A Happy List: 81

I kind of want to start posting throwback pictures from my old blog that I have hidden deep, deep in cyberspace ahahaha. So, here's the first :) Me and my brother <3

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Seeing someone change one of those signs fast food restaurants use to advertise. I had been waiting my entire life for that. / Jake making cookies and delivering me my very own bowl of cookie dough... complete with a spoon instead of a fork. #truelove / Apple celery carrot juice. / Seeing a half husky half golden retriever mix. (On the internet, but it was still so cute.) / FINALLY BEING ABLE TO COOK AND BAKE. / All the kids being back in school and making everything 80% less crowded. / Getting a trim and no longer having gross, scraggly hair. / Buying a new lens! / Faces on things that don't usually have faces. / Breaking 100 likes on my photography page. (If you're a friend go like it :))

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My mom: "Send me the address."

Me: "I posted it on Instagram."

My mom: "That means nothing to me."

XOXO
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P.S. What's making you happy lately? I know I'm going to be on cloud nine once fall hits in full force!

An InLinkz Link-up

How To Date Night When You're Broke AF

First, go to Harts and buy alllll the donuts. Then, get some drinks and a Chick O Stick (because obviously). Go home and cuddle on the couch with First Bae and Second Bae. Watch a T.V. show that makes you feel better about your own life, like The Strain. Make sure you fall asleep right after you start the episode so you never know what's going on in the character's lives. Also, make sure you get the "inside" cuddling spot so you're not the first to get eaten by vampires.

XOXO

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Places You Need To Eat: Black Bear Diner

You guys, this was literally one meal. We couldn't even finish it all. Get "The Grizz!" It's like 12 bucks and so so worth it. They also serve breakfast all day, so it's the best ever.

XOXO

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You Complete Me

Can we all just give a huge round of applause to my husband? It's 11:00 pm and he just left to get me strawberry cake mix and chocolate chips. In his words, "Em, you've been waiting for this new oven to cook and I'm not going to let stupid chocolate chips get in the way!!!!!"

Haha. (Ok it might not be word for word but who can ever remember exactly what people say anyway?)

This post doesn't really have a point other than to share these pictures that I took on Jake's camera! My niece wanted me to set up the Nintendo for her the other day, and amongst all the cables and controllers was Jake's little forgotten digital camera. I miss the days when my camera weighed less than 1,000,000 pounds :'D.

I guess I'm also here because I want to write about real life things again. Photography is good and all that, but I've just been bored with what I've been putting on here. It's lacked... depth? If that makes sense. Like, yes, I am a real person and I want to talk about actual things. It's just risky because you always get that person who applies the post to themselves and gets excited/sad/offend/angry/etc.

But that's something I've come to peace with lately. Like, you will always have those people in your life who take something the wrong way. I think the key point is to stop taking responsibility for other people's emotions.

I'm that person who always feels bad if someone doesn't like me, or thinks I don't like them. I once had something happen that taught me this: People will always do what they want to do. You can waste your time trying to convince them differently, but in the end they will still see what they want to see and feel what they want to feel. So it's just a huge waste of time to even go down that road in the first place! 

People are awesome and I love them, but something they can be frustrating. I have found it's easier to just say, "Sorry! I wasn't trying to infer that it's dumb you own a unicorn or anything! I was just saying a unicorn ate my chocolate once so I don't know if I could have one hahaha." And then if that person still wants to believe that you hate their unicorn, then that's their issue! 

Anyway, I think about stuff like this a lot. Like about relationships. I'm always hesitant to write about it here because I never want anyone to think I'm passive aggresively aiming it at them. I'm just going to be a therapist someday and so I love challenging the building blocks of relationships and finding out why certain things work in some relationships and fail in others! 

WOW that was long. Congrats to you if you read it. Maybe I'll be back next week with marriage advice. I promise it will be the opposite of whatever you're thinking it will be right now, but it will also be worth a read hahaha. 

XOXO

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P.S. Katherine, that picture of Skully is for you. 

P.P.S. The title of this post is referring to finally having an oven and having my life completed once again. #bakingaddict

A Happy List: 80

 The blind couple walking together that I always see on my way home from work. / Snack size McFlurries. / The sunset on Friday night. / When Jake carries me to bed. / Finally trying Cupbop and LOVING IT. / When Trixie uses her dog pillow like a human without us even making her. / My #bbsinthewild idea that will be coming soon to my Instagram. / When I fell alseep entirely on top of Jake while he watched T.V. / Finally catching up on some blogs. (Sorry if I don't comment on your blogs anymore, I read them on my iPhone now!) / Lastly, Jake is cleaning the kitchen right now as I write this, and that makes me VERY HAPPY. :) :) :) :) :)

My mom: "Sometimes Trixie has a smirk on her face."

Also, I've decided to make my happy lists a linkup! So, leave a link if you make a happy list. I've seen a few other bloggers doing this around the internet so I thought it would be fun to bring all the happiness to one place where people can find it :)

XOXO

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An InLinkz Link-up

iPhone Diary

I always debate on whether or not to post iPhone photos. On one hand, I want to keep using my camera and taking quality pictures. On the other hand, I take a lot of pictures on my iPhone and I don't want them to just get lost in the photo abyss in my life. So, I've decided to just post my iPhone pictures, but to also be more selective about it. I was looking through my mom's photo albums the other day and she had like, one album from 1994-1997. She didn't even have a picture of me in the hospital the day I was born! I may have freaked out and thought I was adopted for some time haha. Anyway, I feel like it's nice to have lots of pictures, but then again when I have kids and they want to look at our pictures, they are going to have like thousands to go through haha. So, I'm trying to keep pictures that represent important memories, things I want to remember, instead of just pictures that were cool in the moment. Idk. I'm rambling now, but in short, expect more iPhone posts!

My cute coworker! We have to take selfies while we do trainings and it's so funny haha.

The trail by my house has the most baby stop sign. I love it haha. 

I REALLY need to make a video about public restrooms, but long story short: I hate them very much. Now that I'm at work all day I literally have no choice but to use a public restroom haha. I took this picture to congratulate myself on getting over weird life traps.

When I was filming my DIY video, my niece decided to be a little photographer. She was the cutest! And also caught on VERY fast on how to take a picture. By the end she could take a picture and review all the pictures on the camera haha. Kids these days are so freaking good with electronics.

My cute coworkers! I love my job!

Jake's motorcycle haha. It's my favorite thing. It's so funny. Every time we go on a ride my vagina ends up feeling like a smushed ant on the sidewalk. TMI, but in essence, I guess "sport bikes" aren't really meant to have passengers. Especially not when you're on bumpy roads hahahahahaha. Oh also, I saw a stat that like 95% of my readers are women, so I feel very comfortable talking about things like this here :) 

And lastly, pictures from camping! It was super fun taking Trixie. I want to take her every time now!

XOXO

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Camping!

At last we were able to go camping. It seriously seems like we have been trying to go for so long, but something always comes up that we have to go to. So, we finally had a free weekend and I was like, "We are going camping. There is no other option." Hahaha. I wanted to go to Willow Lake, but I'm an idiot and thought it was way closer than it actually was. We ended up going to Timpanooke in AF Canyon and it was SO PRETTY. We got lucky with a walk up and it was seriously the best :)

I always joke with Jake that dads love panoramas. Like I swear 90% of the time you see a person taking a panorama picture, it will be a father haha. But, it was too pretty and I couldn't get the whole view in one shot, so alas: my first panorama on my camera!

Anyway! I've decided to start keeping track of where to camp in Utah, because it's always hard for us to find good spots. I wish I could find someone who had tested out a bunch and found the best! So, in hopes I will be able to help out some souls, here are the campground details :)

Timpanooke: site 14, $21, walk-up only, incredible view, bathrooms and water on site.

If you know of any really cool camping spots that aren't hours away, please let me know! I'd love to check them out!

XOXO

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A Happy List: 79

Jake picked my ring up from the jewelers and proposed again hahahaha. / Wanting to talk about something, but not wanting to cause drama, but then finding out someone else felt the same way I did and finally being able to talk about it. / My friend at work was trying to take a picture but her regular camera was broken, so she had to use the front facing one and put her phone right in front of my face. It looked like she was taking a super close up picture of my face and I was so confused hahahahaha. / The view from our campsite. / When Trixie got scared and I brought her into my sleeping bag and she just slept there all night, without changing positions haha. / Starbuck's peppermint hot chocolate with non-fat milk and no vanilla. / Getting opportunities at work. / Watching the sunrise while driving to work. / The way my Instagram feed looks since I've been doing the post every day project. / My cameo in our work video.

Blogging Is Weird

This is kind of random, but someone in my family said to me the other day: "No offense, but does anyone even watch those videos you make?" When I told them that people did, they asked me why people cared about my life. They couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch a video of me being best friends with Trixie, or talking about myself.

I couldn't tell them why people cared enough about my life to read my blog and watch my videos. I honestly feel like my life is pretty boring, so I was like "Heck if I know!" But, it just got me thinking about the whole thing. I decided that blogs are kind of hard for older people to understand, but in essence they are just another form of social media. I like blogging the best though, because it has such a strong value. It's a way to remember your life and have it all organized with pictures and words online.

I just thought that was funny. A few months ago I would have been way embarrassed and probably really offended at a comment like that, but now I just laugh so hard, because it really is such a weird concept to people who aren't in the blogging world. I really want someone to  make a video of "things they don't understand that bloggers do" or something like that. I feel like it would be so funny. For the record, I have made some of my favorite friends blogging. I have been able to feel so understood and accepted in this online world, when at times I felt like an alien in real life. So, I think that's why I keep putting things into this space. I like having it as an outlet for my photography, a way to remember my life and "journal", and a way to make friends :) 

XOXO
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The Final Flog :(

Guys! I'm sad Flog is over! It was seriously so fun making these videos. I kind of want to make a video a month. Leah? What are your thoughts? Do you care to host a monthly video link-up?  I feel like this turned out a lot better than I thought it would! So, let me know what you think. :)



Also, in case you don't want to watch the video, here are some pictures. I had my camera set up on a tripod, and my niece came in and wanted to take some pictures. I think she did pretty good for a 4 year old ;)

XOXO
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