A NEW CAR!

That's right! A new car. Well new to me:)
On Tuesday Abe and I took a 5 hour drive to Hurrican just north of St. George to pick up this beauty:)

She is a 2004 Pontiac Aztek

I love all the room and how high up it sits.

It was a long drive to do in one day! Zander was really great and slept a lot on the way down

For being stuck in his car seat for 10 hours total down and back I was really happy with how well he did!

This is her first fill of gas at the St. George Costco before we headed back.

St George was so nice and warm I wish we could have stayed and brought our swim suites! 

And this is her first car wash:)

I am so excited!

This is only my third car ever to own.

My first was a Ford Festiva, which we endearingly called the fisher price car, since it was so small. I really miss that car and the gas mileage. In high school it was only 10 bucks to fill that thing up all the way. I could also park it in any spot.

Check out this commercial, it's awesome!

For being so small it really was roomy, I could fit my mountain bike inside it!

Then there was the Hyundai Elantra.I bought this car from my older sister Mindy. She was moving out of the county and I really needed to upgrade. I flew down to Texas and drove it back. It was a really nice car and felt so huge to drive after the Festiva! I will miss it. Sorry I don't have a pic and all the commercials are of the newer ones.

Now for the Aztek

Here is an older commercial to give you an idea of what kind of car we got:)

A Future for Tomorrow

I have blogged about my amazing cousin Haley before but she was just on a local TV program today called Good Things Utah. It is a big deal! I am so proud of her and all the accomplishments she has made. She gives great advice to parents on warning signs to watch for and how we as parents need to be mindful of what image we are sending to our children about our bodies.

Please check out her segment here Good Things Utah ABC4

You can also get to her blog on my sidebar

March Ten Things to Smile About

I think it has been almost a year since I last linked up with Ten Things to Smile About. I really would like to do this every month. It is a great way to look at the positive things that happened over the month.

1. Abe got his first bonus with Costco (sad thing is it's already spent)
2. We got a major leak in our house fixed
3. Having such a handy husband who could fix the major leak in our house:)
4. I planted pansies
5. I turned the big 30
6. The weather finally getting warmer
7. Getting a huge mountain of laundry done
8. My parents getting back from Dubi from visiting my sister safely
9. Taking Zander to his new gymnastics class (really he just runs around but has a lot of fun)
10. Getting more organized at home

I liked up with Emmy Mom Ten Things to Smile About

Damask Magnet Board

Here is another project I worked on this last summer.

I love to collect magnets from every place I visit. I have a ton from when I stayed with my sister in Scotland and all the amazing castles we visited. I even have some from places locally like Lagoon or Antelope Island. They are just so fun and I love seeing all places I have been to.

My old magnet board had run out of room and I had been looking for a larger one for awhile. The only thing is they can be pricey. Even at Roberts with a 50% off coupon it seemed a little steep, so I just put off the project until one magical day while walking through Deseret Industries, our local thrift store, I saw a huge magnet board for 3 dollars, yes I said 3 dollars!. I was with my dad at the time and he had no idea what it was. I just told him I had big plans for it and was really excited.

I wish I had a before picture. The frame was black but really scratched and banged up. The metal is also not in the best shape but that did not bother me I figured I could just cover any dings up with a magnet.

I repainted the frame black and added some vinyl I purchased at Costco for cheep. I had been holding onto it trying to figure out a project to use it for. I really like the damask look and the contrast of the silver on black and the way it looks on the metal.

Here is a closer look. The corner part was not as easy to put on as I thought it would be. I had to take a razor and cut the vinyl then fold it over the edges and match them back up. It is not perfect but turned out pretty well.

And the finishing touch some magnets:)

I love how it turned out!

I linked up with WhipperBerry

St Patrics Day Dinner

So I saw this yummy recipe for baked Reubens on Studio 5 and realized I pretty much had everything to make this! The only thing we did not have was the sour crout which would also be yummy with this sandwich. The Rhodes Rolls lady showed this and it looks awesome!

If you are not familiar with a Reuben sandwich it is made with pastrami, Swiss cheese, thousand island dressing and then sour crout and usually on marble rye bread.

I had some thoughed out pizza dough, which you can purchase from Costco you just have to ask at the deli. We got a whole box for 18 bucks and it is so yummy. Just make sure you have enough freezer space.

Anyways...

Along with all the other stuff  I put this bad boy together and Abe loved it. Really it was super easy and tasty! I think next time I have to do a dinner I will make this. The Rhodes Roll lady showed how to make the bread look fancy which was super easy. Really since my bread was already thoughed it took only 15 min to put it all together and then 30 min to bake. Nice and fast.

 To check out the segment and see how she put it together check it out here

Love it!!!

This rose cake looks so amazing!!!!

I so want to make one now and really it is not that difficult or so the directions say.

Now I just need an excuse to make it. I really don't want to make it for myself because then I would eat the whole thing. Maybe I can do a mini cake...

Fabric Garland

I thought I would share some of the crafts I have been working on over the last several months one of my favorites was this fabric garland.

I saw this great idea used for a wedding reception on one of my favorite blogs All Things Thrifty check it out here. I really loved how simple it was and all the texture it gave and thought I could take it and adapt it for my own home Halloween decor. Although you could use this for almost everything I mean Christmas with the reds and greens or Easter with all the pastel colors! I love LOVE Halloween and thought this would be so great on my banister. I was thrilled with how easy it was and how it all came together.

So here are the very easy steps to creating your own fabric garland.

First you take any fabric you want. I used all different textures and colors. I was in luck because Joann's had a ton of Halloween fabric on sale I got a yard and a half each. I used mostly orange and black in dull and shinny textures but wanted something with a bit more color and so I got this great striped one. The only bummer was that the back was white which would not look great. So I ended up hot gluing two pieces together so it would have the stripes on both sides. You could sew it, but I don't own a sewing machine so gluing works just great.

Measure it out at two inches apart and make a cut like so.

Then the fun part begins because all you do next is pull on the fabric and tare it all the way across. I really loved the frayed ends some of the fabric had. It is fine if they don't all come out even. Once you tie it all together it looks great.

Next I looped one piece on the post of my banister and then just started tying all the strips together with a knott alternating the colors. I ended up doing five long pieces on each side of the banister.  Then to finish off the posts I tied any extra strips to the loop, which you can see in the last picture.

Once Halloween was over and I was ready to put it away I took pieces of ribbon and tied the long strips together about every foot or so. That way they won't get all tangled and it will be easy to pull it out for next year.