You've got a lot of growing to do, kid.

Tay and Daddy were hanging out on the sofa this morning watching a movie and had their feet together. Mommy saw a Kodak moment and grabbed her camera.


I love my boys...

My new project

I've wanted to start making something to sell on Etsy, along with the vintage clothes and household goods that I sell. While doing research online I came across an instructable on how to fuse used plastic grocery bags to make a sturdy "plabric" that you can use to make things like purses and wallets. Well, I broke out the 'ole iron and got to work.

Fast forward a few days, and this is what my kitchen table looks like:


I've worked and experimented with several different ideas I had and now have a few things listed for sale on my other Etsy store Squiggles and Giggles.

This has been so much fun! Like every project I start I've been a bit obsessed with my new projects and have probably neglected my house a bit more than I should, but oh well.

Hubby Tag

I've been husband tagged! I haven't done one of these before and thought it would be fun. So here goes...

1. Where did you meet your husband?
At West High the very first day of my freshman year.

2. How long did you date before you got married?
A little over 4 and a half years - we were high school sweethearts.

3. How long have you been married?
6 years, 7 months, 1 week, and 1 day.

4. What does he do that surprises you?
He forgives me every day he comes home and I'm still in my pajamas. He also sometimes throws really big words into a sentence and I have absolutely no idea what he's talking about, but he sounds really smart. :)

5. What is your favorite feature of his?
Hmm this is tough... probably his eyes and his smile. Mmmm.. *daydreaming*

*snaps out of it* Ahem, moving on..

6. What is his best quality?
He is incredibly compassionate and always puts his family first.

7. Does he have a nickname for you?
Squishy. It's a reference from Finding Nemo and I think it suits me. :) I also absolutely love when he calls me Annabelle.

8. What is his favorite food?

Hmmm... I'd say Greek food. He loves going to Greek Souvlaki in Salt Lake and he also really loves when I make pastitsio on special occasions.

9. What is his favorite sport?
HA! Um.. I mean.. uh.. is racing considered a sport?

10. When and where did you first kiss?
We were hanging out in his parent's basement in high school watching tv and he kissed me. I still remember everything about that day. *sigh*.....

Ahem... so anyway...

11. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple?
We love just being alone together, no matter what we're doing. We especially love to drive up to Park City or go to dinner and a movie.

12. Do you have any children?
We sure do - the sweetest little munchkin in the world!

13. Does he have any hidden talents?
He can make his eyes move back and forth really fast. It's freaky. Seriously freaky. He also has an air pocket in his shoulder that enables him to make farting noises when he shrugs his shoulders. Yep, my husband is pretty much the coolest.

14. How old is he?
26

15. Who said I love you first?

Hmm.. probably me. I honestly don't remember.

16. What is his favorite music?
Pretty much anything. He has the most ecclectic music collection I've ever seen.

17. What do you admire most about him?
His patience. He is far more patient than I am and hardly every loses his temper. I also love that he adores Taylor so much and is so willing to play and wrestle with him, even if he's had a hard day at work.

18. What is his favorite color?
Blue

19. Will he read this?

Yep. I'm pretty sure he checks our blog every morning at work.

I tag everyone reading this who has a hubby and hasn't done this before. Hah!

Blueberry mania!

Please send blueberries.

My Mini Michaelangelo

Taylor and I have spent the day expressing our creativity through art. Before lunch I made some homemade finger paints, covered Tay's high chair tray with newspaper, and let him go to town. He thought painting with his fingers was good, but was better able to tap into his strong artistic abilities with a paint brush (that and he hates when his hands are gooey). I was actually pretty amazed by how much he loved painting and he was pretty upset when it was time to put the paints away and have lunch.


After lunch and naptime, I received a package from crayonrocks.net that I'd been expecting - a small pouch of soy-based crayons. They are in the shape of rocks (thus the name of the company) and make it easier for little hands to draw. Also unlike typical crayons, they don't require you to press as hard on the paper which makes for a much less frustrated toddler. Taylor loves his new crayons, and because he is his mother's son and likes everything to be in its proper place, also loves putting them away in their cute little velvet pouch.



I love working on art projects with Taylor. I always loved drawing and painting as a kid and I think it's great that I can share my love of all things creative with my sweet boy.

Exactly one year ago...

Sean started chemotherapy. I can't believe that a year has passed, and at the same time that whole ordeal feels like it happened ages ago.


Yesterday as I kissed him goodbye before he left for work, I felt a surge of gratitude that I'm able to have him here with me - healthy and happy. I think that every January I will think about that horrible winter when I watched my husband deteriorate before my eyes, not being able to comfort him or take his pain away. He suffered agonizing pain, sleepless nights, unbearable sickness, and embarrassing hair loss. We were both incredibly overwhelmed and at times couldn't get along at all. It was the longest three months of either of our lives, and I hope that we never have to go through anything so difficult again.

Tonight as I snuggle with the love of my life, I'm grateful for the blessing of time. I really believe the old cliche is true - time heals all wounds.

Trip down memory lane

Are there any other '90s kids out there that remember these shows? Ah, memories...





















Go to www.retrojunk.com and find your favorites from back in the day.

The great adventure of two crazy kids

My mom took Taylor for the day and Sean and I went on a day trip up Provo Canyon. It was so much fun!

The mountains are so beautiful this time of year. Bridal Veil Falls was really pretty and it was amazing to see all the ice fishermen at Deer Creek.


Our first stop was Heber City. We parked by Dairy Keen and walked up the main street in downtown Heber. We stopped at a cute little thrift shop called Second Chance. They had some great stuff for super cheap. Sean bought a vintage leather briefcase and I scored some amazing vintage children's books and novels.


Afterward we walked back down to Dairy Keen and had lunch. For those of you that haven't been there, it's a local burger joint that has some amazing food. Sean got a Train Burger with fries and I got their junior cheeseburger with onion rings. Yum-o!



After lunch we headed up to Park City. We stopped first at the outlet stores and right away Sean found a store he absolutely had to go to - The Oakley Vault. For those of you that don't know, Sean is absolutely obsessed with Oakley sunglasses, which is kind of funny since he can't wear them (at least not until he gets Lasik). Anyhoo, they actually had some great stuff there! Sean got a new hat and I bought a really awesome messenger bag that I absolutely l-o-v-e. The best part? Both the hat and bag together only set us back $25!



Sean insisted on going by Mrs. Field's next (he's got the biggest sweet tooth of anyone I know). We each got a cookie and split a milk.


Afterward we visited some more outlet shops and then headed up to Main Street in Park City. Now we went up there knowing full well that Sundance was going on, but had no idea just how crowded it would be. There were thousands of people there and absolutely nowhere to park. Rather than drive around aimlessly forever, we decided to head up to Salt Lake instead.

We drove down Parleys for the first time in a very long time and drove through Sugarhouse on our way to Gateway. We stopped by EmilieJayne, a sweet little consignment store that I used to work at. I visited for a while with my friend Rachel and we bought Sean a fantastic vintage phone for his office.


Our last stop was Gateway Mall for dinner. We went to California Pizza Kitchen because Sean had never been there. We got a garlic chicken pizza and MAN was it good! For dessert we had their chocolate banana fudge cake, which tastes just as good as it sounds. But the most amazing thing we had there was - surprisingly - their mango lemonade. It was fan-tastic!



After dinner we walked back to the car and headed home. Today really couldn't have turned out better. It's so nice to have some real quality time with my hubby. I love him so much and I'm so happy we had such a great time. I love you, babe!


(Also, let's do this more often.)

Under Da Sea

Last weekend we took Taylor to the Living Planet Aquarium up in Draper. We had so much fun (okay, maybe I enjoyed it just a little more than Tay did, but I digress). The most fascinating things to me were the jellyfish. It was so mesmerizing watching them swim around. Taylor liked the sharks, or "big fishies" as he kept saying over and over. He also liked watching the manta rays swimming in the shallow pool in the center of the aquarium. Mommy got to pet one of the rays, but Daddy wouldn't because he said he didn't want to die like the Crocodile Hunter guy did.

Here are some pics from our trip:






Afterward we went to Hires for lunch, and the best part of the meal - according to Taylor at least - was the blue Dum Dum sucker he got afterward. Think the sucker had a bit of blue dye in it?


It was a really great day and we had some great quality family time.

Am I good? I'm good.

(Name that movie!)

I'm not one to toot my own horn on a regular basis, but I need to brag. As some of you know, bargain shopping is one of my favorite hobbies as of late, sometimes to the extreme (yes, I get 5 Sunday papers a week just for the coupons). So I thought I would share my most recent purchase here on the 'ole blog as some of my other savvy shopper friends have done.

Here's what I purchased tonight:


10 boxes of Life cereal
4 boxes of Quaker instant oatmeal
8 boxes of Quaker chewy granola bars
8 Healthy Choice Cafe Steamers
3 canisters of Scrubbing Bubbles
3 bottles of Fantastik cleaner
4 bottles of Windex glass cleaner
2 cartons of Egg Beaters

And here's the math:
Purchase price before all deals and coupons: $163.85
Manufacturer coupon savings: $43.65
Hot Buy/Preferred savings: $85.98
Total amount paid: $34.22
TOTAL SAVINGS: $129.63

On top of that I got a $5.00 coupon off my next purchase.

I literally left the store patting my own back. Some people might think it's a little silly, but I figure with the economy in the state that it's in, it's the least I can do to pitch in and make our money stretch a bit farther.

[End of horn tooting.]

I know, I know...

I haven't posted a single thing about how our holidays went last month. The problem is that there is so much to cover and I don't have any pictures because they were all taken by family members and I haven't asked them for copies yet.

But just as a quick recap, our Christmas and New Years were fantastic. Honestly the best part about it was not having to worry about Sean's health through the holidays like we did last year. It was amazing to be able to really celebrate without constantly thinking about my husband being diagnosed with cancer just weeks before. It was also nice that Taylor was older and could appreciate Christmas so much more. He loved opening presents and visiting with family. It was fun to see and experience the magic of Christmas through my son. Sean and I literally could not sleep Christmas eve because we were so excited to see Taylor's face when he came into the living room and saw all the presents Santa brought.

This was probably one of the best holiday seasons of my life, and I look forward to many more with my amazing husband and sweet boy. We hope that all of our loved ones had great holidays as well, and we wish you all a healthy and prosperous new year!