shortest bucket list on the planet

so i just realized..

i have probably the shortest bucket list

of all the humans on the planet

i  have always only had 1 thing that i have been dying to do sense i was a little girl

swim with dolphins

i loooove dolphins and every time my mom took me to

Sea World

i would ask her if i could buy a ticket to swim with dolphins

she told me over and over

every year

maybe next year.

i still haven't stopped asking ;)

i have just now started to bug my brayden

about going

mark my words folks

it WILL HAPPEN

i may be an old lady with grey hear

and saggy skin when it does

but it will happen.

and that is the end of my bucket list

i am still building it..

i feel like a bucket list should be well thought out

today i found the #2 thing i want to add to my list :)

i want to build a doll house

for my (future) little girl

a BIG doll house

i want to pick out the carpet

and i want to buy it little furniture

and little groceries

and little mirrors..

and it will be the best doll house

that ever was :)

 my inspiration came from hobby lobby today while i was picking up

some supplies for my next project.

i literally got butterflies seeing this

it reminded me of when i was a little girl

up stairs at my grandma R's house

there was a doll house larger then life

i couldn't get over how soft the carpet was..

and that it was big enough to fit my favorite action figures/ barbies in

my cousin McCall and i would play with it for hours on end

and today

i have decided that is #2 on my bucket list of things i want to do in my life time

hopefully the list continues to grow..

i just wanted to tell someone about my vision today

thanks for always listenin guys

Lw<3

ps. i ALWAYS read everyones comments and can i just say i appreciate them so much

you guys are the best. thanks for all your love and support

<3 <3 <3

happy memorial weekend everyone!

here is a little giggle for everyone if you need it:

cant WAIT to have the cutest kids eveerrr with brayden

hahahahahahahahahahaha

hahahahah

ahah

ahah

ha

ew.

Cupcake Cuteness

so i am TERRIBLE at cooking

and i mean really bad

i have not gotten better

sense my last

"cooking disaster HERE"

BUT..

the good news is.. i found something i am actually pretty decent at

i mean brayden did give me

"adult supervision"

but i feel like i did pretty dang good

and its one of my favorite treats

right??

so for mothers day i got my mom a little book

with cupcake recipes

it was so dang cute i could hardly stand it

i had to buy one for myself

so i did

and decided the following Sunday i would be in charge of dessert

usually I'm not so good at this task

i usually wait for my mom to ask

and then i forget

until the night before

and just bring a dry cooking mix

where you just add oil

and egg...

and how lazy could you get??

so this Sunday i turned over a new leaf

i went through the book probably 100 times trying to decide

which flavor to pick to make! there were so many

and then

i found the one

Strawberry Shortcake

my two favorite desserts in ONE!

so i told brayden we were in charge of dessert!

and i tell ya..

shopping for homemade cupcake goods

is NOT easy

they ask for some weird things

i didn't realize it was going to be so

involved

we had to buy things like

pectin?

and

stabilizer?

yeah took us a LONG time to find that stuff

and we made the mistake of starting at 9:30 10:00..

but we got all the stuff

and baked those cupcakes until about 1 or 2 in the MORNING

but we had a good time

luckily i had this cupcake kit

to make sure they turned out cute!

my grandma r bought this for me a month or two ago

and i really have been dying to use it

it has little flags

and a booklet of how to make the perfect cupcakes

and mini cupcake cups!!!

oh man.. it was a dream to have! thank you grandma!

and thank you Nordstroms for selling such a randomly

cute item :)

anyway brayden was a huge help me made sure i didn't burn anything

and that everything got mixed properly

and that i new the difference between salt and sugar

and teaspoon and tablespoon

we are a good team!

what would i do with out him?



so funny thing

we had to buy a Vanilla Bean

not just

the extract the ACTUAL BEAN

i seriously could not get over how great i though that was

i have never actually used a bean to bake with

i literally could not wait to use it

what you had to do was cut it in half

and then scrap the black teeny tine seeds

(it looked like black goo)

but anyway it was awesome

and it smelled incredible

and it made little black vanilla specks in the the cupcakes

which for some reason just really made me

happy inside :D

i love vanilla..

and vanilla beans..

major vanilla crush.

finally the batter was in the cups and in the oven

and i tell ya i was like a 6 year old watching those cupcakes

i had the oven light on

and my face pressed against the window

i love watching things bake :)

and i wanted to make sure they didn't burn

and by some form of magic

i didn't burn a single one

and they came out perfect



and then my favorite part

filling them with the homemade strawberry jam we made

and frosting!!

i was so happy about how they turned out

above is how i decorated them

this is how brayden decorated his

which was way cooler..

but we would've run out of strawberries and it would've taken us 5 hours

haha

i love it

looks like a real pastry

but we kept it simple

and it made a great little Sunday dessert

mission accomplished

cant wait to try a few more flavors!!

Lw<3

My Best Friend aka.. the meanest mother in the world ;)

so this is my mom

her name is allison

she looks really sweet in this picture doesn't she?

well what  you don't know is that behind

those beautiful blue eyes

and perfect smile

is actually the meanest mother in the world

i tell ya she lives up to that reputation

this one time she grounded me because i put to much salt in her brownies..

i was trying to make them to be helpful and i guess..

i mustve gotten the sugar and salt mixed up?

she was very unhappy

she said all she wanted was a decent brownie

she wanted to know why that was so much to ask from her

in slaved children??

and i was grounded.

and slashed several times

i was allowed bread and water for dinner each night for a month

as the years past.. nothing changed

she made me to yard work every summer..

which included being yelled at for complaining to much

and working to slow

or not throwing the weeds the correct direction

she also made me clean my bathroom every Saturday

i mean..

ew?

just because i use it doesn't mean i should have to clean it..

OH and she had the nerve to tell me that after i was done eating dinner

i had to not only take my plate TO THE SINK

i had to rinse it off?

i mean what??

isn't that what the dish washer is for?

meanest

mother in

the whole

world

that's what she used to tell me growing up

and at sometimes i believed it

and at other times i was convinced that i wouldn't want anyone else to be my mom

because she was the best

this is a post just for my mom :)

my number one blog reader.

this post is my mothers day gift to her

(a little late i know)

to let her know after all these years of small disagreements over

curfew/boys/school/grades/boys/clothes/clean room/chores/boys/boys

how absolutely incredible i think she is

and how right she has been aaaall this time

first of all my mom never takes a holiday lightly

including st patty's day and valentines day

raise your hand if your mom gets you a little bag of goodies for

st patties day?

i don't know if most of you raised your hand but my mom goes ALL OUT

decorations and treats!

colored dinner!

amazing decorations..

and all those years of growing up i never really appreciated it

so now..

MOM I LOVE EVERYTHING YOU DO ON EVERY HOLIDAY

YOU SPOIL US ROTTEN AND I LOVE EVERY SECOND OF IT

THANK YOU

now vacations..

our family vacations are always so fun

we are kinda poor hehe

(no offence mom or dad)

so our trips were humble

but the most fun trips you could go on

we have driven in our sweet motor home from

Illinois

California

yellow stone

4 corners (epic fail haha but still made it)

mount Rushmore

all stuck in this little motor home together and my mom made sure

we were still having fun

she makes sure we stop at anything that might be interesting to see

we have seen stink pots

big giant tree's

a store that was in the side of a mountain

drove through a tree

driven through mountains

stood in 4 states at once

waterfall after waterfall

furn canyon

 and then when we hop back in the motor home

she has got turkey wraps with chips, grapes, carrots, and drinks

ready to go with out fail

i remember watching her heat up that gas stove in the motor home thinking

how does she do that?

that's not even worth it..

and then a gourmet meal appears out of nowhere that she has cooked up.

our little vacations in that motor home are the most memory filled trips we take

we all agree that those are our favorite trips as well because we just spend quality time

together..

my mom is also my best friend

planning my wedding was the most fun we have had together!

we had no fighting

no tears

no yelling

no slashes of the whip

it was fun and easy

the best part of the entire wedding planning was picking out my wedding dress

i really didn't want alot of people giving their opinions on what i wore

so i took the 3 people that meant the most to me

my little sister Carlie

my aunt Kallie

and my mom :)

we tried on dress after dress

and i really fell in love with an ivory lace dress

it was exactly what i thought i wanted

and then we went back to the store to try on a few other dresses and

my mother and i couldn't resist the urge to go see what was in the

Vera Wang section..

we both have a MAD crush on Vera..

and then we found this little ivory dress that had

the most beautiful fabric i had ever seen

and suddenly i forgot what lace even was..

and i decided

eh what the heck lets try it on

my mom and i both in the dressing room

giddy as little children to get this dress on me

got the dress on

and came out

my Aunt Kallie already approved i could see it all over her face that

i had picked a good one

oops!

so my mom had me walk around and twirl

and i was madly in love

and my mom just kept saying

oh lexie this one is fabulous

and then the dress lady came over and was showing us the back

and how it had a "petal back"

which means there are two separated pieces in the back over the bottom layer

which looks like two giant petals draped over the back

i loved this dress it overwhelmed me

and i put my hands over my face and started to cry

i loved it sooo much those petal things did me right in

and it had pockets!!

and little did i know there was my mom

doing the exact same thing!!

we were both crying like pathetic little girls!

and we joked for several minutes how we would make fun of the stupid girls

on Say Yes To The Dress

who would cry when the found "the one"

but i tell ya..

it gets you!

it was my favorite day of the entire wedding planning chaos

my mom is so brave

and caring

and loving

and creative

and talented

and beautiful

and funny

and crazy

and faithful

and kind

and outgoing

all the things i hope to be like when i grow up

thank you mom

for letting me be your daughter

heavenly father couldn't have chosen a better fit for me

i don't know if anyone else could put up with me

and Calvin

and Carlie

and carter

and dad

as well as you do.

we love you so much

more then all the yellow in the world!!

you are incredible

thank you thank you thank you

for all you do.

(and for letting me come hang out with you on my days off hehe)

you may be the meanest but you are the best!

"Most of all the other beautiful things in life come by twos and threes by dozens and hundreds. Plenty of roses, stars, sunsets, rainbows, brothers, and sisters, aunts and cousins, but only one mother in the whole world."
-- Kate Douglas Wiggin

love,

lexie lee

Lw<3

the terrible horrible no-good. very. BAD. day

the day was 5/8/2012

you know those days where

you just know its not your day

well i had one of those days

a few days ago

i really thought i ought to give up on life and

just watch the hills for the rest of my existence

and never ever get up and risk doing that day over

.......

so i woke up that morning and it was already off to rough start

woke up late

bad hair day

no clean clothes..

leaving late for work

but i was ok still i had this happen to me frequently just not all at the same time!

so i was a little off..

kissed brayden good bye

and got in the car..

and what do you know??

stupid gas light turns on

crap..

i had totally forgotten that i was out of gas

but i didn't have time to stop!!

i was already leaving late!

so i figured i would get as far as a could

my car usually makes it all the way to work with the gas light on

no problemo!

but i had just gotten back from the shop

and it was still making funny noises..

oh well

so i was off

i was only a few blocks away and my car was making

horrible noises..

so i decided i would go to the next gas station and fill up

and then i would pass one and be like its ok car

you can make it one more

and one more

and one more

hoping and would just make it to work

and then at the light i was sitting at

(which on a side note i did hit EVERY red light from Murray to sandy)

real treat.

i was sitting there and then all of a sudden

my car just died

i just shut off

its like it was scolding me telling me that if i don't stop

at the next gas station and get him some food

he would drive no further

finally..

i just pulled into a gas station

and by now i was pretty

ticked off..

i was now officially going to be late for work

so i pull in and get out of the car

debit card in hand

and how convenient for the P.O'd 21 year old

...

the gas pump i pulled into was

DIESEL ONLY

i couldn't believe my eyes..

so i get BACK in the car and back up and pull into a regular pump

fill up

and i guess my car was so empty when the think

"clicked off" (done)

it scared the CRAP outta me and the inside of my car was gurgling

i was so mad..

stupid pump nearly made me wet myself..

doesn't it know i am having a bad hair day

aaaand I'm late for work

so i kicked the stupid machine

and i was on my way to work

finally i pull just more livid then ever

and i saw a momma duck

and a baby duck waddle across the street

that lifted my spirits a bit.

and so as i parked i decided..

well

i am already late

might as well go look at the duckies :)

i like them

so i walk over and the mom duck is going

NUTSO!!

and i can hear coming from somewhere

a bunch of little baby ducks..

i noticed the mom only had 3 chickies with her

and i thought that was odd

so i looked down the storm drain and there were all 9 other baby ducks

they had slipped through the cracks and trapped themselves!

i panicked!! i was so concerned!

suddenly all my problems became small and all i could think about was

helping these little ducks get freee!!

so i am trying to call my friend michelle to come out and help me

save the ducklings

the mom duck waddled over to look down to check on them

and the other three little chicks waddle behind her

and then

plop

plop

plop

one by one the other three fell in right before my eyes

AAAHHH!!

so then i just book it to the work building to go get help

i am full on running

got michelle and david and we all ran back out to see what we could do

luckily other people who pulled in saw me freaking out

and a few yard guys came over and had their hands down the drain

pulling the little chicks out

one by one they all

stumbled over the curb and dashed back to their mom

i was videoing the whole thing

my day was really turning around

all 11 little chickies were saved :)

it was the funniest thing i ever saw

but don't let that fool you

my very bad day was not over

my phone just turned off..

just shut right off

and i wasn't able to get a single picture of this event

and was like..

oh right

its still my horrible rotten no good very bad day..

so i gave some random guy my number to text me the pictures he got

luckily he got some great pictures! :)

here are the little guys we rescued!

before:

 after:

the rescuers:

then i got back in side adrenalin still pumping

i was sweating like crazy from running and

freaking out over my stupid phone..

but i said well..

at least i got some good video footage :)

and then.. i looked at my phone..

the video was no where to be found..

just vanished..

and didn't save a single clip

i just sat there

stared at my phone and just about started to cry..

it was a very terrible horrible no-good very BAD day

somedays.. you just can't have it all

Lw<3

one lucky chick

ok so

as some of you may know

i love spin class

and i mean absolutely looove spin

i dont really like a lot of activities that involve

getting sweaty.. or moving around to much in general

i'm more of a stay at home craft.. sing.. make music

watch movies kinda gal

but.. then i was introduced to

the bike

my cousin austin and his friend hillary

are way into road biking

i couldnt afford a bike to be as cool as them

but i figured i could get warmed up by taking a spin class

i wasnt sure how i was going to like it

and then

i feel in love

and kept going to spin class for about a year

then i got married and havent had a lot of time to get back to it

because of working full time..

and going to school :(

so today i came home from work

and brayden wasnt in the driveway

i figured he mustve stopped at walmart or his parents

so i texted him and asked him where he was

he said:

"oh i had to stop by my parents be home in 15 min"

i didnt think much of it and mozied around the house waiting for him to come home

and then he called me while i was just sittin on the bed lookin at pinterest

and said:

"hey gary is here he needs you to move your car"

(this actually does happen regularly because Gary uncle johns dad drives the cars around in the garage so they dont die)

so i grabbed my keys and headed out

and then

i saw brayden riding around a cute little red bike

and i was like..

ok..

and then i got a better look at it and

couldnt believe my eyes

MY ROAD BIKE!!

i had been begging for one for months and months

and there it was

candy apple red just the way i wanted it

and her she is

oh so lovely

rode her around the block a few times

felt amazing being back on that seat again

:)

thank you brayden

you are my best friend

i love you a million and one

Lw<3

l.o.v.e

.:happily ever after:.

“...love...it ought to be at the center of all and everything we do in our own family, in our church callings, and our livelihood. Love is the healing balm that repairs rifts in personal and family relationships. It is the bond that unites families, communities and nations. love is the power that initiates friendship, tolerance, civility, and respect. It is the source that overcomes divisiveness and hate. Love is the fire that warms our lives with unparalleled joy and divine hope. Love should be our walk and our talk.”
― Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Easter Sunday= love for christ, easter eggs, pastels, candy

although the Easter bunny doesn't come to MY house anymore

Easter is still a really fun holiday to me

i love the colors

and the spirit you feel any Easter Sunday

today was really special because i got to hear my mom teach a lesson

in relief society

she invited me to come sing and be included in her

musical number

which i am all for anytime i get to sing with my mom

i feel super cool..

i get jealous the "Sisters" don't invite me to sing with THEM more often

i love singing with my mom

i like listening to our voices blend together as i try my hardest to sound as incredible as she does

but anyway

she taught an amazing lesson about Easter and the love of Christ

my favorite quote she said is

“Each of us will have our own fridays—those days when the universe itself seems shattered and the shards of our world lie littered about us in pieces. we will all experience those broken times when it seems we can never be put together again. we will all have our Fridays. but i testify to you in the name of the one who conquered death—sunday will come. in the darkness of our sorrow, Sunday will come. no matter our desperation, no matter our grief, Sunday will come. in this life or the next , Sunday will come. i testify to you that the resurrection is not a fable. we have the personal testimonies of those who saw him. thousands in the old and new worlds witnessed the risen savior. they felt the wounds in his hands, feet, and side. they shed tears of unrestrained joys they embraced him.”  

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin

Then we sang "Jesus Once Of Humble Birth"

to a beautiful slide show if Liz Swindle paintings

its fun to be able to share my testimony through song

i am terrible at giving talks

or voicing my testimony out loud

so when i sing with my mom

i feel pretty good about how i got my testimony across to others :)

the after church we headed over to my parents house to hang out for a bit before they left

(it was braydens family's Sunday so we were eating with them)

but we managed to get a few pictures :)

another thing i LOVE about Easter Sunday..

is getting to finally wear that Easter dress..

you bought it weeks ago and it has been staring you in the face for weeks..

its been a tradition sense before i can remember and i plan to keep it alive

forever..

i even got brayden to wear his light green shirt to match me!

My momma and dad

i actually got a little mad at her today for her outfit..

i didn't know she was going to be cuter then ME to sing

in front of everyone today ;) thanks a lot MOM!!

oh the love of my life..

so handsome in his pastel shirt

then we changed into some casual clothes and brayden watched the masters

(if you don't know what that its... it is a huge golfing tournament were all the pro's play to see who is the best...Olympics for golf pretty much)

he watched that and i did pinterest for a while..

and then took a nap with Indy my puppy

braydens parents don't eat till about 5:30 so we were just hanging at my parents house for a bit

till it was time to meet his family at his parents house

finally 5:30 rolled around

and we headed over

had a delish meal!!

(Thanks to Kelly as always Sunday dinner is the BEST)

and then it was Easter egg hunting time

oh boy..

i have always sucked at Easter egg hunts.

i don't have a good eye

i don't observe things around me..

but i can proudly say i found more eggs then brayden ;)

oh yeah

annettes Easter baskets were pretty great

candy candy..

and more CANDY

and all my favorites..

:) then she shared a little message about Christ and we just kind of hung out..

ate candy and then

me and the sister-in-laws somehow started looking at bathing suits?

we are all in the market for cute new ones to take to the lake trips this summer.

then we traveled back to my parents house

and my mom had a little message about Christ for us too

we talked about how incredible it is that we are all sealed together for eternity

and that thanks to our amazing Savior Jesus Christ

we will be resurrected just like him and be with our families

it made me think about my first time going through the temple

before i got married

and how being there with my family and braydens family

strengthened my testimony of Christ

because it was a sneak peak into how entering heaven will be

with your mom and dad there ready to give you a welcome home hug

and being able to go there with brayden hand in hand

it makes me want to continue to stay worthy to enter the kingdom of heaven with my family

i want to work as hard as my parents have to return to live with Heavenly Father

then we had family prayer together

and i thought my spiritual cup could overflow at any moment

what a great way to get back into another week

i had an incredible weekend.

so a little side note here that doesn't really have anything to do with Easter

but brayden and i got our tax return

and so he gave me an allowance that i could spend on new summer clothes

(which i was in desperate need of..)

i follow a fashion blog that is absolutely adorable

i am obsessed with her style and have decided to try and adopt little things from hers to mine!

but the problem was..

everything on her blog was from J.Crew..

i hate that store so much

painfully cute things

that if i had a bazillion dollars to just blow on clothes i would buy one of everything in that store

it is incredible

unfortunately.. i am a starving college student and don't have that kind of budget.

i almost want to ask her how the heck she buys all those clothes..

we're practically the same age..

anyway i wanted to do a quick blog post about a few things i found around

that looked very similar (but with a little more me) like what she has..

but for about 1/3 of the cost

(i don't want a fashion blog.. so this wont be very frequent in my posts i just got really tired of seeing girls spend a trillion dollars on getting "the look" when it is not necessary)

first of all thank the heavens for H&M if you have not been there..

give it a try.

here is adorable outfit that i cannot afford

click me!

in her description you can see all the crazy expensive clothes she rocks!

but for us less unfortunate we have to keep looking around

here is my outfit that i am really pretty proud of :)

its a little bit of here style but i added my own little twist to it

with different colors and less.. chunky jewelry to weigh me down

never been a GIANT accessory kinda gal

pink collar shirt: H&M under $20

Tank: Nordstroms under $50

Pants: Maceys under $50

Shoes: Target under $20

Necklace and earrings: (SET) under $10

lipstick: Bareminerals 'cupcake' free little sample :)

so what i have been doing lately is a pick a top 5 must haves

and go shopping for those. go in with a game plan or you will buy a bunch of random stuff

that will probably never get worn

if you are on a tight budget like me pick a few of your most favorite things you have seen on blogs or pineterest and go to H&M...TARGET...FOREVER21..OLDNAVY...ECT

(affordable stores)

and find something as similar as you can get

don't even set foot in the store that is over your budget because i promise you will fall in love with that

$88.00 collard shirt..

and there goes your entire budget on one shirt

i do think that is ok EVERY ONCE in a while

(i love designer clothes don't get me wrong)

but then you'll never realize if you would've just looked around the corner

there was the same shirt but cuter in another store for half the price..

i am no fashionista.. but i want to keep up with the trends ;)

i just don't want to go broke doing it

just sayin..

hope everyone had a really great Easter!

Lw<3