Christmas Prep

Even though my dear sweet husband is a bit of a scrooge, he helped me to put up the tree the last weekend in November. *please note I waited until AFTER Thanksgiving. Anyway, this year Scott found golf ball ornaments, which I thought were fantastic because I love decorating anything "our way." I like to be a little unique. Just after we got the tree set up Scott found golf tee ornaments as well. I'm pretty sure they would be easy to make, but they were cheap, so Scott got a bunch of them. We officially have a golf tree. We have looked at a tree skirt as well...it is a little spendy, but I would love to have it. I am also going to make a golf Christmas wreath, hopefully I will have the time this week to get everything I need so I can get it up for at least a couple of weeks. I love having a "thing" that is unique to us. I love being the golfing couple and finding fun and different ways to show that off. Here are some pictures of our lovely tree. I took the close up so you can actually tell what is on it, but I don't you can much better. I am not a fan of the big silver balls anymore, so I think next year they will be replaced with red. The silver and the white don't look the best together.

23 Weeks

This is a pic of me at 23 weeks. Not a big fan of the pictures, I really don't think I look that big when I look in the mirror. Oh well. I am actually 25 weeks now and I am feeling much more normal these days. I am not nearly as tired or sick. I do have some pain in my back, but I think it is from sitting at a desk all day long, and not because of the belly weight. Our little girl moves all the time and specific kicks are starting to become more recognizable. I am actually able to put my hand on my stomach when she is kicking and feel it from the outside, which, of course, I thouroughly enjoy. It almost makes me want to cry. Scott and I can't agree on anything for a name, and I am exhausted by the thought of picking a name. We pretty much only have one that we are both okay with, but I don't want to name our little girl something we just okay with. I know we will come up with something eventually, it is just frustrating right now to not know what to call her. I guess I need to learn some patience.

Good Weekend

This last weekend was fantastic. On Friday night we had my work Christmas Party, something I look forward to every year. Scott is always a good sport and lets me drag him along. This year for the entertainment we played "Let's Make a Deal". If you haven't seen the show, they give you three options to choose from, in this case wrapped gifts, and then they also offer to buy the gift from you before you know what it is. We played by table, and it was a ton of fun. I think the best parties are the ones that everyone gets to participate and the entertainment is interactive. They also went around to random tables and gave out money for random things. I went home with $100 for my prize, $100 for being pregnant (they gave $100 to every pregnant woman in the room), and $20 for having 27 cents exactly in my purse. Not a bad night. I am constantly amazed at the generosity of the company I work for. One of the prizes was $2000 for a cruise, and 5 people won it. The rest of the prizes were less, but still good value. It is amazing to me to work for a company that does those sorts of things for their employees. Not to mention the really nice Christmas bonus we always get in time to help with the Christmas shopping. It is really fantastic to work for a company that values their employees so much, and is willing to show it.
Saturday we went to see Rodney Carrington in Wendover. He was super funny, and I was glad we were able to go. His tickets sell out pretty quick, and we had been trying to go for a couple of years. He can be a little dirty, but most of his stuff is just really funny and true. Before the concert I spent some of my Christmas party cash and played roulette for the first time. I did pretty well for a while, but ended up losing it all. It was for entertainment and I played for a good half hour or 45 minutes on $20. After the concert we headed back to our hotel to see how we did on slot machines. I lost another $100, which is fine, because that was what I planned to spend on gambling, and I was done. None of the machines that usually paid out for me were working this time. Scott hadn't played at all, but decided to take some money out of our savings and play some as well. He lost $100 and we were pretty much just wandering around trying to find something to play and we walked up to a random bank of machines and he put the entire $100 into a penny machine. I was a little surprised by that. He got up to around $175, which is where I would have cashed out, but he kept playing. It was hard to to tell how much money you had because it was just showing credits and not dollars. He changed it to nickel play rather than penny play and 5 or 6 rolls later, he won something. We weren't sure what. It showed two treasure chests on the left side of the screen and then a picture saying he won on the right, then the whole screen covered in gold coins, and some pictures saying he won extra spins and just a bunch of stuff while we sat there trying to figure out what was going on. Once it finished, Scott has over 32000 credits and we couldn't do the math really quick so he cashed out. He had hit a $1590 jack pot! We were both a little shocked. The max bet was 300 nickels, which means he bet $15 and won $1590 on one roll! It was awesome. The attendant had to come pay him and that was the only time we drew attention to ourselves. We were both just kind of in awe. It was really exciting.
Scott payed cash for our hotel room, and then put the $200 back into savings that he had taken out, and then we bought a PlayStation 3, a couple of games, and the Move bundle. He still has some extra cash, and I know he wants to buy a golf club with, but I really don't know what he will do with the rest of it. It was all just very exciting and we are glad to have a little bit of play money! What a great weekend!

Thanksgiving

I get so frustrated around Thanksgiving every year because it seems to be a lost holiday. We are all excited to get off work and do some shopping, but the Christmas decorations go up earlier and earlier each year and we forget that Thanksgiving is an important holiday as well. I, as an American, am very blessed with so many wonderful things, and I think we forget all too often to be grateful for what we have and not worry about keeping up with the "Jones'". I was very impressed this year to see so many people posting what they are grateful for on Facebook. It was refreshing to see that we do remember to be thankful once in a while. I am not going to list my blessings, because it really would be an endless blog, but just wanted to express my sentiments that Thanksgiving should not be forgotten or overshadowed by getting ready for Christmas.
Anyway, for Thanksgiving this year, as we have every year, we went to Scott's parents house. We pretty much have the deal that we go there everything Thanksgiving since my parents go to my sister's in Idaho. I slept in Thanksgiving morning (I love sleep), and we made it down there around noon. We had been spending a lot of time with my family, so it was good to spend time with Scott's as well. We at lunch, I napped, and some of us watched the football games. That evening we went to Harry Potter again. I didn't enjoy it as much this time because I couldn't get comfortable, but the movie was still good. After the movie we went back to my in-law's and played Apples to Apples with Scott's parents and brother. It is always enjoyable to play games; especially after my bed-time when I get a little loopy.
Friday, we did the Black Friday shopping, but we didn't start super early, and we actually didn't get much shopping done. I didn't have a huge budget, and it didn't seem like any of us had the patience, so the actually purchasing of gifts was minimal. Nevertheless, it was fun to be out (well for me, I'm not sure Scott and his brother enjoyed it as much as my mother-in-law and I did). We had our traditional lunch at Brick Oven, hit a couple more stores and headed home for much needed nap. That night, I went to work with Scott. He had to load the trucks. It didn't take too long, and once my back got tired of sitting, I got up and struggled to help. It was laughable. As for Saturday, I don't really remember doing much. We had lunch at the new Texas Roadhouse, and visited my sister there. That was fun. We used a gift card we have had for a really long time. We also got some groceries and Scott helped me put up our Christmas tree. Mostly a relaxing weekend, and I really enjoyed it. 

Family Time

The last few weeks have been full of fun-filled family time (other than when we were at work of course). The second weekend of November, we were asked to take Malachi for Friday evening. I decided I wanted to do something fun with him rather than just take him to our house, and Scott had to work a little late, so I picked Pirate Island. The plan was to go drop off some change for Tia at Texas Roadhouse (she got a job at the new Orem location, which rocks), and then go straight to Pirate Island. But I talked to Scott and he was on his way back so we headed to the mall to kill time at the tree house until Scott was able to meet us at Pirate Island. It was a lot of fun. Other than the fact that Scott was super tired. Malachi takes a while to eat dinner, and my dinner kind of sucked, but we played a bunch of games with Malachi in the arcade after we convinced him to eat all of his dinner and got him some toys with the his tickets. I think he really had a good time with us, and was disappointed when it was time to go home. He was really good though. The next night Tia and Malachi came down to our house to watch a movie, and we ended up watching Toy Story 3.
Last Wednesday, we headed to Rexburg to visit with Tiff's family and get away. Scott got an extra week of vacation when he got promoted and was told to use it this year or lose it. He was off the entire week and I took off Wednesday through Friday. We headed up on Wednesday afternoon and visited with Tiffany's family for a little while, then headed to our hotel. We decided to splurge a little bit and get a jungle-themed room at the AmericInn. It was pretty cool. It had a round bed (which I would not recommend unless it is a lot bigger, or you like to cuddle while sleeping) and a giant tub that filled from the ceiling. It was really well done, but not the biggest room in the world. We rented a movie and enjoyed our stay. Thursday, we checked out and looked for "tourist attractions" on our GPS. Let me tell you, in November, there is not a lot to do in Rexburg. We ended up at Fat Cats, and did some bowling. After we bowled, we did some "glow golf". They had this little 9 hole mini golf set up in the dark with only black lights. It was pirate themed. It was a good time. Unfortunately my camera was out of batteries or we would have pictures of us. It was great because we were the only people there, so we were not bothered while bowling or playing mini golf. We had a really good time. I love doing stuff like that with my hubby. They had a couple of other activities there to do as well, but by the time we finished mini golf the second time, I wasn't feeling fantastic and wanted to go eat and lay down. We checked into our much cheaper hotel for the next couple of nights, got some food, and headed back over to Tiff's. We played some wii with the kids and hung out most of the night. Most of Friday as also spent at Tiffany's house. We played wii with her two-year old, Ashley, and that was a blast. She was so cute, and said the funniest things to Scott. I was helping her play and we were playing against Scott. We won too. Fantastic. Scott played with her a little longer and I looked through Tiffany's maternity stuff and baby clothes. I was able to take a box of clothes home and a bunch of random baby stuff. So nice to have family that are able to share the things they have. Friday night we went to Harry Potter with Tiffany's two oldest, Chrystal & Brittney. Scott and I really enjoyed the movie. There was one scene that was inappropriate for our nieces, but other than that it was my favorite so far. After the movie, we spent time visiting with Tiff and later her husband joined us. We didn't end up leaving until almost 2 am. We headed back to Utah on Saturday morning. We hit a little bit of snow on the way out, but by Pocatello it had cleared up, and other than being REALLY windy, the drive was fine. It was really enjoyable trip and I was happy we were able to go. Those kids are a lot of fun and it is a shame they don't live closer so we can spend more time with them.

Colorado Anniversary Trip

Oh, where to start. I was really excited to get to go out of town for our anniversary this year, and we used our vacation rental and stayed in Breckenridge Colorado. We headed out on Saturday Oct 23rd early in the morning (because that is when Scott likes to drive) and headed there. The roads were fine most of the way, except for the Vail Pass. It was snowy, but not horrible. Anywhoo, we go there Saturday right around noon and checked in and then hit main street for some lunch. We had some yummy pizza at The Pizza Parlour. Yes, that is what it was called. We noticed a lot of things out there were called exactly what they were. Self-explanatory. We wandered up main street for a little while, but it was pretty chilly, so we hit the grocery store then we headed back up to our condo for the evening.

Sadly, that night, I got really really sick. I couldn't sleep because I felt awful and then I started throwing up. EVERYTHING. I threw up all night long and all day Sunday. Also, Sunday is when the snow started. We headed down to town and got  me some chicken noodle soup and some bread, but I couldn't even keep that stuff down. It was pretty awful. No water, no sprite, no nothing. It was a fantastic way to start our vacation. Sunday night I was able to sleep, but I still threw up Monday morning after breakfast. I did keep more food down that day though. However, we were pretty much snowed in. There was a good 8 inches of snow. We could leave, but we had my car and it is not the most amazing snow vehicle. It works great for me, but not in a lot of snow up in the mountains. So we only left once all day Monday to get some food for Scott.

Tuesday was our actual anniversary and we spent most of the day in the condo, but we did go down to town for lunch, and we did go down for a nice anniversary dinner. I threw up every day of vacation, but I was eating normally Tuesday. We ate at this place called The Dredge. It is a dredge replica of a dredge that had actually sunk and was in the water right below it. I thought that was kind of cool. I tried to get some good pictures...

The one in the daylight, I obviously took later. 

Anyway, Wednesday we were finally able to get down out of Breckenridge and make our day down to Denver, Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, and Manitou Springs. We tried to fit in as much as we could between Wednesday and Friday, since we headed back home on Saturday. To spare you the boring details, and partly because I don't remember exactly what we did each day, here is a brief synopsis and pictures:

•  Went to visit the Miramount Castle. We found it by looking for tourist attractions on our GPS. It was really interesting to see and read about the history of it and we were glad we were able to go. We found out that it is haunted at the end of the tour talking to the lady in the gift shop.
• Did some shopping at the outlets in Castle Rock, probably the biggest outlets I have ever been to.
• Went to the King Tut exhibit at the Denver Museum of Art. It was interesting, but slightly disappointing. We were hoping to be able to see more of what was found and what King Tut was actually wearing or was buried in.
• Went to a comedy club called Impulse Theatre, which is similar to Comedy Sportz here in Utah. We ended up in the front row, which was a little close for me, but it was a good time.
• Visited Old Colorado City. Interesting, but probably not as impressive as it once was. There weren't a lot of stores that sold anything we were super interested in, and it seemed like a lot of them were foreign. Oh well, it was a nice walk.
• Ate dinner at a cool restaurant called Casa Bonita. The food was average, but they have a waterfall right in the middle and have little shows and divers. They also had a little mariachi band that went around and played for people. It was really cool, and I would definitely go back.

• Ate a restaurant called Old Chicago, which was very tasty. I had one of the best BBQ chicken salads I had ever had and Scott loved the garlic cheese bread. They are all over out there, and we would love to eat there again.
• Friday night we went on "Banjo Billy's Ghost Tour" of Denver. I enjoyed it. Scott would have rather been able to go into the buildings and explore closer up, but I enjoyed staying on the bus and just hearing the stories of the buildings we were in front of. I get freaked out way to easy. We were on a bus that was totally redone and had a sofa in the back that we sat on and all kinds of random seating. A really fun environment.
• Visited the Helen Hunt Waterfall. It was not super impressive compared to some of the other waterfalls we have seen, but not too bad. We hiked up past the waterfall to see another waterfall, but really what was amazing at the top were the views, not the waterfall.
• Went to Buffalo Bill's grave and museum. It was really interesting to read about him and see where they buried him. He requested to be buried there, and it is an amazing view of Denver. I dressed up and got on a fake horse at the museum. It was really fun. Also, they had a book showing where Buffalo Bill's group toured and it had a picture of the cast in front of the Salt Lake Temple. That was fun to see.

That was about it. I may have forgot something here and there, but those were the main parts. It was a good trip towards the end, and we would like to go back and be able to see and do more. It was just nice to have the week off and have neither of us working. We definitely needed it. Just wish I hadn't been sick. Would have made things much more enjoyable.

Ahhh Memories

I am still working on getting up to date on my blog, but meanwhile...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Update

I know I have been a huge slacker at blogging lately. I have been so busy at work recently, I don't even want to get on the computer when I get home from work. I am just lazy mostly. I enjoy laying around and not doing much during the evenings. I have had a request for more posts about our baby and my baby bump, so here it goes. First off, my baby bump, is nothing to be too excited about. I still feel like I look more chubby than anything, but since it is annoying for pregnant women to say that, I will just say, my baby bump is rather small, and hardly distinguishable as a baby bump on some days. Here it is at 16 weeks.

I had Scott take this pic because a friend told me she wished she had taken pictures earlier, so even though, it isn't much to look at. I took the picture so I have it. Here is the picture of me at 19 weeks.

A little better here, but for some reason, only half of what I wear makes me look pregnant. I guess some of my clothes from when I weighed 20 lbs more hide everything a bit more. I know I should enjoy this time when I don't look obviously pregnant. Anyway, we got our ultrasound at 19 weeks and found out

I felt like it was a girl all along, but kept telling myself it is a boy because that is what Scott's family makes. He comes from a family of 4 boys and 5 out of 6 grand kids are boys. I'm sure she will be super spoiled and she will have Daddy wrapped around her little finger. Not to mention the grand parents. On both sides. Neither grand parents have a lot of grand kids in town, so they are both thrilled.

I am feeling much better these days. Still have rough days and time when I just don't feel that well, but overall I am feeling more normal (I don't think I will feel completely normal until after she is born). I love feeling her move. It is an awesome feeling. Mostly it is just little stirrings, but last night I got some good kicks when I turned too much on to my stomach. If I hadn't been trying to sleep it would have made me laugh. She is still so tiny, it is really special to feel her moving around in there.

No names yet. Scott and I really can't agree on anything. I like more classic names, or names that used to be nick names and he shoots them all down. I bought a name book and my sister has one she is going to let us borrow. I think Scott feels no rush to get the baby named, and it stresses me out that we don't have a name yet. Oh well, we will have one when it is absolutely necessary.

The first thing I bought when I found out we are having a girl is a crib set. Why? Who knows, but it is gorgeous and I got an awesome deal. It is red and brown and the red is an asian silky material. I will take pictures later. I am excited to have a nursery that is not a typical pink. I also got some cute flannel pink golf material I am going to make a little blanky out of. Just need to find something to put on the other side and a silky edge.Good times!

Conference Weekend

I really enjoyed conference weekend this year. I slept in for a little while Saturday morning, always a good thing. In the afternoon, we headed out just for the sake of being out. A lot of times Scott and I will wander the mall to kill time and entertain ourselves. We really enjoy people watching and the mall is always good for that. After we had hit both malls, we went to RC Willey. If you are not aware, RC Willey can be a lot of fun with the right person. Going there with my best friend/hubby was fantastic! We started with looking at the kids furniture and found out that there were not a lot of salesmen around in that area. I think we spent a good two hours in the store just trying things out. We looked at some lay z boys, and tried out some massage chairs. I started out in the good massage chair and Scott had one that beats you up. It was pretty funny watching his reaction to it, but then we switched and it was not so funny anymore. Of course we didn't know exactly how to work them, so there may have been a chance the chair just had the wrong settings, but man, it was rough. We tried out some glider chairs (just for future reference, we actually do need one of those), and then tried out the tempurpedic beds. Scott can always feel me at night when I toss and turn, so we have thought about the tempurpedic and if they weren't so expensive, I am sure we would already have one. So Scott laid down on the bed and I bounced on it, you know, to test out if he could feel it. Apparently there were a few salesmen watching me do this. Had to have been a really interesting sight. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and it is always a joy to spend time with my husband and not spend a lot of money and really enjoy ourselves.
Sunday we watched conference and just spent the day laying around. Conference was really good. I really enjoy listening to our Prophet speak. He is so inspired and you can feel the spirit that he has even sitting in your living room at home. It amazes me at every conference how much it seems like a lot of the messages were prepared especially for me. The same thing with the General Relief Society Broadcast. I'm so glad I was able to see them and be blessed by the messages I received. One of the main messages I received this conference was that it is okay to be different and conservative. I don't have to act like things that are immoral are okay because main stream media makes it seem like it should be. I need to stick to my values and know that I should only participate in and partake of uplifting media and activities. It is not my place to judge the person, but I should not have to "accept" sin as commonplace or ordinary. What is wrong is wrong even main stream media does not portray it as such. I need to be more diligent in removing unworthy influences from my life. I need to pay more attention to what I am watching, reading and listening to, and make sure it is something that will not drive the spirit out of my life.

My Hubby

I am crazy madly in love with my husband. There are times where marriage is hard, and trust me, life was not exactly peaches and cream this summer with how much we were both working, but I could not ask for a better husband. He is such a wonderful companion, I can't even describe it. He loves me unconditionally and treats me like I am worth a million bucks all the time. Being able to actually be home together in the evenings again has been fantastic for our marriage. Even though I haven't been feeling super amazing like I want to go and do anything, just being together is our favorite thing to do and it makes me so happy. Scott has really stepped up and taken care of things that I don't have the energy or well being to do and he even makes me dinner sometimes and brings it to me on the couch. He is totally understanding of the fact that I don't feel like doing much and doesn't expect much of me. He is so sweet and loving and is constantly giving me hugs and trying to cuddle with me. He has even spent his spare time when I am not home looking at stuff for baby. I love him so much and I am amazed at how blessed I am!
Unfortunately, we have two more weeks of not spending much time together because it is WalMart resets for the next couple of weeks, which means Scott has to stores all over the place super early in the morning. This mornings was 3 am I believe. What a pain. I really hate not having him around. I am just starting to feel more "normal" again, other than being exhausted, but now my hubby has disappeared again. Guess it is just part of the job. Can't wait for our vacation in a month. I know Scott desperately needs it. He works so hard and doesn't get much of a break very often. I love you babe!

Promotion

Things have been really crazy around here for the past few months. Scott's boss retired and Scott had been covering two areas alone when they are usually covered by two people. Also, he had a loader (the guy who loads the trucks in the evenings) quit, so he was working all day, coming home and taking a nap, then he was going back at night. I was working two jobs while sick trying to make it through. We barely saw each other and it was tough since we rely on each other so much. But anyway...
Scott applied for his bosses job and it was a pretty long drawn out process, but he got it. It will be a huge blessing to us. He will be on salary, which is great because he will have a consistent paycheck, where he used to be on salary plus commission so sometimes we would not know at all what he was going to bring home in a week. It is also a little bit of an increase in pay, so this really couldn't come at a better time. Plus he will get an extra week of vacation, which of course is a great perk. The only problem is Scott's insurance had to change because he went from being a union employee to a non-union employee. So we are waiting to fill out paperwork for that and find out what the coverage is exactly. It is a little frustrating waiting on that, but you do what you got to do. Things are really good overall. I quit my second job and Scott was able to hire a new loader, so we are able to be home together at night which hasn't been the case in quite a while. It has been nice. If only I felt good, then we could actually be doing something rather than laying around. Guess you can't have everything!

The Announcement

I am pretty sure everyone who reads my blog already knows, but I guess I will put it on here anyway. Maybe with a bit more feelings than what I put on facebook. For anyone who doesn't know (sorry I am not very creative on the announcement), I am pregnant. I am currently 12 weeks along and due March 30th. I'm at the awkward stage where I am definitely bigger, but not looking pregnant. I do feel like I am starting to get over the morning sickness, but I have had a couple of bad days in a row now, so maybe not. I just know I am having more good days than bad at this point. Now if I just didn't have this cold, I would feel much better than I have been.

The story behind the pregnancy...well I am guessing everyone knows how it happened, but really Scott and I weren't "trying" per se. Over course according to Alan Arkin on Marley and Me, we pulled the goalie and we were having sex so we were in fact trying, but I guess everyone has their own definition. Was that TMI? Who knows, I do tend to share too much. I actually got off birth control the end of May, right before we went on our trip to New Mexico, and found out I am pregnant the end of July. CRAZY FAST. I know for all of the people who have been "trying" for a while or "tried" for quite a while before getting pregnant, you are jealous, and I'm sorry. We weren't tracking ovulation or anything. Just whatever. We are slightly overwhelmed. Don't get me wrong, I am excited. It was really cool to hear the baby's heart beat and realize there is a reason behind the puking (even though I haven't been as bad as some, didn't enjoy the sick part). I just have days where I wonder what in the world we have gotten ourselves into. I know as I grow and as the baby grows, we are going to get more and more excited about it. But right now I am content to just let things come as they may. No need to rush anything. I wanted to rush through the first part, and now that I am mostly done with that, I am ready to sit back and relax for the rest. It is a good thing it takes a while to grow a baby. While we may not be totally mentally prepared for this journey, we are going on it, and we will be very excited and happy with the outcome. And then I will have a little one who loves my hubby more than me as every other child in the world does. :)

We're going to watch cars crash!

One of my very favorite parts of the summer is going to the Demolition Derby in Nephi every year. Scott went one year without me, and we have been going together for the past 3 years. It is so much fun to watch the cars crash into each other like I have wanted to so many times on the freeway with my road rage. My sister, her boyfriend, and her adorable son came with us this year. It was great to have them there, and Malachi loved it. He sat on Scott's lap almost the entire time. It is so sweet to see their relationship. For the few minutes he wasn't sitting on Scott's lap, I did get him to sit with me, but it didn't last very long. We love that kid so much. Here are a few pictures of the fun:

Random Thoughts

I haven't had much time to blog lately working two jobs, then when I do have time to blog, I don't have the energy to put forth the effort to do it. So this will be a synopsis of some random thoughts I have wanted to blog about in the last month or two:

• I hate the word phenomenal and how people over-use and mis-use it. It just sounds so stupid. A phenomenon is "An occurrence, circumstance, or fact that is perceptible by the senses." So people using phenomenal to describe a good deal or whatever is just ridiculous.


• No folks, I am not a "Twihard", but yes, I did think it would be fun to go to the midnight Eclipse showing with friends and my sister. Turns out is was fun, the movie was better than the first two, and yes I think Taylor Lotner is freaking hot. Yes, he is young, but who cares. Guys drool over girls that are t00 young all the time. There is no double standard here. It is not like any average Jane has a chance with a celebrity, so let us drool.


• I have decided I really enjoy the smell of lemon. The flavor is not too bad either.


• Peppermint has always been one of my favorite things, but recently, I enjoy the flavor even more.


• Working for Frito has brought me to a new realization: Some people are flat mean and rude for no apparent reason. I am in a store stocking the shelves and they give me the most horrible looks, push my rack, KICK my rack, and generally act put out by the person just trying to get their job done so they can move on to the next store. Excuse me for making sure they shelves have something for you to buy. (There are also the nice folks too that understand that I am doing my best and can't be completely out of everyone's way).
• The new Taylor Swift song is awful and really proves how bad her voice is. It is not horrible mind you, but it is just not any better than the average person. I really don't understand how she became so bloody popular. Some of her songs have good lyrics, some are very poor, and her voice is just not that great. Take away the music with it, people would really see that.


• I really very much enjoy golf and I am really sad that I have been missing out this year. Scott and I used to golf every Monday night when the weather was good and we haven't had that chance this year. BIG BUMMER. Especially because my game has really improved this year.


• Ok, has anyone in UT heard the Kid to Kid commercial that says this, "You're a mom, so your kids are perfect, except one thing...they grow up too fast!" Um, no, if you are a mom and you think your kids are perfect, you are doing a big disfavor to the rest of the world and not recognizing that your kids, just like everyone else's kids are flawed and need to be disciplined and taught right from wrong and taught to be respectful and hard-working. That sort of attitude is what is wrong with the kids today.


• Ok, so I have recurring nightmares always about the same thing...falling elevators. I don't know why, but I am terrified of elevators. I have dreams at least monthly where I am in an elevator, always a different elevator, different styles, and different designs, and always with different people, but it is always the same, the elevator starts falling. I have no idea why I am so terrified of plummeting to my death in an elevator when really the chances of that happening are very slim. I have looked into it and I they have a lot of safety features to prevent the plummeting. I did find out recently that a relative of mine has been stuck in an elevator, and that story was fully terrifying to me. I think I would have lost it. So there you have it. I am not crazy about elevators. I don't avoid them or anything, but it is always a thought in the back of my mind when I am in one. No, I do not want to ride the Tower of Terror.


• Finally, a happy thought. I very much love the summer time. I love hot weather. I love rodeos and demolition derbys and golfing. I love spending time with family having BBQ's and just enjoying the sun and the beautiful days we are having.

The End

My First Tournament

I never thought I would be good enough to play in a golf tournament, but it turns out you don't really have to be if you are playing for fun and to support a charity. Scott and other vendors were invited to play in the Walmart golf tournament for Children's Miracle Network. His team fell apart the Friday before, so he invited me to come along. The other guy we were playing with invited his wife as well. It was a really fun day. It was scramble format and we shot -11. Scott played in a tournament the day before with a guy that was similar to him in skill level and shot -13 to win. So -11 with a scratch golfer, an average golfer and their wives is pretty dang good. We didn't come close to winning because at this particular tournament you can buy mulligans (re-do's). We didn't use any. I played really well. I got my first birdie! I have had some pars and even an eagle, but this was my first birdie and I was pretty excited about it. In scramble format everyone hits the ball off the tee box and then everyone plays the ball in the best position after that. I got my birdie on a par 3. I hit it off the tee and came within 4 feet of the hole and then I went down and had the first putt so it really was a hole I basically played alone and got us the birdie on. It was awesome. I had some really good shots elsewhere as well. It is so much easier to play golf and be relaxed when you don't have as much pressure on each shot to make your next one playable. Scott played better than I have ever seen him play. He was really on his game and I think alone he would have shot under 70 on that course. He was making putts and hitting approach shots like you wouldn't believe. It was amazing. I think we were all relaxed because we went out there expecting not to win or even come close, we but actually made a pretty good run at it. I was pretty upset with myself because on the women's long drive hole, I let myself get too concerned about winning it and I put the ball in the water. I didn't even hit it as well as I was on other holes. I drive the ball a long ways. Usually around 200 yards. I had one drive that was 232, but I have NO head game. I just let the pressure of trying to win my prize psych me out of having a chance at it. Bummer. We had a good time anyway, and it was for charity, so we can't really feel bad about the money we spent and walking away without a prize.


It was such a great day and I was so happy I was able to go and spend the entire day with my awesome husband and watch him play amazing golf and be able to just have an all around great day with him. So glad my wonderful co-worker offered to work all day so I could do it.

Ute Stampede 2010

Last Saturday Scott and I both took the day off, me from my FritoLay job and Scott from Hostess and we went to the Ute Stampede like we do every year. We headed down there in the morning and went to the car show. A lot of cool cars. The car show for the Ute Stampede is better than any other car shows I have seen anywhere. There was one car that was painted all patriotic and I thought that was awesome. After the car show we went to get some doughnuts that Scott loves. Later we went to the little craft fairs that they have at all the city festivals and I bought two new watch bands. There were a ton of booths with the watch bands. It was pretty crazy. Lots of options, but most of them are too gaudy for me. But I found some I really liked. Apparently Scott's mom's cousin makes them as well, so I may have her make some for me in the future. Who knows, don't have a lot of spending money right now. Anyway, we watched the ever wonderful bathing beauty parade and then had dinner and went to the rodeo that night. The rodeo is always a lot of fun. It seemed like it was a bit longer this year and the half way entertainment was awesome. They were motocross and really impressive. Anywhoo, after the rodeo we always walk through the carnival on the way home and man, did I feel old. I am not old people, but watching all the teenagers run around the carnival and act like idiots made me feel ancient. I was pretty annoyed with how stupid they were and thought wow, I have gotten old. I guess that was 8 years ago. Almost a decade since I was in high school. I'm not old, but I am a lot older than them. It was a good weekend. I was glad we were able to have a weekend off together. Scott has been helping on a route recently and with me working so much for Frito we only see each other 2 or 3 times a week. It has been hard. Hopefully we will be able to see each other more soon. This weekend we spent all morning together on Saturday, but I had to work Saturday night. I don't mind working during the week, but Saturdays it is really hard to leave Scott at home. But at least I know it is only temporary!

"Team Building"

For a couple of years, my boss has been talking about getting together as a department and doing something fun. He finally pinned down a date about a month ago and this weekend was the big hoopla. It was a lot of fun. Friday afternoon we went golfing as a department. The department really consists of two young girls just starting marriages and 3 middle aged men (I hope that isn't rude to say). Anyway, my boss also invited the CFO and they both brought their sons. I know not everyone enjoys golf as much as I do or as much as my boss does, but I had a really good time, and I beat everyone in my group. That always makes you feel good when usually I have the worst score. But considering I play with a scratch golfer most of the time, that is not surprising.
Anyway, Saturday night we had a BBQ at my boss' house. We were able to bring our spouses with us, and it turned out to be a lot of fun. It was great to get to spend some time with the people I work with in a social setting rather than a work setting. I really enjoyed hearing stories of what things were like for them years ago and a little more about what their temperaments are like. We had little starters before dinner and some nice conversation and then my boss grilled chicken and ribs and then we had dessert after. It was super tasty. I was so glad we were able to do the whole thing. I thought it might be awkward, but it was fantastic. I think even Scott enjoyed himself. He was extremely entertained by one of my co-workers. I hope we get to do it again!

New Mexico Vacation

This post is loooong overdue considering we went on vacation the week of Memorial Day, but I have been so busy with work I haven't really haven't had the time or energy to blog. I have been leaving at 730 in the morning and getting home between 9 and 10 at night. I got done early tonight and Scott is sleeping, so I have a little while to do nothing before I go to bed. So, I blog.

Unfortunately since it has been so long I don't think I remember all of the details of every day, but I will give a brief synopsis with pictures inserted here and there. It is going to be really long so feel free not to read the entire thing.

Sunday we left super early in the morning to head to Albuquerque because Scott felt that was the best time for him to drive. We both worked Saturday evening and got a little bit of sleep before we left, but both of us stayed awake for the drive and the 9 hours seemed to go by pretty quick. Scott set everything up so I could sleep, but I didn't really fall back asleep. Oh well. We got there around 130 in the afternoon and had to wait for our hotel room to be ready, but once it was, we went right to sleep.

Monday we hit our first golf course of the trip. With it being Memorial Day we knew the course would be busy and we would be paired with a couple of other people and we weren't thrilled about it, but we got lucky. We played with one of the nicest guys I have ever met. He was super laid back and fun. He kept me relaxed and was really helpful to Scott telling him where he wanted to aim his drives and stuff. I would love to play golf with him again and he actually gave us his card so if we are ever in town again we can give him a call and set up a round. The course we played was Sandia Resort, and everyone there was super nice. Scott said it was the best customer service (for lack of better way to put it) that he has ever had at a course. They just really made us feel at home even though we were on vacation. It was a good round of golf.After our golf game we headed to Scott's brother Bryce's house to join his family for dinner. We went to a really cute place that I don't remember the name of. It was supposed to be authentic New Mexican food. Didn't love the food, but the ambiance was really great. It was fun hanging out with them too, they lived in VA when Scott and I got married and now in NM, so I don't know them very well, but I absolutely adore Bryce's wife Christin. She is a lot of fun to be around and one of the nicest people I have ever met.
Tuesday we decided to golf again. We got up early and hit Paa Ko Ridge Golf Course. We had to drive up the canyon to get there, so it was a little bit of a drive, but it was well worth it. It was a BEAUTIFUL course. Absolutely gorgeous. The starter actually put us out before our tee time so we could play in a twosome and we barely saw anyone else the entire day. It was great. Unfortunately the course has 27 holes and we only played the additional 9 and the front nine. but maybe one day we will get back there to play the back 9, because the starter talked about how amazing the views were on the back 9 and how sad she was we weren't going to play it while we were on vacation. It was beautiful and a lot of fun anyway though.

Tuesday afternoon we headed up to the Sandia Peak Tram ride, which is the longest aerial tram in the world. I am glad we did it for that reason, but it was kind of a waste I thought. It was $20 per person and basically we just went up and it made Scott and I (who are both afraid of heights) pretty nervous. It was really high up at parts and I know it was safe, but still. It cramped and smelly and we basically got to the top and couldn't see much because it was hazy and then we just waited for the tram down. Not as great as I expected.

Wednesday morning we got up really early and played golf with Bryce at Twin Warriors Golf Club. It was really nice and was the most expensive, but we got a free shirt, a bag tag, a divot repair tool and I can't remember what else, but it seemed like a lot of stuff. Another beautiful course, but didn't compare to Paa Ko Ridge. It was nice to play with Scott's brother though and we had a good time. I didn't play very well the front 9, but made up for it on the back 9 and didn't hate my score.

Wednesday afternoon we drove to Carlsbad NM and checked in to our AWESOME hotel. It is called Trinity Hotel and it was a bank way back in the day. They had modern furnishings in this totally historic building and the room we stayed in was 1200 sq feet. It was called the safe room because the safe was still in it. The actual safe was converted into a little media room with a tv and a couch. It was really nice and definitely worth the price. We had dinner there that night and breakfast was complimentary with the room the next morning. I would definitely stay there again. Fantastic.

Thursday morning we headed over to the Carlsbad Caverns. They were so amazing. We went on the King's Palace tour and we went on a couple of self guided tours and there was still a lot more to see.Another thing I highly recommend. I had been to the Timpanogos caves and they were puny and lame comparatively. I want to go back and see more of the Carlsbad Caverns. Four hours just wasn't enough time!

We drove back to Albuquerque that night and hung out with Bryce's fam again. It was a good time. We watched the wipe out couples edition. It was pretty funny.

Friday things started to slow down for us a little bit. We actually slept in a bit Friday morning and we went to the Botanical Gardens, the aquarium, and old town during the day and then headed over to Bryce's house for dinner. It was fantastic to have a home cooked dinner that night after eating out every other night. Lots of junk. That night we went on the old town ghost tour. Totally freaked me out. Awesome.

Saturday morning we got up the earliest we had our entire trip to go on a hot air balloon ride! It was soooo cool. It was not even scary at all. It was actually hard to believe we left the ground because the take off was so smooth. We actually flew over a golf course and got some cool pictures. It was a really great experience and I was glad we did it even though I got sick and wanted to throw up for about 30 minutes of the ride. Scott actually kind of made fun of me for that because I wanted to badly to go on the hot air balloon ride and I ended up not feeling well. Even so, I was really glad we did it. We went back to the hotel and took a nap after we got back and then headed back over to Bryce's house to hang out a little more.

Oh by the way, we had scrumptious Cinnabon for dinner twice. I really wish they had those here...

Baby Shower

The Thursday before we went on vacation, I threw a baby shower for a friend at work. I did it on the same day as a wedding I did, which wasn't the smartest, but I spent the entire day baking and designing flowers. It was a crazy hectic and busy day, and I left the house a complete mess and then right after the shower I went to work at Frito Lay. Scott was amazing and got home late as well, but he cleaned up a lot of my mess. It was super sweet and unexpected. He is super awesome like that. Anyway, here are pictures of some of the things I did for the shower. It was a lot of fun, and I was pretty happy with how everything turned out. This is the invitation.

This was my first try at fondant. I used marshmallow fondant, and it was super eay to make, but it was kind of hard to get on the cake. The cake was super good though. It was almond with raspberry filling. Super tasty. It may not look amazing, but it was tasty. I also made Oreo cake bits and sugar cookies, but I guess I didn't get pictures of those...darn.

More Wedding Flowers

Here are some pictures of wedding flowers I did for a girl I work with. It was really fun. I was so excited to do a wedding without gerbs. I did one with gerbs 5 days later, but this one was colors people don't use a lot and it was fun to be able to use some orchids. Unfortunately my camera battery died, so the pictures we got were from Scott's phone on his camera. Here are some pics.

It's been so long

I keep thinking I am going to blog more, but recently I haven't had a lot of time, and when I do, I haven't felt like blogging. But here I am trying to catch up a little bit. I got a new job that has taken up a lot of my time. I started working for Frito Lay as a "detailer" in the evenings. I go to stores after my full-time job and I put product from the back room on to the shelves. It is actually super physically demanding and I am not as fast as I should be yet. I worked Wed, Thurs, Fri and Sat right before we left on Sunday morning for vacation. Because it was Memorial Day weekend the stores were super busy and I worked more than when I was scheduled. This week, I am scheduled every night except Wed. I am only scheduled for 1.5 to 2.5 hours per night, but I have taken a little bit longer than that so far. Eventually I will get fast enough. I am still pretty new right now. It is nice having the extra money to pay off bills, which was the whole purpose of getting a second job to begin with.
Scott also has a second job. It is something he can do on his own time. He is an independent rep for telecommunications companies which includes cell phones, home phones, home security, internet, and satellite. It is cool because he can get people the same services from reputable companies at discounted prices. If you are in the market for any of those things, let us know, and we can save you some money.
We are both super busy right now and working really hard. But we try to make sure and spend as much time together as possible. We have a hard time being away from each other. It was really nice to get away for a week and not worry about our jobs.

A lot going on

I have been mentally blogging in my head for quite a while, but have had so much going on, it has been hard to find the time to actually get it on my blog. Sadly, I think I have forgotten everything I wanted to blog about. Let's see. Probably the thing that has the least to do with me and what I have been doing is the end of The Amazing Race. Sadly, the cowboys didn't win. They were the most deserving of the win, but I know that they will be fine either way. I have read a lot of people's comments and they were definitely the fan favorites this year. Also, I am not sure if this is true or not, but several people have indicated that the team that did win, cheated by flying first class. Honestly, I don't know enough about the rules to know if they did cheat or didn't, but I do know that the cowboys finished the race with integrity and were kind to everyone all along the way. They are the type of people who really inspire me to be a better person. There are a lot of good people in the world, and it was awesome to see an example of that on the Amazing Race this season.
Anyway, also last weekend, I did a wedding. I was really excited about doing something different than gerbera daisies. The last few weddings I have done are all gerbera daisies. This one was hydrangea and roses. The colors were green and hot pink, and it was really cute. Here are a couple of pictures of the bouquet.
I didn't get pictures of everything I did, but I am glad I have these. I was really happy with how it turned out, and I hope the bride was as well.
After I dropped off the wedding flowers at the Mt Timpanogos Temple, I ran and got groceries and then when Scott got off work we headed down to his parents house to work on their backyard. We took flowers down to his mom as well. After spending the afternoon moving their wood pile and taking down a fence and burning a bunch of remains, we headed back up to my house to do dinner and a movie with my parents and my sister and Malachi. We got one of those family dinners from KFC and we watched Avatar. It was a good time, but a super busy and hectic day. This past week went by really quickly. I can't even think of everything we did, but it felt like it went by extremely quickly.
Oh, I don't know when this was, but we got a new calling. We are members of the activities committee. Usually not a calling I love, but the head of the activities committee are some people from Nephi that Scott knows, so I think we will be fine. It might actually help us to be a little more social and stuff. Did I already write about this? I am starting to think I have. Well, sorry if you have read it before...We still don't love our new ward, but hopefully if we get involved we will enjoy it a bit more.
This weekend, I started my new job (more to come on that later, and yes I kept my other job) at 630 in the morning, which means I had to get up at 530 on a saturday. I got home around noon and changed my clothes and had some lunch. Then when Scott got home from work we got some groceries and ran a couple of errands then headed down to his parents house again to work on the backyard some more. We got A LOT done, and Scott worked his butt off. One of the many things I love about him is his ability to work so hard, and his drive to work as hard as he does, but I was worried about him because of how hard he was working. We dug up some tree roots and cut them to removed the trees. The part that took the longest was getting out an old cement irrigation thing. Don't really know how to explain it, but we had to dig it up and remove roots from around it, and there was a tree that had grown up under and around it so it was really tough to get out. But after we got done, we all felt really productive. I thought I would be sore today, but I am not. Of course Scott is. But it was a good work out.
We are going on vacation in two weeks from today, and I am super excited about that. We are both really ready for a break. To not worry about anything but having a good time for a little while.