Last Post of 2009

Love you all: family, friends, fellow bloggers! Tonight we are playin games, eating hors d'oeuvres, listening to the good music of 09, wearin party hats, blastin firecrackers, and enjoying company of family and friends. 2009 has been good to us, so we are giving her a good farewell party:) 

Happy New Year!

I don't wanna grow up...

My sister gave us these awesome footie pijamas. These little fleece numbers are quite toasty, I might add. And apparently, Owen didn't get the memo about pretending to look asleep in this picture... (like Bruno's teddy bear? hehe that was HIS idea!) 



I remember when I was younger and I would hear that Toys R Us jingle, I would always think, "But I DO want to grow up!"  I never could relate to that little song... it's like what Jerry Seinfeld says, "When you're little, your life is up... the future is up, everything you want is up. 'Wait up', 'hold up', 'shut up'... 'Mom I'll clean up', 'let me stay up!'... Parents of course are just the opposite. Everything is down. 'Just calm down', 'slow down', 'come down here', 'put that down!'..."  haha I love watching stand-up comedy on youtube! If you have a couple minutes or 60, Jerry Seinfeld will not fail you, but also Jim Gaffigan! Holy smokes, almost everything I've seen of his was hilarious.  This is one of my favorites, and especially appropriate for this time of year:

Hatch Family Chocolates and other interesting things

First of all...

Can we talk about how cute the boys of my life are for a minute? 

I mean.... seriously.... look at those faces! 

I think I love them more, just looking at their innocent, sleeping faces:)

Ok, so I found out from my friend, Lydia, and from seeing it on TV, that there is a new show called Little Chocolatiers on TLC. It premiers tonight and its about a little couple that own a local (IN Salt Lake) Chocolate shop. Well, we'd never been there in the 3 1/2 years we've lived here, so we decided to check it out tonight. I highly recommend anyone who lives in Utah to go check them out! Such a cute shop and ridiculously good things for sale. 

To get there, you just go up E street (like you are going to LDS Hospital), and they are right on the corner of 4th avenue & E.  Sorry for the poor-quality pictures... taken with my camera phone. 

This was their main chocolate display:

See those chocolate-dipped apples on the bottom? I saw that and thought, "EW!" But Owen thought the opposite, so we bought one. I was pleasantly surprised. It is a perfect granny smith apple, coated with caramel, then coated with dark chocolate (or milk if you want). Before they give it to you, they take it in the back and cut it so you get slices of the apple-caramel-chocolate goodness. 

We also bought some chocolate dipped strawberries and two cups of THE BEST hot chocolate I've ever had. Hands down. They aren't exactly cheap, but I felt that this rare indulgence was worth it. We also met Mike Hatch, the husband from Little Chocolatiers and a little person. He was way nice, and very modest when we were congratulating him about the show. So fun to meet someone famous!

Lastly...

Look at these ADORABLE hand-knit baby beanies:

They are made by LovelyKnits and I ordered something from her as a gift for Christmas. It came in the mail today and I almost want a girl now. It is so freakin cute. I put it on Alex to see what it would look like. Let's put it this way...

He would make a cute girl.

Owen would have none of it though... he was all, "MAMA! ALEX is NOT a girl! Take it OFF!"

hahaha...

Oh what fun it is to ride...

... in a one-horse open.... carriage!

The only way to get Owen to smile a "real smile" now, is if you tell him to say, "POOPIE!"

(shaking my head)... 3 year-olds....

Mr. Milk Mustache

Is this not just totally cute? 

I found it here.

The site was introduced to me by dooce,

and I found this online t-shirt shop is FULL of 

designs and captions that are

hilarious, interesting and cute...

ALL FOR ONLY $10!!

The adorable onesie above is $15 because of the hood,

but

they have many onesies and t-shirts for kids,

including this (which is my 2nd favorite):

If you like Jack Johnson...

...you'll probably like this:

Eric Tollefson - Another Day's Blues

I went to high school with Eric. We were okay friends when I was a junior and he was a senior. Not only that, when my older sister, Lisa, was a junior, and he was a freshman, he had a big crush on her and asked her out with a poem! haha... but anyways... she is living in Oregon and came across his music... let me know what you think!

The Vintage Pearl

I am IN LOVE with the jewelry from The Vintage Pearl. She (Erin) is quite famous now, so I'm sure you all have heard of her from the Pioneer Woman or Nie Nie, several other blogs that know and love her.... I ordered some things there for Christmas and really wish I could afford a necklace or bracelet of my own. But lo! She is having a giveaway on her blog featuring the new font, "whimsy", shown in the above picture! Check it out here. 

Alex

2 things

okay 1st.... I suck at photography. It seems like everyone and their mom's dog is good at it and has great pictures on their blog or facebook or what-have-you.... I'M NOT, I DON'T! It really irritates me. I had posted a recipe and took the pictures in the "food" setting on my camera... they ended up looking retarded and every time I saw the picture of the "in reality, delicous" food on the plate, I was like, "what IS that alien thing??" I deleted the whole post. So disappointing.

2nd... I suck at decorating. That is ANOTHER thing everyone seems to be good at. I seriously struggle, people. I even took an interior design class and I STILL struggle. Anything decorative in my house, I've basically copied from someone I know. NO ORIGINAL BONE IN MY BODY when it comes to decorating. I just came from Bruno's aunt's house, who, by the way, is the most amazing interior designer. HER. CHRISTMAS. TREE. WAS. PERFECT. I mean.... the ONLY thing she bought new this year was the actual tree. The rest of the decorations? She already had... just lyin around and chillin. I mean... seriously? I'm jealous. 

Something I love

Back in 1974, when my parents got married, some friends of theirs gave them a blanket that they made from a popular patterned sheet at the time. This particular blanket has become a family favorite (I think it has been on the bed of nearly every single one of my siblings) and I stole it when I went off to college. It is so perfect. 

For starters, its large (king size) and really really soft. I'm sure some of that has to do with the fact that it has been washed hundreds of times, but I also think it has a higher thread count. I also love that it is the perfect thickness. It's thick enough to provide surprising warmth, but thin enough to be light and easy to carry along on road trips, to summer drive-in movie nights, and wrapping children in when waking up ridiculously early for ear tube surgery. 

See how worn the edges are? That is what makes it lovelier.

See the batting? It's thin but necessary for that "surprising warmth"

One side is brighter than the other... just like on any other sheets.

So, if you have access to a sewing machine, this is a great home-made gift option that is sure to last years. I mean, how simple is it to sew two top sheets together with thin batting in between? It is probably a good idea to put in those little yarn ties all over the blanket, just to keep the batting from shifting after years of use (like this one).  

Now for recent pictures of my boys.

I told him to pretend I wasn't going to give him any presents for his birthday.

haha... I love this face:)

Look at my blonde little elf with his pants up to his boobs! hehe... he'll hate me later, but it's too fun!

I could just kiss those cheeks! O wait, I do... like 50 times a day!