Back, back again.

Back again.

Am I back to blogging? Um, I’m not sure… The other day one of my sisters-in-law asked me a question in reference to blogging and to be honest, I had kind of forgotten that I used to blog.  But Facebook does that thing where it reminds you of things you have shared in the past on that particular day and today it reminded me of a blog post from three years back.  So out of curiosity, I clicked the link back to my blog (that has been sitting idle for almost TWO YEARS) and was immediately sucked back in like you are when you find an old childhood journal.  At least, that’s what happens to me.  I’m a sucker for old journals, pictures, home videos and could spend dayyyyssss absorbed in those things.  So I realized, a blog does that for me too.  I love going back and seeing what I wrote about and the memories I thought were most important to record.  Because, lezzbehonest… I feel like I only remember the things I took pictures of or decided to write down.  The rest?  Who knows where it goes! (I feel like I need to watch “Inside Out” again…don’t they teach you about that? Haha) So as of today, I feel like I am starting again.  But take that for what it’s worth because my feelings change pretty rapidly from one minute to the next. J I love the creative outlet that blogging gives me and I feel like I have been pretty stagnant lately when it comes to creative things. So maybe this will help! We’ll see!

XO, Syd

Last Weekend

Our week has been just a bit crazy and I have been meaning to post this all week but here's a little update of last weekend. 

 

+ We have started to be more consistent with a weekly date night and this week's happened to work out on Friday. I was able to get off work a little early and Preston's afternoon class got cancelled so we got to start early! I was in charge of the date this week so I started off with a workout at the gym since we had the time. :) don't worry, I followed up with some fun and we went to the movies to see the Maze Runner. We had literally zero expectations for it and it was amazing!! We throughly enjoyed it!!

 

+ Saturday was spent working on my projects that I mentioned back here.  I made progress!  The chicken coop has a couple nice coats of candy apple red and the porch railing is a bright white! The coop still has some work left and I plan on doing that before the cold weather gets here.  We are going to add white trim to it so that it looks like a little barn. 

 

 

+ An embarrassing amount of Pretty Little Liars episodes were watched.  BUT, I can proudly say I have convinced Preston to tolerate them and I think he is actually enjoying it! VICTORY! :)

 

+ Finally got caught up on laundry.  I swear, ever since we got back from Hawaii (several months ago), I haven't been caught up.  But I am now and everything is even folded and put away in drawers!

 

+ Attended the Ogden Temple Re-dedication.  Always such a treat to be a part of those.  I'm glad we get to look forward to a few more in the near future.

 

+ Almost lost our Millie! Not intentionally, of course.  Complete accident. Every Sunday night we walk the trash cans out to the curb together and thought we'd kill two birds with one stone and let Millie go potty while we were out.  Keep in mind, our yard is not fenced so she never gets to go out and play by herself.  We're too close to so many busy roads that its just not worth it.  Anways, we let her out, took the cans to the street and went back inside.  About 45 minutes later mid an episode of PLL, Preston goes, "Is Millie barking?".  She never barks and the bark was pretty muffled and pitiful so we could hardly hear it but we immediately started thinking she found something in the house.  It didn't occur to us that she had been outside the whole time!  The poor thing was sitting at the back door just begging to come back in and looked scared out of her mind (such a prissy little dog:).  We felt SO BAD!  We love that little dog more than anything and it would have absolutely killed us if something would have happened to her.  So glad that she came back because, let's face it, Millie isn't winning any awards for her obedience skills. :) ha!

 

+ My sweet Grandpa John had a stroke Sunday evening.  He is up in Idaho and we don't get to see him nearly as often as we used to when he lived in Moab but I am grateful he has some of our family and such a great care center watching out for him.  He seems to be doing okay now but it gave us all a little scare.  I am so grateful for the power of prayer and the Priesthood in times like these to calm us and feel us with peace.

 

Well, that was our weekend and our week this week seemed to just fly by between audits at work, church callings, errands, you name it!  But we did squeeze in our date last night.  It was pretty fancy too: dinner at the Purple Turtle in PG. :)  We are headed down to Moab this evening for the Muzzleloader Deer Hunt.  We have one day to find a big one (or just any one, really) so wish us luck!  Happy Weekend!

xo, Syd

Gettin crazy

Every now and again I go through a bit of a phase.  I get an idea in my head of something that needs done (usually some project in the house) and I Pinterest-search the crap out of it.

Recently, it started with the realization that the way I currently have my kitchen rearranged makes sense in some aspects and not in others. For instance, I love that the table is closer to the wall and can access plugs, BUT, I hate that there is no light above the table (we live in an old house. Most kitchens have lights above where the table would go). So naturally I thought to myself - I'm going to be thrifty and build my own light fixture. Shouldn't be too hard right? Cue Pinterest binge. I searched for DIY light fixtures for a good little while before realizing that somehow I'm going to have to bring power to that light.  That stopped me dead in my tracks. I'm definitely not that handy so I threw that idea out. 

Then I thought, I've been meaning to paint the front door ever since we moved in - that's what I should do. Again, I hop on Pinterest to search out the perfect color of navy blue to go with my somewhat yellowish house.  Didn't take too long to find the perfect color and I knew that painting a door couldn't be too hard.

 And then it occurred to me - Preston said no projects until we finish the chicken coop. Definitely not the funnest of projects...No worries though, it's basically done, just needs a couple coats of paint.

The gears switch again and I remember how I still need to finish painting the porch... Pretty quick project. I'll whip that out while I'm waiting for the door to dry.

Then I thought - why not redo the front room while I'm at it?? Heaven knows I've wanted to rip that wallpaper down since the first time I laid eyes on it.  So I immediately start researching ways to remove old wallpaper or paint over wallpaper, how to whitewash old, yucky looking wood paneling from the 70's.....

And then I got overwhelmed. Can I get it all done in one day? Because I hate time consuming projects.  I am all about instant gratification. (I should probably work on that.) So I back peddled and thought, you know what? I'll start with the coop, move on to the door and paint the porch. Shouldn't be too much for a Saturday right?? RIGHT?!?  Here's the before picture....hopefully there will be an after!!  Am I the only one that gets in these crazy moods??  I'm ready to take on the whole house!  Preston is so excited!! (NOT!) :)

                                

I want to remove the door shown in picture 1 and just have the door in picture 2, but Preston likes how it looks with both doors on.  What do you think?? Leave me a comment if you have an opinion either way! :)

Xo, Syd

Hawaii: Day 8

Our second to last day in Hawaii was definitely one of my favorites.  We went to the Character Breakfast at Makahiki which was super fun.  Characters came and visited your table, which the kids loved.  And so did Preston as you will see. :)  And the food was INCREDIBLE!  We loved it.

Before going to Hawaii, Preston and I thought about some of the excursions we wanted to do while we were there.  He was dead set on swimming with sharks and I honestly couldn't really come up with anything adventurous that I wanted to do.  All I wanted was to spend a day at the spa when we got to Aulani.  So that's what I did!  And I'll tell you what - it did not disappoint.  (Does Disney ever disappoint??)  I am still dreaming of the afternoon I spent there.  When you buy one of their services, they let you check in and spend as long as you want in their Hydrotherapy Garden.  It was HEAVEN.  They had several vitality pools, a reflexology path to massage your feet, rain showers,  and places to relax.  I could have stayed forever.  And the massage was incredible too.  I may have dosed off a time or two but i think that explains just how relaxing it was. :) If I ever go back to Aulani, I will definitely be visiting the spa again. It was just too good. Here are some pictures from our day there:

^The little pond at the entrance of the spa where you cast a stone with your inspiration word on it.^

^Places to lounge indoors^

^The view looking up.^

^Some of the vitality pools^

^Looking so "natural" in the rain showers. ha!^

^^The ice bath.  I kind of loved it.^^

Only one more day of Hawaii to document. I'm sure anyone who reads this will be happy I'm finally coming to the end of documenting this trip! Happy Wednesday everyone! 

XO, Syd 

The Weekend

+ Preston sold his phone just in the nick of time to preorder his new one.  Those gadgets sure do make him a happy boy! :)

 

+ Came across this quote in the August Ensign > "Difficulties come into our lives, problems we do not anticipate and which we would never choose.  None of us is immune.  The purpose of mortality is to learn and to grow to be more like our Father, and it is often during the difficult times that we learn the most, as painful as the lessons may be."  -President Thomas S. Monson  >To say that it was just what I needed to hear would be an understatment.

 

+ Took my very first cake decorating class with my sister at Michael's.  A cute girl from my ward teaches the class so that was a nice little surprise.  I'm excited to get to know her better and have her teach me her ways of cake decorating.  This was our first of four classes and as you can see, our designs weren't too extravagant this week.  Still hard though!  I was pretty dang proud of that swirl!

+ Slept in Saturday AND Sunday.  Our room is north facing and always stays so dark, no matter the time.  I love it.

 

 + We had Stake Conference this weekend and we were incredibly spiritually fed.  I admit, I'm not always the best at paying attention in Stake Conference for one reason or another but this time the talks were incredible!  We attended the Saturday Evening Session and it was awesome.  Some things I want to remember from that session:

                      * The Savior's atonement is less about filling the gaps and more about filling us. 
                      * Feel and be filled with His grace.
                      * "Behold, I am hastening my work." (D&C 88), stop fooling around, can you let go?
                           and will you do your part? -Stake President Bell

 It was actually regional Stake Conference so during the Sunday session, we got to hear from Elder Richard G. Scott & Elder Russell M. Nelson (and his cute wife!) , along with some other incredible speakers that I failed to write down the names of.  From that session, I want to remember:

                     * Become deeply rooted in the gospel of Jesus Christ that you can withstand any trial or
                        tribulation.
                     * The widow's mite.
                     * Communication with our Father in Heaven is not a trivial matter.  He wants us to
                        converse with Him.  -Elder Scott
                     * Increase your participation in Family History work as you prepare for General
                        Conference. -Sister Nelson
                     * The Lord promises His Spirit to be with us when we engage in His service.  Angels
                        will serve and protect you. -Elder Nelson

+ We took a drive down to Payson to deliver some honey to a man Preston got a swarm of bees from and stopped by to see the progress of the new Payson Temple.  I think it might just be my favorite one (in the valley) so far. 

 

+ Preston extracted some honey and was left with quite the mess.  Luckily bees are super efficient and will clean it up for you. Can you believe all the bees?? That's not even all of them!  So grateful for that yummy honey they make!

 

Now it's back to the work week.  Hope you all had a good weekend!

xo, Syd

On My Mind...

via

This little thought has be resounding in my head all week it seems. Perfect timing since it seems like there have been more instances than usual lately where people have said or done something that has pushed my buttons.  But this quote is just perfect and has really changed my perspective this week.  Here's to hoping to be better! 

xo, Syd

Camping at Diamond Fork

The end of summer is inevitably coming and that realization has made Preston and I a little uneasy. We had a few setbacks that made it hard for us to be adventurous this summer but all is well now and we are back at it! 

 

Two weekends in a row we headed up to the mountains for a quick little overnighter.  I've come to realize that I've become pretty picky about where I will camp.  Actually, I only have one request and that's that it has to be pretty.  No camping in baren fields or deserts for me.  I've gotta have some trees! Maybe one day I'll come to appreciate camping in any setting but that day hasn't arrived just yet :). 

 

The first weekend we ventured out, we literally thought we'd drive for maybe 10 minutes and find a place.  Well, apparently everyone else in Utah Valley went camping that weekend too and we ended up driving around, searching for the perfect spot, for almost 2 hours.  We started in Hobble Creek and ended up in Diamound Fork.  But we found a spot and there were trees!  One big one to be exact!  We liked it so much that we went back the next weekend to the very same spot with the Halvorson's and their cute little dog, Brody.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera for that trip but we had good food (have you tried pizza sandwiches?? yum!) and even better conversation.  We had plans to go back again this weekend but the rain scared us away.  Hopefully we'll get some decent weather at least one more time before the snow comes.  We need as many outings like these as we can get!