year 2011

I started writing another post and my computer crashed on me. It has been over 4 weeks since I have had my laptop working correctly. It is fixed, thanks dad, but I wont get it back until Saturday. So, therefore, I am doing another kindle post (which is much harder than a laptop to type on). I decided to write on events and prices of 2011. So in the future I will have it for my kids to look at and compare (that is if the world continues after 2012). Haha.
Prices (based on national averages)
Gas: $3.89
House rent: $955.00
New house to buy: $202,100
Bread: $1.98
Gallon of milk: $3.39
Dozen eggs: $1.25
Wages: $40,925
Unemployment: 9.2 %
Movie ticket: $8.20
First class stamp: 44 ¢
College tuition: $7,605

Also, I have already 1/2 way completed one of my new years resolutions. The dentist. As fate has it, 2 days ago a bottom tooth chipped. So it helped kick my butt in gear and find a dentist. My appointment is next Thursday (the 19th). I may pee my pants a little that day out of nervousness! Wish me luck!

1st Birthdays

Rillz and I had 2 nieces and 1 nephew who had their first birthdays in 2011.
Brecken Miller turned one. Happy Birthday! We celebrated it on the 4th of July. Hence the awesome firworks cake! This little dude popped out having a strong personality. He loves making people laugh. Brecken is the toughest and most prone accident baby I have known. He went through a phase of hitting his head against people/walls/floor. Gunnar better watch out because this kid is a brick! But on the other spectrum... Brecken is also a HUGE cuddle bug! I love that when Rillz and I see him he wants hugs and kisses and just to snuggle. We love this sweet boy!


Before fireworks. The mosquitos attacked us all that night.

These two are so cute together.

Gracey Noone - The week before our wedding our niece turned 1. In the hawaiian culture the 1st birthday is the biggest! Gracey had a party in hawaii with 300 people! Wow. Can't wait for my baby to turn 1. Yikes. For whatever reason I didn't get any pictures. They live in Florida so we don't get to see her often. She is a very loved little girl!

Camden Tracy - In her first year this little girl has racked up the frequent flyer miles! This girl just melts our hearts. She really transformed into a little character. She was a difficult little thing with not much emotions for a while. But then one day Camden just became this little bundle of joy. She had so much personality just sprout over night! There is just something about her that has the sweetest little spirit that is so calming when your with her. We just can't get enough of her. Rillz named her Lani Girl! We love little Camden!

Can you tell from the pictures someones mommy loves Zebra pattern!?!

Camden ate her cupcake with a spoon. Didn't want to get her hands dirty. Silly girl.

When the party started... she wasn't to happy

Love her cake!

We also added a new little baby in 2011!

Brent and Noelle had new addition...

Iris Kathryn Hollingsworth Born October 19.

Welcome to the world sweet Iris!

We first met her on Thanksgiving

Her first holiday... Halloween
Sideways picture (oops) on Thanksgiving

Happy birthday to all the babies in our family!

Dog Toys

Our dogs got toys for christmas.

Fun for dogs...

Not fun for humans...

Happy New Year 2012

I have really been wanting to catch up on this years blot posts but working 15 hour days for the last couple weeks has really left me no time for anything. So I will post this for now from my kindle.
I was looking at my new years resolutions from last year and was pretty proud that all but one had been accomplished. We got engaged, married, worked out more and Rillz moved up in his job. It was a very successful year. Of course the highlight being the wedding. For this year Rillz's goal is to do his absolute best at work and eventually get promoted again. My goals are to continue my education (this is what I didn't accomplish in 2011), establish a family doctor and dentist (I am freaked out by the dentist so this is a big one for me), continue to save with couponing, take care of my little garden, and the biggest one for Rillz and me is to have no credit card or motorcycle debt, and have a baby (obviously we cant totaly control this one, but still a goal). We are excited to see what 2012 has in store for us.

Christmas gifting

At least 4 weeks before christmas...

me "What should we get your parents for christmas?"
Rillz "I don't know"
me "What about Idaho coffee or something?"
Rillz "No, they have the best coffee in the world. Don't worry about it. We don't need to get them anything."
me "Ok then..."

The morning 4 days before christmas

Rillz "I need to get my parents something"
me "You said we weren't getting them anything"
Rillz "Yeah, but we should... What about a bag of coffee or something?"
me.... no comment.....

Lesson learned.

Breakfast Cranberry-Walnut Quinoa Cookie and x-mas gift

I was reading Bon Appetit magazine yesterday and saw a recipe for Breakfast Cranberry-almond Quinoa cookie and said I must try that! So I did.

I had to make alterations to what I had on hand. Used white flour instead of white whole wheat flour, used coconut extract instead of almond extract and used walnuts instead of almonds.

These turned out so yummy! Definitely a good breakfast cookie. Not very sweet and kind of bready. I was just so curious because Quinoa in a cookie?!? But, yes, it really is tasty and a nice consistency.

This is a christmas gift I made for my 2 best girlfriends. I found the mason jar with a handle at goodwill for $ .25 a piece. Etched the beehive in the glass with etching cream. Kristi found the honey dippers for $2 a piece at a craft fair that she was selling jewelry at. A normal mason jar lid wouldn't fit so I started raiding the lids in the fridge to find something that would fit. The one in the picture came off of a salsa jar and the other one I made came off a mustard jar. I just spray painted the tops black. The salsa lid already had that cool yellow design on the side so I left it. So for a couple bucks and some change... I have a nice x-mas gift to give.

The most wonderful time of the year...

I love christmas!! We have so many traditions as a family.


*The Caldwell night light parade. We always eat taco soup before the parade and apple cobbler after. So Much Fun! It only gets better with all the babies!


*Christmas Eve is when we get together with my family. A movie and then a breakfast dinner together. And, also, opening the sibling and parent gifts that night.


*Christmas day in the afternoon we always go to my Great Aunt Nancy's house with the Hollingsworth relatives. We play an awesome roll the dice gift game and just really enjoy the company of everybody!

Waiting for the Caldwell parade to start... Brecken didn't have gloves so Heidi loaned him some. They fit just right ;)

Me and my daddy!



Mom, Heidi, and Cami Girl

Me in front of the huge lit up tree in Caldwell

Mom and Dad in front of a bunch of lit up lights along the water.

Christmas decorations are always fantastic to look at and I am strict about the day after Thanksgiving my decorations are out of the shop and ready to put up! They need to be up for the max amount of time!

My christmas tree looks a little sad in this picture. But at night... I love it. I decided to use the old fashion c9 bulbs on it and put less ornaments. (Mainly because I got lazy hanging ornaments). I didn't even try to put the star on top this year because our fake tree is just to tall and goes right to the ceiling.

My stockings

A random shelf I decorated. I just used stuff I had laying around the house or extras of stuff in the x-mas boxes and kinda came up with this look.

Love my bear advent calendar. Just like the one I had growing up! It is ugly but full of memories!

Two days ago my boss saw these light up reindeer that they never use and asked if I wanted to take them home.. Ummm, YES!! Rillz, I, and the dogs went out in the cold this morning to assemble them. I love them!

Aren't these great! We put them closer to the front door because we don't live in the best neighborhood and I don't want them to get stolen.

Rillz staking the reindeer down so they don't blow over. These things were SO easy to assemble!

Miss Malu helping in the front yard. Yes, she has a coat. She gets so cold so quickly and just starts shaking. So Malu gets a coat.

Little Simon boy.

Jersey... she was let out in the front yard with no leash for the first time and did GREAT! She stuck around the whole time. She has been a great addition.

Also, Pandora on my phone has been AMAZING! I put it on the She and Him Christmas channel and just love the tunes! Oh I love christmas music but the radio x-mas channel gets a little boring. Pandora is truly fantastic!

Christmas is in exactly one week! Crazy. Still no snow in Boise, Idaho (which is a little weird for this time of year). But snow or no snow... Merry Christmas everybody!