Christmas gems.

This version of "The First Noel" sung by five sisters. (Check out their other Christmas songs, too!)

A beautiful (free!) printable for your home.

The cutest little gingerbread house making party & tips for hosting your own.

A list of ways to help others this Christmas season.

A fool-proof three ingredient fudge recipe perfect for that holiday treat exchange or girls' night activity.

The most beautiful sage wreath I've ever laid eyes on that would be perfect for the holiday season.

A whimsical holiday tabletop idea to help get your creative juices flowing.

Ugly Christmas sweaters that everyone needs in their life!

This cute DIY Christmas "chalkboard" sign perfect for indoors or outdoors.

Frozen hot chocolate for a cozy night in.

Adorable rustic stars you can make for cheap to hang around the house or on your tree.

This Star Wars gift guide that has me laughing.


image via

architecture + good food + lots of walking

^^Pardon the B&W photos. The shadows were horrendous.^^

^^Frank Lloyd Wright home!^^

Since my humanities class in mid-2010, I've had a fascination with Frank Lloyd Wright homes and have been dying to take a tour of one. After several failed attempts to schedule a tour of the FLW home in St. Louis, I had given up all hope of getting to see one anytime soon. 

Ben suggested that we use Memorial Day as an excuse to get out of town and go on an architecture tour, and he discovered that Chicago offered a 3 1/2 hour long bus tour that showcases the works of many well-known architects. We booked tickets and I mentally prepared myself to spend 3 1/2 hours looking at buildings. ;) Turns out that the tour was actually quite interesting and extremely informative. AND. A FLW home was one of the 4 stops on the tour! (If you've done the river/lake architecture tour and enjoyed it, try going on the extended bus tour!)

We were able to cram quite a bit into our short 36 hour long trip, and we ended up walked over 35,000 steps in the two days! Our feet we so sore by the time we got in the car to drive home.

What we did and how we felt about it:

ate at Taqueria El Asadero - meh

grabbed shakes at Margie's Candies - amazing!

took the Harry Potter quiz online to discover our houses/wands - amazing!

bus architecture tour - amazing!

watched the Memorial Day parade for a good 45 minutes - amazing!/meh at times

ate hotdogs & hamburgers at Portillo's - amazing!

grabbed a bag of Garrett mix popcorn - amazing!

walked along the lakefront - amazing!

walked through Millennium Park - amazing! (It was sooo hot at this point.)

checked out the Chicago Cultural Center - amazing!

did some shopping on Michigan Ave - amazing!

ate at Lou Malnati's Pizzeria - amazing!

grabbed some gelato at Paciugo - meh

played Mario Party on the Wii U - amazing!

(Thanks to Mandie and Myk for letting us crash at their place/hang out with them. :))

Easter + General Conference.

This year on Easter Sunday we were fortunate enough to be able to hear from our church leaders at general conference. Ben suggested we dress up in our church clothes and head over to the church to watch it with our ward there. (Long story short, we drove over to the church but ended up having to watch it at home in end.)

During the break between sessions we decided to go for a walk around our neighborhood and into the park close to our house. It was such a beautiful day and it seemed like everything had come to life that weekend; the flowers were blooming and the little buds on the trees decided to make an appearance. Symbolic for Easter Sunday! 

After watching the afternoon session of conference, we threw some ribs on the grill and made dinner for my family since they pulled into town that night. It may not have been your classic Easter dinner, but I'd take baked beans and ribs over ham any day! (We're kind of lacking in the tradition department over here...although I suppose that's something that will come along with kids.)

P.S. Ben and I don't do Easter baskets for each other, but we've gone to the store a few days after Easter two years in a row to each pick out a bag of candy that's 75% off. That's a tradition, right? ;) I just keep telling myself that as I eat my $1 bag of Cadbury eggs. (Clean eating starts up again tomorrow. I can hardly bear to think about it, ha.)

---------------------------------------

If you missed general conference or want to figure what in the world I'm talking about, check it out here and click on "sessions," "speakers," or "topics." I'm excited to watch and read the talks again over the next few months, but my current favorites are this talk, this talk, and this talk.

Check out Alexa's adorable women's conference printables! I love them all and can't wait to tape/hang/pin them up all around our apartment.

Jenna from Mom, the Intern wrote a really great post about Sister Wixom's talk on Sunday and summed up a few of my thoughts on encouraging light much more eloquently than I ever could. It's well worth the read, regardless of your religion. 

My favorite conference memes here, here, here, and here.

Christmas break in Salt Lake City.

I wrote about the first part of our Christmas break here, but I should probably write about the second half of our trip before February rears her pretty little head.

Our Utah trip consisted of:

• Comedy Sportz with family
• exchanging gifts
• playing board games
• eye appointments for Ben (he got PRK while we were there...it's like LASIK)
• Netflix binges
• shopping and running errands
• visiting Temple Square and doing baptisms with everyone for the first time!
• meeting up with family and friends
• family pictures
• touring my dad's new office building
• reading by the fireplace
• face masks & fingernail polish
• trying new restaurants
• Cafe Rio pork salads

It's never fun to say goodbye, but fortunately it usually isn't for very long. :) Until next time, Utah!

Christmas in Denver.

This year we're hanging out with Ben's family in Denver for Christmas, so we packed our bags last Friday and flew out early, early Saturday morning. No one should ever have to get up at 3:30 am on a Saturday. ;) Needless to say, we both slept the whole 2 1/2 hour long flight instead of watching a movie on the iPad or reading.

Since being here in Denver, we've been playing this game nonstop, eating yummy foods, and finishing up Christmas shopping and wrapping. Saturday night Ben's parents took us to the Denver Botanic Garden to see the fun Christmas lights and oh, how pretty they were! We've watched a few football games, been to a few makeup stores, and had the chance to visit Cafe Rio last night. :) 

Vacations sure are the best!

Our Thanksgiving break was desperately needed and absolutely fabulous.

// We kicked off Thanksgiving break with a homemade pumpkin roll, because hello, holidays. My mom makes pumpkin rolls around this time of year, so I decided to give it a try. Needless to say, I had quite the experience trying to get the cake out of the pan and on to a towel to roll it up. I may or may not have contemplated just giving up on the whole pumpkin roll idea right then and there and thought about turning it into some very cake-y pumpkin bars. After some cracks, tears, and pieces completely breaking off, it somehow turned into a successful pumpkin roll. Checking that off my list!

// It snowed the day before Thanksgiving and I was in holiday heaven. That is, until it turned to ice and I slipped down our back steps giving myself a gnarly looking bruise and adding some battle wounds to my boots. #thisiswhyicanthavenicethings

// Instead of heading to Denver or SLC for Thanksgiving, we stayed in St. Louis and had a Friendsgiving. Some couples from church and one of Ben's coworkers came over for a feast, and a feast we had! Turkey, steaks (my family's go-to instead of turkey), mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, rolls, and a random assortment of dishes--it was delicious and I probably gained 10 pounds. (Good thing J.crew just had a sale on stretching pants/leggings.) After eating, we busted out the new Just Dance game and spent an hour learning some new moves. ;) It was only natural to follow that with pies and ice cream.

// Because of the protesting going on in St. Louis, we weren't expecting many stores or malls to be open, but fortunately a good number of them were. My friend and I hit up Michael's and Old Navy on Thursday night and were surprised that both stores were practically empty. Friday morning, Ben and I ventured out to check a store or two and successfully finished 90% of our Christmas shopping. (Boo to protestors shutting down the mall and other stores.) Side note: IT IS SO HARD TO SHOP FOR TEENAGE BOYS, LET ALONE THREE OF THEM. That is all.

// Ben got one of his Christmas presents early and has since tried to teach me how to play Halo. I will never understand, or be good at, video games, and somehow I manage to live with myself. ;)

// Working at a hospital is bound to kill me one day. Regardless of how many times I sanitize my hands, pens, desk, phone, etc., I seem to catch a cold at least every two weeks. No joke. The amount of tissues and cough drops I've purchased in the last few months is exorbitant. I spent most of Thanksgiving break in bed watching Call the Midwife (I finished it and don't know what to do with myself. Show suggestions, please.) and working on a blanket I'm crocheting. Ben thinks I'm an 80-year old lady sometimes--can't say I blame him.

// We had the missionaries and some friends over for dinner on Sunday night, and were shown this great video that the church has produced. What a great reminder of the reason for the season!

snow, Christmas decor, and ramblings.

// It snowed! It snowed! There's just something about the first snowfall that makes me giddy and even more excited about the upcoming holidays. Plus, giant steaming cups of hot chocolate sprinkled with cinnamon? I'm sold.

// Ben has been in New York City for the past couple of days, so I've been left to my own devices - which usually results in a lot of chick flicks, Honey Bunches of Oats for dinner, and crafts that involve glitter. This past weekend I dragged some of our Christmas stuff up from the basement (gasp - before Thanksgiving!) and got to work. It's a work in progress, but a start's a start. If only I could haul that Christmas tree up two flights of stairs...

// Yesterday I decided it was high time I put on my big girl pants and get myself over to Home Depot to buy some window insulation kits. These are the kinds of things I usually leave for Ben to do, but with him gone for a few more days and the apartment being a drafty 67 degrees on a good day, I took matters into my own frozen hands. I'm happy to announce that I can now insulate a window all by myself and it doesn't even look half bad! Feeling kind of invincible--and warm--right now.

// I'm sure most, if not all, of you have heard about the Ferguson happenings over the past couple of months. (Ferguson is 9 miles from our place.) Basically, it's the Trayvon Martin case all over again. The grand jury is supposed to announce in the next week whether or not the officer who shot Michael Brown is guilty, and regardless of the decision, major rioting and violence is expected throughout the city. If you're the praying type, would you mind saying a few prayers for the police officers and National Guard members that will be responding to the events, and maybe St. Louis in general as well? Thank you, thank you! Also, if you have any great 72 hour kit tips feel send them my way as I put ours together in the next day or two.

// Since I can't end this post on such a somber note, I have to share this video on how to lose a million dollars (and a car!) in a matter of seconds. Bless him.

what can i say? i like holidays.

// Ben left Friday morning to head out to a funeral, so I was home alone all weekend long. I decided that in addition to studying for a Human Development test coming up (bleh), I was going to do all of the girly things I've been wanting to do. Like make some crafts and decorate for Halloween. And maybe watch a few episodes of Call the Midwife.

// Speaking of decorating for Halloween, I had absolutely zero Halloween stuff so I made myself those sparkly black letters, bought some candy and a black bird, and sewed a few buntings. This could be the start of something expensive wonderful. I like holidays too much.

// I discovered the easiest and most delicious recipe for Reese's stuffed peanut butter cookies and I'm grateful for friends who helped me eat all of them so I didn't.  I also rediscovered my love for frozen grapes.

// I've been thinking a lot about this talk and how agency can bring about some of our greatest blessings, or lead to some of our greatest struggles.

// Calling all bookworms:  lately Ben and I have been taking turns reading Divergent aloud to each other in the evenings right before falling asleep. We're almost done with the book and need suggestions for what to read next!

Happy Monday!

we basically ate all weekend long.

Our Memorial Day weekend was gooood.  Like, you know when you find out you just got something you've really wanted?  Perhaps through opening a gift you've been dreaming of, getting an unexpected raise at work, finding out you won a giveaway, winning the lottery?  That feeling, folks, basically sums up our weekend.  I was excited going into it to have some extra time off work, and fun opportunities kept popping up left and right!

+ I was able to go and get a mani/pedi that I've had a gift certificate for for the past year and a half (So long, right?!).
+ Babysat some cute kids & ate chocolate doughnuts together.
+ Went to a "farewell" lunch at a fun Mediterranean place for some friends that are moving away.
+ Tried some amazingly delicious ribs at Rib Fest downtown.
+ Checked out a piano bar with some friends (I've never been so judged for drinking Sprite before, haha) and got fro-yo.  Things got crazyyyyy.  Only not like drunk and partying, more like running around downtown and racing through splashpads at 11pm.  It was a blast.
+ Survived Primary with an extra 10 kids in my class.
+ Made enough strawberry jam to feed us and the rest of St. Louis for 10 years.
+ Had some friends over for Sunday dinner & the homemade bread turned out better than ever.
+ Skyped family.
+ Got together with friends for a BBQ.

Hope your {extra long} weekend was fabulous!

Pi(e) Day!

Today is 3/14 and pi is 3.14159265359........  Therefore, it's Pi Day.

If you didn't know what Pi Day was right off the bat, I want to know how you made it through elementary school.  Pi Day was always right up there with the 100th day of school festivities and read-a-thons.  Growing up stinks.  I vote for celebrating Pi Day at work.

In high school, I had a friend whose mom always had this chocolate pie in their fridge.  In fact, she'd make like 2 or 3 of them at a time because so many teenagers would come over and partake of the deliciousness.  And it was easy to make.

All you need is a pre-made chocolate pie crust, 4 Hershey's chocolate bars, and a tub of Cool Whip.  Melt the 4 chocolate bars (microwave or stovetop) and mix into the Cool Whip.  Pour into the crust and refrigerate for 4+ hours.  I sprinkled some Heath bits on top of this one.  Note: the pie in my picture isn't filled to the top of the crust, but that's because I didn't have a full thing of Cool Whip to work with.

Enjoy!

a valentine's day themed "favorite things party."

*Note: I'm just going to apologize for the number of pictures beforehand.  Sorry!

I love parties.  You know that emoji with the two heart eyes?  That's how much I love planning parties, hosting parties, and going to parties!

My friend, Lauren, and I have been wanting to throw a "favorite things party" and invite a bunch of our friends, and with Valentine's Day coming up, we knew it'd be the perfect opportunity.

Here's how our "favorite things party" worked:  

1)  Everyone picked something that they love that cost between $1-$5 and they brought three of that item.    

2)  Upon arrival, everyone wrote their name on three slips of paper.

3)  When the time came, we went around in a circle and showed everyone our item, described why it's our favorite, and drew three slips of paper.

4)  The people whose names were read got to go home with that item.

Basically, you bring three of the same item and go home with three different items!

After deciding on a date, I began scouring the internet for some party inspiration and decided to base the feel of our party around this cute invite from Tiny Prints.  The mix of bright and light pink and the cute striped pattern on the back caught my attention, and wanted to incorporate them into the party somehow.  I customized the invite so that instead of adding photos to the card, I added different squares of pink that we used for a game.

Here's how our "favorite things" game worked:

1)  Since there were four empty pink squares, we asked four random questions.

(Favorite actor or actress, favorite movie, favorite vacation spot, and favorite jellybean flavor.)

2)  Everyone filled out their card without showing their neighbors.

3)  I collected the cards and read something off of a card.

4)  Everyone had to pick three people from the group who it could be.

("This person's favorite spot they've vacationed is...Paris.")

5)  I'd throw a small treat to everyone who guessed the right person.

It was so much fun to get to know other people's favorite things!

I'll admit... my favorite thing about parties (besides friends) has to be the food!  Nothing beats enjoying some treats and chatting with some of your favorite people. :)  I definitely begged my awesome friend to make her fabulous White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake (you can find the recipe here!).

I also customized these address labels from Tiny Prints to make a "thank you" tag for little gift bags.  To be completely honest, I had a lot of fun looking through all of the different fonts and came up with quite a few variations that I loved.

I'm already itching for another "favorite things party" and it hasn't even been a full 3 days since this one!  I just love hearing about new products that people adore, and I love getting to know new things about friends. :)

invitations (used as a game):  Tiny Prints c/o

address labels (used as a "thank you"):  Tiny Prints c/o

black & white striped table runner:  Floratouch

pink chevron paper straws:  SweetCarnival

white & black polka dot paper straws:  PetuniaCrafts

white platter:  World Market

red cake stand:  World Market

pink cake stand:  Michaels - painted it pink myself

christmas break {denver edition}.

Ben and I are really fortunate to be at a university that gives employees and grad students several weeks of vacation time each year.  We had the opportunity to spend a week with Ben's family in Denver and a week with my family in Salt Lake City over the holidays, and we sure enjoyed every single minute of our break!  It's always nice to get away from home for a bit and be around family. :)

We spent Christmas Eve over at Ben's cousins' house where we had a dinner, played some Christmas songs on chimes, watched this movie for the first time, and had a Christmas program.  It sure provided entertainment (I think my favorite part may have been the electric guitar accompaniment to "Carol of the Bells")!  Later that evening, a few of us decided to go to a candlelight ceremony at a Presbyterian church because Ben's aunt and uncle were singing in the choir.  The arrangements were beautiful (lots of them were arranged by Mack Wilberg, who is amazing) and the accompanying orchestra was talented beyond belief.

Between playing this and watching movies all week, we did some shopping, reading, sleeping in, and more shopping!  It was just a terrific week, and I'm so happy that I get to call these wonderful people family.

merry christmas!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

We can't help but feel so grateful for the birth and life of our Savior,

and we hope that your holidays are happy and bright!

Love, Ben & Lex

a Christmas cookie exchange.

Dinner and a cookie exchange with friends during the holiday season?  Too perfect, I tell you.  These ladies came over with plates of brownies, and cookies, and toffee, oh my!  (I have 3-4 dozen leftover cookies/treats sitting at home in ziplock bags on my kitchen counter, if anyone's interested??) 

I just love Christmas, and cookies, and these fabulous friends of mine.

9 gifts you shouldn't be buying in sincerity for loved ones this holiday season.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 // 5 // 6 // 7 // 8 // 9

Atrocities like these shouldn't be wasted.  Please, folks, go to white elephant parties and spread some holiday cheer with these bad boys.  Brought to you by the internet and some very creative individuals out there.

camping, utah, and such.

I've had pictures from the last month that I've been meaning to post, but life gets busy.  :)  Now commencing, Operation Blog Catch-Up.

Our friends, Braden and Whitney, invited us to go camping about a month ago.  Of course we had to jump on that opportunity since we had never been camping together before, and I had been dying for some s'mores.  We drove about 2 hours south of St. Louis and ended up camping next to the prettiest little river.  We set up the tents, got our s'mores fix, and stayed up too late talking around the campfire.

We spent the next day playing in and climbing over all the pools and rocks (as you can see Ben and Braden doing so in the left picture), and swimming in the river.  Admittedly, it was the first time I stopped and realized that I actually think Missouri has some beautiful spots.   It felt like I was emotionally cheating on Utah...aaaand then we drove back to St. Louis and my heart was recommitted to Utah.

Birthdays are best when you get to request special cakes and summer night walks.  (Also, turning 21 doesn't mean much when you're Mormon. #youngwildandfree #butnotsowild.)

It was probably a good thing that my heart finally settled on Utah after our camping trip, seeing as we flew out to Utah the next week.  We went for my best friend's wedding, a family reunion in Idaho, and just to spend time with my family.  It was fabulous! (Minus having a dead camera battery and no charger for the whole trip.)

I stole this group picture off of Facebook from a stranger.  It's whatever.  Also, I'd like to point out that this is probably the first time I've ever looked semi-tan in a picture.  Can we all just soak it in for a minute?  Okay, thanks.

(Note:  This steakhouse is the coolest place ever.  They bring your meat out to you on a hot stone and you cook your meat as you cut off pieces!  Food and entertainment. :)

We look like babies in this picture, but what can you expect after spending all day at the pool in the hot sun? :)

Until next time, Utah!