Inspiration..

We are given trials every day of our lives that bring us down, but we must get ourselves back up again. Stephanie Nielsen (aka nienie) is the greatest example to me of someone who fell down, hard, but she had to get herself back up again. I want to be more like this wonderful woman.

For the love of all drivers.

When someone willingly allows you to merge into their lane, what do you do?

Do you kindly wave your hand to let them know how appreciative you are of them?

Or do you rudely ignore them and go about your day as if someone wasn't kind enough to allow you to enter their lane?

I find that when someone is thoughtful enough to make some room for me to get over, it makes my whole day-you never know, I might need to urgently get off at the next exit or take the next right. It would really stink if I missed an exit just because some bozo wouldn't slow down enough for me to move into their lane.

Give me your opinion if you wish, but do you think Utah drivers are rude and inconsiderate? I know that we've got inconsiderate drivers all over this country, but Utah seems to be the breeding grounds for rude drivers. I'm from Washington and I don't remember any drivers that wouldn't allow you to merge into their lane. It just gets under my skin when drivers don't allow other drivers into their lane to the point that you have to squeeze yourself in their lane and then there is no room for a "thank you" at that point. "Who made that driver King or Queen of that lane? Hmm. Whooo?"

I need to take a chill pill.

I hope I'm making myself clear.

I have my moments, I am definitely not a perfect driver. I have the occasional road rage experience, but overall I am aware that I don't own the road and need to be considerate of those driving in front, behind, or next to me.

My rant has ended here.

guilty pleasure

 Did you know that Nutella has a day to itself, "World Nutella Day," who would've thought?

 Studying makes me hunger. That's why I made this. Nutella Pumpkin Bread.  I got it off of Two Peas and Their Pods blog. So tasty. Nutella is the greatest invention ever made. I want to swim in a pool of Nutella, actually that would be awkward...but I could eat it everyday if Nutella were a weight loss program. Absolutely, I would.


I did something goofy last night. Will said to me, "Can you make me some Nutella bread?" I said, "Absolutely, poopsy." Just kidding, we don't use pet names. So, I walked myself into the kitchen to make Nutella+Devine French bread= Nutella bread. I hand him the plate of deliciousness and he starts laughing. I began to ask in confusion, "What's so funny, Mr. Humorbox?" Will goes on to tell me that he had in mind some Nutella pumpkin bread and assumed I knew what he meant when he said, "Nutella bread." I felt sheepish. You'd think that being married for two years you'd know each other well enough. I am the kind of person that will make exactly what you tell me to make. I don't read minds for heaven's sake. From now on, I am going to have Will fill out a survey before I prepare him a meal. Ok, we won't go to that extreme of a level.


You have got to make this recipe, it is delectable. But, if you don't like Nutella or Pumpkin, then you probably shouldn't try this recipe and we probably shouldn't be friends. Kidding on that last part. Enjoy, I know you will.

Aww Shucks..

I love my husbands idea of a birthday gift. He knows exactly the way to this woman's heart.

  I like to run. A lot. My knees are taking a hit due to the shoes I've been wearing. No longer will that be an issue, because my husband took me to this store: 26.2 (running-everything store) and they tested the pronation of my foot by recording me on a treadmill running, and used some fancy tools to measure my pronation. For those of you who do not know what pronation of the foot is, (i had no idea what it meant until the nice lady told me.) Pronation of the foot:  The pronated foot is one in which the heel bone angles inward and the arch tends to collapse. (Thank you Wiki). This is the most common foot type. It's kind of confusing, but all you need to know is normal pronation is between 3-6, but I ended up measuring 10 on leftie, and 14 on rightie. This is what was causing my knees to feel like silly puddy when I'd run long distances. Anywho, my husband is the bom dot com and surprised me by taking me to 26.2 to pick out the best shoe to help my knees from not hurting so bad when running. I picked these out of the grand selection of fancy schmancy running shoes. 

Nike.

Employed.

I work at Courtyard at Jamestown as a CNA, and I think it's a pretty awesome job. It's something I enjoy doing, making people's lives easier. By people, I mean the elderly. The only downfall with this job is I work the graveyard shift. Only two days a week, so it's not too detrimental to my sleep. It feels really weird staying up that late. It's like I'm doing something wrong, almost as if I'm disobeying my parents for staying up past my bedtime. Nope, that couldn't be right, because I am an adult. Anyway, I just really wanted to work at Jamestown because it's #1 Assisted Living facility in Utah. So, that's why I took whatever I could get and graveyards is what I could get. My grandmother lives here, so that makes it enjoyable. Except I don't see her at all because she's usually sleeping when I'm working. I didn't appreciate how healthy and with it my grandmother is until I started working at Jamestown. She is one spry cookie and full of life. I just adore her. That's pretty much the update in my life.

A Lot Like Love

Could possibly be my favorite movie.

 

I miss home.

My home has always been Camas, Washington. Home of the Papermakers. I think it's nuts that our school mascot is a Papermaker machine monster.

If you're familiar with Washington, it rains, it's green, and there are lots and lots of trees. Therefore, in order to make paper, you'd need trees. Camas is known for it's stinky Paper Mill. I wonder why they decided to make our mascot the Papermaker machine? Hmm? Beats me. Anywho, I honestly loved where I grew up. We lived in a residential neighborhood, that produced good people. My closest friends lived in that neighborhood with me. I remember our late (late being, 9:00pm for a 13 year old) summer evenings playing "kick the can" with my fellow neighbors.

I don't miss having to wake up at 4 am every morning just so I could enjoy a hot shower before my siblings toook over and used up all the hot water. Plus, seminary was at 6 am every morning...SIX O' CLOCK in the MORNING, I've forgotten what 6am looks like. I miss my old house, it was a great house.

Definitely could have used my own room during my adolescent stage, though. Sharing a room with my twin sister was not ideal in my mind. I was clean, she was messy...is messy. Picture living with someone that is the complete opposite of your entire existence. That is exactly how it was living with my twin. But, the funny thing about that is...I miss it. I miss sleeping in my twin bed, next to my twin sister's bed. We had matching quilts and pillows. So, twinnish. I miss our beanie babies basket catching game that we only played when we were supposed to be asleep, (Kelli, you know exactly what I'm talking about), ohh and I miss playing hang man!

The day I got my driver's license, I had never felt so cool in my life. I could do anything, I was free. Well, almost. I still had a curfew and enough change to buy me a Taco Bell bean burrito and double decker. I was finally able to drive to my Best Friend, Chelsey's house almost all the time. My girls, Chels, Emily, and I would get all cute for the Stake dances and we were be able to drive ourselves. Never felt so good. We were party animals at those church dances.

 

It's not what you think. 

Sparkling cider is the only way to go.

Excuse my sweaty pit. We danced the night away.

Everything about Washington is grand. Yes, it rains buckets a day, and you'd think you'd get tired of the rain and the cloudy weather. I never did. When I graduated and moved out to Utah,  I loved it. But, Utah will never be Washington. I think it's beautiful out here in it's own special way. I just don't want to end up here. Although, I don't know where Will and I will end up in the future. I do know that Will would love to move back to his home in the South. North Carolina, if it were his choice. I would love to be in Washington, if at all possible. Who knows. It's just exciting that we get to create our future together. I've decided that my home is where Will is. Whether it's in Utah, Alaska, or  Maupiti (now wouldn't that be a peach) or even Canada, eh?  I know that we will be okay because we're in this together.