Oh, hello Ipad

Have I ever told you how wonderful the in-laws are? my amazing mother-in-law and father-in-law not only produced the most awesome male specimen on the planet, but also surprised us with a life-saving Ipad. Yeah. They rock. So now you don't have to pine each month when I've let the blog lapse (like the Christmas pun???) because regular blog posts are about to be coming to a computer near you! So go ahead and build up the anticipation... It's going to be phenomenal. So now that I've set the bar and proclaimed my holiday rejoicings, I'll leave you all to celebrate the rest of your Christmas. And I'll go ahead and get all spiritual on you and say that I hope we can all remember our Savior on this special day. I know that my life has been changed by His influence and love and I hope yours has too.

AHHHH Oregon, you saved me.

So here's the deal.  Our computer at home decided to block our blog.  No one else's blog, just ours, so I really haven't been able to post until now, as I sit at my mom's computer in Oregon. You may be thinking, "but Stephanie, you never post anyway!" and my reply to that is "ok, yeah, but I'm making an effort now so just shut your pie hole."  But really, I am glad that I can at least clear the air on that one. 

So here's a list of the things I would have posted had I been able to:

• Halloween- so fun! Ellie's costume was pretty stinking cute
• Andreasen's visit and Homecoming Spectacular- Ellie surprized us all with some exciting dance moves
• Hieb's visit- so good to see grandma and grandpa again
• Probably some other stuff that I can't think of right now

So if the fates smile upon us and we get a new computer in the next few months (please!) I might be able to post! Or maybe I'll have to man up and go on campus.  We'll see

The point is that I love you all, and happy Thanksgiving, and probably Merry Christmas too for all we know!

It's RAINING!!!!

Oh, how I love the sound of rain pitter pattering outside my window.  Feels like HOME.

And tomorrow is the first day of fall. 

How wonderful.

Tis the Season!

I know Christmas is still months away... but I can't help but be swept away by the magic that is Autumn, leading up to everyone's favorite holiday!

"I would send you a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils if I knew your address" Can anyone name that movie?  The truth is that I would be dazzled by such a bouquet.  I get giddy at the grocery store thinking about the day not too far away when I can take Ellie to buy her first school supplies.

Anyway... the point is I'm happy it's fall.  I'm excited for Halloween (I already made Ellie's costume), I'm really excited for Thanksgiving (Black Friday you better watch yourself!), and most of all, I'm excited that as the weather cools down, time for family and warm hot chocolate become more and more prevalent.  Even though we live so far from most of our family, I feel closer to you all during this time of year.

So, just for you, here's some pictures of last Halloween.  Maybe if enough of you chime in, we can get Scott to make the hair-do a permanent thing! Haha, just kidding.  But I must say, rocking the platinum mullet for a night was kind of exhilarating...

WARNING: contains ushy gushies

August 2.  Scott and I were married two years ago today.  It's been a wonderful, albeit challenging two years.  But I wouldn't change a thing.  We've grown so much in those two years, which is amazing when you think about how fast they've flown by.  I guess all I really want to say here is that I couldn't be happier.  I am married to the most amazing man.  He plays along with my crazy ideas, he puts up with my crazy emotions, he works hard to provide a living for us, he's a WONDERFUL father... he just makes me feel whole.  I love him.

Thanks for indulging my ushy gushy moment.  I promise the next post will have plenty of cute Ellie pics and stories.

A week with the Andreasens

We had a great time when Grandma, Grampa, and Uncle Noland came to visit!  We went to the zoo where Ellie enjoyed seeing all the animals (both living and bronze...), chasing the birds, and getting up close and personal with the prairie dog exhibit. 

We also got to go to Lake Michigan and Crystal Lake over the 4th of July weekend.  Ellie really loved playing in the water (so did Scott and Nolan).  The weather was beautiful and it's amazing how HUGE the great lakes are!! 

A Day at the Museum

Ellie and I went to the Museum of Natural Science at the University of Michigan one day while Scott was at work. We had a great time! Other than the fact that for some reason they only had mens restrooms on most most floors (there was only one womens restroom on the main level), the museum was really great. Our favorite floor was the dinosaur floor!

Here is Ellie posing with one of our favorites- a giant fish dinosaur thingy. And yes, that is a technical term.

HEDWIG!!! Ellie was so excited to meet her.

Ellie likes to push her stroller rather than sit in it.

It was a super fun day! We're probably go back again someday and maybe we'll explore another floor of the museum :)

Cupcakes and Cowboys Too! Again!!

I've been spending the last few weeks working on stuff for the shop, so we'll be posting new items for a little while now. Now the wait begins to see if anyone even buys anything.... if not, I guess we know what you all will be getting for Christmas! You been wanting a new diaper wipe case, right?

What we've been up to...

I'm not even going to apologize for the fact that our blog has been dormant for three months. But I will make excuses. The biggest one being that I haven't had a camera to use until about 3 weeks ago and the next biggest one being that once I did get a camera, my stupid computer refused to read the memory card. Like I've been saying my whole life, technology hates me. Ok, I feel better now.

Well, once school got out, our lives got a lot more exciting! We went to DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, it was the best day EVER! Ellie loved it, you could just tell. And fortunately for us, Nolan had a camera so we were able to document the momentous occasion.

After our time in California was up (sniff sniff) we headed out to Oregon to visit the Hieb clan. It was a great trip! Eleanor got to hang out with her cousins and we had a great Mothers Day celebration- I got to spend my first mothers day with my baby, my sister, and my mom! It was a really nice trip.

And then the real adventure started. We headed out on our way to Michigan in mid-May and let me tell you, it was not uneventful. I had envisioned driving across the great plains as a calming, scenic, almost therepeutic experience. The last thing I expected was a blizzard to cross our path. Seriously, we left early in the morning and once we crossed the border into Wyoming it started to snow. By the time we got to Cheyenne, there were three feet of snow back where we had begun our journey. I have a video to prove it. Too bad blogger won't let us post videos that are too large.

Once arrived in Michigan, we got to move into our new apartment and Scott started his work at Ford. Ellie and I have kept busy by working on stuff for the etsy shop and finding little adventures to go on. We love to go to the library- they have a great little play area there that Ellie just goes crazy for. The library also lets us check out passes to go to various museums in the area. We went to a dinosaur exhibit last week, it was really cool. Scott and I have also taken Ellie swimming a couple of times and she relaly loves that! I think she might be the next Michael Phelps, only a girl.

Well that's life out here. I would promise to blog again soon, but we both know how those promises tend to go...

Cupcakes and Cowboys Too!!!

The shop is open!!!! After months of product design and hours of crafting, our etsy shop has opened. Just check it out, I promise you'll like it! I've had so much fun thinking of ideas with Cate, and even more fun picking out fabric :) We'll have to wait and see if the shop is monetarily viable, but it sure has been fun developing it!

If you would like to see what all the fuss is about, go to etsy.com and search for cupcakesandcowboys2 (all one word) under sellers.

A Resolution Broken

Sorry guys, but I blew it. February was a bust. I'll make the following excuses: my camera is dumb, my flip videos won't load, mars is in its third orbit.... I know, pretty lame, but I had to do it. But who's to say that broken resolutions can't be repaired. Not me!!!!
To make up for my blunder, here's a summary of the great month of February; she may be the short in length, but certainly not in zip!
Ellie is really starting to cruise. She still can't crawl forward, but is quite proficient at going backward. Her favorite mode of transportation (other than demanding that Scott or I simply carry her to where she wants to go...) is rolling. She also really loves to "walk" while Scott or I hold her little hands. So cute. That girl has so much energy! Exhausting, but I still love her!
Cate and I have been working on developing a product line for our etsy shop. I am so excited!!! This shop, more than anything, gives me the opportunity to craft to my heart's delight (to some extent at least). I'll let you know how it goes...
Scott's internship has contacted us and it looks like we'll be headed out to Detroit in May! I think that this is going to be a great summer. I know that Scott is really excited to work for Ford and I'm super excited to go explore a strange new land!
School is school. I'm ready to be done, finished, finito... basically I WANT TO GRADUATE. It's not that far (at least that's what I keep telling myself)
Well, that's about all. Life is good. I have so much to be grateful for.

New Year's Resolution

I'm making the commitment to post at least once a month. Blogging is difficult for me because I'm a little bit technologically retarded, but I think this will be good for me. For the two of you that follow our blog (thanks mom and Cate) you have to hold me accountable. Cuz let's be honest, life is too good to not share it with those you love.

So to start the year off right, I'm going to write about... my bathroom. Well not really my bathroom, but the cute little wreath that I made with Cate last night. Feel free to covet it a little bit because it is pretty stinking cute, but don't think for a minute that I came up with it on my own. Not that creative. I don't know what I'm going to do when we move from Utah and I don't have KSL Studio 5 to inspire me anymore. I'll have to get extended cable or something...