HAPPINESS EXPERIMENT

YOU GUYS. I AM LITERALLY OBSESSED WITH THIS SONG RIGHT NOW! Like legitimately obsessed. I think I've played *this* version like 14 times today.  It's inspired me.. it's given me a really really great idea.... :)

BACKSTORY:
I was having a conversation with two of my greatest friends this past weekend. A majority of the conversation was about our normal random happy lives, but for a while we got talking about some really heavy and sad things that are happening in the world today. It started the scary chain reaction that happens in my brain and I had the thought, "where did all the happiness go?" Because if we're being real, there is SO MUCH SAD in the world and in the lives of so many people worldwide right now.  It gets hard to see the happiness. THEN I heard a quote in church on Sunday. (GOODNESS GRACIOUS I love being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.)

"If you look around you and seem to see that there is no hope, BE that hope. Be the hope and happiness that others can look to when they are having a dark moment. They can see you and be able to say, 'there is still light in the world.'  That way, not only will you be their hope, but also your own."

So! I want to do a little experiment.. :) 

WHO WANTS TO BE IN A VIDEO TO THE SONG WITH ME?! I don't even care if we've never met or haven't talked in years or if I saw you yesterday or ANYTHING. Just send me a video of YOU dancing to the song "HAPPY" by Pharrell Williams! It could be just a part of the song, or all of the song, you jamming alone or with all of your peeps, in your house, at the park, in your car.... it doesn't matter! Or you don't even have to dance! Do or show me whatever makes you HAPPY! ;) And after you do it, tell all your friends to do it too!! SPREAD THE WORD! Lets try and get as many people as possible! Because who couldn't use a little bit of HAPPINESS in their lives, am I right?! :D

My hopes is that I'll get tons of HAPPY videos of people being HAPPY and put it all together into ONE GIANT VIDEO OF HAPPY!!! How cool would it be to see how happy people are around you?! Or how cool would it be to see a ton of random people who don't really know each other  united in HAPPINESS! 

Then I (and hopefully you guys too!) will social media the HECK outta that thing and SPREAD THE HAPPINESS TO EVERYONE! :)

.....maybe this can help you get started.... ;) 

My camera died, oops. Oh well, I'M HAPPY!!....Messy, bare house and all. ;)

WAYS TO SEND ME YOUR VIDEO
- Upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo, title it "The Happiness Experiment!"  and send me a link to your video to my email: cortneej@gmail.com
- If the file is small enough, you could try and 'zip' it and email it directly!
- If it's short, send me a direct message on Instagram! username: cortnee_furness
- Send it to me on Facebook! Todd-Cortnee Furness, is how you'll find me on Facebook!
- Post it to Twitter and tag me in it! @cortnee_furness is my Twitter handle!
- Aaaaaand...I think I've listed all possible ways to get in contact with me over social media, so any way you want to or can reach me, DO IT. ;)

If you post about it online anywhere, if you'd like,  #thehappinessexperimentYEAH (I added the YEAH because it's fun to say and because that hashtag is un-used and makes it easier for me to find your stuff!)  :)

So....GO! DANCE to HAPPY! BE HAPPY!!! I need some hope from you guys. :)

#nielsensandfurniitakeDISNEY

Did you know I am obsessed with Disney? Ok... well, did you also know I am obsessed with the Nielsen's!? SO AS YOU CAN TELL,  this vacation was literally my favorite thing. WE TOOK DISNEY. (I'm not even sure what that really means. Or if it's really thing. But if it is a thing, we for sure did it.) But it all seriousness, the Nielsen's are some of our very best friends. They are the kind of people that you can never tire being around. Just kindhearted, one of a kind, true blue friends. We're so blessed to have them in our lives. Hopefully they like us as much as we like them... because if not,  TOO BAD. You're stuck with us. ;) #obsessed.

Sometime mid-December Todd calls me from work and says, "do you want to go to California?" In my mind I know he said "do you want to go to California," but literally all I heard was, "WE'RE GOING TO DISNEYLAND!!" So, obviously, I started screaming and asked when we were leaving. (Funny part was, in talking with the Nielsen's later, the exact same thing happend when Kyron asked Marie. Remember how WE ARE TWINS. Cool. Me too. :) ) My mind started going CRAZY thinking about all I wanted to do with Ellie at DISNEYLAND for her first time ever!! Then, I did what any normal person would do: I created a countdown on my phone and sent a screen shot to Marie of the countdown. Every. Single. Day. Can you say, ROAD TRIP!? (That last sentence HAS to be said like a 14 year old girl, complete with a squeal at the end. Without it, it just doesn't have the same effect...) Ellie was a literal CHAMP!

It works out really nice because I have really amazing grandparents who live just outside of Anaheim. (Hotel, CHECK.)  My grandma also is the most incredible and loves to cook. (Meals, CHECK.)  Next stop, sell your arm, leg and 7 and 1/2 of your toes to get into Disney. SO WORTH IT, but man, so expensive! We were only going to be there for 1 day, but we still decided to get tickets to both parks. Honestly, I would buy admission into California Adventure to see World of Color ALONE. It is so, so magical.

The weather was perfect, the whole day in general was perfect and I literally could not have imagined a better Disney trip!! The best way to tell about our experience? Picture binge of course :)

Disneyland at Christmas... Could there be anything greater?! (The answer is no.)  :)

Ellie's first ride was Ariels Under Sea Adventure over at California Adventure!

Ellie wasn't quite sure how she felt about the Heffalumps and Woozles... 

Disney-selfie! (For sure Disney-selfies are totes acceptable.)

My very favorite picture from the WHOLE trip :)

And then there was that time when I took my poor sweet girl on Pirates and she was so scared she straight up put her self to sleep before the end of the ride. #motheroftheyear

She may have been scared of the Heffalumps and Woozles, but she LOVED Beasts Castle. :)

We got to eat at the Rainforest Cafe in Downtown Disney!! Thanks to the INCREDIBLE Cornelius'! :)

Lets just stop and talk about how magical this is for a second. OR how much more magical (thats fun to say :) much more magical..) watching World of Color is with your 1 year old experiencing it for the first time. ORRRR how about I SHOW YOU.  (See below)

What's Disney without your funny ride pictures??  ;)

Our little trooper. :)

AAAAND SO (said in the voice of Julie Andrews), all my wildest dreams came true that day. I was able to share my favorite place with my favorite people and watch my beautiful girl experience the true magic of Disney. And to think, I thought Disney was magical before? <3 

10 things I've learned being a mom to Jennelle Kate Furness.

I wanted to post this like, you know, back when she was 1 (I'm only 2 months late guys, not toooo bad, right?) Better late than never! :) I just chose 10 things because although I learn COUNTLESS things each day, I had to cap it somewhere. And the number 10 would make Monk proud, so. ;) This won't be a generic list of  "10 things I've learned being a mom in the first year", but rather "10 things I've learned being Jennelle's mom in her first year." I haven't been anyone else's mom (yet ;)).

10. Food (aka, her bottle) is meant to be in her mouth the MOMENT she wakes up. Any thing less is UNACCEPTABLE. ;)
9. No one can suffice for DADDY. When he comes home, the world is right again.
8. Bath time is easily the best time.
7. And subsequently the end of bath time is easily the worst time.
6. Smiles (especially Ellie smiles) can heal all of life's woes.
5. When you are with someone, BE WITH THEM. Don't be distracted by anything else. Live, really live in that moment. "If you want to be in their memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives TODAY."
4. It's so important to truly express your feelings. If you're happy, flap your arms and giggle so everyone knows! If you're sad, let it out so it can be fixed! Whatever is wrong can't be fixed if no one knows there is a problem in the first place.
3. It is MORE than ok to watch the first 17 minutes of Tangled over and over again. (and over, and over and over and over...) It brings smiles!
2. Purple is the greatest color, her favoritest color,  making her purple Care Bear the greatest crib cuddle buddy in existence.
1. You can be happy EVERY SINGLE DAY. There is always, always something to be happy about.

BONUS: Only serve Mac and Cheese for lunch on bath days. ;)

And now, to my perfectest precious little Baby Dude (with the most gorgeous eyes) - you are my best buddy. We do everything together, literally! Who new my best friend and daughter would be all rolled into one tiny human of happiness!! I have the incredible blessing of being able to stay home with you everyday, so over this last year we've become pretty close, you and I. I'd even go as far to say that I know everything about you. ;)  You bring more joy to me and your dad than I think you will ever realize. YOU, you are OUR world. Thank you for allowing us to grow and learn in ways we never thought possible. Thank you for strengthening our marriage. I can honestly say I love your father more today than the day I married him. (And I thought my heart was going to burst straight out of my chest with love for him on that day too so, thats saying something. ;) I am me, because YOU are YOU. THANK YOU for being Y O U.

Love always, mmmmda. :)

My Story.

Do you guys know this incredible mother/blogger? She is literally one of my idols. Her strength is nothing short of inspiring. I hope to be able to meet her someday. :) Recently she published a blog post that had an impact on me and why I blog. (Actually, this one is really amazing too. Heck, HER WHOLE BLOG IS AMAZING.) But these posts got me thinking: why do I blog? Then, when I do blog, did I do stuff to blog about it? Or do I blog about the stuff I do?

Then that got me thinking even harder. Why do I want to blog??

Do I want to make money? Thats not a bad thing to want, but if it's the soul purpose of blogging... how miserable, right? I deserve to love what I do. So do you. 

Do I want to be a "popular blogger" so people give me free stuff? Again, who doesn't love free stuff? But again again, how miserable. Where's the HEART? Where's the juice? WHY DO I BLOG? 

So I did some digging. I figured out that although the aforementioned reasons for blogging could be benefits for why I do already, they should not, and do not reflect in my heart, WHY I BLOG. 

Guys, I blog for Ellie. I blog for Toddy. I blog for my now family and future family. I blog so that one day my children can look back and hopefully say:

"Dang Mom, you really ARE obsessed with Disney! It comes up in like every post!" 

"You are SUCH A NERD, mom!"

"MOM! Why would you post this picture of my naked bum TO THE WORLD!?!" (To which I would reply, because it's adorrrrable, duh.)  ;)

"Mom, I love how you talk about dad in your blog posts. And about how much you love him."

"Wow, we did some fun things growing up, didn't we?"

"Thank you, Mom, for sharing your testimony and love for the Savior and the gospel on your blog. I love being able to read these parts of your heart."

In short, I blog so I can tell my story. My story of the happiness I feel a wife and mother. 

Like today. Today, my story is this:

It was one of those days when you're doing the dishes while your daughter is playing in the living room behind you and you look over to check on her and realize she has some how taken her pants off. She's one guys. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! Man, I love being her mother. :)

*low quality photo courtesy of my extremely broken iPhone.  Is it too early to ask for donations? ;)

(Literally and 100% joking, incase the ;) wasn't enough...)

A party fit for a PRINCESS.

Remember *this* post? From back when Ellie was inside my tummy still? Our little princess. :) So obviously, it's only fitting that we throw her a FIRST BIRTHDAY PARTY ('cause thats a thing...) that's fit for a princess, right? Right. :)

What you should know:
My child is obsessed with the movie Tangled. Like, I don't think you understand. Swearsies I'm not a bad mom who sticks her child in front of a TV all day, but we seriously watch it ALL the time! It calms her down when she's upset, and I'm 99.4% positive she's got it bad for Flynn Rider.

Knowing this, I decided to make it the theme for her party! I know that first birthday parties have a trend to be more for the the Mom than anyone else, but I tried really hard to make the party really visually Tangled-y, so that she could recognize the decor and enjoy it, too! After all the party is for HER. :) Picture binge ready GO!

As you walked in, there was this little set up! We had cut out lanterns with sticky's so quests could write a note to the birthday girl! It's supposed to look like the mural Rapunzel paints in the movie! If you enlarge the picture, you'll see the picture of it to the left! I still need to add Rapunzel (only her hair is there now), and arrange the lanterns a little, but when I'm done, this will go in her room! :)

We also had a Rapunzel themed photo booth!  You'll see some of the other costumes people had to choose from in the party pictures below. :) But this one is the Flynn Rider "WANTED" poster I made, complete with silly noses to choose from because, duh, "they just can't get my nose right!" ;)

These little beasts, er, I mean beauties were such a hit! (Cutting out those all those little suns was a doooosie.) Originally I was going to have them all made for people to just wear at the party, but I ran out of time so we just had a "Rapunzel Party Hat Making Station." It actually turned out to be really fun. :) 

This was the some of the decor! Lots of lanterns, the Kingdom Sun Banner and pictures of the birthday girl! :) If you don't know my mother, she likes to keep Christmas decor up as long as possible, so it was a Tangled/Christmas theme... ;) (Note the picture of the Manger scene) Also-- anyone else's OCD kicking in at the spacing of the red vases?! Oopsie. :)

The Cake!! Originally I wanted to do colorful frosting, but.. (you guessed it) I ran out of time. And as you will see down below, the color of the frosting made NO difference to the birthday girl. ;) She dove into that thing like a champ!

I just made the little banner out of construction paper! Strawberries are her favorite, so those had to make an appearance as well. 

We also had a princess pinata that we hit with a frying pan! 'Cause, "frying pans!! Who knew, right?!" Ellie didn't really understand, but her cousins sure had fun with it. ;)  

Overall, I think the party turned out pretty great, and the birthday girl had a ton of fun. :)

We ended off the evening by lighting off a lantern! (Which apparently MUCH harder than it looks.) Whats a Tangled party without lanterns, right? :) I don't want to talk about the fact that I ordered 20 lanterns from eBay that came the day AFTER the party. dfghwipafhsd;kfhsadofia. Luckily Grandma Furness came to the rescue and found one in Lehi. Thank goodness for Grandma's! 

Happiness!!!

Don't you worry, my mushy one year of motherhood post is up next. Stay tuned. ;)

** Sorry if the pictures are spacing all weird like!