.. goodbye 2010 ..

so here is a recap of what we did in 2010..

january : tyke passed away, spent a lot of time re cooping

february : trip to maui for valentines

march : i went to san francisco with friends for spring break, i got accepted into the bfa program

april : i graduated from college, yikes!

may : we went on a trip to washington dc

june : i am trying to find a job, cody is working hard on his instrument license

july : we had our first game of the annual golfing tournament, celebrated the 4th of july

august : my brother m* and sister k* each got married a week apart, my brother j* had his 16th birthday, cody and i went to maui with his parents to celebrate my 26th birthday, i found a job at american crafts!

september : cody passed his instrument test!

october : i had my art show, we went to thriller, and i got a trainer

november : cody went to SEMA, had our 5th anniversary, cody's 27th birthday, and thanksgiving

december : i started "the list", cody started his multi-engine training, had christmas

great year don't you think? bring on 2011!

.. lion king ..

this year for my birthday with my family, my mom bought my brother and i {who both have birthdays in august} tickets to see the lion king at capitol theater. if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it. it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen. the props are wonderfully amazing and the performers are so skilled! make sure and check it out!

.. mAuI ..

With all the wedding madness and stress of living in a house with two consecutive weddings, Cody decided that we should travel to Maui to celebrate my birthday this year. I didn't really mind it either way and just thought it would be fun. Cody mentioned it to his parents, and they decided to join in and count it as my birthday celebration weekend.

We left Provo on Friday morning at 4:30 am. Yes I was pooped and didn't really want to do it. We arrived at the airport just before 6 and hustled through the lines and made it to our gate. We even had time to pick up some breakfast there. We then flew to LAX to connect to Maui. We waited until the whole plane loaded and got lucky and claimed the last 4 open seats on the flight. It is a nice 5 hour flight out there and we got seated to a few teens going there with their parents, one of which was terrified of turbulence. *fun*. We watched the 'Joneses' which turned out to be very interesting, took a few naps and I read and Cody watched Family Guy. We arrived in Maui at 11:30am their time. We hustled and got to the rental car shuttle and were off. It was a nice 85 degrees with 80% humidity. Talk about a change in the weather {since it was raining hard when we left Utah}. Since by this point we were all starving we promptly found food, at McDonald's.

After we ate a snack we took off for our home for the next 3 days. Lahaina. Cody and I had visited there in February when we went for Valentines. We stayed in the same hotel, which was great and even got the airbrush decorated room complete with a Murphy bed. We walked around downtown while our rooms were being prepared and I am pretty sure all lost like 10 pounds to sweat!! At 3 we hustled back to the hotel, and changed immediately into swim gear. We hit the ocean and hung out for a while. We had dinner at a fun cafe next door called Betty's Cafe. I would highly recommend the chicken quesadilla. {yum} After dinner, Cody and I went for a walk on the beach and enjoyed the sound of waves. At 8:00 we were both so pooped we decided to call it a night.

.. betty's cafe ..

.. gecko we found by betty's cafe ..

The next morning, my birthday, Cody got up and left the hotel with his parents, sneaky sneaky, and went and got me breakfast. He brought it back to our room and surprised me with breakfast on our balcony at like 6:30 that morning. It was great! I had french toast and fresh squeezed lemonade. {delicious} After breakfast, Cody and I went exploring. Cody was determined to find Big Beach which was on the other half of the island. We took off in the rental and did some searching. We found it around 8 that morning. It was a beautiful beach. The water was crystal clear, the sand was super soft and the view was great. Big Beach is known for its waves breaking on the shore, which made for an interesting time for me. I tried to wade out with Cody and every time a wave crested I about got knocked over. A few times I did and drank some yummy salt water. Cody loved doing the whole body surfing thing. We stayed there for about an hour and then decided to go back. My gift from Cody was shopping. What more can a girl ask for right? So we headed into town to do some shopping. We ate lunch at Lahaina Pizza Co, which is another must if you are there. It was so good. I had a pepperoni and cilantro deep dish pizza, talk about good. We finished up and continued shopping. I decided that I wanted to get a henna tattoo of squirt off of finding nemo. We found a guy who could do it, and it was on. I loved it! I even had my younger brother convinced that I had gotten a real tattoo!

.. view of kihei ..

.. me on the beach ..

.. big beach waves {not sure why it is sideways.. sorry!} and cody playing ..

.. my sweet henna tattoo ..

After a nice time in downtown, Cody's parents called us and asked us if we wanted to swim with them in the ocean. So we joined them on the beach outside our hotel. We swam for about 2 hours and finished off our beach experience with burying Cody's mom in the sand. She was covered with it when we were done! After all the water and sand, it was time to shower and get ready for dinner. We got ready and his parents took me to dinner to celebrate. We ate at the Hard Rock on front street. I had the twisted mac and cheese, so great! The night ended with me standing up in front of all the Hard Rock and having the whole restaurant wish me a Happy Birthday which was loud enough I am sure the whole town heard it. We walked around downtown took a few pictures and called it a night.

.. cody and the bubba gump shrimp ..

.. forrest, forrest gump ..

.. is that you forrest ? ..

.. that has to be you right ? ..

.. it is for sure you, you are telling that lady the story about your life ..

.. cody and me at dinner ..

.. cody's parents ..

.. happy birthday sundae from hard rock ..

The next morning we packed up and headed back to the airport. We got there 2 hours early and that airport doesn't have much to do. We just sat. We waited for the first flight, and wouldn't you know it, it was oversold and we couldn't get on. We had one more shot that night at 9 but we had to blow 8 hours there. We spent it taking naps, long walks reading books and magazines, playing games and just being bored. Finally the night flight came and things weren't looking good. They said there was 3 open seats. Not all of us were going to make it. We started making plans for Cody and I to stay behind and wait for the next day to catch a flight. Right before they closed the flight one person didn't show and we got the last 4 seats. We didn't sit next to each other, which sucked but we made it. We landed in LAX at 5am and were all tired and done. We made the next flight to Salt Lake and made it home by 10. Cody at the airport had developed a nice cold due to walking in between air conditioning and the heat outside and was so sick. I put him to bed after a shower and took to doing the laundry. Also, while I was in Maui, my drivers license expired. So I got ready and headed to the DMV. I waited for 2 hours and finally got through.

It was fun trip and definitely made the birthday one of the best to date.

.. r. o. u. s. attack ..

well since you saw our cute gingerbread houses, yes they were cute. well we had left our cool gingerbread house on the table and went to bed. the next morning around 9am we awoke to the sound of pitter patter on the floor above us. cody has a very low tolerance for noises when he is sleeping and being irritated he we upstairs to see what the fuss was. when he returned he had news.. some r.o.u.s.'s had attacked our gingerbread house. {roxy and daisy}

here is the damage..

.. the got the corner of the trailer, the mama, 3 kiddos, the bench, white trash dad, the tire pile and all the licorice walkway ..

.. we are so sad, can you tell ..

so.. word to the wise, put your gingerbread houses up on the counters not the tables, because you never know when R.O.U.S's might just attack.

.. gingerbread houses ..

this year we were invited to a gingerbread decorating party put on by my sweet sister in law e*. cody and i in our 5 years of being married have never once made a gingerbread house. we always talked about it and had plans for it but it never really did pan out. this year was perfect. we had a fun night with family and some friends and got the chance to decorate gingerbread houses. we decided to be original and go outside the box and not buy a prefab house. we made our own. we settled on a mobile home. the night before we perfected our designs and i baked the gingerbread. we spent about an hour building and decorating it all up. i have to admit it was pretty great.

we used licorice nibs for the walk way to the street. nerds for gravel, pretzels for the playground, bench, and the broken tire swing. oreos for the tires, a dead pile of them and also the spare on the house. and gummy bears for the little kids and of course dots {my favorite} for the bases of a lot of things.

we won the best gingerbread house of the night, but i think everyone had great houses.. here they are!

.. matson & erica's house ..

.. kevin & heather's house ..

.. kellyn, chris & jarett's house ..

.. our trailer sweet trailer ..

.. side view of ours, notice the spare tire ..

.. the broken tire swing, our gummy children were upset ..

.. the overseeing mother ..

.. kiddies sitting on a bench ..

.. a few kiddos playing soccer by the teeter totter ..

.. gingerbread white trash dad peeing in the snow, yes he did pee matson's name ..

.. the stoplight on the corner ..

.. the path to our front door and gravel ..

.. our kiddie play pen, yes one did fall out cry and pee his pants ..

did you decorate a house this year? any creative ideas for next year?

.. #10 & #20 ..

alright. so after thinking about what to give my pregnant friend at her baby shower, i landed on the idea that it had to be unique. i wanted something different and fun, artsy you could say. i looked around for ideas and inspiration and landed on a pattern for a "tag monster". i decided i was going to try it. for those who don't know me, i can't sew. my mother is a seamstress and i wouldn't even touch a sewing machine when i was younger. but i was going to do this on my own, and she was not going to help. so i sat down and went to work. it took me about an hour and a half but this cute thing is what i got. i hope that baby elle will love it, even if it is a little weird.

{ yes i do realize that this is a horrid picture, and for a photography major pathetic, but i was wrapping her present up and my phone was the closest thing ..}

while i was working on my tag monster i was also crafting christmas presents for a few of my siblings {i can't reveal names or hints..} that i would show you, but then they would find out. so until christmas..

but with those two crafts down and both in one night, i am crossing off #10 on my list. it was really fun and i enjoyed doing it. i think i will start crafting more often cause it is just plain fun.

as for #20.. i found an art contest through PDN that i will be entering tonight. so with that.. #20 is off the list. this is becoming a lot more fun and easy the more i do things. so i would highly recommend making a "list" and try it. it is fun and you enjoy it all along the way..

.. the list ..

so lately as i spend my mornings catching up on my reading of blogs and the news and what not, i have come across quite a few people making a "list" of things they want to accomplish before their birthdays. now those who know me, i set goals but it takes me literally way longer than normal to accomplish them. i am not a good motivator for myself on some things. so i thought, hum.. i think i could do this birthday thing if i kept my goals little and tangible. so here are my goals to finish by the time i turn 27..

.. the list ..

1. travel at least 3 places {one international, one i have never been}

2. photograph more, some of it on film

3. shoot with my holga

4. shoot on my instax

5. see wicked with cody

6. read at least 10 books {one not from my usual authors}

7. go to the gym every week

8. try snowboarding

9. move into our own place {create a 'studio' space in it}

10. get crafty {do at least 2 projects}

11. find a photo project i am interested in and do it

12. have a girls night out

13. get a dog or get pregnant {or both!}

14. learn italian

15. learn to be understanding & patient

16. make a few mini books {one of cody and i}

17. be more adventurous {in clothes and life}

18. have an art show

19. make a snowman

20. enter an art contest

21. make a tyke book {use all his pictures}

22. have a picnic {preferably in central park}

23. be more romantic in my relationship

24. make a choice daily to be happy

25. be a better wife, sister, daughter & in-law

26. do a 5k

27. be punctual

so far.. i have done the following..

6. i have read 20 books this year so far, so since my birthday i have done about 7.

7. i got a trainer so i gots to go and not be lazy

14. i started! cody got me a instant immersion program to learn and i'm so excited. i know 17 words so far, my goal is to learn 15 words a day. cody is going to quiz me every saturday..

18. i had my bfa art show in october

what are your goals? any tips on reaching them?

.. american crafts sale {take 2} ..

alright.. i will give you a chance to redeem yourself if you didn't make it to the sneak peak yesterday. the sale goes until the 18th of this month and is open everyday except for sundays. come take advantage of it!