THE HORN's

Reagan's First Birthday... oh my!

2010-12-23T11:10:00.000-07:00

Since Reagan's birthday is only two days before Christmas we've decided to do a half birthday celebration in the summer and only do a small family get together on her birthday. However, this was the first birthday so we did do more than we said we would, but hey, it only happens once right?

For all the family who couldn't make it, picture overload.

The sign is courtesy of her Aunt Allison:

Preparing for the big event, Aunt Stephanie icing cupcakes for us. Thank you!

She wasn't too sure what to think about this glow worm from Grandma Horn

Do you think she likes hair clips?

Yes, she has learned to pose for the camera

I don't know if there is anything Reagan loves more than reading books. We have a little book corner in our living room and we often find her over there alone just "reading" books to herself.

Apparently she was very excited for the doodle board! She caught on quickly on how this whole present thing works.

Grandma Marla and Grandpa Craig watching little open her birthday presents.

Grandma Marla showing Reagan how her new music board works, she loved it!

Rolling around on the ground with Grandpa Horn!

From Aunt Allison...

Baby Converse!!! So freakin' cute!

The beautiful birthday cake from Dippidee Cakes in American Fork, gotta love having a baking hook up in the family! (yes it started to sink because someone didn't put it in the fridge... whoops! Hey I cook, I'm not known for my baking.)

Everyone thought I was strange, but I loved the extra long candles!

She really is my daughter, would barely touch the cake. Tried the icing and made a sour face... what can I say, she's a healthy one!

Finally we had to spoon feed her a bite to get her to try the cake...

...still wasn't too big of a fan.

So she decided to just play.

And feed it to Grandpa Horn!

When all was said and done

I still can't believe our little one is already a year old! I've always heard about how fast it goes, but I really didn't think it would go this fast. She took her sweet little time getting here and now I wish it would just slow down. We are so grateful for our little Reagan, she truly is a blessing in our home and we could not imagine life without her. She is such a joy in our lives and I am constantly amazed that I get to be her mother. Happy Birthday Little!

Quick Update w/ Short Narrative

2010-12-22T23:05:00.000-07:00

Like most people, we plan to print this out one day and use it as a family journal and since I've been so terrible at keeping up with it, I thought I'd give a snap update so we didn't completely loose the last 7 months of our lives.

11 months: We just had to capture this bed head!

Love it!

10 months: That would be our recycling... yep.

Our little chunk of joy... :)

9 months: I just realized this almost looks like she is locked up, so cute! haha

9 months: Time with Dad watching Mickey Mouse... or Winnie the Pooh, I can't remember.

9 months: Reagan getting into our DVDs... this is her "busted by surprise" look.

When in doubt, smile!

7.5 months: Naomi was in town for a few days so we took her up Spanish Fork Canyon. Reagan loves sitting back in her stroller and looking at everything pass by her.

Reagan and her Aunt Naomi

7 months: She officially discovered the cell phone. However, after watching Dr. Oz and how gross cell phones get, a part of me can't help but cringe when looking at this photo.

7 months: Went for a walk up Spanish Fork Canyon to see the raining rocks (pic below). Reagan loved riding on Rob's shoulders.

See, it looks like the rocks are raining...

6 almost 7 months: Reagan with Great Grandma, the puppet dog was a new toy that she brought. It barks when you move the mouth together, she thought it was hilarious!

6 months: Rob so lovingly holding Brayden and Reagan...

July 3, 2010: Reagan wasn't actually with us, but we went to the Freedom Festival with Carrie Underwood... my favorite! He scored big points for this one!!

5 almost 6 months: Rob's first Father's Day!! Love this picture!

Her shirt says "I Love Daddy" he loved it and asked if she could wear it every day! ... I said no.

5.5 months: She likes the rice cereal a lot better now.

5 months: First taste of food was rice cereal. Well, look at her, I think you can figure out the rest...

5 months: We spent the day in Park City with Scott and Tasha with their little boy Brayden. He just leaned in and snuggled for a moment.

Family Photo Session

2010-11-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

I'm not going to post all of the photos we got done, there were quite a few, but here are a few of our favorites! Yes, I know we're lame because we actually had pictures taken and yet still didn't manage to put together a Christmas Card... oh well.

Little's First Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T21:00:00.002-07:00

So I don't have pictures for this year's Thanksgiving holiday, but I wouldn't exactly say it was one I'd like to remember.

It all started yesterday, running a small fever, kept it at bay for a while until she had an interrupted night's sleep and at 2:00 AM we were up trying to comfort her and lower her 101 fever. She was able to get back to sleep pretty well at about 3:00 AM, but when it was 8:30 AM and she hadn't really moved. I got worried and woke her up to find a fever of 103, purple lips, shivering a little, looking miserable and refusing to eat. Needless we spent our first family Thanksgiving in the ER, and the afternoon running around town finding the one pharmacy that was open (I am thankful for Rite Aid today).

She is doing much better, still not back to normal, but is much more like the goofy little girl we all know and love.

11 Months Old...

2010-11-23T20:55:00.002-07:00

I can't believe today is this little ones 11 month birthday!! That means I only have one more month until I have a one year old... AHH! What am I going to do??

This picture was taken at our family photo session from last week. Will post more when we get them all back!

Is there anyone still out there??

2010-11-21T10:09:00.002-07:00

So officially the worst blogger out there which was quite unexpected considering we have a little one and that usually sparks the blogging bug, but with working full time, being a mom all the time, and main housekeeper as well as head chef, life doesn't always allow time for blogging... so if there is anyone still out there, I promise to come back shortly and require more time for updates.

In the mean time, I am learning more about designing a blog and deciding what I want this to look like because I've never been that big of fan, which is sad because it's my own blog. We just had pictures taken yesterday and will have those in about a week or so. That gives me a week to re-design the blog and have it up and running in time for new pictures.

Hope you all haven't give up on us completely!!

Favorite Sweatshirt

2010-06-26T10:29:00.003-06:00

OK, so I've said before how I think it's ridiculous that my daughter has a cuter wardrobe than myself. Well we were in Park City one day with some friends and they spotted this sweatshirt that I instantly fell in love with! It's a terrible picture, but you can get the idea. Isn't it so cute?!

Rob's Birthday... continued

2010-06-26T10:09:00.007-06:00

OK, so there were a few more pictures to go with Rob's birthday.

His birthday cake... hmm :)

His favorite ice cream... no thank you! Yuck! :(

Reagan decided she was going to help Daddy open his presents. She was obsessed with the wrapping paper!

Apparently it looked tasty...

And fun to play with! haha

A Lawn Mower He Can Call His Own

2010-05-19T22:31:00.002-06:00

Some may find this odd or pathetic, but we are so excited to finally have our own lawn mower and can stop borrowing from our neighbors. Rob took some of his birthday money and bought a lawn mower, and as you can see by our grass, it was long over due.

Rob's Birthday, a good one!!

2010-05-19T22:17:00.002-06:00

So we've sort of had some bad luck with celebrating certain occasions. First it was holidays in general, then those gradually got better and it became strictly Rob's birthday... not kidding, last year BOTH cars broke down among a few other things. With the arrival of Reagan I was determined to break the cycle and make this first year with Reagan a good birthday for Rob. I had been planning a lot for his birthday this year and it was all centered around things that Rob loves to do with Reagan (I figured it couldn't go wrong if it all had to do with his little girl, and it worked!).

Rob's been singing to Reagan at night before bedtime and it's so cute to watch her just stare at him and smile as he sings with his guitar. We ended up getting him a much needed guitar stand, a capo, and a small treat from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. To go along with all of this I had been working on a song book with all the songs that I thought would be cute for him to sing to her at night including "House At Pooh Corner" (Reagan's obsession is Winnie the Pooh, she can't help but smile each time she sees him) and he loved it! We ended with just a relaxing night with the family... it was a good day.

Just Hanging Out

2010-05-19T22:10:00.004-06:00

Blessing Post #2 - Dress Pictures

2010-05-19T21:46:00.008-06:00

So in order to get Reagan back in the car seat we had to take off the big, long, traditional blessing dress and when we got back to the house everyone wanted pictures of her in it. Well given that she had already missed one nap time and about to miss a second I wasn't about to put her back in it and expect a happy smiling baby. I attempted this on the spot "photo shoot" in her room which didn't work out too well since she would not stop wiggling and the lighting was terrible, but she still looks adorable and for the family, you can see the dress!!

Here you go!!

The day I became a Mother

2010-05-09T21:50:00.007-06:00

I can't even begin to tell you what it was like the day I became a Mother. As most of you out there know, you go through a roller coaster of emotions and feelings with just one moment life as you know it is over. I can still remember, with perfect clarity, the moment Reagan came into this world. It was a rush of emotion and instantly I had never felt so much love for another as I felt in that one moment... Anyway, I could go on and on about how perfect this little girl is and how much I love her and appreciate the gift I have of being her mother, but I'll spare you all the mushy details (one thing that hasn't gone away since being pregnant... the mushiness).

Once more, here are some pictures from the day I became a Mother to Reagan.

Blessing Post #1 - Family Pics

2010-05-08T21:50:00.011-06:00

A few weeks ago, on April 11th, we blessed our little girl Reagan Jean Horn. It was such a great day and we had a lot of family there to celebrate with us. Rob gave a beautiful blessing and I am so excited and blessed to have my little family.

Below are some pictures we took after the blessing at Rob's parent's house with family. At this point I had changed Reagan out of the big, beautiful, LONG blessing dress and into this little white dress that Naomi and I spent hours and hours looking for. The "blessing dress" was so uncomfortable for Reagan since it was so long and she liked to stand, plus I had to change her out of it at the church to get her into the car seat and was not about to make her put it back on for the rest of the day. I took some photos of her in the dress and will post them in Post #2.

Our little family... I love them!! :)

Rob's Family: Grandpa, Stephanie & Aarron, Allison, us, Jens & Shannon (Rob's Parent's) and Grandma (four generations!!) We were so excited that Steph and Aaron were able to come up from their jobs at Disneyland (Aaron's brother had their baby blessing the same day which worked out), they were running late, but luckily they arrived at the church just in time to sneak in right as the blessing started.

My family: Dad & Marla, us, my Mom came down from WA, Naomi & my brother Christian, Naomi came with my mom and Christian came the Thursday before (long story; they were there for a few months, now back in LA). I was so excited that I had one sibling there... I have 6 so you wouldn't think it would be that hard, but no one is in UT and only two are in the same spot throughout the country.

This one is blury, but it was so cute because she was just about to sneeze.

She's so cute...

This is Shannon's parents, Rob's grandparents, and we were so happy that they could come up from San Diego for this day! Reagan is the first of her generation on both Rob's Father and Mother's side of the family which means she was also the first great grandchild! They've been asking us for years now when we were going to have kids so when we announced the blessing date they weren't about to miss it. Unfortunately they couldn't come before now, but we made sure they got plenty of time with Reagan!

Reagan LOVES to talk and, what we call, tell stories. Here she is telling Great Grandpa Bill a story, it was hilarious!

She's not stubborn is she??

2010-05-08T21:46:00.002-06:00

Rob came home from work and wanted to hold Reagan, well apparently she just wasn't ready to be done playing in her bouncer... she really wasn't ready.

Pictures of Reagan

2010-05-08T21:37:00.008-06:00

These are some random pictures of Reagan... she's just so cute!

Valentine's Day

2010-03-21T19:03:00.002-06:00

This was her little Valentine's Day outfit... it's the best we could do considering we don't do a lot of red!

Again terrible lighting and no editing, sorry!!

2010-03-21T18:54:00.002-06:00

Below you will find two pictures... Reagan's first bath and Reagan's second bath. Which one do you think she liked better??

Bath #1: Reagan's first bath

Bath #2: Reagan's second bath

Now every time we place her on the bed to change her clothes she thinks it's bath time and gets so excited!! The first giggle she ever did was when we were getting ready for her bath and that still stands as her favorite time of day. We still haven't been able to get her to giggle like she does when it's time for the bath!! You even say the word and she smiles, I swear she knows that word now!!

Big Yawn!!

2010-03-21T18:53:00.004-06:00

Raegan is just like her mommy... she LOVES sleep and is soo good at it too!!

Hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa Horn

2010-03-21T18:46:00.006-06:00

Forgot about Christmas!!

2010-03-21T18:41:00.005-06:00

These were taken on my phone camera so they are terrible, but it was her first Christmas so we have to post about it.

Our first official family picture... and look at how terrible we look!! This was the first actual day home and the morning after the first night of which she was up screaming until 6:00 AM... considering that, I'd say it doesn't look as bad as it should, but still TERRIBLE! haha

Baby girl and the flower

2010-03-21T18:36:00.003-06:00

OK, I'm putting it out there that I've never been a huge fan of the massive flower, but I thought I'd try it out... nothing special, but she's cute even with a massive fake plant hanging off of her head!!

Erin comes to visit

2010-03-21T18:28:00.005-06:00

Yep, as you can see... no editing! haha

Coming Home

2010-03-21T18:25:00.001-06:00

Reagan's Birthday... literally!

2010-03-21T18:05:00.010-06:00

After 13.5 hours of induced labor, one failed epidural (second one worked), BYU killing Oregon State in the Vegas Bowl, and the nurses freaking out twice because of a lost heartbeat (turns out she kept moving and the monitors couldn't keep up)... SHE'S HERE!!!

And she came at 2:00 in the morning... 1:59 to be exact, December 23, 2009! etc.

Update... going backwards

2010-03-21T18:02:00.002-06:00

OK, I know I've become the worst blogger! Most people have a child and their blog goes into overload of pictures and stories, but having to go back to like I do each day, my priorities are being with baby girl as often as I can!

So here are some updates and a LOT of pictures. I'm not going to take the time to go through and tell the stories that go with each of them, so use your imagination and make up your own stories. I promise to try and be better from now on and take more pictures!

Here we go!!

Blog currently under construction...

2010-03-07T12:24:00.002-07:00

I'm re-doing our blog, but I haven't yet decided what I like so be patient... it won't be the boring white forever. In the mean time I thought I would update with what's been going on with our lives... well basically it'll all be about Reagan :)

Soon, I promise... soon.

2010-01-28T17:47:00.002-07:00

I know, I know I know, but I have been enjoying my time with our new little one and I'm just not ready to sit down and do the update... which we all know will take me forever because I've waited so long!!

Belly Picture

2009-11-30T19:33:00.003-07:00

OK, this is all I have right now for pictures. The lighting is terrible, completely washes me out, and the black shirt doesn't show the belly all that well, but Jed, you said you wanted pictures tonight so this will have to do! I'll take more this week...

Rob said this one made it look like I had a beer belly... thanks honey.

The Baby's Room

2009-10-22T18:02:00.009-06:00

Ok, it's not done and we have more things we need to get for the walls and the window so here is just a sneak peek, but keep in mind it is still a work in progress!

OK, I know I always said I would never be a pink person, but I fell in love with the bedding and I don't think it's too much pink so whatever! I lied!!

The walls look a little purple-ish, but they are really gray, we just painted over a light blue color so it came out kind of purple, but we LOVE it!! With the colors, it really makes them stand out. I'm sorry the lighting is so bad, but this is what you get for now. When we get closer to being done I'll take better pics.

This is the crib which I love and the color was perfect! It matches the rocker perfectly!

This is the bedding on the crib... the crib skirt (which I wanted to be green, but can only find pink), one of the sheets, and the bumper.

This is just some of the stuff we've received so far! The out-fit on top is the first out-fit we bought when we found out she was a girl and I think the one we'll bring her home in... we'll have to see. It's sort of hard to see, but it's really cute!! Gotta love Target!

This is the awesome swing I found on craigslist!! I love the colors and I hope she likes it too... I sort of wish the motor was stronger, but apparently from all the reviews I've read the motors aren't that great on most swings... oh well. The best part is that you can plug it into the wall so you're not using batteries... LOVE that!

Reagan's First BYU GAME!!... well sort of.

2009-10-22T17:49:00.007-06:00

OK, so it was sort of her first BYU game, first one that I've gone to since I've been prego... hey, it counts right? This was a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, real cute huh?...

That's better!!

This is my friend Hayley from work... we were down below the stadium searching for Otis Spunkmeyer (sp?) chocolate chip cookies. I swear I could smell them from our seats and I was on a mission to find out where they were!! ... we never found them.

Pictures coming soon!!

2009-10-15T20:26:00.002-06:00

OK, I know you are all waiting for pictures and I promise they are coming soon, but tonight it came down to either making banana bread or posting pictures and well... yeah the banana bread won!!

Recently we've painted Reagan's room and put the crib together with all the bedding and we LOVE it!! We are so excited and also so overwhelmed with all that there is left to do before she comes... time is ticking and quickly too!! Only TEN more weeks... more or less of course! Due date is December 22 so don't pay too much attention to the counter thing to the right, that was set before they changed my due date from the 15th and I haven't figured out how to change it on there... oh well.

But I promise I will post the pictures soon... the harassment can stop now!! :P

2009-09-08T20:36:00.001-06:00

That's right, I feel exactly how I look and it's the best you're going to get for right now. I just finished battling that stupid bassinet thing on the packn' play and am exhausted, but I promised a belly bump picture. I will have Rob take more another time, but this is what you get for now.

See Emily, there really is a baby in there!! :)

Project #2

2009-09-08T20:05:00.004-06:00

One of the things we got at Target was a packn' play, which was on sale too!! Yes, that was quite a project too. The little bassinet thing that attached to the top was such a pain to put together!! The rest of it was pretty easy, but that little newborn bassinet... I'm not ever taking that a part until I know I won't need to for a very long time!!

OK, so this isn't the finished project, there is also the bassinet, and the changing table that hangs on top, but I like it!!

Project #1

2009-09-08T20:00:00.004-06:00

Spent way too much money this last weekend shopping all the labor day sales!! It was nerve racking to add it all together, but then when we added up how much we saved, I was pretty proud of us!! It is all stuff we'd have to buy eventually, might as well get it all on sale!!

This was project #1. We went to Wal-Mart, Rob's mom found this awesome crib for half the price of what it is at other stores, so when we went to go look at it we figured "Hey, there's a matching glider!" which was also a good deal!... so project #1, the glider, was put together that night and it's awesome!! Best seat in the house!

The Hot-air Balloon Incident

2009-09-08T19:48:00.002-06:00

If we are ever attacked by hot-air balloons, we are in trouble...

I woke up Monday morning and stumbled into the kitchen to get some cereal. As I'm pouring my cereal I kept hearing this strange noise that was so loud and sounded like a blow-torch or something. I go and look outside my front kitchen window to see a massive hot-air balloon just about to fly directly over our house and this thing was close!! It was flying just barely above the power lines! We go to the backyard to look at it and right as it's above our back patio I open the door to let the dogs out and just as they are on the patio the hot-air balloon guy (do they have a real name?) blows the torch for the fire and as the puppies look up to see what the noise was that just scared them half to death they just see this massive hot-air balloon directly over us!! Needless to say they started freaking out and ran into the house and under the bed!! Ty didn't stop shaking for about 20 minutes and refused to go outside even after an hour had gone by and there was no sign of a balloon anywhere! Although it was so sad to watch them freak out like that, it was hilarious!! Even the guys in the balloon were laughing so hard!!

Needless to say, our little brave puppy, who protects us from all the bad guys, wouldn't be able to save us from an attack of hot-air balloons.

Reagan's Bedding

2009-09-08T19:12:00.006-06:00

So most of you know that we're having a little girl, naming her Reagan Jean Horn and I have been agonizing over looking for her bedding and figuring out how I want to do her room. After weeks of looking at fabrics and crib bedding I finally found something that I not only liked, but something we can afford! I found it in the Target advertisement in Sunday's paper... yes, I know that means practically everyone else will have the same thing, but oh well!!

Above is what some fo the crib sheets look like and one blanket and below is what the bumper pads look like. Once the crib is up and all put together I'll take pictures and then you can see what the whole thing looks like... I LOVE IT! Below are some of the other fabrics we were playing with... they were either too expensive, or there wasn't enough fabric to really do anything with it... oh well, Target ended up being SO much cheaper!!

Love this blanket!!

There wasn't enough of this fabric to do anything with, but I loved this one too!

Selling the Nissan

2009-09-08T19:05:00.003-06:00

That's right, we are finally selling the Nissan!! I have been dreaming of this day forever because it means I finally got my little SUV!! Sorry, I don't have a picture of that right now, but since little girl is finally on her way (and now that my work was moved to Provo), I got to upgrade to a small SUV for more safe driving in the winter time! YAY!!! :D

Before we could sell it, we had to make sure it looked pretty clean so we took to the car wash.

Doesn't he look like he's having so much fun?! Now the only trick is selling it. We've had a few calls, some from people who scare me and others from people who don't show up when they say they will... the joys of selling a car. Either way, we'll sell it some how, only asking $2850... we'll see!!

Banana Bread

2009-09-08T19:01:00.002-06:00

Made some of the best banana bread!! ... what can I say, at least I was craving something I had everything I needed to make it with :)

Seriously so good, only next time I think I'll do more bananas and maybe some bigger chunks.

Cheesecake Factory

2009-09-08T18:47:00.006-06:00

So this happened forever ago, but I figured I would post it anyway since it's been forever since we've kept on top of this thing... in the begining of July we went to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, we were celebrating something.

This was our appetizer that was SO GOOD!! ...and it was only $5!! We had already eaten some before I took the picture so it was an awesome deal! It was fried artichoke hearts.

This was Rob eating some of the bread... not sure why I took a picture though.

This is Rob, the lighting was terrible which is why he turned out blue... oh well go BYU!

This is me trying to look happy. I had to send my first dinner back, it was WAY too spicy! I couldn't even taste anything, it was like all my taste buds were burned and I just felt heat!!

This was how I really felt... baby girl wasn't a big fan of all the spicy chicken so I sent it back and got a pasta instead, but it was already too late by then. My stomach hurt SO BAD and I only had about 3 bites of it!!

Updates coming soon...

2009-09-05T09:44:00.003-06:00

OK, updates coming soon... sorry I've been SO horrible about taking pictures lately!! Honestly, this was the last one we took... and it's not exciting to blog about.

Thanksgiving Point: Utah Symphony in front of the waterfalls

2009-07-29T20:47:00.010-06:00

Freedom Festival 2009

2009-07-29T20:28:00.006-06:00

Rob's family got free tickets to the Freedom Festival this year because they are family of cops, Rob's dad is a cop, so we all went! Here are a few pictures, sorry they aren't that great, it was really hot!!

... not a good one of me.

Stephanie and Aaron

Tim hates hugs!

Allison

These were the helicoptors that flew over.

This is how I feel right now...

2009-07-29T20:22:00.002-06:00

He's just so cute too when he's a sleep... sorry, I couldn't resist.

...still sick

2009-06-26T14:53:00.002-06:00

I have officially gone through 6 boxes of kleenex and missed 3 days of work... will this cold EVER end?! I have never had a cold this bad in my entire life.

New background

2009-05-24T11:28:00.001-06:00

Getting pretty sick of this background and currently searching for something new. If you know of any good places, let me know!!

We're back!!

2009-05-24T11:21:00.004-06:00

After 3 years of having a computer that rarely worked and an internet connection that never worked, we finally caved and bought a new computer last night. Nothing special, but it works and we are now connected to the outside world from the comfort of our own home... or in this case, the messy kitchen table, ignore that!

Rob, looking around on the internet on our new laptop.

Below, you will find numerous updates on our lives. Read them, don't read them, I don't mind, but since we plan on keeping this as sort of a journal for us I thought I better update as much as I can... but we're back and I'm sorry it took us SO long!!

Rob's Birthday!!

2009-05-24T11:12:00.004-06:00

I think this year was the worst birthday for Rob, which is saying a lot because ever since we've been married, he has had the worst things happen on his birthday. We are convinced that day is cursed!! This year, amongst other things, both cars broke down... with in hours of each other.

This is us that Sunday at his parents house. Rob is about to blow out the candles...

His cake had these funny little ice cream cones on it so we took a picture. Overall, worst birthday ever for him, but the day after was glorious!!

The little grocery cart

2009-05-24T11:06:00.004-06:00

It was almost midnight and we forgot to grab something at the grocery store so we went and came across this little grocery cart. I had never seen one like this and since it was so little, and I like little things, I figured I would take a picture... don't ask, it was late.

It was kinda weird watching Rob push around this little grocery cart, apparently he didn't find it as amusing as I did.

Easter Eggs

2009-05-24T10:55:00.010-06:00

Us decorating Easter eggs... pretty self-explanatory.

I asked him which color he was going to do first... this was what I got. I think he was still pretty tired because he got pretty loopy.

Not sure what he is thinking here...

Our finished product... not bad for not having done this in about 10 years or so.

Easter

2009-05-24T10:47:00.003-06:00

We didn't do a whole lot for Easter, Rob refused to let me get him an Easter basket and with no kids, it would have been weird, I think, to do a hunt just for me...

Here is the Easter basket my wonderful husband put together for me!! All my favorite candies... and a video game we got at Wal-Mart for $10!! It was for me, but Rob has played it all the way through and I have yet to actually turn it on. What can I say, really not that into video games...

Don't ask me why I insist on having Cadbury Creme Eggs every year for Easter when I don't even really like them, it's just a family tradition and wouldn't be Easter with it!! Besides Rob ate them, which made me feel better since he didn't get anything.

Midnight Milky Ways... hmm can't get better than that, and of course, I had to have M&M's... which still haven't been opened.

And this was Rob Easter morning while I looked at my basket... can you tell he's excited??

Ty Sleeping... so CUTE!!

2009-05-24T10:43:00.003-06:00

Yes, I promise one day, we will have children, but for now... it's still our dogs and I love these two pictures! While we played SORRY Ty fell a sleep under the table and I love how the pictures turned out.

See, doesn't he look SO cute with that "just woke up and wondering why I'm pointing this thing at him" face? ... Ok, fine, you can think it's pathetic, but I still love it!

SORRY!!

2009-05-24T10:34:00.004-06:00

Our friends came over, Trav and Shmeg, and for lack of something cheap and fun to do... we played SORRY!! Oh come on, you know you want to play now too.

Even though it's just of Trav moving his piece, I really like this picture!!

Trav wondering why I'm taking pictures of us playing SORRY... the rest of us wondering why Rob is taking so long to make his next move... haha Love you!!

Rob, plotting out the possible outcomes of his next move...

Shmeg, just hanging out with their little one... not quite sure how to spell his name so I won't even try at this point. Overall, surprisingly, it was actually a lot of fun to play SORRY again, especially since none of us had played since we were about 5 years old.

Seriously, people do this...

2009-05-24T10:27:00.002-06:00

Can you believe that people actually do eat food out of the break room at work that isn't theirs?? I know I've seen "Friends" and "Seinfeld" episodes about this, but I didn't actually know that people really did this?! I had a lunchable left over from lunch one day, I know but they were on sale at the store so I figured I would take a stroll down memory lane and buy one, I had only drank the juice so there was entire lunchable left over. I came back the next day to eat it and it was gone!! My name was on it and everything and it was gone!! So I put up this sign just so they would know that I know they took and I come back two hours later to find this...

Someone had actually ripped the sign down, crumpled it, and thrown it in the trash... what is wrong with people these days??

Later other employees came to me saying that they had had food stolen too and was glad someone was going to actually try to do something about it... what has society come to?

We played fetch and I won...

2009-05-24T09:58:00.003-06:00

If any of you know Ty, our boy dog, then you know that he could play fetch forever!! I decided one day to actually find out how long it would take him to stop bringing me the ball on his own and see if I could out do Ty... it took 80 degrees and one full hour of me throwing the ball the length of our backyard without any breaks... this is what he did when he finally decided he was done.

All the drips you see there was because he was drinking so fast he was spilling water all over the place. After he was done, he took the ball, and laid down next to the water, panting like I've never seen him before. Isn't he cute?? haha, poor dog.

He sat there for about 20 minutes and wouldn't move. When I could finally get him to get up, he went straight to the back door, went inside, and fell asleep on the couch for about an hour... I had won!!

Window Leak...

2009-05-24T09:50:00.003-06:00

In my office in Springville, the company is located in some older buildings and as I was working one day I kept hearing this dripping noise and could not figure out where it was coming from. I finally looked over and saw water dripping from the top of my window to the bottom and a fairly large sized puddle forming on the bottom of the window frame, pouring onto my desk. Since it had been raining for so long, for UT that is only like 3 days in a row, the water had started leaking in through the poorly sealed window frame. I called all around trying to find the maintenance people, but they were no where to be found so I improvised... I taped cups to my window to catch the water dripping down. I think it got up to 7 different places where it was dripping... great fun, let me tell you.

Some cups are catching two different drips... I had to take a picture.

Updates... Christmas!!

2009-05-24T09:18:00.011-06:00

My brother, Christian, and his new wife, Naomi, came up for Christmas this last year. We went up to Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights, but since we got there so early, we went on a tour of the Conference Center first.

This is the inside of the main hall that was all decorated for the Christmas Program. Our tour guide was this really funny older man and that night was his last night giving tours before his mission was done and he could go back home. Since it was his last night, he decided to break some of the rules and we all snuck back stage and we got to see how big is back there and how they do all the stage changes, it was pretty cool... no pictures of back there, it wasn't allowed.

This is Rob inside the conference center on the first floor.

The end of the tour ended on the top floor of the center and our guide took us out on the balcony, another rule broken since it was pretty icey... it was freezing up there!!

This is one of the trees all lit up...

I thought this picture was pretty good for a camera phone... we can't find the cord to our digital camera and it turns out my phone has a better shot anyway, who knew?

Where we were married almost 4 years ago... I know, I can't believe it's been that long either! The spot where I'm standing to take this picture was also the spot where Rob proposed!

I forgot what this is called, but this lights looked good so i thought it was picture worthy...

Sorry, no pictures of Christmas Day yet... they are trapped on our digital camera!!

I know, I know...

2009-03-21T09:47:00.003-06:00

Yes, I know, we have officially fallen off the face of the blog earth! We now not only don't have internet at home, but no longer have a computer all together either... You may be wondering, "How do they survive?!" but when you've been without internet for over a year, the desktop is not that usefull anyway, plus I sit at a computer all day for work, so it's really not that difficult.

I promise, one day... we will return!!

Don't get too attached now...

2009-01-14T14:51:00.003-07:00

OK, so I was looking at our blog, and despite the fact that there are no pictures, or updates really, I thought it looked rather boring... so I'm trying this out to see if I like it, but don't get too attached because I'm likely going to change my mind :)

Christmas Tree Maham!!

2008-12-12T13:39:00.012-07:00

I really wish I had real pictures to go long with this, but try and imagine if you can...

This whole last week we have been trying to decorate the house, get the tree up, make cookies, and get into the Christmas spirit. Last night, it all came tumbling down on us... I haven't been feeling all that great this last week, maybe it's a bug or maybe I'm still experiencing detox from planning the company Christmas party, but I was not in the mood to decorate our Christmas tree. I don't know about all of you, but we have "jobs" in our house about who does what when it comes to certain things and my job is always to put the lights on the tree. My dad was a master at it and all us kids took on that tradition, in my family, the lights were far more important than any ornament. I mean the whole essence of the tree was its lights and some years, it seemed the ornaments almost ruined the tree... sorry loosing focus.

So each day, I would put some lights on the tree, get bored, then stop, and Rob would just wait until the next day hoping I would eventually finish. Last night, I was so fed up with our little tree, which is fake, but that's a whole different subject, that I get almost to the top and guess what? ... I ran out of lights. I tried to spread it out as best I could, but it looked like the saddest excuse for a Christmas Tree I had ever seen. The lights were so concentrated at the bottom and so spread out at the top that even Rob didn't like it and he was the one that was pushing me to finish...

We both were so mad, him at the shotty light job I had done, me at the fact that it looked terrible I felt I had disgraced the family name, and it was all my fault. Rob decided to take off the lights and start over, but I had tangled them so badly that branches were flying off of the tree in his attempt to quickly unravel this disgrace I had created, even the dogs ran for cover under our bed... in the next room. The last thing I wanted to do was start over so Rob attempted the lights, got to maybe two branches and quit. In all my rage I took over, put the lights on the tree in record time, not caring about what it looked like, we plugged it in, took a step back and... it was gorgeous!! Don't ask why I just didn't do this in the first place, but it looks so good, I swear angels were singing in the background. We started to feel stupid at how childish we had been and sat to admire our little tree, that we almost through out in our moment of chaotic frustration...

Needless to say, our sad, little fake tree is up, with lights... next come the ornaments.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2008-11-27T15:48:00.002-07:00

OK, I promise we will get our computer fixed, however now we have had our internet shut off because we couldn't use it anyway... but I promise it's coming.

We have been really busy lately!! I am almost to the end of planning our Christmas Party at work, and have been putting together all the charitable activities for it. We have set up our own Angel Wreaths at work with tags of children who have a parent serving overseas in the UT National Guard and will not have a lot for Christmas. We volunteered to take over 13 families, about 40 kids and it has been amazing how much everyone has been willing to pitch in. I had to start doubling tags up with two people in order to accommodate everyone who wants to help out. We are also doing 80 food baskets and 100 soldier stockings as well and it has been so much work trying to get it all together in time, but so much fun as well!!

Career Step, where I work, also broke record numbers in September and to reward the employees the owner sent everyone to Disneyland!!! It was so much fun!! I had only been once and it was so fun to come back! It was for only one day, but I was able to go see Christian and Naomi while I was there (bug them for not posting our pictures yet!!!)... Oh, and Rob couldn't come because it was for employees only :(

So this has been the month of large expensive things to break... if you remember earlier back, the pictures of me boiling water and pouring it into the washing machine because our hot water heater broke down... it went out again and we had to replace it. That's $700 we'll never get back. We also had both cars break down and their registration expired, our vacuum broke, and the handle on our shower broke too (that one isn't so big or expensive, but really annoying!!) ... Needless to say, it may still be a month or so before we can get our computer fixed and our internet set-up.

Cardinal Sin... and Annie

2008-10-14T12:14:00.005-06:00

I understand that having a blog and going as long as we have without posting is a cardinal sin, however, Pops, I am sorry!!

Yes, it is absolutely ridiculous that after two months, we have yet to get our computer fixed, but it's true and unless you would like to pay for it, you'll just have to wait until we can be active bloggers again!! Until that time comes, don't cast us out of your blogging world just yet :)

So much has happened and I couldn't even imagine trying to go back and reiterate it all for you, but this is something that stuck out in my mind...

Annie, our orphan ...OK her name isn't really Annie, but it should be!

Most of you know that conference was last week and while Rob was on his way to the Priesthood session, he almost hit a stray dog! He stopped to see if she had a collar or license, which she didn't and I was called. She was an Australian Shepard mix, I'll post pictures later, and she was so cute! I brought out some treats and food to where he was, mind you it is raining at this point, and we waited for the cop to come pick her up and we could go on our way living our lives. Well, when he got there, he said she was most likely dropped off here by an owner who just didn't want her anymore and left her to fend for herself... I'm sorry, who does that?! He said that a lot of people do that in the field where we found her and I asked where she would go and he proceeded to tell me the whole process.

1. She would be placed in a kennel, which is a nice way of saying a chain link fence on a cement slab... with no roof (remember it's still raining), and then someone would come the next day to feed her.

2. Then on Monday (two days later) if she didn't have a microchip she would placed in the state shelter. If no one comes to claim her in three days... they euthanize her, which in case you don't know, they KILL her.

Well neither Rob or I could live with that on our conscience, so we took her home, set up a little area in our garage and she proceeded to eat us out of house and home for two days... OK not really, but it seemed like she hadn't eaten in forever and didn't stop!! It was so sad!!

After a few days of that, we couldn't find anyone to take her and she didn't have a microchip, and I am just not one who can live with making a dog stay outside 24/7. At this point, I just couldn't take it anymore and so we made the trip up to Salt Lake City and dropped her off at the Humane Society.

Needless to say, I balled like a baby!! I felt so bad that we couldn't keep her and I totally felt like we were just another person dropping her off somewhere, hoping someone else would eventually want her. I was convinced she would hate me for life!!

So, if anyone wants a dog she is currently at the Salt Lake City Humane Society and is one of the best dogs anyone could ever own!!

GO GET HER!!!... I mean it right now!! :D

Explanation

2008-09-15T12:45:00.002-06:00

Due to recent, current, events we have been unable to update our blog in the fashion most of you are accustomed to. We are currently without a working computer at home and therefore have been unable to download the many pictures that have been taken. I promise as soon as we are back up and running we will be back to our normal blogging selves.

We apologize for the delay...

(I'm at work, posting this right now just to let you all know that we have not fallen off the face of the earth)

Small Update...

2008-08-18T20:42:00.003-06:00

Other than watching the Olympics...

I GOT A NEW JOB!!! I'm so excited!! I got a job in Springville, so much closer to home!! It's working in Human Resources, which I am so happy about (I love accounting and all, but it tends to get really stressful and redundant sometimes and I'm ready for something new)!! I start next week and could not be more impatient!! I had the worst day today which only confirms my decision to leave... even my boss joked about how he was just making sure I didn't want to stay, by making things horrible!! It wasn't really his fault, but every time he called or came to talk to me something horrible had happened and by the end of the day I'd had it!!

Rob is on another softball team for the fall! They play once a week, a double-headed each time! It's fun to go and watch him, but by the end of the second game, it gets kinda late and we are ready to go home... They took first in the summer league though, which was exciting!! He is now trying to get a football team together for this fall so if anyone wants to play leave him a message!!

Sorry, this post isn't that interesting, but it's pretty much all we've been up to!! I'll start taking pics again and hopefully more will happen...

The 2008 Olympic Games

2008-08-18T20:06:00.006-06:00

So I don't have any new pictures to post, mainly because we haven't been doing a whole lot other than sitting and watching the Olympics every night. I haven't really been into the Summer Olympics before this year and so far we have loved it!! Our favorite, of course, has been the swimming events!

Dara Torres was amazing! She is 41 and won GOLD!! She also held up the race so that one of the swimmers from the Swedish team could get a suit on because her other one ripped right before the race was about to start! She was the perfect example of sportsmanship!!
For us, they have been really exciting, especially watching Michael Phelps win all 8 gold medals! It's insane!!

Ok, am I the only one who thinks he looks like a completely different person with his swimming cap on?? I didn't even recognize him!

Our Latest Obsession

2008-08-02T15:23:00.007-06:00

So, we went a little crazy and splurged this last week, but hey, we're just helping out the economy right?!! This is our latest obsession, and although we are a little behind with keeping up with the rest of the world and their discovery with Guitar Hero, we are having fun!!

Rob rockin' out!!

This is Rob's favorite...

Things kind of got a little carried away... hahaha :)

Santaquin Canyon

2008-07-21T20:27:00.008-06:00

A few friends invited us to go up Santaquin Canyon to meet up with their family who were up there camping. I can't say the family "Talent Show" was the most exciting, but it was fun to go up the canyon and get away for a little while. I was really surprised at how much the canyon reminded me of WA, minus the evergreen trees that is. Here a few pics from our little adventure, the pictures of us are terrible, but you get the idea!

There was this little river that ran right next to the campsite which was so nice, except it attracted all these bugs! Really though, it wasn't that bad and the sound of the water running was pretty relaxing.

So I made the mistake of saying that this canyon reminded me a little bit like being back home in OR & WA and Rob decided to have some fun. Since, the northwest is notorious for tales of Bigfoot, Rob thought it would be fun to take a sit and hit it across the tree. Yeah don't ask, they did this in Monster Quest we watched. It's supposed to draw them to you...

As you can tell, he thought it was fun...

We saw this across the river and thought it was a cool little cave in a hollowed out tree.

This is Jess and Meg

Of course, this is Rob and I... I told you they were terrible pictures!!

Grazing Dogs

2008-07-21T20:02:00.004-06:00

Since it has been SOO nice outside the last couple of nights, Rob and I have started to take our camping chairs out and read or just talk while the sun goes down (yes, just like a little old couple does and it is so RELAXING!! Just ask Pops and Chels, they know!!). Last night, as I was sitting outside and I look up to see this...

Ty... eating the grass.

I look over to the left and see this...

The worst part is that Tess was doing more than just eating grass from this little spot... she would move around the entire yard eating it like a cow!! I swear we do feed our dogs!! I don't understand why they like grass so much, but what do you do??

A Walk Down Memory Lane

2008-07-15T20:59:00.002-06:00

Ok, so I did this on a friend's blog and I think it's fun so here it goes!!

Memory Lane...

Here are the directions:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together (It can be a memory with either Rob, Kjerstin, or both). It doesn't matter if you knew me/us a little or a lot, anything you remember! I only ask that you be nice!! :D

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.This is quite fun.I hope everyone I KNOW will participate!! So start thinking hard! Also, when you leave a comment.. you are tagging yourself..so re-post on your own blog!

Have fun!

Faith is a gift, using it is a choice

2008-07-09T19:41:00.006-06:00

I read this today and it really made me think for a minute. I think it's too often portrayed that faith is something you earn or work towards, almost like it's something you obtain, but really it isn't that difficult. Faith is a gift, it's as simple as that and I think where people are mislead is that, like many other gifts, we have to receive it. Then when we have it, we need to use it and if we allow too much time to go by between uses, it begins to dwindle...

The last few months have been a bit hard for us. We have started taking steps in new directions, dealing both with careers and with schooling, among other things, however we feel we are no further along than we were 6 months ago. We are trying so hard to move forward and progress, but it feels like there is all of this resistance pushing against us. Normally it is us that tends to resist change however, in our situation, it seems that change is resisting us. When I read this comment it occurred to me that maybe we need to stop trying to force change and practice all of this faith we claim to have. That possibly, if we stop focusing so hard and putting so much energy into it, just to allow change, it'll happen. I suppose we also have to remember that things don't always happen when we want them to, but we'll keep trying to work hard and trust that things will come together when it's time.

Does this even make sense?

July 4th

2008-07-05T08:21:00.005-06:00

So after an exciting morning of sleeping in until 10, lounging around the house for a couple of hours, and Rob going over to the rental house to water the lawn, we decided we needed to actually get out and DO something!! I was going crazy!! Although it was nice to be able to sleep in (which we NEVER do) and not have to do anything... I was so bored!

I grew up in Vancouver, WA where usually we had the largest fireworks show west of the Mississippi River. Fort Vancouver was packed with vendor booths, food, they had a concert, and lots of people. We would always go down to the college just north of the Fort Vancouver, about mid day, and hang out until the fireworks started. We'd play football, Frisbee, someone would bring a BBQ, and we'd meet up with tons of people from the neighborhood and just have fun the WHOLE day!! ...well needless to say, that's not exactly what happened yesterday.

After we decided to go out, we needed a place to go. I'm not sure what exactly possessed me to say this, but I suggested Wingers...really I wanted Asphalt Pie!! ;)
As most of you will know, they give you popcorn as the appetizer. Rob decided he didn't want to eat popcorn because it's usually a food you eat because it's there, so what did he decide to do with it instead...?

...he proceeded to through it at me!! I know, now this is a picture of a loving husband isn't it?? ...It's a good thing they weren't that busy because I'm sure he could have had a few kids join with him at making a mess with the popcorn. He was having way too much fun with this!!!

Now, for the grand finale!!!! My favorite and really the only reason I even go to Wingers... ASPHALT PIE!! We got it to go because at this point we needed to start heading over to find a place to watch the fireworks...For those of you who don't know, it's a mint ice cream pie on a Oreo cookie crust, with whipped cream, and caramel on top...Hmmm, doesn't that just look wonderful!?!

As soon as we had our Asphalt Pie ready to go, we met up with Rob's parents, headed over to Provo and watched the fireworks show. I left my camera in the car so all I have to show for our day is pictures of ... Wingers.

Tim's Birthday!!

2008-06-30T22:02:00.003-06:00

So yesterday we celebrated Tim's 18th birthday!! Tim is Rob's little brother and he is so much fun to be around!
I told him to look serious so I could take a good picture and this is what he did...

I'm not sure what he was doing, but I told him to look serious...

All of his gifts were wrapped in Victoria Secret bags, which was awesome!! He secretly loved it!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SPOONIE!!! (That's from Rob)

Lehi Rodeo

2008-06-30T21:52:00.004-06:00

My oldest brother's, Destin, wife and kids have been in town this last week and on Saturday, we all went to the Lehi Rodeo...

This is his youngest and only girl, Gabby, and she is soo CUTE!!
With our little digital camera, we couldn't get very many good pictures, but this was the best one and I was excited!

This one wasn't too bad either...

Needless to say, it wasn't as much fun as the Spanish Fork Rodeo, but we aren't going to be able to go to that one this year so it was better than nothing... The animals were in a funk though, at least 5 different horses refused to leave the pen when they opened the gate, it was crazy!!

Introducing R-Dizzle...

2008-06-29T14:31:00.007-06:00

So on our way home from work last Monday Rob heard on the radio (1280 The Zone) that they were going to have a free style rap competition for 311 & Snoop Dogg tickets. It had to be related to sports and it wasn't supposed to be rehearsed, completely free style...I thought he was joking when he got excited and decided he was going to call in. I had never heard him even attempt to rap anything, but he was convinced he would win and made us pull over in Spanish Fork. This is what he came up with...

The Coach for the yewts
His name is Coach Kryle
He's been wiping that tear away for quite a while
His onside kicks when he's up by 43
He wears his pants so tight
That you can see his wee wee
He gives a free pass
To guys like Casteel
But if you ask him he just keepin' it real
Yeah poor Coach Whitt
Coaching his last year
But it's OK 'cause he's a great big ...

They put him through to the finals and he had to do a "rap-off"... this was his second one... (Keith was the guy he was up against in the "rap-off")

Keith is a week yewt
Yeah, he is sad
Living in the basement of his dear old dad
He's a filthy yewt
In his parents downstairs
His favorite sport is figure skakin' pairs
As a yewt
He's a filthy drunk
I'm beatin' down on him that' nasty punk
I beat down those yewts
Yeah I be stormin'
Slappin' round those yewts
Those anti-mormons

And with that... HE WON!!!! People were calling and texting in like crazy and Rob won by a landslide! It's was hilarious and he did such a great job!!

He would now like to be referred to as R-Dizzle... he's always wanted to be called that since his mission in Chicago. I suppose I have no excuse not to since he did win a rap competition!! haha

R-Dizzle or not, I LOVE YOU ROB!!!

The day has finally come...

2008-06-26T21:05:00.004-06:00

Christian, my second oldest brother for those of you who don't know, is getting married!!! Her name is Naomi, she is Swiss/Italian living in Switzerland, and she is perfect for Christian!! This is a picture of the happy couple... it also helps that she is gorgeous! :)
They are getting married November 1, 2008 in Atlanta, GA... can't wait!!

I have a lot more pictures, but you get the point... CONGRATULATIONS!!! We are so excited for you guys!!

Pictures from NC

2008-06-24T18:17:00.004-06:00

So I haven't received pictures from Jed in a long time, but this is now the second nephew I have that I have never met...sad I know!!!

This is Weston, Jed's second son!

Look at those big eyes!!

This is my brother Jed with his boys Bryce (right) and Weston (left). I think he looks tired, but then again, having two lively boys is a tough job!!

Here is Emily, Jed's wife, and her two boys. Such a cute picture!!

So excited to see you guys this November!!

Jacaranda Trees

2008-06-20T22:35:00.003-06:00

Ok, I stole these pictures from Naomi's blog, but I absolutely love it! Look at how gorgeous this purple tree is!! I just had to have this picture...

Look at how beautiful this street is!! Could you imagine driving down this street??

These pictures remind me of the paintings in the movie "What Dreams May Come" with Robin Williams... I just love it! Thank you Naomi for posting these pictures, they really are gorgeous!

The light at the end of the tunnel...

2008-06-20T21:07:00.002-06:00

If there is one thing that I am the most like my mother, it is the fact that I can not handle the heat!! When I am inside the house, or driving in the car I do not want it to be 90 degrees and sticky! Don't get me wrong, I love summertime and being outside by the pool or hiking or going to the beach etc. but when I am inside, the heat should be outside or you do not want to be around me!!

This last week in UT, it has been getting pretty hot and we, of course, bought an older home that does not have air conditioning...it has been miserable!! Just ask Rob, I almost become a different person, a very mean and nasty person! So I finally convinced him to help me put the AC unit in our bedroom window, we turned it on and I promise I heard angels sing... it was glorious!!!

It's almost too good to be true, but it truly is the light at the end of a very long and dark tunnel!!

We are still not cooking because the kitchen is far away and gets really hot, but we are working on that this weekend...

For all of you (my family) in the deep south laughing at this, I know I have no idea how bad it is in Georgia and North Carolina and to be honest... I have no intentions of ever finding out!!

Strawberries!!

2008-06-20T20:48:00.007-06:00

Ok, so this is something that I didn't have anything to do with, but bare with me now... I'm going to take full credit for it!!!

When we moved into our new house the previous people had two garden boxes, one with something that obviously died because...well it looked dead, and the other one had strawberries. For a while it was just a bunch of green leaves and we didn't really care so it was left to fend for itself until one day... we had strawberries!!! Ok, I've never grown anything in my life, and yes I understand that I didn't actually do anything to contribute, but they are in MY yard so I'm taking credit...I grew strawberries! :)

This is Ty eating the grass around the garden box... I promise we feed him, he just loves grass.

Ty eating more grass...

So there is a second part to our story... one day when we came out to check on my strawberries (yes they are MINE) I noticed that a few of them that had just turned red had been chomped on. We decided that it had to be bugs or something, but oh no, we were very mistaken. We took the dogs out one day and Tess disappeared off in the back of the yard and wouldn't come when we called. We walk over there to find this...

Needless to say, we are keeping a closer eye on her...

Here are a few pictures of the colorful strawberries!! Look what I did!!!

2008-06-13T16:46:00.002-06:00

OK, so I wasn't tagged or anything, but I'm home sick today and extremely bored... Thanks Amy, I stole this from your blog!!

Four jobs I have had:
1. Nanny!! (favorite job!)
2. Pre-school teacher
3. Sales Associate at PacSun
4. Accountant at Shelf Reliance (right now)

Four movies I have watched more than once:
1. P.S. I Love You (with a box of tissues)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Keira Knightly version, it's shorter)
3. High School Musical 2 (that's right, I said it!!)
4. An Affair To Remember
(I promise I watch more than chick flicks, but lately that's what it's been)

Four places I have lived:
1. Vancouver, WA
2. Spanish Fork, UT
3. Orem, UT
4. Payson, UT

Four TV show I watch:
1. Supernanny
2. Jon & Kate Plus 8
3. Food Network (pretty much the whole channel)
4. So You Think You Can Dance (first time watching this year and I love it!)
*My favorite four aren't in season...The Hills, The Office, Lost, & Grey's Anatomy*

Four places I have been:
1. San Diego, CA (willing to move at any time)
2. Atlanta, GA
3. Canada
4. Las Vega, NV

Four people who e-mail me regularly:
1. Fogg Family
2. Pottery Barn
3. Real Simple
4. Work...

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Ice Cream...I grew up a Sampson, it's an essential food group!
2. Thin Mints
3. Tomato Soup & Cheese-wiches (grilled cheese)
4. My Favorite Dessert (I don't know the real name, but my whole life it's just been "my favorite dessert." It is layers of mint ice cream, crushed oreo's, cool whip, & caramel)

Four places I would like to visit:
1. Italy
2. Paris
3. London
4. New York City (to see a Broadway play)

Four things I am looking forward to in the coming year:
1. Buying new furniture...??
2. Remodeling Kitchen...??
3. Traveling ...(even if it's just to St. George or Vegas)
4. ...starting a family :)

It is what it looks like...

2008-06-10T19:02:00.008-06:00

If it looks like I'm pouring hot water into our washing machine to do laundry...I am. We haven't had hot water for two weeks now. We have two large pots permanently situated on our stove top to boil water to wash dishes and do laundry daily. We've been taking turns between showering at my Father's house and at Rob's parent's house. Two weeks ago our water heater stopped working because the people before us installed it incorrectly and it finally blew out a part. The manufacturing company sent the wrong replacement part and the nearest expert on the type we have, is in Sandy. Rob took this picture because he thought it would be funny to have.

We now have no AC in either car or house, Rob's car is still sitting in our driveway because we can't get it fixed, Rob goes back to school this summer and now we have to boil water on the stove to do laundry and dishes. We are definitely experiencing the typical poor first couple of years being married. At this point, it's just funny now...

Our little boy is hurt : (

2008-06-07T20:11:00.005-06:00

Most of you know that Rob and I have two dogs, Ty and Tess. Ty, who is 2 1/2, is half Mini American Eskimo and half Toy Poodle, where Tess, who is a 1 1/2, is full Mini American Eskimo. We seriously love them like they were our kids...
This is Ty when we was just a puppy. We call it his calendar picture, so cute!!!

(don't pay attention to the date on the picture, it's wrong)

So last Saturday we took our puppies hiking up Payson Canyon, nothing extravagant, but it was fun. We went up a few trails, looked out over the valley and then came home (sorry I didn't have our camera on me at the time). The next morning we noticed that Ty was limping around and wasn't walking on his back right leg. We instantly got worried especially when he didn't want to play fetch, that meant something was seriously wrong. It was the saddest sight to see when he goes to jump on our bed, only make it half way and see him latched on for dear life as he is trying to push himself up with only one leg :(

The next morning we take him into the vet and he feels around his knee to see what is wrong. After a few minutes go by he tells us he has the dog version of a torn ACL and most likely would need surgery. At this point I'm holding back tears as he continues to tell us that we should leave him there for a round of sedation and x-rays. I'm not sure what was worse, watching our little boy being dragged out of the room with this terrified look on his face like we have just sold his soul to the devil, or the thought of him possibly needing surgery a week later...either way, I wasn't handling this well. We came back later that afternoon to get Ty and hear the details about the x-rays. The vet then tells us that it doesn't look as bad as he originally thought it was and surgery wasn't necessary right now. He went on tell us a lot of other stuff, but all in all, his ligament is either extremely strained or partially torn. Either way, there isn't anything he can do other than give him pain killers for the next week and a half and hope that his limp doesn't come back or get worse. If it gets worse and the ligament tears completely, surgery; if it's just strained, it should heal itself; if it's partially torn, we pretty much have to wait it out until it tears completely...yeah that sounds fun.

For the time being our little boy is doing pretty well, the only times he is upset is when the medicine has worn off and it's not quite time for a new dose. He can't run or play hard (life fetch) for two weeks and if he's outside he has to be on a leash. Which for Ty, life as he knows it has ended...

Saturday Morning

2008-06-07T09:59:00.016-06:00

So as most of you know, I enjoy a good rain every once in a while, it's refreshing. However, when you are expected to come and help pour a cement foundation for a backyard shed using wheelbarrows and another cement slab for the side of your father's house, it doesn't quite set the mood for a pleasant experience...

They had to wait as one by one they filled up the wheelbarrows, haul it to the where the cement was wanted, and dump it to be spread out.

Here is Rob, waiting so patiently... can you tell he is having the time of his life in the rain??

Rob about to haul it to the backyard...those things get really heavy!!! I can't tell you how many times the tires went flat and they'd have to fill them back up again.

Here is my Dad, in the back spreading the cement. Gotta say, love the hat!!!

He may be 64, but that doesn't stop him from doing the work himself...

At least they had a lot of neighbors who knew what they were doing and could make it smooth. This is the foundation for the shed my dad is going to expand.

All in all it was a pretty eventful morning. They were able to get the cement poured and the foundations smooth so I would call it a success. It's not every day you get to wake up and spread cement first thing in the morning while it rains... For the record, it stopped raining about half way through and as soon as they were done and cleaning up... the sun came out.

Explanation

2008-06-04T20:00:00.003-06:00

Ok, for all of you Utah natives, let me apologize for the post below. So you don't get the wrong idea, I wanted to explain something. Utah is and probably will be forever, my home. It is where Rob and I met, got married, and bought our first house. We have started our family here and made our house a home. I love it, but WA is where I was born and raised, that was the person I used to be for 18 long years... it's still that girl's home and when it rains it's almost, just for a second, like I'm back there again...

Mainly this explanation is for Rob because he doesn't like WA and gets mad sometimes when I wish I could move back there again. I think it's mainly the idea of being that close to the in-laws, but he doesn't like the rain that much either.

It rained today...

2008-06-04T19:44:00.006-06:00

I stepped outside, and from the back of our house I can see pretty far up the valley... and all I see are storm clouds. I took a deep breath in and could smell it coming. As we drove further up the valley drops started to fall on the windshield...it was raining. As soon as I got to work I sat in my car for a minute, turned the vent on high, and just took it all in like a cold drink of water after a long hot day. It was so refreshing that I wanted to get out of my car, stand outside and let it soak in. It doesn’t rain too often down here and so when it does, it’s an instant reminder of the NW. I suppose it’s one of those things that you don’t realize how much you love it until it’s gone. I wish it would rain for a few days, but here, it’ll hardly last a full day.

It rained today, and for just a moment… it was like I was home again.

Horse Whisperer

2008-05-24T15:17:00.005-06:00

We didn't have any great, elaborate plans for this Memorial Day weekend, in fact our plan was not to plan anything. That way we could decide what we wanted to do when we wanted to do it and not have to worry about having to be anywhere at a certain time. Nothing exciting was anticipated to happen to us this weekend however so far that has not exactly been the case...

We helped herd a stray horse back into a pasture. Doesn't sound too exciting now does it, only the odd part about this whole story, other than the idea of myself herding a large animal, was that this horse was found in a parking lot. I work in a warehouse/office building on the outside of town next to 1-15, the warehouse next to us has a large field where the owner keeps his horses. This field has an electric fence lining the edge and when I left the office to go outside and look out at the freeway traffic I look over and see this horse just standing in the middle of the parking lot like he had been parked there. I looked around and saw a few other people in the parking lot. They looked at the horse, shrugged their shoulders and went on their way as if this horse had been some neighborhood stray cat that would eventually wonder back home. My boss came out and Rob was already on his way so when he got there we went down to where the horse was and as my boss and I stop walking as to not scare this very large animal, Rob just kept going. The horse saw Rob and as they met in the middle of parking lot, suddenly Rob had himself a new best friend. When Rob walked a certain direction, the horse followed like a little lost puppy. I, myself, have never been this close to a horse before and hadn't seen Rob this close either, so needless to say, I was slightly uncomfortable with the situation.

Finally a guy came out of the building next to the pasture and we walked over by the gate, lured the horse in with some oats and as he was walking in about 6 other horses started walking out and suddenly we had a very large problem. These six other horses were not only much larger than the original, but were all coming right for us out into the parking lot. The two guys, Rob and the worker, were able to get most of them back in except for two, one being the largest of the pack and very mean looking, and a smaller one who seemed to be confused. I kept my distance as they started waving their arms and yelling eventually getting them back behind the fence line. The large one was spooked for a second and seemed to move around a lot for second which freaked me out as Rob was standing right next to him, but luckily nothing happened.

I wish I would have had a camera on me, but you get the picture...

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!!

And so it begins...

2008-05-22T22:06:00.002-06:00

Ok, I know it's boring right now, but give me some time, I'll make this blog look better...

And so it begins...we are starting the blog. You would think that after all the modern advances it would be easier to keep in touch with everyone, but given our situation, and I'm sure most of yours, it has just made life that much more chaotic and the phone calls to see how people are doing just don't get made. So to all of you that we love, but never get to talk to because we are all so busy, you can read this, because I'm pretty sure we are reading your blogs to see how you are.

I'll post more later when I have time, it took me forever to get this far and now it's time to sleep!

Until then, see ya!