12May 2014

Mother’s Day

By K + Z 0 Family, Food, Friends, Holidays, Personal Permalink 0

Monday was Zach’s very first ice hockey game of the season. We both have been looking forward to it for weeks. It was at the ACORD center in West Valley and as if it couldn’t have gotten any better…they had Mike & Ike’s in one of the vending machines. All was peaceful. Zach’s team was winning 5 to 0 and it wasn’t until the 3rd period that the opposing team started to get flustered. One of the members of their team got frustrated and took a whack at Zach [literally] with his stick. I yelled “Calm down, 22. This isn’t the Olympics!” He looked straight up at me from down on the ice and used some very choice gestures. I couldn’t stop laughing. Zach’s ice hockey games are such a great source of entertainment for me. 30-year-old men playing in a rec league – acting like it is for the Stanley Cup! I just kept on eating my Mike & Ike’s…

This week I also took on a little project I have been scheming up. I have been wanting to make a travel map for Zach and I for months, but couldn’t figure out how I wanted to do it. I wanted something unique so I bought a few supplies. First I painted a 8’x4′ sanded plywood board in my garage.

Once it dried I applied a giant vinyl sticker of a map I found on Etsy. It was 7′ wide and took a lot of patience, but it looked great after it has been adhered to the board.

After hanging it above the staircase [the most difficult part] I began to mark all the places we had traveled with small wire nails.

The most time consuming part was connecting all the wire nails with embroidery floss to represent all the flights we have taken from home. I thought a “flight” travel map would be the perfect way to display our love of travel and Zach’s love of aviation.

I was so excited about how it turned out!

I also made some Ocho de Mayo decorations. My friend Kristina’s birthday is on May 8th and she is Mexican, so we celebrate Ocho de Mayo instead of Cinco de Mayo. I wanted romantic cantina lighting, so I made candle votives out of glass bottles.

We all ordered take-out from Red Iguana and enjoyed each other’s company whilst eating out of metal containers.

My friends indulge my stupid ideas and kept strictly to theme: Whit brought Mexican Coke and Sprite in bottles and Whitney Allen brought fried ice cream for dessert!

We love you Kristina! I hope you had the best birthday possible. You are by far my favorite Mexcian!

Saturday morning I got to babysit some of my nieces and nephew at their house while their mom and dad were at work. I am trying to get as much practice in as possible before Juan Pedro comes…

These little faces are easy to love.

Saturday night Zach and I had our date night at Tepanyaki and had La Bonne Vie macarons for dessert. The new lemon flavor is off the CHAIN! I took them into our late night movie at the Gateway. MUCH better than popcorn if you ask me…

Sunday Zach and I slept in and relaxed all morning. A few hours later Zach gave me my very first Mother’s Day gift. I honestly didn’t expect anything and wouldn’t have been disappointed if he would have completely forgot, but he never forgets. Bless his mother for teaching him to be so thoughtful. Jeanene, you have made your son such a wonderful husband and I couldn’t be more grateful. Just one of many reasons I adore my mother-in-law. I was totally blown away by my husband’s sweet gesture.

Sunday for Relief Society I was asked to bear my testimony about a specific topic and decided to tie in my testimony about my Mom. I have been working on a journal for her as a Mother’s Day gift and have been writing in it every Sunday for the past few months. I shared some of my favorite memories of my mom and couldn’t have been more grateful for her at that moment.

Mother’s Day means something different to me now and celebrating my first one with my husband and family was the best gift I could have been given. I can’t wait to celebrate with my mother-in-law and Zach’s family this week to honor them for Mother’s Day. We’ll keep the good times coming as long as we can…

14Apr 2014

An Eagle // A Wedding // A Baptism

By K + Z 0 Family, Food, Friends Permalink 0

Our weeks lately are full of family and we don’t mind one bit.

My goal this week was to spend as much time with Zach before he left on his boys’ trip. So Monday we had a lovely FHE, just the two of us, with Little Caesar’s Pizza and a Walking Dead marathon. I don’t know how we waited this long to bite the bullet, but we are loving some zombie action.

Tuesday we drove up to Farmington for our oldest nephew’s Eagle Court of Honor. It’s fine. Keaton is 16 at already 8″ taller than Zach and I. We couldn’t be more proud of our [little] Keato Bug!

Mid week Zach and I got to pick up my new ride! We have been looking for a new (new to me, but used of course) car to replace Silvie [my Mazda SUV] and finally got to pick her up on Wed. She doesn’t have a name yet, but we are actively pursuing the possibilities.

Friday I got to spend the entire day at my sweet neighbor Jake’s wedding. His mother Lori is one of my mom’s best friends and they lived near my parents in Taylorsville. Jake is my brother Blake’s age and they were inseparable growing up. I got to attend his beautiful sealing in the Draper Temple and his delicious wedding luncheon afterwards at the Highland Gardens. It’s crazy to think that my little brother and his childhood best friend will both be married this year! It just made me that much more excited for my brother’s wedding in September.

I also had the opportunity to do their wedding invitations. I love simple and classic wedding invitations and Breanne, the bride, wanted exactly that!

Conveniently, Highland Gardens is located wayyyy too close to Slurp [another cousin of Swig] and I convinced my entire family that we need to stop and get some cookies. They didn’t have a choice, to be honest, because I was driving. They now serve Leatherby’s ice cream…so…enough said…

Meanwhile, while I was stuffing my face with a sugar cookie, Zach was enjoying his boys’ golf trip in St. George.

Zach and I have this thing where we text each other photos of what we are doing if we aren’t together for a long period of time. I know it’s weird, but it makes me feel like I am with him in an odd way. He texted me literally 6 golfing photos nearly identical to this one the whole weekend. He had a great time with his friends and enjoyed the gorgeous weather of St. Geez by day, Mesquite by night. I don’t even need to explain what he did in Mesquite every single night…

Saturday was my cousin’s son’s baptism. It was a very emotional day for our family. Not only because Camron chose to be baptized, but because my uncle [his Grandpa] got to baptize him. My uncle Kenny recently received the Melchizedek Priesthood and is taking temple prep courses. It’s a huge step for their family considering my uncle has been very closed off from the LDS church for so many years. Not only was the baptism very special, but the confirmation as well. My dad confirmed Camron and it was one of the most beautiful blessings I have ever heard. Sometimes the littlest things have the strongest impact on my testimony. Witnessing my dad confirm Camron was just another affirmation of how strongly I feel about the importance of the family.

Saturday when I got home from the baptism I got a call from my sweet neighbor, Flora, who asked if she could come by and visit me. In December, Flora asked me to help her set up a helicopter ride for her husband for his Christmas gift. He is over 80 years old and he has been dreaming of doing it for years. Flora and I did a little scheming and planned a date and time (with Zach’s help) to take Reed for a ride. When she stopped by my house on Saturday she brought me a delicious treat and a gorgeous hooded sweater she knitted herself! Apparently her husband is losing his memory, which absolutely breaks my heart, and he is forgetting things constantly. She told me that the silly 20 minute helicopter ride he took was one of the best experiences of his life. Something he hasn’t forgotten amongst all his memory loss. She said the sweater was a thank-you for the ride and for the experience. As soon as she left I tried on the sweater and it couldn’t have fit better.

I couldn’t help but cry. I cried for the sweetest handmade gift I have ever received and for her husband who is going through this difficult time in his life. I also cried because Flora makes me miss my grandma so very much. My mom’s mom, Claudette, passed away 14 years ago. Sunday was her birthday. Flora reminds me so much of my grandma it is spooky, and for some reason all of the emotions hit me at the same time and it was a full-on water works production. Good thing I couldn’t capture myself sitting in my hallway, with my new sweater on, crying my eyes out.

Luckily I had a dinner date with my friends later that night to get me out of my slobbering slump. We dined at From Scratch [really…this is getting ridiculous] at then I drove our whole crew to Gourmandise for some dessert.

I am so grateful to my friends and family for keeping me company while Zach was away. I couldn’t ask for better people in my life.

19Mar 2014

Girls’ Trip to Santa Monica

By K + Z 0 Friends, Vacation Permalink 0

Around Christmas, Zach asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. I told him I wanted to go on a trip with my best friends from high school. So since December, my friends and I have been planning our girls’ trip to Santa Monica. We left Thursday afternoon and arrived at the Santa Monica Airport later in the evening. The 5 and a half of us [Whitney’s baby Jase joined us] settled into our condo just off one of my favorite little streets, Abbot Kinney, in Venice. We went out for Mexican food and then stayed up wayyyy too late talking about who knows what.

Then next morning we woke up and made our way to the Third Street Promenade. We shopped for four straight hours, like champions.

I forced my friends to have lunch at a restaurant I have been dying to try – Unami Burger. It was just as good as I had hoped it would be. We were all pleasantly surprised!

Jase was a pretty amazing shopping companion, I must say.

After running ourselves ragged, we ditched our bags back at the condo and we ventured out to get food.

We all shared some pizzas from Gjelina – probably my favorite meal of the entire trip – back at our condo.

After dinner we had a post meal yoga sesh. We as in everyone but me. Yoga doesn’t bode well with me. I am SO not flexible. It was very enjoyable to watch, however. Kristina is working on getting certified to teach, so these ladies were great…practice. I laughed 90 percent of the time and totally disturbed their vibe.

The next morning we slept in and decided to jog to the beach.

We stopped mid-way to get some fruit smoothies and then made our way over to Muscle Beach. Because that is our type of crowd, apparently. 5 Utah girls working out with a 9 month old. We had a pretty hilarious workout routine going. Squats, running stairs, and so on. Even baby Jase thought we looked like idiots… We also got taught how to do chin-ups by a homeless man.

After we all showered up and got ready, we drove downtown to the Farmer’s Market for lunch.

We spent the rest of the day shopping at the shops at the Grove.

….aaaaand devouring some Sprinkle’s Cupcakes.

The best part of Saturday was the fact that I got to pick up our rental car – a giant minivan. That’s how you travel with 5 people and a babe. I would NOT recommend a minivan as your vehicle of choice driving around the streets of L.A. Just saying…

It was Whitney’s first time in Los Angeles. so we drove around a bit and did the obligatory photo in front of the Hollywood sign!

Sunday morning was our quest for some flea market finds. We woke up at 6:00 am and all crammed into the van for the drive to Long Beach. I have been to a few flea markets in my day, and the Long Beach Flea was by far my favorite.

We all scored some pretty great stuff. Whitney found enough vintage t-shirts to last her all year. Britt found an incredible fur coat and a vintage Louis Vuitton tote. Kristina scored two vintage bags, one being a gorgeous black Chanel. I left…with an H. A giant metal H that I plan to hang on one of my many blank walls upstairs.

Since this day was the warmest of our entire visit, we made our way just south of the Santa Monica Pier for some beach time.

The weather was perfect and it was so relaxing to do absolutely nothing with our toes in the sand.

Brittney was so relaxed, she didn’t even realize Whitney had buried her legs (and not pictured: her right arm) in the sand.

We thought our pizza from Gjelina was so great, we decided to go for round two that night!

Our last morning on the west coast we were awakened by a legitimate earthquake! A few hours before our alarms were to go off, everything in our condo was swaying and moving. It happened so quick we didn’t have any time to realize what was happening. I think the noise was what scared me the most. Kristina and I were in one bedroom, Whitney and Brittney in the one right next to ours, and Whitney and Jase down the hall. As soon as the earthquake subsided, Kristina and I heard two VERY high pitched (and nervous) voices chattering in the next room over. I have never laughed so hard!

After vacating our condo we had lunch at Kreation, an awesome and really delicious healthy cafe. If you are looking for juice, look no further! Every kind of juice that this planet has to offer, this joint has.

And our last few hours of the trip were spent walking up and down Abbot Kinney popping in and out of the most adorable little shops. My favorite was Urbanic, the cutest paper boutique you could ever imagine.

Not pictured was our ride to the airport. The five of us adults and baby Jase packed into a tiny crossover vehicle with our luggage piled on our laps, due to the fact that the back seat could only accommodate two suitcases. It was a ride we will never forget! I still feel like my circulation in my legs hasn’t come back 100 percent.

It’s sad, but true, that my high school friends and I really don’t see that much of each other as of late. We promised after this trip that we would make an effort to all get together at least once a month! I had such a great time with these girls. I can’t remember a time where I have ever laughed so hard in my life. After spending five days with them, waking up the next morning without all them made me so sad. I can’t wait until our next girls’ trip. I LOVE YOU ALL!

03Mar 2014

An Eventful Week

By K + Z 1 Activities, Family, Food, Friends, Projects, Work Permalink 0

Zach left Monday for an aviation convention in California. I spent my free time working on little tidbits for a bridal event. It was a “Pantone Color of the Year” inspired shoot with hints of dark, deep purple and navy blue. I was in charge of all the stationery, the table numbers, and place cards. Inspired by a Kate Spade party, I created place cards with a silver metallic Prismacolor pen and slices of agate. I ordered these beauties online and was anxious for over two weeks of how they would look once they arrived. I got really lucky, because they fit the color scheme perfectly [and none of them were broken].

I should have known two things – stone (even agate) is porous which means you have to repeatedly go over the names with a metallic marker. Second, the metallic markers I purchased are permanent. So permanent that when I messed up on the “e” on Lea’s name, it clung to every pore of the agate. They are not perfect, but I was really happy with them in the end.

Our bedroom gallery wall was also completed this week. Michael’s was having a sale on their frames – buy one get one freeeee – so I purchased all my white frames and finished two pieces. I have been wanting to purchase this Cali Love print for months, but couldn’t bring myself to pay over $50 for it. So I made it myself, along with another Brooklyn print [also over $50]. The gold leafing was much more simple than I anticipated. Basically it was craft central while Zach was gone.

Wednesday I finished addressing envelopes for the La Caille project and prepared for my activity with my cute Activity Days girls.

We had a daddy-daughter themed party at Classic Skating in Layton. There were mustache-toped cupcakes, questions the girls “must-ache” about their dads, and lots and lots of skating.

I thought that being in the Relief Society presidency was my favorite calling, but this one is taking the cake. I love spending time with these little ladies! If I only had a fraction of their energy…

I was so impressed with all the sweet dads that showed up. I would say the night was a real success. I am so grateful to my father-in-law who always lets us use and abuse Classic!

Thursday was D-day at La Caille. When I arrived it was pouring rain. We met at the Chateau [it was my first time] which made me miss Paris terribly, and got everything set up.

While the florist, Megan, was doing her thang…I got to hang out with her little man. Peter is 7 months old and just as handsome as can be.

There was a minor controversy when he realized that I had a different kind of liquid in my bottle than he did in his, but he was a trooper for over 4 hours.

We even got a few sweet selfless of us together, until he discovered my nostrils…

Everything at La Caille went beautifully. I think one of my favorite things about being apart of these projects are the leftovers I get to take home…

I can’t wait to get all the photos back, it’s so exciting to see everything come together!

Friday I had several appointments and ended my crazy afternoon at Fiiz [again] with some friends. I have a punch card now. It’s humiliating.

Zach finally returned from California and just in time to join me for our first gymnastics meet at the University of Utah.

As usual, Zach got really into it. Zach is an “all-or-nothing” kinda guy.

After the meet we met some of our friends from dinner at From Scratch. Are we predictable, or what? I can’t get enough of their margherita pizza. To the point where I request we go there almost once a week now.

Saturday Zach and I spent the whole day together running errands, having a lunch date, and finishing up a few odds and ends.

Later that night, my aunt was kind enough to hook us up with Brian Regan tickets at ESA. It was my first comedic experience and I have to say, it was very entertaining.

It was the first time we had left ESA smiling all season.

03Feb 2014

SUPER Birthday

By K + Z 0 Activities, Family, Friends Permalink 0

A lot has been going on the last few weeks of January and these last few days of February. Here are some totally random highlights of our last few weeks.

It wasn’t until after the event with Yosi Samra that I remembered this gem of a photo…marshmallows haunt my dreams these days.

We have been lucky enough to attend several Jazz games the last few weeks. I was lucky enough to see Kevin Love in the flesh…

We were getting worked so bad 80 percent of the fans left, but we stuck it out…because we are true blue fans, I guess?

I have been working on some fun stuff and have finally seen a lot of it come to fruition. The supplement labels I have been working on are finally in production…

I have worked on four kiddie birthdays, Curious Olivia’s 2nd Birthday was one of my favorites…

At the end of January my Valentine’s prints were featured on Brickyard Buffalo and did pretty darn well!

It was so fun to see the people that tagged my prints on Instagram. I love to see them around their homes! I have three of them being featured in an engagement shoot coming up!

Zach started up roller hockey again. He is currently on two teams. One is really good [hence the 3 to 18 score]…

And the other is so-so. I’ve had so much fun watching him get back out there. I am counting down the days until ice hockey. That’s my favorite!

My friends and I are planning a girls trip in March [it’s been in the works for years, let’s be honest] and they surprised me for my birthday with some of my favorite cupcakes! I am so lucky to have these girls. Some of them I have known since the 2nd grade. Missing Alison, of course…

One of the items on my never ending to-do list is to finish our bedroom. I have been working on several prints and I wanted the Belvedere [our first apartment] to be incorporated some how. So I made a print of it to hang on our bedroom gallery wall. I am thinking I might sell these custom home prints online some time soon…we will see!

Then came my actual birthday. Zach let me open my presents at midnight the night before and we spent several hours after playing with my gifts and eating two whole bags of Crazy Bread.

Zach is extremely thoughtful and always makes my birthday so special. I am enamored with him more and more each day.

The next day we went to Tona for a sushi dinner and caught a movie I have been dying to see. Employees at the Cinemark don’t lock the party room…such rookies!

Since the following day was the annual Super Bowl tradition of watching the game at Classic Skating in Layton, we bought a birthday cake to share at the party [which Zach pranked me with by pretending it was my birthday cake].

I had such a fantastic birthday. I am so grateful to my family and friends who always make me feel so loved. I am also grateful that football season is officially over. Probably the best birthday gift a wife could receive!!

29Sep 2013

All About Fall

By K + Z 0 Activities, Family, Food, Friends Permalink 0

Whoever decided to make hunting season and football season fall in the same months didn’t have a wife, I am sure of it. Luckily for me, my husband has taken extraordinary measures to make me feel loved. For instance: I had been discussing for weeks that when I was done with my race that I wanted to go to Leatherby’s and eat a giant ice cream sundae with a side of hot fudge. So Monday for Family Night Zach agreed to drive all the way down to Taylorsville with me to get that sundae.

In fact, if I am being totally honest, he gave in to all my strange food requests the entire week. But it’s not like I had to twist his arm to go to Rodizio.

And just so this whole post isn’t about food, a pretty exciting thing happened in the Fotheringham family this week. My dad’s great uncle, Lt. Vernal J. Bird, was returned home this week aft 69 years. He was a pilot in WWII and his plane went down in Paupa New Guinea in the midst of a mission. The wreckage of his aircraft was discovered and DNA tests confirmed his remains. He was greeted at Salt Lake International with full honors.

My grandma, dad, and uncle were there to greet him on the Tarmac along with other relatives. A former professor of mine happened to be at the airport and sent me these photos.

My dad said it was one of the most amazing things he had ever witnessed. I am so glad he finally made it home to his family.

I also got to lunch with some of my favorite friends/neighbors. We haven’t been all together since we all served in the Relief Society presidency together. It was so nice to see them and visit for a while.

These beautiful ladies weren’t my only lunch dates this week. I also got to meet up with Zach for lunch as well. It went mostly like this…

But like I said, spending lunch with him is something I totally took for granted before. And just so you know, I did manage to make dinner for my husband one out of five nights this week. I do cook…occasionally.

Also, thanks to a wonderful friend, I got to watch the first episode of Season Four of Downton Abbey while working from home.

Since we had already eaten every other type of junky greasy food this week, we decided to have a football and pizza party to round it all off.

Then Friday came and we were off to Bear Lake for the second weekend in a row.

The boys went up for the black powder deer hunt and my mom, aunt, and I joined them. By the time Zach and I arrived at the cabin late that night my brother had already gotten his buck! The men woke up the next morning bright and early to try and get another one. As luck would have it, they were only out two hours before they got another. [Warning: graphic images!]

Which left them plenty of time to visit the goat farm on the way home, I guess.

Once they returned and unpacked their prize [which they hung in the garage] we decided to take a hike up the mountain to do a little shooting before they cleaned all the guns.

They boys were very patient with us the entire time. They even forgave me when I left the truck door open [it was rather chilly] and ran down the battery. Yes…we had to walk all the way back to the cabin.

We got home late Saturday night and the last seconds of Sunday were spent watching the Breaking Bad series premier and making Halloween craftage.

And even more football…if you can believe it.

Category Friends