Here comes the sun...

Oh summer, my have I missed you!  You've been away for a while, but I have a honey-do list already:

Get my chacos dirty :)

Finally buy my own mountain bike and get that dirty, too

Take Austin to my home away from home: The Grand Canyon and other awesome places

Get better at rock climbing

Run another half marathon in under 2:30

Other things include...
                                                Learn a new skill....maybe sewing???

                                   Master one new song on the guitar

                                                               Keep up my healthy eating even when I'm out of school

                                    Complete an internship by the end of the year  

                                                                                                          ....that should be good for now :)
                     

Much Ado About Nothing

I am pretty happy with my life :) So here's a little peak into it:

We will be moving out of our little apartment in April and this has caused me to feel a bit of nostalgia.  It's been a good little starter apartment for us and I like how I've been able to try out my creative bursts of energy out on it without too many repercussions. I'll sure miss it (disclaimer: I am not a photographer...use your imagination :)

The top of our bookshelf :) 

FHE board my sister and mom made for me. Added a little flower somethin' somethin' on the side

Made the flower/ board hanging from a bunch of random Wal-mart trips taken in the past

Homemade pillows! An effort to make our white trash couch...less white trashy :) Can't claim the front one, Michelle gave that to me for Christmas. But the back one was made out of a D.I. shirt and ribbon!

A quote frame I made for our kitchen table and the valentine's day flowers, happily  wilting. The frame was  $1 and I  drew out the rest!

I like looking at this every morning :)

Can't have a cheap apartment without ugly fake  wood walls, right? Here's my attempt at making it not such an eye sore 

Pardon the "seen too many days" camera, but our bookshelf is my favorite! Someday we'll have a library room....someday

Second of all, my I say, my husband makes my life pretty darn amazing. We can wake up and he can make me laugh at 6:00 IN THE MORNING! Now that is some accomplishment! I just really appreciate this fella :) He is one of a kind and I'm a pretty lucky girl he like hangin' around me

Austin "Stud Muffin" Beck. If you look realllllly close you can see the little sprigs of hair he grew out for "Movember"

When I was a little kid I literally lived in my swimming suit the entire summer. I still have blisters from getting a little too much sun. Even now I still have this desire to run away to California and live in my swim suit! Here's the kicker...I randomly saw, tried on, liked, and then bought a swim suit last week. All within 30 minutes!!! This is proof that miracles do happen! Not so much that I liked how I looked in a swim suit, but that this decision happened under a year. So maybe I have decision making issues, I'm a work in progress :)

Behold: the product of us trying to keep a plant. Our little peace lily that is slowly...but surely dieing. The doctor inside of Austin doesn't want to give up on him, but I'm a realist. I saw this coming a mile away. Buying anything from wal-mart=short term ownership. Thinking that the steam from our shower could revive him Austin put him in the bathroom....that's when peace lily acquired yellow spots. Toxic fumes???

Our FHE dessert! Wonderful potato bread :) Considering that FHE usually consists of Austin and I doing dishes, I considered this an accomplishment! PLUS, Austin made the dough. He is getting better and better, so proud :)

We also talked about gratitude. It was a great reminder that ya, I do have a lot!! My 'blessing basket' is so full of wonderful friends, family, ward that includes and takes care of us, a primary class that is letting us experience Parenthood 101 first hand, school to educate me, a husband to love and be loved by, a car that defies all odds and starts every. single. morning. Dang it life is SO GOOD!

Schizophrenia

Pardon the blog schizophrenia. It happens when I'm waiting for food to cook.

How the Grinch Stole Valentine's Day

As you all know Valentine's Day fell on a Tuesday this year. Weekdays are toughies when it comes to celebrating for we Beck's. Both Austin and I are on campus till about 7 or 9 most days schooling, tutoring, studying, working in the lab, whatever. So we had this brilliant idea to have our celebration the weekend before Valentines. This was decided a couple weeks before the big V-day. Look at me all planning ahead!

But! My brain forgot that detail...big time. In fact as Valentine's Day drew near my brain proceeded to plan Tuesday things, which included canceling a tutoring appointment, going home early, making a kick butt candle light dinner. The works.

Austin's brain did not forget.

So Saturday night Austin left around 7:00 professing he wanted to grab some groceries so that I could finish up our primary lesson. When he wasn't home an hour later, I started getting fidgety "Where did that fella go?". Relief came when I heard him open the front door. I look up and see this sheepish grin on his face, a pot of roses, and cake mix in his hands.

Insert foot <here>.....remove, repeat.........repeat......repeat.....eh you missed a spot.......and repeat again just for good measure.

Well...the roses didn't look exactly like this. In fact mine are starting to die because plants need water and I forget this...regularly. But they were this voluptuous in spirit.

Thankfully I have a forgiving guy who didn't hold a grudge and let me make it up to him. But yep.....that is how V-Day went down for us.  Can anyone top that?

Today I'm not going to complain because the weekend will be starting in less then three hours, and that it'll be a simple weekend too. On the list: bowling with friends, cuddling with husband, finishing up homework, cleaning the house, and being able to sleep in till 9 o'clock. I can make it till then.

A little pick me up here

"If the Church of Jesus Christ has not left me a better person, than I have not developed as I should"

~L. Tom Perry, BYU-I Devotional January 24, 2012

Amitié!

"But friendship is precious, not only in the shade of life, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks be to benevolent arrangement that the greater part is sunshine"

~Thomas Jefferson

We had Austin's birthday party today and it went pretty darn well. I was a little nervous cause it was the first party I've thrown for him and I wanted to make sure it was a good one. Once everyone got there and started chatting I realized how lucky we are to have such close good friends.  And lucky that I have such a affable husband. Most of my friends are not married, so more often than not we spend time with friends that were initially his. Dang he does a good job in the friend picking department! Not only are the guys funny and great company, but their wives are awesome as well! (which in the married world is sometimes a hit and miss) I really enjoy spending time with all of them!

The party list consisted mostly of Austin's study partners and wives, Jenn and Josh, and cousin Jess. I  loved having our house full of people, that we had to put in a leaf to expand the table, that most of the cake was eaten, that there was a lot of laughter :) It was fun to see how everyone interacted. None of them knew each other, but they all knew Austin. It was really neat to see them all come to support and show their love for him (in a completely manly man way). So happy birthday, Austin! I'm glad it was special for you!

Carpe Diem!

Seize the day! That has been the mind set of Heidi Beck lately. End product:

--Applied to internship at the National Rehab Hospital in Washington, DC. Gynormous city hospital, little country girl Heidi. Reviewed my application and scored an interview on Tuesday. It's going to be AWESOME!
--Feeling good in skinny jeans. Never thought it would happen, but it did.
--Applied to be the society president for my major. Made it!
--Shaved my head.  Not really.
--Schooled Austin in a game of dart gun wars. Shooting aimlessly in the dark is priceless.

I like this mind set.

Beautiful Heartbreak

I stumbled on a picture while looking up references on google. Since then I keep reading about this amazing woman and her beautiful faith:

When I first heard her story my heart broke. Plane crash, 80% of her body covered in 3rd degree burns. How could anyone come back from that? Her faith in Jesus Christ and love for her family has truly inspired me.

"I was with somebody who told me that I could choose to live and have a hard life, you know, embarassing at times and painful. Or, I could just stay there, and there's lots of work I could do there too. But I thought of my children and my husband, and it was easy. An easy choice."

Inspired me to exercise my faith in my Savior. To connect with Him, not just talk at Him. To reflect who He is through me. To not complain about how much I've been given.

Gut check one, two...

I dread deadlines. Always have. In grade school I consistently lost those extra ten points because I didn't turn in those darn parent signature slips. Sometimes it was because I forgot, but mostly it was this little resistance the swelled up inside my little body. I would worry about not turning it in, but hated having to report back soooo much. I liked to think of it as my way of sticking it to the man. I don't know where this little rebellious streak came from, I'm a middle child? Little man syndrome? I don't know.  I'm much better now, but every once and a while I find myself toe to toe with that little resistant part of me every now and again.  The problem is is that I'm not in elementary school anymore, I'm in college and "sticking it to the man" usually in tales a lot of pain and regret on my part.  My internship deadline is coming up. I've been preparing for it for almost two years. Seriously. Two years. I was on top of this. I went back east two years ago to meet the department heads for Therapeutic Rec and get a feel for who I would like to internship under. I sent thank you notes afterward, the whole suck up bid. But now I'm actually at the end of my undergrad road and I'm one step away from falling off the cliff into my internship...and I've gone all pansy on myself!!!

Mom's are good for this kind of thing. I called her up. Her advice: Don't think, just do it.

Pop! goes the mouse and other New Year's Resolutions

Nothing brings in the New Year like mouse poop on your pillow. It gets the blood going and really inspires definitive Clorox action. When we came home from our Christmas vacation many mouse poops greeted us in multiple areas in the house. But, when I saw that mouse had infested my pillow top mattress, it got personal. No mercy. Fight terror with terror. Or something to that effect. To all you mouse haters Bubblicious bubblegum can kill three mice in less than 24 hours. Well, one thing the vermin did do for us was jump start our little New Year's List: Kill all vermin.

Another list Husband and I are concocting is a BYU-I Bucket List. Being our last semester, we want to do all the things we were too busy, or under some impression we were too cool for (that impression has long since been recognize as a farce). First on the list was to become I-Reps. This is an organization complied completely of single people who are peppy at 6:00 am, which makes them freaks of nature. The real purpose for this group is to welcome new freshmen, organize on campus activities, etc. But I have a strong hunch it really is meant to match equally perky individuals with each other to ensure perky children in a few years. Okay, I'm not that cynical (but really...). Although Austin and I were one of the only married couple (they liked to fuse our identities together "Oh! You're the Becks!"), it was really fun to be with a bunch of high energy people (I cannot confirm or deny how much caffeine they did or did not ingest), it felt really good to be serving other people, and being in charge of the jousting booth at the carnival was a blast! Nothing like bouncing around a blow up jousting square and watching people hit each other with over sized padded sticks! I forget how much of a social bug I am till I get back into those situations. We both really enjoyed ourselves and would like to do it again if we could.

Some other things on the list:
        ~join a battleship team (life size battleship in a swimming pool. Last canoe not sunk wins!)
        ~get an on campus personal trainer
        ~go to at least one play, dance competition, and music concert on campus
        ~go to latin dance night
        ~win a prize for doing the weekly sudoku puzzle
        ~volunteer for something for outdoor activities

We'll see how do-able our ambitious goals are with both of us pulling 17 upper level credits, me applying for an internship and part of a research class, and he pulling physics and math tutoring. But hey! Rest when you're dead, right?

Quotes

‎

"Do not confuse your path with your destination- just because it's 

stormy now doesn't mean you aren't headed for sunshine"

The Thrill of it All!

Happy First Anniversary, Love!

I know it's a little early...but it's going to get crazy from today till New Year's so I wanted to say I love you!

People told me that the first year would be the worst... but we've had a blast so far!!!  

Things that make me crazy for you!!!

-The way your noes crinkles when you laugh

-How excited you get to pick up the mail

-Your curiosity

-Tickle fights, water fights, flour fights, snowball fights

-How kind you are to the telemarketers

-The black patch of hair on the left side of your head

-Poems

-Your Sunday dinners! Yum!

-How you turn on quiet music while we're getting ready for church

-Your blue blue eyes 
-How you support my "I want to learn everything RIGHT NOW" attitude
-That you with me on my rock climbing trainings, my volunteer meetings, help me with knitting, etc. 

-That you always laugh at my jokes...even when they're dumb

-How understanding you are

-How excited you get to tell me about new things you learn at school

-That low base voice of yours

-How you let me warm my cold feet up on your warm legs at night
-You can calm me down when I go into freak out mode

-When you give me random hugs and tell me "I just love you!"

-The way you offer me your arm when we're walking

-How much you love to snuggle

I knew you should be mine when you told me that you, like me, still dream of being lead guitar in your own garage band someday.....shmily!

December 21, 2010

The Little Things

Today I am so grateful for little things. Being newly married most "things" husband and I possess are little things. But I am grateful for them nonetheless. Like that little Christmas wreath I found at the DI. Our door looks so cheerful with it! And how Austin made the bed this morning...because he could tell I woke up on the wrong side of it. I'm grateful for...

               ~Parents who offer me their awesome deals in fancy hotels because they want to help us save money and still have a nice anniversary.
                ~Sisters who come all the way back from the Philippines so close to Christmas, it give us Beck girls an excuse to get together again (and hopefully shop ;).
                ~Joyce, the little old lady I take care of, and her cute little euphemisms

I'm grateful for that feeling I get when I do something for someone else. I'm grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ. How it gives me hope and love in my heart to see past my insignificance and into helping and loving others. I am grateful that it is the birth of our Savior.

"I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" has become one of my favorites this year. Here is my favorite verse:

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Welcome to TLC's "What Not to DO"

I sometimes am slightly addicted to "What Not to Wear". I don't know why. After a couple of episodes I found myself playing with the idea of chopping my hair into an edgy, possibly unflattering, hair cut and thinking up better insults for bad clothing choices than the hosts. Then, standing in front of my wardrobe one morning mumbling something like "Mix patterns and textures. No diaper jeans allowed" That's when I knew...I have a problem. Watching that show makes me crave shopping!  And, as we all know, mixing shopping with a smallish budget during Christmas time is like mixing Nicolas Cage with any sort of movie....it cannot be good. Stop looking at that awesome brown leather jacket, Heidi!! It is not on the Christmas list! That's it! I'm starting my New's Resolutions early...no more "What Not to Wear". I'm going Clinton and Stacy free.

On a better note, as far as Christmas decorations have gone we've been pretty lucky. Thanks to the fact that we were married around Christmas time we received a broad array of snowmen singing, skipping, or holding presents. Sparkly snowmen, clay snowmen, plaster snowmen. Who knew snowmen we're so versatile! Also a nativity set made of clay, an inspiring Christmas saying placed on a Christmas themed board, stockings, a couple different ornaments mostly with "Our First Christmas Together" spelled out in cursive across the front, and a ladle holder in the shape of Santa's head.  Little here, little there. Thanks to our local DI we have been furnished with a mdiget, pre-decorated Christmas tree and a tender little wreath for our door. We're feeling festive here in Stegelmeier #2. We're ready Santa. Hit me!

Have a holly jolly Christmas!