Hellooooo Out There!

Oh hey, it's me. You know, that one blogger who loves blogging/blog stalking and always has cool ideas for posts but then feels guilty that she hasn't updated the past month (or five's) happenings yet? So then she feels like it would be lame to post about something meaningless and random when she's doing such a horrible job documenting her adventurous married life? No? That's ok, I've almost forgotten I exist too.

So... here I am. Just thought I'd pop in to say hi. As mentioned, there are so many things I feel I already should have put up here, but I just haven't yet! All the way back from October. (Truthfully, probably long before that, but that's about the length of my memory right now.)

Someday, I hope to update on, at least, major happenings during these past several months. Does anyone know, is there a way to insert blog posts into your blog under past dates so they look like they've been there all along and I don't feel like a nerd putting up our Halloween costumes in February? But, no promises. I think every time I say I'm going to catch up on here, I never do. We'll just see how things go I guess.

So here's what's going on now. Seth graduated from BYU (finally!!!) and looking for a job. That's all. As you can probably guess, his days are action packed...

I'm Still in school, and doing pretty well so far in the semester. I'm totally staying up on my workload for the first time since I've been at BYU! I submitted my applications to my major last Friday. I'm finishing up the last few steps of the application process tomorrow and next week. So keep me in your prayers and fingers crossed! Maybe try both at the same time? 

I'm also working, and have a million different projects around our house, and bigger projects elsewhere. I'm pretty busy, but doing well so far! (Besides this blasted cold and constant fatigue... go away already!)

On a more exciting note, we went to this fun little place called Slab Pizza on Friday. You literally get a slab of pizza. 1/4 of a twenty inch pizza to be exact. Wow. And the flavors are fantastic! It's just around the block from our house and it may just be our new dinner spot. If you're ever in Provo, GO! It's in the bottom of a gross apartment complex and looks totally dinky, but so worth it, I promise.

Seeee???

Seth got Chicken Club which totally tasted like a chicken club sandwich with lettuce and everything. I got Rosemary Potato with Bacon. Why did I never know about potatoes on pizza? With the olive oil and goat cheese, just let me tell you... incredible.

And finally...

Today, Seth got his diploma in the mail! Yipee!!! Now he's all official and we have to buy a fancy frame so we can display that impressive piece of paper in our future study. I'm so proud of him!  

 :)

Good job sweetheart.

Well, I have a lot to study for, so that's all for now. I'll try to check in every now and then. Maybe. If I get around to it. Until then, I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying this new year! 

Oh my gosh... when did it become 2011???

*amber*

While visions of lovely things danced in her head...

Wow, I'm blogging alot lately. That means my life is just very exciting right now! On Saturday, a friend invited me to the Bridal Fair with her. She got engaged a few weeks ago and isn't getting married til the Spring, but she wants to start getting ideas and figure out what she wants. Knowing how much I obsess over all things wedding, she graciously invited me to come with her :)

The fair was so much fun and I loved seeing all of this year's new dresses, sampling yummy cake, and checking out creative photography. Weddings are so fascinating to me. I love seeing people find their individual aesthetics as they meticulously pick each element of the biggest day of their lives so far. However, this was the first time I've ever been able to talk to a bride about what she wants, discuss details, and give suggestions on things I've seen in my years of wedding blog stalking. :) It was such a blast.

Now, I have lots of images like this floating around in my head...

Inspiration board made at Polyvore.com.

That's kind of the overall look that I picture at this point. Of course, it could be a very long shot from her vision, because so far, we haven't talked that much about it. But still... I have a feeling this will be one lovely garden tea-party inspired wedding. Congratulations my friend!

* * *

Tonight, I decided to be spontaneous and try making homemade donuts. I got home from work and felt like being a culinary genius... (ha) so I dug right in and promptly turned our kitchen into a disaster area. I used the Food Nanny's Spudnut (the dough is made with potatoes) recipe, and they turned out amazing! Thanks for the recipe Liz! (This recipe isn't posted on her website yet. It will probably be in her next cookbook though.) 

The glaze is pretty good too, and I usually hate the glaze on donuts. Mmm... Tasty.

Happy Monday!

*amber*

Change of heart??

Let me say this up front. I hate MacDonalds. Probably  always will. Although part of it probably does have a lot to do with the whole Super Size Me obesity thing, I really just think their food is super cheap and disgusting. However, I may have to have a change of heart... for the next little while at least. 

We've all had those kids meal toys that look really cool, but end up breaking while you're still at the drive through window. But, guess what Mickey D's is promoting right now? MADAME ALEXANDER DOLLS!!! What?! See for yourself here. 

Granted, they're probably just about as cheap as most fast food toys... but they're so adorable! I've had a soft spot for Madame Alexander dolls for many years. And yes, these may not be great quality (or even moderate quality), but I'm certainly not willing to pay full price for the dolls. I think a kids meal price is much more reasonable. 

So... who wants to go get 8 kids meals at McDonalds with me?

*amber*

Fathers' Day 2010

Fathers' Day weekend was a blast. I actually remembered to snap a few pictures so I thought I'd share.

We went up to my parents' house in the afternoon. When we got to their house, we found a driveway full of Fathers' Day wishes and funny little stick figures drawn with sidewalk chalk. My adorable little cousins stayed the weekend with my family so they'd made a surprise for their dad when he came to pick them up. It was so sweet :)

I worked most of the afternoon on a baking project (that you'll see soon,) then helped my mom, brother, sister, sister's friend, and Seth put together a new picnic table for my dad! My mom got it for him for Fathers' Day. I even got my little cousins to help by telling them to help us unwrap the presents. They tore into that packaging like you wouldn't beleive. And after it was all out of the packaging, I told them that whoever picked up the most packaging material would get to pick their dessert first. The yard was clean in no time. 

Here's the new table. Much nicer than the old one, (which Seth and I will now inherit for our little backyard) and it has more seating and an umbrella.

When dad got home, we had a barbeque for Fathers' Day. It was our first summer barbeque of the year and it was oh so tasty. Homemade burgers, beans, potato salad, corn on the cob, chips, lemonade, watermelon. Mmm... We were stuffed. Apparently not too stuffed though because when I brought out dessert, everyone dug in.

I got this idea from a magazine :) How cool is that??

The steak! Made out of molded caramels. I wanted to make them out of those caramel creams with the white in the middle so it would look like a bone. But we couldn't find them :( The orange sugar is the burning coals.

Hot dogs! Aka Mike and Ike's. The black grill marks are black food coloring applied with a toothpick. Not sharpie like my mom thought. 

And my favorite... Shish kebabs! Made out of caramel and Swedish Fish on toothpicks.

Daddy with his special Fathers' Day dessert.

After the sun went down, we visited for awhile, then rented Alice In Wonderland. My family hadn't seen it yet. If you remember, it's one of my new favorite movies.

Sigh... what a great evening it was. And I know for Seth and me, it was very much needed. 

*amber*

Il Mio Tavolo

Last week, we finally got a dining table! I'm still so excited about it. And still loving the fact that our new house has room for one!

Last night, we had people over for dinner for the first time since we've been married! It was so exciting. I love cooking and having people over, so dinner parties might become quite commonplace now. 

My old roommates Jessica and Averyl were our first official dinner guests. We had fish tacos, cilantro lime rice, and black beans, and rasperry cream filled lemon cupcakes for dessert. 

I'm really becoming a little obsessed with cooking... I think I can blame a lot of that on our HUGE new kitchen. But it's not such a bad thing... right? I mean, there are worse things I could be obsessed with. 

*foreshadowing*

And thus began the Summer of countless dinner parties... (just sayin'...)

*amber*

The Madness of March

As the title of this post would suggest, March was a mad month for us. I am not referring to basketball in any way. I'm thinking more mad like this: 

Did you see this movie?? We loved it!!! I love Tim Burton. And Johnny Depp. He's so talented (but no, I do not find him attractive... yuck. Yes captain Jack is cool, but he's gross.)

It was more like that kind of mad. Crazy, twisted, out of control mad. As Alice said in the 1951 classic, "Nothing [was] what it [was] because everything [was] what it [wasn't]. And contrary-wise; what it [was] wouldn't be, and what it wouldn't be, it would. You see?" 

Now do you get it? ... Ok so maybe March wasn't quite that mad. Mainly it was just super busy. But that was how it felt at times.

So because of all this madness, I have not had much time to update this blog. But because March was so busy, I have many things that need to be put on this blog. So I will start now and see how far I get. The posts will go by topic because if I did it all at once, this post would go on forever. I'm going to try the short (haha... right. I never write anything short) and sweet approach.

One thing that got me through March was hanging out with friends. We try to have a game night every week with Seth's old missionary companion and roommate Brenton and his wife Sabrina. They had us over for Sunday dinner one week and they made amazing Japanese food. We were in charge of dessert so I made this cake:

I've never made a real homemade cake before, so it was an experience. It was called Best Ever Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake and it was made with chocolate pudding so the cake was really moist and fudgey. The frosting was homemade too - basically just melted whipped cream and chocolate... for some reason it didn't really thicken like it was supposed to so it sort of dripped down the cake. But it was delicious nonetheless. 

Since getting married, I have realized that I really enjoy cooking and baking. It is such a stress reliever for me. 

* * *

In other news, we might be getting a table soon! Our apartment is so small that there isn't really room for a dining table. We have a drop leaf table in the kitchen that seats the two of us and that's it. We've been wanting a table for awhile so we can have people over for dinner, but so far it hasn't happened. It would have to be something that can fold down and be stored away when we're not using it. I found one that I think should work on craigslist for free! So now we just have to find a way to get up to Salt Lake before someone else takes it.

So friends and family, you may start expecting dinner invites any day now :) I hope. Fingers crossed.

* * *

I am also excited to get a table so we can have parties and have somewhere to put the food. When Alice came out, I wanted to have a Mad Hatter party where everyone would wear crazy hats and we'd celebrate our un-birthdays by eating cake and tea. Not real tea of course. As Elder Holland said this last conference, "You shouldn't be serving tea anyway." Hahaha, I couldn't stop laughing when he said that.

And of course, I would have the tea (herbal and other delicious beverages) all over the table in a random assortment of miniature tea sets. Which, conveniently, I collect! I have a bit of an obsession with tea sets. Which may explain these pictures: 

They are some of my favorite bridal shots. Which I had taken, guess where... at the Beehive Tearoom in Salt Lake!

* * *

I would like to take this time to apologize for the scatterbrainededness of this post. Now maybe you'll understand how mad I have become from this last month. My brain now travels a bajillion miles per hour. Hopefully writing everything out will act as a sort of therapy and get my mind straightened out. Hopefully.

*amber*

February Flavorites!

February has been a marathon month for me. School has been so crazy and I feel like I never have a minute to stop and breathe. I don't even have time to be stressed :) but really, I really hope things lighten up soon. 

Usually February is a depressing month. I can't stand the lingering cold, the nasty dirty snow on the sides of the road that has crusted over because it's so old, and the pollution that just hangs over the valleys as thick as smoke... gross. BUT, this February has been different for some reason. Yes, I am so ready for Spring to come. But there have been a few little things this month that have kept my spirits up and my sanity intact. 

So I now introduce my February Flavorites! Yes I know I spelled favorite wrong. A lot of the things that kept me happy are food related :) so they are my flavorites. 

10.The fact that Seth hasn't been called into work to do snow removal at three in the morning very much this month. That only happened once. Of course it was the night we went to bed at two thirty...

9. Shopping at the DI. But what else is new. I'll have to do a tribute to thrift shopping post one of these days. Seriously, I made a killing the last few trips.

8. Cooking. Sometimes it's hard to plan and have time to cook real meals with such a crazy schedule. Sometimes it's just easier to make spaghetti or something. But I really do enjoy making good dinners when I can. Especially Sunday dinners. Tonight we had teriyaki salmon and pears and cottage cheese with sparkling limeade. Not the greatest meal ever, but it was yummy and fun to make.

7. Choreographing dances. This year, I am choreographing my sister's solo again, as well as a group lyrical dance. Practices are usually early Saturday morning, but I miss dance so much that rehearsals are great  because I can immerse myself in that world again. Plus I need as many creative outlets as I can get.

6. Finding out that I qualify for a clinical research study to get my wisdom teeth out. I'm going in Wednesday to get them out and, although I'm nervous because I've never had a medical procedure or surgery of any kind, I'm getting three hundred dollars for it. I figure that's better than paying fifteen hundred dollars to get them out. And I'm getting all four out which is more than some of the other patients can say.

5. Lemon and Ginger Herbal Tea with honey. I spent most of the month sick and this stuff got me through most of my miserably cold and stuffy mornings. It's pretty strong but once I got used to the flavor, I couldn't stop drinking it. And it smells really good. REALLY good. I'm tempted to put the tea bags around my house as potpourri. 

4. Cutting hair. I learned how to cut Seth's hair so now I can do it for free! Then, Friday I decided I was sick of my bangs. So I cut them. Now you might say, "Amber, you only get like one real haircut a year. Don't you cut your bangs all the time?" Yes, you would be right about that. I am way too cheap to pay for a trim for my bangs. However, I got home from school and said, "I think I want to try straight bangs." So I went into the bathroom and cut them. Yes, it was impulsive and yes, Seth thought I was crazy. But I actually kind of like them. I'll have to go to a professional and get them done for real one of these days but for now, I'm enjoying it.

3. My job. I work for BYU Broadcasting and I like it way better than my last job. Everyone there is great and even though work should probably stress me out more because I'm already so busy from school, it actually helps me relax and take it easy for a few hours every day. I mean, we do do work, but it's not just tedious work and the atmosphere is so much fun.

2. The cupcakes I made for Valentines Day. These made the number 2 spot because they were definitely one of the very best things this month. No joke. They were so delicious, I might end up making them for every holiday or something. We went to a cupcake cafe for fhe last week and although the gourmet cupcakes were good, I honestly would have rather had one of the ones I made. I'm addicted.

1. The excuse to spend more time with my dear husband. Aside from all the craziness of school, February gave us a few oportunities to have fun together. Valentines Day, recreating our first date, and our six month anniversary were the three things that made February the very best. 

 We also had some good game nights. I like to make things out of the Settlers pieces...

So February, it seems you've redeemed yourself. Hopefully you'll rise up to the occasion again next year. 

* * *

Now March, you've got a lot to live up to.

Things I'm looking forward to in March:

• Getting these random teeth taken out of my face.

• Going to Idaho this weekend to see my sister-in-law's new baby, Hailey Darlene Leavitt. 

awww...

• Competition season starting for my dancers.

• Going to St. George for a weekend of competitions and relaxation in the sun (or at least a warmer climate than here).

• Being almost done with this crazy semester.

• Saint Patrick's Day! Best day ever when everyone wears green... ah. Such a good color.

* * *

After further evaluation, it looks like March will be even more hectic than February. Bring it on March... I'm ready for you.


(I hope...)

*amber*

Io Amo...

("I Love..." in Italian)

Mi Amo (I love me continuation)
Ok, I missed a day, so here are my six things:

• I love the color of my hair. I've had times when I've wanted to dye it slightly lighter or darker but then I realize it is the color God chose for me. And it suits me.
• I love being short! I've accepted the fact that I'm never going to be long and lean and elegant. I'm little and spunky and I wouldn't have it any other way.
• I love that I love to read (rather than, say, play video games). When I moved down to BYU, I started 3 books and never finished them because I was too busy with school. However, this year I have slowly but surely been making my way through books that interest me. Reading is so valuable. It has taught me so much about life and myself.
• I love my ability to dance. Although I have lost a lot of flexibility and I'm sure technique too in the last two years since I was officially "a dancer," I love that I have the ability to express so much through this body. It brings me so much joy and has been able to bring others joy as well.
  
• I love my passion for beauty. I think Seth has gotten a little irritated with my obsession with decorating our house (quite a challenge on such a small, scratch that, no budget.) Whenever I finish a project, it makes this little place feel more like home. I believe focusing on the beauty in life makes life so much more enjoyable and, well, beautiful! (And when it's all done, Seth appreciates it too.)
  
• (This kind of counts for things I love about Seth but...) I love how well I compliment Seth and he compliments me. Every day I realize more and more how perfect we are for each other. Although I still don't understand why he chose me, I think I am good for him.
  

Ti Amo (I love you)

I am so excited for Valentines Day to come. It's only one week away! This will be the first time I've every had a Valentine! I can't wait to have the chance to celebrate the love we have for each other. Ti amo, Seth.

Coming soon to an "Inside Happily Ever After" Blog near you: 70 things I love about Seth (because there are 7 days til the day of love!)


Amo... (another thing I love)

Friday, Seth and I were grocery shopping when we found this.If you can't read the package, it says "The new color of Love." If you didn't know, green is my favorite color. It is also Seth's. I am not a huge red person. I like it, and especially around holidays where red is the color, but I will always prefer green. Bravo M&Ms. You're absolutely right. Regardless of the tradition of red and pink as the colors of love, the makers of this brilliantly delicious candy have come to the realization of the True color of love. That's right. It is green.

S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!

Seth and I just got home from the Temple. In a moment, I will be off to enjoy fondue night with the girls!

(From left to right... Averyl, Jessica, Me, um... Calli? ... and yes. That is an accurate portrait of me.)

And when I get home... I'm giving my first haircut!!! Seth needs one badly and I am completely terrified.

My mother in law showed me how to do it over Christmas but I'm afraid I forgot how already.


On the bright side... if I completely ruin his gorgeous locks, I can always turn it into this!


I'm sure Seth wouldn't mind as he enjoys his occasional in-class-nap. Although, I'd have to nix the beard. Honor Code violation right there. The stache however, we're ok with.

Now off to the mighty feast. Caio!

*amber*

:) Thanksgiving Eve

Yesterday was the last day of classes before Thanksgiving break. However, this morning, Seth and I woke up at the normal time so I could get him to work by eight. The whole campus was closed so he had to sneak into his locker room through the pool. Then I went home, showered, and started studying. At noon, I met Seth on campus, we ate lunch, he showered, then we started studying. Seth is at the end of his major so he is very busy, and I am too because I'm taking 15.5 credits. At BYU 12 credits is full time so this is quite a full load for me. However, I do have friends who take 18 each semester and I don't get how they do it... all I do is study and I always feel behind! Hence, today has been spent in the Talmage Building being a busy little bee.

Seth is in a computer lab working with his group and I am out in the hall. No one else is out here and the building in feeling very lonely and empty. It is now 5:45 and I've been sitting here since about 1. That's a long time. I miss my husband. This would be a very good time for me to start complaining (ok so I've already kind of started...) and feeling sorry for myself but... TOMORROW'S THANKSGIVING!!!

I seriously cannot feel down today. Which is strange because I feel that I would be completely justified if I did. But I found a cozy little corner where the sun shone on my face (until it set) and today has been lovely. I've gotten a lot done and I know it will help me have a less stressful holiday. Plus I know as soon as Seth is ready to leave, we'll be out and having a wonderful relaxing rest of the evening. And tomorrow we will just eat and lounge ALL... DAY... LONG. Oh bliss. I cannot wait. I think at this point, I am expected to write my list of things I'm thankful for. This is so hard right now because I'm so thankful for so many random things. The big things are obviously Seth, my family, my new family :), my wonderful friends who have helped me throughout my life and the newer ones I've made in Provo, the temples (Seth and I went to Bountiful on Saturday after my Great Grandma's funeral. It was so beautiful. That was a good day.) sunshine, heaters that work, feeling healthy, yummy food, our own apartment, school (sometimes) my dreams for the future, and... I think I'm going to start getting carried away. So there you go. There are a few things. Maybe someday I'll do just a thankful post. For now, I'm going to get my husband and go do something fun and worry free. Have a lovely Thanksgiving everyone!

*amber*

Stabbing Update

The three cuts reported last time have been healing up quite nicely. However, yesterday I was making stroganoff and as I was opening a can of cream of mushroom soup, the lid sliced my right ring finger. This is the first cut on the right hand. My right is the favorite of my two hands, so you can only imagine how distraught I was. I don't know what to do anymore!

Seth said he won't let me touch anything with an edge anymore. He didn't say sharp edge. Just an edge. I told him he has edges. Touche.

Cruel cruel world.

The stroganoff was yummy though!

*amber*

I'VE BEEN STABBED!!!

THREE TIMES!!! This is no joke people! This is serious. Lately, I've been having a little trouble in the kitchen. The knives have apparently decided to band against me. The last three times I have decided to do some serious cutting, they have cleverly wriggled their way out of my firm grasp and thrust their razor sharp blades into my helpless fingers. Here you will see all three victims of the stabbings in chronological order.

The third stabbing was committed this evening at around seven o' clock when I was innocently slicing a tomato for a delicious dinner of BLT's. Then, the knife violently turned on me. Why knife? WHY???!!! Seth has threatened to discontinue my knife privileges, but I am the victim here! Apparently it will remain up to me to put down this revolt of the demon blades and restore peace to my humble kitchen.

Knives, you better watch out. Knives and daggers may cut through matter but... um... spoons will never hurt me. It is resolved. I will resort to a boycott of all sharp kitchen utensils and opt for spoons until the this rebel band of cutlery decides to enter into peace negotiations. Take that.

My fingers hurt :(

*amber*

2 Months! New Yummies! 1 Week! and Dancing!

Wednesday was our 2 month anniversary!!! Holy cow, it seems so crazy that we've been married for 2 months! In some ways it feels so much shorter, but in some ways it feels like we've been married for years. To celebrate, we headed up the canyon to see the leaves because it was a sunny day and we wanted to enjoy what was possibly one of the last nice days of the fall. However, by the time we got up there, the sun had sunk behind a cloud. But we still had fun driving through the canyon looking at leaves and waterfalls. Then we went out to dinner. Can you believe it? Seth had never been to Macaroni Grill! Tragic, I know. So we decided to remedy that problem right away. We had a good time and some yummy yummy food. After dinner we stood up and... BAM! You know how people always say they feel like they're gonna pop? Well, after dinner, I was literally SURE I was close to popping. I don't know how my stomach let me get away with eating that much (we had two loafs of bread, an appetizer, a pasta entree each, and a big piece of super rich chocolate cake. And several refills of water.) Oh my goodness, my stomach was filled to its maximum capacity. I couldn't even eat the mint I got at the end of the meal because I was sure it would send me over the edge. WOW. But hey, I'm just getting prepped. Thanksgiving, here I come :) Anyway, it was a great anniversary and it was so nice to just get out of the house and go on a nice date again. I love you so much sweetheart! Happy two months!

Second item on the agenda (the topics follow the title. And I AM limiting myself to 4 paragraphs. I always get carried away writing on this thing) is that last night, Seth and I had an absolutely WONDERFUL snack. Before he got home from work, I decided to whip up a little treat from a new recipe. Here's it is in case you want it. I would have posted pictures because they even LOOK yummy... but alas they were eaten too quickly... So here you go!

Raspberry Coconut Bars

3/4 c. Butter

3/4 c. Brown Sugar

1/4 c. Granulated Sugar

1 c. All Purpose Flour

2 c. Sweetened Coconut

1 1/2 c. Quick Oatmeal

3/4 c. Raspberry Preserves

Preheat oven to 375. Beat butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until fluffy. Add flour, 1 cup coconut, and oatmeal. Mix together. Set aside 1 cup of dough. Press remaining dough evenly over bottom of a 9x13" pan. Spread raspberry preserves over the dough. Crumble remaining dough over the preserves. Sprinkle 1 cup of coconut over the dough. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and serve.

You can eat them as bars or here is my suggestion: Once they are cooled and have been cut, reheat a square. Top with softened vanilla ice cream and fresh raspberries. (We didn't have the raspberries but I was fantasising about them and I'm positive they would be amazing. It's good with just ice cream too.)

Third, and crucially important item: ONE WEEK TIL HALLOWEEN!!! Ok people, it's crunch time. Make sure your costumes are ready and your houses stocked with candy. I love Halloween, can you tell?? I LOVE dressing up and part of me wishes Halloween came more than once a year so I could use more of my awesome costume ideas. This year, Seth and I are being... oops! I can't tell you. I like to keep my costumes a surprise. However, here are some hints. It has to do with one of Seth's favorite games. And for part of my costume, I will be wearing my sister's dance costume from when she was 10. Here it is (Alyse is the one on the right.)

Ok ok, yes I am wearing a 10 year old's costume. So what?? Don't judge me! Haha but have you guessed it yet? I doubt it. Today we are going up to Sandy and I will have access to my mom's sewing machine so I can finish our costumes!

Speaking of dance costumes, but mostly dancing, the reason we're going to Sandy today is because I am practicing with my sister! Last year, I was able to choreograph her solo. It was such a fun experience and amazing to watch her grow as a dancer. Here is a video of her solo last year. It is to "The Call" by Regina Spektor.

(video coming soon. my computer likes be crazy sometimes.)

Anyway, I am SO excited to be able to choreograph again this year and I think our idea for this year will be awesome. Today should be a good indicator. I miss dancing a lot so choreography is SO much fun for me. I'm so excited! And tonight, Seth and I are going to Odyssey's Thriller up in Salt Lake. If you haven't heard of it, it's a Halloween show put on by Salt Lake's (arguably) best contemporary dance company. The show is AWESOME and I go every year. Exciting crazy day. Whoo! Happy Saturday everyone, I'm off to finish up a normal weekend's worth of stuff before we have to leave. Toodloo!

*amber*

Introducing... The Dicksons!

Warning: LONG POST

Hello out there bloggies! Today, I would like to introduce you to the Dickson family; which currently consists of Seth and Amber (future members to be introduced at a later date.) We were married on August 21st of this year! Anyone who knows me (this is Amber speaking, just so you are aware) knows that I LOVE weddings!!! So when it came time to plan mine, I knew exactly what I wanted and it was SO much fun. Now I know some of you may have the standard questions: how did you meet? Tell us about your first... (insert romantic dating moment here)? How did he propose? etc. etc. Well, as you may notice by the title of this blog, it is INSIDE Happily Ever After. Now we all love those adorable movies where the couple falls in love, has the perfect fairytale story, and the movie ends with them getting married. "And they lived happily ever after. The end" (said in a lovely, soothing British accent.) Well I am here to tell you my friends, the wedding is not the end of the story. In fact, there IS no end. The two statements seem to contradict each other. I tend to believe the "happily EVER AFTER" portion. That means FOREVER! Awww... so romantic right? But what does that really mean? That is my purpose in writing this blog. I hope to write about what happens in this ever after; the good, the bad, the random, and everything else!

So now that that's said, I will not be writing about any of the pre-wedding/ wedding details at this current time. Now I must emphasise, DO NOT FRET MY FRIENDS! I know all of you hopeless romantics like myself just want to see the adorable wedding photos, and don't worry, I will post them along with our romantic courting stories at a later date. For now, i will just write about things that are going on in our lives now. (Not even what happened right after we got married; too much has happened and there is not enough space to write all of that at this current time.

So in the past couple of weeks, we have had two major events in our house. Seth's birthday, and my first time trying Japanese curry.

Seth's birthday was on Sept. 22nd (I know, I'm behind.) The night before, I forgot to set my alarm but somehow my body woke up on its own at 6:00, just like I had wanted to! I snuck out of bed and decorated our apartment.

I then proceeded to the kitchen which was a HUGE mess. Dishes everywhere. I did the dishes (typically his job,) and then started making pancakes. This took several tries because we have really junky pans and they Insisted on sticking, no matter what I did. Plus I'm still getting used to gas stoves so getting the temp. right was tricky. Finally, I was able to salvage enough for a good breakfast. Then I went and woke up my sweetheart to a breakfast of pancakes and fresh strawberries. After breakfast, we got ready and went to school (poor boy, his birthday fell on a Tuesday.) I felt bad that we couldn't really celebrate very well because we had school so after Seth got off work, I took him to the Muse Cafe for lunch. It's a cute little cafe located on the top floor of our university's art museum (which I Love :)) The food is really good and it's a little pricey for us but I decided it was worth it to splurge! After a yummy lunch, Seth had to go to his classes. I headed off to the "library to study"... in reality I headed to the store to pick up the stuff for dinner that I didn't want him to find in our house. After making dinner and dessert (German Chocolate cupcakes- one of his faves and... a special surprise!) I got the presents ready and patiently waited for Seth to get out of class.



Then, I picked him up and immediately made him open presents. (You will see why. Yay, I love birthdays!)

oh...... look how cute he is!!!!!

Opening presents!

He got a transformers coloring book, Hannah Montana glitter crayons (he LOVES Hannah [hehe... love you honey!],) the new Dan Brown book, and......

His very own Special Plate!!!!! This is why we had to open presents first, so he could eat dinner on his new plate :)

Playing with his new toys :)

After presents, dinner was ready! We had lasagna (his favorite,) salad, and mashed red garlic potatoes (also his favorite, I kind of winged the recipe but he seemed to like them.) Then for desert:

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Sethy, Happy Birthday to you!" yes, I sang to him. Poor boy! And on his birthday!

And everyone knows you can't have cake without ice cream. So I made these little ice cream balls out of mint ice cream and crushed Oreos. They were surprisingly hard to make (kept wanting to melt, etc. geez ice cream,) but they were soooo yummy. Oh, and Seth loves mint and Oreos. So there you go.

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!!! I hope you had a good one. Also for his birthday, my family took us to dinner on Friday. We went to Happy Sumo and it was my family's first experience with sushi. Fun stuff! Yummy...

Ok, this post is going wayyyy too long. But last Sunday, Seth finally made me curry. He served his mission in Japan and Japanese curry is what the missionaries eat the majority of the time. I was a little sceptical when I saw that it was brown and just looked like stew, but it was SO good!!! Thank you honey :) We'll have to make it again. Also on the menu with curry was "TIM TAM SLAM!!!" But that's worthy of another post entirely.

Keep following and you will have the opportunity to read about more of the joys of married life! If you have any suggestions for post topics or questions, please leave us a comment. For now, I'm going to peace out for the night. Loves!

*amber*