the little things

You know when you notice something little and you want to just capture the moment and remember it forever even if it's just the color of the sky or little beads of raindrops everywhere? 

Well I probably do that everyday. 

I'm so grateful for that ability to hold on the precious moments that no one will probably ever remember. It is such a gift to look back at that times and I wonder why I don't write them down more often! Lately I've been wanting to soak up all those moments because life goes by SO fast. I never wanted that one year mark of marriage to come because I loved people saying, "oh look at the newlyweds!" Or "wow, you're ring is gorgeous when did you get married?" Don't get me wrong it's been tough and trying on both of us but I can feel those bigger steps of my life coming my way and there's a tiny bit of fear that comes along with it. Those little things like sitting back and watching Friends for hours because we can/staying up too late/making things up as we go will always be dear to my heart. I've already felt the things we used to do when we were dating just fade away and for a long time that made me sad but I know that there's a plan for me. There's more adventures waiting ahead and I'll always have chances to experience precious moments in my life that will be better than the last. The trick is to remember that. So here's to the little things that are so simple and perfect I couldn't ask for a better life. 

tyler's birthday weekend

This weekend was all about my favorite person and how amazing he is. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TYLER!

I had the whole day planned out: give Tyler a cute gift in the morning, make him breakfast, take him out to lunch, have all his friends come to Studio Movie Grill(a dinner and a movie place) and get dessert. I wanted his birthday to be perfect and fun. Instead I gave him his gift as he was getting ready for work and I helped him with his boring homework as soon as he got home. We went to Portillo's for dinner with Cody and Brittany, who are always good company, and had ice cream after. At least we still had ice cream! He told me he had a good birthday anyway and that I don't have to do anything special for him. But really he's just saying that because he's getting his sweet mountain bike this week so really I'm the best wife ever!   

On Saturday we went out to this little taco shop in Gilbert and it was such a beautiful day I wanted to just pause and  stay there. Tyler had the shark tacos and I had the shrimp. He even let me take pictures and that's a BIG deal since taking pictures of everything can get annoying I guess? I don't know.

That night we had dinner with his parents at Logan's and dessert at my sister-in-law's house. I was so glad she thought to make a cake because that didn't even cross my mind!! You're never too old for cake right? It was super yummy and I'm thankful for family members compensating for my lack of cooking skills. That's always a plus! 

On Sunday we had dinner at my Abuela's and she made tinga (his favorite dish from his mission) and I made our homemade ice cream! My parents also surprised him with gift cards and a cheesy son-in-law card.

 So basically Tyler gained a few pounds for his birthday (haha) but I guess that's what his bike is for! 

I love that Tyler was born and I get to celebrate another year of life with him. He really is THE BEST husband and I couldn't imagine my life any better. At the end of the day no matter how crappy it was, how tired I am or how much stress I feel he's always there to put me in a better mood even though he's dealing with all the craziness too. Just thinking about him being a dad makes me smile because I know he will make them laugh and love him. He's also the best friend I've ever had. No matter how crazy, annoying, scared, sad, insert all the annoying things that come with being a girl or difficult I can be I know he will still love me more that ice cream. That's a whooooole lot. What would I do without his embarrassing dancing and crazy morning hair? Honestly I don't know. But the world would be a better place if all husbands were like him and I feel blessed to have had him just walk into my life at the perfect time. And forever. 

I love you Tyler! 

succeeding in life

A couple nights ago I read a talk by Elder Holland that said: 

Some of you know what you want to be and where you want to go with your lives, and some of you don’t. Some of you seem to have so many blessings and so many wonderful choices ahead of you. Others of you feel, for a time and for whatever reason, less fortunate and with fewer attractive paths lying immediately ahead.But whoever you are and wherever you find yourself as you seek your way in life, I offer you “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). Wherever else you think you may be going, I ask you to “come unto Him” (see Matthew 11:28–30) as the imperative first step in getting there, in finding your individual happiness and strength and success.When Andrew and Philip first heard Christ speak, they were so moved, so spellbound that they followed Him as He left the crowd. Sensing that He was being pursued, Christ turned and asked the two men, “What seek ye?” (John 1:38). Other translations render that simply, “What do you want?”They answered, “Where dwellest thou?” or “Where do you live?”And Christ said, “Come and see.” Just a short time later He formally called Peter and others of the new Apostles with the same spirit of invitation, “Come, follow me” (see Matthew 4:19).It seems to me that the essence of our lives is distilled down to these two brief elements in these opening scenes of the Savior’s mortal ministry. One element is the question, to every one of us, “What seek ye? What do you want?” The second is His answer as to how to get that. Whoever we are, and whatever our problems, His response is always the same, forever: “Come unto me.” Come see what I do and how I spend my time. Learn of me, follow me, and in the process I will give you answers to your prayers and rest to your souls.My beloved young friends, I know of no other way for you to succeed or to be happy or to be safe. I know of no other way for you to be able to carry your burdens or find what Jacob called “that happiness which is prepared for the saints” (2 Nephi 9:43). That is why we make solemn covenants based on Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and that is why we take upon us His name.Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. This is His true and living Church. He wishes us to come unto Him, to follow Him, to be comforted by Him. Then He wishes us to give comfort to others. May we have enough faith to accept the goodness of God and the mercy of His Only Begotten Son. May we come unto Him and His gospel and be healed.

How to Find Strength and Success

Is this not the answer to everything???? I always try to use logic and reasoning for these big decisions I've been making so I feel justified in doing them. That's what any normal person does, but I sometimes forget the other step which is to come unto Him.  

I immediately felt like I needed to plan a trip to the temple and just think about life. 
A temple worker told us, "There's a special spirit in this room, and I don't always say that. There's some good people here doing good things." We even found out later he was our old single's ward bishop's dad. I remember meeting with Bishop and how he wouldn't start until Tyler and I were holding hands. And how every time we run into him he would tell Tyler how lucky he was and how good we looked together (both very true). I just love how we always seem to make connections with people in the temple no matter where we are. Most importantly though, was that comfort and sweet spirit I felt with Tyler which made for the perfect Saturday.
We even came home and rearranged our bedroom. I'm convinced this was only from the good vibes we were feeling. I even got some homework done. Aaaaaand I cooked a yummy dinner for us! 

sweet and spicy shrimp

1 lb of peeled & cooked shrimp

1/2 cup of pineapple juice 

2 (or one since its spicy) tbsps of sriracha
3 tbsp of ketchup

1 tbsp of soy sauce

1/2 tspn of salt and pepper 

1 whole bell pepper

1/2 of pineapples 

Lightly salt and pepper shrimp on both sides. Next, in large bowl whisk together pineapple juice, sriracha, ketchup, honey, and soy sauce, combine thoroughly. Add shrimp to sauce and toss well to coat.

Heat large skillet with sesame oil  add in shrimp, pineapples and peppers. Sauté for three minutes to five minutes. Plate and serve pairing with rice and sauce. 

teaching moments

So today I started off making banana muffins. And I thought, "man I'm an on a roll with these recipes. I'm going to be a great cook in no time." But no. It took me an hour to figure out why my muffins were so dense and not golden and fluffy. I managed to forget the tiniest yet important ingredient: baking soda. I just laughed at myself and remembered that time my family made a million tamales for thanksgiving and we couldn't figure out why they didn't taste right. Weeks later we found out it was the lack of baking soda. 

 So here's a recipe on the right way to make banana muffins: 

1 stick of butter

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 1/2 cups of flour

Two eggs

Two very ripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350°

Cream butter and sugar

Beat two eggs and add them to the sugar/butter mixture

Mash bananas in another bowl

Combine bananas, flour, baking soda and sugar/butter/egg mixture

Put cupcake liners in a dozen muffin pan

Bake in oven for 25 minutes. 

I've done this tons of times and I promise they are tasty! 

So besides my muffin fail I finished up my first week back at NAU! There is something about going through a syllabus that makes me freak out about all the work I'll have to do and doing it well. After the third class with two left to go I felt the doubt creeping in. That little voice saying, "is this really what I want to do with my life?" Then I started to feel anxious for no reason. 

I immediately thought to pray. 

During my last class, my social studies instructor talked about how every person needs someone in their life who only encourages them to grow yet asks nothing in return. He called it a charismatic adult. And for most people it's a teacher. When he said that I felt so comforted and uplifted. I felt the spirit there in that classroom and loved the boost of confidence Heavenly Father blessed me with right after I had asked for it. I think being able to be humbled (or laugh when you make a mistake) and taught makes for a great teacher. It's so great when you are able to learn from simple acts and be able to apply it to all aspects of your life. I hope that I will always have that spark to learn and grow. 

toritos

So Tyler loves when my family takes us out to Baja Joe's. It's a Mexican seafood place around the corner and we always leave stuffed and happy. But my favorite thing they serve are their toritos. Roasted white jalapeños stuffed with shrimp and wrapped in bacon. We ALWAYS get them for appetizers. 

Since we love them so much we tried to make them ourselves and it tastes pretty dang close to the real thing! 

White jalapeños 

Medium cooked shrimp

Bacon

Lemon or lime juice

Soy sauce 

Toothpicks

Cooking oil 

Throw the jalapenos on an oiled (we used olive oil) skillet and roast them until they start to darken and but don't burn them.

Make one slit down the side and scoop out everything inside especially the seeds. 

Stuff the jalapeños with cooked shrimp and wrap the jalapeños with bacon.

Use toothpicks to keep it all I place. 

Throw them back on the skillet to cook the bacon and pull the toothpicks out as you go. 

The sauce can be to taste, but add the juice of a whole lemon or a few limes and then about a tablespoon of soy sauce. 

EAT UP. 

Is it weird one of my favorite things is cooking with my husband? I wish we did it more and for some reason the food always seems to taste better. This is actually the first time since we've been married that we've been able to have normal dinners together because of school and work schedules. It's been SO nice. Why can't winter break be a little longer???

the best/easiest/yummiest green smoothie

I LOVE SMOOTHIES. 

1 whole orange (I actually used a tangerine...Same thing right?)

1 whole banana 

1 handful of spinach 

Little bit of ice 

Little bit of water 

It tastes sweet and you can barely taste the spinach! ;) 

2015 goals

• read more books: My list includes- The Fault In Our Stars, If I Stay, Where She Went, and anything educational.
• journal: I'm hoping my new interest in painting and lettering will help me to journal in a more creative way. I always have promptings to write things down but it's so hard! I remember those times I used to journal almost everyday and how therapeutic it was. 
• be positive: Most of my problems come from me being super negative and getting frustrated with my situation. I really want to try to be better at taking a deep breath and looking at the bigger picture. 
• paint for fun: The Past Year I found myself painting to impress or to look like all those fancy designers and artists I see on Pinterest and Instagram. This year I want to paint what I want and be original. 
• be compassionate: Whether it's being in a classroom with rowdy students, being annoyed by my little brother, someone trying to give me advice that I don't want to hear it from, or people being just plain rude it's tempting to loose my cool. I want to work on being compassionate no matter what. 
• judge less: I found myself scrolling down social media and trying to figure out people's lives which isn't really my job. So I'm working on realizing we are imperfect with our own struggles. 
• cook better: This one is going to be tough! Don't get me wrong I'm a lover of food but why is it such a drag to cook?! I plan on making a recipe book that terrible cooks like me can actually do! Plus I know Tyler would love me for it. 
• take better pictures: One day I'll get a fancy camera... but for now I'm just going to work on my iphone photography skills (or steal my mom's camera more often). 
• read the scriptures daily: I feel like our awkward schedule got the best of me last year but I plan on making this a part of my day, everyday. 
• pray in the morning: I always pray at night but when I pray in the morning it seems to make a way bigger difference. Who doesn't want better mornings?
• pray with my husband: When Tyler and I first got married we prayed together every night and it really helped us to start our marriage strong. I want to bring that back into our marriage so that it lasts forever! 
• have family home evening: my visiting teacher always tells me to do this but the weeks just roll by and it never seems to happen. It's something I want my children to have and what better time than to practice now! 
• travel somewhere new: Yes, I would love to take that trip to Italy this year, but I'll settle for a mini vacation. 
• save money: Tyler and I do pretty well at saving money but I want to learn more about the complicated world of finance so that by the time we graduate, buy a house and have kids (oh my gosh that overwhelms me) we'll know what the heck we are doing. 
• create things: I have a collection of would slabs, glass bottles, and candle supplies that i haven't gotten around to and I want to make time to finishing those projects I started.
• be early to church: This might seem random but this past Sunday we went to church 30 minutes early and I LOVED that reflection time I had to get ready for sacrament. 
• be spontaneous: I feel like whenever I try to plan the heck out of something it never turns our how I want it to. This year I want to go with the flow and be adventurous. It's more fun anyway.
• give service: Nothing feels better. Most of all I want to go to the temple more- I cant think of a better way to serve people. 
• count your blessings: I am so blessed and need to remember that more.
• run more: I used to be on the varsity track & cross country team and at one time ran 250 miles in two months. I know I'm strong and athletic and young so I plan on getting back into shape. 
• study better: I figure since I'm studying to be a good teacher I need to be a good student!
• play more music: I play the violin, I sort of play the guitar, and I'll occasionally sing but for the past year I've hardly picked up any instruments and I only sing in the shower. I want to change that.

Here's to making it happen! 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OAsouPV8F-g

holiday favorites

Honestly I don't know where to start. December just flew by and I wish I could hit the rewind button and experience it all over again! Except the Oreo balls for the neighbors/family...you really can have too much of a good thing and that is why I have made that treat a ONCE-a -year tradition. Besides that, I really enjoyed having absolutely no distractions, since being a student means constantly being paranoid about the next assignment or project. I was able to really be there with my family. I have this theory that school makes marriage ten times harder so I cherish those breaks I have to really be together with Tyler. 

I'll spare you the list of Christmas Gifts and Holiday Traditions/Events and just share my favorite parts.

CHRISTMAS EVE:
Along with the infamous Oreo balls, I included a scripture that I painted with watercolors. I kept thinking of Joshua 24:15 and how we all have the perfect example of this: Jesus Christ. I loved that I was able to gain new insight during the Christmas season and pass out cute prints of it to everyone.

And I can't forget the superman pinata that wouldn't break until it was Tyler's turn. I just loved being able to laugh with my family and my biggest worry being candy.

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Is there anything better than Christmas Morning? No? Well I get to do it three times. I loved my Christmas morning with Tyler the best though and I've never been so content with my house being an absolute mess.

We saw Unbroken as a family and I was so inspired by Louis Zamperini's story. 

So we were supposed to talk to LJ (my missionary brother who is the best missionary I've ever seen) in the morning but I guess a huge chunk of Oakland had a power outage. It was the most random thing ever but it was a great way to end the day. His cheeks looked chubbier, his laugh was still dorky, and he didn't seem to miss home too much. You could just see much he loves his mission.

NEW YEARS EVE:

We basically ate a million tacos, played games, and laughed.

The craziest part was the SNOW. Yes. Snow in Mesa.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

THE DAY AFTER NEW YEARS DAY (that's a real holiday somewhere):

My mom's cousin from LA surprised us by taking a trip to AZ and brought her husband and two kids! They wanted to take their kids to the snow up in Payson for the first time so we decided to tag along. The only bummer was that Tyler had already planned a hunting trip so he missed out but we'll just have to go up to the snow another day. Can you tell it's been a while since I've seen this stuff?

High five 2015!