No Ice Cream?!

Apparently Phoebe doesn't like it when I eat dairy products. Lat week, after several post-feeding bouts of fussiness and spitting up everything--many bouts of which took place in the evenings when I would have preferred to have been sleeping--I came to the conclusion that I was eating something that made my milk unpleasant for Phoebe. I did some research and experimented with a few things and my conclusion is that milk products are a no go for me if I want a happy child and to get sleep at night.

This is proving to be slightly problematic. At first I didn't think it would be and I told myself: "Okay, no big deal. I prefer almond milk instead anyways." But then I started trying to live dairy-free and I was like: "Okay, actually this is a BIG deal!" Dairy is everywhere and in everything! Yogurt (I eat it on about 30% of my days). Cheese (it's in my salads, quesadillas, sandwiches, pastas, burritos, cheesecakes, I could keep going here...). And of course, it's the bulk of what makes up ice cream which happens to be proof that God loves us and also my favorite treat in the world. Who knew I loves milk products so much?

Am I bitter? No, but I am kinda' bummed. I mean, sure--I do feel like a cow sometimes because some days it feels like all I do is feed Phoebe, but that didn't mean that I had anything against cows or against the food I got from their milk! I try to console myself by saying that this is an exciting challenge or by telling myself that I now have a reason for why I can't stress eat an entire carton of ice cream in one sitting. This usually works until Jon pulls out the raspberry pretzel dessert I made three nights ago which I can no longer eat because it has cream cheese and whipped topping in it.

I could use a little help! Are any of you out there dairy-free eaters? If so, do you have any tips, tricks, or advice? Any good dairy-free recipes you could share? I'm all ears! Or maybe I should say that I"m all eyes because I'll probably read your advice via comments. Or perhaps instead that I'm all stomach because we're talking about food here. That's all besides the point. Ears, eyes, stomach, or all of the above...please share!

Our Bucket List and Jessica Being Better at Watercoloring

So. The bucket list is actually on track to get completed! On Monday Jess and I made pasta salad and it was super good. I'm just posting the photos of it so that you can see how pretty it is. Apparently (and according to Jessica) one of the reasons why kids like candy so much is because it's colorful, so all the kids in the world would probably really like our pasta salad too because it's colorful:

Then, we spend some time watercoloring postcards. Let me preface this: Before this day, I'd spent over an hour drawing what I wanted to watercolor and then about another hours starting to watercolor. I finished up while Jessica created hers and this is what mine turned out like:

Jessica, on the other hand, sat down, didn't draw a thing, and whipped this out in about an hour:

Obviously, the artsy genes didn't go to me. We painted more again today. The same thing happened. That's okay, it was still super fun!

Coping (And Failing At It)

Today was a hard day at work. I came home as soon as I could, fell on the bed, and then unsuccessfully tried to take a nap while my mind went a million different directions all at the same time. How did I cope with this? Oh, you know...a roll and some pretzels...followed by some M&Ms and a chicken wrap and some Oreos...which was followed by ice cream and more M&Ms...and when the neighbors brought over some food from P. F. Chang's it of course would have been rude to not have some of that too...did I mention that I had a handful of nuts and a few cups of juice somewhere in there too?

I think it's time for me to find a new coping strategy.

Watermelon

When Jon and I are married and have fun little Sunday night dinners with our friends, we will not serve watermelon. Jon and I love watermelon. L-O-V-E it. Unfortunately, our love has gone to a bit of an
extreme, and we find ourselves at a point where we are unable to share this love for others at dinner parties for the unforeseeable future. It just simple isn't in our budget and we simple lack the self control necessary to maintain human-like characteristics when the fruit is placed in front of us.

It's dinnertime. I instruct Jon to cut the watermelon. He does so, leaving half of it uncut while chopping the other half into pieces and putting them into a bowl. We sit down to eat with the bowling ball sized bowl filled with watermelon before us. "Great," I think to myself. "Half a watermelon. This can be the fruit we have at dinner for the next several nights." We say a prayer, eat the main course, even take a sip of water now and again. The meal is going great!

And then, we start eating the watermelon.

No longer are we two humans sitting down at the dinner table to partake in a humble meal. No. Now we become two thirsting camels who have stomachs that are able to take in and hold 30 gallons of water in just 13 minutes, and suddenly no matter what we do, we can't get enough watermelon into our mouths and our forks just keep returning to the bowl again and again and we just can't stop ourselves and we keep going and going and going until--

Where did that whole bowl of watermelon go? That bigger than a bloated chicken entire half of a watermelon bowl of fruit go?

In one meal?

Yes--in one meal.

A whole fifty percent of a normal sized watermelon??!!!!

Yes--a whole fifty percent.

And you two don't see this as a problem?

Actually, we do. We just don't plan on trying to fix it anytime soon. And we also don't plan on serving watermelon to our friends at our Sunday night dinners. Our pocketbook, along with our good name, can't afford it.

My Life the Past Several Weeks in Pictures

Ems and I have been having dinner together twice a week. This was a DELICIOUS dish she made--pasta, sauce, tomatoes, spinach....pretty much amazing!

Eric, Jared and I drove down to Pocatello, Idaho the weekend of May 18th&19th for Ellen Lewis' farewell talk. She's headed off to North Carolina! We drove through a crazy storm on our way up, but even that was fun! Besides hanging out with Eric and Jared I got to spend the night at Aunt Christy's place! Ethan, Clancy and I watched "The Gods Must Be Crazy." It was so good to see them. I'm so grateful that Eric and Jared were kind enough to let me join them in this wonderful adventure.

Several weeks ago, Jon got to go to his boss' place and killed a chicken! On Sunday night, after I got back from Pocatello, we grilled it on the BBQ. It was tough meat, but super duper yummy! Scott and Stephen joined us too.

This past Tuesday, May 21st, my friend Steve and I went hiking. After driving around for a while, finding a place, we settled on hiking Stewart Falls. We got there at twilight and made it back to the car just as the darkness was settling in. It was beautiful!

Today, Jon and I woke-up super early to go hiking. We got on the trail around 7:30am and made it back to the truck around 3:30 (that's eight hours!!!) It was a pretty intense hike--steep trails and lots of snow (sometimes deeper than our knees)--but it was SO beautiful. Now, we're both extremely tired, though. We'll definitely have no problem falling asleep tonight.

When we got home, Jon and I quickly pulled out some hamburgers and hot dogs and hosted a Memorial Day BBQ! It was wonderful to spend time with ward members and friends and to eat yummy food.

In a nutshell: my life is crazily blessed right now. I have no doubt that Heavenly Father is looking out for and taking care of my every need. Just when things seemed to be getting pretty bleak, He sent amazing, supportive, loving, good people into my life, and they have made all the difference. To them, and to Him, I am forever grateful.

Letters

Dear Eric, Thank you for coming over on Monday and helping me figure out half-marathon stuff. Knowing that I have a friend to back me up on it all helps a whole lot.

Dear N106, I had fun using my cricut with you guys last Monday at FHE. Our Mother's Day Cards turned out pretty spiffy. 

Dear Poci (aka: Jessica), You are so kind and thoughtful and amazing for bringing me flowers last week! Not that you weren't all those things before. It was just a good reminder. Thank you for being such an amazing example of selfless service and of always thinking of those around you. I love having you for a friend. 

Dear Steve, Sorry the weather was bad on Tuesday and that we weren't able to go hiking! I had fun baking cookies and watching 17 Again with you anyways. We'll have to go hiking sometime soon!

Dear Institute Friends, Wednesday night was fun. Let's do it again this week!

Dear Trevor, The Mexican food and games was SO much fun! Thank you for the wonderful date Friday evening, and I hope that I'll be able to join you guys in eating fish sometime soon!

Dear Five Mile Run With Many, Many Hills, I felt super after you on Saturday morning! What a wonderful way to start the day.

Sarah and I in our new shirts! We both wore them on Sunday to church.

Dear Sarah, I'm SO EXTREMELY VERY MUCH GLAD that you and I were FINALLY able to go cardigan/shirt shopping on Saturday at Cozy! After two months of wanting to go, we finally made it happen! And we look pretty snazzy in our new clothes, if I many say. Thanks for being a fantastic shopping buddy and an even more fantastic friend. You are wonderful.

Dear Jon, When I mentioned to my mom that Sarah and I got a boy to take us clothes shopping she asked if he waited outside or came in the store with us. When I affirmed that it was the later, she labeled "him" an angel/saint (because what boy would be willing to take two girls shopping for clothes?!) I quite agreed with her. Thanks for being "him."

Dear Sarah, Jon, Emily, Jacob, and Poci, I had so much fun going to the baseball game with ya'll on Saturday. Thanks for laughing with me when I asked what "2:55" meant on the scoreboard ("That's the time," Jon replied. "As in the time of day. 2:55pm." Oh.) and for helping me be more American (first baseball game ever!) Hope we can make the fun adventures continue (and that maybe I won't have to embarrass myself quite as much on the next one!)

Dear Brett, Jacob, Sam, and Ems, Washington groupies + Idaho Falls roommate get together on Saturday night was the best. It's nice to see familiar faces among the crowd of BYUites. And I hope you're all on time to work today.

Dear Peaceful, Beautiful Sunday Morning, I have not felt so much peace and calm in such a very long time. I love the beautiful weather. I love reading General Conference talks. I love visiting with friends. I love walking and sitting on the path south of campus. I love writing letters to Amelia. I love the gospel. I love the Lord. And I love having all these things come together in a beautiful span of three hours.

Dear Kyle and Emily Bashaw, Thanks for letting me steal your soy sauce and mustard. I ACTUALLY LIKED THE FISH I COOKED IT ON!!!!!!!!

Dear Everyone, You do not realize how big of a deal the above letter to Kyle and Emily is. I HATE fish. But yesterday, I actually liked it!

Dear Jarod, Nice to meet you. I'm looking forward to grabbing drinks with you later tonight!

Dear New Activities Committee, I'm super excited to join the club! I love being a part of a group with as much focus, energy, care, love, and motivation as you all have. We are going to work magic in the ward over the next few months and the thought gives me drive and purpose. And each of you inspire me to be better.

Dear Gentry and Scott, Noticed that you hacked my facebook account. Thanks for restraining yourselves from doing anything too horrific.

Dear Mom, Thanks so much for talking yesterday and for being more concerned about talking about my life when it was your day. You are an amazing mom and I'm so grateful to have you in my life.

Dear Life, After a soul-searching trip to the temple last Thursday, things have been looking really up. I'm so glad to be where I am, to get to learn from the mistakes I've made over the past few months, and to come out better because of the experience in the end.

Dear Heavenly Father, You know where I'm at better than I even do. Thank you for second chances, for giving me opportunities to learn, and for sending examples and friends and help in my life so that I can do it all.

To Drink Your Food?

Dummest. Idea. Ever. I love food way too much to ever give it up for some stupid liquids. With liquids, we would miss the texture. The chew. The crunch. The bite. Are we so lazy that we don't want to take the few extra minutes to have that experience? Or are we too busy to take the time to pause in our day and spend time with those we love over a plate of food? As busy as I am, eating is one of the only things I am willing to take the time for. I love food too much.

25 Days Reflecting on Learning: Making Sandwiches and Dressing Like a Boss

Day Two: Today I learned how to make amazing sandwiches at FHE:

Sandwich made by: Audrey, Sarah, Drew, John, and I

 The (Obviously) Better of the two Sandwiches: French toast with ice cream, peanut butter, and nutella in the middle. Topped with whipped topping and drizzled chocolate and caramel syrup.

Sandwich made by: Emily, Amelia, Rachel, Scott, and Gentry

The (Obviously) Lesser of the Two Sandwiches: Ingredients unknown (Sketchy, right?)

Scott and Gentry also taught me how to dress like a boss in negative degree weather:

Thank heaven for armpit holes in jackets and nice calves, huh?

Letters

Sorry for any jealousy the hat in this picture may cause

Dear Aunt Janet, Thanks for my super-awesome giraffe hat. When I wear it people tell me I'm the coolest kid on the bock. Really though, I just have the coolest Aunt on the block who gives me awesome hats.

Dear Mr. William Farnbach, I felt pretty pathetic when it took extra effort to lift a bowl of corn into the microwave tonight. I don't know if I've ever felt so awesome for feeling so pathetic. Weight-lifting with you is the best!

Just one example of how Morgan is awesome--she  surprised me with this when I got my new job last semester!

Dear Morgan Kitchen, When was the last time I told you you were awesome? Well, you are. Thanks for being one of the best examples I know of someone who never complains when given the opportunity to serve. I want to grow-up to be as amazing as you one day.

Dear Hard Work, Thanks for helping me feel good about myself. When I make you a part of my day, I always end up getting the happies on the inside, and the happies pretty much rock.

Dear Bowl of M&Ms, One question: how did you end up in my tummy?