Adorable

Just have to say that I have the best husband ever. Look what he surprised me with today - so unexpected and so delicious. LOVE him. Did I mention he drove out to my school and came into my classroom? The kids loved it - "your husband is so sweet," "he's hot," my personal favorite - "I don't know if I'll ever be that nice" (spoken like a true 4th grade boy) and "your husband is nicer than my dad." LUCKY!

Sunday Thoughts

" the object of prayer is not to CHANGE the will of God, but to SECURE for ourselves and for others blessings that God is ALREADY WILLING to grant, but that are made conditional on our ASKING for them"

- Bible Dictionary

"if thou shalt ASK, thou shalt RECEIVE revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things - that which bringeth JOY, that which bringeth ETERNAL LIFE"

- D&C 42:61

"prayer opens the door to PEACE in this life and eternal life in this world to come. prayer is ESSENTIAL to salvation. "

- Bruce R. McConkie

"i give you my testimony that if you sincerely apply prayer, you will not go unrewarded. the changes my not be readily apparent. they may be extremely subtle. but they will be REAL, for God is a rewarder of 'things that dilligently seek Him'"

- Gordon B. Hinckley

best. christmas. present. ever.

For the past six months before Christmas I had been patiently keeping track of everything Anson ever said he wanted. Some of the things he bought for himself, but some he either 1) didn't want to spend the money on yet or 2) completely forgot about. I kept a tally and in November I went on a shopping spree (or at least that's what it felt like). I got him some pretty amazing gifts, see picture below for one of the best:












Pretty proud of myself. As I opened Anson's gifts, I got some really cute ones.

Beauty and the Beast was the first date we ever went on. He surprised me and took us to the Grapevine High School's play. It was so adorable. Especially since this is not Anson's thing AT ALL. It was already my fave Disney movie and now I like it even more.

I know this is petty, but I was pretty sure I had dominated the Christmas gifts. I was just so excited to give him something he WANTED. Little did I know. The last present I open, Anson pulls out my camera and starts video-taping me. That should have been my first clue. I start to open it - and it feels like there is nothing in the box. Next I see a piece of paper - what looks like a plane ticket. I am immediately excited! I get to go to Utah! I tell him thanks but obviously am not really understanding what I'm getting because...IT'S A TRIP TO EUROPE!!! FOR A MONTH!!!! Clearly, I haven't seen that. So I take more time, see it, start crying and FLIP OUT. It was seriously the best christmas present ever. We left 2 weeks later. pictures to come...

cruisin'

For our anniversary we decided to go on a cruise. Forget deciding where to go for Christmas and Thanksgiving...we'll do that next year. Let's celebrate!

Drove out there...this is a glimpse of Birmingham, AL. Just what I pictured.

Funny entrance to a building. How are you supposed to go through those doors? - Atlanta, GA.

At Martin Luther King's house in Atlanta. This was really cool.

Our ship!! (on the right).

Pretty windy.

First stop - St Maartens. My favorite by far.

Coolest thing we did on the trip - stand under the planes coming to the runway which is right off the beach. They literally feel like they are feet above your head...

Second stop - St Thomas (US Virgin Islands).

Megan's Bay - listed as one of the Top 10 Beaches in the world.

Last stop - Bahamas.

After the cruise, we met up with Anson's Dad and Denice for the Louisville Bowl Game in St Petersburg, FL...

Cards WON!

To My Baby...

This may just be my new favorite song. I'm sad I didn't hear it before we got married, but I still love it. And yes, I know it's to a girl but I don't care.

marry me. by train.

FOREVER can never be long enough for me

to feel like I've had LONG ENOUGH with you

forget the world now, we won't let them see

but there's one thing left to do

now that the weight has lifted

LOVE has surely shifted my way

marry ME

TODAY AND EVERYDAY

marry me

if i ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe

say you will

say you will

TOGETHER can never be close enough for me

to feel like I can CLOSE ENOUGH to you

you wear white and I'LL WEAR OUT THE WORDS I LOVE YOU

and you're beautiful

now that the wait is over

and love has finally showed her my way

marry me

TODAY AND EVERYDAY

marry me

if i ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe

say you will

say you will

promise me you'll always be

HAPPY BY MY SIDE

i promise to sing to you

the music when it dies

and marry me

TODAY AND EVERYDAY

marry me

if i ever get the nerve to say hello in this cafe

say you will

say you will

MARRY ME

Embarassing...

Confession: I love Monday nights. LOVE them. Why? Because I get to watch 2 hours of uninspiring but highly entertaining romance via The Bachelor. I know it's lame, but I can't help it. I LOVE hearing the girl drama, listening to how many stupid things all the girls say, the fun dates, the way Brad kisses every girl on the show (how in the world could you NOT get mad? Can we say playa?!?). But the truth is - I like Brad. Strangely, I don't think he's a player even though he smooches multiple girls in the space of my 2 hour period (maybe a week in real life). Still - if a boy did that here - he'd get the boot. But for some reason, it's ok on a tv show. It's almost like an alternative reality. And I like it.

Tonight is the season finale where Brad finally chooses between the final two girls. I'm beyond excited. Here is who I want to win tonight....

It Never Pays to be a Lemming

Here is me, 5 days ago...

Some of you may be wondering what this thing is....he's almost even kind of adorable. Wrong. Definitely not a good thing to be. Nothing I need to aspire to. But here I was...being a lemming!! Perhaps an explanation is in order. Every time I go to the gym I lift weights (I have my usual routine...arms one day, legs the next, repeat.) and then run a few miles on the treadmill when my knees are putting up a fight. 5 years ago, yes 5, I was in the Golds Gym off 9th in Provo and saw this girl lifting a 10 lb weight doing some ab exercises. You know, the ones where you hold the weight, stand on the little contraption on your side, then hang over the edge with the weight and pull yourself up. (I feel like I'm not making any sense). ANYWAYS, I thought...genius! What a smart and easy way to work on those obliques. I tried it - and I was sore. Which I've always thought is a good thing, meaning you're actually DOING something. So I kept it. Notice I've probably done it everyday minus Sundays for the last 5 years. No joke. And then, I learned what a lemming I was.

5 days ago, after doing my ab/oblique routine I headed over to the treadmills. I'm dripping sweat, running like a madman with my music bursting out of my ear buds, when the trainer comes over and starts to talk to me. "You're making your hips wide.." - Hold on. What? Who is this guy?? (I automatically don't like trainers since I did one of those free first sign-up deals with the trainer and they told me - "you're hot, but your body is FAT. I can make boys want you. I can make you tiny...I think I weighed 115 then? Yeah..wasn't buying it.) So he explained...those ab things with the weights are actually widening your hips. They make your obliques toned but the weights are making everything else bigger. The best thing to do is just use your OWN body weight and do the exercises. Huh. All I can think of is - 5 years. 5 YEARS I've wasted on this. How small are my hips actually supposed to be?

Like I said, it never pays to be a lemming...