Easter Weekend pt 2

Here is part 2 of what we did over Easter weekend. On Saturday morning we had our traditional Easter Egg Hunt for the grandkids. I love playing with my nieces and nephews, so it was fun to hide the eggs and watch them find them. Crazy enough, they all found 13 eggs except for one of them. It worked out perfectly.

And yes, those are easter eggs in my nieces hair. My sister does her hair in the most creative ways all the time. I have no idea how she comes up with them.

After the hunt I was talking to my sister who recently got chickens about how Hal wouldn't let me get a duck. She saw the same problem I did. SO I did the craziest thing I've done in a while. I bought a baby duck. I told Hal I was doing it, he just didn't believe me, so that's his own fault, right? My sister told me I could keep it at her house, with her chickens. I think she might have loved him/her as much as I do. Her boys and her husband all wanted to get another one, but they're trying out my duck to see how much they like it, to see if they want to get another one. I think it's a she, but it's a boy in my mind, so I'm thinking of calling him Fitzwilliam. He just seems so regal. So please, without further ado, let me introduce Sir. Fitzwilliam Duck.

When we fist put him in the cage, they kind of ran away from him, so we took out two of the chickens and left him in there with just one of them, and soon enough they all got along swimmingly! Last night as he was falling asleep he tucked his arm under his wing, snuggled in the wood chips and made the cutest little noises with each breath. So cute. Are you ready to throw up because this is so cute?

It you look you can see his beak tucked into the cutest little tiny wings. I just can't get over this little guy, he's SO cute. I hope he doesn't go through that "awkward" phase that chickens do when they're getting their hard feathers.

Wedding Wednesday: When I knew

It's week two of the series Wedding Wednesdays! Week two is all about when you knew he was the one.

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.


This may seem kind of funny, but almost from the very beginning I knew Hal was the one. This is weird, but the night before I met Hal I was hanging out with all of my sisters since one was leaving town the next morning, and I told her I felt like I would be getting married soon. (I was fully single at this point) How weird is that? I just kind of felt that it was coming, and low and behold, the next night I met my future husband.


It's funny, but I sent that picture that I posted in my last Wedding Wednesday post, the first picture that was taken of us, to my sister who hadn't met him and she will swear that she called her husband in when she saw it and told him that she thought we would get married.

There was a funny moment of when Hal told me that he loved me. He said "I really like you, like I love you as a friend. Yeah, like a really good friend. A really good friend. Ok, I love you." It took him 5 minutes of him telling me he loved me as a good friend and me laughing at him for him to actually come out and say it. That's his silly personality though, he says really dorky things, but they are so sweet and cute.  That night he after I dropped him off at his house he told his mom that she might have a son married in 2009. Which is funny because we totally got married in 2008.


So there was never really an "HOLY COW, HE'S THE ONE" moment, it was more of a as soon as we were together I just knew it was where I needed to be, and who I needed to be with, forever. It's like that quote that I posted here before, "Someday, someone will walk into your life and make you realize why it never worked out with anyone else." That's more of how it was for us. From the moment we were together, which was never an official moment itself..It's pretty much since we met, we were together and both of us just knew.

Easter Weekend pt 1

Hal and I had a very eventful weekend, but not eventful in the way that Easter is usually eventful. This weekend started on Thursday with a huge wind storm. It knocked over a huge tree in my in-law's back yard. They were so lucky that it was the tree that is inside their chicken run, and is probably the furthest away from the house. As it fell just the tip of the tree brushed the house. No damage done, except to the fence in the chicken run. Hal went over there to help out on Thursday night. On Friday we went back to help out, since they had to go to Idaho for the weekend for a wedding we decided to get to work in their backyard.

 

I am standing at the back door in this picture, so you can see how big the tree is. And this is after a few hours with a chain saw cutting down most of the branches. So Hal continued to cut mostly as I picked up the branches and put them in the chicken run for chipping, and I started stacking the logs that Hal was making. It was seriously hard work! Can you believe that in 60 degree weather, and working in the backyard I got sunburned? Can you believe that? My part of my hair, and my face (the only two things not covered) were both sunburned by the time we went inside.

 It was cool to see my man, all manly with a chain saw.

You really have to give it to him. He is seriously the hardest worker that I know. I stopped to eat and he just kept on working back there cutting that thing apart. Well, right as the sun went down we finished with the tree. It ended up like this.

That may look like just one large wood pile, but look closely, there were so many pieces, we had to make two piles. I think the back of my thighs are still sore from bending down to pick up these logs.

In the words of Hal: "Happy Earth Day, I cut down a tree."

I'll share the rest of my Easter weekend in a few days. We just had so much happen I had to split it up. I hope you all had a lovely Easter though.

Utah / Colorado Wedding Photographer: Amy Hansen

Alright, so I might be cheating a bit with this one, because she doesn't actually live in the state of Utah. But she comes here a lot, so if you ask in advance, and she knows the next time she's coming, then she might be able to do your wedding! Hey, she did a chunk of the photography for my wedding and she captured some of the most amazing shots. Oh, and hey, she's my sister.

So, let my introduce to you the fabulous work of Amy Hansen. I'll share a few that she took from my wedding, but not too many, but I'll let you know when I post pictures of hers in my Wedding Wednesday segments. I feel so blessed to have a sister that is so talented and can take pictures like these! If you're interested in her, visit her website.

                                                        

That's enough of my wedding. Here are some amazing pictures that she has taken of other people's weddings.

She does such fabulous work. So if you live here in Utah, e-mail her and see if she'll be in town on your wedding date. Or, if you live in the Colorado Springs area, you're in for a treat. She lives in that area, and that's where she does most of her work. But seriously, go to her website here and look at all of her pictures, they are so beautiful. I feel so blessed to have a sister that is so talented and can take pictures like these!

Wedding Wednesday: How it All Began

To go along with my Wedding Photographer posts, I've decided to also particiapte in the Wedding Wednesdays that Krysten is on her blog, but I think Chloe may have started it? And I just realized that we started our blogs for the same reasons, to keep track of wedding details, and we got married at the same time. Kinda funny. Anyway, I love hearing about other people's weddings so I decided to participate.

1. how it all began: how you met, first date, first kiss, how long did you date? first picture together.....etc.
2. when you knew he was the one: self explanatory.. but how and when did you know?
3. proposal: how it happened, how long were you engaged for? was it a total surprise?  pictures of that... etc.
4. the ring:  tell us about it! did you pick it out? did he? pictures! tell us about his ring too!
5. engagement/bridal pictures: let's see em!
6. the colors: show some of the flower and colors you used
7. the dress: was it what you always imagined? did you have it made for you? white or ivory?
8. the little accessories: you know, veil? shoes? jewelry? what did your bridesmaids wear?
9. the reception: where was it at? show us some pictures! what day did you get married?
10. the cake/food: i love food. so tell me about what you had at your wedding!
11. your song and/or the first song you danced to at your wedding: share a music video or lyrics if you can!
12. favorite part of the day and least favorite part of the day: can be anything.
13. honeymoon: where did you go? was it good?  ;) haha...jk.
14. thoughts on marriage: what is the easiest/hardest part? if you could change anything, what would it be?
15. first place that you lived together: pics if you have them!
16. kids: do you have any yet? if not, when do you plan on it? how many do you want? any tips on good/bad birth control?
17. most recent picture of you and your significant other and what you love most about them :) and any other thoughts.

I will just start with #1, how it all began...

This is the very first picture that was taken of Hal and I. We had met hours before this picture was taken. Hal had been living in the Dominican Republic for two years on a mission for our church, and had been home for 16 days when we met. It was his very first outing after being home. And if you've never met an LDS missionary who is just fresh off his mission, let me tell you something. They are a whole lot of awkward, they haven't had normal interaction with girls in 2 years. We met at the hold your breath singles ward let it out. In other words, we met at a church dance for young unmarried people in our neighborhood.

And oh man was Hal awkward. He was going around to everyone shaking their hands and introducing himself, and I mean literally to everyone. Well he finally made his way over to my good friend and I. He said his name was Hal and that we were the two most beautiful girls at the party. Can you believe he said that? That was pretty much the first thing he said to me. Here is a picture of my friend and I that night.

Man my hair was short back then! So after that Hal wandered off and we sat down at a table. The next thing I knew he was sitting next to me. (side note: he had sat down elsewhere with people he knew, but decided he didn't want to sit with them and came and sat at our table). We talked and danced, and then everyone was heading over to the local rec center which was having a young signles night and everyone could go and do anything there for $5. This is where my friend left me and I literally spent the rest of the night with Hal.

He didn't have a car, so I drove him to his parents house where I waited in my big poofy dress in the doorway and where I met his little brother Dane. Then I told him to wait in my doorway while I changed. When I came back upstairs, he was in the living room talking with my entire family who was still in town from Christmas. I remember telling my sister when I was downstairs changing that I just thought he was so hot.

That first picture was taken at the rec center where I won an awesome game of apples to apples, and we went ice skating, and he held my hand. Can you believe he did these things the night I met him? We had so much fun and I took him home and told him he had to give me a hug before he got out of my car, because that's the rule.

So that's our first night together, and we were pretty much inseparable after that. I remember we were playing Truth of Dare Jenga and I got the dare to sit on the person's lap to my right. Guess Who...Yeah, he actually wouldn't let me sit on his lap. Kinda funny now.

Our first date was pretty much after we were already dating, but we took out his neighbors kids, who he was pretty much a second dad to before he left on his mission to Discovery Gateway. So yes, our first date was babysitting. Not the most romantic, but that museum is really cool. I remember when we were walking out to the car (his neighbor had just bought a new car) he said, man, this new car really does smell good. Later he realized that it was actually my perfume, and not the car.

So that's our beginning. I realized that I've never really shared my wedding pictures, so sorry if you get an overload of them between these wedding posts, and the next two wedding photographer posts. I'm excited to share the details of our wedding, and what let to our wedding though, so come back on Wednesdays for more.

Weekend Update: Food Challenge Edition

I think this weekend spring finally hit Utah. It was 70 this weekend, oh man, it felt so nice to be walking outside and not feel cold. I'm bummed though, my favorite part about spring is when the trees blossom, but this year a lot of trees blossomed too early, and it snowed a bunch and so their blossoms just turned brown and yucky looking. One of my favorite smells is when a certain tree blossoms, and all of the trees that I know that produce that smell, blossomed too early and so I missed it. Blast! At least the rest of the trees are beginning to blossom or get those young bright green leaves. I love it. Everything just feels so fresh and alive.

This is the best time to go to my favorite place, Wheeler Farm. I wanted to go this Saturday, but Hal wouldn't take me. Don't worry though, I'll get him to go this weekend. It's the time to see all of the babies that they have there!

So we made a compromise and went to Rock & E. It's a farm store basically, but they have baby chicks. My sister and my in laws both decided to get chicks this year! I can't wait for my in laws to get theirs. I plan on playing with them every day.  They're going to end up being the most people loving chickens they've ever had. Just wait and see. Anyway, we went to Rock & E. I was pretty bummed that I couldn't hold the baby chicks. But what made up for that? And what is even cuter than a baby chick? A baby duck. I'm pretty sure their tiny webbed feet are the cutest thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

They were all piled on top of each other trying to sleep and get warm, but it seemed that they never stopped moving. Hal was a big fat bum and wouldn't let me have a baby duck. The guy even told us of his friend who had a duck and it followed him everywhere. I NEED a duck. Too bad Hal didn't agree.

Well by this point we were starving. So after driving around deciding on where to go we ended up downtown at Blue Iguana. This was some seriously yummy mexican food. He-Sam decided to do a food challenge and ordered the Burrito Grande. This thing was seriously bigger than my head. These pictures don't do it justice.

Look at the size of that thing. It's plate was even bigger than mine or Hal's Look at the size of it compared to his arm! It's gigantic.

I was super bummed that he didn't make it all the way though. He had maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of it left and he just hit full. According to him it's rare that he hits full, but this was just one of those few moments. Too bad, we didn't get our free dessert, which was a big bummer. But that's ok, I was still impressed that he could eat as much as he did.

My little brother(who ate 50 peeps in 15 minutes) and He-Sam are the two people I know who can eat pretty much an endless amount of food. I'm thinking this isn't the last of the food challenges that we go with them to try. There's a Merlinator in Garden City I want He-Sam to try. Anyone know of any other food challenges around? Have you ever tried a food challenge?

And thank you guys so much for your comments on my last post. It really was comforting to know that I'm not alone in having a hard time figuring out what in the world I want to do with myself.

Sometimes you just don't have it all figured out

I knew this post was coming, I could feel it brimming on the surface, so I knew eventually I would have to write about it to get it out. That's how I get things out, I have to write about them and since my journal writing has been pretty darn crappy lately, this blog has seemed to get more personal. I know a lot of people talk about how so many blogs seem so fake, that the authors only talk about the amazing crafts that they make, and how exciting their lives are. Well, I'm not awesome at crafts, nor is my life very exciting. I'm a real person, and I struggle just like everyone else.

Actually, next month will be two years since I graduated. As I was getting ready to graduate people kept telling me that it's a hard time to know what to do with yourself after school. Apparently, I didn't realize how hard that transition would be for me. I went to college straight from high school. I knew exactly what I wanted to study, always felt that it was right for me. The hardest part, is graduating with a degree that doesn't have a job attached to it. I was the first one in my family to go to college, let alone graduate. There wasn't really anyone to tell me "Hey, maybe graduating in anthropology without any job prospects, in the worst time economically to graduate maybe isn't such a good idea."

I guess really I should be grateful that I have a job, but it's not something that I feel fulfilled doing. Like, not even close. These past two years have been a really big struggle. I felt like the one thing that I was good at, school, all of the sudden was gone out of my life and I had no one to help guide me as to what I should do now. Hal was so supportive, even though I'm pretty sure that he thought his wife had all of the sudden gone to crazy town, and didn't understand why. Everyone needs an outlet, especially a creative outlet, for me, that had always been school. That's where I focused all of my energy and my drive, and then boom, I was just expected to find something new and be ok with things.

I applied for a lot of jobs, I went on quite a few interviews, but nothing really was happening. That's when we decided to apply for the Peace Corps. After that I stopped looking for a new job because it was taking up a lot of my time. It's now been a year since we applied. We are still waiting to hear if we are going or not. Even though we kind of put most of our eggs in the Peace Corps basket, I think I'm slowly becoming ok with the idea of not going. I knew it was the right thing for us to go through this process. If we don't go, I have no idea why it was the right thing, but I have just always felt like it was the right thing for us. Who knows, maybe it's prep for what we'll endure with applying through medical school, but I don't even thing medical school can surpass how difficult applying for the Peace Corps is.

It seems so many people just know exactly what they should do with their lives. They have such passion and drive to that. I'm so jealous of that. I thought I knew what I wanted to do, but once I got married that wasn't really an option anymore. Since then I haven't been able to find something that I feel passionate enough to dedicate my career to. I wonder if it's even worth it, since I know eventually I want to stay home with our children. So I wonder, is it ok to work at a rather meaningless job until I have children, or do I need something more than that?

I've been toying with the idea of going back and getting my masters degree. It just seems so hard! I've been out of school for two years, how is anyone going to remember me to write a letter of recommendation for me? Would I want to get my masters in Anthropology and maybe teach? Or do I want to get a masters in something completely different? Could I even get  into a masters program if I didn't get a BA in that area? Gah, there are just so many options.

My friend and I talked about this a while ago. I just wish someone would tell me what to do with my life. I don't really care to have that option. I think I would be pretty happy with someone saying, "you should do this"...and I would be o"h, ok that sounds good" and go forward with that. Is that bad to feel like that? To not feel passionate about a certain career? I think today's standards make you feel guilty if you don't have your career all figured out. Is it weird that I feel like all of my passion for careers was put into Hal's career. I feel passionate now that he has decided what he wants to do, and I will do anything to help him get there, but I just can't quite figure that out for myself. Is it something you can figure out, outside of school?

Ok, seriously, just writing this down and talking about it makes me feel so much better. It's nice to just write it out, and let it out, even if it is just to the internet and the few people who read my blog.

So please, tell me I'm not all alone in this. And if you did figure out your career choice, how did you decide? What led you to find that passion?

My upcoming trip

I didn't even notice that my last post was my 200th post! woo!
Well today I'm stuck at work on my normal day off, and it has been snowing since last night. Today is I'm bored day. I'm bored with work, with winter, with spring never coming...you get the idea. So since I need something to entertain me, I'll day dream about my upcoming vacation. Me and the hubs and the inlaws are heading to here:

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And during our trip to this city, I hope to be able to also visit this city:

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Do you know what the two cities are? Ok, the second one might be a bit easier to tell than the first. We are going to Sacramento! We're staying with Hal's brother in Sacramento because Hal's cousin is getting married, and if the wedding invitation is any indication of what the wedding will be like, then I am super excited. The ceremony is going to be an Indian ceremony, and I'm really excited to be able to be there! The reception is at a winery north of San Francisco! Does this not sound like the most amazing thing that you could imagine? Because it does to me.

I've been to San Fran once, like for 24 hours to see Wicked. We had a blast, but we weren't able to see very much of the city because of time.

So...have you been to San Fran before? Have you been to Sacramento before? What have you done while there? Was there anything amazingly fun to do/see? I really want to go to China Town. Please, share your suggestions with me!

My ESL class

I don't know if I've mentioned this on here, but I volunteer teach an ESL (English as a second language) class. I didn't think I'd like it that much, and at first I was really scared and discouraged because a lot of students stopped coming once I took over the class, and one week I actually didn't have any students. Well I've been teaching for over 6 months now and I've actually ended up loving it.

None of my original students come anymore, which is sad, but I have a lot of new students that come pretty much every week. In fact, my class has kind of exploded from having a max for 3 students each week to now I regularly have about 6 students! They are such good, sweet, people, and they work really hard, which makes me want to work really hard to teach them things they need to know.

I decided to take a little break from learning verb tenses to share with them amazing things of American culture that they have missed out on from not growing up here. What have I begun to share with them?

Books. Childrens books. Books that I grew up loving and they have never heard of. We were talking about natural disasters last week, and so we talked about tornados, and I started talking about The Wizard of Oz. I was shocked that none of them had ever heard of it! I pulled out my phone and made them watch this scene. I love being able to share with them things that I have grown up loving!

So the children's book I started with...none other than Dr. Seuss

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I had mentioned "Sam I am" and none of them knew what I was talking about and thought I was funny as I was explaining it. So I decided to bring it in. At first I was just going to read a bit of it, but then I have decided to turn it into lesson plans involving listening. I read them the whole book, and have them write what they think I said. Then I re-read the whole book showing the pictures and the words, and let them see if they made any mistakes.

Well, I don't have any kiddies, so I had to borrow these books. Luckily my mother in law has a whole bunch of Dr. Seuss books. So far, I've read them Green Eggs, And Ham, Red Fish, Blue Fish, One Fish, Two Fish, and this week I read Are You My Mother?

Side note, just googled Are you my Mother and realized that it's not a Dr. Seuss book. How did I never know this? The outside looks just like a Dr. Seuss book, that's probably why! What do you think?

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Anyway, I borrowed a bunch of kids books from my mother in law. She said that she thought Dane, my brother in law had really loved Are You My Mother?. This is where Hal interjected and reminded his mother that it was he who loved that book. They both have the worst memories! When I opened Are you my mother? this is what I found

How cute is that! Then I opened A Very Hungry Caterpillar and this is what I saw

In case you can't tell, this is what it says For my Sister Christa Bralr (Brother) Hal.

How stinking adorable are these? I'm going to have to look through all of her brooks now to see what is in them!

Don't you love how kids realize it's someones birthday so they look all over the house for something that they can give them? They;re just so sweet and innocent about it. My nephews always really work to decide what to give someone. Last year my nephew Jefferson gave me his pocket thesaurus. Why did an 8 year old have a pocket thesaurus, don't know, but Hal thought it was the coolest gift. What gifts have children given you?

Utah Wedding Photographer: Maddie Thomas

Today is my second post on Utah wedding photographers that I adore. I've posted about her before, but she deserves a post all on her own! I'm so excited to be able to see Maddie again, because as I posted about in my last wedding photographer post, my friend is getting married in a few months and has decided on Maddie as her wedding photographer! So, let me introduce one of my favorite wedding photographers, Maddie Thomas.

Maddie was SO sweet, and set up a photoshoot with Hal and I, wow, that was almost a year ago now! She works with one of her friends Lee, who styles most of her photoshoots, and the two of them work together so fantastically. They were such a pleasure to work with. They make a fantastic team, and have such creative ideas for styling photoshoots.

I was so impressed with what they put together for our audrey hepburn/french inspired photoshoot. They brought all of the props and set it all up for us. It was so much fun to work for them, even though we were all freezing from the wind.

She has taken so many fabulous pictures since this. I get so excited when I see that she has posted new pictures. What I love the most about Maddie is that she does such a good job capturing a couple's personalities.

Be sure to check out her post of what happened during their stylized couple shoot. It's the greatest story!

If you would like to see more pictures that Maddie has taken, or if you would even like to get more information from her or even contact her,  here's the link to her website.