Taylor and Kaitlin

Christmas

2012-01-03T08:28:00.000-07:00

Christmas this year was a little different since Taylor and I moved away. Taylor and I had a mini Christmas a week early and opened our gifts to each other. We also got an early Christmas present and closed on our townhome in Nibley a couple of days before Christmas. Exciting!! Then on Christmas Eve we headed up to Logan. We spent time with both families on Christmas Eve. We visited with his family and opened our presents then headed over to my parents. We had dinner then played games until it was time to go to bed.

Taylor and I had to get up early the next morning to get to his parents house to Skype with Tanner. It was great to talk to him and he seems to be doing well! He gets home on July 4th! Not too much longer. After talking with him we headed back over to my parents for breakfast and to open presents.

After that we headed up to see Taylor's grandma, then back to his parents house for lunch, then back to my parents, then back home! Haha! There was a lot of back and forth this year but it was so good to be with family! I love getting to see everyone! I love where we are right now but I wish our family was closer! We hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

A much needed trip....

2011-11-20T20:37:00.001-07:00

Taylor and I haven't spent more than like 3 weekends in a row down here! Haha it's been crazy but it's been nice to see friends and family so much. A couple of weeks ago Taylor and I decided to jump in the car and drive to St. George. I think we all know what two adorable kids are down there.

It was a short trip but so worth it. These two kids are just amazing. They have the best personalities in the world and love so unconditionally. It's pretty amazing how much these two have taught me. It makes me so excited to have my own kids (no, that is not an announcement of any sort and no need for baby bump watch).

Also, a huge thank you to their parents for letting us show up on short notice and being such awesome hosts. I really have an amazing family and I see it more and more every day. I'm a really lucky girl. Well... on to the pictures since I am really just rambling....

Random Stuff

2011-10-02T09:21:00.002-06:00

I'm going to play a little catch up...

Last weekend was Kenzie's birthday. She was down in SLC with her parents to celebrate so Morgan and I met up with her and Cheesecake Factory to celebrate!

After dinner we went to see The Lion King. I love that movie! It's a lot funnier when you are old enough to really understand the jokes. I love Disney! I'm glad we all got to get together! Thanks for being born Kenz!! :)

On Saturday I headed up to Logan to celebrate my mom's b-day! We had brunch and cake! Yum! I don't have any pictures of it... sorry!

This last week we've been figuring out some final details for our yard and we will be rushing our little tush's off to get it done in about two weeks. We'll see how that goes. :) Anybody who wants to come help us lay sod will be our bestest friend. I have a guest bed, cookies, and uh.... well just bring your husband and we'll make the boys do the work. I plan on shopping during that time.

We obviously took a break from planning that out to go see Taylor Swift. She is an amazing performer and it was quite the show! I am so glad we went to the concert! We had great seats and loved the entire night.

This weekend I got to decorate for the first Holiday since moving down here!! I guess there was the Fourth of July and the 24th but I don't decorate for those! We have a mantel and I have been so excited to use it to decorate for the holidays!! I have halloween up already! I still have to get some more stuff to finish up the mantel but I'm just so happy I have stuff up!

Posting this makes me realize I haven't posted any pictures of our house. I'll have to do that sometime! And now I feel caught up somewhat! So thanks for surviving this long post!

My life is complete

2011-09-29T08:23:00.002-06:00

Today

2011-09-26T20:55:00.002-06:00

It's days like today that I am grateful for a husband who loves me and is so good to me and for those who know the true meaning of family and friendship. I realize that it can be hard for some people to put forth any effort... But I'm grateful for those in my life who do. It means the world to me. Even the small things you do... even the small things people don't do... they matter. A lot.

Random post but, it's what is on my mind.

Ruth's Diner

2011-09-10T19:55:00.001-06:00

On Labor Day my parents met up with us at Ruth's Diner for brunch. Delicious and fun!

He's 23!

2011-09-06T08:07:00.003-06:00

August 27th was Taylor's 23rd birthday! We celebrated by eating lunch at Mo Bettah's Steaks in dowtown SLC (they have one in Logan now and I highly recommend trying it out if you like Hawaiian!) and a Bee's game!

We also had to go to Benihana for Taylor's birthday so we went a couple days before. We love their $30 birthday certificates!! :)

Our Pets

2011-08-29T08:10:00.000-06:00

Taylor and I have went from 0 pets to 5 in just two months! We'd like to introduce you to all of our new buddies!

Chester

Daisy (Thanks for the suggestion Kenz!)

And now we have Olive (the mom), Spots (on the hill), and of course one of them had to be named Bambi!

You never know what you're going to see when you look out our windows! And yes... as I said in a previous post our yard will be done sometime in the next few weeks so please ignore it. :)

Our Anniversary

2011-08-22T08:07:00.000-06:00

Since our anniversary was on a Sunday this year we decided to do most of the celebrating on Saturday. We headed to downtown SLC to do some shopping in the afternoon. After shopping we headed to get checked in at our hotel. We stayed at the Little America and it was really nice! We had reservations at PF Changs that night and that was pretty much the highlight of my month. I love PF Changs!

After dinner we headed to the Ensign Peak Trail. If you haven't done this I highly recommend it! It's a super easy hike (I was in flip flops, though that isn't something I suggest) and it has amazing views of the valley!

After the hike we called it a night! We got up the next morning and went to Cheesecake Factory! That place is delicious!! We came home and relaxed and then weeded our "yard". We will be putting our yard in sometime in the next few weeks and I cannot tell you how excited I am. Although our sunflowers all over are fabulous I am definitely ready for grass!

Bliss

2011-08-21T14:12:00.000-06:00

Today marks three years of marriage for us. I couldn't imagine life with anyone else!

Park City

2011-08-08T07:55:00.000-06:00

My parents have a time share in Park City at the Westgate Resort. It's an amazing place to stay! So just a couple weeks ago we spent the week up there with the whole family. It was a blast. Taylor had to work during the week so he was only able to come up at night. We swam, played, shopped, played, and swam some more! I had a blast. If I blogged about it all I would take forever and nobody would get to the bottom so here's a ton of pictures!! They uploaded in a random order, but oh well! Enjoy!

Oh and I decided to drive to St. George and back in one day and pick up my two favorite people in the world and have them spend a night with us. SO worth it in every way! :)

New Job!

2011-08-01T07:45:00.000-06:00

July 22nd was my last day at FreeMotion Fitness. What a weird feeling! I have been with Icon since December of '08 and with FreeMotion since August of '09. I was very comfortable working there ha! But, as comfortable as I was I have felt for a while that it was time to move on and so moving was a blessing for me to finally be able to feel like I could move on and do something different.

I was extremely lucky to find a new job that worked out perfectly with my summer plans. I worked from home until the 22nd with FreeMotion then took a week off of everything and went to Park City (blog to come!) and then start my new job today. I will be a Cash Loan Funding Assistant for Progressive Finance in Draper. I am really excited to start this job! It's going to be a great experience and I'm looking forward to it. Basically I will be the person that is reviewing and funding Cash Loans. I had orientation on Friday and that went really well. Anyway, just an update on what we've been up to! Other than that we've just been spending our weekends at movies, Boondocks, the Aquarium, and whatever other fun stuff we can find!

How cool is this?

2011-07-13T15:34:00.000-06:00

A builder here in Salt Lake built the UP House! It's here in Herriman right by the gym Taylor and I go to! On the weekends they're going to have balloons! I can't wait to tour it during the Parade of Homes!

Fourth of July

2011-07-06T09:15:00.000-06:00

Taylor and I started off the Fourth of July with a trip to Kennecott Copper Mine. It is pretty much right above us and I've never been so I was excited to go! It was SO windy!!! It also started to rain! It was still worth it though. It was really neat to see!

The trucks are huge!! I mean HUGE!!!

To give you a better idea take a look at the smaller truck. That's a large truck to see on normal roads. It looks tiny!!

Also, this is us compared to the tires they use!

After leaving there and doing some shopping we decided it was time for a treat! It's been forever since I went to Iceburg and Taylor hasn't been so we decided to get some. I forgot just how big their servings of ice cream are!

We went home and I snapped this picture of Taylor. He is such a guy... not only is he on his laptop, but his phone too! The TV was on as well! Haha!

Later that night we went up to the park that I posted about and watched some fireworks. It was crazy, they were everywhere!!! We had a good view there but I got thinking about it and the Oquirrh Mountain Temple is up on a hill and would have an amazing view! I was right! Tons of people had the same idea too!! That temple is stunning!

We are so excited for next summer when we'll be settled and be up to going to one of the firework shows! Although, I want to leave one night open to go back by the temple and watch the fireworks. It was awesome to watch so many shows at once!

An Update

2011-07-03T20:20:00.000-06:00

I figured I should post an update and get back in the habit of blogging again. We have had a busy couple of weeks! Unfortunately, not many pictures! We have been busy putting our house together (still!) and getting to know the area. It has really been a lot of fun so far living down here. We really enjoy our house and all of the surroundings. The first morning I stayed down here I looked out the bathroom window (we're still waiting for our blinds to arrive but we have privacy sheets for now finally!) and noticed this little critter across the way...

It's kind of hard to see the deer but it is in the middle of the picture between all the trees. It's a lot closer than it looks! I ran to grab Taylor and thought it was so awesome to have a deer that close. Well a couple of nights later I look out the back door and see a deer! Right in our yard! I know that I will come to hate this when our yard is in and things but for now it's kind of fun!

Now that Taylor is done with school we have so much more time to spend together. We have gone on some walks around the area and we found this awesome pond just up the road a short walk from our house. You can fish here and I'm determined to learn how!

All around it there are amazing views. I really wish I had a lens that could capture everything!!

This weekend is a long one for Taylor and I, which we are loving. On Friday we went to Taylor's friend Kip's wedding. Taylor always loves seeing all of his friends again! We saw his aunt there who gave us tickets to the Logan Fireworks since we were heading up there that night for the reception. Well by the time we got up to Logan, headed to the reception, and were getting ready to head up to the fireworks we decided we would rather head back here. So we gave the tickets to a friend and headed back. We got to watch the fireworks all over Salt Lake as we drove in our car ha!

Saturday we headed up to Park City to see Taylor's aunt on his moms side and some cousins. This was the first time I met these family members! It was fun to be up in Park City. After we left the resort we had lunch at Taylor and I headed to the outlet malls which is always a blast. We came back to our house and watched all of the fireworks all over from our house.

Today we got to go to our new ward for the first time. Last week we were in Logan for Jason's homecoming. We're really excited about our new ward. There seems to be a lot of great people! We are definitely going to miss our old ward though. It was different for sure! We still have one more day of our long weekend and I am not ready to go back to full work weeks. I love weekends way too much!

A change in plans!

2011-06-21T08:35:00.000-06:00

Last time I posted I was planning on staying in Logan for a couple more weeks. Well just last week the decision was made that I would continue working at my current job, but from home... and by home I mean HERRIMAN! I am soo excited to be down here with Taylor and to not be living in two places or sleeping on an air mattress anymore. I'm glad things worked out the way they did!

Over the weekend I turned the big 21! My day was spent unpacking and organizing but that's ok! A house is a pretty good birthday present! Saturday night (my birthday) we went to dinner with my parents, Spencer, and my grandma! They all came to see my house first and brought me a cake! It was so much fun to have them down here! I am going to miss having my parents so close to me!

Other than that little break I spent the majority of the weekend doing things around the house. I had to drive back to Logan on Sunday to go back into the office yesterday but drove back down here last night. I have made the drive back and forth quite a bit in the last week! I'm so looking forward to being 100% down here and settled.

Home Sweet Home... on the weekends?

2011-06-13T13:33:00.000-06:00

Just this past Friday Taylor and I closed on our home in Herriman. Taylor will be staying there starting tonight and I will be joining him in a couple of weeks! For now I will be in Logan during the week and down there on the weekends! We love our new home and can't wait to start making memories in this house! And no, we don't have black spray painted on the front of the house haha! This blog is not yet private (still working on that haha!) and I really don't want my address out there! :)

A Dream Come True...

2011-05-29T14:41:00.000-06:00

So the final day of our trip one of Taylor's dreams came true! When we were planning out our trip for Taylor's graduation we were looking into going back east so Taylor could do a driving tour in some Ferrari's and Lamborghini's. When we decided we were going to Disneyland we realized Taylor wouldn't be able to do that, or so we thought. After a little research we found out Exotics Racing was going to be in California the same weekend that we were there! Usually they are in Las Vegas so it was way lucky that it worked out the way it did! Taylor booked his laps and picked the Ferrari 430 Scuderia.

The whole drive there (it was in Fontana) Taylor had a grin on his face! It was so cute to see him soo excited! We got to see a lot of cool cars while we were waiting for Taylor's turn.

Also while you wait they take you on a ride in one of their Porsche's so you can get to know the track. I got to join for that. I NEVER want to go that fast in an SUV again. Haha!

Finally it was Taylor's turn.

When he got out of the car he just kept saying "That was awesome, so sweet!". I think he enjoyed it a little. This track has a lot of some technical word for turns and things so there was only 3 straight-aways for him to get high speeds and he "only got to around 150mph. Ha! Only? Watching him go by was a little scary! They go so fast! I am so glad Taylor got to do this. It's a dream come true for him and a well deserved graduation gift! I highly recommend doing this for anybody that loves cars. It's totally worth it!!

After he finished his laps we waited for the DVD of the experience to be made. Back when we were riding in the Porsche there was another guy from Australia in the car with us. Taylor is extremely nice and chatty all of the time so of course it was no different with this guy. We talked with him before driving then when we were waiting for the DVD he came and started talking to us again. He was on a 6 week vacation visiting places all over the US. He was staying in LA and took a taxi to get to Fontana. He didn't have the taxi wait for him and he was a little unsure of how he was going to get back. Sure enough he asks us. If you remember a couple posts ago I was horribly sick and so tired! All I wanted to do was nap on the way back to Long Beach so I could enjoy our time at the pier. Well my dear sweet husband says "Sure! Not a problem!". Then he turns to me and asks if it's ok with me. Since it was a little too late to say no now we let an Australian make the drive back with us that we had only talked to for maybe a half an hour total. I made sure Taylor asked lots of questions and I listened to every response to make sure his story matched up! He seemed extremely nice but I've watched Lifetime. I'm not dumb. They (the murderers) all seem nice at first. Well needless to say we made it back safe but man... Taylor still owes me. He's not allowed to talk to strangers anymore! We spend the rest of our day at the pier and had a delicious lunch with an amazing view of the lighthouse!

Disneyland Again!

2011-05-22T17:23:00.000-06:00

So since I really failed miserably to take pictures I'm going to sum up Monday - Friday. We spent Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday at Disneyland as well as California Adventure. They were my favorite days of the trip! It's just such a fun atmosphere!!

The lines were so short so we were super lucky and we were able to hit most of the rides that we wanted to go on in Disneyland the first day. We decided after eating dinner that we wanted to check out California Adventure since we both had never been there before. That is when I discovered my favorite ride...

We went on the Hollywood Tower of Terror twice that night! We also went on California Screamin' which I loved!!

We split the next two days up going to both of the parks again and riding every ride! We saw lots of characters which always cheers you up!

We also made sure to go to their World of Color show which was well worth it! Even though we weren't sitting in the best place it was a neat show!

We both had a blast and we were so sad to leave! I can't wait to go back soon!!

Thursday we headed to Universal Studios! We also enjoyed that a lot! We took the Back-lot Studio Tour which was cool! Does anybody recognize the house below?

We saw some other cool sets too!

Friday was actually an amazing day! We had no plans! Absolutely no idea what we wanted to do and no rental car to get anywhere so we just figured we would go with the flow! And it turned out to be an amazing day! After sleeping in we went down and played basketball outside at our hotel. I won the first round of HORSE by the way. I'm extremely proud of myself. :) We layed out by the pool after the basketball game which was so nice! The weather was amazing and it felt so good to just relax and get some sun. I almost forgot what warm sun felt like after the past month of rain here in Cache Valley! We went to a movie then tried Bubba Gumps for dinner! It was so nice to have a day to relax and just figure out our day as it went along!

We still have Saturday to blog about but I think Taylor will agree that day deserves it's own post. I am definitely prepared with plenty of pictures too!

Disneyland

2011-05-19T19:08:00.001-06:00

So I really am the worst at taking pictures. Except when I'm bored and in a hotel room! I have a bajillion pictures from the first day, but don't worry, I'll spare you! Most of them are of nothing and I was just playing with my camera! So I apologize for the lack of photo's in the upcoming posts. You just get to read my ramblings! When we first landed in California we headed straight to our hotel and got my laptop all set up so we could skype with Tanner since it was Mother's Day. We were really happy that it worked out perfectly so that our flight would land in time to get us to the hotel and get everything set up before he would be calling. This was the first time we got to use Skype with Tanner so we gave him our email addresses so he could add us once he set his up. The plan was to have Taylor's family talk to him first then we would get the last ten minutes or so. Two O'clock rolled around and we anxiously sat by waiting for Taylor's family to finish talking to him. 15 minutes after we got a text from Taylor's mom saying he hadn't called. This went on through the hour and at this point all of us were a little worried and thinking that maybe we wouldn't get to talk to him. Taylor and I decided to just leave Skype on but just watch some TV for a bit. Finally we got a text from Tammy saying that he called! We moved over by our computer and waited for our turn! Finally he called us and we got to talk to him for a bit! It was good to talk to him as well as see him! Taylor and I both agree he looks completely the same! Taylor was pretty excited to talk to him!!

After that it was getting late so we headed over to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. I've heard mixed reviews about that place so I was a little nervous but we were lucky and really enjoyed our meal!

When we finished up dinner I could barely contain my excitement for Disneyland. I haven't been since I was around 7! Taylor made a mistake and told me you didn't need tickets to get into Downtown Disney - so off we went! It was fun to look through all of the shops and see so much Disney stuff! I love anything Disney! It got me even more excited to go back the next day!

Back to reality

2011-05-17T15:58:00.001-06:00

Taylor and I took off to California for a week after his graduation. Our blissful vacation world ended Saturday when we headed to the airport to catch our flight. I will just summarize our little kick back into reality....Keep in mind when I woke up on Saturday I was super sick. So sick and so tired from being sick in fact that when we were at the pier in Long Beach on Saturday I fell asleep on Taylor when we sat down at a bench haha!

Receive a text saying our flight has been delayed 20 minutes. Keep entertained for a little bit longer.
Arrive at airport early to make sure we get our rental car dropped off and get through security in time.
Notice the sign saying that your flight is still scheduled for the original time. Get excited because you are in the smallest airport ever so that means you won't have to keep entertained long.
Over-hear the lady at the desk saying that the flight crew that will be working on our flight is delayed. Just 30 minutes though.
Get out your laptop to keep entertained. It dies.
Over-hear the lady at the desk saying that the flight crew will be delayed 40 minutes.
Get out phone to keep entertained. It dies.
Walk around the one and only store there. Look at the 5 magazines and 2 candy bars and you've seen everything.
Get out Taylor's phone to keep entertained. It dies.
Look at the clock and realize you have been there for 2 hours and there is still no sign of flight crew
Try to fall asleep.
Small airport + lots of people and children = no sleep.
Look at the clock and realize only 4 minutes has passed.
Go check out the killer store again.
See flight crew and nearly pee your pants with excitement.
Finally get on the blasted plane.
Get home at 3:00 am.

Even though that was not the most exciting night of my life our vacation was a blast! It was so nice to have a whole week off of work and to spend that time with Taylor. Taylor started his new job yesterday (which he is really excited about and is enjoying) so that means we've been waking up at 5:30 to make sure he gets to work in time. I never sleep in and I always love my mornings but that's just killing me. 6:00 is much better haha! Hopefully we can find a house soon so that we can both get just a little bit more sleep! Once I feel better and more rested I will post about our vacation. And the lovely Australian that we talked to for maybe 20 minutes and then he ended up riding back to Long Beach with us from Fontana. Basically Taylor is not allowed to talk to anyone anymore. Bad things happen...

He did it!!

2011-05-07T22:42:00.000-06:00

It's official! He is done! I am so proud of Taylor! He has worked so hard and spent so many hours doing homework and studying. It sure has paid off though! I'm so excited for all the new adventures we have coming our way! It's going to be nice to have my husband full time!

I love you Tay!!!

Carter's First Birthday

2011-05-02T18:33:00.000-06:00

This past year flew by! I can't believe Carter is 1! He is soo adorable and such a content little boy. I'm so happy we have him in our lives!

This weekend Taylor and I headed down to St. George to celebrate. We got there late on Friday night so we woke up and headed straight to see the kids!

We took them back to my parents hotel room and I decided since it wasn't our bed that it was totally ok to teach Nykell how fun it is to jump on the bed!

And I gushed over Carters cute feet!

And just Carter in general!

And he loved on me too :)

We met up with my parents and went to a cute little shop in St. George that was the perfect picture opportunity!

We did a little shopping too! Carter just likes to be held while we shop and Nykell likes to play on everything! haha!

After some shopping we went back and met up with everybody for his birthday party! It was Mickey Mouse themed and turned out amazing!

Carter took a minute to figure out what to do with a cake all to himself but he caught on and loved it!

Next up was presents!

After that we took the kids for a little hike! Nykell loved it! She got to see horses and make tracks! I don't have any pictures on my camera from that hike but the next morning we had to head home so we said goodbye to the kids then went on a little hike before heading home!

It was soo good to see Trav and Alex and the kids! I miss them so much and wish we lived closer! We had such a blast over the weekend and love spending time with all of them! We can't wait for our next trip!

I watched...

2011-04-29T08:07:00.000-06:00

Yes, I was one of those who woke up to watch the Royal Wedding. How could I not?! First of all, I was dying to see her dress! Which did not disappoint! She looked stunning! Also, it's the wedding of the future King and Queen! I had to!

The Final Countdown

2011-04-27T09:02:00.000-06:00

I feel like so much has happened in the past few weeks but at the same time I feel like I have nothing to blog about....so this is basically just a post to say I posted!

It's finally here and I can't believe it. Next Saturday Taylor is graduating. I cannot believe it came so fast. I remember this time last year thinking a year would last forever! Taylor is so excited to be done. We finally get to spend some of our week nights together and no more studying! Well, that is until he does his masters but I'm just going to enjoy him being out of school until then. Taylor is in his last week of classes and I can't believe it. It really feels like not too long ago I was sitting at this...

Now it's his college graduation!!! I am so proud of him! He is seriously such a hard worker. He took summer classes every year and fit in as many classes as possible and finished so much faster than we first planned on.

As you all know he has a job lined up and so we are just house hunting like crazy. We have been down to look at houses every weekend for the past 4 weeks. We found one we loved and put an offer in on it but we didn't get it. We just found that out this Sunday so that means we are starting all over again with the house hunt. I'm confident we'll find something even better than that house though and we are so excited to finally know where we will live! It may just be a little longer before we move now. I have to admit, even though I love looking at houses it's starting to take over my life. I have dreams about seeing houses, showing ours and it's just consuming me haha!

For Easter we had brunch at my moms house with delicious ham and deviled eggs! She always has the best food! Since it was such good weather Taylor and I stopped at Millville Elementary on the way home and played at that playground! It was sooo nice to spend time outside even though we were only there for a little bit! That evening we had dinner at Taylor's grandma's house. Taylor's brother Tanner did the German Exchange Program in high school and the person that he stayed with and that stayed with him is back here visiting. Patrick and his girlfriend are here and so they cooked us some German food that day! After eating we headed to Old Main to roll eggs. It was so fun to watch all the kids running around and having so much fun! I totally suck and left my camera at home. I really need to get better about bringing it with me places! It was a really fun day and I'm so glad we got to spend it with both families! I'm really going to miss living so close to everyone. I know we won't be that far away at all but it will still be a change!

Well that's pretty much all I can think of right now that we have going on. Maybe life will be more exciting once Taylor is done with finals!!

Potatoes

2011-04-12T20:39:00.000-06:00

During the winter I am always craving baked potatoes but we never have potatoes in our house. We usually just don't buy them because the bags come with so many and we know we won't use them all. One time we finally gave in and bought some. We were using them pretty often but then we just kind of forgot about them and kept them in a cupboard that I actually get in to quite often. It's where I keep my KitchenAid and I use that all of the time. Well it's been probably only a weeks or so since I used it and last night when I was doing some major deep cleaning I open up the cupboard and see something quite disturbing. I RAN to Taylor. Like sprinted and refused to touch it. Thankfully he came to my rescue and got it in a bag so he could through it away. Seriously, look at what it looked like...

Do you see that?!?! THEY'RE GROWING LEGS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THEY'RE ALIVE!!!!!!!

Now I know that is totally my fault for forgetting about them but WOW! I had no idea that could happen. I mean they were just growing there in my cupboard! It is sooo gross! I don't think I will be eating potatoes for a long time. That image is going to be stuck in my head for quite a while.... So who wants to come over for dinner now... hehe :)

7 Years....

2011-04-08T15:32:00.001-06:00

This is Taylor this time. Since this is the first time I have ever done a blog post please bear with me. I wanted to put down some feelings I have about my dad that passed away seven years ago today. It really messes me up every year trying to remember how many years it has been. He would have been fifty years old today and as my grandma told me earlier a good fifty he would have been, and I guess in a sense he is a better fifty than he could have been here on earth. My wife, Kaitlin, always asks how he was. I tell her usually in broad strokes how he was, because truthfully I remember more in broad strokes how he was and things he did with us.

There are of course specific moments and times that I do remember as well but I think we as a race remember broadly things more than specific things. That may not be the case for you. He was definitely a caring person. He almost always put others first, whether that was his family, his clients, his students, his co-workers, or his players. I can remember many times where he agonized over how someone would feel if he took one course or another. It was a big deal to him how he treated others. He could be hard on people at times. This was always done in love. In retrospect I can see this at the times when he was maybe a little harsh with me I maybe couldn’t see that. One thing that he couldn’t stand is when you didn’t perform to your potential. Most of us go through our daily lives doing the best we can with what we have been given. From what I can remember of him he always expected our best and more. If we didn’t give him that as an athlete, a person, or anything else he would voice his disappointment. You knew when you had done something that didn’t live up to where you should be.

Another thing is he loved sharing things with others. Whether it was a cool article on something that fascinated him or a new car he had purchased. Whatever it was he thought if it interested him in any way that you may enjoy it as well. Another thing I distinctly remember is that he would always stop in a say hello to people if he was in the neighborhood. I can remember playing in tennis tournaments in Salt Lake or St. George or wherever we were and him having to stop in and see how a client was doing. If he was in the neighborhood he would stop in to see how you were doing catch up and see if there was anything he could help you with. I think that he got this from his parents. To this day my grandmother who can’t really do much will still think specifically of someone and send them a card, or give them a call to see how people are doing. It really takes a special kind of person to care about others so much and I miss having that in my life.

It is definitely hard at times knowing that I can’t just call him up or go talk to him. Throughout my entire adult life I haven’t had a dad to talk to. I can think of many times where I wish I could have asked him questions. He is in a different place and is much busier than we are right now. I do know that he watches out for me and my family though. There have been many instances where I have felt his presence. I may be rambling but I do want to wrap this up. I just mainly remember that he was a very loving father that always wanted the best and expected the best out of everyone around him. If there was something that he thought wasn’t right or fair you would surely hear about it. He was very passionate about every endeavor that he took on. My dad would pour everything he had into everything he did. It wore him out a lot of times and took a toll on him. I think he learned to balance it and that was one thing he took away from his father’s example. Whenever we had something going on he would make sure he could be there to support us. No matter how small or simple it was. It showed us that he cared and loved us. I truly miss that. There is nothing I miss more than just knowing he supported me in whatever it was I was doing. I guess in a way he probably has seen everything I have been doing and supporting me as well just from a distance. I just want to say that I miss and love him. It has been a challenging and very good seven years to the day. I think I turned out all right.

And a little note from Katie: I just have to say Taylor turned out amazing! His dad would be so proud of everything he has accomplished. Even though I didn't meet his dad I can see so many aspects of his dad in him based of what I have heard about him from other people. His Dad sounds like an amazing person and I wish I could have met him.

Finally Finishing!

2011-04-07T20:20:00.000-06:00

It's about time I finished this blog challenge thing! So I'm doing the last 4!

Day 27: A picture of me last year and how I've changed since then

I cannot believe this was a year ago! It really doesn't feel like that long! I don't feel like I have changed that much, but at the same time I feel so different! Makes a lot of sense, eh? Well lets see... I'm older :) Does that count? I am learning to say no to people. Ha ha that makes me sound so pathetic, or like I should be on some commercial about peer pressure! I have never had problems with that obviously, but I just hate saying no to people because I just want to do whatever I can to help and I don't want to let anyone down. Sometimes I take on way more then I should and put off what I want to do just to make sure everyone else is happy. I am really coming a long way in just doing things for me and not just to make everyone else happy all of the time. I really have to give Taylor credit for helping me with that. He is always encouraging me to do stuff for me and letting me know it's ok for me to do that! I've also become less and less shy. I was so shy growing up. It changed a lot my senior year of high school but even more so ever since I graduated.

Day 28: My Favorite Movie
Well my all-time favorite movie is Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I have blogged about that before. So right now a movie I just adore is Despicable Me. Super cute!

You really have to see this if you haven't yet. I didn't think I would like it as much as I did but it's great!!

Day 29: Something I never get tired of doing
Hanging out with Taylor. It's really fun every time!!

Day 30: A Photograph of me today and 3 good things that have happened in the past
I don't have a picture of me from today and to be honest I don't want to take one so you're just getting 3 good things that have happened in the past.

Meeting Taylor
Marrying Taylor
Going to the Temple!

Depressing...

2011-04-07T19:25:00.000-06:00

I know I live in Utah, so this kind of weather is to be expected but I had hope that on April 7th I would leave work and walk outside to something more like this...

But instead I looked out the window from the stairs and saw this...

And my car...

I am so ready for a real Spring!!!

Excited!!!!

2011-04-05T10:17:00.002-06:00

On September 28th you can find me here...

I just bought tickets through her presale and I can't wait!!!!!

A Change In Plans...

2011-03-28T12:12:00.000-06:00

It has only been a few days since my last post but somehow things have changed quite a bit. When I last posted Taylor had just accepted the job with ITT Tech. His start date was June 20th and we were going to have our house for sale in the next few weeks. Well, Wednesday Taylor got another call and receieved antoher job offer. So we had a big decision to make. I really can't complain, it was not a bad situation to be in with two jobs and getting to be the one's to make the choice, but it was an extremely tough decision. A few bajillion prayers and a blessing later, Taylor and I decided to go with the second job offer at Auto Owners Insurance. This is going to be a wonderful opportunity and it is such a great company. This job is in Draper so we will still be moving to the Salt Lake Area. At first we had plans to look into Davis County because the job with ITT Tech could have potentially ended up in Ogden. Now that we know this job is in Draper and will stay in Draper we are looking a little farther south. Taylor now starts on May 16th so we are hoping to have our house listed by the end of the week. We're a little more rushed now but we really feel so blessed and we are so excited for this opportunity. This was a job Taylor really wanted and I am so proud of him for getting it! Now stay tuned for what job he'll be taking next week... ;).

Mr. Amazing

2011-03-21T12:32:00.000-06:00

As some of you know Taylor is graduating this May. He started applying for jobs and just hoping for the best with the tough job market out there. This morning Taylor accepted a Manager position with ITT Tech. We are soo excited for this opportunity and we feel so blessed. We are so excited to start on this new chapter of life and I am SOOO excited for Taylor to be done with homework!!! Since this job is in Murray we will be moving as soon as we can sell our house. So, if you know anybody looking for a 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath townhome in Nibley send them our way :).

Catch Up!

2011-03-10T09:17:00.002-07:00

I'm late on my blog challenge. I know, I know... you guys are so dissapointed. I'm going to catch up as much as I can since I really want to be done with this. So here we go...

Day 24: A picture of something that means a lot to you.

My family! They mean the world to me! They are so incredibly supportive of me in everything I do! I really appreciate them!!

Day 25: What's in your purse.

Umm.. a lot of crap.

I don't have a picture of this but I have my wallet, lip gloss, keys, headphones, gum, movie ticket, granola bar, tissues, battery charger, pens, post it's, and a camera! I keep everything in my purse! I need to clean it out!

Day 26: A picture of somewhere I've been to.

This picture is from Hawaii. Taylor and I went there last May and I loved it. Every night we would get back to our hotel in time to watch the sunset. Our hotel was literally right on the beach and it was so beautiful. I can't wait to go back someday!

Well that's all I'm going to do for now! Hopefully I can finish this soon!

PRIVATE

2011-03-06T19:12:00.004-07:00

I am making my blog private...again... so leave your email address if you want an invitation! I won't publish the comments so nobody will see your email address.

Day 23: 15 Facts About Me

2011-03-03T10:05:00.000-07:00

I don't drink pop and when I do the carbonation makes my throat burn and my eyes water. I have to let it get pretty much completely flat before I can take more than a tiny sip.
I can't fall asleep to movies that have shooting and lots of yelling in them. That's saying something because I pretty much fall asleep during every other movie.
I LOVE Frasier ha! I watch it pretty much every night!
I really don't like watching sports on TV but I love to watch them in person.
When I get bored I make lots and lots of lists!
Cereal is one my favorite things to eat. I really could eat it all the time!
I actually just really like breakfast foods. We have breakfast for dinner all the time and french toast is my favorite food!
I am a morning person! I love to wake up early even on the weekends and get stuff done! Or even just be awake and watch TV (I love watching re-runs of Saved By The Bell and Fresh Prince) for a while. It's just so quiet in the mornings and I love it.
I love rainy days! I don't want it to rain every day or anything but a nice rainy day once in a while is awesome! I love thunderstorms too!
I really really enjoy cleaning!!
I hate certain noises like people eating crunchy food or chewing gum loud. I can't stand listening to other people eat cereal either haha! Poor Taylor... he has to make sure he eats at the same time as me or I just go upstairs while he's eating or turn up the TV pretty loud haha :)
I have a scar looking thing that goes all the way up the center of my stomach and I have no idea why it is there. I remember going to the pool one summer when I was in 4th or 5th grade and it was just there. When I get tan it stays bright white and looks funny haha!
I love to pop my fingers and Taylor's haha!
My knees crack whenever I bend them all the way and then stand up! I think it's a problem haha...
I love room service. I know a lot of times it doesn't even taste that great but I just love someone bringing my food to me and being able to eat in bed haha! It's the best!!

Day 22- A letter to someone who has hurt me recently.

2011-03-01T15:05:00.000-07:00

Once again I'm going to cheat on this one. Nobody has really hurt me recently so instead enjoy the lyrics to a song that applies so well to somebody in my life. :)

You, with your words like knives and swords and weapons that you use against me

You have knocked me off my feet again, got me feeling like a nothing

You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard calling me out when I'm wounded

You, picking on the weaker man

Well you can take me down with just one single blow

But you don't know what you don't know

Chorus

Someday I'll be living in a big ole city

And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me

And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Why you gotta be so mean

You, with your switching sides and your wildfire lies and your humiliation

You have pointed out my flaws again, as if I don't already see them

I walk with my head down trying to block you out cause I'll never impress you

I just wanna feel okay again

I bet you got pushed around

Somebody made you cold

But the cycle ends right now cause you can't lead me down that road

And you don't know what you don't know

Repeat Chorus

And I can see you years from now in a bar

Talking over a football game

With that same big loud opinion

But nobody's listening

Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things

Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing

But all you are is mean

All you are is mean

And a liar and pathetic and alone in life

And mean, and mean, and mean

But someday I'll be living in a big ole city

And all you're ever gonna be is mean, yeah

Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me

And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Why you gotta be so mean

Someday I'll be living in a big ole city

And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Why you gotta be so mean

Someday I'll be big enough so you can't hit me

And all you're ever gonna be is mean

Why you gotta be so mean

Day 20 & 21

2011-02-28T20:44:00.000-07:00

Day 20: The Meaning Behind My Blog Name...

There really is no meaning behind my blog name. It's just my name and my husbands. The quote on my header is from a Nickelback song! So I'm skipping ahead to Day 21 - A picture of something that makes me happy! I couldn't pick just one!

This guy makes me happier than anything :)

This adorable girl can always make me smile!

Along with this cute little boy!!

My favorite movie

And puppies!! Especially Miniature Boston Terriers!

Day 19: Another Picture of me!

2011-02-27T18:08:00.000-07:00

I really don't have any pictures of just me! This is the most recent! We had some pictures taken recently and I made Taylor get one by himself so I got one by myself too!

Day 18

2011-02-26T12:44:00.000-07:00

Something I crave a lot...

Day 17: A photo of my family

2011-02-25T08:49:00.000-07:00

Day 16: My Celebrity Crush

2011-02-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

Ever since The Proposal he has been my celebrity crush :)

Taylor really doesn't mind. He's in some upcoming movie that Taylor wants to see so it's a win/win for both of us!

Day 15: Something I don't leave the house without

2011-02-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

My answer is the same as probably everyone else. I never leave my house without my phone!

Day 14: A TV show you're currently addicted to..

2011-02-20T08:33:00.002-07:00

Yes... The Bachelor. I haven't actually watched this show in years! I did a little bit back in high school but then I just never got in to it. Thanks to Chelsie having us over on Tuesday nights my love for this show is back! I look forward to it every week!! Thanks a lot Chelsie ;)

Day 13: My Favorite Musician

2011-02-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

This really won't surprise anyone. ha! Taylor Swift is by far my favorite musician. It blows my mind how talented she is. She has such a gift when it comes to writing songs. She is totally relatable too! Who can't think of somebody when they are singing "You Belong With Me", or "Teardrops on My Guitar", or "Mean" haha :) I listen to her music so much that Taylor could probably sing all of her songs too :) I cannot wait for her concert!!!!!

Day 12: A Picture of the town I live in..

2011-02-18T08:28:00.000-07:00

I don't have any pictures that I have taken of Cache Valley, so I stole one from the internet :) I have lived here my whole life and I love it. With Taylor graduating in May I have no idea where we will be a year from now. I'd be so happy to stay here, but would love a change since the farthest move I made was from Millville to North Logan once I got married haha :) I guess we'll see!

Day 11

2011-02-17T16:51:00.001-07:00

What's in your make up bag?

I have a lot of stuff in my make up bag!

I don't want to go through every thing, so I picked out my favorites!

My Face

Olay Complete: My favorite face lotion! I've been using it since I can remember!

Prep+Prime: This stuff makes such a difference with foundation. I highly recommend it!

MAC Mineralize SatinFinish SPF 15 Foundation: I recently switched over to this foundation and I really love it! It has a light coverage and lasts all day!

MAC Mineralize SkinFinish Bronzer: I love the way this bronzer looks!

MAC Mineralize SkinFinish Blush in Gentle: I love this color! It's the perfect pink!

MAC Powder Blush in Sunbasque: This is a great blush too! It's more of a brownish color so it's super natural and kind of acts as blush and bronzer

My Eyes

Urban Decay Eye Primer: This stuff is so amazing! Completely life changing haha! It keeps my eyeshadow from creasing all day. It also makes the colors more vibrant!

MAC Technakohl Liner: This lasts all day and doesn't smear.

MAC Eyshadow in Satin Taupe: I really think this is a great color for everyone! I really like the way it looks with the next eyshadow..

MAC Eyeshadow in Seedy Pearl: I love this one too! It's a great pink that isn't too bright!

CoverGirl Lash Blast Fusion: This is my favorite mascara in the world! I haven't tried any other mascara since I started using this

MAC 224 Tapered Blending Brush: This has become one of my favorite eye brushes!

Revlon Eyeshadow: This is one of my favorite color combo's!!!

Day 10

2011-02-15T23:00:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Place to Eat... This is the easiest post in the world. I could eat Costa Vida and never get sick of it!! YUM!

Love Day

2011-02-14T21:36:00.001-07:00

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Taylor and I started our Valentine's Celebrations last Monday. Taylor knew he had to work tonight so we went to Elements. It was delicious! Then on Friday Taylor wanted to go to dinner to give me my present a little early (and those who know me will know that I didn't argue with that at all!) so we went to a place I had been craving for a few days, Angie's! It was super delicious! And Taylor did a wonderful job with my present! These pictures are off my phone so they suck!

Tonight I decided I wanted to do something for Taylor so I decided to run and grab some steaks and cook him dinner! Yes, I cook dinner for Taylor pretty much every night so this wasn't anything new, but I have never, ever, ever tried making steak before and that is Taylor's favorite food. I also wanted to make some sweets so I started with delicious caramel popcorn..

And then got a little carried away. You can't really see but I also made a cookie dough pie and put out Taylor's favorite candy, Kazoozles!

Then as I was getting ready to start the steaks I realized I had no idea how to season a steak. This was a lot of pressure for me because Taylor's little brother Tanner is the best at steaks! With the help of Google and just checking out what we had at our house I made my own mix and Taylor LOVED it! I am seriously so proud of myself haha!

I didn't get a chance to take a picture of the steaks all done. Taylor ate it in about .02 seconds, which made me very happy!

I'm not really the worlds biggest fan of Valentine's Day, I don't need a day set aside to celebrate our love, I do every day, but it is such a good day to reflect on how lucky I am to have such a great husband. He is my everything and I really can't imagine my life with out him. He makes me laugh all the time. He is always making me feel special and taking care of me. I love him so much!

Day 9

2011-02-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

The most recent thing I have purchased...

Groceries! Haha soo exciting! :)

Day 8

2011-02-13T09:22:00.000-07:00

I'm currently listening to this CD... it's pretty much all I listen to haha!

Day 7

2011-02-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

My dream wedding....hmm I don't really think about this since I am already married and that was my dream wedding because I married the man of my dreams :) But I would have to say I would have loved it if I got married in Hawaii!

Day 6

2011-02-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

I really need to have one of these as a pet!!! It is my dream!

Day 5

2011-02-10T08:44:00.000-07:00

A picture of myself from two years ago!

Day 4

2011-02-09T20:55:00.000-07:00

This one is pretty obvious... my best friend, without a doubt is Taylor. He really is my favorite person in the world! We talk about everything, do everything together, and he even pretends like he's interested in my girly shows :)

Then there's these girls... We've been friends for the longest time and even though sometimes we go a long time without talking they still mean the world to me!

Haha I had to include this picture! We were SO weird!

I really have so many great friends in my life right now. It's so great to have each and every one of you in my life! I really appreciate all of you!

Day 3

2011-02-07T18:42:00.012-07:00

Instead of a perfect first date, I'm going to my perfect date with Taylor.

My dream date would be waking up to breakfast in bed (french toast, of course) and then hidden among all the food would be tickets. They would be plane tickets to Orlando, Florida so we could go to Disneyworld! This date would have to last about a week because I need at least that much time there. Oh and Taylor would of course let me buy lots of Cinderella stuff :). So since Valentines day is coming up I think this is pretty reasonable to ask for. Ha!

A more realistic date though, is one we do all the time. I love when we just go out to dinner and come home and watch a movie or play games. I love when Taylor and I can just spend time together without any distractions or things we have to do! Those are the best nights!!

Day 2 & St. George

2011-02-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

On Monday I was sitting at work and let my mind start wandering. I knew Nykell was going to have her first performance that Friday. My mom was planning on going down for it, but since I had work I wasn't going to be able to go. That's when I started thinking that maybe, just maybe, I could take Friday off and go with my mom. Once I got the idea of seeing Nykell and Carter in my head I knew I had to go. I got Friday off and so my mom, dad, and I headed to St George early Friday morning. Taylor had to work, so he wasn't able to come with us. It was such a fun trip, but it was way too fast.

Friday when we got there Nykell was waiting by the window for us. She was soo excited to see us! She showed us all her toys and everything new that she has.

My mom knit some slippers for her and carter so she had to put them on right away!

She even let me come in her "castle".

Carter is getting SO big! I can't believe how much he changes every time we see him! He loves Papa!

We went for a walk shortly after getting there and Nykell got to ride on Papa's shoulders!

And Carter slept :)

Nykell was dancing during halftime of a basketball game. Carter loved to watch them play and wouldn't take his eyes off of them!

Nykell did so good! It is so fun to watch her dance! She is going to be an amazing dancer!

After watching her dance we headed to go get dinner, so I'm doing day 2, just a day late. We ate at Smashburger! I had a hamburger, of course! I didn't take a picture so I just grabbed one online!

This morning we woke up and hung out for just a little bit before heading home. It was such a quick trip but it was completely worth it! I can't wait to see them again!

Day 1

2011-02-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty good day. I woke up and went to work as usual. I have tomorrow off so that always makes work better! I came home from work and started cleaning a bit then got a nice surprise; Taylor got to come home from work early! The building he works in flooded! That's not good for the people that own the building, but great for me because I get to spend more time with Taylor, which I always love! The relief society presidency stopped by for a bit and now I'm going to watch Breakfast at Tiffany's with Taylor. It doesn't get much better!

Blog Challenge

2011-02-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

Since I have pretty much nothing to blog about lately, I figure I will try this blog challenge! I'll try my best to stick to it!

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

Day 2- A photo of something you ate today.

Day 3- Your idea of the perfect first date.

Day 4-Your favorite photograph of your best friend.

Day 5- A photo of yourself two years ago.

Day 6- A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.

Day 7- Your dream wedding.

Day 8- A song to match your mood.

Day 9- A photo of the item you last purchased.

Day 10- A photo of your favorite place to eat.

Day 11-What's in your makeup bag?

Day 12- A photograph of the town you live in.

Day 13- Your favorite musician and why?

Day 14- A TV show you're currently addicted to.

Day 15- Something you don't leave the house without.

Day 16- Your celebrity crush.

Day 17- A photo of you and your family.

Day 18- Something you crave a lot.

Day 19- Another picture of yourself.

Day 20- The meaning behind your blog name.

Day 21- A photo of something that makes you happy.

Day 22- A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.

Day 23- 15 facts about you.

Day 24- A photo of something that means a lot to you.

Day 25- What's in your purse?

Day 26- A photo of somewhere you've been to.

Day 27- A picture of you last year and now and how you've changed since then?

Day 28- Your favorite movie.

Day 29- Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 30- A photograph of yourself today and 3 good things that have happened in the past.

Primary

2011-01-23T12:06:00.000-07:00

For the past few months Taylor and I have been teaching primary. We taught the 8 year old's. It was such a fun experience for us and I am so grateful that we had the chance to serve in that calling. Last year we had such a fun class. They were very energetic and kept us laughing and we really had a lot of fun. This year our class is very sweet and quiet but they still make us laugh. We have learned so much from teaching them. I think they taught us just as much as we taught them. Today was our last day since we made the decision to switch to the married student ward. We are very excited to make the change and be a part of the new ward, but it's still a little sad knowing we won't get to teach primary anymore. The ward we have been in has been a great ward and we've really enjoyed it but I am looking forward to everything that the new ward will bring!

Car Show

2011-01-16T17:38:00.000-07:00

Taylor officially survived the first week of his final semester. I was sad to let him go back :( I've been way too spoiled over the break being able to spend so much time with him, but luckily we are so close to graduation. We spent a lot of time going to movies, dinner, and just being together since Christmas. We attended the final Jazz game in the package that I got him for Christmas and had a blast again! We really want to get to more games this season and definitely next season!

This weekend Taylor and I stopped by the car show at the South Towne Expo Center. We go every year and I love it and of course Taylor does! We saw some cool cars there and we're glad we went!

My Favorite Car!

Taylor's Favorite

Another beautiful car!

After we finished up there we tried Rodizio Grill. We both really enjoyed it and we both had SO much food. Taylor even dared to try the chicken hearts... maybe next time I will ha!

2010 in review

2010-12-31T10:02:00.001-07:00

January

Taylor and I brought in the new year in Salt Lake.
I threw a baby shower for my sister in law Alex.

February

We spent pretty much every Sunday at my moms for breakfast or dinner and got to spend lots of time with Nykell.

March

Tanner got his mission call.
We celebrated lots of birthdays!
Harold was awarded the USU Distinguished Alumni Award.

After a last minute decision I flew out to L.A. with Kenzie to spend the weekend with Morgan and help her move back.

April

Taylor started his internship with Northwestern Mutual
We got to spend a lot of time with Nykell. Alex had gone in to labor almost 2 months early. They were able to stop it but she needed to stay down and relax so Nykell spent a lot of time with us.
Carter Russell Munson was born on April 30th.

May

Taylor and I went to Hawaii. Best vacation ever.

June

I turned the big 20! haha! We spent the night in Salt Lake and went to see Jerry Seinfeld. It was awesome! We got to stay at the Grand America which was amazing!
We tried teaching me how to play tennis better a lot this month. One day I'll dominate Taylor :)

July

I spent the 24th of July weekend in Park City with my family. Unfortunately Taylor was in Wisconsin.
Taylor went to Wisconsin for the annual meeting for Northwestern Mutual.
Tanner was supposed to leave on his mission the first of July, but his Visa never came. He had to wait two weeks to go, which ended up being the same week Taylor was in Wisconsin. I was still able to go when he was set apart, but I wasn't able to go with to take him to the MTC.

August

Nykell turned 3! We had a party for her at the splash pad!
Taylor and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary. Two amazing years:)
Taylor turned 22!
We went on a last minute mini vacation to Denver. It was such a fun trip and I love the Denver area!

September

Taylor and I were sealed :) It was an amazing day!

October

Taylor and I spent a weekend in Park City. We did the Alpine Slide and of course stopped by the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.
That same weekend we attended General Conference. That was a neat experience.
Taylor's friend Karl got married and we were lucky enough to attend the sealing and luncheon.
Right after the luncheon we drove down to St. George to spend the weekend with Trav, Alex, Nykell and Carter.

November

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in St. George.

December

Taylor and I got to go to the Jazz vs Heat game. It was a blast!
We watched lots and lots of Christmas movies!
Taylor's very good friend Matt Anderson got married. We attended the sealing, luncheon and reception. It was a wonderful day!
We obviously celebrated Christmas with both families.

It was such a fun year for us! It really flew by!! I can't wait to see what adventures the new year brings us!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T11:03:00.001-07:00

Taylor and I had a wonderful Christmas this year. I don't have very many pictures loaded on to my computer yet, sorry! We decided since Christmas was going to be a busy day for us that we would open our presents to each other on Christmas Eve. Taylor did an amazing job with my gifts! I'm a lucky girl!

We had Christmas Eve dinner with Taylor's Family. We had a delicious meal! After we ate Taylor and I opened our presents from them. They were very good to us and I'm so grateful! We brought dinner to Ruth and Harold (Taylor's dad's parents) and visited with them for a bit. It was good to spend some time with them! They are so sweet! We headed back to Taylor's parents house and watched Christmas with the Kranks. It was pretty cute!

We woke up on Christmas morning and headed over to my parents for Christmas breakfast and presents. My mom has a tradition where we have to wear Christmas hats while we eat breakfast and open presents. It makes for some fun pictures haha! My parents got us Kindle's and we are obsessed! Taylor and I have done a lot of reading in the past 3 days.

We went back to Taylor's parents to set up everything to call Tanner. It was so good to talk to him and it sounds like he is doing well and loving the mission. We got to hear him bear his testimony is Portuguese, that was really neat. We are all so proud of him, but we miss him a lot! We had lunch there after talking to him and then headed home. Taylor and I were pretty exhausted and so we slept for a couple hours! We watched a Christmas Story, again :). I love that movie! We read our Kindles some more and just relaxed. It was a really good day!

Last night Taylor and I finally made a trip down to see the lights at Temple Square. It was so pretty and a fun date night. After seeing the lights Taylor and I went to see Tron. We had to see it in IMAX 3D, of course.. :). I realized that the lights was the last Christmas thing we will do until next year. Christmas went by too fast!!

Thanksgiving

2010-12-01T09:08:00.000-07:00

Taylor and I have always celbrated Thanksgiving with both of our families. Every year we have done it all in one day. We would start out at his Grandma's and eat a little bit of food there, then head to my parents and eat a little more. That was the plan this year too, but just a week or so before Thanksgiving we decided that we would spend it in St. George with my family. Trav and Alex weren't going to be able to come up and we know that they won't be up for Christmas so we all decided to go down to their house. Since we knew we wouldn't be able to spend Thanksgiving with Taylor's family we did a Thanksgiving dinner the Sunday before which was fun! Then on Wednesday night Taylor and I left and my parents headed down with my Grandma Thursday morning. Tammy and Larry were nice enough to let us stay at Larry's house down in Hurricane which we really appreciated!!

Thursday morning we headed over to Trav and Alex's so I could start baking the rolls and of course spend time with Nykell and Carter. Carter is such a freaking chunker!! So cute! Nykell is as cute as ever and soooo much fun! We unloaded our car which was full of all the presents since we decided to have the kids open their Christmas presents early so we could be there when they did. I brought in the wrapping paper and Nykell instantly started playing with it. She thought it was so fun to have Taylor talk to her through the roll.

After playing with Nykell for a little bit Taylor and Carter were worn out haha :)

My parents came and we finished up all the cooking and sat down to eat. The food was delicious!!! Alex made the turkey. It was her first time and it was delicious! I was very impressed!! After dinner we set up the tree and opened up the presents. We had to put Carter in the outfit I brought for him, because it is so true. He loves me :)

We got Nykell a hippity-hop. She wasn't sure what to do at first but she caught on pretty quick and loved it. It had princesses on the front so of course she loved that.

Next up was Carter. We got him a v-tech book that reads and sings to you. He loves it!

Nykell also got something pretty awesome from Grandma. I have a Cinderella castle from when I was little at my moms that she loves to play with, so my mom got her one of her own. She had so much fun playing with it. She was really protective of it at first and wouldn't let anyone play castle with her but eventually she decided to share with us! Especially Papa. It plays music and he had to be a ballerina whenever it played. Good entertainment :)

Then of course we had to do our Black Friday shopping. Taylor wanted to go to Wal Mart at midnight so we tried to get an hour of sleep in before we left. I decided to just stay behind while Taylor went though haha so he braved the cold and went and got the things he wanted and came back. Then he tried to get another hour of sleep in for Kohls. He wasn't taking no for an answer about me coming to that one haha no matter what I tried he made me get out of bed. Since we had to drive from Hurricane to Washington to get to Kohls (and the fact that I didn't get out of bed til 2:50) we were a little late getting there and by the time we got there the line was literally wrapped around the store so we decided nothing that we wanted was worth waiting in line for and left. We bought some time at WalMart again while waiting to go to Best Buy. When Taylor decided he was ready to go wait in line I dropped him off and left to get us some hot chocolate. That meant that I didn't have to stand it line which I was super happy about. Best Buy was a breeze. We got what we wanted and we were out of there in 15 minutes! Pretty sweet!! After that we headed back and slept for a little bit.

I had to get up early to go to a few more stores with everyone else in the morning. We went to a cute botique and got cute purses, then hit a few more stores. When I got back Taylor was awake so we went to Samuri 21. DELICIOUS!! We did a little shopping ourselves then went back to Trav and Alex's. We hung out with the kids and just played some more. We all went to dinner at Five Guy's that night then hung out until the kids fell asleep. On Saturday Taylor and I cleaned up the house and headed to Trav and Alex's to say bye to everyone. I wanted to stay an extra day but I'm glad we beat the snow home. It was so fun to spend Thanksgiving in St. George! I'm glad we got to go!

St. George

2010-10-20T20:02:00.000-06:00

This past weekend Taylor and I went to St. George to see my niece and nephew. They moved down in August and I've missed them soo much since! It was so good to see them again!! It was a quick weekend trip but so worth it!

Park City & General Conference

2010-10-07T17:26:00.000-06:00

This last weekend Taylor and I stayed in Park City. We had tickets to the Sunday afternoon session of Conference so we decided we would make a weekend out of it! We got to stay at the Westgate Resort at The Canyons. It was sooo nice! It had a steam shower, which is where I spent probably 55% of my time! I need one of those in my next house!!!

Taylor and I headed down on Saturday and stopped for lunch at Benihana. We sat by this family that drove us CRAZY!! They were SO picky with their food and kept making the chef do all sorts of stuff for them. They complained about everything and forgot how to use indoor voices haha! Other than that it was a good experience! The food was delicious as always!

After that we did some shopping at The Gateway then headed to Park City to check in. After touring the room we headed to the Alpine Slide. It's been quite a while since I've done that and it was a blast!!! Although, it took me a minute to get used to the lift. I'm not a skiier/snowboarder so I never ride lifts and I'm not really a fan!

We stopped at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and got some treats before heading back to the hotel. We're pretty boring and just stayed in the hotel the rest of the night. The next morning we toured some more of the resort before checking out. We headed down to conference and met up with Taylor's friends that went as well. We needed to get lunch so we stopped at one of the taco stands set up right by Temple Square. I was super nervous to eat it to be honest haha but it turned out ok!

Conference was amazing! I love being able to go to the conference center and feel the strong spirit that is there. All of the talks were amazing... even if I may have dozed of for one...or maybe two? haha :) But it really was awesome and I am so grateful that we had that opportunity!!

Sealed :)

2010-09-18T21:55:00.000-06:00

Just today Taylor and I were sealed in the Logan temple! It was amazing!!! I am so grateful for Taylor and I am so glad we will be together forever :)

I am so grateful for everyone who was there!! It meant the world to us!!!

Denver

2010-08-29T17:58:00.001-06:00

Taylor and I decided to take a quick trip to Denver to have a little get away and to check out the city we could possibly call home in about a year. We flew out Wednesday morning and since it's only about an hour flight that left us the whole day to do stuff. We started out our Denver experience at 16th Street Mall. It's pretty much a whole street with shops which was awesome! After we finished shopping there we headed back to our hotel to check in. It was pretty much dinner time at that point so we headed down to do a little more shopping at the Cherry Creek Mall. That mall was awesome! It had great stores! There was a great restaurant near the mall so we ate dinner there.

The next morning we headed to lower downtown to try a place called Snooze. If you are ever in Denver you absolutely have to eat here! It was AMAZING!

I got the Cinnful Pancakes (Buttermilk pancakes with white chocolate chips, cinnamon butter, and topped with caramel)

Taylor got the Smore's French Toast (French Toast topped with marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers)

After that we walked around downtown a little bit then we went to the Denver Art Museum and saw the King Tut Exhibit. Obviously pictures aren't allowed but it was awesome to see that! It's all so interesting! We walked around the rest of the museum then outside to see the capitol then stopped for lunch before heading to Boulder.

We stopped at Pearl Street to do some shopping (Denver area has lots of shopping!) then drove to see what could possibly be Taylor's future school.

It seems like a really nice campus and would be a great school for Taylor. It was really nice to see the campus and get an idea of the surrounding areas! After seeing the campus we headed back to Denver for dinner. We found an awesome steakhouse to eat at. We read about some outlet malls back at our hotel so we decided to go check those out. Of course I love outlet malls and had a blast! They had lots of great stores there too!

Friday was Taylor's birthday! For his birthday he wanted to drive to Pikes Peak. I was a little bit terrified of the huge cliffs but it was worth it at the top.

The turns were insane!!! It was beautiful though!!

That night we went to dinner at a little restaurant on Larimer square. It's a way cute street that they light up at night.

We had tickets to a Rockie's game for Taylor's birthday so we headed to that next. It was fun to watch them play even though they lost!

We spend the next day at WaterWorld. It was awesome!!!!!! We spent pretty much our whole day there and still didn't get to go on all the rides! I am so glad we went there! After showering and getting ready to go again we hit up the outlet malls to get some things we still wanted and then headed to a little Japanese restaurant for dinner.

It was a quick trip but I am so glad we went! There's a lot to do in Denver and obviously tons of shopping! It was nice to see the area we might end up living in and get a feel for it. I hope to go back even if we don't!

Birthday Girl!

2010-08-24T19:06:00.000-06:00

August 20th was our Niece Nykell's birthday! She turned 3 this year! I can't believe how fast time has flown by! She is sooo big now!!!

Friday night we had ice cream and brownies and opened the presents from my side of the family at my moms and Saturday was her birthday party! Alex had a great idea to have it at the splash pad and it was perfect!!! She had a Dora themed party and it turned out soo cute!

Number 2!

2010-08-22T08:11:00.001-06:00

Taylor and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary yesterday! I can't believe it's already been two years!!! I am so lucky to have Taylor in my life! I cant wait to see what the next years hold!!!!

Hahaha such an old picture!! Pretty much sums Taylor up.... haha ;)

24th of July Weekend

2010-08-10T21:32:00.000-06:00

This is way late but oh well! Over the 24th of July my family got a condo in Park City and we spent the weekend down there. Spence was visiting for a couple weeks so it was fun to spend some time with him!! Taylor had to go to Wisconsin for work and since we got to Park City at 11:00 we basically went to bed and he woke up and headed to the airport. The girls headed to the outlet malls while the boys went mountain biking in the morning. I love the outlet malls! Especially Harry & David! Yum! After some shopping we headed back to the condo for lunch then my mom, dad, and I walked to Main Street and did some shopping there! Trav and Alex walked up with Carter and Nykell and of course we had to stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and get a treat! Nykell was sleeping on the walk up but she woke up in time too see the big moose!

We got to go to a free concert that night at one of the resorts. To be honest I was freaked out a little because it was a little different music but it was a fun experience!!! I'm glad we went!!

We went back to the hotel and hung out in the hot tub which Nykell LOVED! We pretty much spent the majority of the night in the hot tub other than dinner! It was a quick little get away but I'm so glad I got to spend time with my family and keep busy while Taylor was away!

Taylor's brother Tanner was supposed to leave to the Brazil MTC on July 13th. Only a few days before that he found out he wasn't going to get his passport in time. We figured we would just take him to the Provo MTC on the 14th. Two nights before we were supposed to take him he found out that there was no room for Portuguese speaking missionaries in the Provo MTC. He was so ready to go! We found out he would go on July 28th which meant Taylor would be in Wisconsin when Tanner got set apart as well as dropped off at the MTC. He ended up saying by to Tanner on the Thursday before he left to go to annual meeting.

I still got to go over when he was set apart but had to work when they dropped him off at the MTC. We're so excited and so proud of him. It's going to be an awesome experience and he's going to be a great missionary!!!

Sundays

2010-07-04T21:06:00.000-06:00

The past few Sunday's we have headed to my mom's after church for dinner! Last Sunday we roasted hot dogs and made S'mores and this Sunday we had a bbq! It's always delicious food and lots of fun!

My Dad getting the fire going!

She's always exploring!

Taking a big bite of the S'more

She even shared!

I don't have any pictures from today other than these of Carter! He gets to be our model baby all the time!!

Just chillin on the Harley!

In the saddle pack haha!

I suck

2010-06-30T20:55:00.000-06:00

So I have this blog post about posting more often and it's been how long?! I feel like we've been so busy but at the same time I feel like we've done nothing at all. I celebrated the big 20! I got off work early but Taylor had to study so after going out to lunch together I dropped him off at home and did some shopping on my own. Later that night we went to dinner with his family at Texas Roadhouse! It was so sweet of them! After dinner Taylor and I went to Summer Fest! My family celebrated fathers day and my brithday together! My mom made yummy bacon wrapped shrimp and pasta salad! Yummy! Also, I missed the fathers day post but I do have the BEST dad in the world! He is the sweetest guy and I appreciate everything he has done and still does for me!

And of course happy fathers day to Taylor's dad! We miss him a lot and I know he was a great dad to Taylor!
***Insert picture here...I don't have one on my computer****

Other than that I don't know where to start with what we've been up to so I'll just let the pictures do the talking...

Picking flowers!

Flowers for Grandma

My mom and Grandma

Papa and the cutest baby Carter!

Grillin!

Opening Presents

Again!

I took Nykell swimming!

Cheese!

Isn't he absolutely adorable?!

Feeding the ducks

The rest of our weekend!

2010-06-16T22:16:00.001-06:00

Two blog posts in two days.. weird I know! But this weekend I realized how important/special memories can be not only to you, but to family. Saturday after heading back from Salt Lake we went up to Taylors mom's to play tennis at their tennis court. We got their and after walking into their office I was looking up at the shelves like always and noticed the family movies that always sit there. Well I've been thinking about how all I really know about Taylor's dad is the stories I hear, and I've never heard his voice or seen him move, so I figured this would be a good way to take care of this. We borrowed them and I spend the rest of the evening after that watching the home videos. I got to watch Taylor celebrate his 15th birthday and hear him say "Whoa!! Sweet!!" About every present hahaha! I got to hear his dad talk, see him walk, and watch his mannerisms which are ridiculously similar to Taylor's. It was awesome!

Anyway, after that we headed out to Taylor's friend TJ's warehouse and played laser tag and then watched a movie there. It was a way fun night, even though we had some major issues popping popcorn. Ya know, cause that's soo hard!

Sunday morning we headed to Taylor's moms to feed the horses again (They were on vacation). We played some tennis while we were there and we decided to take a little break. We walked down to the basement and we noticed Taylor's dad's journals. Taylor started reading some and telling me things, and I even read a little bit. This is the reason I really want to do better with my journal and this blog. I don't write on pen and paper but I have a private blog that nobody has access to but me as my journal and I have this blog. It was so neat to read his thoughts and feelings. It made him real for me, which sounds silly, but in between the videos and journal it made me realize he was a real person instead of just a memory. I really hope that one day, when I'm gone that people can see my pictures, my home videos, and see how real I was. My Parents came to play tennis that evening but only for a short bit. After they left we did as well.

Monday we played tennis again and I played with my camera and took some pictures of Taylor hitting some balls! (I definitely still need lots more practice) Thank goodness for the ball machine that meant I could play photographer instead of tennis :) We've gotten in to tennis big time the last little bit!

Birthday Celebration

2010-06-15T12:08:00.000-06:00

My birthday isn't til Friday, but Taylor and I have already celebrated multiple times haha! He gave me one of my birthday presents the first week of June haha! I was lucky enough to recieve this...

I have had a blast praciticing and learning with this! It's the perfect starter DSLR! I have been looking at these for a while and was getting ready to buy one so it was an awesome surprise! (By the way, none of the pictures on this post were taken with this haha it takes much better pictures) That night we baked a cake and had a little mini celebration since I already opened my present! And besides, I'll find any excuse to bake a cake!

Then, this last weekend Taylor and I headed down to Salt Lake to attend the Jerry Seinfeld Comedy Show. We spent the night at this amazing hotel...

We headed down Friday evening and got to our hotel a little later then we hoped, but it actually worked out perfectly. Our bellhop asked why we were in Salt Lake and we told him that we were going to the Jerry Seinfeld show. He told us to hold on for a minute and we sat down on some couches in the lobby. We heard lots of people laughin in the elevator and sure enough there is Jerry Seinfeld!!!! I'm pretty sure Taylor nearly died and I was pretty stoked too! He walked right past us!! We went up to our room and it was AMAZING! We stayed in the Executive Suite which was huge!!!

I love bathtubs!

Amazing view!

I locked taylor out :)

We finally headed off to the show which we loved! Jerry Seinfeld is hysterical!! After that we were starved since we missed dinner so we walked down to Olive Garden and ate there before heading back to our hotel.

This was the first guy.. the pictures turned out awful ( i really should have brought my new camera) but he is the host of The Marriage Ref! We found him much funnier this night then on the show!

Then of course Jerry :)

The next morning we got up and took our time leaving the hotel! I didn't want to go! We headed down to the gateway and did some shopping there. We made sure to stop at the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory for treats.

After the gateway we went to Nordtrom's Rack. We shopped around then ate at Five Guys. It was Taylor's first time and sure enough he loved it!

We had to head home to feed Taylor's parents horses so we left after that but it was an awesome weekend that's for sure!!

99 Things

2010-06-10T20:47:00.000-06:00

99 Things I have done

To participate just copy and paste in your own blog, and bold all of the things you have done.

1. Started your own blog

2. Slept under the stars

3. Played in a band

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower

6. Given more than you can afford to charity

7. Been to Disneyland

8. Climbed a mountain

9. Held a praying mantis

10. Sang a solo

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train

21. Had a pillow fight

22. Hitch hiked

23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb

26. Gone skinny dipping

27. Ran a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38.Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing

40. Seen Michelangelo's David

41. Sung karaoke

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling

52. Kissed in the rain.

53. Played in the mud

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car.

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.

88. Had chickenpox

89. Saved someone's life.

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous

92. Joined a book club

93. Lost a loved one.

94. Had a baby

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone

99. Been stung by a bee

10 Things

2010-05-28T08:46:00.000-06:00

Thanks Raquel!!!

Terms of this award: must list 10 thing about yourself, thank the person who gave you this award, and pass it on to 10 wonderful bloggers.

1. I am obsessed with Fringe!!!! I love that show!!!!

2. I tried asparagus for the first time last Saturday. Not too bad... as long as it is made just the way it was that time!

3. Taylor and I had a dog once, but it only lasted for about 3 days :( Taylor is very allergic!!

4. When I fall asleep I have to be touching Taylor somehow. Usually with my feet! When he's gone it takes me a long time to fall asleep since I obviously can't touch him.

5. I also can't cuddle up with Taylor on the couch to watch TV with out falling asleep. I always do!

6. I am a total morning person now! I used to hate waking up early, but now it seems like sleeping in means sleeping until 8am!

7. When I eat ice cream I always put WAY too much caramel on just so I can eat it straight after the ice cream is gone :)

8. I always write lists! It's a good feeling when I can cross things off!

9. I always plan out what Taylor and I will eat. We have a calendar with the meals for everyday of the month. We don't always stick to it exactly, but it makes my life and grocery shopping SO much easier!

10. I could eat a Costa Vida sweet pork salad every day for the rest of my life and be competely happy!

I tag: Kenzie, Elaine, Alexa, Sheri, Noelle, Carly, Natalie, Heather, Mindy, and Brittney!

Hawaii Part 3

2010-05-23T22:25:00.001-06:00

The next day we were there we headed to Waimea Valley and "hiked" to the waterfall. It's really just a paved trail but it's really pretty!! They have tons of endangered and unique plants. I love all the flowers in Hawaii! All their plants are so pretty!

I loved the berries in the last picture. They are so cool! You can see a little berry in the background but they explode in to these awesome fuzzballs!

After Waimea Valley we headed to Pearl Harbor which was an awesome experience!

We didn't take a lot of pictures here though, but it was way awesome!!!

We did a little shopping at their mall before heading back to our hotel. Once we got back we hurried to dinner to make it in time for our reservations. We ate really early so that we could make sure we could enjoy the sunset. We sat on the beach and just watched the sun go down!

We walked over to the other side of the resort and hung out on that beach for the rest of the night. I really miss having nothing to do and no where to go. It was so awesome being able to hang out on the beach all night!

The next day we didn't bring our camera around with us much. We woke up early and spend our morning out on our balcony, then went down to the beach. We went to our favorite place called Kahuku Grill again for lunch. It was SOO good. We went on a drive to see the rest of the north shore and found some pretty beaches! After our drive we went snorkeling. We absolutely loved it! It was so different then what I expected! It was so relaxing!

We decided since we were already wet we would go down the slide at our hotel haha! It was just a little kids one but hey, we can say we did it :)

(Taylor coming down)

We showered and decided to go on their Green Trail walk. You get to walk past the barn and see the horses, then along the beach, through to a world war II bunker, then to a really cool beach. On the way there we found a dead eel. It was just fantastic and lovely....

The rest of the walk was really pretty though!

For dinner that night we used our handy Iphones and found a good restaurant close by. It had awesome reviews and was supposed to be "the best shrimp EVER". It was actually, very, very good. Only problem, it came on our plate looking like this..

I'm dead serious, just the whole dang shrimp! I made Taylor remove all the heads before I would even look. Ugh... traumatic. It was very good though once I forced myself to forget what I had just seen!! Of course since it was our last night there we spent the rest of our night on the beach again watching the sunset!

The next day we woke up, headed to the airport and flew home :(. It was a very long day! We had a layover on the way home in LA so our total travel time was like 12 hours. We were pretty happy to be home, but even though we were exhausted from traveling we couldn't fall asleep once we were home! I think I'm still getting used to being home! Anyway, that pretty much sums up our whole trip! It was way too quick and we can't wait to go back soon!!

Polynesian Cultural Center

2010-05-20T20:51:00.001-06:00

The Polynesian Cultural Center was an awesome experience!!! When we first got there we went to see the little parade thing down the canal with all the different cultures. It was way fun!

As soon as that was over we jumped on the tram for a tour of BYU Hawaii campus and to see the temple! It is so beautiful!! It is being renovated, and has been for a while, so nobody was going in.

There were two sister missionaries on the tram and it turns out one of them was from Logan, and also cousins with one of Taylor's really good friend! Small world!!!

We got back to the PCC and went through all the mini shows of the cultures. I forgot to take pictures, oops! After that we went to the luau! It was a way fun experience and so yummy!

Next up was the night show, and that was probably my favorite part! It was way awesome!!!

It was a fun experience!!! We didn't have time to fit everything in there, so I can't wait til we go back!

Hawaii Part 1

2010-05-18T20:21:00.000-06:00

Wednesday morning we took off to Hawaii! I have never been on a flight that long! Thank goodness for individual TV's and free movies!!! It was awesome to fly over the ocean for so long though!

I was already so excited about how beautiful Hawaii was going to be just during landing! The water is so clear!

We finally arrived and Taylor had arranged for us to get lei's when we got off the plane. I was so excited to finally get a real one!

We picked up our rental car, which Taylor was soooo thrilled about...

And we headed off to our hotel. We stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on the north shore of Oahu. This is where I absolutely recommend you stay if you go to Oahu! It was amazing and it felt so much more relaxing than Honolulu or Waikiki. Our resort was awesome! I didn't get a picture of the whole resort but I grabbed one off the internet :)

We got to our room to check it out and saw this...

We fell asleep and woke up to waves crashing every day! I miss it so much!!!!!! Every room has an amazing view of the ocean! You can't go wrong!!!!! We walked around the resort and got familiar with it.
It was seriously so pretty!!!! Pictures do not do it justice!

We were pretty tired because of the 4 hour time difference so we ordered room service and sat on our balcony til we pretty much passed out haha!

We woke up bright and early and headed out to play tennis!

After we finished up tennis we decided to lay out on the beach for a while and enjoy the sun!

After that we headed out to get lunch at a little place called Kahuku Grill! It's a lot like Pounders but even better! We ate there twice and loved it!!!! After lunch we headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. I'll have to cover that in another post! But even by this point in our trip I knew I never wanted to leave!!!!!

Hawaii

2010-05-17T17:10:00.000-06:00

Taylor and I just got back from our trip to Hawaii! It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!! I will definitely have to break it up into a few different posts, but for now enjoy the view from our balcony in our room!

Happy Mothers Day!!!

2010-05-10T14:01:00.000-06:00

I'm a day late but I just wanted to say Happy Mothers Day to my mom!!!! She's amazing, and such a huge support to me!! I don't know what I would do with out her!!!

Thanks for always being there!!!!!!!

Carter Russell Munson

2010-05-01T09:55:00.003-06:00

It's official! Our nephew is finally here! We are so excited!!!! Thursday night about 9:00 I got a call from Trav saying that Alex was having contractions since about 6:42 so they were probably going to bring Nykell over. Of course, since Alex had already been sent home a few times we weren't sure if it would happen or not. They brought Nykell over and I was certain she was going to fall right to sleep. We brought her to bed and shortly after Trav called letting me know they were admitting Alex. As soon as I got that phone call Nykell woke right up. She and I spent the WHOLE night wide awake haha! We watched Cinderella, did the hokie pokie (literally), and waited for a phone call from Trav.

Somewhere around 1:00am Trav asked me to just head up. My grandma was up there so he figured he would just have me come too. At this point Alex had received the epidural and her water had been broken. I called my mom and she was wide awake too, but she was in Layton for a conference. Being the best mom in the world that she is she checked out early and drove home in the middle of the night to come meet her grandson. Nykell was so sad that she couldn't hang out with her mom the whole time and didn't understand why. We kept her entertained for the most part though since she didn't sleep once at the hospital either.

My mom got to the hospital and we had about an hour or so left to wait. We continued to keep Nykell entertained and finally we got the news that Alex would be pushing. Of course this came as soon as we thought to bring a lap top in and play videos for Nykell. She was starting to fall asleep, so we were scared she would fall asleep before he got here. Luckily, just before passed out we saw the door open. Trav and Alex obviously had Nykell be the first one in the room. She RAN in there! She though Carter was "yucky" (that's the first thing she said about him haha) but she sure did love him. She kept yelling to all of us outside "he's ok!!!!", "that's my baby brudder carder"! She was so excited! He even brought her a present! He brought her the big sister shirt she is wearing in all of the pictures.

As soon as they were done doing all the stuff they do to the little guy we got to come in and see him! He is so precious! His cheeks are totally Munson cheeks!!!! Born at 4:48am, he weighed 7lbs and was 19 inches long! He had a bruised face from coming out sideways, but he still was so precious!!!

After we all had a chance to hold him and blind him with camera flashes we headed home. At this point it was about 5:50. Taylor and Nykell fell right to sleep and after sending out some emails to people at work I tried to. I got about an hour of sleep in before I woke up and decided I needed to head in to work for a bit. I'm nuts. I only stayed for about an hour though because man I was tired! I got home and couldn't sleep then either! Too much excitement! I didn't go to sleep until about midnight last night. Terrible.

Nykell woke up around noon so we made breakfast! I made yummy pancake muffins with Nykell and we ate them up and headed to the hospital so she could see Carter again (and me too). She was so excited to go up and see him again! We held him and enjoyed him for about an hour then headed out. We took Nykell to pet Taylor's horses! She has been wanting to forever! We hung out at our house some more, then finally took her to my moms. She stayed there over night while Taylor and I went to see Carter again and hung out with some friends. It was a long, but special day! I am so glad Carter is here! I'm glad I got to spend so much time with Nykell too :) I posted pictures in the post below this since this is already long enough :)

2010-05-01T09:55:00.002-06:00

Such a beautiful family!

Taylor & Carter

Grandma and Carter

Kelly is so proud!

So sweet!

Carter & me!

Helping make the muffins!

Visiting Carter!

Grandma and Carter again!

Late night

2010-04-28T03:03:00.000-06:00

So it is pretty much 3 in the morning and there is no chance of me going back to sleep. Thank goodness for DVR and being behind on shows when this kind of situation arises. It's been a while since I posted so I thought I would fill you in!

Katie - Work, work, and work. Ha! Also, I've been busy with spring cleaning/redecorating. I needed some new wal art and some different changes along with the new season. I was pretty sure that I was going to lose all these new additions thanks to the wind!!! It was insane! Anyway, my mom and I headed down to Ikea and Pier 1 together. We stopped at Five Guys Burger and Fries! I went through a phase where I truly considered opening one in Logan and then kind of got over it!

Taylor - As I mentioned in a previous post Taylor is starting up an internship with Northwestern Mutual. In order to do this he needed to pass his life and health test to sell life insurance. Well, my smarty pants passed on his first try :) I am so proud of him! So if anyone needs life insurance let us know! So as I'm sure you know studying has been the only thing Taylor has done for the past couple weeks. Also, as everyone knows tax season ended which means work at Jackson Hewitt ended. Taylor is so happy not to have to work so late and spend the whole day away from the house in between school and work!

Us - We have been babysitting Nykell, watching her at gymnastics (pic's to come), enjoyed some Fredrico's, and spending any extra time Taylor has together. Good thing the semester ends next week and we'll be together lots more :)

That's pretty much what we've been up to! Thank goodness for Blogger at 3am so I can ramble...!

I need opinions...

2010-04-22T10:40:00.000-06:00

It's time to upgrade my phone! Acutally, way past time but I'm finally getting around to it. I need help deciding on what phone to get....

The iPhone

Or the BlackBerry Curve?

Right now I have the BlackBerry Pearl. It's been a good phone with some problems here and there but I'm so used to it and that part of me wants to stick with what I know nad get the Curve. Taylor has the iPhone and he really likes it. I love to play on it all the time so that makes me want to get that. Does anybody have any advice? Or do any of you have another phone you love?

Easter

2010-04-09T13:18:00.000-06:00

I still cannot believe how cold Easter was this year!! Regardless, we still had a great day! We went to my mom's for lunch and an Easter egg hunt for Nykell!! It was fun to watch her find the eggs!

She has the Army Coat on over her dress... it was cold :) haha!

Look at my Egg! haha!

I've also been pretty lucky and had Nykell sleepover a couple times in the past 2 weeks! Alex went in to labor on the 29th of March, fortunately they were able to stop it but we still want her to stay down and be relaxed so I have had the chance to play with Nykell lots and I love it!!

Watching "Chickamunks" (Alvin and the Chipmunks)

Wearing my boots around!

She always makes me smile :)

Tagged!

2010-04-07T15:08:00.000-06:00

What song has captured your mind lately?

"The Best Day" - Taylor Swift

What TV show do you catch regularly?
Gossip Girl, The Office, Fringe

What book has really engaged you lately?
The last book I read which was Nights in Rodanthe! I need to stop at the library soon!

What movie do you find yourself re-watching?
Breakfast at Tiffany's

What is something that is over-rated lately?
March Madness....

Thank goodness it's OVER!!! Haha!

What is the best kept secret in music you NEED to share?
Uhhh.... ???? I don't know!

What comfort food has been important to you of late?
String Cheese! Ha!

What place is your hiding place?
My bathtub!

Do you collect anything? If so, what?
Nothing that I can think of! I used to collect beanie babies, of course!

What beverage is a daily consumable for you?
Water!

What store or shop do you frequent the most?
Forever21

What is your favorite animal?
Dogs

Who is your favorite male/female celeb?
Eva Longoria!

Ryan Reynolds

Favorite color as of late?
Red!!

I tag Sheri, Kenzie, and anyone else who wants to do it!!

Internship

2010-04-06T09:11:00.000-06:00

For the past month and a half, Taylor has been busy interviewing for internships at 3 different companies. He was offered the position by all 3 companies and they were very impressed!! Just last week he made his decision on who to go with.

He chose to go with Northwestern Mutual. I think it was a great choice and this is going to be such an amazing opportunity! I am so proud of him, he will do a great job!!! Also.... Tai Pain is very close to his office so it all works out for me :)

Hump Day

2010-03-31T14:01:00.001-06:00

I got this forward and I had to share it haha... sorry if it offends anyone!

SOCIAL SECURITY SEX

Two men were talking. "So, how's your sex life?" "Oh, nothing special.. I'm having Social Security sex. "Social Security sex?" "Yeah, you know, I get a little each month, but not enough to live on!"

LOUD SEX

A wife went in to see a therapist and said, "I've got a big problem,doctor. Every time we're in bed and my husband climaxes, he lets out this ear splitting yell." "My dear," the shrink said, "that's completely natural. I don't see what the problem is." "The problem is, "she complained, "it wakes me up!"

QUIET SEX

Tired of a listless sex life, the man came right out and asked his wife during a recent lovemaking session, "How come you never tell me when you have an orgasm?" She glanced at him and replied, "You're never home!"

WEDDING ANNIVERSARY SEX

A husband and his wife had a bitter quarrel on the day of their 40th wedding anniversary. The husband yelled, "When you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads: 'Here Lies My Wife - Cold As Ever'." "Yeah," she replies, "when you die, I'm getting you a headstone that reads: 'Here Lies My Husband - Stiff At Last."

WOMEN'S HUMOROUS SEX

My husband came home with a tube of KY jelly and said, "This will make you happy tonight. "He was right. When he went out of the bedroom, I squirted it all over the doorknobs. He couldn't get back in."

ELDERLY SEX

One night, an 87 year-old woman came home from Bingo and found her 92 year-old husband in bed with another woman. She became violent and ended up pushing him off the balcony of their 20th floor, assisted living apartment, killing him instantly. Brought before the court on the charge of murder, the judge asked her if she had anything to say in her defense. She began coolly, "Yes, your honor I figured that at 92, if he could have sex...he could also fly."

Trip To LA

2010-03-29T17:02:00.000-06:00

This last weekend Kenzie and I flew out to LA to see Morgan and help her move back! It was a quick trip but so much fun!!!! We did everything possible in the short amount of time we had! Friday night we ate at a place called Octopus where Kenzie tried sushi for the first time! I'm not the biggest sushi fan so I got yaki-soba! Delicious! After that Morgan's friend took us on a mini-mostly driving-tour of LA. It was fun!

This is some house from Gone With the Wind I guess haha!

Attempting to take a picture in front of it!

We went to a hotel where the munchkins stayed from wizard of oz!

The next day after we woke up we went to the Santa Monica Pier! It's way cool!

One day I'm gonna ride the ferris wheel!

I love the ocean!

All of us on the pier!

Kenzie also experienced another first... Touching the ocean!!!

The three of us again!

After the beach we went to the beach we ate lunch at a yummy place called T.O.A.S.T! Then we went shopping at the Beverly Center! After some shopping there we got cupcakes and then walked Rodeo Drive! And of course stopped at Tiffany's! We needed some things for the drive home so we stopped at target to get some stuff and headed to Hollywood! We walked Hollywood Blvd and did a little shopping there..!

Walt Disney's Star!

Captain Jack!

Audrey Hepburns Cafe! I absolutely love her!!!

The drive home was long that's for sure, but it was a blast as well! I'm so glad i went!!!!

...

2010-03-16T08:23:00.000-06:00

I'm pretty excited to be here... (LA)

With these two :)

Happy Birthday Tanner!

2010-03-15T20:25:00.000-06:00

Today was Tanner's 19th birthday! We went to Texas Roadhouse to celebrate! Their rolls are SO delicious!! Happy Birthday Tanner!

Happy Birthday Spence!

2010-03-12T14:07:00.002-07:00

Today is my big brother Spencer's birthday! He lives in Montana so we won't get to celebrate with him but I hope it is an awesome day for him!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!!

2010-03-11T10:22:00.000-07:00

This Sunday was Alex's Birthday! She's 22!! We're very glad she's part of our family! We got together at my moms to have some Mac & Cheese :)

I don't know why Nykell is hiding haha...

It was fun to get everyone together and celebrate :) I hope you had an awesome birthday Alex!!!! :)

Grandpa Dance

2010-03-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

Last night was a pretty neat night for the Dance family! USU awarded Taylor's grandpa with the USU Distinguished Alumni Award. This is such an honor and we are so grateful for him and all that he has accomplished. Here is just a glimpse in to the things he has accomplished.

Taylor's grandpa suffers from Alzheimer's disease. Sometimes he thinks Taylor is his driver and I don't think he knows where I fit in the puzzle, but I look forward to seeing both he and Ruth every Saturday. They are so sweet and just the cutest couple. Harold eats breakfast every time he wakes up since he thinks it is morning, so no matter what time we get there it is always "Good Morning!!" with the biggest smile. We really love these two!! They're amazing!

Vitória, Brazil

2010-03-03T12:32:00.001-07:00

Tanner (Taylor's little brother) recieved his call today. He will be seriving in Vitória, Brazil. He will be speaking Portuguese and leaves to the Brazil MTC on June, 14. We are so excited for him and know he will be a great missionary!!

Vitória

2010-03-01T10:01:00.000-07:00

I just realized Easter is coming up! That means I get to make these again! I can't wait!!!

Stuff about me!

2010-02-25T15:27:00.003-07:00

I've been tagged :)

10 years ago: 10 years ago I was in 4th grade. One of my best friends Jandi moved to Arizona that year. Mrs. Summers was my teacher and I LOVED her! I can't remember if it was this year or 5th grade, or even 3rd grade that I dominated in the spelling bee...nerd :) Oh and of course I was dancing :)

5 years ago: 5 years ago I was a freshman at South Cache. The BEST year ever!! I miss it a lot!! I was dancing still and spending lots of time with my friends!

5 months ago: I was still new to my job and attempting to stay sane while learning everything! Taylor was starting up the fall semester and was busy working as well! We also found out around this time that Trav and Alex were expecting :)

5 things on my to do list today:

1. Go to the gym!

2. Finish up my meal planning calendar. haha! We plan out our meals for the whole month. It makes grocery shopping a breeze and it keeps me cooking and forces me to try new recipes!

3. Do some laundry!

4. Watch the office!! I think Pam's having her baby tonight!

5. Organize my shoe disaster in the garage :)

5 snacks I enjoy:

1. Triscusts

2. Wheat Thins

3. Carrot Sticks

4. Grapes

5. Candy!

5 things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:

1. Donate to this charity. There are many more that I would donate to, but around this time of year I always think about what it would be like to lose your significant other and be left without. It can be more than an emotional struggle for some, but a financial. Not everyone is has to deal with the financial struggle, but for those who are I want to do anything I can to help make a devastating situation any easier. Even if it is just $7 dollars on the $7.

Now that I’m done advertising... haha

2. Now, because I'm a Dance and because of my dad here it comes... Invest.

3. Travel, travel, travel!

4. Shop, shop, shop!

5. Make someone design heels just like the ones I obsessively wear that probably won't make it to see March. So comfortable. :)

5 of my bad habits:

1. haha I pop mine and Taylors knuckles as well.

2. Not picking my clothes up after I change, I'm improving though

3. Napping, because it means I don't sleep that night.

4. Blog stalking

5. Biting my nails

5 places I have lived:

1. Millville

2. North Logan - for like a month and a half

3. Nibley

4. uhh.... I'm done...

5.

5 jobs I've had:

1. Telephone Interviewer at Western Wats hah!

2. Banquet Server at Coppermill

3. Aide at Cache Employment and Training Center

4. Receptionist at Icon

5. Inside sales rep for FreeMotion

5 things people don't know about me:

1. This is a good time to make sure those who don't know this about me do now... I dread being pregnant because I do not want anyone touching my belly. I don't care who you are, if you didn't put that baby in there don't you dare touch it. Thanks :)

2. I have serious knee issues and they don't look the same if I bend them.

3. I have OCD when it comes to cleaning my house. I hate when it is even a little messy and even if it isn't dirty I clean it completely.. like not only sweeping the floors, but steaming them. Not just picking things up off the floor, vacuuming. It's sick haha!

4. I cry over those stupid depressing animal commercials. When I was Miss Millville my whole thing was about pet mills. Terrible!

5. Sometimes I miss dancing so much that I will go up to our bedroom and lock the door. Then I turn on the TV pretty loud and put my iPod in and dance :) Taylor doesn't even know that..well he probably does because I'm sure he hears me jumping around but I pretend like nobody knows. :)

I tag Alex, Heather, Chelsie, and anyone else that needs something to do!

Sunday

2010-02-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

I love Sundays!

We got to see this cute girl...

We made "princess jewelry"..

Had some tea..

And after that Taylor and I went on a drive up to Bear Lake...

And now all I can think about is summer! It needs to hurry!!!