Service With A GENUINE Smile

I rarely write posts with no pictures. But this is one of them. It's worth reading though!

Yesterday started off kind of crazy. It was hectic. I was frantic, and on a big time crunch. I was headed to visit my dear friend Jilland her tiny new baby, Langston, and more importantly (well, not MORE important, but pretty dang important) I wanted to bring her Mountain West Burrito. Who doesn't love that place? Well after what you're about to read, you'll have a crush on that joint and it's owner even more than you already do.

I was about 3 minutes away, with kids in tow. I frantically called in my order so that I could move along the process of getting on the road to Jill's. With kids, everything is a process.

We parked, and in the yucky, icy slush, I unbuckled child #1, got him out of the car, then unlatched child #2 and dragged them in so I could pick up my order. I have a paranoia of leaving kids in cars alone. Anyway, I walked in, told the man who I refer to as The Mountain West Burrito Guy (if you've been there you know who I'm talking about) that I was here for my order, and then I had a seat while they finished whipping up my order.

I watched. The restaurant was already filling up at 11:00am. There were businessmen, college-age kids, children, and a lovely elderly couple. MWBG (Mountain West Burrito Guy) served them their order. I could tell that the woman was contemplating how to go about the enormous, delicious burrito all wrapped up in foil. Seconds later MWBG quietly asked her if she'd like a plate, fork and knife. With a huge sigh of relief she said, "Yes! Please! Thank you so much!". That was nice. But my story gets lovelier.

My order comes. MWBG brings me my bag of goods. Herding child #1 with one arm, Child #2 + car seat in another arm, and my bag of food in the other (moms have three arms), I stood up to race to my car. MWBG stops me. He informs me that my chicken burrito is labeled, and that he had put extra salsa in the bag. "SO nice! I like that kind of service", I thought. But that was not all. MWBG then goes on to personally tell me that whenever I want to call in an order, when I drive up to park he will bring out my food to my car for me so that I don't have to get out with all the kids just to pick it up. WOW. I then told him that he was amazing. But that's not all. on my way out, I reached the exit and he was there holding the door open for my children and I because he he's just that kind of guy. He's that kind of business owner (He IS the owner, I assume).

Honestly. That kind of service is AMAZING! Unbelievable. He'll bring my food out to the car so I don't have to come in? Who is this guy?!

I go back to businesses for good customer service. I shop at Macey's Grocery store because there are friendly old men in the produce section handing out candy to make my kids happy, and I can count on other employees in just about every aisle asking me if I need help finding something. Even though The Flower Basket is overpriced, I still shop there for gifts because I like to see Macy's sweet, smiling face welcoming me at the door, and we chat like we've been friends forever. She makes me feel welcome. And now, when I want a burrito (that happens A LOT), I vow to go to Mountain West Burrito because of the MWBG and is unbelievable hospitality. He made my day.

Rings (and other jewelry) By Kent

I'll just cut to the chase. My uncle, Kent Christensen, is an AMAZING jeweler and a FANTASTIC man! He makes these unbelievable rings that are to die for (seriously though). I love that they have a raw, earthy feel to them. My cousin Ashley and her husband Carl have some amazing wide wedding bands that he made. Here is a little more about his jewelry:





My jewelry is symbolic of hard work and the universal need for art that lasts. Each design is unique and individualized. It doesn’t conform to the masses. It is art that spans generations. I revel in the beauty of natural materials. My jewelry is the work of my own hands, cast at the foot of the Sundance Wasatch mountains in the heart of the American West, Utah.

My work is the product of many roads of experience. After studying fine art in college, I worked as an archeologist, where I came to understand the power of timeless mediums. I am a master ceramist in the dental technology field, which is where my hands grew accustomed to precision and perfect detail. I grew up with the sound of the ocean in my backyard, and later adopted the red sands and unparalleled mountains of Utah, which I’ve called home for over 25 years. My heritage and my family are the principles that guide me.

My pieces combine physical style with free flow design of natural materials. In addition to silver and gold, I work with a variety of other precious and semi-precious metals. Contact me for more details.

The end result is not just jewelry, but hand-crafted sculptural designs of wearable art.

I posted just a few of my favorite designs of Kent's, but he has dozens more. To see his full gallery, email:

Kent Christensen

tuthmaker@gmail.com

You can also contact me and I can give you more contact info!

And for all you hard-core's out there, he makes BIKER RINGS too!

Valentine's Day Gift Idea...For HIM

I got Matt and I these One Line A Day journals for Christmas. We're both terrible about writing in our journals, so this 5-year journal has a little spot for one line a day. It's perfect. We keep them on our night stands and every night right before our head hits the pillow we both take 30 seconds to jot down something that stuck out to each of us that day. I'm excited to swap journals and read what he's written!

It's an inexpensive, yet thoughtful gift that will last a long, long time! So far we haven't even missed a day!

I'm A Sucker For You! (Looking Back on Last Year)

Last year Cole and I were pretty excited about delivering valentines to all of his neighborhood girlfriends (and guy friends for that matter). I wanted to do something fairly simple, that the kids would love and that Cole would be excited about. We ended up getting discounted reject suckers (mis-shapen) from the local candy factory, and attached a simple tag that said "I'm a Sucker For You" on it. They seemed to be a big hit. You can see my original post about the valentines here. Now I have to think of something to do this year....I'll let you know what we end up doing!

Sunday Afternoon

We rearranged our basement furniture a few weeks ago. I like the new setup a lot, but I also blame it for not blogging for DAYS on end. The computer is out of sight, back in the playroom, which, consequently means the computer is out of mind as well. I WANT to blog more often, but I guess I just get caught up in the whole "mom" thing, so it doesn't occur to me that I haven't blogged until I'm laying in bed and the day is over. This cycle happens day after day after day. I'm going to try my hardest to post more now though. It's my outlet. It's my connection to the "outside world". I need to know what's hip, what's not. I have well over 300+ blogs to catch up on in my blog roll. What's a girl to do?

Aside from that, we have 9:00am church now, which means we have the whole day to do fun family things like drag my family out to the Utah Lake ice and make them let me take pictures. Let's be honest though, Matt secretly loved it. Cole certainly loved throwing dozens of rocks onto the ice, and Hawk loved me waking him up for the family self-timer portrait. I only was able to take two tries for the last picture, but luckily one turned out with no blinks!

It was a lovely day.

2011: Looking Back

It's weird looking back at all of the blog posts from the year and seeing all the things we've done, accomplished, not accomplished, and most importantly, how we've grown. Here is a compilation of the more important things that happened. I know it's cliche to say, but lately I've been realizing more and more how much I love my life!

Looking back, it may not seem like we did much, but oh we did! I'm doing exactly what I've always wanted to. The most important things in my life happen at home :)

Attempted to beautify our new house and make it our own. Still a work in progress

Said goodbye to our dearest friend, and sweetest companion Wanda. We still talk about her often and Cole still asks where she is. See ya in a few, Wanda! xoxo

Made A LOT of messy art

Played with as many cousins as possible

Mades bestest friends with neighborhood families. Spent A LOT of outdoor time together (and indoor time, for that matter!)

Spent the majority of the year growing another human

Spent more and more time outside!

Had sweet baby Hawk! Became a mother of TWO!

And now we're a family of four, loving (almost) EVERY second of it!

From Our Family To Yours

Merry Christmas!

Love, The Mildensteins

photos courtesy of Weston Colton

Cole Turns 3, and other Updates

Cole turned three last week! My tiny little baby, THREE YEARS OLD?! I don't really believe it either. Anyway, it was a fun, simple day. We woke up and he opened gifts. We stayed in our PJ's all day. I had been stressing over what kind of cake to make him, even though I knew no one cared and only a small handful of people would see it. Then, an hour before leaving for Chuck E. Cheese it hit me. Let COLE decorate the cake. Brilliant. Yes, I'm acknowledging that my idea was genius. I made a simple box cake earlier that day, and but separated the batter out to make it a rainbow cake. I asked Cole what color of cake he wanted, and his immediate response was, "blue". I quickly turned my store-bought white frosting blue, frosted the sucker, and let cole have at it (with supervision). I just gave him a bunch of mini M&M's and it was done! He loved it, I loved it, and everyone was happy.

In other news, as I sit here typing in my housecoat, I'd like to inform you that we've spent most of the holiday season in our pajamas, only changing into presentable clothing to venture out in the cold a couple times a week. I'm not complaining. We have made endless amounts of goodies, eating about 80% of the finished products ourselves. Cole is really into giant sugar cookies lately. I like to just freeze the dough for when he has another one of his cookie decorating frenzies. Then, when he's ready, I just cut out shapes, pop it in the oven, and let him do his thing with the frosting.

That's about all the updating I have for our "thrilling" lives!

I hope you all have a BEAUTIFUL, MERRY CHRISTMAS!

xoxo, Heather

Alice Lane Blogger Social

Last week I was invited to attend a blogger social hosted by Alice Lane and Kirsten Krason. It was my first time at Alice Lane and it did NOT disappoint! The store is absolutely beautiful from floor to ceiling.

The company was delightful. I loved talking to all of the bloggers there. It was nice and relaxing, too! Thanks, Alice Lane and Kirsten for a lovely evening!

xoxo

4 Months!

Two-Cent Tuesday! Christmas Gifts for Grandparents!

My friend Brittney wrote to me asking for Christmas gift ideas for grandparents. She's done an iPhoto book, blankets, photos, etc., but is looking for something different and unique this year. Something inexpensive, and maybe incorporating the children's artwork into it.

Do you readers have any ideas? I need some ideas as well :)

Below are some ideas I found off of pinterest that I thought were cute!

DIY Silhouettes

embroidered hands

Tiny Polariod Magnets from your instagram pictures (or any photos)