The Walkers

Tons of Updates!

2012-01-03T16:53:00.001-07:00

Well since I only have time to update my blog in between semesters I have a lot of catching up to do. Sorry I’m going back so far but as this is the only journaling I do, it’s mostly for me to remember.

SUMMER

This summer Jeremy and I were able to go on a few really awesome vacations. In July we went to Depot Bay, Oregon with Jeremy’s family for a mini-family reunion. We stayed for a week in a beach house with our own private access to the beach…yep…AMAZING! Some highlights of the trip were:

1) Stoping by Multnomah Falls on our way to the coast.

2) Watching Jeremy and his brothers body board in the FREEZING water. Jeremy was the only one who didn’t have a wet suit, and even though he was freezing he loved it too much to stop.

(Hehehe-They both got taken out by waves at times)

3) Going out on a boat whale watching and having a whale come up multiple times right by the boat! The trip didn’t last very long though because despite taking a ton of Dramamine Jeremy’s family started getting sick

4) Touring a working lighthouse. Totally reminded me of Pete's Dragon.

5) Having a photo shoot with my sister-in-law Erin on the beach, which included handstands and all kinds of crazy jumps!

6) Hanging out in the hot tub.

(Didn't take any pics of us in the hot tub but this is the house we stayed in and you can see the tub in the corner)

7) Shopping at all the downtown shops and antique stores (and getting really awesome crocs!)

8) Watching the beautiful sunsets!

And here are a few extra photos from our trip:

Overall it was an amazing trip and we had so much fun!

We also took a trip out to California for a Welge family reunion, but sadly this trip didn’t go as smoothly. Not realizing how many miles we had put on our car since it’s last oil change we set out for California in August. The plan was to meet my family at their campsite in Calaveras Big Tree forest, camp with them two nights and then head to Sacramento for a few days before driving back to Boise. Well we made it about 500 miles and were about 40 miles away from the campsite when our car broke down. This wouldn’t have been a big deal except for the fact that we broke down in the Stanislas National forest on a tiny one lane highway so far out in the middle of nowhere that there was no cell service and no houses or stores or anything. We assumed that when it started getting dark and we hadn’t showed up at my family’s campsite that they would come looking for us. We assumed wrong!

The note I wrote when I still thought my parents would come looking for us.

Some nice people stopped and tried to help us, someone even drove way out of the way and bought us oil to put in our car, but none of it helped. Luckily we had sleeping bags and food and water in the car and so we decided to camp overnight and hope my family came looking for us. We got in our sleeping bags and had the worst night of sleep ever in the car. It was SO COLD outside once the sun went down (turns out we were right near the summit of the mountain), and I got really sick in the middle of the night. In the morning we decided we were going to have to pack a backpack and just start hiking up the highway. We ended up hiking about 8 miles (3 miles of extremely steep switchbacks up to the summit) before we found a little overlook where our cell phones got service. Through a series of miracles we were able to get in contact with my cousins husband who was trying to reach us through skype (none of them had cell service either but they were starting to get worried about us). We told him where we were at on the side of the road and he came to rescue us. We were taken back to our car where we emptied it of everything and met up with the family at the campsite. At that point we were sunburned, had blisters from walking so far and were totally exhausted. We made the most of the last day of camping and got to take a really awesome hike to see the giant redwoods, which I loved! We had our car towed to Sacramento and we squeezed into my parents car. The rest of the vacation was fun, although a little stressful just trying to decide how the heck we were going to get home for the first week of school and what we were going to do with our car. We ended up renting a car and driving it back home and our car is still in Sacramento to this day. A family friend fixed it up and now my brother is driving it until we take it back next summer. Jeremy’s brother was nice enough to let us borrow one of his cars for the school year so that Jeremy and I could both get around, and it’s actually been really nice being able to drive a nicer car than what we had.
Here are some pictures from that trip:

FALL 2011 SEMESTER
Once the semester started Jeremy and I were both crazy busy. Jeremy applied for dental school this summer and throughout the semester got invited to 4 dental schools for interviews during the semester. First he flew out to Louisville, Kentucky where he interviewed with the University of Louisville, then he flew to Las Vegas, Nevada and interviewed at UNLV, then he flew to Loma Linda, California and interview at Loma Linda University. The last place he flew to was Mesa, Arizona where he interviewed at A.T. Still. He had a blast traveling even if they were really short trips. When he wasn’t traveling for dental school interviews he was busy working (he does developmental therapy with disabled children, and also works in a dental lab), and also studying for all his science classes. This semester was loaded up with really hard upper level sciences classes which included: The Molecular Biology of Cancer, Biochemistry, Pharmacology, Genetics, and Head and Neck Anatomy. He worked really hard and ended the semester with all A’s and B’s!

My semester was pretty busy as well. I took 15 credits of graduate social work courses. My social work internship this school year is with St. Alphonsus Medical Group, where I work at a medical clinic which services a majority of the refugees in the Boise area. It’s been a learning experience for sure, and while it’s not exactly what I wanted to do permanently it’s a pretty good internship. Between my 15 credits at school, a 20 hour a week internship and working at the gym about 20+ hours a week, I stay extremely busy. Jeremy and I both are getting super excited for graduation in May! I can’t wait to be done!

WINTER BREAK
December 1st was the first day that dental schools could start sending out acceptance letters and Jeremy stayed up all night the night before checking his emails to see if he got an acceptance. At about 5am he woke me up to tell me he got accepted to the University of Louisville. We are both so excited he got accepted somewhere and really excited for a change of scenery. We are still waiting to hear back from Arizona and UNLV who will send out second rounds of acceptances in January, as we would probably rather live there than in Kentucky. Either way we are just excited that in 4 years he will officially be a dentist!!!!

Well that’s our last six months in a nutshell. Life has been very eventful and at times super stressful but we are so grateful for all the blessings in our life. . . And very grateful that our goals that we have been working towards for forever are starting to become a reality.

Go Broncos!

2011-09-10T16:53:00.003-06:00

Living in Boise and going to Boise State University has made me a huge BSU football fan...(don't worry all you BYU friends, they are still #1 in my heart)! Jeremy and I have a blast going to all the home games and invading people's houses that actually have cable to watch the away games.

Last weekend we watch BSU kill Georgia and it was AWESOME! Here's to another great season...GO BRONCOS!!!

Happy Birthday To....ME!!!

2011-07-24T17:07:00.011-06:00

Wow! I seriously can't believe that I just turned 28! Ssshhh, don't tell anyone. I secretly still feel like I'm 21 and every year that I get closer to 30 is just unreal. Luckily I was blessed with good genetics and rarely does anyone guess just how old I am. In fact a year and a half ago when we moved into our new ward, a lady from the relief society came up to me my first Sunday and said, "Honey the young womens is right across the hall." hahahaha
Anyways, since I don't have a secret way to slow down time, I'm just trying to enjoy the time I have. Jeremy made my birthday a great day! He is so wonderful. First of all, he took the day off of work (luckily this year it fell on my day off work). When we woke up in the morning he made me breakfast in bed. As we were getting ready in the morning he surprised me with a Milka Bar (our favorite chocolate from Hungary) and a cute card. Then we went to Tucanos for lunch, and stuffed ourselves until we were about to burst! After coming home for a short rest after eating so much Jeremy had me open a card which had money in it and told me to go on a small shopping spree, and not to come home for a couple hours. This is a picture of me opening that card:
So I called up my friend Alyssa and we went shopping. She was such a trooper to drop everything and come with me spur of the moment! I was in search of cute brown hills, and of course when I actually had money to spend I couldn't find anything I liked. It always seems that way. Even Alyssa found something to buy! We went to every shoe store in Boise and couldn't find anything. So after a few hours I decided to pocket the money and save it for our trip the next week to the Oregon Coast. When I got home from shopping this is what I walked into:

Jeremy had decorated our house and thrown me a surprise PINK party! Even though I got home before our guests (his family) had arrived it was still a good surprise, and heartwarming that he had planned all this for me.

Justin and Erin, well probably mainly Erin, put together this candy gram for me, and Jeremy's parents got me a giant Symphony bar. YUMMY!

We had cake and ice cream and hung out chatting about our upcoming family vacation to the Oregon Coast. It was a great night! Halley and Kelsey had a blast blowing up balloons as big as they could. I kept waiting for them to explode in their face and for tears to flow, but they got lucky.

Another year older and another great birthday. I'm so lucky to have Jeremy! He is great with planning birthday surprises! It always makes growing older a little more exciting.

PS- I can't leave out that despite being a day late, my mom sent me this cute wallet with about 10 gift cards to different food, and shopping places! I'm super excited to spend them! Love love love my mom!

Creepy Crawler

2011-07-24T16:42:00.003-06:00

If there's one thing you should know about me, it's that I HATE, LOATHE, ABHOR, DESPISE(however you want to say it) spiders!

Like I freak out, heart skips a beat, scream at the top of my lungs HATE them.

So imagine my dismay when I was cleaning up before we closed at the gym the other day, and after hanging up a pair of spandex shorts that had fallen off the hanger and onto the ground, I looked up to find THIS:

I picked these shorts off the ground, put them on a hanger, and hung them back on the wall, all without noticing the huge spider on them! So GROSS!!!! There are many reasons I look forward to getting my MSW and getting out of the gym, but spiders my friends is a big reason!

4th of July

2011-07-24T15:28:00.014-06:00

The 4th of July this year consisted of getting up super early to attend our ward pancake breakfast. For the second year in a row I forgot to take any pictures. We ate the yummy food and then snuck away. (Our ward doesn't really have any young couples so we're not really close with anyone. Hopefully when we move for dental school that will change.) After the pancake breakfast we drove to Jeremy's parents house, where we played my favorite game Mexican Train. I lost horribly. After that we went to Emmett to have a BBQ with Justin and Erin's family and then watch the Emmett firewords show. It was a fun day, although I don't think 4th of July's could ever equal what the used to be when I was younger. I miss all the fun I used to have in my great-grandparents backyard with all my cousins...sigh...

My brother and sister-in-law Justin and Erin and their cute little family at the park waiting for the fireworks show:

Love Halley's face in this pic: Silly Faces:

As soon as it got dark the temperature dropped like 40 degrees (the grass was wet in the park and there is a river really close). It was FREEZING! Doesn't Jeremy have the most INCREDIBLE blue eyes?!? I sure think so!Picture of fireworks never do them justice, but we tried anyways. The Emmett fireworks show was interesting. Instead of playing all patriotic songs while the fireworks were going off they were playing country songs about being rednecks. But hey it is Emmett we're talking about. ;)Overall it was a wonderful/long day. I'm so grateful to live in the U.S of A!!!

Brittany's Graduated!

2011-07-24T15:17:00.002-06:00

Jeremy's parents and Brittany
I have some serious catch up blogging to do. But to start with Jeremy's little sister Brittany (the youngest of their family) graduated high school the first week of June 2011. CONGRATS Brittany! Her graduation was at the Taco Bell Arena at BSU and was surprisingly fast for having hundreds of graduates. Rumor was her's was the largest graduating class in all of Idaho! After her graduation we all went out to eat at Chuck-A-Rama. It was my first time eating there, and well...it was all right, nothing to rave about. After lunch we all went back to Jeremy's parents house and spent the rest of the day (literally until almost midnight) moving them from their place in Meridian to a new (not really, just new to them) house in Eagle. It was a ton of work and I was super sore for days after, but it was nice to be able to help. Hopefully their next move won't be until after our big move next year! ;) Love you Walkers!

Summer Sky

2011-06-24T10:57:00.007-06:00

The summer sky in Idaho never ceases to amaze me! I've found myself whipping out my phone and snapping pictures a lot lately as I'm out and about. Here are a couple of my favorite (taken with my phone thus the low quality):

This was snapped on Father's Day on our way to Jeremy's parents house. This doesn't do it justice but the clouds were so fluffy! (Despicable Me anyone?)This was on my way home from work at about 9:30pm (yet another thing I love about Idaho summers...it's light outside until about 10pm!). I stopped to get gas and while I was pumping I realized the sky was PINK!

It was so pretty! Thunderstorms were rolling in and it left the sky all sorts of beautiful colors.While I'm getting excited to move in a year to who knows where, there are definitely things I will miss about Idaho! There is so much beauty here.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

2011-06-14T17:40:00.004-06:00

Jeremy had his birthday a few weeks ago, on May 31st! It was a very eventful day. He had to wake up very early to go take his DAT (dental admissions test). I was a little worried because if he didn't do well it was going to be a misserable birthday. On the other hand, it had the potential of being an amazing day. Well I'm happy to report he did GREAT on his test and came home in an amazing mood.

Little did he know that I had put together a scavenger hunt for him throughout the house. When he got home, he found his first clue on the front door.

I never claimed to be a poet, so be nice!

Gotta love the Christmas paper!

A new wedding ring to replace his original ring that he lost a few months ago. :(

And his final present was an hour massage that he's been begging for.

Happy Birthday Jeremy!

I love you!

Goodbye For A Season

2011-01-17T20:33:00.003-07:00

Tomorrow is back to school. (sigh) I wish I could say I was super-duper excited but I'm just not. (huge sigh) Maybe it's because I've already spent $600 on books that I know I will rarely, if ever, use. Yeah, that could be contributing to some lack of excitement. Of course I'll make the best of it, and in a year and a half I will be grateful I decided to go back and get my masters. But for today, I'm taking a deep breath and bracing myself for tomorrow when 17 credit hours of classes, my high school social work internship, and work all combine forces once again. Forgive me if I neglect you for the next few months. I will be available again the beginning of May. YEA FOR EDUCATION!!!! (maybe, just maybe doing a little cheer will get me excited. It's worth a try.)

So Bored

2010-12-27T10:59:00.003-07:00

The gym is closed this week. The only things happening are team practices Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and open gyms from 1-3pm Mon-Wed. So tell me again why I'm working today (Monday) from 10am-4pm?

Don't get me wrong, I can definitely use the hours, as finances are tight. But, for some reason I don't think my boss would be jumping with joy knowing he's paying me to sit and sip from my V8 Fusion while blogging and surfing the internet. . .oh, and of course sending home the poor souls who forgot we were closed this week, and answering the occasional phone call, usually asking if we are open.

I keep thinking of all the things I need to get done, like exchanging gifts, picking up a prescription, going grocery shopping so we can eat, and cleaning my house before the in-laws come over today. Yep I'd much rather be doing those things. . .but for now I'll stop whining and just be grateful I'm getting paid to blog! :)

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Twas the Morning of Christmas. . .

2010-12-26T16:50:00.011-07:00

I can't believe we celebrated our THIRD Christmas together! Our Christmas consisted of waking up at 9am (the wonderful things you get to do on Christmas morning before you have children), opening presents together, and spending time with Jeremy's family. My brother and sister-in-law got a new dance party game for their Wii and we spent a lot of Christmas evening getting our groove on! :) My favorite dances were the Russian and African dance! I'm embarrassed to report I'm quite sore today. . .yes I'm pathetic! Overall, it was a great Christmas! I'm horrible at remembering to take pictures but here are a few from Christmas morning.

Don't really know why it looks like our tree is leaning, but this is our tree before we opened all our presents!

Jeremy was obviously super excited to be the stocking model. :)

Me and my stocking. Total side note, but can you tell what side I slept on? Right side of my hair still curly, left side straight!

Jeremy with his favorite present. He's been playing for hours!

My mom got me a snuggie so I can be warm while doing my homework, and Jeremy got me a BSU hat!

This was actually Christmas Eve. One of my co-workers at the gym bought me these footie pj's for Christmas! THEY ARE AWESOME!!! Totally makes me feel like a kid again, not to mention they are super warm. I'm a little excited if you can't tell.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I'll leave you all with a wonderful Christmas song I came across last week! I love it!

Merry Christmas!

A Real Christmas Story

2010-12-14T11:55:00.007-07:00

Christmas is only 2 weeks away! This is one of my favorite times of year. . . yet, for some reason I have been less than excited this year. Maybe it's because I got a late start on decorating due to school? Maybe it's because I tried to put up our Christmas tree this morning and ended up with a bloody hand and our tree lying on the floor in 3 separate heaps? Maybe it's because we are on a VERY strict budget, meaning Christmas will be very small? Maybe it's because I haven't been with my family for the past 4 Christmases (is that how you pluralize Christmas?) and secretly I'm feeling enormously homesick? There are probably MANY things I could attribute it to, but what it all comes down to is I need to change my moodiness and enjoy this special season. (yes easier said than done)

There are so many things to love about Christmas!

The beautiful lights and trees! The holiday parties!

Spending time with friends and family!

Singing Christmas carols and going caroling!

Sipping hot chocolate or cider!

Time off from school!

A time of mass service and good-doing!

And of course a time to give thanks for the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Christ!

In trying to humble myself and get into the holiday spirit I started thinking about amazing Christmas stories that have happened in my life. The one I always come back to is the story of my gameboy! (I loved that thing)

I don't recall how old I was, but I do remember just how badly I wanted a gameboy for Christmas. I asked Santa and secretly hoped I had been a good enough girl throughout the year to deserve such a special present. To my surprise and elation on Christmas morning I unwrapped many presents, one of which was my gameboy!!!! I couldn't have been more excited! Of course Santa was real, he had heard my request, and had brought me my gameboy. I knew that my parents struggled financially and that they could have never afforded to buy all the fun things me and my 3 siblings at the time had received! I played that gameboy non-stop for years, and hold many fond memories of my little brother laying on the back of the couch looking over my shoulder trying to watch me play. When I would annoyingly tell him to go away he would sweetly respond, "Boys just have to look." :) It wasn't until I was much older that I learned the true story behind the gameboy Christmas. . .

Desperate to make me happy on Christmas my mom began sewing little dolls that she would be able to sell at a local craft store to make extra money for presents. She made dozens of dolls. (I'm not sure exactly what they looked like because honestly I don't recall her even making them in front of us) She found a craft store that would sell them and began making some extra money. My amazing mother sacrificed a lot of time and energy so that her children, and me especially, could be happy on Christmas! When I start getting sad during the holidays I just have to remember this story and the love of my mother and it puts a smile on my face and gratitude in my heart.
If my mother loves me that much I can't even comprehend the love of my Heavenly Father, who allowed His only begotton Son to suffer and die for me. When I start reflecting on the true reason for the season, the cuts on my hand, the lack of money, the homesickness all become trivial. I'm grateful for a time to reflect on what is really important in life and on my Savior and all the GREAT sacrifices he has made for me!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Still Alive

2010-12-13T21:24:00.018-07:00

Some may be wondering if I'm still alive. It has been months since I have last posted anything. . . and I seemingly dropped off the face of the Earth to everyone around me. Well to say the least life got a little crazy working almost full-time, doing a 16 hr/week social work internship, and going to grad school full-time! But as of last Friday (yes it took me 4 days to come out of my psychotic stressed out stage) I FINISHED! I submitted my last paper and feel as free as a bird. . .
. . . at least for the next six weeks until it all starts over again. (try not to think about it, try not to think about it)

So I guess I have a lot of catching up to do. To start off the semester Jeremy and I made our way to the bookstore to buy our dreaded textbooks. $1,200 later. . .

. . . the torture we submit ourselves to, in order to be educated! GEESH!

Also with the start of the semester came the birth of my adorable new niece Zoe Lou Haymond.We instantly fell in love. . .Oh I can't wait for one of my own (big sigh). . . someday. . .

Because she's so adorable we just couldn't stay away! Three months later we went back out to Utah for Zoe's baby blessing. She has gotten so big! And her hair is even bigger!. . . what can I say? She's already a Utah girl! :) My little sister Jessica doesn't normally dress her baby up like a monkey but Zoe was blessed on Halloween day and the day before all my nieces and nephews dressed up for a trunk or treat.Jeremy and I also celebrated our two year anniversary on November 28th! Jeremy took me out to PF Chang's where he proposed about two and a half years ago and we had a wonderful dinner and a relaxing night together. Goodness I just love this man. . .

. . .but since my last post was all about how much I love him I'll spare you and get onto the more exciting details. . .my present!! Jeremy surprised me with these beautiful Citrine (the November birthstone) and diamond earrings to always remind me of the month we got married!

He also got me a pair of soft fuzzy beige gloves because my favorite pair of gloves were rudely stolen from my jacket pocket in the madness of Walmart at midnight on black friday. (need I say more?) I will never go to Walmart on black friday again. . .I was so disturbed I left in tears! Okay change the subject before I relive the traumatic night again.

I also got a new calling in church. (They always seem to come when life is the craziest) I was called as the Young Women's secretary. While I was pretty intimidated at first I absolultely love working with the girls and love even more that I'm given the opportunity to teach about twice a month. It seems for now that I'm just destined to work with teenage girls as I'm now in young women's and I also intern at a high school for pregnant and parenting teenage girls. I definately learn a lot from all the girls I get to work with and they help remind me of the most important things. . .

Other than those awesome events life has been good. Jeremy is finishing up his finals this week and is getting more and more excited everyday to apply to dental school. (we get to apply in June) We are learning more and more the joys of living on a tight budget, but are so grateful to be getting our educations together. There are definitely things I would love to add to our lives but for now all is well. And now I can turn my attention to Christmas! One of my favorite times of year! Speaking of Christmas, I'm off to put together our Christmas tree!

Grateful... Honored!!

2010-08-05T12:27:00.002-06:00

Kimberly shouldn't be the only one that gets to have fun on here.

Words cannot express adequately the way I feel about this girl. She is Perfect!! She is my match in every way. I was so nervous to ask her to marry me, but I knew that if I didn't ask her that I would regret it the rest of my life because I knew in my heart that she is the only one for me.

She is the rock in our relationship, not the other way around. There is only one reason why I can do everything that I do and that is Kimberly. She is the love of my life!! Sometimes I am so overwhelmed that I can't hardly stand it, but she keeps me going. She reminds me that I just have to keep breathing because tomorrow the sun will rise again... Everything will be fine.

James Barrie, a Scottish Poet, wrote "God gave us memories so that we might have June roses in the December of our lives." I would just say that God gives us June roses all throughout our lives. Kimber is my June rose. I'm so glad that I found her.

I'm so in love with Kimber that I have trouble falling asleep at night. Reality has become better than my dreams. And to answer her last statement... I will always feel this way about her. I fall deeper in love with her everyday that we have together. To the world she may be just one person, but to me she is the world.

As the title of our blog states, I only hope that she may grow old with me because I truly believe that the best is yet to come.

So Grateful!

2010-08-04T12:25:00.003-06:00

No it's not our anniversary yet, although we will be coming up on two years soon...CRAZY! But, lately I've been thinking a lot about how lucky I am to be married to THIS man. At work this last week I found out that a woman I work very closely with was taking some time off to, well for lack of better words, divorce her husband who without her knowing had been living with his girlfriend for quite some time (he works in another state and comes to visit regularly). Another woman I work with and ADORE was also talking to me a little bit more this last week about her painful marriage and divorce a year ago. As I was listening to these stories it really made me realize how lucky I am. I'm married to my BEST friend! We love and support and respect one another. Things may not always be fudge sundaes in our lives, we definately have our fair share of disagreements, and granted we do get WAY too competitive while playing games together, I would never intentionally hurt him, nor he I.

I heard a really sad statistic/joke last night, I think it was on Jay Leno. He said, "It's now a fact that 50% of marriages will end in divorce." Then came the punch line, "So they are saying it will either be you or your wife/husband." Yes, I'll admit I let out a little chuckle, but....HOW SAD!

I'm so grateful for the Gospel in our lives to help us understand just how important and sacred marriage is, and to help us see the bigger picture than just the day to day routines or bickerings.

I'm excited to spend eternity with Jeremy! Here are just a few reasons why I adore this man so much. . .

1) Let's face it. . . HE adores ME!

-examples: too numerous to mention! :)

2) He works SO hard to support us and wants to make my life as comfortable as possible

-example: Taking 18 credits while working 60+ hour weeks. (And still getting A's)

Going to school YEAR ROUND, never taking a break so that we can get into and out of dental school faster.

3) He gives me wings to fly and supports my dreams!

-example: Has never said one negative word about me going back to school to get my masters degree even though it will create some extreme financial hardships, but instead has encouraged me to do because he knew it was important to me.

4) He is FAITHFUL and STEADFAST in the Gospel and HONORS his priesthood.

-example: I was blessed to see first hand his diligence in his missionary work. We share a calling teaching the 16-17 year old Sunday school and LOVE hearing him share his testimony and teach the youth. Never makes excuses, just keeps the commandments!

I don't know what I did to deserve Jeremy but I'm so grateful to be married to such a wonderful man, and hope he will forever feel the same way about me!

California Dreamin'

2010-08-04T12:12:00.002-06:00

Yes our vacation to visit my family in Cali was over two months ago but lately I guess you can say I've been California dreamin'...and I finally stole Jeremy's phone to get the pictures from our trip. At the end of May we went on a road trip back to Sacramento because my little brother, Kevin, got married. (SUPER crazy that he's married now!) We spent a week there and had a blast with my family. Jeremy got to do a lot of really fun things with the guys too! These were among the fun "guy-bonding" activities:

Jeremy and my dad didn't waste much time before hitting the driving range. I got to go along and it was pretty fun (and funny) watching them try to hit specific targets! I love this picture I snapped of them swinging with all their might!

Jeremy also took his first ride on a motorcycle! He LOVED it and has been begging me for a motorcycle since we've returned home. My dad also took him and my youngest brother Matty out to go dirt bike riding. When Jeremy came home from the riding trip looking ashamed and sad I expected the worst. I thought, "Oh no, there was a big accident or something, someone was injured." But then he explained he had dropped my dad's bike and broke the clutch off. I just laughed since both of my brothers and my dad have all done the same thing and it's really not a big deal. But nevertheless, he felt really bad! Poor thing!

Anytime we spend time with my dad the fact that we are going to play Guitar Hero with his surround sound turned up as high as it goes is just a given. Here's my brother Kevin, Jeremy and my Dad all rockin' out. LOVE Jeremy's face. . . he was really into it!

My brother Kevin works at an extreme go-kart racing track and so we decided to let all the boys race, while us girls sat around and watched and chatted. Kevin knows the course like the back of his hand so he of course lapped the other two quite a few times. Jeremy did a good job even if he did come in third.

I don't mind having a cautious husband! :) The guys gave him a hard time though and nicknamed him pace-car.

Here's us girls "watching" the race! Can you tell we're related? :)

While we were in California a dream of mine came true! Jeremy had surprised me about a month before with Wicked tickets and I was SO excited and anxious to see it in San Francisco while we were there. Well it surpassed all expectations! IT WAS AMAZING!!!! By far one of my favorite parts of the trip (other than spending time with my family). Jeremy loved it too which was a relief because on the way home from our trip I wasn't the only one singing at the top of my lungs to the soundtrack! Here's us in San Francisco, we looked a little odd walking around in the heat by the coast in nice clothes but oh well.

The Orpheum theater is quite deceiving! Looks a little shabby from the outside, but BEAUTIFUL inside.

The BIG reason we went to California was for my little brothers wedding! They got married in Elk Grove Park, on Strauss Island, and had a little reception BBQ afterwards. It turned out really cute and laid back. Here are a few pictures that we captured.

This was most everyone's first time seeing very pregnant Jess! So cute!

My cute little mother deciding to get comfy for wedding clean up. At least she still matched! Her blue stripped Addidas matched her dress perfectly!

This picture doesn't do it justice but it was a beautiful spring day in the park and everything was super GREEN!

Since the wedding was in the morning/early afternoon we got home after and everyone changed. I was ready to go do something else fun but a few minutes after coming home this is what I found in the front room. . . SOOOO cute! Just a wee bit exhausted from all the wedding day activities and preparations. :)

My parents had every right to be exhausted. It was a VERY busy week! Besides a wedding it was also Jeremy's birthday and Jessica's baby shower! (Side note: I've taken so long to finally blog about the trip that Jessica is due to have little Zoe any day now)

This is a little tutu I made for my soon-to-be niece! Although it does look pretty cool as an extreme headband. Everyone thought it was adorable! It's nice to be able to make things for people.

Lastly, Jeremy turned the BIG 23 while we were in Cali! We had a BBQ with some family to celebrate and ate ALL chocolate ice cream cake! YUUUUUMMMMY!

Basically I ADORE my family and can't wait for our next trip out there! We always have so much fun!

One HOT weekend!

2010-07-09T19:34:00.003-06:00

I didn't realize just how sunkissed I was getting this weekend! I normally don't burn but since it was my first time really spending any time in the sun so far this summer, I probably should have been a little more careful! HAHAHA well now I have some very interesting tan lines (they were more like red lines) I made this homemade pizza Monday night and wanted to take a picture thinking it was funny how the crust ended up nearly 3 inches thick, but I think the joke was on me and my "red lines". Check those arms out! (not visible in the picture is the ring of red from my watch, on my chest, and at my knees. I figured I probably shouldn't pose nude just to show you my awesome lines!) ;)
And YES for all you wondering this really is a pizza! I was trying to make a chicken alfredo pizza, similar to my favorite pizza in the world from The Pizza Factory, but it ended up more like a casserole...still tasted yummy though!

Happy America Day....Land that I LOVE!

2010-07-09T19:20:00.011-06:00

Did anyone else have 3 days full of 4th of July fun?! We had such a blast this last weekend hanging out with family and celebrating our wonderful country's independence. With Jeremy and I both having experienced living in a foreign country for a long period of time we've really come to appreciate just how blessed our lives are for living in America!

We started our celebrating on Saturday but BBQing and playing at Eagle Island with Jeremy's family. It was a beautiful day! Not too hot and not too cold!

The boys all played bocci ball. . . (Jeremy's dad's favorite game, probably because he always wins!)

Us girls relaxed and soaked up the sun. . .a little too much sun I would find out later in the day. :) This is my sister-in-law Erin and her two girls Kelsey and Halley.

After the park we headed to a little podunk town called Melba where we watched fireworks. For being an itty-bitty town they sure do put on a good show! This was our second year coming and they didn't let us down. The only thing that would have been nicer is if it wasn't FREEZING outside! Kinda weird to have to be in a sweater and snuggled up in a blanket on the weekend of July 4th.

On the actual 4th of July we all headed up to Jeremy's brothers house in Emmett where we went to church with his family and joined in their ward BBQ after church...yummy! Then we headed out to "the island" and played around until "the big bang" fireworks show started. Yes I was a little skeptical about how good the show would be...this is Emmett, Idaho we are talking about...but....it was pretty good! The fireworks were great I just hope they do a little better job with the music next year.

This is us waiting for "the big bang" to start. These pictures aren't great because we just used Jeremy's phone but oh well. Beats having to carry the camera around, and with my luck I would loose it somewhere.

Relaxing on the blanket with my sister-in-law Brittany. She actually got to start the fireworks show and had her picture taken to put in the Emmett newspaper...yes, this is a very small town!

I had a blast hanging out with my nieces. They are very entertaining! We watched airplanes, birds, and then mosquitos fly above us. Kelsey and I talked all about kindergarten and her High School Musical backpack. Then we spent nearly an hour seeing how many knots we could tie in a single blade of grass. She LOVED it and actually got really good at tying knots. Her record was 8 knots! The whole experience made me really want to be a mommy....*sigh*....some day.
On Monday the 5th we woke up super early and went to our ward's celebration! We had a big outdoor breakfast, a visiting firetruck from the station next door and then the kids all decorated their bikes and rode around the parking lot in a little parade. It was pretty fun.

While our country has it's fair share of troubles and problems I'm so grateful to be a citizen of the United States of America! This is truly a country where if you work hard your dreams really can come true! If I could choose to live ANYWHERE in the world I would still choose America...with many vacation homes in other countries! I hope everyone had a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Back to Crafts

2010-07-08T17:35:00.004-06:00

So I haven't done a cute craft in a couple months but had the urge earlier this week. So, I remembered my mother-in-law had given me a magnetic board framed in unfinished wood. And, this is what I did to it! (Okay don't judge me, this is an awful picture! But hopefully you can kinda decipher what it is). Crazy what you can do with a little paint, craft paper, and modge podge! It was a fun and easy craft and can't wait to put it up in my craft room!

What next?

Well after looking at some of my favorite craft blogs I really fell in love with this unique table runner. It's made out of doilies! I think it's just too adorable, and will be scanning the thrift stores for different shapes and sizes of doilies in the coming days!
What do you think? Are you working on anything fun? Do you have any awesome craft ideas?

Tender Mercies

2010-07-08T15:56:00.009-06:00

"I delight in the Lord's mercies and miracles. I know that His tender mercies and His miracles, large and small, are real. They come in His way and on His timetable. Sometimes it is not until we have reached our extremity. Jesus's disciples on the Sea of Galilee had to toil in rowing against a contrary wind all through the night before Jesus finally came to their aid. He did not come until the "fourth watch," meaning near dawn. Yet He did come. My testimony is that miracles do come, though sometimes not until the fourth watch." -Sister Susan Tanner I never cease to be amazed at how my Savior KNOWS me. He hears me when I cry, when I speak, and when I plead. He knows when I'm happy, when I'm nervous, and when I'm sad. I've known this since I was a young girl, but have been continually reminded of it, of which I am so grateful.

Just yesterday I was reminded that His miracles ARE real. I woke up yesterday feeling very bad for myself. I had an ENORMOUS weight on my shoulders. I was in tears for most of the morning before composing myself and making my way to work. . . and that's when the miracles started happening.

-Starting next week I will be working 40+ hours a week as opposed to 20, until grad school starts! Being the sole provider right now, that translates to us not being thrown out on the streets and actually being able to eat!

-My amazing employer offered to pay for the entire cost of getting my mandatory child care worker license. (That's $73 I saved)

-Jeremy was offered yet another grant of $3,000! (He already has scholarships/grants that cover tuition, so this one goes straight to us)

-One of our monthly bills was just decreased!

-And. . . the air conditioning in my car has been working wonderfully without the terrifying squeling sound that generally accompanies it.

I could go on an on about the miracles that have happened in only the last 24 hours. I'm just so grateful to know that my Savior loves me and that in my "fourth watch" he knew my pain and exactly what to do to relieve me of my burdens. I'm so grateful for my new-found peace and lightness.

Oh Sweet Silence

2010-07-01T19:18:00.011-06:00

I've had a lot on my mind lately and feel like life has been too busy to really contemplate about my goals and what I would like to accomplish in the coming months.

Do you ever feel like there's just too much noise or always something clamoring for your attention. . . Yes I know I sound like a mom with a bunch of small kids. But if you count all the kids I work with at the gym I do have hundreds of kids!

Between work, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, paying bills, spending time with friends and family I have been finding myself falling into bed at night exhausted and not having spent a single moment alone in silence to really re-coop or contemplate. I've been in need of some heavenly guidance but haven't made time to tune out all distractions and listen for answers.

SOOOOOO..... I decided this week that I spend a lot of time in the car and I could use that time a lot wiser to be alone with my thoughts and really think about how to find "the joy in my journey" more effectively.

And that lead me to the difficult decision to TURN OFF my radio whenever I was in the car!!!! That's pretty big for me 'cause I REALLY enjoy singing at the top of my lungs in the car. But not this week. . . Just silence. . .Me ALONE with my thoughts and a lot of talking to my Heavenly Father.

4 days down and. . . It's been AMAZING! I feel calmer, more confident and refreshed.

"A quiet mind cureth all." -Robert Burton

"Silence is more musical than any song." -Christina Rossetti

So what do you all do to find some alone time amidst your crazy days?

Is This Normal?!?!?

2010-06-04T23:26:00.002-06:00

We've been doing spring cleaning at the gym and I learned a very important lesson today. . . Be careful when cleaning with ammonia! I was instructed to fill up a bucket with water and add some industrial strength disinfectant whose active ingredient is ammonia. Well I scrubed things down around the gym for a little over two hours, gloveless. My hands have felt tingly, hot, and cold all at the same time for the rest of the day! It's really bothersome and I'm hoping it will go away tomorrow and that I didn't do any permanent damage. Lesson learned...don't clean! ;) j/k Just wear gloves!

Perfect Day for a Hike!

2010-05-20T20:54:00.010-06:00

Jeremy and I have been enjoying the extra time together since school has ended. Today we were trying to decide what to do and decided to go hiking in the foothills. I think the place was called Hull's Gulch or something like that. Anyways, it ended up being an AMAZING day for hiking. It was around 60 degrees with a slight breeze that kept us nice and cool while hiking. And I know that I just posted a bunch on scenery pictures but seriously this hike was BEAUTIFUL! We only got to hike for a little over two hours because we both had to get to work tonight but here's some highlights of our little day trip. . .

That's Boise behind us.

I'm so glad I had my camera because I looked at the scenery around me in such a different way and found so many beautiful things! This dead tree being one of them.

Jumping for joy at what a beautiful day it was and that I was having so much fun with my hubby! Jeremy got a video clip of this experience that is pretty funny.

Against his will I made Jeremy try the heel click too and I think he secretly loved every second of it! Look at that happy little face! ;)

Just doing a little posing. The scenery makes up for any of my awkward wanna-be-model poses! haha

Snack break! These juice boxes are so tiny I always feel like that commercial where the man orders off of the kids menu and has this tiny grilled cheese sandwich, and his guy friends give him a hard time about it. I only got them because they were free with a coupon! They are YUMMY though, just don't last long.

I fell in love with all the wildflowers that were blooming!

This is the point where we turned around to hike back to the car. It was a beautiful little grove of trees! It was a refreshing change of scenery, since the rest of the hike didn't have a single tree!

I could post a million more pictures but I won't. Needless to say we had a blast talking, dreaming of our future, taking a ton of pictures, laughing, and getting some exercise together. It's been way too long since we've had this kind of quality time together. We're getting super excited for the next couple of months and getting to do fun activities with each other that we haven't been able to do in such a long time because of Jer's work schedule. If any locals want to go with us we're already planning a return hike! Come with us!

There is beauty all around

2010-05-19T22:37:00.006-06:00

Spring is my favorite time of year! I love how green everything is and I love hearing all the birds chirping. Today Jer and I decided to go for a walk since we had a break in all the rain we'd been getting here. I thought it would be fun to capture some of my favorite things about where we live. We moved to our new place (look below) in December and the weather wasn't really nice enough to explore our new neighborhood, but now that we can come out of hibernation we are finding all the beauties of our new surroundings. . .

This is our new townhouse. Just ignore the dead bush out front, I've been begging Jeremy to pulll it out and hope to plant flowers soon.

This is Jeremy making faces. He's so silly! :)

This is the awesome tree in our front yard!

We live in the County limits and this is a view from across the street of the city. It's even prettier at night!

Our back yard opens up to a golf course and so we always know it's going to be a nice day if we wake up to the sound of the 'pinging' of golf balls. It's kinda sad for Jeremy though to have to see it everyday and know we can't afford to play.

The golf course! Despite what it looks like there were a lot of people out there today.

This is one of our neighbors mail box!!! Isn't that kinda cool in a creepy way? It always makes me smile when we pass it.

Just another gorgeous shot from our walk around the block!

Jeremy wasn't very excited about my picture documentation of our walk but oh well. It was such a beautiful day I couldn't help it!

Sometimes it takes days like today for me to slow down and really enjoy my surroundings. I'm so grateful for the beauty all around and for an awesome husband to enjoy it all with, even if I did embarrass him a little whipping out my camera every few feet and making him pose in pictures. ;)

He did it!

2010-05-18T17:51:00.010-06:00

For the last little while Jeremy and I have been discussing the possibility of him quitting his job and finding a new one that didn't require him to be away from home more than he was home with me. Working 60+ hours a week and going to school full-time doesn't leave much time for ANYTHING else. . . Well I'm ecstatic, nervous, and a little scared to announce this Saturday is Jeremy's last day at Community Connections!!!! Hallelujah!!!!

My hubby is coming back home to me! ;)

I love Ross!

2010-05-12T14:58:00.003-06:00

Everyone who knows me knows I LOVE Ross! Only problem is I can't go in without buying something! Yesterday I went in search of cute summer shoes and I found this adorable headband instead. .

So cute!

I can sew!!!

2010-05-11T22:11:00.004-06:00

I've been wanting to learn to sew for quite a while now. I have no excuses not to. . . I have a brand new sewing machine my mom got me for Christmas just sitting un-used in a room. Lately I've been looking at all the cute sewing projects that people do and really want to try it out. So finally I got up the nerve and picked a project that seemed "do-able." I went to the craft store and bought everything I'd need and came home determined to overcome my fears and self-doubt and just do it! And about two hours later, this is what I accomplished. . .

I am so ridiculously proud of myself! Not bad for my very first sewing project all by my lonesome! I'm rearing and ready to go on my next project!!!

In A Rut

2010-05-07T21:48:00.006-06:00

For the last couple of weeks I've been trying to decide what to blog about and honestly can't come up with anything. I feel like I've been stuck in a rut lately. Get up, go to work, cook, clean, spend a few precious moments with Jeremy in between his own crazy busy work and school schedule, go to bed, wake up and do it all over again.

I need something new and exciting to make me feel alive! Any suggestions?

I am getting excited to go to California in a few weeks for my little brothers wedding. And, as long as we're going on a roadtrip Jeremy and I are thinking we might spend a few days on our own. . .possibly in Yosemite National Park. Neither of us have been there before and the more I learn about it and see pictures the more I want to go! It's not for sure that we are going but these pictures help inspire me and maybe visiting this beautiful place will be just what I need to be revitalized. Any knowledge of Yosemite and what we should do there would be greatly appreciated!

Early Birthday Present

2010-04-15T13:46:00.004-06:00

So yesterday Jeremy told me that he purchased my birthday present. I thought that was a little strange since my birthday isn't until JULY! I told him not to give me any clues because I love surprises. Well today we were out to lunch and I was telling him that I saw Boise Broadway was doing a rendition of Wicked May of 2011 and thought it would be fun to get tickets. (I'm kinda obsessed with Wicked and have been bringing it up almost daily about how I'd love to go see it.) Well I guess he was worried that I was going to buy tickets on my own for 2011 or for this May when we go to California for my brothers wedding and so he blurted out of nowhere, "THAT'S WHAT YOUR BIRTHDAY PRESENT IS, WE'RE GOING TO SEE WICKED!" It took me by surprise and I sat shocked for a minute. Then the excitement came, YEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have tickets to see Wicked at San Francisco's Orpheum theatre Saturday, May 29th, and I can't wait!!! Kinda funny that it's my birthday present since that will be two days before Jeremy's birthday and the day after our year and a half anniversary, but whatever it is.... Happy birthday to Jeremy? Happy Anniversary? Happy birthday to me?....I'm going to see Wicked!!!!! I have the best husband ever and love him to death for always doing these sorts of things to make me happy!

Total Savings $100!!!!

2010-04-13T18:58:00.003-06:00

So it's always a thrill when Albertsons has their doubler coupons out. So for the last day I've been planning my shopping spree. I woke up excited for all the free food I was going to get. And this my friends is what I came home with today. . .
How much did it cost me you ask? Well drum roll please. . . $10!!!!!! I'm pretty pleased with myself right now but even more so when I added up all the savings and it came up to $100 saved!! Even though we are very poor college students we now have a full corner of our spare bedroom stacked full of food storage. Last month we literally spent a hundred dollars less on groceries than previous months, and we are getting WAY more food. YES, I'm addicted to couponing!!!!!

My husband is an addict...

2010-03-21T00:05:00.003-06:00

Yes, Jeremy has a problem...he is completely addicted to CHOCOLATE!!!! It's kinda funny how in our relationship the roles are reversed and I rarely crave chocolate but he feels he needs it daily or else the world will come to an end. Okay maybe it's not that serious, but pretty close! I blame it on his mom, who feels a meal is never complete without a piece of chocolate afterwards. Well last weekend his parents gave us two snickers bars after our Sunday night visit with them. Jeremy ate his the next day but I was saving mine for when I really felt a sugar craving. By mid-week he was begging for my Snickers, and I caved in and let him cut it in half and have half. Who needs a full candy bar anyways, right? Well this morning I got up and had a rare craving for chocolate and remembered I had half a candy bar in our treats drawer. I rushed downstairs to get it and this is what I found in it's place...
Good thing I love him so much!!! :)

It's back to school time for me...

2010-03-18T10:38:00.012-06:00

So back in December I decided to go ahead and chase my dream of getting my masters in social work. It was a spur of the moment decision and I rushed to get all my application material put together and sent off before the deadline of New Years. Jeremy is attending Boise State as well and has about two years left, so I knew it was now or never. If I didn't get accepted for this fall we would be moving away for dental school before I'd have the chance to re-apply to the program and finish my studies. I submited everything and expected to hear back within a few weeks if I'd been accepted. Well January passed, then February passed, and weeks went by in March and I figured that maybe my application got lost in the mail somewhere. I e-mailed the program director and the school of social work and didn't hear back from either of them. Then FINALLY to my great joy I received a phone call yesterday directly from the program director congratulating me on my acceptance into the Boise State University Masters of Social Work program. He apologized for the delay in telling me I had been admited but that they had to wait until they'd made all the final decisions about admissions before they could notify anyone but reassured me that I was "DEFINATELY ADMITABLE, THERE WAS NO DOUBT ABOUT THAT." So after a FIVE year vacation from formal education it's back to school time for me. I am so excited for many reasons:
1) It's going to be so cool to go to school with my husband! AND we will graduate at the same time!
2) I LOVE and excel at school.
3) With my MSW in social work I will be able to work as a social worker to help get us through dental school.
4) Working as a social worker will probably help us to adopt a little easier if in fact we aren't able to have our own children.
A big thanks to everyone who encouraged me to follow my dreams and to everyone who helped me with all my last minute application documents and letters. GO BOISE STATE!!!!

Couponing isn't just for crazy ladies!

2010-03-17T23:16:00.003-06:00

So I have to admit that I'm guilty of being one of those people who thought only crazy people do couponing. I said things like, "That would take up way too much time looking for deals and coupons and my time is worth more than saving a few dollars on groceries." or "That's so embarrassing to have to use that many coupons, or have multiple transactions." Well after hearing all the amazing deals my mother in law was getting and seeing all the masses of food she was acquiring for basically nothing, I figured I better learn to like this couponing stuff so we could save some money. Well it hasn't taken me long to LOVE every bit of it. This was my latest steal, 20 boxes of cereal and 6 deodorants for $6.50 total! Can you believe that!?!?!?! It totally made my day and I couldn't stop smiling all day. I mean look at all this stuff I got for basically nothing...

Earlier in the week I stocked up on 20 juices, 10 Breyers ice cream, and tons of soups for basically nothing. Not only have I repented of my ways, but I'm now addicted to the high I get while couponing and getting free food! I'm still learning all kinds of new stuff but one of my favorite websites in thekrazycouponlady.com. Check it out! I'm getting the feeling I'll never again want to pay full price for anything!

Dear Banks and Businesses

2010-03-01T15:15:00.004-07:00

Dear Banks and Businesses,
I felt it necessary to get my frustrations out in letter form so I don't rip someone's head off soon. First, I don't appreciate being sent my statements AFTER the due date and subsequently getting charged a late fee that is as big as our monthly payment.
Secondly, I really hate it when you make promises that you will take care of something only to have to call back REPEATEDLY and find out it still hasn't been taken care of.
Thirdly, I'm currently super-duper angry that you never told me I could only have 6 transactions a month in my savings account and charged me $10 a transaction over that. Your interest rates suck and I now see no purpose in having a savings account if I get penalized for saving!!!!
Despite, what you may think I don't enjoy hearing your voice daily, so please take care of things the first time. I work hard for my money and do not enjoy giving it away to so-called fees. In conclusion, I'd really appreciate it if you would stop taking advantage of me IMMEDIATELY!
Sincerely,
Kim Walker

Baking Machine

2010-02-24T21:39:00.007-07:00

If my friends and family had to choose a few words to describe me I know for a fact that cook, or baker would definately not make the list, but for the last few days I've been in a big baking mood! Weird I know! Every attempt I've made to bake cookies in the last hmmm...26 years have ended up burnt and my family will never let me forget the time as a teenager that I thought rice crispy treats had to be baked and put them in the oven. I've given up on cookies all together and let Jeremy who is an amazing cookie baker take on that duty. Yesterday I was in the mood to bake something and upon seeing that we had apples that were just a little too ripe to eat on their own I decided to make an apple crisp...and lo and behold, it turned out VERY yummy! Today, still feeling confident from yesterdays success, I decided to try out a bread recipe my mother-in-law had given me a few months ago but I had never attempted on my own. And guess what?!?! That turned out SO delicious too! So I guess I maybe broke my bad luck spell when it comes to baking. In fact I'm loving eating everything that I'm creating soooo much that I might just have to make it a more common occurance. I'm sure Jeremy wouldn't complain! I didn't get a picture of my apple crisp yesterday but take a look at my homemade bread loaves!

Valentine's Eve

2010-02-17T11:37:00.010-07:00

We were lucky this year that Jeremy's short work weekend fell on Valentine's day weekend, meaning he got home from work at 5pm on Saturday. We agreed this year we wouldn't do presents other than maybe a card and chocolate, which is exactly what I got him. So our first mistake on V-day weekend was thinking that since we were actually going out to dinner the day before V-day we wouldn't need reservations....well, we showed up at Texas Roadhouse and the wait was 2 1/2 hours!!!!!! Ummm....never in my life would I wait that long to eat! So we headed off to Cafe Ole which is usually pretty dead but we like their food. Luckily, they were busy but we got seated right away and enjoyed a yummy mexican food meal.

We had plans with our friends the Tolmans to go go to Blue Cow for frozen yogurt a little later but we had some time to kill after dinner so we went walking around the mall. We weren't looking for anything specific but as we passed Morgan Jewelers we both just wandered in. I decided my wedding ring needed to be cleaned since sometimes I forget to take it off while coaching gymnastics and it gets scratched and dirty. While we were waiting for them to finish we were looking at pearls....I LOVE pearls!!! I found a few things I liked but was just dreaming when Jeremy surprised me by saying, "Just let me spoil you with something, it would make me feel good!" Well I'm not about to deny my husband happiness, so I let him do as he pleased! ;) This is what I ended up with...
Decked out with my new pearls we soon after met our friends at our favorite frozen yogurt place and piged out on frozen yogurt. Doesn't make me feel guilty at all considering almost all of it is fat free! If you live locally and are reading this...GO TO BLUE COW!!! It's amazing!At the end of our frozen yogurt double date my friend Alyssa mentioned they were going to go rent Twilight and make her husband watch it. We told them we owned it so they came over for a late night Twilight watching. Yes I'm a Twilight series fan but everytime I watch the first movie I end up awkwardly giggling through the whole thing because of it's extreme cheesy-ness. Her husband hated the movie...no surprise...and we now all have a date planned to watch New Moon when it hits the cheap theaters. I have to say that overall this V-day, okay the 13th really, was a lot of fun!

A Walk Down Mission Memory Lane

2010-02-08T22:00:00.000-07:00

So Jeremy and I fed the missionaries from our ward tonight. It was so much fun having elders in our house to talk about missionary life and for us to take a stroll down memory lane. I can't believe I've been home from my mission just as long as I was ON my mission. Lately it feels as if it was all a dream and it never really happened. It makes me so sad that I'm forgetting things that happened and people's names who I absolutely loved and adored. My mission was an amazing experience for me, not only because that is how I met one of the most important people in my life, but because it was a refiners fire that helped mold and shape me into a better all-around person. It pushed me to the brink of insanity at times and definately forced me out of my comfort zone, but every little sacrifice I made on my mission seems so insignificantly small when compared to the blessings I've received through my service. So tonight as I'm reflecting upon my experiences as a missionary I wanted to share a few pictures of the place we still get "homesick" for. . . a place we would love to go and visit again soon. . .a place we left a part of our hearts at. . . HUNGARY!

Sisters Slumber Party!

2010-02-06T16:31:00.010-07:00

So for anyone who doesn't know Jeremy has been working full time and going to school full time. It's a crazy schedule which leaves us not seeing each other for days in a row every week. :( Well every weekend he at least works Friday 5pm to Saturday 5pm but every other weekend it's Friday 5pm to Sunday 9am. So to keep from being insanely bored and lonely I tend to hang out a lot with my in-laws! Last night I was in the area and so I stopped by and we hung out. When leaving at midnight last night I stole away my 17 year old sister in law, Brittany, to spend the night and keep me company!

We've had lots of fun today playing our new Wii Sports Resort game and our favorite dominoes game, Mexican Train! Yeah for having awesome in-laws to keep me sane while my hubby is gone. PS-Don't you just love Brittany's SUPER curly hair?!?!

Brittany is going to have some seriously sore arms tomorrow from playing so much. But, I'm getting a kick out of her trying to beat each and every record that Jeremy holds on the game before he gets home tomorrow. It's funny because I held a few records once upon a time but Jeremy wouldn't stop playing until he beat all my records....well like brother like sister.....

To go skinny or not to go skinny

2010-02-04T11:59:00.001-07:00

So I've seen a lot of people lately wearing skinny jeans and realize that it's just a new fad. . .But, I wanted to try it. I bought a pair around Christmas originally to wear under some new boots I got. Well I thought they looked ridiculous with the boots I had so they've been sitting up in my closet unworn. But I'm feeling brave today and decided to pull them back out and try again, this time with just flats. The verdict is. . . I might just like it!!! I wish Jeremy were home or that I had a close friend who was a neighbor to let me know if I'm going to embarrass myself walking out the door like this.

On the other hand, the more embarrassing part may just be that I found a hairagami thing in a box I brought from home. If you can imagine it the hairagami is like two slap braclets sewn together on one end and you can put your hair in between and roll it into fun shapes. Well I've never been able to make it work in my hair since I got it when I was like 10. But today I got the courage to try again. . . and it worked. . . kind of! It actually "semi"-resembles the pictures of the "easy to do" hair styles in the manual. Trying two new things in one day is kind of pushing me out of my comfort zone, but as Jeremy always says, "Go big or go home." Lets just hope I'm not begging to go home because of embarrassment after going to work tonight!

Crafty husband

2010-02-03T21:51:00.000-07:00

So a few weeks ago Jeremy planned a date night for us. While we were eating dinner he told me he had a surprise for me....look what he made!!! (excuse the bad quality and our ugly kitchen floor I took these with my phone)

I had mentioned about a year ago that my sister had these cool watches that had changeable bands and so he went to the craft store the other day while I was at work and bought all the supplies he would need and made me this watch! My husband is SO crafty! I don't think I could have done any better! The vision of him wandering around Craft Warehouse in the beaded jewelry section makes me smile! I love you Jer!

Welcome to 2010!!!

2010-02-02T17:00:00.000-07:00

Is it seriously 2010?!?! Time is just flying, and it's really crazy to me that if my high school still existed and hadn't been shut down, and if I cared at all about going to the reunion, we would be having our 10 year reunion next year!!! Well this New Years Eve was pretty fun. Unfortunately, Jeremy had to work, but we at least got to spend time together until he had to go into work at 5pm. As you can see from the picture below we had a gourmet lunch consisting of grilled cheese sandwiches, apple slices, and sparkling cider!

After Jeremy left for work I headed off to bring in the New Year with my good friend Shae, who also was without her husband and baby for the New Year. We went over to some friends house from our old married student ward we were in and partied away. We played lots of games, ate lots of snacks, and had a lot of fun! Thanks Bucks for hosting an awesome New Years party! Here's a picture taken of all the girls at the party!

Christmas

2010-02-02T15:26:00.000-07:00

I was trying to decide where to start my blog. I didn't want to go back and make up an entire year of married life so I decided we would start with Christmas and go from there!

Although this was our second Christmas as a married couple it was our first year with a real (0kay it was fake, but bigger than our 2ft tree of last year) Christmas tree! Considering we'd just moved into a large nice townhome it felt like a real Christmas in a real home!

I got many great gifts but was super excited for a new sewing machine from my parents so I can work on more crafts!

The sewing machine was shipped to us in one of the biggest bags I'd ever seen! I actually hid in it and Jeremy came looking for me and walked up and down stairs before I revealed myself!

We got these Santa hats from a secret Santa who brought us a different gift every night for the twelve days of Christmas. It was so much fun! We never found out who the secret Santa was but are so grateful to them for helping make our Christmas even more special.

Under Construction

2010-02-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

So I finally gave in after looking at numerous friends and families blogs and started our own. No we don't have pictures of our cute kids to post for everyone to oodle over but hopefully you will still enjoy! Please have patience as I'm still learning how this whole new world of blogging works.