CSNStores Giveaway!

What would I get? I still have my eyes set on getting a kitchen aid mixer someday! Of course I would want a yellow one though.

Well guys I have another giveaway for you! CSNstores is giving away a 35$ gift code towards anything you want on their site! That means anything from home appliances, jewelry, even furniture items like their LCD TV Stands for the TV me and Trevor wish we had, haha! So look around at CSNstores and decide what you would want to put your 35$ towards!

Enter the giveaway by:

+Being a follower of the blog.

+Telling me what you would get with your 35$ code

For extra entries:

+Blog about this giveaway

+Tweet about this giveaway

(Leave separate comments for each entry!)
You have until Friday 3/4 to enter!

 ALSO....LIVY LOVE GIVEAWAY WINNER!

The giveaway winner for the Livy Love Designs was Mel :) Please email me for the info!

someday...

...I hope to watch Trevor play guitar and sing with our little ones :)

hmm.

So remember last semester when I thought I was "drowning?" Well it is pretty sad that I wish I was back to last semester instead of this one. This semester is the hardest semester I have ever had. It is kicking my trash. I have been super super busy and really stressing out. It is my last semester before graduation so I know I just need to focus and it will be over soon enough.... yet it seems like forever right now! Do they purposely make your last year of school so hard, so you think about quitting?! haha

I wouldn't call myself a perfectionist, but I would say that I set myself to a high standard and expect myself to achieve certain things. When school overrules my life I get to this point where I feel like everything else in my life is falling by the way side. I think I am too hard on myself. Last night I found myself having a little break down. I have been so busy that I almost forgot about one of my really good friend's bridal showers. I would have been devastated had I missed it. When I got home I just broke down to Trevor. I work part time in the administration department at the University of Utah library. The guy who had the main position doesn't work there anymore, and they don't have the spot filled yet, so I have to come into work as much as I can full time around my classes. I am taking 5 classes which really feels like 7 because of the amount of work I have to do for two of them. For example, I have to do over 30 hours working in a classroom and put on two community events for the students and their families, as well as attend and volunteer for several more community events. That is just part of the requirements for one of the classes. I could go one forever. They really put you through the ringer in these last courses. So lately I find myself very very tired. Because of this I am constantly trying to stay on top of cleaning my apartment, going to the gym and exercising, eating healthy, this blog, trying to become closer to Christ, have friends.... and... well all of those seem to be failing miserably. And it upsets me. I wish I could be "perfect" sometimes and be able to do everything that is going on in my life with ease. I see other people do it (I know the grass always looks greener on the other side) and I just wonder why I can't seem to get it all together. I know I should be patient with myself, but I am just tired of waiting for things to come together where I am not constantly tired and stressed out... finally.

beso. shop it all.

Have you all heard of Beso.com yet? If you like online shopping then Beso is the place for you! It makes online shopping super easy by collecting amazing clothes, jewelery, and home items from all over and has them conveniently available for you on their site. This is great for me because right now is one of the busiest times of my life. I am graduating in May along with four other people in my family and my parents are throwing a big graduation party for us all! Me and my girlfriends have talked about doing a Vegas trip in celebration of graduation, if not for a Bachelorette party for one of my friends. Speaking of the Bachelorette party, I am not only in three different weddings this year but have over six different weddings to go to throughout the next couple months and throughout the summer! 

What does graduation, parties, and weddings make you think of? Well for me, it means clothes. So for fun I decided to hunt down some perfect dresses for the occasions that are coming up. Beso allowed me to do it all on the same site :)

 

Here are some of my picks.... what do you think? I could seriously do this all day! haha 

window shopping online is the best! :)

good fortune.

Looking for the perfect party favor? Or just an adorable snack? You should try making some chocolate dipped Chinese fortune cookies! So cute, and so yummy! &the best part is you can make a variety of these little guys. I just added sprinkles to mine, but you could use anything from nuts, coconut, drizzle it with some white chocolate, heck you could even ground up a butter finger and sprinkle that all over it.... okay, that sounds really good. You can really stick anything on it that will stick to the chocolate, kapeesh? 

So knock yourself out and try attaching different things. BE CREATIVE! In fact if you make these sometime you should send me a picture/tell me what you used on yours!

What you need:
Fortune cookies
Chocolate chips
Topping

What to do:
Take the Chinese Fortune Cookie and dip it in the melted down cholate.
Sprinkle your topping on it before the choclate melts.
Let the cookie dry.

In The Microwave
The microwave is fantastic for melting chocolate chips. You can control the amount of time you put them in the microwave, and you can check on them easily to see how the process is coming along. To start, melt a handful of chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl for about a minute. Take out the bowl, and check to make sure the chocolate is melted all the way through. Give it a good stir, and then put it back in for another 30 seconds or so. You can also melt chocolate bars in the same manner; just make sure they are cut up into small pieces that resemble chocolate chips.

miracles.

Those of you who know me, may know that my older sister Kira has had infertility issues. Once they realized that the chances of Kira getting pregnant naturally was slim to none, they decided to look into adoption. Since then my sister and her husband have adopted two of the cutest boys, and  have given them the most amazing life, they truly are lucky boys, and Kira and Justin are lucky parents. I have watched my sister struggle with, and overcome the idea that she may never have the experience of being pregnant. When I got the phone call from her that she was pregnant (naturally by the way), I was in total and complete shock. Then I just started bawling. Kira and Justin are such deserving parents, and I couldn't be happier for them! I am happy that Kira will get to have this experience, as well as excited for Evan and Landon to get a new addition to  their family. They are such amazing parents and I am thrilled for them! THRILLED :)

day of love.

Well as you all know Valentines Day was yesterday! Trevor and I tend to keep our Valentines Day low key, but still a little more special then your average day. As some of you may remember, I hate chocolate chips... and most chocolate in general, so I never make chocolate chip cookies, which just happens to be one of Trevor's favorite cookies. So to show him how much I love him, haha, I made him a giant heart shaped chocolate chip cookie (with sprinkles added for that extra touch!) I even almost put a big I love you in frosting but knew he wouldn't like the frosting so opted out, even though I knew it would make it look that much more cool. When I was picking up the cookie supplies at the store I cam across the pretty decent sized Reese's chocolate heart. Trevor LOVES Reese's, so I couldn't resist! I made that Be Mine sign for him and had this all on display as a surprise for him when he got home from work. He was indeed surprised!

Trevor also surprised me. He brought me a bouquet of flowers! While I loved them, I was kind of thinking he must have spent way too much money on flowers. Flowers that are just going to die. I kept telling him that I loved them, they were beautiful and smelled great, but that from now on he could bring me home flowers on any other day then the most expensive day to buy them, haha. Trevor told me he realized he had never brought me flowers before (excluding the chocolate roses he brought me when we were dating) and had heard me say something about it once, so he had decided to get me some. How can I complain about that? I mean my husband remembered me saying something? haha! Anyways I put them in water and enjoyed them all night, along with the big thing of yummy cupcakes he brought me. We rented a movie and did the all time favorite dinner and a movie. It was a great night. Trevor kept calling me his Valentine, and saying Happy Valentines Day to me, and I loved it :) Hope you all had a great day as well!

happy valentines day.

Love is in the air! Everywhere you look around! :) haha I have been shamelessly singing and humming this all morning! I hope you all have some great plans today with your loved ones, may that be husbands, family, or friends. In honor of this special day I am hosting a giveaway! It has been a while since I have done a giveaway on my blog, and thought there was no better time then Valentines Day! So here we have a loverly shop for this day of love. Diana Smith has an adorable etsy shop filled with some great prints and designs. Livy Love Designs is offering the winner of this giveaway any print in her shop of their choice! &to top it off... a 10 percent off coupon code for those who don't win! So really you all win :)

Enter the giveaway by:

+Being a follower of the blog.

+Telling me what your favorite Valentine's Day tradition is!

For extra entries:

+Blog about this giveaway

+Tweet about this giveaway

(Leave separate comments for each entry!)
You have until Friday 2/18

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY EVERYONE!

Kiss someone today :)

year and a half.

Through our first year of marriage I did a monthly post about what married life was like as a newly wed, and reminiscing about our wedding day. I had some siblings make fun of me for doing that, but I didn't see what was so bad about celebrating being a newly wed, &today I just couldn't help myself. So when are you not considered a newly wed anymore? Today Trevor and I have been married for a year and a half! Time sure does fly. I still feel like a newly wed. I feel like our relationship gets better and better the longer we are married. We still have a long way to go, but we have learned a lot this past year about each other, and how to make a marriage work. Like I said, we still have a long way to go, and I am sure the second we think we have "got it down" something will happen to shake it all up for us! haha :) But one thing that I love about me and Trevor, is no matter how big the argument, or disagreement.... at the end of the day we don't want to be mad at each other anymore. We resolve it, or decide to drop it because we want to hug and kiss each other before we go to bed.

So far the biggest lesson I have learned about marriage is that you have to remember that you are a team.

It will only work if you act like you are on the same team, and I am happy to have Trevor on mine.

summer of love.

This is going to be one exciting summer for me. I have so many good friends getting married, you wouldn't believe it! I am actually going to be in three of the weddings. In fact just this past Sunday Jamie got engaged :) YIPEE! I am so excited for her and Anthony. Jamie was my maid of honor, and she has been one of my closest friends for a long time. Love her to death, and can't wait for her to get married! 

Wedding planning here we come!

super bowl sunday.

Yes, I just did a post talking about the meatballs Trevor made for the super bowl party we went to, but I didn't get around to do doing a post about the party itself. I feel like because the super bowl will always be on my birthday weekend, if not my birthday, Trevor will always try to make the super bowl parties him and his friends do every year also count as my birthday party, haha. It has been this way ever since we started dating. Trevor threw a birthday party for me (which was also a super bowl party...haha).

A picture of me on my 20th Birthday, at the Super Bowl/Birthday Party Trevor threw for me :)

When I pointed out to Trevor that I think his Super Bowl Parties and adding a cake to them, then calling it my birthday party seems like a cop out. He rebutted with, "Well do you really think you could get that many people to come to an actual birthday party for you?!" haha, he was joking of course :) ....right? Anyways, on our way to the Super Bowl party Trevor told me that he had $5 for me to bet on the game if I wanted. I asked him why would we gamble money on something like football stats when we don't know much about about football. Apparently Trevor and his friends wanted to make the game more interesting and exciting for them, and I was not happy that he was wasting our money on something stupid like a bet. I had decided I wasn't going to participate, but when I got there everyone was doing it (peer pressure right? haha) So I decided to join in and throw away $5 to make the game a little more exciting. They split it it into two different pools, one for the score and some stats for the first half, and then the final score who would win, and some stats for the second half. Well I won BOTH pots! HA! The girl giving Trevor a hard time about gambling, and wasting money, and I won all of it. I guess watching my brother's football games throughout high school and college paid off :)

Do you think we ate enough food? This was just part of it...

Trevor surprised me with Daisey candles, my favorite flower :)

 

Trevor had to lay down because he ate too much, hehe :)

P.S. Here are some interesting facts about the super bowl commercials that pertain to Utahans, and any Mormons reading this.

Mini Cooper Commercial:
Kirby Heyborne (Elder Calhoun from best two years) You know you know who Kirby is right? He has been in almost every Mormon movie out there, haha.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=il4u4wcDfJA&feature=related

Bud Light Commercial:
K.C. Clyde (Elder Rogers from Best two years)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcN4S0jSYI0

Best two years trailer:
http://www.halestormentertainment.com/movies/best2years/trailers.html

You know the Doritos lick the finger commercial, and the Doritos pug story also had a Utahan film makers:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/51205404-79/bowl-doritos-super-dixon.html.csp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRMMBXx3kqk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpjaOUjUPUc

I have to say my favorite commercial was the Doritos licking the fingers one.... what about you guys? 

super bowl food.

Didn't you love the Golds Gym's commercial that showed the big plate of finger food, and then said... "See you tomorrow!" How true is that! I don't know about you guys, but after my birthday weekend, and the super bowl... I am stuffed. But since we are on the topic of super bowl food, I had to share the amazing meatball recipe that Trevor makes.

Trevor's "Jamaica Me Crazy" Meatballs
+This recipe is made completely of Costco finds, but could be modified with any brand of meatballs or sauces.
Ready, Set, GO!
Bag of Meatballs (we use the whole bag, but you can use as much as you need)
1 cup of water
Half the tub of "Johnny's Jamaica Me Sweet Hot & Crazy Dressing & Marinade (we use half of the tub when you are making the whole bag of meatballs)
Dump everything in a crock pot, set to High, and leave in for about 2 hours.

These meatballs are so easy to make! They have such a yummy kick to them! This is something you could put together and take to a party or shower etc. and know they will be a hit. Don't forget to bring the tooth picks!

twenty two.

Today I turned 22. It is funny though because I feel like we just celebrated my birthday. Time goes by faster and faster each year, no wonder older people always say they feel like they are still in their twenties. I think that will be me too. Anyways, lucky me... I get to spend my birthday going to an early 8am meeting at East High School, the same high school where they filmed the Disney High School Musical... just in case you wanted to know, I am working there for a class. Good thing I love going there or I would be pretty bummed I had to wake up so early on my birthday. I then have work, and a night class that goes until 7pm. Yes a night class. Super duper extra lame, &I can't skip the class because I have a quiz next week and we are reviewing for it. But after my busy jam packed day... I get to come home to my sweet hubberz. We are keeping it low key. I have requested pizza and a movie :) I never get bored of of simple dates with Trevor. But I can't help but admit that Birthdays just don't hold the pazzaz they use to. When I was younger my mom would decorate the whole house with balloons and streamers so when you woke up and came down stairs you knew it was all for you! She would even make us a crown to wear. We were allowed to open one present before school. Your mom would make cupcakes for you to bring to class for everyone. Then we got to pick our favorite dinner and cake for when we all got home from school and work, and then you got to open presents! Then in middle school and high school your friends start really getting involved. My friends would smother me with balloons and gifts at school. One year they plastered pictures of me on all of my classroom doors telling everyone to tell me happy birthday! haha When you are an adult you can't always ditch work, school and responsibility because it is your birthday. Oh well, haha. Tonight should be great just relaxing with my hubberz, and eating yummy food.

So what are some of your favorite birthdays and birthday traditions?!

attack of the spider.

  Top: Gap Skirt: F21 Boots: Steve Madden

One of the first things I learned about Trevor after we started living together, was that he wouldn't be offering to kill any spiders for me. Trevor is scared of spiders. Like, really really scared of spiders. I can get freaked out every now and then from a big one, but Trevor is way more afraid of spiders then me. If we are both home, I do the killing. I will never forget a phone called I received one night. It was the first time we had been apart (like out of town apart) since we had been married. I believe I was in San Diego back home for something, I can't remember right now, but Trevor called me a little freaked out.

"ALYCIA! You will never believe it. I was making the bed and all of a sudden I saw this spider. He saw me too, and instead of running away from me like one normally would, the spider looked right at me and started running towards me! He was chasing me! I am not even kidding! It was the freakiest thing ever."

(Me trying not to laugh)

"Trevor, I seriously doubt the spider was actually running at you."

"But it was! It was trying to attack me."

"Haha okay Trevor, the spider tried attacking a giant sized human that could easily step on it."

"I swear!"

"Okay, I believe you :)" haha
Now lets fast forward to just the other night. I am sitting on the computer and hear a scream from the bathroom. I called out to Trevor but he didn't respond. I didn't really think that much of it. It was about time for bed so I walk into our room and Trevor is still in the bathroom. I get into bed and am waiting for Trevor. He finally comes out.

"You will never believe it!"

"What?"

"I was in the bathroom and I saw a spider on the floor. It starts running towards me! Just like that other one I told you about did!"

"Is that why I heard you scream?"

"Yeah, it ran towards me and I had to jump over it!"

At this point I am bursting out in uncontrollable laughter. Oh my poor Trevor... haha. What can I say? I guess we just have a new breed of attacking spiders in our apartment. The kind that only seem to chase Trevor... and not me? haha

P.S. Happy Groundhogs Day everyone! I have always loved this day, probably because it felt like a mini holiday before my birthday. My poor mother was in labor pretty much all day today 22 years ago, haha. One Groundhogs Day tradition I always follow is to watch the movie Groundhogs Day. It is a classic, and hilarious. Watch it tonight :)

Leavitt Family Reunion.

 

My Dad and his siblings, and their families. This isn't even close to all of us! Yeah, we have a huge huge family. Infact on this trip we learned that the Leavitt family has the most posterity in all of the LDS Church.

Earlier this month, even though I was super duper sick, I drove down to St. George for my family reunion. I figured even though I was feeling horrible, I had to go because St. George is so close to Salt Lake City, and I had family coming from Canada, Alaska, San Diego and many other places that were a lot more of a drive then what I would have to do. I also hadn't seen some of my extended family in forever! Everyone picked St. George because we have a lot of family history there. Which is funny that I ended up marrying someone from there. My great great great grandfather, and his family helped settle St. George Utah. Later he moved to Canada... which is where I was born and where the majority of my family is from. It is funny to think what would have happened if he hadn't moved to Canada. I probably would have been from St. George Utah. Who knows.... I could have met Trevor a lot earlier. We could have gone to the same school, and we probably would have had nothing to do with each other haha. We have talked about what it would have been like if we had ever met in high school. I don't think we would have been very interested in each other then.... but who knows?! Anyways, the reunion was a blast! I saw some family I hadn't seen in years. We did a lot of family history site seeing. It is pretty cool to be in a city that has so much of a connection to you and your family. I am talking houses, statues, the whole works. I get an excitement from doing family history and knowing my genealogy. This could be because I have a fascination with history, but I think it is so important for people to learn about their families and where they come from, and why they are where they are today. I am a firm believer in learning from the past and applying it to our future :)

Get ready for a picture overload post....

 

My brothers :) Just missing Alex.

 

 

 

 These geese were everywhere outside our hotel..... my brothers decided to attack them.

 

Then they attacked back. They covered the car in their poop!

The grand babies :)

My immediate family. Most of us anyways. We are missing some husbands, grand babies, and our brother Alex.

 

To the left is my Great Great Great Grandfather Thomas Rowell Leavitt. To the right is my Great Great Great Great Grandmother Sarah Studervant Leavitt. Sarah is posing next to her because she was named after her :) I think she nailed the pose.

 

Attacking Sarah with a snowball.

My cousin looks just like his relative Jacob Hamblin, don't you think? Creepy.

Ben being Ben, haha :)

 

Sisters :)

Beautiful place, with a beautiful family.