Let Freedom Ring

I did a quick little post on the 4th of July with the intention of coming back in the next day or so for a full recap. Well, a day turned into a week, and or so turned into more weeks. I can't really get on top of anything these days so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that I'm just getting around to this.

My friend Laurann hosted a family party. She is such a great hostess and had the cutest food and decorations. She ordered the patriotic sugar cookies from a neighbor. The drink is made by variation is sugar content. How cute are the plates and wrapped silverware?!?

I spent the 4th in California. Chelsea's friends had a breakfast at the park and bike parade. She signed up for fruit so we went straight to Pinterest. The strawberries turned out pretty cute, and Karson loved them.

We had such a fun day between the breakfast, swimming, matchy matchy nails, and swimming again/BBQ. I really really love the 4th of July a lot.

 Sorry for the picture overload, but I really just can't help it #sorrynotsorry

 Even Kyler got to be in the parade a little in his stroller.

 We needed a few pictures in the patriotic headbands from Grandma. You can tell how hot it was by looking at Karlee's face.

I love America! It was such a fun day full of celebration.

blogging the bach 9.8 {hometown edition}

no one is in california this week so kimberly and i decided to resume our regulary scheduled bach caps. that was a great idea until i didn't start watching until almost 9:00 and spent the past 30+ minutes dealing with computer problems. enough with the complaints/excuses/blah blah blah. let's get down to business. 

google image hometown #1...zak i like zak. i really do, but i have never really liked zak for des. that stood out even more this week. zak starts talking about some crazy dream he had. des says "i can't even follow it", and i'm wondering if anyone can follow it. i'm completely lost. zak's family is the cutest. can we make his brother the next bachelor or just bring him to utah or something. such a cute little thing, and how adorbs was the sister?!? the sister brings up the friend zone. i have a theory about that... if a girl puts a guy in the friend zone, he can definitely get out. if a guy puts a girl in the friend zone, she's done for. give it up now sista. zak's sister is scared and doesn't want him to get hurt. i'm pretty scared for him at this point as well. no comment on the family song except des had such a guilty this is sweet, but you're not sticking around look on her face. #2...drew lots of kissing. lots and lots of kissing.and kissing noises-my favorite the whole scene with his sister just melts my little heart. i have such a special place in my heart for people with disabilities and that brother/sister relationship just about made me cry. so tender! when des talks about things being effortless i feel surprised. this season feels like a huge effort to me. i'm also a little distracted wondering how long the hometown dates actually last... drew busts out like literally busts out the L word #3...chris holy awkward! the last few weeks i have been pretty convinced she picks chris, but i am totally unsure now. the baseball playing makes me think i NEED some sports lessons ASAP! i wish i like playing sports more than i do. that whole eye love you biz was just too much for me. i'm super confused why des copied zak's sketch idea from last weekend. pretty sure zak's not too happy about seeing that. everything about the family part was awkward...everything. based on all the sob stories/lack of i totally thought chris would have the most normal hometown. i was wrong.  according to his mom good girl+good guy=magic. if that's all it takes, seems like i should be married by now. i'm a good girl, and i've met plenty of good guys over the years. #4...brooks the opening scene had me all sorts of excited for this date. i live within a couple of miles of the park, and i go there all the time. one of my most favorite long runs ends at liberty.  love love love the list of memorable moments. that is totally my kind of thing. brooks is so happy to be with his family which is actually really cute. des is definitely super into brooks. brooks seems to be getting there. is anyone else confused why they are showing so much love talk about brooks? they never ever do that. it makes me think he probably isn't the one in the end, but who knows. do i really even need to comment on the brother?!?  best tweet of the night i want to "high five him. in the face. with a chair"-so true the rose ceremony comes and we're left with  brooks...duh chris...i was a titch worried about him drew...i knew it. poor zak is shocked. i am really really sad for him. i changed a few of the tally words amazing...7 journey...1 brooks connection...1 also brooks romance...3 not even brought up until chris relationship...14 family (for kimberly)...44 love...62 i did forget to count in her chat with chris harrison so i might be off a little and tonight's bleachable moment... chris and his booger nose during his nose adjustment. i tried to find a picture and just couldn't. we're down to the wire. who is your pick? brooks is still my #1. go find out what kimberly has to say.

random rambling {5 little confessions}

happy Monday! is that even a thing?!? I usually hate Sunday night because I'm dreading Monday morning, but I'm really trying to stop that. so, yes happy Monday!

it's been a while since I've done 5 little confessions so here you have it...

1. i got back from California a week ago and finally unpacked my suitcase last night. 

2. while unpacking i discovered i brought home my sister's shirt on accident. guess that's what happens when you have matchy matchy clothes. oops!

3. my life has been so unbalanced lately=less than no sleep=excuses to skip the gym. i can't do it anymore. i'm happy to report i got my little self to the gym this morning. 

4. speaking of the gym, i can't even remember the last time i lifted a weight. i'm blaming #100milesummer but it's more likely confession #3.

5. if i wasn't blogging the bach with Kimberly, i might give up on this season. i'm just not into it like i normally am. don't worry, i'm sticking it out. come back tomorrow for blogging the bach hometown edition. 

that's it for now. if you haven't already, go enter the 1500 trees project giveaway. hope you really do have a happy Monday!

Book Review take 2

Remember when I talked about reading a book?!? I swear I like to read, but it almost never happens. I did read 5 books on my trip in May, but that's because I literally had zero responsibilities. Ever since I talked about reading The Happiness Project, I have had major plans to finish it and do a proper review. Well, months later it still sits unfinished on my desk. I really am going to finish it one of these days, but until then, I've got Jessa here to do take my place for that proper review. Jessa is the nicest thing ever. She is a major sports fan which I love but also loves crafts and other things. You should definitely go check out her blog. Enough mumbo jumbo from me....

I'm so happy to blog over at Aubrey's blog today. I met Aubrey during Blog Brunch, and we have stayed in touch through the months.

First of all I need to tell Aubrey I'm so sorry for JUST getting around to write this blog. She wrote on my blog about the book The Happiness Project. We made a pack that I would write a book review back on her blog. I struggled with finding the right book to read to review. I finally decided to write about The Happiness Project.

At first I wasn't sure if I wanted to read this book. It didn't seem like it would be a book I would even like. Then Gary and I were at Barnes and Noble and he got it for me. I think I was more excited about getting an actual book, and not just a book for my nook.

Gretchen spends 12 months trying to find ways to live a happier life. I love the way she broke it down into 12 steps and they are all added on top of each other. Each month was a different topic with 5 subtopics. Each month I took at least 1 thing away to want to implement in my life. But first she created 12 commandments. Here's Gretchen's.

1. Be Gretchen.

2. Let it go.

3. Act the way I want to feel.

4. Do it now.

5. Be polite and be fair.

6. Enjoy the process.

7. Spend Out.

8. Identify the problem.

9. Do what ought to be done.

10. Lighten Up.

11. No Calculation.

12. There is only love.

I don't know about you, but I am MY own WORST critic. I can tear myself down so fast. It's not a good thing or something that I am bragging about at all, but one of her "secrets" of adulthood is people don't notice your mistakes as much as you think. PREACH ON SISTA!! I have this by my phone on my desk because I do work in sales and sometimes I get down on myself.

Without giving too much away, I strongly recommend the book. It is a quick read, and perfect for laying out by the pool.

 

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Thanks Jessa for picking up my slack. I swear on the of these days hopefully soon I am going to get this thing read. Now do yourself a favor and go check her out. You won't be sorry I promise!

1500 trees giveaway

have you heard of the 1500 trees project? i first heard about it a few weeks ago when a blogger friend posted her tree print for her nursery. i about died. they are so cute! not only are they really cute, but the story is amazing. this darling couple plans to fund the adoption of another baby through selling these prints. how cool is that? you really should go over to the blog to read for yourself.  when you order, you not only get a beautiful tree, but you also get a number to find out where you are in the 1500. in an effort to spread the word about the project, i've teamed up with a couple of blogger friends to giveaway a tree. enter with rafflecopter below for the next week.

                                                     tayler                 suzzie              aubrey

a Rafflecopter giveaway

blogging the bach 9.7

kimberly and i have been taking turns being in california the past few weeks so we've been on a bit of a delayed scheduled around here. we're back now and ready to discuss the bach. 

wetpaint via google images

i usually leave the word tally to the end of the post, but it's just way too good this week. 

amazing...11

journey...6 (first by catherine "crazy freaking journey")

connection...7

romance...5

chemistry...3

fairytale...1 (so suprised this isn't being said more. might be done with this word)

lucky...2

dream...4

and the biggest, most overused word of the entire episode...

LOVE...70 ( i am not even kidding. 70 freaking times people) (everyone is in LOVE and everyone LOVEs everything)

now that we got that out of the way, let's get on with the show.

the previews made me think something big was going to happen, but as kimberly commented last week, it was basically about as exciting as them eating a sandwich. this season has been a bit of a struggle for me

UNTIL...

catherine, lesley m, and jackie show up. this is by far my favorite part of the season so far. i was mildly obsessed with lesley m last season, and i really really love catherine and sean. 

my favorite line of that scene comes from catherine..."why is brooks wearing a tank top?"...good freaking question. not a fan of dudes and tanks.

also, i am happy to see the dudes finally acting like friends. despite all the smack talk, i'm assuming you really do have to make friends since you are stuck in a house for weeks together.

BROOKS

gets the first date of the week and also the 1st 2nd 1 on 1=good sign.

des pulls up in a smart car. i really want one of those for a commuter car...not kidding.

i'm majorly concerned about what brooks is wearing...more on this later.

this date left me feeling a little nervous for brooks...what in the world is in between like and love?!? also, most of the time brooks was talking i was wondering what the crap he was talking about. i really can't read what is going on with him...maybe that's the producer's point. they talk a lot about cloud 9 and being lost in the clouds. i'm feeling a little "lost in the clouds" myself.

major awks on this date, but apparently des didn't think so per her chat with chris harrison before the rose ceremony.

CHRIS

much more confidant

why are the dudes always spying on each other? feels creepy.

is michael in his underwear? or what?

i really like her question of how would your friends describe you. i have to remember that for the future.

des talks about independence. i get worried about that all the time. it's a hard balance for sure, and i don't think i am good at it at all.

the poetry is killing me. it's not my thing so i just don't get it, but clearly they LOVE it so whatevs

did des get extensions? yes, this is what i am thinking at this point/how into i am

MICHAEL

confession...i already knew he went home a. i can't stay off twitter and b. duh

in comparison to the other dates, the walking the town date seems like a death sentence.

when michael says he has feelings for her i am really wondering how since he has spent so much time fighting.

we all knew he was a goner. for once in the entire season, he showed his mature side with his exit. i actually felt a little bad for the dude.

2 on 1

this date had nothing on emily and arie's hot racetrack date=i'm bored

a picnic in the middle of a racetrack seems like the perfect place to fall in love and apparently they are 

i can't draw to save my life so i thought zak's art was pretty cute.

more awks on this date

the rose ceremony was totally predictable which is fine by me. i like predictable.

i have totally neglected this the past couple of weeks, but it's back.

BLEACHABLE MOMENTS...all about fashion this week

 brooks and his cardi (we all know i LOVE a good cardi, but come on)

chris and his awful shoes...just don't...ever

brooks and the v neck at the rose ceremony...what the crap?

i can't wait to see what happens next week. i'm most excited to see what happens right here in salt lake city with brooks' home town. i also can't wait to see what kimberly has to say this week.

week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5 week 6

California {the end of the trip}

i got a little busy blogging about other things, and i totally neglected blogging about the 3rd and final leg of my trip almost 2 months ago...oops. since i use these posts as my scrapbook, please forgive me for playing a little catch up. after spending a glorious 10 days in the virgin islands, i had to fly through LA to get home. since i was going there anyway, i decided to stop for a few days to visit chelsea and fam. the timing was perfect because it was also karson's 3rd birthday. i left my hotel in st. thomas around 11:00am (which is 8:00am california time). we had to make an unplanned pit stop in puerto rico for gas which gave me 15 minutes from the time the plane hit the runway in boston until my flight to LA was supposed to board. i wasn't the happiest, but luckily it all worked out. i arrived at chelsea's house around 1:00am after a very long day of travel, but i was so excited to be there. the kids were so excited i was there in the morning. karson's 3rd birthday was my first real day there, and we started the celebrating 1st thing.  he opened a few presents

and had donuts(his favorite) for breakfast

kyler the little sneak had a little donut too. kid #3=less food restrictions

his favorite present might be the fire hat from ashley. he also liked the baseball set

pizza for his birthday dinner

since he didn't have a birthday party, he got to pick an activity and chose mini golf

the kids did pretty well getting the point of the whole thing

kyler mostly wanted to eat the ball which is super gross

i tend to be the photographer, but chelsea did snap a few action shots of all of us. mini golf is like bowling for me. i am either really good or really bad but mostly really bad.

karson requested a dog cake. since i knew i would be there i sent my lamb pan for chelsea to bake before i got there. i hurried and turned it into a dog in the sweltering hot afternoon. chocolate frosting is a bit of a pain to work with, and high temps make cake decorating almost impossible. it was a bit of a disast, but since it was just for family i didn't stress too much about it. karson loved it, and really that's all i care about. 

lest we bloggers be accused of only posting the good stuff, please disregard my terrible appearance. i look terrible in the picture, but in the spirit of being real i am posting it anyway.

karson and karlee loved blowing out the candles. i think we lit them at least 10 times.

karson's birthday was the most eventful part of the trip. we spent the next day playing with the kids and hanging out. the kids rode bikes in the evening. 

kyler thinks he is one of the big kids

my flight was the next afternoon. it was a quick trip, but i'm so glad i got to stop for a couple of days. i was really really sad for my trip to end but so happy i got to go.

PS...on the subject of California, i actually just went there again. since i was traveling home during the bach last night, blogging the bach is delayed until wednesday again this week.

random rambling...thoughts on running part 1

ANNOUNCEMENT...i'm starting a new series around here RANDOM RAMBLING. in my attempts to have a little more organization on this blog, these posts will be on mondays. sometimes i might post weekend recaps, 5 little confessions, or just rambling about whatever. feel free to join me.

in my guest post over on carrie's blog, i promised to tell my running story. i have actually had this post in my drafts for 2 years, but never published it. right after i wrote it, i had a hip injury and really didn't know if i would be able to run again. i promised myself once i recovered enough to feel like i could be called a runner again i would post it. i guess being right in the middle of marathon training qualifies so, here is part 1 of my running story.

I've written this post in my head over and over again over the past several years. I even started typing it about a year and half ago, but for some reason I never got around to actually posting it. This isn't one of those wow that looks fun, I can't believe that happened, or how cool kind of posts. It's like the title says...a random rambling...possibly part 1 of my running story.

I've always been pretty active. I danced my whole life, starting swimming when I was a baby, and played tennis growing up. After those organized activities ended, I had to find my own fitness. I did a few aerobics classes (that makes me feel old. I don't think any classes are called aerobics anymore) in college and went running ( I really kind of hated running) every now and then before joining a gym.

5 years ago (edit...now 7 years ago) my good friends Ben and Kate literally had to sign me up for the Race for the Cure...best thing that ever happened to me. I was scared to death (I know it was a 5K), but I actually loved it. I did a few more over the next year or so and even a 10K and thought that was about the end of my running story...

...until another friend needed some help with the Ragnar relay in Washington state. Sounded like a fun thing to do. After working at several races and seeing that all types run, I kind of thought "I can do that" so I did. On a little bit of a whim I put a relay team together for the Wasatch Back. My friend's mom (who is really my friend too) joined the team and invited me to start running with her running group (Generation Gap), and that's really where my running story begins.

i swear i will finish this story, but it's way too long for just one post. i'll be back soon to continue the story. do you have a running story? or some other how i got started story? i would love to hear about it.

churchy things {mountains to climb}

is it just me or is time flying at a rapid pace? i feel like it was just barely the first sunday in june. and here is is the first sunday of july which means a churchy post. back in april i talked a little about faith, and it is something that is definitely still on my mind. we all know bad things happen to good people. it's just part of life. i saw this video a couple of weeks ago, and really wanted to share it. 

mormon channel
no matter what bad things happen in life...death, accidents, failed marriages, job loss, premature babies, unmet expectations, disappointments, sadness, etc. there is always hope. hope is so connected with that faith i've been thinking so much about. the only way for me to really get through the tough times (whatever they may be) is to have that faith and hope that there is a higher power watching over us. like president eyring says in this video, if we can act on "a twig of faith", God gives us "angels on our left and on our right". even though this video makes me sad to think about all those bad things that happen to good people, it also gives me hope, hope that through faith we can endure all things.
i'm joining forces with a mouse in my kitchen. go check out her churchy post today.

God Bless America

Living out of the country made me a lot more patriotic. That cliche saying of you never know what you have until it's gone really is true. I quickly learned to appreciate everything that makes America great. Even though our country has had some tough times the past several years, it really is an amazing place. I'm so proud to be an American and grateful to live in the land of the free. I flew to California yesterday to spend the 4th with my family. I hope you're all enjoying the holiday. I'll be back with a recap of all the holiday festivities. Until then have a safe and happy holiday!

blogging the bach 9.6

first things first...kimberly and i are trading vacation weeks in california. therefore blogging the bach has moved to wednesdays for at least the next few weeks. so, since it's wednesday, kimberly and i bring you blogging the back 9.6...

holy moly there is more than a novel's worth of stuff to talk about this week...

i've been waiting all season to see more of drew. he was my #1 pick right from the get. we haven't even seen enough of him for me to know if i still like him. this date was just a little cliche for me...

finally, perfect, sob stories, escaping to make out against the wall, emotional

do you really need to steal her away? you're already on a 1-on-1.

"one more thing I have to say"...this usually never works, but des actually wanted to hear what he had to say. it definitely completely and totally killed the mood, but he already had the rose so whatevs

group date

am i the only one that just learned juan pablo has a kid?

my favorite look for des is her workout attire. she always looks good in gym clothes. weird right?!?

i would be pretty mad at juan pablo for totally having an advantage, but A. the guys were too worried about james to care and B. it didn't help them to have a pro on their team.

james the goalie...i feel ya dude. i played soccer when i was prob about 5. i picked flowers the whole time. it's not a sport for everyone. (as a side note i really wish i would have stuck with the soccer a little longer. i would prob really like it now, but i'm WAY too old to start now)

onto the  night

kasey...i kinda miss the hashtags from week 1...sweater #fashionfail

chris...des really really really likes chris like maybe more than anyone else. he's def in the final 2 if not the 1.

brooks...steering pretty clear of the drama...good idea

james...where to even start??? how much has he had to drink? there's a heckuva lotta yelling and swearing and sweating and TENSION! he seems full of crap, and i'm glad after attempting multiple times, des finally gave him the boot.

i don't have too much to say about zak except i'm surprised he's still around. their date was full of kissing sounds (one of my biggest pet peeves) and love talk.

apparently the uniform this season is a neutral v neck with a matchy matchy hoodie

i'm a little afraid i messed up my word tally this week. what do you think? i count the word or any variation of the word  amazing...4 (did we really only hear this 4x?) journey...1 fairytale...0 (not much about this epi was a fairytale) connection...12 (i saw minimal connection so i can't believe that word was said so.many.times) lucky...0 (no luck this week) right reasons...0 (although we never heard this phrase, there was a heckuva lot of allusion to it) chemistry...1 (did i miss 1 or 2 of these?) romance/romantic...4 (again, not a ton of romance this week) after watching for about .5 seconds i added a couple more words  tension...5 (enough with that biz) love...20 (not even kidding although it wasn't always i'm in love with des but more i love this or i love that)

was anyone else surprised 3 people were going home? this season is starting to wrap up. 

the previews look pretty killer, but i'm sure they are also misleading. i can't wait to see what happens. in the meantime go see what kimberly has to say about one of the most dramatic season of the bach

in case you missed blogging the bach week 1 week 2 week 3 week 4 week 5

Running

view from my Saturday run

Is anyone else doing #100milesummer? How's it going? I'm proud to say I successfully ran 3x/week the past 2 weeks. Besides the obvious fashion fun of #may30x30, I discovered Carrie is also a runner. I'm over at her blog today talking about running. Come on over!