26 big ones.

i had my birthday last week, and i turned 26.
i realized something kind of funny recently.....i'll try to explain.

you see, i think i've subconsciously always thought of myself as in my early 20's (well, at least since i was actually in my early 20's, of course). i see people or work with people or have friends that are in their late 20's, and i think of them as being older than me. perhaps it's just because i see them as being in a different, "older" stage of life than i am, maybe. and then, it kind of just hit me a couple of weeks ago......i'm that same age. i'm in my mid, almost to be my late 20's. now, don't get me wrong, i'm not saying 26 is so old. it's just older than i felt like i was. in my head anyway. you know how there are certain people that you babysat as a teenager, or kids you grew up with, and you always picture them as 8 years old or 12 years old in your head? but now, in real life, they're like 20? well, i guess in my head, i always pictured myself as...i don't know....22 or 23 maybe. does this make any sense at all?!!

so now that i'm 26....i feel like i'm 26. this is the first birthday in a while, maybe since i turned 20 and was out of my teens, that i've felt a year older. and dare i say, a year wiser too. i feel like turning 26 has somehow forced me into the next stage of my life, whatever that stage is. i know, this all sounds weird. it sounds weird to me, too.

anyway, we celebrated with my family earlier in the week, and with Jae's family the night of my birthday. it was a nice, low-key dinner, and i have yet to blog about any of the festivities. but i will!...(iiin a couple of weeks....).

i'm excited about year 26, and all it has to offer. isn't a new, fresh year just the best feeling?
i'm ready (as cheesy as it sounds) to experience life in my "older" set of eyes :)

a "not natural" wife.

a co-worker of mine found this article on KSL. a woman wrote about how she's basically a natural at being a mommy. she's 'firm yet fun - she knows how to handle kids'. but she goes on to talk about how, when it comes to marriage and being a great wife (all the time), it's just not as natural a thing for her. the article is pretty hysterical, and so so true.

i've only been married just over 3 years, so i may not have the most experience with being a wife. i always love to hear advice and lessons learned from those wiser than i. this woman wrote 5 skills she's learned that have helped her in her twelve years of marriage. i wanted to share, but more than that, i just wanted this written down somewhere for myself to read again  :)

1. boys are different than girls. i just can't emphasize this enough. it took me a few years to figure this out, so take my word for it. this is ta-rue! when you see your significant other behaving oddly in an undomesticated fashion, please know that he is not the first human being to behave so. there are many more like him - and they're all men. accept and move on, my friend. move on.

2. never let the following thought percolate your little noggin: "doesn't he know ......?" the answer is no. no, a million times over. followed by an "uh-uh" and a big nada the size of alaska. he doesn't know. he doesn't know what you're thinking and he never will. to be perfectly honest, no one can. if you want something, you have to step up, act like an adult and talk about it. no hissy fits allowed. but, if you do, try to make it look cute instead of bratty.

3. remember all those jane austen movies - the ones where the actors are so intuitive, so in touch with their emotions and so willing to walk through a hail storm in a diaper, barefoot, just to tell the woman he loves that she is his one and only? well, remember all those guys with british accents that you swoon over? remember what they look like? and remember that you never saw your husband as an actor in any of them? well, that's for a good reason - he is not that guy. does it mean he loves you any less. no. it just means he doesn't recite poetry by firelight (in a cute british accent) while combing your silky tresses. and that's ok, because your tresses aren't silky anyway. there will come a day when you will be far more impressed with his ability to change diapers, clean up puke and love you even when you hold an extra 40 pounds of baby weight. trust me.

4. you watch older couples who finish one anothers sentences and seem so comfortable with each other and wonder how that happens and how long it will take. but that precious intimacy - that closeness and comfort level when you know without looking what the other will do - takes time. and not just time, but it takes all the disagreements, the grumbling, the compromising, the laughter, the chores, the monotony, the adventures and even the tears, to mingle and marry over and over and over again to get that special closeness that you can feel in a look, in a touch, in one single word what the other might be saying. in that instant the pettiness melts away and you remember why - why you loved him in the first place and why you stay with him 12 or 40 years later. because life with him is better than your life without him...and because he makes killer omelets.

5. it takes practice to be married. and not practice with a starter marriage and then a real marriage. it takes practice and a ginormous dose of patience, forgiveness, and letting-go-of-the-pile-of-socks-two-feet-away-from-the-hamper-ness and all those other things that don't really matter. it takes the courage to start over when the ugly wife from the mental basement pops in and you ask for forgiveness and try harder the next day to be kind.

i just read these and felt myself mentally nodding my head along with everything she wrote. some of it i've experienced firsthand, and some things i know will come in the future. i loved this article. go read the rest of it! 

{you guys. i have SO much to blog about. it makes my anxiety level rise just thinking about it. but there is just not enough time this week. i'm feeling a bit overwhelmed and a bit under-energized. too much to do! we leave friday night for a week-long trip. i "plan" to blog again before we go....}

28.

to my lover on his 28th birthday:

first off, i love you Jae!
now, i shall tell you 28 reasons why you are great:
.1. you (let me make you) get a "real" haircut for at least half of the year.
.2. you're a truck guy. who doesn't love a truck guy? truck guys are hot.
.3. even though you don't always show your goofy/dorky/funny side to the world, you are goofy/dorky/funny with me, and i just love it. 
.4. you love our pup and play (roughhouse) with her all the time. she loves playtime with you! 
.5. you're a better cook than i, but you still love me anyway.
.6. you do all the manly, heavy lifiting stuff without me asking.
.7. you aren't too manly to do things like laundry and the dishes.
.8. you're more organized than i am.
.9. you hold my hand anytime, anywhere.
.10. you are as excited as i am to start a family some day.
.11. you are handy around the house.
.12. you are an honest, hard-working man.
.13. you love ice cream just about as much as i do :)
.14. you tell me you love me multiple times a day, every day.
.15. you have excellent handwriting (especially for a guy).
.16. you look awfully handsome and dapper in a suit.
.17. you make me laugh when i'm (trying) to be mad at you.
.18. you tuck me into bed every night.
.19. you turn on my side of the heated blanket on our bed before i get in, so it's warm for me.
.20. you have a testimony of the gospel and are a good example of a faithful church member.
.21. you love your family (and mine!) and are always willing to help them out.
.22. you always cheat and tell me "happy almost birthday" when it's still YOUR birthday. (cheater!)
.23. you love me unconditionally (like all those times when i'm super grumpy...so like, a lot.)
.24. you are a simple guy - dinner and a movie night at home is a great date to you, and i love that.
.25. all my nieces and nephews absolutely adore you. you play with them and make them laugh all the time.
.26. you love a cup of hot chocolate and mallows just as much as me.
.27. you're a perfect match for me - i'm always cold and you're always warm.
.28. you're a hat guy. hat guys are hot, too.

refuse.

i've realized i think i'm subconsciously refusing to blog the last couple of days because i'm refusing to accept that our 3-day weekend is very much over and we're very much back into the full swing of a work week. 

blech.

we had a slow, lazy, lay-in-the-spot-that-has-sunshine-and-give-dads-fingers-a-10-minute-dog-licking-bath kind of saturday. yes, you heard me right! we had sunshine!!! it was glorious. and then by monday, we were running around crazy, doing lots of mostly fun things. (i worked for a few hours early that morning. that was the not-fun part).

well, weekend or not, i've got a few things to blog about that i'll try to get to sooner rather than later. but i make no promises. 

did you enjoy the sunshine wherever you were this past weekend? 

(if you're in utah, we're getting snow today....sunshine over.)

gearing up for the weekend (and a fun recipe!).

i know. a recipe...from me??!
weird.
i'm not the greatest cook or baker, and yes, it's probably mostly because i just don't do it all that often. but honestly, i feel like i've stepped out of my comfort zone a little more lately and i try things that i normally wouldn't try (aka i've cooked...more than once!).

anyway, this isn't any big special recipe, just a small fun treat i made for my co-workers (and Jae, of course) for valentine's day. i'm sure you've seen it around, and probably even tried it. but they're pretty delish, so i thought i'd share.

(they don't even have a name...so we'll go with....)
chocolate pretzel pieces!
sure, why not.

anyway, you'll need:
-mini pretzels (i like the square/rectangle ones)
-Hershey's kisses (or hugs. i used kisses because i couldn't find the hugs i wanted. and i ended up using the kisses with caramel in them, which actually made it that much better!)
-M&M's

*heat your oven to 200 degrees. (i actually waited until after i got all my pretzels spread out and had started putting the kisses on them just because it literally only takes about 1 minute for your oven to heat to 200. but whatever you want to do.)

*start by putting a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, and spread out your pretzels. i fit 60 pretzels on my cookie sheet, and had just exactly enough kisses for them (plus the one i ate....).

*now...unwrap all the kisses! this is where a helper is...well...helpful. it can be time consuming! plus, they might be able to stop you from eating kisses along the way.... ;) (i only ate one, thankyouverymuch, and i had no one there to stop me).  place one kiss on each pretzel.

kisses halfway done.

*once you have all your pretzels 'kissed' (bahaha i'm so hilarious), put them in the oven for about 4-5 minutes. the time obviously will vary from oven to oven. the recipe i had said 5 minutes. i left them in for about 4 minutes and they were a little too soft, if anything. then again, that might be because i used the caramel filled ones rather than the solid chocolate ones. so you figure out what works for you!

*once they're out of the oven, put an M&M on the top of each kiss, ever-so-slightly pressing it down to push down the tip of the kiss. like i said, mine might have been a bit too soft, because of the caramel inside, so they didn't end up as pretty as i had hoped they would after they settled and hardened a bit. but i assure you, they tasted wonderful :)

{i just realized this might sound a little silly - all my detailed explanations for a treat that really is so simple. so some of you are probably laughing at me. buuut that's ok.. i'm just that amateur when it comes to anything in the kitchen, that i surely would screw something up if i didn't have the extra hints. it is what it is, i guess!}


plans for the weekend? i don't know about you, but we get a long, 3-day weekend (thanks, President's, for having a day off for yourselves!). i plan to take a nap. ha! i joke. but no, really, i really want to take a nap.

we had a hot date at subway last night for lovers day, so perhaps we'll go out for a "real" date night this weekend. and on monday, we're celebrating Jae's and my birthdays with my family! yayy!! should be a good time.

happy friday. xo.

today's 5 moments {red & pink edition}.

.1. i got up at 5:30 this morning and took the pup out to do her early-morning duties. first i saw the hearts in the snow....then i noticed them on the porch right in front of my feet....then i turned around to see them on the front door. our house had been heart-attacked! we have some of the sweetest friends anyone could ask for :)

.2. i decided to do a little surprise heart-attacking of my own on the bathroom mirror so Jae has something to see when he gets up. i'm not the most creative or the greatest poet, but it works!  **so funny story: turns out Jae checked our blog this morning before he even got out of bed....and yes, i had already blogged this. so he didn't even see the real thing first! he saw this blog post! i thought i was safe to post it that early. apparently not. whoops.**

.3. i discovered, while brushing my teeth, that my toothbrush wanted to join in the fun and be festive too! (ok so obviously it's the same colors every day, but just go with it. we're allowed to have an extra cheesy day all-around, right?!)

.4. administration at work handed these out to everyone as we walked in this morning!

.5.  yes, i'm one of those that plans out their outfits when a holiday is coming up. today is no different.

and guess what?! it's only 8am! so many more fun things to come today. i have a feeling this should be a to be continued post......

i hope you all find (at least!) 5 happy moments during your day today {even if you are at work, like me :)}  

happy lovers day!!
now go show some love :)

our {lazy} pup.

HAHA! 

i had to laugh at myself as i was deciding what to title this post.

at first, i wrote "zoey, 13 months".

oh my. she sounds like an actual human.

i mean, i love her like i love a human, too, but really?

she's a dog. i know this.

anyway.....

here's a few pictures of our pup.

because she's so much like a little person, it's ridiculous sometimes.

Jae got these two pictures one morning after i had left for work.

she quite literally takes my spot in bed.

rests her head on my pillow,

and folds her front paws out over the covers.

a couple of days ago, she got a new big girl bed courtesy of grandma!

it's so big! she has to kind of leap onto it (or at least she thinks she does)

because it's so poofy. it's pretty funny. 

she's still getting used to it, but i think she likes it!

 

you can mock me if you want for saying it, but it's still true...    

i don't know what we'd do without her.

life would be so boring! 

     

a day trip & a birthday.

this past saturday, we day-tripped it up to Logan to visit my sister and her family. and then to steal their not-being-used-and-just-sitting-in-the-shop snow blower. with all the snow we've been getting this winter, no working snow blower should go unused! and since they don't need it in their current place of living....we took it upon ourselves to offer to 'keep it running'. and stuff.

it was pretty snowy, but driving up, the canyon wasn't so bad. we played games, loaded up the snow blower (after giving Jae a tour of my grandpa's old shop where he housed all his painting supplies for his painting business....it's pretty awesome actually), grabbed some dinner, and headed back home. it was already dark and snowing more, and we had the canyon to drive back through still.

driving at night in the snow isn't Jae's favorite (it isn't mine, either...is it anyone's?), but we made it home after passing multiple slide-offs along the way.

once we got home, we unloaded the snow blower to put away in the garage.
one problem - we couldn't get our garage door to open!

it seems the weight of the snow and ice built up on the roof, mixed with the inevitable fact that our garage is a real piece......well the roof is slowly but surely caving in on itself. great news, eh? more on that to come later.

can you spot the large birds? they were wandering in the street. we had to wait for them to get out of the way. and then once they realized a big truck was coming their way, they scattered like crazy.

 

on a random side note, we celebrated my niece Hana's birthday (a few weeks ago....oops). i just re-disovered these pictures from it and realized i never posted about it. so i'm squeezin them in now. she isn't a big fan of frosting, so she very specifically requested only her name be written (first AND last, mind you) on the top of the cake with frosting, and the rest be left unfrosted. so be it, you crazy Hana girl. we love you!

naturally, we gave her a pair of bright pink sparkly shoes :)

and Zo got her tail-end decorated with ribbon, courtesy of her (human) cousins.

tgif.

it's been...a week.
not a terrible week, certainly.
kind of a long week, i guess?

whatever kind of week it's been, i'm happy it's friday.

most random part of my week:
i found this on our driveway when i got home from work. poor buddy. and umm...gross.

silliest part of my week:
jae left this on the kitchen counter for me to find when i got home from work yesterday. love that guy. and my dog.

most encouraging part of my week:
my co-workers ordered chinese for lunch one day, and although i didn't get chinese food myself, there were enough fortune cookies for me to pick one. i was happy with my pick.

most stylish part of my week:

i have a daily shoe calendar on my desk at work (thanks mom! you know me so well). some of these shoes are pretty...questionable. but some are pretty rockin. like today's.

happy weekend folks.

xo.

today's five moments.

.1. that picture was my view from work this morning. i'm so glad i noticed it - i was about to walk right on past the window, but i glanced out and just noticed the snowy mountain peaks barely peaking up over the fog with the sun shining on them and had to stop and take it in for a minute. the picture doesn't do it justice, but there was kind of a pinky/peachy color. it was lovely.

.2. two of my co-workers brought in donuts today. not knowing that the other was bringing them in. i combated all the sugary weight gain with a veggie tray. HA! take that, tempting donuts.

.3. i took over the responsibility to do payroll for about 45 employees in our department. this week is my first week officially taking that over, and today i made my first official change to someone's timecard. scary!!! (i know you don't care, but it's kind of a big deal in my world. this is people's paychecks we're talking about!)

.4. i've started my scheming for what we'll do for Jae's and my birthdays. i'm pretty excited about it  :)

.5. we did our taxes (or rather, i should say had them done) yesterday. let's just say...not good news. not good at all.

weekend in pictures.

saturday morning walk.

 

turkey burger from Blue Lemon.

first Valentine cookies for the month. (also from Blue Lemon. delish.)

fish tacos from Blue Lemon.

sunday morning in bed. she was ready to get up. jae and i....weren't.

church.

jae and zo playing after church. he blows on her and she shakes furiously. it makes her so mad. it's pretty funny.

getting superbowl sunday food out and ready.

round 1: turkey sliders, glass of milk, costco chocolate chunk cookie.

game time.

zo's spot for most the game (my lap).

my drive to work at 5 this morning. weekend over.

{i know...the picture quality is pretty crappy over here lately. apologies.}

we actually started our weekend by doing a body combat class (me) and playing a basketball game (Jae). but there aren't any pictures of that for proof, so i figured i'd better make sure i write about it! just to prove we don't just eat all the time. we do get some exercise in too. occassionally. anyway Jae's dad came into town unexpectedly for a really quick trip this weekend. naturally, i didn't get any pictures of people or places. mostly just all the food. figures. we also had some chinamen food (as Jae calls it) courtesy of Jae's mom and tried out buffalo wild wings for the first time (not super impressed, by the way), but i didn't get any pictures of that. after trying to plan this and that and going here and going there, we ended up spending superbowl sunday at home. just us. it was kind of really nice and relaxed. sad day for the Niners, but a good game to watch! (well, the second half at least after that weird power outage thing.)

**sidenote: have you ever tried costco's kirkland brand of chocolate chunk cookies? holy to-die-for deliciousness. seriously. try them.**

what fun things did you do this weekend?

more importantly....what yummy food did you eat??

welcome to monday morning, friends.

my favorite month of the year.

this here second month of the year known as february....well it's my favorite for a few reasons.

.1. it's the month of love!! and now that i have a forever lover, i don't ever have to worry about it being crap. (although he will freely admit it is definitely not his favorite holiday. whatevs.)
.2. we're one step closer to spring!! aka january is over.
.3. it's husbands birthday month!! along with a few other family members birthdays as well (have i mentioned how he shares his birthday with not just one, but TWO of his brothers?? totes weird, i know. and yes, i just used the word totes. it's become a bad habit.)
.4. it's MY birthday month!! some people don't care for birthdays. especially when people get older, it's the old "...it's just another day..." blah blah. well i love birthdays and celebrating them.



i'm starting my weekend off horribly...by working 9+ hours today. blech.
but then, i'll be home to hang out with these two loves of my life. they just love to cuddle.
it's the cutest.

happy weekend friends!

xo.