Lately...

Quick update on what is new with us:
-We are both going back to school, finally having pinned down which degrees we want to pursue. Alex is going for his bachelor's in psychology, and mine will be a computer technology degree with an emphasis in visual technology (basically graphic design).
-The holidays were wonderful - lots of time with family and friends. Alex participated in a Biggest Loser competition at my work so he did not enjoy any holiday food. I was awestruck at his restraint as he sat back and watched while we all gorged, and he happily sipped on his lemon/pepper water. Yuck. But he won the competition by losing 32 pounds. I am so proud! (P.S. who knew he had 30 lbs to lose?! When he told me that was his goal I was pretty sure he would have shrunk to mere bones by losing that much).
-We did get a new puppy. We are both sad and relieved to still think of Norman every day. In no way is Otis the "replacement", just a little brother. Having a brand new puppy is crazy and we find ourselves wanting to punch stuff sometimes, but then he looks up at us with his little teddy bear face and we melt. Until he pees on the floor...again.
-We still are teaching the 12-13 year olds at church, and they are so wonderful. We love being the cool teachers, and really all it takes is Alex making Yoda jokes and bringing treats every week. I wish it was that easy to make everyone in life like you.
-Work is great for both of us. Alex was awarded "Employee of the Month" for January at Rise, and it is no surprise. Everyone loves him at both of his jobs and he continues to excel in his line of work. I love the signage/marketing business and I think I will be in it for quite a while. I am excited to be pursuing a degree that can only help me advance at my current job, but also leave the opportunity to work from home, if possible, in the future.
-The house is slowly coming along, one room at a time. The kitchen is almost completed - the goal was this weekend, but that's not going to happen. It will be 80%, but I'm still excited about it. We'll get it to look how we want... by the time we are ready to buy a new house.
-Life is good, great, grand, and wonderful. We couldn't ask for better people in our lives, better jobs, or happier times together.

Until next time! Which will hopefully not be another 3 months...

Norman D. Theobald

On December 27th, 2011 we said goodbye to our furry bestie, Norman. We only had Norman for a short while, but he had become more a part of our family than I even thought possible. We adopted him from a family where he had obviously been abused and it took him a while to trust us, but that made us love him more. And I do believe it made him love us more when he did learn to trust us. He was the best dog ever. He was fun, snuggly, loyal, well-trained, unbelievably smart, and endearingly neurotic. We were constantly amazed at how intuitive he was and always grateful for his incredible behavior. We couldn't understand how anyone could ever even be angry with him.
Although my heart still aches for him, I am so glad that he got to be with a family who loved him unconditionally. We expressed our love and gratitude for him every day and I'm so glad for that.

We love you, Norman.

I'm Back

Recently I was scolded for not updating my blog, so here you go. I will not try to re-cap the last 3 months because... well, I have a really terrible memory and probably can't even remember most of it.
But pictures are always fun, so these are for you. The company I work for took all the employees AND their families on a cruise a few weeks ago. (Yes, you do work at the wrong place. I have the best job ever.) It was a blast and a fun little mini-vacation for Alex and me. I really am in love with vacations that just sneak up on me and require no planning on my part. And the love-odometer multiplies by a gajillion when it's free. In fact, I think we made money on the trip because I got paid for the week on top of it. (Yes, your bosses are nowhere close to as cool as mine.)

Catalina Island - of course we go to the playground.




Ensenada... the famous "blowhole". Really, it's not all that exciting, but kind of a cool phenomenon to witness (once). We were way more excited about the plateful of delectable tacos.



I am so grateful to work for awesome people who take care of their employees. And I know I said I wouldn't re-cap, but now that I'm writing I'm being flooded with things I'd like to tell you about. So I probably will.

Bathroom is DONE!!

After 11 long months of procrastination and busy-ness at least one room in our house is done! All I can say is that having a deadline makes all the difference. Enjoy!!

BEFORE


AFTER






One of the best parts about this project, aside from the fact that I am in love with it, is that the whole thing cost about $125! WOOT! I wish I could do all the rooms in my house for that much.

Randomies

Today my alarm went off and I didn't feel well. So I decided to treat myself with a day off work. Slept in until 10:30, had some food, and then went.... what do I do now??? I am so unimaginative when it comes to days off. Most of the time I just end up going to work in the afternoon because I get bored. Not today! Sticking it out this time. I have watched an episode of Prison Break, played with my dog, crafted, moseyed around the house and looked for interesting things on the internet. I know you're jealous.

I am Mtn Dew sober for almost two whole days. It feels good, peeps. Yesterday was a killer, but today has been better. Possibly simply because I slept for 12+ hours so didn't need the caffeine. Pray for me tomorrow.

I really need to stop reading feminist slash so-called "blind obedient Mormon" literature. It just really gets my blood boiling. But then I just feel grateful that I don't have those challenges of faith in my life. But mostly my blood boils.

On a related note, I am super bummed the temple is closed this week and next. We've been going often lately and when it is closed I sort of feel a void.

On a completely unrelated note - I hate it when people say "unrelentless". Or cannot possibly spell the word "definitely". Or just don't take the time to use spell check when they are posting something for everyone to see.

We had a delightful evening with Alex's grandma last night which included a 5-course "supper" :) and Indiana Jones.

The End.

More Musings on Faith

I feel like I'm getting closer to understanding what this whole faith thing is all about :) Thank you so much for all your comments, I loved them all! But I CAN'T stop thinking about blind obedience vs faith. It's all I could think of in the temple on Friday, and all I thought about all day in church. And I keep bugging everyone I know to talk to me about it, because, well... I'm a girl and that's how we figure things out!

I think the thing that has been agitating me the most is that I, for the life of me, cannot understand what people view as blind obedience. I keep running circles in my head when I think about it. It goes something like this:

"Ok, so blind obedience means that we just obey, not really knowing why. BUT - I know in my experience that even when I start out obeying a law/principle without having a testimony of it, once I start living it, it's quite impossible for me to avoid gaining a testimony of it. So, it may be blind obedience in the beginning, but it turns into something else.."

OR

"Blind obedience means that we just accept things without questioning them or studying it out. BUT - how does that coincide with having a "child-like" faith? Should people be condemned (or called a B.O.ite) simply because they don't NEED to study things out? 1 Cor 12:8-10 lists "gifts of the spirit" - one of which is faith. I think all of us know at least one person who "just knows" things. Their gift of the spirit is faith. They don't need to study it out, they don't need to figure it out logically to know of a surety that it is true. That's just simple and pure faith, right? Not blind obedience..."

So - does blind obedience even exist?? Because of the simple act of OBEYING, is that not a show of FAITH?

The latest conclusion that I have come to is that blind obedience has simply to do with intention. If you really and truly, down to your core, do something JUST because you are told. You have no intention of receiving a blessing from it, you do not ever take the time to see how it is helping you in your life, you never even give the act a second thought past just doing it. This has been hard for me to think about, because I've never known anyone in my life who acts like this.
However, this cannot be the basis of judgement for being blindly obedient, because no other person on the planet has the ability to know your intentions besides you.

*sigh* I'm feeling pretty good about this conclusion, feeling finally a little peace about understanding at least what people mean by blind obedience (even if I don't agree with the unjust label), and then I pick up page 1 of Lectures on Faith:

"If men were to...turn their thoughts and reflections to the operations of their own minds, they would readily discover that it is FAITH, AND FAITH ONLY, which is the moving cause of ALL action in them."

Whoa.
Tell me what this says to you. Please. Because to me it says that ANYTIME we are EVER moved to action, it is because of faith. Therefore, blind obedience does not exist. (?) Do you interpret it differently? I'd LOVE to hear your thoughts! I am learning so much about this topic, and about myself, and I really appreciate you helping me :)

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I. Love. Baking.
Even after a super long day when I'm really tired, I have so much fun baking. I don't know if this will be interesting to anyone, at all, BUT I had fun doing it so I wanted to share this recipe and the photos I took while making these awesome cupcakes!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour - sift it before you measure it.
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring (two bottles) (this is a lot of coloring, but it’s worth it! The color is gorgeous!!)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside. (I love this part :) Put the cocoa in the bowl first, and watch how cool it is when you pour the coloring over it!)

In a large bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, about two minutes.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla (my Mexican vanilla! This souvenir is alone worth the trip!) and the red cocoa paste, scraping down the bowl with a spatula as you go.
Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bowl with a spatula.

In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. Be careful - it will fizz up. (I tried to get a good picture of the fizz - it didn't work. Also, I used WAY too gigantic of a bowl for this. Don't be dumb like me.)

Add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Using an ice cream scoop, fill cupcake cups with cake batter (they should be 3/4 full).
Place muffin tins on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately 20-22 minutes, rotating pans halfway through. (I like to clean up my kitchen during the baking. RESIST the temptation to sit down! Because there is nothing as awesome as fresh baked goods AND a clean kitchen, at the same time!)
Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Check early and don't overbake. (Mine only took 18-19 minutes)

Cool the cupcakes in their tins on a wire rack for 10 minutes then remove and allow to cool completely before frosting. Frost cupcakes with cream cheese icing - recipe below.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese (2 packages), softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter (one stick), softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

With an electric mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered, until ready to use. If refrigerated, the frosting will need to be brought to room temperature before using (after frosting softens up, beat with mixer until smooth)

There you go, hope you love the recipe like I do - it's one of my favorites.

Random tidbit from the day: our super duper cute dog, Norman LOVES scratches/rubs. Sometimes when you won't rub him, he'll go down to your feet and push himself up against them to get you to scratch him with your feet. Today he went down by my foot, stood underneath it and for several seconds moved his butt back and forth, scratching himself on it. I died. I am basically in love with that dog.
Also - best music from the 2-hour kitchen dance party: Ke$ha, Will Smith and Da Dip by...who knows? Also, Linda Eder once things started to slow down. If you've never heard her, prepare for an awesomeness comparable to a kick in the face. An awesome kick. (You can skip to 2:00 if you don't want to listen to the whole song. And you will still be kicked.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWP7l0OTXJI