It was beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I made an advent calendar! I could have made a cute little opening, but well..the point of the post is that I made an advent calendar! I've been wanting one that would last through the years, that I could hang on my wall, and that had little canisters or boxes for each day that can hold candies or slips of paper with fun holiday activities to do!!

And now I have one! Thanks to my mom for helping me out/basically doing all of it! Haha! Here is the process:

We just bought a frame and mod-podged adorable Christmas paper into it.

The whole background!

Our cute little canisters with Christmas paper on the lids! We were so glad to find these in the wedding favor section! 

Adding fun embellishments and making each day different!

The finished product!

I should say ALMOST finished product. I'm still trying to find the right quote or title in chipboard letters to put next to the santa...perhaps I will just make my own cut out with my very special Christmas present from Ben..more to come on that later! :)

A Magical Craft Project!

I've been waiting a while to write this post! So..if you know my sister you know she is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. Seriously. And this year she turned 21 and I decided that I should finally give her a birthday present. But instead of going out and buying something lame. I wanted to make something...from the heart, ya know? I know, I'm a pretty great big sister. I knew I wanted it to be Harry Potter themed, and I had recently made some adorable wreaths so I decided a Harry Potter wreath would be AWESOME! 

This project took me a whole lot longer than I thought it would, but it was because I am a perfectionist and annoying detail-oriented when it comes to crafties. So here is the finished project

Here are some of the details:

A sweet wand that I made!

A cool green glittery snake!

The crowning glory! The Golden Snitch!

The snitch probably took me the most time, but I was really meticulous about it. I wrapped the whole wreath form in pages of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and other details included a background of Hogwarts castle, a picture of Harry, Ron and Hermione, Harry's glasses, broomsticks (made to look the the Nimbus 2000 and 2001), a letter form Hogwarts, the Hogwarts crest, and the symbol of the deathly hallows.

I honestly had so much fun making this and I think Mandy really liked it!

I'm thinking of posting the tutorial on making your very own wand...we shall see. 

Sometimes..

..I run..Sometimes I hide..sometimes I'm scared of you...but all...oh wait no. This post wasn't supposed to be Britney Spears lyrics. It's almost impossible for me to start off a sentence with sometimes and NOT sing those lyrics.

Sometimes..I just want to say all the weird and often less-than-nice things that pop into my head. Obviously, I'm not going to otherwise no one would like me and everyone would hate me and I would have to go eat worms. But really.. If other people can make ridiculous status updates on facebook about the most personal details of their lives or the out-there idears they have..why can't I just blurt out my humble opinions? Hmm? And by blurt out, I mean comment on their post and add a lot of exclamation points.

I've run into this problem on Pinterest lately where I want to make a pinboard of all the ugly and dumb things I see on Pinterest. But then someone is going to follow that board and think that I like those things unless they look at the board name, which come on, how often do any of us do that. So yeah.

Halloweenies!

Halloween was just a couple days ago and of course Ben and I joined our friends the Hamms and carved pumpkins and watched scary(mostly silly) movies and had tons of fun! Melissa posted all about our adventures and put pictures up too! Check out their blog here!

Hope everyone had an excellent Halloween!

Just Keep Swimming..Just Keep Swimming!

So school is pretty much kicking my trash right now. It's right around midterms and everything is just crashing around me while I curl up in the fetal position and cry. BUT! I must make it through somehow, and my very best coping mechanism is thinking about all the things I have to look forward to! Here is a list, because that is what I am good at!

1. Andy comes home from her mission in 34 days! For those who don't know..Andy is my very best friend in the entire world! She has been serving in the Paris, France mission for the last 16 months and 10 days (if my calculations are correct)! She is doing amazing work there and being an extraordinary missionary, but I miss her tons and I can't wait for her to be home!!!

2. The end of this semester. Duh.

3. CHRISTMASSSSSSSS! I love every single thing about Christmas! And I hate scrooges. I love Christmas music, shopping, baking, decorating, caroling, parties, lights..and well the list could go on. I hate that people get all bent out of shape when stores start putting out decorations in October and November. What's the problem with celebrating, peeps? And yes, I understand that stores only do this to sell things...but who cares! All the red, green and gold just put me in a gooooood mood! And Christmas music, I understand many people take issue with listening to Christmas music "too early." WHY?! Christmas music makes me happy and really, I would probably listen to it year-round if I wasn't so severely mocked for it.

4. This is an extension of 3. I'm so excited to get a new Christmas movie. Ben and I realized we had a tradition of buying a new Christmas movie each year, and I've already picked out the one we are getting this year. The Santa Clause. I LOVE THAT MOVIE. And I also need some new Christmas music, so if you have a favorite Christmas CD, please let me know so I can expand my horizons. And I'll listen to pretty much anything. Frosty's Sleigh Ride anyone? Look it up, it's so horribly awesome. **Dizzle you know what I'm talkin' 'bout!**

5. Graduation in April! Finally!

6. The make-believe trips that Ben and I are going on. I find that planning really cool vacations is super relaxing. Right now, I've got a bunch of trips planned, like a trip to Disney World, a European cruise, renting a villa in Tuscany for a month, a trip to Hawaii, and the road trip of all road trips! Maybe we'll actually get to go on one? Donations are welcome ;)

7. Summer-time next year. I know, we barely got into Fall and now winter. But I don't like it and you can't make me.

Well, I guess that's all I've got for now! Looking forward to these things is really the only thing keeping me going at this point! Sorry for the book of a post!

5 Things

Ben and I celebrated our 2-year wedding anniversary last Monday, and I just thought I would make a post about 5 things that I LOVE LOVE LOVE about him. There are absolutely more than 5 things I love about my Ben, but that list could just go on and on forever!

And these are in no particular order...

Ben makes up songs that always make me laugh. He loves to think of silly words to sing along to songs on the radio, or he'll just starting singing random things to me..especially late at night, when he is tucking me into bed. I love this.

Ben does all of the laundry and dishes in our house...well frankly, he does the majority of the housework. Oh yes ladies, you should be jealous. And for anyone who knows my hatred of doing laundry, you should know how much I appreciate this. 

Ben is a nerd. And I love this, because so am I! We honestly have so much fun playing video games together or watching nerdy movies. I have to admit though...I'm pretty sure I annoy him to pieces when we play video games, because I am NOT very good. 

Ben puts up with my ridiculous questions. A frequent response of his in our house after I ask a question is, "How does your mind even work?" And frankly, I don't even know. But he humors me and helps me figure things out. **Most of these questions happen while we are watching Lost**

Ben is one of the most loving people I know! He is so considerate and gets along with basically everyone! I tend to not get along with very many people at all (I give off a mean vibe...) so I love that I get to be around someone who everyone else loves.


I love you Benjamin Douglas! And thanks for agreeing to put up with me for eternity!

Reminiscing...Part Deux!

So I thought I would post the rest of the pictures I have from fun summer events! I always get so sad that I forget to take pictures of all the fun things we do..so I was glad I at least got some of the big things we did this summer! Yay! Well..here goes:

So Ben and I were lucky enough to buy Disneyland Season passes last year, and we knew they were going to be expiring in the middle of August..Sooo..we got to make one last trip! We went for 2 days at the beginning of August and got to spend one of those days with my sister and a friend of hers, Cheryl!

For some reason, I felt the need to get some pictures that day in places I hadn't gotten pictures before. This is us, in front of Thunder Mountain!

In front of the BACK of Sleeping Beauty's castle!

Scared faces in line for Tower of Terror! LOVE this ride!

I always have a hard time figuring out a fun face for Tower's picture. I hate how cute dizzle looks in this..not fair.  I also like the lady's face on the far left in the middle row. Classic. 

This picture is ridiculous. I wanted to get a picture of me on the new Little Mermaid ride, but it didn't work out like I thought it would. By the way, I LOVED the ride!

Our scores on Toy Story Mania! Ben (the blue side) had the highest score of the hour! 

A couple weeks later, we celebrated my birthday with The Hammerens at one of our favorite restaurants, Tucanos. Afterwards we went to the best toy store EVER...Blickenstaffs!! Seriously, if you haven't gone there..you absolutely need to!

The cake that Ben made for me!

We love Tucanos!

And we LOVE The Hammerens! Adorbs!

Playing dress-up! Seriously, the coolest toy store!

Nachooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

I need this shopping cart. I need it. 

And then that weekend, we went camping! Apparently, I like camping! I don't think I would like to do it for more than a day or two, but I really had fun and we all considered the trip a success. We went with The Hammerens and The Breitenbekers! 

The Breitenbekers! 

Us! Our tent looks so tiny, but it fit us and our air mattresses (a camping-must for me. I know, I'm a wussy)

The Hammerens!

Just hanging out!

The Men around the fire!

Eating pancakes I made in the morning! It was a dream of mine to cook pancakes over a fire when camping..and I did it! And they were..ok. I would definitely make some changes, but at least I did it!

Well, and then the very next week school started..and well, all we have been doing since then is work and school and watching football! Oh, and playing games with friends as much as possible! Here's hoping we have time for a ton of Fall activities!

Reminiscing...

So school started last week and I am already soo tired and stressing out! I'm only taking 15 credits this semester, but I'm up to all my upper-division classes so things are getting pretty difficult. BUT, if all goes to plan I should be graduating in April! Yay! Yeah, it only took me six years and 3 schools to get my bachelors! Jeez! Anywho, so while I should be doing my massive amounts of reading and homework right now, I'd rather be looking at all the pictures from fun things Ben and I did this summer instead! So I thought I would post on here and reminisce a little bit!

First was our Disneyland trip with The Hamms in May! It was seriously so much fun and one of my best Disneyland trips ever. We were so glad to go with Forrest and Melissa! Especially because it was Forrest's first time going! Here are just a couple pictures:

We braved the line to go meet Mickey!

CLASSIC =)

Our friends Priscila and Nick met us down there one of the days! It was so good to see them! They are just the cutest couple..ever!

Best Friends! We got to celebrate both of their birthdays while we were there!

The whole gang! We got to go to an Angels baseball game with my family the last night we were in California.

Next was the Scottish Festival! Ben is very very proud of his Scottish heritage and ever since we first started dating he has wanted us to go the the Pay Scottish Festival, but for some reason or another we have never gotten to in the past 3 years. So finally this year we got to go, and it was way fun..and half way through the day we got to meet up with his parents too! Here it is:

We saw our friend Josh there too, and he told us we HAD to get this Bison Beer Root Beer. Oh my goodness it was so good! And it comes in these cool bottles, that you can refill there every year!

Scottish Games! This one is Ben's favorite, but I can't remember what it was called.

Oh yeah. There were A LOT of kilts that day.

Us watching the games, pretty much DYING of the heat!

This was my favorite game..but I also can't remember what it was called. I just liked that they used a pitchfork to toss the hay bale over the thing! The arrow is pointing to the hay bale...just so you know....

I'm pretty sure I am strong enough to win any of these games! Haha!

Then of course...Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out this summer and you better believe we were at a midnight showing! Ben is not so much a fan of sitting around in the heat for hours, but it was worth it! Admittedly I cried the entire way home after the movie..anyone else?? It's probably a good ting we didn't get a picture of that!

Just waiting! There were about 10 or 12 showings at midnight at the theater we were at.

Ben was restless after about an hour.. By the way...did I mention Ben has a beard now?

Forrest and Melissa showed up after their early showing of the movie. Their costumes were AWESOME! Forrest couldn't get away from crowds wanting to take pictures with him..at one point there was a line of about 15 people!

Almost time!

I'll have to make another post with the rest of our summer memories! Stay tuned!

Camping? Yup...Camping :/

For most of you who know me, you know I'm not much of an outdoor-sy person? I mean, I'm all for a nice walk or playing some "one-on-one hoop" (haha!) outside, but when it comes to camping or hiking..well, they're just not my cup of tea. So when Ben and I were asked a couple of months ago to be youth Team Leaders for the upcoming Stake Youth Conference where we would be camping..I was a little wary. But we agreed and got pretty stoked about it. Well..then a couple weeks ago, Ben and I were released as wolf and bear cub scout den leaders (we had been in for almost two years and were getting a little burnt out.) I was then asked to be the new Young Women's Beehive Adviser! Yay! (For those who may not know what this is, it basically means I am an adviser over 12 and 13 girls) Super exciting, right? I know. Well it turns out, Girls Camp was just right around the corner and they would love for me to come. So wait..more camping? And for a whole week?!? And just a couple days after camping for youth conference?!?!?!?

Remember when I'm said I'm not an outdoor-sy person? Well suffice to say that went out the window! So iin the last week and a half, I went camping for youth conference and Girls Camp...I was a little nervous to say the least!

But off we went to youth conference! We were the leaders of a group of about 8 kids..which eventually dwindled fown to 6 kids when two of our kids got sick and had to go home (yeah, doesn't exactly bode well for our future children, huh?) The weekend was filled with a service project, one horrible night's sleep, the "amazing race," and some NASTY sunburns. Unfortunately we didn't really get any pictures...but there were a few "choice" pictures of us taken by other people:

I look pretty happy to be there, huh? And check out the buurrrnnn!!

Ben being his Pirate-y Self!

We were looking pretty excellent, yeah? All in all it was a pretty fun experience, but we were feeling pretty beat afterwards.

Sadly, I did not get much of a break because 3 days after we got home I left for Girls Camp - SIDENOTE: Ben actually went to Girls Camp the night before I left to be one of the priesthood there and we only got to see each other for about 15 minutes on Tuesday morning before I left to go and when he got home.

Girls Camp was so much fun! I remember hating a lot of things about Girls Camp growing up, and believe me..there were stull a couple things I could have done without, but mostly it was just fun!! Until.. Wednesday. Wednesday afternoon is when things start to go down hill. It started raining..hard. Very very hard. And the toilets stopped working..and then it hailed on Thursday morning. And finally by afternoon on Thursday we were leaing early! Some people were calling us wimps, but frankly, we saw no point in sitting in wet clothes, wet shoes, wet tents, wet sleeping bags and being miserable. So we came home early and did testimony meeting down at the church. It was really great!

Despite all the fun I had, it was so nice coming home to my nice warm bed and my amazing husband! He had put Operation Clean the House for Kelsie in action while I was away which was so sweet of him, and definitely helped me relax when I got home. It had been Ben and I first nights away from each other since we've been married, and that was a bit hard to adjust to, but we braved through it!

I also didn't take any pictures of me at Girls Camp, but this is one Tammy took of the both of us:

My sister-in-law/the YW president Tammy and me!

We were both just so happy to have had the opportunity to help at each of these events and hopefully help the youth in our ward and stake make some great memories!