5 Things: Blog Lovin'

I thought I'd switch it up a little with this 5 Things post. So instead of posting 5 things, I'm going to list 5 posts from other blogs that I've read within the past week and really enjoyed!


1. Feeling Lucky? A Belleza Mia Giveaway (Delia Creates) - *don't worry. i entered. and i've been crossing my fingers that i win that gorgeous thing!


2.  at breakfast (The Daybook) - *my new favorite blog. cutest little momma ever! this post is just a funny moment in parenthood worth sharing!


3. I am... (Whatever & Stuff) - *probably the single most inspirational woman ever. and also? I get to meet her when we go to New England in May!


4. wish list 1 (The Daybook) - *another Daybook post. some awesome wish list items, and also where I got the idea to post my own wishlists. she did one for herself, her husband, and her baby boy! (you can track the others down on her blog if you want. i'm sure you'll be able to find your way around).


5. Check It Out! (Hue & Hum) - *you already know how much I love these guys. some info on their new Christmas Album (also their first album EVER, btw.) they're amazing. you should get their CD (only $5 on etsy!)


I would post pictures, but that would be stealing from their blogs. All the more reason to click on those links :)

i may just be the most indecisive person i know

there are too many options for a blog. i can't just settle on one! i'll try to last a little longer this time...

Hot Chocolate

I have a year-round obsession with hot chocolate. I went through an entire canister of Stephen's in a month. By myself. From the middle of August, to the middle of September. In 80-90 degree weather. I love it.

So, I was SO glad when my best friend, Valeri (the cute pregnant one) posted her mom's recipe for homemade hot chocolate over at her blog! I had been craving this stuff for months and lost my copy of the recipe! I just found the post tonight, and promptly made a batch. So delicious. We used to make this in high school practically every day in the winter!

Here's the recipe:

Homemade Hot Chocolate (Winn Edition)

Ingredients:

1 can evaporated milk

2 cans water

3/4 cup sugar

1 heaping tbsp cocoa

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Heat milk and water in saucepan. DO NOT BOIL!

2. In separate bowl, combine sugar and cocoa

3. Add about 2 tbsp. of heater milk/water to the sugar/cocoa mixture to form a paste (I do this in a small bowl.)

4. Add paste to saucepan.

5. Add vanilla, and heat until everything is well combined, and it's hot enough.

6. Serve

*If you don't like the taste/smell of evaporated milk, you might not like it. It's pretty much chocolate flavored evaporated milk, heated up. I personally think it's absolutely delicious! And guess what? You can even add a few drops of flavored extract to make it peppermint, orange, raspberry.. whatever you like! It's so creamy and sweet!

weekend: pride and relief

another weekend of crazy. i have loved that lately the weeks go by fast, and the weekends seem to drag. i've been feeling this way for a good few months now, and i hope it doesn't change. as much as i love the daily grind of the week, it's so nice to have the weekends to relax, catch up on sleep, reconnect with my husband, our family and friends, and do all the fun stuff.

weekends seem to have so much less obligation and responsibility. it probably doesn't matter who you are; if it's the weekend? i bet you're doing your best to do nothing at all. or everything you can. i love that. i like that on the weekends, sure we can have some plans, but everything is up to us. we have a lot less say in what we get to do during the week (because of all the obligation and responsibility), so when the weekend comes, i'm all about spontaneity.

that being said, we spent Friday on the couch. literally. i think the only time we ( I ) moved, was to answer the door to the pizza guy. we watched Ghost Adventures, Friends, and plenty (read: too much) of DIY Network, and were in bed by 8:30, watching Dumb and Dumber (an Ashby classic).

saturday was the opposite. we were up and out of the house bright and early to make our way to Camp Williams in Lehi. You may recall that just over a year ago, our brother-in-law, Jason (amanda's husband)'s brother, Matt was killed in Afghanistan. I didn't show up until a few months after, but have seen a huge bond in the family come of this. Jason's amazing parents, Ron and Suzanne had asked Devin to photograph an event they were going to this day, at Camp Williams called "Wreaths Across America". I tagged along as usual. To my understanding, this event was the cap of a fundraiser. Camp Williams was one of over 500 participating locations nation-wide. We laid wreaths on the graves of fallen soldiers to honor and remember them, and it was such a touching thing to witness.

heading out with armfulls of wreaths.

one of the wreaths I laid

it was a cold, cold morning

Amanda and Addi, freezing cold!

Kaden being a goofball.

Ron and Suzanne (Matt's parents) putting flags up.

Kayla waving her flag.

seriously. cutest parents ever! they were playing peek-a-boo with Addi.

so many wreaths

 

Tiffany and Gabriel

Grandma Suzanne and baby Gabe!

Tiffany and Gabriel at Matt's tombstone. Such a precious thing to see.

 I haven't had a close family member serve in the military, except for great-grandparents who are veterans, so I don't think that side has ever become real to me until I found myself in the Ashby life. We've gone to support the family on countless occasions and it has brought out a part of me that I didn't realize was there.

I have a serious love for this country, and the men and women who fight to keep it free. I am amazed at how much goes on to honor and support these men and women, and all they do. I love how big of a deal it is. I am so grateful for everyone who does what they can on this front. I can't fathom the courage it must take to willingly go to war, and that only brings to respect the people that do more and more.

It was a solemn sight to see holiday wreaths strewn across the cemetery, but I had a little sense of pride in the people who went out of their way to honor these fallen soldiers this time of year, and on any other given day.

We got to see Tiffany, Matt's wife, who lives in Tennessee, and her little baby boy, Gabriel, and have a delicious lunch at Olive Garden with everyone after.

After lunch, we headed home with just enough time to change into several more layers and head up to Salt Lake for a double date.

Our good friends, TJ and Liz, and their beautiful baby boy, Hudson are moving to Colorado in January! We are sad to see them leave, but they'll be close enough that we will visit as often as we can! We started the night like any other with TJ and Liz at Gourmandise, of course, and then headed over to Temple Square to see the lights. We just did this a few weeks ago with some other friends, but those grounds never get old! I could spend every day at Temple Square and never stop enjoying it. The crowds were so much bigger this time, but it was well worth the trip! Hudson was hilarious! He was so amazed at all the people and lights and had big, bright eyes all night!

 

i love seeing the horse carriages! 

 

how many parents does it take... haha just kidding! 

 

big blue eyes!!

 

don't mind my face... or the fact that I'm not even looking at the camera...

 

can't get enough of this guy!

The Ashby's and The Connolly's!

After making a giant circle and dodging tons of other people along the way, we headed back to their house for some games. When we got there, they gave us a little gift! Hue & Hum Christmas! I am an avid follower of Hue & Hum the blog, and if you recall, "Hum" is TJ's brother, and also the guitarist of an amazing band called Fictionist. It was so nice of them to give us the CD and I have listened to it a bunch since!

We ended the night with a game of Nerts and headed home, totally exhausted!

On Sunday, we slept in, and didn't wake up until 9:30, at which point, Devin remembered that it was Stake Conference. And it started in half an hour. Oops!

We spent the day deep cleaning the house, and ended up re-arranging our bedroom furniture, which makes our room look a lot bigger! But now that things are moved around, it's even more apparent how badly we need to decorate it!

Later that night, as we were failing miserably at making cookies, we got word that Riley, one of Brandon's dogs had gone missing that afternoon. We called up Devin's mom, who was putting together a flier, and planned on meeting her at the copy center to caravan up to Kamas and pass them out.

Riley the dog is so important to us, and I can't even imagine how much he means to Brandon! We were desperate to find our buddy!

Devin and I stopped at a gas station about a bock from our house to gas up (we were in the Mazda), and when Devin went to turn the car back on, it was dead! Luckily, the lady at the next pump over had some jumper cables and helped us out! She was awesome! After that minor setback, we headed up with Vicki, Amanda, Sean, Chloe, and Moses (one of Riley's closest friends, btw...).

I was heartbroken to see Brandon so sad, and that alone was enough motivation to face the cold and plaster the city of Kamas with Riley's face. We drove around putting fliers on every telephone pole and building we came across, yelling out for him, and stopping to ask every person we saw. We went to a car wash, a few restaurants, gas stations, an auto parts store, and an apartment complex, and even drove around aimlessly for awhile with the brights on looking for Ry Guy. I kept questioning putting fliers on certain places, because it looked like they would just get torn down and not even looked at, but Devin kept saying it wouldn't hurt, and at least someone will see it.

Brandon had already called Summit County, all the vets in the area, the police department, the radio stations, and the animal shelters to ask and leave his information if they heard anything.

We ran out of fliers and all headed home (engine light came on while we were driving home?!?! and Devin and I had a hard time falling to sleep, worrying about Riley. Just hoping that someone had him, safe and warm, and were just waiting to figure out who to call. Kamas is a small town in the middle of nowhere. Riley could have gone anywhere. It is so unlike him to run away. Brandon's dogs are the kind of dogs that are never on leashes, not only because they are that well behaved, but because they just don't stray. They like to stay where Brandon can see them, so it was strange that he would have wandered off.

This morning around 10:00, Devin called and said Riley was found!!! The owner of the Auto Parts store saw the flier, and found Riley in a dog bed at the store! He probably wasn't there the whole time, and probably not for very long, either. I'm guessing he just wanted somewhere warm and found the bed. What a huge relief! We were all worried so sick, and are sooooo glad to have our buddy back safe!

Also this morning, with all the weird car problems the Mazda has been having, Devin said he would drive it to work, so he could get diagnostics run on it, and possibly get the battery changed. Which meant I got to drive the truck today! Wahoo! I love that truck. Turns out the sensor had come on because of the coolant, so Devin fixed that, but also replaced the battery, because it was time anyway.

Tonight, Devin has his last final, and then we're off to do some grocery shopping, we have been out of milk for days! haha Devin joked last night, as he pulled out the Cream-of-Wheat, that we were down to the staple foods! That means you know grocery shopping is overdue! haha

Such a great weekend. Proud to be American. Love our friends and family. So glad to have Riley back home safe.

wishlist installment 3

it's been fun to post some good Christmas ideas to get and give to others! I could think of someone for every one of these ideas! (and i'm not just talking about myself... but feel free :) hahaha just kidding).

So far, some of my favorite sites in general to use for Christmas shopping have been:

etsy.com - i love handmade things. etsy has such a huge variety, too

amazon.com - because you can get ANYTHING and usually for cheaper!

any grocery store (except Wal Mart. because I'm not shopping there until mid-January). because everyone loves candy and treats. you can't go wrong with that!

1. Slatkin & Co. Candles $20 (I was going to list all the scents I want, until I realized that it's pretty much all of them)

2. Miette $28 (It's a recipe book from a cute little bakery in San Francisco.)

3. Mittens $12

4. Crochet Slippers $23

5. Fleece-Lined Leggings $18

6. Rahua Shampoo and Conditioner $32/$34

7. 18k Gold Vermeil Ring $62 (I love ALL the jewelry on this site. I really want one of these rings though!)

8. Frayed Leopard Print Rose Headband $8 (This is my sister Amanda's business. I love all her hairpieces! She makes it all, too! Babies, adults, wedding pieces!)
9. Honey Lollipops (Cracker Barrel sells these for less than $1 each and they are so good!)
10. The Lower Lights' "Come Let Us Adore Him" Christmas Album $13
11. A giant case of Coca-Cola de Mexico (the best kind!) $20
12. Norah Gray Wash Wood Clock $50

Photo Dump Friday

didn't take too many pictures this week! but at least there's a few.

christmas gift from one of Devin's co-workers. i love coke. plus also, it's in an awesome bottle that i've never seen before.

It completed my dinner. (When Devin has class and isn't home during dinner time? I eat popcorn. Probably 75% of the time.)

babysat my gorgeous niece, Addison for a little bit on Wednesday. First thing she says to me when she wakes up from her nap? "Hi, Kabie. Where's Demin?" lately, her favorite phrases have been, (both, while throwing her hands in the air, with a concerned look on her face) "What happened?" and "Where'd it go?" adorable. She is one of the prettiest little girls I have ever seen! I told her she was going to be a heartbreaker. She just said a bunch of jibberish. Love this little one.

Aria loves trying on everybody's shoes. I think she needs her own TOMS.

wishlist installment 2

I already posted a wishlist of unrealistic gifts, but as I was surfing the web today, I racked up a few more items that I love, and would be great ideas for others. All price ranges, too. I love these ideas, and even though I'm already done with all my Christmas shopping (can I get a "what, what!"?) I will keep these in mind next year for my sisters and friends. And with all my free time, because of said finished shopping, I might just have a third installment next week. 

1. Teal Pop Herringbone Toms with Colored Sole $54

2. Atom Art Bowls $8 each

3. Microplane Herb Mill $19.95

4. Cherry Coke Candy (all I know is Blickenstaff's at The Shops at Riverwoods in Provo carries them, and they are included in their bulk candy, which is sold for about $7 per pound)

5. Kitty, Kitty Sally Hansen Nail Effects (sold everywhere, in different patterns, too, for around $8)

6. Mac Setting Foundation $27

7. Year of Cookies cookie cutter set $24.95

8. Mindy Kaling's "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns)" $25