Annie's Macaroni

The best macaroni ever!

End of Summer Evaluation (LONG post)

Lovely Willard Bay






Summer is officially ending for those of us going back to school next week... and for those of you (like me) who did summer semester this year, summer only lasted about two weeks. This summer was a crazy one for us, with lots of of fun things (and some things maybe not so fun...but definitely more fun things than bad) going on!

So, for those of you who know me... know that I like to make lists on this blog of mine. So here are several lists about my favorites from summer and not-so-favorite-unexpected-things from summer.

Of course, I'll start with favorites first!

1. Seeing 2 outdoor movies (as I said I would in this post here )
2. cupcake-ing with my mom after getting my blood drawn, I didn't pass out so it was a cause for celebrating
3. Getting to see Sage and Holly and eating Vegan Chocolate Cake, which was delicious might I add.
4. Going on a trip to Seattle with Steven!!
5. As always, trips to St. George
6. Home visits at Head Start. An EXTREMELY humbling experience for me.
7. Getting to see old BFF Sara... can't you just move back to Utah?
8. Decoupaging fabric to the back of our bookshelf, it needed some sprucing up.

before


after!



and a close up






9. Making and eating Fancy Macaroni and Peanut Butter Pie (recipes courtesy of the Pioneer Woman... I am a bit obsessed right now)
10. and the icing on the cake... Getting to see these fabulous folks here!


This is Steven's brother from Cincinnati. His family came to visit for a week and it was soooo fun having them around because we don't get to see them often. We also got to meet their twin girls for the first time:



Aren't they precious??
Needless to say, we had so much fun boating, pedicuring, eating, and playing with them. Please come back soon you guys!!!


Ok... now on to some not so great things... although in reality, they really weren't that bad. This list includes unexpected thing and stuff I wish I did.
1. The random root canal! If I wasn't on laughing gas, I'm sure this would've been much worse... but laughing gas is a miracle worker and watching the Princess and the Frog while on the gas helped make this experience not so dreadful.
2. Finding out I have wisdom teeth coming in! all well.. where's that laughing gas?
3. Being scared to death about not getting my internship hours in!! this worked out ok in the end though.
4. Not finding a new job...sigh. there is something out there for me I'm sure.
5. not getting to go to Island Park this summer with my family! However, we get to go over our fall break this year! Something I am super excited for.
6. Not getting around to painting our tables and chairs.... am I really sad about this?

hmmm... I think that's all. Like i said, nothing completely awful.

Now it's time for fall!! Can I tell you how excited I am for it?? Fall is my FAVORITE season (I wanted a fall wedding SOOO bad, one of the reasons our wedding colors were red and brown) for many reasons: 1) the temperature is PERFECT, not hot, and cool enough that you can go get yourself a pumpkin steamer from starbucks (you HAVE to try this if you haven't. Steamed milk + sugar + pumpkin flavoring = deeelicious) 2) of course, the beautiful colors, 3) Utah football!! I love showing my school pride and 4) HALLOWEEN!!! My favorite holiday, tied with only Christmas of course.

My next post will probably be another list... about projects I'm going to do this fall.

I hope the rest of you had a lovely summer, and an even lovelier fall!

root canal... for reals this time.

Remember this forever ago when I thought I would need a root canal, but I didnt?

Well, I went back to the dentist today to check up on this tooth of mine to find out that it has an infection... and so I need a root canal. :(

I've learned a lesson from all of this: when your body feels weird or off, don't wait two months to visit the doctor/dentist.

diaper clutch

Need a cute gift for a baby shower? Have I got a treat for you:







My sister-in-law, Tiffany, made this diaper clutch and changing pad for a girl I work with who is having a baby. soooo cute!

She makes these clutches herself and you can get them with a coordinating changing pad. These are great when you don't want to carry around a large diaper bag.

She has an etsy shop where you can purchase some of her creations, or if you're in Utah and have specific colors/fabrics in mind you can contact her at the email address on her blog.

Check out Tiffany's diaper clutch blog: www.clutchnsuch.blogspot.com. And believe me, this blog only gives you a small taste of the adorable things she has created. She can do pretty much anything with whatever fabric you want.


I promise, you will love them. I want one and I don't even have a baby.. and I'm not planning on having one anytime soon. Although...strangely enough... these do make me baby hungry at times, and for those of you who know me know that that is nearly impossible.

THAT is how cute these clutches are.

Little Pet Lint Trap

Since we moved into our new apartment we have been using a stackable washer/dryer unit. Neither of us has ever used one before and we could never find the lint trap. Well as of late, the clothes haven't been getting very dry. Today it took three dryer cycles to get one load dry and another load wouldn't get completely dry at all. So I was wondering what the heck was going on and started poking around inside the machine. I put my finder in a small hole, pulled, and to neither my nor Annie's surprise, found a full lint trap.

There were about four more handfuls jammed further in the lint trap.

denver trip

Well, since I'm sick I might as well blog, right?

Over Memorial Day weekend, I got to go on a little road trip with my mom and Auntie Nelle to Denver to visit Aunt Carolee, Uncle Joel, Cousin Jessie and her cute little kids.

Me, Carolee, and Jessie

We had a great time there. We ate really, really good food, did pedicures, slept in, told Henry about the old man in Ogden (ask my mom about this one) and looked at dresses online that we couldn't afford, but wanted very badly.

I learned a few things on the trip, the first being that I need a house just like Carolee and Joel's
how much more adorable could this house get? not much.

I also learned that I need a great backyard or an amazing view from the back porch, like this one:

I felt so far away from everything. Can I just live here?

I also learned (or remembered) that Wyoming might be one of the most boring states to travel through. No need to take a picture of that...

cute Violet

I think Henry was saying "cheese" during this

Thanks Jessie, Carolee, and Joel for a great weekend!!

sick

I have been sick for 5 days now. It's probably been one of the stranger sicknesses I've had.

Sometimes I feel nausea + bloating + painful cramping all at the same time (no, I'm not pregnant) and then at other times I feel just great, as long as I'm not moving too much. So, I call my work and tell them that I will be back in the next day...only to have the icky sickness come back for a few hours into the night and into the morning. The doctor said I could have gastroenteritis? I'm still not sure what that really is....

But all that doesn't matter, what really matters is what I've been doing with my sick days off.

Monday:
1.went to the doctor (ok, that's not very exciting) for only $35! (that's exciting!) Gotta love Student clinic prices!!
2. Sat and talked with Melonie (friend from choir) about how job searching is lame.
3. Took a 2 hour nap (I probably would've slept longer, it's a good thing Tiff called and woke me up)
4. I went to the mall in search of a birthday gift, which was really a bad idea since it just made me feel more sick. But I did find out about DownEast's bag sale which made it ALL worth it.
5. sat on the couch and watched Chuck.
6. Started a book

Tuesday:

1. Studied for my test tonight
2. FINISHED my book
Seriously. I couldn't put this book down. It was soooo good.

3. Ted and his girlfriend brought me pasta from Fazoli's. What a good brother.
4. Watched more Chuck
5. Studied some more.

What will I do today? Here are a few things on my list:

1. Study
2. Take a test


yeah. not very exciting. I sure have enjoyed sleeping in though.