Christmas Movie Marathon

1. Elf

2. Miracle on 34th Street (the original)
3. It's a Wonderful Life  - check
4. Meet Me in St. Louis (is this a xmas movie?)
5. Home Alone
6. The Santa Clause
7. Christmas Carol - check  (we saw the Jim Carrey version, it was a little bizarre, just warning you)
8. A Christmas Story
9. Christmas Vacation
10. Roman HOLIDAY - check (yes, I count this as a Christmas movie because "holiday" is in the title)

11. The Holiday - check
12. A Muppet's Christmas Carol
13. Narnia (lion, the witch, and the wardrobe) this has Santa in it AND it's about Christ. Great movie.


Steven and I made this list during church (shhh don't tell) so we could remember all the movies we want to watch during the holiday season. Needless to say, we aren't doing very well so far.

Aren't Christmas movies great? What are your fav Christmas movies?

I love saving money

A few weeks ago, me and Abby  went to Pottery Barn to check out the adorable holiday things that were there. We found one thing that we fell in love with:

See that cute poinsettia pillow?? With the bells? So cute, right? It was also $30... which is a bit out of our budget for a small pillow. So, we decided to make our own.

We bought linen fabric, wool felt, and embroidery thread from Joann's to create our works of art.

 Cutting out and sewing flowers together (I look a little tired in this picture...) 

 Ta da!!! Abby with her finished pillow

 And my finished pillow! 

For someone who hasn't sewed in several years, I don't think it's too shabby. 

All together, our materials ended up costing us about $32.00 for both pillows. That's $16 a pillow! But wait, it gets better. We had enough left over fabric to do 2 more pillows, which means each one only cost about $8! Take THAT Pottery Barn! 

And now I have a holiday decoration that I made myself (with a lot of help from Abby, of course). 

P.S. Rumor has it that Studio 5 also had homemade pillows like this, I just want to let you all know that I'm sure  it was our idea first

24 days of Thankfulness

Here it is: The annual thankful list, it's a little cliche, but it's just the perfect time to do it!

At the beginning of November I was going to blog about something I was thankful for everyday until Thanksgiving... which obviously didn't happen. So, to make up for it I will write a list of 24 thank you's for Thanksgiving.

THANKFULNESS LIST:

1. Living close to the mountains, going to Alaska made me appreciate this more for some reason

2. My church calling; love those young women!

3. WEIGHT WATCHERS. Thank YOU for teaching me to eat better so my stomach won't explode

4. Health Insurance

5. A warm place to go home to at night

6. Chocolate. What else needs to be said? 

7. My job, I love those little kids!

8. My country

9. Jane Austen novels and movies

10. College! I am so glad I had the opportunity to receive my degree

11. My parent's dog (who is my namesake), I'm REALLY grateful for her nowadays because she ate some rat poison just DAYS before Kat Call's wedding and almost died. :( I used to be grumpy about her name because this is often what happens at my parents house: "Annnnnnnniiiiieeee!" "What???" "Not you, the DOG!" 

I've learned to appreciate her more now. Love that little rascal. 

12. Food. Good food. I love it so much.

13. Books. Books. Books. Books. 

14. Indoor plumbing, electricity, and all that stuff that is wonderful.

15. Nature.

16. Yoga and Pilates. 

17. Pinterest (and thank you Courtney for bringing it to me)

18. My cruise to Alaska this year

19. Horses, and my cousin Nicole for teaching me how to ride

20. Good friends surrounding me (and will act like they're 12 with me)

This is what it's like when I'm with friends.

21. Family. Family, family, family! My immediate family that I grew up with, and the family the family that I married into. I love all of you SO much! 

22. Hot Chocolate. I drink this nearly everyday

23. Holidays, any of them. I love any reason to celebrate.

24. Last but not least.....

I'm thankful for this swell guy here. 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! 

9 1/2 months

Hi

It's me, Steven.

I think it important to tell you followers the momentous event that happened this week.  You see, for the past 9.5 months, Annie has been attending Weight Watchers meetings with a rather high goal in mind:

30 lbs!

Well on Friday she did it!

Check this!

Before...

Bam! Bam! Boom!! After!! Dang she's fine!!

I am so proud of her.  She has done such a good job working out and eating healthy; especially when I would forget she was doing Weight Watchers and offer her delicious cake. "No. I'm on Weight Watchers."

That's how Annie turned into
Annie

Isn't she great?
I sure think so.

cupcakes and cake pops

Last weekend, my mom was super busy making 2 wedding cakes, 6 dozen cupcakes and cake pops. Being the good daughter that I am, I went over to help her make the cupcakes and cake pops for her neighbor's baby shower, they turned out pretty cute!

 lemon cake pops dipped in tinted white chocolate

 Lemon cupcakes with random blue dots

The lady who was hosting the baby shower was using a "dot" theme she wanted used in the food too (and she has a super cute blog you should check out here, when I have kids i may have to steal her ideas for parties because they are adorable). I thought it turned out pretty cute! 

Wedding!!!

The big day for my sister finally came and went! Here are some pics and favorite moments from the wedding:
(some are blurry and I am so sad about it)

 150 4" applesauce spice cakes as favors

 waiting outside the temple 

 yay for marriage! 

 Goodell Girls 

 family with out of town cousins

Top moments:

1. The ceremony. Meaningful and sweet.

2. Steven's nephews being so excited to help clean up. "Annie... do you have a garbage bag? I am collecting cans for my school's recycling project."

 "(as someone takes plates of cake to the cake table) Hey! Can I take one??" I love those little boys. Wish I had pictures of that. 

3. Steven's niece dancing like crazy once dancing started. 

4. Eating cafe rio wedding style... it was sooooo good. (you DO want cafe rio to cater your wedding, I promise). 

5. The coconut lime cake was amazing (I actually didn't try this until after).

6. Walking into the Commander's House for the first time and seeing all the flowers set out 

 bad blurry photo of the Commander's House (aka the reception center) 

 GORGEOUS flowers  in mason jars done by neighbor Lexi, she also did a HUGE piece for the buffet, it was  so pretty! 

Burlap linens and vintage lace overlays are adorable. 

And of course I didn't get a picture of the cake. oh yes, there was more cake. Coconut with lime curd cake and chocolate cake with cherry filling. Joy. 

Hopefully I will have more pictures to come and more blog posts. It was a beautiful day and we are so happy for Katherine and Travis! 

Cake Experiment

A few weeks ago, I had the strangest craving for spice cake.

I really believe that spice cake is underrated and not given enough credit. Of course, chocolate is my favorite kind of cake, but spice is definitely up there as one of my favorite flavors.

To satisfy my craving, I (with the help of husband) made a spice cake for a ward potluck, but we added something different to make it ummm... different: melted white chocolate.

Oh my gosh, and it was heavenly. If white chocolate and fall spices got married, this cake would be their baby.

 It was joyous and wonderful (and the sunday after the potluck, an old man in the ward came to tell me that it tasted delicious and also asked me if I worked in Disneyland because I look so much like Snow White... ha.) 

We also added this amazing syrup to the cream cheese frosting. This, is Buttermilk Syrup, and once you try it you will never need regular syrup again. You make it with buttermilk, lots of butter, and sugar. After cooking it a while it starts to taste like caramel. It's a recipe from one of my old Young Women's leaders and it's so good! So good, I am going to share the recipe with everyone. Go home and make it, then put it on pancakes, french toast, ice cream, or just eat it plain on a spoon. 

Buttermilk Syrup

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. corn syrup

Combine butter, sugar, and buttermilk in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Boil 1 minute and add vanilla, soda, and corn syrup. Let it cook until it turns golden brown. Serves 4 to 5. 

Thank you Sarah for such a great recipe. Happy cooking everyone!