Mike & Cami Peterson

Franklin Ace Peterson

2011-10-30T16:26:00.006-06:00

So I know I am horrible at updating our blog, new goal... update at least once a month. But the past year has been spent for the most part preparing and getting ready for this little guy:

Franklin Ace Peterson
Born October 8, 2011 at 8:32 pm
Weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long.

I would not let many people take pictures of me pregnant but this is one Caitlin snuck in at one of my showers. It was exactly one week before he was born.

We got his nursery ready pretty early, but once my mom got her at the end of September she helped me put up some final touches. We got all of our bedding and such for free from Mike's boss which made it so much easier to pick the jungle theme, because that was what she gave us. If she hadn't, I think I would have probably given myself an anurism trying to decide what to do.

This was the first day we brought him home. Sydney loves him and is very protective over him. She will not let the cat get anywhere near him and is the first to his side to respond to his cries. When we go for walks she has to periodically jump on the side of the stroller to make sure that he is okay before she continues.

This is the first picture that was taken of our new little family, obviously neither me or Mike were paying attention but I like it just the same. It's pretty adorable because Mike was actually talking to the nurse already worried about the little noises he was making, sounding like something was in his throat, and was making sure he was okay and if there was anything we should be doing.

It suprised us both that he has such light hair, and it looks super red when put in the sunlight.

We named him Ace, after Ace Enders who is our favorite muscian. Mike and I have been to a few of his concerts together. It was the first concert we ever had gone to together, where Ace Enders held my hand and make preceded to tell me that I wasn't allowed to wash it and he was going to chop it off and hang it on the wall (romantic from the start I tell ya!) ;) I was also wearing an Early November shirt the first time that we kissed, and it was one of the only things that Ace responded to in the womb when I played music for him. Mike told me when we first got married that's what he wanted to call his first kid, and this whole time we were trying to pick a name he only liked names that he could get "Ace" as a justified nickname. So finally, after much deliberation and us being to of the most undesicive people I asked him what he would call him which was Ace, no matter what his name was so we decided to just go ahead and use that. A lot of people don't like it but it has meaning to us and we like it which is all that really matters. We also used Franklin, which is Mike's dad's name. We figured since he was the first grandson we would name him after his paternal grandfather as well.

He has so many funny expressions and such a personality!

It's hard to capture them all, he is already changing so fast!

But he is the sweetest little guy. He is so easy going and laid back, he makes it seem to easy currently, we are hoping it lasts! :)

Mike carved this pumpkin for him, underneath his hand is a guitar you just can't see it.

So me and Grandma Hanna had a fun little photoshoot with him outside with the pumpkins.

I can't even get enough time with this guy. He has deff changed our lives but we are living every minute of it!

Family Tree! and the last leaf...

2010-10-22T19:37:00.004-06:00

So I have been wanting to do this project forever and finally took this day off to do it! It literally took me the whole day but I am really happy with the end result. I first had to hand outline my tree with tape... which took roughly 7 hours... and then painted it. All I was planning on getting accomplished today was painting the tree but after I got to that point I really wanted to see the end result. The rest was easy, and I am really happy with how it turned out! The only thing left to add is a I have a quote that says "rooted in love" and ordered it in vinyl to put towards the trunk so I am just waiting for that to get here! So that is our family tree filled with pictures of our family including our dog Sydney! :)

So, as I was outlining and painting this tree all day I kept thinking about this story that has great personal meaning between my mom and me, that came about during my parent's divorce. It is about the "last leaf" falling off the tree... so after I was done I went outside and found a beautiful fall leaf to hang on my tree and I did just that!

So this is for my mom! Also I went ahead and posted the story I was talking about if you feel like taking a read...

The Last Leaf
By O' Henry

In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account!

So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling, hunting for north windows and eighteenth-century gables and Dutch attics and low rents. Then they imported some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue, and became a "colony."

At the top of a squatty, three-story brick Sue and Johnsy had their studio. "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at the table d'hôte of an Eighth Street "Delmonico's," and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so congenial that the joint studio resulted.

That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Over on the east side this ravager strode boldly, smiting his victims by scores, but his feet trod slowly through the maze of the narrow and moss-grown "places."

Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, gray eyebrow.

"She has one chance in - let us say, ten," he said, as he shook down the mercury in his clinical thermometer. " And that chance is for her to want to live. This way people have of lining-u on the side of the undertaker makes the entire pharmacopoeia look silly. Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?"

"She - she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day." said Sue.

"Paint? - bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking twice - a man for instance?"

"A man?" said Sue, with a jew's-harp twang in her voice. "Is a man worth - but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."

"Well, it is the weakness, then," said the doctor. "I will do all that science, so far as it may filter through my efforts, can accomplish. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines. If you will get her to ask one question about the new winter styles in cloak sleeves I will promise you a one-in-five chance for her, instead of one in ten."

After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried a Japanese napkin to a pulp. Then she swaggered into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling ragtime.

Johnsy lay, scarcely making a ripple under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. Sue stopped whistling, thinking she was asleep.

She arranged her board and began a pen-and-ink drawing to illustrate a magazine story. Young artists must pave their way to Art by drawing pictures for magazine stories that young authors write to pave their way to Literature.

As Sue was sketching a pair of elegant horseshow riding trousers and a monocle of the figure of the hero, an Idaho cowboy, she heard a low sound, several times repeated. She went quickly to the bedside.

Johnsy's eyes were open wide. She was looking out the window and counting - counting backward.

"Twelve," she said, and little later "eleven"; and then "ten," and "nine"; and then "eight" and "seven", almost together.

Sue look solicitously out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine, gnarled and decayed at the roots, climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had stricken its leaves from the vine until its skeleton branches clung, almost bare, to the crumbling bricks.

"What is it, dear?" asked Sue.

"Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."

"Five what, dear? Tell your Sudie."

"Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"

"Oh, I never heard of such nonsense," complained Sue, with magnificent scorn. "What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? And you used to love that vine so, you naughty girl. Don't be a goosey. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were - let's see exactly what he said - he said the chances were ten to one! Why, that's almost as good a chance as we have in New York when we ride on the street cars or walk past a new building. Try to take some broth now, and let Sudie go back to her drawing, so she can sell the editor man with it, and buy port wine for her sick child, and pork chops for her greedy self."

"You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another. No, I don't want any broth. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too."

"Johnsy, dear," said Sue, bending over her, "will you promise me to keep your eyes closed, and not look out the window until I am done working? I must hand those drawings in by to-morrow. I need the light, or I would draw the shade down."

"Couldn't you draw in the other room?" asked Johnsy, coldly.

"I'd rather be here by you," said Sue. "Beside, I don't want you to keep looking at those silly ivy leaves."

"Tell me as soon as you have finished," said Johnsy, closing her eyes, and lying white and still as fallen statue, "because I want to see the last one fall. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."

"Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old hermit miner. I'll not be gone a minute. Don't try to move 'til I come back."

Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. He was past sixty and had a Michael Angelo's Moses beard curling down from the head of a satyr along with the body of an imp. Behrman was a failure in art. Forty years he had wielded the brush without getting near enough to touch the hem of his Mistress's robe. He had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. For several years he had painted nothing except now and then a daub in the line of commerce or advertising. He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists in the colony who could not pay the price of a professional. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who scoffed terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above.

Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of juniper berries in his dimly lighted den below. In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker.

Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt and derision for such idiotic imaginings.

"Vass!" he cried. "Is dere people in de world mit der foolishness to die because leafs dey drop off from a confounded vine? I haf not heard of such a thing. No, I will not bose as a model for your fool hermit-dunderhead. Vy do you allow dot silly pusiness to come in der brain of her? Ach, dot poor leetle Miss Yohnsy."

"She is very ill and weak," said Sue, "and the fever has left her mind morbid and full of strange fancies. Very well, Mr. Behrman, if you do not care to pose for me, you needn't. But I think you are a horrid old - old flibbertigibbet."

"You are just like a woman!" yelled Behrman. "Who said I will not bose? Go on. I come mit you. For half an hour I haf peen trying to say dot I am ready to bose. Gott! dis is not any blace in which one so goot as Miss Yohnsy shall lie sick. Some day I vill baint a masterpiece, and ve shall all go away. Gott! yes."

Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down to the window-sill, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the hermit miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.

When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.

"Pull it up; I want to see," she ordered, in a whisper.

Wearily Sue obeyed.

But, lo! after the beating rain and fierce gusts of wind that had endured through the livelong night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last one on the vine. Still dark green near its stem, with its serrated edges tinted with the yellow of dissolution and decay, it hung bravely from the branch some twenty feet above the ground.

"It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall to-day, and I shall die at the same time."

"Dear, dear!" said Sue, leaning her worn face down to the pillow, "think of me, if you won't think of yourself. What would I do?"

But Johnsy did not answer. The lonesomest thing in all the world is a soul when it is making ready to go on its mysterious, far journey. The fancy seemed to possess her more strongly as one by one the ties that bound her to friendship and to earth were loosed.

The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed, while the rain still beat against the windows and pattered down from the low Dutch eaves.

When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.

The ivy leaf was still there.

Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken broth over the gas stove.

"I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring a me a little broth now, and some milk with a little port in it, and - no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook."

And hour later she said:

"Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."

The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.

"Even chances," said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his. "With good nursing you'll win." And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is - some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital to-day to be made more comfortable."

The next day the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You won. Nutrition and care now - that's all."

And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay, contentedly knitting a very blue and very useless woollen shoulder scarf, and put one arm around her, pillows and all.

"I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia to-day in the hospital. He was ill only two days. The janitor found him the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a dreadful night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and - look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece - he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."

Sometimes being a girl sucks!

2010-09-20T10:48:00.002-06:00

So I have been hardcore and aggresively dieting for the past month... I lost 25 pounds total with cheating once right at 3 weeks (which I am still mad at myself for but it was peach days and I couldn't resist those warm cinnamon glazed almonds). But what I hate, is that I should be extatic! That is a lot of weight to lose in such a short time... but how do I feel? Depressed that I still would like to lose another 15-20 pounds. I mean I am WAY closer to my goal, but it just makes me sick how far out of control I let my body go and that after losing so much, I am still only 2/3's of the way there, instead of being at my goal. This probably makes no sense to anybody reading but it has been driving me crazy and I had to write it down to hopefully help it get out of my system! And as I am beating myself up and depressed looking in the mirror and at pictures, Mike sits on the couch eating two hamburgers! And I'm like REALLY? You only weigh MAYBE 10 or 15 pounds more than you did in High School, and I have no idea where you have put it because you can still wear ALL the same clothes!? It drives me nuts. I have always had a complex about my weight even when I was pretty thin... which I would die to be that small now, and I should be going to my husband to make me feel better. But let's face it he sucks with words, he has since i met him and I knew that about him when I married him.

Guess that's my little vent, onto another day...

Bliss... I missed you dear friend!

2010-06-22T23:05:00.002-06:00

So I was sitting on my couch, looking around at the mess of our new house, and just had a wonderfully happy moment I felt I needed to share. There are boxes all over our floor where Mike unwrapped our blinds and started hanging them (thanks to his boss for such an awesome and generous house warming present) and Mike is laying on the floor with Sydney while she is going wild and sliding all over the boxes and bubble wrap barking and making all the weird noises she does and we both just started laughing so hard at her, she is such a treat even though she is a mongrel most of the times but I just took that minute to look around me to see how lucky I am, how blessed I am, and to not let little things crush my days and bring me down, because that is Satan trying to crush the happiness out of our hearts. The primary song "count your blessings" immediately popped into my head which my mom sings ALL THE TIME when we complain about something which drives me nuts but I couldn't help but smile when that was the first thing I thought of, and I do hope that each of us count our blessings and take a moment to appreciate all of the blessings we have each been given. Anyways, just a short post I thought I should share and here is a little video at the peak of our crazy pup!

Cupcake Tower!

2010-04-19T21:17:00.004-06:00

So, it took me FOREVER to find a cupcake stand that would work for this project but I finally did, and what do you know? It was the cheapest one I found which was also a plus! My cousin Anna is expecting her first baby girl! So, I volunteered to do a cake for her shower. It was an open house kind of style so I didn't want a cake that people would be afraid to cut into or eat till the end of the party, so we decided on a cupcake tower with a small cake on the top!

She likes more earthy, natural kind of colors, so I went with a kind of "garden" color scheme. Also I wanted to try these adorable gerbera daisies I have seen... they turned out way pretty... but do take a LONG time to make... I'll show you a little bit of the process...

For these, I mix fondant with gum paste, it makes it harder, and you can actually keep them and reuse them if they dry long enough. I used my cutter upside down to get the crispest edges...

You need two cutouts for each flower, but after you cut it out you roll out and vein the petals a little bit...

Then, get the middle of the bottom one a little wet, and put the other one on top and they'll stick together!

Then, I use the smallest flower cutter I have... After you cut these out, I have a tiny pair of little bladed, but SHARP scissors... You cut them in half and then cut each petal in half so they are skinnier... but don't cut the petals all the way through so they stay together....

Get the center of the flower wet again,.. and start pressing and sticking the smaller pieces to the outside edge of the middle of the flower... forming the circle...

Then I made a center for each, where I used my scissors and a toothpick again to make it a little more real-like giving it some texture...

And voila! This is everything all put together... I did three different color flowers... The orange, blue, and pink... and then made a small 6" cake for the top... The cake was white with a strawberry filling and buttercream icing and the cupcakes were white and chocolate with buttercream icing on top of them!

Here is a more upclose of the cake...

It turned out well, and looked pretty on the table... I really like doing this style with the cupcakes it's a lot of fun, and cupcakes are so easy for everybody to grab without being scared to mess up the cake, which seems to be what I get with most of the cakes I make, they are in a way pieces of art but when it comes down to it they are for EATING! :)

Vegas and not 21...

2010-03-30T21:48:00.011-06:00

So, I randomly got a weekend off work, without requesting it so Mike and me decided to go down south to visit Becky! It was a super fun relaxing weekend! On Saturday we decided to jump in the car and go to Vegas! I had never been, and I was a little limited as to where I could go since I am still not 21 but we had a blast!

Our first stop was the 4 acre Bass Pro Shop! Mike could not get over how the parking lines were fish... he got SO excited!

What is that over there?

Probably one of the coolest motorcycles I have ever seen!

A beautiful array of colors in the M&M shop!

For some reason it took us at least 20 minutes to find the name "Jessica" M&M tattoo... so of course we spent the time finding it!

Mike got really into the race car and decided we all needed to show off our "sexy" poses! Becky got it started with her hot pose!

Mike told me to show of my assets.... what he thinks is my number one... so I was silly and did...

And of course he had to have his own pose!

Mike snuck this shot of the Coca Cola bear... very sneaky you weren't supposed to photograph him... maybe it sets him off to bite? I don't know...

A bunch of different popular sodas from around the world!

Here we go...

Bottoms up!

Okay and that one was really nasty!

The Bellagio!

Mike and Becky!

Mike's "scandalous" picture of the David... he didn't want to be in it though

Mike took me on a Gondola ride after we got some gelato!

It was such a fun weekend! We went golfing the next day... well after we slept most of the day recovering from our late night in Vegas! It was my first time and I got to use my clubs Mike gave me as a wedding gift! It was a pretty nice day, just a little windy but it was really fun! I just wish Becky lived closer so we could have weekend like that all the time!

Mario Birthday Cake

2010-03-02T17:13:00.002-07:00

So it has been awhile since I have done a pretty fancy cake, but my coworker Alan asked me if I thought I would be able to pull off a Mario cake for his son. He showed me a picture of what they wanted and it was in buttercream so I showed him a couple other ides of fondant and what that would look like. Him and his wife decided that they liked it better, which is great for me, because although it is a little more pricey it is a lot easier for me to hide my mistakes in! He found all of the Mario pieces in a chess set on Ebay and ordered that, and then they found the large Mario in a store in Salt Lake. He was BIG, and it took me forever to think of a way to get him to stay on top but I think that the cloud was one of my favorite parts!

It really turned out well I thought. I loved making the little eating plant guy in the picture above here, sorry that I don't know their names. I made him completely by hand it was really cool to see him turn out so well.

The cake we chose was a yellow and chocolate marble with chocolate buttercream icing underneath the fondant. It looked yummy, and I hope it was... I haven't heard the verdict yet.

Mike was not to thrilled because he was my clean up crew. I had to go to work right as I was finishing the cake so he had to clean it all up... and when I cook or bake or anything I make a mess... but when I make a cake as extravagant as this its a REALLY big mess.

So hopefully it was to their satisfaction and I really hope Kylan liked it! He wanted a Mario cake so bad and had no idea that he was actually getting one!

Happy Birthday Kylan!

Valentine's Weekend Fish Lake Trip

2010-02-16T20:37:00.002-07:00

So for Valentine's Day I planned a trip to fish lake with Mike to go ice fishing. He is always trying to get me to go and I always refuse because I don't want to go sit out in the cold for hours. So, I decided to suck it up and give it a good try at least. We went to our hotel in Richfield on Sunday and relaxed all night so we could be well rested for our fishing day. We got up that morning, Mike got me all sorts of bundled and we drove out to the lake. When we got there , there were some people out on the lake but not too many. Mike told me that we needed to walk towards the other side to avoid "fishing pressure" and could catch more fish. I was okay with this. The lake didn't look to wide or anything. Well... I was wrong, and I was swearing under my breath the entire way trekking across the lake in the snow which was pretty deep, nearly about to kill him. Once we got set up we had a lot of fun and I'm really proud of myself because I stayed out there for a grand four hours... which for me was a long time.

We caught a lot of Rainbow Trout and Splake and it was actually a pretty fun day.

Mike with his smaller fish... I caught the biggest of the day.

His biggest that he measured was this 15 1/2 inch Splake he caught a really big one at the very beginning but he didn't measure it so I'm still counting mine as the biggest! :)

Trying to reel in my 18" rainbow

Mike got an action shot of me pulling the fish out.

I really hated when they would start croaking or whatever fish do at me... I dropped them a couple of times because of it.

Nice day of fishing, all cleaned up going out to eat. I wanted a nice picture... and this is the face Mike gave me.

We bought Mike a new camera which is waterproof and we tried it out at the pool in our hotel. It was really scary using it even though we knew it was waterproof, but it just seems so unnatural to put a camera in the pool!

We really had a great time and it was a good trip! And I didn't get TOO cold while fishing so that made it a lot better! :) Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Bridal Pictures

2010-02-07T23:29:00.006-07:00

So I was bored tonight and just going through pictures and stuff on my computer after finishing my homework and realized I never posted any of my bridal pictures on here or on my facebook! I was looking through them and even if I don't think I look the best in all of them Tina did such an awesome job! It made me remember how much fun we had that day! We couldn't stop laughing together! Tina thank you so much again for everything that you did for the wedding you were such a big help and you did such a great shop! Thank you for the beautiful pictures and memories to hold onto!

It was pretty funny trying to fit back in the car with my dress when we were changing locations!

It was so windy and those boots were Tina's and they were too big so my footing was way off!

I loved my hairpiece and my veil they were so fun and different!

Back of my dress!

Detail of my dress!

We set this up in a cute cafe in town! I loved this idea way cute Tina!

Wedding Pictures!

2009-11-21T11:23:00.008-07:00

Okay so here is a post of a bunch of the wedding photos! I'm not really going to write much on it just go ahead and post the pictures! There are lots and lots more but these are some of my favorites! Thank you so much for everybody that was a part of our special day and for how helpful everyone was!

A little bit of catch up!

2009-10-13T09:26:00.004-06:00

I really haven't blogged in so long! Mike and I got engaged in June shortly after my last post and since then things have been very busy! We just got married this past Saturday and are honeymooning in St. George, Utah now. Mike is sick and sleeping a lot but it's still nice to be away! It's really a surreal thing to be married but it's so great! He is really funny about it, he always calls me wife or playing with both of our rings. I will post pictures as soon as I get them from the photographer. I really want to see how some came out! I made my own wedding cake and really want to see the pictures of that! Tina took our engagements and my bridals and did such an awesome job even though she was really nervous! (WHICH SHE SHOULDN'T BE!) Here are a few of my favorites!

We took a few with Mike's Martin guitar that I bought him for a birthday/engagement present! It was so fun buying it for him because it was one of his dream guitars to own! :)

As you can see it kept raining all day but we stayed pretty lucky!

We were kind of confused on what we were doing with this frame for awhile but it was such a cute idea and all of them turned out so cute!

Probably one of my favorite closeups!

This was the other one with frames and she put different stuff inside it for a bunch! I really like them! So creative Tina!

Backdating... Before Vacation!

2009-06-22T07:31:00.000-06:00

So before we left on our vacation I had a busy weekend! Amy and I participated in our second Little Red Riding Hood Bike Ride. It was a ride for breast cancer, there was 2600 women that rode in it, the second largest women only bike event in the country! We did it last year and had a blast, so we wanted to do it again this year! Last year we did the 36 mile ride, and this year we went up to the next level and did the 47 mile ride. We started later and finished earlier this year! We kept an awesome pace and only stopped at our provided rest stops and then two other stops for water and that was it! We were very proud of ourselves! Although we wanted to seriously die those last like 5 miles! THEY WERE HARD! But it was filled of a lot of fun and determination! Mike's Mom came and took pictures of us which was way sweet!

We gave ourselves credit for being SUPER fast because we were hardly ever with anyone from our group... but maybe they were ahead of us? No... we will go with we were ahead of them!

I got my bike a couple of months ago! I love it! It is a Jamis Sport Cruiser!

Also before we left it was Ava's birthday! I went over to Tina and Jake's and showed Tina how to do some cake stuff and this is the final product of her cake! Jake called it a Dr. Seuss cake which I think is fitting! It was a white cake and turned out really moist and yummy! I hope everyone loved it!

North Carolina!

2009-06-19T17:37:00.000-06:00

So Mike and I just got home a few days ago from our vacation in North Carolina. It was kind of a strange trip because my parent's were packing up the house around us while we were there for their move, plus showing it so they can sell it, but it was still a fun relaxing trip! I did miss the nice Utah weather though, Mike felt like he was going to suffocate in the humidity! It was pretty funny, but also very sticky out there!

Our second day we were there we drove out to Emerald Isle with my Mom, and went out to Fort Macon where Mike wrote this in the sand...
We also played putt putt golf. It was a lot of fun, my Mom surprised me with how good she was at it! We all had a fun time goofing off and playing... I of course lost... it's not my best game haha.

We thought this was a pretty funny thing they had up on the course.
My mom and me. My new camera has a cool setting where you can select a color and everything will be in black and white except that color... Mike really liked that setting haha.
Us... this is probably one of my favorite picture of us...
Another day we went to the Ripley's Believe It or Not Aquarium in Myrtle Beach, SC. There were so many amazing things... this was one of the seahorses there.
Mike wouldn't get in the Kangaroo pouch... but Mom would!
After trying to figure out how to get the best pictures in the Aquarium I found out my camera has an AQUARIUM setting... haha.
This part was really awesome you are standing on a moving walkway and you have fish and sharks and everything swimming ALL around you! Over your head, EVERYWHERE!

These fish were HUGE, they are called sawfish and they had super long saw things!

I tried to pick one of the horseshoe crabs but when the legs started touching me it freaked me out so I had Mike do it! haha.
Yes, we stood in line behind the little kids to get inside of this clam! Mike and I could barely fit in the whole together it was so funny!

I thought these were so cool they are called "Weedy Sea Dragons"....
I am terrified of these but they really are so beautiful!

After the aquarium we went to Margaritaville for lunch!
Again... that cool setting...
Mike ate a "Cheeseburger in Paradise"... he said it was DELICIOUS!
This was Mike's first trip to the actual beach. We went to Topsail for a nice walk and took Ginger... the water freaks her out but she seemed like she had so much fun! Although she pooped on the beach and I had to go find something to clean it up... silly dog...

The Ocean really is beautiful!
Next day we went to the officer's beach. This was after Mike's first swim in the Atlantic Ocean!
Ginger was super tired, she fell asleep like this and then woke up and walked around with it draped over her head.
Mike wanted to go on a Hike but after we were attacked by lots of horseflyies we decided to head back... it was neat but Utah hikes are so much prettier to me...

A pond on the trail...
So my mom and Mike have a little joke about lobster, which he has never had but he always tells us to mail him one, so my parent's took him out for his lobster dinner...

The family... Mike, Me, Mom, Eddie, Noelle, and her boyfriend...

Mike's lobster! Yum!

After he ate them... yes we like to play with our food...
A stormy day, but we went out to Bogue pier on Emerald Isle...
My precious dogs! Ginger on left and Roosevelt on right...

Ginger is such a traitor and kept trying to leave me for Mike...

On our last morning before we got on our plane we went Kayaking on the Inter-Coastal Waterway out to the ocean. It was so fun and beautiful! We both love kayaking now and want to get some...

Mike... was so much faster than me... turns out I was paddling wrong the whole time like an idiot... he thought it was hilarious once he figured it out...

We weren't sure if my camera was taking pictures at this point so this is kind of weird...

Another fun picture...

We had a really fun trip but I am happy to be home too!

Down South!

2009-06-01T11:42:00.000-06:00

So Mike and I spent this past weekend in Southern Utah! I had never been down there before and it was so much fun! We stayed with his sister Becky in Cedar, and then went hiking each day down at Zions National Park! It was such a blast! Becky was on call all weekend so she didn't get to come do much with us but at night we hung out at her house in the evenings and had fun visiting and hanging out together! I don't even know how to describe the weekend... but it was exactly what I needed! We left Friday and stopped in Ogden/ Salt Lake for some shopping for the trip and got to Cedar that afternoon. This first day we just took it easy, we went for a short drive up the canyon and it was really pretty. I just am still not used to how beautiful the mountains are, they still baffle me all the time.

Saturday, we got up and went to Zions, we did the Emerald Pools Hike in our fancy new Tevas! (Mike bought us matching pairs haha, they are awesome and so comfy!) We also did the weeping rock trail that day too...

I was so facinated by these cactus flower things... they looked like plastic it was strange, but they are really pretty...
There was a lot of pretty flowers and stuff to see!

So all the pictures of me I'm really SUPER excited or not so much... because Mike kept insisting on taking pictures of me that I didn't want taken but oh well... This is one of the falls to the lower emerald pools.

Somewhere along the emerald pools hike... Sand Hollow was so much fun and so pretty! The water was a little cold at first but you got use to it... Mike jumped off the top rock... it took me like 30 min just to decide to jump off the lower one... Once I did it was fun, except for the fact that I got water in my ear and it started hurting.

We left after that to head back to Cedar and get some dinner. As the night went on though my ear started hurting more and more until I was in so much pain that Mike made me go to the ER... The doctor looked at it, and it was INFECTED! It had only been 3 hours and my ear was infected! So they gave me some antibiotic ear drops, and a big IB Profen, and then sent me home with a bottle of Lortab... Mike said he instantly new when my lortab kicked in. We were at Becky's eating pizza, and I started rocking back and forth, and if I looked up at either of then I would just start laughing.... I was dancing by myself while sitting on the couch and just laughing A LOT.... they had a pretty fun time watching me make a fool of myslef, but it was pretty funny and my ear felt SO much better!

Sunday morning we had a late start, just lounging around the house, and then finally decided to drive back down to Zions... and we did ANGEL'S LANDING!
We got such a kick out of this little family and their matching camelpacks, Mike had to take a picture... he says the Dad's is different so he can dominate his man status... These switchbacks were seriously going to be the death of me... this is once we got to the top and thats how many we had to come up... well part of them and some were STEEP! I could barely breathe... my stupid eastern lungs! Mike was super patient the whole time! Contemplating on whether or not we should do this... Mike bought me a new hat so I could be "legit" haha.

Seriously, breathtaking! And yeah, we hiked on that ridge to the left you see! We did it!!
After this we were pretty dang exhausted and hung at Becky's for the night and left the next morning. It was really a great trip! I hated leaving and can't wait for our trip to NC in 11 days!! Although I have found out it will be the last time I can go back to this house in NC... my parents are moving... to TEXAS! So it's weird... I'm not sure what that will be like...

A great relaxing weekend!

2009-04-27T13:26:00.000-06:00

So, with this being my last weekend before finals... I probably should have been doing some studying, but after spending all last week scrambling over final projects and stuff I needed a break. Friday I had off work, and Mike came up here. We went and bought footloose and got Chinese takeout from my new favorite place! And just came back to my apartment and hung out. This is something I use to do with my Mom at least once a weekend (chinese and a movie), and it is so relaxing and enjoyable to me. So we had a ton of fun doing that, and then the next morning Mike got up early to do his triathlon. We have had GREAT weather the whole week until this morning it was snowing and raining and just gross. I'm really proud of him for doing it. I worked all morning and after I got off I went down to honeyville so we could watch the jazz game. To my suprise Ava was the one who opened the door for me, with Mike's help, the rest of the night we hung out, watched the game and some TV and played with Ava. It was really nice.

When it was time for Ava to go to bed, she just went around in a circle laying on each one of us trying to get of actually going to bed. Mike was trying to trick her into sleeping here. She is such a cutie and so funny. We had a fun weekend playing with her, and she did really good for it to be her first over-nighter away from home. I hope that Jake and Tina had a great time for their aniversary! And thanks for letting me spend time with your daughter to de-stress myself this weekend!

I just took one final... which I did well on... now only three more to go!

Blackboard is down!

2009-04-23T20:34:00.000-06:00

So right now, of course, blackboard is down. Which to those of you who don't know what that means... I can't access any of my classes sites where all the information for my two final projects that are due TOMORROW are located, where I have to submit those projects, and where I can actually email my teacher with questions or concerns, because since blackboard is down, that means that aggiemail isn't working either. I don't have any clue when it will be back up so it's pretty ridiculous!!!

So in sh0rt, I CAN'T WAIT FOR SCHOOL TO BE OVER! I have two projects to do, and four finals next week and then I am DONE! Well, for the semester at least, I am very far off from being done with school alltogether. I think that next semester I won't take so many classes though. I am taking 6 classes, and working full time and honestly, my grades SUCK, at least for me... I hate getting bad grades when I know I can do better, but the free time I do have... which doesn't feel like much I don't want to be studying, I want to relax, and enjoy that time. So I think I may have overloaded myself some this semester. Oh well, we live and we learn!

In other news, I got a new bike last weekend it's pretty sweet! I love it! I have been riding it to school and work all this week and it is so nice and refreshing! I'm so happy it is finally getting warm!!! And the greatest news for me today! Grey's Anatomy is a new episode tonight... the only concern I have is that Mike is suppossed to be recording it... and I really hope he didn't forget... eeek! I love that show! I know it is dumb and stupid, and drama... my mom actually calls it "doctor porn" even though she thinks it is a decent show and watches it sometimes... she just likes to be funny! haha. And Mike won't admit it, but he likes it too. ( He watched it alone for like 5 hours one day... but he says he did just so he could tell me everything and spoil the episodes for me!)

Well... I guess I'm going to drive to Honeyville now since I can't work on my assignments anymore!

Aaarg! Pirate Cake!

2009-04-10T08:53:00.000-06:00

So for those of you that have been waiting to see what Simon's "Pirate Cake" would look like, the day finally came to do it! Yesterday I spent the whole day working on it and it was so much fun and exciting! I was really nervous and anxious to start it! I was pleasantly surprised at my cake decorating skills and really happy with the final project! I took pictures as I went, and here they are!

So the cake was actual a 14" yellow cake, it should serve 74 people Amy so I hope your family has a large appetite for his party! I put it on cardboard cake boards covered in a blue cellophane.

The fondant was really fun to color. You basically start out with a white blob and have to knead in the color. It actually turned out the perfect color and really looked like water because it had a marbled effect in it! However, when i went to put it on the cake I found out that some of my edges weren't long enough to touch the board. I fixed it pretty easy by using the sand though.

This was actually probably my favorite part! MESSY! But so fun! I crushed up graham crackers for the sand and it turned out looking so cool!

I put frosting on top of the fondant so that it would stick to it.

You can really see the marbled effect here!
These are some of the extra pieces before I put them on. The shark fins were just made out of fondant and formed. The ship is a bunch of rice krispie treats stacked and smooshed, with the pretzel rod as the mast. The palm trees are pretzels, with green fruit slices cut in half for the leaves and chocolate covered peanuts for the coconuts!

I covered the boat with chocolate frosting and added root beer barels on it, put pretzels on the side, and used tootsie rolls as the cannons.

I really loved the shark fins, they were perfect!
So I had a little bit of a disaster with the palm trees which is why they are gone in this picture. I kept messing with them and broke them so I had to remake them. But this was after I covered the sides with the fish and seaweed and coral.

Here's a better view of the side. Everything is icing, except for the fish which are colored Swedish fish. There are also starfish on the top on the beach.

A detail that I think added a lot was the little waves around the shark fins and the boat, gave it some real dimension.

Here is the final product! This was after I gave it to Amy! The only things that aren't edible are the lego pirates, and the flag on the ship is foam. The treasure chest was a caramel with yellow frosting as the "gold".

Here you can see the ship better. There is also a gummy seahorse on the front of the ship.

Amy and me with the cake! I'm so glad she loved it so much! I loved how it turned out. It was so much fun! Thanks for letting me do it Amy! I hope that it lived up to Simon's dreams! (For those of you that don't know... he really did dream about his pirate cake... haha)

Happy Birthday Simon!

Homemade Fondant

2009-04-01T12:36:00.000-06:00

So my new adventure the past couple of months and interest has been:

Cake Decorating

I have been taking classes at Hobby Lobby for the past two months and really have been enjoying it! Well, Tuesdays are usually my day off from work AND school, so it's my free day, and probably my favorite day of the week! Last week, I spent that day practicing some cake stuff and tried making my own homemade marshmallow fondant! It tasted great and I ended up doing it twice because... well the pictures speak for themselves...

Fondant Try #1 SOOOO STICKY!

Just part of the HUGE mess that this made!

Fondant try #1 vs #2

More mess, and another shot at the second fondant, I still didn't get it perfect and have to work with it some more but it was much better! It was way fun making though and a lot cheaper than store bought fondant!

I can't wait to do Simon's birthday cake next week though! It's going to be Pirates! And I have a good idea for it I just hope it all works out!!!

When it gets so bad... just laugh!

2009-03-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

So I broke out in a frenzy of laughter yesterday... when I got a flat tire... changing a tire on my Jetta is a PAIN, and so I decided to just wait for Mike to get home to fix it... Why did I laugh? Well I had a big case of the Monday's this week. Monday started out with me being up beat and in a great mood... had a decent day at school even though I didn't want to go back... but for some reason I had this cloud of gloom stalking me... After school all day and work all night I ended up with two parking tickets... one customer calling corporate on me (no, I'm not in trouble with it), another cuss me out, and another tell me I, and Best Buy, were awful and then hang up on me... needless to say I was worn OUT. Then... I wake up Tuesday happy for my day off, got in the car went to the gym... and then was going to run a few other errands when I felt my car driving funny so I stopped, got out and low and behold! I had a flat tire... I guess I didn't shed that cloud of gloom! I couldn't help but laugh, really it was comical, I don't know who was out to get me...
Then running around, without having my car in working order, getting a million things done because I only have one day off of work this week (yeah on top of school I'm working 43+ hours this week, because we are having a midnight TWILIGHT movie release party at Best Buy Friday night! COME!) , but ii got better when I went to my cake class.

So, for those of you that don't know, the past two months I have been going to Cake decorating classes. I LOVE IT! It is so much fun! I have probably spent way too much money on supplies but I have a vast artillery, so if anyone ever needs something just ask I'm sure I have it... I have always loved baking and stuff, and decorating cakes but it was just a mild hobby growing up. Well Mike's family and I started having this running joke that I always bring cakes to family functions, which is what initially sparked my interest in finding some classes. We know I can bake the cakes! But I wanted to master the art of making them look good! So last night was my first time working with fondant! SO MUCH FUN! Oh and how beautiful do the cakes turn out! I will post some pictures of cakes I have done sometime... Mike is getting "caked" out so I started bringing the ones from my classes to work for people to eat. Last week was the first time I did and Amy has already got me booked to make her son, Simon's, birthday cake! I'm so excited to do it! I'm also probably making our friend's Levi and Chrisitine's wedding cake... This is such a fun new hobby! If anyone ever needs a cake... let me know, I'm just enjoying making them right now for lots of practice!

Another venture I have started this week... I am going to really be dedicated to working out and watching what I eat to lose weight. I really am not happy with myself right now, and I have nobody to blame except for myself. I have my goal set for 6 weeks... until the end of school... and then reasses and give myself a new goal for the next 6 weeks until I go home for a visit... Plus I have to do the Little Red Riding Hood Bicycle Race for work on June 6th... awkward that it's the same day as Levi and Chrisitine's wedding... We better just done at a decent time. We did it last year and it was a lot of fun so I'm excited to do it again! It's NON-COMPETITIVE (oh Amy that was so funny) and girl's only!

Well, since Tina has made me fall in love with blogging it is keeping me from class so I better get up and trek across campus back to Old Main... at least it's a nice day!

Good to be home...

2009-03-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

So my weekend in Boise was actually really fun! It was warm there which was amazing and they have a lot of good shopping. I was feeling a little sick all weekend which sucked. Carrie's bridal shower was a really good turnout, and she got a lot of great stuff. The rest of the weekend was mainly spent at my Aunt Lorna's house, shopping, and getting in Anna's hot-tub. It was pretty nice and relaxing. Sunday I left to come back to Logan. It was a long drive to do by myself but it went by pretty fast. It took about 4 or 4 1/2 hours. Well when I was somewhere around Tremonton I ran over some roadkill... which I'm thinking was a cow... whatever it was, was BIG and it was black. So after I got back I found it did do a little damage to my car, but mainly only to some plastic protective things and nothing serious so that was a blessing.

Well the big exciting news for the weekend was that... -drumroll- ... Levi and Christine got engaged! They set their day for June 6th. I'm way happy for them, we all kind of figured it was coming sometime. Mike hesitated telling me because he knew that I'd be jealous and he got a little annoyed with me because of it. I couldn't help it though. I'm very happy with how Mike and I are right now, but any girl would get jealous over that.

Only one more day of classes until spring break, and then only 6 weeks after that till the end of the semester! I can't wait for it to be warm and enjoy my summer! The weather teased us with a little bit of warmth and then dumped some more snow on us! How wretched....

What a week...

2009-02-27T12:53:00.000-07:00

So this weekend started with a very interesting turn...

I got home form work on Sunday, went to hang up my keys and the mirror with hooks were we put them was gone... that was weird... I walked down the hallway, opened my bedroom door, and it was half empty. All of my roommate's stuff was gone... every little piece. Well, in short and on to avoid me getting annoyed by talking about it... she decided to move back into her parent's house and not tell any of us. The worst part of it all, is that she did tell people we work with, and they knew ahead of time, but her own roommates didn't... and all the toilet paper was taken along with her... On the plus side of that, our rent doesn't change, our utilities will go down, because she was the one who usually had the heat on, and we have a lot more space. I'm happy for her if she is happier with living at her parent's, I just wish there was that common courtesy of informing her roommates, especially when I thought we were friends.

SO! That was my start to my week... then on Tuesday, a bunch of us decided to order lunch at work. My friend Kelsie reccommended a new chilean restuearnt, that is in the same parking lot as us, and so we all ordered and got our food. We laughed and had fun talking while we all tried to scarf it down, and they were VERY messy... I can't remember what they were called... but it also came with this chili sauce you could dip it in. It was all good, I finished eating and am just trying to clean up our mess a little, when I start coughing... and I keep coughing... and then I start turning red, it gets harder to breath.... and so on. Basically, I had an allergic reaction, I'm guessing to the chili sauce, and was taken to the ER by somebody at work after I started to get real red and hiving. It was a long day, I was in the ER for a few hours. They put me on an IV and pumped some steroids and allergy meds into me. I just have to thank Jeff and Kelsie for taking me and keeping me entertained as my room started spinning and I got drowsy. I'm suppossed to keep taking some steroids but they give me headaches and make me dizzy so I haven't taken them today but I am feeling okay.

Those were the two big highlights to the week, there was the other normal day bumps and giggles along the road, but nothing too grand and exciting. I do get to leave in about an hour to go off to Rexburg/Boise for the weekend to hang out with some of my cousins and go to Carrie's bridal shower. It will be a fast-paced weekend but I'm excited to have some girl time fun!

Running at 100mph

2009-02-22T00:49:00.000-07:00

Life is so busy and hectic lately. I go to school full time, I work full time, I have a boyfriend full time. I seriously never have enough time for anything. I'm totally content with that, I like to stay busy, but I also highly enjoy my days off...

Mike went down south this weekend to go biking... ugh he gets to be warm for a weekend! SO unfair! And I have just been working a ton and getting a lot of errands done. It's been way good. I feel like I have been way productive! It's so weird too though, I think I can count on my hands how many days we have been apart since we started dating (maybe a few more after this weekend), and it just feels pretty weird not seeing him...

So I have been trying to do a lot of things for myself lately, so that I can feel better and boost my self esteem up some...

I hate my hair right now, I just want it to be long again... I loved it when it was way short and it was fun, but I just like it better long, but seriously I am tired of feeling like a Peter Pan look-a-like everyday. My apartment here has the worst water I swear. Since we moved in all four of us have noticed that our skin has gotten considerably worse... now mind you I'm use to having hardly any blemishes on my face... and I have these dumb little, what my mom calls "dirt bumps..." on my skin. It's gross... and makes me look forward to moving out of here... but that's a big dilemma too... I don't know where I'm going to go... or who I'm going to live with. All of my current roommates are planning on moving back home to their parents... but I don't really have that as an option... I don't know that many people, I don't have any really great friends... so I'm not quite sure what will happen. My Step-dad has talked about buying a house out here but who knows if he will ever go through with anything like that.

eeeek. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed at the moment... and it's late and I should be asleep... so I'll pause my current frustrations and go dream of something lovely!

Cover Band Show!

2009-01-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

So Mike and some of his roommates have a cover band together and they played a show at the house this past Friday. It was probably one of the best shows they have played and everyone had a lot of fun. Mike, being... well Mike wore some cutoffs again, but this time they are quite shorter! He loves shocking people and it made for a great laugh. The other guys kind of tried to dress up goofy too. So there are pretty much a ton of pictures that I took that night and I only posted a portion but these are some of our favorites! :)

The way they had it all set up this time made it a lot easier for me to get some pictures of Zac!

This is pretty much Mike's typical "playing guitar" face. He always bites his bottom lip with his little soul patch sticking out!

Mike and Zac played a song called "So I finally decided to give myself a reason" by I can make a mess like nobody's business. It sounded good, especially since they had only learned it three hours before the show and ran through it only twice!

Scott and Zac wore bus driver uniforms, funny sunglasses, hats, and mustaches.

They switched things up a little bit on this one. Mike switched over to the bass guitar and Levi sang.

I love how Mike looks like he is turning around to check out his butt in this one! ( but he is really just checking his amp) By the way TINA IS GREAT AT DRAWING AMPS IN PICTIONARY!

Zac could hardly see a thing with those glasses on!

"BIG SHOT!"

The guys had to all wear fake mustaches... I think Mike is the only one that can really grow one! :)

So, this is Cute is What We Aim For, "The curse of curves" The lead singer of the actual band has a funny stage presence and does this little hand gesture while he sings. Mike use to make fun of it, and imitate it as a joke but after doing it for so long he started doing it out of habit. Now it's kind of a joke between the two of us! So every time they play this song I always watch him and wait for him to look up and me, smile, and then he does it!

Brandon plays a few different songs with the guys too.

I love seeing him get so into his playing!

Brandon turns so red when he sings.

Oh Mike and his snoopy shirt. Goes great with the cutoffs! ;)

I took the most pictures of Mike obviously...

Levi sings some back-up on songs...

Chin stache?

I think that this is my favorite picture from the night.

Some crowd shots....

It was a pretty fun night. The guys played good and there was a pretty good turn out. It's fun seeing them get so excited. Mike really loves playing and I love watching him because of how happy it makes him.

I miss my long hair.

2009-01-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

I miss my long hair so much lately. I mean I think my hair short was a nice change and its fun and spunky but I don't know I have really nice hair (not to sound arrogant or anything), and it has been long my entire life, so this was indeed a nice change... but I want it to be long again... and I am just so down thinking of the fact that it is going to take forever to grow back out. My hair was kind of like my security blanket I guess... Whenever I was feeling down on myself I could always rely on my hair to look nice, at least if I put effort into it, or if I was feeling particularly gross it could hide a lot. With short hair, my face is open to the world, every single disaster on each patch of skin perfectly visible. If I was ever crying or upset I could let it fall in my face to hide that, or if I was broken out in a certain area it could easily hide that as well. The picture above is probably one of my favorite pictures of myself... the funny thing to it is that it was actually taken the night Mike and I kissed for the first time... or I guess you could say attempted since that just resulted in him screaming in my face... so this picture marks a great memory, but also probably my most horrifically embarrassing memory in my life.

School is underway now. I am starting to feel the impact now that we are getting farther into the semester. I am taking 16 credits, so five normal classes and then an aerobic kickboxing class. I love my aerobic kickboxing class but oh my! It has been kicking my butt! I have been so sore every single day but it is so fun, and it's nice to feel that the exercise is having an impact on my body. As far as my other classes, I am enjoying them pretty well I guess. I love my internet development class, one because I never have to go, and two because it is something that I'm really into and want to get better at. I use to build websites for local bands back in North Carolina through high school but it was only things that I taught myself to do, so I am glad I am getting some real instruction to it now. I am going into Management Information Systems I think, and I have a heavy course load in front of me, and I already can't wait to be done and graduated!

Virginia Trip Part Two

2009-01-12T22:43:00.000-07:00

So, I got tired the other night and thought I'd go ahead and finish posting the pics now. A little later that day Mike and me took a trip to DC. Parking up there was a NIGHTMARE! It took us an hour just to figure out where we could park, and Mike just kept asking me if he was going to get shot or mugged or something. So the first thing we did was go to Teddy Roosevelt Island and saw the memorial. It was huge, as you can tell with Mike standing there with it

Jefferson Memorial

Washington Monument.

World War II Memorial... Reflecting Pool... and Lincoln Memorial.

Lincoln Memorial

All in all, it was a pretty fun trip! I'm trying to convince Mike to come to North Carolina with me now this summer! We will see how that goes!

Virginia Trip

2009-01-11T23:54:00.000-07:00

So I have had this blog for awhile now, but have yet to use it, but a lot of people have been convincing me to use it more... so we will see how this goes...

Well, Mike and I went to Virginia the first weekend in December. The main reason for going on this trip was that my friend Jackie, who I have known since Elementary school, got married! It's so weird to have your friends starting to get married at my age... especially ones that I have known so long. Another weird thing is that she married the same guy she was dating when I moved to North Carolina in eighth grade! The wedding and reception were both really pretty. Her colors were Silver and a Deep Purple. It was a really nice ceremony and everything, and it was pretty interesting to see some people that I haven't seen in probably 4 years... Jackie really made a beautiful bride though.

A big deal though, was that Mike was meeting my family for the first time... and a LOT of it. My Dad picked us up from the airport and took us to dinner that night. My dad isn't too intense so that wasn't really that bad at all. But then that night he drove us down to my Grandparent's house. When we got there, my mom immediately attacked us with hugs and we hung out there until Eddie got there, and then went across the street to my Uncle Mike's. Well... there, Mike ended up having to meet my Uncle and Aunt, 5 out of 7 of their kids, some of their grandkids and he was still having to be around my parent's. If you know Mike, he is not very sociable around people he doesn't know, and I felt bad that he was sitting there so quietly, so after awhile my cousin Mandy and me decided we needed to go to the store (mainly to get Mike out of there), so we went to Wal- Mart. We were walking around picking up some minor groceries and stuff, and Mike was in shock and awe when he saw that you can buy liquor at Wal- Mart back east! It was probably the thing he was most suprised by the whole entire trip.

Saturday we spent all day with my family again, shopping and such. We went out to lunch with my Mom and sister. I ended up being the usual klutz that I am and spilt my Pepsi all over the table... in the midst of making fun of Mike for the mess he made... My mom woudln't leave the restaurant until she got a picture of Mike and me though... he wasn't too thrilled about it...

I promise we aren't matching on purpose...

That night we went to the wedding, and then the next day my family left. We went to sacrament meeting in my old ward, which was really weird. Monday, was probably the best day though. Mandy, Mike, and me went downtown in the morning and explored old-towne fredericksburg... the pictures explain themselves... basically mike turned into a five year old and Mandy and me were his loving parents...

First stop... the Bookstore

The Irish store...

The Candy Store... Mike's favorite place...

So we had some of those sour warheads we remembered as a kid... we didn't remember them being so sour though...

Toy store...

Mike's thought the name of this place was great...

1st Post

2008-07-27T11:41:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! My coolest friend Kelsie just helped me create this and I am so excited! You should all be looking forward to reading about my fun life!