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. 

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

Truth Tuesday

Who's feelin' a Truth Tuesday post? I'm feelin' it. Here goes. A few quick truths for your Tuesday night, brought to you by Kelsey.

• Brian spent the last hour and a half in our garage, building the scene for our trunk-or-treat. Why can't we just put a bowl of candy in our trunk and call it good? I don't really know the answer to that question. But I do know that if everything goes according to plan, we will have the coolest trunk-or-treat vehicle in town. 

• This past weekend, I had a double date planned with my sixteen-year-old sister. We were going to a haunted house. I was abnormally excited all day leading up to the date. I think a part of me felt like a young high school kid again since we were going to hang out with young high school kids. When we arrived to the haunted house and got in line, I felt all cool and hip being the big sister doubling with her high school sister. But all the coolness instantly went away when a lady mistook me and Brian for Lexi and her date's parents. Do I really look old enough to have a sixteen year old?! 

• This past Sunday, I had a big bowl of Halloween candy for the kids. After church ended, I gathered my things from the Primary room (including my big bowl of candy) and went to find Brian. Sidenote: We have a lot of old people in our ward and they are all adorable. Anyway, an older lady wanted a piece of candy and I was like, "Sure, take whatever you want!" Then I instantly had this long line of old people. They were just grabbing candy bars and then thanking me and telling me how thoughtful I was. I realized suddenly that I was standing right by the door. I think they assumed I was just passing out candy to ward members (and that's kinda what it turned into). In the moment, I found it a lot funnier than it probably is. But I seriously lost it when we got outside to the parking lot. We are talking crying from laughing so hard. I hope they don't expect me to bring them candy every week now. 

• Same day of church in Primary, a boy requested that we sing Super Mario Brothers. The chorister was all, "Sorry, that's not a church song." But I was just all perplexed and wanted to ask him, "How in the world do you sing Super Mario Brothers? 

• Remember how years and years ago, women were banished when they had their period? Well, sometimes I don't think I would mind that. As long as banishment involved a sofa, ice cream, and lots of good movies.

• I already have our Halloween costumes for next year planned. I'm feeling like an overachiever. Or maybe just a psycho.    

And just for fun, here are some photos of Halloween looks from the recent past:

Truth Tuesday

• When you pull into our driveway, it smells like apple cider. Our kitchen counter is currently covered with apples. I love having an apple tree (one that's very good at doing it's job, btw). Send me all your apple recipes. I'll send you apples in return. 

• Brian and I are already in full-out Halloween mode. We have serious discussions each night about our super epic Couples Halloween Party. This will be the fourth year we've held the party. I sent out Facebook invites and so far only two people have responded that they are coming . . . and those two people are me and Brian. I'm having major panic attacks. So help relieve some stress in my life and respond to my party invite. Even if you say no, that's okay. But say yes! Because it's going to be super fun. And if you want to come but don't have an invite, heck, come anyway. We aren't the exclusive type. In the meantime, while I wait for you to RSVP, BWell will continue to tell me to simmer down because it's only the beginning of October. 

• On the topic of Halloween, we bought a skeleton and spent way too much money on him. I think we may leave him up all year to get our money's worth. We're already way too attached and gave him the name of Eugene. 

• I like to tell myself that I could care less what anyone thinks of me. And when it comes to my hair and dress, that might be true. However, when it really comes down to it, and I absolutely hate admitting this about myself, I am constantly worrying what others think of me. I'm an over-analyzer (duh, I'm female). I sit and fret after I run into someone in the store thinking, "Did I say the right thing? Was I friendly enough? What if they think I'm rude? What if they think I'm weird? Do they hate me? Did I come across as snooty?" I think we all, in a way, want everyone to like us. Right? I am a people-pleaser. It's one of my many downfalls. So while I try putting on a front that I'm a bold and brave individual who is not swayed by the opinions of others, I'm actually this timid girl who just wants to be liked by all, even sometimes at the expense of not liking myself. However, every day I get a little bit more secure with myself and who I am, and I realize a little bit more that it's okay if everyone doesn't like me. People won't like me. It's a fact of life. So I guess it's more important that I focus on liking myself and the person I am. It's a journey, but I think I'm making progress. 

• I like vegetables more than I like fruits. 

• I'm really struggling at getting up in the mornings. I used to be like the Energizer Bunny. When my alarm went off, I'd instantly pop up out of bed, ready to start the day. Now I hit snooze one too many times and dread coming out from under the covers. It's a bad deal too, because I like to work out in the mornings before work. If you have any suggestions for this sleepyhead, send them my way. I'll try anything.   

• I think I like listening more than I like talking. And I'm okay with that. Honestly, I feel like there are too many talkers in the world and not enough good listeners. Being a good listener is like a forgotten art. I have a very long list of things I'm bad at. However, I think I'm a pretty good listener. It's one of the things I like about myself the most. 

I think that's enough silly truths for now. I need to go to bed so I can (hopefully) get up early.

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. 

   

Truth Tuesday

Oh, just me being all American Girl on July 4th. 

• I suck at blogging nowadays. If you haven't noticed. But I made a new header and other shenanigans and I really like it. So that's nice.  

• For some reason, I always go in a panic after the 4th of July passes. It seems like the summer always whizzes by after Independence Day, so I start going bonkers thinking of all the things I need to accomplish before summer ends. Some things on the list are: float the river, go camping, go on a horse ride, put lights up on our patio, make it to a carnival, and play night games. What's left on your summer list? 

• Our 4th of July was excellent. We were in a parade for BWell's business. Check out our awesome float here. Then we had a barbecue with Brian's family. Both his sister from Baltimore and brother from the Bay Area were here with their families so it was exciting to spend time with them. We also cooled off in the water during the hot afternoon hours. The night was completed by watching the fireworks explode over the lake while we were all on the boat. I captured the grand finale on my phone, so check it out! 

• Speaking of video on Instagram, how does everyone feel about that? I was pretty thrilled because this means now I can delete my Vine. At the same time though, watching short, jumpy, out-of-focus videos kinda makes me nauseous.

• I'm working on a story about student loan rates doubling and how this will impact students in our area. As I was looking up things online, I ran across so many things where Republicans were blaming the Democrats and the Democrats said it was the Republicans fault. And honestly, it all just sort of ticked me off. I don't care whose fault it is, just try to work together for ten freaking seconds and fix the problem. I know, I know, if I think I'm so smart then maybe I should run for office. My point here is basically that I think political parties are a horrible idea. If anything, I feel they just divide our country. I'm not a Democrat. I'm not a Republican. I'm an American, dang it. 

• On Friday night, we were in Idaho at my parents' house and there were tornado warnings. I guess there's a first for everything. Needless to say, we didn't need to bunker down but there were tons of "Wizard of Oz" jokes floating around. The storm did ruin our plans of sleeping on the trampoline though. Instead we took advantage of the storm by staying up late to watch The Ring and we ate tons of popcorn.

• My brother leaves on his mission at the end of this month. I'm going to have an anxiety attack. 

• My boss found this gem of a video today and I about fell over with laughter. Those poor children. Can I get a dinosaur costume like this somewhere? Talk about the best Halloween costume ever.  

That's all I've got. Happy Tuesday, friends!

Reeder Family Christmas Party 2012

The Reeder Family Christmas Party is always a night of joyous entertainment. It never fails me and I look forward to it every December. The Reeders would be my mom's side of the family.

We always have a fantastic dinner (this year was no different). After stuffing ourselves full of food and treats, we all sit in a food coma and enjoy the grandchild talent show. This gives each grandchild the opportunity to showcase their mad skills in something. This year's show was full of piano and string performances by various kids of various ages, a magic trick, and even a xylophone duet. As the eldest grandchild, I even continued to join in on the tradition. Brian helped. He played The First Noel on his guitar and we sang together. We discovered it is difficult to sing after consuming mounds of prime rib, so don't try it.

After the talent show ends, we shoo away this younger children and do my most favorite thing, the white elephant gift exchange. The Reeders are very creative people, so we always end up with some hilarious gifts. The gift I opened was a toilet plunger, rolls of toilet paper, and there were some weird gooey nut things covering the end of the plunger (only they totally didn't look like nuts). Luckily, I got rid of the plunger and after the game ended, I was left with a giant bag of rubber duck bills. . .

You better believe a good prank will come out of all those duck bills. Just you wait.

Uncle Kevin ended up with our giant mu mu (he wears it nicely) and my cousin Lottie ended up with a huge golden Buddha statue we also brought.

After white elephants, we all get our gifts from "Santa" aka my grandparents. The best part of this was quite possibly when a gift for Luna was pulled out of the bag. . .

That's right, my grandma got Luna a Santa hat cat house. And my little cousin got a toy guitar and went all Slash on us. She showed me just how to party like a rockstar (and also requested I take about twenty pictures of her).

Another wonderful thing about this year's party is that our family friend, Feyisa honored us all with his presence. When my mom and I went to Ethiopia a few years back, we made great friends with Feyisa. Now, Feyisa is living in Utah and going to school. How great is that?! All of the grandkids were stoked to see Feyisa and  a few demanded they get a group picture with him.

 
Thanks fam damily. It's always a good time. I can hardly wait for next year's party.

Bride-to-"Bee"

My bff, Shay Baybay (aka Shayla) is getting married A WEEK FROM TOMORROW!! Talk about exciting. I recently threw her a bridal shower and it was seriously a delight for me. I have this little obsession with planning parties. I get a lot of joy out of it. Anyway, after making all the invitations by hand (not my best idea ever) I got to work on planning all the little party details.

I went with a honey theme. The theme was pretty loose though. I mean, we're celebrating the marriage of a woman in her twenties, not a birthday party for a six year old. On the invitations I put something about Shayla finding her "honey" and to come celebrate the "bride-to-bee". Cheesy, but it worked.

I decided to decorate with a rosy pink and accent with golds. I followed this tutorial for the fabric tassel garland. It was so much fun to make, pretty easy, but it did take more time than I initially thought it would. I love it though and will probably keep it to hang in our spare room.

For the treat table centerpiece, I took some empty honey bear bottles and spray painted them gold. Super easy. I then used them to display flowers. I love these little bears. I may just have to place some poinsettias in them soon. Christmas bears? I think yes.

For the treats, I decided to put them out on a variety of floral vintage plates. I think it really dressed up the treats. Even the teddy grahams looked fancy! I made red velvet cupcakes and then the rest of the treats sort of went with the honey theme. There were cinnamon bears, teddy grahams, and Bit-O-Honey. I also made honey and nutella rice crispy treats (recipe found here). It's the easiest recipe ever and since I love nutella, I'm definitely a fan. I've made them a couple times since the shower, in fact. Brian was also kind enough to whip up some delectable punch. I failed to take a picture of his talent though. I think he was busy making it when I snapped the other pictures.

We played a few simple games that I think everyone enjoyed. On the invites, I asked everyone to bring a pair of panties that displayed their own style or personality for the bride. I then hung all the panties up with numbers attached. It was then Shayla's job to guess who brought which pair. We got plenty of laughs out of this game. Especially when it came time for Shay to guess who brought #3 grandma underwear.

I also wrote up a quiz for the guests to take. All the questions had to do with Jace (the groom) and Shayla's relationship. Those who scored the highest on the quiz received Burt's Bees products (again, the honey theme).

Then we played the classic bubble gum game. You know, where I ask Jace a million weird questions and Shayla then has to guess what Jace's answers were. If she guesses wrong, she has to chew a piece of bubble gum. I decided to really bring the game to life though and I interviewed Jace on camera. Then I made a little video out of it. I would hit pause when we came to the question, Shay would answer, then I would push play and we would see what Jace actually answered. This was fun because I felt like it gave some girls who didn't know Jace a chance to see what he's like. I asked all kinds of questions too. Some were normal like, "What's Jace's favorite movie?". Some were totally off the wall like, "If Shayla made you wear an article of her clothing, what would it be?" The crazy questions were definitely more entertaining. . .and they are more likely to make the bride's wad of bubble gum a lot bigger. Don't worry, I rewarded Shayla with a big jar of honey for letting us pick on her through the course of this game.

I can't wait for Shayla's wedding. She is going to be one lovely bride and we are excited to have some more awesome married friends! I also made a little engagement video for the lovebirds. Hopefully after the wedding, I'll get around to sharing it on the blog. It was my first ever engagement video so I'm happy they let me use them as my guinea pigs. Love you, Shayla! And love you too, Jace. Welcome to the family.