Tripping Over Rocks.

I got these this morning and about died. Rob and I went up to Little Cottonwood Canyon to get our engagement pictures taken a couple weeks ago. I had no idea how they were going to turn out and I was a little nervous because of how dead everything was. Our photographer had some amazing locations picked out and I was so happy with how they turned out. We seriously had so much fun and I literally tripped over rocks the entire time. Poor Rob was having allergies the whole weekend and kept apologizing for "getting snot on my cheek", which was just making me laugh. I can't wait to marry this crazy kid.

Featured Post: Carrie and Lowell Album Review

Sufjan Stevens has always spoken right to my soul, but his latest album Carrie and Lowell is off the charts heartbreakingly beautiful. His whimsical, gentle, melody along with his heartbreaking, sad lyrics create feelings of nostalgia and longing for a better time. It is interesting to me that this album comes so late in his musical career. He has brought us albums like The Age of Adz and Illinois that are hypnotic and electric and then gives us this album that brings us intimately, right into his childhood. My favorite track from the album is Blue Bucket of Gold. It begins with a soft piano and Sufjan asking “Friend, why don’t you love me?” but it’s the hook that gets me every time. The lyrics read “Raise your right hand, tell me you want me in your life. Or raise your red flag, right when I want you in my life.” heartbreaking right? Speaking with Pitchfork about his new album Sufjan stated, "With this record, I needed to extract myself out of this environment of make-believe. It’s something that was necessary for me to do in the wake of my mother’s death—to pursue a sense of peace and serenity in spite of suffering. It’s not really trying to say anything new, or prove anything, or innovate. It feels artless, which is a good thing. This is not my art project; this is my life." Additional tracks I would recommend are Eugene, Fourth of July, and John My Beloved.  I also made a playlist of my favorite Sufjan Stevens' songs including lots from his new album. Check it out in the link below!

https://open.spotify.com/user/1220901858/playlist/7hebAcXSOIikXZnUj7jFbP

-Kate

Family Fire

My dad started doing the cutest thing he calls "Fantastic Friday". Every few weeks we all get together as a family and do something fun. For the first one we played board games. A few weeks later we all got together and voted for what we wanted to do. We ended up going to the grocery store where everyone got their favorite ice cream, then went home and played Mario Cart. It was so much fun. Well this last Friday was another Fantastic Friday and I loved it. the weather was finally warming up and we had a little fire in the back yard. We made tin foil dinners and s'mores. It was so fun to have everyone together and my tin foil dinner was honestly the best meal I have had in a long time. Every time we get together we make even more memories. Like  Milo attacking our family dog Jack out of no where during the prayer on the food. I thought it was the funniest thing and I'm definitely looking forward to more Fantastic Friday's to come.

Friday Favorites

This has seemed like the longest week ever! I'm so thankful the weekend is almost here AND the weather is going to be sunny! Here are few things that I have been loving lately and that definitely helped me get through the week.

How cute are these? This is definitely how I will be decorating my eggs this Easter!

These sandals are amazing and I want them for summer! Thanks Nordstrom.

This hasn't been turning me orange and for that, I'm grateful.

This was the theme of my week.

I went to Target and bought both of these this week. Honestly it has amazed me how much of a difference it has made to get some new things for our house. Also, Target never disappoints.

Have a good weekend!

Valentines Popcorn

Happy Friday! If you are wanting to make a quick and yummy treat for Valentines this weekend, I have the perfect thing. This white chocolate popcorn is always a hit and so easy to make!

Here's what you need:

8 Cups Popped Popcorn
1 Cup Melted White Chocolate
1 Bag of Conversation Hearts (You can also use Valentine's M&M's)
Pink Food Coloring
Cookie Sheet

Start by popping your popcorn. Shake the bowl so that all the kernels fall to the bottom  and then spread the popcorn onto the cookie sheet. Melt your chocolate in the microwave in 20-second intervals, then add the food coloring. Drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn evenly. Get tongs and mix the popcorn so that it all gets coated. Add the conversation hearts then let the chocolate harden. That's it!

Wait. I thought this was my idea.

Happy February! I can't believe that we are already a month into 2016. Because of Valentine's Day this month I thought that I would start off February with the story of Robert and I's engagement. Excuse any cheesiness, but I'm still dying over it.

Okay so Robert and I had brought up the idea of getting married pretty early on and to be honest I had the idea of marriage in my mind from just a few weeks of knowing him.  So as we got closer to the end of the year I was positive that I wanted to spend my life with him. After going on a trip with his family to California, it was a done deal for me.  So in early December Robert asked me if I wanted to go on a fancy date for Christmas. I of course was so on board but then he didn't say anything else about it. I was talking to Kate and told her that I thought that he had maybe forgot about it. Well that Wednesday when he came came over he brought it up again and asked when I wanted to go. We decided that Saturday would be good and that was all that he said. Over the next couple of days we solidified everything. 

So Saturday came and I was going to help my little sister do her hair and makeup for a dance before we left. We had to run to Walmart because of a lipstick crisis and I forgot my phone at home. The second I opened the door my mom comes running in and says, " Al, Robert's okay but he got in a wreck."! At that point I was panicking a little and just asking tons of questions that no one knew the answer to. Luckily he called me about 20 minutes later and let me know that everything was fine, someone had run a red light but it wasn't too bad and that he would be late to come and pick me up. So about an hour later he got there and we finally left for dinner.( I have to also mention he looked SO HANDSOME, like I died.) We ate At the most amazing Italian place called Cocina Toscana. It was so yummy and I just loved it there. So when we finished the plan was to go look at the lights at Temple Square but it had got pretty late and so we decided we'd skip out on that and do something else. He asked if I wanted to get in the hot tub (umm its 16 degrees.. NO), head home and watch a movie (we never watch movies), or go on a drive and look at Christmas lights. It was a no-brainier for me so we took off to go look at lights. He asked where I wanted to go and I told him we should go to the big houses by the Draper temple. We headed up there and as we were looking at the lights Rob just kept getting more and more talkative and it was all over the place.   So we got up to the spot where you can look over Salt Lake county which was also where he asked me to be his girlfriend. We got out and started walking on the trail that led to the lookout. We got there and the view was beautiful.. And cold. He then asked if I wanted to go a little further down the trail. As we kept walking I saw some lights and as we continued I saw the most incredible thing. The trail was lined with lights and at the end there was a bench, table, lanterns, and a canopy hanging with tons of lights. Once I saw it all and I realized what was happening I couldn't believe it. We went to the bench and there was a book sitting on the table. We started looking at it and my stomach dropped. Robert had made a note in his phone and wrote down what we did every single time we saw each other from our first date. The book had it all written down with all of our pictures. As we were looking through it I honesty could not believe what I was looking at and I felt so loved. When we got to the end of the book the last page said, "December 12, 2015: Asked Allison to marry me." Then he got down on his knee and said the cutest and sweetest things and asked me to marry him. I of course said yes. I swear my heart could not handle it all. The showed me that Kate and his sister Liz were there and they came over. Katy was freaking out that I hadn't even looked at my ring. I looked down and died again. It was the most perfect thing and I had no idea how he made the ring in my head a real thing. My mind was going crazy. I just kept saying "Wait. I thought this was my idea". Katy, Liz and his parents had spent so much time  and froze setting it all up and it meant so much to me. I could not believe how much thought and care that Robert had put into making it so special for me. It was one of the most amazing nights of my life and I know I will never forget it. 

Let's do this 2016!

Goodness. 2015 was a year full of so many changes. I have been thinking back a lot recently and is mind blowing to remember all that happened. I feel like this year has taught me more than most and I have been so blessed. To recap, here's some highlights:

-Moved to South Jordan

-Worked 2 jobs 

-Went to New York

-Started the blog

-Met my love

-He broke his ankle off

-We quit at Menchies

-Went on many needed trail walks and talks with my girl

-Baseball games

-Disneyland Round 1

-Went to New York.. again

-Ate lunch with Bray and saw Death Cab

-Disneyland Round 2

-Ran a 5k :)

-Got ENGAGED!! (I'll add the whole story soon)

-Skyped with Bray

-Moved again

I know I'm missing lots but you get the picture.

It's crazy to think about all that happened and it kind of freaks me out see how many changes we have gone through. This year is setting up to be full of even more changes but I'm ready to take it on. Kate and I have yet to go to our "Goal Setting Dinner" but until then, here is what I'm going to do to make 2016 an awesome year.

1. Slow Down and Chill Out. :)

2. Be more conscious of other people's feelings.

3. Keep things in perspective.

4. Focus on things that really matter.