Shopping with Amanda! Yeah!

Amanda and I had such a successful shopping day on Thrusday! (Okay, well the success was due to Cody...who found an awesome deal on POTTERY BARN stuff on ksl!)

We got all of these things, which are all pottery barn brand:

Bathroom Cabinet(above)

2 crown molding 3 ft and 4 ft shelves

3 lamp shades

Charging station

accent sconce

Towel rack

ALL FOR $100! It was the best day of my life...okay...my week!

We also went to Tai Wan, an interior design store in Sandy. I got my beautiful wreath there and it makes me so happy. I love fall! Amanda got a plate rack, a little red wreath, and some Halloween decor! It was great!

The best part of it all is that I got to go with Amanda. I am so thankful that I have a sister who is my best friend, too. What a blessing. I am absolutely dreading the day we leave Utah for good, we have had such a great opportunity to grow close these last few years.

My first Cooking Class!

My first cooking class...And it was amazing! Okay, so I will start from the beginning...

Basically, I have an amazing husband. I always have these incredibly high aspirations for hobbies in my life. I want to learn to cook, learn to be great at scrapbooking,  learn... well, everything! However, I never take the time to sign up for classes to learn how to be great at these things. So, Cody has recently done some research for me into cooking classes! He knows how bad I want to do them, but at the same time I just don't want to suck it up and spend the money to get what I want. Anyway, he gave me a list of classes at Thanksgiving point in Lehi. I looked it over, thought about signing up, and just didn't do it. (Figures, right?)

About a week later, Cody says to me in a friendly, yet accusing tone, "Why haven't you signed up for classes yet?" I couldn't think of an excuse for the life of me. Even if I thought that I came up with a good one, Cody would somehow counter-defend his angle, and I would be left thinking, "I want to do this, HE wants me to do this, why am I NOT DOING IT?!" 

Later that night, I signed up for my number one choice of classes, 

Kelsey's Kitchen: 5 under 5

Kelsey is LDS and was in the final four on food network's "The Next Food Network Star"! She was every bit as pleasant and likeable as she was on the show. She is completely full of personality and is incredibly entertaining. I loved to hear her stories of how she got to where she is....and now, where she is headed! 

Here was the menu:

Caprese Skewers

Tortellini with Fresh Sage Butter 

Mediterranean Salmon Bake

Roasted Asparagus

Lemon Curd with Fresh Berries

It was all delicious! Not to mention, all of the recipes were under 5 ingredients. I am looking forward to making them myself, although this gluten free thing sure ruins the tortellini. I will look for some other rice pasta that can fit in the recipe I guess. Her two top tips were:

"Always use kosher salt"

"If you can get it fresh, use it fresh!"

I learned a ton of little things as well as how to make the above recipes. It sounds silly, but watching someone else cook really helps you see things that you could do differently. I am so excited to cut an onion! To mince some garlic! To bake some sage!? Yeah, she warms it in the microwave...crazy, but beautiful.

Wordless Wednesday

Busy, Uplifting, Fun weekend!

It was the best weekend EVER! Okay, maybe not ever, but it was really great.

On Friday Cody and I both got done with work/school at 12:00, so then we partied! Okay, so I took a nap while he did a little homework, but it was relaxing none the less. Then, we went to Eagle Eye with Tanner and Brittany. 

We love our buddies!

Anyway, it was sooo good! It was action the entire time, so I literally felt like I needed a massage when I left to get me to de-stress. It is a great date-night movie...and a really fun one to watch on the big screen!

After the movie, we played a little blockus, and yes, for the second time, Cody got EVERY SINGLE one of his pieces laid down! Can you tell what color he was?

For those of you who have played, blockus, you know that is IMPOSSIBLE! For those of you who haven't, it is so much fun...you are missing out!

Then, of course, our conference weekend began. It was so amazing...every minute of the 8 hours! I only cried 3 times, which is a record for me. I felt the Spirit constantly during the meetings. I was especially grateful for Elder Uchtdorf's talk on Hope, and Elder Cook's talk on trials.

I got to work on finishing Cody's mission scrapbook the entire weekend, which was amazing! Laurel started it, (and by STARTING it I mean she did THREE full binders) and I am just doing the last 10 pages or so. I am so excited for it to be finished, I am sure that Laurel is too. She spent countless hours on his scrapbooks and we will never forget her time! They are beautiful pages, every one of them.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Brittany and I went to Nights in Rodanthe on Saturday while the boys were at Priesthood session of conference. It was a tear jerker! I have read the book, but it has honestly been like 3 years. I had completely forgotten what had happened...and it surprised me! I know, crazy that I could forget...! Anyway, it was a great movie to go with only the girls to, unless you like to sniff and drip tears on your husbands shoulder as he is rolling his eyes and sleeping at the same time!

Halloween Decoration

This is my first halloween decoration! Isn't it so cute? Becky, the mom of the family that I nanny for got it for me. I love it! You can basically see it from every room in our apartment because our house is so small, so that makes it even better! The "LL"s are my favorite...witches legs! hehe! Thanks Becky!

Book Review: The Choice

The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars
I liked it...as my three stars suggest. I love Nicholas Sparks...even though all of his books are the same! I think that was my issue with the beginning of this one. I have read SO many of his love stories in the past...that I knew what was going to happen. Or I THOUGHT that I did! It really did surprise me with about 50 pages left!
Despite the predictability, I loved the love story in the beginning. He somehow makes everyone seem so perfect, all love stories to be like heaven! Don't we wish all of our lives were like this?! Hehe!
I would recommend it for a mindless read!

View all my reviews.

Wordless Wedensday