Improvise

When life doesn't give you enough lasagna noodles,

try fettuccine. Or whatever you have in your pantry.

The eyes have it

I don't usually wear a lot of makeup. When my family moved to Houston again in the middle of my junior year of high school, I took that as an opportunity to cut back without having people ask me if I was sick or something. I hate it when people ask that. Anyway, so since high school I just wear eye makeup: mascara, maybe a little eyeshadow for Sundays, and eyeliner for super-special occasions, like our wedding or something. The other day, I was feeling like I wanted a little change. Haircuts are usually drastic for me and more expensive, so I decided to go with the makeup route.

Do my eyes look blue-er to you? (It just looked weird to have two Es next to each other. Blueer... doesn't seem right.) Almay says their stuff is supposed to do the trick...

It's a little heavier makeup than I'm used to, but I suppose it's time that I grow up and wear makeup like a big girl. I am 22, after all.

I have a problem.

If you know me well, you probably know this about me: I am an extremely impatient person. Particularly when it comes to myself. I only really like to do the things I'm really good at, or really bad at I suppose. If I'm somewhere in the middle and wanting to get better, then I automatically am frustrated by my lack of skill and just get so flustered that continuing to try is only making things worse.

Exhibit A: I am working on a new project. Maybe I won't tell you about it quite yet... until it's good enough that I feel comfortable sharing at least. My husband has much more knowledge in this area (or maybe just more patience to learn it... it's hard to tell the difference right now) and is trying to help me, but I am just not understanding anything! Maybe it makes me want to purchase a punching bag. Closer to probably.

Exhibit B: The piano. Some of you reading this have probably been my piano teachers. I really like to play the piano, but I've never really been any good at it. Well, I'm pretty good once I have learned a song, but I really really stink at sight-reading! So it's hard to learn new songs because it takes me so dumb long. Because of my impatience, you can probably guess that I don't play much anymore.

I thought maybe I should come up with an Exhibit C, but I really don't even have the patience to think of one right now. The point is, I need to change. How else am I supposed to get good at anything?

Called to Serve

My two brothers-in-law received their mission calls last week!! We are SO excited for them. The whole fam and some of their friends gathered at Aunt Dana's house to share in the fun:

And then it was time. A pretty darn big moment.

Garrett will be serving in the Peru, Chiclayo Mission!!

And Mitchell will serve in the Mexico, Mexico City West Mission!

*Can you tell that Garrett and I read ahead a little bit? :)

They will both report to the Provo MTC on August 3rd, and they will both be speaking Spanish. Tyler is so excited to speak Spanish with them! Garrett and Mitchell will be fantastic missionaries, and we feel so lucky to have them in our family.

Other pics from the weekend... the D&C game! Garrett kept score and I took pictures.

And I'm pretty sure our street looked like it was leading to Hogwarts... the sun was shining but it was snowing the other day and this was the result:

Can you see the steam? I hope so.

Anyway, a great weekend.

Starting fresh

Wasn't General Conference amazing? We had a great weekend. I have great memories of Conference, most of them involving food. Cinnamon rolls, scones and peaches, and lots of snack foods accompany my fond feelings for this weekend. So, on Sunday, I decided I'd better keep up with tradition, at least partly. I made a boat-load of scones for the afternoon session and we had Garrett, Mitchell, Austin, and Giselle over to help us eat all of it. G&M stayed for dinner (ugly chicken and rice) and later, after we took them home, we may or may not have baked a chocolate cake just because we wanted some. Go ahead and cue the pig snorting, because that's how we felt after the day was over. Good thing we got to play tennis on Saturday for a few minutes.

Anyway, back from that tangent. Conference was super-inspiring, and it made me think and evaluate myself a ton. My favorite talk was Richard G. Scott's, found here. His remarks made me want to be a better wife and person in general. As I've thought back on it more last night and today, I remembered that I haven't been setting monthly goals for myself. That stinks, because one of my few 2011 goals was to set monthly goals instead of trying to do something unrealistic for a whole year. So, I'm going to start right now. My goals for April are:

-Finish the semester (I know I will at least get one goal accomplished! haha)
-Work out 3x/week- I want to do the half marathon relay in May and need to work up to that
-Go yard sale-ing at least once, and, if successful,
-Re-vamp a piece of furniture for the new apartment (Kelly, you are my inspiration for this)
-Send Jeff and Heidi letters every week (I've been writing, then forgetting to send. So stupid)

So there they are. Is vamp even a word? Anyway, pictures from the weekend to come, featuring G&M opening their mission calls on Friday! So exciting!

Joke's on me

I've never really been one to prank. I'm not really sure how to keep a straight face, let alone be a big prankster! I feel pranked, however, by my nail polish.

This picture doesn't do it justice at all- my nails are pretty much neon. I just wanted something bright and happy to match the sunshine! Looks like I got enough brightness to rival the sun. :)

p.s. Thank you, Blogger, for adding the picture where your cursor currently is. It was getting SUPER annoying to cut and paste it from the top.

Me, the marshal(L?)

I am obsessed with watching the weather forecast on the news lately. I guess I'm just waiting for Marti Skold (my weatherwoman of choice) to say, "Oh look! Sudden shift in that storm. Looks like we'll be cloudless and 80 degrees for the next year." Wouldn't that be nice. I guess I shouldn't complain though- it's gorgeous outside today! Great excuse to skip classes and play tennis, right?? We'll call it a 2-hour sabbatical.

I've also noticed tons of fashion blogs as of late. This is a whole world that I had not even known was in existence until recently! Sure, I envy their seemingly endless shopping spree that is their collective lives, but sometimes I just think where are you going that you need to be so dressed up? Too much effort, I say. And that's coming from a girl who likes to dress up and shop. There are also some that I wish to send an e-mail to, asking them to stop. For their own sakes.

Side note: my job is awesome. I am on the commencement committee (which is so cool, by the way- makes me love this school so much more knowing the amazing people that run it) AND, I found out this week, I get to be a line marshal for the commencement processional! As though college graduates don't know how to walk in a straight line. Just kidding, it will be great. I get to stand pretty close to the dignitaries (I know who the visiting G.A. is too- don't you wish you were me?) so that'll be cool. Maybe I'll pretend to be a graduate and go through the line once or twice. Only downside is that there are 2 meetings during finals week. I guess that should motivate me to get started (and hopefully finished) earlier. Anyone know why this kind of marshal is only spelled with one L? Life is such a mystery.

You know you're ready for spring when...

-Your jeans look more like jeggings

-You crave salad and fruit smoothies instead of hot chocolate and warm cookies

-The sight of snow makes you want to cry

-Running outside starts to look more appealing than on a treadmill at the gym (my gym membership has long expired, but even if I could go, I might not)

-You start reaching for bright colors instead of gray and black

-Something NEW sounds good. A new hobby, a new pair of shoes, whatever it might be. I'm going to do somethin' new myself! I'll tell you what it is when I know.

So here's to spring!

(This is the closest picture I could find that matched my memory of the tree we had in our backyard in France. We would shake the tree and dance under the falling blossoms, yelling, "It's snowing!" Great times in France. Probably some of my earliest springtime memories)

When it rains, it hails

We are back from Vegas! It was a great weekend, til the end. We enjoyed the sunshine, celebrated Eva's birthday, ate tons of homemade ice cream, watched funny youtube videos, and laughed til we cried.

The drive home was where it got interesting. And by interesting, I mean life-threatening. We were making great time, and I was reading the very last page of the first Harry Potter book out loud when suddenly, neither of us can hear ourselves think- it seriously sounded like someone had thrown a tractor-full of pebbles at us! But no, it was just hail. Tons of it. We slowed way down and Tyler was being so cautious- we even thought about pulling over, but weren't sure about just stopping on the shoulder. Suddenly we were fish-tailing back and forth (luckily there were no cars in the lanes next to us) and Tyler was trying to get control of the car back when we veered off to the left, spinning. I closed my eyes just as we made contact with the median and were facing oncoming traffic, sure we were going to blow through the median and roll. We braced ourselves as we hit the median at the front, passenger side, and rear of the car and somehow did another 180 and magically stopped back on the right shoulder, facing the right way. It felt like a blink of an eye, but it kind of went in slow motion too. Not sure how to describe it. The next hour was something of a blur- two people pulled over and told us they had called 911, and then quickly left. We're so grateful they were behind us. A policeman came and called a tow for us, then got a statement going. I had the thought to take some pictures of the car, but when the policeman said "Be careful- if you guys slipped on the road, then someone else could also slip and hit you." I was brave enough to take one picture of the front, and then hopped back in to safety.

The tow truck came and lifted our poor car onto the bed, and then dropped us off at the nearest gas station. We were glad to be off of the road and away from the cop, who, frankly, was a jerk. Thankfully, we were able to get a hold of Aunt Dana, and she and Gabby came to rescue us from Payson. I felt so bad- I really thought we were closer, like in Springville or Provo! They were so sweet to come get us.

Once we got home, Tyler was on the phone with the insurance company, and everything's already being taken care of. We were able to get a rental car this afternoon, and our car is at a repair shop being estimated right now. Hopefully it isn't totaled and they can fix it relatively quickly.

There are just so many things I'm grateful for today. LIFE, for one thing. I saw on the news this morning that someone died in a similar, weather-related accident last night. I have no idea who the person was, but my heart and prayers go out to that person's family. I'm grateful for a wonderful husband who was able to handle the cop and everything else as I sat in the car crying like a basket-case. He is such a champ for handling me while also taking care of everything with insurance and repairs. I'm so grateful for another day with him. I'm grateful for insurance- if you don't have it, GET IT. I'm grateful for wonderful family- those who drop everything on a Sunday evening to drive all the way to Payson, and those who support us and are here for us every step of the way no matter what. I keep going over the accident in my mind- it is honestly a miracle that we didn't roll, and a miracle that Tyler and I both walked away from that accident without a single scratch. I know that we were being watched over and protected. We feel so loved, so blessed, and so grateful.

Outta here

Goodbye Orem... hello Vegas! We're excited to get away for a weekend. 3:00, you should hurry and come. But only after I do the dishes, pack, study for my Articulation test, go to class, take my test, and get the oil changed in the car. So maybe just come like normal? K thanks bye.