Balance.

I'm Blogging... GASP!

It's 12:07am on a Sunday night and it is a RARE occasion for me to be up at this hour. But sadly... even though it felt OH so good.. I took a 2 hour nap today after church and now it's payback.

Something I've learned lately. I love alone time. As I've gotten older I've become more intraverted (I know that is probably incorrect spelling but that was my shot at it)... which is weird because allll growing up I was SUPER out-going and loved meeting new people. Now? Not so much. Maybe it's because of my job. I can do 1 on 1 all day long (and I do), and I love it. But I think within my 8 hour period of work I have fulfilled my small talk quota for the day. Maybe it's because my husband is a little bit quieter when you first meet him (and boy does that change in a matter of minutes)... But I don't like it much. I've even experienced some social anxiety (I know this may be shocking to some).. but it's just how I've become. And really I'm totally okay with it. Don't get me wrong I love people and I love my friends and I love my family. And I love making good new friends. But I really appreciate my alone time these days...

We are now living in the same household as my mom, step dad and little brother. This can be fun at times but I've realized that Bobby and I rarely are alone in our home let alone ME being alone... I don't know how I feel about this. Ok ok I don't really love it all that much. But for this reason a few things have become neccessary.... Date nights. FOR SURE. And I really appreciate the time I spend driving to and from work, and even an occasional movie by myself.

I watched the movie "Eat Pray Love" the other day (by myself :)) and although I don't agree with some of the thoughts in this book/movie I really enjoyed it. It's about finding yourself and loving who you were are and will be. Finding that balance in your life. As I've thought about this I've thought about the different priorities in my life and what comes first, second, etc.. as well as what I need to keep myself sain and eveyone else around me.

1. My relationsihp with God and all that involves keeping me close to him. Church, scriptures, prayer, service.. I can easily say that this is the best part of who I am. I have been blessed with a knowledge and understanding and fire of truth in my heart that can not be denied. Even in the hardest of times, I will be brought to my knees and my heart can be mended.

2. Now this one is tricky. I'm going to go with my husband Bobby. I've often been labeled as selfish or spoiled or whatever the crap you want to call it, but every day I'm learing in my marriage that I have to give him all of myself and find his needs, and try my best to fulfill them. I know that as long as we are doing this for one another (even though my needs may be higher) we can make it through most anything. Call me crazy but in my short experience of 1 year of marriage that is what I've learned.

3. (going back to what I originally was talking about) I need ME time. This is a recent discovery. I was always pretty independent growing up and went through some of the hardest times ALONE. You need your own time to think and sort through the thoughts in your head. I need it for my own sanity, my husbands, and everyone else around me. I think often times this one is linked back to numero uno. My relationship with my higher power. It's when I get a lot of inspiration and spiritual guidance.
I know many couples that are constantly needing to be with each other and don't want to do anything without the other... And though that may be fine for them or for a while, I think it's important to always know WHO YOU ARE so you don't wake up one day completely lost. There's such a balance there, and I know for me it's a daily thing I'm trying to achieve.

4. My career. One day the bigger career for me will be being a Mother. Heaven knows I cannot wait for that day. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have this desire as strongly as I do now. It brings me to tears on a REGULAR basis, and I know that some of the greatest joys (and hardships) in life are through raising a family. This may not be important to some... some traveling and experiencing the WOOORRRLLDD is what they find as important.. but to me I can't imagine anything more fascinating, exciting, and remarkable as creating life, and raising one to know the rights and wrongs of the world and growing into strong individuals.
Second half is current and that would be my career in the salon. Huge part of my daily balance and it's a passion that I get to fulfill and thankfully it pays the bills! ;) What more could a girl ask for?

5. You named it... dun dun dun Excersize/healthy nutrition. Call my crazy but this is HUGE IN A DAILY BALANCE. It affects our moods, our physical and mental health, and in general how we feel about ourself as a whole. No not everybody (nor myself) needs to be a size 2, but finding a healthy balance in the foods to give your body satisfaction and joy and being in the physical shape that makes you capable of doing things you would like to do. For me that involves Crossfit, Running, and anything physical outdoors. I eat a paleo low-carb diet that I plan on eating the rest of my life. why? BECAUSE ITS GOOD FOR YOU. Don't believe me? check marksdailyapple.com.. or anything on Rob Wolff. This is just 1 opinion but I've tested many waters and this is what makes me happy and is what works for me. I can enjoy life because I feel great. Again... what more could a girl ask for?

I would say there of course is family and friends and hobbies that go into this balance as well. but those were some of the major points I've thought about lately. Balance is so necessary. Life is so good. We should spend less time worrying and more time enjoying.

Fathers Day.

This Fathers Day was a rough one.


I hate feeling sad about it because he died so many years ago and I feel as though I should be over it. But for some reason this whole past month has been a rough one and I've missed him a lot. Missed the time we had together, and the time we never got to have. Wondering where we would be, what I would be like if he lived.

I can't help but wish he were here.

Trips, trips, and more trips.

We've been busy oh yes we have. I'd like to say that's my good excuse for not blogging since April.... and I think I'm going to stick with that excuse. :) Things have been really great for us lately. Work has been WONDERFUL. I've loved having my own schedule and it's been great having everything so flexible. It's allowed me to do lots of fun (much needed) things.

Back in March? Maybe April... I can't remember anymore, my mom and I took a nice little stroll over to Rexburg Idaho to see my sister and my brother. It was short and sweet and sadly I don't think any pictures were taken... but we had a blast. My mom and I talked the whole 12 hours there and the whole 12 hours back and it honestly made the time go by crazy fast. Can I just say I am so glad that I'm not a teen anymore and am able to have a wonderful friendship with my mom? It's awesome. She really is one of my best friends and I love it.
Crystal was SOOOO excited for us to come. It was tender. We met her cute roomates, met her ALL TIME FAVORITE teacher (I even went to the class... such a great sister I know) played with one of my bffs Missy, and of course got a crossfit class in. I got Crystals roomate to drive with me to Idaho Falls to do a crossfit workout since Crystal nor missy nor my mother would come... sigh.
Anyway we had lots of fun. Made dinner, had a crappy happy hour at crappy Applebees (still hate that place... it never gets better) and had lots and lots of laughing... and farting. I don't know which one happened more but let me tell you I had a LOT of dairy and dairy HATES me. So that's how that went. My poor mom got to sit in a car with me for 12 hours! Woo good gracious.

Theen in the end of April I got to go to VEGGAASSS!!! Vegas baby. And it was a BLAST. I went for a few reasons. My girlfriend Tina and I went to the Vegas hairshow.. it was 3 days and it was a ton of fun. Also, that Monday we were there, my good high school friend Jen got married! I did her hair and the wedding was beautiful. Another good high school friend Catherine came up from California with her boyfriend so it was great playing with her and catching up. And then last but not least, another BFF Kylie from Utah was in town with her hubby and SUPER adorable baby!!! I had fun going out with her, it was so good to see them.
Tina and I did everything while we were there. We'd sleep in, go to the pool for a few hours, go to the hairshow for a few hours, go to dinner, and go party on the town at night. One night we even walked from one side of the strip to the other and rode the Stratosphere rides at 1am. One of those moments where you're strapped into the seat and you're wondering how the crap you got there... yeah. GREAT times.
After 4 days in Vegas, I had a few massive blisters on the bottom of my feet and was ready to go home!

Tina and I on the strip.




The beautiful bride!



Then we had some serious wedding OVERLOAD. We went to Seattle in may 2 weekends in a row. Bobbys step brother got married on Saturday May 8th, and then his brother Dave got married May 15th and he was the best man in that wedding. For Dave and Alli's wedding I did all of the bridesmaids and the brides hair and make up... holy cow I was stressed about this because I only had 4 hours to do 5 girls hair and make up and NONE of their hair holds curl... and the brides hair is down to her butt! But, I made it happen and it was a beautiful day and we had so much fun!

Alli--the pretty bride!


The happy couple.


Bobby's sister Coley, Alli and me!


My super hot husband :)



After all of this the traveling kind of relaxed... but then we had a fun wild week of PARENTING!!! Yes. parenting. My step sister Penny and her husband went on a cruise and had Bobby and I watch their 3 kids. Ellie is the oldest (12), then Luke (9) and Ben (6). They were so much fun and a total handful. We loved being parents for a week, but were totally ok handing them back at the end of the week! We got them memorial day and decided to take them on a hike. We had a great time.

Ellie is 12.. can you believe it??


(Luke doesn't like to smile for pictures... he would put a frown on the second I brought the camera out! haha)


Love these kids.


I just thought this picture was way too freakin cute.



All in all it's been a good hectic and wild last few months! We have a lot coming up to look forward to. This week I'm making 2 more Seattle trips, and then in July we're headed to Utah for a week over our anniversary! I can't believe it's already been a year. Absolutely wild. :)

Back.

I'm coming back I swear.


I look at other peoples blogs just about every day.... but for some reason sitting down and writing in mine.. well I've just gotten lazy. Maybe it's the weather.


Either way, I promise I'll be better.
xoxo

Tagged!

Got tagged to do this by my sister. GOODY. Hope you like.

Four Shows I Watch:
1. LOST
2. 24
3. Biggest Loser
4. Big Bang Theory

Four Things I'm Passionate About:
1. Hair
2. Music
3. Faith
4. Family/Friends

Four Phrases I Say A Lot:
1. "Tender." (thanks to Crystal, lacey... whoever started that trend)
2. "That's different.."
3. "For sure."
4. "Random."

Four Things I've Learned from the Past:
1. Rely on God.
2. Life's too short to be dramatic all the time.
3. Seek out the good in others.
4. Don't stop reading the scriptures.

Four Places I Would Like to Go:
1. England
2. New York
3. Germany to visit Cara!!!!
4. Greece

Four Things I Did Yesterday:
1. Slept in.
2. Worked a looonnggg day.
3. Got my Crossfit on.
4. Watched Biggst Loser :)

Four Things I'm Looking Forward to:
1. VEGAAAS!
2. Seeing sister!
3. Family weddings coming up
4. Crossfit Games.

Four Things I Love about Winter:
1. Snow (when it comes)
2. Christmas Music
3. Family time...around the holidays
4. My birthday :)

Four Things on My Wish List:
1. Have healthy happy babies.
2. Getting to a really lean body fat %
3. Travel the world.
4. grow grow grow my career

Four People I tag:

Suzypoooo
Jessie
Danika
Cara jeanne

*!@#

Can I just say... Life is good.

I'm so glad I finally grew up. Heavenly Fathers blessings have become so much more apparent now. Oh how I struggled throughout so much of my life. Growing up was a constant battle. My single years were even harder in ways. I feel like I've closed the first chapter in my life. I love looking back and seeing my life with the eyes I have now. God is so good. I honestly believe the moment I turned my life around and chose to follow Christ, REALLY follow Him and put my broken heart in His hands-- blessings just poured. Poured. and poured. Oh how grateful I am. A broken heart is all he ever really asked for.

Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saves a wretch like me
I once was lost
And now I'm found
Was blind but now I see

Simple pleasures.

First let me tell you what is NOT a simple pleasure. Getting all ready to head to the mall (with LOTS of excitement) and then realizing you left your keys in your husbands car which is now across town. GOODY. Yes this just happened to me. So I've decided to sit down and write a much needed blog instead of doing laundry. Sounds PEACHY. :)

I feel SO BLESSED. Life may not always be like this but let me tell you, it's pretty dang rockin lately. Family, husband, work, friends, weather (today)--it's all just ROCKIN.

First simple pleasure. My sweet Margaret. Bobby and I teach the sunbeams on Sunday at church (well at least 5 of them). OH how I love it. Some Sundays are harder than others but we just adore these kids. Margaret is one of them and she is HILARIOUS. She is very smart, and she DEFINITELY doesn't like just anyone, at least not all the time. She is famous for her dirty look. This little girl is freshly 4 years old and OH how she can give you the stink eye! So funny. Here's another funny story. The other day she was saying the opening prayer before we started our lesson and she said "Please help us to be able to sell our house", I don't know why but this totally caught Bobby and I off guard and we laughed (just a little). She stopped, looked up at us... pondered for a second... and said "forget it". Oh my gosh it was so funny! We loved it. These kids are so fun. Josh isn't talking much yet, but he has THE cutest "okay". We like to say it like him when we're at home. Malena is as sweet as can be and ALWAYS has something to say. Alexa is my little red-head who gets SO excited SO EASILY and has the cutest laugh. And then there's little Jack and his rosy cheeks. Jack has big muscles and is ALWAYS being a helper.
Anyway, so this Sunday I was sitting behind Margarets family and I didn't get the stink eye ONCE! Instead she kept coming over to me handing me pictures. This one was my favorite:



Isn't that just tender? I love these sweet spirits. When I was watching her color I just kept thinking how great it would be to be that innocent again. To have so much curiosity and joy in simple things. All these kids are looking for is love, and I love loving them and teaching them about the Saviors love. We look forward to Sundays.

Another simple pleasure:



I get to see these kids in less than a week! Yup that's right. My mom and I are doing the long drive to Rexburg Idaho. Haven't been back there in QUITE some time! I'm pretty excited. We'll get lots of knitting done on the way while listening to some Daughtry and munching on celery (GOODY). I'm pretty stoked! Can't wait to see my favorite siblings and go meet Crystals FAVORITE TEACHER EEEEVVVVEEERRRR (that was just for you Crystal). Hopefully I can still get my work-out on and see my Missy pissy and maybe even Jess again! We're just going for a few days but BOY it's gonna be great! First time away from the husband. Let's hope he doesn't cry himself to sleep every night. ;) I'm sure he'll LOVE a break!

I have an AWESOME job. This seems so simple but let me tell you it's NOT. It makes life SO good. It makes it possible for me to go on little trips like this! I could not do this before. And guess what? I'm actually making more money than before! Isn't that GRAND? My clients rock, the girls I work with rock, and all around I feel FREEDOM! It's like when you first move away from home and you can do whatever the heck you want. Just like that. :)

So another simple pleasure.... a husband that COOKS! Bobby is an amazing cook. He basically cooks dinner every night.. I come home from work and it is ON the table. WOW am I a lucky girl! Remember the crazy Paleo diet I told you about? Well we've been doing it (or at least he has.. I've been sneaking naughty treats every once in a while). Anyway, it's gluten free, dairy free, soy free, pretty much everything free. And it really hasn't been too bad. Especially since Bobby likes to try new recipes all the time and it never gets boring. Get this. Valentines Day I came home to a 3 course meal. He made PF Chang style lettuce wraps for appetizers, salmon AMAZING asparagus w/ mushrooms and mock mashed potatoes (mashed cauliflower! SO GOOD!) for dinner, and for dessert HE MADE CREME BRULE!!! WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My jaw was dropped BASICALLY the whole time. Here is one of my favorites that he makes. Lettuce wrap TACOOOSSSS!!!! SO GOODDDD!:


(ps check out his Work-out/nutrition blog: bobulrich.net)

I love simple pleasures. Like Lost, knitting, a killer run, and Coconut bliss ice cream.



Check it out. It will rock your world.

XOXOXOXO

Bella Salon!

Some exciting news....... I MOVED TO A DIFFERENT SALON!!! HAAALLLLEEEELLLUUUUUUJJJAAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Life is good let me tell you. So some of you know I had been working at Ensemble Salon for almost 3 years... and although I LOVE doing hair I, (and everyone else that worked there) really had a hard time. I won't go into detail.. but basically I was just so ready to leave. They were moving locations so I decided that at the same time I would go to a different salon.

My step sister Jonna has a sister-in-law named Da'Lynne that worked at Bella Salon, and had told me to get into contact with her. So I did. :) I met with the owner and that was that! I got hired! Now the difference between the salons is Ensemble was commission... and Bella is a leasing salon. Do you know how great this is? I am my own boss. No more dealing with cruddy bosses who never let me take any time off and never listened to me and 80% of the time didn't have color in stock. I don't have to deal with that BS ANYMORE!!! The transfer was pretty stressful. I had to get all my clients info and call everyone and send out postcards to everyone. But I did it, and last week was my first week at Bella! I love it. There's 13 stylists and everyone is super nice and all of my clients followed!

I feel like the biggest burden has been lifted off my back and now I enjoy working again. YAY FOR HAPPY JOBSSSS!!!!

Winter Madness.

This past month has been SO fun and SO nuts! We had so much fun over the Holidays. Lot's of family and friend time and lots of Holiday cheer! The month of December was pretty crazy and was just go go go.
Near the beginning of the month we threw a little Christmas party/Missy's birthday party. I made lots of food and it was DELICIOUS. We ate and watched Home Alone and decorated sugar cookies. We had a ton of fun and maybe we'll even do it again next year!

(the food was intense)

(Kyle & Kerri--newly engaged cute couple!)



(don't you love my candles??)

(Alysha & Justin decorating cookies. The best sugar cookie decorators)

Then Christmas started getting closer and Crystal came home!! My mom waited till Crystal came home so we could decorate the tree and we had a good time since Bobby especially always makes things wild and entertaining.

(this is one of those moments where I don't know if I want to claim him...)

(love these two chicks.)


(I was feeling left out being the only one without 4-eyes, so Chuck let me borrow his)

(we also went to "Peacock Lane" which is a famous street that decks out on xmas lights every year.)
sisters :)

(and then the weater got all crazy on us and SNOWED! We loved it!)
(we walked to my parents house and there were cars stuck EVERYWHERE!)

Then Crystal and Kevin and the rents took off for Idaho and things settled back down a little bit.. and 2 weeks after christmas my birthday hit!!! woot woot! Good ol 23. I love my birthday. Who doesn't love a day all about them? I like to tell Bobby that it's actually my birthday WEEK so I get whatever I want all week. Ok lets be honest... I get what I want pretty much always. But ESPECIALLY on my birthday.

(looking a whole year older--don't look to close to see the wrinkles ps thanks Crystal for the earings! Love em!)

(we went cosmic bowling the Friday before with a bunch of friends and had a blast!)

(two of my favorite people. Whit and Holly)

(that's my GQ man)

(priceless)

And then the BEST birthday present of all was the next day when Bobby took me to leavenworth, Washington! OH MY GOSH GO THERE!!!! I was in heaven. It's a little German town up in the mountains and we had the most relaxing time imaginable. It was so nice to get away just the 2 of us and it was so beautiful and magical. We only spent one night there but it was so much fun and we want to go back.

(the trees were beautiful)

(this was funny. Pretzels everywhere. We love German food)

(don't you love it?!?)

(don't worry it didn't stick!)

(we went to a German restaraunt and had a shnitzel!!! SO DELICIOUS!)

(Delicious nutella cheesecake. YUM)

<3

Crossfit.

I know I have much more catching up to do other than writing about our new(ish) obsession. We love crossfit. If you have talked to me lately you know what that is. I'm sorry if you're sick of hearing about it--stop reading as of now. :) Never heard of it? go to http://www.crossfit.com/. It rocks our world.

Bobby and I have been working out 5-6 days a week pretty consitantly for the past mmmmm 2 years? It wasn't till last January that I really got down on my eating habits and lost the pounds. My typical work-out consisted of a lot of running and weight training. Which would be the "Body building"weight lifting style that most people do in the gym. You know... 15 reps of x amount of weight 3 times. Rest in between. All that good stuff. Now this was all fine and dandy until we got bored and stopped seeing as great of results. I hadn't really lost weight since the wedding and I found that annoying. Bobby's a weight loss machine but us girls I think have hit harder.

So anyway, our friends Wade and Bethany (who Bobby lived with before we got married) have been trying to get us to do crossfit for... mmm a long time. We finally started a few months ago and we have already seen drastic changes in our body. It's crazy that I'd been working on my arms for such a long time at the gym lifting weights but never saw many results.. only in 3 months my arms have gotten so much more toned, including my legs, back, abs, butt everything!

Here's what it is. Crossfit is a bunch of affiliations around the US. It's not like a 24 hour fitness or a Golds Gym. They're personally owned, different costs to sign up at different crossfits. Most are a warehouse type setting, and when you get there there is a work out of the day posted on the board. Everyone in the class starts at the same time, and before you start you do a long warm-up and then the coach goes over what you're doing, and often times you work on specific body parts before you do the work out of the day. A lot of things we do are things you would do in gymnastics.. using the rings and pull up bar to do gymnastic type moves. These things do an all over body strength training. The work out of the day normally consists of 2 to 5 excersizes either doing repeated 3-5 times. The nice thing is it's different every day and you never know what you're going to be doing until you get there. The best part is having the coach/trainer watching you during the work-out, correcting your form and motivating you to finish the work-out. All work-outs are timed, and your time is scored on the bored at the end and you keep personal track so the next time you do that work-out down the road you can keep score of your progress. Many of the things we do are some of the best all over body movements.. things like push-ups, pull-ups, squats, sit-ups.. and then as well as running, jump roping, box jumping, dead-lifts, front squats, etc. A couple examples of these work-outs would be something like:

100 pull-ups

100 push-ups

100 sit-ups

100 squats

or...

200 meter run

21 kettle bell swings

21 pull-ups

400 meter run

21 kettle bell swings

21 pull-ups

200 meter run

21 kettle bell swings

21 pull-ups

I've never done the same work-out twice. We've been doing crossfit 3 times a week and I've been running on my off days. I highly recommend people checking this out if they're tired of their same ol routine, need something new and EFFECTIVE, or are just looking to get into really good shape. People who did sports growing up love crossfit because it can be competitive and a lot of things we do are very sports oriented.

Ok I'm off my soap-box now, but check it out! We love it!!!

here's some pictures to see what it's all about