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!