Life's Helmet

Friday, October 30, 2009

Spooky Supper

Every year, Ryan's mom makes a big Halloween meal. Since getting married, Ryan has insisted that we continue this tradition. Even when I have attempted to substitute some of his mom's dishes for new ones, he has put up a fight. So after 3 years of marriage, I have finally surrendered to the Halloween Hoopla and adopted this meal as "our" tradition as well.

This year we invited a group of friends and family to enjoy the festive meal with us. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures of half of the food and all of our guests, but the night turned out perfect. Hopefully next year I'll gorge a little bit less and take a few more pictures. Thanks to everyone who participated in the fun! Happy Halloween!!

Ryan was pretty happy with how the night turned out

A Cheaper Alternative

Those who have been in our house know that one of my favorite stores is West Elm. Although I absolutely love everything in their store, I often have a hard time justifying the prices of their products. When looking through their catalog recently, I saw some wall art that I really liked. Being the cheap person that I am, I decided that I could easily replicate the pictures and make them them more to my liking. So a few days later, I came home with 3 large canvases to begin my latest project. After countless hours of painting, I have developed a newfound respect for artists. I think it's safe to say that I'll be putting away the paint brushes for a while.

West Elm's

Our Project

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Biggest Loser?

Last night, one of our friends told me that I look like a girl off "The Biggest Loser." Considering they're only in their 2nd week on the show, I don't think I can really take that as a compliment. You tell me...is Rebecca my long lost twin?

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Another Year Older

This weekend we celebrated Ryan's 26th birthday. For his gift, our parents and I gave him money so he could buy whatever he wanted. We spent Saturday afternoon shopping and after careful consideration, he decided he wanted a new gun. (There's no doubt that Ryan is ALL "boy.")

Luckily, his birthday fell on Labor Day this year so we were able to spend the day together. To celebrate, we went to the Diamondbacks game with his brothers. Although the D-back lost, it was fun getting to spend the day with family and friends. I hope you had a great birthday Ry!

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Home Owner Nazi's

Today marks a momentous occasion as it is the day we received our first HOA violation. When Ryan walked up the stairs to tell me we received a violation, my mind began thinking of what we could have done to get ourselves in trouble. As far as I'm concerned, we're the best residents in the neighborhood - we always pay our outrageous HOA fees on time, we haven't put anything obtrusive in our yard, and we always take our garbage cans in and out on the right days. So take a look at what our wonderful home owner's association had to say...

"The following non-compliance issue with respect to your property was noted on 08/17/2009: All trash containers must be identified by the owner's unit number. Identification stickers will be provided by the Association and attached to the front of the container by the unit owner. Stickers were mailed to you when you received your pool keys. If you did not receive a sticker, please contact AAM."

Not only did we never receive the stickers, but we've never even heard anything about this policy until now. I just can't help but laugh at the thought of someone actually taking the time to notice something so inconsequential and then taking the time to report it.

So today will officially go down in history as the day we received our first HOA violation. And from the looks of it, I'm sure there will be many more to come!

Monday, August 17, 2009

Family Vacation - Part III

Some other highlights of the trip included rafting, hiking, lounging by the fire, and...

The beach at Lake Tahoe

Pony riding

Hanging out with our new niece, Hurley

Thanks again for the great vacation Mom and Dad! We had a blast!

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Family Vacation - Part II

One of the days during our family vacation, we decided to go down to San Francisco to spend a day in the city. We started the day off at the Pier and made our way through the city stopping at Ghiradelli's and China Town.

As always, our nephew, Brooklen, got a ton of attention on the streets as he routinely "put on a show" for everyone around. Although the only attention he really cared for was his parents, it was fun watching San Francisco's newest street performer. At one corner, we came across a man who was playing the saxophone. When Brooklen heard the music he started dancing all over the place. When his parents gave him a dollar to give the guy, the man gave the money right back saying that Brooklen was the one who really deserved the money.

Family Vacation - Part 1

For the Poulsen family vacation this year, my parents rented an awesome house in Lake Tahoe for a week. Although it was a little bitter-sweet since my parents had just dropped my brother off at the MTC, it was fun getting the rest of the family together for some much needed R&R.

One of the days, we ventured out to the river to spend some time fishing. While we didn't have much luck with the fish, later in the day, a whole family of deer came down to the water and were hanging out about 200 feet from us. I didn't have my camera on me at the time, but it was definitely a sight to see.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Day at Lagoon

Ever since Ryan and I met, he's always talked about the theme park "Lagoon." Since we were going to be in Utah for his family reunion, we decided to stay an extra day so we could spend my b-day at the theme park.

We started the day off with lunch at a great Mexican food restaurant called "Javier's" where we got the most amazing dessert nachos. After stuffing ourselves even more with cake, we headed off to Lagoon where rode away the day on the park's roller coasters. After an afternoon at the park, we jetted off to the airport just in time to make our flight back home. Thank you to all of the McFarlane's for making my b-day so great!

Some of Ryan's siblings and cousins that joined us for our Lagoon adventure.

The boys were braver than the rest of us and decided to do the "Human Catapult." Right before they flung them into the air, we watched Ryan on the video camera saying, "I immediately regret this decision." ;-)

England Family Reunion '09

We spent the majority of the reunion at Ryan's cousin Kara's house just swimming, eating, and spending time with family. I say it all the time and I'll say it again...Ryan has an awesome family. We loved getting to spend time with them!

As always, Ryan's nephew and niece wore us out with their never-ending energy. (Hats off to the parents out there who chase their kids around all day long. Twenty minutes of repetitive activities pretty much did us in.)

Pioneer Days Rodeo

This last weekend we attended Ryan's family reunion up in Utah. When we got up there on Friday night we went to the Ogden Pioneer Days Rodeo with Ryan's family. It was fun getting to watch the bull riding and getting to do some good "people watching." Ryan's nephew and niece especially loved watching the horses and calves.

Monday, July 20, 2009

The Send-Off Party

This past weekend we had a send-off party for my little brother Hunter. I still can't believe that he leaves for the mission in only 2 more weeks. Although I didn't remember to whip out my camera until later in the evening, I was still able to get a few pictures of some family and friends that stopped by.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Finally Done!

It's been a long time coming but we FINALLY finished all of the major painting in our new house (at least for now). The master bathroom has been a thorn in our side for quite some time so we're glad to finally have it done. I think it's safe to say that we're ready to take a break from home projects for a while.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Stay Classy San Diego

For the 4th of July weekend, our friends James and Tiffany invited us to go with them on a trip to San Diego. They were invited to celebrate the holiday on a yacht with some friends and we were more than happy to tag along.

When we arrived at the yacht party, we were surprised to find 6 yachts pulled up next to each other with tons of blow-up toys out in front. The coolest toy was a huge 20 ft. iceberg you could slide down. Although the water was a little chilly, it was a total blast!