What a fun Labor Day weekend! It was soo fun! Fishing, hiking, camping, boating, tubing, wake boarding! It was such a blast! And, I got to spend it all with my amazingly perfect hubby! But, I woke up sooo sore today! Holy crap! My butt, my lower back, my arms! I can barely move! Obviously I haven't been tubing since I was 17 haha.

I also got to see my dad's side of the family this weekend as well! It wasn't for as long as I would've wanted but life gets busy!

Oh man, my caffeine addiction has reared it's ugly head! I'm craving Dr. Pepper like crazy and it's probably not a good thing! But, oh man do I love it!! I blame it all on this weekend! We've been getting up at like 6am everyday and I've been drinking it to stay awake. I'm so bummed because I've been soo good about not drinking soda and now I have to start all over again. Dang it!

I'm happy because I'm getting a gym membership! Yay! Hopefully this will help me get motivated to work out! I can't work out at home because there's a couch to relax on too close by and I don't like working out outside because it's too bloody hot! So a gym is perfect because it has air conditioning but it only has exercise equipment so I'll have to work out haha!

K, so I'm trying to get into pintrest....I've been seeing it every where and I don't even know what it is or how to do it! But hey why not give it a shot! So if you guys want to help me how to figure it out! Please do! :)

Here's some pictures from the boating trip yesterday :)

I am soo happy about this Labor Day weekend! Number 1 reason being I get a 3 day weekend with my hubby :) which is soo nice! We've already done a lot last night and today! But before I get into that I just want to say...

EVERYONE and I mean everyone needs to get a Sobakawa pillow! Especially if you have a bad neck! I just bought it last night and Oh my gosh! This is the first morning ever that I woke up without a stiff or hurt neck and feeling totally refreshed! This pillow is awesome. The moment I laid my head on it's fluffy goodness I fell in love! So if you don't have one GET ONE! You will not regret it! It's $20 well spent I promise!

Anyway so Dallas and I went up to Heber last night to the Provo River and then to the Uinta's to fish! It was pretty fun! I caught two fish and Dallas caught 3 but he only kept one because the other two were small haha. But we had a blast! We loved spending time together and just relaxing and the scenery was gorgeous! We went to the this yummy place called Dairy Keen for dinner last night and got an amazing Oreo Shake :). It was a lot of fun! Here are some pictures :)

Inspirational Quote of the day :)

Have a good day my loves :)! And a Fabulous Labor Day weekend! 

I'm starting to wonder if anyone ever reads my blog or my status updates on my facebook or even looks at my pictures. I never get comments haha. Not that I'm basing my whole life on that but it's nice to know people care about what you have to say you know?

Anyway, My life has been pretty lame lately! All I've really been doing is sitting around and cleaning the house and watching tv and TRYING to mow the lawn but the lawn mower won't even work! Grr! Ok, I'm done with my rants today haha.

I'm so excited! Dallas and I are going to go camping tonight and fishing! It's going to be fun! We really just need some alone time away from the world cause as of right now the world sucks! Haha.

So I posted some more pictures and I just wanted to share them :)

What do guys think? I don't mind brutal honesty! I really want to get into photography so constructive criticism is great!

Well I'll take lots of pictures this weekend while Dal and I go camping!

Oh ya! Here's an inspirational quote of the day! :)

Have a great day loves! :)

I'm so glad Dallas and I got to see some of our good friends last night! It's been a long time! We got some delicious thai food! I got a really good noodle soup and Dallas got a vegetable tempura. That boy has an obsession with vegetables! He's always eating them! haha. But I love it :).

So Dallas and I are STILL trying to finish decorating our apartment! We need to finish painting the kitchen, bathroom, and our bedroom. We are getting a new dresser and tv stand for our room and we need to get some wall art and a chair and a lamp. Is it totally lame to do a Paris theme for our bedroom? Or is that too childish? haha.

I have no idea what to hang up on my stupid kitchen wall! AHH! lol. Here's a picture of it...any suggestions?

We still need to paint it so it doesn't look to fabulous right now, I know..

But we're trying to hurry and get this done before my mom and brother comes up in a week or so. I'm really excited to see them soon! I can't believe my little brother is about to leave on his mission! That's insane! He's growing up so fast! Both of my brothers are. 

So this is NOT an announcement or anything but Dallas and I go through baby names every single day that would go with Reynolds. Of course we always hope for pink but we'd be happy with blue too....when the time comes! Please know I'M NOT PREGNANT! I know this could be soo misconstrued! lol. Anyway, we have LAME baby names! So I'd love suggestions for the future! ;)

Well I get my phone call tonight for the verdict of whether I get the Orthodontic Assistant job or not! Prayers please! I need this job. I have a good feeling about it..but prayers never hurt. If I get this job I get my DSLR camera!! :D and I can get started on my photography business...speaking of...

I have no idea where to begin! I don't know where to go to school...I just...I don't know where to begin haha. But this is something I've ALWAYS wanted to do...ever since I was little and my neighbor and I did a photo shoot for her puppies in a wagon haha. I would love some friendly advice on how to get this started...I've wanted to ask my photographer friends....but I'm worried they'll like judge me or think of me as competition...which I wouldn't know why cause I'm not where near where they are. 

Have a great day my loves :) 

I'm loving today! :) I had a work interview at an orthodontist office and I feel like it went really well! I found out tomorrow whether or not I got the job so prayers for me please! :)

I have another work interview in an hour or so....but I'm pretty sure that I've already made my decision if they want me there! 

Dallas and I are soo excited! Our friends Aubrey and Tyler are back in town and we're going to go get thai food with them tonight! Mmm! I love thai food! It's so good! And I'm so excited to see my friends again! They've been gone for a while!

I just wanted to talk about some of my guilty pleasures. Or maybe I'll just do it in pictures! Pictures are more fun!! So here are some of my guilty pleasures that make me a happy person! :)

A majority of this is oh so bad for you.....but oh so wonderful :). Enjoy your day loves!!

Quotes of the day ;). Enjoy! Have a good day everyone!

Marriage and Parents

I have a friend who came to me for advice when it came to Marriage and Parents. She was having issues with her parents becoming too involved in her marriage and now hold a grudge against her husband because she called and involved them in an argument they had had. But the parents unfortunately were not involved in the making up process and now still have issues with their son-in-law. She also asked me about her parents not being able to let go. They still treat her like a child and discipline her even though she is now an adult, out of the house, and married. I'm blogging about this because I know this is an issue for most newlywed's. Including myself. This is an entry not only for newlywed's but for their parents because sometimes parents just can't seem to let go. But marrying and leaving the parents home REQUIRES a shift in the relationship between children and parents. I found an article on lds.org that gave me all of the answers. So I'm just going to post stuff from that article because they say it a lot better than I do. Please read because I feel that it's very important.

Establishing Marital Boundaries

It is important that newly married couples learn to develop appropriate relationships with their parents. Appropriate, in this sense, involves establishing definite marital boundaries. President Spencer W. Kimball (1895–1985) taught that couples should protect their marriage relationship by not disclosing private marital issues to their parents—or anyone else. He said: “Being human, you may someday have differences of opinion resulting even in little quarrels. Neither of you will be so unfaithful to the other as to go back to your parents or friends and discuss with them your little differences. That would be gross disloyalty. Your intimate life is your own and must not be shared with or confided in others. You will not go back to your people for sympathy, but will thresh out your own difficulties.” ¹

Sometimes, one spouse may confide in his or her parents even when there hasn’t been an argument. When making decisions, a husband or wife may confide in parents and rely more upon their advice than upon the spouse’s. Again, President Kimball taught that husbands and wives need to maintain appropriate boundaries around the marriage. He said: “Your married life should become independent of her folks and his folks. You love them more than ever; you cherish their counsel; you appreciate their association; but you live your own lives, being governed by your decisions.” ²

One couple struggled in their relationship because the husband valued his father’s opinions more than he did his wife’s. When the couple was in the process of making a decision, such as buying a new car, they would discuss it together, but then the husband would talk to his father and invariably follow whatever counsel his father gave, regardless of his wife’s opinion. This created tension in their marriage because she resented him for caring more about his father’s opinion than about hers.

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught that we need to “be fiercely loyal to one another” in marriage. ³ Over the years I have found it helpful to ask myself the question, “Deep down inside, am I more concerned about my parents’ feelings about this issue than my spouse’s feelings?” In a united marriage the husband and wife are always most concerned about each other’s feelings. As we prayerfully seek help from our Father in Heaven, problems can often be resolved without hurting anyone’s feelings. However, if a choice must be made, the spouse must take priority. President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) said: “Nothing except God Himself takes priority over your [spouse] in your life.”

Adult-to-Adult Relationships

Marrying and leaving the parents’ home requires a fundamental shift in the relationship between children and parents. While parents of young children have a divine mandate to supervise and discipline their children, it is not appropriate for parents to control their adult children. Instead, the hierarchy of supervision and control dissolves so that parents and their adult children are on equal footing. This shift allows parents and adult children to develop relationships that are built on mutual respect and friendship.

How do adult children and their parents create this fundamental shift in their relationship? I learned a key principle in this process several years ago when I was teaching a workshop for married couples in our stake. I taught the workshop three consecutive times as participants rotated among various classes. The first two times I taught the workshop, the primary audience was young couples in their 20s and early 30s. When I taught the principle that relationships between adult children and parents should be nonhierarchical, with parents no longer controlling their children, the members of the class became very enthusiastic. A number of them raised their hand and said, “I want my parents to treat me like an adult, but they won’t.”

The third workshop included a different group of participants. Instead of people in their 20s, the class consisted almost exclusively of middle-aged adults who had adult children of their own. Being in my late 20s myself, I was worried about how the middle-aged parents would respond to the principle that parents should allow their adult children to make their own decisions, become independent, and be treated like adults.

Sure enough, as soon as I started teaching this principle, several hands shot up—just as I had feared. As I called on them, I was somewhat surprised by the first person’s comment. She said, “We would love to treat our married children like adults, but they send us very mixed messages.” She continued: “Just a couple weeks ago, for example, one of our married children said that we needed to treat her and her husband more like adults. She accused us of still treating them like children. My husband and I agreed to treat them more like adults, but the next day they called up and said that they were out of gas and wanted to borrow $20 from us. A few days later they again told us to treat them like adults, but they called that very evening saying that they were hungry and wanted to come over for dinner. We would love to treat our married children like adults, but they won’t act like adults.” After she finished her comments, several other people in the audience expressed similar feelings.

Reciprocity

When children are young, parents sacrifice considerably by giving to their children. Young children and adolescents, of course, should be appreciative and express love and gratitude to their parents, but most of the nurturing and acts of service flow toward the children. The relationship between adult children and their parents, though, needs to shift toward an adult-to-adult relationship in which children can give back.

Becoming Independent

Unfortunately, some parents have a hard time letting their children grow up and become independent. President Kimball said: “Well meaning relatives have broken up many a home. Numerous divorces are attributable to the interference of parents who thought they were only protecting their loved children.” ⁶ He also observed that sometimes parents “will not relinquish the hold they have had upon their children.” ⁷Wise parents will honor their children’s adulthood, foster their independence, and respect their marital boundaries, thereby giving their children the opportunity to establish strong marriages.

As married children shift their primary loyalty and strive for independence, they will be able to enjoy satisfying adult relationships with their parents and, having truly left home, experience the joy of being one in marriage.