favorites

Since school has been so busy, I have not had much time to
let my creative side express itself. I feel like ideas are
screaming inside of me, just waiting to come to life! I have
our entire guest room planned out from handmade
velvet charcol bed skirts and curtains to wall-hangings
and dozens of ideas for new wood projects- not to
mention the orders I haven't had a second to work
on! So today, i decided i needed a little creative
escape to blog. Too bad homework! So here are
a few favorites as of late:

1. Regina Spektor's begin to hope: she is so great
& her music inspiring. plus, she's gorgeous!



2. Deseret Industries: the best $9.75 ive spent
in a long time



you cant tell too well from the pic but the gray fabric is
fabulous! i cant wait to make a skirt or pillow sham.
seriously. i love people that give to di! i love giving to
di myself- prob why i dont feel guilty at all for getting
really great stuff for almost nothing :) i will be a
regular there until i find some good niightstands
to redo for Lance & I.

3. My Lion House cook book: the recipies should
be all from scratch and take hours, right? not so.
I am loving to pull it out when we are in a time
crunch and making something fabulous. The latest:
parmesan ranch chicken with noodles & red sauce.
Mmmm. And took about 30 minutes.


4. Green Tea HP: my current favorite for energy
in jam-packed long days.




if you haven't heard, Lance & I opened a kiosk selling
this in the st. george mall. If you have not heard about
it or tried it, you are missing out! seriously, this stuff
is great. Not only have i lost a couple pounds, it gives
you a great even energy for hours and hours. I can
tell a big difference especially in classes. Not to mention
all the health benefits of its jam-packed antioxidant
power. Wondering if this is against the word of wisdom?
Its not. The creaters wanted all the health benefits
without all the bad stuff. Tanic acid and almost all
caffiene are gone. Whats left is 50 cups worth of
antioxidants in one bottle and a surprisingly great taste.
Click here to check it out

new york city

Lance & I decided that the past few months have
been mostly vacation with a little bit of responsibility.
Don't get me wrong, we have been extremely busy!
But between the couple weeks of school we have had:
our wedding, our honeymoon to the Dominican
Republic, Christmas break, a St. George visit,
Merrell cruise to Mexico, and, the latest, a trip
to the Big Apple. What fun we had! Among
other things we:


Saw Mary Poppins on Broadway


Shopped on Canal street (notice my new Dolce
and Gabbana purse. It's real, I promise! :)
I've been putting off getting a new one so I could get
this in New York and I love it! The leather is so
soft and I love the colors too. We also visited the
Young Designers Market. If any of you are going
to New York you should go there! It was so
inspirational to see all these young people with
new and wonderful ideas. It inspired me to be
more creative and to make the best of the
resources I have.



Saw the statue of liberty ( do you see it
so tiny in the back?)


Visited the M&M factory on time square, ate
in little Italy and China town, saw Lance's mission
friend, Suvi, went to the Federal Reserve
Bank where over 180 Billion dollars of gold is
stored, and spent a full day at the Armory Track
& Field where over 200 schools compete in
the largest indoor track meet in the US. Wooh!
That was a lot.

What took the cake of the entire trip, though,
was our visit to Nasdaq. Nasdaq invited New
Balance, the sponsor of the track meet, along with
3 other schools to ring the closing bell for the day.
That's right, Lance was up on the big screen in
time square! What a neat experience. And, as a
little perk for being his wife, I got to tag along in
the studio. We had to go through all the security,
then munched on the complimentary treats
and drinks, then were shuffled into the studio.

All in all, we had a great time in New York (despite the
below zero temperatures). It was so much fun to
spend time with my amazing husband! I have
traveled a lot and been all over the world but
nothing beats traveling with the one you love.
We look forward to lots of travel in the future too :)

happy 24th lance!

On January 23rd, my sexy hubby turned 24. Since he has started traveling with the track team now, he was gone for his birthday so we got together with the families a few days later to celebrate. I tried a new recipe from The Lion House. This Lemon Chiffon Cake was delicious! And a hit with everyone at the party. Also, we surprised Lance and got him a new Ipod! He was very excited that he can now watch movies on his long flights to track meets.





Somebody said, "Hey Lance! Its your first birthday as a married man." And Lance immediately said, "Happy Birthday to me!" and thus my face in this picture... oh babe, I love you.

We love our families! A little singing, a little cake, a little visiting, a little guitar hero... it was so fun hanging out with everyone. Thank you for your love and support!

Mexican Baha Cruise

We set out on Friday night for our Baha Mexican cruise by packing all 11 of us Merrells into the camper and setting off for California. It's the perfect way to travel! You can sleep on the bed, play games at the table, eat, go to the bathroom! The trip there was almost as much fun as the cruise itself. I love my family! It was so perfect to have everyone there.Cabo was beautiful and warm. We went snorkeling at one of the more local beaches instead of going to the touristy places and it was awesome! So many fish. Lance was like a fish himself again. He loves the water. We brought some crackers and Lance figured out that if you put them in a plastic bag, all the fish would still swarm around you and follow you but you didn't run out of bait! We would have lots of cool underwater pics but Lance was so into the fish, he lost the camera :)




"Icky" our server. He was such a nice man and he especially loved Kenna.


Lance and I at our sit down dinner. It was so nice to have an entire table filled with the family. The food was great and especially the "warm chocolate melting cake". They came in their own little dish and were kind of like a volcano cake. To die for! So as soon as we got home I found the Carnival recipe and bought the little Ramikans. I cant wait to make them for Lance and I!


Just a great shot of our little fat-maker fun boat. Seriously. If any of you have not been on a cruise, you need to go! All you can eat food all the time. One night we had lobster tail and tiger shrimp and Lance had three plates of it.


HAHA! So we asked the carriage driver to take a picture of us (he failed to include the horse) and he took about fifty. I think he liked the sound of the 'click'. We thought that poor horse was going to collapse under all the weight of us!


Dawn and Kinley just chillin in Ensinada. They went crazy with the money mom alloted them getting jewlry and whatnot.


Kenna being silly with her uncle Lance. Anytime he is around, she wants to be with him. He is going to make such a cute dad someday! :)


Kenna is so adorable! She made the trip that much more fun. Look at the cute necklace she picked out all by herself.

We bought a hammock and pottery for Lance's parents in Ensinada. Everything was so cheap here! I also got the blue bracelet, a necklace, earings for Trisha (Lance's little sister) and a sling shot for Keaton (Lance's little brother). Everyone seemed to be staring at me. Maybe it was the Jacky O sunglasses? All-in-all what a fun trip. It was so wonderful having my sexy husband with me. We cant wait til our next vacation!