Goodbye Campbell

y 

We've decided to find a new home for Campbell Dog.

We're moving (just to a different apartment) but we decided that Campbell needed more space and attention than we can currently give her.

She will be missed.

Campbell is going to her new home tonight. Her new family is really excited.

I know this is the best option for all of us but I'm a little sad. Especially for Zoe.

 She is going to miss Campbell.

More words on moving a little later....

XOXO,

Holly & CO.

Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs

I made my first batch of homemade meatballs tonight. I based my recipe off of this one. They turned out great, if I do say so myself. 

I've been working on meal planning for 2 weeks at a time. Day 1 was a success!

(If the new recipes turn out, I'll post them)

It did happen to be cloudy today. Ryan and I took Zoe to the park after daycare today.  I know I keep putting pictures of her up from the park, but there's such great lighting there, especially around 5-6pm, when we usually go.

A baby no more, that's for sure.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

little gems

I love looking through the pictures on my phone and finding these gems...

this is Zoe with a bear my Mom sent her for Valentine's day.

I had a rough day today. Some happenings at work + a lot on my after work to-do list. I actually decided that I was going to do something right today, so on the way home, Zoe and I took a detour to the park.

She's doing so well at climbing up the slide all by herself. 

I made the Cowboy Cookies tonight, they turned out great. I added the recipe to the box already. 

Well it's 10:30 and I just finished eating my dinner, so I should probably head to bed.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Easy Thank You Cards

I needed to send some thank-you cards, but didn't have any, so I decided to make some.



I admit, I'm a really bad card-marker. I scrapbook just fine, but when I shrink the canvas to a 3x5 inch area, I get stumped. I tend to try to add too much and it looks like a cat threw up on it. That's why I don't post many cards I make on here. So I went for a more simple technique this time.



For this project, I used Photoshop Elements 6.0, which is the program I do all my photo editing and other projects in.

I used a digital scrapbooking kit from Two Peas in a Bucket called Toy Box, by Vinnie Pearce

plus some white cardstock & a border punch....

and voila!

I actually made a bunch to keep on hand. I love getting snail mail, so I decided in order to receive I should give first. Using white cardstock, plus a little embellishment like a stamp or rub-on can make a quick, cute card for any occasion.

I didn't even need any glue :)

That's all for tonight. I will be testing out a new recipe for Cowboy Cookies later this week, so I will let you know how it goes. I'm going to use Easter colored M&M's. I hope they taste as yummy as they look.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Bless Ms. Liz

Bless Miss Liz....

 

This is her house. That is Flour.

(ignore the date stamp, it's not the right date)

I finally got some pictures from Zoe at daycare. I guess in California, flour is as good as snow.

 

She is a saint and always has the best activities planned for the kids. They normally spend a lot of time outside, but this Winter was especially cold and rainy, so after spending several weeks inside the kids were going a little nuts, so she gave them a big bowl of flour and they went to town.

I'm so glad she took pictures. 

We love Miss Liz. 

After I took those pictures at the park last week, I came home and scrapped these 2 pages. This one of Ethan is one of my favorite ever.

I didn't have any letters that matched and my Cricut was in Zoe's room, so I used some Studio Calico letters as masks with my Distress inks. I love the way it turned out.

The journaling reads, " You can't grow up...not just yet. I need you to be my baby just a little while longer. Every day you are doing more on your own and you me less and less. I love to watch you trust yourself more and learn and grow. But you can't grow up just yet, I need you to need me a little longer."

The journaling was all my feelings after watching Zoe climbing all over the playground without my help. She wasn't scared to climb up the jungle gym and go down the big slide all by herself. She is growing up that's for sure.

  

Our Ward had our RS Birthday Dinner last week and I made rainbow cupcakes for dessert. It took about 3 hours and it was a lot of work but SO worth it. They were happy cupcakes. Everyone can use a happy cupcake! I forgot to take pictures and I'm so sad, because they were beautiful. Maybe I'll just have to make them again to get the pictures.

This week we have a Ward ice cream social so more dessert all around! (Sat, 3pm for all you ladies in the FO3rd ward or surrounding wards :)

I'll be around more this week, hopefully.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Lady Luck

With it being St. Patrick's Day, I thought I'd write about my lady luck.



When I was 13, our local Albertson's was having a drawing for a stand-up freezer. Anyone over 10 (I think) could entire. My dad had my sisters and I all write our names down and enter the drawing, he told us if we won, he'd give us $10 for the freezer. We all agreed. I won. I got my $10 and my parents for a freezer, and I reminded my parents quite often, that I won them that freezer and all I got was $10.



I was really into beanie babies when I was a pre-teen. I mean REALLY into them. I used to babysit and accept payment in beanie babies. I'm really not joking. I entered a drawing at the beanie baby stand in the mall, to be one of 12 people who got to purchase the Princess Diana beanie baby for $20. I won and even bought a case for the beanie baby, thinking it would be worth thousands someday. A lady at my Dad's office offered to buy for $200 and I turned it down. Yeah, I was stupid. I think my mom still has it somewhere, still in the case.



In the summer of 2004, I was lucky enough to catch the eye of a cute cashier at the Chipotle, that was near the scrapbook store I worked at. I rarely paid for my burrito and always got a free drink.



Then just a couple years ago, Ryan and I were heading home from the movies, and we stopped at Beverly's crafts. We entered a drawing for a $50 giftcard and we/he/me won.



In November, I entered a contest for some scrapbooking stuff...and I'm a winner.



Just a couple of months ago, I won a pattern for an apron giveaway. Although, I have yet to use it.





But poor Zoe, I totally forgot it was St. Patrick's Day while we were getting ready this morning and sent her dressed in yellow. I better make sure each of my children has a green shirt to wear every year for St. Patrick's Day from now on.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Spring is Here!

Tonight we took these kiddos to the park. It was a warm sunny day and it was too hard to resist.

The light was perfect and so were this kids. 

Unfortunately, my camera battery died after like 10 minutes, so I only got like 15 pictures. 

But enjoy these goodies :)

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Where I grew up...

This is a pictures I pulled off Google Maps, of the house I grew up in.

 {If you click on it, you can read what all the red marking say.}

I lived in this house for 16 years, the longest I've lived anywhere.

Over Christmas, an old friend sent me a picture of this house decked out in Christmas lights, it made me cry.

I loved this house, I thought my parents were going to retire in this house.

I'm glad Ryan got to spend time in this house before my parents moved. I would have been sad if he had never gotten to see my childhood home.

In addition to the things I wrote on the picture, there are a few things you can't see by looking at the outside.

There's a curved banister that we used to slide down. It has long scratches all the way down from the buttons on our pants.

The upstairs bathroom had a permanent layer of hairspray on the counters, because that's where we'd all go to get ready for dances.

There used to be a deck in the backyard, along with a trampoline, that entertained lots of youth for many summers.

That house holds so many more stories than I have time or space to write.

Although I loved that house, after moving into a new one a few time over, I've learning I loved that feeling of home that was contained inside that house. That feeling of being safe, being wanted, being loved.

That feeling of home, has now been relocating and expanded to several addresses.

That saying,"Home is where the heart is," is so cliche, but true.

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Any help...would be help

So my little sister is getting married in a few weeks, and I need a dress to wear to the wedding. I'll be wearing my bridesmaids dress, but I need something to wear to the actual. I've found some that I like, but I need a little help deciding.

 

With a sweater of course.

this top with a black skirt.

thoughts anyone?

embarassing moment #296

This is a story I knew I had to write on the blog just as soon as it happened.

 {Holly in Oklahoma, 2006}

This weekend, my in-laws graciously offered to watch Zoe, as it had been a few weeks since Ryan & I had been out together. We "enjoyed" a nice dinner at Mas, I saw that in quotes because our entire dinner we were right next to the live mariachi band. Yeah, we ate and promptly left. We walked to the car, and once we got to the car, Ryan and I started kissing, leaning up against the car. :::Fast forward a couple minutes::: Ryan goes to open my door and tries the key. The smile on his face disappears and he says," This isn't our car."



Yeah, talk about embarrassing. Lucky for us it was dark and the rightful owner didn't walk to their car in those couple moments. I realize it could have been a lot worse but I haven't been that embarrassed in awhile.



Moving on...



Ryan went with the youth in our ward up to Tahoe to spend the day in the snow on Saturday. Meaning, Zoe and I didn't get dressed until 3 pm, just in time to greet Ryan. ( I did clean and catch up on my shows via Hulu.com though)



Right now I have cookies in the oven because I had an unsatisfied craving for sweets. I love the way they make the house smell.

This is why we make Zoe drink out of a sippy cup.

This is her with a blueberry-strawberry smoothie. 

Yeah, the tray was way cleaner than the wall.

 Been scrapbooking lately...You'll see lots of these pictures of Zoe in the green jacket because I love every single one Aly took. I can't just scrapbook one I love all of them.

Gotta grab the cookies out of the oven...



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

21 Months

My Zoe bug in all her fashionable glory. 

Frizzy hair..check. 

Chipping fingernail polish....check. 

J.Crew look a like shirt...check.

at 21 months, here are some of the things she does.

-She counts to 12 (not always in order)

- She loves songs. She will request them on our drive home from day care every day. However, there are 2 different monkey songs. 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed & 5 little monkeys swinging in the tree. She refers to both songs as "Monkey Song." So I do my best to guess which one she wants, but sometimes I am corrected with loud yelling of, "MONKEY SONG!" meaning, the OTHER monkey song.

- She likes to color, but rarely stays on the same page for more than 3 seconds. Almost every page in her coloring books has a single mark on it, some have more. 

- She likes to eat chippys (chips, crackers or tortillas)  dippits(dip or anything resembling dip), fruick (fruit), real (cereal) , bom (odwalla bar), CHICKEN (always said loudly), beef, meal (oatmeal) & treats.

- She remembers the way to Grandma & Grandpa's house and will say,

 "Grandma?" when we're around the corner. 

- She dances a lot, especially when we are the ones singing.

- Every morning I go in to get her, I am greeted with, " Good morning Mama!"

-She loves tubbies & Dora bubbles & her miniature rubber ducks.

- She loves to give hugs and will hug inanimate objects, like the couch or chair.

- She will play sleep and fake snore.

She lays down for a few seconds and then proudly announces , " Wake-up!"

- She is very concerned when anyone is crying, she says, " Oh no, he/she's crying!. Sad."

- She gets time-outs and is quick to say Sorry.

- She will climb on anything. 

- She loves shoes. We keep a basket of mine and Ryan's shoes by the door and most evening she will walk around in a pair. Except for Ryan's work boots, she hasn't been able to successfully get both on.

- She loves the books, Corduroy, Go Dog Go, & Barnyard Dance.

- She still loves Mickey, but has found a new love for Dora the Explorer, Ratatouille (Remy as she calls it) and Lilo & Stitch (Titch as she calls it)

- She will fold her arms for an entire prayer, most of the time.

- She loves Campbell. She will let her in and outside. She will feed her and yell at her when she doesn't want Campbell to eat the snack out of her hand. She will crawl inside her crate and try to convince Campbell to join her by yelling, " Campbell, come here," over and over. She will roll around on the floor with her and laugh when she barks.

- She loves Ethan and the whole Stauffer Family. When we go next door to see if Ethan can play and he isn't home, it ALWAYS results in a crying meltdown. She's easily disappointed.

- When I pick her up every afternoon, she always check my ears for "pretties." If I am wearing earrings she will say," oh, pretty mama." If I am not wearing earring she will say, " Oh no!"

- She loves stickers. I'm pretty sure that's how we're going to potty train her...with stickers.

She is our buddy and we love her so much! I can't believe she went from

 

this to...

this in just 21 months.

 I {heart} you bink!

XOXO,

Holly & Co.

Proof is in the pudding

This is a digital page I whipped up in about 20 minutes, using Scrapblog.com.

I was getting that itchy crafting feeling, but was way too tired to get out my paper and glue.



Jamie took this picture on Sunday night. The original picture has our friend Amanda in it. (Sorry, Amanda) but I cropped it because it's rare to get a decent picture of Zoe & I. I usually end up deleting the photos because I don't like the way I look in them. But this one I actually liked, so I decided to use it. I will most likely make a paper version on this to put in the scrapbook too though. Zoe loves looking through our "picture books."



I'm still suffering from an undiagnosed sinus infection/head cold. It's not bad enough to keep me down, but just bad enough to keep me from feeling great. Although going to the gym has helped.



I've been thinking about putting Zoe in gymnastics class once a week. Ryan could use some quiet alone/study time in the evenings and I think Zoe would love it. I'm planning on taking her next week sometime to feel it out and see if it's something she'll like. But it's a parent participation class because of her age, so we'll see if I can get a picture...maybe.



XOXO,

Holly & Co.

what I'd rather be wearing today...

spring 2010 by brwneyes525 featuring American Eagle Outfitters

Items in this set:

Womens AE Gingham Shirt - Orange Plaid, $40

Women's AE Skinny Denim Bermuda Short - American Eagle Outfitters, $40

Women's AE Striped U-Neck T - American Eagle Outfitters, $16

Women's - Flip Flops - American Eagle Outfitters, $30

Women's - Belts - American Eagle Outfitters, $20

I'm in LOVE with the orange gingham shirt. Call me crazy, I don't care. That shirt will be mine.

Happy March!

Today is March 1st.

I like when new month's start on Mondays, it makes Monday's better.

I also like March 1st, because that means I get 40 more hours on Pandora :)

It means 7 weeks till I get to see my family and my little sister gets married.



Last night, we spent the evening at our friends, the Fairchild's home. The live in the most adorably decorated townhouse. Gray and steely blue walls. White couches, and simple decor. Ooo it was cute! They invited us and the Stauffers for dinner. We had homemade chicken n' dumplings & biscuits. (they're from Mississippi)Yum! The Stauffers brought highly addictive spinach dip and we brought apple cinnamon rolls. It was a good night for food.



The kids were definitely on something though. Crazy to say the least. Except for the 30 minutes we turned on Lilo and Stitch, that was pure bliss. Then the boys wanted to play Guitar Hero/Rock Band, so that quiet ended. But we made it through. Thanks to the Fairchilds and Stauffers, it was a lovely, loud evening :)



I'm waiting to add pictures, until Jamie uploads them to her blog so I can steal them :)



XOXO,

Holly & Co.