Gender Roles

Phil is taking a physchology of gender class at the U right now. For one of his assignments, he was supposed to do something against his gender role and write a paper about his experience.

After he found out about the assignment, I got a text from him saying, "I need to get a pedicure." Ummm......that is one thing I have never heard Phil say. He further explained the assignment and I was 100% on board. I thought it would be so fun to get pedicures together ha. Unfortunately we weren't about to spend $25/person for a school project. Phil's next idea was shaving his legs....I said NO! Then phil got the idea of doing a facial mask. So we went to Walmart and bought a fairly inexpensive tube of lemon scented clay mask.

I love that he even wanted the head band to keep his hair back!

We had fun cleansing our pores together while watching an episode of "Lie to Me." We have recently become hooked on this show via Netflix. It is so interesting! But don't worry, this isn't taking away from us staying up to date with Modern Family, The Office, or Psych!

This fun spa evening also included a lovely foot massage for me from my darling husband!

Elder Richard G. Scott

Last weekend was our stake conference. We were blessed to have Elder Scott preside at our meetings. Phil went to the priesthood leadership meeting Saturday afternoon where Elder Scott held a Q&A type meeting. Phil said it was really interesting. Oh, I think I forgot to mention on the blog, but Phil got a calling. He is the Young Men secretary and the assistant Priest quorum advisor. He is really enjoying his calling so far.

The Saturday adult session was incredible. Elder Scott asked a few questions and then turned to the congregation to raise their hands and answer them. He asked, "If you were to meet Joseph Smith, how would you prepare, and what would you ask him or thank him for?" His second question was, "If you were to meet Jesus Christ, how would you prepare and what would you thank him for?" These were good questions that invoked some thoughtful and spiritual responses.

My favorite part of the weekend was to hear an apostle of the Lord bear his heart felt testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ. The spirit was so strong and my testimony was definitely strengthened through his words and his presence. I am so blessed to live at a time with a living Prophet and apostles of the Lord on the earth.

Alphabet Dating--D (With a Twist)

Phil and I are slowly chugging along with our alphabet dating. It feels like we have been doing this for a long time, yet we are only on D. Last Friday we finally had a free night and I was excited for the D date that Phil planned. This was the plan...go to the DINOSAUR museum, then DINNER at DENNY'S. Throughout the date we were going to take pictures with a DISPOSABLE camera, DEVELOP the pictures, then make a poster DISPLAY of our DATE. Sounds fun right? I couldn't wait!

I usually only have class Fridays until noon, but last Friday I had to study for and take a test. I didn't leave Provo until about 5:30pm, little did I know that I was slightly throwing off Phil's surprise plans for the evening. I got home and hurried and got ready and we left. We started driving towards the DINOSAUR museum when Phil confessed that we actually weren't going to the museum or Denny's. Instead he took me to Texas Road House for dinner. That doesn't start with the letter D but we I love that place so I wasn't complaining. Before we were seated Phil snuck away to make a secret phone call...I knew the surprises were not over! After dinner he revealed the big surprise. He had booked us a room at the Little America hotel for the night. No, it wasn't our anniversary, my birthday, or any other special occasion. It was just a Friday night where my sweetheart decided to surprise me!

On the way to the hotel we had to make a Walmart run to buy toothbrushes. Background story... Shortly after Phil and I were married, he pulled a similar surprise where he took me to a hotel for the night. However, he didn't completely succeed with the surprise aspect because I noticed that several things from our bathroom were missing: both of our toothbrushes, my makeup bag, my brush, etc. I knew something was up. Phil didn't want to risk that happening again so he decided we would just buy new toothbrushes. Smart boy! And I truly was surprised this time. Phil covered his bases. He even bought a disposable camera, poster board, and glue sticks to go along with what he said we were doing. I would've never known.

We had such a fun evening relaxing and enjoying some time away from home, school, and work.

We slept in until 10 the next morning, which was so nice. Especially because Phil and I are both up by 5 or 5:30am during the weekdays. When we woke up, I asked Phil if he brought me a brush and/or a hair elastic. His response, "I didn't want you to notice they were gone. . ." Translation, no he did not haha. No worries, I just went home looking like a homeless woman.

On the way home we stopped at DENNY'S for breakfast. There's that D we have been waiting for.

It was such a fun weekend and we even came home with a little souvenir. . .

Forget Me Not

I loved listening to President Uchtdorf's talk during the General Relief Society meeting last Sunday. It was a talk that I definitely needed to hear at the time and it reminded me of several things I should never forget.

He centered his talk around 5 things we should never forget...one reminder for each petal on the small, yet beautiful Forget-Me-Not flower.

1. Forget not to be patient with yourself. God is fully aware that we are not perfect. We often spend too much time comparing the weaknesses we see in ourselves to the strengths we see in others. We all have strengths and weaknesses. The goal is to eventually turn all of our weaknesses into strengths. But this is a long term goal. We need to be thankful for all of the small successes in our home. Even though these successes may seem small and unnoticed by others, they are noticed by God and they are significant to Him.

2. Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice. An acceptable sacrifice is when we give up something good for something of far greater worth. For example, losing some sleep to help a child who is having a nightmare is a good sacrifice. However, staying up all night to make the perfect accessory for a daughter's Sunday outfit may not be a good sacrifice. We need to ask ourself if we are committing our time and energy to the things that matter most.

3. Forget not to be happy now! Many people are waiting around for their Golden Ticket that they believe holds the key to the happiness they have always dreamed about. It may be a perfect marriage or a perfect house. There is nothing wrong with righteous yearnings. The problem comes when we put our happiness on hold while we wait for a future event to happen (our Golden Ticket). If we wait around for fabulous roses, we might miss the beauty and wonder of the tiny forget-me-nots that are all around us. We want to strive for the best that is within us.

4. Forget not the WHY of the gospel. Sometimes we unintentionally overlook the vital aspects of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We sometimes look at all of the duties and responsibilities of the gospel as a long list of tasks that we must fit into our busy schedules. We focus on what the Lord wants us to do and how we might do it, but we sometimes forget the why. The gospel is not an obligation. It is a pathway marked by our father in heaven leading to happiness. The gospel is a light. When we understand why our Father has given us that pattern of living and why we have committed to making it a foundational aspect of our life, the gospel ceases to be a burden and instead becomes a joy and a delight. The why of obedience sanctifies our actions.

5. Forget not that the Lord loves you. We can sometimes feel small and very insignificant; just like the forget-me-not flower. We are NEVER forgotten by the Lord. Never. He loves us with an infinite love. We are the daughters of His kingdom. He loves us even though we make mistakes. The love of God and the power of the restored gospel are redemptive and saving. We are closer to heaven than we suppose.

I'm really thankful for this talk and I greatly look forward to the upcoming weekend of General Conference.

Home Sweet Home

Phil and I are finally starting to feel settled into our new home. Here is a little tour...

2 pics of our family room

(we turned a bedroom into our family room)

Our bedroom minus the dressers.

They didn't fit in the picture

Bathroom

This area connects our bedroom to our family room. The order of things goes our bedroom, a vanity, shower, toilet, another vanity, then our family room. It's a nice connection.

Dining area and kitchen

Closer view of kitchen

This is the view out of the window over my sink.

I love it because it makes me feel like I'm not in a basement anymore.

Plus sometimes the cats will curl up down there and hummingbirds feed from flowers growing to the right of this picture. I LOVE it!!!

A few things came with this move that I have not had in my two years of marriage....

AND

Isn't that a pretty sight?!

Change

It seems like people always talk about how the summer went by too fast. Well…that has never been more true for me. I took classes at BYU spring and summer terms. My summer finals ended two weeks before fall semester started. My two weeks of summer vacation definitely went by WAY too fast. During my break from school, my main priority was getting our Provo apartment packed up so we could move into Phil’s parent’s basement in Highland.

Packing was somewhat of an emotional process for me. I thought about how I was going to miss our cute little apartment that we have lived in for the past two years, the great married student ward we have become apart of, and being close to our incredible friends in Provo. Despite these feelings, change inevitably comes as a part of life and it usually turns out for the best. I mean you can't stay in a married student ward forever right? Phil and I are ready to start this new chapter of our life.

I thought I’d post a few pictures of our first apartment for my memory’s sake.

Our moving boxes haha. Phil and I had to get up at 3am to go pick these up!

Goodbye to our empty apartment

After we moved to Highland, we didn’t have long to get settled in before Phil started classes at U of U. My classes started a week later so I had more time to get things situated. Things are finally starting to feel settled (pictures to come).

We have gone to our new ward for three weeks now. It is a lot different than the married student ward we are used to. But once again, change is a good thing. We are in Phil’s family ward so he knows a lot more people than I do. I’m trying my best to get to know people. However, I got a calling today, which may slightly impede my abilities to continue getting to know people. I got called to work in the nursery… change is good … I keep reminding myself. The kids are cute so I’m sure it will be a good experience (or at least just an experience). Phil has yet to receive a calling, but he is super excited for it to come.

Alphabet Dating--C

Phil and I have been really excited for our C date. We decided to make it a COUPLES date with the COOLEST Grandma and Grandpa Reilley I have!

The date began in Provo where Phil and I got CUPCAKES from the most delicious COCOA Bean bakery. We seriously love this place!

Then we drove up to Salt Lake to meet my Grandparents at the CONFERENCE CENTER for a tour of the building. They have worked as service missionaries there for several years and they were just recently called as the conference center supervisors (basically they are now the head honchos). The tour was great. That building is so beautiful!

Yes...I realize I should be a photographer!

Isn't this picture pretty?

Another sign of my natural photography skills.

After the tour, the four of us had CHINESE for dinner at P.F. CHANGS! Ah, it was so so good.

The final event on our C date agenda was a COLORING CONTEST. Phil is such a good colorer. We were going to have our family vote for whose coloring was the best but there was no need because I CROWNED Phil the winner.

Can you tell whose picture is whose?

Phil's is Mater. He did so good. But in my defense, I didn't have all of background that he had to work with.

They became our new fridge art!