Southern Magic

I have come to love books set in the south. One of my absolute favorite authors is Sarah Addison Allen. My mom bought me her first two books for Christmas a couple of years ago and they are wonderful. Her most recent, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, is probably my favorite though. The books are full of small Southern towns, excentric yet loveable characters, handsome southern gentlemen, romantic cooking, and of course a little southern magic. Basically everything that makes a wonderful story. Another plus for cover snobs like me is that hers are absolutely gorgeous!

See? Gorgeous.

I Like Lists

It's true. I think that is going to be my default blog method from now on. I keep waiting to have one big thing happen that will link everything we do together, but it just doesn't happen. So my solution is to make lists. Here it goes again.



Recently in the Watts House:


1. I took Cory to the Original Pancake House for part of our Valentines date. He has never been and it is too yummy of a place not to experience. He really liked it and is already talking about going back.


2. I am now a reformed sugarholic. I never thought I would see the day I went without candy, but it has arrived. And you know what? I don’t even miss it that much! I also don’t miss the 15 pounds I’ve lost since cutting it out (even though I did sneak in a Cupcake on Valentines).

3. I have been introduced to The Pioneer Woman. She is awesome. No joke. Cory bought Pioneer Woman Cooks for me for Valentines (yes, I am a girl who can be romanced with books) and I LOVE it. She is so funny and practical and all the recipes look absolutely delicious and have step by step instructions with pictures for every step! I can’t wait to start trying them out and I would definitely recommend it.


4. Subsequently, I am now dying to read The Pioneer Woman: Black Heels to Tractor Wheels—A Love Story.


5. Cory has a work truck. This is a HUGE blessing for us because they pay for his gas and we can finally sell his moody Explorer. He is pretty excited to be driving around in the big snazzy thing too.

6. I have been released from my church calling as a Primary teacher. It is kind of weird, but I had started to feel like I was finished with that calling. Not in a “Wow, I’m so sick of this way” more like that whatever I was supposed to get from that calling had been accomplished. So it was really no surprise when Brother Duncan asked me to be the…

7. Second councilor in the Young Women! I am so excited and nervous about my new calling. The girls are so sweet and I have a ton of adorable little beehives. Luckily I am accustomed to having the largest class from my time in primary. What I have learned so far is how much I have to learn. The other women in the presidency are just so great and I am really looking forward to learning the ropes with them.

8. We have had free weekends. I have missed them so much! It is kind of sad how happy being able to go grocery shopping on a Saturday makes me.

9. I have been trying to temper my novel reading with more serious literature. I didn't go too heavy to start with because I like to read very quickly. I still haven't finished it but the book I chose is Notorious Royal Marriages by Leslie Carroll. I have to say that I have really enjoyed it. Each chapter is about a different royal couple and it goes in chronological order so it connects together even though it is usually switching countries. I have definitely learned a lot.

And there you have it! Our life in a list. :)

Watts Up?!

Recently we/I have....

*had an absolutely wonderful Christmas I may or may not get around to actually posting about.

*been way intimidated by my Silhouette I got for said Christmas. I'm excited and nervous about using it. Right now I am taking it in baby steps...

*been wishing I had WAY more time to spend on crafts than I do. On top of figuring out my Silhouette, I've fallen in love with http://uvinyl.blogspot.com/. Susannah does such an awesome job and I want to make everything she posts!

*hosted a new years party and subsequently become the most hated people in our neighborhood.

*become addicted to the game Angry Birds. Who knew shooting pigs with birds could be so fun???

*fallen even more in love with our newest nephew, Carson. All of them are cute (nieces, too!) but he is the cuddliest!

*joined the gym! Hooray for us! I already have my favorite shiny neon spandex pants guy (he seriously has like a million pairs).

*unpacked our wedding china, over a year later. It now looks awesome in our antique china cabinet. It belonged to my Great Great Grandmother. Pretty cool, huh?

*started recycling. It feels so good to be green! If you don't do it already, you definitely should!

*spent many nights by the fire watching NBA basketball.

*taken a trip to North Carolina during a snowstorm. Not the best idea we ever had...

*seen some jerk wreak his "beast" car after warning him about a huge patch of ice on the road. He was fine, but got charged with felony hit and run (not on our car thankfully).

*had lots of fun with our family, friends and ward family. It has been too fun and we are definitely very blessed!

'Tis the Season to be Jolly!

I am SO excited for Christmas this year! It isn't our first Christmas together, but it is our first Christmas in our house so I had tons of fun decorating! I have actually been really on the ball this year with presents and things. I had the tree up before Thanksgiving and all my presents have already been gotten and wrapped! For a girl who is rarely only 15 minutes late, let alone on time, this is a major accomplishment! :)

One of my favorite things to put out is my little nativity scene. I got it at a white elephant exchange in college and think it is just perfect. This year I noticed that the cow was missing a leg. In a true Christmas miracle, it would still stand up, unlike it's sheep friend who I just tell everyone is very tired; even though he has four legs, he still can stand up. Well, one day when I came home, Cory said "Look" and held up the cow for me to see. He had made it a prosthetic leg from a bobby pin! He is just so sweet and you can't even really tell! Keep in mind that he has lots of practice from making toys out of twist ties when he was a kid. Whenever a limb was lost, it was no problem. Dr. Cory was right to the rescue with a new twist tie replacement.

Our little Christmas tree! I love adding ornaments to our tree that mean something. This year we got three new ones, all gifts. One is a pretty pink shoe from my cousin, the another is an ornament with my initial from "the only girl" in my primary class and the other is a little snow globe with Cory's name on it from our sister in laws mom. She is super thoughtful and bought it just because it had his name on it. I am a little sad that I can't find one of my boxes with all the ornaments from last year that we bought for our first mini tree together. It is the price you pay for having your things stored all over the place. Maybe next year we will have a real tree and all of our ornaments.

I had this little snowman to go on top of the tree, but I thought he looked a little sad. I tried to make a bow to replace him with but it turns out that I am not so good at that. So now they are sharing the glory at the top of the tree in a sort of sad tribute to my lack of skills.

And finally, our christmas picture!

We hope everyone has a very safe and happy Christmas and New Year!

Hot Dog!

Last Sunday I was teaching my 5 year olds at church a lesson about being kind to animals. Sometimes lessons have things in them that I don't really know how to teach to five year old. The fact that Noah brought 7 of each clean animals so they could eat them makes sense to me at 24, but I'm not sure how my 5 year old self would have felt about that. Regardless, I charge forward and explain to children that sometimes killing animals is necessary for food and that is okay, but we should never kill an animal we won't eat. For some reason, I decide to ask the kids "What animals do you eat for food?" thinking they may say things like "cows" "chicken" "fish" ect. Well the first one to answer says excitedly "Dogs! We eat dogs!" I was literally speechless at this point. I just looked at the other teacher in the room in shock until he says "You know, corn dogs!" and then the boy beside him says "And hot dogs!" At this point I just want to burst out laughing. They were both so excited to answer the question and were doing so with absolute sincerity. It is called a corn dog so it must be made of dog, right?? I did my best to explain to them that we only call them that without going into detail of what hot dogs are actually made of because I don't think any of us really want to know. Kids sure know how to keep things interesting!

Looks Like We Made It!

Who would have thought these two crazy kids would now be celebrating their first wedding anniversary?? I'll tell you who: definitely not me! While I may not have expected it all those years ago, I am so grateful for it now. Cory is definitely my EC in every way! He loves me for my goofiness and calls me out when I'm being rediculous (traits I have decided are essential for husbands). It has basically been the best year ever.

This is one of my absolute favorite pictures from the wedding. People always say it is the happiest day of your life but for me that isn't true. It is the day that made all the other happiest days possible. We've definitely had a lot since then!

And they have all taught me a lot. For examples: Men do not know how to put clothes in a hamper. What sometimes seems very sensible to me seems crazy to my husband. No one can make me laugh like the guy beside me. My favorite memories aren't the ones I have pictures of or write about on my blog; they're the ones that are written on my heart. I am way spoiled by a wonderful man who will do pretty much anything to make me happy...And is also super excited to celebrate our anniversary.

So here we are. An entire year of marriage under our belts. It seems sort of crazy and it has definitely been an adventure! And definitely one I can't wait to continue!

Count Your Blessings

We have had an absolutely wonderful weekend. I feel so blessed to have all my family so close! Holidays are always so much fun. Before the Thanksgiving season is over, I just wanted to make quick thankful post. Lists are my favorite so here it goes, in no particular order (except for maybe #1 :)).

1. My husband and our almost one year of marriage. He really is amazing and I'm not just saying that because he's my husband. He gave a talk in church today and listening to him speak about the gospel and bear his testimony I felt so proud and blessed to have such a wonderful man for my husband.

2. My crazy, funny, awesome family. They really are all those things and I love them.

3. My Heavenly Father who loves me unconditionally and truly answers my prayers.

4. My silly puppies who always keep me laughing at their antics. I have a lab that points.

5. My sweet primary class. I never knew 5 year olds could be so smart. They have taught me so much and I am dreading giving them up at the end of the year.

6. My friends who just "get me."

7. Prayer. Can't say how much I love talking to my Heavenly Father.

8. My Savior who makes overcoming my mistakes and shortcomings so much easier.

9. Our jobs. Cory and I are both so blessed to have jobs in our fields that we enjoy. And coworkers who make us laugh.

10. The home we have built together. I love filling this house with memories and turning it into a home.

And so so many more!