GNO. Girl's Night Out.

Last night we celebrated Stacey, my sister-in-law's, birthday.  We had a delicious dinner at Guru's, got pedicures, and went out for gelato.
Sorry in advance for all the feet pics.  I know, feet are gross.

At Acadia

Emmali getting her toes done.

Pushing back my cuticles and cutting them off.

Soaking my feet in lotion or conditioner stuff.

Getting a leg massage.

Finishing up with the paint.

Tada!  My purple toenails with my free flip flops haha.

At Gloria's just after eating gelato.

It was my first time getting a pedicure, and it felt nice to be pampered!

Trials in Marriage

I've been thinking a lot about marriage and how many people, including newly married friends we've had in our student married ward, get divorced. There are many things that can cause this to happen, but they all come about because of trials.  And I think Satan is trying his hardest to make sure that these trials break marriages and families apart.

Let's face it.  All marriages have trials, whether they be great or small.  Robert and I have definitely had our share in the past *almost* two years of marriage, both small trials and a big one.  Before I even met Robert or started dating him, I would think about my future husband.  A lot of the things I thought about were what ifs.

What if I married someone that I argued with a lot?
What if I married someone and we never could agree on any decision?
What if I married someone and they decided to leave the church?
What if I married someone and we just drifted apart?
What if I married someone and we could never have children?
What if I married someone who was abusive?
What if I married someone with an addiction?
What if I married someone who would leave me for some other girl? 

I kept thinking of these things, but then I started dating Robert seriously and then we got married, and I decided those questions weren't important.  The important question is What will I do when those trials come?  Because they will.  The trials might not even be huge, but each couple will experience them.

To be honest, I had no clue what I would do.  I didn't have an answer to how I would react when trials came.  I have learned a lot about myself as trials have come along in my marriage, and I am proud to say that I have an answer to my question What will I do when those trials come?  How will I react?  And my answer is: I sure as heck am not going to sit on my butt and hand my marriage over to Satan.  I am going to do whatever it takes to stay with the man I chose for time and all eternity.  Of course there are extreme circumstances where the only thing to keep you physically and emotionally safe is to get a divorce, but other than that, work and fight for your marriage!  The only person, other than your spouse and yourself, that can help you fight for your marriage is God.  Marriage is a three-way relationship, and if you have God in your marriage, it will not fail.

I have found that the trials in my marriage bring me closer to Robert (except for the trial of not agreeing on baby names.  Haha just kidding).  Trials bring me closer to Robert in ways that would not have happened otherwise.  Trials make or break you.  Trials make or break your marriage.  Let them make you.  Let them make you grow as an individual.  Let them make you grow closer to your spouse.  Let them build your marriage into something beautiful.

The 24th Birthday Weekend.

Robert turned 24 this weekend!  His birthday was Saturday, but we celebrated all weekend long, starting on Friday.  On Friday we stopped by Scheel's to check it out.  We didn't find Nemo, but we found Dory.

 Also on Friday after Robert had work, we went golfing with his family.  It was the first time I went real golfing (aka not mini golfing).  Let's just say I will probably never do that again hahahaha.

But I am surprised at how sore I was the next day.  Especially my abs.  Probably from turning and swinging my body.  I was probably doing it wrong haha.

The next day, Robert and I went to the store to pick him out some new socks for his present.  We also found a dress shirt for $10!  What a bargain!  Later that evening, we had hamburgers, and then we headed over to the BYU-Utah game.

Emmali made him a birthday crown.

Sad because BYU didn't play very good.

Robert all tuckered out from a super long day.  What a cute sleeper.  Hehe.

On Sunday we went to my family's house and had homemade pizzas.  They were delish!  We also went to my grandparent's house to play some games.  Later that night when we went to pick up Robert's brother, Thomas, we had some cake and ice cream (we didn't get to eat it the night before because we had to hurry to get in line at the BYU game).

Robert leading us in the birthday song.

Don't mind his blurry face... he went to blow the candles out too fast.

After a weekend of play (and a little bit of homework), it's back to school :(  I seriously can't wait to be done with the school thing.  Only 3 more semesters to go (hopefully)!!!

Halloween Crafts

Hallow's Eve is almost upon us (okay, kinda but not really) and here are the cute crafts Emmali and I did last night:

My "Spooky" block letters.

Emmali's cute lil' witch.

So fun.  Can't wait to put my decoration up in my apartment!  I might wait a little while though... it seems a little too early for Halloween decorations.  I mean, school just barely started!

#tbt 2

Back to when I  hiked Angel's Landing and found a bent tree.

Cyclops sunglasses at Claire's.

When I was crazy in Young Women's.  Chocolate staches.

And more craziness in Young Women's.  Giving awesome make-overs.

 Happy Thursday!  It's almost Friday!

Carmelitas

My boss introduced me to carmelitas.  They ooze with caramel, and they are crumbly with oats and brown sugar.  So good!!!! They're super unhealthy, but you might as well indulge yourself in this once in a while. I thought I'd share this recipe because everyone needs to make them!

Ingredients:
32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.
**If you want to use homemade or store-bought caramel sauce in place of the caramel/cream mixture, use 1 1/4 cups of sauce.
***To make a 9x13" version, simply double the amount.

Oh, and she said her sister said she got this off of Lulu the Baker's blog (just citing my sources so I don't get in trouble for plagiarizing haha).

Yeah, not the best picture to capture the deliciousness, but just take my word for it.  Okay?  Okay.

Simply U

For Christmas my parents bought Robert and I a few essential items, which included shampoo and conditioner by Simply U.  This brand makes their shampoos and conditioners safe to use for hair, leaving out sulfate and paraben (those two things damage hair).  We still had shampoo and conditioner to use at the time, so I haven't started using it until about 2 weeks ago.  At first I didn't think it would make a difference to my hair.  I was just using the Organix Coconut Milk shampoo and conditioner (sulfate free), and that stuff wasn't doing anything to my hair (at least that was noticeable).  So I thought the Simply U stuff was just another brand of shampoo and conditioner that claimed to make your hair moisturized and soft when in reality it didn't do squat.  On top of that, the shampoo and conditioner smells gross.  They literally smell like bathroom cleaners, especially the conditioner.  But after 2ish weeks of using this stuff, my hair has gotten the softest it has ever been!  I wash my hair every other day or every other two days, and one time I noticed after not washing my hair for two days that it was still super soft when I got it wet to wash again.  And it has been noticeably less frizzy (still ugly wavy but less frizzy).  Luckily my heat protector smells divine (I posted about this a while back) and covers up the bathroom cleaner smell.  I looked on Walmart's website to see how much this stuff costs and I was surprised at how inexpensive it is.  Especially for the sizes of the bottles.  They are about $6 each!  And I think they come in like 24 oz. bottles.  My Organix ones I bought were in small 13 oz. (okay it doesn't sound small, but they definitely look small) were $8 each!  So I will definitely be buying this stuff in the future.  I also noticed that the shampoos and conditioners now include keratin (which does a lot of things to help hair), so I will buy that kind once I run out of my current stuff (hopefully they improved the smell.  But oh well if they didn't haha).  If you can get past the smell of the shampoo and conditioner, I would highly recommend this for your hair!