Puff Pastry Swans!

We have made a lot of fun things in my pastry class this semester like english muffins, puff pastries and danish pastries, tarts, tuile cookies, worked on plate presentation, and have done some chocolate work. This week we made cream puff swans! I just wanted to show off my amazing new skills! =)

And here is a picture of a chocolate tart with heath bar that I made earlier this semester. I took it on my phone and it was already half eaten so it doesn't look as pretty as it did before. =)

To go along with my last post. If you could answer these three questions that would be awesome and help me so much!

1. What are your simple joys in life/what makes you happy?

2. If you had anything to say about your simple joys what would it be? For example: "Dr. Pepper, BBQ Ribs, & Chocolate. If I could get that in one meal I can die happy." or "marshmellow mateys are the gse and since mac and cheese is the greatest thing since I took m and cheese is the greatest thing since I took my first steps I guess that means its a pretty good thing." ( Thanks Scott and Brent)

3. What do you secretly do that makes you happy inside?

I NEED YOUR HELP!!!

For my next Graphic Design Project we have to make a box and in our box is fifty cards which have a picture on one side and type on the other. It has to be a series of something that can be very creative or simple. For example: fifty different hairdos, fifty books you have to read before you die, fifty imaginary toys that little boys love ( like a picture of a flashlight on one side and on the other it says light saber). One Japanese girl did fifty things that North America does that is strange to the Japanese eye, or another guy took these really awesome/ beautiful photos of trash and title the whole thing "please litter "then wrote a haiku on the back about it of each picture. So its really broad, I can basically do whatever I want. I am having trouble thinking of ideas though. I was thinking of doing a series of the fifty different joys in life ore a series of fun personality quirks in people. So I need you to tell me what your simple joys in life are and your funny/ individual personality quirks are. For the simple joys in life I am trying to think of things that a lot of people will relate to but wouldn't think of it themselves right away if I asked them this question. So when they read it they might chuckle to themselves and think "oh ya that's true I do love that!" Or If you have any other good Ideas for the series that I could do would really really help! Thanks a bunch!

Happy Halloween!

Its that time of year again! All these fun holidays that come in a row during this time of year is the only reason that makes winter bearable! I'm so excited for all the holidays this year not only because I need some sort of break from school but also its our first holidays as a married couple! The only problem is that I am so excited so I want to decorate, make lots of yummy treats, and do lots of fun things...but I don't want to spend the money on it. hhmm...its kinda tricky. For Halloween we decided to make our own cheesecloth ghosts decorations. They didn't turn out so well but we had fun making them!

The End results: They were so floppy we had to support them with other things! haha!

We had a good Halloween weekend though we did not carve a pumpkin or dress up!!!! LAME I KNOW!!! I was actually very sad about this and Taron has had to hear quite a bit about it from me. lol. (we do have a really good idea for next year though!) But we did go to our ward Halloween party and make a Halloweenie Dinner!

They had lots of fun snacks to eat at the ward party!

Taron was ready to play all the fun games but not very many people would play because they were all boring married people. But eventually Taron got others excited and he got a game started and we won some cakes in the cake walk!!!

There was also a kid dressed up like Nacho Libre! It was hilarious!!!


Our Halloweenie dinner was my favorite part! We made mummy hotdogs, witches punch, green applesauce, bone breadsticks and cinnamon rolls! It was so fun to make and so yummy! We invited Todd and Kristen over for dinner because we had to show off our Halloween skills!

I thought it turned out pretty good. The applesauce looks really gross green because its homemade so its chunky! After dinner we went over to Jason and Angi's house and watched The Burbs. Ive never seen it before and so it was lots of fun! They also had lots of yummy treats for us to snack on.

We also got a new couch on Halloween day!!! Well we have a couch for a little bit I guess. We are couch sitting Todd and Kristen's couch while they are couch sitting for somebody else. So once Todd and Kristen have to give theirs back we do to. It takes up a lot of space in our living room but its so nice to have a couch!!!!! I just didn't know what I was missing until we got one! It is wonderful!

Full of Sunshine

6:25 AM- My alarm goes off but I slept in anyway, enjoying every little bit of my bed I could until the last possible second.
7:45 Am-While rushing out the door I was happy to discover all the snow had melted!
8:00 Am: Graphic Design- I'm in class...but where is the guest speaker?
8:10 AM: I have been thinking a lot lately about those people who just always make your day and I've been thinking about how maybe I might not get the chance to do all the things I want to do in life but I sure can make others days like they make mine. So I tried it out and discovered a surprise that was happy.

*This one particular girl is in two of my classes this semester and keeps sitting by me and talking to me. I've been thinking this was a little annoying but today I thought maybe there is a reason she always sits next to me and maybe I can make her day. So I tried to have a real conversation with her instead of just patiently listening before I could concentrate on my own thoughts. And I discovered I really like her! I think I made a new friend today. =)*

Which led me to a conclusion:

*Sam! Quit judging people! Its rude and you are never right about them.*

9:20 Am- Class ends at 10:45 but still no guest speaker so I headed home to take a shower before my next class at 11:00 which made my decision to sleep in this morning worth every little bit of it! Plus no regrets of not having time for make up, no breakfast, or forgetting to put on deodorant because I was heading home anyway!
11:30 AM- Showed off my ugly lopsided creation I call a bowl to my ceramics class and we all shared a good laugh about it, including the teacher. But I didn't care because thats the first time I've ever threw on a wheel and was a little proud I made something.
12:30- Got out of ceramics class early (it goes till 1:45) so I headed home again! I've noticed over the years while going to school that I walk unusually fast, passing people left and right! I don't know why-maybe the cold winters have trained me to walk to class faster. Whatever the reason I've discovered a happy thing!

*Making race car noises in my head while passing people makes my monotonous school days a lot more fun!*

Today while riding my bike home I had another happy discovery!

*Being a Nascar driver is ten times better on a bike! You pass way more people at much faster speeds!*

Because of this discovery I even raced a few bikes while speeding home. I'm glad I didn't tell them we were racing though because they all lost and I didn't want to ruin their day. Mine was going so good.
12:45-2:45- I got to spend extra time with my husband-free of homework- on our lunch break. We even got to watch this weeks episode of Heros which I always look forward to!
2:45-Heading back on campus to my Illustration class and another happy discovery!

*Not only did all the snow melt this morning but it was now considerably much much warmer and the sun was kinda shinning!*

3:00-6:00 PM:Illustration Class- Brother Carter complimented my art work! He told me I was a very talented designer and that any of my sketches will work very well for our project! I don't get compliments from my art teachers very often...almost never! And never this sincere of one! It felt good! This current project we are doing made me think a lot in class today about all the little things and people that make me happy...which made me feel happy inside. I also came up with a lot of good ideas for our final project at the end of the semester that also made me feel happy inside.
6:00 PM: Walking Home- My last discovery was the happiest of all!

*sixteen dollars deserted on the street-all alone-just waiting for a warm pocket to walk by and claim it! Well nobody else was around to do it-so I did!*

Now I'm home feeling full of sunshine because of all my happy discoveries today! Thanks for putting up with this odd and long post because it was my way of expressing my gratitude for my happy day!Did you make any happy discoveries today?

Welcome to the Ratliff's!

Thanks to Jay, his last comment scared Taron enough to let me out of the dark long enough so I could welcome everybody to our first new home as newlyweds! =)

This is our front door!

This is our living room! Our friends Liz and Josh gave us our table (which currently has a puzzle on it that we are working on.) Taron was given the piano for helping some of his friends move a few semesters back, we just barely put pictures in the frames above and on the piano so now its our faces in the frames instead of the strangers that come with them (Gail Park gave us the one hanging above the piano and Sophie Mcbroom gave us the clear ones on the piano.) and there is a wooden bookshelf that Todd and Kristen gave us that you can barely see to the right of the piano which we put some books on and our games and they also gave us the TV because it was bigger then the one we had (I'm watching Friends because Taron isn't home. =) The Dvd shelves, tv stand, and curtain we bought with our Wal mart gift cards from our wedding ( thanks everybody!) And that big blob of white on our floor is our couch we made out of extra blankets. So if it wasn't for friends and family giving us things and gift cards all we would have would be a blob of blankets on the floor and a little tv sitting on the floor in the corner. Thank goodness for people looking out for us! =)


This is Taron's box where he practices his ninja skills throwing used gift cards.

And this is our Kitchen! The outside of our fridge is full of decorations from Victoria and Cole and the inside of our fridge...

Is full of...nothing! =) Our shopping trips mostly consist of sandwich stuff, tortillas, milk, and yogurt so our fridge looks kinda sad but don't let that fool you our cubbards are full and we really do get plenty to eat!

Also once our apartment was set up it started to feel like our home and we both decided that it is essential for all homes to have icecream!

Walk through the door at the end of the kitchen and its our bedroom! Our bed has batman on Taron's side and Fairies on myside! Gertie, Bernie, and Simba also share the bed with us (don't worry dad Simba still gets his place on the bed! =) Sorry our closet looks messy I just wanted to show our shoe racks we also bought with our gift cards. Can you guess whose side is whose? =) To the right of our bed next to the white drawers is our tv that was in our living room before Todd and Kristen gave us the bigger one and near the bottom right corner of the foot of our bed is the door to the bathroom. On the door to the bathroom is a cracked dent thats shaped very much like knuckles...curious. I guess previous owners must have a husband or wife with a really bad temper! (don't worry its not from Taron! We haven't been married long enough for that kind of rage to build up yet! ;)

So there ya go this is our home! I get home about 6:30 everyday (if I don't have to stay on campus to finish homework in the Spori computer lab, if so I get home around 8:00 or 9:00.) But the very first thing I do when I get home is tidy up our house and cook dinner so Taron has a nice place to come home too. Its really fun to tidy up and keep my house clean because its mine! Taron gets home around eight and then we eat dinner. by the time we get done with dinner and dishes its probably around nine or nine thirty so we don't really do much during the week but go to school/work, eat dinner then watch TV or work on our puzzle till bed. On the weekends Taron goes to work Saturday morning and I head on campus to get ceramics and graphic design homework done (which I'm supposed to go do now.) Then the rest of our free time we usually spend hanging out with our friends Todd and Kristen (who live next door!) Liz and Josh (my old roommate and husband who feed us a lot), Jason and Angi (who also feed us a lot!), or Amy and Tim. As you can tell we are happy and living large! I made this post extra detailed for all of you who requested better updates!

Dreams Do Come True

Taron and I have been together for fourteen months and six days. We have been married now for four weeks and a day and I and I am happy to report that life couldn't be better! =)

I Saw the Sign! =)

As everyone knows by now Taron and I have finally decided to be happy together forever! =) Here is my side of the story for those of you who don't know: as most of you do know for quite a while the decision was solely up to me since Taron had made up his mind forever ago what he wanted. This was the biggest stress on me because I felt like everyone was just sitting around holding their breath waiting for me to decide...and this was a BIG decision! It already takes me much longer than normal people to decide anything let alone committing myself to one person for eternity! But after weeks of stressing (which had nothing to do doubts about Taron or our life together) I realized I was finally ready. Last Monday I went to a double birthday party for two of my old roommates and we decorated cupcakes. I had no idea how to tell Taron I was ready so I just made him a cupcake that said "P.s. I'm ready!" And on Tuesday while we were eating lunch in the sunshine I gave it to him. From that moment on something in Taron changed, he was so happy and so cute despite all my anxiety. He wouldn't even eat his cupcake! He just sat there holding it with this goofy smile, I had to force him to eat it! =)

Now I'll tell you what Taron is one speedy man because the next day after I gave him his cupcake he proposed! I knew it was going to come quick but I didn't think it would be that quick!I kinda had a feeling that day that he might propose but also at the same time I didn't know if he could get the ring so fast. I was nervous all day! (I found out later so was Taron) I was also kinda on this crazy emotional roller coaster all day, right before our date I was really excited singing and dancing in the shower! But as soon as we got to the ropes course I thought I was going to throw up! I think it was the mixture of stress, nervousness, not knowing if the proposal was going to happen or not, and the fact i'm scared of heights. As we were climbing the tower I was thinking to myself "he had better not propose because I think I'm either going to thow up or pass out!" After a struggle I finally made it up the tower (which I am very proud of.) Taron let me settle down a bit by just relaxing and chatting at the top of the tower and then he pulled out our lunches and we had a picnic on top of the tower. Taron ate all of his lunch but I think I only ate two bites. He let me relax and calm down some more then pulls out a rope. I was wondering if he was going to tie us together coming down off the tower because I was so scared but he just told me I would see later and threw one end off the side and tied the other to himself. We sat and chatted some more then he started to pull up the rope. Confused, I was wondering if he was pulling up a ring box or something but it looked heavy. And it was a guitar! When we first started dating Taron learned the song "I wanna grow old with you" that Adam Sandler sings in the wedding singer. So its been our special song but he looked the most handsome playing it for me on top of that tower that day! =) After the song he asked me if he could keep me forever and I answered saying yes please! (something else we always say to each other) then as he pulled out the ring he said, "well in that case will you marry me?" and I said "Yes please!"

Its taken me a couple of days for everything to sink in but as more time passes and the more I realize whats actually happening the more and more excited I am getting! Taron is so sweet and wonderful for trying so hard to have the perfect proposal for me and I know he is everything I have ever wanted and more! He surprises me over and over with how great a guy he is, I just admire his personality. (not to mention I think he is so handsome! )And I am excited to start this new part of my life together! =) Thanks everyone for being so sweet and excited for us!