Relocation

Hello, Everyone!
I love having a blog. I get obsessed with the "stats" page that tells me how many views I've had. I love when people are interested in our newlywed lives.

There are some changes happening in our lives! First, we have our own website! It's lynesinlove.com so you should go...the main reason being this is where my blog will be from now on. It will also have a section with recipes that I love, and Andy has his own "blog" section. And hopefully a craft section! We hope you like it.
The second change is our big move happening in a couple of weeks. Check out the whole story on my latest blog post from our new website!

I hope you still follow me!

We are the CHAMPIONS!!

I'm improving! 

It turns out it doesn't take that long to post on the blog when I do it more often than once a month! 

We've had such a great week (or however long it's been)! 

We've had many highlights, but the first one was so EPIC! For a few semesters now, Andy and I have been part of several intramural volleyball teams. It's so much fun, and sadly it's the highlight of our week. Towards the end of the season, every team enters the "tournament" which is single elimination, and EVERY TIME we get SO close to winning the entire league, but have never succeeded. 

UNTIL NOW! We started a team this semester of us and our close friends (who just-so-happen to be married, too-married teams are the best). We were Dumbledore's Army. It was so much fun, and what made it even better was the fact that we made it all the way to the championship game, and WON!

Did I mention we get super rad shirts? It felt so great because we beat out two undefeated teams to win. What sweet victory. 

Okay, so as I'm sure most of you know, I have a SERIOUS weakness for baked goods. And when I'm craving something sweet, it's literally ALL I can think about! So one night when I was SERIOUSLY craving brownies, I decided to get creative.  Let's be serious, just plain brownies are boring. 

I found the most amazing looking recipe online for Brownie stuffed cookies....are you kidding me?! Sign me up! They were HUGE but oh so delicious! 

Of course they filled my sugar void. I mean how could they not?! Look at them! 

A couple of weeks ago, we had a wonderful friend get married in California, and they were having their reception in Utah this passed weekend. It was a great opportunity to go visit and have a mini-vacay! Traveling is so hard with Jack, but a couple in our complex offered to watch him for the weekend. So generous, because kennels can get so expensive! 

Jack is like our child, so I had a seriously hard time leaving him. He was in the best hands, though. They are so wonderful! And he got to spend the whole weekend with his girlfriend, Belle! They are in love, which is perfect because they look almost exactly alike!

  

See?! They sent me this picture Saturday morning. 

Jack has NON-STOP energy, so apparently they played until Belle was so tired she needed to nap, and then Jack would just watch her sleep until she was ready to play again.

Crazy animal.

While we were in Utah, we went to Andy's most favorite restaurant (besides Buffalo Wild Wings), which happens to be a really sketchy Mexican restaurant. But you do drastic things for love. 

Andy LOVES their Sopes! I just get a steak quesadilla, which is actually pretty good! 

 ....in heaven.

And just as a side note, we went to DI and I found this couch. 

Is this not the most amazing vintage couch ever?! I loved it. 

That's the life of Lynes as of late! 

Thank you to everyone who has voted for our picture on Facebook! It means so much to us! And there is still time to vote! Just go to https://www.facebook.com/taraphotographics , "like" her page, and then like our picture! It goes until Saturday so we still have time to win! It would mean the world to us! 

A BIG Announcement

Well, now that I've gotten you to my blog....I must confess there isn't REALLY a big announcement, at least not the one you were probably thinking of.
BUT, do you remember these?

OR THESE?!

AMAZING, right?! Well here's the great news. She's decided to give one couple a FREE photshoot. Have I mentioned she's the greatest photographer known to man?
So, this post is a plea to help us win! I would LOVE to have a shoot of our new found family. All you have to do is "like" https://www.facebook.com/taraphotographics , then find our picture and "like" it, as well!

OR you can follow her blog http://taraphotographics.blogspot.com/2012/03/free-thank-you-photo-shoot.html and comment on her post, voting for picture #8.
She is such an amazing photographer and this would be such a wonderful thing for us. Please vote!


P.s., sorry about the add to the right, it's one of Andy's business ventures.

A Month?!?!

I've decided I'm going to stop saying I'm going to get better at blogging, because clearly it just isn't happening. It's been a whole month! But, in my defense, February only had 29 days. 

Our lives have been so CHAOTIC! So much so that our Jack-Jack decided to suddenly become a terror because we weren't spending enough time with him.  But, we have changed our ways and he's back to our somewhat-well-behaved puppy again. Thank goodness! 

First things first, I MUST share our amazing discovery.  I really hope this isn't common, or else my dreams have been crushed. I cracked an egg the other day and found twins! I kid you not, twin little duckies in that egg.

<-----is this normal?! What a precious moment. I'm so happy a snapped this miracle. 

For President's Day weekend we got to take the beautiful (NOT sarcasm) drive to Fallon, NV to visit my family!  And our crazy dog just snoozes the entire way. That doesn't even look comfortable!

 I had been missing them so much, especially the most adorable nephews in the world. It was such a wonderful visit, and it is SO nice for Jack to have a backyard that we can just let him dig like crazy in, and then fill up the giant holes before we leave.  By the way, we are utterly convinced that dogs do legitimately bury bones. No kidding! His completely disappeared. 

I had to do this "hometown spotlight" assignment for one of my classes, so we decided to tour Fallon for some pictures. Andy had heard about the petroglyphs nearby (ancient rock carvings) and was stoked to go see them.  But I think he was a little disappointed, at one point he even said "where are the carvings of mean chasing a buffalo with spears?" We had fun nonetheless!   

 

See, the desert can be fun!

It's always fun to travel and adventure, but the best part is getting home again.  

With all of the campaign hub-bub going on lately, the Lynes family has been true to one man: Ron Paul.  So naturally, when he was in Idaho Falls (a mere 30 minute drive from here) we just HAD to go.  

Now, I must explain something. Andy loves Ron Paul.  I mean, the man is his ultimate modern-day hero. He was going to do anything to meet the man.  Well, we got to the convention center that was packed with 2900 people and SCORE a spot in like the 4th row back (it's all about timing). We see some people get picked to go behind the stage so naturally Andy is jealous.  Ron Paul could be back there!

I'm sitting there, and all of a sudden Andy gets up and says "I'm going back there". Umm....what?? But he did. He walked right backstage.  I was actually a little frightened I was going to be told my husband was in custody or something (that's how much he loves Ron Paul!).

Next thing I know, I'm getting a text that says "I'm going on stage...I don't know what's going on but I'm rolling with it."  Well, he did and this is where it got him.

He was the happiest man alive. Almost happier than the day he married me, I'm sure. Almost. 

But it doesn't stop there! Since he was already backstage, I snuck backstage after it was over.  Could this be? Were we going to meet Ron Paul?

It turns out only media was supposed to be back there, and they wouldn't let ANYONE take a picture with Dr. Paul, but we did get AMAZINGLY close, and Andy shook his hand....twice. His life is is now complete.                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

The next day we participated in Idaho's caucus and sat right behind President and Sister Clark (The President of BYU-Idaho). What an eventful week! 

Tomorrow night we are in the playoffs for our intramural volleyball league! Our team name: Dumbledore's Army.  Which is WAY cooler than any of the other teams' names.  Volleyballers? Really? Wish us luck!

In the CRAFT area of my life, It has been wonderful. I"m learning from my bad decorating choices, and I"m finally happy with how our home is coming along! Our couch is a very sagey-puke-forest green. What the heck colors go with THAT?! 

After looking at my wonderful pinterest, I was inspired by this 

Can we just move in?  

This couch is really similar to the color of ours, and it looks really good with teal! I'm SOLD.  I've been trying to update some of our things to match and creating new things that look good in this color scheme. So far so good. 

I made this paper mache letter for next-to-nothing, and mixed the paint myself using cheap acrylic paints from walmart! It looks pretty terrible in this picture, but that is because there is ZERO lighting in our living room, and it's on a cement wall. 

Then, I took a letter we bought at Kohl's right after we got married and decked it out.  I spray-painted it and mod-podged some scrapbook paper on the front! WHICH I used homemade mod-podge for (84 cents vs. $6.00....YES!)

Well, I can't let our big letter stand alone, right? So I bought some $2.00 canvases and painted a chevron pattern (I'm obsessed with chevron).  BUT, it looked terrible. So I improvised and found a cute fabric quarter at Porter's for like $3.00.  A little of that and some hot glue and BAM! They look REALLY lime here, but they aren't. Promise! They're like a pastel green with sage pattern.

 I had them up to the left of our 'L', but sticky tack just doesn't work on cement. So I'm off to find a new way without having to put holes in the walls. 

Next is a cute shelf for the right of the 'L' to put pictures and a vase on. I'm trying to find a good deal on one that I can paint! 

Don't forget about us

I really wish I was better at updating this. I love putting stuff on here, it's just finding the time and motivation to plug in my phone, get pictures off of it. Then load Andy's phone and getting pictures from it. I mean seriously, who has time for that these days?
Well anyway, we have been CRAZY busy with school and such. Andy has a class where he has to start a legit business on campus and run it for the entire semester. This business is RexCycle. For $40 they will take our your trash for you AND provide you with a recycling bin and take that our for you, too! It's been pretty successful so far, and it's a great idea! Check out their website here!

Jack is still Jack. He is literally the equivalent of our child, besides the fact that  we can leave him in his kennel when we have errands to run. We just love him to pieces!

...and he loves us, too! He's turning into such a snuggler. 

As for us, we're having fun as always. Although we don't see each other much at all anymore between work and school, we love spending time together! Even if it's just a break from homework to be our goofy selves.

And on some exciting news, we got a new OVEN!! woohoo! This probably doesn't seem too exciting to some, but our old one was NASTY, and super old. So this was a SERIOUSLY needed upgrade. That old oven dying was the best thing that ever happened to us. 

isn't it beautiful?

For some time I've been thinking about getting some pictures taken of us since we've been married. So when this opportunity came up, I just couldn't resist. The amazing Tara, who took our engagement pictures, was doing a Valentine's special. YES! She is so amazing, and it was so much fun to have these taken! 

Amazing, right??? My husband is so HANDSOME. One thing's for sure, I think it's safe to say our kids will be blue-eyed. 

And I thought I'd just share my newest iPhone cases because I LOVE them:

Next weekend we are heading to NEVADA for the three day weekend! I just can't wait!!! 

Just Call Me Martha

I may have to change my name to Martha Stewart. Just you wait, one day I will have a TV show, I'm getting THAT good.
Well not really, but I'm on my way. I want to update everyone on my not-so-impressive but good effort accomplishments in the DIY world, even ones that I've forgotten to post about!

But first, just a quick update on our lives: School, work, gym. That's about it.
 Andy is busy with IBC this semester.  It stands for Integrated Business Core. He's put into a group, and that group is put into a "company" and then they have to start and run a legit business on campus all semester.  It's a 12 credit class!! But, after he's done he's ready for graduation! Wahoo!

OH YES! And we are in the midst of an amazing Harry Potter Marathon on BLURAY!
We only have one more movie, but then we've decided to start over with director commentary. Yep, we are nuts.
This is our usual Harry Potter-watching tradition:

He loves us so much

Speaking of Jack, we have started putting more trust in him. When we leave he is no longer in his kennel! Well, we do have to lock him in the front room, and take precautionary measures by cleaning out everything he might find tasty. But, it's a work in progress.

He also has a new friend that just moved in, her name (that's right, Jack has a girlfriend) is Bell. Her and Jack look almost exactly alike which can get confusing when they play. I'll have to snap a picture! 

Now for my beginner attempts at being awesomely creative and resourceful:

A long long time ago, we went to our friends' Kyleur and Hannah for dinner. Hannah and I were roommates and then got married like a month apart (along with 2 of our other roommates). I decided to bring something fun for desert so I found this awesome idea to make chocolate cake in a waffle maker...and....

SUCCESS!!

It was a fun way to eat some chocolate cake! And it was even better to smother them in ice cream, fruit, and chocolate!! YUMM! I highly recommend it!

Next, is my iPhone. I got one for Christmas and knew going into it that a case would NOT be cheap, not to mention I'm really indecisive (which you already know if you know me at all). But THEN....I found this amazing blog that used the smartest idea ever.  She bought a cheap clear case and then used scrapbook paper to make inserts..GENIUS!!! So, that's what I did...

It took a little time and patience, but I'm in love with it. Now, I can change around my "case" as much as I want and it costs like $1.00! However, my finger did suffer quite the slice from the X-acto knife. Cute phones require sacrifices. 

The last thing is probably the biggest thing I've done yet! Our apartment is so wonderful and homey, but my new goal is to spice it up a bit with some color (thank you, pinterest). So, that's exactly what I did, starting with the kitchen table.

 Before...

 ... middle...

....after!

Andy was very reluctant, and I still think he's getting used to it (we have pretty different tastes when it comes to decorating), but I'm in love. I can't wait to start my next project!

Until next time!

We are still Alive

I would just like to start off by saying The Lynes family is STILL ALIVE!
I can't even remember the last time I posted, but I'm sure it was eons ago! With finals and Christmas break, life has been pretty hectic for us, so I'll try to catch you up to speed.

We survived finals, and might I say that it was SO NICE not having to worry about clean checks and moving out simultaneously.  I love being married! We left for Iowa as soon as we could escape, and boy did it take forever to get there! 18 hours in one day is ROUGH.  I think Jack and I were about to lose our minds by the time we got to Andy's parents' house.
Christmas was good to us, this year!
I got a new phone (the iPhone thank you very much) from my parents, a new hair dryer WITH a diffuser attachment (that has already gone missing) and a hot glue gun from Andy (I asked for one...CRAFTS!), and some clothes from the Iowa parents, which were MUCH needed (my shopping income has disappeared since getting married, but the sacrifice is worth it).
Andy got a home tool set from me, the entire Harry Potter trilogy on Bluray from my parents, and some wonderful clothes from his.
As far as joint gifts (which come once you get married...woohoo!), we got a Bluray player, a popcorn popper (Andy is a popcorn-eating monster), Mario Kart, and a new Scrabble game. We scored big time!

We had to come back to Idaho the day after Christmas (not fun) so that we could do AFY Winter.  It's a 3 day youth camp that Andy is the director of.  The youth stay at Badger Creek, which is the school's wilderness retreat at the foot of the Grand Teton Mountains (a.k.a. BEAUTIFUL).  We got the lucky task of being the chefs. Yikes. Needless to say, we got little sleep, but it was a very rewarding experience! And we got to go snowboarding for free. How can you pass that up?
Jack was going to stay at a kennel service, but apparently a dog has to have a special vaccine to stay there, which we did not know about until it was too late! So naturally, he got to come.  I think our dog was born to be in the snow.  HE LOVES THE SNOW!! He was jumping around in it like a mad man, which is saying something considering it was up to his shoulders.

After coming home, we have been recuperating until the semester starts on Wednesday. Last night we stayed home to start our Harry Potter marathon, and fell asleep in the living room before we could even see the new year chime in.  Are we getting old or something??

Life is wonderful.  I'm so excited to see what the year 2012 has to offer for our little family of 3.

CRAFT TIME!
My latest DIY projects have been fun! I made some homemade dog treats for Jack, and he LOVED them! The only problem was they got moldy pretty fast.  So, I'm thinking next time I'll make fewer and keep them refrigerated.
I also tried to make these S'more Cookies. They were okay, but they do NOT look like the picture.  At least mine didn't!

The next big project I have is to liven up our living room. It's cute, but very brown and green.  Our kitchen table is very round and simple.  The chairs are white, so I want to paint it.....TEAL!! I think it would really pop! I'm also planning on making some bright wall art for our very bare wall.  I'm thinking maybe something like this or this. Either way, it will hopefully look good! I'll keep you posted!