GOALS

I'm not going to make "New Year's Resolutions" because by their very nature resolutions are meant to be broken- or at least I always break them so I assume that is why people make them... so they have something to break. I have instead decided to make goals. Goals that just happen to start at the beginning of the year. These goals are mostly to just improve myself so that I can come closer the person I am striving to be. Since it's easier to account to others and easier to keep track of if they are written down here goes....

• Read my scriptures every day, at the beginning of the day not when I'm half asleep right before bed and not getting any thing from it.

• Write in my journal every night, even when there is nothing to report.

• Be more kind in my thoughts and actions

• Do more service

• Become more social (this one is gonna be a doosey! I'm not a very social person!)

• Weight loss goal: lose 30lbs by my 30th birthday and if possible lose 60lbs by next Christmas... that is going BIG though, losing 60lbs would put me at my all time not likely to happen "goal weight." 

• Be more healthy - I'm not going to "diet" because I'm horrible at dieting but I am going to do my best to make healthier choices and exercise more consistently. (I sorta have to if I want to meet my previous goal)

• Get my first kiss - I know what you're thinking "WHAT SHE'S NEVER BEEN KISSED? HOW OLD IS SHE?!" I do it too. But I have had some weird issues that I have been working out with my therapist and I think I'm in a better place to be in a relationship and hopefully get that first kiss I've been waiting my whole life for. (No pressure future boy that I will kiss!) So I definitely better get on that "being more social" goal or this may never happen! Plus I'm paranoid about having bad breath and what if I go in for the big kiss and the guy is totally grossed out because I have weird breath?? It's okay Self, you can do it! (Yes, I just gave myself a pep talk.)

• Go to Disneyland again (though this one is already in the works... I'm gonna have the best 30th birthday EVER!! But that's because if I don't I'm probably going to have a SERIOUS panic attack... 30 is SO old. Not for other people, I just feel like I'm so behind and have a lot of "catching up" to do, it's overwhelming. But not this year, I'm going to be having FUN on my big day!)

So these are my goals. Hopefully this time next year I will be a better person and be able to make more goals to continue to better myself.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

“ For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

What a beautiful scripture. At this time of year where we give and receive gifts – I always try to remember the most AMAZING gift of all time.  Jesus Christ – our brother, our confidant, our spiritual shoulder to cry on, He REALLY knows our pain and suffering and He is there to help you get where you need to be. He does have all the answers  and we need to remind ourselves to seek those gifts and blessing that he is ready and willing to give to us if we just ask. Sorta like Santa, I suppose. Sit on his lap, tell him what you want or need and he’ll see what he can do.

The first part of the scripture reminds me of what the meaning of life is. “For God so loved the world…”  GOD LOVES US. Each and every one of us. I was trying to teach my little niece about our puppy. Sometimes he chews on their toys or shoes or eats  all of my socks and that doesn’t make him a bad puppy, just a puppy trying to learn and makes mistakes a long the way and that does not change the love we have for the puppy. That is what we as humans need to remember that we are good people just trying to learn and making mistakes a long the way. But what is promised to us is that GOD LOVES US, JESUS CHRIST LOVES US and if we can embrace that; do what we can to do what is right we can feel Their love.  And as we find ourselves feeling the love of Christ and the knowledge that God really loves us, enough to send his only Son to die for us so we can all live again, we find ourselves sharing that love with others. 

Love – that is what I learn each Christmas.  To really love others and look at them through God’s eyes and see their potential and the love he has there for that person, it makes it so much easier to love others – even when we don’t like them too much. It also helps me to remember to accept that love. That is the hardest part of all. I need to see myself through God’s eyes and see his love for me and all of my potential.

So my message to you is to remember the reason for the season and to just love. 

I WISH YOU A HAPPY, VERY MERRY AND LOVING CHRISTMAS

All my love to you,

Stacie.
P.S. I absolutely adore this video, I may have posted this previously but thought watching it again couldn't possible hurt anyone. Enjoy.

Ruffle Cake

My mom makes cakes (wedding, birthday, just because it's Wednesday, ect) and she is AMAZING at it! She usually lets me tag a long and I carry stuff and assist with different things but on this cake she actually LET me do something!! Woot woot!! This was a cake for a friend of mom's and she wanted us to try this new cake style.  I got to do the ruffling of the fondant and I thought that was a pretty good deal until we had to do it. About half-way through the cake I was about done. It was 2 a.m. and my hands were blistered and TIRED but I persevered thanks to my mom's cheering and encouragement and by 3:30 a.m. we were finally DONE!! We delivered it today but they couple didn't have the flowers there yet so we didn't get any pictures with the flowers but we're hoping the gal sends us some of the FINAL final cake. So here are the pictures we do have:

By Popular Demand...

So I've been told by a few people that I forgot to mention what exactly was on my PTN (See previous post if you are confused.) So here it goes....

Bread of choice - I prefer soft bread but still firm enough to hold the sandwich together. I've had it on a fresh Hogie bun and it was delicious..
Mayo - I prefer mayo but you could also substitute for Miracle Whip
Cranberry sauce - Spread on just one slice of bread
Turkey - Lots of turkey, layer on top of slice with cranberry sauce
Stuffing - Moist stuffing works best. If you need to moisten up the stuffing feel free to use a little gravy. I just take the stuffing in my (clean) hands and squish it on the other side of the bread but some people may prefer to use a knife and spread it. That takes too long so I don't even bother, plus I'm saving the planet by using less water because I'm not washing an extra knife. Except if you use the knife from the mayo and cranberry spreading... but that's not the point. Anyway.
Now very quickly so you don't lose any ingredients SMUSH it all together. I like to squish the bread a little but that's just my own thing. You can do whatever you want.

Hopefully this post isn't too late and you still have enough leftovers to make your own PTN if you so desire.

Happy Eating!!

The Best Post-Thanksgiving Nancy EVER!!

I absolutely LOATH the word "sandwich." It makes me cringe just typing it. So I've decided to just change the word to "Nancy." Nancy is the name of my late grandmother. I think she would think it's funny that I chose her name as the word to use to replace that horrible other word. So if you see me walking down the street talking about a delicious peanut butter and jelly nancy... that's what I'm talking about.

Every year I long for the deliciously sweet and savory combo of a Post-Thanksgiving Nancy (known as PTN from here on out.) Sometimes when I'm having a really bad day and I wish I didn't exist, I say "Self... Are you really ready leave this world without tasting another bite of PTN?" And then I think "NO, I AM NOT!!" So I go on living another day just to have another bite (Plus I'm dying to find out how BONES is going to turn out. I love that show!) I took some pictures today of my Nancy and can I just tell you... it tasted so much better than it looked, but it did look pretty scrumptious.

Family Pictures

This is one of the few times a year we actually are all together so we thought we'd utilize this time to take family pictures. You'll have to forgive the photographer, some of these pictures were taken with a tripod and a timer. Enjoy!

Isn't Dexter HUGE!! He doesn't look like a puppy anymore!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Cranberry Sauce

This year I decided I'd live a little on the edge and make some cranberry sauce. I love the canned jelly but thought this year maybe we'd try cranberries with class. So I found this amazing and easy recipe and it turned out great! It's going to be a new tradition.... Eat your heart out Ocean Spray.

The recipe is as follows if you want to try this...

1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
12 oz bag of cranberries

Dissolve sugars in liquid. Bring to boil, add berries and boil for about 10 minutes. Berries will start to pop open when they are about done. Remove from heat, if you choose you can put the sauce in the blender to blend up sauce and make it more smooth then put in dish. Let it cool at room temperature then store in refrigerator until time to serve. Sauce will thicken as it cools.

My Cute Babies

Okay, okay... we all know they're not mine and that they aren't really babies anymore but they are my little cuties!

What a ham! Little Miss Hailey is getting so big and she's so smart (maybe too smart for her own good!) I love my Hailey!

Sweet Aiden, what a rough time he is having, watching Rugrats and hanging out on Aunt Stacie's love sac. That boy is SO funny! He cracks me up all the time, I sure do like him... I guess we'll keep him around :) That's my Aiden boy, whom I just love to pieces.

The ONLY good thing about cold weather...

HOT CHOCOLATE!!!

Halloween

This year I got to dress up three times. I went to a Stake Halloween party Friday night, a friend's party on Saturday night, and then I dressed up for work and went trick-or-treating Monday night with my niece and nephew (who were dressed up as a fairy princess and Thor.) It was lots of fun, I definitely got my money's worth on that costume. I was Raggedy Ann and the costume came with a red yarn wig but it was horrible to look at and while wearing it I felt quite claustrophobic so I decided to just dye my hair instead..... It was cute for the costume but thankfully my wonderful hairdresser of a cousin was able to fix me up right nice (thanks Em..) Anyway, here are the pictures from the fun.

I made these yummy Candy Corn Cupcakes for the gals at work. When you bit into them they were yellow and orange cake with white frosting. I was very proud of my self!



Alice (Liz) Cute Bumblebee (Jen) and Raggedy Ann (moi) These are a couple girls from work, we were headed to a party.

Rainbow Bright (Brittany - a friend of my brothers) and Miss Annie

Chuckles the clown (my beautiful mamma) and my Tone-Tone

Dexter the pesky dog, Princess (Hailey) Miss Annie (you guessed it... me) and Thor (Aiden)

Annie and The Joker (Heath Ledger... oops, I mean Tony - my baby bro)

Why so serious??? (Actually, Annie doesn't look that scared does she??)

Bumblebee (Jen) Raggedy Ann (me) Andy (my date) Red Riding Hood (Heather) and Alice (Liz)

Maybe we have too much fun at work.... Ann, Bee, Hook (Dr. Wise) The Devil (Tina) and a Viking Chic (Liz)

Updating

So I decided that I would utilize this extra hour we get tonight to update my blog... Silly me, thinking I could do it all in 1 hour. I was wrong. I kept thinking I didn't really have much to update so I just kept procrastinating it but now I have spent almost 3 hours just organizing the photos I want to put up!! I'm too tired to even finish it tonight. So this is what you get. A paragraph telling you of my intentions. I will try to finish it this weekend but the way it's looking it might take a while, but I will do my best! Oh, and just a warning... there are A LOT of pictures!

Dexter!!

We got another little puppy! His name is Dexter. We all just love him. A few weeks ago we adopted another dog - her name is Izzy! She sure does love Dexter. She's taken on the role of mommy rather well. I'll post more pictures of all of them but I just thought I would post this now.

Exercise with a 4 year old

As I was getting ready for my workout Hailey (My oh so adorable niece) decides she wants to watch me work out on the elliptical. I set her up with a show to watch while I exercise. So when I finish I needed to stretch and do some crunches. She joined me on the floor. Every action, every sound I made she did also. Starting crunches she imitated me with my breathing and mild grunting (let's face it, it is tough to do crunches when your fat!) After 2 sets of crunches we took a break by laying on the floor. After about a minute Hailey turns to me and says "you good for one more?" I died laughing. Then went on to my last set of crunches! It was SO funny, I almost couldn't get a hold of myself.

The movie Red Riding Hood came out this week and I really wanted to buy it. When I went to Target they only had it on Blu-ray. I thought about shopping around to different stores to see if I could find it in DVD but decided instead to just bite the bullet and buy a Blu-ray player. So I bought both the movie and player and went home. I realized when I opened the movie that it had both the blu-ray and dvd in it. Oh well, I wanted the Blu-ray player anyway so it all worked out. I went to set up the player to my tv today and realized it would not work with my old school tv that I had. So then I had to get a new tv.

So now here I sit, watching my new Blu-ray video on my new Blu-ray player on my new HDTV. I feel so high tech! I have to say though, that it ended up being one expensive movie.

My new camera

I bought a new camera. A pretty one at that! So now I'm going to be taking a lot of pictures. I better, since I paid a pretty penny for it. So my new hobby is to start doing my old hobby. (I stopped doing much photography for a while, not sure why, but that is changing now!) The reason for this post is mostly a warning, I will be posting a lot!

The other night my niece did the cutest thing.
She tucked me in for bed.
I got a story read, a couple of stuffed animals and a kiss on the forehead followed by "I love you, Stace." It was so sweet.

I just love my little Hailey and Aiden.

We all know how much I hate worms, right?? Well, I've decided there is one thing worse than worms out there..... Twigs that look like worms!! Not only do I look absolutely ridiculous while running around, screaming and jumping across the sidewalks to avoid the worms, now I look stupid running around, screaming and jumping at twigs that look like worms. It's hard to tell when it's wet and rainy outside. They all look the same. So, I apologize to all of those people out there who may witness my irrational outburst of running, jumping and screaming over what may or may not be worms.

Cantankerous - adjective - disagreeable to deal with; contentious; peevish

Everyone gets songs stuck in their head, right??? Well sometimes I get words stuck in my head. I woke up with the word "Cantankerous" stuck. It's nearly noon and I've had it stuck in my head since 6:30 this morning. Over and over again... cantankerous, cantankerous, cantankerous, cantankerous.... I'm pretty sure it's going to make me crazy!! I'm beginning to become "cantankerous" because of it!!!

Jake - Before and After

Jake really, REALLY needed a haircut...




So he got one...



It's like he's a completely different dog, amazing isn't it?!

Disneyland!!

My brother invited me to go with his family to Disneyland. I, of course said yes! I hadn't been there in 11 years, I was so excited to go! It was a short trip but just long enough. We drove down on Thursday, Disneyland on Friday, California Adventures on Saturday then headed home on Sunday. My little niece and nephew of course came too, they had so much fun. We went on mostly kid rides but it was worth it. Disneyland is after all a kids dream, right?! We did go on Space Mountain, Hailey was just tall enough and she insisted on coming. I was so worried that it would traumatize her and scare her to death, but at the end of the ride she was laughing, clapping and wanted to go on it again. It was pretty entertaining. Anyway, we had tons of fun. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Most of the pictures are of the little kids. They are much cuter than I am! And I apologize if they are out of order.... The pictures are from 3 different cameras so it gets difficult to try to organize them all.






































Turns out that the UCONN basketball team was staying at our hotel... on the same floor! It was crazy! I don't know how those boys don't get decapitated every time they walk into a doorway. Geesh, they were so tall. I didn't even go up to their armpits. Trust me, I know, I was standing right next to a few of them and I've never felt so petite in my life!!!