On a Saturday Night

 

We had some fun last night going to the Amsoil Arenacross in Salt Lake. I've never been to any type of motocross event in my life so it was definitely a new experience for me. Nathan loves anything dirt bike and so he was eating it up of course. I have to admit watching all those guys catching some serious air on those jumps kind of made me want to go give it a try.

Can I just share a super attractive picture of my husband with his dirt bike with you?

Ah yes, such a handsome beast.

I have been on kind of a Harry Potter craze lately. I haven't 're-read' the books since the seventh came out and I figured I was overdue to relive the magic that is the Harry Potter world. Also has anyone heard that J.K. Rowling is coming out with three more Harry Potter 'spin-off' books? That should be interesting. I wonder if they will be any good. Suppose we shall see.

The Valley of Fire

Last weekend Nathan and I headed south to Nevada for a couple days to meet up with the Hartshorn family and celebrate Nathan's grandpa's 80th birthday. We had such a good time too. We rode four wheelers (well Nathan and myself got to drive the side-by-side) down into the Valley of Fire, which is a pretty neat sand-duney place. A dirt biker/four wheeler heaven. We had a picnic, climbed some rocks and messed around in the sand. It was nice to get away for a couple of days.

I have something very exciting to announce! I am going to be running the Disneyland half marathon this August and I'm like, super pumped. I used to despise running. I seriously just did not get why anyone would want to run for the fun of it, but it has slowly grown on me, and as I have noticed all the beneficial things it has done for my health/confidence/mood I have learned to love it. So anyway, I gotta get started on my training regime! Which I shall share with y'all once I figure out what it is going to be. I am a little nervous about running 13 miles... but I think I can do it. Especially if I am running through Disneyland, which honestly is the only reason I signed up for this shindig. I am a bonafide Disneyland lover.

I am trying to decide if I like my new blog header?? Hrmmmm. I'll stew over it for another week or so. I am still planning on making a few other changes too. I desperately want to have a photo shoot for the hubby and myself. I feel as though we are in need of some updated - professional photos of our lovely, two person family. I can't decide who to ask though, I feel like I know so many people who are good photographers. Just not myself. Never ask me to take pictures for you. I will only bake you cookies or make you flower arrangements.

Under Construction

If y'all haven't noticed I have been changing up my blog a bit. I decided it was time for a new look and a new name, because while the old name was cool when I was in like the tenth grade, it was no longer really relevant.

Why 'Petunia's' you ask? Well ever since I was young that has been the nickname my mom and dad have called me! Also if I were to ever chase my dreams and become a flower shop owner, it is the name by which I would undoubtedly call it.

 So here's to a fresh start! Stay tuned because there will be more to come!

Mint Flavor and Running Races

Happy St. Patrick's Day to everyone! I celebrated by wearing a green sweater to work and by making mint chocolate chip cookies. Holidays are great, aren't they?

This weekend was absolutely lovely. We took a little road trip down to the southern regions of Utah and ran a 10K. I was as slow as molasses, coming in at 1:05:49 but I kept my goal of running the entire thing without stopping so I was pleased with that accomplishment. Next year I'll up my speed by Crisco-ing my running shoes or something of that sort.

My husband was a champ and dusted us all, just look at that beast. How fitting that he should have a red beard at a St. Patrick's Day race.

The weather was fabulous and we spent many an hour by the pool. I burned my legs to a crisp. You would think being a red-headed fair-skinned individual I would have learned by now that tanning isn't a possibility for me, but each year I begin the summer in blissful denial, go outside and expose my white body to the sun and burn myself. Each year is the same. I never learn. Thank goodness for aloe vera.

Spa Treatment and Worries

So I didn't post yesterday. Shoot me.

Today I went to the nail salon after work and got a manicure and a pedicure and it was awesome. The sight of my toes were beginning to scare me so this treatment was definitely over-due. An hour and ten freshly painted pink toes later, I am one happy woman.

After Nathan and I went and got Papa Murphey's because sometimes I'm too lazy to really cook, and we like to eat like kings when pay day rolls around. It's nice.

Also I've been feeling worried and overwhelmed about various things in my life. I know I'm supposed to be focusing on happy things because of this challenge (and also because, well, you really should focus on the positive in life all the time) but the past few days I've felt like a rain cloud has been hanging over me. I have all these goals and things that I want to achieve and do, but when I sit down and consider the costs and time required to do such things, I begin to feel swallowed up by impossibility and doubt. I try to reassure myself that if I put God first that all things work out, and I do truly believe that, but it's kind of hard to put that faith into action 24 hours of the day. Ya know? Especially when I see others achieving the things I so desperately long for and then I look at myself and feel as if I am making no progress.

I'm sure you've all felt the same way at some point.

Anywho Day 13 of 100 Happy Days really has been a success, despite my moping. I am just so grateful for my Heavenly Father who I know watches over me and takes care of me, and knows a lot better than me.

The Rosarian

My dad had Nathan and I tag along with him up to a house to dig up some roses today. Apparently the house used to be owned by the president of the Utah Rose Society (which I didn't even know existed until today, by the way), an old music professor who was a renowned rosarian (in other words, the man was obsessed with roses). I mean this dude's backyard was completely over run by tons and tons of these rose bushes, which I imagine must look extremely nice in the spring and summer months. The story goes that eventually this guy died and his house and massive rose garden was sold to a young couple who wanted absolutely nothing to do with the garden part. 

It so happens that my dad loves gardening and naturally jumped at the opportunity to take the (free!) roses off their hands; and so began our long day digging up bazillions of those thorny little buggers.

I haven't been outside in the sun for that long in a while so now my face is a little burnt but it was nice to get out in the fresh air and enjoy the lovely weather Utah was having today. Also it was fun to play around in the mud and dirt. My boots needed to be dirtied up a little, they've been squeaky clean for far too long and it was beginning to shame my good country girl name.

made it to day 11 for the 100 happy days challenge!

La Familia

Today's happy moment happened at a Cracker Barrell with my parents and Nathan. Eating fried okra and mashed potatoes. How good it truly is to be surrounded by people I love. 

Bacon

Doth day nine even needeth an explanation? Bacon = happiness.

Day Eight: A Happy List

// Southwestern anything food. If it has black beans and avocados in it, I am guaranteed to love it.

// Running three miles without stopping. Being sweaty can be so satisfying.

// Watching Grease. Such a terrible message, yet still a fantastic show. 

// The way the hubbs smells after he gets out of the shower. Mmmm. Old Spice.

// Weather good enough to go without a jacket.

The Oreo Famine

 

I went over to my aunt's house yesterday and this is what I found in her cupboard.

 

Not one, not two, not even one package of each flavor; but seven....

 

Seven.

 

Seven packages of Oreos.

 

I could not believe my sugar plum filled eyes.

 

I promptly took a picture and sent out a text. "You stocking up for the famine or something? What the freak is this???"

 

Oreo recently came out with some new flavors (which are delicious I might add). Cookie dough and marshmallow crispy. It has been kind of a big deal amongst my family members. We like our sweets.

 

This is truly something else though. I don't think I have ever seen someone more well prepared for a binge eating catastrophe. This cupboard has break-the-scale trouble written allll over it, and in case you were wondering - yes, I did partake. How could I turn down this gold mine of happy food?

 

//Day seven for seven packages of Oreos. Huzzah!!!

Life's Finer Moments

Folks, let's face it, I should've been a cowgirl. Sadly I grew up in American Fork, Utah where ranches and farms are a bit in the lacking... however I was lucky enough to have grandparents that lived down the street who owned horses my entire life and an awesome grandpa who took me on all sorts of rides with him in the mountains. Thus grew my love of the equine.

In college I had the fantastic idea of joining the Horseback Discovery Program and honestly I consider it one of the best decisions I have ever made. For an entire summer I rode horses with the group pictured above and made some truly wonderful friends because of it - also took home a fond memory or two.

Horses are beautiful creatures. Nothing quite compares to the feeling of being up in the saddle, the feel of leather reins in your hands, boots secure in the stirrup and the sight of wild country in all directions. You shouldn't even have to be a 'country' person to appreciate this kind of stuff! I mean in all seriousness!

My grandpa put down his last horse a few months ago and yes - it made me sad, but no, it is not the end of my horse adventures. Like the dreamy, dewy eyed newlyweds that the hubbs and I are, we picture ourselves owning a little farm someday. With a milk cow named Rosie, a few horses and lots and lots of land. Wide open spaces for all our little overall wearing children to run across and explore.

Day 6 is all about the horses and my someday dreams...... two things that make me very happy.

Priorities

 

A teacher from my high school years once shared this quote to me and a group of other students and I have never, ever forgotten it. Well.. sort of. Lately I haven't taken this particular lesson to as much heart as I used to and I know I have missed out on some blessings because of it.

 

Time to get my priorities back on track.

 

The Book of Mormon contains a scripture that says something quite profound on this subject. May I share it with y'all?

 

Jacob 2:18-19

 "But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God. And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them..."

 

Sooooo pretty much. Put God first. Like, as in, before anything else. Then after you do that, then you seek for 'riches'.

 

'Riches' can be interchangeable with really any word, or generalized to mean anything someone would seek after. Jobs, talents, money, friends, health, knowledge, etc. etc.

 

As newlyweds I'd have to say the thing that we seek after with the most diligence would have to be furthered education and better paying jobs. That can be a big headache to us sometimes (a lot of the time, ha). We focus most of our time and energy and lives to reach those goals, and honestly I don't think enough energy has been focused on seeking God and his kingdom, and because of that we haven't seen as near as much success as I know that we could, or receive the peace and stability that we so dearly seek after.

 

I know without a shadow of a doubt that the times in my life when I have put God first, He has blessed me with not only what I needed, but sometimes even exactly what I wanted! I sometimes imagine God to be sitting up there in Heaven, just waiting to give us heaps of wonderful blessings, but because we haven't asked.. or because we haven't quite sought after him as much as we should, he isn't able to give them to us. What a shame that is.

 

So for the fifth day of this happy challenge shindig I got going on, I am making a goal to remember this truth. To put God first, before anything else. Then life will be much happier :)



Light on a Cloudy Day: Happy Days 04/100

 



When I was a young gal I was absolutely convinced that I was going to move to San Francisco one day just so I could enjoy the continually rainy, overcast weather they have there. Naturally I have since changed my mind, now I realize I would much rather live elsewhere but I still do love rainy weather and this week has been full of it.

 

Even with my love of dreary weather considered I still was quite happy to add a little bit of light into my life today when I had the opportunity to visit the temple.

 

For my readers who have no idea what the temple is (if I have any readers at all...) it is a place where those of my faith go to worship God and go to feel peace and the holy spirit. It is a place of learning as well. I am LDS, by the way. Visit here for more info if you are interested in learning more: www.mormon.org. Anyway.

 

LDS temples are beautiful places. The architecture is truly a sight to behold, the interior is sublime, and the coolest part is that they are all different. I feel so grateful to know there are so many close to me. I have always lived within the vicinity of one and for that I feel quite blessed.