His love is Evergreen

These pictures are some of my favorite, for no particular reason other than the fact that they remind me of God's goodness in my life.

I don't like to complain, it's not in my nature to dwell on negatives or spend any time moping about the past. I move on quickly, for better or for worse. But last month was hard. December was painfully  discouraging, disgusting and equally depressing.

And yet, it was still so good.

On this particular day, this day of happy tree hunting on the 19th of December, I loaded up Jenn and James in the truck and pronounced it to be Christmas Tree day (with a side of Starbucks of course!) And they happily went along with it. They faithfully followed me up and down each aisle as I meticulously inspected every Douglas fur

This past month has been hard, yes. But through it I've been reminded (or even, made aware of) how many amazing people God has placed in my life. The "I know its one in the morning and I know you have a boyfriend but I needed to call you and make sure you're okay" kind of phone calls are ones you'll never forget. The random texts from online friends that are so simple but so meaningful. The friends who let you come over on Christmas eve, Christmas day and still invite you over the day after that, man what a lucky girl I am.

And so, I love these pictures. Because they remind me that I'm very well taken care of and that Christmas has less to do with tree's and traditions and more to do with the people you pick out tree's with and the people whose family traditions you invade.

You can take a Kryn camping.

My friends all doubted my camping abilities. Somehow the fact that I wear skirts and dresses 100% of the time clouded their judgement. You know, I did grow up in Montana and all. But no! Skirts trump childhood experiences. Would I be able to sleep in a tent? Swim in Alligator infested waters? Go without internet?!

YES!

Ironically enough, the father daughter camping trip did not involve my father. He was in Paris. I was in a canoe with one of my dearest friends. And it worked out well enough! (He was supporting my rather unhealthy shopping habits, I caching up on all the things I am oblivious too in our circles.)

 I've been friends with MaryHelen for a while now but we've actually never gotten a decent photo together! Thankfully thanks to our superior self timer skills we got quite a few this weekend. MaryHelen has a heart of gold and (and for God!) and I was so BLESSED to be able to be with her. I swear, she's a saint.

It's a long story....but I couln't remember canoeing before. MH was new too which meant our chances of tipping were much higher. But! We navigated alligator infested waters without getting any of our belongings wet, mild spider bites and no terrible sunburns (and feeding wild monkeys!) At one point we turned on some music and sang as we paddled (slowly) along. It was quite magical.

So can Kryn camp? The answer is HECK YES. Can she do it with a gold watch on? HECK YES. And sure,  I could have done without the tick or the chigger bites. But the tan I got? Makes it all worth it. (and the memories we made....those too ;))

#ktaem #freebiscuits #amichoking #whitedress #simmerdown #monkeys #fruitsaladgang #darlingiwillbelovingyoutill *insert random number here* #peoplefallasleepinmysteriousways #emergingfromthewomb

that last one was really awkward.

Let there be (cherry) blossoms

 

As if I could really take a trip to DC and only post one sentence, ha!

 

As we all know, last year we went to say hello to the Cherry Blossoms...only to find out that they are incredibly shy and decided to not show their faces to us. I still saw pretty blossoms, but not the official "tidal basin blossoms". And obviously, one can't rest until she sees that sight with her very own eyes.

 

Or, something along those lines.

 

So at midnight we decided we didn't want to do school the next day (who does, anyway!) and instead we spent our Monday in a much more enjoyable manner (basically sitting on an airplane for 6 hours with a quick pit stop in DC, but let's not get technical.)

 

▲▲ One thing you don't see on instagram is the outtakes, so here ya go! It was so incredibly windy....and I wore a dress. I don't think I need to say much more on that topic, but I will say that I felt bad for all the poor Mormon boys who saw me. (there were tons!) Honesty Hour, over and out.

 

 ▲▲ Remember those pink vibes I spoke of? I WAS FEELING THEM ON NEW LEVELS. You really can't find this much pink goodness anywhere else.

 

▲▲ This selfie is so bad that it isn't really worth mentioning, but here I am! Just thought I'd share the fact that I have no pride or self esteem anymore (apparently?) because I was walking on the side of a highway while sending snapchats. I should probably be embarrassed, but no.

 

▲▲ Let's ignore my awkward facial expression and instead give a shout out to my mother! It's taken a lot of yelling and arm waving and blurry photos, but we are getting there! Yay for a photographer in training.

 

 Thanks DC! It's been fun getting to know you!

 

(previous DC trip here, and last years blossoms HERE!)

Because it's March...

"It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold;

 when it is summer in the light and winter in the shade."

I don't know, sometimes you can only communicate through nature photos, ya feel me?

PS: I made a playlist and i was actually patting myself on the back because I RARELY listen to music! Anyway, you can listen to it here!

Palmy and Balmy

Lately I've been indulging in summery things such as sleeping in and doing nothing all day. What a rough life I live! Also not mentioned (but mentioned now) that I have not gotten dressed in 4 dismal days which is also slightly scary because that probably (not definitely) means I have not showered in 4 days either.

Which is only slightly disturbing, in my opinion. 


-Watching dumb and dumber, then using KJ's toothbrush. Ah ha! Isn't there a Bible verse about guarding what you watch??!

-having a 20 minute conversation with mom about eyebrows.

- getting my mouth stuck IN a Gatorade bottle. No, I'm not 3, although we all may wonder.

-You know what's sad? When your life is like a Miley Cyrus song.

-it's also sad when how many times I misspelled Miley. 18.....19.....20....

-that airports play classical music in the bathrooms. Why??

-stretching in the AIRPLANE bathroom, my head was practically down the toilet.

- running into publix and shouting "SARGENTO CHEESE IS ON SALE!!!!!" The baggers were all curious about my commotion. I was to busy grabbinghoarding all the cheese to notice.

- grabbing my towel after showering and finding it stained with pudding and blood. Apparently, I am a very messy eater and shaver. (clearly, this was more than 5 days ago.)


That being said, I think I will go get in the shower. Go as in bolt. Well, as quick as I can bolt, which is only slightly faster than a tortoise. But slow and steady wins, so we're all good.

Have a palmy and balmy weekend! Whether that involves sweaty high fives or palm trees I know not. Just make it palmy.

Be Cheery

Hey guys, I'm having a party over here, and you should come! WOOT WOOT! Don't worry, I've got enough juice boxes and cheese-it's to last a lifetime, so what are you waiting for!??!?

In other words,  thanks to all your help the other day, I am now able to upload photos. It's a pain, but whatever. The entire week I've been lamenting about this, so I guess it was about time to get my rear in gear and get it over with.

I'm good at doing that.
Uh, not.

Christmas Cheer has come to our home in the form of Christmas Tree's, lots of lights and the flu. How nice! For once, I'm not sick. (Ya hear that?!) but I'm sure I will be right on Christmas (when our bestest cousins come.) None of this has anything to do with the fact that I'm kind of a Grinch around Christmas...right?

Love,
Grinchity Grinch....
(dorkity dork)

Bokeh Madness

I finally figured out how to get a bokeh! I am so pleased with the result too.



I also figured out how to adjust the aperture - this is a day that will go down in history!

Maybe not. But still! I can always dream.

Red and Green

I thought we'd never get our tree. But we finally have it. And boy am I glad we didn't get a white one. There is something about a real tree. It smells like Christmas. It feels like Christmas. It just sort of is. Forget I said anything about not liking the smell of it because, it turns out that it's not true. I love the smell! I think we usually have gotten a Douglas fur which is much more pungent. But this is just a subtle, soft, whiffy, christmasy smell.



Since we have not decorated the tree yet, I was sort of messing around with some options. I made a few of these...But I can't decided if I like them and if they would work on the tree. Any thoughts or suggestions? I am *hoping* we can make our tree red and silver this year.

And, its tights time of year! This is a really weird angle on my legs, sorry. I am eying some plum tights now.

This was filled with red and green, aren't you proud?

Pom-Pom Garland

Pom Pom's always make me laugh. Because it was Pom-poms that made mom hate girl scouts and want to be a cub scout....

Moving on! I usually put up a sweet little tree in my room every year. However it is green. Not that I am anti tradition, but green is not my thing. I really wanted a white one. But since I
wasn't about to fork over the money, and one never fell out of the sky, I just decided to use the green normal, not my color tree and dress it up.

And that is just what I did.I made this sweet little garland with pom poms and bows. It makes my green tree look way cute.

First, the pom poms. I didn't know how to make these until a little while ago, so I will first show you how to make them and then the garland.Start by wrapping your embroidery floss (or thin yarn) around your pointer and middle finger. (These are small pom poms, if you want bigger ones, wrap it around another finger.)Wrap it around until you have about this much. If you want a bit fuller of a pom pom, wrap some more. Cut the string.

Now cut a piece of thread about 8 inches long. (Okay, you should have done this before.) This is sort of tricky. The thread needs to come through your 2 fingers. To get it through, I usually push it with scissors It really is the most effective way, even though it sounds sort of weird. If you don't want to use those, try a pen.

So it should look like this. Then pull it all the way through.
And now your thread should be in between both fingers.Slide it down and pull it so it wraps around the back of the wrapped thread.
Tie a knot. Make sure it is loose enough that you can slip it of your fingers....which is the next step.Once it is off your fingers, tie it in another knot. Then you will have a sweet little bow. I used a few bows on my garland, so for a few of these you could stop at this point.
To make your fluffy lovely pom pom, snip ALL the loops on each end of the bow/cornucopia/lookin' thing.Then trim the ends so it is even. Sort of flatten it before you do this, it will help make everything look a bit more even.
And then you should (hopefully) have a cute fluffy little pom pom!

Now for the garland. I'm not posting a step by step, Because I'm guessing you will figure out what I mean when I say "All I did was glue the pom poms onto string."

And here is the finished product looking lovely on my green/sort of my color tree.

Sad news

Here's the deal : we are still tree-less. I am Michael Buble-less.

Hopefully all that will change today.

And neither of those are really all that sad.


Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Here's what's coming...

Yeppers. Pink and Christmas. It is going to be so fun!