Stubborn. Hard-hearted. Lacking of Faith.

All those things have one big thing in common; a lack of trust in Heavenly Father.

I definitely have had my areas of not trusting in Heavenly Father. In making excuses, some of them very thought out and logical when it comes to certain things.

Recently, I got a very loving chastisement from Him, through a story of a family member. It seriously hit me hard. It actually kind of made me laugh because in an instant I realized how stubborn I have been and how blind I have been to what really matters.

Sometimes good choices come with trials, even trials you know will happen. Which is where the hard heartedness comes in. Why would you ever willingly choose to go through something that you literally cannot handle, even if the end result of that decision is the best thing ever?

One reason. Trust. Trust in a Heavenly Father who loves you and has your and your family's beat interest in mind. And trust in a Savior who suffered so you don't have to go through the suffering alone.

And so my heart is opened. I am willing to obey. And trust that He knows best.

(A friend posted this quote and I thought it was perfect.)

"Challenges are at times an indication of the Lord’s trust in you. He can help you, directly and through others, to deal with what you face." -D. Todd Chistofferson

April showers bring May flowers.

April was crazy.
It started off with my birthday. John and I went out and had dinner at Aubergine. It was seriously so so so yummy! They have these pita pockets that were so incredibly filling and delicious! And we found out there is one in Salt Lake! My birthday present was the Adele ticket. So excited for that trip!
The month was busy, with the last few weeks of school and finals for John.
Packing up and moving up to Salt Lake for the summer.
It was crazy.
John started his summer (hopefully after graduation) job at the law firm Bennet Tueller Johnson and Deere. He was super nervous for his first day, but of course it went awesome! He got there WAY too earlier and got adopted by one of the litigation attorney's (he wants to get into business law) but after almost a week he has projects with litigation and business, he is keeping super busy at work and doing well thus far! And he's home by 6 :)
And finally, Olivia turned two! Super mixed emotions about this! I love watching her little (huge) personality grow. I love seeing her get excited about new things she can do. She loves pointing out pictures of Jesus and temples. When we go on walks she points out birds, dogs, flowers, and trees. She loves to say "bye bye" to cars that pass by and then she laughs about it. She doesn't give kisses as freely as she used to, so that's a little sad for us. She loves loves loves to dance and constantly asks for me to play music for her. She hates being home alone with me, she loves playing with friends, cousins, pretty much anyone that is more exciting than me haha. She talks so much and her vocabulary is growing like crazy. She can say little sentences and communicate more easily each day. She also throws crazy tantrums and says, "no thank you" over and over and over if she doesn't want to do something, like go to bed. She is such a sweetheart and I love her.
On Olivia's birthday her and I blew bubbles outside, went for a walk, went to Costco to get samples and a churro. Then when John got home we had one of her favorite meals, dairy free rutabaga kale lasagna, went on the trampoline (she hated it), and went and got waffle love!
Originally, on Saturday we were going to go to the zoo for her birthday but it was supposed to rain so we changed plans and decided on Discovery Gateway children's museum instead. It was a blast! We went with family and friends and Olivia loved it and was sad to leave. Then we went back home and had Costco chicken salad croissant sandwiches, salad, strawberries, and I made a strawberry dairy free cheesecake.
Olivia got books, blocks, a baby, and bubbles (among a few other things) for her birthday. And I'm pretty sure the bubbles were her favorite, but she loved everything.

I love my little family. I love John, I love Olivia, and I love the time we spend together.

Where did March go??

Well March flew by!
We were flirted with the warmth of summer for about a week. It was warm and amazing and no sweaters or jackets were required. And then the rain, hail, snow mixtures of Spring appeared. Needless to say we are ready for summer days.

But this month was filled with LOTS of sickness. It seemed like as soon as we got better we were sick again, super annoying. But we made it through!

John's sister Savannah who came home from her mission in January moved back to Utah and is staying with us right now. It's lots of fun!

John is almost done with his 2nd year of law school, which is crazy. We are almost done! One more year!

I bought my first text book in like 3.5 years. 😉

Olivia is talking more than ever, eating more than ever, and is the biggest goofball. Also, recently she is going to sleep without me. Up until like a week ago I was still nursing her to sleep, and that's still the only way to get her to take a nap, but now John can take her into her room lay her on the bed and rub her back for like a minute, say goodnight and she'll fall asleep on her own 😢 my baby is growing up, and I don't like it. Even though getting her to sleep in less than 5 minutes is nice compared to 30 minutes to an hour it takes me.

Also, tomorrow is my birthday and I'll be 26! Crazy stuff. But tomorrow being April, means finals are around the corner, moving to Salt Lake is around the corner and Olivia turning 2, TWO! Is around the corner.

An extra day in February

So, February has been kind of crazy.

It started out so cold and honestly I was so ready for some warmth. Ready to be able to play outside and not have to take forever to bundle up.

Despite the cold, Olivia and I did our vest to have fun. Lots of indoor exercising, library and museum trips, spending time with friends, and making yummy treats.

The law school has a week off mid February, the purpose being for them to go on interviews but luckily John already has a summer job lined up so we decided to go to Southern California! The trip was amazing. It was hot, we played outside in dresses and bare feet (well Olivia and I in dresses, John in shorts haha). We went to Seal Beach where John proposed, spent time with friends and family, ate yummy food, and had the best and much needed family time ever!

After the week was over John left and Olivia and I, went with Lauren and her baby, Jake, to visit Kelsey and her little one, Cory.

The drive to Arizona was a bit bumpy. Olivia had signs of an ear infection and we pretty much thought we were crazy to make the drive but we made it and it was so much fun catching up with Kelsey!

We drover back to California a few days later and Olivia and I flew back to Utah the next day.

That day, last Thursday, Olivia threw up a few times. I thought maybe she had another kidney infection. She did great on the flight and ride home. As I was putting her to sleep she threw up and the next morning as well.

So I took her into her doctor. Double ear infection, and pretty bad ones at that. I was shocked. She didn't fuss at all on the plane and she had been a bit grumpy but nothing too bad and I chalked it up to traveling.

Then Sunday she broke out in hives. Sunday night she had the worst tantrum ever. Full on freak out. I noticed her top molars were coming in. So double ear infections hives, top molars, and a horrific cough, which meant horrible sleep. She woke up a ton and was up basically screaming from 2- 4am.

Today I took her back to the doctor. The hives were an allergic reaction to the amoxicillin for her ear infections.

A crazy crazy way to end the month and another thing to add to the list of things Olivia has to deal with.

Being a parent can be so stressful at time but Olivia makes it all worth it.

January end tomorrow.

Where in the world did January go?? If how fast January went by is any indicator of how this year is going to go I think we are in for a whirlwind of a year.

January has been pretty awesome! Here's a little recap:
-My parents came to visit. They were here over new year's. We went to the aquarium, visited the Krishna temple, went to the Norman Rockwell exhibit at the BYU art museum, the Bean museum, Ate at Tocanos and Waffle Love, and it was all so much fun! Olivia loved Pop Pop's mustache kisses and somehow made a video montage with music on Grama Noodle's phone.
-I started working out a again everyday. Winter, the cold, snow made it hard to get outside and exercise like I had been and so I just kind of stopped. But I'm back at it! Using fitness blender videos. They are seriously awesome and kicking my butt and I can already do a pushup!!! OK this is huge! I have no been able to do a real push up since probably middle school. And it is SUPER hard and takes everything I've got but I can do 1! Which is pretty great because that was one of my end goal for my fitness this year.
-Olivia is still allergic to milk. We tested it with cheese. She threw up and kept throwing up and got the worse diaper rash ever and so we are back to 100% no dairy, including me because breastfeeding is still going strong.
-We've all had our first cold of the year. It kicked my butt and sleep duck for all of us but we made it through.
-We went to the Midway Ice Castles. It was beautiful and magical. It was like being in Frozen and I loved it.
-We went to the free day at the U's natural history museum with Molly and Ellie. So fun, so awesome. Everyone should go because it was legit and following (I.e. chasing) the girls around while Olivia said "Ellie, Ellie" over and over was pretty much the best.
-John's sister Savannah came home from her mission! We haven't seen her yet but she comes back to Utah next month so we are excited for that. She's awesome and semi awkward, as every freshly returned missionary should be and its going to be so fun to get together with the WHOLE family whenever that happens.
-Those are the biggies for the month. Besides that we have had lots of library days, museum days, fun at home and around town, random dinner at friends and grandparents and basically lots of fun.

One last thing. Snow. This was my biggest fear when moving to Utah. All my friends who lived here and pretty much every one hear talks about how its nice for the first month and then it gets old. Well, last year we basically had none so I thought I was lucky to have escaped it. But let me tell you, I was not. Because I have realized I have a crazy obsession/love of snow. It's amazing and magical and every time it falls I just get so excited! Olivia loves it so much too! When it starts snowing to points and says, "snow!" In the cutest voice ever. And somehow as a socal girl I have adjusted to the cold super fast. So bring on the snow!
Side note: my love of snow in no way means I miss or live California any less. Because for real California wins every time and the beach and the food and the people and California.

The end.

The first weeks

Last weeks goals went well!
I worked out every day!
I cheated on the sugar. Saturday John and I went and got a piece of See's chocolate. But that's OK because the purpose of the no sugar was so that I wouldn't be eating sugar everyday like I had been, so I still count it as a success.
And I read scriptures and listened to talks everyday!

So this week my goals are:
Workout everyday and introduce weights
Eat lots of veggies
Continue reading every day and go to the temple
No Netflix during Olivia's nap

2016 a new year

I HATE new year resolutions. I don't know what my life is going to be like in the coming year so I feel like making goals not to do certain things and to do certain things every day in the coming year is completely unattainable. I have no desire to set myself up for failure, and a year from now look back at how I did not succeed. It messes with my self worth and self esteem and I want nothing to do with that. I also don't like goals that are super vague and just end up being empty promises to myself. So, this year I have a plan.

A plan to actually change over the course of the entire year. A plan that will allow me to come out of this year more physically fit, eating better, spiritually stronger, a better wife, mom, and person.

My new year's resolution for the year is to take each week at a time. Every Sunday I will make goals. Fitness, nutrition, spiritual, and personal goals. These goals will be just for the week. And at the end of the week I will assess my progress, see what was lacking, where I struggled, and where I succeeded and make adjustments for the next week.

By doing this I will be able to take into account any plans I may have for the following week. Maybe that week there's a wedding or a birthday or some special occasion, so I won't have eat no processed sugar as a goal for that week. Or maybe I'll be traveling and won't be able to workout everyday.

So every week I will be setting myself up to succeed. To accomplish clear goals and become a better me.

Week 1
Fitness: workout everyday Monday through Saturday
Nutrition: no processed sugar, vitamin everyday, drink water before snacking/eating
Spiritual: BoM365 reading everyday and listen to conference talks when I do dishes