looking back

sometimes i look back at our blog and fall in love with life we had last year, 2, and 3 years ago.

tonight i randomly looked through the labels christmas and wyoming.

all those pictures made me so happy.

(and i remembered we're going to add a stocking to our family this year!!!!!!)

do you ever go back and look at your blog?

last weekend when we were watching the BYU football game (we thank our lucky stars their games are all broadcast on espn now) the espn-byu commercial came on.

every time we see it come on, we get really sad because we miss it so much!

casey especially was saying how much he missed it.

he said something like "i didn't have enough fun there, all i did was go to school and work..."

i couldn't think of any of the fun crazy things off the top of my head that we did except i knew we made an effort to do fun stuff...but what was that?

so i hopped on the blog and looked up the labels provo bucket list and byu (i should have labeled so many more things byu...).

granted it wasn't all the fun stuff we did but it was a good chunk.

reading through the posts made us so happy with our time at byu (and more nostalgic) but it did remind us that we had fun!

i love blogging.

i love that i can (quickly) write down memories with pictures.

i love being able to look back at life.

i love seeing how we've changed and grown as a couple.

i love that i have all our married years documented on this blog.

i love that soon this blog will show our  journey from 2 to 3.

i love our blog.

dearest friends,

i'm really not that blog savvy when it comes to blogging,

but i do know a few tips and tricks to share with all 10 of you that read my blog :)

a) probably like many of you, i have run out of space on my gmail account photo limit i originally started to blog with.so then since i had a 2nd gmail account i just used that one to post pictures with, but now that my camera makes my pictures a much bigger size to save as, i'm already halfway through my new gmail account's photo capacity! what?!?! ya, so if you're having this problem i have resorted to this method. it's pretty easy (this also enables you to have HUGE pictures on your blog if you've ever wanted that, it's a tinge outdated but still works great)

b) if pictures are just hard to post already, make sure you have updated your blogger editor. see directions here.

c) a little while back i was fed up with having to put in a verification word when i wanted to comment on blogs, i soon realized my blog made you do that! i personally think that if you don't have a bajiillion readers, you don't need that tool. to change it go to the settings tab for your blog, click the no box by word verification near the bottom. again, just a suggestion :)

d) more on commenting: when someone wants to comment on your blog, it's really nice to have a pop-up window for them to comment with instead of the whole screen changing to a specific url for that post. again, if you go the the settings tab and then comments tab, the third area down let's you choose the option of what happens when people comment, just a suggestion. it's nice to just keep reading the blog where you originally were :)

e) lastly, you know how it's convenient to have your blog set up to email you when someone comments (you should do it, it's really convenient), love it yeah? you know what else is convenient? when that someone has enabled it to so that you can email them back once they comment! cool huh?! most people have not done this, it's easy, i believe you go edit your user profile and select the box "show my email address" near the top. it's a super awesome option and i think you should do it :) then if i get an email from you (question or a hilarious comment i want to reply to) i can easily hit reply and email you back! love technology :) i changed mine a long time ago to this so didn't quite remember how to do it. i played around with a few things and i think that's how you do it. if you know that this is not the right way, let me know and i will change it:)

how do i know all this?
a) i had way too much free time on my hands last summer to search blogs and stuff and learn more about blogging
or
b) i have way too much time a work now to search the internet and do the same thing.
take your pick :)

if you have any suggestions for me about blogging, let me know!

happy blogging!

ps- awesome article on courageous parenting here. 

talky talky, walky walky

so here are a few more details of what has been going on lately:

1) back when we were in wyoming we found some awesome pics of casey and family

example a:

 casey's mum was Miss Siskyou in 1980! (her county in cali)

 and while looking aroundwe found the original sash :)

i made her put it on.

she complied.

we had casey jump in the pic :)

thanks nan!

example b:

"casey may 1988. decided to eat the marking pens"

yep, that be my hubby :)

2. we got to hang out with one of my cousins, kammy and her husband, rob!

we had a lot of fun catching up together, playing games, eating, and playing wii.

3. we are watching the state of the union address right now (i feel so adult!)

but all i hear is too much clapping!

4. we went to a ward party the other nigh and it was an absolute blast!

we have some totally awesome people in our ward, we love it.

they had it a mansion up in a canyon (far, far away, in a snow storm) that BYU owns.

we played games, basketball, human foosball, and of course, ate yummy food.

such fun :)

5. casey's cousin, brooke, shared this link on facebook and i thought it's quite intersting.

it's an article how a lot of women (many not LDS) are completely attracted and in love with looking at "the mormon mommy blogs".

i like looking at them bc i can relate, that truly is what i hope to have: a family with casey where we can find joy in our kids, our marriage, and in out everyday lives.

it is funny how "crafting", "thrifting", and all other things "homemaking" have become a very popular trend lately, i am so glad they are.

but to me, that's how i've always grown up though. 

i remember always going to the 2nd hand store to go shopping, ha, and i remember it almost being embarrassing. no, we didn't have to shop there, but my mom understood you can get great things there for great prices, and with 5 kids, why not? so when people go "thrifting", that's always been normal shopping for me. being a "homemaker" is one of the most wonderful things i think you can do on this earth as a woman, truly. teaching your children, watching them grow, caring for family, and being able to serve others with pure love. so i'm happy that these "mormon mommy blogs" have become so popular bc i think it shows society that marriage and family can be one of the most wonderful things to experience here in mortality. so, keep blogging friends, mormon, and non-mormon :)

if you don't agree (or didn't read) my 2 cents, it's totally fine :)

free!!

no casey and i are not free from work yet, but

there is a free picaboo book offer online!

go check it out!

it's like the canvas-picture offer i told everyone about a few months ago where you pay shipping and handling.

you make/order a 20 page picture book that you design!

way cool, do it, offer ends i think at the end of the month :)

holding the giggles in, or not :)

blog stalking.

gotta hate it.

gotta love it.

it wastes so much precious time.

hence the new column of lovely blogs.

oh well :)

someday i too will have 

-a house to decorate

-time to craft

-a sewing machine

-passion and time for baking and cooking better

-funny children to talk about

talking about children PLEASE visit this blog!

overheardintheward.com

you will giggle so much!

unable to contain your laughter (at least for me!)

LDS+children=hilarious

during church casey and i love looking at all the cute kids in the ward do funny things

-sit on each other

-cry uncontrollably

-say funny things

-make funny faces

-make funny noises

-get hurt

-steal food from each other

-fall off chairs

it's just a hoot for us during church! (we talk about how we need to pay attention more...)

and then will giggle at each other and think it'll be so funny for us one day too!

so much fun stuff to look forward to...

but for now we get to just look forward to each other :)

as of lately

so i know i have a problem.

sometimes i think i might update too much/too frequently

but this is my conclusion.

1) no one is forced to read my blog

2) this blog is like my journal and scrapbook at the same time so "i do what i want" 

(that last phrase was intended to be said like a gangster ya know [and kindly, not rudely]? but it's impossible to do phonetically:)

3) this blog is just a little silly thing that i like to do sometimes

4) if you are one of my single friends reading my blog, you should get a blog, because you probably have things to say! funny things! seriously girls! do it :) a blog is for your benefit, it doesn't really matter how many people read it

but still, sorry for so many updates ;)

here's a bunch of  things as of lately! :)

We've been making way too much puppy chow lately (the yummy chocolate, human stuff)

seriously, way to much.

and when we don't have it, casey asks is we can make it again...haha

but mmm is it good and super fattening :(

these 2 lovelies came to visit and i loved it

i acted all wifey/homeakerish and made them a yummy breakfast

we missed our 4th amigo though, amy :(

i love these girls.

when the 4 of us are together i always say "i love us"

and thinking about it, i say that all the time with me and casey now :)

and here's a tribute to no amy

so like i mentioned before,

casey,

birthday,

sell old video games,

deal,

get wii,

i tried making him actually wait til his birthday to open it like my mom always made us do and he wouldn't allow it,

that bum,

but he was happy :) really happy

and then that day his rockband came in,

spoiled :)

 

let's just say it's played everyday:)

scott and megan came and played with us and that was hilarious

scott is super good at yelling singing fast, gangster, beastie boys songs :)

if you're in provo you can always come play with us! 

casey would love it, seriously, call :)

and we got our first Ensign! yay! is that something to blog about?
haha, it is in my mind!

i do have a picture of that too, but...yeah, you get the point :)

ps- i'm not usually one to do this but watch this video on youtube (thanks annalise)
if you love the song party in the USA you'll  love this video.
seriously, so funny!!!!
it makes me want to go to the beach with a play pool and make my own music video to this song!

have you updated your blogger?

i have and blogging is so much easier

i've been surprised to learn how many people have not switched!

i didn't find out about new blogger til i asked my SIL blair, she showed me the light :)

as you know i love putting up pictures,

new blogger doesn't make it a freaking nightmare to do it!

you'll love it! i swear!

(if you don't love it you can always change it back, but i highly doubt you will)

STEPS:

1. Go to Customize or New Post (wherever you can get all those tabs to change your blogger stuff)
2. Go to the big tab Settings
3. Go to the first tab on the left called Basic
4. At the bottom there's a section called Global Settings
5. the first category is Select Post Editor
6. Then click Updated Editor!

it is SOOOOOO much better

i haven't figured out how to do videos though (if you do please tell)

tell me how it works for you and if you have any other tips for blogger!

ps- casey sold all of his video games!

good job lover!!!!!!!!!

this is him "testing" them all

at times i would say "casey, i think this one works... :)"

 

casey's "reward" for selling them all?

he just ordered a wii,

and rockband for it...

that's my husband