Rainbow cookies

Hands up if you like m&m's!

My favorite are the peanut butter.

I keep them out of the house.

{because I will eat the whole bag. at once. while feeling sick. just because they are that good.}

If you find you are suddenly the proud owner of a bag. Stop. Put the bag down.

And grab this recipe.

That way you'll have a whole batch of cookies with m&m's in them.

Give a way a few, eat the rest. :)

Here is what you'll need to make these beauties.

* 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of salted butter,   melted and cooled
* 1 cup brown sugar
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1 cup mini m&m’s (or something else that you love)


First, you'll want to preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

In a mixing bowl, combine flour and baking soda.
In a separate bowl, mix the butter and sugars until well combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla. Stir it up. Then gradually add in flour mixture until dough forms.

Fold in those m&m's.

Shape the cookies into balls. Bake 12-15 minutes, or until slightly browned.

Enjoy your masterpiece!

Recipe adapted slightly from howsweeteats.com

I've been sitting here staring at the computer screen, racking my brain to try to find some clever way to start this post.
It's not working.

Max's 30th birthday was this past Saturday.
We had a fun time going out to dinner with some friends.
We then went with his sister Nalu to see "What to expect when you're expecting".
{bad movie. fun time. but really, bad movie}

The events of the evening made for a really late night.
note: We're getting old. ha.

10 am came surprising early on Sunday morning.
We usually have 1pm church, but this week was regional conference.
Due to our late night escapades, we ended up being a little late for church.
And thus we learned how humungous our stake really is.
They divided our stake into portions to attend at different buildings.
And there was still no room in the inn.
We ended up sitting in what looked to be the scout room and listening to the conference on the overhead speaker.
Advantage: I think I actually paid more attention this way.

Elder Holland and President Uchtdorf both spoke.
I learned that Elder Holland used to live in Davis county.
I also learned that Pres. Uchtdorf currently does.
6.0 miles from our house to be exact.
{I may, or may not have stalked him on whitepages.com}I thought his address would be blocked. It wasn't.


Anyway,
Elder Holland spoke about the importance of meetings.
At one point in his talk, he asked each person to think of one change they had made in their lives as a direct result from something they heard in this past conference.
And then he sat, or stood I assume, there quietly for a few moments giving us time to reflect.
wow.
{I challenge you to do the same. right now.}

So, continuing on with my thoughts.
I could remember a few of the talks from conference relatively well.
Even things which I thought were important for me to hear.
But, unfortunately, if I were truly being honest with myself, couldn't say that I have made direct changes to how I lead my life, my focus, etc.

If I've learned one thing about life, it's that it is never too late to start.
So I made it a point to start.
I knew that I wanted to focus on Elder Uchtdorf's talk.
But I didn't really know how I would go about doing that.

That afternoon, I re-read the talk, then watched it a couple of times.
Finally, I found what I had been looking for.

"When our hearts are filled with the love of God, we become “kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving [each other], even as God for Christ’s sake [forgave us]."

"The pure love of Christ can remove the scales of resentment and wrath from our eyes, allowing us to see others the way our Heavenly Father sees us: as flawed and imperfect mortals who have potential and worth far beyond our capacity to imagine. Because God loves us so much, we too must love and forgive each other."

And so, I found the key.
The key to not being judgemental.
The key to not being harsh.
They key to not feeling resentment.
The key to forgiveness. Of myself and of those around me.

I just need to focus on the love of God.

In the past, it's been easy to find justifications. But this...or but that...
But I have found through this week that when I find myself feeling these feelings, instead of focusing on that, I just turn my thoughts to the love of God. 
It has helped.
I am not perfect at it.
maybe one day I will be.

I end with this excerpt from Elder Uchtdorf's talk:

"When our hearts are filled with the love of God, something good and pure happens to us. We “keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world.

The more we allow the love of God to govern our minds and emotions—the more we allow our love for our Heavenly Father to swell within our hearts—the easier it is to love others with the pure love of Christ. As we open our hearts to the glowing dawn of the love of God, the darkness and cold of animosity and envy will eventually fade."

I am so grateful for the loving, wise counsel of the Prophet and apostles. We can keep doing what we have always done and still be good people. But in order to grow and develop ourselves more fully, it requires effort and stretching experiences. I am grateful for that reminder.

 

Baby's first marathon

I guess I never posted these pictures.

But, I figured with my next marathon approaching this weekend, now would be a good time to do that.

We {the baby and me! :)} ran the Salt Lake City marathon in April.

By my choosing. he had no choice in the matter. ha.

The race went really well.

I was a little nervous about how my body would be, 

but very grateful that everything went very smoothly.

I was still VERY happy to be done running by the end!

I am grateful for such a supportive, understanding husband.

He wakes up super early just to drop me off.

And is there at the finish line to greet me.

I love him.

 

Project life

A while back I saw this idea for a scrap book/journal sort of thing.
Really, it was fun/imaginative way to document life on a week to week, day to day basis.
It was just fun little things you've been up to. A few pictures tossed into the mix. Some random things thrown in there as well.

I looked into getting the supplies to start a project life book, but everything seemed so expensive.
And although I may decide to do it at some point {because I really like the idea of keeping track of life just as it is, not just special trips/big occasions/etc. and the fact that it helps you to recognize the beauty and joy that surrounds us all on a day to day basis} right now I figured I could do sort of a blogging version.

We had an old iphone laying around and so before the last marathon I ran Max switched it over for me to use. That way I would have an ipod and a phone in one device just in case anything ever happened {I tend to not like to carry my phone with me all that often} Well, now that I have it, I love it!! Instagram is awesome and I'm very happy to join in on that trend.

So, lets get started on this little update. {It really is two or more weeks worth of stuff. so much for a great start! ;)}

I've been a busy baker. Last week I made some cookies to bring to work because 1. I had promised them to a co-worker/friend and had yet to make good on that promise, and 2. we had a meeting at 9 pm at night. slumber fest.

It was fun to get back to baking. Something I really haven't been doing much of lately.

I then followed this baking event by a big extravaganza last Sunday for mother's day. I was in charge of sharing time and so during that time we made gifts for their moms. A lot of moms. 150 cookies worth of moms. {Each mom got a few. Because they deserve it. And because they probably gave at least two of them away to their children.}

I love to bake. enough said. The cleaning up, well, lets just say I wouldn't mind having a maid ;) actually, yes I would. I don't like for people to see my messes.

The gym.
It is a necessary evil after all of that cookie baking. Cookie trying to be more exact.

 
I actually love the gym.
And I found a new app for the phone that is a great motivator.
It's called nike training club.
It's a free app that can be downloaded.
You then get to pick your workout level, your target for the day, how long you want your workout to be, your own music...

It is a killer workout.
Lots of intervals.
Even more soreness the next day.

  One thing I miss about home is the pizza. I don't know what it is about it, but it is so delicious. To make up for it, I went to get some pizza at the pie. Delicious. almost as good as home. We ate leftovers the next day. yum.

I was driving down to Salt lake to meet Max at work the other day when I saw this.

Embarrassing to admit that for years I thought it was a seagull.

I could never understand what people were talking about when they said the Eagle gate.

Turns out, it's an eagle. 

Duh.

A seagull would have made so much more sense. You know, cause it's like our state bird and all.

I haven't been able to convince anyone else of that as of yet.

 

This picture was taken on a drive up to park city.

Max had some work to do up there.

I tagged along.

It was beautiful. Perks of the job I tell ya.

 

 

I finally saw a moose! Three mooses to be exact. mooses. I don't think that is how you are supposed to say it.

Vanessa (a friend from work) and I went on a long canyon run this morning. We saw these mooses, and some beautiful scenery along the way. Oh, and got to go to the bathroom in the wild. nothing compares. That's what a pregnant bladder will do to ya! 

And the highlight of our week....

We are having a boy! And so excited about it!!!

Oh the little things...

Today,
while in Primary,
I found myself sitting with three rowdy seven {soon to be eight} year olds.

They are really good kids.
And from the sound of it, really good friends as well ;)

I was trying to quiet them down
and help them pay attention a bit better.

After several unsuccessful attempts I resorted to telling the boy in the middle
"if you can't settle down, I'm going to have to move you"
meaning, I was just going to swap him seats.
He was really very concerned with where I was going to move him and quieted down immediately.

A few minutes later I was joking around with him and one of the other boys.
{best.example.ever.}
The third little boy leaned over to me and said:
"am I going to have to separate you three?"

winning.

haha. I couldn't help but laugh.

It's the little things in life that make it all worth while. :)

Happenings & Homemade laundry detergent

I love vacations.

The thrill of going somewhere.

Leaving responsibilities behind {So fun to be a kid again!}

Relaxing. Enjoying.
Seeing things we don't usually get to see in Utah {like the beach. I love the beach. sigh.}

There isn't much I don't love about being on vacation.
{I'm pretty sure most of us feel that way, right?}

The dolphins at Sea World are amazing FYI. They put on a great show.

 

Unfortunately,

vacations can't last forever.

Boo hoo.

 And really, sometimes it's nice to get back to real life.
The schedule. The responsibilities.
Because when it comes down to it, real life is pretty great as well.

Except, that is, for unpacking.
I hate unpacking.
Detest it.
{the laundry. putting away everything. etc. etc.}
I know it's really not THAT bad. But I hate it.

We did laundry at my grandma's house, so there really wasn't all that much to do.
But when I went to put in the few loads I noticed that I was low on detergent.

In a quest to live more naturally {and less expensively I might add}
I started making my own laundry detergent a little bit ago.
Let me tell you, it is the best thing ever.
Cheap, effective, simple, etc. etc.

So this morning, in order to completely finish up the post-vacation laundry, I whipped up another batch of the stuff.
Took all of 10 minutes.

If you're interested, here is the recipe.
{don't worry if it looks a little daunting. I thought it would take FOREVER to make it the first time I tried, but it really has always been a cinch}

You'll need:
1/2 bar Fels Naptha
1 C. Borax
1 C. Washing Soda
Water

1. First you grate the Fels Naptha. You can do this with a cheese grater or food processor. I use the grater and it is really quick. 
2. Add the soap and 6 C. warm water to a large saucepan on medium heat. Stir until all of the soap has melted. Add in the borax and washing soda and stir until dissolved.
3. Pour 4 C. warm water in a large container. {You'll be adding about 2 gallons of water to the detergent in total, so you'll need a container that can hold that volume}
4. Add soap mixture into the container. Stir.
5. Add 1 gallon plus 6 C. water to soap mixture. {1 gallon = 16 cups, for a total of 22 C. of water}
6. Stir. Let sit for about 24 hours or until mixture becomes gel like.

Use 1/2 C. per load of laundry.

Note: The consistency of the detergent is a little odd. But trust me, it works just great. 


With the detergent made, laundry washing, house cleaned, things put away...
I can now sit back and sort through pictures of our trip.
And dream for a while that we're still there soaking up the sun.
That is, until it's time to go to work :)

more pictures