Back 2 School

Yep. It is that time again. Time for the books, the highlighters, the studying, the tests, the papers, the stress, and most important, the learning. I don't have a classic first day of school picture because Carson said it was cheesy and I couldn't take one of him, and then he had left for the day by the time I was ready, or I totally would have done it. Oh well. We both looked fabulous. Just trust me. Ha. 

Wondering what we are studying this semester?

On his quest for a manufacturing engineering degree, Carson's line up includes: 

Chemistry

Trigonometry

LDS Marriage and Family

Manufacturing Leadership

Material Removal

My line up:

Psychology of Human Development

Nutrition 

If some of you are thinking wait, Sam, didn't you just graduate...what are you doing back in school, I will explain. No, it is not because I am a nerd and I need school in my life and I thought these classes would be fun for my spare time. Even though I am a nerd, the real reason is that I am now applying for both PA school and the accelerated nursing program at the University of Utah (I know... I know...) for next fall. The only problem is I still have a few prerequisites for the nursing program. Hence, more school after graduation. 

Along with school we are both still working so we will definitely have a busy semester, but so far things have started off great. As tough as school is sometimes, I am excited to see what this semester will bring. 

From the Bookshelf

With school on a little break for a few months, I have revisited my love for reading. I started with this book.

I knew this book was really popular in the business world, I had heard it was life changing, and I read the teenage version (written by Stephen Covey's son) when I was in high school, so I decided to give this book a try. 

Verdict: I loved it. I know it is cliche to say that a book changed your life or something, but this book really did influence me and has changed me. This book is one of those that I plan on reading every summer or something because I know I can get so much more out of it. I know that if I apply the principles taught in this book I can live a fulfilling and successful life. This book is not just for business people (even though it has a lot of that in it) but it is for families and individuals. Anyone can apply the principles in it.

My recommendation...read this book. Open your mind to it and just try it. If you don't agree with the author, it will at least make you think. But maybe it will influence your life in the positive way it has influenced mine. 

Next on the list...

Stay tuned for what I thought (if you care...ha!)

Family Filled Summer

Okay, since I am behind on blogging and I wasn't very good at taking pictures this summer, I am combining all of the family events we had this summer into one super post. Sounds exciting huh? Oh, it will be. 

Carson's sister Emily and her five children spent the whole summer at Carson's parents house and it was a lot of fun to have them close. I didn't have any nieces or nephews before I got married so it is still fun to hear little voices calling me Aunt Sam. We spent most Sunday dinners with them and got together for special events like the Fourth of July. 

 Our nephew Andrew at the Fourth of July festivities. 

Big Carson and nephew little Carson cuddling on a Sunday afternoon.

A few weeks ago all of Carson's siblings and their families got together for the Forrest Flake family reunion. It was such a fun weekend - thanks to Dallan, Bethany, Jess, and Ryan for planning it! Photo credit for this section goes to Dallan (thanks!)

We started the weekend off with a hot dog/smores roast and games at Uncle Lawrence's. I told you this was a popular Flake Family activity. 

Flake Football.

 We went to a tumbling gym and had a blast jumping off all of the trampolines. Even my mother-in-law got in on the action.

The tumbling gym also had a rock climbing wall with a pit at the base so once you climbed to the top you just let yourself fall. I loved climbing up, but letting go was always scary - it was higher than it looked from the bottom!

Of course the boys (men?) took some time out for paintballing. This picture doesn't look white trash at all. Nope.

What summer pool party is complete without a little chicken fighting? Collin and Jess, I have to say that Carson and I won this one. Ha. 

 This little guy - my nephew Oliver - and I bonded big time that weekend. Sometimes it was hard to get him to leave my side, not that I minded at all because he is dang cute. 

Not all of our family fun this summer came from Carson's side. My family came to visit a few times as well. 

My sister Danica spent a weekend with us between EFY and volleyball camp at BYU. She asked me to teach her a skill and to help her make something for her future home (part of her young women personal progress) so I decided to share some of my recent sewing knowledge (the little of it that I have). We started simple and made a pillowcase and then went on to make a simple skirt. I hope Dani had as much fun staying with us as we did having her, even though she had to sleep on the couch all weekend. 

 Working hard. 

Showing off one of her finished products. 

The rest of my family came to visit as well, along with two of my aunts and their families. We tried out the new-ish water park in Draper, bowled at BYU, ate a lot of good food, and of course visited the BYU bookstore. 

Matthew - already a Cougar.

One of my favorite parts about summer is going on trips but since we are poor newlyweds we didn't really get to go anywhere this summer, so it was nice to have people come to us. We loved it. If you didn't come to visit...shame on you! Just kidding. We still love you. 

Being a "Projecter"

When I was little I loved coloring, painting, drawing, scrapbooking, cross stitching...just creating in general. I called them my projects and I was always busy working on at least one of them. When my mom asked what I wanted to be when I grew up I would always say a projecter. You know...someone who does projects...duh. And that is all I wanted to do. My mom thought it was funny and would encourage little me, knowing that eventually I would grow out of my projecter phase (little did she know that now, thanks to the internet, people can make a living by projecting...etsy for example)

Well...I grew up and my interests changed. I still like doing projects but I also found a love for science and the human body. This summer I  have finally had a break from school, so I tapped into my old projecter self and got some things done. I have many more projects in the back of my mind (I really should write them down) but this is what I have so far. 

My mother-in-law and some of my sisters-in-law gave me a sewing machine for my bridal shower. I have never really been into sewing, but I got together with Jess and we made skirts. My first official sewing project. I have to say I am really excited about how these turned out. Let me just brag a little and say this skirt has pockets and belt loops. Not too bad for a first sewing project if I do say so myself. 

Focus on the skirt, not my face. Thanks. 

Next on my sewing list was repurposing some fabric I had leftover from covering some bulletin boards. I wanted to make a microwaveable rice bag. That was easy enough. Just a rectangle. Then I got a little creative and made a rice bag in the shape of glasses. I stuck this one in the freezer and let me tell you, it is amazing for headaches or after getting home from a hot run. I love this little guy. 

Thanks to my mom I have a lot of wreaths and other decorations to hang on my door for a variety of holidays, but I didn't have anything for the Fourth of July. So, I got some fabric, some felt, and a glue gun and made these flowers.

I used my trusty glue gun to attach them on to a twig wreath, added a patriotic bow and presto - a Fourth of July wreath. I gave some extras to my sister and she made some really cute Fourth of July headbands.

My final project so far stems from my love of cooking. I love using fresh herbs in my recipes but I don't have the money to buy them fresh at the store, so I decided to grow some of my own. Now, this is just the beginning and I am planning to expand to all different types eventually.  I started these plants in a small pot that would always tip over when the wind blew and then Carson surprised me with a large homemade, sanded, sealed, and stained planter box. I love it. It has plenty of room for a lot of plants and it doesn't tip over in the wind!

So far I have a tomato plant (that desperately needs one of those circle stands so it will stop falling over), oregano, basil, and a cayenne pepper plant. I don't have any tomatoes or peppers yet but I love the herbs. I can't wait to plant more. 

I am also impressed with myself on this one. I was always the kid in elementary school whose stupid bean plant would never grow right, so the fact that I grew all of these plants out of seeds is impressive. I still have a lot to learn about gardening and I am definitely a novice, but I am learning. 

Unfortunately, back to school means not so much time for projecting, but I will try to squeeze some of my ideas in here and there, so stay tuned.

6 Months

So I though that I wouldn't have a problem keeping my blog updated over summer, but I was wrong. Very wrong. I'm sorry. I will try to be better. 

In June Carson and I celebrated our six month anniversary. We didn't make a huge deal out of it or anything, but we went out to dinner and then up to Uncle Lawrence's house to ride horses. It is always fun to spend summer nights up the canyon where it is nice and cool.

We went to dinner at Carson's favorite - Outback. When I asked him if we could take a picture I got a look of disgust. Yes, my husband hates taking pictures. Just take my word for it, we were there. 

We have had a few dates at Uncle Lawrence's place but I never get tired of going up there. We usually bring hot dogs and smores to roast in the fire and of course the rope swing and zip lines are fun. If that isn't enough there are also horses. Unfortunately I don't have a lot of pictures because we took most of them (including videos) on Carson's phone and they got deleted. grrr. Here is what we do have. 

 Carson on the rope swing. I don't think he was as scared as he looks. 

 The horses had some brand new colts that followed their moms around everywhere. All night Carson was trying to catch this one so we had to take a victory picture when he succeeded. 

It is funny to me to see grown men so infatuated with a baby horse. Kinda sweet actually. 

Even though it isn't well documented at all, we had a good time and are always thankful to Uncle Lawrence for letting us crash his yard.