Birthdays and ipod socks

So in the month of November my two favorite sisters have Birthdays, so I was searching and searching for the perfect thing and where better to look than Etsy, I first discovered this sight through a friends blog and I love it!

So I found these cases for ipods, I like to call them ipod socks. So I found this really cool one that was had a treble cleff on it and I thought it would be great for Emily, since she is so musically talented. But it was going to cost alittle too much for my budget with the shipping and what not. So I decided to make my own!





So I made one out of scraps at first just to make sure I could actually do it, I lined it and every thing I think it turned out pretty good, so I went and bought some fabric.







So it was Emily's Birthday was on the 7th and she loves music anad the color purple so Im not gonna explain what I did instead I am going to tell you somethings I love about Emily.
She has such an amazing imagination and is very creative, she is scared really easily and she will find the humor in it even though she is the one jumping and screaming. She is herself even if people don't like it. She is very fashonable. And she trys and succedes and making people feel loved and important. So happy 14th Birthday Ems, you deserve the best in the world!







This one is the one I made for Robyn she turned 23 on the 20th, and there is so much I can say about her. She is so intellegent and also very creative, she inspires me daily in so many ways. She is also very fashonable and I have always enjoyed shopping with her cause she always seems to find things that look good on me. She understands me better than anyone else in this universe including myself at times. She is supportive and caring and always has a listening ear. I love her and she also deserves the best in the world.

I love both of my sisters and I am so glad we have been able to stay close over the years regardless of our diffrences and the distance. They are truly inspiring and amazing women.

Halloween (alittle late, I know)

Alright so even though our Halloween wasn't too exciting I thought I would post something. Jared and I didn't dress up, for one we're not much the dressing up type people, and we didn't have anything to dress up for i.e. Halloween Party. Maybe next year I will have to host one.

But I did decide to make some cute Halloween cookies this year that I saw on Bakerella, and I couldn't help but make them, mind you mine are a little diffrent but they tasted awesome and looked great I thought.





They were super easy and I handed them out to my trick or treaters, since the only ones I really had were Hesston and Payton, I should have snapped a pic of them in costume, they were so cute! Especially Princess Payton with her Hair colored pink! And Hesston with his HUGE 6 pack being X-men and all. I also had made up some deliciouse popcorn balls with gummy worms in them. Jared really enjoyed the extras we had left over (okay I might have too).

5am wake ups and hard work.

So back in Septmeber I joined a bootcamp, it was for 4 weeks from 5:30 to 6:30, 5 days a week. I know lots of people think they could never get up that early and then go work out, and some mornings I had the same thought but I was mostly motivated by bragging rights and the money I had paid in advance for the program. I never missed a day, and I worked really hard and I am proud to say I lost a total of 7 1/2 total inches, that includes my arms, chest, waist, hips, and thighs, and a total of 4 pounds, I wanted a little more lbs than that but I have to remeber that I gained alot of muscle.

I have been done the boot camp for a week, I got a gym membership at the Unuversity and can still say that I have now gone 5 weeks, five days a week without missing a day! I must admit it's harder going to the gym vs. the bootcamp, I don't have a trainer or any kind of motivater but I am determined to continue to loss weight and most impotantly become more fit.

I feel so good lately and love the way my clothes just seem to fit better, and I hope that if there is someone reading this who feel like they've gotten in a slump lately to make the sacrifice and sign up for some sort of class to help motivate them and commit yourself to it. I was sick the first week of camp with nausea and vomitting the whole works and I refused to miss a day, I knew if I allowed my self to miss one I would justify others. Commit and follow through, the accomplishment feels so amazing!

Summer time, and the livin's easy

Alright so I this may be a long post since theres been alot going on, but I will try to make it short and sweet.

One of the big accomplishments recently is that I graduated from my course at Reeves College in the Medical Office Assistant course. I don't have any picttures of it because I didn't go to the grad, which I don't regret as far as I'm concerned it was lame. But I graduated at the end of May and even though it took a good solid month to find a job after that, I got a job working at the family clinic in Taber. It is a great clinic, I'm really happy working there. It seems like it's always busy, but it's good cause it makes the day go faster.

Alright so now for the fun summer activities so far.
At the end of June we went camping with our friends Matt and Des, we camped in the Crandell Lake camp ground which is in Waterton, it is a really nice site, and not far from Red Rock Canyon. This is Crandell lake it was about a half hour hike from our camp.
This is at Red Rock Canyon, Matt and Des decided they needed to cool down alittle.

CanadaDay! So for most of the day we spent time with Hesston we took him to Henderson Lake for some of the activities that were going on this was just at the park, there were tons of kids on this thing, but he was perfectly content with playing on it, thats pretty much all he wanted to do. They also had those blow up jungle gym things, which you had to wait in line for about 20mins, but Hesston was really good about waiting and happy once he was on it. We also went to Thunder In The Valley this summer in Blairmore. Larry came up from Utah for it and Ammon came down from Edmonton. It was fun we camped from Thursday to Sunday. And got LOTS of sun! At Franks Slide. We found this little diddy in Bellvue, it was parked infront of a house, we never saw the owner, but we deffinantly had a good laugh! Alittle Rock Climbing (without any safty gear). It was so hot the whole weekend it got up to 31 F, Ammon was in that water for a good 20 min, and that water was freezing cold! So while we were waiting for the fireworks to start there were a couple of people in the group infront of us who were having a birthday, they also happend to be YSA kids from Lethbridge, one of which Lars knew from BYU. We thought it was kinda cool because my birthday was the day after. So we are sitting there watching them take pictures with these cakes they had brought and I realize that one says "Happy Birthday Lindy" and I was like Whoa! Her name is Lindy. So Lars goes and talks with the girl he knows and tells her whats up, so we take pictures and they even shared a piece of cake with all of us! It was pretty awesome! And this was on my actual birthday, I am 21 this year. It was an awesome birthday, we got home from Thunder in the Valley at like 4AM that morning, and Robyn, Bevan, and Emily came down and surprised me that day! It was so cool, I had no idea they were coming. And Karmyn cooked me a deliciouse roast dinner.

Alright so I will definantly try not to be a slacker and will get posts up sooner, next one Robyns Wedding!

Canmore Trip

So I've actually been meaning to write this blog for about a month now, since thats when we went on this trip. But life gets busy and time has to be used differently, but I am writing it now.

Every spring, for many years now, my family packs up our ski stuff and we head to Canmore area and take a week to spend time with family and friends. Fortunantly I have made every year even if just for a couple days.

It is so relaxing to be able to be up in the mountains and to enjoy the peace. So this year Jared and I made it out there for 3 Days and 2 Nights. And I even got to snowbaord on one of them, lucky me!

So here are a few pictures. Robyn and Bevan couldn't make it this year, but hopefully they don't have too many more years where they will have to be in Toronto.


So from Left to Right. Emily, Riley (Bates), Brittney, Kaden, Riley (Saunders), Me
We have always gone with the Oviatts, and usually ski with them, also Emily's friend Riley Saunders cxame with us this year.


Agian Left to Right is, Riley, Riley, Emily, Mom, Me, and Dallin.
This is one of those classic pictures, we get one by this sign every year. Dads not in it, cause he took the picture. Colter and Karmyn went home that day, so their missing, and Jared got sick the day we came out, poor guy, so he stayed back at the cabin.


This was at the cabin, out on the deck, the boys were wrestling with snow, and Payton wanted to go see.



So there are always a couple days we take off of skiing/snwbaording and we go hit up the town of Canmore, and Banff. Of course the favorite shopps are the candy shops and some one always gets the wax lips. So here is Riley and his sexy lips.


I honestly don't know how we all ended up on this couch, but we did. I'm just glad Emily and Jared didn't feel the need to jump in on the fun, cause then we really would have been pushing it.
I love how Payton is chugging back the pop.

It was a fun few days, hit the mountain during the day and sit in the hot tube and visit with family at night. Those are some of the best memories I have with my family.

25 Things About Me

So it is definantly time for a new post, I feel like I've been slacking a little bit. So I thought I would tell a few facts about me.

1.I really enjoy driving, I find it relaxing. All types of driving, short rides, long rides. One spring Robyn and I drove to Utah, and I drove the entire way down, and she did some driving while we were there, and then I drove the entire way back up, Edmonton to Utah, and back!

2.I have never been to a large concert for someone famous. I've been to choir concerts and all that, but never a really big one, like at the shaw or rexal.

3.My favorite fruit is Honey Dew Melon! It always has been, I love fruit in general, but that is definantly top of the list!

4. I never attended my own grad, I was doing grad 12 through correspondense and I really didn't know many people at my school, and I had been to Robyn's and I really didn't think it was worth it. I have never regreted it.

5. There is no proof that I was at Colter and Karmyns wedding, I don't ever remeber getting my picture taken, or have ever seen one. At first I was somewhat disipointed by it, but now I just think it's funny.

6. I love cranberry sauce with turkey, and think that's the only real way to eat it.

7. When I was younger I used to "hand dance" while we were travelling. It's hard to explain, but when your sitting there in a van, the only thing you can really move alot is your arms/hands. So I used to kinda wave them around all funny, and then get other people (mostly Robyn) to do what I was doing, and then tell them they couldn't do it like I was, and that I was the only one who knew how to "hand dance" right.

8. I often crave brussle sprouts and asparagus.

9. My favorite game growing up was sardines in the dark. One time while playing for FHE activity, Robyn was the one hiding, and she ended up hiding in the tub that was full with old, cold water, with her clothes on. And everyone who found her got in there somehow, and I was the last one to find them, so of course I didn't think I'd have to get in there, nobody else agreed, and I ended up getting very wet.

10. There are only 2 times I can remeber laughing so hard I cried, both with Robyn.

11. I love popcorn and icecream, not together of course.

12. Before I can fall asleep I have to have to blankets wrapped under my feet.

13. I convinced Jared to marry me because of my pie making skills, and I was convinced when he gave me a ride on his motorbike.

14. Plum sauce is the only way to properly consume chicken strips.

15. I played Barbies till I was 14, that was a secret for a very long time, but whatever.

16. I really like looking at wedding pictures even if I don't know the people in them.

17. I love the feeling of after a good workout, or snowboarding, when your muscles just can't take anymore.

18. My favorite kind of desserts are apple. Apple pie, crisp, crumble, if it's an option, that's what i'll have.

19. I have been skydiving 3 times, all of them solo jumps. And I would deffinantly do it again without hesitation if the opportunity came up. I also think everyone should experiance it!

20. I don't think I am able to hold a grudge for more than a couple hours, if that even. I have tried, and it's just not possible.

21. I am phobic of needles, although I am getting better.

22. When that big meningitis scare broke out and the health care system was giving immunizations for free, my mom made us go get them at the health care center, and we had to wait in line for hours, and when I got to be like 5th person in line I started to get pretty upset and by the time it was my turn my mom was holding me down, and I was making kids who had already gotten their shot get upset. Ya it's that bad. But kinda funny, I don't think I am that bad anymore.

23. I have bunions, or "MOOF's" (monsterous outgrowth on foot) as some people I know refer to them as. They are so bad I have been able to convince kids I've babysat that they are my sixth toe, which I get quite a kick out of. I am also having surgery for them this year, and they will no longer cause problems.

24. I would say I keep a very clean house. And the thing that makes me somewhat hesitant about having kids one day, is I might not be able to keep up the cleanliness.

25. I am a people pleaser, especially when it comes to family, it can be somewhat stressing at times. And I am for sure a daddy's girl.

Hope this gave you some laughs, and some insite to who I am.

Valintine's Day

So this morning Valintines morning I get to babysit 2 kids I love so much. They are so much fun, and so happy this morning. So I thought I would give you some pictures of them. Hesston is 3, 4 in June. And he can talk so well, he is so smart, he always has questions, It's hard to explain how smart he is unless you spend some time with him. And Payton is just learning to talk, it's a slow process, but I swear she's atleast attempted to say my name at least once in the last month. She is always so happy, and so funny. I think one of my favorite things about her is how much she loves pizza for breakfast. Here are some picture. Enjoy! To hear the vidoe just go to the bottom of the blog and stop the music.It's not summmer time at all, but Karmyn got her this cute new bathign suit, so of course she had to try it on with her new shoes! So Cute.

Tent Adventures!

So I missed a few blogs I had wanted to write, like one for my 1 year anniversary back on January 17, which is also my brother Riley's birthday. My Dad's birthday on the 19th, and Jared's on the 5th of this month. But oh well here's one for one of my favorite advintures we've had since moving to Lethbridge.

For Jared's birthday we bought this awsome tent from Cosco with the money he got from his parents. We decided to set it up in our living room (it's not a very big living room).



So it's a 3 man tent with 2 vestibules, and it only cost us $50, which we both thought was an awsome deal!




So if you look on the other side of the tent you can see that we had to move the couch so that if you wanted to get anywhere in the apartment other than the kitchen or living room, you had to climb over the couch! It was so fun. Needless to say our house seemed so messy during this adventure, but it was so worth it!



We got the tent just right (unintentionally) so that we could watch a movie. We didn't have a air mattress and we didn't feel like hauling ours off our bed down into the tent, so we just stacked up the blankets, our bodies were still rather sore in the morning.

We had such a good night, one of the best parts about it, was when we took it down it only took about 30 minutes to get it back in the bag nicely, and get our house back and organized!

I would definantly camp out in my house again. SO FUN!

MOM!

SO today is my moms birthday! So I thought I would do a blog for her. I was sad to find that these were some of the only pictures of her I owned, but I guess it's not my fault she is the hardest person to photograph, usually you get a hand instead of the face, but I do love these two pictures.

This first one is from a trip just my Mom, Emily and I took in 2007, we got to visit my Aunt Fay in Utah. It was a very fun trip This day we went into SLC just the three of us. We walked around temple square and what not. It was fantastic.



This picture is with my Aunt Fay that same summer, we went up to this lake in the mountains for a picnic with some of my cousins (as you can see Spencer in the backround, so fun). Aunt Fay is my Moms oldest sister/ sibling, she is awsome, she has so much love in her for anyone she meets, and especially my mom! (And Fays kids are pretty awsome too!)



My Mom is an awsome cook, if there is one thing I am trying to learn from her, especially after getting married, it's to learn to cook as well as she does! She is super strong, and is strong willed. She also has this amazingly huge pain tolerance, I remember this one time we went camping, and there was this natural water slide that my mom had slipped on, she landed right on her wrist and it looked bad! I swear she had broke it, but she refused to go see a doctor of anything, and we kept camping and she still did everything she would have normally done, and I don't remeber her complaining about it once! Just this fall she was helping my Dad and Granparens cut up a moose and she ended up needing stitches, and when Colter and I heard about it, our first comment was " She must have cut it REALLY DEEP!" there was no other way she would have gone in, she would have just bandaged it up!

Some of my most favorite things she says is, she call us girls- The Amazon Women of the North. I love that. I remember when I got to start wear a "over the shoulder boulder holder" yup she taught me that. There are also some dutch sayings which I have no idea how to spell out.

All an' all I love my Mom ALOT! She is such a strong women, in so many ways, spiritually, physically, mentally. She is inspired, and I appriciate all of the talks we've had, and all of our laughs. I am so gratefull for an awsome Mom and I hope she has an Awsome day!

The End and Begining of Years

Alright, So Jared and I took this big trip to Utah from December 18 to 23, and I am sad to say that I have very few pictures for it. We aren't very good at rememebring to take pictures. But I am glad to say that despite the weather and Road conditions we made it there and back safely, usually just missing the worst of it!

We went down for a wedding of a mission companion that Jared had trained, we got to go to the sealing, which was very special since their mission president was the sealer. It was a beautiful wedding.



This is Jared and one of his mission companions, Brian Mealander. This was the big tree in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.



These two were takin just beside Assmbly Hall, just with diffent settings, in real life it was more like the bottom picture. Temple Square really was beautiful!



I felt very lucky to be able to go down, we were able to do a session at the Salt Lake City Temple, which was a very nice experiance, and we got to see temple square all light up for christmas! It was absolutly stunning, I'm sad I don't have more pictures. But I will add a couple on here. We got to see my Aunt Lori and Uncle Bryan. Also many of Jareds mission companions, and we got to spend some time with Larry.

Larry is a pretty awsome guy, He was one of Jared's favorite companions, and I got to meet him when he came up for our wedding last year. He was our best man at out wedding. He is so spiritual, and has an awsome sense of humor, and has some awsome stories. But we love spending time with him, especially since we live far apart, it is good times when we get to see him.

So once we got back from Utah we spent one night in our own bed then headed up to Claresholm on Christmas eve, and we stayed there until the 28th. Christmas was really good. This was my first Christmas from home, and wasn't all that bad, diffrent traditions and what not, but definantly not bad. There wasn't alot of the family there until boxing day, and then they didn't seem to leave. But it was fun, Jared's mom got a cute little puppy, which seemed to be the highlight.

After Christmas I headed up to Edmonton with Rob (Jared's brother), and Jared went back to Lethbridge to work for a few days, but he came up to Edmonton on the 31st to spend New Years with me and my family. It was so fun Robyn was home from Toronto and so the three girls and my mom went shopping, and cooked up a storm for New Years, we had lots of fun together, definantly a New Years not forgotten.

While up in Edmonton I got to go to Desiree (Woodruff) Kastendeick (sorry if the spelling is wrong, I'll work on it) sealing. Which was also spectacular! She married an awsome guy and we are very happy for them!

So that sums up the end of 08' and begining of 09' for us. I am very happy to be in my own bed now after three weeks of foriegn beds, and a lot of time spent in the car! We are back to reality and school. Which Jared starts his first official day on Thursday! We are excited for all the adventures that lie ahead of us in 2009!