i heart ree

for years now, i have been following pioneer woman on her hillarious journey of "high heels to tractor wheels" on her very well done blog. this woman completely amazes me, i am always in awe of how much she can do, and that she does it all so well.

her photos are stunning and she knows exactly the right kind of tweaking with photoshop to make them that much better. she lives on a cattle ranch, she home-schools her beautiful children, she is in love with her handsome cowboy husband, oh AND she can cook. like nobody's business. but all of this goodness isn't what i love the most about her. it's her ability to tell a story and make me feel like i'm a part of her little life out there in the country, like we've been friends for as long as i've been reading. her stories usually send me laughing, sometimes crying, sometimes a little bit of both. she's just so REAL, such a down home cookin', kind of a woman, and i love her! i love ree drummond!

ok, so we've established that i'm a fan, maybe a little too much, but seriously, everyone i know who reads her feels the same way i do. so imagine how excited i was to hear that she was publishing a cook book! yay!

of course i pre-ordered it on amazon, several actually, and i couldn't wait to see it, i knew she would have written and photographed everything in it herself and it would be amazing. and it is by the way.

so imagine how over the top excited i was to find out that salt lake city was on her book tour!!!!

of course we planned a big girl's night out, got there way early because we knew there would be a million people there (even if the tiny little book store had NO IDEA - which they didn't). and it was worth all the waiting and standing in line, and evening buying another expensive copy from the tiny little book store because mine hadn't arrived in the mail from amazon yet. (guess what arrived the very  next day?) all of it, totally worth it, she was wonderful! 

it was great to hear her speak, the question and answer session was a lot of fun - i could tell right away that everyone else in the room loved her as much as me.(we are in the fourth row back on the leftish - you can see patsy waving).

she also brought her sister in law missy who i was thrilled to meet, she's beautiful!

after the Q&A, we waited in another long line that wound through the tiny but delightful bookstore - though not as long for us since we were there super early and got tickets to the signing - woohoo!

but that line was worth it too, because she signed my book for me and chatted for a minute, and chuckled when i told her that she "saved thanksgiving gravy at my house".

i really wanted her to know this. i explained about having my SIL hold the laptop for me by the stove top while i scrolled down to each photo with one hand, whisk in the other, following along to make sure i was doing it just right. then she had a good laugh,  she said, "oh the gravy is so important, i'm so glad i could help!"

i wish i could have come up with something memorable to tell her, like how amazing i think she is.  i just didn't know what to say without sounding like a psycho - kind of like i am now i'm sure. i heart ree.

traditiooooon!!

clytie adam's nutcracker is one of my favorite traditions of the year.

the smith girls always get together and go to the saturday matinee - this year laurel was finally old enough to come so all the girls in our family were accounted for.

we went to breakfast this year at doug and emmy's before the show- oh my was it good! 

we waited for ever for our food so we had lots of time for photos.

some how i missed getting a photo of addie at breakfast.

allie, and all the little girls, were especially fond of their hot chocolate.

we were in a huge hurry by the time the food got to us, so i missed getting a photo of the giant scones, i couldn't believe how big they were! we will definitely eat here again, but some time when we're not pressed for time.

we barely got to the show on time, but thanks to april's illegal parking job, we got a spot right up front and ran in just in time. (don't worry, we did not take a handicap space, just "extended" the row by one spot)

we especially love seeing so many of allie's friends in the production, everyone did a wonderful job. next year i need to make a point of taking allie's photo with all of her friends who dance in the production, it really is a highlight for us to get to see them in their element.

i am always completely stunned at the grace and athletisism of the professional ballet dancers. which is good, because you need to have something to distract you from the sprayed on pants of the male dancers. wow. i mean, talk about self confidence.

the lady taking our photo kept moving to the right which accounts for our weird posing.

what was she thinking?

over all it was a wonderful day, yummy breakfast, beautiful dancing, happy girls and of course, TRADITOOOOOON!

i have to admit though, i was sad to be missing ashleigh from this year's photo. sigh.

distracted

how did i miss these? i was sorting recent photos into their proper folders and found these beauties! i can't believe i missed them, they cracked me up so hard when i first took them i remember being excited to get them posted. i guess i got distracted, which you know, happens frequently in my world, and i'm now getting them up. so these are obviously back when patsy broke her ankle. we took a ride out to our favorite store - archivers, to get her out of the house. ethan thought it was so awesome pushing her around the store, it was totally his job and he would get a little touchy if i tried to help steer, which in a store with that many shelves of little things, sometimes got kind of interesting. but patsy didn't mind, she kept him totally busy having him help push her, she is one of his favorite people because she's always so fun.

the only thing he liked better than pushing her was riding in it himself.

funny kid.

nutcrackin' fun

i love tradition. i also love the ballet, so going to the nutcracker with all the girls is definitely one of my favorite things. it's such a fun way to start off the christmas season, it definitely puts me in the mood for thanksgiving, shopping and everything great about this fun time of year. growing up the only girl, i waited a long time for sisters, but they were worth the wait! we definitely lucked out with this group. and if we're really lucky, ashliegh will be in this photo every year because brandon will marry this great girl! i am always in awe of the incredible strength and talent of professional ballet dancers, i have such admiration for what they do and never get tired of watching them perform. one of my favorite moments of the day was looking over at the little girls during the recital, heads huddled together, quietly (?) discussing what was happening on stage, they were just so cute together. on the way home we realized we could catch happy hour at sonic and had to stop for drinks.i discovered a new favorite thing - cherry limeade, yum-o, thanks for the recommendation ashliegh! now i'm off to paint some kitchen cupboards...busy busy busy.

the big break

girlfriend weekend get away

in a nut shell-

chick flicks

amazing food

gumballs

see's chocolate

hot tamales

amazing cabin

paper crafts

late nights

board games

no make up

pajamas

scenic walk

deer and wild turkeys

sleeping in

lounging around

best friends

plenty of laughter

much needed break

and a NO photo truce!

(until the last five minutes to take one self-portait)

i love these girls!!

40 years - wow!

being a blogger mom is a blessing, unless you happen to be the blogger mom turning forty, then you may be the victim of a late-night ballooning and yard trashing, hypothetically speaking of course! karrie's fortieth birthday was so much fun to plan and execute, we all had such a fun day we keep wishing it was someone's birthday every week. lunch at the do-do was so fabulous, funny how i only remembered to take a photo of the dessert - oh my goodness! that whip cream was to die for! if you haven't seen mama mia you need to grab a few girlfriends and go see it, it wouldn't have been half as fun without the group of fun girls to go with though.part of the whole experience was all the laughing, i mean howling, that happened on our row! but can i just say, what's up with pierce brosnan's singing? oh man, that was painful and whoever cast him for that part should be FIRED! - everyone else was fantastic. (and just incase you think you recognize the cute short red-headed friend of meryl streeps, you do, she's mrs. weasley from harry potter!) after the movie we killed some time at bath and body works where i discovered my new favorite thing: this new cinnamint lipgloss from c.o.bigelow, it's so tasty and lovely and really nice for kissing....sorry, i got distracted....the blogger moms were in charge of having karrie home for her surprise birthday party hosted by her husband, she was totally fooled!of course the blogger moms and husbands ended up being the last ten people at the party because we always have such a fun time together, i see cruises in our future! so happy 40th birthday karrie, here's my way be-lated list (this seems to be a trent with me lately). ten things i love about karrie...

1. she is a tennis fan and so she plays all the time. i love this about her because i forget to prioritize myself and the things that i like to do sometimes and she is a great example of good balance to me.

2. she can water ski like a pro, wow, not bad for forty karrie! - who am i kidding? not bad for twenty karrie!

3. she is her kids' biggest fan. i love to hear her stories of mariah's swim team accomplishments, micah's "nerd herd" adventures and how brave and adventurous her two younger daughters are. she is a great mother! who else likes to take their kids on vacation so much? 4. she is a world-traveler, i was stunned to see so many around the world photos of her in the video that troy made for her birthday. i am so intimated by the idea of travelling out of the states that i really admire this about her!

5. she is a great sender of good mail! she mailed us all sand from mexico and had an adventure at the post office to show for it, girl scout cookies, nemo things for ethan and lots of other stuff. she is so thoughtful and always out of the blue surprising, i love this!

6. she is a fellow journey fan, and i think of her now every time i hear "stone in love".

7. she married her high school sweetheart. this takes guts, i don't even want to know how some of the guys that i dated in high school turned out, much less be married to them! and she made such a great choice, troy is so great!8. she made a great pta president and is an awesome volunteer! i love that volunteering is what all the blogger moms originally had in common that brought us all together. i love that karrie is such a get-it-done girl and made the most of a way difficult fundraising experience this year. she put out one fire after another without having a nervous breakdown! great job karrie!

9. she is always up for a last minute blogger lunch and so fun to have along because she tells the best stories and is always smiling.

10. she makes 40 look fabulous!

love you karrie, you a wonderful friend and i'm so lucky to know you! :) happy birthday!

daisy toes

is there anything better than getting a pedicure? seriously, maybe a vacation to hawaii but a pedicure is definitely a luxury that i could get used to. so when jenny suggested a sister-in-law day out to celebrate ann's thirtieth birthday, pedicures just seemed like the way to go - good job jenny! we all agreed that we need to have one of those fabulous massage chairs in our houses - i swear it gave me the best back rub and that was almost as nice as having my feet rubbed. it was fun to chat with each other and try to chat with the cute vietnamese people working on our feet but only a couple of them spoke english very well. a fun time and cute toes were had by all. i'm in love those little flowers they paint on at the end, it just makes me so happy to have daisy toes. i think we found a new tradition to celebrate our birthdays! happy birthday annie! we love you!

a day of favorite things

we are so lucky that stacie's parents and lots of family still live here in utah because it brings her into town at least once a year. and when she comes in, we ALWAYS eat at the happy sumo - YUMO, my favorite place so no complaints here! it was a fun lunch with a lot of laughs and then i felt so sad to hug her good bye. who can help me find a job for kerby here in utah? stacie, we officially want you back! while we were gone to lunch, all of our girls and their younger sibblings were tended at patsy' house. everyone seemed to have a fun time, ethan was soaked with trent from the sprinklers and thought it was just hillarious. why don't i have a photo of this? later patsy came over with trent to visit and they brought me this fantastic express good mail. daisies! my favorite! and not to mention my love for mason jars of all sizes - why do i love these so much? -thanks guys, you made my day! :) later on when i got home and no one was bothering me, i ate one of my favorite treats, one i have a hard time NOT picking up when ever i go to the gateway because they're just so good. rocky mountain chocolate factory has the best dipped apples and the best kind they do is the apple pie. a layer of caramel, then a layer of white chococlate, then layer of cinnamon and sugar, oh man, this is heaven. what can be better than a day of favorite things? faovrite friends, favorite food, favorite flowers, favorite treat, i guess today was a good day!

things that make my heart happy

remember that song that "ren and stimpy" would sing, "happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy"? well that is exactly how i feel whenever i find a good deal, it's true, i am a total bargain shopper and i LOOOOOVE a good deal. tuesday allie and i set out to do a little shopping and came across one of the best deals ever, one so great it totally made my day. but before that, i should tell you that forever i have loved fiestaware, the colors, the weight, the simple style, the pretty latino dancing lady by the display, i don't know, it just makes my heart happy. it's expensive though, like $50 for one place setting and especially because i own beautiful, and functional pfaltzgraff that i love, i could just never justify spending that much money. so fast forward to allie and i's shopping trip on tuesday. we headed into kohl's and low and behold, they're having a sale, 50% off fiestaware! oh man, i started drooling right there in the store while doing the math in my head at the same time that i was rehearsing my sales pitch to rich about why i had to have these dishes. yes dear, dishes. i stopped by patsy's for a minute and found out that she had a coupon for an EXTRA 30% off, including sale stuff. ok, seriously, 80% off?! that's practically stealing the dishes, how could i pass this opportunity up of owning my own fiestaware that i've dreamed about all these years? i couldn't, i didn't. after a quick call to rich and visiting two kohl's locations to collect all the colors i wanted, i got $625 worth of dishes for.......$220!!! and i was singing, (really singing, that's not a figure of speech) on my way out of the store carrying all those glorious boxes. allie got into too, she unpacked and washed all the dishes and then took about a million photos of it all stacked nicely on the counter. my counter just looks prettier with all these cheerful colors adorning it. happy happy joy joy, happy happy joy joy, i love a good deal!