Darla and Will

My Friend Angie

2011-07-11T14:37:00.000-07:00

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

Birthday Pups

2011-07-08T15:42:00.000-07:00

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?

Still alive and kickin'

2011-03-22T20:21:00.000-07:00

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.

My thoughts...

2010-09-11T19:53:00.000-07:00

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!

Spring Cleaning

2010-04-04T11:46:00.000-07:00

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. :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-06T09:47:00.001-08:00

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.

Fall Happenings...

2009-11-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

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!

Jezabelle

2009-08-24T14:23:00.000-07:00

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!

Summer Happenings

2009-08-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

I've been a bit of a slacker this last month and a half. We've been keeping busy with the usual summer activities and now that it's been so long I'll keep my posting brief, so as to not bore everyone. On July 10Th Will and I celebrated our 1-year anniversary. We went out to dinner at PF Chang's and then came home and relaxed in our backyard. I set up a blow-up wading pool 3 days before and covered it with plastic in hopes that the water would be somewhat warm, to make do for a hot tub. We were pleasantly surprised to find the water was actually hot...like bath water. It was really nice just hanging out in there. After I had set up the patio swing into a comfy bed with tons of pillows and twinkle lights. We sat there talking and eating our desserts and enjoying the perfect weather outside.

The following week we headed to Denver to continue our anniversary celebration. Will proposed to me in Denver, when I made him come with me to see Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood in concert there. So this year when I saw that Keith was making a stop in Denver a couple days after our anniversary, we decided it'd be a fun trip to take. We planned on spending 4 nights there...but because I don't have a job right now, we decided to not go overboard and spend too much money. So we cut the trip down to 2 days and realized it really was just right. We went to Elitch Gardens (Six Flags) one day and had fun riding rides and hanging out at the water park. We might be getting a little too old to do the all day thing anymore, as by the time 5 or 6:00 comes around we are tired and ready to get out of the park and away from the tantrum throwing kids! We went to see Keith Urban and out to dinner. Sugarland was playing with Keith Urban and sounded so good. I am always so impressed with how good most country singers sound live. I would say most of them sound better live than on their CDs. They have such a passion for the songs they're singing, as most of them write their own songs too, and it shows. We had such a good time in Denver and with the drive to and from, we were able to just spend the time talking and laughing.

We were glad to get home, because our dog Mia had gotten a sunburn and had made it worse by scratching it, so we were able to be home to baby her while she had to deal with having the cone on her head. She was such a sad pup for a few days and it broke our hearts. But after a few days she realized the cone wasn't going to stop her from being a normal dog and would just plow through whatever got in her way. She smacked me in the face so hard with the cone one morning jumping on the bed, I blacked out for a second. She's all better now and although she gets made fun of by Will for no longer being pretty because of the scars, she is back to her usual self. :)

We've been hanging out with friends and family all summer. We went to Lagoon one Sunday with my brother and his girlfriend, to celebrate her birthday. That was tons of fun...and I had fun getting to know Miki more! We've been to a couple Real Salt Lake soccer games, a Bees game and had a few BBQ's at our house. We've been playing badminton and bean bag toss at my parent's house after Sunday dinners and that's been a blast. I love that all of us siblings and our significant others get along...it makes for fun competitions! I love the summer and am pretty sad to see it coming to an end.

At Lagoon after getting soaked on the Cliffhanger, that Jared told us we would barely get splashed on.

At our first Real game...with 2 of my brothers and Miki.

Here's the whole group, in 2 pictures at the last game we went to, this past Saturday. Don't mind the weirdo in the purple shirt, he is not part of our group.

Ugly Face Contest

2009-06-30T12:59:00.000-07:00

On Father's Day, my brother, Josh, took my camera and started an ugly face contest with me and Kylie. After going through my camera I found a couple of pictures that I decided needed to be put in the contest...Mary just made a face as Elsie was taking a picture and Devin was making a mean/pouty face and so I thought they deserved a spot in the contest! Josh's face is the winner in my book, it cracks me up every time I look at it! Honestly Devin's isn't bad at all...just thought it was funny. :)

Devin:

Darla:

Mary:

Josh:

Kylie:

Father's Day Weekend

2009-06-30T12:32:00.000-07:00

I just uploaded some pictures from my camera and just wanted to blog about a couple of them...Most of the pictures are honestly of my niece, Elsie and nephew, Colton. We were over at my mom's house a couple weekends ago for my cousin's baby shower and then the next day for Father's Day. I could eat both of these little stinkers up, they are such a joy to be around and so cute! I know I could be biased just because they are the first niece and nephew in our family, but I think they are the funniest, cutest kids out there. Being around them makes me excited at the thought of Will and me having kids in the future. I want them to be just like Elsie and Colt, or at least have colorful personalities like they both have. I think Bryce and Mary (their parents) have done such an awesome job of raising them thus far and don't baby them too much. Elsie is like a small adult and really does understand the things you say and really listens to you. I love that I can actually talk to her and know that she will remember and she responds to questions and comments we say to her. I know that Colt will be like Elsie in that regard, but right now he is too busy being a boy and would rather be rough and tumble than sit and listen to you read a book or try to talk to him. He can really get me laughing though sometimes, he can be so easily amused and laughs his head off, which in turns makes everyone around him laugh too! I am so glad that I get to live so close to them and that I get to be around to watch them grow up and be a part of their lives the way that I am.

Elsie and Colt both love all dogs. My sister, Betsy, brings her dog, Kodiak to dinner most Sunday's and the kids just want to squeeze him and love on him, and he gets a little nervous around them.

Josh, my brother, also brings his dog, Cosmo (or Mo Mo, as Josh calls him) most of the time and he really does his best to try to stay away from Elsie and Colt trying to clobber him, or he tries to steal the food from their hands as often as possible. He's a pretty funny dog and loves Josh more than anything, so when I caught them sitting side by side on the couch together I had to get the shot!

New Fridge and Stove

2009-06-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Our stove in our house was pretty gross and old. When I bought the house with the girls 3 years ago that was one of the first items we said we were going to replace. Clearly that didn't happen...Will and I have been checking them out here and there and after shopping around a couple of weeks ago found that Home Depot had the best deal going on that week. We were just going to go for the cheapest stove, but after looking and talking we decided we wanted a nicer one that could stay nice for a few years and hope we won't have to update it when we sell the house in a few years. While we were shopping we found such a great deal on a stainless steel side by side fridge that matched our stove we were planning on getting, so we went for it and got both of them! It's so nice to not have a fridge that is leaking water constantly and a stove that doesn't stink up the house everytime you use it! And I've been doing some baking and cooking and they work so well, I haven't burned anything yet, which was virtually impossible with the old stove! And to top it off, the fridge and stove actually match now! We have plans to update the whole kitchen in the next year (at least that's the plan right now) and so it's nice to have our major appliances taken care of already. We don't have a dishwasher now, so that is next on our list of appliances to buy. Will and I came up with a plan of how we'd like to do the kitchen and I can't wait till it actually happens. As you can see from the pictures below, we have hardly any counter space right now and half of it's taken up by the dish rack. I get frustrated sometimes when I'm trying to cook and prepare a meal, when I have to clean up after each step to continue! So when we do get everything set up we'll more than double our counter space, so it will make the kitchen more workable.

Here's the before and after:

And my way of telling the stove and fridge that I love them:

After posting last time about working on painting the house, it's come to a stand still. First we just couldn't decide a color to use and then we decided to just go with White again, but then we've been busy and this rain has not been our friend either! But now that the weather looks like it's going to stay nice I think Will and I are going to finally finish our house painting project. I spent almost 8 hours last week staining our fence and painting the old playhouse in the corner of the yard, and now I just want the whole backyard to look complete and not have 4 different colors on the wall anymore. One day we'll continue on and repaint the whole house and put up shutters, but Will likes to go back and forth on what projects take top priority at the time, so we'll see when it all really gets done! :) Do the projects ever end? It does feel good knowing our money isn't being thrown away on crap now, though. We're putting every extra cent into making our house a better place to live and that makes me so happy. I watch a lot of HGTV and always have ideas in the back of my mind what we can do to make the house prettier...too bad Will doesn't see those ideas as brilliant as I do!

A little of this, a little of that...

2009-05-19T11:05:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged for a while. We've been preparing the outside of the house to be painted, which is a slow and tedious process. We've been cleaning all the windows, and re caulking the edges. We are scraping off the paint, and Will is using a grinder to really get all the paint off the house to start fresh. We've also tried 3 different colors of paint and can't seem to find one that we both agree on and like. Originally we wanted to do a sage green, but the 2 greens we chose were a no-go...then I moved my idea to doing a taupe, but that color isn't working out as well as I thought it would. Because paints have a different base in them, sometimes they just don't turn out the right color when the computer goes to mix them up. So my taupe turned out a purple color, and although it was a pretty color, I do not want to be the people with the purple house! Right now Will is on a weird kick of trying to do 3 colors and doing them in layers and then running the grinder over it to have some of the layers pop through, etc. to have our house look like some sort of art project, I guess. I am so not into the idea, but he is so gung-ho on the idea there's not talking him out of it right now. He's gotten some green, white and yellow (because those apparently are the colors he wants) samples and has painted them on and will grind it to see how it works. I already have a ghetto house in Kearns, let's hope we don't make our house blend in more by making it as ugly as most of the houses on the block! Ha Ha! I may be surprised and find that his idea works, but the colors he has right now I'm thinking are a little too bright.

May is a busy month for my family with birthdays! May 4th is Kylie and my grandpa's bday, the 8th is Jared and Josh's, Betsy's husband, Brant's is on the 12th, Devin and I celebrate ours on the 14th, Will's is on the 16th, and my mom and sister in law Autumn have their's on the 17th, and then last but not least, my niece Elsie and brother in law, Dave have their birthdays on the 24th...Oh yeah, and of course I can't forget my mother in law on the 27th! My mom is so good at making sure she remembers everyone's birthdays and had a whole bunch of dinner parties to celebrate. I convinced her after the 3rd party to just combine Brants, Wills and Devin and my bdays into one dinner, since we're all starting to get sick of one another! :) But then I ended up seeing most of them again anyway when Brant had his birthday celebration last Friday night and then Will and I had a BBQ at our house to celebrate ours. Then everyone was there again on Sunday to make sure Mom got the birthday she deserves!

Will and I decided since we just got done with our backyard that we should splurge a little on our birthdays and went out and got patio furniture! I went out and bought a bunch of pots for flowers a few weeks ago, and had some tiki torches from when I bought the house from my housewarming party. Our backyard feels complete and Will and I spend a lot of our extra time out there now. Will surprised me with us going and picking out a fire pit for my birthday to complete the patio. We got to try it out at our BBQ on Saturday and I love it! I'm now trying to convince Will to let me bring a t.v outside so we can watch movies together out there...He'll break down one day, he always does. :) Now if we could just finish our painting project, then the backyard will be complete and gorgeous! We've decided that since our backyard looks so good, we are going to lay sod in the front yard next spring. That grass has had trouble the whole time I've lived here and I've kind of given up on working so hard for almost no results. I need to get out there and do something to make it presentable, though. I haven't given it any attention in the last couple months, except mowing and fertilizing the lawn a couple times and it could use a little TLC right about now.

Finally!

2009-04-20T16:29:00.000-07:00

I am happy to announce my backyard is finally finished! When I bought this house 3 years ago there were things I wanted to accomplish on the backyard that never quite got finished...they were just too big of projects for me to take on by myself. Now that I've got a good ole hubby around to help with these things, I'm starting to see projects get started and finished with his help!

Will and I started a couple of months ago by building a new gate on the side of the house for the dog run...then spent a couple of days and took a couple of truckloads of junk to the dump (mostly branches from the previous owner stashing them there) from cleaning up the side of the house. We then worked on clearing up the backyard of the branches I've piled up from cutting down a couple of Chinese Elm trees, as well as from my apple tree that split last year. We were able to rip out a couple more small Chinese Elms and a couple of HUGE flowering bushes as well as digging and ripping up a couple of stumps and grinding another couple under the ground enough to lay sod over them. Will has been such a hard worker and I am so glad we were partners in making the backyard look beautiful. Will spent a few hard working days putting in a sprinkler system all on his own and I couldn't be happier that I won't have to move a sprinkler around and will be able to water the lawn in the wee hours of the morning, when it's most effective! Here a a bunch of pictures showing the transformation over the last 2 months...
Beware, there are going to be a TON of pictures to go through, it was a long process!

Now all that's left to do is accessorize my patio and make that brighter to match our bright green grass! We have tons more projects lined up for us to do to make the house look better...paint the outside of the house and put up new siding and rain gutters along the tops of the house/roof. I need to finish the front yard...I tore up all my rose bushes and now need to find new bushes and flowers to plant there, as well as nurse my lawn in the front back to health, it's not looking so good right now! One day, huh?

Academy of Country Music Awards

2009-04-05T21:12:00.001-07:00

I just got done watching the awards show tonight and just wanted to blog about it! :) I look forward to these shows and always cross my fingers for Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood to win anything! They are my favorites and deserve not only the nominations they get, but the awards they win! Keith didn't win anything major tonight, he took home the award along with Brad Paisley for vocal event of the year for "Start a Band"...but he performed and sounded so good and I'm totally diggin his new hairstyle! ;)

Carrie also sounded GREAT when she performed, although the dress she wore kind of had me distracted...it was kind of an odd dress, huge and strange, but since she's Carrie and I think she's gorgeous in anything, she can pull it off.

She took home the 2 top honors tonight...Female Vocalist of the Year and Entertainer of the Year! She is always so cute when she accepts her awards, she genuinely seems grateful for the chance to be a part of the country music community. I think she is awesome, so I couldn't be happier to see her take home these awards!

Will is such a good sport and lets me watch these awards shows without complaining...and doesn't make fun of me when I jump up and down when people win awards I think should. I was also happy to see Taylor Swift get the album of the year award...even though I like Carrie's album better, Taylor's album did so well and sold a record amount...Taylor is going places in country! The show was great tonight, I can't wait for the next one!

Sleeping Beauty

2009-04-01T09:50:00.001-07:00

Little Elsie Bug

So on Sunday when we got to my mom's house, my sister in law, Mary, and my niece, Elsie greeted us and Mary told me she had a story for me, but to not be offended. They've been reading a lot of books with Elsie lately, but she especially loves to read her Sleeping Beauty book, which is basically just pictures taken from the movie and put into a shortened book version...anyway, she has all the characters named in the book. Aurora is Mary (mommy) and the prince charming is Bryce (daddy)...a couple of the fairies and the kings are both of the grandparents...well for some reason Elsie has picked out the evil witch Maleficent as me! Mary went to get the book and sat down to read it with her...sure enough as soon as she got to a page with Maleficent's picture, Elsie said, "There's Darla, Hi Darla!". Now, she doesn't seem scared of this witch, so maybe it's not as bad as I'm taking it? Ha Ha! Maybe I'll take it as a compliment that she's putting me as a character in her book at all! :)

Cozumel, Mexico

2009-03-02T13:46:00.000-08:00

Back in January Will and I went with some of both of our families to Mexico. My parents, older bro and his family, and my younger brother and sister were there...as well as Will's dad and step-mom. We had so much fun! Although I complained that the weather was overcast and rainy the first 3 days, which really does put a damper on what you can and can't do...the ocean was too rough to do anything in, and the wind was too cold to let us stay out and swim for very long...but it was A LOT warmer than it was back home! I always secretly wish it would snow 27 feet while we are gone, in hopes that it will be done for the rest of the year :) but it never seems to happen that way! This year it was just plain COLD while we were gone and man did we feel it when we got back. I wanted to wear a couple short sleeve shirts to show off my tan (which is just tan for my pasty whiteness), but instead I layered as many clothes as I could to keep myself from going into some sort of shock from the cold! While we were there we spent lots of time walking back and forth to town...it was so nice to have such a short walk from our condo. The grocery store was right across the street, and the walk to town was a ten minute leisurely stroll. Most everyday there was at least one, if not 3 or 4 ships docked, so going into town on those days was just insane! You'll find that the store owners will not give you the best price, because they think that you are from the ship and if you really want something you will choose to buy it, since you have to be back on the ship by 4 or 5:00. I got pretty good at my bartering skills this time around...I would tell people, no way...this is my 3rd time here and I've never paid that much for anything like this ever! It's all fun and some of the shop owners are pretty fun to talk to and tease. Will and I walked away with some great finds...I wanted to find a Mexican hand painted plate, with the Aztec calendar. Betsy got one a few years back and there was one in our condo in Cozumel, so I decided that was the item I really wanted to leave with. Unfortunately there are things that come in and out of style and the plate was one of them. I couldn't find one anywhere! After a couple of days of shopping Will and I came across a wooden Aztec calendar...It has a bunch of wooden pieces put in to make the whole plate stay together in one piece. You'll see the picture soon, to know what I mean. Some of them were so beautifully made, while others were sloppy and not worth the money! We spent a good couple of hours walking from store to store to find the best deal. It's funny to hear a store owner telling us the same stories of how the plates are made (all made by hand, no machines) and how some of them have such outrageous prices on them! Some people would more than double the prices of someone else's...In the end we went back to the first store we'd been to. It had the best deal and the best quality of work.

Click on this picture to bring up the bigger photo, so you can see each piece...It's a beautiful calendar.

The whole trip was so much fun. Will got the chance to certify to go scuba diving while we were there. He used the first couple of overcast days to his advantage to get certified. His dad has been bugging him for months to get him to go scuba diving with him, and the silly boy waited till the last possible second. We've known we were coming on this trip since June. He loved scuba diving and seems to think he's going to talk me into getting certified for our next years trip. But until you can get me to enjoy snorkeling for longer than 20 minutes, I don't think it's going to happen! The mask always hurts my face and head (I have a tiny head so the mask always let water in, so I cinch them up as tight as I can stand it, which only last 15 or 20 minutes). I have a fear of drowning, so asking me to dive so many feet under water just isn't gonna happen! :) We went snorkeling a couple of times, Bryce, Clayton and my dad went everyday that they could and most days a couple of times. We went to the Money Bar and The Wall...at the Money Bar we saw a sting ray and followed it for quite some time. Seeing those kinds of things is so cool.

I read 3 books while we were there, and got to take naps most any time I wanted...there was the one day that Will literally dragged my out of the bed to go to the ruins with him and his dad. I'm so glad I had Kylie to come with us! I have never cared about history, so spending a couple of hours walking through some old run down concrete houses is not my idea of fun. Will and his dad loved it, so it made it worth it...I made Will do a lot of shopping with me, so you won't hear me complaining.

I had so much fun being around my niece and nephew the whole trip. I teased my siblings that when we got back Elsie and Colt would call me their favorite aunt...that was not the case. I forget just how much they love Gammy and Gimpy (my parents)...sure they love me and I have fun playing with them, but if those two are around no one else matters! Elsie has such a big personality and is such a hoot to be around! There wasn't a day that passed without laughing at her hundreds of times. She knows she's funny too, so the more you laugh, the more she'll entertain. Mary and Bryce are such good parents to those kids too. They were so fun to watch interacting and doing day to day things with. I am so glad Mary was there for me one evening after having a little bit of a bad day...she is truly a sister to me and knows what to say to make me feel better.

Almost every night I got to have Will to myself for dinner and a walk around town. We got real churros almost every night, oh what I would do for a churro right now! I love being around my family and his, but sometimes it gets to be too much. I can't please everyone, and someone always ends up hurt. I wish there was an easier way to figure out these family vacations. I have a hard time trying to please everyone, and also need to learn that I have to do what makes me and Will happy, and if that includes everyone else, then great! We had a great time with both our families and were so glad we had the chance to go. I can't wait till our next vacation, already!

.

At the end of the trip I think we were all happy to come home. Being away from home and the dogs for 10 days is hard. I was fortunate enough to have my best friend Stacey and her fiance Ben spend the week and a half with them. They stayed at our house, so the dogs had constant interaction and attention from them. They love Stacey and can't get enough of her baby, Garrett. Ben is a little bit more relaxed and allows Mia and Bosley to kiss Garrett here and there. :) They love their little cousin!

CHRISTMAS 2008

2009-02-15T12:51:00.000-08:00

Who cares that Christmas was almost 2 months ago, right? Our Christmas was great! I had to deal with Will being gone up till the afternoon of Christmas eve, but was just grateful to have him home, while a couple of his co-workers ended up being at different ski areas for the holidays. There was a chance that Will was going to be gone too, but instead he left the weekend after Christmas to head back out and finish his work.

The evening of Christmas eve, we headed over for our annual Christmas party at the DeMann's house. It was a lot of fun, although we missed having Brant there...He's been working with the Park City fire department and was one of the lucky few that got to work that night. We had a great time eating delicious soups and just enjoying every one's company. After dinner it was time for the gifts to be opened...Which is just a madhouse in itself, but we all have fun with it. It's also a good laugh for all of us when my grandpa is trying to get every one's attention (which takes quite a few "can I have your attention, please"'s) and him asking us over and over to please fold our wrapping paper up nicely so it will fit into the recycle bin. Gosh, I love Grandpa! Unfortunately for me, I know I'm already on the path to having some of his quirks! I might be laughing now...but give me another 30 years to be exactly the same! This was my first year of buying a gift for all the cousins and aunts and uncles...since this is usually a chore done by the "old and mature" married couples. Will and I spent a good hour at All a Dollar wondering what to get everyone that they may actually use. We got the old ladies (the moms) magnet shopping lists, the old men (the dads) got bungi cords and the older boys got a screw driver set, the older girls got small notebooks, and the kids got an assortment of puzzles, books, and coloring books. I tried to go for things that I could use, but these guys may have just chucked them the day after Christmas! :)
It was fun to watch the kids (Elsie and Colt, my niece and nephew) open their presents. Elsie got this doll that my brother Jared and I had when we were kids. It brought back such great memories!

Most of us older kids spent the night over at my parents house that night...More to save time from having to drive to my mom's house so early in the morning! Mary and Bryce needed to head over to Mary's parents house at 9:00, so the morning started for us at 7:00. The gifts seemed endless! We all got duffel bags and laundry baskets full of household items that will all be put to good use! Thanks, Mom and Dad!! Again it was so much fun having Elsie and Colt (although Colt doesn't get into it much yet) opening their presents. Elsie was intrested in all of her gifts and was so fun to watch! She got a "Spongebob" umbrella and kept pointing out "Bob bob" to us. After opening the gifts, we had a yummy breakfast of Cinnamon Rolls, hash browns and cereal. We spent the afternoon into the evening at my Grandparent Kirby's house. It was great to see family we haven't seen for a while, although we got there a little late after taking our "Christmas Nap"...so people ended up leaving shortly after we got there, and the food was pretty much gone by the time we got there. But the best part of the whole day was hanging with my family. My siblings are my best friends, and I can't imagine it any other way!

The rest of the evening was spent with Will. We opened our gifts to each other...He treated me so good, even though we said we weren't doing Christmas for each other this year. He got me a pair of diamond studs and a plain white gold wedding band to wear when my diamond ring isn't appropriate. (Like when you travel to Mexico). I didn't do so well for him...I really wasn't expecting such a nice gift! I got him some shorts, a couple of button up shirts and a pair of tennis shoes. We returned the shorts and half the shirts because they didn't fit right...Don't worry he has already replaced those items. :) To end the night, we braved the snow storm and went to the theater to see "Four Christmas's".

I've got some catching up to do!

2009-02-15T12:49:00.000-08:00

So I know I haven't been the best at blogging lately...I'm not sure I have any good excuse, except laziness! :)

I'm not sure where to begin. I guess Christmas is a good place to start....Here goes!

Family Pictures

2008-12-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

After our weekend in Rock Springs we headed home to Salt Lake for our DeMann family photos. My mom tried to get a color scheme for us, but it just didn't end up working out that way. So in the end everyone just wore "whatever looked best on them"...you know how that usually turns out. :) The pictures turned out okay, but it's hard to try to get everyone to focus at the same time! If you've met any of the DeMann's you know we all have trouble concentrating on one thing for a long period of time! We had some laughs and decided that for prints for my parents home that these were the ones to pick and leave the boring formal ones for my grandparents houses. Here's a couple shots:

Thanksgiving Weekend

2008-12-07T09:49:00.000-08:00

On Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving, Will and I headed to Rock Springs to spend the weekend with his Dad and Stepmom. His brother David and wife, Autumn and their two kids, Christian and Sophie were already there. Friday right after we got there the guys decided that they wanted to take off and go shooting. I somehow got tricked into going and was told if I wanted to be part of the "man club" I had to shoot a gun. I've never shot a gun in my life. The first gun they had me shoot was a shotgun, and they made me shoot it 3 times to be part of the club. Because I must really need that validation I obliged and did pretty good. I shot 2 of the 3 targets in the air. But the gun did hit my shoulder and hurt a little.

Here I am nailing the clay pigeon!

Here's Will's dad with the gun, his brother pulling the target thrower thing (clearly I still don't know much about this stuff) and Will watching.

After we were done with that gun, they got the .22 out. Now that is a fun gun to shoot! Again they told me I had to shoot this gun to be in the "man club" so I went ahead and did it. But I really enjoyed it and once I got the hang of it I was pretty good at hitting the targets! Because I had so much fun on Friday, I went out again with the guys again on Saturday. This time we go Dave's wife Autumn to come, she also hadn't ever shot a gun in her life. It was pretty fun and now Will says he's going to buy me a .22 for Christmas...I'll take something else, please!

I am a pro with this thing! :)

Here's Autumn, she did well too!

That afternoon David and Autumn left to go back home and Will and I stayed one more night. We had so much fun, just hanging out and playing Mexican Dominoes. If you've never played that game, I recommend it! It's totally a game of luck, ok and some skill, but really more luck! I ended up winning overall and it felt good!

This is one of Kathy's (Will's stepmom) mini schnauzers...Rosie reminds me a lot of Mia. She constantly wants attention and wants to lick you all the time.

Photo Tag

2008-11-23T21:06:00.000-08:00

My friend Shantel tagged me a while ago to do this picture tag...I haven't wanted to do anything on the computer lately, so I put it off. Here's the first picture from my folders...

I absolutely love this picture. This is with Mistie and Betsy, two and a half years ago, a big group of us headed down to Vegas to celebrate our friend, Ashlee's birthday. We were at some club (I seriously can't remember the name of it) and had this picture taken of the 3 of us...that was back when there were no worries or cares. We had so much fun together! That trip was one of the best ever, and we still talk about it!
The next one is from that same year...Just another birthday.

We still claim that 2006 was a year for GREAT birthdays! We went to Vegas for Ashlee's bday, then for mine, in May, Betsy planned a big extravaganza and everyone came and we danced the night away! Then in July we planned a surprise camping trip for Betsy's birthday and again...all the right people were there and it was a blast. This is my brother Jared playing his guitar. I love to hear him play and always beg him to play John Denver or I've always love when he played and sang Green Day's "Good Riddance". Jared is in a band called "Last the Winter" and their music is awesome. I love to see him get into something he's so passionate about and good at.

OUR NEW PRESIDENT!

2008-11-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to post real quick and say how excited I am for Barack Obama to be our president! I actually took the time this time around, to really read up on our candidates and was proud to vote for President Obama. I may not agree with everything he stands for, but the things I do agree with, really outweighed the things I agreed with on McCain. I am excited for the changes that will take place and am glad we have such a good man leading our country! After hearing the he won, I couldn't take my eyes off the television during his speech! It made me so happy with my choice and I loved every second of his speech. "Yes, we can!"

Our new first family.

My 7 things...

2008-10-19T10:39:00.000-07:00

So after putting some thought into it, I've come up with 7 things to tell you about myself. Heather, who tagged me, said I had to tag 7 people after I completed mine, but I'm just going to tag a couple and they can keep it going. :)

1) I don't like to cook. I am bad at it, and it always discourages me after I've spent an hour or so trying to prepare something nice. Even the simplest things never seem to come out right. I either put too many spices in, or not enough. Or burn it, or undercook it. I will say, that our stove SUCKS and there are times that really contributes to something not turning out right, especially in the oven.

2) I treat my dogs like my kids. I talk to them like kids, I laugh at their little antics or reactions to things. I take a million pictures of them, especially while they are sleeping, because they look so sweet and peaceful. I love letting them sleep in my room with me, while Will is gone, even though "dogs aren't allowed on the bed". They are my sweethearts and I worry about them all the time and just want them to be happy and healthy.

3) My favorite thing to do is take naps. If I have an extra hour on any day, I take a nap. I even take naps in my car at work...it gets me away from the hustle and bustle of things and I feel great after I wake up. My younger sister always tells me she can't believe I'm always in a good mood after a nap...but why wouldn't I be? It's my favorite thing!

4) My goal in life (at this point in my life) is to have a nice house, with an even better bathroom! I absolutely love big bathrooms with nice big bathtubs! One of my best friend's houses growing up had a huge master bedroom. The bedroom and bathroom were all in the same room (with a water closet for the toilet) and there, in the room, was a big ole bathtub, that I always loved! I tell Will all the time, and he agrees, that our next house is going to have a huge bathroom! I love the house I'm in now (probably just because it's my first and I've put so much work into), but I hate the location and would really love a nicer home. One day...

5) I could eat at Chili's everyday, I love it that much! Our group of friends often goes to Chili's and we can spend hours there, just chilling and hanging out. We always sit in the same spot and get the best service, and we get whatever our heart desires, while there. But it's not just that, I love their food! Anything "boneless buffalo" is my favorite! Their queso dip and chips and salsa are delicious and when I save room, I love their Molten Lava cake! If I'm having a bad day, Will always knows where to take me to cheer me up...CHILI's!

6) I've been told I'm a "crazy fast reader". I never notice, but for some reason if I am reading the same thing as other people, I always get done reading it before them. I've used closed captioning (and can't stand watching tv without it, and realize just how much I really do rely on it) on my TVs since Jr. High and I think that's helped me become the fast reader I am today.

7) I know this might annoy some people...but I hate anything to do with politics. It bores me, and I don't have the strength to argue with anyone on anything. This presidential election has really bothered me...I get so bugged at all the negativity surrounding it all. I think that either of the candidates could do the job and run our country, and I think they both could and probably will do something that not everyone agrees with, while in office. I just feel like there's nothing I can really do about anything, so what's the point in letting it all bother me and dwelling on it? I know that President Bush made some mistakes (but what president hasn't?), but I can't let them get the best of me and become angry over it. I'll just keep living my life and doing the best I can, and hope that things turn out for the better in the end.

I hope you all learned a few new things about me. The people I'd like to see do this are: Mary Bess, B-Ritt, and Shantel!

I've been tagged!

2008-10-17T20:00:00.000-07:00

My friend Heather, that I worked with for a while at Men's Wearhouse, tagged me. So now I guess I have to come up with 7 things to tell you all about myself...Unfortunately, I'm going to have to really dig deep to find 7 interesting things to tell you all about myself! Give me a day or two and I'll have something posted.

A couple of great days!

2008-10-17T18:14:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday night, Will came home to hang out with me for a couple of days. He got home around 8 PM and it was so good to see him. I'm such an emotional person, I couldn't help but cry when I saw him. It just made me so happy! I hadn't seen him for 16 days, which is just a little bit too long! I took Thursday and Friday off of work to just be with him the whole time.

Thursday we slept in till about 8:30, till someone at work called with a small emergency they neeed my help with. After I got it taken care of we got the day lazily started and got a couple of small things done before heading to one of our favorite Mexican food spots, by our work. I don't know what it is about it, but I love their food and the people there are awesome! Usually Will and I will eat there for lunch every week, so I was starting to have withdrawals, since I try to bring lunch with me to work, when Will is gone. After lunch we drove up to Logan and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast! It was at an old Church called Providence Inn. It was really cute and cozy there. I love taking relaxing baths, so I had to find somewhere with a nice big jetted tub! The bubble bath was so heavenly! We got up today, earlier than Thursday, to be at breakfast, which was really yummy french toast, bacon, eggs and hash browns! It was the perfect little getaway, and I can't wait to head up there again! One of the rooms I really wanted was booked, so we will have to go again, to stay in all the different rooms!

I was sad to drop Will back off at the airport this evening, so he could head back out and get some more work done on one of the lifts. If everything goes good, without too many problems, Will should be back home by the end of next week. He's got a couple of things he needs to do here at home, so I may have him to myself for a week or so before he needs to head out again. I really am just grateful to have a husband that works so hard. It's nice to know that one day, if and when we have kids, it'll be possible for me to stay at home with them, because he is so good at what he does and really enjoys it. I love Will so much, and can't imagine life without him...spending these last couple of days with him, just made me realize it even more. You know that cheesy line, where people will say they love their spouse more than the day they married them? It really is true...I think the more and more we learn about our spouses, the more we learn to love them. I feel a deeper appreciation and love for Will daily. Just like everyone else, we're still learning and have our good days and bad, but he's my best friend and I wouldn't change any of it for the world!

Still husbandless

2008-10-12T10:46:00.000-07:00

This week has been a rough one, for me. Monday through Wednesday were really busy getting things ready for a big meeting we were having at work. On Monday I just really wanted to be able to come home and hang out with Will, but instead, I didn't get to talk to him till almost Midnight that night.

On Thursday we were busy with getting our offices moved around, to do some updating in our building...So again, just staying busy the whole day. Halfway through the day a delivery of flowers came, and they were for me, from Will. It totally made my day and I was happy for the rest of the day. It's nice to know he's thinking of me. He's really good to me, and I am so lucky to have him as my husband.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking care of my niece and nephew. Bryce and Mary both wanted to go to the BYU football game, so I happily agreed to watch the kids while they went. I adore those kids and love hanging out with them. Elsie has such a big personality and wants to entertain everyone. We ran some errands with my mom and Colton didn't want to be in the car and was crying...Elsie tries to talk to him and get his attention, which is so cute. When Colt isn't happy, Elsie seems to have a way of making him smile and laugh. They are both generally pretty happy, and only get upset when they are hungry or tired. We went to a friends wedding reception, and they both did a pretty good job, considering we were standing in line for about an hour to get to see the bride and groom. When we brought them home, they both were ready to just hang out at home with Mom and Dad! Thanks for letting me hang out with the kids, Mary and Bryce!

I was happy to find out, this morning, that Will is going to get to come home for a day or two next week! I'm not sure which day(s) yet, but it makes me so happy!

Pit Bull Scare!

2008-10-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

We have a dog door on our back door, allowing the dogs to go in and out as they please. When Will is away, I let the dogs sleep in the bed with me. This morning they were ready to get up before I was, so I just let them out of my room and went back to bed. They can let themselves out and come back in if they want. Before I could fall back asleep the dogs were barking and growling so weirdly it scared me bad. I ran out of my room to see what was going on and couldn't see anything wrong. I was scolding them and told them to not freak me out like that (as if they really know what I'm talking about) and told them to go outside. They were acting strange and it took a couple more times of me telling them to head out, before they reluctantly went out the dog door. They did their weird growly bark thing again, so I went to the kitchen window to watch them. They were sniffing around, and then Mia found a good spot to pee. Well Bosley decided it was a good idea to then, in turn, lift his leg up and pee on Mia! I immediately opened the window to yell at him to stop! They both finished their business and walked by the side of the house, out of my view.

They were ingnoring me and not listening at all...then when they came out farther away from the house, what was following them? A PIT BULL! I started shaking so bad and yelled for Kylie to come help me get the dogs inside. I was so worried about the Pit bull deciding the follow them in, but he had another idea. My two came in, and he went out the fence (which is far enough to the side that I can't see if from the window, I have to be outside usually to have a full view of it). I went the the window in one of the bedrooms, with the thought that the fence must have been opened a little, but it wasn't, it was fully latched and in place. I looked around for a minute, having a panic attack all the while, and couldn't see where he took off too. I was able to get ahold of Animal Control, but since it's Sunday, it took over an hour for someone to arrive, and at that time I'm not sure where to think that dog could have gone! After thinking about it for a minute, I think that dog was in our house and that's what made the dogs bark the first time, and get me out of bed. I think the dog got scared when he heard me come out of my room and went outside. My dogs knew he was out there and didn't want to go out after him.

I've got the door of the dog door locked, and now am just worried about trying to keep it unlocked for the dogs during the day and at night. I really think that Pit Bull was in my house, with the way the dogs were acting. I'm not sure that he's a threat to them or me, but I really don't want to find out. It's so crazy that these dogs can get over just about any fence! I also thought it was kinda cute, and really disgusting, the way Bosley peed on Mia. To me it says to that other dog, this is mine, don't come near her!

Any suggestions on what I should do about the situtation? I'm just so freaked out, since I have no control of the situation! I don't want anything to happen to my dogs or us!

My two babies.

I don't know how to work this blog!

2008-10-05T10:57:00.001-07:00

I was just trying to edit my blogs and make the pictures work out better...well I figured out how to do it, but in the process it started messing with my whole page. My first blog showed up on the side of my page and so after a few minutes of trying to figure it out I deleted it...Oh well, who needed a weird first blog explaining why you decided to start a blog? :) Sorry your comment got deleted with it, Mare-Bear!

So all of you can go skiing...

2008-10-04T15:44:00.000-07:00

My husband leaves me 3 out of 4 weeks of the month for 5 months out of the year to help finish building ski lifts. We met at work, Doppelmayr CTEC, which is a company that manufactures ski lifts. If you go skiing or snowboarding, more chances than not you are on one of our lifts. Will is an Electical Engineer and does electrical work for the ski lifts. So come August, when the construction guys are done with their work, he travels around to the ski areas where we're installing lifts to get them finished and running. They usually finish their busy travel season by the end of December...but can be gone for two of the biggest holidays for the year, Thanksgiving and Christmas. He was here for both holidays last year, but the year before he was out of town for both, so you never know what's going to happen each year...

It's been a challenge for both of us, learning to deal with being apart so early in our marriage. He works so many hours that there can be days he's not getting back to his hotel or condo till late, and we won't get to talk that day. I always feel bad when I hear the amount of hours he puts in everyday, and there's nothing I can do to help him feel more comfortable and less tired. They work straight through the weeks...no weekends off and are working hard. I've been lucky to have my younger sister come and stay with me while Will is gone. I don't like being home a lone, with no one to talk to. It's hardest during the weekends, when I have all day to notice being all alone. I am getting used to it, but am counting down the months when he's finally done travelling, and we'll be jetting off to Mexico for a much needed vacation in the sun!

My poor car...

2008-10-04T14:57:00.000-07:00

A little over a month ago, Will and I went and got a new car, a really cute Mazda CX-7. I've always been a nervous snow driver, and now that I'm married and since Will travels a lot during the winter, it's up to me to get myself dug out of snow if anything goes wrong. So we looked for a couple of months for a car with 4WD and decided on the Mazda. We found a 2007 for a great deal and had low milage, and are really happy with our decision.

Unfortunately last Monday, on the 29th, we were in a car accident driving home. We were hit by a guy turning from the median into a parking lot...who should have been yielding to all 3 lanes, not just the first 2. The kid driving isn't a citizen & doesn't have a drivers license. The owner of the vehicle showed up minutes after it happened and showed proof of insurance, which the officer said she verified. But when we were able to get a hold of the insurance company the next day they explained that the guy had not made a payment for September and they cancelled his policy the morning of our accident. The odds are terrible and sucky! I've started to calm down a bit over it, but I was so angry the first couple of days of trying to deal with it. I think I'll be annoyed till it's all done and taken care of. I'm glad I've got insurance and that I will be able to get my car fixed through them, but I'm mad that I have to pay my deductible, and pay for a rental car while it's getting fixed. The damage isn't huge, and the car is still driveable, but it was perfect before. I haven't gotten my license plates or made a car payment yet, and I have to deal with trying to get it fixed and looking new again. Will left the morning after the accident, so I've been trying to get it all done by myself. Things are better now, and hopefully things can get done this week, if work isn't too busy. :)