Craft of the Past

So, I started this craft back in September with my sister-in-law Lacey thinking it wouldn't be that hard. Well here we are 4 months later and it's finally done haha! It ended up a lot cuter than I ever expected though, so it was worth the time and effort. Now I just need to decide where I want to put it...

2 YEARS

Wow, has it really been 2 years? Sometimes it feels like 10 years and other times it seems like it was yesterday, but one thing still remains...we are in love! As I reflect on these past few years, there has been many trials, but along with those trials there has been many blessings.

-The house was obviously a huge trial in our first year, and it continues to be a trial as we are very slowly trying to finish it. But, of course, it has been one of our biggest blessings as well!

-Our biggest trial this year has been getting used to working opposite shifts. We both work in the Icon Maintenance department, but I work in the day and he works at night. Our shifts overlap for a couple of hours, and sometimes that's the only time we see each other.

-Our callings have been both a trial and a blessing. Dustin is the Priest Advisor for the young men in our ward. He likes it, but feels like he can't serve to the best of his ability for the fact that he can never be there for mutual due to working the night shift. I helped out with girls camp this summer, and I fell in love with the young women! I was hoping maybe they could find a place for me in young women's so I could spend more time with them, but the Lord had other plans for me. I now teach CTR 5 in Primary. When they first called me, I wanted to say no so bad, but of course I couldn't. I was terrified and for the first month I came home crying every week because those kids walked all over me. But I decided to change my attitude, and the difference was like night and day! I became their friend rather than just their teacher. Of course I still have 'good' weeks and 'bad' weeks, but that's what kids are all about!

-Planning for the future is always a trial. We've been going back and forth about going to school, we know we need to, but with what money and what time? We've been praying about it, so hopefully everything will work out in the end.

This is just to name a few. We have big dreams for our future, and some of them we've already fulfilled, but there are still plenty more to come. On this special day, I wanted to pay a little tribute to Dustin, let him and all of you know how much I love this guy! Here are just a few of the qualities I love about Dustin.

-His smile always touches his eyes

-He is a kid magnet! I don't know a kid out there that doesn't love him!

-He is very smart with money and finances

-He never buys anything until he has thoroughly researched everything about it

-He is a hard worker

-He is proficient at a lot of things

-He is dedicated

-His sense of humor

-His patience

-His bluntness and honesty

-The way he can always put a smile on my face

Dustin, I love you, and I love you more now than I did 2 years ago! I didn't think that could ever be possible, but it's true! I can't wait to spend the rest of eternity with you and to see how much more I could possibly love you in the years to come. You are my best friend, and you have had so much patience with me as I am learning to become a homemaker. Happy Anniversary Dustin, I LOVE YOU!!!

Girls Night

My good friend Shannon is getting married in February so she has been in town the past couple weeks to get wedding plans all put together. So we took advantage of the fact she's in town and we had a girls night!

Me, Kate, Natasha, & Shanny

We spent hours taking pics of ourselves, haha! This is the monkey face.
I was trying to be sexy, I don't know what everyone else was going for!

Cute

We also spent hours doing Yoga and playing the Wii fit! This is down dog position.

The warrior pose

Tree stand!

It was so good to play with these girls! I haven't seen them for what seems like ages!

The Holidays

I guess I better document our Holidays this year, don't be mad, I didn't take any pictures of anything! Christmas eve we spent the evening with the Fellows family. We had a delicious chicken and ham dinner and enjoyed a variety of snacks throughout the night. Santa came and we all got to sit on his lap and tell him what we wanted! Sadie wasn't quite sure she liked him and only sat on his lap if her mom sat with her. We had some good laughs with our white elephant gifts especially the ones Jason and Lacey brought ;). Then we did our gift exchange and I got the coat I've been wanting for so long! I found this coat a couple months back and it was a little too much money than I wanted to pay. As Christmas got closer, I kept checking on the coat and it came on sell for half price! I begged and begged Dustin and he was being stubborn and kept telling me no. I gave him crap about it all the way till Christmas when I received the coat, now I know why he was being such a stink about it! Dustin's parents gave us this awesome grill, and I can't wait till our deck is done and we can have BBQ parties at our house! We slept in our own house that night, our first Christmas in our new house! My highlight of Christmas morning was the one surprise I was able to get Dustin, a helicopter! But of course, as soon as he picked up the box, he guessed what it was! Every year he does that so I have banned him from touching his presents till he opens them! Dustin got me the Wii Fit and I have loved every second of having it! I've been doing Yoga and strength training and tracking my progress and I love it! That afternoon we drove to Tremonton to spend the day with the Colloms where once again we had lots of good food! We played dodgeball on the Wii and we all fell in love with the game! It is probably one of the funnest games I've played! So all in all we had a pretty good Christmas! It's been tradition for the past 3 years that we spend New Years with 'The Gang', consisting of Davin and Leah, Ryan and Emily, Matt and Alice, and Dustin and I. Dustin brought his helicopter and the boys had landing contests to see who could land it the fastest. We always play games boys against girls, and the girls always get our butts kicked, but we won every game that night! It was a fun night enjoyed with good friends. On New Years Day, my family had our Christmas party at Mike and Trish's home in Salt Lake. We spent hours and hours playing Rockband! We all recieved money this year to go towards our trip to Disneyland in the year 2011. That's right, we are taking a huge family vacation to Disneyland! That's just a few of the highlights of our past couple weeks, I hope you all had a wonderful Holiday season this year (well technically last year)!

Christmas Happenings

So, the week of Christmas is finally here! Am I ready? Pretty much, am I excited? Sorta, does it even feel like Christmas time? No...I am feeling a little depressed this year because I haven't gotten into the 'Christmas Spirit'. It's not that I haven't tried, I mean I set up the tree, did Christmas shopping, been listening to Christmas music, been to quite a few Christmas parties, but it just feels different this year for some reason. I hope I can really feel that spirit in the next few days before it all goes away for another year. Here is some of the Christmasy stuff I've been up to lately...

Christmas with the girls!

Katie gave me a much needed makeover, cute huh?!

We had our work Christmas party today with Pita's from Pita Pit and pot luck from all the guys. It was very yummy and fun to sit and chat with eachother. My boss got us all these awesome hoodies!

And he also made us all unique pens, that's right, I said MADE! He makes all sorts of awesome stuff, you should all check out his website...
www.simplywoodcreations.com

There has been lots of fun Christmas stuff going on, so I hope I can get in the 'spirit'!

Christmas Card

Even though I am not going to mail these out to anyone, I still wanted to make a Christmas card, so here it is! I've been trying to think of what I would say if I did a newsletter, but I can't think of anything. This blog would be my newsletter! Blogging has become my own personal journal. I enjoy going back and reading the different posts through the past few years and remembering all of the fun things and the blessings we've recieved! That's all....

Some pics of recent happenings

My friend Taryn is a nail tech, and she needed some models, so of course I volunteered! She did a cute Christmasy cheer on me with red green and silver. Once again, I am struggling to get used to having them, but I'm getting better!

I have been working on this little craft for the last little while to give as gifts to neighbors and friends. This is the blue style...

And this is the pink style.

We were gonna get a real tree this year cuz this one was a hand-me-down tree from my sis-in-law and it is sorta falling apart, but of course we never got around to it, so here is the ol' tree. As you can clearly see, I am not very good at spacing out my lights evenly haha! Oh well...

Here is a better close up pic of my awesome Temple pic I made...I am so proud of this thing!

This was one of my birthday presents this year. I woke up to this awesome rug in my living room!

We are finally starting to get some decorations and stuff in our house! Here is the living room with all the new stuff. I still need to get some navy blue throw pillows and some blinds/drapes and then this room will be complete!