Sigh.

While I have not always been very interested in the royal family, I have been bitten by the royal wedding bug. I didn't wake up Friday morning to watch the live wedding coverage, but I recorded it and was able to watch it this morning.

I loved all of the pomp, ceremony, and pageantry of the wedding- so big and extravagant, yet very traditional.

I knew that Kate's dress would be spectacular, as she is such a stylish person, and I was not disappointed by her wedding dress. The lace was gorgeous and I felt like the dress was timeless and elegant. Her hair and makeup also looked very natural and beautiful. When Kate looks back at her wedding photos in 30 years she won't be thinking, "What was I thinking with that dress and hair?!?" Nope, she'll be thinking, "Good choice. I looked fabulous."

Don't they look ecstatic? Kate definitely looks like a princess to me. I love that she is a "commoner" who has a true Cinderella story. 

My favorite part of this picture? The little girl to the left of Kate..... hahahahahaa.

I have a special place in my heart for Harry... maybe because his looks remind me of my Benjamin? I also love that he seems like a he has a little devilish streak. What do you think? See any resemblance between Ben and Harry?

Bottom line, the wedding looked like a dream. Made me want to go to Britain NOW.

Thursday loves.

 I'll tell you what my friends, I have been in somewhat of a funk this week. Getting more irritated at work things than I should, feeling hurried at home, feeling truly hateful towards this ridiculous weather- all around blah. I feel myself coming out of said funk just in time for the weekend- hurrah!

One thing that always makes me happy is thinking about the little things that I love, as it's often the little things that can turn an Oscar-the-grouch day into a much better day.... or at least feeling like a normal person rather than a snippy one.

Here are a few things that have taken me out of the "It's Spring, but it is still feeling like winter/Mama needs a vacation" doldrums:

Tomorrow. Royal Wedding. Cannot wait.

While I value my sleep too much to wake up at 3 am for the live coverage of the best wedding ever, it's on my DVR.

Sidenote: My street's power was out from 7:41-8:45 last night, which meant that only 41 minutes of American Idol was recorded. If there is a freak power outage tomorrow morning at 3 am and the royal wedding coverage does not get recorded- OH MY. Rocky Mountain Power will receive an angry call like no other. I will have to buy a dvd of the footage and will sent RMP the bill.

Anyway, back to the point. Dylan and I will be watching the royal wedding tomorrow morning and I will most definitely be wearing a crown for the occasion. Possibly Dylan too. Pictures to follow.

Those who know me well are aware of my love for ketchup. Love. Can't get enough of it. Imagine my excitement when I drove through Chick-Fil-A last week and got these awesome ketchup packets! How adorable are these? More ketchup, less mess. Thank you Heinz people!

The Voice.
I really wasn't all that interested in watching the show, but I ended up flipping to it when I finished watching something else. Ummm... good decision on my part, because I loved it. If I were on The Voice and all of the judges turned around for me I think that I would pick either Adam Levine or Blake Shelton. Not Christina, because she strikes me as a scary diva, and not CeeLo, because he kinda creeps me out.

The trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 is out! I definitely got a little misty-eyed when watching this. Cannot wait. I think that Ben is a little excited too, because the other day he was asking me all about what happens (as he refuses to read the books) and suggested seeing it in 3D.

Easter Weekend.

I really would like to post a whole narrative on how our Easter weekend was, but I simply don't have the energy. I'll jot down a few bullets and thoughts, but I think that's about as good as it's going to get. Please know that we had a wonderful easter.  Deep breath. 


-Friday I was able to hang out with a friend that I hadn't seen since I was pregnant with Dylan. Courtney was one of my best friends at BYU and was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She now lives in Seattle and has two darling boys.

-Friday I was able to host a graduation party for my lovely friend Kaley. It was a really nice evening, although it was a little strange having people I didn't know come to my house for a party- I had to regularly remind myself that the party was not for me, and that's why I didn't know everyone. All of the people that I met were very nice- Kaley's got some great friends!

-Saturday Ben, Dylan, and I finally went to the Tulip Festival at Thanksgiving Point. It would have been great, except the weather was awful and only about 20% of the tulips were bloomed. I was so happy that Ben asked the ticket people for a raincheck- they ended up giving us a refund and asked us to come back in a week or two.

-Sunday was a wonderful, relaxing day. Dylan was able to enjoy his first Easter basket, which was very fun to watch. Once he figured out that there was candy in the eggs he would not stop saying "A-pee" (open) when he was trying to open his eggs. Here are some pictures of our day:

 Attempt at self-timer on the camera before church. 

-Sunday night I made an Easter dinner of pot roast (I'm not a big fan of ham), mashed potatoes, and sunshine carrots. Somehow my mashed potatoes went horribly wrong and it ended up looking like lumpy potato soup. Cooking fail.

These are my confessions.

1. I name inanimate objects. For example, the car is Lexie, the Kindle is Sampson, and the iPad is Sheldon. No one has suggested that I name these things... luckily Ben goes along with it and sometimes refers to said devices by their "names."

2. I'm not the biggest fan of my job right now, as a certain family that I have busted my tail working with for the past year has decided that I haven't been helpful, a good communicator, or a good caseworker. Stupid high maintenance people... nothing will ever be good enough. Wait, maybe if I cure their child's drug and mental health issues? Buy her a house and car? Get her a job? Wait, still won't be good enough then.

3. For the past two months Ben has made appointments for our home teachers to come over and then forgot to tell me about it. He also forgot to be home when the HT's came to the house. Awkward...

4. I'm really, really excited for Easter morning, because I made Dylan a really cute Easter basket. Pictures will probably be featured on the blog.

5. Dylan has been testing Ben and I as of late, especially during mealtime. It's no secret that he's a picky eater, but when he decides to repeatedly throw his food on the ground and then beg for more there will be problems. We may have done time out for the first time this week.

6. I abbreviate most names for things in my head, but I don't refer to them that way when speaking, as they often don't sound very great out loud. For example, I refer to my diaper bag as my "d-bag" in my head. Or I call Vampire Diaries "VD."

7. Dylan is seriously addicted to Elmo. The first thing he said to me this morning was "Elmo? Elmo?" He usually gets to watch one Elmo's World every day, but he would love for it to be more.

8. I am dying for a new pair of spring shoes, these ones to be exact:

The awkward news? All of the online reviews were from women ages 55 and up. No 20-something reviews at all. And there were a lot of reviews. Are these old lady shoes? I want something age appropriate- I'm not ready to buy elastic waist pants just yet.

Everyone loves a good makeover.

For years I have been watching my favorite TLC show What Not To Wear.  Every week the hosts Stacy and Clinton take a fashion trainwreck and help them transform their wardrobe. I eat this stuff up, because I love seeing the fabulous transformations. The hosts help the people find clothes that look good and flatter them, while staying true to the people's style.

Most of the time the contestants are people that know nothing about fashion and haven't gone shopping since 1997, but every so often there is a "fashion savvy" contestant who thinks that all of their clothes are fabulous when they, in fact, look like a streetwalker/bag lady/15 year old.

A few months ago there was the best. makeover. ever. This girl is a flight attendant and honestly thought that her look was great. (If great means scary Barbie/Playmate/I-did-my-makeup-in-a-dark-cave girl)

The What Not to Wear staff worked their magic and were able to transform the overdone flight attendant to this:

Lovely, right? Unfortunately girlfriend did not like her new look and missed the days of tarantula eyelashes and frosted eyeshadow. 

Not sure the real royals would be up for this one...

Meow.

The other night I was out on a Walgreen's run for mascara and tortilla chips when I spied the Sally Hansen Salon Effect nail strips. I have seen the ad for them in every magazine under the sun (ok, maybe just Glamour, US Weekly, and People... are there other magazines out there?) and I have been wanting to give them a go. 

Do you even need to guess which type I picked out?

Go ahead.

Just guess.

Ummmm of course I would pick out the leopard print. 

{ps- is my ring finger oddly crooked?}

I loooooove these. I don't care if they look less than professional, because they make me happy every time that I look at my hands.  The application was super easy and I hear that they stay on for a least a week. Their true durability will be tested tomorrow when I'm doing yard work to clean up my scraggly yard. 

While they weren't ridiculously cheap, the $10 price tag is low enough that I know I'll be trying them again. And again. Also, I'm always on the hunt for fun gift ideas and I would say that these fit the bill. Get excited friends- you may get these for a birthday/Christmas/girl's night gift. 

Thank you Sally Hansen, this girl is in love. Meow.

Dinner for the lazy.

This is what tonight's dinner looked like, being that I was too lazy to actually cook for myself. I did make Ben a bacon and egg sandwich though- that counts as cooking as I used a skillet. 

I wanna note two things about this ghetto dinner:

1. I am obsessed with the ranch dressing that I dip my carrots in- Wild Coyote Ranch and it's made in Utah. This stuff blows Hidden Valley out of the water. I'm now a ranch snob and will only have the good stuff that comes in a fancy glass jar. Thanks to Allison for serving this deliciousness at Golden Globes 2011.

2. I am also obsessed with the peanut butter that I dip my apple slices in- I swear by the Adam's 100% natural peanut butter. The ingredients consist of ground up peanuts and salt. None of that preservative-filled crap. Not that I'm one to talk about preservatives and crap, since I ate Arbys for lunch.  Again, blows the Jif out of the water. If you're still eating the Jiffy glop, it's time to change. Bleh. 

What are your lazy-day dinners?

Little Damaged.

Ok, this conversation happened between my mom and my grandma about 5 days ago, and I'm still laughing. I suppose that it helps if you know my grandma. She is absolutely wonderful and darling, and can be a little in the clouds at times (evidenced below) which makes her all the more loveable.

Anyway, my mom was at my house and was talking to grandma on the phone. They had been talking about my mom's visit to Utah thus far and were also talking about me, my house, etc. Then this:

Grandma: So, how is little Damaged doing?
Mom: Damaged? What are you talking about?
Grandma: You know, Damaged? How has he been lately? I really want some more pictures of him.
Mom: Damaged? I don't know what you're talking about.
Grandma: You know! Damaged! Ben and Chris's little boy! Damaged!
Mom: Ohhhhh you mean Dylan!
Grandma: Yes, Dylan! But you know, they don't call him Dylan, they call him Damaged.
Mom:  (Cracking up)Moooom- his first name is Dylan, his middle name is Danger. They call him Dylan.
Grandma: (Cracking up as well) No, I've heard them call him Danger.

Annnnnd that's how Dylan gets a fun new nickname :)

Busy bee.

I was so lucky to have my fabulous mama visit Utah for the past week. I actually just took her to the airport a few hours ago- tear. As most of our visits do, we had a massive to do list. Mainly things that would involve the further-decoration of my house, but a few Utah musts like Cafe Rio, Cocoa Bean, and Nordstrom. 

I committed the cardinal sin of forgetting to take pictures while decorating, which means that I can't do the fun "before and after" pictures. I haven't posted pictures of my living room in awhile, so here is what she looks like right now:

 {Pay no mind to pictureless frames}

Dylan has been a mix between an angel and a devil as of late. As long as he's happy and getting what he wants, he is the happiest, cutest little person. Which is about 90% of the time. But beware of saying no when he wants to drag a kitchen chair across the room and use it as a stepping stool  to pushing all the buttons on the alarm system. Because you will get screamed at by a toddler. And it won't be pretty. He'll try to hit you or bite you while giving you some dirty looks. 

Here is an example of Happy Dylan:

I picked up some of the kid cooking toys from Ikea the other day and he looooved them. Dylan loves pretend cooking, so these mini pots were a great pick. 

Aaaaaaand this is what happens when mommy wears a necklace to church. Strangulation by toddler. He sure looks cute with his little tie and mohawk though.

I'm not exaggerating, I promise.

Wednesday night I made the most delicious dinner that I have ever made in my life. 

And I'm not exaggerating even a little bit. It was heaven in my mouth. If you decide that you're only going to eat one more time for the rest of your life, this is the meal to eat. 

I found this gem of a recipe on Just Cook Already , a cooking blog which I've contributed to before. Anyway, brace yourselves for some ridiculousness... it's just so delicious.

Cali's Chicken Burritos

{Who is this Cali and how can I thank her for this?}

{Santa Fe lime rice}

1 cup rice, either long grain or basmati

2 cups chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp garlic powder

juice of 1/2 lime

2 TBSP butter

1/4 tsp cumin

1/3 cup cilantro

melt butter in a pot & add all seasonings & cilantro. add rice & cook over medium heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly. add stock & lime juice return to simmer, turn to heat to low. cover & cook about 30 minutes.

set aside.

{chicken}

1 pound chicken, cooked & shredded

you can cook the chicken any way you want. My favorite way is to boil it on the stove, it takes about 25 minutes. I have also cooked it in the crockpot for about 3 hours on high, or just cut up one of the already made chickens from Costco.

{sauce}

1 cup salsa verde

1 package buttermilk ranch

1/3 cup cilantro

1/3 cup sour cream

1/3 cup mayo

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 tsp coarse salt

1 Tbls fresh lime juice

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 cup sugar

Put in a blender and blend away

( I usually do one and a half of this for the six burritos. I love the sauce so I like more of it then the recipe calls for.)

{Burritos}

6 burrito size tortillas

shredded cheese

1- 15 oz can black beans, drained

rice, recipe above

I put the chicken, rice, beans and cheese in the tortillas. wrap them up cover them with sauce and then put them in the oven on 350 for 40 min covered with tin foil, then I take 

the tin foil off sprinkle more cheese on top and then cook them for another 10 minutes

**My notes- while this seems a little labor intensive it is so.worth.it.

Also, I couldn't find salsa verde anywhere (meaning it wasn't at Smith's, Sunflower, or Costco) so I just used regular red salsa. Still amazing. I also used Costco's uncooked tortillas and cooked them up for this recipe. Used a Costco rotisserie chicken too. Delish. 

Quick rant.

If you're like me and listen to the "Top 40" radio stations, then you have definitely heard Rhianna's new song "S&M" about 50 times. I must say, it has a great beat and I find myself humming the "Come on, I like it like it like it" line all the time.

But....

Some of the other lyrics are atrocious! I tell my coworker pals on a regular basis that if I had a school age child and I heard them singing the song I would flip my lid! I'm not going to go into specifics, but if they were singing along the the "...... I love the smell of it" line, there would be a major throwdown!

How are these songs ok for the radio? Yes, she's not saying the F word (in this song at least), but some of the other things that she's saying/describing are just as bad! Makes me want to cover my toddler's ears! Earmuffs, Dylan!

I realize that there is only so much a parent can do to protect their child from getting corrupted by media, but I really feel that there needs to be more sensoring on the scandalous content that is on the radio, on tv, etc.

End of rant.

What spring looks like.

Happy little boy in the backyard. 

Dylan couldn't have been happier with his outdoor toys and pail full of water...

Which led Dylan to dump all of the water on himself. Rather than putting a new set of clothes on him, I just took off the wet clothes and allowed him to go gallivanting through our plants in nothing but shoes, socks, and a diaper.

Dylan was pretty excited that his mom allowed him to run around like a white trash child. 

ps- See the yellow bruise on his collarbone? That's from the break. Poor lamb.

Ohhhhhh effff. I forgot that I filmed this sideways. Anyway, here's a short vid of Dylan being an exotic dancer on our front porch. Running around in just a diaper brought out his wild side it seems. Tilt your head to the left and have a look.