oh, ellen.

just as promised, here are my favorites from ellen this week:

1. jimmy kimmel's tribute for ellen's birthday:

2. "a fan painted this picture of me on a purse. i really hope there’s something wrong with her television.":

super sweet, but so very wrong.

3. and kristen bell's sloth meltdown:

if that doesn't make you laugh, i don't know what will.

so. freaking. funny.

enjoy!

-the wife





let's talk books.

i'm in need of a good book.
lately i've been reading the mortal instruments series and they're just not cuttin' it for me anymore.
they're a tad bit juvenile for my taste.
i grew up loving to read.
i think i read every franklin the turtle, junie b. jones, and ramona quimby book that ever existed.
those were the days.
i seem to be having a difficult time finding something i like now though.
what are some books you've read and loved? {that don't require a long attention span}

-the wife

the doctor's best kept secret.

zachary and i were talking the other day and we realized that we haven't been sick in a really long time.
like since our wedding day.
and i think i discovered why....

these are just a fraction of the number of times we've eaten frozen yogurt this year.
i know regular yogurt is good for you and helps in strengthening your immune system and while frozen yogurt might not be as good for you, i've read more than once that it helps to strengthen your immune system as well.
i guess i need to eat frozen yogurt every day now if i want to stay healthy.
poor me.

-the wife

p.s. blah blah blah vote for us blah blah blah.

top five friday.

#1 - surprise visits from our family! in the entire year we've been married, we haven't had a single visitor. i don't blame them really because we haven't exactly lived where anyone would want to come visit. zach's brother, derek, was in l.a. last week though {shooting a commercial with kym johnson and mark ballas from dancing with the stars. i know. awesome right?} and made a quick trip to santa maria on sunday. we took him to the private beach on base and played in the tide pools.

or at least what used to be tide pools. this was taken right after a big wave came in and engulfed derek and the rock he was standing on. good times. it was so fun seeing him and i can't wait to host more of our family in just a couple months!

#2 - my husband's cooking. i sure got lucky in the fact that zachary loves to cook and is actually really good at it. he can whip something up with no recipe whatsoever and it tastes like restaurant quality food. here's a big thank you to my father-in-law, val, for teaching him how to be such a good chef! 

#3 - the bachelor. i know, i know. i'm pathetic for being one of those girls that gets sucked into 'reality' tv shows, because let's be honest. we all know the majority of it is staged and the only reason they have girls like courtney robertson is purely for the drama, but so what. i like watching it. and this episode was particularly intriguing because it was filmed in my home state. holla! i honestly felt pretty proud watching it because holy. crap. utah is beautiful. i think that was the only good thing about this episode though. as much as i love the show, i'm getting kind of frustrated with ben because #1. he should not have given rachel a rose. it looked to me like they had no connection whatsoever and he shouldn't be giving out roses just to be nice and #2. he seems more and more shallow as time goes on. even if he doesn't see how much of a brat courtney is to the other girls, she still acts like she's 15. even when she's around him. if that doesn't turn him off, i don't know what does. not to mention she manipulates him like crazy! even my woman ellen agrees:

{for how much i talk about ellen, i think i'm going to just have a 'favorites from ellen' round-up every week. we'll do it on...oh i don't know...tuesdays? ok, tuesdays. yes, that just happened. tune in next week.}

#4 - this painting from pottery barn:

very pretty? yes. worth $103.20? heck to the no. i found a tutorial on pinterest for it though and thought i'd give it a go. now i know it looks pretty much nothing like the original except that there are lines and circles on both of them, but i was happy with how it turned out and it looks great hanging in our living room!

#5 - california weather. it's been a steady 70-75 degrees for the past few days and i am absolutely loving it! i'm not looking forward to the cold january we will have in cheyenne next year, so i am soaking up and enjoy the sun as much as i can right now. {which isn't very often considering i work 8 hours a day}

what are you loving this week?

-the wife

p.s. don't forget to vote for our picture, so we can win a two night stay in park city! it's the one where we're about to kiss under my veil. we are in third place right now and the person in first place has 33 votes more than us. your vote makes a difference, i promise! thank you mucho.

on my knees and begging.

ok peeps.
we need your help.
like hard core help.
see this picture?

it needs your vote, so that zachary and i can win a vacation to park city.
where can you vote, you ask?
right here.
when it loads, click on the 'get started now' link and then wait a few seconds for the pictures to appear.
then scroll down and find this picture and vote for it.
it's that simple!
tell everyone in your family and tell all your friends while you are at it.
please, please, please help us win!

sincerely,
zachary and sarah

my playlist.

i discovered yesterday that this is the most incredible song in the world to run to:

and so is this one:



that's all.

-the wife

top five friday.

#1 - monopoly. we played three games in one day this week. i grew up thinking that the game was over once all the properties were bought cause we didn't understand the whole mortgaging thing {nor did we care to}, so in my eyes monopoly has always been just a really boring, short-lived game that doesn't have a point. zachary taught me the official way to play last weekend though and it has turned me into a monopoly addict...and kind of a rude person. i hate losing.

#2 - saving money. i went to joanns last night, looking for some valentine's wreath inspiration. i didn't find any sadly, but what i did run into were some huge christmas sales. these 6 tins were originally $32.40 and i got them for a whopping $3.24.

there aren't many things that i love more than a good deal. especially when it's 90% off. i'm envisioning homemade caramels and peppermint bark in them for gifts next christmas. can't wait.

#3 - campfires on the beach:

i got off work early last weekend and when i came home, we made a spontaneous drive to grover beach for a weenie roast/date night. we wanted to watch a movie while we were at it and were seriously comtemplating going out and buying a laptop just so we could, but decided against it - smart move by us. it felt like we were in a movie the entire time we were there though. it was super romantic and really fun.

#4 - the temple. my testimony of temple attendance has grown tremendously in the last few months. not just because of the things we are taught in it, but because of the renewal of love i feel for zachary each time we go. it's like all the reasons i married him come rushing back and it makes me grateful for him more than ever before. it does my heart good to know that because of this wonderful place, i will be with zachary forever. not to mention it's also very beautiful.

#5 - junk food fridays. zachary and i made a few new years resolutions this year. we want to read our scriptures every day, save enough money to go to europe, run a mile for every day of the year, pay off a big chunk of debt, and the one that is proving to be the most trying: eat junk food only on fridays. it doesn't make it easy when you have this staring you in the face everyday:

but when friday finally does roll around, i can't tell you how satisfying it is to let loose and stuff my face with all things bad for me.

what are you loving this week?

-the wife

p.s. this has nothing to do with top five friday, but did you know that kirstie alley, the star of my favorite childhood movie, toothless,  is 61 years old?

61! that's older than my parents!

she looks no where near that old. 

oh the things i learn on ellen.

averetts 1.0

here it is.
the moment you've all been waiting for.
drum roll please...

a post on our anniversary trip! *crickets chirping*

my gut tells me that this will be one of those 'this-is-what-we-did' posts that none of you could care less about and that the only reason i'm writing it is for my kids and i to look back on 20 years from now and honestly...i'm okay with that.

after watching the bachelor last night and seeing them go all over san fran, i got really excited being able to pick out the places that we've been too. first of all, i was blown away at the fact that it was even time for us to celebrate a year of being married. it didn't feel like it had been that long at all, but we were happy we were able to go somewhere fun for it.

our first stop was to get something to eat because that's the best part about traveling - eating at cool places and not having to cook. i dunno about you guys, but zachary and i love the show diners, drive-ins, and dives on the food network. guy fieri is awesome. it just so happens that there are a dozen or more diners, drive-ins, and dives places right in san francisco, so we knew we had to eat at at least one of them. we chose rocco's cafe - best choice ever. it really was so good and the staff was super friendly! i definitely recommend it. {p.s. you'll have to excuse the terrible quality of pictures that you're about to see. we forgot our camera, so our phone cameras had to make do. they're kind of hit or miss.}

we then checked into the hilton hotel at union square. i don't really want to get into details about it because honestly, i'm still a little peeved about our stay there. not only did they give us two queen beds instead of a king and told us we'd have to pay an extra 40 bucks a night to upgrade, but the rooms weren't anything better than a best western. disappointing for an anniversary? you bet. luckily we weren't there much and it was right close to our bus stop and union square, so i guess that sort of made up for it.

when we go to big places like sf, we turn into real tourists. we strap on the backpacks, stop to marvel at how big the buildings are, and try to make sure we can see every famous landmark possible. one of the best decisions we made was to buy tickets for a hop-on hop-off bus tour. they put you on these double decker buses and go to every site possible in town.

{check out that person's face behind us. not quite sure if it's a chick or dude...}

once you get off, you can stay at that place for as long or little as you like. then you just jump back on one of the other buses that are circling every half hour. {hence the hop-on hop-off} we saw seriously everything there is to see in san francisco. we walked on the golden gate bridge:

checked out pier 39 and fisherman's wharf:

walked around chinatown {which really did feel like china}:

visited alcatraz island:

met zachary's hero, yoda:

saw the painted ladies:

rode the cable cars:

and we also went to ghirardelli square and union square. it was a blast. i think my favorite thing we did though was our dinner date on our actual anniversary. the reservations we made were for a place called forbes island restaurant. it was on this little island just off of pier 39 and the coolest thing about it was that the only way to get there was by boat.

after being dropped off, we then had to go downstairs to the eating area, which happened to be underwater. it made for a super romantic atmosphere.

then we topped off the night by drinking some bubbly {sparkling cider} and playing 12 days in europe. {funnest game ever.}

we've seen a lot of places on our travels, but i think san fran has been my very favorite. the city has so much personality and lots to do. have you ever been to sf?

-the wife

fun facts and a questionnaire.

i was tagged by my friend whitney zufelt for the "11 fun facts/questionnaire" powwow and i thought i'd play along. here are the rules:

1 - you must post the rules.

2 - post eleven fun facts about yourself on the blog post.

3 - answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create eleven new questions to ask the people you've tagged.

4 - tag eleven people and link them on your post

5 - let them know you've tagged them!

11 fun facts about me:
1 - i have 3 brothers and 2 sisters. i'm number 4 in the bunch.
2 - i am dying to go to europe. i wish it wasn't so dang expensive or that i could just win two tickets right here, right now. but, the good things in life are always worked for, so hopefully by the end of the year we will have enough money saved to make a trip there.
3 - i've broken my arm 4 times, my ankle once, and both collar bones. breaking bones runs in my family. at one point, I had a broken ankle, my brother had a broken arm and my other brother had a broken collar bone all at the same time. it's just what we do. thank goodness my parents had double insurance.
4 - i'm ridiculously terrified of drowning and flying. i get overly anxious going over long bridges or ones that are low-down, close to the water. i almost feel claustraphobic. weird, i know. and every time i fly, i am convinced that we are going to either fall out of the sky or the moment we land the plane will catch its edge and i will burn and die. put both the fear of drowning and the fear of flying together and you can imagine what it's like flying over the ocean - pure misery.
5 -  i had never worn flip flops until i was ten years old. one of my friends let me wear her's to the manti pageant. i felt really cool.
6 - my first job was as a lifeguard at our community swimming pool. i love love loved it. i had to quit after two years because i broke my collar bone and i never went back. i still regret that.
7-  i had a nightmare when i was little that my younger brother was a giant old lady that would lay in the middle of an intersection near my house. if you touched him {or her?} with your car when you went through the intersection, he would jump up and try to kill you. well i touched him when i went through and he started to chase me. right before he got me, i woke up. from that night on until i was at least 9, i was afraid to look out the window at night for fear that the giant old lady/man would be staring right back at me, ready to kill.
8 - i would rather be freezing cold than be even slightly warmer than is comfortable. i can't stand being too warm. i retain heat like none other and when i get hot my feet swell up like balloons. not fun.
9 - i don't have any wisdom teeth. i'm pretty sure i heard angels singing the day i found that out. i'll take lack of wisdom over pain any day.
10 - i still have every note that my best friend and i wrote to each other in middle school and high school. sometimes i go read them just for fun. gives me a good laugh every time.
11 - i can't eat pork. i know for a fact that it's all in my head and it's not even that i don't want to eat it, but all i can think about is the pig that it came from. it doesn't happen with cows or chickens, just pigs. i attribute it to a fieldtrip in kindergarten where we had to watch a bunch of hogs being slaughtered at our local grocery store. it was very scarring for a 5 year old.

questions from whitney:

who is your celebrity crush?
it used to be ryan reynolds hands down, but i have developed a new-found crush on hugh jackman. he just seems like a very classy man...and happens to be very attractive.

if you had to eat one food for a whole week what would it be?

if i wasn't worried about the calories and unhealthiness of the food, it would probably be pizza. preferably margherita pizza, but any kind would do really. if i am being calorie conscious, i'd have to say chipotle bean burritos. not burritos from the chipotle restaurant, but homemade bean burritos with chipotle actually in them. so good.

what's your favorite kind of pie?
coconut cream, no questions asked.

who did you see at your very first concert?
if you want to get technical, i'd say jericho road, but i don't really think that counts. so i will say brad paisley, dierks bentley and jimmy wayne. wasn't a big fan of dierks or brad before the show, but i went away loving both of them. i still don't care much for jimmy.

do you think the chicken or the egg came first?
the chicken. adam and eve didn't come to earth as babies. why would animals?

how do you eat your oreos?
if i have milk, i just dunk and eat. if i don't have milk, i will pull them apart, eat the frosted side and throw the other side away.

are you a cat person or a dog person?
both. if i really had to choose, i'd pick dogs, but i grew up with both, so i don't mind cats either.

what is the color of your favorite nail polish?
blush pink.

what was the last text you sent?
"what a lame-wad. that ticks me off. i'm sorry hun..." to my husband. someone was suppose to come look at our motorcycle and they bailed. all i want is to be able to sell the dang thing!

do you have any "made up" words or phrases you use in your family?

not really. zachary started calling me luftwaffe at some point last year as kind of a joke because he thought it sounded like something romantic. luftwaffe is the name of the german air force. it's now turned in to a term of endearment for us and has stuck pretty well.

if you could splurge on one fashion item what would it be?

jeans. a really nice pair of jeans. i have a hard time justifying spending more than 30 dollars on pants, but they seem to always wear out faster than the expensive ones. luckily i found some ones that i really like from the gap outlet that weren't too pricey, but i would love a pair or two that i absolutely love and don't feel guilty for buying.

my questions:

1. what is your favorite holiday and why?
2. if you had to pick between having hair all over your back that you couldn't shave or being bald and not being able to do anything about it, which would you pick?
3. what is your best memory of high school and why?
4. if you won the lottery, what would be the very first thing you would buy?

5. how old were you when you got your first real kiss? {12 and under doesn't count}

6. what is your biggest regret in life?

7. what's the nicest thing anyone has ever said to you?

8. what is something you are looking forward to?

9. if you could visit any country for free, which would it be?

10. if you could eat as much as you wanted of one food and you would never gain weight, what would it be?

11. in your eyes, what is the perfect date?

be sure to check out these lovely ladies' blogs to see what their answers are:

arika averett

meg clifford

kynslie giddens

chelsea montgomery

kaitlyn averett

rebecca scott

whitney cazier

amber ence

eleshia steinfelt

laurin wilson

brianna robinson

hope you're having a fabuloso monday!

-the wife

top five friday.

here are this week's top five favs:

#1. love notes. ever since i've known zachary, we've had an ongoing game where we hide love notes for each other and see how long it takes for the other person to find them. he's always been better at it than me and has made it months before i've found some of his notes. it's a pleasant surprise when one pops up. kinda makes my day actually. sometimes he doesn't actually hide them though and leaves them out in the open for me to find. he's really good at the i-want-to-cheer-you-up-because-you're-grumpy kind, but my favorites are the just-because kind. this week i woke up to one of those little beauties taped to our fridge and i'm pretty sure it left me smiling all day long.

#2. cereal. i may or may not have had cereal for 11 out of 14 meals this week. don't judge. you would think i was pregnant for how much i crave the dang stuff. {don't worry, i'm not.} it could be just the cravings or it could be the fact that i have no motivation to make up a grocery list and go shopping for real food. therefore we've lived on cereal and pancakes all week long. my conclusion is that you can never have enough breakfast foods.

#3. beautiful scenery on my run:

we are lucky to have a huge park right behind our house that we go running in every night and this is the view we get when doing so. it's even more breathtaking in person.

#4. this article from the most recent issue of the ensign. holy cow it's good. for any of you that are looking to strengthen your marriage, {cause let's be honest, no marriage is perfect} then this is one article that you have got to read. it was the focus for our family home evening lesson this week and it definitely gave us a lot to think about.

#5. my husband proving that he's really just a kid at heart. i was in the other room and noticed he was talking to himself. when i walked in i saw him playing with his remote control helicopter, acting out the parts of the pilot and co-pilot in a british accent. this video might not even be funny to you, but i couldn't stop laughing. maybe it's one of those things that you just had to witness to appreciate.

what are your favorite things this week?

-the wife

top five friday: new year's edition.

since it's a new year, i think it's only appropriate to share my top five things from 2011. here we go, in no particular order:

#1. we started our crazy adventure, which is taking on the air force life. we packed up and took the 1,856 mile trip to montgomery, al, only to pick up 6 weeks later and drive another 975 miles to del rio, tx. then, unexpectedly {and gratefully} we left 7 months later on a 1,395 mile trek to cali, where we are now waiting until the day we make the 1,280 mile drive to cheyenne, wy. whew. that was rough. looking at that, you may wonder why it made it to the top five list. it sounds hard and painful and sometimes it was, but at the same time, it has been so very rewarding. i've loved seeing the sights of this wonderful country, learning how to be a grown-up and do things for myself {mostly} and my very favorite part - meeting so many incredible people. seriously. we've made some friends that will be a part of our lives until the day we die, i'm sure. on top of all that, zachary and i have grown together more than i imagined possible in one year. yes, we have kind of been thrown into it, being away from family and such, but it really does a lot when you are all each other has to rely on. when you are the only person each other knows within a 1,000 mile radius. what a blessing in disguise it has actually been.

#2. we welcomed in a new member of our family. a member that is here to stay. {unlike the fish we got for christmas. or the puppy back in april. or the motorcycle. sheesh.} her name is stella.

you might laugh when i talk about a car being part of the family, but let's see you go shopping for one and then tell me how you feel. it has to click and you have to love it. i had the biggest butterflies when we drove her home for the first time. never mind that her tint job is bubbling up, causing her to look like a car straight from the hood. never mind that her night lights are very dim, making it hard to see what i'm doing. and never mind that she happens to be a manual and has embarrassed me many times as i've stalled her in the middle of an intersection. she's perfect and we adore her. i'm so glad we never have to live in one-car-purgatory again.

3. our many trips to utah. we went four times last year and each time it was incredible.

{alex and jodi's wedding - march}

{snow creams - july}

{the bestie's wedding - july}

{bryce canyon 5-mile run - august}

{temple square -november}

{black friday shopping with the sils - november}

#4. i got a job! my first job in over two years. there can be some serious down times:

but i am so so grateful for it. it really is a good job. i have prayed for this for months now, so i am grateful to have been so blessed. it's been a serious miracle. i like the people i work with and i love feeling all secretarial like. i can't even tell you how many times i've felt like pam from 'the office'.

#5. i know it wasn't 2011 when we got married, but come on. it was only 3 days before the new year! i feel like when something happens after the new year, then it's kind of old news, but trust me - my wedding is not old news. at least not to me anyway. someimes i will get on pinterest and see all the cute things that i couldn've done if only it had been around at the time. it bums me out and makes me resent the brides of 2012 that will all have perfect ideas. but then i realize that those perfect ideas will be done by more people that you can count and at least my wedding was an original design by me.

there's nothing like reliving the most perfect day of your life through pictures. it really was like a dream come true.

what are your favorite things from 2011?

-the wife