over the house decor. It sounds like I'm making excuses...but anyway, no, Christmas was not cancelled at our house. We still listened to the tunes, did the gifts and attended the parties. I would even dare to say it was one of our best Chritsmases to date. There was a lot of love going around. I'm feeling very blessed to have the people I do in my life. A select few close friends who hold my heart, a small (albeit loud) and loving family, an adorably sweet husband, a rambunctious dog. I could go on.

This sparkly flask was a gift from my friend. She knows me well.

Aside from the Oregon trip, Chris got me a few little gems to open on xmas morning, including this scarf (in which I am in love).

My mom got us a heated mattress topper with dual controls and six settings (something I thought would only be used by me, but has gotten a surprising amount of use on Chris's side as well). 

All the gifts were so thoughtful. Lotions, owl trinkets, treats, everything lovely.

I found a little time to make some felt flowers for the little ones (and me). See them here. 

On Christmas morning, we got up to do our service. I'm not sure if I've blogged about it in the past (alas, I am too lazy to look it up) but every year on Thanksgiving or Christmas--and sometimes both--we try to do some volunteer work in the community. The type of work and the places we go vary from year to year. The last few years we have gone up to Hill Air Force Base and helped serve/clean tables at the dining hall. The dining hall is a unique place to be on Christmas morning because it's filled with all kinds of people, many different walks of life. Most are military, alone, stationed here away from their families. Some like to visit. Some like to be alone. Some people bring their entire families for yummy dinner and dessert. There is always an empty table in the corner representing prisoners of war or those who have gone missing in military action. The rose and the empty plate always gets me a little misty-eyed.

Here we are in our chef's hats.

The highlight of the day was when a sweet, old man walked up to my mom and me. He wore a pressed suit, had his hair combed nice and walked with a cane. He grabbed her arm and asked her name. Then he thanked her for working on Christmas. He turned to me, called me by my mom's name, and thanked me for working on Christmas. I'm assuming he was a vet with alzheimer's. What a sweetie.

Next year we're considering doing something a little different. Possibly helping at the Road Home or a battered women's shelter. If anyone has any suggestions for areas of the community that can use a helping hand (in Utah) please let me know. I know there are a lot of nonprofits that need the help year-round, and I'm happy to lend a hand when I can. This is what holidays (and life!) should really be about.

I hope your holidays were as refreshing as ours. xo

From our family to yours.

Photography and card design by PiperPix. Blog: http://piperpix.blogspot.com/

Candycane sugar scrub.

We gifted a lot of homemade candycane sugar scrub this year for the holidays. My mom and I made it ourselves. We came up with this delectable recipe. You should try it while it's still in season; it feels soooo good on rough wintertime skin.

1 cup granulate white sugar
3 tablespoons finely crushed candycane
3/4 cup sweet almond oil
1/2 teaspoon vitamin E oil (to preserve)
1 teaspoon cocoa butter
12 drops peppermint essential oil
Depending on the consistency you want, you may add more or less almond oil.

Wedding garland turned tree garland.

I found a new use for my wedding aisle garland! SEE MOM?

Here's to crafty, nontraditional trees

A delicious pie.

I made a pecan pie. When people hear this, they nearly tip over. I'm sloppy. Unorganized. Clumsy. Not the baking type. BUT I DID IT. Thanks to this awesome recipe I found here.

Tip: I added milk chocolate chips (about a 1/4 cup). Heat it and serve with vanilla bean ice cream. *drool*

Ingredients

• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy, and stir in melted butter. Stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and the flour; mix well. Last add the milk, vanilla and nuts (and optional chocolate chips).
3. Pour into an unbaked 9-in pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until done. 

Christmas decor: cone tree

 This was a fun, quick and SIMPLE project. Kinda quirky. Kinda whimsical. Here's a quick tutorial. 









Step 1: Find a cone. This is a styrofoam cone from the craft store (12-inch I think?)

Step 2: Find some yarn or string. This yarn is some sort of wrapped twine.

Step 3: Start from the bottom and wrap upwards, leaving no white space in between rows. Dab glue every inch or so. (I used low-temp hot glue.)

Step 4: Decorate! I used bells (found them at the craft store -- 12 for a dollar).

Note: I ran out of yarn for the last top inch of the tree, so Chris crafted me a felt star.

Thank you veterans.

Happy Veterans Day! Look at this awesome story about the 419th Fighter Wing (my mom's wing) on KSL. Also, here is the YouTube documentary they are speaking of. Be sure to watch all three parts. Amazing. What a tribute! Thank you to all veterans and to anyone who's made a sacrifice bigger than themselves.

image credit: wikipeida 

thank a veteran

Happy Veterans Day

Mother's Day

So yesterday was Mother's Day. And it was the first one I've ever spent away from my mom. I've always been in the same house, or at least the same city…and now she's thousands of miles away in a dirty war zone. That part was sad, but at least I was able to chat with her the night before. I miss her so much, but I know she's where she wants to be (at least for now).

Circa 1989

Her work is making a difference in so many lives and she is loving that part. Her time in Iraq is already 3/4 over and now it's time for a serious count down. We don't know exactly what day she'll get in, (leave it to govmt to keep it vague) but we are hoping for mid July. We have some surprises in the works that I know will make her jaw drop. YAY!


Anyway, we did spend some time with Big Mom and Angelique (a couple of fantastic moms) on M-day, which was awesome. Kasbah Grill did not disappoint. I was hoping the belly dancers would be there…but at least they had all-you-can-eat curry. Stan, Baby Isabella, Angelique









With my smiling Lily


We love the baby (and licky mclickerson)

Bella posing for grandma