weekday happs

we all love the weekend right?!? and spend half of the week (or maybe more) counting down to the weekend. i love the weekend too, but i also love the week. i do a lot of fun things during the week, and sometimes they don't get documented. instead of just posting weekend happs, i need to be better about posting weekday happs.

when i lived a lot closer to celsey we started monday night tradish(dinner and bachelor). sadly we don't live by each other anymore, but the tradition continues and has expanded to include her sisters in law and sometimes friends. we take turns making dinner. when it's on, we watch the bachelor/ette. when it's not we chat or do crafts. it's the best way to start the week and takes the dread out of monday. 

as part of my goal to be still, i want to be home a little more/make a few less plans. i tend to be gone a lot which is always fun, but it makes it hard to focus on the things i want to focus on. i'm really going to try to set aside one night a week to be home after work.

on the other nights I often make plans with friends. one of my favorite things is spending time with family and friends. last week I met amberly for dinner and a major catch up sesh. i'm pretty sure we could have stayed all the night long. 

if i'm being honest, i don't really prefer being home. i like to have plans, but it does make life a little crazy sometimes. do you like to stay home during the week or plan lots of things or somewhere in the middle?

beauty time...samples and things

the bachelor is back so that means beauty time tuesday has been relocated-to Friday at least for this week.

i LOVE beauty products! i LOVE trying new things, but i don't always LOVE spending a ton of money on full size products only to discover i don't really like it. i LOVE samples which is why i also LOVE influenster. they send boxes of sample-or sometimes full size- things in the mail to try out. it's like christmas every time one of those packages shows up.

botanics face cream

right before christmas (but close enough to christmas to be taking pics in front of a tree), the spice voxbox came. i got to try out all of these cool products. i LOVE it!

botanics organic hydrating day cream

foot petals

sinful nail polish

good health veggie straws

soapbox shampoo&conditioner

yogi tea

not your mother's styline mouse

if we're being totally honest i still haven't tried the sinful polish or the shampoo. the holidays/being a brand snob got in my way. I'm loving everything else. 

the kids loved the veggie straws and maybe are a huge ziploc bag in one sitting. 

do you LOVE trying out new products? comment with your email if you want an invite. 

christmas in cali

i spent the holidays in california-best decision ever. we all know i hate winter. living in utah=lots of winter. winter is off to a pretty snowy start so i was more than happy to leave the snow. 

christmas with kids is the best! the kids were so excited from the minute i got there. they make it so much more magical and fun. i'll be back next week with a full trip recap.

chelsea and i did some last minute shopping on christmas eve which is only part of the reason for a simple dinner. growing up we never had a really fancy dinner on christmas eve. the past few years we have sandwiches and chips and some sort of dip. the kids like it, and it's not a lot of work.

after dinner we drove around and looked at christmas lights. it's one of my favorite christmas traditions.

the kids made some cookies for santa.

i'm really big on tradition. one of our traditions is opening one present on christmas eve. it is always pajamas. i love the tradition! i'm pretty sure my mom wants to stop it, but i won't let her.

we acted out the nativity. kenzie was baby Jesus but is a little too mobile for it.

christmas morning was the best. the kids were so excited and had a really fun time opening gifts. we facetimed the rest of the family a few times so they didn't feel so far away. the kids had fun playing with their toys.

the rest of the day was really low key. we played with all the toys and relaxed. i finally decided to work out in the late afternoon, and there happened to be a hallmark movie on. we had a nice but not too fancy dinner.

after dinner we took some pictures of the kids with christmas lights. i did some experimenting and lots of research. we were mostly trying to get kenzie, and i love how hers turned out.

christmas was great. i loved being with family especially the kids. i'm really sad it's over. how was your christmas?

2016 goals

the other day i talked about my one little word for 2016-STILL. i am really excited about it, and i have a few goals i want to focus on for the whole year.

1. morning and night quiet time-drive to the gym with no music/spend a few minutes each night reflecting on the day and writing 3 good things about the day

2. attend the temple monthly

3. color once a week-i might not keep this up all year, but i got a coloring book a couple of months ago. i haven't used it, and i know i will love it and feel very relaxed

4. prayer book-keep list of people i need to remember to pray for

besides my goals for the year i plan to set monthly goals that may or may not go with STILL. this month (and maybe for the next few months) i am focusing on my body/health/fitness.

1. wake up at 5:00am to go to the gym

2. clean up my diet

3. no treats for 60 days

i love a new year and the chance to be better. i really like working on goals and pushing myself to do hard things. i love the sense of accomplishing those hard things. what are you working on this month?

blogging the bach 20.1

after a few months break from the bachelor, i'm excited to be back for another season of blogging the bach. i liked ben on kaityln's season. he seems like the kind of guy i would want to date in real life, but i'm a little afraid he might be boring. either way i'm sure the girls will more than make up for it.

i'm excited to team up with life of mrs. otts and semibalancedmama for a weekly linkup.

who's watching: celsey and sisters in law amanda, alicia, lacey

what i saw
meet the parents
chit chat with former bachelors-we all agree jason looks old
lots of sparkly dresses
and a lot of lace being crazy already and drunk
what i heard
guys, this is so sad. we would have been perfect--amanda wishing she was with ben
it's getting more and more scripted i figured out--lacey
why are these unsuccessful people even there?--cel
she needed to be on chris' season. know your bachelors.--cel about chicken girl
bad idea-you took away the mystery and took away his man card.--amanda about lace
my friends call me red velvet, and by friends i mean the "girls" i work with--cel about laura
unique is not always a good thing--cel
unique usually means crazy--lacey
their title is twins. it doesn't say what they do because they do nothing--alicia
it's hard to meet people..in college--cel about twins
don't say unemployed. some girl put dog lover. you could have put that--amanda about rachel
it looks like she has a diaper on--cel i feel so bad for her. there is nothing worse than that--amanda about LB. and they he watched that walk away--amanda
she'll find another news anchor job. her face is perfect--amanda about olivia
i love their ooo something's about to happen music--lacey
have you ever watched this show? you're going to get so much more out of it if you try to be friends with the other girls--cel about lace
why is he already having a this is hard talk?--lacey
welcome to the lace show--lacey
what i thought
the parents are adorable
i love a catch up with the former bach stars, but this is getting a little ridiculous.
he thinks everyone is beautiful
he's going to have to get rid of some of the lauren's
i wish they had amber and becca come with the other girls instead of making a big, dramatic interest
it's hard to have too many thoughts this early on. i'll have more as the season progresses.

first impressions
lauren b-nervous, flight attendant/wings-i kind of like her i think
caila-jumped up, sparkly dress-maybe a little too much
jennifer-ben and jen
jami-cream 2 piece dress, Canada, bug heart
sam-big red dress, boxers or legal briefs-i might like her
jubilee-tight dress
amanda-looks like jenna from ben's season-he likes her
lace-kissed him, black lacey dress-bold, probably going to be the villian
lauren r-social media stalker
shushanna-speaking something besides english
leah-football-not a lady
joelle "jojo"-unicorn head
lauren h-caught the bouquet
laura-red velvet-is that her stripper name?
mandi-weird dentist
haley&emily-no just no
meagan-cowgirl
breanne-gluten is satan
isabelle "izzy"-onesie for me-terrible but he's not going to forget her
rachel-skateboard, unemployed and on cloud nine
jessica-dress looks like britt, cute
tiara-chicken girl
lauren "LB"-butt things in her underwear according to alicia
jackie-save the date
olivia-can i hug you? dimples, sparkly dress
amber & becca-amber's hair looks way better than on paradise, i'm excited becca is back.

who's left- olivia, lauren b, LB, caila, amber, jami, jennifer, jubilee, amanda, jojo, leah, rachel, samantha, jackie, haley, emily, shashana, lauren h, becca, mandi, lace

celsey and lacey made us the cutest treats I've ever seen-roses from melted jolly ranchers. also, we're doing a bracket for the first time this season. i'll post my picks next week.

tear tally-(we decided it counts as another tally if the scene changes and comes back and there are still tears) 5
word tally (common bach words-am i missing any?)
husband/wife-9
love-35
journey-1
connection-1
amazing-5

judging by the previews, it looks like we're going to have a lot of crying and a lot of drama this season. i'll have my predictions for the season next week. what are your thoughts so far?

do you blog about the bachelor? grab the image, link up, and hop around, we're not big on rules, but no spoilers please.

An InLinkz Link-up

one little word for 2016

for the past few years i have picked one word to guide my year. i've picked words like fun, balance, and last year focus. some years i have had a lot of success with my word, and others years...well, not so much. with the beginning of a new year, i am excited to think about the year ahead, and what my life needs. this year i'm joining a few friends (love ashley, my new lines, and one hoolie mama) for a monthly linkup. 

i've been thinking about my word for 2016 for the past few months. my life hit an all time crazy in october, and i talked about not having time for anything important. it really made me think. i have been filling my life so full of good things, but those good things are getting in the way of the best things. this year i want to make more time for the very best things.

my word for 2016 is STILL

i want to take more time to be still. i'll be back later in the week to talk more about my goals, and how i plan to take more time to be still.

did you pick one little word (or a few words) for 2016? grab the button below and linkup. hop around and see what other people picked for their word. come back the first monday of each month to update us on your one little word

An InLinkz Link-up

2015 goal update...FOCUS

my word for 2015 was FOCUS. at the beginning of the year i felt like i was all over the place. i felt like i was doing so many things at one time and not accomplishing much of anything. i picked a different area of focus each month and accomplished a lot of what i wanted to. 

january-i started out the year with a focus on fitness. i got back into some better habits and plan to continue

february-focus on love

march-focus on the blog-something i constantly focus on

april-focus on work

may-focus on moving-i wasn't planning to move and it naturally took over

june-focus on settling in-after the move and other craziness i needed to slow things down a little and get settled

july-focus on myself and improving myself

august-focus on slumber soiree which i did and ended up changing to october

september-focus on health-i did a 21 day reset that helped this goal a lot, and  now i need to do that again.

october-focus on finances-i kept track of my spending which really helped me to be more accountable. now i need to focus more on long term things like investments possibly with glanmore investments

november-focus on why- i spent time thinking about the why behind the things i do.

december was focus on ...the holidays

1. finish Christmas cards early-check-i did really well with this. i was completely done before i left for christmas break

2. take advantage of holiday activities-lights, activities, etc.-check-enjoyed lots of holiday activities

3. enjoy the holidays rather than stress-check- i got things done early enough to enjoy the holidays rather than scrambling to get everything done.

overall i am really happy with my focus for 2015. it really helped me to narrow my focus each month, i accomplished a lot of my goals. did you pick a word for 2015? how did you do with your goals?

are you picking a word for 2016? come back on monday for a linkup with your word for 2016.