We had the most lovely of weekends! I feel like it's always kind of a struggle to figure out the best order to do things in on Saturdays when we want to maximize our time and feel the most productive. We always have the same things on our weekend list (with slight variation) - temple, homework, exercise, and do something fun!
Friday night after attending Team Yellow's workout (which was so fun and I love being at work with Tom!), we went to the store and each picked out our own box of cereal. Of course, we did this knowing full well that we would eat each other's. Dark Chocolate Cheerios and Special K Fruit and Yogurt are where it's at. I'm telling you! This coming from the girl who ate 2 bowls of Cinnamon Toast Crunch on the daily. Then we came home and moved our mattress into the living room! I LOVE IT when we do this. It feels like a fun adventure :)
We ate dinner, and then had a boat load of cereal for dessert/date treat while we watched Secondhand Lions. I fell asleep at some point, and woke up to Tom watching a documentary on Netflix called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. So I woke up to watch it, and then Tom fell asleep. My sister Steph had recommended that one to us a while ago but we never watched it till now! It was interesting, and we've had lots of chats about juicing pros and cons since then. If we find a super cheap juicer, we may even try it!
Saturday was so good! We did homework first, then exercised. Can I just proclaim to the world that I RAN 5 MILES. I've never ran that far in my life. Go ahead and laugh, but I'm proud! It felt oh so good. Then we went to the temple, one of my favorite parts of the week. Then we headed off to Idaho Falls for some a lot of shopping! Thanks to birthday gift cards and wedding money (will it ever end?), we had a free-loader's fantasy of a night. I got some new clothes, something that I haven't done in a long time!, and we got some decor for the house, and a new journal for me. And of course we stopped at Winco. We had this tragic moment where we realized that Bed Bath and Beyond (where all our wedding money left is for) doesn't sell animal crackers OR the chocolate covered Acai berry/blueberry mix. WHAT?! One can only use gift cards for so many things until it becomes wasteful, I suppose. But that didn't deter us, we spent the last bit of our Target gift card for some treats and useful things. All in all, a very successful night.
Sunday was a wonderful day. We were just so happy and giddy...okay I'll stop. Just mushy newly wed stuff ;) We just both really love each other and this life we live!
How was your weekend?
Monday, March 3, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Picture Catch Up
I am just now getting caught up with the rest of the world where I plug my phone into my computer to get my pictures, instead of avoiding blogging from my phone, and sending myself emails of pictures to blog. SO. There's a LOT of pictures I want to put up. I may have mentioned them here before, and that's okay. I really like pictures and am determined to do better about taking and sharing them!
Temple-to-Temple again, a car full of friends!
The morning of the Temple-to-Temple relay...last semester. Like, beginning of the semester. I know, I'm terrible. But it was such a fun day! So cold that morning!!
Temple-to-Temple again, a car full of friends!
At the end of the Temple-to-Temple :)
A very regular occurrence in our home - chocolate chip pancakes.
Over Christmas we got to spend time with the Baker's and make Graham Cracker houses! Mine was an attempt at the Painted Ladies (Full House house, anyone?). Fail!
Tom was going for a hour with a garage, but then it turned into a church!
Our first Christmas eve together :)
New Year's Eve together, for the second year in a row! They just keep getting better!
One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a Texas-shaped waffle maker. We use it often, but sometimes we don't quite fill it enough to get all of east Texas...sorry guys. Nothing personal.
One of our favorite meals - BBQ chicken roll ups! I'll need to post that recipe sometime.
Every other week, we made about 80 muffins. And it's awesome. We love our muffins!
Excuse the non-rotated picture. Tom made sushi! I still didn't like it, but he loves it so much and I love watching him make it. He's pro! :)
One of the things that has taken up most of Tom's time this semester is his internship with The Biggest Winner on campus. He's the Wellness Coach for Team Yellow!
On Saturday they had their second team challenge, the Try-a-Tri! I did it too, but in an earlier heat. It was such a blast! They all did so so so good and we're so proud of them!
We really love these guys. They inspire us!
And that's about it for now :)
One year older and wiser too
I remember on my birthday every year, the first thing my Dad would say to me, as he gave me a big bear hug, is "how does it feel to be ___?" I would always joke with him that it felt so different, that I was a new woman.
Well yesterday was the best birthday ever! I got spoiled by friends and family, and most especially by my sweet Tom. Tuesday night we went to the Cheap Seats to see a movie. We saw Gravity. It was good, but I'm glad it was such a cheap showing (thank you 2.50 Tuesdays!). We probably won't ever see it again. It was so fun to walk to the theater and sneak in candy (wait, what?) and just enjoy being together! We rarely see movies, so it was a fun treat :)
When I came out of our room in the morning, I found that Tom had kept the Cook tradition alive by decorating the house! Please take note of the giant yellow balloon and the little green bean one in the center of the carpet. Also, please don't look too long, you might notice how messy our house is!
An inside joke that will never tire. It stems from a great question: would you rather have a duck the size of a horse, or 100 horses the size of a duck? I immediately and confidently chose 100 duck-sized horses. Whenever we're doing something sneaky for each other, we say we're grooming or feeding or cleaning the horses. Isn't Tom a great artist? ;)
Even our managers remembered to wish me a happy day, on the receipt for our rent :)
It was such a wonderful day!! My favorite part was eating cookie bar things and Goo-Goo cluster ice cream on the couch as Tom and I watched "The Secret Life of Bees". I was so overwhelmed with contentment and happiness. I love this life. I love everything about it. Sometimes I forget that, and it's nice to have a reminder. There are always more blessings than trials. Always! A birthday is a wonderful way to remember that :) Thank you for all the sweet calls and texts and love sent my way! I am one happy 22 year old!
Sunday, February 23, 2014
These Women
In my Women's Health class, we talk about a lot of different aspects of health, particularly how we as women are affected by those things. So naturally, I think about women I know a lot. For an upcoming guest speaker, we were asked to listen to four talks about our bodies, about being women, about body image, and things like that.
My first point to make is that I am so grateful to be a member of the church where we have truth spoken to us on a monthly basis through church magazines, and bi-annually in a General Conference of the church, each week in our church meetings, and even every day as archived talks, new videos and inspirational messages are all online. It's baffling, there really isn't another organization out there like the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I feel so overwhelmingly lucky.
Secondly, as I listened to the talks, my heart wanted to burst as I thought of these women in my family. The older I get, the more I admire and appreciate them. I am learning about them on new levels, and it inspires me.
God made women divinely. Not that men are made un-divinely, but you get what I mean. We are powerful creations, and I just can't quite put into words how grateful I am to be a woman. One day, I will bring children into the world, and that is such a special capability. Sacred, really. More than just to be a woman, I am grateful to know that I am a daughter of Heavenly Father. Because as wonderful as it is to be a woman, it just wouldn't mean as much if I didn't know that I was specially created by my eternal Heavenly, perfect Father to do marvelous things that only a woman, only I, can do.
I have watched these women (just ignore that handsome young man on my left in the first picture) go through hard things, each and every one of them. And every one of them has shown such incredible strength during those hard times. I don't know if I would be able to do what they do! But I know that when I do go through hard times, they are there for me. We may be far apart in distance, but I love building such close relationships with them even as we are far apart. I am so blessed.
"God placed within women divine qualities of strength, virtue, love, and the willingness to sacrifice to raise future generations of His spirit children." - Quentin L. Cook
The four talks I watched/read were:
Decisions for Eternity - Russel M. Nelson
Love Her Mother - Elaine S. Dalton
To Young Women - Jeffrey R. Holland
Mothers and Daughters - M. Russell Ballard
The four talks I watched/read were:
Decisions for Eternity - Russel M. Nelson
Love Her Mother - Elaine S. Dalton
To Young Women - Jeffrey R. Holland
Mothers and Daughters - M. Russell Ballard
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Substitution Principle
So my husband is really healthy, and when we met I was not. Adjusting has been slow and steady, but hey, it's happening! I've been thinking about how that is. Tom talks about it frequently in regards to his clients, and I think it applies to more than just nutrition. It's the principle of substitution, and it's a pretty easy concept to grasp - you make small changes by substituting one bad thing for a better thing.
For example: I substituted white tortillas for wheat tortillas. I substituted sugary cereals for raisin bran (don't get me started, I LOVE RAISIN BRAN. So that was an easy perma-substitution :) ). We've been trying to be better about what kinds of music and movies we let into our home, and so we've substituted with cleaner things. I substituted my running music for Mormon Conversations on the Mormon Channel (I threw that one in because they invited me to tell my friends about them, and to make them a part of my day, every day. Don't worry if you didn't understand that part, you have to listen to it to know exactly what I'm talking about). As it so happened to turn out, I feel MUCH better when I run to the Conversations rather than music. Weird, huh?
Sometimes I get discouraged because I'm trying to improve myself and prepare myself for the best family life that I can manage, and people get me down. I'm not trying to be more righteous than anybody else, except for my old self. I'm not trying to out-health anyone else or be more fit than anyone. I'm just trying to be better because God wants me to be. He wants that for all of us! So shouldn't we be celebrating everyone's attempts at substitution for the better things?
And by that same token, I really need to stop judging. If I don't like it when people judge me for what I do or say, then why do I have such a hard time allowing that for others? Which reminds me. In my World Religions class, we've obviously been studying other religions. And in a few of them is this foundational principle that my teacher calls The Silver Rule: "Confucius say: Do not do to others what you would not want done to you." Interesting, isn't it? As a Latter-Day Saint, I know (though I struggle to live) a higher law, the Golden Rule, that we Do unto others what we would have others do unto us. I like that difference.
Okay, let's get back from that tangent, where were we?
And even though I'm not perfect on those substitutions, and I still sometimes have a desire to revert to my old ways, and boy howdy I still have a long way to go...I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I don't always feel that way though, sometimes I look at my "to-do-and-be in life" list and get discouraged. I'm grateful for my sister-in-law for making me feel like I'm not the only one!
Perhaps this is selfish of me, but I pray to recognize my strengths as often as I pray to recognize my weaknesses. Sometimes I see one or the other more apparently, which is how I know I still have work to do, but I am becoming more confident in who I am at this point in my life. I'm working towards good goals, I'm trying to fill my day with good things, and right now that's all I can worry about. That makes me feel good. I'm trying to find ways to make more simple substitutions, and I'm grateful for the examples around me that help me to do that, and inspire me to make the changes I need.
For example: I substituted white tortillas for wheat tortillas. I substituted sugary cereals for raisin bran (don't get me started, I LOVE RAISIN BRAN. So that was an easy perma-substitution :) ). We've been trying to be better about what kinds of music and movies we let into our home, and so we've substituted with cleaner things. I substituted my running music for Mormon Conversations on the Mormon Channel (I threw that one in because they invited me to tell my friends about them, and to make them a part of my day, every day. Don't worry if you didn't understand that part, you have to listen to it to know exactly what I'm talking about). As it so happened to turn out, I feel MUCH better when I run to the Conversations rather than music. Weird, huh?
Sometimes I get discouraged because I'm trying to improve myself and prepare myself for the best family life that I can manage, and people get me down. I'm not trying to be more righteous than anybody else, except for my old self. I'm not trying to out-health anyone else or be more fit than anyone. I'm just trying to be better because God wants me to be. He wants that for all of us! So shouldn't we be celebrating everyone's attempts at substitution for the better things?
And by that same token, I really need to stop judging. If I don't like it when people judge me for what I do or say, then why do I have such a hard time allowing that for others? Which reminds me. In my World Religions class, we've obviously been studying other religions. And in a few of them is this foundational principle that my teacher calls The Silver Rule: "Confucius say: Do not do to others what you would not want done to you." Interesting, isn't it? As a Latter-Day Saint, I know (though I struggle to live) a higher law, the Golden Rule, that we Do unto others what we would have others do unto us. I like that difference.
Okay, let's get back from that tangent, where were we?
And even though I'm not perfect on those substitutions, and I still sometimes have a desire to revert to my old ways, and boy howdy I still have a long way to go...I feel like I'm getting somewhere. I don't always feel that way though, sometimes I look at my "to-do-and-be in life" list and get discouraged. I'm grateful for my sister-in-law for making me feel like I'm not the only one!
Perhaps this is selfish of me, but I pray to recognize my strengths as often as I pray to recognize my weaknesses. Sometimes I see one or the other more apparently, which is how I know I still have work to do, but I am becoming more confident in who I am at this point in my life. I'm working towards good goals, I'm trying to fill my day with good things, and right now that's all I can worry about. That makes me feel good. I'm trying to find ways to make more simple substitutions, and I'm grateful for the examples around me that help me to do that, and inspire me to make the changes I need.
Saturday, February 15, 2014
A Happy Heart Day, Indeed
Yesterday was mine and Tom's 6 month anniversary! It also happened to be Valentine's Day, and I think we should get some kind of award for not planning that out but being awesome and making it happen anyway. It was fun to try to plan little things for each other leading up to the holiday, and it turned out to be the most perfect Valentine's Day I've ever had!
I woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off and tried to sneak out of bed to set up my surprise, but Tom woke up too. I told him to stay in bed for a bit, then went out to decorate, and I find that great minds really do think alike: Tom had already put hearts all around the living room and kitchen! But, I decided to put mine up anyway (since they were a little different, I had a reason I love him written on every heart). So we had approximately 1 billion hearts all around our house, and it was so fun! We didn't have long to relish in the moment, but we said sappy things and kissed and headed out for the day.
After classes, meetings, appointments, etc., I came home and found yet another surprise - a beautiful mini rose plant, with a very sweet note from Tom. Then I took a little nap, which is always one of the best parts of the day if I can sneak one in somewhere, until Tom came home. We cuddled and chatted about our days, and then walked to the Thai restaurant just around the corner. A HUGE thank you to the Baker's for the gift card! We got not one, not two, but three delectable dishes, and tried to control ourselves so that we would have some leftovers.
Dinner was quite a success, and then we went home to make treats and eat them while we watched Grease. It was so simple and perfect. I love my life with Tom! Being married to him for the last six months has been the best time of my life.
I'm also so grateful that I had the chance to reflect on love in general yesterday. One of the greatest loves is the love of God towards us, His children. That love has sustained me throughout my life, and I love Him right back. Maybe not as perfectly (definitely not), but I do love my Heavenly Father, and my Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of love He gave me when He performed the Atonement for my mistakes. Love is a powerful thing, I daresay the most powerful thing! I hope everyone felt love yesterday, because we all are so loved. Oh so loved.
Happy Heart Day!
I woke up a few minutes before the alarm went off and tried to sneak out of bed to set up my surprise, but Tom woke up too. I told him to stay in bed for a bit, then went out to decorate, and I find that great minds really do think alike: Tom had already put hearts all around the living room and kitchen! But, I decided to put mine up anyway (since they were a little different, I had a reason I love him written on every heart). So we had approximately 1 billion hearts all around our house, and it was so fun! We didn't have long to relish in the moment, but we said sappy things and kissed and headed out for the day.
After classes, meetings, appointments, etc., I came home and found yet another surprise - a beautiful mini rose plant, with a very sweet note from Tom. Then I took a little nap, which is always one of the best parts of the day if I can sneak one in somewhere, until Tom came home. We cuddled and chatted about our days, and then walked to the Thai restaurant just around the corner. A HUGE thank you to the Baker's for the gift card! We got not one, not two, but three delectable dishes, and tried to control ourselves so that we would have some leftovers.
Dinner was quite a success, and then we went home to make treats and eat them while we watched Grease. It was so simple and perfect. I love my life with Tom! Being married to him for the last six months has been the best time of my life.
I'm also so grateful that I had the chance to reflect on love in general yesterday. One of the greatest loves is the love of God towards us, His children. That love has sustained me throughout my life, and I love Him right back. Maybe not as perfectly (definitely not), but I do love my Heavenly Father, and my Savior Jesus Christ, and the gift of love He gave me when He performed the Atonement for my mistakes. Love is a powerful thing, I daresay the most powerful thing! I hope everyone felt love yesterday, because we all are so loved. Oh so loved.
Happy Heart Day!
Monday, February 10, 2014
Recipes galore!
If you are interested in finding some wonderful recipes for families of all budgets, sizes, and taste bud preferences, head on over to A Spoonful of Sisters blog! I just posted our amazing healthy muffin recipe that I dare you to try and not love! We (as in the other 6 sisters in the spoonful) have been absent for a while, but I promise you that I'll do better to post recipes more often. There's already a plethora, so you have a head start. Happy cooking!
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