Halloween fun!

Our Halloween festivities started out with pumpkin carving at Sam and Jen's with all the nephews and nieces. (Kylie isnt the only girl cousin in Utah anymore! Thanks Reagan!) Everyone had a blast! Gabe invested in my help for his pumpkin.. to say that this kid is obsessed with the Vikings would be a HUGE understatement. I mean HUGE. So these were his pumpkins... 

awesome right?

And this was my inspired pumpkin for this year... it didnt turn out how I'd hoped.. maybe next year.

Also, my dear friend Kayla has a new little bundle of Joy in her home this year!! Dont get me wrong here, he's almost 3 months old.... but he JUST came home last week, so we are SO happy that he's doing well!! You can read his story here. But he is seriously such a doll!! And his darling mother is incredibly just a tad bit obsessed with all things Harry Potter. So of course, with the new one in tow, she wanted to be the whole clan. Harry, Hermione, and Malfoy. She asked me to make Stetzyn's Harry Potter Halloween costume, I was SO excited! So this is what we came up with.

Isnt he just the cutest?
Anyway, Kayla's going to help me set up an etsy account, so if anyone wants a personalized, one of a kind onesie for your kiddos, hit me up!! And have a happy Halloween!!!
(Also, be expecting LOADS of cupcake pictures to be popping up on  here... we barely had any trick-or-treaters, so now we are dealing with candy overload! .... who wants some cupcakes?!)

Not a leftovers eater?? Now you will be.

For all of you who know Spencer, you know he is NOT a leftovers fan. Like, not at all. He hates microwaving ANYTHING but popcorn, and even then, he prefers the air popped kind. (too bad you cant air pop kettle corn) However, I found this lovely recipe online the other day and decided to give it a try, we both love chicken, and we love rice, win win right? Well it turns out that this recipe makes WAY MORE than we eat in one evening. It fills a WHOLE 9x13 glass pan. And I mean FILLS. Awesome. Im thinking to myself. I'll eat this for lunch for the next two days then I'll have to throw it away because I'll be so sick of it. HA! Boy was I wrong. Its been two days since I made it, and I havent had a single bite for lunch yet, so today I thought I'd pull it out and have a bit. there was only a tiny corner left!! Spencer had eaten the whole thing in two days!
Shocked, I just stared for a while. Dang, this must be one heck of a meal.
So, for all of you NON-leftovers eaters, Im giving you something new to try.
Also, I really like putting a (pre-sliced!!!!!) slice of cheddar cheese on top of mine after heating it up, and then zapping it for a few more seconds so the cheese melts all over.

mmmmmmm.. cheesy goodness!!
ENJOY!

best thing since sliced bread??

I have decided that the NEW best thing since sliced bread is....

PRE-SLICED CHEESE!!! Oh man, I can not even tell you how much time this saves me! And I know that this is nothing new, there has always been pre-sliced cheese... but it was always that gross fake kind that tasted like plastic. You know the one Im talking about. anyway, I am thrilled to find that Tillamook sliced cheese is always at my closest grocery store now! Thank you for pre-slicing my cheese Tillamook. :) I love you.

Chaco vs. UGG

I recently was at a store with my mom. She was sick sick sick and tired of having uncomfortable shoes. She wanted blissfully happy feet, even if it came with the price of unattractiveness. (that is totally a word. it didnt even underline in red when I typed it.) So, at this store, which shall remain unnamed... lets just call it the Granola Store, we were searching and searching through various brands of shoes. Trying to find the one with the most support and most comfort... without being totally hideous. We asked why Chaco's were SOOOOOO much better than these other brands. A sales lady then said, "You should ask Gary (name has been changed for protection) what he thinks, he's our Chaco expert." Well, okay. So we wonder over to Gary and ask him why these hideous shoes are oh so wonderful. Well it turns out that Gary has 112 pairs of Chaco's.
I. KID. YOU. NOT!
For one thing, these shoes were like $115 each. For a second thing, THEY'RE SO UGLY!!!
Well, Gary then pulls out a magazine and says, "If you dont find anything you like here in the store, then we can order some from the Company Magazine. Also, they havent announced this yet, but I have connections, I hear that they're coming out with Chaco BOOTS for the winter. This is good because now women wont be spending ridiculous amounts of money on UGG shoes with zero support! I mean, why would women even buy those? They're not comfortable."
At this point I felt the word vomit coming up. I cant really help myself. Especially if I feel defensive about something that I love (like my WONDERFUL UGG boots). However, before I even have a chance to tell this tacky Granola worker where to go, an eavesdropping woman pipes up, "Um, I'll tell you why, they're WARM! You can walk outside in the snow in them. I'd like to see your mountain sandals give my feet the same kind of cozy comfort as my UGG boots do." BOOYAH!!! Oh my goodness I could kiss her feet!!!! Never have I been so grateful to have some stranger eavesdropping on my conversation.
As it is now getting quite chilly, I just want to say that I am OH-SO-GRATEFUL for my beautiful fur lined UGG boots! They make my toesies soooo happy. And to Gary the Granola Store worker, I just need to say one thing... dont knock it til you try it buddy!!!

Anderson Cooper. You are cool.

Pastor Jeffress, you're an imbecile.... 

and your mouth is weird when you talk.

I would be self-conscious about that if I were you, that and the fact that the whole world now knows you're insane. I mean, Mormons arent Christians?? Where'd you pull that one from??

apparently Jeffress didnt do his research very well.. Just to help him out a little bit.. here's a  link to the April 2011 General Conference talks.. ALL of them. I invite YOU Mr. Jeffress, to read and pray about these words... and then tell me I belong to a cult. 

My music weakness...

Okay, could it PLEASE just be Christmas time already?!?! Im DYING for some good old fashioned sleigh bells playing in the background! Also.... I cant WAIT for October 24... for this reason:

Its football time!!

These cupcakes were for the infamous BYU vs. UTAH game!
everyone was cheering for BYU except for Jamie's boyfriend, Rhett, who was the lone Utah fan.
We let him know he was all alone.

I am not a fan of really any football team, I just tend to cheer for whoever my hubby is cheering for.

Cupcakes, Family, Love and Marriage

The event started with baking and decorating 420 cupcakes..

They covered every entire surface in the kitchen. 

I recruited the help of my wonderful mother, and my dear cousin Emily. They were so wonderful to help me with these hundreds of cupcakes! We made butterflies, sunflowers, aunts, and little squigglies.

My beautiful niece Lexi!! I got to spend an hour alone with her!! She's so precious! 

(ignore the strand of hair laying top of her head... poor girl doesnt have much and she wanted to borrow some of my beautiful brown locks.)

Mom, Breanne, Lexi, Mackley, and Grandma's arm.

The happily married couple!
Megan and Scott Murff

SISTERS!!

Me and my darling little brother Tyson!
I just love him so so dearly,
I also adore the PHOTO BOMB that Audrey has given us.
(look inbetween mine and Tyson's heads..)
Classic.

I just HAD to snap this picture! Grandpa has now been
CAUGHT
being nice to children!!!
Can you believe that?! Oh I just love this picture!

Family Portrait:
minus Spencer, this is the WHOLE family as of September 2011.
I dearly love my family!

I am so sad that my lovely husband could not make it to the wedding, and especially when we went to take a family picture. But Im glad that we were able to get everyone else. Especially the one granddaughter.
She's so spoiled. 

The CLASSIC (and always present) "Im-taller-than-you" picture.
I decided to help Tyson out.

Congratulations to Scott, for joining the Baer family!!

The Akana Wedding

Look at this beautiful lovely couple!! 

Dustin and Dani Akana were married in the Draper Temple for time and all eternity!

Breast Cancer recovery party!!!

My dear sweet Aunt Cindy had her last Radiation appointment for breast cancer.
She has been through so much, and we LOVE her! We were so so proud of her!

The party eating lunch outside! 

Breast Cancer Awareness cupcakes!