Chocolate Covered Pretz

Some treats I made for Laura's last day at work. We'll miss you Laura!

Hair affair

Well folks...I am growing out my hair. I am so proud, I just got back from a cut and color and I didn't give in to the temptation to cut it shorter! Whoohoo! Not sure how long I want it, but sure I want to grow it out. I am young, only 22. I don't have kids and I have blonde hair, so what better than "living it up" with long beautiful locks. Wish me luck in this endeavor!

EEEEEEEE-ster!!!

Easter...one of my favorite days. As an only child I have colored eggs by myself every year until this year. I didn't color eggs, instead I made Jiggler Eggs (see picture above). It was quite fun and I kept thinking "what a great mom I am going to be" while I was making them. :-)

We went to Tyler's parents house for Easter and ate a feast with his grandparents, sister, cousin, and friends from NNU. It was a big group and one of our table conversations centered around sad dog stories. I brought it up and we just ran with it, kind of twisted. We are all dog lovers so we have everyone feeling pretty sad for a few minutes. That night we went to an Easter production at a local Nazarene church. It was great, very different that I expected. Not your average Jesus from birth til resurrection type of production.

I really look forward to having kids on Easter and teaching them of God's amazing gift of grace and watching them search for eggs. What fun!

Jewelry Storage

For those of you like me, jewelry storage is such a trying endevor. I usually get mine all organized and a week later everything is a tangled mess. Well...mess no more! I bought three ice cube trays and put earring pairs in each spot. It is amazing, and cuts down on my morning routine so fast. The great thing is they stack. I am going to put mine in the top drawer of my dresser, this way no one sees all of the jewelry clutter but I know exactly where my favorite earrings for the day are. Do it, so cheap, so great!

Some random pictures

Here are some random pictures I found in my email.

Tyler and Macey in Sun Valley for the 4th of July 2008!

Macey holding her cousin, Simon, June 2008. Not going to lie, I have a little baby fever right now, but not enough to do anything about it!

A little modeling promo from a quick trip to Portland. Kate is in Europe right now I think, great girl.

Jack of all trades, master of none

Some of you probably hear me bring up past accomplishments, activities, etc. It has been so weird for me to lose some of my talents that set myself apart from others. Yes, I have always been good in a number of areas, music, sports, arts, decorating, etc. But now, I honestly can't say there is anything I am a master of. This is not to build me up in anyway, instead it is to motivate myself and see if any of you have found the balance in growing up and leaving some things behind. I need to decide what I want to cultivate in my life and continue to learn and grow in. Here are some talents that have changed in my life:

Piano- I started playing piano when I was 5. I took lessons until I was 12 and then accompianied choirs in my hometown. I was a great sightreader and people knew that I was a great pianist. Now, there are probably 10 people who even know I play/ed the piano. I sit down and play every once in a while and become greatly discouraged because I am back to the same place I was when I was 8 or 9. One of my goals is to take improv piano lessons and to reteach myself piano theory. I have said I will do this when I graduate from college. Is this something I should cultivate?

Running- I also started running in elementary school. I was the girl that the boys hated getting beat by in the mile run in PE. I had great success, school record holder, state competitor, ran in college, etc. Now I am just a morning running, which I do love, but I know I could do better. I could run races, I could improve and be more fit. Is this something I should cultivate?

Athletisism- I used to be able to jump into any game and be a contributing member of the team. Now, I find myself making silly noises when I miss the ball or have to move quickly. The competitiveness has left me. Besides running, I have digressed in my ability to be athletic. Is this something I should cultivate?

There are more, but I want to hear from some of you. Where is the balance? I don't know what to be okay with and what to push myself in. I don't know if this makes sense to anyone, please let me know what you think. Keep in mind my last post was all about slowing down...irony???

No real rhyme or reason...

Slow down...that's what everyone has been telling me. For some people, they tell me to slow down and minutes later ask me to do this or that. For one, it is a plea to have a wife who doesn't spend hours in tears due to stress. For others, it is the longing to see their daughter/daughter-in-law enjoy her days as a young 21 year old with her entire life ahead of her. So why haven't I slowed down?

I don't know why I feel the need to do so much or accomplish so much. I have always been crazy busy, but usually it all turns out okay in the end. Until now. I recently sat for a 7 hour test to be investment licensed. I put in countless hours preparing, yet I failed. I wasn't overly confident going into the test, I actually cried for about an hour the night before I took it because I felt unprepared. Everyone around me assured me I would be alright. After taking the test and seeing FAIL appear on the screen, I cried on the drive back to Nampa. I told myself I would not cry about it at work, the guys don't walk into the office in tears if they fail, so neither would I. It's like Reba sings "cowgirls don't cry." Anyway, in the days following I know that failing that test is not like me, and that was one of the first tell tail signs that I am overdoing it. Also, I am trying to say "I didn't pass" instead of "failed" because it is more positive. :-)

Although I am going going going, full time student, full time employee, full time wife, the progress in school gets further out with each semester. This is to no one's fault. I transferred from NNU to BSU and lost some credits, but my level of happiness at BSU was greatly worth the lost credits. I took 15 credits last semester while working full time, which I swore I would never do again. Then, the other night I was looking at my remaining classes and realized I would have to take 15 credits again in order to graduate when I wanted. So I decided I would do it. This is where my dear husband piped in, and co-workers, and dad, and mom, etc. I don't have to tell you what they said, you already know, you are probably wanting to tell me the same thing. So, I am slowing down. I won't gradute until December of 2010, but at least I will remember these years of my life and have great memories of doing other things besides stressing out. So hopefully, you will see me more, and I will have something to talk about besides school.

Anyway, I am putting it out there. I am slowing down. Now you know and you will hold me to it. So it may take me as long to finish my undergrad as it does a doctor to finish med school. At the end of the day, I am 21, I am young. I need to remember this, there is no rush, slow down!

Fun and Satisfying things to do that don't cost money!

I am just coming up with these, but I hope someone has some fun with them!

1. Rearrange the furniture/decor in your house.
2. Create a new recipe with food in your house.
3. Start a blog.
4. Go to the library and get a book.
5. Practice taking cool/abstract photos.
6. Polish any wood furniture that you have.
7. Watch a movie.
8. What a TV series online, this is one of my favorites.
9. Wash all of the odd things in your house like blankets, rugs, etc.
10. Organize the drawers in your kitchen/bathroom.
11. Bake cookies and have a nephew, niece, friend come over to frost them.
12. Go through your files and get rid of anything you don't need...can you tell I like to organize.
13. Scrapbook.
14. Play board games or card games with your husband/wife.
15. Call a friend to go on a walk to catch up instead of sitting on your butt while you catch up.
16. Go running.
17. Work out at home doing push-ups, sit-ups, wall sits, etc.
18. Try new styles with your hair on a lazy saturday so you can do them later.
19. Give yourself and pedi and mani.
20. Have friends over for dinner, I need to do this more.

Alright, this is one of my breaks from studying. I am taking a huge test on Monday the 23rd...I believe it is 6 hours long and has a 40% passing rate. Wish me luck....a pray hard!

A day early...

First of all. I must brag on my husband for a minute, he worked 76 hours this week. Yes, this week, most of us hardly work that in two weeks. What a guy!

Since he has been working so much, our schedules haven't matched up at all lately. I miss him terribly, and after sitting around feeling sorry for myself on Friday night, I kicked it into high gear and decided to get my part of valentine's day ready for him a day early. So I prepared a wonderful dinner, made a heart shaped cookie and served it to him on the "You are special today" plate, gave him and card and sweet tart hearts, and continued my tradition of valentine's lingerie purchased from walmart. So when he came home, there was his wife, in valentine's lingerie and an apron, cooking away. To which he had to chuckle.

He was such a good sport as I asked him to take pictures to document every aspect of our early valentine's day. Can you tell in one of the pictures he thought it was cute to hide behind me, seriously, having 12 year old boys is going to be a snap for me. Sometimes he reverts back to that age, and to be honest it usually makes me laugh, which only encourages the behavior.

I want to give you a glimpse of this. Tyler is so good at mocking me, which is good, because as many of you know I take myself too seriously sometimes. So during dinner I asked him if it was good (it was a new recipe), and he simply said "yeah, it's really good." So I asked him to tell me about it. In response he laughed at me and broke into an opera song proclaiming, "It is so good, I want to tell the whole world, make it every night, etc." Honestly, I just wanted some constructive criticism. Regardless, I laughed and laughed.

I am so thankful to have a man that makes me laugh. What a blessing! I have to remind myself that he makes me laugh while I am in tears for some comment or something "boyish" that he did. Anyway, we finished off the night watching season three of heroes. He is at work again tonight (Valentine's day) but he will be home soon. The greatest part, tomorrow is two years since he proposed to me. We are heading to the Cheesecake Factory for some quality eats and treats. I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's day!

Where the magic happens! :-)

Here are some pictures of our bedroom, I love it. It was the first room I did when we moved in and I had the design in mind for quite a while. It will change a little bit at the end of the month, with some new furniture pieces. Anyway, Tyler has been gone for 10 days and comes home tomorrow night. We have a black tie awards banquet for my work, should be a ton of fun. Tyler is wearing a tux and I am wearing a floor lenth formal. I'll be sure to take some pictures to update y'all. Anyway, have a happy weekend!