It's true.

"I have found that if you love life...life will love you back."

Couldn't be more true.
LOVE IT.

I'm...Getting....

MARRIED!!!!!!


Yes.

Yes, I'm engaged.  I know, it really is fantastic isn't it?
I love it.

I love being in love.
I love knowing that I'll be sealed for eternity on June 1st in the SLC Temple.
I love Jake.
I love my whole life!

With love,
The Future...Emilie Chanele Melton
:) Hehe

It's a Favorite Thing of Mine..

Some people know...that shopping is one of my simple joys.  :)  I seriously love it.  And the best thing ever is when you have a SUCCESSFUL shopping day. :)  Let me repeat.  BEST. THING. EVER.  So yeah, I had one of those days today.  And I was craving a shopping spree sooo bad.  It's been... FOREVER.

Things on the list that I needed:
-dark jeans --MUST HAVE: a cute butt
-church outfit or skirt--MUST BE classy
-sweater--MUST give me shape..something that doesn't make me look like a blob fat guy..like Jabba the Hut or somethin'.
-this was a want that I just happened to find.. :): A RUFFLE SHIRT!!!!  In, might I add, a beeeaaauutttiiiffffuuullll color.

Okay..so my skirt is the fabric of this shoe... I love it. :)

I found it all my friends.  All of that.  All I had been wanting/needing.  It was glorious.  Found my jeans at Downeast.  Found a skirt from Dillards.  Found a sweater at Dillards.  And my beautiful ruffle shirt, from Maurices.

I love shopping.  Def a favorite thing.  Def def definitely.

Also, It's been awhile since I updated this blog...sooo, just wanted to say that life is such a blessing.  I'm grateful to be at this school, I'm lovin my roommates that make me laugh till my stomach's gonna split, my family that supports me through everything, and is always there for me, my cutie pie Jake, who loves me for who I am, and who's always there for me and treats me like a Princess.. I'm grateful for good food, I've found some killer recipes lately, and I've never been much of a cook, but it's actually been quite fun. :)  I'm grateful for my testimony, others testimonies, my life, my Savior, the atonement, my calling, smiles & laughter, jamba, sleep, love, the snow, pictures, memories... life is a blessing!! :)  I love it.

I'm having a hard time believing it's November, BUT it is, sooo Happy November!!

Xoxo, Em

Miracles Happen :)

Bethany and I were asked to do a musical number in church a couple weeks ago, we performed today by a literal miracle. We had a pianist, they fell through on Friday night.  Saturday, we had another, fell through, had another, fell through..the list goes on.  We're seriously scrambling to find SOMEBODY to do it.  Our cute roommate Katie offered to practice but to let her know if we could find anyone else...  then, I actually got a call from a member of our bishopric, asking if we were 'on' for Sunday still...well I told him the dilemma and we cancelled, re-schueduled for a time in November.  By this time it was 9pm Saturday night.  I told Bethany, who...still really wanted to perform.  So she kept looking for people.  The miracle I'm talking about it that a friend of hers knew someone at BYU that could 'play' the piano..so we got her number, texted her, and she said yes.  Well, most people we'd asked said yes, and then looked at the music and said no.  Soo I was a little skeptical, not gonna lie.  And this girl didn't want to look at the music until the next day..Sunday...the day we're performing.  But okay, I called back the bishopric member and told him we were back on.  Sunday came, we picked the girl up from her apartment and went over to the church with less than 45 minutes to practice and pull this thing together.

Alli, the pianist, played the song PERFECTLY the first time around.  Perfect you guys.  It was amazing.  I'd been so stressed I woke up with a tummy-ache.  But it came together, went smoothly, I think people felt the spirit, it was amazing!  I'm quite proud of us. :) :)  Haha I know Heavenly Father is looking out for us, and we never need to give up, He's there and aware of our situations and things we're struggling with.  He'll always be there with a miracle and it'll all work out the way it's supposed to.

Love you all, hope it's been a good Sunday for everybody!
Xoxo, Em

Emilie: Voice
Bethany: Violin
Alli: Piano
**This is the song we performed :)
Savior, Redeemer of My Soul

The Teeth are Chattering

Yep.  It's cold now, well, cold-ish, and my teeth are chattering ALL THE TIME.  It's so dumb, and even if I close my mouth, it still happens.  My jaw just shakes up and down. :P  Fun stuff. And now that it's cold, it's time for Rudolph time when it comes to my nose.  Rudolph and I are twinners with the same red nose problem for sure.  :)  It's great.

It's BOOT season baby!!!  Can't even tell you how much I love it.  They're a daily addition to my outfits. :)

School is going wonderfully, I've taken two midterms, and did well on both, BOO YEAH.  My next one isn't till next week, so I can take a breather for a couple days.

I'm singing a musical number in Sacrament Meeting this next Sunday, oohh I know, I'm nervous.  Bethany's playing her violin, we have a pianist from the ward, and then hopefully Lexie will sing with me. :)

I gave my first lesson in church yesterday!  It went so well.  AND I wasn't nervous one little bit, which like, never happens.  I taught on trusting and having faith in the Lord and His plan and timing, something we all need to remember.  My fav quote from the lesson was this one:
‎

"Faith is total trust in Him. Faith is believing that although we do not understand all things, He does. Faith is knowing that although our power is limited, His is not. Faith in Jesus Christ consists of complete reliance on Him."

Nice huh?  Very true.  

Well, I'm a very happy girl, life is going perfectly right now, I feel very blessed.  I have wonderful friends and family. :)

Xoxo, Em

Surprise!!

I know, I KNOW I always post about how happy I am, and how great life is, and I'm sorry, it's like the same old same old, "Oh, Emilie's doing great!  She's happy... surprise surprise!"  Haha but really you guys, I am SO DANG HAPPY.  Life is oh so amazing right now, like I can't even TELL YOU.

Anyway, I won't go into detail, it would take toooo long, but just know that EVERYTHING is great.  I wouldn't change a stinkin thing.

Muah to all of you.
-Em

Tiiiiiirrrrrrreeeeeedddd

I'm exhausted.  
Really though...I'm falling asleep while typing this.  :P
There's just so much to do EVERYDAY, ya know?
Bleh.  Nap time?
Sounds good, peace OUT

Life's good y'all. Real good.

Life is so stinkin wonderful.  I seriously love it so much. :)

Also, Alma 36:3 is a fab scripture... "Whosoever shall put their trust in God shall be supported in their trials, and their troubles, and their afflictions, and shall be lifted up at the last day."

• Isn't that wonderful to know?  We all go through hard things...we really do!  Some peoples trials seem harder than others, but really it's ALL hard..but never more than we can handle.  "Be kind.  Everyone you meeting is fighting a hard battle."  <--TRUE THAT.  I know if we put our faith in God, if we realize there's a purpose, that He loves us and is walking by our side through the whole thing and then on after, TRUSTING Him, life is going to be so much better, and you know that He's going to protect you and raise you up 'at the last day.'   I need to remember this more often. :)

I'm grateful for friends and just, people to talk to.  I'm grateful for people who listen. :) ..and for people who try to understand me the best they can, sometimes I just don't make sense.  Like okay, I have a story.  It was so embarrassing, oh gosh.  I'm a dork okay?  We all know that.  So this wonderful boy, Jake, was giving me a ride home from school last week.  We're walking to his car and to get there we went through an elevator in the business building.  I guess it smells like weed.  Yeah, well we're talking once we get out, and he's like, "Did you smell that in the elevator?"  I said "no..what was it?"  And he's like, "it smells like weed in there!"  And so I said, "well, I don't think i've ever smelled weed...haha"  So he's like, "well next time we're in there, I'll point it out and then you'll know."  So then I go on, and I'm like, "Oh but I've smelled Marijuana I think..that stuff smells so gross."  I turn to look at him and he's smiling and laughing, so then I'm like, "Oh gees, they're the same thing huh?"  YEP people, news flash.. weed and marijuana are the saaaameeee thing.  I'm awesome you guys.  Simply AWESOME.  I was dying, hahahaha it was priceless.  Anyway, thanks Jake for not making too much fun of me, and for getting my blondeness and all that. :P  You're great. :)

I can't get over how beautiful my lil sis is getting.  STAY AWAY YOU BOYS!!!

I'm in love with WATER.  Always drinkin that stuff and I don't care for anything else. :)

I...forgot about my appointment with my hometeachers..so I missed them. :( Whooopsies...we're gonna try again this Wednesday. I hope I don't forget.

I HAVE A CAR THIS WEEK!!!!  Little Tucker, I'm happy you're here.  I wish we could always be together.

My mom is the sweetest.  She sent me a package this past week, I'd told her about this nail color I was obsessed with, it's a light pink from Aerie, yeah, she totally bought it and sent it to me.  Love her.

My little cousin Melanie is in the hospital for the 3rd time for a critical case of...hmm I don't remember.  It's a weird name.  It's the stage beyond Pneumonia..and I think it starts with an S.  Sedif?  C-dif?  Yeah..it's bacterial, that's all I know.  If it worsens she could lose her colon or..yeah.  But my gosh you guys, it's been horrible.   Prayers are definitely needed. :)  But she's pulling through we think, and a LOT of miracles have happened.  All of our testimonies have grown from this experience and the love we've been able to see and feel from our Heavenly Father.

UM WOW, have you heard the song Paradise, by Coldplay??  A.m.a.z.i.n.g.  I'm in love with it you guys.  Absolutely.  Also, I'm in love with Hallelujah by the Canadian Tenors.  Both songs are absolutely bueno. :)  Youtube um please.

Alright that's all I got for this Sunday.  It's been a great one.
Excited for tomorrow!!  And Tuesday :)  Oh and Friday. ;)

Xoxo, Em

It's a great day

Today is WONDERFUL.  It's my Catie's

YEEEEAAARRRR  MAAARRKKKK!!!

Gah can you even believe it?  I can't!  I mean, SHE LEFT A YEAR AGO!  Time has for sure floooown by for me...FLOWN.  I'm very grateful.  :)  I miss my best friend.  A lot a lot.

Catie's mission has been the absolute best thing for her.  She tells us every week how blessed she is to have this opportunity, she tells me in her letters time is going by way too fast, she believes everybody needs to serve a mission (I can't even tell you how many times she's told me I need to go :), and I just might, you never know!) She loves the people unconditionally, she loves her companion, loves bearing her testimony, sharing her experiences, sharing her passion and love for the gospel and the Book of Mormon.  She wouldn't trade this time for anything!!  I'm so proud of her, what a wonderful example she is and always has been to me.   I'm very lucky to have a sister like her.  She's made us all very very proud. :) I love her SO MUCH!!

6 months best friend!!!!

Xoxo, Em

I. Am. So. Forgetful.

Of course I forgot to turn in an assignment I DID!!  :(  Bleh.  So here's the story and why my grade is now docked 10 whole points! :( I wanted to do some homework outside today.  It was a cool nice day, just lovely out, so instead of going into the library, I sat right outside it.  I didn't have an internet connection, so for my New Testament assignment, I wrote it up on a doc and saved it for later, hoping to remember that I needed to turn it in to blackboard by midnight...well folks, I didn't turn it in.  I went grocery shopping with Lexie AT midnight!  And I didn't get on my computer again at all!  WHA!?!  So I get home at like 1am (shh don't tell my mom, oh hi mom, you're reading this aren't you??  Awesome. ;)) Um so yeah I got home, open my computer to check some emails, and I see this big highlighted document, which was supposed to be a reminder to me earlier, to turn it in!!  But since I hadn't been at my computer all day, turning in that paper didn't happen.  So I have a 0/10.  It's lovely.  No actually i hate it.

FAAAAAAIIIIIILLLLLLLL.

Family!!!

I.... LOVE.... MY..... 

F

A

M

I 

L

Y

mucho mucho mucho mucho

Funeral...

I have horrible news.

My beautiful scentsy is broken.
Now our apartment can't and doesn't smell like Vanilla, or a Jumpin' Jelly Bean, or Fresh Cut Cantaloupe, or Cherry Limeade, or just all those amazing smells.

I'm devastated.
The end.

Life is Good

Randommm little good things :)

• I love my ward at Raintree.  LOVE.  Everyone's so nice.
• I love my roommates.  In every way.  

       Holly can just make me laugh in a second no matter what, she has an adorable personality, Heather has super funny stories and is soo easy to talk to, Mickelle likes to paint nails and do makeup like I do, Bethany inspires me to be a better person everyday and makes me laugh till my stomach might split, and Katie is obsessed with cars just like I am and is also super fun and easy to talk to!!  Like I said, I .love. my roommates.

• I love skype.  I think I skyped my family everyday this past week.
• I'm becoming even more obsessed with interior design..like I think about it ALL THE TIME.  Always wondering what I can improve on, what I can change in a room, I'm always analyzing everything!  I JUST WANNA BE ONE!!
• I bought really really good strawberries and raspberries at the store yesterday.  They were supposed to be saved for a big breakfast we're having with another apartment for Labor Day..but I think I'm gonna have to go to the store early in the morning and buy some more. :P
• I made a wreath from pinterest.  It's cute.
• I like good quotes..like this one, "Love is friendship caught on fire."
• I like my greek yogurt.  Especially Fage Cherry.  It's like, cherry cheesecake.
• Scentsy smells wonderful.  Especially Jumpin' Jellybean.
• I like watches.  Especially big white ones.
• I have an obsession for wedding videos...like seriously you need to check these two out...the first: Dustin and Whitney (done by Haugen Creative) and the second:  Tessa and Matt (done by Nathan Pickett)  I want to be like these two couples someday. :)  They radiate with love and happiness that's seriously contagious.
• I'm getting so excited for fall!!  Woo!  I can't wait for it to start cooling down, for the leaves to turn orange, yellow, and red, for the crisp autumn smell, and stepping on the crunchy leaves on the way to school.  Yay!
• Did you know Catie left a YEAR ago THIS MONTH!?!?!?!?!?!  I know.  It's weird.  
• I love music.  Especially the adorable songs in the wedding videos I posted above :)

Well I think that is all I have to say as of right now.
Happy Sunday!!
Xoxo, Em

Peach Pleasure? You Made My Day.

Bethany and I took an adventure today to campus, to find classes, get me a calculator, and to get something copied for her.  Holy. long. walk.  Like I knew it was going to be long going into this, BUT REALLY,

 <----------------------------This long!?!?!--------------------------> (and I put the arrows on that, cuz sometimes it's gonna take longer...ya know..with snow, or hitting the lights wrong, or forgetting something and having to turn around...I'm just sayin.  BUT anywho, exercise is good.  I burned 300 cals just walkin today :)  Haha that's good.  

Finding the SFH?  Easy.  Finding my class?  SO HARD!  We walked in, saw a sign directing us to classrooms and the number for MY class, wasn't listed!  It was dumb.  So we walked onto the track, turned left, went up to the concession ladies, and they pointed to some stairs.  Took those up to the second floor, and low and behold, my classroom.  Took us a long time to find, but that's a long boring story, so all in all, just know we found it. :)

Walking to the JSB to print something?  Easy as pie.  BUT the copy center was closed.

Finding our classrooms in the MARB?  Easy peesey

Finding me a calculator in the bookstore?  Easy

Finding a skirt Bethany thought was adorable?  Impossible.  It wasn't anywhere!  Just on the mannequin.  

Getting lunch?  Took forever. But it was good.

Jamba?  Yes please.  Peach Pleasure?  New found favorite.  Will it last the whole walk home?  Yes siree.

HFAC?  Oh the HFAC.  My class is on the lowest level, so you have to go down 2 flights of stairs, and holy moly.  It is SO confusing down there!!  (Best place EVERRRR to play sardines..just so you know) Um so yeah.  We're trying to find my classroom, and we're at one end of the hall, and we see 3 people at the other end.  A boy, freshman girl, and Dad.  The boy is just staring at us..we knew they were going to ask where a certain room was...and low and behold, they did.  They were looking for the MRH.  We were like, the MRH!?!  Whaaa??  No numbers?  What the heck.  We had no clue.  All this time, here's Bethany swooning over this kid.  All we knew was that he wasn't a freshman. :P  So anyway, we direct them to the stairs to go back up, suggesting they look up there, so they walk away, we turn down another hall, and Bethany hits me and is like, "HE'S CUTE!!" Anyway, we find my classroom, we go upstairs and see the boy with his family, and they're up a level, walking into the 'MRH'.  Bethany turned to me and with puppy eyes, "Can we please go up there?" Ha, so we went up the stairs, walked into where they just had, run into them, and she's like, "Oh hey you found it!  So did we! ;)" Haha then we all turned around and walked out together.  Not MUCH of a story, but it made Bethany's day for sure. :)   And honestly, can I just say I have NO CLUE how she could be so bold like that!?  Bold enough to walk up there even though she knew they'd already found it, just to see and talk to him again?  I'd be like, "oh forget it, he found it, good for him, see ya."  I'm way to shy!  I was wondering what the heck she'd say again when we ran into him up there, but of course she thought of something.  I don't know, I'm not bold when it comes to things like that..I don't even know. :P

Now...the WALK HOME?  Hoooooottttttt.  Oh so hot.  But you wanna know a plus?  That I'm gonna get so tan.  I'll beat this one person I'm in a contest with.. you know who you are..if you even read this. :)  

Anywho, it's been a HOT, but very very good day.  And it's not even over yet. :)  I love college.  Even though it hasn't technically started yet.

Pictures Pictures

So, I took these with my computer.  Not the best, but still pictures!

Out fabulous family room.

Family Room once again

Lovely kitchen and dining table

When you walk in the door, you see the family room on the side, and the kitchen and dining table on the other with a hallway straight down the center. :)

The New Apartment

YES!  I've moved.  To... Raintree!!  It's pretty pretty.  I'd post pictures, buuut I left my camera charger at home..and.. it happens to be dead.  So.  Pics to come!!  But I love it here.  A lot.  But it's far from campus..like a 30 minute walk.  Exercise though, right?  That's good!

Yesterday I bought decorations for it.

MY APARTMENT IS BEAUTIFUL.
I love it a lot.
Come visit!!

Xoxo, Em

Break Time

So hey!  It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I have so much to update on and write about!


I had my last day at my wonderful job last Friday, a whole week ago!  Can't believe summer flew by that fast!

I went on my FIRST vacation of the whole year this past week!!!  YAY and about time!!  I've never wanted or I think needed a vacation so bad!  My sister Lauren and her hubby, Peter flew out on Saturday, and we left Monday to stay at one of THE most beautiful cabins above Sundance.  It was the loveliest get-away. :)  It was right on the slopes of Sundance Ski Resort, so when we went mountain biking Tuesday, we rode right up to the cabin after without going all the way down to the bottom and driving up!  Lovely I tell you.  So super convenient!  I came home from biking with a few battle wounds though.. :(  So I'm just going to wallow in my ouchies for a minute.. We were stopped on a slanting little dirt hill, and everybody started riding again, I was last, and when I pushed off, I didn't realize my chain had fallen off, soo when I pedaled, I couldn't!  And my bike fell over and on we both went down the hill a bit.  I landed on a rock which split my pants and marked up my knee quite a bit..if any of you have ever wanted to catch a rainbow, I have one on my knee.. I'm not missing any colors, tell ya what!  So that happened, and I got reeeally sunburned.  Wednesday we floated the Provo River, which was wonderful as well.  BUT the river was so strong, we had to keep pushing against the river with our hands to avoid rocks and sticks and such on the sides.  Everybody ended up with terrible terrible rashes on their arms...euw.  Mine have finally scabbed today from being raw for 2 days, ah I can finally bend and move my arms without literal searing pain!  So yep, the only thing that really hurts still, is my knee, but it's on it's way!  Lovely trip, but nature and it's elements definitely didn't looove me this week.

I know I only have one picture, but the rest are on our camera!  This one I just found on my dad's phone. :)  So maybe I'll upload pics from the cabin and such, later. :) But there's me biking in those stunning mountains! :)

Thursday I PACKED UP MY ROOM FOR SCHOOL!  Moving Monday baby!! :)

Friday (today), I went on a road trip (I'm currently on it...we're driving home!) to Twin Falls, ID to visit my cute grandma, great grandparents, and aunt.  Just visited for a couple hours, went to dinner, and left!  It was great. :)  Currently Lauren and the Daddy are belting The Sound of Music.. it's a happy car!  Haha but really, GET ME OUT!!!!  Jk jk, they're good singers. :)  The whole fam has just been singing the whole soundtrack allllll weeeekkkk cause we went to the play together on Monday..so yep!

TOMORROW TOMORROW I LOVE YA, TOMORROW YOU'RE ONLY A DAY AWAY...and we're going to Lagoon!!   It's been more than a year!  I love going with family too, it's going to be super fun. :)  Though...the last time I went cannot be topped..that's all I'm gonna say. :)

Obsession. Man, Seriously!

Ladies and Gentleman, I have an obsession.  This obsession is called...

Look it up here.  Instant addiction I tell you.  INSTANT.  It's a site where you post all your favorite things, recipes, dresses, shoes, desserts, recipes, quotes, books, photos, places, ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING!  It is way way way too much fun.  Anywho, because of pinterest, I've developed a love of cooking.  A serious love!  I'm always pinning recipes I want to try!  Oh my seriously.  Like for instance, go here for the oreo cheesecake truffles I made, go here to see the spicy honey chicken I'm making tomorrow for dinner, go here to see the cookie dough brownies I made last week, and here to see the cinnamon roll pancakes I made on Sunday.  It kills me.  Everything is beautiful on this website.  I'm addicted!!!   And the best part is, when you click on the picture..it takes you to the site it was uploaded from, it takes you straight to where the recipe is!!!! Gah it's the best!!  Like I said, I now am obsessed with COOKING.  Remember though, not only does this website have recipes and delicious things, it has SO MUCH MORE, like clothing, and design, and rooms, and craft ideas, AH you just HAVE to go CHECK IT OUT!!!  Please everybody.  I can't wait for you all to join me in my addiction. :) You all should get an account so we can all follow each other. :) I'm just sayin..

A few other fun things to look at:
1.  I think this is THE cutest idea!!  I just might do it for my wedding.. :) gourmet smores bar
2.  So doing this... Happily Ever After
3.  Um cutest picture everr... Fist Pump!!
4.  This is gonna go down with me and my sisters before my wedding..so special and cute.. Jumping
5.  I've developed a love for gray and yellow... Beautiful Beautiful
6.  I want this.. mirror
7.  Doing this for school.. Whiteboard
8.  Such a cute idea!!.. necklaces
9.  Ha, I love the organization.. Simple!
10.  LOVE this jacket...cuuuute
11.  Um I want these shoes
12.  Cutest church outfit ever?  I think soo..
13.  I WANT AN e+t one!!!
14.  Cutest messy bun in the entire world
15.  I'm gonna go here someday
16.  I LOVE THIS picture!!!
17.  lucky girl :) True Fact :)



Anyway, you MUST check the rest out.  Look at all my boards!!  I love this pinterest place, I love it. Follow meeee!!!  Explore!!  Have fun!!  Pin things!!    Long live pinterest. The end.

Little by Little

So I have this amazing, talented, beautiful, motivating, spiritual, strong friend.  Um yeah, she's incredible, I've always looked up to her, and tonight we were running and she brought up how she's been wanting to read Jacob 5 in the Book of Mormon (the chapter on the olive tree) for some time, but it's one of those chapters where you're just like, "hmm I know what happens, it sometimes feels like a drag...maybe I'll just skim it real quick.." But no, she wanted to actually read it.  She went to the temple and there was a big wait, perfect for going deep into the chapter. :)  And then she turned to me and she said, "It's so cool, it really is true that you learn and catch something new every time you read the scriptures."  Then she went on to talk about the part where the master says not to cut off all the 'bad parts' of the trees at the same time, do it little by little and the tree will come out okay.  Do it little by little.  I LOVED THAT because today, that relates in so many ways.  For example, when we're wanting to change something, like a bad habit, we have to do it step by step, we can't all the sudden 'change'.  You start for instance, making small goals.  Another example is like for me, trying to be healthier, I can't just all the sudden be like, 'Now that I'm being super healthy, my body will change with the way it looks and with the way I feel, TOMORROW.'  Nope people, it takes time, I become healthy little by little and by taking the necessary steps for that to happen. With things taking time, and working little by little, it's like us striving for perfection, being like the Savior as much as possible.  We don't become perfect in one second, we work for it by doing things like reading the scriptures, attending church, praying, doing service, having charity, being kind, unselfish, etc.  Little by little and we become better and closer, and more like our Savior.  It's a change that can't happen in a day.

Isn't it great what you can learn from the scriptures!?  I love it and I love them.  The church is true!!!


P.S. I hope this made sense, I was so excited about it cuz I'm weird like that, but my thoughts get all jumbled and then I try to write it down, and just wow.  Hope it all made sense. :)  XOXO

Express. I am in love with EXPRESS.

I'm in love.  I AM IN LOVE WITH EXPRESS!!!!!!!!!!  I have an obsession for shopping there.  A HUGE obsession.  In love.  These are the things I bought tonight!!! Ah I'm in heaven in that store...

BEST JEANS EVER.  These are just a light version of the third pair on here. :)

I LOVE GRAY JEANS!!!  They're beautiful.

I've had this pair for awhile, I'm obsessed with them.  I think they were made for me..I'm just sayin.

This shirt is SO cute!!!  Lace lace lace, gotta love it.  Oh gosh.  

Got this shirt in black, oh my comfy and beautiful!  Love it, obviously. :)

You ALL need to go to Express.  I had these KILLER coupons for in there cuz it can be pretty pricey, but I got everything HALF OFF!!  Incredible I'm tellin' ya.  Sign up for their emails, cuz they give you some killer coupons!  Best. Store. Ever.

Holy Bananas!

I know I've posted pretty much everyday, but things keep happening and I just HAVE to post!  Today was pretty spectacular. :)  Started off with opening the store, which is my favorite shift :), I had a Zupas salad for lunch, I learned about finances and budgets and all that good stuff from my dear manager Trista who seriously knows EVERYTHING, and I love learning about that kind of thing because I want to be set for the future and know how to do everything!  I don't want to go into being completely independent, blind, ya know?  So that seriously was fun and good.   And then I got off work, went grocery shopping with Maddie, found Brittany some chewy sweet-tarts that she's been craving, but hasn't been able to find, made a beautiful dinner for us kids, took some back to work for my co-workers to try, came home and cleaned up the house, did my jobs, Maddie and I sang songs while we cleaned, went roller-blading, went to Farr's Fresh, made cookies, and I'm going to the gym after I post this!!   It's been a good day, huh?

Opposites

Today was quite eventful.  Many positives and many negatives.
We'll talk about the negatives first so you'll finish reading on a happy note. :)

NEVATIVES

• I went into work at 11am and my poor co-worker is soo very ill, every symptom she has makes it sound like she has pneumonia or bronchitis.  Not fun.  Her baby and husband have it too... :(  But we need her at work because only three of us work there, so we have an opener, a mid, and a closer. Anyway, she came in today almost without a voice, and was coughing up a storm whenever she tried to talk. At about 6 (I had an hour left), the girl that watches her baby while she's a work, called crying saying that the baby was throwing up his milk, it sounded like he couldn't breath, and she didn't know what to do.  So I told Brittany to go home, take care of herself and her baby, I would stay an extra 2 hours and close for her.  So the poor thing went home, I really think she needs her rest and she needs to watch her baby.  The baby is so sick that he has to have a breathing tube and everything!  That was definitely a sad part of the day. 
• Because I now had to stay at work until 9:15, Maddie had no way of getting home from her friends house at 7pm...which is when I was going to pick her up on my way home from work.  So we were stuck.  Maddie was frantically texting me saying HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO GET HOME!?  You can't, Taylor isn't answering, and my friend's parents are gone!  Yeah, that was fun.  Fortunately Taylor FINALLY answered his phone and was able to grab her.
• Also because I closed, I missed going to the gym with Emily. :( I went when I got home from work instead.  Which is still fine, but we weren't able to try our "hoist" machines.  Maybe tomorrow. :)
• I have an irrational fear of spiders.  Poor little Maddie does too.  I swear, her room has been infected lately.  4 days ago she came up in the morning complaining of a spider bite on her leg.  3 days ago, she complained about having ANOTHER spider bite on her leg.  2 days ago, when she climbed into bed, she FOUND the spider that had been attacking her the past two nights.  Taylor and I were  watching 24 when we heard her scream from her room.  It actually was kinda funny. :P  She screamed and as if we didn't hear it and she wanted to make sure we had, she screamed again.  Bahaha.  Luckily Taylor was a man and killed it for her.  But then tonight...oh gees tonight was terrible.  Maddie was going to bed, she screams and yells that she found a beetle on her floor. HOLY SICK RIGHT!?  We've never ever had bugs in our house, so this is kinda weird.  She stamps it with a shoe and currently the shoe is still sitting on top of the bug.  So then fifteen minutes later, we hear a petrified scream again!!  She yells, "SSPPPIIIIDDEEERRR"  Hahahaha Taylor and I were just crackin up, but he was starting to get annoyed because our episode was being interuppted, so I got up and I thought I'd have the courage to kill it for her, but when I saw it, I just could NOT do it.  I was wayy too scared, haha.  So I called for Taylor and he came and killed it, then kinda was put out about our scaredie-cat-ness, said he was not going to kill another one that night no matter what.  Maddie broke down about having to sleep in her room, so she's in bed with me tonight.  Poor thing I just feel bad cuz if I were her and had her room, I'd probably sleep in the farthest room from it!  SPIDERS ARE WASTY.

POSITIVES

• Today had a ton of happy moments too. :)  Like when I got my favorite salad of all time for lunch...Zupas Summer Chicken.  OH MY GOSH HEAVEN ON EARTH.  And I got a delish chocolate strawberry too.
• A lady raved to me about my hair, she begged for my hair-stylists number, which may not sound like a big deal, but I recently had it cut and it's a little short, I'm not LOVING it, so that meant a lot. :)  And then one of our customers, every time he's in the store, comments, "Hey movie star.  How you doin'?  You should be a movie star..you know that?"  And it's cute cuz he's like 70 and from Italy with a heavy accent.  :)  I love him.
• I GOT TO TALK TO MY MAMA TODAY!!!  I love her so much and I need her sooo much my goodness.  I go without any form of communication for ONE day and I breakdown about it.  She's such a blessing in my life!!  It was fun to talk for a bit.
• I GOT A LETTER FROM CAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Cutiest letter in the world, she's such a doll, I absolutely love her.  Can't wait to write her back, I've been letter deprived lately for sure!  
• Emily Budge asked me today if I'd run a half-marathon with her in November and I'm doing it!!!!!!!  AHHH!!  I'm soo out of shape right now, so it's gonna be so fun to get back into shape, and I'm taking a running class at BYU this fall, so that'll help kick my butt into shape too and get me used to the distance and such.  I CANNOT WAIT.  Oh and Taylor wants to do it too. :) I'm so excited.  13.somethin' miles, here Emilie comes!!! :) :)
• I get to snuggle with my cute puppy in bed. :)
• I get to open the store tomorrow, which means I get off early which means I have soo much of my day tomorrow to play!!! I think Maddie and I will go rollerblading. :)  And then I'll play with a friend. :)  Ah and I need to clean my room. :P
• Lauren told me today that Harmons carries my beloved Vitatops!!!!! :) :) :) :) :) :)  Can't wait to pick some of those up tomorrow.

Yep.  Today was full of happys and not-so-happys.  But I feel like it was such a good day!  The happys definitely outweighed the not-so-happys. :)  Night everybody, I hope tomorrow's a good day too!!  XOXO

80 Calorie Cookies, Whaa!?

I am a lover of cookies.  And I am a lover of chocolate.  The latter is one of my favorite foods, don't cha know??  Well I have a problem though...cause I'm keeping track of my calories right now, check out myfitnesspal.com :) and I can't afford chocolate. Or cookies for that matter...sad life, I know it.  But I had a craving today.  Well I always do, but especially today. :P   I just HAD to have something.  Sidenote:  I recently discovered my favorite cookie has 148 calories...in ONE stinking cookie!!!! :( :(  You can imagine my heart pains...148 per cookie just doesn't work for me.  That's as many calories in a whole serving of oatmeal, a whole serving of Special K WITH milk, that's like a 2-3 cups of delightful strawberries, and to burn 148 calories, I have to run on the elliptical for 15 minutes.  ALL FOR ONE COOKIE.  Okay that's my sidenote.  So anyway, back to my craving.  Since I had to have SOMETHING to satisfy my need for a chocolate cookie, I searched for a low calorie recipe online.  Totally found one.  80  calories. (http://lowcaloriecooking.about.com/od/desserts/r/chocmintcookies.htm) Not bad compared to my 148!!  And oh boy they looked pretty darn good, and it seemed like a pretty normal recipe!  Nothing weird was called for and the recipe only made 2 dozen. :)  So I printed it off and went to work in the kitchen.  After combing everything and in looking at the dough, it was a tiny little lump.  Like there was no way I could make 2 dozen out of it.  Literally they'd have to be cookies the size of my thumb.  So I learned a lesson today.. a sad lesson.  And it's this... anything is low calorie in you limit the portion.  It stinkin made 15 normal size cookies, not 24!!  Holy baby cookies if you get 24 out of that recipe!  I was mad.  Haha so I figured on myfitnesspal that each cookie is actually 105 if you make them normal size, still not as bad as 148, but I was ticked nonetheless, cause nobody eats baby size cookies!

Allie and I decided to take lots of pictures today!!  We went to the gully and to the Wetlands, hoping to get some good shots with the rivers and lakes and greenery.  We first stopped at the gully and it was SO HOT!!  My goodness.  Anyway we walked down and took some pictures by the river in a spot where it parts into several mini-rivers and there's thick trees and wow it kinda looks like the Sacred Grove!  It was beautiful.  We were walking around trying to find other good places down there and we found this one place, but there was a weird man across the river...he was washing out a black hat type thing..had a big backpack...kinda looked homeless.  Anywho, it was sketchy.  So we turned around and went somewhere else.  But it was gorgeous down there!  We got some good pictures for sure. :)  The Wetlands gave us some good backgrounds too!  It was beautiful with the lakes and the cute ducks and benches and things.  Anyway, we had fun.

After hangin' with Allie, I had to make dinner!  I have been wanting Shepherds Pie (some call it hamburger pie..) for sooo long.  I've never made anything with beef cause I'm kind of scared to cook with it because I always feel like I don't know how to cook it or I'll just mess it up, I don't know, weird fear, but I wanted to do this anyway. :)  So first, I could NOT find my mom's recipe for the life of me.  She has like 20 cookbooks, and holy cow, I just had no clue where to start looking for it.  Lucky guess though, I found it in the first book I looked in!!  WOO blessing, I know. :)  Oh gees it is such a good recipe.  This one I found online, but it's almost exactly like the one I made, but scratch adding the water to the beef, it's fine with just the onion juice :) http://lyndasrecipebox.blogspot.com/2009/05/hamburger-pie.html .  So super easy and low in calories as well!  :)  I made my very own mashed potatoes, which I've never done...mashed potatoes are OWNED by my dad, nobody else ever makes them since he is King over those. :)  And he's never shared his secret...so I was left to do whatever I thought I should do to make them smooth and lookin' okay.  Haha but I did it, they were pretty good too!  So I made my taters, set them aside, and I took out the ground beef and realized I didn't have an onion!!!  I had to go to the store for one flippin onion.  So I did.  Mmm the meat turned out good.  All it is is the ground beef, and chopped onion and then a can of condensed tomato soup.  YUM.  So first in the casserole dish goes the beef, then a couple cups green beans, and then mashed potatoes and a sprinkling of cheddar cheese and parmesan.  Cooked for 25 minutes. :)  Wow, I am a good cook you guys, cause it turned out amazing. ;) Just kidding I'm really not a good cook, so I'm very very grateful it turned out okay. :)

After dinner, the lovely Emily Budge and I went to the gym to exercise.  Needed to burn off those 100 calorie chocolate cookies I was having a cow over cause the recipe said they were 80...well again, 80 IF YOU EAT ONE THE SIZE OF YOUR THUMB!!   So yes, the gym.  Ran on the elliptical for 40 minutes, burned 500 calories :) :) and then Em and I wanted to conquer the ab machines.  And we did.  Holy cow mine are going to KILL tomorrow.  Also, I have issues...when we were doing left lifts, I kept getting charlie horses in my quads!  Weird right!?  My stomach should be burning like a fire cause I'm working it so hard, but no, instead my legs were, so I had to stop a lot and stretch them.  More bananas? I guess...  but I'm so excited to go to the gym again with her tomorrow, cause we're going to try out all the "Hoist" machines...they're so trippy.  Kinda hard to figure out, so we're excited to go together cause honestly you always feel less dumb with someone next to you laughing about it with you than when you're by yourself and you can't figure a machine out. :)  So that's what we're gonna do. :)

After I got home, Taylor and I watched an episode of 24. :)  SO INTENSE, I love it.  I miss watching Lost though...but we decided to stop because the seasons keep getting progressively worse if you know what I mean. :/  I wish there were more seasons of Prison Break!!  That show is seriously the BEST EVERR.  Oh gees, but we're back to 24 because we haven't finished all the seasons yet.  And it's good, just every season is basically the same...ya know?  Oh well, it's been like a year since we watched a season.  So I like it. :)  If you know of any good shows, we love the action, love the suspense, hate the dirty, any suggestions, please comment! :)

And that was my day.  It was a good one!!  Can't believe tomorrow's Thursday, this week is flying!!!

It's July!!

July is my new favorite month. Anybody know why?? ;)

Anyway... the parents are gone for the week on a cruise...jealous a little?  I know, me too.  So I'm the mom right now!  Taylor and Maddie are so good though, always cleaning up after themselves, getting their things done, and then keeping themselves busy.  But today our plans are as follows:

• Lunch at the delightful Fongs Chinese Restaurant in Draper
• Taking the Tobes into the gully for a little hike
• Making lunches for a picnic that we'll have at a park
• Rollerblading and frisbee
• The picnic
• Games and the Wii at Grandmas house
• Watching the fireworks from Grandmas deck on South Mountain. 
• Me and Toby havin' a sleepover in my room like we always do. :) :)

It's a good day!!
Hmm right now I'm chillin' outside in our backyard on the deck with Toby on my legs and we're both soaking in the fresh air that smells of honeysuckle and flowers. :)  I love summer, can I just say that?  Mmhmm.  Taylor mowed the backyard yesterday and oh it is so beautiful.  And we got new bark put in this week, and you know how wonderful new bark looks in a yard?  YEAH it looks dang good.  I love where we live. :)

Okay Taylor wants to go to lunch now.  I don't blame him!  He ran 13 miles today and hasn't eaten yet!  Gee whizzles, so I best be goin!

Loves!!

Oh Life

I am so stinking excited about starting this blog!!!  I'm just kinda getting some weird thrill from this, haha. :)  Enjoy hearing about my lovely life!