Busy busy busy!

So, I've actually been pretty busy lately. Unfortunately, most of what I've been working on I can't show you yet, because it's for baby Henry. But I plan on taking pictures and posting them after Ashley's shower, because boy have I made some CUTE stuff for that little boy! Seriously, it's killing me not being able to show it off yet.
I also started tutoring a girl in my ward last week. She's going to start 4th grade soon, and in CA there's a big test in 4th grade. Her previous teachers have focused more on math and stuff, so her mom asked if I'd help her out with her writing. It's been fun planning lessons and working with her. She's a sweet girl, and it's nice to have a little extra income too :)
I spent a bit of time today making calendars for YW for the rest of the year. It was quite a project, but it's nice having them made for the entire year! Obviously we still need to plan all of our mutual activities, but now I'll just have to add them on as we plan, and BAM! That's it! I'm quite happy about that.
Tomorrow night I'll be feeding the missionaries. I decided, since I'm so happy having a bbq, to do some hamburgers and hot dogs. Plus, with fourth of July next week, it just seems fitting. Which probably means that's what they'll be having every night for the next week, but whatever. I'm sure they don't mind, especially since dessert will be peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream! Yum!
That's pretty much all I have to update on right now, but come back in July for lots of cute pictures of the projects I've been working on for Ashley's shower! Plus I'm sure you'll be inundated with pictures of the shower and my adorable nieces and nephews, since I can't help getting a little camera crazy when I go back home.
Thanks for reading!

Father's Day

I have a really good relationship with both of my parents. When Ashley got married, I kind of resented Zach, because Ashley had been my confidant in a lot of things, and I felt like he was taking her away from me (don't worry, I've moved past that, and now am VERY grateful Zach is part of the family. It gives Justin someone to talk sports with! [Plus you know, he's just an all-around good guy] ).
Once Ashley moved out though, I had the opportunity I wish everyone got at some point in their lives. I was essentially an only child. I would go grocery shopping with my mom, eat dinner on my parent's bed and watch tv with them, take silly online quizzes on Sunday evenings with them, and just enjoy being friends with them. When I think back to that time, I am so glad I had it. I have always loved my parents, but as a teenager, like most teens, I didn't always LIKE my parents. Sometimes I thought they were lame, sometimes I was mad at them for grounding me, basically I was a normal teenager.
But those three years I got to spend with them did more to develop my character and make me who I am today than probably any other time period in my life. I became best friends with my mom and dad, and was perfectly content to spend Friday nights watching NCIS with them, and Saturday mornings watching B Science fictions movies.
I really do love my father, so much. His crazy personality, his many bizarre quirks, are what make him the best dad I could ever have hoped for. His meatfests, his love of all things poop, and most importantly his love of me and my family are what make him my dad. Thank you dad, for everything you have done for me. Thanks for setting an example, for loving Mom, and for teaching me what to look for in a spouse. Because of your example, I think I've chosen a great dad for my own future children. Plus they'll have a freaking awesome grandpa. :)

I also want to give a shout-out to Justin. You may not be a dad yet, but any time I see you interacting with young children, especially our nieces and nephews, I know you'll be a truly incredible father. You are compassionate and gentle, and a great target for tackling (or so Jenny, Benjamin and Curtis would say, I'm sure!). You are my best friend, and I can't wait to see you become a dad.

I love you Daddy! I love you Justin!

P.S. I couldn't find a race car background, but I think trains are more fitting for our relationship anyway. Freight is great!

Memorial Day Meatfest

Finally I have something I can blog about! Woohoo!

For several weeks, Justin and I have been perusing craigslist for a bbq. Well, Saturday we finally bought one, and we broke it in yesterday by having our very own meatfest:

Meatfests are something of a tradition in the Maroney family. My dad really enjoys making a huge variety of meats on the bbq and calling it a meatfest, and since we couldn't go to THEIR meatfest for memorial day, we had our own!

Since there's only 2 of us, we only had 3 types of meat: bratwurst, pork shoulder rib, and steak. The steak was by far the best, and we're really excited that we only made one, so we can enjoy the others for our anniversary tomorrow! 

In addition to meat, we had grilled squash and zucchini, corn on the cob (for Justin, anyway), watermelon, and an assortment of chips. It was a very tasty meal, and made me feel like I was back home enjoying my parents' grilling. The only food that was missing was potato salad. Too bad Justin doesn't really care for it. :(

Tomorrow for our anniversary, we're planning on taking a day trip to Napa Valley, so hopefully I'll have more pictures to post soon! Maybe I can even get one that has people in it! 

It's been too long

I know it's been a while since I last blogged, but that's just because I really don't do much with my days. lol
Last week I decided, while Justin was out of town, to start reading Harry Potter again, because it passes the time quickly! :) It took me a bit to get into the first one, but once I did, I've been finishing a book every day or two (two and three were in a day, four took two). I'm on book 5 now, which has always been my least favorite, but I'll get through it. Somehow it's worth suffering through 870 pages of hormone-induced teen whining to get to books 6 and 7.
Justin has been busy with work. This week he's covering for one of his coworkers, who has much more difficult customers than he does. He's been working longer hours and always comes home fried, but I think it's great that he's able to keep up with his work AND her much harder work. It will show his boss that he's super on top of things and should therefore get more money! (You know, next year, when they do their annual reviews.)
Other than that, there really isn't anything to blog about. Occasionally I make cards, but some of them are for people who read this blog, so I can't post all the pictures. I also stay fairly busy with young women's. Girls camp is coming up, so I've been working on the preparations for that. Mostly I'm blogging in the hopes that, when all of YOU read this blog, you'll go on to blog yourselves! I'm not the only one who hasn't blogged in over a month!
 Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

Crafting Galore

I am very pleased to say that I am finally caught up in my quilting block of the month challenge. Woohoo! I did February a couple of weeks ago, but never got around to posting the pictures:

The Balkan Puzzle Block - sorry the pic is blurry

Chunky Chevron. I actually kind of like how mine turned out. I was all ready to not like it, but for some reason I think it turned out pretty good. 

String Block. Definitely my favorite block so far. It was fun, easy, and I just love my colors :) 

Broken Spider Web. A close second. I really liked doing March! 

Here's all six together. I can't wait to get more tans involved in later squares so my broken spider web doesn't look so out of place. 

So that's all my quilt blocks. I can actually tell I'm getting better. My last square, the broken spider web, has the most seams that match up of any of my blocks. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out! (Even if I did cut off some of the tips haha!)

In addition to sewing, this week I started going on a walk with my friend from my ward. She's a very nice girl, who happens to be very similar to me in interests, and in that she has lots of free time! She only works tues/thurs, so we decided we'll go on a walk together every MWF. So far it's been a blast! Yesterday after our walk, we decided to make cards. Here are mine: 

We plan on making cards together after our walks now, since it was so much fun yesterday. It is just so great having someone to talk to during the day. 

In other news, I can't remember if I told the blog world yet or not, but I've been called to be the YW president in our ward. The girls are great, even if few in numbers. It's been a lot of fun though, and I anticipate it only getting better. 

We also recently bought a new car. Justin was rear-ended while waiting to turn into our cul-de-sac, and because of how our tire was hit, the insurance said it would cost more to fix than our uninsured coverage was for, so they wrote us a nice fatty check that went toward a downpayment on a new car! It's a 2012 Honda Civic in "Crimson Pearl" which is just the fancy term for maroon and sparkly :) It gets really great gas mileage though, so having it means we might be able to justify a road trip back to AZ (whereas before it was cheaper to fly). 

Overall, life has been good. I'm start to get into a routine, and I'm looking for things to keep me busy. I applied this week for a job as a substitute teacher. I was offered a job a while ago for a tutoring position, but I ended up turning it down, because it didn't feel right. We'll see if anything comes of this last application I turned in. I'm also looking into various culinary programs in the area, and found one at a community college for a pretty reasonable price. I haven't officially decided if I'll do it, but it's something I'm considering. 

That's just about all the updates I have for now. I'll be back in town this weekend for Samuel's blessing and for Easter, so I'm super excited to see family! I can't wait to see everyone else's quilt blocks for March! Thanks for reading! 

P.S. Ashley, I picked this background just for you :) 

Baking with Momma

Here are the shenanigans we've been up to together:

Chocolate cake with sweetened condensed milk, ganache and heath bar bits between the layers, frosted with a chocolate buttercream and topped with more heath bar bits and chocolate ganache. 

Mint Chocolate cupcakes with ganache filling, topped with vanilla buttercream and a chocolate shamrock. 

Part of Justin's floor is having a St. Patrick's day party tomorrow morning at work, and they are having a food contest. He will be bringing these cupcakes as his entry... 1st place wins $50, so here's hoping they do well! 

Updates on Life

Despite the fact that I usually have very little to occupy my time during the day, life has been pretty busy lately. Here's a little glimpse into mine and Justin's life as of late.

Of course, there was the trip back home for Jenny's baptism.

Since getting home though, Justin had the opportunity to go on a 20 mile hike. He was very tired for the next several days! I have a nice picture of him at the top, but for some reason it won't post. Sorry :( 

Right before I got home, Justin got into a car accident. It was just a little fender bender, no one was hurt, but the other guy's car got some hefty damage. Justin was waiting to turn into our cul-de-sac from the little two lane street (one lane each way) when the other guy rear-ended him. So, definitely not Justin's fault, but the other guy, who was driving his girlfriend's car (Boy was she NOT happy) didn't have insurance. Luckily we have coverage for that! It took forever for Geico to confirm that the other driver was uninsured (they bought insurance the next day and tried to use it), but yesterday we got a call saying they confirmed it, so now we can finally get our car fixed. Hooray! 

I also found out that I'll be getting a calling very soon, but since it isn't official yet, I can't say what it is. It will definitely keep me busy though! 

Earlier this week I had a doctors appt. Well, it didn't go exactly as I'd hoped. Apparently the OB/GYN won't do anything to look into blood pressure, so I had to find a Primary Care Doctor for that. I've got an appt schedule for just under two weeks from now, so hopefully we're on the right track there! Other than that, lots of tests were ordered. Still waiting for most of the results, but really I think the blood pressure issue is linked to the problem, if not the problem itself. I was really disappointed that my bp was still high at the appt this week, since I've been really good about sodium lately. For the past two or three weeks, I've only been having 50-75% of the daily recommended allotment for sodium. Why isn't that helping? :(

I also had an interview yesterday. I want to have something to do during the day to get me out of the house, so I applied for a job as an English tutor. Well, two hours after applying I got a call to set up an interview. The interview went really well, and they actually offered me the job, but I'm not sure yet whether I'm going to take it. It is funded by No Child Left Behind, so there's the potential for funding to be cut off (you know, since the program is so wildly popular). Mostly though I've just had a bad feeling about it since getting some of the details. They don't really cover the costs for anything. Like the background and TB check, the materials for training, mileage for getting to students' houses... So I'm thinking of just going down to the elementary school Thomas Edison, which is all of .3 miles from my house, and seeing if I can volunteer there. I just feel like it might be the better option. 

That just about sums up our life lately. My Mom is coming into town tomorrow (Hooray!), so hopefully I'll get lots of good pictures to post after that :)