Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Fairy tales

Honestly, I think I have become addicted to blogging. It's like therapy for me, but a whole bunch cheaper :)
First here's some background info- Kim Martin was my Young Women leader all six years. When I was a beehive, she was a beehive leader. And she moved up with me every year I moved up. Crazy right? She's now one of my best friends; you can think that's weird if ya want too, but it's entirely true. Her daughter is 10 and I adore her. Rylie is almost like mini me in personality and life experiences. She's such a great girl and I know she's much stronger and better than I was at her age.

Tonight I took her out to take some school pictures and when we were back at her house, she showed me these fairy houses she and a friend made. Cute right? Little girls still believe in the magic of fairies and they are believers in fairy tales.
So am I. Well, mainly about the latter part. I firmly believe that each of our lives is a fairytale. It isn't devoid of heartache or misery, but it's about a journey for us to grow and become more than we think we can become. On this journey we find friends and most likely foes, but we can continue on with those we choose too.
There's also an author to our stories. We are the ones who ultimately make the decision, but I know that we have a Heavenly Father who has placed us in our "scenes" for a specific reason. I was born into the Fowler family for a reason.

I have the friends I have for a reason.
 
Lately I have reflected a lot on the choices I made that have gotten me to where I am. When graduating high school, I had a plan set for myself. I never really checked my plan with my Father. I just went on my way thinking I knew what was best, but I was wrong. Everything I had planned isn't going to happen, and I am so grateful for that. In President Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Happily Ever After" talk he states, "All you have to do is trust your Heavenly Father. Trust Him enough to follow His plan." That's what I did. I left my life in God's hands and He has led me to places I never knew I could go. I trusted Him with what housing to live in at college. That led me to meet Mr. Logan.
I just love this guy a whole bunch
I trusted Him in what major to choose. That has given me more strength in personal trials than I could have ever known. He knows better than I. He can see what's ahead of me and He knows what I've been through. I love that about Him. He pushes you to believe that He knows best. I love my Father and I love the fairytale He is helping me write. I can't wait to see where it takes me :)

Believe in your fairytale.
-M

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Crafty/Wifey Week 3

Yes, I'm still rocking this challenge! This week when I went to make dinner for Logan, we made Potato Chip Chicken and Red Potatoes (I forgot the green beans, oops! :) ) For the chicken you crunch up some potato chips, add some crushed red peppers, parsley, oregano, salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese! You dip your chicken in melted butter, coat it in your yummy mixture and throw it in the oven at 350 for an hour! Super good.

But that isn't all we did! My handsome man came across this recipe last week and wanted to try it, so we did!
http://iwastesomuchtime.com/on/?i=50506
The link is below the picture!

That's my boyfriend for you, finding lots of yummy recipes. OK, honest truth, it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be. The smores part was really yummy, BUT it was only in the middle of a HUGE cookie. I would have rather just had a plain cookie and a plain smore, but hey it was fun to try and I might even make them again someday! I used my family chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and put smores stuff in the middle. Here's a picture of one of them still on the pan.
Yes, the cookie was half the size of the cookie sheet.

Keep on craftin and "wifeying" on! :)

M

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Battle

Battle- noun. Webster's definition- an extended contest, struggle, or controversy

This past Sunday I went to a mission welcome home report and two down syndrome missionaries got up and bore their testimonies before the returning missionary. From one of the elder's testimony I wrote down the following:
"I won't give up. I'm a fighter and I will fight."
Here's someone who was given a struggle from the beginning of their life. But he will not let that deter him from what he is here to do; that's why he is serving a full-time mission.

I like to write poems. 
That's some personal information about me that I hardly ever share. But I want to share this one that I recently wrote about our battles from a Father/child relationship.

"The Battle Prayer"

Heavenly Father-
My dear child, it is time for you to go,
It’s now your turn to enter the battle field.
I cannot walk beside, but I am within you.
There will be struggles, mistakes, and grief,
But there is joy, growth, and glory on this road you are taking.

Not everyone will be fighting for the same cause as you,
They will tell you that you are wrong and they are right.
There will be those who try to change your mind.
They will mock, laugh, and hurt you,
But stay strong, little one.

There will be others that I will place in your path,
They will help you become the warrior I envision you to be.
Some will come and go as you continue on,
But there will be others who stay and fight beside you.
I have put them in your life for a purpose.

You will not be able to understand your complete mission all at once,
But day-by-day your understanding will increase.
This knowledge will give you aid in your battles ahead.
There will be days you do not win,
But rise again.

It may seem like the battle will never end,
But I give you this promise my child,
You will come home to me if you fight faithfully.
Stay close to me,
And I will fight with you when you are too weak to fight alone.

Child-
My dear Father, I’m on my knees again.
Please keep me safe in your arms this night.
Allow my strength to recover to fight another day.
This is not an easy time,
But I know happiness is ahead.

I’ve found some of the people you warned me about.
Their spirits have turned against your great plan,
They have chosen to hurt rather than help.
When given the choice, it wasn’t always easy
But I chose your path.

Your hand is always present.
Friends and allies have come into my life and given me strength.
I know that we will not all continue on together as our paths will only cross briefly,
But there are others who will stay beside me every step of this journey.
Thank you for allowing me to have them all in my life.

I have passed through the veil and cannot fully understand your ways,
I do not understand the value of a loss until it is past.
It is then that I can see the strength I gained.
I did not understand the value of rising again,
Until rising again was my only choice.

This battle will continue to wage every day.
Help me as I struggle,
Give me strength as I fumble.
I will fight this battle for you,
And I will come home to you Father.

-Michelle Fowler

Go fight your battles with faith and help others along the way!

Much love-
M

My new obsession

I give credit to this new "problem" to Pinterest and my sister-in-law Chelsea.
During the 7 week break, Chels was all about doing crafty and wifey things. 
She made jam, hung curtains, and on and on. I feel like every time I talked to her, she was doing something awesome!
This inspired me.
For those of you who have followed my blog for awhile, you know that last year around this time frame, I started my weekly challenges because of women's favorite website Pinterest.
Well, I am starting this again. I'm at week 3 already though and I haven't missed one yet! Go me :)
I'm kind of cheating to say I'm on week 3, because these are things that I'm counting because I did them in the past two weeks, but that's ok right?! Don't tell anyone, we'll let that be our secret.
So let's begin on my crafty/wifey challenges.

Week one- Girls day! My sisters, mom, and I had a craft day a couple Saturdays ago. I found a cute little wreath to make on Pinterest. There were wreaths, vases, blocks, and lots more being made. We had yummy snacks and The Father of the Bride to keep us entertained! 





 All the wreaths came from Pinterest! Here's a link to the grey ruffly one (mine) and the stick and yellow flowers (Carrie).

http://kellyhicksdesign.com/2011/04/diy-ruffle-wreath/
http://yellowmums.blogspot.com/2011/09/sunshine-wreath.html

Week two- I regret to say, there are no pictures for this one. BUT, you and everyone should make these. If you want to see what heaven tastes like, make these. I went up to Rexburg to make dinner for Mr. Logan and we made these Birthday Cake Pancakes. Pinterest once again was the lovely helper in finding this recipe! Here's a link! Trust me, you won't regret making these!

http://penniesonaplatter.com/2012/08/15/birthday-cake-pancakes/

Be watching for more of these crafty/wifey posts to come! :)

Much love-
M

Saturday, September 8, 2012

To Mr. Logan

The 7 week break is already over.
I swear I just packed my car full of stuff and drove home.
Now I'm at home and Mr. Logan is in Rexburg to start school on Monday.
It's a smidge weird that I'm not going back this track and I might be a teeny tiny bit sad about it, but I'm sure excited to still be home and not having to do homework and such.
So basically the rest of this post is for Logan, I understand if you quit reading now to spare yourself from all the silly things I will say, but if you continue to read, that's great too!

First off, THANK YOU!
The 7 week break has been so much fun with you. I have enjoyed every single second of our adventures, laughs, memories, singing, hiking, driving, Island parking, cooking, fair time, and "tiffs."
 I'm so grateful for the things I've learned from you.
You may not be able to tell, but my patience level has greatly increased! I don't get nearly as much road rage as I used too; I'm not saying I don't anymore because that's a lie. I've been attempting to achieve your levels of chillness, and I'm not even close. But I'm more chill now. I've learned about trying new things- sushi donut burgers- and that it's OK to like new things. I've learned to try and focus on the good things even when times are tough. I've learned to be a better person through your example and testimony. And most importantly, I've learned to love with my whole heart.
I really like learning some of the silly and sometimes weird things about you that make you the person you are. But the person that you are is amazing and I wouldn't have you any other way.
You're pretty much PDA-ing all the time (Public Displays of Awesome), but you didn't need me to tell you that.

 Thank you for being so supportive of my dreams and helping me to see the places I can go with those dreams. I love that about you.
I love that you laugh at me every day. I know I'm slightly off my rocker sometimes, OK who are we kidding, it's an all the time off the rocker business with me.
And you like my laugh that is absolutely ridiculous. You know how it is, I don't need to explain it for everyone to know how weird I am.
Thanks for being my best friend :)
You're the one I always want to tell everything to and you just let me talk and talk and talk every day. I appreciate it a lot- so thanks!
I might not get to see you as often as I want this semester, BUT I'm excited for you to be up there and filling your mind full of knowledge and such.
And just remember we're better together :)
Last thing- I didn't yell it from a rooftop, but I'll yell it from my blog, 
I love you (the picture can fill in the statement for me ;) )
Much love-
M