I can't believe I almost went a whole day without posting a picture of Atticus.

Lucky for you-internet readers, I'm sneaking a last minute photo in.

Warning, this post contains a bunch of pictures of Justin, me and nothing else.

This weeks marks the anniversary of our marriage.





Forever will be anything but boring.

This is some important stuff so obviously we need your full attention.

You may have noticed, you may not have noticed but this blog isn't private anymore. I played with some fancy html code and figured out how to make our blog unsearchable. Basically it will just be friends and family reading anyway so making it private and creating more work for myself to add readers just didn't seem necessary anymore.

So remember, play it safe--don't drink and read.

xoxo,
the Zweigs

I hope Atticus doesn't hate me someday for taking photos like this but I really can't help myself.

Our dear friend Eliza was kind enough to send us a package with all sorts of goodies in it. One of those gems was this little outfit for Atticus that we just can't get enough of. We laughed for a good hour once we put it on him.



Thanks again Eliza!

Merry Christmas to our living room.

As part of the effort to be more productive, we're embarking upon the "no TV or video games until Christmas" project. I have to admit, I'm really going to miss Tina Fey.

Forget Thanksgiving, Christmas is the time to be thankful.

Today we're thankful for all things that being indoors during the bad weather has to offer:

Seeing fresh snow in the front yard, basil on the windowsilll, chasing Mikey around, flowers from Justin in the kitchen.


The ornament-less Christmas tree, handmade necklaces and of course, Atticus.

12 days until Christmas and I must say, Provo--I'm disappointed in you.

Growing up with my dad as my dad and my mom as my mom, I am very used to (and expect) an overabundance of holiday decorations. Halloweens were always equipped with monsters and mummies lounging on our porch chairs, ghosts and goblins popping out of bushes and trees. Headstones, skulls and bones emerging from our front lawn. The cars in the garage being replaced with a haunted house. Once Thanksgiving rolled around we had so many decorative turkeys popping out from every corner, I sometimes thought they might come alive and eat our entire family while we slept. And of course there was Christmas. Oh Christmas. The energy and time used to light our house in holiday cheer could have powered an island the size of New Zealand. It was horrific and wonderful all at the same time but it wasn't just our house, it was our entire neighborhood. Our street was a "must see" in the southern Orange County light search. The shine from our block could be seen miles away. I was always slightly embarrassed of it when I was in high school but that's only because I didn't appreciate it (which was usually the case for most things being only 16). I appreciate it now and I miss it.

Fast forward to the future--Provo, Utah, December 12th 2009. This is where you will find me extremely distraught with the state of Christmas. There are no lights, there are no plastic Santas hanging out on front yards. There are no flying reindeer or North Stars. There are no manger scenes or Charlie Browns. No elves, no giant ornaments adorning the leafless trees, no carols lingering through the air. Except for a small glimpse of white lights from a lit up tree on the inside of a home, there is no reminder that we are embarking on the master of all holidays.

In a city that proves to have a population of over 95% of people who would celebrate Christmas (and by celebrate I obviously mean a gaudy outward display of holiday cheer)--I have to say:

Provo, I am very disappointed in you.

It's not quite 12 days until Christmas, as the traditional song goes, but I don't care. I'm starting a day early. Embrace it.

On the day before the first day of Christmas, the Zweigs put up a tree. They didn't have any ornaments to decorate it with, but thankfully, cheesy gold tinsel comes in very handy.

Father and son: a tale of a first Thanksgiving.

I know, this picture is a little blurry. You're all just going to have to deal with it.
Justin and Atticus spent Novermber 26th enjoying their first moment as father and son during the Thanksgiving holiday. I was too busy bathing in turkey juice to take any pictures but I did manage to squeeze this little gem in. I hope you enjoy this Hallmark moment as much as we did.

And now, a special announcement from the Zweig Household

Listen, I know I haven't been posting much. I know that you all are dying to know what's been going on here in our brick house on the Southish East side of Provo, Utah. I know you all have been wondering where the spark and the laughter went from this blog. The hilarity and the sheer wittiness. You're wondering if we have disappeared.

Well folks, I don't have an answer for you other than to say, sometimes you just get sick of writing. Sometimes you get sick of taking pictures and sometimes you just don't know what to say (also known as writers block).

Starting today, this is all over and as Mr. Justin Timberlake would say, we're bringing sexy back.

It's been so long since I have updated I completely skipped over Thanksgiving and now it's almost Christmas (the holiday of all holidays, the master of the domain, the icing on the red and green cake). And well, Thanksgiving was amazing. We kicked the hypothetical butt of turkey dinner. It was delicious, it was mouth watering and we got to wash it all down with an ice cold glass of Martinelli's Sparkling Cider. No holiday dinner would be complete without the stuff. Sure, we missed our family and the general feeling of togetherness this holiday usually creates, but the day was surprisingly easy and stress free. We spent all day making the food, we spent a good hour eating it and we spent the rest of the night embracing our food coma in front of the TV. It was a beautiful and magical day and the best part was--football was in no way a part of it. Happy Thanksgiving to us.

Now that I have Thanksgiving out of the way, I'm free to ramble on and on about my favorite holiday, Christmas. Thanksgiving really is just the bumper on the way to Christmas anyway. You have to get it out of the way before you can start getting the lights out and the tree up.

This holiday will of course bring us all the well expected cheer and joy--but what we're most looking forward to and anticipating is going home for two weeks. Two weeks out of the snow. Two weeks with our family that we miss so much. Two weeks for Atticus to be fawned over and ogled at. Two weeks of warmth.

We've decked our halls, we've hung our lights, we went out and bought the cheeriest tree we could find. We've saved our gas money to make the 10-hour drive to California. The Zweigs are ready for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

I'm being totally serious, taking pictures of your own baby is more fun than Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas morning and birthday cake combined.

All in all, we've decided having a baby isn't so bad.

I have been too busy having the time of my life that I forgot to mention our little baby turned 4 months old 4 days ago!

We really loved him when he first came into this world but now we just love him even more. He doesn't just sit there like a blob of pale skin and spit-up. He has character, a growing personality and loves to pull my hair (hard).

Our little man is getting so big.








Other updates:

Orem, UT is now the home of an In-N-Out. It's like God opened the gates of heaven and let good ideas flow through. People were literally camped out in front of the restaurant prior to it's opening. Three days after the reveal we decided to brave the long line and only had to wait 20 minutes. It was worth it.

I am open for ideas for some great Thanksgiving side dishes. I've decided to make T-day dinner all by myself for the first time in known history (I'm becoming an "adult"). If you've got good ideas, I want them. Thank you.

Welp, that's all I have for you today. Things around here are cold and slow but happy.

xoxo,
the Zweigs

We certainly never get sick of his little precious face which means, you shouldn't either.

This picture was taken for two reasons.

1) It's really, really fun to set Atticus up with props.
2) It's true, we really miss our parents and this photo was taken specifically for them.

This place feels like home.

I woke up this morning and for a moment, forgot where I lived. Weird right?

Well, I sat on my couch, looked out the window and remembered.





Oh yeah, I live in God's country.

(Actual view from my living room--Lest ye forget).

I don't usually (or ever) do post like this but I thought to myself, "Oh well! When in Rome..."

So in case you haven't heard, we live in Utah. You know what Utah has? A lot of people who really know how to be crafty/bake/sew anything/decorate/be cute/write really great blogs all about the previous things mentioned/have Etsy shops that sell the things they made and wrote about in a blog /the list goes on and and on.

These people aren't just regular ol' people and moms, they're UTAH people & moms, a whole different breed of human being.

These people are Utahapiens.

Utahapiens, at first glance, look like normal everyday people but they're not. When observed at a closer degree, Utahapiens, when speaking of the female form: are usually found to be blond, have perfectly pressed makeup, are more often than not-- wearing a Shade clothing item, have a craft DIY solution for any problem, when asked--can spout out an ample list of all the reasons to own a KitchenAid Mixer (color red, of course), juggle their million everyday tasks with a smile, have every episode of TLC's Trading Spaces memorized and of course--really, really, really fertile.

Anyway, like I said--we live in Utah. Although, I don't possess many of the attributes mentioned above--I CAN and DO cook.

It's my one claim to fame outside of being freakishly good with computers which nobody but me seems to care about.

This post has a point, I promise.

Like my ever-so-perfect Utah neighbors and friends, I am going to post about something I made.

Behold my dear readers, Sunday dinner.



This meal doesn't have a name mainly because I found the recipe quite awhile ago and have since forgot where I found it. I have made so many alterations to it I think it's safe to now partially call it my own.

This recipe is EXTREMELY easy to make and can be tweeked for a larger group (or family).

All it requires is chicken breast (there were only two of us so I used two chicken breasts cut into two halves), pesto, parmesan cheese, fresh basil leaves, 4 pieces of prosciutto per breast, fresh minced garlic, and any sides you wish to make along with it (I found that sautéed asparagus complimented the taste of the chicken and prosciutto quite well).

I'd only butcher the recipe if I sat and explained all the steps to this meal so instead, I have supplied the steps in pictures:











Once you have all your wrapped chicken ready to go in your glass pan (I found putting a little wax paper under the chicken helps to keep it from sticking and also absorb some of the grease), throw it in the oven at 350 degrees (a temperature that perfectly browns the outside and still leaves the chicken moist and delicious) for about 30 minutes or until the chicken reaches 180 degrees when you stick a thermometer into the breast.



Arrange, serve, enjoy!



This meal is 100% husband approved.