The Benson Family

Josh's 26th Birthday!

2012-02-18T13:58:00.000-08:00

Happy birthday to the sweetest husband of all time! We had a great time going out to dinner, watching a movie, and having cake and ice cream to celebrate this wonderful guy!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-02T12:14:00.000-08:00

We had a really great Christmas this year. We spent it in South Carolina this year. The Rogers came down and spent it with us, too!

We kicked off the festivities by making gingerbread houses! Except the Benson tradition has kicked it up a notch, so you can't just stick to the basic house.

Here we have:

Chris's shooting range:

Jenessa's carousel:

Riley's temple:

Hunter's Mayan pyramid:

I made monkey and giraffe cages...but the giraffe didn't turn out so well...

Josh's boat was pretty epic (it was complete with gummy bears tubing off the back):

On Christmas Eve day, we started off by going swimming. This was Thomas's first swim!

Then we had our traditional Christmas Eve dinner of potato soup and sandwiches, and had the Brown family Christmas cantata. Jenessa was even able to be our pianist this year!

Christmas Day began with church:

Then we opened presents:

We then enjoyed a delicious dinner and spent the rest of the day hanging out! It was a great Christmas!

The Rogers Come to South Carolina

2011-12-15T11:31:00.001-08:00

Jenessa's husband, Chris, is in the military and recently received an assignment in Columbia! Columbia is 3 hours away from us, but that's way closer than the 36 it was before, so we'll take it! We are way excited to have some of the Benson family so close by!

At the beginning of December they came down to Myrtle Beach for their first visit. We started out by taking them to the beach; Thomas's first time seeing the ocean! Even though he slept most of the time...

Here's everybody checking out a jellyfish that washed up on shore:

We went to the aquarium! They had Christmas trees decorated with each of the 50 states. Here's Josh with Utah:

Petting the horseshoe crabs:

Petting the stingrays:

It was a great first visit!

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2011-12-01T20:55:00.000-08:00

Giving Thanks 2011

2011-11-29T20:04:00.000-08:00

This year was the first Thanksgiving I had back at home in I can't remember how many years! It was very exciting. We had it over at my parents with my Dad, Mom, Hunter, Halston, and Bishop and Sister Davis.

Here's the beautiful spread that took days of planning and coordinating (or 10 minutes of me and Mom running around the house seeing what we might be able to throw on there and have it look good...you decide).

And here are the boys..."watching" football...

The buffet line! It was all SO good. I was in charge of the green bean casserole, corn, strawberry pretzel salad, and no-bake cookies. There was also turkey, squash casserole, pistachio salad, three types of stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potato casserole, rolls, cranberry sauce, red hot jello, scalloped potatoes, and pineapple casserole.

We couldn't even fit all of our food on one plate...

After dinner, we played Wii Pictionary. Then we ate dessert (pumpkin pie, banana pudding, no-bake cookies, and strawberry pretzel salad) while watching some Brian Regan.

It was a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Columbia Temple

2011-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Recently, the youth in our ward went on a temple trip. My Dad is the Young Men's President, and he asked Josh to come along to help. Mom and I decided to come along, too, and do a session while the youth were doing baptisms. So we made the 3 hour drive up to Columbia.

This temple is very special to me for many reasons. At the time the temple was dedicated, I was about 13 years old and my Dad was stake president. My Dad's testimony was sealed up in the temples time capsule. My siblings and I invited to help the apostles who were there to seal the capsule:

We were also able to be in the Celestial Room with President Hinckley as he dedicated the temple. This was one of our first experiences in the presence of a prophet. When the dedication was over, everyone stood up. They were, of course, doing this out of respect while the Prophet left the room, but Jordan and I thought they were all standing up to go meet him, so we rushed to the front of the room. Where security immediately stopped us. President Hinckley, though, turned back and saw what was going on. So he walked over and gave us a hug. It was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.

So going to the Columbia temple is always special. And this was my first time doing a session there! It was wonderful.

Josh is Tired

2011-11-01T18:53:00.000-07:00

Josh is so amazing and works so hard for our little family. He has a lot on his plate between work, school, and managing the park.

In his leisure time, he has a book he's been reading and really wants to finish. But with all that's going on, sometimes he's just too tired. Poor Josh.

House Tour

2011-10-28T19:28:00.000-07:00

One big pull for us to move to South Carolina was living at my Grandma's house! After my Grandpa died, my Dad helped my Grandma develop their land into a mobile home park to support herself. After my Grandma passed away, my parents have hired people to manage the park. The pay is that you get to live in the house rent free. So here we are, managing the park, and I get to live in an adorable house that has really great memories of my Grandma.

The coolest part of this house is that my Grandpa built it with his bare hands! And he never went into debt. Every time he got his paycheck, he would go down to the hardware store and buy more supplies.

Here is the beautiful result:

I LOVE these trees. They are pecan trees, and we always used to help my Grandma pick up the pecans and she would used them to make amazing pies and desserts!

Not long after we moved here, we painted the living room. Here's the before and after:

When we first got here, the kitchen was a truly terrible pinkish-mauve color. With yellow cabinets. (Don't worry, it was painted this color by mistake. But then it was too late.) Anyway, the paint was peeling, too, because the wrong kind of paint was used. Needless to say, we gave the kitchen a nice face-lift, too.

The hall:

The office:

The master bedroom:

The second bedroom (not much going on in here; we don't really have a use for it yet, so we haven't redecorated it yet):

The bathroom (the showers doors have swans on them. Kind of awesome):

And the storage room. We recently got some great shelves so we could expand our food storage.

We have loved living here!

Family Fun

2011-10-03T17:28:00.000-07:00

This summer, all my siblings and their families came home and we were able to spend some time together! Josh and I still had work almost every single day, but we managed to squeeze in a lot of quality family time! And we got to meet my new nephew, Tanner! He is so cute I can't even handle it...

We did so many things around the Myrtle Beach area:

We went and rode the SkyWheel by the ocean. They say it's the biggest ferris wheel in America, but I don't know if that's true or not. We also went walking on the new boardwalk and played some frisbee on the beach!

We went and saw the new show in Myrtle Beach, Pirates Voyage. It was an amazing show! Pirates would do amazing flips and dives into the water from swinging platforms and sea lions performed!

Here we are looking at the sea lions in their tank before the show:

We went and saw Le Grande Cirque (a Cirque du Soliel show) at the Palace Theatre. Kenzie loved swinging on the rails...

We spent one evening at a place called WonderWorks. It has tons of exhibits that are both educational and fun!

There was a simulator that lets you experience the power of a Category 1 hurricane.This picture is AWESOME.

This exhibit lets you feel the temperature of the Titanic water:

Kenzie loved doing the pully with Grandpa:

There were these bikes where you had to pedal as fast as you can to try and go all the way around. Josh and Hunter were the only ones to flip all the way over.

Seeing what it's like to lay on a bed of nails:

Kenzie LOVED this coloring screen:

There was a roller coaster simulator. You are enclosed in the "capsule" with a big movie screen in front of you. The machine moves you around in motion with the roller coaster on the video.

Dad and Halston doing a dance game:

Space Kenz:

At the very top of WonderWorks was an awesome ropes course!

On one of the days Josh and I got off work, we all went boating! Here's the Liljenquists' house boat. You can see everyone lined up on the top to jump off into the water:

The Liljenquists brought out their jet-skis, too, and were nice enough to let us use them. Josh and I had a very good time riding. But I might be a little too crazy, because he wound up with a headache...

Riley and Halston on the jet-ski:

Riley and Kenzie swimming:

I don't have any pictures, but we also did some wakeboarding. Nick even showed us some of his jumping skills!

Because Kenzie is the bravest baby in the world, she went tubing. Nick and I took turns riding with her, and it was way fun. Twice, though, me and Makenzie were sitting on the tube and just as the boat started puttering, the tube would start to submerge (I think because we were sitting too far forward and didn't have enough weight there). So as I slowly sunk under the water, I had to grab Makenzie and hold her as high as I could over my head (obviously we were wearing life jackets, but the pull takes you under for a few seconds anyway). Everyone in the boat was laughing because they said it looked like I just disappeared, but here was Kenzie slowly rising higher and higher above the water. The funniest part is that most kids would have gotten a little freaked out and not want to ride anymore. Makenzie was unfazed and would just say "What happened?" When other people fell off the tube, though, she would be very concerned. Every single time, she would yell "We have to go help them!" and as soon as they were in hearing distance, she would call "are you okay???" until she got a response.

Went swimming in my parents' pool:

Rioz Brazilian Steakhouse (SO MUCH FOOD):

Kenzie showing off her ring pop and princess bracelet:

Hunter is a carnivore.

Broadway at the Beach:

Here's everybody looking at the repulsive fish:

Disgusting...

It was an amazing couple of weeks, and went by way too fast!

Two Great Years

2011-10-01T18:34:00.000-07:00

On July 25, 2011 Josh and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary! In some ways it seems like it has flown by, and in other ways it seems like it has been much longer. I do have to say, I made the right choice in marrying Josh. He's the sweetest, most patient, handsome, hard-working, amazing, smart, integritous (made that word up) person. I definitely married up.

Anyway, bills being what they are and life being what it is, we didn't go crazy. We decided to forego gifts. But we did have a wonderful date night. First, we went out to eat at an amazing oceanfront restaurant called Damons.

When we were done, we took a walk on the beach and then down Springmaid Pier.

We finished the night off going to a Pirate themed mini-golf.

And I actually beat Josh. By one stroke. I rarely win at anything. Happy anniversary to me.

I can't wait for many more years of marriage to come!

A Night (Sort Of) Away

2011-09-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

One of my best friend's dad recently bought a condo on the beach. One day while I was at work, he called me up and asked if Josh and I would like to use it one night. Yes, please!

The condo was literally 5 minutes from our house, but somehow it still felt like a short getaway! The condo was beautiful, and had an amazing view! They even made those fancy swan towels.

Since this wasn't exactly a vacation, poor Josh still had to do some studying. While he was doing that, I went out and sat on the balcony over looking the ocean and read (incredibly relaxing). Then Josh took a break and we both went down and swam in the hotel's pool and lazy river. While we were in the hot tub, the pier that was about a quarter mile away did an amazing fireworks show!

I wish we could take mini vacations more often.

America!

2011-09-20T18:50:00.000-07:00

This fourth of July was exciting because it was my first one home in years! My family has a lot of really fun Independence Day traditions.

I had to work during the day time, but Josh and I went over to my parents after. We all went out to buy some fireworks at a store nearby. We always have a lot of fun picking those out! We make sure to get a few daytime fireworks, too. Our favorites are the colored smoke bombs, the snakes (Mom's personal favorite), the army trucks, and the parachute men.

When we got home we grilled some delicious food and whipped up amazing side dishes and enjoyed a great meal. Then, we went outside to shoot off the daytime fireworks. After that, Dad starts to get the homemade ice cream going, because it takes awhile.

When it started to get dark, we shot of our bigger fireworks. And fountains...I LOVE fountains.

Halston and I used the Roman Candles (that shoot out balls of fire) and had a wizarding duel. I got a little to excited with my wand waving and almost hit someone. Oops.

And, of course, no fourth of July would be complete with out sparklers!

Then we went inside and used the homemade ice cream to customize our own sundaes. How is homemade ice cream SO good?

Happy Birthday, America!

Boating!

2011-09-10T17:51:00.000-07:00

One of our favorite summer activities is boating! We were pretty excited the first time we got out this summer....it had been awhile.

Both Josh and I are trying to improve our wakeboarding skills. Up until this summer, I was able to get up and board for a long time, but couldn't really move around. I have now learned to maneuver the board where I want to and can go up and down the wake with out falling. Maybe not super impressive, but I'll take it! I've never been a very good athlete...My biggest problem now is that this summer I have developed a terrible fear of being eaten by an alligator. I know car accidents are more likely than alligator attacks, but it still terrifies me. Josh says he would jump in and fight the alligator if it attacked me, but while sweet, that's not all together comforting. So I have to make poor Dad stay on the main channels and I won't get in if we are too close to the sides.

Josh's wakeboarding has improved a good bit more than mine has. He can move around like a pro and is close to jumping! He's gotten really in to it and as soon as we leave the waterway, he's already wanting to go back out.

Josh also spent some time trying to teach Halston how to wakeboard. It didn't happen this time, but maybe next summer...

We go tubing with Halston and Hunter, and sometimes even Mom! Dad has become unstoppable at throwing us off the tube (to be honest, I've become a little bit more of a wimp with that, too...)

We always bring a picnic lunch out on the boat, too. Apparently, Halston really enjoys Pringles...

I wish it would stay warm enough here to boat year round!

Dog Days

2011-09-08T17:59:00.000-07:00

My family has never been animal people. More specifically, my mom and Lindsey have never been animal people. And I mean they HATE them. I can't think of a single animal they would ever want. When I was little, I loved animals. I really, really wanted a dog. But with my mom and Lindsey's aversion to them, that just didn't happen. As I got older, I started to see their point. They do smell. The do shed. They are filthy. It is gross that they lick you (and I hate it when you say that and people try to pull the "it's been proven that a dog's mouth is cleaner than a human's mouth". Humans don't go up and lick you, so there).

A few months ago, I started to go back to my roots and think that maybe, just maybe I really did want a dog- but just a small one, because I still didn't like big ones. I did a little research and decided I like Yorkies. Cute and small. But I wasn' t willing to pay hundreds of dollars for one. So I watched KSL for a good deal, and one day I saw that a family was selling a tiny 7 pound Yorkie for $20. So, I called and asked if I could see it. And it was so cute! I just loved how teeny it was! So I took him home. His name was Bruno, and that had to be stopped, so I changed his name to Van (Reba, anyone?).

Van was a great dog. He never barked unless he saw another dog (Napoleon complex). He was already potty trained. He didn't shed. He loved to just follow us around the house and watch what we were doing. He did this hilarious trick where when you held up a piece of food, we would stand up on two legs and wait for it. If we were ever to have a dog, this was the perfect dog to have.

And yet...

I was constantly worried that our house smelled like dog. I stressed that he would use the bathroom in our house while we were away at work. I hated the idea that we would have to find a "dog sitter" any time we went out of town. And I constantly felt the compulsive need to wash my hands or use sanitizer EVERY time I touched the dog...which got super annoying. I tried to get over having to wash my hands, but it was just too obnoxious. To take care of the smell, I Febreezed our house a lot (and actually the dog's back once or twice, just to see if it would take) but I was still paranoid about smells.

So, after a few days, we decided that we were not dog people. We found the dog a good home with a girl that was crazy about him. I felt super guilty giving him away, but we thought it really was best for him to go to a home where he would be more loved.

I think we made the right decision. And yet...I miss the little guy. Maybe one day I'll get over my qualms and we can try to have a dog again. Maybe.

Remember that one time when we moved?

2011-08-30T18:30:00.000-07:00

It's been a long, long time since I've given an update, and a whole lot has happened since then! I'm trying to get motivated to write about it all, but it seems like the farther behind I get, the

more difficult it is to push myself. So, here goes nothing.

The biggest change from the past few months is that Josh and I moved across the country! We are now back in my hometown, Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. It has a huge and terrifying decision to make, but we really felt like it was the best thing to do. Some really great

opportunities opened up, and we went for it!

The drive was. so. long. SO. LONG. About 36 hours. I felt gross-road-nasty after 2. Before we left I was so terrified to drive our moving truck. It was about 15 feet long and then had our car behind it on a trailer. As it turns out, driving it wasn't too bad...but Josh was an angel and drove about 26 of the 36 hours anyway. He said he couldn't really relax or sleep or anything while I was driving because he was worried. No complaints here if it got me out of driving.

And can I add that the mid-west is super boring to drive through? Nothing to see...just field....after field...and stinky cows...and fields. And one awful mishap. While we were on the freeway, we got pretty low on gas and decided that we needed to pull off. So we trusted the GPS and went off a random exit. It led us onto a straight, tiny road right into the boonies. Where there was nothing. It was dark and the roads were bumpy with nowhere to turn around in that huge truck, so we had to keep going farther and farther away from the freeway. It was so sketchy, I just knew someone was going to jump in front of the truck to stop us and murder us at any moment, but we had no choice but to keep going. So we trusted the GPS that had already led us astray to try to get back to civilization. After many white-knuckled minutes (of course, I was the one driving at the time...) we made it to a suspicious gas station that was situated on a service road off the main road. After we filled up, we pulled out of the gas station onto the service road to head back and....dead end. On one side of us was a hill that was small but rose steeply, and on the other side was a big field. We spent probably a half hour trying to do a three-point-turn in that massive truck to get back. But the side of the trailer would just keep crunching into the side of the car and we would have to stop, pull back forward, and try again. In the end, we decided to just try and drive it though the field a little ways. We wanted to avoid this for fear of getting stuck, but as it turns out, we were fine. Hopefully the field wasn't operational and we didn't do damage or anything. If we did, a big apology to the farmer is in order. Hopefully he takes comfort in the fact that if it weren't for his field, we would still be trying to do a three-point turn in that dang road.

The plus side of the mid-west was that my Mom's best friend, Buda, was nice enough to let Josh and I come stay the night. We really enjoyed meeting her family and getting to know her better! We really wished we could have gone to Omaha and seen my mom's side of the family, too, but it would have put us hours out of the way and we would have gotten there super late. Hopefully a trip to Nebraska will be in our near future.

When we got to Missouri we broke up the monotony by doing some brief sight seeing at Church History sights. The first stop was Liberty Jail, where the prophet Joseph Smith, his brother, Hyrum, and a few others were held for several months on false charges. Seems depressing, but it's also a place where so many inspiring revelations were received, so it's very special. Anyway, I hadn't been since I was a kid, and I loved seeing it again as an adult with a little bit better

understanding of what I was looking at. It is TINY. In the area where they were held, the taller of the prisoners would be unable to fully stand. There were thin, small, barred windows that were dug down to on the outside, so there was barely any natural light. They said in the winters, it was ridiculously cold. But these men had strong faith and never let their testimonies waver, despite their trials. What a great example to us!

We were also able to see the outside of RLDS temple (or is it Community of Christ? I have a hard time keeping track).

Then we swung by a church history museum and (one of the coolest parts) we got to see the future site of the Independence Missouri temple.

For good measure, Josh with the St. Louis arch in the background.

We debated on whether or not to take an extra day and see some other church history sites, but decided we really needed to hit the road and make good time. We listened to the DaVinci Code on tape while we drove (note: why is everyone so obsessed? I didn't care for it...poor writing), and that helped the time go by faster.

Going through Nashville was difficult. I have a not-so-secret obsession with going there and I really wanted to stop. But with a huge moving van and trailer, we wouldn't have been able to see the city the way I wanted to. So we drove on, with me begging Josh to take me on a mini-trip there in the near future.

Crossing the South Carolina border was such a relief! At about 11:00 pm we rolled to a stop in front of my parents house where my family kindly waited up for us.

Sunday

2011-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

Josh and I spent this evening watching Gone With the Wind.

Scarlett is nuts, but I love her. And I have to say, this is my favorite movie of all time along with Funny Girl.

Both of these are seriously film at its greatest. If you've never seen them, get thee to Blockbuster immediately.

Projects

2011-03-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

Since we got married, I've been trying to make our little apartments home-y, but we don't have a ton of extra money to spend on decor. So, I did a few fun projects.

The first big project I did were the pillows I made that I wrote about last year. This year for my birthday, my Mom gave me a sewing machine. My first project with the sewing machine was to jazz up the brown pillows to match the ones I made.

I'm in love with this broach...

For a centerpiece for the kitchen table, I put some fabric in an old frame my mom had.

For our coffee table, I made a little runner out of some of my mom's extra fabric.

Our computer desk had this weird area of blank wood, so I put on some pretty lacy wallpaper and a frame (that I got from, you guessed it, my mom) and lined it with brown fabric edging.

This last one is one of my favorites! When we first got married, we bought these super cheap (I think they were $5 each?) black floor lamps from Wal-Mart that have cheap plastic shades on them. They get the job done, but aren't much to look at. So I bought some hemp and wound it from base to top around the lamp stand. Then I bought a little bit of lace and wrapped it around the shade at the top.

In this first picture, it's hard to see the lace, but you can see the hemp.

Here's what it looks like when it's turned on:

Publish Post

They were all pretty easy to do, and so fun to make!

Josh is a Quarter-Centenarian

2011-03-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

This year, Josh turned 25! Crazy. On the actual birthday, poor Josh had to work a million hour day (and that's only a slight exaggeration....) and I had to work 10 to 10. So we had to settle for celebrating Josh the next day.

For our birthdays, the celebrated always get to pick where they want to eat, and Josh picked Outback. No complaints from me...

For one of Josh's presents, I bought him tickets to the Jazz game. So, after our delicious steak dinner, we headed up to the Energy Solutions Arena.

We were so incredibly high up in the stands that my nose is still bleeding, but it's fun just to be there. And, in honor of Josh, the Jazz beat the Timberwolves.

Josh was a little disappointed because his favorite Jazz player, Deron Williams, was injured and didn't play. And then just a few games after this one, Deron was traded so Josh will never get to see him play with the Jazz again. Sad.

When we got home, Josh opened up all his presents, one of which was his own set of temple clothes inside his brand new temple bag! Yay for no more renting! And he got...

...a new wedding ring! He had been without one since he lost his around Christmas 2009. This ring isn't quite as expensive as the first, but it's so nice to see him with a ring on his hand again!

There are only two of us, and Josh isn't super into cake anyway, so we opted for a small birthday cake that could barely fit all 25 of the candles.

Now to see what the next 25 years will bring!

JoEllen's Wedding

2011-03-20T19:13:00.000-07:00

On January 8th, we got up and went to the Salt Lake Temple for JoEllen and Tanner's wedding! They had a beautiful sealing ceremony, and then we headed outside in the freezing cold to greet the newlyweds.

JoEllen's dress was gorgeous. I LOVE lace.

All the Benson siblings, minus Jocelyn (or "the luvs", as Josh calls her).

JoEllen and Tanner with Fred and Janeice.

Josh and me in front of the Temple. SO COLD.

Me, Stephanie, and Jenessa (who is pregnant now! Yay!)

The incredible cake. Have I mentioned I love lace? And on a cake?! I've learned to do a ton with weddings in the last two years, but I have never learned how to make wedding cakes, and I really, really want to.

The incredible centerpieces. On gorgeous pin tuck toppers.

The reception was at Sundance. Here is a view of the whole room:

The entire Benson family except for Suymey and her kids. Suymey had just had cute baby Rhyslan a few weeks before, so only James able to make the trip out from Texas.

The father/daughter dance:

I think this picture of the first dance is SO cute:

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Runia!

JoEllen's Rehearsal Dinner

2011-03-11T20:26:00.000-08:00

The night before the wedding, we were able to go to JoEllen and Tanner's rehearsal dinner at Thanksgiving Point. I have to admit, whenever I go to other venues, I always have to scope it out to see the difference in how they run things in comparison to Aspen Landing and The Canterbury Place. And I was VERY impressed with Thanksgiving Point.

The floral centerpieces were gorgeous!

Here is Josh with our nephew, Liam, and his brother, James, is next to him. Liam is OBSESSED with Josh. Whenever Josh is in a room he crawls over to him and starts trying to climb up his legs. When other people hold him and Josh is standing nearby, he reaches for Josh. Fortunately, Josh is just as crazy about Liam.

I wish I could eat at Thanksgiving Point weekly. The dressing on the salad was ridiculously good, and the pesto chicken was incredible! I love pesto, but I rarely get to have it.

After dinner, everyone told hilarious stores about JoEllen and Tanner. The best part was probably when Tanner's brother got up and said that he always wanted Tanner to date JoEllen back in high school because he never really liked the other girls that Tanner dated. Right after he said it, we heard this mortified laugh from the front table...coming from one of Tanner's ex-girlfriends. Oops...I guess Tanner's brother forgot one of those ex-girlfriends was in attendance...

It was a great way to kick off the wedding festivities!

Church History Museum

2011-01-30T23:31:00.000-08:00

After Christmas, Mom, Hunter, and Halston stayed in Utah for a few days, and we spent one of those days at the Church History Museum, which pretty much has the coolest stuff of all time.

This is the pocket watch that saved John Taylor's life on the day that Joseph Smith and Hyrum were martyred. You can see where the bullet struck.
These are the death masks for Joseph and Hyrum. They fascinate me and freak me out at the same time.
Hunter and Halston with Brigham Young's trunk.
Mom reading up on some artifacts:

Hunter and Halston experiencing what it would be like to sleep on one of the ships the early Saints took to come from Engand to America.

This guy was showing us they used to do wood working back in the day. He was making a wooden spoon.
This is a woven blanket that depicts two missionaries serving on the Navajo Reservation, where my Dad serves his mission. And the missionary on the right looks like my Dad.
Halston and Hunter standing with a replica of the angel Moroni:

Temple Square on Christmas Eve

2011-01-30T21:49:00.000-08:00

On Christmas Eve, we had the traditional potato soup. This year, Mom also paired them with delicious Monte Cristo sandwiches. Then we headed over to Temple Square to see the lights.

Mom found these festive little headbands when she was out shopping one day...and Josh and I were pretty much the only ones shameless enough to wear them.

By the end of the excursion, Josh's little Santas had gotten droopy, which made him look sad and pathetic. Pretty much hilarious.

Gingerbread Houses

2011-01-30T21:42:00.000-08:00

On the evening of the 23rd we had the annual Benson Gingerbread House Decorating Night. Since my family was in town, the Benson's were sweet enough to invite them to come along.

Here I am working on my masterpiece and Nick helping Makenzie with hers:

The soon to be couple ended up making a Trojan Horse. That's right, a Trojan Horse. It was awesome!

John and Jess made a flying saucer, which ended up involving huge gobs of frosting.

This is Lindsey and Makenzie's house. Lindsey made a team of reindeer with a cute but slightly terrifying Santa at the reins.
I made a Nativity Scene that included what looked like the product of a dog and sheep mating.
Halston's creation:
Mom made a cute tree house:

We had a great time!

Snowmobiling

2011-01-30T20:45:00.000-08:00

A couple of days after the wedding, my awesome parents treated us to a snowmobiling trip! Riley was injured, and the Bells couldn't come since Lindsey is pregnant, so it was just Dad, Mom, Josh, me, Hunter, and Halston (and the strangers that were in our group).

They started off by taking us along this beautiful trail that winded up through the mountains. The views were incredible!

You have to be at least 15 to drive, so Halston rode on a double with me and Hunter traded off riding with Dad and Josh.

At the end of this trail was a big open field with a hill where our tour guide set us free to play. It was so fun! But one of the times I went over a bump and slammed my chin into the steering wheel. It was sore for days, but fortunately didn't bruise. It's still an upgrade from my first snowmobiling accident when I was in middle school. Back then, I ran into a barbed wire fence and flew over the handle bars into a wooden post that knocked the wind out of me.
This was such a fun experience, I'm so thankful my parents had us all go do this together!

Jordan and Kaitlyn's Wedding

2011-01-30T20:08:00.000-08:00

December 21st turned out to be super snowy! But that wasn't a bad thing, as you will find out for yourself when you look at the stunning pictures! Fortunately, the snow didn't keep any of us from getting to the temple on time. The sealing was so sweet and Jordan and Kaitlyn radiated joy. It was so special to see Jordan starting out his own little eternal family!

Here are the newlyweds coming out of the temple:

The not quite as newlyweds in front of the temple:

With the snow coming down, the photographer needed help holding umbrellas over Jordan and Kaitlyn and himself. Dad volunteered for the first few pictures.

Josh and I were the ones that ended up staying for the entire photo session helping out. And.

It. Was. FREEZING. But this was our first day using our brand new camera that we gave ourselves for Christmas. Can I just say we love this camera? And it's maiden voyage was taking pictures of Jordan and Kaitlyn in a winter wonderland...so perfect!

This is me whining about how freezing I am. I had worn boots that weren't waterproof, so at this point the snow had completely soaked through my boots, through my socks, and drenched my feet. It was like walking in pools of ice water. It's amazing I didn't get hypothermia or frost bite.

After taking the pictures, we made a pit stop at McDonald's (sound familiar?) and then followed Jordan and Kaitlyn down to the reception. Unfortunately, a pit stop in Provo coupled with insane traffic made us 45 minutes late for the reception. But Jordan and Kaitlyn are the bride and groom, so the whole day should go by their clock anyway!

Here's the adorable wedding cake:

Makenzie playing with her cousin, Jack (her little wedding attire was beyond-words-cute...I wish they made that skirt in my size...):

The cute centerpieces on a navy table runner:

The cake cutting:
Mother/son dance:
These next few pictures are of all the Brown kids and spouses decorating the car. Josh and Hunter made a quick trip to the store to gather supplies.

Mom and Dad with the newly weds:

The girls:
The whole family:
So Nick had the brilliant idea to build a snowman on top of the get-away car. Makenzie was obsessed with this snowman. She constantly kept asking to go see it. When Jordan and Kaitlyn drove off, the snowman's head rolled off, which upset Makenzie to no end. She kept telling everyone " 'nowman head fall off!" in the most distressed voice.

All in all, it was a great day! Congratulations to the happy couple!

Jordan and Kaitlyn's Rehearsal Dinner

2011-01-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

The night before Jordan and Kaitlyn's wedding, we had an amazing rehearsal dinner that my mom planned at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. The room overlooked the Salt Lake Temple and all the lights on Temple Square. The food was pretty much amazing! Chicken Wellington, steak, amazing salad dressing...I wish I could eat there weekly! During the dinner, we got to know the Wing family, told stories about Jordan and Kaitlyn, and watched a slideshow of all their childhood pictures (and a short clip from Jordan's high school basketball glory days).

I have to give Lindsey all the credit for the pictures...Josh and I hadn't opened our new camera yet, but Lindsey and Nick had, so they took some great pictures with their high-quality fancy pants camera.

The beautiful table spread:

The Bells in the lobby:

My brother, Riley, had come home from his mission a little bit before the wedding. He had been playing in the church Turkey Bowl and ended up getting a concussion and fracturing his spine. He lost his memory for a little while (which was a scary time, believe me), but it came back within a few days. He also had trouble walking, however, and that recovery was taking a little longer. So his mission president sent him home to recuperate. It was sad circumstances, but we loved having him there for all the wedding celebrations. And Makenzie enjoyed taking rides with him down the ramp in his wheelchair.
Here is Mom showing off the beautiful final product:
Dad and Hunter (it kind of terrifies me how big Hunter and Halston are getting...they were so little when I left home for college!):
Future Mr. and Mrs. Brown:

Lindsey giving her AMAZING speech (it really was good, Lindsey! It was just a tough room...):
The night ended with the vocal stylings of Makenzie. The biggest hit was probably her rendition of "Follow the Prophet." She's so cute, it's ridiculous.

Thanksgiving

2011-01-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

We had a very low key Thanksgiving Day. We always do Thanksgiving with the Benson side on the day after Thanksgiving so as not to conflict with Thanksgiving schedules with in-laws. I'm pretty much the only in-law that doesn't have family living here (well, we have Jordan and Kaitlyn, but they were in Wisconsin). So, Josh and I were left to our own devices. We didn't want to make a ton of food since there was only two of us, so we kept it simple.

Rotisserie chicken in lieu of turkey.

Green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and gravy.

That about sums it up. The Benson event the next day was MUCH more delicious.

A week or so after Thanksgiving, we put our Christmas tree up.

I love our little brown and gold tree! And it looks so nice in this apartment! (Everything probably seems nicer when you don't have the smell of the neighbor's pot lingering in the air...so glad we moved!)

Getting old...

2010-12-04T23:43:00.000-08:00

There have been times in the past when I asked people how old they were, and they would hesitate a minute and have to calculate their age. I thought this was super bizarre...how can you not know how old you are? But, sadly, I'm starting to do the same thing. When someone asks my age, I have this moment of panic before I blurt out "23? No, no, wait...24? Yes, I'm 24."

Embarrassing.

For some reason, being 24 seems so much older than being 23. Maybe it's because I'm that much closer to the quarter-century mark. But my 23rd year was a great one, and Josh did a great job of ushering in my 24th year. I started off the day by sleeping in and then relaxing while Josh finished up some work stuff. Then he took me to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants, Bombay House. This is the same place I picked last year...and probably always will. For some reason, no one seems to love it quite as much as I do, so my birthday is the one day that I can demand to go without being shot down.

After that, we went to go see Toy Story 3 and then came home to have cake (and enjoy a fabulous solo rendition of "Happy Birthday" by Josh), and open lots of great presents..

October

2010-12-04T23:16:00.000-08:00

October was the busiest month for weddings at work this year, but we managed to fit in a little bit of fun, too. For one thing, I got to go down to Provo to visit all my best college girlfriends! It was the first time we had all been together since before Jules' and Sarah's missions...but sadly, it wasn't technically all of us since Allison is still gone...but she'll be back in about two weeks! I can't wait!

This year, we were incredibly lame for Halloween. We didn't dress up or go to any parties (unless you count the Trunk or Treat at church). And having no kids means having no excuse to go Trick or Treating. So, in order to do at least something festive, we walked around at Gardner Village to see the witch displays they put up around Halloween. When I saw the display of the witch on the bike, I was so excited! I am a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan...when I was little, I wanted the ruby slippers so bad I could hardly stand it. My dream is to one day make my entire family dress up in Wizard of Oz themed costumes.

It wasn't much, but I always have a good time with Josh!

We Got Book Learnin'

2010-10-20T10:32:00.000-07:00

Josh and I have decided that we need to make an attempt at being cultured. We read several classics in high school, and some since, but we need to make a more active effort. Therefore, we have made a goal to continually read classics. And instead of just checking them out of the library, we have decided that we would buy them to keep in our home library, in hopes that one day they will be available to our children so that they can learn the importance of reading and education (and hopefully be better than I am at avoiding wordy, run-on sentences). Unfortunately, they'll have to settle for the cheap paperback versions instead of the leather-bound editions with gold embossed titles, because, let's face it, we're on a student/newlywed budget.

So, awhile back, Josh and I made a trip to Barnes and Noble to pick our first novels. I decided to kick off my literary stint with Les Miserables and Josh is starting with The Count of Monte Cristo.

So, far, I have definitely enjoyed Les Miserables. The characters are fascinating, and the story line is interesting (even though it can be seriously depressing! This book was very aptly named). I love Jean Valjean, I hate Javert and Thernadier, and the verdict is still out on Cosette and Marius, because they can be kind of annoying. Also, Victor Hugo is a rambler! Admittedly, I have stopped reading it for days at a time because I'll hit a part where he rants about the Battle of Waterloo, or life in a convent, or Argot forever! But, aside from that, I really like it so far. And whenever I read it, I want to walk around singing "On My Own."

Josh has also been enjoying The Count of Monte Cristo. So much, in fact, that he is planning on doing another Dumas book for his next choice! Beyond that, you'll have to ask Josh for his opinion because I haven't read it yet. (Yes, I realize that no opinions were solicited in the first place...)I'm getting close to finishing Les Mis, so I'm excited that it's almost time to go pick a new book!

The Grand Tour

2010-10-18T02:36:00.000-07:00

...or sort of grand. Josh and I have been moved in to our new place for several months now, so it's time for a few pictures. The apartment has a living room, kitchen, 2 tiny bedrooms (I mean tiny...we use one of them as a closet) and a bathroom.

The Living Room

You'll notice that we no longer have camping chairs, but a beautiful new couch! We have been loving it. And we are trying to sell our old one. Will you buy it? Please?

The Kitchen
And...the rest of the rooms are small and I couldn't really get a good angle for pictures. So, if you're really dying to see them (which, let's face it, who isn't?) you'll just have to stop by.

So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

2010-10-18T01:06:00.000-07:00

My little brother, Riley has officially left for his mission! Dad, Josh, Jordan, and I dropped him off at the MTC on Wednesday. It's kind of unbelieveable...in my mind, Riley is still 12...

In the few days leading up to his departure date, we let Riley run our activity schedule. We were able to go bowling with him, watch movies (approved ones, of course, since he was already set apart...), and go to dinner.

On the morning he reported, he decided to have his "last meal" at Cafe Rio (and so did a ton of other reporting missionaries, for that matter...). Then, we drove straight to the MTC. This was a lot different than when we dropped off Jordan. Back in his day, you got to go into the MTC. The mission president would speak, you'd watch a touching film about missionary work, and once they got everyone good and emotionally raw, they'd dramatically send the missionaries through one door, and the families through the other. A little intense, but a nice send-off. That's all changed. Now, the missionaries practically do a drop and roll onto the curb from a moving vehicle. You pull into the MTC, throw the car in park, pull the luggage out the back, and give a quick hug. We even got told we were holding up traffic! Very different. It made it all seem that much more surreal...like we were just dropping him off for school and would be back to get him at 3:15. But in some ways it was really good...a quick happy, heart-felt goodbye done in the style of ripping off a band-aid. One thing that made it really nice for us was that we dropped Riley off in great spirits. He was super happy, and not even acting nervous. I think we were all very apprehensive for him, so seeing him so excited was calming.

Before we said goodbye, we took a couple of pictures outside the MTC. We weren't able to get the quintessential shot in front of the MTC sign because it was under construction, but we were able to get some good ones in front of the building, which I will now post for your viewing pleasure.

In this picture he's on the phone either saying goodbye to Mom or Lindsey...I can't remember which.

Here's Riley in front of the remains of the sign.

(Yes, it IS necessary to take pictures with every possible combination of people. And, believe it or not, I actually spared you some.)

Unloading the car:

And what do you do the same day you drop a missionary off at the MTC? Make him a care package, of course! We went and got him a ton of candy and prizes and shipped it that same day. I really think we are more apprehensive about his new change than he is.

Now, we will just have 2 years of e-mails and letter writing!

Dad and Riley's Grand Adventure

2010-09-26T19:53:00.000-07:00

Dad and Riley spent this past week out here in Utah. Dad had a conference about new timeshare software that Plantation Resort just purchased. This conference was conveniently located in Salt Lake City! Unfortunately, Dad and I had opposite schedules. The days of his conference were days that I either had off, or had a short day. By the time his conference was over, I had full days at work, one of which was a 12 hour shift. Despite this snag, we managed to fit in a lot of quality time. We watched movies at night. We were able to pick up one of our distant relatives, Kelly, who is staying at Westridge Academy (Riley's old school) and take her out to dinner and ice cream. And on Friday night, Dad, me, Josh, Riley, Jordan, and Kaitlyn were all able to go out to dinner at Olive Garden and then go bowling! Josh won both games, and I stunk it up. I didn't break 70 either game, and I didn't get a single strike. But I had a great time!

On Saturday while I was at work, Dad, Riley, and Josh went to the BYU game down in Provo. Then they came back to our apartment and we finished watching "The Hunt for Red October" while Dad and Riley packed. They had to take a red eye back to South Carolina that night.

It was so fun to have them here! And it's crazy to think that they will be back in less than a month to drop Riley off at the MTC!

Goodbye, Josie Grosie

2010-09-26T19:27:00.000-07:00

Our very first car was one that Josh brought into the marriage that he bought when he got back from his mission. It's a maroon 1995 Honda Civic. I started driving it to work after we got married, and Josh used the bus. It's been through a lot. The paint on the hood is coming off, the weather stripping on the driver's side window is coming off, there is a huge crack going the entire length of the wind shield, it shakes when you go over 70 MPH on the freeway, and it over-heats pretty much every time you drive it. This car is a beast. Such a beast, that we couldn't even get her registered in the state of Utah. And the cost of fixing the car to make it pass the safety and emissions wasn't worth it. So we kept her registered in Idaho (Josh says they let anything pass safety and emissions in Idaho because if they didn't, NO ONE would be able to drive).

When Josh first bought this car, he fondly named it "Josie." After driving this car for awhile and watching it dilapidate more and more, I borrowed a line from "Never Been Kissed" and started calling her "Josie Grosie."

In December of 2009, we bought our wonderful new Altima. Later that month, my brother went home for Christmas break, leaving behind my family's car, the Escape, for me to borrow. For almost 3 weeks, Josh drove the Altima, I drove the Escape, and Josie Grosie sat in the parking lot of our apartment complex, unwanted. After we returned the Escape when Jordan got back, Josie got her revenge. We went to turn her on, and she refused. We charged the battery. Didn't work. Josh and his brother, John, spent hours working on it, but to no avail. Josie Grosie would not run. She had a blown head gasket. So she sat in the parking lot for 9 months while we tried to decide what to do.

After our move, we finally decided to sell her. We posted an ad on Craigslist and KSL.com and had some interested buyers right away. A couple weeks ago, she sold for almost $600.

It was a huge relief to finally get her off our hands (we were constantly worried that our old apartment complex would tow her, because they had once before). At the same time, though, it was a little sad to hand over the key and the title. After all, this was our first car as a married couple.

Goodbye, Josie Grosie. Thanks for helping to get us started.

Jenessa and Chris's Wedding

2010-09-26T18:37:00.000-07:00

I feel like my life is one big wedding. I go to work. For the first half of the day I plan weddings, and for the second half of the day, I help run them. Whenever I take time off of work, it's generally to go to a wedding. First, there was our wedding in July 2009. Then Brett's in August 2009. Then Jilleena's in November 2009. Then Josh's friend, Tim's in May 2010. Then Catherine's in August 2010. Now Jenessa's, also in August 2010. Between work, family,and friends, I think I have been to over 100 weddings...and I'm only 23. I was a little worried that going to so many weddings at work would disillusion me. I didn't want to get sick of weddings. But I have to say, even after seeing so many, the weddings of family and friends are still so special to me. Going to Jenessa and Chris's wedding was wonderful. They are both amazing people, and I loved being a part of their wedding day.

On the morning of August 20th, we all headed over to the Salt Lake Temple. When I first walked up, I saw Jenessa outside the doors, chatting to her parents on the phone. She was positively glowing, and completely composed!

The sealing was wonderful. At work, I have seen so many bishops marrying young couples and saying "for the period of your mortal lives." I loved to finally be in a temple again and hear the words "for time and all eternity."

After the ceremony, we went outside to wait for the couple to come out. I found my niece, Piper, sitting on the floor in her fancy dress eating an apple. She is Disney princess obsessed (which shows her great taste), and she reminded me so much of Snow White right then, that I had to take a picture. What a cutie.

It was a million degrees, and I felt like I was melting! But we had a great time hanging out with all the Benson's, former Benson's, and in-laws. For our clothes, all the girls in the family did the same thing we did for my wedding: black dresses with a sash in the wedding colors.

When Chris and Jenessa came out of the temple, they looked so happy!

We spent a lot of time taking pictures and hanging out on the temple grounds.

After pictures, I had to go straight back to work for the rest of the night. I was so sad I had to miss the reception! But I had been off the week before to go to South Carolina, and I couldn't get more time off because these were the busiest weeks of the summer, and the other wedding planner had been worked into the ground while I was gone. I was SO sad to miss it. And then even Josh had to miss it because he had a crisis at work! We were very disappointed that we couldn't go, but we heard that everything was gorgeous, and Jenessa was so sweet and understanding.

It was a wonderful day. Next up: Jordan and Kaitlyn in December!

Jameson is Funny

2010-09-26T18:30:00.000-07:00

Trip to South Carolina

2010-09-26T16:40:00.001-07:00

So much has happened lately, and I've been horrible at keeping up with posts on it all! As more stuff happened, I fell further behind, and the task of catching up became way too daunting, so I kept procrastinating. But today I'm going to make myself get some of the posts done! And I'm going to kick things off with my trip to South Carolina.This trip back home was huge for me because of 2 reasons. Firstly, because I hadn't been home for over a year (but it felt like longer because the last trip hardly counts as a visit; we had flown in on Friday, had our wedding reception Saturday, and flew out in the early morning on Sunday). Secondly, it was a huge deal because I was going for my friend Catherine's wedding! She has been one of my best friends since preschool. She started dating her now husband, Nick, in high school, so it was really great to see them finally tie the knot!

On Tuesday, Josh dropped me off at the Salt Lake Airport. I wish so much that he could have come, too....but flights to Myrtle Beach are ridiculously expensive, and we have a tight budget to stick to!

It was so great to get off the plane and be in Myrtle Beach. So many people complain about the humidity, but I love it. It's air with substance! Anyway, my Dad was there to greet me at the airport. He is always, ALWAYS the one there to pick me up when I land in Myrtle Beach, and I love it. We headed back to my house and I got to see my family. My mom and I wasted no time in starting our late night movie extravaganzas.

The next day I got to see one of my other best friends, Laurann. We video taped an "interview the groom" segment with Nick to use at Catherine's Bachelorette party for a game, and then went out to buy Catherine some presents. That night, I went with my mom to Catherine's Bridal Shower. She made a seriously good haul. And the food was really good. Mom and I kept sneaking back for more and more (don't judge).

That night consisted of struggling for hours to edit together the videos clips for the party game. I mean HOURS. And when I finally got the stupid thing done it wouldn't burn to a DVD, it wouldn't upload onto You Tube...it wouldn't do ANYTHING. It was tons of work down the drain. It turned out we just had to show the unedited clips on a computer. It was still lots of fun, but not as awesome as what I had put together. Sad day.

In the morning, before the Bachelorette Party, I was able to go boating with my family. Boating is one of my favorite things to do, and I hadn't been in about 2 years!

We started off with wake boarding. Since it had been so long, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to get up, but somehow I managed.

Next, Hunter and his friend spent some time tubing. Unfortunately, the boat had a problem and we had to go back in before I got a chance to tube.

The party that night was great! Laurann, as maid of honor, did an amazing job putting it all together. We did the video interview game I made, the classic "create a wedding dress out of toilet paper" game, and a trivia game about Catherine involving a unicorn pinata (which Catherine eventually decapitated).

And there was another guest of honor. Allison, Laurann, Catherine, and I were all inseparable from middle school on. But Allison is still on her mission in Indonesia. Poor Allison ended up missing the weddings of two of her best friends! But Laurann made sure that she was at the Bachelorette Party in some form.

The other girls at the party didn't understand. They just thought it was creepy.

The next day I was able to go to one of my favorite restaurants of all time, Nibils, with my family. BEST CHICKEN SALAD EVER. I think I could eat there every single day and never, ever get sick of it.

My family then took me to this great new store that sells Carolina clothes. My siblings conned my mom into getting them a few items, and I was able to find some souveniers for me and Josh.

Next was the ceremony rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner. It was interesting to be one of the girls walking down the aisle as opposed to the one teaching everyone else how to walk down the aisle...but it was nice to not have to be in charge for once. I actually kind of hate doing ceremony rehearsals...

Next, we headed over to the rehearsal dinner. It was on the patio of a beautiful restaurant by the beach, and the weather was perfect. And just as I was telling someone about how nervous I was that I was going to trip when I walked down the aisle, I dumped an entire glass of water in my lap. It was a little ironic...and ominous.

Here is Catherine with all the bridesmaids and the fabulous gifts she got us! (no, I am not pregnant...I cannot explain this picture.)

The next day was the actual wedding. We spent the afternoon doing hair and make-up and got dressed at the church.

Catherine was a calm bride, and everything ran so smoothly! There didn't seem to be any last minute "where is so-and-so" or "I forgot to bring my whatevers". Walking down the aisle, though, was nerve-wracking! Dozens of people staring at you, and super high heels! I was counting on having a groomsmen to help keep my balance, but we each walked in alone. I think my subconscious was repeating in my brain the whole time "don't trip, don't trip, don't trip", and my smile felt super cheesy. Luckily, I made it to the front without any problems. Then the ceremony began. Everything was going well until the officiant said "let us pray." I bowed my head, and immediately felt like I was going to pass out. I guess the combination of no lunch, high heels, balancing on a step, and nerves took a toll. I can't even express how light-headed I was. I was literally willing my body not to drop down, because I felt like I was going to pass out at any minute. I was terrified that I would faint, ruin the ceremony, and be hated by Catherine forever. Fortunately, I made it through the ceremony

okay and felt a lot better once I was able to get moving and walk back down the aisle, with the assistance of a groomsmen this time.

Despite the light-headedness, the ceremony was beautiful. I think my favorite moment was when Catherine's brother played a beautiful trumpet solo, the doors opened, and Catherine made her grand entrance. Her and Nick both looked so happy. Everything was so genuine and wonderful.

The reception was held at a fabulous hotel on the beach. The ballroom had a magnificent view of the ocean, the decor was beautiful, and the food was to die for. I got to spend the reception hanging out with friends and my parents. It was a great night.

The next few days were spent with my family. We went to church and watched movies together on Sunday, and then Monday morning I went to Wild Water and Wheels with my mom, Hunter, and Halston while everyone else was at work. That night, we went out to eat at another one of my favorite restaurants, Carrabba's.

On Tuesday, it was time to head back home. I was sad to leave, but it

was so nice to be back with Josh again! This trip was the longest we have ever been apart. I had such a great time, and I hope the next time, Josh will be able to come, too!

Moving, Our First Anniversary, and a Mission Call

2010-07-30T12:10:00.000-07:00

Josh and I are now mostly moved in to our new place. We still need to bring over our computer desk and most of the stuff on it. We are going to pick up the last of this stuff today when Josh gets done at work, and then we will also have to scrub the apartment so that they don't try to charge us a cleaning fee.

So far, we love our new place. It has newer cabinets and counters, floors, and instead of obnoxious pot-smoking neighbors, we get to be with family! It's fun for us to be able to just run upstairs and visit the Stayners for a little while. Often, we even get little visitors from upstairs coming down here, too! Jameson and Samantha love to come play. As you can tell, Samantha finds me absolutely fascinating.

One of the drawbacks of our new place is that the door is super small. So small that our new dream couch that we are in love with and only bought in just December can't fit through the door. So we are couchless. We found seating to make do for now, but somehow it's just not the same.

Yes, we have gone from a tan, microfiber, pillowy beauty that matched everything to these. One navy and one red camping chair. It's probably pretty obvious who sits on which one. (And if it's not obvious, just think of my Alma Mater and Josh's current school. And if it's still not obvious, then just let it go). The brown cushions don't look quite as nice on them as they did on the couch...

Sunday was our first anniversary! In some ways I can't believe it's already been a year, and in other ways it seems like it's been longer. All I know is that I am the luckiest girl in the world! I'm pretty sure Josh is the only guy who could ever put up with me. But he is the sweetest, patientest, most loving, kind, hard-working, generous, fun, selfless husband ever,and he's ridiculously good looking to boot! It's been a wonderful first year! We've had 2 moves, job changes, a couple of trips, a new couch, a new car, 1 hospital visit, lots of visitors, and countless good times.

Since our anniversary fell on Sunday, the celebrations were more low-key. After church, I came home and made Josh a dinner of beef stew on rice and pasta salad.

Through-out the day we'd look at the clock and say things like "Right now, a year ago, we were on our way to the temple" or "we were at our reception." It was so fun to be able to look back and remember the day.

After dinner, we took a walk around our new neighborhood for a little while. Then, later that night, we joined the Stayners at J.L.'s mom's house for some light post-pioneer day fireworks. Jameson was scared of the bigger fireworks, so we stuck mostly to the fountains. It was so cute to watch them pick out a firework and then get all excited about watching it.

When we got home, we exchanged our gifts.

Josh has really been wanting the Indiana Jones movies, so I got those for him. He really loves Indy. One time, we were stuck in a huge crowd and he all of the sudden grabbed my hand and started singing the Indiana Jones theme while he charged ahead to find a route through.

Josh's present for me was way better than mine for him. When we were first looking for rings when we were getting engaged, we had found a wedding band that I loved with my engagement ring, and we were going to get it but decided later on that it would probably be more responsible just to save that money since we were just getting started and would be having a lot of expenses come up. So Josh went back and got me this ring for our anniversary!

I tried to take a close up of it, but my camera stinks...which gives me and idea for next year's present...But anyway, I absolutely love my ring, and I'm so excited about it!

The next day was what we called "anniversary observed." We baby-sat Samantha and Jameson while Janalynne and Liam went to the doctor, and then we headed down to Provo. Jordan's fiance, Kaitlyn, gets free 7 Peaks Water Park passes from her work and she was nice enough to give us one. We picked the pass up from her, and then headed to the water park. We got there, gave them our pass and paid for the other ticket, picked a spot for all of our stuff, and then headed to our first water slide. When it was just a few people away from our turn, they shut down the park because they spotted lightening. Then there was tons of lightening in the sky...it didn't look too promising that this was a storm that was just going to blow over. We went to an office worker and begged for some passes for another day. Despite my pleadings that we hadn't even touched water yet, had been there only 15 minutes, it was our anniversary, and that the entry fee was a lot of money for us to spend, she refused. I was livid. So we found some shelter and decided to try to wait the storm out, even though it looked like it was going to last awhile. Fortunately, however, it cleared up after about 45 minutes and the park re-opened. A ton of people had left, so the lines for the slides weren't bad at all. The only bad part was that it was still over cast, so it was pretty cold. After about an hour and a half, we had done all the rides that we wanted to and decided to leave. We ran back to Josh's grandma's house and showered, and then went out to dinner at one of my most favorite restaurants of all time: Carrabbas.

I mentioned that it was our anniversary in hopes of free stuff (I know, I'm shameless), and our waitress did not disappoint. Dessert of vanilla ice cream with caramel and some kind of pecan deliciousness on the top, on the house!

It was a wonderful first anniversary!

Today, I woke up to a phone call from my little brother, Riley, saying that they were expecting his mission call to come in the mail that day and to be ready to Skype at 7:00 that night while he opened it. Just a couple of hours later, I got another call from Riley saying that his call did come, waiting until 7:00 just wasn't going to happen, and that he was going to open it right then. My computer doesn't have a built-in web camera, Josh wasn't home with his computer that does, and I don't know how to work my attachable one, so I listened on speaker phone while he opened it. He is going to the Portland Oregon mission! We are all really excited...he wanted to go state-side and he got his wish! And Oregon is a beautiful state...my brother-in-law is from there (and actually, he guessed that was where Riley would go!). So, while Riley is on his mission, there is a good chance that the Bells will go there to visit their family, and they will be only minutes from Riley! We are all so excited and so proud of him. He reports to the MTC on October 13!

Let Freedom Ring!

2010-07-13T12:23:00.000-07:00

Josh and I had an incredible 4th of July week! It all kicked off when Lindsey, Nick, and Makenzie came in town to visit. They were here for a Bell family reunion, so we didn't get to see them too much during the day, but it was so fun to get to hang out for a little while every night! We haven't seen them since they moved to Arizona at the end of April, so we were really excited. But, as seems to be the motif lately, tragedy stuck. Lindsey was sick with the flu when they first got here. Then Nick was hit with strep throat and Makenzie got strep throat and a double ear infection (guess maybe I should have cleaned up what looks like black mold growing up our wall?...kidding). The saddest thing ever was that poor little Makenzie would be so thirsty and ask for water, but would scream after one sip because it hurt her to swallow.

Since the 4th of July fell on a Sunday this year, we celebrated on the 3rd. I had to go into work for about an hour and then we headed over to LDS Hospital to see our new nephew, Liam! He's so cute and tiny! Poor Janalynne had to have an emergency C-Section. This is making for a slower recovery, but she is doing well.

After leaving the hospital, we headed down to Provo. We grabbed a bite to eat at Taco Bell and then had some frozen yogurt.

Then we parked at Josh's Grandma's house and walked over to BYU's football Stadium for the Stadium of Fire! Our seats were on the opposite end of the stadium from the stage, so it was great that we got to see the stage head-on and not from a weird angle.

It was PACKED!

They had Carrie Underwood come out and sing the national anthem. Everyone was going crazy because we weren't expecting to see her until later in the show. It was the BEST I have ever heard the national anthem sung. And when she sang "the rockets red glare" they shot off red fireworks. Then, right when she finished the last note, 4 fighter jets flew over the stadium. How do they time that???

They did a lot of fun things for the program. A bunch of local young dancers came out on the field dressed in red, white, and blue and put on a pretty good show.

Then, they did the world's largest Eagle's Nest for the Boy Scouts. They had all the Eagle Scouts in the crowd stand up and hold a picture of the eagle symbol that was in the center-fold of the program.

Next was the moment Josh and I had been waiting for: the Carrie Underwood concert! She is my all-time favorite singer; this was the second time I have seen her in concert, and her voice has blown me away both times. She really does sound just as good live as she does on her CD! She kicked it off with one of her current hits, "Cowboy Casanova." She sang a lot of my favorites, like "All-American Girl", "Wasted", and "Temporary Home." I can't even express how fun it was to be there! Here is a picture of me and Josh with Carrie (she's the little dot way in the back drowning in bright lights...)

Carrie wrapped up the concert by singing "Before He Cheats" and then (though we all begged for an encore) it was time for the Stadium of Fire fireworks, which were unbelievable! Seriously as good as Disney World.

And while they were shooting off, the dancers came back out onto the field and made a giant outline of the USA. This looked awesome, but it got scary because they shot some fireworks out of the side of the stadium and some stray ones bolted right for the crowd of girls, which was terrifying.

When it was all over, Josh and I began the long walk back to our car. We were really lucky, because it didn't get cold when it got dark. Perfect weather! When we made it to Josh's Grandma's house, some of his cousins, his aunt, uncle, and sister were there, so we stayed and talked for a little while before making the drive back to Salt Lake.

The next morning (which was the actual 4th of July) was church, so we tried to dress a little festive.

While we were at church, the Bell's had to leave. But they left us behind a "thank you" in the form of a ColdStone gift card!

Thanks, Lindsey, Nick, and Makenzie! The ice cream was delicious.

Meanwhile, in South Carolina, my brother, Jordan, proposed to his girlfriend, Kaitlyn! She came to South Carolina to visit, and he popped the question while they were out walking on the beach. She was completely surprised, because Jordan had convinced her that he didn't want to get engaged until after the summer was over. They will be getting married in December of this year!

The week following the 4th of July, I went over to Janalynne's a couple of times to help out with the kids. Because of the C-section, she's not supposed to go up stairs, lift anything heavy, bend over too much, etc...which is pretty much impossible when you have 3 kids and are trying to keep a household going. Then Josh had a great idea...we were supposed to move into their basement apartment at the end of July anyway...why not just move in now so we could help Janalynne out while she recovers? She readily agreed, and now our apartment looks like this:

We took a load of stuff over yesterday, and we'll be taking over another load today when Josh gets back from work. Hopefully, we will be in by the end of the week. We are so excited to be in our new place!

Future Father's Day

2010-06-22T13:55:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday we got to celebrate Father's Day! The day kicked off with me getting to give the Young Women's lesson on Father's Blessings (how appropriate).

Josh got roped into singing with two other guys in sacrament meeting. And I say "roped" because they literally asked him ONE hour before sacrament to sing with them. But he did awesome! He really does have an amazing voice. And, of course, at the end of church they handed out the "father's day gift", which was homemade white chocolate covered cashews.

Then, when we got home, I got to give Josh his Father's Day Gift from me!

And he got...

A capo for his guitar! He has taken up playing guitar again lately and loves it! But some of the songs he wants to play needed the capo, and Father's Day was the perfect opportunity to surprise him with it.

So Happy Future Father's Day to Josh! I know he's going to be a wonderful Dad when the time comes.

Also, Happy Father's Day to my own Dad! My hero and the smartest guy I know. Growing up, he always had a ton on his plate, what with running the resort and being stake president. But he was always, ALWAYS there for me, no matter how long his day or how exhausted he might be, whether I needed him to help me with math homework or just to play games or watch movies. Thanks for everything, Dad, I love you!

And Happy Father's Day to my Father-in-law! He has to be a super dad to successfully raise 11 kids! And if it weren't for him, I wouldn't have my amazing husband. He taught Josh to work hard and encouraged him to go on a mission. Lots of Josh's great qualities can be attributed to him. Thanks, Fred!

Roller Coaster Ride

2010-06-09T21:32:00.000-07:00

The past couple of weeks have been a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotions. First, as I mentioned before, was all the stress of trying to find a new apartment that was safe and affordable. Josh and I had decided that we were going to move to Foothill Place apartments. We looked it up and saw that it had 27 times less crime than Stonehedge (literally...in the same amount of time that Stonehedge had 27 crimes, Foothill Place had 1, according to crimereports.com). So we were really excited that we found somewhere safe to live. The problem? It was going to be almost $200 more a month. But we decided that you can't put a price on safety. It was the weekend, and Monday was Memorial Day, so we were planning to go in and put down the deposit on Tuesday. That Sunday, however, we ran over to Janalynne and J.L.'s to pick something up for Josh's parents. While we were there, they mentioned that the current renter of their basement apartment was moving out and they were looking for a new tenant. Josh and I immediately felt that a door was opening up for us. Here, Josh would still be able to take the bus to work and we would be paying $40 less a month than we are paying now (or about $240 less than the place we were planning to move to)! Our contract in Stonehedge isn't up until the end of July, but Janalynne and J.L. were willing to hold it for us until then. We are so excited! It will be so fun to live so close to family...and save money!

Josh also got to go hiking with his friend and co-worker, Everett, on Mt. Olympus. They didn't go all the way to the top, because Everett wasn't feeling very well that day, but they had a great time.

Then, just a few days ago, I was making dinner because Jordan and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, were driving up from Provo and we were going to have FHE with them. I was talking to my sister, Lindsey, on the phone while I was cutting potatoes into strips to make potato wedges. All of the sudden, the knife slipped and tore into my skin between my index finger and thumb. All I could do was scream and cry as the blood began to flow. Lindsey later said she thought I was being murdered because the only words she could make out in my hysterics were "knife!" and "blood!" (What can I say, I have a low pain thresh-hold). I was home alone, and Josh was at work. And he didn't have a car, because he takes the bus. I tried to run the gash under water, but that just made the blood flow harder and the gash sting worse. So I held a wadded up paper towel over it. Once Lindsey managed to figure out what was going on, she hung up the phone to call for help. I called Josh and his boss immediately began closing up shop so he could bring Josh to get me and take me to the emergency room. They ran out to his boss's car, and the battery was dead. So they started looking for a jump. In the meantime, I got a phone call from my Dad because Lindsey had called him and told him what happened. While Lindsey was talking to him, Mom was talking to Jordan, so they relayed the message to Jordan (who at that point was thankfully about 10 minutes away) to hurry and help me. When Jordan got here, we all jumped in the car and were able to go to the hospital. Josh and his boss got a jump for the car, and ended up being only about 10 minutes behind us.

So of course a long wait in the waiting room followed. Eventually, we decided Jordan and Kaitlyn could go back to the apartment and finish making dinner because we'd all be hungry. Josh stayed with me at the hospital. First, they had to give me a Tetanus shot because I couldn't remember the last time I had one. Then it came time for the numbing. They jabbed a shot of numbing stuff directly into my laceration like 15 times and it hurt SO bad! But better than being able to feel it while they stitched me up, which came next.

Here is the cut pre-stitching:

Here is me, tragically waiting for help:

And Josh looking concerned (or slightly amused...):

After the numbing shots took effect, the doctor began stitching. It was such a weird sensation to see someone sewing your skin together, and even feeling the pulling of the needle (or rather, little hooky thing...) and not feel any pain! After 5 stitches, my cut was completely sewn up and the bleeding finally stopped. (I don't have the best camera, so it's really hard to see the stitches in the picture.) Jordan and Kaitlyn were so nice and helpful! They had come to my rescue and taken me to the hospital, and when Josh and I got back, dinner was all ready.

So, now my hand is on the mend! I have to put a grocery bag over it when I shower, but I suppose there are worse things.

The very next day, I had to go to Girl's Camp for my Young Women's calling. We drove out to East Canyon in the morning, set up the tents, and hung out while everyone else settled in. The very first night was our turn to make dinner for the stake. The camp director, Jenny, is an expert dutch-oven-cooker, so she took the reins and helped to teach us. We made barbeque chicken, cheesy potatoes, and three different kinds of cobbler (which was my favorite!). Not longer after dinner, I headed back home because we were way out in the middle of nowhere and I didn't want to drive the scary mountain death roads after dark.

And that's not even all that's been going on, but that's enough for now! I'll end this entry by showing you what happens when your husband gets a hold of your camera:

Unfortunate Events

2010-05-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

Firstly, let's check in to see how my mother's day flowers are doing:

Huh. Apparently they need sunlight and water. Let's hope my kids fare better.

For many months now, we have been having neighbor trouble. One of our neighbors smokes all the time, and the walls here are thin enough that the smell permeates our apartment and makes it reek. Well, one day when Jordan was here visiting, he mentioned the smoke smell and we told him that our neighbor smokes cigarettes all the time, to which Jordan responded "That's not cigarettes that's pot." Greaaaaaaat. For awhile, I didn't really want to do anything about it because I was afraid if we reported him, the druggie neighbor would come kill us in revenge. But, eventually, we couldn't take it anymore. So we talked to management. And the security patrol of our building. They all told us that they would keep an eye on it, but there's pretty much nothing they could do. So we figured we could live with it for the next few months, and then move out when our contract was up at the end of July. Then, one day, the smell was so incredibly bad that I couldn't take it anymore. We called management one last time, they told us one last time that they couldn't do anything, and then I took drastic measures. I called the police to see if there was anything that could be done. They said they would send out a cop. Of course, by the time he got here, the smell was already gone. But he also said there wasn't much he could do either (which makes me wonder why they even bothered sending anyone out and didn't just tell me that on the phone...). But he was a really nice guy, and stayed and talked to us a bit. He asked how long we have been here, and we told him we moved in last August. He asked how much longer we had until our conract was up, and we told him at the end of July. And then he told us to move out of here as soon as we could. Apparently, the cops are here all the time. Apartment break-ins, car break-ins, wild parties, and drug dealers. He said one time the police were in hot pursuit of a guy, and he ran back here into his apartment. When the police got in there were piles of marijuana and cocaine all over the place. The cop even said he and his wife lived here when they first got married, but they moved out after a month because of how bad it was. And that was 20 years ago. Needless to say, we went out as soon as the cop left and bought this:

The cop also mentioned that because we are in the very back and on the third floor, that has probably helped to keep us safer. We definitely feel like Heavenly Father has been watching out for us and protecting us. We have felt like Stonehedge was the right place for us to live at the time, but we also feel like that time is definitely up. It wasn't hard to make the decision to get out of here when our contract is ended.

This began a strong apartment-hunting effort. The problem with Salt Lake City is that if you want to live somewhere safe, you've got to pay for it. There are nice apartments in better areas, but they are quite expensive. This was discouraging for awhile. But we now have 3 different options, and just hope that one of them works out!

But let's end with a more positive image: Josh enjoying a dinner of chicken cordon bleu.

Future Mother's Day

2010-05-11T15:16:00.000-07:00

This was my first Mother's Day as a Sadie (married lady)! Even though I am not a mother, I feel like getting married has gotten me one step closer, so figured I may as well be celebrated as a future mother! They gave me the flowers in church and everything (I remember wanting a flower so bad when I was little). I ended up with 2 because someone brought me one AND Josh brought me one, and Josh forgot to put his back. But I love how much fresh flowers brighten up the apartment.

Josh, however, was not aware that I was hoping for a Future Mother's Day. So he didn't have anything for me...but he ended up having something for me the very next day! I don't know what made him catch on. Maybe it was the fact that during sacrament meeting when the speakers talked about recognizing and appreciating all the women and mothers in Zion, I would shake my head mournfully and say "not ALL the mother's in Zion."

Anyway, he figured it out. And he brought me my most favorite candy in the world, Reese's, and the movie Pinocchio!

Pinocchio might seem like an odd present for someone my age, but it was perfect for me! For the past few years, I have been trying to collect all the classic Disney movies. I was absolutely obsessed with Disney growing up, and to be honest, I still am. So I want all my kids to grow up watching and loving these movies, too. The collection is really coming along!

I still need Alice in Wonderland, The Jungle Book, and Toy Story...and probably a few others that I can't think of right now. And yes, that IS a Chinese Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Now I know to read the fine print on eBay...

Anyway, Happy Mother's Day to all! And a special Happy Mother's Day to my own Mom, who is also my best friend. I'm so grateful to her for being there for me through thick and thin, all through growing up, and even now that I'm an adult! I couldn't have asked for a better mom, and I know she'll be an awesome Nonnie one day when I have kids.

Also, a special Happy Mother's Day to Josh's mom, who has been absolutely incredible and accepted me as one of her own. I can't thank her enough for raising such an amazing son! She'll also be a fabulous Grandma to our future children.

New Couch Cushions

2010-05-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

The last time my mom was in town to visit, we decided that the apartment could use a little more color. I have been going with a color scheme of sage green and chocolate brown, so I thought it would be nice to throw in some yellow and a coral pink. If you've ever been in my parents house, that color scheme might sound incredibly familiar. But what can I say? My mom has great taste.

Since Josh and I have been married, we've been trying to slowly collect more and more stuff to make our little apartment more home-y, and have come along way from when we first got married. Now that we have more colors, I'm trying to get things that will help tie in those colors. I thought more couch cushions to go with the chocolate brown ones that I already have would be a great way to do that. The problem was, I have been looking for new couch cushions for months and haven't been able to find any that I like. So finally I decided that I could just make them, and then they would be exactly what I wanted.

This brought in a new set of problems. The first was that I had a really hard time finding fabric that had my colors and had a pattern that I liked. After some searching, I decided to just get different fabrics in my different colors and put them together. Eventually, I was able to get what I needed from a combination of Wal-Mart, Hancock Fabrics, and JoAnn's.

The next problem: I don't have a sewing maching. And I couldn't borrow Lindsey's because they were moving. I thought of maybe using the fabric adhesives that you can buy, but I wasn't sure if that would be strong enough to hold a couch cushion together for a long period of time. So my only option was to hand-sew them.

The problem with that? Despite the fact that I have a mom who designed, sewed, and sold children's clothing, I don't exactly have a lot of experiece with the craft.

I ended up accidentally sewing the pillow to my pants who knows how many times. I'm sure Josh was getting pretty worried about how they were going to turn out.

I was making 3 pillows total: 2 identical 12x12 pillows, and one smaller 12x16. I started with the 12x12s because I thought they would be easier to begin with. And the first one turned out surprisingly well; it at least gave me enough confidence to keep forging ahead.

The middle cushion was going to be trickier, because it had a lot more details. I had to make little fabric flowers to go on it, and sew lace to the fabric before I could sew all of the fabric to the edging.

I think the flowers are my favorite part.

You can tell that they are handmade and not the best craftmanship, but it was fun to do, and we like how they turned out. They really brighten up the apartment.

Dad's Visit to Utah

2010-05-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, Dad was able to fly out from South Carolina and come see us all here in Utah! It's always so great when he can come out for a visit, and we were able to do a lot of fun things while he was here!

He came out not long after his birthday, so we had a little party for him on the night that he got here. The Bells, Jordan, and Kaitlyn all came up from Provo and Lindsey and I cooked a Mexican dinner for everyone. We had a fun time talking and catching up and, as always, Kenzie was great entertainment.

Lindsey has been teaching herself cake decorating recently, and so she made Dad his birthday cake. And, I have to say, it is pretty much the most adorable cake I have ever seen. Dad loves Star Wars, so Lindsey used that as inspiration and created this Yoda masterpiece.

Love it.

One of the main reasons Dad came out was because Nick was graduating with his master's degree in electrical engineering, and all of the graduation ceremonies were that week. We are all so proud of him! We were able to watch him go across the stage and get his diploma, and then went to an awesome graduation party that Lindsey put together that evening.

The only sad part was that just a few days after, Lindsey, Nick, and Makenzie moved to Arizona. We are so happy for them that Nick found such a great job, but we miss them already. But we had a great time during Dad's visit, and can't wait for the next time he comes! Mom is hopefully coming at the end of May, so that's the next fun visit we have to look forward to!

GO JAZZ!

2010-04-14T20:12:00.000-07:00

Josh is an avid Jazz fan, and tonight the Jazz have a huge, red-letter game. It's so important because if they don't win...uhhh...something or other bad happens that Josh tried to explain to me...I think it helps them get a higher position for the play-offs or home court advantage or something? Anyway, Josh was glued to the screen from the beginning of the game to show his loyalty. But then, I had to convince him that there was only one way to really, truly show his loyalty. The Jazz definitely have a die-hard fan in Josh. Hopefully we sent some good karma out there to help them win!

An Update

2010-04-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

It seems that lately, our lives have mostly revolved around work (and school for Josh). My training at Aspen Landing has been going pretty well. As I said before, a lot of the stuff I had already learned at my old job, but I've had to learn the differences between Canterbury and Aspen Landing. At Canterbury, we only stayed at the beginning of the event to make sure that everything was running smoothly, and then we'd turn the event over to a hostess. At Aspen Landing, the wedding coordinators are also the hostesses. One of the jobs that a hostess must do is to cut and serve the wedding cake. I never learned to cut the cake at Canterbury, so this is something they have been training me on. Square cakes are easy to cut, round cakes are a little more challenging. Also, buttercream cakes are easier to cut than fondant cakes. We also have a preferred vendor at Aspen Landing, Cindy, who's cakes, we have found, are way easier to cut than other vendors' or especially homemade cakes (this is because her cake doesn't crumble when you cut into it). Natalie (the girl who was training me to replace her) taught me how to cut the cake, and though we went through it several times, I was a little nervous to do it on my own.

However, Natalie left, and I eventually had my first night as the only wedding coordinator on duty. The cake artist delivered the cake before the event, and I found THIS little number.

Round (plus some tiers whose shape doesn't even have a name). Fondant. Not one of Cindy's. It almost felt like I was on Punk'd. What are the odds that this would be the cake I'm left to cut on my first night?! Lucky for me, one of the girls who works in the kitchen also helps with some of the hostess roles, and therefore had a lot of cake-cutting experience and could help me out.

While some stressful and unexpected situations come up at Aspen Landing, the job also has it's perks.

When people have fresh floral centerpieces and don't want to take them home at the end of the night, I get to take them home to enjoy! Even the vase I put them in came from Aspen Landing. When there is a lot of left over food, I get to take some of that home, too! I've been able to bring home soups, salads, sandwhiches, desserts...it's been great!

Between work and school, Josh and I have had a few other things going on, too. My mom came out for a visit in March, and we had a great time with her!

That same week that my Mom was in town to visit, Julianne and her family came into town as well as James and his family. This was awesome because it meant that all of the Benson's were in one place! We got to spend time with them, and it was so fun! I think the neices and nephews might have had a hard time keeping up. Samantha definitely proved that:

SO CUTE!

One highlight of that same week was that we were all able to go to Juliet and Claire's baby blessings. We already love these darling babies, and it was wonderful to hear about the wonderful girls they are and will become.

I don't think I've mentioned it before, but about a month after we first moved here, I was called as the Young Women's second counselor. The Young Women's president is Robin, the first counselor is Jessica, and the secretary is Christine. They are so fun to work with! Our ward is pretty small, so we only have around 10 young women, and of those, there are only three or four that come pretty consistently. We love these girls! Anyway, for one of our activities, we got to go to a University of Utah/University of Nebraska gymnastics meet.

It was really fun, and surprisingly crowded. Gymnastics definitely fascinates me; I can't understand how a human body can have enough power to do the things they do! We had a great time watching. It only made sense, though, for me to cheer for Nebraska...considering the U of U is BYU's rival, and since Mom grew up in Nebraska and all her family are huge fans.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Josh was released from his calling as Young Men's instructor and was called to be the Ward Mission Leader. He's a little nervous about it, but as soon as he got the call he came home and poured over thick notebooks and papers that the last ward mission leader handed over. He's so dedicated, and already doing such a great job!

Josh and I have even found the time to go out on a couple of dates! Just the other night, we splurged and had a night out on the town at IHOP. I love "buy-one-entree-get-one-free" coupons!

On Easter Sunday, we were able to go over to Janalynne's for a fabulous breakfast of eggs, bacon, and pancakes and to watch the first session of conference. Jacob and Stephanie came up from Provo as well, and Jilleena and Chris made it, too! It's so great to have family that lives close by!

A New Job and a Valentine's Day History!

2010-03-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Since Josh and I have gotten married, I've been working as a wedding planner at The Canterbury Place in Bountiful. But, as of the beginning of February, I am now working as a wedding coordinator at Aspen Landing Reception Center!

So far, I love my new job. The people that I work with are great, the reception center is beautiful, it's closer and less stressful than Canterbury, and I still get to plan weddings! It was also great because the training to be a wedding planner wasn't as rigorous as it was the first time around. Most of the things I needed to know for this job I had already learned at Canterbury...it was just a matter of learning new pricing and policies and not mixing them up with Canterbury's, learning where everything was, and learning some different processes (i.e. how you record event plans, how to make up payment pages in a different computer system, etc). Josh and I truly believe this job was an answer to prayers!

Josh is still loving his job at Dashboard Accounting! Which is good, because if he hated it, he would probably have to switch his major, and that would set us back a few years! He has been a book keeper with them for almost a year, and his boss is now training him to become a controller! The business has been growing, and they will be moving this month to a larger office space.

Josh and I also celebrated our first married Valentine's Day! It actually makes me think of our first Valentine's Day together, 2 years ago. Josh and I had only been on two dates, and even though I knew we had really connected, I also knew I probably shouldn't expect anything. So, when I found chocolate milk and a pez dispenser left on my doorstep with no name signed, I thought it was from another guy that I had gone on a date with! I was actually panicking a little bit, too, because even though he was a nice guy, I really wasn't interested in him. So I went the whole day wondering what I could possibly say to this guy. But, that evening, I went to hang out with a group of friends at Brett's apartment (Brett was Josh's old mission companion, and how me and Josh met in the first place). Once I was there, I eventually found out from Brett that all that stuff was from Josh! Needless to say, I was relieved and excited. Josh called later that night, and we met up to watch the movie Disturbia. That was also the day Josh kissed me for the first time!

Our second Valentine's Day is also a great memory. On Valentine's morning, Josh brought over flowers and chocolates for me. Then we went with his brother (John), nephew (Johno), sister (Jenessa), and my best friend (Allison) up into the mountains to shoot guns (how very romantic)! We had a lot of fun shooting at different targets. I have zero hand-eye coordination, but I still had a great time and managed to hit a few targets. After we had shot for a while, we had a paintball war with sling shots. Also a lot of fun, but I doubt that I ever hit anybody. If guns were tricky enough for me, a sling shot was even harder! Then, that evening, Josh and I got carry-out from Los Hermanos...we didn't want to have to wait for 2 hours to eat in a restaurant (Provo restaurants on Valentine's Day are ridiculous).

This year didn't involve any shooting! We kept it pretty low-key. Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday, so we celebrated on Monday (we couldn't do the Saturday before, because I had to work that night). Josh worked during the day on Monday, but when he came home, he brought some great surprises: some chocolate, flowers, and the movie "Up!".

Then we headed out to dinner at Texas Roadhouse! I always love eating out, so I was pretty excited to go.
When we got back we watched "Up!" and relaxed. It was a wonderful third Valentine's Day together!

Josh's Birthday!

2010-02-15T20:28:00.000-08:00

Josh's birthday has rolled around again, and he is now 24! He feels like he is so old now, but he is getting handsomer all the time!

For his birthday, we slept in since he usually has to get up really early for work and school. Then Josh opened his presents.

For his cake, Josh wanted a cheesecake, so I made him one topped with strawberry!

Josh chose Noodles and Company for his birthday dinner. He had been wanting to see Avatar really badly, so went to see it at the I-MAX in 3-D!

A few days later, my mom came in to town, and we had another little celebration for Josh then. My mom gave Josh some great presents: clothes for work that he really needed! Lindsey is also trying to learn how to do cake decorating, so she made Josh another cake. She definitely out-did me on so many levels! It was a basketball cake with a jersey of Josh's favorite team, the Utah Jazz.

My mom stayed with us at our apartment for a few more days, and we all had a great time! One of the nights we had a fun little party at the Bell's and watched the BYU vs. UTAH game. Even though Josh goes to the U now, he still routes for BYU, since he grew up a fan and lived in Provo.

And BYU won!

So, we had a great time celebrating another year of Josh and visiting with mom. We're excited for the next time one of my parents comes to visit!

New Years in Vegas!

2010-01-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

Josh and I decided to take an over night trip to Las Vegas from January 1st-2nd. It was the perfect time because Josh was still out of school, and I had just finished a crazy week of weddings, and needed the break!

Josh left where we were staying as a surprise, and he made a great choice! We stayed at the Hilton Grand Vacations Club on the strip. It was an AMAZING hotel, and there was no casino, so it was nice that you didn't walk into the lobby and smell cigarette smoke.

When we got to Vegas, it was already nighttime, and we were pretty much starving. So we hit the strip in search of a food court. We finally found one that was still open in the Venetian, which happens to also be our favorite hotel. We quickly discovered that food courts in Vegas are expensive...but we were starving, so we got some cheesesteaks, and they were way good.

After we ate, we spent some time exploring the Venetian. I love how they make the shops look like they are outside!

The next day, we went to cover all of the rest of the sights on the strip. We started with the MGM Grand, where they had the lions, which I always love to see.

The MGM Grand also has what Josh claims would be in his dream home: about a million TV screens playing pretty much every single game happening in the United States at one time.

Next we headed over the M&M factory!

We even waited to see the 3-D movie. The movie didn't make a lot of sense, and probably doesn't teach ideal morals for children (the red M&M loses the white "M" on his chest while gambling in Vegas), but it was fun.

After that, we went next-door to the Coca-Cola Factory, where we enjoyed a really good root beer float.

There was also the most hilarious polar bear ever that would bite your head and then start laughing.

And then there was an out-of-order Coca Cola machine. At Coca-Cola World. How embarassing.

Then we enjoyed some of the other sites of Vegas:

The Bellagio, as always, had an amazing conservatory. We were there while they still had their Christmas set-up. The houses, polar bears, snowman, everything was made of flowers.

Of course, we had to see the Bellagio fountain show, because that's probably the coolest thing in Vegas.

We finished the trip by eating a delicious dinner at Outback Steakhouse, and then we decided to watch the fountain show one more time. But the Bellagio was farther down the strip, and it was getting close to the half-hour (the fountains go on the hour and half hour) so we pretty much had to run all the way there. We made it about 1 minute before the show started, and it was definitely worth it. After that, we made the 6 hour drive back home, and got back at about 2 or 3 in the morning! But we had a great time; it was our first getaway together since our honeymoon!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

2010-01-03T19:48:00.000-08:00

A lot has happened here recently! The biggest highlights were:

For Thanksgiving, we went down to Provo and spent Thanksgiving with the Bells and Jordan at Nick's sister, Katie's house. It was so nice of them to have us! The food was incredible, and we all had a great time hanging out together.
2 days after Thanksgiving, we went to Josh's sister, Jilleena's wedding. She married Chris Meredith in the Salt Lake City temple. The wedding was so beautiful!
At this reception, I lost my camera, which was a bummer. But, what goes around comes back around. At work, some one also left their camera at a reception and it went unclaimed for months. Because no one claimed it, my boss said that I could have it. So, fortunately, I had a camera to document our first Christmas together! We had Christmas here in Utah this year. Since we were spending Christmas out here, we made sure that our apartment was very festive.

Along with all the dozens of other traits I've inherited from my mom, one of them was a driving need to make the Christmas tree match our apartment. So we decorated it all in chocolate brown and gold.

My parents gave us this adorable angel ornament that has our names, 2009, and "First Christmas" engraved on it. We also got a 2009 ornament.

Every year the Bensons have a gingerbread house building night, and that's where me and Josh made this train. Recently, we also got a new couch and entertainment center, and they've made such a big difference in our apartment.

A few days before Christmas, Josh and I went over to the Bell's. Neither Lindsey or I went to South Carolina for Christmas, so we decided to do our own little get together before she, Nick, and Makenzie left for Oregon. We did our Brown Family traditions: Lindsey made potato soup, and then we all watched The Grinch. We had a great time!

Josh and I had a great Christmas Eve together. I got a roast cooking, and then we left to go see a movie at the dollar theatre. We ended up seeing Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. I was excited to see it, because I loved that book when I was younger.

After the movie, we headed back to our apartment. It was so nice to walk in to the smell of roast, carrots, potatoes, and onions cooking! Then, once we were back, it was time to start cooking the rest of the dinner: mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, and rolls (but the rolls were easy, because all I had to do was take them out of the bag...).

Josh found a way to keep himself entertained while I cooked (don't worry, he definitely offered to help).

After the dinner was cooked, he himself, The Grinch, carved the roast beast.

Then we enjoyed a delicious meal. We were so full for hours afterward, that we couldn't even eat the cheesecake I had made!

After dinner, we each got to open 1 present. Apparently, Josh and I think A LOT alike, because we both got each other the game "Clue." But one was Harry Potter clue, so I guess they're a little different...
After that, we watched It's a Wonderful Life. That's a Brown family favorite Christmas movie, and Christmas wouldn't have been complete with out watching it. This was Josh's first time seeing it, but he really liked it! Which is good, because he'll be watching it every year for the rest of eternity... On Christmas morning, Josh and I slept-in a little bit and then opened our presents and stockings! Josh had us wear matching pajama pants, because that's what his family did growing up! We also got him a Santa hat.

Here's the carnage... We made a good haul this year!

Once we were done, I called home and talked to my family while Josh made a huge Christmas breakfast! Belgain waffles with Strawberry topping and whipped cream (his topping was even homemade!), eggs, bacon, and cinnamon rolls!

We made a cookie-brownie dessert for the Benson Family Christmas Dinner and headed down to Provo! We had a big dinnner and spent a lot of time with all of the Benson's, and then had a Christmas present exchange. It was so fun to have everyone together! I need to get pictures of everything from one of Josh's siblings. (I'm so bad about taking pictures when there's other people doing it, because I always figure I can get them from someone else later...)

So, all in all, our first Christmas together was amazing! I can't believe it's already over. And now I have to start thinking about taking down Christmas decorations...

Trip to Nebraska!

2009-11-25T20:00:00.000-08:00

This year is Nana's (my mom's mom's) 80th birthday! Her kids decided to surprise her by having as much of us as possible fly in and celebrate! So my parents flew in me and my siblings. This was the first time that my parents, siblings, and I had been together in about 3 years, since before Jordan's mission! We had a great time catching up with each other, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. We also got to visit Winter Quarters, which was really incredible to see!

They had a replica of a log cabin at the museum. It was tiny! It's hard to imagine living with your entire family in a small, one room cabin!

They also had a replica of a hand cart. Imagine pulling one of those over rocks and mountains! It was pretty cool because after here, we flew back to Salt Lake, the pioneers' final destination. Only it took us just a few hours, and we didn't have to walk and freeze. Seeing all of this defintely gave me a greater appreciation of the sacrifices that the pioneers made.

Next to the pioneer museum is the Winter Quarters Temple. It's a smaller one; it actually looks a lot like the Columbia, South Carolina Temple. Next to the temple is the Winter Quarters Graveyard.

That night, we had Nana's birthday party! Unfortunately, my mom put me in charge of taking tons of pictures with her camera, so I wasn't able to get any of my own. Hopefully, I can get them from her soon and add them in! But the party was great. We went and ate at Red Lobster (lucky for me, they also had some chicken alfredo, since I don't like seafood). There were a ton of people there! We all got to catch up and spend time together, and then we all watched a fabulous video my parents put together for nana on a big screen my Dad set up.

We had a great time visiting everybody, and hopefully it won't be too long before we all get together again!

Birthday!

2009-11-11T19:26:00.000-08:00

I am officially 23! It seems hard to believe. This past year has been a big year for, me though, since I graduated from BYU, got married, and got my first real job!

Josh definitely gave me a fabulous birthday. I got to sleep in that morning, and then he took me to a surprise location: the Hogle Zoo! I was really excited because I've been wanting to go there for a long time...I've lived in Utah for about 4 1/2 years and never been!

After the zoo, Josh took me to eat at Bomday House, which is one of my favorite restaurants! It has fabulous Indian Food. Then, we went to the Gateway in Salt Lake for a while. When we got back, a bunch of my and Josh's family was here and surprised me! We all had cake and ice cream and had a great time.
So, all in all, it was an amazing birthday! Josh is pretty much the best!

Halloween!

2009-11-01T22:09:00.000-08:00

This year for Halloween, we really didn't do much of anything. When you don't have a kid, you don't really have an excuse to go door to door to get candy. But we did have a ward Halloween party, which gave us an opportunity to be in costume. Since we had recently been involved in re-reading the Harry Potter series, we definitely had those characters in mind. So, we decided to dress up as Harry and Hermione. Josh made an awesome Harry! Me as Hermione? Not so much. I had work that day, so I didn't really have a chance to poof my hair in the right way. I tried to do it really fast, but the result was kind of a disaster.

Mission Reunion

2009-10-15T22:25:00.000-07:00

Josh served his mission in the Philippines, and just recently had a mission reunion! It was really cool to go and meet a lot of his old mission companions and elders from his "batch." Josh has been back from his mission for just a little over two years, and already tons of his mission friends (himself included) are married or engaged...some even with kids on the way! I was also able to meet Josh's mission president and his wife, the Labroms. That was great, because I know Josh has a huge respect for them and really looks up to them.

When we got there, we were treated to a buffet of Filipino food. This was my first experience with a Filipino meal, and it was interesting to try the different types of food that Josh ate for 2 years on his mission! I can't say it's my favorite type of food, but it was pretty good.

Josh was able to play a big part in the mission reunion. First, he, Brett, and Clint performed a song. They did a great job...especially considering they were only able to practice right before they performed!
Josh and Brett were also in charge of the "Sheaves and Honors" portion of the evening. This is where they would ask questions regarding the mission and the Philippines that the elders would have to answer (i.e. saying the Restoration story in Tagalog). The winners recieved Filipino food products.
We had a great night, and it was fun to learn a little bit more about Josh's mission!

Our Apartment

2009-10-13T10:41:00.000-07:00

I love our apartment complex, but its one drawback is that we don't have a washer and dryer in our apartment. So, we have to use our complex laundromat. When I was doing laundry the other day, I came across this little number:

Either this got mixed into our laundry, or Josh is in BIG trouble. I wasn't really sure what to do with it, so I went back to the laundromat and left it on a shelf. I'm sure it's classy owner has been looking frantically for it. Or maybe she's used to losing her tops...I'd rather not think about it.

I guess it's time to post pictures of our new apartment! We still have a few things left to do. I'm waiting on some pictures to get printed so that we can hang those up. But other than that, we're all settled in! We've come a long way considering our apartment used to look like this:

The night we moved in, we were pretty exhausted because we had just flown back in that day and Josh had work in the morning. But that didn't deter him from starting to put some of our furniture together (yes, we did have to buy some cheaper furniture that required assembly...but it's perfect for our needs; I love Ikea!).

It took us a long time (I REALLY hate unpacking) but eventually we got all settled in!

It even has a cute balcony that you can get to from the living room or bedroom! And I love that we have a gas log fireplace...we just have to figure out how to turn it on.

So that's it for our apartment! I will close with a picture of Josh about to leave for his first day at the University of Utah (he's so handsome!).

Honeymoon!

2009-10-05T16:41:00.000-07:00

After our fabulous wedding (thanks again, family and friends!), Josh and I headed to Delray Beach Florida. Our beautiful condo was literally a stone's throw from the beach, which was awesome!

We also loved our rental car, which was one of the new Civics. We're thinking that one day when we can afford it, we just might have to get one...

Delray had the cutest little town, too. It was so nice to walk down the streets in perfect weather, and pick a restaurant at random. Our restaurant ended up being a good pick, too. Josh got the most amazing cheesesteak we had ever tasted! I was definitely jealous, because his was a lot better than what I ordered! (Sorry the picture is blurry...)

Our good friends, Robby and Tia, gave us park-hopper passes for Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. This was about 3 hours away, but the opportunity was way too good to pass up. So we made the drive, and it was definitely worth it! We thought we would only have time for one park, so we decided we would go to Universal Studios. The lines weren't as bad as expected, though, and after a half-day we'd done everything! So we ran next door to Islands of Adventure and just had time to do everything there, too! We really lucked out, and had so much fun!

I also found out that they are building a new Harry Potter ride, and I am SO excited about it!

Any one who knows me knows that I couldn't possibly be that close to Disney World and NOT go. Since we didn't have time to do all the Disney Parks, we decided to go to Magic Kingdom. That was one amazing day...

Disney has this fast pass system that was awesome, because it really helped cut down on the lines! I think the longest line we had to wait in was 45 minutes (for Peter Pan...totally worth it). Other than that, with the fast pass, most lines were only 5-10 minutes! One of our last rides was the Carousel of Progress, which is indoors. It was about a 20 minute ride, and when we got out, it was pouring rain, like a deluge! People were taking cover under any ledge, overhang, or store they could find! But me and Josh decided to brave the weather, and went sprinting through the waterfall to the Snow White ride. So much rain had already come down, that the streets were like a river, and I lost a flip flop in it and had to go back! We rode the Snow White ride which, thankfully, was the only one we still needed to go on. So after that, we left. We were a little sad that we didn't get to see the fireworks, but glad that we had gotten to ride eveything we wanted (except for Space Mountain, which was closed for renovations or something :( )

So our honeymoon was pretty much fabulous! It was so nice to finally be done with wedding plans and take a week away from work to relax and have fun. We weren't quite ready to leave Delray when the time came, but we headed to Myrtle Beach, and had a great time at our South Carolina reception!

Our Wedding Day

2009-09-14T18:11:00.000-07:00

Since Josh and I were just married, I guess it unofficially marks the time that we enter the blogging community. Mostly, I want to steal my sister's idea...to use this as a journal and one day print it all up and put it in some kind of book. (Lindsey's saying right now "She always did want to be me...")
It's been about a month since the big day. We were married in the Mt. Timpanogas Temple on July 25th at 1:00 pm.

It was so great that it was later in the day, because that gave us plenty of time to get ready that morning!

I definitely had some nerves, but I surprisingly wasn't as nervous as I expected to be. Everything ran pretty smoothly, and I was glad that Josh got to the temple first and was there waiting for me when I arrived.

The Sealing was, of course, beautiful. We were given a lot of advice that I wish I could remember more of now. But it was so great to be in the sealing room, surrounded by wonderful family and friends. My family is amazing, and I have to say I most certainly lucked out with my new family! They are all so kind, generous, and welcoming.

After the sealing, I changed and waited for ever for Josh to be done...I couldn't believe it was actually taking him longer than it took me to change! As it turns out, he had been ready for a long time, but was waiting for me in the wrong spot. Before I walked out, I was given one of the most amazing bouquets I have ever seen...done by my Sister-in-law, Suymey! It couldn't have been more perfect. So me and Josh made our grand exit...

Where the paparazzi where waiting...

After that, we took tons of pictures in the blazing heat. Really I should just be grateful it wasn't raining, because it was drizzling a little bit the night before. Here are a few of the temple pictures:

The first thing that me and Josh did as a married couple was to go to McDonald's. We were STARVING (I hadn't eaten that morning...) and we only had a little bit of time before the reception. Josh and I were lucky enough to get 2 receptions. The first was in Provo. Josh's mom and the rest of his family did an AMAZING job planning everything. We were thrilled with how everything turned out!

The next reception was in South Carolina, and we had it right after our honeymoon in Florida. This was also an amazing reception, it turned out stunning!

Thanks to our family and friends for helping us to have the most fabulous wedding ever!