Thursday, June 29, 2017

Sunday with the McMurrays

Parker and I arrived in Canada Saturday night so we got to go to church with my family in the morning. Camrie and her friends performed the most beautiful musical number during sacrament meeting and it was such a treat! They are sooooo talented! It's rare that we are all together and all dressed up so we took some photos after church before everyone changed into their standard Sunday afternoon sweats so I thought I'd share a few of the photos (ok maybe a few more than a few hehe I couldn't choose)!

Happy Summer, everyone!

xoxo, Chelan

Sunday, June 11, 2017

Our Love Story: Part 11

"Here's the thing about this love story of ours. Its long. And drawn out. And mushy-gushy. And even a bit cheesy. But it's true. And I've decided to take my time writing it, capturing all the special details of those moments I never want to forget. So if mushy-gushy, cheesy love stories aren't your thing, I totally get that. Just know that I'm writing this as a gift - to my family, and my children, and their future children - and also, for [Parker] and me - so that on those days when the kids are screaming, the laundry is overflowing and the bills are rolling in...on those days when it all just seems so hard, we'll have this to remind us of those first moments when we fell in love. And if sappy, detail ridden love stories are your thing, well then you've come to the right place." -Ashley Stock 

To read the beginning of Our Love Story, click here
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April 2011

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Parker met my family at the end of the semester when they came to pick me up. My parents had booked a Mexican Riviera cruise the week after school ended so they stopped in Provo to pick me up and stay a couple of nights and I thought it was the perfect opportunity for them to meet my new beau. 

When I mentioned the possible introduction to Parker he seemed a little wary at first but I basically told him that he was meeting them whether he liked it or not haha. 

Everything went super well that night! I loved seeing him with my family and they all really liked him. Especially my sisters. It was so fun to watch Parker interact with them and to see how he could potentially fit in with the fam. We had pizza and my mom impressed Parker with her homemade oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. After a while, it was sadly time to say goodbye. This would be the last time we saw each other for what I thought would be 27 months (you can read my obnoxious and immature post I wrote then here) since Parker would be driving home to Ohio the next day and we were headed on our cruise and then home to Canada. 

The goodbye was painful but so sweet. I really don't remember much other than we lingered in the parking lot for a long time hugging and talking and (I was) crying, trying to put off the inevitable. I remember being so scared at the possibility that I would never see Parker again but also so confident that things would work out between us and we would be together again at some point. 

After I watched him drive away *tear* I went back inside and cried on my mom's shoulder. And I remember telling her, "Mom, I could marry that boy."

***

Saturday, June 10, 2017

Cleveland Indians Game 6.9.17

For Parker's birthday last year, we went to a Cleveland Indians baseball game and I fell in love with the atmosphere. There's just something about hot dogs for $1 and fireworks that make me giddy. Oh ya. And the baseball is cool, too, of course! I've never felt so American! Our seats last year weren't great.. they weren't bad, but they weren't fabulous either. So this year for Parker's birthday, my parents and I went in on some better seats for Parker and me to go to the game yesterday and we had so much fun yet again! Thanks, Mom and Pops! And thanks for being born, Parker! Love doing life with you!

We were running late. Like super late and both of us were on edge about it but I wanted so badly for us to have a fun night because Parker has been studying nonstop for the last month (actually 2 years straight pretty much but #boards take his studying to a whole new level). I knew that he didn't necessarily want to take a whole night off of studying so I wanted to make it worth it for him. Turns out that the Cavs were playing next door so we got to watch the Indians beat the White Sox at Progressive Field, then watch fireworks at the same time as watching the Cavs beat the Warriors in game 4 of the NBA finals outside Quicken Loans Arena. It was so much fun and such an adventure!
What do you think of Parker's stache? lol, He shaved and waited for me to notice but I didn't notice until after we were already on our way to the game!

It's a great time to live in Ohio! Go Indians! Go Cavs! O-H-I-O!

Happy Saturday!

xoxo, Chelan

Friday, June 9, 2017

confidence

I used to be super duper confident. In high school, I was probably a little too confident. My mom always used to say, "You're your own biggest fan, Chelan!" which was totally true at the time. But at some point in the last 7 years, that has changed. I'm no longer the confident, don't care what anyone else thinks, carefree person that I used to be and I hate that. I hate that I've lost that sense of knowing that I'm awesome and feeling good about myself. I'm not sure what changed or when it changed exactly but I do think that a lot of it has to do with social media. There is so much pressure to look a certain way, to not post too many selfies, to have the best captions, you can't post more than once a day and posting every day is pushing the limits. Like who decides all this stuff anyway?! It's all so damaging and confusing and takes a toll. 

I've been thinking about all of this for a while and have been wanting to share my thoughts about it but couldn't quite figure out how to put my thoughts into words. And then Alison from the Awesome with Alison podcast basically summed up all of my thoughts in her episode she shared a couple of weeks ago called "Confidence is a muscle, let’s WERK IT OUT!" Soooo much in this episode rang true for me and I think everyone should listen to it! 

I won't share it all because that would take forever (but I totally could because it was all so good!) so I've listed a few of my favorite points. 

She talks about how its ok to think that you are beautiful whether that's outer beauty, inner beauty, or both, it doesn't matter. It's ok to have confidence in your beauty and it doesn't mean that you are stuck up just because you know you are a great, beautiful, amazing person. 
Photo via Pinterest

Alison mentions that we need to cut the negative self-talk. I am always the first to say, "I'm a crappy wife" or "I'm a horrible cook". It has to stop! I am a good wife and I try really hard to be a good cook. 
Photo via Pinterest

Another point her husband, Eric, makes that really resonated with me was to not make assumptions. Don't always assume that you are going to fail. Don't assume that there is someone who is better than you because it does not matter. It's a waste of time! You've just got to do your best!

Alison and Eric also share a bunch of other amazing tips for boosting your confidence. So go listen and let's be confident together! The world needs fewer people who tear themselves down and are insecure. It needs more confident people who know that they are awesome and aren't afraid of sharing that awesomeness with the world!

Photo via Pinterest

Disclaimer: Please don't mistake this post as me fishing for compliments because I'm really not. I just know that I cannot be the only one that has these thoughts and feels insecure sometimes. It's something I'm working on and I hope you'll join me!

xoxo, Chelan