byu vs. washington state.

hello all!

last night aaron and i went to the first byu game of the season, they played washington state university and won. duh. 30-6.

it was a white-out game, here's cute little us:

 (please excuse my hair...it rained on us while we were waiting for the game to start)

go cougars!

oh by the way...hooray for the weekend. i need some freaking sleep.

working out.

yes, hi.

i've begun to work out at the byu gym between classes every day...

aaron loves working out and staying in shape, where as I'm super lazy...

I will get fit. I will be sexy.

wish me luck.

xo

first day as a sophomore at byu.

first day of school! first day of school! (to be chanted off Finding Nemo)

in reality i am actually super excited to start learning again. i enjoy doing assignments...i know, weird.
but mostly i love dressing cute and being more stylish. cuz in summer aaron and his friends were like the only ones that saw me. haha i don't know, it's more fun to dress cute when lots of people see you. no brainer, right?
but... like every freaking girl at byu has bangs like i do. no more originality there...but i can safely say that i've had bangs FOREVER, and they will always be timeless in my book. some don't look good with bangs, but i must admit that there were some cute girls today on campus. go them.

kinda frustrating because i'm not changing my hair because of them. i love my hair... MUST FIND A NEW TREND... any ideas?

back to the academic aspect of school..

1st class (english: intro to literature: poems, fiction, drama) - hard professor, tendency to be boring

2nd class (intro to family processes) -very interesting, i get to analyze my family hehe

3rd class (statistics) -i'm taking this with aaron so i'll be fine. love him.

4th class (swahili) -class was cancelled til next week, i have an awesome professor

and tomorrow...

5th class (human development) -i'm super excited for this one!

hooray!
xo

wonderful busy weekend.

hi guys!
sorry i have been away from my computer like all weekend, it's been pretty busy. but so fun!
here's a recap:

friday- hailey's beautiful wedding

saturday- gun show and all day date with aaron in salt lake city (yes, shopping was included.)

sunday- getting ready for school tomorrow

here are some pictures from friday!
you're welcome.

     xoxo

(mr. & mrs. bennion)

 (yes i was a bridesmaid in tiffany blue!)

 (loving the lanterns)

(such a darling cake.)

(my cute husband and i finding some shade ;) )

 (mom and i waiting for hailey and glen to come out of the temple)

a birthday and a bachelorette party.

today was my mom's birthday...
happy birthday mom!
it's been so busy that now i finally have a chance to post.
we went to chipotle (yum) for dinner to celebrate! it was so good.
i love my mom so much.
she's always been my best friend. i miss our late night talks on her bed about anything and everything.
she is such a strong woman, i really admire her for all she's been through.
any man would be lucky to have her.
we will always be twins. hooray!
i love you mommy, xoxo





in other news, one of my best friends from high school is getting married tomorrow! i'm a bridesmaid, yay!
last night was her bachelorette party that i threw for her...it was a total blast. we spent the night eating crepes, making drinks, playing games, talking about sex (hehe), and watching hailey open gorgeous lingerie. glen is a lucky man! love you hai.

there is beauty all around.

happy tuesday everyone!
i can't wait to start taking pictures when the leaves change. there's a little hint of change, but not quite to it's orange and yellow splendor yet.

just thought i'd share some of the beauty that is around me up the canyon where we live.
enjoy!

making the most of a bad situation.

hi guys,

still working diligently at my new early morning job cleaning a building on campus. not really loving it, but i made a new friend and she makes it a little easier to bear. okay a lot easier. haha
i would die if she wasn't there to entertain me and make things positive, even our battle today with a bunch of bugs. (except for when we have an hour left...then comes the complaining)

this is arielle and i 

we are super cool custodians.

(please excuse my ugliness)

xoxo til next time!

great date night to celebrate.

so last night we went to a place called old towne grill on center street. it just barely opened so we thought we'd try it out to celebrate our six month anniversary.
i wore dark skinny jeans with a leopard print button up. not to mention my heels were 4 inches tall. super cute and 70's inspired. i'd like to thank H&M for my outfit. aaron wore a white v neck that showed his muscles (yay) and khaki shorts. he's cute.
the food was very good. i got salmon (my favorite seafood) and aaron got a juicy burger. we both enjoyed a night of laughing and talking while over looking provo center street. there was great music playing and it was really fun just being there with aaron. for dessert (i'm addicted to dessert by the way) i got a brownie with ice cream and aaron got new york cheesecake. yum yum yum.
i highly recommend going there if you are in the provo, utah area.
then we just hung out all night and went walking around a park up the canyon. super romantic and fun.


look at how cool our water glasses were...

i love you aaron, thank you for a wonderful night!

xo

six months of marriage.

it's been six wonderful months that i've been married to aaron.
i've loved every minute of it.
i'm definitely learning a lot about marriage, aaron, & myself.
it's gone by suuuuper fast, i can't even believe it...
we've had so much fun being married! i'm so happy i met him.
he changed my whole world.

tonight we're going out to eat somewhere cute & maybe fancy...(fancy for college students)
i'm excited.
i love dates with aaron.
i love spending time with him, i don't think i'll ever get sick of him.
i love you forever aaron.
xo

(2.17.12)

"tomorrow is promised to no one".

i just wanted to write a quick little post because of recent events.
someone pretty special to my husband just passed away suddenly while visiting his family in idaho. aaron was very upset to hear of his passing. we still don't know how it happened.
then...
a family friend of my husband's family was on vacation in Jackson Hole when she woke up to a severe headache and pain in the back of her head. she went to the hospital, and eventually was pronounced brain dead after a seizure. this was all so very sudden. the family is in shock. we, along with aaron's dad, went to the hospital in salt lake, and they gave her a blessing. there were other members there to help. i could definitely feel the spirit.
today doctors have just said that they are pretty sure she isn't going to make it, but the family is waiting to see if anything changes. she is on life support right now.

in summary...
live life to the fullest.
tell your loved ones that you love them.
tomorrow may not come, so make a difference today.
i love you all very much (family & friends)
be safe.

three yummy foods (that may or may not be healthy).

hi guys!

i'm on campus right now enjoying some lunch. i wanted to share with you what i'm eating 

because i got super excited about it.

i've always loved grilled ham and cheese! yum yum

another fun fact is that my two favorite sides at a bbq are frog eye salad and pasta salad.

so, naturally since they were all available today i had to get them.

for the frog's eye salad, copy and paste this link to find the recipe:

 http://petitelefant.com/quick-and-easy-recipe-for-frog-eye-salad/

xoxo

enjoy!

first day of work and a bridal shower.

(this post was written August 10th but accidentally saved as a draft until i published it. you're welcome!)
gah. i have a headache from getting up so early this morning.
my shift today went from 4:30-7:30 but i stayed an extra 3 hours for some extra cash.
my legs kill.
i know i'll get used to this but it may be a little hard at first. i literally got two hours of sleep last night.
i've got to get to bed earlier. what am i thinking?

but anyways, last night was my cute friend hailey harlan's bridal shower.
it was hosted by my other friend and her mom...they did such a cute job.

i am getting ideas for decorations for hailey's bachelorette party....which i'm hosting ;)
when hailey told her story of how she met her fiance and how he proposed, she teared up. it reminded me of exactly how i feel. what her and glen have is so real. she is so lucky and i'm so happy for her.
i'm so excited to be a part of the wedding party too. her day will be special, and i'm glad i can see her be married.
my wedding day went by sooo fast, so hailey, if you're reading this...take it all in babe.

til next time.
xoxo

my life according to pictures.

hi everyone!
here are a few pictures showing what's been going on in my life lately.
xoxo

 ate at Norma Jeane's Diner...yum.

 aaron at track practice :)

 long boarding the canyon with aaron's friends

 KC with her new contacts in

 the boys at applebee's karaoke night

 gun range for fun

 hailey harlan's darling bridal shower

 (angelique, hailey, and I)

shaved ice with aaron after swimming

 lime & tigers blood

 two old ladies at sonic happy hour

 my thoughtful husband leaving me some brownies

just me waiting for aaron to be done with track practice for the day

with a yummy gourmet blueberry sucker

how ironic.

hello lovelies,

i have to admit something.

after all my ranting and raving on my last post about not getting a job... literally right after i posted it, a man calls me about a job working for byu. how ironic. and weird.

at last i have a job.

aaron and i are both extremely happy that we both now have jobs.
and i'd like to apologize for my super long post yesterday...sorry you had to read that. haha
i start tomorrow! wish me luck.
oh and it's a job doing custodial work at 4:30 am (kill me). but i gotta take what i can get i guess!

this is what i'm eating while i write this post. i love eggos. nom nom.

 

xoxo

thoughts.

hello everyone,
today's post is just on my thoughts this morning.

congrats to my darling husband for getting a job! i'm super happy for him and us.
except... i still don't have a job yet. it's really quite frustrating and depressing when no one wants to hire you. i made the mistake of not applying for jobs when i was younger to build my resume. i had no reason to work...my parents took care of my expenses. i have mixed feelings about that. it was super nice to just have fun and go to school without worrying about a job, but at the same time i needed that experience. i didn't know it'd be so hard. like i said before in another post, i don't look good on paper...but if they'd just interview me i know they'd be more likely to hire me.
my kids will work when they're in high school and the summer before college because it's important for employers to see you've had some experience. and you need money starting out on your own.
i was once hired at Forever 21 because of connections...it was just a seasonal position but i quit after 2 days. my first day there was so long and boring and everyone was super mean. no one told me anything. no one trained me. they just put me by the sale rack and said "go." i kept receiving dirty looks from the other girls, and so during my break i went to the food court and cried. i couldn't handle it. maybe if i had had some other experience in retail i could have handled it better. i don't know. i wish i had stuck it out.
another thing i do is give up too easily. aaron always tells me not to give up and just fight for things. i definitely need to work on that.
i've applied for multiple jobs that i have not gotten...and still in the process of applying and waiting to hear from employers. any day now. top 2 are: either the women's locker room attendant at byu or working at the museum of art at byu. haha awesome jobs huh? i'm desperate.
wish me luck.
i wish i could work with aaron at byu, i think that'd be really fun. but i guess it's unprofessional.
i just want to show aaron (and everyone) that i'm a hard worker.

it sucks starting out when you're first married, but we feel really blessed to have moved into the basement at my mom's to save money.
no way could we afford kids any time soon, haha. not that we were planning on any time soon anyway.

my next post will be positive, i promise. love you all!
xoxo

50,101.

hello friends,
happy sunday! what a beautiful day it is.
church was wonderful, i swear we have some of the best teachers in our ward. they are spiritual giants, i feel so blessed to have moved back into my home ward.

anyways, the reason i have 50,101 for the title of this post is because that's how many texts my husband and i have sent to each other from the first day we met until now. aaron found this program online where you can look up your texts. so, we read over them from the very first day we met in the singles ward, after our first kiss, and many other significant moments in our relationship. it's been so fun, and reminds me of the best summer i ever had falling in love with him.
i love you forever aaron
xoxo

 4th of july

after one of our dates, aaron and i put on matching fake tattoos. aaron's face is classic. ;)

my orange polka-dot hearts shirt.

this is what i'm wearing today!

when i found this shirt shopping i immediately thought that aaron would love it because it's bright. he loves bright clothing on me. but i'm also obsessed with polka-dots...so that was a double yes. the necklace is from forever ago...i think it was a gift, but definitely from Forever 21. both the shirt and necklace are from Forever 21.
My denim leggings are from H&M, and they're super comfy. i bought them when i was in nyc. so glad there are now TWO in utah.
and last but not least, my awesome mother-in-law bought me the leopard flip flops i'm wearing from Old Navy. i love them!

just a quick look:

top 10 beauty picks.

hi everyone!

here are my 10 favorite beauty necessities:
(i have all of these in my bathroom right now)

1. Jergens Naturals Ultra Hydrating Lotion. Walmart $6
    Why I Love: doesn't irritate my skin after I shave my legs and it smells great!
2. Softsoap Juicy Pomegranate & Mango Infusions. Walmart $6
    Why I Love: makes my skin smell oh so yummy!
3. Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser. Walmart $9
    Why I Love: i've always struggled with getting zits, and this cleanser does wonders.
4. Aussie Aussome Volume Hairspray. Walmart $3
    Why I Love: i love my curls to be super voluminous and this stuff does the trick.
5. Biolage Volumatherapie Shampoo. Walgreens $20
    Why I Love: smells wonderful, oh and i love volume, duh.
6. Clean & Clear Morning Glow Moisturizer. Walmart $4
    Why I Love: this stuff wakes me up and makes my face feel fresh in the mornings.
7. Noir Tease by Victoria Secret. VS $25-45
    Why I Love: i'm obsessed with this scent, and it comes in lotions too.
8. Clinique Chubby Stick in super strawberry. Sephora $16
    Why I Love: this stuff is like tinted chapstick, it stays on, and it's a perfect tint for my skin tone.
9. The Holy City Salt Scrub. Charleston, SC $20
     Why I Love: this scrub is like magic in a jar. my husband and i happened upon it in our travels and we are both loving it. it makes my hands and feet soft like a baby's bottom. no joke. and i'm sorry but i think you can only get this in Charleston...i'll let you know if i hear differently.
10. True Blue Spa Super Rich Body Cream. Bath&Body Works $20
      Why I Love: this stuff is gooooood. smells awesome and keeps your skin from getting dried out. my husband and i use this after being out in the sun for a long time and our sunburns turn tan.

I HIGHLY recommend getting these items if you don't have them already. If you have any special beauty products you swear by, share 'em with me!
xoxo

a fun afternoon shooting.

today aaron and i went shooting with two of his buddies.
they invited us, and we gladly agreed because they have tons of guns.
i've only been shooting like 2-3 times in my life. aaron's been many times. therefore, i suck and he's pro.
he's also super sexy when he's shooting, and my mind automatically thinks of him defending me or saving my life. i love it.

we were shooting a glock 17, a bunch of .22's, an old rifle from like WWII, and a couple other rifles. sweet, i know.
hopefully i can get better because i want to impress aaron with my skills.
we're mostly training for the zombie apocalypse...and i definitely don't want to let him down when it happens. does anyone know where to find life-like zombie targets? ;)

yes i had to buy the pink ear protection. i'm a girl.

xoxo