Miss Me?

Sorry for my slacking, but I'm back! And with good news too!! Excited? First, here's a little background:

Weddings are stressful, no doubt. My wedding ended up being absolutely perfect and the best day of my life, but the weeks leading up to it were practically awful. I had problems with my announcements, dress, photographer, shoes, and reception center (and I'm sure there were more, but I'm trying to forget the bad and only remember the good :] ). Not only that, but Blake and I sort of had a difficult time deciding when to get married. My brother got engaged before us so we didn't want to get married too close to his date, and it's just hard finding a time in the middle of the semester that we could get both of our families out to Utah at the same time.

I thought November 22 was the perfect day, right before Thanksgiving. That didn't work for his parents though, so we settled on November 12. Besides the little 'snow storm' we had the other day, the day of our wedding was THE ONLY time it snowed this winter!! Just our luck! It was freezing cold, windy, snowy/rainy/sleety, and did I mention freeeeeezing?! Needless to say, I'm a baby when it comes to temperatures below 65, so with a little bit of complaining and tears, I convinced my photographer mother to only take a few pictures at the temple. And of course, November 22 was a BEAUTIFUL day, sunny & perfect temperature. Ughh.

We bought my dress & Blake's suit, so we decided we'd find a photographer later and take wedding pictures a warmer day :) A few weeks ago, Blake's brother texted me and said he had a friend who needed more wedding pictures for her portfolio and asked if we wanted to help her out when she came to town. SCORE! It was a win-win. We get our wedding pictures (for free!) and we're helping out a friend!

So about 2 weeks ago, Blake and I got to play dress up and pretend it was our wedding day again :) We met his friend at the Salt Lake Temple early one Saturday morning, which just happened to be the same week that the temple was closed for cleaning! A nice old man who was working the temple grounds noticed we were taking wedding pictures so he opened the gates for us. We had a few hours of temple pictures all to ourselves! If you're not LDS or from Utah, then you probably don't understand how HUGE that is! The SLC temple is ALWAYS packed with tourists and other weddings. We got so lucky! It was a little chilly that day, but not nearly as bad as our original wedding. Our photographer was FABULOUS and we had SO much fun with her! She showed us a few of the pictures after our shoot and they turned out to be better than I had hoped! So, if anyone is looking for a photographer (she does all types of shoots) I have some of her business cards. She really is amazing.

That's my exciting news! We'll probably get our pictures in 2 weeksish, but for now, here's a little sneak peak ::

Crazy Couponing Caitlin

Day 7: A Button

Why a print button, you may ask? This button has been one of my best friends the past few weeks. I'm trying to become an extreme couponer. It's A LOT harder than I thought it would be. I've been getting discouraged lately and I want to give up, but I have a wonderful husband who won't let me :) Good thing too, because today I found my first golden coupon! You can get one for yourself here. This is a coupon for Scrubbing Bubbles One Step Toilet Bowl Cleaner. Blake's aunt gave us one at my bridal shower and I LOVE IT! You step on the pedal twice a day and it keeps your toilet squeaky clean! You never have to clean it (although, I'm very OCD about my bathroom being clean, so I still clean it once a week, but it's pretty unnecessary). Walgreens is having a sale on this item, so with the coupon is only $0.49!!! WOW! It's a steal. You all need to get this. It will change your life forever!

Anytime I find good deals like this, I'll probably post about it, and you should share as well if you find any! And if you haven't tried couponing yet, give it a shot!

A Family That Does Laundry Together Stays Together

Since February has already begun, I have a few days of catching up to do for my photos. Buuut, I'm lazy, so I'll do day one right now and continue with day 7 tomorrow  :). So, here we go.

Monday night means laundry for the Savages. We have washer & dryers at our apartment complex but they are SO expensive! So Blake and I have gone to probably every laundromat in Provo looking for the best deal. We decided on the Wash Hut. 1.50$ per wash & .25 cents per 10 mins to dry. Plus it's warm and has comfy seating. We like it here!

When I was little I watched a show called Brace Face and all the characters hung out at a laundromat. It was the coolest hang out and all I wanted was to chill at a laundromat and drink smoothies. In all my life, I have yet to find one as cool, and it really bums me out. They're all kind of disgusting, actually. But, when you're poor college students with no where to go, what choice do you have?

Super Bowl Sunday!

To start off, let me first say that church was absolutely wonderful today. I'm really loving our ward and the people in it. Our ward has the same ages as our singles ward did, but there's something about being married that brings out the maturity in people. I love it!

Today I watched my first ever super bowl(sort of). All my life I've heard how great super bowl commercials are but I felt very unimpressed. Was this just an off year? I don't care for the Giants or Patriots, so it was a little hard to get into the game, which is why I played Blokus with my friend Lizzie for the first half. I was actually very impressed with Madonna's half time show. She still kinda has it goin on!! For an old lady, at least.


 Buuut, I'm not here to blog about the game. Blake and I invited a few friends over and had a mini party. I got a few ideas from Pinterest and they worked out REALLY great, so I thought I'd share!

P.S. I was having major issues with the layout of this post so I'm just giving up. I know the 'p.s' usually comes at the end,  but apparently I'm way too tired to figure how to do that. Grrr. I'll start my photo project tomorrow, promise!

Taco Dip:

• 8 oz  cream cheese
• 8 oz sour cream
• 16 oz jar mild salsa
• 1 packet taco seasoning
• 2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
• 2 large tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2.25 oz black olives,

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa and taco seasoning and mix well with an electric mixer. Spread on the bottom of a large shallow glass dish. Top with shredded lettuce, tomatoes, shredded cheese and black olives. Serve with tortilla chips.   

Here's our little setup. Taco dip, veggie cups, bean dip, mexican mess dip, and chips. (The little smokeys came later. Because what's a Super Bowl party without little smokeys?)

Mexican Mess Dip:

• 1 (16 ounce) can  refried beans
• 1 cup salsa
• 4 ounces green chilies
• 1 cup shredded cheese (I used a mexican blend)
• Spray a pie plate. Mix all ingredients and place in pie plate. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 mins or until hot in the center. Add extra cheese or anything else you want on top. (Leaving it bare isn't very pretty, fyi)

And lastly, the vegetable cups!

 I was most excited about these little guys, 

and they were a big hit! Self explanatory:

 cut up your choice of veggies and put

 them in a cup with ranch. Viola!                   

A Kardashian

Here I am again, my third attempt at blogging. I always say, 'I'm going to blog all day, every day! Blogging is my new favorite thing! Watch me blog!' But that never lasts long. Why? Blogging is for bragging! Moms and crafty people are good bloggers. I am neither of those, so I always get discouraged and quit. Not this time. The cure? I found this little gem on Pinterest: 

This will be good for me because A) I REALLY need to start taking more pictures.(Growing up my mom never went anywhere with out a camera. Did I learn from her example? Of  course not) and B) It gives me good ideas for blogging & rambling. Yay for you! I will promptly start this tomorrow because tonight I actually have a good reason to blog. And that reason is Kim Kardashian.

I've thoroughly enjoyed watching Kim K's marriage come to an end on Kourtney & Kim Take New York these past couple of weeks. But if I'm being honest, it really does make me sad. Marriage is so sacred and beautiful and it just breaks my heart when others don't treat it with the seriousness it deserves. I know they don't give the whole story on tv, but they only lasted 72 days? Really? Obviously there wasn't much effort put into their relationship. 

I recommend all married readers go here. This website calculates how many Kardashians you've been married! It's nice that you don't have to do the math yourself. Blake and I have been married 1.18 Kardashians! We're on a roll.When I'm watching Kourtney & Kim I can't help thinking to myself, 'No wonder your marriage failed.' Since I've been married almost 3 months, I'm obviously an expert on the matter (pfft, yeah right). BUT, I did have a really great bishop who gave me awesome advice before I got married, and I've been taking notes from Kim of what NOT to do. So I'd like to share a little bit of my 'wisdom' and hope that one day Kim K reads this and learns a little something. 

Caitlin's Guide to a Successful Marraige

1. Get married in the temple. It seems so simple. And it is! Temple marriage just sets the right foundation and will do wonders for your relationship. (Kim and Kris did not get married in the temple. Oopsie!)

2. Communication. Communication is key. Most importantly, listening. Even when your husband starts talking about Russian hockey players that blah blah blah...LISTEN! (From the looks of it, Kim & Kris only talked to friends and the camera, not each other. Strike!)

3. Don't be too serious. Every marriage has it's own sense of humor. Blake and I tease each other ALL the time, which is really good when we come to the other with constructive criticism. Remember: getting offended is a CHOICE. Your spouse doesn't wake up thinking 'I really hope I offend my husband/wife today.' (Kim is WAY too serious. That's all)

4. Have a hobby. Even a simple one. Blake and I like to go on walks. It's a good way to spend time together and just talk. Other suggestions: do laundry together (if you're like us and have to go to a laundromat. ick), cook dinner together once a week, work out together(Kim & Kris tried this but it ended up turning into a fight. Good effort though, I guess).

5. Have FUN!! Be silly. Try new things. Laugh! (Kim and Kris (especially Kim!) were too wrapped up in their careers to give their relationship the attention it needed.)

So, there you have it readers. I'm not claiming to be some type of marriage pro after only 3 months, but I swear by these helpful hints. They were given to me by my bishop and he is one smart man. 

Next time you feel like you're a terrible wife and you have no clue what you're doing, do what I do and watch the Kardashians :) Won't take long for you to feel better about yourself.