Birthday Pictures

Amanda at Photography by Amanda Hendrickson did the most incredible job taking Hattie's One Year birthday pictures! I am in love with every single one! You can see some of them here.

How is it that my tiny baby went from this:


to this?

Words can't describe how much I adore this little girl. She is the light of my life!

Happy {two year} Anniversary

Today marks our two year anniversary. It's amazing how time flies! This last year has been a whirlwind but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am so grateful to my best friends for setting Sean and I up on a blind date nearly 4 years ago. From the first time we spoke on the phone {ALL NIGHT LONG} I knew there was something special about Sean. I feel so blessed to have someone in my life who truly understands what it is to love unconditionally. So here's to you Sean Pack! Happy Anniversary--thank you for making my life such a wonderful one! You truly are my better half. I love you!

And..."A Walk-a-walk-a-walk-a-walk"

Hattie took her first 4 consecutive steps when she was 10 months and now she is just a cruzin'! Here is a video I was able to snag of her.

As a side note...I practically have a rotary phone for a cell phone so taking GOOD pictures and video is nearly impossible--SO in order to take video of Hattie I have to get out our DSLR camera which is a pain...anyway so I'm sorry if you get a neck kink or feel like you have blurred vision watching this. HA! Enjoy :)

Chocolate Decadence

When it starts to get cold outside I pretty much make hot chocolate every night until summer begins, ha! Maybe not quite that often but I seriously love, love, LOVE hot chocolate. Here is my favorite recipe{thank you M.S.}:

3/4 cup "Chocolate Sugar--A mix of 1 part cocoa powder and 2 parts sugar until it tastes sweet and is lighter in color. I never measure the two and I usually just make a bunch and keep it in a baggie.

1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon Mexican vanilla (I get mine at Kneaders)
2 cups fat-free half and half
2 cups whipping cream

Combine the "chocolate sugar" and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a light boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add half and half, whipping cream and vanilla to chocolate sauce in pan and bring to a light boil. Be sure to stir frequently to avoid scorching.

And for those of you who want even more rich goodness in a cup try this...

Instead of using the "chocolate sugar" and water method, heat 1/2 cup whipping cream to a low boil and then combine with 4oz Guittard Chocolate chips. Then add the other ingredients above for a candy bar in a cup!

Either recipe will surely blow your mind!

Enjoy! :)

Sneak Preview

Here is a sneak preview of Manhattan's first birthday decor! It will be owl themed and if you can't tell I am SUPER excited! :)

{Happy Haunting}

I first thought I would post some pictures of my Halloween Decor this year. I love to decorate my house for all of the holidays and Halloween is definitely NO exception :) {Please forgive my picture-less frames and candle-less candelabra...}









About a week before Halloween, Amanda, Jackie and I went up to Gardner Village for a "Witches Night Out!" It was such a blast to spend some girl time together! We ate yummy food, did some shopping and even got our groove on! Thanks ladies--I had a GREAT night on the town with y'all :)















On Friday, we had a little Halloween Party at work. Sean and Hattie came to visit and all of the ladies at work dressed up as Witches! It was a lot of fun!




AND...If you don't already know, or can't already tell...Halloween is one of my FAVORITE holidays! I think it is super fun to decorate for and who doesn't love to dress up?! Of course we had to have a theme, and this year it was the Wizard of Oz! I was Dorothy, Sean was the Scarecrow, and Hattie was the Cowardly LionESS! Haha! We had so much fun being apart of Manhattan's costume :) Here are some pictures of us on Saturday night.

Autumn

I live for gorgeous fall weather in Utah. The temperature is always perfect and the mountains have such splendor. Unfortunately, it never lasts long enough...I just walked outside and it is snowing quarter-sized flakes. Just in time for Halloween right?! Ha! Anyway, we recently have done some fun things that I thought I would share.

*Pumpkin Patch*

Right down the road from us there is a super cute pumpkin patch! We decided it would be fun to take both Hattie and Erica to see the pumpkins and the animals. Erica wasn't too thrilled about it but we still had an enjoyable time and Manhattan loved it!

















*New Tradition*

Sean and I both love Honeycrisp Apples. If you haven't tried them you REALLY need to--they are AmAzInG! With the purchase of them, I thought it would be fun to start making caramel apples every year around Halloween. We love the cinnamon sugar apple from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory so we thought we'd give it a whirl! They turned out yummy but not very pretty. Ha! I'm sure over the years they will start looking better :)