Moab

This was such a fun trip! Bryan and I decided to do our temple tour, and when we planned it we realized there were a few temples that we just shouldn't drive there and back in one day. Monticello was one of them. We thought "hey! Let's make it a camping trip!" So, we invited a few friends and planned the trip. We decided that it would be fun to drive, go to the temple, camp for one night, and hike the next day.

Brian Larsen, Mark Woodbury, Bryan and I all decided we were in on the trip. We drove down and went to the Monticello Temple. It was so pretty, but incredibly small. We didn't want to mess up our clothes, so we drove down in relaxed clothes, and then changed in the car. It was quite the event trying to get all of us dressed.

Afterwards, we headed for the campsite which was about an hour away. We set up camp, and had dinner. I had pre-made a hamburger, potato and carrots tin foil dinner for everyone. They took longer than we thought to cook, but when they were done - they were yummy. Thanks to Mamma Frandsen's recipe.

Saturday we got up early, which was really smart since it was quite hot down there. I believe it was around 102 degrees the majority of the time. We hiked Delicate Arch, and wow was that beautiful! The hike is steep, but not very long. We took pictures, snacked, explored and went back down.

We drove around a bit, looking for another hike. We decided on this hike that wasn't in the National Park. I am not sure what it was even called, but it was hard to find, short and pretty! We were so hot, that we wanted a hike with some water! We loved this place. There were a few others chilling there with bears and camping chairs. We thought that was pretty funny. We just played in the water and the boys got pretty soaked.

We decided to go back to Arches, and we went to this hike. There was a south and north window I believe, and this one. It was really really pretty, but ever so hot. We also went to the double arch and climbed around. That was was great because it was shady under the arches. A lot cooler than being out in the sweltering heat. The boys clothes were dry in NO time.

Sadly, we had to get back home. So, we said goodbye to arches, grabbed food and headed home. Excited to go back another time hopefully when it's a lot cooler! :)

Daruis Rucker

Anniversary

3.141592653 Day

Sister Date Night

Garlic Parmesan Salmon & Asparagus

Garlic Parmesan Salmon & Asparagus

Cuddles and Jammies

Pinteresting

Pinterest. It is a beautiful thing. I remember the first time I learned what it was. Tara, from my previous job at Thrive Learning showed the website to me.  I learned that you could create "boards" for different interests, and that you could "pin" pictures, and links to websites or blogs into these boards. I seriously thought it was the coolest thing. And so did every other girl in our office. A few weeks later Katie Berry Tall and I were talking and we both found that there was an app for it as well. Needless to say, we were stoked.

4 years has come and gone since that time, and I have "pinned" 5.8k pins. It's an obsession. Over this time I have seen many adorable and creative ideas for Do It Yourself (DIY) Projects. As I mentioned in my New Years Resolution post, I wanted to start making some of these pins a reality. You will notice that I made a goal of doing one project a month - and that has not happened. However, that will not prevent me from making up for missed months.

My first project is called a Dinner Menu Board. When I first saw these ideas on Pinterest I thought they were darling. It was a cute way to plan out the meals for a week, and a way to remind me what food I have in the pantry. I saw many different versions of this kind of board, so I decided to take some of my favorite parts of a few of them.

Pinterest Inspirations

1. The first one I saw was this one found on Baby Gators Den. I am obsessed with Gold first of all, and I love the whole chalk thing that is going on right now. These cards with the menu items were pretty cute, and I liked her little holders for the menu items. Needless to say, it had just about everything I wanted!

2. Here is another example from All Things Beautiful. These colors weren't really my thing, and I didn't love the paper clips that she used  to hang each menu item. However, I loved that she added a pocket for the actual recipe cards! Most of the other examples I had found on Pinterest did not have this extra pocket. I thought it was perfect because there are nights when I can't start the dinner on time, or when Bryan wants to cook for me. If he can see what the meal plan is for that night along with the recipe card, he can do it all himself without even needing to get ahold of me!

3. This Dry Erase Menu Board done by Kaminaski Creations was also pretty adorable. I was kind of in love with the idea of putting a fork and knife on each side of the frame. I also like that you could easily erase and rewrite if and changes needed to be made. The problem here is that I can't stand my handwriting, and I wanted my board to look as cute as possible, so I knew I wouldn't end up loving it if I was the one writing in the menu items each week. And let's be honest, Bryans writing is 10x worse than mine :)

After searching all over Pinterest for different ideas, I finally decided that I really wanted my board to look similar to the very first one. I loved how she used clothes line pins, and I loved the idea of using cute menu cards to put up for each meal. I decided to also add something to hold my Recipe cards, because I'd like for the recipe cards being used that week to be up on the board as well. I thought about finding a fork and knife to add to my board like the third option, but in the end it didn't fit well with my frame. My frame was a lot thinner, so it would have just been overwhelming to have those glued on.

For this project I used the following:

• Chalk Paint
• Whole Punch
• Pre Cut Labels
• Clothes line pins (already had mini ones from my wedding)
• Paint (already had Spa Blue color)
• Paint Brushes
• Hot Glue Gun
• Pictures Frame (I used 16X20 that I found at the DI for $2.50)
• Thickers Alphabet letters (I found these at Hobby Lobby in Gold)
• Some kind of container or box (Fry box holders found at Hobby Lobby) 
• Beaded Lace
• Gold Spray Pain
• Paper

I found this frame back in January when I first decided I wanted to make this Menu Board. I knew I wanted a bigger frame. All of the examples I found on Pinterest were about 11X12 which is great, but I wanted to have more room on my board. DI is my friend, so I adventured over there one day with my friend Merrill. Luckily we found my cute frame for $2.50. I already had gold spray paint (leftover from my wedding). This was perfect because I am obsessed with all things gold. 

My next step was creating my menu cards. I looked all over the internet, and hobby lobby until I found the right whole punch for me. It happened to be the same shape that is used on Baby Gator Dens Menu board. I couldn't find one as big as I had wanted, but I thought it would due, especially since I was going to have 6 days on my board and not 5 like hers. I also grabbed some pre-cut labels that hide a slightly different shape. I wanted to compare these at home to see which ones I preferred. The ones I cut from my own whole punch were smaller just like I had anticipated. Luckily, I realized I could put the ones I had cut over the pre cut ones to add more color and dimension. I proceeded to print out all my menu items, punch them out and glue onto the pre-cut cards. They turned out so cute! 

The them in my apartment is kind of a spa blue, navy blue, yellow and tan feel. Since I already had the spa blue, I figured that would be perfect. I then re-painted my coral clothes-line pins spa blue. 

Next, I needed to paint my board. I have been loving chalk boards, so I figured that would be perfect. I picked up some chalk-paint and painted the backboard of my frame. Two coats, and it looked great! I had also picked up some chalk board markers, but what I found was that I didn't like my handwriting and it wasn't looking as elegant as I had wanted. SO I scratched the idea of using those markers. I headed back to Hobby Lobby and picked up these adorable Thickers Alphabet letters. They were the perfect size and color! I measured everything out and put them on the board. As I was getting read to glue my clothes line pins to the glass, I began playing around with them a bit and decided it would be fun kind of "zig-zag" my pins instead of laying them out in straight vertical line.

Next, I cut my cardboard fry box containers down to the right height. Painted them, and realized it might be cute to add just a bit more to them. I found some old beaded lace from my wedding and glued it on. It could not have worked out more perfectly! I glued these containers onto the glass as well. And lastly I added one more clothes line pin. This pin is to hold the recipe cards for the week! 

And there you have it! The Frandsen Family Menu!

National Pancake Day

Homemade Oreos

Homemade Oreos

Sunday Dinner

Sunday afternoon we drove straight to my moms house after church. When we got there, my Grandma and Grandpa were already there. Mom had made a big roast dinner. I can't believe how sweet she is with making dinner, even when she can not eat half of it because of her gluten intolerance. The good was great! I love the rolls mom makes. I think they are the rhodes rolls, but for some reason they always taste so much better at moms house. Lauren is such a silly little girl. She wouldn't eat dinner again. She is the most darling, funny child but she is SOOOOO picky about food. She ended up eating Frosted Flakes. I don't know how you can eat Frosted Flakes when there is Pot Roast and rolls on the table! After dinner we watched a short movie done by Seagull Book, I believe. I can't remember the name, but it was about a little shepherd boy whose dad was supposed to be the youngest shepherd that met baby Jesus. The little shepherd boy's father had died when he was younger, and the shepherd boy ended up becoming a bit crippled. He got to meet Jesus on night as he was tending to the sheep, and Christ healed him. It was a sweet little story. Who knows if anything like that actually happened, but it was sweet to think of, and it was a nice way to end the evening as a family. You can see that Lizzie and Lauren didn't make it all the way through the movie though… :)

Date Night Two.

Busy weekend right? It was pretty nice that we had two evenings to spend together! I feel like that doesn't happen all that often. It was especially nice that we got OUT of the house and did something! Saturday evening we weren't sure what we wanted to do. We finally decided we would give bowling a shot. It was kind of a cold night and had started snowing, so we thought that bowling would be a good activity. We hadn't eaten yet, and since we were about to spend money on bowling, we decided to just pick up a $5 Little Caesars pizza! I can't ever say no to my dear friend pizza. Seriously though. I can eat good portions and not over eat almost always. But let me just say, if you put a pizza in front of me - I will eat half of it if given the option. It's pretty disgusting that I can do that. I could probs eat more all on  my own if no one was watching.  A few weeks ago we picked up pizza before I went to one of my fitness classes, and even though I knew I was going to class - I couldn't' help but eat 5 pieces of pizza. When we finished eating, it came up that I was planning to go to the gym. Bryan looked at me and told me that I was an idiot and probably going to puke up my dinner in the middle of class! Thankfully I made it through he whole class without losing my stomach contents.

Anyways, back to our date. We picked up the pizza, at some on the way and then went in to the BYU Bowling Alley. Naturally I sat down with the pizza and waited for Bryan to get through the line to pay for bowling. There was going to be a wait, so that worked out well because we sat, talked and ate our pizza. We kept getting weird looks from people. I don't really get why though because pizza in a bowling alley really isn't all that strange. Going to this bowling alley ended up working out really well though because they had a deal for a couple. 2 games for $12 with shoes included. Right after we started bowling the lights turned off and I got so excited! I love cosmic bowling! It reminds me of going bowling in elementary school. We used to sign up for a "sport" that we would participate in for 6 weeks. I remember signing up for bowling, so we would go every Friday for those 6 weeks. We'd always ask them to turn off the lights and do cosmic bowling for us. It was the best! My elementary school was hippie, but I loved  that aspect of it.


So during our first came I was proud f myself because I got two strikes in a row!! I even got over 100 points! Only just barely though.. Also, I beat Bryan:) He probably should have beaten me, but for some reason he would always hit 9 pins, and the tenth just wouldn't fall. The second game wasn't AS good. I think I ended up with like 90 points or something. I still beat Bryan though! He doesn't really like to lose, and I don't beat him at very many things, so I had to brag just a little bit. Please enjoy my winner face and his loser face. #WifeyChelsForTheWin. On our way home we thought about getting some hot cocoa but ended up deciding we would make our own at home. We cuddled up on the couch and watched a bit of Greys Anatomy and Friday Night Lights! Bryan gets so excited every time there are football game scenes in Friday Night Lights. He acts as if they are real teams playing. You would honestly think he was watching professional football with how excited and focused he gets while watching some pretend team play football. He's a goof. I'm always grateful for the entertainment he provides.

Temple Run

Friday evening Bryan and I decided that we would be going to the Temple early in the morning. Bryan hates how busy the Provo Temple is on Saturday's. He always says that we need to go early or the wait will be forever. I decided I would do my best to get up at a decent time on Saturday. We got up around 7:45am to get ready. The goal was to leave by 8:30, but with me you just need to expect that really means 8:45 or 9am…. We got to the temple a little after 9am, took a few pictures and went on in. I'm not going to lie, I still feel like a little kid who should be going down to the baptismal font. It is still strange to me that I now have a recommend that allows me to do sealings, initiators and endowments. I feel like I waited for so long to be able to go through the temple, that it still isn't real that I have and that I can go back as often as I want . The temple is definitely not what I had expected or anticipated while growing up. But it is so wonderful and I'm grateful that I can go back to learn more each time. It is crazy to think about the people all over the world who are lucky if they even get to go one time. I'm sure they feel so blessed to have made it to the Temple, but oh how hard that would be! After your first time you come out with so many questions. It's impossible to comprehend just about anything your first time going through. At least that was how it was for me! I feel blessed to live in Utah where there are legitimately 6 temples within an hour of where I live. 

We decided we would to initiatories that day. I find those to be really peaceful and relaxing. I am still not used to Endowments and how much information you get in two hours. Initiatories kind of allow me to really think about the people I am doing the work for, and we wait for our turn kind of the same way you wait for your turn in the baptismal font. I love the blessings that are received during the intiatory. I think they are so beautiful, and I learn something new or feel something new each time I go. While I was in the initiatory, I ran into a girl who looked so familiar. It ended up being a girl named Amanda Hales from West High School. She recognized me as well, and we made the connection. I really enjoyed seeing her for just that little bit. It's great to see the friends from West High who ended up doing really really well. I had so many friends from there who feel away from the church, and so many that ended up pregnant outside of marriage. That reminds me of how lucky I am that my dad felt the need to move our family to South Jordan. I am positive that I would not have ended up anything like the person I am today if it weren't for that decision. 

When I was done and ready, I went outside. We had driven separately and Bryan told me I could leave without him if I finished before him. I ended up deciding to sit on a bench and wait for a bit. When we had gone it, it was pretty cold still. But as I came out of the temple, I noticed it was a lot warmer and much more sunny. You can tell in the difference between the first picture and the rest of the pictures!  Since it was so nice, I figured it wouldn't hurt to sit on the temple grounds for awhile. I love that even when you are just on the grounds, you can feel peace and comfort. After about 20-30 minutes, I decided I had better go. I thought Bryan wouldn't be that far behind me, but apparently he was. As I was walking to the car, I stopped to take a picture and then I saw Bryan walking on over to his car! Bryan asked me to go sit on a bench, which was very sweet of him. We sat and talked for awhile. I don't even know how we got to this subject, maybe because we were siting on a bench, but Bryan started telling me about the first time he heard someone use the "S.O.B" profanity. He knew it was bad, but he thought that it meant "Son of a bench"... I thought that was too funny not to mention.

After about 20 minutes we figured it would probably be good to get home and start getting other things done. I have to say that I am grateful that we have temples, and that we have each other. I am grateful we got married and sealed in the temple so that we can spend forever together. He's kind of my best friend. Even when he makes me angry ;) 

Date Night

Friday morning I went to work as usual. When I got to work, there was literally no one there. Okay, not quite literally, Jessica was there. But that was it! Angela's back has hurt pretty bad lately, so she didn't come in. Ron and Brandon were out at some conference with a bunch of doctors. Hopefully we got some get some good leads while they are there! Lacey's flight left early, so she was on a plane to Missouri by the time I got in. New guys and Kelsie weren't in yet either. Needless to say, it was an incredibly quiet day at the office! Kelsie and the new guys came in a bit later, so it did get a bit louder once our new guy Tracy got on the phones. Jessica left early to get to a school meeting. All I can say, is I am just happy that I got money to come in from a 4-plex deal we had closed on Wednesday evening. The money hadn't shown up like it was supposed to on Thursday, which was not good. I knew I'd need to resolve that on Friday. Let's just say a billion phone calls and emails later, I got it all resolved! So once I had my stuff taken care of - I decided to get out of there too! At home I checked more emails and took care of the very few other things that came in the rest of the afternoon.

I was a lazy bum until Bry got home. Once he got home from work, we tried to decide what date night would entail! Both of us were STARVING. So, we knew food needed to be involved. We decided to be good kids and check or budget to see if date night would involve Wendy's.... or real food. Budget told us we could eat real food :) Picking where to eat can be entertaining with the two of us. He loves his food more than anyone I know, and sometimes I can be picky. Mostly because I am the worst at making decisions, so I tend to stick with what I know. However, Bryan really likes trying something new. Also, Bryan is not so good at the sporadic thing, so he doesn't like leaving the house without a plan. I made the boy get in the car and told him to drive down center street in Provo and that we'd pick between Chinese and Mexican. We ended up at Los Hermanos, something neither of us had ever tried! Yay us! Our waiter was super nice and super funny. When I was trying to decide what to order, I asked him for his opinion. He suggested the two most popular things on the menu obviously, and I asked about a few other things on the menu. In the end I went back to the most popular. Doesn't sound funny now, but Bryan and he thought it was so funny that I was going back and forth and finally ended up picking the waiters first suggestion.

Dinner was awesome! We both got a smothered burritos, and I would recommend it to anyone that loves pork and beef! However, I would say that if I had the choice between La Costa and Los Hermanos.. La Costa would win. They're meet is tastier, as well as there salsa and bean dip.

While we were eating, Bryan looked at me and said "You look great tonight, let me take your picture". That was just about the cutest thing that has ever come out of his mouth! When our meals were finished and we had left, He asked again if he could take a picture of me. Please see Bryans wonderful photography skills to the right ----->

By the time we got home, I just wanted to get in a ball and wrapped up in a blanket. I was so cold because it actually felt like February weather this evening. Also, I was so stuffed from dinner. I probably should not have finished off my whole plate. I couldn't help it though! Bryan has been telling me random facts from his Nutrition class, and they told him that whatever serving is put in front of you, you will most likely eat. It's just a psychological thing. If we got used to seeing smaller servings, we would eat that and be content. I thought that was pretty interesting.

At home we cuddled up and turned on The Dark Knight, which is probably in our Top 5 favorite movies. I still can't get over the fact that Heath Ledger died. That beautiful man had many more great movies in him! But seriously, that movie is the best out of the three Batman movies. Even though The Joker is the bad guy, you can't help but love him!

That was about it for date night! Not one of the most eventful evenings, but definitely enjoyable!

Cougar Ladies Night

Yesterday while I was at work, I texted Bry to ask if we were going to go to the basketball game that night. He said that he couldn't. I have to tell you, I was shocked! Bry said he had an intramural basketball game, home teaching and then he needed to study for his Anatomy mid-term. Poor guy was so upset because he was going to have to miss the last home game of the season!

Later that afternoon he called me because he wanted to see what I thought about him coming to the last half of the game. Sadly, I had to be the bad guy and tell him that he should just plan on staying home and studying all night because of how important his midterm was. I also said " Ps, I already told Brooke we are having a girls night to the game". Bry responded with "Ah man! You have no idea how lame that makes me feel!" Poor kid. haha.

After work, I picked up Bry and we went to get is hair cut by Breanna Linton! She is the cutest. She cut Bryans hair so well, and we had all this time to catch up! She is dating a really great guy, and they are actually talking about getting married! I am so happy she found a sweet guy who wants to take her to the Temple! It sounds like they are looking at a December wedding in the San Diego Temple! I really miss seeing Bree. I'm glad that Bryan and I are where we are today, but I still miss the times I had living with Bree and all of my other sweet roommates. Bree brought up all these stories from when Bryan was on his mission, and how we would all do a "letter dance" the moment I got a letter. She would help me make deserts to put in packages and then we'd adventure up to the MTC to drop them off..... Pretty crazy that four years later here we are all marriaged.

After the hair cut we drove back to BYU as quick as possible to get Bry to his intramural game. I dropped him off and hurried home to get ready for the game. Cute little Brooke picked me up at 7, and we went to the game together. I invited Merrill to the game too, but since she started her new job this week, she has had to work super late and get up early everyday. I remember what it was like to come home super tired after teaching all day, and I wasn't having to stay later like she is.

The game did not start off super well. The score was something like 9-0 within the first 5 minutes. That was frustrating especially considering the fact that it was the last home game. Thankfully shortly after that they pulled it together and stayed pretty neck and neck with the opposing team for the rest of the first half. We talked about so much from Brookes job to what it's like not being in school anymore.

Half time was incredibly entertaining. A group of tweens came out with jump ropes, and normally you wouldn't think that is something to get excited over - but holy crap they were awesome! They were doing all kinds of tricks with multiple jump ropes flyin different directions. They were really talented. I don't even know how someone would decide they are going to get into something like that, but it was pretty cool. Also, Cosmo came out and did this sweet trick that you can see right up above here.

After the half the boys came back in and kicked some butt! By the end it was BYU for the win! We let some boys take our picture, but that didn't go so well. We resorted to the old selfie. Brookie took me home, and we called it a night.

Valentines Weekend

Ladies Night

 A couple of weeks ago Oleg texted me and asked if I would kill him for asking Bryan to work Feb 13th. I responded back with, "Nah! Perfect excuse for a ladies night! Make him work :) " And that is exactly what happened! Nicole, Brooke and I planned to go to the BYU vs. SUU gymnastics meet for that evening. We were super excited! Sadly, Brooke ended up getting a cortisone shot for one of her knees! Poor girl has some kind of arthritis. Ladies night turned into Lady date night with Merrill and I! ha. We had a lot of fun though! BYU really isn't all that amazing at gymnastics, but we still really enjoy watching, and SUU did well! Merrill is super stressed right now because she got a job offer about a month ago to work at APA which is a charter school as a teacher in training. She started this last week, and has not been loving it. It has been really stressful for her, and their whole teaching system is completely different from anything that the two of us ever learned while in school. Anyway, on Thursday she got an offer from the school she student taught at to be a permanent substitute teacher until the end of the year. Poor girl is super stressed about the decision. She knows she would prefer the substitute job, but that means she won't be a normal w-2 employee, so she won't be able to get her car for awhile :/ We talked about it for a long time, and I think she is going to end up going with the sub job, but we shall see! She is an awesome teacher, so I know she will do well whichever way she decides to go. 

During the game, Cosmo came over and sat right next to me! I was excited to take a picture, so I pulled out my phone. Well, there were about 20 little hyper girls sitting behind us and they ran down and jumped on us so that they could be with Cosmo and take a picture with him. Needless to say, all we got was blurry faces :) OH well! After he walked away, I looked at Merrill and told her that my leg was all wet…. from his sweat. So. GROSS. Thankfully I had perfume in my purse, so I sprayed my leg. SUU ended up winning, and then we decided to go on an adventure to Walmart. She helped me pick out a cute tablecloth, and candle for Valentines. We then went to McDonalds and she ordered food. We talked girl talk for a long time. I'm pretty grateful that I have friends who still hang out with me even though I am married. I know a lot of people think married people just fall off the face of the planet so they quite trying to hang out with them. I would DIE if that happened. I love Bryan to death! But… I still really need girl time! That is just part of who I am. I am also super grateful that Bryan lets me have girls nights when I need them! 

Valentines Day

Saturday morning I woke up to hearing Bryan getting ready to leave the apartment. This meant he was going to the store most likely and probably coming back with something for me, so I couldn't leave… I knew I was in trouble. I now had to wait for him to get home, and he was probably going to make me breakfast, which meant my plan was no longer going to work! I had planned to tell him I was going to the Gym so I could get him a valentines gift since I hadn't had time during the week. Big wife fail. He came back 15 minutes later, and sure enough he began making breakfast. He brought in French Toast and Orange juice. He is a sweet sweet boy! Breakfast was great! He then brought in pink roses, and chocolates. He then asked if I wanted my other gifts from him, but I told him to wait…. ha. Mainly because I had nothing to give him in return. Thankfully Bryan had to do some homework, so I asked him if he would like to make sugar cookies later that evening. He said, yes! This gave me the opportunity to leave and go get the things I "needed" to make the cookies. 

That afternoon when I got back, I did some cleaning and lunch packing and then I decided to begin making the cookie dough! I made up the dough, and then made up the frosting. I wanted everything to be all prepared so that it would be easy to actually make and frost the cookies after dinner. Around 5:30, Bryan left to pick up dinner. I proceeded to pull out the table cloth, and set the table! He came back and was so surprised! He picked up Olive Garden, and some Sparkling cider! I got Lasagna, and he got Chicken Alfredo! Dinner was fantastic! I always love pasta and breadsticks. After dinner we decided to watch The Notebook. Okay, WE didn't decide, I decided. Bryan gave me the option to watch whatever chick flick I wanted, and since he had never seen it- I thought it was time! Everyone needs to see that movie once in their life ha. 

While we watched the movie, we put the cookies in the oven. After the movie, we frosted the cookies! Well, once again I frosted the cookies. Bryan almost tried and then just decided that I should be the one to frost them. I forgot how tired frosting makes my hand! This is all I was able to frost… the rest we just left plain… However, I think the cookies I did frost turned out pretty decently! Please observe our cuteness over here to the left! They even tasted pretty good! I have had such a hard time finding a recipe for sugar cookies that turns out soft and tasty. These ones more soft, and chewy, but I wish they had had more of the sugar cookie taste. Someday I'll find the right recipe!  The rest of the evening we ate cookies, and then decided to put movie in in our bedroom to fall asleep to. We turned on Jumper. I watched a bit, but I didn't stay awake for the whole thing. 

Oh wait! I forgot, I ended up getting Bryan a gift card to Disneyland :) We decided to go at the end of   April, so I thought it would be a cute gift to get him. I also got him snickers since those are his favorite. He got me tickets to a zip-line course that we can go to in the summer. I did one in Puerta Vallarta before, and it was awesome! I know it won't be quite like that, but it sounds super fun and will be a nice date night for this summer! Something to look foreword to for sure! 

We had wonderful day together! I liked being able to relax and not worry about the craziness at restaurants. I also liked having someone on Valentines day. I had Bryan last year too, but before that I never had anyone. I dated a ton, but somehow always managed to be alone on Valentines day. As Bryan would say…..

"Valentines day isn't stupid anymore now that I'm married".

Pot Roast Wifey

Today was Stake Conference! Bryan and I had been looking forward to this sunday for awhile now! The reason being, we couldn't wait to have a whole Sunday afternoon to ourselves. We have church from 1-4pm, so your whole day is kind of gone by the time you are out. Stake conference means 10-12pm, and you are DONE. We wanted to make sure that this Sunday was ours, and not a family dinner night. We made a plan for me to make Pot Roast…. This is something that I was terrified for! First of all, I am afraid of raw meat. I legitimately did not know how to make hamburger meat until my Junior year of college when my roommates made me. It was terrifying ha. Textures freak me out, and raw meat does not have a very pleasant texture ha. Now, it has been two years since then - so I have mastered how to cook raw hamburger and raw chicken. My next mission, was this massive pot roast. Bryan picked it up from the grocery store Saturday night. Neither one of us had ever purchased one before, so we were not sure what to pick. When we arrived home Sunday afternoon, I opened the package of chuck roast and immediately was afraid of it. There was a bit of green/brown discoloration on it and I didn't know if that meant it was bad or what! Thankfully we have Mamma Janet. We gave her a call and she calmed my fears. She said that part of the meat just got too much oxygen, so it became a bit discolored. Now that I knew I wasn't going to kill us from food poisoning, I continued my food preparations. I cut what felt like a bazillion carrots and potatoes. Put the chuck roast in the crock-pot, sautéed the vegetables for a bit, made some beef broth and threw everything in! The funny thing about this meal, is that it really isn't that hard! Time consuming, but pretty easy. We left it in there for somewhere around 5.5 hours. When there was about an hour left, I began making the bread dough for homemade wheat rolls. Once those were done, Bryan helped me pour out the juices from the crockpot and we made the gravy together. I set the table, and we sat down to eat! I have to say, I am pretty proud of myself! Maybe I will move onto ribs or salmon in a few weeks!

Bryan was impressed, and his belly was happy as well! This meal was a success! Thanks to Six Sisters Recipes! They are the best! The meat was soft and the perfect texture, but I think I will add more seasonings the next time I try this.

Lastly, I even made cookies to end the evening! However, the cookies were the most simple thing ever. Devils food cake, egg, oil and powdered sugar. Somehow I forgot to take a picture of those… maybe next time!

- Pot Roast Wifey

Spring in February

Friday morning Bryan texted me to tell me that we were going to Cafe Riot that night with our free meal card! He also made the decision that we would try getting our OWN salads this time. We usually split a salad and a burrito because we tend to not be able to decide which one we actually want.  Recently we have both been wanting our own salad because we like the salad more now. The problem is that we haven't wanted to break our little tradition! I was secretly so excited when he texted me because eating my own salad sounded SO good.

That same day I got a text from Nicole Newbold announcing that she had received her mission call. She was planning to open it that evening in South Jordan and we were invited to come. Part of me didn't want to go, just because I really didn't want to drive to South Jordan… When Bryan got home from work that evening, I decided we should really go be there for her when she opens her call. We decided to eat up at the South Jordan Cafe Rio, and then go to her Church to see her open her call. Dinner was great, we had a lot of fun. Someone came up from behind me and scared the crap out of me. It was Ryan Peterson from Madrigals in high school. He was with his wife and she was crazy ready to pop preggers! That was a shock! I still can't believe that we are all old enough to have our own babies. However, we are still going to be waiting. I am not ready for a baby, and neither is Bryan. We both feel like we want to wait until he has graduated from BYU. I would personally really like to wait until he has one year of optometry school completed as well. That would put us at about 4 years married. I used to think I would want kids right away, but I've realized that it is super important to have a strong relationship before you add another human into the mix. I love my mom and dad, but I feel like my neither of them were on the same page with how they wanted to parent, and I don't think their relationship was as stable as it could have been before they began having kids. I want to have my own interests, and make sure I know who I am first. My mom is amazing, but she lost herself in us over the years. I want to really know who Chelsea is, so that my kids know. And I want to have enjoyed these first few years of marriage with Bryan. I want our kids to see how much we love each other. Bryans parents are an amazing example of this. I hope that we can be kind of like them someday.

Anyway, back to Newbold. A lot of people showed up to watch her open her call. After she opened it, and began reading - we found out that she would be speaking spanish and serving in Bolivia! The best part was right after, she pulled a slip of paper out of her pocket. It read - Alabama or Bolivia. She totally guessed her own mission! She is leaving sometime in May! Congrats to this pretty girl!


Saturday morning I woke up to go to the gym with Brooke. We decided to go to the Insanity class. Man, that was not easy at all. I've heard it was hard, but holy crap. I was so tired when we finished. I was also on my monthly, so that made working out even more hard. After we finished, I came home and asked Bryan if we could go on a hike. It's like the beginning of February and somehow it is sunny and 68 degrees… I thought we should take advantage of that. We got ready to go, and chose to go to Bridal Veil Falls. The hike is a really short one, and I had never actually done it before. The hike was very pretty! For the most part it was pretty comfortable weather. Especially when we were in the sun! The trail is on the south side of the canyon though, so there was quite a bit of shade. The hike was really relaxing! We got to just talk, walk and hold hands up the trail. When we got to the falls, it was a lot more windy, so I am glad that Bryan told me to bring a jacket because I ended up wanting it while we were up there. Sadly, on the way back down I started to feel cramps and icky. It wasn't too awful so I still planned on meeting Merrill at the mall to help her shop for more professional clothing for her new job.

Happy Spring in Winter!

At the mall we had a pretty good time. We found Merrill some dress pants from Forever 21. One of the pairs was incredibly on sale, so she only ended up spending like $30 on two pairs of dress pants. I would say that is a steal! We also went to Mikarose for her to try on a few skirts. Around this point I started to feel like I was going to die. The only thing was, I really didn't want Merrill to know how sick I felt. She is ALWAYS there for me when I need a shopping buddy. I tend to take forever too, so I wanted to be there to help her when she needed someone. I ended up sitting on the floor of the changing room while she changed into her different possible skirts. She didn't end up finding one she loved, so that was a bummer. After that she got Chick-fil-A for dinner. We sat and talked until she was done.

Sad face begging Bry to come home 

When I finally got into my car to go home, I called Bryan and almost started crying because I was hurting so badly. We ended up deciding that he would go to Stake Conference by himself. I felt bad about that because I had such a fun filled day, but now I was skipping out on a church obligation. I do think it was a good thing that I didn't go because I really didn't feel well, and I needed the hot-pad for most of the evening. After Bryan was done with Stake Conference, he came home to take care of me. The rest of the night was really lazy since I was not up for much by this point! Thank goodness for a kind husband who is always willing to take care of me!

Ihoppin' Time

Sometimes you really want food, and sometimes you cave in and you go to IHop at 10pm. The great thing about being married to this boy, is that he loves food more than anything so I always have a good chance of getting him to take me out to eat! At dinner we had the best waiter. He made us laugh so stinkin' hard! He was so blunt about not wanting to be at work, but everything he said was so funny. He also kept filling our hot cocoa for free, and I am pretty sure he would have given us more for free if we had asked! I can't even tell you how much I love French Toast from IHop! It has become an obsession. The rest of the night we watched Grey's Anatomy. I don't know how I convinced this boy to like this show with me, but I am sure glad that I did! I don't know what we are going to do once we finally get through the whole show. We are getting pretty darn close to the end too. 

Saturday Afternoon was a good day! I was having weird stomach pains starting Thursday evening and into Saturday, and I still have no idea how to explain it. It as like a constant heartburn but everywhere in my tummy and chest. Strange feeling. Thankfully it went way sometime Saturday afternoon. For most of the day we were really lazy. Bryan did homework, and I relaxed while hoping I would start to feel better. Finally later afternoon we got ready for the day, and went to Applebees for dinner! We got two gift cards to Applebees at Christmas, so we thought it was time to use at least one of them! We saw a really cute baby boy there while we were waiting to get seated. His older sister was rocking him like crazy and coughing in his face, but it made me a little bit crazy... I hate when people get judgy on Mom's but honestly the little girl was coughing big time in the little boys face! ah. He was such a new little thing. Anyways. I apologize for the side rant. Especially because I'm sure I will not always be the greatest mom. After we finished eating we hurried home to get ready for the game. Merrill met us at our place and we went on up to the game! 

I started to feel a bit funny again during the game, but I was still able to enjoy it! I always enjoy the nights that I get to see my cute Merrill face. Tommy T was at the game with us as well. I don't honestly remember too much about the game because Merrill and I ended up talking just about the whole time... but I know they won! I also know the other team was not very good at all. Merrill and Tommy came over after the game, so we decided to watch Indiana Jones! I wasn't too crazy thrilled about it, but it is one of Bryans favorite movies aside from Lord of the Rings and Star Wars. We watched for awhile, but sadly merrill and tommy left early. Bry really wanted to finish the movie but I really struggled to stay awake, so we ended up just going to bed. I think it ended up being a very good weekend! Thank goodness I ended up getting better, because the weekend had not start out well.  I'm grateful that Bryan aways takes care of me!  

Jazz Game Time

Before Christmas, I had gotten everything for Bryan that I had planned on getting him for Birthday and Christmas. Somehow I had gotten everything on an amazing sale and wasn't even close to hitting the budget we had set for gifts this year. A good budgeter would have said, "Sweet, I did well" and called it a day. Naturally, I have to get as close to spending my full budget weather I need to or not.

My instinct is to buy clothes. What more could you want? But, knowing Bryan I figured he would really appreciate it if I got him something a bit more exciting. Merrill suggested this Holiday Package that the Jazz had. So, for $49 I was able to get two jazz tickets an a $20 gift card to the Megaplex.  Sports and a movie… everything he loves in one package!

Well, this week we got to use those tickets! Another great thing about buying your husband a gift, is  that he gets to happily share it with you… so I got to go to the game with him! Sadly, I had a nasty headache behind my eyes for half of the game, but thankfully it went away and I was able to enjoy the last half a lot more! The Jazz lost to The Golden State Warriors. Good news is, Bryan didn't care because it was a good game and he would prefer that they lost so they can get a better pick in the next draft :)

As always, a wonderful night with my best friend!

Weekend Loving

As far as weekends go, I would have to say this last one was really good. Ever since Merrill bought a student sports pass with us, we have talked about going to a gymnastics meet. Well, the first one was this last weekend and we decided to make it a girls night! Brooke came and it was the best! If you ignore the fact that BYU lost to the U… Let's face it though.. the University of Utah Gymnastics program is kind of amazing! Growing up, mom would take Jordan and I to their meets. I just loved watching them do all of those amazing things. I especially loved watching the floor routines.

Once the meet ended, we decided it wouldn't a proper girls night without food. We ended up at Taco bell, and spending a good hour talking. Always good times with my beautiful friends.

Saturday was wonderful because we were lazy for almost ALL. day. I got to sleep in and be lazy. Honey got to work on school work, calling stuff, watch some ESPN 30 for 30 episodes and he even did p90x. So when I say it was a lazy day, it was mostly lazy for me! I did finish reading The Help. Oh my goodness. One of the best books I have ever read! The book is hilarious, emotional and exciting. I had the hardest time putting it down when I needed to. 

We spent some quality time together and then got ready to go to the Temple. We decided to get out of the norm and go to the Draper Temple. I haven't been there for anything but Baptisms for the dead, so I was excited. We decided to do initaitories instead of Endowments that day, so I didn't get to see a whole lot of the temple. I do have to say that their iniatory rooms are gorgeous. I would say they are my favorite of any of the temples I have been to so far. We took a trip to DI before we got dinner. I found a few things that I thought I might want but in the end  I decided they might not be exactly what I am looking for for my projects! Bryan picked up Cafe Rio and we did the usual of splitting a salad and a burrito together. Mmmmmm yummy. I was a happy girl.