Ballerina Birthday

Yes, it is true. I just celebrated my tutu (22) birthday! And what a fabulous day it was. It started out with me heading to the pool at 6:45 in the AM to coach. One of my lane-mates saw me and started razzin' me for not being in the water that morning. I just told him it was my birthday, I was allowed to sleep in. He proceeded to tell the entire team as I was relating the workout. Everyone broke into the Happy Birthday song for me! It was so fun, just like my team growing up.

After that I headed to work where my fabulous coworker got me an equally fabulous chocolate-chocolate cake. It was divine! Even better, the people coming in after me read the schedule wrong and came in an hour early, allowing me to head home early. When I got home, I began working on my spectacular birthday dinner...

Usually for my birthday I head to Winger's with friends or family, but as I've stated previously, such a place (sadly) does not exist out here! So I found myself some copycat recipes and set to work making myself cheddar/bacon potato skins, sticky fingers, and some asphalt pie. Everything turned out fabulous and Ray and I thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

We headed over to some family to share some asphalt pie with them, and I'm so glad we did! I had so much fun and laughed so hard! As soon as we stuck the candles into the cake and brought the lighter out, my nephew was right there again. He kept putting the lighter up to the candles and couldn't figure out why they weren't lighting (pushing the button while holding it to the candle is a skill he has yet to acquire, probably to the gratefulness of his parents). When I went to light the first candle, my nephew blew out the lighter before the flame even touched the wick! After two or three times of that and us all laughing, Ray tried to cover our nephew's mouth and prevent his breath from hitting the flame. Poor little guy was not happy about that, but we finally got the candles lit, the song sung, and then he got to help me blow out the candles. Again, my favorite birthday picture includes him:

I look like a crazy person laughing at a poor child crying, but I swear, you wouldn't have been able to keep a straight face if you had been there too.

After that, my other nephew gave me the gift of WiiDance. What. A. Party. We danced and danced until I thought I would die! Here we see my brother-in-law and Ray showing off their fancy pants moves:


I also got a beautiful hang-quilt from my sister-in-law that she made for me. I have yet to find the perfect place for it in my home, so pictures of that when I've found its rightful spot. To end the evening, Ray took me to Target where I got to pick out my birthday presents: a new wallet (which I absolutely adore! lots of card spaces, checkbook holder, lots of pockets for receipts and change, and even a calculator), and a few new Disney dishes that Target happened to be selling. Pictures of those soon too :)

In other news, I finally sent out my covert robin gift! I hope she gets it soon!

Hola

So remember how my vacuum cleaners' belt exploded? Turns out, the belt for my vacuum is impossible to find! The ones they sell at Target don't fit my model, and even the one I purchased at the Vac & Sew shop didn't fit. In all fairness, the man working there only understood that I had a Eureka vacuum and didn't listen to me tell him all the other fancy things about it. I should have known the generic belt wouldn't fit! Anyway, nearly $20 later... I have two belts coming my way from Eureka.com that should arrive within 7-10 business days. Meanwhile, my floor continues to gross me out since it has now been 1 1/2 weeks without vacuuming it. Barf. I'm almost embarrassed to admit that, but not enough to take it down. :)

In other news: We purchased our tickets to UT for my graduation! Woot woot! It's going to be such a fun trip- graduation, cousin's bridal shower, Russia Friends Get-Together, and... UTAH FOOD! The list keeps piling up: DP Cheesesteaks, Cafe Rio, JCW's, Wingers' (oh my beloved Wingers), The Pie Pizzaria and Hires Big H. I can not wait. I just may gain 20 pound in the 2 weeks I'm there. But I'll probably work it off lifting boxes as I help my mom pack for her big international move. Right?

Recent Happenings...

I have just small little stories that I want to write about, so here we go. First off, let's start with exciting food adventures-

A while ago I was craving peanut butter cookies, but I wanted them to have the chewy, gooey consistency of chocolate chip cookies, plus they had to have the chocolate chips as well. For some odd reason I didn't think to just search a recipe like that, instead- I headed to my kitchen and just went for it. May not sound huge, but these cookies turned out to be the freakin' bomb, and I didn't follow a single recipe :) Small steps my friends, today cookies... tomorrow: pancakes. Yes you heard me, I'm now on the hunt for the perfect pancake recipe, it's harder than you think.


Our next food adventure happened today, when I decided our long Sunday afternoon would be perfect to make pizza! So delicious- I found a great recipe for the dough, and it actually turned out well to my surprise. (I bought some yeast at the European market and it's just a little different than what I'm used to {packets} so my first few attempts with it didn't work). Our toppings included: pesto, mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, pineapple slices, and ham slices. I didn't get a picture of it coming out of the oven because I was too excited to eat it, but here it is beforehand. Along with the stuff I used to make it and my laptop playing some lovely Sabbath day music.


Now on to my home/style adventures!

I've slowly been working on making our bedroom a lovely place. Ray doesn't understand the idea of decorating your room, so I've free reign in there to just do whatever I want... Bwahahahaha! I decided upon some beautiful dark purple sheets from IKEA, and then later, over President's Day weekend, I braved the crowds and bolted through IKEA to find the duvet set they were selling for $9.99 ANY size. SA-WING! What a deal :) It took some covert eavesdropping to discover where they were hiding those duvet covers too... Anyhoot, now I'm just working on some pillow cases to go with the bedspread. I decided to attempt to crochet one case, it turned out alright for now, we'll see how I feel about it in a month or so after I figure out what I want to do for the other pillows. I think a nice bright yellow for one would be pretty. On to JoAnn's!


Every Saturday morning is our "clean the whole freaking apartment" time. I love it :) I get the rest of my weekend in a clean house, and it can get slightly messy through the week without me spazzing out because I know we'll just clean it again on Saturday. Huzzah for routines, am I right? Right. Well this past Saturday, everything was hunky dory, I had cleaned our living room and bedroom, Ray was doing dishes, I was just about done vacuuming the living room, when... my vacuum started making the most terrifying sound in the world! I quickly turned it off and tried to see if something had gotten stuck in the brushroll. Ray was able to unearth a piece of a paperclip, which is bizarre, because we don't even own paperclips and neither of us use them at work or anything. I tried turning on the vacuum after that was out, but still the noise. So now we took off the whole bottom of the vacuum, only to discover: The belt on my vacuum had been completely and entirely OBLITERATED. Not even joking. This was all the remains we spent 20 minutes digging out of the belt holster (if in fact you should call it a holster, what would be the proper wordage here?)


Finally, to wrap up this post, we just celebrated Ray's birthday! It was a great day, and fun night with family and friends. Ray requested pasta with shrimp (oh yeah! I learned the art of shelling and deveining shrimp, truth be told- Ray rocks and shelling, and I rock at deveining, what a team we make :P ), and banana cream pies instead of birthday cake. I had never made the pies before, but it turns out homemade pudding is super easy, and those graham cracker pie crusts are life savers. Here is my favorite picture from the day. Our two year old nephew absolutely loves blowing out candles on birthday cakes, and there's been a birthday every month since December so he's getting really good at getting to the candles before the birthday person does :)


Good grief I love this picture and both the boys in it! Happy birthday to my wonderful husband, I love him so much!

Covert Robin!

So my sister-in-law has convinced me to join the larger blogging community via a "Covert Robin" exchange. So today- we set about beginning our crafts for our assigned partners. The whole event is like secret sister from girls camp eons ago. Anyway! Here are my awesome hands, forging the project that some lucky person will be receiving later this month! 10 Brownie Points if you can guess what this amazing finished product will be.

Le Cold

It's all I can think about right now... I'm cold. I'm frozen. I think my nose has frost bite! Okay, it's not that bad, but for crying out loud! I thought I had tough skin from growing up in Utah winters. Turns out, one California summer is all it takes to turn you into a pansy that wants to drink hot cocoa and wear wool socks in 65 degree weather. I feel pathetic. In my defense though: we don't turn on our heater because our apartment doesn't hold the heat in, so in one month with the heater on, our utilities bill doubled. No thanks! So now we're living off a little heat dish that follows us around the apartment.

Any suggestions on how else to keep your home warm in the winter without driving your utility bill through the roof?! I've got my homemade bean bag that you can microwave (my absolute life saver for cold toes in bed), and I've heard of plastic wrap over windows to keep the cold out... anyone else heard of this? I may also try to make those door blockers that go across the bottom of your front door, I don't think our weather stripping really exists anymore.

Stay warm, wherever you may be!

Year In Review: 2011

A great blogger and friend posted the idea to do a Year in Review and Link Up blogs to share your year; triumphs, challenges and growing experiences. I just had to join in on the fun! Plus, I've been meaning to update, and now is as a good a time as ever!

JANUARY-
My first word of 2011 was "Yes!" all in response to my best friend asking me to be his wife. I couldn't think of a better way to begin a new year. And with that one word, a crazy year began, one that was difficult but oh so rewarding and one that I would never, ever change. (If you haven't, check out my post of how Ray proposed) here: http://trippfallrepeat.blogspot.com/2011/05/better-late-than-never.html

FEBRUARY-
The first weekend in February was the first time I got to see Ray since we had gotten engaged. Needless to say, that was the highlight of my month! In other news, I started getting the hang of my social work classes, and began making friends that made the dull classes more bearable. Slowly, oh so slowly, I began planning a wedding. (I imagine planning a wedding is a lot more fun when your fiance is actually in the same state as you, I'll never know now though!) :)

MARCH-
I got to go visit Ray in California for a second time! I was able to be there for his birthday, which was exponential fun. I got him silly gifts we spent another long weekend laughing, sightseeing, and wedding planning. This time we through in some engagement pictures too! Gotta love them photobooths...


APRIL-
This month, school got a lot more stressful, work was killing me, but Ray got to come to Utah for Easter! This meant that my extended family was finally able to meet him, (what a relief! I don't think they believed me he was real for a moment there! "No I swear! We met in Russia!" "Riiiight.....") Also in April I watched a very dear friend be sealed in the temple to her sweetheart, and got to spend an evening enjoying time with other old friends at such a beautiful occasion.

MAY-
I proved that you can make it through school even while being engaged!!! Finals came and went, I ended up getting straight A's! Had Ray been in Utah, this probably wouldn't have been the case. Always look on the bright side of life, right? With school finally over, I felt like it could be crunch time for wedding planning. I flew to San Diego to meet up with Ray for a wedding of one of his old friends. (2011 could aptly be called the year of "I Do"). We got to meet with the caterer, floral designer, and the wonderful couple who loved Ray enough to give us their backyard for our reception. We also got our marriage license on this trip and reveled in the fact our marriage was only a month away.

JUNE-
At long last, a Wedding! On a beautiful day, in the beautiful San Diego Temple, we were sealed for time and all eternity. After the best day ever, we peaced out to Mexico to spend a blissful week together on a cruise ship. What a blast! Here we see me crackin' up at something Ray said, who knows what, next to an awesome towel monkey we came back to one evening!

JULY-
After flying back to Utah for another reception, and a rockin' 4th of July with family, we packed up our rental with all (okay, maybe only most) of my stuff and headed for California! My first out of state move! A long drive and some old radio classic tales later, we arrived safely at our new home. July is also the month I decided I wasn't going to get 39 credits from a Bachelors degree only to stop and take a year off to gain residency and risk credits not transferring over. Hence, I switched my degree to Sociology and signed myself up to take online classes through the U of U. At this rate, I will be a college grad come next August!

Here is my younger brother trying to cram himself into our already packed car so he could sneak away to CA with us :) I miss him!

AUGUST-
I began to establish a routine and network myself with friends and the area. Coach the masters team at 5AM, swim, online classes all day, cook dinner, spend my evenings with my new hubby. Life was (and still is, actually) great! I discovered in August that I absolutely love to cook and bake. Having my own kitchen was a dream come true! I believe I went the first three months of our married life without repeating a recipe, and I was having the time of my life! Once school started demanding more though, it was back to standards like meatloaf at least every other week, or crock pot mac n' cheese! Here we are building a new addition to our kitchen so I could have a little more counter space. :)

SEPTEMBER-
School got more stressful, and I started to feel the wear of being in an unfamiliar area with few friends, and family around to spend time with while Ray was at work all day. Fortunately, the Lord always answers our prayers, and mine were answered through receiving a calling in our ward that introduced me to so many people, and also in the form of my sister-in-law who lives down the street. With new friends, a supportive and understanding husband, and a loving Heavenly Father I made it through a trial of self-doubt. The other thing about September, was that I realized just how much I missed the mountains in Utah! Fortunately, we were invited to a camping trip with my father-in-law to his hometown which is in gorgeous Greenville, far, far northern California. My craving for mountains was satiated.

OCTOBER-
I attended my first trunk-or-treat, and Ray fulfilled a life dream of making a plaster, skeleton mask. We had oodles of fun rubbing vaseline all over his face so we could layer the plaster on and then peel it off easily once it dried. Ray then painted the mask himself... such talent!
Not surprisingly, Ray won our wards' Scariest Costume Award. He was thrilled :)

NOVEMBER-
November was a bitter sweet month (like bitter-sweet chocolate! in the end, you're still getting chocolate). We didn't go to Utah for Thanksgiving, so it was my second away from my family. However, we also avoided snow, huge bonus! I made my first Thanksgiving turkey, which actually turned out really well, I was most pleased with the dinner I put together :) On the 11th of November, my dad remarried. Although I wasn't able to attend, I know he's happy, which makes me happy in turn. Another highlight of November was getting to spend time with Ray's dad and stepmom. They invited us to their home for a day of... hard labor? :) The couple is amazing and working towards complete self-reliance, so while Ray helped his dad put up the walls of second greenhouse, I helped his stepmom uproot her harvested garden and prepare the dirt to be repotted next spring. The long day of work was so rewarding and the company was the best you could ask for!
That's right, I hauled every one of those buckets full of dirt across the yard, then emptied the dirt and tore the roots out of it to prepare it for next year!

DECEMBER-
This month has been so much fun. Ray and I had a blast trying to hide gifts to each other around the house, and continually hunting for the perfect one. We spent time with family and worked on remembering Christ each day through the many blessings we continue to receive. Our Christmas Eve was spent celebrating our 6 month anniversary, and Christmas Day was spent enjoying each others' company plus some family and new friends for a delicious dinner. It couldn't have been better! To end our fantastic 2011 Year, tomorrow we leave for Disneyland, so we can spend New Years Eve there and go full circle from one year ago when we began our crazy, most excellent adventure together. Can't wait!!!



Time to post your own Year In Review!
I linked up with:

For My Grandmother...

It's been 5 months since I've lived here in the Sunshine State and I haven't posted pictures of my luxurious accommodations yet! What was I thinking?! Following are some lovely pictures of where Ray and I reside. Our life is easy, and we like it that way :)

So if you were to walk into our apartment on any given day, this is what you would see. NOT! Haha, usually it's much messier than this, I cleaned specifically for these pictures so I could show my Grandma I'm taking care of my house :)

After seeing that, if you walk straight, you'll bump right into our kitchen, which looks like this:



Again, usually a lot more dishes in the sink, but I really am trying!

Finally, there's our room, which is really hard to take a picture of and get everything (it's that grandiose, you know) so I debated between showing you our bed, or our dresser. I went with the dresser, because it's cool and we got it for only $20. I'm proud of us.

I didn't take a picture of the bathroom because... I didn't clean it. Juuuuust kidding. I just thought it would be weird posting a picture of my bathroom on here. Also, just to convince you it really is clean. I recently discovered Ray has this amazing talent for cleaning. I asked him to clean the bathroom the other day- 30 minutes later our bathroom shone like no bathroom has ever shone before. I was thoroughly impressed. I told him he did such a good job he could clean the bathroom all the time now! I would let that be his job! Because I'm that nice. He didn't really like the offer... That man drives a hard bargain.