Year in Review

I wanted to make a list of all the fun/cool/exciting things I've done this past year. I wanted to throw in a bunch of pictures on this post, but true to form, I don't have very many... A little ironic, don't ya think? Anyway, here we go.


* David and I got engaged. It's pretty weird to think that was a year ago. I knew Dave wanted to propose, and I totally thought I'd know when he was going to pop the question. But I was wrong. It was a great surprise. Good job, Dave.

* Joined an indoor soccer team. It has been really good for me to have something to do every Friday. It's been rough having Dave in school, and soccer is one thing that gives me something to look forward to every week.

* Got a new Mac. Yes, this is worth mentioning. I love Napoleon. Don't make fun of me for naming my computer. I have to give Jenni credit for coming up with the name. You see, he's named Napoleon because he's little, but he can take over the world. Mwahahahaha!!!!


* Moved to Sugar House. I love our neighborhood. It's awesome not being surrounded by apartments. Just cute little houses. And EVERYONE has a dog. Except for us... I'm determined to change that.

* Got SCUBA certified. After doing a few sessions in a pool, I got to go to the Crater in Midway and do two more sessions. It was honestly really scary at first. You have to train yourself to not freak out when you're underwater. Once I got the hang of it though, I never wanted to stop. It's a very different world underwater.


* Got married. I guess this one makes the list... Just kidding. This was by far the bright spot in my year. Everyone asks how I like married life. Honestly, I wouldn't trade it for anything. Marriage is awesome. And I will refrain from being cheesy so I don't embarrass any of you and/or my husband :)

* Went to Hawaii. By far the coolest place I've ever been. Between the food, SCUBA diving, off-roading, and everything else, I didn't want to leave. We actually tried to change our plane tickets last minute so we could come back a couple days later, but we weren't able to. Sad.


* Lake Powell. I'd never been before, and I wasn't disappointed. We had a few scary moments (hitting a deer, almost sinking our boat, getting caught in a major storm), but it was awesome. The landscape is so different but beautiful. If you haven't been to Lake Powell, I highly recommend you go.

* We went hiking and camping quite a few times this summer. The weather was great, and we took advantage of it. Dave didn't have to take any classes during the summer, so we definitely made good use of our time.

* Ran in the Dirty Dash. This 10K was so fun. The girls in our group were awesome (Hi Hil!), and it was great to have people cheering us on. I really wish I would have trained more, but I still had boatloads of fun.


* Turned 24. Good thing I got married, or I'd be considered an old maid by Mormon standards. Phew... That was a close one.

I'd have to say that 2010 was a pretty good year. We'll see how 2011 pans out.

It's Been Awhile

I have writer's block. So sue me. Until I come up with something worth writing, enjoy the following picture.

Dear Mom,

This post is for you, because you said you didn't like clicking on my blog anymore because the last post was sad, and it was always at the top. Consider this an early Christmas present.

Love,
Your Favorite Child EVER

Can't Sleep. Guilty Conscience

I'm writing this post for strictly selfish purposes. I guess I wanted to blog about this just so I can go back and read it to remind myself to act when I'm impressed to do something.

There's only one way to put this... I feel stupid. Really stupid.

Dave and I try to go out on a date once a week. With him being in school and both of us working full time, it's hard to get quality time in. Our date night is usually designated for Saturdays.

This week we decided to go to dinner (The Old Spaghetti Factory at Trolley Square) and then go bowling. The bowling alley was pretty busy, and we had to stand in line for quite awhile. In front of us was a man and his daughter. They were soon joined by his wife and three more kids. Dave and I both commented on how cute this family was. It was finally their turn to get set up on a lane. The kids were SO excited. As they were lacing up their shoes, I could see the man trying to communicate with the cashier. I don't think he spoke English, or at least not well, so the older daughter was trying to translate. It was obvious the man didn't have enough money to pay. I felt impressed to help them out... But I just stood their like a Greek statue. Or an idiot. Whatever you want to call it. We watched as the mom told the little kids to put their shoes back up on the counter. They had the most disappointed looks on their faces. The family walked off, and we never saw them again.

It was our turn to pay. We were surprised to see how much it was just for the two of us. I'm sure paying for a family of 6 wasn't cheap. As we were walking up to our lane, Dave commented on how we should have helped that family. I told him that I had the same impression.

We played 1 game, but we didn't really enjoy it because we felt so bad about the situation.

It's not like we couldn't have helped them out. It wouldn't have been a financial burden for us. As I watched the whole thing go down, I wasn't thinking selfish thoughts as to why we shouldn't help them, I just didn't act. And now I feel horrible about it. I felt like Heavenly Father gave us an opportunity to help some people out, and we let it slip through our fingers. I hope He will bless me with more opportunities like this. Dave and I both committed to never let something like that happen again.

So this is why I can't sleep. Sorry this post is kind of a downer, but I guess I wanted to tell someone about it. And that someone just happens to be everyone who reads this blog. So there you go.

Billy's Got His Beer Goggles On

Dave went to the eye doctor a few days ago because his prescription was about 6 years old. Plus, one of his lenses was scratched to H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks. The Air Force said they'd mail the glasses to us, and when I got home today I found the package in the mail box. Dave was pretty excited to get them. We were surprised to find THREE pairs of glasses. Three pairs of totally awesome glasses. One of the pairs looks like this. David didn't know why they asked for his gas mask size, but today we found out. Apparently these babies are supposed to go UNDER the gas mask. They look about a half inch thick. I'm sure that's an exaggeration, but the lenses are ridiculously thick. I tried them on, and they were totally like beer goggles. My husband didn't bother to mention while we were dating that he was practically blind. I might have thought about things more if I would have known that... Just kidding.

I'm really diggin' the poky ears in this one. I've never had poky ears, but the rubber band apparently does wonders for people with normal ears.

Here's a good shot of what they look like. You can tell I took this picture because it's not shaky unlike the one of me :) Love you anyway, Dave!

Mobile Uploads

Getting a phone with a decent camera has been pretty fun. I've never really used the camera on my cell phone much, but after getting this new one (5 megapixels), I've found myself snapping quite a few. That doesn't necessarily mean the pictures turn out great since you can't control exposure, white balance, etc with it, but I still like to take them. I hardly ever have my nice camera with me, and I don't have a little point and shoot, so this makes it nice.

We decided to drive up to Rexburg this weekend to surprise my mom and dad. We got to the house but they were gone. We needed to run errands in town, so we decided to kidnap Jack. I sent this picture to my mom's phone hoping to confuse her as to what we were doing with her dog, but I forgot she doesn't know how to use a phone. Just kidding, mom :) But seriously... She didn't even see it until they got to the house and I asked her if she liked my text message. I could tell by the confused look on her face that she had no idea what I was talking about.

Oh, and please don't make fun of my nasty Donald Trump hair in this picture. We had been playing hockey. So there.

Is this a bad sign?

I passed this truck while on a walk the other day. Your guess is as good as mine.

New Project

I've decided to start recording some songs again. It's been awhile, and I've missed it. I went through a streak where I recorded a bunch of songs all at once, but then I stopped for some reason. Oh yeah. I think it was because of those 19 credits that almost killed me. Yeah, that must have been it. Have I mentioned I'm so happy that I'm finished with school?

This song is called "All I Want is You." It's by U2, and you can listen to the original here.

This recording is far from professional. I haven't edited it yet, so please forgive me for my out of tune notes and other mistakes. Also, I hope you like the one and only picture in this video. Apparently, Blogger won't let you post a song, but it will let you post a video. I put the song in iMovie and grabbed a picture. I think Jonas looks awesome in this one :)



P.S. Sorry about the poopy quality.

24 is the new 23

Thanks everyone for your birthday phone calls, texts, and gifts. It was a good day. My office at work is in the process of getting remodeled, so I got to go home at about 11am on Friday. Hizzah! Best b-day present ever :)

Dave went to a lot of trouble to make sure I had a fun birthday. I don't see much of my husband due to work and his Master's program. Not cool. Anyway, he's been staying really late at work almost every night. We're talking midnight usually. So it was no surprise when he told me on Thursday he was going to be working late again. I went to bed and was fast asleep when suddenly the lights came on, and Dave was standing there with a cake fully lit with candles. I was so disoriented, I didn't really know what to think. Waking up like that scared me to death, and my heart was pounding out of my chest. Once I (finally) grasped what was going on, I blew out the candles, and we had cake at 12:30am. He had left work early and made the cake at our friend Amy's house. It was a very cool surprise... Once my heart returned to a normal rhythm that is.

Dave got off of work around 5 on Friday, and we headed up to Park City for dinner. We went to a little place called the Baja Cantina. Soooo very tasty. We then went to Provo because I wanted to go to a concert I had heard about. This band is pretty awesome. They put kind of a bluegrass spin on church hymns. They are called The Lower Lights, and you should check them out here. I recommend you listen to Ye Elders of Israel first. It is pretty awesome. Unfortunately, the whole album is no longer available to listen to for free, but a few songs are still up. Don't worry, it's not cheesy Mormon pop. Although, I'm sure I'll still be made fun of for liking it.

In other news, I talked Dave into letting me get new running shoes since mine were pretty much destroyed from the Dirty Dash. So, we bought these babies...


Let me introduce you to my new pair of Asics Cumulus Gel 11 (AKA the most amazing shoe ever). I can almost hear my feet let out a sigh of relief when I put these on. They are that comfy. It's amazing how a nice pair of shoes can make running a lot more pleasant. Or a lot less torturous, depending on how you look at it :)

The Dirty Dash

A few months ago my friend Amy told me about this sweet race called The Dirty Dash. Basically, it's a muddy obstacle course spread out over 10 kilometers. It sounded awesome, so I committed to doing it. Amy was really helpful and gave me a training program to follow since I was starting from zero. Unfortunately, soon after that, I came down with a horrible case of bronchitis. All training plans were put on hold until I felt well enough to run. The problem was, it took about 6 or 7 weeks until I felt like I was back to normal. By that time, it was really too late to train for a 10K. I decided I would do it anyway, but I knew it was going to be ugly. The only thing I had going for me was that I had been playing soccer once or twice a week. Definitely not enough, but at least it was something.

The neat thing about this race is that you run in teams of 5. Our team consisted of Hilary, my friend Candice and some of her friends, and me. They encourage you to dress up in costumes for this race, so we went for an 80's theme. Hilary's costume was definitely my favorite. She had a sweet Blondie T-shirt, polka-dot leggings, and some awesome socks. And let's not forget the side ponytail. I went for the clashing pink and red color scheme.


This map is deceiving because it makes you think that only the first part is uphill. Liars! It felt like at least 3/4 of it was uphill. Lots and lots of switchbacks. I was just glad I wasn't the only one who was out of shape in our group, because there were times I was really glad that other people were walking, so I could slow down too :) I guess they wanted everyone to start the race out muddy because the first thing we had to do was run up a big, muddy hill. They had a huge sprinkler spraying all the runners at the same time. Mud was flying everywhere, including right into my face. It was fine with me until the race was over and I washed my face off only to realize I was sunburned... except for where the mud was splattered. Note to self: remember sunscreen next time so you don't look like a fool.

After running uphill for what seemed like years, we came to some large hay bales. The point was to climb over them and continue down the trail. Climbing took too much effort, so I decided to just jump over them. According to my group, my jumping skills are amazing. I think I acquired them from the one time I did hurtles in 5th grade.

After showing everyone what hay bale jumping was all about, we came to some crazy mud pits. And some crazy people (particularly one crazy guy) in these mud pits. There were also walls that we had to climb over while in the pits. It was pretty hard to do since the mud was so sticky, and it would suck your feet down any time you stopped moving. Some people crawled under the walls. That was fun to watch because they came out looking like swamp monsters :)


Farther down the trail we had to struggle through a very soggy (and large) marsh. If I could only describe the smell of it in one word, it would be death. It was awful, and there were flies everywhere. It took awhile to get through the mud, and then afterwords, our shoes weighed about ten pounds a piece.

Finally, towards the end we got to go down a huge slip-and-slide. That part was sooooo much fun. I felt like a kid again. Before we reached the end, we had to wade through one more mud pit. This one was about waist deep, and many people just went all the way under. I didn't want mud coming out of my ears and nose for the next week, so I decided to pass on that method.

Even though this race sounds like torture, it was actually so much fun. I will definitely do it again if I get the chance. I'll just train for it more next time so my hips aren't on fire halfway through :)

Lost in Translation

Two posts within 24 hours?! Yes, it is true my friends.

We often get in cheap wallets, purses, shoes, and other items at work. They usually come from China, and sometimes (if we're lucky) they come with these little gems.

It's always fun to try and guess what they mean with these labels. You can tell that it was run through a very poor computerized translation system. I really have a deep love for these babies. My only hope is that one day I can reach the "fragrant personal status."

P.S. Sorry about the poor picture. It was scanned from our copier, so obviously you don't get the best results with that.

Peach Days

Dave and I headed up to Brigham City for Peach Days a couple of weeks ago. We met up with Matt and the kids, my parents, AJ, Hil, and Griz. I'm not really sure what all goes on at Peach Days. The only thing I saw was the car show. Not really my thing, but it was good to be with family.

I guess Jonas is too cool to hug me now. That was sad to find out. At least he's still cuter than crud.

Zoie still likes to hug AND she's cuter than crud. Take that, Jonas.

Griz scared me when he snuck up behind me and put his cold, wet nose in my ear. I think he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. Good times.

Yay for dog/owner portraits! It only took about 15 tries to get a shot of griz looking at me.

No trip to Brigham would be complete without going to Maddox. They have a very tasty burger, and the chocolate malts are dear to my heart. We wanted to get some peaches, because hello, it was Peach Days! Unfortunately, they weren't ripe, and they were going for $25 a box.

Dear Owners of Paul's Patch,

I will gladly keep my $25 and spend my money on ripe peaches going for $14 at a roadside stand. Thank you very much.

Scuba Diving - Hawaiian Style (Of Course)

Before we went to Hawaii, we decided it would be a good idea for me to get scuba certified. We knew we wanted to go scuba diving while we were there, and Dave was already certified. I took classes at a place in West Valley. They do a few sessions in the pool, then they take you to the crater in Midway when they think you're ready. It's a pretty scary feeling at first. It's almost like claustrophobia. But after I made myself calm down, I had tons of fun.

I obviously needed to get some gear for my class, and I found a really good deal at Sam's Club.

Unfortunately, thanks to my husband, my mask is now somewhere at the bottom of Lake Powell, but that's another story in and of itself.

Diving in Hawaii was definitely one of my favorite things we did while we were there. It was a completely different experience than diving in a pool or the crater. For one thing, you're way more buoyant. I had a really hard time getting under the surface. The dive master put a bunch of weight on me, but it didn't do much at all. I finally grabbed onto the anchor line and pulled myself down until there was enough water pressure to keep me under. That part of the dive experience was not so fun. The waves beat you around pretty badly when you're on the surface, and I definitely was in panic mode. Lots of bad things can happen while you're on the surface. Slamming my head into the side of the boat was my number one concern. Once I was under though, it was an awesome experience. Seeing all the different fish and other sea creatures was pretty darn cool. The science books you read in school don't do the ocean justice. A huge sea turtle came up to us and just checked us out for awhile. He seemed pretty interested in us. He was so close to me, I was actually able to reach out and touch him. When we got back on the boat, I was really excited to tell everyone that I had touched a sea turtle. One of the workers told me that it was illegal. Oops! Thankfully she just laughed it off and didn't report me :)

R.I.P. Mask: February 2010 - July 2010. You will be missed...

Off Roading - Hawaiian Style

Finding a starting point to update this thing is a little overwhelming, so I decided to go through my pictures and see if there was anything I wanted to comment on. Here are some pictures of our trip to Hawaii. We had such a good time, and I've never been so sad to go home after a vacation. Hawaii was awesome, and we'll definitely be going back.

We took a Jeep ride one of the days we were there, and this is what it looked like the whole way. Kind of scary when you're going along a crazy road with blind corners.

This is where we ended up. The cliffs here are huge! Thankfully the rain stopped right before the roads got REALLY bad. Let's just say it's a good thing we had 4 wheel drive.

Our noble steed. I want one of these babies. I think Jeep should buy this picture from me. What do you think? :)

New Goal

Alright, it's about time I step it up with this thing. I am making a goal to post something new once a week. Pretty crazy, I know. They may not be the coolest posts, so no complaints people! Just kidding. I doubt anyone is still following this thing anyway :) By the way, this doesn't count as this week's post.

THE Ring

I know most of you haven't seen my ring yet, so here it is! The pictures don't do the diamonds justice though. I guess you'll just have to see it in person to get the whole affect :) All I can tell you is that this baby is MASSIVE. I feel like I belong on Real Housewives of Orange County when I wear it. When the jeweler handed it to me, my first words were, "Holy cow, that thing is huge!" Minus the main stone, there are 78 diamonds on this puppy. The poor jeweler set all of the stones himself. He said it was a pain in the you-know-what. But he did a great job. It turned out beautiful! It looks a lot like Hilary's ring. Sorry Hil, I promise I wasn't trying to copy you. I've always wanted a square one though :) Anyway, here are the pictures!

Ladies and gentlemen. I'd like to introduce you to the Eiffel Tower (at least that's what I think it looks like).

Don't you just love how it looks like I'm missing two fingers in this one? That's what happens when you try to take a picture one-handed with a big camera :)