Monday, December 31, 2012

How Christmas Went For Us + A Year in Review // 2012

How was your Christmas?

Oh it was fine.

No. Back up.

It. Was. Awesome.

A Christmas for the records.

So many moments that made me literally stop in my tracks and give thanks for the blessings in my life.

A recap of the year is probably in order, so let's start:

December 31, 2011 // A Proposal




Spring // A Graduation



Summer // A Big Purchase




Vacation // A Camping Trip 




August 11, 2012 // A Wedding




Other notable but not pictured events of the year included:

A trip to visit Dave and Steffi in Portland
Wedding dress shopping in Phoenix with Ashley 
Hunting trips with the Hubby
A relaxed 4th of July with our good friends, Eli and Jamie
Sam's desert big horn sheep hunt
 And more recently a handful of engagements of our close friends, Chad and Bethany, Dave and Steffi, and Emily and Chris! Congrats to all of you! 

And here's the only pictures I have of our awesome Christmas Family Vacation to Telluride, CO:

Here's the girls playing fetch with the boys while we picked up our lift tickets.  Honey (the dog that's not in the air) had never been to the snow, she LOVED it. 


The next day (Christmas Day) we hit the mountain. Here's Dad tearin' it up.


The only group picture I took the entire trip. 1. I'm not in it. 2. Oh wait, that's my finger.


We took a much needed rest for midday beverages.  




And the gondola ride back to the condo made for a good time for pictures together!





The next day our beverage break included $2 Snowy Day's (appropriately named). The boys discovered that their thumbholes made for the perfect "beer mitten".


And back at the condo that night, the girls got rowdy, right on top of Mom and Dad.


On the way out of town, we drove up the canyon to show Mom and Dad the waterfall and mining house. 



When we got home, we were greeted to fresh snow, and helpful shovelers. Thanks guys!


The puppies were zonked after the week's festivities. (Clockwise from the tall picture is Kona, Honey, and Rusty.)


 And finally, a picture of Dad and I. 


It was a fabulous trip. One I most certainly will never forget. I'm so grateful that we were all able to make it up there, healthy and joyous, just the way Christmas should be. I'm looking forward to what next year will bring us - maybe another ski trip? Lots of weddings, and happiness, that's for sure. 

Anyway, Happy New Years folks! Be safe out there!



Sunday, December 30, 2012

DIY: Circle Scarf

Yikes, it's been a while since I've been around here! Lot's of festivities going on! But I'm back now and I'm excited to bring you my first DIY, complete with pictures!  If you're anything like me, I've got a pretty impressive collection of scarves, but the cool thing these days are circle scarves or infinity scarves. I didn't want to buy myself anymore so I thought I'd show you how I turned my long, straight scarf into a pretty and trendy circle scarf! It's pretty simple, here's what you'll need:

old scarf 
sewing machine 
scissors
coordinating thread


I chose this green strippy scarf with fringe. I haven't worn it in years because it's kind of blah.  


Fold your scarf in half, long ways, so the ends line up. My scarf is the same on each side, so there was no right side/wrong side. If your scarf is different on each side, be sure to fold the scarf right side to right side. If your scarf has fringe, like mine does, be sure that all the strings are hanging out to the right, as shown. 


Get all of your sewing necessities ready to go. I was lazy about the coordinating thread and used black, because that was already loaded in my machine. Don't judge me. 


Before you begin sewing, be sure that the fringe isn't caught under where you'll be sewing. Also, my scarf was very stretchy, so I chose a longer stitch length.


Since my scarf was stretchy, I pulled it a bit while I sewed my straight line to be sure it went back to the right shape when I was finished. Be sure to back stitch at the beginning and end of your scarf. 



Cut off the excess fringe or fabric close to the seam. 



Disregard my horrible self portrait skills. And my outfit. 


Gosh these pictures make me blush, they're so bad. 



















Friday, December 21, 2012

InstaFriday - Snow Edition

life rearranged


The week has flown by once again! I'm not sure how it's possible that work can feel like each second takes a whole minute to pass, but the rest of the week flies by so fast!

I'm linking up with Life Rearranged again for InstaFriday, because Instagram seems to be the only way that I can document my week these days. How about a REAL camera, you ask? Way too much work ;) 

So here we go. Starting with 20+ inches of snow over the weekend. Sometimes this California Girl doesn't want to shovel snow all day long. But Kona sure likes it. 


PS - pretend like you don't see pumpkins on the front porch, I promise they aren't from Halloween ;) And no, I didn't carve them so they aren't soggy. 

Tilt your head to the left for this one. It's our pretty icicles! 


The rest of the weekend was spent snuggling by the fire, watching movies, and staying warm.


I also got around to making some new ornaments for our tree! Which didn't turn out as cute as I hoped they would, but at least there is something homemade on the tree now.


And I finally finished adding our names to our stockings! (which, are for sale on Etsy! purple, red, multi colored like this one, and green!)


We had our super fun work Christmas party on Wednesday, so I baked some of the world's best chocolate chip cookies (with dark chocolate mmmm!) 


After getting frustrated with not having enough scarves that I liked, I finally whipped out the sewing machine and turned some of them into infinity scarves, and I like them SO much better now! I feel like back in the day, the cool thing was to have a really SUPER long scarf, and now that's so not the cool thing. So boom. New scarves, for free.


And finally, where would I be without Pinterest to spark some outfit ideas? I love when I end up with an outfit that's super cute, and then the only place I go during the day is to work, where no one cares. Boo. But I'm sharing it here today, because most of you will obviously think OMG what a cute outfit! Just humor me. And sorry for the poor quality picture.  


And last, but certainly not least in my book, are some ah-freakin-dorable pictures of Kona. Cause she's cute. 



My parents and their puppies are coming out to AZ tomorrow! We're celebrating Christmas on Sunday with my In-law's and my parents at our house - which is going to be a blast. So, I probably won't be posting anything next week, but I'll be sure to update you on the Christmas festivities as soon as we return. 

Merry Christmas, ya'll!