Guiding Eyes | COTM January 2017

Hello friends! Welcome to a brand new year of Charity of the Month! This year will be bringing in a lot of new things, but hopefully one of the main things is consistent Charity of the Month posts to bring awareness and money to many different and wonderful charities.

Today's post will, however, be fairly short, but will, hopefully, get the point across.

The Charity of the Month for January 2017 is Guiding Eyes for the Blind. This is a charity that breeds, trains, and distributes guide dogs to the visually impaired, free of cost.

I've only had one encounter with a guide dog. I had a class my first semester of college that had a blind man who always brought in his dog with him. It was a beautiful golden lab and the most obedient dog I've ever seen. I also will never forget the man himself, though his name is lost to me.

It was a class called "Media Through the Ages" and we focused on the different types of ways news and media has progressed through history. It was a fun and interesting class where we were able to learn about and experience different forms of media.

One class, in particular, we learned about silent film. We had the opportunity to watch one of the first silent films and experience something we're not used to. After the film ended, our teacher asked us about it and the blind man raised his hand and said jokingly: "I don't think those were made with the blind in mind."

He had such a humor about him and once even told us all about his dog, which I also don't remember the dog's name. He was an inspiring person to me. I'm sure we all take advantage of our sight, but there are people out there, good and wonderful people, who don't have our same luck, and many of them need help to get through, what are for me, simple, everyday tasks.

Guiding Eyes helps people without sight to find a friend and a support. These dogs are well trained to guide and assist the visually impaired, and Guiding Eyes happily gives these dogs to the blind for free.

But while it may be free for the blind, it is not free to train these dogs, which is why they deserve our help. It takes a lot of money to care for these dogs, but if we all contribute what we can, Guiding Eyes will have some extra help.

What Guiding Eyes is doing for the blind is incredible and we need to help them to continue doing their incredible work.

You can read more about Guiding Eyes and give your donation by CLICKING HERE. Remember, you don't have to give outside your means. Just give what you can and the combination of all of us together should do the rest.

Thanks for your support of Guiding Eyes! 

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Do you have a favorite charity you want to be featured as Charity of the Month? Let me know in the comment section below or send me an email. Thanks! 

Happy 1st Birthday Zoram!!

Today is my pup's first birthday! As many of you know, we were able to get Zoram as an emotional support animal after my miscarriage. And when I think of the timeline, it's incredible how it all worked out. I learned about my miscarriage the beginning of November, but had lost my baby about two weeks prior... around the same time Zoram was born. Zoram was meant to come into our lives and he's my little baby until I can have a real one.

Here's a little bit about my pup in honor of his birthday:

-Zoram likes tennis balls, but if it's bigger than a tennis ball he's terrified of it.

-He barks way too much.

-He loves playing with my parent's dog Molly and my in-law's dog Max, though most the time Max and Molly don't seem to have as much fun with him.

-He loves to chew on things a bit too much and if he starts, he's determined to destroy it.

-Zoram loves being outside.

-His best trick is bowing to Chris.

-He loves snuggles and hugs, but only when he wants them.

-He's a fast runner and a lot of the time he seems to jump around while running.

-While he can be a big pain most the time, he really does do his job as an emotional support animal. If I'm ever crying, he knows to calm down and comes over to snuggle.

-He's afraid of everything. Just like me. And when he's scared he always comes to me to protect him.

-He's a mamma's boy, and I love it, though Chris is his best friend and playmate.

-Zoram is the cutest dog in the world. No contest. Don't you dare try to convince me otherwise.

OUR FIRST MEETING

Zoram

So if you watched my last YouTube video and/or read my blog very carefully and/or follow me on social media... you would know I've gotten a dog. His name is Zoram Gerrard Farnes, he's pretty adorable, and he's an emotional support animal that was prescribed to me from an therapist, but Chris picked him out and basically surprised me with him. Zoram is a sheltie. He's almost three months old now and he's already grown so much since we first got him.

There's so much more I could say about Zoram but I decided it would be more fun to just show you all the pictures and videos I've taken since we've gotten him. Most of these are from my Snapchat, which you are welcome to follow if you'd like to see more (cowgirlkaylee22).

(Also, I know these are in a weird order. I'm too tired, and honestly lazy, to fix it. Please forgive me.)

Happy Tuesday - 12/29/2015

That 2015 is almost over

Short weeks at work

That I have a YouTube video going up tomorrow!!

New clothes

A new brush

Journals and books

Having the greatest Christmas

My new iPad!!

My puppy Zoram (sometimes)

Beauty Break

Making Snapchat videos of my puppy

And Chris

April Review

Isn't that the cutest little chick? He's on there for two reasons: Easter and the fact that I went to Baby Animal Days. Good times.

So for the first time this year, my Monthly Review post will (hopefully) be more exciting. I'm actually going to write about what happened this month! Shocker for something called a "Monthly Review". Unlike my lengthy reviews last year, I'm keeping things short and sweet and labeling all events by the date they happened. Be sure to leave a comment and let me know if you like the new outline of my monthly review! And be sure to stick around till the end to see how well I did on my New Year Resolutions this month!

1st: I watched the finale of How I Met Your Mother and was truly disappointed. You can read all about that HERE. I also just had an incredibly emotional day and I can't even fully describe how awful the first day of April was. And that's no April Fools Day joke.

5th: Chris and I visited Baby Animal Days!!! You can read about it HERE. I GOT TO PET A COW!!!! It was such a fun event and I hope we can go back every year!!

7th: Happy Birthday to my friend Lauren!!! On this day I began really freaking out about our move to Texas. There was only four weeks left and so much left to do! I was feeling completely overwhelmed!!

10th: I donated plasma for my second time. You can read about my first, disastrous time, HERE. This time was a bit better. I tweeted through the whole experience. I still got lightheaded and they had to bring me juice and crackers, but I made it through okay.

12th: I donated plasma again and I didn't get lightheaded or dizzy or pass out or anything!! I did great! The guy who helped me earlier that week brought be juice and crackers before they even put the needle in me. And anytime he passed me he would make sure I was doing alright. It was nice. Because of my two plasma donations that week I was finally able to buy groceries! Yay! Now we have food in the house and we hope it lasts us until our move.

13th: There has been a duck living right by our front door just sitting on some eggs. On the 13th the eggs were hatched and we got to see three little ducklings! Even though ducks scare me, these little ducks are really cute. But I'm still paranoid about them living right outside my door. (PS, they were gone the next day and have never come back, only leave pieces of egg shells and tons of feathers.)

14th: I had an idea. An ingenious idea that has the potential to change my whole life.... but I'm not yet ready to share it yet. You'll have to wait a bit longer.

15th: I am not doing a Monthly Favorites post this month so I'm adding a few things on here. And on this day I wrote the most popular post of the month: 10 Weird Things About Me.

19th: We went to the aquarium and OH MY GOSH I'M IN LOVE!!! I have always been obsessed with aquariums and zoos and the new aquarium in Draper is absolutely amazing!!! There were so many incredible fish there and I had so much fun with my hubby, brother, brother-in-law, and mother-in-law. It was the best and, since there is no Monthly Favorites post this month, this was my most favorite event of the month! So much fun! And it got me super excited for our Texas move and going to SeaWorld!!

20th: Easter Sunday! I had a fabulous Easter with my family. I always feel so spoiled by the Easter Bunny and this year was no exception. I love my parents and all they do for me and now for Chris as well. Easter is about remembering the resurrection of our brother, Jesus Christ. I love Easter and what it truly means. And I apologize for not doing a blog post about my Easter. If you would like one leave a comment below and let me know. Also on this day, happy 19th birthday to my sweet cousin Cami! I love her so much!

23rd: I was given a free dinner on campus for cleaning up after the Howl! It's nice to go to the all-you-can-eat place for cleaning up after college students at 1:00am. The Howl is one of the many reasons I do not like my job... But (when this post is published) I am no longer working there. We're moving to Texas and I get to find something new. I'm excited!

24th: HALLELUJAH FOR TAX REFUNDS!!! That's all I have to say.

25th: I finally got to see Divergent and I was so insanely happy and I loved it so so much!!! I just want to go see it again and again!!

26th: Chris and I went to the temple with my cousin Cami (and other family members) as she went through for the first time to prepare for her mission! It had been a while since we went through the temple and it was good for us as we are preparing for our big move. Afterwards we went to my cousin Nate's house and had lunch and I got to hold his adorable baby Will. He's the cutest! Then Chris and I went home and fell asleep for hours. Seriously, Chris slept in until like 7:00. It was weird, but I felt incredibly caught up on sleep, so that was a plus.

28th: We got our storage unit so we could start moving the things not coming to Texas with us into storage. It's insane how soon we're moving!!

30th: Tomorrow is my last day of work! What??? Two years ago I thought I was done with my janitor job forever but then last year after three months of unemployment I had to take it back. This past year (school year) of working as a janitor was really hard. It's been four years of being a janitor and that's just not what I want to be doing with my life. I love my boss, I love my coworkers, and it really isn't a bad job. It's just not me, and I'm happy to be leaving and hopefully I don't have to go back again. It's weird to be leaving the same job twice, but I'm excited for new adventures in Texas!

Also, on May 2nd, we move to Texas! This is one of the craziest things I've done in my life but I'm so excited and Chris and I are just happy that we get to try out this new adventure together! As you can guess, I will not be writing on this blog until we're all settled, so it may be a while til my next post (besides scheduled posts about Book Club and Charity of the Month) so I'm sorry that I won't get to talk with you for a while. I love all my readers and wish us luck and safety on our journey to Texas! When I get back I'm sure I'll have lot to say about the longest car ride of my life!

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And now onto how I'm doing on my New Years Resolutions. You can read all about my New Years Resolutions HERE.

To gain 100 blog followers: Again, technically I do have over 200 when I add up all my social media sites, but I'm focusing on getting 100 on just one site. I haven't been doing much this month to get new followers but this summer gaining more followers is definitely a focus as well as giveaways for my new and old followers!

To run a 5k: I am no longer doing the Color Vibe, which makes me sad, but I have this big goal thing I'm working towards so maybe I'll be trained enough to run a 5k soon. I just have to find one. Maybe I'll do the one in the fall that they do at Thanksgiving Point. We'll see.

To get six pack abs: Definitely have not been working on this this month. I've been eating ridiculously this month but starting in May I have some big plans.

To improve my math skills: I honestly just want to kick this goal out of the mix. I don't really want to improve in math, no matter how bad I am at it! Ugh. We'll see I guess.

To make school more of a priority: This goal is complicated right now. There is a lot going on with my college career that you don't know about yet and it's changing lots of things. I have big decisions to make and so much to think about so this goal is on hold until further notice.

To eat healthier: Major fail this month. Peeps have been my favorite snack. I eat like four big meals a day. Bad, bad, bad! But as I said, May is my month to make a change and I have lots of goals for next month.

To save up more money: Can I just say how grateful I am for tax returns? Thank goodness that payment was able to help us get everything in order for the big move. We don't have a lot saved, but we're hoping this summer job will help us get lots of money to save up for school... and finally getting me a new laptop.

To not procrastinate: I have been slightly been procrastinating this month with packing. It's just so overwhelming to pack up our entire apartment for a second time. Also, this move this weekend is the third place we will be living since we've gotten married... and we're one week shy of a year. I know this has nothing to do with my goal, but it's ridiculous how many places we've lived in one year. But yeah, I've been fairly organized about a packing schedule, but I put it off till like last week.

To read more: I am super excited because Book Club starts back up next month!!! AKA, tomorrow!!! Be sure to check out the Book Club page on my blog to see what we'll be reading. Also, I'm happy for our long drive to Texas in a few days because I can finally read Insurgent which I bought months ago but haven't had the time to read yet. I'm happy that I'll get to read more now that school is out!

To pray and read my scriptures everyday: It makes me so sad every month to get to this goal and realize I'm not doing it. I know it sounds like procrastinating, but I truly believe this move to Texas is a chance to change my life for the better. I'm starting new things, I have new goals, I have new life plans, and so much is changing and I truly hope I can make a change for the better and work on this goal.

This Monthly Review post was much longer, but what did y'all think? If you have any suggestions for how I should do my review posts please leave a comment below. And please feel free to tell me all about your April! 

THANKS FOR READING!! 

April Stresses Bring May in Texas

It's stressful enough to work every night and be going to school (while also not wanting to be in school and trying to figure out what to do with my life) but add in the fact that we're moving to Texas at the end of finals week and you have a stressful me.

I just feel like I have so much to do to prepare for Texas! I mean, this is a big move!! Neither of us know anyone in Texas, Chris may have a job ready there for him, but we're just kind of going to Texas blindly not knowing what to do or what to expect. We can only bring what fits in our little car (which I'm nervous about our car even making it to Texas) and there is just a ridiculous amount of change going on here.

I have some doctor appointments to make before we go, we have to find a storage unit for all our stuff that we're not taking with us, we have to donate plasma twice a week to make sure we have enough money to make our journey to Texas, nothing is packed yet, the apartment is currently a mess, we have a duck with five or six eggs living right next to our front door and soon we'll have ducklings as pets, I have to give away my beta fish because they won't survive the trip to Texas, oh yeah, and we only moved four months ago!

I absolutely hated our move last December, it was super stressful and I felt completely alone in whole process. But that was just a move a few streets away from our last place! This is to Texas! 1385 miles away!! As Britney Spears said in her amazing role on How I Met Your Mother, "Welcome to Stressville, population: me."

So this post is to basically say that as I'm going through all the stresses of moving and getting done with this semester of school, this blog is going on the back-burner. I'll still be writing some posts, but it won't be as much of a priority for me right now, and I hope you understand that.

When we get to Texas I have lots of blog posts planned and we have tons of "Texas Adventures" that we will be going on and I will write about them all! I also have a special giveaway planned for the summer, so don't forget to keep coming by!

Thank you to all my new and loyal blog readers! I love you all and I am so grateful for your support in this big change in my life. Thank you for reading my blog! I love y'all!!! (See, I'm preparing for Texas.)

Baby Animal Days

This post is a part of The Cache Valley Checklist.

If you follow me on Instagram then you already know that this weekend I had one of the most exciting moments of my life... I PET A BABY COW!!! And it was amazing! I got to see so many baby cows and they were the cutest things ever! But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I have been looking forward to Baby Animal Days at the American West Heritage Center for months now. I was continually on the lookout for the official dates of the event. Finally one day in the mail we received a notice about it and I clung onto the piece of paper, waiting patiently for the event to arrive! When it was finally the week of, we realized we didn't have any money in our bank account and our chances of going were growing dim, and I was truly upset. But my husband, knowing I had my heart set on going, saved up his tip money just for this event!

I absolutely LOVED Baby Animal Days!! We didn't get to see the baby bear, because the line took over an hour and we had to drive down to Salt Lake (another story for another day) but we got to see so many cute little animals and Chris bought me rock candy, which is my favorite.

Honestly, this event was the most exciting thing I've done in a very long time and it made me truly happy! So I'm so happy we were able to go and pet some animals! If you live in Cache Valley or nearby, you should definitely check out this event every Springtime, and don't forget to look at my Cache Valley Checklist for over 100 things to do in Cache Valley!

So now here's just a ton of pictures from the event! Yay!

Showing off our wristbands!

I GOT TO PET A COW!!! So in line there was a little girl before us and she just ran over to the cow and hugged it and kissed his head, it was pretty much the cutest thing ever.  

I held a bunny! And if you know me, holding animals is a pretty big deal for me. 

Santa's reindeer!! 

This is Chris's hand, he said the tongue felt like sandpaper. I don't let my hands go near animal's mouths, even for an adorable little cow.

Sorry, so many cow pictures! But what do you expect from a blog named after cows?

Us with our candy!

Chris showing off his bag of candy.

I'm afraid of bridges, but I totally crossed this. 

Now Chris knows how to handle the duck living outside our apartment. 

This was by far the cutest little horse I've seen in my entire life. Pictures don't do it justice. I couldn't get good ones though because it was dark and rainy the whole time we were there (until we left) and this little guy (actually I think it was a girl) was in a barn, so it was darker anyways. But seriously, tiny, most adorable horse in the whole world. 

Somehow all these pictures got out of order, but what do you guys care, right? So anyways, I love Baby Animal Days!!! 

THANKS FOR READING!!! 

The Newest Members of the Family

Chris and I would like to welcome the two newest members of our family! Everyone meet Juan:

... and Sassy:

Juan Diego Farnes is a beautiful green beta fish with a prehistoric looking face. Salvador "Sassy" Farnes is a gay blue and red beta fish who is so incredibly beautiful and girlish.

Anyone who reads my blog regularly knows that I've been wanting beta fish since forever. My husband surprised me before we left for our Christmas vacation with a tank for our beta fish! We decided to wait until we were back home from all our Christmas break adventures to get the fish so they wouldn't die. So today we finally got them! I wanted a boy and a girl but the store didn't have any girls, but Sassy was so beautiful and we decided he could just be gay.

I absolutely love the newest members of our family! They are so fun to watch swimming around they are a great addition to our little family! But don't tell our apartment manager because I'm pretty sure they are technically not allowed. It says no pets and I think they include fish in that but my fish will not be making any messes or making much noise so we're bending the rules a bit.

What pets do you have? Leave a comment below and let me know! 

THANKS FOR READING!! 

December Review

December is over? When did that happen? When did December even happen? I don't remember December actually going on... True story.

Basically nothing happened this month. We had finals. We moved. We struggled to pay bills. We celebrated Christmas. Our new place is still unorganized and chaotic. And that's basically my December. So this post will be incredibly short compared to my other Monthly Review posts.

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The month started out with finals. My finals were incredibly easy this semester and I am so grateful for it. I worked super hard this semester and plan on working even harder this next semester! Here are my final grades for the semester:

Yay me! Passing grades! I really think I can do better by working harder. I'm happy with these grades though. I passed! :)

We moved and I have no pictures of our next place yet because it's not ready to be seen yet. It's a work in progress and I hope we all get settled soon.

And then suddenly it was Christmas. I had a fantastic Christmas! I wrote about it in THIS POST. But we actually did a lot more around Christmas time as well. We went to Zoo Lights, we visited Temple Square Lights, we played countless games, we rode Trax, we hung out with my grandma and Nana, we went to my cousin's baptism, I got my haircut, we ate so much good food and gained lots of weight (much to our enjoyment), and we had a fantastic Christmas break! ...and it's not over yet! We're going to my in-law's condo on New Years to snowboard, for my first time! I'm so nervous and excited! Here are just a few (okay, a lot) pictures from our break so far:

Driving around to see Christmas lights (although Logan doesn't have any)

My favorite Christmas treat: Candy Cane Kisses, BEST CANDY EVER!! 

Finding a house barricaded with snow! 

Going down the stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought us!

Christmas!! Yes, we love our onesies! 

Posing with a rhino at Zoo lights!

Zoo lights

More Zoo Lights!

Nativity scenes at Temple Square

The Salt Lake Temple! So beautiful! Also, check out our new coats! 

The temple does the best tree lights. 

Love this temple! 

Light tree

Having fun! 

Oh, and yes, my hat is a cow, and yes, I did get in for Christmas. Thanks Michelle!!! 

Giant Christmas tree!! 

I don't know why I love this picture so much! 

After my haircut my cousin curled my brothers hair. 

He looked so beautiful! ;)

Love you Nick! 

I love my new haircut and my Pikachu shirt! 

For some strange reason this month I've gotten more page views than any other month so far, and for this I am super grateful to you, my readers! You are so fantastic and I love you all! Thank you for making Things I'm Good At my most popular post this month. For me it was very personal and eye opening. I loved writing it and I'm glad you all enjoyed it. Thank you so much for the support you give me! You keep me writing! 

Did you have a good December? What would be in your December Review? Please leave a comment below and tell me all about it! 

THANKS FOR READING!!