So many things, so little time!!

Well, I got a new car! That is probably the most exciting thing that has happened. This post will just a be a quick update of what I have been up to!

Ok! To start off, at the beginning of November I set my Friend, Megan, up on a date with Chase's roommate. We made home-made pizza and went bowling. It was a super fun date and we got some pretty sweet pictures!

I then spent Thanksgiving in Utah with my mother! It was a really good break and it was much needed. I dont have any pictures, but you should just trust me! My mother and I decorated the house for Christmas in two days and it was actually fun! We also celebrated my birthday that weekend. I also got my new CAR that weekend too!! Isn't she so cute?!?

So I am really into making crafts for some reason. This is the Christmas wreath I made with one of my mother's old (like 15 years old) garlands that I wrapped around a wreath frame. I then stuck some decorations in it, and here you have it!

Chase and I went to Utah to get my old car, so that I can sell it (which I did!!). This is a picture of us at Gardner's Village in Utah. It was a fun weekend!!

My friend Bobbi also just left on a mission for Chicago. She is so much fun and I thought I would make these cupcakes for her! I got the idea off pinterest, the link is below the pictures for the girls blog that created them. Chase and I had a ton of fun decorating them. We also got to drive to Jackson area for her farewell. I am sure going to miss her!

Dispicable Me cupcakes!

Bobbi is the one in the red sweater!

One of my co-workers decided to buy me a sugar cookie mix for my birthday. I have been wanting to decorate sugar cookies and now we could! So these are some of our creations! The good, the bad and the ugly!

James Bond and his girlfriend

This is Chase with his star wearing his party pants!

This is me with my morbid cookie. This head had a little something wrong with it, so I just went with it and put all the little details of his accident!

That about sums up what has been going on with me! Chase left this morning for his Christmas break with his family, this is probably why I am finding the time to blog! I was also able to get all of my Christmas shopping done. I will be going down to Utah on wednesday for my Christmas break. My mother has organized an amazing week for us and I am so excited to see most of my family again! I have been very lucky to see my family within the past few months. Hopefully, I will find some time sooner rather than later to blog again. See you all soon!

Nauvoo Trip

I had the opportunity to take a week off work and head over to Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana to see my sister and her family, Nauvoo, and my brother and his family! I had a blast and here are a few pictures that I love! Hope you enjoy!

the weather there was amazing and so were the fall colors

mom, bridget, and finley with the Nauvoo temple in the background

finley with the flowers on the temple grounds

carthage jail

me with the robert wadlow statue...this guy was really this tall!! tallest man in history i think

finley in her awesome get-up at the wadlow statue

ryan and iain giving grandma her birthday cards

ryan and finley

finley and I

Sorry for all the finley pictures. I was with her the whole trip and she is pretty dang cute!

Look! Im awesome!!

Can you believe I made this...

and this...!?!?!

I think this makes me much cooler than I was before :)

Currently Listening too...

Lemonade by Chris Rice

Listen and fall in love :) Enjoy!

"We cannot serve God and mammon (the world)...which side are we on?"

Chase and I in front of the Salt Lake City Temple right after conference!

I had the opportunity to go to General Conference this past weekend and it was AMAZING!! Chase ended up getting tickets from his cousin, Tanner. We were able to sit pretty close and we went to the Sunday afternoon session. Anyways, this post was not supposed to be an opportunity for me to brag about an awesome weekend (and it was). The purpose of this post is to discuss some things I learned during Conference. President Monson seemed to focus on the ever increasing gap that exists between the followers of Christ and those individuals of the world. I was a little hesitant about writing this blog because things that I feel passionate about are hard for me to talk about. I fear being rejected because of my views, especially when it is something I truly believe in. I was pinning (on pinterest...very addicting!) and I found a pin that connected me to another blog, The Redheaded Hostess. I was reading her blog and she featured Alex Boye (he sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and was in a boy band in Europe before he joined the church) in one of her entries. I am going to quote him because I feel like he gets the point across much better then I ever could.

Good Music in the Home and The Proclamation in our Hearts

By Alex Boye

So I tried this experiment recently and it freaked me out a little, ok alot. I want you to try it and see if you get the same results.

I listened to top 40 mainstream radio for 1 hour, switching stations every 2-3 minutes. I had a notebook with me and wrote down a list of all the subjects I picked up on. Are you ready for this?

COUNTERFEIT LOVE, FLIRTY GIRLS, ANGRY BOYS, DRUGS, SEX WITH NO CONSEQUENCES, BINGE DRINKING, SLEEPING WITH MULTIPLE PARTNERS, SEX BEFORE MARRIAGE, ROCKS, DIAMONDS, BACKBITING, ICE, BLING-BLING, IMMODEST CLOTHING, WAR, HATE, 30 INCH RIMS, ASSULT, RAPE, DEATH, VANITY, PRIDE, JEALOUSY, ENVY, CRYSTAL, CHAMPAGNE, PLATINUM RINGS, LYRICAL PORNOGRAPHY, MARIJUANA, ADULTERY, SMOKING TO LOOK COOL, DISRESPECTING WOMEN AND GIRLS, USE OF GUNS AND GANGS, PROSTITUTION, LUST, MURDER, MASTURBATION, SUICIDE, HATERS OF PEOPLE WHO DO GOOD, LOVERS OF PLEASURES, PRIDE, BLASPHEMY

(Phew, I said all that without breathing!)

Remember, this is just mainstream radio which targets children as young as 14 and that goes out to the whole world!

A popular music producer who has been saying for years that children are at risk from pop music was quoted as saying, "Welcome to the world you helped to create. You wanted a secular society without the Lord and His word. Now you've got it."

Innocent hearts are being damaged and the world is suffering as a result of all the subjects I mentioned above.

There is a scripture in Proverbs 23:7 that says "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." To me, that means we pretty much become what we think about most of the time.

A friend recently made a comment that has stuck with me. He said "In my opinion, families will never be together forever if we try to think the way that the world thinks, and try to live the way the world lives." To me, that sums up what the family proclamation represents. It is a call to the world to stand up and be counted, and for us to live closer to the laws of God than we ever have before, which will ultimately result in incredibly fulfilled lives and unparalleled joy, purpose and meaning.

N. Eldon Tanner was once quoted as saying, "We cannot serve God and mammon (The world). We will grow to love one and hate the other. Whose side are we on?"

I think more and more people in the world are coming to the realization that the world is falling, fast! I also believe that more and more people in the world are seeing the great blessings in their lives that derive from keeping Gods laws. They are going back to they're roots, back to the God who created them. I love it! It's true!

We do have a long way to go to influence the people who are responsible for shaping this world and how it is today for good. I am certainly no expert, but even I know how this can be done thanks to Gods unfailing principles of success found in scriptures and modern day prophets. One thing I do know is that adherence to the family proclamation is needed now more than ever. The last part of the proclamation says "We warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets." Well, it's happening. The world may continue to mock everything that is good, wholesome and true, but as for me and my house, we will follow the Lord.

Like my music page on Facebook http://listn.to/alexboye

"As we draw nearer to the lord, we will have "the courage to stand strong and firm in righteousness, to 'stand...in holy places, and be not moved" President Thomas S. Monson

Standing strong is going to be a challenge for me, but I am going to at least try. I know I can, I just need to do it!

PS go listen/read conference if you haven't! It was amazing! I really liked Uchtdorf's talk during the Relief Society Session!!

DI--Give stuff a second chance

I have this habit of going to DI and buying things I usually dont need, but I have recently realized all the amazing items of have recieved at this beloved store! For those of you who dont know, DI is a thrift store type place. Below is a summary of my most useful and liked DI purchases! (I will leave out my book collection in sake of time)

Griddle

Price $8

Chase is a "pro" at cooking bacon :)

Cheese Grater

Price $.5

This is the kind that I grew up with and I love it!

"Perfect Pancake"

Price $2

Funny story: I bought this thinking is was for making omlets (as pictured). While we were making our "Perfect Omlets" we flipped it over to cook the other side and it has "Perfect Pancake" engraved on the bottom. Why would you want to make one pancake at a time!?!? We will now call it our "Perfect Omlet" pan. I think this is brilliant.

Spice Jars

Price $5 for 3

Totally negotiated price here. They wanted $5 for one!! Come on!! This is DI! So the guy gave us all three jars :).

Dress

Price $4

Repair price $1

I really love this dress! It is pretty old and has a few repairs on it, but it is still holding up strong!

Pea Coat

Price $4

It also came with 2 cents in the pocket :)

These are only my recent purchases...but it has been a good few weeks! Chase has found a ton of clothes at DI as well! Please share some of your DI/Thrift Store finds!

Summer!!

So Chase and I have done plenty of traveling this summer. We have made it to Emmett, ID several times. We went down for the fourth of July and then we went again for his family reunion. We made it to Utah several times as well. Here is just a short re-cap of the adventures we have had so far. We just floated the river and we are going to Bear Lake this weekend. Exciting!

Fourth of July weekend a group of us went to Emmett to celebrate. On Friday we went to Christensen's pond. Chase's brother-in-law's father build this thing as his kids were growing up. It continues to grow and it is pretty awesome. They just got this awesome slide, but they also had a zipline, swing, diving board, boats, and floating docks. It was pretty dang sweet.

Here is the slide. It was as awesome as it looks :)

Here is the group on Thursday as Roan's for lunch.

Here is the group at the lake on Thursday. This weekend we just played volleyball, horseshoes, Brooke played guitar, and we just messed around. During Chase's family reunion we went boating and it was pretty dang fun!

Here is the group again on a hill next to Chase's house. We went up and had a fire and tin foil dinners. Probably my favorite part of the weekend.

The boys!

The girls!

Sunset at our camp fire.

We went for a four-wheeling ride up on the hill where we had the camp fire.

In Utah at the pool!

We also made it to Utah to see Bridget, Brad, Finley, and my mother one weekend!

This is Chase "helping" me move. We had fun :)

At Chase's family reunion. Brooke (Chase's sister), me, and Mason (Chase's nephew).

Chase suprised me at his family reunion and took me horse back riding! So much fun! I didnt take many pictures during the reunion because I was sick...sorry :(.

We also made it to Mesa Falls. This is about 30 minutes from Rexburg. Chase at the Upper Falls. What a good looking guy!

Chase and I at the Upper Falls (PS I hate my arm placement in this picture!)

This is at the Lower Falls at sunset.

Our summer adventures will continue and hopefully I will be better about keeping you all posted! Love you all!

I am just becoming more awesome each day!!

I make a skirt!!! Here is the proof. It was really easy! The instructions for making this skirt are located at this blog. I did the whole thing within a couple of hours. For the more experienced ones out there, you could do it much faster. Here is a list of firsts for me during this adventure...

1. First Skirt

2. First zipper (invisible)

3. First bow

4. First hem

5. First wearable item

I had so much fun doing this and I cant wait to start my next project! I also learned a ton while doing this because it forced me to explore options with my machine. One thing I did not learn is how to zig-zag the edges....I tried and failed. I think I am going to need someone to show me . I will work on it though! I also added the visible stitching on the skirt to add a little something something and I LOVE IT!!! Enjoy admiring my hard work!!

The final product!

The zipper. Not great, but not bad for a first time with instructions from the Internet!

This is me wearing the skirt!! This is before I made the bow, but I was just too excited to try it on!

ps Sorry for not writing in this thing for a while. I have been sooooo busy! That means I have lots to blog about :). See you all very soon!

Progress on the Facebook fast...

It has now been 25 days and I can honestly say that I have not logged into my facebook once. It actually hasnt been that hard. The hardest time was the first couple of days. Most of the time I totally forget about it. I have tested the waters, and it turns out that you can live without facebook. I know!! Shocking! It has been a really good month and I have one more week left. I know I have probably missed out on a lot of information that I dont really need to know. I know I have missed a few pictures that give a few clues as to who is dating who, but I really don't care. Hopefully I will not be as addicted as I was before and I can get some things done. There is also a part of me that wishes that I have TONS of messages, so get to my facebook and make me feel loved!! :) Thanks in advance.

Quilt Number Two!

I finished my second quilt a couple of weeks ago, but I have been very slow about getting pictures up. I made it pretty big, so I put it on my bed! My favorite color is purple if you didnt know :).

I got new gray sheets to go with them!

You can see the back of the quilt and the sheets in this one. I love it!