Favorite Things 2010

Back by popular demand (not really) 

our list of Favorites for this past year!

These are the things we were obsessed with,

couldn't live with out, and used/had ALOT.

And yes, I do realize a-lot of these have 

to do with food... 

First up and in no particular order:

(Most of these pictures are not mine.)

I can't mention a post like this

without Zupas.  Best soup, best

bread, best salads.

This happens to be one of my favorite combos...

Tomato Soup and Nuts about Berries Salad. MMMM!

This game happens to be a favorite with our 

friends in Salt Lake.  Hardly a night when we 

are all together goes by without breaking out 

the cards and chips.  So much fun.  Especially

when I win, but I'll admit, that doesn't happen 

TOO often.

James and I have pretty much

 perfected the art of homemade

pizza this year.  (At least to

our standards.) The secret is 

FRESH mozzarella and thin crust.

We were on a quest to re-make pizza

from Italy. We aren't that close actually

but we are the closest we've ever been.

This is more of a James favorite 

than my favorite. The series is good

I just got tired of the same thing.

But Jack Bauer is still a stud and

James LOVES this show!  

 This is a new-found favorite.

We showed up on a Friday one

night, ordered the date night

special.  Ate so much delicious

food they had to wheel us out

of there.  We have not let ourselves

go back, but just know that it is 

hard not to.

James started school this year!

This is a pic of his first day.

He is glad that this semester is 

over with, but he must admit that

he enjoyed himself much more than he

thought he would.  That also makes for 

a happy wife.  One semester down!

If our budget allows it, we try to

get out on two date nights. One date 

night for dinner and one date night

for a small treat.  Well, we are obsessed

with all things related to Oreo's and Ice

Cream.  Coincidentally, one of our favorite

places to go in Logan is Casper's Ice Cream.

The place is so cute and classic and the ice

cream is rich and thick.  

 Um. if you read this blog at all

you already know we had problems with

this show a couple months ago.  It took

over our whole life and we/I love Michael

Scofield.  It was a great series, but 

most especially the first season.  

This is a great Date Night place.

We can order one burrito for $10 bucks,

split it between the two of us, and 

chow down on free all you can eat chips

and salsa.  It is a great deal!

I don't know if this should be called

a Favorite thing, but it was a big

thing for us in 2010.  We left our

jobs, friends, and first apartment

in Salt Lake for a big move to Logan

so James could start school.  It has

turned out to be a great move, but we 

still have to say we loved our time in 

Salt Lake and miss our friends.  We visit

them every chance we get!  Here are some

pics of the old apartment... Oh and

we took that bottom picture after a day

full of moving heaving boxes up and

down 2 flights of stairs all day.  Don't

judge.  haha!  

Now don't let the seemingly lame-ness quality of

this next picture fool you.  This game rocks.

Our favorite couple to play this with would

probably be Dave and Teresa. It is always

boys against girls and there is always

fights and "googling" and looking up words 

in the dictionary.  It is a good night.  

And we all make up in the end. 

I've been busy baking a bit lately.

My favorite things to make are cakes

and cupcakes.  Decorating them is just

so much fun.  My cousin and I took some

cake decorating courses earlier this

year that was so much stinkin fun.

Here are a few creations 

of the past few months.

James and I were able to go to Oregon

Coast with my family this year.  It was

the first time my family as it is now, has

ever gone on an official vacation. It was 

awesome and so fun to show my family

the sights. 

This year has been a great year of 

learning and education and officially

getting my business started.  I have 

taken classes that I loved from a great

teacher Brooke Snow. I feel I have 

grown so much in photography and my 

understanding my camera and being more

creative.  I love Photography and I'm 

excited to learn where 2011 takes me!

I'm sure there has been more things that have 

stood out to us this year, but I think this 

pretty much sums up our year up to this point.  

Go Here for a link to our 

favorite things of 2009.

Big things from the last week

In no particular order...

1. Our big group of friends all went SNOWBOARDING together last Saturday at Powder Mountain. We have done several SKIING trips, but this was a first SNOWBOARDING trip. I don't snowboard. I barely ski. Most of the group were beginners or had only been snowboarding a couple of times, except Nick who is like a pro. But it was fun, alot of us were learning at the same time. It was also super frustrating, especially when James (who had only been a few times before) was circling around my freshly fallen sore toosh on the mountain doing 360's on his board.

2. My cousin Teresa and I are taking a cake decorating class! We are both so excited! We went to our first class last Tuesday and it sounds like it's going to be awesome! We get to bake a cake and bring it to class for next Tuesday and start decorating. Our husbands laugh at us now, but they will be begging us for a piece of our masterpieces later.

3. So apparently, our Bishop thought it would be a good idea for James and I to participate in Sunday School more and made us Gospel Doctine Teachers in our ward. And even better, it is the OLD TESTAMENT. We are super scared, but we are secretly excited for the excuse to dig in deep and really study. But did I mention that we were terrified?

4. Two weekend's ago, we went to Ogden Canyon with James's brother and two CUTE little nephews to stay in a condo for the weekend. It was a fun, relaxing weekend! We even went sledding twice. I forgot how much fun sledding is and James had forgotten how much fun it is to tackle and whitewash your wife a bajillion times.

5. James and I have been getting pretty good and faithful at going to the gym. We go with our awesome neighbors. James works out with Tim at 5:00 in the morning and Lindsey and I try to make it a few times a week after I get off work. I have even been with the boys a few times (which requires me to wake up at 4:30 AM people.) It is a good system and we are feeling so much better! It is amazing what exercise does for a person! Now if we can just eat right...

6. Last Tuesday, James and I met Dave and Teresa in Bountiful to go bowling. We had lots of fun, lots of stiff competition, and we all lost a few bets along the way. Dave and Teresa lost one game and had to read aloud a 10 Things I Love About James and Cindy list at our next Office/Dinner Party. It was a great moment for James and I and it even outshined the fact that we had to bring them donuts and buy them ice cream.

7. James is going to be starting with Scott's Fertilizer Company this next week, but for the past little while, James has usually been able to meet me for lunches at least a couple times a week. I love it! He usually brings me a homemade mini pizza we make out of wheat pita rounds with my favorite topping pinneaple and green peppers on it. It is delish and we make sure to always make a quick stop at Costco to check out their samples for our dessert. We are getting really good at leaving Costco not spending a dime (which I always thought was impossible.)

Life has sure been good to us and we are trying to live up every minute and we can't wait until SPRING!!!!

Forget Oprah, OUR Favorite things of 2009!!!

The year is coming to an end and let me tell you, what a wild ride it has been! James and I met, dated, got married, went to Hawaii, moved to a new little apartment, had a fun summer of Reunions, Family, Oregon Coast, Camping, Portland, Seattle Wedding, and finished it off with an awesome trip to Europe for two weeks. Not bad considering we had our first date Thanksgiving weekend of last year! Now, we are not bragging by any means, because this year shocked the both of us as well and I doubt we will have another year quite like this ever again.

Here is just a small recap of some of our favorite things, favorite obsessions, and favorite food of 2009...There is definitely a food theme happening here!

Okay, this is an obsession that has been going on for well over a year. And it is still going strong when you look into our pathetic display of food storage and there is 10 boxes stacked high. It is a beautiful sight. It will probably only last about 3 weeks though, tops.

This cozy little site goes back to our dating days and well into our marriage. Maybe that is all you need to know...

This obsession came this last summer. These are a great little treat, until you start having 3 or 4 or them at a time. We are trying to wean ourselves off of them now.

This was probably always an obsession, but it came full blasted when we had so many gift cards from our wedding to use up. We done used them all up and have been really good at not going back, so far.

Okay, yup, I told you there was a definite food theme here...this was always an obsession but it seemed to have gotten worse when we moved to our new apartment about 100 yards away from a Cafe Rio.

But who in the world can resist this naughty little jewel???

I borrowed the 1st season of 24 from my parents and for about one week, we were Jack Bauer freaks! We still need to borrow the other seasons, but I am scared as to what that will do to our social life.

We were both blessed to have AWESOME in-laws and families on both sides so we tend to go back home and visit Idaho...alot. But who can blame us?

Costco has provided us with some of the best date nights or lazy Saturday afternoon activities. One word: SAMPLES!!!

Being married to a Christmas Lighting dude, this has become a new found favorite of mine. I love seeing the lights and combinations of lights James puts on houses. He is very talented and the houses are always beautiful!!

This goes back to our dating days and just recently is making a comeback in our house. I LOVE to beat James at his own card game 13! Let me repeat. I LOVE to BEAT JAMES at his OWN CARD GAME!!!! :)

Let's not forget our very adventurous honeymoon in the beautiful land of Hawaii!!! We love that darn beach!!!

Breakfast at Dukes was definitely right up there...

And a few pics from our favorite place we stayed in Europe...ROME!!!

And that is our favorites list so far! How was 2009 for you??