Ben's cooking fiasco

My sweet husband saw a picture on a blog I was looking at of some cookies and said "oooh those look good, let's make them!"

I reply "I've got to go to a meeting; if you go to the store and grab what we need I'll make them when I get back." He agrees.

I return from the meeting 40 minutes overdue, feeling bad. I open the door, and am assaulted by the delicious smell...

...of something burning and lots and lots of melting wax... as if there are twenty burning candles in the house...

He looks at me and says, with the most darling and slightly frantic face, "I've made so many mistakes!"

I enter the house as he asks "Isn't parchment paper the same as wax paper?"

"No, they're different," I reply.

"Oh, I figured they were the same." Hence the smell of twenty candles as the wax paper melts in the oven.

"What can I do to help?" I say. He suggests that I load the dishwasher. I begin, and a moment later he calls out.

"I just sprayed canola oil in my face!" He's very stressed at this point, but taking it all in stride. Neither of us can stop laughing.

I continue with the dishes as he begins to frost the cookies. He turns around after just a moment, with frosting spilling down his face.

He smiles pathetically and says "I need to go take a shower."

He was perfectly clean before he began baking.

Before he headed off to the bathroom to clean up, we each took a cookie. In spite of it all, they tasted amazing!

What a wonderful man. I laughed so hard. Thanks Babe!

Uplifting thought for you!!

In our young women class on Sunday the teacher read this poem and I thought it was so sweet. Definitely some good reminders, I hope you like it as much as I did!

Beauty Tips

By Audrey Hepburn

For attractive lips, speak words of kindness.

For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people.

For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry.

For beautiful hair, let a child run his/her fingers through it once a day.

For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

People, even more than things, have to be

restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed;

never throw out anyone.

Remember, if you ever need a helping hand,

you will find one at the end of each of your arms.

As you grow older, you will discover that you have

two hands, one for helping yourself, and the other

for helping others.

Welcome to Hogwarts!!

First things first, Halloween is over and it's officially time to be ringing in the Christmas cheer! Decorations for the blessed season will be going up at our house withing the next two weeks so it's starting out here!

Secondly, I chopped my hair... in August, but the camera broke on our backpacking trip, so here is the hairdo debut!

And last the best of all the game, we experienced a most splendid Halloween celebration that I must share with all of you! Any Harry Potter fans here? If so, you may be rightly envious. The evening started when Tyrel and his fam and another couple drove to our house for some delicious dinner.Then we loaded up in the cars (leaving the darling trick-or-treaters to ring at an empty house. Sorry children!) and headed off to Hogwarts! One of the OB's at my work turns his property into the most magical experience, complete with Dumbledore, doe-shaped Patronus', and the Three Broomsticks! It's like Christmas morning for Harry's devoted fans, and kindest gesture of all? It's completely free!

The girls and Ben, entering Platform 9 and 3/4.

Enjoying a pumpkin juice at the Three Broomsticks

Luna Lovegood, Rita Skeeter, Prof. Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy and Fleur Delacour posing with us. They were fabulous. Luna showed me how to get the nargles out of my head!

The sorting hat... Sadly I was put in Hufflepuff, which I'm sorry to say could be the worst one!

It's alright though because Mahala, dressed as a darling cow, joined me there!

Dobby. He was handing out golden snitches to all of Harry's admirers :)

Basically, if you are near O-town next Halloween, it's well worth the drive!

Try this bad boy out

Once a month Ben and Kelli go on their grocery shopping excursion. All is going well, they are happy and laughing and the cart is filling up with food. Ben gets his junk food while Kelli has to remind him that they also need to purchase "real" food. Nothing wrong there. Then the inevitable happens: the laundry aisle. Somehow, this most obnoxious and expensive purchase usually sours the mood. Kelli is a cheap-o and wants the cheapest detergent, while Ben is very, very particular about smells. So after a few minutes of debate, they continue on their way with their ten dollars of laundry detergent. However, one day Kelli made a most remarkable find: homemade laundry detergent!! (As blogged by her delightsome cousin Amy). So they gave it a try, and it was a huge hit. Now the whole family is making their own, and saving big bucks while they do so. Try it, they promise you'll love it!

You will need:

1 Bar of Fels Naptha
1 Cup of Arm and Hammer Laundry Soda
1/2 Cup of Borax

All of these can be found in the laundry aisle, however Walmart doesn't carry the Fels Naptha or Laundry Soda. I purchased mine instead at Macey's grocery store. They should total altogether about $7.

Instructions:

Grate the Fels Naptha and add to a saucepan with 4 cups of hot water. Stir continually over medium-low heat until the soap dissolves and melts. Fill a 5-gallon bucket half full of very hot tap water. Add the melted soap/water mixture, the laundry soda and the Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Fill the bucket to the top with more hot water. Stir, cover and let sit overnight to thicken. It will look like Egg Drop Soup when it's ready- don't worry, this is normal!!

Stir before using. Use 1/2 cup for top loading machines, or 1/4 cup for front loading. One bucket makes about 200-400 loads, depending on the washing machine.

The price on this bad boy equals about $2 per 5 gallons. Not too shabby, eh?!

Fairview camping

Over the 24th of July we went camping to Fairview with my family. I know it was a month ago, but hey... we don't have internet quite yet. However, it should finally be hooked up within the next week-ish, plus our tv, which means one thing to me: English. We for some reason have just three channels, all Spanish speaking. Ben rather enjoys watching them, because he understands it all, but I get maybe a fourth of what they're saying, so see ya later. ...Okay off that tangent. We went camping and it was way fun. We went canoeing and float tubing and fishing (which I don't enjoy but I make great company!) So here are some pics. EnJOy!!

Anyone who knows my mom will appreciate this picture. She might not, seeing as how now it's online, but she's hilarious.

Ethan and Mahala. Stinking cute.

Ben and I preparing to go float tubing. I LOVE this!!

One of many pictures of Maddox pretending to sleep on the rocks.

Ben and the girls. Avie is trying to make a peace sign... couldn't quite get that pinky finger to stay down though!

Us and my sister's adorable kids

"You know you're in love when...

...you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." -Dr. Seuss


Ben and I celebrated our second anniversary on July 18th. Crazy!!!! I can't believe how fast time has flown by! We celebrated by taking a 3 day weekend and driving up to Idaho for our niece's birthday party at the pool on the 17th. It was darn cute! Then we came home and played hard all day. We saw Harry Potter, of course, and yes I did love it, even though there are many haters out there. Then we shopped til we dropped and went out to eat. All in all a fabulous and leisurely day with my hubby.
Seriously though, I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown. Here are a few memories that still seem like yesterday...

The first date: Ben asked me to meet him in Salt Lake to go to a Demolition Derby in Coalville. I said yes and then bailed on him (brat, I know!) However, my sisters told me I was a jerk and told me I had to call him back and make the date. Good thing I listened to them!
The first "I love you": Sitting on the awfully hideous gold couch in the basement that I rented with Taryn and Christie, Ben and I were watching a movie... We had been been dating about 3 1/2 months. I didn't hear what he said so I said "huh?" and he had to say it again. Of course leave it up to me to not hear those three most magical words!
The first kiss: Worst kiss EVER!! Ha ha. It was awful. Third date, he walked me to my door. I figured he wasn't going to do it, since he practically waited til the credits were rolling in the movie to hold my hand! I don't think he even knew if he was going to do it or not til the last second. Something about it, not sure what... but we both agreed it was our worst kiss ever, no contest.
The first Christmas: (After we were married) We were so broke! We'd been married 5 months and I had just barely found a job. We had a borrowed Christmas tree from my parents and I took ten dollars to the dollar store to buy decorations. When we woke up Christmas morning we opened the gifts we'd gotten each other and then wanted to make a special Christmas breakfast before going to his sister's house. However, upon inspection we discovered that we had no bread, no milk, and no eggs. So we drove to his parents to make some breakfast there. Mom told us to wait and just eat the big turkey meal his sister was preparing, so we drove down there. She wasn't home and the food wasn't started. By this time we were pretty hungry, but no stores are open on Christmas. So what did we do? That's right... we drove to the only open gas station and bought a hot dog!! In retrospect it makes for a great memory!


Life is beautiful, especially with this wonderful husband by my side! There's craziness and chaos and an abundance of happiness! I'm thankful everyday to be his wife!


In other news, we have spent the last few weeks camping with both sides of our family. Fabulous, of course! Pictures will be coming soon :)

Look at these faces!!

This is my brother Tyrel's wife Meagan and their two and a half month old girl Mahala. The three of them came up for a visit on Sunday and we had so much fun! I can't get enough of that beautiful baby girl. She's got a darling little pug nose, even more darling because no one knows who it came from. She's got a shock of dark hair and the most adorable smile!

Beautiful baby Mahala!!

On Friday and Saturday Ben and I babysat a friends' little girl. She's a year and a half old and honestly one of the prettiest kids I have ever seen. I didn't get a very good picture of her but even in these crappy phone pics you can see she's beautiful! She was so cuddly, and so so good! I figure if our children are half as well behaved as her then maybe I could handle being a mom!

Absolutely darling, aren't they?

Because you asked...

...I will answer!

Some of you have asked questions about school, work, where we want to move, etc, so I thought I'd give it to you!! (Plus I can't think of anything more exciting to tell you about :) )

So Ben and I are both up at Weber State. He is graduating in December in Business Marketing. I am SO excited for him to be done!! He is working really hard and I am super proud of him. I still have two years left, but when I am done I'll be a high school English teacher. That will be a sweet day!!

Ben works at a company selling service for signs, and his dad works at the same company selling the actual signs themselves. I work as a tech in the hospital in Labor and Delivery/Mother-Baby, since they are the same floor. It's pretty sweet. I spend my time handing instruments in c-sections and bathing brand new babies. Ben has a desk job and I run my behind off, so he is sometimes confused as to why I am exhausted when I get home!

Also, we put our house up for sale but have since decided we may just wait til Ben graduates before we move. We were going to move a little bit south to Layton/Syracuse area, but we'll see. I absolutely love my house. It's tiny with a massive yard and it's basically adorable, so I am well content to stay for another year!

That's the up-date! Hopefully we take a sweet trip somewhere soon or else something else more exciting comes for me to enlighten you with. Until then...! :)

Hmmm....

School's out. sigh. so much time on my hands now. Don't worry, I still work full time. But at the hospital that translates into three twelve hour shifts a week... and four wonderful days off. Last week, the first week with no school, I was fairly productive. I cleaned the house, ran the errands, and somehow passed the time without feeling like I was completely wasteful of it. However, this week, I've got a book. and it's a good book. So yesterday, I read... for eight hours. How my body didn't wildly protest to that, I don't know. But it was rather enjoyable. Now what to do with the rest of the summer?!

note: I am not always THAT lazy. Just occasionally, such as when I find a really good book. Or when I feel like watching A&E's five hour "Pride and Prejudice." I do know how to exercise, so try not to judge me too harshly!

The Grand Gulch

Unreliable internet as well as a busy few weeks has kept me from posting. However, don't let the lack of post fool you into thinking we have been sitting on our rears staring into space! We finished finals up at Weber State last week, it feels fabulous! We are also trying to sell our house, and trying not to get our hopes up too high, lest there be no buyer. But just maybe! I mean, it's darling, who wouldn't want it?! And last yet certainly not least... We returned last week from our much anticipated backpacking trip to the Grand Gulch! Yes that's right, peeps... it was amazing! We joined with Ben's boss and a co-worker, Ben's sister and brother-in-law, and a few other kind people, and embarked on this wonderful adventure. We hiked through some beautiful scenery as well as Anasazi Ruins that are between 800 and 2000 years old. It was an incredibly awe-inspiring journey and we were so glad to see the legacy of those people.
Enjoy a few of our pics...

The beginning... we had no idea what we were in for...

Ben's sister and brother-in-law

These were amazing. We think the one on the left was of a pregnant person... there is a person inside the bigger person. And don't worry, the one on the right was the male...

Marking the start and finish points

36 miles later... We did it!! I was astonished!

This may be too gushy for you, brace yourself

Just a little love for the man who

* cleans the whole house every Saturday that I work, and even moves the furniture and vacuums under it!

* Calls me Kelloggs even though I hate it, and he laughs everytime :)

* made dinner every night last week, and it was always delicious

* works so hard for our little family, every single day

* makes me laugh until I cry, and then a little bit more

*appreciates everything I do, even when it's not very much!

* makes my lunch and irons my clothes so that I can get to bed early for work... even though it's my own fault for procrastinating

*Reminds me that life shouldn't be taken too seriously

* lets me call him over and over just to talk, even though he hates talking on the phone

* gives the best and most comfortable hugs in the world... they always make me feel better even when I didn't know I needed to

* treats me like a queen


My family came to visit today, and unfortunately I had to work until 5:30. Ben, being the most wonderful man that he is, made sure the house was spotless, cooked the potatoes and rolls, baked brownies, and marinated and then barbecued the chicken, all while I was at work. I got home just as my family pulled in, and Ben had everything ready for us. He even changed the scentsy so that the house smelled delicious! He is my favorite person and my absolute best friend. Thanks Baby!

Temple Open House

Last weekend Ben and I drove down to Draper to go with my family to the Draper Temple Open House. It was such a fun time and the temple was beautiful, of course! While going through my eleven year old nephew and my eight year old niece and nephew walked with me and wanted to learn about everything. It was a sweet thing to be able to share that experience with them. As we left they were so excited to go back someday. Isn't that how we all should be!

My nephew and I afterward

My Benny and I

(The pictures are from my cell phone so they aren't very good or very clear. Sorry!)

Fabulous. Who thought of this?

Ben's parents bought a Wii a few weeks ago, and let me just tell ya... way fun! Instead of the usual after dinner routine (Which consists of everyone getting on their laptops while I find a book to read, because (sigh) I am the only one who doesn't own a laptop :)), we get up and play! I much prefer this to the silence of the laptop-lovers.

The two biggest losers had to do dishes! Ah, father and son, aren't they the cutest? They didn't even complain!

A rousing game of tennis, ha ha

They call me the Windmill, perhaps you can see why?
I swept the night with my fantastic high score, might I add!
(Which Ben blew away the next time we played, but for a night, I was Queen!)

Road Trip!!

Preface: I took a number of pictures that would have illustrated this post better, but we have lost our cord and I can only upload them at Ben's work. Sorry!

On Wednesday, Ben and I took a little road trip. We skipped school, I left work early, and we got in Ben's company car and drove for five hours. Our destination: Riverton, Wyoming. Ben has to drive around and look at business signs for his work. Every Monday we drive around Layton, Kaysville, Roy or Logan and check to see who needs their sign fixed. Every three or so months we go to Wyoming to check up on them there. It's not very eventful, but I always love it! Ben drives (He very rarely takes me up on my offer to switch. Maybe I scare him!) and I read a book. There's a Little America Hotel right smack in the middle of nothing, and they have great ice cream. Once we get to Lander, Wy (a small town near Riverton where we also look at the signs), we always stop and get some hometown cooking. We look at their one street of business signs, then drive down to Riverton. They actually have two main streets so there are a few more signs to take pictures of. After that, we headed to the hotel, prepared to go swimming. Of course, once we arrived we saw that the pool was closed (They always are at hotels, at least the ones we go to!) So we lounged around and got bored. Ben took pity on me, and we braved the cold weather to make a late night run to Walmart. There we stocked up on Sobe's and dried fruit. Ben was adorable, and scored the aisles until he found the exact brand of dried mangoes that I was craving. Thanks, Benny! Back at the hotel, we ate our fruit and lay in bed watching tv. A perfect evening :) The next day we drove home and got to spend the rest of the afternoon together. Ah, for cuter! In a nutshell, the lives of a young married couple with no children may not be all that exciting, but we sure like it!

We have arrived!!

Well friends, we have finally arrived! Welcome us officially to the world of blogging, because we are here!! I have very much enjoyed blog-stalking all of you, and was content to let my own blog go un-started. However, I have come to the conclusion that if we are to be remembered by our peeps, most of whom don't live near, then we had better get blogging! When repeatedly asked why we had no blog, my answer has always been this - the excitement factor would be nill. And while the excitement factor hasn't really gone up much, hopefully the little enjoyments of our life will be enough to keep you remembering about us! So here we are, living it up in Ogden, and we are so glad you're reading!