Callings...

Blaine and I go to church at 2:30 PM - way late. So there are some pros and cons. If we want to be extremely irresponsible and stay up late watching 24 on Saturday night, we can sleep in. But then the whole day goes by super fast. Church ends at 5:30 PM, we eat dinner, and have to get ready for the upcoming week. When we first moved into the ward, Blaine immediately thought about football season. Games and church would happen around the same time. He knows which one we're choosing. But being the boy and sports fan that he is, he began to think of ways that we could avoid this. The best option he could find was attending a Spanish ward that started earlier. But to his relief, we just found out that church will start at 8:30 AM come fall semester. We'll be out by 11:30 AM (early kickoff) and Blaine's precious football season is saved (if there even is a football season...)

Anyway, there are some Sunday's that are great...like this last one. We woke up early. Blaine did his home-teaching while I did my visiting teaching. I finished a little earlier than he did and started making some chicken noodle soup for dinner. I was able to read the Ensign and a couple of chapters from The Infinite Atonement by Tad R. Callister (amazing book). It was relaxing and it really felt like a Christ-centered Sabbath day. Before church, our home teachers came over and taught us a great lesson on the blessings of tithing. My visiting teachers also came over after church.

I had to be at church a little earlier for an interview with Bishop Dorais. So I was really excited because I kinda feel weird when I don't have a calling. I kept on thinking of all the possibilities. To my surprise, I was called as the Relief Society chorister. Why is this surprising? Well, I've been a chorister a couple of times. In my home ward, I was the substitute chorister when our cute old lady chorister was sick. In my YSA branch, I was the branch chorister while my sister was the pianist (neat experience). I enjoy directing music. I know the basics. But that's it. I don't have an extensive knowledge of music. Unfortunately, I was not blessed with the greatest voice. Provo, and particularly my ward, is full of super musically talented individuals. So I guess my weakness will be made strong? Probably not. 

Nonetheless, I am really excited to serve and magnify this calling. I love the hymns and have a strong testimony of their importance and influence in my life. Hopefully, I'll be able to hit those notes and lead the lovely ladies of the Relief Society and learn more about the Lord's music along the way!

My Minky Quilt

This past weekend we visited Blaine's family in Idaho for Father's Day. We had a great time hearing the grandparents tell stories (as usual) and eating Aunt Jan's yummilicious food. We also had the privilege of hearing Aunt Jan and Lynn speak during sacrament. They both gave great talks on fatherhood and the important fathers and father figures in their lives.

Besides being with family, my favorite part of the trip was getting my minky quilt! Aunt Jan made this for me as a bridal shower present. And it was SO worth the wait. Since the first day I met Aunt Jan, I've always wanted a homemade quilt. She made one for Blaine and it's his absolute favorite. But she one-upped mine with minky. Minky is this super soft fabric that is relatively new. I picked out the colors and strips back in March when we visited. It matches my living room perfectly. I always like having a blanket or throw in the living room. It's perfect for when we watch a movie or want to take an afternoon nap without ruining the already-made bed. This one replaced our Redskins blanket. Thank goodness. Unless it's football season, there shouldn't be anything visible of the NFL in our home. Anyway, this quilt is HUGE. It can fit like 3 of me in there. My feet never stick out :) As short as I am, this still happens to me sometimes. I tried getting a picture of me holding it up but I can't hold it up high enough.

Blaine's mom made those state pillows for my birthday :)

I wish I lived closer to Aunt Jan. She is an expert seamstress, cook and homemaker. I really really want to learn how to sew but #1 I have no sewing machine, #2 I have no space for a sewing machine, and #3 I don't know how. Aunt Jan tries teaching me a little bit when I'm over but I need to be constantly practicing in order to get it right.

Anyway, this quilt is so awesome that, yes, it deserved it's own post. If you don't believe me, go to a store and feel some minky. You'll find yourself running your fingers across the fabric for a couple of minutes!

Turbo Kickboxing

So yesterday Blaine and I decided to go back to the gym after a crazy week of finals. With my new class and work schedule, I can't make many of the zumba classes that I usually go to. But I didn't want to let this discourage me. Instead, I went to this turbo kickboxing class. I've only done kickboxing a couple of times a number of years ago. I remember liking it a lot. The class started at 7:00 PM and by 7:15 PM, I was already dying . It felt good and bad. Let me explain myself...


It was lame that I felt like quitting so early on in the class! If I hadn't controlled my breathing, I probably would've passed out. And the even lamer part was that there were these old ladies and old men kickboxing without breaking a sweat! Eyeopener...if I want to look as good as them and be as healthy as them, I need to make working out an unbreakable habit in my life.


It felt great that I was taking on a challenge, that I was sweating like crazy and pushing myself. I didn't execute all of the moves as well as I wanted to, but I didn't stop! There were many times when I thought I was done and couldn't push myself any harder. This was a humbling experience since I kick booty in zumba. Zumba is great and a ton of fun, but it wasn't as challenging as it used to be. But anyway, it also felt wonderful (in the most non-masochistic way) to wake up extremely sore today. I haven't felt that in a while. 


The most memorable part of last night's class though, has to be in the last 10 minutes when we were cooling down. While we were doing our lunges, the instructor encouraged us to go into a split if we could. Well, #1 I was a dancer a very long time ago, #2 I was never really flexible - it was my greatest weakness in dance. But they were playing one of my currently favorite songs, I was pumped, a little confident, and I felt that I could at least try my left split (although I'm a righty I've always been better with my left split). And WOW! I was horrible! It was so so horrible! Besides the fact that it was physically painful, the feeling of knowing that  you once had a perfect split and now don't was even more painful. So one of my goals is to work on my flexibility. And this is not going to happen with a couple of minutes of stretching in these classes. So I'll be doing some stretches in the morning and right before bed. 


Also, turbo kickboxing is a little different from regular kickboxing. It is more inspired by dance and tai chi. Kickboxing is more martial arts oriented. The instructor sets up the class into intervals of regular kickboxing and then turbo kickboxing. Turbo kickboxing is basically a crazy, intense, non-stop, high intensity session of kickboxing. So when I hear "we're going turbo!"...I brace myself. 


All in all, I had a great time yesterday. I'm usually not very enthusiastic to do something that I'm not great at. It makes me feel stupid. That's why I sometimes stay in my safe harbor of zumba. But it really felt good to do something different! Unfortunately, I can't make it to turbo kickboxing today. But I'm going to try a hip hop class which I am sure is going to be a lot of fun. I shall re-encounter turbo kickboxing Wednesday at 6:00 AM...

Provident Living + Emergency Preparedness

Recently, I've been feeling prompted to work on this area in our family. We've been speaking about welfare a lot in church, especially after General Conference. The Relief Society lesson yesterday was about being able to help others. The main point of the whole lesson was that we cannot help others if we're not self-reliant and prepared! I realized that that's what we're here for. We become more and more Christ-like as we help others! (Mosiah 2:17)


As a young, 2-person family, it is easy to think that we do not need food storage, a 120-hour kit, an emergency plan, etc. I guess since it's just 2 of us we don't see the need to plan. I don't know. An idea that keeps me from having food storage is that we don't have enough space or that we're not planning on being in this apartment for too long...why start? Another thing that keeps me from being prepared is thinking that nothing will happen to me. And if it does, sometimes I think that the items in a 72-hour kit won't really help (how foolish is that). It seems that I'm lacking some faith in this area. But I know that this is something that I need to do!


Lately there have been a ton of floods in Utah. Before going to Steamboat Springs, the valley was in a flood watch. Our apartment is on the first floor. Imagine if Provo flooded! Yikes! My first semester at BYU, there was a huge emphasis on 72-hour kits. This was a little strange to me. When I thought of 72-hour kits, I thought of hurricanes. I was so naive to think that 72-hour kits were only important to those living in hurricane-prone areas. We had FHE activities where we put some kits together. We also had a random "flood" evacuation practice. We had to leave ASAP and only had 2 minutes to get our kits. I remember that my 72-hour kit wasn't complete and I was so unprepared! If it would've been a real flood, I would've been in big trouble. 


Since then, the church has counseled to plan for 5 days (120 hours) instead of 3 (72 hours). This made the task seem even more daunting. But it is one of my goals this summer to start doing something about this and have our 2 kits complete. On top of all these recent impressions, Blaine and I watched I am Legend yesterday. Wow, was I traumatized! I'll probably never be in a situation like that, but he was a food storage/emergency prep guru. So right after the movie, we went to Walmart and started buying food for our kits. Although we still have some work to do, it felt good to start!


If anybody has any tips or advice, please share! 


"if ye are prepared ye shall not fear." (D & C 38:30)

DIY Madness

So I am struggling with all of this DIY stuff. There are SO many ideas, SO many styles and SO little time. And in my case, SO little space. I always find awesome things to do, especially for the home, but I just can't do it all. Besides the fact that I'm a busy college kid, there are just too many ideas out there and if you get too crazy, your humble abode can get tacky real fast. That's a huge fear of mine.

For example, now that I have my first Cricut, I can make my own vinyls. I haven't made any yet but I'm already scared of going vinyl crazy. I have one that I bought in my bathroom and I love it. I want one in my kitchen and maybe a small one in my living room. But those two spaces are so close together, that I'm afraid there will be too many words on the walls. I like vinyls because they add color to white spaces (we can't paint our apartment). But I do not like stepping into a house and experiencing vinyl overload. Having a ton of words on the walls is so distracting! So anyway, I just have to be careful...

I have left over teacups and saucers from the centerpieces of my wedding. They're really pretty and super vintage. They're just taking up space and sitting on one of my kitchen shelves. I'll probably never use them. I've kept them because they're really nice and because you never know when they'd come in handy. My mom keeps everything and always finds a use for stuff. But they're kinda bugging me now. I only have so much space to just keep stuff around. I've thought about turning them into candles. But then again, as much as I love the vintage look, my house is currently on the modern side. So if I do that, there'd be a style clash. I'm thinking of gifting them but I don't know yet. I want to make so many things but sometimes you just have to pick and choose. I really do believe that simplicity is better than clutter and that less is more.

Also, sometimes I see people make something that isn't worth doing it yourself. Although I love the DIY concept, somethings are just better when they're bought! Like it's probably more expensive to make it yourself and more time consuming than if you just went ahead and bought it. Sometimes I get caught up in this phase too. I have to step back and analyze each project to see if it's even worth making. And there are other times where you do it just for fun - not because of the price. And that's cool too. But some of these women are just going crazy with the whole DIY and turning it into something more complicated than it really is. DIY projects should bring peace and simplicity into your life.

Anyway, if you ever see me going DIY crazy - please let me know. I don't think it's healthy :)

Hope you're having a good day!

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I found this recipe via Pinterest on this blog. I confess that I've never made any cake from scratch. But I really love cream cheese and I really love pound cake. So I couldn't let my fears get in the way of making this irresistible cream cheese pound cake. Also, all these blogs and cook shows always have their nice, huge, and brightly-colored Kitchen Aid Stand Mixers. Seeing that makes it a little intimidating for those of us who, unfortunately, do not own those wonderful mixing machines. But I decided that that was no excuse for our ancestors to not make things from scratch so it shouldn't be an excuse for me either! With my little handheld mixer (a Christmas present from my sister), I baked away.

And this was the result...

It doesn't look very impressive or pretty, but it's good. I'm focusing on learning how to make tasty food. Once I get that down, I'll work on the presentation :) 

I was really nervous because I wasn't just baking a cake for the first time but a pound cake. The whole hour and 40 minutes that it was in the oven, I was driving Blaine insane worrying..."is it going to come out good? If not, I'll have to get a Kitchen Aid mixer." Haha. Although I made some rookie mistakes here and there and improvised my sifting using an old steamer basket (I don't have a sifter!), it turned out delicious - not too sweet and very moist, fresh out of the oven. If you like pound cake or any cake period, this is a recipe you want to try! 

Weekend Update

This weekend has been a great one. It was pretty eventful. We went latin dancing on Friday night with some friends and went to The Roll Up, the new crepe place, for a late night dessert. I love that place and highly recommend it! The best part is that it's open till 1 AM everyday (closed on Sundays).

Anyway, Saturday was an even better day. We woke up and played 9 holes of golf together at East Bay. This was my first time playing with Blaine since I began my golf class. He said that if I beat him in one hole, he would buy me this cute thing. Unfortunately, I am not that good (yet). But we will be playing at least once a week, so I still have a chance of beating him! We had a lot of fun. Golf is definitely a challenging sport but I enjoy it, especially since it's something I can do with Blaine.

We ate lunch at Sammy's for the first time. We will be returning for their "Famous Pie Shakes." We weren't in the mood for a shake but they looked good. That night, Blaine surprised me with beautiful red roses in a tall, square glass vase. It's funny because in one of my recent posts, I mentioned that he doesn't buy me flowers that often. He hasn't read that post and hopefully he won't. But anyway, I was really surprised and happy. We also watched X-Men: First Class. It was SO good. We had a livingsocial deal that expired today so we had to go to the movies on Saturday. We rarely go to the real movie theater since we have Netflix and the dollar theater near. It was nice to watch a movie when it first comes out and to sit in the nice, comfy, non-dollar-theater chairs. When we got home, we were still super excited about the movie. We hadn't watched the other X-Men movies so we decided to watch the first X-Men movie on Netflix. I know. We're total nerds. It was an X-Men-filled night.

Church was also nice today. Blaine got called as a District Supervisor in the Elders Quorum and I received my visiting teaching assignments. One of my goals is to have 100% visiting teaching and to become these girls' friend...for real. I know that it is an inspired program of the church and one that can greatly bless our lives. Although it may seem awkward at times or even a burdensome task, I know that if we prayerfully approach visiting teaching with an open heart, we will be instruments in the hands of the Lord.

The Heat won their first game in Dallas by 2 points! It was so much fun to watch. I knew it was going to be a close game but I just had a feeling that we were going to win. This week, my sister sent me a Heat barrette that she made and a Heat finals shirt for Blaine. We loved them and will be sporting them tomorrow. Thanks Damaris!

The only bad thing about this weekend was that I got sick (again) on Saturday night. Since November 2010, I have been sick every month except for May. It's the flu. I went to the doctor in April to see why my little body was getting sick so often. I was put on some antibiotics and it helped a lot. But now I'm sick again. So I guess I'll be going to the doctor soon. I feel that I could do more to be healthier. I'll be working on that. It's always so easy to break a good habit and go back to bad ones. Since our trip to San Diego, we've been eating out more often and, consequently, less healthy. We didn't meet our gym goal this week and have been going to sleep late. I saw a commercial the other day that illustrated how making one healthy choice leads to making better and better choices. It's a domino effect. The same can be said about making unhealthy choices. I don't remember what the commercial was advertising but it definitely had an impact on me.

Anyway, I hope I feel better soon and that this week may be a better one than the last!

The Heat

Question: Why do the Heat get so heavily criticized? On my Facebook news feed people are constantly trashing them, calling them "cocky, overconfident, punks, egocentric." The list goes on. Why the hate? Geez. Lebron gets booed wherever he goes like if he has insulted the honor, families, dogs, and ancestors of these people. He did nothing wrong to anybody. I understand why Cleveland fans would be disappointed but everybody else needs to calm down and be quiet. And now the booing has expanded to Wade. Why? No clue. Why can't we all just acknowledge the great athleticism of these people as a team and as individuals? They're entertaining to watch! If you're a Heat fan or not, you can't deny it. So stop. I am sure that if any of us were 1/100th as good as Lebron, Wade or Bosh, we'd be the most cocky, overconfident athletes out there. There's nothing wrong with being confident and knowing that you're good when you are among the best. The adjectives that are being used to describe these people also attack them as a person. We don't know who they are or what they're going through. We all have imperfections - celebrities and athletes included. Sports is one thing but getting personal is another and absolutely ridiculous. 

And even more recently, people have been criticizing and creating stereotypes of Heat fans. I'm a Heat fan so when I hear people calling Heat fans "classless", it hurts. Yes, there are some "classless" Heat fans - the same way that there's classless fans of all sorts in all sports and teams! And yes, there are also those fans who jumped on the bandwagon this past year. But then there are those fans, who, like myself, have been Heat fans since the beginning. Basketball has always been my favorite sport. I'd play for hours on end with my little brother growing up. I had an Alonzo Mourning Heat jersey before Wade was even in the NBA and before the Heat ever won a championship. I went to Heat games with my family when we sucked. So all I'm saying is that generalization and stereotypes are just that - nothing more. 

And I also believe that there's nothing wrong with getting excited about your home team winning. I know a lot of people who weren't huge Heat fans before but now are. Who dictates when it is the appropriate time to become a Heat fan (or a fan of whatever team period)? Whether the Heat win the championships this year or not, I know that in the midst of it all, life-long Heat fans were created in the process. And I think that's pretty cool. It creates a sense of camaraderie and unity among friends, family, and a whole city! I find that to be a rather impressive and beautiful thing. My grandma was excited to see the Heat doing good back in '06. She passed away before they made it to the finals but she enjoyed cheering with us and watching the games. Was she a huge basketball fan? No. Was it fun? Yes.

And there are FEW people in this world that can really be called fans of anything. If we were all the loyal fans that we should be, why aren't the arenas sold out every game - regular season or post season, if we're doing horrible or amazing, whatever the situation may be? I feel that the whole sports industry is becoming less and less classy because of all the hating that goes on. Sportsmanship is diminishing."Fans" are taking it to a whole other level by feeling hatred and being vengeful instead of treating it for what it is - a game. 

Last year, the Heat obviously didn't make it to the finals. The Boston Celtics did instead. We watched all the games, just like if the Heat were playing, and cheered on the Celtics because they're fun to watch (and cause they're from the East Coast :]). We even made Celtics cupcakes. It was just a fun experience. Did I hate on the Celtics for being a better team than the Heat that year? No. Did I watch the finals just to see another team fail and experience joy from it? No. I don't love the Lakers and my brother is a Kobe fan. Do I hate him? No. If you truly do love basketball (and any sport for that matter), you can root for any team or individual and have fun doing it, whether it's your home/preferred team or not. 

I married into a family that loves to "smack talk." But it's a friendly, gentle type of "smack talk." In the Dawson family, there is a huge Eagles-Redskins rivalry and it's all in good fun! I love it! So all I'm saying is that these horrible feelings that people are having against the Miami Heat is pretty ridiculous and immature. 

Anyway, we had a tough game last night but I can't wait till Sunday! Hopefully we can pull through how we have in the past. Hope you all have a good weekend! 

GO HEAT! 

Hard Things!

So here's a link to a cute printable that I found while perusing the blogging world. It's so addicting and totally a good way to waste time (is there such a thing?). But anyway, I really like the idea of putting positive quotes or pictures in the home. It reminds us of what's really important (family, temples, Christ, etc). I found an old 4 x 6 frame that wasn't being used and placed it in the corner of our bathroom counter top. Now when I wake up and stare at myself in the mirror wishing I didn't have a test or didn't have to go to work, I have a little motivation reminding me that "I can do hard things!" Although I know that I can do hard things, sometimes it's easy to forget and complain. We have all gone through our share of trials that were indeed hard and have learned important lessons along the way. And we survived! It's easy to lose the eternal perspective and big picture. I know that we were sent here by a loving Heavenly Father who loves us and wants us to become just like Him! And there's no better way to do that than by accomplishing....hard things!

They have different color combinations. This one just so happened to
 match my living room and bathroom!

P.S.
I'm on the waiting list for Pinterest. I'm sure that won't help me reduce wasting time on the net! Anyway, I'm excited :)

Convolvuluses

Growing up, I hated house plants and any type of plant really. I've always loved flowers, especially when they were given to me after a dance recital or when they were fresh in a vase in my room. But other than that, I always complained about my grandma's and mom's house plants. I felt that they brought creepy-crawling things inside the house! Yuck. Anyway, my mom also did the landscaping in our front yard. She was great at it. But the only thing I remembered was how much hard work it was! Hence the dislike for gardening. 

But now, I am becoming more and more "domesticated" (as my brother-in-law Chris would say). A couple of weeks ago, I decided I wanted some living thing adorning the outside of our apartment...since Blaine hasn't proven to be the flower-buying type of guy. Joke joke. Everybody in our apartment complex has some sort of plant outside. So I had to choose between buying a beautiful flower already in bloom or trying to grow some myself. I took the road less traveled. Ha. So brave.  

So I bought three pots (black, white & red to match our living room :]), some potting soil, and some of these seeds at Lowe's. I really didn't know what to do. I just put the seeds in there and have been watering them everyday. The packet of seeds claims that buds appear between 7-21 days. I watched and watched and even talked to my flowers a little. Weird. I know. I felt like Horton talking to his speck. But my boss at work does it and her plants are beautiful! Anyway, I was becoming a little discouraged. When I returned from our trip to San Diego, I spotted teeny, tiny green things in MY pots. Oh the joy. I never thought I'd be so excited about planting anything in my life. But, I must admit, there is something relaxing and nurturing about planting and the nurturing that comes along with it. So I'll be posting pics as they continue growing. Hopefully, I'll be successful in this new endeavor. Abuela would be so proud. She had a beautiful orchard garden along the side of our house. 

I wish I had some space to do some square-foot gardening or something. Not only is it super cool to eat things grown out of your backyard, I'm sure it's better than what we buy in the store and also a counsel from our latter-day prophets! One day I'll be able to do that. Stacey & Chris have the nicest little garden in their hot and dry, Vegas backyard. Every time we're over, we have something from the garden at dinner! I love it. 

So stay tuned for more updates on my little blue convolvuluses!

The ones in the black pot seem to be doing the best.