BFA student

This semester David applied for the BFA (bachelor of fine arts) program. He has worked so hard to prepare for this and we found out on Monday that he got in!!

Basically this means he will be specialized in Graphic Design.

This is the first step of many to reaching his potential of one day being an amazing creative director. Since he is now a BFA student he will be able to take more graphic design classes then a regular art student would filling up his brain with everything design.

His last two semesters of school he will work on his BFA show and then present it in the gallery on campus two or three weeks before he graduates.

I couldn't be more proud of him! he couldn't be more happy and relived! he has been so stressed that he wouldn't get in. I of course knew he would but you can understand why he would be freaking out.

the letterofficially acceptedwoo hoo I'm amazing!

the creative way he turned in his portfolio!


Then! When life just couldn't get any better for us we found out that David got the art scholarship he applied for and he will receive $800 a semester towards his tuition. Our Heavenly Father truly loves and watches over us and blesses us in more ways then we could ever imagine! I'm so grateful for that and for my amazing husband who works so hard to be the best he can for our little family!

Congratulations David you truly are Amazing!

shh! Its a surprise!

I threw a surprise birthday party for David last night. He will be 25 this year! Which I think is a very significant birthday so I really wanted to go all out and make this year's birthday super special. His real birthday is April 7th however this weekend was the only time we could have the party but it worked out because who would suspect a birthday party two weeks before their actually birthday?

It was still really hard to keep it from him because 1. i'm really bad at keeping secrets 2. i hate secrets 3. david is super smart

but somehow I pulled it off

A week before the party I told David that we should have Steven and Margeaux over to play games at seven. Steven was going to have David come over before to help him with his resume and then they would come over after to "play games" But then I had the brilliant idea of telling David that my friends Meghan and Amanda wanted to have a girls night at our place. I told him they were coming at five and probably wouldn't be over too long and that Steven and Margeaux could still come play games. So on Sunday at five he left to go over to Steven's while I had a "girl's night" aka decorate, bake a cake, and change. I texted him at seven fifteen to tell him they had left and he could come over

surprise from Courtney Palmer on Vimeo.

Surprise!!
Love this picture of Craig
Bryce & the birthday boyHil and Jack meeting hank and holly
Amanda & Mike ( thanks to these two for helping set up the decor)
Steven and Margeaux (also thanks for all your help)
I was so distracted with other things I didn't get that many pictures of the decorations. We were about to cut the cake before i realized I had no picture of it
the theme of the party was Seattle I water colored these to go on the cake this is my favorite part of the decorations. I hate the typical birthday banner sign and couldn't find a cute one so I made one myself. also water colored

New Additions

I love not moving we use to move around a lot and I would never decorate and we never bought any furniture because we thought whats the point who knows what our next apartment is going to be like and if that furniture will even fit. But now that we are staying at this amazing apartment until we graduate we get to decorate and add new furniture anytime we please. And it's so much fun! So we recently added some new stuff that we wanted to get way back in september when we painted and decorated but couldn't afford all of it at once.
Bookshelf:We have really been needed one of these to hold all our books and other random things because our closet is just too small. Shockingly enough we got it at wal-mart for way cheap! This is how it looks for now I want to keep adding to it and make it even more beautiful

This is my favorite part of the bookshelf
We found this awesome key at DI
And these pretty books

Kitchen Table:

I am probably most excited for this one! I have been wanting a table for so long I was really tired of eating on the coach and coffee table and then having to vacuum all the crumbs everyday. We got this at K-Mart for pretty cheap. It took us awhile to find the right size table since it has to fit behind the door. But it works perfect we can pull it out and lift up the flaps its great! have big dreams for this table it only has two stools and we need four so I want to get some cute mis-matched ones from thrift stores or Ikea and hopefully one day sand it down and paint it to make it look more antique and farm table like.Chair:

It's not having to all cram on the couch when people come over or sit on the floor. We got this at Ikea for only 20 the chair and the throw is from the couch and pillow we already had.

Art:

We found this at some little store next to where we use to live for only 5 its different and I love it.

Saturday Morning

Saturday morning = old school mickey mouse cartoons and delicious homemade pancakes

Basic Pancakes
{adapted from martha}
I didn't use the vegetable oil I forgot to write it down and they turned out great but her recipe is a little runny we had to add a couple tablespoons of flour to make the batter thicker.

1 cup all-purpose flour + two tablespoons if batter is too runny (spooned and leveled)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees; have a baking sheet or heatproof platter ready to keep cooked pancakes warm in the oven. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, butter, and egg. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture; whisk until just moistened (do not overmix; a few small lumps are fine).
3. Heat a large skillet (nonstick or cast-iron) or griddle over medium. Spray with pam or put a tiny amount of butter on skillet.
4. For each pancake, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of batter onto skillet, using the back of the spoon to spread batter into a round (you should be able to fit 2 to 3 in a large skillet).
5. Cook until surface of pancakes have some bubbles and a few have burst, 1 to 2 minutes. Flip carefully with a thin spatula, and cook until browned on the underside, 1 to 2 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet or platter; cover loosely with aluminum foil, and keep warm in oven. Continue with more oil and remaining batter. (You'll have 12 to 15 pancakes.) Serve warm, with desired toppings.

Painting 101

We have "dates" a lot! Which is usually just us making dinner together and playing a game or watching a show. Or going shopping. We try to do date nights a lot which are much different then a regular a date and much more exciting because it means David plans the date, we get dressed up, usually go out to eat and I get surprised!

David planned a really fantastic date night this past week. I mean really fantastic. Before we left the house David packed a backpack full of stuff, which he had done once before when we went ice skating so that's what I figured we we're doing. We went to Craigo's (one out of three of the only good resturants here) and then I thought we we're going to the ice skating rink but no he drove us to the school which was weird and took us up to one of the art rooms and pulls out all our paints and two canvas and says we are going to paint something for our bookshelf. How creative is he?

I was so surprised!

We listened to a little Pandora radio

Set everything up

Then got to painting

We decided we wanted to copy some famous paintings instead of thinking of our own (not so creative) but it was fun!
I was taking my time so I didn't finish before it was time for us to go so I had to finish later

I think David's looks amazing! I think we did a great job if anything they are abstract we are both art majors after all.