..what is santa bringing you?..

..so i've been getting asked that dreaded question, "what do you want for Christmas?" for a good solid month now. guess what?! i still have no idea. not a clue. i hate thinking of presents. i'm not good at it and i always end up asking for practical things like.......see i can't even think of a practical thing i need!! i don't know what to do..

..what are you asking santa for this Christmas? i need some ideas..STAT! speaking of stat why the heck hasn't grey's anatomy been on? it's killin' me..

..tis the season..

..to be BUSY! i can't believe how much is going on. i am amazed by those that handle the holidays with children. i can't wait for next week to get here and what will be even better is the week after. we're right in the middle of holiday/work/school chaos. so much to do and not nearly enough time to relax and enjoy. matt and i have had to be very thoughtful in our plans to make sure we take time for ourselves to do some of the holiday traditions we love..
..this week has been full of final projects, final papers, and final days of classes. i'm SO SO SO grateful i'm done with school but i'm starting to eat those words with the classes i teach. i started teaching at UVU this semester and even though i LOVE it i didn't expect it to be so time consuming. in my free time i've been grading papers non stop and next week it'll just be worse as the students turn in their final 5 page papers and portfolios. WHAT. WAS. I. THINKING. when i put together my syllabus?? i'll have to put together something less time consuming next semester..
..matt had his last day of classes at the U for his first semester there today. YAY! only 3 (maybe 4) semesters left. he "loves" the commute he gets to take three times a week. luckily next semester he doesn't have to go up there at all. thank heavens for ONLINE courses! next week he'll be plugging away at his finals. send positive vibes into the universe for him okay?..
..for now here's to low key nights at home..and boy meets world dvd's from netflix..

..BFF's 4-eVeR..LoL..

..so if you know me you know i am H.O.R.R.I.B.L.E. at keeping in close contact with friends and family. i'm just awful with it. i'm not sure why. not to make excuses but i always think that i need to have plenty of time to be able to sit and chat with them and i never seem to make that time. sad right? i'm pathetic. maybe i'll make it my new year's resolution? i don't know. anyway...every year around the holidays my dear dear childhood friend and college roommate heather comes into town from the great state of mississippi. her husband is in optometry school there so for now they live far far away. her and her adorable family ventured back out west right before thanksgiving and last night i was so kindly graced with her presence along with two of our other dear friends, michelle and bobbi. we all lived together once upon a time and some of my favorite memories are with them. this is the second year we've gone out to dinner at zupas and talked the evening away. even though this has become a once a year type thing-because you would think the three of us that live within an hour of each other could get together more often-it's something i really look forward to every holiday season. i love those girls and really enjoy hearing about the new things that are happening with them..
..it's amazing how fast time goes and how much can change and yet at the same time some things just never change. for example, i always cause us to start our evening late. usually i'm just running behind but this year i was 20 minutes early, sitting in a booth, waiting for everyone else. the only problem was that i was distracted and not paying attention to who was coming in and out of the restaurant. therefore these ladies were sitting at the front waiting for me while i was sitting in the back waiting for them. so just like usual i made our gathering begin a little later than it should. like i said...some things just don't change. but others change so quickly. for example, heather and bobbi both have not 1 but 2 babies, michelle has her little tanner who's allergic to peanuts (such a horrible allergy), i'm officially done with graduate school, and we've all moved what seems like forever away when we used to spend so much time together..
..one thing is for sure, although our location and lives change, our friendship won't. thanks for the wonderful evening out ladies! let's do it again soon. maybe we can turn it into a bi-annual thing and skype heather in?..

..of great gratitude..

..today is the day! the turkey..the pie..the family..the black friday preparations..what a wonderful way to spend the day! thanksgiving is always an eventful yet relaxing day. i love it! i love the month of november as people reflect on the things that bring them such joy. those moments of recognizing what means the most in life and how truly blessed we are. this year i have much to be thankful for. and even though i know i should do this more often i can't help but share the things that fill my heart with such gratitude.

1) my Savior, Jesus Christ and His gospel-i wouldn't have the peace and happiness that i do without Christ and His teachings. i'm so very thankful for the scriptures, a living prophet, the Temple, and the Holy Ghost. each of things help me live in a way that brings me closer to my Savior.

2) Matthew Ryan King- my dear sweet husband. i cannot comprehend life without that boy. no one makes me laugh harder, helps me to be my best self, work as hard, or even enjoy life the way he does. i couldn't ask for a more supportive and encouraging person to be my spouse. i love him more than i will ever be able to express.

3) family and friends- i have some of the very best family and friends. i am grateful that we live close enough that we are able to get together as often as we do. i am truly thankful for the encouragement and support that we've been given by our family and friends. it's such a relief and blessing to know that we have such remarkable people there if we need them and so quick to offer help in any circumstance.

4) our home-this year has been exciting as Matt has taken on a new job that requires us to live on site. it has come with it's share of challenges but the blessings of it outweigh them by far. i'm grateful for Matt's dedication and diligence to his work that provides us with an incredible place to live.

5) my job- i love my job. even the hard days where i would be okay if i never saw another student again. i love that i get to watch others progress, accomplish goals, learn from failures, and find friendships that will last a lifetime. i am blessed to work in a place where i am able to express my own creativity and push myself to new limits. i am also so grateful for the income that it provides to help support our family.

it's such a blessing to have a day once a year where it's socially acceptable to throw out to the universe what we're thankful and grateful for. if only i could be better about sharing those thoughts with the world more often. may your day be filled with gratitude and love (even during those crazy black friday moments when you want to punch someone in the face!). happy thanksgiving..

..blaaaaaaaahhhhh...

..i don't want to go back to real life tomorrow. i've LOVED my labor day weekend.. 

..tomorrow is a day full of catch up, check in, 102 tables of people to be taken care of, playing sophisticated a dinner, pro card statements, and so much more. i'm SO excited. i'm grateful for a job, especially one i love, but i could use an extra long week.. 

..what about you?..

..the perfect day for a wedding..

..congratulations to mr. and (the new) mrs. humphrey!..

..my cousin got married today and it was a beautiful day for a wedding! doesn't jess look gorgeous!?! the sealing was incredible. my uncle's dad is the Temple President of the Temple in the Philippines so he was able to perform jessica's sealing. it was so special. the Spirit was very strong and i'm so glad matt and i were able to attend. we were reminded of what a covenant means and how sacred it is, how we have the opportunity to begin making covenants at a very young age, and how blessed we are when we keep and honor those covenants. it was simple and absolutely beautiful..

..i loved watching josh and jess. they are absolutely twitter-patted over each other. they were all lovey dovey and kissey face. it was cute! it was also fun to watch my aunt. i love her. she is so fun, super down to earth, and so easy to talk to. it was great to watch her run around making sure everything was absolutely perfect for jess and then the occasional burst of tears was just classic. she reminds me a lot of my mother.  the whole day made me want to do the whole wedding thing again. as stressful as it seemed leading up to it, it was the BEST day and it was so much fun. i hope jess and josh always remember what THEIR day was like and what an exciting time of life it is..

..congratulations again! and welcome to the family josh..

..would you like a bean with that?..

..tonight we took emily to the buy bean museum. we may or may not have told her that it was literally a BEAN MUSEUM. it was awesome. like black beans, pinto beans, bean plants, big beans, little beans, asian beans, guatemalan beans, you name it..the bean museum has it. haha! it was hilarious. she was so confused when we walked in and shasta the liger was in the foyer. after the museum we introduced her to what we call deliciousness..otherwise known as a cherry dipped ice cream cone..

..ps-emily is matt's youngest sister. she's been staying with us for the last couple weeks while she's visiting from tennessee. it's like having our own teenage to get up and get us stuff. it's great..

..they're starting to move in..

..well, they're here. the students that we'll be working with this year have begun to move into their apartments. there are two cohorts in the program matt works with and the second year cohort started moving in yesterday. we have 15 second years and 21 first years on our floor. we're excited to get things going but i can't believe how quick time has gone by. i don't feel like we've lived here for a month now..
..to welcome our little buddies to their homes we decided to go around, introduce ourselves, and of course leave them with a treaty. what college student doesn't love free food? we figured that would be a good way to start things off. unfortunately, only ONE of the students was home when we went around. so we left FOURTEEN welcome packs on their doorsteps. good thing all the apartments are inside like a hotel and there aren't any random people living on our floor..

..the reflection in the mirror..

..this is how my husband makes me feel..

..i don't think i could be more blessed. i hope everyone has or will have someone that makes them feel that way..

..this comicstrip is compliments of shelby's blog via her brother's blog..

..wedding bells & a flat tire..

..today was GREAT. literally. i LOVE weddings. since matt and i got married i've become especially sensitive to the celebration of such a sacred unit. today we went to the sealing of two of my dear friends..brandon finch & his beautiful bride jessica jill jaynes. i grew up with brandon and went to college with jess so it was very exciting and special to see these two become one.. 

..it was beautiful wedding. the sealer talked about the importance of selflessness and companionship in a marriage and deep spiritual and temporal blessings that come with sacrifice. it was definitely a reminder i needed to hear. not that matt and i have any issues or problems, it's something to always work on. it was so fun to walk through the halls of the Temple and remember our sealing. it was the PERFECT day. i can remember everything so vividly. i'm thrilled for jessica and brandon. they are going to have a wonderful eternity..

..we also were able to go to another friend's reception tonight as well. it was in salt lake so while we waited for time to pass we went to lunch with my sister and her husband (HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRETT!!), saw transformers 3, visited with my mama, and bought 5 dads for $30 at f.y.e.'s discount sale. after that we made our way back to the deveroux mansion in slc-which is beautiful-for jayden and shelby's reception and then onto to pleasant grove for brandon and jessica's-their reception was straight from a fairytale. outside with big bulbed hanging lights, gorgeous flowers, and pictures galore. it was definitely a jessica jaynes event. i loved it.. 

..it was a wonderful day spent with the hubby. we haven't had one of those for quite some time. it was fun just to do whatever and celebrate with good friends. the only downer was the flat tire we got on the way to pleasant grove. but, even that wasn't horrible. in fact we were quite blessed in it happening when it did. it was right after we got off the freeway and main roads, next to a school parking lot, and seconds before a rain storm. plus we were prepared. for christmas we got a hydraulic jack, two weeks ago matt felt strongly impressed to get a new lug nut screwer offer thing-because i may or may not have driven away with our old one on the top of our car last time we got a flat, and we had a full sized spare in the trunk. so with those things in mind i can't really complain.. 

..overall, GREAT day..

..peace out girl scout..

..well, the deed is done! we finally finished moving and cleaning our old apartment. wahoo!! matt was recently hired as an RA for a leadership program at UVU and with that came a move. obviously he has to live on site and obviously i have to follow him so we packed up and moved out. and it is pure heaven. we L.O.V.E. our new apartment. we're on the top floor with high ceilings and huge windows. it totally beats living in a half basement apartment with no light, no air circulation, and no space. we truly have been blessed. it's all worked out perfectly. i'll have to write more about matt's new job and what he gets to do. he's really excited and i'm really proud of him for stepping out of his comfort zone and doing this.. 

..i guess with any new beginning there always has to be an ending to something else. now as much as i hated where we used to live it's a little strange to leave an experience that is so dear to my heart. our cruddy little one bedroom apartment is a place of many memories. it was the first place matt and i lived together. it was our first home. i remember when we first found it. we had been looking for a place to live for months and had become so frustrated. everything was either to expensive or what we considered to be unlivable conditions. and then with pretty much nothing in our bank accounts and a prayer in our hearts we found apartment 12. it wasn't horribly run down and the price wasn't bad. when we looked at the apartments available in the complex i remember walking into 12 and we both felt completely at peace there. of course because of the lack of funds though we left without signing the contract. we also wanted to make sure that was exactly where we were supposed to be. we got about 2 miles down state st. when we decided to pull into the parking lot of a country western clothing store. there we decided that was where we needed to be and did the math again to see if we could do the whole deposit/first month's rent thing. we had just enough so we turned around, signed the contract, and officially had our first apartment together as a married couple. given i did live there for 2 weeks before our wedding but we won't count that. 15 months later we were ready for a move and couldn't be happier. it's fun to look back though and think about all we did while living there. it's a place of many firsts. first boy roommate, first set of couches, first washer and dryer, first holiday decorations, first fight, etc. etc. it was also a place of prayer and faith. matt and i had our struggles of newlywed-hood in that apartment. struggles being financial, emotional, disagreements, you know..the usual. we set goals and made plans to accomplish things together in the walls of that apartment. we scrimped and saved to get little things and do big things. it was a place of service and love. some of my favorite memories are of us laying on the living room floor playing footsie while laughing and making up ridiculous names for our future babies. lots of memories. but like i said..to every new beginning is a simple ending and for us the door to apartment 12 is closed. but don't worry..the door to apartment 406 has opened and life is grand..

..just a little project..

..so back in the day, a month ago to be exact, our bed used to be parallel to our bedroom window but when we moved our new bedroom was set up where the bed had to go directly under the window. we don't have a headboard and so in the old apartment i hung one of those old vintage windows above our bed in place of a headboard..loved it. now with the window though i've had to come up with something else. a couple weeks ago i built and stained one and today i finally finished it. i was going for the vintage meets country chic meets cheap look. i guess it came out how i envisioned it in my head but i still can't decide if i like it...i feel like it's missing something. what do you think?..

..what's your favorite game?..

..howdy! howdy!..

..my friend shelby introduces me to a new blog, texas is for lovers, and i really like it. its hilarious and so down to earth. if you haven't read it before check it out at texasisforlovers2.blogspot.com. in fact right now she's doing a giveaway for a board game that made me laugh at first but now i kind of want to play it but you'll have to go to her blog to find out what's it called. we're big fans of games at our house! its our favorite thing to do when family come over. right now matt's favorite is bang! and my favorite is boxers or briefs. both those titles kind of sound a little weird so let me explain...boxers or briefs is like apples to apples but tons funnier!! and bang! is like uno but not. i don't know how to explain it. anyways...we love games at our house. this is a random post...so we're going to end it now. but what's your favorite? do you want to have a game night? we'll host it if you bring the treats....just sayin..

..disney world vacation..day 1..

..our vacation has arrived!!!.. 

..earlier this year matt and i made plans for our annual summer vacation and decided we'd spend our time in florida soaking up the sun and taking in the disney magic. plus i said disneyland was better than disneyworld and matt wanted to prove me wrong. anyways..in the planning process we recruited our brothers to come as well. so both jared's saved and paid their way to spend a week in florida with their favorite siblings. it's been so fun to have them here. they both really look up to matt and matt enjoys spending time with them. it's been really fun for me to watch.. 

  

..we arrived in florida LATE last night. our flight from salt lake went straight through to orlando and it was the WORST flight i have ever been on. there was horrible turbulence and some crazy in the air turn that made me pee a little but after 4 glorious hours we made it safe and sound. we picked up our rental car and made our way to the hotel. which is only maybe 10 minutes away from the airport but took over an hour to get to because we got on the wrong freeway. always an adventure with the kings. ps-totally ran over a dead possum. it was an accident. i was trying not to run over it but totally nailed it. after we finally arrived at the resort via the kind lady from a del taco it was only 2 in the morning. but don't worry they put us in the wrong room so we were short a bed and because it was 2 am and my tolerance level was a bit low and the a/c wasn't working i called and complained and they moved us across the resort. now our room is the correct size and the temperature is 65. so nice. SIDE NOTE-i've NEVER felt anything like the humidity that's here. ugh. you can go from the perfect temp. to soaking in sweaty/muggy air in 30 seconds or less. so gross..

..we started our day at 8 am at epcot and cruised through the park. my absolute favorite part was "the seas" portion. why you ask? because my life long dream came true! since the third grade i've always wanted to see a manatee in real life and matt made plans for us to go to sea world while we're here so my dream could come true. but you know what is better than sea world dreams?? DISNEY DREAMS. oh it was wonderful!! we were just passing through the bottom floor of the building when all of sudden matt and grabbed me and pulled me to a giant tank and right there before my eyes were 2 MANATEES!! just eating some lettuce. it was awesome. weird dream i know..but so great to have it come dream.. 

..hello little manatee..

..it also POURED for a good 3-4 hours. we spent $32 on 4 panchos and it's probably the best purchase we've ever made. i would have died it we hadn't had them. we walked around for awhile in those until mine and matt's feet were so soggy we couldn't stand it. the jareds were still going strong though and wanted to go to magic kingdom. so, matt and i went back to the resort to switch shoes and take a nap while they played in the rain. matt and i made our way back to disneyworld later in the evening after the rain had stopped. we met up with the boys, rode the buzz lightyear ride a couple times, spent $3.50 on bottled water (all the water here tastes like the great salt lake smells...i hate sulfer.), watched part of a parade, and then made our way back to the resort.. 

..panchos aren't flattering at all..



..it was one busy day but such a great start to the vacation! i need to take more pictures...i'm hoping the weather is a little better as the week goes on...

..car troubles..

..i HATE HATE HATE car troubles. in fact, i really do not like our car. stupid jetta. today we were in herriman for church. it was nice and then we enjoyed a little bbq with some friends of matt's from tennessee. it was a warm, pleasant afternoon until the car started to overheat on bangerter highway. it happened so quick. all of a sudden the a/c wasn't so cool and before you know it's overheating and we're off to the side of the road. stupid stupid car. after an hour or two of my dad and brother trying to get us on our way we decided to have it towed home instead. my dad searched around town looking for an open auto care store to get the special european coolant we needed while my brother switched cars with my mom to tow our car to orem, just in case. the coolant overflowed because after about a mile it would overheat again and because everything is so compact...real brilliant...there wasn't anywhere to attach the tow rope. so we called a couple tow truck companies and after the tow truck dude had to go back to his house to get the invoice book we were on our way back to orem. 4 HOURS from start to finish we were at our home sweet home.. 

..awesome sunday. very relaxing. super blessed to have the family we do that'll get up and go to help save the day. and you can't beat having insurance that'll cover the cost of the tow truck..

..HATE the jetta. keep your fingers crossed that it's nothing outrageously expensive..

..my first online order..

..YAY!.. 

..i got my first online order this week with {mad dash gifts}. exciting huh? thank you sister sobczak! she lives in nebraska and wanted to give something to her daughter in provo. so i put together what she wanted, wrapped up all cute, and dropped it off. yeah! for the first online gig..

..cute right?..

..goodbye spaghetti bottle. hello new storage jars..

..cute huh? for whatever reason i always feel guilty about throwing away glass jars, especially big ones. i know it's weird but i always think i could maybe use it for something else. recently i've saved two of them and last night when i was making cookies i thought to myself, "hey! i'll put salt and stuff in those spaghetti jars." and voila we now have storage containers..

..i'm sick of being sick..

..hello there. it's been awhile. i was doing so well at keeping things up to date and here i am a week behind. oh well. let me give the up date on life at the king home...
1. i've been sick ALL week. i've never felt like this and it's been miserable. i went to work for 4 hours on thursday and thats it for the entire week. the rest of my time has been spent at home on the couch watching episodes of our favorite tv comedies (so glad we have hulu and netflix) or in bed..which is currently on the front room floor because the apartment gets a bit warm and there is ZERO air flow to the bedroom. good thing work at uvu is in its slow season. it won't last much longer but at least right now its ok. the theater on the other hand has been a little hectic. we worked 3 nights this week which probably wasn't the best for the immune system.
2. matt has been pluggin away at his school work. 3 days a week he takes the bus..he LOVES public transportation..to sandy, hops onto trax to murray, and takes another bus to salt lake community college. it makes for a long day but for cheap tuition, transferrable credits, and extra  money in the bank doesn't make it too bad. the rest of the week is spent on his online classes. i'm counting down the many days where neither of us will be in school but then again i don't know if it'll ever happen. i'm getting the itch to go back and its only been a month. i've been looking at event management programs at george washington university...i tell you what if i could afford $28,000 in tuition i'd totally be there.
3. we participated in a mini golf tournament on wednesday evening. my mom's work sponsored it to raise money for primary children's hospital. it was supposed to be a couple weeks ago but with our crazy utah weather it was rained out and postponed. it was really fun to spend time with my side of our family plus my mom won a dutch oven that she let us have. matt and i saw a dutch oven demo a few weeks ago and we caught the camping bug. we're pretty excited for our 3rd annual one night campout with some of our friends.
4. today we went to a baby blessing. i love baby blessings. there is just something about a father or loved one asking heavenly father to give that new little person extra protection for the journey they'll be on in the world they'll grow up in. i love it. my bff, kim, just had her first little bundle of joy just a little over a month ago and it was fun to see her doing the mommy thing. all growing up she's always done everything before i did and i've definitely reaped the benefits of it. we have a very frank and honest relationship so it makes it easy to know what to expect because there isn't any sugar coating if you will. anyways..love her..love the baby...he's adorable.

..this isn't funny business..

..so i started a little business. nothing terribly exciting but hopefully something that will keep me entertained while matt's at school or doing homework. it's maddashgifts.blogspot.com. basically i shop and put together gifts for other people or put together birthday/celebration parties. i'm actually kind of excited about it. it's simple but fun. and i'll be doing things that i love (outside of my 8-5 job). check it out!..

..summer is on it's way..

..sort of..

..you wouldn't be able to tell by the weather. it's been rainy for a couple weeks now. but i'm starting to get the itch for sunshine, bbq's, and camping. plus in a month we're off to florida for a week! we can't wait..

..in honor of summer being practically here we bought otter pops and strawberries. we had this desert tonight. yum! yum!..

..i'm addicted..

..to ice cream. and right now, farr's fresh..

..it's delicious. if you haven't been, you need to go. they have a wall of self serve ice cream (all kinds of flavors!!) and then a counter full of different toppings, kinds you'd never think of. it's awesome. i was skeptical at first but now i love it. the current favorite flavor is vanilla custard with fruity pebbles. weird, i know, but surprisingl

y delicious. matt enjoyed root beer ice cream. it tasted just like a root beer float. if you're an ice cream fan..try it. you'll love it. but call me first, i'll go with you..

..mmm...delicious!..

..happy birthday mike & matt..

{the birthday boys..mike-15, matt-23}

..every month my family gets together for a sunday dinner and game night. there are some months that we celebrate whatever is happening that month, like mother's day, birthdays, graduations, etc. in may we got together twice. once for mother's day and again to celebrate matt's and my brother, mike's birthdays. mother's day gets it's own special visit to my mother and then the birthdays got their day. it's always fun to get together with the fam. it's always full of inappropriate jokes, great food, and fun games..

{jared taking a phone break during the phase 10 battle}

..grand master king..

..well graduation has finally come!!..

..graduation from the university of utah was a success. i'm officially a master of educational leadership and policy with an emphasis in student affairs. i will now continue to make the same amount of money, work at the same job, but be able to flasharound some fancy credentials and make my students call me 'master marissa' or 'master king'. la di da! my father in law said that not only should i be known as "master king" BUT because i'm a girl i'm known as "grand master king". doesn't have a bad ring to it eh?..

..graduation was a really neat experience. i've sat through quite a few and they are always pretty much the same. someone speaks, someone else speaks, they read your name, you walk across the stage, and then you wait for 2 hours until everyone else gets to do it. honestly, i thought it would be pretty boring (and it really was) but, it was such an incredible experience to walk across the stage in the robes and recognize how hard i've worked to be there. i've loved being in school..a lot more than i thought i did. obviously, its school and its expected to learn a thing or two but i learned more than i could have imagined. not just about education or student affairs practices but about myself, what i believe, how to communicate, what i want to be known for, and so much more. it has been an experience that has changed my perspective on life, people, and the way we all interact..

..and to answer the question about whether or not i'll keep going? great question. i'll let you know when i know. for now i'm going to enjoy my free time. i forgot what it was like not to be busy. who knows how long that will last..

..happy birthday matt..

..my little boy is growing up..

..matt's birthday was pretty low key. life has been a little busy so we didn't do too much. i made an attempt to surprise him with a little family party but things didn't go quite as planned. we had matt's sister and brother-in-law over for pizza and ice cream. it was fun to play games and do something with other people for a change. with everything going on with school and work we've spent what little time we have with each other. not that i don't LOVE spend time with matt but he's been a bit neglected by me lately..

..matt got a gift card to cinemark theaters so he can see THOR next week. he's super excited! he also some new weights and a racquet to start his new racquetball career..

..i can't believe another year has passed. we're aging so fast. time keeps speeding by and it couldn't be better. i love my birthday boy!!..

..and who of course could resist this adorable face?? love him..

..feet on the floor..

..so let me explain this picture..

..last night i was working on a project that i've been trying to finish up and i had a lot of things spread out on the front room floor. i was going back and forth between some things and finally was so pooped that i just sat on the floor looking at everything. matt had gotten up and came back from the bedroom and sat next to me..on the floor. we eventually ended up laying on the front room floor looking at the ceiling just talking..

..i love random little moments like that. who needs cruises or an island. these are the moments that make me fall more in love..

..totally passed..

..i PASSED..

..that's right! remember that paper that had to be written that i put off for a really long time and had to work on for what seemed like FOREVER?? well, i got it back on friday. and i passed!!..

..it's official. as long as i finish my current coursework and do "ok" on my paper presentation i will be master king (i'm making my students call me that for at least a week after graduation) as of may 6..

..now let me be honest about something. i really think that if i had put just a little more effort into it and perhaps didn't procrastinate to the extremity that i did i could have gotten a "pass with distinction" but i'll take a "pass" any day over "pass with revision"..

..isn't it funny how we know what we're capable of something and we don't push ourselves to do it? we work so hard at the last minute and then we're satisfied with a mediocre result. what if we were consistent in our work? what if we put a solid effort in everything we did all the time? we're such a strange people. i totally know i shouldn't procrastinate but i do. and for whatever reason i'm totally ok with it. well, most of the time. sometimes bernice acts up a little bit because of the stress that comes with the procrastination and thats for sure not worth it. anyways..

ya for me!! i passed!!! i'm graduating!..

..it's brooke..

..my new follower is no other than BROOKE!..
totally makes sense now.

..brooke and i were roommates once upon a time. those were the days where jenny, karlie, carlee, and lisa lived with use too. the good ole days where we would pull pranks, stay up far too late, talk about boys, kiss boys, take turns using the washing machine, you know..the usual college dream life. now most are married, one has babies, we work full time, and never see each other. we should all get together sometime soon. especially since jenny works in utah county now..

..brooke, welcome to the blog. it's not to exciting but it's life. i'm excited to follow yours. i didn't know you had a poodle named truman??..

..who are you?..

..there is a new follower of my blog. so new that they weren't there a couple of hours ago. but i can't figure out who they are. they do however follow some of my friends' blogs but they are friends from different times of my life so i can't figure out what the connection is and who they are..

..who are you new friend?..

..the spill..

..so I've decided that I'm very blessed..

not really a surprise.

..my day started with a crappy bagel and a cup of V-8 on ice spilled all over my desk, paperwork, and a co-workers book that I now get to replace. super awesome, right? let's just say that set the tone for one of those days where you think "can we please end this day?" it was just long and full of a lot of things that I didn't necessarily want to do. and to top it off I get to spend my evening at school. don't worry that the girl behind me that's freakin crazy just whispered to the girl next to her saying, "I've got a knife in my bag." not weird at all...

..enough with the complaining. it's been a long and I'm ready for bed BUT in the midst of it I have been very blessed. I have a job that I love despite the V-8 smell of my desk. the fact that I have a job is enough to be grateful for. my husband is so patient, kind, and forgiving despite my impatience, emotional craziness, and irrational nonsense. and on the way to school I heard from a friend that I absolutely love and adore. I haven't talked to her in awhile and it was such a blessing to talk to someone that completely understands me. given Matt is my very best friend. but he's not a girl. and although he gets it he doesn't always get it in the way that I necessarily want. if that makes sense? it made me realize that regardless of all the stuff that needs to be done talking to and spending time with those that I love is what I have to do. it's almost therapeutic. to sum it up I'm grateful that she felt prompted to check in. it's exactly what I needed after the spill..

..2/23 finally came..

..guess what..

i finished my paper!!!!

..after 5 hours on saturday, 10 hours on monday, 4 hours today, and some additional hours throughout january i finally got it done..

..goodbye monday..

..it's almost done. 7 hours later. good thing today was a holiday and i didn't have to work. tender mercy i tell you..

..hello saturday..

..welcome to my saturday..

..it's been stupendous. i love when my saturdays are full of typing, reading, researching, sour starbursts, and no fun. don't worry though i get to conclude the evening with grocery shopping. it'll be the highlight of my day. literally..

..he's so good..

..so we're sitting here, matt and i of course, at uvu doing homework. we can't do homework at home. more so..I can't do homework at home. which leads to the point of this post.

matt is so good at being good.

if that makes any sense at all? he's so disciplined and focused. if he knows he needs to get something done, he just does it. no hesitation (at least not any that i'm aware of), no distraction, none of the -get up, do this, do that, come back, facebook stalk, check the blog, write a blog post, you tube gwyneth paltrow glee videos, find random students and discuss love languages, take the love language test, taste jelly beans, get up again, hang out by the water cooler by yourself, go to the bathroom 4 times, look in all the places other than the most obvious for a highlighter-kind of business. i on the other hand...i'm supposed to be working on my paper (by the way it's due in less than 6 days) but instead i've done all that kind of business listed up top and wasted 2 hours of my life. all the while matt sits quietly with his head phones in his ears jamming out to dashboard confessionals while he configures some sort of math equation to save the world using a wheel rim (he attempts to explain what it is he does but i look at him like he looks at me when i show him how i use photoshop...we just don't get it).

ps-totally just got busted. we're on separate sides of the room but he still always knows exactly what i'm doing. i wish i was more like him. not so easily distracted. i think i'm responsible but man oh man my brain has had it with school work and i want to be anything but responsible. honestly, you'd think i'd just want to get this over with (which i do) mostly because of the anxiety i feel when i think about it and the stomach acid the churns away inside making it hard to breathe (i need to remember to explain that another day). knowing all of that will go away once i'm done should be motivation enough but..nope. it's just not doing it.

..oh well..life will go on right?..

..by the way i'm equal on all of the love languages except for receiving gifts i only had a 1 on that. matt's love languages are equal on physical touch and quality time. i got him to take 2 minutes and take the quiz. i feel quite accomplished for the evening..

..it's 4:58 pm again..

..well its that time of the day again..
..4:58 PM..
..2 minutes away from the end of another work day..
..i love my job but today it was hard to find motivation to do anything. i helped a few students, sat through a student council meeting, went to hobby lobby on a quest to find a magnet board for my office, broke a vase while i was there, played cupid for a couple students that i think would be a cute couple, text matt, missed a call from mi madre. i even made time to go to lunch at cafe paesan, which i've decided i really don't like that much. all in all..not too productive. now do you know what i get to do? my integrative paper. i am THRILLED to do that tonight. and currently i would say that my definition of thrilled would be LOATHING. i hate this paper so much...if anyone would like to write a large research paper about the use of technology in higher education please please volunteer. i already have a title for you..

..burnt out like burnt toast..

..today i feel like i'm sitting inside a toaster. i'm on the verge of some serious burn out. did you know that my integrative paper is due TWO WEEKS from today? no bueno. i'm not even going to say how far i am along. am i freaking out? you betcha. totally freaking out. do i have time to write this paper? no. am i going to need to take a couple days of work to make sure it gets done? yep. will my stress level increase because if i take time off work there's the catch up factor that will be there when i come back? surely. are my students driving me crazy? yes. do i feel like a bad advisor because of it? sometimes. do i worry about them too much? possibly. am i ready for a new set? today i am. do i still like working with them? ya. will this all go away in two weeks when i turn in my paper? i don't know. i hope so. but school will still continue until the end of april. which is fine. but then that whole should i walk in graduation or not questions comes into play. not that thats stressful but i'm so done with school that i'm way done with school. do i sound crazy? wouldn't be surprised if i do..

..how blessed are we..

..last tuesday i got a phone call from a dear friend from washington. a woman i love called to tell me that she was being baptized into the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints on sunday. so after a little research on the world wide web i found an amazing deal on plane tickets and a phone call to my adorable husband we were on our way to washington. it was a great trip full of visits and memories..

..it was great to be at jessica's baptism and definitely something i'm glad i didn't miss. i'm so proud of her, the decision she's made, and the hard work, dedication, and effort she's put in to prepare for that great occasion. she has an amazing testimony of the Savior and eternal families. i'm thrilled for their future as a family..

..we also got to see many others that matt and i love and adore. it was fun to reflect and laugh about things that have happened with people that have impacted each of our lives so much. i LOVE that we served in the same mission. it was AWESOME to meet and visit with people matt worked with, lived with, and loved on his mission..

..there are times where my heart yearns to be in washington. to see the green, to be with the people, to be doing what i did for 18 months. it was much needed and we hope we get to go back soon..

..i'm becoming domestic..

..matt surprised me with this for Christmas this year..

..it's one of those things that i think i've mentioned maybe twice about wanting but would never get it because we have no room and i have zero time to do anything with it. it was the perfect present though. i've been really excited to put something together..

..in fact i was so excited that i spent an evening at joann's picking out this fabric..

..and since then i've spent hours cutting out hundreds of pieces like this..

..as strange as it sounds..because i was cutting so much i got tennis elbow. ridiculous i know..

..anyways i spend this last sunday using my martha stewart approved singer to put together this..

..cute right? super excited about my domesticness? you betcha..

..reunion..

..in honor of homecoming week my office hosted a reunion for all the students that were on student council since 1941 when the school first opened.

our office does this every 5 years. it was really fun to meet i've heard about and visit with friends from college..

..if you didn't know.. i LOVED my experience at UVSC and i met some of my very best friends while i was involved in student government. it was a gre

at time of my life and helped shape the person that i am today..

..needless to say it was great fun seeing these two besties..

..and to visit with these folks was a blast. i'm so blessed with friends i have and how easy it is to pick up with them where we left off..

..winter wonderland..

..sometimes i wish i enjoyed snow more. but i don't. i like it in the mountains but not in the streets. i'll even say that i enjoy it on the lawn but hate it when its on the sidewalks and driveway. way to risky for individuals like myself (the freak accident prone type). honestly, i like to look at it but thats about it. its cold, wet, and blah. i'm fine when i can pick and choose when i participate in my snow filled leisureactivities. last night was one of those moments of choice. matt and i have made it a tradition to go to soldiers hollow every year (given its only been two years) and go tubing. its so fun! we sit in these huge inner tubes, get pulled up the mountain on this pulley thing, and then scream our guts out as we tube down this giant hill. i always freak out and get nervous my legs are going to snap in half because you have to drag your feet to stop. oh but it is so fun! plus i don't know how other married couples are but it is nice to get out and do something outside the usual work and school routine. plus we saw moosen!! they were huge..

..tennessee christmas..

..we spent Christmas in tennessee this year with matt's family. it was such a fun trip. it was great to spend time with our family that live almost 2,000 miles away. we flew in super late on December 23rd, spent Christmas eve playing games (cranium has become a family favorite for sure!), and Christmas day was full of aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins and presents. on thanksgiving grandma and grandpa king drew names for everyone and we had the month to do secret detective work to figure out what we should get our person. it's supposed to be a surprise but everyone seems to have figured out by Christmas morning. matt and i decided we wanted to do something special for his family for the holiday so for the last couple months we've been collecting pictures of everyone from when they were young all the way up to this year. we put them together along with important family dates and had a calendar printed for everyone. it was really fun to do and it helped me have a better understanding of his family history. i feel a lot closer to his side of our family and i'm excited to do some more family history in the future..

..these are some of the calendar pages we put together. it was so fun to do..

..from top to bottom-dan, dad king, matt, jared..

..matt and jared playing the skittle game. disgusting is all i have to say about that. boys will be boys..

..a couple days after Christmas we made the wonderful and exciting drive to florida for my sister in law's wedding. she actually married the brother of a friend of mine from college AND he served in our mission. we didn't know him but still..it's such a small world..

..i'll be honest. we aren't the biggest fans of car trips..

..not only was the weather outstanding but the wedding was just amazing. their sealing was a lot different than any sealing i've been to. the sealer didn't give the traditional spiritual reminder about the sacredness of the ordinance. he just asked if everyone was there and performed the sealing. it was beautiful. it was such a great reminder of the significance of the covenants you make over the alter. none of the fluff matters it's the covenants that matter. they had a small reception at a park with a pier on the water. it was gorgeous and i got to put my long lost event planning skills into action so that was really fun. i forgot how much i missed those kind of things..

..our time in florida was a blast! i've never been there and i'd have to say that i loved the palm trees everywhere. obviously with the holiday, orlando was pretty busy and so getting a hotel was a bit of a struggle but with the endless efforts of matt's mom we got a sweet hook up at the "sister hotel" of a cheap, local hotel.

..this is the view from the main road..

does that look like it would be connected to a local, cheap hotel in any way?? it was amazing! outside our window were 3 huge heated pools, volleyball courts, and a golf course. it was awesome and only cost us maybe $100.00 a night. we totally lucked out. matt and i are really wanting to take a family trip out there in the summer and go to disney world before his brother leaves on his mission. leaving the 71 degree weather for a mini 11 degree blizzard was not fun..

..if all the rain drops were lemon drops and gum drops..

..meet my rainboots..
i love them. matt got them for me as a "2 days after christmas present" as we were roaming the isles of walmart. don't worry that i've been looking for a cute pair since i was on my mission. i was never successful.
..now i walk through snow and puddles on purpose. why? because i simply can..