HaPpY bIrThDaY LoVeS!

April is a busy month for us. Easter, Freyja's birthday, Jeff's birthday and our anniversary. 

It definitely makes it go by fast. 

We have something going on every weekend. 

FUN!!!

Over Easter weekend Freyja turned 1. Yay! 

What a year it has been. 

I never thought I would be one of those crazy dog ladies,

 but I totally am. I am pretty sure I love her more than I will my own children. ;-) 

Happy birthday my 86 pound, fluffy lap dog! 

Now, this past weekend Jeff turned....34! 

Holy smokes I married an old man!! ;-)

On his birthday, Friday the 13th, I surprised him 

with an awesomely geeky birthday gift. 

The FX Darth Maul light saber.

 Yeah I think I am regretting encouraging this one....

on the other hand,

 doesn't he just look like a little boy 

with his bedhead and big toy? 

Later that night I surprised him with dinner at 

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. 

YUMMY! Seriously the best steak I have EVER had.

The fun doesn't end there!

 The next night, I threw him a little birthday party. 

We had a Thanksgiving feast for his birthday

 with some friends and all the Thanksgiving fixings. 

Such Fun! 

A big thank you to all who were able

 to come and play with us!!

Hutch and Chair Re-do

Finally it is here!!! 

I finished my hutch and chairs AT LAST!

This task took me WAY too long. I have been lollygagging for over a year now and finally got the motivation to finish them...a dinner party for Jeff's birthday. 

Well, in case you all forgot, here is the BEFORE of the hutch: 

 Not bad for $75 off KSL. 

Any way, I ended up painting a first coat of  Annie Sloan chalk paint in duck egg and then topping it with a coat of ASCP in old white. 

I then distressed it to let the blue show through. 

After much debate  I also decided to keep the inside duck egg blue and then line the back of the hutch with a really pretty scroll fabric. 

The end result was, in my opinion, worth all the work. 

As for my chairs....I cannot seem to find my before picture..ANYWHERE. It really is frustrating. oh well.

Any way, I decided to match the chairs to my hutch. So, I reupholstered the cushions in the same scroll fabric and painted the chairs in old white ASCP.  I also distressed them.

 Very shabby chic. 

Ta Da! Now I can move on to my next project...

Mwahahahahahaha!

PS...I apologize for the poor photos. I had very bad lighting. ;-)

A New Year

Well, it is officially 2012 and I am starting the year off exhausted! (from all the holiday and birthday celebrations that have been going on the last 2 months.) 

 It has been so crazy the last few weeks that I haven't even attempted to take down Christmas.

Yep that's right, it's still Christmas at our house. I only kind of feel bad about that.

As a matter of fact, it's probably going to be Christmas at our house for at least 4 more days because I work the next few days and my birthday is on the 5th.

I can't imagine anything more depressing to do on your birthday than take down Christmas...so I won't. :-)

I decided that since it was the new year, I should make some resolutions. Not that my resolutions ever actually happen....I actually cant recall what my last years resolutions were....probably a good sign that they were never resolved.

Ok then!

First on the list, make sure to work on resolutions.

Maybe the problem in the past has been putting too many things on my list. Massive lists are bound to be shoved aside due to being overwhelming and impossible. So, this year I will try to limit it to three things I REALLY need to do.

1. Lose weight/get healthy. SIGH I am pretty sure the majority of the people on the planet have this exact same resolution.

I have had this resolution on my list for years....YEARS!

Alas, I really, really need to.

Since getting married and diagnosed I have become a very lazy person and have gained a lot.

So, I need to lose at least 30lbs....but I would LOVE to lose 50.

;-)

 I will dedicate myself to exercising EVERYDAY.

I will make the effort to do ballet 3x a week and walk Freyja everyday for at least 40min. Then of course I will recruit my husband into making me go to the gym a few times a week.

 That should get me moving! Maybe I will post weekly check-ins on my blog so that I have people to be accountable to.

Hmmmm yes....

2. Make an effort to get to know our home ward and become active with a calling.Yeah, since switching over to a family ward Jeff and I have been pretty inactive. It didn't help that we were both sick or out of commission the first year in the ward. OR that it started at 9am and my nightshift body doesnt do 9am. OR that we didn't feel at all welcome even though our bishop lives down the street as well as our RS president. BUT  it's a new year and we've been in the ward for 2 years now and they have finally decided to rotate off of the 9am schedule SO it is time to really make an effort.

3. Get those blasted credit cards paid off. Oh CC you are the bain of my existance. You are so evil and cunning. I love you and your convienient ways but I hate your nasty finance charges and interest.

Well, there you have it. A three resolution list. Oh boy!

I better stop blogging and do some squats or something.



Christmas Goodness

Oh, Christmas!

You come and then you go so quickly.

We prepare for Christmas all year long and then it seems to be gone in the bat of an eyelash.

SAD DAYS!

Jeff and I had a grand Chistmas full of family,

 presents, food, and knock of snuggies.

I just wish It had stuck around a little longer....

Maybe I will have to just leave up the decorations until February and pretend like it's still Christmas.

Bah! Just kidding...Or am I....

Rylie and Micah mirroring my EXACT feelings
 of excitement on Christmas eve.

Lily won the coveted marzipan pig. She only had to FORCE herself to eat 4 bowls of riskrem in order to find the almond. 

My cousin Erik showcasing one of the many ways to use his knock-of snuggie...that we all got...even the dog...

Jeff with his goods on Christmas morning. 
I had to tell A LOT of lies 
to keep him from finding out about that tablet.

 I made out like a bandit! 
Look at those boots!!! LOVE!
AND the Dyson animal Vacuum. LOVE

Freyja with her amazingly massive and messy Christmas bone. No, seriously, this thing is like a cow femur. 
She has been none stop on that bone. 
It is SUPER messy BUT it gives me the opportunity to 
whip out my fabulous vacuum. 

Freyja also loves the vacuum...
Well, she loves the box any way. 


MeRrY cHrIsTmAs!

NuTcRaCkEr, CoUsInS, zOoLiGhTs, and a ChRiStMaS cArOl PaRtY

Wow December has flown by and been cram packed with fun adventures! Pretty much all these adventures have happened in the past week. Nothing like waiting until the very last minute to do festive things. 

Last week I went with my SIL and niece to see the Nutcracker. I LOVE the nutcracker and was really excited to go see it. Jeff was also really excited for me to go see it...with someone other than him. ;-) BAH! One day he will be made to enjoy the amazing ballet with me. Mwahahahahahahahahhaha! Any way, Amber and Rylie had never been to the Nutcracker so this was an extra special experience. And of course, Rylie LOVED it! Ok....so  I know this is cheesey, but I totally became choked up at the first of the ballet because it was such a wonderful feeling being able to share something I love with two people I love and have them love it too. Awwwwwwe!  Yay for the Nutcracker goodness!

Getting beautiful. 

Rylie showing off the beautiful. 

A few day's later we had a Christmas celebration with the Dahl side of the family before my cousins from Norway went back home. Can you tell which ones were adopted? Yeah, yeah, I totally stand out. ;-) 

Later that night Jeff and I took his niece and nephew to Zoolights. So fun! I had never been but I totally recommend it. 

Last but not least, Jeff and I hosted a Christmas Carol themed dinner party. 

SO, I am sure you are wondering where in the world I would get and idea for something like that. 

Well, One day Jeff and I were shopping at Walmart, ugh! I know, I know! I hate Walmart but it really is the closest option and open all night long. Any way, there we were at Walmart buying some Cornish game hens when out of the corner of my eye I happened to notice a goose. A frozen goose that is. This spurred the topic of never having eaten a goose before. 

THEN, a brilliant idea started forming in my creative mind. 

We should have a Cratchet inspired dinner, goose and all. For then next month I researched everything I could about traditional old English Christmas feasts.

 It came down to a menu of the following: 

Roasted Goose

English roasted potatoes

Glazed carrots....(these ended up just being boiled)

Stuffing

Rolls

Mincemeat tarts

Sugar plums

Christmas pudding (also known as figgy pudding or plum pudding)

Brandy sauce

Butter Rum sauce

Wassail

I also added a pumpkin pie and a cherry pie for good measure...mostly because all those alcohol soaked dried fruit deserts made me a bit frightened. 

In the end, the roasted potatoes didn't get roasted enough...although the duck fat did give them an EXCELLENT flavor, the goose fell off the bone, the brandy flavored sauce was bleh, but the rum saturated sauce was excellent. Mmmmmmmm. Half the table loved the plum pudding...the other half, including myself, could do without eating it again. Same with the mincemeat. Half the table, including myself and Jeff, really enjoyed the mincemeat with a hardy helping of rum sauce, the other half....just enjoyed the rum sauce. 

An excellent party! Good food, good friends, and some totally awesome jokes from the Christmas crackers. 

Family Photos

Awhile back my SIL and I had an idea to get family photos done. We figured that we could pay to have them done and then frame a bunch for my parents for Christmas. A grand idea if I do say so myself. :-) Easy peasy. Also, It was my way of paying my parents back for making my brother and I get portraits done every 6months while growing up. 

We actually did them at the end of October and because I am a little bit of a control freak I kind of made us use my fabulous wedding photographer. And guess what, they turned out great! Well, at least I think they turned out great...

 

Here are some of the favorites. Sorry they are so late...I got more than a little caught up in the holiday hustle and bustle.  

 Ok, but seriously, isn't my niece freaking adorable?!?! I just LOVE her. I totally spoil her.

 

Oh, and of course I couldn't leave out OUR "family photo"...