Ta-Da!

*Note: I'm not sure why the pictures on this post are so tiny, but they should be click-able if you want to see the bigger size. *

I got crafty! I've been wanting to put our last name up somewhere in some kind of cutesy format. After hearing my Mom talk about her decorating plans for her living room, I came up with this:

Isn't it adorable? I fell in love with the "Family" piece as soon as I saw it. And it was on sale! I came up with the "Emmons" part all by myself. That's blue scrapboook paper as a background, with a slight pattern to it. Don't you just love it? Well, don't tell me if you don't, cause I do! =] It's going up over our living room window. As soon as I get the right size nails, I'll post a pic of it!

Also, here are some fun pics from our family visits:

Emmons' Visit!

Grand Teton National Park with the Emmons family! It was better than Yellowstone. We didn't see any animals there except elk without antlers. What's that about?

Zach, Spencer, and Dad Emmons. Reading about... geography, I think. I tell you, they're a bunch of smarties.

Sun going down behind Grand Teton. We decided it would be a great place to see the sunrise, with the light against the mountains instead of behind them.

Garner's Visit!

My Mom took us to the Playmill Theatre in West Yellowstone

Here she is fighting the crowds. Hail the conquering hero! We were barely able to reserve seats online before it sold out!

After the show, "The Foreigner." It was HILARIOUS. We highly recommend it.

Picnic lunch at Park St. Park. Jillian saw the merry-go-round and asked, "What's that?" We were shocked. So the Sarah and Steph schooled her with their awesome merry-go-round abilities.

After a visit to the Cocoa Bean, Mom and I thought, "We can do that." This is a picture of our beautiful, homemade chocolate mint frappe. Ohhh yeah. The strawberry one was even better, but that pic is on Mom's camera.

We girls pampered outselves with some mud masques. Jillian didn't quite enjoy the tingling feeling like the rest of us did. She kept saying, "It's getting hard on my face! It feels too tight!" We explained that was actually what it SHOULD be doing, nothing was going wrong. =]

Stephanie and Sarah were very impressed with Rexburg's large dandelion-esque Wishers.

Now that everyone's gone, Zach and I feel like empty nesters. lol. There's lots more, but it's month-end, and I'm headed to an 11-hour shift in a little while. So, time to gear up! Love you all!

-Stacy

P.S. The frappe recipe for anyone who's interested:

Chocolate Frappe

1 envelope hot cocoa mix (we like the mint cocoa)

3 tsp hot water

1/2 c. milk

1 c. crushed ice

Make a paste out of the hot water and cocoa mix. Blend the rest together until liquified. Serve in a fudge-drizzed cup and top with whipped cream. Yum!

Fruit Frappe

3/4 c. fresh fruit, chopped (my favorite is peach)

2 T sugar

1/3 c. milk

1 cup crushed ice

Blend together. SOO delicious if you mix in some whipped cream at the end. My favorite is peach frappes.

Summer in limbo...

So, Zach let me drag him to a 1920's mystery dinner last month right before my birthday. It was a blast, and I finally got the picture they took of us there.

Turns out, I was the murderer, even though everyone suspected Zach! ha ha ha.

Well, anyway, here's an update on life so far.

• My grandmother died a week ago, and I'm having a little bit of trouble getting that to sink in. Luckily I was able to go down to the funeral and be with my family, which really helped. I really didn't want to leave home, because it was her house. It's strange, because that's the hardest part for the rest of my family, living with her memories. I think it's because I feel so far away from her memory while I'm in Rexburg.

• Our house is looking more and more like a real home! Thanks to my sister and brother-in-law, we have an actual bed with a box spring, headboard and everything! They also gave us a loveseat and counter-height chairs. I set up our black bookshelf in the hallway, and it makes the living room seem more cozy. Also, we found our mail keys, so I get to sift through junk mail addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Emmons. =]

• Zach has been amazing, getting up and working all day, even though he's still short on sleep from our 16 hr drive on Thursday. He's been taking a lot of time to be sweet to me, and take care of me emotionally. I am really blessed to have such a husband.

• Next week Zach's parents and little brother are coming to visit! They'll be here for a week, and the day they leave, my parents and little sisters are coming! So we'll have about 2 full weeks of family, which we're really looking forward to.

• I got to spend my product check at work today, and used it almost entirely on girly stuff. I got a $30 moisturizer, $15 mud masque, $15 concealer, and some pamper-worthy foot scrub. All for freeeeee! I'm planning on throwing a girls party for me and my mother-in-law, then again for my mom and sisters.

• I made Chocolate chip cookie bars for the first time in a while, and they were a huge hit with Zach. I splurged and used Guitard chocolate chips and white flour. Sooooo delicious.

Well, a truly epic thunderstorm is starting up, splattering me with rain through the screen. Zach and I were thinking about going to the caves with some friends, but maybe we'll have a quiet night at home watching the lightning. Hope you all have a great weekend!

My Wonderful Husband

Last night I flooded the bathroom.

We were trying to unclog the toilet, and Zach was examining the tank. I thought yanking on the chain would empty the bowl, so I did... right as Zach yelled, "WAIT!" Turns out, yanking on the chain FILLS the bowl. And it was already full. And there was no water shut off thingy. I'll spare you the details, but it was a mess.

As I'm running for towels and Zach is stuck in about 2 inches of toilet water, I'm thinking, "Oh crap. He's gonna kill me." And he was obviously frustrated. But that sweet man I married, you know what he did? As I was profusely apologizing he said, "Sweetheart.... it's okay. I'm not mad." And the more he said it, the more true it was. After about the third time I apologized and he told me he wasn't mad, we were both mopping the floor with towels under our feet, and all the frustration was gone. He let my feelings be more important than venting his anger, and all the steam blew off on its own.

We heard a joke once that the honeymoon's over the first time the wife burns the toast. So after everything was cleaned up and Zach had a chance to shower, I said, "So... I guess the honeymoon's over, huh?" He gave me a hug and said, "No. Never."

A few months ago my missionary brother sent a letter home reminding us that letting go of negative feelings is like relaxing a muscle: you just do it. Zach has been reminding me of that over and over, being my rock and my therapist. =] I'm working harder to try and deserve his patience.

Confessions of a Married Woman

So Zach and I have been married for a full two weeks now. We're pretty much an old married couple and we know all there is to know about marriage.

Sarcasm aside, it is amazing to go back and see our single friends and see the difference between what was normal then and what our life is like now.We don't feel like anything super extraordinary has changed between us, but we're definitely growing.

(Yes, I color at work. lol.)

Most amazing of all is the fact that $3 seems too expensive, we can work 12 hr days each and feel like we're not working enough, make a meal out of just a few ingredients, eat dinner on our living room floor, go to bed at 12 only to wake up at 6.... and still say with perfect honesty that we have never been so completely happy. Married life really is the best. And we've been so incredibly blessed with families that support and love us, and very generous wedding gift-givers!


On another note, I am excessively proud of my little girl-frog. She is just about the coolest thing ever, and I'm pretty sure I'm her favorite. When I go to her bowl to talk to her, she swims out of her little cave and pretty much begs me to jump in because the water's fine. I spent about 15 minutes trying to get a good picture of her the other day, but turns out water-shots are not my strong suit.

Evangeline talkin' to me.

Evangeline being Spider-Frog.

Swimming out of the cave to check out what's goin' on with the camera flashes.

Pretty much, life is good. And it just keeps getting gooder. =] Also, I'm making a header for my blog soon. Don't judge me. lol.

Days go by...

Okay. You know I'm a fan of the list-posts. So here goes.

• I started working at the Jr. High library again, this time for PAY. I'm the Substitute Librarian while Linda is in Ethiopia for the next two months. Her daughter and son-in-law are living there, helping to start ranches, etc. They recently decided to adopt 5 of the Ethiopian kids from an orphanage. Linda is going to help her daughter and her husband is going to help with the agriculture stuff. This is her daughter Alyssa with the Ethiopian people.

• When she left she gave me the keys and said, "This is your baby. Have fun with it!" I work from 10-2. I've been having fun with the kids. One kid, and eighth grader has told on several different occasions that he's going to be a ghost hunter (we found him several 'nonfiction' books on ghosts), criminal investigator (he has his own website already), and creator of an "extreme reality video game" (the only problem there is he has to figure our how to simulate the feeling of death). Needless to say, it's a blast.
  
• I've also been working part-time at Melaleuca. I enjoy it, even though I go home exhausted. I work from 4-9. I just got my 2nd pay check this weekend, and BOY was that nice.


• I ordered my wedding dress, and it's all finished! They should be shipping it to me sometime this week. Here's a sneak peek:

• Zach and I got our engagement pictures back, and we were very happy with them! Here are two of the better ones:

I designed our announcements and we ordered them last night. Hopefully they're coming soon!

• I've been acting like this guy:

• Only not so creepy. Lol. I've been reading up a storm during slow hours at Melaleuca. I can highly recommend The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, The Roar by Emma Clayton, and The Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke. To name a few.

• It's finally Friday!! Tomorrow is the 6 month mark for Zachary and me. We're going to have a special date night. But shhhhhh! That's a surprise.

Ups and Downs

It's way too fast for me. We're in the last days of January already! Let me sum up the biggest news so far:

• I had a pretty successful job interview with Melaleuca on Wednesday, and I'm just waiting to hear back.
  
• I tried to teach a bread class for some extra income. Unfortunately, the girls who signed up ALL forgot about it, or decided not to come. On the plus side, I now have a 25lb bag of flour to cook with, cause they didn't need any of it. lol. I left the offer to teach classes online, in case someone decides they want it again. It's at www.baking101.weebly.com
  
• I found a posting on the bulletin board for a 2 bedroom mobile home for only $350 a month! Washer and dryer included, only utilities not covered are gas and lighting. I've called, e-mailed, and called again! I'm hoping soon they'll get back to me because that would be PERFECT for us. =]
  
• Tuesday's devotional was AWESOME, Russell M. Nelson spoke! And tonight there is a university fireside (?what's that about?) and Elder M. Russell Ballard is speaking! I got a ticket for the front center section. Sweeeeeet.

So, keep your fingers crossed for us! We've got lots of good opportunities we're trying to grab by the horns!

In the meantime, I have been enjoying these books:


Fairest, by Gail Carson Levine
It was pretty cute, except I kept imagining that Aza looked like the poor chubby girl from The Tale of Despereaux. That kind of ruined any good imagery Gail tried to use.


The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Prisoner's Dilemma, by Trenton Lee Stewart
I'm still in the middle of this one. It's the third in series. They're so fun! (Thanks to my sister Sarah, who got it for me!!!) I highly recommend them.


Sunshine, by Robin McKinley
I normally love Robin McKinley books, and my roommate recommended this one. It's about vampires. Actually, it's about a girl who lives in an altered America where things like vampires, demons, goblins, etc. are real. I have to say, it's MUCH better than Twilight because it has a believable fantasy to it. For example, the vampire look like aliens instead of Abercrombie models, and they don't go to high school. *gasp!* I know. However, the character's good, honest voice told me things I didn't want to know about her boyfriend, etc. So I put it down. But I do love Robin's writing style. I recommend her books Rose Daughter and The Hero and the Crown. So good!

Anyway. Happy Saturday to you all!

Just like an old movie.