a birthday and sundance movies

it was my sister's birthday this past weekend.  my mom baked her favorite cake, carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, and made homemade marshmallow ice cream.  i gave her an owl themed gift.  she's really into owls right now.  the celebration continued into the week.  we saw two sundance movies.  my idiot brother and the music never stopped.  two completely different movies.  both phenomenal.  we also ate out.  denny's and ravoli's.  two completely different restaurants.  one made me sick to my stomach ache.  the other made me want to go back to try more entrees on their menu.  here are some photos.

a little julia roberts laugh...ha ha ha

if i could combine two tv networks tv shows that play on two different nights i would do it.  because modern family is hilarious.  and the new line up for nbc's thursday night shows...a-m-a-z-i-n-g!

today is a good day.

and so was yesterday.

can i get a combo please?  super sized.

my blog title may just be a line from 30 Rock...oh tina fey, you're the best!

what's for dinner?

shrimp tacos. pico de gallo. cabbage. mozzarella cheese. lime juice. cholula hot sauce (gordon only).

recipe via gwyneth paltrow's goop newsletter

picture via me

they are easy and delicious. double yum!

long weekend = extra fun

 my boys (gordon & briggs) went wheelin'

delicious burgers & football at my dad's (go Packers!)

breakfast at moore's with my sis, nephew, dad & brenda (gordon had to work monday so he wasn't able to join us.  i tried to give him one of my leftover pancakes but he didn't want it.  something about he's not going to whip out a pancake at work and eat it...whatever)

and thrifting! 

i sure wish every weekend was a long weekend.  maybe someday.

pinch me, i'm dreaming

that's how i felt going out to lunch to my favorite burger joint last week.  i haven't been since november,which may not seem like a long time to you, but for me it was.  sadly, i use to go almost weekly.  my heart, waistline, and wallet are grateful, but my taste buds are not.  i tend to give into my taste buds more often than not.

i savored every bite.  it could be another couple of months until i get to sink my teeth into another juicy hamburger.  so until then, i live through memories and pictures.

i'm so deprived.

our weekend was full of:

take out from one of our favorite restaurants, andy's (his: gyro with fries. hers: chicken souvlaki with rice).

organizing our kitchen.

purchasing sundance movie tickets.

teaching the youth on sunday at church.

making shrimp tacos and watching a funny movie (gentlemen broncos) with my sister and nephew.

and enjoying another delicious sunday dinner with our family.

birthday sunday dinners

sunday dinners seem to be that much better when it's someone's birthday.  this past sunday we celebrated jodi's birthday (which is today, by the way.  happy birthday jo!). 

this dinner may have been our funnest, most creative dinners yet.

make your own nachos.

and even without a diagram showing us what to do, each of us were able to successfully make our own delicious nachos.

and for dessert Melanie made tres leches cupcakes!

boy, i love birthday sunday dinners.

we're back

since the gym i belong to follows a university school schedule it takes a christmas break.  and it sucks.  mostly because i have to run on my home treadmill, do yoga to a dvd (in my office during my lunch break), and i don't get to see my best friend/sister in law jodi practically everyday. 

well christmas is over.

and we're back.  new yoga mat carrier and all.

hip hip hooray!

*exciting side note: jodi and i recently purchased a one month unlimited pass to a local pilates studio.

we're going to learn new moves to use on jodi's reformer.  you know, for when the month is up and i'm hooked on pilates and don't want to pay the $130 a month price tag.  cause you can bet i didn't pay that for the pass we just got.  heck no!  i'm crazy for working out, but not that crazy.  that's about half the amount i pay for my yearly membership.  and for only one month.  how do these people sleep at night?!

baby it's cold outside

and i never thought i would say this, but i kinda like it. 

but for one reason...layers. 

the more layers i get to wear the better. 

especially when one of those layers in a cardigan.  oh, how i love my cardigans. 

so cold weather, you can stay a bit longer. 

i've got a few new outfit ideas in mind i'd like to wear still.

we're vested.

ever since last winter when we snowshoeing with our ward, gordon and i have wanted snowshoes of our own. so gordon made the big purchase (those suckers aren't cheap) and we're now the proud owners of snowshoes. we took them out new year's day. it was cold (despite the sunshine), the sky was clear, and the scenery was breathtaking. i could have taken photos all day (mostly because my new camera is amazing!)

new year's eve with the hardcastles

how did we spend our new year's eve?

we saw the best movie of 2010: True Grit (technically we saw it thursday night, but it was so good it needed to be mentioned & documented on the blog)

 gordon went snowboarding. and took his new video camera with him.  it's the fancy kind that films in hd and can mount on his snowboarding helmet, or crusier, or...pretty much anything.  i'm pretty excited to see the short "movie" he's creating.  my husband the film maker.  that has a nice ring to it.

 i made bruschetta for a new year's eve party we attended.  it was delicious.

we spent the evening at a little gathering my mom had for new year's.  it was nice to be with family.

our course a toast was made when the clock struck midnight to ring in the new year.

abbi was all tuckered out towards the end of 2010...we stayed up way past her bed time.

 but when 2011 began you can bet she (and briggs) were wide awake and begging for treats from grandma.
 

we had a fabulous 2010 and are excited for the new adventures 2011 will bring.  happy new year!