april favorites

Movie: The Boy. (Maggie aren't you supposed to be killing zombies...?) Check out the trailer here. It was SO good and definitely had a twist that nearly made me pee my pants. It is about a creepy doll that comes to life so if that touches a little close to home then....watch it anyways and pay big bucks for the therapy later.

Show: Jane The Virgin. I've been watching it more than just in April but it is just too good to not include in this first and honorary Favorites. It's the perfect balance of hilarious, mysterious, and dramatic. It completes me in a real way.

Book: Playing Dead by Julia Heaberlin. There are some parts of this book that made my blush (yes, the word sex still makes me giggle like a twelve year old) but that was only a couple of times. This is a "murder" mystery book that has you hanging on from the beginning.

Workout: I love me some easy at-home workouts that don't require much movement. Don't think it exists? Well, it does. And it's linked right here. You literally just sit there and you still feel major burn. You may have to do it a few many times to see results, but it's sure doing something.

Recipe: I made this for dinner just tonight and it was incredibly easy and really delicious too. We thought it was yummy but I'm more concerned about the easy part...It is linked here. 

Music: Meghan Trainor. Yeah, I said it. And I'm not ashamed. My library allows 5 free song downloads a week so for the past 3 weeks I have been slowly collecting all of her stuff. It is so poppy that you just wanna sing and dance for the whole world. And it has just the right amount of promiscuity to make it worthwhile.

the thing about marriage

Before you get married you wonder how you will live with someone that you have such a crush on.
How will you go to the bathroom with them in the same house?
How will you wax your mustache while he's there?
What if you get super sick and nasty and he has to hold your hair back while you throw up?
And then you get married and you realize that you can't do all of these unlady-like things while Prince Charming is sleeping.
And you can't hold those farts in forever.
(Probably not medically safe.)
Eventually you have to let your inner freak fly.
Because your husband is your best friend and he still thinks you're beautiful, even with a waxing strip above your lip.
And sometimes in marriage we let our emotions get the best of us and we get upset about silly things.
All of a sudden his kind act of getting you a medium instead of a small becomes a fight.
But afterwards, when you've come back down to Earth, you realize that he still loves you.
Even though you're crazy.
You see each other at your absolute WORST and yet, there's nobody you would rather be with.
Nobody else you would rather fight about nothing with.
Nobody else you would reluctantly say "I'm Sorry" to.
And nobody else you would rather switch off carrying the load of life with.
So even though marriage is ridiculously hard sometimes, it's mostly really really good.

record

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An excerpt from an elementary journal of mine:
"I kind of like Jacob! Oh no....Oh shoot.....What if somebody reads this? Almost everybody knows that Daniel is my boyfriend and this is pen! I am DOOMED!!"
Let's first review some facts.
1. This supposed "Jacob" character wasn't real.
Well, he technically existed, but not in my life.
He was my current love obsession from the movie Cheaper By The Dozen.
Not a threat to any real romance in my life.
2. And "Daniel"?
Yeah, he wasn't even my boyfriend. Ever.
But apparently everybody knew that he was.
3. That was all I wrote for that day.
Just that.
What was point of pulling out my pen and journal that day?
And who was I so afraid was going to see this?

Regardless, thanks to my young 5th (?) grade self I get to laugh at all of these ridiculous things.
And in the future, my children will pull out my box of memories and wonder who Jacob and Daniel were and why their father wasn't fighting them for my love.
Now when I get to look back through old journals filled with ridiculousness it just makes me so happy.
And when I look back through old journals filled with deep thoughts, struggles, victories, and knowledge I am reminded of so much.
It is SO important to keep a journal guys.
Even if you haven't been writing since elementary school like I have, start now.
Write a record and leave a legacy.
Even if you're not a very good or consistent writer, just do what you can.
Pull out a journal right now and write down one good thing from your day.
And if you can't think of even one good thing just write what your loving on Netflix or Hulu these days.
And in a post coming soon I will share how I keep a record of my life.

cats

A lot of people in the world have cats.
And if you don't have cats, but your neighbors have cats; then you have cats.
I am personally more of a snuggly-get-fur-everywhere-and-eat-all-the-food-off-of-the-counter-dog type of person.
But my neighbors have cats.
So we have cats.
And one Summer I would always leave my car windows down because I didn't have AC and I needed some airflow in that monstrosity.
And it worked.
I got air flow.
But I also got cats.
Those little buggers would see an open window with nice, comfy, inviting seats inside; just for them.
And they would jump right in there and SLEEP!
I would get up in the morning and have to shoo them out of my car before I went anywhere.
I was really worried that one day I would be halfway to Provo and look in my rearview mirror just to see a cat lounging in the backseat in a ray of sunshine.
But one of my favorite memories of Derek also involves those Da** cats.
We were walking up to my front door and a cat jumped right in front of Derek.
They made eye contact for a second or two and all Derek could think was,
"Ooh a cat! I've never been this close to one. I should touch it."
So he bends down, arms outstretched towards this cat, and he suddenly grabs it.
And it promptly starts attacking him with its claws.
Yet, he doesn't set the dang thing down.
"What do I do with it????"
"What are you doing?? Set it down!!"
He finally sets the poor cat down and it scampers off into the darkness to warn his friends about the scary giant picking up animals.
"Why the heck did you pick up that cat?"
"I don't know! It was just right there and I've never been that close to one so I grabbed it!"
Hmm. Flawed logic?

five things

With having anxiety I always feel like I'm forgetting something.
So I do every task I can think of in the hopes that the feeling will go away.
But it never does and at the end of the day I always feel that I have left something undone.
So now, as part of my nightly routine I make a list in my head of 5 things.
5 things I did that day that helped me become a better person, disciple of Christ, friend.
5 things I did that day that helped me become closer to my goals and the person that I want to become.
Because even when I feel like I did absolutely nothing worthwhile that day I want to be able to look back and see what I actually did accomplish, even if it was small.
So I list 5 things.
And those 5 things can be anything that I want because I am the judge of what I have accomplished.
But instead of just listing things that I normally do, I list things that went beyond that.
Instead of listing "I made dinner tonight" I list "even though I was really tired I got up and made an effort to cook a healthy meal for my husband and I."
If cooking dinner that day was not something that challenged me or made me better, I don't list it.
But if I still made dinner, despite craziness that might prevent me from doing it then I do list it.
The first time I did this I could only get my list to number 4.
I just could NOT think of a fifth thing that I had done to become a better person that day.
Then I realized that the day wasn't completely over even though I was already snuggled up in bed.
There is always time to get that last list item in for the day, no matter what it is.
I can meditate, I can pick up my phone and read scriptures, I can text something nice to a friend, I can make plans with someone I haven't seen in a while, I can set a goal for tomorrow, I can find a new workout or recipe to try the next day, I can plan a date night...
There are so many things that we can accomplish just laying in bed with our phone in our hands.
If you're still awake, it's still possible. 
So, every night, find your 5 things.

meal prep calzones

Every couple of Sundays I like to make calzones for my meal prep.
I cook them up and then put them in the fridge.
This way, during the week, if there aren't enough leftovers from the night before Derek can just take these for lunch instead of eating out.
(They're also good to just have as a meal...)
And these things are DELICIOUS.
We both love them.
And so do 2 year olds.
I had one in my backpack one time when I was nannying and the little boy snuck into my bag, found it, and starting nibbling on it like a ravenous college student.
He looked so proud of himself when I found him halfway through the crust.
These are delicious enough that you wanna sneak into your nanny's backpack and risk time out just to get a few nibbles in.
The recipe (and picture ^) I use is found here: Calzones!
(The frozen loaves of bread can be bought in a pack of 5 for just a couple of dollars depending on where you get them! Then you can make these 5 different times!)
Enjoy! And let me know what you think!

snow canyon state park

While we were in St. George this weekend Derek and I headed to Snow Canyon to climb around on some rocks.
We had first planned to go see the sunset, but it was so cloudy that that wasn't going to be possible.
However, it was so fun to be there in the rain with nobody else there!
It was GORGeous.
And for some reason every time we try to hike in St. George we get lost beyond belief.
Last year we got lost on a butte, with the city lying just a stone's throw away.
And this year we traipsed all over this poor state park looking for some sort of trail that would lead us to cool stuff.
Either the trails weren't labeled very well or we were just oblivious.

And linked here is our traditional important-event-video:VIDEO
(There were definitely more people on this trip than the video portrays.
We are just vain.
But it's more that I'm not quite at the comfort level needed to film those folk.)

spring break 2016

For our Spring Break vacation we went down to St. George with Derek's family.
And....it rained the whole darn time.
But it was still really fun and a much needed break from all of our work and school.
Derek and I visited the Red Hills Garden and Snow Canyon State Park.
And we all spent time swimming, slacklining, playing outside, and sleeping outside.

And last but DEFINITELY not least.....a recipe for Spanish Rice that is to die for.
http://life-in-the-lofthouse.com/mexican-rice/

the accidental text

There's a certain level of complacency that comes with learning a new task.
When you first get your license you are on high alert the ENTIRE time you are driving, worried that you are going to die.
But then months pass....and years pass....
And now when you drive you completely zone out for the whole trip and as you step out of the car you have a sense of panic inside you because you don't even know how you got there.
The same goes for phones.
After being an expert with your thumbs for a few months your vigilance becomes complacence.
And you start making mistakes.
Not checking for errors or incoherence.
And definitely not checking for who you are sending messages to.
We have all made the mistake of texting that one obscure person in our study group, "Thanks for washing my underwear, I love you" instead of your mom.
(Or a just as equally horrifying equivalent)
I myself have made a few minor mistakes in my phone-handling days.
But the one that gets me most may have also lost me some friendships.
It was in middle school and I was at the mall with two of my gal pals on a Saturday afternoon.
And my sister was going to pick us up.
(Man, remember the days without driver's licenses??)
These two gal pals were taking FOR-ever to pick out a dang body lotion and I was starting to get real hangry.
And texting while hangry is dangerous.
(Add in a 3 AM cry-fest and you're basically drunk driving)
So, in the middle of Bath and Body Works I text my sister something along the lines of, "UGH. These girls are taking so long! You might have to wait outside for a while!"
And after I sent it half of my subconscious noticed that one girl looked at her phone, showed it to the other girl, and then everything got quiet.
But the other half of my subconscious (which is clearly the dumber half) did not notice the awkward silence at all and continued on with my hangry self.
We finally left the sea of lotions and went to get some food.
And once the monster inside of me had quieted I realized that my sister hadn't texted back yet.
So I check my phone and notice that my text did not go to it's intended recipient.
Instead, it had gone to one of the girls that I was so kindly complaining about.
Who was also currently sitting across the table from me.
See, with my blurred thought process I knew that I was thinking of texting about this individual.
So of course, with her name being in the forefront of my thoughts, I sent it to her.
Without hesitation or question.
Silly me and my trust of technology!

peace always wins

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The great thing about this world is that we are all born different.
We have so much diversity in our culture, lifestyles, and experiences.
And because everybody is so different we can learn so much from each other.
The bad thing about this world is that some people despise these differences.
Opinions and perspectives and debates are good.
It's good to question, research, and listen to others in order to form your own ideas and opinions about life.
What's not OK is to think that you can berate and belittle others to get your point across.
Honestly, nobody is going to even care about your opinions after hearing your unnecessarily harsh words.
Share your opinion and stop there.
If it doesn't affect you then stop fighting it so much, acting as if it does.
Stop diminishing things that make others happy.
I've only entered into two Facebook 'debates' in my life.
And I can tell you that sharing your opinions with a peaceful demeanor can shut someone down quicker than using your words to incite anger.
Peace will always win.
And if it doesn't win the debate, it wins because you weren't affected by their angry bitterness.
Who really even wins a debate?
The person leaving filled with peace, knowing that they stood their ground respectfully; or the person so filled with anger that they don't affect anybody?
I might not be able to make everybody in the world understand this but I can make sure that me and my family live our lives full of peace.
Because the worst way to find happiness is to "derive more pleasure from your neighbor's failure (and unhappiness) than your own success (and happiness)."