Tea for Two

I love having short, short hair. Jonathan is found of my long hair. I decided to grow out my hair for Jonathan. I really have enjoyed it, but as the weather changed I too was ready for change. Last Wednesday, I decided to cut my hair. I asked the amazingly talented Christina, my sister, to see when she could cut my hair. I was shocked to find out that she would be able to do it the next day. I showed her the inspiration picture, and I'm not sure who was more excited out of the two of us. (She doesn't get the opportunity to cut that much hair at one time.) I almost couldn't sleep I was so excited! I decided that I would surprise Jonathan and not tell him that I was chopping off my hair. That made the change even more exciting for me. (Jonathan and I are rather predictable, so I don't mind giving him a few surprises!) The scissors came out and the hair fell quickly! It felt so good feeling all that hair go. I love love love having short hair again...

I had a plan for yesterday: run some errands, print out some pictures, have lunch with a friend, grill chicken for our dinner with the missionaries. Things quickly changed when Jonathan called in sick to work. He still made me go to lunch with my friend (I'm really glad that he did that). I also went to a store so we would have dessert for the missionaries. Then I came home feeling really tired (and paranoid that I'm getting sick too). After laying down, I focused on cleaning up our little apartment. I realized that I really didn't feel like defrosting chicken, so the menu quickly change and that was that. While I was vacuuming, I remembered that our lease was up at the end of the month. Jonathan ran down to the office to get our new contract and brought it to me to sign. (Thank goodness we remember important things while doing mundane tasks!) The dinner that we made was so much easier and still delicious. After the missionaries left, we had our typical Friday night....

I love stomping through puddles in my rain boots. Luckily, Garrett does too! A few weeks ago we found an awesome puddle by my parent's house and boy, did we have fun! Garrett liked having his car drive on the water. Then we found a worm. Garrett tried to kill it by stomping on it, but that worm was too tough for him.

Last month, my ward had an activity for the women to celebrate the Relief Society's 170th birthday. The Relief Society is the name of my church's woman's organization. It started out with only 20 members and has grown to more than 6 million women! I read  this  article about the Relief Society's birthday. Here's a few quotes that I really liked. It is appropriate to celebrate "the glorious heritage of Relief Society, which has ties back to the ancient Church during the time of Jesus Christ," Sister Julie B. Beck, Relief Society general president told the Church News. "This year marks 170 years since Relief Society was established in this dispensation. The sisters were given authority to preside over the unique work that would help build the kingdom of God and would make a significant contribution to the Lord's work of salvation. The purposes of Relief Society have remained constant through all time." "We truly are a society of women ...

My mom has a leadership position with our church. She is part of the Stake Primary presidency. She helps train the leaders over the children from the ages of 18 months to 12 years old in Roseville. She helps out with Cub Scouts for the boys from 8-11 and Activity Days for the girls 8-11. Once a year, the Stake Primary presidency has a special activity for all of the girls. One of the main goals is for the girls to realize that they are loved so much and are all special. I have been lucky enough to help with the last three and I have to say that they get better and better every year. This year the theme was "Choosing The Right To Your Happily Ever After". It was so amazing to see all the hard work that went into the activity and then the girls reaction. The night before Jonathan and I went to help set up the Cultural Hall for the activity. There were a few people at the church building and they thought we were setting up for a wedding reception. (Yeah, it looked that ...

These are two nightstands. The one on the left is mine and the one to the right is my dad's. We both have multiple books because we can't just read one at a time. Where's the fun in that? I hope that one day, I'll have a child who has a matching nightstand too.

On my actual birthday, we had our normal Sunday morning. Jonathan made us breakfast and then we went to church. I brought cupcakes for my class and they were so much more attentive during the lesson. I wonder if there is a connection there... After church, Jonathan made us lunch and I got a few more gifts (mostly books). We went to say goodbye to Hannah while she packed for her last semester in Idaho. Luckily, she'll be coming home for a visit in May and Jonathan & I will be in Idaho in June. It works out perfectly! Then we headed over to my parents' home for a family birthday dinner. Garrett provided us all with some good laughs and damaged ear drums (the kid screams like a girl). The angel food cake my mom baked was gone in 5 minutes and it was delicious! We ended up watching Cars and Garrett would yell truck every time a big truck was on. He's such a boy! Eventually it was bed time for Garrett and the rest of us. This was all that was left of the cake. It wa...

And I got to plan it! It was so fun! We had the entire Nelson family over for cake and it was great! I decided to leave up our Easter decorations and added some streamers to make it feel more like a party. I have been wanting to bake a cake from scratch for awhile, but I never had a reason to until my birthday, though Dad reminded me that you never really need a reason. It was so much better than my first layered cake. (It was totally falling apart.) This one turned out so much better (mostly because I actually let the cake cool down before I did anything else). It was so much fun to finally bake a real cake and have it look pretty too! We had a lot of fun just sitting and talking about so many different things. I never realized just how many times Thomas, my younger brother (ok technically Jonathan's  brother, but I don't have one), had been knocked out. After awhile, Mercedes was looking a little bored, so I showed her some fun things she could play with like pa...

Anyone who follows me on pinterest knows that I can't wait to start having a family. It's hard not to especially when I know at least 16 people who are either pregnant or had a baby this year (with 4 babies born during the last week of March alone). Though there are moments when I worry whether or not I am ready to be a mom, but then I just get excited all over again. I want to have the joy that my siblings have with their children. It's amazing to watch my nieces and nephews grow and mature and make good choices. I love going to baseball, basketball, and soccer games and see them succeed. I love watching Garrett and Seth be protective of baby Lyla. I can't wait to share this amazing world with my children. It's not all fun and games being a parent, but there are deffinate perks. I can't remember when I first saw this, but I wanted to share this story. As I wait at Target, a young couple pushes a stroller in the line behind me. The stroller, brand new, ap...

We are so lucky to have our families so close. Sometimes it gets a little tough with sharing holidays, but some how things work out. This is how our Easter went. We started out with a wonderful morning at church. The choir was so beautiful and the talks were wonderful. Something that a speaker shared was the various names and titles that Jesus has like Jehovah, Savior, and Redeemer. He shared a very well known scripture " Greater love has no one than  this, that one  lay down his life  for his  friends ." John 15:13. He made the connection that Jesus gave his life for us, his friends. I want Jesus to be my best friend! The Easter bunny really likes us!!! After Church, we headed over to my parent's house. Garrett looked incredibly handsome in his new Easter outfit. He loved playing outside, throwing Easter eggs and stomping on them. The missionaries came over and had dinner with us. It was really nice and easy going. We had to leave before Andy's family came, ...

Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the more commercial aspects of holidays. Bunnies, colorful eggs, yummy chocolate, and baby bunnies and ducks... none of those things add up to what the real celebration of Easter is all about. It is about the final days of Jesus Christ before His death and resurrection. Jesus gave us the Sacrament, so we would remember Him and be able to renew our covenants that we make at baptism. Later that same night, He went to the garden of Gethsemane and suffered unimaginable pain as He took my sins and your sins. He did it because He knew there was no other way to return to our Heavenly Father. Because of the atonement, we all can be made clean through repentance. After suffering for all of mankind, He was treated so badly, scoffed and scorned, and he never once complained. How often do we complain when we get cut off while driving or get upset when someone treats us poorly? Christ was treated...

Jonathan and I do! We were trying to decide what we wanted to do on Jonathan's day off during spring break. We thought about camping, but then I was worried about the weather. Then my dad had the idea of going down to San Jose to visit my brother's family. I asked Jonathan if he liked it and then plans were made! Almost there! My nephews didn't know that we were coming and woke up to a great surprise the next day seeing Jonathan and me on the bottom bunk! We slowly got up and then played on the trampoline with Tyler and Kyle for at least an hour and a half. Then we played some video games before meeting up with Andy at Apple for lunch. This was Jonathan's first time on Apple's campus. It was fun to be there and spend some time with Andy at work. It was so much fun to be around the boys and Lyla. I feel like they are my kids especially since they've been part of my life for so many years. I love them all so much and love spending time wi...