The Fires of Love

Despite Brandon's view of Valentine's Day being the most overrated holiday (even more than St. Patrick's Day...I think not), he still knows how to make a girl swoon. I decided that, to be fair, I would treat Brandon to a date night on February 13th, and then he could pamper me on February 14th. Luckily, my plan included slipping on ice in our driveway and hitting my head. My blurry vision, pale face, and blue lips gave me a one-way ticket to bed...so, my poor Brandon didn't really get to enjoy his special day. (luckily, I had done the 12 Days of Valentine's...so he had 11 other days of goodness in exchange)....

On Saturday, we enjoyed a free night out. We started out at the Temple and then headed over to Outback Steakhouse to use our gift card I got from work. Ahhh...the joys of a free date night. And, not to be outdone with the free night, we decided to splurge and spend a dollar on a RedBox. I mean, come on..did you think we were THAT cheap?!?

Here is the only picture I took. I know, I look like I had just hit my head in the picture. I'd like to say the flash startled me. Or that Brandon was pinching my rump. But really...You can't blame a girl for not being photogenic.

Here we are waiting for only 20 minutes at Outback....I mean, come on: time is not free, folks. And well, (ahem) let's just say, the night didn't end there.

Last Night

I was sitting at our computer, helping my hubs write his Letter of Intent. My torso was wrapped in our softest and warmest, fleece blanket. I tried every which way I could to keep my arms and fingers warm from the bitter apartment air. I wrapped the fleece around my back, draping the ends of the blanket over my forearms. Every time I pressed the spacebar, the blanket would fall off. Much to my surprise and dismay, I exclaimed,

"I need a Snuggie!"

Cool Kid on the Block

I have a BFF who is really cool. She can pull off black nailpolish, and she travels for her job. Three years ago, I thought she had already outdone herself by just starting a personal blog. Well, she's at it again! She has this incredible talent for making all things cute. I have received many-a-Christmas card from her, created by her very own hands.

She has started an Etsy shop where you can actually purchase your very own cards, handmade by her. I know I am getting my hands on some of those...because seriously, who doesn't need a good stack of "Thank You" cards on reserve?

And, just in case you needed more of her, you can go to her new blog that introduces you to the new term, "Stationeria". Yeah, I didn't know what that was either...until I read her blog.

Almost ready for 2009....

In keeping with the tradition of chronological order, I thought it appropriate to post our Christmas blog in February. Please stay tuned in April when I recap our Valentine's Day.


We spent Christmas Eve and morning with the Wilkinsons' this year, and got spoiled by all of the great gifts we got from his and my family. I love Christmas. Even when it's February. No, especially when it's February.

Last year I was still trying to figure out how to be a married woman in her own neighborhood, so I didn't really get around to making any neighborhood gifts. After twelve months of living in my own skin, I finally got around to fitting in around the neighborhood. Well, I should use the term "fitting in" loosely. I digress....

I got this great idea from my favorite NieNie, and made these cute tins out of Baby Formula/Hot Chocolate tins. Luckily, I have coworkers that save their cans, so all I had to do was ask around at work for empty cans. I washed and sanitized (since I'm clean like that), and covered them with Christmas wrapping paper.

The Oreo balls were the hit though. Man, I love those things...And, I have to say I may or may not have sampled a few for myself.









Speaking of February, me and some good ol' buds of mine always do a "No Sugar" month in February. This month...I'm only four days into it and I'm already worried that I might give in. It's all this talk about Oreo balls..

October 08

I have a rash forming on my left hand from some unknown mystery skin abcess (to much information? sorry...keep reading, it gets cleaner), so I decided I better start updating my blog before the rash overtakes my entire hand and I can no longer type anymore. And yes, it takes a rash for me to finally start posting again.

Back in oh, let's say, October....Brandon had his best-friend-mission-companion-for-ten-months-on-the-mission come and visit. Normally friend-visits would be blog-worthy, but this visit was particularly worthy because well...they came ALL the way from Australia! For disclosure reasons, I won't give you their full names...but I will tell you that B, C and L are the COOLEST people I have ever met! I was already excited for the BCL family to come and visit because I had heard so much about them from Brandon. Is it weird if I say I was also excited to listen to their awesome accents? Because, I was. And they were awesome. We spent the time with Brandon's Mission President and Wife (coolest couple combination you will ever meet as well), and BCL. It was soo much fun! We went to the MTC Sacrament meeting for the Japan District, we ate at Brick Oven and Costa Vida. We played games. We went four-wheeling. We played RockBand. We laughed. We loved. Pretty lame recap of such a fun week, but....since it was 4 months ago...my mind can't really remember all of the details.

Here are C and L. The cute little L is holding her pet Ladybug, affectionately called "Squeezie".

With the Wilkinson Fam

B,C,L with the Mission President and Wife...any former missionaries will recognize the statue in the back.

And, if you've ever heard a cuter Australian girl laugh then let me know...because I don't think it's possible to be cuter than this. Note, she is referring to Squeezie again.

Not Caught Up

I know, I have tons of catching up to do...what with all of the HOlidays (and I still haven't even updated what we did in October with our friends from Australia....post to come soon)...but, I thought I would give you an answer to what I've been doing when I'm not blogging:


Now I'm famous in the local newspaper!

Stockings are hung NEAR the chimney with care

Since it's that holly-jolly time of the year, I thought I would reminisce on one of the best Christmas presents I was ever given from Brandon. The first Christmas we were dating, we were still in the 'awkward' should-we-get-each-other-presents-for-Christmas, stage. Brandon didn't own a cell phone back then (I know, can we even remember people who don't own cell phones? Weird.), so I decided to buy a mini cell phone from Dollar Tree. That was my "meaningful" Christmas gift. It obviously outdid Brandon's gift, because, well....he didn't get me anything. You can imagine what that'll do to a girl's analyzation skills: "Does that mean he doesn't like me?" "It obviously means he didn't think enough about me to get me a gift." But, no, I never thought that way. ::sheepish grin::

Well.... by the second year of Christmas (still dating, but a little more serious to know I could at least EXPECT a Christmas gift this time), I came into my house on Christmas Eve to find this:

Santa? Is that you?

No, it is his little Elf helper, Brandon! Brandon and his mom slaved away at making a life-size stocking for me. It was filled with gifts and candy....that Elf sure knew what was on my Christmas list.

Here he is in *Santa's workshop,

So cute
The sneaky Elf made it into our house while we were celebrating at my Dad's house!

And now I have my very-own Christmas decoration to "hang" by the chimney every year. However, it still ::sadly:: sits in my Mom's storage because the stocking won't fit in our house. Boo hoo.

*The "Santa" reference is for any children that might be reading this. I don't want to spoil the surprise. And, you never know if your kids are reading blogs. Kids these days....

Wrapping

If you were to have been wrapping gifts with us in our kitchen last night, this might have been something you would have overheard:

Erica: Oh shoot, I cut the tulle and now I can't find it. Do you see the tulle anywhere?

Brandon: Uhm, this? (Pointing to a screwdriver)

Erica: What? No...the TULLE. Oh, hahah...funny. You don't know what tulle is (finding the tulle and showing Brandon the tulle).

Brandon: That's a ribbon, not a tool.

Erica: (laughing) You are so cute. hahahahaha.....that is funny.

Brandon: You're going to blog about that, aren't you?


You know it, baby.

Another reason why I can appreciate the difference between a man and a woman.

Missing You

It's not even Finals week around here, and he's already pulling an all-nighter at the University. And, I know I should find other things to do than come home and blog about Brandon...but, to tell you the truth, the only other thing I would do is eat an entire bag of chocolate chips. So, to blogger I go.


This is my Eagle Scout. Cheesy grin and all. And you wonder what he does in his spare time?

Be PREPARED

He loves to work on his tractor(s)...yes, he has more than one. In fact, he has more than three. Don't get me started.

And, because he is so manly he also like to clean up dead mice that I find on our kitchen floor in the mornings. No this isn't a frequent occasion, because my husband is a Boy Scout.

From the mouth of babes

Okay, I know I know...I have blogged now ::THREE:: times in the last week. Miracle? yes. Habit? no. However, I did receive this email (which means you have probably received the email too, but what the HEY, it's Christmas). Wanted to post these letters from kids.
Nan, Joyce and Elliot say it best.

Welcome Weston!

My best friend from the womb (practically...okay, from the 9th grade) just had her first baby!
Weston Reed Nielson was born last night in Bloomington, Indiana to Eric and Chelsey Nielson.

I can't believe that Chelsey's teeny body could birth an 8 lb. 8 oz. little boy, but she did it!

Congrats!!!

More Thanks

I don't want to spoil you and make you think that just because I have now posted 2 times in one day, this is my way of saying "The spark is back!". But, I wanted to share this quote from Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin from our Church. He passed away last night, and he certainly was an incredible leader, speaker and man of God. I thought this quote was very fitting for the season:

"Gratitude is a mark of a noble soul and a refined character. We like to be around those who are grateful. They tend to brighten all around them. They make others feel better about themselves. They tend to be more humble, more joyful, more likable."

Giving Thanks

Remember how in my last post, I had this *sigh* of relief for the fact that I was all caught up blogging, for Thanksgiving? Silly, foolish me. I don't know about you, but I feel like me and the blog have gotten over our Honeymoon phase. The first few blog posts, I was so excited...checking my blog everyday to see if I had a new comment...blogging weekly about some great story. But now, the excitement has worn off. Anybody have any ideas on how to get the "spark" back between the blog and me?

Enough boo-hooing.

Thanksgiving was great this year. My mom's entire family came out for my cousin's wedding, so we had a big brouhaha on Wednesday night. My mom is quite the party planner, and she rented out a reception hall for the party. She went out and bought a Wii and the American Idol game JUST for the party. SEriously...she knows how to throw a party.

Grateful for this Hunk

Rebecca and Keith...the blogger and photographer

My H.O.T. mom and my H.O.T. aunts. Seriously..hoping I look as good as these 50 somethings when I'm their age.

K-Sis and Timbo (F.Y.I. they are expecting a little baby in May!)

The whole clan

Thanks for the pictures again, Becca.


On Thursday we had Thanksgiving with Brandon's family at his GrandDad's...but, since I didn't take my camera I will have to rely on some other family member to post pictures...and then I will steal them off of their blog :-)


So many things to be grateful for: Brandon, my family, in-law family whom I love and have relationships with, my health, our friends, our home, secure jobs, education, family, Brandon and especially our faith.


I absolutely love this time of year. December is my favorite. Especially since it hasn't snowed yet. Thank you Mother nature.

WELL HELLO THERE!!


I know. I haven't been a blogger lately. And I'm afraid I'll sound cliche if I say that it's not you. It's me. But...it's true. I just find myself coming home after a day's work, making dinner, spending time with my sweet husband, and thinking that the last thing I want to do is upload pictures from our Halloween. But then, today as I noticed on my computer that it is already November 12th, I remembered that if I don't catch up on my Halloween then I will get behind on our Thanksgiving. And ::gasp:: the thought of not posting about our Christmas is a shame.

And do you know what? I have found an answer to my don't-want-to-make-time-to-upload-pictures-after-dinner problem. The Answer? The World Wide Web. It is amazing what happens when I have memories with family who also choose to blog and use Facebook. It's almost like we all share the same pictures. So, I took the liberty of "borrowing" some pictures from my family about what we have been up to. And, don't worry...I will give credit where credit is deserved.

Remember this picture that the Wilkinsons tried to take?

Well, we finally found a beautiful Saturday...and these were the results:

(photo credit: Marquelle and Kimberly's Facebook)


And, the Wilkinsons also had their annual family Halloween party. As many know, Brandon has possibly consumed over 10,000 bowls of cereal in his lifetime. So, in honor of his accomplishment:
(photo credit: Aunt Amy)


And if I had a blog last October, I would have spent an entire post on our Halloween costumes alone...but, since I didn't blog...you can go HERE to see our *sweet* costumes:


And on Halloween night, we went to Lehi to spend time with my family and see the cute little nieces and nephews in all of their costume glory.


But since there are too many cute photos to share. You may visit my sister's blog HERE:

(thanks Rebecca!)

Okay...now I think I am in the clear for Thanksgiving.


And also...let me mention that I love my husband. I just do.

I know...it's been too long. And I WOULD post about our Halloween parties and costumes right now but there is something much more pressing that is needing airtime right now...and it is this blog:

http://ourheroscott.blogspot.com/

My sister and bro-in-law, Krista and Tim, have spent the last five days with Tim's family, praying unceasingly that Tim's Dad will recover from the heart-attack that he suffered on Thursday. Please keep them in your constant prayers.