Blown away

I'm not one to complain about the weather here in Rexburg. On second thought, yes, yes I am. But I do have to say it's usually only the cold that I complain about. The summers here are absolutely gorgeous. A tad windy, but beautiful.

Things are finally starting to warm up here, and for some reason, the weather thinks that if it's warm, that means that it needs to begin the windy season. Why? Probably has to do something with headwinds and tailwinds, but in my mind, it's Rexburg's way of saying, "I'm sorry, I don't want you to think the weather is going to be nice. Here's some wind." 

Sure, windy days aren't all bad, but this is not just windy. This is full on 60 mph wind that will throw a door open and almost take your arm off wind. Luckily, I spend most of my day inside for work, but it always takes you off guard when you take that first step out. 

This too shall pass, kind of. It's always fairly windy here, but 60 mph is ridiculous!

Baby blessing

This past weekend we were able to go down to Logan for the blessing of our best friends Brennan and Austin's little girl Lainey. We drove down Friday night and had a relaxed night. On Saturday, the boys went to Austin's parents house to help his parents brand some cows. Ethan had never done  it before so he thought he'd try it out, and he actually enjoyed it.

Brennan and I took Lainey shopping with us to find a new dress for Brennan. We found a fantastic one at Target and then headed to Sephora. She used to work there and we were able to show Lainey to some of the girls she worked with. We got some new goodies and headed home. We made some desserts for the blessing lunch and got to bed a little bit earlier that the night before.

Sunday was the big day. That little girl is very loved. The blessing circle was the largest I've ever seen. There were so many they barely fit around her! She was great during the whole prayer and everyone was gawking over her.

We had a luncheon afterward that Austin's parents catered (from their diner) for about 60 people and it was fantastic. We went to Brennan's parents house afterwards to take some family pictures. I had the honor of being able to take all of the pictures for each side of the family and they turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Luckily, I was able to get in front of the camera for a few of the shots.

Is she not the most precious thing in the world?

We sure love these guys are we are so thankful to be a part of Lainey's big day!

New Ride

Well, the Malibu finally bit the dust so it wast time to start looking for a new car. We knew what we were looking for and we finally found the perfect car! May I introduce Stang.

Unfortunately, all of that is a lie, and Mali is still alive and running. And seriously, $40,000 for a car that doesn't even get that good of gas mileage? Not a chance. But it was fun to sit inside of it and pretend for a few minutes!

We got one of those scratch flyers from a dealership and I was going to throw it away, but Ethan was determined to go and see if we one anything. The promotion said that if you scratch off the number and they match you automatically win something, and it's true, we did win something. One out of 33,000 would win a car or $15,000, then there was another prize, maybe and iPad (I can't remember exactly), and then the rest would receive a lottery ticket. Well what do you know, we won a lottery ticket, but no money. The fact that I was expecting the whole thing to be a hoax, made it a little more enjoyable to scratch that little card. I guess in the future I'll take those things a bit more seriously, but I'm not holding my breath to ever win the grand prize!

Retail Therapy

I don't believe anyone who ever said retail therapy doesn't work. No, I don't believe shopping can solve all of your problems, and it can sometimes leave an even bigger hole. I assume that's for people who spend a lot more money than when I do my retail therapy. I mentioned here that I was feeling a big frumpy, so I thought it was time for me to do a little shopping.

Ethan accompanied me and we had a really fun time together. We got him some headphones, a HUGE mirror for our front room that I'm in love with (pictures to come), a new tie, a couple new shirts and a cute new hat. We went out to dinner and spent most the rest of the night trying things on in Target. We found some shorts that Ethan really liked, but he just could find the right size dang it!

I honestly feel a lot better, and not that shopping can solve all problems, but a couple new shirt can make you feel like a new girl! The best thing is that now I finally have a couple shirts that I can wear in the summer up here that aren't cardigans.

Snooze

I think I've probably mentioned it before, but I don't like waking up in the mornings. I've always been a night owl, which makes it ever more difficult to wake up early. Luckily for me, I've married someone who also in a night owl/not morning person. People may thinks it's lazy and it probably is. But, we don't have kids and we're taking full advantage of being able to sleep in, especially on the weekends.

Another thing that we have in common is our unwillingness to wake up to our alarm. Both of us set 2 alarms. The problem is that we snooze for a good 30-45 minutes before we wake up. Yes, people will always say, just set one alarm because then you'll be forced to wake up. The problem with that is if I don't hear that alarm (which happens more often than one would think) we're now late for school/work.

I have to say if fairly humorous to both of us that we have such issues waking up, but like I said before, we're taking full advantage of waking up when we want to, and not to the cry of a little one.

A new semester

Ethan has started up yet another semester. One more semester towards getting his degree, one more semester towards moving out of Rexburg and one more semester towards starting "real" life. He has worked so hard these past couple semesters. This time around, he'll be taking 16 credits (and not fluff credits either, i.e. international economics), working on campus, has a demanding calling in church and will be playing lacrosse. It's similar to the schedule that I would take every semester. The difference is that I didn't have a husband who was constantly pushing me to do more and work harder.

Sometimes I forget how hard school was. How much time it took and how much added stress there was. I wasn't even married! I know I can push too hard and expect to much from him. He has done such an amazing job of keeping his and our life balanced. I never say it enough, but I am so proud of him. I know it can't be easy being married to me most days and he's been so patient.

He works so hard for and I have no doubt he can and will support our family. I never really worry what's going to happen because even if things are a little unsure right now as to where will be and what we will be doing, I know that he will do everything he can and work as hard as he can to make sure we'll never be without and that gives me a lot of comfort and peace. He is an amazing husband and I couldn't imagine my life with anyone but him.

Spring cleaning

Here in Rexburg there's a shortage of spring. That doesn't mean that there isn't spring cleaning to be had. Ethan was such a trooper this weekend with me. After being out of town and spring break, our house was a bit of a natural disaster. When that happens I go into cleaning mode-6 hours to be exact. There was no stopping me.

One of the hardest things about having a townhome is the amount of space that can get messy. We keep the downstairs fairly presentable in case people come over, but the upstairs? Not so much. That is where our room, the guest room and our bathroom is. We don't spend a lot of time there so it tends to get neglected. That's why I decided that's where we were going to start.

We deep cleaned all of the rooms and then worked our way down the stairs (while vacuuming them) and then landed in the living room, kitchen and 2nd bathroom. We finally got our new table, that we bought off craigslist for $55, set up with completely changed the entire room. We've been using a little card table we inherited from a family, and I was thrilled when I finally found this one. It was perfect.

I'm happy to report that our house has remained completely clean! (Yes, I realize it's been one day, but there's not even a utensil in the sink!) I have grand plans to keep the house a little bit more manageable so I'm making a weekly cleaning checklist to make it easier to clean when a wind storm of clutter comes into our house.

I really should just hire my sister-in-law Jandi to come clean our house because her house is always in deep-cleaned stage but I guess I'll have to settle for my elementary cleaning practices. We're definitely enjoying a clean and orderly home, me maybe more than Ethan. I just need to keep it up!

Word games

As far back as I can remember, I have always been a fan of word games. I loved word searches and crossword puzzles. When we would go on trips, I always asked my teachers if they had any so I could take them on the trip with me. They obliged. I also loved spelling. I always got A's in spelling.

A lot of times, things you used to enjoy in school when you were little, become less fun. Math, science, even reading becomes less fun and more work. I promise this isn't pointless writing.

I remember when I got the iPhone, I was so excited to get all of the different apps. I would have Facebook, Pinterest, and email at my fingertips at all times. But, there were all of the game apps as well. I found a few that I liked, but I found myself searching for word games and other puzzle type games. I even started looking for educational ones like naming all of the bones in the body, an ACT practice app, and learning Spanish.

I don't think I'll ever stop enjoying word games and puzzles. I also don't think I'll ever stop trying to learn. My grandma always has a newspaper crossword puzzle she's working on. I have no doubt that has helped her keep her brain active and young. Sure mindless games are fun every once in a while, but it took me a long time to develop this brain, and I intend on keeping it as long as possible!

Running

I've never been one to truly "enjoy" running. I used to do it out of wanting to get in shape or because I've felt overly lazy and needed to kick myself into gear, but I don't enjoy it. On the other hand I truly enjoy exercising, in sports that is. I would run up and down a basketball court for hours over running on the track or outside. Treadmills are even worse! They hurt my joints and I feel like I'm an out-of-shape hamster on a wheel going nowhere.

I have been feeling so out of shape and lazy lately. Basketball has been over for a little while now, and Monday's pick-up ball has been postponed because of finals and spring break. I decided it was time for both Ethan and I to get out and go exercise. I thought to myself, "This could be fun, we're running together." Right..

We started running and the cold air pierced my lungs. I'm an in-through-my-nose-out-through-my-mouth type of girl. Not yesterday, I forget how hard it is to run in cold and windy weather. Then my ears felt like they were going to fall off. We had a destination, but I stopped us a little bit before. I said let's stop here, walk around this neighborhood and then run back. Bad choice. I've always had this thing where anytime I haven't been running for a while and I decide to start up again, the moment I stop, I get stomach cramps that will knock me down. Poor Ethan, I was almost hyperventilating they hurt so bad. I was just trying not to pass out/throw up. We walked back the rest of the way, with a few stops here and there. When we finally got to our street, I was feeling much better and decided to sprint the rest of the way home. No pain, no cramps.

I think that's what I'm going to stick to. I can handle sprinting, no distance. I guess no marathons in my future and I'm OK with that!

Dead week

Anyone who has spent any time in Rexburg knows how jam packed it is with students. It's a small town of approximately 25,000 people with students making up about 23,000 (throughout the year). But there are few times where the city feels dead. Right now is one of those dead weeks.

In between semesters all of the students head home for a week and the few stragglers that are left behind feel the emptiness. I've never actually been through one of these before. I was one of those students that the second I was done with finals I was on the road. Now that I'm no longer a student and I'm working full time, I now experience dead weeks. It's almost eerie how quiet it seems.

On the positive side of things, I can go grocery shopping and have stuff there when I go, the movie line will probably be nonexistent and I don't have to worry about hitting a random pedestrian that didn't think to look while crossing the road.

You know, dead week may not be that bad after all!

Home

This whole semester I have been wanting to go home. I was never been a homebody until I got married. I miss being able to hang out with my family, especially my mom. Last Friday, Ethan finally finished up his semester and we decided we would come home for for a few days.

We left early in the afternoon on Friday and started our drive back. We got in at a decent time and had some dinner. Saturday my dad and Ethan headed off to Boise for a gun show while my mom and I went shopping. I found some capris from Gap outlet that I absolutely love! I miss having a Gap. We stopped at a few other places and then headed to lunch.

From there we went to visit Ethan's brother Jared and his wife Shannon. It was so fun hanging out with them. When we first started dating, they were living in Rexburg and we loved having them to hang out with. We miss them. We said out goodbyes and went to dinner with my parents and then headed home for the night.

Sunday we went to church and then went to my brother Derrick's to have dinner with Derrick and his family, my brother Cameron and his fiance` and my parents. We spent time talking with everyone, hanging out and watched a movie. The guys also shot bows and arrows and took the motorcycles out.

Derrick's little boy drake was so funny. Evidently they  have a pigeon that comes around their house and doesn't leave. Derrick is an avid hunter and loves archery. Well, Derrick gave Drake his own little bow and arrow and lets him chase the pigeon around and he occasionally takes a shot at it. It was so funny watching him sit on his little chair, bow and arrow in hand, waiting for the pigeon. I'm not sure if he actually ever got the shot off.

Hailey and Lexi spent their time on the trampoline. This picture doesn't show the height that these two were getting. Love these girls. 

Love language

In school, I took an interpersonal and communication foundation class. In both of those classes we went over the different personality tests they have out there, because it is key to find out how you communicate in order to have successful relationships. In that same class we read the book, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman. The five love languages discussed in the book are: Quality time, physical touch, receiving gifts, words of affirmation and acts of service. The book basically states that we show love how we want to receive it, and if our "love tank" is empty, we are less inclined to show love and affection.

I had read parts of the book before and had taken the quiz when I was in high school. It was no surprise that as a teenage girl I was physical touch. I then took it again in my college class and I was quality time. A few days ago I retook the test out of pure curiosity. It came as no surprise that once again my dominant love language had changed.

Since I've been married, even without taking this test, I knew that quality time and acts of service were my top languages. It also came as no surprise that words of affirmation ranked lowest. I would much rather go out to a rodeo with Ethan and spend time with him rather than have him tell me my shirt looks nice on me. I would also rather have him clean the kitchen for me than bring me home flowers.

I remember talking about it with my mom, and I'm pretty sure her's was acts of service. I remember thinking, acts of service, that's lame. I guess it's true though. You really do become your parents when you get older and you realize what is truly important to you.

As cheesy as it may sound, this has actually been very helpful for me because: 1. I realize what is it I need and 2. I am coming to realize what Ethan needs as well. We don't have the same love language and it can sometimes be a struggle because I feel like I'm showing him love, but it's not necessarily his love language and vice versa. We're learning together though and it gets easier.

Go ahead and take the quiz for yourself!

And the winner is...

I have never been one to really enter contests or drawings. I never win anything, and you better believe if there's money you have to pay in order to maybe win, I'm out. I don't like when I have to put in all my information because all that does is just add more spam to my already, spam filled email.

Occasionally, I'll see one on Facebook where all you have to do is "like" and then "share" the post. I can do those. That's what I did. 

My best friend Brennan from B. Beautiful Hair and Makeup Artistry who I talked about here, was doing a giveaway of some makeup brushes. We didn't know how many people would actually enter and we even talked about just having me win because I wanted some of those brushes. We decided against rigging it to make it fair to everyone and I agreed I would just have her get those same brushes for me and I would pay for them myself. 

I got a text yesterday from her that told me to look at her blog. To make it fair, she ended up using a name generator that would pick the winner for her. I looked on her blog, and I actually WON the brushes! A few people that read her blog would know we are best friends, so she made sure to take a picture of the name generator to show it was legitimate. I couldn't believe it and I was so excited! 

Who knows, maybe I'm on a lucky streak and should start entering for all giveaways!

Taxes

For the past four years, I have done my own taxes (with help from my mom of course). I would say I have done the majority because I could usually do the federal taxes no problem with one of the online step-by-step software they have available. To my luck, and plain fact that I overpaid in taxes, I have always gotten a great tax return. 

Cue this year. This is obviously the first year I have done taxes while married. I knew what to do because I had a W2, but with Ethan doing summer sales, he was given a 1099-misc (he was considered a contract worker). Essentially that means that the company pays no taxes and takes no taxes out of your check. I knew this could ding us pretty bad, but we pushed forward. 

We were working on the income part and how much we paid in taxes and it said we were going to get a pretty penny back. Both of us were beyond excited, that is, until we had to put in our scholarship/grant information. I put in how much I received in both scholarships and grants for my last year and BAM, there went our return. I'm assuming that because the money that I received was well above what was billed to me from the school, the extra then became income. Talk about the most depressing thing I've ever seen on my taxes. This whole time I had given Ethan a hard time for most likely making us pay, when it was me who caused the havoc to our taxes. 

We still haven't quite finished our state taxes, so I'm hoping maybe that'll help us out a bit. I guess getting paid to go to school isn't always a bed of roses (did I even say that right?)! Although, I'd definitely take the money again if I had the chance. 

Simple days

Yesterday was a simple day and it was nice. Work went fairly fast and Ethan got a ton of his homework done. I went to work cleaning the house a bit from the neglect and Ethan did as well. I played a little bit of basketball with a group of great girls, and said good bye to two of them for who knows how long. One will be graduating and the other is headed on a mission to Peru.

The guy taking this was not so good at taking picture obviously. But it was taken nonetheless.

Yesterday was simple, but it was a good day.

Conference weekend

This weekend was General Conference. Instead of going to church we listen to eight hours of our church leaders giving us direction, council and words of encouragement. Growing up, I was never very excited for conference other than for the fact that we could stay in our pajamas on Sunday.

In October of 2009 my outlook changed. I was living in Milwaukee at the time and I had some great friends that were examples to me. We all got together and watched conference together as the Bishop's house. I remember laying on the floor when Elder Holland bore his testimony of Book of Mormon. Never had a testimony struck me so hard that all I could do was sit there in amazement and listen to his prophetic testimony.

Since that moment, I have tried to listen to every session of conference and do my best to soak in as much as I can. The words they speak are pertinent to all of our lives and to the time we are in.

One of my favorite talks was by L. Whitney Clayton about marriage. Here was a quote I loved:

I want to go back and review this talk over and over again because the council he gave and the way he presented it was beautiful. I don't just want a good marriage. I want a terrific marriage.

I'm so grateful for the doctrines and principles we learn from the leaders in our church. It always gives me a clearer perspective about my purpose here and how to endure and enjoy this life we have been given.

Munchkins

It's no secret that I have always loved kids. I was always trying to hold everyone's babies at parties and other social gatherings. And not to boost myself up, but I was good with them. I could get any baby to stop crying. I started babysitting a family along with my sister when I was maybe nine or ten. From there, I babysat for families in my church, family and eventually my own brothers and sisters started having kids of their own. Each of my nieces and nephews have a special place. I truly think they're the closest you can get to having your own kids (unless you were a nanny like me and was basically a 2nd mom to them as well).

The hard thing for me is that all of our family lives far away so we don't get to see these little guys much. And the more pictures I see, the more I realize they're not so little anymore. I have 12 nieces and nephews. The oldest is I think 10 or 11? I remember holding him in the hospital and falling asleep on the couch snuggling with him! The next three were girls and were all born the same year and they all get baptized this year. Why do they have to keep growing up! They make me feel old.

One thing I'm grateful for is that I will always have those memories of them being tiny and me holding them and loving them. And I'm thankful that since being married, I've been able to add a couple more munchkins to love.

I definitely have a special bond with this little guy. I lived with my sister and her family not too long after he was born. He came into my room every morning and cuddled with me while my sister took the others to school. Look at the costume. Isn't is adorable?

I wish they all could stay little forever!

Beautiful day for a ride

Yesterday was another beautiful day in Rexburg. We don't get these very often this time of the year, so when we do, we soak it up as much as we can. The campus grassy areas will not have an empty spot, the parks will be the same, and everyone is out and about enjoying the weather. We were no different.

I've always enjoyed bike riding. Last summer when Ethan and I were apart, I rode my roommates (brother's) bike all the time. I love to get out, work out my legs, and breath in the beautiful summer air.

I want our family to be a bike family. It's a great activity to do together, and it will continue to be when we have kids. Ethan and I have a couple bikes and we decided to go out and have a little bike date. It was awesome. I love spending time together doing things like that. We talked, we joked and we enjoyed each other's company.

Although we love riding together, neither one of us was ready for the pain that comes during the bike ride. You know what I'm talking about. The pain where it's almost unbearable to sit on the bike any longer, and then continues to haunt you while sitting on the couch!

I decided, if we're going to be a bike family, we're going to be a big-bertha-comfy-gel-your-rear-won't-go-over-the-edge-seat bike family. We definitely need to invest in a couple good bike seats pronto. Spring will be here soon!

Little miss frump

I have issues (not like major issues, but issues). I'm fully aware. I get into these funks and then I get out of them. Sometimes I'm able to pull myself out of them before they start, and sometimes I'm in it for the long hall with them (maybe a week).

Yesterday I could feel a funk coming on. It stemmed from this weekend. I mentioned here that my amazingly talented best friend Brennan (B. Beautiful) was playing dress up with me. I loved the make up! I swear this girl has so much make up, I wouldn't even know where to start!

Let me go back a few years. I was a senior in high school and I was in Denver for Christmas with most of my family. My sister was taking my senior pictures. The first day we went out and it was great. The second day my sister-in-law Jandi mentioned maybe changing up my makeup (mine was pretty dark). I took her advice and she did my makeup. I loved it, and I've done it that way, pretty much, since.

Fast forward to now. I still do my makeup that way because I'm comfortable that I know how to do that. After this weekend, I realized I'm frumpy (hence my oncoming funk). I need a change. I need to change up my hair and makeup.

I went shopping and got new makeup products to avoid the funk. I'm hoping it'll help. I feel like an awkward 13 year old girl again trying to learn makeup again. This is going to be a challenge.

April Fool's

I've never been a huge fan of April fools. I suppose some of the jokes are pretty funny, but some of them are so obvious. I can't tell you how many people went from "single" to "engaged" on Facebook, and then said something like, we know it's fast but we just know it's right!

It actually took me reading this blog to even realize it was April Fool's Day. I was excited for her (even though I don't really know her, I just blog stalk her), and then I started reading the comments and I knew the rest of the day would be full of lies!

I think my disdain for this day comes from a few years back when I was in high school. I was sleeping when my mom came and woke me up. She said school was cancelled for a snow day, which wasn't too far off to believe since we had had 2 or 3 that year. I did a little "yesssssssssssss" and she left me to fall back into my wonderful slumber. Ten minutes later she comes in and says, "Hey Kate, April Fool's!" I was not amused. I woke up, got ready for school and blamed this holiday for my pain.

Thanks mom, you killed the joy of April Fool's.

Easter Weekend

This weekend Ethan and I decided we were going to go out of town for the weekend. There was a BYU lacrosse game we wanted to check out, as well as the Festival of Colors down in Spanish Fork. After we got off work and school we drove down to Logan, UT to stay with our friends Brennan and Austin. I never really realize how much I miss them until we hang out with them. I spent my time loving on little Lainey until it was her bed time and then the real party started. Ethan and Austin spent the night talking about guns and other manly stuff while Brennan put her skills to work and she did my makeup all sorts of fancy like. We somehow managed to not get pictures of that, no surprise. 

The next morning, we decided that we were going to skip the Festival of Colors and spend more time with them. (We were both happy with that decision). Brennan had a hair and makeup appointment for a little girl who was needing head shots. I watched her work her magic and it was so fun to see that little girl transform from shy to sassy and adorable. She loved the attention and how she looked. It was precious. 

We all went out to lunch to Rumbi's Island Grill (fantastic by the way) and then we had to head down to Provo for the game. We got there a bit late but it was a great game. BYU was playing Colorado and it truly came down to the last two minutes of the game. BYU ended up losing by two points but it was definitely a battle the whole game. 

After the game we met up with Ethan's old summer sales manager, Gordon and his family, at Bajios. His little boys were adorable. Their little boy Camden who was probably 14 months old, had the longest eyelashes I have ever seen. It even beats some fake eyelashes I've seen on people. Gordon and his wife were great and we wished that we would have had more time with them.

Later that night, we went shopping at some strip malls and got a few pairs of shoes and then headed to Walmart to pick up our Easter basket. Since it was Easter, I allowed myself to have some treats this weekend, and I'm proud to say I didn't go overboard! But we decided to do a combined basket for both of us because we both knew he'd probably eat more than me and I didn't want leftover candy. 

I wasn't feeling so hot at dinner so I didn't eat much, so we also stopped by McDonald's to pick up a delicious strawberry banana smoothie. It was just what I needed.

This was our loot. Not a ton, but it was delicious. My main basket filler: Mini Eggs. Honestly, if you've never had them, go get a bag, right now before they're gone for another year. You won't regret it. 

What's even better? We got the last bag in the entire store. They put every single Easter item in one place. Things were in boxes, on shelves and even in carts. Those little eggs were nowhere to be seen. I thought for sure I was out of luck until Ethan was going through one of the carts and BAM! There they were in all of their glory. I was beaming with excitement.

Sunday morning we went with Gordon and his family to church. One of Ethan's friends that he went selling with also met us there. It was fun to meet him and his new fiance`. I definitely don't envy them. He's headed out to South Carolina for the summer and she'll be in Utah. All we could say was stay strong because it's no fun being apart.

We got some lunch and then we were on our way back to Rexburg. We made fantastic time. So fantastic that we even had some time to go to the park near our house and bask in the sun for a couple hours and take some pictures.


It was an awesome weekend and we both decided that we need more little trips like this.