Michael Scott Loves Love.

To celebrate love and all things awesome, here are some examples of love from our fave show ever. #theoffice

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

And for all you singles today...stop being so crabby and eat some chocolate!

Fab-uary.

February is going to be super good, we can feel it.

Today is 2 years since Steffany got home from her mission, and at the end of the month it'll be a year for Jon. It's crazy how fast time flies. Seems like just yesterday we were dating for the first time and wanted to give up missions for marriage. Who knows where we'd be if that happened. We've definitely gone through hell and back together and we're stronger for it. Probably could have done without a lot of the hard stuff, but we live and learn. I also got to take my friend Kim through the Rexburg temple today for the first time which was so special. She's awesome and she's leaving for her mission in D.C. in April. She'll rock it.

Next weekend we get to go on an adventure to Boise and see Imagine Dragons and X Ambassadors in concert. We've both never been to Boise so we're pretty excited. It's a little 6 hour road trip and we get to spend the weekend there thanks to a great family friend letting us crash at her house. It should be AWESOME!

Then of course the weekend after is Valentine's Day! Our first one as a married couple, so obviously we're going out for sushi. Plus it's a 3 day weekend with no school or work on Monday so it can't get much better.

The whole work and school crazy has gotten a lot easier and things are looking up for 2014. Jon has created a new business for his class, and "Sexy Rexy Cakebites" is a huge hit! They sell out every time they sell and they're delicious!! We can't say we're eating super healthy like we'd planned, or exercising everyday, but we're trying!! It's all about the effort. Life gets busy! But overall we're happy and healthy and life is good.

Enjoy FABUARY!

The Stories We'll Tell Our Kids.

Every young, married couple goes through this. The time when you're pinching pennies and eating 88 cent bread from Wal Mart. Yep, that's us this week. (Makes for some great PB&J.)

Wife is not starting classes again until April, so she's working 2 jobs. One is counting as an internship so that's cool. Even with the hard work, the money is tight and she gets stressed some days since the break doesn't come til the weekend. Husband is going to school this semester and will soon be taking 15 credits every semester so we can both graduate together DECEMBER 2015. It's so close we can taste it. He's majoring in Business Management and loving it, but it's definitely a lot of work.

Through all the money stress and the adventure plans and the late nights, we know these are the stories that we'll tell our kids and they will end up being some of the most important moments of our lives. Our love grows stronger everyday when we work together as a team. We serve each other through our exhaustion and make each other laugh and remind each other that it'll be ok. It's great knowing you can take on the big challenges of life with your spouse, who just happens to be your best friend. We are grateful for these tough times. They bring us together and make us realize just how lucky we are.

"With everything that has happened to you, you can either feel sorry for yourself or treat what has happened as a gift. Everything is either an opportunity to grow or an obstacle to keep you from growing. You get to choose.” – Dr. Wayne W Dyer

Do I Look Like Michael Phelps?

This is purely a Steffany rant. You've been warned.

Husband and I have found a new love. Our on-campus swimming pool. It's always almost empty, it's great exercise, and I'm facing a fear that I didn't even realize I had.

Back story...ever since I was little I had to have little microscopic tubes put in my ears and it made me not be able to swim underwater without wearing ear plugs and a cap. I would have looked like an awesome swimmer, except I was too young to decide what cap I wore (or care) so my mom thought a rainbow one would be appropriate. (I just laugh when I see those photos. Really mom? Rainbow?)

Anyway even with this problem I was still a fish. I remember even jumping off the highest diving board at the public pool during summer day care and everyone thinking I was awesome. Rainbow cap and all. But somewhere along the way I must have had a dream I drowned or something ridiculous because I became super scared of the deep end, going underwater, and jumping off the diving board.

BUT thanks to my awesome husband, I'm loving swimming again! Tonight was our second time this week going to the pool and it pumped me up to get good at swimming. I went under, jumped off the diving board (after a little encouragement from Jon and the lifeguard) and swam laps the real swimmer way! No more doggy paddle for me, I'm pretty much Michael Phelps.

I'm just waiting for Subway to ask me to be in their commercials.

Yay for swimming and awesome husbands!

-Steff

Nike Training Club!

Our 2014 of healthy, hot bods is underway and we have been doing pretty good. We've avoided sweets and cooked healthy meals at home and it's been great! Yesterday was date night so we gave ourselves a little cheat day with some Blisters BBQ (so delicious) so we woke up this morning and worked it out!

Jon has this app on his phone called Nike Training Club, which we discovered is app for women's training but we'd like to see any dude try to do it without breaking a sweat. It has some super tough workouts and we're loving it. It's something good to do at home since it's cold and snowy and no one really likes going to the gym.

We're just excited to be healthy after a Christmas of binge eating which we all are guilty of. Plus someday when we have kids, (like 10 years from now as Jon would say...) we want to teach them good eating habits and healthy lifestyles so we have to live it ourselves first! Doesn't mean we won't enjoy an occasional treat in moderation! :)

Get up, get out, and get some!

A Healthier 2014.

This weekend was not such a fun one! Wife got sick with some crazy stomach thing on Saturday and Husband spent all day taking care of her. With a short trip to the hospital and a seemingly unnecessary painful shot to the hip muscle (hurt so bad!), today is looking much better.

Work and school starts Monday (tomorrow)! It's exciting, especially because we decided last minute that Jon should go to school instead of work. It all fell into place once again and it'll be another great semester of adventures!

Something we're trying to do this year is eat REAL FOOD, exercise regularly, and do lots of physical fun sport activities together to lose some weight and get in shape. The day Steff got sick was the day we got home after eating mostly junk over the holidays, so it was a big wake up call for us. We're looking forward to cutting out fast food and soda and as much of the processed crap as we can. It's not even hard!

We started off with REAL cookies, because what better way to start a healthy diet than with sweets?! :) They were made with sweet potatoes and although they weren't as sweet as your normal cookie, they were really, really good!!! It's all about alternatives.

We hope you might jump on the real food 2014 bandwagon with us and enjoy a great, healthy year! We're no experts, but we'll let you know what we're doing and how it's going for us!

Hooray for new beginnings!

2014 & Resolutions.

It's TWO THOUSAND FOURTEEN! What the heck??? Where has time gone!?!? This is one of the oldest pictures we have of us, and it's amazing to think how far we've come together and individually. 

New Year's Day is usually when everyone starts getting ready for a brand new year of losing that extra 5 pounds or more, giving up soda, and trying to be more positive. Even though we are doing those things too, a big focus for us is to have adventures and make memories that will last forever. 

We're stoked for what 2014 has in store.

We just hope it's not too much more of Miley twerking.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We Did It!

We've survived the most intense and crazy semester of our lives. It's been such a whirlwind of stress and fun and random cold, snowy days. But now we have a semester off with only work to worry about which we plan on enjoying to the fullest!

A few things that have helped us survive this last week of school:

• Prayers. Heavenly Father really helps out.
• Watching The Office from start to finish. (During homework, at 1am, with breakfast...) We're on the very last season and it hasn't even been a week. Thanks Michael Scott and friends.
• Oreos & milk for breakfast.
• Christmas lights. Something about the ambiance of our living room with the tree and lights made it much nicer.
• Trying to be positive. Sounds easier than it is!
• Letting the house be messy. Sometimes that's just how it needs to be for a little bit. 
• Lots of love and support. We try to support each other and encourage each other to keep going. That helps a lot.
• Anchorman 2. Perfect stupid laughs to de-stress. (Bats are the chicken of the cave.)

Now we are most excited to go home to California for some 70 degree sunshine and Christmas with family. We leave tomorrow!! 

Hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and New Years!

The Little Engine That Could.

It's so hard to focus on the joy of going home to California for Christmas where there's warmth and family and In N Out when finals and end-of-semester nightmare assignments are raining over our heads like a black cloud. We are so fried that it's hard to even wake up knowing that your entire day is going to be insanely busy.

But of course there is ALWAYS time to blog.

It is warming up from the negatives and single digits here in Rexburg to some 30 degree weather which feels like summer in comparison. That's a positive note to the stress. Also we're seeing the second Hobbit movie at midnight tonight which should be really fun and a little bit of relaxation.

We really like midnight showings.

We're grateful we have the opportunity to go to a great school and be able to have awesome jobs and tons of blessings. Lucky for us, college doesn't last forever and finals week does end and life goes on. So don't consider this post a complaint. It's more our own self-discoveries to see that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

One more week. I think I can...I think I can...I think I can...

We Like to Party.

Last night we had our FIRST EVER Faldmo Christmas Party in our little basement and it was a total success! Candy Cane Spoons, Wrap-Off, egg nog, and lots of yummy treats! Our friends Steven & Blythe ended up bringing an entire medicine cabinet as their white elephant gift, and we gotta say, that's a first! It was totally fun and we couldn't ask for more fun people around us as we finish off our first holiday season as a married couple. Rexburg is definitely a frozen tundra, but it helps being around cool people!! (Pun definitely intended.) We loved hosting a party and we hope to do it more! Valentine's Day? :)

Happy Christmastime!

We're very proud of our homemade ugly sweaters.

  Stephen & Blythe

 Beth & Tom

 Shawn & Bethany

 Brett & Gidianny

 Jared, Lydia, & Heather

Lydia was very concerned about the intensity of the wrap-off.

 Julio & Ali

(I had to creepily steal this off Ali's Facebook because I deleted all the pictures

off my camera card in my OCD before I realized I forgot to save theirs...

but this is totes cute!)

Veggie Week!

This week we embarked on a journey to be "weekday vegetarians" where you eat like a vegetarian during the week and on weekends it's free game. We wanted to incorporate healthier meals with veggies into our diet and less meat, trying to follow the Word of Wisdom which is a Mormon thing that "encourages us to eat plenty of the fruits and vegetables that are in season, plenty of grains and a moderate amount of meat." mormon.org/beliefs/commandments (Also no drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc. But we're good on that end.)

Lucky for us, we created a few delicious meals and snacks from scratch and it was really fun! Definitely got us thinking more creatively. Except yesterday Steff was feeling sick and down, so we gave up and split a Costa Vida Sweet Pork Burrito and were in heaven. Then today we ordered pizza. Can't say we're not disappointed that our inner fat kids won this round, but we'll keep trying to eat less meat, more veggies and fruit, and healthy stuff! We at least like eating it which is more than a lot of people!

And tomorrow we're throwing the first ever Faldmo Christmas Party and it's going to be RAD!! We'll be sure to take pictures and blog all about it. We have some sweet games and prizes and sweaters and other awesome stuff! Our tiny basement is going to be filled with crazy Mormons drunk on non-alcoholic eggnog and sugar.

Anyway you should all try veggie week! It helps you realize you don't have to eat meat so often. We are going to try again soon. AND here's a few of the yummy things we had this week...

 Mashed sweet potatoes are one of our favorite healthy treats/side dishes!

Homemade whole wheat pizza crust with pesto, tomatoes, mozzarella, a little cheddar, and red onion! YUM! 

Tomato soup and mozzarella grilled cheese.

Homemade granola bars with cranberries, pecans, and honey! MMM good!

The Best Turkey You Ever Had.

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did, with TONS of food and the best dang turkey ever! Definitely the best part is the second and third turkey dinners after the initial holiday feast.

Ours was spent in Utah with family. Jon's parents even came up from California so it's always good to see them! There was so much extended family that we had our dinner in a dance studio! That was a first. Instead of a post-dinner nap, we went and saw the new Disney flick Frozen afterwards and that was SO GOOD. Totally loved it, our new fave. 

Spent Friday overcoming our food coma and went and saw the Temple Square lights. That was pretty as always, and not too cold which is a plus! Of course we had to have In N Out and some Sweet Tooth Fairy Cakebites before we left to come home. We definitely ate way too much and had one too many sugar rushes, but we're determined to work it off before Christmas treats roll around.

All in all it was a good little getaway. Now it's back to the grind of the last 3 weeks of school. 

Heaven help us.

 Our post-dinner faces.

If you put your hand on your hip, it makes you look skinnier! (Photo fact.)

 We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Desmond and had plenty of treats and jokes to go around.

 The lights on Temple Square!

 In N Out and the tough, scruffy husband.

Saw some deer across the street when we visited Jon's aunt in the [beautiful] mountains of Bountiful. They weren't even scared of us. They were HUGE.

Hand-Me-Down Trees & Choco-Chip Cookies.

The time has come for us to put up CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS! We've had a few lights up in our living room, but our lovely aunt up here in Rexburg let us borrow a hand-me-down tree, so we stuck some lights and garland on it and we feel pretty dang festive! Also wrote "husband" and "wife" on some Wal-Mart stockings and hung em under the window. Some might say you HAVE TO wait until after Thanksgiving for decorations, but it's so late this year! Who wants to wait that long?!?!?! Not us.

Our house is also filled with the smell of fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! Because when you're home sick from church, it's the only remedy. That and naps.

We're heading down to Salt Lake for some family, Thanksgiving, and adventures this week, which are much needed because being in Rexburg too long makes you a little crazy. Then we'll be carpooling with friends down to California for Christmas and New Years which will be extra fantastic!! Warm, sunny Christmas! Don't be hatin!

Last night we saw Catching Fire and freakin it was amazing! Luckily we own the 3rd book so we're taking turns reading that. Jon has to read the first two still but how can you wait after seeing an epic movie like that! The next book series that will be turning into a movie soon that we must read is Divergent. Click the link; looks cool. We just bought the 1st  book so we're stoked!

Also our cat Boo has gotten a little insane lately biting us and being loco, but we think she just needs more play time. She's an indoor cat so if you don't tire her out she gets psycho. We're working on getting the laser pen out more since she loves it and runs around like a maniac. However, she refuses to do drugs because we bought her catnip and she's terrified of it. We love our drug-free feline.

That's it for us in our little basement. More to come after the holiday.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

-The Faldmos

The Newlywed Fifteen.

Couple post! 

Just so you can keep track...Steff & Jon

We know that there is such a thing as "Freshman Fifteen" when you go to college for the first time and gain 15 pounds. But we have also discovered the same thing happens as newlyweds! Not exactly 15 lbs yet...but getting close.

So here is the deal-e-o, this is most uncool. We are not going to have this become a newlywed twenty and then thirty. We are quick to react to this epidemic and have made the decision to make "life style changes" so we can change the current circumstances.

We aren't sticking to any particular diet trend, but instead going with the WOW (aka Word of Wisdom) slash trying to stay in shape via exercise! We're already sore from day 1 of our Pinterest workout (try it, it's intense) and plan on being healthy and happy starting now and continuing forever!!!!

The best part of this is not the blog we can write about, it's NINJA ULTIMA!!! Sounds pretty rad right? Well it is, for those of you that don't want to have to put a down payment on a blender this is the Blendtec's cheaper cousin. We just made our first delicious smoothies this morning and thanks to my 9 months of rigorous smoothie training at Jamba, they were amazing!

We aren't telling you all to become food Nazis...in fact we still enjoy the occasional cookie. (I love baking!!) But join us, especially you wedded lovers, on a journey to a healthy, long-lasting life!

-The FaldMOs

Date Night Hangover.

No, we did not get drunk. We just had an epic date night that forced us to sleep in until noon.

Thursday night was tons of fun. I came home to Jon sitting at the kitchen table with homemade burgers and sweet potato fries, and 80s love songs playing in the background. Perfect much? We even cracked open a bottle of Martinelli's and pretended we were the fanciest, most romantic couple around.

Then we had some pumpkin pie and made awesome shirts for the Thor 2 premiere! I'm grateful I have a husband who enjoys doing silly creative things with me.

To get pumped for the movie we went rock climbing which was way fun. It's definitely a tough exercise but it's super enjoyable. Which I don't say about many exercises...

Thor 2 was epic. I loved it. Seemed like it went pretty fast and there wasn't as much fighting as I thought there should be, (it was actually leaning more towards a comedy), but I loved it. Loki is the most enjoyable character of all the superhero movies! Seriously.

So now it's Saturday and we are having PANCAKES because it seemed like I craved em every Saturday so now it's just like a mini tradition.

Also, Jon just put together a bed frame that was broken and he assumed I was posting something on Facebook about how attractive he is working with tools...so now I'm posting it on our blog. What a stud.

HAPPY WEEKEND!

Steff

It's OUR Life Now!

Ever since getting married I've had this wandering thought of why the heck I am still blogging about myself and my life without letting my husband in on the action! After all, we're a team now. So with a little revamping, My Pink and Sparkly Life is now The Faldmos Happy Life!! We'll be updating individually and together and it'll be a really good read. So look forward to more interesting updates and always enjoyable stories of our life as The FALDMOS! 

-Steff

Novembray.

My Christmas lovin (and sass) began at an early age. 

Welcome to a new month! New holiday, new weather, and new warm clothes to break out!

It's November, also known as Novembray to people who like to change words around and make them cooler. It's the hipster in me.

I am still too excited for Christmas too early in the season, but it don't matter. I've got some lights up in the living room and the bedroom so the ambiance is already filling our house. I asked husband when I could put up our Christmas tree...he said after Thanksgiving when the normal people do. I'll keep working on him.

Currently we've enjoyed cooking meals together, watching Master Chef Junior and Shark Tank, spending at least one night a week laying in bed for hours talking and hanging out with no distractions, and this week we planned our future kids names. We wanted our first girl to be named Rosario after Jon's mission, but I was pretty frustrated after spending 30 minutes trying to figure out a kid name after my mission. Nothing to do with Temple Square worked out...oh well. Guess we could name one Homeless since there were plenty of bums around.

Life is good and I'm excited for Novembray! It's one month closer to Decembray which is CHRISTMAS!

-Steff