Weekending

My weekend adventures were quite stellar. It all began when I texted Meredith to see how she was. I hadn't seen her in forever, and we set up a Friday dinner date for us and our spouses. Mere made yummy chicken tacos, and I made s'mores brownies for dessert. I was trying something new, and all I did was pour the batter into the pan, layer in some graham crackers, and top with marshmallows and chocolate chips. It was a successful endeavor, and after we finished half the pan we played Ticket to Ride (I won!).

It was a wonderful double date, we love our friends and we certainly enjoyed their company on Friday night. I guess I never realized how easy it is to lose track of friends if you don't see each other every day, but I'm glad we are working to maintain our connection.

While I was making the brownies for our meal, I used the last bit of greek yogurt in the batter, so I gave Princess the container to lick clean. She accepted the job.

Saturday morning was our temple date! We pulled into the Oquirh Mountain Temple parking lot, and realized that the temple was closed. Boy did we feel silly. Anyway, we quickly turned on the GPS and heading southeast to the Draper Temple. We were able to get about 10 sealing ordinances done, which is fantastic because we still have so many ordinances to perform.

After the temple, we headed to the grocery store to do our weekly shopping. We were scheduled to bring dinner for the Jensens on Sunday, and we had a few more things to pick up.

Then I went off to meet my mom and cousin Greg for lunch downtown. I met up with them at Grandpa's, and then we went to Chuck o'Rama.

Then we had our soccer game against the team that completely annihilated us last time. I got hit several times (again!), but this time we beat them by one point instead of losing by half the points.

Overall, I'd say it was a pretty good weekend.

VDay 2017

This year marks three years that Sam has been my valentine. But I am not really a fan of Valentine's Day, so it isn't exactly a happy day for me. Perhaps it stems from always feeling lonely when I was a kid, February 14 was always a day where other children were forced to be fake nice to me and give me pity cards. I knew for a fact that the other kids didn't like me, so the whole ordeal of Vday was just very disingenuous.

Regardless, I love having Sam as my 'person' to push through the days that I don't like. Good thing Sam and I both love Independence Day (fireworks, bbq's, and popsicles), so we don't feel the need to make a huge fuss about a day neither of us really cares about.

We thoroughly enjoyed our heart-shaped pizza, and then we watched a new episode of Studio C. Like  I said, low-key Valentine's day is fine with me.

I was showered with some pretty sweet swag from my peeps at school. You know, that's one thing that I never really expected to work at an elementary school: holiday treats galore!

I guess next year I need to step up my game and bring the treats in order to showcase my great appreciation for those around me at school.

Anyway, to say I felt the love would be an understatement. I totally felt the love! Maybe I should reconsider my feelings toward this holiday.

RootsTech

We decided to check out the RootsTech convention this year so learn a little bit more about how to do better family history research. My unspoken intention was to figure out how to find more information about my great-great grandparents from Romania.

We headed down to the Salt Palace on Saturday afternoon for the opening session, and we got to hear words from President and Sister Nelson. I loved their talk, especially the part where Sister Nelson said, "I do everything I can, and then I move on."

But my great-great grandparents are something that I don't think I can move on from. I feel like when my Bubby died, all of the family history died with her. I refuse to let this be the ending to that story, so I will post more information after I figure it out!

We waited in line for one of the exhibits that featured fancy cakes. I kid you not, we waited almost 20 minutes, but I think it was worth the wait. See a compilation collage of the ones I liked the most below. The 3 little pigs cake, the crayon cake, and the Muppet Christmas Carol cake were our most favorite ones. I almost wish Sam liked birthday cake so I could attempt to make something cool, sadly he is a pie guy, hands down.

We enjoyed RootsTech, maybe we will want to go again next year.

#TakeBackTheMorning

I was seriously consumed by the winter blues this season. After I got hurt during Christmas I spiraled a bit. No motivation, my time felt like it had no value, and my self-care sucked. I took a pregnancy test and it came up negative. It was so cold outside that I just wanted to wear my sweats all day, and changing my clothes became a dreaded chore. Then Sam went back to work and I stayed home alone. I was depressed. Then school started again, and I was psyched to get back to work.

Unfortunately, it didn't help me.

I was stuck.

My proverbial bucket was empty.

I had nothing to give myself.

Boo.

A week ago today, we were sitting in Sacrament and I was journaling. I was suddenly overcome with determination. I was not going to let this change me for the worst.

I took a hard look at why I was so unhappy.

Every problem started with first thing in the morning. I was unmotivated to get out of bed and exercise. I kept hitting the snooze button, until I finally just changed my alarm to go off 30 minutes later.

Sam could tell I was struggling. He tried to be supportive by always asking me about workouts, but he seemed surprised when I told him that I hadn't done a workout. He did so much to help me bounce back, but alas, his encouraging words fell on my deaf ears.

Anyway, I decided to do a round of the 21-day fix to kick me out of my depression. Last Monday was my test of motivation. The alarm beeped at 5:15am, and I was off like a rocket!

I had set up my workout clothes and the exercise space, I packed my lunch the night before, and I'd already picked out my outfit for work.

My workout was rough, I had few modifications, and then I rewarded myself with a nice hot shower.

I hadn't even left the house when I noticed an amazing change in my mood.

I woke Sam up to have scripture study, and quickly packed my healthy lunch in my lunch box.

As I made my way throughout the day, I could feel the joy creeping back into my system. I was finally starting to feel happy again.

I've felt myself grow so much in the last week.

I'm proud of myself for taking back my mornings :)

Love, Emily G.

I think two of my favorite books are Something Borrowed and Something Blue by Emily Giffin. I loved the 2011 film adaptation, but realized I loved the book even more, and then to discover the sequel was like Christmas in July back in 2014.

Anyway, I've since read every single book she's written. She released a new one last year, and offered a signature plate to anyone who wrote her. I decided to write her, thanking her for created Rachel and Darcy, and requesting a signature plate.

It came this week!