Eight Waite Updates

Here are eight things we've been up to lately:

1.  My office does a Valentine exchange every year, as well as a Valentine box decoration contest.  I usually just cover a box in cute paper and call it good.  This year I decided to have a little fun with it and make a cupcake box.  I didn't have any instructions, just a rough idea in my head.  At times I thought it wouldn't work, but it actually turned out pretty cute.  Here I am making the top of the cupcake out of paper mache.  I thought this part of the process was pretty fun.  I think the last time I did this was in elementary school!

I used a plastic container for the base, lots of tissue paper for the frosting, and heart stickers for the sprinkles.  I knew I wouldn't win the contest (there are some really creative people in my office), but I did get a prize for the reddest box :).  

I ended up with some yummy treats and fun Valentines!

2.  One night I was feeling under the weather and Doug decided to cheer me up with a game of Scrabble.  It turned out be lots of fun and it did cheer me up.  Doug scored some major points with his consonants, while I was cursed with tons of vowels.  I almost caught up to him, but he ended up winning.  I think we may need a re-match sometime soon.

3.  I came across a recipe for cookies and cream muddy buddies on Pinterest and knew I had to try it out.  We love muddy buddies and Oreos, so I figured this couldn't go wrong.  It was scrumptious!  We did miss the peanut butter flavor a little bit that you get with regular muddy buddies, so I might try to incorporate that next time I make this.

4.  I've been saving old jeans for years and years so I could make a denim quilt someday.  My stack was getting pretty high, so I decided to pull them out to take stock of what I have.  19 pairs of jeans!  I think that might make two quilts (if what I've read online is any indication).  Getting these out made me want to start working on it right away, but I'm trying to restrain myself from starting another new project when I have several others that are in progress.  I wonder how long I can wait...

5.  Doug and I took advantage of the beautiful weather a couple weeks ago and headed up to Spring Hollow in Logan Canyon.  The views were gorgeous as always.  We walked along the river and watched the fish for a while.  

I'm not great at taking selfies.  I usually don't get one of us fully in the picture the first time.  This was the second attempt, and I figured that was as good as it was going to get.  It works :).

I loved how the moss in the water was the only greenery around.  It was really striking against the still-wintry landscape!

I always enjoy visiting this little waterfall by the campground.  We usually see it in the summer when there's a lot more water flowing through it, so it seemed more like a trickle than a roaring waterfall.  Still pretty, though!  

6.  To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make green Rice Krispie treats.  Apparently I wasn't paying close attention when pouring the food coloring - we ended up with very green Rice Krispie treats!  My tongue was pretty green after eating one of these (and licking the bowl!).  Still, it was fun and festive, and they were tasty :).

7.  I finally bought a phone app I've been eyeing for a while, and I love it!  It's called Waterlogue - it turns your photos into watercolors.  I've had so much fun with this.  I'm not an artist, but I like to take photos (just on my iphone), so it's really fun to watch my photos turn into works of art.  Totally worth $3!

8.  Doug and I have seen the movie Oblivion a few times, and after the last time we watched it I decided that I HAD to find some sheet music for the soundtrack.  I looked and looked and looked online and couldn't find anything. I was pretty bummed about it.  But that didn't stop me.  I found a video on YouTube of someone playing their cover of one of the songs.  I definitely can't play by ear, but I decided that I could write out the music by watching the pianist's hands.  It took a couple hours of watching and listening and (re-watching and re-listening) to get it, but I actually did it!  I have yet to finish writing it out properly, but I love that I can now play this beautiful song.  I did find another video of a cover to another song from the movie.  I'm sure I'll be doing the same thing with that one!