3 things

There were 3 things that made me happy today:
1. I was working with a kindergartener today giving him this ESL test and he stopped in the middle of the test and pointed to his head and told me, "I have a lot of pretend stuff in here." Then he went on to pretend to build a pair of "machine" gloves for me and for him. The gloves were a lot like a transformer from what I could tell from the sounds and actions he was making. He was right, he did have a lot of "pretend" stuff in there!
2. As I was taking out the trash, I noticed 2 buds popping up in our flower garden. One purple and one white. This was yet another sign that spring is on its way! The first sign was that I got to drive home from work with my sunroof open and the rays shining directly on me!
3. I checked carnival's site and realized we leave on our cruise in 18 days!!!!!!

Southern Caribbean here we come!

It's UNDERland, silly!

My mom's birthday was last week and she said the only thing she wanted for her birthday was to go to dinner with the fam and see Alice in Wonderland. We ended up going to Jordan Commons and seeing it on the IMAX screen in 3D.

For those of you who know me well, that means closing my eyes through a LARGE portion of the movie so I don't get sick.

Over the years, I've gotten really good at LISTENING to movies instead of watching them.

Even though I had to just listen to a lot of this movie, I still really liked it. Plus we got to wear these fashionable 3D goggles!

A few of our favorite quotes from the movie:

It's not wonderland, it's UNDERland, silly! (I think he actually called her stupid, but I'll "draw it mild"!)

Another favorite quote: "PIG! I need a pig. I love a warm pig belly to rest my aching feet on."

* "Draw it mild" comes from the BBC miniseries Little Dorrit (a great series!) It means, "take it easy"

Mockingjay

So if you are not on the Hunger Games bandwagon yet, you don't know what you're missing. I was introduced to the series by my roommate and blasted through them in a few days. They were my go-to gifts for Christmas this year!

ANYWAY...

They announced a while ago that the 3rd and final book in the series was coming out this summer but they just announced the title and cover called Mockingjay.

Is is too soon to start a countdown to August 24th?

Moab for the long weekend

I have been a horrible blogger lately! I guess I haven't been doing many exciting things to want to write home about!
We did get to take a short trip down to Moab over President's Day weekend. It was nice to relax, catch up on some reading and do a little hiking.
We decided to try to hike Corona in the cold, luckily the snow had melted on most of the hike but there were still a few slippery spots!

Our first view of the arch!

Kell and Al contemplating life under the arch

Then we decided to try some yoga poses under the arch:

Warrior II

Tree pose

Warrior I

As we were leaving a man in a "super Dell" type flying machiene (A parachute with a seat and a large fan propelling him) flew down from nowhere and started circling the arch then finally flew right through the middle of the arch. It was hilarious to watch!

You can barely see the parachute in the picture but it was pretty loud with his fan/motor running.

We really love our quick weekend trips and it was nice to get some warm weather. I am gearing up for spring!

SURPRISE!!!

I have been feeling guilty about not updating my blog more regularly. I couldn't think of anything to post about, but then I got out my camera for my roommates birthday to snap some pictures and found some shots from Dec. so I thought "what the heck!"
These first two are aprons that I made for my mom and sister-in-law for Christmas. They were a big hit and super easy, (especially thanks to my roommate's mom and Kelly-my sewing partner/model) I loved this fabric with the bright yellow and red ruffle, sooo fun!

Now on to the big surprise. We went to our annual girls dinner at the Mandarin during the winter break then over to visit Em's new house. I love getting together with these girls and especially catching up with everyone.

Lyndsi had some shocking updates. At dinner she informed us that she had gotten married...a month earlier!

Here are our reactions to the news-

Lyndsi: all smiles!

Em- jaw-dropping news

Me- WOW! Congratulations!

Al- shock and awe

Kell- wide-eyed surprise

We were super happy for Lyndsi and Ryan and so glad she found a great guy. Secretly I think she was just trying to show me up, her on the second husband and I still haven't even found one yet!!!

New Year, New Post (with a hint of Chocolate)

Since it has been nearly a month since I have posted I thought it would be a great time to update. We had a great Christmas. Nate, Hill and the girls got to come out to Utah the week before Christmas and we loved having them here. The weekend before they came was our 6th annual chocolateering. *See below! My brother Nick and his new wife Lindsey spent Christmas Eve with us at my parents along with my sister Al and my other brother Jake. We had a good time and enjoyed watching movies and playing games. On Christmas day we went to Sherlock Holmes (excellent!) and had a delicious dinner.
We spent New Year's Eve up at a house in Huntsville watching North and South, and Wives and Daughters curled up by a roaring fire with enough treats to make us sick. We enjoyed it so much we went home for dinner on New Years (and to get our annual Carter Christmas/New Years Stockings) then drove back up to Huntsville.
I really did have a great holiday and it's been rough getting back in to real life, (and the gym!) But 11 of my friends and I are going to the Southern Caribbean for Spring Break so no more diet starts Monday. But in fond rememberance of better days, here are some of the chocolates from '09. It was one of our best years for appearance, but not so great for getting along. 3 straight days of slaving over sugar will get the best of anyone.

This was a new one for this year. It's homemade caramel with a layer of crushed almonds topped with chocolate. Then we put this edible transfer on top. Adoreable if I do say so myself.

My personal favorites...snowballs. A white chocolate ganache center mixed with macademia nuts. Dipped in white chocolate then rolled in coconut.

Presented in super cute red polka dot papers.

The Chocolateers: (Al had to leave a bit early so I didn't get a picture, but she helped I swear!)

Kelly scrubbing away at all the pots and pans.

Me transfering finished product to cooling racks.

Carlee doing the same.

A couple of parts of the end count

We really do have a good time making these and we especially enjoy giving them to people!! They sure don't last long.

Jazz vs. Pacers

Alyson got some great tickets to the Jazz game a few weeks ago. We got a sponsored dinner followed by desserts from Schmidt's bakery. Then we got to walk to our seats through the portal the players come through. We walked in with Frank Layden (he commented that we should be in beauty pageants, etc. Thanks FRANK!)
We were sitting by Daron Williams wife and baby (you should have seen the bling on her watch!) and spent a lot of the game watching the players on the injured bench just below us (especially Kyle Korver!!!)

It was an especially good games because it was close but the Jazz pulled out the victory.

After the game we went up to Hires for hot chocolate with our friends Amy and Ashley from Florida. It worked out perfectly that they were in town for a family reunion and had to kill a few hours waiting for their Mom's flight. It was a great night of basketball and chatting with friends we don't get to see too often.

We did get to plan a trip to Chicago for the summer so if you'd like to join us in July let me know!!