Valentine's Day 2014

So, as I'm sure I've mentioned, Valentine's Day has never been a holiday I've been excited for. In fact, the gift I got Larry wasn't technically a gift for the special day. I wanted to order him this shirt I saw on Amazon for Christmas, but his size wasn't available and once it was I decided to order it, it just happened to show up that day. It kind of worked out perfectly because even though I've told Larry I don't care to celebrate for Valentine's Day he had a surprise for me when I got home.

As soon as I walked in the door I noticed that he was all dressed up and he had some candles lit and had made me dinner (grilled chicken salad...YUM!). He had one of my favorite dresses lying out and told me to change so I did that and we got to sit and have a nice meal together. He also got me a few movies and this beautiful locket that says I Love You on it. It was all so sweet of him! I loved it all, but my favorite part was the sweet note he had with it all.

Clockwise from top right: Larry's note, my locket, his shirt and
All the other gifts (We're the Millers, Pitch Perfect, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin)

Larry's sweet note!

I actually bought myself The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, but I'm counting them because they showed up that day as well :)

We also got some fun news:

We got our trip booked to see my mom and step dad! Since this isn't a private blog I took out the dates for security reasons, but I'm SO excited to go visit and see their new home and meet their friends and everything. The second I got it booked she was texting me about plans for each day, she cracks me up! I know we're going mudding, and to the zoo, and eating out a lot, and we'll see for the rest of the time haha.

February Catch Up

So I thought I'd do a catch up post on the goals we set and just anything new-ish so far.

For one, we've been doing the gluten free thing this month and other than a few set-backs (I just can't resist a brownie!) we've actually stuck with it pretty well. I thought I would miss pasta a lot, but I've been okay with it. Maybe because I know I'll be able to have it again soon, I don't know, but it hasn't been too bad. I had to change my lunches since I was always bringing a sandwich, so now I bring a bunch of fruit and snacks to keep me content until I get home and we can eat dinner. I can't say I feel any changes yet, we'll see if there's anything by the end of the month or in March when we go back to how we used to eat. That's been the biggest thing is making sure we're checking labels now, I never used to do that and I'm surprised about some of the things that aren't gluten free, like soups! Who knew? Luckily I can still eat some candies haha.

As far as painting goes...it isn't. Turns out the weekend I planned it for just isn't going to work for various reasons. Hopefully we'll be able to do it later this year. I think I'm still going to work on putting frames up to decorate a little. I have the 17th off, but Larry doesn't so I'll be SUPER cleaning that day and then we can work on the rest of my growing to-do list.

Larry officially works from home two days a week-Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm finding I LOVE these days, except that Tuesdays he has class so he's not home when I get home and doesn't get back till after 10. Once he finishes one class he has another so he hardly has any Tuesdays off...I kind of can't wait for him to be done with it; Or until he's home every day. I love getting ready with him here and knowing he will be with the kitties and the house will be safe. I love thinking throughout the day that he's here, I'm not sure why I like it so much, but I find I love the days he gets to stay home so much more than the days he goes into work (even though he's home when I get home every other day so it's not like there's a huge change).

Speaking of Larry's classes, he's kicking butt! He just finished a class this last week and so far he's been able to get all As (of some sort). His GPA is currently 3.92!

We've decided to kind of take a chill pill on vacations this year, we'll be visiting Mom in May (got the dates set, just need to get the flights booked and we'll be good to go) and then for our anniversary in October we want to do Lava Hot Springs one weekend and then take a week off afterwards and stay at home to relax. Both will be pretty cheap so hopefully we can save money for a big trip we have planned next year - New York!! Fingers crossed we can make it work, I want to go and visit SO bad.

That's all we've got so far this month :) It's been pretty quiet around here, but this weekend is sure filling up (we got some babysitting, a friend's birthday, building a computer, and cleaning) so I don't expect it to stay that way for long.

Here's some cute pics to end on:

When she's out she finds the funniest positions to sleep in

This is pretty much how we end every day.
She uses me as a pillow as I read my book.

Caught him drifting off while I was on a Skype call

February Goals

So Larry and I decided we wanted to try and accomplish a couple things next month (one was more me pushing and one was more him so I guess it's a fair trade huh?).

One thing we want to do is eat gluten free the whole month. I'm a HUGE pasta and rolls person, I'll probably try almost anything if it has pasta in it. I read about a gluten free diet and how it's supposed to help you lose weight and feel more "cleansed", not sure if that's entirely true, but we want to try it and see (this has been MONTHS in the making by the way). I've found quite a few recipes that are completely new and different and I'm pretty excited to try them. I promised Larry if we could go all 28 days doing this then I'm going to make Snicker doodles in March to celebrate...yeah buddy! Oh and this will require me making a new recipe pretty much every day so I'm hoping to learn more cooking skills doing this.



The other thing (my thing) is that we are going to start painting. Nothing really big, but I'd love to cover our Crayola red guest bathroom walls with something lighter. I'm not much of a bright walls person. I wanted to paint the whole living room, kitchen, and hallway, but we are doing this over a 3-day weekend and I doubt that will be enough time to get ALL that done, so we're just going to do an accent wall (one that the kitchen and living room share). I'm hoping to go price/get paint samples this weekend, then next weekend we'll go buy what we need and tape up the areas, then the weekend of the 14th (President's Day Weekend) we'll get started. I'm so excited, I may actually print pictures for my frames to hang up once we're done so this place can feel more like home. I've been saying for almost a year and a half now that I'd like to decorate and make this place more ours, and this should be a good first step towards that :)

BTW Both images are Google Images



I'll hopefully remember to post before and after pics to share. This should make February a fun month for us, I've been taking advantage of my last two days eating whatever I want haha.

Money Snob

You guys, I'm struggling! I can't even tell you why it's so bad, but ever since our trip to Florida (where we spent more money than I had budgeted, not necessarily had mind you) I've been very weird about spending money. It's gotten to the point that if I have an extra $10, I think "I could get lunch one day this week with that...nah, I better put it to paying off my credit card." I've been obsessed with getting debts paid off lately rather than spending money on "frivolous" things.

I suppose that actually sounds smart, but I actively avoid doing anything "fun" because of this. And our debts aren't even THAT bad! We get everything paid and on time and we aren't hurting from it or anything. And I am aware that this sounds like a "first world" problem, but WAAAAH!!!

I realized it was bad today when I thought every weekend I don't plan anything. On purpose. I actually avoid making plans so that we can stay in and then Monday comes around and you go into work and everyone talks about the fun plans they had and I realize I did nothing and I am boring. I finally got on KSL today to check out their deals (and boy do they have A TON I would love to do) and I looked at the money and thought the same thought I always think, "well I don't want to actually spend money!" And to note: most were around 60% cheaper AND helped future plans we already have (like a quick trip to Vegas or our plans to do NY next year)!

I really wish I could get past this weird money death grip I've got going on and have fun this year, I've never had a problem with it before. Maybe I should add this to my "to-do" list this year...learn to not be SO uptight about money, go back to wanting to make memories more. If anyone out there has any tips to help, well I'm all ears!

Random Quotes - a "heard from our home" series

So I see people with kids posting random things that their kids say during the day, I find them to be hilarious and also that we have random ones ourselves (we may not have kids, but we do know how to entertain ourselves). I posted some on Facebook, but I feel that I need to document some of them here.

One from our honeymoon, while we were driving (there were TONS I told Larry I wished I had written down because he kept making me crack up, but this is the only one I can really remember):

Larry: I wish real life was like Mario Kart and we could label the bad drivers with red arrows and good drivers with green arrows so we knew who to avoid.

Me: I'd definitely be a red arrow.

Larry: No, if I chose what I saw you'd be a pink arrow 'cause I love you.

Some from around the house:

Larry: I call you Goober because it's like Booger only with the letters switched

 

Larry (after picking out a movie we own): I want to watch this one, I've never seen it before.

Me: Neither have I, didn't you buy it?

Larry: I don't think so, I thought you did.

Right before my birthday I was thinking about how old I was turning and this came out:

Me: In 16 days I'm going to be 26

Larry: Um...I think your math is a little off.

Me: No, I'll be 26

Larry: Yeah, but it's the 4th.

Me: ...In 14 days I'll be 26!

Last night we were talking about something to do with when we have kids (the topic isn't important, just know Larry says no and I said yes to it)

Larry: Nope

Me: You can't "nope" it yet, just like I can't "yep" it yet. When I get pregnant it will be a "lets talk about it and have a doctor give us information" time.

Larry: Nope

Me: Nope, I nope your nope

Larry: no, you just agreed with my nope.

Me: Nope

Larry: Two nopes make a nope!!

 

At this point we just laughed at each other. I'm not sure this will really be a series, but I know we say things a lot that I think "I want to post that somewhere", so we'll see if I get more :)