remembering what "hot" means

ARIZONA!

we had such a great time visiting my family this past week

we couldn't believe it when we came back to SNOW 

(pictures soon)

but here are some pictures of our wonderfully warm week :)

saturday we went the easter pageant which was absolutely wonderful.

it was kimballs first time and my siblings had no problem telling him how amazing it was as while we waited for it to start and devoured our nielsens (another first for kimball)

sunday we were blessed to be able to go see one of my best friends farewells! she leaves for Prague on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in a few short days! 

that night loads of family came over but I lost the pictures taken that night :(

i snapped plenty of pictures the next day when kimball and i visited the phx zoo though!

the weather was PERFECT and the animals were adorable

here are some of my favorites

is this not the SWEETEST thing!? i didn't even notice the lil guy at first

i almost jumped when i realized this peacock wasn't in a cage...

we were IN THE CAGE with a ton of beautiful birds and this bird was gorgeous from behind-

then it turned around...how creepy is this!? i basically ran out of the cage when it gave me this look

who does not love squirrel monkeys!?

i told him to point to this HUGE fish but i really just wanted a picture of him, how cute is my husband?

extremely, i know.

we learned that birds do not love us. 

this parrot was squawking and maintained the "i'm about to take off right at your face" stance until we left. 

and it was, surprise, not caged.

1.i hope this elephant lived a long, happy, healthy life and died of natural causes

2.i know i'm white

3.it is huge!!

4.i love elephants.so much.

(my mom,sis and i went shopping and i bought the most precious marble elephant necklace that reminded me of a marble elephant figurine that kimball and i found on our honeymoon. oh, memories :) )

obviously this is not real

i wish it was

my husband is so adorable hahaha

we have a picture almost identical to this one taken at the hogle zoo last summer

only i was the one in the shell,

it was his turn :)

it took us a total of four and a half hours to get through the entire zoo

but we refused to spend money on the ridiculously priced and not-so-yummy zoo food

so we went to petes fish and chips after!

(yet another first for kimball, az is full of little gems)

the famous petes sauce

my favorite part about petes (besides the food) is this top sign

"your mother does not work here, you are going to have to pick up after yourself"

the lighting in these two pictures is awful but i just wanted to brag a bit about my nephew, dallin

he is a complete sports star. not just one or two sports - all sports. 

we went to the park to eat dinner and play with some family 

this is my dad(his grandfather), his dad, and my husband all trying to guard one 8-year-old boy

it can't be done

this is dallin the next morning, missing his two front teeth

one of which was knocked out while playing football the night before

like i said, star.

finally we had to head home.

we were due to take off at 2:45 but our flight was delayed 

 til 4:30 and then again to 6:00

(this is kimballs "are you being serious" face)

we were about to give way to annoyance when the airlines 

started passing out $200 vouchers! we were patient after that :)

it was so great to be in arizona and spend so much time with family and friends

we are so blessed to have such wonderful, supportive family all around us!

because i am blessed

longest post ever: check!

freedom!

4 notebooks filled with notes

483 flashcards made (yes, i counted)

59 pages of papers written

4 group projects

8 midterm exams

13 study guides completed

who knows how many little assignments

a lot of stress

and 5 finals later....

i'm done!

summer is here and there is no school, papers or projects for FOUR months

off to arizona, chicago, virginia and finally north carolina :)

where are you going this summer??

weekend starts on wednesday.

the last day of classes is a beautiful thing

having a sickie husband is not :(

headaches

sneezing/coughing

sore throat

and congestion = not so fun. 

so this will be our extended weekend

1.plenty of kleenex {with aloe and lotion}

2.chunky chicken noodle soup {the best}

3.tons of naps!

4.snuggling {we own this exact blanket..so comfy AND cute}

5.second season of 24

6.dayquil {so the naps don't get too out of hand}

7.fuzzy, comfy socks instantly make you feel better {my little secret}

truth be told i'm excited to have a few days of just relaxing with my hubby :]

enjoy the rest of the week lovelies

 (especially all you BYU students- don't study too hard!)

because i am blessed.

my not so little and not so secretive secret.

really..you're blogging about cream cheese..?

yes, and no

hear me out

this is the best stuff to hit the kitchen

no joke.

and it's not just cream cheese.

it produces AMAZING food with very little time and effort

my wonderful mother-in-law and sister-in-law got me subscriptions to food magazines

(is that supposed to be a hint....naw)

so last month kraft has like 50 recipes that look delicious

and get this...all of them somehow used philadelphia cooking creme!

i knew i had to try it.

kimballs best friend, tyler and josh, were coming over for dinner that sunday..

perfect, i thought, i'll use them as guinea pigs for my new recipe.

(side story: kimball always thanks me for being so adventurous and finding new recipes to try so we don't get bored...i'm glad he thinks of it that way but i really should be thanking him for trying some of my questionable recipes! but i love my husband for loving me for this reason. heck, i just love him period :))

anyway, the first time using this stuff was a hit and we've tried almost all the other "flavors" since! tonight we had tuna noodle casserole which, to be honest, has always grossed me out

BUT it was, yes, yet again delish! 

i'll stop raging now because until you have tried this stuff you'll think i'm being over dramatic rambling on like so. but try it and you'll see! 

click here to find all the recipes you could possibly dream of! (and more)

because i am blessed.

spring has sprung! or is trying at least.

 

              the snow is almost completely melted!

            keep trying spring, keep trying




because i am blessed.