Living our Love Song

2 months old!

2011-11-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

My darling boy is 2 months old today! We just fall more and more in love with him every day! He is pretty darn fabulous and so very entertaining! I wanted to make a list of all the little things that make Blake, Blake.

Blake's little quirks:

- He wants to move SO bad! He is happiest when he is "standing" on someones legs and talking to them. He gets excited A LOT and moves his arm and legs all around.

- He rolled over 2 days before 2 months. I put him down on his tummy and he decided he didn't want to be there any more and just flipped right over. I was so shocked!

- He loves his baths. Especially when I wash his hair. He smiles so big when I pour water over his head. He also scoots down so his mouth is at the water level and tries to lick the water. We of course try to keep him from lapping up the soapy water, but he tries SO hard!

-In addition to licking water, he likes to lick just about anything near his mouth. An arm, his clothing, the water, his burp cloth. Anything he can get his hands on.

-He LOVES his daddy! Whenever Jon holds him Blake will just stare at Jon. It's pretty darn adorable.

-He is such a good baby. He really only complains when he is hungry. He has his daddy's appetite, but as long as we keep him full he is such a happy baby!

-Just this past week he has done a great job of sleeping at night. He's been going down around 7-10 and he'll sleep for 5-6 hours, wakes up to eat, and then will go back down until between 7 and 10 in the morning.

-He'll sleep just about anywhere, but probably sleeps best in his carseat. We have a cover that has been a complete life saver on stormy days, but it also works great for putting him to sleep. If we're out he starts to get fussy, I'll stick the binky in his mouth and cover him up and he goes right to sleep.

-He is a bit dramatic. He rarely gets really upset, but every once in a while he feels the need to complain about how hard life is. He has the funniest little complaining voice and he'll just talk and talk about it.

-He LOVES football. We can lay him down on the floor in front of football and he'll just stay glued to it for forever. It doesn't work with any other TV show, but football captures his attention.

-He is an absolute blast and keeps us laughing all day. We love him so much!

There are many other things that we just love about our little boy, but I'll leave it at that for now.

The Birth Story

2011-09-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Blake is finally here! Here is the long and detailed version of the events:

I was due on Saturday, September 10th and by that point was VERY done being pregnant! However, I woke up on the 10th with no signs whatsoever that labor was even remotely close. My dad was in town so Jon and I went in to Fort Collins to hang out with him. Jon and Dad spent the afternoon golfing while Mom and I ran errands. Unfortunately, the day continued with any excitement. Jon and I headed back home in the evening and I started having braxton hicks contractions pretty regularly. I started to feel hopeful and decided to go get some rest. I woke up Sunday morning disappointed that there was no baby and STILL having contractions. I continued to have them consistently up until Monday night. Tuesday morning I woke up super frustrated. I had signed on to cook this human until the 10th, this was now the 13th and I was SO DONE! Jon dropped me off at Mom's on his way in to work so I could keep myself busy with projects and didn't go crazy during the day. After work he picked me up and we went home to have dinner. While cooking dinner I started to feel a little funny. Jon and I decided to take a quick walk after dinner. We walked for about a half hour and nothing happened so I was sure it wasn't going to be that night. When we got back Jon went out to run some errands before he had to go to his night job. I was washing his uniform while he was out. I bent down to put his uniform in the washing machine and when I stood up I felt a little gush of fluid. Not enough to be sure I hadn't just peed a little. I went up to the bathroom to empty my bladder and change. I continued to leak fluid for the next 15 minutes and at this point I was starting to feel pretty excited. I was tempted to call my mom to tell her my water broke, but I was too scared it was a false alarm. I kept walking up and down the stairs because I noticed I leaked more when I was bouncing a little. I couldn't decide if I should call Jon and tell him to hurry home when my phone rang. It was my mom. I answered with a "how did you know to call me?". "Did you water break!?" she asked. I told her what was going and she got off the phone to put my sisters on alert. I called Jon but he didn't hear his phone so I sent him a text message telling him I thought my water had broken and to have him come home. At this point I had been leaking constantly for about a half hour but wasn't entirely convinced it was my water. So I called my friend Stacie to get her opinion since she had had a similar experience with her water breaking. She told me she thought it was probably my water but to wait it out for a little bit to make sure it didn't stop. While on the phone with Stacie Jon came racing in the door very excited. I got off the phone with Stacie and filled him in on what had been going on. My phone rang again and it was Mom telling me that her and Lizz were showered and heading over. Jon I picked up the house and then when Mom and Lizz got there we hung out for a little while waiting to make sure it really was my water. At about 9:30 after leaking for an hour and half and having non painful contractions every 3 minutes, I decided to call the on call doctor. He told me to go ahead and head over to the hospital. I showered and Jon tried to take a nap.

11:00 PM- We left to head over to the hospital. It was a really weird feeling to walk in to the hospital not really in pain. It was very different than I thought it was going to be. They put me in a triage room and tested to make sure I really was leaking amniotic fluid. The test was positive- I was officially in labor!

11:45 PM- They admitted me and I was moved to labor and delivery. However, I was only dilated to a 1 and 30% effaced.

1:00 AM- They finally got done with all their testing and Jon and I were instructed to try to rest. Mom and Lizz left to go get a little rest. I slept very little off and on while my cute nurse, Cindy, checked my vitals every 2 hours.

5:00 AM- My contractions had gotten slightly stronger, but not strong enough, so they had me get up and walk for a while. The contractions started to get much stronger while walking.

6:15- Mom and Lizz returned to the hospital after a very short night of sleep.

7 AM- My doctor came in to check on me. I was dilated to a 3 and 70% effaced. At least I was finally making progress!

8 AM- Jon and I went for a walk again to try to bring on stronger contractions. Contractions were starting to get to the point that I couldn't walk through them and after getting back to my room I threw up from the pain.

10:15 AM- CeeCee showed up to join the labor party!

10:30 AM- My contractions started to get really painful and I was having a hard time breathing through them

11:15- Courtney showed up to join the labor party!

11:20 AM- I got my epidural and became a much happier person!

1 PM- Dr. Guiroy came back to check on me. I was still only dilated to a 4 so they decided to put me on pitocin to hurry along the process

1:30 PM- My mom and sisters left to grab some lunch

3:15 PM- My mother-in-law arrived to join the labor party!

5:15 PM- They had to put me on oxygen because Blake's heart rate was dropping during contractions

5:45 PM- Nurse Amber checks me and I am dilated to a 7 and 80% effaced

8:00 PM- I started to go into transition and was sure I was going to die. I was shaking and very nauseous and had no idea how I was going to survive this delivery

8:30 PM- I was dilated to a 9 1/2 but still shaking so bad. I hadn't had anything to eat since Tuesday lunch (I was feeling icky and didn't want to eat dinner on Tuesday night) so my nurse, Amber, smuggled me in some apple juice. After that I started to feel much better.

9:20- Dr. Guiroy arrived and I started to push

After about a half hour of pushing I started to feel really defeated. I had no idea how I was going to survive this. They gave me a mirror so I could watch and know when I was pushing correctly. As time progressed, I started to see more and more blood because I was tearing pretty badly from the inside. After about an hour he was so close but couldn't make it out so they ended up cutting me. The next contraction, out came his head. I could feel his head come out and wanted to continue to push to get the rest of them out but Dr. Guiroy had me stop for a minute. My sweet baby boy had the cord wrapped around his neck once and then across his body. She had to turn him quickly and pull him out the rest of the way. He was born at 10:31 on Wednesday, September 14th. I looked down to see my sweet boy and was terrified to see the cord around his neck. He was blue and limp and all I could ask was "Is he ok? Is he ok?" Everyone assured me that he was find they told me they needed to take him straight to the heating lamp. The plan was to have Jon cut the cord, but since we were in a bit of a hurry Dr. Guiroy quickly cut it and handed him off to the nurse. They whisked him away to the heating lamps and I waited to hear the only sound that could make me feel better- his cry. Finally (after what felt like forever but I'm sure was only a few seconds) he started to cry. As soon as he started to cry his skin pinked up really well and he became a very normal looking baby. I sent Jon over to be with him while they stitched me up. It took them over an hour to stitch me after the tearing and about half way through that I was able to hold me sweet baby boy. I was so in love with him already! We passed him around and everyone got their chance to love on him and I was FINALLY able to eat something. At around midnight they moved us into our recovery room and we were left with just our sweet little family. Jon changed Blake's first diaper and we spent very little of the night actually sleeping, and most of it loving on our sweet baby.

We are so glad to finally have him here and are slowly learning how to be his parents! Hopefully he'll forgive us for all the mistakes I am sure we will make. Thank you to everyone for your support and love as we've gone through this crazy adventure!

Easter and Baby Ultrasound

2011-04-26T18:38:00.000-07:00

Jon and I really enjoyed our first married Easter. We decided that since it will be our last major holiday before the baby will be here that we were going to go all out and really enjoy some time just the two of us. We got up in the morning and gave each other our Easter baskets in bed.

In my basket (in addition to lots of goodies including a giant diet Dr. Pepper) was a single egg with a poem inside leading me on a treasure hunt around the house to find the rest of my treats. It was really cute and my final treasure was an Ulta gift card. Which may be the greatest thing ever! After the treasure hunt Jon made breakfast while I got ready for church (I love being married!). After church we headed out to Greeley to spend the day with my family. We had a FABULOUS Easter dinner and then the kids did an Easter egg hunt. It was cold and rainy so it really didn't last for very long. But overall, it was a fabulous and low key Easter.

Monday morning was our ultrasound! My 2 older sisters and my Mom came along with us to the ultrasound so it was a blast to have everyone there! I woke up Monday morning with my tummy in knots. I was so nervous about it. And on top of that I had to drink 40 oz of water and hold it, so by the time I got to the ultrasound I had to pee SO bad. Check in was at 9:15 so my poor sisters had to leave Greeley before 8:45. We had the entire day planned out: we were going to find out gender, go out shopping for baby clothes, and then have lunch. Well we got in to the ultrasound and got to see babies little legs and arms and face... and nothing. Baby would NOT show us gender. It looked very squished in there, it's legs were tucked up underneath it. The ultrasound tech took some pictures and measurements and tried multiple times to figure out gender, but baby was just to squished to tell. So finally she let me go relieve my bladder and try again. There was absolutely NO way I was leaving without knowing gender. The day was planned around finding out gender. After peeing we tried again. Immediately we were able to tell... IT'S A BOY! And there is no "Oh, it's probably a boy". I am having a son! Jon was pretty excited. I think he'll really enjoy having a little boy to through around a ball with. We were able to continue with our plans for the day and go out shopping. I found a couple of cute things for my little munchkin. I'm so excited for him to get here, but I guess I should keep cooking him for the next 19 and half weeks.

Day #3: Favorite Food

2011-02-16T20:50:00.000-08:00

I'm not sure if I can pick just one food, so I'll break it up in to categories.

Appetizer: I LOVE chiles chips and salsa!

Meal: Honestly, I don't really have one. Right now I crave Mexican food ALL THE TIME, but that could be because I have Jon's kid growing inside of me. I love cooking new meals I've never tried before, especially anything out of "Taste of Home" or that I can make in my crock pot.

Dessert: Although truthfully anything chocolate does the trick, my absolute favorite is French Silk Pie! The best is from Perkins. I've made a few myself, but I haven't found the perfect recipe yet.

Snack: FRUIT!!! At the moment it's apples and grapes. Any kind of berries and pears are also fabulous!

Day #2: Favorite Holiday

2011-02-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

I absolutely love Holidays! Holidays means being with family, eating lots of yummy food, and getting to decorate! Whats better than that?

My Favorite Holiday is....

The 4th of July!

I love the 4th of July! It's the perfect time to eat lots of fruit (especially fruit salads!) and spend time outdoors. The last few years it has been our tradition to go up to Estes Park and watch the fire works. That might be another reason that it is my favorite, I love being is Estes Park. We usually walk around the shops all afternoon, eat dinner some place yummy, and then head back to the lake to watch the fireworks! It's fabulous! And I love getting to celebrate being an American! :) Talking about it makes me so excited for this 4th of July!

Here are some of my favorite 4th of July memories:

Trying to stay warm last 4th

Mom and I hanging out July 4th, 2009

Lauren and I riding the slides in Estes 2008

Avery, Lauren, and I at City Park for the 4th, 2007.

See you tomorrow!

30 Day Blogging Challenge

2011-02-14T09:01:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentines Day!!!

So, I have decided to star the 30 day blogging challenge. There are 30 questions (one for each day) that I will be answering for the next month. It should be a blast! Feel free to join in with me! Todays subject: Introduction, recent picture, and 15 facts about yourself.

This picture was taken by my Sister-in-Law, Stephanie, heading in to my bachelorette party at PF Changs.

I just married my best friend, Jon, September 4th and am LOVING married life!
I have a very serious obsession with shoes. Shoe shopping is one of my favorite things to do. I have a tradition that I buy all my nieces and new pair or PINK shoes for their birthday every year!
My favorite place to go for the day is Estes Park. I LOVE all the cute shops and being in the mountains and just really everything about it.
I have 9 nieces and nephews, all of whom I adore!
I recently have developed a passionate love for all kinds of Mexican Food!
I work part time at American Eagle and love getting close at a discount! :)
I probably eat at least one apple a day, not because I'm trying to keep the doctor away, but because I love them!
I am a total wimp and if my husband isn't home when I'm going to bed, I have to leave the bathroom light on.
I LOVE to bake, and my Sister-in-Law, Stephanie, is a FABULOUS cook, but when we are together, we can't even manage to make cookies. It's become a bit of a joke.
Girls Nights with my sisters is one of my favorite things to do!
I rewatch episodes of Reba, Gilmore Girls, and Grey's Anatomy that I have probably seen a 100 times. On the plus side, those are a few of the TV shows I watch that my husband can stand.
I would LOVE to have another wedding, not to find a new groom, (I'll keep Jon) but because I had so much fun dancing the night away with my husband, family and friends at my wedding.
I LOVE seeing movies at the theater. They are ridiculously expensive (especially when you buy popcorn, coke and candy) but it is one of my favorite things to do on a Saturday.
I love love love all things CHOCOLATE!
I frequently feel the need to break out in song and dance for no particular reason.

Check back tomorrow for #2 :)

Memorial Day Weekend!

2010-06-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

I got to go home for memorial day weekend which was really nice! I got home Thursday night and had been craving Quodoba for forever (since Rexburg has no real food) so I went and picked up dinner and met up with Jon!!! It was SO great to get to see him again! :) Friday morning I got ready and went out for a day with the girls. Mom, the sisters and I spent the day in Denver wedding dress shopping! Sadly, Steph wasn't able to make it for the weekend and she was greatly missed! We did, however, spend most of the day texting or calling her getting her opinion on lots of things! I found the PERFECT dress! It was like the 4th of 5th dress I tried on but we kept trying on dresses for a bit just to make sure. By lunch time we'd narrowed it down to just a few dresses and decided to take a break for lunch. We went to On the Border (yumm!!!), hit another dress shop, but then headed back because I was missing "my" dress. We tried on the ones that were still main contenders, but THE dress was still THE dress! Once I put it back on, I refused to take it off. We then played with veils and tiaras and then were looking at bridesmaid dresses and I just walked around the store in my dress. I didn't EVER want to take it off! The day was total success and I had a blast with my girls! Jon and I had a fun date planned for the night, but we were both too tired so we were going to rent a movie and just hang out, but ended up hanging out with his roommates and their girlfriends which was totally fun. The next day Courtney came into town and we spent the day running more wedding errands. That night Jon and I grabbed dinner and took it up to Horsetooth for a picnic. It was the first place he told me he loved me, so it was really fun to go back up there. Sunday I drug Jon to the ward I grew up in and got to introduce him to all my people which was so fun. After church we went down to Colorado springs to see Jon's family and meet his brand new baby nephew (pics to come when I get memory card adapter). Monday we got up and CeeCee came in to town to take our engagement pictures! She did an AMAZING job and we all had a blast! Thank you SO much CeeCee and Mommy for helping us with those :) ! Afterward we went out to Greeley for a memorial day BBQ at CeeCee's and got to make s'mores which is just about my favorite thing in the world. I hated going back to school on Tuesday, but I'd really missed my roommates and it was good to see them. I miss my family, and can't wait to come home again! Hope you all had a fabulous memorial day weekend too!

Girls Weekend

2010-05-24T19:32:00.000-07:00

I love my girlfriends! They ALWAYS make me laugh!!! I got to hang out with my girls this weekend and it was a total blast. I took a trip down to Utah to go wedding dress shopping (I didn't find "the one" but I had a blast!!!) I got to stay at Lauren's new apartment and go shopping with Lauren and Laura. It was so great to hang out and laugh and reminisce about fun old times! It was great to chat about inside jokes. Good times!

I love you girls! Thanks for being my besties! And, on another note, I get to go home in 3 days! I have all sorts of fun plans with my family and the love of my life! I'm so excited to go wedding dress shopping with my mom and sisters and have date night with my man and go see my (future) baby nephew! Such a fun weekend planned. I can't wait!!!

Wedding Plans!!!

2010-05-07T17:10:00.000-07:00

Well, it's official! The temple date has been set! Saturday, September 4th at 11:00 AM! Just under 4 months. I can't wait! College life is busy without planning a wedding, so needless to say, there's never a dull moment in my apartment! Things are starting to come together slowly. Jon and I are fortunate to have lots of connections. His mom is doing the invitations for us, my brother-in-law, Steve, is a phenomenal caterer, my sister-in-law makes beautiful cakes. We've met with some rental places on decorations, talked to a DJ, and have an appointment with the butter cream cupcakery. There is absolutely no way that I would be able to get this done without the help of my AWESOME family. Especially my mom, she's helping out so much! My colors are Victorian lilac (a dark, dusty purple) and buttercream yellow with a touch of navy blue. And I'm going with a sort of fairytale vintage theme. I can't wait!

School is going really well. I'm enjoying all my classes, not so much the homework though. I LOVE and adore the girls I live with. We have so much fun together! We're all going to a BBQ tomorrow that I'm super excited about! And then hopefully to go see Iron Man 2. It's been a blast, but I am, of course, missing home and Jon quite a bit. Just over 10 weeks and I'll be home again!!!

Also, Happy Birthday to my beautiful and amazing sister! I love you Cee Cee! 25 looks AMAZING on you! ;) Wish I could be there to celebrate with you! Hope you have a fabulous"you" day! Love you Sister!

I'M ENGAGED!!!!

2010-04-20T22:30:00.000-07:00

Well, unless you have no access to facebook or anyone in my family with a phone, you have probably heard. But just in case you haven't.... I'M ENGAGED!!! But even for those of you who have heard I wanted to post the entire proposal story.

I left Thursday afternoon to return to Idaho for my second semester. Jon and I had been talking about marriage but I asked him not to propose until after I had left for Idaho. I told him I didn't care if it was the day after, as long as it was after. So Thursday we had our tearful goodbye and I headed of to live approximately 587 miles away from my love. The next few days were very rough and emotional. I had a difficult time getting in to my apartment because of a misunderstanding and I had that extra stress on top of the stress of moving in. It was FABULOUS to see my roommates again, but also really hard to be away from Jon. We were talking on the phone several times a day, and he seemed to be taking the long distance thing a whole lot easier than I was. Saturday night he called me on his way home from work and seemed very distant and distracted the entire conversation. At 9:30 he told me he wasn't feeling well and needed to go to bed. I though this was very strange since he sounded just fine, but told him to go get some sleep. He immediately accepted this response and was anxious to get off the phone. I was feeling very down at this point and went to crawl in to Jule's bed with her and Syd (which is by the way a twin size). I was telling them how down I felt about the whole situation and didn't feel like I was getting much sympathy. They were being a little weird and just laughing off certain things I said. When I jokingly made a comment about how comfortable we all were and that we should just sleep like that Syd quickly and sternly replied "NO". Feeling rather lonely and confused, I went to bed, planning to wake up at 8 the next morning for church.

Morning came and I was woken up by someone shaking me. I rolled over and looked up and saw Jon standing there looking very handsome in his suit. I was SO shocked to see him there. The first words out of my mouth were "what are you doing here? you can't be here!" Syd and Jules sat in the hallway and captured (blury but sweet) pictures of the magical moment.

I was so excited to see him I didn’t notice he was holding a ring. I just wanted to hug him!

Oh goodness I love this boy!

Telling me he loves me and needs me and doesn’t want to ever have to do anything without me and asking me to be his wife!!!

Trying on the ring!!!

VERY happy to be engaged!

My BEATIFUL ring (with wedding band)

We spend the remainder of the week cuddling on the couch, doing dinner with friends, shopping in IF, watching movies, playing at the park, making wedding/marriage plans, and spending LOTS of time on the phone with our relatives sharing the good news! It was an amazing weekend and very hard to see him leave on Tuesday night. But, now I get to put my missing him time in to planning a wedding!

By the way, we’re tentatively planning on a September 4^th wedding. We know that’s at a difficult time for everyone but would love to see as many of you as can make it.

Back to Idaho

2010-04-14T23:36:00.000-07:00

Wow... time flies! I head back to Idaho tomorrow to start my spring semester at BYU-Idaho! I have a lot of mixed feelings about it. I'm excited to be going back to college life but sad to be leaving home. I move in to my old apartment on Friday, and start school again on Tuesday. At the very least, it should be an adventure. I believe it will be a semester of transition and changes for sure. I look forward to it and will be sure to keep you updated! :)

PS: September (particularly Labor day weekend) may be a very very good time to make a visit to Colorado ;)

You know when you feel old???

2010-01-04T16:11:00.001-08:00

When you have a baby niecelet that is turning 9, that's when! Little Avey Baby is 9 years old today! Crazy! My very first niece is 9 years old! I love you Baby Girl!

Avey Baby,

I love you! You are such an awesome little helper! You have a huge heart and always seem to know what people need! You are always first to offer a hug or help in whatever is needed! You are growing up so fast and you are so mature! You are a beautiful and independent young woman! Keep up the great work baby girl! I love you! Happy Birthday!

Love,

Auntie Mary

Goodbye 2009!

2010-01-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

I have to say, 2009 was probably the biggest year of my life to date. It's crazy to think about my life a year ago. I was a high school student living in Ft. Collins, and now I'm a college student living (most of the year) in Rexburg, Idaho. It's been a lot of fun! I've met some amazing people (miss you Syd!) and learned a lot!

Highlights of my 2009:

Avey Baby got baptized!

I had my Senior Prom!

I Finally graduated from High School! It was weird, you work toward something for so long, and it's a strange feeling when you finally accomplish it.

I went camping and a bear tried to attack our tent. What an experience!

I turned 18 and embraced my inner princess!

I moved to Idaho and love it there! And started College and BYU-Idaho

I got roommates and met some of my new best friends!

I took a roadtrip to Idaho with my new best friends to surprise my nephew, Bryce, for his 15th birthday. On our way back we hit a crazy snow storm, all the roads shut down, and we were stuck in a hotel in Laramie for the night. We ordered Pizza and watched "say yes to the dress" and thoroughly enjoyed our adventure!

I went to see David Archuleta with my Bestie! Does life get any better?

I moved back to Colorado and will be spending the next 4 months working here until going back to BYU-Idaho

2009 brought with it lots of fun surprises and twists! I can't wait to see what 2010 brings! Happy New Year!

One of those Days...

2009-12-15T10:37:00.001-08:00

"I know that God will not give me more than I can handle

... I just wish he didn't trust me so much"

An Update on Life in The Burg...

2009-12-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone!

Things are pretty crazy right now! I'm down the the last week and a half of school. I have a portfolio for my infant and toddler class due on Thursday, a test for my math class to take over the weekend, my CIT final on tuesday, a magazine form of articles for my english class due on wednesday, a math takehome test due on wednesday, a BOM final on wed, and on top of all of this I have to move all by my self for the first time. For the past 2 weeks my roommates and I have been searching for a storage unit. We finally found one, but the person we were talking to weren't willing to give us the advertised price, so we spent a decent amount of the day on the phone trying to get the correct price. Well, we finally have a storage unit and i'm going to start moving things in on Thursday (Mommy's birthday! :) ). I honestly have no idea how to move OUT of an apartment. I bought a few plastic tubs to store my stuff in, but it was hard to try to guesstimate what size tubs I would need. It's a new experience, and a stressful (but exciting one). I can't wait to be back in Colorado and with my family! Although I am deffinately going to miss the Burg and the people here

Happy Holiday Everyone!

I must be crazy...!

2009-10-27T23:27:00.000-07:00

College life...

It is about a half hour after midnight on a Tuesday night (or Wednesday morning by now I guess), and I am just now starting most of my homework. I was planning to start when I got home from Classes at 4:30, but the internet was down for a long time so I couldn't get anything done. A little while after the internet came back up my roommate asked me to join her on a movie date. Apparently they had plans and they had one more guy than girl and I'm incapable of saying no-so I agreed. Silly me. I know have about 3 hours of math to do and a 9:00 class. I'm going to be VERY tired tomorrow! So why am I sitting here blogging? Well... like I said... I must be crazy!!!

Oh Brother...

2009-10-15T14:21:00.000-07:00

My brother sent me a HILARIOUS e-mail today about "You live in Colorado if..." and one of them was about how if a Coloradoan steps out on to the front porch and there is a bear standing there we wouldn't be startled. I mentioned that I would be scared but not particularly shocked. And this is the conversation that followed (over about 15 text messages):

(You have to hear it in Lon's voice for it to really be funny!)

"Right but you would also be like that's cool"- and "I wonder what that tastes like" and "I bet I could pet him- he looks REALLY cute!" Cali's would be like..."OMG! We are like totally going to die- and gross is he drooling on the deck"- and then CO would tell them "thats not a bear...its my dog." And then Cali would say- "no way that is NOT a dog! Dogs are little and cute and you can carry them in your purse with you on the airplane and to get your hair done." And then CO would say -"No, that's not a dog, that is a chijuajua literally translated to mean 'Mexican shark Bait.'" And then Cali says..."I can't believe you would say that about Snoots(her chiuaujua) I bet you think ti would be good to just keep driving your SUV until the Polar Bears died from global warming. And then CO said "Look it's one thing to take care of of the enviro. But another to be a prius driving freak!" Then Cali gets pissed and she storms off, out onto the deck and the dog who was really a bear (CO was just making a joke) and the bear eats her and she dies screaming "I hate your dog!" And then CO says "it's not a dog-learn to take a joke- and by the way- God hates Queers!" And laughs and walks away.

I may have peed a little I was laughing so hard! Pretty entertaining!

Crazy College Road Trip

2009-10-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

I have been missing home a lot recently and Bryce's 15th birthday was coming up so I had been thinking about making a trip home to see the family. I brought it up to my roommates andthey were very excited about that idea! So, we started making plans for a trip back to Colorado. I told my Dad and CeeCee but I was planning to surprise everyone else. Our plan was to leave Friday around 11 after everyone got out of classes. Well Whitney ended up getting out of class late and we ended up eating lunch in town instead of grabbing something at the drive thru so we could eat with our other roommate that wasn't coming and didn't end up getting on the road until around 12:15. That was still going to hopefully put us in around 9:30 and I was very excited to surprise my mom and Lizz that night. We had absolutely perfect weather until we hit about Rock Springs. At that point it was starting to get snowy, cold, and dark- never a good combination. It was about this point in the ride that we all started praying very hard. Shortly after this point we hit basically white out conditions and had to slow our speed to below 45 mph. We were about 10 miles outside of Laramie when we came to a stop on the highway. It was like being parked in a Semi Truck parking lot. Whitney and Jamie were brave enough to get layered up and go knock on a truck driver's door to find out what was going on. We found out that there were 2 semi trucks that had jack-knifed and were rolling down the hill. We were parked for 45 minutes before traffic FINALLY started moving (very very slowly).

This is us parked on the road pretty board but staying warm and snacking!

When we finally reached Laramie we found out that ALL roads in every direction were closed. We were stranded in Laramie for the night- unfortunately, so was everyone else, so we were really worried about finding a hotel room. I was on

the phone with my Dad and he was on the phone with Days Inn and was fortunately able to find us a room!

We ordered pizza and drinks and watched a movie and just made the best of it! It's not hard to enjoy being stuck in a hotel room w

ith your best friends.

The roads FINALLY opened up around 11 on Saturday and we booked it out out to meet the family for Bryce's surprise lunch. We were meeting at Old Chicago's in Centerra at 12. We didn't get there until about 12:30 so poor CeeCee had to stall. CeeCee told us what table they were at so we walked right in and walked up to the table and said "Hey guys, sorry we're late". It was fun to see everyone's surprised faces. I wish I could relive that moment over and over. Lizz started crying, Bryce hopped up to hug me, and Brynlee walked up and kept saying "Mary, I lost a tooth. Mary, I lost a tooth". It was so fun to hug everyone and introduce everyone to my roommates! Unfortunately, Courtney and her family couldn't make it to lunch but that was fun because we got another round of surprises. After Old C's w

e went back to CeeCee's for cupcakes. Courtney and her family were there when we walked in and Brielle saw me when I walked in and got a really excited look on her face and ran up to hug me. Next I saw Avery and she came running up to hug me. Courtney heard the kids screaming at me and walked around the corner and gave me a hug! It was so exciting!

The trip was way way way too short- but very fun! My roommates loved my family and we had so much fun with them! The drive back was pretty uneventful except for almost hitting a deer. I'm still trying to catch up on the sleep I lost this weekend- but it was well worth it.

The next time I drive home from Idaho I want it to be with Lon and Steph, that work for you guys?

College Life

2009-09-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Hey guys!

I thought I would give an update on my college life. It's been an absolute blast but it's so busy all the time! I feel like I haven't stopped running since I got here! But, (this one is for you Court) I am making good choices. Fortunately, thats not hard here. Every day is packed full with wholesome activities- too many of them! This weekend for example: on friday when we got out of class the girls (my roomies) took a road trip to Idaho Falls to do some shopping. We got back around 7 and touched up makeup and hair and went over to our FHE brother's apartment to hang out. We hung out there for a while and then went to a ridge dance party- when we decided that party was lame we went down town for another dance party but decided that was way too crowded and went to Ramire's and then back to our apartment to watch a movie. Saturday we got up, got ready, I ran some errands, and then we went shooting with a couple guy friends. After shooting we went to get DQ and then were planning on going home and just chilling. But then we got a call from another group of guys who wanted to the bonfire so we ended up doing that. We weren't planning on doing anything on Sunday but ended up feeding a huge group of guys (like 12) dinner and then are heading over to our FHE boy's apartment for dessert and games. It's a pretty crazy life but I'm loving every second of it! I didn't know I could feel so home sick and miss my family so much and be having so much fun at the same time!

My new best friends!

Graduation!

2009-06-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

I thought it was about time I got some of my graduation pictures up.

I graduated from High School May 23rd and it turned out to be a fabulous day! My family is absolutely amazing and decided to all make matching hot pink shirts so that they would be visible in the crazy crowds of graduation. They're the best and everyone looked adorable!Even my amazing Brother-in-laws, nephews, and cousins wore the hot pink shirts, what men!

The whole family in their hot pink shirts. Seriously, how awesome are they?!

My awesome College friends at my graduation party

The Graduation Party set up

And, the best surprise of all. I was taking pictures with my Mom, Dad, and Lizz, and my mom turned around and asked, "who's standing behind us", I turned around and my brother was standing there. I got super excited, jumped up, accidently screamed in his ear, and started crying. I was so excited that he was there! I couldn't believe it! Thanks for coming Bubba! I love you!!!

Typical Graduation picture.

My AWESOME brother!

Sister picture!

Overall it was an absolutely fantastic weekend! Thank you so so much to all of you that were there, especially all of you who traveled to be there. It honestly meant the world to me! To all of those who weren't able to make it, know that you were missed and I love you!

To All The Mother's In My Life...

2009-05-10T10:28:00.000-07:00

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I LOVE YOU ALL!

Cee Cee-

You are such an incredible Mom! Your kids adore you and that's so easy to see. You are so good about talking to them and relation with them. Your kids know that they can always come to you with any problems. You have instilled in them a testimoney in the gospel and that is so important! Happy Mother's Day Sis, I love you!

Courtney-

I don't know how you do all you do Sis! You are super mom! Your life can be a little crazy sometimes but all your kids know how much you love them, you're incredible. You take time to really love each kid and it's so amazing to watch. I know your kids can be a handful sometimes but they love you so much! Yesterday while I was watching them I told them that today would be mothers day and they all got very excited about honoring you and wanted to help me clean the house. They love you tons, and here's the proof! Happy Mother's Day Sis, I love you!

Steph-

You stepped into motherhood seamlessly! You are such an incredible Mother! The way you get down on the floor and play with Eden is so adorable. It's so cute how she just lights up whenever your around her. She loves you so much! She is one precious baby, she is one of the happiest people I know, and that's incredible for an almost 1-year-old. I hope you have a fabulous first mothers day as a mom. Happy Mother's Day sis, I love you!

And of course...

Mommy- I love you so much! I know without a doubt I wouldn't be who I am without you. Thanks for always pushing me to be better , for encouraging me to get up and go to seminary, for all the years of driving me to school, for all the help on the late nights of homework, for 17 years worth of laundrey, cooking, and dishes, and for absolutely everything! You are honestly a super hero. I don't know how you get so much done in a day. I hope when Im a mother I can be half as successful as you. Thanks for always being there Mom! I love you!!! Happy Mother's Day!

And to all the other mothers in my life- thank you for all you do! Happy Mother's Day!

Senior Ditch Day!

2009-05-05T18:10:00.000-07:00

A while back we had "Senior Ditch Day" on a monday which usually wouldn't mean much but the fam had had a somewhat rough weekend and Lizzy had the day off, so we decided we'd take off as a family and head up to Estes. Britt, Brett, and Calan even came with us. We ate lunch and walked around the shops. It was awesome day to be up there! We even walked around the Stanley hotel which was pretty cool. We even made a reservation to stay there the night before the 4th of July which is awesome because we always spend th 4th of July in Estes and it will be my last 4th of July with the family for a while. I'm excited about it! Here are a few pics from our day in Estes!

Britt, Calan and I at lunch. Apparently Calan got a little distracted

Daddy and I hanging out in Estes. Like my new sunglasses?

The fam in Estes. I love this picture of us!

Young Woman Recognition

2009-04-28T20:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday evening I recieved my Young Woman Medallion fo finishing Personal Progress. It felt really good to be done with personal progress! I've been working on it for 5 years, so it feels great to have it completed! It was my first taste of all the things to come in the next month. I'm done with school in 3 weeks, I graduate from High School on the 23rd of May, and then from Seminary on May 24th! It's pretty exciting but it's getting harder everyday to make it to classes, I just want to be done! I look forward to graduation but I sure wish the rest of the family could be here!

Lizzy's Ice Competition!

2009-04-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Lizzy competed in the Ft. Collins classic at epic. She competed in synchro, artistic, and ice dance and did an amazing job! My mom was working at the ice rink basically all weekend so I was in charge of getting her ready for her competitions. I picked her up from school and she helped me answer my prom date :) and then we got her ready, got all her stuff together, went and picked up some dinner for ourselves and to bring to my mom and got her to the icerink. Friday night was the synchro competition and they did a great job! They skated a clean program and ended up getting 2nd place (although honestly they should have gotten 1st, the team that got 1st had a fall and didn't skate a very good program), but they were very happy with their performance.

Here's Lizz in her synchro outfit with her 2nd place medal! She was happy!

After her synchro performance I took her home and after she got showered I put her hair in curlers for her saturday performances. My poor mom didn't get get home until like 10:30 after being at the icerink

On saturday morning Lizz and I got up at about 6 (my mom was already at the icerink) and got her ready for her artistic performance. We got to the rink at about 7 and Lizzy was all made up but I hadn't even run a brush through my hair (Lizzy's hair took longer than expected). Lizz performed "These boots are made for walking" and absolutely oozed attitude and it was AMAZING! She took 2nd place which is awesome and means that she qualified for the competition Colorado Springs! Yay! Courtney and her girls even made it out for the competition, thanks guys!

After the artistic performance, Brett and I ate dippin dots for breakfast, and Lizz had an ice dance competions. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, but she had the most beautiful lines I have ever seen! It was awesome! Overall it was a great competition and we're very excited for Colorado Springs!

In other news!!! I got a half tuition scholarship for my first semester at BYUI where I will be attending in the fall! I am very excited, but not quite excited as my parents I think! ;)

Snow Day!

2009-03-31T15:35:00.000-07:00

It started snowing last thursday as I headed off to seminary. When I walked out of seminary I was surprised by the amount of snow on my car. I quickly climbed in to escape the weather and rushed (safely) home so I could crawl back in to my warm bed. It was a "CSAP" day (CSAP is Colorado's standard testing but you only have to take them up until your sophmore year) so I didn't have to be to school until 12:20. My mom and I had special plans to go to Chilis just the 2 of us and enjoy some yummy fajitas. I woke up around 9, worked out, and then was getting ready to head to chilis and then go to school. When I got out of the shower I had a text from Lauren asking if I was driving the truck to school since the weather was so bad. A couple minutes later my mom got a text from Lizzie saying that there school was letting out early and my mom left to pick her up. Momments after that we got a call from my school notifying everyone that school was letting out at 12. I was thrilled because that meant I didn't have to go to school at all, but I still had my heart set and chili's fajitas so we made it a whole family thing and me, my mom, Lizzie, Brett, Brittany and Calan all ventured into the storm to get chilis.

Here's the 3 of us at Chilis!

After Chili's we all (minus Mom and plus Lauren) went outside to try to build a snowman. We quickly learned that the snow was too dry for that so it became a snow mound. Well, while we had a pile of perfectly good snow, Lizz and I decided we should take pictures in it. But not in our snow suits, in our swimsuits and open-toed high heels!

Surprisingly, it was not that cold because we only spent a couple of minutes out there in the snow. And totally worth the memories!

After our pictures we decided to make something out of our mound and attempted a snowman again but instead it became a snow dog!

Notice: Holy Ghost has been spotted!!!

2009-03-01T19:40:00.000-08:00

This past thursday I went out to watch Courtney's 3 youngest kids for her so her and Steve could take Avery to a movie. I was a little worried because Avery is usually my helper when I'm watching their kids. But when Courtney and Steve left it seemed like it was going to be a pretty easy night... I was wrong. When they left Chasen was asleep and Brielle, Dax and I were playing. Brie was sitting on my lap and we were joking around and Daxton was laughing at us, so I though it was going to go pretty smoothly,... until I turned and made direct eye contact with Dax. As soon as I did that he started screaming and I had to leave the room and let Brielle talk to him until I could army crawl my way back in. Once I did this he seemed somewhat ok as long as I sat under the table where he couldn't see me and I didn't say anything. I thought the kids might be more entertained outside so I picked up Daxton from behind where he couldn't see my face and quietly walked outside and he was fine playing with his sister. Well, I soon realized that Dax and I could be friends as long as I was wearing my sunglasses and we were outside (no direct eye contact allowed with this kid). So after we got bored jumping on the tramp, Dax and I sat on the deck and watched Brie drawing with chalk on the patio. At this time the sun was starting to set and it cast our shadows against the wall. Brielle thought this was pretty cool and she turned to me and said, pointing at her shadow "look Mary, It's my Holy Ghost!" Then she pointed at my shadow and said "It's your holy ghost!"

That made me laugh for a good 20 minutes and deffinatley made the whole night worth it! I sure love those kids!!

Picture Tag!

2009-02-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

Just for fun! If you want to, go to where you keep your pictures on your computer and take the 4th picture from the 4th file.

This is a picture of Bryce and I. I think it was on Christmas eve or around that time. Bryce (and Kyle) looked so handsome in his jacket! It was pretty cute! It was also just a really fun day! I love this kid! He better be good while I'm off at college! He know's if he's not I'll drive back here and kick his butt. ;) I love you dude!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEPH!!!!

2009-02-22T14:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Steph! I am so so SO excited that is is finally your birthday so that you finally know what your present is! I absolutely cannot wait for you to be here! So that we can FINALLY have an updated version of the above picture! I am so excited for you to be here. We are going to watch mamma mia and go to the chocolate cafe and go shopping and hug and kiss on your adorable baby!!! I don't know if you can tell, but I might be just a little bit excited. March 8th cannot come quickly enough! I am literally counting down the days!

Anyways, I hope you have a fabulous birthday and enjoy every minute of it! I wish I was there in person to wish a happy birthday, but we'll celebrate when you get here! I love you like crazy! Happy Birthday!

If it's smoking it's cooking, If it's black it's done... if it's on fire it's....?

2009-02-11T18:18:00.000-08:00

My Grandad always told us when it comes to food; "if it's smoking it's cooking, if it's black it's done". Well what about if your food is on fire?

Brett made an AWESOME dinner for us tonight! He got ribs out of the feezer this morning and soaked them in something that smelled amazing and then made garlic potatoes and green beans. Well he was a little bit worried about the ribs being cooked through entirely so we went outside to the grill to check them and this is what we found...

Our ribs had somehow caught on fire! We're not really sure how? Dinner was great though! Thanks Brett!

More Pics Of The Move In

2009-02-08T18:55:00.000-08:00

CeeCee meeting baby Calan!

The family at Olive Garden on Saturday

Lo with Calan

Britt with her cute baby

Saturday night Calan and I just chilled and watched some TV

We even got Brett to play some DDR after an awesome round of High School Musical sing along

Brett and Britt Move In!

2009-02-07T18:52:00.000-08:00

So my cousins, Brett, Brittany and they're darling baby boy Calan have moved in with us! They got here last night after a very long car drive! We are SO excited to have them! Today Courtney and CeeCee and there families came into town around lunch time and after about 2 hours (no joke) of debating where to eat, what sounded good to everyone, where had enough seating for us, if the kids could sit down long enough to eat.... we FINALLY decided on Olive Garden with all 18 and a half of us! It was a blast. Then we came back to the house and had a lovely round of rock band on the wii. It's been an absolute blast to have them! Now we just need to get Robin & Rick, Rachel & Haylee, and Aaron & Kim to move out here! What do you say guys?

Holding Calan while his mommy and daddy got ready

Avery's first time holding Calan. He fell asleep in her arms almost as soon as she picked him up. It was cute!

Courtney LOVED holding the new baby! I sure hope she doesn't get too addicted the idea of a new baby... I think 4 is enough (just kidding court, love you!

It was a miracle! Daxton loved playing with Brett! And Daxton is not exactly a super social child.

Avery's Baptism Weekend

2009-02-03T13:29:00.000-08:00

Let me start off by saying that I have an AWESOME family! Robin, Rachel and Haylee took the incredibly long drive up from Texas to hang with us, watch Lizzy's ice show and go to the baptism. It was an extremely busy weekend but we had a blast!

Little miss Texas loved playing in the tiny bit of snow we had! She was adorable to watch!

Me and my sister- this picture says a lot about us. hehe!

Between Lizz's ice show and the baptism we stopped at chic-fil-A and got a little ice cream

The cutie kiddos at the baptism! It was adorable to see Haylee at playing with her cousins!

Thanks for coming up here guys! Love you!

BIG NEWS!!!!!

2009-01-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sure most of you have heard, but I got accepted to BYU- Idaho! I am really excited about it! I don't have my track yet but I'm hoping for a fall/winter track... we'll see. I'm excited but also nervous about leaving home and family. It will be an adventure! :)

The Stars at night, are big and bright (clap clap clap) Deep in the heart of Texas!

2009-01-21T13:28:00.000-08:00

This past weekend I was able to go down to Texas for Calan baby's blessing. I had a blast down there! We went shopping, had a baby shower, took family pictures at the stockyard, went to La Familia (yum, I love that place), had the baby blessing, and spent lots of quality time hanging out with family. Britt and I even watched Another Cinderella Story! I had so much fun! Love you guys!

Look at that cute baby!

The Petty Family after the blessing- I love having family with the same last name as me!

Love you Rach!

Me, Rach, and Kim

Aaron, Robin, and Haylee on the merry-go-round at the stock yards

While at the stock yards... I got put in jail. Fortunately, I have an awesome Aunt that kept me company while I was in jail. :)

I sure had fun! Thanks for having me guys! I love you!!!

My Holiday Season

2009-01-05T16:19:00.000-08:00

So! It has been forever since I've posted. My laptop crashed and I lost all my files and everything so I haven't been able to update for a while. So here's my update on everything since Thanksgiving!

Every year my choir and the other top choir put on a performance we call "Feast of Carols". There's a dinner included and and we put on some skits and sing, This year, I wrote and starred in the skit for my choir and wrote one of the songs. Here's a picture of me and my girlfriend Nicole backstage.

After feast of Carols we had a girls night. We drove down to Centerra and got dessert and appetizers from On the Border and then watched enchanted. We all kind of matched though, on accident. It was pretty funny!

My mom and I did most of the Christmas decorating this year. I really cherished the memories because I realized that this could be the last year I'm home for decorating.

Feast of carols wasn't the only holiday concert I had. I also sang in the "Stocking" which is the big concert we put on at the Lincoln Center. But there are a LOT of choirs and bands that perform so we had a lot of time backstage and got a little bored.

After all of my crazy performances, Lizzy had a concert that was really similair to my feast of carols. She was a dancer and did a great job!

Then Lauren and I made a ginger bread house...

And after the gingerbread house Lauren and I fought with the icing

The Tuesday before Christmas, we went to a holiday party at Courts. lauren and I were proud of our outfits!

Brielle and I speant Christmas Eve tracking santa from the internet. Amazing the things technology can do!

And we all got matching robes for christmas!

This year for New Years we went down to boulder for a party at my friend Nicole's sisters house. Most of the fun was in getting ready, but we had a lot of fun during the party dancing the night away and being all dressed up!

Let The Good Times Roll!

2008-12-03T18:21:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving

I had a really fantastic thanksgiving this year! I really missed Lon, Steph, and Eden, and Lauren, but it was a blast to have Rick, Robin, and my Grandad here! I really appreciate Robin for always being there for me! Thanks for coming down for thanksgiving! Love you!

Rick and Robin rented a mustang from the airport, I got pretty excited about it, so we all took a ride!

And we got Robin in on the DDR fun!

My Mini Me!

TODAYS THE DAY!!!

2008-11-21T15:14:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2008-11-16T16:21:00.001-08:00

I love this time of year! Thanksgiving to Christmas is the best time of year! I love it when the christmas lights go up and it starts to snow! Thats when all the magic happens! I can't wait! I also love getting to spend it with family!

Speaking of family, I heard that there was a chance that Rick and Robin were maybe going to come up to Ft. Collins for Thanksgiving. That would deffinately make that the best thanksgiving ever. So, this is me BEGGING you guys to please please please come up for thanksgiving! It would be so much fun! Please?

Rocky/Collins game and Corn Maze!

2008-10-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

This has been the craziest weekend! It has been so much fun!!! Friday night was the Rocky/Collins game, and we won! Yay! Saturday morning I went out to Greeley to take the ACT's which wasn't fun, but then I speant the day with my sisters which was really fun! Then that night I went out with some of my friends to a haunted corn maze! It was a blast!

This is beginning to make math class look like fun...

2008-10-02T12:31:00.000-07:00

*Warning, this post contains personal details about me and my health, so if you don't want to know, don't read*

Monday afternoon after getting home from taking my senior pictures, I was getting out my homework so I could get started when I was suddenly in so much pain that I hit my kitchen floor and curled up. I was in pretty bad pain for about the next hour. I couldn't sit up or move or do a whole lot of anything but moan. After about an hour the pain wasn't quite as bad so I started to work on homework but eventually gave up and went to bed. The next morning I woke up about 4:30 in pain so I didn't go to seminary. I got up around 6:45 and got ready for school. I went to my first hour but was in so much pain that it was basically worthless. After 1st hour I went home and figured if I just rested for a while I'd be fine. When 4:00 rolled around and I still wasn't feeling better my mom called the doctor. I went into the doctor and they sent me over to the hospital to have bloodwork done and a CT scan. They let me leave there around 7:30 and called a half hour later. They told me it looked like I had a cyst on my left overy and to call the Doctor in the morning.

We called the doctor as soon as they opened on Wednesday morning but the earliest they could get me in was 11:15, so I went to a little bit of school and then my mom picked me up and took me to the doctor. They sent me BACK over to the hospital for more blood work and gave me a perscription for some pain pills. I got my bloodwork done and rested for a while and then had to go BACK to the hospital for an ultrasound. They finally found out last night (wednesday night) that I had a hemorrhiegic cyst on my left over that had ruptured. There is usually a small amount of blood in your abdomin when this happens, but I had a little more than usual. The good news is that this is supposed to mean I'm over the worst of it and should only get better from here. The bad news is that I'm still in SO much pain and can hardly move without getting nauseous. Hopefully I'll be feeling better in a few days...

So this one time at choir camp...

2008-09-07T19:22:00.000-07:00

(I'm told this quote comes from a bad movie that I have not seen by the way, but it was the quote we used all weekend long, so I had to use it!)

This past weekend I had a choir retreat with my advanced woman's choir- Prima Voce up at Buckhorn camp. It was way cold but we had a blast being very silly and singing our vocal cords out. There are so many girls in the choir that I absolutely adore! It was a really nice break to get out with so many girlfriends because basically all I do anymore is homework, studying, seminary and school! So I appreciated the weekend even though it's great to be back to my own bed and clean showers! :)

It was really foggy when we got there and kind of creapy actually!

All the Girls in my cabin out on the balcony

Me and Nicole, I love her!

Dance Party!!!

By the end of the weekend we were really tired but it was worth it!!!

Because I'm a sap...

2008-08-18T15:08:00.001-07:00

...and because I'm a SENIOR!!!!

...and because I wanted my sisters to see how I looked on my first day of my senior year (especially so Steph can see my new vest!!!)

...and because I wanted my Daddy to see his baby girl leaving for her senior year

...and because I only get to live it once, might as well document it!!!

Yes, I did take a picture of my shoes

Getting ready for my first day of senior year

Excited for my fist day!

My BFF/cousin/sister, Lo

My other best friend, Lauren W.

Memory Game!

2008-08-17T14:30:00.001-07:00

Just for fun...

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

What Kind Of Romantic Are You?

2008-08-16T20:33:00.000-07:00

Hopeless romantic
you are a lovey dovey romantic. you get attached easily, sometimes too easily. you would like to get married and have an ideal family and prefer candlelights instead of party nights.
what type of romantic are you?

What kind of shoe are you?

2008-08-16T20:21:00.001-07:00

High Heels

What kind of shoe are you?

Baby Fun and Family Photos

2008-08-14T17:42:00.000-07:00

Lon and Steph came into town for a week and so we had lots of fun playing with the baby and taking some pictures!

ABC

2008-08-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

ABC Tag
* A - Attached or single: Single (for the most part)
* B - Best Friend: Lauren Snyder (and all my family)
* C - Cake of Pie: PIE!
* D - Day: Saturday
* E - Essential Items: Cell Phone, mascara, car, family
* F - Favorite Color: Pink
* G - Gummy Bears or Worms: bears
* H - Hometown: Ft. Collins
* I - Indulgences: Music, chocolate, accesories
* J - January or July: July, no school. Although that may not apply much longer. Next year I'll be in college and who knows when I'll be going to school... scary thought
* K - Kids: someday for sure!
* L - Life is incomplete without: Love, family
* M - Marriage Date: Still Single
* N - Number of Siblings: 4- CeeCee, Courtney, Bubba, Lizz, plus the bro-in-laws, Bill and Steve, and my sister-in-law, Steph
* O - Oranges or Apples: Apples
* P - Phobia or Fears: Bugs, drowning (but I love the water), being alone
* Q - Quote: "If you want me to fall for you, you have to give me something worth tripping over"
* R - Reason to Smile: Family, My girlfriends
* S - Season: Spring, although I love fall clothing
* T - Tag three: CeeCee, Courtney, Stacy
* U - Unknown fact about me: I'm too open, everybody knows everything. there are no unknown facts
* V - Vegetarian or Not: NOT
* W - Worst habit: Sleeping in my make up and not ever taking it off at night(I agree Rachel!) and procrastinating...
* X - X-rays or Ultrasounds: Anything that's not an MRI...ugh
* Y - Your favorite food: Fruit salad!
* Z - Zodiac sign: Leo!!!

Best Aunt EVER!

2008-08-04T18:17:00.000-07:00

So, this past weekend we have been in Texas for our family reunion. We got here friday afternoon and the 4th book (breaking dawn) of the absolute BEST series ever, Twilight, came out at midnight on friday night/saturday morning. Well, Aunt Robin being the amazing Aunt that she is, took me out to Walmart at midnight so we could both get the book. Texas is an hour later than Colorado so I got the book an hour before all my sisters and friends (HAHA!) I had a REALLY amazing time with Robin being able to talk about the book and other things in my life. She's the best Aunt any girl could ask for! I have a picture of us picking up the book that I'll put up as soon as I get the chance to download the pictures from my memory stick! I am really lucky to know that I have an Aunt that cares so much about me and I know I could alway turn to for help. Robin, I promise to make good choices and not to let you down! I love you!

Breaking Dawn...

2008-08-01T15:22:00.000-07:00

Today is the day! Breaking Dawn comes out tonight!!!(well officially it's tomorrow morning, but it will feel like tonight!) Robin and I are going at midnight tonight to get it! I'm sure I'll be up all night! Happy Reading everyone!!!

4th of July... and other random things I've been up to recently!

2008-07-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

For the 4th of July we all went up to Estes! We had some fun around town and then set up tents and BBQ'd and then watched the fireworks! We all had such a blast!

The 4th of July pancakes we made!

Me and Josh in the car

The "kids" on the slide! SO much fun!

Chasen and I in the Go-Carts!

And other random things:

Kevin and I on his last day in town before he left for a ranch for 6 months

The crowd at the BBQ for my friend Jay's goodbye party before he left for the Navy

Courtney and Brynlee for their birthday celebration!

Super cute kids!

And after the longest post ever, I will try to keep updated more often!

Gotta love summer!

2008-05-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics from my recent adventures!

Summer is close, and I'm loving it!

Kayla Marie Adsit

2008-05-04T21:48:00.000-07:00

1 year ago today my friend Kayla was killed in a tragic car accident. Her best friend, Mayan, was driving the car. Mayan was hurt, but only speant one day in the hospital. It was a beautiful, sunny friday afternoon when she was killed. My 4th hour of the day had been cancelled, so I was waiting by the choir doors for my mom. Kayla and Mayan were trying out for a solo for the choir I was in with them. As they left school that day they walked by me, we had a conversation. I told them that they sounded great and we talked about our weekends. As they left school we exchanged "have a good weekend" and "see you Mondays"s. That night Kayla was killed. I miss her a lot. I hurt for her family and Mayan and others also hurt by this accident. RIP Kayla Marie Adsit.

stressed

2008-05-02T23:59:00.000-07:00

So, as you can probably tell by my last post, I'm a little bit stressed with everything I have going on. And with that, my mind isn't 100% there. So, as Stephanie pointed out, It is May, not March. Also, another thing I have going on in May is that my baby niece is going to be born around the 25th. I'm super excited to be an Aunt again, but really sad I won't be there when the baby is born. But, I get to go out in June and see the baby, I'm really excited about that. I'm sure I have even more going on in May, but I really can't remember.

Oh yeah, got my hair cut today. I decided I wanted some blonde highlights, but my hair is stubborn and wouldn't take the color, so we had to bleach it. Nobody freak out, I'm still a redhead, my hair is just a lot lighter than it used to be. I'll get a picture up at some point. I'm still adjusting, but I think I like it!

March!

2008-05-01T17:25:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe it's already March. March is going to be a very busy month for me. I'm super excited for all of it but also really sad because this means that it's all ending really soon. I feel like the one thing I've been working up to my entire life is quickly approaching, and it's wierd to be this close to it. For all my life I've always just been able to say "I'll do that next year". Well, I'm running out of next years. Next year will be my very last year in high school. And this is the last month of school I will ever have with about 90% of my friends. At the end of this year most of the people I care about will graduate. I want it to be done with, but I'm also so scared of it being over.

But, May should be a very exciting month! I'm getting my hair cut and highlighted tomorrow. I'm not doing much of a drastic change, I've always been too scared of wrecking my hair to do too much with it, but it's time for a little bit of a change. Then saturday I'm going out to Greeley to take my baby niece to her soccer game! I'm really excited about that. Then the 7th of the month is my sister, Cee Cee's birthday, the 11th is my cousin, Lauren's birthday, the 16th is one of my best friend, Lauren's birthday, the 22nd is Josh's birthday. Then the 24th is graduation. School ends on the 30th or something like that. I also have a HUGE college level research paper due on the 21st. That scares me! I'm guessing this month will pass by really quickly, I'm just worried it will be too quickly.

My New Baby Nephew!

2008-04-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

I had a new baby nephew born on April 2nd. I was fortunately able to be there for the birth.He is absolutely precious! Welcome to the world Daxton Steven Quilter

Dancing in the Rain...

2008-04-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

and snow

It was the first really big rain storm of spring, so Lauren, Lizz and I went outside and danced in the rain! We had a blast with it, until it started hailing on us, that hurt a little bit. But we were determined to stick it out and dance in the rain! We soaked through everything we were wearing, and then ran out to get something warm from starbucks!

BEST WEEKEND EVER!

2008-03-04T16:38:00.001-08:00

Lauren and I spent this past weekend in Greeley babysitting my neices and nephews while CeeCee and Bill spent the weekend up in a condo with some friends. We had way too much fun with the kids! We didn't want to leave when the weekend was over!

We had a "shockingly" great time!

We goofed around
...Alot!

And we played Legos...

and painted nails

But we also took care of the kids

And they slept...

a little bit

But Mostly...

We played rockband!

Lots and Lots and Lots of it!

I love these Kids!

I'm sorry!

2008-02-21T22:15:00.000-08:00

This is my public apology!

I left someone VERY important out of my family.

I'm sorry Stacie! You truly are one my sisters! My family would not be complete without you! You have been a part of the family for as long as I can remember. You're just as big a part of my life as my biological sisters are! I love you!

So- sidenote!
Being a teenager is funny! I just spent the last 30 minutes quoting random songs with my ex-boyfriend whom I dated for 4 years. We just quoted songs without having any actual conversation in between. And now my ex-boyfriend is talking to the guy I am currently dating but havn't make things official with yet. And they are both kind of ignoring me because they're talking nerd to eachother. Weird? A litttle. The world is too small a place! And Highschool is way too (excuse the pun) petty!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-02-11T20:32:00.001-08:00

Well, I have a blog

2008-02-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

This seems like it's one of the best ways to stay in touch with people. So instead or finishing up my homework like I should be doing right now, I've created a blog!

Well, while I'm here, I'll tell you a little bit about myself!

-I'm currently 16
- I attend Rocky Mountain High School
- I absolutely adore all my family, they are my life! I have 2 older sisters, 2 brother-in-laws, 1 brother, 1 sister-in-law, 3 neices (soon to be 4), 3 nephews (soon to be 4), a younger sister, and a (practically) twin sister (ok, so she's actually my cousin, but we're close enough to being sisters)
-I love music of all kinds
-I love theater
-I love hanging out with my friends, going to movies, sledding, and making a fool of my self and being able to laugh about it!