my {meg's} little babies

i have been going up once a week and visiting the greeders and playing with my babies. and summer too! i realized all the pics i have of them are a couple months old and they looked so little. they are growing up so quickly and are both crawling all over and pulling themselves up into a standing position. they can also walk with assistance (won't be long before they're walking on their own...) so i snapped a few (that's a total under-exaggeration) :]

this is little skye's real, true smile! i'm so happy to have captured it complete with her 2 toofers! she's so cute!!

big guy ty is usually always smiling, however he's been pretty sick so the smiles have been fewer and farther between but he'll be back to normal smiley ty soon enough! :) (ty has one tooth on the bottom as of now)
i love how they interact now. here they are playing a little piano together. skye playing and ty clapping along :)

baby girl crawling all over

all three of my greeder kiddos! playing together. the twins are standing at a little play table. they will stand and play with this table for a long time (well ty will, skye starts crawling around and seeing what else is going on after a bit)

could they BE and cuter? :)

my {failed} attempt at applesauce cookies

one of my new year's resolutions/goals was to cook more and learn how to cook. so this week i have attempted to partake in a little bit that will head me in the direction of that goal. my first attempt was applesauce cookies. i learned to make cookies from my mom and ours have always turned out flat and crispy, which don't get me wrong are fabulous, but i have always pined over soft, moist, delicious, non-flat cookies. i had heard that applesauce in your cookies improves them health wise and softness-wise. so i found a recipe online and went at it (chocolate chip was the kind as in my mom's house there really is no other kind of cookie :]). i then got real ambitious and decided to add oatmeal to them on my own account (should have been a sign of demise #1; i should never try to make things on my own especially as an inexperienced chef).

then once i got all the ingredients mixed together my "dough" looked like this:

should have been sign of demise #2.... it was just a big goopy mess. now i'm usually a pretty hands on type of person and i didn't even want to touch this. so i made my "balls" with the spoon and glopped them onto the cookie sheet. well, apparently this is not a good method and i must have made them too big because when i looked into the oven i saw this:
ugh... pretty much one big massive cookie. so i knew that i needed to make the "balls" much smaller next time. i let the cookies settle for about 5 minutes or so hoping they'd be hardened enough to easily take off the cookie sheet. and of course they were not, but little did i know they would never get hard enough to hold themselves as a cookie.

i went to open the container the next day to have one and the edges that were once crispy were completely soggy. in fact they all were completely soggy: one big soggy cookie in the container. FAIL. i'm not sure what went wrong but i read something about maybe needing to strain the applesauce first to get out excess water? i don't know but i still used all the same ingredients as i would have in regular cookies that recipe did me no good in my "healthier" cookie attempt. oh well, we'll try something new and different next time.

some of my other cooking "firsts" and "attempts" this week:

• steamed carrots
• steamed cauliflower
• grilled tilapia
• grilled shrimp
• turkey burgers

i had never steamed anything before and i love the taste of the steamed carrots and cauliflower!! will be done mucho in the future! i had never made grilled fish or shrimp before; i need to figure out a better blend of spices to put on the fish to mask the fishy taste a bit more but it was good! and turkey burgers are nothing new or exciting i just had never done the actual turkey burgers before, just browned the ground turkey.

vikings nfc championship game!!

al and i went to his best friend and college roomate shane (and his girl friend jodi's) house to watch the vikes battle it out for the nfc championship. they live in eden prairie which also happens to be the location of the vikings practice facilities (winter park). we have been to shane and jodi's many times but this is the first time i have noticed winter park off of the highway; complete with a vikings ship outside and the vikings logo all over the building. so we made a stop by it and i was super excited! i convinced the security guard to let me get a picture by the building!when we go to shane and jodi's we always play rockband. we have our own band and characters set up and everything. our usual band is me on bass, al on guitar, shane drumming and jodi singing; although we do switch it up from time to time. it's so much fun. so we did a little pre-game rocking to keep our nerves for the game at bay and our mind off our impending doom... :)
brett farve stopped by and took a leak outside their apartment :)

i love me some jared allen!!!!

the 3 vikings fans!! (al is a packer fan but also a big farve fan so he was ok watching the game!)

the game was a good one, stressful and headache inducing, but good. i'm very sad we did lose but it's pretty typical of the vikes so i'm not too surprised. we lost it for ourselves. we didn't deserve the win after 4 fumbles and 2 interceptions but we could have had it... ugh... guess there's always next year...

i love watching football and i'm sad this season is over (but the saints/colts super bowl should be a good one) i can't wait for next season and of course the retirement drama that is brett farve....

boz

boz (whose real name is bosco) is my favorite dog possibly ever. he is the greatest. he is al's best friend and college roomate shane's dog. i have gotten to dog sit him on many occasions and love him to death! he's so easy going, listens well, loves to play and also loves to snuggle and cuddle. his favorite place is under the covers. he's such a lover and knows many adorable tricks. i snapped a few pics of him while we were at shane and jodi's house for the vikings nfc championship game. he's my baby!!i adore when his ears stick up!!

and he has a giant underbite; it's so cute!!

he is a rat terrier but no one's sure if he's pure bred or a mix.

such a cuddle bug!!

beauties

i love horses! they are one of my favorite animals and they are just gorgeous!! i want one so bad. and i wanna go horseback riding all the time!! here are a few pics (via weheartit.com). they are also very very photogenic!!!

i especially love really big horses!! like clydesdales!!

maybe one day i'll have a horse all of my own!!!..

places i would like to be right now...

after a cold day and a forcast for freezing rain, sleet and then snow for the next few days, i like to think about places that would nice to be at instead...

this bed with this view and a good book or movie would be excellent!!

i love to play on playgrounds. yes i realize i am a bit old for this but i can't help it. i enjoy it immensely! especially if i see a really big, great park; i just can't pass it up!

what a great get-away cottage!
a beach with a sky like this? yes please

i would love a stroll on a beautiful path like this right about now

bike to a swing in the middle of no where with a good book, uh huh!!

this bridge just looks fabulous!!

**snowboarding**

i finally got out snowboarding for my first time this season. i normally only go once or twice a season so my saying "first time" can also mean my last time but you never know. i enjoy snowboarding so much especially when i get to go with a friend who is on my same skill level. this time i went with caitlin, who i had never gone with before, but we had a blast. she's so easy to get along with and is a bit better then me so she pushes me. it was pretty nice out, a little colder then i expected, but it was not very busy.

we went to afton and hit a bunch of runs that i usually don't hit for fear of getting lost so it was great!!! the snow was decent and not too much fake snow which i find hard to carve in, so i was impressed. also, both caitlin and i had issues in the past with getting off chairlifts so we were worried. but we did great; didn't fall once or knock anyone else down. so all in all it was a successful day. i should have brought my little point and shoot camera with but didn't know if i'd fall on it and break it. i've been wanting to try and take pictures while snowboarding of someone else so i should have done that.

but i did end up taking some pics of my snowboard, which i LOVE, and of myself in my goggles, which i also like. (i think my enjoyment of wearing goggles is partly contributed to seth green's character in the movie "can't hardly wait" :})

here's my beautiful board!!

burton + hot pink + a star = meant for me!!!

if anyone knows about snowboard brands or cares, my board is a demo burton seven and my bindings are burton customs. :]

i am hoping to get out snowboarding again in february with my usualy partner, brittany!! and maybe i'll chance it taking my digi camera out there!!

food is fabulous

i love food! :) it's so yummy and can even look tantalizing... so in honor of that (and my 3rd successful week of effectively counting calories online via my fitness pal) here are some photos i found on weheartit.com of food!

mmmm... i love a fantastic cheesburger!!

milk and cookies is the bomb diggity! :]
milk out of a cute bottle and a good book, yes please!

i love star wars, especially yoda!! too cute!!

and i love little candy treats!! and valentine's day is on it's way!!

my minnesota vikings!!

despite the thoughts of many critics and even of some fans, the vikings pulled off an amazing win today over the cowboys. with the game being such a blow out it gives us a bit higher hopes going into the game versus the saints. but it's hard to be too positive with the way the saints have played this year. i will definitely be wishin and hopin this week that we can stay on fire and pull out a win and then head to the super bowl... yikes.. knowing this vikings team it's hard to even talk that far ahead but we looked good today so... maybe...??and of course my jared allen played amazingly!! loves him!! :]

keep it up guys, i will continue to cheer you on even if you never win a super bowl but i sure would love to see one....

winter wonderland

early this week the foggy, frosty air overnight engulfed the trees a bit and froze. it was so beautiful i had to snap a few pics. although they are just with my little digital camera and not one of gina's fabulous ones, i still think they're gorgeous! i love the white against the bright blue sky!!

little zoe

i got to watch little miss zoe two days this week. she is 3.5 months old and is so sweet and so cute. she's got huge blue eyes and tiny pursed lips. such a beautiful little one!!

her little outfit just kills me with cuteness!! a little starred fleece jumper and striped leggings with little button details! too adorable!!

wardrobe

so i'm a bit odd in my wardrobe choices as i mostly wear black. i have many reasons that shall remain in my head alone for doing this but i have come to love it and appreciate it as "my style." don't get me wrong, i love color and love to throw in pops of color with my black, and thus find myself often pining over gorgeously colored pieces. so i thought what could be a better place to pine then on my blog? well, here are a few beautiful pieces i'd love to have (if they fit into my style :])

but first this picture hit me as soon as i saw it!! a whole room with huge windows as a closet? yes please!!!!!! and a floor to ceiling shoe shelf? count me in!!! i'd die!!

i have recently rediscovered my love of dresses. i bought and wore a bunch of them this past summer and continue to buy them to wear next summer! (mind you, i have not had a love of dresses since kindergarden. which promptly ended in kindergarden when the boys tried to look at my undies at recess...) i lllloooovvve this pretty little simple green dress with sleeves!!
these floral sleeves are amazingly beautiful and delicate, i'd love to first have these sleeves on a dress and then have somewhere fancy to go to wear them!! :)

and the colors in this picture are fabulous! love the rustic/vintage feel and the pearl bracelet!!

also, i have always, some where deep down inside, wanted a half sleeve tattoo!! i think they can be so beautiful and can create a whole new look for a wardrobe. maybe one day i'll do it....

working on a style and staying true to it is so difficult when the tempature barely gets above zero, but i will continue to try or at least find more pretty pictures :]

(all pics from weheartit.com)