Christmas is Here!

We put up our Christmas tree, actually we did it a while ago...right after Thanksgiving! I have just been under the weather so therefore I'm just getting to this blog, in fact, I took this picture of the tree while sitting on the couch! Oh well! So we usually use my parents flocked tree and I LOVE it, but it is always a HUGE mess and Eric always has to do the brave project of the stringing the lights and looks like he has been in blizzard when he is finished, because of this, we decided to use my parents (apparently they buy and rent out trees?) pre-lit tree. It still looks pretty, but I do love and miss the flock!!

And since I just can't wait for Christmas I thought I would make these yummy spritz cookies! It was my first time using a cookie press so it took a while to get the hang of it, but they do taste amazing!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yay For Crafts...and Cake!

Craft Night has officially begun in Logan! Since moving from Orem I realized that I really missed my craft night/girls night, so I took matters into my own hands. Even though one of us girlies couldn't make it, we still had a good time and successful craft! We did have to make this a 2 day event...which wasn't too disappointing, we like to see each other and have a good excuse to do so! Check out my beautiful cranberry wreath...or should I say chanberry (if you know me, you know that I can pretty much quote friends when talking about ANYTHING) even a cranberry wreath!

Our next idea is a Christmas advent calendar, watch for our cute design idea...we are pretty excited about it!

Also Eric had a Birthday, Shout Hooray! Eric is 25 years old! Chloe, our niece, said he was now like an old Grandpa...YIKES! I made this banner to greet Eric on his special day! (it is still hanging in our home because I am not going to lie I was a little proud of it and I couldn't stand just letting it hang for one day!)

Funny Story about the German Chocolate cake... so for like a whole week I kept asking Eric what kind of cake he would like for his Birthday and he kept saying "Whatever you want, I don't really care." Keep in mind Eric doesn't really care too much for desserts generally. I usually know exactly which cake I want! Well finally the day before I decided to ask once more and he replyed with a German Chocolate cake and I was excited I said "Oh that sounds good I didn't think you would like that." and he said "Oh I didn't think YOU would like it." Funny because you can still learn something after 3 years!!

Eric and his cake, can you believe this guy is 25 years old?!?


Blowing out the candles!

Eric had a happy birthday and now we are very excited to our family for Thanksgiving!!

Fun Day Out

Since today was Columbus Day I had the day off! Ahh the joys of the financial industry! So I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with my two best girls, Mrs. Stephanie and her sweet little Miss Ella. It was So Much Fun! Ella has learned so many new words and things each time I see her, She's so smart! We started our afternoon with lunch at Costa Vida, YUM! Ella enjoyed watching the TV that showed people surfing, which she she then would say "Water" and she would say "Hi" and wave to other patrons enjoying their lunches, they would smile and think "That the cutest girl EVER." Yeah, she is! We then decided to make some fun of our dear city. We started at D.I. but didn't find much excitement there, so we traveled to Ross, and that is where our real fun began! We just went about the isles looking at this or that. Ella found a pillow that was "Soft" so she decided to take a short nap on it "shhhh" she would say. Then we found the hair pieces and decided to try them on Ella, even though they were made for adults. It was fun, and even the ugliest ones look SO adorable on her, right? here is a photo shoot of our fun...

We then spent some time at The Hobby Lobby and Sugar and Spice and our day ended when Ella began twirling her hair indicating it was time for another nap!

Thanks Stephanie and Ella I had such a fun day!!

The Hunger Games

So I've begun reading the most amazing book! Yes, it is The Hunger Games! I have heard that there is going to be a movie, which can be exciting! I have seen others opinions on who should play the part of each character, but this was before I started reading so I didn't pay too much attention. Now that I seriously can't stop thinking about this book, I thought I would make some judgements of my own!

Katniss
not only can Emma Roberts look the part, but I think she could really play the part well.

Prim
For Prim my first thought was Dakota Fanning, but she has grown up fast! Good thing she has a little sister!

Gale
for me, Gale was probably the hardest. I know he is a bit old for Katniss, but he is still hot so we can make it work.

Peeta
When I saw other's versions of Peeta I thought he looked so girly and whimpy, not Peeta. There aren't many blond actors out there for me to think of, but I finally found this treasure and he has a strong face like I would imagine Peeta would have.

Haymitch
okay so this is unfair, really. I saw that someone had chosen "House" as Haymitch and once I started reading that is all I could picture, because really they are one in the same!

Effie

at first I was going to choose Nicole Kidman, because of her poise for this role, but as I thought about it I just love Jessalyn Gilsig for Effie and I imagine her being a lot like her character from Glee with all the crazy things she would say.

Cinna
absolutely perfect for Cinna! I would just keep thinking about how in The Devil Wears Prada he would be like the motherly stylist to Anne Hathaway's character, so I can just see it!

So those are my opinions!! If you have read the book, tell me what you think!

Influenza

I have been neglecting this blog for a while. One of those reasons, as of late, would be that I have recently been so sick! I really haven't been this sick ever! We woke up Saturday Sept. 3rd, early, to make our way to Midway for the infamous Swiss Days events, and I arose with a horrible sore throat and congestion. We still went to Swiss Days and I ended up feeling better throughout the day. We stayed down in Spanish Fork Saturday night and I again woke up Sunday feeling incredibly ill, but this time worse, and this time it didn't go away. I was miserable and just wanted my own bed. Luckily the next day was Labor day and I was able to spend the whole day in bed, only that didn't help much Monday I began coughing and things just got worse. I still went to work on Tuesday because I really didn't know what else to do and since I didn't feel good I went to the doctor on Wednesday morning, but naturally, it was just a virus, so that afternoon I went back to work again and just tried to get through the day. Thursday was the same, just trying to get through the day. At this point my cough is so uncontrollable it is embarrassing to be at work. I wake up on Friday and decide that there is no way that I can make it even though I know that I have a long weekend ahead of me (I didn't have to work the following Monday) so I finally decided to call in sick. I spend Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in bed and I finally feel better, not all better, but enough to go to work and not feel like I am just trying to get through the days. I just can't wait to be all better and no more tickle in my throat and able to sing along to my music again, you know without my voice cracking! The good news is my house is all decorated for fall harvest and it is cooling down here in Logan and I can feel that crisp fall air! I love fall!

Goodbye July

Crossing the Sandridge Windborg
Masterpieces

I love this picture, which was actually painted by our talented Bishop here in Logan. My favorite Holiday my whole life has been Pioneer Day. I never really knew what I was celebrating...maybe I was just celebrating myself (my birthday is the 23rd.), but I love this time of year. I love the summer sun, spending time with family, fireworks, friends, rodeos, sno cones, potato salad, birthday cake (maybe that is just me), and what ever else you can think of!

This year July was awesome! We spent wonderful quality time up here in Logan and got to drive down to visit family for the festivious weekends. The fourth of the July we came down to celebrate Independence Day with our families. We got to go golfing, see good movies (Eclipse, and Toy Story 3) visit the colonial days in Provo, and go shooting at the cabin.

During the month of July here in Logan it has been extremely hot! The best thing about a dry heat is that you can escape it, the shade is a wonderful place to be! The evenings haven't been so bad either. It has cooled down enough that after work we can kick around a soccer ball at the park, feed the ducks next to our house, and this Saturday we took a trip to the Farmers Market.

For the Pioneer weekend we took off again to Spanish Fork, you cannot miss Fiesta Days! Friday we celebrated my birthday, which shockingly is our only picture from the entire months events!!

Saturday was wonderful fun, we had a huge luncheon with all my cousins, we took lots of naps, we got a Texas Twister (my first one...so good!), and of course went to the rodeo! Most importantly it was just nice to have so much fun and see our families. The nice thing about being so far away from them is that we feel like, ironically, we see them so much more. When we come down for the weekend we are with then the entire time as opposed to when we lived in Orem.

I am also grateful that I can truly appreciate the true reason that we celebrate this time of year! I am so grateful for the Pioneers and what they did to establish this beautiful place that we call home! I know that we all have our trials here on earth, and I also know I would have never made it as a Pioneer! They are all such wonderful examples of great faith and obedience. How amazing! I am sure glad that they all had the faith and the courage to make it all the way and continue to till the land and make it a wonderful home. I love Utah it is beautiful!

So while we were cruisin our newest little nephew was born. This is Grayson Scott Barrick. Eric's sister, Christina has some of the cutest kids! We finally got to spend some quality time with little Grayson while Christina was doing hair, and the little guy got so comfy, he feel asleep in my arms! He is so cute and small and has TONS of dark brown hair!

He looks so peaceful, I didn't dare move a muscle!

This weekend for date night we decided to see what it was like at the Willow Park Zoo! It was so much fun. The Willow Park Zoo is just this little zoo in Logan it has a few animals, mostly birds. We grabbed a Tigers Blood sno cone on our way in to see the animals and admission is only $1 so this was a real fun cheap date! We had a good time!

Here is the pretty peacock, he was loose so it kind of freaked me out.

The wise old owl.

This little chubby guy is a chuckar, I have actually eaten chuckar once...tasted like chicken.

a wallaby.


our favorite part was to see the Bald Eagles, they are so cool looking and they just demand your attention! They look so strong and noble.

Here are the two bald eagles they have. They aren't in cages because they had been injured in the wild so they cannot fly away. It is neat to see them just sitting free like that though.


afterwards we went to eat at Panda, so here is us with our fortunes!


Much love from Logan!

Our Humble Home.

We love our new home in Logan and we have finally gotten settled in and made it feel like "home" It is really close to everything (pretty much everything in Logan is close...) but it really is very close to work and just down the hill from Campus and the Temple. We have really loved living in Logan so far, it is so different from Utah County, more than I really ever thought it would be. Everybody is really nice and friendly, Everybody seems to know each other. I think we are going to like it here.

Here is a tour of our little place we will be calling home for the next little while. This is our kitchen, I love all of the cupboard space! This is something I've never really had in either apartment that I've lived in so I don't really know what to do with it yet, but I like it!

I also really love the Island with bar stools it is nice to just sit up at the bar instead of the table all the time.
Here is our living room. It is smaller than we are used to so we are down a couch, but that is fine we are just two people so it is really all that we need. I really love the windows in this place, they let in so much natural light. We are also in the top level so that is good as well, no more basements for us!

Here is our bathroom. There is actually two vanities so me and Eric have our own, this is so nice for when we are getting ready at the same time. Believe or not we get in each others way a lot.

Our bedroom is pretty much the same as our previous bedroom, but a little smaller.

We also have a second bedroom that has a guest bed, yes come and visit us! We don't have it set up yet so I didn't include pictures, but we are excited to have a place where people can come and visit. It is just a twin bed, but it will be fun!

Cruisin, Movin, & Workin

We are back from our cruise and we had a blast! This picture is in Cabo San Lucas as the ship was leaving port. We starting off the trip by taking the long drive to California with my brother, Heaston. We stopped at Eric's sister Katie and Dave's place to spend the night. We got to spend some time at Laguna Beach and eat a fantastic dinner at Lucille's, the next morning we were awaken by a wonderful breakfast and scurried out the door with homemade cinnamon rolls!

Our first day on the ship we just sort of explored, the next two days were "days at sea" so we got to lay out by the pools, play mini golf, see some shows, and just relax. There is no choice, you MUST relax on a cruise, I love it! Then we went to Puerto Vallarta where we went on a snorkeling excursion. We saw jellyfish, played on a secret beach, and saw thousands of Dolphins! The next day was Mazatlan, this day we just toured the city. We visited a beautiful cathedral and went to a flea market that was insane lots of fruits, vegetables, and meats (no piece left behind, the heads and the feets!) Then we went to Cabo. It was beautiful at Cabo. We took some family pictures and spent the rest of the day shopping around. This was our shortest day, we had to get back to the ship by 3:00. After Cabo a storm came in and the ship was really rocky and we all got pretty sea sick on the way home. Eric was still sick once we got home (I think it is because he held that iguana in Mexico!) It was a wonderful trip. Too bad it had to end!

As soon as we returned home we finished packing and moved up to Logan! It was a very quick move, but I was offered a position to transfer branches so I could still work at Mountain America and I couldn't turn that down. We are all settled here in Logan and I have been working at my new branch for a week now. I will be posting pictures of our new place soon. I miss my old branch, I had some great co-workers, but luckily my new co-workers are really nice and friendly. I am now a teller again, which I love, but I have been able to still do some loans and new accounts so that is nice too. Logan is so different than Utah County, more than I expected it to be. Everyone is so friendly, it's kinda nice. So far, we love Logan, but we miss our friends!

3 Cheers....and molten lava cake?

Yes, it is time to celebrate! The end of the semester is finally upon us, and Eric took his last final last night! Considering Eric's classes this semester were Strength of Materials, Dynamics, Calculus 3, and Ethics and Values (had to finally get that one in there) or Math, Math, and more Math (just in case you are unfamiliar with those courses), I haven't had much of a husband this semester. So I believe that the end of the semester is something to celebrate!

Our cruise is in 16 days! yay!

A "Thank You" well overdo...

So a month or so ago my dear sister-in-law wrote this blog post, and I thought "Yeah She is right, Katie is always right...She is very wise." But I didn't really think much more about it, that is until this past month.

For the month of April, my mom saved me 50 bucks! Seriously, I love her! We have super-cool landlords who, while paying a visit to fix something at our humble abode, took notice to fact that I try to maintain a nice, clean home that we can enjoy. I mean a clean home is a happy home, right? Well the next time we saw our landlords they told us to take $50.00 off our rent for keeping our place so clean! Thanks, first to our landlords and second to my mother! Really if it was for my mom getting on my case about dusting every week, and tidying every single day I wouldn't have these skills.

I can vividly remember my mom telling me "If you tidy every day, it will be so much easier to keep you room clean and you will be grateful when it comes time to dust at the end of the week." and she is right! A little bit of tidy when I get home from work goes a long way!

I can also remember her instructing me to rinse my dish before putting it in the sink. "If you rinse your dish, it will make it so much easier when it comes time to wash all the dishes." what do you know, right again! I washed a sink full of semi-dirty dishes today and it only took 10 min.

So I just wanted give my dear mother a well overdo Thank You!

Burlap N E 1?

So I've been wanting new lampshades for these lamps we have in our living room, and I finally decided that "Hey I'm crafty" so I made some myself! I took my current lampshades and covered them with fabric, and since burlap is oh so in right now I used some of that! It was so easy and so fun and I'm really pleased with how they turned out! Plus I made them myself!!

This is my small end table lamp. I embellished it with some ribbon and a fancy button, I love it!

This is our tall lamp, next to the couch. We don't have a light in our living room so we really rely on these lamps. Surprisingly the round shade was harder than the square one and I couldn't figure out how to put the ribbon around it.

I forgot to take "before" pictures, but here are some pictures I took a while ago just of our living room. You can see the lamps in the background and so you can see how they used to look.

I love crafting on the weekends while Eric does homework!