contrary to popular belief...

I am not turning 16.  Or 17.  Or any number than has the ending "teen."  

I happen to be a ripe 24 years old today.

I woke up to a handsome husband kissing me goodbye on his way to work with a freshly shaven face.   Now THAT is what I call an awesome birthday present.  Sleeping in during Spring Break is one of my very favorite things.  So is having a husband with a smooth face.

He also made me a rockin' birthday sign.  And got me some cereal Oh's for breakfast.  

After a day spent reading in bed, going to Barnes and Noble, and enjoying yet another picnic up the canyon, Tyler gave me my birthday presents.

Bright orange pans and new headphones for running.

We ended the night with cupcakes from the Cocoa Bean and a bright orange candle to blow out.  

T also let me be the one to step on the walnut shell we found while we were out walking and massaged  my aching back.

24 is going to be a good year.  

the day we celebrated love

The day of love treated us well this year.

More specifically, T treated me really well this year.  

Again.

After a fun filled day with my 32 monsters (and a fabulous Valentine's party put on by some of the most amazing mothers), we headed up to Barnes and Noble and grabbed some books we've been looking forward to learning!

T picked out Neverwhere by Neil Geiman and I grabbed Stephanie Nielsen's Heaven is Here.  Seriously a fantastic tradition that we've started for ourselves!

Then we went down the hill and dropped by JCW's for some burgers and fries.  And yes, we both felt like it would be a very romantic meal that we could take home.  None of that waiting in line even after you make a reservation and then enduring a crowded restaurant with cold food on Valentine's Day.  

Nope.  We like actually celebrating love and not drowning in everyone else's while sitting in a restaurant booth while everyone get stressed and ornery waiting for their food.

T surprised me and we stopped by the CocoaBean Cafe for some delicious cupcakes (oh how he knows his wife so well!)

 {Love Potion Cupcake.  Chocolate (of course) with strawberry frosting.  Yum.}

{T's idea of good valentine food.  We both got exactly what we wanted this year!  Can't beat eating good food with the one you love.}

{The cutest little cupcake box decorated just for Valentine's Day.  CocoaBean just won my heart over.  Again.}

Valentine's Day was terrific yet again this year.  

Perfectly Perfect. 

i won a giveaway. beat that Punxsutawney Phil.

Today was the day I've been waiting for.

For a long time.

I finally won something.

I never win anything.  T is the lucky one of the two of us.

Certainly not me.

But today my luck finally changed and my name got picked for a giveaway I entered online!  The best part of it all was that I won CUPCAKES.  I love cupcakes.  Especially gourmet cupcakes.  

They even got hand-delivered to my house by the one and only Corinne and her co-founder, Susan. They have their own cupcake company called How Sweet It Is.  They just started up 6 months ago and make sweets and treats right here in Provo, UT!  I'm quite sure you can never have too many cupcake businesses around here.  I love them all.

Ever since Corinne and I talked back in December about her cupcakes, I've wanted to try them.  And lo and behold, I won a selection of cupcakes!

They dropped off four of the cutest cupcakes to my house this afternoon. 

They arrived in a cute brown gift bag (I'm a sucker for brown gift bags.  They have such a simplistic, yet elegant feel to them) with the cutest label!

Take a look for yourself how cute that little logo is...

Among the cupcakes was this lovely double lemon cupcake that T ended up gobbling up.  He loves lemon.  It was the flavor of the top tier of our wedding cake.  It brought back happy memories for us.  

The other three were Cookies 'n Cream, Coconilla, and Red Velvet cupcakes.

I attacked the Red Velvet cupcake with my finger while Corinne and Susan were still at my house.  I couldn't stand having a cupcake in my hand and waiting patiently until they were gone to eat it.

So I dug in with my finger.

Wow is there frosting good!  It was depressing that there wasn't more on it.  

Corinne said she could eat their frosting with a spoon.

I couldn't agree more.

[Red Velvet Cupcake with dang good frosting!]

Ignore the fact that the cute little heart decoration is upside down.  But I couldn't not get a picture with this delicious cupcake before I ate it.

It was my favorite of the four.

 

Interested in trying your own cupcakes from How Sweet It Is? Go here and check out their menu, pricing, and incredible cupcake flavors!  I might be ordering 3 dozen at the end of the school year for our class party.

I'm thinking the Snickerdoodle and Triple Chocolate cupcakes sound divine.

It's Groundhog Day. Phil didn't see his shadow this year.

 Go order yourselves some cupcakes to get ready for an early spring.

Splendid Summer

This summer was absolutely delightful.

I about died on the walking sticks of death and nearly took my mother out on my way down too.  We couldn't stop giggling and laughing the entire time.

My ever so talented husband rocked at them though.

Apparently, stilts are not meant for those who have had "Madsen" as their last name before.

I went to Lake Powell for my very first time.  Ever.  We spent a few days on a houseboat and T went out wakeboarding and wakesurfing.  I enjoyed the more of the sightseeing aspect of the boating trip.

T endured the many baptisms we went to over the summer.  The greatest thing about teaching 2nd grade is that you get an invite to almost every single baptism of every LDS student in your class.  It was so much fun to go to all of them and be a part of all of those special days!  Of course, we had to bring cute little gifts to each baptism!

Tyler rocked the summer with his soccer skills.  He scored a couple of goals and got bumps and scrapes from his many encounters with the other team.  

My hottie husband started an unpaid internship at the beginning of the summer.  Towards the end of the  summer, he was given a paid internship at the same place!  He did so well that they wanted to keep him around!  Hooray for finally being able to quit Home Depot and work somewhere that will further his career in finance along!

Picnics in the park up Provo Canyon are a must during the summer.

Speaking of musts, camping at Lodgepole which is our favorite campground is a definite must.  This year, the camp host had a cat that roamed the campsites.  She was a sweetie and I may have let my parents dog chase her a time or two.  

T indulged my sweet tooth often (he still does).  He's so good to me and any time I have a chocolate craving, he's the first to jump up and satisfy it.

We discovered the CocoaBean this summer and I'm in love.  T likes the Sweet Tooth Fairy more, but I'm a CocoaBean cupcake lover.  Along with loving this darling husband of man.  Is he not just the cutest?!

We were released from our cub scout calling and playing with teaching these cuties.  In this picture, we built marshmallow shooters and they had a huge marshmallow fight on the church lawn.  It was pure awesomeness.

One of my favorite cousins came home from his mission.  Peter has always been my best bud during family get-togethers.  He still is.  We're in the midst of a Star Wars marathon on sundays at the moment.  It's fun living by so many family members!

One of my best friends growing up got hitched to a girl who we grew up with.  It's fun seeing friends happily married to the love of their life.  

My best friend, Katie, is having a baby girl in December!  It's sad having her up in Idaho so far away, but we picked out the perfect baby gift for her and sent it up!  She loves yellow and has always been a fan of giraffes.  I fell in love with this baby blanket at first look.  Thank goodness for etsy where I can buy things that are still homemade and cute.

Seriously though?!  Everytime I look at this blanket it makes me want a baby so I can get one for myself.  I die every time I look at it.

Not pictured are all of the lawns mowed, the garden we grew (how did I NOT take a picture of it at all?!), other camping trips, movies, dinner dates, and so many other fun times!

We had a splendid summer and we're looking forward to a fantastic fall! 

Sometimes I Do Things Other Than School

Like eat cupcakes from the Cocoa Bean.

If you ever want to make me happy, the way to my heart is through a Grasshopper cupcake.

Wrapped in an adorable white cupcake-sized box.

But beware, if you have a craving for a Grasshopper cupcake, it better be on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday.  Otherwise you're out of luck due to the fact they only make them on those 3 days of the week.

Too bad tomorrow is a Friday...