Lately

Lately my life has been CRAZY busy, but crazy good.  In the past month, the following things happend:

• I turned 26
• my business, Busy Books for Busy Bodies, appeared at a 2-day boutique
• attended/helped with baby showers for my sister-in-law (actually all three of these things happened in the same week)
• Taught YW lessons
• Choreographed our ward play
• Started weekly rehearsals for a women's vocal ensemble for a Christmas music program
• was asked to conduct the children's choir for said Christmas music program
• became an aunt again (and I have a beautiful niece, Chloe!)
• attended 3 baby blessings
• have been filling Busy Book orders in my spare time
• had prayers answered in HUGE ways
• celebrated 5 family member's birthdays

Up until a few months ago, I'd say that my life has been pretty calm for about a year now.  Well, what I mean by calm is that I didn't have a calling at church and I really didn't have to follow any type of schedule.  I didn't have any commitments whatsoever.  I kept telling myself to enjoy that time because I knew it wouldn't last forever.

Well, it seems like my "calm" year is making up for lost time.......  Toss in Thanksgiving, Christmas, shopping,  birthday parties, music rehearsals, music performances, 2 more boutiques...........

I don't think I'll be able to rest again until January. But I'm not complaining. 

It feels good to be back.

Anyway, I just had to share my latest creation at Busy Books.  I LOVE IT!  It's perfect for little boys.

http://mybusybook.blogspot.com/2010/11/hot-wheels-are-here.html

Happy Halloween

Using "the force"

"Flying"

"Cheeeeeeese!!!"

Mr. Incredible and Dash

Hope you have an "Incredible" Halloween!!!

First Comes Love...

Then Comes Marriage!

 Last weekend my sister Julie got engaged!  Yay!!!

It was a truly magical proposal.

Mark (my future brother-in-law) got some MAJOR hook-ups at Disneyland.

The Story:

Last Saturday was Mark's birthday, so the two of them planned to spend the day at Disneyland.  

What Julie didn't know was that Mark had made arrangements with the Engagement Coordinator of Disneyland! 

Um.... I didn't even know they HAD that!!  That just makes me love Disneyland even more!

So the plan was that at 7:30 p.m. they would forgo the line of the Storybook Land ride and go straight to the EXIT.  They would also get a boat all to themselves (except for the tour guide). 

To avoid suspicion from Julie, Mark told her that one of his clients worked at Disney (which is true) and had graciously offered to let them skip the line for one of the smaller rides and also get their own boat in honor of his birthday (not as true).  

Something else that Julie didn't know was that my whole family was HIDING near the teacups waiting for them to get on the ride so that we could be waiting for them after the proposal.

This was taken just moments before they got on the boat... Sorry it's so blurry, but this was the best I could get.  Mark is wearing a blue shirt and he has his arm around Julie, which you can sort of see.

So.... they finally boarded the boat.

We quickly ran around to the exit of the ride to wait for the happy couple.  The cast members were AWESOME and gave us these super cute wedding cake bubbles to blow when they got off of the ride.  

I don't have ALL of the details, but here's the short version of how Mark actually popped the question. 

They had just gone under a bridge in which the tour guide instructed them to make a wish.  Then the boat stopped in front of Cinderella's castle and the tour guide asked Julie if she made a wish.  

She then said, "Well, you never know... sometimes wishes come true."

And then he pulled out the ring...

Then we saw their boat come around the corner and the tour guide ringing a bell and yelling,

"Just engaged!!!"

As if that weren't enough, a cast member led our entire group of 10 people 

(all the while ringing a bell and yelling, "Julie and Mark just got engaged!!!!") 

through Fantasyland over to the Peter Pan ride, in which we all got to board through the EXIT!  

A re-enactment in front of the ride

It was an AMAZING night and we couldn't be more excited for Julie and Mark!!

Guilt-Free Fall Treat

Okay... You MUST try this.  

Like, right NOW.  

I am currently eating my second muffin and it is to DIE for.  

The chocolate chips are still all melty from the oven.  

Mmmmmm...

Photo Courtesy of ourbestbites.com where I found the recipe

No Guilt Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins

Here's what you need:

1 can pumpkin (29 oz.)
2 Duncan Hines Spice Cake mixes
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz.) (optional)

Mix all ingredients together.  Scoop out into muffin pan (don't forget your muffin liners!).  Bake at 350 degrees for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Yields about 2 dozen muffins.

These are SUPER moist and delicious!  I know that without the chocolate chips they are only 1 Weight Watcher's point (so I'm assuming that they're pretty healthy and guilt-free).  AND the fact that the recipe uses pumpkin instead of oil and eggs makes a HUGE difference in the health factor.  

With the chocolate chips I don't know how many points they are because I'm not doing Weight Watchers... but they can't be THAT much worse for you... right?

I mean, semi-sweet chocolate is considered dark chocolate, right?

And nowadays everyone says dark chocolate is filled with anti-oxidants, so it's , um, good for you... Right?

 I am going to choose to believe all those news reports about how good dark chocolate is for you.

Now go and enjoy a (practically) guilt-free treat!

Sidenote:  Apparently there was a shortage of canned pumpkin last year.  Something happened to the pumpkin crop and so canned pumpkin was scarce.  The cashier at the grocery store was surprised to see me purchasing canned pumpkin.  She said, "Oh, is it back now?  We haven't had that for a year now!"  She also said that because of the pumpkin shortage, when they DID have any in stock, people would buy ALL of it at one time and hoard it because they didn't want to be without it for the holidays.

For all those who were pumpkin-less last year, have no fear: it's back!  And I don't think there will be a shortage this year.  Whew!

Lizard Hunter

One of my favorite memories of spending summers at my grandparent's house is hunting for lizards.  In Florida, lizards are everywhere and as kids we'd spend hours in the backyard "hunting" them.  I remember one year I got really lucky and caught a tiny frog, too.  Good times.

While in Florida, my brother and sister kept the tradition alive took Owen lizard hunting. He LOVED it.  When they caught a lizard, my brother let Owen hold it and he did NOT want to let that thing go!  He was so proud of his lizard and held it for at least ten minutes straight.  A couple of times the lizard got away, but they caught him again. (It wasn't a very fast lizard.)  Here are some pics of Owen proudly holding his lizard.

Photo Shoot: Take 2

Remember this post when I attempted to be a professional photographer in my grandparent's backyard?

Well.... with my trusty new camera in hand, I was determined to take new photos in the same picture spots.  However, it is WAY harder to photograph an almost 2 year old than it is to photograph an almost 1 year old.

So... many of the pictures are of the back of Owen's head or of Owen looking down at the ground.  And he wasn't in a very smiley mood.... But I think I managed to get a few decent shots.

 Look at the difference 1 year makes!!

There is beauty all around...

My grandparents have the most beautiful backyard.

Don't you wish you had that view from your kitchen window?  I sure do.

Slumber Party

So..... back to our Florida trip.  :)

Imagine fitting 12 people - my mom, siblings + spouses -  in a 2 bdrm condo.  

As you can imagine, the sleeping arrangements were very cozy and we all got to know each other a lot better.  :)  In all seriousness, we had a LOT of fun.  Owen especially loved all of the air mattresses on the floor and loved visiting all of his aunts and uncles in their beds.  Here are a few pictures of Owen having fun.

Owen and "Elle"

(Notice the tile kitchen floor above their heads.  This bed was on the dining room floor.)

Owen and "Ike-uhl"

Party Time

 Last Sunday we had our family come over for a little dinner birthday celebration.  In an effort to make things festive, I took Owen to the store and walked down the party plate aisle.  My plan was to let him pick which theme he wanted to do, thinking that he'd pick Toy Story because he loves Buzz Lightyear.  However, there happened to be Star Wars theme plates and he totally picked those as his favorites!! 

But... they were ugly and didn't have much color.  The Toy Story ones were much cuter.  I figured this is the last year I can get away with picking his birthday party theme, so we went with Toy Story. 

Do you remember the fabulous cake that Rick made last year?  Well, this year he totally outdid himself!  We had a lot of fun celebrating with everyone.  Till next year...

Alien Cake

Seriously... does anyone need a character birthday cake?  Rick is out for hire!  :)

Yummy Food

 

Opening presents

And what party would be complete without playing in the 

kitchen sink while wearing your new Batman pajamas?

08.21.10

Yes, this is late, and most people who read this will probably find it boring, but I want to document what we did to celebrate Owen's birthday.  Our little family of three got to spend the whole day together and we had a lot of fun. 

We started the day by taking Owen to our favorite little bakery  and let him pick out a birthday cupcake.  Naturally, Rick and I were feeling left out, so we each picked out a cupcake, too.  Seriously, don't get me started on these cupcakes.... they are DE-Lish!  I haven't tried a flavor that I didn't like.

Vanilla, Cookies 'n Cream, Strawberry Cream Cheese

After smelling the cupcakes all the way home in the car, we couldn't wait to eat them.  So, yes, we had birthday cake at about 10:30 a.m.  And it was wonderful.

After cake, it was time to open presents! 

 

After opening presents, it was PLAYTIME!

Can you tell that Rick picked out Owen's gifts?

The afternoon was spent napping and resting up for an evening of fun! We decided to go to Downtown Disney and walk through all of the shops.  At the Lego store, Owen got to see one of his favorite characters - Darth Vader.  We spent a long time looking at him.  

We also stopped at Build-a-Bear and Owen absolutely LOVED it.  We had some birthday money from Great-Grandma and Papa Harvey and since Owen was very excited about the "a-mulls" (animals), we let him build one to take home.  Thank you, GiGi and Papa!  Owen loves his new dog, which he named "Puppy".  It's on the birth certificate and everything. 

We finished the evening by eating a dinner of Jamba Juice and Wetzel's Pretzels (So nutritious, I know) and listening to the musicians play on the street.  It was the perfect day!