wordless wednesday

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas. I am so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ.

And this made me laugh:
Rules for a successful holiday: 1. Get together with the family 2. Relive old times 3. Get out before it blows. (story people)

friends

Lately I have been so blessed with so many wonderful friends.  

When I went to school at BYU, I met some wonderful people and had a great group of friends. Maralee and I were neighbors freshman year and roommates our second year. We had a lot of fun times together. She came to Utah to visit last week and was sooo kind to come to Logan to visit. We had so much fun and I was so excited to see her that I didn't even put makeup on. :)

Maralee is an awesome friend and I am so grateful to have so many fun memories with her. She is also an amazing mother and a very talented woman. 

I am so grateful for answered prayers regarding friendship. When we first bought our house, I worried that we had made the wrong choice moving onto this stage when we aren't the typical family with kids. I decided to continue going to church with a group of married students instead of a typical group of families because I still felt like I needed people in my age group and situation. I have been able to meet wonderful new people with the new group of people at church (it changed since we moved). And, in addition, I have also been able to meet some people in my neighborhood who are kind and invite me to activities. My next door neighbor has been awesome and it has been so fun to meet so many new, wonderful people.

wordless wednesday

today I'm thinking about

How much I love Christmas.
that I want to do projects with doilies. I just need to get some. Anyone have some they are getting rid of? :)
acquiring some folding chairs to use when we have guests over and not enough seating. I think I would spray paint them.
my mirror that I want to finish
sewing
life without a job. I'm starting to freak out.
how fast life goes.
waiting upon the Lord. it's hard.
how fun it has been to watch my paper whites grow. I have a blossom today!
How great these videos are.

12 days of Christmas

Last week was my second year of doing my 12 days of Christmas party.  I know I wasn't too creative with the name, but it has been fun both years now and I plan on holding it again.

This year we had more than 12 ladies participate, so our number was 15.  We each made 15 handmade gifts (of the same item) and then had a party and exchanged our gift. So we left with 14 different handmade gifts that others put a lot of time and effort into (plus one for ourselves). It was wonderful and so fun to be around such creative women.

I made some glass pendants for the party. They are tied with some hair elastics I recently tied.

We enjoyed some yummy treats and great company.  It was such a fun night!

I only got one picture and set my camera down to take more, but forgot. Thanks to everyone who came and participated.

Here are some of the gifts we received.  We had a brownie mix, treats, hot chocolate on a stick with homemade marshmallows, chalk board coasters, a key ring, hair bow, some recipe holders, Christmas signs, sugar scrub, cards, and a pin cushion.

Next year I need to make sure to plan it more in advance.  I found myself rushing to finish my projects that should have been done earlier. :)

cupcakes

I made these cupcakes for the recent baby shower.  My husband loved them so much (before they even had frosting) and asked me to make them again. So when we had to take treats to our ward Christmas party, I fulfilled on his request. They are super yummy.

looks like Christmas

I thought it would be fun to post what my house looks like right now for Christmas. (Mostly for my mom and sisters who can't see it in person).  I am having fun decorating it, and learning a lot in the process. Some of the rooms I absolutely love and some I don't, but I've kept anyway because I don't have anything different to replace them with.

the living room is my favorite:

with my awesome rug.   I was waiting for the wood floor to be done to put it out and almost forgot about it once it was. I purchased this rug back in May before we even bought the house. And my new couch is awesome- I love it just as much as I did before.

I love our tree. It is always and will always be real for the Perschons. A few years ago I did an all silver tree and loved it. This year it's silver with some red.  Instead of my disco ball on top, we did the star.  That was probably the hardest decision on the tree this year- not hanging up the disco ball. (But at least I still have my small disco ball ornaments).

This room also has my nativity. My kind mother-in-law has purchased each part of the set and given them to me for Christmas each year. I now have the complete set and have it before Christmas so I can set it out.

 I added some boughs from the tree and a string of white lights on top of the piano.

And this cute tree that I found a few years ago is next to the nativity also.

my table has a bowl of ornaments with a runner underneath. (Jen I totally used the same bowl as you, sorry but it was just so cute) and the window over the couch is the home for our stockings (no fireplace mantle for us).  The couch is home to my Christmas quilt- the first quilt I ever made (with the help of my sister.)

Downstairs in my family room I used more pine boughs on the back ledge and added a string of white lights along with the silver wire light covers.  I hung this beautiful Merry Christmas wall hanging my sister made for me for my graduation a few years ago and added some candlesticks and ribbon with the lights.

Merry Christmas!

December 12of12

It seems like my 12of12 pictures are getting worse. I forget so only have my phone and my phone camera is bad. But oh well, I want to continue doing it. 

It will be nice when my whole day does not consist of me sitting at a computer. But for now...

1. my fingerless gloves for typing and my snack- I love clementines.  2. a sweet mirror I found at DI for $5 with my friend. Now I get to paint it. 3. 27 degrees in the morning. 4. Book club book this month. 

5. on the way to Jake's office 6. a sign I saw on clearance at hobby lobby. still trying to decide if I want it. 7. working  8. Jake and I doing our budget. 9. Jake's office 10. a favorite Christmas sign 

 11. my paper whites 12. treats 

wordless wednesday

ruby sundae

I walked into the fabric store yesterday and fell in love.

This print is darling.

trust me, it took a lot of effort to only walk out with a small piece of the red for a Christmas pillow. I wanted to buy all of it up. I think the little scallop is so cute and it would go well with a lot of different fabrics. 

Especially with these dots that are a part of the line: 

that's all. I just wanted to share that today. :)

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado, although I can't believe that I didn't take many pictures!

Only two pictures from Thanksgiving day and they were taken by my niece (thankfully):

Each year we make a gumdrop turkey and put it by our plate. The kids do it for us and I think this year's were the cutest we have ever had. They are so creative!

The day after Thanksgiving (after getting some late night shopping in from 9pm-midnight Thanksgiving), we drove to cut our Christmas tree. This is an event that the Sheffield's do every year and I love it. I wish there was a place close by Logan where Jake and I could go to start our own tradition.

I still can't believe that after being able to hold my sweet new niece and cuddle with her I still didn't get any pictures- I'm not sure what I was thinking on that one. Oh, and we also got our fill of qdoba (Jake's favorite) and went on our (annual) trip to Target with my sister and brother-in-law. Fun memories. This year we added a visit to the Cheesecake factory for some peppermint bark cheesecake (which may be something we need to carry on).
As usual, we came back with our hearts (and car) filled with memories, love and generosity.

home improvements

My husband rocks. He is so awesome. Honestly, without him I don't know if half of the projects around we have completed would be done. I used to think that I was a good finisher, just not good at starting the project. No I'm beginning to think I'm bad at both. There's a good resolution for the new year. :)

during the process. we were able to do part and then move the piano and couch back to eliminate heavy lifting.

living room before we moved in. 

After getting home from Colorado after Thanksgiving (a Monday), he immediately began ripping out the carpet in our living room for me. Why? Because I wanted to get a Christmas tree and we have been planning on putting wood floors in, so it's either put the floors in after Christmas, or before. After working Tuesday and Wednesday night, the floor was done and we got our tree on Thursday.

Then, this week he finished the windowsills in the basement.  They were pretty trashed and since we would need to replace the sheetrock, he decided to add tile in the windowsills instead so that it wouldn't get as banged up. We picked the tile out on Monday night and he finished them Tuesday.

windowsill while in process

after. sorry for the bad pictures. And... we still need blinds for the basement. :)

Like I said, my husband is amazing.

Christmas wishing

It has been sooo fun to decorate for Christmas this year.  I still can't believe we have this wonderful house and it is a lot of fun to make everything my own. Pictures to come soon.

The other day I received the West Elm catalog and fell in love with some cute things. I decided to make a list of what I love the most.

this wreath

and this felt garland

and as far as ornaments go, I love these:

mistletoe

Chandelier

feather ball

And as far as regular items go, I'm still saving for this duvet cover 

and this rug

It's sure fun to look at pretty things. :) 

wordless wednesday

yum

Today for lunch I finished up our yummy dinner from Sunday.  One of my not so good homemaker qualities is that I hate to cook and don't do it as often as I should.
Case in point: last weekend my sister and I threw a baby shower for my sister-in-law.  We decided to each make some soup for it and, because I never cook, I had to find a recipe for homemade chicken noodle soup. I picked it because that's a basic soup I should know how to make.

It turned out ok, not a ton of flavor, but then chicken noodle soup doesn't have a bunch to begin with.

Anyway... Sunday I tried a new recipe of my sister's: Spaghetti Squash Primavera. It is sooo good. Seriously. Even after going to PF Changs on Saturday night, I thought this was better.

And it reminded me of another delicious recipe that I haven't made in a long time: Chicken Tikka Masala. Our friends made this for us one night and it was so yummy.  Cooking yummy meals makes me want to do it more often, except on days when we get home late from running errands and we just eat frozen pizza...