The Welling Watcher

iPhone Photo Update

2012-02-13T10:21:00.000-08:00

My niece & nephew are still SO cute.

And I have ANOTHER niece on the way! Little miss Lillee Blau coming soon...

One night Brandon made African Peanut soup:

And it was SOOO good. You might read the recipe and be so skeptical, but it was SO delicious.

The superbowl was pretty fun, we went to Brandon's friends house and I made homemade oreos and funfetti cookies (see Hostess Cupcakes post). This is the wreckage:

My Dad likes to write poems:

I am on a MAJOR flower making spree:

The tutorial I used is here: Paper Flowers

But I might make a video tutorial or something because it was tricky to get the hang of it just through pictures. They are so cute, now I just need a great vintage vase.

Oh and my friend Amy Jo and I went rock climbing the other day, and I happened to park in front of a rather sneaky fire hydrant and my car got towed. Isn't that the worst feeling ever? Walking out to your car and it's GONE. So that was s SUPER fun way to spend $175. :(

Hostess Cupcakes FAIL

2012-02-08T15:41:00.000-08:00

This is a picture of the Hostess Cupcakes I made:

NOT.

My husband is so wise.

I told him I was going to make this new recipe I found online for Homemade Hostess Cupcakes for a SuperBowl party we were going to. He lovingly asked if I was going to test out the recipe beforehand...because this man has seen me make recipes for the first time, and I am not kidding you 90% of the time they are totally messed up and don't work out at all. But I was confident and I said, "Nope! It'll be fine!" And on Sunday I started making them, following the directions letter by letter.

I put them in the oven, and opened them to pull them out 20 minutes later and they were sunken in the middle, yet somehow OVERFLOWING onto the bottom of the oven. SO terrible. I was so sad, but I managed to salvage them somehow, threw some frosting on them, and took them to the party anyways. They were actually pretty moist and tasty, just super ugly, but people ate them anyways! Good thing I also made Homemade Oreos and Funfetti cookies, I could never have just shown up with crumbly lumps of chocolate covered in frosting. I have a reputation to protect! ;)

Anyways, here's what I learned. I have GOT to start adjusting my recipes for elevation! I was googling why this always happens to me, and it's got to be that. We are SO much higher than the rest of the U.S., that I just need to tweak the recipes a little bit to make it work! I will be trying these cupcakes again, and this time with a little work hopefully it won't be so tragic.

P.S.

The site I got the recipe from is fantastic, this girl Andie is a doll. She comes up with these super great recipes, and she is so funny too. AND I posted on the recipe about my tragic experience and she emailed me back twice to try and help me! What a babe, you should all definitely check out her blog:

Can you Stay for Dinner?

Weekend

2012-01-31T14:58:00.000-08:00

I have a terrible memory so I need to blog more about what we are doing in our lives. This weekend we truly did not do much. On Friday we ran a few errands. Brandon calls them "Brians" because I am always saying I need to run errands (Aaron's). So he says, well I have lots of Brians to run... It's pretty funny to us so now I call them Brians. We also call sushi "shushi" and I call Brandon my "hubband". We sort of have our own language. So we went and ran Brians on Friday at Home Depot (see post on Barkeepers Friend). And then we went to dinner at Tommys BBQ on Univ. Ave in Provo. Holy COW it was good guys. We used a buy one get one free coupon so it was like $7 for the both of us and it might be the best burger I have ever had in my life. That is a big deal. The bun was this onion soft amazing bread thing, and it was just scrumptious. Highly recommend trying it out. ALSO the customer service was tops. Manager said hello and everyone was so nice. Loved it. Then I think we went home and watched a movie (and okay maybe I immediately started cleaning with my new Barkeepers stuff.)

Saturday is our "cheat day". We have been trying to eat healthy and low-carb during the week, and then Saturday is our cheat day where we eat whatever we want. We sort of go crazy. Especially since we got the 2012 Entertainment coupon book, it becomes, "Okay what coupons can we use today?" We went to the gas station and got me a big delicious chocolate cake Dunford Doughnut. Perhaps I will have a separate post on how good they are, because they are my number 1 favorite. Honestly I eat around 3-4 a week. That is BAD so I am trying to cut down. I haven't even had any this week! Okay it's Tuesday but that's big for me. Then Brandon spotted a Delorean and we had to do an immediate U-turn and follow the guy to his house while Brandon tried to get a picture (don't worry I was driving). I've only seen Back to the Future maybe once, so this was not that amazing to me, but Brandon was REAL excited about it. We know where he lives now so if you'd like to take a picture with a Delorean just let us know. After that detour we went to Win-Co to get Brandon a doughnut because he likes theirs. I don't know why, they are truly average but it was cheat day and we do whatever we want! :) So we got treats there and saw this gem:

Why have just one?

Pretty funny stuff. So we got our treats and then went to Savers. Brandon is on the lookout for an ultralight fishing rod. No luck there, but Savers is ALWAYS entertaining. Then we went to Nordstrom and got me some of Taylor Swift's new perfume Wonderstruck! It smells so nice, but the problem is now that I got it home and am using it, it smells a little bit like plastic. I don't know what happened... hopefully it is just my nose playing tricks on me.

After Nords we went to Wallabys for dinner. It is a yummy Australian BBQ place in Lindon that we enjoy (again, another coupon :) ). Then we went and wandered around a few shops while our bellies rested. Then we decided we needed ice cream, so we went to Coneys Frozen Custard for our first time and got SERIOUS Cookies & Cream custard. I mean serious because it was thick, and creamy, and THICK. We got 2 scoops and could. not. finish. them.We both ate like half and had to stop. So delicious, but seriously get a tiny scoop and you will be just fine.

After that we went to Brandon's friend Dave's house and played Mario Kart Wii for about 4 hours with some friends. It was a good time.

Sunday went to church. It was nice and churchy. Then it was naptime. Sunday night Brandon went and watched foot game with his friends and I made cinnamon raisin bread. Didn't turn out so hot, It didn't rise that much? It was just dense and not very sweet. We still ate a bunch of it but I think it could have gone better. It was my first bread making experiment so gimme a break. Oh and I started watching Battlestar Gallactica which is REALLY GOOD. Brandon thought I was kidding but I really like it. Weird I know. But it's good.

Oh and we have been watching Sherlock lately, SUCH a good show. Season 1 is on Netflix and I have season 2 on my hard drive if anyone wants it.

We also saw Puss in Boots and it was VERY funny. Really though we liked it a lot. Although it is weird to see cats salsa dancing together...

Oh and we saw Jack & Jill, the one with Adam Sandler? And it's exactly what it looks like, cheesy but actually kind of funny, and with a sweet ending.

That's about all that is going on with the Welling household lately. Bagheera and Kinga are doing good, I need to post pictures of them soon.

If you read this I am really impressed because I really don't expect anyone too, it's ridiculously long but how else will I remember what we have been doing in our lives!?

Barkeepers Friend

2012-01-30T08:56:00.000-08:00

Let me put it this way, Barkeepers Friend is my new best friend. You can buy it in powder form like Comet, or liquid cleanser form. I bought the powder one that looks like this.

It was literally like $1.75 at Home Depot on Saturday, and I haven't stopped using it since!

You know those dishes you have under your stovetops? Well the apartment we live in has those with who knows how many years of baked on junk on them. I've tried so many times to soak them in hot soapy water for days, and it did NOTHING. So I just covered them in tinfoil, but no longer!

(I know, I feel like an infomercial.)

Before & After:

All I did was make a paste out of the powder, wet the dishes, and let it sit on them for awhile, maybe like 30 mins. Then I got a wet rag and scrubbed those suckers! It does take some elbow grease but it comes off, which is astounding to me. They look practically new and I don't have to cover them in ghetto tinfoil anymore. I also did a Pyrex baking dish I have that had baked on oil, and it came off wonderfully. Now I need to do it on my baking sheets, I think it makes them look brand new.

Anyways, it is a miracle worker and the bonus, NO SMELL. Seriously no toxic chemical smell. I can't even smell it. Weird. But AMAZING. Just go buy some.

Etsy Update

2012-01-19T07:58:00.000-08:00

I just added so many new things to my Etsy shop!

This is very exciting to me because it takes FOREVER to take all the pictures, edit them, and list everything. So I am happy about it. What do you think? I'm ALWAYS looking for feedback.

Oh and here is a link to my Etsy shop: Chloe Rose Designs

Inspiration

2012-01-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

This is my iPhone lock screen I made. Motivational, right?

Wish I had it to look at when I went and got that doughnut yesterday...

OCD

2012-01-09T16:04:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I really think I have a tiny bit of OCD. No seriously. Here's the facts:

-I ALWAYS round up or down time. If you ask me what time it is and it is 4:48, I will tell you 5:00. If it is 11:33 I will say it is 11:35. I don't like it when the numbers aren't even. Brandon asked me once how I figure 11:33 is closer to 11:35 than 11:30 and I didn't even know how to answer. It just is.

-If I am transferring money between my accounts, say making a payment on a credit card or something, I also don't like uneven numbers. Example: Say there is $246.85 in our checking account (just an example) and I need to make a payment of $35.00 onto some credit card or into another account, I will just round it up to $46.85, so that the balance in the account will be an even $200.00. Or I will do the opposite and pay off enough on the credit card or put into the other account so that it is an even number, like $200, or $250. NEVER $234.48. Or $529.83. These kinds of numbers stress me out.

-When I'm getting gas I try SO hard to end the $ number on an even number, like $40.00 even, or $20.00 even. It legitimately bothers me when it is something like $23.29. Ugh.

- Brandon burns video games with our laptop, so he has to add lots of files onto it to burn the games. He then deletes the files and the computer is back to normal, but when I go on the computer and see our hard drive space when you click on "Computer" and it shows you how much space it has and it's red and almost full, I HATE it. I told Brandon when he was on it once, I said "Ugh that scares me how little space we have...". He was mystified how I could say "scares me". How can I be scared at how little space is on our computer when I know he just deletes the files after and it's fine? I don't know I just hate it. It makes me want to get another computer so I don't have to see how full it is. ALSO if there are too many icons on the desktop I don't even want to use the computer, it stresses me out. I will delete almost all of them.

-I used to count things I would do in my head. I never really noticed I was doing this till about 2 or 3 years ago. I suddenly realized, hey, I count ALL THE TIME. I don't even think Brandon knows this. I would just count, like "1,2,3" when I was tapping something, or when I was walking I would count my steps and I would usually go up to 10 and then start over. I have no idea where this came from... Then one day I said "Wait why am I counting?!" so when I would catch myself doing it I would distract myself and start thinking about something else so I couldn't count. I managed to break that habit but how weird right? ...

So these are a few examples of why I think I am a little OCD. Believe me there is more, but these are good examples I feel. Any thoughts? Am I a little OCD?...

12 Goals for 2012

2012-01-02T14:12:00.000-08:00

(Don't worry, the header and design of this bloggy blog is temporary until I have time to put some work into it, so just pretend it looks better.)

I will post more about Christmas and New Years later, but for right now here are 12 of my Goals for 2012. I like "Goals" better than "Resolutions" because I want a list of things I want to accomplish in 2012, not a list of things that I will try to do in January but then forget about in February. :)

(What in the world is my excuse!?)

(Link is HERE if you're interested. I have a bunch of stuff I need to add soon...)

(I've never been!)

(AKA Buy less stuff.)

(Okay I have lots of friends, but not so many in Provo anymore, so I want to grow some of the friendships I already have any make some new ones too.)

(I went to New York once on a church history tour with my BFF Alyssa, and to Washington DC, but in DC it was raining and we couldn't see much, AND the museums were closed so hopefully I can actually get to experience those when we go visit Brandon's mission area sometime this year!)

(We've been trying to make it happen for the last 3 summers, so it's BOUND to happen this summer, right??)

So there we have it, 12 Goals for 2012.

I just wish accomplishing them was as easy as writing them down...

Wish List

2011-12-15T12:16:00.001-08:00

Wouldn't mind this little set under my tree... hint hint...

Contrast Drawstring Athletic Capri, $18
Forever21, $20
Yoga Mat, $11
9 Ft Jump Rope, $5.80

Turkey Day in Photos

2011-11-28T11:32:00.001-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving this year at my sister Aubree's house in West Jordan. The food was fantastic and we had a good time. I made the Pioneer Woman's Mac & Cheese which was so fantastic, but I would recommend using a few different types of cheeses and don't bake it, but I prefer creamy cheesy Mac & Cheese so that is just my opinion. Brandon made his "Pink Salad" which consists of crushed pineapple, cottage cheese, cool-whip, and strawberry jello powder. It is mighty good, and so fluffy!

After eating we went to Ogden to my family's big get together there. It is held in a church building and there was a talent show, soooo it's pretty much exactly what you think it is. Cousins, aunts, second cousins, people I don't remember the names of but I am related to... it's great fun. I got to pass out the cookbooks we made, over 350 recipes! And every single one of them is tried and true. It's pretty amazing. Side note, we eat Thanksgiving dinner around 1-3pm every year, and Brandon is so mystified by this because it is not dinner, that is lunch time, but isn't that what everyone does?? Or do other people actually eat at dinner time? Help me out here...

And now for lots of pictures of Baylee & Ethan, my niece and nephew.

The cookbook.

Lil Baylee.

Baylee & Chrissy, I said "Baylee smile!" and she did! What a doll.

Puttin her to work.

Baylee watching uncle Cody play something. She sucks her thumb and I think it is so dang adorable.

Horsie rides.

Airplane!

The food, and I couldn't even fit everything on my plate so this isn't everything.

My Aunt Ellen, someone I can't remember the name of (sorry!!!!!) and my Aunt Debbie.

Upside down Ethan.

Big smiles.

Oh and we went and saw the Muppets. I really didn't know what I was getting myself into. It was about 5 hours long and pretty dumb. But there were a few funny moments so I guess that's something! Even the kiddies we were with were walking around and sleeping, so I think it's more of a Redbox thing... We did get a jumbo popcorn and HUGE Coke, and the cashier person goes "And you can bring it back for free refills!" LADY HOW ARE WE GOING TO FINISH THIS IN 1 MOVIE?! I don't understand. We even had about 30 people with us and we didn't finish it. It sat in my lap, so that was Thanksgiving dinner #2 for Brandon and I.

Overall we had a great Thanksgiving. I did a little shopping with my mom and sister on Friday (Bath & Body Works, buy 3 get 3 free! And $5 2-packs of wallflower refills.) So that was successful. And I got Baylee an outfit for Christmas, and a bobble water bottle which I have been wanting for awhile (I know this is really exciting, but this is like my journal so humor me.) Then on Saturday Brandon and I got a few weekend deals, I got an 8 GB flash drive (it's PINK!!) for like $9 and Bran got an 8GB SD card for about $8. I went to Joanns and got some adorable fleece for a blanket I am making Ethan (On sale for $2.50/yd plus I got 75% off of that because it was the last of the fabric roll, so pretty much free.) And I got a blue basket for our bathroom for $3. What a deal. I also got Brandon to go to the dollar store with me, I like their cheap-o decorations, so I got some Christmas ornaments for $2 for a project I am working on. I think that's about all we got... Then Sunday we took a glorious 2 hour nap, and I got out my Christmas decorations. We need to get a tree soon, we DON'T do fake trees. Then we watched The Walking Dead with some friends like we do every Sunday. If you don't watch it it's SO good and you should. That's my update, so we hope everyone else had a great Thanksgiving!

Lately

2011-11-15T13:27:00.001-08:00

Well I got sick and now Brandon is sick. I really don't know how your spouse CAN'T get sick when one of you gets sick. Should I Lysol everything after I touch it? Remain 4 feet away from him at all times? Confine myself to a different room? It's just not going to happen. I had a sore throat for 2 days and then a head cold (stuffy/runny nose, body aches). Bran has a sore throat. We're slowly recovering. Here are a few updates in photos:

This is pretty much the extent of my Thanksgiving decorations, however Hobby Lobby kindly just sent me an email that all of their Fall decor is 80% OFF, so that might boost my fall decorations. (For the cute Thanksgiving printable go here.)

My parents had their 24th wedding anniversary! I love this photo, my dad is rocking that mustache and my mom's eyeliner is taking over. Don't worry we love to tease them. :)

This is one of our chameleons Kinga. He is such an adventurer, he always wants to come out and explore. If you walk up to his cage he hurries and comes to the front so if you open it he can convince you to let him out. It's pretty adorable.

And the world's smallest container of maple syrup (found at Target). What in the world do you do with that tiny teensy amount of syrup!?

(AND it was the same price as the regular sized ones. BIZARRE)

I know this isn't that exciting but hey it's something!!!

Our Weekend

2011-11-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

This weekend we did some antiquing, some shopping, some dining. I finally found some black skinny jeans, and some winter clothes. Oh and we saw Contagion! Makes you want to carry hand sanitizer and never touch anyone... It was a good weekend. I think it's pretty cool that we can spend the ENTIRE weekend together and not get tired of each other. I guess that's why we married each other. :)

This old doctor's bag was so very pretty.

Vintage calculator...

Found a cool autographed Charlie Sheen photo for $50, too bad he's such a train wreck these days.

These blue goblets are GORGEOUS. If I had a house, and more money, I would have bought them because they were stunning and I can't stop thinking about them. :(

Ummm offensive? It's a mason jar cover...

Magelby's for lunch. Stuffed breadstick, fries, and roll= CARBS ARE YUMMY.

I collect salt and pepper shakers and they had some GREAT ones, like little monks, and squirrels dressed as pilgrims... I wanted them all, but I also don't want to be the crazy lady with 1,000 trinkets around the house.

And now another week of working our buns off! Happy Monday everyone.

All Hallows Eve

2011-11-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Our Halloween was pretty uneventful this year, which is a little sad but we should have planned better. I feel like it snuck up on me! We just made home-made banana splits and watched The Crazies.

I actually kind of liked the movie! It was scary definitely, but it's mainly about this husband and wife doing everything they can to live through the CRAZIES. It was pretty good. Oh and we only got around 7 trick-or-treaters! (We didn't pass out candy but our neighbors did so I heard how many they got.) Kind of a sad turnout. It was a scary yet yummy Halloween, but next year we are dressing up no matter what! That's a promise.

My neice and nephew are probably the cutest. Look at this little fairy and Thomas the train:

Oh and on an un-related topic, we went and had sushi at Sakura the other night and a big football player sitting near us ate EIGHT rolls by himself. Very impressive. Also probably very expensive!

Stress

2011-10-29T01:32:00.001-07:00

I have SO MUCH TO DO in the next few days. Let me list it out so maybe I will feel less stressed and it won't seem like much:

1. Edit the family cookbook, figure out exactly how many we need, and place that over $1,500 order. (Also keep hope that everyone will pay me back and I won't be out any money!) do this all by Sunday night!!!

2. Decide on and purchase season passes to Sundance by Sunday, before prices go up. Midweek passes, night passes, I don't know!!!

3. Finish some jewelry I'm working on & post it on my Etsy shop, so i can give the go-ahead to have this adorable blogger run a giveaway for one of my necklaces.

3. Get an oil change ASAP, I just realized I'm WAY overdue.

4. Figure out our plans for Christmas, since flights on Allegiant are around $12-20 from Vegas to Phoenix, and I have a feeling they won't be that way for long.

Okay only 2 things that need to be done in the next 2 days, I can handle that right?

Oh did I mention we have over 315 recipes in that family cookbook so far?... :) yikes

Weekend Update-Part 2

2011-10-17T14:36:00.000-07:00

Update! Brandon picked me up from work on my lunch break today and we tried to go let the little kangaroo mouse go in Provo canyon exactly where they found him, but with no success! He just ran around in circles and wouldn't run away! He would just sit on the bare rocks in the sun. If we had left him, guaranteed within 5 minutes he would have been hawk food. We think something is wrong with his instincts, because he really doesn't have any. When they found him he was just sitting there squeaking and walking around in circles, like he was lost. So we decided he is not fit for the outdoors and for his own good we need to keep him! Brandon picked him back up from the rocks and he nuzzled into Brandon's finger and promptly fell asleep. What kind of instincts are those!?! Crazy little guy. So for now we have a new pet, we'll let you know the name soon.

Weekend Update

2011-10-17T11:40:00.000-07:00

This weekend was pretty fun for the Wellings. We saw Cowboys and Aliens which was actually pretty good. Very exciting and exactly what the title says it is. Except there was one part where an alien jumps out of water, and I was not expecting it and literally jumped off of my chair and I screamed a little bit. Brandon thought it was hysterical! I guess I was just really tense! It was good though.

We also may or may not have let off a stink bomb in Wal-Mart, but if you are a police officer we definitely did not. It may or may not have smelled like someone pooped their pants. We don't really know if anyone noticed however, since it is Wal-Mart and they kind of expect it. ;)

On Sunday, Brandon and his friend Jeremy went and did a little fishing and came back to our apartment with this little precious guy!!

After some Googling we figured out he is a Kangaroo Mouse! He is literally the size of a cotton ball. And he just sits there! He LIKES to be pet! His eyes get kind of droopy and I swear he likes it. He doesn't run away or anything, he will walk around a little bit but I think because we had the lights on in the living room, and he is nocturnal, it made him sleepy because he started falling asleep just sitting on our carpet!

(In a sock!)

Jeremy fell asleep next to the mouse, it was kind of hilarious. Just napping with a mouse.

And he kept falling asleep in my hand!

How am I supposed to handle that cuteness!!

We put him in a box with some leaves and grasses and oatmeal and covered it with a board because he needed it dark and he started scurrying around! He even tried to jump out from a high leaf! Don't worry he can't escape. We are still deciding if we will keep him or put him back in the wild, but we're pretty sure he will just be owl food if we put him back... The longer we keep him the harder it's going to be!

Also question, my roots are majorly growing out so do I just go for the ombre thing? Or get some more highlights??

Also I love Halloween decorations. Those little lanterns are form the dollar store, can you believe it? They light up too!

Oh and I made this garland from a printable. It is on my other blog here if you want to do it too!

Headboard Redone

2011-09-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

In case you are interested, I just posted about our headboard I re-did over on my other blog:

Classy Clever Chic

Go check it out, I'm pretty proud of myself!

:)

23 Yay for Me!

2011-09-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

I am officially 23. For some reason that sounds kind of old to me and I'm having a hard time with it so lets not talk about that number anymore ANYWAYS Friday was my birthday, so I went to work for awhile but left early to go get a massage. :) It was amaaazzzzingggg. I bought a gift cert from CityDeals awhile ago for a 75 min. massage with foot scrub and exfoliating treatment and I'm not going to lie it was a STEAL. I think I paid maybe $20 for the gift cert and that massage was GREAT. So nice.

The bad news is that Brandon was sick this weekend! Poor guy, so we weren't able to do any of the plans he had to celebrate my birth. We pretty much didn't leave the apartment almost all weekend (which was actually okay because it was really relaxing). And we finally got internet on Friday so that made it pretty easy to sit around all day... :) We watched some cheesy movies and shows on Friday night and got Bombay House take-out. We blew up our inflatable mattress and camped out in the living room, and just vegged the heck out. :) It was actually very nice (well not for Brandon because he was sick, and he kept saying how he ruined my birthday and he felt sooooo bad, but it's not his fault he got sick! And we are pushing the festivities back to next weekend).

Saturday night I wanted to have PASTA. I love pasta. So we got the ingredients and made this delicious Rosa sauce angel hair pasta with Italian sausage and mushrooms and zuchinni, with brownies and ice cream for dessert. What a perfect meal. This photo is dinner from Sunday, Saturday's dinner didn't even last long enough for me to take a pic. :)

Sunday Brandon finally started feeling a tiny bit better, so we had to get out of the house so we went a did a tiny bit of fishing along the Provo river. I think they knew it was my birthday because I caught a HUGE fish. This picture doesn't do it justice, he was BEEFY.

Oh and Brandon caught some big ones too :) it was a good spot!

We also saw 2 teensy little snakes! They were so cute and tiny...

That was nice to get out of the house, and it was SUCH a nice day. Bran is still a little sick, but I think he is almost better. Next weekend the real festivities are on to celebrate my b-day!

P.s. I bought this cute vinyl lettering from my friend Lauren's Etsy Shop to put in our little laundry nook, and Brandon just does not get it. He keeps walking by it and going "Oh where is the laundry area? Oh here it is!" Men just don't understand, some things are not about function, they are just about LOOKING NICE!! Haha I think it looks great, thanks Lauren!

Tillandsia

2011-09-01T12:56:00.001-07:00

I recently purchased some "air plants" from Etsy. Get this, they require NO soil and you just rinse them in water a few times a week. AMAZING. They are so happy on my desk at work.

Fishing

2011-08-31T15:29:00.000-07:00

Oh look it's Brandon and I! Wait a minute...

Fishing is cool obviously because Ashton and Demi do it. :)

(Photo courtesy of Twitter)

Giveaway at CCC

2011-08-25T11:34:00.000-07:00

Guys I'm doing a giveaway on my other blog ClassyCleverChic!! It has the potential to have about 12 entries, so go enter because you have a really high chance of winning!! :)

It is HERE

You can win 1 item from my Etsy Shop!

Uintas Camping Trip!

2011-08-09T09:51:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Brandon and I went on a camping/fishing trip to the Uinta mountains! We left Friday night and came home Sunday late afternoon. We got there and luckily a nice man flagged us down and we got one of the last camping sites! You couldn't see it from the road and we were getting worried we wouldn't find a spot, so thank you nice man! We had a nice spot, it had a HUGE picnic table, a fire pit, and a nice spot for our tent. It was a campsite at Butterfly lake, campsite #1 if anyone wants to go there, we recommend that spot. I wouldn't say that we were the MOST prepared, we forgot bowls for our cereal and utensils (we did bring 1 butter knife so that counts for something)... but luckily we found a spoon in Bran's car. :)

We got there when it was dark so we went scavenging for firewood and came across a little stream across the highway and there were tons of fish in it! Brandon caught them with their hands because they were trapped in little pools, they were fish sleeping I guess, but there were Tiger trout, and Albino rainbow trout, and I think a regular rainbow trout? I can’t quite remember, but there were LOTS.

Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to go hike and fish. We went to Ruth Lake, Hayden Lake, Jewel Lake, and Cutthroat Lake, but we passed a few ponds and a river throughout the day. The Uintas are just FULL of lakes, it's kind of nuts. We hiked about 3 or 4 miles Saturday I would guess, and our best fishing was at Jewel Lake and in the rivers and streams. I caught my first cutthroat trout!

See how there is an orange streak on his throat? Cutthroat, get it? He was real pretty. I also think I like Tiger Trouts the best, they have a kind of cheetah print. This isn't one we caught, but here is what they look like:
Very cool. So we were dang tired from that day, so we got firewood and went back to our campsite. I took a nap and Brandon went and tried a different stream. He came back with a Tiger trout to eat, and we made sloppy joes, pork & beans, and the trout and it was a delicious dinner. Around 1am when we were just waiting for our fire to go out, a man comes walking down the highway yelling "HELLO? HELLO?" and it was pitch black so I got freaked out, and I think he saw our smoke or something and he yells, “Do you have a car? I need a ride.” And Brandon goes, "Wheres the gun?" because we took our .22 with us for safety, but it was in the tent so we just stood there as he walked into the campground and the guy camping next to us went to go talk to him and we could hear his convo, basically saying he was lost. So the guy gave him a ride and yes, we felt a little bit bad that we didn't want to help him and we were freaked out, but really WHY would you just yell asking us if we have a car because you need a ride?!! All we heard was, "Do you have a car? I'm going to kill you and take it!". So bizarre. Wouldn't you yell "I'm lost! Can you help me?". Here are some pics from Saturday:

On Saturday we met these guys who were hiking with their dogs, and they had little packs attached to them so the dogs could help carry things! Look how adorable! They LOVED the water and playing with sticks.

Anyways Sunday we woke up and went and fished a few more streams. One of them by Mirror lake was SO gorgeous, so woodsy with little waterfalls throughout, and we caught quite a few fish there! I didn't have my camera but it was seriously stunning. We left there and on our way down the mountain we stopped at Provo River Falls, which I can't believe I never knew about! It is so pretty, there are about 3 big waterfalls and you can play in them because the water isn't too cold, it was so nice. Here are some pics:

p.s. Isn't he HANDSOME?!

We also stopped to fish the upper Provo river on our way back, and caught a few fish there but someone stole our worms! We left them in the shallows of the river to keep cool and walked maybe 20 feet away and came back and they were gone! (They didn't float away, it was too shallow and we put a rock on top of the container) Lame.

It is so bizarre because there are these patches of SNOW on the mountains there, but it is WARM! We were in our swimsuits as you can see and we hiked up to some snow, which is in direct sunlight to see how in the world it can really be snow, but it was! You can even make snowballs! I'm so confused how it hasn't melted.

Oh and on Saturday we were walking by this little stream and there were tiny little froggies in there! We caught them and they were the most PRECIOUS!! They were just little babies because later on I caught another one that was much bigger than these guys, but still very very cute. And their swimming was so adorable too!! I want 20 of them.

We had so much fun, and will definitely be doing this again. The Uintas are seriously beautiful and if you have the chance you should go. Have a good week everyone!

Moms Weekend Visit!

2011-08-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Brandon's Mom Christy came to visit us! She arrived Thursday afternoon and left on Monday night so we had lots of time to play. Here was our itinerary:

Thursday: Went and ate dinner at El Matador, a favorite place of Brandon's family. If you go we recommend the sopapillas, or scones, because they are amazing. We also stopped by the Draper temple on our way home because it is so stunning. Then we went home and watched "The Happenning" freeeakkyyy...but pretty good.
Friday: I took the day off! We got Taco Time for lunch (YUM) and we all drove to SLC to try and go to the zoo, but whoops nobody told us they closed at 2:30pm that day! So instead we went to the "This is the Place" Heritage park right across from the zoo and learned a lot about the pioneers! Then we went and walked around Temple Square, and watched the new Joseph Smith movie and I forgot what it was called, but it was in the Joseph Smith Memorial building and we all loved it. It was told from the perspective of Joseph's mother, SO neat. :) Then we went home and watched "Meet the Fockers" (or "Meet the Frockers, if you prefer :) ).

Saturday: Zoo day! We went to the Hogle Zoo and actually got in this time. We walked around that whole park dangit, we saw everything! I think our favorite was the giraffes, they're so bizarre and cute!! The baby elephant was also precious though, he was playing in an inflatable pool while being sprayed with a hose, it was ADORABLE. After the zoo we went to visit Brandon's uncle and Christy's brother Lynn and his wife Marie. I had never met them before so it was great to finally get to meet and visit with them for awhile, they were so nice! After our visit we went to the famous Utah Noodle! Well maybe it's only famous to Brandon's family, but they have been going there since they were young and they say it hasn't changed one bit. It is in Ogden and it was SO good. They had HUGE breaded shrimp and sweet and sour pork that was brown, but tasted exactly like sweet and sour pork! It was so delicious. After that we of course hit up Farr's Ice Cream! My #1 favorite I think. I got strawberry, cookies&cream, and butter pecan and it is so amazing people, you NEED to go. Brandon & his mom like Grape Ambrosia, Play Dough?, and Black Licorice.

Sunday: Went to church, then drove up Provo canyon to do a little fishing. Brandon caught a huge brown trout, which we promptly took home and made for dinner (trout cakes). Fresh fish is so dang good, straight from the river to the oven and it falls right off the bone, and has NO fishy taste at all.

Monday: We went to dinner at the Joseph Smith Memorial Bldg. I think the restaurant is called the Garden? On the top floor, and had a lovely dinner there. Then took mom to the airport! It was a super fun trip and we are so glad she came!

*Excuse the extreme detail, I have to write down everything I can remember as my excuse for not writing in my journal, this counts right? :)

How to Make Me Smile

2011-08-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

When the hubs holds out his hand in the car and says in the funniest 5 year old voice with lisp: "Can I have handholds?". Love that man.

Weekend: Vegas & Fishing!

2011-07-18T12:38:00.000-07:00

This last weekend I went home to Vegas to visit family and my Grandma who was in town, and Brandon stayed in Provo to fish with his friends. Here is our weekend in iPhone pictures:

This is the only pic I have right now of Brandon's weekend, but isn't my husband a stud?! Oh & the fish is cool too :)

I drove down with my sister Aubrey and her family, and these little cuties. That little thumb sucker has some lungs on her! :)

She also happened to LOVE my friend Rachel who came over to say Hi. The minute she saw her she reached out for Rachel to hold her and snuggled up. I've literally never seen her do that to anyone else, and she's NEVER met Rachel before! Amazing.

We went to the Secret Garden dolphin and big cat habitat at the Mirage, saw some cheetahs, lions, and dolphins that were about 2 feet away from me! I love dolphins, they look at you like they know exactly what's going on. Also there was a baby dolphin that was 2 weeks old and he was PRECIOUS.

Lazy cheetah!

Spent some time relaxing in the hot tub, I love that thing.So that's about it! I will probably post again when I get the pictures from my camera. I got to see Courtney finally! She just got back from her mission and is the same as always and I love her so much. Also got to see Becca and Alyssa. I miss my friends! We went to dinner at Brio and yes, it was good, but do NOT get the Lobster Ravioli unless you want to risk getting food poisoning, because I did. I got to hang out with my Grandma Gourley and I miss her! I hadn't seen her in 2 years, so it was nice to hang out with her.

Brandon finally caught a Cutthroat trout! He has been wanting to for awhile now and finally did! I'll try to get pictures from his phone to show you what they look like, it is pretty cool.

Also on a different note, I finally got a Clairsonic! (If you don't know what that is it is just a face cleansing brush thing.) My friend Brittany Seager was the absolute nicest and got it for me from a friend of hers for $50! Basically they are normally $150-$200 usually, so I am SO grateful to her. I've only used it about 4 times but I really like it so far! And it's purple, my favorite color. :) I will update later and do a review on it I think... (the picture below isn't mine but it looks the exact same.)

P.S. I was reading the Skymall magazine on my way back to SLC (it's my FAVORITE) and they had this thing in there. 1. How in the world is that convenient to sit there and blow that up? 2. It's HUGE! How annoying for whoever is sitting next to you! 3. Ridiculous.

And here's a few pics from my camera:

Hobby Lobby Steals

2011-07-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

No I didn't steal from Hobby Lobby. I almost feel like I did though! I was there right as they were putting out their Fourth of July merch for 80% off so I got first picks, and here is what I got:

2 HUGE USA banners, 2 bows, 1 3-D garland of stars, and 1 set of reflective red white and blue stars. I added up what the original price was, and it would have been $40.94 before tax. What was my price? $8.55 total. Amazing. I will probably give some of it to my sister because I don't need 2 huge USA banners. I was bummed this year because I don't have any 4th of July decor, but all you need to do is wait until a few days after and boom, get all you can! I'm set for next year. :)

Also I just tried these on at Target and kind of loved them, what do ya'll think? I can't decide if they are too indie/army for me or not. Hmm...

Here are the brown versions online, I couldn't find this color above on Target.com... only $29.99 though! (I think the boots in the store were $34.99, sneaky Target!

2nd Annual Family Campout in Beaver, UT!

2011-07-13T14:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, July 8th-11th we went on our 2nd annual family camping trip with my family in Beaver, UT! It was a blast. S'mores, shooting, ABUNDANT fishing, a little/a LOT of rain, ATVing, and eating delicious food. I don't know what more you could ask for. I also might have set a record for most fish gutted in 10 minutes. (Just kidding, but I'm getting pretty good at it with this fisherman husband of mine.) We had an awesome time. Here is our trip in pics:

LOVELY ponchos.

Oh don't worry, my Dad gave us that .22, so we're ready if any intruders assault us!

This is an old polygamist "freezer" which is just a room in the ground where they kept their perishables, neat huh?

Baked Oatmeal

2011-06-28T14:06:00.000-07:00

Go look at my post:

Healthy-ER Baked Oatmeal

Then go make some yummy yummy baked oatmeal. Thanks.

For the Fishies

2011-06-28T09:11:00.001-07:00

KSL listing I found for $8, AND they delivered it to me since it wouldn't fit in my car:

Our fish tank needed a sturdy table in our spare room, and we wanted something neutral to fit the theme of the room, so brushed gold it was!

The fishies told me they love it, also great for storage!

Only used 1 can of spray paint too! Total cost: $8+$4=$12

What a deal!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

2011-06-21T10:44:00.000-07:00

We can't believe it, we've been married for 2 YEARS! So crazy. We both feel like it has gone by so fast. Yesterday (Monday) was our anniversary. Sunday night Brandon pulled an all nighter working on papers for school, so he came home from work and promptly fell asleep on the floor of our guest room. :) I somehow got acute sinusitis (I'm prone to it) so I came home, saw him asleep, and took a nap myself since I felt like my head was going to fall off. We woke up around 8 and went to dinner at India Palace for some YUMMY Indian food. We got the Chicken Coconut Korma and the Chicken Makhani. I could eat Indian food every day of my life.

Then we went and got a Rolo McFlurry, which we thought was so yummy! I ALWAYS get the Oreo but we decided to try it and it is so good and carmelly and amazing. Go get one.

I had never seen Ghost and Brandon had wanted me to watch it with him forever, so we finally went and rented it and I really liked it! Perfect anniversary movie, romantic and sentimental. Great movie. Except Demi Moore looked like a boy, but hey oh well. And don't judge the cover, it looks so dirty but it's really not at all. And yes I cried at the end. How can you not?!

So although we were tired and sicky, we had a nice anniversary. This weekend we are going to San Francisco so I am SOO excited about that since I have never been. Let us know if you have tips on where to go in San Fran! Hopefully this sinusitis goes away by then...

On a side note I repainted a table I got on KSL awhile ago, more details on that soon...

Happy Anniversary to us! Love love love. :)

Weekend Fun

2011-06-21T10:43:00.001-07:00

Our weekend in pics:

Picked up these little kiddies & Aubrey from the airport, Ethan was telling me about the plane and picking strawberries and beans, SO cute.

Wholesale Fish in Draper, HUGE facility for fish, kinda cool!

Look at this: it's a tropical shrimp! So weird.

Ikea lunch! Mac & Cheese and AMAZING princess cake, we get it every time.

My DI purchases, I've never truly utilized my tape player in my car but now it's gonna be a good week!!

I know that was really exciting :) hope everyone is doing well!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sunday Thoughts

2011-06-12T09:59:00.001-07:00

Matthew 25:34-46

34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

This stuck out to me today, because how often do we have someone ask for money & we shy away (at least sometimes I do) or see someone in need but think oh, someone else will help I'm sure...but if that were Christ we would help immediately! So next time I'm going to try and think of those people as sons and daughters of God, because if they are important to Him they should be important to me!

Happy Sunday!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Recently in the lives of the Wellings...

2011-05-23T10:46:00.001-07:00

Update in photos:

I learned origami:

My niece Baylee had a mole removed so it didn't take over her head when she gets older-she's gonna have a sweet scar!

She is kind of the coolest chick too...

We went to my brother-in-law's brother Mark's reception last weekend and it was SUCH a nice day for it...he is an audiologist so his grooms cake was an EAR! brilliant

He loves his squeaky shoes!! Got them at www.yochishoes.com

Pretty sister Aubrey <3

Having a bit of a meltdown, it was precious :)

We're kind of glowing it was so bright! Such a nice day

This last Sunday we went fishing at Vivian Park up Provo canyon. It's kind of insane, they just stocked it so we caught at least 10 fish, mostly small guys but it was still so much fun! Until the sudden rainstorm and it started pouring...

A week in iPhone pics! We hope everyone is doing well!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Reiki Lies

2011-05-18T09:11:00.000-07:00

So for my birthday last year Brandon surprised me with a professional massage, and I've been hooked ever since. Now every time I see a coupon or discount for a massage I pretty much can't resist buying it. So anyways I got a massage a few weekends ago at Everybody Wellcome in Orem, which was great. The lady, however, was kind of a weirdy. She was about 50, very motherly, and kind of a take charge lady. In the beginning of the massage she asked if I had something called "reiki" which I recently Googled and it means: Through the use of this technique, practitioners claim to transfer healing energy in the form of ki through the palms.

This is what it looks like:

So ANYWAYS I said I don't think so? And so she says she is going to do it for me, which just means she puts her hands on my face, my neck, and my stomach for a few minutes each totally silently, I guess transferring healing energy to me. Who knows. So she gets to my stomach and after minutes of silence she suddenly goes "Are you trying to get pregnant?" And I say "Uhh NO." and she says "Oh that's weird, for some reason your body was telling me you're pregnant.." and I said nope definitely not, actively NOT trying to get pregnant actually. And she just seems so confused why my body was telling her that. She also said "You're married right? You're young though you've got so much time, no need to rush having a baby." So now I'm freaking out a little bit because I never told her I was married and I had my ring off for the massage, so apparently my body told her I was married and that one was right. So now I'm scared that I'm pregnant because my body told her, so instead of relaxing the whole time I'm kind of thinking, oh crap AM I pregnant? Turns out no, and she was just kind of crazy, but it makes you wonder! I don't think I will go to her again. :)

I do reccommend CityDeals though if you want a massage, they have deals on there all the time for them! I just got another one for a 70 minute massage for $21! Awesome.

Etsy Shoppe

2011-05-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

I started an Etsy shop! Go take a look, I'll be adding more all week too :)

Classy Clever Chic Designs Etsy Shoppe

My LASIK Experience

2011-05-10T13:05:00.000-07:00

On Thursday, the 5th, I got my CustomVue LASIK done (basically just LASIK but more customized to your individual eyes)! This was a gift from my parents for graduation, I actually got the $2,400 Groupon for the Standard Optical Lasik procedure. I've been going to Standard for awhile now so I trusted them. (I saved about $1,000 too, well my parents did :) ) So anyways, I wore my glasses for about 3 1/2 weeks as required and I was all set to go! On Monday I had my eyes dialated:

So that was fun to look like an alien for a day :)

On Thursday at 10AM my friend Sarah Lebaron drove me to the laser center in Holladay since I couldn't drive myself home (Brandon couldn't get out of work). They did all the prep stuff, told me what to do after, etc, and then got to the main event. First they put numbing drops in your eyes and give you valium (thank goodness no needles). Then the doctor came in to talk to me for a minute and he WROTE on my EYES! No kidding. He took out a special pen and started putting dots on my eyes. When this dawned on me I said "Are you writing on my eyes?" and he says "Do you really want to know?" and I said "Probably not". :)

His name is Dr. Davis and he was very nice, actually the whole staff was very friendly and helped to make the whole process SO easy. After using my eyes as a dry erase board they led me into the surgery room. By this time the valium is kicking in a little bit and I'm starting to calm down (a tiny bit, lets be real I was very anxious). They had me lay down in this chair/bed thing and then they handed me a teddy bear! I'm not making this up she casually hands me a teddy bear and says "He can keep you company." and I thought that works for me because I am freaking out a little bit. Then they put a blanket on me because it was real cold in there. Then they leave me to chill for a few minutes before they are ready. So I'm sitting there all bundled up cozy in my blanket with by friend Mr.Bear and thankfully that allowed me to chill out and relax a little before the actual surgery. Then the doctor and 2 assistants came in and started. From the start of the procedure to the end I would say it was maybe 5 minutes, if that. The first part is a suction thing where I think they cut the flap and they say that there will just be pressure but that thing HURT, only for a few seconds but it did... or I was gritting my teeth and tensing my body so much that it was my jaw hurting but I don't know something hurt. :) After that it's not bad, you just have to stare at a blinking orange light as much as you can. It was trippy. You can see them moving the flap around and doing stuff. It's crazy, I wish I could describe it better. Then they put more drops in and put your awesome glasses on and you're ready to go! I could open my eyes a tiny bit to see the floor but that was it.

Side story, right before the procedure the doctor was asking me about what I graduated in (marketing) and about school. He started telling me about how he needs some marketing actually and maybe I could help him, and this was the vicodin talking but I'm almost positive I said something so retarted like "I like marketing."... He was probably thinking "oooohh, nevermind". Oh man.

Anyways then Sarah drove me home, and I don't remember it very well but I remember trying to talk to her and mixing up my words and getting frustrated because it wasn't coming out right (thanks, vicodin) so I just napped with a shirt on my head because you're VERY light sensitive after. We got home and I honestly basically slept the rest of the day. You have to keep your eyes closed and resting as much as possible so I just chilled. Brandon nailed a blanket to our window too because even through the blinds it was so bright, what a champ :). He also brought me Wendys (don't ask me why I was craving a baked potato) and my favorite oreo shake. I was fine to walk around too, but every time I tried to get up he would say "No! What do you need?" and go get it for me :). He takes such good care of me. Friday was much better, I could open my eyes a little more and see great too. I have to put in steroid drops and antibiotic drops 4 times a day, and moistening drops like every half hour/hour. We went to my post-op appointment and my doctor said I was the most healed on the next day that he has ever seen before, so I win the fast healer award! I was about 70-75% healed he said and that was the day after, dang eyes heal fast I guess. I do have this really cool spot on my eye from the speculum they use to keep your eye open. I guess sometimes it nicks a blood vessel and causes these and they go away in a week, it's creepy looking though huh?

I have to wear the space googles for one more night I think and then I'm done! (Just so I don't hit myself in the face while I'm sleeping I guess and screw up my eyes.) I'm going to go so far as to say it really is a miracle. I can see 20/20 right now and it could get better as time goes on. The only time I even notice is in the mornings I wake up and it feels EXACTLY like I slept in contacts because they're so dry, but I just put eye drops in and I'm ready to go! (I will have to do less and less drops as I heal). It is seriously amazing and I reccommend it to everyone who has thought about it. I am beyond excited and It's still sinking in that I don't have to wear glasses or contacts again. (Well glasses probably but not till i'm at least 45 or 50). If you're still reading you're either considering LASIK yourself or you're just VERY bored because this was a long post :) If anyone is considering it and has any questions you just feel free to ask me, I am a VERRRYYY happy customer. :)

Hearts for Tuscaloosa

2011-05-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

I'm sure all of you know about the tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama last week. My friend Rachael Mulder and her husband Dan are living there right now and were of those directly affected by the tornado. Their blog is here:

danandrachaelinreallife.blogspot.com

In the middle of the night Dan scooped Rachael up from sleeping and they took shelter in their bathtub to ride out the storm. Their apartment building was torn up, so they walked out of their bathroom and it was like walking outside because their roof was torn off. Can you even imagine? Rachael heard a woman crying out in pain so she went to help (she's going to be a nurse) and the woman died in her arms. This story just hit me so hard, to wake up one day and your entire life is changed and most of your posessions gone. This couple is amazing, I love Rachael and though I have never met her husband I know he is an amazing man. Please help them by donating here:

Hearts for Tuscaloosa

Rachael just set up this site and the money goes directly to them, and they will use it to help in their efforts to help those around them and people they see in need. I know with all my heard they will use any money in the best way possible in their ground-level efforts to help. I absolutely know that the Lord preserved this couple, they are an inspiration to every person they know and they have so much more to do on this earth, including helping those around them in Alabama right now. Every little bit helps... and every day we should be greatful for what we have!

Photos of the Mulder's apartment:

More information here:

Video of Rachael's phone interview on The Situation Room on CNN

The story on MSNBC

Easter & Brandon's B-day!

2011-04-26T12:13:00.001-07:00

Brandon went home to Arizona last weekend to help his Mom out with cleaning out her garage, as well as to see some friends and family! I couldn't go because of work, but he had a great time visiting (minus having to sleep in the Denver airport overnight since he flies standby :/ )...

I got to go to my sister Aubree's house for Easter and spend some time with them:

Messy girl!

And here is Brandon with his nephew Brayden at Bass Pro Shops:

He came home & surprised me with his toes, he got a pedicure in AZ with his brother and her girlfriend but didn't tell me he copied the toenails of the lady giving him his pedicure. He took off his socks and said "Happy Easter!" and started wiggling them around saying "jellybeans!" haha that's pretty much why I married him, what a crazy.

Happy Easter!

Monday, April 25th was also Brandon's 27th BIRTHDAY!! it started off rough because he woke up in the Denver airport to catch a flight home at 8, which he luckily got on. We took the day off work to celebrate and we had a good time! We went to a pet shop we LOVE called Pets & Such. They have so many cool animals, like this guy:

He is a Mellers chameleon, basically one of the biggest chameleons in the world. You can't tell from the pic but he is huge, about the length of my forearm. Huge. We want to have 1 one day when we have a house, even though their size is terrifying they have a really nice temperament and don't mind being around people.

We also went to Cabelas, here's a pic of the birthday boy:

I have more on my camera I'll add later... We just hung out all day and then went to dinner at Red Robin where I had all his friends waiting as a surprise!

After that he and his friends played Zombies for, oh 3 hours? ;)

And then he opened presents!

The pics of them opened are on my camera... I got him a head lamp for camping, an hour massage, a Jiminy Glick DVD (look him up it's Hilarious), and some socks (and a wallet but we're returning that)... Also got him an amazing surprise activity, but we have to wait to do that until the weather gets better (hint hint).

Good job if you made it this far I know this was a long post!

Happy birthday to the love of my life!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Thistle Creek

2011-04-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thistle Creek used to be a little town in Spanish Fork canyon, but there was a landslide in 1982 that took out the precious little town of about 70 residents. Nobody died, but their whole town was underwater the next day. Brandon and I took a little drive there on Sunday (Brandon did some fishing, that's why he is wearing his waders that I think he looks SOO cute in :) ) And it was nuts to see the poor houses underwater! Also very creepy.

This one used to be a schoolhouse...

This was some shed in the middle of a pond, the essence of creepiness:

Can you spot the little house? Oh and we saw about 5-6 deer running up the hill to get away from us, NATURE! Goulet.

In the middle of a river we just saw this random green roof. Oh whoops your house is in the middle of a river, that sucks!

This house was up to it's front windows in water and it gave me chills to think about having to get in that water. It was so dark and mossy and gross! I'm getting chills right now just thinking about it. I'm pretty sure there's a giant mutant trout living in there, actually I'm almost positive.

Oh and I like to pretend I'm a photographer sometimes :)

Update in iPhone Pics

2011-04-18T12:07:00.000-07:00

Here is what we have been up to in pics from my iPhone....

- We bought the Pass of all Passes for Utah County, so we get season passes to Seven Peaks, and admission to all Trafalgas. This lovely miniature Lincoln Memorial is at the Trafalga formerly known as Liberty Land. We're skeptical about how fun that will be because they said the roller coaster was waiting on "parts" till it could work, but there were no carts on the track. Waiting on actual carts for it you mean? Interesting...

-I learned how to do a fishtail braid! With the help of YouTube. Oh and I wear glasses for the next 3 weeks because I am getting LASIK on May 5th! (Shout out to my parents for the best Graduation gift a girl could ask for!)

-We joined the Cabelas card owner club! Pretty excited about it, and we got free hats.

-This is right by our new apartment, that's right the Provo River is in our backyard. We took a walk there the other day and almost witnessed a terrible forced 3-way when 2 boy ducks attacked a girl duck... don't worry she got away. :[ Other than that it's a super nice little trail, with a swing halfway down the trail in a tree. We foresee lots of tubing down this river in the summer...

Random update done! Check that off my list.

Moab

2011-03-22T11:30:00.001-07:00

Update:

1. We moved to a new apartment in Provo still, but it's 2 bedrooms, and we got a washer and dryer! We can't tell you how exciting that is...

2. No cable or Internet at the new apt. for now, so not much blogging will be happening.

3. Any movie recommendations would be appreciated, since that is our only form of entertainment for awhile! (we live right by a Blockbuster Express, its the only one we've ever seen!!)

4. We went on a trip to Moab with a bunch of friends last weekend, and had lots of fun! Camping, mountain biking, Titan-ing (taking a Nissan Titan through a jeep trail, pics of that to come because it was INSANE), rock climbing, campfire cooking, and sleeping under the stars. We had a good time! Here are a couple pics I had on my phone as a preview:

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Cuddlekins

2011-03-04T15:14:00.001-08:00

Sometimes we take naps in the middle of the mall. :)

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Sammy Slams

2011-02-23T13:43:00.000-08:00

This is my little cousin Samantha. We went with all my family to a cabin in Heber last weekend, and it was a blast, but not so much for Sammy! Don't worry she's fine. That's why it's funny!

Classy Clever & CHEAP

2011-02-18T10:54:00.001-08:00

Anyone who reads this blog needs to check out my other blog Classy Clever Chic! I've been posting much more often, and it might even save you some money! (I'm also working on posting some projects I'm working on, so look for those soon!)

V-Day Love

2011-02-16T12:04:00.001-08:00

On Valentines day we woke up and both decided we didn't want to go to work! Brandon's back hurt, and Jackie just plain didn't feel like it. So we planned a fun day of activities, and then fell right back asleep only to accidentally sleep our day away! It's okay though, we woke up and went to Dennys for some French toast, and then went and saw Gullivers Travels. Then we went home to eat dinner #2 that Jackie had made in the crock pot. We had delicious chocolate covered strawberries and Black Currant sparkling juice too (from Ikea, we loved it). We literally ate all but 5 of those strawberries!

Jackie got Brandon a nice new fishing reel that he really needed. Since we were together all day Jackie got a surprise on her car the day after Valentines day, some adorable decals of angels and hearts on her car, lovely flowers (including a calla lily, her favorite), and some candy and the sweetest card! :)

Happy Valentines Day from the Wellings!!

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Ice Fishing Adventure!

2011-01-31T00:29:00.001-08:00

We went ice fishing at Fish Lake on Saturday! It was about a 2 and 1/2 hour drive but worth it. The weather was so nice and actually kind of warm when we were out on the ice, which was at least a foot and a half thick! We don't have a drill so we used peoples holes they had abandoned, and a nice group even drilled some for us! We didn't have much success :( but that's okay, we had a good time. Oh and the ice creaks and moans when you're on it, it's pretty freaky but they say that's a good thing! Oh and SO slippery, I fell I think 3 or 4 times, I don't remember :/ ouch. Here's some pics!

We had to get gas at a super old pump! We weren't even sure it would work..

This is what some parts of the ice look like, so graphic!

Brandon caught a splake!

Best pic we could get in the sun!

One family gave us a trout they caught (we call it the charity fish) so we wouldn't go home empty handed, and then we literally found 12 perch in some covered up ice holes... Guess the people who caught them didn't want em!

It was very fun, but it got cold FAST! Minus the falling and the cold, ice fishing is a good time! We recommend it :)

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What's Cookin'

2011-01-25T11:22:00.001-08:00

I got invited to contribute to my family's cooking blog What's Cookin' !! I'm pretty excited about it, these women are amazing cooks! You should all check it out for some yummy recipes, I promise they'll be good. :)

Deals

2011-01-20T14:56:00.001-08:00

I just thought I should share the sites I check pretty much daily for deals and coupons :) I'm kind of obsessed with the new trend of sites offering daily deals on the cheap. Here ya go:

1. Woot.com
2. ShirtWoot.com
3. DailySteals.com I bought a car power adapter from here, only $10! Cheapest I've ever seen.
4. Groupon OF COURSE
5. NoMoreRack.com Gotta be quick though these sell out FAST but they're dang good.
6. GottaDeal.com Lists online deals.
7. LivingSocial.com
8. Yip It You can do local deals (no Utah yet) or national deals.
9. City Deals I got a Marleys $12 gift cert. for $6 and a Pizza Pie Cafe $10 gift cert. for $5... good deals!
10. Restaurant.com I literally got a $10 gift cert. to Terra Mia in Orem for $1. (You have to have at least a $20 order when you go but still, good deal. Use coupon code MEAL at checkout)
11. Ice Monkey Really good deals that are good till they sell out (Home&Garden, Electronics, Toys, etc.)
12. Amazon's Gold Box Deal Every day they have a new deal. I bought a Rival Vacuum Sealer for $25, originally $45. :) We're going to use it to vacuum seal fish in the spring and summer so we can keep them longer! Perfect.
13. Froomb.com A list of lots of deals online...
14. The Daily Deal Utah specific daily deals!
15. Screamin' Daily Deals Another daily deal site for Utah.
16. Deals that Matter Utah daily deal but they also donate some proceeds to charity :)
17. Eversave Daily deals specifically Salt Lake, but some are just online deals anyone can use...
18. Brads Deals I get these emails and they are super nice because they find good deals online every day and email them to you once a day, or you can just check their website.

iPhone Apps:

1. iDealyzer- Lists a bunch of different deals from different sources every day, real good and quick.
2. Today's Steal- For baby/mom/scrapbooking items if you're interested in that (one day deals).
3. Groupon- Easy to see the deals for other cities, not just your own.
4. Living Social

If you have more I'm not aware of, leave a comment because I check these things religiously. :)

Year in Review in Pictures

2011-01-15T22:14:00.000-08:00

JANUARY

Brittany & Trevor's Wedding in Vegas, notice the chocolate milk I didn't know he was holding.

FEBRUARY
Skiing with the family in Brian Head (Brandon couldn't come.)
MARCH
My wonderful niece Baylee was born:

We visited friends in Heber and rode snowmobiles.

Hare Krishna Festival of Colors, super fun and messy.

APRIL
Brandon turned 26! So we all took the fun bus to Wendover.
MAY
Brandon's mom came to visit! (Alpine slide)

JUNE
My family came to visit!

JULY
Ben and Julee got married!
4th of July

AUGUST
Got to see some great friends!

We visited Arizona and saw Brandon's family.

Did some fishing.

Family camping trip to Beaver, UT!

Our friends Jeremy and Sarah got married!

My B-day! 22 never was so fun.

Utah State Fair

Hare Krishna Festival with Jeremy and Sarah.

Did some more fishing.

OCTOBER
Carved some pumpkins.
Brandon was a groomsman for his friend Jeremy's wedding!
I Went to Vegas for my friends Trevor & Jordan's wedding!

NOVEMBER
Visited Arizona for Thanksgiving and did some ice skating!

DECEMBER
Went to Vegas for Christmas!

Got to see these girls!

2010 was pretty cool, but I think 2011 is going to be even better!

Childhood

2011-01-15T21:49:00.001-08:00

I found some old pictures my mom sent me and I couldn't resist sharing :)

This is me and my friend Sarah. Notice the crispy M&M's, what happened to those they were the BEST!

Yes that is an entire box of chocolates I tore through.... hehe

This is my grandma on a jet ski in her curlers early in the morning. Yes she is kind of a pimp.
Lion. Rwar.

And me and Chrissy. I had quite large front teeth, don't worry I grew into them. :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend!

Gradgeated

2011-01-15T11:43:00.001-08:00

Oh guess what came in the mail?

This little gem. :) pretty legit.

Also these came, I'm not sure which I'm more excited about..

Thanks again for the chocs mom! <3

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Maximum Cuteness

2011-01-03T10:43:00.001-08:00

I am obsessed with these kids, holy cow why are they so cute? I am their aunt so I guess I'm programmed to think that but I just think they're the funnest. Ethan is talking and his little high pitched voice is hysterical, and Baylee just sits and smiles all day and giggles if you play with her. They're growing up too fast!!!

He sits in his car seat with his arms behind his head and legs crossed like a little stud, where do they learn these things?

Look at that little butt!!!!

Too many carseat pics Aunt Jackie...

She sucks her thumb and it's pretty dang precious.

I Wuv them!

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Christmas in Vegas

2011-01-02T22:42:00.001-08:00

This year we spent Christmas in Vegas! We had my family, my sister and her family, and Brandon's mom all there and it was a good time... Here is our trip in pictures:

We went to Opportunity Village as usual, it's pretty much a tradition!

How many people can we fit in a hot tub? Lots I guess :) Glad to be out of the Utah cold for awhile :)

Me and Christy went on the zip line at the Fremont street, it just flies over the crowd in the middle of Fremont, pretty dang sweet :)

Family pics! We need to photoshop Brandon in, he had to leave a few days before I did....

Christmas PJ's on Christmas Eve of course.

I probably have the cutest niece and nephew ever. :)

I was not prepared for this photo but oh well it's the only one I have of us, we had a delicious dinner and went to Becca's new house! So happy for her and Davis

Fremont Street

We had a good time! Brandon got a nice fishing vest, tennis shoes, a camo print robe, and some other fun stuff for Christmas, and I got a gift card to go rock climbing (I told Brandon all I wanted was for him to go with me) and I got a funnel cake maker and the Perfect Brownie pan! (Check out my other blog classycleverchic.blogspot.com for a review of that little gadget). We got Wits and Wagers too, so we'll have to have lots of friends over to play!

For New Years we didn't do ANYTHING. Seriously we sat at home and watched movies and then set off some illegal fireworks we had laying around :) But that's okay we kinda like hanging out by ourselves and just being cuddle bugs :) Happy New Year!

Oh and I'm done with college. :) Whew that hasn't really hit me yet, but now I gotta find a grown up job or something! If anyone knows of any job openings marketing or business related just let me know! Also Brandon starts school on the 5th! 2011 here we go!

Thanksgiving in Arizona

2010-12-12T15:56:00.000-08:00

Gobble Gobble! We had a great Thanksgiving in Arizona with Brandon's Mom and brother Michael, and his son Braeden and Michael's girlfriend Carrie. We did a TON, we went ice skating and went to the driving range, and ate more food than I might have ever eaten in my life. I have to say Brandon's Mom Christy is great, she just gets out there and does whatever we do, she was the first one out ice skating and she loved golfing, she's a champ! Here are a bunch of pics.

Just call me Tanya Harding.

Isn't he cute?

Mesa Temple with all the lights

Nativity scene at the Mesa temple, the speakers were telling the story of the nativity and it was ENTIRELY spanish. Not one english part. ???

I don't really think I have great golfing form...

And of course a little fishing...

Happy Turkey Day!

New Blog!!!!

2010-12-04T15:30:00.000-08:00

So I decided I post WAYY too much on here about things that have nothing to do with me and Brandon, such as shopping finds, design, style, and recipe findings, etc. so I decided to start a new blog where I can post about those things I love, and keep this one reserved for what it is supposed to be about, the Wellings. :) My new blog is located here:

Classy Clever Chic

http://classycleverchic.blogspot.com/

I hope you enjoy!

I'm losing it

2010-12-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

I think I'm losing my mind with all this school and work stress going on, for example:

- I was walking to my car from class and it was dark and there was a guy walking really close behind me, so I started to get nervous that I was about to get attacked because there was nobody else around, so as I was getting ready to pull out my judo chop moves I turned to look at the creepy stalker... and it was my shadow. Soooo yeah.

- I bought some earbud headphones on eBay for 87 cents, and they SOUND like 87 cents. I listened to a piano song and it sounded like the piano was from the 1920's and out of tune, it was pretty bad. I guess I need to break down and get some of those Skull Candys.

- Brandon asked me to hand him the TV remote and I handed him a piece of paper.

Only 2 more weeks of school, I'm almost there hopefully I don't completely lose it by then!

P.S. More posts to come on Thanksgiving and the Welling current events!

Blush and Bashful

2010-11-30T13:10:00.000-08:00

OOh check out this blog! I want to do EVERYTHING on here! What a cute and creative girl...

Blush and Bashful

A few thoughts...

2010-11-23T23:13:00.000-08:00

from this years AMAs...

Aw! How sad nobody told Miley she had toilet paper stuck to her butt...

And Willow Smith, uhhh I guess it's the future and nobody told... the rest of the world?

Just sayin'.

"Chocolate Lush"

2010-11-21T23:49:00.000-08:00

I made this dessert today and it was real good! Everyone seemed to like it, it is from the blog Get off your butt and bake- which i stalk all the time. I highly recommend it!

Chocolate Lush

Crust layer:

1 Cup Flour

1/2 Cup melted margarine or butter

1/2 to 1 C. crushed nuts (almonds or walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts)

heaping 1/4 C. powdered Sugar or 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

Mix together, and press into 9×13″ pan.

Bake at 350 until golden brown for about 15 minutes.

Cream Cheese Layer:

8 oz. Cream cheese

9 oz. Cool Whip

1 Cup powdered sugar

Whip the Cream Cheese until soft. Now mix in the powdered sugar until blended well. Fold in the Cool Whip until mixture is smooth and well blended. Spread over the cooled crust.

Pudding Layer:

For Chocolate: Use 2- (3 ounce) packages of chocolate instant pudding or one large instant pudding mixed with 3 cups of Cold Milk.

*I use 1 – 3 ounce package of Chocolate and 1 – 3 ounce package of Vanilla pudding. We don’t like the chocolate too dark, and Milk Chocolate instant pudding seems hard to find.

Top Layer:

Simply spread Cool Whip over the top of the pudding layer.

You can also sprinkle more chopped nuts over the top and shave a few chocolate slivers for garnish on the chocolate Lush.

YUMMY!

Maddux Couture

2010-11-16T18:34:00.001-08:00

My good friend Brittany is opening a boutique in Provo, and I'm pretty excited about it! I helped her set up the store and I pretty much want EVERYTHING! She opens Friday 11/19, everyone in Provo/Orem area go check it out. And here is a sneak peak on their blog:

Maddux Couture Blog

And follow them on Twitter!
Twitter.com/MadduxCouture

And Facebook!
Facebook.com/MadduxCouture

Christmas List

2010-11-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, I have more. I just have the shopping bug and it's driving me crazy! So instead I will make a Christmas list. :)

I really like these, maybe they would even go over my knee (which over the knee boots rarely do because I'm tall) and they would look sweet-

Speed of Light Boot

And these freakin sassy heels! I can't wear them because I would be a giant but they are real funky and I love it.

Parker Wedge

Wish List

2010-11-10T15:09:00.000-08:00

And another wish list, because I just want these things so bad and since I can't buy them, I will put them on my blog. MUCH less fulfilling, but oh well:

Terrace House Jacket

Boucle De Souffle Jacket

Once&Always Top

Popham Beach Top

Another Beautiful Celeb Dress

2010-11-09T22:56:00.001-08:00

I just love when celebs wear modest dresses when everyone else is wearing backless boob showing butt showing napkins. For example my favorite Anne Hathaway:

And the pretty Emily Blunt:

I think they look B-E-A-utiful. :)

Sunday Scripture

2010-11-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

Alma 37: 36-37

Yea, and cry unto God for all thy support; yea, let all thy doings be unto the Lord, and whithersoever thou goest let it be in the Lord; yea, let all thy thoughts be directed unto the Lord; yea, let the affections of thy heart be placed upon the Lord forever.

Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day.

Chicken Tikka Masala

2010-10-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

I have been looking for a good alternative to the Bombay House in Provo, because I crave their yummy Chicken Tikka Masala all the time, but it's too expensive to go all the time! So I found this recipe online (I don't remember where) and decided to give it a shot because it had really good reviews, and up until it was actually all combined and simmering I didn't think it would taste good at all, but then BOOM it became fantastic! Seriously, REALLY similar to the Chicken Tikka Masala I get at Bombay House, and much cheaper. Well you have to buy all the spices and stuff but once you do that you can use them for many batches. Oh and I doubled this recipe because once I started making it it didn't amount to much, and now we have yummy leftovers, so definitely double it. And I got some garlic Naan at Win-Co, and all you have to do is heat it up. I HIGHLY recommend trying it out, even if you've never had it before, it's one of my favorite dinners! :)

Chicken Tikka Masala

(I didn't take a picture of mine but this is pretty much what it looks like)

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken cut into 1" pieces

Marinade:
1 c. plain yogurt
2 T. lemon juice
2 t. ground cumin
2 t. ground red pepper
2 t. black pepper
1 t. cinnamon
1 t. salt
1 piece minced ginger (1" long)

Sauce:
1 T. unsalted butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
2 t. ground cumin
1 t. paprika
1 t. garam masala (you can get this at an oriental market (if you live in Provo I went to the Bollywood Market on University Avenue) or some grocery stores)
2 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. salt
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 c. whipping cream
1/4 c. cilantro (I don't use this because I hate cilantro but if you do use it it's the garnish on top)

1. Marinate cut up chicken for at least an hour in the fridge in the marinade. (I marinated it about 7 hours while I was at class and work and it wasn't too strong or anything.)
2. For sauce, melt butter on medium heat. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook for 1 minute.
3. Add tomato sauce, ground coriander, cumin, paprika, garam masala, and salt and simmer for 15 minutes. If you're adding peanuts add them now (after you've soaked them in water for about an hour.)
4. Stir in cream and simmer to thicken about 5 minutes. If you're adding raisins add them now.
5. Take chicken out of marinade and cook it (broil or grill it). Add it to the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve with basmati rice and naan.

I added cooked carrots too and it was real yummy and you can also add potatoes. Delicious! Next time I will try it with half cream and half coconut milk to lighten it up... And up until you simmer the sauce, you're not going to believe that it is going to taste like tikka masala, but I promise it will! I also left the seeds out of the jalapeno and didn't put as much ground red pepper in as it called for because I didn't want it too spicy, but I will add a little more next time to get more kick to it.

Pumpkin Party

2010-10-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

We have been killin some pumpkins lately! I went to my sister's house last weekend and carved pumpkins and made caramel apples with her family, Christy, and Mark. Then yesterday Jeremy and Sarah Lebaron came over and we carved pumpkins and watched Paranormal Activity- kind of a Halloween tradition because we did the same thing last year! I have an idea of what I want us to be for Halloween, except we don't have any plans yet! So if we have plans soon we will dress up- someone invite us to a party!

I'm gonna go ahead and say I have the cutest nephew in the whole world.

I carved a spider!

This is Brandon's creepy creepy man, I think it is supposed to look like the man is trapped in the pumpkin- I don't know just don't leave me in a dark room alone with it...

Christmas List

2010-10-21T18:19:00.000-07:00

Uh oh...add this to my Christmas list... and it's on SALE!

Learning Curve Dress

Weekends and Weddings

2010-10-11T22:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a busy one. We went to our friend's Jeremy and Kiley's wedding on Friday night, then Saturday morning I drove to Vegas with my friend James for our friends Trevor and Jordan's wedding. Here are some pics:

Fall makes me Fat

2010-10-06T15:25:00.000-07:00

I want to try all of these:

Cheesecake Chocolate Cupcakes

Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies

If it has Butterfingers in it I'm guaranteed to like it.

Devil's Food Cake Cupcake with Peanut Butter Frosting
This one is something Courtney would like :)

Yummy Carrot Cake

I'll let you know how it goes trying all these... :)

I got a fever...

2010-10-06T13:29:00.001-07:00

And the only prescription, is making HALLOWEEN CUPCAKES!These are inspiring me and I might have to have a baking fest.

And how good do these look?

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies
by Martha Stewart

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring in between, until almost melted; do not overheat. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks.

3. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on sheets 10 minutes; with a thin metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely.

**Notes**

Our cookies baked for 13 1/2 minutes per tray. Keep a close eye on them after 12 minutes to make sure that they don't burn.

I allowed the first tray of cookies to cool for almost 10 minutes but then I found that some of the cookies were hard to remove without breaking. I removed the cookies from the second tray after only 5 minutes and they came off of the tray with no problem.

That recipe was found HERE.

I'm gonna get fat.

Online Shopping

2010-10-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

I have been in SUCH the internet shopping mood lately. I ordered a shirt from Urban and with all the coupon codes I found online it was literally $14 shipped. Also I don't recommend downloading the Ebay app for iPhone because it makes it WAY too easy to bid on little things. Seriously I have 2 salt and pepper shaker sets on the way at the moment, it's a problem. I also might need this:

Located here
And these:

Located here

Located here

And can you say Juicy Couture copycat? I almost don't care since they're each $14.99...

Top

Bottom
It is almost Christmas, riiiighht?

Organization Schmorganization Part 2

2010-09-26T21:15:00.000-07:00

I was tired of having my necklaces, rings, and bracelets in a ball on my floor, so I went to DI and got a crappy shelf that I spray painted and screwed in hooks for my necklaces! I should have taken a before and after picture because then you'd be more impressed, but I think it's still a pretty cool little accessory wall for around $5. :)

Grandma Bernice's 87th Birthday

2010-09-26T20:37:00.000-07:00

On Sunday the family met at my Aunt Debbie's house for my Grandma Bernice's 87th birthday! She really is an amazing woman and it was so much fun to barbecue and get together with the family. My Aunt Debbie, my cousins Emily and Holly and her family (Bryan, Benson, Sophie, and Emmy) were there along with Adam, my family (Val, Craig,Christy , and Cody), and Ashley's kids (Reagan and Allie), and my sister Aubrey and her family (Andrew, Ethan, and Bailey) and of course Brandon. We played with the kids and had some delicious food (don't get me started on the cheesy potatoes) and celebrated the best Grandma around!

Confidence

2010-09-24T10:50:00.000-07:00

If we all did this every morning, every day would be so much better! What a confident little sass...

Organization Schmorganization

2010-09-19T16:58:00.000-07:00

I finally made some holders for my earrings! I just took plastic mesh that we had laying around, hot glue, and some old picture frames and some frilly ribbon and voila! I can actually see my earrings now! Now on to tackle my necklaces, bracelets, and rings! Yikes...

Big J

2010-09-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

Today is my birthday and I turn 22. I'm having a little difficulty with this because for some reason 22 feels a heck of a lot older than 21, but you know what, I'll get over it because I'm still young and I have lots of people who love me and life is good. :) Oh and I woke up to my apartment decorated in streamers and Happy Birthday balloons Brandon stayed up at night blowing up for me. It was precious. Here are some pics of the good ol' days.

And my personal favorite and most cheesiest picture ever...

Flower Girl

2010-09-08T17:34:00.000-07:00

I just thought this was adorable! Photo by Chloe Aftel, beware you'll spend hours on her site.

4th of July and my Vegas Weekend!!

2010-08-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

We FINALLY saw some fireworks in Springville on the Fourth of July!! After a fun day in Salt Lake.. and then last weekend I went home to Vegas because I hadn't been home in so long and I needed some friend time! I had lots of fun, we went to dinner at the fantastic BJ's and had a lot of fun gambling! Alyssa even won $160! With the help of our great friend Jack (old guy helping us make decisions in Blackjack :) ) and he even gave me $15 to keep playing when I lost all my money! Wouldn't let me pay him back when I won back my money either, what a champ. We had good times and I love my friends very much, but I am also happy to be back with my amazing husband! :))

Julee & Ben's Wedding

2010-07-21T21:25:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Brandon's really good friend Julee Woods and Ben Craypo's wedding at the Manti Temple and it was so pretty! I'm a big fan of that temple, and the reception was so nice to at a hidden place in Spanish Fork called The Bungalow? I think that's the name- either way it was so fun and Margo came too! Here are some pics:

BYU Library Video

2010-07-16T09:10:00.000-07:00

This is our friend Steven Jones, apparently BYU got him to do a video promoting the library, and he reminds me of the Old Spice guy too! Watch it.

Beaver Camping Trip!

2010-07-14T13:59:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to Three Forks in Beaver and went camping with my mom, dad, Cody, Christy, Aubrey, Andrew, Ethan, and Bailey! It was lots of fun we did tons of camping and marshmallow roasting and fishing and ATVing. We got quite sunburned though, you spend one afternoon fishing in the mountains and that sun gets ya! Here are some pics!

Utah Arts Fest

2010-07-02T15:58:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went to the Utah Arts Fest with my family and we had lots of fun! Here are some pics. Oh did I tell you I have the cutest niece and nephew?

Aging

2010-07-02T10:08:00.000-07:00

I want to age beautifully. Examples:

Seriously? She's stunning till the day she died!

Katherine is one of those people who could get away with anything whether she was 20 or 70. And you know she was a firecracker when she was old!

This is Raquel Welch. Homegirl is 70!!!! I have no idea how she does it.

And of course Sofia Loren.

So this is what I am planning on doing, now I just need to figure out how these lovely ladies did it and I'm all set...

Anniversary #1

2010-06-21T09:19:00.001-07:00

Me and Brandon have been married one full year yesterday, June 20th. That's SO trippy to me because it does NOT feel like a year. On Friday night we went to dinner at the Bombay House (EVERYONE needs to go it's in Provo and probably my favorite place). On Saturday we drove to Mesquite to stay at the Virgin River hotel and gambled quite a bit, and layed by the pool for hours. It was a good weekend and we had a lot of fun! We're in love :)

The Weekend

2010-06-02T09:14:00.000-07:00

Over Memorial Day weekend, my mother-in-law Christy came to visit and we had a blast! We went to Brick Oven, the Provo Bakery, Ogden to see the rocks and stones that Christy's family donated to the museums, El Matador (real yummy mexican restaurant in Ogden), Park City, Alpine Slides, some BBQ place in Park City that was delish, Farr's Ice Cream, and finally Lagoon! Here are some pics from the weekend:

Cheap Shoes

2010-05-26T11:18:00.001-07:00

Enter FF25 at SteveMadden.com today and you get free shipping and 25% off ANY order!!! My birthday's only 5 months away right? Practically around the corner!

These are my favs right now... I might need them.

<3

Tuesday Tidbit

2010-05-25T12:11:00.000-07:00

Some pursue happiness, others create it. ~Author Unknown

More Internship

2010-05-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

I just want you all to see where my internship is. It is in Holladay near Salt Lake in the most incredible neighborhood I've ever seen. There's trees everywhere and all the houses are gorgeous and the birds are chirping and it's amazing. Here's a taste:

Taking Jeans in at the Sides

2010-05-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

This is brilliant and I am going to try it as soon as I can on some jeans that are bugging me- go here!

Taking Jeans in at the Side Tutorial

This chick is genius.

MORE Things to Try...

2010-05-17T12:15:00.001-07:00

I just keep finding more and more stuff! Here are two more recipes I need to try!

Fresh Peach Frozen Yogurt
(makes about a quart)

3 large, ripe peaches, peeled and cut into chunks
1/2 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups plain whole milk yogurt

Put the peaches, sugar, and lemon juice in a food processor or blender and purée. (If you do want to add vodka to keep the mix from getting icy in the freezer, add it before you blend.)(Jackie: If you have Vodka in your fridge you're probably not reading my blog :) )

Transfer the peach mixture to a large bowl and stir in the yogurt. If you have time, chill the base in the refrigerator for an hour or so (not completely necessary, but an extra safeguard if your ice cream maker isn't very powerful).

Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the directions. Serve immediately or transfer to a container and allow to firm up for an hour or two in the freezer.

Here's where I got the recipe.

Banana ONLY Ice Cream (I'm Skeptical of this one but who knows...)

That mystery ingredient, of course, is banana! The smidgen of fat in bananas makes a magic trick when they are frozen and blended up. They turn creamy instead of crumbly, with a smooth texture any home ice cream chef would love to have in their frozen treats.

The major tips can be summed up as:

• Peel your bananas first.
• Cut them into small pieces.
• Freeze for just 1-2 hours on a plate.
• Blend, blend, blend - scraping down the bowl when they stick.
• Enjoy the magic moment when they turn into ice cream!

Here is where I got the recipe.

I'll let you know how all of these go. :)

Things to Try

2010-05-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Whoopie Pies
Makes 8 individual desserts
* Active time:30 min
* Start to finish:1 hr

The generally accepted legend of whoopie pies is that they evolved from little individual cakes mothers would make their children from leftover chocolate cake batter and frosting—the "whoopie" is said to be the kids' happy shout.

We prefer Droste brand Dutch-process cocoa for this recipe because it gives the cakes a richer chocolate flavor. Though whoopie pies can be served on the same day they're made, we think the cakes are much better a day after baking.
For cakes:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
* 1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup well-shaken buttermilk
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 cup packed brown sugar
* 1 large egg

For filling

* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
* 1 cup marshmallow cream such as Marshmallow Fluff
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

Make cakes:
-Preheat oven to 350ºF.

-Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a bowl until combined. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl.

-Beat together butter and brown sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a handheld, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and alternately mix in flour mixture and buttermilk in batches, beginning and ending with flour, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, and mixing until smooth.

-Spoon 1/4-cup mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto 2 buttered large baking sheets. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed and cakes spring back when touched, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack to cool completely.

Make filling:

-Beat together butter, confectioners sugar, marshmallow, and vanilla in a bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Assemble pies:

-Spread a rounded tablespoon filling on flat sides of half of cakes and top with remaining cakes.

Cook's Notes:

* Cakes can be made 3 days ahead and kept, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature.
* Filling can be made 4 hours ahead and kept, covered, at room temperature.

I'm Trying this AS SOON as me and B's diet takes a break. :)

Internship!

2010-05-15T16:52:00.001-07:00

I recently got an internship that I am SOO excited about. I have been doing public relations and marketing for an online boutique called Shabby Apple for a week now and it's so much fun. Check out the site! Here are some of my favorite dresses:

Change

2010-05-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

This will make you want to re-paint every piece of furniture you have, and re-decorate your whole house. I do!

Customers

2010-05-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Me: Hi how can I help you?

Customer: Uhhh my package ain't come and it's been over a week...

Me: Okay let me check that for you...It looks like it was delivered on the 8th...

Customer: Well I haven't gottin' it yet?

Me: Yes the USPS tracking says delivered on May 8th (confirmed address with customer)... Have you checked your mail?

Customer: Oh.. well no I'll go check it.

Me: Okay you have a nice day.

How EXACTLY do you know if you haven't gotten your package if you haven't checked your mail? It's a mystery to me...

My Opinion

2010-05-05T09:56:00.000-07:00

THIS is NOT what you wear to the Met Gala:

THIS is what you wear to the Met Gala:

Just my opinion. :)

Bye Fabian

2010-04-30T11:13:00.001-07:00

Our pet chameleon Fabian has passed away. :( He had an upper respiratory infection for months, and according to every other chameleon owner should have been dead a long time ago, but he was such a fighter and toughed it out till today. We took him to the vet when it first started and got him medicine and ointment, but it didn't work and gradually spread to his glands in his face. It is a blessing that he is gone because he really had a hard time these last few days. He wheezed when he breathed and his condition just got worse and worse, so we are glad he isn't suffering anymore. He is named after our crazy tour bus driver (when i say tour bus driver I mean random Mexican man in Ensenada who drove us in his van to the blowhole) We walked into a pet store in California after our cruise and couldn't leave without him. He was the sweetest little guy, and we'll miss him...

March Madness

2010-03-28T18:48:00.000-07:00

Hello people. It's Sunday so what do I do? Waste my day away organizing pics and my closet. Me and B have been up to lots. We've been to Disneyland, we've been snowmobiling, we went to the Festival of Colors, and we got a new niece Baylee Blau! Here's some pics:

What we've been up to...

2010-03-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Our new baby Panther chameleon!

Skiing at Brian Head!

Brittany's Wedding!

Bridesmaid Booty

New Years Eve!!

New Years Eve/ Bachelorette Party

Brian Head ski trip with the family!

My nephew Ethan is going to be a big brother in 2 weeks!

So there is a little bit of what has been going on in our lives!

The Famous Chacken & Rice

2010-01-22T15:23:00.000-08:00

People have been asking me for this recipe, it's as popular as it is easy so I decided to post it. My mom made this all the time for us and we are addicted now. I don't actually follow the recipe anymore I just adjust it till it tastes right to me, and you can add whatever to it, it's so versatile. Anyways here it is everyone that has been asking me! And for those who haven't, try it!

Val's Chicken & Rice

-2-3 chicken breasts (depending on the size of the chicken breasts and how much you want to make)
-Approx. 1/2 to 1/3 cup sour cream
-1 can cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup- depends if you like mushrooms or no. I usually use the cream of mushroom and you can’t tell too much.
-1 box chicken flavor Rice-a-Roni (or you could use a family size box if you are making a lot)

Optional:
-Green beans
-Mushroom stems and pieces (the small can) SO yummy!! I reccomend this if you like mushrooms.

Boil the chicken till the insides aren’t pink, and while you’re doing that make the rice a roni (use the package directions and be careful not to make it too mushy but cook long enough so the rice isn’t hard!) and while that is going get a big bowl and mix the sour cream and cream of chicken/cream of mushroom soup together and just mix in enough sour cream so when you taste it it tastes good, not too strong of a chicken or mushroom soup taste… then add the green beans or mushrooms or whatever you like. Then fold in the chicken and rice, being careful not to get everything mushy or crush the rice… then put it in a 13"x9" baking pan and what I like to do is crush some bread crumbs in a food processor and spread those across the top, so when it cooks it gets a nice crust. Then bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees but check it to make sure the crumbs don’t burn, everything is already cooked so its just to heat it up, then take it out when the bread crumbs are nice and golden brown! Delicious. Goes great with salad and rolls!

HALLOWEEN HAVOC!

2009-11-10T15:31:00.000-08:00

Our first Halloween married was very enjoyable. I feel like we had a theme going with all the zombie movies and such so we dressed as what else? White trash zombies. (complete with overalls and shirts that say things such as "My wife says I ain't passionate, I guess she hasn't seen me FISHIN!") We went on a little group date with our friends Sarah and Jeremy and Marcy and Will. We ate at the new Pizza Pie Cafe in Provo and it was delicious! It's a buffet style pizza and pasta place, its pretty cheap and it's all you can eat! Then we went to the Scream Asylum, a pretty cheesy haunted house but it was pretty good, I admit they got me a few times. Afterward we went and watched "28 Weeks Later", the sequel to "28 Days Later". It was SCARY. I'm pretty much a pro now at scary movies though. So that was our night! It was really fun, we also carved a pumpkin! And then we smashed it in the parking lot so no pics. Now BRING ON THE TURKEYS!!!

p.s.
Since when is it November 11th and 70 degrees outside?!?

And look how much Bagheera has grown!!

Halloween Party at Starry Night: