Birthday Me

Andrew spoiled me so much on my birthday and to be honest, I think it was just what I needed. My birthday flew by and I'm sad I have to wait another year to have such a fun day again. 

I woke up to popcorn by the bedroom door taking me on a scavenger hunt throughout the house. Each clue had a thoughtful note and reason that Andrew loves me written on it. One of my favorites talked about how much Andrew loves and looks forward to hearing me play the piano on Sunday mornings before church. He got me all of my favorites. (Super healthy)

Almost first thing in the morning I noticed a delivery person on our porch. He delivered our new mattress memory foam topper (which was our combined birthday present) as well as a baby pac and play (a present someone sent me for my shower). I was so excited to get to open both of these things! As soon as Andrew woke up, we immediately put the mattress topper on our bed to let it expand. (I sure slept well Saturday night!) Andrew also put the pac and play together in our room. We will be using that instead of a bassinet for the first month or so. 

Our stake had an all day relief society activity. I decided to go to hear the last speaker, Brad Wilcox, and for the lunch. I had never heard Brad Wilcox before and he did a fantastic job. He has a great way of mixing in humor with serious topics. I learned a lot about grace and now feel like I understand it on a whole new level. The lunch after was homemade Cafe Rio which was perfect for my birthday. (We were actually considering going there for dinner, but that made our decision easy.) 

Off to see Brad Wilcox at about 35 weeks pregnant. (Notice my paper chain countdown is getting much smaller. It only includes work days until my due date.)

When I returned from the relief society activity, Andrew finished assembling the baby dresser for the nursery which made me extremely happy. It was fun for me to put the adorable baby clothes I have in all the drawers. 

We decided to go to Texas Roadhouse for dinner. To be honest, I have had lots of my favorite restaurants lately with the book club I'm in and the free birthday meals at various places. The rolls did not disappoint and Andrew graciously told the waitress that I did NOT want to have to sit on the saddle for a loud rendition of "Happy Birthday." (Smart man!) At dinner Andrew surprised me with a pizza cookbook which will be put to use immediately. He also got me some frosting bags/tips so I can frost cupcakes that look classy. (Something I have been wanting.) 

Birthdays mean you can take the day off and not do your hair. (Again, why aren't birthdays more often!?)

After dinner we decided to use a gift card I got for Christmas. So off to Bed, Bath, and Beyond we went. We got super nice sheets to accompany our new memory foam mattress topper. They are divine and I have been sleeping better since we purchased them. (Sleeping can be hard when you can't really roll over and have to pee constantly.)

Andrew suggested a new cookie sandwich place near Texas Roadhouse in Lehi for dessert called, "The Baked Bear." I'm so glad he did! He laughed at me because I told him before we even ordered to make sure to get a punchcard at the cash register. He asked how I knew I would like it, but I could tell. 

Here is the menu. So hard to choose. 

I ended up going with 1 funfetti cookie and 1 oatmeal cinnamon cookie with birthday cake ice cream in the middle. Of course I had them "zap" the cookies to make them soft and hot. It was divine. The wait was well worth it... the line was super long and it was only 6:45pm. 

We then decided to go see "LaLa Land" which I have been wanting to see ever since it came out. I had a hard time justifying this because I know it's almost out of theaters and movies are expensive. We used a gift card though which made me feel okay about the whole thing. I loved the movie as did Andrew (who was skeptical about whether or not he would enjoy it). I was not thrilled with the ending, but maybe reality isn't always what I want it to be. The music was great and I was just thrilled I didn't have to leave to go pee in the middle.

As you can tell, I had a great day. I haven't even mentioned the birthday calls, texts, messages, etc. that I got from friends and family throughout the day. I can't believe I'm 24 and almost a mom. I tried not to think too much about how old I'm getting, but if life continues to be as good as it is, I think I can handle a few more birthdays. 

Birthday Boy

This year I wanted our birthdays to be semi low-key. I have been exhausted and didn't want to add too much more stress than I already have. Andrew's birthday is today and neither of us had to work which was perfect.

I wanted to make Andrew's birthday special not necessarily by the nice gifts I gave him, but by what we did. Andrew is really into board games and he suggested inviting 2 of our good friends, Aaron and Amy (who we met in Rexburg) over. They came last night and we stayed up way too late (1:30am) playing all sorts of games. This is hours later than I usually stay up, so of course we took a nap. Our friends stayed the night. This morning I made cinnamon rolls (taking the place of birthday cake). Andrew loves cinnamon rolls, but I don't make them super often because they are so time consuming. I am thrilled by how well they turned out. I made the dough last night and kept it in the fridge which I had never done before. 

I made reservations to go to Tucanos Brazilian Steakhouse. It is expensive, and I always over-eat to the point of feeling super ill so it's kind of a once a year thing (if that). Andrew and I were both actually able to get our free birthday meals because our friends were nice and split their bill, so one birthday meal could be put on each of theirs. 

Not my favorite picture... This was more to just document the occasion. 

We decided that for gifts this year we would do 1 bigger gift for both of us and we are getting a memory foam topper for our bed. Sooo excited! Because that is kind of boring, I also got Andrew a cheap, smaller gift-- a new game! It's called "Fuse" and it's a cooperative card game. You have to beat it within 10 minutes and you can download an app with a timer and an annoying voice that makes the game even more stressful.

February is just the packed month of fun around here. On Saturday night, we went to Red Robin to get our free birthday burgers. Delicious! And again, a free meal which is always wonderful. We still need to visit Dairy Queen to get a free birthday shake. Next weekend will continue to be a party. My birthday falls on Saturday this year, so neither of us have to work then either. Andrew said it's up to me what we do, so I need to get deciding which is not a strength of mine...

When we found out our baby boy was due in April, we were thrilled. We would like to avoid any more celebrations in the month of February if at all possible. :) 

4 Years

Andrew is and always will be the fun one in our marriage. I think we are a good balance for each other. If it were up to me, we would always do chores and household work on weekends. If it were up to Andrew, we would go out multiple times, catch a few movies, and fit in as much fun as possible. We usually do a little bit of both.

Having said that, for our 4 year anniversary in December, I was fine just going to dinner or getting a pizza. Andrew had different ideas and wanted to do something extravagant claiming we never do anything for our anniversary. We decided to use the gift-card he got from his company for Christmas to go to "The Melting Pot." We had been once before, but not for the main course and we weren't paying.

This time, we went all in and got the full-on course including appetizers, drinks, entrees, and desserts. We enjoyed our time together and it was definitely memorable and something different than just going to Red Robin.

Here are a couple pictures to document our evening: (Andrew, proof that we DID do something for our anniversary in 2016. :)

This showed up on the screen while we were waiting to be seated.

This weekend I was having a hard time. (I blame pregnancy hormones and a difficult work week.) Andrew kept trying to suggest a variety of things we could do to try to cheer me up. Nothing sounded fun or even good to eat. This is rare for me. Luckily after a while Andrew convinced me that we should go out to lunch to cheer me up. He even suggested going to "In-N-Out" which says a lot because that isn't his favorite, but he knows that I like it. We went and it definitely improved my mood and Andrew even said it was better than he remembered. 

I'm so glad to be married to Andrew! He knows me well and knows what I need. He gives me something to look forward to after work every day and he makes the weekends fly by because I enjoy spending time with him so much. Here is to many more memorable anniversaries!

New Year, New Goals

I am always a little too ambitious when it comes to goal setting. For instance, Andrew and I went over our goals from 2016 together this week. We both achieved about half of the goals we set. Oops. It can get discouraging. 

Let's focus on the positive though and talk about the goals I did achieve in 2016: 

1. I did become a certified teacher in Utah. I passed the praxis! (I can't believe this was in 2016, it feels like forever ago.)

2. I did limit social media. I specifically said no more than 10 minutes a day on Facebook. I did not achieve this specific goal, however I am improving. In fact, the Facebook app is no longer on my phone and hasn't been for several weeks.

3. I did blog at least twice a month, if you count that I cheated. I only blogged once in July, but I made up for it by blogging 3 times in August.

4. Andrew and I did attend the temple at least twice a month. Again, we cheated. We only went once in November (I had a nasty cold), but we did go three times in December.

5. Andrew and I did go on a trip together with just the two of us not involving extended family. Vegas!

I tried to be extremely realistic with my goals for 2017:

Physical

• Run a 5k (after recovering from birthing a child of course)
• Find a class to attend regularly at the gym that I like 

Spiritual

• Read the Book of Mormon
• Read the New Testament
• Read/listen to a conference talk daily

Educational

• Read at least 20 books

Personal

• Learn/find a new hobby
• Blog at least twice a month
• Floss more (I hate it, but apparently pregnancy ruins teeth)

Joint

• Go to the temple twice a month (until the baby comes) and after that once a month.
• Read 2 books together. I still have fond memories of reading "The Help" together a long time ago. Andrew can pull out quite the accents.
• Find a hobby we enjoy doing together. (Besides playing games and watching Netflix) 
• Do/plan something special for our 5 year anniversary! 

I'm thinking 2017 will be one of my favorite years ever because I will become a Mom. I'm excited to see what lies ahead this year for our family.

Light the World

I decided to do the "Light the World" challenge this month to try to remember what this time of year is really about. There were recommended things to do everyday online for this challenge. My family did a group text daily to report to each other what we did. I want to document what I did, so I can remember for next year. Some days were definitely harder than others to come up with and do service. In fact, the end of the "Light the World" challenge tells you to pick one of the acts of service you did and make it a goal for 2017. I haven't gotten around to that yet... 

December 1st- Andrew and I babysat Simon and Esther so Jeff and Lindsey could go to Jeff's work party.

December 2nd- Andrew and I wrote a thank-you note to Logan and Julia who let us stay at their house while we were there for Thanksgiving.

December 3rd- I wrote Grandma and Grandpa Langlois a thank-you card for the Christmas money they sent me.

December 4th- We donated to the general missionary fund.

December 5th- We took 2 names of kids from sub for Santa at Andrew's work and got them giftcards for things they need.

December 6th- I posted a scripture on social media. (I don't think I had ever done this before.) 
D&C 18:10-11

December 7th- We donated boxed/canned food to help those who are starving in Utah.

December 8th- I texted a friend that just had a baby and is having a hard recovery. 

December 9th- I donated all the change in our "change bag" to penny wars at school. (All the money goes to struggling families within my own school.)

December 10th- We did sealings at the Mt. Timpanogos Temple. We brought family names to do.

December 11th- I wrote 7 cards to family members. Most of them were thank-you cards to Andrew's family for throwing me a baby shower, but one was to our niece who got baptized. (We weren't able to make it to the baptism.)

December 12th- I made cookies for the people Andrew sometimes carpools with to work.

December 13th- I sent my friend, Kaitlin, an e-gift card to her favorite pizza place for her birthday.

December 14th- I purchased a picture of the Savior to put in the nursery.

December 15th- I put together some Christmas gifts for coworkers. I felt really bad because last year I did nothing.

"This 'winter' I'm grateful for you. Have a very merry Christmas!"

December 16th- I invited two newer couples in our ward over for a game night.

December 17th- We bought neighbor/home teaching/visiting teaching Christmas gifts.

"Wishing you a holiday season full of peace, joy, and hope (soap)."

(We crossed out hope and wrote in soap.)

December 18th- I made cookies for Andrew's Sunday school class.

December 19th- I emailed my nephew, Alex, who is on his mission in Romania.

December 20th- "Be a mentor or tutor to someone." I was extra patient during math with some students who didn't quite understand the concept.

December 21st- I got my friend, Brighton, a cookie from Swig (her fav) to wish her luck on a licensing test she has been studying for. 

December 22nd- We went to the temple.

December 23rd- I went to the store and got treats to make a dessert for the family coming over. Does this count?

December 24th- We stopped at The Corner Bakery to buy my Mom a fresh chocolate bundt cake.

December 25th- How sad is it that I don't know what I did on Christmas day! I did make jello for the Christmas dinner...? I helped set the table?

I wasn't perfect at this and have plenty of room for improvement.This was a really neat experience for me though and I plan on doing it again next year. (Maybe I'll even be able to donate blood next time because I won't be pregnant!) Sometimes, I worry too much about money and this helped me step out of that mindset a bit. I have been blessed and can bless others because I know that God is the person I have to thank for everything I have. #lighttheworld