half marathon

Cliche as this is, Kyle and I decided to run a half marathon this year (well... I decided to, and since we're married now, he decided to join me :) )  We officially started training this week and.... holy moses I am sore.  I hadn't actually gone on a run since like... oh.... last October (being engaged may or may not have had something to do with that) . In preparation for this week I decided to try running a couple miles (and by "couple", I literally mean two) last Saturday and I was shamed by how difficult that was.
Going to the gym isn't one of my favorite things to do so when funny things happen there, it just makes my whole gym-experience so much better. For example, on the aforementioned Saturday I was on the treadmill jogging when this group of four women came in. It was pretty obvious that they were the "we're-setting-a-New-Year's-Resolution-to-workout-more-so-let's-all-get-gym-memberships-together-to-support-each-other" kind of women. Like matchy-matchy too tight yoga pants with too tight black tanks and the same running shoes type of women.
Anyways, they come in and they're talking yelling about how their "good-for-nothing husbands never remember to pick up after themselves" and "how it was just a terrible week" and "OMG! didn't you hear about Kourtney Kardashian?!?!" all the while getting on the treadmills.
Somewhere in between ranting about the husbands and the kids, (I had tuned out of their convo by now) I hear a "CRASH" and I turn around in time to see one of the women getting shot backwards off the treadmill because she had tripped.

It was about this time that I had to pause my run due to the lack of oxygen that came from laughing hysterically.

The very best part though was that the entire gym went dead quite and the three other women just looked at their friend with shock and concern written on their faces. They had no idea what to do. I actually ended up just leaving the treadmill because I couldn't control my laughter!

Going to the gym seems so much better just knowing something funny is going to happen!

Also, Kyle and I ordered some Camelbak water bottles and they came today!!
as evidenced by this:

Oh, and I was wondering if you guys had any good cross-training ideas.  We've been following Hal Higdon's training program and we're looking for fun things to do on the non-running days. We'd appreciate any and all feedback!

Happy Hump Day!

Everybody is having babies!

It's true.

2 more of my friends announced the other day that they were due! And one of my good friends recently just had her baby shower for her first born due in March.
This morning I was reading through my Aunt's blog as she had just updated, and I cannot begin to describe how cool she is. All my life I've looked up to Megan because of how much happiness she brings with her (....and maybe because everyone has said we look a lot alike. see the resemblance???). Megan has been a huge influence for me; it's because of her that my favorite number is 4, that I play volleyball, and that I currently want short, brown hair.
Megan is a phenomenal mother.  I've never seen a mom be so utterly pleased to be her children's friend. She plays with her kids constantly and teaches them ideas like gratitude and service in such simple yet fun and profound ways.

As babies have slowly been coming to the brain (no... I am NOT expecting!) I've been really evaluating how I am going to approach my motherhood.  This week while I was waiting for Kyle, a mother with her baby boy came and sat next to me.  I turned to look at the baby to give the ever-cliché silly face to him, when he promptly spit up all over my backpack.
Things like this really don't inspire me to have children.

The thing is, I just don't feel like I'm ready for it all. I still call my mom almost daily with questions ranging from household tips to "I can't do it all!" freak-out moments.  How am I ever going to be responsible or knowledgeable enough to do that same thing with my own children?

Megan inadvertently answered that one.  She wrote a post after her youngest and last child's first birthday that explained how panicked she was at first at the thought of being a mother. After having 4 children now she's in love with babyhood.

I'm realizing that it's ok for me to feel unprepared for children.  Honestly, what expecting mother ever feels truly prepared for the next chapter in their life? No one is asking me to be the mini-van driving, lunch making, laundry doing, house-cleaning, dinner-making, children-scheduling mother right now. Those things will come, but not all at once. I'm not going from 0 to 10 kids overnight! Motherhood is a process and when it is time, I will know; and while I may not be prepared for it, I'll be ready to embrace the experience.



But when I do have kids... I hope they look a lil' somethin' like this:

Its been a month, my dear

So crazy how time flies!
The first month has been such a big blur of traveling, unwrapping, unpacking, decorating, scheduling, prioritizing, planning and communicating.
I'm so glad though to be married to my best friend.
I thought it would be fun to share 10 things that I've learned about my husband!

1. I've learned he can eat nearly twice as much bread, eggs, noodles, juice, pizza.... food than I can.
2. I've learned that he tends to go to bed later and wake up later than I do.
3. I've learned that he is surprisingly more cuddly than I! (he'll probably deny that one though...)
4. I've learned that he is more patient than I gave him credit for
5. and he's less stubborn than he thought
6. I've learned that he has an aversion to paper towels
7. and an obsession with Nerds
8. I've learned that he HAS to have the bed made before he goes to sleep; even if that means making it 5 minutes before going to bed.
9. I've learned that he legitimately loves reading his textbooks. I don't understand it.
10. Most importantly though, I've learned that he loves me more than I ever thought someone could.

Love you hun.

Wedding Pictures and a Surprise!

Well, a couple of really amazing things happened this week. Actually, one thing, but it was AWESOME.
Mom was kind enough to send us a package with: 1. my phone! (which I had left at our honeymoon destination) 2. A Target giftcard that was sent late for our wedding and 3. OUR WEDDING PICTURES! And of course, being my mother, an assortment of Valentine's decorations. She has a deep and abiding love of decorating for ALL the holidays.
I posted a couple (aka: 80) pictures to my facebook so if you want to see those... you'll probably have to friend request me. But here are an additional 30-35 that I haven't posted already (blogger was taking forever to upload so I just put them to an online photo album)

Also, I finally decided to switch my major (sociology) and Kyle got out of his boring Biology class. He's taking Microbiology (actually molecular biology... he just corrected me...) instead. cuz he's smart.

Oh and.... we got callings this past week. Kyle and I will be teaching the eight year olds this year.  Apparently even though there are four of them, they require two teachers; I'm not entirely sure what that means... Either way though, they were pretty good today. That may or may not have been due to the large bowl of candy we brought. That's right. We know how to win friends.

mommy blogs and photog evidence of mr. tuft

When I first created a blog over a year ago, I honestly had no idea what I was getting into. I had no idea how many thousands of blogs there were, the hundred uses for them or that they weren't all about Christian bible bashing (because that's all I seem to find when I click the "next blog" button...). I had no idea that so many Mormon women blogged about their lives! About 6ish months after joining the blogosphere, I came across the Daybook  through a friend on facebook because the blogger was doing a fashion "30 for 30" project and I loved the outfits she created. I started looking at the blogs Sydney followed, and the blogs they followed etc. etc. and I was shocked to find so many really sweet Mormon mommy blogs!

Sydney got asked "Why are Mormons so cool"? which I feel like she answered perfectly and seems to be in response to this article I found through Facebook today. I will not pretend to be one of these amazingly crafty mommy bloggers, (aka: I don't do vintage, I don't have kids, I don't live on the East Coast and I don't have luscious locks) but I do wish to say that I am grateful for their willingness to be who they are and be proud of that fact.  One of the reasons that I started to follow Naomi's blog was because of a post she did right after she gave birth to her daughter Eleanor. It's a beautiful post that gave me some comfort about raising children and showed me that: yes, you actually can find joy in cleaning the sticky hands and diaper changes.

Anyways, read the article if you'd like, it's really good.

oh and here's the picture of Kyle in his hipster garb:

I even retrofied this pic to prove our 
hipster-ness.
dang straight.

how to be hipster

For the last 3 weeks that we've been in our tiny home, we've been piggy-backing off some random linksys internet connection.  (If you have your laptop on the washer, dance on one foot in a circle, and sing kumbaya, you get pretty good service!) But today when we got home from school, our linksys friend had disappeared! I, out of reaction to being a woman, immediately started having a mini-panic attack because ALL my homework tonight must be done online.

ps: mini-panic attacks usually result in bursts of tears.

So Kyle frantically but patiently began telling me that everything was going to be alright, offering up internet suggestions ("We could go back to campus, or maybe even Raintree, or we could stop by your old apartment....") But to no avail. 

We were doomed you see. DOOMED

And then he got a brilliant idea. "Hey hun, we could go to Starbucks, get the wifi there, AND grab a chocolate. Does that sound good?"

That my friends, is reason enough to believe I married a winner :)

Anyway, so he was putting away his clothes (aka moving them into the new dresser) and I told him that we should dress all hipster-like so we'd fit in better there. To which he freaks out and says "SHOOT! I SHOULDN'T HAVE SHAVED THIS MORNING!!!" I told him that wearing his drug rug and some moccasins would do, I mean, we're defying all social norms anyways by not subscribing to this internet thing anyways.

ugh. social conformity. so not our thing.

First House

If you asked me if I thought I'd "own" a house as a teenager a year ago.... I would've laughed in response.
I love eating my own words haha.
The long awaited house tour has arrived! Kyle and I {aka: me} aren't quite done decorating yet, but I figured that if we waited to post pictures until we were COMPLETELY done, then we'd never post!
And now for the tour:

from the front

living room

Kitchen as you walk in

Kitchen view looking back at the living room

our bedroom
(with the AMAZING quilt Pam made us)

our closet
(it's fairly obvious who's side is who's...)

I'm sure I'll post more pictures later as things slowly become "done", but for now we're quite happy with how things have turned out. We've been really blessed by the generosity of everyone who has helped get us settled in. We both have an amazing system of support around us and they all have been amazingly helpful.

Kyle is gleefully setting up the surround sound right now. (I swear; car, electrical and tool knowledge has GOT to be inherited through the Y chromosome). We've got some engaged friends coming over for a movie night tonight! Our very first movie night!

ps: Have I mentioned that I love married life? Cuz I totally do....

Have a great weekend!