Christmas is (almost) here!

From Christmas Card 2008

Sorry if you didn't get one of these. I guess you'll have to give us your address next year!

Our New Addition to Our Family

No we are NOT expecting...but we did get a new addition to our family. That's right, this beautiful baby is now ours. After our other camera got stolen Josh and I tried to wait and find one that we really liked...and we did. This camera is so fun and can do really cool things. It can detect when a face is in the shot, it can detect smiles, it has a night vision so you can take pictures in the dark, you can edit your pictures right on your camera without having to put them onto your computer, and so many more other really cool features. I haven't used it a lot since we have only had it for 2 days, but am so excited to start blogging again with pictures!!! So Liz I am going to get back in the swing of things. Not that Josh and I haven't done anything cool over the last month I just never had any pictures to show for it and what fun are blogs without pictures?

Free Handbag!

So I saw this on my friend Liz's blog and checked it out. www.handbagplanet.com is a new website that is giving away handbags. There is no gimmicks just pick a bag you like, to enter in the drawing. I am in the same boat as Liz, I could never own enough bags(although Josh thinks I can).

VIOLATED!

So you may all be wondering why I did not post any pictures of our beautiful new black beauty or of our new couches. Let me start by telling you a story... because we were getting new couches we had to get rid of our old one. Sunday night I asked Josh to go measure the Explorer so we could see if the couch would fit if we had to deliver it to somewhere. Monday when I got home from work I noticed my stereo case was lying in our parking lot outside the Explorer. Tuesday I noticed the Explorer was unlocked(we hadn't been driving it because of our new fun car). So I hit the key fob and locked it. Wednesday we got in the Explorer to take our old couch to my brothers apartment. I got in the drivers seat so Josh could hang onto the couch. When I got in I noticed that my glove box was open and all its contents were strewn about my car. I started picking them up and then asked Josh what in the world were you looking for? He replied I wasn't in here looking for anything... was our camera still in here? And then the realization hit me that someone who did not belong in my car was in it. The tears came immediately and unfortunately are still coming when I try to retell the story. So we no longer own a camera because someone stole it. The one night we accidentally let our guard down and we loose our camera and some skull candy earbuds. Stupid people. Go and get your own job and work as hard as I do to have the nice things that I have. Why do people feel it is ok to take others things when we have worked so hard to get them ourselves? ARGH! It makes me so mad. So at our expense this is a reminder to everyone out there... Keep your stuff locked up. You may think you live in a safe place, but don't take it for granted. So I uploaded the pictures from the dealers website so you can at least kind of see what our new car looks like. From here probably until Christmas my posts will be boring with no pictures:( because we spent our last penny this last weekend on couches and a new car.

From Black Beauty

From Black Beauty

From Black Beauty

--Expensive Weekend--

For our anniversary this year Josh and I decided our present would be for us to purchase our first piece of furniture together. We have been blessed thus far in our marriage inheriting lots of furniture from family and friends. Therefore, it all started Friday night when josh suggested we go to Fisher's to look and see what they had. Right as we walked in the door, we quickly learned that everything in their store was 50% off by a woman sales person. I immediately told Josh I felt like we had to find something to buy because we would never find furniture at this price. As we were browsing through the store I saw a loveseat and sofa that I liked. We then ran into a salesman whom we have met before because he is my cousin's neighbor. He told us he would give us 50% plus the friends and family discount because he knew us. So we said we wanted to finish looking and then we would come find him. We went back to look at the couches and the woman sales person approached us again. I knew that if she helped us she would get the commission and we would not get the friends discount. Josh and I left the store telling her we had to go home and measure to make sure it would all fit. I then called my mom explaining what happened and what do we do. She told me to just call and ask for the sales guy. So... we made the phone call, got a price on the couches, decided to get them, and paid for them right over the phone!!! You may be thinking why the title of expensive weekend if we got such a great deal? Well the spending money did not stop there. Josh and I sold our Bimmer about a month ago and have been looking at cars for quite some time. We found one online and decided that that was "THE" car. It had everything on it that we would want. So we got up at 6am Saturday morning so we could leave our house by 7 and be to Provo to a dealership that opened at 9am. We found the car right away and took it for a test drive. From the get go Josh had a grin on his face from ear to ear and he couldn't stop smiling. The car was a little more than we wanted to spend, but it was "THE" car. Anyway, long story short... we bought it!!! Josh and I bought another black beauty. I didn't want another black car, but it is a 2005 Audi A4 and it had less than 20,000 miles on it til we drove it. It is like a brand new car. We love it! It drives so smooth and you feel like a million bucks while riding in it.

Get to Know MeTags

So I was tagged by two people... Michelle and Shawnee. I have never done a tag before and they were both similar tags so I am going to combine them into one tag. Michelle's was tell 7 things about yourself that others don't know. Shawnee's was tell 6 unspectacular quirks about yourself. I'm not sure you want to know these things but here it goes anyway...

1. When I am driving I yell and honk at stupid drivers on a daily basis. Bad drivers drive me crazy and make me ornery. I believe that if someone is driving bad, then they need to know it. I have probably rubbed off on Josh a little. He used to never use his horn, but if someone was dumb and he is driving I say "Honk! so he knows that whatever he did was stupid." So all of you better watch out if you're ever in the car with me;) I am a bad example of road rage.
2. I love to read! Some of you may think this is a good thing, however I think I love it a little too much. If I start a book and really like it, I won't put it down until I am finished. You might think that is not so bad but when I have a series such as Harry Potter or Twilight... well it takes me a while to finish because once I finish one book I have to start the next one. I will actually carry my books with me everywhere I go. Even though I know I can't read them I will take them to work, to the store, in the car, basically if I get any spare time I want to have my book there and ready to read.
3. I hate leftovers. When I cook dinner I always make more so Josh and I can have lunch the next day. But my portion of the leftovers never gets eaten, it just sits in the fridge til I throw it out. Leftovers are just disgusting. They never look the same and they don't taste the same either. They are dry and just gross!
4. I love to do laundry. It is my favorite house cleaning chore. It is relaxing and an easy one to accomplish. Even though it is never ending.
5. I am a total morning person. I love waking up early and getting things done around my house before I leave for work. Which means I am NOT a night person. I can not stay up late for the life of me. As hard as I try it just doesn't fit into my routine. I go to bed between 9:30 and 11pm usually and wake up somewhere between 6am and 7am. I can't sleep in for the life of me...even on Saturdays.
6. I am extremely picky about how my meat is cooked. I grew up with a mom who liked her meat dry and so that is the way I like it. I can not stand to see any pink in my meat. If I do I am done eating... not just my meat but my entire meal. I also like my chicken cooked dry, I do not like juicy chicken. Gross! Josh is trying to teach me that it's ok to have a little pink so we'll keep working on that one.
7. I love my planner. I could not live or function without it. I carry it with me everywhere. I write down everything I need to accomplish each day and check it off when the task is completed. I even write down errands that I need or want to do, such as finding a new shirt or Michael's: look for wreath. I buy a new one each year because it is hammered by the time the year is over. I could not live without it, helping me stay on task each day. I would not know what to do if i lost it.

So there are a few things about me that hopefully you didn't know!
I tag the 63rd Ward Girls. This will help me get to know you better!

Legacy Tour 2008

Last Saturday I participated in my first bike race ever! It was the Legacy Tour on the Legacy Parkway before it was opened up to cars. I was scared to death. 888 people signed up to do the race and they were all packed in around me. I was so scared that I wouldn't be able to finish or that I would cause an accident. My goal was to ride the 20 miles in 1 hour and 15 minutes and I did it in exactly 1 hour and 15 minutes! I had so much fun riding. Once I hit the half way mark and was able to turn around I could see the people that were behind me. I could not stop smiling and I noticed that others were smiling back at me. That gave me the energy to keep going. I had so much fun while I was riding. In my division of women age 25-29 I came in 23rd place out of 54 women in my age group. Overall I came in 368th out of 888. Yeah! Not bad for my first race. I originally came in second because they had my birthday wrong so I was in the 15-19 year old group, but we had them fix that. Josh did really good. He came in 4th place in his age group and was only one second behind our brother in law Brady who took third. Sorry babe better luck next time. And overall he came in 36th out of the 888. Way to go babe! You are my motivation to keep trying. Thanks Shawnee and Brady for letting us know about this fun event. We will have to find another one to do again!

From Legacy Tour

From Legacy Tour

Just coming through the finish line!

Going Once, Going Twice, and Sold!

Despite the assurance from friends and family that we would be trying to sell the BMW for months before finding a buyer, I'm happy to report that after a whopping 3 days on the market and the little black 325i is sold!
Friday turned out into quite the adventure. Kriss and I to the BMW for one last drive to Bountiful to meet up with a prospective buyer. After a 3 block test drive the deal was done, leaving us stranded. Lucky for us family is always there when you need it. Thanks for everyone (Shawnee, Van, and Jake) who took time out of their schedules to help us get back to Logan.

So long Bimmer!

After over 4 years of enjoy the ultimate driving machine, it's time to say goodbye. Krissey and I have officially put the BMW up for sale. It's a sad day (for me. Krissey is overcome with joy!) Although deep down I know that she's gonna secretly miss it too. After all, this car has been with me for almost exactly as long as she has. I bought it two weeks after our first date and I'm pretty sure it's the real reason she stuck with me. (Potential Buyers Hint: Girls heart BMW's! and vice versa for the female potential buyers) So anyways if you or someone you know are in the market for a black 1993 325i with a 5 speed manual and an inline 6 cylinders of power. Check out the ad at KSL!

Painting and Hiking

Last Tuesday for enrichment we had the funnest time. We hiked up to the Wind Caves in Logan Canyon. I have been a Logan resident for 3 years and have never done this. The hike was long and took longer than expected but we still had tons of fun. When we got up there a guy and girl were up there and he looked like he was going to throw up. Scared stiff, white in the face and wide eyed when he saw us. Well, we are pretty sure he was proposing. He had a cute little picnic basket with him... so we quickly exited the wind caves around the other side. By the time we got down from hiking it was almost 10pm and dark. Part of our activity hadn't even been done yet. If anyone needs a really fun activity then listen up cause this was a blast! We quickly came up with anew plan to go and find this cement box up on campus and we climbed down in so it was dark. We cracked glow sticks and then cut the tops off of them. We then started flinging the glow sticks everywhere. The paint gets all over you and everything else, so wear grungy clothes, it leaves a lovely yellowish stain. Sweet Josh was there to try and get some pictures while we were laughing and moving around so much.

Ward Girls on the Rock Bridge!

Carly and I in the Wind Caves

Thanks Babe for being the Priesthood holder who came!

Glow stick madness

More madness


This is all of us trying to stand so still so Josh could get a picture of us without it being blurry.
Thanks girls for a great activity.

Canyon Fun

Josh's friends invited us to go up Logan Canyon for Family Night last Monday. We had so much fun. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows for smores, made an apricot cobbler, and kicked around this pink ball to make homemade ice cream. The food was delicious! Thanks Logan and Kaitlyn. Also, Shawn and Emily came and brought this laser that we ended up playing with almost all night. This laser is so strong that you can point up to a star and follow the green light all the way up to it. You can not shine it in people's eyes and we are cautious about airplanes being in the sky. We tried writing things with the laser and taking pictures of what we were scribbling and then Shawn showed us how cool it looked in the smoke from the fire. Thanks for a fun evening and we miss Shawn and Emily all ready. Let us know when you come back into town so we can get together! Have fun checking out the pictures... they are for you Emily.

Making Ice Cream!

Green Laser in the Campfire Smoke

Smiley face

More Cool Laser

Finally Another Post!

Lake Powell Pictures as previously promised.
This is only a handful of the pictures we took and it's my first slide show as well. We had so much fun down at Powell this year. Thanks Mom and Dad for all of your planning and for such a great trip!

July 24th Pioneer Day-- Bear Lake

Josh and I were pretty lazy on the 24th. I was actually going to go to the Salt Lake City Parade with my mom and sister but my mom fell down our creek the night before and buggered up her knee. So Josh took the day off so that we could spend it together. After enjoying our relaxing morning, we were bored and decided to go to Bear Lake. We drove through beautiful Logan Canyon enjoying all the scenery. Once at Bear Lake we decided to pull onto the beach and of course if you've ever been to Bear Lake you know not to go onto the squishy sand... well we did and we stopped in it and got our Explorer stuck. So stuck that our tires would not even move. I tried 4-wheel drive while Josh pushed but nothing. I put our car back in regular and started twisting our steering wheel back and forth while giving it gas... trying to create some sort of grip for the tires. Eventually and luckily we were able to get it out without having to call the tow truck. We then parked up on the hard packed sand and walked to the beach. We played in the water and sand and took pictures. We then went to Bear Lake pizzeria and had dinner. The picture of the cabin is a cabin that i painted a couple summers ago working for the Sisters Remodeling. I made Josh drive by it so I could see if it was still painted the way we did it and it was! It still looks really nice too!!!

Running!

Josh and I are training for a 5K. It is The Classic in Layton Sept. 13th. Well, we have tried training but getting to the gym 5 days a week is hard for us because we are so busy and have so much going on every night. I keep telling people we are going to run this race so that maybe it will help motivate me to keep running. I guess I'll let you know more if I succeed.

The Long awaited arrival... and it finally came!

Josh had this great idea to order Breaking Dawn online so I didn't have to deal with the crowds and not being able to find it. It shipped from Denver last Friday(the day before it came out) and I didn't receive it until Thursday of the next week. I was trying to read it slowly to enjoy the book, but after a weekend of driving I am now only 200 pages away from finishing it. The book I find is very interesting and I'm still trying to decide if I actually really like the way it has turned out but I won't make my full judgment until I have finished it.

2008 Olympics
I absolutely love the Olympics. Josh and I watched the Opening Ceremony with his siblings and loved everything China had created. I was really impressed the way China used all the people to create their art. I also noticed all of their technology. I love cheering for our country and feeling like you build a relationship with someone just because they are from the United States. However, this year I actually know someone competing. If you grew up around me across the street was the Olson twin girls- Lindsey and Angela. Lindsey is in Beijing competing in the steeplechase at 23 years old. She will go through semifinals on Wednesday and finals on Friday if she gets there. Believe me when I say I will be watching and cheering her on.

Hair Cut and Bike Riding
This last weekend I chopped my hair off... You can see that it wasn't too long in the Bear Lake pictures but I cut it so short that my hair dresser had to shave the back of my neck. I absolutely love it! Don't you just feel so good when you get your hair done? Well I do!
I also learned how to ride a dirt bike. My cute brother RJ has a new obsession that started last year. He started with only one dirt bike for himself but quickly realized its not fun to go by yourself so he bought my brother Jake a bike. Then he bought a smaller bike for "the girls" but I never got on it and it basically has become my sisters bike. Well just last week he found a good deal on a new bike for himself so he went to get it and the guy said its a package deal if you buy mine I will throw my wife's in with it... so I have a dirt bike that is a good size for me... a TT125. Isn't she a beauty? Don't get me wrong I was terrified to learn, but my fear quickly turned into excitement. I learned Friday night and couldn't wait to ride it again on Saturday. My Mom and Dad even noticed my huge grin from ear to ear every time I rode by the house or when I was done riding. RJ was a great teacher riding along side me and making learn how to stop and start. Thanks again bud for helping me conquer my fear. Can't wait to get on it again!



Goal: I know this was an extremely long post so I apologize. I am going to try and keep up on my posting. That is my goal. To start posting once a week. Until next time...

Posting Marathon!

I have been so busy the last four weeks. My how the time flies! Where did the month of July go? I have been out of town for three of the last four weeks. I have been told that I need to update my blog more often and am sorry that I am not home to update it everyday. I traveled to Castle Dale, UT for a week for work and also to Vernal. Yep that's right the two most absurd places to go for work. I then spent all last week in one of my most favorite places in the world...LAKE POWELL. It was my family's traditional week to go to Lake Powell and Josh and I have not been since we were engaged back in '05. It was a much needed vacation after working 50+ hours a week for work and serving in my somewhat new calling as Relief Society President. I do not have my pictures uploaded from Powell yet so more too come on those.

Mission Accomplished!!!!

I really wanted to post about my graduation, but life just took hold of me and my blog was put on hold. So now I am here posting about my graduation that happened back on May 3rd. The day before my sister Nicole graduated so our weekend was full of graduations. Congrats Colie, we did it together! In the morning they had us all line up on the quad and then we got to march across campus while they played music from speakers while parents and family were all lined up shouting for their graduates and snapping quick pictures as we passed by. Once in the Spectrum, the morning session was interesting... the valedictorian speech was very different. After that commencement ceremony my College graduation was only 45 minutes later so we just hung out til I had to line back up again. Well, one of the coolest things about my graduation was the guest speaker: Elder L. Tom Perry. Yeah, that's right, the apostle. When I walked to get my diploma I also got to shake his hand and let me tell you he is a lot bigger than what you see on tv. I have never had the opportunity to shake an apostle's hand and if you ever get the chance- take it. It was really cool. It was also fun to hear him speak from a business point of view and not just about the gospel.
I wanted to give a shout out to my sweet husband who supported and pushed me through to the end. Thanks babe I love you! Also, a big thanks to my parents who instilled in me the importance of getting my education. Many times when I fet like giving up and the end would never come I always remembered the things I was taught about getting my education. I still can't believe I am finished... I never have to cram for a stinkin' test again!!!

Hooray for the weekend!

In "Bill Cosby, Himself," he talks about how crazy we are for working our tails of during the week, only to be incredibly excited for the weekend. And then we go and kill ourselves having "fun" on our weekend. While we didn't quite kill ourselves, our weekend was full of everything a weekend should be.
The wet spring has turned Cache Valley into a green machine. Everywhere we go in the valley is lush and green. Makes it hard to convince everyone that we live in a desert. Our ward campout was at Cinnamon Creek, just upstream from Porcupine Reservoir on the south end of the valley. We had a great turnout from the ward and it was fun to get to know everyone a bit more. I also got to go fishing for the first time this year, courtesy of Eric and Andrea. (Thanks, guys) But was pretty much the worst fly fishing conditions. (Especially with a spinning rod) Returning to the camp, Krissey had the tent set up and ready to go, (with Andrea's help) what more could you ask for in a wife?

After inspecting Krissey's fine work, and finding the tent set up perfectly, we got a rousing game of Frisbee going on. Everyone should play 500 with at least 2 discs. The night concluding with Campfire songs and eating peach cobbler at midnight all courtesy of the Bishop.

Saturday morning, we woke up to shouts of "move your car" and ash falling from the sky. No, the forest wasn't on fire, but it was apparently spring clean up for the campground, and there isn't a better time than early Saturday morning to burn huge piles of brush. So we ate breakfast quick and took off.

Coming down the canyon I got word that a family needed moving. While I don't have pictures, (yet) let's just say if you have a piano and need it moved out of the upstairs...you better have a set of concrete or metal stairs to go down.

Thanks to Shawn and Emily, we're also professional disc golfers. So watch out all you pros out there with your fancy autographed disc drivers.

So basically, it was one awesome weekend. The End.

More Pictures Here!

Seasons that begin with "S" for 500

Well it's officially spring. You know how we know? It starts with the sunroof. Then with the shorts. Pretty soon the eyes are a nice red, itchy color. Yeah, that's spring. So about this blog... unfortunately the two of us have been involved with two things: School and catching up with the rest of everybody who watches Lost. Coincidently those two ended about the same time. In the mean time Krissey's playing with her graduation toy, and birthday present. So you might see some new artisticness around her. In the mean time, enjoy a picture of Krissey's favorite post 10pm tradition: falling asleep on my shoulder while I do absolutely nothing worth staying up for. Good times.

New Blogger!

So I have finally entered into the world of blogging. I have come to the realization that everyone and their dog has a blog. So while I had a day off yesterday I decided to start creating my blog. Although it is in the works right now hopefully it will look good when I'm done. I may change it completely if I don't like it because I am new at this and any suggestions on how to do this is greatly appreciated! Until next time...