House Progress

In the last two -ish weeks, we have made such great progresson the basement! These are some {very dirty} pictures of Justin, My dad and His dad starting to frame the first of the three bedrooms downstairs. It is such a great feeling to have the house coming together so quickly and so well. The room is now completely framed, closet and all, and now we are just waiting for Monty to come home from St. George to help us run the electrical.

As the sun has been showing it's face more and more often, we have been acumulating icecicles off the back of our house. I took the broom to them a little while ago, just to find them to have grown to their original size a week later. We'll just have to keep them knocked down, but in the mean time, I welcome the sun :D Anytime it wants to come out :D

Turning 21....Corona for Breakfast??

I can't believe how quickly this year is flying by already. We are nearly into March and it seems like only two minutes have passed. What usually makes me realize how fast time is flying is when we've passed my Birthday. Well that was yesterday, so I know it's going by way too quickly. I had a wonderful day and want to Thank all my family and friends that helped make it that way, as well as Thank everyone for their Happy Birthday Wishes.

Justin has made a habit of taking the day off for my Birthday, which I think is incredibly sweet of him. This year we slept in, then went to Betty's for breakfast, where he tried to get me to order beer for breakfast, just thinking it would be funny, but I wouldn't give in. After breakfast we did a little shopping then went home and Justin started putting the pulls on the cabinets as my birthday present - Which are amazing and I love love them!

While Justin finished those up Trish came and got me and we ran around town Birthday Shopping. I got some new outfits from Maurices, and a new Comforter set for the Guest Bedroom.

Then Trish, Me, Justin and My Dad all went to Wingers for Lunch. They didn't rat me out on my birthday which I appreciated, but just for that I made them get me an asphalt pie, which took ALL of us to eat. So YUMMY!

After lunch I went home and took a nap then everyone showed up for Dinner.

Mom made my favorite, roast, potatoes and carrots and brought lots of yummy Fruit too, Tiffany brought brownies and blondies and Trish brought cupcakes. It was all so good and Justin arranged it all. He's so sweet! We ate dinner and opened presents and had a great time! Thanks again Everyone!!!

Hailey loved my singing Card from Justin, we were all dancing and she was busting up laughing watching us.

Eat, Pray, Love.

I just finished the book I bought in St. George about 10 days ago. It isn't really that long of a book with a little over 300 pages, but I feel like it has taken me forever to read. I honestly thought when I was buying it that since it was called "Eat, Pray, Love" that it would be an LDS novel {because I bought it in UTAH- Duh}, which of course, it wasn't. See what I get for assuming, lol. It was, however, a very interesting book. Elizabeth Gilbert is such a witty writer, I just couldn't get enough. Her use of metaphors was constantly cracking me up {not in a fall off my chair sort of way, but a 'chuckle just enough so Justin gets curious and makes me read the sentence outloud just so I can hear it again' sort of way}. She is obviously a well educated writer, which to me, makes the book all the better. She has many references to important people, history, language, religion and so on. I must say it's probably not for everyone...When I was just finishing probaly the first 40 pages, I was reading at the salon when the lady next to me asked if I liked it. I told her so far it was really good and she said "I must confess, I never could bring myself to finishing it." Haha, I was like...what an encouraging piece of information, thank you for making me curious as to why NOT to read this book. I did make it through however and thoroughly enjoyed it. Warning, she does 'say' the F-word a few times, but the best thing about a book is you can skip what you don't want to absorb :)

If you want to hear what Oprah had to say about it, visit her website and you can search it by book title. Very intersting information. It is also being made into a movie (which I just discovered while looking for a picture to go with this post) in which Elizabeth will be played by Julia Roberts. Wow.

If anybody wants to borrow it, feel free to let me know.

Ambition..

I knew that when we were looking for houses, an unfinished basement was something Justin wanted really badly. I agreed, and am glad we found a house that had one that we could finish out ourselves, increase the value of our home as well as customize the rooms to our liking. I just didn't quite anticipate the time it would take, lol. I've had this little timeline in my head...Finish the two bedrooms and bathroom in the basement before summer gets here, then during the warm months, once the ground has thawed, finish our back yard. {complete with: Deck, Fire Pit, Sprinkler System, Sod/ Grass, a Shop, Fencing, Raised planters and a Sand Box} I'm so excited to have a yard! I just can't wait. Then after the yard is finished and it starts to get cold again, finish the Family room off in the basement, and that should about conclude the major projects. But...I guess we have to start with step one before we can hit step two right?

So... Tonight Justin's mom and dad are going to come help us frame and wire in the First bedroom in the basement, which will be turned into an office/ guest room so when the time comes, we can have a nursery upstairs.

I'm so grateful to have construction minded people in our family that can come help us with these undertakings. Justin is more than capable, but help never hurts. My dad came and helped him cut all the boards to length last week so tonight they're going to put the puzzle together. Super exciting for me because that = being one step closer to finishing our yard.

I keep getting a lot of questions from various people of when we are going to have kids. I know this is something personal that I shouldn't have to explain unless I want to, but there is something I want everyone to understand. I am not mad at anyone that has ever asked me that question, it's perfectly reasonable. Let me just say that, Justin and I have been married nearly 2 years and just barely got into a house of our own. We are working hard to secure our financial future to sustain children as well as trying to get our house ready for children. I have never wanted to feel that I'm not ready for a child once they're on their way or already here. We want to get our basement finished, our yard finished and make sure that we, as a couple, are ready to take that dive. Our relationship is more precious to us than everything except the Lord, we do not want to burden that by jumping into things we're not ready for. I'm not saying that children are a burden either, just something that I feel should be planned for, so thank you for asking, but please be understanding of our personal goals and desires in the mean time.

Valentines Day

Justin and I got to spend our Valentines day in St. George with his parents at his brother and sister-in-law's house. We went down Friday and went to the movie "Valentines Day" that night, it wasn't my favorite. Saturday we went shopping and stopped at Ice Burg for a shake. It was HUGE! I had never been there before. I was also really excited because we found the perfect buttons and fabric for me to make our headboard. Now I just have to do it, lol. We also got a new bat bag for Softball, that I'm pretty excited about. It's super nice and a lot bigger so we have room to haul all our STUFF. Then we got to play softball at the park for a while before heading up to go to dinner at a cafe called "Red Dog." Sunday morning we went to church then went home and visited and napped. That afternoon we all had dinner and headed home Monday morning. It was a fun weekend. Very nice weather, I loved the sunshine, but I'm always glad to be home as well :D The dogs were so glad to be home!

This week has been fairly slow. Just getting back into our schedules of working and basketball. White Collar was not on Tuesday like we always are excited for so that wasn't cool :P haha Wednesday Justin went and Played basketball after dinner and I started reading my new book "Eat, Pray, Love" by Elizabeth Gilbert. It's pretty funny!

I had Thursday off and went to Toddler Time at the Rec. Center with Tiffany, Natalie and Hailey. It was really fun. It's something I definately look forward to. Spent the rest of the day shopping and trying to get the house put back together.

Yesterday I FINALLY went and got my hair done. It's darker than normal, I'll post pictures later, but I do like it. I worked from 3-7 then I got to leave again to go to our Ward Valentines Dance....HAHAHAH...that was interesting, but fun.

I'm so glad to be working mornings this weekend, it's definately a break from the 3-11pm shifts I usually work.

Now I just wish it would hurry and warm up outside so we could start softball and get our Yard put together!

ALSO, I can't quite believe it but my birthday is in one week exactly...I'm having a hard time deciding between pizza and an Ice Cream Cake or My FAVORITE

Mom's Roast and Potatoes and Carrots and White cupcakes with confetti frosting...haha.

A little Trip...

This Tuesday I had the day off work and Melanie was going to Salt Lake so I tagged along with her and finally got to use my Tai Pan Gift cards that I got for Christmas. It was really fun. I also found the lamp shades that I have been looking for {at a fraction of the price: Tai Pan is AMAZING} So I'm super Excited. They also had out all of their cute springy and Easter decorations. Made me wish it here even more! It was a fun trip. Thanks Melanie!

When I got home my family all came up and we had dinner and played some games. Hailey made her way to the basement and started playing on all the exercise equipment. It was pretty funny. When I found her I put her on one of the pedals on the elliptical and i stood on the other one and held on to her so she didn't fall over and made it go around so it was like a mini roller-coaster for her. Pretty funny. Then came the AB Lounge. She thought it was funny to hang onto the handles and lean all the way back (with me holding her of course) and I would jiggle it and she'd go "It dumped me off" So darn cute.

This morning I got to go visit with Jess. It was so fun to help her put away all their baby stuff for little Jaycee since she only has 4 weeks left. I hadn't seen much of her lately either so it was good to catch up. I'm so excited for them! This little girl is going to be so adorable I just know it! Not to mention all the adorable outfits and accessories she has waiting for her :D

I'm also pretty proud of myself, when in Salt Lake I finally found the kind of vitamins I've been looking for. I'm very picky about how much of what is in them, just from my own learning experiences about them. So I've been taking "my kind" {not Pre-natal} vitamins lately and making sure I don't give in to the big-bad SODA, lol. And I have been jogging {instead of walking} with the dogs for the last few days and I've been feeling great! That and a lot of water are going to help me get back in to better shape. I just know it ;) lol

My $12 Lamp shades!

My cute new Silk Daisy pot -- Come on Spring!!

Paint and Birthdays

Before...

After

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Tiffany's Birthday Party Pictures

Basketball & Blood...

Anybody that knows Justin, knows that he is extremely accident prone. Most of the major accidents I just get to hear about, but not this one, lol.

This is the second time since I've known Justin that we've ended up in the ER with a broken nose from Church Basketball. Those boys are so rough! Luckily they said it didn't break his nose, just bruised it severely and it bled for 3 hours strait! He also got a minor concussion but I guess that's what happens when little guy with face + big guy with elbow.

He didn't want me to take his picture, but at least it's proof he isn't faking, lol.

Today is....

Day 5 of 9 (that's MORE THAN HALF) that I've gone without drinking any soda. Of the other four days, I have not drank more than 4 oz. (Justin and I share one can every so often)

I'm quite proud of myself!

Now if I could just get rid of the darn headaches, lol.

I know they'll be gone soon enough though....

Getting out of the slump

I'm glad to say that things have livened up for us a bit since my last post. It was getting pretty dull there for a while. I survived my 8 days of work to enjoy my two days off. It was WONDERFUL. Justin and I just hung out at home with eachother.

Even the dogs had a lazy day...sleeping in the snow!

Even the dogs had a lazy day...sleeping in the snow!

We enjoyed the new adventures of Mario on the Wii...Very fun, I must admit, even for being a ninetendo hater :D

Yesterday we had the day off, but we were a little more energetic. We ran errands around town, went and go Chinese food. We went to Lowes and bought my Cabinet Pulls for the kitchen for my birthday. We also bought some GREEN paint that we're going to do in the Living room as an accent wall. I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda nervous about it. Some color will be good in there though.

You can't see them very well, but they are really cute! It's called Moss green...I'm pretty excited.

This is the wall...

After we finished our errands we took the dogs on a nice walk. It was fairly beautiful outside yesterday. Not like summer -- but better than usual. Then we went back to mario for a little while before we grilled shish-kabobs with marinated deer backstraps, zucchini and yellow squash. It was REALLY good. It was healthy too. We've been doing a lot better with our eating habits lately. They were never BAD in the first place, but we're trying some new things out, to say the least.

After dinner Trish and I went and saw the movie "When in Rome," SO CUTE! I loved it. It was funny and cute and did I mention funny?

After the movie we came back to my house and visited forever. I love girl talk! Love my friends. So amazing and fun :D

Then this morning...I'm so proud of myself. I was very brave this morning. I found my trial pair of contacts, put them in..I could see :D Loved that. I got out my swimming suit!!! and put that on...Yikes! Actually It wasn't that bad, lol Or I wouldn't have continued with my plan. But then I went and got Hailey and took her to Toddler Time in the Swimming Pool at the Rec. Center. We had so much fun! I just stinkin love that little girl. She's so funny and smart and energetic. I also felt so good to get out of the house and do something that I didn't normally do...

I had to explain to Tiffany the reasoning for any upcomnig awkward comments or questions she had about the naked little boy in the womens showers.....

I can't help but love her innocence and curiosity. All she could do was stand there and point and go "He has a.....He has a ....." and as I'm washing her off I tell her, It's okay, he's a boy and you're a girl. That's why you don't have one of those......I don't think she understood because she just kept staring at him until we went to get dressed. Funny Girl!

February...

February brings to me...

1. My 21st birthday!
2. Valentines day {Excited for a night off with the hubby}
3. Valentines day the movie which I'm SO excited to see
4. Hopefully it will warm up MAYBE just a little?
5. A trip to Salt Lake for some cute spring decorations...I'll do whatever I can to get it to roll around sooner!

Yesterday night Justin and I went to my parents house to have a birthday party for my sister. She is 23 now. It's crazy how time flies! It's hard for me to believe that she is 23 because that means I'll be 21. I'm turning into an old person! lol Not just that, but she has two {adorable} little girls already. We have two girls too but they're a little easier to take care of :D (sometimes) haha.

Anyway, for the party my mom made home made pizza. It's the best! For our birthday parties when we were little we would always have home made pizza. It was like bringing back an old tradition that was somehow forgotten. So yummy! Hailey was so hyper too, she kept climbing on my back and telling me to "take me on horsey ride" or she would climb up in the computer chair and sit there and say "spin me, spin me, spin me" until I would. It was so fun just playing with her. Little Natty is growing up SO fast too! She can sit up on her own now. She is so chunky, her little leg rolls are just adorable!

Saturday Justin and I kinda crashed. We were both all excited to have a date night together and {mostly because of me} we just layed around the house. We opted for Taco Bell for dinner then went to Walmart {in our PJ's} to go grocery shopping. Then my dad came up from Jensen and started helping Justin cut the lumber to frame in the basement office while I sat down there and watched them, lol.

You know how....haha.... sometimes {like Saturday} I am lazy and am just in lounging around clothes but my hair and makeup are still done from the day and I'm like...well I don't look that bad, I'll be fine just to go to the store in this. I see people at walmart all the time in their pajamas and never really think much of it, so why shouldn't I be the same. Of course it's that one night you decide not to change when you go and you see plenty of people you don't usually see and they're dressed up all cute...and you look like...well you've been lounging around the house?

It's just not fair.

Friday night, I got to go to one of my good friend's Baby shower. Jess is just about to have that little girl and I'm so excited! She got so much cute stuff and it's all so TINY! I just love it. I know she's going to be an absolute doll. I had to rush out of there so Justin and I could be to the temple on time, but we had a good time.

Now...I only have 3 1/2 hours left to go and I'll have two days off with Justin! Oh man it's been a long time since I had a day off.