Christmas Eve!

On Christmas Eve, after I got off work, Trevor and I went over to his parents' house to open gifts. Scarlett and Kanyon (Meghan's kids) had a grand time tearing the paper off all of their gifts.

They got to open the "traditional" Christmas Eve gift of pajamas! How cute! Scarlett got pink Minnie Mouse pjs and Kanyon got BATMAN! Here he is posing for me in typical "Batman style" :)Later that night when Trevor and I got back to our place, we opened our gifts to each other because we had to be on a plane the next morning at 7 am. AND we still hadn't packed at 10:00 the night before... whoops. Here's a picture of the mini fiber-optic tree that I've had for the last few years at college. My parents sent it to me freshman year so I could have some decorations.
This tree is a new addition to our Christmas cheer. I found it at Robert's for 17 bucks! :) It's about 4 1/2 feet tall and it's perfect for our little apartment. The stocking to the left is Trevor's and was made by my Nana for our wedding! I'm bringing mine back from NC this year so I can have it to hang next to his! :)
Here are all the presents we wrapped -- either for each other or for the people we would see in NC. I loved my wrapping paper from Hallmark this year! Underneath all those gifts you can kind of glance one of the gifts Trevor and I gave to ourselves this year - a new rug for our living room! We needed something to spruce up the room and cover the old, stained carpet!
Here's another gift Trevor and I gave to ourselves this year. Red Fiestaware to match the five other colors we got for our wedding. It is seriously a party in our pantry :)
A couple of my gifts included this cute green coat I found at Buckle and the Gardener's Hand Healer lotion that I have to use after doing the dishes. It's the only thing that keeps my hands from drying out and cracking. Behind me is my stocking which was filled with all sorts of dark chocolate, lip balms, socks, and earrings. What a sweetheart Trevor is! He did all that behind my back! :)
Here's Trevor with one of his gifts - new jeans from Buckle. All of his light jeans have been forming holes in... well... interesting places. So, I got him some new ones! Other gifts for him included a planner and dress pants.
It has been a fantastic Christmas so far. We're still in North Carolina and have received many wonderful gifts from relatives. And we've eaten tons of good food! I haven't eaten like this in AGES.

Anyway, it's great to report that we're happy and loving life and especially loving having a vacation from work. Too bad it's flying by WAY too fast :(

And I haven't taken a lot of pictures since being here (SHAME ON ME)... but maybe I'll snap a few before we're gone. Merry Christmas everyone!

Dumpcake is Delicious!

As promised (a long time ago) - here is the recipe for my wonderfully famous and delicious dumpcake. It's Trevor's new request in place of a traditional cake for his birthday! There are no exact measurements but it doesn't matter because most of the stuff comes in one-size cans.

Blueberry Dumpcake:

1 can crushed pineapple
1 can blueberry pie filling (can use cherry if you prefer)
1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter

Dump the can of pineapple and blueberries in the bottom of a 9x13 glass pan and spread it around to make a nice mixture:

Dump the box of yellow cake mix (dry) evenly across the top of the fruit mixture. Melt the stick of butter and spoon or pour it over the dry cake mix like this:
Bake according to the directions on the cake box. That's it! Easy and VERY good!! Now you can see why it's called a dumpcake - you just dump everything in and bake it. How could you not love this? And it impresses guests of all ages :)

This is the one I baked for Trev's birthday. I put the candles on it just for fun but the cake was so hot they started melting and falling over so I had to take them out pretty quickly. He wasn't to interested in blowing out candles anyway -- just eating the cake! :)Hope you enjoy my dumpcake when you try it!!

The Apple Didn't Fall Far... :)

Hello world! Sorry I haven't been posting lately! I have some fun pictures to add and things to talk about... but I've been getting pretty lazy.

Trevor and I are currently at my home in North Carolina for Christmas! :) It's a constant party and sometimes an overload of noise and craziness. What can I say... the apple didn't fall far from the tree!

Anyway, just wanted everyone to know we're still alive and there are posts to come!

Trevor's 24th Birthday!

My sweet husband turned a whole 24 years old on Wednesday, November 26th! We both worked that day, so we kept it pretty low-key. BUT- I did get him a few gifts that he could enjoy, and this post is about those gifts and his photographed reactions. It's very entertaining. :)

This first picture is just a little bragging right for myself... I wrapped his presents (with the help of my friend Christina) and they looked really nice! The stamped card came in the mail from Mical and family. :)Here's the first gift he opened. If you can't tell what it is, it's an ice scraper and brush for his car. He asked for one, but didn't expect it as one of his birthday gifts, hence his silly "sad" face. :)
If you want to know why... don't ask. Just enjoy the Geico Gecko bobblehead toy.
Here he is with one of the two white shirts I got him--these were badly needed. By the look on his face, I'm going to guess he's somewhat happy about this gift.Best reaction ever. Biggest bag of peanut M&Ms ever. Thing I'm most allergic to ... ever. I must love him. He's still eating them to this day.This gift was for him, but I have to admit, it's also for me. They are VERY cute jeans from the Buckle and I must say they look VERY cute on him. So forgive me for dressing up my personal "eye candy". :)And this picture is just a "summary" of all his gifts, including the Cold Stone gift card that came in Mical's card! Trevor says his birthday was wonderful!! Thanks to everyone!Just one more thing, though. I bought everything to make him a blueberry dump cake (his FAVORITE) for his birthday, but by the time we both got home that night it was late and he wasn't too hungry for something so sugary. So it hasn't been made yet. But, next time I make that dump cake, you better believe I'm sticking the candles in it, taking pictures, and posting the recipe for everyone. Yep. Watch out!! :)

Oh - haha - one MORE thing. Thanksgiving was the next day (27th) and it was so fun to go to Trevor's parents' house and spend time with all his siblings and our nieces and nephews. The food was great! If you want to see pictures, look at Meghan's blog. And whatever you do... DON'T go to Mical's! She has blackmail on me for life :)

Victory!

Yesterday, I competed in BYU's Fall 2008 Dancesport Championships competition. When taking dance classes at BYU, this is the part in the semester that I look forward to the MOST! So, yesterday, I got up early, got ready with my friend Christina, and we headed over to the Wilkenson Center. My partner, Brad, and I had put in hours of practice, and I was really excited to get out on the competition floor. Waiting for the first round results was the most nervewracking. Will the judges like us? Did they notice us out of the 82 couples and 4 heats? But our number showed up on the screen! :) And it did again... and again... for 4 rounds that morning until only 12 couples remained.

So we had to go back later that night at about 6, where we danced the Semifinals. We awaited our results very anxiously. When our number showed up as one of the final 7, Brad and I began screaming and jumping up and down! We did it! We made it to the finals! So we danced our hearts out in the finals and it was a triumphal moment.

Then it was time for the awards -- when we would find out what place we got overall. "7th place", the announcer said, "goes to...." NOT OUR NUMBER! And 6th!? Not us! 5th? Not us again! At this point, I was praying not to get fourth, because the top three couples get trophies, while the other four get ribbons. I really wanted a trophy :)

"Fourth place... couple number ..."! NOT US! :) I was ecstatic! We got called as the third place couple out of 82 total couples. I was on top of the world! And here's a fun picture of my partner Brad and me:If you want to see the video Trevor took of us dancing in the Final round, then go to facebook and look at the video on my profile! :) (click here)

What a fantastic Saturday!!!!!

Musings on Fear and Personal Inhibitions

Well that's enough pictures for now. I actually feel like writing about something interesting and useful at the moment. So, we'll give it a try and see what happens...

Lately I'm feeling what I may dub the "mid-semester blues" where I feel bored and unmotivated by school work. I guess being a senior also amplifies the feelings of laziness or the lack of care that I usually put into my school labors. For the first time in my life, I haven't cared so much if I don't get all A's in my classes. In fact, I'd be fine with anything B and above.

The main reason for this mindset, I believe, is the exciting opportunities on the horizon. There are SO many new things I want to start, yet I feel like I'm being "held-back" by my graduation date. I find myself constantly thinking, "I'll start after I graduate". And then my very next thought (and fear) is what if I reach graduation and then think "I'll start once Trevor's done with school and we can move out of Utah". And then what if I keep pushing back the "start" date until I never do those things I want to do?

But what are these goals and new adventures, you ask? Well, for one, I would really like to start a business (whether my own or a franchise) in the very near future. My top priority would be to franchise in Utah my Dad's company back in Raleigh called White Dahlia. It's a massage and wellness studio and I think the business is just fantastic! I think about doing it every day and most days I get REALLY excited about it. But on occasion those silly little doubts start to creep in. I fear that the business will fail and I will be the cause of some great financial crisis for our family. And then, not to mention, a business loan would be 100% impossible for Trevor and me to get right now, especially since we own nothing expensive enough to be used as collateral. We could get a co-signer, but then I'd feel like that's one more person I'd be letting down if I failed.

But today in my Entrepreneurial Lecture Series, as I was pondering my fear of failure, the guest speaker professed some timely advice. He said that successful entrepreneurs are not afraid to fail. Failures are going to happen. It's what we do with those failures and how we go on after failing that makes the difference.

So now I just have to get past the inhibitions I place on myself every hour of every day. Why can't I begin doing research on local Utah markets NOW? I can! But I keep saying "after graduation, after graduation!" But where to start? Whom to consult? Who can help me learn whether people in Alpine and Highland would be willing to pay $38 dollars for a membership to a massage and wellness studio? How can I collect this data? Where to even begin?

And somehow I convince myself that I have "no time" when I have ample time, I just waste it. How does one find proactivity when it has been lost in procrastination for so long?

So how do you get yourself off the sofa and out from behind the books and force yourself into the big, scary "real world" that the grown-ups bemoaned for the entirety of your childhood?

You tell me, because I'd really like to know.
Complacency is becoming quite boring...

Late in Coming...

Sorry it has been such a long time since I last posted. It's not that I've been very busy, but I just haven't felt overly inclined to write more about my not-so-interesting life. However, I thought our Halloween pumpkin was cute and it never got air time on the blog, so I "borrowed" this picture from Meghan Holmberg to use on my blog! :) Thanks girl! Our pumpkin is Mr. Cyclops, third in from the left.

Here's a picture of Mr. Cyclops all lit up on our porch! :) He also kind of reminds me of Mike from Monsters, Inc.! You know, the cute green one-eyed monster!

And I know this is random as well, but I used the macro version on my camera to get an up-close picture of the moss growing at the base of Trevor's bonsai tree. It's fascinating how something so little can be so intricate. They remind me of little fern bushes in a rainforest.

Goo Goo Dolls and The Pie! :)

Saturday night, Trevor and I went up to Salt Lake on a triple date with Randy and Jenny and Cole and Meghan! First, we went to the Pie (the most amazing pizza place in the world)! It's just a little hole-in-the-wall joint, but it's insanely popular. If you've never been, I highly recommend it!

Here we are posing with our pizza! It was half-and-half, catered to both of our favorite kinds of pizza! My half had chicken, spinach, warm tomatoes, and olives. His half was pepperoni, mushrooms, cold tomatoes, and olives. The pizza looks HUGE in this picture, but it was just a really good angle, so it looks like a giant pizza!Afterward, we went to the Goo Goo Dolls concert hosted by Nu Skin, a company that was having a convention to get its employees all excited about selling personal skin products, haha. A bunch of college kids (like us) had been given tickets by Nu Skin employees who didn't want them. When all the non-Nu Skin employees were allowed to pile in the Salt Palace to see them play, all the middle-aged employees were already sitting in the best seats close to the stage and they were saving seats for people, so we were forced to sit in the back. But as soon as the Goo Goo Dolls came out to play, half the people got up and left!!! Guess they had no clue who the band was and it was probably "too loud". So, slowly, all the college kids piled up toward the front and were jumping and cheering and having a great time. It was so fun to be able to get so close!
Here are a couple pics:

This one I took off the monitor... I only wish I were THAT close! :)
After the concert was over, they sent confetti into the air, so we took the opportunity to take a picture. Trevor is a true rocker! :) Me... not so much. We got a picture of me doing the same face, and... well... it's embarrassing.
Here's Cole and Meghan looking cute after the concert! I never got a picture of Randy and Jenny (sorry guys!) but I know Meghan did! :)The concert was a blast! They played a ton of their popular songs, including my personal favorite: Iris! :) It was an incredibly fun night in Salt Lake!!

Getting Ready for Halloween

About a week ago, Trevor and I broke out the Halloween decorations that I've had from years past. These decorations consisted of a pumpkin-shaped candy basket, a package of spiderweb fuzz, and a headband with antennas on it that have pumpkins on the end. When I realized how lame my decorations were, I decided this would be the year to get a few new things! So, we put the spiderweb stuff out on the porch and I went on a hunt for some new Halloween accessories!We looked at Target the other night when we went to buy a new game, but they didn't have much of anything. Then I went to the Dollar Tree last night and they had even less! I was afraid that I had waited too long and that all the cute decorations had been purchased. The nice lady at the Dollar Tree suggested I try ShopKo. I've never been one to shop there, but I thought I'd try my luck one last time! And I got lucky! Here are some of my finds:

A cute little decorative piece to hang on the hook above my stove:
A fake light-up pumpkin that you just plug into the wall (just in case we don't get around to carving our own this year!):
And this isn't for Halloween, but I really wanted something to hang outside on our door to welcome people, so I found this really cute Fall piece:
The best part is that everything was 50% off! :) I guess that's one bonus for waiting to shop after everyone else. I also purchased a package of Halloween caution tape that says "Caution: Enter if You Dare" that we'll probably put up for the trick-or-treaters! I was really happy to find some cute decorations for Halloween, and thanks to ShopKo, I got them at a bargain price!

A Lovely Fall Drive

Sunday, Trev and I took a drive around the Alpine Loop to see the fall colors before it was too late. Last year we went on the Nebo Loop at the end of September and it was gorgeous, so we wanted to do something again. The colors were pretty, however I fear that we did get out a little late this year. Regardless, it was gorgeous and I snapped a couple pictures at a pull-off.Say hi Trevor!

And I was excited that I took a pretty good one of the two of us and still got a little scenery in the background! :)
I really love fall, and it was fun to do something to celebrate! Happy October! :)

Saturday Night Scrabble

Saturday was an interesting day. I went to work from 8 until 5, and had the opportunity to lead the team for a few hours. Needless to say, it was incredibly stressful. There were a ton of people in the store and by the time I was off work, the store was near chaotic, or so it felt. I was completely exhausted. So when I got home, I got to rest for a minute with Trevor, and then we walked to the Creamery together to grab a bag of Oreos. Then we decided to play a quick game of Scrabble. Our plans for Saturday night were to go to a haunted house somewhere in Salt Lake. When that plan fell through we tried to decide what to do and settled on Zupas, a quick Target trip, and lots of games! We played about 8 rounds of Boggle and two more Scrabble games. Here's a picture of our last Scrabble game. I can't remember who won this one... it was probably Trevor! I won the other two Scrabble games and all 8 rounds of Boggle, however. He's such a good sport to put up with me :) I'm pretty sure we're big nerds because we enjoy word games so much. We even bought Scattergories at Target to play (which we did with the Bucks on Sunday - so fun!). That's a very fun word game as well. What are some of your favorite games to play? :)

New Shoes and Other Such Updates

So I got these new Sketchers on sale at Famous Footwear and I am in love! I have been needing some nice, black, comfy, closed-toed shoes to wear when it's cold and when I work. And I've been eyeing these babies for a while. So I finally took the plunge and got them! :) Yay!This next picture is of our growing tomato plant. The tomatoes are probably 3 times this big now, but this is the only recent picture I took. I'm hoping to get some fruit before the weather stays cold. Fortunately, they made it through the cold weekend! And it's warming up again later this week. So I'm crossing my fingers!
And here's a couple random pictures of Trevor enjoying our TV. Here he's watching college football (Saturday night!) and cheering. He was seriously cheering "Yeahh! Number One!" when I took this picture! :) What a nerrrrd.
And he's making a great face for me. If the picture confuses you, he was on the floor looking up at me and I rotated it. So yeah. Enjoy. Don't we all love these faces??
Happy times. :)

A Great Recipe!

Last night for dinner I decided to make a recipe that I had been craving from my past. It's one that I've helped my Mom make a few times and it's very delicious! It's a chicken broccoli cheese ring that you bake on a pizza stone! If you want to try it, here are some pictures and the recipe! :) I highly recommend it!



Chicken Broccoli Cheese Ring

2 packages of original crescent rolls (low fat are just as good)
1 cup chopped broccoli (I use the frozen stuff and heat it a bit)
2 cups (or 12 oz) cooked chopped chicken (I use canned)
1 clove of garlic, pressed
1 cup (or 4 oz) shredded sharp cheddar
1/2 cup mayo
2 tsp dill weed
1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 375. Mix everything except crescent rolls in a bowl, using a fork to shred up chicken. Place crescent rolls around pizza stone like shown in the picture. Add the chicken mix on top of the crescent rolls and roll up the tips and tuck them under if there is excess. Bake for 25-28 minutes at 375.

What a Sweetie!

Yesterday I worked from 9:30 until 6. I really enjoy working at the Buckle, but needless to say, it was a long day! But about 30 minutes before I was leaving, I received a little surprise! I was just helping a guest as usual and I hear Brittany say from behind me, "Alex! You have a flower!". Immediately I knew what Trevor had done and I probably turned bright red. "Oh no! Not again!" I thought, smiling inside. Of course I love this sort of treatment--who wouldn't!? But it's always so embarrassing in a very flattering and happy way. I have to say, receiving a little flower at work for no reason whatsoever really made my day. The little card that was delivered with it said "I love you... Can't wait to see you! Love, Trevor". I really got a good one! :)

Our Five Monthaversary!

Last night, in order to celebrate 5 wonderful months of marriage, Trevor and I went to the Mayan Adventure restaurant in south Salt Lake. I had never been before and had told Trevor a while back that I wanted to go experience it! So, when I gave him the challenge with coming up with an idea for our date, he suggested this! Needless to say, I was pretty excited... especially for guys diving in speedos! :)

In this first one, there's a guy at the top who was doing all the drumming and fun stuff while the divers would dive around him. They had also cranked up the waterfalls at this point so it was a pretty good picture moment:
It was really hard to get pictures because it was so dark, but I thought this one was pretty neat. It's of the cliff face and a diver is about to take a short dive off of it.
And finally, I had to get someone to take a picture of the both of us... because I have realized that I'm not in ANY of my own blog pictures, which is pretty depressing... so here you go! That's Trevor's new shirt I just bought him from the Buckle. It's pretty sweet if I say so myself! I'm wearing one of my new shirts as well! :)
The Mayan was a fun little place to go to celebrate! The food was so-so, but the entertainment almost made up for it... almost. We're not sure how quickly we're going to rush back.
Have you ever been to the Mayan? How did you like it?

Procrastination: My Specialty

So when it comes to doing homework, I always get it done... it just usually takes me longer to get around to it than it does to actually DO it. And today I've been especially bad. I have a project due Thursday I don't even want to think about and all the other typical reading assignments and quizzes to look forward to for tomorrow. So... what do I do? Of course! I decide to bake cookies. And not just the break-apart-stick-in-oven kind! (That's my usual) No sir-- this time, I decide to take the long route. I found a recipe on google somewhere and then went at it. Flour, sugar, vanilla, eggs, butter, baking powder, salt! Mix mix mix. Chill at least an hour (I went for an hour and a half). Then- I rolled and floured until flat and used a plastic cup in place of a cookie cutter because I don't have any! Then about 5 batches later (about 8 minutes each in the 400 degree oven)-- voila! I have cookies. The sprinkle ones are easy, of course, but the frosting ones... of course those take more time. Cooling... mixing color into the frosting... decorating... humming as I go. Finally! A masterpiece.

Except one thing-- I wanted soft cookies and these are the pretty hard kinds that are quite flour-based. Well I guess that's what I get for having no idea how to make REAL cookies!

Darn it. Maybe my next recipe will be for a completely different genre of sugar cookie-- soft and sugary! :)

But I AM pretty proud of my ziploc bag squeeze drawings! I feel like I'm 7 years old again!

Okay... now to the homework... four hours later! :)