I don’t know about you.. but I am welcoming February with HUGE open arms.
because…
a.) because I love Valentine’s day
b.) January was just not my month
After some readers comments I finally went in & visited EM Paper in Holladay! The wreath above is from there. I have never been in there before and GUESS WHAT.. they have theeeee cutest wreaths for such reasonable prices!
The ones I had seen around downtown SLC were 200+ dollars and these ones are even more amazing and more local to me which is a win-win.
I realize no one probably has the spare time that I have these days to make their own (lol) so if you’re near EM Paper (right in Holladay) you should pop in and get one. Or at least ooh and aah over their Valentine’s decor as I did.
Also, we have another craft night coming up!
Be sure to register if you are near Holladay at all via this link. They are so much fun and you will get dinner + three crafts to go home with! My mother-in-law is seriously so crafty… I’ll be there to take the pics and eat the Cubby’s 🙂
Here is another wreath from EM Paper. Do you not die????
I’m obsessed.
Why in the world it has taken me so long to get in there… I have no idea.
Now that it is February 1st I will proceed to bake every single heart shaped thing imaginable.
On Tuesday night, I was able to take some tacos to the Tate family in our neighborhood.
The story…
Last year, Savanna & Steve found out that Savanna was carrying not 1, not 2, but THREE darling little angels during her pregnancy!
In March of last year, the triplets were born and couldn’t be cuter.
Hayes, Reese & Heath are the most darling little babies and the Tate family officially had a family of EIGHT! With SIX kids under the age of nine..
A couple weeks ago, Hayes started declining in activity and much to their dismay they found a giant malignant tumor in his head via a CT scan at the hospital.
On January 19th the pathology came back and they found out that Hayes has Choroid Plexus Carcinoma, which is a cancer no one in Utah has ever treated.
This family could use your good thoughts and prayers! If you are willing or interested in donating to this adorable family their Go Fund Me page it titled #HAYESTOUGH.
Last week was my first TBT post and I actually loved the idea of finding an old picture and reflecting on that certain memory or day.
So I might try to keep this up! We’ll see how long I last lol.
I love this picture above because….
a.) it reminds me of the sun which I totally forgot existed on this planet earth
b.) it reminds me of our HONEYMOON!!
We spent our honeymoon in Scottsdale, AZ and I loved every second of it. We went the week after all the schools fall breaks so we pretty much had the resort all to ourselves.
I laid by the pool all day and Googled which restaurant we’d eat our 5th meal at while Will spent the majority of the time studying inside our hotel room…
He had a Physiology and Organic Chemistry test the morning we got back from our honeymoon so he studied his heart out and hardly got to relax.
I love this picture because it reminds me of when we were able to relax together, write in our journals about our wedding day while it was fresh on our minds, hog the waterslide since no other adults were using it, and drink piña coladas with #noregrets.
A friend of mine texted me yesterday asking for a picture of me and Zac Efron in honor of the HSM 10 year reunion (long story on that one.. we’ll save that for another day) which forced me to look through all of those beloved Facebook photo albums.
A huge smile came across my face when I stumbled across old pictures of Will and I that I hadn’t looked at in forever!! Especially this one of us.
On this day, we went sledding up at Churchill Jr. High over winter break. I remember freakingout because this was the first time we hung out during the DAY. We had only hung out at night previously and hadn’t gotten to that “point” where we would call each other in the morning.. (slow movers) so I remember thinking this was the biggest deal that he called me in the morning to go sledding!! I was so giddy and happy all day long. Oh those High School dating days…
Now I can’t help but laugh because Tessa Barton actually took this picture too. Same person who took our wedding photos 6 years later!
To be honest, I don’t love bananas just plain. I love them with either a huge heap of peanut butter dolloped on top or when they are baked into something delicious once they are ripe. My favorite recipe by far are these Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins.
The recipe is from Partial Ingredients and I seriously make these any time I have ripe bananas!
Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup overripe mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1/3 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
Line muffin tray with 12 paper muffin cups.
Beat egg in a large bowl. Stir in milk, oil and banana.
Stir in remaining ingredients until flour is just dissolved. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Spoon into muffin cups. Sprinkle muffins with additional chocolate chips.
Bake for about 20 minutes in a preheated 400F oven. Immediately remove from pan.
What I love most about these muffins is that all of the ingredients required for the recipe are ingredients I usually have on hand!
I feel like when I look up recipes it’s so common that they require sour cream or apple sauce or greek yogurt etc. etc. and I never have those ingredients in my fridge.
One Monday night a couple weeks ago Will and I decided to try Red Iguana! We can’t believe we’ve never been… it’s been voted Utah’s #1 Mexican Restaurant for WHO knows how long.We truthfully loved it and will definitely be back for more of that incredible chips & guac!
After dinner we had some Christmas returns still left to do at City Creek so we ran in there and I tried on this dress at Anthropolgoie! It was a litttttle bit too short for me but I thought it was the comfiest dress I’d ever seen or wore.
Also, does every guy do the exact same thing Will does when he steps foot into Anthro? Get on a comfy couch and watch ESPN! Haha.
I found this neat floor on a walk one day in Provo.
Please vote whether you think it says CRAY or GRAY hahahaha.
I go back and forth all the time.
I’m thinkin Cray
#thatshizcray
Of course one of the highlights of January is always SKIING of course! I finally got a good long ski day in with my dad & two cousins, Rachel and Anna. Few things make me happier than going up in the mountains, skiing until my legs are sore and having good chats on the chair lift.
Rach and I have been skiing together since our first day learning 18+ years ago. She’s the best ski partner a girl could ask for.
The second I quit my job I ran to The Protein Foundry for some good new food to get my mind off of everything. This new restaurant is in Fort Union and is seriously incredible. Make sure you go next time you’re in the area!
And my first day of “funemployment” was spent babysitting 7 kids from 8:30-5 and another family from 5:30-10… Soooo so far so fun! And busy!
And excuse that cold sore on my lip. That thing thinks I enjoy it’s company.
-Liv
Outfit details:
Striped pink dress: Anthropologie(it’s at City Creek right now but I can’t find it online..)
My current read is The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin! Has anyone read it? I’m only a couple chapters into the book and I already know that it’s a book I’ll read over and over again the rest of my life. I’ve also been listening to her podcast Happier (thank you so much for that recommendation, Ali!) on my commutes to and from Provo.
Since reading and listening to Gretchen’s insights… I’ve been thinking a lot about my personal happiness and the things I’m doing to enhance and detract from it.
One aspect that kept on coming to my mind was my job.
My job with Google Fiber was a great opportunity for me. It came at a time when I was really wanting a career change however it was never a job I loved with my entire heart. I dreaded the Saturdays, the late nights, the retail aspect, the drive to Provo and the other sales aspects of the job. However, I loved the people, the co-workers, the product and the environment and many other memories and experiences I will cherish forever.
So I’ve been torn on if I should stay or leave my job. To be dead honest- I’ve been torn since lastMay.
Which is an extremely long time to not feel great about where you spend all day, everyday.
So, yesterday I took a huge leap of faith and quit my job. I had a two year contract with Google and never thought I’d leave earlier than my contract end date. I’ve always told myself I’d NEVER quit my job unless I had another job lined up right after it. I’ve always thought breaks in resumes were horrible for new employers to see so I’m still in awe I actually quit without a single thing lined up.
However, I’m excited to take a little bit of time to figure out what I’m truly passionate about. What sets my soul on fire? I’m not too sure. What kind of job is something I would want to do in my spare time whether I was on the clock or not? No clue.
So I’m beyond thrilled to take some time to evaluate these things and figure out what’s to come. I’ve always loved the workforce and feel like I will be a working lady my entire life. Even as a mom I hope! So this month (or however it takes to find a new job) should be a weird, challenging, refreshing and peculiar time for me.
So if you see me camped out at Banbury Cross, skiing on the weekdays, cooking & baking lots, babysitting, and finding other little odd jobs for the next little bit now you’ll now why.
After Christmas and a couple work shifts, Will and I headed down to St. George to hang with my family to celebrate New Years!
The drive down was all heart eyes.
And so is sweet Lu.
One of our favorite stops in St. George is always Urban Renewal! It’s right on the boulevard and has the cutest vintage finds. I bought the coolest print of Paris for only $7! Holla!
One morning we went on a family hike (minus Isabelle & Lu) up in the Snow Canyon area. I’ve actually never been to this canyon in the day time! It was absolutely beautiful. My friends and I used to go at night time and crawl in this cave with glow sticks! It is seriously one of my favorite things to do.
You basically just crawl down deeper and deeper into the cave, bring glow sticks and some good tunes and have a dance party down in the dark cave! There is an easier way to crawl OUT of the cave I promise lol. Not as hard as it looks/sounds.
The boys crawling down there is probably my Dad’s worst nightmare. Anything with tight spaces or heights… count big How OUT of it.
He decided to strike a good yoga pose instead though..
My mom and I have loved going to Core Power Yoga together lately so we had some fun strikin some yoga poses too while we waited for the boys to come out of the cave.
I found this picture on my sister Eliza’s blog and was lol’ing that I am just back there working on a puzzle. BLESS MY HEART. I have this issue THAT I CANNOT RELAX… I need help. Does anyone else have that problem?
But I sure do love this fam of mine and am grateful for the time we were able to spend together.
We went on a walk with Jensen one night and JENSEN FOUND OUR TREE WE CARVED OUR INITIALS INTO YEARS AGO! (not eco-friendly I know… I love trees). You can hardly see our initials because it’s been almost three years but I am so surprised Jensen remembered where the tree was!
I think my family invites me on trips just to make the desserts lol.
How gorgeous is the sunrise? Early morning is my FAVORITE time of day.
Overall it was a WONDERFUL, calm, no wi-fi, puzzle-making, food eating, and family lovin’ weekend. I finally started my first book of 2016 and I love love love it! i can’t wait to share what it is soon.
Hope you all had a wonderful start to the NEW YEAR!
I think 1 out of my 5 resolutions are still going strong so there’s that.
To be honest I couldn’t be more excited/ready for a New Year.
2015 was tougher than I thought or hoped it would be.
I had many amazing moments… but there were also more tough situations I had to work through.
So here’s to 2016.
A time where I’m ready to face my challenges head on. To learn more about so many different topics. To dig deeper inside my heart. To be daring to make changes I’ve been wanting to make. To hug more. To hold less grudges. And to LIVE more authentically and be more ALIVE.
Since Christmas for my fam was going to New York and Christmas with Will’s fam was the Disney Cruise I loved just relaxing and enjoying everything the season has to offer.
I made Will pinky promise me he wouldn’t get me a gift this year but he surprised me with this New York ornament. We get a new ornament each year relating to something we did that year so I loved this ornament since we just went to New York!! Who knew a $4 present would be my favorite one I’ve ever received…
Christmas Eve was spent with both sides of our families. Morning/afternoon with Will’s side and then we all slept over at my parents and loved all having Lu there!
Something about Christmas with a kid … makes it all 10x more fun.
My all time favorite tradition is german pancakes at my Diederich grandparents house.
Christmas day in SLC was so snowy! I loved watching the snow fall all day.
I’m so grateful for this year that we have to reflect on Christ and all He did for us. This year we did The Giving Manger together which was incredible. It helped us serve more throughout the season which made it all that more special.
A week or so before New York my dad found a Holiday 10K around Central Park that we signed up for!
Somehow Will agreed to run it without any bribing from me……..
(he fractured his foot running it…. poor thing)
Eliza and my dad ran it too. If you can’t tell from my nose it was freeeeeeeeezing! Seriously so cold but we had a blast and loved seeing all of Central Park.
After the race we quickly stopped by Pick-A-Bagel on the Upper East Side!
Saturday morning bagels are my JAM so obviously I was humming the whole subway ride home.
The real MAIN reason we went to NYC was to attend the DUKE VS. UTAH BASKETBALL GAME!!
Will’s 2 all time favorite teams played each other which was maybe a once (or twice) in a lifetime opportunity so that’s originally why we planned on going to New York.
The game was SUCH A GOOD ONE, Will bought a shirt, I got a Diet Coke and jokingly asked Will in the final seconds of the game to grab me a new drink like Andie does in How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days lolololol (Madison Square Garden.. had to) AND I got to see Jimmy Fallon in the flesh ahhhh.
It was a day I’ll never forget.
Saturday after the game my family watched the BYU vs. Utah football in our Hotel lobby & after the first quarter I couldn’t be less interested in watching the rest. SO I ventured up to Levain by myself and waited in a 40 minute line for a dang cookie…. lol. I need to get a grip.
I’ve always wanted to ice skate at Rockefeller but it was a complete mad house that night! And it’s so expensive to skate there (should’ve figured). But we had fun walking around, seeing all the holiday lights, trying to find each other every three steps among the massive crowd, and walking around Macy’s. That store is HUGE!
Sunday we went to church, I ate more Levain cookies, we ate brunch at Sarabeth’s and then walked around the city a couple more hours before our flight left.
Finding our church wherever we are traveling is always one of my absolute favorite things!
Grateful for such a fun group of traveling companions.
It was so incredibly raining and we were SO TIRED from our red eye but nothing stopped us from going out and having some fun.
In the early afternoon we ventured over to Chelsea and saw Chelsea Market, the High Line and the Google offices!
I’m not exaggerating when I say it was EXTREMELY RAINY.
We were all completely drenched walking around haha.
The Google office in Chelsea was really neat. Obviously with unlimited snacks and a whole section dedicated to Legos… Jensen was in heaven.
Thursday night we went to Toto Ramen, Wicked (seriously the best. I bawled during the bows because I thought the entire show was so incredible. I need help.) and afterwards we walked around Times Square.
My smile is so obnoxious because as we were taking this picture approximately TEN drunk businessman came and were shouting at how “insta worthy!!!” this picture was hahaha. I obviously found them hilarious.
My church’s advertising this time of year on Times Square was seriously unbelievable. I loved seeing these reminders of Christmastime amongst all the other advertisements in Times Square. There are also these advertisements on top of 400 taxi cabs around New York right now.
Friday morning Will and I woke up early and went to DOUGHNUT PLANT!
True love is waking up early even if you’re dead tired to get a freaking donut. Haha. Will puts up with a lot and I’m grateful for him! I’m also grateful for this coffee crumb donut because that was really good.
Friday afternoon was spent in Brooklyn walking the bridge, eating some delicious Shake Shack and seeing Ground Zero.
If you weren’t able to tell from the video I made of our trip, I love traveling with this crazy little fam of my mine. My family isn’t perfect and neither am I… but they are perfect for me.
We’re always dancing, taking funny pics, and goofing off. Of course there are fights here & there and we have contention (because we’re human) but at the end of the day I’d do absolutely anything for these goofs.
Ground Zero and the One World Trader Center were both absolutely amazing.
Last time I was in NYC (10+ years ago) these monuments weren’t here. There was such a neat spirit that surrounded these grounds and I loved being able to walk them.
(if you can’t tell yet we walked a LOT this day)
After Ground Zero we went to see Grand Central Station. There we did the whisper hall and had our first experience at MAGNOLIAS!
Still thinking about that salted caramel cookie…. crap.
I searched for Serena everywhere. No luck.
That evening we walked even more, ate at Vapiano’s near Union Square, shopped somewhat, and then Will and I did the photo booth at Ace Hotel. I’m a sucker for a good photo booth!
Friday night we also had to pick up our race packets/bibs for our little race the next morning.
We were running to make the subway but Eliza and I were SO scared of the subway doors closing (those things close so fast!!) that we hung back and didn’t catch the same subway my dad and Will caught. It actually made it fun because we made a race out of it. Who could get to the running store first???
Eliza and I caught the next subway and then were SPRINTING to the running store. We felt like we were on The Amazing Race. Hahaha. We beat my Dad & Will by like 1 minute but of course sat in the store and acted like we’d been there waiting on them for hours haha.
Now there’s a picture overload! Part 2 coming later!
