My favorite things 2011 Edition

My Favorite Things #1

I know this is a long time in the waiting, but we are back online so here it is...my favorite thing #1 for 2011 is my family. 

Once again, it may seem lame, but it is true. I am so very blessed to have a wonderful and supportive husband. He is my best friend and I know he thinks I'm okay too. He is a wonderful father. Speaking of children, I think all the time about how lucky I am to be able to have these four special boys in my life, and how great they are. I love each one of them for very different reasons. They all bless my life and make me happy everyday. I feel like they are all in our family for a purpose, and I love finding out what those purposes are. 

Ben and my parents and siblings all teach me something different and I love them all for their individual lives, goals, and true concern for us. I enjoy living life with all of the people in my family. 

2011 was a great year for our family, and I can't wait to find out what is in store for us in 2012!

My favorite things 2011 Edition

My Favorite Thing #2 is my amazing home and neighborhood!

We have lived here for just over a year and I fall more and more in love with my house everyday. If I wasn't already married to Ben I'd marry my house. It has been fun to update it as much as we have been able to. It has been fun to make memories, spend holidays, have the room to have family over, and just enjoy the space. So great!

I swear that we live in the best area ever. We are very blessed to live in an amazing ward and neighborhood. There are so many good families and kids for our boys to play with. Our neighbors take good care of us and we feel very loved and safe here. It is a great feeling to know that we are putting down roots and raising our family in the right place. 

My favorite things 2011 Edition

My favorite thing #3 is COUPONS!!

I have to say I am a bit of an addict! I love to save money and get a good deal. I am not an extreme couponer by any means, but I save a good bit of money, and use that money to build up a good storage of food. It is really exciting to be able to save 20%, or 30% off my bill. That is where most of my trips to the store were at because Utah doesn't double coupons. It is hard to save much more than that, but I will take what I can get. My goal for 2011 was to save 50% at the store. I did it once, and only once. I have big plans for 2012, and hopefully I can keep progressing in this hobby because I love it!

My favorite things 2011 Edition

Wow! I am not doing so well at posting every day for this top 10 list. It's taking more like 15 days than 10. So...I am posting my favorite thing #5 and #4 in the same post to get this done!

Favorite thing #5 is Plants vs. Zombies.
I know that seems lame, but have you ever played this game? Highly addicting. I think that it is something that I love because I hate the idea of zombies, and in every movie you watch there is no hope of survival. But, in this game you can beat the zombies. You can use the power of the sun and plants to stop the zombies from eating your brains. It's awesome! Download it and play it today.

My favorite thing #4 is.....ibuprofen. Once again, it may sound lame, but between having a baby in January, breaking my foot in June, and all the recovery, pain, and headaches in between; ibuprofen has been one of my best friends this year. It isn't something new that I discovered, but it is a favorite.

Thank you to that wonderful pink pill.

My favorite things 2011 Edition

My Favorite thing #6 is Chris Rice.

I found him through Pandora, and he's my new favorite. He has a lot of music, but my favorite album that he has is his Living Room Sessions. It is piano solo music of Hymns. I just love piano music and his is great. Some of it soothing and inspiring, and other songs are upbeat and fun. He also sings more pop like Christian music as well, that I enjoy but I truly love the piano solos. Among them are Be Still my Soul, Come Thou Fount, and How Great Thou Art. Check him out at Chrisrice.com. 

 

I added one of his songs to my playlist so you can enjoy a sample of his music here.

My favorite things 2011 Edition - Day 4

My favorite things #7 is...

 

The Hunger Games trilogy is by far my favorite series of the year. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to read at all, but I read all three of these books, and I loved them all.  They are exciting, eerie, suspenseful, and intriguing. while reading books like this I can't help but say to myself...who thinks up stuff like this? I am just not that creative to think of and develop even a simple plot let alone one like this. They are kind of graphic, but if you can handle it you should read them. When I was in about chapter 3 of the first book I remember saying to Ben, "this would make a great movie!"I am apparently very psychic because they are coming, and I can't wait for March. I am going to read them again before the movies. They are my favorite books for the year 2011.

My favorite things 2011 Edition - Day 3

My favorite things #8 theme is life's simple pleasures!  

Some days I am running around so much and I feel so used and abused by all the boys, chores, driving, homework, play dates, diapers, naps, and sheer chaos that all I need is a simple pleasure.

My favorite simple pleasures for 2011 is none other than...

 and...

 These two small delights keep me ticking if I need a little love in a can or package. I love vanilla coke, but can't bring myself to drink my calories. So I started drinking coke zero because it tasted less harsh than diet coke. Then they brought out coke zero vanilla, and it was true love. I am not a huge peanut butter in my candy fan, but these little gems cannot be denied. They are delicious!  They have truly been my life line some days. It brings me pure and simple joy to hear that tab pop open, or that bag rip. It's simple, and it is my favorite!

My favorite things 2011 Edition - Day 2

One of my all time favorite things to do is to eat out. Ever since I got my first job at McDonalds, I not only loved to eat there on my break, but anywhere I could go to try something new. It's hard with kids to eat anywhere but McDonalds, but I try my hardest. Eating out has it's own category in my budget, and I always include it on date night.

My Favorite thing # 9
Restaurants, Restaurants, Restaurants!

I want to express appreciation for my long time favorite and my new favorite of 2011. 
My long time favorite is Corbins Grill. They have delicious steak and seafood! I also love their mushroom risotto, it is a creamy delicious sin that will leave you feeling guilty for eating the whole plate. They offer cooking classes that I hope to someday take part in. So great!

My new favorite place is Cantina Southwestern Grill. There is only one location and there defiantly should be more locations. I love cheap Mexican food, but I feel that in the last 10 years or so all the places that I used to love are not so great anymore. This place is awesome! It has meat that doesn't taste like it has last weeks leftovers that have been reheated 7 times. It has wonderful customer service. My very favorite thing about it is the chips and salsa bar. WHAT? That's right they have 9 different home made salsas, my favorite being the avocado cilantro, and a chip warmer full of warm chips that you can help yourself to as many as you want. It is wonderful! If anyone wants to try it I will be happy to go with you!

My Favorite Things 2011 Edition

I know I am late, but since it is the official first day of the year according to the feds I can start my top 10 favorite things list for 2011 today. I wasn't on top of it enough to do this at the end of the year so I am doing it now. So, without further ado, here it is...

Heidi's Favorite things: #10

Pandora baby! As all of you know I am not very technically savvy. I am sure that I am a few years behind discovering Pandora, but 2011 is the year. I have discovered it, and I love it. It is amazing to me that an internet radio station can recognize what I like to listen to and give me other songs that I may enjoy. I have discovered a lot of songs that I love and may otherwise never have heard. It is a great discovery for me, and I love it!

 

Merry Christmas to the Horsleys!

This year was one of the best Christmases that we have ever had. We enjoyed the 3 days of Christmas with family. Christmas Adam with Ben's family was very good. Ben's mom worked really hard to make it a great evening. She planned a great meal, a luminary activity, 12 days of Christmas, and gifts for everyone. It was a great night.

We always go to my parents house for Christmas Eve for our "Festival of Foods" which we did this year. It was the best food we have had in a long time. We had crepes (sweet and savory), Chicken Tiki Masala, Southwestern Eggrolls, Sushi, Summer sausage with cheese and crackers, Brazilian cheese balls, and so many other yummy things. Ben even made homemade Lasagna with pork and bacon sausage. It was really good, I will admit I was surprised. Let's just say, he doesn't cook much. We usually spend the night so my parents can watch the kids in the morning, but as not to overwhelm my poor mom this year we went home. Christmas morning with just us was great! I really enjoyed just doing our own thing. 

Adam got a turtle and named him Melman...although we still don't know if it's a boy or girl.

Noah woke Ben and I up at 7, but none of the other kids were awake so we took him down by himself. This is him and I waiting for Ben to get the camera ready.

Jo Jo loved all the toys, boxes, wrapping paper, and bows everywhere. He was so busy all day long because we didn't clean any of it up.

Noah and his stash!

Seth with his loot!

My favorite gift was this book. Ben took my blog and printed it in a book for me. It was wonderful!

Jo Jo got a blow up car ball pit toy. Everyone is loving it!

I didn't think I would enjoy going to church on Christmas, but it added something special to the day. We are so blessed, and it was a great day to celebrate our Savior's birth and remember all that he has done for and given us.