Tree Topper Mishap

I was pretty sure that this year, Nate and I wouldn't have a Christmas tree. I didn't want to spend the money on one, along with all the decorations for it. Luckily, Nate's parents decided to donate their old one to us. The best part about it is that it's pre lit! So we decided to buy some Christmas balls and do popcorn strings and candy canes, which was pretty inexpensive. We were just having a horrible time finding a tree topper. A few nights after we decorated our tree, we went to Target and found the perfect topper. But when we put it on the top, this is what happened. It didn't seem to matter how Nate twisted, turned and fenagled, it just flopped over.

I mostly added this picture, because of Nate's expression. But he found this little stick and decided that if he whittled the top into a perfect little point, the star would slide perfectly onto the top and perfectly top the Christmas tree. Perfect, right?

Little did he realize that the whittling process would take much longer than anticipiated. He hovered over the garbage can for about 30 minutes shaving the top of the stick. Oh, the things we do for a magical Christmas. I do have to admit that he was much more patient than I was.

Meanwhile....

Hello beautiful!

We got this little piece of heaven with some money from the wedding. I decided that while Nate was whittling, I would make some hot chocolate in our Cocoa-Latte machine. LOVE IT! If you don't have one of these, you should seriously consider buying one.

He managed to put the star on the whittled stick and jam it in to the top of the tree. What a little handyman!!

Here is our finished result. Merry Christmas!

Random stuff in my life

r

For those of you who didn't know, I finally had my 15 minutes of fame! As an explanation to all of my wonderful Aggie loving friends and family, please know that I love Nate and he loves the Cougars, and I also love contests and winning prizes.(And I still love the Aggies!!!) A couple of weeks ago, I was in the BYU halftime in the RC Willey giveaway. A few games before, I was a winner of the best seats in the house. We got to sit on two leather recliners on the front row and 50 yard line. Nate was thrilled and I was having a heat stroke. Leather and 95 degrees don't go well together! Anyway, for the last home game, all the winners of the best seats for the season got to be in this contest. We all chose a cheerleader and whatever she had in her case is what we won. I got the iPod boombox, but as you can see, I should have chosen the cheerleader to the right. I really wanted that TV for my bedroom. Oh well, it was still fun and now I've had my 15 minutes!

My salon had a retreat in Park City the second week of November and it was so much fun. Here are all of my coworkers. I seriously love all of the people at my salon. I already love my job, but they make it even better. Here we are at Cafe Sabor in PC. From left to right is Kristi, Sondra, Stacy, Sadee, me, Becky, Emily and Andrea. They are all so awesome!

Just wanted to give Sadee a little shout out. Not only do we work together, but we're neighbors and in the same ward. She is so fun! We watch the Office with her and her husband, Mike all the time.

Honeymoon in Vegas!!!

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to blog about our honeymoon. We went to Vegas, as I'm sure you can see. It was so fun!! Here we are with the fabulous strip behind us while we were partying it up one night.

Just a few nights on the town

We went to Coney Island at the New York New York and played arcade games and won a bunch of tickets. Here we are with our loot. I think the cash value of our prizes was about 75 cents. We also rode the roller coaster that night along with a ten year old little boy that cried and screamed the whole time, yelling stuff like,"I CAN'T BREATHE!" and "I'M CHOKING!!!" It was realy sad, but maybe a little funny too.

Watching the fountains at the Bellagio. My favorite!

Confession.....I might have played the nickel slots and I might have won $22. It payed for about two thirds of our roller coaster ride!

Can't go to Vegas without a trip to In n Out!

Wax Museum and Phantom!

So we went Madame Tuessads(spelling) and it was there that I realized that the Blue Man Group is missing a very important member!

Don't worry guys. Nate was there the whole time!

And Nate did a very impressive slam dunk over Shaq.

Our last night in Vegas, Nate took me to see Phantom and it was so good! It totally exceeded my expectations and was like a MILLION times better then when I saw it in SLC with the traveling group. We had a blast on our homeymoon. I'm sure that all you marrieds understand that going back to work is alot less fun than the honeymoon! We wish we could go back.

Best Thanksgiving Recipe EVER!!!

So, since I was not going to be at my parents this year, I felt like I needed to have a piece of Thanksgiving at home at my in laws house. My sister Michelle makes this recipe every year and it is so yummy. Since Nate is a great litle chef, he made it and...WOW! Give it a chance, even if you don't think you like sweet potatoes. Trust me now and thank me later!

GOURMET SWEET POTATO CLASSIC

*5 sweet potatoes
*1/4 t. salt
*1/4 cup butter
*2 eggs
*1 t. vanilla extract
*1/2 t ground cinnamon
*1/2 c. white sugar
*2 T. heavy cream
*1/4 cup butter, softened
*3 T. all purpose flour
*3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
*1/2 c. chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x13 pan
2. Bake sweet potatoes 35 min in preheated oven, or until they begin to soften. Cool slightly, peel and mash OR peel, cut into chunks and boil for about 30 minutes.
3. In large bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, salt, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
4. In medium bowl combine 1/4 cup butter, flour, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Mix with pastry blender or your fingers to the consistency of course meal. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.(VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!!!!! I make NO GUARANTEES for this recipe unless you double the toppings. We have never enjoyed this recipe with a single mixture of the topping. Don't worry about the calories, it's the holidays!)
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the topping is crisp and lightly browned.
ENJOY!!!