Early Sunday Morning

Steff, my roommate, went with her family to Hawaii on Sunday and I had the opportunity to drop her off at the airport early in the mornin'. Ever since our ward's meeting time got moved back to 12:00 I don't get up early on Sundays. (Usually not before 10:00 am!) Sunday is a whole new day when you get up early. You can get so much more done whith those extra hours. I was also really glad that Steff asked me to drive her up there. We have both been so busy lately that we don't get a lot of time to spend together anymore, so it was nice to have an hour with her to just enjoy being together. I am sure gonna miss her when she leaves on her mission in a month!

When It Rains, It Pours

It has always frustrated me that life doesn't come at you in little trickles. It is either sunny and bright or it is a hurricane. Never in between. I have been enjoying sunshine for so long that I forgot what it was like to have a storm comin' through. But the storm came and there is more up ahead. What do I mean by this? In the past two weeks I have had a best friend get married, my best friend/sister move across the country, my best friend/roommate receive her mission call to leave in May, her departure date being moved up to March 10th, the stresses of trying to find a new roommate (I shouldn't be, but I'm picky), and I found out it will probably take an extra, unexpected semester in order to graduate. On top of that, my parents are getting upset with me for taking out student loans to pay for school. I know it doesn't sound like a big load to carry, and it probably isn't compared to everyone else's, but after life being so easy the last little while I'm not mentally/emotionally prepared for all this. Especially in such a short time period. Most of all, I think the last little while has just made me realize that it is time for me to be independent and face this world on my own. It is something that I have tried to avoid at all costs.
I'm going to look on the bright side though. So here goes: My best friend married her high school sweetheart who we are all good friends with so I will still get to do stuff with her a lot. I still get to communicate with my sister over the phone and through webcam so it isn't like she's been thrown off the face of the earth. Also, she is coming out in May for my brother's wedding! My roommate, Steff, has been planning on this mission since before I can remember so I am way excited for her. Also, her initial departure date was the same week as my brother's wedding and my other brother moving to Arizona. So now I only have to say goodbye to two people that week instead of three! As far as the extra semester of school, I'm still looking for the silver lining on that one, but hopefully it will come.

P.S. for those that didn't hear, Steff is serving in the Nauvoo, Illinois, sign language speaking mission!!!

The Perfect Purse

I hate purse shopping!!! It is so very frustrating for many reasons:

Reason #1: A girl's purse kinda defines who she is. They make a statement about who you are. There are just so many out different kinds out there. And you have to search everywhere to find the perfect purse that defines exactly who you are (Which requires some inner soul searching if you don't know who you are). Here are some examples found from this website. Just think about the different types of women that you would see wearing each one and you will know what I mean.


Reason #2: A purse goes with you everywhere. I mean everywhere! Therefore, it has to look okay with everything you wear. If you take a quick trip to the grocery store in your pajamas, it has to match. If you go to church all dressed up fancy, it has to match. If you go out with friends in jeans and a t-shirt, it has to match. Do you see why finding a purse is so difficult now?

I usually don't like to buy purses very often and I put it off as long as possible. A few weeks ago I realized that the dreaded time had come, and I needed a new purse again. My last one was small and trying to get my wallet in and out so many times had ripped it in a couple places. Also, since my wallet was so big, there was only enough room in my purse for my keys, phone, and wallet. Nothing else would really fit. I started the search a week ago and visited multiple different stores including Kohl's, Target, and a Boutique. I searched high and low and couldn't find anything. They were either too big, too small, too fancy, too plain, too many pockets, not enough pockets or the wrong color. Can you hear my frustration!?! When I was about ready to give up, my roommate, Steff, asked if she could come purse shopping with me and see if she could help me find one. I agreed and we set out one last time last night. We found one at a boutique that was acceptable but I wasn't really excited about it (I didn't really like the shape of it). So I got it in the hopes that I could return it because of a spectacular find somewhere else. We headed to Target real fast because I knew they had some pretty cheap ones. We found a couple that I liked but none that really made me optimistic. And then it happened. Steff came around the corner with a purse. Not just any purse, it was the purse. The more I looked at it, the more I fell in love with. It was just the right size, the color was perfect, it had just the right amount of pockets, and it was something I could dress up with or wear frumpies in. It was perfect and it was cheap! Alas, purse shopping is not impossible after all! Thank you Target for making my life a little easier :)

This is my new purse!

Christmas is Here!

It finally feels like Christmas!!!

It has been snowing since Sunday and it is beautiful! The world is all white and the coats, boots, and scarves have come out to play. I have been hesitant to play Christmas music so far this year, which is unusual for me. I am usually the one that starts playing it before thanksgiving even gets here. However, this year was different and I'm not sure why. I just wasn't in the mood for it. Then, Sunday came and with it came all this snow! It was like a switch flipped on inside me that said it was really time for Christmas now.
To boost this festive feeling, my roommates and I got ourselves a Christmas tree last night after FHE. If any of y'all are lookin for real trees, go to Sunriver Gardens on the corner of State St. and 1200 N in Orem. It is so pretty there and they have amazing trees for super cheap! Also, the people there are so nice. They helped us find, cut, and load up our pretty little tree. The rest of the evening was fantastic! Steff, Jessa, and I went up to Steff's house to get some extra lights from her parents. Then we got hot chocolate and headed home to set up our new tree. While setting him up, Lauren decided on a name for him. Our house is called The Peach Palace, so we named him James (like James and the Giant Peach) but he goes by Jimmy :) We strung lights all over the living room and now our home is so cozy and ready for Christmas!

Jessa and Steff bringing Jimmy into his new home

It took Jessa and me a while to get Jimmy set up straight

Jessa, Steff, and Lauren stringin' the lights :)
The finished product all lit and decorated. We are gettin' more decorations later, but this is all we had for now.

All snuggled up and excited for Christmas in our cozy little house.

South Carolina with the Boys and Steph

I never thought the day would come when I could say it but I finally went on my first airplane! Joseph, my brother-in-law, graduated from basic training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina last week and Stephanie so graciously asked me to come along with her and help take care of the boys. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun!!! First of all, I absolutely love spending time with the boys! Unfortunately, now that they live at my parent's house, I'm the aunt that they spend the least amount of time with. This was such a great chance to catch up with them and do things with just me and them. Second, I was ecstatic to finally fly for the first time in my life. Also, I was really excited to have a break from school and life. Last of all I was really excited to go see Joseph and have a chance to see the kind of place he has been at for the last couple months.
There are a couple things I learned while on this trip:
1. I forgot how much fun Steph and I have when we are together. We had to navigate our way from the N. Carolina airport to our hotel in S. Carolina with only map-quest directions on a rainy night, in the dark, with two tired and cranky boys in the backseat of the car. Yes, we were ready to pull hair out by the time we finally found the freeway an hour later, but at the same time it was so much fun! We had jammin' sessions in the car with the radio full blast and Benjamin singing with us in the backseat. We also just had some good, deep conversations about life. I love sisters!
2. I've never really been outside of Utah without being near other LDS ppl (Most of my vacations have been to church historical sites) and so I haven't really had a chance to spend a lot of time getting to know and talking with non-LDS ppl. I think I have always secretly been scared to because most of the non-LDS ppl in Utah that I know are ppl that have left the church and are super bitter about the church and the ppl in it. My mind was completely changed! People in the South are sooo friendly and I love it! They talk to you like they really care about you and they are so kind and courteous! Makes me wish that out here in the West, we were more like that, instead of being untrusting and undfriendly of strangers we meet. Along these lines, my idea of the military changed as well. To be honest, ppl in the military scare me. Most of them seem so frightening and mean. I was wrong about that. They are so nice and friendly! For a small second I was jealous that Steph gets to live with these kind of ppl for the next 6 years. Don't worry Steph, it was only a momentary thought. :)
3. Being a mom is exhausting! Pretty much my job on this trip was to be a nanny for the little boys. I loved every minute of it, but I was ready for bed at 8:30 every night. Especially the days that we spent flying. I don't know why flying is so exhausting. All you do is sit there on a plane. But nonetheless, it made us all really tired. Also, trying to keep track of them and all the stuff that they need is exhausting. And let me just say that baby carriers are sooo heavy! Especially when there is a chubby 6-month old inside. Someday I'm going to patent one that is super lightweight. Even though the boys made me really tired by the end of the day, I still loved every minute I got to spend with them; even the times when they both decided to cry at the top of their lungs at the same time. It makes me so excited for the day that I get to take care of my own kids and run around with them all day long.

Here are some pictures from our adventure:

This is how we kept Benjamin busy and occupied on the plane ride.
Thank goodness for Cars and Finding Nemo!

Some really smart person came up with the idea to put a play area in the Cincinnati Airport. Thank you! It helped keep Benjamin occupied while we waited for our next play to take off.
Here are the precious little boys after they both finally crashed on mommy's lap after a long day of flying

My favorite part about flying was looking at the tops of clouds. How can you look at something so beautiful and not believe that God had a hand in creating it?
This was part 1 of Joseph's graduation. It was our first chance to see him but we couldn't find him til the end cuz everybody looked the same in their uniforms.

Once the above mentioned part of the graduation was over, we were able to go find Joseph (It took us a while) and once we found him, Benjamin clung to him like a magnet. He was so excited to see his daddy again. It was really cute to watch.
Here is the happy family finally reunited again after two and a half months.
One more picture of Benjamin not wanting to be put down by Joseph. At one point, Joseph was playing with Garrett and when Benjamin noticed he kept saying, "Daddy! Daddy! Look at me! Daddy, tickle me!" It was cute to watch but sad at the same time that Benjamin wanted so badly for his daddy to be with him all the time.
I love the look on Garret's face in this picture! It's just so him. I also love watching Benjamin try and tickle Garrett. It's one of his favorite things to do. He's such a great big brother.

This was at the last part of the graduation. It was cold and windy outside but nothing compared to Utah's cold, so I can't really complain.

This is Benjamin's happy face cuz he knew he was about to see daddy again.

Love Steph's facial expression for this one! It's just so her :) Joseph was finally a graduate at this point and was able to leave base with us.

Since he was able to leave base we took him to go eat, because that's what all guys want to do and because he hadn't been given more than 3 minutes to eat a meal in over two months. We went to Golden Corral and I was lucky enough to capture this picture. I know it's not very flattering but it makes me laugh :)

Okay, here's a better one of them together
Here are all the boys in the family so happy to be together again, even though Garrett doesn't really know what's going on

After lunch, we went and visited the temple in S. Carolina. It was really small but really pretty. I love the stone that they used to build it and the fact that it is surrounded by forests of trees on all four sides.

Last and final picture. Benjamin found a friend to play with at the airport before we headed home. This little girl was on her way to go see her daddy who was in the army too. She and Benjamin got along really well and had a lot of fun watching airplanes take off together.

Halloween Traditions

My family has a couple traditions that we try to do every year for Halloween. The first is one that we started when my oldest sister got married (or sometime close to that). We all get together for a Halloween dinner where every dish is something spooky. Then afterwards we decorate Halloween sugar cookies with Twizzler Nibs, gummy raspberries, cinnamon candies, and other various decorations. In the past we have had some pretty fun times with this. Before moving to California, our friend, Emily, would come over with her husband and join us for cookie decorating. Last year, we decorated our table with spider webs for dinner and they ended up in all the food :) This year was just as awesome. We had meatloaf with eyeballs (boiled eggs) made by Stephanie, pumpkin shaped cheese balls made by my mom, and I made some lemonade with strawberries in it (it was supposed to be blood and guts). It was a pretty amazing dinner.

Here is the meatloaf man

You can't see it very well cuz the camera on my phone isn't very good but here is the pumpkin cheeseballs made by my mom

The next tradition in my family isn't something that we really do but more of something that happens every year. We actually haven't had it in a few years but this year we had it back again. I'm talking about dead deer in the garage! October is hunting season and every Halloween growing up we always had a deer hanging in the garage or on the swingset in the backyard. Yep, we would have to get our bikes out of the dark garage in the morning to go to school right next to a deer hanging upside down with blood dripping out of its nose. I don't know how to get more gruesome and spooky than that. It was acutally one of my favorite parts about October. I loved to sit and watch my dad skin it and slice up all the meat. A couple times he even let me help. This year both my dad and brother got deers this past weekend and so we had two hanging in the garage and so while the girls in the family made our spooky dinner, my dad and brother were skinning and butchering their prizes.

Here is my brother's just hangin' in the garage

This is my brother just skinnin' away

One of Those Roommate Nights You'll Never Forget

My roommates and I had one of those nights the other day that we all know we will never forget. You know, the ones where you try something and it fails miserably but you had so much fun in the process that by the end of the night you are all laughing really hard. So what did we attempt that failed so miserably? Making taffy. We were making it for FHE, but it took too long to boil and no one in our group wanted to stick around long enough to wait for it to be done. This ended up being a good thing because the taffy took us three hours until we got to a point where we gave up.

When making taffy, this is what is supposed to happen: You boil it until it forms a hard ball when dripped in a cold cup of water. Then you pour the taffy on a pan and let it cool in the fridge for a little while. Then you butter up your hands and take chunks of it and pull it. Basically, that means you stretch it and fold it back together, kinda like kids do with play-dough. After pulling it for a while the taffy begins to turn a lighter color until it eventually turns white and stiff.
Now this is what really happened. The taffy took way longer than normal to boil and then it was super sticky and we went through a stick and a half of butter just trying to stop it from sticking to our hands. Then we pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled some more. The taffy turned a lighter color but we could not get it to turn white. We were able to get a big ol' chunk of it to turn pretty close to white so we saved that and set it on a pan to cool. When we woke up the next morning, the taffy had flattened and spread across the whole pan. It was a complete failure and a messy, messy experience.

It was a sticky mess. Steff's hands were hopeless but
Jessa tried to help clean them off anyways.

Here's a better view of the not-so-white taffy.