Haunted Gingerbread Houses

We never do traditional Gingerbread Houses, it is so much funner to do HAUNTED Gingerbread Houses. If a cookie is broken or the frosting is messy it makes it even better.

No Kit needed ;)

A Halloween Costume for the Pregnant Lady

One of the funnest family home evenings my husband and I have had was making our halloween costumes together. I was 7 months pregnant with our first and decided to do the old bun in the oven idea.

We got a huge box from the local movie theater and then turned it inside out and taped it all up again. The we used tin foil, construction paper to decorate it. We cut the holes with razor cutter and it was so funny because when I tried it on to see if I would fit I got stuck in the box and couldn't get out.

My husband was rolling on the floor laughing. My husband also wanted the front to open so people could see my belly and see our ultrasound pictures, so he used two magnets to make it open and shut.

JON's costume was way easy, he just threw on an apron and then we took a strip of poster board, taped tissue paper to it and wrapped it around his head. He made one good lookin Baker ;)

Miss Rexburg Hostess

So I couldn't do pageants anymore, but I could still be involved. I had the opportunity to be a hostess for Miss Rexburg and it was such an amazing experience I am doing it again this year!

My Girls were such hard workers, they studied hard for the interview, put multiple service hours toward their platforms, worked hard on their talents, and were beautiful that night

I believe in this program. I watched these girls grow and I know from personal experience that the Miss America program teaches you valuable life skills that you can take with you, crown or no crown. I can't wait to meet my girls this year!

Becoming a Mother

I thought adjusting to life as a wife was an adventure, and soon that adventure was going to be doubled as I added Life as Mommy. We found out we were pregnant with our first baby!

I decided that an Associates Degree was going to have to be enough and left school to become a mom. What an adventure!

Becoming a Photographer

So my sister, who is incredibly beautiful, asked me to do her senior pictures and graduation announcement. I was of course honored that she had so much faith in me and started surfing the internet looking at poses and designs. She came up to visit and we took pictures for TWO DAYS. She was such a good model, it was hard to take a bad picture of her, she is so cute. She was SO patient with me as I was learning and trying new things.

Together we came out with some great pictures and an incredible announcement.

I hung the announcement up on my fridge proudly and when my husband came home and saw it he turned to me and said, " this is really good....you should do this for real" and if you've read my past posts you know my husband is amazing but I have to brag again. 

The next day he found a SLR camera for me, bought it, and asked me to start taking pictures. I never could have bought a camera that nice for myself and by buying it for me he helped me do something I never dreamed I would be able to do. He not only makes my dreams come true but he creates them. And that is how I became a photographer!

My work, pictures and designs, can be found at www.pinkpearlphotography.com

I currently am a photographer for SLC Valley in Utah, Cache Valley Utah, and Franklin County Idaho

Trailer Trash Bash - Party Ideas

As poor newlywed collage students, our first place was a trailer, it was great first place with lots of good stories to tell our children and grandchildren. While we were living there I realized this was the perfect time to throw a "TRAILER TRASH BASH"

This was actually the easiest party to plan, because all your trash becomes treasured decorations...

The center piece was a Shopping bag, packing peanuts, empty cans, and some dandelions from my front yard

a laundry line over the dinner table, some christmas lights hung...

and a pringle can chandelier in honor of my husband who can't get enough of these chips.

I sent out some invited hand written, I mean Scribbled on the back of old reciepts

I covered the table with a big card board box, used newspaper as place mats, and TOILET PAPER as napkins!

For dinner we grilled hot dogs and had them with potato salad, chips and twinkies.

These were the best costumes and no she isn't pregnant!

it was more fun then any of us expected!

On a side note our neighbors came to meet us that day and welcome us to the trailer park. I opened the door to my house decorated in trash, and I have curlers in my hair with crazy 80's makeup. What a great first impression, right?!?

Wedding Video's

So during some of my boring days between the party planning I would sit down and watch our wedding video. I just loved it. Pictures of us growing up, stories of how we met, first kiss, the proposal, all topped off with footage of our wedding day!

While watching it one day I realized I was in a college town people meeting and getting married everyday, I had a camera, and my husband is technologic....I would like to try this, and my husband was way supportive when I told him, showing me what program to use and all the cool stuff I could do. This is why I married him ladies, he is simply amazing.

A CLUE DATE

The morning came, when I woke up next to my Husband and realized the life I had when I was single was gone, my old hobbies just couldn't be apart of my new life.  It was a weird sensation, it was like starting over... I felt like a little kid again with the teacher asking me, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" How was I suppose to know?!  The days that followed, boredom became my companion. I was going CRAZY and needed to find something to do...FAST. 

That is when I  found my first new hobby...Planning Dates/Parties! It was perfect, it would keep me busy and give my husband I something fun to do together after a long day. My first Party I threw as a wife was my CLUE PARTY and you can find all the free PRINTABLE'S HERE

So I picked two couples I thought would get into the party theme and assigned them all Characters. I made these great announcements I took green card stock and put two sheets together, on the front I had a picture of clue and on the back I had the invitation, I also used a razor to cut two slits into the paper in one slit I put cards of the characters they were supposed to be and in the second slit I put two weapons for them to bring. Then I stuck the whole thing in a one of those tan envelopes and wrote confidential on front to make it look like the envelope you use in the game.

We had dinner together and admired everyones costumes. Then we broke out the board game and played a good old game of clue.

It was Mr. Green, in the Lounge with the Candlestick. Watch out Miss Scarlet!

After the game we took pictures and watched the movie "Clue." For those of you who haven't seen the movie it is great a comedy, mystery.

On a side not I just want to brag that Ms. White and Professor Plum had their first date at our house and are now happily married. My first Party planned was a success

November 22, 2008

I have lived 2 lives, one from birth till November 22, 2008 and the other from November 22, 2008 till now. . .

Before I met Jon, I would have describe my life as

Pageants, Ballroom Dancing, and School.

I was apart of the Miss America Program for 3 years and LOVED every second of it, of course the pretty dresses and the crowns were thrilling, but I really fell in love with the opportunities it brought to share my talents and to give back to my community through the Children's Miracle Network and my platform "Awareness and Education of the Deaf Community". Opportunities I never would have had outside of this program. It also paid for most of my schooling which was the second thing that I did in my past life.

I was the going to be the super senior of college, I could never pick a major because I wanted to learn about everything, and that didn't bother me, I just loved exploring the vast fields of knowledge in front of me and didn't want to be confined to a corner quite yet.

And then there was DANCING!!! My passion.... I was on a Ballroom team, in Dance classes, teaching a Jr. High Dance Class, and was the Instructor for Latin Dancing at my university. My week was filled with dancing and all my spare time went into movin to the music.

NOVEMBER 22, 2008

So this was this was the BIGGEST and BEST DAY of my life bigger then shiny crowns, poofy gowns, swinging music, dancing heels, or the cha-cha. This is the day I married the most incredible man in the world and started "my new LIFE as a WIFE"

So getting married, meant giving up some stuff, no more Miss America Local Pageants (those are for single woman) and no more dancing. I only partner danced and personally don't want to dance with any other man except my husband (and it's my life goal to turn him into a dancer) but till that day came, I had to figure out how to occupy all this time that was no longer taken up by my OLD HOBBIES....

There was Cleaning, and Laundry, and More Cleaning, and Organizing. Now I enjoy an orderly house, but these things defiantly are not fun or exciting. There was cooking which I loved until I realized meals were 3 times a day everyday, and cooking became mostly a chore and occasionally a fun thing. I quickly learned that while I could do and was willing to do all the WIFE stuff, I needed something FUN in my life, for me, something to look forward to when I was done with all those yucky dishes...

AND this BLOG will take you on my journey through LIFE as a WIFE