Whitney and Luke

Resolutions

2010-12-30T08:34:00.000-08:00

I made a big list of resolutions for 2010, and I was able to complete most of them. The majority of them included running races, and I am proud to say that I was able to complete a 5K and 10K and a HALF MARATHON! That was such an accomplishment for me since I am not a runner.

This year I have decided on my resolutions and I figured I would post them here to help keep me on track.

Run/walk a 5k each month of the year (or a half marathon)
Pay tuition in cash every semester
Temple attendance at least once a month
Visit teach every month (this is a tough one)
Participate in a triathlon
Hike the Narrows
Read 100 books and make a list
Try a new recipe every month

There are a few more, but they are more personal. I'm excited to start this year out and work hard to obtain my goals/resolutions. I hope you all have a great New Years!

Slacker

2010-12-30T08:14:00.000-08:00

I have been horrible keeping up on this blog. I guess I should do an update from that last few months.
September:
September was a busy month full of camping and hanging out with "outside friends" and family. This pretty much sums up our summer as well. (*Side note: when we first moved into this home we didn't meet a lot of people and we started getting discouraged, but in about April or May we started meeting some GREAT friends that live around us. Since we met when the weather was warm we always hung out outside, hence the term "outside friends." These friends have made living in Yorkshire so much fun, and I will be really sad when it is our time to move).

October:
October was awesome. Once again we did a lot of camping! We camped at Zion's National Park with my family and did a lot of hiking. My favorite hike was Angel's Landing. What a view! This hike is not for those weary of heights, but the view is absolutely amazing and worth the effort. We also went camping with Luke's family in Mantua, which was a lot of fun. We love camping! We also spent a weekend in Park City with my family shopping, riding the Alpine Slide and relaxing. I always look forward to Park City, but my parents are working on selling their timeshare so we won't go as often. I'm fine with that because we will find something new and exciting to do.
Luke and I are CTR 4 Primary teachers and we helped get our kids ready for the primary program this month. They did such a good job. I love being in the primary!

November:
This month he had three different Thanksgiving dinners. We had one with our "outside friends", one with my side of the family, and one with Luke's. They were all fun with lots of really good food. I really enjoy getting together with family and friends and I am glad that we had the opportunity to do so this month.

December:
What a busy month! Luke finished this semester with a 4.0 GPA. I am so proud of him! We did a lot of Christmas shopping, decorating, and eating. We had an "outside friend" Christmas party which was a lot of fun. We went to the Festival of Trees and looked at all the amazing Christmas Trees. I can never get out of there without at least one tear. Luke and I also celebrated our 3rd year anniversary at the Anniversary Inn. It's crazy to think that we have been married for 3 years! Time goes by fast when you are having fun. We were able to spend Christmas with both sides of the family which is always nice. It seemed like this was a camping themed Christmas, Luke and I got a camping table, dutch oven, and a camp stove. Luke's family members also all got things to go camping with. I can't wait to do a ton of camping this summer!
In just a couple days it will be the new year. It's crazy to think that 2010 is almost over, the year went by way too fast. I am just thankful that I was able to do a lot of fun things this year and that I was able to spend it with some amazing people.

Skydiving!!!

2010-08-24T12:03:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I jumped out of a plane 12,000 feet in the air and lived to tell about it ;). What a rush! Skydiving is probably one of the most exciting things I have ever done. I was extremely nervous about it, but once I jumped out of the plane I was fine, and I loved every minute of it. I can't wait to do it again! ( I will post pictures when I get them)

Bryce Canyon Half Marathon

2010-07-27T08:16:00.000-07:00

I finally did it! I ran a half marathon! I have been wanting to run one for so many years, but after about a week of training I would get frustrated and give up. This year I was finally able to work through my training and complete my goal. It was so exciting to cross the finish line and have people cheering for me. The best part was to get the finsher's medal. I think I am hooked on races now :) I am planning on running the Mesquite half in November next. Wish me luck.

Customize a picture collage

NYC Day 6 and 7

2010-07-13T08:35:00.000-07:00

***Warning: Long posts! I don't know how to change the order so they are not very organized.***

The 6th was our last site seeing day because we went home early afternoon the next day.
The 6th day we met up with Jay, Shona's cousin, again and he showed us around Central Park. I loved Central Park! I want to go back there as soon as I can. We spent a lot of time in Central Park and I took a ton of pictures so I will post them when I can. We also went to the Lincoln Center, the LDS Manhattan temple (I need to go back so I can do a session there), and The Museum of Natural History (the one filmed in The Night of the Museum).
The temple was cool because it blends in with the city so well, the only thing that really sets it apart it the Angel Moroni on top. It was neat going there. The museum was cool, but there was a lot to it. You would have to spend over a week just in the museum in order to see everything. We got to see quite a bit, but not close to everything.
After the museum we tried to find the restaurant Serendipity 3 because I heard it has really good frozen hot chocolate. Well we walked forever to find it, and then it had a 30 min wait. We didn't have time to wait so I took a picture by it and then we were on our way to BROADWAY!!!
That night we went to see the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway! I loved it! I am so glad we were able to see it. I think I am the only one that felt that way, but I don't care. It was awesome! I loved the theater it was in and I loved...pretty much the whole thing. After the show we walked around Time Square some more. It's a cool sight to see a night so I am glad we were able to experience it.
Then we took our last subway ride back to the hotel and went to bed.
I absolutely loved this trip and can't wait to go back! Luke even said he would like to go back.
Day 7 We went to breakfast, packed up, went to the airport, and then went home. I have never been so sad to leave a vacation before :( I kept thinking we should stay a couple more days, too bad we all had to work when we got back home.
New York, I will be back!

NYC Day 5

2010-07-13T08:27:00.000-07:00

Today we got to see the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Financial District!
We first went to the Financial District and saw the Bowling Green Bull (the one in Hitch), Wall Street, the National Stock Exchange, and Tiffany's. I could handle working in the Financial District one day.
When we were ready to see the Statue of Liberty we got in a really long line and waited for a while, until we got close to the front and realized we had reserved tickets and didn't need to wait in line at all. We were a little upset with ourselves. We took a boat out to Liberty Island and took a tour around the island. We wanted to go into the crown, but those tickets usually sell out 4 months in advanced, luckily we bought our tickets early enough that we at least got to go into the pedestal of the statue. For some reason I always though the Statue of Liberty would be bigger then it was. Don't get me wrong, it is the biggest statue I have ever seen, but I thought it was be a lot bigger. After Liberty Island we went over the Ellis Island and took a tour there. It was really interesting and I was able to find some of my ancestors on the registry.
We spent the majority of the day visiting the 2 islands so by the time we were back in from Ellis Island we were ready to go home and go to bed.

NYC Day 4

2010-07-13T08:08:00.000-07:00

The 4th day was Sunday so we decided to make it a very low key day. I needed low key, by this day my feet were killing me!
We took the Subway to the Ground Zero to see where the World Trade Center was and walked around that for a little while. It was crazy to think that there were 2 huge buildings at the sight. Right now they are building one WTC and it will have fountain to recognize that day. There is a tribute center set up in one of the buildings that was close to the WTC and we were able to go into that. It was very sad to see the quotes from people who were around on that Sept 11, and to watch the videos they had set up. It makes me so mad that someone would do that to our country, but I am so proud that America united after that and I am so grateful for the troops who fought for our freedom.
The WTC is really close to the Hudson River so we walked along the river for a little while and then walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. On the way to the bridge there was a guy selling purses and he had one that I wanted!!! I was so excited, a purse was the main thing I wanted when I came to New York. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and had pizza at a nice pizzeria there. Then we took the subway back to the hotel.

NYC Day 3

2010-07-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

By this day we were getting tired of walking because we walked at least 5 if not more miles every day, but we kept going. Today we went and did a tour of Madison Square Garden. It was neat to see the locker rooms (we even got to see where Wayne Gretzky's locker was), and the auditorium where they host The Draft. I think Scott and Luke liked this tour the best. I thought it was really interesting and I am glad that we were able to go.
After the tour we took the subway down to China Town and Little Italy. It was a neat experience, but I don't need to go back. There were so many people that you literally had to push through crowds to go anywhere. I hate that! We had lunch at a pizzeria in Little Italy, it was yummy. We also had fresh made gelato...also very yummy! I wanted to buy a purse on Canal Street but I never found one I wanted :(. While we were in that end of town we ended up in Soho which I thought was really cool. It had a lot of good shopping and the biggest Hollister store I have ever seen!
After Soho we took the Subway to Washington Square and got a picture of the Arch and was able to relax for a little while. The cool thing about NYC is that the parks always have something going on. While we were at Washington Square there was an India festival going on and a lot of cool things to see.
By the time we were done at the park we decided we were done for the day and headed back to the hotel.

NYC Day 2

2010-07-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

After a much needed rest we were up and ready to go for our second day in New York. Today was cool because we spent a lot of time at Rockefeller Center. We got to see all the flags outside and recognized places that have been on TV and in movies. We took the NBC Studio Tour, which was interesting, but not as great as I thought it was going to be. While we were on the tour they told us you could get tickets to see Jimmy Fallon's (Sp?) monologue and standby tickets for his show that day. We got the tickets and then did some more site-seeing. We went back to Time's Square for a little while, had lunch, and then came back to the "Rock" to get in line for the monologue. That was really neat to get to see Jimmy Fallon in person and to hear his jokes before he puts them in his show. One of my favorite jokes was his thank you jokes it was; "Thank you mirrored sunglasses for letting me look at you, looking at me, look at you, looking at me..." He was really funny. After the monologue we had to wait to see if we would get into to see the show, but we were numbers 86-92 and they let in the first 70 people, so we just missed it. At least we got to see the monologue.
After that we did a little shopping at H&M (which I am a big fan of now) and I bought a really cute dress and a shirt. It's not very expensive and the clothes are really cute. We also went shopping at some souvenir shops and got a lot of magnets!
For some reason I feel like I am leaving something out, but I can't remember, if I remember I will post it later.

New York City Day 1

2010-07-13T07:30:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to start with this blog.... this trip was amazing!!! I loved New York and I would like to go back ASAP! I don't do well with tons of people around me because I get a little anxious, but surprisingly it didn't bother me at all while we were there. Wait.. I take that back I didn't like how busy it was in Chinatown and Little Italy, that made me anxious. Other then that I was fine.
I took a million pictures so I will post a few later.
So, our plane left SLC at midnight and we got to NYC at 6 AM (NYC time). I thought that I would be able to sleep on the plane, but boy was I wrong! I was way too excited to sleep, I think I slept for about 30 minutes, but that's it. We got a shuttle to take us to the hotel and that was a scary ride. I felt like we were going to hit every car we were next to. NY sure has narrow lanes! Anyways, we couldn't check into our hotel until 3 PM so they let us leave our suitcases in the lobby. I was not happy about that, I worried all day that someone would steal my luggage. No worries, when we got back our luggage hadn't been touched. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Long Island City so we were 2 miles from Manhattan. We were 4 blocks from the subway which was nice. I feel like I understand the subway there (I'm a pro)! The first thing we did in NY was take the subway into Grand Central Station. That place is so cool, but very busy. We met up with Luke's mom's cousin and he showed us around the station and then took us around town. He showed us the Chrysler building, and some buildings that I can't remember the names, we went to Times Square (which was really neat), and we went to the Empire State Building. It was really cool to be on top (well close to the top) of the ESB and see the city. You could even see the Statue of Liberty from there. While we were enjoying the views it started to rain on us, and it was raining hard! We decided we had seen enough and wanted to go down, well everyone else had that same idea so the elevators were packed! Instead of taking the elevator down we got to walk down the stairs for a couple floors before we could get back on the elevator. As soon as we got to the bottom it had stopped raining and the sun came out.
After the ESB we went to the Rockefeller Center (we went there a lot so I will talk about that one in more detail in day 2), FAO Schwartz and played on the Big Piano (the one in Big), went shopping in Saks 5th Avenue (all I got was a Chanel ribbon ha ha) and saw the St. Patrick's Cathedral. By 3 PM we were exhausted so we went back to the hotel, checked in, and were all sound asleep by 6 PM. What a day! I would never recommend a red eye unless you had a hotel to take a nap in when you got there.

Memorial Day

2010-07-13T07:13:00.000-07:00

This year my dad's birthday was during Memorial Weekend so we had a surprise party for him. He turned the big 5-0 so we wanted to make it a big deal. Tristan (my sister), Luke, and I towed up all of my dad's 4-wheelers to Coalville without him knowing and set up for the party. We even tried to cover the fact that the 4-wheelers were missing by putting tarps up where the 4-wheelers usually are. Apparently that didn't fool him; my mom told us that as soon as he got home from work he saw that they were missing and asked where they were. My mom's response was "what 4-wheelers?" She doesn't do well with surprises ha ha, but she did keep this one!
Well everyone arrived for the party 30 minutes before my dad was supposed to be there, and I think we got a good turn out. When my dad arrived he was blindfolded and had been since they left Salt Lake, since my dad drives Parley's everyday in the winter he knew exactly where he was at. I think he knew something was up, but he didn't know what.
When he arrived he was very surprised! I think he was so happy to see his close family and friends there to support him. Overall, it was a really nice party and I think we all had a good time.
My immediate family ended up camping at the church where we had the party and then we hung out and played games the next day. Luke's parents were also camping in Coalville so we went and hung out with them as well, and we camped with them on Sunday night. On Monday my family, and Scott and Megan went 4-wheeling in Coalville and had a blast. I only was able to take a couple pictures before my camera died (I will post later), but the views were amazing and the riding was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the ATVs my dad Scott were on both broke down so we had to fix both before we could keep going. We never did get Scott's to work that day, but we were able to get my dad's running.
Sometimes I feel like these weekends go by too fast!

Race Against Child Abuse 10k

2010-05-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, May 1, 2010, Luke, my mom, and I ran a 10k in Wellsville, Utah. That was a very tough 6.2 miles. There were a lot of hills so I got tired really fast. I have been training for a half marathon in July and thought I would try a 5k, and a 10k along the way. The 5k was mostly flat so I didn't have to walk at all, but I had to walk up all of the hills in the 10k. What a bummer! Oh well, I finished in 1:24:38 which was right around where I thought I would. The time is probably longer because I accidently cheated :( I was so focused on running that I missed one of the turns and just went straight. Well, there was a turn off that I was supposed to take which added about 2 blocks to what I ran, but oh well, I am counting the time I got. I am really slow so any help is appreciated even if I know the timing is a little off. I came in 2nd to last place, just in front of my mom who walked the whole thing (she did an awesome job; coming in at 1:46:something). That's ok I knew I wasn't going to be breaking any records. Luke, on the other hand, finished third place overall and 2nd in his age group. He did really well, his time was 45:22. I am so proud of him.

I am starting to really enjoy running and hopefully as time goes by I get a little faster! (Pictures coming shortly)

Easter

2010-04-19T10:23:00.001-07:00

For Easter this year we camped at Green River and then went to Arches and Goblin Valley. It was such an awesome trip. The first day we were there we went to Arches and hiked the Delicate Arch hike, and the Double O hike (even though we didn't make it to the Double O). The hikes were wonderful and the views were incredible. For those of you who haven't gone to Arches, I highly recommend it! The scenery is breathtaking and the hikes are a lot of fun.

Here are some pictures from Arches:

The next day we spent the whole day in Goblin Valley and a slot canyon ( I can't remember the name of it). This was my first time at Goblin Valley and I loved it. I felt like a little kid again because it is like a big play ground. I will for sure make another trip there. I would once again recommend this to everyone. We played all day and took a lot of pictures but I will just post a few. We hiked to the top of the plateau and could see for miles all around us, we found an awesome cave and we had so much fun in the slot canyon.

Here are some of the pictures:

Here are some pictures of the slot canyon (these pics don't give it justice, it was so cool):

99 Things

2010-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done. Mine are in Pink

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (Will do in June!)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Ran a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38.Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square (Will in June)
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone's life.
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee

New York here we come!

2010-01-27T10:42:00.001-08:00

This will be my first visit to NYC!
I am so excited !!!!
I can't wait until June!
If you have any advice for me (what to do, where to eat, what to see) I would greatly appreciate it.

2 year anniversary

2009-12-30T13:40:00.000-08:00

Luke and I celebrated our 2 year wedding anniversary on Dec 20. We decided to keep it low key so we just went to dinner at The Iron Gate Grill (I highly recommend, it was so yummy) and then went up the (snowy) canyon to watch a movie. It was a really enjoyable night. I am so lucky to be married to Luke, he is such a sweetheart. He even sent flowers to my work, which was shocking because he typically doesn't do things like that.
I am so blessed that I was able to marry my best friend. I love you Luke!

Christmas

2009-12-30T13:33:00.000-08:00

I love Christmas, it is my favorite time of year! I love decorating the tree, and looking at Christmas lights, I love spending time with family, I love shopping, and I love Christmas music. We went to Salt Lake to celebrate Christmas with both our families. It can be extremely tough to have both families within a mile of each other because they both expect you to do everything with them. We have had spread ourselves thin in order to go to both sides of the families' Christmas parties. We have a lot of fun, but sometimes it can get really stressful.
Luke's brother and sister-in-law left for New Zealand Dec 21 so we celebrated the holiday with his family a little early. It was nice to get together with them.
We were able to spend a lot of time with each family this year, which was really nice. I had a very good time. Luke spoiled me for Christmas! I feel that he made me look bad ha ha. We got a Wii (it has been a ton of fun to play), he gave me a diamond bracelet, among lots of other things. It was a nice Christmas.
I hope everyone else had a great Christmas too!

Disneyland and Thanksgiving

2009-12-30T13:05:00.000-08:00

This is a little late, but better then never I guess. Luke and I celebrated Thanksgiving in Parowon along with his parents and his dad's side of the family. I've only seen that side of Luke's family once or twice so I didn't know a lot of them. Fortunately, the group was pretty small so I was able to get to know them a little better. The funny thing is we ate Thanksgiving dinner at the only hotel in Parowan (it's the biggest gathering place in Parowan as well). Thanksgiving day we stuffed ourselves and then decided to go to a movie. We drove into Cedar City, a 15 mile drive, to watch Blindside, but by the time we got there all the showings were sold out. I was kind of bummed because I really wanted to see it.
On the Friday after Thanksgiving we drove down to St. George and saw Blindside at the theater there (it is a must see), went to the Pizza Factory for lunch, visited some of Luke's cousins on his mom's side, and then met up with my family to go to Tuachan to see the Nativity. While we were there we stayed at Luke's aunt's house, which was really nice of her.
Saturday we started our long caravan (Luke, Tristan and myself in one car and then my parents and Jantzsen in another) to Sunny California. We looked at buying plane tickets, but it ended up being a lot cheaper to drive, so we chose the frugal route. When we got to CA Saturday afternoon we went to Laguna Beach. I can't even explain how much I loved it there. I love the beach, and I love the sand, and I love the water. It was relaxing to just hang out at the beach, and we got a lot of good pictures (which I will post later). Did I say that I LOVE the beach?? ;)
My cousin lives in Southern CA so we met up with him on Sunday and went sightseeing in LA. It was pretty cool, but not as great as I thought it was going to be. Now that I have seen LA once I don't think I need to go back. There were way too many people for my taste. It's a good thing we met up with my cousin because he was able to show us around the town. He also showed us the LA temple which is beautiful.
Monday and Tuesday we went to California Adventures and Disneyland. They were a lot of fun and I am really glad we went, but I can wait another 15 years before I go again. I was surprised how many people there had young kids in strollers. I would never want to have a stroller at Disneyland with that many people around. It just seems to inconvenient.
Well, we took our pictures with Mickey, Mr. Incredible and a few other characters and we rode all of the rides. Unfortunately, we had to wait in quite a few lines. Last time my family went to Disneyland we didn't wait any lines, so I was expecting that because we went at the exact same time of year last time. Oh well, we had fun
On Wednesday we went to Knott's Berry Farm, which was awesome. The rides are geared more for adults, and there were no lines at all. We were able to get on rides as soon as we walked up to them. It was awesome! I think that was Luke's favorite part about the trip.
On Thursday we left CA for Las Vegas where we stayed at the Stratosphere. The room was nice and cheap, but if you want to walk the strip I would recommend getting a hotel that is centrally on the Strip. We walked the length of the Strip from the Stratosphere and we figured we had walked 8 miles. I was tired be the time we got back to the hotel room. While we were there I even played a couple slots (for the first time) I only gambled $1, but I lost that dollar. Gambling sucks ;) We only spent one night in Vegas so I think it would be fun to go back and spend a couple days and maybe go to a show. We'll see.
On Friday we drove all the way back to Salt Lake City. It only took us 6 hours, but it took my parents 8 because they took a little detour and then ran out of gas ha ha. Thankfully, they got back home just fine.
Overall our vacation was a lot of fun, and I can't wait to go on another one!

Here are some pictures:

I have a ton more, but it takes forever to upload so maybe I'll put more up later

Halloween

2009-11-11T16:05:00.000-08:00

I love Halloween!!!!

There are also pictures of us playing chubby bunny and trying to eat donuts off a string, but it was taking too long to upload so I will try again later.

4-wheeling

2009-11-11T15:58:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago we decided to go 4-wheeling with my parents, which was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, we went during hunting season so we had to wear bright orange sweaters, and there were a lot of places we couldn't ride because of all the hunters. Next year we will NOT go during hunting season!

Conference and Park City

2009-10-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

I love Conference weekend! It is always nice to hear the talks and feel the spirit. Usually Luke and I go to Salt Lake on weekends, but we decided it would be nice to hang out in Logan, relax, and listen to conference. I have never really explored Cache Valley, so on Sunday we decided to take a drive and listen to conference. We drove south past Hyrum and ended up at Porcupine Dam. I never even knew that anything in that area of the valley existed, but I am glad we ended up there. The leaves were changing colors and there was some snow on the ground so it made the view breath taking. I took some pictures, but they don't give the view justice. We drove to the end of the road at Porcupine Dam and then turned around and drove south some more. The road turned into dirt and it was raining really bad, so I am glad our little Nissan made the journey. We followed the dirt road south for quite a while until we ended up in North Ogden. Our drive took us about 3 hours to get to Ogden and then 45 min to get back, but it was well worth it. The view was amazing and we found a lot of neat places to camp and ride 4-wheelers so we will be back.

This past weekend we went to spend time with my family in Park City. My family has a timeshare there so we go every year. I love going to Park City, and I love spending time with my family. We took family pictures, which was a lot of fun (I'll post as soon as my mom sends them to me), we went shopping, we went to dinner, and we just hung out and relaxed. The only bad part of the weekend is I got sick, and I am still sick (that is why I am updating my blog). Its not fun. I am proud of myself though, I have been saving money to go shopping, and I only spent $25. That is a record for me when I am in Park City. Overall it was an awesome weekend and I can't wait to go back next year.

Top of Utah Marathon

2009-09-23T08:48:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Luke ran the Top of Utah Marathon again, and I am extremely proud of him. He ran it last year, but 3 days before the marathon he got really sick and was throwing up everything he ate, but he still ran it. He wasn't too happy with his time, but I was still happy for him. Well, this year he beat his previous time by about an hour and 45 min (he finished in 4 hours 2 min.) He was planning on finishing in less then 3, but if he would have finished any sooner I would not have seen him cross the finish line, so I am happy he waited a couple minutes :). Luke's brother, Scott, ran it as well and beat his last year's time too.

Megan, my sister-in-law, and I hung up encouraging posters along the course (we did this at 5:30 AM) and then we had to hurry home, shower and get to mile marker 15 to watch them run by. We then went to the finish line to barely catch Luke. Luke's parents, his other brother and soon to be sister in-law, and my mom came up to watch the event. I think that we all had a good time.

I am really jealous of Luke and his brother that they were able to run the marathon. I want to be able to run a marathon one day. I think I will start small though and train for a 5k and then work my way up to a 1/2 marathon, and then possibly try a full marathon. I think that would be a good accomplishment.

Summer 2009 (so far)

2009-08-12T13:53:00.000-07:00

I was thinking the other day that summer is almost over and I felt like I haven't done a lot, but the more I thought about the more I realized I have done a lot this summer. Hopefully I will be able to do a lot more things with whats left. So far this summer I went to Moab with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law, which was a blast and I can't wait to do that again. We were supposed to go for Memorial Day weekend, but I told my sister-in-law to book our hotel the last weekend in May (usually Memorial Day weekend is the last weekend in May) so she did. A couple weeks before we were going to go she checked up on our reservation and noticed it was for the wrong weekend, we tried to change it but they didn't have any vacancies so we decided to keep our reservation. We are glad we did because it was probably not as busy as it would have been the weekend before.

(I took a lot more pictures, but it will take all day to upload so I will figure out how to do a slideshow).

This summer we went camping a few times with friends and family. We hiked the wind caves, which is an awesome hike to go on. We went to a sealing for our brother in law and sister in law and their 2 little girls. That was such a neat experience. My other brother in law got married and for their honeymoon they came up to Logan, so we got to spend time with them. We floated the canal, which froze my behind. We went boating at Flaming Gorge (I didn't get any pictures). We went to the George Strait concert. We've gone 4-wheeling several times. We sold one of our cars, and bought a dirtbike, but still don't have a truck to drive it around in. We went to Cove Fort Days, which was suprisingly fun. Oh... and we are the proud owners of our own home. We bought a townhome and we love it! It's nice to know that we are building equity instead of throwing our money away at rent. So far we have had a good summer, but there is still a month left!!

Happenings!

2009-04-09T07:07:00.000-07:00

Like I have posted before I am a procrastinator, I take forever to post and I always put it off. I also hardly ever have time (good excuse huh?) to write down what is going on in my life. Luke and I both have been extremely busy with life which can be stressful, but we are enjoying it right now.

I have been snowboarding for a little over 12 years now and last week I decided to try skiing (I did ski before I started snowboarding). I must admit that I did a pretty good job. I am so use to riding a snowboard that switching to skis was a little of an adjustment, but I got the hang of it and was even doing turns on my first run. I did stick to the bunny hill all day which was kind of a bummer because it was an amazing powder day and Luke bragged about the knee deep snow in some areas. I wished I was out there with him, but it was nice to hang out with my dad while he taught me to ski (he is a ski instructor). I had such a good time that I think next season I will try skiing some more however, I will not give up on snowboarding.

I also have some great news!!!! I got promoted at work with a big pay increase. I will now be an employment counselor for the youth at DWS. This is such a good opportunity for me to learn and to advance, but I will miss the team and supervisor that I worked with. My supervisor was absolutely amazing and I will miss having him as a supervisor, but I am excited for this new position.

Getting this promotion will make it so much easier for Luke and I to get into a house this summer which is really exciting. We are planning on buying in June and we are so excited to get out of Aggie Village. We are most likely going to be buying in Logan or somewhere close because Luke has decided to go back to school this fall. I am excited for him because he has taken time off to get me through school so I am happy that I can work to get him through school. I have promised Luke that when he graduated we will go to New Zealand for his graduation present, so hopefully he graduates soon ;)

Sorry this is a pretty random post, but it will have to do.

I Love Weekends!

2009-02-23T14:47:00.000-08:00

It is really nice to work 4 ten hour days because then I have 3 day weekends. Anyways, last weekend was Valentine's Day so Luke and I went to Downey, ID and stayed the night at Downata Hot Springs. We stayed in a yurt, had a candle lit dinner, and went swimming in a hot springs. It was a lot of fun, and it was really nice to have a relaxing weekend.

This is the Yurt we stayed in.

The inside of the Yurt
Our Candlelit dinner

That same weekend we went up to Arimo, ID to hang out with Luke's friend and fiance, Jeremy and Shelby. They live in the middle of nowhere, but it was a lot of fun being there. While we were there Jeremy suggested going swimming at Lava Hot Springs, so we drove up to Lava and ate dinner and then went swimming. The pools were crowded, and it was snowing like crazy, but we had a lot of fun. Luke and I are looking forward to the next time we can go up there.
This most recent weekend Luke and I decided it was time to go home to Salt Lake to spend time with our families. I love Salt Lake and miss it when we are away too long, so we usually go there quite a bit. The weather was great this weekend so we went 4-wheeling with my parents at Grantsville Reservoir.

(I didn't bring any clothes to go riding in so I am wearing my mom's sweat pants with her hiking boots and my dad's coat! LOL, I didn't want to get my clothes dirty)

My brother, Jantzsen and my Dad fishing

My brother, Breylen and his wife, Quichee

My parents on their "toys"

My sister, Tristan with her roommate, Emily, and friend, Aldrin

It was pretty muddy, but we had a lot of fun.

That night Luke and I went to a Grizzlies hockey game with a couple of his brothers and his brother's fiance. We had pretty good seats and we won which made the game a lot of fun. There weren't very many fights which was a little disappointing but it was still a good game. As much as we love being in Salt Lake with our friends and family we had to come back, so we drove home Sunday night to get ready for the work week :(
I can't wait until next weekend!

One Year Older

2009-02-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I turned the big 2-3. I feel like I am starting to get old jk. It really is crazy how life goes by so fast. Well, Luke and I were planning on going to Salt Lake to hang out for my birthday, but then he had to work over the weekend (they didn't tell him until last minute) it was really upsetting at first. I got over it and we ended up having a nice relaxing weekend. On Saturday we went to a movie and dinner. We saw the movie "He's just not that into you." I thought it was going to be a romantic comedy, but I don't think it was that funny. It may have been cause I was in a bad mood, but I thought the movie was pretty sad (not a good sad). It is one of those movies that make you lose faith in love. If you are going to watch it I would recommend Red Boxing it so you don't waste the money. Actually, it really could have been a good movie but since I was in a bad mood I didn't like (so don't take me word for it). After the movie Luke took me to Hamilton's for dinner. It was nice, but nothing compared to Johnny Carino's ;) Yesterday on my actual birthday we really didn't do much except go to church and veg around all day. It was pretty relaxing and laid back. While we were chilling Luke suprised me with a heart shaped diamond necklace. I was really excited because I have always wanted a real one, and my fake one broke while we were on our cruise. I had no idea he was going to get it for me, so I was really pleased. He is the best!

House Shopping

2009-02-06T20:25:00.001-08:00

Luke and I have been trying to figure out what step we want to take next in life and buying a home is one of our options. We are sick of paying rent and we would love to live somewhere that is bigger than Aggie Village! If you have ever been in the apartments in Aggie Village you know what I am talking about, they don't even have a full size oven. We have decided that it is time to upgrade so we went and looked at townhouses today. It was really fun and I am very excited at the idea of owning a home. After looking at a few different townhouses I have realized that I am pretty picky, but I figure that's a good thing since I will be living there for awhile. The home we buy must have a big master bedroom with a master bath and a walk in closet, a dishwasher, 3 bedrooms (we might be able to get away with 2), and a living room that is big enough that we could have more than 2 guests over. I can't wait until we buy because then I can paint and decorate everything the way I want!

Right now is the perfect time to buy so I hope can we can get into something soon, but we will see. There is a $7,500 tax credit that is available for first time home buyers that we could take advantage of or there is talk of a $15,000 tax credit that would be available to home buyers if the bill passes. We would rather have the $15,000 credit to use towards a home so we will see what happens within the next couple months.

Randomness

2009-01-30T19:47:00.000-08:00

25 things...

Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits, or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you. Or I just want to torture you.25 things about me, In no particular order:

25. I love to travel. I have a whole list of places I want to go and I will get to all of them eventually.
24. I love my job right now, but I would really like to be a financial counselor one day.
23. I am a very stubborn person, and I like to have things done my way.
22. I'm waiting to see if I got a job offer in Italy, if my current job becomes permanent, or if I am going to move to Salt Lake. It's a stressful situation!
21. I collect movies! I have so money that there are still a lot that I haven't even opened.
20. In high school Luke was one of my best friends, and I never would have imagined then that we would be married now. I am so happy that we are!
19. One day I will get my doctorate degree.
18. I am a very sarcastic person and have probably offended people because of it. (If I have offended you because of my sarcasm I am sorry.)
17. I love moving, well I hate the actual act of moving, but I love the change from moving. I have moved 22 times in my life and I can't wait for the next one.
16. I have been snowboarding for 11 years now, and you would think that I would be really good, but I'm not. I can hold my own, but the park kills me.
15. I have a degree in Family Consumer Human Development with an emphasis in Finance and a minor in Sociology.
14. I love talking about money and how to budget/save/spend it. I track where ALL of my money goes and I love trying to find new ways to save more money. I'm a little obbsessive.
13. I don't like to cook so Luke does it most of the time. He is so amazing!
12. I hate doing the dishes with a passion!!! The next place we live has to have a dishwasher.
11. I hate when it snows or rains and the bottom of my pants get wet, it's one of the worst feelings. When it rains or snows I have to wear boots and tuck my pants into them.
10. I love popcorn from an airpop popper. It's the best!
9. I am scuba certified, and have only gone scuba diving at Catalina Island, but I have several other places that I am planning on going.
8. I can't live without my planner!
7. I love making to do lists! I have a to do list for everything and I love being able to cross things off the lists.
6. I still have printed out my wedding pictures, and I got married over a year ago.
5. I love going to the Aggie Hockey games, they are so much fun and I love seeing us win!
4. I really love to scrapboook, but haven't done it for over 6 years. I have a lot of pictures that I need to catch up on.
3. My favorite color is pink (I don't hide it very well).
2. One day I hope to be independently wealthy so I can travel the world.
1. It might not seem like it, but I use to be a cheerleader in high school and sometimes I really miss it.

Procrastination

2009-01-28T14:17:00.000-08:00

Procrastination is one of my worst habits! I literally procrastinate with everything. I have even put off blogging for a little while. I am going to work on getting things done in a timely manner including writing in my blog. I feel like I never have time to write on here so from now on I will do better.

So far this year has started out great; I graduated in December so I didn't have to worry about going to school. I have a good job with the Department of Workforce Services with really awesome supervisors and manager (they won't read this so I'm not trying to brown nose). I got to go on a cruise for my graduation present, which was fantastic. I will have to post pictures from it as soon as I can. Well, thats all I feel like writing for today so I will post pictures in my next post

Christmas Poem

2008-12-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

This is my favorite Christmas poem so I decided to post it. I think that it is important to always remember the real reason of Christmas. I hope you all have a Merry Christmas

The Stranger

At Christmas time there was a man who looked so out of place, as people who rushed about him at a hurried sort of pace.

He stared at all the Christmas lights, the tinsel everywhere, The shopping centre, Santa Claus, with children gathered near.

The Mall was packed with shoppers who were going to and fro, Some with smiles and some with frowns and some too tired to go.

They rested on the benches or they hurried on their way, to fight the crowd for purchases to carry home that day.

The music from a stereo was playing loud and clear of Santa Claus, and snow men, and a funny-nosed reindeer.

He heard the people talk about the good times on the way, Of parties, fun, and food galore, and gifts exchanged that day.

"I'd like to know what's going on," the man was heard to say, "There seems to be some sort of celebration on the way.

"And would you tell me who this is, all dressed in red and white? And why are children asking him about a special night"?

The answer came in disbelief, "I can't believe my ear! I can't believe you do not know that Christmas time is here,

The time when Santa comes around with gifts for girls and boys, When they're asleep on Christmas, he leaves them books and toys".

"The man you see in red and white is Santa Claus, so sly, The children love his joyful laugh and twinkle in his eye.

"His gift packed sleigh is pulled along by very small reindeer, As he flies quickly through the air, while darting here and there.

"The children learn of Santa while they are still quite small. When Christmas comes, he is the most important one of all."

The stranger hung his head in shame, he closed a nail-pierced hand. His body shook in disbelief; he did not understand.

A shadow crossed his stricken face, his voice was low but clear, "After all these year, they still don't know."

And Jesus shed a tear.

- Author Unknown -

White Christmas

2008-12-17T07:09:00.001-08:00

So it has been snowing a lot in Logan right now and I love it. I may not feel the same way in a few weeks, but I love the way everything looks in the snow right now. I am really excited to go snowboarding because the snow is probably amazing. Unfortunately, I have no plans of going yet because I am really busy, but rest assured I will go before the season ends. Living in Logan does make it hard to go snowboarding because I live so far away from The Canyons (where I usually go), maybe if I ever move back to Salt Lake City I will go all the time. I also really need to get new gear since I have had my board for 11 years now. It still works great, but it would be nice to upgrade. I think this blog has been random enough so I hope you all are enjoying the snow!

My first post

2008-12-16T15:55:00.001-08:00

I have always been reluctant to start a blog, but after looking over a lot of my friends' blogs I decided to cave in and here I am. I am new to this whole blogging thing so it might take me a while to make my page really look good so bare with me. I guess to start, I just graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Family Finance and a minor in Sociology. I really enjoy helping people manage their finances and I hope to make that my career one day. I currently work at the Department of Workforce Services and I really enjoy it. I have been married for almost a year to my best friend! Luke and I met when we were 17, but we didn't start dating until after my freshmen year of college. We dated for two and a half years after that and then we were married on December 20, 2007. Things have been great since!