Longtime Friend

When I was 10 years old my family moved to Orem, Utah. I don't really remember feeling extremely upset about the move-- I was young enough that it didn't affect my life in very many ways.  I knew I would miss the "woods" and all our forts, craw-dad finding, creek walking, tick removing and playing ghost in the graveyard and kick the can, and of course I would miss the lightning bugs.  There were a lot of kids in the neighborhood and we were never bored.  

Julie was the friend I played with the most during my years in KY.  She just lived around the block a little ways and had a twin brother who liked to build forts.  Julie is the only person from that neighborhood that I stayed in touch with-- by email and written letters. The last week of July, Julie came out to Utah and we reunited for the first time in 13 years. It was weird for both of us to get used to hearing our grown up voices. We sounded a lot different at 10 years old!  She is here doing a clinical as part of her PT program. I'm so glad she's here. It has been fun to be around her again. We have a lot in common and it's cool to reconnect with such an early part of my life. She is staying with my parents for the duration of her clinical (8 weeks). I feel bad that I'm not actually living in the same place as her, but mom and dad don't live far so we get over to see her as often as we can. 

Education Week starts next week. Since I have a year's worth of experience under my belt, this year doesn't seem even 1/2 as bad as last year. Yay! 

My dear Watson is finishing up his last week of school this week. He has been working so hard all through the summer to get through these classes. I'm so proud of him.  He's taking Stats and Anatomy in the same semester starting in the fall---YIKES!  

That's Julie! We're at Stuart Falls

My dear Watson and I with Julie and her Fiance. Adam came out for just  a couple days and then had to go back to KY.  He cooked us a delicious dinner while he was here and taught as all about Corn Hole.

Us at the Heber Rodeo

:)

:)

We went boating with the Watson's. It was fun.

My dear Watson got to drive his grandpa's tractor in the Heber City Parade again this year.  He is SO handsome.

This is a rattlesnake we saw up Spanish Fork Canyon. It was freaky.  I made my dear Watson roll up the windows in case the snake jumped through :). 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I love my new haircut and color. Sharla, the best hair lady in the world, did an amazing job. I only wish I could afford to have her cut my hair every few months.  I definitely got what I paid for though. I’ve never had a better cut.  Sharla has naturally curly hair too, so she knows what’s up. 

Here it is after Sharla straightened it. It was sunny inside, I NEEDED my sunglasses.

Here it is after I colored it and styled it curly.  I get better at it every day. 

I’ve been getting a lot of jewelry lately and haven’t had anywhere to put it. It usually sits on my bathroom shelf which is NOT what a bathroom shelf is for.  So, I decided I needed a jewelry tree and that I would make my own out of natural branches placed in an empty IBC Root Beer bottle. We gathered branches and I got to work. Some of the branches didn’t have enough branch levels, so I used yarn and fastened a new branch on, kind of like what I’d do if I was stranded on an island and needed to tie logs together to make a raft (only I’d use vine or tall grass or something).

I spray painted the branches and put a few floral beads in the bottom of the bottle. These beads start out tiny and then grow bigger as you keep them in water. They’re slimy and kind of remind me of eyeballs.

When it was all finished I was very pleased. My dear Watson said it was definitely a cool invention. I liked that compliment.  So now my jewelry hangs on a tree in my bathroom. I’m not sure how long the tree will hold up, but for now it is gracing our bathroom with all of its natural beauty.

I made that thing on the wall. It's a bed and breakfast tray that I painted, painted a different color, sanded and mod podged those square pictures on (I got those pictures at Ikea - a 5 pk for $.99). I also arranged those fake flowers which now rest on my bathroom shelf. Flowers DO belong on a bathroom shelf. 

Happy Birthday to Me, I turned 23, I went to Girls Camp and I built a Sweet Cake

You can sing my title to the tune of Happy Birthday....out loud, preferably.

It was my birthday on Sunday. I turned 23. My dear Watson showered me with jewelry and a journal and a sweet card.  We ate at Red Robin (yesterday) and I'm going to get my hair cut with some birthday money. I got a pair of really cute shoes too that I wore to work the very next day.  I love birthdays. I think it's so much fun to celebrate an individual's very existence.

I went to girls camp last week--ALL week.  I had a temporary calling as a Stake Girls Camp Specialist. So I sat around and planned things with all the Stake leaders (all who were many years my senior which was weird sometimes). Our meals were cooked for us by the Stake Girls Camp Food Specialists and the structure was much more relaxed than when I went to girls camp as a young woman. Which means I liked it a lot more.  I really enjoyed getting to know the young women and leaders in my stake. I made great friends and my testimony of Heavenly Father's love for me and all of His children grew a bunch.  My testimony of Jesus Christ and His ability to change my weaknesses into strengths through the Atonement was also strengthened.  I did a lot of singing, guitar playing and harmonica playing. I was most pleased with the 4th year overnight hike which I planned and took 15 fifteen year old girls on to sleep in tents, roast marshmallows and marvel at all God has created. It was a great experience for all of us. God's most prized creation isn't the mountains or the trees or the waterfalls or even the stars and galaxies -- it is little tiny you and me. That's cool.

Before girls camp we spent a few days with some of my fam. All my sisters were in town so the only person missing was big brother Ben. We had a lot of fun. Baseball, food, fireworks etc.  I built a really cool cake.  Check it out below.  I learned some great cake making tips and it was fun to do a little creating myself.

Time is moving lightning fast.

My dear Watson and I went to the Parade in Provo on the 4th. We rode our scooters (borrowed from my  4 and 5 year old nephews) from our car to the parade spot. It felt like I was in the parade, which I always want to be. 

Here's my cake all frosted and sprinkled.

Ta da! It has an American Flag on the inside!

Here's a better view with the blue part on the correct side. Not only did it LOOK cool, it TASTED scrumptious!

Here are the nieces and nephews chasing a smoke bomb. Letting them chase and pick up the smoke bomb made it interesting when we lit an actual firework and some of them went chasing after it. Oops. We had to remind them a few times that the chasing and picking up part was O-V-E-R. 

Spectators. 

A Year, a Fish and some Cake

June 26, 2011.

Today my dear Watson and I have been married for 1 year.  One whole year.

To celebrate, we went back to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple where it all began.  Then we went to IHOP for lunch--which has no sentimental significance, we just hadn't been there for awhile and that was our choice. Then we went fishing at Deer Creek.

I loaded my hook with a big fat juicy worm and went to sit down in my chair which was placed in as much sun as possible. I like to try to get a tan while I fish.  I cast my line out and then reeled it in a few times. I was looking around in my bag for something and when I looked up, I couldn't find my bobble (a bobble is the round red and white thing that helps your line float. I call a bobber and my dear Watson calls it a bubble so often it comes out of my mouth as a bobble).  I felt a few tugs, but I was trying not to get too excited lest my excitement made the fish at the end of my line turn into moss or a stick or something.  My dear Watson yells "you got one!" and I start reeling in, still a bit in shock.  I was expecting the experience of catching a fish to bend my pole in half because the fish was so hard and heavy to reel in.  It wasn't that hard at all so it was just hard to believe I actually got one.  The fish was only about 8 inches long and it slipped out of my dear Watson's hands before I had a chance to take a picture; therefore, it's as if I never caught it.  But what luck! That was our first fish of the season. Such a fun Anniversary gift.

We didn't catch anything the rest of the evening. Well, that's not entirely true. My dear Watson caught 2 tiny fish. He saw the fish swimming close to him so he dropped his pole in the water and moved it around their mouths until they bit :).  He was testing which kind of bait they liked best (worms). They were like 3 or 4 inches long.

The only part of our wedding cake that was real was the top tier. We wanted to freeze the top and eat it on our first anniversary. My dear Watson remembered before I did and surprised me with the top of our cake. We had a piece of it today and I thought it was actually pretty good.

Our BEAUTIFUL cake made by Macey's, flowers by Betsy and photo by Valerie  at www.valeriemaeling.com 

The top of our cake 1 year later.

mmmmm. Tasty! I forgot I asked for raspberry filling! I'm glad I did because it was good. I'm wearing my new pair of earrings that my dear Watson bought for me.

My dear Watson got me tickets to Rascal Flatts for our anniversary (they're coming in September), and some jewelry. He even fixed my favorite pair of earrings that I had thrown away because they broke.  He dug them out of the garbage and made them look better than new.

I got him an ipod touch. Let's just say, he was excited. That little piece of technology is amazing. I took a picture of our cake and emailed it to myself...just.like.that.  SO cool.

Well, Happy Anniversary to us. I love being married to my dear Watson. We have such a fun time together and he always makes me laugh. Thank you my dear for being the best husband in the world! I love you times a million plus one more than you can ever say!

See. Tiny fish.

We were at Deer Creek long enough that all the boaters went home and the lake (reservoir) was sooooo calm. 

It turns out, I wrote about Goals

I made a list 2 weeks ago. A "Things to do this Summer" list.  So far, 4 things are crossed off (because we actually did them) and one thing is Xed out (because we didn't do it, and it had a time constraint). I love reaching goals, it feels so good. Speaking of goals, I think now is a good time for me to bust out the New Year's Resolutions and see how I'm doing. I usually do really well because I don't believe in setting goals that I'm not serious about reaching. I also have a hard time sharing my goals with other people, because I don't want to be held to anyone's standard but my own. If I share with you my goal to sing a song every time someone knocks at my door, and you come a knockin, I don't want you to think I'm a failure because I forgot to sing. I'd rather quietly remind myself of my goal and do better next time, without any outside pressure--lest I begin trying to fulfill my goal to live up to everyone else's expectations, and no longer because it brings ME satisfaction.

Granted, some goals are easier to keep when you have a partner to help you; for example, my goal to become the best ballroom dancer in the world would be impossible to keep without filling in my dance partner. However, most of the goals I set for myself are just quiet victories that give my life purpose and meaning--not grand occasions that make me miserable because I can't reach them. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of dream big. But I'm also a fan of picking dreams on which I actually intend to follow through. Fulfilling our dreams takes time--it's one small victory at a time, and I don't want to forget about the small victories!

That was a strange conversation with my keyboard. My fingers just spoke for themselves. I wasn't intending to write about that but I did.

Enjoy some pictures of the things we have crossed off!

Fishing. This is actually a work in progress because we have to fish at least 4 times this summer  to make our fishing license worth it, and we're at 2 so far. 

Rock climbing. The real goal was to rock climb at the Quarry (and then I found a deal for the Quarry on Citydeals which was awesome!) but we had the opportunity to go rock climbing outside which is better. We'll go to the Quarry (an indoor rock climbing gym) later.

Rent a tandem.  This was SOOO fun.  I almost killed us twice when I tried to be the driver, so we let Kameron stick to the front. I was good at the back. 

We couldn't get a picture of us AND the bike. We tried real hard.  

I love this picture. See the airplane? See his determined face? This is one of our Sunbeams. We had a pizza party at our house because they were so reverent for the last 3 months.  We don't have toys so we had to make paper airplanes and throw them of our deck. This wasn't a goal, just something I wanted to show you. 

I made a bagillion cookies for my little bro's Eagle Project. I had to mix the wet ingredients in 3 different sections because it wouldn't all fit in my little Bosch mixer. I had to mix the dry ingredients in my two biggest mixing bowls. 4 hours and 40 minutes later, we had a LOT of cookies.  All because I love little brother. 

A Video of me Dancing

*** At the request of my big brother, click this link (you'll have to sign in to facebook) to see a video of my best dance performance ever: Click Me --I'm the one in the grey BYU Sweatshirt, black capris, I start out on the far right at the beginning. I have a solo about 31 sec in.   


Read the post below if you haven't already.

Dancing Makes you Happy...Even if you Stink at Dancing!

My sister’s brother-in-law got married last weekend in Salt Lake, so my dear Watson and I spent the day in the  city helping out with the 5 kids. We really enjoyed ourselves, AND we were helpful.  We took the 5 kids to see the Christus on Temple Square and then while they went to the dinner we took a nap in their hotel room and headed to the Nauvoo Café (in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building) for our dinner. I ordered a ½ sandwich thinking it would be big enough; turns out, the bread was the size of a normal piece of bread so my half was a bit small (you’d think for 5 bucks they could give me bigger bread). The sandwich was very delicious though so I’d probably go back there and just pay for a whole. 

We walked over to the Lion House for the reception and saw a few “high-ups” in the Church (Relief Society and Primary General Presidency members).  I had a dessert crepe with mint white chocolate filling and berries. My dear Watson had a dinner crepe (still hungry from our tiny dinner) with pesto sauce….mmmmmmmm. Pesto is the best sauce in the world.

We spent the rest of the evening watching all my sisters nieces and nephews and kids dance the night away while listening to the tunes of the live band. I did some dancing too because I LOVE dancing (and I’m really good at it. Ha. Ha. Ha). It was so neat just to watch all the little ones let loose and have fun. Children are so simple. They could not have been happier, and it made me happy too.

We went bowling on Memorial Day.  My dear Watson did much much better than me—but at least I broke 80. 

It has been warmer the past few days. I didn’t even wear a jacket when I went grocery shopping last night! Today the clouds are gone and those hot golden rays of sunshine are actually visible.  The only bad thing about the sun shining is that pretty soon Utah is going to turn back into Lake Bonneville when the snow melts and all the rivers and lakes flood. Well, I’ve got a wetsuit and a plan to use our closet doors as rafts in case that happens.

Signing out.

I kind of fell a little bit--that's how i like to bowl.

Nice form.