a little peek.

here's a little peek at a shoot I did the flowers for back in October.  

You can head over to my floral website to see more images and get links to all the vendors!  :)

awkward family photos: wedding edition

Okay so this post is a year late.  Enjoy it either way!  I just found these pictures on my mom's computer and I was crying laughing so hard!  I didn't remember most of this stuff.  :)

I also have no clue who took these pictures.  I'm assuming my little brother did.  He has a way of taking pictures without anyone knowing! 

Rudy aka my dad's favorite child trying out a photo booth prop^^^

^^^Maya's turn.  I call her 'Dobby the house dog'... don't her ears look like they could belong to a house elf?.... 

^^^aaaand grandma's turn... haha.

flower madness^^^  About 15 minutes after this picture was taken, Chase walked in with flowers for me (While I was holding my bouquet).  He held them behind his back while I raved and raved about my flowers and then he pulled out the little bunch of dyed carnations....  I felt terrible.  But I loved them. I just love him so much.  He's so thoughtful.  :)

^^^I didn't end up using the dahlia.  It was too purple.  But look how pretty it is anyway.  And that Stock?  I'm dying. 

all of my favorites were incorporated in my bouquet.  I am still swooning over this bad boy^^

^^^centerpieces

^^^who knows what's happening here.... Chase is a goofball! 

^^^Trying to give directions to his mother.. :)  Our breakfast was at the beautiful Gardens at Dry Creek in Lehi.  Suzie is amazing!

^^^My turn to give directions!  Chase is ready for the day to be over... Hahah!  

^^^Me 'n' ma best girl friendssss!  (said like the mom on Mean Girls... :)

Married! 

^^^My aunt is so cute.  Here she is insisting she get in some pictures of my ring on the bouquet while the photographers/videographers are trying to get in on this......little moments I want to remember :)

^^^ My Mom and Jordan Makin sharing some laughs. 

^^^You can see it in his eyes.  He is scheming..... 

That's when I went in for the kiss and he LICKED my face.  Thanks for that, Husband! 

^^This was the "Chase's Immediate family" picture.... the guy on the far right looks a little out of place, though, doesn't he?  Oh, don't worry.  I have no idea who he is.  I think he's a cousin or something... he's also in all the professional immediate family photos.  And nobody had the heart to say anything!  HAHA.  I'm dying!!! 

So glad my cute cousin Rachel and her husband were able to come!  I'm going to share a sweet story about Rachel soon.  :)

Thanks for tuning in!  

burnt hair + a solution

So, around 2 or so months ago, my blow dryer smelled funny.  (first red flag)  I thought I shouldn't use it but decided to anyway, and that I would replace it that weekend.  (bad idea!)

I used the blow dryer like normal.. (I usually only blow dry my bangs/part in place so that it doesn't go crazy while the rest air dries.)

^^^just a few days before 'the accident' :)

A few hours later, I ran my fingers through my bang area to put some hair behind my ears when I realized my hair felt a little funny.  I didn't think anything of it until the NEXT DAY when my hair still felt funny.  I thought maybe I got too much hairspray in one part... nope.  I went and looked in the mirror to investigate.  Sure enough, my hair was BURNED.  It seriously felt like a ton of hair wadded up into a little ratted nest.  It's horrible.  And it's right on the top of my head.  No hiding it, and no cutting it off unless I wanted an ultra short pixie!

I immediately went to Sally's (after throwing away my blow dryer), and bought a new blow dryer.  I also bought a new heat protector spray, coconut oil, Moroccan oil spray, and a deep conditioner treatment.  I was religious about putting coconut oil in my hair every night before bed, spraying my hair with Moroccan oil, not using my blow dryer (and when I did, only using the COOL setting) ....And you know what?  It worked okay, but nothing was making my hair feel even remotely normal again.

BUT for Christmas, I got some Marrakesh Leave-In Conditioner and it is A.MA.ZING.  Seriously.  My hair still feels burned, but not QUITE as burned feeling.  I just spray that in my damp hair, and let it for the most part air dry, and then use my cool setting to blow dry... my hair feels almost normal!  It's a big deal, guys.  Plus it makes the rest of my hair feel amazing and super-soft.  I love it!

NYR 2014

Chase and I started a tradition after we got married.  We have a little breakfast in bed, and make our goal list for each of us individually, and goals we want to accomplish together.  His are more goals, mine are kind of more bucket list items.

His:

Get straight A's (he will have no problem with that.  He's only ever had one B and it was his high school credit that transferred over... makes me sick!  my motto is C's get degrees! ;)

Get a Scholarship

Be Healthy. (aka, Big Muscles)

Run a 5k with Erin  (I learned yesterday that he was in track in high school?  What? I had no idea!)


Mine:

Be Healthy & take better care of myself.  This one is a daily struggle, but I'm working on it!

Design & Sew a dress for myself.  This one has been on my bucket list forrrevvverrr and this year I will finally do it!

Design a completed paper kit to submit.

Open an Etsy Shop

Run a 5k.  This is partly to motivate me to exercise and train.  I can barely run one lap around the track.. Pathetic, I know!

Daily Personal Scripture STUDY not just reading.

Create more ART.  So far so good on that one.  I recently rediscovered my love of watercolor paints and I cannot put them down!  So far I've just been playing and haven't really made any 'finished' artwork, so that's the next step.. Create FINISHED art.  ;)

Stop worrying (this is a whole other story)

Together:

Travel!  We have a couple trips planned; one for sure to Disneyland, and tentatively one to Japan this summer.  Japan was never ever (still isn't) on my 'Places I must visit' list, but we might have the opportunity this year, so why not?  We will know in a few weeks if that is going to be a thing or not!  I'll let y'all know.

Weekly planned date nights & Monthly temple dates

Daily Family Prayer & Scriptures.  It's the small things that matter most, people!

...

I have always loved setting goals.  The new year brings new possibilities and opportunities to better ourselves.  I love it!  Happy happy new year, everyone!  I hope 2014 is filled with love, safety, adventures and so much happiness!

year one.

Today we have been married one year.  

On one hand, it feels like we haven't been married long at all.  On the other hand, it feels like we've been married much longer than a year.  It is the craziest thing!

We have loved being married.  We have learned a lot, and have grown a lot.  I can't wait for many more years with this handsome man.  I definitely married up!  He is so ambitious, hard working, and has a strong testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  He is so nerdy (in the best way possible), and is very loving and helpful.  Gosh, I love him so much!

Enough of being mushy.

Some highlights from our first year:

Getting a calling in the nursery.  It has been the BEST serving in there with Chase.  At first he was nervous about hanging out with the little stinkers, but we both immediately fell in love.  They are the sweetest kids.  The sweetest thing is watching Chase hold the babies when they cry.  Ugh makes my uterus hurt.  :)  I'm only a little baby hungry haha.

Going to Las Vegas for Chase's first time.  We both gambled $2 each and promptly lost all $4.  We've decided it's more fun to gamble away our nickles at Nickle City! :)

Going to Disneyland on our official Honeymoon in May.  It was SO fun going just the two of us..  And it was awesome being there on May the Fourth. .. as in May the fourth be with you. (get it? :) We are big Star Wars fans. 

Welcoming home my little sister from her mission to Dallas, and sending off both of our brothers on missions.  Mine is serving in Tallahassee, and his is in Tulsa.. And his sister will be leaving in February for Chile!  We love the full-time missionaries!

Going to NYC and DC with my family before Evan left on his mission.  Fao Shawtz... Haha. (inside joke).  On this trip I learned about Chase's obsession with giant candy.  He still wants a giant gummy bear!  He's a little kid at heart.  Haha! 

I rarely call him Chase.  I call him baby, and when he's "in trouble" I call him honey.  I NEVER thought I would be one of those that uses pet names.  Especially baby.  Typing it out makes me feel gross.  Haha, but seriously It's not that bad when it's just us, I promise.  And it's definitely not as bad as my parents.  When they were first married, my dad called my mom Boojie Woojie. Oh my.  

**Sometimes instead of punctuation after a text, I accidentally end the text with "b" instead of "!" So it will look like this:  Hey when do you get off work b

And bless Chase's heart, he thought b was short for baby, so now he's started calling me b.  Hahah.  These are the things I want to remember in 50 years. 

We enjoyed so many dates.  Our favorites are going to Hale Center Theater, Nickle City, Mini Golf (Pass of All Passes!), and playing Nancy Drew. (Guilty Pleasure.  Haha!)

 Love you Chase!  I'm the luckiest girl. 

featured!

A few months ago Jessie of Jessie Alexis Photography asked me to be part of her cute friend's elopement.  I always thought it would be super romantic to elope(not to mention easy minus all the wedding planning!), so of course I said heck yes!  They got married up above Sundance, and so the flowers needed to have a whimsical, wild feel.  I am in love with how the flowers turned out.  Not only that, but the lighting was perfect, and Patrick & Tricia look sooo happy. (And one of my good friends married them!  Small world!) 

Today that wedding was featured on Rock n Roll Bride!  I am thrilled and so honored to be featured alongside Jessie, she is extremely talented!  

Check her out here:  Jessie Alexis Photography  

And check out the feature here: Rock n Roll Bride: Mountain Elopement
Oh and my flower blog here: Floral Design by Erin

being healthy and stuff.

Confession. I've gained a lot of weight this year. Yikes.

Life has been working against me a little bit... Between getting a desk job, getting married (taking birth control. blegh.), and being totally busy, I don't have a ton of time to be as active as I'd like.  (I know it's not an excuse.  But it's the reality :)

I've discovered the unfortunate fact that I carry extra weight in my tummy.  I can't tell you how many times people have asked me when I'm due, or asked if I'm expecting.

It doesn't make a gal feel good if so many people ask if she's pregnant when she's not...  It's really not good on the self confidence.  I know I need to do something about it.  I've never been skinny, and I've never been one to regularly exercise.

So here I go.  Somehow I feel like if I tell the blogging world, I will be held accountable.  baby steps!  I'll get to where I want to be.  My goal is to lose 40 lbs by April 30, my birthday!

I want to be healthy.  I want to feel good.  I want to have more energy.  I want to be strong.  And let's be honest... I want people to stop asking me if I'm pregnant.  :)

What do you do to eat clean, be healthy, and exercise regularly with a full and busy schedule?  I know this will be a lifestyle change, not a temporary fix.  Weight Watchers?  Insanity?  Green Smoothies?  I want to hear from you.  Maybe I'm not thinking of something that I could try that I might like.  Oh, and I HATE exercising.  I love it when it's disguised as something fun, like Zumba!  What have you tried that's fun?  I want to pick up running, too.  As much as I hate it, I think I could learn to love it!

My cute little (big) brother and I before he left on his mission in September

.....

And I just have to throw this out there...  I always thought "being skinny" would automatically make me more attractive.  And let me tell you, that is SO not the case.  I weighed the most I'd ever weighed when Chase and I got married.  Chase tells me every day that I am hot/beautiful/gorgeous/pretty even though I don't feel it all the time.  (How did I get so lucky?)

My point is, it's all about being confident in your own skin.  It doesn't matter what the scale reads as long as you're healthy!  Right now, I'm not even in my healthy weight range, so that's why I want to fix it.  I don't want my weight to get out of hand. and I want to be a good, healthy, active example to my future kids, too.  So I might as well get in the habit now!

Thanks for tuning in and wish me luck!