Yay! Another Ruby Lou Giveaway!

If you were also a little heartbroken, like me, about not winning this adorable dolly pattern, take heart! There is another giveaway! I am so glad because, not having any little girls of my own yet, I haven't quite been able to justify buying this pattern. But I love it!

And for all you non-sewers, there's also a giveaway for an already made Ruby Lou dolly. So you can still get a cute doll minus all the potential sewing drama of making one. Enter here.

Happy New Year!

We danced in the New Year last night at Little America's New Year's Eve party. It was so much fun, and I was so glad that Garrett and I were finally able to go this year. Garrett's family goes every year, but we haven't made it for the past couple years. This year Garrett got off of work at 7:00, much earlier than his usual 11:30. Little America always has such great food at the party, and we ate so much! My favorite was the seafood, but they also had crazy things like crawdad jumbalaya and alligator sausage. I loved seeing everyone all dressed up and hanging out with Garrett's family. Garrett and I were the only ones who made it to midnight out of the family, but we were just having so much fun dancing. I'm so lucky to have such a fun husband!

Just thinking about the past decade, I am amazed at how far I've come in the past 10 years. In the past decade, I've had my first date, my first boyfriend, gotten my driver's license, graduated high school, gotten married, graduated with my B.A., started law school, spent a semester in Costa Rica and another in Arizona, and now I'll be graduating law school next May. I can't wait to see what the next decade brings us. If it's half as good as the last one, I'll be happy!

Best Comic Ever!

This set of comics is hilarious and very true! As many of you know, my undergraduate degree is in English. My biggest pet peeves all involve the misuse of this language I love so much. I'm definitely buying the poster. You can buy one here.











One of the other mistakes that I wish this comic included is when people incorrectly write the plural of their family name. Using my maiden name as an example, "The Wilson Family" becomes "The Wilsons" NOT "The Wilson's." That just doesn't make any sense. The only time an apostrophe "s" is appropriate after a name is for ownership by a single person, i.e. "Sarah Wilson's car." Note that if the item is owned by a group of people (like a family), it would be "The Wilsons' car." And using my married name, "The Box Family" becomes "The Boxes," just like the cardboard kind. I always get a good chuckle around Christmas because so many people make this mistake on their cards.

Cute Giveaway!

For all my crafty buddies, there is a great giveaway on Sew Much Ado's blog. She's giving away her adorable Ruby Lou Doll Pattern, and I totally want one. Head over there to enter!

Our Awesome Christmas

December is always a hectic time for us. It's that special time of year when finals, gift-giving and family events all converge into one big red and green colored mess. This year I had final exams and papers due all the way up to the 23rd of December, so I was a little MIA during some of the festivities this year. Fortunately, Garrett was able to make it to a fun dinner with his family on his mother's side. He had a great time hanging out with all his aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, brothers and sisters, and nieces and nephews. Here are just a few of them:



Garrett and I got some great gifts this Christmas. Earlier this year, I gave Garrett his birthday/Christmas present: an awesome classical guitar.


Garrett also got this great coat from Kohl's (Thanks, Dad!). I have never seen Garrett get so excited about a piece of clothing before, though I have also never felt a coat that was so soft before either.


Some of Garrett's other favorite gifts included Season 4 of Batman: The Animated Series from my mom, a cool book from Heather, Scattergories from my dad and Christmas money from his parents and grandparents. He used some of his Christmas money to buy Season 3 of Batman, so I guess we'll be watching a lot of Batman for a while. But I think my Christmas present was hands-down the very best. As my Christmas/birthday present, I got a Bosch mixer! I love it. I've never had my own mixer before. My mom has a similar one that she got for Christmas the day my sister, Heather, was born (which totally explains why they waited to open presents before driving to the hospital). I'd used that awesome mixer my entire life, so when I got married and had only a hand mixer, I had no idea how to use it. I flipped flour everywhere, had a terrible time controlling the speed, and basically gave up on baking fun things. I was just too used to the fancy schmancy one. So now I have this one:


And check out some of the yummy stuff I made! Garrett says the streusel blueberry buckle I made is now his new favorite dessert.


Some of my other favorite Christmas gifts included a beautiful vintage Pyrex bowl from Lanna, some awesome 70s cookbooks from Heather, new boots and cookie sheets from Dad, and Garrett and I are both really excited for the Lion King tickets Mom bought for all of us.

My favorite part of Christmas has always been the gift-giving. I try to buy presents really early, so I don't have to do much shopping after finals. I basically only had one day, Christmas eve, to get everything ready. Garrett and I spent a lot of the day wrapping like crazy, but I also had to put together Mom and Lanna's presents. I had already bought the fabric, but I ended up sewing them both on Christmas eve. Thank goodness all my last minute work turned out so great. When my mom opened her present, Lanna said "You look like Betty Crocker!" It was so cute.


Lanna loved hers so much, she wore it all day. Even playing the Wii. You can see some of her gifts in the background. But the present Lanna loved the very most was a boy Polly Pocket with brushable hair. Lanna told Mom on Christmas eve that she really wanted Santa to bring her a boy Polly Pocket with real hair. Mom told her that sometimes Santa has to shop at stores, and he might not be able to find a boy Polly Pocket. Lanna said that Santa has about 10,000 elves who make the toys, and they could make her a boy Polly Pocket. Sure enough, Santa and his elves pulled through.

After Christmas eve, Christmas morning and Heather's birthday, we were all pooped. Even the animals. Thank goodness I have two more weeks to relax before school starts.

Something old... something awesome!

In my search for amazing vintage Pyrex to add to my collection, Garrett and I have scored some great finds. At first, Garrett was not very excited to spend his Saturday mornings waking up early and driving to estate sales and thrift stores in search of Pyrex. Sleep is very important to Garrett. Garrett loves sleeping more than movies, rocking out on his guitar or playing video games. Garrett can sleep any time, any place, and for any amount of time. So giving up sleeping in on Saturday morning was a big deal for Garrett; however, in our searches, Garrett has found blu-ray movies for $4, "The African Queen" on VHS (for some insane reason, that movie has never been released on DVD), and complete seasons of Seinfeld, The Simpsons and Moonlighting (my favorite). Now that we have substituted an afternoon nap for sleeping in, Garrett is pretty happy to go along and even has a favorite DI.

Last week, Heather fell in love with a beatiful vintage baby bike at a cute consignment shop, but at $150, it was a little out of her budget. Last Saturday, Garrett and I were meandering through DI, and ran into this beauty for $30. And it is in better condition than the pricier one. Heather is thrilled.


Thanks to our early morning trips, my Pyrex collection has expanded beautifully. Most of these pieces were bought at DI, some at estate sales, some at other thrift shops, and a few at consignment shops. Some of my best pieces are hiding in there, but I'm a little too lazy to pull them all out and photograph them for you. I have a few great Fire King pieces, a milkglass batter bowl (which I use to make Garrett waffles), vintage syrup dispensers, a vintage eggbeater, some milkglass vases, and a family of owl trivets hiding in there, too.


I've also picked up some cute vintage Tupperware, a brand new in box fondue set, and a red "You Are Special Today" plate at DI, among other things. My fun vintage Pyrex is definitely my favorite find, and a great backdrop for my knitting. I made these cute little monsters for my sister-in-law's sister (try saying that ten times fast!). I love how the dark pink turned out. Knitted toys look so cute, even though they are so much work! When Garrett and I finally buy a house, I would love to decorate it with vintage pieces. I suppose while we're in this bitty apartment, though, I'll have to be satisfied with my cupboard full of retro goodies.

Lanna's Baptism

My sister was baptized yesterday, and I am so proud of her! She chose to have our grandpa baptize her. She looked so confident and happy in her white dress. After her baptism, she got her very first set of scriptures from my parents.

I can't believe how fast she has grown up. I spent so many hours of my senior year of high school waltzing with baby Lanna to get her to stop crying, reading her Hamlet and driving her in circles around the temple trying to get her to fall asleep.


When Garrett and I started dating, Lanna was about 9 months old. She was already walking with one hand against the wall. Her first word was "Spongebob," but my favorite memory of her talking is when I would ask her where something was, and she would turn around, shrug one shoulder and say "Not know." At this age, we all had to avoid laying down on the floor because as soon as we did, Lanna would toddle over and try to bounce on our heads with her cute little diapered bum. I don't know why. We certainly didn't teach her that, and I think she trained us because now we still hardly ever lay on the carpet.


When I got married, Lanna was my bittiest bridesmaid at just one year old. She was a pro at walking by then, and she ran all over my wedding reception in her cute little dress. She loved being tipped "Upside down!," and reading "Moo, Baa, La La La." And she still loved Spongebob. Almost all of the presents from her first birthday had Spongebob on them. Garrett bought her a Spongebob ball that was just her size, and Mom bought her a Spongebob pillow that she could cuddle when she went to sleep.

Over the next year, she spent a lot of time at our first apartment. One of our wedding gifts was a box that looked like a treasure chest. We filled it with toys for Lanna to play with when she came over, and we still have it full of toys for her. I remember her helping teach Garrett how to change a diaper, and getting her ready for her preschool pictures.

On the day before her third birthday, Lanna spent the day with me in a daycare class I taught. Then I brought her with me to my friend Ayrial's house. Ayrial was in labor, and would deliver her oldest daughter in the wee hours of the morning on Lanna's birthday. Lanna was so interested and adorable as she explained to my mom what was going on.


When she was four, I took her to a Halloween party for my Salt Lake ward. She was Cinderella, and she loved it when I pulled her hair up just like Cinderella's and sprayed it with glitter. When she was about five, she was a flower girl for my cousin's wedding. As she walked down the aisle, she carefully picked one flower petal from her basket at a time, and placed it on the ground.

When she was six, she was Florence Nightingale for Halloween. Garrett picked her up to take her trick or treating at the law school. She had eaten too much chocolate, and threw up in Garrett's car and all over her costume. Fortunately, I had her black leotard and tights, kitty ears and tail, so she was a cute black kitty for trick-or-treating. That year, her school performed Romeo and Juliette. Even though Lanna only had one line, she had memorized the entire play, and would recite the whole thing, act by act.

At seven, Lanna and I spent a lot of time at Kangaroo Zoo. Her favorite thing to do there was to run to one of the inflatable toys, climb up it, go down the slide and run all the way back to me while I time her. My favorite thing to do there was playing miniature golf with her. She has great mini golf skills.

Now, at eight, Lanna is just as fun and adorable as ever. Last week I found two boxes filled with chapter books that Heather and I read when we were Lanna's age. Lanna looked at all the books and said, "You really read all of these?" I hope she'll enjoy them as much as Heather and I did. She is growing up so fast, learning so many things and making good choices. We are so proud of her!