Wednesday, July 31, 2013

D.I.Y. Book Page Wreath

I am a tad obsessed with Pinterest. "tad" may be an understatement. Anyway, I also LOVE books! So of course it seemed fitting for me to rip a beautiful book apart to make a wreath right? I felt super guilty ripping it apart, but I am absolutely LOVING the end product! And it looks pretty bomb on my wall!

Here is the book before I went all Hulk on it. Notice the price? This craft cost me an entire dollar!!! LOVE IT! I found my beauty at the D.I. and made sure to find a book with yellowed pages so that I could have the aged look.

 I was suppose to be taking a picture of the beautiful pages, but I got distracted by my wedding ring... Can you believe that people told me they hated it? Some people just can't handle rose gold I guess.

I started rolling the pages after I tore the book apart and I used my awesome hot glue gun to glue the pages together. I used a little glue at the corner of the page to hold the cone together and then glued a line down the side to attach it to another roll.

 This is the first layer of the wreath all glued together. I love the imperfection of the rolls and the difference in width and layer.

 Second layer glued on... this picture is refusing to rotate the way it should be facing.

 For the third layer I only rolled one page as opposed to both pages together. This made the last layer a little shorter and added more depth. Foot photobomb...

 Finished product on my wall. Aren't you jealous of my 70's thermostat???

I LOVE IT!!!!

 The book I used by the way was Black Beauty....

I also did a couple other crafts this week so far... I've got to get them all in before the school year starts back up and I have to go back to work!
 We are headed to Disneyland this Thanksgiving so I am busy making sure Aniston and my niece Cortney are going to look darling!!!! I have made lots of clips and bows and I am planning on making headbands for them as well!
A little more home decor. I found that large frame at the D.I. for $2 (score) then painted it gold. I bought and painted that shelve for Aniston's room because she has become obsessed with necklaces and needs a place to hang them! Look at that cute girl!



Tuesday, July 30, 2013

DAY 709... Spencer Turns 27!!!

Finally Spencer has caught up with me in age! Fun fact.... We are 2 days short of being exactly 6 months apart! So of course in true form we celebrated not only on his birthday but days before. Since we knew Spencer would have to work on his birthday (being an adult really sucks sometimes) we went to dinner and took the birthday of shopping on Saturday. Lets be honest... I did a little shopping too.

We ate dinner at The Hickory here in Rexburg. Super yummy and such a stinking cute restaurant. The decor is so country cute! The lighting was made from mason jars! Obsessed with the decor! The food was pretty good too. Ani was pretty exhausted, we are going through a phase were naps are not cool, so she napped through the beginning of dinner.


After dinner we took a walk and ended up at Scoops... Ummmmm $1 per scoop of ice cream and you can have as many flavors as possible? Yes please! We loved it!
 Seriously though... my child is such a doll!!!!

On Spencer's actual birthday (yesterday) we didn't get to see him much. We were able to have dinner together and then we had some yummy snickers cake.


Aniston did not hold back.


She was scrapping her tray for remnants! Haha!
Also... Spencer may or may not have turned our daughter into a pyro....

She even kept pointing to the cake and signing please. At least she is polite. After dinner we dropped Ani off at one of my cheerleaders houses so that I could surprise Spencer. So here is Rexburg we have this movie theater where for $14 you can get 2 tickets, 2 large sodas, and 1 large amazing popcorn. Because of that I don't often feel the need to spend $14 on movie tickets at what I deem the expensive theater. Spencer LOVES X-Men. Since Th Wolverine came out a few days ago I sneakily bought tickets and surprised him. Lets be honest.... Spencer didn't even know the movie had come out!!! I am so good at surprises! While we were waiting for the movie to start, a teenager walked into the theater with a black backpack and sat down 2 rows behind us. Freaked me out!!!! Who knows what he could have had in that backpack! My mind immediately thought the worst. Spencer and I a tally pretended to take a picture with him in the background (Spencer erased it before I could get it from him) just in case. My heart was pounding for the 1st half of the movie because of my crazy mind. Still bro, not cool.

Spencer is such an AMAZING man! This was is 3rd birthday that we have spent together, and our 2nd with our precious Ani Kate.
2011... Engaged
 2012... Don't judge, I had just had a baby remember
 2013! Don't worry that Aniston had broken my sunglasses when we were in Utah so I snagged these beauties from the Dollar Tree! Also it might be time to retire the poof.... Seriously Jenn?

I just love Spencer! He is such an amazing husband and father! I'm super thankful that he was born and came into my life!!!! He is such a stud!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPENCER KENT!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Monday Munchies... Garlic Shrimp

I am OBSESSED with this recipe! Since I went low carb, I have been frantically searching the World Wide Web for new yummy recipes that will make me forget the bread, potatoes and pasta.... Yum! This recipe is insane! According to MyFitnessPal (another obsession... if you don't already use it, get it!!!) it only has 192 calories (this will differ of course depending on serving size) only 4 carbs and 16 grams of protein (whoop whoop). I chose to eat it with a side salad, but the entire time I was dreaming about eating this shrimp with mashed potatoes. My mouth is watering right now! Are you ready for your shopping list????

Shopping List: 


  • 1 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 pound of shrimp
  • Salt to taste
  • 6 cloves of garlic - no less than 6 cloves!!!!
  • 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 2 tbsp of cold butter - cut into 4 pieces
  • 3 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 1/3 cup chopped Parsley

Pretty simple right? Now don't forget to peel and de-vain the shrimp before you cook it.... I should probably be ashamed to admit that I almost forgot that part right? But don't worry... I remembered right beforehand, thank goodness. Okay so here are your directions. 


  • Prepare all ingredients beforehand because the cooking goes quick and there's not time to prepare while cooking.
  • Place your pan on the highest heat and pour in the oil. Wait until the oil is super hot, not burning but hot, then pour your shrimp in evenly into the pan. 
  • Add salt.
  • Toss after a minute and let them cook for another minute. By this time they will not be completely cooked through, but they will be pretty pink. 
  • Add garlic and red pepper flakes. Then toss and stir and keeping the shrimp moving for about a minute.
  • Add lemon juice and 1 chunk of butter.
  • Next add HALF of your Parsley and continue to stir.
  • Once the butter is melted completely (shouldn't take long) turn the heat down to low and add the rest of the butter.
  • As soon as the butter is melted.... It's ready to eat!!! So easy right????
  • Use the remainder of the Parsley to top the cooked Shrimp.
  • Don't forget to use up all the juice/sauce left in the pan! If its a little runny, just add a little cold water and pour it on top of your shrimp!!!!!
 Once again... please ignore the use of the paper plate... In fact, just get use to it you will see them A LOT!!!
And this picture will not rotate... annoying! But look at that shrimp! So tasty!

If you do not enjoy this shrimp then I'm not sure we can be friends anymore. It is amazingly easy to prepare and the taste is out of this world!!! Not to mention is soooooooo healthy! Who knew that eating healthy could taste so incredibly delicious? I am down 10lbs already after 2 weeks just by changing what I eat. I don't feel hungry and I have so much energy! Obviously I was eating pretty bad before... And I wondered why the baby weight wouldn't come off! Eating right is the way to go! I have never felt more motivated and have never been more consistent in my diet!!! I LOVE seeing results!

Enjoy this yummy recipe and I will begin my search for my next yummy low carb treat!!!!!

Saturday, July 27, 2013

DAY 707... Hiking R Mountain... in the rain

Back in the day when I was first attending BYU Idaho for college I remember hiking R Mountain and having a great time! So of course I have been talking about doing it ever since we returned to Rexburg. Well, I picked the wrong day to hike. It wasn't raining when we left our house, but it was sure raining by the time we got to the Butte. Also Aniston had fallen asleep on the 10 minute drive there. How in the world do babies fall asleep so stinking fast?!?! Jealous!

Had to get a close up of her A-D-O-R-A-B-L-E shoes!!!! Aren't they ridiculous? I have been dying over them all day!

Anyway we decided that we would hike despite the rain. That decision was not the only mistake we made. We also decided to use Ani's little carrier to hike with.

Don't worry... I have already started looking online for hiking backpacks for babies. Our poor little Ani Kate cried pretty much the entire time.



Poor baby was miserable. But we still made it to the top!!!!


 Ani enjoyed spending some time in mom's arms when we reached the top! She also enjoyed the camel back straw! A lot...
Our view from the top!

Have you ever wondered how many different ways you can carry a child while hiking????
 Way #1 - The Neck Bender... I would highly suggest avoiding this way of carrying your child. Very unsuccessful!
 Way #2 - Back to Back - This was the most successful way to carry Ani on this hike. Highly recommended!
 Way #3 - Cuddle Bug. Ani enjoyed this for on the hike down when the rain started coming down a little harder because she could stay warm.
 Way #4 - Camel back. This only lasted for a few minutes, but I think that this position really makes Aniston feel powerful and in control.
 Way #5 - Over the Shoulder. This should be your last resort...
 Way #6 - On the Hip. Apparently by this point, even Spencer was a little tired of the crying...
 Way #7 - Baby Snuggles.  This actually calmed Aniston down a lot, but it not optimal for hiking.
Way #8 - Shoulder Wedge. This is the position that you try after trying everything else has failed... And this will probably fail too.

It was kind of the most exhausting hike I have ever hiked. Man, everything changes when you have a baby!
 Well not everything changes... My husband is still ridiculously good looking!
 Not a successful hike without a little trail sign groping!
 Pretty much the entire way down the Butte, my awesome husband help my hand to stop me from falling. What a guy!
 Ani also was a little nervous while making our way down the Butte.
 Maybe what made her so nervous is the fact that we ran down half the Butte. We like to live on the edge!
Gotta end this blog with Ani's high point of the hike. She got to see a dog! This child is a sucker for animals!

Hopefully someday we can figure out how to hike successfully with a child. I'm sure a nice hiking backpack would help! We'll see what we can do about that.