Tag I'm it...

Man how time flies! I feel bad I haven't posted anything for a while. Alyse has "tagged" me so here are 6 things about me, some you may or may not know.



1. I am a licensed Nail Technician. One summer I took a class, learned how to do nails, took a test, and paid some money and now I have a license. I usually only do them sporadically when friends or family have a special occasion that they want their nails done for. However, I do have 2 "clients" that I do on a regular basis. Thanks Karen (sister) and Mom! Here's a picture of my very first set of nails. I like to think I've gotten better since. My favorite is to do acrylic toe nails. I have some fun colored acrylics that you do for the tip and they stay on a lot better than just nail polish. It think the best perk is that I am able to purchase supplies at the beauty supply stores - hair stuff included.










2. I keep buying ornaments for the Christmas tree. I swore that I wasn't going to buy any this year. We have enough and I'm satisfied with how our little tree has turned out. We have gone with a red and silver tree. The first year we were married we found these really fun silver glittery snow flakes. The next year I was out and about and found the exact same snow flakes in red! I was obligated to purchase them. Also that second year I found these fun silver curlicue ornaments. Well this year I was out shopping and found red ones! Once again I was obligated, even though I swore, I just couldn't pass them up. Here's how it's turned out so far. I guess it's a work in progress and may never be complete even when I swear that I won't buy any more ornaments!



3. I enjoy scrapbooking even though I don't think I have officially scrapbooked since we've gotten married and started working full time. I do make cards quite a bit. My new favorite toy is my Cricut machine. I love it! I even got Nate to help me make some Christmas tags for our presents. He admitted that he was a "Scrapbooking Virgin" but I'd have to say that the tags turned out pretty good. He must really love me if he will help me with scrapbooking. He caught on to the spirit of it though. He wanted to save the insides of the cutouts for other projects. Even though he talks sports all of the time he has a soft spot for scrapbooking in his heart. (He's reading over my shoulder threatening to erase this section...)

4. I hate driving in the snow. I know it's not something completely unique. But it's so bad that when I am able - I make Nate drive me to work and come pick me up. It's about a 25 minute drive each way. If he's not able to take me I steal his Jeep and drive it because I feel more comfortable driving with four wheel drive.

5. I am a country girl. I enjoy country music. My favorite group is SheDaisy. I enjoy their harmonies. My favorite part about Christmas is bringing out their Christmas CD. If you haven't heard it I highly recommend it. Also my favorite concert that I've ever been to was the Tim and Faith concert. I've actually been twice - once 7 years ago and once a year ago. They are both awesome performers.

6. I've been to Paris countless times. At least three times this last summer. I love Paris in the springtime. The weather is so beautiful. OK so it's Paris, Idaho not Paris, France. My family has some property there and hopefully someday soon a cabin. It is just 10 minutes north of Bear Lake. We have a lot of fun going up there and relaxing. It does usually include work too. We have been working to clear out dead wood, build a bridge across the river, and make it a better place for all of us to enjoy.

My Rant

So I finally said something to the annoying guy who sits behind us at the football games. His name is Scott. Scott is extremely LOUD (loud, because he has to hear himself talk over his his radio as his listens to the play by play - super annoying!!!) and NEGATIVE (even when the Cougars are winning, he thinks they should score 100 points every game and shut out the other team) and RUDE. Scott thinks he knows everything there is to know about football. He even thinks he should be the head coach - he said so himself. During halftime on Saturday he started yelling at the band and telling them to go sit down and go to their side of the field. This kid that sits in front of us turned around and told him to be quiet and that he was being annoying. Scott thought he was joking and started laughing - but the kid was pretty upset and told him he was serious and that he should shut up. Scott then mumbles under his breath "I bet he played in the band in high school." To which I turned and said "Dude, have some respect. Please!" That shut him up for about 5 minutes. His little comment was uncalled for.

As I replay the situation over and over in my mind I keep thinking of different things I could have/should have said. I should have added a few expletives. It's been 3 years worth of annoying Scott at the games that finally brought me to saying something. I understand that people go to games to yell and have a good time. I get that - but this guy is just plain rude and negative. I've had to hold Nate back from saying things to him before - but this time it was me who said something. I just wish I would have thought to say more.

The good news is that BYU won! Now I have a happy husband and it will be another year before we have to see Scott again. Hopefully he will get his tickets somewhere else so we don't have to sit in front of him next year.

My Plug for the Library...

So can I say how much I love the Public Library System? First off, it's free. Second, they have self checkout stations where you just scan your card, put in your PIN and then scan your books. It's great for those days when I don't feel like making small talk with strangers - which is most of the time. And you can renew your books online. Oh and did I mention it's free?


Plus, I'm liking the fact that they have DVDs that you can check out for a week. I've found that our main source of entertainment - TV Series' on DVD - is costing us a fortune. I've been checking out Grey's Anatomy which I'm liking a lot but I'm so glad I didn't spend $40 a season to watch it just one time.

Although there are some books and movies that I'm extremely glad we've purchased (ie: The Twilight series - which I intend to re-read several times and pass them along to all of my family to read and The Office - I don't think that will ever get old) - it's nice to read a book or watch a movie once and not feel guilty that it is sitting on the shelf collecting dust.

If you don't have a library card - I highly suggest you get one!

Quilting

I made my first attempt at making a quilt. I thought I'd start off simple with a baby rag quilt. I think it turned out pretty decent if I might say so myself. Plus it is somewhat square! I was fortunate to get my Grandma Charlene's old sewing machine. It's older but it works great. My dad even got a nice case that I can keep it in, which is nice where we don't have a whole lot of space in our apartment to keep it out all of the time.

Super Nate!!

So I'm a little slow in getting this page up - but isn't my little "Super Nate" the cutest! OK so we don't have kids to post pictures of in their cute Halloween costumes. (You all have adorable kids by the way...) but Nate took so much time making his shirt that I had to post his picture. He did it all by himself too! I helped him buy the supplies - but he designed it himself. He improvised on the cape and pinned a dish towel to his back!

We had a pretty low key Halloween. We both worked and then we hit a couple of family Halloween parties. We went to Nate's cousin's party for a little while. They get pretty in to Halloween. They have a spook alley and have a costume contest. They recently adopted a little boy who they dressed as a pirate. I thought he had the best costume. Check out his pictures - super creative! My favorite is the little mustache they put on him.

Cougars, Cabin and Snow

Wendee and I have have a bit of a tradition, we like to go to my family's cabin in Midway before the BYU football games. Going to the cabin, gives a chance to get out of town for a day or two and traffic going to the games from the Heber Valley is a lot better than coming down from Salt Lake.

We usually take it pretty easy when we go there. We mostly watch movies and eat snacks on Friday night, and then sleep in and go for a four-wheeler ride on Saturday before going to the game. This weekend though, was a lot colder so we built a fire and stayed inside, then Saturday morning it snowed. (It snowed so much on Saturday that my brother who went up Saturday night, couldn't come home and had to spend the night which he hadn't planned on.)

We then went to the game. We were expecting bad weather, so we took our ponchos and parkas and gloves. It was raining slightly in the first half and the sun even came out the second half, but toward the end of the third quarter it started snowing like crazy. We were fine for a while but then the wind started blowing the snow right in our face. We endured that for about 30 seconds before we decided it was time to leave. By the time we got to the car we were frozen solid and soaking wet. But as Wendee reminds me, 'we're hard core fans', so I guess that means all our pain and suffering was worth it since the Cougars won.

PS- All the snow this weekend reminded us we're not ready for winter at all!!!

Provo

Today I had a doctor appointment in Provo. Please no jumping to conclusions - just a yearly checkup. I just haven't gotten the courage to find a new doctor closer to home. I decided to go check out the bookstore while I was down there. We go to Provo for the football games; however, Nate thinks it is a game to get home fast and beat all of the traffic so we don't ever stick around. It was so weird being on campus again. I used to tease my mom because whenever she'd come down she'd say that so much has changed since she was at BYU - but I have to say in just two years a lot has changed since I was down there! The new alumni building is huge and they've started construction on expanding the Tanner building, my home away from home. I felt so OLD as I walked around!! So many of the students are so young! I kept thinking I would see someone I know, but I didn't see one familiar face. I used to run into someone I knew practically everywhere on campus. So many memories came flooding back to me. I walked into the Wilkinson Center by Jamba Juice where Alyse and I used to get a Jamba Juice after our aerobics class. The smell of the Cougar Eat reminded me of when I would reward myself for a long day of studying on campus with a wrap or rice bowl. I even had to grab a copy of the Daily Universe just for old times sake.


Today reminded me of how grateful I am that I decided to go to BYU and stick it out. My first semester wasn't the greatest and I was very close to transferring at the end of the semester as my roommates will attest. I am so glad that I didn't. I learned so much while I was there about the world, the gospel, and myself. I would have missed out on so many great friends and memories. Plus I would never have met Nate and for that I am eternally grateful!

I thought I'd post an old picture of a group hanging out at the Riv!

Vacation!!!

Finally we got some time off of work and got out of town. Nothing major but the change of scenery was much needed. We headed down south to Zion National Park to do a little camping and hiking and then to St. George for a little R&R. We had a lot of fun in Zion. Perfect weather, not too hot, not too cold. We had fun hiking and enjoying all of the beautiful scenery. The highlight of Zion was on one of the hikes we went on. It ended on the top of a cliff where you can look back up into the canyon or out into the city of Springdale. It was a really pretty lookout spot. While we were looking around we heard a loud crash and looked across the canyon and saw a big rock slide coming down. (Only a little unnerving being hundreds of feet above the canyon with rocks falling and at least a half an hour away from being safely on the ground!!!) It was literally perfect timing. I'm sure rocks fall like this every once in a while - but it was a nice reward for hiking up the mountain and to have such a show put on for us by mother nature.

St. George was good - especially because of the nice warm shower! Neither of us had spent any extended amount of time there. It's usually just a pitstop on the way to Vegas. We went to a play at Tuacahn and enjoyed the outdoor theater. The rest of the time we just spent relaxing and enjoying having some time off from work.

Now it's back to reality. Thanks to all of those excessive banking holidays we still have a few days off before heading back to the grind. Nate always teases me and says, "Who celebrates Columbus Day?" and I always explain to him that I do. I celebrate by not going to work! Happy Columbus Day!

Blogging

Well, while Nate's off working hard at the restaurant I decided to try my hand at this whole blogging thing. Apparently it's the new thing and well if all our friends are doing it... I'm not sure how dedicated I'll be to this where we really don't lead exciting lives. We pretty much work and go to church. Exciting stuff! It might be a good thing for me to get the hang of so we can keep in touch with everyone. So - here goes nothing!

This summer we thought we'd try our hand at the whole gardening thing. Nate's 92 year old grandpa who lives in our ward offered to let us plant some veggies in his garden. We did the planting and he waters it for us. It's been a good trade. It's been a lot of fun watching things grow and seeing the fruits of our labors. The only problem is we don't have much time to go and work on it these days. We make it over there about once a week and the vegetables that are just starting to come out one day are HUGE the next week! I think next time we won't plant as much stuff. But it's been a fun learning experience.