Two Things

First off, my awesome (and hilarious) husband decided to start a blog of his own. It's a journal of his diet and has a humorous approach to losing weight. Check it out. You'll dig it. (P.S. -- I still need to make it fun and exciting via sidebars and what not. But we'll get around to it. He has NO idea how to do all that. I had to walk him through how to post. Jess + computers = a disaster.)

Anyway, here is the link.

And on to the second thing. I figure I should tell you all why exactly I am cutting down on blogging and what is taking its place.

Drum roll please....

My writing. I'm focusing now on becoming a better writer. I'm writing a lot, reading a lot and learning all about the wonderful craft of writing. I will start the long struggle of trying to get published in the next few months (though I'm sure it will take awhile before anything comes of it). But that's how it works. And I love to write.

So, I joined this site called HubPages. We'll see how it goes. Basically I can write about whatever I want, whenever I want. I figured it was a better way to get my writing out there for now, to learn and practice and get good at writing...all the time. I have it pretty private. No pictures of me and no name (well, I go by Simply Brit). This way I feel safe opening my writing up to a wider audience. So I will be posting on her often. When I feel it's something you bloggers would enjoy reading...I'll post a link on here. (And yes...I do make money off of this. But I doubt very much. And I'm not doing it for the money--just for the experience.)

Here are two that I wrote today:

Top 5 Winter Fashion Trends

and

Turn Drab to Fab: How to Make Boring Furniture New and Fun

(Remember this?!)


Anyway, I love you all!

News

I came to a conclusion today that some of you (as in my readers) may not really like.

I'm not going to be blogging as often.

There just isn't enough time in a day for everything.

So I made a list of my goals and my priorities.

And blogging is the thing that's getting kicked off the list.

Don't get me wrong, I love to blog.

But I love some other things more.

And this one seemed to be the easiest and most practical one to check off my list.

Yes, I will still post every so often.

But I won't make it a priority to get on here as often as I do.

Sorry to all you bloggy lovers and supporters.

I love you all!

And I will still be here...at least once a week.

Deal?!

Now I'm going to write.

P.S. -- Spencer Pratt won the biggest tool contest. I voted for Spencer (with a close second to Kevin Federline). And Jess, of course, voted for Robert Pattinson. Or more correctly, Edward. Ahem. He's just jealous.

Oh Christmas Week...

So I haven't blogged in about 4 days. Thanks Christmas. And I promised I would report back on my goal for last week. Let me refresh your memory: Work out every day of Christmas week for at least 15 min.

Well...I pretty much failed.

But, I did work out 3 of those days. And for at least 45 minutes for all of them. So...I guess I did something. But something isn't quite good enough.

I'm going to do better. Because I CAN do better.

I read Self magazine every month. (Yes, this is my magazine of choice. A few months ago when I was semi-motivated to get fit...I bought a copy. Then, I realized it was $10 for a year subscription. I couldn't pass it up. It inspires me although I haven't done anything about all the good stuff I've been learning.)

I just finished my January issue today. Let me share some of my favorite tips with you all - and then my new goal for this week.

* Wear sunscreen every day (I never do this. And I should. 50% of the population has or will have skin cancer in their lives. Seriously. That's a freaking high statistic. So 1 out of ever 2 people. So, when you think about it, that's like saying it's gonna be me or Jess. Scary thought. I'm gonna start wearing sunscreen more often).

* Pilates (It's the best way to get flat abs. Some exercises are more than 200 percent more effective than normal ab workouts.)

* Yoga (It eases lower back pain. Which I have - bad. Studies show that those with lower back pain who did two 90 minute classes a week for 24 weeks eased the pain by 56% as well as improved their mood by 60%. Wow.

* Keeping up on all my doctors appointments (meaning physician, dentist, eye and now gynecologist...)

* Doing their 31 ways to eat and slim plan (One thing for every day in January. Except I can't do one. Because it involves eating fish. And I hate fish. Ick.)

* Getting work-out videos for home (namely a Jillian Michaels one. She scares me. So she'll get me to work.

* Getting 8 hours of sleep per night (more than 8 and less than 8 are both bad. Hello 11-7 sleep hours.)

* Drink lots and LOTS of water (It's good for so many reasons!)

* Don't deny myself of foods I love. Just eat them in moderation. If I deprive myself, I'll end up gorging.

* Learn to feel good about my body.

I. Love. This. Mag.

And I recommend it. For real. It keeps you motivated. So here goes. This week I will:

* Try a Pilates video
* Try a Jillian video
* Try at least 2 classes at the gym
* And do some form of work-out on the other days as well (Monday through Saturday)

Let's see how this goes!

Blog Awards

I was given two amazing blog awards by two amazing girls last weekend.

The first was:



given to me by the one and only Miss Rasha at And This is What She Said. Check out her blog. It's adorable. And I love it. And her always happy and positive blogs make me smile. You'll love her.

So I guess I'm just supposed to pick 10 blogs that I want to give the glamorous award. This was hard because I read more than 10 blogs. And all the blogs I read make me happy. And I think all the blogs are glamorous. But for the sake of keeping this thing going...here goes.

1. Alexa at It's A Love Story. This girl is seriously uh-maze-ing. She inspires me.

2. Amy at My LaLa Land. I love reading her blogs. They are just so fun. For realz.

3. Angie at angieinpink. She is so creative. And so sweet. And she has the cutest little girls EVER. Love her.

4. Connie at Making Memories. Connie is gorg. And her blog is so much fun to read. I love her!

5. Haylee at The Life and Times of Haylee Bliss. This girl is so much fun. I fell in love with her blog the first time that I read it.

6. Jenn at Jenn with 2 N's. This girl is awesome. She is just the sweetest. You can't but help love her.

7. Kristin and Nick at Nick and Kristin. This girl is so nice. And so happy. I love her blogs about her newlywed adventures. They just make me smile.

8. Natalie at Nat-Uh-Lee. This girl is one of my best friends. And she is hil-ar-i-ous. I mean it.

9. The Patterson Family (no link). Carli is my cousin (as well as the girl who does my hair. Thanks Car. It always looks awesome.) And I love her blog. I also love it when her husband Dane posts. They make me laugh. And they have the 3 cutest kids in the world who always brighten my day.

10. Valerie at Turn the Pages. I love this lady. She is so cute! I'm so happy that I stumbled upon her blog!


The second award that I was given was:




from Jenny at Bits and Pieces of my Life. I love this girl! So sweet!

With this one I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy and then pass the award on to
10 others.

So here are 10 things that make me happy:

1. Cuddling under a warm blanket with hot chocolate looking at the Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music - it. is. the. best. and I think I'll do this tomorrow night with the hubs.



2. Bubbles - I don't know why...but I have a random obsession with them.


3. Pineapple - It's simply the best fruit. EVER.


4. Music - There's a type for any occasion/mood/etc.


5. My church and testimony - I have no clue where I would be without it.


6. Water - Seriously. Sometimes there is nothing better in the world than a glass of cold water. Especially in Arizona.


7. Crafting - Even though I don't have much time for it, it never fails to make me happy.





8. Mr. Nash - I have the best puppy in the world. No argument. He is so sweet and so cute. Be jealous.





9. My husband - He gets me through each and every day. I love him so much!





10. A clean house - Nothing feels better than the smell and look of a clean house. Mmmmmm.



And I award:

1. Amber at No Payne No Gain. I met this girl a little over a year ago. She is such a great girl. And her blog is so fun to read. It makes me happy to find out about her fun adventures with her husband during their first year of marriage!

2. Brooke at this is the way i live. This girl is so happy. I've never seen her without a smile on her face. It amazes me!

3. Chloe at just a spoonful of sugar. Like Brooke, this girl seems to always be happy. She is adorable!

4. Emily at Emmy Sue. I. Love. This. Girl. Her blogs make me day. No lie.

5. Hannah at From the Heart. I knew this girl in high school and she is fabulous. So smart and so nice.

6. Kristy (no link). I love her. I love her blog. I love her adorable kids. Yup.

7. Lauren at Lauren Elizabeth. This girl seems like a lot of fun and her blog totally shows it.

8. Mom at Live Life to the Fullest. Mostly because she's my mom. And I love her. And I think that she needs to write a blog cuz she hasn't in a couple months. C'mon mother. I miss your blogs.

9. Rasha at and this is what she said. Her blog is so positive and never fails to make me smile. This girl is the best.

10. Sarah at SarFox. This girl inspires me. I love her blog.


I love all of your blogs! That includes everyone's blog that I read! They make me happy...that's why I read them! Thank you for making me smile!

Oh dear...

We all know that kids say the funniest things EVER. All you have to do is spend about two minutes with a child and you'll be smiling or laughing at something he or she says. For instance, take my primary class. Yesterday, as I was teaching, I asked my class a question.

Me: "How can you show love to others?"

Cute little boy in my class: "If you are going up a big hill, and you see that someone is having a hard time up, you can share your mammoth with them."

Me: **What the...?** "Your mammoth?"

Cute little boy in my class: "Well, yeah. Back in scripture times."

Me: "Okay. Want to share with the rest of the class what a mammoth is, er, was? I don't think they know?"

The boy: "Ya. It's like, a big animal. With lots of fur. And it's either light brown or dark brown. It can be either. And it has these BIG horns on it."

Me: **Or an elephant with fur** "What else can we do to share love to others?"

Boy in my class: "Like, if someone is getting attacked, and you see that they don't have a weapon...you could share your weapon with them."

Me: **What's up with the answers today?** "Okay...I guess. Let's just hope that nobody gets attacked!"

Seriously, I was dying.

But what are some things that, as a parent, you would never want to hear your kids say?

Well...Jess and I came up with some.

I now bring to you...the top 10 things you don't want to hear your kids say:

1. When your son says, "Wearing dresses makes me feel pretty!"

2. "Mom, I forgot to tell you last week...I couldn't make it to the bathroom on time so I used the apple juice bottle."

3. "Hey Dad! Guess who's new car just got a couple of racing stripes?!"

4. "No one wanted to buy lemonade. But some man just bought the baby for $50, so can we go to the toy store?"

5. "Teacher said those funny pics of you I found in Daddy's drawer are not appropriate for show and tell..."

6. "But Mom...it's not my fault! The cat peed on ME first!"

7. "Mom, why does Daddy always kiss his friend Bob on the lips?"

8. "Hey Dad? Um...you know that big tv you just got? Well...um...you didn't really like it anymore...did ya?"

9. "Hey Mom, I got some good news and bad news. The good news is you were right about playing with fire. The bad news is..."

10. "You know how you told Dad that Billy's mom is a slut? Well...I told her and she got real mad."

Enjoy! What have your kids said that made your heart drop in fear or embarrassment?

Abs, Arms and Cardio

"The good Lord gave you a body that can stand most anything.
It's your mind you have to convince."
- Vincent Lombardi

"You must begin to think of yourself as
becoming the person you wantto be. "
- David Viscott

"To be successful, you must dedicate yourself 100%
to your training, diet and mental approach."
- Arnold Schwarzenegger

"Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy
body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity."
- John F. Kennedy

"The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body. The more
efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your
talent to produce outstanding results."
- Anthony Robbins

And just because she makes me laugh so hard...

"You have to stay in shape. My grandmother, she started walking five
miles a day when she was 60. She's 97 today and we
don't know where the he{ck} she is."
- Ellen Degeneres

So I need to get in shape. And so I found these quotes to reinforce my personal goals. My body is used to being worked out 25+ hours a week back in high school. That was a year and a half ago...and now I'm totally out of shape. I'm weak. I get out of breath much easier than I used to. I have less energy. And I just don't feel too great about my body. So...I need to start working out again. For realz. My new-found habits need to be broken before they get too locked in.

Here's the deal. My goal this week is to at least do something to work out everyday this week (except Christmas). Whether it's going to the gym, attempting to jog (even though my knees probably won't let me run), lifting, taking Nash for an extended walk, or doing abs. Just a little something to get the body moving more than normal.

What do you say we all try to give our bodies a little extra movement this week? Especially with it being Christmas week...we all know that we will be eating worse than normal. So let's make it a goal to fit in at least 15 minutes of exercise a day into our hectic holiday schedules. Whaddayasay?

I'll report back next week and let you know how I did!

Are you in?

Vote

Okay. So I'm turning into my husband. He's getting to me. Remember that blog I wrote about the random obsession guys have with calling other guys tools? Refresh your memory here.

Well...now I'm calling guys tools. So here's the thing. I came up with a list of guys that I think are tools. Your job is to vote for the biggest tool of them all. Next Friday I'll let you know who won! And yes, I'll also tell you my vote then. And Jess's. I know you're interested...

Tool #1

Robert Pattinson

Please don't kill me. I'm not going against Edward here. Just the guy who plays him. For real.


Tool #2

Spencer Pratt

C'mon Heidi. He's an idiot. Get over him and move on.


Tool #3

Kevin Federline

I don't think that I need to expand...


Tool #4

Ed Swiderski (the Bachelorette)


Stop. Cheating. It won't get you anywhere. You are SO not that cool.


Tool #5

Brody Jenner

You're hot. But not as hot as YOU think you are. Let the girls judge your hotness level. Or just go make-out with yourself. Wait...you probably already have.

Ready, Set, Vote!

Rocco and Roman

I love these boys.

And I loved spending five days with them.

They are precious.

They are perfect.

I can't wait until I can see them again.

Babies...

Starting tomorrow I'm going to be spending six days with these precious boys:



They are sweet.
They are adorable.
They are small.
And I hear they are a 24 hour job.

So, I won't be spending much time blogging. But if you leave a question, or two, or three here then I will try to answer them while I'm gone. If that doesn't happen...then I will answer them when I get home.

I will miss you bloggy friends!

If you know Jess...text him and say hi. He will be lonely at home without his awesome wife (that's me, in case you didn't know).

And now I will leave you with some random thoughts:

-- Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you
realize you're wrong.

--Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you're
going in the complete opposite direction of where you are supposed to
be going? But instead of just turning a 180 and walking back in the
direction from which you came, you have to first do something like
check your watch or phone or make a grand arm gesture and mutter to
yourself to ensure that no one in the surrounding area thinks you're
crazy by randomly switching directions on the sidewalk.

--Do you remember when you were a kid, playing Nintendo and it wouldn't
work? You take the cartridge out, blow in it and that would magically
fix the problem. Every kid in America did that, but how did we all
know how to fix the problem? There was no internet or message boards
or FAQ's. We just figured it out. Today's kids are soft.

--How the heck are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?

--Answering the same letter three times or more in a row on a Scantron
test is absolutely petrifying.

--How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod
and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

--MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I
know how to get out of my neighborhood.

--There's no worse feeling than that millisecond you're sure you are
going to die after leaning your chair back a little too far.

--I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me
if I want to save any changes to my ten page research paper that I
swear I did not make any changes to.

--I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello?
Ah man!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and
goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone
and run away?

I know I've read a lot of these somewhere before. Don't remember where though. Or when. But it doesn't matter. Because I laughed just as hard this time as I did last time. They are SO true. That's what makes them so flippin' funny. Some things never get old. Either that or I'm really sleep deprived. One or the other. You take your pick.

Oooh, Oooh, Tell Me!

What do you think of the new layout?

Does it look normal on your screen or just mine? I seem to always have that problem.

Let. Me. Know.

Now...I must go do something productive.

Construction

My blog is now going under construction. I'm attempting a 3-column layout. Let's see where this takes me...

So if you come to my page and it is MESSED up...that is why.

Wish me luck!

Tribute to the Hubs

Last Friday, December 4, was Jesse's 27th birthday! I've been meaning to post this but I've had off and on internet for the past week. But here it finally is. Last year, I made Jess this totally awesome mini-scrapbook filled with 26 things that I love about him. A few of the things had gifts to correspond with them (some stupid little things and a couple of cool things). You can see my post about it here.

This year, I didn't have the time to make him a scrapbook, or even time to really make his gift cute. But I stuck with the same thing. And this year each reason came with a gift - although a lot of the gifts were stupid (and half of them were homemade coupons...) Here is the display that was waiting for him when he got home from work:





And here is the list:

1. Your smile
2. Your love of food
3. The way you make me feel about my body
4. Your love of books
5. Cuddling with you
6. That you make me laugh
7. That you are smart
8. That you act like a kid sometimes
9. Your strong arms
10. Your chillness
11. Your love of word games
12. That you like to know random stuff
13. Your kisses
14. Your love of Christmas
15. Your obsession with hot sauce
16. That you love to watch movies
17. The way you look at me
18. Your testimony
19. That you are hardworking
20. Your love of books on tape
21. Your love of fishing
22. Your desire to be a daddy
23. Special hugs (yes, i stole that phrase from miss Busy Bee Lauren. If you don't know what "special hugs" are then, well, use your imagination)
24. Your playfulness
25. Your love of walks
26. Your "youness""
27. How much fun I have with you

I love you Jess! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me! I hope that you had an amazing birthday!

P.S. -- One of the gifts (corresponding with number 27) was a spear. Yes, that's right...a spear. For spear fishing. And the hubs LOVES it. It's a portable one so it comes apart into a few pieces for easy packing...and he probably takes it apart and puts it back together 26,783,455 times a day. No lie. He's so cute with it.

It's Christmas Time Again

Can I just say that I LOVE Christmas?

Here some of my favorite things about this time of year:

{hot chocolate}
---candy canes---
LiGhTs
**the general feeling of happiness
...christmas trees...
[music]
DeCoRaTiOns
(((temple lights)))
sugar cookies + frosting
{cHrIsTmAs CaRdS}
f.i.r.e.p.l.a.c.e.s.
-Family-Time-
**Mistletoe**
coZy SocKs
[presents]
...remembering the Savior...

And about a MILLION other things

Tonight I decorated my first Christmas tree with the hubby and I am in LOVE with it. (Thank you Hobby Lobby and 50% of ornaments / Target sales!)

(Sorry the pic is REALLY bad quality. 1. My camera sucks.
2. My husband isn't good with them and changed the settings.)

I also managed to put up all my other decorations, get Jesse's birthday gift all together / wrapped (it's not until Friday...but tomorrow is busy!), do some Christmas shopping, and get my ornaments. What I didn't do, on the other hand, was write my many papers and study for my various tests. I should probably go do that now....

I'm in Love...

There is another great giveaway...




This necklace is the CUTEST thing ever and I really want to win it!

Seriously.

Check it out here.

P.S. --- This blog is really cute!!! So even if you don't like the necklace...check her out!

I Miss Blogging...

So I haven't blogged in about a month. In fact, during that time I have probably only read four or five blogs. And by that comment I don't mean I read each post during that time on four or five peoples pages. I mean that I have read four or five posts TOTAL. That's sad. And I decided that I miss it. However, I did need a blogging break. I've been super busy (and still am/will be for the next little while). But I love blogging. And so I will continue to do it. Okay? Okay. Sorry for my lameness...

1. Let's start with Halloween, shall we?

Jess and I dressed as vampires and had a family/next door neighbors Halloween party the Thursday before Halloween. All the pictures from the night happen to be on my momma's camera and I still havne't stolen them. So I don't have a picture of Jess and I. But I'll post one of just me (yes, he took some before the party). We had a bunch of other ideas for our costumes, waited until the last minute and so, of course, they all fell through. (**Memo: Next year - and all future years - don't wait until the last second to figure out Halloween costumes. It makes things hard.) We went to several costume places and found plenty of costumes for Jess...but none for me. Unless I wanted to wear hardly any clothing. Seriously. Costume stores = lame. I don't want to show off my body to the whole world. Just my husband. Mmmk thanks. We finally found a modest one....50 bucks. Nothankyousir. So we improvised. We grabbed some capes and did the rest on our own. Thank you crazy tights that I forgot about, AMAZING vintagey shoes, my favorite hair accessory (courtesy of Forever 21), my mini-straightener, a shade, my handy black skirt, red lipstick and Target (for light, light make-up to make myself pale). I was happy with how it turned out...especially considering the whole fiasco of not knowing what we were going to be.

Nash, on the other hand, had his costume a month early. Yes, he was a little prisoner. Yes, he was adorable. Yes, he HATED wearing his costume. Yes, he had fun being chased by a million little kids at the party. Yes, he was worn out by the end of the night. And yes, his prisoner I.D. number is K98URSHOOS. Ahahahahah. (**For those of you that are a little slow that spells out: Canine ate your shoes.)

P.S. -- I'm in that category of those that are a little slow. I didn't notice what it said until the next morning when I was folding his costume up. Sad, I know. Don't make fun.

2. Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving Jess, my mom, my dad and I all headed up to Utah to stay with April and James.

This is the belly. We are best friends.

For those of you who don't know...this is April. She is TECHNICALLY my cousin...but she is really my sister. And she WAS prego with twins.

And that is why we spend our Thanksgiving up in Utah. Because she was going to be having them around then. And we wanted to be there to ease the stress and help out. Plus, she was huge and her husband was doing everything for her. We thought we could ease the burden for both of them for awhile and so we cooked all of Thanksgiving dinner for them. Yum.

The twins were born on Sunday November 29th at 7:21 and 7:23. The first, Rocco, was 7.5 oz. and 20 in. The second, Roman, was 7.4 and 19 in. The are identical. They are beautiful. They are perfect. Everything went really well. The boys are healthy and are so sweet (from what I hear). And April is recovering well. James is being such a great daddy. Jess, my dad and I all had to leave before we were able to hold them, but we were able to look at them through the nursery window as their newborn tests/baths were being done. It was so fun! My mom is still up there now and I get updates and pictures periodically via text (thank you technology!). I'm going up again in a little while to help April and to hold them. And play with them. I already love them.

3. Christmas is Coming

I love Christmas. It is seriously the best time of the year. It makes me so happy. I have loved shopping for Jess this year. It is so fun to pick out things that I know he will love. And we just bought our tree tonight. A real one. It is my first real tree and I love it. It smells amazing. We haven't decorated it yet, but that will HOPEFULLY come tomorrow. And when it happens, I will post pictures. No worries. However, we are going light on our decor this year - sadly. But the day after Christmas sales are too good to buy everything now. So I must wait. But next year...it will be AMAZING. Just you wait.