SOMETHING FIERCE

I have to start out by asking how in the WORLD I got so lucky when it comes to my husband?! This past week was Devan's 26th birthday (not to mention the kajillion other people that had birthdays this week it seemed)! We both had to work all day but we got to go out for dinner and dessert. Devan chose his favorite Korean restaurant for dinner… It is definitely a treat for him when we get to go. As much as I like it I can only eat so much of it and I always get the most tame dish on the menu.

After dinner Devan and I decided to go to a cute little dessert cafe told The Chocolate. They have the greatest cazookies and hot chocolate. It is inside a cottage type building and feels like you are hanging out in a comfy home with sofas and sitting areas.

It was a great night celebrating Devan.

Anyways, back to why he is the greatest husband IN THE WORLD. I had sort of a rough week and even though this whole week should have been all about him, Devan took the greatest care of me. He was so thoughtful and went out of his way to always be thinking about me. I always knew I was as lucky as can be, but the love and selflessness shown to me this week by him has been greater than I ever imagined. Man oh man I love him something fierce. I am so thankful that we will get to spend a little more time together and with family over the holidays.

I am definitely feeling blessed this holiday season and I hope you all are too. I have been amazed by the number of people that visit my blog and hope that in some way I am making all of you feel/think/be inspired/laugh because of  something i post and I hope to get better at posting more often. I hope you can all have a Merry Christmas and remember why we celebrate it.

SNOW SNOW AND MORE SNOW

It's been a while, but honestly I haven't felt that there was anything to blog about lately. Our work/school schedules have been the same so nothing outrageous going on over here!

This past weekend we went with 5 couples up to our friends cabin and it was so fun! There was a terrible storm Saturday and I had so much anxiety that we weren't going to be able to drive home! I am a nervous driver anyways, but snow quadruples it! When we had out first HUGE snowstorm about two weeks ago I was a wreck! I called my mom telling her how I needed to quit my job and I can't do it... Basically crying all night. She calmed me down eventually and luckily the weather has calmed down a bit. I think Devan is pretty much a Saint for putting up with my backseat driving and me randomly tensing up. It's not that I don't trust his driving- it's all of the other people out there! But we got home safely after a fun weekend playing in snow and hanging out and it all turned out fine:) 

Can you spot the bird??

Have a happy Friday everyone!

SIX MONTHS INTO FOREVER

Today marks Devan and I being married for six months. As I was thinking about how fast it has flown by I started thinking about our wedding and everything leading up to it.

 When Devan and I started dating seriously and then got engaged it was so great and I couldn't have been any more happy. So it really surprised me the response a lot of people had once we were engaged. 

Immediately everybody decided they needed to tell me just their opinion on marriage and what I was getting myself into. I don't think anyone meant it personally, but apparently a lot of people think they have so much knowledge to impart on this subject that they need to tell everybody and their dog. 

I remember a couple of people telling me that marriage was "the hardest thing you'll ever do" and not just the fact that they said this, but they said it in a way that made it sound like I was signing up to go to prison. Most of these people giving me their opinion are not even that close to me or even know me that well. I was told that I better "get ready" and "marriage isn't a fairytale". The more I heard these things from people the more upset I got. I mean really? What gives you a person the right to speak this way to me. And I know it's just not me that this has happened to. 

I think of marriage as one of the most sacred institutions in this world. It is a blessing if you are able to experience it in this life. I am so happy that I am able to experience it with my best friend by my side. In this day and age so many people look at marriage as something to be avoided and looked down upon and it makes me sad. I know I have only been married six months but let me tell you- these six months have been some of the best times in my life. I wish when I had been engaged more people would have come to me saying just that. That marriage is going to be the greatest thing that has ever happened to you. You just have to put the time and energy into it that you put into anything else important in your life. The divorce rate in this country is growing continually and I think a lot of it is because so many people don't respect marriage anymore. It is something that should be revered as one of the greatest blessings God has given to us in this life. I mean, we get to spend eternity with them! How lucky are we?!

So next time you find out a family member, friend, or even a random person you don't know very well is engaged I ask you to please remember this. They don't need your negative opinion on marriage and what they are doing. It really is unnecessary. Let's be optimistic here people! 

Have I mentioned I love this guy? 

BE GOOD

The other day I saw a quote by Gordon B. Hinckley and I immediately had to copy it down because it is perfect for me right now in my life.

"You are good.
But it is not enough just to be good.
You must be good for something.
You must contribute good to the world.
The world must be a better place for your presence.
And the good that is in you must spread to others…"

I am so blessed in my life. Devan and I both have great jobs, a beautiful place to live, wonderful family and friends, the gospel and SO much more. I would like to say that we are good people. I really try hard to be kind to those around me and try my hardest in all that I am doing. So as I read this quote it started me thinking. These past few weeks I have felt uneasy a lot. I have felt overwhelmed and too busy. I have so much going on in my life that it almost feels like I am not living my life. I go to work and then come home and do other work, or if I am lucky and do have a night off it seems like Devan is always working.

While they are good things taking up my time I have felt too busy to have fun- too busy to see friends and parts of our family hardly ever, to have dates with my husband and spend quality time with him, too busy to better myself and those around me.

I don't think that is a good place to be. So I have decided I need to start doing, contributing, and trying to be better. It's not good enough for me to be filling my time with just good things- I need to decide what is "good, better, and best"-Dallin H. Oaks. I need to start balancing my time.

Devan and I were driving home from seeing my family this evening- the first time in a couple months- and we were talking about how we are so happy to have these problems instead of other ones that could be so much worse, but that we are so excited for the time to come in our lives when we will be able to be more balanced.

I hope you all feel balanced in your lives and at peace- and if not hopefully you feel inspired to make some changes. I know that just making the decision to change up my thinking and start doing has already made me feel better!

ALONG FOR THE RIDE

It's been a busy couple of weeks! Devan's brothers and their families came into town last friday and have been here until today so we have been spending a lot of time with them having fun… Which is why I haven't posted in SO long. So what have we been up to? Let's see…

First we went Tandem biking up the canyon with our friends! I have never tandem biked before and it was definitely an adventure! It was so hard to balance and pedal together not gonna lie. But it was definitely still very fun and pretty up the canyon.

 Once our family was in town I have to admit I was not the best at taking pictures… I was too busy having fun with them all! We carved pumpkins, had Cameran's mission farewell, visited the temple, played MANY games, went trick-or-treating, and just had some all around fun catching up:) Wish they all lived closer, but still happy they get to come to town and visit!

MUCHO GRANDE PICANTE

Devan and I have this thing... One time I asked him how much he loved me through a text. His response after a couple minutes was "mucho grande picante!" For some reason this saying has stuck! I know it doesn't make sense at all in Spanish, but it sums up our love. Direct translation: so much spicy!... Ya. I don't know why it stuck, but we say it all the time. It's kinda our thing.

Yesterday marked five months of marriage for devan and I. Honestly it has gone by so fast and at the same time I feel like we have been together forever already! (We have been together about 2 years now) So here is a little photo montage of a couple of our best times these past months. I have come to love him more and more every day! He works so hard for us and studies so hard in his schooling. So many days he comes home and helps me with stuff for my etsy business or other little things- and he doesn't complain! He is the best thing that ever happened to me! 

Have a happy day everybody! Do something nice for somebody:) 

IT'S IN THE DETAILS

Yesterday I got an email from my wedding photographer Lyndsey Fagerlund and she let me know that MY WEDDING was featured on the Utah Bride And Groom Website!! How cool is that?! I was pretty excited. I loved my wedding (shocker I know), but I am so happy that so many others can see it now. I put so much love and time into all of the details- as did all of the wonderful friends and family that helped me. Lyndsey is an amazing photographer and definitely captured the day beautifully.

Read the article here >> http://www.utahbrideandgroom.com/blog/2013/10/18/devan-gentry-when-you-know-you-know/

Some snapshots of the article:

Hope everyone has a great weekend! I am spending it sewing curtains, cleaning my home, writing up instructions for some classes my mom will be teaching soon, AND painting some signs for customers. Busy busy busy around here!

WE'RE ALL A LITTLE BATTY

With Halloween being one of my favorite holidays I decided to have some friends over to carve pumpkins and have a little party. It was so much fun decorating our home and I love how it turned out.

First I decided to create my bat wall. About a month ago I mentioned this was on my to-do list and I finally got around to it this week. I love how it turned out!

It is so easy to do! first I just traced out half of a bat. I only traced out half so that when I was using it as a stencil I could just flip it over and the bat would be symmetrical. I had two different bat patterns because one was going to be 3D. After that I just cut all of the bats out and taped them to the wall!

For the party we had soup, homemade bread, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, caramel apples, and candy! 

The banner was so EASY to make. It took  three sheets of paper. the Letters were all from one sheet of my moms Halloween Collection this year. Then I alternated black and spiderweb as the background. I threaded ribbon through it and that's it!

Chicken tortilla soup and cheesy broccoli soup.

Devan is so cute and wanted to help decorate. He placed spiderweb throughout the rooms to make it feel "spooky". He personally requested that I posted pictures of his handiwork.

His comment as he decorated this picture is that it made us look old and dead... yay?

And now I will stop babbling and you can see the rest of the fun pictures from the night. We went to a pumpkin patch right by our house and had oodles of fun!