iphone dump

my phone says so much about me. i love having the ability to effortlessly document every day of my life, and to see what my friends and family members are doing with their lives. i guess it's a hobby. so here are some of the latest pictures i've taken, just because i can. 

mani and pinterest session // new "about" page on the blog

happy national pretzel day // my overall score in a class :)

nasty little finals face // finals breakfast (made by scotty)

buying stuff for my classroom // everything's all squared away!

i'm so excited about my life! i am so excited to be a teacher, so excited to have the end of my college career in sight, so excited to only pay tuition 2 more times, so excited to buy things for my classroom, so excited to start my second practicum, so excited to meet my fourth grade team and get to know the teachers i'll be working with, and so excited to be alive! i want to remember these feelings and events forever. thanks, iphone. 

date night

people always advise newlyweds to "find things you both enjoy doing!" ... whatever. i go to scotty's things, scotty goes to my things. we take turns picking movies and restaurants. sure, there are places and hobbies we both enjoy, but a lot is just give and take. we love it. it ensures a wide variety of date nights :) HOWEVER, last week i was thrilled when i happened across something i knew we would both really enjoy: 

a lego art exhibit up in park city! special thanks to katherine rhodes for putting pictures of her visit up on facebook. scotty and i had a great time admiring all of the amazing lego art. take a look! 

(the castle is my favorite) 

(the benjamin is scotty's favorite) (obviously) 

then we headed over to the tanger outlets and i barely made it inside my second store before scotty took my credit card away. i still love him, though. and if you're ever in park city (or downtown slc), check out maxwell's east coast eatery. you won't be disappointed! 

i guess it is possible to find things a husband & wife both enjoy! 

3 quick finals week treats

let's be honest... sweets are like the #1 motivator in my life.

what would you do for a klondike bar? anything.

break me off a piece of that kit-kat bar? no. mine.

need a moment? i need 5 moments if they each come a twix.

similar to buddy the elf, candy is one of my main food groups, and during finals week my sugar levels spike to an all-time high. the stresses of studying and the comfort of sugar balance each other out, and as a result i am a perfectly calm and content student. while studying for finals, i only allow myself a few short breaks. during those breaks, i don't have enough time to whip up a whole batch of cookies or bake a dozen cupcakes. i can't allow myself to go to the store, because i'll never come back. i need a quick, easy recipe with ingredients i already have in my cupboards. i stick to one of these three simple (yet delectable) sugary sweet treats:

1. smores for one
ingredients: 2 graham crackers, 2 marshmallows, 2 hershey kisses
total time: 3 minutes
directions: place crackers on pan. place marshmallows on crackers. broil in oven for exactly 138 seconds. top with a kiss. get back to work!

2. improv reeses
ingredients: 1 spoonful of peanut butter, 1 small handful of chocolate chips
total time: 30 seconds
directions: see photo

3. heaven on earth
ingredients: BYU bookstore dark chocolate sea salt caramels
total time: varies depending on how carefully or carelessly you choose your hiding places
directions: when all else fails, turn to your secret stash of these babies. nothing is better. i promise.

happy finals week, and good luck! 

p.s. the post-finals diet starts on thursday

DIY frame wall

scotty and i have been itching to do a little DIY project these past few weeks. it's hard when you're renting an apartment and you can't paint walls or cabinets or do anything exciting. today we teamed up with pinterest to fill that craving in our lives and re-decorated our living room wall! after receiving inspiration from this pin, this pin, this pin, and this pin, we made the magic happen. here are the 4 best picture-hanging pinterest tips we found. 

tip 1: arrange pictures on floor to find best layout.

tip 2: tape a border to know what area you're working with.

tip 3: work from corners inward. 

tip 4: dab a little toothpaste on the back of the frame, and then press it up against the wall where you want it. you know exactly where the nail should go! 

the final product:

we love it!

life lately

currently i am ...

+ laughing hysterically at this commercial. dying. just watch it. i love it. 

+ prepping for finals. my last day is the 24th!

+ emotionally prepping for spring semester, which starts the 29th. boo. 

+ sick of friends posting pet pictures on instagram and facebook. your animal looks the exact same every single day! 

+ still so in love with my scotty. i may be biased, but i think he deserves some kind of husband award.

+ feeling like a noob because after my math teacher collected some data, we discovered i go to bed the earliest out of everyone. 

+ listening to justin timberlake's album and the pitch perfect soundtrack. i rotate every other day. 

+ taking a multivitamin each morning because it makes me feel like a responsible adult. ("it" being the pill-taking, not the actual pill) 

+ dreaming of traveling. scotty and i want to go to new york next year. 

+ planning my future classroom. i can't freaking wait! i won't be offended if you unfollow my pinterest teaching board; i realize it's getting a little out of hand. 

+ adding middle names to all of the baby names we have picked out (just so i'm ready in six years when we have a baby).

+ so so so so SO white. you can bet the second i'm done with finals, i'll be laying out by the pool.
+ wearing this shirt every day of my life. it's so pretty, i couldn't possibly want to wear anything else my closet has to offer.

what have you all (my lovely followers) been up to lately?

upswing.

although i could hardly believe the saying three days ago, i'm finding now that "things get better." they really do. after the most hellish week of my life (add about 10 more things to the list from my last post), nothing could have felt better than a day date with my sweet husband. we spent the day together and met up with my aunt cathi and uncle kris. love them. we stuffed our faces at brick oven pizza and then cheered the cougars on at a baseball game. their son keaton has been pitching lately!

i guess the remedy for a crappy week is relaxing outdoors with family and soft pretzels. hopefully things are on an upswing in the marx household. hope everyone has a beautiful weekend.

happy crap week.

[crap] 

it's really cold outside.

what happened to spring? it's been in the 30's and 40's all week.

[crappier] 

i got pulled over.

don't cops have anything better to do than sit at the end of an HOV-only freeway exit?

[crappiest] 

scotty's computer hard drive crashed.

can you imagine losing every single homework assignment, work project, picture, etc???

[crap hit the fan] 

scotty's brand new iphone 5 got stolen.

it was sitting on his freaking desk at work. really, people?

... i'm not normally one to make public complaints about my life, so consider this a desperate plea for any prayers, uplifting quotes, or comforting treats you may want to send our way.

general conference weekend recap

someone said general conference weekend is like a holiday for mormons... and i completely agree haha. we wait six months to hear from our prophet and his apostles, and we are thrilled at the idea of spending an entire weekend on the couch in pajamas eating crepes and cinnamon rolls. definitely a holiday-like feel. we are always surrounded by great friends and family and there is always plenty of food. this past weekend was no different! 

scotty's parents ron and kim came up on friday night to spend the weekend with us! we started off with a movie - oz: the great & powerful. it was good. i mean, it wasn't the most amazing movie we've ever seen in our lives haha but it was entertaining. on saturday we lounged around watching conference and eating cereal.  between sessions scotty ran some errands while kim taught me how to make jam! what up! 

it was surprisingly suuuper easy but i'm glad kim was there to guide me. it tastes amazing. after that, we watched the afternoon session. around 5:00, kim and i sent our boys off to priesthood session and enjoyed a little g.n.o.

our night was filled with pedicures, shopping, and chilis -- my favorite things. 

on sunday we woke up and ate a huge delicious breakfast before ron and kim had to get back to vegas. we had so much fun with them. scotty and i watched the morning session and then got ready for more excitement. jen and tony scored four tickets to the afternoon session! woot woot! we hopped on trax and had a great time catching up and sharing stories with them. 

jen and i were cracking up because we both wore a maxi dress, cardigan, flat shoes, a neck accessory, our hair down, and the same michael kors watch. we're definitely on the same wave length or something. 

my two favorite talks from this weekend were elder holland's and elder clayton's. sooo good. i love how powerful elder holland is. i loved elder clayton's advice and perspective on marriage. i can't wait to listen to both of those talks again. i'm so thankful for the technology that allows me to watch and read their words! i hope you all enjoyed this beautiful general conference weekend, i know we did! 

celebrating

every wednesday morning at my practicum elementary school, the principal plays a celebration song over the intercom. he instructs the students to get out of their desks to "celebrate and dance, because the week is halfway over!" the kids love it. i love it. i think life would be so boring if we didn't find reasons to celebrate. 

scotty and i celebrated on friday night because *drumroll* ... i was offered a teaching position for next year! i'll be doing an internship teaching fourth grade at falcon ridge elementary (aka, my practicum school!). i am so freaking excited. i can't wait to shape the minds of little fourth graders. i start in august, i'll be paid half salary, and i'll graduate as a second year teacher... we thought this made for a good reason to celebrate!

i asked the waitress to document this special moment in my life, to which she replied, "of course! i've become quite the photographer since working here!" ... then she produced the following two photos: 

how appropriate was my fortune? 

and finally, my "I'M GOING TO BE A TEACHER!!!" face. 

pure happiness.
can't wait to share all of my fourth grade stories with you all. 

now, go out and celebrate something! you deserve it.