Truth Tuesday

•  Brian and I got this idea for a children's chapter book series, and we're totally running with it now. We started story boarding tonight. It sounds a bit ridiculous . . . but it's ridiculous ideas that make you famous (or something). Plus, even if it never goes anywhere, at least we can say, "Hey, remember that time we wrote that goofy book series?

• I shaved my face for the first time yesterday (peach fuzz central). I learned how from A Ting Thing on Youtube. Check out her face shaving tutorial right here. Then watch all the rest of her videos. She's a sweet little bubble of energy, and I'll basically buy or do anything she tells me to now.  

• I'm toying with the idea of running a FULL FREAKING marathon. I'll probably chicken out and change my mind. I'm thinking it's probably the most ideal time in my life to train for one. But then I start thinking about the pain of a half marathon and I can't even imagine doubling it. 

• I'm a total huge fan of Beauty Redefined. Today on Facebook, they posted about how girls' and women's time spent on social media is correlated with depression, anxiety, loneliness, and a whole bunch of other things I don't need in my life. I really believe it, too. That's why I'm making an effort to spend less time in front on the computer screen and scrolling through Instagram. I just recently found out that some people actually track how many followers they have and who and when people unfollow them using some sort of an app. That just sounds exhausting. If you do that . . . stop. Stop right now. That's a waste of energy that could be spent elsewhere.

• It's been one year since we adopted THE MUNCH! Munchy is our dog. We adopted him from the most wonderful rescue shelter here in Logan. Since I'm a complete psycho and find any excuse for a party, we celebrated our pooch this past Sunday. I kind of jokingly sent a text to my sixteen-year-old sister saying, "Want to come to Munch's adoptiversary?" And they came! My parents and siblings came on Sunday, and they wore party hats and ate cake FOR MY DOG! Munch wore a party hat too and had his own special dog cake. I'm hoping to write up a post soon on our experience with pet adoption because I'm so weirdly passionate about it! I just want everyone to adopt now since our experience was so grand! But until that post . . . I'll leave you with a few phone pics from Munch's party.  

This baby sister of mine also drew the sweetest sketch of Munch that I may have to share here at a later date. 

Luna in the bottom-left corner kills me. She was all kinds of jealous that Munch was getting the attention. 

24

I turned 24 on December 29th. My past few birthdays, I didn't feel like the age I was turning had much relevance. I mean, I did turn 22 right when Taylor Swift's "22" song was gaining popularity. Besides that though, the age I turn on a birthday never has held much meaning to me. I think that's a good thing. Hopefully I'll still feel this way as I get older. I never want to be the lady in my 40s or 50s who resents my birthday because I'm turning a year older. I want my birthday to always be a celebration of the life I've lived, not the age I'm turning.

However, turning the age of 24 seemed to have a bit of an impact on me.

When I turned 14, I got Switchfoot's album "The Beautiful Letdown". One of my favorite songs on the album was called "24". I remember listening to that song over and over and deciding that somehow, the age of 24 must have some kind of magic to it. And I would turn that magical age in 10 years. When you are 14, 10 years seems like an eternity. So with an eternity to go, I dreamt up all the incredible things I would do with my life by the time I turned 24.

I hope 14-year-old Kelsey wouldn't be disappointed in what I've become. I still have a lot of goals I want to reach and places I want to see, but I think I'm doing pretty decent things with my life. I mean, I haven't succeeded in world domination yet, but I'm getting there ;).

For my birthday, Brian offered to take the day off work and go skiing. That really meant a lot to me. I know for Brian, birthdays aren't a huge deal. However, I take them pretty seriously. I love doing anything and everything I can to celebrate the people in my life when they have a birthday, so it means a lot that Brian would do that for me in return on my special day. We invited my sisters and Mom to join us, and we skied our little hearts out.

If you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE a good snowfall. When there are tons of snowflakes falling silently to the ground it just feels completely magical. When we got up to Beaver Mountain, it was magic snowing and it kept it up the entire afternoon. I keep telling myself it was a birthday present for me from God. Not that I'm so special that God should give me a birthday present, but it's a nice thought. It was freezing though, but there was even something about that which was nice. When we went in the lodge for hot chocolate, it felt amazing for my toes to thaw out and to feel the warmth of the cocoa run down my throat and land in my tummy. It was like my body was saying, "Happy birthday! You're alive! I'm taking you down mountains! I'm freezing to remind you how alive you are! And because we are freezing, this hot chocolate tastes like heaven!"

It really did taste like heaven. I'm not really a big hot chocolate drinker, but that was probably the best cup of hot chocolate I've ever tasted. I want to remember it forever.

I don't know if 24 is truly as significant and magnificent as I made it up to be when I was 14, but I am pretty dang excited for the coming year. I think it's going to be a good one full of living and not merely just existing. Every second of every day counts. It's actually a cool thing to have a birthday at the end of the year. I feel like I get to do an extra lot of contemplating on the past year . . . as well as planning for the coming year.

In the words of Switchfoot, "I'm not who I thought I was 24 hours ago . . ."

The Holiday Whirlwind

Wait. What? I have a blog? I completely forgot.

Who has time to blog during the holidays anyhow? But then so many good things happen during the holidays that are begging to be documented. So now, here I am, playing catch up.

There's so much to talk about. Christmas happened. My birthday happened. It's 2015. But let's just stick with Christmas right now, before I start hyperventilating.

This year was weird for me. The holidays went especially fast. Thanksgiving happened and then in the blink of an eye, it was Christmas. We spent Thanksgiving with my family. The weekend after Thanksgiving, we ran a Santa 5k. All runners dressed as Santa Claus for the race. Brian signed up to do it with me mostly so I'd be happy. This is something I've anxiously been looking forward to for the past year and it didn't disappoint.

I mean, just imagine it. Hundreds of Santas were running together through the streets of Ogden, Utah. It was a great sea of Santas. I felt like I had an instant bond with my fellow Santa runners. I'm sure they didn't feel any bond, because I'm a wacko person, but that's fine. I felt it. I was beyond excited. That's all that matters. To add to this awesome experience, there was also an aid station where kids dressed as elves passed out milk and cookies. There was water too, but whatever. I know I'm making this all sound very glamorous, however, running several miles in a Santa suit is very hot. And those beards were itchy. Gotta take some bad with the good I suppose.

I mentioned the holidays were strange for me. For some reason, I had a super hard time getting in the Christmas spirit this year, which doesn't really make sense because on the surface it seems I did everything right. I tend to be the type of person who goes overboard on holidays. I think everyday leading up to the big day needs to be a major celebration. I understand that can be exhausting for people around me. I think it was exhausting for me as well this year. But I kept making Christmas goodies, putting up decorations, and forcing myself to watch any holiday movie I could get my hands on all hoping this void would be filled. I went to White Elephant parties (where my gift was literally a white elephant), I sang Christmas carols. Heck, Brian and I even organized the Christmas program for our church's party. 

And let's not even talk about how much money we spent on Christmas lights this year. The sad part is, we didn't have some out-of-this-world light display. Munch the pooch kept being naughty and chewing through extension cords. Let's just say Brian and our dog didn't have the most cheery relationship through the month of December. 

Anyway, I kept getting frustrated that I had this empty feeling during the holidays. Who was I? Scrooge?! The Grinch?!

I kept blaming it on the fact that we had no snow. Christmas just isn't Christmas for me if it's not a White Christmas. It's easy to blame things on the weather. But I think the void was actually there because I needed an attitude adjustment. 

While the presents, and the lights and the snow are fun bonuses to Christmas, I think I kept forgetting the simple truth behind this special time of year. When you take all the chaos, food, parties, and glitter away, Christmas is really about a baby. He was sent here for us because God loves us. That baby, born in the most humble of circumstances, grew up to be a very brave man. He's the man who suffered and died for me so that I might overcome my faults and insecurities. He lived a life where He was often lonely, and He made that sacrifice so that I never have to feel alone. For that, I am very grateful. I know I said this post is just about Christmas, but let's delve into the new year a little bit. In 2015, I'm looking forward to strengthening my relationship with Christ and being able to understand my eldest brother a little better. I'm so very grateful for His life and example.

Now I know I really just needed to adjust my focus during the holidays, but I also knew a little snow would help my attitude. Christmas morning, I woke up to find my wild dreams came true. We fell asleep on Christmas Eve to dead, brown grass. We woke up Christmas morning to a thick and pure blanket of snow. That experience will make this Christmas one I will never forget. I didn't really want any presents this year . . . just some magical snow. God delivered!   

And I know I'm late to the party . . . . but here's the Weller Christmas card if you missed it: 

Are we hip or what? 

XO

Hoarding Gourds

Brian and I like holidays a little too much. Especially Halloween. We currently have a graveyard in our lawn, a skeleton sitting near our front door, and a glass bowl full of skulls on our dining room table. Oh, there's also a giant spider hanging from the ceiling above the dining room table.

Needless to say, our trip to the pumpkin patch was sort of intense this year. Our poor friends we recruited to go with us probably think we are a couple of crazies, but they keep agreeing to hang out with us, so we must not be that bad.

We've lived in our bungalow for a year now. A YEAR. My, time flies. We moved in last October, so we didn't get to deck the halls for Hallow's Eve as much as we would have liked. This year we are making up for it. Last year we managed to buy a few pumpkins, but they looked rather pathetic sitting in the corner of our very large deck. So this year . . . we were ready. We were prepared to buy ALL the pumpkins. We piled big ones, small ones, warty ones, smooth ones, green ones, orange ones, and white ones into the back of the pickup truck. 

Then when we got them all home and arranged them very nicely on the deck, Brian and I both agreed we needed more pumpkins. But we refrained because we aren't millionaires. I'm certain that's what millionaires blow their money on too; pickup loads of gourds.

Anyway, I look forward to our pumpkin patch trip each year. I'm really quite sad October is about over. Just this morning as I was drinking my orange juice, I got rather depressed when I saw the sell by date was in January. January is a sign that all the best holidays have ended. So let us all learn a lesson from my Simply Orange Juice. Time is valuable and life is short. Take some time to celebrate the everyday moments with friends and family. Especially if those everyday moments have anything to do with Halloween. Who knew I'd learn something so profound from a fruity beverage?    

Sunday Best: Fancy Pajamas

jacket: Forever 21, top: Violet Hill Boutique, pants: Bella Me, sandals: Target, necklace: Nordstrom

My husband did not approve of me buying these pants. I came out of the dressing room wearing a smile and the pants, and what did BWell say?

"They look kinda like fancy pajamas."

I don't see how that's a bad thing though. I wish I could wear fancy pajamas all the days.

Shout out to moms and women everywhere on this fine Mother's Day. I'm so grateful for the gals in my life who have been nurturers, supporters, givers of light, and positive influences. There are so many of you. I am especially grateful for my own mother, a lady who I'm happy to say has always been one of my very best friends. We as women have so much power to bring beauty and goodness into the world. I thank all women who have been living examples of that for me.

Best friends since 1990. Love you, Mom.  

Bear Necessities

My main squeeze turned twenty-six on Tuesday. We gorged ourselves on too much food, and I surprised Brian with a chessboard and tickets to a OneRepublic concert.

I found this at Global Village. It's the cutest nonprofit shop here in Logan that supports struggling artisans in developing countries by selling their fairly-traded handicrafts.

Throughout the entire day, I took the liberty of posting bear pictures on BWell's Facebook page to wish him a happy birthday. I even got some other people to join in on the Facebook fun. There isn't even a story behind the bear thing. It just sort of sporadically happened.

Then Brian ended the day by succumbing to the bear madness.

Brian, you're the Baloo to my "Jungle Book". We all know he's the best character. I'm so glad I get to grow old with you. We even have a chessboard now so we're all set. Retirement home, here we come.

Aint No Party Like a Halloween Party

Brian and I have put on a Halloween party for the past three years (so basically every Halloween we've ever been married). One ridiculous thing I really love about our marriage is the fact that both of us have this yearning for being party planners. We are both all about inviting people over and making sure they have a good time. We have a ways to go until we are pros at throwing parties, but I must say that this year's Halloween party was the best yet. It helps when you have great friends to make it fun. I've decided it also helps when you live in a house and not an apartment. Our bungalow has a really good setup for parties. Big open living room connected to a big open dining room. Expect plenty of parties in the future. On top of that, I read that according to a study, when a group of people were put in a yellow room together, they were more boisterous and ate more food. Yellow is the party color. Our living room ceiling . . . bright yellow. Score.

The magical part about this party, was that hardly any of the couples knew one another. They were all our friends but not friends with each another. However, by the end of the night, I think everyone knew more than they wanted to know about the other couples.

Here is a rundown of our successful party.

We invited every couple to bring a treat or drink of some kind. We made an event on Facebook so people could notify everyone what they would bring. That way we wouldn't all show up with drinks.

I made chocolate covered strawberry . . . creatures. They were originally supposed to be ghosts, but things went south.

The treats were great because as everyone started arriving, they could grab a plate of food, sit down and get to know other couples.

Once everyone got their fill of food and most of our friends had arrived, we played our first game. Truth or Dare Jenga. We took the classic game of Jenga and numbered all the blocks. Since there are about 53 blocks, we didn't actually think of truths and dares for all of them but we did for a little over half. There were things connected to the blocks such as, "tell us how you make a PB&J sandwich using a Dracula accent", "stare at the person across from you for a full minute", "eat a spoonful of mustard", "what's something disturbing about yourself that no one else knows". Just dumb stuff like that. If a person pulled a block with no truth or dare, they were off the hook. We didn't really have a punishment for what happened to the person who knocked down the blocks, so at last minute we decided that person would have to kiss Luna (our cat). It was a fun game to start on and got people laughing.

Then we played the Newlywed Game - Halloween Edition. This game was hilarious. Some of the questions were slightly off-colored which made it funnier. And hey, all the couples there but one were married. The unmarried couple were super good sports about it. This game lasted a long time since we did a round with the ladies and a round with the men, but I don't think anyone ever got bored.

I'd say the Weller Halloween Party of 2013 was a success. Come over again soon, friends. We also requested that everyone wear costumes. We should have done a costume contest because look how grand everyone looked . . .

After much debating this year, BWell and I decided on Mario and Luigi costumes. We made our hats and found shirts and suspenders for cheap. The stick-on mustaches were a fun touch, though it was hard to smile and my upper lip got sweaty. Overall, a super easy costume. To be a bit more original, we made Mario Kart cars out of cardboard. Brian got all technical and made a wooden base with handles on the inside. Since he worked so hard on them, I now feel like I need to keep them forever? 

Dear Halloween, you're almost as good as Christmas. Catch you next year.