The Peets

Recap of 2011

2012-01-14T09:35:00.000-08:00

The year 2011 was the best year of my life (so far) for one reason: Evan. I am so in love with him and I cannot believe how lucky I am to be his wife.

Recap of 2011

JANUARY

Evan had left home from Christmas break to North Carolina making me wait patiently for February to come. Santa had gotten me a roundtrip ticket to use whenever I wanted to go see him, so I of course, picked Valentines day. I was also working, and Evan and I had our "long distance dates" weekly, which helped the time go by faster.

FEBRUARY

I flew out to North Carolina for 10 days. Our week was jam-packed with fun stuff to do and our Valentines Day was the BEST Valentines day I have ever had. I call him the "Romance King" because, he is.

MARCH

The month of my birthday (I turned 21) and the month we got engaged. He was only able to come out for a few days, but it was a big trip for both of us.

April

I flew out to be with him over his birthday (he turned 28 and yes, there is a 7 year difference between us). At this point, the long distance was really getting to me, I just wanted to be with him all of the time. During my stay, we went to the Outer Banks, went apartment hunting, and also went and visited the school I would be attending after we got married. And I was well into the wedding planning process and had my dress.

My inspiration for my wedding

MAY

Evan took a job at BYU to teach a class over the summer. I was thrilled about it but the thought of no more long distance was a little intimidating to me.

JUNE

We got our engagements taken and also took a trip out to Bryce Canyon for fun and for footage for our engagement video we created.

Engagement Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04vcvI8MLEg

JULY

Wrapped up the wedding plans and sold my car, Lucy (I still miss her). Evan flew out to North Carolina to move into our new apartment, I had my bridal shower, we got our "groomals" taken, and I went through the Draper Temple to take out my endowments.

AUGUST

We got married! August 5 in the Salt Lake Temple. My parents absolutely spoiled me with the wedding they gave me. I day dream about that day all of the time and wish I could relive it - it went by in a blur! Luckily, I had an amazing photographer who gave us loads of pictures and I am so grateful for them. For our Honeymoon we stayed in Park City for 4 nights and then flew to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for 6. We deserved a long honeymoon and it was amazing. When our honeymoon was over we flew straight to North Carolina and moved into our apartment and then reality kicked in: we both started school a few days later. I was getting used to being the housewife; cooking and cleaning, etc. and loving every minute of it.

SEPTEMBER

We got settled into our place; painted the walls, redecorated, and bought a few (a lot) new things with our gift cards. We went to the beach to celebrate our 1 month of marriage and became busy with school, work, and making new friends.

a little piece of Utah in our home.

OCTOBER

Had many fun date nights planned and experienced a lot of cool things to do in our town: Farmers Market, Art Festivals, State Fair, etc. And had our very first Halloween together.

NOVEMBER

Evan and I cooked the entire Thanksgiving meal for us and Evan's parents who flew out to be with us for the weekend. It was so good to see them, we love them so much and are so grateful for them. I was also busy wrapping up the semester with finals and projects and Evan's Flag Football team won the championship.

DECEMBER

My first semester of my Interior Design program came to an end and we flew out to Utah to spend the Holidays with our families. It was a much needed vacation - I hadn't seen my family since our wedding day and I was really missing them. I wish that it was still Christmas Vacation.

2011 was a great year and I can't wait to share the new years to come and the rest of my life with Evan.

Christmas Break 2011

2012-01-06T13:18:00.000-08:00

For Christmas break Evan and I flew out to Utah to spend it with our families. I was so excited to come out and see everyone. The last time I had seen them was on my wedding day (4 months ago), long time! For the first half of our vacation we stayed at Evan's parents house and then we stayed at mine.

I was worried about fitting everyone in during our stay in UT since we both hadn't seen our families in a long time nor our friends. The nice thing is that our parents live in the same area so it was easy to go back and forth. Though, Evan's parents are moving to Texas in the next few weeks, which makes visiting much more complicated, but I am so happy for them.

A few days before Christmas I got a nasty/bad/every-symptom-possible cold from the plane ride (it's inevitable for me to not get sick after flying). I hate flying. Luckily, it didn't last too long and I was feeling good by Christmas.

This year Evan and I decided to make most of our gifts so we were both crazy busy trying to make everything before then. For Evan's mom we made ornaments out of buttons, for my mom we made a picture frame, and for both of our dad's we bought them a 1 month Audible account since they love books.

This wasn't the one I made my mom - I didn't take a picture of it but hers was white instead of brown.

Christmas Eve we went over to Evan's Grandparents to do Christmas with them. We ate dinner and opened gifts. After gifts, we mingled for a while and then went to my house to watch the Christmas Story with my family (our family tradition since I can remember) and then opened our gifts from our siblings. Evan and I scored a gift card to one of our favorite Thai restaurants.

Found this at Urban Outfitters. I'm regretting not buying this for my dad.

Christmas morning before everyone else in my family was up, Evan and I did our Christmas. I gave him a bath robe and slippers since that was what he lived in during our honeymoon in Cabo ( I had been planning his Christmas gift since then) and I also made him the infamous mustache mug and made him a little book of reasons and pictures of why I love him.
Evan was sneaky and logged into my Pinterest Account and found two things that I loved on my Craft Board and meshed two of them together making a picture frame and a chalk board. I LOVE IT! He also gave me a plane ticked to UT :).

My Gifts to Evan

Evan's Gift to me.

Once everyone woke up they all came into my bedroom (another tradition) and waited until we got the OK to come down the stairs and open up gifts. Everyone had their own section laid out of gifts from Santa and opened those first. I grabbed a box that was wrapped and decided to let Evan have a turn at opening a gift and I'm pretty jealous I didn't get to open it - Santa gave us an IPAD. Evan's reaction was priceless. He has been wanting one for so long. Thanks mom and dad! We also got some clothes and a few ornaments to put on our first Christmas tree.

After we opened our gifts and talked for a while, Evan and I made our way over to his parents house to have brunch and open gifts. His mom always makes amazing german oven pancakes and I decided to make some sugar french toast. After brunch it was time for the notorious Christmas Scavenger hunt that Evan's parents throw every year (I was apart of it last year but wasn't quite comfortable yet to fully participate). This year the scavenger hunt consisted of brown boxes with letters written on them, a riddle, and a word scramble. It took us a lot longer than it did last year and it was a blast. The Peet's called this Christmas the "Shoe Christmas" Because everyone got 3 pairs of shoes. We also got some clothes, Ticket to Ride, and new tires for our car. Yes, we got ridiculously spoiled from both families. Why did I not get married sooner?

Brandalyn and I after we had a night of dinner and cards with Gordon and Evan.

My two pooches. Love them.

Dinner with my family at Bonsai

$20 Winners of the Gingerbread Competition (my dad was the judge, but he wasn't biased... maybe).

Best Christmas EVER.

After Christmas our last week was filled with visiting friends and being around our families. I also had a Bachelorette Party for my friend Lexi where we stayed in a hotel up in SLC and Paraded her around looking like this

I'm generally not a fan of the New Years Holiday so I never really care to plan anything or go to any big parties. We did have a party to go to but it got canceled so Evan and I used our gift card from my brother and ate at Mekong then came back to Evan's house and made No-bake Cheesecake, played games with his sister, brother in-law, and mom, and then went to bed at 12:10 :)

I was dreading flying back to North Carolina. Not that I don't love it, because I do, but I'm absolutely dreading this next semester. School is going to be hard and Evan with be gone for an ENTIRE MONTH doing research in the Philippines while I'm stuck here in a state all by my lonesome. If anyone is willing to fly out here in February I would sure appreciate it! ;) Sooner or later I will be able to travel with Evan as his assistant when we can afford it.

Happy holidays!

Countdown Till Christmas (in Utah)

2011-12-04T14:41:00.000-08:00

In a little over a week Evan and I will be on a plane ride to Utah to spend Christmas with our families. Evan's parents came out for Thanksgiving and spent a few days with us (I will post about Thanksgiving soon) but I haven't seen my family since my wedding day. I am super anxious for . . .

Temple Square lights and snow . . .

goofing off with siblings . . .

seeing my babes Indie and Gracie Lou . . .

my best friend Lexi (haven't seen her since she left for her mission)

here's a better picture (couldn't help myself) she is also getting married January 18th.

my adorable nephew Rowan . . .

my new adorable nephew Jack . . .

my wonderful family . . .

my wonderful new family . . .

And spending our first Christmas together as a married couple.

Love the holidays.

What The, Why?

2011-11-11T09:49:00.000-08:00

Dear Urban Outfitters, I love you, but you are starting to scare me.

Everything about this outfit is indeed hideous, but SOCKS, really?!

Is this seriously the style now? My goodness, where in the world did this come from??

Thanks Urban, but I will not jump back into the 70's with you. I'm going to stick to my pretty, non-shiny skirts, and stay away from your ridiculously thick, high, trippin', shoes.

My husband will still buy from you, since it seems the Men's Department didn't jump back a few decades. Boy, am I jealous.

Halloween

2011-11-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

Evan and I had three parties to go to the Friday and Saturday before Halloween. First was our Ward Halloween Party where we ate dinner and then did Trunk-or-Treating for the kids. We ended up serving rootbeer floats which were a huge hit. Second, was a party with Evan's program friends. We just kind of hung around and chatted the night away. It made me laugh because they had Apple Cider labeled, "With Booze" and "Without Booze". Third was the best party of them all. This couple in our ward are hardcore Halloween lovers and throw parties every year. They had a ton of games planned that I had never played before but absolutely loved. We had a great time and it made Evan like Halloween! YAY!

This game was called "junk in your trunk"

Game instructions: Strap on an empty kleenex box to your lower back and place 8 ping-pong balls inside. Shake as hard and fast as you can and try to get all 8 balls out within 60 seconds. Rules: you cannot use your hands.

I was pretty embarrassed but it got me out of shell pretty quickly.

Evan and I both won our rounds!

Apple relay race (can't use your hands).

There were a ton of other games and we were literally laughing the entire party. I love halloween!

Our pumpkins. Evan's is the face eating the little pumpkin and mine is the owl. Hoot hoot.

Art Festival

2011-11-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

The first weekend of every month there is an Art Festival in Raleigh; different businesses and shops open their doors to display art work by local artists. We decided to go at the beginning of October (this is a very late post) and I'm so glad we found out about it, it was so much fun.

We walked around going from shop to shop looking at art work - I fell in love with one artist in particular and her stuff was selling for over 5 grand! I should try painting and see if I could get lucky like that. Then we came across this show where they had people dancing with fire. It was awesome.

I only had these two pictures. I mainly took video so I will post those up soon!

North Carolina State Fair

2011-11-01T12:19:00.000-07:00

In the middle of October, North Carolina had their State Fair and it's sooooo different than Utah for one reason: FRIED FOODS. And they do have a ton of carnival rides which is fun.

Obviously I am NOT a fan of fried food. At all. Just thinking about all of the oil and fat makes my stomach turn, yuck, but everybody here goes bizerk over it. Every food place at the fair was fried foods. I think the healthiest thing there that was not fried was the corn. Since it was my first time at the NC Fair, Evan really, really wanted me to try one of the fried desserts, which were: fried reeses, fried snicker, fried oreo, fried mac n cheese, fried pecan pie, and fried kool-aid (what? yeah, that was my first thought too), and the list went on and on. Everything was $5 or more. Rip off. And it only came with one little portion and everyone would complain when they would get their food at how small it was. But of course the thing that I chose (which was the oreo) came with like 6 cookies. I would have been more than happy with just a tiny little cookie. Evan and I only ate one each and then threw the remaining four cookies in the trash bins. I was surprised that I didn't drop dead after I ate it but my stomach did hurt after.

We also went to the Pig Racing show. It was by far the best thing at the fair but I couldn't help but feel sorry for those little piggies, I bet they were scared to death. They also had a duck and goat race which were all hilarious to watch.

To top off the night we watched the firework show while standing next to a "spider girl" attraction.We were tempted to see how fake it would look but we weren't about to pay any more money.

Deep fried foods

Not the actual "spider girl" we saw, but very similar.

Pretty flowers that won awards

Flower tree

This little guy made me laugh super hard (he had major buckteeth) I tried to get a good picture of him but every time I tried he would look away.

School Field trip

2011-10-25T08:50:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I am an Interior Design Student right now. I just started my first semester and so far I am loving it. I have 2 online classes - that I actually don't love - and then 2 on campus; a Drafting class and a Principles and Elements class. The two on campus I love, though they are 3 hours long each, but it's hands on the entire class period so it actually goes by fairly quickly. I'm at school twice a week from 1:30-9:30 p.m. - super long day and it doesn't help that my drive is an HOUR each way either. It's not great now, but I can see myself bragging to my kids or grandkids in the future about my long treks to school like my dad did when he said he walked everywhere.

In my drafting class right now we are learning how to draft a construction packet which involves a floorplan, furniture plan, electrical plan, elevation sketches, etc. We're working on our packets now for our last project and its going to take a good long while.

Fact of the day (that I am not thrilled about whatsoever): Apparently your visual acuity jumps down two degrees after you take a drafting class. So my vision will no longer be 20/15 after this semester.

My Principles and Elements class is my night class that starts at 6:30-9:30. We are obviously learning about Principles and Elements of design and it seems like a review for me since I already knew this stuff before from high school and my other art classes at UVU, but my instructor is also pushing me super hard so its good. We just got done with our first project and now we're working on our second. All of our projects in this class are non-objective and 2 and 3-dimensional, which is something that I have never been good at and we can't use color. I was very bitter about this until probably just a few days ago and then I decided to get over it.

Here is a picture of my first project. Since there were so many rules and restrictions I'm not a huge fan of it, but my instructor loved it so I guess thats good!

We had a fieldtrip on a Sunday afternoon to an Art Gallery (yes, on Sunday. I was weirded out, but I'm not in UT anymore so I guess I have to expect that sometimes). I was excited for this field trip because it was a chance to refresh our minds for our second project and get inspiration. And most importantly, because it was a chance for me to show off my wonderful husband to all of my classmates and instructor. My instructor was actually really looking forward to meeting Evan because he is very interested in the water research that Evan is doing for his Ph.D. So as I was off sketching a piece of work for an assignment Evan and my instructor got to know each other a little bit and I could tell my instructor really liked him, but thats not surprising.

Farmers Market

2011-10-25T08:07:00.000-07:00

In Utah you don't see too many Farmers Markets, at least I never did, but here in North Carolina they are the place to go and I can definitely see why. Evan and I made a tradition to tie on our running shoes and run to the nearest Farmers Market (that only runs on wed and sat) every Saturday to pick up a cantaloup and then run home. The first cantaloup we ever bought was the most delicious one I have ever tasted, but we have yet to find one like it again. They are all still really juicy and great, but that one was past amazing. The Carrboro Farmers Market (in the town we live in) is a very hippie town which makes it so fun to people watch and they always have great activities going on. At this Farmers Market they have everything from veggies, fruit, amazing cheeses, peanut butter, flowers, scarves, mugs, bread, etc.

There is also another Farmers Market out in Raleigh which is about 30 minutes from where we live that is open every day - it's HUGE. We've only been once so far but that will be a place we go to when family or friends come to visit, which will be very soon. My parents are coming out in November for their Anniversary (to of course see us but my dad also served his mission here and he hasn't been back to visit yet) and Evan's Parents and possibly sister will be coming out here for Thanksgiving. Hosting Thanksgiving in our apartment will be one big adventure . . . wish me luck!

Birthday Man

2011-10-18T08:46:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my dad! The BIG 50!

Birthday Lady

2011-10-16T13:07:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my dear mother!

Isn't she beautiful

Evan's Desk

2011-10-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

This post is way overdue.

Our first week living in our new apartment together was a fun one; we pondered crafting ideas, colors to paint the walls, shopped on craigslist for a new couch, and spent all of our Target and Bed Bath and Beyond gift cards - how fun that was! Evan was such a good sport throughout the whole thing and even convinced me to paint our dining/living area a blue color - which turned out fabulous, I'm glad I have a husband that has good taste! The one thing that Evan got overly excited for was building his brand new desk. In our bedroom our closet is a pretty good-sized room and came with this very odd indent in the wall. I'm assuming it was made for a dresser or something, but Evan needing a place to study and immediately decided that he would build a desk there. So we made several (more than needed) trips to Home Depot, bought the wood, had some Home Depot guy cut it into the sizes that we needed, and then Evan rented a Jigsaw to do the rest. After cutting, sanding, and staining it was finally ready to put together.

I think it adds a nice touch into our closet space and he did an awesome job!

Wedding Day

2011-10-08T10:05:00.000-07:00

I finally got our wedding photos! I am still waiting on the ones at the temple with the family, but I have everything else. Enjoy!

One Month

2011-09-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

For our one month anniversary - which was on the 5th of September - Evan and I went to the Carolina Beach over the weekend to celebrate. I feel like I've been making him celebrate a lot of things lately. Since we met on facebook during the summer last year and then met in person last September and got married in August we have had three "anniversaries" over the past few months. And I will be making him celebrate our 2 month anniversary coming up soon. When in the world do you stop celebrating? Is it every month until you hit a year and thats when you finally start the year anniversaries? Because I find myself getting so excited over everything. Poor husband of mine.

When we got to the beach all of the campsites were completely full so we ended up finding a church parking lot with a gazebo and a nice grassy area to spend the night. We played cards in the tent and snacked on banana bread and dark chocolate. The next morning we went to a cafe that we had gone to my first trip out to North Carolina called Surf House. We loved it so much the first time that we ate there two meals in a row. Just being there brought back so many of memories from our first months of dating. Little did I know that the next time I went to that cafe I would be married to him. After breakfast we went to the beach and hung out there all day long. It was so nice to relax and enjoy the sun and most of all each other. By mid week (like today) I'm ready for it to be the weekend because I start missing him too much. I love Saturdays and Sundays - I get him all to myself without the worry of work or school. It's so nice. The beach was great, the water wasn't cold but the current was pretty strong and carried us away occasionally. Well, carried me away. I had to keep fighting my way back to Evan and I got munched a few times by some strong waves and Evan had fun body surfing a little bit. After the beach we drove home and got ready to go out for dinner. In Carrboro, where we live, is the coolest little town ever. There are so many things to do and so many restaurants to try. We tried one called Acme, and it was great. After dinner we came home and had some ice cream.

Such a fun weekend. I can't believe I've already been married for over a month.

Man, does time fly!

Honeymoon

2011-09-16T09:13:00.000-07:00

I finally decided to go out and buy a memory card reader instead of waiting for my long lost camera cord to make its way over here from Utah.

Honeymoon

We went to Park City for 4 nights and then Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for 5 nights. Yes, my husband is amazing and I was very spoiled.

While we were in Park City the weather was as sunny as could be - we were a tad worried that it would rain since this past summer was so weird. We went to the pool and the Alpine slide and went to a few restaurants; a sushi place, mexican place, and an Italian place on Main Street. I got sick off of the Italian dish that I ordered - never in my life had I seen so much cheese. I'm not the type to send things back, partly for fear that they will spit in my food or make myself look like a high-maintenance customer. So I ate it, but I could only eat a few bites which made me have a tummy ache for the rest of the evening.
One of the best parts of the first few nights was opening up presents! First of all, we feel so blessed for everyone who came and contributed. We got more than we could have ever hoped for.

After the amazing four nights in Park City it was time to catch our plane to Cabo. Once we made it past security at the airport we went and found our gate and sat down. Evan got a brilliant idea that he should go let the people know that we were "honeymooners"- in hopes that maybe they would bump us up to first class. I personally didn't think it would happen, but it did! They called our names to the gate a few minutes later and gave us first class tickets. We were both so excited. Instead of waiting in the long line to board we were one of the first people to go in. Our seats had pillows, blankets, and water bottles waiting for us and there were only 2 seats per row, score! I hate sitting next to random people; you never know what you're going to get. We watched a movie during our flight and they finally came around with the "warm towell?" basket. I've always wanted to try wiping my face with one on a plane, like you see in movies. Sadly, it got old fast. I didn't know what to do with it and the towel got cold fairly quickly. And I hate just eating peanuts on planes and then having to buy ridiculously expensive airport food. Luckily with first class we got a nice big sandwich, salad, brownies, and chips for free.
We soon landed in Cabo and walked in, got our bags, and made it through immigration where we were all of the sudden swamped by people yelling, "Taxi?! Shuttle?!" and of course we did need one but then they went through this whole shpeel on timeshares and free excursions. So annoying. I wanted to yell, 'we're on our honeymoon! Let us enjoy it for crying out loud!' but that didn't happen, of course. Finally, we got out of their clutches and made it to our resort. We stayed at Villa Del Arco Resort which was very nice. Our room was a suite with a huge bathroom and jetted tub. We came across this place on Living Social - that determined our honeymoon location. We got it for a screaming all-inclusive deal with a free couples massage and free cooking classes. That night we went out to dinner and ate our weight in food. I felt like we pretty much did that every night. The all-inclusive is a blessing and a curse; you save money, but you eat wayyyy more than you should and order dessert every meal since it doesn't cost you a dime. Looking back on it, I don't know why I allowed to stuff my face in while I was on my honeymoon.
The second day they sucked us into a timeshare ordeal. I didn't want to do it but we thought it might be a good idea to get some free stuff for listening, because they tend to do that. Our friends went to Cabo on their honeymoon aslo and they got some free excursions for doing it. But it took 3+ hours out of our day and we didn't get one free thing! I was super mad. But only from the time I left the building to the time Evan and I sat by the pool - he calms me down like nobody else. Now it's just something to laugh about. We swam in the ocean/pool and went and saw the "Arch" near "Lovers Beach" (we of course went to that beach) which was pretty cool. It is a very popular area for sea lions (but thats not why it's famous) - I was dying to pet one. You all know that I am a huge animal lover. Once I saw them sitting on that rock it quickly became my number one thing on my to do list in Cabo. I HAD to pet a sea lion. In order for us to get close to the sea lions we had to swim a little ways to their rock that they were always sitting on. But once they saw us coming they quickly dove into the water and started barking at us. I was bummed. So I never got to pet one, but we did get pretty close and we did get them to bark at us, which was actually pretty funny. During our other days there we Snorkeled and went Kayaking. Evan loves to Kayak. That was my first time and it was really fun, it's a workout though. My arms got so tired by the end. Evan is Mr. Fit and NEVER gets tired doing anything. But I have a pretty good excuse; I'm a girl. I'm not as strong as him but soon I will be able to catch up to him, hopefully. Our last actual day in Cabo we got our Couples Massage. It was THE BEST massage I have ever had. So relaxing. The room they had us in was very romantic. There was a Jacuzzi with flower pedals surrounding it and the two beds on the sides. Once they were done giving us our massages they let us sit in the jacuzzi for 30 minutes.

The dreaded day of coming home and ending our honeymoon came. Our traveling time took up most of our day and we didn't get first class on the way home, darnit. But we were excited to start "real life" together. Now we're here in North Carolina and I'm starting my 5th week of school. Time flies. I wish I could relive our wedding day and our honeymoon. It's been bliss being married to Evan. I couldn't be happier.

Groomals

2011-08-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our pictures from our Groomal Shoot.

Wedding pictures coming soon!

North Carolina

2011-08-22T06:35:00.000-07:00

Most of you know that I am now living in North Carolina. My husband has been attending Duke for the past few years and still has a few more years to go. We just moved into our new apartment last Sunday and when we got here the electricity was shut off and we couldn't get the people to come out until 2 days after. So we were walking around blinded, tripping over boxes, and taking cold showers for a few days. But once we got the electricity back on I went straight to work, trying to get everything unpacked and organized. I wanted to surprise my husband (still trying to get used to that word "husband") when he got home from a long day of work. I didn't get everything done, but I did get a good amount done and I did have dinner on the table. He was very pleased- goal achieved.

I am doing an Interior Design program in Asheboro (we live in Carrboro) which is about an hour away from my school. Needless to say I hate the drive, but what I absolutely hate more is the fact that I don't get home until 10:30 at night. Being away from Evan that long is just super annoying, I hate it. But count my many blessings that its only twice a week. The roads here though are crazy insane. There are thousands of "highways". I miss the one and only I-15 that pretty much got you everywhere you needed to go. So I basically live with my GPS and will live with it for quite some time I'm sure. Another thing is the trees here- there a loads and loads of them. You can't tell if there are living souls off the exits, especially at night. Last week when I was driving home from school the car was on empty and I could not find any gas stations because the trees block EVERYTHING. And every time I did decide to get off an exit there was nothing! I was so terrified that I would run out of gas on who knows what "highway" I was on out in the middle of nowhere, and have some guy with a chainsaw and mask emerge from the trees to come kill me. Note to self: Always have the car full when I make that long trek to school.

Evan was generous to let me use the car every day. He rides his bike to a bus stop and takes the bus the rest of the way, which takes him about an hour each way as well. He leaves at about 8 in the morning and gets home a little pass 6. I am always super anxious to see him by that time. Finally being with him is like a dream. I love every minute of it. He works so hard and is always trying to do better. He is ALWAYS thinking about my wants, needs and feelings. I don't feel like I deserve him sometimes. He is so amazing in every way, I definitely got lucky. I love him so much.

This weekend we decided to do some painting. I love gray and white right now so our bedroom walls we painted gray. The bedding and the decorations are white with a little bit of silver. I LOVE how it turned out. I'm still not finished decorating it yet, I still have a few things I want to hang up on the walls. We also painted our dining room and part of the living room a blue-gray color. At first I was worried about having blue walls, but I realized Evan has a good eye as well and I need to trust him more. The walls turned out great and we just bought a sofa off of Craigslist that went so well with the color. I am so excited to get our apartment done. As a wedding gift my parents bought us a washer and dryer and that arrives Monday. Evan and I just have his old loveseat to sell, and his TV and TV stand to sell and then we're done. Evan is working on building himself a desk in our bedroom with some book shelves. I am very impressed. It is so much fun being married to someone who is as artsy as you are. And he is a lot like me when he thinks of things to do- he gets excited to get it done and gets it done quickly. And I was very impressed that we got our painting done in two days. I don't think any other guy would have had the patience, but him and I had a lot of fun doing it together. It makes me excited to do more projects together in the future because I know he will be happily doing it with me.

Here is a picture of our bedroom

I took the pictures with my phone since I left my camera cord in UT-boo. So the pictures aren't great.

Here is the new couch with the blue walls. Not bad for a Craigslist couch, eh?

Once I get my camera cord I will post better pictures and I will post some of Evan building his desk.

I will also make a very anticipated honeymoon post :)

Husband and Wife

2011-08-16T07:15:00.000-07:00

You may now call me Mrs. Peet :). I was married to the man of my dreams on Friday August 5, 2011.

I don't even know where to begin, there is so much to talk about, so I'll start with the wedding; It was the wedding of my dreams. It was exactly how I had pictured it being and more. Everything turned out absolutely perfect! I keep replaying the whole day in my head over and over wishing that I could relive it because it came and went in a blink. All of that planning . . . gone in only a few hours. But it was amazing, so amazing. And it was only possible because of my loving parents and loving in-laws. I couldn't ask for better parents. They spoiled me rotten and I know I didn't deserve the wedding that I got. It was unbelievable. Everything went so smoothly that day, we didn't have any close calls or scary moments. Everything arrived on time, everything was beautiful, and all of my loving family and friends came to support us and I feel so so blessed.

The Rehearsal Dinner

We had our rehearsal dinner the night before at Evan's grandparents Country Club in Sandy. It was set out on the patio near a waterfall, it was beautiful. The Food was amazing, the speeches were great, and the weather turned out to be really cool. We started eating a little before sunset, there was a rainbow along with the beautiful orange sky, and the second the dinner ended there was a major thunderstorm that lasted for only about 10 minutes.

The only bad thing that happened during my wedding was the day of the dinner. My dog Indie decided to be a little stinker and eat a ROCK that day so we had to rush him into the Vet for him to have surgery or he wouldn't have made it through the night. I was gone at the time getting a massage with my mother in-law and once I got home my parents told me what happened. Needless to say I bawled my eyes out. Indie is my little buddy and I am already sad enough as it is moving away and never seeing him, but to not say goodbye before I left was devastating. So before the dinner started I rushed over to the Veterinary Hospital and said goodbye-which made me late to my own dinner but I didn't care. It was the worst goodbye that you could possibly think of, but Indie is doing great now and I can't wait to see him over Christmas Break.

The Wedding Day

As I said, the wedding day was absolutely perfect. I woke up earlier than I would have liked- but that was to be expected. It was like Christmas Morning. I finished- or attempted to finish - packing up my room. My dad made me some breakfast and I took my time getting ready. Evan picked me up at about 10:45 and we drove up to the Salt Lake Temple. It took us a good while to find a parking spot and had to walk a little ways. Our sealing was at 1 o'clock and many of our family and friends were there to support us and before I knew it I was married. The sealing was great. Coming out of the temple was a fun experience, seeing all of the faces that you know and love cheering for you. The weather was fantastic. Sunny, but not too hot either. And the COLORS of our wedding were absolutely beautiful! I give myself a pat on the back ;). I cant wait to see the pictures from our wedding day. After taking pictures with family at the temple they were set free in good time- our photographer was amazing. Thanks again Aly! -And we took more pictures of Evan and I at the Temple and in the Joseph Smith Building. After all of that we changed and drove back to Evan's house and ate a quick lunch from Kneaders and before we knew it, we were back in our clothes driving over to where the reception was being held to help set up. When we pulled up I was in awe. It was exactly how I had pictured it and I was so excited. It was a little stressful getting everything set up and ready, everyone asking you where things go, etc, etc. But it was absolutely perfect. Our reception was at the American Fork Amphitheater. Marvellous Catering from Provo catered my wedding, and I am telling you, they are the BEST!!! Throughout my whole planning process they treated me like a queen and gave me everything that I wanted. I told them I wanted to have crepes at my reception and that weekend they were catering at a wedding serving crepes. So they invited me and once I got there the head cook met me at the entrance and showed me around, let me cut through all of the lines to taste the food and drinks. They went above and beyond and their food is to die for! The crepes at my wedding were delicious and everyone was raving about them. Our cake turned out beautiful, along with our flowers. I was IN LOVE with how the flowers turned out. They were so beautiful and the girls that did them for me were so amazing. We had games such as, Badminton, Croquet, and Bean Bag Toss, which I thought was so fun and kept most of my loving family that had to stay the whole time entertained. The music was fabulous- Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, etc.. The Ambiance of the whole night was so romantic and dreamlike. If you can't tell, that day was the best day of my life.

I got to dance with my dad, I don't think I ever had before. I didn't expect it to be so sad. I had to keep myself from crying. I don't think he knows how much I love him and how grateful I am for all that he's done for me my whole life. It's crazy to think that I'm no longer a little girl. No longer living there and seeing my family every day. This is a huge adjustment, especially since I live across the country now. And I'm not going to lie, I already miss my family like crazy.

After dancing I tossed my bouquet, changed and gave my dad a quick hug before running through the huge line a sparklers. Once I got to the car my mother was no where to be found. But finally she came hurrying down the walkway so that I could give her a hug. Before we knew it we were in the car driving away.

Blink. Of. An. Eye.

Once I get pictures of the wedding day I will post them up.

Tomorrow

2011-08-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I get to marry my best friend

4 Days

2011-08-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

I Love to See The Temple

2011-07-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

On Friday, July 29 I went through the Draper Temple.

It was an amazing experience and I can't believe the time finally came for me to go through. It was a day that I had dreamed about since I was a little girl. The temple is amazing and the spirit is so strong. Yesterday was an amazing day.

Evan and I

Evan and I with my wonderful parents

My amazing family who came to support me.

I am so blessed.

I went through the 1 o'clock session- exactly one week before I get sealed to the love of my life- I can't wait.

10 Days

2011-07-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

1 Year

2011-07-19T11:58:00.000-07:00

One year ago yesterday I "met" my fiance- the love of my life.

One day last summer, I decided to stop by my older sisters apartment to bring her dinner and visit for a little while. As I was visiting, the dreaded boy situation was brought up. At this point, I was done with dating, or should I say that I was on a break. I was not interested whatsoever in the whole dating world. My sister then pulled out her computer and logged into her facebook and began searching for "cute boys" that she could introduce me to. I really didn't care or want her to introduce me to anyone, so I began playing with my nephew as she kept finding different boys to show me pictures of. Out of politeness and desperately trying not to show how annoyed I was, I would make a few comments but then continue to play with my nephew and let her do her thing. When she would try to send them a message I would tell her that I was really not interested. But then, she pulled up Evan Peet. I Immediately ran over to the computer and a huge smile spread on my face. I was blown away at how amazingly handsome he was. My sister kept trying to bring up other boys but I kept stopping her. As I was searching his profile, I soon realized that he didn't live in Utah. I was crushed. But I then got a brilliant idea that she should email him to have him take me out while he was back in Utah visiting family. It took some convincing, but I finally got her to send him a message.

I was worried that once he saw a picture of me he wouldn't be interested at all, or that he could possibly have a girlfriend. A full day went by and I hadn't heard anything from him, so I was convinced that he had a girlfriend. I mean he is gorgeous, so it seemed very likely. My sister finally talked me into adding him as a friend on facebook- which I NEVER do- but after a long debate with myself I finally added him. Later that evening I got 2 emails saying that he had accepted my friend request and that he had sent me a message. I was thrilled and immediately jumped onto the computer. It was a short simple message and I wanted to respond right away but had to "play it cool" so I waited until the next day to respond.

And the rest is history. We began messaging everyday, talking on the phone once a week, and having our "long distance dates" until September when he flew out to finally meet me. Which led to our many long distance dates, Skyping, and flying back and forth to visit each other every month.

I count this as our year, because as crazy as this sounds, I was fully invested in him even though I hadn't met him yet. I just knew that things were going to work out.

1 year ago my life changed
1 year ago I met my future husband

17 days until I'm with him for eternity

Celebrating our one year at Tiburon.

Just Us Wedding Announcement Video 2

2011-07-03T16:36:00.001-07:00

So apparently, if you don't have a Facebook account, you can't watch our video on my blog.
So we linked it through youtube. Enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04vcvI8MLEg

Just Us Wedding Announcement Video

2011-06-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

Evan and I decided to make a video to announce our engagement. It was so much fun making this little video. We did it all ourselves with my handy little tripod that I got as a gift a while back. Enjoy!

Engagements

2011-06-17T08:47:00.000-07:00

Alyssa Cook Photography

Not only have I been friends with Aly since we were tiny little girls, playing at the St. George pool every summer, but this gal is going to be my photographer for my wedding. She is amazing and I couldn't be more thrilled.

I love her style!

Here are a few -of the many- pictures that were taken for our engagements.

Thanks Aly!

My Twins Wedding

2011-06-13T10:47:00.000-07:00

My brother Austin got married on May 20 up Provo Canyon

It was a beautiful wedding and I couldn't be more thrilled for them.

They had their Wedding Dinner the night before at Magleby's

and they spent their honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Just a little while longer and it will be my turn ;).

Tomorrow

2011-05-17T09:48:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow tomorrow, I love you tomorrow,

you're only a day away.

Could this post be any cheesier?

Maybe, maybe not, but I am SO excited for tomorrow.

My Fiance Evan comes home tomorrow which means . . . .

NO MORE LONG DISTANCE!

What? Yep.

It's a little intimidating since long distance is all we've known,

but I couldn't be more excited to spend every day with him until we get married and then start the beginning of forever.

Now that he'll be here for the summer my little "countdown" on my blog won't be so stinkin slow.

"Power Foods"

2011-04-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

Evan and I did another "Barnes and Noble" date on Friday and we came across another cookbook:

I was drooling over almost all of the recipes in this book and had to have it.

There were one or two in there though, that were really scary- and I mean really scary- that I don't think I will ever try.

Saturday night we decided to cook a meal from this book:

Lemon Chicken with Avocado Salsa

I thought it was good, especially for summertime.

And it was ridiculously easy/quick to make.

What is so fabulous about this book is that it only uses ingredients that are "power foods" and it tells you why they are power foods.

For example, Avocados: lower levels of LDL ("bad") cholesterol and increase levels of HDL ("good") cholesterol. They are also unexpectedly high in fiber, providing about 13 grams each, and they offer more potassium per gram than bananas.

Who would-a-thunk

And they tell you everything you need to know about Amino Acids, Carbohydrates, etc, etc, etc.

Thank you Martha Stewart!

Big 21 and Wedding Bells?

2011-03-21T19:26:00.000-07:00

March 17 is my birthday and what a special day it was! It was the happiest day of my life. My boyfriend Evan flew out for my birthday, and to "plop a ring on my finger." No big deal.

Austin my twin brother was gone to Havasu with his Fiance for Spring Break so I had my first birthday to myself. It was a little strange, but I'm not really sad to say that I enjoyed it - I think my engagement and being with Evan was a big part ;).

The story:

The morning of my birthday Evan picked me up and took me to his house where he made me breakfast. My birthday seat was set with a cute little name-tag with my name ARIEL on it. After breakfast he had to "visit his friend Robby" which was just a ploy to hint hint, get the ring. So as he was "hanging with Robby" I took my sweet time getting ready, making sure that I looked extra great for my birthday, or should I say Evan. After his errand, he picked me up and took me to a park where we had a picnic. He handed me a little blue birthday note and one of the words in it (WILL) was underlined but I didn't think anything of it. After the picnic he took me to his house where he played our song "Can't Help Falling In Love With YOU" by Elvis on the piano. After he took me to the park again where we read some books on the grass. His book was about marriage and so was mine (those were the only two books he had for us to "read") as he snuck a picture of the word MARRY. After we decided to go to Color Me Mine where we painted him a Mug since I was the lucky one to have kept our first Color Me Mine Souvenir, which was a plate. We then went to the mall to kill some time before our dinner reservations. While we were there he asked me if I would like to go ring shopping again- to throw me off track, which worked wonders- but I ended up declining that cute/annoying suggestion. We ate an amazing dinner at the Wild Rose of Shrimp Scampi, Pork Tenderloin and was surprised with a delicious Cheesecake desert that said, "Happy Birthday from ME"

On the drive home I asked him what he wanted to do and he said that he still needed to talk to his parents because he hadn't seen them since he flew in, and then he suggested a movie after. I wasn't too happy with that idea, but I kept it to myself because he had already treated me like a princess the whole day.
We pulled up into his driveway, got out of the car and walked up to the garage door. He gave me a quick hug and kiss before he opened the door to a huge display of candles, trees lit with sparkling lights, and flowers. All I could say was, "oh!" And then the covering of my mouth which quickly followed as he grabbed a little black box out of a purple bag. He came over to me, pulled out his phone and asked me if I could answer a certain question for him. He showed me pictures that he had taken throughout the day during our little activities- the name-tag, the blue letter, our song, the marriage book, and desert- which ended up spelling out "Ariel Will You Marry Me" then knelt down and proposed. I had to keep myself from blurting out "YES!" before he was finished. And I also fought very hard to keep the tears back.

Wow, I'm engaged!
... and also 21 I guess ...

Evan is the most amazing person I have ever met.
I am the luckiest girl in the world!

August 5, 2011

NC

2011-02-22T12:43:00.000-08:00

I just got home from my trip from North Carolina visiting Evan. My amazing boyfriend :) I had a blast and to be honest, I'm kind of sad to be back at home. I guess I just got too used to being with him 24/7.

He had the whole week planned out with dinners, plays, games, and of course quality time with him- which was the best part (though I'm sure he couldn't wait for me to get on the plane ride home ;)). He did have to work during the week days so during those days I did some work myself and I read two books- the first two books of the Hunger Games Trilogy. Fyi, I love it, though I am worried for the end since I've heard the ending isn't too great.

My whole vacation was planned for being together on Valentines day. If you know me, you know that I HATE valentines day. But this year I absolutely LOVED it. It was the most perfect day.

The weather was amazing the whole time I was there. I was so thrilled to get away from the crappy Utah weather. And supposedly it was freakishly warm for North Carolina this time of year- I guess I just bring the good weather with me ;). So we of course spent as much time as we could outdoors when he was home during the day.

Other news, I missed a ton of stuff with my family during the week that I was gone:

My twin brother Austin is ENGAGED! WHAT! Yes. They're planning a wedding for May.
My nephew Rowan started walking.
My younger brother Landon got his first kiss(es) by two girls in one night (I secretly want to hurt these girls... did I say that? I was just kidding I should probably hurt him)
My sister Micah got her braces off.
My dad is working his way into a new business.

This was the most eventful week I think my family has ever had and I was gone for it. But I am OK with it, I was off having a fantastic week in North Carolina.

I wish I had some pictures to post, but I don't at the moment.

Let the next countdown begin! 23 days...

please hurry

3

2011-02-07T11:00:00.000-08:00

Recipe Number 3

Main entree: Old-school pork chops with apples and sage

Side: Grilled peach and frisee salad with goat cheese dressing

Me and Evan went to a super fancy restaurant in Provo back in September where we ordered a pork chop with Apricot on top. It was delicious. I'm craving it right now. One thing that I have noticed is pork chops are so good with about any kind of fruit on top. Well just apples and apricots so far, I still have yet to try some others, but I imagine that anything would probably be great with it.

I loved these pork chops, they were yummy and super fast/easy to make. The salad was good, I still need to get used to the taste of goat cheese but I'm slowly liking it more and more, but dang is it expensive.

Some other news: I am flying out to visit Evan on Friday for Valentines day. North Carolina here I come! :)

Recette numéro deux

2011-01-23T20:45:00.000-08:00

Recipe number two: Pan fried sirloin steak with simple Chianti butter sauce and olive oil mash with some roasted spice cauliflower.

We decided that this was going to be a weekly event since we enjoyed it so much the first time, so I hope you don't get sick of my weekly cooking posts ;).

I came across the movie Julie & Julia this afternoon and I kind of feel like Julie with her blogging/cooking. But instead of using Julia Childs cookbook I'm using Jamie Oliver's.

This time my whole entire family was gone, due to the fact that it was a Saturday night. It was awesome and I didn't have to get teased the whole time
(you'd think that if my family teased me like this, I wouldn't be so kind and make them these dinners...)

Oh, and this was my first time cooking with wine. I was a little nervous that I wouldn't cook it long enough to let the alcohol dissipate out. And I was also very nervous because I was making this same dinner the very next night for my whole entire family and I didn't want to get my 13 year old sister "tipsy" on Chianti. But obviously you would have to drink a decent amount of wine for that to happen. The word alcohol just scared me so I made it boil for a lot longer than it was actually supposed to... just to be safe. I know, I'm a dork.

Here are my pictures

I wasn't a fan of the Cauliflower. I forgot that I hate the taste of Cumin- way too overpowering. But if I had left the cumin out, I would have loved it.

You can't see the sauce in this picture- I forgot to snap picture of it, darnit- but that is what made this meal so yummy!

Here are his

I loved this meal.

I am very proud of myself and I feel like I'm getting better and better at this whole cooking thing.

Long Distance Dates

2011-01-16T20:47:00.000-08:00

So for those of you who don't know, I have a boyfriend, but he lives in North Carolina.

Sum up of our story: My sister knew his sister from high school, she semi-introduced us without me and him ever meeting... We then found each other on facebook, chatted every day for 2 months, he flew out to meet me in September and the rest is history.

We see each other every month on average for about a week at a time. In between those times we do as much as we can for our relationship; we Skype every night along with long distance dates. It started out with movies once a week, then we added games on the internet together, trips to Barnes and Noble, and our new thing that we just tried out is cooking together. We recently bought a Gourmet Cook Book and tonight we made our first dish- Butternut Squash Chicken with Chilli and Sticky Carrots. It turned out really good but the best part was "cooking together". Even though my dad was in the kitchen making fun of how "cheesy" we are. The whole time. This was the one time I really wished I lived by myself.

Here are his pictures of his meal

And here are mine

So much to eat! My family was hovering over me as they were eating their chilli. Since I obviously couldn't finish everything, they all tried a little bit of it. And they loved it. My dad was a little too proud to admit he liked it, but without him knowing, I spied on him as he picked at my leftovers in the fridge.

Call and Update

2011-01-07T19:03:00.000-08:00

Austin received his mission call to the Carlsbad, California Mission. He leaves to the MTC March 2. It will be the first birthday I have alone... sad day! But I couldn't be more thrilled for him.

For Christmas break I spent some time with the family

and my boyfriend flew out here for three weeks and stayed with his family.

Now that he's gone I'm super bored... hence my blogging.

While he was here we went to St. George for a weekend, snowshoed up Big Cotton Wood Canyon, went snowboarding, sledding, ate at some amazing restaurants, etc. It was an amazing three weeks.

I moved back home a few weeks ago due to an unfortunate situation at my old apartment complex. It's weird to be home since I haven't lived at home since April but it will be nice to save some money. I got a job as a Personal Assistant for a guy in Highland so It all worked out in the end.

I can't believe it's already 2011.

Hope everyone enjoyed their holidays!

Our snowman Harold.

Some of our past photos

Dummy

2010-11-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Halloween this year I was a Ventriloquist Doll

And I decided that I'm going to be it again next year, because I didn't really do much for Halloween.

My nephew Rowan in his cute little froggy costume.

Me and Austin. He was a nerd.

Hope everyone had a good Halloween!

Bang Bang

2010-10-24T20:55:00.000-07:00

"He shot me down
Bang bang, I hit the ground

Bang bang, that awful sound

Bang bang, my baby shot me down"

Yesterday my family and I all went shooting after my little sisters cheer competition. It was pouring rain as we were driving out towards Saratoga Springs, so we decided to stop at a restaurant and wait a little while (the restaurant was awful and smelt like sour rags, yuck). After we were done it was still raining pretty hard, but since we were already out there, there was no turning back. We drove and drove hoping that we would catch a patch of clear skies, and luckily, we did! And it was beautiful! We all had a great time. I love shooting guns- it makes me feel like I'm ridiculously cool.

Seasons came and changed the time
When I grew up, I called him mine
He would always laugh and say
"Remember when we used to play?"

Bang bang, I shot you down
Bang bang, you hit the ground
Bang bang, that awful sound
Bang bang, I used to shoot you down.

- Nancy Sinatra

Happy Birthday'S

2010-10-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

I think once I mentioned that October is the birthday month for my family.

Within my own family, discounting relatives, we have 3 birthdays out of 7 in 4 days.

On the 15th was my brother Landon's

He just turned SWEET 16!!!

But sadly, since he hadn't had his permit 6 months before his birthday (which wasn't his fault) he can't get his license till February.

I would have been pretty bummed if I were him but he was as happy as ever.

Little bit about Landon:

He is one of the funniest people you will ever meet.

He sleeps so much that sometimes I think he's dead.

He is a really funny dancer.

He has a habit of snapping (I honestly think he is the worlds fastest snapper, thus I think we should mention him to the people at Genis Book of World Records).

He looks like a deer on headlights.

Happy Birthday dear brother of mine!

Today the 16th is my sweet mothers birthday.

She would hate it if I told you how old she was turning

so I'm not going to tell you, even though she looks like she just turned 30.

(I need to count my many blessings and hope that I'll look like my mother when I'm her age)

She is so kind and super outgoing. Once you first meet her you'll be laughing with her like you've been friends with her for years.

She has one of the most contagious laughs you've ever heard.

She's got mad style and would even make her in a Potato Sack look like she just stepped out of Vogue Magazine.

This is my beautiful mother (with her mother)

Happy Birthday Mom!

On Monday the 18th is my Dad's birthday

He is turning 49 this year.

I CANNOT WAIT to tease him next year when he turns 50 :)

He just sold his business so he is the happiest I've ever seen him.

He is the biggest teaser you will ever meet-I am not over exaggerating.

Sometimes he takes it too far, for example,

Yesterday we were riding some Go Karts at the Fast Tracks in Salt Lake (they get up to 35 mph)

He was behind me and as I was cutting a corner he decided to hit me GOING FULL SPEED.

That was my first car accident.

And lets be honest, I may as well have been in a box.

I walked away with a major bruise on my hip down my leg and whiplash. Not funny.

I am still suffering.

He is a cocky sucker but you got to love him for it (don't bother to tell my dad cool things you've done throughout your life, he did everything as a kid, skydiving, started a wheat field on fire and even wrestled a grizzly). He wishes...

This is my dad with my mom

Happy birthday dad, you old fart

LOVE YOU ALL!!!!

Tim McGraw

2010-07-31T15:42:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was lucky enough to score some tickets for the Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum concert. The traffic was unbelievable so we missed the first half of the concert which was Lady Antebellum but it turned out just fine, I would much rather miss Lady Antebellum than Tim McGraw. Sorry Lady. Even though your "Need you Now" song is great.We got there about 10 minutes before Tim came on, right when I saw his silhouette my knees buckled.

OHHH Tim, you are a hunk!

Our seats to begin with were already close, but I soon let my eyes wander from Tim McGraw's wonderfully sculpted arms a little to the right and saw a familiar face; A guy that occasionally comes into my work, he was one of the security guards. He walked over to me and said, "You're the Quality girl, right? Wanna go up front and take a picture?" So obviously without any hesitation I ran right up there. I was as close as close could be (other than jumping on stage and straddling him). We even made eye contact. I guess it does pay off to know people. This concert is probably the best one I have ever gone to.

Tim, I love you!

Oh, and one more thing, I love you and Faith together. Forever.

I even love that you have her name tatooed on your arm.

SKYDIVING

2010-06-24T13:39:00.000-07:00

June 23, 2010

I jumped out of an airplane!

Me and my brother have been dying to go skydiving for a few years

I'm surprised it took this long for us to actually go!

We got a group to go from our singles ward to come a long for this sweet adventure

This is the best thing I have ever done in my entire life!

Words cannot explain how amazing this experience was.

I think I'm addicted now.

Mexico

2010-05-29T16:04:00.000-07:00

Sad News.

We weren't able to explore Greece due to their government almost going bankrupt

It was too dangerous to go to

So we decided to go to Mexico!

We went to the Most famous Myan Ruins in the world-- Chichen Itza

I didn't realise how much LDS history there is there!

We were lucky to get an LDS guide, it was neat to learn everything.

We also went to Tulum which is another myan ruin

We went to Playa Del Carmen, Swam in a Cenote, Swam with Dolphins, snorkled, went to the beach, and ate as much mexican food as we could!

It was a much needed vacation!

Kind of stinks to have to come back to reality!

V

2010-05-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

V for Vendetta

I AM IN LOVE WITH YOU!

I totally forgot about this movie

probably because it was released 5 years ago

but holy crap it is such a good show!

I got bored on sunday night and started flipping through the channels

and this just happened to be on.

It made my night being lazy worth it.

I think I'm going to watch it again and again and again.

I love Natalie Portman.

She is such a classy girl

Hugo Weaving ("Mr. Anderson" guy off of the Matrix)

I'm glad they didn't ever show his face

But his VOICE makes him so dreamy!

And surprisingly so does that mask!

Am I weird?

If you haven't watched this movie in a while... WATCH IT!

Greece

2010-05-03T16:09:00.000-07:00

GREECE

Me and my family are taking off for Greece May 12!

I couldn't be more excited! It is coming so fast!

The only thing that I'm not excited for is the 13 hour flight... boo!

Here is our Agenda as we know of right now:

Spend the first 2 days to see Athens. (Parthenon, Acropolis, etc.)
Spend 1 day in Hydra. It's a beautiful island where you can only travel by foot, donkey, or bike
Spend 1-2 days in Mykonos
Spend 7 days in Crete to visit all of the old towns and the beaches
Spend the last night back in Athens
Fly home :(

I am counting down the days!

I will be posting pictures of it when I return.

Maybe I could bring home some hot Greek guy to marry. Yea yea?

He lives

2010-04-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

I love conference weekend.

It landed on easter this year so that is a double plus

This month I have been on a spiritual high

It was a hard month but filled with the most rewarding experiences of my life.
This month has confirmed to me once again that this gospel is true
I'm so grateful for it
I just thought that I would share this video

Happy Easter

Grew some wings

2010-04-01T21:48:00.000-07:00

So, I finally grew some wings and flew!

I haven't moved out of my parents house yet

Until today.

I loved being at home but it was time for a change.

I moved to the Crestwood Apartments.

So far I love it

The apartment is nice

clean

I have my own bedroom which is a huge plus

I don't think I could share a bedroom (eeek)

My roommates all seem nice

I'm the second oldest

weird.

I'm excited to meet new people

this will be oh so great :)

All Legs

2010-03-21T21:03:00.000-07:00

We all know that I am a huge animal lover

As a child I used to want to be a vet.

I pictured myself being one

but seeing myself taking home all of the homeless puppies

We have a dog named Gracie.

She is my pride and joy

Probably the best dog you could ever ask for

I love her so much

Me and my family have been feeling a little sorry for her lately

because, most of the morning and part of the afternoon no one is home to play with her.

So we decided to get her a playmate..

Saturday afternoon while I'm at work my mother calls me and tells me that she wants me to look on KSL for a standard poodle puppy

So of course, I hopped right on it.

And sure enough I found some

They were in West Haven Utah.

I didn't even know this place existed

It was about an hour and a half away from where I work

but we got there in about and hour because I am speedy fast ;)

We came home with a boy who they called Lucky
(We will soon change his name.. Sampson or Willy. What do you think?)

A very sweet clumsy dog.

He seriously is just all legs!

He has the longest legs ever with huge paws

I'm just a little bit worried..

Gracie seems a little bit jealous but I hope that this is only temporary

and that they'll become best friends soon.

Just a needle and thread

2010-03-13T16:15:00.000-08:00

I keep getting visions of clothing that I wan't to create
and mounds of papers with sketches on them, but they are just collecting dust.
The style of clothing that I Absolutely LOVE is either
nearly impossible to find
or just way too pricey for my wallet

The solution: I'll make it!
Of course it will take lots and lots of practice
But how cool would that be to make my own unique clothes?
I'm getting way too excited just thinking about it!

Obviously, I have been dying to learn how to sew
But I haven't done anything or even attempted to do so.
For some reason it scares me that i'll be horrible at it
and I don't want to spend the money on a hobby that won't last.

...What am I saying?

It's up to me, right?

I CAN DO THIS!

First I need to buy this

So that I can create stuff like this!

Oh this will be one big journey!

Stork

2010-03-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

He came!

Little baby Rowan came at 9:12 yesterday morning March 3, 2010

My sister had to endure a 30 hour labor.. and let me tell ya, it did not look fun!

I was anxious the whole night. I didn't realize how excited I was until she was at the hospital

I was bouncing off the walls.

So when it came time to go home and sleep since no progress was being made, I couldn't!

I was so restless. I was tossing and turning and then finally i fell asleep for five minutes

but then woke up from a very disturbing dream that the baby was born with 4 arms!

Thank goodness the baby was only born with two

He is so precious, I can't believe I'm an aunt!

He looks so much like his mother!

It's a BOY!

2010-02-07T21:41:00.000-08:00

My sister Whitney is having a baby boy and I couldn't be more excited!

She is due March 1st, but she will most likely be early--like any day now.

We were all worried that we were too late to throw the baby shower

but we were lucky enough to squeeze it in.

Me and my mother planned the whole event, and I must say that it turned out great.

I have never seen so many people at a baby shower.

The cute little set up

Cupcakes from Dippidee -- I am addicted to that store now.

These red velvet cupcakes were divine!

Berry Lemonade Jones Bottles with her prego pic on them.

These were a hit!

The women from my mother's side.

I love you all!

I can't wait for little baby Rowan to pop out of the womb! ha ha

I'm sure i'll be posting up some baby pictures very soon.

I'm going to be an AUNT!

Auntie Ariel :)

2009 Wrap Up

2009-12-31T13:23:00.000-08:00

To be quite honest, I would never consider myself a fan of New Years.

Let me rephrase that...

I do not like New Years Eve.

But, I do love the concept of a New Years Resolution,

even though I have never done one before in my life.

I have attempted but failed after 15 seconds of writing it down each year.

I have decided to do one this year...

With many new ideas that popped into my head,

Why not give it a shot?

Now, I am not going to bore you with all of my brilliant ideas.

Just know that I have plans.

I have goals.

And I WILL achieve them :)

For this blog post I am just going to highlight what 2009 was all about.

--2009--

Two Thousand and Nine was like every other year.

Nothing great or exciting really happened.

Just mainly consisted of 3 jobs, college, fun but boring dates with boys that had no potential. (haha..)

But they did make for great friends!

How awful am I?

But seriously, it's the truth!

My Prince Charming is out there somewhere.. I just need to find him.

Dating-- story for another time. No boyfriend-- I think that pretty much sums it up.
One of my best friends got married and I was lucky enough to be one of her bridesmaids.
I made a trip down to Florida with my wonderful family.
I was able to go to Lake Powell 4 times during the summer--- I couldn't have asked for a better summer. I was able to get better at wake boarding and now I can't wait for this summer to start so I can show off my mad skills ;)
My brother Austin was able to go to Ukraine and teach english. It was sad having my twin away for a few months. But a lot of wonderful things happened for my brother and I am so grateful for it.
I did another semester at UVU. I took an Interior design class that I absolutely loved.
Got wind from my parents that we are going to Greece in May. I am counting down the days.
Found myself at a loss of friends because they all have serious boyfriends or are married... which is fine! It gave me a chance to realize what I want. And I am happy for them!
The holidays were great. It really is the best time of year!

I'm not really sad to leave 2009 behind me..

I have an inkling that 2010 is going to be something great.

December 5, 1959

2009-12-07T22:23:00.000-08:00

December 5, 1959
Jack and Barbara Yalden were married

December 5, 2009
they celebrated their
50th Anniversary

---

Invitation that I made for the event..

The Open House was at the Magleby's Restaurant in Provo.

Me and My cousin Joslyn with her husband Matt put together a video for them and it turned out great!

It was such a fun night and so neat to see my grandparents make it to 50 years.

They have such a wonderful marriage and I look up to them so much.

You can't help but just love them!

Jack and Barbara Yalden

METEOR

2009-11-18T07:46:00.000-08:00

I'm sure that everyone by now has heard about the meteor last night and some have seen it.

---

Last night at approximately 12:10 am (somewhere around there) I was driving home from work down a street in my neighborhood, when all of the sudden the sky lit up so bright it looked like it was midday. I looked up out the window of my car with my eyes open wide and my mouth to the floor saw this huge fireball falling from the sky. It was enormous! All I could say was, "Oh my gosh! oh my gosh! oh my gosh!"
I honestly thought I was going to die. I thought that it was going to hit the ground and my whole neighborhood was going to explode. But then it just disappeared.
Now obviously it wasn't that close to me, it was miles and miles away since all of Utah saw it and some people from Las Vegas and California saw it too. But, I'm pretty sure if you were where I was at that very second, you would have thought the same thing too!

Dear Zooey Deschanel...

2009-11-16T15:23:00.000-08:00

You are beautiful.

You dress amazing.

You sing wonderfully.

You are a good actress.

You are classy.

You are smart.

You are the vintage queen.

You've got mad style!

---

YOU ARE MY FAVORITE

1 pumpkin 2 pumpkins

2009-11-10T23:31:00.001-08:00

I have been a horrible blogger lately! I haven't posted anything up in almost a month.

This may be a little late but oh well!

Over the week of Halloween me, Micah and Landon went to Brandalyn and Gordon's house to have a wonderful dinner of Bread bowls with soup and some yummy pumpkin cookies. But the main reason/ event for the night was to do our yearly pumpkin carving. It is something that we look forward to every year and we all really enjoy it! It was a bummer not having Austin there with us but he is off having a fun adventure in Ukraine. They have just welcomed a new little girl into their family and her name is Anastyn. She is the cutest little thing ever.

Thank you Brandalyn and Gordon for always having us over!

We love you!

All of our pumpkins lit up!

---------

Kylie Johnson, who is one of my best friends came into town the weekend of halloween. We got together the night before and decided to carve pumpkins. So I hit two this year! A little lame that it was the same design but the witch was too fun.

She did Snow White and her friend Alex did the Skeleton.

We had a great time!

October Birthdays

2009-10-16T22:05:00.000-07:00

This Month is always a crazy one, not just with Halloween parties and such. The majority of my family and relatives have their birthdays in October.

My cousin Chantel's is on the 9th

My little brother Landon's is the 15th

My Mothers is the 16th

My fathers is the 18th

You think that's crazy enough?

I'm not done yet...

My mom's dad's birthday is the 20th

My mom's mom's is the 22nd.

So... I lied. Maybe It's not the majority of my family but, It's still a lot!...and I know that I'm missing more. I love this month though, Fall is my favorite time of year.

HAPPY FALL EVERYONE!

Straight A's

2009-10-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

These last few days I have lived at the library...

I have been there till midnight every night studying for my tests that my lovely professors scheduled on the same day... are you kidding me??

I have eatin a thousand of these

I am lacking on this

Oh how I miss my beauty sleep...

Today was that day I have been dreading for days. But, it finally paid off! Living in the library gets you straight A's! Well duh, of course it does, right? For some reason I didn't figure this out until just now.

I can finally relax a little bit which will be HEAVEN!

GO ME!

Lake Powell

2009-09-21T18:22:00.000-07:00

Me and my best friend Lexi decided to go to Lake Powell over the past week. This was my 4th trip down there this summer. It was a much needed vacation and even better since Lake powell is my favorite place on earth! We went to Wahweep and stayed on her families house boat. I got so much better at wakeboarding and skiing. I finally now can say that I am at least decent with water sports. It's just a bummer having to wait till next summer! I'm sad summer is over but I LOVE the fall so I am excited for that! This was my best summer yet!

Comments be workin!

2009-09-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

FINALLY I got my stupide blog to allow comments... and for the life of me I don't know how I did it. Shoot! Oh well... Now you guys can leave me comments and i'll feel so loved ;) I feel like i've been talking to myself!

Comments..

2009-09-02T17:41:00.000-07:00

For some reason my stinkin blog will not let anyone comment... why is this??? Does anyone know? I need help :(

Ukraine

2009-08-30T10:22:00.000-07:00

So my brother Austin left for Ukraine to teach english last monday. It didn't hit me that he really was leaving until we took him to the airport. I must say, I did get teary eyed! He is my twin brother and have never been separated longer than a week?
A couple of days after he left I was at work debating on what to do that night. I thought to myself, "A movie! Yes, I'll ask Austin. He is always up for seeing movies with me." But then I soon realized that he is on the other side of the world! What a bummer. I am really beginning to miss him. We haven't heard too much from him since he has been there. He's sent me a few messages on facebook but they don't really say much! I'm getting a little antsy.
He could extend his trip two weeks if he wanted to and go to Greece, what? Greece? ...yeah i'm so jealous. But my family might make it our christmas present to go see him in Greece. I am crossing my fingers! But shhh it's a secret.

(500) Days of Summer

2009-08-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

This film is so true-to-life. It is finally an honest romance film that everyone can relate to.
I have been waiting and waiting for this movie to come out for months! And let me tell ya, it was NO disappointment. It wasn't what I expected but, I absolutely love this film. It is totally my style; The music, the clothing, the art of it all was amazing. If you haven't seen this movie yet, GO SEE IT!

Finally!

2009-07-30T17:54:00.001-07:00

So finally I got myself a job! I am now employed at Beaches Tanning Salon. Now I will have full weeks where I can keep myself busy! Along with still working for my dad, and still babysitting for Brandalyn and Gordon.. Thank goodness!
I was going to skip a semester of college.. but I do not know what I was thinking. I decided that I am going to go until I at least get my Associates... I will be a busy busy girl and I am so happy about that! The love life these days just aint cuttin' it! ;)

Mehlhoff Family Reunion

2009-07-27T17:57:00.001-07:00

For the 24 weekend we had a family reunion with the Mehlhoff's side at my uncles cabin. My dad brought up a toy hauler that we stayed in. We went four wheeling, boating, and hiking. Also, me and my younger sister saw two little black bears while we were going up a dirt road. Of course, I didn't have my camera on me. Such a bummer! Being outdoors is something that I really enjoy. It was a well spent weekend being with the family.

Thats a Wrap!

2009-07-22T07:46:00.000-07:00

So I decided very quickly to work on my photography skills. I took my little sister Micah out and snapped a few photo's of her. I think they turned out quite well. We took probably 350 photo's and narrowed it down to 150.. quite the day! We had fun.

Summer Goals

2009-07-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

So.. I am sitting here thinking to myself.. summer has flown by! I need to set some summer goals--so I did!

Vacations baby! --I know, I know..I have done plenty of vacationing these past months; Been to Lake Powell several times along with Florida and other places. But I want more!

--I've already got trips planned to Lake Powell, St. George, Yuba Lake, and a possible trip to New York. I'm well on my way to achieving this goal! :)

Accomplishing my Photography skills --So, you see.. I love photography. I got a wonderful camera from my loving parents this past christmas and I still haven't had the chance to actually take it out. I've done a few things here and there. Scratch that! I've done a lot. I just need to find my style!

Rise and shine plus some exercise!-- I recently discovered that I hate sleeping in... sure it feels good when you wake up, realize that you are still tired and that you can in fact sleep in. But once you wake up from that double sleep time you feel awful, and the clock is way later than it should be. I've decided to wake up every morning at 8. I started this a little while ago and I am holding strong! Also, I love my exercise.. If I go a day without it I feel blah! I started P90X and I am also setting a goal to hike or bike three mornings a week.

Adventures-- I need adventures or I go crazy. Boating, 4-wheeling, camping, movies, just anything to give me a good time-- I need lots of!

Job-- Sadly I am pretty much jobless. You'd think this would be at the top of my list.. but I hate talking about it. So, I need a job. The end

Those my dear friends are my main goals.. If I think of anymore I'll be sure to post them!