Mt. Timp

Wes had work off on Saturday. He was offered a double...even though we could use the money, we thought that time together is WAY better! We decided to hike Mount Timpanogas! I had no idea what I was in for...hahah We had a lot of fun though! Except for the hour portion where I whined about my legs killing me... At the trailhead! Timp Falls Fillin up the water bottles at the falls!Glacier water, YUM!On our way up!The cute husband building a fire in the little shack by the lake

Chopping wood with his new hatchet!That land out there is Heber! (an hour away)

After our 8.5 mile hike up the mountain side!

It doesn't look that cold, but it was in the 30s. That's why I'm wearing Wes' snow gloves.

We were so happy to make it up!

On our way back down the mountain!

So, this goat, it walked along the trail FOREVER with us.

I died laughing. On the way up Mt. Timp I had been laughing bc Wes would trip every now and then. I finally decided to watch him hike & realized he was looking up and around the entire scenery & the trail was SO rocky with tree stumps & boulders all over the place! When I hike I watch my feet the entire time. I thought this observation was hilarious & told Wes & started to analyze our personalities accordingly. On our hike back, we were coming over the saddle that goes back onto the face of the mountain. Iwas just jibber-jabbering away talkin with Wes about whatever. I was super chatty & was on a long talking stretch. In the middle of me talking, he says "Rach, there's a mountain goat in front of you." I looked up & screamed bloody murder, this enormous mountain goat was RIGHT in front of me. When I screamed it jumped and walked back to where he's standing in this picture. Wes DIED laughing. He said, "You do watch your feet when you walk!" He was wondering if I was going to acknowledge the enormous goat!

Wes makes breakfast every Sunday... it's amazing!! Not to mention our waffle maker is the BEST ever!

xoxoitwasanamazingweekend

This one's for Skydney

Last night I was flippin through pictures on my computer & basically relived all our awesome years as roommates! Sydney has been a blessing to my life & a dear friend! This girl has got it goin on! Sydney is fun & hilarious. She was basically my source of entertainment because she did everything I dared her to. We stirred up a little trouble in Provo & had so much fun together! Here's some pictures throughout the years...they were good ones!

Holler, Spice!

Freshmen.

Sophies. I'm glad we survived. "Sweet thing number 1 and sahweet thing number 2"

many o' firs.

hoodie sillouhettes are good ones.

Studying & scanning booties in the library.

I don't suggest the booty part...it could get your booty out of byu real quick!

freshman ward talent show.

Tennessee summer

it's been a fun run-around & even though we have new (& handsomer) roomates,

we'll be biff's!

xoxosuga

Happy Birthday Momma!

You're getting OLDER!

But don't worry, you're not too old because you're not a grandma yet!

You can thank me later!

Well just wanted to give a shout out to the best mom in the world. She rocks & is my best friend, second only to the hubby!

I love you mom! I'm sorry your husband, favorite daughter (me), & the other daughter aren't there for you birthday!

Good thing you have lots of awesome friends to help you celebrate, even though, we all know, I can't be replaced! We'll celebrate again at Christmas! I love you!

xoxoyourfavorite

HELP!

So, my blogging skills are deficient! I do not know how to add not-ugly fonts & text colors on my blog. I want to change my header & post & everything fonts & colors. Does anyone know how to do this?

Your assistance would be MUCH appreciated :)

Thanks!

xoxobloggingfordummies

I am one sleepy person!

Within the past week I have written 13 pages, taken 2 midterms & slept some, but not as much as I've wanted. School is so busy! Yet, I still love it! We did make it up for a nice lunch & drive through the Alpine Loop & I showed Wes around Aspen Grove where I used to work! It's been a good week :)

xoxosleepdeprived

Oh Happy Day!

A few days ago we noticed that one of the cross bars in our bed, kind of like the ones in the picture below (except ours don't have mid-bar support like this picture) had broken. What? When did this happen? middle of the night? The bed only has 3 of them & they're tiny little square bars of wood to support the bed.

Last night we got out of the temple at 10pm & headed down to The Home Depot on our way home to get some new support beams. We brought in the broken one which was about 5' wide. We got there & when we got out of the car a woman was walking out & the parking lot lights went dim...uhhh closed? Dang! So, Wes calls to her & asks if they're closed. She said, "Yeah, but then pulled out her phone made a phone call. She then said, go to such & such doors, so & so will meet you there & get you your wood. You won't be charged because they're closed." Wow, so nice! So, we go meet the nice woman & she brings us back to the wood, where we ran into this really nice man who asked what we needed, we explained the situation. He said, "Oh, well come over here & get these wider beams! They'll support the bed better!" So, he gave us three 1x6 boards! & they cut them...for free! It was so nice! I couldn't not give them a little shout out on the blog, because it was the kindest thing!

Yay for Home Depot!

Oh & if we had a doghouse, Wes would've been in it. We were walkin with them to find the boards & Wes said,"Yeah, I've had this bed for years, & now..." & he realized what he was about to say & stopped. I stopped walking & said "Really? Was that a fat joke?"

hahahhaahha I laughed forever! The Home Depot man said..."I'm not gettin in the middle of this one!" Wes was like, "No, that's not what I meant!.. yaaa-dee-yaa" Trying to make up for it..yaa dee yaaaa hahah it was prtty funny though.

It reminds me of the time I was trying to get the straightener he said,

"You don't need a straightener, I like your hair all frizzy!"

"Wow, that did not help your case,"

"Oh...not frizzy...uhh.. POOFY!"

"..uuhhh yeah...try new words, kinda like the ones in hair commercials, those are the compliment words!"

"They say frizzy in commercials!"

"Yeah, like 'Are you tired of your frizzy hair?'"

I still die over that one, he is so funny. And so good with words. There are a ton of other things like this that he says... they're all good words in his mind hahah He sometimes does this... a lot!

hahah but he's so darn cute & doesn't mean it meanly...so I don't get TOO offended :)

xoxonewlywedders

USN

February 7 the husband leaves me for this:

But he'll really be wearing this:Wes got a call from his recruiter yesterday offering him a ship date of October 26...2010. He told him to talk it over with me & give him a call back. He picked me up from work yesterday & told me what was goin on & what our options were. He could leave now & we could earn a lot more money & get out of the super poorness level we're currently in & he could be back in May & do wildland fires again. Or he could stay with me til Feb 7, & do his 7 month training then. We talked it over and decided that being super poor & spending the holidays together definitely outweighs the bigger income sooner. So, aside from him feeling the pressure as the provider, he agreed & turned down the offer. Boy am I glad to have him a few more months before he goes. I'm going to miss him so much! He has signed with the Navy as a Medical Corpsman to the Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is a part of our naval branch, & so that's why he's doing what he is. He is so excited for it. I am so excited for him. His desire to serve and patriotism runs deep in his family. His dad, his dad's dad, etc. all served & Wes had a really intense experience with the 9/11 terror & decided from then on out he did want to serve his country & defend our freedom to show his love & patriotism for our country. It's pretty incredible. I respect him so much & everyone else serving or who has served in our military. Thank you for all you do. xoxoGodblessAmerica

Oh, the places you'll go!

Ever in your life feel like this?

Or this?

Or this?

Or this?

Because life's directions could go like this?I have had a very blessed life with a lot of opportunities & options. Which college? What major? Stay at that school? Switch majors? Get married? Go to Beliz? Live in Provo? Go home for summers? Where to work? Where to intern? So far I have loved all the decisions I have made, prayerfully, too. I have gone to my dream school, had great roommates. Chosen & married the best husband. Studied something I am extremely interested in. & will be graduating in April or August. Probably August. As of right now, the plan is to stay in provo & do finish classes this and next semester. I can graduate in April or August. I want my husband to be there. He'll be at military training during both of those times...I'm thinkin that I'll probably graduate during August, though, because my family will be drivin my little brother out to Utah for him to start his BYU experience, so I figured we could make it a family vacay & I'll walk then, so that it saves them a trip to Utah. Because, let's be honest, they've done that a lot this year...however. Dani's walking in April...I could walk with her! That would save them from 2 boring graduations! (I just now thought of that!) Then, I'll live at home next summer and do an internship full time over the spring/summer & then Wes will be returning to me in mid September & we'll move up to Idaho where he'll either begin work or school & I'll find a [grown-up] job. So, where's the question in this? Nursing. Its been in and out of my mind since I was a little girl. Well it's always been on my mind since I was little, but out & back in throughout college, when I realized all these BYU girls have brains that I did not even know existed. So, my mediocre grades don't cut it for BYU nursing. I'm still contemplating, however, maybe applying to and going to the BYUI nursing school while I'm already in Idaho. This presents a few problems, however. - We will be poor as poor still for a while longer, since we'll both be goin to school & workin part time. - A lot more schooling... about 3 yrs. - Babies? SO...I don't know what to do! I've been looking into online Universities or other places like that with nursing education option that have more flexible schedules & opportunities for me. Because lets be honest. The job outlook for a nurse rocks. It doesn't matter where you get your nursing degree, just that you have it & you can have great job offers. So, more research & more phone calls! Story of my life :) & I love it! So what to do, what to do! I have also been toying for a few months of going brown. I've never been brown. I didn't want to do it before the wedding, but am still toying with the idea... thoughts? Thoughts on all of it? I have so many opportunities! Now who wants to tell me what to do? xoxochoosey

Debating

Wes & I are trying to figure out how temperatures work. Not outside, but the body kind!

Wes is hot all the time, does not ever get cold & LOVES the cold.

I get cold really easily & do not love being cold.

We realized the other day, maybe it is our preference of how we feel...

maybe we both feel the same amount of coldness & are the same amount of cold, but maybe he just prefers feeling that & it makes me uncomfortable! Or is it just that I actually am colder than him. He said my blood temperature is probably so low. I went to the doctor this summer & my temperature was a degree low hahah now just to see Wes' temperature! His homeostasis is probably 99 degrees...

He folds the comforter off him so I get double layers & he gets the sheet!

xoxonomegustacold

Thanks Readers!

I may know you, I'm sure I don't know all of you! But cool stuff: Since July of this year, my blog has been viewed 9,286 times! That totally rocks! I like seeing my blogging friends & I love reading new blogs! So, please follow my blog, so I can read the blogs of my readers! If you don't know how, click on the colorful FOLLOW button on the right side bar. Even if you're just blog creepin and have a blog too, FOLLOW! xoxothanksforcheckin'in!

There's been a lot of this goin on at the Health Center this week.

It's faculty flu shot week & so all the faculty comes & brings their families. There have been families with 5 or 6 little kids, plus some! There have been all sorts of bloody murder screams coming from upstairs! Poor little tots! A little tiparoo for the flu shot or any shot. Don't wiggle.

xoxoshotsarekewl

Struggling!

Does anyone have a box of these?

So I can light one of these under my butt?I'm having an extreme episode of distractability & avoiding finishing this paper! I only have 3 pages left...garr, I love this class, but not this paper!

oh & the above fire is the kind of fire Weston was fighting last summer! He's such a burley-manly-man! xoxomust.keep.going.

p.s. my current youtube obsession Julia Sheer. She does amazing covers.

Happenings!

Don't tell Wes I'm blogging... I'd get scolded :) I'm at the library while he's workin & I've already written 5 pages in 2 hours and now have 5 more to write in 2.5...these last 5 will take a little more time & be harder though... It's for my emergency prep class! That class is amazing last week for 2.5 hrs we discussed 9/11 and this week we're spending 2.5 hrs on the Rwandan war....you know...Hotel Rwanda... The scenario is embarrassing for the U.S. leaders of that era...Clinton, was it? But, if you haven't seen the movie, do it. You'll wanna be cuddled up with a box of Kleenex's and a buddy, and if you haven't seen the BYU forum where Paul Rusesabagina came and spoke to us my Freshman year... Check out the news release here. Anyway. I just needed a brain-break. So I thought I'd put some more pictures up here to support those blog readers that might have been doubting my blogging since the marriage!

Here's my cute little husband walkin in the door from work from Malawi's pizza up in the Riverwoods. He's a cook there! I am proud to say my honey made one of their advertisement pasta's! It's sad that he shows me up in cooking...but he never complains and always finishes off all the meals! He was a good sport and let me take this picture of him when he woke up Saturday morning...hahahah This kid's hair gets in a fight with the bed every night....his hair always loses. He gets nap-hair too. It rocks. I love the sleepy eyes & face. He's hilarious.It's such a blessing to live so close to our church's headquarters! I have the blessing that I have never had of living close enough to the Conference center to be able to attend General conference without driving for 2 days to get to it. I love going to General Conference, I love listening to General conference & I love getting to sit next to my husband & getting to discuss it with him afterwards. This is something I won't be able to do for upcoming April's session.

Don't know what General Conference is? Check it out here.

Wes & I in front of the Salt Lake Temple where we were sealed for eternity a month before.

Wes & I in front of the Conference Center with all the little ant people above!

Cute husband is happy after his belly is full of Panda!

Sunday morning we got up bright & early to head down to Loa & Bicknell to visit the in-laws & grandparents! The Geo's driver's window doesn't roll up & doesn't stay up. So we decided to pry it up with our wrench before the 3-hour/per-one-way drive down south so we didn't have to listen to even more of the interstate on our way!

xoxolifetotallyrocks!

Replay

Introducing REPLAY: THE BIRTHDAY BOY!

[I know this is delayed, but it doesn't make Chase any less awesome! we were gone this weekend]

Yeah, that's right, baby brother turned 14 on Saturday. Wait, what? Remember when I used to change his diapers, mom? yeah, that's right, Chase, I've got allll sorts of stories. But we won't mention the times like when Dani & I accidentily threw you against the wall when you were a baby...it was in a blanket & the corners accidentally slipped.... or the time you & I were hanging out when you were about 5 or 6 & I swung you around by your feet...that is until the automan got in the way... whoops. Or the time we were playing on you & spencie's bunk bed & you fell...that night you kept rubbing the sheets when you were in bed. Dani & I thought you had serious head issues. But mom said you'd always done that. Phew. But other than those injuries & all the other black eyes & busted lips you've had...you've turned out alright!

Chase is a fun-loving person! He laughs a lot & has grown out of his fake-crying stage, I'm pretty sure it's a symptom of being the youngest...not sure though. Mom always fell for it. Chase is hilarious and quick. He was always such a cute little kid but has turned into a great young man. He is a good kid & does what is right. He is a great example to me & is so service-oriented. He is so helpful & always wanting to lend a hand, even if not needed. He is happy & go-lucky. He is optomistic & smart. He does really well in school. He likes cars, music & his hair. He has really big feet. He's grown into a giant. & our family wouldn't be an inkling of anything the same without him! Chase is enthusiastic and didn't believe me when I called & told him I was getting married. We love Chase!

Chase, Wes & I in downtown Franklin

The fam @ Spencie's Eagle (kaw-kaw) Court of Honor

Okay, please look at the bottom picture. Chase thinks he's as light as a feather...he might've been shorter than Dani here, but he's now a good 4+ inches taller than me! He's about to jump into Dani's arms...bad idea. He still runs & jumps at me while screaming "CATCH ME!" Which is when I usually dive out of the way. Spence catches him & then drops him on purpose. Wes is the only one sweet enough to hold him. Speaking of, Wes & Chase get along like good pals. I love it. Chase looks up to Wes like crazy, so does Spence. & Wes has fun with his new little brother(s).

Chase is sweet, funny, witty, REALLY amazing at the piano. Yeah, I used to play, until his skills passed me when he was about 6...cool. He's really nice. He's always had a lot of (girl)friends. Little girls mom's have been lining their daughters up for years...yeah, he's that great. Replay is one of my 2 favorite little brothers!

Me & Chase last Christmas...I told you he's always known how to get the ladies!

xoxoIhavethecutestlittlebrother!

Hard work pays off!

I have been doing really well in school this semester! & yes, even dispite missing the first 2 weeks of school! It's incredible! I love my classes, which helps a ton, too, of course...

BUT. All Friday after work I studied my booty off for my stress management test. Nervous like crazy about it. Ruthie & I lived in the library.

All the studying worked! Don't judge my excitement for my score, I'm not the best at school, but I sure work hard! I got...drum roll please...

87%!!!

don't worry, after I got done with my exam at 8 I went to the laundromat & did our overflowing laundry & then went back up north to get Wes from work, aren't I such a good little wifey?

xoxosmartypants

New & Improved

So, if any of you didn't know. I am obsessed with Weather.com. It is one of my favorite websites. It has saved my booty & failed my booty a few times! Over the summer, I don't check it much, because in Utah the only thing on the 4 month forecast is sunshine & heat. But, fall & winter, this is my best friend. Currently, however, the husband & I don't have internet. So, we don't know the weather. Today, sadly, we slept in because it was dark & cloudy & the light in my face didn't assist the alarms this a.m. (don't worry, we made it to work on time). But, I just checked the weather today, because it's cloudy & cold looking...Weather.com got a face lift! xoxoilovecheckingtheweather!

Yeah, RIGHT

(Okay, I really want one of these.)

BYU Honorcode regarding facial hair: "Men are expected to be clean-shaven; beards are not acceptable."

k, so that given, we at the BYU Student Health Center, are where those bearded boys come for 'beard waiver cards.' Yes, they really exist.

Anyway, they call in & I have to read them this enormous procedures paper explaining the process of the beard waiver card appointment process. Essentially they have to shave for 3 days before the appointment and have some serious disease goin on on their face that the doctor can SEE. K?

SO, basically, this morning, I think I got my favorite phone call ever.

"Hi, I'd like to ask about how to get a beard waiver card."

This doesn't sound like how they normally sound when they call in for one, so instead of reading that enormous 'formality' paper, I explained it to him to make sure he really qualified before actually having to read the whole boring thing to him.

Him: "So, what if our spouse prefers it? Are there any exceptions with spousal preferences?"

bahah. I tried my best not to laugh. I really did.

xoxonoexceptions