It was a White Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! We were spoiled as usual and so blessed! We are so grateful for our wonderful families and all that they do for us!

What did we do for Christmas?

Christmas Eve
-Family Pictures
-Eat
-Sing at the retirement community
-Eat
-Stare in amazement how fast kids open presents and how loud the Howards are :)
-Open presents
-Eat
-Rockband 3

Christmas
-Eat
-Wii
-Attempt to take pictures
-Eat
-Play dolls with Kyrah
-Dont Break the Ice
-Rockband 3
-Eat :) haha
-Watch it snow
-Drive home in 3+ snow

Day after Christmas
-Church is cancelled because of the 7+ inches of snow
-let dogs run free in the snow for 5 minutes
-take pictures of snow and of previous
-give dogs baths to melt the "snow balls" **not what you think, see pic at bottom!!**
-Almost die in attempting to get to Brittany's
-Breathe
-Arrive at Brittanys
-Go Sledding
-Play games
-Head home and think of how blessed we are!

Well thats about it in a nutshell... here are some pics of the snow!

See Krone's legs? The boys get these "snow balls" that cling to their hair! it is pretty funny, but they are super hard to melt! We had to throw them in the tub to get them all melted, I know they didnt mind the warm water! :)

Ugly Sweater Party

We hosted our first annual Ugly Sweater Party! It was so much fun! We had several couples from the stake and Brooke & Kent were able to make it in town just in time to join! Claire & Tyler were the only ones not in ugly sweaters but we figured we would let them join in the fun anyways! :) j/k guys I know you tried to find some! 

We played some fun games, including Match Mate, which can be awkward at times! And several minute to win it games Christmas style! On top of all the fun and games we had some delicious Christmas Snacks! 

We had such a good time and I am looking forward to the next get together!!

Now for the pictures... All of these were taken during our minute to win it games, you are always guaranteed to get some great pics while playing these!

See our new rug! We got it at Ikea and I love it and love Ikea!!!

We also had a small white elephant gift exchange! I had written it in the invite but had forgotten by Saturday! Oops! Claire & Tyler forgot too, so Colby ran down to Lowes with them to pick out some awesome presents, Carleton is holding the coolest one! A rubber blow up cat! haha! YOu can tell he is so happy to have it!

House updates again!

Maybe some day I will take a picture of the master bathroom but until then here is the living room and office!
While my dad was here he installed two recessed lights in the living room and wired for a fan. So we went from having Zero lights to having two recessed lights and two fans with lights! I love it! I can see the floor at night and if you know my dog thats a good thing! :)

Before:

I know its from a different angle but you get it...

Living room with Lights! and decorated for Christmas!

Before Office:

Wow I dont miss anything about that room at all!

I have the letters to go under the clocks I just havent put them up yet! 

Our lovely fireplace decorated for Christmas! We are going to cover up the wires and get a tiny box receiver instead of bunny ears... hopefully sooner than later! :) The lovely stockings my mom and mama made for me! and the itty bitty ones for the pups!

At out ward christmas party, a sister brought some poinsettas and I was able to bring one home! It is gorgeous! Something that is not gorgeous....

Haha I think we need an upgrade! Actually we did not have a microwave since we moved in (May) but with my family coming in town I thought it would be nice to have since we would be eating leftovers, instead of going and buying one we borrowed this lovely from Colbys parents. It is a dinosaur! But it did its job! I am ready to give it back and live microwave free again! (Never thought I would say that....)

Colby started a new schedule last week. He got a job as a training coach for Amex and loves it so far! Pros and cons for me? 

His schedule is 5pm to 130 am 

His days off are Friday & Saturday 

 I am so glad that he finally as the weekend off but sad that I will only see him on the weekends! This schedule lasts until the end of March and then we will see what happens after that! 

Well thats the update for now! 

Family Pictures!

We had a great time with my family while they were here! It went by way too fast! I am looking forward to going out to visit in June and to see Karli graduate from High School!! So crazy! Anyways I have such a beautiful family! I had my sister in law Brittany take the pictures and then I edited them!  I miss them already!!!

Ikea & Cats

So Ikea released 100 cats into their store in London and this is what they got!



This is how they did it! Amazing!

I'm a winner...

SO I love checking out other blogs and once in a while I come across a giveaway! If it's for something good I will enter and I my hard efforts have now rewarded me! Twice!
The first giveaway I won was for a free print from a fabulous local (Raleigh) photographer, Julia Wade .  She had done a 52 week project and I chose a picture from one of the weeks and she sent me a print! Colby and I chose a boat on a dock and put the 8X 10 in our downstairs bathroom. Looking back I should have gotten a bigger print but hindsight is always 20/20!
Then yesterday much to my surprise I won a giveaway yesterday on one of my favorite cooking blogs Just Cook Already!  They were hosting a giveaway from JO TOTES  Fabulous camera bag store for a free camera bag of MY choice!!! I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I have been wanting a fancy camera bag for quite a while but I wasnt ready to shell out the $$ for it!  Now I dont have to!!

The bag I chose! I cant wait until it gets here!!!
Speaking of giveaways, Check out the giveaway on my Photoblog HERE !!!!

Wow!

I know I brag a lot, bug Colby never ceases to amaze me with his talents!
We decided to tile around the fire place and went and searched for tile at our 2nd home (Home Depot)!
We found the perfect tile and the perfect accent tile! Although the H.D. we were at only had 3 of the ones we wanted and 2 of them were broken. So we headed off to another store which was definitely in the ghetto. (I didnt even know it existed!) They had 13 tiles and we needed 11. The guy told us we should go ahead and buy all 13 just in case because these certain tile sell like hot cakes! We decided not to but regretted it the next day! How did that guy know!!
Here is the little suckers that sent us on a scavenger hunt!

We got the rest of the tile at the store and then headed home!

Accent corners

Marazzi Montagna Belluna if you were wondering the color :)

Colby started working on it yesterday morning around 9 and didnt finish until 2! It normally takes just a couple hours to tile an entire bathroom to put it into perspective. He soon realized that he needed one more  6 X 6 piece and 1 more little bronze accent piece..
He headed back to the original home depot that had that 1 good piece and found it hidden under some boxes! Lucky! When he went to the register to check out the cashier couldnt get the 6 X 6 tile to scan into the system and her nails were preventing her from typing in the numbers. Colby then attempted to type in the numbers but she pressed the wrong button and cleared everything out. Oops! She got impatient and told Colby to just leave with the tile. He was confused and tried to tell her no but she said to go ahead. I told him it was a little kickback for buying so much stuff from there!!
Anyways after hours of hardwork, blood, sweat, and maybe tears (just kidding) Colby finished the tile work and now just has to grout it! I can't believe how beautiful it is!

After he grouts it we will put threshold aroudn the edges to make it look finished but anyways, I am just so impressed with it!!

Thats all for now, I will post more when it is completely done, I just couldnt wait to show it off!!

Yummy Recipe

So I tried a new recipe today and it was delicious! It was a crockpot chicken. I got the recipe from my friend Shannon but now I can't remember the right name for it!

4-5 Chicken tenders
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 gracious cup of sour cream
1 cup of chicken broth
1 packet Lipton onion soup

I let it sit for 9 hours on low with the chicken frozen and it was more than done. Once cooked completly shred chicken inside crockpot and service over rice.  I might have thrown a sprinkle of cheese on top just for fun! :)

The next recipe I am going to try is this one:

via Tasty Kitchen

http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen-blog/2010/11/a-tasty-recipe-thai-honey-peanut-chicken/

Yumm Yumm!!

Funny Commercials!

Colby hates it when I sit in the movie theatre and can't stop laughing at the commercials before the previews! I think he just is embarrassed that I am cracking up and no one else is! I know he thinks these commercials are just as funny as i do though!! Take a look at some of my favorites that make me laugh everytime!



They are driving in toasters and washing machines! oh and they are hamsters! hilarious!!!
Oh and the mayhem ones are really funny!







I hope that was yellow cake or something because thats just nasty!!!

These are just a couple that keep me rolling!!

Tis the season...

...to be grateful! I have just been feeling so incredibly blessed lately. There isn't one particular reason and I am not going to post 1 reason I am grateful a day (we all know how that will turn out! :)  )

I love my husband!
I love my family!
I love the gospel!
I love my life!

I posted them on facebook but just in case you havent seen how cute Colby and I are together.. :)

 Isnt he gorgeous!

look a post with no pictures of the pups!

Next post I will put pictures up of the master bath and the re-decorated living room and office!! yay! It's amazing what a little paint can do!

well that wasn't right...

SO we are going to a halloween party tomorrow night and everyone is supposed to bring a "spooky treat" you know like mummy hot dogs and graveyard brownies, etc... SO I go to Kraft recipes to find something cute to make (it's a contest afterall) and I find this..

via Kraft Recipes

 Isn't it beautiful??? oh and spooky??? anyways so I picked up the stuff to make it when I was at the grocery store, come home and get to work since I am going to be too busy to make it tomorrow.

ya....................
besides getting cocoa powder EVERYWHERE.... this is what I got! DO you think I did something wrong?

Guess it's mummy dogs with cute little mustard dot eyes....

busy busy!

Colby has been busy!

He finished our floors! All of them! The only floor related item left to do is to put the quarter round molding around the edges! They are gorgeous!!

He finished our tile! He tiled both the upstairs bathrooms and the downstairs laundry room! The dogs were "helping" me with the laundry...

We got new knobs for all of our cabinets! It makes a world of difference but it still doesnt make our "pinkish" cabinets look any better! :) I can't wait until we paint those suckers!

and because he is cute!

I get to teach the relief society lesson tomorrow. That is my new calling and it is my first official week teaching and I am a little nervous. It was a talk from the Ensign which means I had to make up my own questions! Those lesson manuals are good for something! :)

In other news, My photography business has really been picking up! and I am so excited about it!! I have tried to revamp my photo blog page to make it look more professional! And I learned how to make my own logo using photoshop! Woohoo! I am hoping that it keeps getting busier! My goal is one photo session a week!