dear: old photo

this was taken before we were ever mr. and mrs.

husband and wife.

before we were engaged.

long before "i love you's".

before i was even dating him.

before i knew what i was getting myself into.

so many things were going to happen...

so many things we never could've dreamed of.

so many hard days, rewarding days, days with out another,

and days we'd laugh so hard we could never forget.

which is why i love it.

we didn't know anything about our little future together.

about our plans, or where we'd be today.

the things we'd experience together and learn to be from one another.

the twist and turns we'd take,

how they would shape us individuals leading us to become a couple.

bringing us the most happiness in our lives, and creating our love

to last us forever

i could only hope for it, yet never wanted to jinx it.

so i sat there imagining, patiently waiting.

we don't have a perfect marriage but i'd have to say

he's perfect, and it's more then i'd imagined that day.

I had to post this picture, it was too good to pass up. Seventh grade husband and wife in the school play. Meant to be.

dear: delightful fire

oh the weather outside is frightful. but the fire is so delightful!
apparently this storm that hit was supposed to be the biggest in years.

school was cancelled. work ended early. and stores closed.
so now here we are "snowed in" but nothing monumental occurred.

but i thought i'd share two delicious recipes, both of which we had for dinner.
sooo delicious and perfect for fall and wintertime weather.

green beans with cranberries and almonds:



this is an old time favorite that my mom always makes and is so easy.

ingredients:
fresh green beans
dried cranberries
slivered almonds
butter

In a frying pan combine the ingredients over medium heat and cook until almonds are toasted and beans soft.

favorites apple pie

pastry:
1 1/2 c. flour
8 T. butter, cold
1/4 tsp. salt
7 T. ice water

work flour, butter, and salt together with fingers until well blended. add water and work into dough.
gather into a ball, cover, and chill for at least 30 min.

filling:
5-8 peeled and sliced apples
1/4 c sugar
1 t. cinnamon
1/4 c. lemon juice
3 T. butter cut in small pieces

combine ingredients in large bowl



Roll dough out on cookie sheet. Place dough in pie tin.



I doubled my dough recipe so I could create a top and used a leaf cookie cutter.
Optional to use one beaten egg yolk to glaze the top.



Cook at 400 degrees for 45-55 minutes and enjoy!

dear: cookies and milk

tonight husband and i sat on our countertop eating cookies and milk.
for me: oreo's for him: graham crackers

we danced in our kitchen &
laughed at ourselves

now we are going to cuddle by our fire and talk about our day.
sometimes i feel like i saw him more when we weren't married.

we are supposed to get a big storm here in slc tomorrow,
and i'm secretly hoping we are snowed in.

xo

p.s. i barely made my deadline and almost ruined my 30 days of
consecutive blogging!

how to: have a lovely weekend

it's friday! how to have a perfectly lovely weekend:

1. spend time with those you love

2. call a friend you haven't talked to in a while

3. do something kind for someone

4. bake a delicious treat

5. cozy up under a blanket by the fire

6. clean a room head to toe for satisfaction

7. rake the last bit of fall leaves before the snow

these our my goals for a wonderful weekend. i'm so glad its friday and so excited for our date tonight. not exactly looking forward to a dating panel we've asked to be in on sunday, yikes are we really that old??

p.s. i'm going to get better at posting pictures.

dear: thoughts on my mind

eek i can already tell that i'm in for a real treat with this new challenge of mine. i could tell you everything that jake and i have done this week, and i could tell you everything that we are doing this weekend but i won't. rather, i'm going to tell you a few things i've been thinking of:

1. is there one significant hairstyle for a person? because if so, i have definitely not found mine. i cut straight bangs last week and they are so much cuter on others then myself. please grow fast.

2. i never really thought about how weddings would be after i had my own. i still enjoy them but all the fun in sampling ideas for myself are gone, sad realization. but i really do enjoy attending them for these reasons: a. dressing up, i rarely need to wear anything besides t-shirt and jeans these days b. i adore flowers too much and when they are pretty i am so satisfied c. good company, good food, and great dancing (which i think everyone should include to their day, just an opinion)

3. laundry is so time consuming. i love my husband, and appreciate that he likes to be fresh and clean at all times, but really three outfits a day?? its killing me.

4. the holidays are drawing near and i've already accumulated a great christmas playlist, lover is not too keen of the idea

5. looking forward to our triple/quadruple date tomorrow with besties and family (i will most definitely post pictures)but i'm not very graceful on skates and we have chosen ice skating as the activity. last time we went i crumbled to the ground and caused an earthquake of a noise, nbd.

6. the weather is cold, and i'm ready for snow.

7. hp comes out tonight and i'm not going, we aren't too big of fans we haven't read the books, and i don't know the last movie i saw so i would be lost if i attended. but i might take that up to be my next 30 day challenge: finish all hp books in 30 days? i say yes.


what's on your minds?

dear: social media

life has gotten the best of us lately, and while it's been very productive for us, i feel as though we've fallen off the face of the planet and there is no need for that.

today in one of my classes we had a guest speaker who discussed everything under the sun about social media. he mentioned a poll that came out of BYU found that those that are involved in social media are more social in person. yikes, if that is the case then i am definitely not social butterfly these last few months. i'm a work in progress. but, all together he concluded that:

social media is not a fad.

we'll see about that, but as for now i'm starting to agree with him. we spend hours a day on the internet checking our fb, reading blogs we love, tweeting, you all know what you do etc. and while we could be spending those hours maybe a little more hands on in our real lives I don't necessarily believe that it is bad nor unefficient to spend time social networking.
why you ask?

well because we are in the era of social media. this is our time, and this is how we will communicate.
doesn't mean hand written notes are a lost cause, i know i certainly won't allow that to happen. because let's face it...is there anything better then a hand written note from a lover or a dear friend? i doubt it, to me nothing is more meaningful.

so here is the challenge, and anyone is welcome to join in. it's been said that it takes 30 days to form or create a habit. we'll see about that, but i'm up for trying. i've decided to blog for 30 days, five days a week, taking the weekends off to care for husband and not neglect the small amount of time we get together in our busy lives. so here it goes to the next 30 days, this could be interesting! wish me (us) luck!