Best 5 years!

We must like the first weeks of July because not only will we celebrate our wedding anniversary, but also our first date.


2006
Brand New Love
We had only been together about 3 weeks when we took our first road trip together
Rascal Flatts concert in Vegas


2007
Celebrating my birthday and 1 year together up in Park City

2008
2 years
Reliving our first date up at Silver Lake

2009
3 years
Bees game. Baseball and fireworks :)


2010
4 years and ENGAGED!



July 9, 2010
BEST day of my life!
I finally married the love of my life and my best friend.


July 9, 2011

So here we are, getting ready to celebrate our first anniversary and 5 years together. I have absolutely LOVED being married to Brian. He makes me happier then I ever thought I could be. I am so excited to see what life brings us in the MANY years to come.
I love you babe!

Feet Update

So I went back to the doctor today over my cysts and got good news...

They are gone for now!!!

There is a good chance they will return...

so high heel shoes are out of the question for the time being.

But I am going back to my regular scheduled running, hoping they won't come back

(I have another 5k in August so must get back to work)

If they do come back, we now know that a simple injection will work, which is much better than having them surgically removed.

Happy to finally have normal feet again, for now.

Sore feet

Back in August, my feet started hurting...bad. I thought of ALL the possibilities of what it could be...

...sore from wearing flip flops...nope they still hurt in the winter...

...sore from old running shoes...nope they still hurt when I got new shoes...

...stress fracture from running....nope they would hurt when I had not run for days...

While attempting to keep my goal of running a 10k by the end of the year, I decided to keep running and deal with the pain

After my last 5k on Mother's Day weekend, I was putting lotion on my feet when I noticed something alarming...a bump..

So the mind wandering began again...

...bone spur...wart...What could it be?

9 months later, I finally made an appointment with a podiatrist.

Today I got my answer...

...A Ganglion Cyst.

So 2 needle pokes, numb toes, and bruised (sore) feet later, I wait...3 more weeks to see if it disappears...if not, it comes to Option 2 or 3...neither of which I wish to go through.

Cyst, Cyst Go Away. Come again...NEVER!

Karma

I get it from my mother...

...Superstition...

Wearing the same shirt or jewelry until its luck wore out (meaning the Utes lost)...making sure the flags were hung on the house and the car the day of a game...keeping the radio on 910 am (now AM 700) while we went into the games...sitting in the same seats every game, and if we didn't, we moved at half time...eating pretzels for 2 hours to keep the Utes winning (that's for you Hailie)...making sure every game was recording, unless they were losing then stopping the recording...Yes, this was how I grew up.

It wore off...During the 2008 Sugar Bowl season, I collected things throughout the season that became lucky. By the time the Sugar Bowl came around, I had a lucky shirt, pom-pom, towel, earrings, even underwear. We all know how that season turned out :)

Included in that season was a bracelet (you know, the Live Strong bracelets, just with Utah Utes on it)

Well that became part of my every day life in 2007 (I think...maybe earlier). I LITERALLY never took it off....only for my Wedding Day.

Just last week, while sitting on the couch, the unthinkable happened...it broke. Ask Brian, I was IN SHOCK for a good 2 minutes. I stared at it, not quite believing what had happened. Brian being the simple man he is simply said "Well, looks like it's time for a new bracelet" Didn't he understand??? This was THE lucky bracelet that had traveled to many Ute events over that past 4+years. The shirts, earrings and underwear came and went...but the bracelet stood strong.

Once the shock wore off, I decided it must be added to my shrine (Brian doesn't let me decorate the house with Ute stuff, so I have a cabinet dedicated to my second True Love...Brian being the first) It is now living out its life with the many other "lucky pieces" I have acquired over the years.

I became a little weary...what's going to happen now? Only bad things of course...

Well Karma had taken my side INSTANTLY. The Jazz got lucky in the lottery and received the #3 pick in the upcoming draft...a friend who had her car stolen just 2 days earlier had it returned to her in perfect condition...my dearest co-worker Catherine who gave up her full time position for me just a year ago, was getting it back to work right along side me...a prayer was answered (I will leave it at that) Only good things happening to me or those I love, therefore making me happy.

Maybe all this superstition stuff I was holding on to was actually preventing other good stuff from happening...it got me thinking...maybe it was time for a mind-shift

As for now, the whole superstition kick has been kicked. I can't promise anything come August (100 days!) but I will definitely try

Born This Way

She is controversial, eccentric, and borderline psychotic...

...but Lady Gaga's song lyrics to "Born This Way" are, in my opinion, as powerful as any song in recent memory.

As most girls in this world, I have always struggled with self-confidence. I will always have things I am self conscious about. I don't think I will ever get completely away from that. But recently I have realized I have to do certain things to be my best me. Things like exercise, eating right, doing puzzles, reading good books, thinking positively and taking criticism are all needed to make me become the best person I can be.

Working in elementary schools, I am seeing girls at incredibly young ages struggling with the issues I struggle with as an adult. It is unfair for them to grow up in a world with such negativity and where vanity is portrayed everywhere.

I don't agree with certain lifestyles, but I can respect others for their differences.

What's important is you love yourself, know you are born to survive, and most of all remember...

Baby, You Were Born this Way!!!

Trendy?

Maybe...

But this is one trend I am glad I finally joined


Hands down most comfortable shoes I have ever owned

I love Toms

Projects

During my 30 day blog challenge, I mentioned I wanted to get pictures hung in our house. The walls had been bare the first 6 months of our marriage and I was tired of it. So I made it a goal to get it done. When we bought the house, we had not planned to do much to it as we don't plan staying here for too long. But after nearly a year, we could not stand it anymore.

One of my favorite Christmas presents this year came from my brothers wife Danielle. She bought it in Colorado while visiting her parents and I loved it! After an extensive search for a frame to fit (and a realization that custom framing is expensive even with a 60% coupon) I took the pictures out of the mat and framed each one individually....D-A-H-L


Brian's sister Katie was kind enough to take our engagement and bridals for the wedding. She used one of our favorites in a photography project at the U, which she aced! She gave us the final project for Christmas. Who knew they would go so well together. 2 great presents from 2 great sister-in-laws :)

Along with that, Brian and I had been looking for a piece of Art for our house practically since we bought the house last May. We have vaulted ceilings which makes our walls huge and empty. So a few weeks back, we ventured down to the Starving Artists Show to see if we could find anything to fill the space.

We did! We found this beautiful, warm painting that was exactly what we were looking for. Pair it with a beautiful frame and we were in luck. The whole thing only cost $200! What a steal!!!! We were so excited to get it home.

Last but not least, my husband is a very good artist himself. He has books, boxes and notebooks full of sketches and drawings in the basement. He is always sketching something. But his new skill is window moldings. He was lying in bed one morning looking out at our front window and thought "Our window is really bare and ugly" So what does he do, he makes it beautiful.

Here is the window before...

...And here is the finished work..

I love that he is talented enough to do almost anything. He had never done anything like this before and it turned out beautiful. Even better news, the whole project only cost $20! Now only 3 more windows to go

If and when the weather warms up, our next project is to make our backyard beautiful. We love spending time outside in the summer, but our backyard is not in any condition to relax in. So hopefully by the end of the summer, you will see pictures of a brand new patio, a new fence and a vegetable garden. Wish us luck!!!