Easter Pictures

Mike and I went out yesterday and took some pictures of us on Easter. The sun was bright, so they didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, but I sure loved the warm sun!

Disney on Ice

At the beginning of March we went to Disney on Ice! It was a good time. I won tickets off the radio (Thank you 98.7!) I had to answer 3 out of 5 random questions correctly. Here are the questions I had to answer, and my answers.

What was the lead singer's name of the band Aerosmith? "Steven Tyler."
What is another fruit besides an orange that is the color orange? ".... a clementine!"
How many people were on Gilligan's Island? "5! No, 7! No.. 5. I don't know. 5."
Which direction do NASCAR drivers drive around the track? "Ummm... forward?" At this point, the radio people started to laugh.
What does the AC stand for in ACDC which has to do with electricity? I couldn't remember this one for the life of me. My mind blanked. All I could think of was DC is direct current. 

Lucky for me, they accepted "forward" as an answer and "clementine" and I won tickets to Disney on Ice.

The show was great, I was really impressed with the ice skates. When they did Tangled they actually did some of their routines in the air by holding onto these looong yellow fabric things that were hanging down from the light racks up above. It was really fun!

Bird

Yesterday while I was getting ready to go to work I heard 2 birds singing. It brightened up my day! Spring is around the corner!  I'm especially excited for this spring season because Mike got me a really really nice camera. I can't wait to use it.

Things are good here. I'm busy with school and work. This week Mike is working over 20 hours of over time. He is a crazy money maker! This semester with school I am taking a math class, a golf class (which starts in March), a first aid class, and a cooperative education class. My Co-Op class is interesting. I have to email my professor once a week. I don't have to go to class. The only work I do for this class is at work. I've made 6 goals to work on - learning new skills, enhancing my learning, etc. at work. Each of these goals need to be completed with at least 15 hours. So far I'm 40% done. I wish I had started math sooner. If I had, I would be able to graduate from SLCC this semester. Bummer.

Mike and I had a great Valentine's Day. I'll save that for another post, because we aren't done celebrating. This year was our 5th Valentine's Day together. We are celebrating by getting a couple's massage today. I hope it will be fun!

This picture is years old, but it is still one of my favorites. I love that man.

Looking back at 2012

I can't believe another year has passed! It's flown by!

We've had another busy year. Here are some of the things that happened:

- After being unemployed for 5 months Mike got a job at Discover in March doing customer service for Credit Card. Definitely not his ideal job and the least he's ever gotten paid after college, but it was a job and we needed the money. I got a $300 bonus for referring him. Score!
-Mike got to go to Goblin Valley in March with a buddy of his from Woodbadge. They took a scout troop and had a good time.
In March we also went to Oregon for March Madness. I was dreading it (like always) but this time was actually really fun. We went on a lot of hikes and to a lot of places in Portland. And Mike got his basketball fix. 
-In May I got a new position as a Policy and Procedure Analyst. I have really enjoyed the new position and the higher pay. I also really like the people I work with.
-In April Mike was contacted by Fidelity for an interview! He had applied way back in February.. and he applied twice after his first application was denied.
-July Mike quit Discover and started at Fidelity. He started studying pretty hard for his Series 7 and 63 tests.
-I went to school through the summer. I was lucky enough to get a tuition waiver! I took 15 credits! It was tough. I made the Dean's List for my 3.62 GPA. My mom came to my ceremony when I got my little pin.
-Also in July Mike got to go to the Grand Teton Adventure camp with the scouts. He had a blast mountain biking, whitewater rafting and canoeing, and he even did a crazy obstacle course way high up in the air. I was jealous. He also got to visit Jackson Hole, one of my long time vacation destinations. I was very jealous.
- In August I got drawn for tickets to President Monson's birthday Celebration! I got four tickets so my mom and dad drove down here, we had a delicious dinner and went to the birthday extravaganza. It was so fun! The music was beautiful. I'm so glad we got to go.
-On the 21st of August Mike and I celebrated our 3rd anniversary! It's been the best 3 years of my life!
-In October I got to see a band I like in concert with some friends. The lead singer came into the crowd during some songs and I got to sing in the microphone on one of my favorite songs.
-On October 17 Mike passed his Series 7 exam with an 86%! He killed it! He then passed his Series 63 on October 26 with a 72%! He passed both with flying colors and got a raise for it. Whoo hoo!
-We visited some 4 year colleges in November. I'm still not sure where I want to go.
-In November it was my birthday. Mike spoiled me (see blog post about birthdays)
-We celebrated Mike's birthday in December - number 29!
-Mike's brother, Dave, came to town for Christmas. We hit up some good restaurants and the Brigham City Temple with him.
-My parents and siblings went to San Diego for Christmas. It was my first Christmas away from my family. It was a good Christmas, and I got to Facetime with them. :) I love technology.
-Mike got me a Canon 60D and two lenses with it. He definitely spoiled me. He got the O Jerusalem painting from me. I was sure I beat him in the present category this year, but I was wrong.

Old Death Whisper

A few weeks ago Mike and I went to a bar. Crazy, right? We drank soda. We went to go see my uncle's band, Old Death Whisper. We had a good time! The music was great! We both really enjoyed the band's sound. I even had a song dedicated to me! I hope Old Death Whisper will come back to SLC soon so we can go see them again. It was a lot of fun, and the music was a perfect mix of Old Western, dirty Bar Tunes, Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murpheys, and Picking up the Steam.

My Birthday. Number 23. Mike's Birthday. Number 29.

First of all, I'd like to say.. I made it! I made it through the semester. I got a 3.69 GPA. Not too bad considering I had some tough classes.

A few weeks ago, I had my birthday. It was awesome! Mike definitely spoiled me. My birthday was on Sunday, so he actually spoiled me on Saturday. First, he had bought me a leather coat that I really wanted, a few weeks prior. And he got me a video game. It is on the PS3, but it's a bunch of old Sega games. It's pretty sweet. My mother in law got me a pineapple corer slicer thing, which I have been wanting one of those for a long time. Mike and I love to eat pineapple in the summer. On my birthday Saturday we went out to the mall. Mike took me to Zupas for lunch! I love Zupas. They had some special German Sausage Soup or something, so I had that and it was delicious. After that Mike took me to Bath and Body Works and let me stock up on lotions! I got a lot of different flavors and I can't wait to use them all! And then we went and saw the third Batman movie. Since it was my birthday I got a coupon for a free small popcorn, but I paid like 50 cents to upgrade to a laaarge. Large and in charge, baby! And I might have also got a free drink, but I can't remember. After the movie, Mike was going to take me to Tucanos for my birthday dinner. But.. I wasn't feeling well :( I think the movie popcorn with the fatty butter all over it made me sick. So we stayed in and watched a movie.

Later that month Mike took me to Tucanos for my birthday dinner. I think on the 29th. It was super delicious. I had more lemonades than I ever thought I could fit into myself. My favorite was the guava lemonade. And I really liked the bacon wrapped filet. And the grilled pineapple. We used my birthday coupon to eat there (if you can't tell, I'm big on birthday coupons) and they sang happy birthday to me in Portuguese. How nice.

On my actual birthday - Sunday - we went up to my parent's house. My mom was nice enough to make me a birthday dinner! I didn't have to cook on my birthday! Or even have to clean up! My mom was a trooper. She made me a ham (and she had never even cooked ham before) and she made homemade rolls and party potatoes. It was an amazing dinner. She should go work at Tucanos with her cooking skills.

Remember when I was talking about Zupas? Well they also serve sandwiches at Zupas. They serve panini sandwiches! So good. My family got me a panini maker for my birthday. Mike and I have made panini sandwiches, which have turned out pretty good!

For Mike's birthday he got to play an indoor soccer game. His game was at 11 PM, so it was a little late. We also went to Pei Wei for dinner. The food there was pretty good. I would say it's above Panda, but below PF Chang's. For Mike's birthday he got a dozen fancy fancy cupcakes, season 6 and 7 of The Office Blu Ray, the Indiana Jones trilogy Blu Ray, Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Blu Ray and a Manchester United jersey. He also got a deep fryer from my parents and I made him brownies and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting with crushed peppermint on top. Yum.

Here are the yummy cupcakes. They were divine. I think my favorite was the chocolate peanut butter.

And that is all. Next year will be Mike's big 3-0. Should be pretty fun!

Best Mom Ever Award

I have the best mom ever. I may be biased, but whatever. She's still the best mom ever. At least I think so. And I'm positive my siblings think so, too! Where are her credentials you might ask? Well here is a short list.

One time, when I was in preschool I had a field trip to the Dinosaur Park. I was super excited to go. I super excited to go even though it was raining outside. My mom dropped me off at preschool, and while running up.. I tripped. And fell. Into a huge puddle. My clothes were sopping wet. I cried. I wanted to go to the Dinosaur Park. My mom talked to my teacher, packed me into the car, took me home, changed me and then took me to the Dinosaur Park and helped me find my class. She would also go on field trips with me through out elementary. :D

When I was little, my mom would make pancakes in the morning. And when my dad would make pancakes and fling them from the counter to the table and a pancake would accidentally land in her glass of milk, she didn't even get mad.

When my mom used to do my hair when I was little she wouldn't "poof my bangs to the sky." Just a little poof.

The other day I got a text from my mom. It said "Em, I was just thinking that your birthday is coming up next month. Do you have any plans on that day sine it's Sunday? I will make you a birthday dinner if you would like. Think about it and let me know what you think. Don't feel like you have to... It's just an idea." Let me ask you this. What kind of mom offers to make her grown up married daughter dinner on a Sunday? The best mom ever, that's who. I still haven't decided what exactly I want for dinner. Mmm.. And the best part is I won't even have to help clean up, cuz it will be my birthday.

I probably call my mom more than I should. But every time I call, she is excited to talk to me! Even if it's about nothing! Every time she tells me it was nice to talk to me. And every time we go up to visit, she tells Mike and I both that it was so good to see us! She is always happy to see me (and Mike). I love that.

The other week, my mom drove my brothers down here to go to a Merit Badge Fair. I had asked her what she wanted to do, and do you know what her answer was?! She wanted to help me stain my kitchen cabinets! That isn't even fun! She brought down her electric sander, and we got a lot done that day! I would not have gotten that far all by myself and hand sanding.

When my mom came down here and saw my house, I apologized. It was a mess. The kitchen was torn apart, dishes were stacked in the living room, the table was a mess, it was bad. I told her I was sorry it was such a big mess, and she didn't even bat an eye at that huge tornado mess! She said something like, "You are working full time and go to school full time, and you are doing a project! I don't care!" That made me feel really good.

At the beginning of this month I had a Dean's List celebration thing. Mike couldn't go because he was studying for his Series 7 test. My mom dressed fancy, drove down here, and went to the reception celebration thing with me. And she pinned my Dean's List pin on me! And she took pictures! And then! She bought me dinner. How nice is that?! The whole program was like 45 minutes. She drove 2 hours for 45 minutes. Best. Mom. Ever.

Besides the fact that my mom does all these nice things for me (and others!) she is genuinely an amazing person. She is always excited for someone if they have good news, she is always willing to help, and she is always happy. She is one of my best, closest friends and she is an amazing example. Thanks for being such a great mom, Mom! I love you!

Peanut Butter Trifle

I made a trifle for today. My first trifle I have ever made. It turned out delicious! We went up to my parent's for the Brigham City temple dedication. It was an amazing dedication. The talks and music were beautiful.

Anyway, afterward we ate Dunn and then I pulled out my trifle. I don't have a trifle bowl, so it didn't look all pretty and stuff. I'm sure it did look pretty, but we couldn't see it looking pretty. I got the recipe from Pinterest, of course. Haha! Here is the blog for it, it is uh-may-ZING!

http://loulousucre.blogspot.com/2012/04/peanut-butter-brownie-trifle.html

I wish I would've taken pictures. It turned out delicious and was pretty easy to make!

DIY No Sew Bag out of an old T-shirt

I found this idea on Pinterest, and it was so easy! It took me maybe 10-15 minutes. I've already made 2 bags. I'm super excited to use this bag as a lunch bag instead of using a plastic bag every day.

Here is the site that the directions are on: http://www.leethal.net/zine/?p=1344.

And here are the step by step pictures I took!

First step, pick a t-shirt you never use or wear. I don't ever wear this one because it is too big. 

Cut off the sleeves and cut off the head hole. You can cut the head part into a "V" or other ways, but I like the square cut. Try to make straight lines.

Cut strips out of the sleeve material that you just cut off. I cut the seam on the sleeve so I can make nice long strips. You want them to be in between a half inch and an inch. Then you get to pull on them to make them all long and stringy.

At the bottom of the t-shirt, cut 2 slits. As you can see I did mine in the middle in the front and back. You can also just do one slit if you want, and then you will only need 1 strip of fabric (see above).

Use a safety pin to fish the string part through the bottom hem of the shirt. 

Here is one half of the bottom finished. You will use the other string to go through the other half. You can also do just one slit and one string, but the hole at the bottom will be bigger. That is why I like doing 2.

Here is what it looks like once both of them are threaded through. Try to make the string even on each side.

Once the string are even, tie a knot! You can leave the excess string, snip it, or even tie a bow. I snipped this one so the strings are shorter. My other bag I tied them into bows.

And here is my finished bag.

And here is my finished bag hanging up. Can't wait to put stuff in it!!!

Thank you Pinterest for easy and cute projects!

Temple Open House

On Saturday Mike and I had the opportunity to go to the Brigham City Temple Open House. We stopped by my parents house first and hung out with them for a little bit. We then headed up to Brigham City with one of my little brothers, Brandon. We had to wait a little bit, but not too too long according to Brandon. He said my family had to wait a lot longer when they went. We finally made it up to where we got little white booties put on our feet to protect the carpets and such. And then we went in! The temple is smaller than I thought it was going to be. It is so beautiful. There was definitely a calm, peaceful feeling inside the temple. All the pictures were beautiful! I absolutely loved the artwork. I think that was my favorite part. I love how temples are so simple, yet so elegant and beautiful. I loved all of the stained glass and how a lot of the rooms inside of the temple had the beautiful windows so there was a lot of natural light. I'm excited for when the dedication takes place and then Mike and I can go to this one!

After the temple we dropped my brother off and said goodbye to everyone. They had made salsa earlier that day and my mom let me take some and let me have some of her veggies from her garden! YUM! Then Mike and I went to dinner at the Prairie Schooner. Oh. My. Gosh. THE FOOD WAS SO GOOD! The steak was so juicy and perfect. The baked potato was amazing. The chicken was juicy. It deep fried mushrooms were delectable. It was amazing. Mmmm...