Sunday, November 2, 2014

happy halloween, beaches


So... I thought our costumes this year were quite adorable, but I'm a little biased because I made them. Yeah man, that's right.. I MADE THEM. To be honest though, I only had to make three things, but I still technically made them. Here's the story. Chad and I really wanted to be Curious George and the man in the yellow hat for Halloween this year, but we were having the hardest time finding yellow pants and I had no idea where I would find a grown lady monkey costume.. so that was pretty much a complete bust. So for the next few days we Pinterested and Googled for cute couple costumes and most of them were weird and others were slutty and.. I just won't go into details. We finally narrowed it down to three and went with the easiest (but still cute) one-- Mickey and Minnie. 


Here is the low-down on the DIY. If anybody needs a last minute costume, this would be a quick, cute and easy one. The tutu was really easy. I bought rolls of tulle and an elastic waistband from Hobby Lobby, cut the tulle into strips about 18" long, folded them in half and did the weird loopy knot thing around the waistband. I wanted my tutu to be really big, so I scooted the knots really close together to make it full and fun. Bam.. alliteration. Any-who, The ears were surprisingly easy to make too. I just traced a cup on foam sheets (About three times for each ear), stacked them and then hot glued them together and onto a headband. For the bow, I just sort of free-handed and hot glued it onto my ears. 


Just a close up of our faces...

We went to two.. count it 1,2, DOS parties this year! It's like we are really popular or something! But not really.. One was a family party my mom's side throws every year and the other was a smallish get together with a bunch of people from our apartment complex. Both were super fun and all I gotta say is that this year's Halloween was a success. 

Have a happy November and thanks for reading!

xoxo

Saturday, November 1, 2014

wedding bells and all is just swell

So this post took a lot longer to do than I originally thought it would. But hey, better late than never right? I was totally ready and super stoked to get this shizz done, but then a psychology test, family applications paper, finding a sub for our sunbeam's class, cleaning and getting ready to go down to Salt Lake to visit my parents all got in the way. It's all good though. So may I present to you, our wedding day.

We got married on August 9th, 2014. I wore a white dress, he wore a blue suit, and everything was magical. Honestly, that day was a very vivid blur; a magical, magnificent, blur.

It was
.g r a n d.



I have several favorite memories of that special day, but one of my very favorites was sitting in the Celestial room with Chad before we were sealed. We were one of the first couples sealed that day, so the temple was really peaceful and quiet. The whole experience of waiting to be sealed, holding his hand, looking around at how beautiful God's temple is, and knowing that what we were doing was sacred and right was an amazing experience that I will always remember. I didn't really recognize it at that moment, but the Holy Ghost was bearing a witness to me that Chad and I had made the righteous decision to marry in the temple and have a forever family. If that isn't cool, then I don't know what is. 

So... now onto the pictures and details of the BIG day. 




We were pretty stoked to finally be married. It was pretty much the best feeling ever.


 This is my favorite picture... love is  g r a n d .


The pictures shown were just some of the ones that I thought highlighted our wedding day pretty well. My bro did an AWESOME job as our photographer.

We had two receptions, one in Salt Lake in my grandpa's backyard, and the other in Boise in Chad's parent's backyard. We had awesome turn outs at both of the receptions. To be honest, we didn't really get to enjoy the SLC reception, but we heard that the food was pretty good. After the SLC reception, we honeymooned in Newport Beach and had a fun day in the magical Disneyland (BIG thanks to the Pulley family!). Disneyland was seriously MAGICAL. I pretty much ate that entire experience up. It was perfect. We would also go cute little walks on the beach and spending that quality time with Chad was so much fun. Our honeymoon was so much fun! After the honeymoon, we had to haul butt up to Boise for our second reception. We didn't get in until midnight, and we were so exhausted from just flying into Utah and then having to drive 6 hours to Boise. The struggle was real. But the reception turned out great. Kevin and Susan (Chad's parents) did an awesome job and the Cheesecake Factory cheesecake was YUM. Both receptions were fabulous! Our wedding day was truly memorable... but the life after the wedding is wayyyyyyyyy better. Being married is the greatest thing ever. I love everything about it. 




Thursday, October 9, 2014

hello october

This, THIS, is my favorite time of year. It's just  g r a n d  and wonderful. What could be any better than falling leaves, crisp air, cinnamon candles, and cuddling on the couch with the cutest boy ever watching classic chick-flicks like You've Got Mail, or having a Harry Potter movie marathon?

Here are some highlights you might have missed over the last few weeks:


  • We got lost in a corn maze for almost three hours and ended up cutting through the corn stalks and got covered in burrs that stuck all over our pants and shoes, but the PJ party after was lovely.
  • Ate Little Caesar's pizza and watched a movie in a true architectural wonder. (a.k.a. a blanket and couch fort)
  • One night, I had to stay up late to get some homework done and my hubs surprised me with a Diet Coke to help me get through the night.
  • Went to a concert on campus that was kind of a bummer, but the dancing with Chaddy-babes was supah  g r a n d  .
  • Went to a concert for Chad's birthday and got second hand high from all the sketchy kids smoking weed. It's chill though because we FINALLY got the smell of kush out of our clothes.
  • Released a dragon fly back into the wild after it somehow got trapped in our apartment.
I guess the BIGGEST highlight is that Chad and I have been married for two.. *read it* 1, 2, DOS, months. Life is ABSOLUTELY wonderful. I really cannot describe how wonderful it is. Like I seriously just tried to write one sentence and it was really hard. I am at a complete loss for words. So here are some pictures instead.


Just us enjoying a  g r a n d  football game.


Having a simply wonderful time at the Atmosphere concert.


The most challenging corn maze known to mankind.


So.. that's basically it. Life is great. Gotta love the married life.

xoxo

Monday, September 8, 2014

.the m u r r i e d life.

So once upon a time this crazy chick met a super cute stud muffin and now they're married and life is just  g r a n d  . I was one of those girls who goes to college, gets into a serious relationship, and gets engaged within their first year. So if you're wondering, the answer is yes, I am nineteen. I'm not going to go into a huge rant about how 'getting married young was perfect for me... blah blah' because so many people are doing that now and frankly nobody cares about how you proved everybody and their statistics(which are total crap) wrong and such.. it's lame and over done. However, I will be somewhat of a 'spokesperson' on why marriage is so great!

I was pretty nervous to get married. I don't know why. Maybe because I felt like I wasn't going to be as independent as I had been, or the short amount of time that we dated and the even shorter engagement was just really fast, but I knew it was right... So I kind of jumped in and it has been the best decision of my life.

When the mission age change occurred, I had been swept off of my feet and almost drowned with excitement in the missionary work 'wave'. I had been preparing myself to serve an LDS mission for about a year and a half, but things kept going wrong. I had a tooth implant surgery that failed and I would have had to wait an additional 6-8 months to even submit my papers, I didn't get accepted into the university that I wanted and what I had planned out for the next three years kept falling through. I wasn't really frustrated, but there was definitely some confusion as to why my plan and righteous desire to serve the Lord and help with his purpose wasn't working out how I had intended.

While all of this crazy and stressful confusion was going on in my life, my husband had declined a scholarship from the university (that I was just DYING to go to) and decided to go to the one that we currently attend now. He also decided to serve a full-time LDS mission and came back to our university the spring semester of my freshman year.

Here's the love story: We met in freezing cold January. We had a humanities class and an LDS Institute choir together. I recognized him in my class from choir and decided that he was pretty cute so naturally I should strike up a conversation in class and see where it goes, right? (It was truly love at second sight) Well I did and this kid was pretty chill and totally opposite of me. He was SO quiet and reserved (with other people). We got along great. We would sometimes spend about an hour and a half chatting after class or choir. It took him about a month to ask me out on a date (it pretty much killed me because it seemed like it took so long), and I had the best date of my life on February 7, 2014. This kid had literally swept me off my feet (well, not literally.. at least one of my feet remained on the ground the entire date). We laughed a lot and I can only describe my feelings as blissful and wonderful. He liked me enough to ask me out on a second date on Valentine's Day. This date was such a hoot. I dolled up and he was looking pretty nice too, so we went to my favorite local place to grab some hot chocolate. As soon as we sat down, the embarrassment came.. the waiter spilled hot chocolate all over his pants and after that, let's just say that we watched a movie and our first kiss was probably MY most embarrassing moment in my entire life. I missed his mouth. It was that bad. But it's chill because the kisses after that were right on the lips! Later that month, we made our relationship 'official' and such.*BAM* *FASTFORWARD* We were engaged by the third week of May and married on August 9, 2014. It happened fast but it was great and I wouldn't have changed a single thing, including the fact that I missed his mouth on our first kiss.

So there was my answer to all of my confusion. I had a different mission in life and I'm totally okay with it. The married life is so great. I finally have somebody to share my love of Disney/ Pixar movies with and a Disneyland ride partner for all of time and eternity. Really, who could ask for more? The Lord's fingerprints are truly all over our lives. I could probably write a blog post on all of the little ways that my husband's life and my own lined up and such, but that would probably be pretty boring and a waste of time because there is only one explanation to it and it's that our Heavenly Father loves us and puts His hand into our lives so that we may have happiness in this life and the life to come.

xoxo


Saturday, March 15, 2014

hmmm....

So it's spring break and life is soopah crazy like always. I had to get my tooth implant thingy for a second time (because the first time it failed) and it hurt like a mother. This time I asked for laughing gas and holy coww... I really liked it. I probably shouldn't have liked it as much as I did but, I did. It's great. Don't get it. It's really fun. But seriously, don't get it. It's too fun.

My sister Lyndsey is such a trooper. Her husband was recently diagnosed with cancer, but it hasn't stopped her from pushing through life. Health problems have always been something my family has been challenged with. It can sometimes be really discouraging and hard, but that doesn't mean you can't smile. If there is one thing that I have learned from my upbringing is that no matter what, find the joys in life. Life can be super hard and rough and icky, but it shouldn't stop you from living. Yes, things are really crazy right now and they will probably continue to be crazy for awhile, but I know that everything will work out. This sounds kind of weird but sometimes my soul feels the most at peace during these crazy times. I know that it is because of my Heavenly Father. He really is so great! I'm blessed to have God in my life. Without him I would feel so lost and alone. He helps my family and me during our most difficult times. I'm grateful for these challenges because without them, my relationship with my Father in Heaven would probably not be as strong. I figure whenever I'm faced with a difficulty in life, I have two choices: let the little bump in the road bug me, distract me and harden my heart, or allow it to humble me and give me a chance to grow closer to God. They both can be difficult, but one reaps a greater reward. No matter what happens, you gotta beam a smile and keep positive.
(If you want to take a gander and learn a little bit more about my sister and her husband's journey with cancer, go to this blog: http://kentbarkerupdates.blogspot.com/2014/03/side-effects.html )

So.. Let's get positive! The highlights of my break so far:
-sleeping in
-eating yummy homemade food
-watching frozen.. again
-getting letters/emails from my missionary friends
-going to the art gallery at BYU with the beautiful paintings of Jesus
-going to a Venezuelan/ Colombian restaurant
-playing with my nephew
-face timing... :)
-chilling with the fam bam!!

This break has been great. I survived midterms and I feel ready to finish the semester strong! It's gonna be great!

xoxo


Monday, February 10, 2014

They Say When It Rains, It Rains Pennies From Heaven..

It's been a really long time since my last blog post. I have such a hard time keeping up on it! Today was a pretty crazy day. It was pretty stressful because I had a three page paper due and I had started it just this morning. The weather pretty much matched my mood perfectly-- rainy, wet and stressed. As I walked into my Sociology class, I found a penny heads-side up. It reminded me of the saying, "Find a penny, heads-side up and all day long you'll have good luck!" I loved that saying. It makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world and somebody is really looking after me. Just that feeling of having somebody looking after me reminded me of one of my favorite poems:

      Pennies from Heaven
i found a penny today
just laying on the ground
but it's not just a penny
this little coin i've found
"found" pennies come from heaven
that's what my grandpa told me
he said angels toss them down
oh, how i loved that story
he said when an angel misses you 
they toss a penny down
sometimes just to cheer you up
make a smile out of your frown
so don't pass by that penny
when you're feeling blue
it may be a penny from heaven
that an angel tossed to you

     ~ C. Mashburn

xoxo