Saturday, November 29, 2014

EFY Medley

I went to EFY at Brigham Young University twice, when I was 14 and 15 years old. In case you have never heard of it,  EFY stands for Especially For Youth and it is week long LDS camp for youth that takes place in the summer. While you are there you get to hear lectures from amazing people like John Bytheway and Sheri Dew. You meet thousands of youth of the church and share in wonderful spiritual experiences. You also have a ton of fun and do crazy things outside of your comfort zone that you never thought you would. You also are assigned to a family with a female leader and a male leader that are usually college students. They are like your mom and dad on the journey and then you have a group of 20 or so guys and girls your same age that literally become like family over the  course of a week. It is really weird how it happens, but it really does happen. At the end of this utterly magnificent week you go on pretend missions and they split up your family. The guys are cut off from the girls and you really start to miss each other that day. Then for the final devotional that night everyone meets up and you sing The EFY Medley. 

This is by far one of the most spiritual experiences I have ever had in my life. I saw this video circulating Facebook tonight and all of those memories from more than ten years ago came rushing back. To this day this song fills me with joy and brings peace to my soul. I can't help but tear up at its beauty and simple message. It tells of  youth unifying together to come unto Christ. There is a certain undeniable power in the words. If you have never had the chance to sing this song in a room full of thousands of your peers, I pray that one day you will get that chance, there really is nothing quite like it. 

To find out more about what I believe please visit lds.org

Monday, October 20, 2014

World Travelers (just kidding)

For our third anniversary Justin and I went on a mini family vay-cay to Mesquite, Nevada. My grandparents were able to get us some free rooms at the Casablanca so that was really fun to stay at a nice hotel and swim in the seriously fabulous pool. My grandparents, who live in Beaver Dam, were kind enough to babysit Little Man for us and we went to the Little Mermaid at the Tuacahn. It was amazingly awesome, as all shows at the Tuacahn are! (Next year they are doing Beauty and the Beast! *gasp - Excitement!)We were only down there for three days, and it was kind of a long drive for Little Man, but we had a blast. I mean, how can you not in 90 degree weather am I right?! We spent two days at my parents house in Fruit Heights, one night before and one night after. And it is always fun for me to return to my roots (and my mom's cooking). Have you been to Station Park in Farmington? It is is FAB-U-LOUS guys! But like really. Better than City Creek and Gateway combined! And only two minutes away from Mom and Dad's house. I'm in LOVE!















The day after we got home we went to meet the boys in my family in Idaho at the annual Deer Camp, which is a BIG DEAL every year. Leland and I just went up for the day and it was fun to hang out with extended family members, sit around the campfire, have some good camping food, and be in some of God's most beautiful nature. Sadly I didn't even think about taking pictures there, I wish I would have. The only bummer part of this day trip was that Leland got his first bee, well wasp, sting. That sure can break a mama's heart! I hate when my baby is in pain and I can't do anything about it, it sucks hardcore!

This last weekend I spent in Bear Lake with Leland, my mom, and my older sister. We drove up Friday night and came home on Monday. It was a very relaxing sort of weekend eating junk food, watching movies, laying out in the sun, and playing on the beach. We saw deer on our property up there and that was pretty cool too. We couldn't have asked for better weather, I swear it was warmer than September and August!









So today I am home and it's back to the daily grind. Did I mention I got a part time job? Turns out we could really use a little extra doe so I found a job cleaning offices two nights a week. It is about 2 to 3 hours a night and you can go in whenever you want after six, so it seems like the perfect job for a stay at home mom like myself. So anyway, this week I work two nights, have two Usborne book parties scheduled, am in charge of my first activity days (church calling), and am working a booth for Usborne for a few hours- and there is talk about going to the Pumpkin Walk too- so wow. It's gonna be a freaking busy week I tell you what!

To end this post I would just like to tell you all how I am completely and hopelessly in love with the month of October, but if you follow me on Instagram you already know that with my endless hashtags of #octoberisthebestmonth. We are having the perfect weather, all of the trees in Cache Valley are full of yellows, oranges, and reds, my house is decorated from top to bottom in pumpkins, witches, ghosts, and skeletons, we've been drinking apple cider by the gallons (literally) and Halloween...(HALLOWEEN guys!) is just around the corner! HOORAY for OCTOBER! I just wish it wasn't going so fast. I think that in God's infinite wisdom, he knew how important of a month October would be, so that's why he gave us 31 days of it. Thank you God. Thank you for this beautiful month.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

A Splendind Weekend!

For Justin's birthday, clear back in April, I bought him tickets to see Blake Shelton's "Ten Times Crazier Tour' at the Usanna Amphitheater in Salt Lake City. The concert was this last Friday, and oh my! It was a total blast! Before the concert we had dinner at Red Robin.... yummmm. Love that place. We had great service and great food. I had never been to a concert like that before and I honestly had no idea how many people were going to be there, especially crazy drunk people! We really did have a riot. By some weird luck though we kind of ended up surrounded by old people! And you know old people, always good for a story!

The older couple sitting in front of us, I would say probably in their seventies, were hilarious. They were just dancing and rocking out to every song. And during the first love song, the old guy reaches around and pinches his wife's bottom. Justin and I were dying, it was pretty funny. Gotta keep that romance alive right? It was pretty cute- I hope me and Justin are still that "hot" for each other when we are that old haha.

The couple sitting next to us (late sixties I'd guess) were not as fun however. The guy definitely had a potty mouth and he was most definitely NOT a fan of this type of concert. He was very, and I mean VERY upset that he "paid for a GD seat so that I could F-bomb sit in it! That's why I am not on the D grass! Why the H is everyone standing up? Why pay for a GD seat if your not going to GD sit in it?!" It was colorful to say the least. After complaining to everyone around him, and asking the people in front of him to sit down (which didn't last long because then they couldn't see) he and his wife left. I felt bad that it was wasted money and wasted seats, but honestly, what did you expect at a concert of this sort?

Anywho... back to the concert. It was AMAZING! Neil McCoy and The Band Perry were the opening acts for Blake and they were awesome. I fell in love with TBP! They really know how to rock it and they are adorable and funny and I would definitely love to see them in concert again! Blake Shelton was everything you would expect Blake Shelton to be. He called Adam Levine a douche, talked about boobies, embarrassed a young couple on screen, and was of course drinking the entire time. In other words, he was frickin' hilarious! I was surprised at how many older songs he sang, and was even more surprised that I knew all of them. It did rain on us for a while but fortunately it was bearable and didn't last too long. Unfortunately I didn't plan very well and forgot a camera and wasted my phone's battery with GPS. We did manage to get a couple of pictures before our phones died but they aren't the greatest quality.








After the concert we kind of chilled in the parking lot for an hour to let some of the traffic die down. There were people partying and drinking it up in the cars all around us and two cars down a guy dropped his pants right then and there and relieved himself. He was shocked to find the car next to him full of girls and somehow managed to apologize profusely for exposing himself at the same time as shamelessly flirting with them. It was an incredibly awkward and hilarious situation to watch. We finally got out of there and didn't get back to our hotel until after one in the morning. 

So Justin's birthday was the concert and for my birthday we decided to make a weekend of it and get a hotel in SLC and spend the next day in the city. On Saturday morning we slept in, packed up, and hit up Denny's for breakfast. I had heard about a church history display going on at the Church History Library, so we decided to check that out. WOW! I don't really consider myself a history buff, but I really do love church history, so I found this display completely incredible! Some of the things on display are:
Joseph Smith's personal journal
A first edition of the Book of Mormon
A page from the Book of Mormon manuscript that was hand written by Oliver Cowdery
Wilford Woodruff's journal
Handwritten notes from the Relief Society's first meeting
Handwritten notes from the Primary's first meeting
A letter Joseph Smith wrote from Liberty Jail
A first edition of the Hymn book
And lots more!
It was incredible to see these items close up. They are of course in a display case but seeing them like that made it all so real for me. Joseph Smith is probably my very favorite prophet and I love learning about him and about the lives of the early saints. This was such an incredible display and you can feel the spirit so strongly being so close to these things. I would highly encourage everyone to go and check it out, but I think the display closes in October sometime so you gotta hurry!


After the Church History Library we made our way to Famous Footwear (did you know the one in Logan closed?) and the whole family got new shoes. I had to exchange some shoes I got for my birthday. Justin needed new work shoes, and Leland needed new church shoes. Shoe shopping is fun isn't it? I HATE shopping for clothes but I LOVE shopping for shoes. Shoes is definitely my favorite accessory which is weird because usually you can find me in flip flops.... weird... I know. Anyway, after our shoe shopping extravaganza we headed to my aunt's house to pick up Leland (thanks for taking such good care of him guys, he had a blast and was definitely spoiled!). We stopped in at my parents house and they ordered pizza and we ended up watching Dirty Dancing with my mom. After the movie we headed back to Cache Valley.... awwww. Home. 

So on Monday we went apple picking with my MIL and FIL. I feel deprived that I have never done this before. I thought it was going to be boring work but we actually ended up having a lot of fun. Leleand LOVED "helping" us. He loved the dirt and sticks and the throwing of the apples. We got caught in the rain but it presented us with a double rainbow which was utterly stunning. We picked a LOT of apples and then went home and got hamburgers and watched DWTS. 






It was a grand sort of weekend really. Concert, church history, new shoes, family, food, and apple picking. Life is pretty good. 

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

A New Adventure Awaits!

I am so excited about a new adventure I am pursuing. Have you ever heard of Usborne books? I had seen booths they had at local fairs and shows for a number of years and every time I stop to chat, and I always do, because hello?!....BOOKS! I always walk away thinking to myself, "I should sell Usborne. I think I would like that." But then that little voice of self doubt creeps in and tells me I can't do it so I move on with my life and forget about it. This last Christmas my MIL bought Leland an Usborne book and let me tell ya, he LOVES this book! It is by far his favorite book on his shelf, and being my son, he already has quite the library for a one year old. He carries this book around with him like a security blanket. I read it to him multiple times a day, over and over again. I have seen him sit down with Aunt Cassie and read this book for over an hour! Think about your own kids with their books. Have they ever been entertained by one book for an hour? This is how amazing they are!

So when the Cache County Fair pulled into town I of course bee-lined it to the Usborne booth. After a short conversation I ignored my self doubting little monster and decided to take the plunge once and for all. I am now an official Usborne Books and More consultant. I have my consultant kit (which was AMAZING by the way), I have had my first party, and I have more parties booked already. I am pumped for this adventure.

And now for a little FYI:
- If you book a party with me I can give you DOUBLE free books! You earn FREE books just by having a party with your friends!

-You can shop from me anytime you want to from the comfort of your own home! My website is:
D4538.myubam.com 

-These books are very interactive, educational, fun, and come with a warranty!

-For my friends who live out of state you can have a facebook party!

Starting something new like this is really terrifying for me. As most of you know I am a shy, quiet, introvert kind of person. It takes a while for me to open up to people so starting a business like this is a huge stretch for me. I really hope it helps me grow and become more confident in myself and more outgoing with other people. I am scared. I am excited. I am nervous. I am thrilled.

I AM READY TO HELP PROMOTE LITERACY TO THE WORLD!

If you would like to help me out, you can first and foremost like my facebook page:
facebook.com/kristiubam

You can host a party

You can buy from me

And mostly, you can get others to do the same!

Thank you in advance for all of your love and support! I believe in these books or else I wouldn't be doing this. I know that our children's education is going downhill and I know that these books can help in that fight.

And some food for thought:
Books make great gifts for--
-Christmas
-Baby Showers
-Birthdays
-Special Occasions
-New Learning Experiences (ex: potty training, going to the dentist, learning to read, etc)

If you made it to the end of this, thanks for reading! You're the best!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Sweet Reunion

Have you ever had friends that you meet in your life and you just know instantly that this is a lifelong friendship kind of thing? I have a few of those friends, most of which are former roommates. I had over 30 roommates before I got married. Some of them were amazing. Some of them were rude and annoying. A handful of them were bat shit crazy. But my best roommate group would have to be when I lived in Highlander just off of campus. We had an instant connection. We got along great. We just clicked. It has been four years since living in that apartment and I am so happy to say that we are ALL still friends! Some of us have graduated, some of us have moved away, some of us have gotten married and started families of our own. But tonight, after more than a year of not seeing one another, we met up and had a roommate reunion. And it was fabulous. It was like we had never been apart. These girls, well, I just love em I tell ya! We talk about the deep stuff and the silly stuff and the stuff that makes us laugh so hard we cry. We have seriously different personalities and it makes it so absolutely wonderful. It really is amazing how well we get along. We might not see each other as often as we would like, but I just know that this is a group that will last forever.

Kind of sappy post, I know. But having good friends like these means the world to me! Every good mom and wife need a good entourage of girlfriends to back her up! Here is mine:


Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Our Summer in Review

I haven't blogged all summer long, and lots has been going on. We had a great summer! We had trips to Panguitch Lake, Fish Lake, and Bear Lake (obviously we are lake people). We had a great Independence Day and Pioneer Day with all of the usual patriotic goings on. We celebrated Leland's first birthday with a teddy bear picnic. I celebrated my 27'th birthday at the end of summer and Justin celebrated his 29'th birthday at the beginning of it. We took Leland to Willow Park Zoo for the first time and he absolutely loved it, he liked the foxes and the ducks the best. We had a successful garage sale and went to many of them all summer long, cause you know, that's our thing. We played with friends and family, had BBQ's, soaked up some sun, enjoyed fresh veggies from our garden, and just so many little adventures it's hard to keep track of them all. Summer was good to us.

I am in no way ready for it to be over, I don't feel like I quite got enough Bear Lake hours in (but then again I never do), but I do love fall. Fall means HALLOWEEN! Oh my goodness gracious I do love me some Halloween! And I love the changing leaves, our anniversary, General Conference, the pumpkin walk, corn mazes, and all that jazz. Yes, there is a lot to look forward to in the fall. So goodbye summer. See you next year my dearest of friends. Hello fall. And welcome.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Hardships and Blessings

Tough week.

On Sunday Leland was playing with our dog Zorro and I guess he pulled his fur too hard because Zorro bit Leland on the forehead. The bite drew blood and left a hole in my babies head. To say that I was super pissed at my dog is a HUGE understatement. I went all 'crazy momma' on him cause "aint no body no where gonna hurt my babes!".  I had to make a really, really, hard decision after that- Zorro had to go. I can't have that risk in my home, I just can't. Leland's home should always be a safe place for him to be. So even though it broke my heart into literally a million pieces, I put Zorro up for adoption on some internet classifieds. Within five minutes of the ad going up I got a response from a lady who lives in Preston. She told me that they were on their way to see Zorro- within the hour he was gone.

And I cried. A lot.

Even as I write this blog post tears are filling my eyes. That was honestly one of the hardest things that I have ever had to do. I loved my dog. He was my constant companion and I already feel this huge void in the house from his absence. Today my door bell rang and barking did not follow. Weird. There is no jingling of a collar. No little bum wagging its tail. No furry friend in my bed at night. I walk in the door and there is no happy little guy there to greet me. I didn't realize how much he was a part of my life, my every day routine, until he was gone. My house is a lot quieter. I don't really like it. It is definitely a hard pill to swallow. I miss my pups- he was part of the family.

And just because it was the right thing to do, doesn't make it any easier. Bleh. It just really, really sucked.



So anyway, I need to end this blog on a happy note. We have had people asking us how we are doing financially since we dropped down to one income. Justin and I have had lengthy conversations over the last few weeks about finances. Want to hear something crazy cool?! We are making it! Granted, money is tight and we aren't being frivolous whatsoever, but miraculously, we are surviving. I felt God's hand in our lives so much lately. We haven't always been faithful tithe payers, I hate to admit that, but its true. So when I left my job I made it a point to pay tithing the Sunday after every paycheck. I haven't missed it once and oh boy the blessings are rolling in! Tithing guys! It's awesome!! One night Justin said to me, "I don't understand how we are making it, Kristi. I really don't. I've done the math, our bills are more than my paychecks, but somehow, all of our bills are getting paid! How is that even possible?" I'll tell you how---- TITHING! Logically our financial situation doesn't make sense whatsoever- it just doesn't add up- but I knew God wanted me home and He blessed me for it. Sometimes I am appalled at my lack of faith when I realize that God has ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS taken care of me and given me what I needed. And we even found two gift cards to restaurants when we were deep cleaning- I guess they were Christmas presents that we forgot about? - so we even got to go on two dates- which I was worried we wouldn't be able to afford anymore. I mean, wow right?



And lastly, my friend posted a 100 happy days challenge on facebook that I really want to do and finish. You take a picture of something that makes you happy every single day for 100 days. I think it is a great idea and so invite you to do it with me! Here's the challenge if you want to learn a little more about it. 100happydays.com

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

We have ourselves a missionary in the family

My baby brother got his mission call today. Yay! He was called to the Brazil Curitiba Mission and leaves for the Brazil MTC on October 22. I am so proud of Brother for choosing to serve, even though I am going to miss him like crazy!! Congrats Zach. I am super happy for you.

Life is full of surprises

For the past two weeks bitter sweet feelings have been devouring my soul. You see, I am no longer working at the library, you know, that job I had that I mostly loved. I have so many mixed emotions about this change in my life. Things were definitely going downhill at work and I was missing so much of my son's life working there that it began to be a struggle to go to work everyday. I do miss my job. I miss some of my coworkers terribly. I miss having a life outside of the home.

But....

Oh how I love staying home too. I always said I would never be a stay at home mom but oh my goodness these last two weeks I feel like I have fallen in love with my kiddo all over again. The days I worked I was only able to see him three or four hours a day. Now I spend the entire day with him and already our relationship has grown. He may only be nine months old but I know for a fact that he loves his mommy and he loves when she is home with him!

But...

There were days I struggled too. Like on Monday when I didn't get out of my pajamas all day, because really, what was the point? Or last week when his top teeth were popping through and I wondered who exchanged my angel baby for a little monster. And how all of a sudden I go to bed every night more exhausted physically and emotionally than any day I worked at the library.

But... (are you sick of my buts yet?)
......
However...

My kitchen has never been cleaner. I have time for cleaning, laundry, yard work, walks, fetch with Zorro, and so many other things that I never really made a priority to fit into my hectic schedule as a working mom. I am so pumped that I get to go on all my mini vacations with my family this summer and don't have to pick and choose because I don't have enough vacation hours saved up. I don't have to plan family time around my days off. I have seen my mom more in the last two weeks than I had in the last two months. I am now faced with so much freedom! It's completely liberating.

Financially though, we are still trying to work things out and see if we can even afford this one income thing. I have been thinking that maybe even a part time job would be okay, one where I only have to work four hours a day. Ideally I would love a work from home type job, but really, who knows. My future is pretty uncertain right now - you can add that tally mark to the con side of my ongoing list of pros and cons of working vs. staying at home. I am not a big fan of uncertainty, but I can guarantee that this new stage of life came from God and is a lesson in faith to trust Him in all things. I am both grateful and scared for this test of faith. Already it has brought me closer to my Heavenly Father so when it's all over I am 100% sure that I will be completely grateful for this test.

Friday, May 2, 2014

Pay it Forward


The other day at the library I was helping a woman who had a $1.00 fine. She handed me a ten dollar bill and asked me if I would put the extra money towards someone’s fines that really needed it because they were struggling financially or what not. She said she hadn’t done any service for the day yet and so decided that this would be her service. I was very touched by this. It sounded like she tried to do something like this at least once a day. What a great way to live right? All that she asked was that I ask the person who received the money to pay it forward in some small act of service for someone else.

A little later on a new mom came in with her three small children and a newborn in her arms. She had a substantial fine (for the library anyway) and said that she hadn’t been able to bring the books back on time because she was on bed rest and maternity leave. I decided that this would be the perfect person to give the money to. When I told her that someone had paid for her fines she was shocked and seemed so incredibly grateful. I told her that her benefactor simply asked her to do some kind of service for someone else in return. The lady said that she most definitely would and thanked me profusely, though I didn’t do anything.

I know nine dollars doesn’t seem like a big deal, but it kind of was to me. And I’m sure it was to the woman who received it. It inspired her and all of the librarians to do something kind and pay it forward. I want to live like this generous woman. I may not have a lot of excess money, but I can do small things. She made me want to pay it forward, and I hope this story makes you want to too! 

Sunday, April 20, 2014

Easter Day!


Leland got the flu on Thursday. Justin got it on Friday. And I got it on Saturday. I was kind of worried that Easter was going to be a bust this year, but it actually turned out to be a pretty good day. We woke up and found our baskets that the bunny had left us. That Easter Bunny sure does spoil us I tell you what! I let Leland chomp on his first chocolate bunny and he was in heaven- it was pretty much adorable. Grandma and  Grandpa Olsen had the entire family over for lunch and an Easter egg hunt and then we went to my in-laws and had a relaxing day snacking on candy and watching the movie HOP. For more pictures check out Facebook (I seriously took a million) but here is a small tid bit of our day. I hope you all had an amazing Easter! 











The Divine Calling of Motherhood

It's late. I need to be in bed right now, but the pull to write is stronger than the pull of my night time meds, so .... here I am. T...