Halloween 2010

Halloween was done up a little more this year than previous years.  Seth and I both dressed up and went to our ward's Halloween Carnival.  I have been working with the achievement day girls and they put together a haunted house for the carnival.   It turned out much better than I ever thought it would.  I also learned that it is possible to burn spaghetti!  That's another story.  We also went to a Halloween party this year!  Overall we had a ton of fun. 

This is the only picture I got of us all night.  We were the Princess and the Pea!

What's That Wet Dog Smell?!?!

We gave the dogs a bath tonight.  Wow what an experience!  We started out with Einstein in the sink.  He did okay with a few shakes and only tried to escape once.

  Then we thought it would be a good idea to give Charlie one despite our past experience.  We tried to get her in and she didn't want anything to do with that.  Once we got her in and settled she was okay but it was a fight to get there.  Once we were finished with her my entire bathroom was covered with hair!  Oh it was disgusting.  We pulled a huge fur ball out of the drain and cleaned it off the walls and toilet!  I think it was more work cleaning the bathroom after her than it was actually giving her a bath. 

It's so fun owning dogs.  They are a lot of work sometimes but they are so much fun.  We love our little fur babies!

Gone Fishing!

Seth and I love to go fishing.  With me being out of school for the week we finally go the chance to go.  We took Kaycie Nielson and her two boys with us.  Kaycie works with Seth and asked us if we would take her boys fishing.  We had such a good time and even caught a fish!  This is more eventful than most fishing trips we take.  The kids had fun playing with the worms and one of them even touched the fish after he caught it!  We all had a great time!

Family Pictures

Thanks Amy and Dana for taking our family pictures.  It was really great to get everyone together to take these.  If you know my family you know that sometimes that's not an easy task.  But we were all together for the first time since our wedding and happy to have each other around! 
My grandparents haven't had family pictures since my mom and aunt were in high school.  My aunt hasn't had a picture of her family taken since Hayley was three months old and my family's last picture was when I was a freshman in high school.  Needless to say it was time.  They came out great!

 My grandparents. 

                                          I love this one! It reminds me of high school.  hehe. 

                            Our first family photo with my grandparents their kids and grand kids.

                                                      My Aunt Donna and her family

                                                        All of the grand kids all grown up!

My Mom and her beautiful family!

Where has the time gone?!?!?!

I know I know it has been forever since I blogged.   I always manage to be where I need to but always forget the camera.  So I have basically zero pictures to report.  We've lost a whole three months of our lives with no pictures!  That is definitely something I need to work on. 

We're still alive over here.   We made it through both of our birthdays, school, and work. Seth got me a dish washer for my birthday!  I'm so excited to finally have one.  I can't believe I survived a year without one.  It's so nice to wake up to clean dishes in the morning!  I'm working full time now and going to school so it seems like I'm never home.  Hopefully this second half of the semester will be better.  I'm only taking two classes instead of four.  Now I'm on the job hunt for something in the evenings while I student teach.  I can't believe I'll be graduating in May.

Seth and I have been busy with our church callings.  We're both primary workers and I have taken on the achievement day girls.Here is one of the ice cream sculptures we made at our last activity day.  They are so much fun and never cease to surprise me. I've been busy busy busy but I'm having such a blast.  Sometimes it's easy to lose focus and forget about everything you have.  But I am blessed with an amazing husband who always finds some way to make my days better, a job with some wonderful kids who are always good for a smile, and the opportunity to receive an education which I wouldn't have with out our wonderful families.  Seth and I have so much to be thankful for.  We're both so happy with the direction our lives are taking us.

Holly Homemaker!

I got off of work early today.  I was planning on cleaning my house from top to bottom.  I ended up doing this...

I went to my ward's bread making enrichment day with my grandma.  I have lots of different recipes but I think breadsticks are as far as I go for right now.  They don't look too shabby right now and they were delicious.

I'm pretty sure that our garden is at its peak production!  I forgot to go out and cut off all of the vegetables one day and came in with this the next. 

Congrats Bethany!

I know I'm late but what else is new right?  Last weekend Seth and I drove 809 miles to San Antonio, Texas.  I wish we had taken a picture of the backseat because it would have supplied enough laughter and sympathy for an entire year.  I rode the entire way in the middle of the back seat of my little car between my Grandma Kay and my little brother, Taylor. It wasn't too bad twelve hours later when we got out in San Antonio. 

The next day we sat out in the 80 degree weather.  Sure this might not be bad in Arizona but jeez it's terrible in San Antonio with  75% humidity!  There were a few graduates who collapsed on the field.  The parade for the ceremony was so awesome.  It was mind blowing to watch everyone participating of all different shapes and sizes walk in absolute unison and make the different maneuvers and such.    The parade was at nine o'clock in the morning, so we had all day to just hang out with Bethany.   We went to lunch did a little shopping and went to a WNBA game.  It was so exciting.  I think I enjoyed spending time with Bethany more than the game.  Those girls are brutal by the way.  Football and boxing have nothing on women's basketball.  Bethany got to stay out a little later because we all went to the game. 

Saturday we all went to the Alamo and the River Walk.  It was so much fun to see all of the historic places of Texas.  We had a blast at the river walk.  We took a boat tour that filled us in on all of the history of the San Antonio river.   It was easy to lose track of time with Bethany and daylight savings time.  It was still bright outside at 10 o'clock at night!  After the river walk we took a trip back across town to eat at Rudy's.   Mmmmm.  It was soooo yummy.  Then it was a quick trip to the BX and back to the barracks.  It wasn't very fun sticking to military schedules and curfews.   Bethany never seemed to mind.  She has changed immensly and is a completely different person now. 

After we dropped Bethany off Saturday night we took a drive down to the temple with my dad and Taylor.  We didn't get to do a session because I read the schedule wrong but it was beautiful from the outside!  I love to see the temple!

We had to drive home Sunday but not before we had a great breakfast at IHOP.   I was so sad to leave my grown up little sister.  I can't explain the change in that girl.  We have talked about so many things and she has surpised me in so many ways.  When she speaks she addresses everyone as sir or maam, salutes every flag, is fifteen minutes early for everything, and follows rules without question.  She is pretty amazing!  I'm so proud of her.  She has definately grown up a lot in the past eight weeks.

A Perfect Weekend

What a weekend! Last weekend Seth and I took off from work early and made our way to the Mesa, Arizona Temple. We had so much fun taking pictures outside the temple decked out in our wedding attire. It was really special to put my wedding dress on again and carry a bouquet as we traipsed around the temple grounds. It was all so exciting and nerve racking at the same time. We knew that we would be going in the next day and we were so excited. Our pictures turned out AMAZING! Thank you so much Dana, Amy, Tanner, and Amy. It was such a fun day that progressed into a great night.

Neither Seth nor I had ever been ice skating before. It was hilarious! Neither one of us fell but I have never laughed so much in my life. It was quite the night of entertainment. There were kids half my age skating backwards and TEXTING! The rest of us were doing our best to keep our bums off the ground. It was definitely a great way to end such a busy day. We spent the rest of the night talking and giggling with Dana and Amy. I felt like a twelve year old girl at a slumber party. (Except that Seth was there) They really helped to ease some of the anxiety I had before entering the temple.

I couldn’t sleep all night. My mind kept racing about what the temple would be like. I knew it would be pretty inside and that it was going to be a neat experience. I was fidgeting, and feeling sick as we pulled into the parking lot. I knew that in just a few short minutes we would be walking through those sacred doors.

We were blown away by the temple’s beauty. It was such a great feeling knowing that we were worthy to walk through those doors and do the work of the lord. Our sealing was beautiful, with a few mishaps and crack ups but I think it fit us perfectly! I hope I never forget the looks on our family’s faces when we walked out of those doors. It was perfect in every way. It’s impossible to be unhappy in the temple or when you leave.

Thank you everyone for making the effort to be there. We know that it was an inconvenience to some but it really made it special for us to see all of you there. I’ve never experienced such happiness as I did when I knew that our family would be forever. Now I walk around and want to share that experience with everyone. I don’t think that any one should have to go without knowing the love of an eternal family. Thank you all so much for making our weekend so special. We love you guys!

Back Yard 2010

Seth and I have been spending a lot of time working on the back yard. We put in a sprinkler system, took out the ugly clotheslines, and planted a garden. It's been a lot of fun. Charlie is probably sick of being in her crate all day because we were afraid to let her our while the pipes were exposed. She likes to chew things. We're getting toward the end of things now. We still need to plant some trees in the massive holes left over from the clotheslines. Now it's just hurry up and wait to see some results.

Thanks for your help Tanner!

This was one of the holes left after we took out those clotheslines. I

I thought I could get the trash can back to the street. fail.

We trimmed the trees and cleaned up the entire back part of our yard. Thanks for letting us use the tractors!

What's in Your Freezer?

I let Seth clean out the freezer and this is what we found...

Temple Bound!

One of the resolutions Seth and I made at the beginning of this year was to go through and be sealed in the temple. Well our dream is becoming a reality. We have made a commitment in our lives and know that this is the right move for ourselves both individually and as a family. We are so excited to have the blessings of the temple in our lives and know that we will benefit from all of the struggles associated with it. We talked to our bishop at the beginning of the year to get things rolling on this goal. We've been taking a temple preparation class in Sunday school and we really enjoy it. Chris Angle has been a great teacher and has answered many of my questions and cleared up all of my misunderstandings of the plan of salvation. We're so excited to take this step in our lives. It's a great feeling seeing all of this come together. Just so everyone is clear our bishop said we will be ready in about four weeks. Seth can be in the circle to bless his new niece Alexis and we are looking forward to getting our patriarchal blessings. It's all happening so fast. Seth talked to the bishop last Sunday and when he explained everything to me I was overwhelmed with joy and excitement. I left church with a feeling of relief knowing that with the blessings of the gospel and our families we were going to be just fine and happy.

Vacation Shipwreck!

I know I'm late posting but Seth and I had a great time on our cruise this year. We started the trip by picking up some friends in Phoenix. We spent the night there then drove to Banning, CA the next day. The next morning it was just two short hours to Long Beach California where we embarked on the Carnival Splendor. At the time this was Carnival's newest ship in their fleet. This ship was built earlier this year. Our waiter, Wayan, was from Indonesia. He was quite the character! So was our cruise director "Goose". Seth got voted to be the biggest sucker on this cruise so he had to suck down a two inch jaw breaker to win something for me. I ended up washing the jaw breaker down to a quarter of an inch and Seth won a watch for me. We really had a great time. The girls that came with us got a little annoying at times but at least we had an escape in our room.

Which is where we watched the captain back our ship up on land into a jetty (or a small dock). The boat we were on had hit another ship in this same port about two weeks prior to our cruise. So, the crew was focused on not repeating history. They concentrated their efforts on not coming into contact with the other ship in the port that they didn't realize how fast they were going backwards. When they realized that they were going a little too fast they turned on the motors and tried to move forward but it was too late. The wave that we created swamped multiple boats. We also took an eight foot chunk out of the dock and punctured the hull of the boat. The hole was aproximately three by three foot. We also pushed the dock about five feet up on land. It really could have been a dangerous situation but it's something we'll never forget.

Because of the incident we spent an extra day in Puerto Vallarte, Mexico. It really was a beautiful place. On the first day we booked an excursion through Carnival to take us snorkeling then to Yelapa beach. It was beautiful but way over priced. We saw some interesting fish and the water was perfect. After snorkeling we took a boat to Yelapa beach. It's a native beach that can only be reached by way of boat or foot. There are no roads leading to this small town that has maintained it's native roots. They only recently got electricity there. We had an amazing lunch of fresh mahi mahi. (fish) Then we went swimming. This in itself was half the experience of the trip. These waves were huge! I went out into the water. Once I realized that I couldn't reach the bottom anymore I started heading in. Before I could get my feet underneath me I got worked by this ginormous wave! I had sand everywhere. Seth and I walked around the city on our second day in port. We went to the boardwalk and saw some great sand castles and sculptures. There was also a beautiful cathedral in town that is well known in Puerto Vallarte.
At three o'clock we set sail for Cabo San Lucas. Seth and I had been there before and we didn't have much time to spend there. We ended up taking a city tour. We went to a glass blowing factory, tequila factory, and chileno beach. We definately learned alot and really enjoyed our time there. We saw three sea lions and two whales while we were there! Blue whales migrate south during the winter to have their babies in the warmer waters. I was blown away when I saw these animals. I can't get enough. Everyone needs to book a whale watching tour sometime in their life!
After Cabo it was time to head home. Seth and I really enjoyed our vacation. It was great to get away and relax for a while but we were both ready to come home by the end of it. We also came home to a great surprise! We love what you did to the living room and are so blessed to call you family!