An Award and a Goodbye

Last week, my friend BRYNNE nominated me for this award:


Nice of her right? I thought so... Anyhow, I feel bad because it's taken me a while to get around to doing anything about it (in my defense, today is my last day of finals so I've been SUPER BUSY).

But here are the rules of the award:

Each Nominee Should:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
2. Add an image of the Versatile Blogger Award
3. Thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link to their site
4. Share seven completely random facts about yourself
5. Include this set of rules
6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination

Like Brynne, I won't nominate 15 people. However, I will nominate 3.

*my sister ANGIE

*my sister CHRISTIN

*my dear friend/cousin MACEY

And here is the link to Brynne's blog. It's really cute. Check it out HERE.

And here are my 7 completely random facts about myself:

1. I am a human development major at BYU and I only have 1 full semester and 1 block of classes left before I graduate!

2. I HATE HATE HATE doing laundry. If I were rich, I would hire someone to do it for me. I can do any other household chore willingly but laundry....ugh... it makes me sick.

3. Ever since my family vacation to DISNEYLAND in March, I listen to a disney music station on pandora almost every day. Nothing brightens up your day quite like listening to 'lets get down to business' from Mulan.

4. I have a little addiction to thrift store shopping. If I had more time, I would do it everyday. I love rooting through a pile of junk and finding a gem (especially when the gem is a really really good book).

5. I've never had sushi... ok lie. I ate a TINY bite once but I gagged on the seaweed wrap and so I have no idea what the middle would even taste like.

6. I love babies. I always have. Whenever I go into a restaurant, or any public place for that matter, I know within 20 seconds where all the babies are in the room, what they look like, and approximately how old they are. I love just watching them being cute.

7. After taking two finals today and finishing up around 10:00 p.m tonight, I'm coming home to a perfect husband, packing for EUROPE, and heading out tomorrow! I am so excited! Dix and I have been saving for this since we first got married (we actually had a little change jar our first year of marriage that said 'Europe Trip' on it) and we are so excited for a much needed break.

Well, that's it for me! I'll be back in three weeks with tons of pictures and stories about our international adventure. We're sorry for the weddings, graduations, and performances we'll be missing in the meantime. We really will be thinking of you all.

Cheerio! (that's British for goodbye)

Happy Birthday Dear Husband!

Yesterday was Dix's 24th Birthday. Boy do I love him! Here are a few reasons why I am so grateful I married the man I did:

1. His CAN-DO attitude: I don’t believe that anyone could ever describe my husband as one who lacks ambition. He is full of ideas, BIG IDEAS, and he is not one to believe that he can’t do it. Consequently, he has tried and succeeded at many things.

2. His work ethic: He works so hard! Sometimes, we hardly see each other. However, as difficult as this may be, I fully appreciate knowing that I will always be taken care of.

3. His spontaneity: Dix is just fun. He is easy to be around because he is so positive all the time and he is always coming up with fun things to do spur of the moment. Life is never dull when he’s around.

4. His support of my ambitions: I have grown so much since meeting my husband. He has helped me to become more ambitious because he believes that I am capable of accomplishing anything and he encourages me to be a go-getter.

5. The way he lives the gospel: I love that he strives to grow and develop spiritually. He is honest in all he does, and he loves Jesus Christ more than anyone else.

I love you Dix! Happy Birthday!

Birthday Week

The first year of our marriage, Dix and I began the tradition of BIRTHDAY WEEK. It is just like it sounds. The week of the persons birthday, we do something fun every day and that person gets to open up one small present each day.

Well, this sunday is Dix's 24th birthday. I'm so glad that we have the tradition of birthday week because with his birthday being so close to finals, he often gets lost in the shuffle. So far, he has opened a jump rope, a new pocket knife, and a new book. Even though each gift is small and super cheap, he opens it SUPER excited and acts like its the best thing he has ever recieved. I sure love my husband for his enthusiasm. It's refreshing.

Things have been so crazy that we hardly have time to do anything but open one present a day, but like I said, I'm glad we have at least that so he doesn't feel forgotten completely. I love him and I am so grateful for all that he does. I can't believe he'll be 24 soon. I will have known him for three years:)

also, if you are interested in seeing pictures of the bridal shower macey and I threw last weekend, click HERE.

Health Habits Survey

here is the new link: (it should work if you click on take the quiz)

Health Habits: Answer the questions as truthfully as possible. I won't know who said what.

Health Habits... Take my survey!

If you don't want to read the next few paragraphs, skip to the bottom and just take my survey!

For those of you who like to read, start here:
Since November, Dix and I have been making some major changes in our health habits. We have been off sugary treats (we get one free day a week) and we have both been exercising more.  We have each set some lofty health goals, but we are now realizing that, in order to reach them, we are going to put in more work than we had previously thought. 

At times this can be quite frustrating (as I'm sure many of you already know) and I can see why it is so easy for people to give up and change their diet or routine when they don't see immediate results.  However, I have been in too many health and science classes to let myself get on that train.  Research shows that the more diets you try, the more weight you actually gain in the long run.  The best way to lose weight and keep it off is to make maintainable changes and be consistent.  

So, we have been trying and trying and trying.  It hasn't been easy.  However, we are both happy to report that we have been feeling much healthier and happier after making these changes.

Anyhow, with this topic so prevalant on my mind, I wanted to take a survey to see what this challenge is like for everyone else.  My survey should take no longer than 1 minute.  Take it please!  I'll be using the research for a class of mine.

Health Habits: Answer the questions as truthfully as possible. I won't know who said what.

Authoritative Parenting: A gospel-centered way to raise your children

I always love general conference weekend (and not just because I love wearing pajamas for a whole day). This general conference, however, had some significant impact on me spiritually because it confirmed my intellectual knowledge.

As you may already know, I am currently a Human Development major at BYU in my senior year. This means that I have learned over and over again different principles of parenting & communicating with children of all ages. I have learned many wonderful things and consumed large amounts of research in many areas of parenting.

This conference weekend, I was able to draw parallels from what I have learned in my classes to many of the talks given. This confirmed to me that Heavenly Father really is all-knowing. The men giving the conference addresses didn’t get their information from a text book or from recent child psychology research. However, the research of the world did, in these cases, match up with the spiritual advice given by the Lord’s servants.

My favorite example of this was given in Larry Wilson’s talk during the Sunday afternoon session. He talked about the importance of parenting in righteous, not unrighteous, dominion and letting your children feel your confidence in their decision-making abilities. Everything he mentioned fell right along the lines of authoritative parenting.

Authoritative parenting is thought to be the best style of parenting. These are the type of parents who are warm towards their children and clearly show love, but also have specific rules and expectations for their children. Authoritative parenting focuses on teaching children to be autonomous as early as possible.

Larry Wilson’s example of his soccer playing daughter was the perfect example of this. In their daughter’s time of indecision, he and his wife did not just enforce the family rules and tell her she HAD to tell her soccer coach no to playing on Sunday. Instead, they stepped away, confident that she could make her own decisions, and she was able to learn more from that.

I know that I am not a parent, and I don’t understand how difficult it can be to watch your children make mistakes that, if they just would have listened to you, they would not have made. However, let me tell you what research says about children who are raised by authoritative parents. Children raised by authoritative parents:

1. Will be resilient in times of trial

2. Will do well in school

3. Will be confident in themselves

4. Will have strong problem solving skills and know how to communicate with others

5. Will be more independent and capable adults

6. Will be empathetic toward others

7. Will be curious and creative

8. Will cooperate well with others

9. Will know how to delay gratification and have more patience

10. Will be quick to forgive others

I don’t know about you, but this to me sounds like the kind of child that Heavenly Father would want parents to raise.

I am so grateful for the knowledge that I have been able to obtain at BYU, but I am even more grateful for the spiritual education that I receive by being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

If you want to know more about authoritative parenting, let me know. I can give you a list of resources.