So. I'll admit it. I'm a pro stalker when it comes to the internet. Be it facebook, pinterest, or instagram. I end up on people's pages that I know nothing about. But boy do they have cute stuff! My new found obsession? Blogs. I haven't quite figured out how to stalk blogs, but reading friend's blogs has begun to take up some of my time. And it didn't take too many blog readings for me to realize that my title was hanging way too far off the lame cliff.
Since being married, and because I didn't cook much before being married, I've been trying new recipes almost every night. Some turn out great, some don't. All have been from pinterest. But as I've been trying these out, I've begun to see what really goes into meals. And I've reflected back on some of the failures at recipes, like the time my best friend in elementary school and I accidentally doubled the flour recipe in cookies. Too much of that stuff and your cookies cook like rocks. Or the time my roommate forgot to put the egg in her brownies... I've come to realize just how much one single ingredient means and what can happen if you use too much.
Taking this, and the need for a new blog title, it came to me. Recipes are like life.
To explain, I'm going to use a recipe for some of my favorite pieces of heaven : Mint Chocolate Brownies.
This recipe is just one I found off the internet, but my favorite happen to be my old roommate Tiffany's. But.. I don't have the recipe. Tiffer Beans, if you're reading this, will you send it to me? Pretty please with mint brownies on top? And just as there are multiple recipes for Mint Chocolate Brownies, there are many different recipes for life, billions actually. We all have our own. The following is just mine.
Mint Chocolate Brownies
Brownies: comparable to normal life. Life without the heaven. Still good. But not AMAZING like mint chocolate ones, ya know?
4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate: The baking chocolate here is what makes the brownies brown. It defines the brownies. This is like what defines you. Your past experiences, likes, dislikes, it's you. Whatever you is.
1 cup butter: seeing as it's like grease, this is like work. And for me, it's like school. It's the hard work we put into our lives.
4 eggs: eggs are my least favorite part about baking. I hate cracking the shell and trying to not get any inside the bowl and throwing it away and the stuff that gets on your hands. In this case, eggs are like my trials. And we experience a lot of them. And they're necessary. And inevitable. But in the end, all worth it.
2 cups sugar: this is the good days in life. Those days that just make you realize how good and how sweet life really is.
1 tsp vanilla: This is the little things you get excited for. Like the Taylor Swift cd coming out or a Pretty Little Liars episode or Your Love Is My Drug coming on the radio. It's the good things. The little ones.
1 1/4 cup flour: I hate flour. It's hard to pack, it's hard to keep off the counter, if you stir it too fast it gets everywhere. I hate it. I also hate dishes and laundry. But they're necessary for life to progress just as flour is for a batter to make anything. Necessary. Evils.
1/2 tsp baking powder: This is the bad days in life. You have just enough to experience the good days, but just like with baking powder, too many can really ruin your mood.
Frosting: to me, it's very much comparable to love. It's the icing on the cake, what makes everything about life (or our brownies) so sweet and enjoyable. Without it we have just brownies, or just life. You do the same thing day in and day out and there's not a whole lot of meaning. But when you have that person, that person who makes you you, that person that you share your life with, all the ups and downs, life is suddenly happier and richer and our brownies have a heavenly taste.
2 cups powdered sugar: I love powdered sugar. Especially on french toast. I get giddy about it and I sprinkle everything in it. Lots of it. This is like the joy and the laughter in life. The more you have, the better. And you love it.
4 tbsp butter, softened: Just as with the brownies, this butter means work. But even though the pay off in the first one is great, the pay offs here are even greater. And working on your marriage or relationship is softer, it doesn't take as much elbow grease (hence the softened.) It's gentle and loving, but still work. It's not easy stuff, but produces great results.
1 1/2 tsp mint extract: this is what makes it taste good. Love makes life taste good. Life is better with a whole lot of love.
1-2 tbsp milk: a big thing I've learned with recipes is that milk helps to combine everything. If things aren't mixing well, milk fixes that (if your recipe calls for it that is.) In our relationship, quality time is the milk. Being apart for most of our dating and engagement, we realized just how important being together is. It pulls all of the wonderfulness of love together. It pulls you two together. It's no longer Me and You, love makes a We. We love quality time together.
green food coloring: This is what helps you to know the mint part is there. If it wasn't green, you might not pick it up (if you're like me) because it would look like just another plain ol' brownie. This is like affection. It helps you to know that love is there. That your person feels it too. You don't even have to say "Hey, this is a mint brownie", you see it and you know. With affection, you feel it and you know.
Chocolate Glaze: I hope to not offend anybody, but in our lives, The Gospel Of Jesus Christ and the LDS church are our chocolate glaze. Brownies with the mint frosting would be wonderful alone, but there's something that that little chocolate glaze does for the taste buds. There's something that the gospel does for our lives that is so sweet and so wonderful. You notice when it's not there, so we don't skimp on the chocolate glaze part.
6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips: In our lives, these are prayer and tender mercies. As long as you have a few chocolate chips, you'll get a sweet chocolate taste. As long as you pray a little, you'll see some tender mercies. But as with chocolate chips and the function of the more you put in, the sweeter it gets... it's the same with prayers. The more you say, the sweeter and more tender mercies come your way. Like I said, we notice when it's not there, we don't skimp on the chocolate part.
6 tbsp butter: again, this one means work. You could have the chocolate chips only on top, but melted and then hardened chocolate tends to be a little crunchy. Crunchy does not = glaze. The work here is scripture study, attending meetings, watching conference, etc. With these, something softer and sweeter comes, just like butter helps the chocolate not to be so crunchy. The chocolate and the butter together create a perfect blend to top off our lives.
Here's the rest of the recipe:
Mint Brownie Recipe
I want our blog to reflect all these aspects of our lives and to document everything our lives are. Welcome to the recipe of our lives!
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
14 Reasons To Go To Cabo on Your Honeymoon
Reason #14 : It's absolutely beautiful
Reason #13 : It only rained 1 day while we were there
Reason #12 : Our hotel was so cute and they did up our bed different every day they came in:)
And lined up our shoes perfectly in a row:)
And made cool animals out of our towels. Derek screamed that there was a swan in our shower, I thought he meant a real one!
Reason #11: Home of some yummy food and some pretty great homemade rootbeer floats
It was seriously the biggest burger we've ever seen!
Pool side service is also fantastic!
Probably the only Mexican food we ate all week:)
Reason #10: You can eat at Hardrock Cafe and they give you unlimited refills!
And they have the yummiest mac and cheese ever! I about died of happiness. Totally copycatting that recipe!
Reason #9 : You can hold a cruise ship in your hands!
Reason #8 : They have funny signs!
No smoking, no dogs, no ICE CREAM!:)
Reason #7 : The pool has the coolest cabanas with mattresses!
Reason #6: You get sucked into a timeshare presentation (ok, so not a reason to go, but it makes for funny stories!) Story: We got off the plane in Mexico and did all that fun stuff and as we were walking to find our already paid for shuttle some guy called us over and pretended he worked for the shuttle company. He offered us a lot of activities for like a fourth of their original price and thinking that he worked for the shuttle company we bought it! And then was when he decided to tell us that in order to get them we'd have to attend a presentation for a timeshare.... oh shoot. So we went on this two hour tour and sat with the sales people for what seemed like forever and told each and every one of them that we "just got married. Saving for a house. Can't afford this right now. blah blah blah." Finally after they lowered the price from 31,000 to 6,000 and we still said no, they let us go! But hey! If you have the money, why keep it to just going to Cabo on your honeymoon! Go there for a week every year for the rest of your lives!
Reason #5 : You can go Parasailing off the Pink Panther!
Reason #4 : You can take a cool glass bottom boat tour of some of the coolest sights you've ever seen!
The tour guide told us that cave is magical... "Two people go in, Three people come out" hahahaha
Reason #3: You can take a bicitaxi in the pouring rain after you just finished swimming with dolphins (we don't have pictures of the dolphin encounter:( )
Reason #2 : Your feet get really sandy!
Reason #1: You'll be really sad to leave!
Cabo was seriously the funnest vacation we've ever been on and we loved it! Can't wait to go back!
Monday, October 15, 2012
Our Day of all Days:)
Everybody says that their wedding day was the best day of their lives, and while I totally believed it, I think it's something you don't understand till you see it. September 21, 2012 was the best day of my life. So cliche and I don't even care because it's as true as it is cliche. It began at 6 am in the morning and my sister in law came over to do my hair and make up. I was exhausted. Not sleeping the night before can do that to ya, but I still felt wide awake and so ready for the day to start. For the first time in probably ever, I was dressed and ready to go a half an hour before we needed to leave. That was the longest half hour ever. We finally drove to the temple and as we were driving we were behind Derek and his dad while they were walking in. That's when my heart began to race. This was real. I was marrying my best friend that day. He came out to look for us right as we turned the corner and he gave me the biggest cutest hug and we walked in and squared everything away and we sat in the extra sealing room just outside our own. Sitting together in that room and laughing and smiling will remain one of my favorite memories. Then the sealer came in and told us to come with him, it was time to get married! Walking in that sealing room and seeing so many of our loved ones was the most incredible thing. Tears began to sting my eyes and my throat tightened and it was all I could do not to just let it out. Our sealer was amazing and staring into Derek's teary eyes was the best moment in the history of moments. At 10:10 in sealing room 3 in the Draper Temple, we were pronounced Husband and Wife:) (Thank you to Hannah for the time:)) We had a bet, well Tiffany and I did, to see who would be ready first, and of course, I won! (pretty proud actually:)) and then we walked out to see the rest of our family and take pictures. It was amazing to have all of our loved ones so close and there to support us.
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We then took pictures, just the two of us, while everyone went to the luncheon to set up. When it was time to leave, we realized that the keys to our car were in fact with everybody else and nowhere near us. As the only mishap that showed up that day, we took it and got a ride with the photographer. Our ring ceremony was beautiful and so well done.
The reception turned out to be everything I wanted. It was fun and lively and we had so many of our family and friends there. Thank you to everyone who made it so wonderful! And a huge thanks to our families who put so much time and effort and love into every detail.
I married my best friend on September 21, 2012 and that day will always remain my favorite day. Every day since has shown me more and more reasons why. I married the best man I know and he's so good to me. Better than I ever imagined. I love him more than he'll ever know:)
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We then took pictures, just the two of us, while everyone went to the luncheon to set up. When it was time to leave, we realized that the keys to our car were in fact with everybody else and nowhere near us. As the only mishap that showed up that day, we took it and got a ride with the photographer. Our ring ceremony was beautiful and so well done.
The reception turned out to be everything I wanted. It was fun and lively and we had so many of our family and friends there. Thank you to everyone who made it so wonderful! And a huge thanks to our families who put so much time and effort and love into every detail.
I married my best friend on September 21, 2012 and that day will always remain my favorite day. Every day since has shown me more and more reasons why. I married the best man I know and he's so good to me. Better than I ever imagined. I love him more than he'll ever know:)
Pre-wedding Madness and Miracles
So... today was totally not meant to be blog day. It was supposed to be grocery shop and other stuff day, but... at one point in time over the last week I left a teeny little light on in my car and the battery is flat out DEAD. I am stranded in a new place without anybody I know, so we will just wait for the hubby to come home and save the day! And seeing as I didn't plan on doing homework today, homework isn't my go to right now either and it's about time I catch up on the blog!
When you get engaged, I swear everybody will tell you that the craziness and stress comes in the week before your wedding. And when they ask if you're stressed before then, you'll get the dreaded "just wait until the week before." I regret to inform those of you still yet to tie your not, they are correct. However, with the all the bad things that snuck up, the day was absolutely perfect, and it was amazing to watch all of the miracles unfold. But, for the sake of wanting to remember all that happened, all of the stories will be documented here:)
The first story was on September 10, (ok ok I know it wasn't the week before, but it was pretty close and adds some fun craziness later on), the day of my bridals. I had been looking forward to this day for probably.....well... since I knew what a wedding was. It was supposed to be a few days before but my sister in law wouldn't be in town to do my hair. So we pushed it back... to the only day it rained the whole month (well for the part of the month I was there.) And it didn't just sprinkle. It POURED. I wanted them in the cute little apple orchard in Provo and at the Provo castle and when we told the lady in charge, she gave us the funniest look and said "You're taking them today?" Lady, with bridals, you can't reschedule. You can't just sleep on your hair and pray your flowers will freeze the way they are, the show must go on. We had a cute little umbrella and my mom, sister, and photographer (who was amazing by the way) were such troopers and 2 hours of mud running, mad dashing, and a drenched and dirty dress later, we had some pretty great pictures.
As you can see, it was really wet, but so much fun and I loved how they turned out! I'm not totally sure how to tell the rest of the stories, but I think chronologically will be funniest and do them the most justice. Here we go!:)
The day before my bridals (which the morning of that day was busy, consisting of : picking up my dress, nails, buying makeup, picking up my bouquet, getting hair and makeup done: in a matter of a few hours), my car would kill itself everytime I put it in reverse. At first it was just on the hill in front of my parents house, but then it started to kill itself when I put it in park. Having an automatic, I had no idea what was happening or what to do. But of course, when the parents come out to check it, it's fine. A few days later, It started happening in reverse again, but on flat ground. In one instance, I was backing out of a parking stall, which was the only way I could get out, it looked like I was making a 50 point turn, ok maybe it was 25, but still unnecessary with tons of cars honking and getting mad. But when you can only back up 6 inches before your car kills the engine and you have to restart it, backing up is not a fast and easy process. Once I got it out, I was able to drive it and took it straight to the shop. The guy ran it on the scanner, realized a hose was loose, tightened the hose for free and I was good to go! Felt brand new after all of that craziness!
Then, and this is where it got fun, a few days later I was going to go to lunch with two of my cute sister in laws. I was on the phone with Derek while I was on Bangerter Hwy and even though that stretch of road is usually pretty bouncy, I felt like I was sounding like someone does when they talk while someones smacks their back, really choppy and bouncy. I mentioned it to Derek that the road seemed to be more bouncy lately, and thought nothing more of it. I turned into his neighborhood and then it hit me that my car was bouncing a lot, shaking worse than when all of my motor mounts were bad and I told Derek that I thought maybe they were broken again. Suddenly my car began to shake madly and make a terrible grinding noise so I pulled it over to the side (in front of some lady's driveway, she was nice though) and right after I did, my car seemed to take a huge breath in (almost like a sigh) and lift up a little, and then let it out and my car felt like it sunk two feet and the engine completely died. Freaking out, and not knowing what happened when cars blew up, I screamed and ran all the way across the street thinking my car might blow up. After a few minutes of no such thing, I called my mom. She told me I'd have to drive it to the shop, there was no other way. We couldn't have it towed, I'd have to drive. "But mom, you don't get it. It's done. It doesn't drive. It doesn't even start. Nothing happens when I turn the key." You're still going to have to drive it. "But it doesn't drive. AT ALL." Haha after a few of those, she got it and we called the towing company and our favorite little repair shop. And miracles shot up everywhere. Tender mercies galore I tell ya. Heavenly Father truly does watch over you and knows exactly what you will need way before you need it and when you need it, it has already been prepared. The guy we know at the repair shop told us that all the next week he had been booked, but literally an hour before, all those people had called in and cancelled and he was completely open to work on my car. Who calls and cancels a repair that is needed to drive your car? Apparently all those people do. Coincidence? No way! Then, the towing company, also a friend of ours, gave us a deal on towing and we didn't pay a penny for it. Huge blessing. And then, worrying that it was my transmission and that I'd need a new one, Derek and I had no idea how we'd pay for it but were able to pull some strings and figured out the situation. I was supposed to go to Vegas that weekend, but we were considering not going to save some money and to help me not to be stressed, and it turned out to be a blessing that I wasn't able to go. I needed all that extra time to get stuff done. Later that night we found out it was just a rod that came loose which is rare but that it wasn't my transmission and it wouldn't cost a whole lot. Huge blessing! And my cute sister in law let me drive her jeep for the weekend to get everything done that I needed to!
Between my car disaster and finding out what it really was, I sat at home studying for my test that night. Still kind of freaking out and trying to focus and in walks my mom. Remember how wet and dirty my dress was on bridals? Towards the end of bridals we decided to not be so cautious about it and since my cute little sister works for a dry cleaners we'd just take it in and have it dry cleaned. Well my mom walks in that same day and here's the conversation:
Mom: Don't freak out
Me: What's happening with my car?!
Mom: It's not your car. Jackson (Bailey's boss at the cleaners) wants to know where we bought your dress.
Me: Why?
Mom: He's going to buy you a new one
Me: WHY?!
Mom: He forgot to read the tag and it says "do not dry clean" and now it's in pieces.
Me: But it took 4 weeks to get it in my size and then another month to build up the sleeves! We can't get a new dress! That's my dress!!!
Mom: I know, we'll figure it out
Me: We don't have time, my wedding is in a week!
Mom: (getting a text from Bailey) Bailey says Jackson is just kidding!! But they can't dry clean it so they're going to hand scrub it and fix it.
Cruel, cruel joke!:) so funny now, but so not funny at the time! They were awesome about my dress and it cleaned up really well! Another huge miracle, that dress was filthy!
Another funny, to end this incredibly long, probably the longest ever, post. My photographer said, on Monday, that she would edit our pictures that night and over night them so we'd have them asap in order to print our pictures off. Well Friday comes and they're still not there. I call my cute photographer and she said she'd send another. About a half an hour later mom comes running up the stairs begging me not to hate her and shows me that we've had the cd of pictures since Tuesday! She was in this "You can't open anything wedding gift wise until after the wedding" and since we invited people with the same last name as my photographer, she assumed the envelope was a gift! Ha!
And I think that's the end of the craziness, but it was amazing to watch how it all worked out and the blessings and miracles that unfolded. I felt so blessed and watched over and there's no greater feeling, especially when you're getting married. And... you've gotta keep life interesting:)
When you get engaged, I swear everybody will tell you that the craziness and stress comes in the week before your wedding. And when they ask if you're stressed before then, you'll get the dreaded "just wait until the week before." I regret to inform those of you still yet to tie your not, they are correct. However, with the all the bad things that snuck up, the day was absolutely perfect, and it was amazing to watch all of the miracles unfold. But, for the sake of wanting to remember all that happened, all of the stories will be documented here:)
The first story was on September 10, (ok ok I know it wasn't the week before, but it was pretty close and adds some fun craziness later on), the day of my bridals. I had been looking forward to this day for probably.....well... since I knew what a wedding was. It was supposed to be a few days before but my sister in law wouldn't be in town to do my hair. So we pushed it back... to the only day it rained the whole month (well for the part of the month I was there.) And it didn't just sprinkle. It POURED. I wanted them in the cute little apple orchard in Provo and at the Provo castle and when we told the lady in charge, she gave us the funniest look and said "You're taking them today?" Lady, with bridals, you can't reschedule. You can't just sleep on your hair and pray your flowers will freeze the way they are, the show must go on. We had a cute little umbrella and my mom, sister, and photographer (who was amazing by the way) were such troopers and 2 hours of mud running, mad dashing, and a drenched and dirty dress later, we had some pretty great pictures.
As you can see, it was really wet, but so much fun and I loved how they turned out! I'm not totally sure how to tell the rest of the stories, but I think chronologically will be funniest and do them the most justice. Here we go!:)
The day before my bridals (which the morning of that day was busy, consisting of : picking up my dress, nails, buying makeup, picking up my bouquet, getting hair and makeup done: in a matter of a few hours), my car would kill itself everytime I put it in reverse. At first it was just on the hill in front of my parents house, but then it started to kill itself when I put it in park. Having an automatic, I had no idea what was happening or what to do. But of course, when the parents come out to check it, it's fine. A few days later, It started happening in reverse again, but on flat ground. In one instance, I was backing out of a parking stall, which was the only way I could get out, it looked like I was making a 50 point turn, ok maybe it was 25, but still unnecessary with tons of cars honking and getting mad. But when you can only back up 6 inches before your car kills the engine and you have to restart it, backing up is not a fast and easy process. Once I got it out, I was able to drive it and took it straight to the shop. The guy ran it on the scanner, realized a hose was loose, tightened the hose for free and I was good to go! Felt brand new after all of that craziness!
Then, and this is where it got fun, a few days later I was going to go to lunch with two of my cute sister in laws. I was on the phone with Derek while I was on Bangerter Hwy and even though that stretch of road is usually pretty bouncy, I felt like I was sounding like someone does when they talk while someones smacks their back, really choppy and bouncy. I mentioned it to Derek that the road seemed to be more bouncy lately, and thought nothing more of it. I turned into his neighborhood and then it hit me that my car was bouncing a lot, shaking worse than when all of my motor mounts were bad and I told Derek that I thought maybe they were broken again. Suddenly my car began to shake madly and make a terrible grinding noise so I pulled it over to the side (in front of some lady's driveway, she was nice though) and right after I did, my car seemed to take a huge breath in (almost like a sigh) and lift up a little, and then let it out and my car felt like it sunk two feet and the engine completely died. Freaking out, and not knowing what happened when cars blew up, I screamed and ran all the way across the street thinking my car might blow up. After a few minutes of no such thing, I called my mom. She told me I'd have to drive it to the shop, there was no other way. We couldn't have it towed, I'd have to drive. "But mom, you don't get it. It's done. It doesn't drive. It doesn't even start. Nothing happens when I turn the key." You're still going to have to drive it. "But it doesn't drive. AT ALL." Haha after a few of those, she got it and we called the towing company and our favorite little repair shop. And miracles shot up everywhere. Tender mercies galore I tell ya. Heavenly Father truly does watch over you and knows exactly what you will need way before you need it and when you need it, it has already been prepared. The guy we know at the repair shop told us that all the next week he had been booked, but literally an hour before, all those people had called in and cancelled and he was completely open to work on my car. Who calls and cancels a repair that is needed to drive your car? Apparently all those people do. Coincidence? No way! Then, the towing company, also a friend of ours, gave us a deal on towing and we didn't pay a penny for it. Huge blessing. And then, worrying that it was my transmission and that I'd need a new one, Derek and I had no idea how we'd pay for it but were able to pull some strings and figured out the situation. I was supposed to go to Vegas that weekend, but we were considering not going to save some money and to help me not to be stressed, and it turned out to be a blessing that I wasn't able to go. I needed all that extra time to get stuff done. Later that night we found out it was just a rod that came loose which is rare but that it wasn't my transmission and it wouldn't cost a whole lot. Huge blessing! And my cute sister in law let me drive her jeep for the weekend to get everything done that I needed to!
Between my car disaster and finding out what it really was, I sat at home studying for my test that night. Still kind of freaking out and trying to focus and in walks my mom. Remember how wet and dirty my dress was on bridals? Towards the end of bridals we decided to not be so cautious about it and since my cute little sister works for a dry cleaners we'd just take it in and have it dry cleaned. Well my mom walks in that same day and here's the conversation:
Mom: Don't freak out
Me: What's happening with my car?!
Mom: It's not your car. Jackson (Bailey's boss at the cleaners) wants to know where we bought your dress.
Me: Why?
Mom: He's going to buy you a new one
Me: WHY?!
Mom: He forgot to read the tag and it says "do not dry clean" and now it's in pieces.
Me: But it took 4 weeks to get it in my size and then another month to build up the sleeves! We can't get a new dress! That's my dress!!!
Mom: I know, we'll figure it out
Me: We don't have time, my wedding is in a week!
Mom: (getting a text from Bailey) Bailey says Jackson is just kidding!! But they can't dry clean it so they're going to hand scrub it and fix it.
Cruel, cruel joke!:) so funny now, but so not funny at the time! They were awesome about my dress and it cleaned up really well! Another huge miracle, that dress was filthy!
Another funny, to end this incredibly long, probably the longest ever, post. My photographer said, on Monday, that she would edit our pictures that night and over night them so we'd have them asap in order to print our pictures off. Well Friday comes and they're still not there. I call my cute photographer and she said she'd send another. About a half an hour later mom comes running up the stairs begging me not to hate her and shows me that we've had the cd of pictures since Tuesday! She was in this "You can't open anything wedding gift wise until after the wedding" and since we invited people with the same last name as my photographer, she assumed the envelope was a gift! Ha!
And I think that's the end of the craziness, but it was amazing to watch how it all worked out and the blessings and miracles that unfolded. I felt so blessed and watched over and there's no greater feeling, especially when you're getting married. And... you've gotta keep life interesting:)
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