100 Days!

In honor of Cody's 100 days out on his mish here is 100 reasons I love him. (Not in any order...)

1. He has brought me closer to God.
2. He makes me happier than anyone else
3. He is a gentleman
4. He works hard
5. He puts the Lord and his mission first, before me
6. He is focused
7. He procrastinates (really bad, but it makes me laugh)
8. He does the best accents
9. He loves kids
10. He comes from an amazing family
11. He is absolutely hilarious
12. He doesn't judge-anyone 
13. He keeps every little thing
14. He is so sweet 
15. He supports me
16. He is understanding
17. He is sporty
18. He listens
19. He cries if he ever feels the spirit:
20. He has the cutest crying face ever
21. He is really manly (See what I did there?)
22. He treats me like a princess
23. He is close with my family 
24. He listens to the spirit
25. He is friendly
26. He is a good example to my brothers
27. He is smart
28. He is so muscly like dang
29. He loves his little niece and its adorable
30. He loves the ocean
31. He is just like my daddy
32. He has an unshakeable testimony
33. He blesses my life through his hard work
34. He respects my parents
35. He is patient
36. He is so sweet to my mom
37. He loves Frozen
38. He is the best cuddler ever
39. He plays football 
40. He listens to my ridiculous stories
41. He is handy
42. He is unbelievably handsome
43. He is blond
44. He is easily entertained
45. He laughs at my jokes
46. He is always up for fun
47. He is accepting of others
48. He dresses super cute (insert heart eyes emoji)
49. He is respectful
50. He is a baseball boy 
51. He has the funnest family and I absolutely love being with them 
52. He is adventurous
53. He respects everyone he meets
54. He is good at everything he tries-the first time
55. He is really lucky
56. He knows what's important and puts those things first 
57. He is positive 
58. He trusts me with all of his keepsakes (this includes his baby teeth btw)
59. He has green eyes
60. He says the cutest things
61. He knows me better than anyone except my mom 
62. He calms me and helps me through the hardest times without knowing it
63. He can cook, kind of
64. He is simple 
65. He lives life to the fullest
66. He has the most contagious smile
67. He has the light of Christ in his eyes
68. He remembers Christmas in July
69. He makes an impact on everyone he meets 
70. He loves his mom
71. He isn't afraid to share his testimony
72. He makes everything fun
73. He loves talking about anything and everything
74. He will laugh at the dumbest movies until I laugh too
75. He is more romantic than any chick flick
76. He is loyal
77. He is worthy of the priesthood
78. He makes me smile whenever I'm with him
79. He is the most easy going person I know
80. He is a man of his word
81. He has a story for literally everything
82. He is an amazing surfer
83. He notices the little things that most people don't
84. He plays the ukulele
85. He sings (this is double points)
86. He keeps everything
87. He is a rebel but won't admit it
88. He always offers to help
89. He makes me feel important
90. He loves the people he is serving in Mexico
91. He is a fast learner 
92. He trusts God completely
93. He always thinks the best of people
94. He loves all of my packages even though he doesn't need any of it :) 
95. He is kind of air heady and it makes me laugh so hard (but it's okay cuz I am too...)
96. He is tall so I can wear heels
97. He remembers everything 
98. He is humble
99. He loves God
100. He loves me as much as I love him.

Shipping to Mexico

If you have a missionary in Mexico you know that sending packages there is a joke. I've tried two different ways and neither of them worked too well. 

First, and most common: USPS 

If you choose to use them, I would use a flat rate box. These are a little over $24.00 (price varies on box but the size I sent was $24.00) and get there in 7-10 days (supposedly)

Pros: This is the cheapest option I have found. 

Cons: If it says 7-10 days it really means 4-6 weeks. It will probably get to Mexico in that 7-10 days but the Mexican Postal Service takes a REALLY long time. Another big problem, stealing. There is a really high percentage of packages that get damaged, have missing items, or are stolen completely. Really the only chance of this not happening is to cover the package with pictures of the Virgin Mary (make sure to put them over the edges of the box where you open it) But doing this doesn't insure anything. 

Overall: This isn't a great option. But Cody did get it eventually (five weeks later) and as far as I know, nothing was stolen. 

The next place I tried: My Missionary Shipping 

On their website they make themselves sound really great but honestly my experience was nothing close to that. They use DHL which is the safest way to ship. It also (supposedly) gets in the missionary's hands 1-3 days. Nope. Not for me. It got to Mexico in two days but sat in customs for over two weeks. The guy who runs it wasn't helpful at all and hard to get ahold of. I had no idea that half of the things I sent were illegal! So the package that got to Cody was practically empty. It was really really frustrating. I would not recommend this company to anyone! 

Pros: They use DHL which is really fast and really safe. Your package never leaves a DHL workers hands. It is completely safe and you can track it the whole time. 

Cons: Pretty pricey but considering how fast it gets there it's a lot cheaper than most places! The customer service was not great and the website was confusing. You also have to chat back and forth with him to figure out how much it costs. And this is based on his convenience so it takes a couple of days just to get a price quote! Can you tell I was really unhappy? Haha

Overall: My experience was really bad and I would tell you to avoid these guys! 

What I'm trying next: Global Mission Shipping

These guys seem to be fantastic. They use DHL so their prices and delivery time are the same as My Missionary Shipping however what impresses me the most is there customer service. I met them at the Missionary Expo a few weeks ago and they were great! They were really organized and kind. I'm really excited to try them out and I'll give a review of them after I send my next package. 

Pros: Organized, friendly, use DHL (look at the pros from the last company), they're website is fantastic! They have an instant quote calculator and keep an updated list of things that you can't send to every country they ship to. (This would've been really helpful) Their customer service is quick and helpful. If you send them a question they will reply within an hour (from my experience anyways) So far, they have been fantastic. 

Cons: So far none. But I'll let you know how things go! 

Overall: It sounds like the best option and I've been thrilled with their customer service so far. 

The company that I would suggest is Global Mission Shipping. I am so impressed with them so far and I hope that it stays that way. So there you have it. 

Xoxo 

Mads

Cody turned 19!

Cody's birthday was Sunday. And it was LDS Conference so the day was that much better.

For his birthday package I went all out. 

Here is a few pictures of his presents.

In This Package:

- Balloons

- "Open When" Notes

- Sparkler Candles

- Cake in a Jar (Not in this pic)

- Halloween Pillow Case 

- Funky Socks

- Tie

- Stickers for the kiddos

- 13 Articles of Faith Pass-a-Long cards

- Teeny Tiny Piñata (If this isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen you're wrong.)

- Voice Recording Birthday Card

Matching Socks and Tie

Piñata, Balloons, Sparkler Candles, Voice Recording Card

The Halloween Pillowcase I made him

10 Open When Letters

You can get these pass-a-longs Here

This is the yummiest cake you will ever have. Ever. 

Ooey Gooey Toffee Cake Recipe Here

I am so thankful to have Cody in my life. He has turned my world upside down and changed the way I see my life. When I am around Cody I am the best and happiest version of myself. No one on this Earth brings that out of me. He has made me become a better person and I want to continue to grow along side him. 

Cody is absolutely incredible.

 

I have dated A LOT and no one comes close to Cody. I am so lucky to have him but I just hope that I can be that perfect girl for him, because he's everything I could ever want and everything I need. I don't deserve such an incredible boyfriend. I thank my lucky stars for him every night. 

So now you know why I do all this for Code. He is my happy. And doing these things makes me feel close to him and well, happy.

So thank you, whoever is reading this, for taking me as me; and following along during the longest two years of my life.

xoxo
mads

Happy Second Birthday Evie

Cody has the most adorable niece on this entire earth. She is the sweetest, most talkative, spunkiest little girl I've ever met. Evie is the cutest thing ever. Enough said. 

So she turned two on Friday and I had something in mind to give her. I started a project a couple weeks before because I wanted it to be perfect! 

I decided to make my first doll for Evie. I've been sewing quilts and pillow cases for Code but I've never done a doll before. 

My grandma is an incredible seamstress and had the cutest pattern for a doll to take to church. I made the a little bag to hold the doll and all of the clothes I made for her. It turned out so cute. 

I think she really liked it. She wanted to go to church right then and there. 

Here is the bag that the little doll and all of her clothes go in

And then the doll

And another outfit 

And there's tons if other things but this is all I got pictures of so there ya go 

Xoxo 

Mads

Pictures from Cody

I have been waiting SO long to get these pictures. I was starting to forget what Cody looks like (jk that's impossible). But here is pictures from the MTC and Mexico...

Cody in the MTC with one of our friends from school. 

MTC

Cody and his companion in the MTC. He said Cody talks too much... Hahahaha thats Code for ya! He's so easy to talk to and I love it. 

Code and a teacher in the MTC. 

The classic MTC picture. I've got to say how much I love his suit. He looks dang good don't you think?;)

His view on his walk home.  I would kill to see this everyday. 

Cody, his companion, and a little boy from Ebano. Notice the streets and the house. He's in a very poor part of Mexico. He trudges through the mud and rain all day everyday. 

Elder Manzano drew this for Cody. It actually looks a lot like him haha well mostly because of the muscles ;)

With Elder Manzano on the first day in Mexico. He is the Zone Leader and is taking good care of Cody!

I'm so proud of him and can't stop looking at these pics!

Xoxo 

Mads

Here's Some Advice

School throws everything off. Life gets busy and time flies. (This is obvious in my own life since I haven't posted anything in a few days.) This can be a good thing if you think how fast time is going. Cody's already been out 53 days! That's crazy. 

But school takes up 7 hours a day, 5 days a week.  Cody can't be on my mind every second if I want to pass my classes. (Sadly) So I've gotten behind on sending his first package and replying to three of his letters. I know, I'm so awful. Like really though. 

So here's an idea my mom and I came up with...

Premade packages. 

There is plenty of companies that do this for missionaries and military men but in my opinion they're over priced and pretty basic. Besides, I like my packages to be personal and specific to the things Cody likes.

So I went to Target and bought tons of treats, chapsticks, lint rollers, gum, pictures, quotes, socks, ties, etc. so I have a whole cabinet FULL of package items. 

You can pick up flat rate boxes and envelopes at the USPS store for free, so I got a bunch of those and threw them in the cabinet. 

This next step is still in the works. I'm going through and putting together all of the packages into the padded envelopes. When I'm ready to send a package all I have to do is go down to that cabinet and pick which one I want. I will add a couple current pictures and a letter each time. So these are all still totally thought out and personal, they're just done ahead of time. I just worry that if I don't have a few ready ahead of time I will get behind and out of habit of sending things. 

So there's my latest and greatest idea. :) Let me know what you think!

Oh and here's a picture of Cody in the MTC with a couple of kids that went to our school. I love how awkward he looks next to the girls. Hahahaha. He's a really "huggy" person so I'm sure he didn't know what to do in this situation. I just think he's the most adorable thing ever-even when he's awkward. 

Xoxo

-Mads

Cody's Last MTC Package

Don't get me wrong, the fiesta was totally for Cody. But I couldn't let him leave the MTC without a little package that was 100% for him. So the next day I sent him this...

-Cody's Favorite Candy (Chocolate-Covered Acai Berries)

-Photo Album

-Hand Sanitizer

-"Open When" Letters

-Chocolate (I can't send this once he gets to Mexico)

-Highlighters

-Quotes (I send them in every package)

Leaving the MTC Fiesta

Okay this is my number one, all time favorite package I've sent Cody (so far). Cody's district has 12 elders, huge right? They are the biggest district in the MTC and everyone calls them "The Twelve". Coincidence? Haha just kidding.

Anyways Cody has had a lot of fun with these guys and they have had a great connection. I thought they all deserved a little party to celebrate their last P-Day in the MTC. So in honor of Cody leaving for Mexico I sent these boys a Fiesta in a Box. 

I found this printable to make 12 "minionaries" haha they're adorable! You just wrap them around twinkies and draw on a face they turn out adorable. You can find them here. This will connect you to the blog I found them on. 

Here's what my minionaries look like...

Next I added a dozen Mountain Dew bottles. If you know me or my mom there's always a way to make things cute. So we made little ties and laminated them. Then we tied the to string and wrapped them around the "necks". I think they turned out pretty cute. 

Yes, I know missionaries don't wear bow ties but they looked really cute on the bottles and I think they'd look even cuter on missionaries but I don't think that will ever happen...

Missionaries love chips and salsa. It's kind of a stereotypical package item but it's a classic fiesta food. 

Next I bought 12 mustaches. I seriously love this haha. They better have taken pictures! 

I'm sure they were the most excited to get the little ping pong set. It has a net and everything! You can get this at Target by clicking here. I'm sure they'll have lots of fun with this. 

One thing I always add to Cody's packages are quotes to put in his scriptures. So I printed out twelve copies of this. I found it on Pinterest but don't know who made it. I'm not claiming credit for this printable. 

I bought lots of candy and 12 of those little popper things that you just pull the string and it explodes. You can get those at any party store. They're really fun! 

I wrote a letter to "The Twelve" wishing them luck and thanking them for taking care of Cody. But I wanted to test their progress so I wrote the whole thing in Spanish. (Insert smirking emoji) But seriously if they can't read that basic Spanish I'm really worried about them... Good luck elders!

Last I added a Baja Blast for Cody a long with a letter for him and his favorite candy. I wanted to make him still feel special. I'm sure the other elders will tease him relentlessly. 

I sent him a "Leaving the MTC" package that was all for him on Friday. I'll post about that next. :)

Here's the rest of the pictures. Btw this box weighed 22 lbs from all the food haha. They better have enjoyed it! 

Christmas in July Package

I was SO excited to celebrate Christmas in July for the first time. I would talk to Cody about it all the time before he left. I was ecstatic. A week after Cody left I already new what I was going to do for his present. My grandma is an incredible seamstress. She makes the most beautiful dolls and quilts. Seriously they're amazing. I decided I was going to make Cody a quilt.
So I went to Joann's with my mom and grandma to pick out some "manly but cute" fabric. Cody's favorite color is blue, well Bingham blue or BYU blue to be specific ;)
I thought orange and gray would look cute too. Step one, done.
Next was making the actual quilt. This was so much fun! Oh my gosh sewing is my new fav thing. Maybe. Haha.
I bought this special material that you can print a picture on and then iron it right on to the quilt it's really cool.
This breezed by. Before I knew it I was  putting it in the box with his favorite drink, Baja Blast.
Well I had to cuddle with it for one night before sending it off so that added another day. On July 24th it was  at the UPS store for same day delivery.
This was such a fun project and Cody sleeps with it every night to this day. Here are a few pictures of the final project.

So there ya go! Christmas in July present complete.

I was totally surprised to get a package in the mail on July 25th. It was from Cody! I seriously was so excited to open it! He has remembered about Christmas in July. He is seriously the cutest you guys have no idea. This meant the world to me! He gave me a t-shirt that's about 4 sizes too big from the MTC with a map of Mexico on it. It's now my favorite item of clothing. I was so excited and impressed that he remembered. 

Doesn't he have perfect hand writing?! He needs his own font on Microsoft word. 

Pre-Mission Gift Ideas

Pre-mission gifts were some of my favorite things to give Cody because he wasn't expecting anything at all and it helped me learn more about what it was going to be like for him while he was serving The Lord.

I found out that Cody's farewell talk was going to be during my annual family Lake Powell trip. We were both devastated.

I had a couple ideas to make up for it. 

A few days before the trip I bought a Spanish Book of Mormon to have a friend deliver to Cody the night before his farewell. But this wasn't just any $2.00 Book of Mormon. On the inside cover I wrote my testimony in Spanish. I wrote Cody a seperate note with special instructions to read my testimony and find the right person to give it to while on his mission. This simple gift means a lot to me because my testimony is the most important thing I can ever give to someone. 

So I had a friend deliver it to him the night before his farewell talk. Little did he know I was going to surprise him and drive seven hours home to make it to his talk. I was so excited and he had no idea (insert smirking emoji). 

The day of the talk, my mom and I got to his church early and were sitting in the pews. Cody came walking in and freaked out. He said he knew I would be there because he's "telepathic." Hmm. I don't know if I believe him... ;)

He gave an amazing talk and I was falling more and more in love. I was and still am completely whipped. 

Another thing I gave him was a CTR ring. And he gave me one too :) Here are pictures of each of ours. You can buy these at any Deseret Book!

I'm sure you can guess who's is who's :)

The last thing I gave him before he left was this little paperback by Mark W. Newman from Deseret Book. I went through and highlighted some things that I thought were helpful or funny to stand out for him to read. 

It had some great advice! I was really impressed. Along with this I gave Code a picture of The Salt Lake Temple, the First Presidency, and Jesus Christ. I also wrote a letter to read on his first bad day in the MTC. He loved it!

Giving Cody little missionary themed gifts helped transition me into the "Oh my gosh, he's really leaving" stage. Honestly, it seemed so far away until all of a sudden he had his farewell talk. Everything went downhill from there. So this was fun for me to read the little pamphlet and be able to write my testimony of the Book of Mormon. And I'm pretty sure Cody enjoyed getting all the gifts. :)

These are just a few ideas and I'm sure there are plenty of other cute things you can find on Pinterest but these three things came from my very own blonde head. 100% original so I feel pretty creative ;)

Let me know your ideas! 

Xoxo

-Mads

My Inspiration

Meet Cody. (Yes, those are his abs without flexing or photoshop and yes, I love it-so enjoy.) This boy has rocked my world and I can't imagine life without him. Well I kind of have an idea... He left on an LDS mission on July 9. And it's been one of the longest four and a half weeks of my life. I miss him like CRAZY! 

It has been so hard being away from my sweetheart but I have been more blessed  than ever since he entered the mission field. It's crazy how The Lord works. 

One of the things that has kept me going while he's been gone is sending him packages. I am so lucky to live in Utah so that I can send him "Same Day Delivery" packages. And yes I think I've taken full advantage of this. A lot of my ideas have been influenced through Pinterest and are not original but I've taken a lot of them a little farther and made them my own! I'll post some of the things I've sent over the last month and maybe help some of you get through the 2 years our missionaries serve The Lord.

This blog is more for my sanity than anything else. But I hope that I can help someone out or just make someone smile. 

So enjoy. This is me:)

Xoxo 

-Mads