It's all about giving, right?

Merry late Christmas, everyone!

How did you enjoy your Christmas? Mine? It was legit. BEYOND legit.

The only thing that I have asked for since me and my husband have been married, is a dehydrator. I registered for one. I've attempted to buy one, but didn't. I almost bought one with my Christmas work party money. But the whole time, John has constantly repeated "That is the BIGGEST waste of money. We will never buy one. You will use it for two weeks, then it will sit there and collect dust. My mom had one and she never used it. We are not buying one." And for the longest time, I thought he was just saying that because he got me one for Christmas and just wanted to surprise me. But my husband was VERY convincing. I really gave up on believing that he got me one because he was just so negative about it. Come Christmas day, I still had no idea what he had gotten me. We were opening gifts and mine was a HUGE box. Inside, there was a really nice wooden cutting board that I had wanted. Alongside that, there was another big box inSIDE the big box. So I pull that out and open it up. Low and behold, a food dehydrator was inside. I was so mad at John for making me believe that he didn't get me one! Long story short, my husband is very good at surprising me. And I love him with all of my heart.

For John, Christmas was extra special this year. A few months ago, we brought over some boxes from his old apartment that we needed to go through. Most of it was random junk collected over the years. Among the junk filled boxes, there was a box with all of the letters and little things from his mission that he served over 10 years ago. Going through it, I thought, "Why on earth do you still have all of this stuff? Why didn't you just through it away?" Then it hit me. Make a scrapbook for Christmas! So off I went. I gathered up a nice big book, lots of clear inserts, and cute paper. It took me about 2 weeks working on it at night while John was at work to finish it. I was so excited for him to see it, that I almost told him about it before Christmas. For a while, I was nervous that he wouldn't like; that it would just be an "Ehh" gift. After talking to my mom and showing my coworkers the book, my thoughts had changed. I was SOO excited to show him! So he first opened up a watch that I bought for him, a sweater, and some LEGOs. Then it was time for the book. I told him to open it very carefully because the front and back cover kept shifting because it was so thick. He took the wrapping paper off, and opened the cover. The front page was a little hand sewn picture from a family in his mission. He didn't quite get what it was until he turned the page. Since I couldn't find his mission call, the next best thing was an announcement of his mission call in the newspaper that he had kept. Next to that sat his mission tags. "Called to Serve. Australia, Sydney North Mission. 2001-2003" was written right in the middle. On the next page, there was some Australian dollar bills (which are plastic and part of it is see-through. Very weird.) and coins, along with his plane ticket to Sydney. As I look over at John, his lip started to quiver and tears started to drop. "SCORE!" And of course, that automatically made me cry as well. John's nephew, who is 8, said, "Caren, are you crying too? Gosh. What a bunch of cry babies." I couldn't help but laugh because he didn't understand the seriousness of this. I'm just glad that my husband enjoyed it as much as he did. (Side note: I love the fact that my husband does cry occasionally. Not very often, but when something means a lot, he is not afraid to show his emotions)

This year, my family drew names for Christmas. I drew my mom's name, and John drew my older sister's name, Dawna. I had a few ideas for both, but then I saw this website where you can turn Instagram photos into a book. I knew that I wanted to make a book of "Tatum's First Year in Instagram". I then made John trade names with me. (So when I accidentally texted you Dawna, I really was asking for John even though I meant to text mom.) The only problem with switching names, is what the heck is John going to get his new mother-in-law who he has only known for a short time. Oops... I walked into work one day and the CEO had his little side business out in the conference room. QR Cuties. What is a QR Cutie you ask? Well it is a really cute necklace, with a QR code on the back. You can attach a video, a slideshow, ANYTHING to the QR code. And you can change it as many times as you want. So essentially, it's a modern day locket. I knew this would be PERFECT to give to my mom from John.

When John and I were in Salt Lake at the temple lights with some family, we recorded a video for her and uploaded it to the QR code. I was so excited to see her reaction.

Christmas came and my dad recorded her reaction to the necklace. And just as I had suspected, knowing my mom, she cried. I thought to myself, "SCORE!" Now it was Dawna's turn to open her gift. Unfortunately, the video didn't get saved properly. But my grandpa did get a few good pictures of when she was reading through it. Low and behold, tears fell from her face. "SCORE!" I was on a roll. John says that I was a bully this Christmas because I made everyone cry. What can I say :) I love my family and I love giving them things that they can cherish.

I would rather give 20 gifts that mean something rather than receive something. Seeing reactions to gifts is so much more meaningful and enjoyable than anything that I could receive. Granted, I am pretty dang excited about my dehydrator.

Lastly, just because I've never done this before and I figure, what the heck. There is an awesome giveaway by Very Jane and I WANT TO WIN SO BAD!! You shouldn't enter so that I have a better chance of winning ;) Okay, I'm just playing. You can enter. I guess. But go check them out! Here is where you can check out the details about the giveaway.

What was your favorite part about Christmas?

'Tis the Season

Holy crap. I haven't posted in almost a month! I am so sorry...

Truth is, life is pretty boring around these parts of town. But seeing as it is the holiday season, there have been more things that come up.

For example. Last Thursday, December 20th, I had my company party. It was a blast! Over the previous 2 weeks, 4 people would go out to lunch each day, at random, with a gift card to a certain restaurant provided by the big guys. When it was your turn to go to lunch, you received a huge stack of fake money that you would have to count out and divide it by 40 (the number of employees in the company). Upon your return back to work, you would then have to pass out the money to each employee. The amount of money ranged from $8 to $50 each day. Come the day of the Christmas party, everyone had gone to lunch and we had a nice stack of money. Nobody knew what we were going to do for the party, because the owners like to keep it a secret. I, for one, HATE surprises when I know there is going to be one. If someone says, "I have a surprise for you!" and then proceeds to not tell me, it drives me bonkers! Now, if I don't know that there is a surprise, and I am just surprised right then and there, then I don't mind it. I just hate the anticipation of not knowing something. So the whole two weeks that we were going to lunch and receiving CirclePix bucks, I think my department thought up at least 10 different possibilities of what we could be doing.

So the night of the party came, and we all met at the office. A few jokes were told, and some robot dances were danced. "Where can you buy a hand dipped ice cream cone?", the CEO asked. "Costco!" was the answer most employees gave. "Okay! We'll see you there in ten minutes!" So off we went. Still not knowing, but having a good idea, of what we were going to be doing. We arrive to Costco and wait inside until everyone was there. "How much CirclePix bucks do you all have? You will now have that much to spend on whatever you would like here. Meet back here in an hour!" And off we went! We could buy whatever we wanted! Cameras. Watches. Camping gear. Books. Cooking appliances. Vacuums. ANYTHING. We ended up getting some baking stuff, tupperware, a beard trimmer for John, and some crafty stuff for myself. Then we went to dinner at Magleby's, which was really good! While eating dinner, we got to watch a compilation video of the past year at CirclePix. There were pictures, videos of pranks or funny things, Halloween costumes, embarrassing moments, etc. At the end of the night, I was very glad that I work for such a good company. And I wouldn't change a thing.

December 21st came, and the world did not end.

December 22nd came, and I turned 21!!! Yay, I'm officially 100% legal now! Granted, the only thing that this really changes is my driver's license. Anywho, I was still excited :) When John and I woke up, he made me breakfast and we spent the morning watching The Great Mouse Detective on Netflix. After the movie, it was off to Salt Lake! I love Salt Lake and wish I could live there. We met up with John's sister and brother in law and their four adorable boys and John's younger brother. Lots of shopping commenced shortly thereafter. After we had our fill of shopping, we went to the movies and saw The Rise of the Guardians, which I thought was a very cute movie. Sadly, I have the Allred Girls' Curse. I did fall asleep in the movie for 10-15 minutes. {Side story. When I was in Junior High and my older sister was in High School, anytime we went to the movies as a family, our mom would make us pay for the movie. If we stayed awake, they would pay us back. But that didn't happen very often because we almost always fell asleep. And there are very few movies that I watch with my husband that I am actually awake the entire time for...}

Now you should know that my husband HATES seafood. And I LOVE it! If I could afford it, I would eat sushi all the days of my life. But alas, money does not grow on trees. Considering it was my birthday, John put his hatred for fish aside and let us go to Red Lobster for dinner. I proceeded to pound down a pound and a half of the best King Crap Legs I have ever eaten. Oh boy was it delicious!! John, on the other hand, had a nice medium rare steak. We were both very happy with our choices.

Since we are not going to Arizona for Christmas, and we are newlyweds with no pets (and sadly no Christmas tree) we are going to John's sister's house for Christmas Eve and spending the night to spend Christmas day with them. I am very excited to be around such a loving family. And I am so very excited for John to open one of his Christmas presents from me. I can't quite say what it is because he can read this, but I'll mention it in my next post. I worked very long and hard on it and have been wanting to just show it to him the past few weeks.

Overall, I might dislike (strongly) that my birthday is so close to Christmas sometimes (especially when my husband wraps my birthday present in Christmas wrapping paper and gets it mixed up with the other Christmas presents) but I am glad that I get to spend this time of year with so much family. I love winter and wish that it could just be winter all year long. And one of these days I will be buying a Mickey Mouse waffle iron to carry on the tradition that my grandma started and having Mickey Mouse [sourdough] waffles on Christmas morning.

What is your favorite part of this time of year? Do share!

Life's Changes

Sometimes Heavenly Father has a different plan for you than you had anticipated.

Growing up I had such high goals and aspirations. At first, I was going to graduate high school, attend The Juilliard School in New York and major in piano performance, then marry my husband in the Mesa, AZ temple. To top it all off, I would perform in Carnegie Hall with my family and husband sitting in the front row. Life couldn't get better.

Once reality hit and some health issues got in the way, things shifted. I then focused my time on photography. I first got into it when I decided to take a photography class in high school because nothing else seemed like fun. I learned how to use a film camera and how to develop my own film. To this day, I WILL have a dark room once we buy a house. No questions. Anywho, I digress. Once I felt like I mastered film, which I know I was far from mastering, I stole...I mean borrowed my grandpa's digital camera. What a beauty that was. After all, he's an electronic junkie, so he had PLENTY to go around. I was sure this is what I was going to do with my life. Heck, I even got one step closer to this goal of being a professional photographer and having my own business, titled Shooting Star Photography. I had been accepted into Hallmark Institute of Photography in MA.  Then reality sunk in again, when I had to come up with $70k. So then I settled for MCC.

Life then took yet another turn. I moved up to Utah. A year and a half later, I met the man of my dreams. My husband is the complete opposite of what I wanted to marry when I was 8. But do you know what? What did I know when I was 8. Apparently I knew all the wrong things, aside from getting baptized. My husband is everything I didn't want when I was younger. But he is everything I need now. My wedding ring isn't anything I had imagined wanting. I grew up knowing I would have a princess cute diamond. But when I saw my ring, a cushion cut green amethyst, no other ring I looked at would surpass it.

Sometimes things don't go as planned. They might not be what you want, or see yourself wanting. But a lot of the time it's for the better.

“So take the good with the bad, smile with the sad, love what you got, remember what you had, always forgive but never forget, learn from your mistakes but never regret. People change, things go wrong, but just remember life goes on." -Unknown

Domesticated

Well hello there, world wide web. It's been a while. And I apologize.

But you see, in this wonderful town of Spanish Fork that my husband and I reside in, there is jack squat that goes on, and even less to do. So there really isn't much to blog about.

We go to work.

We come home.

We have dinner, maybe watch a movie or an episode of Brothers and Sisters or Revenge.

We go to bed.

Yes, there is an occasional dinner at the sibling's house, date night, or random drive somewhere pretty. But we live a pretty boring married life.

One thing that I do love, however, about not doing anything all the time, is it gives me a chance to cook! Yes, I get burnt out on cooking every once in a while, but I enjoy it 6 days out of the week. I'm not extravagant or 5 star quality with lamb and filet mignon, and I make a lot of less-than-desirable meals, but I do try my darndest.

I guess one reason why I love cooking so much is because I watched my grandma cook everything that tastes like a piece of heaven, and I grew up with my eyes glued to my dad while he was in the kitchen, trying to pick up on everything I could. They are both the best cooks I know. (If you haven't tried my dad's bbq sauce that he makes from scratch and not to mention won first place in a Tucson competition, then you haven't lived. Seriously. Go get some!!)

I have noticed that you don't always have to buy boxed foods for meals. Take for instance macaroni and cheese. I HATE the Kraft kind. Yuck. And it doesn't help that we would need to make two boxes because for some reason, it seems as though they keep putting less and less in those little rectangle boxes. So. I make it from scratch. Now, I have tried countless recipes and of course, the one go 'round that my husband loved, I didn't have a recipe and instead just threw things together. I have yet to replicate it. Such is life. Making mac and cheese wasn't as easy as I thought. I had read things on Pinterest (of course) that you could make it by adding milk and cheese to pasta and the cheese would melt into gooey goodness and wrap those macaroni noodles with creamy delight. Oh boy was that wrong. I turns into a disgusting, clumpy, milky-watery mess. NASTAY. I learned the hard way that you have to make a roux.

A what??

Roux [roo] - noun

A cooked mixture of butter or other fat and flour used to thicken sauces, soups, etc.

Who knew that a cheese sauce would need flour? And one thing I learned, is you should ALWAYS cook flour and NEVER add it to something in it's raw form. (To some mothers, especially my grandmother, I must sound so dumb because I'm just learning all of this.) I had seen that tip on Master Chef a while ago and had no clue what it meant, until it happened to me. I was making a roux for mac and cheese and the sauce wasn't thick enough [it will always be thick enough, just be patient and let it cook!!] so I decided to add more flour at the end, after I had put in the milk and cheese. Then it was TOO thick...and tasted like flour. I didn't cook the flour with the butter. It literally was like I just threw a bunch of flour in my mouth and then took a bite of mac and cheese. Needless to say, I learned my lesson.

Melt butter and add equal parts flour and cook for five minutes, or until a nice golden brown.

Slowly add in milk, cooking for an additional five minutes. It WILL thicken up.

Add grated cheese.

Add pasta.

Badda bing, badda boom.

You've got macaroni and cheese.

Another thing that we love in the Memmott household, is mashed potatoes. We do have the box of instant potatoes, but after a huge failure in the taste bud department, as well as the check book, we opted out for regular, straight-from-the-potato mashed potatoes. Heck, I just bought a 15 pound bag of potatoes for $2. Score? I think YES. The only thing that sucks about making them from scratch, is we do not yet have a potato masher. Yay for forks and whisks!! Haha. But seriously though. All you do is wash a few potatoes, chop them up, boil them, mash them, then add butter and milk. If you're going for a five minute dinner, this isn't for you. But if you want more bang for your buck, or a better alternative to those grainy, mushy, disgusting "instant" potatoes, then give it a try!

Lastly, I will never buy frozen, boneless, skinless chicken breasts. What a waste of money! Instead, I buy bone in, skin on chicken from the meat section. Not only is it a whole dollar cheaper per pound than the skinless, boneless chicken in the meat section, it's $1.50 if not more cheaper than the frozen kind. So, I come home with skin on, bone in chicken, take the skin off, and freeze it myself. Why should I pay someone to freeze my food for me when I can do a perfectly good job myself? Exactly. Not to mention that the bone gives the chicken so much more flavor! And it doesn't dry out as fast during the cooking process. Sure, you have to eat around it. But in my opinion, it's totally worth it.

I know I've still got so much to learn, but I sure do love where I am! And I think my husband doesn't hate it ;)

Do you like to cook? If so, what? If not, how do you eat??

And just in case you wanted it, here is my favorite recipe for mac and cheese. Feel free to add or subtract anything from it! But one thing I've found from testing a lot of these recipes, is you can't go without the ground mustard. It is essential. (Our favorite cheese to use is Colby-Jack, however you can experiment or use your favorite cheese.)

4 cups dried macaroni

1/4 cup (1/2 stick or 4 T.) butter

1/4 cup All-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups milk

2 teaspoons (heaping) Dry/Ground mustard. More if desired.

1 pound cheese, grated

Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Cook macaroni. Drain.

2. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don't let it burn.

3. Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

4. Add in cheese and stir to melt.

5. Add salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt as needed. DO NOT UNDERSALT!

6. Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine.

7 Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish, top with extra cheese, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end

With Obama's re-election, and things coming to light about things I should have read a loooong time ago in regards to new laws and things that Obama supports, I can't help but feel hopeless.

Helpless.

Like John and I won't be able to start our family in these conditions.

It doesn't help that it's that time of the month where I cry my eyes out when I'm reminded that Jef and Emily broke up. Or when I hear my niece say "Hi" to me over and over again and wave her little hand at me, even though she has no clue who I am.

Given the circumstances, I could just sit and cry all day if I didn't have to work or act like a normal human being. It is SOO easy to just fall into that funk of "Nothing is ever going to be okay again." And this past election sure got me a good head start into that funk. Yuck.

I have always been one who will think the worst of things, plan for the worst to happen, and just can't really look to the bright side. I'm not pessimistic. I'm just an overcautious optimistic. I hope for the best, plan for the worst. And lately, I've been planning on the United States turning into a socialistic sister of Greece.

(Here is where the fact that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints comes into play)

One thing that I keep forgetting, is that this is all part of my Father in Heaven's plan. I wish I could write down some scriptures that I found on my own. That way I could be all prophetic, knowledgeable, and insightful. Instead, I searched the all-knowing internet. And luckily, I found a scripture that made me cry even more and has since become one of my top 3 favorite scriptures. To preface this, I have included the previous few scriptures.

“Yea, verily I say unto you, in that day when the Lord shall come, he shall reveal all things—

“Things which have passed, and hidden things which no man knew, things of the earth, by which it was made, and the purpose and the end thereof

“Things most precious, things that are above, and things that are beneath, things that are in the earth, and upon the earth, and in heaven.

“And all they who suffer persecution for my name, and endure in faith, though they are called to lay down their lives for my sake yet shall they partake of all this glory."

[And here is where it gets so wonderful.]

“Wherefore, fear not even unto death; for in this world your joy is not full, but in me your joy is full” D&C 101:32-36 (emphasis added)

If we but just trust in the Lord, and have faith, we will be alright. Yes, things might SUCK, and they might be really, really hard, but it will never be too much.

A very beloved prophet once said, "Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed.  The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise.  Life is like an old time rail journey…. delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas, and thrilling bursts of speed.  The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride." -Gordon B. Hinckley

This song is so humbling and is my favorite song, hymn, or piece of music.

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In every change, He faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend

Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake

To guide the future, as He has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on

When we shall be forever with the Lord.

When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,

Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.

Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past

All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

I know the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is true. I love my Heavenly Father so much and am so grateful for the opportunity he has given me to strengthen my weaknesses and to grow my faith.

And with this, I bid you adieu.

Is it really November??

I can't believe that the year is almost over! When I look back at the past 10 months, there are SOO many things that I am so grateful for. And it boggles my mind that I met the love of my life almost a year ago. Time flies by so incredibly fast.

October is the month of HALLOWEEN! Now, I'm not such a huge fan of Halloween. I don't think I have ever been a great supporter of dressing up and scaring people. I think it all stems from when I was a little girl and we went trick or treating......

Picture this. An adorable little (something). Mid 90's. It was a beautiful, crisp October night. Laughter and screams could be heard throughout the neighborhood. Street lamps periodically brightened the sidewalk and showcased various costumes. Shyly, I walked up to a door with my mom's hand on my back, gently pushing me closer to the door to politely say "Trick or treat." Sitting next to the door on a chair was what looked like a stuffed pair of jeans and shirt to mimic a dead man. Just before my little finger was able to push the door bell, a very loud and frightening "RAWWRRRRR!!!!" came from that was-supposed-to-be-a-dead-man man. Screaming out of terror, I ran to my mom and hid my head in her hands. I don't remember much after that, but as you can see, scaring has scarred me from enjoying such a fun holiday.

Fast forward 15 years. Working for such a fun and laid back company comes with many perks. One of them, which is my favorite, is we decorate HARDCORE for holidays and special occasions. My department pitched in and we all got decorations to contribute. October 1, the decorations went up, with one twist. My manager LOVES Christmas. I'm pretty sure love doesn't even cover how much he loves Christmas. So instead of decorating the entire department for Halloween, we decorated the majority of our office with skulls and pumpkins and spider webs. Then directly over our manager's desk, we decorated for Christmas. Who knew that the dollar store had Christmas decorations?

He absolutely LOVED it. And after our Halloween decorations came down, his will still stay up for another two months.

Another thing I have the privilege of participating in at my company, is the costume contest. We had a very great turnout and some very...interesting costumes. Take a look! (I apologize for the green screen)

 (Richard Simmons)

 (Snooki)

 (Evil queen from Snow White. 1st Place)

 (Comic book character)

 ("Fat Brad" This was Brad [my manager] about a year ago. He has lost over 80 pounds!! So he decided to dress up as his old self)

 (Wayne from Wayne's World)

(Self explanatory...Also 1st place)

 (Oddly enough, we had two Psy's! And they didn't even plan it...)

One thing that I do love about Halloween, is seeing all the cute costumes for little kids. John and I had a family party on Sunday and all the nieces and nephews dressed up to show off their awesome costumes. (Photo cred: Emalee and Cory)

(My personal favorite. I wonder why....)

[Photo cred: Dawna]

All in all, I am glad October is over with. Why? One month closer to Thanksgiving, Christmas, my birthday, and the day after the world "ends".

Also, since it is soup season, I thought I would leave you with my favorite soup recipe :) Not to mention it is probably the easiest soup you will ever make.

Chicken Enchilada Soup

2 cans (4 cups) chicken broth

1 8oz. creme cheese

1 large can mild enchilada sauce (Any brand will do, however, Hatch is the best brand. A little more expensive, but definitely worth it. 2 cans of their mild enchilada sauce.)

1 small can chopped green chiles

1 pint half and half

1 can corn, drained

1 rotisserie chicken, shredded

1 1/2 cups instant rice

Heat up and whisk creme cheese and chicken broth until melted completely.

Add all other ingredients.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes.

Serve with sour creme or cheese.

What is your favorite soup during the winter? Do share :)

"Please bless Nephi to find the plates"

Saturday night, John and I babysat 2 of his nephews while our sister and brother in law went out on  a date. I will be the first to say that I hope we do not have boys. Growing up in a family of 4 girls, I have absolutely NO idea how to handle boys. Luckily, John has around 70 nieces and nephews and helped raise 4 of his younger brothers, so he has plenty of experience working with little boys. I was completely baffled as to how to entertain them. With girls, it's easy! You sit around playing with dolls, or playing house, or dress up. With boys, you have to play Legos (which for some reason just does not come easy), or build a train track, or have a sword fight. And I lose every time to those swords. They must have taken lots of sword fighting classes because they were killer....literally.

Anywho, John and I were watching Mason (4) and Jimmy (2). I destroyed so violently (in their words) the Lego house that they built. So I proceeded to build them a newer, bigger house. While I was constructing this house, they decided to be police men. VERY LOUD SIREN NOISES PROCEEDED TO BE MADE. And when I say loud, I mean LOUD. I couldn't help but just smile at John with my head tilted like I was going crazy. Because I was.

After they had their kick of being cops, they both attacked John with their swords. He sure is a great guy around kids. If we have boys, he will be a much better father than I am a mother. Girls, different story ;)

To wrap up the evening, we watched Shrek and read a bed time story about Thomas the train. I do believe that was Mason's favorite part of the night. After story time, it was time for prayer. I helped Jimmy with his sweet little prayer. He is such a little angel. Next, it was Mason's turn. He said his own prayer because he is such a grown up kid. Everything was going great, until I had to hold in a vein from laughing when he said "Bless everyone to go pee." The things little kids say is just so innocent and can only be said by little kids. It seriously was the highlight of my night.

When their parents got home from their date, we chatted for a little and told them about Mason's special prayer. They told us that he also will pray for "Nephi to find the plates" and that they just don't have the heart to tell him that he already found them. At least he prays knowing that the Lord will take care of it, right?

I had such a fun night with those two. I can't wait to have kids, but I think that babysitting will get me by for now ;)

On Sunday night, while watching a movie, I decided to paint my nails. And I wanted to do something different than my normal one color boringness. I remembered seeing something about scrapbook paper and rubbing alcohol to add cool designs to your polish. I looked it up, and got right too it! What I hate the MOST is how misleading some blogs can be. After probably 4 coats of new nail polish after taking it off, I finally got it down. It took MUCH longer than the blog said and was a lot more work. But here is the end result!

I think they turned out pretty great for my first try!

Question time!

What do you and your spouse do to determine who does what when neither of you like doing it? John and I normally do best two out of three in rock, paper, scissors. But he is just SO. DARN. GOOD. at it that I can never win! I need some new ideas :)

SCCREEEEEECCCCCHHHHHHH......

Reality check time!

These last two and a half months of marriage have been like nothing else. It has been the best thing to happen to me for many reasons.

From everything I heard prior to marrying my husband, marriage was supposed to be so easy. It would be like cutting through soft butter with a plastic knife. Instead, it has been like cutting through steel with a piece of string. No, we don't fight. We don't wake up and hate each other, or get on each other's nerves. We get along just fine, like any couple in love should. I'm talking about merging two lives together who have baggage.

I have my car to pay off.

John has his student loans.

And when you least expect it, you've got everything going against what you have planned.

John and I are still waiting to hear about if he got this job in Salt Lake or not. And me being the girl with off-the-chart emotions, I freak out when we don't hear from them the next day. My panties are in a huge bunch from stress.

We got a notice yesterday that we were to start paying off his student loans next month. We weren't expecting this until next July. And it was a HUGE wake up call.

Life has kind of taken an unexpected turn. And all we can do is love each other and trust that the Lord will take care of us as long as we keep His commandments.

"When life gives you more than you can stand, kneel."

Through these different trials and surprises, I have grown my relationship with my Father in Heaven so strongly that it catches me by surprise sometimes. I have never prayed as much as I have in the last month than I have in my 20, almost 21, years of life. Yes, I am human and have my doubts sometimes. But I know that He is always there to comfort me and to catch me when I fall.

Life certainly is no walk in the park. But I wouldn't want any other partner in this crazy journey than the one I have.

Time to get creative!! ;)

A Mustard Seed

I have a horrible time at being level headed and not getting stressed in a situation.

For example, John had his second interview for a position at the University of Utah Hospital today in Salt Lake. This is an awesome possible job that would change our lives. I want him to get it so badly, that I over think things and worry about it non stop. John told me about how his interview went and all I did was pick out the bad things and focus on them...saying that we're screwed.

Through this whole process of him applying for the job, waiting for an interview, then waiting for a call for the second interview, and now waiting to hear about if he got the job or not, I have prayed like cuh-razy. I've never prayed this hard or this much before. And now I can say with conviction that prayer DOES work. Yes, you might not get the answer you want. But you will get the answer you need. Who'da thunk. My mom was right. All I had to do was pray with faith and an open heart.

One of the biggest things I have a problem with, is I hate not knowing how something is going to turn out or what people are thinking. What's even worse, is I know I have no control over that, whatsoever. Yet, I choose to stress over it. (Constantly, I wish I had super powers and could read people's minds...)

This experience, which is far from over, has taught me to turn things over to the Lord. I have to let him take care of things as he knows exactly how they should go. I have had to learn, and am still desperately learning, to be okay with something if it doesn't go the way I want or planned them to go. Now, if we don't go to the restaurant I want to, or are too late for the movie of choice, I don't freak out. But for something this HUGE...let's just say it's been scary living with me while going through all of this.

My oh-so-wise mother keeps telling me "If John doesn't get this job, that means that something better for HIM and for you BOTH will come along."

I JUST HATE WAITING.

with a passion...

Everything will happen in the Lord's timing. He knows what is meant for John and I. I have never been so scared, worried, stressed, happy, or have had so much faith in my Heavenly Father as I do now.

Having faith is one of the hardest things to have. 1 year ago, my faith was pretty much non existent. Today, I have more faith than I know what to do with. Yes, it might be the toughest thing I am going through at the moment, but I trust my Father in Heaven more than I trust myself. Heck, I trust him more than my husband. And that speaks volumes.

"The path to heaven runs through miles of clouded hell, right to the top"

The only way anyone can make it through those miles of clouded hell is by having faith that everything will be okay. Everything will work out exactly how my Father intended.

All we have to do is have as much faith as a mustard seed.



Side note: this is a song by SafetySuit, my favorite band, that has helped so much through hard times. I think it was written so perfectly. For too many reasons, this is my theme song.

Kindness is key, and is also very tasty

Ambulances suck. And are a pain in my side. Especially the company itself...

Back in 2008, I went to an Urgent Care due to some medical complications with some medications I was taking. I was then rushed by ambulance to a hospital, and then transferred again to Phoenix Children's Hospital. At the time, I was 16. I was still a minor.

When I applied for my car 2 years ago, I could not get qualified if my life depended on it. I had to have my parents co-sign on the loan. And I had no clue why I couldn't qualify on my own, because I had never done anything against my credit. Ever.

A few months ago, I decided to check my credit score for kicks and giggles. What I discovered was NOT what anyone wanted to see. I had horrible credit. And it all came down to the two ambulance rides I took when I was 16. Furious, I called the ambulance company and they admitted their mistake. They said that they do not bill minors and billed me by accident. Subsequently, I have had a delinquent account on my credit for almost 5 years. Ouch.

After talking with multiple people on the phone, I was told that it would be taken care of and be removed from my credit in 45 days or so.

So I waited.

Patiently.

2 months later, I called to see what the progress was, and the girl I spoke to had no clue whatsoever I was talking about. I had to explain my whole situation again. This time, she documented the call on my account and said that she would send it over to be removed in 45 days or so.

So I waited some more.

Patiently.

3 months later, today, I decided to check my credit score to see if anything had been fixed. Low and behold. Nothing had changed. My blood quickly reached boiling point and I was about to explode. I was so mad that I started to stutter....

Furious, I dialed their number. When someone greeted me happily, I bursted out "I need to speak to your manager." When I was asked if I had an account number he could give them, I repeated "I need to speak to your manager." In now way was I kind or patient. That had all been used up in the past months. After I was put on hold, he came back and said that his manager was helping another customer and that if I left a voice mail, she would call me back. Now, I had heard that same phrase time and time again from the previous customer service reps I had spoken to in the previous phone calls with them. I told him very rudely that I would hold. No longer than a minute later, I was transferred to her voice mail. And I proceeded to leave one of the nastiest voice mails I have ever left for anyone. I was REALLY mad.

(Was I proud of any of this? Absolutely not.)

After cooling off for a few minutes, I decided to take a different approach. I decided to actually be nice even though I did not want to be very nice. So I called them up again and politely asked for a manager. After giving the customer service rep a little background to the situation, she gladly was able to help me herself. We spoke for a few minutes, and she eventually got me her manager even though I was sure I didn't need to speak to one anymore. Her manager told me that in June, the last time I called, they sent the information over to their third party vendor, or something or other, who was supposed to get in touch with the credit bureau and that they had not done anything with the information. She then had HER manager speak with the manager of the third party vendor to get this resolved. The manager I spoke to was so extremely helpful in getting things resolved. Yes, it took WAY longer than it needed to be. But getting short and frustrated with people isn't going to help anyone. I've worked in Customer Service for a long time and always hated when people got frustrated and yelled over the phone at me for something that I personally had not done. Why did I not think of this when I was on the phone? I have no clue...

After all the drama ensued today, I wanted to make soup (random, I know) because it's just one of those soupy kinds of days. It's the beginning of fall, and it's just what I needed. So I decided to make black bean soup! And oh boy was it delicious!!! And because people, mainly my mom and sister and a few aunts, ask for recipes, I decided to give you this one! I hope you all enjoy and let me know how it turns out! John loved it, and it made so much that we now have plenty of leftovers.

1 T. canola oil

1 chopped onion

1 chopped red bell pepper

1 T. chili powder

2 tsp. ground cumin

2 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed

3 c. chicken broth

1 1/2 c. salsa

1 bunch cilantro, chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

1 T lime juice

2 c. cooked macaroni

1. Heat oil in pan and add onion and bell pepper. Cook until onions are translucent.

2. Add chili powder and cumin and cook for 1 min.

3. Add beans, chicken broth, salsa, cilantro, and salt.

4. Bring to boil, simmer for 10 min.

5. Transfer half the soup to a blender and puree. Stir back into saucepan.

6. Add cooked macaroni.

7. Add lime juice and stir.

8. Enjoy!

You can add more spices if you'd like, but this was absolutely perfect. We added a plop of sour cream to the soup and stirred it in. I've never had soup this good before.

Let me know what you think!

Nothing of Impotance

This post really has no important facts, or urgent news. I was just utterly bored while my husband played his game and figured I'd touch base with life before we watch Master Chef.

John and I have watched the entire last season of Master Chef in probably a week. We both immediately want to watch it when we're home from anywhere. Weird, I know.

John is stubborn.

And I guess so am I.

Fall has officially come into play. We can't sleep with the window open anymore because then we would have to turn on the heater. I LOVE it.

And yes, he still hogs all of the bed.

I have picked up a new hobby. PAINTING. Can't wait to post some of the stuff I have been working on.

I found out how to download new fonts to my computer and have gone a little haywire. I have made so many posters for quotes that I absolutely love and changed my photo about and had fun doing it. I think it's a lot cheaper than going to a shrink...you should try it some time!

I was employee of the month this month and had the opportunity to win $400. All I had to do was answer 5 questions correctly. I could put as much money as I wanted on the 4 answers available. What I won from each answer would be taken into the next round. I answered the first question perfectly, still holding the full $400. The second question got the better of me. "What causes crickets to chirp" or something like that. I put all my money on the time of day. Little did I know, they chirp due to temperature. So, there went my $400. Luckily, my work is so nice and caring that even if you lose all of your money, you still get an extra $50. Date night anyone? And on top of winning $50, my face was imposed into something that I like. What could that be?? GIRAFFES. I have a slight obsession, but nothing too serious ;)

Life is wonderful :)

How is life treating you this wonderful holiday season?

Sister to sister we will always be

A couple of nuts off the family tree.

Dawna Gennette Allred Berry.

My older sister.

My best friend.

Let me tell you a story about 2 little sisters eating a Happy Meal. (Disclaimer: I don't personally remember this due to my age, but it has been told many times at the dinner table) We were around the ages of 6 (Dawna) and 3 (myself). My dad was at work, my mom was getting ready for a wedding reception, and we were happily eating our chicken nugget happy meals at the table. For some very strange reason, Dawna thought it would be a marvelous idea to stick a piece of chicken up my nose. Now, she did have the decency to ask first, and with me being only 3 and all, I didn't know better. So I said yes. Up went the chicken into a tiny little hole. Dawna then proceeded to go get a pencil, knife (butter of course), tweezers, ANYTHING she could use to pull it out. To no avail, nothing could get that chicken out. In fact, she ended up shoving it further and further up my wee little nose. So far up to the point that it started getting painful and I started to cry. So what does any older sister do?

She went and got mom.

What did she say to mom? Something along the lines of "Mom!! Caren shoved chicken up her nose! I tried getting it out but I couldn't..make her stop crying!!"

Like any good mother (which mine was great) she came running in to see me crying at the table. NOTHING could get this dang piece of chicken out of my petite nose. What could we do? What could anyone do?? Nothing, but go to the hospital.

So off we went. My dad met us there once he heard of the news. Eventually, the doctor had to hook up a vacuum type thing to my nose and suck out the chicken. Gross, I know.

For years, this story was told during family dinners, and first meets with boyfriends and friends. The entire story was relived multiple times, with one minor tweak. Everyone thought that it was me, myself, Caren Dianne Allred (at the time) that wondered what it would feel like to have a piece of chicken reside in my nostrils and proceeded to shove it up there. It wasn't until a few years ago that Dawna finally came clean. She admitted to putting the chicken up my nose.

Why did she do it, you ask?

She wanted to be the hero of the day. In her head, if "I" put the chicken up my nose, she could get it out and say that she saved the day!! But things didn't go so well, as you could see. And to save herself from getting in MORE trouble, she blamed it all on me. She played the role of "older sister" perfectly ;)

I wouldn't be who I am today without my older sister. Yes, we fought when we were younger. Fought like crazy! We fought so much that she ended up moving out of the house when she was in high school and moved in with my grandparents. We just could NOT be under the same roof and stay sane (And a lot of that I take full responsibility). Granted, there were a few days or weeks when we were on good terms. I have fond memories of talking about life on her bed. Man I miss those talks. Anywho, shortly after she moved out, she was in a really bad accident on her way to school one day. When I found out about this, I was a mess. My eyes were a water park on a rainy day. The last words that I had said to my sister were in no way loving. And I was scared that those were the last words that I would ever get to say to her. Luckily, she survived. She had a few cracked ribs, a deflated lung, and if you know my sister, a LOT of bruises. But she lived to hear me apologize for how stupid I had been. I strongly believe that that strengthened our relationship immensely because I realized how special life is and how important showing our love for one another is.

Today, Dawna is happily married to her best friend, the man of her dreams, and the best guy I could have imagined for her. She has a beautiful daughter and another precious girl on the way. She has shown me so much and has taught me many things in life.

When mom and dad don't understand, a sister always will.  ~Author Unknown

Yes, we had our differences, and still do. But I know that she will always be there for me when I need to have a girl talk, even though we live 700 miles away. Sisters by blood. Friends by choice.

And it's not just my older sister that I love so very much. My younger sisters (though a pain in the butt at times) have brought so much joy to my life. They remind me what it was like to be a kid, and I love seeing them grow up and learn new things. Both my younger sisters love playing the piano. And it is so nice to hear them play me a song over the phone once they passed it off at their piano lessons. I learned to play the piano upside down when I was in junior high. Hannah, the youngest at 10 years old, is trying to learn how to do it. And she's only in 5th grade. She's going to pass me up....

Baylee is the brains of the family. She is a living, walking dictionary, encyclopedia, thesaurus, and any other book you can think of. For her New Year's resolution (IN SIXTH GRADE) she wanted to read the dictionary. I don't know how far she got, but it certainly was much farther than anyone else in our family. And her favorite saying/word?? CHICKEN!!!! She is such a goof and brings so much laughter to my family.

All in all, I am so glad that I came from a family of 4 girls. I wouldn't change anything in the world. And I DO have an older brother! Nik, Dawna's husband, is the dictionary definition of an older brother. He gives me a hard time with things, would stick things in my ears when I would fall asleep on the couch, and threatened to beat up any guy that would break my heart. I love my family so much. And I am so grateful for my new family thanks to John! They are so wonderful and make things a lot easier being so far away from my family. They are the family I never had, and now I do!

Since it is Throwback Thursday, I thought I would include some pictures of growing up with my sisters. Enjoy :)

To start things off, we have a typical Christmas at our house growing up. The two little ones are enjoying their fun toys, while Dawna is beating me up in the background. I mean, she had to be the older brother too, right??

The two little goofs, better known as Bagel (Baylee) and Lil' Booger (Hannah) at the MTC while Nik was on his mission. You can just tell that they missed him so much!!

Me and Hannah messing around with the camera one night.

 Don't you just love Christmas pictures?? :) I sure do!

My goofy family

Told you he is a good older brother

For Mother's Day one year, we got this awesome idea to lay on top of each other and make a little pyramid. We could barely hold still because we were all laughing so much!! My mom LOVED it! And then for Father's Day, we got this picture (in color) printed on a tie for my dad. He wears it only for special occasions as to not ruin it and loves it.

When I was visiting my family after I moved up to Utah, we got family pictures taken and knew we HAD to take this picture again. One of my all-time favorites of my sisters and myself :)

I just love Hannah's patience while we were all getting set up for the picture. I think this is better than the finished picture.

This picture CRACKS me up! Why? Hannah decided to have her own little laugh fest at the end.

These are my lovely sisters.

Dawna and I when we were little.

CREEPYYYYYY

We have a tradition of going out to dinner at the end of the school year. This was my sophomore or junior year. Can't quite remember.

I love my sisters so very much and would do anything for them.

What would you do for yours?

Never Stop

Safetysuit became my favorite band when I heard their song "Annie" four years ago. It helped me through so many things that I was going through. You should definitely look it up.

Anywho, I have followed this band from their small garage-band status, to touring the country. Their second album, These Times, is one of my top 5 albums of all time. I have every single song memorized and could sing them in my sleep. This song in particular, struck a chord with me. This is how I wanted my future boyfriend, let alone husband, treat me. I knew it was possible because it's how my brother-in-law treats my sister. Once I met John, I knew it could come true!!

And it has.

I desperately wanted to dance to this song when we got married, but only the harder, rock-ier version was out. They came out with this acoustic version three weeks ago. Lame. But I still love this song. And I love the song that John and I danced to. I wouldn't change anything.

What I love most about this song is EVERYTHING. It embodies how people should treat relationships, and how a relationship can last.

Being married is..different. It's difficult to wake up at 3 in the morning because John stole all the blankets. Or better yet, he stole the whole bed. It's been a wonderful learning experience getting used to all of his quirks and imperfections. And I'm sure it's the same for him in reverse. I am a pretty stubborn and difficult girl at times. But the thing that is so wonderful about all of this, is that he will always be there for me.

No. Matter. What.

And I will always be there for him. We chose each other to share our impurities, jokes, embarrassing moments, memorable actions, and much more. I know that I have a partner in crime for the rest of my life (and soon to be eternity). We can count on each other in times of doubt and in times of peril.

There are many songs on the radio talking about break ups and cheating and "never ever ever getting back together" and I am SOO grateful that I don't have to worry about that happening. I don't have to be scared about saying something completely and utterly embarrassing, or burning the pancakes. I can just be "me". And he's stuck with me ;)

Marriage is something that never ends. You have to work at it every single minute of every single day.

And I plan to.