The windy city

I'm pretty sure whoever nicknamed Chicago the "windy city" never stepped foot in Rexburg during this time of the year.

Yesterday as I was getting into the car after church, my scarf and hair were flying everywhere! I got one foot in and was sitting in my seat getting ready to step in with the other foot when the wind whipped my door back and smashed my foot. It hurt so dang bad! Luckily, I'm fairly resilient and maintained my composure and drove home. Then today the wind gusts were 26 mph. I was walking on the college's campus after a meeting and it literally almost knocked me over.

I've been to Chicago, and it has some wind, but seriously, Rexburg is getting a little bit out of control.

The perfect M&M cookie (supposedly)

I was on Pinterest one day and I came across one of the most beautiful cookies I have ever seen! They were full of mini M&M's and mini chocolate chips and they were absolutely perfect. I had to try them! I knew I had to make a dessert for a ward activity we were having today so I thought what better time to try a new recipe?

I got all of the ingredients and made the first batch on Thursday. The only way to explain it was a epic Pinterest fail. The dough was all crumbly and they didn't spread at all and they were a bit dry on the outside. Basically, they looked like a ball of dough, which isn't the worst thing that could happen, but there was no way I was going to let people see that those were made by me!

After doing some research, I found out that those are signs of too much flour in the dough. I followed the recipe exactly (other than realizing today that I used baking powder instead baking soda.. whoops!). But I really did use the right amount of flour. So, I had one more shot at them before I was going to run to the store and buy some for the activity. They finally turned out, not as perfect as the original recipe, but they turned out decent.

 The recipe (Adapted from Picky-Palate)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1- 1 1/4  cups all purpose Gold Medal Flour (I used closer to 1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used one of the tubes)*
• 1 or 1-1/2 cups Mini M and M’s (I used about 1/2 to 3/4 cups)*

*I have read many comments of people saying that using that many M&M's and chips makes their dough not stick together. I didn't use nearly as much as the original recipe called for, but I can see that being the case, it's up to you. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl (I did this by hand) cream your butter and sugars until well combined. Add your egg and vanilla mixing to combine. Add your flour (I found doing this a little at a time makes it not crumble as much), pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. Add chips and m and m’s stirring to combine. 
3. With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. *I did let the dough chill between batches to keep them from spreading too much. 

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Like I said, these cookies are supposedly perfect, but mine didn't look quite like hers. They were the first cookies gone though so they have been pretty good! I am looking to maybe experiment with some other cookie fillers like mint chips or peanut butter and chocolate chips because it is a great base dough. Enjoy!

First cup of the season

Today marks my first hot chocolate of the season! It was absolutely amazing to have it run through a warm my soul. There's nothing like it. Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of drinking my calories for the day, so it's not something that will be a regular occurrence. I've tried to take on drinking of lemon and peppermint tea, but that stuff is nasty. Really though, I can't even choke it down.

Like I've said before, I don't like the cold at all, but I love what fall brings. Hot chocolate (that's a given), I'm finally wearing all of my scarves, sweater, boots--it's a dream! I just wish that this was as cold as it got. Alas, it is supposed to know sometime this week. I guess the end of fall and the beginning of winter isn't too far away.

Basketball tryouts

Today was my last tryouts for competitive basketball here at BYU-Idaho. It's such a strange feeling. I have been playing here for the last five years! I have noticed that tryouts for me this time compared to previous times are quite a bit different. I am about five years older than the youngest girls out there, who are just coming out of high school and are in their prime. I am definitely not in that stage anymore.

Don't get me wrong, I can keep up with them and hold my own, but it's just such a different level of play. I used to be at that level, but sadly, I'm just not there anymore. I don't have the aggression or competitiveness I used to have. I don't have the desire to play super hard and physical anymore. I'm more worried about not getting hurt and just having fun! I'm sure during the season I'll probably step it up again and get my competitive itch back, but as of right now, I'm realizing why I enjoy pick-up ball so much. It's a bunch of friends that I've made that get together to have fun. It's not super intense, but it's intense enough to get a good workout out of it.

The draft is tonight, and I'm hoping that I get on a team that is more about playing together and having fun, while winning, not so much the ones that feel we're in a high school state basketball tournament. We shall see how it all works out.

Selfishness in marriage

This past week we had our stake conference for our church. Our stake president, President Simpson, was talking about marriage. He quoted President Hinckley, talking about broken marriages saying, "I find selfishness to be the root cause of most of it."

President Simpson finished his talk, but those words continued to sit with me. You never realize how much little things like being selfish can truly affect your relationship with your spouse. I have tried to make more of a conscious effort to try and be a little less selfish and a little more selfless. I'm not perfect by any means, but the best I can do is to continue to try and become better.

Something new, something blue

This past weekend was a little bit of a whirlwind for us. We have been looking for a new car recently because the car that I've had since high school is really starting to make us concerned. It does this thing where the RPM's just drop and the car dies. It doesn't matter if I'm stopped or if I'm in traffic. It's not terribly safe, but I can handle that. What makes me a little concerned is that Rexburg is starting to get a bit more wet and cold, which means ice. Right now, I can stop if I need to, on ice, I would literally lose all control of the car. A bit of a problem.

So, we started looking for a cars and trucks for Ethan's sake. I came across one while I was looking that was down in Idaho Falls. We were already headed down that way to do some grocery shopping, so we stopped by and checked it out. It was in really good shape, not too old and within our price range. We weren't going to make a decision that day, so we left.

When we got home, Ethan got online and started researching everything there was to research about it. We went back the next day, test drove it, and about an hour later we were driving off the lot with a truck.

Ethan is absolutely in love. As we were driving off, I was in our car and he was being me in the truck. I looked back in my rearview mirror. He was like a little kid on Christmas grinning from ear to ear. We're excited to have a truck and for all the things we can do with one. No longer will we have to strap chairs to the trunk of our car!

Company dinner

Wednesday night, we had our annual company dinner. Well, more like our first annual company dinner. I was in charge of getting everything together and finalized. We decided that my boss Bob's (my sister's father-in-law) house would be perfect. They have a great layout for entertaining and plenty of room.

We had the day set and I was making preparations for it. Then, an unexpected business trip came up and Bob was going to have to be gone the night of the party. After talking to everyone else, we decided the next time we were going to be able to do it, Bob would be back in Arizona, so we stayed with the original plan.

I've been at their home plenty of times and I feel fairly comfortable enough to be able to be in his house without them there, and that's what we did. We had a great turnout with 31 people. For the main dish we decided to go low key and just get some subs and had people bring desserts and side dishes.

It turned out great and people were continuously thanking me for hosting such a great party. I can't take all the credit though. I don't know if it would have run as smoothly without the beautiful setting of their home, but I'll take some credit I suppose. Another bonus of planning was being able to take home some of the extra food for leftovers the next day, which Ethan and I were both happy about.

I'm getting a little excited for the holiday seasons because I'm kind of in to the whole party hosting gig, and that's the perfect time for parties galore!

Hello, fall

It doesn't matter how much we don't want summer to leave, it's heading out and fall is sweeping in. The day temperatures are still in the 60's and 70's, but the nights are getting down to the 30's and 40's. It is dang chilly! 

Of course, I love fall because that means I get to wear all of my sweaters (ok, let's be honest, I wear them in the summer, but only because my office is cold to me), scarves and boots. That part I love. I love hot chocolate weather. I love the crispness of the air and the Halloween smell. I can't be the only one that steps outsides and thinks, "It smells like Halloween," which then gets me even more excited because Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I've even watched Casper already!

So, I suppose it's time to say, "Goodbye summer..."

Business card design

I've mentioned before I've been helping my best friend Brennan get her company up and running. I did her blog, her logo and we got her business cards done. It's simple, but both of us love it!

T25- 2 weeks

When we started this journey of T25 we took all of the pictures and measurements so we could see the results. I won't put the before pictures on just because they're not completely modest because I wanted to see a difference in my stomach as well as my arms and legs, but I can show the measurements showing we're getting some results!

Ethan's stats

Starting/ 2 wks
Weight- 205/ 202.8 lbs
Chest- 42.25/ 42 in
Waist- 34.5/ 33.5 in
Arms- 14/ 14 in
Thigh- 24/ 23 in

Kaytlin's stats

Starting/ 2 wks
Weight- 141/ 142.4 lbs (I about died because I went up a pound.. Ridiculous, I know.)
Chest- 33.5/ 34 in
Waist- 27.75/ 27 in
Arms- 10.25/ 10 in
Thigh- 22/ 22 in (I'm pretty sure they're turning to muscle though!)

They may not be that different yet, but both of us are definitely feeling better and eating better. The more we work out, the less we want to eat unhealthy. We're excited to continue doing this workout and see even more results!

Quiet town

Rexburg, the place we currently call home, is a small quiet town town. And even though the area is small, when all the students are here is becomes a lot more packed. There are approximately 14,000 students here at one time and it gets a little hectic.

BYU-Idaho's summer is 7 weeks long, and goes from the end of July to mid September. During that time I would say 90-90% of students leave. This was my first time ever actually being here during that time. I thought it would be super lame and boring, but in reality it was great! The lines weren't ever really that long movies, or grocery stores, and there was actually food at the store!

Like I said, mid September is when students get back, and guess what time it is? Today was considered move-in day for students, so the town was ALIVE! I thought I would be so excited for students to come back, some of our friends to come back and have people in Rexburg again, but today changed my perspective a bit.

For work, I had to take a couple of checks to deposit to our bank, which was one block away and then go to the post office. I'm not exaggerating when I say it took a good seven minutes to go one block. There were so many people. Granted, a lot of them were probably parents that will eventually leave, and their kids won't have cars, and I do work on the same road as Walmart, so that could be it too, but seriously.

It's definitely going to take some getting use to again, but it'll be good to have some life back into this place.

Orange Julius

Ever since I can remember, I've loved Orange Julius. It reminds me of my Grandma Yule. I remember one time we were visiting, she had taken me shopping for a pair of sandals and afterwards she asked if I wanted to go for a treat. Of course I obliged! She took me to Orange Julius and it's been love ever since. It's hard to find a really good copy cat recipe for one, but my brother either came up with this one, or found it, years ago and I think it tastes just like it!

I hadn't had one in quite a few years, when one day, I called up my mom and asked for the recipe. Since then, it has become a treat that Ethan and I absolutely love, especially after our workouts!

The recipe:
6 oz of frozen orange juice concentrate (I actually like mine a bit more orangey, so I use 12 oz)
1 C milk
1 C water
1/4-1/3 C sugar (I use the lower end of the sugar)
1 tsp vanilla
12 ice cubes (This is a preference, if you like it more smooth use less, if you like it thicker, use more)

Blend it all together and serve it in a cup and enjoy!

*Note, I always half the recipe and it fits perfectly in the largest Magic Bullet cup.

A few forgotten photos

I was looking through the photos on my iPhone and came up on a few photos that got lost in the many pictures. 

Halloween 2011. This has to be my all time favorite costume ever!

 A few days before my graduation in 2012.

Exhausted

For the past week or so I've been absolutely exhausted. I don't know if it's the T25 we're doing or if I'm just not sleeping well. I'm thinking it may be a combination of both. All I know is that I have no problem taking a nap during the day as well as sleeping at night. Although, some nights I'm almost too exhausted to sleep. Not sure if that's normal or not. Hopefully I will regain my energy soon.

City league basketball

I started playing in a city basketball league with a couple of girls that I play pick-up ball with on campus. Our first game was a little rough because none of us had play or ran for that matter the whole summer break. We struggled a little bit especially in the first half, but we finally started playing a bit better together. We ended up losing by a few but it was a decent game.

Today we had our second game. Two of our girls were missing so we had two subs we haven't played with before. Again, we started off rough with the offense, but our defense was decent. I had a couple of good shots, but overall we couldn't get our shots to fall. We lost again, but I feel like we'll just get better and better as we go through the season. We're all still a little rusty, but we'll get it figured out!

Summer Sunset

How beautiful is this sunset.

Unfortunately it was captured with my iPhone, but it's still beautiful! I was sitting outside talking and I watched the sun set behind the houses. The colors were so vibrant and stunning! I will definitely miss these sunsets when summer leaves us. 

Texas hold 'em

When we were at Lake Powell, one of the boys brought a poker set. I've played here and there a couple times, but Ethan was usually there looking at my cards helping me out. Not this trip. I was going to learn it and play it by myself. We played it almost everyday, and I started to really get the hang of it. I even won a few rounds!

Once we got back home, we decided to buy a poker set. We never bet real money, so we didn't see it being any different than another other game. I had told my friend Leslie that we had bought it and she and her husband wanted to play. They had never played before and they wanted to learn. We took our set over there and play for hours. Literally hours. And like usual, we get tired of playing so long that we end up playing one last hand, all or nothing.

Since then we have played so many times I can't even keep count. Our last game was Monday evening. We went over there at 7:30. We put out some chips and salsa and played until our hearts were content, which was until 11:30. Seriously, we played for four hours. Well, Leslie and I made it until 11:30, the other three were out of the game. I finished off the game with me going all in and losing. I do have to say, it was the first time we had ever truly finished a game. I don't know if we'll make it a regular thing as far as playing that long, but we will definitely be playing more poker with them!

Hard work

I'm definitely not going to write about our exercise program everyday, but I just wanted to write that it is hard. I've never really been one to really push myself when it comes to exercise, unless it was during a game. But I'm trying hard to push myself for this.

We finished the workout today, and just like the other days we were dripping with sweat. But I'm absolutely loving the fact that it's hard. Sure, there are moments I want to quit, but Ethan and I are in this together which means there is no quitting.

It's hard work and even though I'm not seeing results the second I'm done with the workout (I may or may not have terrible patience when it comes to physical results), I know that I'm going to be stronger and in better shape. I hate getting ready to do the workout, but each day after I get done, I feel accomplished and, as weird as it sounds, closer to Ethan knowing that we're in the together.

Here's to a happy and healthier life together!

It begins...

Ethan and I decided we are going to get into better shape. I've been hearing fantastic things about Focus T25 by Shaun T, the guy that did Insanity. We had a gift card to Amazon from our wedding and we decided, "Why not?" We started yesterday and it is intense! But, we want results so we'll keep with it. We're excited to see the transformations!

Labor Day weekend

This weekend Brennan and Austin came into town to visit us. Austin's birthday is this upcoming week and he decided he wanted to come spend time with us for his birthday. They came in late Friday night and we sat around and talked for a bit before we went to bed.

Saturday we made plans to go the the Eastern Idaho State Fair Rodeo. It wasn't until later in the evening so we decided to go see Brennan's grandparents that live here in Rexburg. Her grandma is so fun to talk to. We sat and chatted with her and listened to her plan the piano for us for a good hour or two. She has three pianos in one of the rooms upstairs with more downstairs.

The boys went out shooting beforehand and met us at her grandparents house to set a minnow net. They used the minnows they caught to catch fish which worked because they caught some woppers!

We headed down to the fair and walked around for a bit before the rodeo started. There was tons of booths, shows, and they had a petting zoo. There was a bull there that was absolutely huge! The interesting thing was how docile he was.

 He almost has the face of a lion a little bit.

 We had to lift this board picture up to even be able to put our faces in it!

 After we got some terribly overpriced hamburgers, we got to our seats for the bull riding championships. It was a little non-climatic considering the name of the event. I think the whole time there were only three or four people that even stayed on long enough to get a score.

There was one rider that made the event a little exciting. He was riding one of the biggest bulls I've seen at a rodeo. He had been riding only a few seconds when he got flipped off and I'm pretty sure he got stomped on. The rodeo clowns got the bull away from him, but he was out cold and was down for a good ten minutes. The eventually got an ambulance and took him away. The rest of the show was fairly injury free.

All he was wanting the whole day was a funnel cake and he finally got one!

Sunday was fairly relaxed. We went to church, came home and had some lunch. The boys went down to Brennan's grandparents house and Brennan, Lainey and I stayed here and watched a couple movies. 

We were sitting there after the movie had finished when all of a sudden Lainey started crawling! Not only was I there when she was born, but also the first time she crawled. I love the fact that I'm there during big moments! 

The rest of the night we played a nice game of poker where Ethan came out victorious. We finally called it a night and they left the next morning. We're so happy they came up to visit and spend time together. We can't wait until next time!