Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Martin Luther King Jr. Day has always meant a day off for me. There isn't school & it's a banking holiday. This year though, I feel like I am actually celebrating it in an appropriate way. How? I FINALLY finished reading "The Help".

It's an amazing book. Seriously if you haven't read it I highly recommend it! It took me a while to get through it but it was well worth it and I loved it. It's made me think a lot about how different things are now from only 50 years ago. Reading some of the things that used to happen in the south are so awful that I feel like it was should have been hundreds of years ago.

I finished the book on Saturday night. Jake had worked overtime the night before and was pretty tired, so we came home and he got ready to go to bed around 7 PM. That means he had been up for over 24 hours. Sometimes I just don't know how he does it! I wasn't tired, since I had taken a nap after work so I decided I would have a relaxing "pampering" Saturday night...

Lavender bubble bath, chocolate shakeology for dinner, a good book & a Proactiv mask 

I love long bubble baths. LOVE them. That was one of the requirements for the house we bought - it had to have a good bath tub. And I was kinda craving something chocolatey so I made me some Chocolate Shakeology for dinner. Yep that hit the spot. I don't have Shakeology very often anymore, but it's nice to have on days I really want something sweet! And I started using Proactiv again - I will post more about that in a week or two since I want to do a side by side of how my skin is clearing up since I started using it again.

I was in the tub for 3 hours. Had to rinse out the water once and add new water since it got so cold but it was wonderful. Seriously, I love LONG bubble baths. And I finished my book. And when I was done, I just walked around the house kinda in a stupor that things like that really happened in my parent's lifetime. It's seriously AWFUL how things like that happened! Makes me SO grateful for Martin Luther King, Jr. & Rosa Parks and all those who put their foot down and demanded that things be different. Also kinda makes me think of "Remember the Titans". I LOVE THAT MOVIE!!! And in that movie, there is a lot of problems in their town because they are making the schools interracial. Yeah just makes me so sad to think people could act that way. I plan to watch the movie of "The Help" later on today. I have been wanting to see it FOR-E-VER but wanted to read the book first, since I'm that annoying person that will compare them and I always like to have read the book first.

I slept in really late today {seeing that I don't have work} and didn't get up until around 1 PM. Yeah talk about a waste of a day. I am getting a little bit of a sore throat though... Hopefully getting some rest and taking it easy today will help me get feeling better. I decided to get a few things accomplished though - like cutting Max's hair.

Being camera shy 

He needed a cut SO badly - I kept telling him the last 2 weeks he looks like an Ewok from Star Wars - the little teddy bear things in the sixth one {Return of the Jedi}. He is so cute when he gets fluffy but it was way past time for a cut. And the weather is actually pretty nice today. And when I say nice, I mean that it's 25 degrees outside. It has been SOOOOOO cold lately and I had to take advantage of the slightly warmer weather. 

Doesn't he look so cute?? 

And I had to document me. Max loses his hair when it gets cut {obviously} and while most of it lands on the ground or on the ironing board where I cut his hair, a good portion of it always seems to get on me ...

Not anywhere near as bad as previous times but still had way too much on me for my liking! 

My mother in law also was able to pick up my new DoTerra oils today! Yes, I am jumping on the DoTerra wagon. I eat healthy - no processed stuff or ingredients I can't pronounce. So why would I put medicine in my body that has things in it I can't pronounce? Now - that does NOT mean that I am never going to take medicine from a pharmacy or whatever. I am grateful for modern medicine and plan to use it when needed. I just want to try using the oils and see how they work in comparison to not using any medicine at all {like I have been}. I haven't been sick or anything - just when I have a headache, I don't do anything about it. When I have a stomach ache, I don't do anything about it. So I am excited to try these oils!!

Alright - signing off now. Plans for the remainder of the day are to take Max for a walk since it's a pretty nice day and we haven't gone on one in months, watch "The Help", pick up my oils & start reading the sixth Harry Potter book. I haven't read the seventh one. Ever. Gasp. I know - I am WAY behind haha. But before I read the seventh, I know I will need a refresher so I am going to read the sixth one again. I have read the other 5 probably 4 or 5 times each, so I have those ones down fairly well. I am so excited to get to FINALLY finish the series - thanks Lindsey for letting me borrow them!!

Oh and PS - no binging this weekend. NONE. And my reward for doing so awesome? Lost 2 pounds. I've been the same weight since November 12 & because I am developing some discipline again, the weight is coming off again. WOOT!!!!! So proud of me!!! And you'd better believe when I almost binged, I thought of my blog & my goals I had written down and that I wanted to track everything I eat and then I didn't binge! Write your goals down people - tell other people about them. It helps!!

Christmas Day 2012

Jake & I decided a few years ago that we like having Christmas morning just us. Gives us a chance to sleep in {if we can} and start our own traditions together. Last year, I woke us up pretty dang early and this year it was Jake that woke me up and asked if we could do presents. It was around 8 though - a normal time to wake up haha. We got up and got each other's stockings ready in separate rooms and Jake brought my present upstairs from the basement.

Our first Christmas we were married we started a tradition to go to Wal Mart on Christmas Eve 15-30 minutes before they close and buy each others stockings. So we are RUNNING around Wal Mart, trying to find good stuff for the other person while trying to hide from each other so that they don't see what we are wanting to get! It is SO much fun, and this year was no exception. He never saw me, I only saw him once when I got in line to check out but didn't see any of the stuff he had for me. Then we have the checker triple bag everything so that the other person won't see what's in the bags when we get back to the car! Then we hide it somewhere in the house until the next morning. I love the tradition we started :) 

Right before we opened gifts

Jake grew up with having a fire on when you open presents, so all by himself he found the "crackling fire" on Netflix. I thought that was really sweet & fun that he is keeping traditions going from growing up. And yes, that TV is above our real fireplace... It's not vented so we try not to turn the fireplace on.

Looking at my gift in the corner haha

Jake looking at his stocking

My stocking! That pillow is AMAZING! And there was a foot massager in there too!

Max's stocking!

Jake opening his first gift... 

A Go Pro! I got it on video - his reaction was great. I had told him we weren't buying anything that expensive, since we got the couch and the new laptop and my new ring in November but I got it for him anyway! He was super excited!! 

It came with a helmet too but he prefers to wear it on his head haha

Then it was my turn to open my present... 

I GOT AN ELLIPTICAL!!! Seriously I was SO excited. He got this on video too - my reaction was pretty intense. I was in TOTAL shock. I had no idea he knew I wanted one, and I hadn't asked for one or anything. He put it together for me the next day - I LOVE IT!! 

Seriously SO excited!!! 

Jake's last minute present I got while at Wal Mart... It was for both of us...

Nerf Guns!! He immediately opened his, put it together and we got in a war. We've had a few since then - one of which he wore his Go Pro for so we got video of it. 

Opening his gun while Max ate his football shaped dog cookie

My other gift - weights!! They adjust  from 5 pounds to 25 pounds each in 2.5 pound increments. Seriously, I LOVE THEM! I started using them right away with ChaLean Extreme and they are just AMAZINGLY awesome!! 

After we were done with presents and constantly telling the other how much we love them for the surprises, we had breakfast. Waffles with thick pepper-cut bacon for Jake and turkey sausage for me. Ok seriously I wish I had taken pictures of this - I usually make a HUGE mess when I make waffles and this time I did it without making a mess of any kind. It was kind of a big deal. We had peanut butter, strawberries, greek yogurt, whipped cream & syrup as options to top our waffles with. It was DELICIOUS! After breakfast, we played with our toys a while and then got ready to go to Jake's parents house for gifts.

Jake mounted the GoPro on the Mazda to film our drive to his parents house. I love that he likes his GoPro so much haha!

We got to Jake's parents and opened presents right away. They had already opened gifts so this was like round 2 for Kenzie & Emrie haha.

Dad opening his gift - a shaving kit from The Art of Shaving.

Dustin & Clint got one too

Grandma got a necklace with a heart on it and a poem in the box about Grandma's. And no we didn't write the poem haha

Modeling her necklace

Kenzie & Emrie opening their gifts 

Emrie got Horton Hears a Who and Kenzie got Madagascar 3 for the Wii. 

Mom opening her bracelet. We also got her a necklace :) 

Emrie got Tangled for the Wii

Kenzie opening Madagascar 3 the movie

Jake got a Duck Dynasty shirt! We love that show!!

And I totally didn't take pictures of what else we got -  from mom & dad we each got $50 Visa gift cards, a pair of socks {that's a tradition with mom - she gets everyone socks!}, some smell good stuff from Rue 21 and Jake got a $50 gift card to Cabela's & I got a $50 gift card to Maurice's! I got some SUPER cute stuff at Maurice's the other day with my gift card. I LOVE that store!! Dustin got us a gift card to Chili's. I absolutely LOVE their chips & salsa so we eat there a lot haha. Total score!!!

We hung around and talked and watched movies and ate food all day. Christmas dinner was delicious, as usual. Sorry for the lack of pictures on that. And then we had the moment we were all waiting for - Clint skyped us!!

The sound wasn't working so we skyped to see each other and talked on the phone to hear each other

 It was so good to get to see him and talk to him. He comes home in less than 2 weeks! It made it that much harder to get off the phone with him though - knowing that we can see him so soon but that it isn't hear quite yet. Then Miss Macy came over and gave us our all our gifts - we got a Texas Roadhouse gift card! We got her a lavender scented bath set :)

It was really good to get to spend Christmas with the girls. I love when they are here for Christmas - it's a whole different experience. Makes me so excited to have kids! And knowing we got to skype Clint that night made it so that we had something to look forward to after presents were over. It was an amazing Christmas!

Christmas Eve 2012

**Warning ** Picture overload about to commence. It's really slow at the bank today {love working Saturdays for that reason!} so here comes pictures of our Christmas Eve in 2012!

The day before Christmas Eve we picked Poppa up from the airport! It was so good to get to see him, we just love when he comes to visit. Somehow he lost his usual hat {its blue & gold - signature Poppa hat haha} and he was SUPER cold. So my awesome Jake offered to give him one of our hats that we weren't using and Poppa was so excited. It was really cute. After we picked him up we all had dinner together and talked at the table. Then my mom gave my sisters & I all a gift just for us girls, along with a DVD of pictures of us as babies and growing up along with a song about our Happily Ever After. It was an awesome night!!!

Poppa rocking his new hat!

All of us squeezed in together. I love my sisters. Seriously, love. I don't know what I'd do without them!

Jake offered to take one for us. Much easier that way haha!

We spent Christmas Eve with my family {minus the few hours that I had to work}. Jake drove me to and from work, since it was snowing REALLY bad. That's pretty much thanks to Brynne - she had been praying for a white Christmas since Blake has never experienced one {living in Vegas & Japan for all of his Christmas's will do that for ya}. After Jake picked me up from work, we drove home to load up the truck with gifts, food & change of clothes and then we headed to my parents house!

Having family members who also eat healthy is marvelous. I really can't express enough how much I love it haha. My mom made really yummy homemade individual pizza's on 100 calorie sandwich thins. Delicious, yes. Easy, yes. Filling, yes. Easy to track calories, yes. Seriously amazing idea to make these. And then we had veggies & fruit and such on the side and there may have been some chips and/or crackers in there too. And hummus. We love hummus. After lunch we all changed clothes and headed off to go sledding! First, we had to stop at Wal Mart and buy a sled. Except the whole world had the same idea so we couldn't find one! We went to the Wal Mart in AF and found one and then headed up to the sand pits in Lehi by the Junior High. Seriously one of the funnest memories of my life. I haven't been sledding in SO long and it was SO much fun!!

First time Jake came down - I was so impressed he did it head first haha! 

How he landed haha

Covered in snow!

After Brynne's first time down haha

Sam was doing some tricky stuff!

Jeannene went backwards... 

Starting a train while Sam slid down

Our train of me, Jeannene & Popper

We were laughing SO hard - Popper had been SCREAMING

Still laughing...

Laughing so hard we can't get up haha

After a few times sledding down Jake went and did some drifting in the truck. It was AWESOME from my angle haha - I was proud of my rally driver hubby & our awesome truck!

After sledding, we came home and changed and got all pretty again and had dinner. We had manicotti with salad & garlic bread. DELICIOUS!! My mom has a pretty dang good manicotti recipe and she tweaked it a little for her, Brynne & I so it was lower fat but still yummy. After dinner, time for PRESENTS! WOOT!!! Jake & I started - I almost rather going last so that I can build the anticipation of watching everyone else open stuff but my mom feels the same way so we went first haha.

We got a red plate! This is a plate used for special occasions - birthday, when you get a promotion at work or good grades on your report card - stuff like that. I am so excited that Jake & I have one now!

Jake got thick wader socks for Duck Hunting!

I got "Who Wants Arthur?" and "Small One" - they are 2 children's books that I have ALWAYS loved!!

Jake got Iron Man on Blu - Ray since we returned the one we had to Blockbuster. Pretty sure I've already posted that story on the blog somewhere...

BYU shirt!! WOOT!!

Celtics hat!!

Max investigating his present from Buzz - his head was all the way down in the bag trying to get it out by himself

A duck! So he can duck hunt like dad! He loves it haha

Immediately wanted to play with it. Love my puppy!!

My mom found my baptism book! We found my testimony that I had written when I got baptized, along with my parents testimonies and fun pictures!

Jake got "Who's Who in the Book of Mormon" - it's AWESOME. I love it hah!

I got a Rose Gold watch. Every time I wear it I get compliments. I LOVE IT!!

Jake got thermals for duck hunting!

I got "Starved Stuff" - it's a married book. I love marriage books, and I love paperback books. Perfect fit for me!

Haha I love my face - I was SO surprised!! I got the HUGE nativity Willow Tree from my mom, Poppa & Santa!!

Immediately had to open it!!

Seriously I LOVE it!! It was so hard to put it down in the basement when we cleaned up Christmas!

Then it was time for everyone else to open their gifts from us!!

Fievel & Fievel Goes West - love those movies! Brings back memories from when I was little!

Little Women on DVD. She always used to call us her Little Women...

Workout clothes! There were 3 different outfits{shirts & pants} - all in colors that were bright :)

Buzz got a new monkey!

Rick got Goodwood BBQ sauce in both Sweet & Sassy  and Sweet & Spicy!

 And some Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Poppa got some books. I think this was the Charles Dickens boxed set that has the Scrooge story in it and then a sequel written later by someone else.

A political thriller

Another political thriller. He loves books like this :)

Brynne & Blake got Ferngully & Fievel/Fievel Goes West - seriously she & I watched those movies millions of times!

Then it was time for the sibling gift exchange! We all draw names at Thanksgiving and then buy a gift for one of the 12 siblings {including spouses}. Chris didn't come so there was only 11 of us this year. Only.

Blake had Jake - he got a Potty Putting Set! SO Jake haha. We were all laughing really hard!!

Jake had Blake - he got him a Nike shirt that says Blake {made for Blake Griffin}. He liked it :)

Popper had me - she got me a new CTR ring!! I LOVE IT!!! I forgot I had asked for it and was SUPER surprised!

Chris had Richard so my parents filled in and got him a gift card to Wal Mart!

Lizzy had Sarah & got her a new cardigan!

Sarah had Brynne & got her lotion...

And the Continuous Atonement. She was SUPER excited!!

Jeannene had Matt and got him a tape measure. He wanted that. Made me almost sad haha. He is SO grown up now asking for tools and stuff. Dang kid quit growing up!!

Emily got a candle and a manicure set...

And a lavendar bath set so she can pamper herself!!

Brynne had Lizzy and got her a box of cute things - nail polish...

And fuzzy socks... There was other stuff too I just can't remember what haha

I had Jeannene & got her a Zebra purse! She liked it :)

And I forgot to get a picture but Richard had Popper and got her a Maurice's gift card. LOVE that store. She was SUPER excited haha. After present clean up we made Shakeology balls for Santa. Seriously, LOVE MY FAMILY BEING HEALTHY! They were delicious. Mostly because they had peanut butter in them haha.

I will be making these again!!

And then we left to go home and get some sleep - it was close to 11 and Jake & I are seriously early birds when it comes to going to bed. We brought all our stuff and Max in the house and then read "The Night Before Christmas" together.

I love my hubby SOOO much for putting up with my traditions even when we don't have kids

And then we watched Christmas Story on TBS for about 5 minutes before we were both unconscious. It was a REALLY fun Christmas Eve!!