24.

 

So since Josh's birthday is tomorrow, I thought I would share 24 things you may or may not know about my fella.

 

1. He won me over the first time we met by telling me I looked like I was 20. Every 15 year old girl's dream. haha

2. Josh has the BIGGEST sweet tooth of anyone I know. He could eat ice cream every day of his life. He also requests cookies on the daily.

3. He loves to scare me. If he leaves a room before me, I know to expect for him to run off to hide and scare me. Even if I know it's coming...I still get scared at times. I gets scared and he laughs his head off.

4. He loves Texas A&M. There is currently a college football countdown at our house. Bring on the football.

5. Josh loves me best when I'm in jeans and a t-shirt. He'll choose that over dressing up any day.

6. He's the best study partner around. He quizzes me like a beast. Honestly, I get the best grades when I study with him. I'm excited to get payback by helping him study soon.

7. He's the hardest worker I know.

8. Oreos have his heart.

9. Josh loves family. I'm glad I get to be his family now. He'll be the best dad one day too.

10. Best laugh ever.

11. If possible, he would fish all day every day.

12. He wants to catch a shark.

13. Netflix documentaries are is number one.

14. He lets me watch The Bachelor and never complains.

15. Texas comes up in conversation at least once a day.

16. Food. He's such a foodie.

17. He reads the news every. single. day.

18. Going shopping with Josh for anything takes hours!!!

19. He loves to play soccer.

20. Josh loves to be outside. Hiking, fishing, playing sports, and really anything.

21. He loves to sing along to the radio.

22. He's supportive and loving.

23. He loves to give talks in church.

24. He has my heart.

                                                      Happy Almost Birthday Josh!!!

July

 

 

Summer has been flying by. Our July was filled with burger dates, fireworks, Sonic runs, temple trips, and movie nights. There has also been work, work, work, and school. BUT let's not focus on those aspects of our month. For 4th of July this year we celebrated with Big juicy burgers from Five Guys. The burgers were as big as our faces. The next day we took a trip to the LDS temple in Baton Rouge, LA. We don't get to go to the temple as much as I would like, so I really cherish the times that we get to. There is nothing better in the world. That night we watched fireworks by the river. I was really impressed with the firework show this year. We missed fireworks last year, so I really soaked in the experience. This month also was a really exciting month for Josh because we got him signed up to take some online college classes for the Fall. One more year and he can take my place as the full time student in the family. I will happily give him that role. haha I'm just so proud of him. I can't wait to see what the rest of the month and summer will bring.

 

xoxo, Amanda

.

A note on kindness.

 

The word kindness has been on constant rotation in my mind lately, or more adequately the lack of kindness. Personal experiences and experiences affecting those around me have sparked a desire in me to talk about the lack of kindness in my world lately.  I won't leave myself out. I won't blame everyone else for the unkindness and not talk about how I can be unkind as well.

So why all the unkind words, actions, and thoughts? I think we are all busy. Busy with school, work, family, you name it...most of us are pretty busy people. We get so busy that we can be unkind to those around us. Our mentality might be "they can't possibly be as busy as me....get out of my way." Perfect example of this mentality is when we are driving. We don't let someone in to traffic, we cut someone off, we yell when someone cuts us off, and the list goes on and on.We (again I use we to include myself) use busy as an excuse. We glorify in the excuse of being to busy to be caring, kind, or patient. If busy is making us unkind...I say let's stop being so busy.

 Another reason for our unkindness is getting lost in self. We see our own set of struggles and challenges. We feel our own heartbreak and grief. We forget that everyone has there on set us trials, struggles, obstacles, and challenges.We will never know the full extent of someone else's emotions or the obstacles that have been given to overcome. It's ok if we don't know them all (because it's a personal journey too) but we should at least acknowledge that every one we meet is facing something. We don't get to be unkind because we have challenges. Everyone we meet is having a challenge. Being unkind doesn't change your circumstances and it's adding to the burden of someone else. Unkindness is an added obstacle that you throw out into the world for others to overcome.

At one point, I am sure that everyone has felt broken by unkindness. Unkindness has a way of breaking spirits and ruining days. For those days I share this quote: “Though we are incomplete, God loves us completely. Though we are imperfect, He loves us perfectly. Though we may feel lost and without compass, God's love encompasses us completely. ... He loves every one of us, even those who are flawed, rejected, awkward, sorrowful, or broken.”   ― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

So what do we do about all of this unkindness?? We stop. We stop talking about other people when they leave the room. We stop getting angry, being rude, or using hurtful words. We take a second to remember that we are talking to another person with feelings, emotions, and challenges. We stop using technology to hurt people. I challenge myself and anyone reading this to replace unkindness with kindness. I challenge us to build each other up and to not let others unkindness break us.

xoxo,

Amanda

Welcome 2014

It's a new year and resolutions have been made. Josh and I both filled out a goal sheet for the upcoming year. I'm going to be honest, eating healthier was no where to be found on my list. Sure I would love to be healthier and exercise more, but I feel like that goal is a set up for failure. (At least for me) My goals consist of striving for patience, being more confident, and striving for unity with those around me. Confidence is a big one for me. I think once I develop more confidence in myself everything else in my life will fall into place.

Josh's goals consisted of striving for success and living it up. I like the way he thinks. I like the idea of having our year's motto being to Live it. Live it meaning to enjoy life, do our best, and go after our dreams.

(Via Pinterest)

This is going to be our year. I think blogging will also become more of a frequent occurrence. Time will tell.

XOXO,
Amanda

A lesson learned while eating chocolate and feeling bad for myself.

I am a really bad blogger. I blame 1. graduate school and 2. graduate school. It consumes my life.
Today, I was having one of those days. You know, one of those days that nothing can make better. It's just a feel bad, sad for yourself day. Add in deadlines, a quiz, and emotions and it leads to just one big catastrophe. I came home feeling sad for myself because, well I just had "one of those days." I ate some chocolate. I complained to my loving husband. (the man is so patient... I hit the husband jackpot.) I talked feelings out with good friends.
Suddenly, everything didn't seem so terribly bad. My whole world did a 160 and I felt better. No matter how many no good terrible days that I have...well there is always good. This life was designed to be filled with trials and struggles. Why? So that we could grow and progress and become exactly who we need to become. I guess what I am saying is that after all the bad and the sad, I feel like maybe I was shaped a little for the better. With Him I am always in good hands. At times, it takes me a while to realize the important things in life. I temporarily forget  my blessings. Maybe I don't even forget them completely, I just forget to cherish them.
There will always be days that I will feel the need for chocolate and a Dr. Pepper. It's ok that I will have days that I want to hibernate. It's ok, as long as I remember that everything is going to be ok eventually. Sadness shouldn't last forever because there is so much good to be enjoyed. Life without happiness is really no life at all.

So join me in trying to see the good every. single. day. No matter what may come our way...we've got this.

Texas & I & Love & You.

                                            

J and I took a little vacation to the great state of Texas. J is from Texas and I am a converted lover of it. We left at 4 am and arrived right around lunch time at J's Mimi and Grandpa's house. We absolutely love them. We also absolutely love their pool and freezer full of ice cream.

 

(Not their freezer, but the grocery store was stocked with blue

bell and I couldn't get enough.)

(I could laugh at these pictures all day.)

 

We went on a small road trip to the Blue Bonnet Café. Look at these

pies! I wanted to smash my face into one so bad. We also drove

to Oatmeal, Tx just to say that we went. Home of like 3 people. It's

the kind of thing you do when your with the best Mimi and Grandpa.

 

 

After Chic-fil-a trips, multiple bowls of ice cream, family dinner, and

swimming our hearts out, we left on our own adventure.

 

More to come...

 

xoxo,

Amanda

 

 

 

My weekly top ten.

My current top ten of the week...

 

1. Diet Dr. Pepper with cherry or vanilla. my addiction.

 

2. Quotable kids. I spend at least ten mins everyday telling J

and my mom funny things that my kids at work say.

 

3. School supplies. Grad school has been the best excuse to

get tons of new school supplies. hmmm fresh notebooks.

 

4. Little cousins who fold their arms for prayer and shut there eyes real

tight. I almost cried Momma kinda tears.

 

5. Pregnant announcements. They make me so excited and maybe a little

jealous.

 

6. Husband cooking me dinner. He is the chef in our family. I'm

obsessed with his food skills.

 

7.Baking. Now this is my passion. 3 dozen cookies today.

Not doing much for my fitness/health plans though.

 

8. Sam's Club food samples. We are those people.

 

9. Instagram. I'm an addict. Also pinterest is making me happy again.

 

10. Daydreaming about future homes, texas, graduating, and babies with my J.

 

Cookie Butter.

Have you guys ever had Cookie Butter from Trader Joes?

 

We just got back from our trip to Texas, which also happens to be where

the closest Trader Joes is. Before we left, I noticed that my supply of Cookie

Butter was extremely low. We are talking a couple of spoonfuls left.

It was a national disaster in our house. I needed Texas, Trader Joes, and Cookie

Butter B.A.D.

At the end of our trip we decided to head to Houston, Tx for a

couple of hours before heading home.

2 reasons. 1.  the Houston Temple. 2. Trader Joes.

 

The Temple was beautiful. One of my favorites.

Then it was Trader Joe's time.

We pull up and I storm into the store like I own the place.

I march all over the store.

"Where the heck to they keep their Cookie Butter?!"

I couldn't find it.

Pure panic.

I was in complete denial when I decided to ask one of the employees, "Where is my

Cookie Butter??!"

There is a nation wide Cookie Butter shortage.

They only have 12 a day. Gone in ten mins.

She told me to come back tomorrow morning

and wait in line with the other crazies.

 

My heart was broken. I might have almost cried.

I can't even talk about it.

Oh, and if you think that I'm crazy...you have obviously never had Cookie Butter before.

and you probably never will because of the freakin shortage.

I feel for you.

I feel bad for me.

The end.

 

PS- If you happen to find some freakin Cookie Butter...hook a girl up.

 

xoxo

J+A

Memories.

This post is going to be really hard to write, but I feel like I need to for memories sake.

My sweet grandfather, papaw as I called him, passed away one week ago today.

It seems unreal that time has already passed by so quickly, and yet I still feel like It just happened.

I've been working on having the right perspective. He is with my grandmother again.

He is happy. He still loves and cares for me. We are a family forever.

It's been hard, but I don't want to focus on that anymore.

 

I wanted to share some memories of my sweet papaw.

When my brother and I were wee lads, papaw decided that we needed our own place to play.

So he built us a tree swing in a secret little cove in the trees. I thought it was magical.

My brother and I would swing and play for hours in our magic little spot.

When Papaw was feeling up to it he would come and push us.

Our secret swing could only be reached by crossing over a ditch.

One day I fell into the ditch. I'm not really sure how it happened..but all I know

is that brother left me there. haha

It seemed like an eternity before my screams were answered and I was pulled

up from that ditch. Scary then, but a sweet memory now.

 

My papaw was also in love with French fries. That's all he ate...no exaggeration. Every day after

school we would go to his house and he would make us homemade French fries and give us Dr. Thunders (cheap dr peppers). Not the healthiest thing in the world, but that's what Papaws are for.

 

Papaw told us millions of war stories (he served in Korea and Vietnam). He told me stories of

my grandmother who passed away when I was 7. I loved his stories. He also told me how much

Heavenly Father loved me. He always made sure that I felt loved. One day at church I walked in and my papaw was standing there waiting for me. He turned to everyone in the hall and said, "Isn't my

grandbaby beautiful!!" I will never forget how much joy he filled my life with. It was always the simple things.

 

He traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois probably 5 million times. He loved that place. One day he drove all the way there just to eat steak with a few friends. He loved telling me that story. I think it made him feel like he was a crazy kid. I will always think of my grandfather when I hear Nauvoo.

 

I know this may sound silly, but it was always my dream to have my papaw see me get married. I knew that he would be so proud of me. I wanted him to approve of the prince and approve of the place (the temple). I'm so glad that he got to see me in my wedding dress. I will always treasure these sweet pictures. 

Speaking of the prince...Papaw used to call to tell me I had a letter from J. or he would call to tell me

that he was keeping it hostage until I came to see him. Or my favorite...he would claim he "lost" a letter because of his old age. I always had a mini panic over it. He was such the jokester.

 

I know that this post has really no organization, but I just needed to write down some memories of one of my favorite men to ever be. I want to make him proud...I want to be the woman that he

always knew I would grow up to be.

 

-Amanda

 

The zoo is for lovers.

On our one year anniversary we took a little trip to Jackson, Ms. Our first stop was the zoo. If

you know J and I, you know that we are obsessed with animals. The zoo is our happy place.

We had so much fun...and we have the pictures to prove it. Enjoy...

 

 

For the rest of the day I got spoiled. We ate lunch at a cute little place called Sweet Peppers. Then I got to shop to my hearts desire. Let's just say that we spent an hour in Anthropologie and J never complained. He is a saint. But it was a good thing that anthro had cupcakes that day...his reward. He's also the best picker of clothing for me...he knows what I look good in I guess. I won't complain. We really had so much fun just exploring. We ended up heading home and eating crawfish to celebrate our first year of marriage living in Louisiana. Life is good.