Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Not a real post...

I get on blogger quite often, and think about writing out a new post, but never seem to have the right motivation.  Will and I have been busy, and it would be a good idea for me to journal out some of the fun memories we've made over the last year.  Because I'm on the computer all day at work, I never want to pull the laptop out, once I get home.  Maybe once Will starts travelling and I can't find anymore good junk TV to watch, I'll write and post pictures about what we've been doing lately. 

We remodelled our kitchen last July and have slowly been finishing the last few items over time.  We've spent lots of time hanging out with family; Got to spend Thanksgiving with Will's dad and stepmom and all the kids in Rock Springs.  We were fortunate enough to get to spend a week in Hawaii in January, and can't wait to go again soon.  We've been to several ReAL games and cheered on my dad's MHS soccer team to the state championship at Rio Tinto.  We've updated more of the backyard and had a baby shower for my best friend in June.   We've gone camping a few times and taken a couple overnight trips up to the DeMann family cabin.  We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary, by staying in a cool cabin near Vernal.  All in all, we've had our fair share of ups and downs, but life is pretty good for us.  As time goes on, with each new challenge we face, we've grown closer and bettered our relationship.

Monday, July 11, 2011

My Friend Angie

I have a couple of friends that  I met during my time working at Macey's grocery store after high school.   Julie and Angela are sisters and are both very easygoing and fun to be around.  I even went one time with Julie and her husband, Randy, bungee jumping, they cheered me on and didn't get annoyed when it took me several minutes to finally jump.  I had the privilege of attending Angie's beautiful wedding on a cold, snowy winter day.   She looked stunning walking down the aisle in a white gown with rose buds embroidered on her dress.  Julie's baby boy had been wheeled down the aisle right before her, in a wagon, which was adorable.

I lost touch with my friends, after they both moved out of state to start their new lives in Iowa.  Facebook brought us together again, and I've loved being up to date with their lives and laughing and talking with them as if years haven't passed us by.  I got to share the joy of them both announcing they were pregnant within months of each other, both with their fourth babies.  A few months later Angie found out she wasn't just having baby number 4, but number 5 as well.  She and Jared were shocked, but thrilled at the thought of having twins.  They chose to wait to find out the sex of both babies until birth.  On March 26th, after a complicated birth they had 2 beautiful baby boys, Judah and Lincoln.  Everything seemed to be going well, we all laughed along with Angie about the joys of being a mother to 5 young children.  She joked on Facebook one day that she made it early, for once, to get the "Twinkies" to Target for pictures, only to find that she had gone to the wrong Target.  But she loaded all the kids back up and made it to get the twins 3 month pictures taken.  3 days later I couldn't stop tears from rolling down my cheeks as I read Julie's status update, informing all of us that Lincoln passed away early the morning of July 2nd.  What should have been a fun and carefree 4th of July weekend was now a heartbreaking and somber time for this sweet family.  The good thing, I told Will through my tears, is that Ang was able to get the twins pictures just a couple days before.  I haven't stopped thinking of Angela and Jared, along with their kids and the rest of their immediate families.  Not only did Jared and Ang lose a son, a brother, a nephew and a grandson were also lost.  I've said a lot of prayers for them, and hoped that peace would surround them.  This family never ceases to amaze me...They are so strong and know that they will see baby Lincoln again, they know that God has a plan for each of us, and although we may not understand why things happen, we have to trust that there is a better reason behind it.  After a long day on Saturday, I finally laid down in bed, ready to get to sleep, deciding to check my facebook as Will dozed off.  I first noticed that Julie had posted a sweet post about her sister and it made me cry.  A few minutes later I realized that Angela had also posted a blog post and as I read, I laughed at the sweet memories and sobbed at the story that few of us will ever have to live.  I am so impressed with the way Angie wrote out such personal words and her testimony that Lincoln is in a better place.  Now I know that if I'm ever having a bad day, I can remember that my trials don't seem so bad compared to some that others have to go through.  Go read Julie's and Angela's blogs (on my friends list)...You will be able to share in these sweet sisters joys and sorrows.  They both make me want to be a better person.  I love them both, very dearly.

"Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep" -Romans 12:15

Friday, July 8, 2011

Birthday Pups

Today is Mia and Bosley's 5th birthday!! I tried to get a good picture this morning, I had them all cute and excited (like serious bum wagging and lip smacking) when I was excitedly telling them that today was their birthday, but since Jezzie thinks that all attention should be on her, she didn't help matters, and I never got a picture of them holding still, or smiling. They seem to get that worried look on their face when I'm getting annoyed that "I can't get a good picture of them!" (Total whiny voice inserted here.) Jezzie had her 2 year birthday on the 4th, but since it was the 4th, I forgot until the next day. Hope none of our kids end up being born on a holiday, cuz not only will everyone else forget about it, so will their mom. We wanted to have a dog birthday party, but too much sugar chaos makes for an ornery Bosley, so we told them "not this year." These pups are seriously the light of my life! I know that sounds ultra cheesy, but it's the truth! Last night I was wrestling with all of them on the bed (Will kept saying, "it's quiet time", the dogs and I didn't care) and they were making me laugh so hard! They have that ability to make me so mad one minute, to wanting to just hug them and give them kisses over and over, the next. I love all my pups so much!
Don't mind all the junk on the table, try to focus on the cute dogs.


Braided Jezzie's ears, adorable, right?


Mia and Jez checking out something out the front window.


Jezzie napping on Will, can we say precious?

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Still alive and kickin'

Will and I have spent the last few months, just living life.  Will had a busy few weeks at the beginning of winter, getting a couple ski lifts up and running, with his new company.  He's really been enjoying his job and looks forward to going most days.  How would it be, huh?  :)  He's been able to help design the lifts and that's been really cool to see the progress he's made.  He's making things way easier than other lifts are designed and it is cool to be a part of something so big.   I've been getting into sports more, lately, and got to join my family at a couple of BYU football games.






We spent Thanksgiving here with my family and one of my mom's sisters (and family) and her parents.  We did it at her house and my siblings and I all decided to do an ugly sweater theme for the day.  We ate lots of good food and just enjoyed each other's company throughout the evening.  I spent the night at my mom's house to get up early and do Black Friday shopping with Kylie and Mary.  We woke up at 3:30 to be at Target by 4.  We stood outside in the cold for about a half hour before getting inside.  Ky and I weren't able to find some of the things we'd wanted to get, but Mary was able to find most of the items she was hunting for.  I hadn't been Black Friday shopping in years and was shocked at how crazy it is.  I'm not sure if it's worth it to wake up early just to fight crowds and stand in line to pay for an hour.  But I had a good time with Kylie and Mary.  We went and got breakfast at Denny's (Classy, I know) and then headed home for a quick nap.  All the sisters and my mom took Mary's kids, Elsie and Colt, to see Tangled.  It was such a cute movie, and it really made it better seeing the kids laugh and get into the movie the way they did.  After the movie I met up with my friend, Adrienne for dinner.  We had a great dinner at Mimi's and then sat in my car afterwards, talking for another couple of hours.  She is such a great friend, and I am lucky to have her in my life.






Christmas was pretty uneventful.  It was very relaxing and the time was spent with family.  Will's dad and step mom spent the holiday in Denver, awaiting Kathy's son and daughter in laws twins to be born, so we did Christmas with them the week before Christmas.  They gave me a Kitchen Aid, that I was so happy to get!  I'll admit I'm not much of a cook, but have lots of plans of things to make using my new Kitchen Aid.  I made cookies a couple of weeks ago, and it made it so much nicer and quicker than stirring the dough by hand. 



In January, my whole family headed to Cozumel, Mexico.  There was 18 of us there in 2 condos.  We had a really good time.  We spent time at the beach, shopping, laying by the pool, and just talking and laughing.  We got to go to the other side of the island to some fun beaches this time, which I hadn't ever done before.  Will got to go scuba diving several times with my dad and brothers, where they got to swim with turtles a couple of times.  That was pretty exciting for all of them.  We were so glad that my dad and brothers got certified before the trip, it made it that much more fun for Will and they all couldn't stop raving about how much fun it was.  Will and I found a large wooden Aztec Calendar that we want to make into a table one day...but for now it's hung on the wall.  That was an adventure in itself, getting it packed up and shipped back to us.






Since then, we've just been living day to day life.  We've been enjoying seeing such a good season for the BYU Basketball team.  Watching Jimmer Fredette play has been so exciting.  Can't wait to see how they fare, now that they're in the Sweet 16.  My dad coaches the Murray High boys soccer team and the season just started, I'm excited to go to some games and to see how well they do this year.  We've had some Daffodils pop up in the last week, and are getting excited for Spring weather to arrive.  We love taking the dogs to the park and BBQing on the patio.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

My thoughts...

Ever go through a phase of feeling as if nothing is blog-worthy? Well that's me right now. Life hasn't been boring, but kind of uneventful and well, maybe boring. We're kind of at an in-between stage in life. Trying to decide what the next, best step is for us. Been feeling a little like we're on repeat, doing the same things day in, day out, but also feeling that it may not be all that bad listening to the same track over and over. I can't help but worry about the future, knowing that whatever we choose to do now, will always change the way the future unravels for us. I go back and forth so frequently on when I'd like to start having kids. I worry that if I have them now I'll lose my freedom. But then I worry that if I don't have them soon enough, I could go through a great deal of heartache. How do we ever truly know when we are ready? I feel very blessed to be as fortunate as I am. I have a great husband, a house and cars and jobs to pay for all our nice things. I have 3 dogs, that keep me laughing and happy everyday. We have great families that support us in everything we do and are great friends to us as well. But I can't help but want more. I want that nice big house in the dream spot, I don't want to be "stuck" in this ghetto neighborhood forever. I want to have money to go on nice vacations and remodel different things around the house to my liking. I want to be a good mother, patient and kind, just like my mom. I want to always see eye to eye with my husband and be able to raise our children to be good kids. I want my kids to grow up honest and good, and know what integrity is. I hope and pray when the time is right that all these insecurities will melt away and our kids will see confident and loving parents, just as they should. Until then, I'll keep my head up and remember that I have Will at my side every step of the way, and that is a great feeling!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring Cleaning

Normally you'd think spring cleaning would involve doing a bit of house or yard clean up, but today I spent a couple of hours just cleaning up things on my computer. My pictures were scattered throughout the big picture file and I got them all organized, deleted blurry or ugly face pictures. And came across some pictures I'd been wanting to post on here.

In January my family all headed to Cozumel, Mexico...Leaving the sisters at home. We all had things come up for us this year that prevented us or made us decide it was best to skip the vacation this year. So instead Will and watched my brothers boxers for them, and had a blast doing it. I love Cooper and Dutch like my own and so I love having them around. We had 5 dogs in the house once again, but this time 4 big dogs and tiny lil Jez. Jezzie always has a ball when dogs come stay, it's a new friend for her to play with. Bosley has a hard time when other male dogs come around and so it took a couple days before he was fine with Dutch being there, and after seemed very comfortable with him.



Please don't mind me...Will hates this sweatshirt, but I love it, it's be best pj sweatshirt I have!





We've had a pretty uneventful few months...But what's new, huh? We've been doing things here and there with both of our families, went to a hockey game with some of my siblings, and spent a couple days in Rock Springs helping Will's dad paint his house, and it looks good! I bought a treadmill a few weeks ago and have been trying to get in the habit of working out every morning, but some days sleeping another half hour sounds so much better. :) Will and I have both just been working and hanging out with the dogs. So instead of trying to come up with stories, I'll just post a few pictures that speak for themselves.




TUG OF WAR!!




Sisterly Love. :)


The boys, Brant, Will, Taylor and Josh


Will trying out the Snuggie I got from Adrienne! It's very handy, thanks Adrienne!




Jezzie is quite the explorer and when there's snow on the ground this is what she looks like. That morning she couldn't get through the dog door there was too much snow on her. She cracks us up by eating the snow balls off her legs, the boxers follow her around too doing the same thing.




Jez got her hair cut and for some reason didn't want to be left alone after we got home, so as I was cleaning I put her in my jacket and she stayed that way for almost an hour letting me get the housework and laundry done. Perhaps she is just what we needed to prepare ourselves for a baby...Maybe one day we'll be ready. :)

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Christmas 2009

I'm gonna make this post short and sweet. Things have been busy with work and the holidays, and frankly, I'd like to not relive it right now. Don't get me wrong, the holidays were fun filled, but I'm glad they are over and I am back to getting a full nights sleep again.

On the 13th, we got to drive through a wicked snow storm, making the trip an hour longer than usual, to Evanston to celebrate Christmas with Will's mom and stepdad and their family. It was a lot of fun to see everyone after so long! I of course forgot my camera...next time! :)

Christmas eve we spent at the DeMann family party and had a lot of fun playing with our dollar tree dart guns...which has become a tradition thanks to Bryce and Mary. They buy every grandkid (meaning there's about 40 guns total) a gun from the dollar store and we shoot each other all night long after all the gifts have been exchanged. I decided this year that I didn't want to buy everyone some lame gift that goes in the garbage from the dollar store, and decided instead to have my dad read the Christmas Orange story and hand out slices of chocolate oranges to everyone. It is an awesome story, if you haven't ever read it, I suggest it.

Christmas morning we went to my parents house at 7 AM for presents and breakfast...everyone's schedules are busy, so that's when it ends up working to have everyone over. After Will and I went home and got busy making dinner. His dad and stepmom came down from Rock Springs for the weekend. His brother and his family came over and it was so nice to have them here! I made Roast, Potatoes and Carrots and was pretty impressed with myself...the one thing I would've changed is how long everything actually cooked, we ended up eating later than I thought we would so everything cooked about 2 hours longer than it should have, but since it was my first time make this I can't complain! :)

For Christmas this year I wanted a new table and chairs and a new coffee table, so Will and I spent a lot of time searching and found ones that we loved. We were very excited to have enough seats to fit everyone on Christmas and on chairs that aren't broken. We used our China for the first time on Christmas and everything looked beautiful! Here's a few pics from that week.













My last post I mentioned getting new bedroom furniture and had an overwhelming response of people wanting me to post a picture...Here it is, and I dedicate it to my biggest fans. :)


I was going to take a picture of each piece, but decided no one cares that much...so you get the gist of what everything looks like here, right? Plus everything is so crammed into the room that I can't get a good angle on any one item, anyway.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Fall Happenings...

So I've been failing at this blog, because there really hasn't been much exciting going on for Will and me. We've been keeping busy with work and all the daily things. I was working a temporary position at an insurance company for about 7 weeks, doing a LOT of copying and pasting and just started last week back at the Men's Wearhouse. I am glad to be back at the place I really enjoyed working, but I do remember a few things I really didn't miss. I love the people I work with and am thrilled to have some of my favorite people in the same store as me. I need to get back in the groove of things...I feel like I should already know everything, but need to be reminded how to do things, and things have changed in the 3 years I was gone, so there's new things to learn too. I need to learn to be on my feet for 8 hours, again. I need to remember what shoes my feet could handle standing in for that long too. The other day I wore boots and after the first hour was wishing I could just walk around in my sock instead. That night I literally couldn't sleep because my feet were aching so bad.

A couple of months ago, I got sick and ended up in the ER for a kidney infection. That was not fun! Because I was so dehydrated it took them 5 tries to get the IV in to get me fluids and antibiotics and then another 4 pricks just to try and draw a blood sample. And we're not talking, prick, pull the needle out, we're talking, prick, move it around trying to find a good spot in my vein. Then the whole ordeal of 3 different doctors needing to push on my stomach to see how intense the pain was, was not fun. Needless to say, I plan to stay well hydrated at all times, especially when I'm sick. The doctor said she thought because I hadn't been drinking much and was throwing up, that my body didn't have anything running through my kidneys to flush any infections out.

We were sad to see the summer end but did try to cram a few fun outings in to feel like we didn't waste the entire summer away. We took Will's mom's boat out and really wish we could've done that more...but I guess there's always next year. We played a lot of badminton and bean bag toss with my family on Sunday's. We tried to have BBQ's as much as possible. Will and I enjoyed dinner out on the patio most nights and fires in the fire pit on the weekends. Me and all my sisters and sister in laws and my mom all went to see Thriller together, which was such a good show! It was so fun to have all the girls together, we're all planning on going to the KBull 93 concert in December together too, I can't wait!


We've decided to try out our fireplace this winter, to see how much money we can save on our gas bills. So we've gathered wood from different people (mostly people just trying to get rid of it, selling it really cheap) and started building a good wood pile. Because we've already had a couple of cold weeks, we've really noticed a diffference in temperature around the house with a fire going. I've even learned to start fires on my own!

Jezzabelle has been such a joy to have around our house. It was tough right at first trying to figure out the potty training thing again. But Will had an idea to put in her own little dog door, and leave her in the laundry room while we were gone and went to bed, and it worked so well. She is a smart little pup and we only had to deal with a few accidents after she learned to use her dog door. She is so animated and has so much love to give us. Will and I both love coming home from work to her excited tail wagging and small little kisses. She can be so funny at times, the way she'll sit in the middle of the room and just take everything in. She loves to eat the big dog food so much, we've stopped buying her own food and gotten her, her own big dog bowl to eat right along side the big dogs. She loves to hide under the couch and snip at the big dogs heels as they walk by, which in turn becomes a game of trying to get her as her little head pops out, but she's always quicker than them. Bosley and Mia, have really learned to live with her. They play gentler with her, and don't seem to mind her little puppy antics as much anymore.






This past month and a half Will's dad and stepmom were in Australia. They have 2 miniature Schnauzers, Rosie and Daisy, that Will's brother and family and we watched while they were gone. Will and I had them for 4 weeks and decided that 5 dogs in one house is simply too much! The first week was crazy, but once the schnauzers learned our routine they settled in nicely. Jezzie loved having a couple of dogs her size to play with. Halloween was crazy with all 5 dogs barking when the first few trick or treaters came by. We locked them all up, knowing we couldn't put up with that barking and howling all night. His dad and stepmom returned on Friday night, and it seems oddly quiet without Rosie and Daisy around anymore.



A few weeks ago, we went and got new bedroom furniture and finally got the king size bed we've been wanting for a while. We got a black sleighbed and all the matching furniture, and are thrilled with how our new red bedspread looks on it. Now all the dogs can fit in bed with us, and we still have room for ourselves too! Our room isn't quite big enough to fit it all (although we did cram it all in with very minimal walking space), but we wanted to make sure we bought all the matching pieces, so that one day when we have a big master room it will all fit nicely and everything will match.

One last thought...(I use this blog as my little journal, so I've gotta add even the smallest things.) Will and I have decided we don't want to put too much more time and money into our house. We were planning on remodeling our kitchen and master bath at the beginning of next year, and now have decided we'd rather get things paid down so we can maybe afford to buy a nicer house in a better location in the next couple of years, instead of staying here for another 5 to 10 years. We will probably still do little things, like new Pergo floors and a new front yard, just to make the house look better, so that when the time does come to sell it, it will be in good condition to do so. Here's to hoping the economy gets better, so we can sell our house in a couple of years!

Monday, August 24, 2009

Jezabelle


Over the last few months, I've been asking Will if I can have a puppy. My brother Josh's roommate Taylor, has a Maltese-Shih Tzu mix and I love her. She is small and cute and has such a fun personality. While I LOVE my boxers I can't tote them around with me where ever, and sometimes I just want to bring my "kids" with me places. But also just having a small dog is so different than a couple of large boxers. After enough of my asking,(I thought maybe Will was going to surprise me with a puppy for Christmas, that's how long we're talking) Will realized how serious I was about it and gave in. So I started looking and after a couple of days, I found a Maltese-Shih Tzu and Yorkie Mix that was so darling. I brushed past them a few times because I wasn't sure that Will would go for them, but after I showed him he really liked them too. So we called the breeder and found they had the little girl we wanted, so we drove to Pleasant Grove to meet and take home our new little one. She is so tiny and adorable! I weighed her and she weighed 1.8 lbs...so you can imagine how fragile and tiny she is! My boxers look like Great Danes next to her, they both weigh over 50 lbs and don't realize the strength they have when they try to play with her only to knock her over completely. They've been getting so much better with her, and seem to be getting used to her being part of the family. I think Mia is having a harder time adjusting to her, and seems jealous sometimes, but that's pretty typical of Mia most of the time. I've been taking her over to my parent's house to play with my niece and nephew during the day and they are so cute together. She really seems to enjoy playing with them more than anyone else so far and the kids want to give her so much love and attention. She has so much fun running around chasing Elsie and giving her and Colt tons of kisses. Colt's reaction is so funny, because it's always so suprised and he does his super cute "ho ho ho" laughing everytime he touches her and gives her a kiss or gets a kiss from Jezzie. Elsie is such a sweet little mommy and wants to hold her and pet her. She likes to get down on her stomach and talk to her saying, "Hi Jezzie" over and over.



So far Jezzie has been like a baby and wants to sleep a lot of the day. She's been like any puppy and wants to play rough and tumble and bite us everywhere...but has such sharp tiny teeth and claws, sometimes it's hard to keep up with her. She's been very interested in the big dogs food and will find her way over to their bowl to try to eat what's in the bowl (which scares me that she's going to choke on it) or lick around the entire bowl if it's empty. She's been so fun to have around so far, and we can't wait to see more of her personality blossom as time goes on!