Dad's Visit to Utah

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!

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

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!

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!

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!