Little Known Fact

We have a cat.

I realized today that I have never mentioned him on here. His name is Felix and he was my first pet that I got when I moved into my own apartment after college. He used to be the best cat ever...greeted me at the door when I got home, snuggled with me and even let me hold him like a baby. But notice the use of past tense there. Don't get me wrong, I still love him and everything but he has become quite the pain in the rear end over the past few years.

With the arrival of Sydney came Felix's decision to poop on my bed when he was mad at me. Which was pretty much every day considering what he was mad about was the fact that I got a puppy. See what I mean by "used to be the best"?

He finally got over that just when I decided to buy a house. Something new for him to be mad at me about. The cycle continued until he felt that he had punished me enough. :) Then Jason and I got engaged, bought a house and I moved again.  You can probably guess how he handled that.

I'm happy to say (knock on wood) that hasn't happened in a really long time. He has some other quirks that drive us crazy though. Like pawing at the back door to come in the house or when he wants to eat (which he wants to do like 4 times a day...it's ridiculous!)....it's got to be the most annoying sound on the face of the planet.

On the flip side, he can be really sweet and sometimes he'll even cuddle with me...but only on his terms of course and usually it's when the dogs aren't around. :) So at least, I know he still loves me. And no matter what, he's still a part of the family. So, since cats live forever and he's only 6, I guess we aren't allowed to move ever again. :) Good thing I really love our house!

Weekend Cinnamon Rolls

I've always wanted to make cinnamon rolls from scratch, but all the recipes I usually come across you have to make them the night before. And let's face it...I'm a huge procrastinator and I never think that far ahead unless it's special occassion or a holiday. :) A couple weekends ago, I woke up and decided I really needed to make some. SO, I scoured the internet for a recipe that you make and eat all in the same day. They're called Ninety Minute Cinnamon Rolls...which is why I renamed them Weekend Cinnamon Rolls. Because who's got 90 minutes to prepare breakfast on a weekday morning? Definitely not this girl.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. milk

1/4 c. margarine, softened

3 1/4 c. all purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast

1/4 white sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c. water

1 egg

1 c. brown sugar, packed

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/2 c. margarine, softened

1/2 c. raisins (optional)    

1. Heat milk in a saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in 1/4 c. margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until luke warm.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 c. flour, yeast sugar; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 c. at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.


Disregard the 1970's mixer. :) 
I let a friend of mine borrow our good one so I had to resort to using this old thing.


3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon and 1/2 c. softened margarine.

4. Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture. Sprinkle with raisins if desired (and I did not!). Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place in a lightly greased casserole dish. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. (I somehow overlooked this step and mine still turned out good) Preheat oven to 375.

5. Bake for 20 minutes, or until browned.

6. While they are baking, make your icing (if desired). You'll need 1 stick butter, vanilla, 1 box powdered sugar, and milk. This makes a huge amount so I pretty much cut the recipe in half (and still had tons left over!)  Add softened butter, a few drops of vanilla and half a box of powdered sugar. Mix well. Add milk and rest of sugar until icing is correct consistency for pouring over cinnamon rolls. If not pourable, add a little bit more milk. If too thin, add a few tablespoons of sugar, stirring until thick enough.

7. Drizzle icing over warm cinnamon rolls and ENJOY!!

Happy Love Day!

My valentine and I on our honeymoon in Anguilla almost 3 years ago:

We're celebrating tonight with lasagna for dinner, a walk with the dogs and back to watch The Bachelor. (He's going to be so mad at me for letting everyone in on his secret love for that show!) Sounds perfect to me!

Speaking of the Bachelor...tonight they are going to be in Anguilla at the same resort we stayed in on our honeymoon, the Cuisinart. It's AMAZING. If you ever get the chance to go there, I highly recommend it! For those of you who are watching...who do you think is going home tonight?? Crazy Michelle??? I say probably her or Britt. We shall see.

P.S. Lots to come this week...a few recipes, a diy table redo, and part 2 of our Park City trip!

Park City Part 1

So yeah, I'm finally getting around to a recap of our trip...only 3 weeks later. :) Have I mentioned that I can be a huge procrastinator?

Anyways, let's get started...

We ended up leaving Sunday morning since Mother Nature once again had other plans for our original travel day. Thankfully, we made that decision because we would have never made it out otherwise!  I was just a little bit excited to be there so I started snapping pictures from the car on our drive from Salt Lake City to Park City:

Gorgeous, right? I think at some point we all contemplated moving there!

Since Monday was originally supposed to be our travel day, we decided that we wait to start skiing until Tuesday like the original plan. So, we spent the day just walking around Park City (cutest place ever!).

For the rest of the week, we were staying at the St. Regis Deer Valley which was UN.BELIEVEABLE.  So after an afternoon of shopping, we headed that way to go check in. One of the things we were most excited to see was the transportation up to the hotel. It sits up on top of a mountain so they had this thing called a funicular to get you up there.

View from the funicular

Almost like a rollercoaster...except that it went about 1 mile per hour.

A few pics of the room/hotel:

of course we had to get a picture with the dog

heavenly bathroom

TV in the mirror. We were fascinated!

Our snacks for the week. Yes, we were definitely the Clampets of the St. Regis.

Once we got in the room, Jason decided to suit up in preparation for skiing the next day:

 And then, I made everyone head outside for a photo shoot before dinner that night:

Notice the snow on his back side. He stepped into what he thought was firm snow.

OK, so that wraps up part one. Skiing and snowmobiling pictures to come!

Did you hear?

This little guy predicted an early spring!

I am craving warm weather so bad right now. BRING IT ON, Punxsutawney Phil.

2010 Rewind - Our Year in Pictures

January:

Miller enjoying the snow. I'm sure Sydney was off chasing her ball and too busy for pictures.

February:

My youngest brother, Charlie, playing the bass with his band, TUNA.

March:

Jason's parents took us on an amazing trip to Carmel and Pebble Beach, California. Jason and his dad spent most of their time playing golf at the different courses at Pebble Beach. I did some exploring of Carmel and had a little spa day. I totally fell in love with this cute little town! The house pictured below is one of the local storybook houses. People actually live in them!

April:

My middle brother, Ross, "teaching" my niece, Anna, how to play guitar.

May:

Sydney and Miller stopped for a photo op on a hike up Paris Mountain with the fam.

June:

Yummy cake at a baby shower for my BFF, Linds. They did not find out what they were having so the baby was affectionately called Critter. :)

July:

"Critter" makes her debut!! Emma Gray was born on July 31st. Such an exciting day to finally find out if it was a boy or a girl!!

August:

Playing in the river Meg (my cousin...in middle) and Evans (Ross's girlfriend...far left) after a zipline canopy tour in the mountains with the whole fam.

September:

A day in the park downtown with the dogs!

October:

Surprise 50th birthday party for my fabulous mom!

November:

I had to force my husband and brothers to take a Christmas picture for my mom. Of course, they complained the entire time and acted like they hated it. I would like to note that my husband was the one who came up with this cheesy pose.

December:

Lots of Christmas festivities! Christmas with friends, family picture in the white Christmas, Cousins hanging out by the bonfire, and my childhood stuffed animal. There's a story behind this cat...but I'll save that for another post. 

Charlie Horse!!

So, who all is watching American Idol? I totally thought that I wasn't going to watch this season because of all the changes with the judges. I just couldn't imagine Idol without Simon! But, I actually really like it this year. I think JLo is genuine and sweet and not trying to hard like Kara did. Steven Tyler is a little bit out there, but I like it. And I've always loved the Dog.

This week had some really great moments...some really talented people (last girl in Nashville...SO good!) and as usual, some ridiculously horrible people. BUT, nothing tops this moment for me. I was watching this all by myself and seriously could not stop laughing. Best Idol Moment EVER.

I kinda feel bad for laughing...but I can't help it. And Ryan Seacrest just put the icing on the cake when he told her she needed to drink more water. Thanks for looking out, Ryan!

Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy your weekend!!

(PS...2 posts in one day! Wooohoo!)