The Gold's

January Book Club-Aspire

2012-01-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

For the past few months, I, along with a few of my co-workers have been holding a book club. Which has in turn really helped me with my resolution mentioned in the last post to "read more books". We've taken turns picking out books that we feel would be good reads and then holding a monthly meeting to discuss them. Last month we read the Hunger Games which I had read previously, but it was good to freshen up a bit on those (sidenote: Super excited for the movie to come out soon!!)

For January we selected the book "Aspire" by Kevin Hall. It was a book one of my co-workers had read in the past and said she enjoys reading it several times a year. I was a bit hesitant when I first heard about it thinking that it would be just another "self-help" book. However, I was pleasantly surprised. It's a great and really quick reaad and I would definitely recommend it.

You know how there are some specific times in your life when you think, "Wow, I really needed that today". Whether it be a phone call from a friend, or whatever the case may be. Well the other day for me it was this book. So while I will still really encourage anyone to read this book for themselves, I wanted to jot down a handful of my favorite quotes.

"Become a victor, not a victim."

"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear."

"Being a leader means finding a path, but before you can help someone else find their path, you must know yours."

"Genius is nothing more or less than being genuine."

"The words stress, overloaded, and breakdown were not originally meant to describe humans. They were meant to describe machines."

"Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life, everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated."

"Once I see it, I will be it and do it. And in due course, I will have it."

"To teach is to show. You can't teach what you don't know. You can't guide where you don't go. And you can't grow what you don't sow."

And my favorite quote from the entire book, "Life isn't practice, it's the real thing."

2012 Resolutions

2012-01-23T09:32:00.000-08:00

Now that January is almost over I suppose it's about time I make some resolutions! I REALLY slacked off last year when it came to a lot of things. This blog last year was totally lame, I ate TONS of junk food, I really didn't take school last semester really seriously, I compared myself to other people in really unfair ways, and didn't strive to somehow better myself in hardly any aspects.

Don't get me wrong, 2011 was a really great year filled with tons of fun memories so I don't want to make it seem all bad. Because that really wasn't the case. But I just felt so stagnant in many areas of my life. It got incredibly easy to see other people doing all these great things, going all these cool places, and getting wonderful jobs or finishing college and it really didn't feel like I was doing any of that.

I was working at the same job I had been at since High School which really wasn't bad because I enjoyed the job and the people I worked with. However when I started really thinking about it, I realized it really wasn't getting me anywhere. I had zero chance of moving up in my job, getting more hours, or increasing my pay because the company wasn't expanding at all. In fact it was doing the complete opposite.

I've decided that this year I'm going to make some significant changes. Maybe if I write them down then I will be more likely to follow through.

1-Continue to foster and develop my relationship with Riley. Now is the time to take advantage of our time together sans kids and it's time we'll never get back.

2-Become a harder worker in both my school and work environments. Always contribute 100% and try my hardest in everything I do. My mom always used to tell me, "I know you're intelligent, YOU know you're intelligent, but how will the rest of the world know if you don't prove it to them?" No one cares about what I accomplished or who I was in high school if I can't prove to them I'm still a hard worker and I'm smart.

3-Cliche but I really do need to lose some weight. So.... there's that.

4-Take more pictures, read more books, stick to a better budget, save more money, go on more vacations, develop extracurricular talents, keep my house clean, etc etc etc.

Here's to making 2012 the best year yet!!

Christmas 2011

2012-01-07T09:58:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent at Riley's parents house for their annual Christmas Eve dinner. The food was delicious and many ridiculous pictures came from that evening, including these gems.

Christmas Day we woke up bright and early (ha, who are we kidding, we slept in until like 9am) and opened the presents we got eachother. Riley got me a new battery for my laptop which was desperately needed, a new cell phone (I've joined the Evo 4G club), quite a few movies, and my very own juicer type thing. I bought him some new sunglasses, a few Jeep shirts, and an R/C airplane that he was absolutely tickled about.

We went up to my parents house after and opened presents with them and ate a big breakfast. We got a bunch of way sweet stuff, including our very own Clavinova!!

We had an interesting time trying to rearrange things in our second bedroom in order to fit it, but we managed. I'm so excited to have a piano that is small enough to fir in our apartment and I can just plug in headphones while I play so it won't bother our neighbors!

Here is a picture that I stole off my Aunt Wendy's Facebook page since I didn't manage to get a picture of their Christmas tree myself.

I didn't take any pictures of our Christmas tree this year...on purpose...because it was super pathetic. We bought a REAL tree as per Riley's tradition which was an adventure by itself. But then we neglected to decorate it until Christmsas Eve. Awesome.

We didn't get any snow through the holidays which made it feel a bit strange.
Taking everything into consideration though it was a great Christmas season. It gives us a time to reflect on everything and really be grateful for all that we have. We have truly been blessed with amazing families, good jobs that provide for us, a nice place to live, great friends that we adore, and most of all eachother.

It's Been Awhile...

2011-12-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

Wow. I can't believe that I've been SUCH a terrible slacker these past few months. Let's just say that school and work took over my life for awhile there, but I'm going to try my hardest to at least mention a few of the things we've been up to in the last while.

1st-I started a new job in September! The day after my birthday in fact. I'm now a full-time employee for Wasatch Property Management working as a leasing agent at a community called San Moritz. It's in Midvale so it's a bit of a drive each day, but I've really enjoyed it so far. The apartments are super nice, my co-workers are really fun, and the job itself isn't too shabby. So if anybody is in the market for a new apartment...you know who to call!

For my birthday this year we went camping with Jared and Sam. I need to dig up a few pictures from that event, because it was quite an adventure! Even though it was the middle of September we were determined to go tubing down the river since we hadn't gotten to do it earlier in the summer. Let's just say it was pretty chilly and it didn't help that I totally biffed it trying to get my fat butt into the tube to begin with. Yikes. Maybe the very best thing so far this year happened on my birthday! Riley got me my very own scooter!!! It's yellow and I named him "Bumblebee". It breaks my heart that I can't ride it in the winter but as soon as the weather gets nice again I'm gonna be busting him out!! Can't wait!!

Halloween kinda came and went quickly for us this year. We decorated a bit and didn't do anything too terribly exciting. We went with Riley's parents, Austin, Shrena and their kids trick-or-treating. I think Riley is really looking forward to having our own kids to take :)

Sometime between my last post and now Elder Baker got home from his mission! Oh man did we miss that kid! He did such a great job on his homecoming talk, and I'm sure he was a fabulous missionary. We're happy to have him home though, because we missed our "that is so innapropriate" and Mario buddy.

For Thanksgiving this year we ate at my parents house for the actual meal, went to Riley's parents for pie(s), and then went and saw Hugo that night. I really liked the movie but Riley and my dad thought it was terrible, haha.

Windageddon 2011 is important to mention here, too! A few weeks ago Northern Davis County really took a hit with 100+ mph winds. Lots of property damage, fallen trees, and overall mayhem ensued. My parents lost their flowering plum tree that used to be in their front yard as well as a few quaking aspens in the backyard. But the majority of the damage was in uprooted pine trees. I didn't manage to get many pictures of my own, so I'm going to have to steal a few that McKenna took from her cell phone.

Here is a picture of the large amount of garbage bags they had full of trash that had blown into their yard.

A few of the shingles they found in their yard. They're assuming most of them weren't even from their house.

My mom cried a few tears over this poor tree :(

Here's Carter sitting in the tree that once stood tall in their backyard.

Another update: We're in the market for a house!! We've put two offers in, both on homes being sold on short sale so we won't get word for awhile on either of them. But we're very excited to find the perfect place. Riley is really itching for a yard and a garage of his own. I'd enjoy some more space and I'm sure Benny would love to be able to go outside sans leash. One home is in Farmington on State Street, and the other home is in Centerville on 400 East.

This is the home in Farmington:

And this is the one in Centerville:

We're keeping our fingers crossed but not holding our breath at this point.

I promise I'll be better at taking more pictures as the year progresses, but this is my best attempt at a catch up post!

Midnight Topless Jeeping Escapade

2011-08-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

So last night Jared and Sam were going to come over and hang out with us. Jared called to tell us that Sam was going to have a girl's night with an old friend and wondered if it would still be ok if just he came over. By the time we ate dinner and the boys finished Inception, it was pretty late and we weren't sure what we should do. They decided that we should go Jeeping and it would be ok because, "we have headlights".

As fun as being the only girl sounded...I decided to call Jessie and see what she was doing. Lucky her she didn't have plans (since it was already 10 o'clock by that point). So we drove up to Riley's parents house, took the top and doors off the Jeep, snagged Jessie and were on our way.

Our plan was to drive up to the top of Bountiful canyon and then cut over to Farmington and come down. About halfway up another car stopped us and said that the gate at the bottom of Farmington Canyon was closed, so if we were headed that direction we wouldn't be able to get out. Glad he stopped us or that would have been a really long drive and would have REALLY sucked. Because after we stopped for about a half hour to watch the lightning, it started pouring rain on the way down! Who knew that rain came with lightning and thunder? Weird!

Jessie and I were lucky enough to have the blankets that I insisted we grab before the ride "just in case" but Riley and Jared were stuck in the front in the downpour. I wish I would have gotten a picture of them after we got home :)

*Note to self*-Rain usually accompanies lightning, and driving in a Jeep without a top in the rain is NOT a good idea. We had a lot of fun though and just had to laugh, or else the situation would have really sucked.

--Memorable quotes from the night--

-"I always thought that guys just, you know, had an extra bone than girls. How else would people know if a skeleton was male or female?!" -Jessie

-"Guys, birds just freak me out. Seriously. Like, why don't they have hands??"-Jessie

-"Jessie, I DON'T want to talk about Moses right now, ok?"-Alyssa

-"Watch guys, I have a really cool dance for you." (As he proceeds to hold himself up by the bars of the roll cage and swing his legs around) -Jared

-"This is the coolest thing ever guys!" "What? Standing up?" "Yes...." -Jared

-"The second I get my camera out there's no more lightning. What the heck."- (Me) "I can make a rapist noise...?" -Riley

Homecoming Football Game-Davis vs. Viewmont 2011

2011-08-27T15:17:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to the Davis/Viewmont Homecoming football game. This year the game was played on our home field. I know I've been graduated for just as long as I was actually IN high school (weird), but there's still something about a good football game.

This one was kind've a downer actually. Not because Davis lost (because we didn't), but because it wasn't even close. We were a few minutes late getting there and we missed all the action. By the time we got to our seats the score was 13-0 and no one ever scored after that. Bummer. Still fun to go and get out of the house.

It's not quite the same not sitting in the student section with all your friends, being obnoxious and getting all dressed up...the speakers playing the music suck, and the cheerleaders are SO not as cool as I remember them being ;) But all that aside, we still had a good time.

We were sitting on the Viewmont side (one of the downsides to marrying into a non-Davis family...) so I couldn't get a great picture of the whole team. But here's the best I could do.

And the opposing team

Jared and Spam

Riley and I (and...Wes)

The sky to the south was pretty intense! I kept worrying we'd get rained on, but the weather stayed perfect and we just got to enjoy a cool looking sky

Just Because He's Cute...

2011-08-25T10:27:00.000-07:00

Here are a few pictures of Benny from this morning. I didn't have to work and so we slept in and played around for awhile before getting up and doing anything productive. Don't even try to tell me he isn't adorable :)

He's such my good little buddy. And quite the poser wouldn't you say? If you think it's weird I'm dedicating an entire post to how freaking cute he is...you can get over it. He makes me happy.

Court of Honor

2011-08-25T10:19:00.000-07:00

Our whole family went to support Carter in his Court of Honor this past Sunday. He earned quite a few merit badges and moved up in rank! He went to his first "organized camp" this year up at Camp Hunt at Bear Lake. His leaders had put together a slideshow of numerous pictures from the adventure. Even before the pictures would come in focus we knew exactly which one was Carter. The one not wearing shoes or a shirt, of course! He must be warm-blooded, because that kid would go without shoes every day of his life if my mom would let him. But needless to say he's the cutest little scout of them all. I only got a few pictures and they aren't the best quality, but here are two of my favorites.

-Funny story about Carter's scout camp this year. He was kind of hesistant to go in the first place because it's an entire week. I'm sure that was pretty daunting. But he got all of his things together and went anyways. The second night he was there, my mom got a phone call from him telling her he wanted to come home. He said he wasn't having any fun and it was pointless (Ha). My mom told him that she wasn't going to come up and get him, especially in the middle of the night. She told him to call her back in the morning if he was still feeling like he wanted to come back. My dad got a call the following day from one of his scout leaders who told him, "Carter has been telling all the leaders and the other scouts that he 'just doesn't like organized camps."....Where did he learn the term, "organized camps"?

Riley.

Way to go.

Riley has tried to be better about watching what he says around Cart. That kid looks up to him SO much and pretty much thinks he's the coolest thing since sliced bread, so he takes everything he says very seriously. I just thought it was kinda funny and wanted to write it down somewhere so I'd remember it (and maybe use it as blackmail against Cart someday :)

Davis County Fair

2011-08-25T10:16:00.000-07:00

I wish I would have taken more pictures! But last weekend we went to the Davis County Fair held out at the Farmington Fairgrounds. I had never been to the county fair before and it didn't disappoint. Mainly because who can turn down the endless amounts of good food, cute animals, and fun games? Anyways here are the few pictures that I did manage to snag.

The infamous funnel cake.

Deep Fried Coke! It was actually really gross...we just got it for the novelty.

We walked past this cool bubble on water thing, where you paid to get sealed into a big plastic bubble and then try and run around in it on top of water. We didn't do it at first because it was $8 each...but then we gave in because it looked like so much fun. And it was! Here are a few pictures from that adventure.

Riley actually managed to stand up in his bubble. It's a lot harder than you'd think!

He kept sabotaging my bubble so I couldn't stand up. This was during one of our many face-offs.

It actually got really exhausting after awhile. You're literally sealed in this bubble with limited air, so it got really hot and sweaty REALLY quick... Still worth it though.

We had lots of fun, even though I couldn't convince Riley into letting me have a bunny...oh well. We'll be back again next year!

Uinta Camping Trip

2011-08-16T13:28:00.001-07:00

**PICTURE OVERLOAD!**

This last weekend we spent some time camping up in the Uintas with family. Riley went up Friday and spent the night with Neil and his boys. My dad and Carter also spent Friday night up there in a different camping spot. McKenna, my mom, and I went up on Saturday afternoon to join them all.

We spent some time enjoying the company and eating sloppy joe's, then we headed up to Mirror Lake. We fished, rode around on the paddleboat (Thanks Ashley and Jud for letting us borrow it!), and walked around the entire perimeter of the lake. My family went home that evening but Riley, Neil, Braxton, Boston, and I stayed another night and didn't come home till Sunday.

We spent lots of time throwing rocks and anything else we could find into the river, built a dam, and waded around without shoes. That night the boys were so tired they asked to be put in bed! So after they fell asleep in the trailer, the three of us that were left spent a few hours talking around the campfire and enjoyed s'mores.

Nothing beats the Uintas and family! We had a great weekend. I can finally say I'm about ready for school to start. We've done lots of stuff this summer that we didn't get to do last year, so I feel alright about the summer coming to a close. Bring on another semester and the cooler weather!

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Family Pictures-Summer 2011

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

A few weeks ago we had my cousin Lisa take some family pictures for us. She always does such a great job! She took McKenna's senior pictures awhile back and has also done pictures for my family. I think they turned out pretty great if I do say so myself! I guess it helps that Riley is so good looking :)

Seriously though...look at him.

Random "Riley'isms"

2011-07-26T08:45:00.000-07:00

I have the funniest husband ever. I just need to document a few of the ridiculous things he says sometimes.

I made dinner the other day and I told him I needed to test it to make sure everything was hot all the way through. Riley told me not to because we hadn't said the prayer yet. I ignored him. Which subsequently turned into this...
"Please bless this food that it can provide us with the strength we need to get through the rest of the day (etc etc) And please bless that Alyssa won't go to Hell for eating a string bean before the prayer." Was he kidding? No. When I giggled he continued, "And also please bless that Alyssa will learn how to be reverent".

Every once in awhile I make Riley fix his eyebrows. And by that I mean, I make him let ME fix his eyebrows. He tells me he wouldn't care if he developed a uni-brow (lie). After much arguing and me threatening to not go out in public with him, he'll give up and get me the tweezers. But the fun doesn't end there. You will later hear him make such remarks as, "That one was connected to my brain!", "Oh BOB SAGET!", and "I think I'm internally bleeding after that one. Call Jack, I need a doctor". (The last one was after he insisted on watching LOST all the way through).

-Frequently I'll find empty Capri Sun packets. In our shower.

-When Riley picked up Benny from the vet after his two night stay, I texted Riley from work to see how he (Ben) was doing. Riley's response, "He has taken a pee and a radioactive poop, and now he's in bed next to his food and a fresh bowl of water." He really knows how to settle a girls worries.

-When we went to Caesar's Palace a few months back, Riley asked the concierge "Is this the REAL Caesar's Palace? Did the REAL Caesar actually live here?" Note to self, never dare Riley to do ANYTHING you don't want him to actually do.

-He nicknamed the slightly overweight (obese) lady that used to live above us, "Tromposaurus Rex".

-I quit asking Riley to help me "pick up the house" because the only response I ever got was, "I can't. It's too heavy".

-I took him on a surprise trip to Disneyland last year for his birthday. I packed all his bags, put a purse over his head and drove him to the airport. When we got there he said, "No way!! You got a back stage showing of the airport?!" Dead serious. It didn't even cross his mind we were going somewhere?

-Once I walked in the front door to Riley singing/belting out, "LOVE me, LOVE me, SAAAY that you love me! Fool me, fool me, go on and fool me.." in the shower.

I got lucky :)

Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger Concert!

2011-07-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Like I mentioned before I got Riley tickets to the Journey/Foreigner/Night Ranger concert. He was nice enough to take me as his date! We had awesome floor seats and had a great view on the stage. The only complaint I had, (well, it's not really a complaint I guess, but more of an inconvenience)was how tight the seating was. Obviously we were up and moving around for most of the concert but when it came time to sit, there was like zero room. Adding to that delight, was the fact Riley got seated next to two autistic ladies who danced around the entire. night. When they weren't trying to put their hand on his leg, that is. HA! Poor Riley. These two ladies would dance around shaking their butts, jump on the chairs to get a better view, put their hands in the air and scream randomly. They tried so hard to sing along with the music, but they were both tone deaf..soo...that didn't work out so well. But hey, it added to the entertainment!

Jessie and I before the concert started

I got a kick out of this sign so I took a picture

Our cool wrist stamps that proved we had floor seats

We ran into my beautiful friend, Leah!

And Sean Harvey. Riley did a lot of stuff with his family on his mission in Iowa.

Happy Birthday, Riley! He had a huge grin just like this on his face the entire concert.

We were so impressed with the lead singer of Journey. He sounds just like the original singer, Steve Perry. He was also tons of fun to watch as he was very energetic and danced around the entire performance.

We had such a good time! Stay tuned for the matching t-shirts we bought!

Riley's Birthday 2011

2011-07-22T11:19:00.001-07:00

Riley turned the big 2-4 this year! On his actual day we celebrated with family by going up to Weber State for their annual fireworks show. I told Riley it was a special show, just for him, and I'm pretty sure he half believed me :)

That morning I was so excited to give him his birthday present I could hardly stand it. I always get more anxious about giving gifts than anyone ever is to actually receive it. Riley enjoys tormenting me and will put off getting his gifts as long as he possibly can. This year he made me wait until after church! As soon as I got home I went into our bedroom and pulled them out from their hiding spot...TWO TICKETS TO THE JOURNEY/FOREIGNER/NIGHT RANGER CONCERT! Tada!!! His face lit up and was really surprised! We had talked about the concert earlier in the week with Jessie because she was going with a date. I had mentioned that we should get tickets and go, too, but Riley was disappointed because he thought they were too expensive. And yes..they weren't exactly cheap. But it was his birthday so I figured why not! We don't have any responsibilities to children or anything yet, so we're living it up while we can.

Here are a few pictures from the fireworks show on his day!

My parents got Riley his very own fishing pole! Can you tell he was excited?

Jessie and baby Odin!

The birthday boy and I! Love you!!

Seven Peaks-July 16th

2011-07-22T11:13:00.000-07:00

When I asked Riley what he'd like to do for his birthday, he thought about it for about two whole seconds. He loves Seven Peaks so that was his choice! Since his birthday fell on a Sunday this year we decided to celebrate it with friends the day before. Our friends Cameron, Lorna, and Jordan came, and Jessie came with her friend Bre. The lines were really long so we didn't get to do as many tube slides as we wanted to, but we got our fill of the body slides and spent a lot of time in the lazy river. My dad bought our whole family season passes this year so we really lucked out! I had been to Seven Peaks earlier in the week for McKenna's birthday as well. We went on a Tuesday and the lines were virtually nonexistent. We went on tons of rides and pretty much walked right on to most of them. So much fun!

Carter and Sam really were happy to be there, I promise!

Since the park won't let you take your own food in anymore, we had to settle for a soft pretzel and a funnel cake. Tasty!

Boating with the Gold's

2011-07-22T10:54:00.000-07:00

A few Saturdays ago we went boating with Riley's family. Riley, me, Jessie, Bre, Carolyn, Caleb, and Riley's parents were the attendees. We went up to Pineview and enjoyed the sun and beautiful weather. We ate lunch on the lake and cruised around for awhile before putting anyone in the water.

Riley loves to kneeboard and do complete rolls on the tube. Caleb tried kneeboarding and wakeboarding several times but didn't have much succes. The water was pretty choppy as the lake was crowded. Jessie and Bre got thrown from the tube and had a really gnarly crash. I've never seen anyone that high in the air on a tube only to see their bodies come sailing down in the water. Needless to say they didn't tube any more after that. Props to them for surviving though.

Centerville Festivities 2011

2011-07-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

Riley's family has a tradition for the 4th of July that they've been doing for many, many years. Their whole family gathers together the night before the Centerville parade and sleeps out in their backyard, along with their family friends the Bangerter's. After work on Friday, Riley and I headed up to tour around the carnival and see the fireworks show! We had lots of fun playing with our nieces and nephews and being with his family. I'm not all about sleeping in their backyard....along with the bajillions of mosquitoes and a bunch of little kids...so we stayed around until everyone started heading to bed and went home. I slept in my own bed, enjoyed my A/C, took a hot shower in the morning and went back in time for the parade :) We got front row seats next to all the small children and enjoyed all the candy they gathered. It definitely pays to have a bunch of cute kids right next to you when they're throwing out the goods!

Camping! June-July 2011

2011-07-06T08:53:00.000-07:00

My family had plans to go to Portland this past week but when we got checking on the weather it was supposed to be in the 40's and 50's with rain during our trip. So last minute we decided to hold onto the tickets for another time (Southwest lets you do that, cool right?!) and go camping instead. We went up on Wednesday afternoon to ensure we would get a spot before the huge weekend rush. We found the perfect place in a campground called Meadows just past South Fork where we usually go tubing. It's right up between Pineview and Causey Dam. We had a great time spending time together, playing games, fishing, hanging out with the camp hosts son...ha, and just enjoying the outdoors in general. We rode bikes around the campground and played at least 100 games of Yahtzee! Poor Riley had to work while we were up there but he came up on Thursday night after work. I came home that night with him to get ready for all the stuff his family had going on the next day.

The fishing was great and the weather was perfect almost the entire trip (minus the freak rainstorm that pelted us when we first arrived). We'll definitely be going back this summer once the river isn't so high to go tubing!

Foster Puppy-Jet

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

Riley and I had a foster puppy for a few weeks this summer! His name is Jet (appropriate both because he is black, and we have a Benny...). He is a black lab/mix and came from a litter of 12 puppies! Jared and Sam are still fostering his sister, Winnie. They were so cute when they'd get together. Sibling, love :) Anyways, we were fostering him through the Whispering Sage Dog Rescue. The rescue ended up dissolving and they needed to find permanent homes for all the puppies. Because we aren't in a position to take on another dog, especially one that is going to get big and shed, we had to give him back to the rescue who in turn gave them back up to the shelter. But no worries, the shelter found good foster homes for all of them and they are now old enough to find their forever families! We wish little Jet the best!

My Cal-erson Mush

2011-05-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

Only a very select few people will understand the title of this post, and that's ok.

I went back and forth in my mind for awhile trying to decide whether or not I wanted to write about this, but I decided since I don't keep any other form of a journal I probably should.

I'll start with a little background to this story. About 7 or 8 years ago (no one can remember for sure, but I was in Junior High) we found a little family of kittens living under our front porch. Our dog Baxter was the first one to notice them and immediately notified my dad that he had found something. Initially my dad assumed maybe it was a raccoon so he took the hose and started spraying the hole where the dog was barking. Out ran five little kittens. Unfortunately Baxter got to one of them and it didn't make it, one got away, and the other three ended up living with us. I immediately gave them names, much to my Dad's dismay. Obviously we couldn't keep THREE cats, right?!

Not knowing the genders of these sweet little kitties, I named the black ones Dewey and Cole (it was around Halloween and there was a special "Black Mountain Dew" flavor out, hence "Dewey"). I was convinced the black and white one was a girl, so I named "her" Callie. (After their first vet visit it was confirmed "Callie" was in fact male. So...creative me shortened it to just "Cal") We tried pretty hard in the ensuing weeks to find them homes because my dad still didn't like the idea of keeping any of them. I remember asking all of my friends, telling them we HAD to find them homes. I couldn't see them go to the shelter. I found it kinda funny that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. I asked was either allergic or someone in their family was. All I've got to say to that is...you guys really missed out.

After trying for awhile to find them homes, we of course were attached. At that point I don't think I would have given any of them up had anyone actually decided they could have one.

Fast forward 7 or 8 years to the present. For the last few months Cal's health has been steadily declining. My mom found a lump on his back leg which turned out to be a sarcoma. He'd been losing quite a bit of weight, and was losing mobility in his leg. Most likely due to the size of the tumor and the fact it was probably pinching on nerves, rendering his back left leg pretty useless. He could still drag it around but it was obviously impeding his movement.

My mom decided awhile ago not to put him through chemotherapy. It would have cost thousands of dollars and couldn't guarantee he would get better. We just did everything in our power to make whatever time he had left comfortable and happy.

Last week my mom had noticed that his appetite was decreasing and he was having difficulty going to the bathroom. She made an appointment at the clinic to have him looked over. Upon completing an ultrasound, Dr. Pozzuoli found another mass in his abdomen and the prognosis wasn't good. It was resting close to his vital organs and possibly main arteries.

I was up four-wheeling with Riley and Jared that Saturday as my mom tried to get ahold of me. I wasn't in a place where I had cell phone service. It was a tender mercy that allowed me to understand what I'm sure was the Holy Ghost, telling me we needed to head back down earlier than we had intended. At the time I couldn't understand why I felt that way, but looking back it was such a blessing. We were able to make it down to the clinic where my mom, McKenna, Carter, and J were waiting. We decided that it was in his best interest to put him to sleep. I couldn't see him suffer and decline more.

I sat with everyone in the exam room and got to spend some time with my sweet kitty before he went. I held him in my lap while he got the injection. What a strange, cathartic experience. I believe I was able to visually "see" his spirit leaving his little body. I can't think of a better, more peaceful way to go. Most importantly he was surrounded by his family that LOVED him.

My heart is still broken over the loss of my little buddy. He was always such a good friend and the best listener around. I've always had a connection with animals, but little Mush was definitely one of my best friends. Whether he was drinking the water out of my fishbowl, curling up around my neck when I was trying to sleep, sleeping in the drawers of my dresser whenever I left one open, or kneading his little paws into my body while I pet him.

Every time I think I've cried all the tears I can over this little guy, I start thinking about it and it all starts over again. My eyes have been constant puff balls since Saturday. But I know deep down that we'll see him again. It brings me comfort to know that he's up in heaven with a fully working, perfect body. He's not being bound by physical restraints anymore. He gets to be up there with his sister Cole, Baxter, Jenny, my dad's old dog Bandit, and an army of fish we've had over the years. And I'm sure my great-grandparents, and my Grandma Grose are taking really good care of him :)

I know most people think, "Oh, it's just a cat". But I KNOW that animals will be in heaven. If they're not then I don't want to go. There have been many quotes that have brought me comfort but my mom found one last night that I really, really like. It's from a General Conference address in 1928 by Joseph F. Smith:

"So we see that the Lord intends to save, not only the earth and the heavens, not only man who dwells upon the earth, but all things which he has created. The animals, the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, as well as man, are to be recreated, or renewed, through the resurrection, for they too are living souls."

So it's not really goodbye, Mush. It's till we meet again.

St. George/Las Vegas With My Family!

2011-05-17T09:42:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous post we had plans to go down to St. George with my family this last weekend. My parents have been contemplating buying a house/condo down there for awhile now and they decided to go test one out and were gracious enough to invite Riley and I. My parents and Carter drove down on Thursday, and then Riley, McKenna, and I drove down Friday night.

We woke up on Saturday morning and decided to make the trip down to Las Vegas for the day. We had a total blast. Pictures explain it best so here ya go.

We spent some quality time at the pool. Fabulous 85+ degree weather...It was hard to leave.

Toured through the Venetian. Riley HATES all the little "towns" in the hotels. Freaks him out I guess. Kinda funny, though.

Of course we couldn't pass up some gelato. Mmmm..Riley and I got coconut and pineapple flavors.

My dad was awesome and bought us all tickets to see the Blue Man Group that night! It was seriously the coolest show ever!!! Highly recommend it. Riley kept turning to me saying things like, "That was awesome", "Did you see that?!" and, "Wwoooaaahhh!!"

I also took lots of pictures of the scenery around Vegas. The Bellagio wins though with the butterfly house and the thousands of flowers that drown out the smell of cigarette smoke.

Randoms from Riley's Camera

2011-05-11T09:49:00.000-07:00

I just wanted it to be documented somewhere that we made it up to the "V" on our hike the other day. Just to prove to myself that I'm not as out of shape as I thought............well...I probably am. (But on a tangent, I've been good sticking to my "no sugar" diet for the past 72 hours and I haven't had caffeine/carbonation for nearly three months! Hopefully I won't be too much of a disaster in a swim suit this year because I bought some REALLY cute ones from Hapari!)

Since I didn't have my camera when we had our barbecue with a bunch of friends, we took Riley's camera. Because of that, I have like a million pictures of Riley and Jordan playing on a park toy..and nothing else. So I picked the best one, here ya go.
We're going to St. George/maybe Vegas this weekend with my family and I'll have my camera back by then! Yay!

The Dog Days of Summer

2011-05-05T15:23:00.001-07:00

Even though my camera is still "in the shop" I managed to get some fun pictures today at at the clinic using my phone. These guys are my new buds. I still can't believe how lucky I am to have landed a job working with them! Turns out we (people) aren't the only ones who have been loving the warm weather. Enjoy!

This is my buddy Eli's close-up

Everybody loves the pool except for Cache (top right). He's more interested in hanging out with me.

Summer Is HERE!!

2011-05-04T13:15:00.000-07:00

Well boys and girls, summer at the Gold home has finally arrived! That being said, this post is going to be just a random jumble of thoughts and events that have been happening the past little while! Now that all my energy isn't focused on school I'll hopefully be able to be a bit better with updating the blog :)

We welcomed the nice weather by enjoying a topless ride in the Jeep on Sunday! We started off the day at church, came home and packed a lunch, grabbed Benny and made our way up the firebreak road. We came to a stop just below the "V" on the mountain and hiked our way up. It was quite windy when we finally reached a stopping point but we still enjoyed our lunch nonetheless. Then we came back to my parents house for more food and then somehow convinced my dad to come on a ride with us. It was quite a squish for both me, McKenna, and J to fit in the back seat but somehow we made it work. My dad admitted that he was quite impressed with the Jeep and all the hills we managed to climb... :)

I had Monday off from work and spent most of the day doing things around the house and trying to play catch up on some last minute homework/studying I'd put off. I got a call that afternoon from the Animal Medical Clinic where I had interviewed a few weeks prior offering me a position! I'm SO excited about this new job. If anyone knows anything about me it's probably that I absolutely adore animals. Most days I'd rather spend hanging out with my dog than anyone else.

Call it pathetic but I was devastated when I found out Riley didn't exactly share my passion for dogs. Of course this information came after I had already fallen for him...so it didn't sway my opinion of him. But it was a hard thing to realize I would probably never be able to own 100 billion dogs and/or move to Kanab to work at the Best Friends Animal Santuary. For the past year and a half I've consistently bothered him about getting another pet. Dog/cat/bunny/anything furry, it didn't matter. I'd become really discouraged because all I ever got from him was a firm, "No". He can't help that he's allergic I guess...even though I'm still pretty sure he fakes it....

So this position really is a blessing in disguise for me. I pretty much get to play with dogs all day, how awesome is that?! The weather was nice enough today that we even brought out a plastic pool for all the doggies to play in. You would have thought it was just the greatest thing in the whole entire world.

Last night I took my very last final for the semester and it feels just wonderful to be done. To celebrate I went and saw "Born To Be Wild" at the IMAX with Sarah and Riley. We may or may not have ended up at In-N-Out for milkshakes and fries after as well. The movie was SO cute and I'm now trying to convince Riley into getting me a baby Orangutan. I'll letcha know how that goes...

Aannnddd that's pretty much it for now! My camera is at Best Buy getting the optical zoom fixed (AGAIN) ((well, they didn't actually "fix" it the first time, so yeah)). But hopefully I'll get it back soon and I'll take some fun pictures.

My Love Note

2011-04-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

So I don't know if you guys knew this or not.... But I have pretty much the best husband ever. Seriously. Riley is more than I could have hoped to have as a spouse. I was sort of naughty awhile ago and snooped through either his wallet or car (I can't remember exactly where it was), and I found this note titled, "Things I love about Alyssa". I want to say that I found this either when we were engaged or first married. Needless to say it caught my attention so I read it over. It instantly made my day. I think he knows now that I have it, but I've kept it in MY wallet ever since. Whenever I have a hard day or when we get into little arguments I pull it out and look at it.

I thought since the 30th marks our 1.5 year anniversary I'd share this note with you. It's word for word, and you can totally hear Riley's personality in the verbage.

(Please feel free to be jealous :)

1-Her voice calms me down

2-Her dedication to life (school, work, me)

3-Her loyalty

4-Her desire to better herself

5-Her eyes

6-The way she drives (crazy I know)

7-The chuckle in her laugh

8-The way she screams when something happens that she didn't mean to do, like in Mario Kart

9-The feel of her skin

10-The support she gives me even when I don't deserve it

11-Her nose

12-The way she looks when she sleeps

13-She knows everything I don't

14-Her cooking

15-The patience she has for me

16-The unconditional love she has for me

17-She interacts with nieces/nephews

18-She can take a joke and send it right back

19-The respect she has for my hobbies/likes

20-The happiness she brings me

I just thought I'd take a second to write this note down, in case one day I was to lose it or something. Although Riley and I joke, banter back and forth, and aren't the best at the whole "PDA" thing, I really do love him! I'm SO lucky that I get to spend eternity with my BEST friend.

Girls Trip to St. Geezy!!

2011-04-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

We had an absolutely marvelous time in St. George this year! Sharon, Carolyn and I drove down Friday evening to meet Jessie down at Dixie. We spent four lovely days enjoying the warm weather and eachother's company. We toured lots of church historical sites like Brigham Young's home, the Tabernacle, and made it through the Visitor's Center of the temple. We ate at the Bear Paw Cafe for breakfast, 25 on Main for dinner one night and had a picnic at the city park outside the tabernacle. I wish I took more pictures of the park, it was tons of fun! We went up to Dixie Rock and explored all the cliffs and hills we could find. Took lots of fun pictures, too! We visited Jessie's preschool and went on a nice evening walk around campus. Jessie had been sick for a few weeks prior to the trip and Sharon ended up having to take her to the Instacare one afternoon. Carolyn and I went shopping at the outlets and spent some much needed time at the pool. The only downer to the trip was that both Wes and Riley were incredibly sick the whole time we were gone. I spent a lot of time checking in on Riley and making sure he was taking care of himself. Wes had pneumonia and Riley had strep, poor guys. We came home to snow and rain but we definitely enjoyed the sunshine while we could!

Las Vegas 2011

2011-03-25T14:10:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went on a short trip to Las Vegas with our friends Mitch and Amanda. We left Saturday night and came home Tuesday night. It was a quick trip, but we had lots of fun.
We stayed at a super sketchy hotel called Imperial Palace. But you can't beat $25 a night on the strip so I can't complain. We went to the M&M Store, the Coke Store, rode the roller coaster at the New York, New York, went to breakfast Sunday morning with our friends Cameron and Lorna from our ward, toured almost all of the hotels (Our favorite is a brand new hotel called Cosmopolitan. Ssssoooo neat. Maybe mostly due to the fact it's only been open for about 4 months and the smell of cigarette smoke hasn't seeped into everything in it yet...), walked down Fremont Street, and even gambled a bit. Sshhh, don't tell! Haha ok so it really wasn't a big deal. Riley and I each allotted ourselves one dollar to gamble in any way we chose. We ended up winning $35 playing video blackjack! Sweet!
Things to remember for our next trip to Las Vegas:
1-Pack as much of your own food as possible. $20 a meal adds up really quick!!

2-It's ok to splurge at a buffet. We didn't get to do that this time.

3-Free parking is never actually "free". Remember a bunch of smaller bills to tip the valet.
4-VISIT THE STRATOSPHERE

5-Don't spend time in stores in Las Vegas that we have here at home. Not worth the waste of time.

6-You can't look ANYWHERE. I came close to attacking the dirty old men (and women) handing out the sick porno cards at every corner. The buildings have half naked people, the ground is litered with pornography, there are strippers pole dancing in most of the more raunchy casinos, etc, etc.

7-Remind Riley it's not ok to ask the concierge, "Is this the REAL Caesar's Palace? Did the REAL Caesar actually live here?"

We didn't take too many pictures of the trip but here are just a few! Enjoy!!

Grandpa Grose

2011-02-18T07:33:00.000-08:00

I got a call on Saturday night from my mom while I was at dinner with my friend Sarah. She told me that my Grandpa had fallen while he was at a funeral and broke his neck, and my dad was on his way up to the hospital. Those were all the details she had at the time but told me she'd call me if she heard anything new. I remember my heart just sinking.

A few hours later my mom called me with an update. She said that my dad had returned from the hospital and told her my Grandpa was in really good spirits and shape, considering the fall. I guess he was at a funeral earlier that day and had leaned up against a wall to support himself. Turns out the "wall" really wasn't that at all, but rather a door that wasn't latched. He ended up falling head over heals down 8 or 10 stairs. Initially he went home really sore but that was that. One of my uncles ended up deciding he needed to go to the hospital and a few x-rays later they discovered he had clearly broken his neck.

A surgery and a few pain pills later, here's my sweet Grandpa. Happy as ever! He was in great spirits through the whole thing and has made an INCREDIBLE recovery. You can definitely tell that my Grandpa is a very loved man. When I went and visited him on Sunday I counted 16 family members in his little room. Every time the nurses came by they'd be a little surprised at the party going on in room 2202!

He's such a funny guy. He kept telling the nurses they should've just installed a "zipper" on him so he wouldn't have to go through all the surgeries anymore. He also said when he left the hospital he was going to go right back to "riding my fourwheeler", meaning his walker, of course ;)

He was incredibly excited on Thursday about his balloon horse we picked him out at the gift shop. He said it could be his ride home. Doesn't look too weight-bearing to me...He also had a huge grin on his face when the nurse came and brought him his lunch that day. Apparently he'd been ordering a cinnamon roll the last couple meals but they were all out. But they'd managed to snag him one for his last day and he was so happy he could hardly stand it.

My Grandpa Grose is an amazing man and such a wonderful example to his family. I've never heard him say a single negative thing about another person in my ENTIRE life. He is so dedicated to his family. I can't remember a single piano recital or choir concert of mine he didn't attend. I've lost count at how many first cousins I have, so to have him there to support me always meant a lot. He is the perfect example of living a Christ-like life. He served multiple missions with my Grandma before she died and he is always either at the temple or doing family history work online in his spare time. I watched him bow his head and say a silent prayer before he ate his lunch, even though I heard him say just a minute before how hungry he was.

If I'm half the person he is when my life is over I'll be happy. I'm so grateful it wasn't his time to go, yet. The world isn't quite ready to let him leave and neither am I!

Valentine's 2011

2011-02-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

Riley had to work all day so what did I do to pass the time? Procrastinate! I had bought him a nice button up shirt a week or so ago but that was the extent of my Valentine's Day planning. So..pretty last minute I decided to buy some cupcakes and pick up takeout from Riley's favorite restaurant, El Matador.

It was quite the adventure keeping Benny out of the cupcakes and food for the ride back but we somehow made it back safe. Riley beat me home and I was greeted by flowers, a card, and a movie from Redbox. Aww... ;) So we spent the night together enjoying the food, the sugar, the movie, and eachother's company. Hope everyone had as fun of a day as we did!!

These are the pretty flowers Riley bought me
The yummy cupcakes! Red Velvet Cake, Raspberries and Creme, and Chocolatey Caramel....

Funny story behind the card. Riley handed it to me and prefaced it with, "I didn't even read what the card said, I just saw the picture of their feet touching and decided it was perfect."
I've told people before, but Riley can't sleep unless his feet are somehow contorted to be touching mine. Cute.

Kenzie's Farewell and other such adventures!

2011-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday we had the opportunity to go to my friend Kenzie's farewell! I'm SO excited for her, she's going to be such a wonderful missionary. We'll all miss her here but the people of Missouri are going to be so blessed to have her!

Bit of a reunion of sorts!

Rachel, Linsey, Kenzie, Alicia and I.

It was such a beautiful day that we couldn't resist going out for a spin in the Jeep.
(When I say beautiful that just means it wasn't single digits outside)

We also took Ben to the park. He LOVES running around fetching his beloved tennis ball.

I absolutely LOVE this picture. These are definitely my two favorite boys!

Our Christmas and New Year 2010

2011-01-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

I just have to preface this with the fact that I've been a horrible, HORRIBLE slacker as far as pictures are concerned. But we had a wonderful Christmas nonetheless.

We woke up around 9 and opened the gifts we got for eachother. I got Riley some Jeep accessories like a shirt and some stickets, some KC lights for his Jeep and a few movies. He got me the Glee Christmas CD (yay!), some movies (those were considered gifts for both of us), and a Pandigital reader! Just like the Kindle and Nook, except it's in color! Love it!!

We went up to my parents after gifts for our annual Christmas breakfast. We had yummy breakfast casseroles, apple cinnamon french toast, and bacon. My parents got Riley a gift card to Home Depot, each of us a book, my mom got me a gift card for a massage, a Fh'zookie maker, and they bought me my own tackle box and fishing pole! Haha!! Carter got Riley a quesadilla maker since he insists on eating at least 4 every day for lunch and he's used it nearly every day since!

Later Christmas Day we went down to Riley's parents house for their gift exchange. This year was homemade gifts so we all had to be a bit creative. We had Austin's family this year for gifts so I made the girls each a few cute headbands, and Riley made a coupon for Austin and Shrena to have their DVD player installed in their car by him. Carolyn had us this year and she made us the coolest blanket ever!! One side has a big "D" for Davis, and the other half as a "V"....for Viewmont....whatever. At least HALF ot the blanket is pretty awesome. It's going to be perfect to take to the football games next fall!
Skipping forward to New Year's, we did quite a bit of jumping around. We started out at Riley's parents house and I helped Jessie get ready for her big New Year's Eve party. We ended up at my Aunt and Uncle's house in North Ogden where we played some ping pong, ate some food, and spent time just being with family. I'll post the few pictures I DO have until I get home and get the rest off my computer.

New Year's Resolution-Be better at taking pictures. Done.

Benny in his Christmas sweater. Awww..

Next year we're doing a fancy tree!
Sniffing all the pine needles just in case...

During our 2 hour getting ready session. Yikes.

My parents at the New Year's Party!

Last picture taken in 2010!

Ringing in the New Year, Gold family style.

I had to threaten bodily harm if he didn't take at least ONE good picture with me for the New Year!

Temple Square 2010

2010-12-11T18:54:00.000-08:00

Friday night we went on a big group date! First we went to dinner at a noodle house called "La Cai" down on State Street and 9th south. It was really yummy. I took a picture of the sign! Riley spent a good portion of dinner talking with Lorna's friend Sheila about Chinese food. He learned the fortune cookies and sweet and sour sauce are all American, and not authentic. I think his whole world was turned upside down...

Then we went down to Temple Square to walk around and enjoy the lights. We rode Trax from the library to the temple. Riley had never been on it before so that was interesting. Reminded him a lot of the subway in New York but a WWHHHOOOLLEEE lot cleaner. Before entering the temple grounds we got distracted by this man playing the bagpipes. We spent a good 15 minutes talking to him. Funny guy. He wanted to tell us ALL about his bagpipes and also a million jokes....

The temple never fails to disappoint! The pictures I took of the actual lights didn't really turn out all that great, but the temple itself is beautiful.

After we went to JB's for some hot chocolate and dessert. We went with our friends Cameron and Lorna from our ward, and they brought their friends Kylie and Craig. Kylie has a litttle 3-yr old so we spent the majority of that time talking to him. We learned that he wants "a sewing machine and some fabric for making clothes" for Christmas, and that babies come from Ikea! Who knew!!

Finals Week

2010-12-11T18:34:00.000-08:00

This week was finals week for me. Even though I only took two classes this semester it was still pretty intense. This post will only focus on my first final because it's the only one I ever want to talk about again!

Final #1-Leisure in Your Life (Diversity requirement fulfilled. Really a fun class. We learned all about how to create fun in your life without relying on the TV, learned different varieties of leisure, and discussed the world's point of view when it comes to free time)

Final #2-Living with Quakes (This class was online. The first half was focused on volcanoes and the second was on earthquakes and tsunamis. Fulfilled an International Relations requirement. Class itself was good, but I'm preettttyyyy sure I failed the final. And I've never failed a final in my LIFE.)

This picture taken right before I left my car to walk to my first final. Notice the concerned look! HAHA.

This was me halfway to class, realizing I forgot how far the walk was and these boots were a bad choice.

Yes I totally took a picture of the building. Goodbye Orson Spencer Hall!! (for the semester, at least)

Annnddd, this was me POST final. Cute, huh?! Don't worry only like three people saw me totally taking a picture of myself in my car. I was relieved to be done, ok? Don't judge me.

A Sunday in the Gold household!

2010-12-08T12:21:00.000-08:00

Sleep in (oops..), and make breakfast. Last Sunday was waffles, bacon, and eggs.

Benny waits patiently beneath the bacon hoping a piece will magically jump out of the pan and into his mouth :)

We made a raspberry shake with the raspberries Riley insisted were taking up valuable freezer space. Why fill it with frozen fruit when Hot Pockets are so much more convenient?

Did the dishes that we had been procrastinating on. Don't judge us!

(Dear Santa, if you're reading this...well...do I really have to tell you what household appliance is on my Christmas list?)

Put up the few measly Christmas decorations we have.

Marley and Me may or may not have been playing in the background of doing chores...

Try and be festive and put up Christmas lights around our patio door. It's just what you've gotta do when you don't have a roof to call your own.

Try to take a semi-cute picture of us at the end of the day.

Our Weekend

2010-12-06T11:02:00.000-08:00

I have to preface this post with a warning that I didn't take any pictures...My camera was MIA (actually, I accidentally managed to lose it between the couch cushions at my in-laws house...but that's neither here nor there).

Friday night we went to Riley's parents ward's family party! Phew, that was a mouthful. I was scheduled to work until 7 that night and the party started at 6. Riley had been there for awhile before I got there but luckily there was still plenty of yummy food! We watched a high school Madrigals choir sing Christmas songs for about an hour then left.

Saturday I had to work until 3 but Riley went shooting with Carter that morning/afternoon. They had a grand time shooting cans of food they found up on the range. I'm lucky to have found somebody that loves spending time with my little brother. I think Carter is pretty fond of Riley, too :)

That night we went bowling with our friends Mitch, Amanda, Dustin, and his girlfriend Heather.
Galactic bowling at Bountiful Bowl is always a good time! It reminds me of high school and all the nights we spent there, but it was a fun activity! It doesn't start until 10pm though so we had some time to kill before we went. Amanda and I stayed at our apartment and just chatted while Riley and Mitch "went for a ride in the Jeep". They both came back with huge grins on their faces. They had made a pit stop at Smith's and bought ten two liters of Mtn. Dew... They also spent a good chunk of time driving over huge snow piles in the Les Schwab parking lot. We drove past it on our way to go bowling and just saw huge tire tracks through the mountain of snow...

Bowling with Riley is always fun because he only actually tries for the first 4 frames or so. After that he just tries to either throw it as fast as he can/how many balls he can use at the same time/how far he can throw it/if he can bowl through his legs. He always provides a good amount of entertainment wherever we go.

Sunday we woke up late (we slept through Sacrament, oops!), made breakfast and watched Marley and Me. Still love that show. And yes, I STILL cry at the end EVERYTIME. We went up to my parents house for dinner then back down to his parents house to watch the Amazing Race! I can't believe next week is the last episode of this season. We're all addicted to that show...still...

Hopefully tonight we'll be able to go find a Christmas tree! We strung some lights around our back patio door and I hung up a wreath, but it's not quite the same without a tree. I promise I'll be better at taking pictures, since no one likes to read a huge chunky post without anything to look at...

Really going private this time...

2010-12-02T09:59:00.000-08:00

I know I said this before, but I think it's really going to happen this time. I installed a tracker on this blog to see where my traffic was coming from, and after seeing hits from India, China, etc etc I got kinda creeped out.

I've always used this blog as a sort of journal mostly for my own records, and I reveal a whole lot of information about our family, so I'd like it to stay a little bit more private. But I don't mind sharing it with people I know!

I've started a separate (public) blog that I'll use to post about random thoughts and ramblings but in the meantime if you'd still like to read and follow this one, please leave me your e-mail either in a comment or e-mail me at alyssagold08@gmail.com.

Thanks everybody, I appreciate your interest in keeping up with us!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-11-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Riley's parents house. We celebrated with his immediate family, as well as his Grandma and Grandpa Wiser and his Aunt Darla. We had such a fun time with LOTS of food and good company. We spent the day eating and sitting around the table talking and munching on pie.

I took my camera with me but wasn't very good at taking many pictures. I blame it on Novali. She wanted to just sit on my lap the entire afternoon and take pictures...of herself...

It's a good thing she's so stinkin' adorable! Here are some of my favorites!

This year I am especially grateful for our amazing families! I love having the opportunity to live so close to both of our extended families. My parents house is about a 12 minute drive, and Riley's are about 8 minutes. We've been incredibly blessed with such great people in our lives.

I hope everyone else had a fabulous Thanksgiving as well!

One Year Anniversary

2010-11-10T11:22:00.001-08:00

I can hardly believe how fast time has gone by. On one hand it seems like I've known Riley my entire life, but on the other it seems like we just got married like yesterday!

We both had the day off for our anniversary and we just spent it together. We didn't go out of town anywhere, or do anything overly out of the ordinary. I woke up and he had bought me flowers and a card, and he tried his best to make them look pretty even though we didn't have an actual vase to put them in. I had the best time just hanging out, watching movies, and relaxing with him. My parents took us out to dinner (free food is always the best) and we just enjoyed eachother's company.

So, in honor of our one year anniversary, I'm going to list 365 things that I love about Riley...

Psych. Nope. That'd take waayyy too long. But I guess I better say a few things.

-I was wandering around the house the other day, having not even showered. Completely unsolicited, Riley came and told me how pretty I am and that he loves it when I just wear "t-shirts instead of all those frilly girly things". Not sure if this was a compliment on the t-shirt, or him telling me that I shouldn't try so hard? Either way, it was nice of him.

-He's always the first one to apologize when we get in an argument. It's a good thing one of us is willing to back down...

-He always supports me in all my decisions. No matter what they are.

-He will drop whatever he's doing to ask me how my day was.

-Riley will send me nice/funny texts througout the day. He'll always send me one to let me know he got wherever he was going safely.

-He will pretend to like EVERYTHING I cook. Even if it's slightly burned/crunchy. He's not picky.

-I love that he comes to visit me at work when he's free.

-He's the most selfless person I know. He's always happy to put others needs in front of his own. He's a handyman and loves to fix things for anyone and everyone. I used to get annoyed that he'd put other people's projects ahead of anything we had going on, but I've come to appreciate that it's just who he is. (AKA, we were planning to spend the night together when we saw a girl pulled over on the side of the road with her hood open. Riley made me turn around so he could make sure everything was ok and help her.)

-He's an incredibly hard worker. I've never ONCE heard him complain about all the responsibilities he has.

-All our nieces and nephews ADORE Riley. He's incredibly patient and loving to them.

-He treats me like a Princess, even when I don't deserve it.

-He'll quote The Office with me till we both run out of things to say.

-I love how he's always so excited to tell me about his latest project at work. Even if I don't understand 3/4 of the words he's saying....

-Lastly, he's my biggest advocate and my absolute best friend. I really lucked out snagging him!

Here's to another bajillion years just like the last one! I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life here, and for eternity, with my best friend :)

In honor of making it this far, I've decided to post some pictures of my favorite memories with Riley.

Our Wedding!

10-30-2009

In front of the Manhattan Temple

Sept. 2009

Lake Powell-July 2009

Before seeing Mama Mia on Broadway!

Sept. 2009

The Statue of Liberty

Sept. 2009

Our Honeymoon

Lake Tahoe-Nov. 2009

Bear Lake riding fourwheelers!!

Riley's Disneyland birthday!

July 2010

Shooting a gun for the first time (Me)

Before the Weber State fireworks!

July 2010

The State Fair!!

Aug. 2009

Engagement Photo

Hiking with Benny!!

Carving Pumpkins with Jared & Spam

2010-10-27T20:47:00.001-07:00

Last night we went over to Jared and Spam's house for the first time! We carved pumpkins (as you can tell).

This first picture is out of order, but I just couldn't help but put it first. Aren't we just adorable?

Pumpkin guts..Bahaha.
Sam was very intense.

Jared...likes the smell of pumpkins? I dunno...

The finished product!!

It was tons of fun! We hadn't seen these guys in over a month. Completely unacceptable. I guess that's what happens when you have family in from Japan. You ignore your friends. Hahaha!

Best. Friends. Ever.

Halloween at Booey's!

2010-10-27T19:29:00.001-07:00

This year there was a Gold family party at Bethanie and Neil's house!

I couldn't find my maid costume from a few years ago...luckily Ryan and Sarah let us borrow some of their costumes!! Thanks guys, we owe you big time!!

(This picture is of Riley being a complete CREEPER. He insisted on tucking his ears and eyebrows into the hat)

Carolyn's AWESOME homemade Little Mermaid costume!!

Aren't these two ADORABLE?!?!

Coral was a fairy!

We played the donut on a string game... Hahaha.

Sharon's creepy eye ;)

And we carved pumpkins! This picture clicked right after Neil put his tongue back in his mouth..hahaha. It helps the creativity flow, ya know?!

Bethanie's spider

Braxton's pumpkin (carved by Sharon)

Riley's pumpkin

Neil's "Mater" pumpkin

Thanks for hosting the party guys! We're looking forward to this tradition for the coming years!!

To the Rescue!!

2010-10-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Every Sunday Riley and I have a tradition of going for a drive up either Farmington or Bountiful canyon. It was lucky we went up when we did, because the very next day there was SNOW covering up the pretty leaves.

We readied the Jeep for our adventure, and at the last minute put in a few blankets and the collapsible shovel from Riley's car. We stopped at my parents house to drop Benny off and I grabbed a bunch of treats.

We headed up the canyon and decided to go on an adventure on some trails we had never been on. We took a series of left and right turns and ended up getting pretty far up the back of the canyon. As we were driving we noticed a big white tent looking thing in the far off distance. We decided to go check it out. As we drove closer we realized that it was a truck! A huge Dodge truck was high-centered on a chunk of clay. Which is basically the same as ice! We had been tailspinning the whole way in 4WD! It was a kid our age and his girlfriend and they said they'd been stuck for nearly two hours and hadn't seen anyone. It was incredibly random that we were even there!

The boys hooked the two vehicles up by ratchet (sp?) straps and chains, but our light Jeep couldn't even budge it. We ended up driving them back down the canyon. We were going to just drop them off at the Chevron (these guys were from American Fork) while they waited for someone to come pick them up. But the guy had a pistol and a shotgun (deer season), and we quickly realized it wasn't a good idea to leave them at a gas station. So they came with us to my parents house while they waited. My dad let them borrow some sweats of his, since the poor kid was COVERED in red clay mud, and we all ate pie!

They were incredibly lucky we randomly came across them that day! They were preparing to spend the night up there, and it snowed the very next day. What a crazy experience!

Riley's Saturday!

2010-10-25T11:42:00.000-07:00

I had to work all day Saturday (bummer). But Riley went shooting with Jordan, and our neighbors/wardies Cameron and Lorna. not sure if I would have gone even if I didn't have work though. I still don't love guns...and I REALLY don't love JORDAN with guns....HA! But Lorna was a braver soul than me and accompanied the boys, and was even nice enough to send me some pictures from the day, so I suppose I'll share them. Enjoy!

Mom's Surgery

2010-10-22T12:14:00.000-07:00

A little while ago my mom went in for an appointment with a cardiologist, just to get everything checked out. The doctor ended up finding a hole in her heart. One that they say she has probably had her entire life. They ran several tests and decided that it was medically necessary for her to have surgery to fix the hole. She had the surgery done yesterday down at St. Mark's Hospital and is already home today doing fine!

She's even going to dinner tonight with a bunch of her friends from High School, so she probably won't be returning home until the wee hours of the night.

She didn't want me taking a picture of her, but this one is better than the one I snapped of her sleeping with her mouth wide open, so here it is. What a rockstar, right?!

Her room number and chart

The view from her room

Grandpa Grose Turns 88!

2010-10-22T12:01:00.000-07:00

When I told my Grandpa Grose "Happy Birthday", he said, "Thanks! It's not everyday you turn 16 again!" 8 + 8=16, right?! All he wanted for his birthday was to have a big family dinner, so we all went to his "kitchen" (aka Golden Corral). It's his absolute favorite!

Isn't he the cutest grandpa ever?!

He's Home/Leaving!!

2010-10-04T10:56:00.001-07:00

Two of my favorite cousins are home together for five days! Alex (left) came home on Friday from his mission and Andrew (right) leaves on Wednesday for his!

It was fun to see them together on Sunday for a few hours! Discussing all our childhood memories was tons of fun! They're both GREAT missionaries!!

Davis/Viewmont Game & Jeeping with Family

2010-10-03T12:20:00.001-07:00

We went to the Davis vs. Viewmont game on Friday night.

Davis won!! 27-20

It was actually a pretty decent game and not the blowout I expected.

Booey and Neil enjoyed a hot dog.

Then on Saturday we took the Jeep up behind Bountiful canyon, halfway to Morgan.

The colors were gorgeous!!

Jared & Sam's Wedding!

2010-09-29T12:59:00.000-07:00

Sooo...they got married on July 22nd but I just barely found all the pictures I had taken on my computer today! I know I always promise to post pictures when I get the time, so this is me keeping part of my promise!

Caramel Apple Night

2010-09-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

We had some friends over last night to make caramel apples! Enjoy the pictures from the adventure!!

Goodbye Shadowfax, Hello Baja!!

2010-09-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Riley got pulled over for speeding in a School Zone (I know, I shouldn't admit that, but it's key to the story at hand). Anyways the officer takes his license and registration and comes back to his car to tell him he was issuing him TWO tickets. One for speeding and the other for driving ON A SUSPENDED LICENSE. Riley had NO idea about the suspension, told the officer this, and left totally confused. Which happened to be a miracle in itself because most of the time when you're pulled over while driving on a suspended license you just get cuffed and sent to jail.

He went in the next day to the Driver's License division and questioned the suspension. The audit guy he talked to told him it had been suspended for the past three months, and they sent him the notice of suspension to an address in Iowa! Hello!! He has been home from his mission for over 2 years!! Turns out they sent it to the address of his last area! During the time when I thought his license was going to be revoked/suspended for a long period of time, I put an ad up on KSL for our Grand Cherokee (Shadowfax...Riley's idea) because there was no way we'd need three cars if only ONE of us had a license :S Turns out he got his suspension thing all taken care of, but I in turn went ahead and sold the Jeep! Let it be known that we made a significant amount of money on it, because we weren't into it too much. That is ALSO key to this story....

So Riley went on for about a week pouting that his manhood had been taken away, and he couldn't live without a Jeep, etc etc etc. So I finally broke down and went with him to look at a handful of different Jeeps.

1-The first one we looked at was a '92 Wrangler. Those people were asking way too much for it, and it needed a lot of work done. So we went on to the next one.

2-This one was also a '92 Wrangler (I believe). This one had some type of engine that Riley didn't like...or...something....So we didn't go with that one....

3-'97 Jeep Grand Cherokee, just like the one we sold. The guy selling it was a little sketchy and it needed a LOT of work. Definitely nothing like our near mint condition model of the exact same year.

4- '90 Jeep Wrangler. This is the one we went with! We had to travel to the ends of the Earth (Magna) to look at it, but it's in great shape (for being 20 years old!) and runs like a champ (so far....). Riley is in love with it. It needs a few things here and there, but it's all stuff that Riley is super excited to do.

It needs a paint job and a little love (we're going with either yellow or cherry red!), but it's gonna be sweet! It has a hard time AND a bikini top, gets better gas mileage than our old one, and is a beast off-road. The only issue I have with it, is it's a manual transmission....and I HATE driving manual transmissions....buuuttt....we'll see how that goes. I don't have any pictures of the actual body of the Jeep yet, I completely spaced it, but here are some pictures of Braxton, Bethanie, and Riley enjoying our topless Sunday ride!

I didn't initially pull my hair back, so this was the best image I could capture of my hair flyin'!

Brax had such a good time! He kept yelling "My Goon!! My Goon!! Whenever he could see the Rocket and the Ferris Wheel of Lagoon from where we were at.

He liked just sitting in the passenger seat like a big boy!
Riley was so happy to be driving without the doors or the top...he could hardly stand it.

Moral of this story: Never sell a man's Jeep and not expect him to want another one.

The Big 2-1

2010-09-27T11:32:00.001-07:00

For my birthday this year Riley surprised me with all-inclusive tickets to Snowbird! I had the day off, so we went with Jordan and Alyssa and spent the entire afternoon riding the trams, mechanical bulls, the zip-line, the alpine slide, the ropes course, and of course window shopping.

Alyssa was none too happy with Jordan hanging off the front of the lift...

We had yummy BBQ pizza for lunch.

Riding the zipline!

Riley and Jordan on the zipline.

Riley bought me the entire first season of Glee, a back massager, my very own mummy sleeping bag, and a "SL,UT" shirt. What a good husband he is ;)

For dinner we went to Thaifoon with my family, Jordan & Alyssa, Mitch & Amanda, and Cameron. It was yummy (as always) and the company was fabulous.

Afterwards we came back to our house and watched Jaws with Mitch, Amanda, Cameron and Lorna.

Beaver Ponds

2010-09-27T11:09:00.000-07:00

A few Sundays ago we went up to the Beaver Ponds with Cameron and Lorna from our ward. It was a beautiful day! We walked around the entire perimeter of the ponds with Benny at our feet. He got dirt all over him so we attempted to dip him in the water. He'd kick his little legs just like he was swimming before he even touched the water. We wish we had taken our swimsuits! The temperature was perfect, even if the water was a bit chilly.

Tubing and Camping!

2010-09-10T11:50:00.000-07:00

Riley, Jordan, Alyssa and I are taking an institute class at the U. I had a little while between classes so I took some pictures of the campus. Gotta love the green!
After each institute class we have gone to Village Inn for "Free Pie Wednesdays"! Yum!!

We went tubing with Jordan, Brian, and his fiance Jackie. These were our attempts at a decent group shot.

Jordan had a bit too much fun skipping around in his towel.

Thanks for parking the Jeep in the bushes, Brian! The camp host looked none too happy...

We somehow managed to stuff all the tubes in one vehicle!

I brought Oreos and crackers for a little between tubing snack.

Whoever says Utah isn't beautiful has never been through Trapper's Loop!

This last weekend we went camping up behind Bountiful Canyon. Here's Benny enjoying the ride up, amidst all our stuff.

We watched Riley set up the tent from the Jeep ;)

Our sweet hot dog roasting apparatus. Thanks Jared and Sam! Best wedding present ever!

Ben's kind've a wussy camper, so her sat on my lap wrapped up in a blanket for a good percentage of the time.

Our camp stove had a leak so we couldn't make our famous bagged omelets. Jordan improvised by trying to cook his egg over the fire.

Riley's New Job!!

2010-08-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe that I have neglected to post about this until now. Riley started a new job a few weeks ago at a place called CJ Auto in Bountiful. I think he liked America First but he did NOT enjoy having to dress up every day. He's always been the kind that just likes to get in a job and get his hands dirty. Having to wear a shirt and tie didn't really let him do this.

Apparently his dad had been in the shop a few days prior and the manager told him they were looking to fill a position. Riley was so excited he could hardly stand it, so he went by a day or so later and told them he wanted to apply. They asked him about his experience, a few other questions here and there, and then asked him when he wanted to start!!

We still need to find him a pair of black cargo shorts for him to wear to his new gig, since his pants have definitely been taking a beating. So if anyone has any suggestions...I'm still a terrible shopper when it comes to guy stuff.

Anyways, he comes home everyday grimey, coated in grease, and has dirty fingernails that never quite come clean...but he always has a huge smile on his face. I'm so glad he's finally found something that he really really enjoys doing. He tells me every day, "It's just doing things I always did in my garage before, but now I'm getting paid to do it!". I'm so grateful he's been given the opportunity to do something he loves. Even if it means me having to hear about his entire day, about all the cars and pieces he fixed that STILL don't mean anything to me...

I'll be sure to snap a photo of him right when he walks in the door tonight so you can all capture the essence of his dirty happiness.

Back to school time

2010-08-30T11:25:00.001-07:00

Well kids it's officially back to school time. It came a bit too quickly for my liking, but I'm not going to complain because I really LOVE the fall. The air is already starting to get a bit more chilly, and I have a feeling I'm going to be bustin' out my jackets here pretty soon. I've been a terrible blogger/journalist (since that's pretty much all my blog is anyways) but a few fun things have happened since my last update.

I'm taking two classes this semester. One online class called "Earthquakes and Volcanoes", and another actual class called "Leisure in your Daily Life"(or something to that effect). Is my semester going to rock? Yes. My leisure class counts as my last Behavioral Science credit, so hey, why not? It only meets in class once a week (Wednesday nights) and it's three hours long. Call me crazy but I like classes like that. One's where I only have to make the trek down to campus once a week, and trudge around all alone for a few minutes. That's one thing I'll admit I dislike about college. Everyone runs around by themselves with their headphones in, not talking to anybody else between classes. Oh well.

Wednesday night we went to our Institute class for the first time. Rachel, Travis, Alyssa, and Jordan came with us, too. I think I have Alyssa and Jordan convinced to sign up for it with us, which will be a blast. It's a, "Building an Eternal Marriage" class. I think it'll be a good opportunity for us to take it together, AND have some of our best friends there, too.

We went to Crimson Night with Amanda, Mitch, Sammie, and Jared this last Friday night. It was a billion times more crowded than the last time we went. Probably because it's kicking off Fall semester when everyone is back, rather than summer semester when there's way fewer people enrolled. We played lots of carnival type games and won an assortment of candy, pens/pencils/ and a U of U bag! Sweeeet. We played the basketball game (you know the kind where the ball is like 100x bigger than the hoop you're trying to make it into?) like fifteen times because we were all too stubborn to admit we couldn't make 3 out of 3 shots. Ran into a few old friends and had a good time just hanging out. Of course we had to make a slurpee run after.

On Saturday we went tubing down the Ogden River with Jordan and Alyssa. We didn't get up till later in the day so it was a bit chilly, but we had lots of fun!

I have pictures of all of this, but again, I'm at work and don't have access to all my pictures. I'll post them ASAP.

This coming weekend is Labor Day weekend and we all got work off for it ages ago. Not sure what that'll hold for us, but we better be doing something epic because having both Saturday AND Monday off NEVER happens.

End of Summer :(

2010-08-21T11:24:00.000-07:00

It's crazy to believe that summer has finally come to a close. It's been a great one, even if all we did pretty much was work! This last Thursday we went to a movie in the park with our Mitch, Amanda, Cameron, and Lorna. They played "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". It's one of my favorite movies ever. I'm a little kid at heart (my ALL TIME favorite movie is the Emperor's New Groove") and so I loved it. Favorite part? When Steve the monkey attacks the gummy bears!!! Hahahaha...great.... Anyways it was a fun time other than the small children who found it funny to run across the screen in front of the projector for like 10 mins straight. Where were these children's parents/supervision? The sound was a bit sketchy in parts but what can you expect from a low budget, city activity?

Also, it's been almost an entire month since this happened, but our friends Jared and Sam got married (finally!!). They had a dinner at Jared's parents house the night before and then got married in the Salt Lake Temple, followed by a reception in the Chantilly Mansion in Layton. It was such a fun day! We have lots of pictures from it, but they're all on my laptop and our internet is still sketchy, so I'll post those as soon as I can.

Because I can't upload any pictures of their wedding right now, here's a picture of Jared and Sam at ours! Ha! Does it look cold?!

On another sidenote I went and met two of my best friends from high school at Starbuck's after work the other day. It was SUCH a good time talking and catching up before we all go our separate ways. Tara is going back down to school in Cedar City with her music scholarship and Jocelyn is in a dental hygiene program down in Provo. These girls are two of the smartest/most talented/beautiful people I know. I'm so grateful for their examples to me.
Here are some pictures from high school of us for old times sake

Random Catching Up

2010-08-11T19:02:00.001-07:00

It's been awhile since my last update and I can't remember everything that happened....but good thing I took lots of pictures, right?!

I went to my early morning meeting for work last week, only to find out it had been cancelled. So instead of going home for 20 mins, I went and bought myself a few CD's of the Glee soundtrack. It made my morning SSOOO much better.

We went to Thaifoon with my family for my mom's birthday. I wish this picture captured my dad and Carter in the background playing in the fountain...

Benny did a whole lot of "this". Being absolutely ADORABLE, that is.

Went and got a pedicure with Amanda at Liz's Nails. They turned out really cute. I sure do love that parafin wax dip and hot towels..mmm....Life is good.

I woke up and was on the road to work BEFORE the sun was even up for Teller Pro training!! I just thought I'd take a picture to prove to myself in the future it actually happened.

On Saturday I went up and tubed the Ogden River with my mom, dad, and Carter. My dad was the only lucky one who escaped without getting in the water. We were NUMB by the time we got out. Probably not a great idea..but it was a lot of fun! A beaver swam next to my tube at one point!

The water shoe look is "in" now. Just so you know.

I freaking found THIS monster in my house!! Riley was gone picking up pizza when I saw Benny messing with something next to the wall. When I walked up and saw this spider, I instantly freaked out and called Riley to come home and kill it for me. There was NO way I was going to squish it with a shoe or something... I had to take a picture to document what kind it was. We did some research later and figured out it's a "Rabid Wolf Spider". Not one that's poisonous to humans, thankfully. But that didn't make me feel too much better about it....

I conquered this. Six loads of laundry that I'd been neglecting to put away. It only took me two hours, but I turned it into....

THIS :)

I took Cooper and Benny on a walk down the Farmington/Lagoon Trail. They're such good boys!

They sure did a lot of this though. Sniffing EVERY tree and peeing on at least half of them. What can I say, they're guys?

What a rough life, right?!

Finally, last night Riley surprised me by renting 'Bounty Hunter' from RedBox so we spent the night watching that and eating creamsicles. Life is pretty sweet :D

Eureka Branch!

2010-07-27T11:12:00.000-07:00

For a little field trip Deidre, Leah and I drove to Eureka, Utah (Yes...it actually exists) to tour the Eureka Branch of America First! Don't ask. It was fabulous though. The manager there greeted us happily and took us on a full blown tour of the branch. Didn't even ask us for our employee ID's or anything? Yikes...\

They've got the original vault that's been there for a llloooonngg time, the original safety deposit boxes, and lots of cool other old stuff. The place is heated by a coal burning stove, believe it or not.

On our way back to civilization we stopped in Santaquin and got some lunch at a place called "The Family Tree". Creepiest restaurant ever but it had really tasty food. Here are the long awaited pictures! Enjoy!!

The vault! The ORIGINAL vault.

Deidre enjoying all the creepy family photos all over the wall

Our waters in mugs at "Family Tree"

Of course we had to stop for slurpees :)

Riley's Disneyland Birthday!

2010-07-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

*WARNING* Long post with LOTS of pictures!!

So for Riley's birthday this year I had to make it good. I put a lot of time and effort into trying to figure out what I wanted to do, and kept coming up with a blank. Finally 3 days before his birthday I had it figured out. I wanted to take him to Disneyland! So with a lot of last minute planning (booking our flights, reserving our hotel and a shuttle to and from the airport) I got it all arranged. (Thanks to my dad for the air miles!!)

Riley had already made some arrangements to hang out with friends and go four-wheeling on his actual day, so I had to make sure they knew that he wasn't going to be around to go.

On Friday night when I got off work I told him I had made some reservations, so he needed to hurry and get showered and ready. I got him in the car and asked where he wanted to grab some food. He was confused because when I told him I had reservations, he had assumed it was for dinner. We made a quick stop and Wendy's and jumped back in the car. I told him, "This may be a little weird, but I'm going to ask you to put this purse over your head." Hahahaha! I couldn't find a blindfold anywhere, so I made him wear one of my purses on his head so he didn't know where we were headed. The little bum is so good with directions though, he knew right where we were when we pulled into the airport parking lot!

When I asked if he knew what we were doing there, he thought it was for a "behind the scenes" airport tour or something? What the heck is that?? Anyways, he was really surprised when I popped my trunk to reveal our bags all packed and ready. I had come home during lunch and got everything all put together.

We got our boarding passes and he was confused when they said 'Orange County, John Wayne airport'. I had to explain that our final destination was Anaheim, thinking that would give it away. But it didn't!! He just said, "What's in Anaheim?!". When I told him we were going to Disneyland his eyes just lit up and he instantly got excited! He hadn't been to Disneyland since he was like 5 or 6.

We landed and took our shuttle to the hotel, got all settled in for the night and went to bed. We woke up first thing and walked to Disneyland!! We did California Adventure first, and then Disneyland. We had SUCH a blast. Riley mentioned to the girl at the ticket counter that it was his birthday, so they gave him a special "It's my Birthday" pin. He proudly wore it all day!! They gave me one that said, "I'm Celebrating!", so I got to sport that, too. We lucked out and jumped in the single riders line for nearly all the rides. But because of his pin, we got to sit next to eachother on almost every ride, minus Indiana Jones (Which is still my all-time favorite ride, by the way). EVERY single park employee that either let us on the rides, or simply passed us in the park would tell him "Happy Birthday, Riley". He just loved that, it was such a nice gesture from everyone.

We had a great time spending time together and being in the warm weather. The humidity was killer, and it made us so grateful we just have "dry" heat here. But all in all it was a blast!!!

Now for the fun part!! Pictures!!

On the plane headed to Cali.

Our room

I liked the, "Acts of God" clause.

We got our toothpaste confiscated at the airport for it's size, so we had to buy some more when we got there.

Tower of Terror!!

Space Mountain

Space Mountain ride photo!

Riley loved his "Birthday" pin.

"It's Tough to be a Bug" 4D show!!

Riley just loved this.

Best. Picture. Ever.

Splash Mountain!

Yay for the Happiest Place on Earth!!!

Weber State Fireworks!!

2010-07-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

Every year my family goes to the fireworks show put on by Weber State for the 24th of July. Usually they have it the Sunday just previous to the 24th but for some reason had it on the 11th this year. We started off the evening having dinner at my parents house for McKenna's birthday. She turned 17 today! Crazzzzyyyy. So we had yummy dinner accompanied with ice cream cake to celebrate the occasion.

Then we headed off to Weber State. Luckily Carter and my dad has set up our blankets the night before because it was packed! We had to park clear down in the FedEx/Kinko's parking lot on Harrison but we made it safely there. We sat by a family that had some Elder's with them, and another group of families that had three little girls that danced around to the symphony the entire time they played. It was quite fun to watch them! One of the little girls would do a handstand type thing, then kick each of her legs around, then do a few ballerina poses and take bows every once in awhile. Oh to be young again, right? Ha!

We had tons of candy, compliments of my grandma. We sat and chatted for a few hours prior to the show, and had fun listening to the music and naming the tunes that they were playing. The Elders passed around a few bags of glow sticks and we were the lucky recipients of quite a few! We had a fun time taking pictures and posing with the glow sticks. It made for a fun event.

The fireworks were a lot of fun and they're timed with the orchestra just right. The finale was one of the better ones I've ever seen! After the last fireworks went off we hauled quick to try and get out, but it took us over an hour to get home. We had a fun time turning up the tunes in Riley's car, rolled down the windows, and jammed out to hits such as theme music from Tarzan, Savage Garden, and the Pokemon Theme Song (Compliments of Jordan and Riley...)

Our Trip to the Zoo!

2010-07-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

On Monday the 5th Riley and I both had work off from both jobs, which never happens! So we decided to make the best of it and go to the zoo with Jordan and Alyssa. We stopped at Subway on our way and grabbed some sandwiches prior to our excursion. The zoo was PACKED! But it was still a way fun time. I snapped quite a few pictures, but I'll just include a few of my favorites. It was a really, really hot day and by the end of our trip we were wasted. We stopped on our way home to get some slurpees, and that was the best investment I have ever made. A slurpee has never tasted soooo good.

Happy Fourth of July!!

2010-07-12T11:56:00.000-07:00

This year I had to work the Fourth of July weekend, so that was a total bummer! But we still managed to have some fun, nonetheless. On Friday night we went down to Centerville to watch the fireworks with Riley's family. They put on a good show! Novali sat on both of our laps the entire time and made cute "ooh"ing and "aahh" noises everytime a firework would go off.

We went back to his parents house that night to eat some food and watch them light off their fireworks on their driveway. Every year his family sleeps out in their backyard with some friends before the parade and they wake up and make breakfast. But we didn't sleep over because I had to work first thing. Dumb, dumb. That night Riley dared Bethanie to eat a spoonful of flour. She attempted it, but was quite unsuccessful. The flour ended up spewing all over the kitchen and I'm sure went up her nose quite a bit. He also dared Jessie to eat a teaspoon of cinammon. Also didn't turn out too well. We have videos of both. Hilarious.

The next morning Riley rode in the Centerville parade with his friends Brian, Jordan, and Ryan. They rode on their little pit bikes and from the sounds of it, they were quite a hit!

(Thanks to Riley's Aunt Darla for this picture! I stole it off her Facebook page, I hope you don't mind it's the only one I could find. :)

Saturday night we went to the Kaysville fireworks with Jordan, Alyssa, and Ryan Umpelby. The boys had a fun time lighting off fireworks and throwing a boomerang back and forth to eachother before the fireworks started. Kaysville's fireworks were great this year!! We had a ton of fun!!

Eclipse Premiere!!

2010-07-12T11:49:00.001-07:00

My family got free tickets to go to the premiere of Eclipse from their insurance company. McKenna was originally going to use them but then she decided to go with some friends, leaving the tickets free! So when my mom called and offered them to me of COURSE I took them!! I took Bethanie with me and we had a fabulous time. I'm sure we annoyed quite a few people with our obscure laughing, picture taking, and overall obnoxiousness. We got free VIP tickets into the movie, a gift bag of goodies including some sunglasses, treats, popcorn, and a drink. We didn't win anything in the raffle, but we had a good time nonetheless.

Girls Park City Trip!!

2010-07-04T14:40:00.000-07:00

Since my last post we had a girls trip to Park City!!! We went up and shopped our little hearts out, took lots of pictures, and ate expensive food. Yep. Pretty sure I spent a comparable amount on dinner as I did on our actual shopping. But that's not terrible because I only bought 1 shirt, a pair of sunglasses, and some hand sanitizer stuff from Bath and Body Works. It was a way fun time just going up and having some girl time. Mitch was out of town in Albuquerque reffing a soccer tournament so Amanda took advantage of the opportunity to come spend some money and not be home alone. While we were gone Riley and Jordan went longboarding and played video games. I doubt they even knew we weren't home.

Amanda, Alyssa, and I (Main Street, Park City)

Some random bear statue. Love it.

Our food at Easy Street Grill

The fruits of our labors! Sttuuuffff!!!!

Toy Story 3,Chalk Art Festival, and Father's Day!

2010-06-21T11:29:00.000-07:00

This Saturday after we got off work we went to Thaifoon for dinner with my family. We were going to go see Toy Story 3 on Friday night but it was all sold out! Bummer!! My family went while we were at work and told us how funny and cute it was. So while we were waiting for our food, we bought tickets on Riley's phone for a showing that night.

Dinner was super yummy. We love Thaifoon. Especially the Surf 'n' Turf (beef and shrimp), and our all time favorite the Coconut Shrimp. To DIE for.

After dinner we made our way down the Gateway and looked at all the chalk art on the road. It was the annual Chalk Festival put on to sponsor Utah Foster Care. It was amazing!! I snapped a few pictures of my favorite ones.

Then it was on to the movie. We absolutely loved it! I laughed and I cried. It was pathetic. Definitely gotta buy that one when it comes out.

Sunday we had made plans to take Benny on a hike to Dog Lake. I had directions to get to the hike by way of Big Cotttonwood Canyon. We drove the entire 9 miles up the canyon to the beginning, and it turns out dogs aren't allowed on that side of the hike. You can get to Dog Lake from Millcreek, too, and that's the only place dogs are allowed. So...we had to turn around and get back out of the canyon and head to Millcreek. Good thing it was a beautiful day and the ride was enjoyable.

We got to Millcreek and half the road was still closed for WINTER (seriously? Not ok!), so we got out and just walked a few miles along the road. We stopped by the river to let Ben have a drink and we found a broken longboard propped up on the tree! So Riley marked the spot so we could pick it up on the way out. I don't feel too bad for stealing it because it's really busted up and broken... but Riley still wanted it to fix up.

We stopped at a picnic site and ate our treatse of dried apple slices, granola, and pretzels. It was a beautiful day, the weather was perfect, and it wore Benny right out. That was the best part! He slept soundly all through the night!!

Also on Sunday we went up to my parents house after our hike for Father's Day. We bought him the game Farkle to take in the camping trailer, and took up a couple pies from Marie Calendar's. Then we went over to Riley's parents house for Father's Day/my mother-in-law's birthday. We ate food out on their back lawn and enjoyed the weather. Then went inside and ate the cake that Shrena had made for Sharon. It was darling!!

Since it was Father's Day and all, I'd better talk about my dad for a bit. He's the greatest dad ever. I know everybody says that, but everyone else is lying, because MY dad is truly the best. He's the most sefless person I know. He always puts others needs/wants before his own. He'll go out of his way to serve anyone and everyone in their time of need. He's taught me a whole lot of life lessons, especially how to be frugal with money. If anyone knows my dad they know that he's the cheapest person ever (I mean that in the best way possible). He just saves, saves, saves. He'll wear the same clothes until they literally fall apart/off of him. I remember him teaching me when I was really little the difference between not only a "want or a need" but also the difference between an "asset or a liability". Pretty sure he talked me out of wasting my money on a whole lot of things when I was little. Even out of ice cream from the ice cream man because he's "A rip off". That all aside, I love my dad! I'm so grateful for everything he's done for our family and taught me. I wouldn't trade him for the world!!

RIP Bugabee :(

2010-06-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Last year in February Riley, myself, and Rachel went to Bird World on an adventure. We were just looking, of course. It's a hobby of mine to go look at the different animals/fish/birds at pet stores and beg Riley to let me have them. It's a hobby of Riley's to tell me, "No".

I first begged and pleaded for a dog. (This was before we got Benny, of course).
He said, "No."

Then I asked for a bird.
He said, "No."

Maybe a rabbit?? They were so cute and furry!
"Nope."

A FISH!?!?
".............fine."

This answer was probably given to me out of sheer frustration, and probably just to shut me up. But he let me have a fish! THREE in fact. I happily left Bird World with my new found friends. Goldfish named Mai Tai, Bugabee (per Rachel), and Sushi.

They lived happily in a bowl I bought from TJ Max for a long long time.

Awhile back I came home (this was back before we were married) to my room and found that Carter had torn up small pieces of one of my art erasers and "fed" them to the fish. Sushi must have ingested one, because he died... poor little soul.

But the other two lived on happily. They've lived on top of our refridgerator in our apartment since we moved in. But today...as I was making myself a bagel for breakfast...I noticed a floater.

Poor, poor Bugabee had passed away. My first thought was, "Do I have the proper ingredients for funeral potatoes?" As this had become a tradition. I remember growing up my cousins and I found a dead cat in my grandpa's backyard garden. After giving the kitty a proper burial, we all came inside and decided it would be in everyone's best interest to make funeral potatoes. Because they're a family favorite.

I wish I would have taken a picture of the little dude before his passing. I didn't feel it appropriate to snap a picture of his lifeless body for the world to see...but let me tell ya, he was adorable.

Anyways, the purpose of this post is to properly honor my long lost friend, Bugabee. He will never be forgotten.

In other equally suckish news, the freaking Lakers won the Championship. This was completely unacceptable to me, and I will say absolutely nothing more about this.

Shutter Island Date Night

2010-06-09T14:28:00.000-07:00

So a few months ago, Riley, Jared, Sammie and I went and saw "Shutter Island" in the theaters down at the Gateway. We all absolutely LOVED it (and I know..it's Rated R, so I shouldn't be disclosing that information).

I'm in love with Leonardo DiCaprio's acting. Not necessarily HIM as a person, even though he is quite attractive...but this movie was one of his best. It's an intense psychological thriller, and we had been counting down the days till it was released. That day finally came yesterday! So Riley and I went on a late night excursion to WalMart to buy it and we watched it together for a date night.

I made brownies so we enjoyed our treat, the movie, and eachother's company.

If we have any spending issues, it's on DVD's. We love expanding our collection and watching movies together.

Also yesterday Benny got his hair cut for the first time! I have yet to take any decent pictures of him, but he looks ADORABLE. He's been needing a hair cut for awhile now..especially because everyone says he looks like he was just pulled out of a dumpster. Great.

Stay tuned for pictures of him, he's a stud!

Bear Lake 2010

2010-06-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

We had been planning this trip with our friends for about a month, and it couldn't have come a day too soon! We left late Friday night with Mitch and Amanda and the four-wheelers in tow and arrived at the cabin early that morning.

On the way up to the lake we stopped at Smith's in Logan to get some last minute grocery supplies. Mitch mistook the cashier for a man. Hilarious. We spent the entire ride talking about random stuff, and trading scary stories. We met up with Mitch's friends Bryan, Mike, and Dustin at the cabin.We played Phase 10 for a little while before we crashed and went to bed.

The next morning the boys went for an early morning ride. Amanda and I stayed behind because it was just too cold. It had been snowing on and off all morning. We waited and met Jared a little later in the afternoon. After he arrived, the weather had cleared up so we all went for a ride. We scaled mountains and went off every road there was. We explored a few abandoned houses/barns and scared a few cows. Rode over 40 miles that day! Such a blast.

Jordan and Alyssa came up on Saturday night after she got off work.

Sunday we went on multiple rides because the weather was so nice. We had 8 machines in a row driving up and down all over the trails. 6 fourwheelers and Riley and Jordan's pit bikes. Everyone thought those were pretty great and they all wanted their turn on them. That evening before settling down for the night Riley and I, Mitch and Amanda, Jordan and Alyssa, and Jared took the fourwheelers down to the beach and drove around on the dry sand. We spent a good amount of time freeing the big puddles that had accumulated back into the lake. It was like elementary school all over again, building and unbuilding dams in the gutter kind of.

We had steaks for dinner that night, and spent a good few hours playing "Things". That was one of my personal favorite parts of the trip, that game is hilarious.
The next morning we packed things up and headed to LaBeaux's for lunch! Famous raspberry shakes and everything, YUM! Then on the way home Riley and I, and Amanda and Mitch stopped at a little rinky dink gas station to play the lottery. We spent five dollars just to see how far we could get with it. Fun tradition!

We had such a great time and it was a much needed vacation from work. The weather was just lovely minus the first few hours on Saturday, but we wouldn't have traded any part of it. We're looking forward to going again soon!

Now..for the fun part. I have been a complete slacker at taking pictures lately, so I kind've overcompensated for this trip. But here ya go! Enjoy!!

Their signature pose.

Amanda is in massage therapy school, and she practiced on everyone!! Amazing!

I fell asleep and someone snapped a picture. Nice.

Favorite pic of the trip!

Riley and Jared have a special relationship...

Jared stuck the first time...

Hahaha, Jared is totally the 7th wheel. Love it.

Jared stuck...again....

The helmet pile!

Our chef Mitch grilling our steaks!!

The whole crew at LaBeaux's!

Here is everyone with our lottery tickets!!

Random Facts About Us!!

2010-05-26T16:36:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-21T11:26:00.000-07:00

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!!!

2010-05-12T11:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2010-05-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

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!!

2010-05-01T09:20:00.001-07:00

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!!

Crimson Night and Fourwheeling!!

2010-04-19T11:49:00.001-07:00

We had a BLAST this weekend. On Friday night we went to Crimson Night up at the U with Mitch and Amanda. It's kinda funny to go up there again being married. Last time I went to Crimson Night was during my first semester of college. I went with a bunch of friends, danced with anyone and everyone, met tons of people, and just had fun. But now it's funny to walk around and see people doing all those things with the intent on finding their future bf/gf/spouse. We made fun of all the slutty girls walking around in no clothes trying to impress the guys, and the guys being super cool without their shirts doing the same thing for the girls.

We checked the place out to see what they had to offer first off. Then we watched people on the rides, a fire dancer, some circus carnies, made buttons, Mitch and Riley played on the blow up playground things, we held snakes/tarantulas/scorpions/turtles etc at the wild reptile exhibit thing that had, and had an all around good time.

Amanda was much more excited to be holding it than me!

Mitch just wanted to wear it on his head...

Amanda and I made the pins for the guys. Riley's was a "butt"on. Get it?! HAHA! TACKY!!

He got all sorts of looks from that...

We finished up our night with some cheese pull aparts and ice cream from the Pie. Overall successful night!!

Then on Saturday the four of us went fourwheeling up Farmington Canyon. We made it all the way to the fork, and both of the roads were closed due to the snow. It was a nice warm day, but there was still about 4 feet of snow. So we took a break, watched some snowmobilers do crazy stunts up the mountain, ate some food, and drove back down.

We drove down to one of the sharp turns in the road and parked the ATV's. If you stand at the end of the cliffs you can see a bunch of cars at the bottom that people have wrecked. Most of them were probably drove off the cliff on purpose, but I'm sure a few were accidental, too. Anyways someone had the great idea that we should climb down the cliff to get a better look at the cars. So we did. It's about a 500+ foot cliff, and we scaled down the side. We had to hold on to dead trees and bushes on our way down because we'd start a rock slide if we lost our footing. It was pretty intense.

We got to the bottom and looked at all the cars. The boys had to determine what kind of make and model they all were, snapped some pictures, and headed back up. On the way back the boys decided to do some rock tipping. They pushed rocks the size of the fourwheelers down the mountain. You'd hear the crashing and see the trees being smashed where the rocks tumbled over them. But then there would be a split second of no noise...and then you'd hear a huge "BOOM" when the rocks would hit the cars at the bottom.

Getting back up the mountain was an adventure. My entire body is still super sore from hiking back up. It's literally probably a 70 degree angle hill. Yikes. But we had TONS of fun. We all passed out at our house after watching Sherlock Holmes.

Riley and I slept through our entire block of church the next day so we went to my parents ward. Stayed and had dinner with my family, then went down to the Gold's later that night. No Amazing Race...it was the Country Music Awards or something so it got cancelled. Dang those hicks. So we're patiently waiting for NEXT Sunday so we can get some more Amazing Race action!!

First Laundry Mishap

2010-04-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

We've all heard tales of the disastrous consequences that come from mixing clothes in the wash, right?

Before Riley and I got married when I did the wash, I separated my clothes into like seven different groups. Whites, reds, blues & blacks, browns & tans, etc etc. But Riley had his own system. And since he does most of our wash, this is what has been happening.

Dark colors. Light colors. And whites.

Maybe that's how most of the world does laundry and I was the crazy one who did unecessary separation? Well anyways, the other night Riley was "forwarding" the laundry. (That's what he calls it when you move a batch of clothes from the washer to the dryer)

I'm in the other room, yet I clearly hear his audible gasp.

+ (PLUS)

= (EQUALS)

This might give you a little more of an idea of the original color vs. the "new" color.

The exciting new pink color is residing in between the two normal colored ones. It started out beige, but now it's this interesting new shade of pinky brown. GAG. Riley insists on keeping it and not throwing out. Not just keeping it, but displaying it along the other towels on the rack.

So there it is, folks. Our latest science experiment gone wrong. Let this be a lesson...

Living Planet Aquarium!!

2010-04-12T17:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had such a blast! Saturday night we went to dinner with Jared, Sammie, Mitch, Amanda, KJ, and his girlfriend Whitney at the Olive Garden. We had a yummy dinner, then headed down to Riley's parents house and had a camp fire, then went hot tubbing! Doesn't get much better than that!! Here are some pictures of that activity. Please take note that in the only picture Riley and I have together, he insisted on looking like a molester. Today Riley and I both had the day off! That hardly ever happens so we had to take advantage of it. It's Shrena's birthday today so we decided we'd offer to take her girls down to the aquarium with us. We had been planning on going down for a few weeks, and we thought Shrena may appreciate some time to herself. So we went and picked up the girls and set out on our way. We stopped and got some lunch at Wendy's...eating in the car with two small children is a terrible, terrible idea. They actually were pretty good and didn't spill hardly anything, but it just made me nervous that Coral's red drink was going to find its way all over the upholstery somehow...

The girls had a blast at the aquarium!! They ran around to every exhibit and "Oooh'd and Aaah'd" at everything. Novali said "Hi" to every fish, and was on her best behavior. Coral got to touch a few starfish and the sting rays! She was pretty nervous about it at first, but then she got her courage up and touched them. Riley asked her what she thought it felt like and she said, "Novali's guts. Annnnddd...a hot dog." Novali's guts?!? Where does she get this stuff??

Coral and I were being fish. Novali...was just being cute.

They were sad to leave, but we had a ton of fun. Since we're defiitely not ready to have kids of our own yet it's fun to just borrow other people's...ha!

The Life of Having Two Jobs

2010-04-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

I've really had no time lately. Like zero. Between working both jobs and still being in school it has been pretty overwhelming. I feel like I have nothing to talk about but at the same time think I should be saying SOMETHING. Using this as a journal type medium has it's ups and downs. I mostly just like reading about other people's lives...and then wishing I was doing something more fun!

Yesterday I had a work "meeting" at 7:45 am. This will be an every Friday occurence at America First. I guess it's a company wide policy, because Riley has Friday morning meetings, too. My meeting yesterday consisted of four of us checking out the multiple alarm systems and making sure they still work, and they sitting around eating McDonald's for breakfast. It was super. We sat and discussed our views on Twilight and how we have all agreed we just don't like Bella. I ended up having to work late, too! So I was essentially at work for 12 hours yesterday, and that's not including my hour I had off for lunch because I didn't get off until 8:45 in the pm. Yikes...

We have plans for tonight to do a triple date, so hopefully I'll be good and take pictures of that so I'll maybe have something exciting to post about. In the meantime, the dishes have been piling up, the laundry needs folding, Benny needs a walk, and the house needs to be picked up. Oh the joys of being in the real world. I hate growing up. It's busy and not to mention super expensive...ha!

Lately:

2010-04-05T17:56:00.000-07:00

My family has been in St. George the last few days and Riley and I have been in charge of their animals. We tried to take both Benny and Coop down to our house the first night, but Cooper was a disaster. No one slept at all due to him waking up every five minutes to an unusual noise, barking and growling...

Saturday I went to Macaroni Grill and the Gateway with Sarah, Jocelyn, and Jenny Rakow! It's been FIVE YEARS since I've seen Jenny. She came from Germany for a summer to stay with Sarah, and we all hung out quite a bit. Went to Temple Square and rode the skycoaster thing at Lagoon. Here's some pictures of that night out!

Riley and I got to spend quite a bit of time together this weekend which was super nice. I got Saturday off for the first time this whole year..but Riley had to work.. Bummer. But we spent the night together just talking and watching movies. His celebrity crush is Hilary Duff (weird..I know..) and of course Taylor Lautner is freaking gorgeous. So we compromised and watched Cheaper By the Dozen 2 on Friday night.

We spent Sunday night at his parents house for Easter. I was a terrible wife and didn't even do anything special for him...Oh well, there's always next year. His mom made us dinner and we stuck around to watch the Amazing Race!!!! The cowboys went from dead last, to first!!!

I also think it should be recorded somewhere the prayer that Coral gave on Sunday night. It went a little something like this (not word for word, but this was the general idea)

"Dear Heavenly Father,

Please bless that Novali (her little sister) can get more teeth.

Thank you for the food (we ate dinner at like 4 but she wasn't even there, and this was like 11pm)

Please bless that I can get a fish. A red, yellow, and blue one.

Please bless we can be a happy family..with a fish...

And please bless we can have a fish.

Amen."

Oh, little kids.

Today was a productive day for me! I had the day off of BOTH jobs!!! Went to the bank, then I had to go down to LDSFS for some new training now that our billing secretary is going to the church office building. I figured as long as I was down in Salt Lake I had no excuses not to make a trip to the Social Security Administration. Now that we've been married for 6 months...

So I went, took my number, and sat in the waiting room for like an hour. It was a little bit of a joke, but good news! I'll now officially be a Gold! Now the process starts to change my last name on all my other stuff...blah.

Official Level 3 Teller

2010-03-30T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd write a post about how I passed my teller test today! With a 94%, so I'm not complainin'! I'm kinda sad that training is over though, because I had some really funny people in my group. Anyways I'm excited to do some training in the brick and mortar branch on Thursday and Friday, and then onto MY branch next week!! Yay! I feel like all my studying and sitting through long classes, and ALSO driving down to 90000 S. everyday has finally paid off. I have to say I'm enjoying it so far, even though it has kinda put a dent in my schedule working at LDS Family Services. I'm still going to be here a few days a week though, so that's good.

Today is the long awaited day that Sherlock Holmes comes out, so as soon as I get off (at 10..gag...) I'm picking Riley up, we're heading to the store, and buying it. Super stoked. I loooooved that movie.

For anyone who wants to know, I made banana nut muffins last night and they are delish. I even brought a bunch of them to work today to share with my cute coworkers. How nice of me, right? I really have nothing too exciting to blog about, because my time has been spent at two jobs the last few days.

The weekend was fun though! We went to my parents house for dinner, and to Riley's parents house for the Amazing Race. The cowboys came SOOOO close to being eliminated! They were the last team to arrive at the check in, but they were spared from being sent home. Phew. They've gotta clean up their act.

OH! I almost forgot!!! We are now the proud owners of 3 chicks!! Riley has been bothering his dad for the last few months to get chickens. They have plenty of room in their backyard for them to be, and Riley just thought it would be a fantastic idea. So on Saturday they went and bought 10 total, week-old chicks. They're darling! I held one the other day, and when I put him back in the crate with his buddies, he was so relaxed he fell right asleep. I've got pictures of them, too.
Over the last couple days I've received multiple phone calls from various insurance companies of those involved in my wreck on Friday. The driver of the white Ford van is taking responsibility for the crash, and his agent got in contact with me today. It's going to be a huge long process because he (and his insurance company) are in California. So his adjuster has to set up a time for someone to come out and take a look at my car to see what exactly needs to be replaced. In the meantime my bumper is being held on by some duct tape....classy, right? That's probably what I hate most about this accident. I got off super lucky with minor damage to my car, and no injuries...but now I have to drive around a dumpy looking car! I mean I know it wasn't too much to look at in the first place, but at least all the pieces were securely attached. Ugh, now I'm one of those people I'm always looking down upon on the roads....great. Haha.

Accident!

2010-03-27T10:39:00.000-07:00

I've had really good luck pretty much my entire driving career. Riley will bring up everytime this topic is discussed that I have indeed hit a few things though. Stationary objects, nonetheless. Namely, my dad's car and my parents garage. The car incident was my sophomore year, probably months after I got my license. I was in the car with a bunch of friends, and I wasn't paying attention to where I was backing out until I heard a slight *screeching* sound and realized I was scraping the side of his company car. That was incredibly minor though, you could barely see the paint rub. I hadn't even planned on telling my dad, but Carter unfortunately witnessed the incident and ran in and spilled the beans.

Typical.

The second incident was backing out of the garage, again. I just have bad luck with them, alright?? I told Riley to let me know if I was coming too close to the side of the garage. He shirked his duty and told me MUCH too late that I was going to hit the sideview mirror on the side of the garage. So, it chipped off a few pieces, but was easily fixed with some super glue and a black sharpie.

This was an actual accident though! And I have to report the details because it's pretty much the only noteworthy event that has happened to us in the last few days.

{also, I'm sure people are sick of hearing this story from me, but when you work as much as we have been the last few weeks, I get excited to talk about anything remotely eventuful.}

So I'm headed down to Sandy to attend my final day of teller training for the week. (It resumes again on Monday, but the week was finally coming to a close). I change lanes into the far right "exit only" lane about a 1/2 mile north of the 90000 S exit. There was a red light ahead at the exit so traffic was pretty backed up. I slowed to a stop and waited for the cars in front of me to go move forward. If I was moving at all, it was only idling at this point. A Lexus SUV came to a stop behind me, and a few seconds went by. All the sudden, a Jeep Wrangler hit into the back of the Lexus, and in turn pushed her into me! Yikes!! I stopped my car, and tried to get into the shoulder. However, with all the construction going on in those parts there was pretty much zero shoulder room. Not even an emergency lane. I was right up against the barrier dividing the highway and the construction workers. The two cars that had collided were behind me, and both on their cell phones. I'm sure they were calling the police, so I called Riley to tell him what had happened. To let him know I was ok, but that I needed a number for the training facility so I could tell them I'd be late. He ended up calling them for me, which was nice, because I had other phone calls to make.

At this point, I still assumed it was just the 3 cars involved.

Because I've really never been in an actual accident before, I had no idea what information from the other drivers I needed to get. So I called my mom, my parents house, and my dad before someone finally picked up.

There was no way I was getting out of the car, because if I opened my door I'd be stepping right into oncoming traffic. So I waited for the police to show up, and even then I just rolled down my windows to speak with them. The officer ended up telling me that there were actually 5 cars involved in the accident. Apparently there were two cars behind the Jeep!

I filled out an incident report sheet, complete with a requested drawing on the back. I specifically noted all 5 lanes of traffic, which one of the officers ended up making fun of me for when I handed it to him.

They gave me a driver exchange sheet that included the name, address, and telephone number of each driver and of their insurances. Luckily everyone involved has insurance, so hopefully that'll end up being a positive thing.

3 out of the 5 cars involved ended up being totaled and hauled off on tow trucks. I had no idea the extent of the damage until I saw them take the cars away. The Lexus' back half is destroyed, and the Wrangler had significant mechanical damage. It was a Camry that ended up getting squished between the Wrangler and a Ford van, so it took the brunt of the force. The front end was totaled by the Jeep's trailer hitch, and the back half destroyed by the van. I'm really surprised that the driver was able to walk away with no injuries, because his car is sure messed up.

All in all it was an incredibly traumatic experience! I have to wait till Monday to get an official copy of the accident report. That will specify just who was at fault for the accident, and who's insurance will HOPEFULLY cover my costs.

My bumper will have to be replaced along with the right tail light. The alignment feels like it may have gotten shifted a little, but nothing too major. So stay tuned for what I find out about that!

On a good note we had a fun evening with some friends last night. We went out for ice cream at SubZero with Jared, Sammie, Mitch, Amanda, and their friends Zack and Emmy. You can't go wrong with SubZero..or so I thought. Sammie and Jared had the bright idea of ordering raspberry ice cream with gum as a mix-in. Who knew that gum would freeze and become hard in ice cream? They ended up spitting out all the pieces onto a napkin on our table.

"What are you??! Five years-old?!" -Riley
"I'm sorry I didn't order a mature enough ice cream mix-in for you!" -Sam

We finished off the night at our condo just talking about our plans for the summer. We've decided upon multiple nights of camping, bonfires, fishing, and riding fourwheelers.

Warmer weather, here we come!!

Job Training and such

2010-03-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

The past few days have been crazy ones! We've both been working like 10 hour days and just passing eachother in the night. I hadn't really given much thought to the fact that we've only seen eachother for like 5 daylight hours total in the past pretty much week! But that aside, we've both enjoyed being busy.

Sunday we took a ride on my dad's motorcycle since it was such nice weather. Riley enjoys pretending to be robo cop, as seen in this picture...

We went to dinner at his parents house, double dipped a bit at mine, and then finished off the night back at his place watching the Amazing Race.

I started my training at America First on Monday of this week. Monday and Tuesday were orientation trainings so we met from 8-5 both of those days. Llllooonnnggg days. Plus on Tuesday I had to go straight from training to work at LDS Family Services and didn't get off of there until 10pm. Yikes!

Tuesday night Jared and Sammie came over. The cat's finally outta the bag and they're ENGAGED!!! YAYAYAYAY!!! We've been waiting for that day to finally happen for a loong time now, and we're so excited they're finally on their way to getting married. We're still trying to coerce them into finding a condo in our complex....*hint hint*. Oh, and I got home from work that night to this sight on my kitchen table

I'm so lucky to have a husband that doesn't mind watching chick flicks with me, and even BUYING them for me. He knew I was excited about it, so I'm pleased he followed through and got it.

I better kick it into gear and get ready for another long day. Working both jobs again tonight, so we'll see if I make it!

Good 'ole Fashioned GIRLS NIGHT!!

2010-03-20T11:17:00.000-07:00

Seriously. Since I've gotten married, it seems like girls nights/days/seconds have been few and far between. Don't get me wrong. I love Riley and spending time with him. But there's just somethin' about being with JUST. GIRLS. and loving it. I spent Friday night with a bunch of good girl friends from high school. We went to the Olive Garden and enjoyed a lovely dinner, after a nearly 2 hour wait. We met there at seven, and didn't get seated till well after 8. But you know what? That's ok. It was fun to stand around and chat about how tight the host's pants were. (Still nearly 100% positive they were girls pants. Jus' sayin')

Best highlight of the whole evening was Linsey choking on/spitting her Dr. Pepper all over the table.

Context of this highlight?

["Libby. I still remember your pet turtle!"]
{"ROCKY?!!?"}
*DP goes a flyin'*

Not that funny? We know. It really wasn't. Until Linsey lost her soda all over the table. Then it was hilarious.

We also got to talking about being married. Libby and I are the only two that have tied the knot, so everybody was asking random questions about it. We each told our engagement stories, talked about our honeymoon and our day, the works. Even though it's just been over a year since Lib's been married, it seems as though the details have gone a bit foggy? She couldn't seem to remember A-How she met her husband, B-How he proposed, or C-Where they went on their honeymoon! HA! Brittany got a good laugh out of all this.

We chatted for a good hour after we got seated, and then we all went back up to Riley and I's condo to continue the evening.

Also, for anyone that's wondering, I look like ---
1-Hermione (which is cool. I've gotten this comparison a whole lot of times before. Plus she's pretty, so that's fine by me)
but....
2-a puppy
and 3- a Panda?!?! What the heck???

I had every intention of making "BTS Cake", but ended up being lazy, so we just made a Funfetti cake instead. Easy, and it has sprinkles. How can you beat that?

We sat and talked about how creepy we are stalking people on Facebook/blogs/etc etc. SO happy to know I'm not the only one who does that. What we're doing with our lives, how we all need to hang out more often, how we enjoy spring breaks, our relationships (even nonexistant ones!), and all the other things that come along with girls nights. I'm not near my laptop at the moment, but when I get home I'll post some pictures. Hopefully we ended up with at least ONE good one of all 8 of us!

(Funny sidenote. Riley and Jordan sat and played Modern Warfare in the living room while we all sat on the kitchen floor and chatted. I don't think they were really into the whole "girl talk" thing.)

Stay tuned for pictures!

Wedding Pictures

2010-03-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

Also, as a sidenote. I just thought you'd be excited to know that Riley and I are famous.

Yeah, not really. But our photographer featured some of our engagements on his site. So, as a way of promoting how cute WE are... and also how amazing the PHOTOGRAPHER was...check out his site.
www.robertwoodphoto.com

Our pictures are under the Gallery Section. Then click on "He Loves Me", and our pictures are numbers 4, 6, and 7. Woo hoo!!!

New Job!!

2010-03-18T17:07:00.000-07:00

So, I'm pleased to announce that I finally landed another job! The funniest thing? It's at America First. Same company Riley started working for last week. If you read my earlier post about this, you'll know that we inadvertently interviewed for the same position within the same branch. They ended up choosing HIM for the job. Which was GREAT! I mean one of us needed it, right? Why not double our chances? Anyways, so he started training with them last week and has really enjoyed it so far. Even though like I said before, he's not really a "shirt and tie" kinda guy. But hey, he wore them non-stop for two years on a mission, so he can suck it up.

My interview was yesterday and it went really smoothly, as far as interviews are concerned. I always get kinda nervous. I feel like I've gotta wear the right thing, too, because they'll be judging that along with everything else! I wasn't looking forward to the cliches of interviewing either.

Here's some examples of questions I'm usually asked. On the bottom is what was running through my head...But I promise I didn't actually say any of this! (no matter how much I wanted to)

Interviewer- "So. Why should I consider you for this position?"
Me: (Because I applied. And I'm here. And I'd like this job. I need this job.)

And this one has been asked quite a bit, as of late.

Interviewer- "There are lots of people looking for jobs right now. In fact, we've interviewed over 30 (or some other outrageous number) other applicants. Why should I give you a second job over someone that doesn't have a job at all?"
Me:(Maybe there's a reason they don't have a job at all... Maybe they're an ex-con? How should I know? But more importantly, I'm a struggling, married, college student, with zero spending money, duh!)

Interviewer- "Give me the bottom line. Why should I choose you over another candidate?"
Me: (*Ahem* Have you SEEN, me?! I mean seriously...) ((can you tell I struggle with self-esteem issue? HA!))

This interview went really well though. And I obviously made a good impression, because they offered me the position! Yay!!!! The best part about this, is after 90 days I'll be eligible for benefits, even though I'll only be working there 30 hours a week. Now I won't have to be nervous anytime I drive my car for fear I'll get in an accident or something...not having insurance has been really risky for us.

Hopefully with my second job we'll be able to send Riley back to school in the fall and he can quit FedEx. I think he enjoys it (Heaven knows why! I'd probably last about ten minutes and then drop dead. Or accidentally send myself up a conveyor belt, whichever happened first), but he's also exhausted at the end of the day. He deserves to be able to come home and relax once in awhile!

I promise I'll get around to an entertaining post some day. But in the meantime, I just wanted to let everyone know about my recent success. I'm going to celebrate and make a chocolate cake! (I mean, a health conscious granola bar..err...something)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

2010-03-17T14:55:00.000-07:00

All I can say is, I'm so happy that my friends have seemingly grown out of the "pinching" stage. The one where everyone ran around on St. Patrick's Day, pouncing on every helpless victim who inadvertently forgot to wear green. You know what I'm talkin' about. I remember in elementary school, and even Jr. High, when I would forget to wear something festive I'd just make a mark on my hand in green pen. Or tell people that I got to pinch them TWICE because I was, in fact, wearing green underwear. Which always worked until someone got the nerve to actually call me out on it. Then things went downhill from there. Fast. Yikes.

I went to Starbuck's with my good friend Tara this morning. We sat for about an hour and a half, enjoying eachother's company as well as doing some people watching. I think coffee shops and cafe's are the best for that. This very large woman came in with a Chihuahua wrapped up in her arms, clinging on for dear life. The poor thing had probably been dropped several times. The girl was trying to pull off the sweat pants with Uggs over the top look, and it just wasn't working for her.

Also, I say if you're larger in stature, get a bigger dog. That way it doesn't make you look bigger than you actually are? I dunno..I should probably keep my mouth shut. That could be my reality in 10 years?........

Besides checking this lady out, we chatted about our lives and how everyone is doing crazy things. Going to school, getting married (honestly. Who DOES that?), traveling the world, starting photography businesses, etc. It was fun to catch up with her since I don't see her often enough. We used to ditch at least one class together every day in high school ;)

I went to lunch with my mother this afternoon at a cute little mom and pop restaurant called Granny Annie's. It's the classic place where we all ditched class to go during high school. Till they put out a sign saying that everyone had to purchase at least $3 worth of food when they visited. So much for just going and all sharing a scone, eh? Fun suckers.

After, I went with her to pick up my little brother from school. As the bell rang, a huge array of green outfits came fluttering out. They're OBVIOUSLY not as mature as I happen to be, because I'm sure half of them did it out of pure anxiety at the thought of being pinched. It seems to be just another way that doting mothers protect their children. "Honey! Come back! Your shirt isn't a dark enough shade of green and I'm afraid the other children will pick on you!"

Not gonna lie, I'm probably going to be just like that when I have kids. Why give other children a free shot at your kid?

Maybe I'll be festive tonight and make some corned beef or something for dinner? Ugh, that would entail another stop at the store. We'll see if I work up the courage to do it.

In the meantime, want to know how I've spent the MAJORITY of my holiday? Editing my paper for Philosophy class tonight. Here's to "Searle's Chinese Room Thought Experiment". It's an interesting enough topic, but I'm all about the five paragraph essays from high school.

College is hard....

Happy Tuesday Everyone!

2010-03-16T23:30:00.000-07:00

Since I no longer work on Mondays, Tuesday has become the beginning of my work week.
The weather was so warm that I had to bust on the AC! In Utah! In March! It probably has a little bit to do with the fact that my car is black. And has black leather seats. Sun magnet. But whatever the reasons, it made for a happy Alyssa on her way to work.

When I got there, I had prepped myself for the days events. I love my job for many reasons, but the biggest is because every day is different. I see many of the same people on certain days of the week, but their stories are always changing.

We see ALL sorts of people. The ones who are super shy about their reasons for coming in (like, they refuse to tell me. Even when I tell them I don't need to know the specifics, but just a broad spectrum in order to set them up with a counselor. They refuse.) But also the ones who are willing to spill the beans about EVERY little detail. For instance, "My husband cheated on me with my sister. My sister is now pregnant. My mother is counseling my husband to leave me, and be with my sister. Me own kids are on drugs. I have addiction issues. I was abused as a child. We're currently living on welfare. I can't find my keys....etc.....etc...etc"

So needless to say, we get some crazies! But there are also some of the coolest people ever. Like this cute older lady (when I say older, she's probably in her 50's) that I see almost weekly. Her husband is in the service, and has been serving overseas for the past 6 months. She stood in front of my desk and told me all about how excited she was that her "sweetheart" was coming home in a few days, and she would be seeing him for the first time in a LONG time. I hope that I'm still that in love with Riley when I'm older. I'm talking the whole schmeal. Hand holding, pet name calling, and forehead kisses.

After work I headed home and saw Riley for a few minutes. This last week he has been in training at America First and has had really long work days. He'll be at work at 8, come home at 5. Hurry and change out of his shirt and tie, and put on some grunge clothes. Leave for FedEx ASAP, and be home by 9:30. I've gotta admire him for going out and being incredibly busy like that. But on a high note, he aced his tellers test! 95%! Phew. We studied for a little last night. Good to know it paid off.

I took off to the dreaded grocery store after he left. I hate going food shopping. I feel like everybody around me is watching everything I put in my cart. Like the organic food freak that watched me put in a bottle of Diet Coke and some Poptarts in my cart. Yeah, I eat junk food sometimes. I feel like it evens out the fact that the only other things I have in my cart is spinach, two cartons of strawberries, a pineapple, and skim milk. So stick that in your juice box and suck it.

Maybe it's because I've been listening to the Mamma Mia soundtrack relentlessly in my car for the last few days, but I'm pretty sure a few tracks were made specifically for me. This week, I feel like "Does Your Mother Know" would be an appropriate theme song. I realize I'm not that old myself, but lately I've been hit on by the youngest looking guys! The ones who haven't realized that a ring on my left hand means I'm MARRIED. Sometimes I just randomly want to break out into that song when they approach me!!

Anyways, I got a lot accomplished today. At least it FEELS like it.

Those days are always the best. I got groceries (including cereal that Riley actually likes. Sometimes I purposefully buy things he doesn't care for, just being bitter about him not coming with me ;) I finished ALL our dishes. Put away some laundry, vaccuumed, and tried to coerce my mother and Aunt (Yes. YOU!) into going to see a movie with me tomorrow. We'll see how that goes... I swear if I get another raincheck..well..I'll just go by myself. That'll show 'em, right?

Well, Benny is currently fast asleep on the bottom of our bed. Riley is patiently waiting for me to finish with this post so we can watch The Office. So I guess "there's my sign" to wrap things up.

'Night!

Weekend at Home!

2010-03-15T10:29:00.000-07:00

Lately it feels like my weekends fly by. Probably because we usually call it an early night on Friday because I work Saturday morning. Then in turn my Saturday feels like a Friday night...

Friday night we went and saw Shutter Island with Jared and Sammie. GREAT movie. We all really enjoyed it. It's an intense thriller with a bunch of twists. Let's just say it's nothing like the previews would want you to believe.

Most memorable quote: "Which would be worse, to live as a monster or to die as a good man?"

Saturday I worked till about 3, and came home to Jordan and Riley playing XBox at our house. They played for a good 2.5 hours and I took a nap. Alyssa came to pick up Jordan after she got off work, and we all ended up going to dinner. That was an adventure in itself. We first wanted to go to The Pie up by the U but it was jam packed. It was snowing pretty hard so we didn't want to wait outside for a seat. We ended up driving around looking for random restaurants for about an hour. Finally our hungry stomachs took over and we stopped at Applebee's at the Gateway.

After dinner we went up to Mitch and Amanda's house and played games. We played Farkle and Battle of the Sexes. I'm writing this down HERE just so no one forgets that the boys lost Battle of the Sexes to the girls, and they owe us ice cream. This way there's no confusion as to who's picking up the tab next time we all hang out ;)

Sunday night we went and had dinner at my parents house. Carter and Riley played a few games of "HORSE" outside and had a fun time till it got too cold to stay out. Then Riley and I headed over to his parents house to watch the Amazing Race. The married couple, Joe and Heidi, got eliminated due to a U-Turn from the cop team. We're still just happy Jet and Cord (the cowboy favorites) are still in the race!

(Benny and Cooper hanging out at my parents house. These guys are just the best of buds)
Right now the 11 o'clock news is playing in the background, Riley is on his way to work, I'm updating the blog, and Benny is intently watching the ground management workers trimming the trees behind our condo. It's a nice day so we'll probably end up heading for a walk here in a bit...

I can't wait for the spring and then eventually summer. We have a few projects around the house that will come with the change of the season, and our cars could definitely use some attention cleaning wise. But in the meantime, I'm just enjoying the birds singing outside (at least the ones that haven't been uprooted by the tree trimmers...)

Hope everybody is having a great spring day!!

And this is what my life has come to

2010-03-11T17:14:00.001-08:00

I just want everyone to know where my main sources of happiness came from this week:

Wednesday-I had accrued enough points on my Subway card to get a free footlong!

Had my essay peer reviewed by 3 people in my philosophy class, and they all gave it great reviews.

PLUS: My first philosophy exam went amazingly well. I scored in the top 3 of the class!

Today-I went in to take a test I thought I had...turns out it's not scheduled till NEXT Thursday. So all my cramming was for nothing I guess. But at least I'll be more prepared for when I actually have to take it.

I got a free meal at Cafe Rio with my frequent visitor/stamp card thing.

AAANNNNDDD to sum it up, I found a cute pair of jeans, that just "happened" to be 40% off! LOVE it.

Looking forward to the weekend. We've got some fun things planned! Stay tuned for an update on that ;)

New Calling!

2010-03-08T13:38:00.000-08:00

Just thought everyone should know...that Riley and I got a calling in our ward on Sunday.

Are you ready for this?

primary teachers!

Sunbeam age kids!!

Riley is tickled pink,

and I couldn't be more excited.

I may be more excited about being in charge of treats than the actual lessons.

butttt....

It'll be a blast.