Sloanbook

12 Weeks

2012-02-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

Black turtleneck: White House Black Market

Jeans: Hudson Jeans from Nordstrom

Elephant Necklace: Ann Taylor Loft from my mother in law!

Monday was the beginning of 12 weeks! This week we were in Las Vegas for a couple of days so it made this week go by faster :) The picture above was taken today before work...I totally did the rubber band maneuver on my buttons. I definitely don't have to but really any pressure at all on my stomach bothers me...so I like to be comfy! And that bump in all reality is probably just a bloat...hehe. Bump vs. bloat...

How Far Along: 12 weeks 4 days
Size of the Baby: Lime, just over 2 inches long. .5 oz.
Maternity Clothes: Nope. I've been wearing jeggings and leggings like nobodies business though. They are WAY comfier than jeans. I decided to wear jeans today and did the rubber band trick (picture above) but dang you gotta have long shirts to pull that off! I have a long torso so most of my shirts aren't extra long...I will have to look into some options here! I'm all for the comfy factor now!
Stretch marks: Nope.
Weight gain/loss: No clue...total since I got pregnant anywhere in between 0-3ish...?
Sleep: I'm still going to Physical Therapy for my back. Lately my back hasn't been as bothersome but now I am coughing, sneezing, and blowing my nose as of late. I hope I stay healthy! Today is my brother, Zach's 16th Birthday and on Sunday is my 24th Birthday! I got to stay healthy! I have only taken Tylenol twice since being pregnant so maybe it is time to take some meds...
Best Moment of the Week: This was a pretty good week since I was in Vegas Sunday-Tuesday at the MAGIC Tradeshow...and it was Valentine's Day on Tuesday! Now it is time for birthday weekend!
Movement: So far nope but my Babycenter app for the iPhone says if you prod your abdomen my baby will squirm in response even though I don't feel it!
Symptoms:
1. Bloated.
2. Tiredness.
3. Ravenous hunger if you do not eat. Like today, I was so hungry for lunch I was going crazy. I felt like I could eat a whole Kahlua pork right out of the ground. I actually just scarfed down a Smashburger (Chicken sandwich) and smash fries for my brother's birthday lunch.
4. Recently my eyes have been super dry...so...relevant? Who knows lol.
5. Hotness. I think my body temperature is higher now...
6. OH shortness of breath! That was one of my first symptoms before I took my first pregnancy test. I was walking up stairs and got so out of breath! I was like what? I'm not this out of shape...alas...I was pregnant. And working out I have to take it easier otherwise I am just huffing and puffing. I was at my aunt's Zumba class and 3 songs in I am thinking "Oh my gosh why am I breathing so hard?" but I kept on keeping on and finished solid. Oh and YOGA...hard to breathe then too...
Mainly I just have to eat a lot and often otherwise I feel weird. In the morning I feel pretty bad. I just have to run down and eat something and sit down or lay down here and there when I'm getting ready before work.
Food Cravings: I still am wanting Cafe Mexicali (hint Kevin?! :)) and also some Indian food specifically Chicken Tikka Masala with Naan! Oh and ice cream sounds good and smoothies...
Gender: Nope, but apparently my baby is peeing...so that is kind of related to privates...
Belly Button in or out: In.
Anything making you queasy or sick: Still I am not a fan of my vitamins! I am going to my next appointment next week and going to see what she recommends. They just STINK. Oh and random smells are not the best...
Labor Signs: Nope.
Wedding ring on or off: On.
What I miss: Energy still. Not being tired. When I got blood work done recently they said I was anemic and that can cause more fatigue on top of pregnancy fatigue so dang I really should take some iron...
What I am looking forward to: Getting a belly but not being too big for my weeks...like I feel like I'm too big haha but really I am not...I think I am just really bloated. I don't want to gain TOO much weight that is unhealthy but I want to get bigger sooner...with that said, I think I'd like some stretchy maternity skinny jeans maybe from Forever 21 or some place...
Nursery: Need to find out the gender first!
Emotions: Good?!
Stupid things I have done: I tried to pump gas today and it wasn't coming out...well of course I don't read the screen or swipe my credit card...I also forgot where Smashburger was...there are some more things of course...

I can't wait for our next ob/gyn appointment on Wednesday!!!

Oh and when does the 2nd trimester start? I've heard 12, 13, and 14...my app says something differently than online and overall I'm confused. I'm 13 weeks on Monday and on some websites it says that is the 2nd trimester?! I'm due August 27...what is the REAL answer!

PS. I am going to color my hair dark brown once I make an appointment. Enough with this ombre stuff. I miss my dark hair!

Two Love Birds - Engagements - Part 2

2012-02-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!!!

First of all, I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!
Second, he rocks.
Third, we are in love.
And we are in Vegas.
(Working not going to shows and hanging out haha)

SO...I will post the rest of these pictures for your viewing pleasure
aka post them for whenever I make my blog book because that is necessary...
so instead of some mushy post you will get these.

In case you are wondering why there are many baseball pictures...
well Kevin played collegiate D1 Baseball for Brigham Young University (BYU)!
Good memories!!!
I LOVED watching him play Baseball!!!
He played third base and mostly pitcher later on!

Anyways, what are you doing for your significant other for this lovely Valentine's Day?!

Thoughts on Love by Elizabeth from What I Love About Today

2012-02-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today you are lucky because we have the lovely Elizabeth from What I Love About Today sharing her thoughts on love! I love what she has to say and I hope you do too!

Also, on a side note...she is sponsoring a giveaway on my blog...soon...and you will freak out at what she is giving away!!! Just saying; it is kind of awesome. Now read on!

Well, hello there fellow Sloanbook readers!

My name is Elizabeth and I blog at What I love About Today

I was tickled pink when Ashley asked me to do a guest post.

My blog is all about finding love in my everyday life.

Often times, I find it in the simplest of things.

Since Valentine's Day is so near, and I enjoy talking about it,

I thought I would talk about love

I just started working as a teacher,

and one of the first things I realized about young children

is how willing they are to love others so unconditionally.

I believe that as we get older that ability to love grows.

While we may not be as open to loving all those we meet,

we have the ability to love in a much deeper way.

I met my husband three years ago.

I loved him then, so much so that I married him.

After these three years that love had grown exponentially.

As I'm sure it will continue to grow in the future.

The older I get, the more I realize that true love is unselfish.

As a child we love those who took care of us.

As adults we learn that we love the people that we are serving the most.

That could be our husbands, boyfriends, children or anyone else for that matter.

I believe that love is much like anything in life,

we get out of it what we put into it.

If we are willing to work hard and sacrifice to bring others love,

chances are that love will be given back to you.

I hope you have a happy Valentine's Day!

And that you will have increasing love in your life.

***

Question from me:

How can you increase your love for someone?

I think we all have room for improvement, so...what are your thoughts?

Happy Valentines Day Eve!!!

xoxo

11 Weeks

2012-02-09T14:10:00.003-07:00

This picture was taken January 23, 2012 at our first prenatal appointment! I was 9 weeks and we heard our baby's heartbeat! It was 187 beats/minute! Kevin says we are going to have an Olympic runner hehe.

How Far Along: 11 weeks 3 days
Size of the Baby: Fig, just over 1.5 inches.
Maternity Clothes: Nope, however I did buy a belly band at Target. I tried it on like a week ago but I felt like it was super tight although it was my size. I wear my normal jeans and haven't really gotten bigger but tight things on my stomach are just a little bothersome. I would wear leggings and jeggings every day if I could! I need more outfits to go with them :) But hopefully when I do get bigger the belly band will be comfortable?
Stretch marks: Nope! Haven't put any of that stretch mark cream stuff on either...should I?
Weight gain/loss: I honestly have no clue what I weigh. If anything, I've gained 0-3 lbs so far and that would be fine if I did. I weigh myself at different times of the day so it varies haha.
Sleep: Not very good. I've been going to physical therapy for my back pain and it still hurts when I lay down and sleep. I've been doing lots of exercises too! When I am up during the day my back is sore but at least not as painful...I have no clue why it kills at night...it's been like this since April or May of 2011...
Best Moment of the Week: The week isn't over...when do you do these things? After 11 weeks is up? Haha.
Movement: I can't feel a thing but apparently our baby can stretch, do somersaults, forward rolls...according to the What to Expect.com iPhone app.
Symptoms: Tiredness! If I don't eat in the morning I feel weird. I wish I could have said I did not throw up once this whole pregnancy but yesterday morning (after I hadn't eaten all night) I smelled our dirty dishes and yeah...that sucked. So I got sick for the first time yesterday. I think I need to have snacks next to me in bed and I should be fine! Sometimes I get a bad taste in my mouth and more annoying than that is the heightened sense of smell. Everything STINKS! Oh, and last week I started getting bloated :( It freaked Kevin out because I showed him my large and in charge belly...so I went to bed haha. But I was like "Woah, I am 10 weeks. I look like I'm 20. I'm HUGE!!!" Then it went down while I was sleeping...thank goodness. Kevin being freaked out freaked me out so I googled it and figured out I was bloated lol.
Food Cravings: Cafe Mexicali (basically Cafe Rio)...umm is that it? Sadly, we have not eaten there yet! I would say I've had more. A few weeks ago I was into plain bagels with strawberry cream cheese then it was French Toast Eggo waffles (the 4 square ones that you had in high school)...for breakfast. Chinese food the week before...
Gender: Not sure but if you were wondering the private parts are growing this week lol.
Belly Button in or out: Definitely in.
Anything making you queasy or sick: My prenatal VitaFusion gummies!!! Ugh they stink. Maybe I should switch to a pill again.
Labor Signs: Nope.
Wedding ring on or off: On.
What I miss: ENERGY! Energy to workout, do anything. I go to bed at 8-10ish and used to stay up until midnight!
What I am looking forward to: Actually getting a belly so I don't just look like I have a food baby and finding out the gender! And shopping for new clothes! Even if it is pregnancy clothes I LOVE TO SHOP! Any recommendations on where? I love Nordstrom fyi.
Nursery: Filled with our stuff...
Emotions: Good I think!
Stupid things I have done: I feel a little more forgetful but maybe it is because I'm just looking at my planner less...

There you have it. I hope to do these weekly.
AND...
THANKS SO MUCH for all of your congratulations and excitement for us!
We are so excited to be parents come August! :D

We're Expecting a Baby!

2012-02-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

Kevin posted this picture on his Facebook wall yesterday...

We wrapped this piece of paper up in a box for the in-laws to open up on Christmas day...

and this one for my dad's birthday a couple of days after Christmas - after we got back from Missouri.

The first picture (Kevin uploaded) was kind of funny haha so I uploaded this one:

Yep, we're expecting a baby! I'm pregnant!

We are so excited.

The due date is August 27, 2012!

I'm 11 weeks right now!

{PS. So I wanted to announce our pregnancy creatively...we attempted to make a chalkboard (here) and I wanted to do a little photoshoot with the due date on it, etc... but the paint was defective and we couldn't write with chalk on it. I exchanged it for another can...and lets just say Krylon chalkboard spray paint sucks... we gave up and Kevin just uploaded that picture yesterday on a whim...so that is how it all went down haha.}

Two Love Birds - Engagements - Part 1

2012-02-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Remember when I was panicking here because I thought I lost my cd of engagement photos and also my modeling photos? Well, Kevin was digging around in some boxes in our garage and found the cds!!! Hallelujah! Good thing too since I haven't heard back from the engagement photographer. I am sharing some of our Engagement photos today! We look like such babies in these photos...! They were taken almost 4 years ago! Here are some; I'm making part 1 and part 2 since it would be too many photos for one post! Here we areeee...young and in love!

I love Kevin so much and I'm so glad to call him my eternal companion :)
We've been married around 3.5 years! Crazy how time flies!

What is your favorite part of being married?
Or what is one thing you look forward to when you are married to your best friend?

xoxo

Hockey, Food, & a Craft Fail.

2012-02-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

So um first picture, horrible lighting I know.
But we were there on a little date, to watch the Colorado Eagles play the Las Vegas Wranglers last Saturday, January 28, 2012!
It was a lot of fun. We saw one of the biggest fights I've ever seen at a hockey game and I saw one of my dance friends fundraising - working at food vendor - so it was good to see her :)
But before our date, I attempted to make a casserole.

All I knew was that we had a bunch of potatoes and I remembered we had a bag of frozen broccoli so I wanted to make a broccoli potato cheesy casserole! I found several recipes online and improvised throwing in what we had at home.
I added: 6 cut up potatoes, 1 bag of frozen broccoli, the remainder of our shredded cheddar cheese (wasn't much), bacon bits, a squirt of mustard, cream of mushroom soup, milk, the remainder of our sour cream, salt, pepper, and I think that is it!
I cooked it at 350 degrees for an hour (that's what it said online on a recipe) but the potatoes weren't done so we had to scarf down a bowl of cereal before the game and eat this afterwards! Overall, I'd say it was a good thrown together meal!

Now for some random food that was eaten last weekend...

Oh and all made by Omi:

1 // An everything bagel with egg salad - amazing. With it we had apricot jello with real mandarin orange slices in it with reddiwhip on top, delish!

2 // Bacon wrapped chicken pieces with sauce on rice, a roll, peas, and a fresh salad!
We drank cranberry juice w/7 Up mixed in.

3 // One of my favorite German cuisines!
Goulash with spaetzle and for a side cheesy cauliflower!
I freaking love cauliflower!

And here we have Katinka with the remainder of a bone I recently bought her!
She will NOT set it down. It cracks me up.
Oh and that mint green collar is a pheromone collar that is supposed to help her relax when we put her in her kennel! It sure smells strong...hope it knocks her out haha.

And...for my craft fail!
I bought this pink framed mirror at Hobby Lobby with white and chalkboard spray paint.

Here is the result...good looking right?
Well, guess what? The chalk wouldn't write on it!

I googled chalkboard mirror tutorials, chalkboard anything tutorials, and couldn't figure out why it wouldn't work! Everyone and their dog's chalkboard crafts turned out totally fine! I primed the chalkboard by rubbing chalk all over it and wiping it off and I also scribbled furiously all over it and wiped it off! We followed every direction on the can! Only thing suspicious was that there wasn't a little ball in the spray paint can. Basically that little ball mixes around all of the ingredient in the paint can...so without it...screwed apparently. The white can had one and the chalkboard one didn't. I called Krylon (the paint brand) on Monday and they said that is why it didn't work (well they think). I bought the one freaking defective can of paint out there!
It was SO annoying because:
1) I am not a fan of being crafty.
2) I am not patient and I can't stand looking for weird things you need at hobby stores...
3) I never know what to do...
And the one time we try it doesn't work!
So we bought another can and just sprayed it so hopefully once it dries it will work...
Otherwise I will freak haha.

Have you ever had a craft fail? What did you do?

One of these things is not like the other...

2012-02-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

First off, Happy FEBRUARY!

Yay! February is an awesome month because:

1) My birthday is on the 19th

2) Zach's birthday is on the 17th

3) Valentines Dayyy

4) Going to Vegas in 2 weeks for a business trip!

Anyways...

I love Kevin. Enough said.

Isn't he so handsome? ;)

I love Katinka...except it is a bit annoying when she refuses to come down the stairs lol...

I love Hunter and his awesome nun-chuck skills!

He just started learning how to use them in Taekwondo. It cracks me up.

I love Katinka and how snuggly she is. Only downside is she sleeps all day to get energy to bark when we are trying to sleep at night...we just got a pheromone collar and dog treats that are supposed to calm and relax dogs with separation anxiety. CROSS MY FINGERS, no wait, pray it works!!! Puh-lease...

I love old school snacks like go-gurts.

I eat one like every other day if not once a day.

No Greek yogurt for me! That stuff is chunky and weirds me out.

Apparently a lot of people like it...narly if you ask me!

I love winning giveaways like this one!

I won this Shabby Apple necklace from Ashley's blog :)

I love this new rug I got from Target!

It is a keeper.

Okay here is the one thing that is not like the other.

I greatly dislike my back pain and now I've been going to physical therapy...I went twice last week and to a free yoga class last night at my physical therapist's office. Going today and Friday as well! Hope to knock this out... :(

Oh, and if you didn't know that pink stuff is KT tape. It is supposed to feel like skin and it helps with pain. Some athletes use it!

And there you have it.

What are you loving recently? Or maybe greatly disliking?

Dreams + Where I've Visited in the World

2012-01-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

So I had a weird dream Thursday night. Here are a few points that I have remembered:

I was at BYU and hanging out with my friend Shayla Forsey and we were watching some tv show marathon and then my aunt JaKie was there
Then we were at a swimming pool and there were lots of kids/teenagers/college kids. Then JaKie stepped in a bunch of barf at the bottom of a pool. {PS I have a phobia of barf} Sick-nasty. We told someone who worked there and they were like "Who barfed in the pool?" Then a girl said, "I did!"
Then I was a freshman in the dorms but I was in Colorado. Like 2 bloggers were doing giveaways for an entree at the Cougar Eat HAHA! I asked if I could enter since I was in CO and if I won they would have to ship the food to me. The bloggers said no. I wanted Tommasitos (the Italian food) there and that is actually what Kevin and I ate together right after we met! We met in line...
Then a girl asked, "Where have you been in the world?"
Then I woke up...and missed BYU...and thought, "Remember that cool thing on Facebook where you could check countries and states and see where you've been in the world? It said like you've been to 44% of the world! That app...ya know?" Then I thought, "I am going to find one online and blog about it for Friday (today) since I have nothing amazing to say for Friday".

And here we are. Hopefully that led in nicely.

And also kind of goes along since I've been thinking of vacations and traveling often these days...wanting to get in a swimsuit and get to any beach!!!

Here is where I've been in the WORLD.

North America:

+ Canada

+ US

+ Mexico

Central America & the Caribbean:

+ Bahamas

+ Jamaica

+ Puerto Rico

+ Turks & Caicos

+ Saint Thomas

+ Saint Maartin

Europe:

+ Austria

+ Denmark

+ Estonia

+ Finland

+ France

+ Germany

+ Greece

+ Italy

+ Netherlands

+ Russia

+ Spain

+ Sweden

+ Turkey

+ Vatican City

Asia:

+ Japan

Hope I'm not forgetting any...

Here is where I've been in the UNITED STATES.

Hopefully you know your states...

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

If I were to travel to your state, what is the coolest thing to do there? :)
Sorry I have a gazillion travel questions, just go with it...

PS. You can make your own maps like mine here!

If you like food...

2012-01-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

Omi is in town...

Omi is German and that is what we call our German grandmother!

And Omi loves to cook.

And we don't mind.

Here is proof and here is almost every meal she has made that I have eaten.

I have missed a few meals like Tuesday night...but you get the point.

We been eating goood.

Let me show you the feast(s).

// Bacon wrapped pork (got this recipe), Rhodes rolls, steamed broccoli (my fav), rice & a yummy gravy!

with... cucumber salad (got this recipe)!

I remember eating this when I was younger at Omi and Opi's house in Alabama and not really liking it.

Now I do! Guess when you get older you like more things?

// Raspberry cream pie!

Got this recipe and this was ah-mazing!

Only thing is there is a trick to getting the raspberry top layered jello out of the pan (w/o messing up the raspberries) that I need to learn...

// Banana cream pie...delish.

// Pork, gravy w/mushrooms, egg noodles, and broccoli!

I need to learn how to make this gravy.

// Spaghetti pie! Now this thing is good.

There are a ton of ingredients...need to get the recipe.

Actually let me stop there and say that for the rest of the meals she makes.

Now I won't have to type it here and there.

Spaghetti pie, garlic bread, and a fancy salad with raspberry vinaigrette!

// Ribs, rolls, corn on the cob (see the weiner dog corn on the cob holders at the top of my plate?!), a baked potato with chives, butter, and sour cream, and a great salad with tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and mushrooms!

// My FAVORITE.

Angel food cake w/cool whip and strawberries.

She had a layer of strawberries in the middle of this divine dessert.

Usually I just layer em on top of the cool whip.

This way is better.

How much weight have I gained?

No clue. I don't have a scale but getting one is on my to-do list hehe.

I'm not too worried about it.

But if you are serious, I guess maybe I have gained 1 lb...so sue me.

And she'll be in town until mid-February...hehe.

What is your favorite dessert?! Angel food cake? :)

January Happenings

2012-01-25T06:30:00.000-07:00

So I didn't blog yesterday or the day before.
That was weird, haha. I can't remember the last time that has happened...
I just didn't get one together for Monday and then I was going to for yesterday and then Monday was jam packed and I ran out of time! But I am baaaack!
And today I am going to Physical Therapy after work!
Remember when I wrote about back pain this summer and maybe having this disease?
Well, my back still hurts (it comes and goes) and I was referred to a physical therapist.
They will see what they want to do and maybe send me to a spine specialist.
Who knows!

Time to catch up on some lately happenings and fyi tomorrow's post will be about FOOD!

[1] Colorado afternoon right before a snowfall.
Also the picture of me in my beanie ^ is from this day, pretty sure.

[2] What I swear Katinka does every day!
I take her outside after work and then she lays here in the sun. She LOVES the sun and sleep!

[3] A gorgeous Colorado sunset at my parents.
Sorry a ton of my pictures are of Colorado scenes.
Actually I'm not sorry, it is gorgeous. The end.

[4] Just me and Tinks running errands AND then a huge snowstorm coming in on our way home!
We got her a thunder shirt at Petsmart this day which has been helping slightly with her barking in her kennel problems...here.
Also did a ton of other errands and felt super productive! Love feeling like that!

[5] Here is Hunter at our church's Ward Pinewood Derby race!
He won 1st place! My dad actually is amazing at making pinewood derby cars.
He got to make a ton for Patrick, Zach, and now Hunter and has learned the ways of what to do and what not to do so now they usually win! He has gotten it all figured out!
Whenever I have a boy in scouts I will send him over to my dads for some help hehe.

Zach & I at the pinewood derby event.
Photo taken by Opi, hehe.

[6] And behold, my passport I found while organizing random stuff upstairs.
I would like to use this soon. Anyone wanna go on a trip? ;)

And there you have it. I'm back.
Oh, and of course I watched The Bachelor. OMG. I hate Courtney.
And her lips and her looks. But especially her lips.

Thoughts on The Bachelor?!

PLEASE DO NOT GIVE ANY SPOILER INFO!!!
You may die if you do.
Mmmk...ready go!

Fashion & Uniqueness by Breanna from My Beautiful, Crazy Life!

2012-01-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Hey friends, today we have the wonderful Breanna - one of my sponsors over there --->

from My Beautiful, Crazy Life! holding down the fort for today!

She is talking about fashion and being unique but I suggest you just read on...!

And please don't forget to go say hi to her here! ;)

***

Hello to all you Sloanbook readers out there :)

I'm Breanna & I blog over at My Beautiful, Crazy Life!

I'm a twenty year old college student who is saved by God's grace!

My major is nutrition, however, I'm a complete food junkie.

I love fashion, but I wouldn't call myself a fashionista by any means.

I have thought long and hard on what to share with you guys today.

After a few helpful hints from Ashley, I finally decided on fashion/uniqueness!

Fashion is something that I love because it is an expression of myself.

Yes, there are days where sweats and tee's are more to my liking,

but I'm slowly trying to pull away from my comfort zone.

The way I see it is life is too short to be ordinary!

Let's face it, uniqueness leaves an impression on people.Why you ask?Because it all stems from being bold and willing to take risks.It's a matter of whether or not you have the courage to take these risks that determine the uniqueness inside of everyone.

If you want to wear colored jeans; wear them!If you want to wear a skirt; do it!

Don't be afraid to let your true colors shine just because the rest of the world isn't doing it.Make a statement and be who you want to be :)

Source: weheartit.com via Breanna on Pinterest

Source: capecodcollegiate.tumblr.com via Breanna on Pinterest

Source: everythinglovely.tumblr.com via Breanna on Pinterest

Source: weheartit.com via Breanna on Pinterest

This weekend I encourage you to wear something different from what you normally wear.Whether it be wearing a skirt rather than jeans.A dress rather than tights.or patterns other than solids.Mix it up :)I'd also like to invite you to participate in Fab Friday which is held every week.Anna [Owls & Lace] & I host it, and we'd love to see your outfits :)I'd even love seeing your pinspirations of outfits you adore.

Hope to see you around my blog, & if you feel the need too, please spread the word of Fab Friday :)Thanks so much Ashley for giving me the opportunity to share with your wonderful readers.Hope you all have a wonderful Friday and remember...

Source: pobox607.tumblr.com via Erika on Pinterest

Honeymoon: Montego Bay, Jamaica Part 2

2012-01-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Guess what? Today is the second installment of our honeymoon!
I wish I could go back...dying to go somewhere tropical huh Kevin?!

The newlyweds = us!
We were about to eat dinner here and the sunset was gorgeous!
For some places you had to dress up and make reservations!
I didn't mind and also couldn't complain because I love Kevin in fancy clothes!
Ohh by the way, we were at a Sandals resort so everything was all inclusive! Loved that.
You could order as much food as you wanted or as many virgin strawberry daiquiris or pina coladas...

My stud, taking a picture...of the sunset? I have no clue actually.

Blue eyes, at dinner time.

The many faces of me...
and of course I had to be gangster for one.

Kevin showing off our room number #103!
When we checked in they upgraded our room to this one on the main level.
I kind of think they do that often just so you feel all special haha.
It came with TONS of alcoholic drinks.
I wish they would have given us that $ to use elsewhere haha like a couples massage or something because we didn't drink any! We don't drink in case you didn't notice...

Just an afternoon after laying out.
Yep, I'm still white.
White girl here, always.
And gotta love the Ed Hardy shirt hahah.
Pretty sure we had more strawberry daiquiris, yummm.

And just us again at dinner!
I remember saying that Kevin looks like a devil in this picture haha, well the one below it.
His head is tilted down so much haha.

Pretty sure we were one of the youngest couples there...I was 20 and Kevin was 23...
Here we were watching some show that was going on on a stage in the lobby area...
I will post more on that later!

I love reminiscing on old vacations, good times, and memories...
Jamaica was so fun!!!

For more on the honeymoon...

Lost & Found: Jamaica Part 1 & Confession
(includes Dunn's River Falls!)
Honeymoon to Jamaica: Zip Lining Part 1
Honeymoon to Jamaica: Zip Lining Part 2
Honeymoon: Montego Bay, Jamaica Part 1

What was your favorite vacation...ever?!

Why Many Mormons Marry Young

2012-01-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today I am posting my guest post I did over at Mia's blog Color It Mia right here!

I have said this before but eventually I'd like to post all guest posts I write onto my blog so they will be in my blog book when I go to get it printed out! Anyways, I enjoyed writing this post with a purpose for Mia and hope it is informative! Let me know if you have any questions and be sure to head on over and say hi to Mia here! On a side note, I think I need to blog about my wedding sometime as I haven't...! Okayyyy read on!

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Hey guys, I'd like to introduce to you my friend Ashley! If you read my post about Mormons, you know I follow a lot of them. I am not Mormon, but I am religious (hence my interest in their religion). I follow a lot of blogs that happen to be in the LDS church. They're all crazy nice people, and not crazy crazy, like "Sister Wives". I'll give you the low down on what I've found to be true:

They believe getting married is for eternity, not life.

They don't drink, smoke, drink caffeine, or wear immodest clothing.

Honestly, it mostly sounds like the Catholic religion! (Minus the praying to Mary and saints and stuff).

And if all of this is Greek to you, just scroll down and meet Ashley. She's awesome, I promise.

Hi friends of Color it Mia!

I am glad to be here taking over Mia's blog for the day!

Mia is the sweetest and I adore her blog!

Who is this random girl on her blog? I'm Ashley from Sloanbook :) I blog about my husband and I and our chihuahua in our new home in Colorado! We both just graduated from Brigham Young University (BYU) and are now enjoying life after college, which is definitely a big change, but good so far!

Awhile ago, Mia asked me on Twitter basically the question of

"Is it normal in the Mormon religion to marry young?

Or are you guys just lucky finding the "ones" early on?"

Today I am going to attempt (key word here) to answer Mia's question for you all! Now before we get started I would like to say that I am giving my opinion. I do not know the 'correct' or 'right' answer to this. Also, I am in no way an amazing writer so I'm sure it won't come out as eloquently as I'd like it. And that is a fact.

But I am a Mormon (member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) and I got married at age 20 which most people would consider young.

Now let me tell you about my own personal experience.

I met Kevin -my now husband- sophomore year at BYU right at the beginning of Fall semester (in September). He had just moved back to Utah after serving a two year mission for our church in Milan, Italy. We met at the Wilkinson Center in line for some crappy Italian food (basically the food court). After that he invited me to sit and each lunch with him and his friends and then over to his apartment to hang out and it all went down from there! We hung out all the time and then next thing I knew it he was telling me he loved me. Then came spring time and we started talking about marriage and I knew he was the one. I decided I would marry Kevin and I prayed and got a confirmation that it was the right choice. I felt good about my decision. We were engaged that spring and got married on 08.08.08. Now that is August, not even one whole year of knowing Kevin as we met September of 2007! Crazy huh? But it was the best decision I have ever made! I love Kevin so much! We've now been married just over 3 years!

Now that was just my experience. I was married at 20 years old and Kevin was 23. I would like to be clear that not all Mormons get married young. I have lots of friends from freshman year in the dorms who are not married yet and many of them have graduated BYU. It is normal to be not be married in the late 20's or 30's. I would have to say that in comparison to other religions, that Mormons do get married the youngest.

I guess they all came to the same conclusion that I did, that they found the right person. I have seen 18 year olds get married. I've seen one get married and I felt like it was the right choice for her as she is very mature, maybe even more so than me! I've also seen an 18 year old get married who I felt was very immature and maybe it was really rushed in to. But who am I to judge; I am not. I do not know her that well but there are also different maturity levels that play into it.

Now that you are aware that not all Mormons get married early I will tell you why I think a a lot of them do. That lies in our religious background and beliefs.

To understand the Mormon habits of marriage you must understand our view of the family. Take a look at: The Family: A Proclamation to the World (HERE). This document explains the importance of the family entity. I will throw in a few quotes after what I say, from that document, so you don't have to read the whole thing, unless you want to.

We believe that marriage is vital in God's eternal plan and that marriage doesn't stop at death do you part.

We believe that families can be together forever and that children are a very important part of the family.

"The divine plan of happiness enables family relationships to be perpetuated
beyond the grave. Sacred ordinances and covenants available in holy temples
make it possible for individuals to return to the presence of God and for
families to be united eternally."

We believe the role of a mother is a sacred responsibility and not to be taken lightly which is why we desire to marry early and start our families because we feel it is a divine calling to be a mother and a father.

"The first commandment that God gave to Adam and Eve pertained to their potential
for parenthood as husband and wife. We declare that God's commandment for
His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force. We further
declare that God has commanded that the sacred powers of procreation are
to be employed only between man and woman, lawfully wedded as husband and
wife.

Husband and wife have a solemn responsibility to love and care for each
other and for their children. "Children are an heritage of the Lord" (Psalms 127:3).
Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and
righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, to
teach them to love and serve one another, to observe the commandments of
God and to be law-abiding citizens wherever they live. Husbands and
wives—mothers and fathers—will be held accountable before God for the
discharge of these obligations."

I hope that gives you some insight into why a lot of Mormons get married young. But remember, not all do! I know lots of older people who are not married!

If you have any questions feel free to visit Mormon.org or shoot me an email at sloanbookblog@gmail.com

And I would love for you to stop by my blog here!

IF you happen to like reading about young married Mormons, I'm your girl ;)

See! Isn't she great? Pop on over to her blog, and she recently did a home tour of her new house, and it's adorable. Hope you guys enjoyed, and seriously, if you have any questions, send me or her an email, or comment below!

Honeymoon: Montego Bay, Jamaica Part 1

2012-01-17T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love the beaches and the snow. But today while there is snow on the ground, I'm going to wish I was back on the beach at the Montego Bay Sandals Resort in Jamaica! We went on our honeymoon there in August of 2008 (we were married 08.08.08). I love to look back on this trip! This was the only trip that we have actually been on where we were alone the whole time. It was fun and I am dying to go on another tropical vacation! If only they were cheaper, hehe. I have never actually blogged about the whole trip so I will post pictures here and there. I am too lazy to bust out my planner to see the actual dates and maybe what we did from that year so I will just show some pictures (guess I already made that point clear).

I remember this was right after we landed and were taken to the Sandals Resort!

We changed into swimsuits, probably ate dinner, and started exploring the resort!

I kind of look high here and honestly I have no clue what we are trying to show.
I guess flash isn't the best...

And behold the whiteness!
I am pretty sure this was the next day.

Well hello there crab.

Well that is good for today!
I swear some of these will be more exciting.

And these are, my friends.

Lost & Found: Jamaica Part 1 & Confession
(includes Dunn's River Falls!)
Honeymoon to Jamaica: Zip Lining Part 1
Honeymoon to Jamaica: Zip Lining Part 2

If you've been on a tropical vacation you loveddd, what are your recommendations for us?

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And the lucky winner of this custom blog design giveaway is...
Haili Hunter from Kindness is Contagious! Congrats Haili!
I'll get you connected with Annie soon :)

Stake Conference + Colorado Sunsets

2012-01-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

I love Colorado; it is so gorgeous.

I took these last night at my parents with my iPhone 4.

This weekend was a good one.

We had stake conference and D. Todd Christofferson came; he's in the quorum of the 12.

Elder Hillier of the 70 was there, the Denver temple President Baer, and the mission president and wife.

We attended both Saturday night and Sunday morning sessions. They were both great.

My brother Zach sang with the other youth in our ward "As Sisters in Zion" and whatever the other part to that song is...

I remember singing that at EFY and growing up in Young Women's.

It is weird I'm not in Young Women's anymore.

I am much younger than most of the ladies in Relief Society; sometimes I feel like I'd connect better to them, haha. I'm 23 and they are in high school...lol.

Oh, and whenever I would sing in church with the other Young Women, my friend Amberley and I would laugh 99% of the time. Somehow we cannot be reverent when one needs to be. Man singing in church was torturous when you have a case of the giggles, and we got them a lot haha. We were doomed really when one of us broke down...

There are 44 missionaries serving from our stake - Loveland, Colorado stake that is.

And 1 is my sister! I wrote her this week so, so far so good in writing her often in the new year!

My German grandma, Omi, has been cooking amazing meals.

{She is staying here for 6 weeks to help with my mom's recovery as she just had hip surgery}

She loves to cook and for as long as I've known her, she has loved to cook.

For dinner last night, she made amazing bacon wrapped pork, rice, gravy, broccoli, rolls, and cucumber salad. I remember eating cucumber salad at her house in Alabama when I was younger.

I don't think I liked it when I was younger but now I do.

I now have the recipe and same with the pork one.

She also made an amazing chicken salad sandwich with fruit for lunch after Stake Conference.

And raspberry cream pie for dessert!

I can't wait until she makes dumplings, schnitzel, goulash, spaetzle, and other yummy German foods.

On a less food-ly note, my brothers and I watched Harry Potter 7 Part 1.

We will finish and watch the second part sometime probably this week, maybe today?

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Well, don't miss out, because today is the last day to enter to win a customized blog design HERE!

Peace out.

Doggy Seperation Anxiety?

2012-01-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

Ever since we moved into our new house Katinka hasn't been a big fan of her kennel. When we were living with my parents this summer she slept on a dog bed, not in her kennel. All of the years before - well 2 years, she is only 2 1/2 years old - she slept in her kennel and was fine with it! She would even go in there on random occasions since she liked it!

Now whenever we go to put her in her kennel to sleep she resists and doesn't walk in how she used to. We have to force her in there. Then she starts barking, whining, and crying for awhile and then eventually calms down. Sometimes she digs at her kennel bed and kind of shreds it up. I find shredded pieces when I get her out in the morning. If you wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and she hears you, she will begin to bark. Also when Kevin wakes up in the morning to go to work she barks again!

When we were in training at Petsmart (here) I asked the trainer and she thought she would get better since we just moved there and she wasn't used to it. We tried to give her dog treats and kongs filled with a mixture of dog treats, baby food, and peanut butter. She loved the peanut butter but would whine after she finished it. We were trying to help her see the kennel as a good place!

The trainer said if she continues it and it doesn't seem to get better than she may have separation anxiety and not like being confined in there and away from you. I have done a little research and some things I read I think she may have it but I'm not sure entirely. I was hoping this is not the case because then she said maybe she can sleep in her dog bed with a puppy pad and we have tried to get away from the puppy pad! It just confuses dogs being allowed to go inside on a puppy pad and outside!

Last night I woke up at 4 and noticed she was barking. It wasn't even like one of us was awake so why was she freaking out? She really will not stop barking! Good thing she is a little dog (& not too loud) as we can sleep through it and isn't bothering our neighbors but we just want her to stop! She resists going in her kennel thus forcing us to force her in, shreds her bed, and barks and whines on stop?! We also put a blanket over her kennel when she sleeps so she doesn't see what is going on and we shut the door (she is in an extra bedroom).

Oh and we do not put her in their excessively. She sleeps in there and is in their for 4 hours a day when I'm at work and then 3 hours on Sunday while we are at church.

Any ideas? Or have you ever had a dog with separation anxiety or maybe a phobia of a kennel?

Haha. I need some ideas! I called the trainer yesterday but haven't heard back...and it is definitely real. My friend Emily rescued her dog, Copper from the pound and he had it bad when she first got him. Copper would even throw up when she was gone!

Don't forget!

Blog design giveaway here

Ad space giveaway here

Party on friends.

Awkward & Awesome - Snowy - Thursday!

2012-01-12T06:30:00.000-07:00

Photography by Tiffany Rebecca

Awkward:

+ I grind my teeth when I sleep, which means I need a night guard. If you actually look at my teeth they are ground down a tad if that makes sense haha. And let me tell you...those night guards are around $600! Why me?! Not sure when we'll get one...but apparently my teeth are pretty bad for how old I am - 23 years old...

+ My mom had hip surgery because she had a torn labrum. They went in last Tuesday and apparently the labrum was way worse than they thought so they replaced it from a cadaver piece just chillin in the hospital somewhere...where do they keep those spare parts is what I'm wondering?! I have been telling my brother we should be grateful for it because he got all grossed out...

+ My mind has been thinking a lot about food recently. I am feeling like I can see a glimpse into a binge eaters mind...oh my gosh I want breakfast burritos haha! However, I am not binge eating! I do love to pin some food pictures. Of course, I never try any of them.

+ Kelsi telling us she got lice on her mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil! She said she is so freaked out by them and thankfully the sister missionaries she is living with are being so kind and picking all of them out but still! That would be horrible.

+ Dreaming I was in some sort of Hunger Games. I - along with many others - had to cross this raging river that kept changing its depths. You couldn't make a bridge over it or go around it...freaky! I also chose with another girl in the games to protest and not eat some weird bugs we were supposed to...maybe that is more Fear Factor-ess haha!

Awesome:

+ This giveaway on my blog and this giveaway I'm sponsoring over here.

+ Finishing shopping at Walmart and walking into the beginning of a winter storm! Only downside was cold hands & first day wearing my new leather boots. Oh and I may have to shovel....ehhh.

+ My birthday is in a little over a month :) Come on February 19th! Actually I don't want to be 24. I'd like to stay 23 another year...

+ Watching Harry Potter # 1-6 with my brothers this past week.

+ Reading Kelsi's missionary emails minus the lice.

+ The Bachelor on every Monday. Enough said. AND Gossip Girl returning THIS upcoming Monday! :)

+ My Omi (mom's mom) being here for 6 weeks to help take care of my mom and her hip and Opi (mom's dad) coming in town next week!

+ Katinka lying right in front of a heat vent to stay warm and the warm air blowing her hair all around, so funny!

+ Listening to Pandora music and thinking it would be the perfect station to snowboard too...too bad we are being cheapskates this winter ;( I want to get in the mountains asap!!!

+ My mom being on drugs after her surgery and saying weird things, "David has a massage at Sears." Huh?

And that is it for now! Anything awkward or awesome happen this week for you?

Hunger Games Book Club: Answers + Link Up!

2012-01-11T06:30:00.000-07:00

Real quick, head on over to The Momma Bird's blog and enter her giveaway for a Large ad space on my blog HERE!

Here are my answers for the 1st Hunger Games book Questions:
These questions were originally posted here!

Questions found from here and here.

If we get a decent amount of participation & interest we can move on to Catching Fire & Mockingjay! If not, then this may be it!

SPOILER ALERT: If you haven't read the first book, don't read on :)

And don't judge my answers, they are just random thoughts and no way am I analyzing it like I did in high school English classes ;) I'm honestly really wanting to hear your insight!

1 // Who was your favorite character in The Hunger Games? Why?
Tie between Katniss & Peeta! Katniss because she is a hardworking girl who kicks butt. She does not give up and has awesome survival skills. She also kept her family alive after her father passed. Peeta because how could you not like him? I would maybe say that as the books go on I grew to like him more. I think it was so sweet that he threw that burnt bread out to Katniss in the rain that day!

2 // What did you feel was the most emotional moment in book? Which part was the hardest to read?
Actually I read this book in 2 days a couple of weeks ago so I'm trying to remember. Oh, yeah! Rue dying was sad. I liked her and how she told Katniss about the tracker jacker nest...

3 // How does Katniss feel about the country of Panem? Why does she need to make her face "an indifferent mask" and be careful what she says in public?
She is not a fan but doesn't express it verbally much unless she is in the woods with Gale. I'm not sure about the 'indifferent mask' but you definitely cannot talk negatively about Panem at all or the capital! The people in her district seem to be punished the least of all the districts which is a good thing but one still must be careful.

4 // Why do you think fire is an appropriate symbol for Katniss?
I think ever since she volunteered as tribute that people were kind of interested with her. No one really volunteers as a tribute anymore so that sparked some interest. Then with Cinna's amazing designs she really stood out and the last scene with the berries was the biggest spark for sure! I think this symbol becomes more important in the later books so we'll leave it at that ;)

5 // How does Katniss’ early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes?
She always felt in debt to him and that she owed him (about when he gave her bread)! How could she repay him when they were going to fight until death? There was no way she could repay him. She felt guilty and tried not to like him at first since why get close when one of you will end up dead? But he is such a likable person so he grew on her...

6 // Did your perception of Peeta change over the course of The Hunger Games? How and why?
Yes! A little bit I was bugged by him. I felt like he couldn't do anything for himself. Katniss had to help him out when he was left to die by the other Careers in the HG. She had to sacrifice her life to get him medicine. I just felt like he always needed to be helped and didn't have many good skills but this changed over the course of the books!

7 // How does the fact that the tributes are always on camera affect their behavior from the time they are chosen? Does it make it easier or harder for them to accept their fate?
They must always control their emotions. If they appear weak it comes off as one thing and if they appear strong it can possibly help them out when they get their ranking scores. Even if they appear weak it could be a strategy. There is a lot of thought in how one should act and it is all a part of the game. I think it makes it harder for them to accept their fate because they can't be real with their emotions.

8 // Before the Games start, Peeta tells Katniss, " . . . I want to die as myself . . . I don't want them to change me in there. Turn me into some kind of monster that I'm not." What does this tell you about Peeta? What does he fear more than death? Is he able to stay true to himself during the Games?
It tells you that he doesn't buy into the games, that he is not a fan, and in a way could possibly become a rebel hehe! He fears not being true to himself. He doesn't want to turn into a killing machine because that is not him. I would say for the most part he is able to stay true to himself during the games!

9 // When Peeta declares his love for Katniss in the interview, does he really mean it or did Haymitch create the "star-crossed lovers" story? What does Haymitch mean when he says, "It's all a big show. It's all how you're perceived." Why do they need to impress sponsors and what are those sponsors looking for when they are watching the Games?
I think he does mean it but Haymitch helps him out (maybe I'm wrong?) He knew way too many details about Katniss to just make it up. He remembers her when she was a little girl in school and all growing up. He definitely knew who she was. They need to impress sponsors because they are very helpful- duh! The sponsors want to be impressed, blown away, and need to know their $ is going somewhere valuable!

10 // Why does Katniss ignore Haymitch’s advice to head directly away from the Cornucopia? Did she do the right thing to fight for equipment?
I think she did the right thing because she obviously came out alive. The backpack was a good choice and proved to be very valuable. If she had gotten injured maybe I would have thought it wasn't the right thing. Personally, I probably would have listened to Haymitch and avoided the fighting and conflict!

11 // What makes Katniss and Rue trust each other to become partners? What does Katniss gain from this friendship besides companionship? Is Katniss and Rue's partnership formed for different reasons than the other group's?
I think Rue looked up to Katniss in the training days. Katniss always saw Prim in her so that helped out and of course Rue telling Katniss about the tracker jacker nest. She knew Rue could have just killed her in that tree but it made her think and consider her as a partner. They both had valuable things that helped each other out (ie. medicines, herbal remedies.)

12 // Why does Peeta join with the Career Tributes in the beginning of the Games? What does he hope to gain? Why do they accept him when they start hunting as a group? Why do groups form in the beginning when they know only one of them will be able to survive?
Honestly, I am not sure why he did. I think he was did gain some benefits from being with them but we do not know about it really as it wasn't written. They probably accepted him because he was strong looking? I would say they form knowing they can get a good start in the games and knock off everyone else...then whoever dies next will kind of just happen.

13 // What did you think of the fact that they changed the rules partway through the games to allow two winners from the same district?
I, of course, liked this because I did not want Peeta or Katniss to die! Obviously, the guy in charge of the games (forget his name) didn't fare too well... if one of them had died I would have been upset haha!

14 // Do you think the glamorization of the Games and the treatments of its stars before they are sent off to die is a reflection of anything in our modern society?
Um I hadn't thought about it but I guess you could say many celebs end up in drugs and with lots of divorces and I would say neither is a good ending!?

15 // Reality TV has been a part of the entertainment world since the early days of television (with shows such as Candid Camera and the Miss America Pageant), but in the 21st century there has been a tremendous growth of competitive shows and survival shows. Discuss this phenomenon with respect to The Hunger Games. What other aspects of our popular culture do you see reflected in this story?
Ehhh dunno haha.

16 // What other books do you feel are comparable to The Hunger Games?

(Because who doesn’t want more great reads like this?!)
I'm not sure, I would love to know! I've heard Delirium maybe? I have not read it yet...

Now time to link up!
Link up your answers OR anything Hunger Games related!
I hope I can get 1 maybe 2 people to link up lol.
I haven't promoted this like at all...shame on me!
But first, make sure in your post that you say you linked up here (this blog post)! That would be great!

Little New Year Fun (not a NYE post)

2012-01-10T06:30:00.000-07:00

So we've been doing a lot of chillaxin' lately.

And me wearing a braid is a very often occurrence in case you wanted to know.

And that flannel shirt is def Kevin's from Eddie Bauer, belted, of course.

Before we get to the point (post for the day) 2 announcements!

1 // If you've ever wanted a blog face lift (I highly recommend it) or a new design in general that is totally YOU go here to enter to win one on my blog!

2 // If you heart the HG (Hunger Games) you must link up tomorrow with your answers to these questions! I'm kind of having an online book club. Nerd much?

In no particular order, here is a peak into our recent shenanigans.

[1] Harry Potter Marathon.

Kevin was out of town last week in good ol' California for a business trip so I got my two youngest brothers into Harry Potter! We watched the first 5...maybe we'll watch the rest this weekend! By the way did you know Blockbuster has 99 cent DVD rentals?! Whaa? Blockbuster who? Redbox didn't have HP 4 & 5 so I ventured my into Blockbuster. The total was a tad over $2 including tax...huh?! Guess I will have to go there sometimes! I hadn't been there in years...funny.

Don't HP & Hermoine look so young here?

This was from Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone! They were such little babies, so cute.

Next time I watch a HP film I need to remember to wear my HP Gryffindor t-shirt!

Here's to wishing I was at the Harry Potter theme park here!

And with that marathon (well 1st 5) done Hunter decided whenever we have a baby boy that we should name him Cedric. Partly because of Cedric Diggory in HP and also because his best Asian friend is named Cedric... and don't you think Cedric Diggory looks SO MUCH better than Edward Cullen?! Maybe it is his hair color and face that actually has color...

[2] Kevin, Hunter, & I had a little sleepover New Years weekend!

It consisted of Kevin & Hunter watching maybe 10+ How It's Made tv shows - they are both obsessed - and me finishing Mockingjay!

Here is my bro Hunt!

We slept on the same rug and is it just me or do you love not sleeping in your bed? Sometimes I sleep so much better on the hard ground than in a soft bed! The softer the bed - I swear - the worse my back pain is...yep, still have back pain since May-ish of 2011 :(

In the morning Kevin made some awesome waffles with our awesome waffle maker.

I chose half normal and half chocolate chip! Delish.

[3] Hangin out with Tinka.

She is such a snuggly pup and sleeps ALL day.

Here she is running through the snow when I called her in...hilarious! And sleeping below...

[4] I just had to throw this in here because my dad drew this on the chalkboard at church and it is funny. He was helping set up nursery while I made copies of coloring pictures for the kiddos - Kevin and I watch over the 18 months to 2 year olds at church. I came back and this was on the chalkboard haha! Funny thing was the lesson that week (okay 2 days ago) was "I will obey!" teaching them to listen to their parents lol. Nursery is so different now. We had a bunch of almost 3 year olds move up and now just have little 18 month year olds and a tad older! They are so quiet and don't fight as much...way more calm!

[5] These boot RAWK if you could say that, rock.

They may be familiar from my wish list here and yes I GOT EM!

Believe it or not I've never had real leather boots!

I've had real Ugg's - couple pair - but not real leather boots!

I guess I mean in that price range.

Anywho, Enzo Angiolini 'Saylem' riding boots are where it is at.

PS. From my best friend forever, Nordstrom.

AND... that is a wrap!

And this post was definitely not going to be the second part of this one (our Year in Review // 2011 Part 1/2)... I decided those posts are NOT worth my time ha! And honestly doing that first post was brutal!

{Giveaway} Customized Blog Design by Annie from Annie's Musings + Discount! [Closed]

2012-01-09T06:30:00.000-07:00

Good news! Annie from Annie's Musings is giving away a customized blog design to one of you!
I think a blog's design is very important! For me, it was very frustrating googling random html and css coding before I got my new design so this is such a blessing to whoever wins! And she is so talented! But really, I think the importance of a blog design is major, just saying! ;) This is a good giveaway...hehe.

Meet Annie, the designer!

I'm perpetuating my own brand of individuality by combining the act of classy with the act of gangster, because when you're from where I'm from, you can do that. {Okay, not quite.} I'm a twenty-one-year-old undergrad studying English lit and history. I love Jesus, reading & writing, and the color orange. I believe singleness is a gift even when it isn't easy, that faith is a journey, and that it isn't until I lose my life that I find it. I fell into blog design by frequently redesigning my own, and am dedicated to producing designs that are both functional and beautiful.

Well, want to know what her blog design includes?
2 or 3 columns, header, background paper, post and sidebar titles, signature/post divider, styled blockquotes, hovering blogger navbar, 1 or 2 blog buttons, & a favicon...
A $25 value!

Now take a look at a few examples of her work:

and of course her own blog, Annie's Musings! Check it out here!

Do you want a new design?
Answer...YES!
Well, go ahead and enter now!

{Mandatory Entry}
This is 1 comment.

Answer this question:
If you could describe your ideal blog design in one word, what would it look like?

{Additional Entries}
Leave a separate comment for each extra entry.

Follow Annie's blog via Google Friend Connect (GFC)
Follow my blog via GFC (you are here!)
Follow Annie on Twitter (ps. she's a good twitter friend haha)
Follow me on Twitter
Tweet about the giveaway & leave a link.
Like Sloanbook on Facebook
Post on Facebook about the giveaway & leave a link.

That's a total of 7 additional entries!!!

AND...
Annie has also offered a discount for my reader friends!

Take 15% off any of Annie's design services when you tell her I referred you!

Email her at: anniesmusings at gmail dot com

This is good through the month of January!

You have until Monday, January 16, 2012 at midnight MST to enter!

Winner will be announced Tuesday, January 17, 2012!

Good luck!!!

***

Also, check out my sponsor spotlight here at Erin's lovely blog, Captivated by Grace!

Year in Review // 2011 Part 1/2

2012-01-06T06:30:00.000-07:00

This took me a long time so take a look, but really, hehe.

January 2011

Snowboarding at the Canyons
Many, many times with Kevin & my brother Patrick
I miss snowboarding so bad! We haven't gone up once this year :(

Kelsi went into the MTC
Kelsi went into the MTC to learn Portuguese as she was called to serve in the Sao Paulo South mission, Brazil! This was the night before she went in. She will be back in the states in July of 2012!

BYU vs. SDSU Basketball Game
We were completely and utterly obsessed with the BYU Men's Basketball team.
We fell in love with Jimmer, a God walking amongst mere mortals.
Now a professional NBA basketball player for the Kings.
Here we were at the BYU vs. SDSU game...

After this game, Kevin Durant then tweeted, "Jimmer Fredette is the best scorer in the world!!!"

Everyone on Facebook was throwin up Jimmer status updates, including me. I then started following him on Twitter.

February 2011

Dessert Party for Brady
Had a fun girls night for my friend Brady's birthday!
L-R: Shayla, Chantell, Brady, me

More BYU Basketball & Jimmer
We continued to watch Jimmer and the BYU Basketball team.

My 23rd Birthday
I turned 23 year old and Kevin planned the most amazing day ever for me!
I absolutely loved this day!

Valentines Day

Kevin made an amazing authentic Italian dinner!

More Canyons Riding.

March 2011

Friends you must come HERE and check out this hilarious infomercial we made for our Entrepreneurial Marketing projects!

Las Vegas Spring Break

I am so obsessed with this trip. I wish I could go back...
We saw Cirque de Soleil's "O" 2nd row! Amazing amazing amazing...

April 2011

BYU Graduation from the BYU Marriott School of Management

4th top ranked business school in the nation!

That was one hard major!!!
I loved having the same major as Kevin.
I majored in Marketing and him in Entrepreneurship.
BYU Athlete Student Luncheon // BYU Commencement // BYU Graduation

We also moved to Fort Collins, Colorado!

May 2011

Andrew & Ashley got married!
Right after we moved to Fort Collins they got married the next weekend, so we drove out to Utah for 24 hours to attend their wedding!

San Francisco Trip
My mom and I went with my brother Zach as he is a sponsored yo-yoer and got to compete in the Bay Area Classic! I was kind of sick during this trip so I didn't get many pics of me haha.

Made Cookie Stuffed Oreos
Pardon the picture. Just a tad blurry.

June 2011

Florida Business Trip
One // Two //

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska

Hike to Horsetooth Falls

And wow. I do not recommend doing these Year in Review posts because holy cow, they take forever!
Hallelujah I'm so glad this one is done, haha! So yes, I quit at half a year. I may finish the second half and post it Tuesday if I'm feeling like it!

What are you doing this weekend?

I want a deer head, a fake one that is

2012-01-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but Kevin likes to hunt. If I would let him I'm sure he'd like to put animal heads all over our house like one of our Bishops' house in Utah, now that guy was a hunter!

Recently, I've been seeing fake deer heads all around!
Urban Outfitters, Etsy shops, etc...

With that said, I think I can make a good compromise and get a fake deer head!
And hey they are super stylish right?

Here are some I've been eyeing...okay a lot of em...

All deer head photos found via my Pinterest board, Deer Head Lovin

Some of the deer heads cost hundreds of $ and some have tutorials to make them for cheap!
Go ahead and check them out, if you're a fan like me!

Are you a fan of fake deer heads?
Love em? Hate em?

I hope to get one soon-ish!

Also, if you LOVE The Hunger Games don't forget to check out my book club here!

Hunger Games Book Club & Discussion Questions

2012-01-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

As you may have already noticed from this post that I am obsessed with The Hunger Games trilogy!

I've been thinking a lot about Peeta, Katniss, Finnick, Gale, Prim, Haymitch, etc... so I thought I would bring out my bookworm self in full force and make a little online book club! I've never actually been in a book club but I do like reading and I absoutely loved these books so I am going to wing it!

If you would like, post these questions on your blog along with your answers. I will post a link up next Wednesday, January 11, 2012 where you can link up your answers - I'll post mine then - and then we can hop around and see what we all thought! :)

Warning! This may contain spoilers! If you have not read all of The Hunger Games books you may just want to click the X in the upper right corner out of my little blog...sorry this post is for a certain audience! And in the meantime get reading! You'll fly through these books!

Here are your questions for the 1st Hunger Games book:

Questions found from here and here.

Oh, and you don't have to answer them all if you don't want to! Just do what you can!

1 // Who was your favorite character in The Hunger Games? Why?

2 // What did you feel was the most emotional moment in book? Which part was the hardest to read?

3 // How does Katniss feel about the country of Panem? Why does she need to make her face "an indifferent mask" and be careful what she says in public?

4 // Why do you think fire is an appropriate symbol for Katniss?

5 // How does Katniss’ early encounter with Peeta affect their relationship after they are chosen as tributes?

6 // Did your perception of Peeta change over the course of The Hunger Games? How and why?

7 // How does the fact that the tributes are always on camera affect their behavior from the time they are chosen? Does it make it easier or harder for them to accept their fate?

10 // Why does Katniss ignore Haymitch’s advice to head directly away from the Cornucopia? Did she do the right thing to fight for equipment?

13 // What did you think of the fact that they changed the rules partway through the games to allow two winners from the same district?

14 // Do you think the glamorization of the Games and the treatments of its stars before they are sent off to die is a reflection of anything in our modern society?

16 // What other books do you feel are comparable to The Hunger Games?

(Because who doesn’t want more great reads like this?!)

I hope at least 1 person will link up haha. I have not done a link up in...forever so if I get 1 that will be a success! If it goes well we can then discuss Catching Fire & Mockingjay!

And isn't this awe-some...

New Years Resolutions or something like that...

2012-01-03T06:30:00.000-07:00

Before I tell you all my fabulous resolutions have you noticed my new blog layout? Well it is brand NEW thanks to the wonderful Elisabeth from Thimbles + Things! Click around, check it out, there are some cool new things!

Now for the resolutions...or something like that.

I'm not going to be hardcore and say I am GOING to have to do these, thus the 'something like that', but I am going to say that I would like to do them. Lets be real, who really does them?

If you do, you're a freak, in a good way.

And sometimes life gets in the way and bam, you've slipped up...so you got to go with the flow you know?

Here are some new years resolutions for this 2012 year...

// Get/be pregnant

// Read the scriptures in the morning daily while eating breakfast. That worked for me a long time but I wonder if there is another time I can study them better and for longer.

// Say my personal prayers always.

// Read more church/spiritual books.

// Read some really really good books. I am just finishing Mockingjay from The Hunger Games trilogy and man, I need to read more books like that. Just really good books, ya know? That suck you in and make you think about the characters often...

// Comment on my real friends blogs more often like I used to.

Lets be real when you follow so many blogs (now so) it is impossible to keep up on everyone.

// Go on walks more often with Katinka and Kevin when he can.

// Cook 1 new experimental meal a week and hopefully learn to love cooking?

// Workout at least 4 times a week. It all went downhill when we moved into our new house. Then we went on a vacation over Thanksgiving and Christmas break and when we had spare time we worked on unpacking/organizing our stuff/house... I need to get back into the groove. I miss Zumba, Yoga, Kickboxing, everything.

// Listen to lots of church music on Sunday.

// Work on watching/tracking our money more so we don't go over budget. This also includes cooking healthy cheaper meals...anyone got any recommendations?

// Write Kelsi on her mission 1x every 2 weeks, maybe 1x a week if I am on top of things.

// Write in a journal frequently. Just a little bit at least!

// Be more well balanced in all that I do and how I spend my time.

Well, I know there a ton more but those are the ones I thought of when I wrote this :)

What are some of your new years resolutions?

Photo Teaser by Tiffany Rebecca + New Blog Design Soon!

2011-12-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

I had a fun little photo-shoot in the snow - December 19, 2011 - with Tiffany Rebecca.

Above is a teaser for now until we get the rest of the photos back!

Do you like it? I loooove it.

I also LOVE the snow. and colorado. and snowboarding. and winter. so this is so me.

Anyways, go say hello to Tiffany HERE!

& read her guest post on my blog HERE on '5 Ways to Take Better Pictures'!

She just celebrated her 1st Anniversary! Congrats!

And guess what?

Sunday will be a new fresh start. Obviously it is the new year...

but I will have a new BLOG DESIGN!!!

Thanks to Elisabeth from Thimbles + Things!

I'm so excited and you better come back on Sunday and check it out ;)

Until then, read her guest post on my blog HERE on 'Tips for a Better Blog'!

I think that is all, for now.

Have a good weekend!

Christmas in Kansas City 2011

2011-12-29T06:30:00.000-07:00

We flew in to Kansas City on Dec. 20th late at night and stayed until the 26th.

It was a fun trip as you can already see here.

December 21, 2011 - Wednesday

Kevin and I slept in, finished Christmas shopping, read, and went to the new Sherlock Holmes movie with Greg, Kathy, Anna, and LT at the Legends. We saw the 10 pm showing and I was so tired that unfortunately I fell asleep for some of it! Kevin absolutely loved it just like the first one! I think I need to watch both of them again but when it isn't too late so I can really pay attention to them!

December 22, 2011 - Thursday

We slept in, read some more, and had family pictures at The Seven Bridges Clubhouse. That is where Kevin and I had our open house after we got married in Kansas City! It is a gorgeous clubhouse. I wish our neighborhood had a clubhouse like it here in Fort Collins! Ha. We don't have one but more than anything I wish our neighborhood had a pool! Anyways, we explored it for a long time and here is the indoor basketball court attached it! Kevin made a bunch of half court shots as I told him to play like Jimmer! Here he is!

I'm horrible at basketball but I'm pretending to focus before a shot here. Good focus right?

Afterwards we all ate at a Mexican restaurant. I forgot what it is called. Then we called it a night and hung out at home!

December 23, 2011 - Friday

The guys went hunting this day! They hunted pheasant and it was an all day ordeal. Here is some of the hunting gang. They got approximately 25 pheasant. Kevin is far right. Look how happy he is haha. He LOVES hunting!

Meanwhile I hung out with Kathy and we ran some errands getting some last minute Christmas gifts and such. We ate at Jimmy Johns for lunch. Then we hung out at Tara's house for a bit.
Here we are at Tara's house with Zach, baby Poppy, & me.

And here is Zach, Poppy, & Lily! They are all so cute!

Then I ran errands with Tara. Afterwards, Kathy and I ate dinner at Panda Express, shopped at Michaels, and browsed Pier 1 Imports. We got home just as the guys were and they were so tired from hunting all day!

December 24, 2011 - Saturday - Christmas Eve

Greg and Kathy had a Christmas Eve get-together at their house! There was SO much food and tons of desserts! Lots of relatives came over as well!
Kevin and I on Christmas Eve. I love him.

And here are some of the desserts!

Greg put on some hilarious home videos of past Christmas Days when Kevin and his siblings were way younger for kicks. Who doesn't love home videos? They are just great. Kevin ran around like a crazy man when he got a sports "starter jacket" when he was younger, haha. It is SO great. He even leaped through the air! That is a sports guy right there for ya!

December 25, 2011 - Sunday - Christmas Day

We woke up, went to church, and then got to Skype with Kelsi as she is on her mission in Brazil! She was almost an hour late skyping since she got stopped by a guy on the streets who told her and her companion that they needed to visit a friend of his. They were late because they were doing missionary work so I guess that is acceptable! She is doing great on her mission! She just loves the people, food, and the culture and she is fluent in Portuguese! I can't wait to see her this summer when she comes back from her mission in July! That will be so cool! We got to three-way skype since Kelsi was in Brazil, Kevin and I were in Kansas City, and my family was in St. Maartin in the middle of the ocean! I'm glad it worked out!

Afterwards Kevin and I opened our presents and gave our presents to everyone! From "Santa" I got a cute tank top from Ann Taylor Loft, OPI nail polish, lip gloss, a gift card to Cinemark, and some candy! Kevin got a picture of him hunting, a Kansas City Royals Calender, a gift card to Cinemark, and candy as well. I got some cute legwarmers and money from my in-laws and they also got Katinka a very cute camouflage dog bone and dog treats! Kevin NEVER knows what he wants for any birthday/Christmas so he gets money haha. Someday, he will figure out what he wants! I scored a great deal at Old Navy and got Kevin a thick long-sleeved sweatshirt/shirt lol. Kevin got me this hilarious book Yoga Dogs and gave me a massage since my back always hurts! Kyle got me some good smelling body butter and David and Tara got us a very cute candle! We are SO blessed and lucky!

We played an intense round of Mexican Train where I lost in the final game and Tara and I made some more bracelets. We talked a lot about if we should do a kitchen redesign and who knows what else!

December 26, 2011 - Monday

We hung out, watched tons of Modern Family episodes, and then ate some Smokehouse Barbecue before our flight back home. It was a great trip!

What did you do for the Christmas holidays?

Christmas in KC via Instagram

2011-12-28T06:30:00.000-07:00

Christmas in Kansas City was relaxing, fun, and a great break from everything. We had amazing food, watched the new Sherlock Holmes movie, slept in everyday, did some last minute Christmas shopping and errands, had some family photos taken, and hung out with family and friends. Kevin was deeply into his Steve Jobs book and I flew through the first Hunger Games book in 2 days. I am now finishing up Catching Fire and just bought Mockingjay yesterday from Barnes and Noble. I am obsessed (proof here). Tara and I made some more bracelets and Kevin, David, and I played an insanely long round of Mexican Train (with the dominoes). We also skyped with my sister Kelsi who is on her mission in Brazil! More to come soon.

What did you do this past holiday weekend?

How to be Happy!

2011-12-27T06:30:00.000-07:00

Today is my dad's birthday! Woohoo!
Unfortunately (for me) or fortunately (for him) he is in Saint Thomas in the middle of the Caribbean islands probably lying on the beach drinking a virgin pina colada...dang so I can't be with him to celebrate...
Anyways, HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!
We have a bomb present for you when you return.
Today I am just getting back to work, going to the dentist (YAY! Yes I am really excited about this), and unpacking and all that fun stuff that you get to do after trips.

Today, I decided that I would share this post I wrote for Sara from Struggling Happiness (now called Untold Stories of a 20 Something) to give me some time to catch up, plus eventually I will get my blog printed out so all guest posts I'd like to have on my blog as well (later though!). It was originally posted HERE on September 21, 2011. I recommend checking her blog out HERE!
Hope this post brings some ideas of what you can do to stay happy in all situations!

***

Hello readers of Struggling Happiness!

I'm Ashley and I write over at Sloanbook (here)! I'm married to my best friend Kevin and we have a long-haired chihuahua named Katinka (fun name right?)! My husband and I both graduated from Brigham Young University and we just moved to Colorado! I blog about random things that happen to me, vacations and the adventures we go on so it is pretty much a random kind of blog. But in a good way, random :) That is pretty much us.

Moving on, I am SO honored to have been given the opportunity to guest post and hold down the fort for Sara today! I was so excited when she asked me! I have been following her blog for a long time now and I think she is very sweet and genuine.

She asked me to write on what I do to be happy and inspired so here is what I got for you.

Church uplifts and inspires me as I attend meetings each Sunday. It makes me want to be a better person as I strive to be like Him. It also provides structure in my life as I regularly participate in prayer and scripture study to name a few. If you me mistakes, as we all do, you can always repent and have a clean slate thanks to our Savior and the Atonement. Regardless of what beliefs you may have on religion and a higher being, I think without a doubt it can provide comfort and strength. Church is one of those things for me. I'm a Mormon and if you want to know more about our beliefs you can check out Mormon.org.

In addition to church, I think family and friends can bring happiness. As I spend time with family I grow closer to them and build memories to look back on. I think that doing fun things, such as going to play miniature golf or going go-cart riding can bring happiness just as much as doing the little things together like cooking a dinner or cleaning up a room. I also think that girl friends are very important! I enjoy watching reality TV shows, working out at Gold's Gym, shopping, or trying to be crafty with my friends. I just moved to Colorado, away from BYU where I lived the past 5 years, and I can say it is harder to spend time with girl friends when you don't have as many. Honestly, I don't have many here but I will find friends and it really just takes time!

One thing that makes me happy is exercise! The hardest part is just getting into those workout clothes and just starting! But once I start I am glad I made the effort to because exercise is not only good for you to stay in shape but is good because it helps reduce stress and relax muscles. It just makes you feel good afterwards! Honestly, I haven't been the best at working out since I've moved to Colorado (mostly because I lost my gym membership at Gold's Gym in Provo) but I keep trying and that is the most important thing! I play tennis, attempt to run (working on liking or maybe loving running? ha), lift weights, and am kind of getting into P90X. I really love TurboKick or Kickboxing but haven't done much of that since I moved here.

Animals can make people happy! As you can see in the picture above I am holding a long-haired chihuahua! That is Katinka and she is my puppy! I think that spending time with animals can relieve stress and provide happiness. Yeah, it makes sense, but really? Yes, I have known of people having therapy dogs where they can even take them into stores and such and I am not just talking about guide dogs. I have a friend who has a therapy dog because she has PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.) If you are an animal lover and cannot have a pet due to being in a rental or something, think about volunteering at your local humane society! They provide responsibility and can give you a sense of accomplishment when successfully potty training or teaching them a new trick. All in all, animals can make people happy!

I think service is one of the best ways to truly be happy. When you are helping others, in all circumstances, you are focusing on them and not yourself. Whenever I focus on someone else I forget about myself. I forget about a bad day I just had or that I skipped a workout and ate too much that day. I find myself caring about the other person and wanting to help them out. Maybe it is helping someone move, helping at a soup kitchen, or listening to an upset friend who is telling you their problems. I think that service is a great way to lose yourself and then find yourself! I felt very good about myself when I was working at a treatment center for at-risk youth because I was making a positive difference in young girls lives. I recommend making service a part of your life. Find an organization to volunteer at or just help a friend in need.

There are many other things that make me happy but the last one I am going to touch upon is being in nature. I think that everyone should get outside of their house and enjoy the beautiful nature and scenery around them. No matter where you are you can enjoy your surroundings. The world is a beautiful place! You should take a moment to ponder and think. When I have time I like to read books outside under a tree or on a hammock. I like to walk my dog to get the mail or even go on a run with her.

Sorry this is a bit long but there are so many things that can bring happiness into our lives. I have only touched upon a few!

What makes you happy?

If you feel inclined, I'd love for you to come and stop by my blog here! I love new friends! :)
Have a *HAPPY* day all!

5 Ways to Take Better Pictures by Tiffany Rebecca Photography

2011-12-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

First of all, I hope you had a great Christmas!

I hope you enjoyed it, spent it with family and friends, and made sure to remember and ponder about the true meaning of Christmas.

Today we have one of my sponsors, Tiffany from Tiffany Rebecca Photography, taking over the blog today with some great photography tips! Enjoy!

***

While I believe in investing in professional photography to document important life events I also believe that it's important to catch every day moments well too! Here are just 5 ways to improve your own photography.

1. Turn off your flash!

Picture taken without flash inside the Shedd Aquarium

The biggest mistake I see people making is using flash. Of course there will be times where it's very dark and you'll need to use your flash, but otherwise I recommend not using it. When enough natural light is available there is no reason to use a flash. Natural light is much more flattering and will not make women's makeup shine (Don't you hate when that happens?)

You can turn off your camera by exploring the options on your camera.

Another note: A basic flash won't carry more than a few feet. If you are taking a landscape or your subject is more than a few feet away your flash won't illuminate them anyway.

Read the rest of this article on Tiffany Rebecca's blog by clicking here.

March 23 cannot come soon enough

2011-12-24T13:32:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am now obsessed with The Hunger Games.

I read the first book Hunger Games in 2 days.

I just started reading the second book Catching Fire last night.

I need to hurry and get my hands on Mockingjay.

Doesn't this trailer pump you up?

It gives me chills.

And the music is bomb. Love it.

I'm ready.

PS. Merry Christmas Eve!

Early Christmas With My Family!

2011-12-23T06:30:00.000-07:00

Sunday - December 18, 2011

An Early Christmas

We went over to my parents house for a week early Christmas dinner since Kevin and I are in Kansas City for Christmas this year AND my family is in the Caribbean specifically St. Thomas! I need to get to the beach asap.

Anyways, it was a great evening!

We got there and Christmas music was playing, the tree lights were on, Christmas decorations were everywhere, Christmas cards were hung up on strings of ribbon, and a honey baked ham was just out of the oven.

We ate an amazing dinner.

Honey baked ham from my grandparents (make that a 15 lb one!) and boy was it great! I LOVE honey baked ham! We had cauliflower and broccoli, blueberry muffins, pineapple, mashed potatoes, and tons of cookies for dessert. We also had Pear Martinellis! There was a lot of leftovers so Kevin and I ate it at work on Monday and same with dinner that day!

Authentic German handmade pieces were all over the house.

Windmills (which when I was a little girl I ruined one by taking off little pieces and then my mom had to super glue them all back on) and a cuckoo clock! They picked out this clock when one time we visited Munich and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. They bought it in southern Germany maybe when we were looking at castles that day, if I remember right. I would love to own a cuckoo clock and make that, anything German handmade! But they are so expensive. Someday!

A huge bouquet of flowers and a German nutcracker was around.

I bet my dad got these flowers for my mom since their anniversary is on the 19th!

While my mom was wrapping presents for Kevin and I, I relaxed in our massage chair. I love that chair. It can have you sit up, lay down, and do a ton of different things! I like the "stretch" function haha.

The Hunger Games were given to me by my brother Patrick! Which by the way, I am flying through!

Kevin received a hunter Nutcracker (which is awesome), a Kansas City Chiefs stop sign to hang up in our garage, the Steve Jobs book from my brother Patrick, and some money. I also received a planner from Patrick. I got an elephant purse, a hilarious 'Blog' magnet, iPhone 4 case "Keep Calm and Shop On", riding boots, a scarf, and I'm inheriting my brother's old iPhone 4 (I have the 3GS now), and also inheriting my grandparents DSLR they don't use anymore!!! I feel so blessed!

We got my mom and dad a nice crockpot and we had Hunter this year so we got him some "precious stones." He is obsessed with rocks and minerals and knows tons of facts about them! When we visited Fantastic Caverns (HERE) in Missouri we got him a fossilized shark tooth that is over 50 million years old. We also got him two litttle stones that we actually forgot what types they were! He was pretty pumped especially since we put the fossilized shark tooth in a little display box I got at Michaels.

Now for a funny photo.
Kevin wore this to the company Christmas party!
"Wanna get on my naughty list" turtleneck, gay scarf, comb over, glasses = Classy

Hope you have a great Christmas! I'll be enjoying it for sure :)

Tips for a Better Blog by Elisabeth from Thimbles + Things

2011-12-22T06:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Thursday!
I am still in Missouri hanging out, so today we have Elisabeth (one of my sponsors) from Thimbles + Things taking over the blog! And guess what?
1. She is pregnant and that is awesome, congrats Elisabeth!!! &
2. She is actually designing a new blog design for my blog! YAY! So that will be coming soon and I am so excited :)
Read on!

***

hi everyone!

i'm elisabeth from thimbles + things.

i'm super excited to be filling in for ashley while she's out!

today i'm going to give you quick, easy tips for a blog lift.

less is more.

how many times have you visited a blog and you have no idea what's going on...

there's too much on the sidebars, the fonts are hard to read, the background is just so busy it's distracting...

keep those things in mind as you build [or redo] your blog.

-keep your sidebars clean and organized

-pick fonts that are easy to to read

-use backgrounds that ADD to the blog, not distract

fonts + colors.

i have a few personal rules when it comes to pick fonts + colors...

if you want to use more than one font on your blog keep them simple.

for example: use a fun/cute/awesome [but readable] font for your header. whatever font you pick for your header i would recommend using it through out the rest of your blog on other title headers, such as your gadgets or your post title. for a second font, keep it simple and use it for links, your post body and page bodies.

blogger now has a lot of great font options in the new template designer to choose from that make adding different fonts to your blog a lot easier. if you like to download fonts [like i do] check out dafont.com.

when it comes to colors keep in mind that everyones monitor settings are different...

what might seem like a regular pink on your monitor might look hot pink on someone elses. when choosing colors for your blog, build a color palette. it will help you stick with a reoccurring theme through out your blog.

css + html.

not everyone can read/build custom html to build the ultimate blog...

the good news is blogger now gives you the option to enter in css code in the blogger template design.

if you're thinking:

"um. cool. i have no idea what the crap you're talking about..."

no problem.

i'll show you.

go to:

template designer > advanced > and scroll down to ADD CSS

you'll see a big empty box to type stuff in.

now it all depends on what you want to do to your blog...

is your header center? want to center it?

copy + paste this code into the CSS text box:

#header-inner img {margin: 0 auto !important;}

#header-inner {text-align:center !important;} /

*include this line if you are using Template Designer*/

want to center your post title + date?

copy + paste this code into the CSS text box:

P { text-align: center }

H2 { text-align: center }

P { text-align: center }

H3 { text-align: center }

want to get rid of that annoying blogger navigation bar at the top of your blog?

copy + paste this code into the CSS text box:

#navbar-iframe {display: none !important;}

as you can see, there are so many little things you can do to give your blog a face lift just by entering in a little CSS code. if there's something you want to do but don't know the code?

google it.

you can find just about anything.

if you want to find CSS code to center your page list [below your header] google:

"CSS to center page list"

and start reading!

you can find all sorts of info on forums.

if you're not having luck by googling, tweet and ask your followers if they happen to know.

you'd be surprised what random things other people know!

i hope this helps anyone who's looking to give their blog a face lift or anyone who's just starting out.

have a good day!

-elisabeth

***

Now go check out her blog HERE! You'll love it!

PS. Check out my feature at the Young & Restless blog HERE and Christa.Jae's blog HERE!

Scenes from this Weekend + a Taekwondo Evening

2011-12-21T06:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a fun one. It was relaxing and just what we needed.
Here is what went down.

Friday - December 16, 2011

After work I went to lunch with my mom and brother Patrick to Famous Daves. I pounded my meal! I seriously can't believe I ate that much haha. I LOVE their pork! Any who, ate there, hit up Target, and then hung out at home. After Kevin got off work we went to my brother's Taekwondo class/test where he tested his "form" (basically a routine of punches, kicks, and "Iyahs!") where he tried (and accomplished) to get to the next belt color. Anyone do Taekwondo?
Here we are at his taekwondo studio!

L - R: Hunter in his sparring gear (they wear this gear when they fight each other), Hunter (in the middle) and some other kids warming up before they tested!
At the end of the night he came home with a brown belt! He did great!

Hunter & I after with his brown belt!

Afterwards Zach was bored so he yo-yoed...
(he's the sponsored yo-yoer and funny thing was he used to do taekwondo there when he was younger!)

Afterwards, Kevin and I were going to go downtown to pick a gift card up at Europa (an Aveda salon) and look around some shops but by the time we were done with the taekwondo evening it was pretty late. By the time we would have gotten downtown and parked, we would have walked around for only 10 minutes! (So we went downtown on Saturday)
My mom, Zach, Hunter, Kevin, and I then hit up Spooners for frozen yogurt! Mine was delish. Actually I think all of ours was.

Saturday - December 17, 2011

Kevin and I slept in, made cinnamon rolls, and then went downtown to look around. I am now wanting a chihuahua lamp and a fake deer head for our house. Sounds crazy, but I saw both downtown and they were both awe-some. I was super tired so I went to bed early which was weird but good.

Sunday - December 18, 2011

We had another crazy day in junior nursery. I swear it is getting crazier week by week, although a bunch of kids will move up come the new year. It is starting to wear me out ha! After church we ate, our home teachers came over, hung out, and then had an early Christmas with my family! It was AMAZING! I will be blogging about it soon :)

Now, here are some scenes from our weekend!
L - R: Katinka in the middle of the tulle wreath I am was making (by the way it FINALLY got finished on Sunday and it is HUGE!), & "How much is that doggy in the window?"

Top: L-R: Home made vanilla and fudge my visiting teachers brought me on Thursday, home made cheeseburgers Kevin and I had. By the way if you ever have an extra avocado laying around throw it on your cheeseburger. Freaking.awesome.
Bottom: L - R: Famous Daves BBQ for lunch on Friday (love me some pork), & Spooners frozen yogurt!

It was a great weekend with some great surprises.

By the way, I definitely just watched The Help on Monday. Wow. So SAD but good.
What did you think of it? And today I plan on starting The Hunger Games! My brother, Patrick got them for me for Christmas (the first 2 at least).

What did you think of the Hunger Games?!
No spoilers please!

DIY Fabric Flowers by Ruthanne with an E + Giveaway Winner!

2011-12-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Wow friends, you are in for a treat.

Ruthanne, one of my sponsors, is a doll and she is going to show you how to make fabric flowers!

Take it away Ruthanne!

Meanwhile, I'm at work, packing, dropping Katinka off at the kennel, and headed for Kansas City this evening! Yay!

***

Hello there, readers of Sloanbook! :) I am so excited to be sharing a post with you here on miss Ashley's blog! I'm Ruthanne, and I blog over at Ruthanne with an E. I'm sixteen, a lover of fashion and music, all things vintage and I have an obsession with my cowboy boots!

I also like to pretend I'm a movie star. It never really works the way I want it to....

When I was thinking about what to do for this post, a million thoughts crossed my mind, but this one stood out far more than the others. This is a super fun and easy DIY that is a fantastic gift for Christmas, or just because! I'm going to show you how to make one of the easiest fabric flowers in the world! Ready? GO!

-♥-

You will need:

Fabric strips

Felt

Hair clips / brooch pins

Hot glue gun

A few beads or buttons

Scissors, thread, needle or sewing machine

Start out with a piece of fabric or ribbon that is about 1 1/2 to 2 inches wide, by about 30 inches long, depending on how big you want your flower to be.

Stitch, with a machine or by hand, a line down the middle. Make sure to back-stitch at one end only - you need the other end "free".

The strip should look something like this.

Now, very gently, pull one of your "free" threads at the end you didn't back-stitch. Gently gather your fabric to look like this.

It should be about half it's length or so after this.

Now cut a circle of felt about 2 inches or so in diameter.

To "secure" my hair clip, I like to cut two slits in my felt to slip my clip through, like so.

I then attach my brooch pin with another small piece of felt and hot glue.

Now, flip your felt circle over and have your glue gun ready. Fold your fabric strip in half, basically on the stitched line.

Start wrapping your flower, starting in the center and working your way around. I usually start out really tight and get looser as I go. You may need to practice your flower formation before the next step, it happens fast!

Lastly, (and I forgot to take a picture, I'm so sorry!), cover your felt circle with hot glue and stick your flower on it! Tuck in all of the visible stitched parts, and perfect it's shape while the glue is still a bit hot, but please, don't burn yourself like I do/did frequently. (it's terrible, really!)

Add some beads or buttons if you like, and this is how it will turn out!

So pretty, isn't it? These are so easy to make after you make a couple, and I make them for friends all the time! I also use ribbon for mine, those are beautiful too. Try out some different ways of wrapping your flower. Here are a whole bunch I made as gifts this summer:

There are really so many different ways to make these things!

This is what it looks like in my hair.

And on a sweater - but you can pin them on scarves, hats, purses, anything! I also love to put them on headbands, just glue em straight on. They are so versatile. I wore two purple ones on a dress I made in this post on my blog; it was the perfect simple and elegant touch.

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and please come stop by and say hello, I would love to make some new friends! Thank you so much to Ashley for having me on your lovely blog!

xoxo, Ruthanne

***

Seriously, go stop by her blog HERE and give her some lovin'! You will not be disappointed.
She is so cute (as you can tell) and I'm a big fan!

PS. The winner of the pink cowl giveaway (HERE) from A Girl Named Leney is... Meg from Henning Love! Congrats Meg! I'll be in touch with you shortly :)

Katinka's Graduation

2011-12-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Yes Katinka graduated. It is true.
She graduated on Thursday, December 15, 2011.

She graduated from Petsmart's Beginner Training Classes.

And she even has her own graduation cap to prove it, well, my mother-in-law bought it for her when Kevin and I graduated from BYU this April of 2011. Isn't it the cutest thing? It sure came in handy for her graduation at Petsmart.
The trainer told me that she didn't have any graduation caps that would fit Katinka and said maybe Katinka can sit in one for a picture and I was like,
"Oh, well...actually I have one..."
HAHA!

We still have lots of things to work on but Katinka made BIG progress in the class so that was great!
When she first came into the class she would hide under the chair I was sitting on, refuse ALL dog treats, and was too scared to approach other dogs or people. Then I gave her lots of treats when she sniffed other dogs and people and I had people give her treats too when she approached them! By the end of the classes she was trying to play with all dogs even the largest ones! I'm glad she faced her "scaredy-cat" fear!

What Katinka dominates:

Sit
Shake (left paw)
Sit Up
Lay
Rollover
Spin in a circle
Staying still/relaxed for cutting nails/getting brushed
"Kill it" when playing with a stuffed animal. She will then shake it like crazy lol.

What Katinka still needs to work on:

Come (she did great in class but at home she doesn't come to me all the time haha. She was the best in class and everyone was so impressed...hmmm lol.)
Shake (right paw)
Stay (for longer) & Release
Leave it & Okay (she is good at when you have a treat in your hand and you tell her leave it but when you have it on the floor she feels like she can go for it right away)
Ringing the bell when she needs to go to the bathroom. She actually is doing pretty good. I say "Wanna go potty?" and she'll ring it but we still need to work on the connection a little more!
Watch Me

She will be in a boarding kennel for this week as we will be in Kansas City for Christmas time! I hope she does well! She will be playing with LOTS of little dogs all day there, so I hope she will become best friends and not be too scared to play with them! Socialization was a big part of the reason I wanted her to get in classes! We'll see I guess!

What is a cool trick your dog or pet knows that I should teach Katinka?

PS. Today is the LAST day to enter to win this gorgeous cowl/eternity scarf sponsored by A Girl Named Leney on my blog! Hurry hurry! You have until midnight MST and winner will be announced tomorrow! GO HERE to enter!

PPS. Take a look at Mia's blog, Color it Mia HERE because I'm guest posting on Why I think Mormons Marry Young! I'm sure you all want to read it ;) So check it out!

Our 1st Home: Main Level Tour!

2011-12-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

Some of you all have been wanting to see our new casa!

We are starting to feel more moved in, thank goodness. Except for one room upstairs (disaster room)! Today, I will show you our main level! There is still some clutter here and there that we need to put away but I thought it was as clean as it is going to get for now, so I went with it. Oh, and we haven't really decorated aka hung stuff up, changed curtains, painted, etc...this is our stuff in our "new" house!

Before we get started, you can totally give me comments as one of my own personal interior designers ;)

I will be asking questions and hope to get some helpful answers!

This is our main level bathroom!

Question 1: What do you think of the wall color(s)?

It is light blue and olive green. I have no clue how I feel about it.

Pardon the black hand towel that doesn't match. We need to get matching towels.

Also maybe a basket or something to put hand towels and extra toilet paper in. I couldn't find any bath mats to match the olive color at Bed, Bath, & Beyond so I may try blue or white or maybe making one I saw on Pinterest. We will see! Honestly I feel like I have no clue what matches with these walls! What will I hang on the walls?

This is our kitchen!

Question 2: Have you ever seen any cute cupboards/cabinets to put food in?

We don't have enough room for our food to be in the cabinets (there is no pantry) so we have this cheap tall pantry we bought when we were at BYU (left in photo). It is fine for now, but in the long run I'd like something to look nicer! And yes that island door is kind of broken haha. We just need to fix the hinge so it closes!

Also the dishwasher is still broken (even after buying a part and fixing it) so we have a towel below it...haha.

Behold our free table!

We got this amazing table (with a leaf!) from our dear friends James and Laura! Go check out Laura's blog HERE (she just made a public one :)) They had this extra table in their garage and it was a huge blessing for us! We have one 7 foot table we inherited from my parents but it is WAY TOO BIG for this small space! We were planning on getting a small circular table sometime with a leaf and it was a blessing that they happened to have this table that is exactly what we were looking for!

Question 3: Do you have any pictures/websites/inspiration for a table with non-matching chairs?

I need some direction here! We need to get some chairs and we're thinking of hitting up the flea markets and consignment shops. We really want to paint this table and our chairs as well as sand it and give it a bunch of dings to make it look worn :)

Here is our living room!

I want to hide those cords by the TV somehow and get new curtains...

Here is more of our living room! Unfortunately we lost 2 of the 4 Christmas tree stand legs...so it has 2 and is leaning haha. That is why we don't have any ornaments on it. Next year, next year we'll get it set up right!

Our living room!

Yes that is a 2000 piece puzzle of Neuschwanstein (famous castle in Germany!) on our coffee table.

I kind of want to paint over the accent wall and do a tan/off-white neutral color...

someday we'll put in dark hardwood floors!

And last but not least is our front entryway!

Also need to hide that speaker cord...

Here is little Tinks hanging out with me!

Question 4: If you have any ideas of what to put on the walls, shoot them my way!

Like if you see a picture with shelf and whatever in one spot, let me know, hehe.

I'll post more pictures of the upstairs sometime soon...!

Have a good weekend!

We are going to hangout downtown, work on the house, get last minute Christmas gifts, and get ready for our trip next week!

PS. Today is the last day to enter for a Large ad space spot that I'm giving away!

If you enter $1 goes to charity. Check it out HERE :)

PPS. Check this awesome giveaway on my blog HERE!

Denver Temple Night + Some Recent Scenes

2011-12-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

So far my ad space giveaway on Hollie's blog has generated $27 that will go towards a charity that provides clean and safe drinking water for developing nations! PLEASE check out THIS giveaway and enter! For every person who enters Hollie & Amanda will donate 50 cents each, so $1 a person!!! Every person who enters makes a big difference!

And check out this adorable eternity scarf up for grabs on my blog HERE!

Puh-lease take a look! Super easy to enter!

***

Tuesday - December 13, 2011

Late Tuesday afternoon, Kevin and I drove to Denver to go to the Denver LDS (Latter-Day Saint) temple! I brought my own names and that was awesome. Our goal is to attend the temple once a month!

Bored on the way there

On our way to Denver we went through a big patch of fog...and came out of it to see a sunset!

Outside of the Denver temple by the fountain

And here we are in front of the temple! We got married here 3 and a half years ago! Good memories :)

After we left the temple we hit up Subway. Right now you can get either a Cold Cut Combo or Meatball Marinara 6 Inch for $2! It goes throughout December. SO we only paid $4 for dinner! Then we hit up Bed, Bath, & Beyond and did some returns. It was a fun evening spent with my husband!

Now for some recent scenes.
[1] It has been very snowy here so it was time to bust out the doggy winter coats!
Here are some Katinka outfit posts...

Purple puffy coat: Target

Pink furry coat w/skull on hood: Target
Do you like Katinka outfit pictures? I may just have to do a whole post of them haha!

[2] Nope, this is no pregnancy announcement, hehe. I love faking people out though! A lot of people thought I was preggers here! Kevin & I went shopping for 2 preggo co-workers at Babies-R-Us and I saw this cute elephant bedset. If you know me you know I love ELEPHANTS! My girl (whenever I have one) is for sure going to have elephant bedding!
It.is.decided.

[3] Oh look it is snuggly Katinka!

[4] House warming gift from my parents = Waring Pro Blender!

Brownie points- it matches our red Kitchen Aid mixer perfectly :)

We def destroyed our last blender in Utah.
We put tons of frozen fruit in it and tried to blend it and it died...

What have you been up to this week?

Depending on the cleanliness of our house, I may take some pictures for a post tomorrow so you can see all of OUR stuff in our new house! Yay! I already have some interior design questions for you all! :)

A fantastic Monday!

2011-12-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

So far we have 25 people who entered my ad space giveaway over at Hollie's blog, Hollie Takes Notes which means Hollie is donating $12.50 to charity AND Amanda (one of my sponsors) is matching that so a total of $25 will be going to charity! You should enter for a "Sponsor" spot and to help a great cause (bring clean drinking water to developing nations)! GO HERE now to enter!

AND you better hurry on over HEREto win a cowl (eternity scarf) from A Girl Named Leney! ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is visit her Etsy shop and tell us which is your favorite...and then if you want you can do the extra entries. SO EASY!

***

Monday was great.

After work, I ran errands and was very productive. I love being productive.

-I hit up Petsmart and returned a bell Katinka was supposed to ring to let me know she has to go potty (she's afraid of it) AND scored a big bag of Science Diet dog treats ($5 value) for 26 cents! The Petshotel gave me a coupon for $5 off a $5 purchase or more towards that brand...so yes, I did.

-I returned some moldy raspberries (so sad about that) at King Soopers and got some random things I needed as well as brownie mix. Kevin and I are going to bring brownies to our neighbors when we have the time to make them.

-I returned some things at Bed, Bath, & Beyond (had horrible Customer Service- don't get me started) and bought 3 things all with coupons. I used two 20% off ones and a $5 off one...unfortunately nothing worked so those will be going back haha. BUT I used coupons and I love coupons.

-I went to the dollar store to get some cute holiday plates for our brownies for our neighbors.

and then came home...
to my husband and this amazing meal!

In case you didn't know, Kevin lived in Italy for 2 years serving a mission for our church! He picked up some amazing Italian cooking skills that I love very much. He made some amazing home made sauce with sausage in it and we ate spaghetti, green beans, and cantaloupe (not pictured). And for dessert we had banana bread my friend Heidi made...she is one legit baker I tell ya.

And since it was Monday we had FHE!

FHE is Family Home Evening.
Basically you hang out with your family, share a spiritual message/lesson, sing a church hymn, pray, and usually Kevin and I do an activity or something fun together afterwards. It is time to hang out with family and grow closer, spiritually too.

You will laugh at how cute and hilarious our FHE message was.
It was Kevin's idea and this is it. He read me a scripture (something about aromas being an offering and sacrifice to the Lord) and then we went out to buy some candles for our home. Lol. I thought it was the cutest thing ever. Kevin loves candles and only him could relate it to aromas in the scriptures!

We hit up JCPenny since I had a $10 off any $10 purchase or more meaning it would be FREE.
(By the way, sign up for JCPenny coupons and same with Kohl's. They both have those deals. Even if you may not love those stores you can at least buy socks for a $1 after the coupon, blah blah blah, you get what I'm saying) Unfortunately they didn't have any candles so we got Kevin some sweet socks as he needed more.

After we used a gift card to The Buckle and I got 2 VERY CUTE items with it. I got a blue jacket with lace on it and a brown/black long-sleeved cardigan...that get this...has a long piece that wraps around your neck like a scarf? Say whaaat?! Yeah, it is crazy.

Then we finally got our aromas.
Bath & Body Works is having a deal. You can get 2 3-wicker candles for $20. These candles are normally $20 each. WOW they had some amazing ones.

Our picks:
1. Mint Chocolate
OH MY GOSH HEAVENLY.
I seriously could sniff this and get high; it is bomb. I asked Kevin if he dared me to lick it because it smelled so good. He said yes. So I licked it. And it was waxy.

2. Cranberry Woods
What a lovely fall/winter scent! You cannot go wrong! Smells amazing!

What is your favorite brand/scent of candle?
We are candle people and would love recommendations!
PS. My dad has a bomb hot chocolate one and it literally smells like hot chocolate, sensational!!!

Christmas Wish List 2011 + Giveaway Winner!

2011-12-13T06:30:00.000-07:00

First up, check out this giveaway for an adorable eternity scarf giveaway on my blog HERE!

AND...

Check out THIS giveaway I'm sponsoring/giving away somethingggg! AND For every person who enters the giveaway Hollie will donate 50 cents to a charity that provides clean drinking water to developing nations! If that is the only reason you kind of want to enter, do it! It is worth your time!

***

Now for the feature presentation.

I love shopping and being a consumer. I really do.

Now that you are aware (if you weren't already here) I will share some fun finds (via my Pinterest) that may also be on a wish list (for Christmas or whenever).

I have not decided on exact products though...just the ideas!

Trust me, I do my research and looking around!
And just throwing this out there, heck no, I will not be getting everything haha.
Like 2 things? A girl can wish.

Michael Kors rose gold watch from Nordstrom! Or in gold?
I feel like gold with go with more but rose gold is so fun! Only problem is wedding rings clash!

But in black (need black)

These riding boots by Enzo Angiolini from Nordstrom!
Brown or the more reddish brown ones? Or maybe a different brand? I don't know...

Like the skirt. I'm desiring a grey, tan, or any other color pencil skirt that is not black (already got a great black one!)

Snow boots! I'm beginning to realize that after years of living in a snowy climate that these may be essential. They would be great for when I shovel the snow, trek around in the mountains, you know all the freaking time.
These are Sorel 'Tivoli' Waterproof Boots from Nordstrom.

The Hunger Games books!
I need to get in on these especially since the first movie comes out in March and everyone is raving over them!

Chunky scarves (brown please) & big sweaters and tights and boots. And yes love this.

Gym membership to 24 Fitness (maybe the 2 year one which makes it super cheap a month thanks to Costco?)

Leg warmers to wear with my boots

In no particular order here are some things I've got my eye out for:

*Italicized words are maybe a teensy bit more wanted but in the end I decided I wanted to italicize all so use judgement.

{Random}

+ Planner: a year ago, I almost got a Franklin Planner -you know you are a hard-core planner when you get one of those, but I passed on the opportunity. My mom gets me one every year haha! We are for sure planner people!

+ The Hunger Games books

+ Gym membership to 24 Hour Fitness

+ DSLR camera, cord to transfer photos to your computer, charger, cute bag to store/protect

{Beauty} Nail Polish: OPI nail polish "Have a Tempura Tantrum" (nude), facials/massages

{Clothes}

+ Blazers: Navy, brown, grey (anything but black)

+ Pencil Skirt: grey, any color but black or denim (already have)

+ Brown scarf

+ Gloves: black, brown

+ Skinny Jeans: Black

+ Michael Kors rose gold watch (above) or in normal gold?! Maybe normal...would go with more?

+ Leg warmers to go with my boots! I'm kicking myself over getting rid of some I used to wear to dance as they are very in right now!

+ Cardigan: Black long sleeved one

+ Boots: brown, black

+ Shoes: Gold Sperrys, Toms?, cute SNOW BOOTS!

+ Pea Coat: Black

+ A sparkly sequined top or cardigan or skirt! They are so festive and fun!

+ Denim long-sleeve shirt

+ Tights (mustard yellow) & black cable knit (mine have holes in them!)- Problem is, I'm kind of tall so I always get holes in the toes...so I need to find a strong tall good brand of tights out there! Any suggestions?

{For the home} Blinds, Curtains, Home Decor, Window well covers, Bath mats/towels, Baskets, Church artwork (temples/pictures of Christ), Frames for our future gallery wall or to make a chalkboard mirror

{Katinka} Water/food dishes, Heated bed/pad/cushion

{Kevin} Talk to him. Basically guns, bow and arrows, a gun safe, NO clothes at all, guy things you know :)

Any recommendations for brands on any of these?
What is on your list this year?!

PS. Time to announce the winner from this giveaway! Congrats Jessie from Sweet Little Somethings :) You won! Email me at sloanbookblog@gmail.com and I'll set you up with Corina so you can get your custom water color portrait started!

{Giveaway} Cowl/Eternity Scarf from A Girl Named Leney [CLOSED]

2011-12-12T06:30:00.016-07:00

Today we have an amazing giveaway! I am so excited because Leney is the sweetest girl ever and has the cutest shop (here) with a percentage of the proceeds going towards a great cause- to help fight and abolish human trafficking!

I.am.dying. over what she is giving away to one of my readers!

A pink cowl!

I just recently became obsessed with cowls as I my mother-in-law bought me my first one a couple of weeks ago!

Time to meet Leney!

Hello there! My name is Leney and I blog over at A Girl Named Leney (creative right?). I have a lot of passions which include (but are not limited to) photography, traveling, fashion, and all things crafty.

My blog is a personal outlet for me to talk about all the things I love doing but also to get the word out about my photography business and Etsy shop which I recently opened! Ever since I was little I've loved crafts and making things and I've always wanted to have my own little shop to sell the things I make in my spare time. And now I do! I hope you stop by and check it out.

A portion of my proceeds go to The A21 Campaign to help support their fight to abolish human trafficking, which is a subject that I feel passionate about. I've come to learn that every little bit counts and anyone can make a difference no matter how small. It can help shape someones life for the better. And I believe we are made to use our God given talents to love and help others and so that is what I strive to do.

Good luck entering the giveaway and feel free to stop by the blog and say hi because I love making new blogger friends!

Here is the beauty she is giving away!

I am so obsessed with cowls these days (like I said earlier) so I am very jealous of whoever wins this!

Cowls are a great way to stay warm while staying stylish :) Lets be real; we all need one. Ready go!

{Mandatory Entry}
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AND... Leney has also offered a discount code for my fabulous readers! Yay!

For 10% off your purchase use the coupon code: Sloanbook
at her Etsy shop here! Expires Dec. 21, 2011 at 12:01 am

Seriously go snatch yourself something fancy! Her shop also includes: headbands, beanies, scarves, jewelry! I'm dying over these.

You have until December 19, 2011 at midnight MST to enter!

Winner will be announced December 20, 2011!

Note: This giveaway is for US & Canada residents only.

Good luck!!!

PS. I'm sponsoring a giveaway on Hollie's blog, Hollie Takes Notes here! Check it OUT! :D AND Hollie is so amazing! For every person who enters the giveaway she will DONATE 50 cents to an amazing charity!!! Please help out a great cause!!!

PPS. Today is the last day to enter to win a custom water color portrait on my blog here!
You have until midnight MST tonight :)

Baby Talk

2011-12-09T06:30:00.004-07:00

Me & Kelsi (3 & 2 years old)

The "Most Popular Baby Names of 2011" article came out here and unfortunately the only name we kind of wanted (for awhile now) is #3 on the girls list!
The name is Bella (list says Isabella).
Now now, you may be thinking, because of Twilight?!
Nope. Kevin lived in Italy for 2 years (serving a mission for our church) and before Twilight got big we decided we wanted to name a future daughter, Bella.
Bella means 'beautiful' in Italian and is a very cute name.
Now, Bella is hello, Bella Cullen...and everyone and their dog's name is Bella...
But whatever, who knows what we will decide, when the time comes.
It doesn't really matter what other people think than us.
And we are not pregnant. Fyi! *cough* I am not pregnant.
I feel weird when people say "We are pregnant!"
Nope your wife is...she's cooking the baby.
Sorry husband you are not.
Don't judge but I think it is a little weird but I'm sure I will say it too...

Speaking of babies...
This one time this past summer Kevin found an app for the iPhone that if you upload two photos it creates your baby. The first baby that came out was a little blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes. Kevin was like, "Awe...!" (Kevin has really pretty blue eyes). Then we tried it again and a black baby came out. So, it was definitely not an accurate baby maker, haha.

With that said, I decided to see what our baby may look like haha. I used these pictures since we are both facing straight on and without anyone else...which the random websites recommended.
(We are on our honeymoon here...take me back!!!)

Now I don't know what happened to that first baby haha but it was really hard to make. You had to mark like every point on your faces and the it morphed into that one...which obviously got a little funky. No offense, I think the second one is a little creepy. Is that a 3 year olds face in a newborns body?

I hope our kids are cute. Even if they aren't to other people I'm sure we will think ours are haha!
That is how it is supposed to work!

So who knows what our baby will look like or what we will name them/him/her...but I thought I would share these random points for the day. And I am not pregnant. I'm sure tons of people who clicked on this post thought this may be an announcement, haha!

What are you up to this weekend?
We got a Ward Christmas Party tonight and hopefully will finish organizing our home over the weekend! That goal may be a little too high haha. We'll see!

PS. Giveaway here!
PPS. Sponsor spotlight here (Feeding My Temple) & here (Alisha and Brandon)!

Colorado Eagles Double Date Night + Tulle Wreath!

2011-12-08T06:30:00.001-07:00

First up! Do not forget about this giveaway!

Now onto our double date night last Saturday, December 3, 2011!

Kevin and I got free tickets from work to see a Colorado Eagles hockey game! They used to be in the central hockey league (CHL) but I think they just moved up a division so I'm not sure on what they play in now!

We went on the date with James and Laura and their newborn, Audra! It was so much fun! We ate at The Spicy Pickle and then watched the game at the Budweiser Events Center. The Eagles won in a shootout. Oh and they played the Utah Grizzlies, I'm pretty sure! It was a very intense game!

Me & Laura & baby Audra

The husbands intensely watching the game!
Kevin & James

What a fun evening with great friends. I grew up watching the Colorado Eagles so it is always fun to go and watch! Anyone a hockey fan?
Believe it or not this was our first double date since we have moved to Colorado! Yes we have been kind of lame and usually just hang out at home but we finally made plans. We need to get out more often, haha!

Funny story: When I moved to BYU in August of 2006 for freshman year, I brought my Mission M-1 hockey stick... yep, I was a legit. I thought more people would be into hockey and man I couldn't find that many! I was so shocked! During high school, I would hit slap shots now and again in our coldesac with friends; I guess a good amount of guys I knew played hockey so it was just a fun thing to do now and again. Sadly, I don't remember the last time I've hit a slap shot! The good old days... :) By the way a Mission M-1 is a very good stick, hehe.

PS. Laura, Emily, Heidi & I had a craft night last night and we made these wreaths...

Image via my Pinterest board, Pretty for my door here

Unfortunately, I could not find the source of this picture (bad pinners for taking the website off!) so I have no clue who made this wreath (or made it up) but ours are looking pretty good! I didn't finish mine but will soon! All you need is a wreath, tulle (we got 25 yards a person), ribbon (with wire in it so can hold a bow), and a wreath hanger! My wreath is off white and I got maroon ribbon! So excited to hang it on my front door! :)

Cheers! And be sure to stop by and check out this giveaway to see if you maybe want to enter!

Do you know of a great wreath tutorial?
If so, give me the link friends!

Right now I am loving them! Also on a side note...for all you interior designers, can you hang wreaths other places than on your front door? I have never owned one before haha. I am an amateur interior designer and craftician!

Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri

2011-12-07T06:30:00.001-07:00

I am obsessed with caves!

Well, ever since I had a clogging (dance) competition in Branson, Missouri at Silver Dollar City, I became obsessed with caves!

I was in elementary school or junior high when I went to one of the competitions there. Silver Dollar City is an amusement park/attraction in Branson with rides and all the works. What they have that sets them apart is a cave underneath the entrance called Marvel Cave! That is the first cave I think I went in.

Anyways, I loved going on a tour in that cave and when I started dating Kevin I thought it was awesome that he was from Missouri because of all of the caves there! Missouri has so many! After three years of being married we finally got to go in one ha!

We went to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, Missouri!

Check out their website here!

Anyways, over this weekend we stayed in Bolivar which is 20 minutes away from Fantastic Caverns so we had to stop by and check it out!

Oh, and I can't forget to say that this is one of only FOUR drive through caves in the world and the only ONE in the US!

Here is Fantastic Caverns!

They wouldn't let us touch the cave walls except for the ceiling here!

I am touching the beginnings of stalactites!

More stalactites.

Some cave terminology for you:

Stalactites: come down from the ceiling

Stalagmites: come from the ground up

Columns: when stalactites and stalagmites meet

Now identify them in the pictures!

Twin columns which are very rare.

The exit of Fantastic Caverns.

Here is our car group :)

It was so much fun and I highly recommend going on a cave tour if you ever get a chance!

Thanksgiving in Kansas City Pt. 2

2011-12-06T06:30:00.002-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

First up, don't forget to check out an amazing giveaway going on my blog here!
Now onto the second installment of our trip over Thanksgiving week in Kansas City, Missouri!

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day - November 24, 2011

We had amazing food, relaxed, and hung out with family.

Here is what I'm grateful for and here is what all we really did!

Oh, and I forgot to add in Part 1 that we watched our niece, Lily at gymnastics! She is already really talented and basically the best in her class! She is very flexible, enthusiastic, and fearless :)

Isn't she adorable?

Friday - November 25, 2011

In the morning I finished reading Water for Elephants and then relaxed for a few hours. In the afternoon we traveled to a city 2.5 hours away from Kansas City called Bolivar. That is where Kyle (Kevin's brother) is attending school (Southwest Baptist University) and playing basketball. We came down to watch two of his games (one Friday night and the other Saturday night) and stayed in a hotel. The Painters and the Reeses came as well. They won their game this night and it was a lot of fun! Kyle was the highest scorer on his team and did great! Afterwards we all ate at Taco Bell since we were hungry late at night!

Saturday - November 26, 2011

We woke up and headed out to Fantastic Caverns in Springfield, MO which is one of only four drive through caves in the world! I have a ton of awesome pictures of the cave and event so this will get its own blog post tomorrow! The cave was gorgeous and it was a lot of fun!

After the cave, the girls got manicures and went shopping at Ann Taylor Loft while the guys hung out at Bass Pro Shop.

Lily & Anna (Kevin's sister)

Lily was so funny getting her nails done! She was so excited about them and it was so cute! She got two sparkly colors alternating with each finger. Sadly, one whole nail's polish came off at the game later on.

I got this gray color by O.P.I. and I love it! I am loving neutrals right now, i.e. nudes, grays, light browns, etc. This color is called "French Quarters for Your Thoughts" and I may or may have not bought it at Ulta to go in my stocking...haha.

What are your favorite nail polish colors right now?

Afterwards we ate at QDoba and then went to another Southwest Baptist University Basketball game! Unfortunately they lost this one but it was still a lot of fun!

Lily & I

She didn't want to take any pictures with me so I had to bribe her. She let me take a few pictures like this in exchange for her taking my camera the rest of the night taking tons of random pictures haha.

PS. That off white eternity scarf is from Ann Taylor Loft and I LOVE IT!!! Thanks Kathy!

Sunday - November 27, 2011

We woke up and attended church. This was the first time we attended all 3 hours of church not in nursery! It was great to get to go to Sunday School and Relief Society! Ah, what a treat! Then we flew back home later that evening...it was so much fun and we are excited to go back and visit for Christmas time!

{Giveaway} Custom Water Color Portrait from Corina's Corner! [CLOSED]

2011-12-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

Friends, you won't believe what one of my sponsors is giving away!!!
Corina from Corina's Corner is graciously offering an
amazing custom water color portrait for one of you!

All you do is send Corina one of your favorite photographs and she will create a beautiful water color portrait personalized just for you! Visit her Etsy shop here!

Here she is!

Meet Corina: My name is Corina Sorensen. I am from beautiful Colorado, but currently live in Utah where I am attending Brigham Young University. I am studying Technology Engineering Education. I have been married for just over a year, to my best friend and the best looking man around. My husband is also still a student at BYU studying Manufacturing Engineering. We're both just about done with school, right on the edge of starting "real life." I enjoy photography, art, playing sports, and spending time with my family!

She is amazing right? Graduating from BYU AND from Colorado...
{Twinner!}

Now, take a look at a few of her ah-mazing custom water color portraits!

I would love to win one of these to hang up in our house! Aren't they amazing? Unfortunately I cannot enter (obviously) but YOU can! Win one for you and your hubby, your best friend, or family member!

Here is your chance!
Ready GO!

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You have until December 12, 2011 at midnight MST to enter.

Winner will be announced December 13, 2011.
Note: This is giveaway is for US & Canada residents only!

Good luck!!!

Little About My Wedding Dress + A Special Moment

2011-12-02T06:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you but eventually I am going to print out my blog and make a book out of it! I'm sure one day my kids or whoever reads it (or attempts to) will think I am a crazy lady obsessed with my husband and our chihuahua haha!

With that said, I am sharing a guest post I did for Hayley over at The Newlywed Pingrees this June of 2011; it is riggghht here! It was also my first guest post ever so I was really worried if it was good enough and was worried it was too long haha. Fun stuff...read on if you like weddings! PS. Check out her blog because I love it and wish we were bffs.

***

Hey lovely readers of The Newlywed Pingrees!

I'm Ashley and write over at Sloanbook. I am so excited to be guest posting for Hayley today! I was thrilled when she asked me to write while she is on her amazing trip! I absolutely adore her blog and think she is the most sweetest girl ever! Unfortunately I just moved away from where she is at so we never got to meet up but I feel that we would be very good friends! And I think our husbands would be too :)

Today I am going to tell you a little about my wedding including what I wore and a special moment. My husband is Kevin and we were married almost 3 years ago on August 8, 2008. We were married in the Denver, Colorado LDS temple for time and all eternity. In case you are wondering the date is 08.08.08 which according to the Chinese culture is a very lucky day to be married!

Because Kevin and I were engaged on June 3, 2008 and married on August 8, 2008 we didn't have a lot of time to plan the wedding. I was attending Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah at the time of the engagement which means there are a lot of wedding dress stores in the area. My mom flew into town and we started looking around. We found out that for the majority of wedding dress stores you needed to buy a dress at least a few months in advance of the wedding so you could order the dress and do multiple fittings. I definitely did not have 4 or 5 months! Plus after spring term at BYU I was going to be living back home in Colorado so multiple fittings would be almost impossible.

My mom and I went into Allyse's Bridal at the University Mall because they had dresses in different sizes so you wouldn't need to order one. I thought I knew exactly what I wanted and when my mom suggested the dress I didn't want to try it on. Honestly, I didn't really like the dress. She basically told me I should try it on just to see, so I did and I am glad I did!

As soon as I tried it on I fell in love with it! My mom loved it too and I am so glad that she pulled it off the rack and made me try it on! I chose to get it in ivory instead of pure white. I liked how it was a little different than other typical LDS wedding dresses. One of my favorite parts of the dress is the back.

Some details: My dress, veil, and headpiece were all from Allyse's Bridal. My diamond earrings were from Nordstrom. My light blue shoes were Anne Klein from Zappos (not pictured). I wore Bare Minerals makeup done by myself. My favorite hairdresser in Fort Collins, Colorado (where I am living now) did my hair really early the morning of the wedding. So there you have it!

A special moment was during our reception in Windsor, Colorado. It started raining really hard and most everyone was drenched but halfway through it stopped and a beautiful rainbow came out. I'm not sure how many people have rainbows at their weddings :)

If you have any questions you can find me at Sloanbook. Have a great day readers! Hopefully you enjoyed it. Thanks again Hayley! :)

***

And there we have it! I have never really blogged much about our wedding...maybe I should soon! I just am always trying to blog about the latest happenings and never have time for things in the past! But I will blog about my wedding! Hold me to it ;)

PS. OH and Hayley & I did meet at the Utah Blogger Meet Up so we are real life friends!

AND sooo excited I will be having a new blog design soon!!! Eeeek!

And an ah-mazing giveaway will be up on Monday!

What are you doing this weekend?

I'm hanging out with my friend Emily, unpacking/organizing/Christmas decorating/present wrapping, going on a double date with our friends James & Laura to a hockey game, church, & um some more house stuff :D

Awesome x Three

2011-12-01T06:30:00.000-07:00

3 awesome things going down:

1 // The lovely Hayley from The Newlywed Pingrees interviewed me for a newspaper article in The Daily Herald. Yes Brigham Young University's Daily Herald! You know that newspaper all over campus?! And it is online as well. Well, Hayley is writing for the newspaper and she wrote an article titled, Bloggers Swapping 'Buttons' and I'm in it!

Check it out HERE!

2 // You know my amazing photographer sponsor, Tiffany Rebecca Photography? Well she posted a bunch of our pictures from this shoot on her new blog! She just got a new blog and I am loving it. Head on over here to see our photoshoot and check out her blog!

3 // Lastly, check out my sponsor spotlight here at Christa Jae's blog!

3.5 // Awesome giveaway coming up on Monday and the following Monday. Get ready.

What are you up to today?

I got work, house stuff, & doggy training classes tonight!

Behold, Thanksgiving Day in Kansas City

2011-11-30T06:30:00.000-07:00

Happy - almost week late - Thanksgiving!
Here is my real Happy Thanksgiving to you including what I am grateful for!
Here is what we did via Instagram!
{Instagram: ashleysloan7}

We woke up, Kevin played in a turkey bowl, I helped cook, cooked some more, family came over...
Lily (my niece) & I
Lily is hilarious/cute/darling and she put the flower in my hair, haha and I honestly think I look weird in this picture but whatever, I'm posting it. And I want Lily's shirt; sparkles rock.

had a feast, gorged ourselves, ate some more...

from the many foods...
A variety of rolls, bean salad, deviled eggs, spinach salad, jello, asparagus, turkey, gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, etc...

from the many desserts...

Ooey gooey butter cake, pumpkin pie, pies (pecan & berry one I think?), trifle, & more...

we may have been biased to think the trifle was the best dessert...
as Kevin & I made it
Layers include: Chocolate cake, chocolate pudding, hot fudge, home made whip cream, heath bar crumbles, repeat.

while we were in Kansas City, Katinka was at home in Colorado in a crock pot...
more on this here

afterwards we:
watched Modern Family,
I read Water for Elephants some more,
& made these bracelets with my sister-in-law Tara!
{pardon my horrible image quality}

Courtesy of this tutorial from the blog, Stephanie & Such!
One for my sister (on her mission) & 1 for me!
And I got tons of extra material to make mooore :)

Thanksgiving in Kansas City Pt. 1

2011-11-29T06:30:00.002-07:00

Hey heyyy.

Do you like my feathers? I feel like Steven Tyler when I wear them.
They are pretty fun. Just saying.

It is time to talk about my week in Kansas City, Missouri!
We visited KC from November 18-27, 2011. Here is the first part of our KC break! And if you want to know what we did, here you go.

[1] Kathy, Tara, & I shopped at Nell Hills and I scored these ~~three~~ four finds. Nell Hills is a cute home furniture/decor boutique in Atchison, Missouri. They have other locations as well. Nell Hills was celebrating their 30th (I think 30th!) year in business. They gave everyone who came cute journals (the fourth find) and had a drawing for $3000 to their store! Unfortunately we didn't win the big prize haha... I really liked this store! They had great home decor at reasonable prices! I got all of this for $34 and just the tray would have been $30 anywhere else.

My souvenirs: awesome tray (not fully in the picture), reindeer ornament (or I may just leave out for decoration :)), and a cute blue candle holder! I would have bought so much more stuff but a lot of it was breakable and too big and that doesn't work out well with suitcases and flying...

[2] My newest niece, Poppy Painter got blessed at church Nov. 20th!
Poor little girl cried the whole time! Isn't she beautiful in her dress? :) After church we ate a very yummy lunch at the Painters' home to celebrate!

[3] The in-laws backyard! Gorgeous, right? I love when the leaves fall off...so magical!
I'm still waiting for Kevin to jump off the balcony with me after calling me a "Spider Monkey"
{Twilight reference fyi}
And we saw Breaking Dawn Part 1 with David & Tara Painter! It was pretty good but cheesy in some parts. I started laughing at the wolf part. Also, the honeymoon, overall, was pretty awkward. I felt like the movie followed the book pretty well so that was a success. You can't ever have a perfect movie that is based off a book so I'm not too worried about the cheesy parts.

[4] I finished reading Water for Elephants! I couldn't put the book down! It was SO good! I am dying to rent the movie now and have a movie night with Kevin! I just didn't like when August would abuse Rosie (the elephant). Elephants are my favorite animals!

Don't you love when you are reading a really good book? :) Like when you are doing something else you look forward to reading it!? I am needing to get my hands on The Hunger Games; everyone is obsessed with them and I should probably just hop on the bandwagon.

[5] Just a Thanksgiving Eve snack!
Cheese, olives, cantaloupe, and prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe!
Personally, I am not a fan of prosciutto but Kevin had it on his mission so he made it for everyone!

and...pumpernickel bread with spinach & artichoke dip!

And there you have it. At least until Thanksgiving Day with just my Instagram photos :)

I just figured out how you can follow other peoples' Instagram photos via Followgram! Lets be Instagram friends...will ya be my friend? :) Here I am!

Also, what the heck? Google is cancelling Google Friend Connect in March of 2012! Bloggers what are you planning on doing about this? Putting up RSS, Feedburner, hoping for Bloglovin', Reader to pick up? I think it is a good thing (in a way) because I think there are a ton of blogs out there with lots of followers and barely any traffic! I think it is misleading to many (including sponsors, etc.) but anyways, just a thought.
But let me know your thoughts! Have a good day!

More on this trip here:
Behold, Thanksgiving Day in Kansas City

We're back in FoCo!

2011-11-28T06:30:00.003-07:00

Thanksgiving day, my dad texted me,

"We had a good Thanksgiving!"

and sent me this picture of Katinka in our crock pot!

Lol. I love her and missed her.

Last night Kevin & I arrived back home. Our Thanksgiving in Kansas City was so much fun. We had amazing food for our Thanksgiving meal and for leftovers of course. We watched a few movies, hung out, got our nails done, went shopping, got crafty and made some bracelets, etc. We saw Breaking Dawn with David & Tara Painter. In my opinion, the movie was good but I would like to say that wolf scene was hilarious. I finished reading Water for Elephants and am dying to see the movie now! Anyone know if it is at Redbox now? We also spent this past weekend in Bolivar, Missouri as Kyle (Kevin's brother) plays basketball for Southwest Baptist University. We watched two of his games and explored a huge cave...Overall, we had a nice relaxing week of hanging out with family and taking it easy.

More to come tomorrow!

Time to unpack, put up Christmas decor, and organize our house :)

{It is still super messy/chaotic/not organized hahaha!}

Life After BYU Graduation

2011-11-25T06:30:00.076-07:00

Kevin & I at BYU Graduation, April of 2011

I have been meaning to write on this topic for awhile and now is the perfect opportunity. Kevin and I both graduated from BYU's Marriott School of Management in April of this year. Studying at one of the top 5 business schools of the nation was very stressful. My friends and I would be completing a hundred assignments at once, going to school, working, working out, and hanging out with friends and/or spouses. I remember wishing graduation would come sooner so many times.

Everyone always says to enjoy life in the moment and something I always do is look to the future. If you don't know I am a perfectionist. I always have to try my hardest and a little more in all that I do. This made school much harder than it needed to be. If I could do college over again I would try not to care as much in general but to enjoy life and just go with it. Could I re-do college and do that? No, because that is not the kind of person I am. I would spend hours studying Accounting, writing those business plans, etc. and would do that over spending time with friends. I didn't want to but I had to. That is the type of personality I have.

It was fun to graduate as I graduated with some good friends from the business school. It was also sad! We had lots of family come in for graduation which was great but it went so fast and then it was over. I wish that I could have had some time after graduation to hang out with everyone in Provo but everyone has their own life and their new jobs so that couldn't happen.

Right after graduation we moved to Fort Collins, Colorado and started our new lives there. We love Colorado; it is very similar to Utah minus Mormons everywhere. It is mountainous, dry, not too hot or cold, and gorgeous! There is so much fun stuff to do in Colorado! We are really excited to go snowboarding soon! Oh, and I grew up in Fort Collins so I know some fun things to do and the area decently well, although, there is so much stuff to do that we haven't!

Honestly, I miss BYU and my friends so much. I miss freshman year hanging out with lots of friends, going on big group dates, etc. I miss dancing at BYU and performing in huge Christmas Around The World performances...now those were fun! I could go on about memories but I will stop now :) In ways I miss studying for hours, walking to the testing center while reviewing definitions or equations, trying to take my tests listening to kids sniffling who have colds or coughing (and getting really annoyed, lol), and then walking out of the testing center feeling great because I finished. I miss parking accross Wendys, walking on Bulldog up to the Tanner building (business building) or RB for dance classes in the cold. I miss listening to new teachers read the syllabi and getting really stressed out with all of the homework, essays, group projects we'd have to complete, haha. It is all good when you look back and think about it but in the moment I sure did not miss it.

Pretty much I miss the people and memories!

Now everyday, I wake up, get ready and make lunch, go to work, and then come home and do random things. Life is just different. I don't have a gym membership which was something I always looked forward to going in Utah but I think I may get one soon. I don't have many friends like I used to but they will come in time. But there is so much to be grateful for and Kevin and I are so blessed! We have a great ward and church callings, my family is nearby (less than 1 mile!), a home, each other, and a puppy! Life is good and always changing! You can't stay in college forever and this is how life is. You go through phases and move on...and now we are starting a new life in Colorado together!

How do you deal with change and/or moving to a "new" place?

A Day of Thanks

2011-11-24T06:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

This picture is from Thanksgiving in 2009 and it is a funny version of a family picture (Kevin's side)! Do you love it? Hehe.

This Thanksgiving we are in Kansas City! Last year we stayed in little Provo here. Today I must share some things I am thankful for. I think that so many people get bogged down on what they don't have or something little that is bothering them that they don't realize how good they have it and all of the things they are blessed with! I need to always remember to be more grateful!

What I'm thankful for:

+ My husband

+ The gospel (go here!)

+ Our Savior and the Atonement

+ That Kevin was able to serve a mission in Milan, Italy

+ That Kelsi is serving a mission in Sao Paulo, Brazil

+ Temples

+ Eternal Families

+ Our house

+ Katinka and how fun she is

+ The opportunity Kevin & I had to attend Brigham Young University and graduate

+ Our degrees. I majored in Marketing and minored in World Dance

+ Our jobs which provides an income

+ The ability to move, exercise, dance

+ Contacts/glasses for without them I'd be blind (legally think I may be)

+ Clothes to keep me warm and express myself ;)

+ Our two cars for transportation

+ Food to eat and some to spare

+ Our church callings to teach the toddlers in nursery

+ Our backyard where we have room to hang out, barbecue, and space for Katinka to run

+ Friends to spend time with and have fun

+ TV shows (Modern Family, Office, etc.) to provide entertainment, laughter and great quotes to say over and over

+ Blogging so I can document our lives

+ Friends who help us out when we have car problems, when we move, and when we need it

+ Workout classes and gyms as they inspire me to workout harder and they are also fun

+ Skype so we can talk and see Kelsi on her mission in Brazil a couple of times

+ Doctors and medicine that they can help you out when you are sick

+ Light/electricity/heat/plumbing so that we can live the way we do

+ Travel, so much!

+ Airplanes so that we can visit different places around the world quickly

& so much more

What are you thankful for?

If you blogged about it, leave me your link in a comment; I'd love to read them!

Also, if you want you can create a DIY Thankful Board...go here!

And...who all is going Black Friday shopping? Are you planning on getting something good?

House Progress + A Haircut

2011-11-23T06:30:00.001-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!!!

I promise this will be one of my last random posts for awhile! I am practically caught up and after will be able to blog about our trip that we are on as of now! Here we go!

[1] Just me & my new haircut! It is nothing crazy but a good cut. Remember when I had that ombre hair disaster here? Well, because my hair was colored 3 times in 2 weeks it was really damaged. You know it is time to call your hair stylist when you have a hair with 17 split ends (does that make sense?)! I know GROSS! Anyways, that was embarrassing to throw out there, but my hair is now cut and all good to go!

[2] Behold, Kevin's Cougar statue that was recently unpacked. Kevin got this Cougar statue at the BYU Student Athlete Graduation Luncheon (here) as all graduating athletes got them. Kevin played Baseball for BYU...those were the days :) Now this Cougar is in his office at work!

[3] Chicken Quesadillas from QDoba! Who has had QDoba and who loves it? I ate here seriously 2-3 times a week in high school and when I moved to Utah to attend BYU I couldn't. They do not have any QDobas in Utah, as far as I know? Am I wrong? I am pretty sure...

Truth: I made a Facebook Group titled "I miss my QDoba" when I graduated high school and moved to Utah HAHAHA. And I actually had a few hundred people join it! No I didn't post or do anything but I made the group and I think it is hilarious. I wonder if it is still there...lol.

[4] Unpacked: My elephant bag from Kusadasi, Turkey! What do you think? You may already know but elephants are my favorite animal (proof here)! I should maybe blog about that cruise although it was years ago...

[5] Alas, a little house progress! Here is our walk-in closet, mainly my clothes...

We are now working on our two upstairs bathrooms and study room!

Slow progress but it is coming along.

Do you have any organization or storage tips? How do you store your belts? I hang mine on a hanger but I don't think it is that effective/efficient. Haha.

RIP Orem Nordstrom

2011-11-22T06:30:00.002-07:00

Disclaimer: You may think I am ridiculous. That is okay because I am fine with it.

Glad we have that established. But it kind of is a little ridiculous so don't judge...that much.

Did you hear Nordstrom in University Mall, Orem, Utah is closing in late February of 2012?

I found out via Stephanie's Facebook status update. Stephanie is from Stephanie & Such and I love her blog so! Anyways, she works there and is trying to figure out what her plans are once the store closes. I vote for her to come to the closest location to me!!!

It is horrible I know! I get it - I just moved out of Utah - but this location was less than 5 minutes from our last rental house. It was the Nordstrom where I fell in love with...Nordstrom!

Why? It is closing because it is the 2nd least producing volume store for Nordstrom. Basically they need more sales from more people who spend a lot of money and lets be real, there are a lot of cheap people in Provo/Orem, Utah. You get all of the college students who freak out because rent is SO much when in reality it is some of the cheapest out there! At least I knew a lot of people like this at BYU. Anyways, that is pretty much why. There are lots of articles online if you google, so look around. Also a video here. [I wish I was interviewed]

Some great memories:

Every single day during freshman year, Alexandra Sullivan & I would go to the mall and we would always hit up Nordstrom. It was actually a really bad habit, haha! We would go to class and then go shopping! That is when I fell in love. I also finally fell out of love with Abercrombie & Fitch, hehe. I wonder what the other freshman in our Helamen Halls thought of us and my friends. Always going to the mall and coming back with bags!!! Those were the days. But really I was kind of a shopaholic but no worries I didn't get in debt at all. But I just love and still LOVE to buy clothes! I guess I am a recovering addict.

Side note: Stock up on clothes -everything- before you get married because then you will have a budget haha!

Whenever my mom would come visit we would go to Nordstrom. We would spend hours in there going from department to department. Trying on swimsuits, going to the old lady department - Point of View - Savvy (I never got anything there, hecka expensive) - BP - extc... We would get a big room and try on gazillion pieces of clothing and the girls would keep trying to throw jeans and extra complementary pieces over the door as a sales tactic. No worries, I took Sales Management at BYU!

Also, I applied for a Management Internship two winters ago and got through the phone interview, met with the HR guy - Matt? - and then realized that I was going on a two week cruise during their Anniversary Sale. If that cruise was any other time it would have worked out. I also interviewed with the Accessories department and with Julie from Children's Shoes. I think if it weren't for the trip I would have ended up in Children's Shoes or in the internship...I would have been really good at that job. Lets be real. 1. I love clothes/fashion. 2. I would have a bigger budget for clothes so I would wear more stylish things and that is important when selling clothes. 3. I majored in Business with an emphasis in Marketing and I took a Sales class. I freaking love promoting products... Anyways.

When I first told Kevin the store was closing, I was telling him all the details and how shocked I was. He was like, "Wow, you really love Nordstrom. You light up whenever you talk about it. Maybe you should work there. You would love it and be good at it!" This is not shocking but I really do light up when I talk about it and walk in the store. I just love the feeling of going into stores I am obsessed with. I freak out over all of the displays, products, everything.

I am seriously considering applying to one in Boulder which is a 45 minute drive. Crazy? Maybe. Will I? Maybe? Last summer I worked for my father-in-laws company and I had to drive 30 minutes each way! I guess a lot of people commute eh? My rheumatologist lives in Denver and commutes everyday! I have a part-time job now so maybe I could go to 2-3 shifts at Nordys? Am I crazy? Haha!

Also, I have been tweeting @Nordstrom asking if they can put in a location (or the possibilities of it) in Fort Collins or Loveland, Colorado (where I am living now) and they said they will pass on my comments. I asked for an email address for someone who I can talk to about it and then someone emailed me! He gave me a list of new store openings until year 2013 and there won't be another in Colorado at least until year 2013. But I am doing what I can! I would definately be the first to apply if there ever was a store nearby. But really we need one in Northern Colorado. Fort Collins/Loveland/Windsor is growing rapidly and we just got a brand new outdoor mall - Centerra - and I could see a Nordstrom there.

1) Are you sad about the Nordstrom closing in Orem?

2) Should I apply to Nordstrom in Boulder & drive 45 minutes to work?

RIP Orem Nordstrom. You will be missed.

I feel like I need to get out there one more time before it closes...sad.
PS. And our winner of this giveaway is Aimee from Like Mother, Like Daughter! Congrats!
Email me :)