This is NOT an announcement!!!

This Christmas season I got a Seasonal job at The Children's Place. I mostly got this job because it was easy to come by and because I wanted to earn extra money for our Carribean cruise. I have a coworker whose wife is the Assistant Manager at The Children's Place in the University Mall. During a conversation he mentioned that I should work there for the Christmas season. I didn't give too much thought to it until he brought me an application. I filled it out but still wasn't sure how much I wanted to commit to it. I quickly got a phone call from the manager, we tried to set up a time for job interview but couldn't ever coordinate our schedules. Our casual conversation went so well that I was hired over the phone on the spot. Well I was committed now. :)

I worked there November, December, and a little bit of January. I just worked 1-2 days a week and only evenings after work. I would go straight from my 8-5 job to a shift from 6-closing. And they were great at giving me Thanksgiving off to go to AZ, the time I need for Christas to enjoy my family, and our anniversary, New Year's Eve, and my birthday off. I really couldn't complain, they made it easy to work there. And I really loved my coworkers.

When I would tell people that I was working there, I would get warned over and over that this job would make me baby hungry and I would start spending my whole paycheck on adorable clothes for future kids. But I assured them this job was perfect for me for that reason that I had no use for the clothes and would actually take my whole paycheck home. I will admit I did see a lot of cute clothes for babys and toddlers. And I was awesome at not spending a dime there until my last day of work. They got the new Spring clothes and I just couldn't pass this up. We eventually will use it.............SOME DAY!!! (Once again this is NOT an announcement.)

Too appropriate to pass up!

My 30th Birthday

Wow I am getting old. And you know what makes me feel even older??? Knowing that my husband and I won't be in the same decade for another 6 years. :P

For my 30th birthday, I think Matthew really felt the pressure since not only was it a very monumental birthday but also because my birthday landed on a Sunday so we celebrated on Saturday which meant he also had to plan New Year's Eve. Matthew was very secretive about his plans. (I think he learned that from me) Unfortunately I have a hard time not being in control so I think I might have kept ruining his plans while trying to "help."

His plans started with him taking me to breakfast on Saturday at a local restaurant we hadn't tried before. I actually really liked this idea because I really like a traditional breakfast of eggs, hashbrowns, and sausage but he hates eggs so we don't have them often. With going to the restaurant, he could get his biscuits and gravy he never gets and I get my omelette I love. At the restaurant, he surprised me with my birthday present of $150 shopping spree. I have been wanting to go shopping for a while so I loved this present!!! We headed to SLC and checked out all my favorite stores. Why is that when you have money to spend you can't find anything but when you don't have money that is when you find stuff?

Then as a splurge to celebrate my birthday and our anniversary we missed, we made reservations at The Melting Pot. This wasn't part of Matthew's plans but something I threw in when I found out we were in the area already. I had been to Melting Pot before and knew it was expensive but I wanted to go there once with Matthew. We will probably never have the money to go there again. But they had a special for New Year's Eve which included a cheese fondue, meat fondue, and chocolate fondue. Mmmmm good. Plus if you go there on your birthday or anniversary, you get chocolate covered strawberries. So we got two sets of them. Wahoo!

Sorry we aren't great photographers.

Then for New Year's Eve night, we went home and had my brother Matt and his wife Nikki and their baby Lynlee over to our house. We got pizza and played games. We had a really good time with them. We were really glad we could ring in 2012 with them.

Sunday Matthew still spoiled me by having more plans for my birthday. He woke up in the morning and cooked me Crepes. They were delicious and it was his first time making them. Then we went to church where I got sang to in Primary. After church Matthew made me my favorite rainbow chip cake while I cooked dinner and we made homemade ice cream. Mistie's family stopped for dinner and cake and ice cream on their long drive home to Arizona from Christmas break. I loved having them and I am so glad that I had my family around to celebrate.

Look at all those candles!

Christmas & Our 1st Anniversary

Christmas was very special this year. It was our first Christmas married and it also marked our first year of marriage. The year went by so fast we couldn't believe it and it wasn't anything like what people told us about the rough 1st year of marriage. All I can say (knock on wood) I hope they are all as easy as our 1st year of marriage.

For Christmas, Matthew's parents made a last minute decision to come to Utah for Christmas. We enjoyed a couple evening with them before the holidays which included Matthew joining them to go to Temple Square and him going shooting with his dad and brothers. For Christmas though, we spent it with my family in North Ogden. Matthew and I didn't have a long visit with them. We went North on Dec 23rd and headed back Christmas Night. But we were there for the most important parts. Which for me wasn't even Christmas but the evening of the 23rd. We made special arrangments for my parents and all of my siblings to go to the temple to do the temple work for my brother Marcus. We wanted to make this experience extra special not just by all being able to go do it together but we also went on Marcus' 39th birthday. I can't explain how amazing it was to be waiting in the chapel and looking around to see all of my family with me in a very holy place. There were lots of tears but also so many good feelings. I almost hope we can make this a tradition for every year.

After Christmas, Matthew and I had made plans to celebrate our 1st anniversary in a big way. We have been planning our first anniversary for a long time. In August, we reserved a room at Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake City. And we made arrangments to take the day off from work so we could have a long weekend and really savor our 1st year of marriage. But while we were North Ogden at my parent's for Christmas, a stomach flu was attacking our family. We thought we left early enough that we didn't catch it but the day before our annniversary Matthew caught it. And then it was inevitable that I would be getting it too. Fortunately, I didn't get the stomach flu but just a terrible cold. So to our dismay, we had to cancel our plans and just spend a quiet night at home eating our 1 year old wedding cake. Which by the way, was actually just as good as on our wedding day!!! As disappointing as it was, it is ok because we will have MANY more anniversaries to come. Plus we are going on a Western Carribean Cruise in January......we will celebrate our first year then.

Christmas Gift Projects

After the cabinet fiasco, you would think we would stay away from painting and refinishing for a long time. But I guess we forgot quickly because we took a new project for our Christmas gifts that was just that.....lots of painting and refinishing.

With Matthew and my families for Christmas we pick a siblings name to purchase a present for instead of buying for all of our siblings. For my family we picked my sister, Mistie, and her family. My sister and I are very close and talk on the phone a lot (mostly on my lunch breaks). During most of our conversations, I mention some of the "do-it-yourself" decorating projects we are doing. She usually comments about how she is jealous because with 5 kids and more than enough to do in her life she doesn't have time to do those things. When I started asking her what she was wanting for Christmas she mentioned she wanted a front entry table like I had refinished a year ago. I loved the idea and thought it was perfect for our budget. I started looking on KSL for the perfect table at the right price. Then I had to decide what color to Mist would like the most. Her house is very nuetral with not a lot of color which doesn't fit her personality. I decided on a fun splash of color to help her along. And even better, I found the cutest knobs at Hobby Lobby that gave me even more inspiration. We were able to finish it and deliver it to her personally at Thanksgiving when we were there visiting. I know I loved it and I think she loved it too.

We already had this green paint because it is the color of our guest bathroom. :)

Aren't these adorable knobs????

For Matthew's family, we got his sister, Lisa, and her family. They just built a house in Santaquin and as everyone knows that after buying the house all you want is decorations for your new house but don't have the money for it anymore. :) Because we were on a tight budget and we were on a role, we offered to refinish a piece of furniture of their choice. They chose their dining table that has been in their family for a long time and is visible from their front room. I think it was a perfect pick for them. And I didn't even have to ask her what colors she would wanted it painted..............she loves everything white. And even more perfect the color of our cabinets/ walls in our condo was the exact color she needed. We picked the table up right after Thanksgiving and had it ready for our family party on Dec 18th. I think it is a great addition to their house. I hope it can just hold up and stay good looking for their family for a long time.

This is just "staged" at our own house.

Refinishing Cabinets

I keep postponing putting this post up because I wanted to put a completely finished picture on here but the truth of it is that I don't know when this project is going to be complete. It was such a hassle from the very start that both Matthew and I haven't been too excited to go back to it.

Matthew and I had done lots of research and decided we wanted to do a dark expresso stain on our cabinets. We liked the painted cabinets but couldn't decide on a color that excited us. We had also decied to extend our cabinets all the way to the ceiling. Prep work was done by Matthew of building up the extension and removing doors and prepping our kitchen to make the smallest amount of a mess in our condo.

After spending a whole weekend on stripping, sanding, and staining, we realized we hated the results we were getting because of how dark some portions of the oak grain was taking. So we through up our hands and decied to walk away from them to think about it.

Then I did some more research and found a paint that was suppose to be a miracle for oak cabinets. I contacted a sales rep for the product and decided to give that a try. It was a thick paint that was made to cover up the grain of the oak and be easy to apply because it didn't require any sanding. But after wasting another weekend and more money on it, we realized we hated how this was looking also. The paint was so thick that it didn't have a smooth finish. So we took another week off to recope and decide what to do next.

The next weekend we were so frustrated with our house in disarray and putting so much work into something that didn't look good that we resorted to plain old paint and just finish them off. We decided on a cream paint that we have used on all of our walls for all the cabinets but the island which we painted black. I have been happy with the results and even more excited that it is completed. So a suggestion to any of you thinking about refinishing your cabinets.........................just go with the paint. Don't follow our process of elimation!!!!

Here are some pictures...

Before Oak Cabinets

During Stained Cabinets

After Painted Cabinets

After Painted Black Island

After Painted Cabinets (we also had to paint this wall because it was the same cream color and was just too much cream)

Prim & Proper

For Thanksgiving we went to Arizona to see Matthew's family in Snowflake. We had a great time with the Peterson family at Thanksgiving, doing crafts with Mandi, seeing lots of movies, and Matthew enjoyed working with his dad on projects at home. We were also able to visit my sister and brother's family in the Thatcher/ Safford area. And meet our new neice Lynlee.

It was sad to leave our families after the long weekend in Arizona but we brought back a new addition to our family. We brought home our new baby, Prim. My brother-in-law, Ben, had adopted a 5 year old Australian Labradoodle from New York. Prim was a breeding dog that was being retired and needed a loving family. After having Prim for a month, he decided having a dog wasn't right for his growing family. We graciously took her to live with us. We had been thinking about getting a dog already so it all worked out.

Prim has been a good, sweet, and mellow dog. Because she is an older dog potty training has been an easier task than with a puppy (although I wouldn't say it is perfect. :) She is a cuddly dog that can't get enough loving. She is trained well, never barks, sleeps all day, doesn't chew, and follows Matthew around like a puppy dog. We have loved having her around the home and hope she is finding a happy and loving home with us.

Halloween

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I like the month of corn mazes, haunted houses, dressing up, scary movies, and carving pumpkins. Unfortunately this year we really failed on celebrating it to it's full extent. We never made it to a haunted house but instead we tried the Provo Halloween Cruise with our friends, Kati and Danny. I wouldn't say it is the scariest thing ever and possibly not even the most entertaining but with the right company anything can be fun.

This year Matthew and I bypassed the gutting and carving for our pumpkin. Instead we painted it into a scary spider............doesn't it look scary???? ;)

This year was the first time that my work allowed us to dress up for at work. This year I was cleaning out my closet and came across an old business suit. As I was about to through it out, Matthew gave me an idea for a costume. I currently work for a company that sells aircraft parts to airlines which I thought would be clever for dressing up as a flight attendent. Although all day I got lots of comments about the new "Pan Am" show which I have never watched.