“It's the oldest story in the world. One day you're 17 planning for someday and then quietly, without you ever noticing, someday today. And then someday yesterday. And this is your life.”
I always love cookies more in the fall/winter than any other time! Snickerdoodle cookies also remind me of my grandma because she used to always make them so they’re also kind of special to me.
I’ve made these two days in a row and they’re sooo good!! Definitely one of my favorites 🙂
Ingredients:
Cookies:
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar (light brown sugar will work too)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon sugar
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or foil with non stick spray)
In a bowl, mix all your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 teaspoon cinnamon) set aside.
In a mixer, cream together butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar.
Mix in vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing after each.
With mixer on low speed, gradually mix in dry ingredients. Don’t over mix!
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in freezer for 15 minutes (or fridge if you plan on making them later)
Make cinnamon and sugar mix
Measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough, roll into ball, roll into cinnamon and sugar mix and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes
Snickerdoodles are light and fluffy and you want them to be chewy and soft 🙂 enjoy!!!
White Chicken Chili
This one is also a big favorite! Growing up we always had people over for Halloween and my grandma would make her yummy red chili and then we decided to make different types of chili and I have to say white chicken chili is my fav!!
Ingredients:
4 cans white beans
2 cans chicken broth
2 chicken bouillon cubes
3 teaspoons garlic powder
1 onion, chopped & sautéed
2 cans corn, drained
2 cans green chilies
3 teaspoons oregano
2 tablespoons cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 cups cooked, cubed/shredded chicken
24 oz. sour cream
4 cups pepper jack cheese
Instructions:
Sauté onions in butter until transparent
Add everything except sour cream and cheese
Cook in a crockpot for 3-4 hours or in a large pot for 30 minutes
Add sour cream and half the cheese and cook for an additional 15 minutes
Serve with additional pepper jack cheese and tortilla chips. (We also use Fitos)
Such an easy fall favorite! Stick in the crockpot and come back later 🙂 hope you enjoy!!
Banana Bread
This was a first one for me and I loved it! I also just substituted gluten free flour for regular flour and it was really good! The bread didn’t fall apart and had a lot of flavor to it. I will definitely use this recipe again!
Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
(I also added vanilla for more flavor)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.
We love San Diego!! It has become a pretty special place for us; Grant served his mission there and we got engaged there 🙂 we always enjoy coming and visiting and doing a bunch of different things!
We always stay at the Kings inn at hotel circle! It’s a great neutral place with lots of places around! The hotel has 2 restaurants; a breakfast place called “Waffle Spot” and a Mexican place called “Amigo Spot” for dinner! Both are so yummy and you get a discount at both if you stay at the hotel 🙂 so win win! Good food & a discount 🙂
This year we went to The San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld San Diego and it was SO fun!! First time to both for me and I enjoyed it so much 🙂 we were able to get a package deal through GoCity which helped us save some money! We spent one full day at each place 🙂
I highly recommend doing the tour on the buses! That was one of my favorite parts of the zoo 🙂 we were able to see a lot of animals that way and didn’t have to walk so much so it gives you a break! We also got the souvenir cups which were I think around $11 and you get free refills around the park the day you buy them! It was pretty hot when we were there so we got lots of refills 😉 I also recommend wearing comfy shoes that are good to walk in because it’s a pretty big zoo and you’re walking a lot!
It was a great place to go and especially if you have little kids, it’ll be so great and fun for them! If you’re in San Diego, this is a must do!!
SeaWorld is so fun!! So much to look at and do! We weren’t able to ride too many rides because the lines were so long but the ones we did were so fun! Twisted rapids will totally soak you though! We were drenched the rest of the night!
My favorite part of SeaWorld was all the shows!! Especially the dolphins 😍 so fun and so cool to see how smart animals are and the bond the trainers have with them and how hard they work to obtain that bond.
SeaWorld is another must while in San Diego especially if you’ve never been before!!
One of our favorite places to eat is “Phil’s BBQ” they have a couple locations throughout the San Diego area and its great food at a great price!! I normally get one of “Phil’s Ticklers” so yummy and great bbq sauce!!
Another place we love is “Lupes” they have huge burritos and other yummy Mexican food! I always get the carne asada fries with hot Cheetos 😍 so stinkin’ good!
We also love going to the beach! We love Coronado beach! It’s a little harder to get to but it’s a great one !
We also tried a new beach this time and went to mission beach which is by Belmont Amusement Park which has some shops, restaurants, rides, arcade and a good ice cream shop 👍🏻 we liked this one because it’s a little easier to get to and other stuff to do around it!
My last recommendation is a special one! It’s sunset cliffs 😍 this is where Grant and I got engaged and it’s a gorgeous place to watch the sun go down in the evening.
We love San Diego and want to continue to visit and make memories there! San Diego is beautiful and we hope these recommendations are helpful!
Life is unexpected and crazy things happen. I have always been a “worrier” and I worry about a lot of things which ends of giving me anxiety. I do what I can to control the things that I can. Of course, there will still be things that happen that I can’t control and that makes life a little crazy! I think there are a lot of things to prepare for in our lives, and a lot of different ways that we can prepare. If a natural disaster were to occur, we could prepare for a lack food, water, etc. We can prepare for unexpected expenses that come up, so we can try to prepare and save money for those things. I think it’s all super important!
We have had a couple of things happen just within the first year and a half of our marriage that were unexpected and scary! I think part of owning pets is truly being able to take care of them and provide everything they need. This includes vet trips, vaccinations, grooming, etc. Even so, there are still unexpected expenses when it comes to pets. Our Ivan pup ended up eating a ton of stuff out of the trash which included: an entire onion, old Panda Express, moldy cheese, and some other stuff. We had to rush him to the Vet Emergency room and ended up having to pay close to $800 to make sure that he was okay. I love my dogs, so of course this was a no brainer in paying for it and do all that we could to make sure he was ok. That being said, we were lucky that we were prepared and had money saved for when things like this happen.
Also, if you follow me, you probably know that I ended up having some health issues. I was very sick for about a month and just went to a general doctor that was close by. He advised me to only take a pregnancy test and sent me home which was super frustrating. The test came back negative and I was still throwing up non-stop and felt like I was dying. (dramatic, I know… But I really did feel like it!) I finally got into my primary doctor and she ran some tests. Once again, I was advised to take a pregnancy test. The test came back negative, she sent me home and told me that she would call the next day with the other test results. The next day, I had come home from work, was exhausted, and still felt like crap. I was about to take a nap when I got a panic phone call from my doctor telling me that I needed to go to the emergency room ASAP! She informed me that my kidney function was at a low 15% and she was very worried for me. I rushed to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital a couple hours later. I ended up staying in the hospital for 5 long days with many tests. Eventually I was diagnosed with Post-infectious glomerulonephritis; a disease that occurs in the kidneys from an infection of a completely different area like the throat, and causes filters in the kidneys to become swollen. It was pretty scary, and the hospital bill was frightening. I am required to get blood drawn often and go to a Kidney specialist, which was something that I didn’t think I would ever have to do. I am grateful that I have good health insurance and that there are payment plans for such large bills, but these things happen and once again, I am so grateful that we were prepared and had money saved for things like this.
We do our best to save what we can and splurge a little once in awhile. I know everyone’sfinancial situation is different but beingprepared and having a savings account is so important!!
“Good luck is when opportunity meets preparation, while bad luck is when lack of preparation meets reality.“
When I was little, we always got the Old Navy 4th of July T-shirts ever year and always made the day so much fun! 4th of July is a favorite around here so we wanted so share what we love !!
It’s always fun to put on a cute outfit or 4th of July inspired shirt 🙂
Old Navy:
Flag shirts comes in a couple different colors; white, red, blue, & grey. AND they’re only $3-$5. Opportunity for some cute family pictures ❤️
Can’t forget about the dogs 😉 who doesn’t look a cute puppy with a bandanna ??
BBQ! What’s the 4th of July without a bbq ?? We love hanging out in the backyard playing games & eating food. You can find easy party supplies if you’re hosting a bbq or get together. Target has cute stuff at a great price!
We love playing games & spending time with our friends and family. These are a few of our favorite backyard games
Home decor ❤️ if anyone knows my mom you know she loves to decorate for every season, holiday, etc. So of course I try to keep up with her so here are some of my favorite decor pieces. Amazon & target have some cute stuff!
“We will stand by the right, we will stand by the true, we will live, we will die for the red, white, and blue.”
We hope everyone has a fun & safe 4th of July and is able to spend it with their friends and family and eat some good food!! ❤️💙
CRAZY & TIRED are the first 2 words that come to mind with this title.. having 3 dogs and giving them the love and attention they need and deserve is hard, also, adding on training a new puppy. But I have a soft spot in my heart for dogs. Growing up I never really had any animals, I mean besides fish so I never really understood the bond that people have with their pets. But as soon as we got Ivan and he showed us his funny personality and his love, we were obsessed. So we ended up getting two more dogs 😉
Something that has helped us is a schedule and a routine. We really try to stay with it because it helps our dogs obey and know what’s going on. They eat at the same times everyday (6:30am & 5:30pm) They get up with Grant’s alarm in the morning and they go outside and go to the bathroom and then they eat breakfast. (We always know Ivan is done with his business because he shakes the door handle with his nose 😂) Ivan loves his food and has no problem eating. Koda is a little weird and won’t always eat at the right time which makes it difficult to make sure he gets his food. He eats better when we put the food in his crate with him. Cooper is like Ivan and just wants to eat all the time, he’ll try to eat Kodas food too. We feed all 3 of our dogs Iams Dog Food.
Cooper’s foodIvan’s foodKoda’s food
If you have dogs, you know that they’re messy and sometimes they have accidents or they get sick and especially with always having a puppy for the last 2 years… we have to vacuum our house ALL the time. But with accidents and stuff I highly recommend buying a portable spot carpet cleaner, it’ll save your life!!!
This is the one we have!
All of our pups are crate trained and stay in their crates while we’re at work. They know that their crates are their safe place so they will not go to the bathroom in there and they actually enjoy being in there. We have trained our dogs to go to the crate by saying “kennels” and they will run in there and wait for us to come close the doors. We used to keep Ivan our during the day but we found that he got bored and would start to chew on things if he’s left out too long during the day. They pretty much sleep all day in their kennels.
We try to take our dogs out every night to get out of the house and get some exercise. Our backyard is currently getting landscaped and worked on so we can’t take our dogs out there which makes it extra hard for them. But our pups love to just explore; even if it’s just around the neighborhood. But they especially love swimming and going out to the mountains or big open spaces to run around. I also recommend having a portable water bowl for when you take them out.
This is the one we have
Grants job is stressful so it’s super important for him to get a good nights sleep so with having a puppy we really have to make sure he goes to the bathroom before he goes to bed and that he gets plenty of play time. When the weather is bad, Cooper doesn’t get out very much so he will just whine during the night and we won’t be able to get him to stop but if we exercise him and get his energy out, he sleeps super well. The two other pups have no problem sleeping and will sleep through the night no problem. They’re also really good at letting us know if they do need to go.
Some days are just crazy but after a long day coming home and having our pups be excited we’re home and cuddling with us makes it all worth it. ❤️
“A dog will teach you unconditional love. If you can have that in your life, things won’t be too bad.”
I never thought that I would be one of those girls who sends a missionary off and waits for them… mainly because I never thought that I would have a boyfriend. But Heavenly Father definitely played a huge role in this one. As I grew up, the gospel was always in my life but somewhat on the back burner. I went to church & occasionally went to mutual and other activities but it wasn’t most important to me. But looking back, I wasn’t happy. I would go to school, come home and sleep for hours because being awake made me sad, made me want to be someone else and I didn’t know how to change and I didn’t know what to do. I had great friends and family, I played fastpitch softball which took up a lot of my life, but there was just something missing and I felt like my heart was aching for something that I didn’t know existed and I didn’t know what I needed or where I needed to be.
2 months before my senior year of high school I was visiting my best-friend Hannah in Utah and I got a call from my mom saying that we’re moving to Boise Idaho. I felt comfort in those words. People always ask me “was that the hardest thing ? Moving your senior year of high school” my response was “no” It was the best thing that happened to me. I met a lot of great people and most importantly, I met an amazing guy. A guy who turned my world around, made me see who I wanted to be and how to get there. A guy who treated me like I was a princess, like I was the most amazing girl in the world. I was getting these feelings that I had never felt before. Our relationship definitely had its troubles but we made it. Our senior prom was where our relationship got serious and we were understanding our feelings and how much we cared for one another. Grant is my best friend and my saving grace.
Senior Prom
We dated (officially) for about 7 months before he left on his mission. We talked about marriage and dating after the mission. I told myself that if it’s meant to be, it’ll work out. As Grant was focusing on serving others and building a relationship with Heavenly Father, I tried to do the same before I left on my mission. Our stake president told us its like a triangle, grant and I are at the 2 bottom corners and Jesus Christ is at the top. So as long as we made it closer to him, we would make it closer to each other with Christ in the center of our relationship.
I’m not going to lie, going on a mission definitely made it easier for me to keep my mind off Grant being gone. But the months that I was home, I made the best of them. I worked, spent time with my family, and I also spent time with his family. I was able to gain relationships with his family without Grant. A mission was definitely hard but also life changing. You experience so many different emotions and you have so many highs but also a lot of lows. I’ve learned that everyone’s mission is so different and everyone has different experiences and hardships and different things that they need to learn so my mission was quite different than Grants but I think we both learned a lot of things we needed to that would help prepare us for marriage and life ahead.
Being away from Grant was a hard 2 years but my feelings never changed, they only grew stronger. We talked multiple times about what was going to happen when we are both home together and we both wanted the same thing; to be together but we also had to tell each other that we can’t force it, that if it’s right, it will work out. Which was something so hard to even think about. 2 years is a long time and things change, people change, desires change, and the thought of us not working out scared me but I knew that I needed to trust in God’s plan and hope to follow it.
Grant came home a month after I did and that day was the happiest day of my life. When I saw Grant at the airport, all my happiness came back. I realized that Grant is who makes me, me. He makes me be my best self and pushes me to be even better and of course we were still the same people who fell in love with each other but our testimonies were strengthen which helped strengthen our relationship.
My dad always told me that “the person you marry should push you and make you want to be better” and I found that. I’ve always been an independent person and I like to do things on my own and for myself but Grant is such a great provider and supporter and has helped me learn that it’s okay to ask for help or to accept help. He pushes me to be a better person each day and encourages me to be a hard worker and to be true to who I am.
So why did I wait? Because the love that Grant and I share, pushes us to be the best people that we can be, pushes us to strengthen our relationship with our Heavenly Father and pushes us to strengthen our testimony of Jesus Christ.
So yes, sometimes waiting for a missionary works out 🙂
Grants version
In highschool I never really had a desire to participate in anything church related. I grew up LDS and always went to church but never really did much more than that. I was influenced by church leaders to participate and become involved in different activities and roles within the church. I was never the kid that hungout with other LDS kids. I always had a lot of friends and the large majority weren’t Mormon at all. Many Mormons outside of that see it as a bad thing because they often believe that by being around Non-Mormons, they will be influenced badly and make “bad” choices. Long story short, I really wasn’t like “everyone else”. My time in high school were some of the best years of my life. I frequently ponder about the memories and its pretty nostalgic. Nobody knows how to say goodbye, it seems so easy until you try. The years that I had spent hanging out with my friends, girls, and sports were all important to me. The only time I was really truly happy was when I could laugh and socialize. Ironically, I like to be alone.
Because I grew up in the LDS church, going on a mission was basically expected and there is a LOT of pressure to serve a mission. Especially if you are a guy. I didn’t even start caring about church until I was a Junior. I realized that if I was going to be a missionary then I better prepare myself for it. Over junior and senior year I tried to be a good person and find myself ready to go on the mission. Apparently when you are the oldest one at church and you have a large influence over things, kids younger than you see it as something to follow. Getting ready for my mission made another kid at my church think that if I could do it, he could do it. (not sure how I feel about that statement) I think it goes back to basically being an outcast in the “Mormon kids’ group” due to my social circle in high school. Funny thing is though is that I wasn’t a bad kid. That is just the judgement of people raised in an incorrect culture. Its sad really.
Senior year of high school was interesting. I had dated a lot of people in high school and a lot of the time I just tried to date the best-looking girls to have on my arm as a statement. While that worked out, I never found real feeling in those relationships. I was playing varsity lacrosse and focusing on school as much as I could so that I could have a good shot at getting admitted to the colleges I was interested in at the time. I still dated girls and was looking to have a more serious girlfriend but also knew that I probably shouldn’t have a girlfriend when I left on my mission because it would be impossible to focus, and I would likely get dumped while I was gone anyway. In fact, I told myself that no matter what, I wouldn’t have a girlfriend when I left. This year one of my best friends was dating a girl that we had gone to school with for years and I knew who she was but hadn’t ever actually “hung-out” or even talked to her. By default, we would end up hanging out from time to time just because she and my friend were dating. In the first few months of school, a girl moved to Idaho from Washington that was actually her cousin. Again, by default I met her too. At the time I wasn’t interested in dating anyone because I had a current girlfriend. Another one of my best friends found interest in the new girl and pursued that. They dated for months. Meanwhile I was thinking that maybe I liked that new girl when she had moved here but since my best friend was going to date her that I should just let it go, so I did. This didn’t really work because I found myself being angry and jealous. After a lot of back and forth drama, she reached out to me on Christmas eve and we started texting. Over the next couple months, we developed a pretty close friendship and that’s all it was at first. Over time I found that I felt very differently about this girl. Ultimately, I felt like I loved her truly and let her know. The girl was Hannah.
Last day of High School
We ended up dating for the rest of the school year, into the summer and all the way up until I left on my mission. The reason I had a girlfriend despite my vow not to have one when I left, was the fact that over that duration, I had developed feelings that were very strong and that felt like nothing I had felt before. I felt right.
After Grants farewell talk
 I left for my mission in November of 2014 and I can say that it was probably the hardest thing that I have ever done. I never really wanted to leave home because I loved my life and I was comfortable. I wanted to be successful and just continue on with school and get it done. Looking back, a lot of my reason that I had even stayed on that path towards a mission in high school was because of the friends I had. If I didn’t have friends with those goals, I don’t know if I would have gone.
I ended up serving my whole mission in California (24 months) speaking English. I met some amazing people and developed great friendships over those two years, but it was the hardest thing that I have ever had to do. Meanwhile, Hannah was getting ready to serve a mission and that made me feel a little better that she wouldn’t be dating anyone for the time she was gone. In the back of my mind I was still upset that we weren’t home together. 2 years is a really long time to be apart from someone that you have such strong feelings for. The only communication we were even able to have during that time was email every Tuesday. Yep, 1 day a week for like an hour. I really changed while I was gone on my mission. I would say that it changed me so seriously that I didn’t even recognize myself when I got back home. Being away from home really affected me in a negative way… After being so free and having my friends and comforts, to being in the completely unknown and without any normal comforts. Tied with having to leave a serious girlfriend behind, it all really weighed heavy on me.
Hannah and I had talked about marriage before the mission and would see where things went when we both got home. We continued to date and eventually got married the following August of 2017. I knew she was the one before we went on our missions so it was an easy choice for me. The emotional aspect of being away for so long definitely weighed a toll on me. I love her and she is very independent. She works hard for what she wants and has.
We have been really blessed and have a great family. Things are only looking up from here.
Thanks for joining me! I want to give a short introduction of who we are 🙂
Grant and I met in high school our senior year and believe it was love at first sight, we just needed time to realize it and how we were feeling. (I’ll do another blog post about our story, how we met and our relationship and how it progressed)
We live in Idaho and feel pretty blessed about what our life has become and how happy we are. Grant works as a project manager for an IT company and I’m a full time nanny for the cutest little 3 year old boy. We’re also pretty crazy and have 3 dogs… yes I said 3. We have our big boy Ivan who is a purebred Chocolate Labrador Retriever and we love him so much. We have had him since before we even got married. Ivan and Grant have a pretty special bond and have become bestfriends.
We also have our little Koda Bear who is just crazy. He is a Havaton (Havanese & Coton de Tulear mix) We originally got him for Grants mom but things didn’t work out so we got to keep the little dude. Not gonna lie, trying to potty train him was a hassle, he’s pretty stubborn but we love him. He and Ivan are quite funny together and love to play.
Just as things started to settle down we decided to get another puppy! Haha, I know, we are absolutely crazy, but he is such a cutie. His name is Cooper and he’s a Labradoodle and such a goof ball. He’s currently 10 weeks old and starting to get more comfortable being around the other two dogs and loves to play and just lay outside. He’s not a big fan of crate training though 😉
Life’s pretty crazy and we seem to stay pretty busy but we enjoy our time together and love the outdoors riding our quad, shooting guns, home projects, photography, home decor, and good food!
“Dogs are not our whole life, but they make our lives whole.”
It was a great place to go and especially if you have little kids, it’ll be so great and fun for them! If you’re in San Diego, this is a must do!!
Riley Family 