Nearing a New Year

With a new year on its way, I've been thinking about the goals I want to set. Weighing heavily on my mind is my spirituality. It's easy to "let yourself go" in many aspects of life, but a spiritual decline is alarming. One idea I heard regarding scripture study as a couple is to study on your own throughout the week and come together once a week to share what you've been studying. This helps you stay accountable, have spiritual discussions together, and is flexible (as opposed to attempting to have couple study together every day and feeling bad when you aren't able to fit it in each day). Regardless of the goals you have in mind, be sure that they cause you to stretch and are attainable. Most importantly, stick to them until they stick to you. 

could have

would have

should have

did.

Decadent Dessert

My latest obsession is making (and eating) peanut butter cup cookies. The recipe can be found in the link at the bottom. They are super easy to make and the yield is 50 cookies! The recipe says it makes 40, but the two times I have made them, the recipe made 50; I'm sure it depends on the size of cookie dough balls you form--mine were about the size of a quarter. The best advice I have for making cookies is to strictly follow the bake time. I baked these cookies for exactly seven minutes and they were soft for several days (by that time, they'd been devoured). These would be great to bring to your next party or potluck!
Get the recipe here: Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Road Trip Reminiscing

In January, Jared and I are going to go on a graduation vacation to California. Planning this trip has triggered memories of family vacations I went on growing up. In my family, we have a tradition of creating a memory song every time we go on a road trip. This tradition started by accident back in 2006; a few funny things happened on a vacation and my brother randomly started putting the events into a song with a made-up tune. From there our songs have gotten lengthier and more creative; they are now usually put to the tune of a nursery rhyme or popular song. Sometimes we create the words to the song along the way, but usually we save it for the long drive home--it makes for a great activity to pass the time while also bonding and reminiscing about the vacation. Creating these songs helps us remember the things that occurred on the trip and are fun to look back on. I hope to continue this tradition with my future family and thought I'd pass along the idea. 

Here is our first song: 

California: June 2006 (It's hard to describe the tune)

Holly-wood

Chocolate on her pants 

Marijuana Park

Oh ma-gic gator-ade

Mini-explanation:

On our vacation we passed the Hollywood sign and thought it was cool because my youngest sister is named Holly. We found it humorous that my sister, Kristen, got chocolate on the back of her pants and didn't realize it. One day we drove past Marina park and after glancing at it I said, "Marijuana Park?" My mom was quick to point out the correct title of the park ;) My brother is a fan of Gatorade and was drinking it on our trip. The way it glowed in the sunlight made it look magical. 

Here is a more recent song: 

(Due to the lengthiness of the song in and of itself, I will spare you the explanation)

Rexburg, Idaho: July 2011 (To the tune of Popcorn Poppin’)

I went to Rexburg, Idaho and what did I see?

FedEx trucks with arrows poppin’ out at me.

Got to the hotel and was disappointed;

there were no complimentary earplugs.

Stopped by the Blacks and saw Cars 2,

visited others--quite a few.

We went to big Jud’s, and ate a bunch,

then had square ice cream after lunch.

The Batts got home from Brazil and gave a report,

we had lunch down in the basketball court.

Lucky us girls had a trip of our own,

we were super duper sad to come home.

Christmas as a Couple

I've always loved the Christmas song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas". While scrolling through Pinterest one day, I came across the idea to do The 12 Dates of Christmas. Jared and I brainstormed dates we wanted to do during the month of December and we compiled a list. We stopped right as we hit 12 because I didn't want to have to narrow them down. The following are the dates we'll do beginning December 14th, and continuing until Christmas Day. There are also lists of ideas on Pinterest, so there's an idea of what to search as you're scrolling through. Be sure to think of some of your own as well! :)

Make Gingerbread Houses
Go Ice Skating
Eat at the Cheesecake Factory
Watch Home Alone + Make Sugar Cookies
Attend Music and the Spoken Word
Sing Christmas Songs 
Make an Ornament
Go See the Lights at Temple Square
Build a Snowman
Roast Chestnuts Over an Open Fire (aka make s'mores)
Attend a Christmas Concert
Kiss Under the Mistletoe

The Obligatory Opener

People say I have good ideas. I'll let you in on a little secret though: I'm actually just really good at compiling them. I collect good recipes, quotes, date ideas, etc. giving credit where credit is due. Sometimes I think I have cool, unique, ideas; but then I do a Google search and find out it's already been thought of. So I compile the best of the best of the things I find and make it my own. It goes along with the following quote:

"All truly wise thoughts have been thought already thousands of times; but to make them truly ours, we must think them over again honestly, until they take root in our personal experience." ~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Because I "have" good ideas, several people have told me I should start a blog. The main thing holding me back was the lack of a clever title. I had thought of a couple ideas, but the names had already been taken--case in point ;) Anyway, once I thought of a name, that was half the battle. If you decide to continue reading this blog, you'll "have" good ideas too. Now, you're probably thinking, "Wait a minute...a website where ideas are compiled...isn't that basically Pinterest?" I agree that they sound very similar. The difference though, is that you can get bogged down by the numerous ideas on Pinterest and never actually try them. These ideas are broken down into posts, just like every other blog out there ;) I'll let you decide whether or not it's worth reading.