Just Because..

I love the whole idea of "just because..." 

 I especially love when I come home to this sitting on my kitchen table "just because."

(mostly because I have become quite the thrifty spender and maybe my husband feels bad)

Nonetheless, I still love it. and him. 

I also love this...

I was so glad to see all these girls. We had such a good time catching up and it was great to be together again! Post-lunch a few of us decided this should be a less rare occasion. We then discussed the possibility of allowing ourselves into the world of Bunco. It may be a little cliche but it's so fun. 

All girls.

Once a month.

Yummy food.

Catching up.

Treats of course.

and fun.

Takers anyone?

I'm serious.

If you would like to be part of our group please indicate so in the below comments. You do not have to be in this picture to participate. Also, if you are embarrassed to do so, you can email me your interest at kristin.b@aggiemail.usu.edu. We will be putting this together shortly. And don't even think it won't be a party every month.

We are trying to get an idea of what days work best for everyone too so please indicate that as well.

Thanks for your cooperation and love you all.

(p.s. if no one comments below I am going to look/feel pretty stupid so please don't hold back)

Re-Todd

I love going home. I love that my mom still lives in the house I grew up in. And while lots of things have changed pretty dramatically, I still love to be at her house where my little brother and I grew up. That's the other part I love--my little brother. He thinks I'm a goody-good and way too mushy, but he loves me and I know it. I was always the bossy sister and he was always the shy brother, or should I say student when I was the teacher, customer when I was the waitress, and one time even the client while I was the make-up artist. (It's a good thing he doesn't read this or even know what a blog is) I grew up thinking of all sorts of nick names for him. First, Toddy or Toddle or my favorite that stuck, re-Todd. My mom never liked that name. I loved it. My dad loved it too. I think Todd even loved it because it was a special name only I called him.

Todd is all grown up now. He's not really my "little" brother anymore. He's pretty big. Mostly just strong, and he's good at all sports. He loves to play sports. He doesn't love to play games. But I do and I drag him along. He has taken care of my mom when she needed a man in the house, and even though he'd never admit it, I think he'll always be a mama's boy. He has a big attitude, but it comes with the age and sometimes we can even see past it. :) He loves Mike. I know he looks up to Mike, and while Mike also falls into the "goody-good" category, I think he wants to be like Mike. I hope he does, but then again I'm biased. He's quiet. He tries not to smile when I sit on him or drag him to hang out with me and Mikey, but I know the smile is there. He's a good boy. He won't admit that either. I hope someday he will. He smells sometimes. But that comes with the age too. He's a cute boy and one of my favorites.

This is him. He's a looker huh? Well step back ladies because he's got a girl. She's a cute one too.

Here's my other looker. We have lots of fun. This was my step-sister Emma's birthday cake. It's really pretty.

We brought our Just Dance wii game and all enjoyed. 

Just Dance on Wii is very tiring. This is us after all the exertion. 

Husband Michael

Well...I've been thinking about one thing tonight and I think I can post in on account of.. I failed to post anything mushy on Valentines Day. So if you hate mushy, you should probably close out now and spare yourself the agony you will find in reading this post.

Because this post is about my husband.

I was thinking a lot tonight about myself, and I realized something. I'm a complete lunatic. Then I realized something else...my husband has never even complained about it.

I'm really not being dramatic either. I am always on some kick, whether it is a health kick, or a junk food kick, or a exercise every minute kick, or never exercise at all kick, or spend every cent I have to my name kick, or save every cent I can find around the house and on the ground kick, I ALWAYS go extreme about things. And once I get something in my head, I have to go and go and go with it until I get it out of my system. I have been like this for as long as I can remember. One example: when I was in 8th grade I decided it was time for me to have a cell phone. I asked my mom every day, probably every hour how I could earn it. I also researched it until I found the best deal with the best phone. Once I found that, I put up ads and printed off articles to post all over the fridge. I never slept until I finally got the phone. That's a dumb example, but that's how I get. Crazy.

The miraculous part about all of this is that Mike supports every stupid kick I get on. I can't remember him ever rolling his eyes at me, or shaking his head. When I tell him the brilliant ideas that I conjure up in my head, he always says, "Go for it babe." or something reassuring like that. And the other crazy thing is when I start to second guess my idea, he will always support me and tell me I can do it. Lately the crazy me has wanted to exercise every day as much as I can without killing myself. Because of this, he was there as I bought a treadmill (which does not even fit in our house) and I have been going to the gym every night. No complaints from Mikey. He just lets me be insane. I love that.

When I think about that, I think that Heavenly Father must have been preparing him from the moment he was born how to deal with a lunatic wife like me. But I'm probably the least of the things that Mike has been prepared for. The first time I met him, I thought he was so different from anyone I've met before. He seemed so special. He hasn't changed. I know he is going to do things in our lives that will be really important. I know everyone has such a special purpose on earth, and Mike will do amazing things. Hopefully I can be his side kick without interfering too much with his great works.

I could go on and on for days on this post because I get obsessed about things remember? And Mike is definitely something (really someone) I'm pretty obsessed about. There's only a few more things I wanted to write about.

The next thing I was thinking about him is that he never sleeps. Ever. He hates it. I love it. He loves me though so he lets me sleep as much as I want. But really, the boy hates sleeping. Do you want to know why? Because he thinks that he is missing out on doing things if he sleeps. So on his days off, he gets up at six. He goes running, he cleans the house, he runs any errands needed, he prepares lessons for church, he always reads his scriptures early, and he makes sure to write in his journal. What do I do on my days off? I sleep as long as possible and then I get up and go find him to cuddle 'til I wake up fully. I've gotten better since I've known Mike, but the boy can't and refuses to stand still.

Another thing is he never says no. Actually he never even has the opportunity to say no because he will always ask if he can help before anyone could ask him. He just has this love for Heavenly Father's children and will always do whatever he can to help. People are drawn to him because of this. They know his good heart before they even get to know him. This goes right back to him being put here for some special reason. When we moved into our new ward, he had to go to church alone the first week because I had to work. The next week when I went to church with him, he got a calling. He was called to the Elder's Quorum presidency. Was I surprised? No. When a new president was called and the presidency was dissolved, he got a new calling. Young men's president. Was I surprised? No. I know he will always be called by the Lord to these things because he is more than willing to do whatever the Lord, and anyone else, needs him to.  Actually he does more than what's needed. He'll always go above and beyond.

Last thing I am going to bring up about him is this. The boy doesn't ever need. He never needs anything. He is always happy with whatever he has. A lot of this has to do with his mission I think, but still. We book a cruise and I am already at the mall three months in advance because I need cute new things to wear on the cruise. Mike refuses to admit that the swim suit he owns is about 3 times too big and it really could be donated at this point. I go on my psycho health kicks and make only vegetables for dinner with a little breast of chicken, and he thinks it looks great. It's beyond my comprehension. We budget all of our money and have allowance and my allowance lasts about 3 days, while he starts paying extra on bills because he can't think of anything to use his allowance on. Is this completely amazing? Yes.

I already thought of ten more things to write but I am going to stop now. Most of you are probably already puking. And if you aren't, I've probably started your gag reflex acting up. I'm done now. Don't worry. But I will end it saying this, I'm a lucky girl. A lot of people compliment Mike to me after they meet him. I always get, "Your husband is a great guy" or "your husband is really nice" or from older women, like my mom "I'm so glad you found him, he is soooooooo cute." Well he is all of those things, and the greatest part is he is ALWAYS all of those things. I've never seen him mad or unwilling to help someone else, and I think he is pretty great. I always say he's really good at life. Because he is.

72 and Counting.....DOWN!

This is where I will be in 72 days. And with me will be the cutest boy I know. Don't be jealous. Just be happy for me.

And on a side note:

Dear Young Men in the 8th ward, 

Please make sure next time I make 4 dozen cupcakes for your game night you eat them all. I requested that my husband did not bring any back, and I still had half a pan full. Thanks.

(Second attempt at cupcake creations. Went pretty well, but my healthy eating habits weren't pleased with me. I wonder if two cups of heavy whipping cream can be counted as dairy? We'll say yes.)

Balcony People

Well this weekend was a pretty great one. It was full of fun birthdays with loved ones, as well as spiritual uplifting as we attended stake conference.

Family
Our sweet little nephew Breckan turned 5--which brought the Schillers to town, some of our favorite people. The Schillers are Jenn's in-laws, which makes them our brother-in-law's family. We really love them. They are all such great people and we love to visit them in St. George every once in awhile. The Schillers have a few places that always seem to be a must-visit whenever we see them. Chilis is one of them... and Cafe Rio is the other. This time it was Chili's. We went there after Brecky's birthday party. It was a great time. Jenn's face is pretty great in this pic. haha It was also Papa Dave's birthday so we went out to El Matador in Ogden to celebrate. That was great as well. We were so happy to be able to see so much family this weekend.

The next chapter of the weekend consisted of the Adult Session of Stake Conference as well as the general session on Sunday. Both were very uplifting and we loved the things that were shared. All the speakers were awesome and it really focused a lot on family and how important it is to spend time teaching your children. We don't have any kids (yet) but I love to learn about what we should do when we do have them. I love Stake Conference so much. It's always felt so special to me for some reason, and every time I go I wish the whole world could come and listen to the amazing things that are taught.

I'm so grateful that I am able to know without a doubt of the truth of the gospel. It's really an amazing thing that I never knew existed before I joined the church. I loved growing up with my kid's bible and an occasional visit to a Christian church with some of the sweetest people I've met. My mom taught me to pray when I was young and I always said my prayers at night before bed, but I had no idea that Heavenly Father was able to share knowledge with us in so many different ways--the scriptures, prayer, and most especially through the feelings that the Holy Ghost brings to us. I knew I had a Savior and I knew the bible was the word of God, but wow what power the true gospel has on the earth. It's no wonder this church began with one person and has grown to over 14 million members. I love it so much.

Acel
After the general session of stake conference, Mike and I were able to meet a new friend. At the beginning of the winter, the bishop asked Mike to keep an eye on a little lady's driveway down the street and Mike goes and shovels the snow anytime it needs it. He's so good about remembering it. As soon as it snows he bundles up and he's out the door. This day, I wanted to be with him all day so I decided to go with. It was warm and so I didn't mind going out. Well we were there shoveling and I started throwing snowballs at Mike. I probably threw about 10 without him even noticing because I kept missing so badly. When I finally hit him, I heard a sweet little laugh coming from the porch. The little lady had come out and was laughing because she saw me throwing those snowballs at him. (and missing miserably) We ended up talking to her for about an hour and in the end, we asked her if she wanted to come to church with us. She told us she hadn't been in years, but she was so excited to come. She asked what to bring so "she would look like a pro" and she said she'd be ready 30 minutes early so we had plenty of time. Her name is Acel. She's so excited to come to church on Sunday and all she needed was an invitation! We were so glad we met her, and we knew Heavenly Father brought this sweet little lady into our lives to bring us happiness. She is just the spunkiest, sweetest little thing.

Balcony People
I named this post balcony people because all the things I was thinking about and all the things I wrote really all had to do with this concept, which President Stevens shared in the adult session on Saturday. He talked about a book that he had read and it shared an idea that everyone had their own balcony. Each of our balconies has many different people in it who are cheering for us. They are there to help us when we need it and to cheer us on in all different parts of life. Our balcony people are all so special to us and really make our lives enjoyable. Not only do they help us enjoy, but they help us endure and accomplish. I have SOO many balcony people there for me. I am so very grateful. I know the Savior is on my balcony, as well as my family and friends that have always been there when I need them.
But one thing I really have been thinking about this weekend is the importance of being in the balconies of others. Sweet little Acel only needed two people in her balcony to invite her to church and sit by her while there, and if we, or anyone else, had jumped into her balcony a long time ago, she probably would have been going to church for years. I'm so excited I get to be in her balcony and I hope we can be friends for a long time. I know that I can be better at being there for a lot of people when they need encouragement, or just someone to talk to and I'm so glad President Stevens was able to share his message that inspires me to do so.

Oh and it's tradition to go to Frogurt after every stake conference adult session, so here we are with some great friends, BJ and Kali and Tyson and Kort. We love you guys! They are some of our balcony people!

"When we speak of those who are instruments in the hand of God, we are reminded that not all angels are from the other side of the veil. Some of them we walk with and talk with—here, now, every day. Some of them reside in our own neighborhoods. Some of them gave birth to us, and in my case, one of them consented to marry me. Indeed heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind." -Elder Jeffrey R. Holland

There are always people around us who influence our lives in many different ways, most for the better, and will always help us to be better people. Some in small ways, and some in large. I think of these as angels, and I feel so much gratitude toward Heavenly Father for sending those people to minister to us, and help us in all different aspects of life. I, like everyone else, have had many of these people in my life. I feel so grateful that I have and I know my life has been bettered by some of these special people in particular.

One group of these people come from the same family. Each member of the family is different, but all in different ways took me in during a hard part of my life and taught me about so many different things. This family showed me by example what it was to live a life as Heavenly Father wants us to, and especially about family and what that really means. At times, I think of this family as angels, because they stepped in when I needed love, kindness, and someone to catch me if I fell. I feel eternally grateful for these people and the ways in which they have changed and improved my life. I can say without hesitation that my life, perspective, and happiness has been altered by their good example and the kindness they have shown me.

Recently, the Mother of this family has been diagnosed with breast cancer and has begun a journey through surgery and chemotherapy that has really touched my heart as well as Mike's. She has spent her entire life planting happiness and hope in the lives of others, through her family as well as her work. At the time of her diagnosis, she was without insurance, and has a large burden placed upon her with all the treatment that she needs.

Here's the great news though, 

We can all help! 

With help from the foundation, Anything For a Friend, a fundraising event is being planned for June 11, 2011. The event will be a dinner as well as a live and silent auction. It is going to be so fun and more importantly, so inspiring to everyone that attends. At this point, we are looking for lots of donations and help to put this on. So....If you know ANYONE that would like to donate ANYTHING, please let me know. Also, here is a link where you can access all kinds of information about the event, and how to help:

Click Here to Help!

"In the process of praying for those angels to attend us, may we all try to be a little more angelic ourselves—with a kind word, a strong arm, a declaration of faith and “the covenant wherewith [we] have covenanted.”  Perhaps then we can be emissaries sent from God when someone, perhaps a Primary child, is crying, “Darkness … afraid … river … alone.”"

BOOKED!!!!

Hi. I have some exciting news. 

We are going on a cruise. 

That may not seem that exciting, but I LOVE vacations, and I especially love having Michael ALL to myself for a whole week! And that is what I get! We are going with some dear friends, Camille and Andrew Crandall on May 8th-15th. They are really great and we are SOOOO excited. This all started when I started nagging at him that if we got a certain amount on our tax return, we should go on one. Well, then my imagination started going, and I started dreaming up ideas with Camille. So we booked. Today. We have no idea how much we are even getting back on our taxes. But that's all fine because it's going to be soooo fun! We are so excited. It's the Mexican Rivera cruise so we will be stopping in Cabo, Puerta Vallarta, and Mazatlan. I went on this cruise a few years ago and it was real fun so I am excited! We are all set to go. More excitement to be posted later.