two ladies

I'm here in Utah. With sissy. Staying in a girls dorm. There are boys coming in and out, over and over and it is very weird. {Very weird.} But it's worth it. Cause we are having a marvelous time! First thing we did was pile up the pillows on her bed and watch last night's modern family. And it was really funny. Then we went to Cafe Rio and I about died it was so delicious. {The 'about dying' was the food baby's fault.} We talked about lots and lots of things. JUICY things. And we have three more days to talk some more.

Then, we went to a very large auditorium filled with women to hear a beautiful lady speak.

And she was beautiful.

And I was one of the only ones who got to talk with her one on one. And maybe I teared up a little bit cause I just love her so much. And she took a picture with me.

This weekend is off to a great start.

Stephanie's speech was beautiful. To set the mood, she started off with the video that Mormon Messages collaborated with her on. {You can watch it here. If you haven't seen it yet, you must.} She went into great detail on her and Christian's accident. About the day they left, what she was feeling as she watched the ground getting closer and closer as the plane went down, the last thoughts that ran through her mind: only of her 4 children. She talked about her recovery, the details of her injuries and what it was like to see herself for the first time. She had Christian {her husband} leave the room, and she faced that part alone. She was so endearing as she talked about what it was like to be a woman with the wonderful things that go on with your body after giving birth to a baby {what she had just done} and then having some of those favorite parts taken away and distorted after the accident. There were so many people in the room that they were gathered in the isles and standing in groups along the back wall, so much so that they were concerned about fire code. She was funny. And cracked a joke about how, trust her, you don't want to be in a fire so clear the isles please. She talked about her children and how they adjusted to her after the accident and how sometimes it was so difficult to take the "old mommy" and the "new mommy" and combine them together into something that her kids would understand. She talked about her daughter Jane, and how she literally could not look at her for months. And then how one day, she went in to help Jane take a bath and Jane looked up and could suddenly not take her eyes off of her. And Stephanie cheered "You're doing it Jane! You're doing it!" and she cheered, "I'm doing it mom! I'm doing it!". We were all a little weepy. She talked about inner beauty and about the Savior and the atonement and how they have truly become her life-line in embracing herself and the beauty that she still has to share with the world. She has realized that she is not her body. Which is a concept that I think the majority of the world has yet to grasp. Her light and her countenance shine so brightly and it was such an honor just to be in the same room with her, let alone in a very long hug. She is truly beautiful.
I love her.

my weekend starts today

I'm off to Utah to spend a loooong weekend with my sissy. We have plans to make caramelized pecan rolls, see Stephanie Nielsen of the NieNie Dialogues speak, watch General Conference and take lots and lots of pictures of sis in all of her newly-brunette glory. So excited.

Happy Weekend!

I heart you

I made husband laugh today.

and he gave me googly eyes and drove his car proudly around town in front of everybody.

it was fun.

it's in the corduroy

boots: famous footwear, cords: old navy, belt: delias, top: gap, purse:F21, shades: target, necklace: F21

You know you've done somthing right when the first thing husband says when you walk through the door is, "HO-LY mama!" Making husbands do double takes is so fun :) Who's with me?!
I found the necklace I wore in a tangled pile at the bottom of my jewelry box. The twist: it's actually two different long necklaces that I put together to make a chunky one. Somebody put on her creative pants today.
In other news, I'm thinking about hiring myself as a personal chef. I figure that would make motivation for cooking dinners a whole lot easier, considering that I would pay myself in padded bras. I feel good about it.

'tis on the mind

Hurry up October! You are my fave!

and today's look:

knee high socks are back in business. huzzah!

happy monday!

a trip to yellowstone

Okay, wait. Hold it right there. Scroll back up again and look at those pictures for just two more seconds. (one one-thousand. two one-thousand) Did you do it? Were they even more awesome the second time? Thought so. I took those shots from my phone {my phone} at 6:30 this morning while we drove up to West Yellowstone, Montana. Only an hour and a half drive people. Can not believe we've never done this before. We spent the day there, exploring the beautiful countryside, meeting up with family, listening to sweet uplifting music and just feeling so grateful for our Heavenly Father's beautiful creations and each other. OH, how I love these kinds of days with my boy.

Our day in a nutshell:

It was freezing {35 degrees freezing} in the morning so I bundled up with a hat and hot chocolate at the campground. Turns out I was a little overdressed for the 80 degree day it would soon become. 

And husband had awesome bed-head this morning. This picture is not even close to doing it justice.

 There was buffalo EVERYWHERE. Look how close that big daddy is to our car. He was glaring at us. These were taken right after husband told me through whispering clenched teeth to "stop. taking. pictures. get. your. head. back. in. the car. roll. up. the. window. and shhhhhhhhh. that thing is going to kill us now" 
husband is very protective. 

How beautiful is that dried up piece of wood?

And old faithful {now not-so-faithful} was beautiful but not nearly as high or as va-va-voom as I was expecting. Sorry, don't mean to dis a national monument. I still liked it.



The little boys who were around us when we were looking at the hot springs said that this particular mineral bed was awesome because it looked like a bunch of pee. I think if my pee ever looked like that, I'd be running/screaming to my doctor pronto .



My sunshine in the sunshine


We were being very brave to take this picture next to the buffalo. They were all crazies. They kept snorting and bleating at us. Husband and I would hold hands and take one step closer down the walkway. And one more step. And one more. And then they would look at us and start running {well, probably just walking. But it looked like running} toward us. And we would giggle and yelp and whip our bottoms straight around and speed-walk it back the way we came. And then turn around and do it again.


We saw so much beautiful and old-timey architecture. This is embarrassing, but I probably said, "oh! now THAT'S a perfect spot for an outfit picture!" about 20 times during this trip.
Thanks for putting up with me husband.



i love him



We could not have asked for a more perfect day to finish off our weekend. Thanks so much Kody and Corie for the invite up! Thanks to you guys, we know the perfect spot to park our tent for the trip up next time.

going out

"At every party there are two kinds of people - those who want to go home and those who don't. The trouble is, they are usually married to each other." -- Ann Landers

One of the things that makes us quite the opposite in a wonderful, dynamic kind of way, is that husband is a homebody and I am not. Well, actually I am, but just not as much as he is. When husband has a long week at school and work {which is basically every week}, his idea of a good Friday night is staying home, watchin' a movie and popping some popcorn. And don't get me wrong, I love a good Friday night at home, but most of the time sometimes, I like to go out. Discovering a cool band, shaking my booty {which I can shake, guys} to some sweet tunes, finding new places to eat, visiting an art exhibit ... it's like my thang. So the great thing about being married to this guy, is that we get to do both. Stay in, go out, stay in, go out. And last night ... we went out. We hit sammy's up again, along with their sweet BLT's and fry sauce, and listened to a local band and the famous {at least for our little town} Jon Peter Lewis from American Idol. Who was much shorter in person by the way. And after a couple swigs of Dr. P from his little plastic cup, Husband actually got into it a little bit I think. I saw his foot tappin'.

Here's yesterday's outfit. Husband says I can pull of the "Mr. Rogers look" very nicely.

I hate these things

'These things' meaning, Hot Tamales. I don't like their flavor, or their texture or how stinkin spicy they are. {Note: sometimes I replace the word 'hot' or 'minty' with the word 'spicy'. ie: "holy moly, this toothpaste is spicy!" Spicy is one of my favorite words.} I never eat them. I never want to eat them. I don't even like the way they smell. That is, until someone pulled out a giant basket full of them at my office, and set it right in front of my desk. And suddenly, I find myself having to resist the urge to reach up and grab just one more handful. And one more. And one more....

What the???

guys, it's fall now

- I broke out my new boots today because I left the house this morning at 7 and it was chills-bills outside. And because they have this little red zipper detail on the back that I could not wait any longer to pair with something. And, let's just be honest, I haven't gotten around to shaving my legs yet so I would've worn em even if it was 80 degrees out.

- I discovered that we have an apple orchard growing on the northern side of campus. It was like the best first day of fall present ever. And you can bet your buttons there's gonna be a photo shoot up there pronto.

- After my lunch break at home today, I grabbed my book bag, grabbed my phone, locked the door and headed off to work. Then I got in the car. No keys. Oh yea, my keys were in the house. In my locked house. 10 minutes until my shift. So I busted out my man noggin. Which is what I do when Tys isn't around to help me out in trickster situations such as this. And I thought to myself, "What would husband do if he were here and not wearing a little skirt like me?" I know, He would probably bust out the screen, pull open the window, climb right in, grab the keys and go. Did I do that? Yes. Was it actually pretty easy? Yes. Did I end up showing my unders to whole freakin neighborhood ... rude-staring-neighbor-man included? Yes. Did I glare at him? Yes.

- And then husband cooked dinner tonight. Oh ... uh, what was that? HUSBAND. COOKED. DINNER. TONIGHT. And I sat on the couch and admired his tush while he did it. So. I guess I lied ...

THAT was the best first day of fall present ever.

our $5 dinner at the park. in shorts.

So we heard about this little food stand in town. It has mungo-sized servings of teriyaki chicken and rice for 5 buckers. We decided to give it a try, and discovered it was quite the happenin place after we ran into two friends we hadn't seen for a year. And the line was like thiiiissssssss long. 

We took our mungo-sizedness to the park {that is quickly becoming our favorite place}

And ate dinner while we watched a dad and his littles play football and a nearby couple do homework in a hammock {hook me up with that study group}

Turns out, dinner was kind of gross. 

But we had fun anyways.

Because we were both wearing shorts. Our music was maybe a little too loud. And the sunroof was open in our 4-runner. 

And we sure have missed that sunroof.

Then, like the cherry on top. This was husband's quote for the evening:

{disclaimer: may be too mushy for some. but I just want to remember this little bit of sweetness}

"Kissing you is like my favorite pass time.

It's like the best thing ever"

happiness.

this picture was taken before we were in love

in fact, it was the very first picture we took together. ever.

this was before husband ever twizzled my hair at night without me asking

before I had taught him an appreciation for art and aesthetics and before he had taught me how to cheer my guts out at a football game

before he woke me up in the morning with kisses and a "time to get up my little sleepyhead"

before he discovered that I was really only pretending to like cooking

before we were a "we"

or even considering being a "we"

before we had ever fought. and then made up again. {which is like, the best by the way}

before we ever took dozens and dozens of pictures just like this one with our faces pressed together

before we realized that we are very much the opposite

and that it didn't really matter

before so many things, that have made us who we are right now

so glad that we are a "we"

so glad we're BFFL, lover boy

:)

sammy's

The coolest joint just opened up here in our little town. They have delightful BLT's, cheeseburgers with carmeled onions and avacado, mint oreo shakes and they actually know what frysauce is. Plus, if you wear a fake mustache on monday, you get a yummy grilled cheese for only 75 cents. Booyah! We are smitten. And plan on making Sammy's this friday night's date spot when Jon Peter Lewis {from American Idol like 4 years ago. Biggest crush} puts on a concert in their 70's vintage inspired stage room. Best thing to happen to date night since the $3 movie theater. And that one make-out spot.

Today's look:

Don't you just love the look of old-town buildings?

a couple things

Ever tried to walk in heels on the grass? not recommended. It's also not recommended to wear the same shirt more than once in a week. But I do that all the time. Maybe that'll be the reason for all this fashion blogging: gettin' me out of my wardrobe re-run rut. 
Moving on to more random things:
- I keep telling husband that we need to seriously get our bums outside and enjoy this beautiful weather for as long as it lasts. I don't remember Rexy being this amazical this time last year. Wish granted: we're going camping this weekend.
- My lady lumps are experiencing some shrinkage at the moment. What the crap!?
- I'm sitting in bed with my laptop propped up on my legs right now. It's nap time. Husband is wiped and snoring just a little bit. I love him.
- I have projects pouring out my eyeballs. Anybody wanna volunteer for homework duty?
- We had dinner at the church tonight. Lasagna. It was yummy.
- Another "what the crap?!" moment, brought to you by razor burn:
When my sister was younger, she would get mosquito bites all over her legs and as they were healing she would always itch off the scabs. It drove my mom crazy that she wouldn't leave them alone. Then this week, I used a crap-ola razor and got razor burn scratches all up and down my legs. {Really just enhancing the appeal of my pencil legs, I thought} So now they're healing and the scabs are freakin itchy! I can not leave them alone. Seriously, husband is playing the mom role and pins my hands down whenever they get really bad. I just wanted to let ya know Sista ... now I understand.
- Anybody ever try Pero? It smells like coffee, it looks like coffee, but it's totally not coffee and it's caffeine free. Kinda like hot chocolate, but not as sweet. It's like somebody out there was reading my mind.
- All the good shows start this week. I might as well kiss my evening productivity good-bye right now.

I'm off to read my book. Happy Sunday lovelies.

nap time

Almost everyday this week, Husband and I have found ourselves heading straight for our room when we get home from work/school around 6 o'clock. For nap time. However, it never actually begins with an intention to take a nap at that incredibly unwise hour. At first we go in there to take our shoes off and set our bags down. We are talking about our day {or in yesterday's case, finances. A tiring subject, mind you} while we change into our sweats and T-shirts. And then we are sitting on our bed, because of course, you have to sit down to take off your socks. And then we see our window, which has this gorgeous light pouring through it. And it is open. And it is perfect weather outside, and the breeze comes in just a little bit. And then we see that gorgeous light is on our pillows. And because we are sitting down to take off our socks, we notice how our heads are suddenly very close to our pillows. And that we are close to each other too. And that maybe it would be nice to have this conversation about finances while we are spooning. And then I'm thinking that all conversations about finances should be had while we are spooning. Because they don't last very long at all. For we are now, completely unintentionally, taking a nap. A nap at 6 o'clock. And it is heaven. {The not heaven part is waking up an hour later and realizing that it's 7o'clock and I haven't dethawed the salmon for dinner yet. But we won't focus on that.}

Right now, I'm all about enjoying the last of this summer sun that intices these evening siestas, for as long as it will let us.

What I'm loving today

{Sorry for yet another set of outfit pics. I'm sure some of ya are gettin a little sick and tired, eh?}

• Today I love school. I started working on the first assignment for my color photography class {which I'm so excited about!} and I also learned how to manually calibrate a mac computer screen. woah!
• Today, I also love my job. I know being a secretary is supposed to be somewhat of a menial task. But I just have the best time answering the phone, scheduling appointments, talking to students and clicking away on my little computer. I'm pretty sure I could do it all day long. Plus it's such a great excuse to wear my favorite pumps
• Today I love that I got away with tucking a dress into my pants and passing it as a shirt. Turns out Reduce, Reuse, and Recyle can be applied to more than just consumer waste.
• I love that the second I came to husband's office to pick him up from work today, he kissed me on the cheek and told me how much he loved me because his whole day had just gotten a bajillion times better.
• I also love that he's so willing to take my outfit pictures. Thanks husband.
• Today I love that I got my new boots in the mail. And that they were on sale. And that they go all the way up to my knee. And that they have the best little zipper detail on the back. I live for mail like that.
• Today I love my study of world religions course. And the fact that learning how to meditate is a requirement. I wish that learning how to meditate in Bali was a requirement.
• Today, I love praying. Well ... I tend to love that most days. But especially today. And especially with husband.
• Today, I love my super huge mug. And that steamy cup of tea. Fall ... hurry up already! This warm weather is making tea time a little hot and sweaty. bugger.
• And finally, today I love all my blogger friends {that means you}, who bring inspiration and smiles into my life daily.

Happy Tuesday everyone!