The Pooles

Dragging myself to blog about something :)

2012-02-07T16:59:00.000-08:00

I haven't felt like blogging. I feel like you always have to have something interesting to blog about and I never do! Really though, this blog is more like a journal since other than me there will only be a few people who read it. Thanks for caring about what boring things I have to say :) Haha. With that being said, I'll try to give an update at least for my journal writing purposes.
Lately I have been getting the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Only because everything in life is going so well right now! Life is good. I love where I live, I get to hang out with family at least once a month if not more, I LOVE the ward i'm in, I've made new friends that I really like, my job at the flower shop is going great, and Ben has a good job...So what's going to happen to me?! Haha. Hopefully nothing. I'm feeling very grateful for all the good things in my life right now and trying to enjoy every minute.
We've slowly been trying to add some decoration to our apartment. About two weeks ago we were determined to make a headboard. It took us a while to find the right color fabric(and I'm still not IN LOVE with the color), but we finally found some at this HUGE upholstery warehouse in San Diego. Ben always amazes me with his skills, and he whipped out a headboard like it was nothing. It's padded and looks very nice, we just still need to add a decorative border of upholstery nails, so I'll post a picture once that's done. I've also been wanting to make a new necklace holder out of this shelf Ben found for me and he helped me finish that as well. It hanging above my make-up table Ben made for me and I love my little nook in our bedroom. I'll have to post a picture sometime soon.
This last Saturday we spent all day at the beach. It was so nice outside! Ben went surfing in the morning, then we went to La Jolla Shores to lay on the beach and then onto La Jolla Cove to just walk around. I now only have to work one Saturday a month instead of every other and since it's warming up outside I can't wait to go to the beach more often!
Well I hope everyone has a good Valentines Day next week! I've loved this holiday since I was little. Which is surprising since until I met Ben, I had never spent it with a boyfriend/husband haha! I've just never thought you had to have a significant other to enjoy it! It's all about showing love for those you love. My mom was always so sweet and wrote us a nice card and gave us a little treat on Valentines Day :) Not to mention she helped me make the CUTEST valentines day box for school in 4th grade for our valentines exchange. Props to you Mom. You are a Valentines Day pro! I hope to live up to your high standards one day ;)

Christmas 2011

2011-12-27T23:09:00.000-08:00

Christmas was so much fun this year. The highlight would have to be getting to skype with my brother Tyler who is in Rye Colorado right now on his mission. He is doing great and he's hilarious as always :)

a few real men

love this kid!

love mommas cookin!

aren't you jealous of our red and white Christmas pajamas? haha

Holiday excursions

2011-12-09T09:36:00.000-08:00

For thanksgiving this year we were planning on going to Utah, but plans changed and we ended up going to Boise. We had already bought our plane tickets before the plans changed so our travel time was a little longer than expected, but i was excited to go to Boise! It was just Ben and I that came for thanksgiving but we had a lot of fun. The trip consisted of eating a lot(obviously), going to a Boise State football game, our traditional pumpkin shooting, and we saw the movie Hugo(which was good by the way). When we got back to Utah we stopped and looked at the Temple lights in Salt Lake. They are always so pretty. It was a great Thanksgiving trip and my in-laws always do so much for us. Thanks Mitch and Evaly! :)
After our Thanksgiving trip It was onto Christmas mode. WOOHOO! Ben was very insistent on getting a tree as soon as December hit! We went to Home depot because they are the best prices and all their dang trees were tied up! How are you suppose to pick out a perfect tree if they're all tied up...so lame. We left very disappointed and annoyed after opening maybe 5 trees and not liking them. What happened to you home depot?! Everywhere else was closed so the next night we left earlier and decided to check out some tree lots in our area. The hoity toity Del Mar lots. Well...we headed straight for the "blemished" section once we heard that the normal ones were 75 bucks! Yeah right. We found one that looked totally fine for half price! I even told some people that were complaining about the prices to check out the blemished section(they were jealous of our beautiful blemished tree, I could tell). This was also the night Ben discovered his favorite egg nog ever(it is really good), Knudsens pumpkin spice egg nog.
Last night My parents and Rachel met us for dinner for Rachel's birthday which was on Tuesday. After dinner we went and walked around the Hotel Del Coronado. I would love to stay there sometime it's so pretty. We had a gay ol' time and it was very festive.

Sunrise on the way to Boise

The mountains looked so awesome!

We found this hat at a candy shop and knew exactly who should wear it. Haha(it says "My dog makes me happy" if you can't tell)

Coolest tree!

Fake smiles? Haha

Oh the smell of...

2011-11-05T18:19:00.000-07:00

A BRAND NEW CAR! Woohoooo! I like it a lot and we got a great deal on it.
Thanks Ma and Pa for letting us use YOUR car for so long. Never again...hopefully ;)

Halloween Pictures

2011-11-01T23:10:00.000-07:00

This year we carved pumpkins, went to a haunted house, and of course, dressed up. Here's some pictures! Don't ask me what Ben was. According to him he's a Canadian,,,,hmmm interesting

1 year :)

2011-10-23T21:45:00.000-07:00

1 year of marriage to my best friend. I'm so happy that the good decisions we make in life lead us to where we belong. I like to believe in fate because it's more romantic ;) haha! There's no doubt in my mind I belong with Benjamin and the longer I'm with him the more I realize how lucky I am that he's my husband.

This is when he first noticed me and fell in love at first sight....hahaha not really but it at least got me that first date I believe :)

Our first picture together. Awww. This was three weeks after we met and I thought it was a big deal that he wanted me to come to his graduation. Haha! I remember I was SO embarrassed when I accidentally sent a text to Ben intended for my mom that said, "Well I guess Ben likes me since he wants me to come to his graduation" hahaha...what a dork!

Right after he proposed...I was more nervous than he was and couldn't believe it was actually happening!! Haha. He planned the best day up in McCall Idaho.

Official! I'll never forget how happy I felt in the Temple that day after I was sealed to Ben for eternity and to have so much family and friends there.

and last but not least...

(Insert picture from our anniversary celebration last night) Haha! Somehow we forgot to take one...my bad. I did take one really cheesy one of our rings next to the candle on our table but there's definitely no point in posting that! We went and ate at Roy's in San Diego and my dinner was sooo delicious...poor Ben wasn't quite as happy with his. We decided we're going to stick with our favorite place Flemmings from now on...you just CAN'T go wrong there.

We'll have to take a picture together tonight since today is our actual anniversary. It's just gotta be documented right?

Ben's Blog

2011-10-23T20:25:00.001-07:00

LaRee has told me that this blog is "OUR" blog and that I should post to it. This was in response to me saying that I should start my own bored Mormon housewife blog. So here is my first post as such, a bored Mormon housewife. This has been on my mind a lot lately and really makes me so grateful:

There are three more episodes that are just as touching, and one involves a fight with a cougar. ENJOY!

Gazing...ohhh man

2011-10-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

This guy Braco is a professional "Gazer"...Okay just watch this video at least up to 3:15sec to see what all the fuss is about.

These

People

Are

Serious!!!!

Hahahahahaha! Ben says we are going to a Braco gazing session. I think not...but maybe. Hahaha.

Last weekend...

2011-10-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was a lot of fun. I got to see my best friend Paige who was visiting her family for the weekend. I met up with her and we were supposed to be "shopping" with her mom and sister but really all we did was talk. It was great :)
Then Ben and I got to hang out with his sister Kelsey and her whole family who live in Yuma and my mother-in-law Evaly who flew in from Boise to visit too. They stayed in a hotel by us and we went out to dinner at our favorite mexican restaurant Cafe Coyote in Old town San Diego. The next day we went to see the Midway museum with the whole crew. It was great to hang out and I love seeing my nephews!
After the midway we ate lunch and then Ben's family headed out of town and we headed for little Brooklynn's 1st Birthday party. It was fun to see old friends and hang out with my family. Brooklynn looked so cute! The party was tie-dye theme and she was all decked out in the cutest outfit her Grandma made. Ben and I made tie-dye cupcakes for the party and they actually turned out really great! We got a little competitive with the tie dye frosting...he was really good at it I have to admit.
Here's some pictures from the Midway...

The newest Bloomers employee!

2011-10-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

This past week after spending the week before unpacking and working on projects for our apartment I finally started looking for a job. Ben thought I gave the weakest effort ever....maybe I did but I was easing myself into it haha. Well my "hard work" paid off! I'd like to believe my new job was destiny. I had found a job post on craigslist for a floral shop assistant and was determined to get that position. After sending my resume I didn't hear back from anyone for two days. I then tried to find the floral shop myself and went to three in the area with no luck...turns out there's a LOT of floral shops around La Jolla. The next day I decided to just call every floral shop in the area and ask if they were hiring a shop assistant. The third shop I called said they were hiring and I was shocked! I told them I would bring a resume by later and then the owner called me back and asked if I would just come in for an interview...um YES. After talking to the owner for a few minutes I realized that they weren't even the shop I had seen on craigslist and she told me she thought it was so weird I had called because she was just thinking about all the details for the position this morning. We both agreed it was destiny and after chatting for a bit she offered me the job!!! I was so excited, the owner was so excited, and Ben was RELIEVED. Haha. I couldn't believe I had found a job so fast, but I am VERY grateful. For the first time in my life I'm actually excited about a new job.

Ben just informed me that I can't write a blog post without pictures...so....here's some pictures of random stuff since we moved to California :)

Awww Ben and Jordan taking a wittle nap together. Haha!

Rachel all ready to go to homecoming. So pretty :)

Travis turned 31! And he's excited, can't you tell :)

Aidan thanking/attacking Jordan with his new Thor hammer they got him for his B-day

After shock of being attacked by Thor!

Two things...

2011-09-26T20:30:00.000-07:00

One...We finally found a place to live!! I didn't want to just settle for something so we looked until we found an apartment that had everything we wanted. It has two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a washer/dryer, garage, and it's in Del Mar which is close to Ben's office. It's perfect! Although it makes me sick how much we will be paying for it, we were asking for it when we moved to southern California :)
and Two...I was laid off from my job with Pinnacle :( My boss finally called and told me that due to licensing issues I could no longer work from California. Total bummer since we really need the extra money right now, but at the same time I am so THRILLED that I never have to talk to another jerk/idiotic sales rep or technician on the phone again!(knock on wood) I'm really not looking forward to finding and starting a new job...really REALLY not looking forward to it. But oh well, ya gotta do whatcha gotta do. Maybe I'll actually find a job I enjoy? Wouldn't that be nice.
That's all for now! Heading to Carlsbad tomorrow to watch my adorable niece. Can't wait!

Dreaming...

2011-09-07T09:17:00.000-07:00

I like to dream sometimes that Ben and I will have a bunch of money someday to build and design a house together. However, I think that we will be able to at least decorate a little in our new apartment (wherever it may be) when we get settled. I've been looking for inspiration on pinterest.com and found some colors for our bedroom that I really like...

Kindof a navy/slate blue with mustard/gold, gray, and white. Very pretty, but not too feminine (for the husband) I think :) We're going to try to decorate on a tight budget and make as many things on our own as we can...we'll see how all the DIY decorating goes! I'm excited.

Some more interior design to look at...

I would rather...

2011-09-02T11:14:00.000-07:00

"I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn't, Than to live my life as if there isn't, and die to find out there is."
I liked this quote that Ben's Grandma sent in an email. Although I KNOW there's a God so I guess I'm good to go ;) haha.

Hallelujah! What a blessing

2011-08-18T16:31:00.000-07:00

Our second week in California Ben went out and dropped off about 40 or 50 resumes to construction companies all over San Diego. We went to the Temple that Friday and about an hour after we left he gets a call for an interview that Monday! Blessing! The funny thing was, it was for a company he had just applied to online through craigslist, not even one of the companies he went and dropped off a resume to! He has spent the last four months applying online and then BAM...he gets one from applying online as soon as we move to California. I'm am so so SO grateful.

The company is called Rore and their office is in LaJolla. He will be managing some jobs at the Naval Bases in Coronado Island and Point Loma and he's pretty excited to have a pass onto the bases. I'm pretty excited that I can finally start looking for a new job!! Even though the thought of starting a new job always gives me anxiety haha. I'm planning on giving my job notice next week and possibly might work for them a little bit longer until I find something new. We'll see.

Next thing on our list is to find a place to live! We're going to stay with my parents for a few more weeks so we can start looking and keep saving up money...the more money the better, rent is NOT cheap here.

It's such a blessing he found a job so quickly and we're both very very grateful :)

Pictures from Boise

2011-08-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Here's pictures of a few of the things we did during our two week stay in Boise. I didn't document the trip as well as I normally would since my camera was packed in our storage unit in Utah and I kept forgetting to take pictures with Ben's camera. We had so much fun while we were there and it was good to hang out with the Poole gang for two whole weeks! We hadn't seen Blake, Allyson and little Harper for sooo long and it was so good to get to hang out with them again and I always enjoy spending time with my mother and father-in-law. The week before Allyson and Blake got there Ben and I and his parents went to Stanley Idaho/Red Fish Lake for the day, and Ben went spear fishing in the ICE COLD water. I got in long enough to try and spear a fish, then realized I was too cold to move so I just watched Ben spear one and then got the heck out of there. I can handle cold water, but not FREEZING water. We also stopped at some hot springs on the way up there and they were in the coolest spot right next to a river. I think it's one of my new favorite places in Idaho. It was a fun day and such beauuutiful scenery.
Another fun trip everyone went on the second weekend we we there was up to McCall. We went the same weekend that me and Ben got engaged a year ago(awwww). A friend of the family let us stay in their cabin and use there boat so we went wake surfing both days we were there and it was so much fun. We also did a little dirt bike/four wheeling, BBQ-ing, and soaking in the hot tub at night.
Other than our trips to McCall and Stanley we ate a lot of good food, watched the twilight criterium downtown, went swimming, celebrated my sister-in-law and niece's birthdays, and of course I worked a lot of the time :) I can never get away from it haha. It is really nice though that I can go on a long trip like that and still be able to work.


The twilight Criterium (these guys were booking it!)

Red Fish Lake

He must not have know how cold the water was going to be ;)

After he caught them he would fling them off the spear...the people on shore seemed a little angry haha, but they were just carp!

Love those baby blues!

Oh the joys of moving...

2011-08-04T20:57:00.000-07:00

I say that obviously with thick sarcasm :)

I just haven't felt like blogging because we've been in the middle of a two week trip to Boise(which was so much fun and I'll be posting pictures of that later) and then a two day drive/move from Boise to Utah then California (not so fun)

We're finally somewhat settled in at the ol' parents house and it's so nice to finally be done moving. Ben was pretty much sick the entire process and I wasn't feeling great either (for reasons only girls would understand). We took what we needed to my parents house and then STUFFED everything else in a storage unit. So glad that whole process is over. I've just been working at home(for Pinnacle still) and Ben's been prepping for his big game plan for finding a job. He printed out a ton of resumes and business cards, or "networking cards" as he likes to call them, and he has three phases of job searching planned. It's gonna be pretty intense. Haha just kidding...but I hope so. The sooner he finds a job the better, but I will admit I'll probably be going through withdrawals once he gets a job and I won't have him around all day :) Can't get enough of that big guy.

It feels SO good to be in California and I'm so excited to be able to spend more time with my family.

6/19/11 PARTAY

2011-06-22T16:56:00.000-07:00

Along with being Father day, Ben also turned 27 this last Sunday. I thought it would be funny to play a trick on him and write "Surprise! Happy Father's Day too!" in his Birthday card haha, but I didn't. We celebrated a little on Saturday and a little on Sunday. On Saturday we went to the Cheesecake Factory which is so good and then went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo with some friends afterwards. Sunday I gave him a 5 year old party at our apartment with just us two...it was pirate themed hahaha. Why not. After that we headed to the canyon for a picnic. We kept it simple with hot dogs and chips, but then for dessert we tried "oreo s'mores" which is chocolate graham crackers with cookies n cream chocolate bars and a marshmallow. Pretty good actually. Here's some pictures!

That says 27 haha

Ben's little kid pose

I made him dress up before he could open his presents :)

You should see the ones where I'm trying to make a pirate face...it got weird.

Ben thought this was a great picture...kindof creepy i think

We make them look so appetizing huh :)

Ahh Nature ;)

2011-06-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

I no longer work night shifts on the weekend!!! HALLELUJAH! So...yesterday when I got off at 3 we had to go out and enjoy the weather. Ben and I hiked up to Stewart falls and it was pretty sweet. It was weird being in 80 degree weather and then reaching the top and seeing snow! Pretty cool.

He did it again...

2011-06-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Ben always shows me a grand ol' time on my Birthday. I loved my presents and he always impresses me with how creative he is. I started off the day with school but then had the rest of the day off from work which was great. I did a little shopping and then came home to Ben video taping me and singing happy Birthday with my birthday shrine on the kitchen counter. Cute.
Along with getting me razzleberry pie (my favorite) and flowers, he made me the coolest shirt by airbrushing on a white t-shirt! It turned out sooo good. I was extremely impressed and totally thought he had bought it from a store. I've also been wanting to make my own lamp and chandelier for a long time (kindof random) but had no idea how to do it. Well....Ben of course did some research and bought all this stuff for me to do it, and then wrote down a bunch of websites where you can buy some other things like the crystals. What a good present! He always gets something I would never think of, but really want.
After presents I got ready and we drove to salt lake where I did a little more shopping with the gift card my parents sent and then we headed for what I thought was a restaurant called Blue Lemon. Ben had said it was pretty nice and not expensive. Sounded good to me! Well as we turned a corner he said "actually why don't we just go to Flemming's?" We were right in front of it and it's the BEST steak restaurant I've ever been to. It was a grrrreat surprise and I ate like a Queen...actually I'd say a King. I'm an eater. They also gave me a free dessert which was a chocolate lava cake with vanilla icecream and it was to die for. I was so stuffed and so happy when we left.
Here's a few pics from my big 24!

Memorial Day festivities

2011-06-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

Some of us Poole's got together for a memorial day BBQ on Monday and I of course annoyed people with picture taking :)
Jeff, Courtney and little Brock moved to South Carolina today so I had to take some pictures! I will miss them a lot :)
It was also quite a treat to have my father in law Mitch here for a few days...He is just the nicest and cracks me up.

Nerd alert

2011-05-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Ben and I went on a little walk through Bridal Veil falls up in the canyon and saw this guy...

I know it's blurry, but you get the idea. He passed us twice and we couldn't help but make fun of him. Why on earth would you wear a tank top and arm warmers?!! Is that so much cooler than a long sleeve shirt? I'm confused. Maybe I'm just not a cool enough runner to get it. Haha.

It is really pretty up the canyon right now with everything turning so green :)

You cannot stop us rain!

2011-05-23T14:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday when we walked out of church we were SO bummed out to see it was cloudy and raining. We had a deeelicious picnic planned and when we got home we just said who cares we're going anyways! The rain ended up stopping by the time we got there and the weather turned out really nice! Faith I tell ya. Haha.
Now for the food...I saw this recipe on the food network show Giada at Home and it looked really good. Well it WAS REALLY good. I altered it a little bit and put onions and bell peppers on the steak kabobs instead of pineapples, since I don't like sweet food :)
Now I don't know if it was the steak we bought or the marinade, but the meat turned out sooooo tender! Ben and I commented on how tender it was about 10 times each while eating. We need to test it out on another type of meat to see if it tastes as good, if not then I'm sticking to a NY Sirloin (from the Sunflower market to be specific). SO GOOD.
Here's the recipe if you're interested, which you should be :)
And then some pictures of course...

Ingredients:

For the Parsley Sauce (marinade):

3 cups fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed chili flakes
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup olive oil

For the Beef Pops:

1 1/2 pounds beef fillet, cut into 3/4-inch cubes (about 40 cubes)
1 (2-pound) pineapple, cut into 3/4-inch pieces (about 40 pieces)
20 (8-inch) wooden or bamboo skewers, soaked in water for 30 minutes
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions

For the Parsley Sauce: In the bowl of a food processor, blendtogether the parsley, garlic, vinegar, chili flakes, sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper until smooth. With the machine running, gradually add the olive oil until incorporated. Place half of the mixture in a medium bowl. Place the remaining mixture in a small serving bowl. Cover with plastic wrapand refrigerate until ready to serve.

For the Beef Pops: Place the beef in the medium bowl with the parsley sauce. Toss well until the beef is coated with the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours.

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Thread the skewers starting with a piece of pineapple, then a cube of beef. Repeat with another piece of pineapple and another cube of beef. Continue with the remaining skewers. Grill the skewers for 2 to 3 minutes each side (for medium rare) or until desired doneness. Season with salt and pepper.

To serve, arrange the Beef Pops on a serving platter. Drizzle with the remaining reserved Parsley Sauce or serve the sauce on the side as a condiment

The Best Red Velvet Cake

2011-05-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

Here's the recipe Aarean! And for anyone else who wants it:)

Solid vegetable oil shortening, for greasing the pans
Flour, for dusting the pans
1 (18.5-ounce) package plain butter recipe golden cake mix
2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/3 cups buttermilk
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease 3 9-inch round cake pans with shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour and set the pans aside.
Place the cake mix, cocoa powder, buttermilk, food coloring, melted butter, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and vinegar in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until ingredients are incorporated, 1 minute. Stop machine and scrape down side of bowl with rubber spatula. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes longer, scraping the side of the bowl again if needed. The batter should look well-blended. Divide batter evenly among 3 prepared pans, about 1 ½ cups batter per pan, smoothing the tops with rubber spatula. Place pans in the oven. If your oven is not large enough to hold 3 pans on center rack, place 2 on that rack and one in the center of the rack above.
Bake cake layers until they just start to pull away from the sides of the pans and the tops spring back when lightly pressed with a finger, 17 to 21 minutes. The layer on the higher rack may bake faster so test it for doneness first.
Transfer cake pans to wire racks and cool for 5 minutes. Run a dinner knife around the edge of each layer and give the pans a good shake to loosen cakes. Invert each layer onto a wire rack, then invert it again onto another rack so the cakes are right side up. Let the layers cool completely. Make frosting.
To assemble the cake, transfer one cake layer, right side up, to a serving platter. Spread the top with some of the frosting. Place a second cake layer, right side up, on top of the first and frost the top. Repeat this process with the third layer. Frost the side of the cake with a thin coat just to set the crumbs. Use the remaining frosting to go back over this and liberally frost the side, working with smooth, clean strokes. To make slicing easier, place uncovered cake in the refrigerator until frosting sets, 20 minutes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
Place 1 (8-ounce) package reduced-fat cream cheese and 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of room-temperature butter in a large mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Stop machine and scrape down side of bowl with rubber spatula. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 4 cups sifted powdered sugar; beat on medium speed until well combined. Increase the mixer speed to high and beat the frosting for 1 minute longer.

Side note: I actually make half of the homemade cream cheese frosting and then add some store bought whipped cream cheese frosting. Ben thinks homemade cream cheese frosting tastes too cream cheesy, so adding the store bought fixes that and I actually really like it too. Try it if you want it's really good!

New summer tradition in the making

2011-05-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

After a long week of school and work, Sunday comes. Ben and I go to church together and then as of last week, we started a tradition of Sunday picnics. There' a park a little ways into the Provo Canyon that is our picnic place of choice and the last two Sundays have been glorious outside. We bring our mini barbecue and cook up some hot dogs and just have a gay ol' time together. It really is so nice after being busy all week to just relax outside and hang out with just the two of us. Yesterday we brought a football and Ben taught be some plays haha...I can just see him with our boys some day (please let us have some boys who wanna play football!). I sometimes joke that our whole family can be football players, even if we have girls I'm sure they'll be big enough haha! Really though, let's hope not.
The only picture I had time to take before the battery died was this one after walking behind the park to look at the river. The mountains are so pretty and they turn SO GREEN in the summer. Love that about Utah.

Sunday also happens to be an eat whatever you want day usually...it just feels right. I decided that I wanted to make this red velvet cake recipe that I made for Ben's Birthday last year. It is soooo good and moist and delicious. The best part is it's half homemade half not. You use a regular plain butter cake box mix and add things to it. I'm going to have to freeze the rest of it so we don't eat it this week! Mondays mean back to eating healthy :)
Here's the damage from yesterday...Ben really likes cake. I'm surprised he didn't finish it, but I think he was holding back a little.

Ahhh the beach

2011-05-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

I got back on Tuesday from my trip home. It was a great way to start my summer since the rest of it will be spent working and going to school most likely. I was able to get my sister Rachel ready for Prom, hang out with the fam, saw my long lost friend Rachael Clegg who was in town also, and of course hung out with my Amanda and her boyfriend Bobby. On Monday my family and I spent the entire day at the beach and got to watched my niece Brooklynn too. It was a perfect 80 degrees and sunny. The only thing missing was Ben! I missed him so much and wished he could have come. We're both dying to move to California which I'm sure I've said a million times now. Hopefully a job will finally come through for him.
I didn't take a lot of pictures but here's just a few from the day at the beach. I can't wait to go again!

Mushy stuff

2011-04-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

I'm working right now and Ben is gone for a meeting and then an alarm install and I thought to myself...I wish he was home. I can honestly say that hanging out with him NEVER gets old. Which is one of the reasons I think we both wanted to marry each other. I also realized that today we've been married for 6 months! Woohoo! All eternity to go! Haha. Although, I did meet him...2 years and 15 days ago (it's normal for girls to calculate that stuff right?) Now obviously there are times when I get frustrated with him, but duh, it's gonna happen. However, he is one heck of a man and I'm so jealous of how talented and smart he is. I love you Benjamin :) Hurry up and get home so I don't have to miss you...I'm so cheesy I know.

Oh and here's us on our wedding day, the (you guessed it) happiest day of my life :) The End.

A little Rant and then a Recipe :)

2011-04-20T16:13:00.000-07:00

How have I worked at SUCH a boring job for 3 years?! It obviously has it's benefits, with me being able to work from home now and it's not stressful which is great, but it's such a drag. I want more than ANYTHING for Ben to get one of the jobs he's interviewed for in California and for us to be moving there as soon as this semester is over (8 days and counting). I want to quit my job SO BAD but I obviously cannot if I'm the only one working right now. I am so ready for a change. I love Utah but I'm ready to leave this cold dreary place for sunny weather and living by family...I keep hoping this is going to happen very soon. The worst part is that we've been SO CLOSE to this actually happening! Ben has been told twice that he basically has a job at a company in California and both times they've told us their projects are now on hold and we'll have to just wait and see if a position becomes available in the future. SO LAME! So now Ben is trying to set up an interview with a company that does custom homes in La Jolla. They have showed a lot of interests in him and he's just waiting to have a phone interview and then go from there. Please PLEASE let this be the one!
On a brighter note...
Ben and I saw a recipe on Rachael Ray the other day for a Chicken Chili Verde that looked so good and would work for the diet we're on. I love making dinner with Ben. I just love that he is actually a huge help! He can whip up some deeelicious dinners when he actually cooks. Any who, I tried to find the recipe on the Rachael Ray website so that I had exact measurements to post but I couldn't find it. Here's the recipe and directions according to what I wrote down and remember from Rachael Ray :) It tuned out SO good! Make it! This should feed about 3-4 people.

10-14 tomatillos (depending on size)
1 seeded jalapeno diced
2 cloves of garlic (i used a spoonful of crushed garlic)
1 onion chopped
Tablespoon of Cumin
Salt/pepper
2 Tablespoons of Olive oil
1-2 cups of chicken broth (depending on how thick you want your chili)
2 Poblano peppers
Cilantro (about half of a small bunch)
1 lime
3-4 Chicken breast

Direction:
1. Grill chicken breast
2. Broil poblano peppers for about 5 min on each side then place in a ziplock bag until cool enough to peel the skin off.
3.Saute chopped onion, jalapeno, garlic, and salt and pepper in Olive oil.
3. Peel skin off of poblano peppers, dice them and set aside
3. Blend tomatillos in a food processor to a chunky salsa consistency
4. Add tomatillos, chicken broth, and cumin to the saute pan and let simmer until tomatillos turn from bright green to a darker olive green color (about 10 min)
5. Cut grilled chicken into cubes and add to the chili
6. Remove from heat and add Add Cilantro, diced poblano, and lime juice

Muy delicioso! Haha.
I thought it would also taste good with a dollop of sour cream (fat free for us dieters) on top, but we didn't have any.

Back to the drawing board

2011-04-13T13:47:00.000-07:00

Ben found out yesterday from the company in San Diego that the contract for the construction job in Canada may take up to a year to go through and that they don't have a position for him. How do you just tell someone they are hired and then take it away from them a month later. I really dislike them. So we're sticking around Utah for a little longer. I must say Ben and I were pretty disappointed about the for sure NO on the Job. Hopefully there will be another opportunity for Ben soon.
On a more positive note, I'll be done with this semester in 15 days! I'm going to fly home the last day of the semester so I can have a quick visit with the fam before I start school up again on May 9th. My little sister Rachel is going to a Prom that the church is putting on and I really want to help her get ready for it. She told me yesterday that I better be there to do her hair and make-up and it didn't take much persuasion for me to agree! Unfortunately Ben can't come because he'll be starting up alarm installs here pretty soon and he'll have to work. Hopefully we can both go to California later in the summer for a visit and HOPEFULLY he can get a job in San Diego somehow so we can just live there! Haha.
I registered for my last two classes this summer for my associates. After that I'll have to see what our circumstances are and go from there with school decisions, but it feels SO GOOD to have my general ed classes all out of the way!
Well we're off for a visit to Boise with Jeff and Courtney this weekend which will be fun, but I wish I didn't have to work two of the days we're there. Oh well! Guess I should be grateful I can actually work from another state! Our diet will be really hard to stick by when we're on vacation, we LOVE eating out too much! I think we agreed on one meal out but Ben seemed to only halfway agree on that haha...he said he just can't go home and not eat good food! I'll have to keep a close eye on him ;)

Hi (Couldn't think of a creative title)

2011-04-10T15:54:00.000-07:00

Every time I looked at my blog it seemed so boring so I decided to spruce it up a bit with some spring-time bright colors. Now if only the weather could do the same!! PLEASE!
Ben and I along with a lot of his family are doing a biggest loser competition for three months. The diet of choice for everyone is the 17 day diet which consists of three phases. I'm trying to get back to my pre-wedding body and Ben is trying to get back to his pre-....ummm I guess when he was 18? Haha! All I know is he says he wants to lose 40 pounds. That's a lot! We will be weighing ourselves tomorrow morning with the results of our first week. It's been tough but it'll be worth it! It's really nice having the whole family in on it...nice little support team :)
I have two tests this week for my art history classes and they are the longest tests in the world! I'm cramming for one right now that I take tomorrow morning and then my second one I will have to study for tomorrow and take on Wednesday if I want to go to Boise this weekend with Ben. Wish me luck!

My Brother

2011-04-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

I just wrote my Brother Tyler who's on a mission and I just was thinking how proud I am of him. He's such an example to me. Every letter I read of his I just can't believe it's my brother. He is such a good missionary and always has a positive attitude about everything. Just look at his face...you can just tell he's doing the greatest work you can do :)

Man Crush...

2011-03-31T18:47:00.000-07:00

We're watching Piers Morgan right now because Ben recorded it. We fast forwarded until we got to the whole reason Ben recorded the talk show...THE ROCK. Ben has a man crush on him. A big one. Hahaha. Well I can't say I blame him ;)

This Month...

2011-03-28T13:53:00.000-07:00

Ben and I had an amazing trip to the Florida Keys and stayed at my Papa Gary and MaryAnne's house. Their house is SO awesome and in the best spot right on the bay. It was such a nice wedding gift from them and it's been so long since I've been able to spend time with them. We had a blast. We were there for 6 days and the weather was perfect the whole time. We went kayaking, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, diving for lobster, and we collected stone crab out of traps. I was so proud of Ben for eating both fish AND crab AND a bite of a tuna sandwich! Haha! He doesn't like fish so it was pretty impressive of him. I on the other hand LOVE fish and was so happy to eat it so fresh. Now that we're back in Provo I really REALLY am sick of the weather. It just doesn't compare to the sunny 80 degrees of Florida.

I can see a light at the end of the tunnel for this school semester and I'm soooo relieved! English has been killing me, but I just finished the rough draft for my research paper and everything should be downhill from here. 2 more tests in both of my art history classes and one more paper for art history. I think I have the nicest husband in the world because he actually wrote one of my art history papers that was due while I was stressing over and writing my research paper. I love him to death.

We are still waiting to here back from the Construction company in San Diego on whether or not the contract for the Canada job goes through. Having things up in there air is not good when you're husband is currently unemployed! At least I'm bringing home the bacon at the moment...haha yeah right. We'd be on the street if we lived off my income alone. Thank goodness Ben has some money saved as well as a back up job plan of installing alarm systems(if for some reason this job doesn't go through).

If things work out, Ben should be working in San Diego for a few weeks and I'm hoping I can make it down for a week or two after schools out before we have to move to Canada. I need some California sun and I need to hang out with my family before we live even farther apart then we are now!

That about sums things up at the moment. Here's a few pics from our trip to Florida:

California turns into Canada. Wait what?!

2011-03-09T14:49:00.001-08:00

Well well well let me explain...

Ben and I were so excited when he found out he would be having an interview this past weekend with CW Driver Construction in California. We both drove down on Wednesday to enjoy the weekend with my family and hopefully for Ben to get the job! His interview was early Thursday morning in San Diego and it went really well. He had a second one in Orange county for the same company and that one went well also. The whole weekend we were getting so excited about moving to California. I was so excited thinking about living by my family again! The rest of the weekend we just hung out with my family and I worked a few days. It was a relaxing fun weekend.

Well Monday rolls around and Ben gets the call...He got the job! But here's the catch...

During his interviews they said they had a job in Canada that would be starting soon and asked if that was something he would be opposed to working on. Of course Ben didn't want to look picky and said that would be okay, but he'd have to talk to his wife...haha nice. So we both hoped that he would get put on one of the jobs in San Diego buuuut no such luck. They called on Monday and offered him the job in Canada. Here's the perks though...On top of getting paid way more than he is now, they will also give us $2000 a month for rent and other living expenses and every six weeks Ben will get a week off from work. The job will last about 10-11 months and then we'd be back in San Diego and have a lot of money saved. As much as we are not excited about living in Canada, in the long run it will be really beneficial. And believe me, we will be going on some fun vacations on some of those weeks we get off! I'm excited for that :)

So Ben will be taking off in the middle of April to go work in San Diego for a few weeks and then he'll come back to Utah and we'll pack up and take a reeeally long drive to Canada. The job is in Carberry, Manitoba which is about 2 hours away from Winnipeg, but we'll most likely like in a city called Brandon because it's much bigger(since Cranberry has only 2,000 people! My High School had 3,500! Haha!). It'll be quite the cold adventure, but at least we'll be getting there as it's warming up. I can't believe we were dreaming of California one day and destined for Canada the next. Ha! We are grateful he got the job though, and especially right after he quit his last one! What luck ;)

Sunny California, I'll be with you in a year! Good things are worth waiting for! (like Ben proposing...hahaha)

Impressed!

2011-02-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

Last night Ben went grocery shopping for a surprise Sunday dinner he was going to make for us. NICE! last night he began some of the preparations and then when we got home from church yesterday the chef got to work. He told me I COULD NOT look in the kitchen, so I laid on the couch and listened to him cook away. It was hilarious listening to all the noises. I loved it. It took a while so I knew it had to be something pretty impressive. WELL...he made Chille relleno's, lime chicken, and grilled cheesy potato wedges! The really impressive part was the chile relleno's. They were so good! He also bought Sangria, one of my favorite drinks. I think I want Ben to cook every Sunday. It was the best treat ever. Here's his beautiful plate displays...and yes there is avocado slices on the chille relleno's and a swirley lime slice for decoration...amazing.

Just because she's so cute...

2011-02-16T15:59:00.000-08:00

I stole some of my favorite pictures of my little niece Brooklynn from my sister-in-laws facebook :) She's just SO CUTE! I need to be in California soon and see my niece and my nephew Aiden!

Valentines Shrine

2011-02-15T17:36:00.000-08:00

I made a little conglomeration of all our Valentine's stuff. My mom sent Ben and I cute cards, delicious mint chocolate cookies for Ben, and chocolates for me. She's great. I bought Ben some under-armour briefs that he wears for the gym(I was bad at washing the two pairs he had over and over again so I decided he needed another pair). I also got roses from Ben and we exchanged our Valentine cards :)

So I thought we were celebrating Valentine' day on the Saturday before so I gave him my present that night because I didn't want to wait until Monday. We just went out to dinner with a group of friends which was fun, but it didn't really feel like Valentines Day...maybe because it wasn't! So Monday rolls around and I get a text from Ben asking me if I wanted to go to dinner with him that night. Of course I said yes because I never turn down eating out and then I realized he could only be doing this if it was for Valentines Day. So...I had decided to make snicker-doodles for Ben, but didn't end up doing it on Saturday because I was too busy, so I rushed and made them on my 15 min break since V-day was back on! Haha. Then I wrote in the card I bought for him and ended up getting off work early which was perfect because I was a mess and still needed to get ready. ANYWHO...Ben gets home with a bouquet of roses and a card. I was so surprised because he had just said a few weeks earlier he wasn't going to get me flowers on V-day because their a rip off(how romantic haha, but I agreed it was a rip off) Well I guess Costco has good deals on flowers! Haha. He made me so happy and I was so surprised. I asked him what happened to celebrating V-day on Saturday and he said he thought I seemed sad we weren't doing anything on the real v-day. Haha so cute. We went to dinner and I was so happy and thankful for the sweet hunk I married :) Love him to death.

I am obsessed...

2011-02-11T14:54:00.000-08:00

With these two ingredients: Spinach and Artichoke.

If Ben and I go out to eat and something on the menu has these two ingredients...DONE. Decision made. I'm getting it.

Today me, Paige and Shelly went to have lunch at one of my favorite places called Zupas.

They have a DELICIOUS turkey, spinach and artichoke panini and an AMAZING wisconsin cauliflower soup that I get every time I go.(sometimes just one or the other because the place is kindof a rip off) Since I can't eat at Zupas everyday I decided I needed to make the Panini at home for a lot cheaper.

I got the idea to use my fat free spinach dip that I made for the Super Bowl as the spread for the sandwich. It works perfect. I use wheat bread and a layer of spinach dip spread on each slice, a sprinkle of basil, some slices of canned artichoke hearts, tomatoe slices, and turkey. Then I stick in on our little grill thingy to get all toasty and viola!! SO GOOD! I've have literally eaten one every single day this week. (Had to make a trip to the store twice because we ran out of bread and turkey haha)

I know this is probably a REALLY dumb thing to blog about, but hey, maybe someone out there will make one and have it change their life forever, like spinach and artichoke has for me. Haha!

My dilemma with my college career thus far

2011-01-24T13:17:00.001-08:00

I have this semester and then two classes over the summer until I'm done with my Associate's. I'm not sure if it's because I took a lot longer to finish my associates (due to the fact that my student loans each semester only covered three classes and I couldn't afford to pay $500 more each semester to go full time) or if it's because general education is SO BORING, but at this point I am SO OVER SCHOOL! Here's my problem though...

I can't decide if it's worth going into another $10,000 worth of debt to get my degree in 2-3 years(depending on whether or not I get grants or how much my loans are) when I'll most likely have a baby within two years and possibly not be able to finish, or finish, and then be a stay at home mom until my kids are old enough that I can work.

Another concern I have is that if I do get a degree and then not actually be able work for another maybe 15 years while I'm raising kids, by the time I am able to work, will I even be able to get a job? It seems like if so much time will have passed from the time I graduated that I would forget everything I learned or that the times will have changed in the field I studied(Graphic design at this point).

Right now the best idea to me seems to be to finish with my associates and then at the right time go back to school to get my Bachelor's. Maybe after I've lived a little more life and experienced more things, I'll have a better idea of what it is I would like to do for work anyways.

If anyone has any advice...I'd love to hear it :)

Reeeelax

2011-01-06T20:06:00.000-08:00

School was really boring and disappointing today. I didn't get the classes I was hoping for this semester.Then when I got home my crock-pot dinner was a mess. I wish I had the time to make a descent dinner for when Ben gets home, but I always have to resort to the crock-pot because I'm gone all day. I usually don't follow a recipe and things turn out fine but today it just didn't work out. After we ate we went to the gym and surprisingly enough the worst part about that is walking to and from the car. IT'S FREEZING! Winter should be over with the end of the year. What made everything fade away? One of these...

Oh man nothing is better than a bubble bath! My day really wasn't that bad, but this was JUST what I needed :)

I feel bad that Ben can't fit in tubs. Haha. I think he would enjoy a nice bubble bath now and again :)

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T12:13:00.000-08:00

I never feel like writing a new blog post! I think school has made me hate writing. Haha. SinceI've had a sufficient break from this semester, I found the strength to write ;)

I had to change my blog heading with my new family addition...my husband! Haha. After our wedding and honeymoon my life was crazy making up for the two weeks I was gone, but it was definitely worth it. My wedding day was perfect! I had so much family there and it was just what I wanted. All of our families helped out SO much and we're both so thankful for everything they did. My mom was able to have all her sisters there for the weekend and they were all a big help to my mom. We also had an Open house in Boise the weekend after we got back and my mother in law worked her butt off to make it such a nice night.

Ben and I went to Maui for a week for our honeymoon and we had a BLAST! It was the happiest week of my life with my best friend :)

It so weird having everything we could possible need in our apartment, I love it! My kitchen is finally complete and all my stuff instead of a bunch of random things from every roommate.

After the wedding and honeymoon it was back to real life and we both weren't looking forward to it.

We got a little weekend off when we went home to California for my brother Tyler's mission farewell. It was fun to hang out with my family during Christmas time since we went to Boise this year. Tyler gave such a great talk and I'm so proud of him. He flew into Salt lake the Wednesday after and I picked him up and went to breakfast and then dropped him off at the MTC! IT was sad but I'm so excited for him! He's going to be an AMAZING missionary.

I was SO HAPPY when this semester was over and we had such a nice Christmas in Boise. It was fun hanging out with the entire family and I'm thankful to have married into such a great family!

Even after all the stress of school I ended up getting three A's and one B, not too shabby! I was pretty surprised.

Ben is still working on the job up in Ogden and unfortunately really doesn't like his job. We're both hoping for something better to come along soon before he has to drive up and work on a job in Dugway which is two hours away. YUCK! I feel so bad for him...BUT I am thankful for all his hard work for us :)

Well not much else is going on. We went up to Sundance to eat and hang out with a couple other couples for New Years eve. I love that I have a definite new years kiss every year now ;)

Tonight we made Goals for 2011. It feels great to have goals and I'm excited for this year and my future with my husband!

Life is good!

Here's a few pictures from the wedding day and a couple when we were in California

The time has finally come

2010-10-18T17:31:00.000-07:00

This is my last night in my apartment. I leave tomorrow morning for California and when I get back I will be a married woman! AH! We found an apartment and I'm so excited for me and Ben to have our own place all to ourselves! Living with a bunch of girls for the past 4 1/2 years has come to an end...

Blog posts to come of all the wedding shananigans :)

Crisssssp Fall time

2010-10-13T19:41:00.000-07:00

I wish fall took over all of winter. It's such a short season, but by far my second favorite ;)

On Sunday, Ben and I along with his brother Jeff and his wife Courtney (my future brother and sis in law!) AND new baby Brock all went up to a secret spot in Sundance for a picnic. It is so pretty up there! I love hanging out with Jeff and Courtney. I'm marrying into a great family! Here's a few pictures I took. I sometimes forget I have a camera, and when I do remember to bring it along for something I end up taking so many pictures. Jeff was a little worried and asked Ben as I was snapping away, "Does she always take that many pictures?" Haha! Guilty ;)

The Countdown Begins!

2010-09-27T15:44:00.000-07:00

It is crunch-time now until the big day. I will say it has been a little(possible very) stressful. With work, school, and planning the wedding, homework has been the hardest thing to find time for! That being said I am soooooo excited. I CANNOT WAIT for me and Ben to finally have our own place together. Speaking of Ben, he really is amazing and I love him so much. When I stop to think of all the little things he does for me I feel so lucky that he is mine :) He is so smart, creative(even more than me I hate to admit), makes me want to be the best person I can be, would help out anyone in need, and I have no doubt he will always treat me wonderful! There is so much more to him then meets the eye and I knew that from our very first date. He is my best friend and I'm so excited to start our life together and make it through all the ups and downs.

SO...we're getting married Saturday October 23rd and I drive out to California the Tuesday before. Ben will be flying out on Wednesday and stay at a hotel in San Diego with his family. Thursday night is my big wedding shower which will be so much fun. My mom has invited tons of people and all her sisters are coming as well so it'll be a party :)

Then on Friday all the family should be getting into town and we'll be staying in San Diego. I'm so excited to hang out with everyone that day. All of my family and Ben's will be getting together to eat at a park and then some of us are going to do a bonfire by the beach afterwards. It'll be so fun to hang out with everyone before the wedding.

And then Saturday! We will be Sealed in the Temple at 3pm and our reception is at 6 afterwards. Ben is still working out the details of where we're staying on our wedding night, but we do know that we're going to Maui on our Honeymoon...SO EXCITED! I went to Maui with my best friend Amanda for 3 weeks after I graduated Highschool and it was the best trip ever. Now I get to go again with my Best friend Ben! Haha. Maui is so pretty and I can't wait to dive into that warm crystal clear water...ahhh a vacation will be SO needed by that point.

As for now, we just finished getting invitations all put together and they should be going out shortly. My dress is in the process of being made and I can't wait to see it. We still need to find a place to live which is tough because we don't know exactly how long we'll be in Utah and most places are a year contract, so we'll see how that goes. I could add a lot more to this list but I'll stop. I would however, like to give a big shout out to my Mom who is so busy getting everything taken care of. She's the best and I'm so thankful to have her help and to have such an amazing mom! Love you!

My next blog post will be from the new and improved LaRee Renae Poole!!! Doesn't that look nice ;)

2010-08-28T12:16:00.001-07:00

Here's pictures I found that inspired my wedding color choices...I LOVE these light pink flowers called anemones. The black center is so cool. So I decided to do black, charcoal gray and really light pink. Basically the only light pink will be the flowers...don't want to ever go overboard on pink ;)

2010-08-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

As most of you probably already know from facebook or my Mom, I got engaged! And I am sooooo happy and excited :)It all started with a trip to Boise on July 29th to see Ben's new niece. Allyson, my future sister-in-law, had her baby girl Harper on the 28th. I couldn't wait to see her. She was so cute and precious. Then on Friday Ben told me that we were going up to McCall the next day to ride SeaDoo's! I was so excited and asked who was going. He said just us two. That's when I started to suspect something...of course there were quite a few times when he could have proposed before and hadn't so this really didn't mean he was going to, haha.

We had such a fun day in McCall. We rode Sea Doo's for two hours all around Payette Lake. Then later Ben took me to this Lodge restaurant over looking the lake, very pretty. After dinner I really didn't think it was going to happen, Ben was very good at acting like nothing was going on. Then we walked down onto the dock and my mind started wondering... Haha. I kept my cool though and acted normal because like I said, there's been some false alarms. Then we sat down in some chairs and I felt it coming... He got down on one knee and everything. It was so cute :) and I was so nervous! I couldn't believe it actually happened! Haha. It has slowly sunk in since then and I just get more and more excited :) Wedding plans have been in full speed ahead...too much to do! We will be getting married October 23rd in the San Diego Temple. The countdown begins ;)

Here's some pictures of the latest summer events...

Summer!

2010-07-13T06:24:00.000-07:00

So far I have had such a fun summer. I'm enjoying working in the comfort of my own room...aaaand sometimes in my bed. Haha! It couldn't have come at a better time since on my way home from visiting my parents on their trip to Zion's National Park a rod in my engine broke and destroyed my engine. It cost too much to replace the engine so after a lot of towing around, Ben has been helping me try to sell it. Hopefully I can get SOMETHING out of it. I'm so glad I have a good boyfriend to help me out with all this car stuff. He's been amazing help!

My summer trips have been so much fun. I was actually in California for over 3 weeks during the month of May and was able to work from there so I could go to my brothers wedding and my roommate Shelly's wedding. They were only two weeks apart. Ben was able to come with me for the first 5 days of the trip which was great!

Me and Ben both celebrated our Birthdays in June. Mine was June 9th and his was June 19th. He made my Birthday so much fun and thought of all the little details. He's so creative and always gives the most thoughtful gifts. First we ate up in Sundance which is beautiful and my dinner was SOOO good. Then we went to the driving range and shot golf balls which was a perfect summer activity and fun to do. Next we went out for dessert, and topped off the night with hot tubing, which I've been wanting to do forever! It was a great night. My main present was tickets to see a band called Kings of Leon that I really like. The concert is Monday, I can't wait!

For Ben's birthday we went to breakfast at this place called Tangy's that he really likes. It has a real country feel to it and the people that are they are one of a kind. Haha. I had to work that day so Ben went and did his own thing after breakfast. When I got off work we went with a big group to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was so good! We loved how big their portions were. After Dinner Ben and I and his friend Sean went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo. It was a fun night. I got Ben a concealed firearms permit(really it was just the application and money for it and I also set him up for the class you have to take). He's been wanting one for a long time. I also got him some 45 ammo which he always likes to get. The next day we had Jeff, Courtney, Blake and Allyson over for cake(Ben's brother and sister and their husband and wife). I made a big red velvet cake that turned out really good! One of Ben's favorites! Fun night with his fam.

The other trip I just went on was to Boise for the 4th of July. It was so much fun! Ben loves going home and LOVES Boise. It is a cool place and very pretty. We had fun hanging out with his family and going to some of his favorite places there. Me and Ben bought every couple matching 4th of July shirts from Wal-Mart, and we all wore them out one night. We looked so stupid! But really cool at the same time ;) haha! Ben also purchased American flag board-shorts which topped of the outfit quite nice. He has since then also worn them to the pool here. They are awesome. One of the things that's really fun to do in Boise is go to this place called "the gutter" it's basically a permanent wave by a damn and you jump in a boogie board for as long as you want! Or as long as you can :) It is SO much fun. You'll see in the pictures Ben was wearing a zebra cowboy hat and his American flag shorts...what a great combo...embarrassing, haha! We also went down the Boise river in tubes and a raft. I of course had to fall in on the first small rapid into the FREEZING water. Ben and his Dad didn't see me come up and thought I was drowning. Ha! Ben took over my small tube and I got in the big raft after that with his Dad. It was pretty funny. It was really fun except for the whole falling in ice water part :)

My mom is coming into town in 3 days and I can't wait!!! I love hanging out with my mom and it's been a long time since she's been to Utah. She's also driving up Tyler's car that I get to use now which I am SO grateful for. Here's a bunch of pictures from my summer trips and birthdays and other random things! They aren't in order which bugs me...haha. I don't like the uploading part of blogs! Very annoying. Anyways...enjoy!

Why does summer take so long to come in Utah?!

2010-04-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

I cannot wait for the semester to be over. I never want to write another paper again! Don't think that wish will come true, but at least I won't have to for the entire summer. I'm really excited for this summer. I'm going to be able to start working from home with my job at pinnacle security and that will be so nice. I'll save on gas money and be able to roll out of bed and start working! Haha. My boyfriend Ben thinks I'm going to turn into a slob...NEVER! I'm also going home for my brother Jordan's wedding the weekend of May 15th and hopefully Ben will get to come with me. I love going home and spending time with my family and going to the beach! This time I'll also get to see my extended family who I love seeing too! Then in June I'll be taking another trip to California for my roommate Shelly's wedding on June 4th. Then for the 4th of July I'll be going to Boise to hang out with Ben's family and THEN I'll be going home AGAIN when my brother Tyler leaves on his mission! Tons of trips and I'm so excited about all of them.

Here are some pictures of things I've done lately...

Picturrrres

2010-03-09T09:35:00.000-08:00

I just got back from a weekend with my boyfriends family at a cabin right outside Colorado Springs. It was so nice to get away for awhile and I had such a fun time with everyone. Here are some pictures from the trip and I'm also putting up some pictures from last month. There's some from Blake's Birthday (my boyfriend's brother in law) and a few from Valentines Day. Oh and if you're wondering why Ben has a du-rag on in the Birthday pictures, it's because Blake's birthday was during black history month and that was the theme for his birthday. Ben got us all a du-rag and he made us fried chicken and waffles, collared greens, and purple drank. Don't worry, we're not racist. Oh and I put a few pics of Ben with his big beard right before he shaved it. Enjoy!

The Holidays...

2010-01-10T08:58:00.000-08:00

Are over, but the memories live on......haha. Kidding. Here are pictures of my Christmas break that I took with my new camera I got for Christmas! I love it! I had such a wonderful couple weeks. Spent about 8 days at home with my family, then had about another week off when I got back to Povo to spend with Ben! I loved every minute of it. I went to St. George with Ben for New Years Eve where his brother and sister were staying with her parents. We had a great time. So here's pictures from Christmas and New Years week...not really in chronological order :)

My Thanksgiving and December wrap up!

2009-12-08T10:18:00.000-08:00

Winter has arrived. We have had the nicest fall this year and I'm glad it lasted so long! It started snowing yesterday and it's still comin! It's nice to have some snow during Christmas time, but I definately don't like driving in it.

Ben got a new job a few weeks ago working for Rass Brothers Construction. He was SO HAPPY, to say the least, to not be working at Texas Roadhouse anymore. It's been so nice not having to hang out so late at night anymore! He's a project manager and so far it sounds like he's been doing a great job.

I spent this Thanksgiving with Ben's family and I had 5 days off of work! It was wooonderful. Ben's grandparents live in Sandy so we just drove up there every day and hung out with his fam. I went and watched Ben play football Thanksgiving morning (note:he made 3 touchdowns!) and then we drove to Sandy and had Thankgiving dinner (always a good thing) and then we all went to go see a movie. It was nice to do the same things I would have done with my own family! The next day his grandparents took the whole family out to Texas Roadhouse and then we went to go see the Salt Lake Temple lights. I love Christmas lights!

I'm on my last week of school before finals and then I fly home on the 21st for Christmas! I can hardly wait. I miss my family and I can't wait to spend Christmas with them!

Here's a few pictures that Ben's mom took during Thanksgiving...

Ben with his nephew Mitchel (who had a candy cane face in about 2 minutes)

We stopped to warm up in the Joseph Smith building

Here's Ben family minus his older brother and sister in-law (This may or may not end up in their Christmas cards-we'll see if they liked my photography skills haha)

Pictures from Halloween

2009-11-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Pumpkins.Carved.

2009-10-25T23:15:00.000-07:00

I love carving pumpkins. Last year I didn't and Halloween just didn't feel the same. So today after church I went with Ben over to his sister Allyson and her husband Blake's house to eat dinner, carve pumpkins, and just have a gay ol' time! Haha. We had Nightmare before Christmas playing in the background which set the mood perfectly, but I still couldn't think of a good idea for my pumpkin...I'm a little disappointed with my lack of creativity. Ben's pumpkin on the other hand was AMAZING! I was so impressed. We had two of my favorite drinks, hot apple cider and egg nog...can't beat that during the holidays! So far fall has been great. Let's hope I can make it through the snowy winter! A trip home for Christmas will be just what I need when it starts getting really cold. Anyways here's a few picture from our night!

It's been a while...update

2009-10-22T20:41:00.001-07:00

Thought I'd post a little update on my life since it's been forever since I've blogged! Maybe it's because I don't have the internet at work anymore and school also started again. So I just never find time to blog! Anywho...

I still work at Pinnacle Security but lately i've been going a little stir crazy sitting in a cubicle talking on the phone. I contemplated trying to find a new job but nothing in Provo pays as well as the job I'm at right now and that is the only thing keeping me there. So it looks like I'm just gonna suffer through the boredom so I can pay the bills :)

School is going pretty well. I hate generals but I'm also taking art classes so it helps. I love my painting class and I think that's my favorite art medium. I'm planning on working with my good friend Rachael Clegg who wants to be a professional photographer. Photographers usually have someone who does all their photo editing for them because it takes too much time for them to do it themselves. That's where I come in! I've always loved photo editing and I'm good at paying attention to details. I'm gonna take some photoshop classes at school and maybe have photography be my minor. So me an Rachael are really excited to work together someday. The best part about it is that even if we end up living in different states, I will still be able to get the job done thanks to technology :)

Rachael wants to work her way up to doing wedding photography someday which brings in the big bucks....which means bigger bucks for me too! I'm excited to actually have something that I know I would love doing and it would be great because even when I have kids I can still be at home! So for now that's my plan. We'll see what happens!

I have a new calling in church and it's been a while since I've been in a more Leadership position so it's been a great learning experience so far and I know I will gain a lot from it. I just desperately need a relief society activity leader called and some comittee members so I can plan activities and not have to do almost all the work myself! We had an activity tonight and I can't believe how much work goes into feeding a large group of people! So that's my next order of business...getting some girls called to those positions. I really really like the ward I'm in right now. It's been my favorite one in Provo so far. When you have a really great Bishopric and ward it makes a huge difference and I love mine!

Last weekend I drove to California with Rachael and first we stopped in St. George for my old roomates Danica's wedding reception and then made the rest f the trip to California. Then I woke up early the next morning and drove to the LA Temple for my cousin Lance's wedding. and reception. Then me and Tyler drove the two hours back together so we could get to his appointment for his Patriarchal blessing in time. It was a lot of driving for one weekend, but it was so worth it. I loved getting to see my extended family especially my Aunt Jill and her kids who I haven't seen in 5 years! I also got to be there for some exciting things in my brother Tyler's life and I'm so glad I was home for it. He made the decision to serve a mission while I was there and I couldn't be any happier for him. He's such an example to me of someone with a lot of faith and courage. I'm so proud of him. I just wish I could have been there when they asked him to bear his testimony at Stake Conference the next Sunday! GO TYLER! I would have shriveled up in my chair and dissapeared most likely if I was him. Haha.

Halloween is coming up and it's one of my favorite hollidays. So I'm sure I'll have some pictures from that. My digital camera broke so I haven't been taking pictures at all! I hate it.

Well Hope everyone is sufficiently updated on my life. If you read this long post you are truly amazing. I'm not sure if I even want to read it over. Haha! PEACE!

New Hair color

2009-09-01T19:08:00.001-07:00

I've been gradually going darker. I said I'd never be brunette again...never say never I guess!

Week in California

2009-08-24T16:41:00.001-07:00

I went home last week to California for a summer trip before school starts and took Ben along with me. We had so much fun! Here's a summary on what we did...

We went to the beach a ton and spent a lot of time trying to get better at surfing. Ben was out there for several hours at a time! He definitely out lasted me.

We went shooting with my brother Tyler andd my dad, which me and Ben both love to do. We went to Coronado Island, Lajolla Cove, Old Town San Diego, Newport, and Huntington!

We did some shopping, mainly for Ben since I have no money, but I loved shopping for him too. We ate some good mexican food which I always do when I go home. My mom told us about this place in Old Town San Diego called Coyote Cafe and it was amazing.

We went and saw Ben's Mom's old house in Newport Beach where she grew up, it was a really cool neighborhood. I would have LOVED to lived that close to the beach.

On Sunday the whole family went to church and had a delicious dinner afterwards made by my mom. I got to see my nephew who I wish I could see more often, I love that little guy.

On Sunday evening my Dad let Ben take me for a ride on his Motorcycles and we both LOVED that.

We actually spent a few hours in Compton visitng a friend of Ben's from his Mission...It was really weird to see houses with metal fences completely surrounding them and windows all barred up!

We also went to West Coast Choppers, which was really cool and Ben hopes to have a custom chopper someday so he loved it.

It was such a nice week and I'm so glad I got to see my family and spend so much time with Ben. Thank goodness for vacations!!! Here's some pictures from the trip...

My Birthday present that I waited two months for...

2009-08-03T10:00:00.000-07:00

Was definitely worth the wait! Best buy had a great deal on the Netbook that I've been wanting. If you haven't ever seen a netbook they are so cute! Yes, I just called a laptop cute, but it's mini size! I'm so glad to finally have my own computer and it will be SO helpful at school since I can just take all my notes on it. Big thanks to my parents for my amazing present!
Here's the one I got:

You can check out all the netbooks at Best Buy here http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat163300050051&type=category

Moving

2009-07-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

So for some reason I always end up moving every year. Usually it's because me and my roomates just want a change, but this time it was not intentional. We LOVED where we were living, but our landlord ended up selling our contract without telling us or asking if we wanted to re-sign. No words can describe how much my roomates and I dislike him. He has done so many annoying things. BUT my roomates ended up finding a place that I am SO excited to live. It's just the right size, very clean, furnished, and I'll have my own room for the first time ever since moving to Provo! My rent will only be $250 a month. What a deal. So yesterday I packed up everything and tomorrow morning Ben will be helping me move everything in. The best thing about moving is getting rid of a bunch of things you don't need and reorganizing everything. I love getting organized.

Another nice thing is we will still be going to the same ward. I recently got a calling to be 2nd councelor in the Relief Society Presidency so the Bishop said I could definitely stay in the ward if I was willing to except the calling. I suppose it could have been an easy out, but I was more than happy to accept. Haha.

4th of July Vacay!

2009-07-09T11:55:00.000-07:00

For the weekend of the 4th I went with Ben to Boise, where he's from. It was a blast. We went white water rafting, boating, and to the river. It was so nice to have a little vacation and I had so much fun with Ben and his family. It was also fun to see all the places that Ben grew up going to. Here's some pictures from the weekend...

MATISYAHU

2009-06-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

On Saturday Ben and I went to a Matisyahu consert in Salt Lake City. He put on a REALLY good show and had the best dance moves. Haha. Wish I had a video of them. They were quite unique. It was at this place called The Venue, which is pretty small, so we basically had front row seats. Here’s a pic from Ben’s phone….

Birthday Shootout!

2009-06-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures I stole from Ben of when we went shooting on my Birthday...

I am a loser...

2009-06-13T19:55:00.000-07:00

Allow me to explain....
It's Saturday night. 8:56pm. I am currently sitting in my car in a parking spot by my apartment where I can get the internet, since we don't get the internet in our place. And I'm adding pictures to my blog. Now normally this would NOT be how I would spend a Saturday night. BUT My roomates are all out of town and so is Ben. Now I could probably find SOMETHING to do with other friends, but frankly I just don't feel like it. I'm giving a talk tomorrow in church and I need to be mentally prepared for that since it IS MY BIGGEST FEAR. Hopefully my mouth doesn't run dry and start making a clicking noise that becomes the only thing I can focus on, like the last time I spoke in church. Haha. I'm contemplating chewing gum, I don't care if that's wrong. I just need a backup source to keep my mouth moist. Anyways...It's been raining in Provo for I think 10 days straight now. I like it at night, but not during the day. I'm really looking forward for June gloom to be over. Welp, pray that I will not faint while giving my talk tomorrow. Oh and I added pictures to my posts below, if you're interested. PEACE!

Mark my words....

2009-06-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

I will
never
ever
EVER
be in charge of paying rent and collecting rent checks from my roomates EVER AGAIN. This is the last straw. I have been screwed over waaaay too many times. If someone doesn't understand the importance of having money in their account the day their rent check is being deposited, I will NO LONGER be the one to suffer from them being completely irresponsible.

Sometimes you just need to vent.
I think I'm done :)

22 two two to to too too....Tribute to my day of Birth

2009-06-10T10:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my Birthday. I don't think I've been text so much in my life! Haha, but everyone's Birthday wishes were greatly appreciated. I decided to get work off so I could just relax and be lazy on my Brithday. I got to sleep in and it felt grrreat. All my roomates are gone so if it wasn't for Ben, it would have been really lame. On the contrary, it was a GREAT Birthday. My mom told me that something was going to be delivered to me between 10 and 11, so I woke up and got ready and waited for the delivery. It was so cute, my mom's good friend Sue who lives in Orem brought me balloons and a delicious Icecream cake(my favorite) from my mom. It was so nice of Sue! And a great idea on my mom's part. I loved it. It made it feel like it was really my birthday. My mom is so thoughtful.

In the afternoon Ben took me shooting, which is one of my favortie things to do. Ben has a pistol and a rifle. The weather was perfect when we first got there, but it eventually started to rain pretty hard. We felt hardcore because even the rain didn't stop us(It did however, make me really cold haha). When I got back home I got ready for the rest of the night. Ben picked me up around 6 and brought with him the prettiest flowers!!! I never get flowers so I was pretty excited. He also had a big box that was wrapped with homemade wrapping paper (lined notebook paper taped with masking tape and spray painted) hahaha. SO cute. I've been wanting a gas grill for a long time now. Everything taste better grilled! When I saw the big box I knew he got it for me! I was so stoked! I'm so exctied for it and can't wait to start grillinnnnn. Next he told me we were going to Salt Lake to a "Special" restaurant. I felt like a little kid, I was so excited and giddy. I love eating out! Haha. We went to a restaurant called Flemmings(the nicest restaurant I've been to in a long time). I got filet mignon with a side of these delicious potatoes and it was to die for. The macaroni and cheese we got was the best I had ever tasted. They also gave me these dark chocolate truffles since it was my birthday and of course, they were SO good. I felt so spoiled! It was amazing. After we got home Ben put my grill together(Very grateful for that) and then we took my icecream cake over to his sister's house and shared the goodness. It was a such a great birthday and Ben was such a sweetheart for everything he did :)

My Flowers!!!

Ben putting my present together-What a man ;)

I wanted a picture with my flowers, but then I felt stupid and started

laughing. Ben kept reptedly taking pictures...this was the result.

Almost Done! Woohoo Grill!

Me displaying the goods. My balloons and cake my mom got me(The red

balloon that said Happy Birthday popped, sad) and my GRILL!!! Oh and a

piece of the homemade wrapping paper, haha!

Back Track #3...

2009-05-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

One more thing that I have pictures of... Now I don't know how many of you can say that you have been to a Horse Pull, but I can! You may be wondering what that is...I did too. Basically it's these HUGE horses called Belgium Horses that compete in pulling a TON of weight. Pretty interesting huh. I went with Ben and a few of his friends. His friend Rusty had a cousin who had horses that were competing. It was all the way up in Logan which is about 2 1/2 hours away. Long drive but we stoppped halfway in Salt Lake to meet up with the people we were going with and ate lunch at Rusty's parents house. It was a fun day and A GREAT place for people watching haha. The pictures don't even do the horses size justice! They were huge I tell ya.

Back Track #2...

2009-05-27T12:26:00.000-07:00

Next back track is my trip to Arizona and California. Exciting. I first flew into Arizona where I was picked up by my family. We stayed with my Grandma Hathcock. Kara's wedding was the next day and I was one of her bridesmaids. Always a pleasure ;) We went to the lake on Saturday which was SO much fun. I actually learned how to wakeboard for the first time. I wasn't any good, but I did get up, which was exciting for me. Then we drove back to California where I got to spend a few days in the sun at the beach and I got my wisdom teeth removed...not the best part of the vacation. I was also able to be there for Mother's day which was SO nice, since I haven't been able to the past few years. The whole family was there for church and a big dinner afterwards that we all pitched into make. It was a nice day :)

I always love coming home, but at the same time I'm always ready to get back to my life in Provo. There was a few things that I was missing a ton! Here's some pictures from the trip...I didn't take too many because half of the trip I looked like a chipmunk! Haha.

Hahahaha...Here I am right after getting my wisdom teeth removed. I was completely out of it! But for some reason I wanted to take a picture of the inside of my mouth. I couldn't keep both eyes open for some reason either. Haha! (I also took a video...but I'm definitely not posting that.)

Back Track...

2009-05-27T12:12:00.000-07:00

I need to catch up so I'm just gonna post a few things that have happened in the last month or so. First on the back track list would be back on April 16th...I think. I threw a bridal shower for my cousin Kara who got married on May 1st. It was at her friend Christina's beautiful house, which was nice. I just happened to get the flu the night before and was sick the entire next day of the Bridal shower when I had a million things to do, BUT the show must go on! Ha. My roomate Rachael was a HUGE help. She helped me set up everything and stayed the entire time to take pictures and clean up. I was SO grateful for her. The dinner was potatoe soup, which tasted good because of course it was still cold in Utah. Here are some of the pictures she took of the party :) Kara looked so cute and was so excited about everything...well who wouldn't be. Haha.

The end!

2009-04-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

These past two weeks have been...stressful....to say the least. BUT IT"S ALL OVER! I'm leaving for Arizona tomorrow for my cousin Kara's wedding and then it's home to California. I will be getting my wisdom teeth pulled, but other than that, I'm soooo looking forward to this 10 DAY BREAK! Family, Sunshine, Food, and my best friend Amanda. Always the things I look forward to when I go home :)
Even though this month has been busy and stressful, it's also been a lot of fun...weird but true. Adios bloggers!

Weekend in CA for Lance's homecoming

2009-04-03T14:13:00.000-07:00

I got to go home last weekend and I had so much fun. My cousin Lance just got back from his mission to Argentina and it was my Dad, Grandma's, AND my best friend Amanda's Birthday! So I guess I killed four birds with one 10 hour trip :) haha. Here's a few pictures from the trip.

POT-LUCK!

2009-03-20T12:10:00.000-07:00

Today is a GREAT day at work....For some reason I was completely unaware that we have been planning to do a pot-luck today at work for some time now. Well fortunately for me, even though I didn't contribute I have still been able to partake. Haha! Nothing is better then unexpected free food! I was just really excited about this and thought it was blog worthy :)

A forced wall post...

2009-03-18T13:52:00.000-07:00

I'm mad I haven't had any good post ideas lately...is my life really that boring?!!! Maybe...haha.

So I decided to just write about the things going on in my life even if they ARE boring. I don't have any pictures to post, just my eloquent written word, haha!

Today was our first day of Spring break. I normally have school on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I work 3-4 days a week. I'm excited because tomorrow I don't have EITHER! I'm going to fill my day with the perfect balance of productivity and fun and will enjoy every minute of it.

Yesterday I went with my cousin Kara to look at wedding dresses. Now don't be concerned...not for me. Kara will be getting married May 1st and I get to be a bridesmaid which I'm excited about. I was also a bridesmaid for her older Sister Lacey's wedding about 4 months ago and it was so much fun getting in on all the action of the wedding. Anyways, it was fun getting to help her look for a dress and she actually found a dress that was so pretty and looked AMAZING on her. I'm looking forward to helping her out with her wedding plans...it's fun.

I think I've said this before, but I don't usually have any extra money to spend on anything except rent, utilities, and groceries. I was so exctied to get my taxes back because I finally was able to get a few things that I really needed. Number one, I got my hair done yesterday and two, this morning before work I went and got new running shoes. I have had the same ones for about year and a half...not good. My knees were in desperate need of some new ones.

Even though my Spring break is this week I decided to not take any work off because my cousin Lance just got home from his mission in Argentina and I will be going home next week for his homecoming talk in Tehachapi, CA. I'm so excited to see him and all my family. It should be really fun and I'm definitely ready for a little weekend vacation.

The weather in Utah has been unreal lately and it makes me feel like summer is coming...but just watch, it'll probably snow next week. I think we're on about a 4 day streak of amazing weather. I've started to hear the motorcycles and motorized scooters making their way out to the streets. That is definitely a sound of summer...motorcycles. I love them!

My roomate Paige has been in desperate need of a job and she finally applied to Pinnacle Security where I work and got the job! I'm so stoked! She's been going through all the boring training, but soon we will be side by side, cubicle by cubicle, livin the account creation department dream together...haha! It's gonna be a beautiful thing.

Well that about sums up my thoughts on my life happenings right now...If I bored you well... just think about how I feel...it's my life!

My quote for the month...

2009-03-02T16:06:00.001-08:00

Never surpress a charitable thought :)

An update...

2009-02-25T15:58:00.000-08:00

Life is busy, and I am poor. That's about it. Haha.

Pinnacle Security this is LaRee how can I help you?

2009-01-28T12:22:00.000-08:00

So this has happened to me twice now...I go to say my prayer at night and this is my beginning, "Pinnacle Security this is"...that is a bad sign. Hahahaha. I usually don't finish the whole phrase in my head before I realize what I'm doing. Haha! How sad.

Park City

2009-01-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

These past two saturday nights I went up to Park City where they have the Sundance Film Festival. Here's just a few pics from the trips :)

BOOTS!

2009-01-23T12:12:00.001-08:00

So...I live in Provo, UT. Winter here is winter, not 75 degrees like in California. A neccesity for this cold weather is boots! I have a few pairs that with suffice, but if I had money to spare I would buy sooo many from this site! It's the best website I've ever seen for boots! They have ever kind you could possibly want. AND on top of that they're cheap! So if you live somewhere cold and need some new boots I suggest going here... http://www.shoeocean.com/womens-boots.html#top
Oh how I wish I could buy several pairs.... maybe next year :)

Blog's vs. Facebook

2009-01-23T10:36:00.001-08:00

So, I think blogs are great. There's just one thing I don't get. When you get comments on your posts and you want to respond back, do you just write on your own post? I think that's weird though because whoever you're responding back to doesn't even know you responded back...so then do you go respond on their blog? No, because you would have to write a comment on one of their posts and the response would have nothing to do with their post. Have I confused you? Maybe I'm just used to Facebook and writing back and forth through wall posts. Maybe I just need to read my comments and not feel like I have to respond back and just comment on other people's blogs...
Communication these days. Things have definitely changed for my generation ;)

Paige turned 21 :)

2009-01-17T00:15:00.000-08:00

It was my best friend Paige's 21st Birthday on Thursday and we celebrated with dinner at Macaroni Grill and then cake and icecream at our place afterwards. It was a fun night and I'm so glad to have a friend like Paige in my life. No one gets you like your best friend :) Here's some pictures of the night. We took tons!! This is probably a tenth of the amount. Me and my roomate Rachael(Paige's sister) are obsessed with taking pictures. Works out great for everyone else I think...or we're just annoying, either one. Ha!

Dove Milk Chocolates...

2009-01-12T15:05:00.000-08:00

I'm doing two posts in one day...gosh I'm devoted(or bored at work). Anyways, this guy at work had Dove chocolates, I took two. Delicious. THEN I saw the inside little quotes they put in them! Let me share these deep deep dove thoughts with you...

"Expect only the best, the future is yours"

"Believe in yourself"

What the heck! This is perfect for my new year! Haha.

2009-01-11T23:18:00.001-08:00

So I didn't have work Saturday and decided it was time to go sledding. All in all it was really fun... BUT I had the wipe-out of all sledding history. Me and my friend shelly decided to go down a slope that had a huge jump at the bottom. Well technically, one small jump then one big one. Well the first time we went down it we ended up falling off the tube before we went off the jump so....we went round two. We hung on for dear life for round two. As we hit the first jump and went decently flying in the air I realized then that this was going to be...interesting, to say the least. Well there came the huge jump and we went flying, tube flies out from underneath us and all I feel is air for what seemed like forever. When we hit the snow, well when I hit the snow and shelly hit me, I knew it was the BEST wipeout. I tried to laugh but nothing came out. I have never had the wind knocked out of me so bad. Everyone went silent because it looked bad, but we slowly got to our feet. I definitely hit my head really hard and landed on the side of my body in what my friend Paige described saying "you looked like a curled up phetus" hahaha. So I walked up the hill went down again with a friend walked back up and thats when it hit me...the WORST pain in my lower stomach and an increasing headache and feeling like I was going to throw up! I acted like nothing was wrong not wanting to ruin the fun, but then I couldn't take it any longer and we ended going home...I don't know how I made it to the car I was so delirious. SO long story, but here's the worst part and I have a hard time writing about it because I am so completely and utterly dissappointed and will be for the rest of my life. We were going to tape the whole thing on my camera, but right as we were going down the camera died on my friend Paige who was taping. So the first thing I said when we got up from the crash was "At least we got in on tape"...only to find out...we didn't. I haven't been so dissappointed in a long time. Okay anyways here's a few pics from the day.

2009...

2009-01-08T14:15:00.001-08:00

I feel really good about this new year. Everything in my life is off to a good start! (Let's hope I didn't just jinx myself) My resolutions are off to a good start, I had a good first day back to school and feel like my classes should go well, I'm getting more hours at work(Desperately needed this), AND I have a date. This is a good start to 2009.

Also...I've been incredibly poor lately and my good friend and roomate Paige came home yesterday and showed me a dress she got at target, too which I replied "That is so cute", then she walks out of the kitchen real quick, comes back and says, "Good, cause I got you one too!". (It was in a different color of course, we don't wear matching outfits together don't worry) What a sweetheart! It made my day! So to top off the year I also have a new outfit for church :) Thanks to Paige and her thoughtfulness.

2008-12-25T21:32:00.000-08:00

One of the best things so far about being home for Christmas, was getting to see my nephew Aidan for the first time! He is so precious.

2008-12-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

The first snowman of the winter season. Me and Paige woke up to a thick layer of snow that looked good enough to eat. I may or may not have taken a bite. Anyways, we felt it was time....and back again someday he is. Frosty. The. Snowman.

Please give a warm welcome to...

2008-12-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

LaRee! Who has now joined the blogging world :) I'm excited to have a blog. I look at my families blogs all the time and felt it wasn't fair for me to stalk them and give no stalking material in return. So it will be fun to mutually know what is going on in eachothers lives! Although I think I may be the first one in the family to have a blog...and be single. Haha. Therefore my post may will be a little different ;)
ENJOY!!!!