Mr. and Mrs. Smith

Heaven is for Real

2012-01-20T10:15:00.000-08:00

So, I had testimony buidling experience on the way to work today. Ha. I know, random. I was driving south on I-15 way too fast cuz I was late for work, and I saw a billboard with a picture of the Savior on it. It was an add for a local church saying that Jesus was our only way to God and quoted John 3:16. And it reminded me of a book I read recently called "Heaven is for Real."

Justin and I went to his hometown of Erie, PA over Christmas. His dad and stepmom aren't members of the church, but have their own beliefs about God and religion. His stepmom Cathy especially. She's very sweet and has always been very accepting of others and their beliefs. (Justin is the only active member of his family.) Anyway, I can't remember under what context it was, but she was telling me about this book called Heaven is for Real and said that I should read it. She said she knew we all had our own beliefs and she really didn't care what they were as long as we believed in God in some way. She said the book was about this little boy who supposedly has a near death experience and comes back talking all about heaven. Anyway, she gave me this book and told me to read it.

I didn't actually start reading it till the end of the plane ride home. Had i started at the beginning, I would have finished it before it was over. It's not very long. And it was really really good. It starts out talking about this little boy named Colton Burpo, age 4, who got sick and ended up in the hospital. His parents were given little to no hope but luckily he pulled through. After the surgeries, Colton started talking about how he knew what was going on while he was in surgery, (his dad praying and his mom talking on the phone.) It seemed odd that he knew those things since he was never told. Then he started talking about his little sister who his mother had miscarried, (who he didn't know about) and his great grandpa who he had never met. He also spoke about sitting on Jesus' lap and learning from him. He said Jesus has markers on his hands and feet and wore a purple sash and a gold crown and that he sat on the right side of his Dad's big chair. He said that Jesus and Heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit are two different people, not all one like most churches teach. He said he met Jesus' cousin John the Baptist and he was so nice. He also talked about a war that was coming and how we all needed to be ready for it.

It was told by his dad and the related in Colton's words and they were very innocent. He didn't even know the word for sash, just said that Jesus had a purple thing that "went from here to here" while motioning from his shoulder to the opposite side of his waist. It was all very sweet and reading what he said about the Savior actually made me cry. Thinking about this little boy sitting in the Savior's lap, learning about all kinds of things made me really smile. Anyway, I'm not sure how to describe the way it made me feel, but I really enjoyed reading it. It took all of 2 days once I started, and that's only because I had other things I had to do. ha. It's only 150 pages or so.

Anyway, the point of the blog.... After all the stories were told in the book, the dad, who is a pastor, talks about the way it affected him and his family. he says they always knew about heaven, and knew it was real, but couldn't see it, and had a hard time REALLY believing it was all true. This experience gave them the reassurance to know that they REALLY were going to see their loved ones again, and there REALLY was life after death. So here comes the testimony builder, that for some reason came to me while I was driving this morning. I really enjoyed reading the book, and was impressed with what Colton knew, that was all doctrinally sound, but it didn't really reassure me that it's real. And that's becuase I already knew. I've never had a near death experience that sent me to heaven, but I don't have a doubt in my mind that everything I know is true, and that there is life after death, and that heaven is for real. I know it a little differently than Colton does, mostly because he was describing it from a 4 year old perspective, but at the same time, it's the same. I know my Savior is in Paradise, sitting at the right hand of his Father. I know my family members who have passed on are there, busy with missionary work, waiting to see us again. I know my Savior would comfort a child, hold him on his lap and teach him of truths of the gospel. And I know he still has the marks in his hands and feet to show who he is. (although I imagine that when I do get the opportunity to kneel at his feet, I won't need to see the markers to know.) I think it's great that this little boy was able to help so many people with the testimony he gave. But I'm more grateful that I don't need that kind of experience to know. I know because I recognize the Savior's hand in my life and I know He lives.

So, if you have a few hours to read a good book, I highly recommend it. Here are a few photos of them. :)

Colton and his dad, Todd, at the age of the incident.

After his experience, everytime Colton and his parents would ask his what Jesus looked like. Everytime they saw a picture of the Savior, they would ask Colton and he would always say it was wrong for whatever reason. Until he found this picture...

It was drawn by a little girl who had a similar experience to Colton. In the book it talks about how the two of them met and talked and talked and talked about the things they saw and they were all the same. This girl was an art prodigy and was able to draw this picture, along with many others. I think it's a beautiful depiction of the Savior.

This is a video of the family with Colton telling a bit of his story.

(I know he says that everyone has wings, and I know angels in heaven do not, in fact, have wings. I can reconcile this by saying that he was only 4 and had to describe what he saw with words that he knew. So maybe it looked like it to him. But who knows!)

21 Adult Truths!

2011-12-03T05:45:00.000-08:00

This is hilarious! I tried to make it bigger so you could read it better, but then it looks weird. So, I'll just type them out, cuz it's worth it. By the way, the (**) comments are mine. And they're not as funny as the "Truths" themselves, but this is my blog, so i'm gonna write them anyway. ha

1- Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. (been there, done that)

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong. (haha, but I'm never wrong!)

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger. ( I love naps)

4. There is great need for a sarcasm font. (I could use one of those.)

5. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?! (AMEN!)

6. Was learning cursive really necessary? (ha, I still like writing cursive.)

7. Map Quest really needs to start their directions on #5. I'm pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood. (haha.)

8. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died. (I know that sounds a little sad, but you know it's true!)

9. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind-of tired. (That's not necessarily true for me, but I can appreciate that for sure. ha)

10. Bad decisions make good stories. (Ha, have a few of those myself!)

11. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day. (I think it's right about NOW for me.. Yes, I'm at work writing a blog. ha)

12. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after Blue Ray? I don't want to have to restart my collection... again. (haha. I never had too many blue rays, so as long as it happens soon, I don't care.)

13. I'm always slightly terrified when I exit out of Word and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my ten-page technical report that I swear I did not make any changes to. (been a long time since I wrote a ten-page paper, but I've definitely experienced that little drop in my stomach.)

14. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would be on any given Firday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller Light than Kay. (I can honestly say, none of my kisses have begun with either!)

15. I wish Google Maps had an "Avoid Ghetto" routing option. (ha. Definitely.)

16. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger. (Guilty...)

17. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a word they said? (ha. I think the answer is one.. ha)

18. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars team up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front. Stay strong, brothers and sisters! (Hey! I'm usually that jerk... ha)

19. Shirts get dirty. Underwear gets dirty. Pants? Pants never get dirty, and you can wear them forever. (My hubby is the worst at this!)

20. Even under ideal conditions people have trouble locating their car keys in a pocket, findinf their cell phone, and Pinning the Tail on the Donkey- but I'd bet everyone can find and push the snooze button from 3 feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time. (hahaha. I'm SO good at the snooze button. ha)

21. The first tentacular guard, the "Cup," was used in Hockey in 1874 and the first helmet was used in 1974. That means it only took 100 years for men to realiz that their brain is also important. (WOW.... wow...)

(I know it says 23, but it looks like some of the pic didn't make it. ha)

Reverence

2011-11-29T10:50:00.000-08:00

I've always had a sort of proud spirit for our Armed Forces. Both of my grandfathers, and many other members in my family served in the Air Force. And after living in a country where national security is not one of our top priorities, you become much more grateful for it. In fact, I think i'm just a proud American. I've always felt a sort of reverence for things of this country. Not everything, ha. I don't agree with everything that goes on here. But for the most part, our ideals and basic principles and things like the American Dream have always had a special place in my heart. I cry like a baby every year at the Stadium of Fire when they sing the National Anthem in such a grandious way.

Anyway, I wanted to blog about something we did last week. We were in Denver, visiting two of our best friends Blake and Nellie and they took us to the Air Force Academy. It's in Fort Collins, about 30 minutes south of Denver. It's a beautiful valley and even prettier campus. If you could pick somewhere to go to school, it would definitely be there. We went first to the visitor's center. It had a neat little hallway with posters and information about the academy.

Me and Nellie and Blakey next to one of the posters. :)

This one is about the Seniors. They had one for every year they're in the academy explaining they're primary focus and duties. I LOVE that pic of the seniors on graduation day of them throwing their hats with the fly over by the F-16s.

After that we watched a little video about the life of the cadets and it was really neat. They had me wishing I had gone there! I was very impressed with the way the cadets handled themselves and presented themselves and the respect they had for their peers and supervising officers. It means a lot to them that they're there. It was also noted that they give up a lot to be there. most ppl their age are excited to go to college, get away from mom and dad, party it up and live the college life. But they go to do drills and work hard and become an officer in the United States Air Force. It's something to be commended for sure.

The other really neat thing we saw was the church they have built there. We went on a little walk from the visitors center so we could see it. It was seriously incredible! It's one of the focal points on the campus and a beautiful building.

Justin and I in front of the church.

Blake, Nellie and Blakey!

Isn't that a cool building?? You can tell how HUGE it is from how little we, and the ppl behind us, are.

This is the inside of the church. It was so beautiful!!! I wish we had a picture that could really do it justice. The stained glass windows were incredible.

There were also other chapels located donstairs. None were quite this grandious but they were still beautiful. And no, there wasn't an LDS chapel, but we don't really need a chapel to worship, right?

Outside the church we could see the whole campus, which honestly wasn't that big. And I mean the number of buildings wasn't very large. There were huge facilities to do training and stuff, but there's only 4,400 cadets at the academy at any one time, so they don't need much room for housing and classes and such. It was also neat to see all the planes they had displayed on the campus, some of which we were told ares till in Air Force Inventory, meaning they're still functional planes.

Here's two of them! Blake knew what they were, but I don't remember. ha. Anyone know??

This is prolly my favorite pic of us. Love you Justin!! :)

These were taken out the car window. Ha. So they're not the best, but I think they're cool! I wish the pic showed how enormous that plane was. It was incredible.

Sweet pic! Again, out the car window. Sorry the mirror had to make a cameo. ha. Still a cool pic. :)

So that was our little visit. I hope you feel some of the same reverence that I feel for these people that give so much of themselves for our safety. Our country wouldn't run with out them and we literally owe our lives and freedom to them. I want to say thank you to every service man and woman that ever has and ever will serve in that capacity. For those of us that don't get to do that, we need to make sure this is a country worth protecting and do our own civil duty to keep it that way.

Throw up and Back Scratches?

2011-11-29T09:24:00.000-08:00

.. DISCLAIMER!! This could be definied as a TMI post, so be warned. ha....

Wanna know how I knew Justin was a definite keeper? Well, let me tell you a story. It has to start with a little back story though. Since I was 17 ish, I've had TERRIBLE monthly girl times. ha. I get so sick that i throw up everything, and I do mean everything, including bright yellow stomach bile. It's SO disgusting. I'm keeled over on the bathroom floor for atleast 2 hours and I feel like my stomach is being stabbed a million times over again. It's the only pain in the world that brings me to tears. (except maybe getting poked in the eye.) Anyways, it's horrible. The good (and sometimes bad) thing about it is that it's not very consistent. Good because it doesn't happen every month, bad cuz i can't plan on knowing wether or not it's going to come. My monthly cycles are never very predictable either. I know around when it'll come, but never for sure. And again, sometimes it comes (the sickness, not my period) and sometimes it doesn't. So.. Back to my Justin story.

When we were dating, about 2 months in, I was at home by myself and I started getting sick. I knew it was happening, so I called him and asked if he could give me a blessing. (I've never been through this without a blessing, and I never plan to.) He asked what was wrong, so I told him and he came to get me. He took me to his house and called his friend to help him with the blessing. When it was done, his friend left, and I went to the bathroom to throw up. Here's the kicker.. He followed me to the bathroom and sat on the floor with me and rubbed my back while I threw up! I couldn't believe it. And for 2 reasons... 1, I couldn't believe I was letting my new boyfriend watch me in that kind of state. It's not a pretty sight to watch some one throw up. Let's be honest. 2, I couldn't believe he was there scratching my back. Most people's reaction to throw up is gagging. (Mine is!) Just the smell revolts me. But there he was.

This is about what I looked like. Sad day. ha.

(tip, don't google "girl throwing up." It's kinda gross.)

I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking in that moment that he would be my hubby cuz of how sweet he is. I was probably cursing my stomach and uterus, which is usually what I do during that time of the month. But thinking back, after the hell passes, and I was laying on his bed, watching "Ratatouille" (I only like to watch Disney movies when I'm sick. I don't know why. ha.) I was thanking my lucky stars to be with some one so incredible.

The reason I'm telling this story now is cuz it happened again yesterday. I was about to die, and there was Justin, sitting on the bathroom floor with me. He was also making me walk around the house to try to get me to throw up sooner. (The sooner I get it all out, the sooner I can fall asleep and have it be over) And he knows this, so he's making me get up and walk around to make it come. He rubs my back and my head and lets me squeeze his hand and leg when I'm in pain. This time, as I'm cursing my woman parts, I'm also thanking Justin for being so amazing, and my Heavenly Father for letting me have him. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to be blessed with such an amazing Husband. He really is the perfect man for me and I'm so grateful for him!

This is me and my amazing hubby. I LOVE YOU BABY!

I am a Mormon!

2011-11-27T15:34:00.000-08:00

Remember my daily scripture texts? Well, I made them into a blog! You can subscribe to it with e-mail, or just see it, or nothing at all, ha. Just thought I'd let you know! :)

http://iamamormon6.blogspot.com

Dissapointed

2011-11-07T11:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in a LONG time, and for that I'm sorry. I really like using this as a journal of sorts, but i've never been good at writing in journals. I take that back, when I was in high school, I wrote ALL the time. But it's been a long time since high school. ha. And sadly enough, a lot more important things have happened since then, but i chose to record the less important things. ha. Oh well. I guess it's all important.

ANYWAY, so this morning I had A LOT on my mind. ha. There are a lot of feelings associated with all of it and I'm trying to make sense of it all. I'm not even sure how to define all these feelings so I figure if I write them down, in a place where some one else might read them, I can be honest with myself, and see how silly some of my feelings might be. Ha. I don't mean they're wrong, because no feelings are ever wrong. They may be misplaced, but they're never wrong. So let's see if I can make any sense of this.

How do you deal with dissapointment? Or should I even be dissapointed? I'm the first one to say don't get offended if offense isn't meant, but some how I find myself offended, and dissapointed. There are a few people in my life that I look up to, and when they aren't perfect, I get upset. Unnecessarily upset. Maybe some back story would help...

Last year, my favorite couple in the world got divorced. It was very randomly sprung on me and a complete shock. I had no idea this couple even had problems! I mean, everyone has problems, but I never, in a million years, thought this couple would get divorced. And it came after my brother had just barely been divorced. I had a HARD time dealing with that cuz of a lot of issues I have with my brother, ha, but it got a lot worse when this couple decided it was time to be done. The thing is, I know they would never do it unless they really believed it was the right thing to do, but I always thought there were very, very, very few reason why it would ever be right to get divorced. Anyway, my little world was shattered last summer and I cried to my favorite aunt and uncle and I realized it was really my fault for being upset. I hardly ever get truely angry. Upset? All the time. ha. But angry? Not really. However, in this case, I think i was truely angry. And why?! I should be loving these people, not judging them for their mistakes. But I had put all my trust in Happily Ever After on them, and now it was ruined. But that's not fair of me to say of them, is it?! I just don't know! It was so confusing. And it still kind of is. I don't make a whole lot of sense to even myself. ha

So what does this have to do with now? Well, the passed few months, I've been sending out a little scripture/spritual thought in a text message every day. I send it to a lot of people, like 40, and most of them really like it. In fact, most of them thank me for it. I don't do it for that though. I do it because at Education week, some one suggested that we do things like that, and we were reminded that the General Authorities have been pushing us to share the gospel in our multimedia outlets in any way we can, so here's my way of doing it. So last weekend, a friend of mine (one of those people I used to look up to) told me she didn't want me to send those messages anymore. She said it was distracting to her and her efforts to raise her children, and that she felt I was being pushy and nto allowing her to worship the way she wanted to. She said she wanted to worship her own way, with her family, in private and that she didn't need me to tell her what to do or how to worship. I got really upset by this. Probably a lot more than I should have, and if you're reading this, I apologize for getting upset.

But let me explain why I was so upset. I never meant to be pushy on anyone. I was just trying to fulfill a request from the prophets, do my part in spreading the gospel and maybe I could say something one day that some one else needed to hear. Not to mention, it's a way for me to explore the scriptures and get a good thought in for myself. I guess I felt like since she was saying No I don't want your daily spriritual thought she was saying she doesn't want me. And I was hurt by that! And then, yesterday, I was told that one member of my favorite couple (see above paragraph :) ) didn't want them either. So that brought all those feelings of almost rejection swelling to the top and nearly brought tears. I know I shouldn't feel this way, because I know these two people don't hate me, but I don't understand why they don't want to participate with my daily thoughts. It's not like i'm preaching repentance, or giving a whole talk every day. It's just one scripture! I guess it's because I expect more out of these people and they've been giving me less than i want.. but that's not fair of me to say. Who am I to judge them? Maybe they do have legitimate reasons for not wanting to participate, and who I am to say their reasons aren't good. I'm not there in their life to know what's really going on. I should be there no matter what and be able to respect their wishes.

But somehow, I'm hurt. And I bring up all the old thoughts of everything i can remember that went wrong and then i'm even more upset. So, I guess my question is how do you not do that? How can you seperate what someone did in the past to what they're doing right now? And how do I follow my own advice of not getting offended when offense isn't really meant? I think it has something to do with true forgiveness. I need to forgive this perfect couple for making that mistake, and stop thinking that it had anything to do with me. I don't think I ever thought they even thought about me even for one second when they made this choice, ha. But somehow I was personally offended by their actions and I need to not be. So here I am, trying to get over things that aren't even my problems! ha. Sad day, right?

The position has been filled...

2011-09-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

I just had an experience that I've honestly never had before. I'm currently working at Nu Skin in the call center providing sales support for the Latin America markets. It's not a super exciting job, but it pays the bills. And I actually love working for Nu Skin. It's good to work for a company that really does care about their employees. So... Now the actual story of my blog... I don't mind working in Sales Support. But it's kind of monotonous and not even close to what i went to school for. Ha. So recently there was a position available in the Product Support department. It would still be a phone job, but talking about the science of the products instead of just selling them. If you know anything about Nu Skin at all, you know how amazing the products are. And the science behind them is fascinating. I went to the convention last year and got to talk to the man behind the science and I was in awe. Ha. I know that sounds dumb and makes me a total nerd, but what they've been able to do with these products is awesome. I love it. So, naturally I was super excited about the position opening up. I applied and thought for sure I would get it. I got an interview and felt like I did really well in it! Then I got an e-mail saying the position had been filled. I was crushed! I thought for sure I would get the job and I was excited to not have to place orders anymore. But I didn't get the job...

I e-mailed the HR department about why I didn't get the job and she sent this back...

I’ve spoken with **JOE** about the interviews. He informed me that you simply did not interview as well as the other applicant. There wasn’t anything significantly wrong with your interview or qualifications. Rather, the other applicant wowed them more and they believe she is more qualified for the position. I hope this helps.

Ouch... What does that even mean? I've never interviewed for a job and not been offered a position. I didn't interview as well as the other applicant?? What else did I have to do?! Tap Dance?! I'm surprisingly upset by this.. It prolly has something to do with the fact that my hubby and I were banking on getting this job for the raise in pay and the benefits it would provide... We don't have any health insurance and now I know I can't get it cuz I didn't interview as well as the other person? That sucks... Major blow to the ego.. I guess I needed one of those. ha. Oh well.

I'm a WOOFER!

2011-09-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Ha. I know, Justin made fun of me a lot for saying that. And i'm not actually a "woofer" but I am a "WFR" a.k.a. Wilderness First Responder! It's like an EMT, but one step below, and everything applied to a wilderness context, when you're hours from emergency medical care. It's something I've wanted to do my whole life and I finally got the opportunity to do it! It was a 7 day class and it was held at Snowbird in Sandy.

Basically, we learned how to identify whether or not the patient has a life threatening (or limb threatening) medical emergency or if they were gonna be ok. Then we have to decide what kind of evacuation is necessary and how to do it. The hardest part though is being thorough and figuring out what's really going on. There's SO many things that can be happening and it's hard to catch every little detail. It's also hard sometimes to distinguish between 2 things that look the same. We were told to always assume the worst because if you think it's less serious than it is, you could have some one die! And that would be terrible. ha. Anyway, it was a super fun class and I'm so glad I got to do it!

Here are a few photos with a little bit of explanation. :)

This is the whole group. From left to right... Joe, Kendra, Sam, Happe, Brad, David, ME! and Sam. They were all great ppl with great stories. Most are outdoor adventure guides, (lucky!) and some just wanted to learn some cool stuff. (like me :) )

This is where we did one of our simulations. We would have a couple ppl from the group pretend to be patients out in the wilderness and our teacher would give them a set of signs and symptoms and we'd have to figure out what was wrong and what to do about it. This onw was WAY far away. If you can see it, the Tram that goes to Hidden Peak at Snowbird and we're half mile away up and down this ridge.

If you can see this pic at all... It's Happe (yes, that's his name. Very fitting for him. ha) and Brad. They were patients for a crazy sim that we did on the top of the mountain. Happe ended up dying and I was in charge. Oops! ha. He had a Traumatic Brain Injury, was suffering from Volume Shock and had been impaled by a branch that went all the way through his back and out his stomach. It was bad. ha.

This is Sam, Sam, Kendra and Brad carrying the stokes litter back from our sim. It was a PAIN carrying all the stuff in and out. Luckily they didn't make us carry our patient in there! We did other times, just not up that gosh darn hill. Ha.

View from afar... ha. This is halfway back from out sim.

This is me getting wrapped up in a hypothermia wrap. It was freezing up there! Ha. I didn't really have hypothermia (duh!) but we were practicing. It really worked! I was toasty. :)

Wrapping up the hypo wrap. They ended carrying me all around the summit. ha. It was fun but felt really weird! ha.

At the summit, getting ready to do something really cool I'm sure. ha.

Having a little lecture by the warming hut.

Another lecture, but this time in the Ski Patrol hut. The other teacher we had is on the Snowbird Ski Patrol.

We're trying to figure out how to get this guy untangled from these poles without comprimising his spine. Not as easy as it looks!

So our teacher really liked that I was an Athletic Trainer so she asked me to teach a few tape jobs. We were talking about dislocated patellas (knee caps) so I taught them a tape job to keep it in place once it had popped out. I also taught them finger buddy tapes, and an ankle tape job. It was fun!

This is EMMA!! She's Mark, the ski patrol guy's dog. She's one of 5 of Snowbird's rescue dogs and she's so cute! It was so fun to have her in class. I love Emma! :)

This is the view from the top of Snowbird! How lucky am I that I got to take a class there!!

We love him, because he first loved us.

2011-08-30T11:16:00.000-07:00

John 4:19 says:

"We love him, because he first loved us."

What a powerful thought.

The Savior of the World knows me personally and loves me perfectly.

If only I could remember that more often?! He loves all of me, including all the flaws I see in myself. I wish I could see myself the way He sees me. I feel like my life would be a lot happier! Ha. I take great solace in knowing that my relationship with my Father in Heaven is a personal one and that He cares about me so individually. Yay! Ha. That's reason alone to be the happiest girl alive! :D

True Story...

2011-08-23T10:10:00.000-07:00

2 posts in one day? I know, I'm getting ambitious. ha. This one is quick though. Just a thought from Ed Week that I've been thinking about a lot lately.

The grass isn't greener on the other side.

The grass is greener where YOU water it!

Long time no see

2011-08-23T09:37:00.000-07:00

     It's possible that I just plagarized my own blog title. I do that sometimes... Ha. It's only cuz it's been a long time since I blogged, and because i'm not a very creative person. So here's the update.

     I'm doing AWESOME with my weightloss. I've lost 25 pounds and my pants don't fit anymore. I have to safety pin them for work... ha. It's bitter sweet cuz I loved those pants, but mostly sweet cuz it means i'm loosing weight! Woohoo!! :D Thank you Miss Chelene Johnson. :)

     Second, my parents finally moved in to their new house and are living there. They spend 3 weeks at the beginning of the summer at MY tiny 2 bedroom apartment. It was.. fun! But crazy. Anyway, the great thing about it is that Justin was out of town this weekend, so I got to stay with them instead of by myself at home. Woohoo!!! It was nice to hang out and eat dinner with them and cuddle with my little sis to fall asleep. I love them! Yay for moving to Utah! haha. (never thought I'd say that!)

     Third, last week my Grandma came to stay with us so she could go to education week. Which prompted me to go to education week too. Mom was nice enough to pay for an evening pass for me and Justin, so after work every day, we went to Ed Week. And it was simply amazing. We heard some phenomenal talks and it promted lots of good discussion. One in particular was by a guy named Scott Anderson. He gave the most beautiful lecture series about Hope and trusting in our Savior. There was never a dry eye in the room by the time it was done. It was so uplifting. Thank you Ed week!
     I also got a great idea from a lady. She said she sends daily scripture texts to her kids and some family so I decided to do the same thing. And so far it's been good! I've been sending them every day for about a week now, and ppl seem to like it! :) If you're not getting those texts, and you want them, let me know. :)

     So that's my update. Yay for life! The past few weeks have been some major ups and major downs but over all, the ups are winning by a long shot. Thank you to everyone who's contributed to that. Love you! :)

Music is what feelings sound like....

2011-07-29T11:58:00.000-07:00

Music is a HUGE part of my life. I simply could not live with out it. I go crazy when everything is just silent! Now, there are moments when silence is necessary. There's nothing sweeter than sitting in the temple in silence and listening to the spirit speak to you. But other than that very instance, I almost always want music. I can't ahndle dirving with out it, I just won't work out with out music, I get ready in the morning with music, it's on at work in a head phone.. you get the picture. When I was younger, one of my favorite things was to wake up on Saturday mornings to Jon playing the piano. He has a beautiful way with the piano and I can't get enough of it. In spite of some of the silly fights i've had with him, I have always loved and praised his incredible abilities with music. I grew up with music all around me. Not just with jon, but the rest of my family as well. We're all pretty decent singers and we put together a pretty good quartet. Ha. And I love all kids of music. Sometimes I'm in the mood for some twangy country music, sometimes Micheal Buble and company. Other times some Relient K and other times Josh Groban. Just depends on my mood! If I hear a truely beautiful voice, I almost always cry. Ha. So I want to share a few videos of some of my favorite songs. These aren't my all time favorites, but they're songs I can listen to over and over again and get chills every time...

After silence, that which comes nearest to expressing the inexpressible is music. ~Aldous Huxley

I know this sounds lame, and I can not Stand Taylor Swift, but I can listen to this version a million times over and over. ha.

A painter paints pictures on canvas. But musicians paint their pictures on silence. ~Leopold Stokowski

The Cello Song, by Steve Sharp Nelson

John Williams is a genius. I can listen to his music all day.

This is one of my favorite Church songs ever. It's so incredibly beautiful.

Anyway, enjoy my little rant on music. I love it!!

Yes, I was wrong...

2011-07-27T13:27:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like a moron? I have...

Ever accuse someone of something they didn't do? I have...

Ever make someone feel like crap cuz of something you did? I have...

Ever wish you had just said something, rather than keeping it cooped up inside where it gets worse and worse and then when it comes out it's nothing like what it was when it started? ha.. I do.

I just want to apologize to anyone that i've ever done anything like this too.

I'm sorry!

Flashbacks...

2011-07-26T10:46:00.001-07:00

Ever feel like you just want to be wanted... Yeah.. It sucks...

Long time no see!

2011-07-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Sorry blog world. I've been crazy busy lately. It's been since July 2nd that I last posted! Sad Day. Ha. I have been reading other blogs, but haven't been writing. So, maybe i'll give an update on one of my recent blogs, my weightloss journey! Ha. I don't want this blog to become some kind of story of inspiration and i'm certainly not looking for some kind of movie deal with my crazy story. ha. But I said earlier that I needed to be responsible to someone for my progress, so here I am. I'm actually trying to be 100% honest with my hubby about everything I eat and the workouts I'm doing and stuff. He's my biggest fan in all this so if i'm having a hard time with whatever, I feel very comfortable with telling him and getting his help. To be honest, i haven't always felt that way with him about my weight. I was dumb, but I allowed myself to think that all he wanted to was to have the perfect beautiful wife and I wasn't it because of my weight. And i can't believe I thought that. When I finally told him that I felt that way, he was almost offended that I had that little of on opinion that he would think that. So, shame on me. But luckily we've gotten passed that. I know he loves me no matter what and I'm lucky to have him there to help me. The thing that's the best is that he cares so much about me that he'll tell me all the good things, and he's there to help me with the bad too. When I don't work out, he'll ask me why. When i'm eating something that I shouldn't eat, he'll tell me not to! And that's the way I want it to be. I need someone to help me out! And I'm lucky to have him.

So, wanna know how well i'm doing?! Ha. I started about a month ago, and I've lost 15 lbs!!! Woohoo!! I'm very proud of myself. And i'm finding it's really not that hard. Ha. Why didn't I do this before?! I feel awesome when I work out and I've found some awesome recipes via "Cook this, Not that." It's an awesome cook book and all the recipes have under 300 calories per serving. Sweet huh?! I love it. And so does my hubby. Ha. I'm cookin some YUMMY food. :D It's surprisingly saving us money too. I have to get different kinds of protein every day so it's making me plan all our meals and planning saves a LOT of money! ha. So yay!! So far, WAY good and I'm loving this! I haven't actually seen a whole lot of change, but I feel it, and the scale sees it, so I'm trusting it and I'll keep going.

Thanks for all y'all's support!

Do you trust me?

2011-07-02T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have had a major issue lately with trusting people. I feel like I do a good job of giving people the benefit of the doubt and saying they're being honest until proven otherwise. I don't like to automatically think people are lying. I know a lot of people need others to gain their trust, but I think I'm the other way around. It's even to the point where I get teased a lot cuz I believe when people tell me silly things! Ha. Like they'll make up storeis about themselves and I have no reason not to believe them, so I do! But lately I feel like I've been lied to by people that I thought I could trust. And I'm findin it crazy hard to trust someone after they've lied to me and I know they have. Like sometimes I think someone's lying, but I don't know for sure, but when I'm certain they're lying to me, I have a hard time even talking to them! To be honest, the first time I really noticed a problem was my freshman year of college and since then, once I know someone's lied to me, it's hard for me to trust them again.

I'm not sure how to deal with this... Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to say first, so that no one thinks the wrong thing, I'm not talking about my hubby! He's always been so honest with me and I'm incredibly grateful for that. But unfortunately, there's been lots of lying among the people I care a lot about and it's incredibly hard to deal with.

One situation in particular was with someone extremely close to me. I was getting along amazingly well with this person and I just found out this morning that they have been lying to me for months. I feel so betrayed by them and I don't know what to do about it. I want to talk to them about it too but I don't know if it will do any good. This person is in a really fragile place and I think it will just make things worse. Any ideas...?

All I is I never want to be lied to again...

Do not attribute to Malice what can adequately be explained by Stupidity.

2011-06-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

Do not attribute to Malice what can adequately be explained by Stupidity.

I heard this quote today in my awesome Relief Society lesson. It was related by one of the sisters but comes from the addage by Robert J. Hanlon. Anyway, we were talking about not holding grudges and how to not be offended. I love this quote because it makes me think about how people say things all the time and sometimes we get offended. But I honestly believe that most the time we don't mean to offend people. Sometimes we offended because we're extra sensitive to that things, or becuase we're just having a bad day. But the person that offends us rarely knows those things! I truely believe it's important to think about people intentions and then make our decions about how to feel about those things. I try very hard to not get offended by people. And if I do get offended, I try to forgive and forget. Unfortuneately, I'm not very good at this when it comes to my family. I expect them to be perfect and when they say things I don't like, somehow I hold grudges against them. Another thing mentioned in our class was that

"When we hold grudges, we're allowing someone to live in our heads, Rent Free!"

I completely agree with this. I know when I take offense to something, one of the only things I can think about is what I'm going to say to that person the next time I see them. I also think about what I wish I had said back. And there's usually a nice way to respond, and a clever, but terrible one. It usually takes longer to come up with the latter just cuz I'm not very clever. Ha. But I think that's a good thing because if I always said the clever, mean comment, I would leave a lot of people offended! I'm also a pretty passive, non confrontational person, so I try not to say mean things even if I want to. However, this isn't usually true if it's a member of my family. When they offend me, I'm the first person to tell them. And I don't think that's a very good thing. I know I need to more forgiving of the people that matter most in my life.

This is especially true of my husband. Because we're always together, I take out a lot of my anger on him even though he doesn't deserve it. I would like to publicaly apologive to him for that. He's the most incredible mad in the world and I don't treat him nearly as well as I should. I certainly don't mean to hold grudges against him, but it seems that everytime we fight, the same issues come up. And that's because for whatever reason I can't forgive and forget. That's something I really need to work on with myself. I need to be the most forgiving of him than any other person. I love you Justin!

In General Conference in October of 2010, Elder Neil L. Anderson said

"In our weakened moments, the adversary seeks to steal our spiritual promises. If we are not watchful, our injured, childlike spirit will retreat back into the cold, dark crust of our former bloated ego, leaving behind the warm, healing light of the Savior."

We need to leave our egos behind and CHOOSE NOT TO BE OFENDED. It's a lot easier said than done, but it's necessary if we are to really become like the Savior, and to have a happy life. I know I'm a lot happier when I'm on good terms with all the people in my life. If I've ever offended you, please tell me so we can get passed it. I want to make it all right for everyone involved. I hope you can join me in my quest to be more forgiving.

All alone

2011-06-24T19:50:00.000-07:00

     This week has been WAY too long. Justin is back east in his hometown, attending the wedding of one of his high school buddy. He's in the wedding party so he had to attend all the fancy events and parties. So he's been gone since last friday night! I've been a loner loser! Ha. Actually, that's not really true. I've been lucky to have lots of friends come to my rescue! Justin's family, Heather and her room mates, Karri and her friends. It's been wonderful! I wanna say thanx to everyone who hung out with me this week!!

     Since being married, Justin and I have stuck together a lot. There's been plenty of girls nights and time for ourselves, but i don't like to be without him! This past week I've had to make due with just myself. It was hard at first, but with all my friends there to help, it really hasn't been that bad. I've been able to get a lot done, cleaning, working out, studying, all kinds of stuff. It's been nice! Don't get me wrong. It's not like I want to be single again, but I'm glad I can still be on my own. The hardest part of it all was trying to go to sleep! I have such a hard time sleeping in my bed by myself. Justin and I aren't always all over eachother when we sleep, but I always have atleast my foot touching his, so to have nothing was really hard! I had to watch stupid shows to try to get my asleep and I don't like that. Partly cuz it made it harder to fall asleep. haha. So i'm REALLY glad he's coming home Sunday night.

     The reason i'm writing this Friday night instead of Saturday night is cuz tomorrow I don't be slone anymore! ha. Kelly's FINALLY coming home to me!! YAY!!! You have no idea how excited I am. The first time she called me since she left I actually teared up cuz I miss her so much. She's been gone for 3 weeks now. I can't wait to see her tomorrow!!! I'm excited for all the stories I get to hear and all the pictures. There will be lots and I can't wait! I love you smelly!

I love you, Dad!

2011-06-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

Maybe this is cliche, but since it's Father's Day, I want to write a blog about some of the "father's" i've known..

I have had the privilege of knowing a lot of great men in my life. Both of my grandfather's are incredible people. They raised my amazing parents and I'll be forever grateful. Sterling Cheney, my dad's dad was incredible. I didn't know him nearly as well as I would have liked when he was alive, but I had the opportunity to transcribe his life story that he recorded before he passed away. He shared his tesimony a number of times and I felt the spirit so strong. He talked about the way he raised my dad and his siblings and it was so neat to listen to. The thing I remember most about him was his very wity, dry sense of humor. He was always cracking jokes, most of the time at other people's expense. In a good way! Ha. My mom's dad, Ronald Zirker, was also amazing. He was the hardest working man I've ever known! He raised my mom and her siblings to know the value of hard work and honesty and love. He was extremely loving and made sure everyone knew how much he loved you. When I was a little girl, I had a shirt that said "Girls are sugar and spice and everything nice, boys are snails and nails and puppydog tails." I would quote that to him all the time and he'd tickle me till I couldn't breathe! ha. When I got older, he quite pinning my down, ha, but he never stopped tickling my neck and giving me huge bear hugs! Both of these great men have passed away in the last couple years. It's been sad to be with out them, but I know they're enjoying their time on the other side, being missionaries and helping us down here. I can't wait to get to know them even better some day!

Urban Sterling Cheney Ronald John Zirker

There are a bunch of other men that I've really looked up to and trusted. Mike Hudson is one of my dad's best friends and I've always thought of him as sort of an uncle. I trust him with my life and have always looked up to the way he protects his family and friends. Another is Opa Bergmann! He's my hubby's grandpa and he's an incredible man. He came to the US from Germany so he could have a better life with his family. The amount of strength he's shown over his years is amazing and Justin and I really look up to him. I also have to mention Gene Bergmann. He's Justin's uncle and has really taken care of us since we've been married. He's a wonderful person and has really made me feel like part of their family. I love being at their house!

The first man is Gene Bergmann and the second is Opa.

There have also been a number of friends of mine who's parents have really taken me under their wing and treated me like their own kids! Kirk Hoopes, Gary Jones, Doug Later and many others. I've always felt comfortable in their homes and have really appreiated their love and support.

My father in law is also an incredible man. Greg Smith is my hubby's dad and he really is an amazing person. For one, he's the father of my amazing hubby and that's an amazing feat! Ha. Since the day I met him, he's made sure I felt part of his family. He's always been so loving and I'm so grateful for that! The first time I ever met him was the summer Justin and I got engaged. We weren't quite there yet but we knew it was happening! Their family is huge on beach volleyball, so we went to play that weekend. He mentioned something about playing in a tournament that weekend and needing another girl so he said he was going to watch me and see how good I was. I spoke up way too soon and said I might be good enough when in fact I was no where close! Anyway, long story short, sfter playing for a while we went swimming and I asked him how well I did and he told me traight up that I sucked! Haha. I know now he was comparing me to girls that were a lot better, but for how much I had played, I was ok. Haha. It was just a wonderful first impression! Ha. I love how honest he always is and has been through out our whole relationship. I love being a a part of their family and he's a big part of that. I'm so grateful for him!

Dad and his 3 sons. :)

My hubby is going to be a great father one day too. I can't wait to see him with his little kids! They're going to love him more than anything and I know he'll love them too. Everytime there's little kids around, he's the first one to be playing with them. Almost all the time! I love that about him. Our friend's Blake and Nellie just had a little baby and it was really neat to see Blake with his brand new son. I know Justin will look at his babies the same way. I can't wait to see that!

My amazing hubby and me!

Last, but certainly not least, is my own father. Craig Cheney is one of the greatest men I've ever known in my entire life. He's everything any man could ever aspire to be and I will be endebted to him forever. My entire life he's been there for me and I know that will never change. Whenever I have any kind of problem, he's there for me. And it doesn't matter what kind of problem it is. Even if I just need to talk, he's always there to listen. He knows almost everything there is to know about the gospel and can always answer questions. Everyone in my family, on both sides, always calls him when they have questions about anything gospel related. I've heard countless times from different memebers of the family about how they all trust him and look up to him. He's also been incredibly successful in the business world. He's incredibly smart and has always made good decisions that have brought him great success. Everyone i've talked to that knows him in this world always has the best to say about him. It seems that everywhere I look there are people that look up to my dad. I love that about him. There isn't a single person that thinks poorly of him. I've never doubted for a second that my dad loves me and that means the world to me. I'll never be able to pay him back for everything that he's done for me but I know that I'll never have to. I love my dad more than anything in the world! Thank you daddy for being so incredible!

Me and my Daddy at my wedding. :)

Confession

2011-06-13T14:33:00.000-07:00

I have a confession to make. I'm FINALLY getting my act together and loosing all this weight. I broke down to Justin the other day and told him how much I hate the way I look. For the last 2 years or so, I've felt like a pretty skinny girl in a fat girl's body and I hate it. Like really bad. It's the worst feeling in the world. It got to the point where I didn't even like to look in the mirror. I don't like to shop because even when I find something cute it doesn't look good on because I weigh so much more than I wish I did. And I've tried a hundred times to quit eating so much and to just work out already and for whatever reason, it hasn't worke. I've never really committed to it. I've tried P90X. It was too manly for me. Ha. (too much lifting weights and not enough cardio for my goals.) I tried running when Justin started training for a marathon but I've always HATED running. Ha. I tried Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred. Good workout, but only 20 minutes. (You really need 60 to 90 minutes a day to actively loose weight.) So, although I had good reasons to quit the others, they weren't going to acheive my goals, it still meant that I quit working out. I also never had a real nutrition guide although I've taken more than enough nutrition classes to write my own. ha.

Now, I have no more excuses. After my break down, we decided to buy TurboFire. It's a Beach Body work out, (like p90, p90x, insanity and a bunch more) but this one is an intense Kick Boxing cardio program. It's insane! I started last week and It's been so hard, but so worth it so far.

Anyway, I feel like the only way I'll be able to do this is if I'm truely accountable to someone. I'm defintely accountable to Justin, and he's promised to keep me honest about it. But I also know he loves me and loves me no matter what, so if I tell him I quit, he'll try to convince me other wise, but it's an easy out for me. So, I'm becoming accountable to YOU. My readers. haha. Which I know is few, but I've found that some people read it, and it's a lot of my good friends that I know really care about me. So, i'm gonna document my progress every week on here. I have goals set up and I know I can reach them. I'm also pretty sure I can way surpass them. If I follow them, I'll be pre wedding weight by my birthday. YAY! That will be awesome. :)

My goal for the end of July is to loose 15 pounds. So, here goes!

Funny Story!

2011-06-10T08:59:00.000-07:00

Funny Story...

The other day, I was going to put something down on my night stand and I had to walk around the bed to get there. There's a chest at the foot of our bed that's about knee height. So as I'm sure you can guess, I hit my knee super hard on the corner of the chest as I was walking around. It hurt so bad! It was funny, but it hurt! Ha. So anyway, I set my phone down and laid on the bed in pain, and when I got up to go back to the kitchen, or wherever I was going, I HIT MY OTHER LEG! hahaha. I couldn't stop laughing! And wincing from pain! haha. It was so ridiculous, I couldn't believe it. ha.

So now I have twin bruises on both knees. haha. Moron here! I was gonna take a pic but I keep forgetting, so maybe I will later and add it. ha

Day 28 - 30

2011-06-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

Ok facebook challenge, I'm getting sick of you, so how about we be done already!

Here's day 28-30, the end of my challenge and beginning of normal blogs again.

Day 28- A picture of something you're afraid of.

The one thing I want more than anything in the world is to be a mom. I simply can not wait till the day I have my own baby. I know, you're not supposed to say "I'll be happy when..." But it's the truth. I know I'll be happy the day my first is born. That doesn't mean I'm not happy now, but it does mean that I don't feel complete. I know there are babies in heaven waiting for me to graduate and have a baby already! Ha. Everytime I see a baby, or hear about a friend that's pregnant, something inside me aches a little. Because I want that for myself. It's even harder for me when I see mother's that don't take care of their children, or seem to not want them.

So, it stands to reason that the one thing I'm more afraid of that anything in the world is not being able to have a baby of my own.

I'm terrified beyond belief that once we actually start trying to have babies, I won't be able to.

It's silly I know, but I feel like this is going to happen to me. I am Terrible at remembering to take my birth control, so I feel like if it was going to be easy for me to have babies, I would have already had one. Ha. So either the Lord is really taking care of me, and is waiting till we're really ready, OR, my body is going to have a hard time getting pregnant. I'm also really afraid of miscarriages. And the thing is, is that it happens to a lot of women. So I know if I have one it's not the end of the world, But it'll be the end of my world. I guess we'll see what happens! I have dreams atleast twice a week about my children. Sometimes they're little babies, and sometimes they're just little kids, but I love to see them. I think it's Heavenly Father's way of saying, "Just be patient, They're coming."

Day 29- A picture that can always make you smile.

Honestly, No explanation needed.

Day 29- A picture of someone you miss.

I have to go with my gut here and go with the person I thought of first when I read this prompt. Someone I miss a lot is....

Steve and Kim Zirker and family!

These are some of my favorite people in the whole world. Kim and Steve are the goofiest, silliest, most ridonculous couple ever! I really got to know them when I stayed with them for about a month a few years ago. I fell in love with their beautiful kids and got to see what great parents they really are. And I got to see how, I can't think of any other word other than ridiculous, they are. Ha. They just love life and really live it. And the thing is, if/when they read this, they're just gonna laugha dn make jokes about how silly I am. Me?! Ha. I try to make jokes as often and as clever as they do but I never can and then they make fun of how lame my jokes are. It's a vicious cycle. Ha. I've never laugh harder than when I'm with them. I hope one day I can be just like them!

Love you!

Day 30- A picture of yourself

This is the most recent picture of myself.

I don't love it, and by "it" I mean the picture, not myself,

but it's me!

Heavenly Father answers prayers!

2011-06-05T21:36:00.000-07:00

So, this is a picture of Aunt Karen, Justin's cousins Sarah, Jaime and Jessica, and Jess's two little kids Kyle and Kara. They are so freaking cute. This pic is a little old, so they're a little bigger now, but not a whole lot. Kyle just turned 2 and Kara is 5. They also have an adorable little newborn! He's still so tiny! :)

Anyway... Today we were at Aunt Karen's house for dinner. It was beautiful outside, so we were sitting on the grass talking and having a good time. And of course, Justin was gooing off with Kyle and Kara. They chase him, he chases them, throws them around, you get the gist. Ha. We left a little earlier than we wanted to so we could hang out with some other friends though, so we said good bye and left.

A few hours later, Justin realizes his ring, that his dad gave him, is not on his neck anymore. This ring is a big deal to him. It was engraved with a little design that his brothers and dad deisgned and then had tatooed on them. Since Justin wasn't going to get a tattoo, they made him a ring. It says Family Forever in a neat way. Needless to say, it's a very special ring. The chain he wears it on has been coming off a lot lately so we knew that it had to have come off while he was wrestling and playing with the kids. The only problem is that it's now 10 PM and dark, and Gene and Karen's yard is huge! They were running around, playing in the whole yard and it could be anywhere. So we go over there to look. I took one section and seriously stared down the whole section. But I was walking super slow, making sure I looked at every inch of grass. He was only on a little portion of this grass, like maybe 10 feet by 15 feet but I looked in there for seriously 15 minutes. It was going to take 3 hours to scour the whole section of grass they were in at the rate I was going.

So I go over to the other patch, and stop and say a little prayer asking to PLEASE help us find the ring because of how much it meant to Justin. So I start looking again, but instead of scouring every inch like before, I just started walking, slowly, but much quicker than before. And not a minute of looking after I said the prayer, I looked down and there it was. I bent down and picked it up and started to cry. I was amazed at how quickly I found it. It's not like there was a little voice that said "go right there," but there's not a single doubt in my mind that the Lord was guiding my feet in that moment.

I know that was a long way to tell what could have been a very short story, but I wanted to make it more dramatic. Ha. Partly because I simply couldn't believe it. I was shocked at how quickly I found it after that short and simple prayer. I'm still in disbelief about it. I've had prayers answered before, but never like that. It was a huge testimony to me that even though this is a silly little ring, and has no real value, because it meant something to Justin, the Lord cared enough to help me find it. He listens and answers prayers. He cares about things we care about. He loves us and wants to make us happy. What a great way to end our Sabbath Day.

Thank you Heavenly Father!

Empty Nesters

2011-06-04T11:35:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from my picture challenge to write a real blog. Not that the picture thing isn't cool, cuz I like it, but I started blogging so I could write a type of journal, and I haven't been able to really do that. So, here's my normal blog.

Kelly's Gone! :( When we she came I never thought I would cry when she left. I knew I would like having her, but i didn't think it would turn out like this.

For those of you that don't know, (a lot of people say that to explain things... But I'm pretty sure only like 5 people read this and they know the story. Ha. Oh well. For Posterity's sake then.) Kelly moved in with Justin and I about 2 1/2 months ago. She was having a hard time with her friends in Texas and needed to get away. At first, things were peachy. But after a couple arguments btwn me and Kelly and Justin and Mom and Dad, it got a little rocky! Kelly and Justin are two very strong personalities and unfortunately they didn't agree on a lot of things. Ha. We also had a few comminucation issues. After a couple weeks, we weren't sure if we were gonna make it. I was also making some huge mistakes and not following through with things that I should have and picking the wrong battles. It was rough. I wasn't sure if I would ever be a good mother. It was really disheartening to me. Being a mother is all I've ever really wanted to be and I was terrible at it. I guess I never thought it was going to be easy. She's a teenager and I'm not her mother, but our relationship as sisters has always been good. I thought it would be just like being sisters. But unfortunately it wasn't. There were lots of tears and a few pretty intense conversations.

And now I find myself near tears again. Inspite of some of the silly arguments we had, I already miss her. She's been gone only a few hours! I had tears on our way to the airport. I told her I was gonna miss my little girl, and she said, you know you're not my mom, and I said "but you'll always be my little girl." I know she's not a little girl, but she's been my little girl for a long time. She and I have always been close, but the past few months have made it even better. We have a relationship now that we could have never had any other way. She's and incredible woman and I'm lucky to know her.

I love you Smelly! Have Fun in Europe!!

Day 27- A picture of you and a family member

2011-05-30T12:37:00.000-07:00

This pretty much sums up my family.

Especially Kelly's face.

You've got Justin and Evan in the background, smiling.

Jon's in the middle of the madness, but still relatively normal.

Kristi and Kelly have majorly awkward faces.

Kristi and me have our legs in the air, also awkward and ridiculous.

And Katie's on the side just shaking her head. Ha.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!

Day 26- A picture of something that means a lot to you...

2011-05-23T19:39:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things in this world that mean a lot to me. But here's just one...

There are a lot of things about this picture that are important to me, like my husband, my amazing shoes... haha. But the one I wanted to point out is how we're laughing!

LAUGHTER is what gets me through life! I wouldn't be able to function if I couldn't laugh at myself every once in a while. Actually, I laugh at myself a LOT. Ha. Notice all the "ha"s in this blog. :D BUt seriously, I laugh at myself all the time! And I would be a miserable person if I didn't. I think all of us would. One of my favorite things about my husband is how we can laugh together and at each other.

The story behind this picture is that we were taking some engagements for a friend who was trying to build a portfolio, so this was about 3 months into our marriage. We were walking around the Provo tabernacle and the back of my jeans had a huge hole down at the bottom, like wear and tear from wearing them too long? Anyway, I stepped in the hole with my other shoe and totally fell down on the ground. And the funny part is that this picture was taken the second time I did it. Haha. It was SO funny! I was dying!

Sometimes I laugh at things that I feel bad for though. Whenever I see someone trip and fall, I have to cover my mouth and not let them see that I can't stop laughing. Whenever I hurt myself, if it was because of something stupid that I did, like tripping over my own pants, I don't cry, I LAUGH! ha.

I LOVE TO LAUGH!!

If you've read this whole blog, PLEASE go to this video. It's "I Love to Laugh" from Mary Poppins. Ha.

Enjoy!! Laugh!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOMqqI-kzHY

Day 25- A picture of your day

2011-05-23T19:11:00.000-07:00

K, this isn't supposed to be an advertising blog, But this is really what I did today! Ha. I just recently started working at Nu Skin Enterprises and I LOVE it! Well, let me clarify. A group of us were hired to open a new market for them in Argentina. We were hired under the impression that we would be opening the market May 25th. After we started training, we learned that we would not actually be opening Argentina till June 20th! So after 2 weeks of training, where we were gonna be ready for the May 25th opening, we had nothing to do, so we've been sent up to do data entry, which is literally filing papers and entering data. It's awful. BUT, working for Nu Skin itself is amazing!

I started to become involved with Nu Skin last fall, when my brother became a distributor. My parents then became involved and I jumped on the train shortly after. However, the MLM system that they had didn't quite work for me, so I haven't continued. But before I left, I got the chance to experience what a great company Nu Skin really is. The science behind their products is undeniably the best in their industry. The charity and non profit work they do is phenomenal. The quality of people that work for Nu Skin can't be found else where. I just love it. PLUS, the perks are sweet! Every month they have some one come in to give the employees massages. There's potlucks ALL the time. Sweet bonuses. BBQ's every week. $400 a month in free product. Wow. It's awesome!

I LOVE NU SKIN! :)

Day 24- A picture of something you wish you could change

2011-05-17T09:46:00.000-07:00

This is something I wish I could change.

There's two things here I wish I could change though. One is the obvious. I wish there were no homeless, jobless people. It's hard to see people in need and not be able to help them. I wish I could do more.

The other thing I wish I could change is better displayed by the second picture. Let me tell you a story. My brother was a manager for a security company and i don't know the details but he met a man who used to beg for money on the corner of the street over by Walmart and McDonalds. He went to San Antonio, worked his butt off, and did a really good job selling. Halfway through the summer, he decided he didn't like working and made plenty of money on the street corner and left! He had a job, was doing well, and just decided not to do it. That makes me so upset! I couldn't even believe it when he told me.

The other picture there is just another way to show the same thing. This guy can code HTML but he doesn't have a job? Don't get me wrong, I know there are times when people have skills and there just aren't any jobs. But there's always something. It reminds me of the movie the Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith's character did everything he could and had an incredibly hard time. I get that there are people that are trying. But the ones trying aren't sitting on a street corner asking for money. They're out there looking.

I also have a little experience from a different perspective. I used to work for a disability law firm and we had people calling every day asking for help to get money from the government. Now, some of those people that were calling were very legitimate and truely deserved help from the government. But we got calls like maybe once every other day. We had to ask very personal questions about their situations so we knew what they were doing and whether or not they were trying. Most people just didn't want to work. They wanted to get off as easy as possible.

Again, I'm not here to judge, and I still want to do everything I can to help those in need. I just wish there was something I could do to change the mind set of the people that just don't try hard enough.

OK, I'll get off my soap box. Ha. :)

Day 23- A picture of your favorite book

2011-05-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

To be honest, I'm not a huge reader. I like to read, but it's hard for me to get into a book, so if i'm not instatnty hooked, I don't finish it. I didn't even finish the 5th Harry Potter and I was only 100 pages from the end. Ha. My point is that I don't have too many to choose from.

A couple summers ago, I had a horribly boring job and got to read a lot, and discovered an amazing author and now I've read like 6 of her books.

My favorite, the one that started it all, is......

My Sister's Keeper, By Jody Picoult

This book had me BAWLING at the end. Seriously.

If you haven't read it, PLEASE read it. It's beautiful. And if you've seen the movie, Still read the book cuz it's SOO different. The book is LONG and crazy detailed and the movie simply didn't do it justice. The ending is shockingly different and WAY better.

Anyway, READ IT! :)

Day 22- A picture of something you wish you were better at

2011-05-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

WOW! This is a WAY hard one. Ha. There are a LOT of things I need to work on!!

I'll make this one a little less intense. My last few blogs have been pretty personal and intense. So here's one a little lighter. :)

This sums up a lot of things I wish I was better at.

The obvious one....

VOLLEYBALL!!

Volleyball is the funnest sport ever. And in the sand it's even better!

More spcifically, I SUCK at diving for the ball, so I need to get better at that.

And also kind of obvious, who doesn't want a body like Misty May Treanor?!

So, be better at Volleyball, Diving and Working Out.

Check!

Day 21- A picture of something you wish you could forget

2011-05-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna have to agree with Heather on this one. I do everything I can to make sure there aren't things I regret. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, but I've learned important lessons from them, so I wouldn't take them back.

I do have to admit that there are some things I wish I didn't have to learn the hard way though. Particularly how to be good at marriage! Ha. I feel like I've done a lot of good things in my marriage but it's been a learning process. And I think the one thing that could be to blame for those silly arguments is...

My PRIDE.

So, if there's one thing I wish I could forget...

It would be my PRIDE.

Unfortunately when I googled "PRIDE" for a "picture of something I wish I could forget," all that came up was rainbows and skittles, so the picture is a knundrum for me. I've decided on this....

Don't I look kind of prideful?

Ha. I still love this picture. :D

Day 20- A picture of somewhere you'd like to travel

2011-05-05T12:18:00.000-07:00

OK so I kinda already used this one a few days ago with "something you want to do before you die." So, maybe i'll have to pick something a little different.

Today's blog will be about....

Foz De Iguazu Brazil!

I've actually been here before, like 8 times. So I'm saying this is where I wanna travel because I REALLY wanna bring my hubby here. The most exotic place he's been to in the British Virgin Islands. Now, I know that's a pretty sweet place, but it was with my family! So therefor the exotic factor is way down. ha. I wanna take him here and PY to show him all the amazing things I got to experience when I lived there. It is seriously SO beautiful!

There's over 100 individual waterfalls and they're incredible to see. There's walk ways going through the whole thing. The river is the border btwn Argentina and Brazil. The views are on the Brazil side, and the up and close on top of the falls is the Argentine side. Both beautiful and unique. And amazing!!

It's right there! :)

Anyone wanna come?!

Day 19- A picture and a letter...

2011-05-04T17:30:00.000-07:00

The topic for this post actually came pretty easily for me. Probably because i've been thinking about writing this person a letter for a long time. It's funny that one of my best friends wrote a letter to the same person. My letter today, is to my older brother Jonathan.

Dear Jon,
     I've been meaning to write this letter for a long time to be honest. We had a lesson in relief society the other day that made me think about you and me and I wish I had written it then. But at the same time, I kind of like that I'm writing it on this blog. Dad warned me not to write anything too personal on here since it's out there for the world to see, but I don't think this is something I necessarily want to hide, although it's very personal.
    You and I both know we haven't had a very good relationship over the years. We've had our ups and downs and I think the ups outweigh the downs, but unfortunately the downs are pretty pronounced. It's possible it was only coming from my side, but I don't think so. For a long time I've said that I just wanted you to change and to be who I wanted you to be and I realize now that I was wrong for thinking that. The thing is, I really don't want you to cange. Obviously there's things that we can all work on, so of course I want you to change the things YOU want you to change in order to be a better person. BUT I don't want you to change the core things of who you are. The truth is, you're an incredible person. You're incredibly talented, incredibly smart and incredibly incredible. Ha. There are simple a thousand reasons why you're amazing and I have done a horrible job highlighting those to other people. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I actively tell people you're horrible, but I don't actively enough tell them how wonderful you are. And even more importantly, I don't tell you how wonderful I think you are. I hope you know that I think you're amazing. I love more than anything to listen to your music. It's heavenly!
     The other thing I wanted to say in this letter is that I'm sorry. I'm sorry for not being your bigest fan and for making my issues with you so difficult. I'm sorry for being angry with you for things that I really shouldn't have been angry about. I want you to know the reason why I've felt this way for so long. I've known how incredible you are for your whole life. Remember how mom and dad said I used to follow you around when we were kids and you would feed me your buggars? Yeah, I would eat them because I wanted to do anything you wanted me to do so I could be like you. I know I was jealous of you when you were good at/better at everything! I've known the potential you had for our whole lives. Sometimes, I think you're not living up to that potential and then I get upset. I want you to be the Jon I know and love and the problem is that I'm very unforgiving of your mistakes. Maybe because I always thought you were perfect and when you're not, it makes me sad. How silly is that though? No one's perfect. And I should be the most forgiving of my family's weaknesses. I love my family more than anything, so why would I judge them? Well the answer is, I shouldn't. I've been expecting you to be perfect for years and I shouldn't expect that. I should expect to learn and grow with you and to make mistakes together and figure out how to fix them together. I'm sorry that I haven't been the sister I know I can and should be. I hope you can forgive me for that.
    Jon, I love you more than you know. You're my big brother, my only older sibling, and I look up to you so much. I am SO proud of the things you've accomplished in your life and I hope I can continue to be a part of that. I can't wait to see all the things you will do in your future! You are an incredible man and I know you'll find the perfect woman to be your partner in life. I hope I can be best friends with her. Thank you for being my brother and for always making me feel loved. Thank you for being someone I can look up to. And thank you for loving me inspite of my shortcomings.

I love you Jonathan!

                                                                        Love,
                                                                            Jess

Day 17: A picture of something that has made a huge impact on my life recently

2011-05-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

(First of all, I goofed! I switched up the days. Sorry! That's ok though cuz these are both getting done on the same day. So no worries.)

Man, These are getting personal!

There have been a lot of things that have made an impact on my life recently. The biggest thing is this...

These girls are my life!

For those of you that don't know, these are my sisters. Kristi, on the bottom right, Kelly just above her, and Heather right next to me.

Kelly recently moved into my house and it hasn't been quite what I expected. I've never parented a teenager before, so it's been hard! However, it's been incredibly rewarding. I've been able to connect with her on a level I don't think I ever could have with out this kind of experience. She is an incredible woman and I'm lucky to get to spend so much time with her. This experience has also forced my hubby and I to really get to know eachother better. We've learned things about each other and about outselves that are important and have made our marriage better. It hasn't all been good, but we've gotten through it and are better people for it.

Heather has been there when the talks with my hubby havent gone the way I wanted them to. Ha. Don't get me wrong. Justin and I have always been able to get through whatever issues we've had. But at the same time, don't think for a second that we're perfect. Cuz we're not! And sometimes a girl needs to bounce things off some one who will always tell her the truth. Heather is so that person for me. Luckily enough for me, she also knows my family extremely well and has been able to give me very good insight and advice about how to handle certain situations. She's also the single most non-judgemental person I've ever met in my life. I've been able to talk to her about anything and everything and know that she's not making any judgements. Not about me, not about the people I happen to be complaining about at the time. She and I have gone through A LOT together and it's made us very close. I couldn't live with out her!

Kristi is the happy relief in all my drama! She's also always there to help and to be an ear to listen to my drama. She's always happy and knows what to do or say to make me feel better. I think Heather wrote a blog similar to this one and said the same thing about Kristi. It seems she's that way with everyone and that's a big deal too. I love that I can always trust her to be there for me. She also has a sweet hubby that helps everyone and is just as loving as she is.

I am SO lucky to know these women and I can't imagine my life with out them.

I LOVE YOU GIRLS!

Day 18- A picture of your greatest insecurity

2011-05-03T15:12:00.000-07:00

Why not just make a list of everything bad about myself!? That would prolly be easier! Admitting to your insecurities is hard. It's also a big step to moving forward though. If you can admit your faults and shortcomings, you can realize what they are and work on them. If you don't ever admit them, how are you gonna work on them?!

So, my biggest insecurity? To be honest, probably my weight. I don't wanna say much about it, obviously cuz i'm pretty insecure about it. But if anyone's reading this and wants to help me out, I'm in! I like working out and I love sports but I always find a reason not to work out! It has to be at the right time and with the right people. All my excuses for not doing it are completely worthless. And I know that. But they're still there.

The other problem I have is that I LOVE food! I love eating and I love to eat things that taste good to me, even if i'm not very hungry. Sad day! I tried to go with out sugar for 4 months (till my sister's wedding) and I couldn't stop making excuses for that too!

This has been a constant battle for me for a long time! The thing is that I KNOW I can overcome it. I just have to dedicate myself to it and trust that it will work eventually.

I CAN DO IT!

Day 16- Something you want to do before you die

2011-05-02T18:55:00.000-07:00

This is a hard one for me. I've been lucky enough in my life to do a lot of really neat things that a lot of people never get a chance to do. I'm racking my brain trying to come up with something that's profound that I want to do and can't think of anything! Ha. Well, I shouldn't say that, because there's a lot of things but they're all things I'm pretty sure I'll be able to do, like have children, see them grow up and go to college and get married in the temple. Most of my family goals revolve around them.

BUT, I see this post as more of an oportunity to talk about something more adventerous. Maybe adventurous isn't the right word, but something fun that i have no idea if I'll ever get to do. This would be the ultimate 25 year anniversary present. Ha. Maybe 15 years cuz at 25 years I might be too old. Ha.

So, my big bucket list item is.......

Drum roll.....

NEW ZEALAND!!!

I want to go to New Zealand SO bad!! I REALLY hope that one day I can get to go there. Let me tell you why. About 8 years ago, my dad took my brother to a kayaking school in northern CA called Otter Bar.

This is the Salmon River that the lodge sits next to. :)

This is a TOP NOTCH kayaking school. Literally the best in the country. The instructors are world class kayakers and world explorers. I wish I had time to tell you all their stories but that's for another blog. :) Anyway, a lot of the intructors there are from New Zealand! (here's the tie in for this blog. ha) There were the first Kiwis I ever met and I fell in love with them! It's possible my love for them stems from my love for kayaking, but that's ok. It was my first exposure. Since then, every person in our family has been to this school. (I went 4 times.) And because of it, we've all fallen in love with kayaking and in turn, New Zealand. It's our whole family's dream vacation!

There's SO much to do there! First of all, some of the best kayaking in the world! The rivers there are STUNNING.

Who wouldn't wanna paddle that?!

Second, I got to do the Lu'au at BYU my freshman year (a show polynesians from BYU put on about the culture of the islands) and absolutely fell in love with the Mauri culture. It's SO beautiful and rich and fun. The people I met from New Zealand were absolutely amazing, and that includes my Otter Bar friends. Simply amazing people.

This is Graham Charles, AKA Cracker! Get it? Graham Cracker? Cracker for Short? haha. He is one of those amazing Otter Bar instructors/Crazy Kiwis. :)

Third, Anybody wanna join my for a 400 meter bungee jump?!?!

This is the "Ledge" Bungee in Queenstown, New Zealand. You don't actually fall for 400 meters. That's over 1300 feet btw. Ha. But, the ledge is that high! Sign me up!!

And last, but definitely not least, How about those accents?! Holy cow, they're my FAV! ha.

So, I'll be saving for the rest of my life for this trip, but it'll be WORTH IT!

Day 13- A picture of someone you can't imagine your life with out...

2011-04-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

So, my hubby's gonna kill me for posting this pic, but it's a perfect representation of him and who he is to me! That gorgeous smile is what I get to wake up to every day and I couldn't be happier.

Justin is...

funny

handsome

sexy

responsible

creative

loving

kind

sweet

caring

sensitive

witty

cute

compassionate

non-judgemental

respectful

honest

loyal

patient

trustworthy

worthy of his priesthood

faithful

smart

gentle

amazing

.....

and my best friend.

I love him more than anything in the world and I'm so lucky to be married to him. I can't believe I get to spend the rest of eternity with him! Thank you sweetheart for being the single most amazing man alive!

I LOVE YOU!!

OK ok I'm SORRY!

2011-04-26T14:40:00.000-07:00

OK, it's been FOREVER!! since I last actually wrote on my blog. Right about 4 weeks actually... We've had a little bit of change in our house that has made it difficult. Granted, it's not that hard to take time to blog and I prolly had time, I've just been busy.

But...

It's summer time now so I don't have any more excuses. It's time to be back in the world of blogging and start my 30 day blog challenge back up. I'm about to do "A picture of some one who you can't imagine your life with out..." So be prepared! It's gonna be good! Ha. Prolly not that exciting, but I like writing it, so...

Stay Tuned!

Day 13: A picture of your favorite band or artist

2011-03-31T07:38:00.000-07:00

Day 13: A picture of your favorite band or artist

Relient K is the most amazing band ever! My brother was the one to introduce me to them in high school and since I discovered them, I've seen them in concert 4 times. I LOVE their music. What's awesome about them is the way they play with words. Everything they say has more than one meaning and is very clever. My favorite song of their's is Be My Escape. I love it! If you haven't heard them, Go find their music! You'll love it. :)

Day 11 and 12 :)

2011-03-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Day 11- A picture of something you hate...

Gross. That's all I have to say about that.

Day 12- A Picture of something you love

This is the BRIDGE TO NOWHERE.

I LOVE adrenaline rushes! Ha. I will do almost anything crazy. But hold on. I have to know, with a reasonable amount of certainty, that I'll be safe doing what I'm doing. I will go on any scary ride, jump off any bridge, repel off any cliff IF AND ONLY IF i know i'm not going to plumet to my death. Ha. I guess nothing really has no uncertainty. But what I won't do is something crazy with out the right people. I'm also a pretty big kayaker. I don't go every day like some people, but I do like to do it. However, I was spoiled when I learned and was coached by some of the best kayakers in the world. So i'm ok to go with people that are amazing and who I know can help me if i goof. But I had an experience once where I litrally almost died on the river because I was with less than proffesionals. So, I LOVE adrenaline, but only when I know I'll be safe!

I'm WAY behind!

2011-03-27T18:34:00.000-07:00

OK ok... so some people have been getting upset with me for being behind with my blog. Well, I have a good excuse even though I can't really talk about it. Ha. Anyway, I will try to get caught up a little!

Day 7- A Treasured Item

I'm semi copying this from my friend but I feel exactly the same! I would DIE without my phone. I seriously go crazy.

Last month i used 1727 minutes and sent 2015 texts. And i didn't even get my phone till the 10th of the month....

And if you can believe it, I used to be WAY worse! When i was in high school, or even just before I got married it was awful! I texted way too much. Ha. Now I'm around my hubby all the time so i don't have to text him that much. Ha.

I feel like I've lost a limb when I don't have my phone. :)

Day 8- A Picture that makes you laugh...

This is probably the funniest picture ever. Let me explain. :) This is me, (in the pink dress and pitchfork bangs) Kristi, (in the purple dress) Jon, (in the tie, haha) Kelly, (standing in the back) and Katie (the one in the bag.) hahahahahaha. We were talking about it the other day and could not figure out how or why we put katie in this bag and then hung her on the door. haha. We did a lot of mean things to Katie but somehow she's not scarred for the rest of her life. Ha. I love you Katie!!!

Day 9- A picture of the person who has gotten you through the most

This is Karri Lynn Warren. Formerly Karri Hoopes. She and I were best friends through high school and college. She has been there for me for almost every hard moment in my life. There's one time I can remember specifically during my freshman year of college. I had gotten myself into some trouble and I was talking to her about it and she said something that I will never forget. She said

"You need to replace your fear with faith."

That really got to me and gave me the courage to do what I needed to do and it lead to the rest of my life. She's never been afraid to tell me exactly what she thinks even if she thinks I won't like it.

I'll be honest, since she moved to freaking idaho, we haven't been as close. But everytime we see eachother again, it's like there wasn't any time away and everything's back to how I feel it should be. Thank you Karri for always being there for me and always being so honest with me. I love you forever!

Day 10- A picture of the person you've done the most messed up things with...

I think this award very fair and squarly goes to Alice Nelson, Formerly Alice Cooper. ;) She was my other best friend in high school. We met when she started dating my brother and then she and I became best friends. We got into a LOT of trouble! Ha. To list a few...

stealing skylar's car before we had our licenses...

driving to another school to pick up my boyfriend...

walking to mcdonalds when we were supposed to be in school and getting caught by an off duty cop...

sluffing a LOT of school...

having to walk to the gym cuz we put 4 people in Connor's miata....

And the list could go on! Haha. High school was a LOT of fun with Karri and Alice. We were very typical silly high school girls and we loved it! Alice and I are still great friends. We don't hang ut nearly as much as I would like just cuz we live like 30 minutes away from each other. I know, lame excuse. And we need to fix that! I hope we can soon!! I love you Alice!!

Learners inherit the Earth

2011-03-19T15:07:00.000-07:00

In times of change, learners inherit the Earth, while the learned find  themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer  exists. ~Eric Hoffer

This quote was shared in my personal finance class. This class has been an interesting challenge for me. I generally do not know hardly anything about finance. ha. I'm terrible with money. I'm lucky to have a husband who is really good with money! But because of this class, I'm actually learning a lot. Stuff that I never thought I'd ever know anything about. The other day I was talking to my dad and he was teaching me about taxes and helping me with one of my assignments. Then later that day I was talking to my hubby about our tax returns and I felt like I actually knew what I was talking about! Ha. Now, I think I might be selling myself a little short here cuz I do know a few things about some stuff. ha. I'm about to graduate from BYU with a BS in Athletic Training. So there are a few things I do know a lot about. But this is one thing I really thought I was always gonna rely on my hubby for, so I was proud of myself for learning.

He also mentioned something that President Packer said. I don't know the exact words he used, but it was something like "Study something for 2 hours every day for 2 years and you'll become an expert on that thing." I hope that I can do that after I graduate and keep learning. I love learning about new things and I don't ever want to stop learning.

I have to add a little something that my dad said about this quote. I sent it to him in an e-mail and he replied with "Some wisdom there. Key is to also know which things never change, even when everyone says they do." He's absolutely right. There are some things that never change, like the Gospel. The Lord has never changed and never will. His love for me will always be there. And I'm so lucky to know that! Fortunately, wisdom is the only thing we get to take with us to the other side so I hope I can use this life to gain as much knowledge as I can.

Day 6- A picture of some one you'd like to trade places with for a day

2011-03-19T14:42:00.000-07:00

This one is hard! But after much contemplation, I think I've come up with one. If I could trade places with one person for one day it would be.... Drum Roll.... OPRAH! Ha. I have to say, as I'm writing this blog, my hubby is scolding me. ha. He thinks I could pick some one else. But let me tell you why I would choose to be Oprah for one day. There are a few reasons.
1- Oprah has a lot of money. Fortunately she uses it for a lot of different purposes. I'd love to be able to spend my money on the kind of things she spends it on. Granted, I don't agree with everything she does, but for the most part, she spends it on deserving people. Her shows where she gives stuff away are usually people like teachers and police officers. I would love to be able to share my money with people and do good things for people in the world. I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't spend it on a few new pairs of shoes, ha, but I could buy lots of shoes and still be able to do good things with the amount of money she has!
2- Oprah has the ear of a LOT of people. Everyone always says that if you want to convert a lot of people, first convert Oprah and then your work is done. Ha. That's probably not totally true but it kinda is! There are a lot of people that listen to her. It's called the Oprah effect. If you put a product on Oprah and she says it's something she loves, EVERYONE wants one. ha. It would be quite a responsibility though, to have that many people listening to you. You'd have to be careful about what you said and I don't necessarily agree with everything Oprah says and the people she invites on her show. Especially recently. But if I got to be her, I'd make sure I used it well!
3- I'm impressed with the way she came from nothing and real hardships and made something of herself. It would be interesting to know what that feels like. Granted, I've had my fair share of hard times but nothing like she did and I can commend her for doing what she's done.

Day-5 A picture of your favorite memory...

2011-03-18T08:41:00.000-07:00

I know this is kind of cliche to say my wedding was my favorite memory. But I very clearly remember exactly what was going through my head at this moment and it's a beautiful memory. i had just come out of the most beautiful sealing in the world. Elder Jensen said incredible things to Justin and I and then we became a forever couple. There's nothing more amazing. After that, we cried as we hugged all the important people in our lives that were there to wish us well and then I fixed my makeup and walked outside the temple... I remember thinking about all the women I had seen do exactly what I was doing and how bad I wanted to be them. I wanted the beautiful dress and perfect hair and make-up and amazing flowers and more importantly the handsome husband. The husband I imagined to be the end-all-of-end-all, funny, sexy, smart, charming, wonderful and a whole lot of other things. I was overcome at this moment because I realized that I finally had all those things I'd wanted for so long. I looked phenomenal and I was walking out of a temple of the Lord with my husband who was everything I've ever wanted and more. I couldn't have been happier and I was lucky enough to realize how lucky I was. The rest of the day was amazing but I don't remember every little detail quite like I remember this....

Day 4 - A picture of your night

2011-03-18T07:43:00.000-07:00

I like the way my friend Heather did this post. Lots of pictures of a bunch of things that were included. So here goes... My night included...

BYU Basketball...
A LOT more basketball games that are all summed up just fine with this pic...
Some Yummy home made nachos...
VERY yummy ice cream and sprinkles...

And our favorite people in the world. :)

Day 3- A picture of the cast from your favorite show

2011-03-17T18:58:00.000-07:00

This is a little embarrassing cuz if I was really being honest with myself, I'd admit that I'm truely addicted to TV. Ha. If I start watching a show, I have a hard time not finishing it. I also don't have a hard time watching shows with bad acting. Ha. I just like drama, so I watch it. So over the years, I've watched my share of shows and a lot of them have been very very good. Recently, I watched all of Prison Break and was in complete awe. If I could, I would marry Micheal Schofield. Ha. No worries, I still love you Justin! Haha.
Before Prison Break though, it was easy to say what was the best show ever made.... 24!!! There's simply not anything better. Period. End of Story. I started watching it after my brother was given season 4 for a Christmas gift. I saw the first episode and was instantly hooked! So I watched season 4 pretty fast and then went back and watched 1-3. I watched season 5 with my freshman roomie Malorie and got her totally hooked! Then when I met Justin we watched season 4 and 5 before 6 came out so he could be as hooked as me. :) Then we watched 7 with some friends and LOVED it! They didn't love season 8 as much as I did but i literally cried as Jack went away at the end of the last episode. It was awful! But beautiful at the same time. My brother is actually naming his first boy jack after the one and only Jack Bauer. Ha. We'll see what his wife has to say about that. Ha.
Just so I'm not a total weirdo, I do like girly shows too. And my favorite of those is with out a doubt Grey's Anatomy. I love the drama and I love the medicine. Perfect show for me! :)

Day 2- A picture of you and the person you have been closest with the longest

2011-03-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's easy for me to tell you about the person i've been closest to the longest. I've had a lot of friends over the years and they've all been great to me. But none of them have meant as much as my little sister and forever best friend, Kristi Ann Cheney. She's now a Teshima, and that makes Evan the luckiest man alive. The best way to describe us is through this sample of pictures of us. There's a hundred million more but they wouldn't all fit on here. :)

The shenanigans of Jessie and Kristi Cheney started very young...

I hated watching her get hurt and made sure i bandaged her up every time...

I'll never stop protecting her and bandaging her up when she needs it. Speaking of which, aren't we due for another rehab session princess!? Speaking of "Princess"... That silly name came from a boy we met on a vacation once... This is us on that vacation. It's a little embarassing but atleast you can see how far we've come!
We'd never admit that we liked to match but we actually do. In my mother's defense, she said we chose these outfits. i guess the cat's out of the bag! Matching really is cool! I may have taught her how to pray but she's the one that's kept me doing it all these years. She has a testimony that can shake mountains and i'm so grateful to have her by my side keeping me doing what's right. We LOVE taking pictures together, if that wasn't obvious already. But what i love about this pic is the hug. ha.

Family pictures right before Jon went on his mission...

We've made it a habit of doing crazy things together and our AMAZING dad has made that possible....

Tarpon fishing in the gulf of mexico? Who gets to do that?! (This fstupid fish took both of us 2 hours to reel in! It was crazy tiring but we made it and it was worth it. Dontcha think princess?!)

Snowboarding together at Nate and Kelsey's cabin in Kamas, UT. I'm pretty sure we got a few bruises from this one. :D

Swimming in shark infested waters in the British Virgin Islands?! Another thing most people don't get to do. Thanx for that one dad. :)

Yes, that is a rattle snake. And also dad's fault. ha

We started making these faces when we were 5 and we will never stop making them!

Kristi has been my best friend for forever and I don't ever see that changing...

This last picture is from Kristi's wedding in April of last year. She was simply THE most beautiful bride I've ever seen in my entire life. Right after she came out of the temple I remember being very emotional and not wanting to let go during this hug. She had finally made the last covenant she needed in order to make it to the celestial kingdom and I was SO proud. And I still am.

At her luncheon, she let me make a toast to her and Evan and I could barely speak! It was after a beautiful slide show of pictures of the two of them in relative chrinological order. I stood up to make the speach and could barely speak. I said that I was having such a hard time because I noticed during the slideshow that the first half of the pictures, the ones from her younger years almost all had me in them with her. The second half were of her and Evan from their dating years and engagement. It made me cry because for the first part of her life I was her best friend and confidant. And now that was Evan's job. (I'm even crying while i write this!) I felt for a second that I was being replaced when in fact that isn't true. She just gets to have 2 best friends now.

Kristi, I love you with all my heart and I can't wait to take a million more pictures with you.

30 Days of thought...

2011-03-14T09:16:00.000-07:00

A few of my friends have done something on their blogs that i think is very cool and i want to copy them. :) I think it actually started out as a facebook challenge but I like it on the blog better. Facebook is good for pictures but not for explanations or stories. If you wanna see pictures of what's happening in my life, go to facebook. If you wanna know what the picture is of and what is happening, then read my blog!
Anyway, I'm gonna start doing this little 30 day challenge for 2 reasons. 1- Because it will give me something to write about every day! 2- Because I think it's been interesting to read some of the thoughts and I'd like to think about and write abuot those things too. :)

DAY 1- A picture of yourself and 10 facts.

This is the most recent pic of myself taken on my birthday last week. :)

Fact 1- I am a people pleaser. I like everyone to be happy and I don't like it when anyone is mad at me. It makes me feel terrible and I have to fix it! It's a good thing and a bad thing cuz it's good that everyone is happy, but sometimes I go way too far out of my way and it ends up making people more upset. ha

Fact 2- I love to cook new things. I hate to cook old things that are only mediocre. Ha. That means that i like to cook new things and yummy things that i know will impress people. I really don't like cooking old boring things like hamburger helper. ha. I don't mind doing it for my hubby at all, because i'd rather he'd eat that than cereal for every meal but I don't particularly like it. but if i get to cook some new shrimp pasta or something.

Fact 3- I love to entertain. I get this from my mother and I love it! She is the best party planner ever and I hope one day I can do it as well as she can. As stressed out as I was planning my little sister's bridal shower, when everything came together and the food looked perfect and the invitations were amazing, and my house was spotless and 30 people showed up and they all loved my food and had a blast with my silly games, I was SO happy. ha. Simple pleasures.

Fact 4- My favorite food is sprinkles. I could eat sprinkles with no ice cream. :)

Fact 5- I HAVE to seperate my food. Potatoes can't touch the roast or corn and especially not the salad. And i always save the best for last. So if i Have to eat turkey at thanksgiving because it's the only protein, then I eat it first (dark meat for me!) and save ALL the green bean caserole for last because it's a gift sent from heaven. Especially when mom makes it. :D

Fact 6- I don't understand yelling as a form of stress relief. I really don't understand yelling at all. Unless you're yelling at a child to not run across the street or to not touch the stove, i don't understand! Raising your voice doesn't change what you say, it just says that you're mad, and there are better ways. Yelling just makes me shut down and think about how yelling doesn't help anyone and I quite listening to whatever point you're trying to make.

Fact 7- I also don't understand getting angry. When the toilet floods and you have poo water all over your bathroom, getting angry doesn't make it go away and it doesn't make the guys that are gonna fix it come sooner, and it doesn't make the smell go away! So why not just laugh about it?! Granted, you can't laugh at everything and there are serious problems, but honestly getting angry doesn't make them go away either. Like crashing your car. Yes it sucks, and it's not something to laugh at but getting angry doesn't change the fact that you have to buy a new car. I think the answer is to move right to the solution.

Fact 8- This one came from a friend that did the same thing but it's way true for me too! I don't know what i'm going to do when i'm pregnant because I always sleep on my stomach and I simply can't sleep on my back! When there's a beach ball in my tummy, it's going to be hard to sleep on my belly and that's a problem!!

Fact 9- I don't cry in response to pain. I cry like a little girl for movies and for my own emotional problems but when I get hurt I simply don't cry! My teeth went through my lips and into my dad's head when I was 13 and I didn't cry. I fractured a bone in both my feet at gymnastics and didn't cry. When I fell on my face and almost ripped my shoulder out of it's socket, I couldn't get up cuz I couldn't stop laughing! I don't know what my deal is. Ha.

Fact 10- I love blood! ha. No, I'm not a vampire, I just love to watch surgery and clean wounds and watch people while they're given stitches. I love helping people when they get hurt and trying to make them feel better.

There's my 10 facts! I hope they weren't too boring!

March Madness!

2011-03-13T12:06:00.001-07:00

My knowledge of sports is relatively limited. I grew up in a family that liked sports, but we were more of a gymnastics/dance/track family. Ha. None of us played a real team sport till I joined the Lacrosse team my junior year of high school. (My last blog says a little about that. Ha.) Anyway, Even today, my other sisters danced, but the only other sibling to play a team sport is the baby of the family who's starting to play basketball and volleyball. We were also pretty strict about sports on sunday. This meant no playing or even watching sports on sunday at all. My dad was a sports fan though. He grew up playing every sport but was also an individual sports man in high school doing gymnastics and swimming. He also reads the paper like mad, including the sports section. So even though he didn't watch much pro sports (NFL games are all on Sunday), he did read about them. So every once in a while, he would sneak the TV on with the volume on mute and try to watch the world series, or the PGA tour when Tiger was about to win it all or something. Ha. The point of all this is that we didn't get a whole lot of exposure to sports as kids.

Us as kids with Elder Scott and Elder Jensen.

So, you wonder what this has to do with March Madness? Ha. Me too. Ha. Jk. Well, my hubby is about as crazy about sports as it's possible to get. He knows everything there is to know. He's practically a sports encyclopedia. :)

There's my hubby playing golf in St George a couple months ago. :) Isn't he cute! :D ---->

So when we got married I started to watch a lot more sports. He's also friends with a lot of people that know as much as he does. (BTW, he's nudging me to erase that comment cuz he doesn't think he knows everything, but as far as i'm concerned he does!) Anyway, in order to keep up with him and his conversations, I had to start learning more. I'm a person that isn't afraid to ask questions so I asked a TON of questions. And i started learning a lot! Now, 3 years later, i am much smarter about sports. :D I'm very proud of my learning curve. ha. Granted, a lot of what i have to say in conversations are things he said in a previous conversation that I have stolen, but it still makes me sound smart! I'm certainly never going to know as much as he does, cuz the more i learn, the more he memorizes. Ha.

So we're coming into the end of march and this means march madness!!! For those of you reading this that don't know what that is, it's the college basketball tournament. And what's great about this tournament is that a lot of people have a chance to win! The reason people love it so much is that they publish the bracket at the beginning of the tournament and a lot of people go through and guess who's going to win each game and by process of elimination, who's going to win the whole tournament. And it's a HUGE deal to win this tournament. A lot of people put their own brackets with their predictions into betting pools and whoever gets the most guesses right sometimes wins a prize. Some people bet thousands of dollars on it. Our group of friends usually does one and the winner get to be taken to dinner by all the loosers. Ha. It's been a fun tradition. my first bracket experience was pretty pathetic. I prolly only guessed 5 or 6 games right. but since then i've gotten a little better! Well, i guess not really compared to some people, only compared to myself. Ha. Justin and i were talking a few minutes ago about the brackets and i realized it must be REALLY hard for him to do this! The reason being that he actually knows a LOT of the teams that are playing and how good they are and how well they match up with their potential match-ups. So he has to really think about who he thinks is going to win every single game! Some choices are easier than others, but some are hard! Ha. Most of my choices have to do with how much I like the color of their jerseys or their mascot. Well, at least it was that was in the beginning. Now i know a little more and can make more educated guess, but i'm still terrible at it. But it's still fun! The cool thing is that sometimes he think about it too hard, so he does terrible. Last year he didn't get ANY of the final 4 right. Which is un heard of. Granted, lots of people didn't get them right because there were a lot of unforseable upsets, but he was upset! That's another thing that's great about the brackets is that really anything can happen and no one really knows. Some teams catch on fire and play out of their minds and others just have a bad game but as soon as you loose, you're out! I guess we'll see what happens this year!

I'm especially excited to see what happens this year with BYU because it's the first time in a long time where we have a real shot at making it past the first and second rounds. BYU got Jimmered this year so it's been a lot of fun to watch. Unfortunately our chances got significantly lowered when we lost one of our best players due to an honor code violation, but we still have more potential than we usually have. I hope we can pull it off!

A quick note about last year... BYU played Florida in the first round last year, and I had a final I had to take towards the end of the game. And we were doing really well! So we went to our final that happened to be in our classroom and the teacher turned the game on and put it on the projector and said "Do your test! but this will be on." Ha. The thing is that it was at the end, so we expected it to be one for another 10 maybe 20 minutes. Turns out it went to 3 overtimes! So there were a lot of people, including myself who were done with their test but still sitting in the room watching. Ha. And we won! (and I aced that test! ha)

Soccer...?!

2011-03-12T14:22:00.000-08:00

Let me just start this with saying how much i HATE running. With a passion. Now, i did play lacrosse in high school, and lacrosse has a LOT of running. But, you're running after a ball. I was also a gymnast in my earlier years but the longest distance a gymnast runs is the vault runway. So, I've never learned to love running. Even during the lacrosse years I hated it. I did, because if i didn't i would be a terrible lacrosse player, but i hated every minute of it. ha.

Yes, i was a hawk in my days. And i loved it!

Despite my hate for running, I don't mind sprinting and I don't mind chasing balls so much. However, when you play soccer, the ball's LONG gone by the time you get to it! There's no chasing! There's also NO scoring because it's impossible! So, I hate soccer. It's also way boring to watch. Ha.

Now, to the topic at hand... Our friends Blake and Nellie who we spend just about every free moment with are the Sports Coordinators for their ward. They felt like this calling meant they had to get a team to play every team intramural sport offered at BYU. There's lots of athletic people in their ward so naturally lots of people sign up. Unfortunately, those people have a problem with commitment, so they never show up! In their defense, sometimes the games are at weird hours, but still, Come on! So, since no one seems to want to come, Blake and Nellie enlist Justin and I to play. Now comes the dilema... I am TERRIBLE at soccer! We played in an all girls league last fall and I was terrible! I was there because there were never enough girls, but i seriously have no idea what i'm doing on the soccer feild. I can't even kick it straight much less try to make a goal?! Anyway, I said after the season (during which we won 0 games... embarassing!) that i would never play soccer again! So naturally, they made a co-ed team and enlisted us to play...

So here we are again! Interstingly enough, my hubby played soccer in high school, so he's pretty good. but some how, my friends think that because he's good, it means i'm supposed to be too. Ha. So the first week, we hadn't been enlisted yet and ended up forfeiting. The second week we played a team that was way good and ran up the score 12-0. We were man down the whole time and they had like 4 extra people to sub in. Plus they were all like socer super stars. It was rediculous and so not fun at all. We actually left really mad cuz of how rude they were. They talked major trash the whole game even though they were obviously better and then tried to shake our hands after and say good game. NO THANK YOU. It was not a good game and they made sure of that.

So we were obviously super excited for the next game. ha. We showed up and were man down again, but so was the other team, so it didn't matter. And they weren't very good, but neither are we. We have a couple guys from the ward that are pretty good, or atleast know what they're doing but the rest of us are there because we love blake and nellie. Ha. So we started the game and were actually doing ok. We're usually kinda all over the place but somehow this game we actually played. There was a little bit of strategy and we did pretty good! We actually won!!! Woohoo!! It was our first win ever. ha. (the boys had their own team and they were pretty good and won all the time, but it was the first time I had played in a game that we won.) :D The amazing thing isn't so much that we won though. I actually had a good time! Ha. Shocker! I played relatively well, had a header, a few shots on goal and a few nice bruises from the terf. I didn't make any shots, but i felt like i was kind of in the right place at the right time and it was actually kind of fun.

So today we had another game and we won again! It's kind of a cool feeling to win! I have to give the game ball to HEATHER SAMPSON!! Heather is my amazing sister that i adore! And she kicked serious butt today! She scored 2 of our 3 goals! I was so proud! Go heather!!!
Now, as fun as this particular game was, it was still hard! The other team had some way good guys on it, and some way good girls! They were also really nice and we had a good time playing. But it's not a soccer game for me with out a minor injury or 2. The other teams goalie actually really hurt his ankle and i feel bad. But for me, the pain is in my leg! We had just scored and the other team was about the kick off again. And a lot of times they just kick it right at the goal hoping to get lucky. Lots of people do it. So we do our best to block it before it even gets that far. This time, I happen to be right in the way of the ball and it hit my leg right on the inside of my thigh and left a HUGE mark!! It imprited the design of the soccer ball on my leg!!! Can you tell?! It was SO painful! Ha. Fortunately we didn't have to play for much longer after that, but i still can't believe i have a soccer ball design on my leg. Ha. Oh well! Battle scars! It's already starting to turn purple since i took this pic, so maybe i'll update you when it gets worse. ha.

Alright, that's a long enough blog for now. See you all lata!!

It's My Birthday!!!

2011-03-10T09:48:00.001-08:00

IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!!!!

YAY!! I love birthdays!!! Ha. I know some people don't love birthdays so much, But i do! I think it's ok for one day to be all about me! And i think EVERYONE should have that day. My hubby is such a sweetheart, but he doesn't like to celebrate his birthday and that makes me sad! I want to make his day special and all his friends want to take one day to tell him how much they love and appreciate him and he doesn't like it! Sad day. Ha. We're working on it. :) For me, I will continue to LOVE my birthday and do everything i can to make other people feel special on their birthdays. I love throwing parties even if they're small and I love reminding people of how awesome they are. :D I hope everyone feels the same way!
BTW, I'm SUPER excited for my party tonight! We're going to a tumbling gym and get to goof off for a little while after eating the most delicious chocolate cake in the world. :) Lots of people are coming and i can't wait. I promise i will post something about it after we get lots of pictures!!

Writing stories...?

2011-03-04T12:12:00.000-08:00

Alright! I'm actually here writing another blog! Ha. I just hope there's some one out there reading it. :) If anyone's reading this, please comment so i atleast know! ha. I think one of the reasons i've never really blogged is partly because i talk on the phone a LOT and the people i would want to read this don't blog. Ha. Those of you that do, and are reading this, please don't be offended. ha. I'm more thinking about my Mom who has yet to discover blogging. But then i think about the fact that this will soon act as a journal, especially if i get in the habit of writing a lot. So, even if no one is reading this, i'm still gonna write! :)

I found when writing my last blog about this last year that it was crazy boring. ha. I kinda wanna write about new stuff that no one's heard of. But... as far as my journal goes, i feel like i should write stuff that's already happened. What do y'all think? Should i take the time to try and write about stuff from last year? Like stories? I know i'll end up writing about experiences and feelings that relate to new stuff, but what about just straight up writing what happened? I dunno. Thoughts?

Last year...

2011-03-02T15:13:00.000-08:00

It's funny that it's been almost exactly a year since i last blogged. It's an easy time period to remember. it was right before my birthday so i just have to remember what's happened since then! Granted, anyone that might take the time to read this probably already knows what happened to me in the last year, but for posterity's sake, i'll give a little recap.

Last year was a very full year! ha. I had an awesome birthday with my hubby and beautiful puppy! Just a couple weeks later though, we had to give her away. I found out that we weren't in fact allowed to have a dog and were gonna have to pay a ton of money if we kept her, so i had to say good bye. It was awful! Luckily though, the family we gave her to was awesome. They lived in the canyon with a huge piece of property and they sent me a few emails saying how happy she was. So i'm glad she got to be part of a family with lots of kids. I'll never forget my sweet little Lola and how amazing she was. Note to self: Don't get a dog unless you know you can keep it!! (This was our second attempt at a dog and i was devastated when i learned i couldn't keep the other one either. ha, You'd think i would have learned my lesson the first time!)

I finished school in April, (just the semester, not the whole thing. ha.) and started working at Myler Disability. It's the same place my sister works. I liked it but it was pretty boring. Ha. The only thing that made it kind of ok was the fact that heather worked there, and that i made some new friends. Most of those friends aren't really close anymore, but they made it fun to go to work everyday. (Sorry, no pics of Myler. Ha.)

We did have a fun family reunion with the cheney side though! We went to Uncle Karl's family's cabin in Star Valley WY and made a few trips to Jackson Hole. Went to see the Bar J Wranglers, who are always fun, kayaked the snake river, did some hiking in the tetons, and enjoyed family. very little drama to speak of. Ha.

The next fun thing of the summer had to be going to Erie for Justin's birthday! We got tos pend some time with the fam playing on the beach and hangin out. Justin got to play in a little beach volleyball tournament with his dad and brothers, so that was fun. We got to go to the place we got engaged exactly 3 years before! That was way neat. We got a neat magnet (our thing is getting magnets everywhere we go. it's kinda lame, but also kinda cool. ha) but then we lost it!! :( Oops. Ha. We went to the little cabin in NY on the lake and had an awesome time there too. All around, good weekend!

The next amazing adventure this summer was our trip to California with Blake and Nellie. We had tickets to go bunjee jumping at the bridge to nowhere in San Gabriel Canyon, Asuza, CA. So we made a weekend out of it by going for a couple days. The first day we were at Magic Mountain, The second day we did our crazy jump and then went to the beach for a little bit and walked around Hollywood a little. (Who knew the temple was in Hollywood?! Ha. I didn't!)

So the big event of the weekend was definitely the bungee jump!! The craziest thing we've ever done! We had to be there super early so we could get the hike done before the sun started blaring on us. The hike to the bridge was 5 miles long! We had to cross this river like 6 times. The hike wasn't that bad though, even though 5 miles seems way far. ha. So we got to the bridge right before the sun came out, so it was perfect. The guides did a quick intro on what we were gonna do and all the rules of jumping and then they asked for volunteers and Nellie and I volunteered to go first! And then out of the 4 that were going first I was THE first one to go!! It was crazy but i knew if i didn't go first I wouldn't go at all. So i got all strapped up and climbed over the rail and jumped off head first! It was seriously scary but i was so excited i didn't think about it. Ha. It was amazing! Nellie went after me and Blake went next. Justin was then all ready to go but he was scared so it took him seriously like an hour to go! It's ok though. We still love him. ha. The hike back out wasn't so much fun cuz i gave myself a little dehydration. Oops! but overall it was an amazing day. I wanna go again!

K, Computer battery's gonna die! Gotta go! I'll finish this later!! :)

Try Again...

2011-03-01T19:16:00.001-08:00

Wow. There really aren't words to how bad of a blogger i am. Ha. I just saw that my last post was literally a year ago. Ha. I just haven't ever really gotten into it! I want to, cuz i really like reading people's blogs. And because i think it's a great way to keep a journal and stuff. Sadly enough, I don't think i've written in my journal since the last time i blogged either, so i'm in major trouble. ha. I think journals are way important, i just am terrible at writing. I recently went through and read my grandma's old journal and it made me cry. I'm so grateful she kept those thoughts and wrote them down since i never got to meet her. It'll be a lot better when i get to the other side if I've already read about her and can maybe get to know her a little. Anyway, I think it's also hard because i'm a slow writer. I'm like a million times faster when i type. So, maybe the solution is blogging. ha. Then i don't have to worry about loosing it either. So, here goes. Blogging!!

The Newest Member of our Family!!

2010-03-07T15:43:00.000-08:00

So, it's almost my birthday, and Justin and I decided it would be ok to have a chinchilla! We looked online and found a bunch of people that were selling theirs, but not many people were selling all the stuff that you have to have with them, like the dust bath and food and a big enough cage. So we went to Petco to look at cages and food and see how much it would really cost. While we were there, there was a lady with a rescue/adoption organization and she had lots of puppies! So naturally, I had to play with them! There were about 8 puppies in the little room and they were all so cute! We started talking to the lady and she said that when they're in town they have different families be foster parents for a night and bring it back the next day, so that the dogs get socialized and start training and stuff like that. Anyway, we decided we probably couldn't keep a puppy, since we had already tried that once before... (that's another story!)... but we could foster for a night!
So, Justin picked out this sweet little Australian Shepard/ Beagle mix that was light brown with white paws. Adorable! She was the only one that wasn't spazzing with all the people. haha. And for some reason Justin likes Australian Shepards. So we brought her home! She played with everyone that was there for a while and then just chilled with everyone! And she went to the door and sat down when she had to go to the bathroom. She was crazy obedient too! She liked our shoes but as soon as we told her to put it down, she would! It was crazy how chill and trained and obedient she was at only 5 months! So that night we put her in her kennel to sleep and she whined like twice and then went to sleep! We were in shock! ha.
The best thing about her was that she loved me so much! haha. No but really... I cooked breakfast and she sat at my feet on the kitchen floor and watched me. And then when i was getting ready she sat on the floor and slept by my feet! It was so freaking adorable. Major Ego boost! I loved it! haha.
So, we decided that we couldn't give her back, so we decided to KEEP HER! YAY!!!!! I finally have my puppy!! So, more pics and more stories to come, but here's my baby!! Look forward to new stuff!! :D

Love, your favorite sister in law :)

2010-03-03T20:59:00.000-08:00

Hello! :)

It's Jessie's sister in law, Heather. I want everyone to know how much I love Jessie! She is the best friend anyone could ever have. I'm so glad that I married into her family and got the chance to get to know her so well. She is beautiful, and fun, and reliable, and everything else that's good in the world! I always know that I can count on her if I ever need anything.

I love you Jess!

Love,
Heather Cheney

P.S. I love you too, Justin!

Our Story!

2009-04-28T14:53:00.001-07:00

So i know it's been a while since I did anything with this blog, but I think it's time i start. I don't have anything to do over the summer except work, so I'll have some free time. :-) Justin suggested that i give a little history of the two of us to start is off so I guess I will!

Justin and I met the summer of 2007, in Houston, Texas. He was there doing a summer job and i was home from school for the summer. He had also served his mission there and knew a few girls that i went to high school with. So at the beginning of the summer, I texted a friend of ours to ask her to go to church with me, and in turn, she texted Justin telling him of this girl she wanted him to meet. So the next day at church, we met and his room mate, Cam, sat down next to me and he and I started dating. Oops! ha ha. So during that summer, Justin and I became good friends because of my relationship with Cam and when he and I broke up, Justin was the one to help me through it! He was a perfect friend. I remember my mom telling me that since I wasn't dating Cam anymore I should date Justin. At the time, I thought it was a crazy idea and told her I'd never date him cuz it'd be too weird. ha ha. Anyway, Justin went back to Utah after the summer and i stayed in Houston to work. When i went back in January, he was the first person I called. We hung out a number of times but nothing ever happened btwn us. We just stayed good friends. Then he finally asked me out on an official date. It was to the Opera in downtown Salt Lake. I got to get all dressed up and beautiful and we had a really great night. After the opera, we went to his house in orem and watched out favorite movie "How To Loose a Guy in 10 Days." The two of us quoted most of the lines in the movie and after it was over, he decided he wanted to see how much of it we really could quote, so we watched it on mute! haha. After about 45 minutes of it, he turned to me and said "alright, that's enough," and kissed me! It was LONG awaited and very nice. :)

Anyway, so i guess you could say the rest is history. We did a TON of super fun things that winter, including car shows and hanging out at Nate's cabin and snowboarding and hiking and visiting my family in Houston and hot tubing and just goofing off and having fun. When the summer came, Justin went to Pittsburg to sell security systems and I stayed in Provo and worked. It was SO hard to be away from each other for the summer but I did get to visit him a couple times. I got to go back east for the first time and meet his family and do a bunch more fun stuff. The second time I went was for his birthday. That week we did a river cruise of the city and went to Cedar Point and played volleyball on the beach and went to Niagara Falls! Little did i know before i left, that it would be the weekend that he proposed. We were in Erie, his hometown in northwest PA, and visiting his family. It was also his birthday so i didn't suspect it to happen. We played volleyball all day on the beach since it's his favorite thing to do and then we went to dinner with his Dad and step mom. After dinner, Justin and I went to a chocolate store and hung out for a little while. I didn't know that all this was just a distraction so that his parents could set up. He ended up taking me to a look-out tower that looked over Lake Erie and the city and on top there was a table set up with candles and champagne glasses and roses and the Ring! I had no idea and when I turned the corner and saw it I started to cry! He brought me over and took my hands and said a bunch of stuff that i honestly don't remember (sad day!) and then got on one knee and asked me to marry him! I said yes with everything I had and then we were engaged!! It really was all very beautiful!

We were engaged for four months and for married November 21st in the Jordan River Temple. We were sealed by Elder Jay E. Jensen of the Presidency of the Seventy and it was the most beautiful sealing i've ever been to. The entire day was just beautiful and I couldn't have asked for more!

So, there's our story in a nutshell. There's lots more details but it would take years to write them all down! Lots has also happened since and I can't wait for more to come!

YAY!

2008-12-16T16:38:00.001-08:00

So, i've never blogged before, but i think it's a good idea! I love reading my friends blogs and figured i should start one too! I don't have any idea if people will actually read it, but it could be fun! So, this is the start of our page! Ironically enough, i don't have time to actually start, so i'll make it my next blog. haha. Thanx!

~Jess and Justin