Shrimp Boilin' Fun

Every time my family gets together we have a Shrimp Boil, and we always do one on Christmas Eve! Even though we aren't from the South, it's kind of become a family tradition of ours (unless Southern Colorado counts! Ha!) It was introduced to my parents by a family in their ward that was from New Orleans. Bottom line, it's dang good food and it's fun!

Momma Mort (my mom) is in town this weekend, so we decided to have a Shrimp Boil with some friends (I thought'd it would be good for me to learn as well). It was delish!!!

Chicken, Shrimp, Potatoes, Corn, Onions and Dippin Sauce. Yes, you actually just dump all of the food on the table and dig in! Finger-food style!

Todd and Cory....it appears Cory isn't enjoying it, but he really loved it. What guy wouldn't?

After eating ourselves sick we had to play some Wii Fit to work it all off. It's hilarious to play with first timers and in big groups. We laughed so much.

Rob Brill doing the Hoola-Hoop on Wii! Pure Entertainment

Rob doing the Ski Jump. He's actually a ski instructor.....but not such a good ski jumper on the Wii!

Thanks everyone for coming over and thanks Mom for the DELICIOUS Shrimp Boil. I now know how to prepare this, so be ready for some more Denney Shrimp Boils to come!!! I'll post the recipe and instructions, it's really quite easy!

Confession.....

Okay, I have to confess.....I only lasted 1 month without the Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper (my new year's resolution was to last an entire year....crap). I caved and treated myself to a soda on my birthday. I definitely don't drink it as often, but every once and a while I still get the craving to sip down the cold bubblies. Just had to get it off my chest....whew!

David After Dentist

So Brett isn't much of a blogger, but he does follow the blog, www.notablogbutamanlog.blogspot.com, written by a guy that posts every news story, youtube video, pictures, etc, that all men will love. He's always chuckling while he's checking it out so I have to see what's so funny. It's actually got some great content and has some hilarious videous.....like the one you just watched! Poor little guy.

Meet My Joe Dirt

Over the weekend Brett and I went to the Monster Truck Jam. Brett insisted we dress up.

My Joe Dirt

The real Joe Dirt

And then there was this guy....Inigo Montoya?? (The Princess Bride)

So you tell me, who wears it best??? My Joe Dirt, the Real Joe Dirt, or Inigo Montoya?

Some more pics from the night....

We went with a bunch of friends who dressed up as well! I can't believe how excited the guys got....standing up, high fiving, screaming, cheering, going nuts!!! I'm sure we will all be back next year!

My Dilemma

I LOVE to do this.....

and I absolutely LOVE things like this......

and.....I GET NOWHERE!!!

Solution??? I try to kick the sweets and desserts, and I am sooo terrible at it. My mother is the queen of baking treats, my in laws make the best treats, and I love to bake treats. Crap.

My friend has a blog titled, "Life's Short, Eat Dessert." Amen sister, Amen. Guess I'll just keep running, and keep eating treats, and keep getting nowhere.

VOTE FOR TRUMAN

Hey Family and Friends!!! Brett's good friend, Ben Truman, is a very talented singer (he sang at our wedding for those of you that were there). Him and his brother are competing in a mormon music artist contest. They need to finish in the top 4 by mid-February. If you visit the link below you can vote (you will have to create an account first), and you can vote once a day! We think he's pretty dang good!!! Check it out for yourselves, and if you think he is as good as we do, pass this along to anyone you think will vote for him too! Thanks!

http://music.mormontimes.com/contest.php?id=1747

Lately

Lately we have been.....

Spending time with FAMILY! It's been fun to have Ryan and Laura back in Utah and spending time with their kids.

This is little miss Alex Jane Denney, born on Jan 19th. She's so precious.

Spending time with FRIENDS! A bunch of friends got together this week for Rob Brill's birthday!Traci, Anna, Jayci....I love these girls! I feel like I never see them anymore:) It was nice to visit. By the way, Traci is engaged--getting married next month!!! So of course we had a BRIDAL SHOWER!!!!

The theme of the party was "Fashion and Shopping"

Traci pretending to be a rock star....part of a game we played.

And the fun stuff....woo hoo!

Brett took advantage of the night and planned a halo party with his friends. He was thrilled about his halo date. He hasn't shown the same excitement for any of the recent dates we have been on. Guess he was needing some man-time.

Sunday Cookies

Lately, Sundays have been my day for baking cookies. I've been trying some new recipes too. Last Sunday I made Almond Cookies (got the recipe from Christy, my sister in-law's recipe blog). They were heavenly!

Today I triesd a recipe from Picky Palate: Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies. Brett and I can't stop eating them:) If you like oreos and you like chocolate chip cookies, you'll love these.

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies

1 stick softened butter

6 tbs. sugar

6 tbs. brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 c. chocolate chips

8 crushed oreos

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until well mixed. Place flour, soda, and salt in a separate bowl and mix well. Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined. With medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes.

There is nothing better than eating warm cookies, drinking a glass of milk, and curling up on the couch to watch a movie on Sunday afternoons. This is our usual routine!!

What a Weekend!

The Sundance Film Festival started this Thursday up in Park City. HP is a sponsor and my company worked on some projects for a few of the films, so I was able to get some tickets. Friday night we went to the premier of the film "September Issue." It's a documentary about Vogue Magazine and the preparation in getting the biggest issue of the year out, the Semptember Issue. The showing was actually in Salt Lake, and there was a little pre-film cocktail party at Pierpont Place downtown. Brett and I didn't quite fit in with the crowd, but we sure enjoyed the orderves and desserts, and had fun people watching:)

Seriously, the desserts were delicious and the presentation was super fun! The tall cone-looking thing in the center is a tower of sugar-glazed cream puffs.

Orderves were Delish......

Saturday night, the party in Salt Lake continued!! I know the owner of Pierpont Place, (we had our company party there so I worked with her a lot) so Friday night at the cocktail party she told Brett and I we had to come back Saturday night for the "Fashion Delirium Tour du Jour." Yeah, i don't know what that means. It is basically a traveling runway party that showcases designers and their newest fashions. Not really our cup of tea, but thought it could be really fun if we went with the right people!! Hence, we invited our good friends Rich and Kellie Knapp, kind of our wild and crazyfriends (don't worry, in a good-way). We knew they would make it fun!

We grabbed dinner on our way up. We wanted to eat at this Italian restaurant in American Fork, La Vigna, but once we saw the average price per plate was $17 we headed to Paradise Bakery instead (and indulged in way too many of their yummy cookies)

Kellie & I Me & my Hubby
Brett & Rich having SO much fun! We dared them to order Shirley Temples from the Bar. Rich finally did and I'm pretty sure the bartdender looked at him like he was crazy.Rich and Kellie Dancin'

These were the models of the fashion show. Kellie and I practiced our walks after the show and thought we could be some serious competition! Ha!

Does this guy look familiar? I don't think he's the innocent, nice guy we know from all of our favorite Mormon movies!! He was a little crazy!The best part of the night was when 3 drag queens walked in to the party! We tried to get pictures but I was too chicken to just go up to them and ask to take their picture, and couldn't take one on the sneak, it would have been too obvious. But we all died laughing when we saw them.

Thanks Rich and Kellie for coming with and making the night fun!

And by the way, the documentary we saw was really interesting. I recommend everyone see it when it comes out. Brett and I are not fashion gurus and know nothing about the fashion industry. Maybe that's what made it so interesting.

7 Whopping Days....Zero Diet Dr. Pepper

It has been 7 LONG, tiring, head-aching, days since I have had any soda. I decided to quit drinking diet dr. pepper, diet coke, ALL soda really. This is one of my new year's resolutions. I have 358 days to go....ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

New Year's Day Tubing & a Wedding

We had a little New Year's Eve Party with our friends, Tami & Coloton Judd. We were up playing games until 2:00 in the morning. Then New Year's Day we did some tubing.

The Judds

Brett being Brett

Friday, Brett's teammate Mitch Payne got married in the Salt Lake Temple. Brett and Mitch use to be roommates before I came along:) We were able to attend their temple sealing and the dinner afterwards. It was beautiful!

Mitch & AlexThe Boys Cory, Brett, & Mitch

I know I've been on a roll with the blogging, but I've had a lot of time on my hands with the holiday break! Don't get too used to it:)

Reflections of 2008

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. I feel like the entire year has been a whirlwind. The highlight of course was getting married in March, which is probably what has made the rest of the year a bit of a blurr!! Anyways, here are some of the happenings of 2008......

Brett proposed on New Year's Eve (actually in the afternoon). There couldn't have been a better way to start out the year. I was on cloud 9 for the entire duration of our 2 1/2 month engagement. I was giddy, smiley, and in love. I think Brett was thinkin' "How did this happen again?" New Year's Eve will always be special for us!

Brett and I got married on March 13th, a VERY monumental day for both of us. We were so lucky to have so many of our family and friends there to share the experience with us! I remeber the sealing like it was yesterday. You all know how newly weds are.....which pretty much sums up the rest of our year being giddy, smiley, and so so in love!

I watched more football than I've ever watched in my life. Brett played and watched a lot of football. I learned after the first home game that it is routine to go home and watch the game on tv again, and then watch the other college games that are on. We also followed Brett's brothers' games on tv as much as we could. I think I finally understand the game now. If not, I'd be pretty dense after watching it as much as I do! I love it though. I especially love watching Brett play, I get so excited for him!

Earlier this year, Brett's mom Sheri found out she had breast cancer. It was quite the scare and so unexpected. Thankfully, she is cancer free, after several surgeries, medication, and radiation. With the help and prayers of friends and family, Sheri was able to get through it! And she tells of all the little miracles that happened along the way!

I became a Diet Dr. Pepper addict. I used to enjoy a Diet Coke every now and then, but this year, Diet Dr. Pepper became my vice. Why? And how do I stop?

I started a new job at MarketSplash by HP (formerly known as Logoworks) as an Executive
Assistant/Operations. It's been a great learning experience for me and I've met a lot of new people. It definitely has it's moments of stress but I love it!

While Brett was thrilled to get a suga' momma for a wife and thought he might trick me into keeping it this way, he was not so thrilled to get many "honey do lists" as I have slowly domesticated him this year. I work full-time, he is a full-time student-athlete, so we both cook and clean:) Sometimes it's like pulling teeth though.

I made new friends at work and with some of the other wives of football players. We both got to know our new in-laws much better. We took on new nieces and nephews and it's been so much fun!

Brett started the Business Program at BYU this fall. I don't know how he does it with football, but he always gets good grades.

Faced my biggest fear and taught Gospel Doctrine for the first time. Thank goodness Brett and I team teach. Surprisingly, it has turned out to be really fun when we prepare well. When we don't, I'm a nervous wreck. It's been a neat experience for us to study and teach together.

Okay, maybe the year isn't all a blurr.....I could go on and on now. I'm grateful for all of the people that have helped make 2008 such a great year for us. I'm especially thankful for Brett, he's such a great husband and my best friend! And yes, I'm stilly giddy, smiley, and so so in love:) I think Brett is too!!

Happy New Year Everyone!

Christmas in Alamosa

Brett and I spent Christmas with my family in Alamosa, Colorado. It was so much fun to have all of my family home and to spend the week together. Brett and I's gift to each other this year was a new camera. We figured it was a good investment, and we definitely have fun with it! Here are some pics of our week in Alamosa. My 17 month old niece, Gracelyn, was the center of attention all week, and I couldn't help but take lots of pictures of her! She is a wild one. Playin in the Snow!She's a little Amazon woman!

This one is my favorite....so precious. Love the cheekers:)Grandma "Bebbie" & Gracie

Carly and Spencer
Gracie, Ashley, Tyler, and RalphieSurprise visit to Grandma Sally's! Sitting around talking & sippin' cocoa.

It's a tradition to get new pajamas every Christmas Eve. My mom had a hard time finding pjs to fit Brett, so the boys got baskbetball shorts and t-shirts. Get used to it mom! haha!