12.26.2008

A Kunzie Family Christmas

It seems crazy that Christmas has already come and gone. Here is one of the quick highlights from yesterday (more to come later):

We got to call Christian-it was so good to hear his voice. He comes home in just six weeks!  For Christmas, our favorite missionary sent us matching shirts with his photo on them. Of course we all sported them yesterday.... 

(oh and the shirts came with some pretty sweet headbands) 

Merry Christmas everyone! 
 
Enjoy the rest of December until clean-outs, diets and strict work-out regimens commence!

Run run as fast as you can...


During the month of December my kindergarten friends and I compared different versions of the classic The Gingerbread Man.  As a culminating event they got to decorate their own gingerbread houses.  My mom, Caroline, and I spent the evening building 45 gingerbread houses from graham crackers. We melted sugar to act as glue and tried not to burn ourselves as we constructed these little beauties. I took them all to school the next morning for my kindergarteners to decorate. My little friends LOVED every minute of it; however, I am not convinced that I am doing this again next year.





11.30.2008

turkey, stuffing, and pie... oh my!

This year for Thanksgiving we had dinner at my Aunt Mary and Uncle Gordy's home. They have 5 kids... Charlotte, their youngest, provided us with some good entertainment! She couldn't remember my daddy's name so she would say, "Uncle (long pause) Uncle." So yes my daddy was dubbed "Uncle Uncle" by Charlotte.  Grandma and Grandpa Kunz were there too. 

I just love the holidays! 
01. everything is so cozy
02. being with family
03. the spirit the holidays bring
04. delicious holiday food
05. decorations

Good food and good times! Until next year...

Mom and Lucy

Mom and Daddy

Charlotte and her Thanksgiving pie goodness

Lucy, Caroline, and Annabelle

Me and Charlotte

 

11.16.2008

Miss Kunz's Kindergarten Friends


Yes you read it right... I am going to teach kindergarten... in Utah! I will be teaching at the elementary school I student taught at, in the classroom I student taught in, and I will be sharing a contract with the teacher who mentored me! It will be a change to go from first grade to kindergarten, but I am so excited.  I will teach full time during Emily's maternity leave and then I will be teaching afternoon kindergarten from February on.  Of course come fall I will need to have a full time position, but for the next few months this is just the perfect opportunity. 

I learned so much about myself during my Newport Beach adventure--most of all that I find my greatest satisfaction in teaching and that there is no place like home.  So on Saturday I will be clicking the heels of my ruby slippers together and heading back to Utah...just in time for winter I might add! The few months I have lived out here have been a great chapter in my life and something I will always be glad that I did!

I will miss Kate, my cousins, and the new friends I made here, but I can't wait to get back to the beautiful mountains, my adorable 5 year olds, and my family and friends in Utah!

This is how my darling six year old cousin Julia feels about my decision:


I promised to mail her some Junie B. Jones books and now it seems that we are on good terms again! I love you Julia! x o x o

 

11.13.2008

announcement!!!

My mom just got Christian's flight plans in the mail today!!! He is arriving at Salt Lake City International Airport on Friday, February 6th at 3:55pm!!! Wahoo!

P.S. I have another fabulous announcement... but not enough time to spill the beans... so I will just give you a hint.. (hint: Miss Kunz)

P.P.S. I hope the suspense doesn't stress anyone out!

11.04.2008

Elder Kunzie...


Yippee!!!

(still up to his usual stunts)
This is a shout out to our very own missionary who...... will be home in 3 months!!! Can you believe it?? We are oh so excited!  The first week of February our Japanese Elder comes back to us!!!  I love you Christian!!! We know Japan will miss him, as he has been an incredible missionary bringing joy to the lives of others by sharing the gospel!  

11.03.2008

Life as I know it...


I wear...

I love...
I drink...

I feel...

10.05.2008

These are a few of my favorite things...

01. Autumn
It is getting cooler... which I love! Sadly there are no red and orange hued leaves out my window, but I can make do if the weather is going to turn cool and crisp.  It was even cool enough this morning for my fuzzy polka dot socks! 

02. Rain
Yesterday it rained! I love the sound and the smell of rain!  I also love rain boots, umbrellas, and raincoats. 

03. Apple Crisp
The most yummy dessert!  It says fall like nothing else.  Must be served warm with vanilla bean ice cream.  (Confession: I had two helpings of it tonight.)

04. Clean Laundry
I did all my laundry at Rachelle and Joe's this weekend. Nothing like neatly folded stacks of clean, fresh laundry!  

05. Fresh Flowers
I purchased some tulips at the grocery store last night. There is just something about fresh flowers that makes me smile!

06. Conference
I love conference weekends! It is so nice to relax, enjoy good food, and listen to the Prophet and other church leaders.  I especially loved President Monson's talk during the Sunday Morning session on change and enjoying the journey. It was a good message of hope for all and I found myself really connecting with it.  Sometimes I feel like I get bogged down by the unimportant things.  Its always good to be reminded to focus on the simple things and to remember to live and love each day.

07. Blueberry Muffins
I love making homemade blueberry muffins. I love the blueberry goodness! (Hint: Even better than the muffins is the batter!)

08. Eyelashes
Brittney comes into town this next weekend! What does that mean? Eyelashes! I get my extensions replenished! I have had them for just over a month and I am hooked. Luscious lashes without mascara... who would have thought?

09. iTunes
Previewing and then buying new tunes with just a click! Sheer genius... 
Some of my latest faves:
Bennie and the Jets (Elton John)
On My Mind (Kalai) thanks Cassie for the recommendation!
Remember That and Come on Over (Jessica Simpson) I am loving her as a country singer...
Forever (Chris Brown) "Girl where did you come from, got me so undone."
Love Remains the Same (Gavin Rossdale)
Love Story (Taylor Swift)

10. Visitors
My family comes out on the 15th for the weekend, Candace and Jared are coming over Halloween, and Grandma and Grandpa Miller are coming out over Halloween too! Yay for visitors!


9.29.2008

along came a spider


Dear Mr. Spidey,


I can say I definitely had a "Miss Muffet" experience this evening. You gave me quite the fright as you were crawling towards my face over my comforter. I am sure you probably came in through the open window. Please note the window was open for fresh air, not as an invitation for you to join me under the covers. I know I was not a very kind hostess rocket-launching out of my bed holding back the urge to scream.

I'm sorry to say, but you were quite the unwelcome house guest. So unwelcome that when I came back to my bed with a tissue gingerly looking through the covers, I was plotting your extinction. When I could not find you, I took a fluffy blanket from the closet and my pillow (after a thorough inspection) out to the couch for the evening.

Upon walking back into my bedroom for a moment, I felt you wriggling up my arm. I immediately jumped and shook you off. If you found that rude, my sincerest apologies. It was there, crawling on my white bath mat, that you met your fate. You now rest in peace squashed between a tissue in the garbage can where you belong. Spideys do not belong indoors and most certainly are not meant to sleep in beds.

It is with relief and a certain sense of creepy crawly-ness that I write you this letter from my bed (which is now hopefully a spidey free zone). May your death be a statement to all other spideys who dare to enter my home.

Sorry you died,
Rebecca

9.27.2008

Happy, Happy Birthday Caroline Dear!

I still remember the day she was born. I was in kindergarten and Susan Darner came to get me from the bus stop at the corner. I remember her telling me that my mom and daddy were at the hospital because my sister was going to be born and I walked home with her to go play until I could go to the hospital to see Caroline.
David, Caroline, and Christian

Caroline is the big 18 today!

18 Things About Caroline

1. We tease Caroline because when she was little she used to run around the neighborhood pants-less... it was always just her t-shirt, undies and a big bow.

2. Like most little girls, Caroline and I used to play Barbies. We had a Pocahantas Barbie doll that was always the crazy neighbor.

3. Caroline is incredibly musically talented. She has an amazing singing voice and is an extremely talented piano player. She also has a very trained ear. In choir she can pick out not only her part, but every other section's parts (including bass and tenor).

4. When Caroline was almost 3, she was playing in the family room in Mesa and bonked her head on the fireplace right between her eyes. She had a deep gash right at the top of her nose. She put her head down for a minute and then I noticed that she was gushing blood. Naturally I started screaming for mom. Caroline had to have 4 stitches and at her Winnie the Pooh birthday party a couple days later you could see them in all of her pictures.

5. Caroline is an awesome snow skier. I am proud to say that she can keep up with all of the boys, in fact she leaves most of them in her dust.

6. Caroline is quite the chef and baker. Confections are her specialty. She makes the yummiest cakes, from scratch of course! She has also seemed to master the whole dash of this, a little of that, oh just till it looks right thing that I seem to struggle with!

7. Caroline is one of the kindest people I know. She has the purest heart and is such a genuine person. I admire her ability to be a friend to all.

8. Caroline is a smartie! She might kill me for announcing it here, but on her first try on her ACT she got a 30. In middle school, she scored in an extremely high percentile on some standardized tests. I believe it was the counselor who started calling her "golden girl". The nickname has kind of stuck among some of her friends.

9. Caroline is an artist, though she would never claim to be. She has taken some painting classes at school and has done a couple paintings. She has a eye for still life paintings and always gets the lighting/shadow effects just right.

10. Caroline wants to go to BYU. Go cougs! She says that she will likely be there a while because so many classes sound of interest. She loves to learn and absorbs everything. (Unlike me I usually learn it and then forget it.)

11. When she was a little girl, Caroline told us that she wanted to be "the lady that scoops the ice cream." Aim high!

12. Caroline was visiting me for a weekend down in Provo when she was 15. I decided that we were going to go out driving. As I recall, her practice opportunities were quite limited at this point. I made her go though a round-a-bout and she was not the least bit happy with me, but hey we both lived to tell the tale.

13. Caroline is quite the seamstress. I can manage to sew a straight line, but she is remarkable. For her musical last year, she sewed all of her costumes...big elaborate dresses. Wow!

14. We sometimes call her "Missy."

15. Caroline's hair is stick straight. She can leave the house with it in a wet pony tail, take the pony tail out when her hair is still damp and run her fingers through it, and when it is dry it looks like she spent forever straightening it. Wouldn't that be divine!

16. Even though she is younger than me, she is an example. She is such a good person and she always aspires to be better. She is firm in her convictions and always makes good choices.

17. I am a bit ashamed to admit this, but I remember a particular conversation we had when Caroline was probably 10 and I was probably 15. We were trying to figure out how tall we would all be by doing the whole double your height at 2 years old thing. We doubled her height and it came out being over six feet tall. She cried because I told her she would never find any boys tall enough for her. (So mean, I realize that!) The irony of it all is that she is the shortest in the family at 5'6'' (or so she claims.)

18. Caroline and I each call the other "my favorite sister". I am so lucky to have Caroline. I couldn't ask for a sweeter, spunkier, more beautiful, talented, or fun sister!

Caroline, I love you very much and I am so happy that I know we will be together forever! I hope all your birthday wishes come true!

9.26.2008

I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale...

Two items for this evening:

Grey's Anatomy It came back to us! Yay! Meredith and Derek are going to try to be happy and normal. Try being the operative word. Izzy and Alex need to be together. The whole Lexie George thing...sad for Lexie. A certain cardio-thoracic surgeon and orthopedic surgeon, well let's not mention that. A two whole hours... my show is back!


White Horse The Grey's producers always pick such great songs. There was a song playing in the background on tonight's episode that I just loved. I thought it sounded like Taylor Swift. Lo and behold after a bit of research, it was indeed Taylor Swift and the song is called White Horse. It doesn't get released until November 11th. I am secretly hoping that it iTunes is able to pull a few strings and get it to us sooner.

"I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale. I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her down the stairwell. This ain't Hollywood, this is a small town. I was a dreamer before you and you let me down. Now its too late for you and your white horse to come around..."

9.20.2008

Target




As many of you know, I have this thing for Target. Maybe it is unhealthy or excessive, but I love the place and can never leave with only what I came for. Everything about it is fantastic! Home decor, movies, towels (Side note:One weekend I went home and my mom had new fluffy white towels in our bathroom. I asked her where she got them and she told me Target. Now who would have thought! The Thomas O'Brien towels are great and only 10ish dollars!), greeting cards, entertaining items, wrapping paper, seasonal decor, clothes, purses, earrings.... you get the point. I could wander around for hours with my little red shopping cart.

Anyway my whole inspiration behind this post was this amazing little tidbit: Slave to Target. I know my mom, Candace, and Kate share my affinity for Target, but someone has dedicated an entire blog to it! Amazing!

Among other things, a "quick" Target run is on my list of to do's. I go in willingly, knowing that I will not come out with list items only. Dangerous, but someone has to do it.

9.12.2008

Photos from Kate's Camera

So Kate will be the first to tell you that my great scheming decorating ideas always involve some element of work... here are a couple instances we captured on camera.

I picked up my desk from the store rather than having it delivered (I borrowed Rachelle's car, as mine is not the slightest bit helpful when it comes to hauling big loads). After getting it here, we had to get it up the stairs. One of our neighbors helped us get it out of the car and to the stairs (well it was not really "us", more like the neighbor and Kate), but not wanting to inconvenience him any more, I assured him that we could get it up the stairs. I got rid of our help too soon. For the next few minutes Kate and I tried to lug the box up the stairs. I am sure we were pure entertainment to anyone who was watching out the window. Not to mention midway up the stairs I had to stop for a bathroom break because I had been laughing too hard. Kate says I must mention that she was left on the stairs with the very heavy box while I took my little break. We finally got the box up the stairs and so everyone could see how large it really was, we documented it:

Let's just say that Kate probably wanted to kill me, but instead we ended up laughing and I was told that all other furniture purchases must be delivered.

If you know me, you know I love vases and bowls and vase fillers (random balls, rocks, moss, ornaments etc.). I purchased a couple fun vases and decided that since we lived by the beach I needed to fill them with sand and shells. One evening as Kate and I were lounging around in our sweats, I decided that we needed sand for our vases in a desperate way. We drove over to Newport Beach, parked the car, and walked the few blocks to the beach so I could fill my giant ziplock baggie with sand. Kate took a photo:

Don't worry, I got lots of strange looks as we walked back to the car with the giant baggie of sand. Extra bonus, as we were getting back into my car there was a man across the street in his boat (with a beverage in hand) calling out to us, "hey we've got room for two more." We smiled and quickly got in the car. As we drove away we got another nod from our boating friend. Oh, did I mention that he was quite possibly 40? Good times!

Operation Decoration

I have been struggling with the idea of what to put on the big empty wall above the couch: a mirror, several mirrors, framed art.... One of my new friends is an interior designer and she gave me the fabulous idea to hang a bunch of clocks on the wall. I spent this week purchasing clocks from Target and Ikea. I found some really fun and unique clocks...seven to be exact. Here is the finished product! I love it! Now for the wall above the fire place...


Big news on the decoration front... the Pottery Barn chair arrived last week. It adds some color and pizazz to the front room. I am again a satisfied Pottery Barn customer. I LOVE the new chair!


One last shot to admire the chair and the clocks simultaneously! :)


Kate thanks for helping my hang the clocks and supporting the clock idea when I am sure you had thought I had completely lost it!

8.24.2008

Caroline...one of the many reasons that I love you!

Check it out!

Presenting # 127!

So here are the pictures you have all been waiting for. (The fantastic arm chair isn't scheduled for delivery until next month.)









Here is the fun drawer pull that Caroline and I found at Anthropologie:


Kate and I LOVE our place. It has been so much fun to decorate the apartment!
The BEST thing is my walk in closet!!! Am I lucky or what? Reason #3276...why we don't miss Provo!

Caroline+Newport Beach + Wicked=Fun



This past weekend Caroline came to stay with me. She flew in Thursday night and left on Monday morning. I worked extra hours all week so I could have Friday off. We ate yummy food, went shopping at Fashion Island (Anthropologie of course), hung pictures at the apartment, baked cookies and muffins, and went to WICKED!

On Saturday we drove up to L.A. to go see Wicked. It was at the Pantages Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. We parked, walked to will call to get our tickets, and then wandered up and down the street looking for a bite to eat. At Caroline's recommendation, we grabbed a bite "at the first non-shady place we found." We actually had a tasty lunch at a Mexican restaurant and hurried back down the street to meet Jen and grab our seats before the show.



We had awesome seats... I loved every minute! My favorite new song is As Long As Your Mine! Much to Kate's great joy, Caroline and I were belting Wicked at the top of our lungs for the rest of the weekend!


Sisters!


Yay! Jen was in town!

7.30.2008

Internet explorer has encountered an error and must shut down...

Now I pose the question: what exactly does the "send error report now" button accomplish? Perhaps its for statistical purposes. Why are the PC companies interested in keeping track of how many of their computers are internally combusting? Don't ask me I haven't the foggiest. An even better idean, perhaps they put the button there, so in our absolute frustration we feel as if something is being done...even if we are clicking a useless button.

What I do know is that I am forever and always a Mac girl.


I have had a PC for work since Sunday night and I can't even remember how many error messages I have received! Frustrating! I have already reached the point of wanting to toss it over my balcony.

No, I am not being paid by apple for this testimonial.

P.S. I love the mac & P.C. ad campaign.
"Hi I'm a mac."
"And I'm a PC and I don't work properly!"

7.27.2008

shoe love is true love

Three reasons why I love Nordstrom! (I wore the red pair to church today and I am (sigh) in love!)



7.19.2008

More First Grade Pics

I just pulled these pics off of my parents' computer, where they have been for the last 2 months! Indulge me once more as I post pictures of first grade!