Randomness.

Melissa of My Soul is the Sky tagged me in this fun quiz/questionnaire thing! Learn a little bit more about me, then go check out Melissa's post! And I'll tag a few people to keep this going! 

#1. What's a nickname only your family calls you?

Ems? I don't really have many nicknames...some that only Race calls me are EmFish, EmSquishy, and lots of other weird things like that. Haha. 

#2. What's a weird habit of yours?

Whenever I wake up and Race is not next to me I call him. No matter where he is and despite the fact that I'm never fully awake. The conversations always last about thirty seconds and I say weird things. Maybe I'll have Race post about some of these conversations sometime. Haha.

#3. Do you have any weird phobias?

Driving in our crazy busy small town. And driving in weird weather conditions.

#4. What's a song you secretly LOVE to blast & belt out when you're alone?

Enrique Iglesias Heroe {Spanish version!}

#5. What's one of your biggest pet peeves?

When people browse movies on Netflix or Redbox for FOREVER but never settle on anything to watch! I'm all about picking something fast, seeing if it's any good, and then changing my mind if it's not. I don't understand browsing. Haha. 

#6. What's one of your nervous habits?

 I play with my ears when I'm nervous. {And random other times as well. I always say this phrase to Race "My ears are the perfect temperature right now!" And he says it makes no sense but to me it really does.}

#7. What side of the bed do you sleep on?

If I'm standing at the end of the bed it would be the right side. Does that make sense? {For some reason whenever we're out of town Race and I switch which side of the bed we normally sleep on.}

#8. What was your first stuffed animal & it's name?

I don't remember stuffed animals but my mom made me a doll for my first Christmas and I have had that for forever. I actually never named her though..Hmm...

#9. What's the drink you ALWAYS order at starbucks?

Strawberries & Creme frapuccino! Mmmm! 

#10. What's the beauty rule you preach.. but never ACTUALLY practice?

I don't think I preach any beauty rules...You should all preach some to me though!! 

#11. Which way do you face in the shower?

I face away from the shower head most of the time. 

#12. Do you have any 'weird' body 'skills'?

I can lick my elbow. Booyah! 

#13. What's your favorite 'comfort food'/food thats 'bad' but you love to eat it anyways?

Rice Krispie treats! Or Cool Ranch Doritos!

#14. What's a phrase or exclamation you always say?

"Bum squeezes!" {Race and I have this rule where if one of us says that the other must oblige. Haha. Awkward...maybe? But we like it!}

#15. Time to sleep- what are you ACTUALLY wearing?

Plaid red PJ pants and a t-shirt.

Now I want to tag these fun ladies!

Mia of Color it Mia

Ali of Our Happily Ever After

Brooke of Silver Lining

and

Siri of Of Pumpkins Thieves and Buffalo Wings

Before you go check out this fun panel I made to help support the end of AIDS!

Head on over here to make your own panel and support the beginning of the END of AIDS! 

And head on over to Elisabeth's blog to read a little bit more about this!

P.S. Today I'm grateful for a cute husband who had hot water ready for me to make hot chocolate with the second I walked in from the freezing cold snow after class! {I know it's not November anymore but he's awesome so I'm still grateful for him!}

Oh Christmas Tree! {Two Years}

I wasn't into blogging much at all last year so I didn't post pictures of our Christmas tree. So I figured I would put some of those up before putting up pictures of this year's tree!

Enjoy one of my favorite non-traditional Christmas songs while you enjoy a little bit of a picture overload!! 

December 2010 

{Our first Christmas together}

Now on to this year's Christmas tree decorating adventures! 

I LOVE this time of year! :]

And I love our new camera! I am still not very good at taking pictures but Race is having tons of fun with it! {It was more for him than anything!} 

We have a couple of traditions for decorating our tree {and I know you all want to hear all about them so here goes!}:

1. We buy/make one new ornament per year. 

2. We always put the star on last. 

3. We always listen to Christmas music on the record player. 

&

4. We always take lots of pictures!

What are some of your Christmas-tree-decorating traditions?

And do you have a favorite ornament? 

P.S. I used MyMemories Scrapbook Software for all the collages above and you can still use the coupon code from this post to get some awesome deals! Check 'em out! 

Happy December Everyone!! 

Sierra Trading Post Coupons

Pretty Pretty Pictures

We just got our pictures back from our photo shoot with Lauren of Busy Bee Lauren that we did a month or so ago and I've been LOVING looking through them! :] So I thought I'd better share some of them on the blog! Also, if any of you need photos for any event you should definitely contact Lauren! She is very talented!

We did these pictures for our anniversary {kinda} and are really loving how they turned out. 

Being in love and being married is so much fun!
And I'll end this post with some major catch-up on the many things that I am grateful for this month!

11.23.11 I am grateful for fun surprises. Life always has little surprises and Wednesday was full of them! It was a good day! :]

11.24.11 I am grateful for Thanksgiving! It is seriously one of the best holidays and it is always so filled with love and gratitude. And good food of course!
11.25.11 I am grateful for Black Friday deals! {And that Race didn't get trampled while he was getting our brand new camera!}

11.26.11 I am grateful for naps. I took TONS of naps this weekend and it. was. wonderful! 

11.27.11 I am grateful for a car that gets us safely to and from our families' houses. 

11.28.11 I am grateful for a cute husband who I get to cuddle with all the time. He makes me super happy. Seriously, finding the little things that I am grateful for each day has made me realize how lucky I am to be married to such a wonderful man{child}!
11.29.11 I am grateful for our Christmas tree! {Pictures to come!}
11.30.11 I am grateful for the example that my husband is to me. :]

What are you grateful for today? 

And what do you think about getting pictures taken every year for your anniversary? 

{I am not sure if we'll carry on this tradition but it was definitely fun to do it this year!}

I am Back! {Weekend in Photos}

There is so much I need to catch up on but it will stress me out if I try to get it all out in one post. So I just wanted to say that I'm back for real now! Thanksgiving weekend was absolutely wonderful! We loved spending time with both of our families and getting lots of rest! Here are some pictures!!

Oh, Race and I got a Canon Rebel T3 on Black Friday so we've been loving taking pictures with it! Race is way better at getting good pictures than I am but I'm still having lots of fun with it!

Baby Edmond in his cute plaid shirt. 

Cute nieces playing in the "castle" at Gram and Granddad's.

Shooting guns!

My hair from this tutorial. {It looked cooler in real life}

Thanksgiving day outfit.

{Breakdown: Shirt-Delia's $14, Skirt-Forever21 $6.50, Tights-borrowed.}

Twins. {Photo Credit to my brother Enoch I believe.} 

These boys were feeling sick so they cuddled up together and fell asleep. How cute is that?! 

This is my face at one in the morning. No makeup. Exhausted. And deathly white.

My sister might kill me for this but I think she's super cute! 

My sister-in-law Anetta and I.

The whole family! Only half of us were ready for this picture!

Jack & Madison. So cute! 

Madison makes the cutest faces! 

Grandma Georgia.

Cute cousin Hattie!

Ivy and her famous glare! {She does this on command! How funny is that!}

Tuck's awesome profile. 

Cute baby Madison and her faces again. :]

{Diaper changes are lots of fun!}

Ivy and her Granny Jo!

Some of our Christmas decorations! 

{Hopefully the tree is coming soon!}

How was your holiday weekend?! Did you brave Black Friday and get anything exciting?

Major Catch-up! {Weekend.Gratitude.}

I've been missing for a while now! I've been playing catch-up in school and now it's time to play catch-up on the blog!

First I'll update you all on my wonderful weekend! Friday was my youngest brother's birthday! He turned 12. I called him that morning to wish him a happy birthday and then I got 'roped into' visiting my family. I wasn't really roped into it though. My brother mentioned it and I knew that it would mean a lot to him if I came so I threw some stuff together and headed down to the valley. Unfortunately Race didn't get to come with me because we also had family coming to visit us in Flagstaff.

Friday night we celebrated my brother's 12th birthday and it was lots of fun. ALL of my siblings {except for my brother who is on a mission} were there with their spouses and cute babies. We ate yummy food, opened presents, ate delicious yogurt pie, and just enjoyed each others' company. It was a perfect evening.

Saturday was spent thrift shopping, getting some Christmas shopping done, and hanging out with family some more. I got to see my brother and sister-in-law's new house and it made me SUPER house hungry! I didn't even know that "house hunger" existed! But now I can't wait to get into a real home someday!

Sunday was spent going to church, hanging out with one of my cute nephews in the hallway, and being in the room while my brother received the Aaronic Priesthood. The Spirit in the room was AMAZING. And it is so crazy to think that Solomon was the last of the eight Olmstead boys to receive the priesthood! Sunday was a good day. :] It was followed by making pizzas for dinner and then driving back up to Flagstaff.

The weekend was a lot of fun but I really missed Race and he really missed me. It was funny because normally he does okay if I am gone for a couple of days but this time around he called me and left cute messages where he just kept saying how much he missed me and kept asking when I was going to be home. It was funny. I was so excited to see him and Sunday evening was spent enjoying lots of snuggles!

The birthday boy!

Edmond makes cute faces {when he's getting his diaper changed}!

Helena and I like to cuddle on the couch. Even when no one else is on it with us. 

Now for some things that I've been grateful for recently:

11.17.11 Sisters & Sisters-in-law

11.18.11 Celebrations with the family! {Birthdays, holidays, anniversaries, etc.}

11.19.11 Thrifting! I haven't been thrifting in a long time {especially since Flagstaff's thrift stores are kind of expensive and they don't have sales very often} so it was fun to go with my mum and sister-in-law for a little bit. My mom bought me a skirt and two shirts! For under $10! It was fun! 

11.20.11 I am so grateful for my brothers and their willingness to live righteously so that they can hold the Priesthood. It was amazing cramming my family in a little tiny room while my dad gave my brother the Priesthood. 

11.21.11 I am grateful for surprise date nights from my husband. We went and saw Breaking Dawn after making ourselves some dinner at home. This was the first time I had been to the movies in a while and I had forgotten how fun it is to cuddle up in a dark movie theater, eat some popcorn, talk about the previews, and giggle about silly things in the movie. It was also fun to play each other in Scrabble on my phone before the movie started! I was totally beating Race. :] Otherwise I might not have mentioned how fun it was to play! 

11.22.11 Today I am grateful that I got two tests out of the way! 

How were all of your weekends? What did you do? And what are you grateful for today? 

Guest Post: Brooke of Silver Lining

I'm super excited to introduce you to Brooke of Silver Lining! I posted on her blog last week {check it out here} and now she's taking over my blog! Brooke is awesome! Her blog is all about finding the silver lining in everything that she does and let me tell you--she's a pro at it! So go and check it out after you read her amazing post here! {I didn't give her any direction or ideas for this post but she came up with something AWESOME!} 


READ ON!


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Hey there!

I'm Brooke. I blog over at Silver Lining. Emma asked me to guest post today {yes, ok, fine, if you insist, just to be gracious, not like I'm super honored or anything}. I'd love to ramble on and on in this post about my everyday life, being a newlywed, and the small things that make life so full of silver linings.

But I do that all the time at my blog. Instead, I thought I'd be concise today. So I'm doing 6-word memoirs.

Have you guys heard of six-word memoirs? 

Basically, Ernest Hemingway was once asked to write a six-word short story. This is what he came up with:

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.

Stories don't have to be long. They don't have to be fancy or filled with big words. Either do blog posts. So here are some 6-word memoirs I came up with on the spot. Enjoy!

Me:

One cavity, one speeding ticket, summer freckles.

Husband:

Saving the world with hand-eye coordination.

Us:

Snuggling trumps to-do lists, no exceptions.

Our big day:

His black tux- something important happened?

Currently thinking:

Keep blogging or vacuum hairy spider?

And:

Elephant paradise involves antiquity and talcum.

And:

My bangs are growing out awkwardly.

Okay, I better stop before I get carried away with this :) Now it's your turn! Make up a 6-word memoir. The first thing that comes to mind. I dare you! Leave it in a comment, or else hop on over to my blog and tell me your memoir.

Thank you so much Emma for letting me invade your adorable blog! 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Brooke just seriously wowed me! I LOVE these six-word memoirs. But let's be honest, I haven't written one yet because I'm afraid it will suck. Brooke wrote so many wonderful ones though! I guess I can give it a try! 


Here goes {on what I'm doing RIGHT now}:
Christmas music fills me with joy.
No snuggle time- UGH video games! {Haha}
Nap time ruined my bedtime. Oops!


Well, there are a few for you! Now give it a go and then head over and check out Brooke's wonderful blog! {And share your six-word memoirs with her!}


Thanks for guest posting Brooke!!


P.S. Today I am grateful for WORDS. It's amazing what we can 
use our words for and how other peoples' words can change our lives. 


P.P.S. Check out my new blog button over to your right! 
It was made by Daryl of Roots, Wings, and Other Things. 
She is amazing at all things Blog Designing so you should check her out!

Fashion Guest Post: Autumn

I'm excited to have Autumn of Stay gold, Autumn posting on my blog today! Autumn is one of my swap sponsors and she is one of my wonderful blog friends! I absolutely adore her clothes, she takes gorgeous pictures, and her words are always inspiring. You can see her blog here, her button to your right, and another guest post by her here! Have fun viewing Autumn's very first {I'm pretty sure} outfit post!

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Emma always has the cutest outfits and so I decided to try my hand at my very first fashion post.

 Cardigan - Macey's

Blue shirt - Sam's Club

Gray under shirt - Bella Bird at Walmart

Blue jeans - Levi's 524 skinny cut

Shoes - Walmart...from high school 

Headband - Provo farmer's market 

Belt - random store in Arkansas

Coat....yeah, I should have been wearing one.

Since beginning teaching I have found myself in a rut with my hair and clothes; this rut is called having to leave our apartment at 6:50 AM for work. Until I began blogging I thought people were born with innate talents of mixing and matching clothes.  What am I realizing?  Like every talent, some people are naturals, but we all have to practice.  For me?  I didn't really start practicing until I came to BYU. Someone once told me with my body type I shouldn't wear an empire waist anything- that person was silly and I have a beautiful empire-waist cut wedding dress in my closet.  Someone else once told me cargo pants would be slimming on me in middle school....what?! What I do know?  I try on a lot of different types of clothes and I'm often surprised at how they fit or lay.  I know that I often try a little too hard to blend in, but at the end of the day?  My husband thinks I'm pretty and that's really all that matters.

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I LOVE her outfit! Don't you?! And I agree that in the end if my husband thinks I'm pretty it really doesn't matter if I blend in. I love that! Thank you for this wonderful post Autumn! Can I borrow your outfit?!

P.S. Today I am grateful that I am more than halfway done with this semester. And way more than halfway done with college! One and a half more semesters!!