It's been over a year...

     ...Since this post.  It kinda blows my mind how fast time really has gone.  But at the same time it scares me how fast time has gone and still life is pretty much the same.  Nothing really new.  Still only two and minimal progress. 
        I posted this scene from UP because this is kinda what life is like right now; minus we're not old people and thankfully no one has/had died, and man, it would be awesome to have our own business working together. haha!  But this scene shows exactly the love that is between Chris and I.  We have our challenges and goals but yet I like to think we're trying to enjoy the journey.  Yes, it's still difficult to not know what the future will bring.  Yes it's difficult to go on facebook and see that yet another person is pregnant or someone who was married the same time as you or even after are having their first child or even second.  Yes, I still have difficult days where I have no motivation to do anything and just seem to cry because I feel bad for myself, which is so pathetic. 
        However, I think of my life and how I am one of the most blessed people on this earth.  Seriously, I have an absolutely excellent husband who I am over the moon about.  He always makes sure to check in with me to make sure he's doing his job and supporting me.  Chris is the kind of husband that I don't have to ask to do things... he just does them, like laundry, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, you name it!  How blessed I am to know that when that day does come that we have children I know he'll support me 100%.  Even though our weeks are busy and he's gone on Tuesday and Thursday nights with his calling for church and even though I sit "by myself" (not really because I always sit with other people) during most church things and even though it's really really hard to support him when he has to leave me alone at home, I know that this is the Lord helping, teaching, and preparing us for something.  What that something is, I have no idea.  But it's teaching me to support and love my husband no matter what.  It's teaching me to counsel, console, and have compassion on my husband.  That's something I will never regret learning.
        So what... I am at a transition period in my life and have no idea what I want to do.  I work at a job making the least amount I have in my life and doing way more then I ever have done in a job and yet I have a college degree.  I have bounced from wanting to go back to school to be a museum curator, to a college professor, to now currently law school (crazy I know, especially law school, why do I want to hurt myself with that kinda schooling).  But it's so hard to make a decision because I don't know when my #1 desire will happen.  It's just hard to, well, be doing nothing with my life.  
         But I know the Lord is watching over me and knows my needs.  Why?  Because He called me to be in Young Women.  In less than four years I have been in Primary, Relief Society, back to Primary in the Nursery, and now Young Women.  Each of those calls have come at a different learning and growing time in my life.  Now, I am up at the church on Tuesday nights with Chris and don't have to be alone at home.  The Lord knew that I was in search of something to fill my time and life with, especially since I'm done with school.  My Heavenly Father knows me and knows my needs. 
            A lot has changed since that post last February.  I am not running as much as I use to.  I only do 30 minutes of cardio and than weight lifting.  I have new fitness goals in mind to keep me motivated (I want to squat my body weight... which I am 10lbs or so away).  Chris and I are also eating a lot differently.  We eat meat hardly ever.  Chris will have pepperoni on his pizza and whenever we go out to eat he usually eats meat.  The majority of the time I opt for no meat at all but will be willing to still eat chicken and turkey if only offered.  We don't like classifying ourselves as vegetarian or vegan, because we're really neither.  We just like to eat what we think is keeping us healthy and makes us feel good.  We both have felt a difference and we feel great.  Our (mostly mine) eating habits embarresses me and I don't know why, so I'm sorry if you have asked me and I tired to shrug it off and change the subject.  But we both have thus far liked this new arrangement.
             All I know and have learned is that life is a journey and a time to be happy.  Not sad, not depressed, not selfpittiful, but joyous, happy, and uplifting.

 

So this is what Chris and I are going to do... continue to walk hand in hand during this life on earth.

With lots of kissing.  And apparently old gum on my shoe.  =)

Getting Wet

A few weeks ago Chris and I traveled down to Orlando on the Youth Temple Trip.  SO many youth attended it was so great.  Driving down I-10 you can see the sun was popping out behind the clouds.  This picture doesn't even describe how awesome the sky actual looked.

We arrived at the temple around 12:30 but the session wasn't until about 2p.m. however, thank goodness we got there at that time because there was SOOO many family names to get in order.  All the family file names were from people in the ward and we had over 300 baptisms to get done. 

Now I say WE because well... I got wet myself this time.  There were only 8 young women and only 6 were going to do baptisms, however, there were about 180 or so sister names that needed to get done.  So Sister Delp, Stone, Neely Be'y, and myself all decided to for go doing an endownment session and get wet ourselves.  It was such a wonderful experience.  I couldn't believe how much work we got done.  I forgot how exciting it was. 

Before the session began President and Sister Tilton of the Temple Presidency talked with us and Sister Tilton said something that really stuck with me.  She said that in the temple we are not just helping an individual we are helping to put back families.  I have always known that in the back of my mind... but that's it, in the back of my mind.  How true is that though?  Temple work is not just doing the work for one person but helping that one person to then be sealed for time and all eternity to their family. 

This trip Chris also got wet and was baptized for his father and a few ancestors as well.  It was a wonderful thing to be able to see Chris perform that ordinance for his father.  I am sure his father is very grateful for it too.

Following the session we headed over to our hotel room, checked in, and then went over to our good friends who use to live here in Tallahassee.  It was so great to see them and have dinner and catch up.

The following morning we had breakfast and headed up to the temple again for our shift.  It was a busy day!  We were a little short handed on temple workers but so much work was able to get done.  Chris was in the baptistery and the Thomasville Ward from our stake was there and had over 500 names to do themselves too!

All in All a fabulous weekend with lots of amazing temple work completed.  Many many people on the other side were blessed and happy those days. 

St. Marks Lighthouse

My dad came and visited Chris and I a few weeks back and we decided to take a little trip to the St. Marks Lighthouse.  It was really cool.  A definite place to go while living in the Tallahassee Big Bend Area.  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon.

Pinterest Fail and Success, Part 2.

This is part two of my pinterest failure and success, here's the first part; the failure.  This post will be a little more happy since it's a success.

This is the picture from the website and the recipe.  I made some changes on this one too and they turned out great.  Still didn't look like the picture but they tasted EXCELLENT!

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup rolled oats + a couple extra tablespoons for topping
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 cup milk
• ¾ cup applesauce
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups carrot, grated

I didn't have any cupcake papers so the first batch were just right in the cupcake tin and the second batch I decided to try it with parchment paper.  I didn't want to put the oats on the top either.  But what I did differently was instead of the oil I used applesauce.  Instead of milk I used greek yogurt, instead of brown sugar I used honey, I didn't have any ground cloves, and no egg.  They tasted so good.  Chris liked them a lot too.  WAY better then the triple chocolate chunk failure.  These will definitely be made again.

However, no matter what our favorite things to make is our TWO go to pizzas.

   We have pizza at least once a week.  We have our own recipe and everything.  Chris is the pizza master.  He's got the dough recipe down and rolls it out perfecto!

 Yes, we have to have it be half and half because I only like veggies on my side and Chris only likes pepperoni.  Needless to say, it's kinda silly looking but oh so yummy!

Our other pizza that we make is sweet potato crust pizza with homemade pesto sauce and zucchini, squash, onions, tomatoes, and pepperoni and cheese for Chris.

 This is the dough before it goes in the oven.  See the little bits of sweet potato?

So so SOOOO yummy.  I crave both of these pizzas every week.  One of our favorites for sure.  These will always be SUCCESSES!  Happy Pinning Everyone!

Pinterest Fail and Success

We all love pinterest... let's be real.  The one thing though is there are many times that the things we decide to do, like making food, a craft, etc. don't turn out just the way we expected.  Therefore, we place a big fat "F" for fail on that task.  However, oh that sweet sweet joy and elation of success when we did something right, or even better, if turned out better than what was given on pinterest. 

Well, I have had my share of failures and successes when it comes to pinterest. 

First, the failure... this is what it's suppose to look like...

 

Really Yummy looking right!?  Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins

This is what mine turned out looking like...

 

Not that great looking.  See, in the oven they looked great and then once I took them out they collapsed.  I didn't follow the recipe EXACTLY which probably is the reason why they collapsed but they tasted alright.  A little salty tasting but good.  

 

The weird thing is they tasted better cold.  I put them in the fridge because they have greek yogurt in them, but they really did taste better cold.  Interesting huh?

Here's the recipe:
1 3/4 C. Oats
3 Egg Whites
3/4 C Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 C Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 C. Plain greek yogurt
1/2 tsp. Cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Power
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 C Hot Water

1/2 C. of baking stevia or 1 c. sweetener of choice

1/2 C. Chocolate Chips

The things that I did differently were that I didn't put any egg whites (I think that's the reason they didn't keep their shape).  I used vinegar and did a half cup of agrave sweetener.  Like I said not too shabby.

Stay Tuned for the Success!