just some of the few things happening from like a month ago until now

Whew! A month gone by and I haven't been on blogger, what a shame. I wish I could give you a good excuse that says we've been out traveling the world or something like that but in all honesty, we've been glamming it up with.......work. So elaborate, I know. ;)

 

This is the busier season for both hubs and I so we get to be pretty crazy. Since last year was so hectic and exhausting (no more 12 hour work days, please), I've been attempting to gear up a little better with freezer meals being made, groceries stocked up, and not stressing out so much about the house getting a little messy. That one is a work in progress.

 

I sometimes get to sneak away for trail rides on ponies. It is such a great stress reliever and so much fun.

 

 

 

I heard of marinating a bunch of meat, cooking it up, and throwing it in the freezer. You can add it to just about any dish and save yourself a lot of time on those late nights. This keeps us from running out to buy unnecessary, overpriced, and unhealthy fast food. Its definitely one of those "Why didn't I think of that?" moments for me.

I had my first ever "oh-yum-this-is-actually-really-good" grain free pizza today. It sure doesn't get credit for looks but totally makes up for it in taste and ease! It was so quick and simple to whip up and actually satisfied my pizza cravings that come just about every day. Get the recipe here.

Hubs and I are both working on some health goals right now so this fits the bill for me.

 

 

And then there are these little gems that make those health goals fly right out the window. My sister and I had a caramel apple dipping party on Halloween. We were sick to our stomachs but it was so worth it! My favorite was the caramel, chocolate, pretzel dipped apple. The candy bar ones were fabulous too.

Hubs and I try to make room for each other even though our days get pretty crazy. We usually keep it pretty simple with lots of cuddling and movies in the evenings. The romance most always ends with me pushing and kicking hubs while he attempts to tickle my feet for "one minute" as he says. This morning while we were cuddling in bed Hubs asked me, "Will you put your arms in the air for one minute?" Um, NO!

I've also been playing with my new Silhouette Cameo while I can. We put our Christmas décor up the day after Thanksgiving so I gotta hustle and finish all of my projects!

 



 Jimmy's home teaching companion unexpectedly lost their four month old baby girl this week. We had the other kids over at our house for a bit so that realllly kept me busy. I don't know how you super moms do it. Her funeral was today and it was very sweet. She was such a happy little baby that will be missed but we know she was needed more on the other side. Baby A makes a perfect little angel.

 

Oh, and this place is amazing. I've made it a goal to go every week (this girl needs it) so if you ever need a temple buddy just let me know. :)

a new look, fall, and other things

 

We headed up to Cascade Springs this week for our yearly fall drive and walk. We've been going since we were dating a few years ago and always look forward to it! Hubby has been going since he was a kid with his family and I'm happy to say that we still carry the tradition on.

 

 

I wanted to get some cute photos with Jimmy while we were there, but unfortunately my carsickness kicked into over drive the farther up the trail we walked so we ended up not staying too long. Its not uncommon for me to get slight motion sickness on curvy roads but I assumed that it would go away once in the fresh air. It didn't this time and I'm wondering if it had something to do with the elevation or something I ate previously?

 

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My sister convinced me to take the ponies on a trail ride last Saturday morning. It was a blast! I took my old pony, Sugar Lips, that my parents still use for riding lessons. We went bareback (no saddles) around the dike by the lake. We cantered (horsey ran) a lot and I didn't even fall off! I was sure I would because its been a while since I've done that. Plus we were laughing so hard because we looked so funny on our full speed ponies taking a run for it. I am sure feeling it in my legs and abs this week. But it was so worth it! 

 

 

 

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After our ride, Jimmy convinced me to go rock climbing up the canyon...Yeah, I have NO muscles this week! I really wasn't in the mood and declined to climb for a while because the only rock we could climb was one I was mad at. (I can't get very far up it at all). I finally just went so Jimmy would stop inviting me. I was on the rock for ages and was so irritated that I was struggling so much that I was determined to beat that dang rock. Before I knew it I was sitting at the top looking over the tip of the temple and fall leaves covering the valley! I'm glad my Hubby knows me and pushes me to try new things.

 

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Also, last week my brand new Silhouette Cameo came for me in the mail! Woo hoo! I've been wanting one for a while now and saved up some baby sitting money for it. Whew! I'm still a newbie and just trying to figure things out but I can tell it will be well played with and loved. That last sentence just sounded like someone was talking about a baby or something.

 

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And just one last update for y'all before you get too bored with my looong post. I've been getting migraines and headaches the past couple of weeks. They've been lasting all day and continue to get worse as time goes by. I watch my diet and water intake very closely and knew there were no changes there. I keep trying to figure out what was going on when I noticed I consistently get a headache when looking at any type of screen. Since I work in front of a computer all day and the headaches were getting worse pretty quickly, I made an eye appointment per my hubby's and mom's advice. For a girl who comes from a family that doesn't have any vision problems, I received really weird news. We found out that my right eye is far sighted while my left eye is near sighted. My vision is still pretty good but my eyes are constantly trying to "fight" with each other and adjust, causing headaches. So I was kindly ordered some special little reading/screen glasses to help my head not hurt all day.

I figured I might as well have fun with them if I have to live with them so I tried on like a hundred of funky and fun glasses. The girls at the front desk had a ball helping me try them out and narrow down my options until I picked these ones (and please excuse my awkward face)

 

 

 

 

I LOVE my little cat lenses! And I just noticed I'm wearing a leopard shirt under as well. I guess you could say I'm a sucker for anything leopard print. :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

lets catch up with some random things

I've kind of fallen off the social media planet lately. Just been stuck in my own little world doing my own thing. I'm keeping busy busy busy. Its a blessing and a curse, really. Still trying to work on prioritizing my schedule and to do list. I was so swamped for a few weeks right when we came home from our trip with starting up more work hours and our house projects. Whew! Now that we are officially done with remodeling for a while, we just crash on the couch in front of the TV on our spare time. Maybe we will get bored in a few days and find other ways to keep busy. WHO KNOWS. We obviously have a "busy" issue. Tips anyone???

In other news beyond thinking about remodeling...

-I am loving fall! I got 4 fall cardigans the other day with price tags of $3.99 on each of them! Woo-hoo!

- I finally created a craft closet the other week. I. love. it. I still need to make it look cute before I post pictures. But it is so much fun to work in!

- I need to get my teensy porch decorated for fall. I'm not much for swapping out the indoor décor but the porch is something I always enjoy decorating for the holidays.

- Speaking of holidays, maybe I can convince hubby that we need Christmas lights this year? I've never been able to convince him. So the sad, grumpy, house of ours will most likely look a little Grinch for yet another year this winter.

- And OH MY GOSH. The other week our Toyota Corolla stopped working. We were too busy to get it towed to the mechanic with everything going on so I just drove our spare truck. Well, we finally got it in over the weekend and GUESS WHAT. Turns out a rodent had chewed through the wires of our car. Let me repeat. A RODENT CHEWED THROUGH THE WIRES OF OUR CAR. Oh of course, why shouldn't that poor little rodent be able to snack on our car parts?

Disney 2013 Recap

Whew! It has been so busy around here. We got back from California and jumped right into work and remodeling our bathroom. It's coming along so well and I am in love already! Can't wait to get that post going up as soon as its done next week.

 

Cali was so so so much fun. We loved every minute of it. It was just me and Jimmy for a while, my parents met up with us on and off. We were lucky enough to be able to tag along with my dad since he had a work conference right next to Disneyland.

 

While we were in California, we spent our first day doing nothing but the beach. It was so perfect to relax! We even found a quiet beach to lay out on.

 

 

 

We also went to Knotts Berry Farm for the first time. If you love thrill rides, head to Knotts! It was a blast and I can't believe some of the rides I went on. And there were hardly any wait times.

 

 

 

 

And of course, Disneyland/California Adventure! We were in the park for a couple of days and got so much done. We rode just about every ride and played around, saw a couple of shows, ate lots of food,

 

(My parents behind me)

 

 

(For my LEGO loving husband's family, and yes those are made out of LEGOS!)

 

 

And tracked down characters. We even got to meet some of the characters who hardly ever come out which was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

 

 

We had so much fun on our vacation, we are already talking about when we can go on another one! Better save our pennies...

 

 

 

Our DIY Kitchen/Entryway Display Transformation

 

 

I say keep the home remodeling coming! We are having a blast with it!

There was this built in aquarium in our kitchen/entryway. It was really gross and used to house a giant snake for years. It just wasn't working for us. Over the weekend, we just pulled our act together and decided we were going to transform the yucky space into a display shelf. And we love the result!

 

 

 

Hubs took the aquarium out and built the frame/shelves for me while I worked on the décor.

Not wanting to spend a lot of money and knowing that I had a ton of stuff in our house, I decided to challenge myself and use only what I had on hand already. And I'm glad I did!

 I ended up not spending any money on my portion (now I can put that money towards other stuff, ahem, other craft projects) and loved how I was able to free up kitchen cabinet space by using my kitchen items as décor. I also liked how I was able to use up some of those random craft supplies that I normally would have left cluttering other places.

 

 

My display came out so different than what I planned for. I thought there would be so much color and a lot more items on the shelves. But we are actually loving the simplicity and white since its an open shelf and we already have a lot going on in our small house.

I ended up just opening my kitchen cabinets and pulled out some of my nice white sets that I don't use on a regular basis. I pulled out a few more random white items, rearranged things around quite a few times, and pretty soon hubs was telling me how much he was loving it! If I ever want to use the white dish sets for a special occasion, no biggie, I'll just use them and put them back after.

 

The bunting banner was super easy. It was the first thing I started, planned to be use for a different room originally, and was what sparked my ideas for the display. I just pulled out some random scrap fabric, folded it hot dog style, cut triangles, and hot glued the white ribbon inside the fold of the triangles. No sewing required. Easy Easy.

The sign was a gift from my sister when Jimmy and I first got married. I saved it until I found the perfect spot. The wreaths were originally just one foam wreath from the dollar store I had on hand. I cut it in half, wrapped them in burlap, and attached handmade flowers on. The frame was just a black plastic frame I pulled from storage. I sanded it so my cheap paint would hold on, spray painted it blue, then lightly brushed some watered down off-white paint on after it dried. I love how it turned out!

 

I LOVE how I didn't have to go to the store once for this project! Jimmy and I can't get enough of our new display, it changes the room up like crazy. Not to mention the smell of fresh wood is awesome. :)

 

Next up is the bathroom!

 

 

 

the fourth, the outdoors, some food, and a spook.

A little recap of what we've been up to lately. I know, I'm super behind on blogging!

 

We enjoyed the fourth of July..

 

Between the parade with my family, a movie, some BBQ food with hub's family, then a giant water fight and fireworks, we had a great time! Well, don't I say that every year?

 

 (Thanks hubs for the top two photos)

 

 

 

 

I baked and decorated these little patriotic coconut cupcakes for our BBQ. Unfortunately most of the flags didn't make it to the cupcakes in time.

 

 

 

 

Jimmy got a (very nice) used bike for a great deal the other week. Bike rides every evening, alllllll evening....

 

 

 

And we've been having fun in the kitchen of course! Do you think I would update y'all with a post that had no food in it somewhere? Hubby actually made and canned the jams below. Lots of berries from the garden were involved, yum!

 

What did I do while he worked away? I sat on my rear and ate a few cookies. I so kindly offered up my jam taste testing services every now and again too. So much work involved in the process. ;)

 

Sorry for the awful quality photos below but....

 

 

The other night I came home from work, flipped on the bedroom light, and got spooked out of my pants because a man was lying in my bed.

 

After a long second of scared jumping, I laughed and laughed at hubby's little surprise. Yes, those are his clothes, yes hubs drew the face himself, and yes that is a head made out of a well used whoopie cushion laying around the house.

 

 Because every couple needs a whoopie cushion to keep their marriage strong, ya know?