Our weekend

a pretty sunset from the week before

a yummy salad I made at work the other night

On Friday night after work, we enjoyed sitting and raking (Tanner) on our front lawn. We then went to Rita's with the Bench's because we had them for FREE! Holla.

after, we toured around some other provo shops, and then chatted at home.

on Saturday, I worked until the afternoon, and then we drove to Salt Lake for some errands and dinner. it was fun to spend so much time together. after dinner at R&R BBQ, we drove around the capitol, the homes up there, and stopped at a beautiful lookout of the city!

Sunday night we had some family and friends over for dinner, and i'm going to miss our nieces so so much. it makes me so sad to think about it.

HE LIVES

Why is it that we live in a world where we always want something different, something more, or we just don't have what's good enough? I've been feeling a lot of this pressure lately, and to be honest, it sucks. I have been waiting for these last couple of weeks to come by for a very long time, and now that they're here, I don't want them to be. I couldn't wait to be done with my job, I literally thought about it everyday. Sadly enough, after a series of events, my job was instantly gone. It was exactly what I had wanted, but not in the way that I wanted. I had a lot of pity on myself, and had lot's of "why me?" thoughts go through my head. We had 11 weeks left in Utah, and we were instantly left with no income, and there was no way I was going to find a job for the next couple of months. The stress of moving to one of the most expensive cities started to build up inside. How were we going to get through this?

I can honestly say that this has been one of the hardest times on our marriage, but it has also been the best of times. Isn't it funny how just when you think everything is going right, and nothing could possibly go wrong, you get your head put on straight, and are able to have a different perspective? Everything happens for a reason, and I am now a firm believer in that. After many prayers, we were able to find two jobs that allowed me to leave at the end of April. I am eternally grateful for how those jobs came to me, and the crazy situations that happened. I now get to work with children everyday, and also get to work in a kitchen, expanding some cooking skills! Both of these short-term jobs have taught me different hard work, and it's nice to take a little break from the corporate world.

After many unanswered questions as to why we shouldn't stay in Utah for school, I can now say that it's because I no longer have that job. Sure, we could have certainly stayed, and in the same situation, I totally could have found another job, no problem. But, I don't believe that was our plan. I have been having a lot of anxiety these last couple of days looking at the calendar and knowing I have to pack up my house. I honestly don't want to leave our home, Utah, our comfortable place. I haven't ever really been in Utah without being with Tanner, so i just feel like this is our home. It scares me to start a new life, but I know we can do it, and I know wherever we are will be home.

Our church put out another wonderful Easter video, and i couldn't help but sob through the whole entire thing. It was just what I needed to see last night, and everyday as a reminder that I'm not going through these feelings, or things alone. What a wonderful season this is to reflect on our savior, and best friend. I am so thankful to know that I have a friend so close to me when no one else is there. He makes me feel safe in times of trouble, and I couldn't get through life without him. No way. I was so happy to be reminded that i can do this, and that there's always a reason.

I hope you find this video as special as I do. Make sure to take a look at mormon.org and read about Easter week and how he lives today. Enjoy!

Friday Products

I'm so happy that Spring is here!! Now, I just need to work on my tan... ;)

A couple products that I'm loving right now...

    1. Garnier Clean Blackhead Eliminating Scrub. I've always had very visible pores on my nose, and now working with food burners everyday, I've felt like they've become more visible. I've been wanting to try something with charcoal in it (since it's a new hype) and my skin really has felt softer already! Granted I've only used it a couple days, and I'm about to be in the favorite part of the month (if you know what I mean...) so, I'll report back after a couple weeks!

2. Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo. After noticing that the Suave dry shampoo is no longer sold (the one with the yellow lid, you know?) I became panicked into what dry shampoo I should use, because that one was my favvvvv. My sister recommended this one to me, so I decided to give it a try. Let's just say it made my day 5 hair that had been in a bun and braid all week, look perfect when I wore it down. SCORE! It's a large bottle, with a lot of spraying power. It also gives it great texture, which I love, and smells amazing. This Not Your Mother's brand keeps impressing me!  

3. Cadbury mini eggs. There are no words, except that I love them. Who's with me?! Also, I love that Target has the little perfect mini packs for under $1.

4. Baby Lips in "Cherry Me". Another product that keeps impressing me. I will never ever have too many colors of theirs. They all look SO good. I love them!!! And, this one even smells like cherries! Win win.

5. Last but not least, Biotin. This stuff better continue to help my bangs grow. They're finally not in such an awkward spot, and I can start doing more with them! I'm just dying to get to do my braids again....

Have a good weekend!!

March Happenings

-Getting so excited/extremely nervous to move here!

    -after some of our many trips to Home Depot lately, I ran into this life size dog. His owner had him          sit down all proper, but I wish I would have gotten a picture of him standing up past my waist!

-spring is here so s'mores have started!

    

                -i ran to go get some toilet paper from the local CVS, and when i put it on our shelf, i hit                my head on the point of it, and you could see the blood vessels about to pop on my skin...like i                had almost just cracked my head open! I had a goose egg for a week straight, and it hurt.

                                      -one early morning Tanner and I got to paint together

      

          -we went with the bench's to a random bon fire, and didn't know anyone else. when i came                                home that night my white converse were black. may have shed a tear...

                  -don't know how i fell asleep like this.... doesn't look like it was comfortable at all

        

                   -i love coming home to only one cookie on the cake plate, because that means our new                                                                        recipe was the bomb! 

          

                   -i also love coming home to a package from my momma with a beautiful new Easter                                       wreath! not pictured: a package of biscoff cookies. she loves me

           

                             -this new job that i have has really helped me develop more food talents
                                                           (and love handles, for that matter) 

          

             -we locked ourselves out of our house once again....getting confused about who had the car                 keys is tough! :) after standing outside in the spring evening and starving for an hour and a half, we treated ourselves to a little ceasar's pizza and may or may not have eaten the whole thing.                              a picture of my feet, because what else do you do when you're bored.

          

              -we randomly ran into my childhood best friends' family at the riverwoods on Friday after                                                              dinner with our sister, and it was the best!

        

               -we got to enjoy the sunshine on Saturday afternoon at the BYU baseball game, watching                  my cousin and our family friend. I wish I would had come in shorts and a tee shirt though to                                                        have gotten some sun! Thank you spring!

                  -Sunday was the best day, where we listened to the "easy listening" station on Pandora                     (aka Frank Sinatra and Michael Buble) and drove around Utah Lake. It was such a good day,                                                    followed by root beer floats at ward FHE, holla!

       

      

     -happy St. Patrick's day to my fellow Irishman. Make sure you wear green and have lots of        shamrock shakes, or else I will pinch you! :)

Chicken Noodle Soup

Utah's weather has been a little bipolar lately (what's new) so yesterday, when I was expecting another sunny day and we got a cloudy one, I knew just what I needed to do-Make Chicken Noodle Soup! The last couple of days I've woken up with a bit of a scratchy throat, and knew I needed to stop the bug before it got worse! So we had some yummy homemade soup, a couple glasses of OJ, and we were feelin good! Orange Juice is more of a delicacy in our home, so we don't buy it a lot...or enough! It never lasts more than 24 hours with me, because I love it so much. I just miss the citrus groves I guess! :)

My friend gave me her mother's recipe and it didn't disappoint! I started my noodles before I left for work, and you can let them dry out for however long you want! They were super easy, I just mixed with a wooden spoon. Roll them out super thin, and slice them up!

I chopped up a full bag of baby carrots because I wanted lots of veggies. I did about a stalk (?) and a half of celery, and 2 chicken breasts.

Here's the recipe for you to try on your own!! 

^^don't those look yum!?

HOMEMADE CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP & NOODLE RECIPE:

NOODLES:

1 beaten egg

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tbs. milk

stir

1 C flour

stir/mix dough until stiff, then roll out SUPER thin, let dry out for at least 20 minutes, then slice thin.

boil chicken with 2 bay leaves (I just used dried bay leaves from my spice rack!) 

add celery, carrots, bouillon (I used two)

shred chicken

place chicken back in the now broth

add noodles (10-15 minutes)

add salt and pepper

AND YOU'RE DONE! slice up a baguette, and you're good to go! 

The Big 6 0 !

This past weekend we went to Carlsbad to surprise, and celebrate my father's 60th birthday! Carlsbad holds a very special place in my families' heart, because we have been going every summer, and sometimes in September for a week, since my parent's honeymoon! We have stayed in the Sea Slope condos ever since I can remember, and it's only been the last couple years that we've started to stay across the street. Our good friends own one of the condos, and have offered for us to use the space for a while now. My mom thought it would be perfect to stay there, only adults, and celebrate our loving dad! 

My mom was super sneaky and tricked my dad into a planned fake lunch, but kept on driving to California on Wednesday. Thursday was his actual birthday, and my sister and I flew in that evening, and our big sis picked us up on her drive in. We surprised him at his favorite restaurant while they were eating. It was perfect! We then went back to the condo, celebrated with Sprinkles cupcakes, and chatted until late.

 

Friday morning we went for a long walk, had a delicious breakfast in the village, then spent the afternoon on the beach. We were bundled up for some parts, but there was no other place I would rather be! The beach is my happy place, especially Carlsbad in general. That evening we went into San Diego to pick up Tanner from the airport, and had delicious BBQ at Phil's BBQ. If you're ever in San Diego-you must go! It was our first time and it was deeeelicious. We headed back to Carlsbad, where my other brother in law met us, and we stayed up all night playing the classic Carlsbad card game-GOLF. 

I love these huge succulents!

On Saturday, we walked to breakfast in the village again, came back to play more GOLF, took a long walk on the beach, noticed some new model homes, and went through a ton of Open Houses! Picked up some turkado sandwiches to share from Board & Brew, then got ready for the birthday dinner! My dad had no idea we made t-shirts for the occasion, or where we were eating. It was awesome! We watched the sunset before dinner, then our final brother in law arrived, we ate, laughed, cried, and devoured in some delicious German Chocolate Cake-his favorite. We made a 60 page book from memories, letters, and pictures from our family and friends. Even my friends participated and it made for such a wonderful book and keepsake. We went back to the condo and what do you guess we did? Played GOLF.

these t-shirts have the cutest picture of our baby father! i've always loved that picture.

he nicknamed himself "king of the beach" a while back with all of the families that we vacation in Carlsbad with, and it stuck haha!

Our dinner was on a patio watching the beautiful sunset!

There was a sprinkling storm coming in, and it made for the most beautiful sunset!

there were some pretty sweet words in that book.

 

Sunday morning was relaxing as we were able to watch some Stake Conference on the computer, and listen to the waves. We had lunch at our favorite Cessy's, and then half of us went to the train, and half drove home. We took the train into San Diego, walked around downtown, had some Ghirardelli sundaes, and headed to the airport to go home. 

It was the perfect weekend in our happiest place, and there's no one I'd rather have spent it with! Because I'm the youngest by far, we hadn't done anything just the adults, ever! It was so fun to just hang out with each other all weekend. 

Thanks to all who helped with the book, and helped with the surprise! We feel blessed with amazing friends and family.

xoxo