favorite things

i have been slightly obsessed with pinterest.com lately 

my friend started her own board and invited me to do the same

well now i'm addicted. 

i love it because it puts all my inspiration/ideas/and favorite things in one place

if you want to check out my boards or pinterest.com let me know and i'll share the love

i have also been loving being in my kitchen again 

after being sick for about two weeks straight it feels great to cook 

monday night we were pulling out the left over home made ice cream and decided we needed warm cookies.  well i'd already cooked two dinners and just finished cleaning so we tried a recipe from another friends blog. flourless peanut butter cookies. three ingredients

1/2c. sugar

1/2c. peanut butter

1/2 egg(I had egg beaters to use up) 

plus i added some dark chocolate chips

bake 350 12-15 minutes, make 8 cookies

delicious, simple and completely satisfying the next day

my sewing machine

for young womens we made darling bags to earn money for a girl who's earning for a young ambassador to Australia.  well being the leader i felt like i needed to make a practice one so i could teach the others.  well making bags is so simple and addicting.  i made five bags in a couple hours and it was so fun mismatching colors, patterns, making pockets.  can't wait to learn how to make more.

little girls

when i was little my sister and cousin were my t-ball coach

now my aunt and cousin are my nieces t-ball coach

we went to watch this saturday

luckily it was way before the thunderstorm

Coach C. and Charlotte looking really ready for the next play

Emilie covering 1st.

Hazel... aka Daisy Duke waving to the shortstop as she runs to 3rd

Emilie leaning to run threw third straight to home plate

If you ever need a good laugh go watch some kids play t-ball, soccer or any sporting event I promise it'll brighten your day.  After we enjoyed burgers around my parents pool.  Unfortunately I was too busy enjoying to even think about pictures... hopefully there are plenty more pool parties to come. 

the surprise

i was disappointed in blogger with the glitch this weekend. all my comments deleted. :)

well this weekend was rather eventful.

we surprised mr. r.'s dad Papa R.

he has been wanting the family to run a 5K together.

you see he hated running, he was a biker.  so he came to me and asked for help. i put him on a running plan to gradually ease into running, and now he can run and not completely hate it. to celebrate he wanted the family to run together.  well due to injuries and sicknesses and distance not everyone could run but we agreed to all try.  we set a date may 13th.  as time went on MR R. made plans for may13th, scout camp.  no other day would allow us all together until the family trip in June.  well 2 weeks ago MR R. was called to the stake presidency so he didn't have to go to scout camp.  we decided to surprise him with a run.  we all gathered after work and waited for him to come home. ... he only showed up about 2 hours late. got stuck in surgery... so we rested

played volleyball and soccer

 he was surprised

he loved the t-shirts we made for the occasion

mr. r. wore a special shirt just for the race.... 

and he loved that everyone ran together

and i really loved the stuffed bananas we made after on the grill, and homemade ice cream

communicating

I've always been grateful for the ease at which Mr. R and I have been able to communicate throughout our relationship.  In my adolescence I was very much a people pleaser and my opinions and thoughts were swayed easily by those around me.  It took one significant relationship in my life for me to learn to form my own opinions and not to be afraid to express it.  Although this relationship ended in a terrible heart break at the time I will forever believe that the relationship was significant in my life because I learned my own voice.  Which I am so grateful for.  I've also learned once you have your own voice you must learn when to express it and when it's just not worth it.
Well in the last week I've been put in a horrible situation, twice, where I've had a really hard time communicating my feelings.  It's so frustrating because the topic we are communicating lies very close to my heart and I feel like the person I'm talking to isn't even listening.  I feel like he already knows what he's going to say to me before I've said one word.  He's inconsiderate and interrupts me when I'm sharing my concerns.  He doubts my judgement when I believe in this particular situation my judgement should be honored.  I don't know how to deal with it.  It's not just about getting what you want but feeling like someone at least respects you and understands the needs.

How do you deal with these types of people in your life?
I know that we are surrounded by people who communicate in different ways.
Do I just back on a wait it out? or continue to try to work with this person?

(right now it feels like the more I try the worse it gets)
I should say that this is nothing between me and a family member all is good at home :)

fantastic friday's

Friday's have always been one of the best days of the week.... for obvious reasons.  but Friday's shine even brighter in my life because from May until the end of August I get paid Friday's off.  After working my first technical four day work week I've decided that's the way to go.  It allowed me a day to myself and then because I got so much done on Friday it allowed me and Mr. R. an entire Saturday to do as we please.

Because Friday is my 'day off' I've decided to have some sort of 'me' time.  I decided that every Friday I want to try a new recipe.  I am totally guilty of drooling over recipes and pictures on line during the week at work and Friday now provides a day with ample of time to try something new.  This week I made inside-out carrot cake muffins.  They were delicious.

Also Fridays are for re-kindling relationships.  I've never been really good at 'staying in touch'.  I think of all the great and wonderful people I've rubbed shoulders with throughout my life, Friday's are for touching base with them again.  Last Friday I revisited cardiac rehab to provide a proper thank you for how nice all of them were before I quit.  I was planning on only staying about 30 minutes but ended up talking the afternoon away.

Last Friday's are for projects.  I have list and list of to-do lists and Friday is for picking at least one and checking it off.  This week I cleaned the mattress.. yes seriously.  Forever ago I read an article on 'real simple'... which cleaning a mattress seems far beyond real simple but anyways they gave me a short cut version and long version to clean my mattress, I took the short cut version because our mattress is fairly new and in good condition.

This weekend was topped off my two tennis games in the awesome sun shiny weather, tasty dinner at citrus grill, James baptism, Roland's MBA graduation, mother's day parties and a run around the block to prepare for some upcoming races.

Have a great Monday everyone.  Hopefully the sun will be back and shining for the weekend.

the lastest happenings

it feels so nice to normalize now that tax season is over 

i can't believe what a recluse i was for those last few weeks 

i think... i'm finally starting to act normal in social situations again.

friday night we went to anna's (mr. r's younger sister) final art show.  

she is so talented

her show was compiled of portraits and sam was lucky enough to be showcased

she even captured sam not smiling which is a huge challenge

then after it dumped about 4 inches of snow through the night

we woke up and participated in the MS walk at the gateway

considering that my dad has MS I felt especially happy to be supporting 

I was especially overwhelmed by the generosity of my family and friends

I was proud to raise the most money for the UofU young alumni team

luckily we walked without snow or rain dumping on us

this past couple weeks i've been so grateful to be surrounded by great people

there's a good chance in the future we will be moving where we won't know anyone

sometimes it can get overwhelming having so many family parties and things to do etc... 

(i'm not implying that we are popular, so don't take this the wrong way)

but i'm sorry for ever complaining about it 

i feel so blessed to be surrounded by such great people 

everyone is loving, kind, supportive, fun and great examples 

thank you