Christmas Parties 2009

We had fun throwing together a little ugly Christmas Sweater parties for a few friends. It was fun getting together and laughing for a few hours. I especially loved playing Mafia! That CRACKED me up! Since when am I the person everyone is out to get? It was fun. Good times.

We also went to Mesquite and got crab legs for our annual Sharps/Ulrichs get together. Love these guys. I laughed so hard at the white elephant gifts. Thanks guys for the GREAT time!

The conversation I had with Londyn today

Londyn turned two on Nov. 17th, and shortly after we took her binky away. She has done pretty good except for nap time. She hasn't asked for it for weeks.

Well this is the conversation I had with her today:

Londyn: Mom, binky?

Mom: Your blanky is right over there.

Londyn: No Mom, not BLANKY, BINKY.

Mom: Oh honey, you don't need a binky.

Londyn: You're MEAN mom, MEAN. (This lasted for 15 minutes)

I look into her big blue eyes, and want to give her anything she asks for. (not that I am going to, but I WANT to).

THIS is why being a parent is so hard. I couldn't stop smiling because I really wanted to burst out laughing. What a little stinker.

Merry Christmas!

DAN: Even though turning 30 was a major life event this year, Dan is in better shape than ever. He stays extremely busy at work and tends to lose sleep over it at times. He also teaches the 13-14 year old Sunday School class, and does a great job. He got to travel to Boston this year on a "guys trip" (MAN he must have a good wife). He also lost a prized possession when he rolled his truck on the deer hunt. He has stayed very busy with "honey do" lists ever since we bought our home in July. Man am I lucky to have such a "handy" man DAN.

BROOKE: Can't sit still for longer than 5 minutes. I'm kind of a spaz (as you all know) and I dabble in a lot of things. I've had a lot of fun starting a thrifty website with a friend this year, and I'm still in LOVE with decorating. I also love teaching at Dixie college as an adjunct professor. I enjoy being a twilight fan (a nerdy one that goes to the midnight showing and all). I have also really enjoyed learning a lot about photography this year. I also cut off 8 1/2 inches of my hair when I needed a drastic change. Maybe it is because I got a minivan. :) (sidenote: LOVE the van...no kidding).

OAKLYN: "Oakers" is six and 1/4 (as she tells everyone) and can't wait to turn seven. She loves to dance and literally has to be the "best" at everything she does. She is extremely competitive. I wonder where she gets that from!?!? Her red hair is so unique, and is finally starting to thicken up. She is turning into such a beauty. She's growing so tall and suddenly all her pants are floods. She's my little helper and has had a lot of responsibilities to take care of the newest member of our family, Sugar (a shih tzu). Her favorite thing to do lately is to leave me notes all over the house that say "I love you." (I love this). She's doing great reading and is learning so much at school.

CONNELLY: Our five year old "Con Man" is also growing a ton. I'm learning that boys are extremely hard on clothes. His pants have holes in the knees in no time with this active little stud. He loves to play with his friends and gets along with everyone. He LOVES the mini van and calls the doors MAGIC for opening and closing automatically. He has quite the singing voice and loves to sing along with the the music on Mamma Mia the movie. He absolutely loves preschool and misses Oaklyn since she's gone all day to 1st grade.

LONDYN: Is our 2 year old climber who climbs on EVERYTHING. She literally can't be stopped. I've tried. She has successfully turned from our sweet little Londyn to a fit-throwing disaster at times. :( Most the time she is great, but I've been embarrassed horribly at the store because of her high pitched scream. She loves "shoogs" the puppy, and tells strangers all about her in the line at the check out counter. Just like her brother, she loves the movie Mamma Mia and sings along with the music. Her blond hair is getting so long!

So far we have a redhead, a brunette, and a blond. How lucky are we!?! (No mailman jokes).

We hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year. We love you all and hope to see you all soon.

My baby is TWO! I can't believe it!

Londyn turned 2 on Nov. 17th. I can't believe she is already TWO! She is growing up so fast, and I have realized lately that she is no longer a "baby" anymore. She's talking in full sentences, and the terrible twos are in full force (and have been for awhile).

Some of her favorite things lately:
*Sugar (her puppy). Sugar is the first thing she tells people about (even strangers).
*A Bow. She asks me to put a bow in her hair almost daily. It is so cute. The main reason she asks me is because her hair is so long that if I don't have a bow in her hair it gets in her eyes and she hates that.
*PIZZA, she absolutely loves it.
*Shoes, she finds everyone's shoes and wears them all over the house.
*Con-Yee, she loves her brother Connelly. Ever since Oaklyn has started 1st grade, Connelly and Londyn have developed a strong relationship. It is so cute. She yells his name CON-YEEEEE when she can't find him.
*LOST? Ever since we "lost" her binky, she thinks everything is LOST. For example I'll say go find your sippy cup and she'll just shrug her shoulders and say it's LOST. I guess she thinks since we didn't find the binky that she doesn't need to look for anything else either.
*SANTA. She is very aware of Santa even though she would NOT sit on his lap without screaming. She is quite intrigued with him from afar, but the second you get close, she freaks out. I ask her what Santa is going to bring, and she immediately says BARBIES! So cute.
*The trampoline. She's having an obsession with our trampoline, and it's hard to get her to get off.
*Mamma Mia and Buddy. She LOVES the movie mamma mia. She recognizes the music too. She is mesmorized by it. And lately she loves the movie ELF. Whenever she hears "Baby it's cold outside" she always says BUDDY!
*The phone. She tries to get me to call Daddy ALL DAY. She loves to talk on the phone.
*Purses. She insists on carrying a purse around. If I forget hers then she has to carry mine. I gave in the other day when we were out shopping and let her carry my purse in the store. WRONG IDEA. I got up to the check out stands and she had dropped my purse somewhere in the store. I immediately started to freak out (I am HELLO what an IDIOT I am to let my 2 year old carry around my purse). I found it after about 5 minutes of acting like a crazy lunitic searching the entire store.
*Beads. She loves to wear jewelry.
*Oakly. She has given Oaklyn a nickname Oakly. I have to admit when we named her Oaklyn we intended to call her Oakly. But, it hasn't really come up until now, and Londyn was the one that started it.
*To climb. She's always been a climber. It just freaks me out when she climbs out of the shopping cart when it's moving. I've caught her several times before she fell. The straps DON'T work either. Any suggestions from all you Moms out there on this problem? I'm afraid she's going to get hurt.

I love the above pictures of her above because she insisted on putting all of my photography props on when I got home from a photo shoot a month or so ago. She wanted every tutu, bowa, bow, purse, ring, necklace...etc on. She was one PINK poof ball, and I thought it was so cute I had to take some pictures of her.

She is at such a fun stage, but it's also really HARD. She's in the fit throwing, disasterous stage. I can't wait for the fits to end, but the fun part of this stage is so great. She loves attention and will even sing songs to get it. Tonight she was dancing to Santa claus is coming to town. How fun!

Thanksgiving!

We had Thanksgiving at my sister Adrian's house this year, and it was really fun to be all together with the entire family. Here I am with my sisters.
The kids had a BLAST with their cute cousins. Isn't this picture precious
My sister-in-law Aubrey has been labeled "Martha" after the pies that she made...take a look. Aren't they phenomenal!?!

All Things Thrifty GIVEAWAY

We are doing 7 days of giveaways on my All Things Thrifty site...check it out at http://www.allthingsthrifty.com/

Am I going through a mid-life crisis?

Dan thinks I am going through a mid-life crisis, and my sister thinks I chopped off my hair because I bought a mini van! :) Either way, I feel spunky again!

I have ALWAYS been one to need DRASTIC change with my hair. I tend to cut a lot off at once. I've donated to locks of love twice, and this time I was just an inch or two shy of being able to donate again. I think I may have given my hair dresser a heart attack when I brought her the pictures of what I wanted. By the way, this DARLING girl from my ward let me take pictures of her cute hair cut. We don't look the same since my hair is dark and hers is blond, but she was so nice about it. (When I say "I" took pictures of her, I mean "Dan" took pictures of her since I was gone and she was at the bus stop waiting for her kids). What husband is willing to do that? MINE!! Ha ha, I'm lucky. Kristie did a GREAT job at duplicating the hair cut! What a rock star she is.

Hope you all like it!

How I found Londyn the other day.

This is how I found Londyn the other day.
She was watching "MENO"
It cracked me up!

Ladies Night!

This week has been pretty nuts, and I'm a little behind. I just wanted to post some pictures from a freakin' fun weekend in Vegas. It was WAY too short, but we had fun anyway. Highlights of the trip:
The fire alarm going off at 3:00AM and Liz's survival skills kicking into gear!
Laughing out HEADS off at each other
Shopping and eating at some fun places
Spending quality GIRL time...it reminded me of college!
Staying up late.
Drinking a MILLION diet cokes.
Going to my new FAVORITE fabric store
Meeting some new SWEET people. :) Linds....we are destined to be friends!
The list could go on and on!
I have had a lot of fun with helping with my ward's enrichment night (now called Relief Society Meeting. :) and I thought I would share a few pictures of the event. We decorated the entire cultural hall. It looked like a Christmas extravaganza! I'm relieved it is over with.
Here is the menu that was served...I had nothing to do with this part by the way. I did help cook a little though. Doesn't it look like a 5 star restaurant?
A girl named Lacey from my ward and her friend Jen came and did a gift wrapping presentation, and I thought their stuff was DARLING. I especially liked the wreath made out of paper. I think I might tackle this one. She said it's a pottery barn look a like.

I gave in.

I GAVE IN....and I LOVE IT.

Yes, I always said I would NEVER do it. I lied. :)

Meet Brown Sugar Ulrich

We have officially become a "dog" family this week! It has been so fun for the kids because they have been DYING for a dog. My friend Liz found her, and tried to find her original owners. She put an ad on Craigslist, called the pound...etc, but no one claimed her. She'd been out on her own for a long time, her hair was knotted, and she was filthy. So, Liz cleaned her up and wanted to keep her. Liz already has a dog, and they decided that two dogs was too much. So, we got this DARLING dog for free.

She is so calm with the kids. Londyn keeps laying on her. It's so cute. Sugar just lets them carry her around. I love it.

Funny story though. We got "her" from Liz and Jo (they said she was a girl) well, I took her to get groomed and the groomer said that "she" was actually a "he". So for about 3 hours, we changed his name to Rufus. Well, when I went back to the groomer to pick her up, she said they made a mistake and that Rufus was actually a girl again. Ha ha...so her name was changed back to Sugar.

We decided to name her Sugar because of her fur. The color is a honey/brown sugar color. Lately we've all been calling her Shoogs. What a fun step in our family to finally have a dog!

A few people wanted to see the before and after transformation. Here you go! CRAZY huh! She doesn't even look like the same dog.

My name is Brooke, and I'm a decorating addict.

We are finally making our home OURS! It's so fun to paint walls. I have lived in a "white" town home for 4 years, and I'm so excited to be able to paint. I have to admit, choosing what to do is kind of hard for me since I am a decorating addict. Dan just installed hardware on my cabinets too. Thanks babe.

Here is the wall "before."
Here it is after the orange was complete!

I wanted to add some character, so I painted a few swirls....





Here is the finished product.


Do you like it?

Next project....back splash. :)

Halloween 2009 part 2

Look how huge these pumpkins are! Our pumpkin patterns were too little, so Dan and Mike projected the patterns onto them and outlined them with a sharpie marker. They used power tools to cut through them. They were so thick!
We had our annual pumpkin carving party, and here are a few of the foods. My personal favorite...the kitty litter made by my friend Jo (a plethora of cake, pudding, and tootsie rolls)...doesn't it look real? GROSS! I love it. It was hilarious seeing people's faces as they walked by.
Here are a few pictures of the event. We had a blast! We carved in the garage, and I hope everyone had a good time.
It's so fun to take the kids trick or treating. It is surreal to think that I have kids old enough for this. I don't feel old enough for that! :) Oaklyn was a witch this year, but she wanted to be a "good witch," not a scary witch. Connelly was Batman, and little Londyn was a clown.
Here's the invitation that I designed. Only 364 days before Halloween again!

Halloween 2009, unveiling the pumpkins!

We had a BLAST this year for Halloween. We were surrounded by so many fun family and friends, I don't want it to end!

So, it may take a few posts to get everything documented so bare with me. We carved a total of 52 pumpkins this year, which was just shy of what we did last year. BUT, it was still an awesome display (in my opinion).

Here are a few of my personal favorites of the pumpkins that we carved this year!


Here is a picture of the entire display!
Click on the image to make it bigger! :)

Here are the two "master carvers" of the GINORMOUS pumpkins we got from Uncle Charlie. (however, a few other people helped carve them too). CAN YOU BELIEVE HOW BIG THOSE ARE?
This is Jess, my cute sister in law. She gets the "carver of the year" award!
She carved Wall E, the Cars array with Lightning McQueen, Mater, and Fillmore, and a few more. BLUE ribbons for sure!

8 years!

Don't look close, because we painted our kitchen Saturday and got ready in about 2 minutes to go on our "date." We haven't gotten to hang out like that in a long time. All we did was go to dinner and go shopping. It was great!

Dan and I have been married for 8 years as of Saturday. Wow, time flies. I can honestly remember that day like it was yesterday. It was a beautiful, crisp, chilly day in Salt Lake. My nose was even red in some of the pictures because of the chilly air. :)

I remember everyone kept asking me if I was "nervous," and my honest answer was NO. I was just 100% excited. I had a very special spiritual experience when Dan and I started dating, and I knew I would marry him. It took a little longer than I wanted, but I guess that was just a trial of my patience. Ha ha.

Dan is my perfect balance. I joke around with him a lot about being "drama" but the truth is, I couldn't live without all his enthusiasm. He is ALWAYS the first to agree with me when I need back up, and I love how worked up he can get about the "simple" things in life. I love seeing his eyes light up when he gets to go out to eat crab legs, if his "imaginary" football team wins his brother's, or if he gets to go skiing at the lake.

He is everyone's favorite. He can talk to anyone, get along with anyone, and can carry a conversation with a stranger. I love it when someone tells me "what a good guy" I married. I am so proud of him.

He's honestly the best "handy man" I've ever seen. He fixes everything himself from the house projects to the car. What a lucky girl I am.

Isn't he handsome!?!? I love you honey. Thank you for FINALLY proposing after 10 LONG months of dating. Ha ha. I was ready after ummmm about 2 weeks of dating. (No kidding).

I love you.

A grateful, humbling day.

As a wife, you dread certain things. You dread "the worst" things that COULD happen. Well today was one of those infamous days for me. The day when you get "that call." The "I've been in an accident" call.

When he called me, I was instantly spinning. I had missed 7 calls from him in a five minute period. I didn't hear my phone (or it didn't ring because of my crappy service) who knows.

HUMBLING. The word that describes how I feel right now. Instantly a MILLION questions entered my mind.

Are you ok? being the BIGGEST one.

What happened? How fast were you driving? Is our insurance good enough? What does the truck look like? How will we "fend" with one car for a while? How much will the insurance give us? ...etc.

I was proud of Dan for staying completely calm during this whole endeavor. He calmly asked me to call the insurance agent and a tow truck. What the!?!? I'm sure I would not have acted that way if it were me. I'm sure a little swearing MIGHT have taken place, a little crying WOULD have taken place, and I would be an absolute MESS.

Here's the story in a nutshell. Dan went hunting this morning out West of Santa Clara. He was going to go with a friend, but he didn't end up going. So, Dan was alone. He was actually on his way home, when a deer jumped RIGHT out in front of him. He had just turned off of a dirt road onto another dirt road, so he was not driving very fast. He swerved to miss the deer, but since he was on a dirt road, his truck hit the embankment and off it went. He rolled.

Dan had his seatbelt on, and walked away with a few scratches and a sore neck.






Could I care less that this truck is "DEAD?"

NO.

It could have been my husband, and I'm suddenly VERY aware of how precious life is, and how very little something like this truck means to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's a hunk of metal that could be replaced....my husband cannot be replaced. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to think about "that".

On to the fun of insurance calls.

I wanted to post a few pictures mainly for family who wants to see the extent of the damage. Enjoy.

Thank you to all those who have called or texted. We are fine, just a little shaken up.

Crazy 8 sale!

If you know me well, you know I love a good deal. One of my favorite kid's clothing stores (Crazy 8) is having a 50% off sale, so I figured I would share. On top of the awesome clearance deals, you can also get $10.00 off a $30.00 purchase.

So, I ordered Connelly a bunch of summer clothes for next year. I bought 9 items and spent a total of 28.00 (this was grand total...shipping and all). All the items ended up averaging a little over $3.00 each. The clothes at crazy 8 are good quality, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone.

Ok, so hurry....don't miss the deal. Oh, the coupon code for $10.00 off a $30.00 purchase is:
c8rocks.

CLICK HERE TO GO TO THEIR SITE!

Our latest and greatest!

I love this picture! Look at those CURLS!
I snapped a few pictures of Londers today, and I can't believe that she will be 2 years old in a month. Whoa, two years sped by! She is growing so fast. Here are a few of her favorite things lately:
-Mamma Mia the movie (she literally screams MIA when she sees the DVD cover!)
-The potty, I can't believe this, but she keeps asking me to go to the potty. Today she peed and pooped in the potty. We'll see if this continues.
-Her Daddy, she asks for him all day and when he finally comes home every day she is in HEAVEN.
-To climb...on EVERYTHING, she has learned to push a bar stool over to what ever she wants in the kitchen.
-Dogs...especially Daisy. (Mike and Jess's dog.) She is in LOVE with dogs.
-PIZZA, she thinks she should get to eat it for EVERY meal.
-To dance. She's a dancin' fool.
-Fits. She is officially into the fit throwing stage of her life. I'm totally bummed, but I have officially awarded her the worst fit thrower in Kohls of all time. I honestly could not BELIEVE how loud she could scream. I can never show my face there again.
-Shoes, she puts on everyone's shoes in the entire household. She loves them.
-ConYEEE...her brother. She eggs him on ALL day. She won't leave him alone.
-Loves to say the animal sounds (especially oink like a pig, but at the end she says E ,I, E, I, O, and starts singing the old McDonald had a farm song)
-MENO...what she calls Nemo.
I think that's about it. I just wanted to document some of her favorites so that I would remember them!

Things are going good at the Ulrich household, other than we've had sick kids over the weekend, and since we didn't know we were sick, I'm sure we gave it to some family that was in town. I knew Oaklyn was acting a little sick, but it didn't hit in full force until Friday night. (The fam came to town Thursday and Friday). What started out being a little sick, escalated into a full-blown fever. So...it hit the two older kids like a train wreck. Poor Connelly puked all Saturday night. Oaklyn seems to be feeling better, and Con's fever has been gone since Sunday. I just feel bad that we had people at our house to share the germs with. I hope everyone is ok.

We took the kids to Staheli Farm the other day to celebrate Fall, and it was sooooo fun. The kids had a blast, and I'm so glad we went. It felt good to get out of the house into the fresh air. Dan carved them a John Deere watermelon to display since they gave us a deal on all our pumpkins this year.
The kids had a blast with their friends Benson and Hiley. Oaklyn was TERRIFIED that we weren't going to find our way out of the corn maze. Wow...she could not relax.

Here is the pumpkin stash for the year!

I think we officially have 50 so far. We are getting really excited to start carving, but we can't start until a few days before Halloween. A few more weeks to go!

It seems crazy that the holidays are right around the corner! Life speeds by when it gets so busy.
One last thing...I HAD to document this because this is literally the first time I have seen Dan mop the floor in years. Yes, I said YEARS. I'm racking my brain to be sure, but really I'm pretty sure that it is true. I was so grateful! To give him a bit of credit...he does help A LOT with dishes and A LOT with laundry. He's just not much of a "floor" kind of guy. So, I had to give him a little shout-out for his effort. Way to go babe...the only problem is that now I know that you know HOW to do it! :)

Baby Steps!

Before:

After:


When we moved in, our lawn was completely dead. We spent all day Saturday cutting out the old, weedy lawn, and prepping the dirt. Today we laid sod. Our neighbors helped us. How nice is that!?!? We were very impressed how willing they were to help us. I'm so excited with the results. Now we can actually walk on the lawn!