Random Facts About Us!!

Every once in awhile at work I'll get super bored and stalk other people's blogs...And sometimes I come across blog posts that are just random lists about the person/couple who writes the blog. Since I thought it was such a fun idea, I decided I'd make my own list. It'll be fun to look back on later I think!!

-Riley and I met at a SINGLES WARD HALLOWEEN PARTY. Yikes. I was on a date with another guy...HE was on a date with another guy...Weird.

-He asked me to marry him the second day we ever talked. Over text. He found out that my favorite music artist was DJ Tiesto, whom he happens to also love. He said, "Will you marry me?" I said, "Maybe tomorrow".

-We share a love of The Office.

-I've only ridden on the back of his four wheeler once. I vowed to myself that that would NEVER happen again.

-I'm a HUGE dog person. He tolerates them.

-His favorite restaurant is El Matador.

-His favorite waiter was Geoff at Iggy's. Explanation: Riley drinks a TOOOONNN of liquid. Like a ridiculous amount. Riley says that Geoff is the only waiter he has ever had that could keep up with his habits. Always having a new glass before the other was empty.

-We watch either an episode of The Office or a movie on my laptop every night in bed. I ALWAYS fall asleep before him.

-He has a hatred for decorative pillows. I love them. He'll survive.

-Riley is a human garbage disposal. He'll eat anything and everything. EXCEPT cucumbers in vinegar and green olives. Two of my favorites.

-He would eat cereal for every. single. meal. if I let him. It goes without saying that we go through a TON of milk. (I'm talkin, probably three gallons every week.)

-Riley is very mechanical. Me=not so much. I can barely take a pen apart and put it back together correctly.

-Riley is incredibly OCD about random things. Anything with a numeric volume must be set on a multiple of 5.

-He's pretty fashion savvy, even though he'd never admit it. His brother and dad would just make fun and tell him he's "gay". He can pick outfits out "all by hisself".

-We both love to go camping. Riley loves to bring guns. I'm not a gun person...

-Riley will randomly surprise me when I come home to a clean house. Vaccuumed, dishes done, laundry forwarded. He won't, however, put away/hang up clothes. That'll always be my job.

-I'm, "Team Jacob". Riley is, "Team Emmett's Jeep"

-We got engaged at the Farmington Pond. He said, "Alyssa, will you marry me?" I said, "Not today. Maybe tomorrow." (Deja Vu?)

-We dated a year to the day that we got married (October 30th, 2008-October 30th, 2009)

-My favorite feature of Riley's is his eyes. He has GORGEOUS bright, blue eyes.

-We have a little terrier mix/pound puppy named Benny. He's incredibly spoiled and gets anything and everything he wants.

-We have a Sleep Number bed. My number is 5. His is 30. Which means he inevitably, "falls into the pit of despair" (AKA "my side") almost every night.

-Riley opens the door for me no matter the situation. Even if I'm driving, he'll get me in the car before himself.

-Riley is incredibly good with kids. I'm incredibly good at feeding kids candy and bribing them into liking me.

-Riley can't fall asleep unless his foot is touching my leg, and his hand is on my waist. How that works out, I don't even know.

-Riley would love to visit China and Dubai someday. Not going to lie, those places aren't high on my list...

-Riley has a hard time letting me do things by myself. If I even mention that I'm thirsty, need a bowl of ice cream, need to move my car, etc etc he'll immediately jump up and just do it/get it for me. I lucked out!

This post turned out to be mostly just things about Riley...but I feel good about it! He's a huge part of my life (obviously) and I love talking/bragging about him. I'm so blessed to be able to be with him forever. I'm not usually a sappy person, but I'm really thankful to have married the best guy ever! Love you!!

Kicking off the SUMMER!

Our most recent "family" picture!

This last weekend we took Benny for a walk on the firebreak road and then went jeeping! Took Benny with us and he LOVED it. His favorite part is hanging out the window and just sticking his head out as far as it will possibly go. He has kind of hard time standing up in the bumpy parts, and then he just flies all over the car if nobody is holding onto him. Luckily he hasn't fallen OUT of the car yet.

Alyssa put together a surprise birthday party for Jordan this last weekend, too. They went skydiving during the day and then came back to his friend Keate's house for his party. We had pizza, pop, and breadsticks, and just chatted. Riley and Jordan's friend Ryan Umpelby came for the party and before we left he took us for a ride in his WRX. I forget how much fun fast cars can be!

Speaking of cars...we finally got the check in the mail from the insurance company of the car that took responsibility for the accident I was involved in. Back from the FIRST of April! So the pieces for my car are being ordered and will hopefully be fixed here pretty soon.

Riley took the Jeep to have emissions and inspection done on it. It passed! Yay! We have it all re-registered, insured, titled and everything in our names! Riley just got the official license plates for it at the DMV yesterday, so you KNOW it's official. We're excited to have it for the summer, as we plan to do lots of camping!

On Sunday we went to Riley's aunt and uncle's house for a birthday party for his Grandma Wiser. She's such a cute lady! We all gathered in the backyard and ate tons of food and talked. I'm still Novali's favorite...probably because she can always count on me to give her treats. Whether it's a spoonful of frosting, or three ice cream cones...I'm always good for it! Ha! Riley spent the majority of the party with his little cousins. I think they're more on his same level...he's so cute with them though. It's obvious they love spending time and playing around with him.

To backtrack just a little bit we had an All-American day on Monday. We bought kites for a dollar at Wal-Mart and flew them around Centerville Park for awhile. We took Jordan's tandem bike and rode around on that for a bit, too. Amanda bought a frisbee so we threw it around for little Benny for awhile. He loved chasing it but wasn't too keen on bringing it back...

There is a Little Caesar's that opened on Parrish Lane right by Riley's parents house in Centerville and they were having a grand opening party thing. We stopped and got free pizza, breadsticks, wings, and drinks! Can't beat free, right?

After we returned to Riley's parents house and played catch with a football, jumped in the tramp, and played some more frisbee. Amanda left to go get Mitch and Riley helped Carolyn with a project for one of her classes. Alyssa and I went and bought slurpees while Riley was busy with that, and Jordan was busy with video games...

When Amanda and Mitch came back we all sat around the campfire and roasted hot dogs and made s'mores. Perfect way to finish off the evening. All three of us (Benny included) came home and crashed for the night. Riley said Benny slept in till like 11 the next day. Poor little buddy had just had it!

JEEP!!!

We really have done nothing but work the past little while. I have pretty much nothing new to report, EXCEPT the fact that we bought a Jeep!!! We have been looking around for one for awhile, but never found anything that really caught our eye. Especially because people that own Jeeps usually trash them, so we weren't finding anything in our price range that wasn't totally beat up. BUT!! We got incredibly lucky and found a guy who was selling his because it had developed a clunking noise and he didn't have the money to fix it.

Taking our first ride in it, I figured the same thing that the last owner did. There was something terribly, terribly wrong with it. It made a horrible ticking noise and I didn't think it was anything we wanted to deal with. Riley did some investigating under the hood and found out immediately what the problem was. There was a bolt that had rusted out, that was keeping the transfer case in place. Or...something.. to that effect. Anyways, Riley knew that this would be a cheap (20 dollar) fix. So we bought it!! Riley and Jared spent quite a bit of time wandering pick and pulls for the pieces that they needed to fix it, but now it runs like a champ!!

Gets terrible gas mileage, is completely bad for the environment, definitely NOT a daily driver but...we love it! We've already got a few camping trips planned, and we'll be out fourwheeling with it this weekend. Jared already convinced Riley to come with him and his Jeep on Saturday, so there will definitely be pictures coming soon.

This past Sunday was Mother's Day. I'm completely terrible with gifts...I stewed over a gift for the entire week, but couldn't decide on anything. Flowers are classic, but pretty cliche. Plus my mom always complains about how they die. We ended up just making dinner for my mom and family. It wasn't anywhere up to the caliber that my mom's meals are, but it was good!

While I'm on the topic, I need to give a shout out to my mom. She's the greatest lady ever. She has limitless patience for me and my siblings (and my dad, sometimes ;). She's incredibly understanding and easy to talk to, and would bend over backwards to do anything and everything her family needs. Sometimes we give her a hard time for not "working a job", but her job is MORE than full-time. Being a mom is the most thankless job in the world, but also the most rewarding. I hope she realizes how much we appreciate everything she does for us, because I know we don't tell her enough! Thanks, Mom. Love you!!

Also on Sunday, we went with Jordan and Alyssa on a motorcycle ride up to Pineview and back through Ogden Canyon. It was a blast. Jordan borrowed his dad's old bike, and Riley and I rode my dad's street bike. Perfect weather and a beautiful afternoon made for an enjoyable trip.

Looking forward to getting my nails done tonight with my two cute sister-in-laws!

Olive Garden Night Out!

Saturday night we went to the Olive Garden with some friends. Jared, Sammie, Jordan, Alyssa, Mitch, Amanda, Riley and I, and then two other couples that we just met! One couple was a mission companion of Jordan's and his girlfriend, and then the other were friends of theirs. We had tons of fun talking and just having a good time. The guy that usually waits on us came by and gave Riley a free root beer, just because he likes him. Riley always gives him a hard time whenever we're there, but I guess being obnoxious paid off for once! After dinner we were going to go bowling, but by the time we finally finished we decided it was too late. So Jared, Sammie, Amanda, and Mitch came over and we watched the first season of The Office. We really need a new hobby...

Good news! I'm FINALLY expecting a check in the mail from the insurance company of the guy who hit us in the accident. So hopefully in the next week or so, I'll get my car fixed. Even though driving around with my bumper held on by duct tape is super classy....it'll be nice to get it repaired!

Also, we're planning a trip with Mitch and Amanda to go up to Bear Lake to Mitch's cabin in a few weeks! So excited! Four-wheeling, mud, dirt, lake, fishing, and friends is bound to be a good time.

I took my first final last night for my Psychology class. I think I did pretty well, but I'm still keeping my fingers crossed. I take my LAST final tonight for Philosophy. Yay to be done with school for the summer! Hopefully the weather will get better and we won't have to be stuck inside so much. We're really looking forward to the warm.

It's been SIX months!!

Yesterday was, in fact, our six month anniversary. How did we spend it, one might ask? Only the best way ever!! Watching the Jazz finish up the first round of playoffs! They beat the Nuggets at a home game last night, moving on now to face the Lakers on Sunday.

I had to work all day but while I was at work, Riley spent the day trying to find actual tickets to the game. And....may have diverted most of his attention to the time at "pick-and-pull". He went with a couple friends to find pieces of cars they needed. Usually I would frown down upon the fact that they were at this activity for more than 5 hours, but it was well spent because he found me a new tail light! Due to my accident a MONTH ago, and the fact that the insurance company still hasn't sent me a check, I had been driving around with a broken tail light AND a taped up bumper. It really is the epitome of class. I wish I had a picture of it accessible.

Anyways, we didn't have any luck with cheap tickets, so we watched the game at my parents house. I was exhausted from a long day's work, and had to be up early this morning to be at my OTHER job, so we came home and went straight to bed. Didn't do anything really notable for our anniversary. I feel like such a bad wife...maybe I'll make up for it and make dinner tonight or something. That has become a rare such occasion in our house.

Our time since the last post has mostly been spent at our various jobs. I restored a lovely black and white lamp with Brianna on Wednesday night, and we found a cheap black bookshelf type thing that we put in our kitchen. Both from the DI! LOVE it. I need to find some time to devote to our poor house...for as many things we actually finished before moving in, there's still a few things that need a little love. Such as a tile backsplash in our kitchen....*hint hint* *cough cough*, Riley.

I kidnapped McKenna from school and we went shopping this week. To Tai Pan, Kohl's, and our BFF Deseret Industries. Found nothing exciting at the DI, but bought a cute picture from Tai Pan for our bathroom. McKenna found a cute comforter set at Kohl's, so we bought it and put it on her bed when we got home. Darling.

We had plans to go camping this weekend (tonight) but they were foiled by the weather. Silly Utah. Since when does it snow/rain/sleet/hail at the end of April?! We'll have to come up with some new plans. Hopefully something exciting to report!!