Taylor & Ashley Sanderson

Thoughts about time and gratitude.

2011-11-04T15:10:00.000-07:00

You know you have finally become an adult, when your to do list keeps getting longer despite working from sun-up to sun-down. It seems like every job I do reminds me of two more I wanted to get done.

I remember being newly married and thinking, "Wow, life just got busier", now that I am a new mother I am having the same thoughts "Wow, life just got busier". Now that I have twins I feel I can say that two times over. Some days I just snuggle my little men and I refuse to feel guilty doing that, but it sure doesn't help the to do list.

Anyone else not have enough time in the day? I'm sure if I asked a room full of people this question everyone would raise their hand. I just looked at the clock and realized it is 4:15 PM. I had to double take because I thought it was 2!

Amazingly I don't feel sorry/bad, or resentful for my responsiblities or chores. I guess that is because my parents taught me to work hard. Both my mom and dad are constantly working. Whether at their job, in their yard, or around the house. It seems like their to do list is just as long as mine. I'm thankful that both Taylor and I have hard working parents who instilled that same work ethic in us.

I'm thankful I have two hands to work with. I'm thankful that my two hands allow me to take care of two of God's children. I know my greatest accomplishment will be them. I'm sure every mother has the same sentiments, but it doesn't make it anyless true for them or me.

This week it seems like I have compared myself to every women out there! I found all sorts of little things to be depressed about that I wasn't doing or accomplishing. It's amazing how all of the little things add up to be big things and suddenly you find yourself crying with an empty box of milk duds. You go to reach for more milk duds and realize they are all gone. This little break in your routine has you wondering where the time went, how you got there, and who has eaten all of your milk duds??? Well my situation didn't happen exactly like this, but I'm sure you all know what I'm talking about!

I find that as I am wallowing in self pity, I have a pop of light. As a mom these pops of light generally come when one of my boys is crying and I go to pick him up and instantly he stops and smiles. At that moment you see it in his eyes that everything will be ok because his mom is there and he is not alone.

Some of us still have earthly parents we can turn to, but most importantly we have a father in heaven who knows us better than anyone else and will not leave us alone. I am especially grateful that I have this knowledge. We are not alone.

Well in the time it took to type this post I thought about 2 other things to add to the list, but I can cross "blog" off. A baby just woke up, and the washer just finished. Time to get back to work.

Twins Blessing

2011-10-19T11:12:00.000-07:00

We were able to bless the twins on October 9th. It was such a special day. My aunt and grandma from back east were able to come, not to mention countless other family members. Our family and friends really made it something special! Taylor did a great job with the blessings. He made them different enough, and blessed them with some beautiful things.

October 9th is also my deceased Grandpa's birthday. This along with other things too precious to mention here made the day so special and priceless. Since I can't really explain the day and the feelings I had I will just share pictures.

The 2nd and 3rd pictures are how the day ended...BEST Day ever!

The Good, The Bad, The.... Handsome

2011-10-02T10:12:00.000-07:00

The Good:TOO much good to list but all I can says is WOW....I didn't realize how fast your life would go when you live it 3 hours at a time...or in between feedings. I can't believe it has been 3 months since I had the boys. Even though I miss my sleep and my "own" time I love the feeling that comes when I pick up and hold the child that is screaming and comfort him. Almost immediately they calm down. There is nothing like that moment when you see a child calm down because they know their mama has them and everything will be ok. Taylor and I have been blessed with some pretty great boys. Austin will only cry if he is hungry or tired. Stone cries a little more here and there, but by no means is he colicky. Is that even a work colicky?

In the past 3 months Taylor and I have both turned 28. My 10 year high school reunion occurred,and we got all the hospital bills. 2 kids in the NICU for 20 days is not cheap, but because there wasn't anything seriously wrong with them it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be. Only about 8,000 per day for both of them. T.H.A.N.K. G.O.O.D.N.E.S.S. for good insurance. Summer has completely passed us by. I can't believe it is already October.

The Bad:I have had a handful of days when I have felt so inadequate, and that I am not doing enough or doing this whole parenting thing right. Taylor has come home to find me in tears because of these feelings. It's not post partum depression by any means, but I think it comes from the adjustment of having two little ones. Every parent knows these highs and lows. Poopy diapers and blow outs, enough said. Stone has a little acid reflux. We have medicine now, but it was so sad there for a while when there wasn't anything we could do. These feelings are inevitable. We deal with them and move on. I just have to remember the feelings won't last, and they aren't anything that 10 minutes alone in peace and quiet, and a good diet coke won't fix.

The Handsome:Now time for the beautiful. I decided to take the boys pictures every month in a 12 month onesie so you could see their growth. Here are those pictures.

Funny story about this picture...
I wanted to take the boys 8 week pictures but wanted them to be awake so I decided to take them after their meal. I had just finished feeding the boys and put them in the 12 month onesie when Stone threw up his meal and some of it got on Austin. Apparently Austin didn't like being thrown up on because he decided to join the club and throw up his meal on Stone. I couldn't help but laugh a little and take this picture.

8 week Stone: At the 2 month appointment Stone was 21.25 inches long, and 9lbs 12oz. When Stone was born he was 18.75 inches long, and 4 lbs 11 oz.
Apparently the camera still scares this one a little...

12 week Stone: Stone has started to turn over. If we put him on his belly he will turn over to his back.

8 week Austin:At his 2 month check up Austin was 22.7 inches long, and 12lbs. At birth Austin was 19.50 inches long, and 6 lbs 1 oz.

12 week Austin:Austin has really started to smile this past month.

Proof of the smiling... We are blessing the boys on October 9th. Please join us! Leave a comment if you would like to come and I will send you the information.

Yes...I play favorites

2011-07-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Yes, I play favorites and here are some of mine...

My new favorite holiday!

2011-07-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

My new favorite holiday just happens to be the 4th of July. At 3:22 and 3:23 am we were introduced to the new little men that will change our lives forever.

Stone Lucas Sanderson made his entrance first. He was the reason I went into pre-term labor, but more on that later. Here is the little guy. He weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces, and is 18.25 inches long.

His little "big" brother Austin George Sanderson came into this world at 3:23 am, with a whopping weight of 6 pounds 1 ounce, and 19.50 inches long.

Austin has been here in the NICU at the hospital with me, but Stone had to have a little surgery to fix a minor problem so he is at another hospital.

I am doing great considering everything, and feeing pretty good. The babies are doing great considering they were only 33 weeks! Hopefully we will get to bring both of them home in the next month or so.

They have already changed our lives, and I can't imagine not having them. I love them, I love them, I love them!

Day 4

2011-06-20T18:39:00.000-07:00

I thought this was going to be the pregnancy that never ended simply because everything was going so well. I have only gained 16 pounds, I've had low blood pressure, no gestational diabetes, everything was right on track. Well things were going so well that I started joking with my boss that these babies weren't coming early at all. They'd probably come late.

Then Friday came....I had gotten up and started to get ready but I would have to take breaks every 10 minutes or so because I felt winded and my belly started to get hard. I got to work and sat down to start working. The contractions weren't going away. I drank a lot of water and went to the back to lay down. The contractions weren't calming down so I called my doctor. She wanted me to head into the hospital to see what was going on.

Long story short, and three hospital visits later I am on bed rest. I am on day 4 of bed rest and already counting down the days. I wasn't ready for this and feel so helpless. Taylor has been great and really tried to take over everything, but the hardest part is not figuring out what to do with my days but letting someone else take complete care of me and things I feel I should be doing.

Here's to at least 4 more weeks of bed rest.... May it pass quickly!!!

Sneak Peak

2011-06-03T08:23:00.001-07:00

Here's what I'm working with...Progress IS being made, despite this big belly trying to hold me back. Once it is all "done" I will post more pictures, but I just wanted to give you a sneak peak!

Also a big thanks to all who pointed out modern looking cribs for cheap. We finally agreed on some, and got a killer deal.

Modern cribs for cheap?

2011-04-23T10:33:00.000-07:00

Anyone know where to get a nice modern looking crib that Taylor will think is manly? I'm pretty sure he thinks every crib is girly....and so the search continues...oh did I mention I would like to spend 200 or less? I need to buy 2 so I would be thrilled if I could get one for 200 or less.

On a side note the people I work with like to measure how far my belly sticks out each week. Yesterday was the big day... I am sticking out a whole inch more than I was last week!!!! If I keep this pace up I might be walking on all fours sooner rather than later!

Oh well as long as our boys are healthy and happy I couldn't ask for more!

Twinners

2011-03-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

It's official.....Two boys for sure!!!! We saw matching boy parts last Thursday. Oh and another reason to celebrate.....i'm half way to the finish line!!!

Double Trouble

2011-03-09T09:17:00.000-08:00

Today we had an ultrasound. Within 5 seconds of starting the ultrasound my doctor said "Well you definately have a boy". Baby A (the sassy one) was spread out showing off his man parts. He was jumping up and down showing off and just loving the attention. Baby B wasn't quite so easy. Baby B was curled up and straddling the umbilical cord. My doctor is pretty sure she saw boy parts, but can't be 100% positive because of the cord.

We'll have another ultrasound in 2 weeks were they will measure everything and make sure the babies formed correctly. Hopefully we will be able to confirm that we are having two boys then.

We are beyond thrilled and excited for this new journey!!

Update and sassy babies

2011-02-24T07:56:00.000-08:00

I officially got my letter saying I was accepted to the nursing program. The only problem is classes start August 24th. Now ask me my due date....August 20th....yeah probably not going to happen this semester. I can defer until January but it still makes me a little sad. I am sure once I hold both babies I will feel better about my choice to defer.

Now for sassy baby chat... I am pretty sure I have a little diva already. With pinched nerves and the feeling that my pelvis could fall out at any moment combined with what I can only describe as jabs to the stomach making me run for the bathroom you can almost bet I have a fiery red head forming. Anyone have sassy baby advice?

Here' 1, and Here's 2

2011-02-09T18:36:00.001-08:00

I did not start the Nursing program last month. That's ok though. Things have a funny way of working out.

Now on to the story behind the title of this post. I am knocked up.....with TWO babies. Yes, you read that right. Taylor and I will be the proud parents of two new little Sanderson's joining us sometime in the summer. If the babies listen to me then they will be arriving on August 2nd. Of course all children listen to their mother....ha!

Taylor and I had an ultrasound around 6 weeks. Due to my history of an ectopic pregnancy my doctor wanted to check things early and make sure things were where they should be.

The ultrasound tech looked like Thor the Thunder God. Super tall, with shaggy blond hair. His name was Ted though. Ted didn't show us what he was doing with the ultrasound to begin with. He finally showed us after I had to ask him about 15 minutes later. He then proceeded to say "Currently I am looking at your right ovary, but here's one, and here's two.

My only response was "uh...come again." Ted responded calmly "Oh..here's one baby and here's the second, you are pregnant with twins."

I'm pretty sure if Taylor hadn't been sitting down at the time he would have passed out.

We are excited to be on this journey...well we were until I did research on how much car seats, cribs and double strollers were....uh yeah....We'll be taking donations..

All sarcasm aside Taylor and are thrilled, and can't wait to meet the new additions.

Because I'm pregnant with twins I have an ultrasound about every 4 weeks to make sure the babies are growing as they should be. Today baby A had the hiccups and didn't want pictures taken. Sounds like lady drama already...Baby B was just chillin and didn't mind the pictures.....No lady drama with this one.

From the beginning I was convinced this is a boy and a girl. I'll be shocked if it isn't. Hopefully we will know at my next appointment. Here are some pictures from today's ultrasound.

Here's Baby A, not wanting a picture taken.

Here's Baby B, not minding the pictures.

And here's the two of their heads combined...

NURSING!!!

2010-10-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a while. I wish I could say I was busy, but I wasn't. I filled my days with non-sense and un-important things that I thought were important at the time....Oh well...That's life right?

ANYWAYS....

I just got a letter in the mail. I am an alternate to start the nursing program in January!!!! I'm so excited. As mean as it sounds let's all pray someone can't start and I get their spot!!!!

One More Week

2010-04-25T21:59:00.001-07:00

One more week of the semester and then maybe I will be back to blogging. Note to self don't ever work full time and be a full time student. What was I thinking?

I'm lucky that I have a very supportive husband, who has helped me immensly!

Calling all cruisers and readers!!

2010-03-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

Since this is the first cruise for both Taylor and I we are trying to figure everything out. Should we book shore excursions now or wait until we get to each destination? Is it cheaper to book before the cruise or when you get there?

Also I am thinking I want to take a fun book to read. Any suggestions? Anybody read anything good lately?

One Week Left

2010-03-14T22:15:00.000-07:00

In one week Taylor and I will on our first cruise to Mexico. We will be stopping in Cabo, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. We haven't been on a cruise before, and we haven't ever been to Mazatlan or Cabo. Any suggestions?

Cabo

Mazatlan

Puerto Vallarta

What??

2010-02-21T21:04:00.000-08:00

What to blog about? Do you ever get those urges to just sit down and start typing? Tonight I had one....now comes the problem I can't think of anything life changing or super fantastic to blog about. I guess this will be some what of a journal entry.

December was a hard month, from getting wisdom teeth out to an ectopic pregnancy it seemed like we had a lot going on. Then came January. We were still dealing with the ectopic pregnancy, and then Taylor caught his first cold. Yes I just said "first" cold. I also had some stress at work. I had to fire an employee. Never something I want to. In February Taylor got his second cold and then decided to give it to me. Man I hate colds. At least this was just a head cold and I was sick for only 3-4 days before I started to feel better.

Despite things I could be really upset with or things I could be depressed about I feel like 2010 is going to be a good year. Maybe it is the just feelings of starting fresh in a brand new year or really feeling like a Heavenly Father is taking care of me and knows me and my struggles. It's something I haven't felt before, but none the less I can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us.

Taylor and I are going on a cruise with some friends in March. We are going to Mexico. We are going to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo. Can't wait!!! 2 other couples are going with us. Just wish a few other couples would come to. You know who you are....

We are also thinking about putting our two bedroom, two bathroom town home on the market. With such good deals on short sales on the market right now it is very enticing. Do you think it is a good idea to put a home on the market after only living in it for 1.5 years? Is that a smart financial decision? I guess only time will tell.

I love Sunday's for the simple fact that it gives me time to reflect on the past, and dreams for the future. Can't wait to see what 2010 has in store for us.

Back to School

2010-01-25T22:25:00.000-08:00

School has begun and I officially feel a little overwhelmed, and it's only the 3rd week! Yikes!

What was I thinking when I signed up for 16 credit hours? I work full time and go to school full time. I might be certifiably insane.

Oh well, I know it will pay off in the long run. Besides who doesn't feel better when they are constantly working or doing something productive?

For some reason I can't help but think of Dory(?) in Finding Nemo when she sings "Just keep swimming, just keep swimming". So to those who are overwhelmed, under-whelmed or just plain whelmed let's all sing it together "just keep swimming, just keep swimming!"

No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn

2010-01-08T12:07:00.000-08:00

Over a year a go, Ashley and I got Guitar Hero World Tour. We went to Wal-Mart at midnight to buy it and we were so excited to have the drums now. I have a bad habit of tapping my fingers on a desk or table when listening to music and it's because I always thought being able to play the drums would be fun. Well, needless to say the drums we got didn't live up to expectation. The red drum bad never really worked that well, and then it stopped working completely a couple of weeks later. I eventually got the drive to try and fix them, but the fix I did only lasted a couple of days. So when Ashley and I were shopping we decided to buy a new drum set and started looking for the cheapest way to do this. We found a deal at Best Buy for a portable drum set made for Rock Band (compatible with Guitar Hero as well) for only $17. It had all the necessary things to play the drums, it just didn't have the actual stand. We bought it and then I decided to make a stand to make them more useable.

So here you have it, my finished (actually almost finished product). The process was quite simple and I used the legs from my existing drum set to cut costs. I cut out the shape in a piece of particle board, then elevated a little bit using a wedge cut out of a scrap of 2x4. Then I drilled holes in the 2x4 to stick the stand into. I had my doubts about the sturdiness of the design, but in all it turned out great. Best thing of all, the drums actually work.

Sweet Redemption!

2009-11-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

It happened in 2006 with Harline in the endzone. It happened in 2007 with Austin Collie going on 4th and 18, and this year with Andrew George.I will say this year I felt that fans for both sides were much more courteous. Maybe it was just my section but hopefully that continues for the future.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2009-10-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

My work does a contest every year for the employee's to dress up for Halloween and try and win prizes. Last year we won we when all dressed up like characters from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory. This year we are all smurfs. Can you guess who Papa Smurf is?

Here is Taylor's department. Can you guess what Taylor is supposed to be? I would have helped him with his costume but he told me about it this morning at 8:00am!

Ouch!

2009-09-21T10:57:00.000-07:00

Ouch!!! That's all that can be said about Saturday.....Let's not even talk about it!

Tough EnOUgh!

2009-09-06T09:47:00.000-07:00

This week has officially ended the summer drought! With college football starting up it marks the end of summer sports that makes things so boring. The start of the new season is always one of anticipation but at the same time, it also makes me worry a little bit. I was a BYU fan growing up as a kid and followed them until I went on my mission. Gary Crowten had taken over by that time and the program seemed on the decline. When I got back from my mission, it took a while to get back into Sports. I didn't know much about the Cougs and was attending the U of U, which made it even harder to get back into it.

Then I met Ashley, she had season tickets and told me that she could never like someone who wasn't a die-hard fan. Well the rest is history and I started to follow the games more closely. Since I have been attending the games again, the Cougs have only lost 5 games and I'll be honest in the fact that I feel rather spoiled. They have won every home game, and even though they went 10-3 last year, I still felt like the year had been a disappointment even though I knew that this was ridiculous. But when they announced the schedule for this upcoming season, playing both Oklahoma and Florida State in the non-conference schedule, I could help but feel that maybe this would be the year that they slipped a little bit, perhaps only winning 9 games. I worked to not get my hopes up, and then injuries started to poor in.

There were the offensive lineman that were going to be out the full year, one that had a broken hand but should return soon, and then the Harvey Unga went down with a hamstring injury. In the two weeks leading up to the game, they proclaimed that he would be fine for the opener. Right before the game, I was nearly positive that he would not be playing in that game, judging by the grimace on his face when he was trying to warm up. I said that he didn't look good, and Ashley's response was that I should never say that about a BYU player, ever. Then the sideline reporter confirmed it, he more than likely wouldn't start in the game.

By this time, I was convinced that I would be happy if they just didn't get blown out. If they could just stay in this game, that would give me hope for the rest of the season. What we saw in the first part of the game didn't inspire a lot of confidence. Two big fumbles, a lot of penalties, and interception made me wonder if I was in for a long season. But there were a couple of things that stood out. The defense was stout, rarely allowing Oklahoma to move the ball with the exception of the touchdown that came as a result of great field position thanks to a BYU error. They even managed to get pressure on Sam Bradford. On one series, they seemingly hit him on every down. Then I really started to wonder if this was going to happen, could they win it.

Sam Bradford going down with an injury obviously didn't hurt the Cougs chances of winning, but he wasn't having a Heisman like performance before he went out. If anything, I think that it just gave them the confidence that they really did belong on the same field as the highly-touted Sooners. The defense came up big once again on the goal line stand. It was six play stand where Oklahoma looked defeated, ultimately settling for a field goal. That stand was truly the most pivotal moment of the game. The rest came naturally for the Cougs.

A fourth quarter drive that included three third down conversions and one fourth down conversion. After reading today that Max Hall called his own plays on this drive and seeing the Cougars not lose their cool under pressure conjured memories of Johnny Harline and Fourth and 18. But even after taking the lead, it still was up to the defense to make one that last stand. With Bronco's mentality in past years being "Bend, not Break", the only way to put it was that the Cougs didn't break, and they didn't even bend that much. They looked first class and showed that they belonged.

I make no predictions for the rest of the season, but I will say that this team is showing something that simply wasn't there for the majority of last season. They had a hunger and desire that wasn't there before.

Stripes!!!

2009-07-06T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from Friday to today! Don't mind the pillows or lamps. Don't love them and need to find replacements, but for now they will do!

What do you say?

2009-07-02T08:43:00.001-07:00

I want to put a small vinyl wall saying above my bed. I don't know what I want it to say. Any good ideas? I don't want the usual "Sweet Dreams" or something like that, anybody have any cute wall sayings for a bedroom? Leave me a comment with your saying idea!

Room Renovation...The beginnings.

2009-06-30T10:17:00.001-07:00

My master bedroom renovations were supposed to start last weekend, but due to my mystery illness those plans had to be put on hold. Taylor was nice enough to start as much as he could. We bought some 3 drawer dressers from Ikea. They were a color that didn't match my bedroom furniture or what I was going for, but they were a good deal. So Taylor spray painted and stained them over the weekend taking them from this....(ugh)

To this.... Now I want to add some sort of hardware, but I'm waiting for the rest of my room to be done before I start drilling permanent holes into something. So more will come on this later.

Here is my bread spread. It is a natural color and so soft. I just love it. I am going to paint the wall a natural color with vertical stripes behind my bed in a shade darker or so. All around my room I have silver accents. From door knobs to light fixtures and such. I saw this mirror at Ross for $20 and just couldn't pass up the good deal. So I got and now it's just sitting on the ground waiting for it's new home in my house. I want to bring some silver into the room so we'll see how that all works out.

This is becoming quite the budget friendly renovations. I'm sure Taylor will like that, since this is probably the first he has heard about how all of these things are coming together. I found suede curtains at JC Penny on close out clearance. My heart skipped a beat when I saw them. It was love at first sight. I've never felt that way about curtains before. The first picture is of the curtains in another room. And the picture with the green curtains is how the placement of said curtains will be. Ok so that's most of everything that I have right now. The only other thing I have to show you is I made a very amateur drawing of what the wall with my bed on it will look like. Here it is...Laugh at it if you must, but I know how it's all going to look like in the end.

Don't mind the ugly bedspread and crooked lines. It was spur of the moment, and to just gather my thoughts. I'm thinking I could put up a shelve and put pictures on it. The things on the side our vases with a single plant leaf or flower in them. We'll see how the after picture actually looks but hopefully this weekend I will have something that looks similar to this.

Update Follow up.

2009-05-20T08:58:00.000-07:00

First up is Wicked.....No I didn't drag Taylor to see it I couldn't spend the $200 to get tickets. I'd rather spend it somewhere else. So for now I will have to do with the pictures in the program and listening to the sound track. That's just as good right?

Hannah Montana....Yes I did see the movie. I loved it! It did have over the top cheesiness....but not as bad as it could have been. I think Miley has looked better then she did in this movie, but I think the point was getting away from Hollywood. I'll be honest I'm a little bit obsessed with Miley. Not necessarily over the top...I need to know what's going on in her life, but it's almost like I am living vicariously through her. Does that even make sense? Can you even do that when you don't know the person at all? Anybody else love Miley?

Jicama....still love it.

Taylor and I have been married for 364 day. Yes tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary!!! Wow! I can't believe it has gone so quickly. We've accomplished so much together and I can't wait to see what happens next! We are going to San Francisco to celebrate! Taylor planned a "surprise" trip. Isn't he a great husband?If you have been to San Fran tell me where I need to go and what I need to see.....I'd love to hear about the neat places to go while there.

Update

2009-04-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Everyday I like to see who had updated their blog. I get so excited to check, yet I don't make it a point to update my blog as often as some of those around me. That doesn't seem fair so I will try and be better....

I've been debating whether or not to try and get reasonable tickets to go see Wicked. Did I love it enough when I saw it in New York to drag Taylor to it? Needless to say I love dressing up and going to "grown up" events like plays at the Capital Theater and the Symphony. I'm glad I have such a great husband who loves me enough to go to these things because I love them.

Also another thing to consider. Hannah Montana Movie? To see or not to see? I'll be honest I'm excited to see it. I think I might try and drag Taylor tomorrow afternoon. Sorry babe!

Jicama....Anybody had it recently? I love it. Put it in a salad, eat it plain, salt it....anyway I love it. Get on the band wagon if you haven't tried it! It's the consistency of an apple, just less sweet. I hate water chestnuts though......How do you type the sound of I just threw up in my mouth? UGH UGH UGH! I loathe water chest nuts....

I only have to go to my two classes 7 more times and one of my labs 2 more times then I'm done with this semester. I'm not looking forward to finals though. Once I'm done with this semester I can apply to SLCC's nursing program. Once I get a CNA's license I can apply to Weber, and after the summer semester I can apply to Utah and UVU. Wish me luck!

Thank goodness for the weekend!

Brochure

2009-04-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

So Taylor told me there is a friend who is was looking at the townhomes out by us. I have always thought I needed to be a spokes person for Garbett homes, because despite our bad experiences with our own sales agent we love our home. We love the area, and that a lot of things are standard. I didn't feel like they nickel and dimed us for everything.

Anyways I swear I have downloaded their brochure which gives the floorplans and such at least 10 times, and everytime I do it seems to be different. Well today I looked and realized that I totally knew two people in it.

Kelly and Camille our my neighbors, and they happen to be the proud parents of our dog Ebony's girlfriend Harley. Harley is just a little bigger than Ebony so Ebony seems to be dominated quite a bit, but that's ok.

Camille has made it into 3 other pictures on Garbett's website also. What a star! I didn't realize I was living by such celebrities. I don't know why the picture is so small, but how cool is that!

I love seeing people I know on the internet and such.

2 new purses, Ashley's Lasik, and Tay's in Vegas

2009-03-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

So the title of this blog pretty much sums up our weekend. On Thursday morning Taylor and his dad drove down to Vegas to go to the Mountain West Tournament. On Friday I had a form of Lasik done called PRK.

Taylor got back on Saturday afternoon and he brought me two new purses! Isn't he wonderful? He picked them out all by himself and I couldn't be more proud or love them more! Here are the pictures of the purses.

Below are the pictures of me Pre-Op. I haven't taken the post op pictures because my eyes are swollen and I now know what I would look like with bags under my eyes. The first day was very painful!!! Nothing seemed to help. However I am feeling better and can't wait to see the improvement in my vision.

Creative? A jewelry night is born....

2009-02-18T16:17:00.000-08:00

Ok so I got creative and painted Taylor's bathroom. I'm not done yet so there are no pictures, but I'm loving the blue color. Hopefully Taylor does too!

Also in the creative department I have had an ever growing desire to learn to make jewelry. I'm into funky, one of kind stuff hence the need for the skills.

So does anyone know how to make jewelry? I'm a quick learner and feel like I would only need one or two sessions. I think it might be fun to get together and do a girls night and make jewelry, maybe once a month? Remember Bunko your mother's used to play? They would get together have yummy food and laugh all night? Well....NO I don't remember those times, my mom didn't play bunko, but wouldn't it be fun to have a jewelry making night once a month with yummy treats, and lots of laughter?

If you are interested in attending leave a comment. If you would like to teach me, PLEASE leave a comment. If you are blog stalking me, and can teach me to make jewelry PLEASE PLEASE comment. I won't judge!

I will try and find a teacher, if I can't find a teacher I will be forced to find a book with lots of pictures. I do better with "picture" instructions. Then I can invite those who are interested for a night of yummy food, jewelry, and laughter.

I was number 586,783!!!

2009-01-27T10:56:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine blogged about this, and I feel that it is so important that I decided to blog about it also.

Soon to be President Obama announced that one of the first things on his "to do" list is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act...allowing a few different types of abortions. This is what this new act would entail....As most of you know, last night Obama made a public announcement that he is going to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act, which will allow all types of abortions including partial birth abortions, also allowing babies who are born alive due to botched up late term abortions, to be set aside without any medical care or nourishment and left to die (most of these babies have no medical problems and most of the ones that do,have things like cleft palates, club feet, things that are correctable,still they are murdered in the most cruel and inhuman way. They feel everything that is happening to them. There is more mercy for dogs that are put to sleep)

This Bill also will make it mandatory for doctors and nurses to perform this murderous act even if they do not want to do so.This act also allows under age teens to have an abortion, even partial birth abortions, without parental consent. Catholic Bishops have pleaded with Obama not to go ahead with this horrible murder of innocent babies. They have also told Obama that if he persists in signing this Bill which would require even Catholic Hospitals to perform these acts of murder, they will have no choice but to close all Catholic Hospitals.

Please let us join with these courageous Bishops who will go to any length to change Obama's mind.Please take a minute to sign this statement and let our voices be heard.This is a great, informative website. You can click on the video of Obama's speech to the Planned Parenthood group where he promised that the first thing he would do if elected President would be to sign the Freedom Of Choice Act. Please let your family and friends know about this Bill and ask them to also sign this petition. Even those who voted for Obama would not want him to sign this Bill.

May God have mercy on our country for the sake of the millions who would never agree with this Bill if they fully understood all that it encompasses.Please click on the web site below.It will take less than a minute of your time, doesn't cost anything and God will bless you for standing up for Him and His teachings."The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing"http://www.fightfoca.com/

I signed this petitition and I was the 586,783 signature.

Today I'm feeling....Creative

2009-01-23T08:22:00.000-08:00

Today I'm feeling creative. I want to create, paint, or decorate. I have too many white walls in my house....hmm.... So I'm thinking Silvery Blue to go with Taylor's charcoal gray towels in the man bathroom, or perhaps just a tan-ish color on some walls so they aren't so white? I want my bathroom to feel like a spa...any idea's on what I should do in there?

P.S. Sorry Taylor, I've got the paint something itch...

...

2009-01-21T09:22:00.000-08:00

Taylor and I are back in school. It feels like every waking moment I am at school or work. I'm liking most of my classes though so I haven't "felt" the stress of it all yet. I work full time and I am currently taking 4 classes so we'll see how that all goes....

I don't have much to blog about. Sorry Jamie, no new purchases other than some make up from MAC.

Taylor and I went to the auto show last weekend. I couldn't get really exciting about any of the cars though, not like previous years. There was a huge Dodge Ram that fit 6 adults comfortably though. That was pretty sweet. I told Taylor we could come home with one of those, but then he had to go and ask "Who's going to pay for that?" Oh Taylor such the realist.

We also played Dominoes for at least 3 hours with our bestest friends Kev and Lo. Another thing I won't have time for, but have become addicted to.

Lastly we are loving our new house. It's so much fun, except when the bill comes due! I love, love, love the area, and can't wait to explore it a little more.

Oreo's We Love Em!

2009-01-05T10:41:00.000-08:00

I made some delish home made oreo's! They were so easy too!!! You can find the recipe at our recipe blog. http://slcrecipes.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas

2008-12-26T07:54:00.000-08:00

I hope your Christmas was as good as mine. The Christmas season has been such a great time.

Last week in Sunday School we had an awesom lesson about the birth of our Savior. Our teacher encouraged us to think about the way Mary, Joseph, the animals and the wise men and how they felt and really put ourselves in their shoes. The teacher also had a crown of thorns and he asked someone to explain her thoughts. She explained how even though at first she didn't want to think about it at all. She thought it was a sign of hurt, and pain. The more she thought about the more she saw it as a sign of love. That our Savior loved us enough to take upon him our sins and burdons.

I realize that the crown of thorns didn't have to do with the Savior's birth, but it really hit me, and made me appreciate this season all the more!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Ebony's First Bath

2008-12-15T08:26:00.000-08:00

Saturday was the first day we were able bathe little Ebony - and let's just say that it was a fun experience. I didn't care for her very much at the beginning but she is starting to grow on me bit by bit. She has her moments were she is an amazing little puppy and does everything that she is supposed to, and then she has moments where she frustrates me... like what she did to my blanket this morning.

Some of her latest accomplishments are:

Being able to make it all the way of the stairs

Jumping off the couch for the first time

Allowing us to enjoy an "accident" free day yesterday.

Overall she will be fun to have around the house, I just hope the puppy phase passes quickly.

And here's a picture!

2008-12-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Our Dog!

2008-12-11T15:14:00.001-08:00

Ashley and I bought a dog today. It's a Boston Terrier Puppy and we are looking for a name. So give us suggestions in the comments of blog, and we'll let you know which name we choose.

Poll

2008-12-09T13:43:00.000-08:00

Should Taylor and I get a dog? You decide...Vote in the poll on the left and then leave a comment and tell us what kind of dog.

Happy Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T23:20:00.000-08:00

This is Ashley and I's first Thanksgiving together, and it really makes you greatful for the things we have in life. I am blessed to have found her and have her in my life. I am greatful for the many things that we have the great times that we have together. I love her so much!

Random Thoughts

2008-11-25T09:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a while and that's simply because I don't feel like I have anything to say and I have been studying and getting ready for finals and such.

So here are my random thoughts for today...

1. I like to blog stalk it let's me get to know people who I don't have a close relationship with. I also think it's helped me to like those who I thought I would never like...Does that make sense? I mean I try not to judge but sometimes you just get first impressions of people and that sticks. Sometimes it's not the best impression either so you tend to steer clear of that individual. However through blog stalking I've got to know some individuals I would have "steered clear" of. I think it's slowly making me a better person... Just go with me here...

2. I love painting my nails and I love how they look however for some reason or another I usually can't keep them polished for that long. I'm always picking at them and once one of them is chipped then it just goes down hill from there. I need a bad tasting polish or something. You know like that stuff you put on kids fingers so they stop sucking on them....Where do I get that? This also could be the reason my cuticles are so dry....Honestly...How do they get this dry?

3. I've rediscovered the library. I haven't stepped foot in a library probably since High School. How sad is that? Thanks to the internet everything is at your fingertips. Books can get expensive so I've started going to the library. It's fantastic. I just can't begin to tell you. Ask me about their check out process. It's so slick!

4. I love the song Since U Been Gone by Kelly Clarkson. I don't know what it is about that song. Maybe it just brings up good times and great memories but I just can't get enough! Now you are singing it aren't you? Yeah Yeah!

5. I normally do not support Christmas time before Thanksgiving ever! However last night as I was driving home from school I saw some houses that had Christmas lights on them and I can't wait! I got goose bumps! For some reason this Christmas just feels like it means more to me or something. Do you have a Christmas that has meant more to you than others?

6. Twilight! I loved this movie. Let's be honest here I am easy to please so for those of you who hated the movie I'm sorry. I loved it so much that I went and saw it after the BYU/Utah game to cheer me up. RIP "The Quest".

7. I hate Rivalry week it stirs up so many raw emotions. Don't get me wrong I love BYU football, however I hate when everyone is so on edge and will just say anything that comes to their mind when they see another wearing a shirt or hat of the opposite team. Taylor and I were victims of it through out the week. I'm sure there are some Y fans that also were the instigators, but really people!!! Seriously?

Recipe Blog

2008-11-12T13:21:00.000-08:00

I know there are a ton out there but you can check out the recipe blog my friends and I have going. We also want you to be apart of it. So once you check out the Recipe Blog make sure to add your own favorite recipes! You can check out the recipe blog at http://slcrecipes.blogspot.com/

Make A Baby!

2008-11-10T11:04:00.000-08:00

So this girl at my work decided to show me how to make babies.....on the internet. Some of you may have heard about this already but it's a fun and sometimes creepy little website. I hope you enjoy.

http://www.vw.com/vwhype/babymaker/en/us/

The good news is they are all boys!

Eat, Drink, and Be Scary!!!

2008-11-01T23:26:00.000-07:00

We had such a good time at our Halloween Party. We got to see some friends we haven't seen in a while. We started out by going to dinner and then came back to our new house. We played Guitar Hero World Tour. (I'm a natural drummer!) We also played a game called Curses...so fun with a big group of people. We ate ourselves silly, drank home made root beer....and with Taylor being and Angel, and me a Pirate Wench...what's not scary?

Happy Hauntings!!!

2008-11-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

My parents have never been in to Halloween ever. I mean I was a cheer leader growing up for at least 4 years in row. My mom just never liked the dark part of Halloween. This year they have good friends who threw a costume Halloween party. Here are the pictures. If you know my parents then you know this is hilarious. If you don't know my "rents" then this will just be fun pictures to look at.

Happy Halloween!!!!

2008-10-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Well almost....I love Halloween. It can be such a fun time of year. One thing I look forward to is our Halloween Party. We had one last year and it has become something we have to do every year. If you would like to come to our Halloween Party this year, leave a comment and I will let you know where and when.

We moved in!

2008-10-20T10:52:00.001-07:00

Yes we finally got to move into our townhome on Friday. Pictures will come soon. I have no idea where anything is, but can't wait to find it all!

Crazy Work Stories

2008-10-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

So I have decided that anytime that you work in a job where you are dealing and interacting with a great number on a daily basis, you will come home with some strange stories. I have worked in a credit union for the last four years and have come home with my fair share of stories, so many that my sisters now say that I am a magnet for weirdness.
Well today, I think that I reached the crowning pinnacle for weirdness in a member that I had a conversation with. A lot of times a member will call in requesting to speak with the highest ranking banking official. Generally they are just ticked off because of mistake of their own, and they really just want to vent their concerns that we are becoming a bank and not a credit union. Anyway, so I took this call and was expecting to have another call like I had mentioned, but got something vastly different. The man first questioned my credentials or if I was high enough up to making these decisions. I informed him of what I did and he proceeded.
He asked me if I was L.D.S. and if I had read the Book of Mormon. I answered affirmative to both. He then asked me if I knew who it was referring to when the Book of Mormon spoke of the "secret combinations". I said that it wasn't necessarily referring to one person but anyone that operated like they did. His answer was that I had been deceived like all the rest and that he was there to shed some light on me. He then began citing the scriptures (strangely enough never getting to the Book of Mormon) about how the reminant of Jacob would tear down the governments that were corrupted by the secret combinations. He then stated that Venezuela (and it's 72 islands of the southern coast of the U.S.A.), Mexico, and Russia, were reminants of the house of Jacob and would eventually rage war on the United States, overthrowing the government.
He then began to go over what exactly was the secret combinations. He said that it was the Federal Reserve of the USA and that for every dollar that they loaned, they would take a dollar kick back for themselves, that is why they were so in favor of making more money. So when it was created in 1913, secret combinations officially returned to the earth and the our country was doomed from that point onward. Any president that tried to reveal this was eventually assasinated (he listed Lincoln and Kennedy, and Jackson specifically. I didn't have the heart to tell him Jackson was never assasinated).
Now what he was offering to me was he was going to deliver us from this economic crises and collapse that would occur in two years. He said that the leaders of the church didn't think that we were ready for the United Order, but that he was going to prepare everything for it, and since we were a financial institution that could "go global" as he put it. He said that he had investigated technology that would help us spread the word without the government finding out about it, because they would try to stop us. It was a machine that would allow me talk to up to 6 people at a time, but it was safe because it was password protected.
Needless to say, when we gave the man the answer that we had close relations with the Church and if they gave information to us regarding this, we would be happy to help them, but we would not be forming a partnership at this time. He then said something about how I would be sorry when the day in the future would come because he wouldn't be there to deliver me from the crisis. After 45 minutes of him talking I finally was able to pass him off to our Marketing VP so that he could be told the same thing. I can't believe what some people think up in their heads.

2 Weeks and 1 day.... Yay!!

2008-10-02T11:11:00.000-07:00

We are two weeks and one day away from closing on our house!!! (Hopefully) I wanted to share some pictures with you of our "almost" home.

Entry Way

Down Stairs Bathroom

Kitchen Counter Tops

Master Bedroom

View from the Master

Kitchen....The cabinets will have crown molding on the top.

Happy Birthday Taylor!

2008-09-19T20:16:00.001-07:00

Happy 25th birthday Taylor! I love you so much and I'm glad you are in my life!

This is a picture of a picture. We went to Baja Cantina in Park City for Taylor's birthday and I just love that they make you wear a sombrero.

Dark and loving it!

2008-09-19T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well today was the day I have been looking forward to since July. Not only is it Taylor's birthday, but also I was getting my hair cut and colored.

Well here it is my sassy new do!.....Like I needed any more sass! Don't be a hater, this picture came from my camera phone

One more thought...TMI

2008-09-16T16:07:00.000-07:00

Random thought for today....

Is it just me or does everything slow down when you have to go "number 1"???
I swear it isn't just time that slows down, my computer actually slows down when it "knows" I need to go! I have this thing that I think I will work faster, or get out of a store quicker if I do it on a full bladder or under a deadline.

I am clearly wrong. Don't "do as I'm doing". If you need to go just go, if you don't you will most likely get stuck behind the "slow person" at the check out or your computer will just shut down on you...

Things on my mind...

2008-09-12T08:32:00.000-07:00

Well there are a few things on my mind...Actually I have lots going through there. Taylor will ask me what I'm thinking about and get an ear full. Usually it's random and the topics go as quickly as they come... For example we were eating dinner at the California Pizza Kitchen and he asked that fateful question "What are you thinking?" Well I have no idea why I was thinking about sniper's but I was. I was thinking how easy it would be to "take someone out" while they tried to eat the pizza in peace...Then I saw another character wearing a blue jumpsuit. I don't remember what I thought about him at the time, but I know it was something.

The female brain is filled with so many things at any given moment, and I am surprised we remember as much as we do... Trust me I'm going into nursing...I know these things!

Anyways I was thinking this might be a good way to catch up with old friends or let them know the top 10 things I was thinking about today....at this very moment. So post your thoughts on your blog, and maybe a friend will learn something new about you.

1. I am pretty sure I got less than 5 wrong on my first big test of the semester. Phewwwww!!! Glad to have that off my chest, but this semester seems like it is dragging on, and it's just the beginning.

2. I have to close tonight. That makes a very long work day for me, but we are going to the fair and I can't wait. I went for the first time last year and it was so much fun.

3. My parents have been gone visiting family in Arizona for the past week and I am a little jealous.

4. It is Taylor's birthday one week from today. I also get my hair done that day while he goes golfing with his brother and dad. Taylor's birthday means the month is more than half way done/gone....Where did that time go and what did I do with it all.

5. I'm so thankful that I live in the country I do. That I have the right to say I am not voting for Barack Obama among other things.

6. I'm thankful for my job, even on the days I don't like it. Some don't have jobs right now because of the economy and they are wishing they had that "old job" they "hated".

7. I took Jamie's advice and went to Ross. Man I had forgotten how good that store was. I want to go back and buy fall clothes. By the way Jamie, Love the Jacket!! I want one.

8. BYU is playing UCLA tomorrow and I can't wait. It's one game other than the Utah game that I have been looking forward to this season. I like going down, getting a cougar dog or nacho's, and yelling "And that's another Cougar first down."

9. I saw an older man working as a cart attendant at the local grocery store. I want to be like him. He is an older man who could be "retired", but he's still a productive member of society. He gets socialization and exercise all day long. I don't mean to degrade those that can't work for one reason or another, but this situation made me think who looks at me and says they want to be like me or doing something I do? Who am I being an example for today?

10. Can my cuticles really be this dry? I try oils and lotions....I mean really what can you do to get rid of hang nails and dry cuticles? Other things that never seem to go away or really irritate me....How do you fold the fitted sheet for your bed? Everytime I fold them it looks like a balled up mess....Seriously...How do you?

Well those are the top ten things I thought about in the last 15 minutes. What did you think about?

One Blocked kick...

2008-09-07T18:55:00.000-07:00

So as much as a I love to argue with people. This is a no brainer.... BYU won the game because they blocked a kick, not because the "ref's" took the game out of the player's hands because of a call they made.

In every game that can be said about the ref's. They should have called this....or they shouldn't have called that....It can be said for both sides every time....Just get over it.

We'll see you next year Washington! Until then enjoy this!

79 More Hours

2008-08-27T07:52:00.000-07:00

Only 79 more hours to go until the big day!!!

Can you smell that? There's something in the air, and I'm pretty sure it's a winning season!

Dresser

2008-08-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

So are good friends Kev and Lo invited us to go to DI one day. I think they wanted to buy a bike for Lo's nephew who was visiting for a couple of days. I wasn't looking to buy anything but came home with this dresser. It was old, dirty, smelly, and just all in all terrible looking. I'm sad to say I don't have a picture of it.

We bought it for $20, and let me just say it wasn't the easiest thing to convince Taylor to let me buy. It came with 9 drawers but I wanted Taylor to rip out the middle drawer section and create shelves. I don't think he was too happy about it.

$10 dollars later, and lot's of big, manly tools and sweat, spray paint and stain, and a little dream we have a dresser that will go below are TV in our new house. It will house all of the DVD, XBOX and other components we may have, and DVD's. I'm so excited I think it has turned out FABULOUS!!! I love it because it's so different and unique. I mean it looks straight out of the 70's and in a year I might hate it, but for now it's perfect!

Here's a close up of one of the drawers. I took it with my camera phone so don't mind the blur...

Thanks Taylor for making something I wanted a reality!! Love you long time!

I Challenge You to a Duel!

2008-08-15T08:17:00.001-07:00

So I like to have fun. The way that I see it, if you go through life to seriously, it's going to pass you by and you won't have enjoyed it one bit. So I try to have in whatever I am doing. Now given the fact that I work in a call center, taking member calls day in and day out, I sometimes have to create my own fun. Well, the other day, I was chatting with a co-worker about his motorcycle. There is a picture that can be seen here. Now, a couple of months ago, he made Raul, another co-worker, a bet that he would be able to get the motorcyle running and drive it to work the next day. Well, 2 months later, and we still have yet to see the motorcycle at work. So the other day, I decided to call him on that. I told him that since he had never brought it to work, that he owed Raul a steak dinner (the terms of their bet). He didn't see it the same way. You see, Richie's idea of running and the rest of humanity's idea of running are very different. Richie believes that if the bike will start and he can pull it out of his driveway, it's running. So we ask him why it won't make it to work, and the reasons vary from, it's leaking gas, to it only goes 25 mph right now.
Since he refused to pay for the dinner, I proposed an alternate solution to our prediciment. In an effort of defending his honor amongst his peers, he would challenge Raul to a duel - Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr style. We wouldn't be using pistols, because there is a state law prohibiting that. So we decided to use nerf guns. We would hold the duel at our lunch time and Richie would have one chance to defend his honor. If he lost, he would no longer be respected.
We had them line up back to back and take 10 ten paces, turn and fire. When I devised this whole thing in my head, I guess I didn't take into account that both were terrible aims. The only time that they were able to hit anything was two accidental mis-fires at my self and Jill. In the end, Richie defended his honor, Raul shot Jill in the head, and I got got gunned down by both of them. It was a fun little event that should remind everyone to relax and just have fun with life.

Happy Birthday Lo!!!

2008-08-13T09:43:00.000-07:00

Lo has been my best friend for years now. I won't tell you "what" made us friends, but it was something we laughed at then, and we just haven't stopped laughing! We have been best friends (not just for now Lo!) and will continue for the rest of our lives. ( it's a verbal contract Lo, it has to happen now)

She's so fun to be around. She's caring. I remember so many times where she has voiced a concern or been worried about someone or something, and I have thought to myself... seriously? You are still worried about that?

Here's a few memories I have of her and even though you won't think they are funny she will....And let's be honest it's all about her today. It's her birthday!!!

1. Karate Kicks at Bishop Evan's house
2. Swimming every saturday 2 summer's ago
3. WAL-GREEN's
4. "Faith Building" experiences with Binksies, and how you wanted your purse out of the car.
5. MAC counter
6. Falling asleep on the gym's hard wood floor at 2am
7. Buying Breaking Dawn at midnight
8. "Sex on the Beach" snow cones
9. Raging Waters, and your knee incident
10. Your coffee table , and your knee incident
11. Karate kicking in the Johnny Carrino's parking lot and my foot incident
12. The coke factory in Las Vegas
13. Camping!!!
14. Doing your special "walk" across the room
15. Rascal Flatts
16. Studio 600 at Halloween time
17. Birthday extravaganza
18. Girls night when we toliet papered the guy's cars
19. Holding up your wedding dress at the JSMB.
20. Driving down to Studio 600, and how you made me sit by the kid who LOVED to chat, and then you fell asleep
21. Sliding down the big hill at flat iron park in that rain storm
22. "Hey Ash, where ya going?"
23. Bowling, and the "life saver" candy
24. Girl chatsies

24 reason why you are so great! Happy 24th!

Happy Birthday Katie!!!

2008-08-07T11:56:00.000-07:00

Recipe Blog

2008-08-07T09:42:00.001-07:00

I have started a recipe blog where anyone can post their recipes they like.
The address is slcrecipes.blogspot.com and there is a post on there that says “How can I contribute?”. If you click on that post it will tell you how to log in, post your own recipes, and also some guidelines on posting. The link is over under "other bloggers I love" so you can go straight there.

Let’s pass this a long to our friends and family and see if we can get some sweet recipes.

Happy Blogging, and Cooking!

BANG DANG - WORST FOOD EVER

2008-08-06T14:55:00.000-07:00

So this morning, I was really craving chinese food. I thought about Panda express but all I ever get there is orange chicken and I usually feel sick after I eat it. So I decided to branch out. Recently a place called Chop Stix went out of business and a new restaurant was opened in its place. It's called Bank Dang - but I have changed it to Bang Dang because it's more fun to say.

So at 2:30 Richie and I go over there to get lunch, and we pull up to the drive-thru, and there is a sign taped to the speaker box that says, "drive-thru may not work - please pull to window for order". We picked out what we wanted and then pulled forward. At the window we were greated by two smiling children, ages 11 and 13 probably. It was a boy and a girl, and the boy was wearing a nametag that said 'Jacky'. Well, they didn't really understand that well what we were getting but after a while we got through to them. I then asked if they wanted me to pay now, and they both looked so confused. I should've realized at that point that I should have just driven off and not eaten lunch. But like a fool, I stayed and pulled around to the back of the building like they asked.

After about 10 minutes, I decided to walk inside and see if they were almost done. When I get in there, I notice that what seem to be the parents of these children are running the kitchen and the kids are the front people, mostly because they speak english to some degree. Well, the dad kept coming out to make sure that the kids have everything under control and the little girl would then yell at him in Chinese, basically telling him to get back in the kitchen where he belongs. (I don't speak chinese, but that is what I am thinking she was saying - judging by the tone in her voice of course).

Well we finally get back to work, and we get the food out of the bag. The chicken is blood red, and after a few bites, I find a hair in my food. The thing is, it was a blonde hair, and from what I could tell, no one that was touching the food had blonde hair. That has got to make you wonder. Also, we had a couple of people in the office taste the chicken. It was the toughest chicken I have ever seen, and one kid thinks that he might have hurt his jaw just getting through it. The ham fried rice had an overwhelming smell and taste of smoked ham. The ham also looked rather old as if they had purchased it from a meat store that was just going to throw it.

Needless to say, I was not pleased with my experience at lunch today, and I would highly recommend that no one ever try this restaurant EVER.

Tickets

2008-07-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

The tickets I purchased for our girl's night to go see Kelly and Reba have arrived. I might even post a count down to the concert, next to the BYU football one of course. Cheers!!

Is that a weird combination or what? BYU foot ball and Reba & Kelly concerts....That's who I am. I am a woman of diverse interests. j/k Ü

I have a kindred friend who always says cheers and I love it. So I might steal it from her....Sorry Jamie!

Birthday's in July

2008-07-29T12:34:00.000-07:00

So my birthday is in August, and Taylor's is in September. Yes I am the "older and wiser" one in the family...anyways we decided to have birthdays in July. We got Taylor an Xbox for his birthday yesterday. He was so excited! I think his brother Eric might be just as excited. I've never seen such an intense look on his face while he was playing Nintendo or whatever you call it.

Well my mom and dad bought me a Cricut expression for my birthday. They can't keep a secret so they gave it to me early. I think they were so excited watching Taylor open his "present" that they wanted to give me mine too. So Tay and I celebrated our birthdays yesterday.

If you have never heard of the cricut expression just go watch the infomercial that the lady with the lisp does online. Taylor was laughing hysterically when he saw it! This machine does so much. You will just have to come see me sometime for a demonstration!

Head Board

2008-07-28T11:51:00.000-07:00

So who knew that after getting married my new favorite place to go would be RC Willey. Yeah anyone who wants to go hang out there count me in! Give me a call because I will most likely always say Yes to go to RC Willey.

I went to the clearance outlet center because it's right down the street from my work. So at lunch I'll go walk around and look for killer deals. My newest "killer deal" was I found this head board in perfect condition for $67 dollars. It is for our brand new king size bed. I was thinking it would be years before I would get something. I thought we could go without something there for a while because it isn't a necessity. I found this great deal and couldn't pass it up. It really does just make things look finished. I've learned that if Taylor and I both really like something then we should buy it because it doesn't happen often. We usually agree on things to decorate with but only because Taylor thinks I'll make anything look good, he's not passionate about decorating...go figure.

Typing Test

2008-07-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

I thought this was a fun test and I had no idea I could type this many words per minute.

72 words

Speedtest

Fun Game

2008-07-17T14:35:00.000-07:00

This game has been making the rounds and I have LOVED it. It's so fun to remember things about other people, and also read other's memories as well. Feel free to participate, or don't.

1. Add a comment on my blog. Leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

If you don't know me at all or we don't have memories together, then leave a comment about Taylor.

Salsa...Ole!

2008-07-15T10:59:00.001-07:00

Taylor and I planted a salsa garden a month or so ago, and I wanted to update you on it's progress. One of our tomato plant's has 8 tomato's on it. The other's are not far behind. Things have tripled in size since we planted them. Taylor's dad was nice enough to let us plant this over at his house, and I'm so glad he did. Our garden wouldn't be the same without his dirt. I really think there is something in the dirt over there. I also talked to the plants when we planted them so I think that has something to do with it even if Taylor won't admit it.

This is really exciting to watch things sprout up and grow. I can imagine this is like raising children, but on a much much much smaller scale.

We are so excited to have fresh salsa soon. It's one of my favorite summer things. Know any good salsa recipes?

HULK SMASH!!!

2008-07-14T08:19:00.000-07:00

So here we are... back to another monday morning, and we had quite the fun weekend. We went and saw The Incredible Hulk for the second time and I have to say, I love this movie. And more than that, I love the way that they are doing comic book movies now. It seemed like when they were doing the spider man movies, and it was just kind of joke (which is really sad because I used to like spider man as a kid) but ever since Batman Begins came out and was amazing, they have been doing a much better job with superhero/comic book movies. I can't wait to see The Dark Knight when it comes out this weekend, and hopefully it doesn't disappoint.

The next thing that we did this weekend was that on Saturday afternoon, Ashley and I went up to my brother's house in Kaysville and had lunch with his family. As a tradition that Eric (my brother) and I started a couple of years ago, we like to make new food when ever we get together up there. We made beer brats a couple of years ago and then followed it up with Argentine Empanadas. This time we decided to make Beer Marinated Chicken Tacos. (http://weber.com/recipes/Recipe.aspx?rid=3). They were amazing. We also did homemade tortillas and cilantro lime rice (like they have at Cafe Rio). Eric and Melissa have the funnest kids to play with. Kylie, who is 5, likes soccer so I told her that I would play with her. Kylie would only play when she had someone else on her team to block me from getting to her. Parker simply likes to run around and chase Ashley... He always has had a thing for her.

Last week on Wednesday, Kevin, Lori, Chris, Ashley and I (Grant and Jen came up later on) went up to Tanner Flats up Little Cottonwood Canyon and roasted hotdogs and marsmallows on the fire. It was quite fun just to get away from the city and just relax for a while. I always have loved sitting around and just relaxing...Basically, I love summer, even though I don't particularly enjoy the scorching hot weather, I do like the summer nights when you can cruise around with the windows down and go enjoy a snoasis!

Since U Been Gone!!!

2008-07-09T09:47:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness! I can only begin to tell you about my excitement today!! I've been looking forward to this day since the day I got married. Let's be honest it was only 1.5 months ago...but still....I'm so excited for today because I am going to cut my hair off! I've been growing it out for our wedding, but now I finally get to cut it off. I just feel like it is in that ugly stage where I can't do anything with it. My hair has not been this long in years. It's not even that long either! I woke up this morning and told Taylor I might be more excited for today then the day we got married! ....Just kidding.... I love Taylor more then I love my hair, (gulp) shoes, and cats. I hate cats.

So that is not the only reason I am so excited today. Today I got an e-mail saying Carrie Underwood was coming to town. I don't know why that made me think of Kelly Clarkson, but then I thought to myself I wonder when Kelly is coming to town. So I went to her website to find out. KELLY AND REBA ARE COMING TOGETHER OCTOBER 10, 2008!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If any of you know me at all you will know that my all time favorite song is Since U Been Gone. It was played at my wedding. I know not a wedding song, but I just love it! I had to have it.

Anyways if you want to go it will be friggin sweet, sick, off the charts, whatever you want to call it, I will call it AMAZING. I only have one word for this "Fancy". If you don't know what that means then you shouldn't be going!!! Ü

So let me know if you want to go! Tickets go on sale July 19th. That is one Saturday I will be up early!!

Happy 4th of July!!

2008-07-03T07:59:00.000-07:00

I don't think I will find my way to computer tomorrow and I wanted to post this so it's coming a bit early!!

Happy 4th of July!

Thanks to all the service men and women who allow us to enjoy the simple freedom's such as eating BBQ while enjoying the company of friends, family, and fireworks!!!

Can't Wait!!!

2008-07-03T07:53:00.000-07:00

Taylor found this picture for me the other day. It has now become my screen saver. With it almost being July 4th I find it fitting to post this picture. It's very patriotic. Lot's of red, white and BLUE!!!!

Sofa's

2008-06-20T11:53:00.001-07:00

What Taylor forgot to mention in the last blog is that we also got a new sofa, and loveseat. Here are pictures of them...Aren't the pillows goofy? Yeah I'll have to do something about that...

The top picture is the love seat, and the bottom picture is the sofa.

It's Been So Long!

2008-06-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

So we really haven't posted much since we got married. What can you expect though, we have been really busy.

We went on our honeymoon to Midway, Utah and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We were in Midway for a couple of days, and it was just nice to relax and to not have to worry about anything. Getting married can be stressful, and especially the day of your ceremony is a really long day (as wonderful as it is, it is still a really long day). We layed low, even went and saw a movie, and it was great to have those days to relax and getting ready for our Mexico Trip.

Mexico was awesome. It was warm enough, but it wasn't really sunny for the first couple of days that we were there. We hung around the pool a lot, had a fun time watching some of the crazy people that were down there. There was one kid that sat around the pool all day, and he had rubbed oil all over his chest, so he was this really wierd shiny orange color. GROSS! We also went on a tour of Puerto, and Ashley and I got in a fight with some people Ecuador that were on the tour with us. "Oh, you think that you are so especial, you from america, you can take peoples seats, no respect. NO RESPECT."

One of my favorite things was Rythyms of the Night. It was a dinner cruise that took us to the other side of the bay, where there was no electricity and there was only torch and candle light. They had a show that was a modern dance showing Ancient Mexican Culture from the Area. It was really cool. At the end of the show, one of the perfomers lit the stairs on fire that he was walking up. They also had seperate dancers that would twirl ropes that were lit on fire. That was really cool. After the show we had dinner, and then it was a return ride across way with dancing and drinking (non-alcoholic for us of course...).

So after Mexico, it was back to the real world. We have been married for just over 4 weeks now and it has been great. We have been able to do a lot of really fun things since we have been married. Currently, we are living with Ashley's parents until our townhome is finished in October or November. For the first couple of weeks, we have just been sleeping on the bed that Ashley had before we got married. Now, it's a nice, comfortable bed, but it's a queen. And I am a large guy, and I tend to roll over a lot. Well in the first couple of weeks I have accidently headbutted and elbowed Ashley. So needless to say, we were both very happy when we got a King Sized bed this Tuesday. It was so nice to have an abundance of room. The bed is really tall though. With Ashley standing on it, her head touches the ceiling. Needless to say, a short person might need a stool to get on the bed.

Another thing that we did was that we have now planted a salsa garden. We have planted 6 or 7 tomato plants and 5 different kinds of peppers. We both really love chips and salsa so it will be fun come August when we can start trying different recipes and seeing who can come up with the spiciest treat. This is the second time that I have done this, so I am really excited to see if I can do better with the peppers this year, than I did the last time.

All in all, being married is great! I have loved every minute of it, and I look forward to many years to come.

Fun Pictures

2008-06-03T10:13:00.001-07:00

Taylor's siblings at the Temple.
Don't we look great?

My siblings at the Temple. I don't know what Taylor said or Spencer did to get these faces, but it made us laugh.

Here is my big sister Kristin. She did most of the flower arrangements for my reception. She has mad skills. I don't know what Taylor is doing in the background, but he looks happy to be there!

My bff, (not just for now) Lo!

My Southern Granny. She is so proper. My favorite thing is to hear her say dollar. I'll try and do my best impression but it just isn't the same. She likes to play cards, and it's always funny to get a rise out of her when you accuse her of cheating, even though she never does.

So I know these next two are practically the same picture, but for some reason I just laugh and love this candid shot!

Uh....Yeah my brother and I are quite the characters. I'm not sure if we are singing Sweet Caroline, or Friends in Low Places.

Wow!

2008-06-03T10:02:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it has been over a month since I posted. Taylor and I got married on May 21st. It was an awesome day despite it being so cold and windy. At least it didn't rain. We were grateful for that. After we got married we spent some time up at the Zermatt resort in my parent's villa. Then on Memorial Day we went to Mexico! I'll be honest the first day I was in Mexico I was a little worried. It seems like we drove through the "bad" part of town, and I thought to myself "what did I get myself into?" After we got to our resort though everything was fine and dandy! Taylor made this collage of photo's from Mexico. I'll post more from the wedding and from Mexico as soon as I get them! I hope you enjoy the little preview!

The Home Stretch

2008-05-02T11:17:00.000-07:00

So as I sit here, there are just 20 days if you include today, until we get married, and today is half over, so it's really only 19 days. I honestly can't believe that it has gone by so fast. We started this blog the day after we got engaged. At that point it was 203 days til we got married. It sounded like it was going to be forever. Before you knew it, Christmas came and went, and we had already lost two months. Then we really started to get things going for the wedding, and it has all just gone by like the blink of an eye.

As I thought about it today, there have been stressful moments, but then there have been some very fun times in all of this too. Getting our pictures taken was a lot of fun. Ashley's Dad took our pictures for us, and we ended up going to take pictures a couple of times. We went up the canyon last fall to get some pictures in the mountain and that same day we also took pictures at Thanksgiving Point as we looked at having our reception there. Around the first part of the year, we headed up to Midway and took pictures at the Zermatt resort. There is snow in the background and our cheeks are bright red in almost every picture. Then a couple of months ago, Ashley and I went to visit her brother and sister in Arizona, and got to take pictures in the sunny Arizona weather. The majority of the pictures that we took didn't end up being chosen, but it was just fun to and take pictures and not worry about having to pay a professional photographer for all of the time we took.

The next thing that I didn't think would be a lot of fun, was going through and filling out our wedding registry. It was cool to go through and pick out the different things that we would have in our future home. I was almost dreading going and doing this for an entire evening, but it really turned out to be a lot of fun. I don't have a lot of opinions when it comes to thing around the house, but I do about bath towels. One of my biggest pet peeves is when you go to wrap the towel around you, and it's too small. I am 6'3" and not a twig, so it takes a sizeable towel to fit around me comfortably. Well, Ashley was trying to tell me that they had oversized normal towels that weren't nearly as expensive as the bath sheet, that would work. I didn't believe her, so she had me wrap a towel around my waist right there in the middle of the store. I then started to walk around in that area with the towel to see if it would stay. Well, it did, and it just so happened that the new store employees were taking a tour of the sales floor, and they came around the corner right as I was strutting around with a towel. Needless to say, I was a little embarrassed.

The last thing that was fun (there are so many that I could mention) was purchasing a town home. Ashley and I will be moving into our newly constructed town home towards the end of the summer and I am really excited. They started to pour the foundation for it just recently, and it's been fun to pick out all of the options for it. We have gone up to Farmington where they are buiding the same model of homes, and we walked through a framed version of our floorplan. It was really exciting to walk through it and imagine what it will be like when it is ours!

All in all, I would say that the engagment has been fun, that it has gone by really quickly, and that I am extremely excited to start the rest of my life with Ashley. What they say is true, when you meet the right person, you just know it.

One Month!

2008-04-21T15:17:00.000-07:00

Wow we have come a long way! We are getting married in one month. The time has gone by so quickly to me! (See Lo I told you it would) I can't believe we have been engaged since Halloween! The wedding plans are almost done. We just need to pick out a cake and get some flowers. Then we are all done!
I did my bridals on Friday and Taylor was a long for the ride. We didn't get them all from the photographer yet, my mom just snapped a few shots,but here is a preview of what's to come.

The Pictures.

2008-03-21T08:07:00.001-07:00

If you see above there is a poll. Please help Taylor and I choose our engagement picture.

Here is Picture 1

Here is Picture 2:

Here is Picture 3:

AZ and fun in the Sun

2008-03-21T07:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Tay and I went to Arizona with my Mom & Dad to visit family. It was such a great time. I miss not having them closer. Love you guys! My nephews are growing up so quickly! They are close in age and it's funny to see how different they are. The youngest one, Henry is so full of life and daring. He is such a happy kid to. He'll start to play with a toy and if his older brother wants it, he know to throw it in one direction and run the other way! Clark his older brother is so thoughtful. He seems to always find a way to do something! Look at the size of that ice cream! Clark loves his chocolate!

While in Arizona we took some pictures, and I think we found our engagement pictures. So I need your vote. Vote on which picture you think is the best one. We have narrowed it down to 3 so good luck, and happy voting!

2008-03-14T22:35:00.000-07:00

This week has been somewhat of a rock n' roll week. Starting last friday, I got to cash in on a christmas present and go see Linkin Park in concert. I can still remember the first time that I heard one of their songs, where I was, what I was doing, so it was fun to finally see them in concert. I have to say, for having nearly 8 years of build-up, they did not let me down. From the time the concert started with those first few notes of "What I've Done", til the time they left the stage for good nearly 2 hours later, they impressed. There were not one but two encores, they played all of the songs that you would expect them to play, and I actually ended up finding a couple of new songs that I liked after seeing them performed live. I think that is truly the clue that you are watching a good band. They take a song that you might not like when you are just listening to it on their CD, and they put energy into it when you see it in person. The song almost comes alive.

After the concert, Mike and I met up with Ashley and many other people at Lori and Kevin's house. They were already up there for Chris' Birthday party, and they had been playing the newest video game craze - ROCK BAND!!! When guitar hero came out nearly 2 years ago, it was awesome. Well Rock Band has simply built upon that, by adding a microphone and a drumset. You get to name your band, and then play for fans, money and fame - just like a real rock star. Unlike Guitar Hero, you actually rely on the other band members for your success. If you have a drummer that just doesn't make the grade... you won't be playing a large show anytime soon. Just one night at Rock Band has made me want to buy an XBOX just so that I can play.

The last rockstar thing that Ashley and I did may not sound very rockstarish in the beginning. Ashley for the long time now, has really liked Mehmet Okur's hair. To me, it just looks like he rolled out of bed and came to play ball, but it seems to work for him. Now I have curly hair, and Memo has straight, so Ashley had only one solution. Straighten my hair with a flat iron. Well, I didn't come out and look like Memo, but I did learn that my hair looks pretty sweet when it's straightened.

Anyway - this week has taught me one thing. We all have a little rockstar in us, it just takes different things to make it show!

Dueling Chainshaws!

2008-02-27T21:18:00.000-08:00

So as Ashley said last week, it was a big week for us. We got pre-qualified for our house, and its officially less than three months 'til we get married. When I think about it I really can't even believe how fast the time has gone since we got engaged. You always have people tell you how fast the time goes by when you are engaged, but I don't think you really grasp it until you are in it.
Saturday, we went up to Midway in the afternoon to go to Wasatch County's Winterfest. It was held up at the Zermatt Resort. The main reason that we went was to see Dueling Chainsaws! Its a timed ice carving competition with, you guessed it, chainsaws.
We also decided to take the opportunity to have Ashley's dad take some pictures of us. Ashley is scrapbooking a book for us to have signed at our wedding. I was actually surprised that, given the freezing temperatures that we took the picture in, they actually turned out really well. We got quite a few pictures that we both really liked, even one where Ashley is pushing me into a muddy lake.
When we got done with pictures we decided to go and take a look at the ice sculptures that had already been carved. There was one guy that had carved a life-sized Harley Davidson. After seeing these it got me really excited to see the finals for the competition.
Those were held at Soldier's Hollow, a ski resort about five minutes from the Zermatt. We were sitting on cold metal bleachers and the sun had already gone behind the mountains. But I have to say as soon as they fired up the chainsaws, turned on a little AC/DC, I forgot all about the cold.
These guys were awesome. There was one in particular, Reinboltz, that really played to the crowd. He would run out and high five the people on the front row, he would do little antics with other carvers and generally just be crazy.
I really liked seeing how fast they were able to go and how much detail they could get using something as large as a chainsaw. One of the sculptures was a dragon, complete with flames coming out of his mouth, and scales all over his body. The other sculptures were a cocopelli, a phoenix and an elk.
At the end of the show, they killed the lights and had a killer fireworks show. It was pretty impressive considering the show was free and it was one of the few times that you will see fireworks in the middle of the winter. It just doesn't happen that often.

Great Sore Throat Relief

2008-02-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I don't update the blog because I feel like I don't have anything to say. My friend Lo said "that is the beauty of blogging, you don't have to have something to say or update people about, you can blog about a quote or random thought you have." Well I had a random thought today. I have been suffering from a sore throat for the past 4 days. I probably should have gone to the doctor, but they usually tell you to "wait" it out. I went to the local grocery store instead because I wanted some relief regardless of how short lived it was.

So I picked up some Cepacol for my sore throat. I picked up the lemon lime flavored ones. Let me tell you I have been super impressed with their strength. 30 seconds after I put it in my mouth I could feel a difference. ( I actually timed it because I was shocked at how quickly they worked.) I'd recommend them to anyone, at least to try. I'm sure actual results will vary, but for me I'm sticking with Cepacol.

Another Cougar...Post

2008-02-21T10:07:00.000-08:00

Taylor and I have had the opportunity to go to both BYU vs. Utah Basketball games. One up at the U and last night's game down in Provo. BYU beat Utah both times. It was awesome. I'm a little horse this morning, but that's ok it's well worth it.

Yesterday was a fantastic day! BYU won, Taylor got a promotion, and we got approved to buy a house. We purchased a 2 bedroom 2 bath, 2 car garage town home by the District. It's also right across the street from the New Day Break Temple, and Target. We could walk to the temple!!! In Utah we are so blessed to have so many temples near by!

So yesterday was a fantastic day. I can't wait to see what today has in store for us!!

So many things..

2008-01-31T10:57:00.000-08:00

Well it's been a while. I'm sorry to all of my "avid" readers out there. Here are the things that have happened since the last blog.

Taylor's dad gave everyone a trip to Zion's National Park. I have never been to Zion's. I'm not much of a hiker. I don't appreciate nature enough I guess... My family always took road trips across country to see my Grandma in Virginia. Anyways it was nice to get out of cold snowy Sandy and head down to sunny southern Utah. We drove down on Friday. Friday night Tay and I went to dinner with his two sister's Kimmi and Bethany and Mike his brother in-law. We went to this little place called Jack's. It was such a neat little place. It was very cozy. It resembled Iggy's. It was a little sports bar. On one of the menu's it even called the place a "social club". Dinner was good. We went back to our hotel rooms. (Don't worry Taylor and I stayed in different rooms!!!) We played a game that Tay's dad gave me for Christmas. Bethany is super fun to play games with. Just ask her about The Titanic and she'll have you on the floor laughing. Maybe you could even ask Taylor about the Titanic.....

Saturday morning I got up and was not feeling well at all. I thought it would blow over so I got up and continued about my day like it was any other day. That morning we went on a "stroll". I don't think anybody will call it a hike because it was so short. The path was covered in ice most of the way so it was a wee bit tricky but it wasn't too bad. Taylor doesn't do too well on slick surfaces so he decided he would slide down the icy parts of the path on his bum!

Uh yeah...Needless to say we had a good laugh.

We started on the Walter's Wiggles hike. I didn't even get half way before I had to sit down and try not to puke! I was not getting any better. Tay walked me back down to the car and took me back to the hotel. I proceeded to get worse, finally to the point that I made all sorts of phone calls trying to find some medication. My friend Lori told me to call the doctor on call at my regular doctor's office, and he might be able to call me in a prescription. She proved to be the life saver that night. I got to talk to a doctor and he phoned in a prescription for me. Taylor and his dad drove all the way to St. George to get my "drugs". They were so good to me! They even brought back some ginger ale, and gatorade. I was sick the whole night and didn't feel much better on Sunday.

On Sunday we were driving home. I wasn't looking forward to the car trip. I was hoping I wouldn't throw up. We got home, and I finally got a good nap. I woke up at about 6 pm and was not feeling any better. I also had a pain in my side. My mom took me to insta care and they thought that I might have had appendicitis. It turns out I didn't. So they gave me some IV fluids and medication and sent me home. Needless to say I have never been that sick in my entire life and never want to be that sick again. Thanks to all that were involved to help me feel better. I can't say that enough! Love you guys!

Our beloved Prophet died this past Sunday. It is sad, but at the same time I can't help but think what a joyous reunion with his sweetheart he must have had. I just get a sense of peace and joy when I think about our Prophet and his wife. What a blessing that even in times of sorrow and death we can rejoice in the fact that there is a life after this and we can live with our family forever! Here is a picture of Tay's family at Zion's

Giddyup Cowboy!!!!!

2008-01-15T08:10:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, we decided to get in touch with our inner cowboy and cowgirl. For those of you who don't know, my dad owns a horse. Her name is Xu Xa (pronounced shu sha) and she is what is commonly known as a Paint. She is about 15 years old and so she is pretty tame as a horse. My dad got her about 4 years ago and when we first got her she was apparently kind of brat. Since then though, my dad has worked very hard, and she has become very well behaved.

When we first got out there, my dad had already gotten her into the round pen and then we waited for a bit while her ready. It's quite the procedure. You have to put the halter on and let her run around a second to get her to calm down. Once you have done that, you put the saddle blanket on. Then the saddle, but you can't cinch it up all the way. What a horse will do when you first put the saddle on his with the cinch under their belly, they will stick there stomachs out so that you can't tighten it so much around them. Then when relax, it gives them more room, and doesn't make the saddle as tight. This is great for them, but if you try to ride the saddle, then you are liable to slide right off and get trampled. The sound of that just really makes we want to make sure that the saddle is nice and tight.

I was the first to get on the horse. This is only the third time that I have ever ridden on the horse, and I will be the first to admit, that it's something that I find a little scary. My dad's horse for example weighs 1100 pounds, has a mind of it's own, and frankly, I don't know very well how to control her. I know that I just need to spend more time on her, but I just haven't really gotten around to it. I rode her around the pen a couple of times and that was about all that I did.

After I got off, we had my niece out there. She is only a year old, and it was fun to watch her look at the horse. We actually even got her on the horse at one point, and she seemed to be a little scared right after first but definitely didn't want to get off the horse towards the end.

Ashley was the last one to get on the horse, and was more natural on Xu Xa than I was. I was impressed with how well she did on the horse. She was turning, going this direction, going that direction, and then, after about 5 minutes of being out there, she proclaimed that she was ready to gallop. I wasn't nearly that bold being on the horse. Now Ashley wants to get a horse, or I should say, she wants her Dad to get a horse. Who knows, maybe our dads will now become horse buddies?

Favorite Things

2008-01-11T13:37:00.000-08:00

My friend Lo informed that our blog was 90% BYU football so I figured I should add other things that are happening in our life right now. I saw her at lunch today, and pretty much don't want to disappoint her anymore. I know she is sitting on the edge of her seat waiting for the "update". Ü

We have been engaged for almost 3 months. The other day I thought to myself that other people are married by this time. Oh well, I'm un-traditional. Speaking of un-traditional, I don't love cake. I don't want to spend a bunch of money on a cake that no one will eat anyway so I'm thinking of have an alternative wedding cake. For example lots of desserts displayed on a 3 tier stand so it gives the illusion of a cake. The top layer will be an actual cake so we can have the "experience" for pictures and such. What do you think? Vote Now!

My mom and I went to a Bridal Show this past weekend. There are lots of neat things there, but most seem outrageously (if that's even a word) expensive. After the bridal show my mom wanted to go run some errands. My dad called to tell me that Maytag was having a super good sale. We ended up being in the area so we went to check it out. We ended up buying a washer. We got a smokin deal on it. I think that is one of my favorite purchase of the year so far!!

What's your favorite thing about this year so far?

2007-12-26T10:15:00.000-08:00

VIVA LAS VEGAS

As many of you know, BYU received an invitation to play in the Las Vegas for the third year in a row. Ashley and I were going to go, but tickets were kind of expensive. Well we had quite the good fortune, and Ashley won two tickets in a drawing at work. So we got her sister and brother to drive up from Arizona and go to the game. I hadn't been to Vegas since I was 17 and this would be Ashley and I's first trip together.

We left for Vegas Friday night after we got off work and started driving around 7:00 that night. The drive was suprisingly good for how hard it was snowing. We had snow for first two hours of our trip and so that slowed us down a little bit. Then we ran into the cold weather. When we got to Cedar City around 10:00 that night, it was 12 degrees at the gas station. And I thought that it was supposed to get warmer when we got further south.

We had reservations to stay at Treasure Island, right on the nothern end of the strip. It was a pretty posh hotel. The beds ended up being really comfortable, it was really easy to get back to our hotel because it was right off one of the freeway exits. That first night, we just checked in and went to bed. The next morning we got up and went to the Rio buffet. We made it in time for the champagne brunch, which included the best of breakfast, and the best of lunch. It was the largest buffet that I have ever seen. I started to walk through and saw so many things that I almost became overwhelmed with the amount of food that was there.
After the buffet we drove over to the Tropicana to see the bodies exhibit. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's pretty cool. They are actual dead people, and they dissect and preserve their bodies so that they can show different things about the body. It was really cool. You hear about the effects of a stroke, or of smoking cigarettes, but you never really get to see it. Well in the exhibit, you get to see these effects in a real body. You also get to see highlights of the different parts of the body. One of the coolest things in my opinion was to see all the veins and arteries that you have in your body. They inject a solution into the veins and then chemically dissolve everything except for that solution. They did the same thing for the artieries. So all you see is veins and arteries in the shape of a body. It was fun to see exactly how everything goes inside your body. Unfortunately, you can't take pictures, so we don't have anything to show for this.

While we were in Vegas Ashley had quite the hard time obeying all traffic laws. Normally she is a really good driver, but for some reason she couldn’t stay on her side of the road. I know, I know it sounds crazy but it wasn’t that bad. She just kept turning onto one way roads, of course she would be going the wrong direction. She seemed to forget to look for the “Do Not Enter signs.” One time she even made like 3 turns just to get back on track…That crazy girl…. I love her anyway!

Now, we get to the real fun stuff. We left for the game and got there just in time to see the kickoff. The game was not a high scoring game. BYU looked pretty good in the first half, but then at the very end, Harvey Unga fumbled on the 7 yard line and gave UCLA the ball and the chance to pull within 4 points at halftime. UCLA came out much stronger in the second half and after two 50 yard field goals by their kicker the game was almost tied at 17-16 for BYU. The game took an improbable turn when UCLA got the ball back with just over a minute left, and then converted a huge third down for thirty yards putting them on the ten yard line. With the clock winding down, and UCLA well within the the range of their kicker, it seemed like all hope was lost.

My mind instantly went back to the some of the most amazing moments in BYU history. In the last couple of years, we have John Beck connect on a last second pass to Johnny Harline to beat Utah. We saw Max Hall convert the improbable 4 and 18 when he went down field to Austin Collie. But blocking a 22 yard field goal attempt by a kicker who had been perfect so far that day, just seemed impossible. Well, with BYU, I think that now, you have to expect the impossible. After a timeout to add to the suspense, both teams lined up for the last play. As the ball snapped, the lines crashed together, the ball was kicked, and out of the crowd rose one higher than the rest. Eathyn Manumaleuna got just high enough to get one finger on the ball, and it fell just short. BYU had come out victorious against all odds.

When the game was over, we rushed down onto the field. Ashley got close enough to tough the Las Vegas Bowl trophy, and we were able hang out down on the field and get some nice pictures. The game was freezing, and almost turned into a tragedy, but BYU pulled off the miracle and made for yet another exciting finish.

The next day, Ashley and I went shopping on the strip. Ashley got me a new camera for Christmas so we were able to take lots of cool pictures to post on here. While walking around down there, one thing that we both noticed is that there was a complete lack of Christmas in Vegas. The Bellagio had their garden area dedicated to Christmas, and it even smelled like Christmas. Other than that though, Christmas was not present in Vegas. There wasn't even really any Christmas trees down there. It was definitely nice to get back in the car and have some good christmas music. Since I hadn't been down on the strip for quite a while, I enjoyed just being down there and seeing all that has changed on the strip. It seems like you could go down there every year, and there would still be a new casino.

The weather outside is frightful...

2007-12-10T21:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, it started to rain about midday on Friday and didn't really stop until sometime Sunday morning. Now in my opinion, if it is going to snow, I would much rather it be a large storm that makes you want to go sledding and then curl up in front of the fire with some hot chocolate. So needless to say, I enjoyed this storm. Then we made plans to go to Kevin and Lo's house and make marshmallows and watch a Christmas movie. It sounded like the perfect event to kick off the holiday season.

Now for the past 10 months I have lived with a little extra road noise to keep my snow tires on my car that I got for free half way through last winter. It sounds more like a Jeep than a Honda, and a conversation is near impossible at 40 miles per hour. But when the snow starts to get deep, my car starts to shine. We were able to make it up the hill to kevin's house, a task that nothing short of a 4x4 or SUV is able to do. I have to say that I was quite impressed that it made it, and now that it did, I have this strange feeling of confidence when driving in the snow.

When we first got up there we all helped plow the road leading up to the house with Kevin's four-wheelers. I have never been to much of a fan of shoveling but if I had the four-wheeler everytime, I might even get excited about it. I am definitely going to have to get some of those to play with sometime in the next couple of years. After plowing for a little while, the girls decided that they needed a candy thermometer to make the marshmallows. There wasn't one at the Olsen home, but tanner's house wasn't that far away and we did have a couple of four-wheelers and a utility trailer. So the guys suited up and got ready to make the journey. I was wearing Lori's gloves, Kev's beanie, my coat, a pair of dress shoes, and my aviator sunglasses so that I would be able to see. We loaded Tim into the trailer, and made our way down the hill to get the candy thermometer. The girls had girl time, and the guys ran around on four wheelers.

Later that night we all went out and had some fun playing in the snow and taking some sweet pics. Ashley was wearing my coat, and it absolutely drowns her, so if you can't see any part of her face in these pictures that is why.
The next day, after going and getting dinner and ice cream, we decided that we hadn't had enough fun in the snow. Ashley bought a tube, and we decided to go back down to Tanner's house to have a little fun in the empty horse arena. We got all suited up in proper snow gear, got out the hand warmers and had some good fun in the snow. We started pulling people behind the four-wheelers. It was a lot of fun because you would lay stomach down on the sled and fly across the snow. It was not easy to see when you were getting a faceful of snow everytime you hit a bump but that was part of the fun. It sure was funny when you would see someone loose control of the sled and end up in pile of mud. We also slid down the hill and just had a fun time playing around in the snow.

Both nights we ended up having hot chocolate at Lori and Kev's house, and of course, it was always topped with a homemade marshmallow. That part of it will definitely have to become a holiday tradition at our house because those marshmallows were amazing. (Thanks for making the mallows ladies!) In the end, we accomplished everything that I could have hoped for with the weekend. We had fun even though the roads weren't that great, we started what what will hopefully be a great tradition for years to come. I have noticed that having Ashley around just makes everything, even the holidays, that much better.

Hey Baby let's go to Vegas....

2007-11-27T19:45:00.000-08:00

So let me just start by saying Taylor and I have been crazy busy at work. We are going through a computer conversion, and having to help a gazillion people a day. Taylor told me that 19,000 calls came into his office one day! We haven't been able to blog much lately, but this next topic was too good to pass up.

So I realize the last post was about sporting events, but my sister and I went to the biggest one of them all this past weekend. No not the NBA Finals, Superbowl or World Series... something better. I took my sister to the BYU vs. Utah football game. (Sorry Tay!)

BYU was ahead for most of the game. They ended up being tied for part of the game. Utah had the ball for 8 minutes in the 4th quarter and ended up scoring a touchdown making them ahead with 94 seconds left. It was 4th and 18. Max Halla threw a long bomb to Austin Collie.

Obviously Austin caught it and a couple of plays later Harvey Unga ran it into the end zone. BYU went for a two point conversion rather than just the plain old field goal making the score 17 to 10 with BYU out ahead. Utah had over 30 seconds left to score a touch down. They couldn't make it happen and BYU ended up winning!!!! Go Cougs!!!

Well anyway...Not every post will be about the Cougars...but until then I'm fully invested.

Touchbacks and Safeties

2007-11-10T22:12:00.000-08:00

This past week, we have had the opportunity to attend both a BYU Football Game (Go Cougars - insert cougar noise here) and a Jazz game. I love going to sporting events. Even if you don't have as good as view as sitting on your couch and you might not be able to see the instant replay from four or five different angles, there is just a feeling that exists when you are in person witnessing a sporting event. Take the BYU games that I have been to this year. The first two, the weather was less than ideal, and the third was a sell-out crowd, and being the big guy that I am, it doesn't exactly mean that I am going to be very comfortable for the three hours that I will be at the game. But none of that seems to matter when you see Bryan Kehl intercept a pass and then proceed to make the opponents look like fools because they simply cannot tackle him. When something huge happens in one of these sporting events, you suddenly forget that you are crammed in the seats like sardines. You forget that you might be in a blizzard or the fact that you lost feeling in your toes ten minutes ago. The thrill of the game, the screaming crowd, and a winning team takes all of that away.

When you aren't at the game, you also don't get to see the mascots. In high school, mascots were more just an annoyance. I remember going to a couple of high school football games where our school mascot thought the best thing to do would be to try and run up and down the rows of the overcrowded bleachers. But at the college or professional level things are much more entertaining. The Jazz's mascot tonight spent five minutes walking around spraying people with a fire extinguisher. It was highly entertaining.

Apart from all of this, there is something else that you simply won't have when experiencing the game from the comfort of your home. You will not have the fans. I am not talking about the fans that cheer or clap at the correct times, I am talking about the ones that even though their bodies are at the games, their minds must be in a different place, because the things that come out of their mouths really astonish me at times. Their is always the "know-it-all" that tries to be the fountain of knowledge for those sitting within earshot of his voice, yet more times than not ends up stating incorrect information, and making a fool of himself. I don't know about the rest of you, but if I don't know about a certain subject of conversation, I don't make an attempt to be the "expert" of the moment. Then you have the "referee". You know who I am talking about, the one who seems to think that from their vantage point, perched in the upper bowl, they had a better view of the call than the man in striped shirt that was standing five feet from the call. Then you have the fans that get a laugh when they shout something out, so they find it necessary to shout the same thing, over and over looking for the same response. Alot of times, even the first time, we weren't laughing with you, we were laughing at you. "UTAH... JAZZ...UTAH...JAZZ, AHH THANK YOU, GIVE YOURSELF A ROUND OF APPLAUSE!"

Given all of these things, I still love going to sporting events and hope that over the years to come, I will only go to more. I love the energy, I love the feeling you get when you can say that you were there for that big play, the legendary one that will be talked about for years to come. So let's hear what you remember. What are some legendary sporting events that you remember?

I'm going to get HIGH every day!

2007-11-09T08:36:00.000-08:00

So I got to work after getting bad news about my car, and found an e-mail that was entitled "Natural Highs". I post them here hoping that we all can get high at least once a day! Needless to say it brighten my day.

I'm going to try and do one of these things every day...Hopefully we all take hot showers every day...Need I remind you that you are my friend because you shower daily and make me laugh? Hopefully you didn't need that reminder....Anyways...Enjoy getting high every day! It's a long list, but think it's a good one.

1. Falling in love.

2. Laughing so hard your face hurts.

3. A hot shower.

4. No lines at the supermarket .

5. A special glance.

6. Getting mail.

7. Taking a drive on a pretty road.

8. Hearing your favorite song on the radio.

9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside.

10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer.

11. Chocolate milkshake (vanilla or strawberry).

12. A bubble bath.

13. Giggling.

14. The beach.

15. Finding a 20 dollar bill in your coat from last winter.

16. Laughing at yourself.

17. Knowing that somebody misses you.

18. Looking into someone's eyes and knowing they Love you

19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours.

20. Running through sprinklers.

21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all.

22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful.

23. Laughing at an inside joke with FRIENDS

24. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you.

25. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep.

26. Your first kiss (either the very first or with a new partner).

27. Making new friends or spending time with old ones.

28. Playing with a new puppy.

29. Having someone play with your hair.

30. Sweet dreams.

31. Hot chocolate.

32. Road trips with friends.

33. Swinging on swings.

34. Making eye contact with a cute stranger.

35. Making chocolate chip cookies.

36. Having your friends send you homemade cookies.

37. Holding hands with someone you care about.

38. Running into an old friend and realizing that some things (good or bad) never change.

39. Watching the expression on someone's face as they open a much desired present from you.

40. Watching the sunrise.

41. Getting out of bed every morning and being grateful for another beautiful day.

42. Getting a hug from someone you care about deeply.

43. Knowing you've done the right thing, no matter what other people think.

44. Having someone send you unexpected flowers or cards, just because you are you and they wanted to suprise you.

45. When the BYU Cougars win!!!!

So I couldn't help but throw that last one in there.

To blog or not to blog?

2007-11-08T10:12:00.000-08:00

Clearly you know my answer by now to the question above....espcially if you are reading this....I told my friend Lori, I wanted to blog but I didn't have anything to blog about. She informed me that you can find anything to blog about and then proceeded to blog about her favorite quote...My blog will not be quite as poetic as hers.

My parent's, Kristin (my sister) and I went to Hawaii in March. Did I tell you that the Beach Boys sing a song about Kristin and me? Yeah you might have heard of it. It's called "Surfer Girl." These aren't photos of us looking are best, but hey it is us having a blast and that's all that matters!

I gave Kristin surf lessons for her birthday. It was sunny when we started the lesson, but raining and cloudy by the time we got in the water. I ended up hating it most of the time because the salt water kept getting in my eyes and making them sting. Plus it was a lot of work for a little wave. Kristin finally started calling me a baby because I was just chillin on my board in the middle of the ocean, not doing much surfing. Well I had to show her how it was done so I got up no problem, flashed a hang loose sign and was done. Check out that ittie bittie wave I'm riding!!!

Kristin got the hang out of it but not as quickly as I did. She got up and rocked it though! You'll have to ask her version of the story sometime.
Ultimately though I'm glad I did it. So now I pose the question to all of our avid blog readers...

If you could go one place in the world to have an adventure ....

WHERE WOULD YOU GO? WHAT WOULD BE YOUR ADVENTURE?

So let's here it. It is your time to shine. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Halloween 2007

2007-11-01T20:08:00.000-07:00

So I'll be honest, Halloween has never been that great of a holiday for me. I think that it all started when I was in second grade. It was my first year at a new school because we had just moved, and my parents made me go to school dressed as a girl. It traumatized me for more than just that Halloween, but also for many years to come.

So when this Halloween came around and Ashley suggested that she wanted to have a Halloween party, I won't say that I wasn't excited, but I will say that it did conjure up some bad past memories that I didn't want to relive. But as always, things that I wouldn't normally enjoy by myself, have become much more enjoyable when Ashley is involved; that and she knows how to throw one heck of a party.

Now this isn't to say that the suggestion that I dress up as a girl didn't come up. Ashley first suggested it to me one morning in a work email and I will say that the idea wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear. And then later that day, my grandma, without having talked to Ashley before that, suggested that I would make such a cute girl. Together, they were conspiring against me!!!!

Needless to say, it all turned out fine in the end. Ashley went as Wonder Woman, and even though I never have seen anything about Wonder Woman, apart from an episode of the O.C., I might have to become a fan now. I went as rock star, modeled after Guitar Hero (I am better at Guitar Hero by the way, but my sister Bethany can wax the floor with me) and I had the sweetest mullet. It was awesome! We had her parents house decorated and had some creepy music playing when everybody came over. We had dinner down at Iggy's, and I was encouraged to stuff as many fries as I could at once. I really don't have that much of an appetite for fries anymore.

The rest of the night consisted of playing games and eating a lot of treats. There were candy apples, chips and salsa, candy and homemade root beer, which you need to put a lot more than 5 cups of sugar to make it taste even remotely good. I am lucky that Ashley would think to put the rest of the bag of sugar in. She doesn't even like root beer that much, but I sure enjoyed drinking almost all of it.

All in all, my opinion of Halloween has changed quite a bit after this year.

I didn't have to dress up like a girl, we had an amazing party, and I learned that I could stuff 25 fries in my mouth. I think that I am going to look forward to Halloween from here on out.

We are engaged.

2007-11-01T12:36:00.000-07:00

WE ARE ENGAGED. Yes it finally happened! Taylor and I are getting married May 21st, 2008 at 11:40am, in the Salt Lake Temple. We are so excited!!! So here is the low down. Taylor had told me he was getting the ring on Halloween, and to leave Friday open. Up until yesterday he had told me EVERYTHING about the ring. I thought I wasn't going to be suprised at all. He called me and told me that the jewelers hadn't finished sizing my ring. At first I didn't believe him. Then I started to listen to the tone of his voice, and I could tell he was upset. I've only seen him get upset one other time so it was a little weird to hear him get this upset.

We were going out with some of our friends for dinner that night. Taylor had called me and said he wanted to come take me a suprise that he had got for me since he didn't have the ring. We we went to Dahlquist Park and he had a Halloween bag for me. I opened the bag and it immediately started to play the "Ghostbusters Theme". Tay had given me a card. The card said something like "Why did the Ghost go to his Ghoulfriends house at midnight?" Then when you opened the card it said "Because he wanted a Boo-ty call". After a good laugh I realized there were Peanut M&M's in the bag. I was excited, but let's be honest it was a little bit of a let down when I realized I wasn't getting a ring.

Tay said there was something else inside the bag. So as I pulled out the tissue paper and got to the bottom of the bag I looked at Taylor and said "There's nothing else here." Taylor responded by saying " Seriously? She didn't put it in there?" I had known that he was with his sister Bethany that afternoon and thought either

1. she didn't like me and didn't want me to have the ring, or

2. that she was trying to play a joke on Taylor.

Taylor then pulled out the ring and popped the question all while Ghost Busters was playing in the background!!!