A night out:

Thursday night Justin, a friend from our ward, called to invite us to join a big group of friends for dinner at a place called Tangos. We had never heard of it before, but decided to go anyways. So last night we headed over to Tangos with 3 other couples... the Cranny's, the Bank's, and the Higbee's. The food was delicious!



We both ordered Empanadas..... I got the Gardel (pulled chicken in a spicy marinara sauce) and Tyler order a the new Pork Empanada (pulled pork, potatoes, and green salsa) and the Hawaiian Empanada (ham, pineapple and mozzarella cheese). It was all very yummy!

Besides the tasty food... they were at great prices! Who can beat $4.00 for a dinner for two? We even ordered dessert empanadas.... I got the Caribe, and Tyler got the Cocoa. Halfway through Tyler finishing his dessert empanada he realized he was eating mine. Ooops... they were both really good!

In addition to great food and prices they had wonderful service. The man who served us is pictured below.

No, I didn't take his picture... this is off of their website. He was hilarious and so nice. He's the kind of guy you remember after you leave and walk away thinking you've known him all your life. We had a blast. It was so nice to get together with our friends from the ward. Thanks Justin and Jessica for inviting us!

After we finished dinner it was only 7:30PM, we were feeling a little adventurous, if you will, and decided that we couldn't all go back home just yet. I spoke up and told everyone that they were more than welcome to come over to our house. Half-way home I thought... hmmm I wonder what kind of condition our house was left in. It wasn't too bad and our friends didn't mind one bit. Though I was a bit embarrassed because it usually looks nicer. The girls and babies spent a good hour talking in our living room and the guys played basketball on Quincy's hoop in his room. Funny to think about those three grown men playing in a 18 month old's room.

We meant to play games, but everyone just got caught up talking. It was fun. We hope to go out with our friends again soon.

Thanks everyone for a great time!

DIY home project:

From the second we moved into our apartment... going on 2 years ago... I've hated the kitchen and bathroom cupboards. They are these cheaply made MDF (medium density fiberboard) cupboards which I think had been purposely stained a dark ugly brown... of course to match our dated brown laminate counter tops.

The insides of the cupboards are gross too.... someone tried to brighten them up by putting in some light colored 80's themed contact paper-- complete with the teal and lavender designs. I'm sure after several years wear and tear they had good intentions, but our cupboards needed a little face lift.

Since we're only renters, it's hard to want to put in the effort to paint or do any serious home improvement projects... afterall, who wants to put time and money into someone else's home? I finally decided that we could afford some new contact paper. I have to admit, for only spending $6.00.... it looks like a million bucks compared to what I started with. I only have one of the lower cabinets done... so I'll just show you the finished product. (Sorry I forgot to take before pictures.)

I can't wait til I own my very own home, and I can do permenant projects. Ahhh.... the life of a renter. Although there are definate pros of renting...so I won't complain too much. :o


*******Update: This is the BEFORE pics of the drawers:
And here is the AFTER:

Looks a little brighter and cleaner don't you think?
..........................................................To be Continued...............................................

There is a nurutring side to my son.

Last Christmas Quincy's grandparents gave him these marshmallows.

He finally finished them.....with some help from Elmo.

Sometimes Quincy gets in these silly moods where he does funny stuff. I was cleaning out his closet and pulled out his stroller so I could vacuum. He climbed up into it by himself and sat there as if he were going to go for a ride. Then he decided that he needed to take Elmo on his pretend walk.

After he got tired of pretend walks, Tyler kept him happy with the fruity marshmallows. I'm guessing he was in a generous mood because he continued to "share" his mallows with Elmo in this fashion:

One for me........

One for Elmo............

Just Kidding.....two for me and NONE for Elmo.

Busy part III

Saturday we spent with Tyler's youngest sister Kelly and her fiance Mike. They came over from Jerome to watch the girls High School basketball play-offs. Well, I should say that Mike came to watch basketball, Kelly came for that too, but we had some wedding stuff to plan also.

I have decided that my gift to my sister in-laws is that I will do their flowers for their weddings free of charge. It's good experience for me, and a great gift for them, seeing as how cost of labor adds up when there are many flowers involved. I have already completed the men's and boys boutonnieres. I also finished Kelly's wedding bouquet. It turned out beautiful.....but I can't exactly post pictures just yet. I didn't think it would be fair that everyone saw her flowers before she did..... so I'll just give you a sneak peak at the baby cousin's boutonnieres. This is the smallest of them for our soon to arrive cousin and nephew Jakoby (sorry Heather if I slaughtered the spelling... I think that's how your mom spelt it for us). It looks much bigger than it actually is because I zoomed in.

I love the tiny little boutonnieres for the boy nephews. They are just adorable. I'm sure they won't last longer than for one picture during the wedding, but hey I couldn't resist!

More to come later on the finished results for Kelly's flowers.

*****And just so you know Kelly, everyone that has visited our home and sees the bouquet and everything else thinks it's all gorgeous. So I hope you love them as well. :o)

Lastly, Sunday...............to wrap up our crazy week, I sang a solo in church. To say that it went well would be generous. I walked up to the podium only to realize that I didn't have a full sheet of my music. As if I wasn't nervous enough.......By that time I was terrified that I'd forget the words and totally screw up. My throat was entirely too dry and I felt like I squeaked through a couple of notes. Lets just say I was glad to have ended it. Maybe next time, if they ever asks me to again, it will be better. Lets hope so......for my reputations sake!

Busy Part II

The rest of the week didn't let up.

Tuesday I called up my second cousin, Sabrina, to get together with her and her kids. She is amazing. She is just a couple years older than me and has 5.... yes 5 kids! Her third pregnancy was with triplets!! Yikes.... AND did I mention she's probably my size?! I could barely keep one baby inside my belly without the seams of my skin bursting... I can't even imagine three! It was all natural.... no doctors putting three babies in or that kind of stuff. Do you know the odds of conceiving natural triplets? Like 1 in a million.... or something like that. Crazy!

She has a 6 year old boy, a 4 year old girl, and 2 year old triplet girls. Talk about having your hands full. It was fun to catch up with her. Quincy and I went over to her house while Tyler studied at the library. To say that Quincy was overwhelmed when we walked through the door would have been putting it lightly. I think he was a little terrified of all those kids at once. He clung to me for the first 20 minutes before he decided it was safe to play with the other kids.

I had such a good time talking and catching up with my cousin. We ended up staying well past our welcome, and before I knew it she was inviting our family for dinner. I told her we couldn't do that and she insisted we did because they were just ordering Papa Murphy's pizzas.

After I picked up Tyler at the library we headed back to their house, had yummy pizza, and played Rockband. It was my first time playing.... and so of course it was a learning experience... I stuck to singing and let the other's rock out with their instruments. Tyler wasn't pleased with his bass skills, but I think we all had a fun time.

When we got back we were all exhausted.

Wednesday was just as busy with Activity Days for me.

Before we knew it Thursday had come around. And.....drum roll please.................................Tyler passed his life insurance test. I'm so proud of him. He was really worried about taking it, but I assured him-- as I always do-- that he would do great! And he did!

Later that night I let him go play Basketball with the guys while I stayed home to watch a movie. I figured he deserved to go out and celebrate.

On Friday we had tickets to go see the girls BSU vs. Utah State basketball game. I was extra excited because I would get to see a former Vancouver-ian friend play in the game. She's a junior at Utah State and starts. She's so tall, I think 6'3......

The game was awesome. I'm not one to watch much sports, but it was genuinely a good game. In the beginning Utah State was getting killed by 20 points. Of course everyone was thrilled since it was held at BSU. I felt bad a few times for cheering loudly when Utah State scored. Sorry BSU, any fellow friend of mine always takes priority over where I'm living. Nikki was able to pick up the team's spirits in the second half and they made a great comeback with a final score of 55 to 51. I was excited... I think everybody watching enjoyed it. The last 2.00 minutes were a 1 point game.

Thank you Nikki for our seats.....you did a GREAT JOB!!

These were some pictures I took during their warm up for the second half. Nikki is #50 shooting the ball.

These were the BSU players.

And because Nikki was able to put our names on a list to get into the game for free we had her put Tyler's parent's names onas well. Quincy had fun watching the game, sitting with his grandpa Kent and eating all the popcorn he could ever want. His grandpa went to take him down to see Buster the Bronco....... which from a distance Quincy enjoyed pointing at..................this is what happened:

He was all but in tears when grandpa and him got close.

We had so much fun going out....................this is only the second part of our crazy week.

Busy, BUSY....BuSy!

Well, It's been a while hasn't it? The reason I've been absent form the blogging world for a week is that we've actually been doing things!

I know, it's a lame excuse... it just seemed like we were going from one event to the next event, never squeezing time in between for blogging updates. So I'll give you the highlights.

Last Monday Tyler's mom called to say that her boss had some extra tickets to the Steelheads game. They are the local Boise, Idaho Hockey League, I believe the league below the NHL. The only other hockey game we had ever been to before was in Jackson Hole while Tyler and I were dating at BYU-I. We thought it would be fun, Tyler was more persistent about going than I was.... but we all managed to have a good time.

Our seats were pretty awesome. We had a great view for some pretty sweet shots. The Steelheads played alright at first. They played a team from Nevada.....who put some points on the score board right off the bat. Although the Steelheads were slow to catch up, they didn't score until the end of the 2nd period, they managed to tie it up right before the 3rd period. Now, I don't know much about Hockey rules.... and Tyler's Hockey knowledge is limited also.... so we didn't know how it would turn out after they tied it at the time, that and we needed to get home. Unfortunately we didn't see how it turned out after the time ran out, but we had fun up until then!

The reason we didn't see the end was Quincy. Yeah, yeah, blame on the kid... only this time it WAS his fault. It was already 10:00PM and WaaaAAyyY passed his bedtime. We decided to leave early because he was pretty crabby. The only way we could entertain him was by blowing bubbles with out gum, as pictured above.

Notice the lack of enthusiasm in his face in this picture!

It was really fun.... even though we were kind of cold. And because of where our seats were, it sometimes felt like you were right in the action. Tyler was really hoping for some good fights... you know fists flying, teeth getting knocked out... blood gushing.... that kind of stuff. We only saw one fight, and to my surprise it was pretty mild. However, there were certain points in the game where you could feel the tension rising.
The part that Quincy liked most was the Zamboni. He thought it was really cool and even managed to laugh when it passed by us. The fact that it looked like a monster truck was an added bonus.

I tried to get a good shot, but between a glass wall and it zipping by us... this was the best I could manage.

All in all it was a fun family adventure... one that I'm sure Quincy would have enjoyed more if he wasn't so tired.

And thanks to Teesy's work for giving us those great tickets!

Working Girl:

So incase you want to see what I've been up to the last week I posted some new stuff on my other blog:

Bella--design.blogspot.com

..................Check it out!...................

Happy Valentines Day.

Our Valentines Day this year was a little different from previous years. This year we have a child AND I worked all day! Some might think that this year's Valentines Day wouldn't be as romantic. Although working on Saturday was a bit of a downer, we still managed to make it a special day for both of us. I planned our dinner ahead: Honey spice rubbed Pork Tenderloin over orange slices, Cubed baked potatoes with Green Onions, and steamed Green Beans. It was all very yummy!

For dessert I made some mini Resess Peanut Butter Cup Cheesecakes, and Fudge. They both turned out great.....and were very delicious!

So as you know, Tyler's present for Valentines Day was his new dress clothes.....not too exciting, I know. But I will say Tyler outdid himself for my present.

Two weeks ago I mentioned that if he absolutely had to get me something a massage would be appreciated. I didn't think he'd remember, but he informed me that he was already planning on getting me one. After working 36 hours in 4 days..... I was in much need of a professional one hour massage. It was SOOoooOOOO nice! I went this afternoon. Already my muscles feel relieved. It was one of the best Valentines Day presents I've got so far. Especially after arranging hundreds of one dozen roses.... I don't think I would appreciate flowers as much.

Needless to say...............................................................

.............................. Eu tenho o melhor marido do mundo!

Obrigado,Eu te Amo Tyler!

Damage Control.

How can someone as cute as this.......


................Manage to pull off a stunt like this?

Tyler only has his morning meetings for work on Monday's now so we slept in Tuesday. Well, I guess I should say Tyler and I slept in. Obviously Quincy was wide awake busy tearing apart his room! It wasn't exactly the thing I wanted to wake up to. We're lucky the curtains didn't catch on fire!

I've been busy working this week for Valentines Day. It's been crazy busy! I will be sure to post some pictures and stories later next week.

Happy Thursday Everyone!

Mama's got a brand new bag, Papa's got a new pair of shoes, and Baby's got a big boy tie!

Saturday we went as a family to the Nampa Civic Center for a Wedding Show. I was curious to see what the latest trends were and, frankly, who and what my competition had to offer. Although Tyler would have much rather stayed home with Quincy, he agreed to tag along with me. It turned out to be pretty nice for all of us. There were many vendors, and lots of things to sample and take home. Unfortunately, I'm not a bride.... but when asked by people we politely included that Tyler's sister is getting married in May. (Congrats Kelly-- we can't wait.) All in all, we went away from the affair with full stomachs. I went away from it having a better idea of what else is available to people. It's great to see what makes other companies successful.

After we were stuffed from sampling artichoke dip on garlic bread, salmon, BBQ chicken, pulled roast beef, salsa dips, chips, margaritas (virgin might I add), chocolates, cake sample etc....... we headed over to the Nampa Kartcher Mall. We headed into the Macy's outlet, which I love because you get great quality clothing for a quarter of the price. Literately, everything is 75% off!

Tyler got a whole new outfit which would have originally cost $300, we paid $78!!

I love a good bargain.

I got a new bag.

And Quincy got a big boy tie. We've been trying to find one his size for quite some time, bu have been unsuccessful until now.

To say the least, by 3:00 we were all pooped. Quincy couldn't even stay awake for longer than 30 seconds:

All those pictures were taken Sunday.... it was a rough day for Quincy. Chalk it up to a long Saturday with a short nap, and shots the previous Friday. Poor Quincy. I took him to nursery and waited for him to get settled with his puzzle in his chair. I left without him making a peep. About 20 minutes later one of the nursery leaders brought him to me. He was covered in tears and snot. It was just a rough day for him. I hope it won't become a habit, but I really believe it had to do more with his long hard weekend.

Boy am I glad that Tyler gets to take care of him this week while I work Wednesday- Saturday.

And that's it! That was our weekend in a wrap. Hope yours was nice.

It's that Time of the year....

Quincy's been avoiding it for quite some time, but he was due for another round of shots. I always hate taking him to these appointments because I feel bad when they stab him with all those needles. This time around he needed to get 3 shots. He got his DT&P, Hepetitis A, and Flu shot. We went to the Health Distict and they did great.

Quincy did fine.... he didn't even cry until she had already jabbed in the needle and began pushing the fluid into his leg. Luckily she was quick and so despite the immediate panic, tears, and struggle Quincy put forth... she was done before he knew what was happening. As soon as it started it was over. She gave him two stickers, and wouldn't ya know it..... he stopped crying! It was amazing... I've never seen him put a stop to those tears so quickly!

He was such a brave little boy!

The Next Dominque Wilkins....

Quincy's been working on his dunking skills:

Watch out Uncle Kar Kar!

New shoes:

Ever since I've known Tyler he's owned one pair of basketball shoes. After nearly 5 years of wearing the same shoes to hundreds of games and practices it was time to give in and buy some new shoes. Our ward has recently started getting men in the Elder's Quaorm together to play on Thursday nights. It's on carpet, which nobody really likes, but they all have fun nonetheless. Here ar the new shoes:

The Howard Boys.....crafting?!?

Wednesday nights are Activity Days for me. Tyler always tries to help out, since I haven't had an assistant for a while, by watching Quincy for me during the hour we meet. Usually they play in Quincy's room, but often Quincy's more interested in what's going on outside his bedroom... especially when there are a bunch of girls to flirt with. This time I thought I would let Quincy do something constructive to make sure he could play without distracting the girls.

Sooo... I thought of making him a crown. I cut it out, Quincy helped coloring it.... and Tyler helped him glue it together. They had fun playing, or crafting I guess.

Here are the silly crafting boys:

Tyler did a good job of keeping Quincy entertained while I gave a short lesson. After I finished our lesson, they both came out to join the fun. We had a game night including popcorn, cookies, and fudge brownies. I hope their parents don't hate me for all that sugary junk food they ate. I just felt like we should do something fun, since the girls have been positive about all the boring activities we've had.

Of course, Quincy thoroughly enjoyed watching the girls play spoons and musical chairs. By the end of the activity everyone was a little giddy...............................must have been all the sweets.

It pays to watch the Superbowl.

I will only say that sentence because while we were watching the Superbowl we saw the commercial for FREE breakfast at Denny's.

Tuesday Denny's offered a special deal for FREE breakfast from 6-2:00, including their Grand Slam: 2 eggs, 2 pancakes, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 links of sausage. What a steal. We never eat breakfast out.

I myself love breakfast, but never have the energy to whip up something like Denny's offer.

At 10:00 we headed out the door to get in line, yes a line. It wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. I have to compliment the Denny's on Fairview/ Eagle because the line moved smoothly. Our food was delicious and we were in and out quickly.

The downside to FREE breakfast was the cold weather. Because it was still early the temperatures weren't quite as nice as they would have been later in the afternoon. We went prepared in our warm clothes though.

After waiting outside in the line for probably 30 minutes, we got into the foyer. It felt so much better it there despite the doors being open. Quincy was excited to get this far in our morning adventure. (Although I'm sure he had no idea what was really going on.)

I thought his picture was funny because he kept looking through the glass at all the people inside eating their hot food in their comfortable booths. I told him not to worry... soon we would be one of the envied families inside eating our free breakfast in a warm booth. :)
And soon enough we were inside ordering our breakfast. Quincy even got his own FREE breakfast. It was great!

If you missed out on Denny's FREE breakfast Tuesday................just remember it pays to watch the Superbowl. Better luck next year!