Friends Come and Go.

And I'm so grateful when they come.
And to be honest, there have been times in my life when I've been glad to see them go.
But these two.
We were so lucky to have met them pretty quickly after moving to Oklahoma.
He was preparing to attend dental school at OU and Mike had just started law school at OU.
He is from Oklahoma, and it just so happens that she was originally from California but her parents had just moved to Utah.
Years later, we've settled in Utah, minutes from where her parents live.
He's just graduated from dental school and they are moving their way across the country to settle in Nevada.
Lucky for us, they are spending a few weeks here in Utah.
We love when they come to visit and can't wait to be able to come visit them in Nevada.
Todd and Karen, we just love you guys.
So proud of all you have accomplished.
Thanks for partying with us around the fire in the snow-capped mountains last night.
Lets do it again soon, eh?

If You Really Knew Me: {1st Edition}

You would know that I love to read. But I don't get to do it very often. Not too mention it usually puts me to sleep.

You would know that Diet Coke is a daily ritual for me. And you would know that I am ashamed of it.

You would know that my sole purpose of exercise is so that I can eat good food. Yes, the sole purpose.

You would know that I have an obsession with sweats. I can rarely make it the entire day in real clothes.

You would know that I was overweight in my early teenage years. It was an extremely difficult on me. My friends became insulting and rude and the summer before high school I lost all but one of my friends. Starting high school with no friends sucked.

You would know that I shy away from social situations. You would know that I never go to "girls night" and that if I am around friends, I prefer it to be just the two of us. I have not always been this way. But girls are too dramatic and it stresses me out.

You would know that I love to sing.

You would know that I would rather hang out with Mike than anyone in the world. Every.single.time.

What Today Is: {Friday! and FridayFreeForAll}

Well gosh. It's finally Friday. {10 points if your now singing "Finally Friday" by George Jones. If you're not, well you will be.}

I spent the entire day yesterday moving boxes out of our storage unit into my inlaws basement. Currently the story of my life.

Every part of my body is sore. I think I went up and down those stairs approximately 4,000 times. And only about a third of my storage unit is cleaned out. But we'll get there. Yes, we certainly will.

Between that and Grandma's and Grandpa's house at the beginning of the week,

lunch dates with dear friends,

....oh and Mike finally joining me in Utah.....I've been crazy busy.

Oh and this stupid sudoku that I'm determined to finish. It's gonna happen.

So now, as promised, I leave you with today's FridayFreeForAll.

Finally Friday

George Jones

What Annoys Me: {The KnowItAlls, otherwise known as Advice Givers}

I've kinda been on one lately. I don't know what it is that makes this attitude of mine come out. But here is a current thought of mine.

I do not like when people tell me things I already know or give me advice that I did not ask for.

Here are several true to life examples that have either been said to me, or said to others around me.

"Being married is seriously the best." -Usually said to someone currently engaged.
{Well thank you. Because of course, until you told me that, I figured I was getting into something that would make me depressed beyond all misery. Why do you think I'm getting married? I don't need a confirmation from you to tell me that being married is great. I know this. Which is why I am doing it. Not because you told me it was "seriously the best".}

"You will love being a mom." -Usually said to someone currently pregnant.
{"I was so worried! I thought I would hate it! But now that you have told me I will love it, I am sure I will." Why do you think that they chose to have this child? Because they knew they would hate being a parent? Doubt it, friends, doubt it.} {Not a pregnancy announcement, btw.}

"When you have more experience, you will understand." -This one is Mike's, coming straight from the mouths of Law professors.
{Obviously. We pay the Law school thousands and thousands of dollars so Mike can be taught that no matter how much they teach him, he won't understand anything until he gets experience. It's a good thing that little piece of paper called a diploma means so much, otherwise I would be worried we were just donating money instead of actually paying for an education.}

"You follow all the rules with the first, and then after that, all the rules go out the window." -This one is referencing children, whether talking about pregnancy or talking about actually raising the kids.
{Just because you decided to be perfect with the first child/pregnancy, and break all the rules with the second, does not mean that everyone does that. You are trying to make yourself feel better. Just stop it. If I want to eat all fruits and veggies while I'm pregnant with my first, I will. That may or may not mean that I will do it again with my second, third, etc. I will do what I choose. Don't tell me how "busy" I'll be. So busy that I can't try as hard with the second as I did with the first. That's a fools game. And you are full of excuses.}

Guys. I have like a million and one more of these. And just writing this post as got me all revved up.
And all I'm saying is, don't give people advice that they didn't ask for. And don't rub your experiences in other peoples faces. It's annoying. Stop.

{I have a similar post that I wrote like this right before we moved to Oklahoma. You can read it here.}

What Happened This Weekend: {Tornadoes}

I struggle to even write this post. As you can imagine. Our weekend, here in the Midwest, was eventful, to say the least. I've honestly never been so happy to see a Monday.

Luckily, we didn't see the worst of it where I am. And I continually pray for those in Woodward, OK and in Kansas and Iowa and Nebraska.

To even share my individual experience seems petty. Minuscule.

Friday afternoon I head out of work at 3:30, which is my normal quitting time. Mike calls to say that they let him out of work early because of the weather so he's going to stop on his way to fill up on gas, and then he'll be home. My drive home was easy, maybe a little more traffic than normal. The radio broadcasters played music and promised that if the weather got serious, they would switch to wall-to-wall tornado coverage. I got home and pulled my car in the garage, which I don't normally do. I came inside, hit the power button on the TV and went to open the blinds while simultaneously dialing my mom.

The TV blares.

"Tornado warning, there is a tornado on the ground!"

PANIC MODE.

Instead of calling my mom, I call Mike.

"Where are you?"
"There is a tornado coming."
"I can't believe you aren't here with me."
The tornado sirens go off.
"I can't believe I am here alone."
I turn up the TV and run to the closet and lay on the floor.
"I can't believe this."
"Where are you now?"

Mike simultaneously saying,
"Are you okay?"
"Where is the tornado?"
"Abby, you need to talk to me!"
"Traffic is at a standstill, I'm not going anywhere."
"Where is the tornado now?!"

All while I'm trying to listen to the TV to hear where the tornado is.

4 miles away.
3 miles away.

"I can't believe you aren't here with me!"

"Abby, you have to talk to me, where is the tornado now?"

The tornado hits 2 miles from our house.



{Tornado from our backyard, my neighbor took this picture...remember...I was laying on my closet floor}

Luckily, only an EF2.



If Mike hadn't of stopped for gas, its a high possibility that he would have been on the freeway at the same time the tornado was on the freeway.

We were definitely being looked out for.

I hate the Midwest.

When Mike got home, he was barely through the door before he had me in his arms. "I love you. You were so brave."
He has a way of making things better. Swoon.

We packed a bag. We had to be ready to get the heck out of here if we needed to. Fortunately, we never had to use the bag.



But the entire weekend, we were on edge. Family and friends called and texted.

Thank you for your love. We appreciated every single person that was looking out for us.

You know I used to consider Friday the 13th as lucky? My first date with Mike was on Friday the 13th.
I'm not so sure about the whole "lucky" part anymore.

27 days until I leave the Midwest. And heaven help me, I'm never coming back.

What We Decided: {Brad}

When we go to heaven, we're going to be best friend with Brad Paisley and his wife Kimberly.

Oh and Will and Kate.

Yes, its been decided.

Forgive the screaming and the shakiness. Mike and I were pretty excited about having Brad Paisley serenade us with his guitar.

What We Ate: {Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Brownie Bar}

OMG, you guys.

OMG.

I'm the designated baker at work. If there is something to celebrate, I bring a treat. That's just how we roll in the Accounting department. And most the time, if the celebration is for you, I let you pick the recipe! I'm so nice.

So it was my coworker, Tori's birthday...

This is the birthday girls picture. {I know, I look suuuper awkward...}

Anyway, this is what she wanted.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Brownie Bars.

Whoa.

I would say I did pretty good because the original recipe topped it with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup.

And as much as I'm trying to justify the fact that I've been munching on the leftovers all week, these really will put you in a sugar coma.

Be sure to have a large glass of milk handy.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Oreo Brownie Bars

The Stuff:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 cups chocolate chips

1 pkg Oreos

1 Brownie mix

The Doing:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well. Slowly incorporate flour, baking soda and salt to wet ingredients. Spread the cookie dough into the bottom of a greased 13x9 dish. Top with a layer of Oreos. Prepare Brownie batter according to the directions on the box. Pour Brownie batter over the top of the Oreos. Cover with foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 25 minutes. Mine were still pretty gooey so I lowered my temperature to 300 and baked for an additional 20 minutes.

{My 2 cents...I liked these better at room temperature than while still warm out of the oven.}

Will

Why do such awful things happen to the most wonderful people? And why do the great things happen to those who don't deserve it? My dear sweet friend gave birth to her twin boys on Monday morning at 23 weeks. She had an hour with Benson and Lincoln before they returned home to our Heavenly Father. She is so strong. I can't imagine what she is going through.

Haven't you always wondered why things like this happen? What is it that God is trying to teach us? In 5 years will we look back and understand why we had to go through so much turmoil, or will we always wonder, even when such trials have passed, why we had to experience such pain? I don't know why God does things the way he does. But I was once taught by an old friend, do not pray for things to go your way, pray that the Lord's will may also become your own, that you may better understand the things that occur in your life.

I have a good life. I have a wonderful husband, a nice home, a good job, and supportive family and friends. Things definitely don't always go my way. Some days it seems like things never go my way. But who is to say that my way is the right way. Maybe we all just need to get on our knees and ask our Father what it is that He wants us to do, be the instrument.