around 9 p.m. last night, i was driving home from work and my little brother Mitchell texted me to see if Will and I wanted to come over and hot tub in my parents backyard.
given the fact he leaves for his mission to Peru in 4 days, i dropped every hopeful plan I had for the night (as in popping popcorn and watching Desperate Housewives…) and zoomed on over to spend time with him and my family.
we walked in my parents back door and saw through the window that they were all in Mitchells room so we headed in there.
right when i walked in my heart broke.
the sight i saw was heart wrenching.
his whole entire room was being packed up.
toiletries.
clothes.
suitcases.
bags.
ties.
suits.
sheets.
pants.
shoes.
everything.
how did this creep up on us so fast?
how is he old enough for this?
how will i survive 2 whole years without this amazing little brother of mine?
i sat on his bed and fought back tears as Will jumped in to help him pack and give opinions on what he should/shouldn’t bring.
then i started to help coordinate outfits and giving advice on what to NEVER wear together
(hahahaha leave it to me..)
after we were finished, we headed out to the hot tub.
just in time, Isabelle rolled down the driveway coming from errands for her upcoming wedding THIS Saturday and came and joined us.
it was a special moment as i looked around to see my family gathered around spending some peaceful, quality time together before everything changes in the near 48 hours.
my poor parents.
one daughter gets married this Saturday
one son leaves for 2 years this Tuesday
as Mitchell left the hot tub to grab something inside, i looked over to my Dad and as his head hung low he said…
“what in the world am I going to do without Mitch… this is so sad liv….”
to hear those words from my Dad’s mouth was one of the hardest things ever.
if you know my dad, you know he is one of the strongest people ever that never says stuff like that.
but i couldn’t agree more.. what will we do?
we will write him every week
we will send him care packages
we will skype with him a total of 4 times over the 2 years
we will look forward to seeing his testimony develop and grow every day
we will watch him grow up into a young man only through pictures
and last but not least, we will support him as he leaves for 2 years to change his life for the better.
however, we won’t be able to be a recipient of his hugs or laughter.
those lucky Peruvians…
i will miss that boy.
want to learn more about what a mission is? read HERE
this weekend was the best because it was will’s birthday AND he came to Raspberry Days with my family and I for the first time.
i don’t understand how it was only his first time coming to Raspberry Days with me after 6 years of dating..
but since this was his first time we made sure he had the fuuuull experience.
we went to the fair and had a scone w/ some fresh raspberry butter
absolutely DELICIOUS.
there’s a new shake place in town….
ZIPS
this is their slogan and I LOVE IT. because if you have been to bear lake, you know that every place claims they have the most famous shakes!
their shakes were actually way tasty!
quite custard-like but i still loved them.
QUESTION: are Will & I the only ones that lie to people when they ask our name at restaurants?
hence the Jimmy on the cup…
ew i love her.
they get married this Saturday people!!!!
and Sunday was Will’s birthday!!!
raspberry days and wills birthday in one weekend?
could i ask for anything better?
nope!
however, the beginning of the day was quite the sham.
for starters, his shirt i bought him didn’t fit him 🙁
he is the hardest to shop for!!! dang it
and secondly, i have the worst cold! so i was feeling my absolute best.
then after a mishap in the kitchen, this was his birthday cake!
AWESOME.
not everything can be perfect right?!
my aunt felt bad she ruined it and went and bought him a new one at the store.. how sweet is she!
then we went on a canoe ride
aaand there was a spider the size of my fist and we just about fell out from screaming and rocking the canoe
then I reeeeally wanted to stop by the new Ogden Temple on our way home…
and they kicked us off the grounds after 3 minutes of being there!
there were general authorities coming and they needed to shut down the grounds RIGHT when we got there.
so obviously his birthday was a huge success so far……
HOWEVER
i had been secretly been planning a surprise party for him all week and apart of the plan was keeping him out of the house while his parents decorated so I treated him to one of our all-time favorite restaurants…
MAKRET STREET GRILL
and to top it all off, he was actually surprised!
so the rest of the night was perfect (thank goodness).
all of his closest friends came and celebrated HIM which was all i wanted.
he was on cloud nine.
so cheers to will’s 23rd as well as his first raspberry days experience!
the other day i was scrolling through my pinterest feed and saw WONUTS and i think i fainted.
k just kidding i didn’t faint but i definitely stopped breathing for a couple seconds
(i’m safe guys.. don’t worry)
i came home from work and immediately got started on the recipe i found HERE..
For the waffles:
¾ cup sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
2 eggs
¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
Vanilla Glaze:
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Chocolate Glaze:
1/4 cup milk
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup dutch processed cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
i am not the HUGEST nutmeg fan so i actually swapped it out for cinnamon. and loved the cinnamon touch! but like i’ve said before, cinnamon and me go together like this…
(i’m crossing my fingers reeeal tight right now)
Directions:
1. Mix the sugar, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl. Then add in the eggs, milk, and melted butter and mix.
2. Add in the flour and mix until thoroughly combined. The batter will be thick and have a bit of a dough consistency.
3. On your waffle maker, add about a 1/3 cup of batter for each waffle mold. You may want to add a little more, but 1/2 cup is a little too much, add an amount somewhere in the middle.
4. Cook for about 5-6 minutes and set aside on a plate or wire rack to cool down.
5. Time to make the glaze! The ingredients listed to make the glaze cover about 3 waffles. Please adjust the proportions accordingly to how many waffles you are making and how many you want to glaze.
6. On low heat on the stove, simmer the ingredients together in a saucepan until there are no more clumps. Remove from heat and pour on waffle. You can also dip the waffles into the saucepan to glaze.
This can get messy. I set up a wire rack on top of wax paper on a baking sheet.
7. Add sprinkles or anything else you’d like before the glaze cools.
thank you Sassy Life for changing my life dramatically!
last Sunday in church i just broke down in complete tears.
i was so insanely busy the previous week and felt like i didn’t have one simple second to just breathe & relax.
i glanced over at my little brother Mitch in sacrament, realized how soon he was leaving on his mission, and couldn’t believe how little time i have had to spend with him before he leaves.
then i look to my right to see my sister isabelle. who gets married in 2 short weeks only to realize i haven’t been able to make it to ONE of her bridal showers yet. not ONE. i haven’t gone to any of her dress fittings. haven’t helped her design what our backyard will look like for the wedding. haven’t helped her stay up and stuff invitations. i haven’t been apart of one piece of this special process for her.
then it became ridiculous when i looked over at Castine (we babysat her again!) and realized how little amount of time i had to spend with her the whole time we babysat and cried even more.
after leaving church i decided to make a simple pact to myself.
regardless of how busy i am, i decided to make the most of each day the second the sun rises.
every morning when i woke up i was going to soak up those little, rare, free moments even MORE than ever before.
i didn’t care how busy i was.
feeling sorry for myself wasn’t going to magically clear up my schedule.
i WAS going to make it to one of isabelle’s bridal showers even if that meant requesting work off.
i WAS going to call Mitchell up and chat with him on my drives to and from Provo to make up for the days we haven’t been able to spend together.
i WAS going to soak up every moment with my favorite little girl (Castine) while we babysat her.
and let me just say.. by doing this i definitely did feel a lot happier this past week!
here are some things this week that put a huge smile on my face….
i decided i wanted a new doormat to spruce up our cottage
this one did just the trick.
i took work off to go spend the evening with all my girl cousins celebrating isabelle & grace who are both getting married this summer!
Castine & Will drove all the way down to Provo to visit me during one of my 11 hour shifts.
we went to lunch and then played some arcade games at Provo Beach Resort.
she definitely thinks i work at the Arcade.
should i mention now that Will drove all the way to Salt Lake with my car key in his car and had to drive all the way back to Provo right after?
let’s move on from that sensitive subject.
i played with “Castine Olivia Elsa Anna Ariel Tempest” in the morning time before work
i took more time to notice the pretty, simple things this life has to offer
i didn’t have work on the 24th of July (Pioneer Day) until 2 p.m. so i was able to go watch the parade downtown with my mom and siblings in the morning!
stopping by the best donut place in town on the way down did just the trick.
(i am currently OBSESSED with their blueberry donut!! i can’t shut up about it)
will & i went to one of our favorite lunch spots together on a work day!
he is done with summer school this Wednesday!!!!!!!!
bye bye physics 1 & 2!
on one of my first days off, i taught a dance camp to some of the cutest hip-hoppers around.
and yep the dance we learned was definitely to fancy.
it was too precious for words.
i walked across the street from the cottage to get one of my favorite salads that i get to customize myself.
seriously one of my favorite things!
i celebrated one of my best friends upcoming weddings at the dreamiest backyard shower.
i baked chocolate chip cookies for this sweetie more times than i should admit.
i FINALLY had a pool day!
well… more like pool evening after work.
but still! it counts.
and while W was up at a bachelor party Friday night in Park City, I hung out with my “boyfriend” Craig.
he requested visiting my mom and getting snow cones.
these birthday cake Oreo cake bites are probably one of my all-time favorite desserts to make.
they are SO simple to whip up and the taste is almost too good to be true.
all it takes is four simple, extremely delicious ingredients:
-one package of Nabisco Birthday Cake Oreos
-one package of Vanilla Candiquik melting chocolate
-one package of cream cheese
-sprinkles to decorate (optional)
1. take your oreos and put them in a food processor and grind until sand-like texture.
*if you don’t have a food processor put them in a gallon ziploc bag and crush them by hand. get clever on how to get them completely crushed! but make sure the texture is almost a powder.
2. pour into a bowl and incorporate the room temperature cream cheese with the oreos.
(it’s important for the cream cheese to be room temperature because it mixes better!)
mix the cream cheese and Oreos together with your hands until all is mixed evenly.
3. mold the ingredients into balls of whatever size you prefer!
4. put the cake bites in the freezer for 10 minutes
5. right before you take the cake bites out of the freezer, melt the whole block of white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
(i have found that melting the chocolate for 1.5 minutes, stirring, & putting it back in for another 30 second increment then stirring 1 or 2 more times melts the whole thing without hardening)
6. dip the cake bites in the chocolate and put them back onto the cookie sheet
(add sprinkles if desired!)
7. put in the freezer for another 10 minutes and wah-la!
you have heavenly cake bites!!
ENJOY!
if you make them, let me know how you like them!!!
i am currently slapping myself in slow motion for the title of this post but we’re just going to roll with it, okay?
this past weekend, Will & I felt brave and ventured down to the valley of cacti & 100+ temperatures.
A R I Z O N A
we went down there for three main reasons
1. to see my best friends new baby!!
2. to go meet will’s mission presidents & attend their homecoming
3. eat good food (OBVIOUSLY)
our friend Steph moved down to Arizona last month so we were able to hang out with her lots too & she showed us around her favorite places so far which was such a treat!
we went to downtown Gilbert our first night and you’ll die at how darling the whole town is.
we loved it.
Will made a good point: we felt like were in Cars Land in Disneyland!!
which is like our most favorite place EVER.
everything was absolutely perfect and quaint
& i could stare at these signs all day
and him.
i could stare at him all day too.
a man named Joe is my new hero.
he has opened up a couple restaurants in Gilbert and grows all of the food on his very OWN family farm. you could seriously taste the difference!
the first night we tried his Real BBQ Restaurant and it did not disappoint.
i wish words could describe how delicious that mac & cheese was……
i dreamt about it last night.
speaking of dreamy, meet NAVY.
the most adorable little 3.5 week old baby.
i love seeing my best friend as a MOTHER.
she is the absolute best, most paranoid, caring mother i know.
i will DEFINITELY be calling her up 24/7 when i have a baby of my own and am just as paranoid as she is 🙂
i practically fainted on the floor when i saw this ^^
we lasted a solid 20 minutes outside of the pool.
the rest of the time you had to be in it or else you felt like you were going to melt.
or faint.
or have a stroke.
@williviablog
i physically canNOT walk past one of these without buying it.
DIET COKE MARKETING TEAM: YOU HAVE REALLY OUT DONE YOURSELF
i also can’t walk past one of these without buying it…
& there is no marketing involved so…
i have issues.
ARE WE SURPRISED?
one morning i woke up around 7 a.m. and decided i wanted to go on a run.
i went out to the car to grab my running shoes, turned around, came right back inside and told Will it was already 100 degrees HAHAHA.
so we decided to go to Joe’s other restaurant for breakfast!
it was his Farm Grill.. on HIS ACTUAL FARM.. freshest food in the world my goodness.
i was so glad i was still in my running clothes because eating outside lasted a solid 10 minutes before it got too hot and we had to go indoors!
but they squeezed that orange juice FRESH out of THEIR OWN GROWN oranges!!
i’m screaming. i need to calm down sorry.
okay i don’t think the rest of the post will involve talking about food .. SORRY
but definitely one of the highlights of my trip was meeting Will’s mission president & wife!
the Heyman’s were truly some of the nicest people i have ever met.
i loved finally meeting the people who took such good care of Will while he was in Argentina!
& of course our last stop before leaving town was stopping by the brand new LDS Gilbert temple.
it is truly one of the prettiest temples i have ever seen!
whenever i am asked my favorite place on earth my answer is always the same:
BEAR LAKE
and whenever i am asked my favorite holiday it is always the same:
4th OF JULY
luckily, this year i was able to spend it with my amazing co-workers as well as my whole family up in bear lake!
it’s hard to call it “working” when my work shift entailed biking around the Provo parade in the sweetest custom-made Google bikes followed by handing out free otter pops to people at the Freedom Festival.
i was having the time of my life! especially because Will was by my side the whole time!
(explanation)
FUNNY STORY–
so on Thursday night, Will came down to Provo with me so we could go on a triple date with our friends to the Provo Food Truck Round Up
(which was very delicious by the way)
Fiore & Corndog Commander were our dinners of choice.
& we absolutely loved both!
(anyone have a Food Truck they love that i should try?)
we ended up sleeping over in Provo so that I could make it to my shift at 7 a.m. without having to drive 2+ hours. then we could drive to Bear Lake from Provo right after my shift was done on Friday!
throughout the day on Friday, i was so worried Will would be bored out of his wits waiting for me to be done with my shifts.
he was planning on just watching the parade by himself and calling me after to see where i was.
as we were waiting for the parade to start, Will called me and wanted to come say hi while we were in in the cue waiting for the parade to begin.
he came over and met my co-workers & said hi and as he was walking away our Office Manager, Hayley, (who was driving the truck) asked me if Will wanted to drive in the passenger seat with her for the entire parade route.
so you betcha he jumped in and rode with her hahahaha!
while we were all biking/walking around the truck the whole parade, Will was sitting in the truck looking all famous & trying to perfect his royalty wave.
it was epic
i kept on biking over to his window during the parade and laughing because he was just on cloud nine.
cute thing.
after my last shift, we zoomed up provo canyon and ventured on up to bear lake.
we made it just in time for dinner, a quick wakeboarding session, and fireworks!
being up on the lake, eating raspberries, and relaxing with the family is literally my absolute favorite thing on earth.. second to Will!
look at that blue water!
of course here is jensen’s annual birthday cake!
how is he already 14?!
such a little stud.
meet liv.
the cutest little cousin around.
OKAY hiiiiiii!!
@williviablog
this shot is one of my absolute favorites.
i went on a little run Saturday morning and decided to go walk around the marina while everything was still peaceful.
i took this shot on my iPhone and couldn’t believe how it captured the light coming in.
how is this place so perfect?! ahhh
oh & don’t get me started on these chocolate covered raspberries.
**apologies if you went there this weekend and they were wiped out. that was definitely our fault…**
is it sad that i am still sore from this?
my dad is hands down the craziest boat driver.
he drives with this evil smirk on his face and gets this awful pleasure when we get knocked off hahaha
my breakfast reservation for 1.
the best family i could ever ask for.
the best holiday weekend.
the best cabin in the world.
have i convinced anyone yet that bear lake is straight up magical?!
working at Google Fiber, we usually work Saturdays due to events and other projects going on.
which would normally be a damper.. but when you love your job as much as i do you don’t mind too much!
HOWEVER, the last 3 Saturdays I haven’t been scheduled to work so it’s been THE BEST being able to hang out with Will on his day off too and soak up the free days we actually have free together.
we finally got around to trying Alamexo downtown!
definitely lived up to it’s hype.
Caputo’s opened up in Holladay right by our cottage so this past Saturday we went and grabbed some sandwiches and headed down to my grandmas pool for our first pool day of the summer!
our Saturday night consisted of hanging out with friends, cruising on our vespas, getting frozen yogurt and playing pickle-ball in Will’s parents backyard.
we also obviously took pictures with the zoom on accidentally
and i also embarrassed Will in front of his friends
whoops?
during our cruise, we asked some 7th grader skater boys to take a picture of us on our vespa ride.
blurry… are we surprised?
then they asked us what grade we were in….
uhhh what grade is married, 10 years older than you, and college graduates considered?
we loved soaking up our time with Brooke & Seth before they move to Texas for Medical School in 2 weeks.
Brookie and I roomed together freshman year at BYU and have been inseparable ever since!
growing up is frightening.
and to top of the plethora of pictures, Monday night we said farewell to June with a picnic with Karli & John!!
in honor of the 4th of July coming up this week, i figured it was time to post this All-American shoot we did last month.
Rachael Affleck, my dear friend, has started her own wedding planning business (Rachael Ellen Events) and helped make our wedding day as perfect as it was.
she set EVERYTHING up at the reception, coordinated everything so professionally and made sure everything went smoothly.
i showed up to my reception right as pictures started an hour before the reception started and everything was already set up and absolutely perfect! i almost cried real tears of joy.
she will forever be one of my heroes.
last month, she asked if Will and i would be the May Bride & Groom for Rachael Ellen Events
because she helped SO much with our wedding, we couldn’t say no!
(well, Will definitely could’ve said no… but..)
i think the “ALL-AMERICAN” theme turned out darling!
fun fact: that dog with us is blind AND deaf.
he is over 100 years old!
another fun fact: this field is RIGHT across the street from our cottage!!
it was perfect timing because NOW this field is complete dirt and some houses are about to be built on the lot.
cute Will was such a trooper and made it fun even though he was completely out of his comfort zone.
he was making everyone laugh so hard and was so patient and supportive of the process.
when hair & makeup artists showed up to our cottage at 8 a.m. to get started on us he looked at me all wide-eyed but didn’t say a word hahahaha.
when they told him to look “GQ” he just busted up laughing.
looks pretty ‘GQ’ to me!!
thank you Rachael for letting us be the May Bride & Groom!
and thank you Will, for being the cutest All-American boy i know 🙂
(i am deep like once or twice a year so apologies in advance)
as some of you know, i make a 35-40 minute commute everyday.
somedays even up close to an hour when there is bad traffic.
which leads me to the following things:
-audiobooks
-eating on the go
-sticking my head out the window like a dog to dry my hair when i am running late
-playing the game of driving in the carpool lane when the lanes go dotted and then getting out before they go double
-calling friends, family, grandparents and old friends to catch up on their life
-changing each FM radio station after .2 seconds of pop music
-and lots of Olivia thinking time
lots & lots of thinking time actually.
this week however, i have found that i have listened to absolutely nothing because i have something on my mind that i can’t seem to knock out.
after the 5th day of this constant thought, i have decided it is time to talk about it.
H A P P I N E S S
simple as that.. happiness.
i received a hurtful comment on one of my blog posts Monday morning and i found myself immediately deleting it, not replying back, and actually laughing my head off about it with Will at breakfast.
i just imagined someone sitting there behind their computer screen.. feeling SO miserable.. commenting rude things.. and never actually feeling better about doing so.
but then that same day, my sister-in-law showed me something someone anonymously wrote on her blog and my hurt had to be nothing compared to her hurt.
it was beyond inappropriate and that anonymous writer has hurt someones feelings who didn’t deserve it whatsoever.
so i guess my question is WHY.
WHY is it that we, as human beings, have the ability to be so hurtful?
why can’t we always be absolutely, genuinely happy for other people.. no matter what they do in their life?
why can’t we let people express their true selves and naturally withhold judgement?
why is it that Americans have more than people in other third world countries, yet they are happier than we are…
(HAPPY is a great documentary proving that point)why do we look at other people doing incredible things in their life and feel jealousy rather than a feeling of happiness for their accomplishments?
whenever i am asked my B I G G E S T pet peeve i always respond with the same thing:miserable people.
i believe happiness is a choice.
an absolute, personal choice.
regardless of your circumstance, you have a choice of how you respond in situations.
you can be down on yourself and spiral down to misery and take it out on others.
or you can choose happiness.
choose to love regardless of the circumstance.
choose to love regardless of past situations.
it’s something that needs to be tested, tried and fought for.it definitely will not come naturally for most people.
it doesn’t for me!
i am not perfect at any of this.
my brain littler onto this little blog post is more of a reminder to me more than anything.
how can i be kinder?
how can i make someone else’s day a little better?
when my Mom drives me places, i have NEVER (i mean it, never) gotten out of the car without her saying;”BE NICE TO SOMEONE TODAY”
so i guess overall i would like to pose a challenge for this weekend.
– call someone you have hurt
– call someone you haven’t talked to in a long time whose friendship you can feel fading
– drop off something thoughtful… anonymously
– be GENUINELY happy for someone
– forgive someone who has resented you. whether that be a major or minor resentment.i guess these little changes in the world might turn into a future a little brighter than what most are anticipating.
okay sooo yesterday may have been the happiest day of my life.
i don’t know why!
i was just so happy all day.
as in giddy.
as in laughing unnecessarily.
like an awkward happiness.
maybe it was because i bought new running shoes last week and my new Garmin Forerunner arrived and i went on a liiiiiittle bit too far on a run in the morning so all day maybe my endorphins were pumping…?
i don’t know.
maybe it was because of the summer solstice.
maybe because it was the first official day of SUMMER!
but whatever it was… it was honestly just the happiest day!
on Friday night, we went to Alamexo downtown, and saw signs for the Farmers Market the next day and thought “heyyyy let’s do that tomorrow!!”
so after my run & Will’s wardball… off we went.
to people watch, mooch off the free cheese & cherry samples, and smell in the illegal incense.
i used these soaps my whole childhood!
the soap lady is AMAZING.
obviously Will was stoked about this Argentine food tent.
until he walked over and saw the prices and said,
“the empanadas were so much cheaper in argentina….”
haha! sorry Willie.
then we left because i was intensely craving my favorite pizza in the entire world!
isn’t my date cute?
and of course in the early evening we stopped at the snow shack i worked at in high school.
i will never forget working & looking out of that little window to see Will waiting in line.
i would get the biggest butterflies and would make the biggest fool of myself trying to function.
every time.
and then i would make him his classic blue bubblegum w/ cream shaved ice.