life lately

here's a little update on life through our iphones aka when i'm too lazy to take my camera out/places or too self conscious to take it out in front of others...

it's one of those two.

and i'm sorry if you follow me on instagram, many of these are just duplicates...

let's begin with the least flattering pictures from casey's phone:
a. first time spending time outside in the sunshine!!!!
b. another sunshine day, we didn't have a sun hat for max so a kitchen towel had to do
c. maxson miraculously fell back to sleep for casey while he worked out, lucky dog that, never happens
d. entertaining babies during conference=less conference listened to, luckily we can re-read/listen to them online!

a. sniffly baby cuddling with daddy for a nap
b. nutella cookies, hello awesomeness
c. best salsa ever from costco! (and apparently hyvee too?)
d. done with napping

a. when i change his diaper he's always grabbing onto my arm to eat at, makes me smile
b. the main picture on casey's facebook dental class page, make me laugh every time.
c. looking at the toyssss
d. my view nearly every morning. casey is very diligent on doing bing searches on all 3 of our computers
sidenote: if you're not doing bing searches already, DO IT! casey's has earned nearly $60 for us to spend on amazon doing it!

a. dishes doing
b. easter bunny baby
c. car driving
d. tummy timing

maxson and i visited the dental school for lunch again last week.
i was little more confident with myself and my semi stroller cruising around the school.
2nd picture is in the elevator looking up

dental school classroom with a stroller: not a sight often seen

a. falling asleep in my arms (not in a "baby going to sleep position"), with no swaddle, which is a first around here
b. my ultra cute, smiley, and round nephew, britton during his 1st year birthday cake fest!
we got to video chat with him during some of it and he went to town.
that boy LOVES food and was just soooo happy!
my brother sent a video of when they first placed the cake in front of him.
he picked it up one handed like a sandwhich and starting chomping away like a boss, so funny!
oooh we miss our nieces and nephews too much

a. while casey went to the men's priesthood session for general conference, maxson and i hung out in the backyard with some other women and kids from our street and just talked for a long time.
after coming inside, maxson just sat in the sling, cuddling up to my chest watching whatever i was putting away.
such a sweetie we have on our hands.
b. my view while lounging on the ground during general conference.

picnic in the front yard between conference sessions on saturday.
does anyone recognize that blanket?! 
it's the jean blanket i slaved over last summer!
although the edges are not yet finished, it works like a beaut outside and we're so eager to put some wear and tear into it over the next years as a family.

a. b. c. conference breakfast with friends.
although pancakes, french toast, or waffles are an excellent breakfast.
someone sadly has to slave over the stove top the whole time and you can't all eat at the same time and you have to keep waiting for more!
so breakfast casseroles it was!
i made a frenchtoast casserole the night before (recipe below)
and my friend made what we call a lumberjack casserole like this one.
they were oober yummy
d. maxson's first general conference watching our prophet, president thomas s. monson!

french toast casserole

To be made the night before
1 (24 oz) loaf buttermilk bread
1 pkg cream cheese
10 eggs
2 1/2 c milk
6 T margarine/butter melted
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 t vanilla
1/4 t cinnamon (or more:)

Cut bread into cubes. Place half in greased 9x12 baking dish. Top with cream cheese, cut into cubes, then put the rest of the cubed bread on top. Mix together eggs, milk, melted butter and syrup very well, Pour over bread/cheese evenly in pan. Cover with plastic wrap and press down on top to moisten top it all evenly. Refrigerate over night, remove plastic wrap and bake @ 350 for 50 min.

from the last week

1. cinnamon rolls during conference. such a wonderful weekend listening to prophets and apostles, in pj's all weekend, lounging, cuddling.
2. fall has arrived in nebraska, yay. and even the evergreens are celebrating by changing colors.
3. dug into casey's wardrobe for the first time, yay.
sent him this picture during the day and he replied with "savage"
4. got sent this picture during his school day, his first (for fun) fillings on (stinky, decaying) teeth.



the word lazy sums up my week pretty well after completing those dressers.
thought i deserved some kind of break.
i did walk casey to school twice this week, which was nice.
it's so strange not going to school.
i feel empathy for casey now that i'm enjoying my stress free life (aka no tests).
but when he did leave me for class i felt jealous.
it's so invigorating to learn new things and be challenged.
and it's so fun to have those friends at school that are going through the same things as you and you have a camaraderie with them even if you wouldn't normally hang around them.
school does that for you.
then again walking group with a bunch of other mothers is kinda the same way...



i did however organize some more of the bajillions of boxes in our basement, yayyyyyyy.



this weekend:
touring our 2nd hospital to choose from.
picking up more things for baby boy!
dinner with friends.
studying (for casey).
making baby sheets.


happy october weekend.

a little bit more of lately.

get togethers.

in the last 2 weeks i've had FOUR get togethers with some awesome friends!

1) freshman girls get together.

i love my freshman year, and i still love those girls very much!

it was so wonderful to catch up!

2) ward baby shower for stephanie and brooke, in our ward,

we have such a great group of ward girls, i just love it.

are pictures of the food good enough?

3) a bridal shower for my dear friend brooke! 

such a cute girl and so happy she's getting married soon!

(1st picture below)

4) aspen grove girls get together.

mainly the cooks and andy, actually.

one of the best summers of my life and so wonderful to catch up on life with these girls!
mrs. lindsay even has a baby due in august!

(2nd picture below)

- on sunday, casey made the most amazing egg sandwich.

layers of eggs, sausage and bacon on a bagel.

hello yumminess.

-here's the pics of seeing new baby britton at the hospital.

new babies are just so fun to see.

we have been so lucky to see many of these nieces and nephews just hours after being born.

-pretty spring pictures.

-funny draw something pictures.
the first is ferry...

-conference weekend:

a. yummy breakfast

b. watching conference

c. RS get together during priesthood session

d. yummy bread.

 

and seeing that this post will be posted on wednesday, april 11,
you know what that means?

LAST DAY OF CLASSES AT BYU.
1 week of finals until we can be officially done, yay(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!

conference weekend.

wow, it's thursday.

mwf went so fast for me, they always do.

my thursday and fridays are so easy, i just look forward to getting over my wednesday!

general conference was wonderful this year, as always.

we woke up at 9:56 to prepare ourselves for the 10 am session, we're awesome.

casey and i snuggled on the couch while we watched.

and then i fell asleep between sessions.

sadly, i can't remember one particular talk from those sessions, i just remember feeling good and happy the whole time.

every once and awhile, i say to casey "this is such a good talk!"

i'll be happy to see november's conference issue of the talks come out.

but for conference,

my brother, kirk, and his most dear, dear friend, whitney, came up from mesa!

i got to pick them up from the airport late saturday night

i was late picking them up and took the wrong way home.

we shared some great memories on that drive home.

the 4 of us got to go to the (very early) sunday morning session of conference.

sadly, we only had 3 tickets to that session.

so casey and i stood on the corner as he held up his finger begging for a ticket.

most embarrassing and funniest thing ever.

oh my word, i was dying of laughter and wanted to give up asap.

our attitudes weren't making it any better either, ha.

an old man in an electric wheel chair came up to us and said he was meeting his grand daughter on the other side of the conference center and that she might have an extra ticket.

(our countenance may have brightened up a little bit).

but his elderly wife (with a walker) needed help getting there.

so for about 5 minutes we helped this cute, old couple get to the other side of the building.

once up there, we began waiting around for his granddaughter.

not sure if she was really going to have a ticket or not, casey began holding up that very embarrassing finger, notifying to all others we were begging for 1 more ticket.

within 30 seconds, a couple tapped casey on the shoulder, and handed him a ticket.

ah, the sweet joy of relief (of embarrassment!).
what a tender mercy from the Lord.

after another little embarrassing scene with getting through security,

we made it inside.

casey finally looked at the ticket and realized the ticket we received was for the very bottom level!

yes people, the bottom level closest to the apostles etc.

umm, so cool.

way worth the embarrassment of holding up that one little finger.

my favorite part of the session was hearing the mormon tabernacle choir sing "I Believe in Christ."

it's my absolute most favorite hymn and it brought to me a reconfirmation of my testimony of this gospel.
top left picture is me with the wilford woodruff statue, "oh hey grandpa! we have the same chin!"

we met kirk and whitney outside where we walked around temple square a little.

it was a gorgeous day outside and the very first conference session i had ever been to where the weather wasn't cold!

so glad we got to go with these 2.
it'll be a great memory we'll all have together!

ps- this last weekend we had our first date 3 years ago and did the same activities together these 3 years later:
BYU v Utah State game + conference.
precious.
i remember after the date staring at this top picture SO much! i thought casey was so cute, and couldn't wait to see more of him! 
i also thought we were so cute together! 

general conference

general conference was beyond wonderful this april!

it's always wonderful, let's be honest.
we were fortunate enough to have the cutlers in town with us which made it that much more wonderful.
the 7 of us got to go the sunday morning session together which also included music and the spoken word (beautiful as always {casey and i decided that mack wilberg must love his job}).
the speakers were wonderful and the music was incredible.
the mormon tabernacle choir's last song was The Spirit of God, and i doubt there was a dry eye in the conference center.
i have burned that memory and those feelings i had into my heart to remember forever.
many of the stories told and words spoken really hit me and i became very emotional,
i feel so renewed and am greatly reminded that i can do more to help strengthen His Kingdom on earth

so if you live utah, you'd know that saturday was in the 70's and was beyond heavenly:
utterly gorgeous weather.
then waking up on sunday there was like 3 inches of snow outside!
yah, bi-polar utah!
it was freezing on sunday,
the snow was so pretty though!

we're super cool and arrived at like the last minute possible which means the most very back row of seats possible.
we're awesome like that

walking back to the car, we walked through temple square really quick,
and saw this sign,
and boy were they true!
ICE was falling!!!
 

i feel so very fortunate to be able to go to the conference center to watch and listen to general conference.
it's so surreal being in the same "room" as the prophet and apostles!
i love and admire those men with all my heart.
i wish conference was every 3 months instead of 6!

Love,

true love :)

haha, no but really guys it's true!
when i first got this card from some cousins of mine {Jim & Jan Long}
i thought "oh it's so cute! and so true!"

then later as casey and i were shopping around for an apartment,
we joked and laughed about how a ring is like a down payment...
in a marriage!

you need a down payment on a house to signify you're fully committed
and ready for the long haul

you need a ring to signify you are fully committed
and ready for the long haul

can i just tell you that we laughed at our little idea for quite awhile?
i know, we're dumb :)

it's the amusement in the small things that's the best eh?

haha, well here's some more of the small things we've been experiencing in october

conference with myself, casey, scotty, and megan

so fun having them with us, conference has so many great memories for casey and me :)

to buy or not to buy?
the latter won, haha, jeeze
he looked like a yellow marshmallow!
{a very cute yellow marshmallow though :)}

yet again, to buy or not to buy?
ok, but we were serious this time, haha
we really DID like these!

registering at target!
the very hard decision in deciding which pillow is best

homemade smiley pizzas!
we tried changing our ways, and opted out of the $5 pizza one night
and bought a pizza kit!
it seriously was so fun!
homemade (well, kinda) has its own yummy touch

we went to casey's mission reunion for good ol' harrisburg, pa
it was fun meeting everyone,
they couldn't have had better things to say about my casey!
i was so happy to be his new and final companion :)
these are our fun friends from his mission, kelly and tim

iLOVE polaroids