I don't speak OctiPUsian!

St. George + Tuacahn + Brian Regan = happiness

Oh Brian Regan, how I wish I had you in a little bottle every time I needed a good laugh.





We had such a great time in St. George. Among the highlights: Brian Regan, swimming, naps by the pool, hikes, ice cream, shopping, St. George temple, hot tubs, and some serious SUN!

8 is GREAT!!!

Yay Sophie for making the decision to be baptized! Love you!!!

Habitat For Humanity

As my sweet friend Dwan puts it, "CHECK!" I accomplished another goal I had for myself this year. I have always wanted to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and decided there was no time like the present.

I showed up to the job site in BFE (a.k.a Magna) at 9:00 AM and shortly realized I would be the only estrogen contributor the whole day... There's nothing like being the only girl at a job site where men dominate. Let's just say I inhaled lots of cigarette fumes, coffee odors, and learned some new words of which I probably should not repeat. However, I did learn how to put siding on a house, and I also learned it is definitely NOT a fun job. I wasn't sure if the day was ever going to end as I handed hammers and nails to "the men in charge" and cut siding with the tiniest, most useless cutting tools ever created. Finally lunch time had arrived! I sat in my car all by my lonesome, munching away. There was a storm in the distance... would it come over here? Was I going to be even more miserable? I kept telling myself I could leave, I was just a volunteer and had no binding contracts holding me back. No! I came to work, and I'm going to work the WHOLE day! Lunch ended, we went back to siding and then the flood came: A storm like I've never seen before sent us fleeing for shelter. Could it be? The work day was over due to stormy conditions? I've never had an answer to prayer come in the form of a torrential rain storm before! I had a big grin on my face as I drove 20 mph on the freeway all the way home in the hail/rain/wind storm.

Ok, so despite all of it being true, the day wasn't that bad. I learned how to install siding, show the boys that I'm a tough girl, and checked off a 2010 goal. I think next time I will go with an organized group so I will have good company and enjoy the day a little more. I may also wait until all the serious manual labor (climbing ladders in the wind, cutting siding with wimpy scissors, and measuring the same piece of siding 20 times) is completed. But alas, building a house is all manual labor.

Either way, Habitat for Humanity is a great organization that provides low-income, working families with a home. I imagine there is no greater feeling than owning a permanent home for your family as you work to provide them with everything they need.

Here is the Habitat street. They were working on 3 houses at the time.

And here is the dreaded siding! Haha, but we started with only a few rows of siding and look how far we made it until the storm arrived!!!
(P.S. I had to take pictures from my car, cause I knew the guys would make fun of me if I took pictures while we were working... Men just don't understand the joy and satisfaction of taking pictures. That's why they have us girls... their better halves.)

I am in love

With this beauty...

And All the other swimsuits at

www.limericki.com

Gonna have to stop eating treats to fit into this baby... Summer body, I know you're in there somewhere!!! MUST FIND YOU!

SUMO! SUMO! SUMO!!!

A special thanks to Lindsay and Levi for having such an AWESOME wedding shower! Check out the activity:Yep, Nick was on the ground most of the time - meaning he was beat by a GIRL!!!

To quote Sara, "Best night of my life", and it will be the best night of your life when you SUMO!
(P.S. We're both on a strict diet to lose the extra weight - we really let ourselves go )

13.1 miles? Check!

I made it! My goal of running the Salt Lake City Half Marathon is ACCOMPLISHED!!! My official time was 2:22. Believe it or not - I had SO much fun! I RAN the whole way only slowing to grab some water a couple times. I'm so glad I didn't let anything talk me out of running this race. It was AMAZING! Here are some pictures...

At the starting line. (Yes, I was definitely nervous) The energy and excitement in the crowd was awesome! It calmed my nerves. There were SO many people there. It took me about 6 minutes AFTER the gun went off to actually reach the starting line because of the massive amounts of people.

Sprinting to the finish line. The crowd was cheering like CRAZY!!! There were a bunch of us sprinting like mad. It was a SURGE of energy!

Thanks mom and dad for coming to cheer!

...And Nick for waking up at 5:30 AM to take me to the starting line and waiting 2 hours and 22 minutes downtown for me to cross the finish line! You ROCK!
...AND Peter and Ashley for cheering me on in the middle of the race when I needed a little boost. I'm so sad I didn't get a picture with the beautiful girl that supports me in EVERYTHING I do. Tears welled up in my eyes as I ran even harder and faster when I saw them!

BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!! I CAN DO HARD THINGS!!!

Here comes Peter Cottontail

The Easter Bunny came and filled our paper mache Easter baskets! Did he come to your house? (Too bad the pictures of our full Easter baskets didn't work - but he came!)

U of U gymnastics

We got a picture! (even if it was in the parking lot)
I sure love this girl, and although I am happy for her upcoming wedding, I am going to miss her terribly when she moves away. Love you Becky.

Spring

In light of the lovely spring weather we currently have in the Salt Lake Valley (aka: snowy blizzard mess), I thought I'd warm things up a bit with fun springtime activities enjoyed when the weather actually resembled spring.

The 'Elizabeth House'!!! It's destiny... too bad the building is kinda (ugly) run down.

Anyone been to Memory Grove Park? It's such a beautiful and hidden park located just northeast of temple square. There's a trail/canyon that goes for miles! Nick's words: "I think we walked 50 miles!" - if only. (If I could do that, I'd be running the full marathon rather than the half)

MLS Cup

Yeah we drooled over it... what of it?!
(For those of you that don't know, Real Salt Lake - Utah's pro soccer team won the national championships, and this is their trophy along with a few of the players. Don't worry, I would have never known were it not for Nick's obsession with RSL.)

What's your answer?

Does anyone ever feel like this?

Accepted

Graduate school here I come! (Well, first I must find the financing... oh boy) How did anyone else finance their grad school? Any good suggestions for me??

Sweet Dreams

Can you believe I used to sleep on this?

If you can't believe it, you're right! I didn't used to sleep on it.
So then I bought this....

And I still don't sleep very well... Which has brought me to the conclusion that I am just a terrible sleeper - regardless of the bed.
So why did I spend $400 on a mattress just to find out it's not the mattress that causes my sleep problems? Oh, the foolish choices we make!

Help!

How come I can't upload pictures? It just sits there and says it's working, but nothing happens??

You are Loved

I want to share a wonderful quote with you from a talk by Elder Holland. I hope this will help brighten your day and lift your spirits; especially if you are in need of a little lift as I was when I read this.

"Brothers and Sisters, I testify that no one of us is less treasured or cherished of God than another. I testify that He loves each of us - insecurities, anxieties, self-image, and all. He doesn't measure our talents or our looks; He doesn't measure our professions or our possessions. He cheers on EVERY runner, calling out that the race is against sin, not against each other. I know that if we will be faithful, there is a perfectly tailored robe of righteousness ready and waiting for everyone, 'Robes... made... white in the blood of the Lamb.' May we encourage each other in our effort to win that prize is my earnest prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."
-Elder Holland

Happy Birthday!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICHOLAS!!!!

Here you go channel 2 - he'll kill me for posting this picture. Make sure it's passed around the office by noon today! Haha (Oh, and pray for my life)

L-O-V-E

I've been dating this boy for one year today.
Valentine's Day? Yep. Cliche? Totally.
I couldn't be happier.

(This is for all of you at channel 2 - have a hay day)

Crafts

Yes, I said it; CRAFTS. I sometimes do crafts. Ashley and I attended the Art Market (a fun market where local 'crafters' sell their goods) last week. There were some things we knew we couldn't figure out how to make... and so I bought this lovely item:





Then we made these lovely items:




What would we do without crafts?

Make A Wish

Check out this link below... what an incredible story. I love Make A Wish!!!

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9668500

Application submitted!!!

My application for grad school is officially in! Is it normal to be nervous? 'Cause I am!!!

My New Favorite

Announcing... my new favorite coat! Worth the wait, worth the cost, and SOOO warm!!! Love it!

New Years Resolutions!!!

To anyone that says New Years Resolutions are lame - I say NO WAY!!! It's such an exciting time to look back over the year, see your accomplishments and then set some new goals for the upcoming year.

Here is a list of my 2009 goals:
I accomplished most of them and the ones I didn't - look out 2010!!! Some health concerns set me back from doing a lot of the running events, but I'm hoping this year will be much better!

As for 2010:


And my motto for the year:

GO FOR IT!!!

Christmas Festivities

Top 10 Christmas fun 2009!

1. Lighting of the Gateway Christmas Tree and listening to Jon Schmidt

2. Temple square with friends

3. Festival of Trees (GO UTES!)

4. Ugly sweater parties with yummy cheesecake factory dinner!

5. Candelight Christmas at This is the Place State Park - by far my favorite event!!!



6. Attending the lighting of Angel Tree at Grand America and shopping for Angel Tree kids. Santa even came!!! (Sadly, my camera was out of batteries - that always happens at the most opportune time doesn't it?!)
7. Volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House with Ashley and baking up a storm!
8.Watching as many Christmas movies as possible!
9. Celebrating the birth of our Savior
10. Getting my first kiss under the mistletoe! (Pucker up!!!)

REAL REAL REAL REAL REAL... REAL... SALT LAKE

And the champions are... REAL SALT LAKE!!! I nearly had a heart attack watching the game, and then lost my voice screaming when we won. Picture me, Nick, and his sister jumping up and down hugging... that doesn't happen much. That was our night when REAL won! The next day we went to Rio Tinto to celebrate their win.

Just in case you didn't know...

You get what you pay for when it comes to buying mascara... so much for trying to save a buck.

Halloween Time!

Halloween was spectacular! I got to spend time with some of my very favorite people. If you're in the pictures, then you must be among my favorite people. If not, call me, we'll work something out! Hehe

Jared was so great to invite us to his cabin to carve pumpkins and enjoy a campfire! Check out our awesome pumpkin... and my marshmallow eating skills?

FHE barn dance. Complete with dancing lessons for dummies... It was quite a hoot!

Mandy invited us to her party up in Brigham City... and we made it! Thanks Mand!
Princess Peach and Mario!

Ash and Peter - The Nightmare Before Christmas

The Parts game. Is that what it's called? They give you a card with 2 body parts on it and basically they have to touch. Example: Nose to elbow. My nose must touch your elbow. Crazy.

Of course Nick couldn't miss the fainting goats... and even got lucky enough to herd them back to their cage since they had escaped. He still talks about it today!

The Linthorst clan. Can you tell how much the kids love Nick? I love this picture!

And last but not least, my 2 beautiful little princesses.

Worth a Thousand Words

I love this boy. Enough said...