One Year

A year already?  Say what!?   That flew by!  I seriously am ridiculously obsessed with Remii.  Sometimes I think that I love him too much so I ask him if I should tone it down.  But he just makes me so happy!  He has all of the qualities that I want in an eternal companion.  And his love for the gospel and is testimony is what I really love.  {Don't get me wrong he is pretty hot too!} Remii is always there to make me a better person and is an amazing example to Ben and Luke.  He supports me so much in all that I do.  When I am having a blog meltdown, he puts the boys to bed and reads scriptures with them.  When I need help with something, he is always there.  He provides for our family so that we are always taken care of.  I could go on and on about how much I love him and how much he means to me.  But I will let the pictures do the talking.  Warning: we kiss alot! :D

Ahhhhh look at how young we look.  Oh wait that was only a year ago!  Haha  Well it was pre-blog weight for the both of us!  Haha  We headed straight from the wedding reception to San Diego!  Guess what the best part of our honeymoon was?  Nope not that....  Renting a brand new mustang convertible!  It was awesome!  We always have such a blast together!

We have done so many fun things together this year!  San Diego, a cruise, Disneyworld, Myrtle Beach, Washington DC, and it has all been a blast!  I was thinking about my life yesterday and I love my life!  I couldn't ask for a better hubby by my side.  He is perfect for me and I am honestly so happy that we found each other!  Remii made me believe in love again and also believe that good guys still do exist in the world and I love him more and more every day!  I can't see what life has in store for us!

If you need even more mush.... click here

Life as a Food Blogger

Once upon a time on a boring summer day in North Carolina I had this thought of starting a food blog.  I love to cook, I want all of my recipes in one place, and I had nothing better to do.  I wanted to do something extra other than being a mom.  So I started the little adventure of a food blog.  Little did I know the complex world of food blogging.  I never intended making money off of my food blog, just needed something to do.  Here are some of the things that I go through on a daily basis.

• It is a full time job.  I have to keep my blog updated with at least 3 new recipes a week.  This is not including photography, editing, networking and being an active part of my Facebook group.  
• As my blog has grown, I have learned photography is so important.  I have to take my pictures in good lighting, so I am usually making dinner at 1 in the afternoon.  My family gets reheated meals every night.  But all that matters is that I get a good pic right?  Haha  I will be SO glad when the winter is over so that I can make dinner later.  And don't even ask me to bake, cook something when the sun is down!  
• It is not an easy job.  I usually have 1-2 recipe fails a week.  A lot of the times, the food is amazing and I can't get a good picture.  Grrrr.  Days like those I want to quit my blog! :)
• I can't even believe the stats I get every month on my blog.  Seriously all these people are reading this??  I am excited to be able to add to the income of my family and am thrilled where my blog is headed.    
• I am constantly looking at food all day!  Looking for new ideas.  Yeah I have said that my diet is going to start tomorrow for the last 6 months.  I am freaking out that I am going on a cruise next week!  
• People just don't really understand that blogging can be a job.  I get weird looks all of the time trying to explain what I do.  I was in Crate and Barrel the other day.  And I am always buying random dishes.  I tried to explain to the lady for 30 minutes what I do.  I just gave up!  Haha
• I can't ever take a trip and forget about my food blog.  I have to have people guest post, posts already lined up, and a babysitter to do the networking for me.  Sheesh!  This is totally my life now!

I got to attend my first blog conference over the weekend!  Yes they have blog conferences.  Trust me this was new to me too!  It was a blast!  It was so fun to meet all of my favorite bloggers.  And I loved all of the classes that I went to.  I learned so much from it and made so many friendships.  Actually I already knew them through blogging, it was so nice to actually meet them face to face.  The conference was organized by The Six Sisters.  Who are the nicest, most genuine, amazing girls you will meet.  They have really helped me grow my blog into what it is today.

With four of the sisters.  They blog at sixsistersstuff.com

With Jocelyn Insidebrucrewlife.com and Liz lovegrowswild.com

This was my partner in crime during the conference.  I love her!  Nikki from chef-in-training.com

Top sweetbellaroos.com and my awesome blog designer somethingswanky.com and bottom right sweetreatsmore.com

My blog has been a huge learning experience.  I already cherish the friendships that I have made through blogging and most of all I am so thankful for a very supportive hubby.  Seriously.  He rocks.  Not only does he support me by eating my delicious creations, but he knows that it requires a lot of time.  He will put the boys in bed and read scriptures with them while I am late night blogging.  I also love the support that I receive from my friends that have supported me when my blog was just starting.  Every little like and follower counted in the beginning and I honestly can't thank those people enough!  And oh.my.heck.  I finally finished this post!  I have only started it at least 4 different times!  Yay!   

Remii's Big 3-0!!

I am finally posting about Remii's birthday.  Better late than never right??  I swear time goes by way to fast and I am falling behind on the family blog!  But thats ok because I was able to surprise Remii with a fantastic birthday all paid for by my blog.  I told Remii that I had a blog conference the night of his birthday and asked him if we could celebrate it the following week.  Remii being the amazing guy that he is said that it was ok and if I wanted to go to this blog conference I could!  So he had no idea that I had a huge surprise planned.   The morning of his birthday I did surprise him with balloons and and over the hill banner.  And it is tradition in his family to have this breakfast (here) on your birthday.  A finnish pancake is delicious and turned out perfectly.

After breakfast, I told him that we had to pack and that we are staying in an executive suite at a resort.  He was so surprised and he said to me, Who is going to buy the pizzas at my meeting tonight?  Not quite the first reaction that I wanted, but I assured him that his meeting had a bunch of grown men that are perfectly capable of ordering pizzas.  He was so excited to go!

 We started our giveaway tubing.  I look at these pictures and honestly this was one of the funnest things that we have done!  We laughed the whole time and had so much fun racing down the hill.  I seriously am so in love with this old fart!

Back at our resort, they had this awesome glacier.  We had to take pictures in front of it.  The resort is so beautiful and peaceful.  It was such a great stay!

 We had dinner that night at the resort and Remii got a steak and I had an awesome grilled salmon.  Then completely out of the blue I gave Remii his birthday presents.  I got him a new Nixon watch to add to the collection and the best tickets I could by to his favorite hockey teams.  The Avalanche vs Blackhawks in Denver.  He was so grateful and happy and even had a tear in his eye.  So worth it!

A New Year!

2012 was such a great year for me!  The highlight of last year was...drumroll... getting married to my best friend! We did so many fun things last year.  San Diego on our honeymoon, Disneyworld together, Remii went to Hawaii, and we went on some fun family trips to Myrtle Beach, Washington DC and lived in North Carolina for the summer.  A great idea that came to me this summer was to start a food blog and share my love for cooking with everyone.  Little did I know that my idea would become what my blog is today and I am so glad that I have a family that supports me.  Who am I kidding?  Of course they support me.  I make delicious food and treats all of the time!  This has been a great year and I am excited to see what 2013 brings.  And it better be a baby or two!  Ok definitely just one baby but I would love for an addition to the River's family to come this year!

Goals for this year:

Get Preggo

Lose 10 before our cruise next month

Run at least a mile every day

Read the BOM with the family this year

Be a loving and supportive wife

Be more patient with life in general

Christmas Festivities

I wish that I could hire someone to blog for me.  My family blog is getting neglected.  And this is most important to me because I want to remember all of these fun things that we do together!  I am forcing myself to sit down and get caught up on it.  It was our first Christmas together as a family and it was a great one!  Ben and Luke were in our ward nativity play and it was so amazing!  Ben was a shepherd and Luke was a donkey.

 That night we went to temple square with my parents and saw the lights.  It always amazes me how beautiful it is!

We had a great Christmas together.  Nice and low key and relaxing.  The boys didn't really know what to ask for this year and since they just had their birthdays, they didn't ask for much.  Ben wanted the new diary of a wimpy kid, a guiness book of world record book and the new Paper Mario for his DS.  Luke wanted some Lord of the Rings Legos and a construction set.  That is really all that they asked for this year!

All dressed up for church!  Love these boys more than anything!!

Merry Christmas!

Santa Comes to Preschool

I absolutely love Luke's preschool.  The teacher is amazing and they do the funnest things!  They put on a cute little Christmas program that had to do with their 5 senses and even got a visit from Santa!

Luke told Santa that he wanted Lord of the Rings Legos.  This was news to us!  Santa being wonderful as always was able to bring Luke what he wanted for Christmas! :)