Birthday Weekend!

Hey everyone! So one of the perks to having a birthday on a Sunday is that you get to have a birthday weekend! (I'm still trying to convince Scott that Sunday birthdays require a birthday week, but he seems to disagree. Some day he'll come around to it :)). So we started the birthday festivities on Friday, starting with Scott skipping school to hang out with Soph and I :) (Pardon my french, but I was thoroughly convinced that hell had frozen over at that point. Scott NEVER misses school, ever. So I felt pretty honored that he would miss school to hang out with me!). He helped me clean the house and make it look all pretty that morning, and then that night we headed down to Castle Rock to hit the outlet stores! (side note-  Castle Rock is beautiful! We are considering moving there if we could find Scott a good job. Huge houses built right in the middle of thousands of pine trees, say what? gorgeous place). Ever since we moved to Denver, there has been one thing that I have seen everywhere: Vera Bradley bags. I have wanted a Vera Bradley bag for a seriously long time, but the only flaw with these bags is that they are pretty pricey. And now I live in a place where they're EVERYWHERE! It made my craving that much worse. My aunts bought me a Vera Bradley diaper bag before Sophia was born, but I feel like that is more Soph's bag than mine. And, two months ago my mom and grandma stopped at our house on their way back to Idaho from Texas, and in walks my mom with a loot of Vera Bradley stuff! A bag, wallet, laptop case, coin purse (and she didn't think to bring me back a souvenir? I get a little something everywhere she goes! ugh!). She said that on their way through, they stopped at some outlet shops and there was a Vera Bradley outlet, where you can buy bags and such for 50-70% off! What?! I had to see it for myself. So when the time came for Scott to ask me what I wanted for my birthday, I had only one thing on my mind: Vera! Done. Scott took me to the outlet and let me pick out a bag. There were so many to choose from! Just one, Scott? I finally found the cutest little bag, and it was originally $100 and We only paid $33 for it! talk about a steal! I love it, I take it everywhere with me and it even has its own little spot in our room :) (yes, I am that weird. But it just sits on top of my Armour- style jewelry box, so that's not that weird, right?)

Happy Birthday to me! :)

 After our Vera visit, we headed back to Englewood and went to dinner at PF Chang's. Scott and I had never been there, and have heard that the food was delicious. When we got there, the wait for a table was an hour and a half (Friday night, oops. forgot about that). The hostess did say that the bar had available seating, and it was full service, so we said what the heck, bar it is! We got some pretty weird looks when we just ordered dr. pepper and water haha. It was a super fun experience for us since we don't get to have that many dates where it's just us, but in all honesty, I'd give the food a C. I didn't think it was all that good for what we paid for it (We're both big panda express fans so there's probably some bias there). But all in all it was a great night and we both had a great time just being together :).

Lettuce wraps: They were pretty good; Scott definitely liked them more than I did.

On saturday, we hung out around the house and played with Sophia a lot, since she was getting sent to a baby sitter again that night. After we dropped her off, we headed to the temple! This past week, Scott has really gotten into family history, and found a total of 181 names between both of our families! Needless to say, we've got some work to do! So we started off doing 50 baptisms and confirmations. It's always a great experience to go and do temple work, but it is that much cooler when you are doing it for your own family :). Way to be, Scott! Thanks for saving our families! ;). Then on our way home we decided that we didn't feel like cooking that night, so we stopped and got steak burgers from this new place called Freddy's. Again, C average food. Not all that great.

Sunday, my actual birthday! It was the primary program at church, and those are always so fun to watch :). Then Scott came home and made me a Devil's food cake with chocolate frosting, sprinkles and cookies and cream ice cream. Just what I had asked for :). And then I finally got to eat some A+ food- Scott made me honey-lime chicken enchiladas, my favorite! It was a great day of just relaxing and spending time with my cute little family :).

Notice the jersey- my team won! Yet another awesome addition to my birthday weekend :)

Too many candles....

Sophia is practicing for next month! Oh how we love her :)

Well, that was how I spent my birthday! It was great. Thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday, I love you all :). 

Here are the next 6 journal prompts:

13.Robert Frost wrote a poem called The Road not Taken. Name a road you have always wanted to travel. Where do you hope it takes you?

14.Name one thing you have always wanted to do, but haven't. What has prevented you from doing it?

15. Write about your first kiss.

16. What was the worst mistake or decision you have ever made in your life? what could you have done differently?

17. What song was stuck in your head recently?

18.Describe 5 things you want to see or do before it's too late.

Thanks for reading everyone! Stay tuned, because next month is going to be legen-wait for it-dary! ("How I Met Your Mother" reference). It is Sophia's 1st birthday and 1st actual halloween! (she was only 4 days old last year haha). 

Amanda

Just another day in the Bentley life/journal prompt challenge!

Well not much is happening these days in "Bentley Land". It did snow here on thursday, though. I thought that was pretty cool! I love fall and winter, they are my absolute favorite time of the year. Scott, however, rushed right to the medicine cabinet and started looking for the imaginary Prozac. It snowed thursday, was kinda cold on friday, and then was 80 degrees today. I guess Colorado weather is just as bipolar as Idaho and Utah weather, YAY!
Since it was such a nice day today, Scott and I took princess Sophie to this really awesome park called Centennial Park. It was probably about 6 acres and had a splash pad, gigantic slides, party/event hosting areas, rock climbing walls, and these really cool saucer swings that can fit 2 or more people on them. I think Scott and I were having way more fun than Sophia was:

 And then we came home, played, ate dinner, played, worked out, took a bath (which left us with this awesome hair-do), played, ate a bedtime bottle, and finally crashed!

                                                             Isn't she just so adorable?!
This last week I was invited to a craft night by a bunch of girls from our ward (I seriously was like a little kid getting invited to the big birthday party). We made these cute little holiday blocks that can be used for a holiday of your choice! They're super easy to make, so of course I'm going to post how to make them :).
You need:
a wood block (sanded)
decorative paper
white paint
scissors
modge-podge
foam paint brushes

So all you need to do is paint the block white, let it dry for a few minutes and then modge podge the decorative paper of your choice onto one side (I chose to do halloween and christmas). after that, cute out a stencil of something festive for the holiday of your choice (pumpkin, tree, cat, turkey, etc.) out of a different decorative paper. Modge podge that onto the block and voila, holiday block! (flip block and repeat :)). Super easy, cheap and cute! I went back in and added some glitter and ribbon to mine, so be creative with it!

And like I said I would, here are the next 6 journal prompts! (I have no idea if anybody is even doing this, but I guess I have to keep posting them in case someone actually is haha). I've been keeping up on mine and it's really fun to go back and read some of my responses.
7. What are your religious beliefs? have they changed, or always stayed the same?
8.When was your last food craving, and what did you crave?
9.Who was your first crush and what made them special?
10.Name your most cherished childhood memory.
11.Turn to a journal entry from a year ago. What has changed?
12.What is one thing no one knows about you, because nobody cared to ask?

Well that's it for now. I know, we are just the most interesting people ever. HAHA :)
Until next time!
Amanda, Scott and baby Sophia

What do I do all day? and journal prompt challenge!

I often get asked by friends, family and Scott how I entertain myself during the day. First off, let me just say this: Being a stay-at-home mom is a FULL-TIME JOB, and anybody who thinks differently can go jump off a cliff (maybe too harsh? but seriously, it's tough stuff). Those little ones really know how to keep you busy! Baby Sophie really loves to play in the toilet, pull all of mommy's under-shirts out of her night stand, rip pages out of daddy's books, eat whatever is laying on the floor that hasn't been vacuumed up, destroying mommy's pretty decorations, climb in the dishwasher, and completely empty-out the wipes container. So, there's that. My job in all of this is to simply, prevent all of it from occurring. Normally, I'm awesome! But then there are those times where she just slips away oh-so quietly, and I find her doing one of these previously mentioned activities. However, my saving grace times take place at 9:30 and 1:30. NAP TIME!!! Bless nap time, it truly is something I look forward to every.single.day. And not because I don't love my baby, but because that means that I get me-time, just me, to do whatever I feel like doing for 3 and 1/2 hours each day. Most nap times are spent watching "How I Met Your Mother" (which I'm almost done with :( Any good recommendations for a new tv series on netflix?), or viciously cleaning the house because, in case you don't know me, one of my favorite thrills and relaxers in the whole world is cleaning. I don't know why, and yes, you can call me psycho. But sometimes, I like to do fun things! Here are a few things that I have done recently:

1. I got in touch with my creative side and decided to decorate the house for fall! I know, we're just barely coming into September, but fall is my most favorite season of all, so I'm kind of jumping the gun hoping that my decorating efforts will bring the season on quicker. Plus the craft store was having a reeeeally awesome sale, so I had to. 

This was all SUPER easy to do, and was pretty cheap as well. 

1. the leaves all came from joann's, and were on sale for $5.99 and $2.99.

2. The glass jars and vases (which are actually ice cream dishes we got as a wedding present haha) I already had, so I just went to the store and picked up some Reese's Pieces and popcorn kernels (since they are fall colors, you could also do candy corns) and filled them with those, and then placed little candles on the top, which you can also pick up at any grocery store, craft store or dollar store.

3. The pumpkins, which were my favorite to make, are just rolls of toilet paper wrapped in orange tissue paper and then tied at the top with green ribbon, and then you draw a cute little face :).

4. The bottles that are sitting on the white plate are what I used to decorate the coffee table, and I just used an old coke bottle and soy sauce bottle, then I bought orange, white and yellow spray paint from joann's, spray painted them to look like candy corns, and then tied an orange ribbon around the top and filled them with floral strands :). It was all very easy, and most of the ideas came from pinterest. (If you don't have a pinterest, I highly suggest you get on that bandwagon asap).

I also have become quite the baker! (I love it but Scott is claiming that I'm trying to "make him fat". A year's worth of McDonald's food couldn't make that kid fat. Lucky punk). These are my new favorite thing to make, Kit-Kat cookies! My favorite candy in a cookie?? Yes please! Here's how to make them- You'll need:

1/2 cup of butter, softened

1/3 cup of sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 kit kats, broken up into thirds (I think I used 3 candy bars total, but you can do less or more depending on what you like)

1/2 cup white chocolate chips (I use just regular chocolate chips).

1. Cream butter and sugars together until combined

2. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together in a seperate bowl, set aside.

3. In the wet ingredients, mix in egg and vanilla.

4. Combine the flour mixture in with the wet ingredients; mix together.

5. Mix in kit-kats and choc. chips.

6. Make spoonful-sized balls and place on metal cookie sheet.

7. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy! (recipe from crazyforcrust.com).

simple as that!

Another thing I have taken up is reading. I've always loved to read, and Scott recently suggested that I get a library card, so that's just what I did! today I went and picked up a book I had on hold called "Heaven is Here", by Stephanie Nielson. Lots of people have heard her story, and I have heard that the book is just incredible. In 2008, Stephanie and her husband, Christian, were in a horrible plane crash that left Christian with burns over 30% of his body, but left Stephanie with burns covering over 80% of her body and in a coma. Her book is about how she recovered, coped with her injuries, and having faith. She also is a wonderful blogger (nie nie dialogues). I'm sure it's going to be a great book!

And just yesterday, while scouring pinterest for craft ideas, I came upon a post titled "130 journal prompts" that is exactly that, 130 journal prompts to get you started on keeping a personal journal. I have always wanted to start a journal, but just couldn't figure out what to write about. Ta-da! solution!I Think it would be fun to post them in case anyone else wants to do it too! ill post 6 today, and then 6 more each week. So, here we go:

1.Name something you lost or gave away that can never be replaced.

2.What 5 websites to you visit often, and why?

3.Name a totally useless possession and how you came to acquire it.

4. What music album would be used for a movie based on your life?

5.List bad habits and/or addictions you have and what you have tried to stop them.

6. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Let me know if you guys try it! I think it's kinda fun, but that's just me :).

Well, in a nutshell, that's how I fill my time! Now if you'll excuse me, my baby monitor seems to be crying :). 

Amanda