Our Little Patch of Grass

Wyatt's Newborn Photo Shoot

2010-12-19T01:20:00.001-07:00

So, I have been dying to share more pictures of Wyatt but have had a hard time sitting down long enough to chose a few to post. These pictures were taken when he was just 5 days old. Our photographer, Terra from Magnifique, did a fantastic job and has been so easy to work with. So many of the pictures were so adorable that I had a hard time narrowing down what to share. You can see more on her blog here or see the slideshow she put together here.

Welcome to the World, Wyatt!

2010-12-14T01:04:00.001-07:00

Wyatt Ross

On November 1, this little guy rocked our world. Weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs. 14 oz., he stole our hearts in an instant.

Awesome Baby Showers = I am Spoiled

2010-11-01T00:25:00.000-06:00

Opening Gifts

I have been so lucky to have a few different people want to throw baby showers for me. My sister and sister-in-law threw me a shower about a month ago for some of the friends I have made in my ward and my side of the family. I got together with a few friends from pre-marriage days to celebrate and have lunch (thank you Stefanie!). My mother-in-law and Craig's sisters threw me a shower for his side of the family, too. Whew! If I wasn't ready for the baby before, I should be now.

Tasty table of treats and super cute decorations

I can't believe how generous everyone has been and feel really blessed to have so many people who care about me. I need to say thank you so much to everyone who worked so hard to put these together! I am afraid I don't have pictures from anything but the shower from my side of the family but you get an idea of some of the fun I have been having.

Playing Games

Cute take home treats my sister made

We had a contest to see who could look more pregnant than me. My Aunt Tammy won. Gotta love this pic!

Pregnancy Top Twelve

2010-10-31T21:43:00.002-06:00

I have been a terrible blogger the past few months. I have been focusing on getting things ready for the baby and definitely put updates on hold. I wanted to post something of an update before the baby actually comes.

23 Weeks Pregnant

I have enjoyed being pregnant. Everyone keeps asking me if I am SO ready to deliver this baby and tired of pregnancy. I'm not. I have so many things I have wanted to do before the baby arrives. I have only finished about half.

I also enjoy being pregnant. I haven't been miserable at all. I have had puffy legs, ankles, and feet (I can't fit in most of my shoes). I have also had a bruise on my back for about six weeks that I am convinced must be from the strain of the extra weight in front. These seem like pretty small complaints, all things considered.

27 Weeks Pregnant

I guess, for me, the good things have really outweighed the bad. In fact, I have a whole list of great things about being pregnant that I'd like to share. Maybe it will give encouragement to all of those mothers-to-be who are feeling miserable and haven't yet escaped the evils on morning (afternoon and evening) sickness.

33 Weeks Pregnant

12. No need to suck in that tummy. Flaunt that belly for once.

11. Being pregnant is sexy. (Thank you Heidi Klum!)

10. You are heroic if you exercise at all, especially after six months.

0. No heavy lifting. People get mad if you even try. This could really come in handy if you have to move but may be outweighed by the stress of it all.

8. Bigger boobs. Speaking as someone who has spent their life being flat chested, I have enjoyed the fact that I finally fill out the top of my shirts.

7. Great excuse to go shopping. That baby won't dress himself!

6. New room to decorate. Put your talent to the test. And remember, someone else will do the heavy lifting, you just have to tell them which corner you want that crib in, then you can have them move it when it doesn't look right.

38 1/2 Weeks Pregnant

5. It is totally acceptable to crave ice cream at one o'clock in the morning. On top of that, your husband might even go and get some from the store for you at one o'clock in the morning.

4. You glow. The famous glow of a pregnant mommy is a nice bonus, especially when you aren't feeling as beautiful as you used to.

3. Hearing your baby's heartbeat on the ultrasound. It almost made me weep. It was such a beautiful sound.

2. Feeling your baby kick. It feels like you get know him before anyone else. His kicks are like your own special form of communication. This is a great pregnancy bonus just as long as he doesn't get you in the bladder and make you pee your pants!

1. You get to be the mommy of a wonderful new perfect little gift from Heavenly Father! There couldn't be anything better than that.

Our Baby's Profile at 33 Weeks

I could keep going...

Our Second Anniversary/I Have the Best Husband Ever!

2010-10-31T21:28:00.002-06:00

This year our anniversary landed on a Monday so we decided to wait for the weekend to celebrate. Craig totally took control of the planning and surprised me with a fantastic weekend. I was definitely having a rough, emotional, I'm pregnant and have crazy hormones week and he rescued me. His original plan didn't involve doing anything till Saturday but at the last minute he called me from work on Friday night and told me to pack us a bag and be ready when he got home. He had made reservations at Little America in downtown Salt Lake (we stayed there for the first two nights of our honeymoon) for the weekend. I think that was my favorite part of what we did. Just being together in a place that had great memories and warm feelings made me so happy.

A Day at the Zoo

On Saturday, he had three different activities planned for me to chose from. This was pretty impressive considering I was seven months pregnant and options were becoming limited. We decided to spend the day at the zoo and had fun checking out the new baby elephant. She was so so cute.

Baby Zuri and Her Mother

Later that night, he had made reservations at my favorite restaurant, the Melting Pot, and even had flowers waiting at the table for me. So sweet and thoughtful. One of my favorite dates we ever went on was my first visit to the Melting Pot and we repeated the fun the day we got engaged. I can't think of a place that can be more romantic. There are some great booths that are situated so you can't really see anyone else so it kind of feels like it is just the two of you there. Plus, who doesn't love dipping strawberries in chocolate. Yum!

At the Melting Pot

We didn't bring our camera to dinner so I only snagged a couple of pictures with my phone.

My awesome husband!

I am so lucky to have a husband who is willing to do anything I want for a day and put so much effort into making me happy. I feel spoiled and love it. I can't believe we have had two years together. So much has happened but I sometimes still feel like we just met a few weeks ago. It has been the best two years I could ask for. I am the luckiest girl ever! Craig is so wonderful and I wouldn't change a thing about him. I can't wait to see what the next two years brings.

Simple Fabric Flowers

2010-10-31T20:41:00.000-06:00

For my brother's wedding my mom asked me to put together some simple centerpieces for the brunch tables. I found this great tutorial on one of my new favorite blogs, Made. The flowers were super simple and cheap to make, although if you need to make 144 of these I recommend getting some help (my hot glue burned fingers would agree). I found a bunch of black and white fabrics at JoAnn's and Walmart and set to work.

I really love how they turned out and by just changing out the color of the bow you can coordinate these with almost any room or holiday/special occasion. I was able to make enough for nine tables for about $70 including the cost of the vases!

I made some flowers with green stems and some with blue stems to match the wedding colors. Each table had its own set. I really do like the blue stems. Kind of fun and different.

I found these great kits for wedding favors at Michael's and we filled them with Mrs. Cavanaugh's chocolates. Mmmm, not only cute and coordinating but tasty treats it doesn't get much better than that.

My Brother's Big Day

2010-10-29T12:59:00.001-06:00

The Happy Couple

The first week of August my brother got MARRIED! I remember him as a little boy in cowboy boots, a Batman cape, and Bugs Bunny hat riding a Big Wheel with a rubber band gun in his hand. Now, he has a wife and is on his own! Crazy how fast life goes by. I am so so happy for him and I know he found a great girl. Katarina is sweet and kind and matches Jace so well. She has made him very happy and I am so glad we got be a part of their special day. Here are a few pics of the big day.

They were married in the Bountiful Temple

The day was gorgeous and not crazy hot considering it was the first weekend in August. The temple was very busy with beautiful brides but I don't think anyone could hold a candle to this cute couple. I am so happy to see them start their lives together in such a beautiful way. They have begun an eternal family together. Every time I think about that, I am in awe.

His shoes were special order and had the wedding date on the back of the heels

I was not excited about being six months pregnant and puffy in the middle of August taking pictures of myself with cute skinny girls. Therefore, this is the only picture of me I am willing to share with the world. :)

The Bridesmaids

Jace and the Groomsmen

The reception was held in Katarina's grandparents backyard. It was so beautiful and there was a nice breeze keeping us cool most of the time. It almost looked like rain but the God's were on our side and it missed us completely.

The wedding was definitely a family affair, everyone helped a little somewhere. My dad put up the lights, my aunt helped etch the mirrors for the centerpieces, and my sister catered with her amazing caramel apples and other chocolate treats (I made the signs :) ). No one could sample the treats without gaining at least five pounds. You can check out my sister's company, Sager Sweets, on her blog here. Craig and the guys took on the all important decorating of the wedding escape vehicle.

Some of the great treats

Decorating the Getaway Car

They put enough balloons in the cab to fill it completely. The drawings on the windshield rock!

The Happy Couple Pulling Out

Congrats you two! I am so happy for you both.

*Note: These pictures are all by Jace's photographer, Magnifique Photography. She really did a great job capturing the day and was so easy to work with. Check out her blog here to see more of his wedding.

A Grand Holiday Weekend

2010-08-17T17:26:00.003-06:00

I've always enjoyed the Pioneer Day celebrations we have here in Utah. Growing up, they seemed bigger than the stuff that happened on the 4th of July. I loved going downtown to watch the parade and seeing the big fireworks at Weber State. This year's event was extra special for us. Craig's Grandma and Grandpa Jensen were the Grand Marshals for this year's Pioneer Days Celebration in Ogden. It was so fun to see them honored this way. Most of Craig's family was in town to take part in the events. I had no idea there were so many events that happen as a part of the celebration. It was two full weeks of competitions, parties, and more.

We got to see our niece Macey for the first time. She is already so big and has the cutest little mouth. I couldn't believe what a good baby she was. They had come all the way from Mississippi to be here.

A picture of the nieces and nephews and cousins at lunch a few days before the parade.

On Saturday, we went to the parade and last day of the rodeo. I don't know why, but we never pulled our camera out during the parade so I don't have any pictures of that. We got some fun ones at the rodeo, though.

We ended up getting to be in the box seats for the rodeo and got to experience everything up close and personal. It definitely made things more exciting. Especially when a rider would zoom by right next to the fence. The kids had a hard time sitting still and had to get as close as possible to the action.

Craig broke out his cowboy gear for the rodeo. He looks pretty good in his fancy duds. Its hard for a girl to resist a cute cowboy. Especially one who is good with kids, too.

Mini Golf Adventure

2010-08-16T18:56:00.001-06:00

Have you ever noticed that some of the funnest things you ever do are simple, spur of the moment, small things? The day after the 4th of July was a pretty quiet day. Since the 4th was on a Sunday, Craig's work took the 5th off to celebrate. Well, most of the celebrations were over and we didn't really have a lot to do. We were sitting around when someone had the bright idea to take a ride up to Logan and go mini golfing. We could have just gone a few miles down the road to the local mini golf but this sounded like more fun.

We headed up and the mini golf place was closed and the next one we went to was circa 1962 and had never been upgraded since. Thank heavens for Google on your phone. We found another mini golf place right at the edge of a newer housing development. It turned out to be one of the funnest mini golf courses I've ever played.

There were tons of trees and shade around the course. There weren't any big windmills or other manmade obstacles to the course but each hole was challenging and fun.

We also had some fun with the camera so I have a ton of pictures.

They had some fun balls decorated as basketballs, pumpkins, and other round things. They cost a dollar a piece and four out of five of us ended up buying one.

They had old wagons and farm equipment set up around different holes and it seemed picture perfect. The surroundings were so pretty we decided to goof around and take a few posed shots, too.

When we were done we were starving and ended up getting pizza at a little place just off of the Utah State campus that Craig said his family used to go to all the time. It really was a fun day.

Goodbye, Gus-Gus

2010-08-13T21:25:00.000-06:00

We sold our truck! It took less than a week and the first guy that looked at it wanted it. Poor Craig! He really loved having a truck. We decided it would be a good idea to take the cash from both our cars and buy something more family friendly. So, now we are without a vehicle and the hunt is on.

Rockin' Great 4th of July

2010-08-10T20:34:00.002-06:00

I can't believe how gorgeous the weather was for the 4th of July celebration this year. Usually you are roasting within minutes of walking outside and can't wait to find an air conditioned room. This year there was a light breeze with beautiful sunshine and a nice sweet temperature.

The day started out with the traditional Plain City parade. Above, you can see a niece and nephew enjoying their part in the parade on Grandpa Jensen's fire truck. Later we went to the city celebrations and watched the kids catch fish and generally have a good time.

On Saturday evening, we went down to Provo for the Stadium of Fire. I have always wanted to go but it is kind of an expensive event and traffic afterward can be crazy enough to make anyone decide it isn't worth it. Carrie Underwood was performing this year which pretty much trumped any concerns about not wanting to deal with traffic.

It was a great event! We went with my parents and stayed overnight. This turned out to be a great plan considering how tired we were once it was all over.

My favorite part of the evening was the opening. They had hundreds of Boy Scouts come out with flags and line the field. Then they played the songs for each branch of the military and some of the members of each branch came in carrying their flags. As each group came in they asked the people of the audience to stand up who had served in that branch. Then they carried in the American flag and had the entire stadium say the Pledge of Allegiance. I think they said there were over fifty thousand people in the audience. It was a good feeling to see everyone standing up and no one hesitating to say "One nation under God". Then Carrie Underwood came out and sang the national anthem a capella. She did a great job and right when she sang "In the rockets red glare" they bright red fireworks shoot up into the sky and they burst just as the line "the bombs bursting in air" was sung. Then, just as she finished the song, four F-16s came blazing by and buzzed the stadium. It was pretty emotional and exciting all at the same time. They rest of the night was great too.

Carrie Underwood performed just before the fireworks and did a great job. She really has an amazing voice.

Talk about a lot of fireworks. I was never sure if it was the finale because there were so many going off all the time. It was definitely worth the trip.

Craig took a ton of pictures of the event, particularly, of the fireworks. I think he got some pretty great shots. This one is my favorite.

Craig's Birthday

2010-08-09T20:22:00.000-06:00

One of the fun things we get to celebrate in the summer is Craig's birthday. This year we spent a pretty low key day together. I got Craig a hammock for his birthday. I kind of worried that it would be more of a gift foor me than for Craig because I had been wanting one just as long as he had. Judging from the happy expression on his face, I am pretty sure he enjoyed the gift.

We spent the day just bumming around town, looking at this and that and then had dinner at Texas Roadhouse. If you want to make Craig happy, give him a steak. It was a great day together. Craig is such a fun person to be around, I am so grateful to have him in my life. Happy Birthday, Craig!

The Big News!

2010-06-02T22:57:00.000-06:00

So, I guess it's time for the biggest news of all: we are having a baby! I am officially 17 weeks pregnant and getting very excited to see our new little one. This picture was taken on Sunday and you can see I am definitely showing a bit of a belly now. It's not so big that its obvious I'm pregnant but I am sure it will be by the time my brother has his wedding in August.

The baby is due November 7 and the doctor is pretty sure it is going to be a little boy. The baby gave us a little bit of a glimpse at his gender when I went in for our appointment a couple of weeks ago, but only a glimpse. He proceeded to cross his legs and then sit Indian style once the doctor started poking around. This kid is pretty stubborn.

Craig is pretty excited and even doesn't complain about going shopping for baby stuff. He found a cute pair of baby sized John Deere Cowboy Boots that he insists we will have to buy.

Catching Up: My Brother is Getting Married!

2010-06-02T19:00:00.001-06:00

I know it is hard to see but the rocks spell out "Marry Me?" My brother proposed to his girlfriend earlier this month and is so happy to be getting married. He took her up to a favorite spot my cousins and brothers call Frog Rock. It overlooks all of Ogden Valley and is very pretty. We set these rocks up and they were ready for when he led her around the corner. He was ready and kneeling down with the ring when she turned around.

Katarina is a cute and fun girl and I am excited to have her as a new sister-in-law. Most important of all, my brother is so happy!

Here's a shot of the gorgeous ring my brother had made for her. It is nice to have an amazing jeweler like my cousin's husband in the family. If you ever need some jewelry, I have to recommend Belliston's in Ogden. They made my ring and now my brother's fiance's ring. Awesome!

Catching Up: Graduation!

2010-06-02T18:46:00.001-06:00

One of the biggest events to tell about: Craig Graduated! I am so proud of him. It is never easy to stick it out and finish school and there were definitely moments of major frustration, but he did it anyway and ended on a high note getting on the honor roll the last few semesters. Way to go, honey!

The best part of the ceremonies was Commencement. Here you can see Craig walking in to take his seat or you could if I had a better zoom on my camera. He is the first one after the kid holding the banner.

President Monson spoke at the Commencement ceremony. He challenged all the graduates to gain the abundant life. He said this could be accomplished by following the ABCs:

A = Attitude - Choose to be happy about your circumstances whatever they may be, the work is the same. Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react.
B = Belief - in yourself, those around you, and in true principles. Don't ask yourself "What will people think of me?" but ask "What will I think of myself?". Be honest with God. Believe in yourself then live to reach your possibilities. You can achieve what you believe you can.
C = Courage - Determination to live decently. You may feel like David trying to defeat Goliath, but remember, David did win! If you fail along the line you may lose your confidence, but continue in the thing you cannot do. Courage is often the little voice at night before you go to bed that says, "Try again tomorrow."

It is always great to hear from a prophet and it was a great way to celebrate the day and Craig's awesome accomplishment!

Catching Up: Fun Things That Happened This Winter

2010-06-02T18:31:00.000-06:00

I think one of my favorite things that has happened this year was the chance to see an old friend from my mission. Chiara (or Sister Manzaro as I know her) is from Italy and she came to Utah for her sister-in-laws wedding. Originally we had planned to meet at the outdoor mall in Salt Lake but as soon as my friend realized what it was we made a trip to the nearest indoor location. It was January and very cold and they never really have to deal with that kind of weather where they live. I was so so happy to see her and meet her husband, Youri and his father. She was one of my favorite people to know from my mission and I have missed being in communication with her. She is sweet and kind and funny and it seems like her husband and father-in-law are very much the same. I am sad we only had a few hours to spend togeher. Hopefully, I will get to go to Italy soon and visit them. (We all can dream, right?)

Craig and I took our first trip snowboarding this year since I broke my arm on our second date. I have to admit I was a big wimp once we got there. We went to Brighton especially for me and I chickened out on our first run of the day and pretty much sat on the mountain and cried. (In my defense, I am pretty sure it was 90% due to hormones,) I got better after lunch and we didn't try as ambitious of a run again. Craig was so nice and patient that day. I think we spent more time getting to the mountain than we actually did going down the slopes. It was really windy and cold that day so neither of us was anxious to spend too much time on the lift. We ended the day having some fun on some of the easier runs.

The trip home was forever long. It had started to snow, again and the traffic coming back from the resorts meant we went about a twenty miles an hour and stopped every hundred feet. I got bored and took pictures out of the windows while Craig left plenty of distance between us and the crazy driver in front of us. As a result I have about twenty-five fuzzy pictures of snowy blurry trees.

For Valentine's Day, I gave Craig tickets to the upcoming Jason Aldean Concert. Luke Bryan was the opening act and neither one of us were impressed. I know there are a lot of country songs about women and beer but every song this guy sang except the one I knew from the radio was about drinking. it got old quick. We also got stuck sitting next to some party loving women who had to leave and go to the bathroom/get more beer/take a smoke/etc. about every fifteen minutes. They also tried to get us to dance with them. Craig was very not amused, especially when they almost knocked me over trying to get out of the concert before anyone else.

I promise I was more happy than I look in this picture, I think I wasn't quite ready. My favorite part of the night was seeing Craig get all dressed up in his cowboy gear. He jumped at the opportunity to finally wear his cowboy hat. I think he makes a pretty good looking cowboy.

Jason Aldean put on a pretty good show and was fun to watch. He played every song Craig wanted to hear and I think that is what makes a concert fun. I hate when you go to a concert and the artist doesn't play any of his old stuff that you know and love and want to sing to. I didn't really know too many of his songs but I had fun joining in on the Big Green Tractor song when it played.

Catching Up on Life: Our Holidays

2010-06-02T10:39:00.000-06:00

So, I have been a terrible blogger for the last few months. For most of those months, the biggest reason was working too many hours. I thought that once I quit I would jump back on the blogging bandwagon. Not so much. I guess I have just been enjoying having some free time. So to catch up on the past six months, expect two or three posts with a bunch of pictures and hopefully I'll be back to a regular posting schedule.

We did manage to get to a few fun things over the holidays:

We went to the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert with my sister and her husband. As always, the choir was fantastic. Guest singer was Natalie Cole with David McCullough providing narrations. Both did a great job. I was very excited to see David McCullough, I love his books.

We went to Vegas to be with Craig's family for Christmas. This was our first Christmas with his family since we got married. It was great to be with them and celebrate the holiday. His family has a Christmas Eve PJ tradition.

The kids were insistent that they leave treats for Santa and his reindeer.

Christmas morning was the traditional mayhem as the kids dug into the mountain of presents from Santa Claus. They we adorable of course!

Craig's dad got the big present...a bike! He really does like the bike, even though it doesn't look like it in the photo below.

One of my favorite things we did while down in Vegas was go to the Phantom of the Opera at the Venetian Casino. I have been dying to go for the longest time and it did not disappoint. Craig's sister knows the man who plays Raoul and he helped us get great seats. I have to say that he really provided the best performance of the whole show and that is not just me being biased. He was fantastic!

The employees were very intense about not taking photos inside of the theatre. They flew across the room before I could even get the camera out of its case. So, we took pictures in a little cubby just outside the theatre. We saw the show with Craig's sister Shantyl and her husband Bart.

Like always, the holidays were too short and real life resurfaced sooner than we would have liked. I am so glad we had the chance to see Craig's family and spend the holidays with them.

My Favorite Holiday

2009-12-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

I love Thanksgiving! You gotta love this holiday: food, family and giving thanks. I love how this holiday has avoided the big commercialism of the rest of the season. It is such a relaxing day. There are no huge expectations to try to meet except to eat a lot and be sure to take a nap. One of my favorites is the cranberry sauce. I know, weird! I have always loved it though. I think it must have something to do with being born right after the Thanksgiving holiday. Maybe it brings back good memories?

Waiting so patiently...or so it would appear. Mylie sneaked some fruit to her plate while we were bringing the food to the table and finished it off before the turkey was even dressed and brought over.

Photo opp! These kids love to pose for photos, you don't even have to say "Cheese!"

Here's everyone gather at the table ready for the big feast. Everyone in the family was there, except Austin. I think that is the only thing that could have made the day better. I thought about him often and hoped he wasn't missing us but instead enjoying the great things about being a missionary.

There was a lot to be grateful for this year: my new job, being close to family, my fantastic husband, beautiful weather, freedom, the amazing men and women who serve our country in the military and keep up safe, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Blessings have been poured out abundantly so there is almost no room to receive them all.

The BIG Three - O!!!

2009-12-09T08:00:00.001-07:00

My birthday was a couple of weeks ago, right before Thanksgiving. I turned the big 3-0! When I was little, there was a show on TV called "Thirty Something". I never saw the show itself but often saw the commercials. I remember thinking how grown up and boring the show seemed and somehow thirty to me became the age when you are truly grown up. I've kind of looked at it as a deadline for doing all the fun young things in life. As thirty drew closer, I've obviously outgrown the idea that everything fun has to be done before thirty but it has still seemed like a big milestone, especially when I was single. I haven't done everything I wanted to before I turned thirty, but I am happy with where I am at.

My birthday was really nice. Craig surprised me at work with flowers and took me to lunch. I have often seen women at work who get flowers for their birthday and thought how fun it would be if it were. Kind of a silly wish really, but I was excited anyway. My sister stopped by work and gave me the scarf you see in the picture. My dad and brother stopped by work to say hi, too. It is amazing that I got any work done that day. After work, we went to Biaggi's with my parents for dinner and opened presents. Craig and my parents spoiled me with fantastic presents. It was really a great day. I felt very happy and loved. I don't think you can ask for anything better than that.

Gotta Love Pie!

2009-12-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite family traditions is our annual pie party. My dad started this tradition with the thoughts that you are so stuffed on Thanksgiving you never really get to enjoy the dessert. This way we sample the sweets before the big day and get to see all to the family. Now that the cousins are getting older and starting their own families, we don't have the big family Thanksgiving get together that we used to. The Sunday before Thanksgiving we get together with everyone in my dad's side of the family for a pie party. Each family brings their favorite pie to share and you can sample as much as you want.

The chocolate fountain is always a big hit, especially with the little kids. Even if you don't like pie, there are always plenty of ways to gain a few pounds.

After stuffing ourselves with pie, we all sit and play games. My mom puts together great prizes for the winners, everything from DVD's to lotion to king sized candy bars. I never seem to win but it is always worth trying for. I can't fit everyone in just one shot so these are some shots of the crowd from my spot in the room.

Salsa Verde!

2009-11-21T09:12:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite local restaurants is Sonora Grill. It is a Mexican restaurant in downtown Ogden. Their corn on the cob is to die for! I also really like their salsa verde. The last time I went there I decided it would be fun to try to make my own.

Salsa verde is not very difficult to make. It is very similar to regular salsa. The key is to replace the tomatoes with tomatillos. I planted these in the garden this year but didn't really make much use of them. The plants grow like crazy and being a new gardener didn't know you need to cut the plants back to ensure the tomatillos grow larger. They are pretty tasty. Kind of like a spicy tangy tomato.

Salsa Verde

1 pound tomatillos
1/2 onion chopped
1 jalapeno chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 T. cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
1 t. salt

Remove husks from tomatillos and chop. Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until the mixture meets the desired consistency. Transfer to a small pot and bring to a boil. Let simmer for five minutes. Let cool and serve with favorite chips.

A New Job!

2009-11-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

I've been and little behind in my blogging this week. Some surprising things happened and I haven't had as much time to sit behind the computer. The surprising thing is that I finally found a new job! I went in for an interview Monday morning and was offered a position with CK Construction a couple of hours later. I was offered a position as Assistant Project Manager with the anticipation that I will move up to Project Manager in the next three months. I started work on Wednesday.

Everything happened so fast, that I haven't quite gotten settled into a new routine. I've gotten used to having the whole day to myself. Part of me is really sad to leave that kind of freedom behind. Part of me has also been nervous to go back. It has been so long that I have been worried I wouldn't remember how to cope with the pressures of the business world. Luckily, it has been a much easier transition than I was expecting. The atmosphere and expectations are familiar and I still know how to deal with the day to day issues of construction.

I am excited to be working at CK Construction. The office has a much more pleasant feel to it. The people are friendly and helpful. I have felt much more at ease and welcomed than I did at my old job. I am also enjoying the very short commute. It takes ten minutes to get to work and I don't even have to use the freeway. I haven't worked this close to home in years. I can even go home for lunch!

I know this post may be a bit boring, but I couldn't resist sharing my good news. I have spent many hours praying for a new job. It has not been easy, but I know Heavenly Father has been listening. I know he has given me the experiences of the last months to teach me many things including humility, patience, and gratitude. I have had the chance to realign my priorities to better match the gospel path. I am grateful for these lessons and the changes. I want to express my gratitude for all the prayers and expressions of support I have received from so many around me. I truly am blessed!

Are You Coming to Bed?

2009-11-10T19:11:00.004-07:00

Last night I was up really late putting some stuff together to send to my brother in the MTC. I had been working on it all night. Craig was so patient and waited up for me. He finally went upstairs some time after midnight. Just after one o'clock, he sent me this text. It made me laugh. He was so tired. I hadn't realized it was so late. I thought I was about done, but I was downstairs for another half an hour. When I finally crawled into bed, Craig pulled me close and fell back asleep. I felt so loved. These are my favorite moments.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

2009-11-10T18:42:00.002-07:00

In honor of fall and the impending holidays, I have started making treats with pumpkin. I have seen a few recipes for Pumpkin Pie French Toast and had to try it. I love love love french toast. Marrying it with pumpkin pie seemed perfect. I tried a recipe I found on Closet Cooking for my attempt. You can find it here. It was pretty flavorful and really did remind me of pumpkin pie. I think this would be a great breakfast for the day after Thanksgiving. I've posted the recipe here with a few alterations. I thought there was a little too much cloves and not quite enough cinnamon in the version he posted. Next I am going to try Egg Nog French Toast.

Pumpkin Pie French Toast

2 Eggs

1/4 C. Milk

1/4 C. Pumpkin Puree

2 T. Brown Sugar

1 t. Vanilla

1 t. Cinnamon

1/2 t. Ginger

1/4 t. Nutmeg

Dash of Cloves

Mix eggs, milk, pumpkin, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Dip both sides of bread in mixture and grill in greased pan until golden brown on both sides. Serve with maple syrup (I noticed the maple really enhances the flavor of the toast). Makes 4-6 slices.

I Didn't Even Know It Was There!

2009-11-06T13:48:00.002-07:00

About two miles down the road there is a log home sitting in a field near the freeway. I have passed this home over and over and over again in years past, but it wasn't till this summer that I actually noticed it even existed. It's funny how much you can miss when you are so familiar with an area. I've started to look around me a little closer to see what else I have been missing all this time.

Ever since I saw this home, I have wanted to get a closer look. I finally did that this week and took a few snapshots. I wonder who lived there, what was their story, where did they go, and why has this home been left standing all these years. It is kind of a lonely place and I started to think I should have worn better shoes for walking through a field. I started to imagine that a snake might be hiding somewhere in the weeds ready to bite me. I decided not to wander too far into the field so I kept my distance. I have a very vivid imagination.

There was a creek next to the log home and I could see how this place would have been an appealing place to settle down. I really like the way these pictures turned out.

I am thinking this last one will make a pretty cool desktop wallpaper.

I Love Limes!

2009-11-05T11:31:00.007-07:00

Fall is full of comfort food: soup, hot chocolate, apple pie, etc. Yum! Sometimes though, I get tired of the heavy food of fall and long for the food from light lazy summer days, especially with this warm weather lately. I have found the perfect solution: limeade!

I love the fresh smell and flavor of lime. It has a light crisp feeling about it. I made limeade quite a few times this summer and everyone enjoyed it, but it was a really big hit when I made it last week. I went for a second glass and found out it was already all gone!

I based this recipe on one I found at Simply Recipes for lemonade. You can check it out here. I have modified the recipe based on limes and made step by step pictures to go along (I have been experimenting with by camera lately):

Fresh Limeade

1 C. sugar (can reduce to 3/4 cup)
1 C. water (for the simple syrup)
1 C. lime juice (approx. 7-8 limes)
3 to 4 C. cold water (to dilute)

Make simple syrup by heating the sugar and water in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved completely. This will only take a minute or two.

While the sugar is dissolving, use a juicer or citrus squeezer (the first time I made this, I squeezed by hand and my hands ached. I also noticed that Craig liked squeezing the limes so I recommend enlisting your husband :) He was much faster at the squeezing than I was!) to extract the juice from 7 to 8 limes (if the limes are not very juicy, it make take more), enough for one cup of juice.

Add the juice and the sugar water to a pitcher. I noticed that pouring the lime juice through the juicer helped strain a little bit of the pulp. Add 3 to 4 cups of cold water, more or less to the desired strength. Refrigerate 30 to 40 minutes. If the limeade is a little sweet for your taste, add a little more straight lime juice to it.

Serve with ice, sliced limes.

Serves 6.

Cupcake Pops!

2009-11-04T10:59:00.002-07:00

Look what I made! I found the how to make them on a blog called Bakerella. They're chocolate cupcake bites. It is kind of hard to tell in the picture, but they are bite-sized and dipped in chocolate. They looked awesome so I had to try them out.

I especially like the cupcake pops. You can find the how to here. Beware, they can take a really long time! I made these as gifts for the girls I visit teach. They definitely make a fun gift. They are really great for chocolate lovers. I am not huge on chocolate but I like to bite in and eat the centers. There's something for everyone in these.

Family Pictures

2009-11-02T10:48:00.002-07:00

A few weeks ago, we had family pictures taken and they finally came back. We want to get family pictures taken before Austin left on his mission. The pictures were taken by Katie Wilhelmsen. She owns Love & Laughter Photography. She did a great job and was so easy to work with. She took the time to make sure everything was perfect. The day was rainy off and on so we had to try to shoot the pictures in between the showers. They really turned out nicely.

This is my mom's favorite picture.

This one was taken right after another rain shower. I really like the unique lighting in this one. The sun had just broken through the clouds.

Here's one with just my parents and the siblings. I don't think we have had a real family picture since I was in high school. Austin and Jace were still in elementary school. Things have definitely changed!

Here's the closeup of Craig and me.

Halloween Confessions

2009-10-30T18:38:00.000-06:00

There are lots of things I love about Halloween: carving pumpkins, cool decorations, fun size candy bars, spooky music, old school trick-or-treating (where you went door to door around your neighborhood instead of to each car in a church parking lot), Ghostbusters movies, school Halloween parties, etc.

Here's the confession: I don't like to wear costumes. In fact, I have only dressed up once since I was a kid. My roommates had to practically force me into it and my costume was very very last minute. I love checking out what other people are wearing and am always super impressed. It's just that when it comes time to wear a costume, I feel awkward and uncomfortable. I want to be one of those cool people who wear costumes, but I think to myself how itchy the wig will be or that the face makeup will drive me nuts. Sometimes, I get nervous that I will be the only one who wears one and then I will feel really silly. The other day, I missed going with my friends to see Thriller and everyone was going to wear a costume. I was so sad not to go with them, but part of me was relieved that I wouldn't have to dress up.

When I was a kid I used to love to dress up for Halloween. The picture above is me as a pirate with my sister as a princess. I shared a room with my sister and when we were too wired to go to sleep but had to be in bed, we would talk to each other about what we wanted to be for Halloween the next year. It didn't matter if it was December or April, we would always go back to Halloween costumes. I fell asleep many times with images of me dressed up as a baby chicken or a bunch of grapes, etc. I can still picture these in my head today. It is one of my favorite memories of growing up.

I need to figure out how to get the magic back. I have been thinking that what I need is a cool costume party at Halloween. No one I know ever has one. My plan is to throw a super-cool Halloween party next year, costume required. If I throw the party, I will have to dress up. I love throwing parties. Hmmm ... it just might work.

Such a Good Book

2009-10-29T12:31:00.001-06:00

I can't resist sharing this book with everyone, Women of the Old Testament by Camille Fronk Olson and Elspeth Young (Illustrator). I wanted it the minute I saw it and couldn't stop hoping it would go on sale so I could get it. Luckily, my mom stepped in and bought it for me or I'd still be pining away for it. It is so good! I haven't finished it yet but I am learning so much. It tells the stories of the women of the Old Testament one by one and provides background, culture, and other information about them.

I especially like the first chapter about Eve. I learned so much about how the story of Adam and Eve points to the atonement. Here is an excerpt from page 13-14:

"After choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge, Adam and Eve began to perceive what they had previously not been able to comprehend. The first new truth they recognized was that their bodies were not covered. Nakedness suggests being unclothed, unprotected, ashamed, and ill-equipped to succeed. Even more than what they saw in the present, the book of Moses relates that "they knew that they had been naked" (4:13 emphasis added), suggesting that they finally realized they had always been in a vulnerable condition. Only after eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge could they acknowledge their need for a covering. In truth, Christ's perfect love is the only complete covering. The Hebrew word for "atonement" (kaphar) literally means "to cover" or "a covering." The imagery evoked of the Savior's sacrifice being symbolized by a covering indicates what could have been the first blessing of the Fall: awareness of the absolute need for a Redeemer...

Not surprisingly, the Lord God did not send Adam and Eve out of the Garden uncovered. He provided them clothing made from animal skins, a covering that requires the sacrifice of life (Genesis 3:21; Moses 4:27). Truly a life was sacrificed to provide the only sufficient covering for Adam and Eve. Being clothed in such a reminder of the Sacrifice of the Only Begotten, literally encircled in the love of God..."

The pictures inside are gorgeous, too. (Sorry this picture is sideways, no matter what I do, blogger keeps loading it that way. Grrr...) They are by an artist named Elspeth Young. I have never seen her work before but I am already in love. She has brought these women of the past to life. I love the color, texture and emotion that come through in her work. This book is worth it just for the artwork.

You can get it here and here. Check it out. If you don't like to read, they have a calendar of the some of the pictures, too. Check here and here.

The Great Pumpkin

2009-10-28T11:18:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, Craig and I decided it was finally time to pick up some pumpkins for carving. We stopped at a place on the side of the road about a mile from our house. The stand has been there ever since I can remember and belongs to my first grade teacher and her husband. It was funny to see them interacting with the families that came to pick up their pumpkins. It seems like the couple haven't changed a bit from what I remember. Nice and friendly to everyone.

This year, we looked for some pumpkins with "character". Either they had a cool stem or their coloring was not your typical orange pumpkin. Things were a little picked over by the time we got there, but I think we found some good ones.

We ended up with five pumpkins to carve. The next night we asked my brother and his girlfriend to help up carve them up. Jace loves carving pumpkins. Halloween is his favorite holiday and he gets into all of the traditions.

I had a hard time figuring out what I wanted to do for my pumpkin. I usually do some fun design and avoid anything scary. This year I went for it and made a pretty scary mummy head. Jace's girlfriend, Kat, ended up with the only non-scary pumpkin this year.

Here is how they turned out. I haven't figured out a great way to take pictures of lit pumpkins in the dark. It was also too cold outside to find out. October breezes can be very chilly!

This is the whole group together.

Craig carved two pumpkins. He looked all over the pumpkin stand for the biggest one he could find. That ended being carved into the haunted house and graveyard. He did this one freehand with no pattern. It turned out pretty good.

This is Kat's. She also did hers freehand. I like the swirly eyes.

This is Jace's pumpkin. It looks pretty cool in the pictures. You can really imagine the wind blowing at the scarecrow with a red moon behind it.

Here is my mummy face. I wasn't looking for one to do that was this hard but everyone said it would look cool. I think they were right. It definitely took a while to carve, but it was worth it.

My Talented Family

2009-10-23T10:16:00.002-06:00

Disclaimer: This post is 100% me being proud of my family and probably bragging a little.

My sister has started a business making gourmet caramel apples and other delicious treats (i.e. - rice krispie treats dipped in caramel and chocolate, etc.) They are fantastic! She has been hired to work at the Eccles Center in Ogden for a lot of their events this holiday season and has catered a wedding and more. Look here to check out her blog: sagersweets.blogspot.com.

The coolest thing she does is make these fantastic dipping creams that compliment the flavor of the apple she has made.

This is a caramel and chocolate covered krispie. They are divine! And are pretty cute for the holiday.

My brother has a video making company, Right Eye Productions. He made my wedding video and I was very impressed. I like his creativity and definitely recommend him if you are looking to put something together. He created this video showcasing Lyndsay's product. Check it out:

Do I Like Apple Pie?

2009-10-21T16:00:00.000-06:00

The other day, my mom came home with a ton of apples. She said they were on sale and had just come in to the store from a farm down in Utah County. I knew there was no way we would eat all of those apples before they went bad. I started to think it was time to experiment. It was a particularly chilly Sunday and the thought of warm apple pie after dinner sounded so good. This seemed a little weird to me as I am pretty sure I have spent most of my life not really caring for apple pie or any other apple based dessert. I started looking through cookbooks and websites and this is what I came up with:

I found a recipe for the pie crust at one of my favorite blogs, Baking Bites. You can link to the website by clicking on the recipe title.

Double Crust Pie Dough

2 1/4 C. all purpose flour

1 Tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

3/4 C. butter, chilled and cut into chunks

approx. 2/3 C. cold water

Whisk together flour, salt and sugar in a large bowl. Rub in butter with your fingertips until mixture is very coarse, but no pieces bigger than a large pea remain. Using a fork, stir in cold water until dough almost comes together into a ball (you might not need to use all the water, so add it in as you go). This process may be done in the food processor, as well.
Divide dough in half and shape each half into a ball with your hands. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30-60 minutes before using.

For the filling, I used a bit of a recipe called Caramel Apple Pie from the Worldwide Ward Cookbook on page 298. Which you can buy here or here. I didn't have the heavy cream on hand that I needed for the caramel part of the recipe so I just made the apple pie part and added a little ginger and cloves to the mixture to give it a bit more flavor. I also left out the 2 Tbsp. of butter you are supposed to put on top of the filling.

The pie turned out great but everyone thought we should add a little more cinnamon. I think I would also use brown sugar instead of white for the filling. I've written the original recipe below so you can tweak it to your own tastes. I do think the caramel topping sounds fantastic and want to come and try some at your house if you decide to make it. I think I am going to stay away from making pie myself for a little while. I ate most of this one myself and have to admit it seemed sweeter the second day. I've decided that I really like apple pie.

Caramel Apple Pie

6 C. apples, peeled and thinly sliced (about 8 apples)

1 Tbsp. lime juice

1/4 C. flour

3/4 C. sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Pastry for a 2-crust pie

2 Tbsp. butter

1/4 C. butter

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

1/2 C. brown sugar

1/2 C. pecans, chopped (optional)

Sprinkle apples with lime juice. In a separate bowl, combine flour, sugar, salt, and spices. Sprinkle over apples and lightly toss. Place in a 10-inch deep-dish pie plate lined with an unbaked pie pastry crust. Dot with 2 Tbsp. butter. Top with pie crust pastry. Seal and crimp the edges. Bake at 400 degrees for 40-45 minutes. In a saucepan, combine 1/4 C. butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar. Stir on medium heat and bring to a boil for 2 minutes. Pour over hot pie and sprinkle with pecans (if desired). Place on a baking sheet or foil. Return to oven for an additional 3-4 minutes until caramel bubbles. Serve warm with ice cream. Note: Rome Beauty or Braeburn apples taste best in this pie.

Austin, How Are You Doing?

2009-10-21T09:43:00.004-06:00

Now that Austin has left for his mission, the kids make pictures to send to him every time they come over to visit. I love seeing their art work. They are probably better at "writing" him letters than half the adults.

Now that it is October, the kids have turned to a Halloween theme for all their letters. Taylor was pretty proud that he figured out how to draw a bat. You can see it above the pumpkin and to the right.

Of course, once they were done posing for photos with their letters, they were ready for a karate action shot. Oh, to be a kid again!

With Hearts of Lions, Rocks!!

2009-10-19T17:37:00.010-06:00

So, my brother is in a band (yes, I know, he is much higher on the cool scale that me). His band is called With Hearts of Lions. Anyway, his band was in a Battle of the Bands at Weber State University on October 9 and won! (Jace's cool points +300, my cool points +10 for being related to him and therefore some coolness must rub off.) Really, his band rocked! They did a great job! Their band has a totally unique sound. Most of the other bands sound like something you've heard before. "With Hearts of Lions" does something different. Right now, they are sans a vocalist and open to finding one. If you're interested let me know and I'll pass it on.

This is my brother.

This is his band. From Left: Jace, Mason, Braden and Dave.

Here is a clip from the show. You can check out their MySpace page here and listen to their recordings.

This is Braden.

This is Mason.

This is Dave. I couldn't get a good shot before my camera battery died, so Dave is blurry. Sorry.

One more picture of Jace.

The End of an Era ... Selling My Car

2009-10-15T14:37:00.001-06:00

It's time. I need to sell my car. I am so sad to see it go. We've decided that it's time to get rid of the payment and now we need to find a new home for my favorite car. If anyone knows someone who's interested, let me know. It's a great car and I've been very careful to take care of it. It is so fun to drive and runs great! We have it advertised here. See below for some photos. The interior is a little light in these pictures, I think my camera did some adjusting since it was cloudy that day and it makes the interior lighter than in real life. The interior is black with silver accents and charcoal cloth seats.

Double Date at the Graveyard

2009-10-15T14:23:00.001-06:00

Last weekend, Craig and I went on a double date with a couple of friends of mine. I had set them up with each other and this was their first meeting. We went to the Blue Iguana for lunch (I love that place! Check it out if you want great Mexican food for a good price. I really like their enchilada sauce. I think they add cinnamon and it gives it a warm taste with a different kind of kick.) and then to the Salt Lake Cemetery to check out the graves of some of the famous people from Salt Lake. It was sort of my way of finding something with a Halloween theme that didn't play into being scary. We had a lot of fun. I had no idea that the cemetery was so large. We showed with a list of famous people that I found here and expected to be able to just walk around finding them. Think again! We could wander around for hours and never find the names on this list. Luckily, the cemetery had a map available at the entrance to the main office. It didn't show all of the people I had on the list but it did have everyone we wanted to see. We found a lot of the early church leaders like Wilford Woodruff, George Q. Cannon, John Taylor, and more. Some of my favorites were W.W. Phelps, Karl G. Maeser and James E. Talmage.

We found of Craig's ancestors, Truman O. Angell. He designed the architect of he Salt Lake Temple and other important church buildings.

Orrin Rockwell is one of Craig's favorite figures from history. He was Joseph Smith's bodyguard and has a colorful story. It was neat to see these places where tributes have been made to these great men in LDS Church history. I recommend checking it out sometime.

One Last Day of Fun in the Sun

2009-10-13T11:01:00.001-06:00

Craig has been mentioning how fun it would be to go kayaking pretty much all summer. A couple of weeks ago, we finally had a Saturday available and it looked like it would be the last chance to get out on the lake before the weather turns cold. The day ended up being perfect. It was super warm and the canyon was beautiful with the changing of the colors. We just went up to Pineview Reservoir for the kayaking. Both of us decided that next time it would be more fun to take a trip down a river where we wouldn't have to compete with much bigger boats and would have a current helping us along.

Craig was definitely the better rower out of the two of us. I thought this was something new for both of us but halfway across the lake I found out that Craig has done this before. I had to work like crazy to keep up with him. Doesn't it seem that things look so much easier for the other guy no matter what it is you are trying to do? Why is that?

All in all, it was a good day. I definitely recommend giving kayaking a try. They are pretty cheap to rent, and you can make a whole day out of it. I am going to miss the nice summer weather. I am not sure I am ready to be cooped up in doors waiting for the snow to fly. Hopefully, there will be some snowboarding in the near future so I can enjoy the winter cold as much as the summer sun.

Cowboys for a Day

2009-10-12T20:40:00.000-06:00

We took my nieces and nephews to see the horses at Craig's grandpa's house a few weeks ago and I got a picture of them with their dad watching the horse being brought into the corral. Karstin said, "I am so excited I can't stand it!"

Here you can see that he finally got his turn.

Brad Paisley Rocks!

2009-10-09T13:34:00.002-06:00

For our anniversary Craig gave me a beautiful picture of Joseph Smith reading his scriptures outside of the log home he grew up in. It is called "Let Him Ask of God" by Jon McNaughton. You can see it here (although, mine isn't quite so large). It was a total surprise. Craig definitely spoiled me. I had never seen the picture before but he said he had spotted it some time ago and thought of me. Right now it is hanging in the hall outside our room.

I got Craig a pair of tickets to the Brad Paisley concert. We had to wait almost a whole month for him to get any enjoyment out of his present. Sorry, Craig! It turned out to be a great night for a concert. There was a storm rolling in and it almost rained on us during the show, but we lucked out and had a lot of fun together.

We were about an hour late for the show since traffic was so bad getting there. While we sat in traffic, I had some fun with the camera and took pictures of Craig. He will never just let me take a picture of him. He always pulls a goofy face. I have a feeling he will hate seeing these pictures, especially the second one.

The concert was at USANA and we were on the grass for the performance. We didn't choose the greatest spot and got stuck sitting by some not very wholesome people. Luckily, they started to take off when a few drops of rain fell and it got much better.

We missed the first act but we were in time to see all of Dierks Bentley's and Brad Paisley's performance. We didn't love Dierks Bentley's part of the show. He kept talking about beer and little white tank tops and drinking beer from the audience. Not so cool.

Brad Paisley is a fun performer. He came out on stage and the first thing he said was that he planned to perform as long as the audience wanted and he would play every song we could hope for. He did just that. We got to hear him sing all of our favorites. He was clean and friendly and you can tell he is having a good time with the crowd. I would definitely recommend checking him out some time.

One Full Year of Wedded Bliss!

2009-10-08T12:26:00.000-06:00

Okay so this picture is really bad, but we couldn't get a better one. The sun was directly in our eyes and I just couldn't keep mine open. I promise I am not ornery in this picture. For our first anniversary, we stayed at a resort up in Cache Valley and bummed around Logan for a while. We have been pretty strapped for cash so this was a budget weekend o' fun. Since we got married in Logan we thought it would be nice to visit the temple grounds and took a picture in one of the same spots some of our wedding photos were taken. Boy, are we glad we got married last year. The temple grounds were mostly a mess because they are remodeling the whole front area and fountain. We were very lucky it wasn't like that last year.

We wandered around the zoo and got a good view of the bald eagles and other animals. Not a lot of people were there so we just wandered through on our own time. Mostly we just had fun being away from the rest of the world and spending time with each other. There has been a lot going on this last year. I am so happy we had each other through the trials we have experienced. It has been a good year. I love spending time with my best friend and am greatly blessed.

This last year has gone so quickly but I already can't imagine life with Craig. I am definitely in love with this boy. He is funny, sweet, and caring. He loves to have fun and always makes the best of every situation. I couldn't ask for more.

Rainy Day at Bear Lake

2009-10-08T11:22:00.000-06:00

We headed up to Bear Lake in the first part of August this year hoping for some fun in the sun. It turned out to be the wettest weekend of the month! Craig and I seem to have a talent for running into bad weather when we go on vacation.

We ended playing volleyball in the campground and hanging out all day. We lucked out around 5 p.m. and were able to get tickets to the Minnetonka Cave. Most of the family headed up there to get a break from the campground scenery.

The kids were pretty excited to check everything out and were pretty fun to watch.

Taylor and Mylie pose as we wait for the tour guide to give the okay to head down to the cave.

The kids were anxious to get down into the cave and were the first ones in line.

Craig looks a little worried about going into the dark cave.

The rest of the group waits to go in. These are couple of my Aunts: Tammy and Dianne.

We were told not to touch anything because the oils from our hands would ruin the formations and stunt their growth. It looks like Craig is cheating. (Actually, this is the one formation they allow you to touch because was already destroyed previously.)

After the cave we went to camp and had dinner by the fire before heading into town for some of the famous Bear Lake Raspberry shakes. Bear Lake can be fun even if you never step foot in to the water.

My Brother the Missionary

2009-09-21T21:46:00.002-06:00

Last week was very busy and full of smiles and tears as we sent Austin, now Elder Nelson, off to be a missionary. He will be serving in the Chile - Concepcion Mission. It has been hard to see him go. Tears came a few times as we said goodbye.

Right before we left for the MTC, my dad pulled out Austin's motorcycle for one last ride. I took a few pictures and turned around to see my mom and dad with tears in their eyes as they watched.

The last goodbyes are pretty tough, especially on the missionary. Austin was pretty quiet on the ride down to Provo. Reality was setting in, I think. What a giant undertaking for someone so young. I am glad I had no idea how young I really was when I left home for the mission field. It would have really scared me.

Here are a couple of pictures at the sign outside of the MTC.

Families are no longer allowed to walk their missionaries into the MTC, instead goodbyes are said at the curb and an escort takes the missionary into the MTC. This is Austin walking away led by his escort Elder Gomez. Austin was loaded up. We noticed he had a lot more luggage than most of the other missionaries being dropped off. I think my mom has suscribed to the "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear" motto. She followed the list to a tee and then added a few things.

Austin has a light that radiates and touches everyone he meets. I know he will be a fantastic missionary. I have put together a blog so everyone can keep track of his progress. It will have more detail than I have mentioned here and we will be posting his letters and photos throughout the mission. The address is: http://www.elderaustinnelson.blogspot.com/

A Trip to the Mountains

2009-09-21T15:16:00.003-06:00

One of the funnest things we have done this last summer is take a picnic up to a place called Silver Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. We packed a lunch of chicken salad (first chicken salad I ever made! I sort of made up the recipe and it turned out really good. Yay! I am finally getting the hang of some of this cooking stuff) and other treats and headed up. We ate lunch around Silver Lake but things were pretty crowded at the picnic tables and we ended up on a couple of logs next the lake and fought off the squirrels and chipmunks as we munched on our food. They were pretty bold and I almost thought they were going to climb up our legs and take a bite of our sandwiches.

Silver Lake is a great place to take little ones if you want a day outside. The parking lot is right next to a stroller friendly trail that winds around the lake. There were a ton of families up there. A lot of dads were fishing around the lake with their sons. Very cute!

We liked Silver Lake but it was definitely too crowded for our taste that day. We just wanted to be alone together. Luckily, Silver Lake is the beginning of a couple trails to two other lakes. We chose to hike up to Twin Lake Reservoir. I have been working out all summer, so I was surprised how out of breath I was on the trail. I felt like I complained way too much, while Craig quietly, and much more easily than me, hiked up the trail. Men! How come they are always in better shape even when they don't work out and you do? Not Fair!!

The trail was not too long, maybe a mile, and worth getting dirty and sweaty and out of breath because the lake was beautiful. This spot was also much more secluded with just a few people on the other side of the lake and an occasional hiker or two walking by.

Craig was very interested in checking out the fish. The water was clear and not to deep at the sides and you could see everything. Craig said that one of the largest fish was cannibalizing the smaller fish. I looked for a minute but didn't really want to see a fish eating his neighbors. I like nature but it something different to see animals eating each other on TV and seeing them eat each other in person. Anyone who knows Craig knows it was quite an accomplishment getting him to turn away from the fish and look around at anything else.

This is a view from the lake looking out at the valley. It really was gorgeous.

It took a while to get Craig to turn around and let me take pictures so I took a few from the back side. He is just as cute from the back as he is from the front.

I finally peeled him away from the fish and we took a few pictures on top of the reservoir before heading to the trail around the lake.

The trail around the lake was gorgeous. I love the yellow flowers. Craig was still looking at the fish.

Here is another view of Twin Lake.

This picture shows a bit of Craig's newlywed belly. I am pretty sure he will not like this picture, so enjoy it while it lasts. I think I might be required to remove it soon. In Craig's defense, he has lost a lot of the newlywed belly in the last couple of months.

This area is at the top of Brighton Ski Resort. So all you snowboarders/skiers out there might find the view familiar. Just imagine snow on top of everything.

I am not sure if Craig is tired of me taking his picture or trying to hide from all of the bugs.

This is a picture of Silver Lake from above. It definitely belongs to one of those wish you were here moments.

We saw a family of ducklings as we walked around the lake to get back to the car. It was a great day. Craig wants to go back with a fishing pole. Hopefully, we get a chance before the weather changes.

Major Surgery Teaches Major Lesson

2009-09-14T11:17:00.005-06:00

One of the biggest events of the year was Craig's gallbladder surgery. He had been getting sick quite frequently and missing a lot of school and work. It seemed like everything he ate made him feel awful. There was one night that I got a call from his work asking me to pick him up because he was so sick. He decided to get his gallbladder checked one day and within hours was scheduled for surgery.

The day of the surgery, Craig's Uncle Paul showed up at the hospital for support. We took Craig in to get ready for the surgery and after about half an hour he was called back to surgery. Paul and I went to get something to eat in the cafeteria while we were waiting. We were only gone for half an hour but when we came back to the waiting room we found out that his surgery had taken just fifteen minutes and he was in the recovery room! I felt bad that we had missed him coming out. I guess that was a good sign though because everything went well. It took him a few hours to come out of the anesthetic and then we went home. I set him up on the couch but it didn't take too long and Craig moved to the floor. Apparently hard surfaces are more comfortable when you are in major surgery recovery pain! Craig mostly slept for the first day or two and then started to move around a bit. I probably shouldn't have shot these pictures while he was in so much pain, but I couldn't resist. He looked so peaceful and it was kind of funny to see him on the floor.

Craig's surgery was definitely not something to be hoped for but it did teach me a lot and the hand of our Father in Heaven was clearly present. We were blessed to have such skilled doctors taking care of Craig. Things couldn't have gone more smoothly. At the time of his surgery, we thought we only had insurance coverage through my employment but found out later we were covered by Craig's employment also. This has been a major blessing for us financially. At a time when we have the least money to spare, Craig's surgery has cost us nothing but a few days of pay for missing work. I am still in awe over that.

One of the big blessings for me was the opportunity to take care of my husband. Craig does so much for me that I have a hard time keeping up. I am sure that if we had a scoreboard tracking the service we provide for each other, Craig would be up by at least twenty points. Taking care of Craig while he was sick, expanded my love for him. It is amazing how acts of service expand our capacity to love. I will always treasure the things I learned during that time.

Corn Maze Fun

2009-09-14T10:40:00.003-06:00

I have been behind on blogging for so long that most of these posts are a bit of old information. I can't help posting about some of the things that have happened in the last year though.

These are pictures from my niece Hailey's birthday last October. We went to a corn maze and the kids had a blast. I ended up with quite a few good pictures too.

We had a ton of fun on the slide they had set up. Everyone got into the action. I went down a couple of times but the smell of the rotting hay was nasty so mostly I took pictures of the others. Above is a shot of Taylor and Karstin reaching the bottom. Below is Karstin going down backwards and my brother-in-law Justin striking a pose on the way down.

Above is picture of my brother Jace and Hailey taking a ride down the slide on their bellies. This picture makes them look like the are taking a nap but they really were flying down the slide.

There was a treasure hunt set up in a swimming pool of corn with about 4 pieces of candy in it. The kids were excited about it until they couldn't find much candy.

Next we went through the corn maze. Some of the kids liked it better than others. Mostly they just wanted to pick up the corn.

There were a few photo opps set up and the boys really got into it.

Making Rolls and Cutting Fingers

2009-09-13T18:54:00.007-06:00

Ever since we got married, I have been in search of the perfect roll recipe. I have a terrible love of bread. No matter how many times I hear that I need to cut the carbs to lose weight, I just can't seem to give it up. Nothing is better than hot rolls from the oven that just seem to melt in your mouth.

I found this recipe for soft yogurt sandwich rolls on one of my favorite foodie blogs: www.bakingbites.com. They are pretty easy to make and supposed to be a little better for you because they replace the butter with plain yogurt. I actually tried this recipe because I had plain yogurt in the fridge and wasn't sure what to do with it. I recommend trying it out. I've never actually made these as sandwich rolls. I have always made them smaller and used them as dinner rolls.

I decided to make these rolls for the first time one Sunday while Craig was watching a movie/snoozing and things were going pretty well. The rolls were in the middle of their first rise and Craig was helping me put the rest of dinner together. We were making the typical Sunday meal of roast with potatoes and carrots. Craig works as my sous chef and chops everything up (what a sweetheart!). Craig was chopping up carrots when suddenly he turns to me and tells me he cut his finger. Thus began our first visit to the Emergency Room as a married couple. I've never actually taken someone to the emergency room before. (Until I met Craig, the only time I had been to the emergency room was when I was in a car accident back in high school, more than ten years ago. We have been to the emergency room at least four times since we met! Not my favorite streak to have. Luckily, none of the visits have been too severe.) Craig was embarrassed because he felt he had made a silly decision with the way he was cutting. I was worried and not really sure what I was supposed to do. We spent the next two hours or so at the hospital getting Craig's finger stitched up. We were a little worried that he had cut deep enough to damage the nerve. His fingertip is still a little numb but other than that it healed up nicely.

When we got home that night, we decided to finish dinner and Craig insisted on finishing cutting up the carrots. He can be very stubborn about things like that. The rolls had gotten huge while we were gone. It looked like they had been pumped with helium and were going to take off with the bowl in tow! I decided to prep them anyway and see what happened. These pictures are the result. I have made the recipe a few times since and they have been pretty good but never as light and fluffy and the first time. I'm not really patient enough to add a couple extra hours to the rise time.

Trip to See Les Miserables

2009-08-05T20:00:00.008-06:00

Not long after we were married, my parents invited us to go on a weekend trip to St. George and see Les Miserables. I have read the book and always loved the music but have never had the opportunity to see the musical. I was pretty excited for the opportunity and a little warm weather.

On Saturday morning, I went shopping with my mom while Craig and my dad went golfing. The weather was clear but breezy in the morning but by that night it was raining. The musical was at Tuacahn, an outdoor theatre. We were worried that it either we would be "les miserables" sitting in the rain or that the musical would be cancelled.

It started to rain in the late afternoon and we held our breath. Luckily, the rain cleared out with less than an hour before showtime. We bundled up in our coats and headed up the canyon. Craig and I bought hot chocolate that turned out to be lukewarm and we huddled together for the show.

I have read the book, played the music, own the CDs and seen the Hollywood movie version of Les Miserables; but I have never seen the musical. It was a lot of fun to see how everything came together. The man who played Javert did a fantastic job (He's the black man in the gray trench coat)! I also thought Fantine had a nice voice (I think she's to the right of Javert, next to Mrs. Thenardier). Her rendition of I Dreamed a Dream made me think I might like the song after all. It was much better than on my CD.

P.S. - Sorry for the fuzzy pictures. It was dark and kind of far away for my little point and shoot camera.

Our First Place

2009-07-30T10:12:00.013-06:00

Our first place was a townhome in Layton. We found it during our frantic "one week before the wedding and we have no place to live after that" search. The place was $200-$300 less than similar sized units in the area. It wasn't brand new but it was clean and small. There were only 12 units in our complex. The location was great as it was not far from the freeway for my commute and Craig could get to work and school in 15 minutes. It wasn't large but there were two bedrooms so we managed to squeeze everything in. The second bedroom was always full of storage and we spent a lot of time pushing boxes around to find things. It was supposed to be a spare bedroom/office but we never found a way to quite get all of our extra stuff into the closet.

These are pictures our living room. It was quite narrow and I never figured out a really great way to set it up. As you can see we are in desperate need of some bookshelves. These are a target special that I bought for a closet in one of my old apartments. They aren't the prettiest to look at but we still haven't found a book shelf that we love and can afford. As you can see, our decorating is minimal. We sort of just stuck up pictures and clocks we got from the wedding and a few random items each of us had from single life and called it good. I like to decorate and organize but we never quite got around to it. Mostly we were focusing on getting some of the furniture we needed, like a dining room table, etc. The smaller bits and pieces will have to wait for now.

I know its kind of weird but the nicest decorated room in our house was the bathroom. I think it is because bathrooms are small and cheap to decorate. All of the items here are from my old apartment. You can't really see the rug clearly, but that is my favorite item in the room. I found it a Pier One. It is thick and green and reminds me of soft grass. I think it was intended to go inside a front door or something. It is kind of a long shag type of rug. I figured grass goes with flowers and hence you see the flowered shower curtain.

Our bedroom furniture was Craig's before we got married. We had a really hard time finding bedding we liked. Nothing really seems to go with this furniture except a more rustic look or a quilt. Craig's Grandma Stokes gave us a beautiful quilt for the wedding but neither of us want to ruin it by using it every day. (We are saving that for a spare bedroom or something along those lines that will keep it nice.)

We both wanted to get a down comforter but it seemed like all the duvets we found are either ugly or didn't really go with our furniture. We finally gave up and decided to just get something we liked. We found this set on clearance at Macy's. It looks better than I expected with the furniture. (Again, we haven't done much in the way of decorating but have you started to notice the green theme?)

Our kitchen was pretty small on counter space so we found a table that was counter height to give me extra working space. The table has a center leaf that folds out and makes it quite a good size.

This is us on moving day. I had just gotten done crying so I am amazed that we have smiles on our faces. I was really sad to leave. We didn't love our ward or know many people around (actually the only neighbor we saw regularly was a man we called Smokey Joe. We met him the week we moved in and he helped us get our couch through the front door. We couldn't remember his name but he went outside about every forty-five minutes to take a smoke by his car. We could hear him open his door to go and smoke from our living room. He would be out there after midnight sometimes. He is a not tall fairly heavy man with a lazy eye and drives truck with his wife. Super nice and fairly quiet neighbors. Sorry for the ramble!) but I loved our time together there. This was our first place and I will always have a soft spot for it in my heart.

Fall Mo-Tab Concert with Allie and James

2009-07-29T21:13:00.008-06:00

We have spent a lot of time doing things with just Craig and me but every once in a while we have surfaced to have fun with friends, too. This was one of those times. I have known Allie and James for a few years now. Both were in the good ol' BYU 177th Ward with me. Allie and I became fast friends and have a tradition of going to concerts together.

The pictures here are from a Mo-Tab concert that Allie had tickets for. It was an American heritage tribute concert or something like that. The concert was a joint event with the Utah Symphony and included a guest singer named Brian Stokes Mitchell. Mitchell is a broadway singer and has an incredible voice. His range was amazing and his performance extremely entertaining. He is the voice that sings, "Through Heavens Eyes" on the Prince of Egypt soundtrack. Craig loved one of the songs he sang called "New Words". It is about a father teaching his son new words. Mitchell talked about this song and said that this one meant a lot to him because he felt it expressed the way he feels as a new father.

After the concert we went to a restaurant in Salt Lake called Bambara. Every six months the Chamber of Commerce puts together an event called Dine O' Round Town where participating restaurants offer a two or three course meal for a discount. Restaurants offer three course meals for $25.00 and two course meals for $15.00. This lets you experience a some of the more expensive restaurants around Salt Lake for cheaper. Bambara is in the Hotel Monaco and was one of the participating restaurants. We really enjoyed our meal. The waiter was really great and the food tasted fantastic. The steak even met Craig's requirements. He didn't even ask for A-1.

Allie and James were really fun to double date with. They moved to Georgia in November so we don't get to do much together anymore. I still think they are great and can't wait for them to name their new baby after me. (Just kidding...but, seriously, I have no problems having a namesake. Feel free to use my name. I'm sure any baby named after me will be very beautiful. Ha, ha!) Congratulations Allie and James!

The Wedding Day

2009-07-28T18:43:00.001-06:00

I have spent a lot of time talking about the wedding plans and items leading up to the wedding day. I am not going to make a lot of comments about the pictures here. I am just going to post some of my favorites and put in a few paragraphs about some of the highlights.

I will take a minute to talk about the wedding day. Whew! What a whirlwind! Despite best efforts, it was hard to squeeze everything in. The reception, in particular, happened so fast. I never even saw the whole thing once it was all set up.

We got married fairly early in the morning, 8:30 a.m. That meant I got up at 5:30 a.m. in order to be sure I was on time. Considering I didn't get to bed until after midnight, it was definitely an early start. Lyndsay came up and did my hair and Craig picked me up to go over to the temple at 7 a.m. Getting ready that quickly, I thought I was doing really well and very organized. This proved to be a false sense of security. I went into the bride's room to put on my dress and remembered I had forgotten to put on deodorant. I had to send my mom out to the car to find my dad and the deodorant. This was one day I was not going to go without it.

The most important part of the day had no cameras present. Our wedding ceremony was beautiful. I can't remember much of what the sealer said that day but I remember feeling happiness and peace. The rest of the days activities and all the stresses I had been feeling were put aside. I had wondered if I would feel nervous at the ceremony. Everything just felt right.

I felt the nostalgia and importance of what we were doing. I remembered the day, as a little girl, I was sealed to my parents in that same building. I felt so grateful that I was worthy to be in the temple marrying a man I had made no compromises for. He is everything I have ever needed or wanted. I wouldn't change a moment with him. He makes me happy in a new and peaceful way.

I don't think anything can match the beauty and simplicity of the temple ceremony. The focus is on you and your spouse and your covenant with the Lord. There are no distractions. No frivolous phrases. The words said have meaning for eternity. I can't imagine anything more important.

After the ceremony, we met friends and family outside for pictures and hugs. The day was gorgeous. I loved having the time to be with everyone. We finished pictures and had our luncheon at a fantastic restaurant in Logan called Hamilton's. The food was fantastic and the room was a perfect size to fit everyone who could come from the families. Believe me, there is a lot of family! This was definitely a feat! I really enjoyed the luncheon. It was the part of the day that allowed for the most time to chat with family and friends and relax before the craziness of the reception.

The reception had a few hiccups to start out with. My friend doing the flowers, Bri, got lost and arrived late to put the flowers together. We found out we hadn't bought enough flowers to fill the vases. The boutonnieres bridesmaid bouquets, and corsages were misplaced and half the family couldn't find theirs for a while. My mom's hair got wet and she had to redo it about 5 minutes before we were supposed to take pictures. I got dressed and couldn't find Craig. He got dressed and couldn't find me. We were both ready and couldn't find the families in order to take pictures with. Then we found one side of the family but not all the grandparents. We were still taking pictures when guests started to arrive.

Luckily, everything came together at the last minute and the wedding turned out great. I see what people mean when they say they didn't have time to enjoy the reception. You work so hard getting everything planned and organized and it is over in what seems a matter of minutes.

The end result of all of this is a new marriage and a very happy couple. It has been such a joy to have someone to share my days with. I always have someone to talk to. I feel supported and loved and content. The peace I have felt in the temple has continued with me and I couldn't be happier.

Wedding Day Inspiration

2009-07-27T12:20:00.000-06:00

I've put together a collage of a bunch of the items that inspired the wedding. Looking back at it, I think we did a pretty good job of implementing these ideas. I'll start in the bottom left-hand corner and work clockwise.

I have fallen in love with hydrangeas. These flowers were the inspiration for my temple/throw bouquet. This picture was on the cover of a Real Simple wedding magazine. We couldn't find flowers with color as deep blue-purple as shown in the picture but the bouquet came out beautiful and its simplicity really allowed the flowers to show themselves off. Hydrangeas do not do well in the heat and the bouquet didn't look so great by the end of the day but it was perfect for the pictures at the temple. It turned out that the temple grounds were planted with an all purple scheme so everything matched up nicely.

The table centerpieces became the inspiration for the theme of the reception. We tried to execute this picture as closely as possible. I love how light and elegant everything looks in this picture. Again, hydrangeas do not do well in the heat, so we substituted with a flower called stock. One of the snafus of the wedding day was finding out we hadn't bought enough flowers to have them overflow out of the vases so we had to do some quick adjustments. The white of the tables offset really nicely against the greenery in my uncle's backyard. My friend Bri has done weddings in the past and she volunteered to help me procure the flowers and arrange the centerpieces and bouquets. She saved me so much money and was so helpful not only in selection but also in providing ideas. I love how the flowers turned out and am so grateful for her help.

I had a hard time coming up with what exactly I wanted my bouquet to look like. I wanted something that looked completely different from the rest of the wedding party. This green bouquet is really original and has a lot of fun unique elements (This picture is from theknot.com). I like to use of leaves and other plants that are not flowers. I am also really drawn to arrangements with repetitive flowers. I know this arrangement does not look much like my bouquet but it really did provide a lot of inspiration. Again, Bri was really awesome in putting together the bouquet for me. I could not have achieved the look I desired without her. She did a wonderful job. I didn't give her a ton of direction regarding my bouquet but she read my mind beautifully. I couldn't have wished for anything more.

We had to search pretty hard to find some white lights to use over head. The lights shown here are by Sival Lighting. During a trip to the Olive Garden, we found the perfect string lights. If you are ever at the Olive Garden, look up and you will see what I am talking about. They have black wire and look like small lightbulbs. These kinds of lights turned out to be pretty expensive to buy for a one time use and we couldn't find any to rent. Every year I complain about how early stores pull out their Christmas stock to sell. For once, this turned out to be a blessing. We found large white Christmas lights for just $5.99 a string. We strung these across the seating area and not only did they look great but they provided just enough light to keep everyone comfortable as the sun went down.

I've never been a fan of the poster with balloons that you see attached to lightpoles at corners that provide directions to a wedding. Everything else has so much thought put into it and looks so nice that it is sad to provide such a cheesy impression for guests before they get there. My dad put together some signs very similar to (but much better than) the ones shown here. This is an instance where we definitely did a better job than the inspiration.

When it came to the wedding cake, I was looking for something very simple. I was referred to a woman who lives in North Ogden to help with the cake. She has done a lot of cakes for people but cake making is more of a side job/hobby for her. She gave us a great deal and did a fantastic job. I think I got to spend less time worrying about the cake than anything else related to the reception. I wanted something classic, elegant, and simple but also a little bit different. I found this on Martha Stewart's website. I combined the colors and oval shape from this cake with some inspiration from other places to come up with the final result. Each layer of my cake was a different thickness and I had flowers tied with a ribbon on top instead of the little people.

I liked the idea of a pathway lit with candles a shown in this picture I found in a Martha Stewart Weddings magazine. My sister found some fantastic green glass hurricanes at Robert's Craft. We placed pillar candles in them and placed them along a nice winding pathway on the east side of the house to aid in leading guests to the backyard. I found out from my six year old niece at the end of the evening that she and some of the other kids had gone around blowing out all of the candles along the pathway so I don't know if many people even saw this element after all. Despite the best efforts of the adults most of the candles were unlit most of the evening.

I've shown a picture here of the inspiration for the invitations. I found this on an Etsy website but I cannot remember the name of the site. I have already posted about the invitations so I won't spend much time on it here except to say that I thought they really fit in with the style and theme of the wedding that I was going for. The green color shown here is really the only thing I wanted to modify. I wanted a chartreuse instead of the kind of minty green shown here.

I found this picture somewhere online. I think maybe on Vera Wang Weddings. I love how the veil appears to have just fallen over her and rests so lightly on her head. I also like how it is thin and transparent. There wasn't anything like I desired at the bridal shop. Most veil's were too short and had jewels, pearls, or other embellishments. I went to a bridal fair with Craig in Salt Lake and found a woman who would custom make my veil for much less than those I saw in the shops. This girl did a fantastic job! We decided to have the veil extend the length of the dress and fall lightly and around to my sides with as few gathers as possible. I love how my veil turned out. It was sometimes a bit of a pain when I would walk down stairs as it would catch under my feet. Luckily, stair walking was not required much and the breeze kept catching the veil which was fun for some of the pictures.

I found these shoes in the bridal shop and feel in love with them. They are by Grace (see www.gracefootwear.com) and the style name is Chelsea. They were the perfect height for the dress allowing me to avoid any hemming. The open toe was a bit more summery than a plain pump but it still had a classic look. I looked everywhere to find shoes I might like better but ended up getting these and spending a bit more than I wanted to for shoes I was only going to wear for a day. I still love the shoes though and am very happy I didn't settle for something else.

I found this picture of the wedding dress by Christos in a magazine when I first started looking for one. I have already posted about the dress, so again, I won't add too much here. I still love the lace on the top of the dress and it would definitely be my first pick if I had an unlimited budget. I do think the dress I got was beautiful and fit my personality well.

I went to the theknot.com and went through hundreds of hairstyles. This picture was one of my favorites. The pearls tied in to my dress and jewelry but would have been covered by the veil. My hair is stick straight and WILL NOT hold a curl, so I had to find an updo for the wedding day. I couldn't have my hair done professionally that day because I didn't know anyone in Logan and the wedding was so early that we stayed overnight up there. My sister jumped in and helped do my hair that day. She experimented and twisted and came up with what we had on the wedding day. Lyndsay got up at 5:30 that day to help me get ready. I don't actually have any pictures of the back of my hair from that day. It is kind of funny that I worried about something I didn't get a picture of. I am still very grateful that my sister helped me when I really didn't have someone to help me out. She really was a lifesaver and gave me the confidence I needed that day.

2009-06-04T09:45:00.003-06:00

Well I was just sitting here thinking that the first weekend in June, one year ago we got engaged to be married. It was from that time that my life changed for the better. Well from that time I knew that I would always be happy. I was right, Everyday since that time I have been happier then the day before. I have given my heart to the one person that I love and trust the most. My hopes and dreams are starting to become reality. I have truly fallen deeply in love for Lexie. My goals everyday are to let her know that I love her and my favorite is to make her smile. She truly is the blessing in my life. The love she has for doing what is right always amazes me. She make me want to be a better man. From the first time we met to now, I love looking in to her eyes and seeing why I fell in love with her. Her beauty and her attitude and her love for the gospel of Jesus Christ, is just a few of the strongest reasons why I have devoted my life to making her dreams come true. I love you Lexie and I hope and pray with all my heart that your dreams are coming true. I love you and love that you chose to have me part of your life.

Love your husband

Craig Stokes

P.S. "I love you"

Engagement Photo Session

2009-05-13T20:33:00.018-06:00

The most important element for our wedding was the photographers. This was our biggest budget item and the one we spent the most time working on together. I found AMB Photo Company about a month before I met Craig. I was looking at pictures from a wedding of one of my roommate's friend and fell in love. I thought they were fun, full of color and personality, and original. When it came time to choose a photographer, we couldn't find anyone that compared within the same budget range.We went downtown for our engagement photos and took pictures at the library, alleyways, etc. I like the look of our pictures a lot. Most of the photos do not show both of us looking at the camera. This seemed like a bit of a problem because we knew that people look at the photo included in the invitation to get an idea of what the couple looks like. Although this picture was not my favorite in the bunch, we decided to go with the most traditional photo which gave a good representation of the both of us (see above). I've posted a few of my favorite pictures below.

Invitation Nightmare!

2009-05-08T20:08:00.003-06:00

Every person planning a wedding can expect a hiccup or two and we sure had our share. Especially fitting all of the planning into a two and a half month time period. The piece that gave me the greatest heartache were the invitations. Prices were so high and finding something that was my style was difficult. I looked through books for hours but didn't find anything I liked that I could afford. Luckily, I found an invitation online that I liked and a company that said they could recreate it. Craig went in and set up the order initially and worked with the printer to select colors based on my print out from online. The printer could not print the invitation in black, so we settled on a charcoal gray instead. I had to communicate with the printer mostly through email since they were located in downtown Salt Lake and I was still working an hour away in Lindon.

We were really in a time crunch to get the invitations out and I was pleased to find out they would be ready fairly quickly. I went to pick them up one day on my lunch break and almost began to cry when I saw them. The colors were completely different from the mockups. Instead of a bright soft green color we had a dark olive green color printed on a charcoal gray to was almost half as dark as shown on the mockup. Unless you held the invitation up close to your face, you could not tell the difference between the green and the greay. The text just disappeared into the background. I was SO disappointed and embarrassed to think I would have to send these out to our guests.

I was so grateful when the lady who was helping me saw my distress and offered to reprint my invitations with different color selections. There was nothing I could do to get a darker gray but I chose a lighter green and the final result was much better.

Wedding Registry

2009-03-06T22:04:00.003-07:00

One of the fun things we did as part of the wedding prep was putting together a registry. The first place we stopped, Bed, Bath and Beyond, was the most memorable. We began by meeting Steve . Our experience began with a lecture on china and why we should register for it. Steve was very fun to listen to and seemed very knowledgeable. I kept smiling inside at his enthusiasm and had a hard time not laughing out loud. We must have spent a good forty-five minutes or more going through the china and selecting a table setting. This was our first experience choosing something for our home together. We each selected our three favorites independently and compared them with each other. We didn't have any overlapping selections, but the styles we selected were similar and it wasn't too difficult to come to an agreement. I was glad to know that we gravitate to similar styles.

After selecting our china, Steve delivered a lecture on appliances and pots and pans. We heard the ins and outs of materials, brands, etc. Steve was very entertaining and we really enjoyed lectures that would have been annoying coming from anyone else. I think we spent a good three and a half hours putting together our registry there. When we finally finished with the registry we were exhausted. I had no idea it would be so much work!

The registries at Target and Dillards did not take nearly as long to put together since we had already defined what we wanted most. Target did allow us to select a few items we couldn't find at the other places, such as board games like Twister.

We Look Like Missionaries

2009-03-06T21:40:00.011-07:00

Craig and I both have two nieces and two nephews. All ranging from seven years old to newborn. One of the fun things to find for the wedding were the kids wedding clothes.

The boys were fun to shop for. We met my sister at this place in the mall that had a bunch of girl's dresses and little boy's suits. For boys, they had everything from tuxes to suspenders and bow-ties. We found a couple of really promising options and had the boys try them on. As you can see they really got into it. As they came out of the dressing room, Craig and I told them how handsome they looked or that they looked like James Bond. However, they had a much better response when they looked in the mirror, "We look like missionaries!"

For the girls I had found a picture of cute white dresses with colored sashes and tulle showing at the bottom. To save money, my sister's mother-in-law said she would help us make them. I worried about that as she lives in Arizona but was willing to try as she is such a great seamstress. Unfortunately, that fell through and my sister stepped in and spent countless hours cutting out the patterns and putting the dresses together. It turned out that the hardest part was putting together the slips to go underneath. All I can say is this was a project that turned into a lot more work than anticipated. My sister totally came through though. I have to give her a huge pat on the back. She has very little sewing experience and no official training but the dresses came out great. The girls looked adorable in their dresses.

Taking a Break

2009-03-03T22:45:00.011-07:00

When Craig and I set a date, there was less than three months till the wedding. I knew the schedule would be tight and there were definitely a million things to do, but we did still find time to have some fun.

We spent one afternoon out boating. Craig had his first experience on the tubes.

That day we also found out that Craig does a great impression of Spongebob Squarepants.

We went to a Salt Lake Bee's game which was our last Young Single Adult activity. (Hmmm . . . am I supposed to feel sad about that?)

I think one of my favorite things we did was attend a Martina McBride concert. I have wanted to see her for a long time and she didn't disappoint. That girl can sing! It was also a great night to spend together and forget about all the wedding stress with only three weeks left to go. This was also the Friday before Craig left for Alaska.

Finding the Dress

2009-03-03T22:07:00.010-07:00

I think any girl can attest that the most important purchase you make for the wedding has to be the dress.

My dress shopping experience started out terribly. The first shop we went in had a lot of modest gowns but they were all old, ugly, and turning yellow. Ewww! We didn't even stay long enough to try one on.

The second try was at David's Bridal. I am sad to say that the first shop was much better. Upon arrival we were assigned to a saleswoman only after I was required to take part in the obligatory fill out all your information so we have your email address in our computer for life and can send you emails reminding you about our experience survey). I started out by telling the saleswoman I was looking for a modest dress whereupon I was promptly informed that David's Bridal carried nothing with sleeves and most lacked straps but I was free to alter the dress to be modest, it would just cost an additional fee. She showed me pictures of the alterations other girls had made and it was all I could do to hold back tears. The dresses were all obviously made over and many weren't even done well.

After that first day, things started to improve. This picture below is of the first dress I found that I actually considered. This was a cute little shop in Sandy and they had the largest selection of modest dresses with style that I found.

I did find picture of my dream dress. I found the picture in a magazine. It is a Christos (see below) and absolutely stunning. Of course the dress I would like best would be the same price as a new car, I seem to have a talent for liking thing that are way out my price range. I did like the dress so much that I even looked into having an imitation made, but the cost was still too high. I gave up on that idea.

Nothing really struck a chord until I found a little dress shop in downtown Salt Lake. This was the first shop that made me feel like I was important and that they wanted to help me. The staff was absolutely fabulous, especially my saleswoman, Leslie. It was there that I found two dresses to fall in love with. I debated for two weeks over which dress was right and visited two or three more times before finally deciding. Below is a picture of the looser. It was absolutely stunning in person but not pure white.

The dress I finally chose, was pure white and simple enough that I could wear it in the temple. It is actually, remarkably similar to the dress I love by Christos. Best of all, the only necessary alteration was in the right shoulder, even the length did not have to be touched. I did, however, make a few changes to the dress as you will see in the wedding photos.

He Popped the Question!

2009-03-03T21:52:00.004-07:00

The week before Craig and I got engaged was a really rough one for me. I remember being tired and stressed out due to pressures at work. As the week went by, I began to look to the weekend and hope that it would help balance out the hard week. The previous Sunday, Craig made plans for us to go to a drive-in movie on Friday night, hiking on Saturday morning, then to the temple on the late afternoon followed by dinner. He hadn’t done a lot of preplanning like this for a while so I was a little surprised but kind of excited to have a fun weekend planned.

About mid-week, Craig called and told me there was a change of plans. He had had a number of people ask him to help with things and he could no longer see me until after four o’clock on Saturday. He told me I could come up for the drive-in movie on Friday and stay overnight at my parents’ house then hang out at home with my parents on Saturday till he could come pick me up.

After the week I had had, there was no way I was going to sit around all day at my parents’ house just waiting. I was also pretty disappointed because I then knew that if he was going to cancel all of the plans that this must not be the weekend he was planning to propose. I then began to make plans to run back down to Salt Lake during the day and meet up with a friend for lunch.

I also really didn’t want to go to the drive-in on Friday night. More than anything I wanted to stay at my apartment and sleep in my own bed. I felt like I had been gone from home a lot and really missed the comfort and rest of staying in my own bed at night.

I talked with my dad about my plans for the weekend, the day after Craig cancelled on me. Since my family was involved in the whole engagement plan, he moved into action to make sure I wouldn’t blow it by being out of town when Craig was planning on popping the question.

He and Craig put their heads together and the next thing I knew I received a call from my sister asking me to go to lunch and shopping with her in Layton on Saturday. She had also had a rough week and this was a way for both of us to relax. Next, Craig called and changed our plans for Friday night, also. He could tell I didn’t want to go to the drive-in and suggested he come down to see me in Salt Lake. I remember feeling so relieved that he was willing to change up his plans for me.

Friday came and Craig picked me up that evening. I remember being so tired from work that week and being more than a little overemotional from all of the stress and worries I was dealing with. Craig came in the door and wrapped me up in his arms. He told me he had a surprise for me in the truck. When he opened the door to help me in the truck, there were a dozen roses lying on the seat. They were beautiful and the first flowers I had received from him.

Craig had decided to recreate our first date. We went up to the Gateway and had dinner at Biaggi’s. I was having a good time with Craig but was still a little upset from the week I had had. Every so often, Craig would tell me he was sure I was going to have a better day tomorrow and I would give him this look of, “Yeah, right! What makes you so sure I’m going to have a better day tomorrow.” I was in one of those funky moods where you’re not quite ready to be 100% happy yet and still want to dwell on things. He would respond with a smile and assure me again that tomorrow was going to be a better day.

After dinner, we went to see the movie, Kung Fu Panda. (We kind of had a cartoon theme going for a while.) As we sat in the theatre waiting for the movie to start, Craig reached in his pocket and pulled out a little black jewelry box. It was a beautiful pair of pair earrings! I had lost mine a few weeks before and, thoughtful guy that he is, he remembered and had bought a new pair for me. Later, Craig told me that the earrings were a gift to throw me off from what he was planning. I was a little overwhelmed with such a nice present and very flattered.

Saturday came and I went to meet my sister at noon for lunch at the Olive Garden. The waitress led us to our table where another dozen roses was waiting for me with a note from Craig. The note said something to the effect of: “I told you that you would have a better day today. I hope these make it even better.” I thought this was just Craig being thoughtful. At this point, I still had no idea what he was planning.

Lyndsay and I headed over to the mall after lunch to do a little shopping. She had told me about a new jeans store in the mall that had name brand jeans for discount prices, so we headed that way. I walked in to the store and began looking around, completely missing the third set of roses waiting for me on the front table display. Lyndsay even tried to draw my attention to the table by pointing to a pair a jeans next to the vase of flowers with a note addressed to me. I still didn’t catch on. Finally, Lyndsay pointed at the flowers and said, “Look! More flowers!”

Now I started to think something might be going on. The girls in the next store we went in recognized the flowers I was carrying and made comments like, “So, you’re the girl the flowers were for,” and “You are so lucky, those flowers are beautiful.” I almost expected see another set of flowers in every store.

The afternoon went by quickly and I had to race over to my parent’s house to get ready on time for Craig to pick me up for a trip to the Bountiful temple. I walked into my room and found another set of roses waiting for me with another note. Each note was sweeter than the last.

My mom visited with me as I got ready and let the comment slip that maybe now I would want to get married in the Bountiful temple. (Major Hint Alert!) This was a pretty big tip off that something would probably happen in the way of a proposal that night.

I hurried and got ready and as I was going through my bag I realized that I had forgotten by temple recommend. I almost started to cry. I thought I had ruined everything. There wasn’t enough time to retrieve it from Holladay and my roommates were not available to bring it up to me.

I remember walking downstairs to see Craig when he arrived and worrying about what he would say when I told him the bad news. When I got to the bottom of the stairs, he was standing there in his suit holding another dozen roses! (Am I spoiled, or what?) Craig didn’t seem very upset when I told him about the temple recommend and said we would go and try to get in anyway. Craig had another note waiting for me on the seat of the truck. This one was particularly sweet and thoughtful. I remember feeling a little emotional as I read it.

We talked as we headed down to Bountiful and Craig started to ask me where I wanted to go for dinner after the temple. This threw me completely off. There was no way he would be planning to propose to me that night if he hadn’t planned dinner. I started to chalk it all up to Craig being a really great guy who was worried about his girlfriend who was having a hard time at work lately.

At the temple, he suggested we take a walk around outside before going in. We walked over to the west side of the temple overlooking the valley. The view was beautiful and it was very quiet and peaceful up there. We walked towards a bench and suddenly Craig was pulling out and ring, asking me to marry him before he even had time to get all the way down on one knee. I paused for a second to catch my breath and take it all in, then said yes. Craig says that second was more like a very long minute. (He’s totally exaggerating! It was definitely only one second.)

Sometimes the good things in life come all at once and you just wish you could slow everything down and savor them for a while longer. That is how that night went. It was much too short. I wish the seconds could have lasted longer. I was finally in love with someone and he was wonderful and wanted to marry me. Part of me still can’t believe it happened.

I really didn’t know for sure what the ring was going to look like. Craig and I had found one I loved but I had no idea if that was what he would choose. The ring is absolutely gorgeous! It was beyond all my dreams and expectations. (Did I mention that I am spoiled?)

We walked around the temple for a few minutes and went to dinner at the Melting Pot. Craig and I had been there once before and loved it. It was the perfect place to sit together and forget the rest of the world.

I don’t think I could come up with a better day. Looking back, I see all of the sweet things Craig did for me that weekend and they melt together into this feeling of being loved. Craig is nothing I expected and everything I wanted all wrapped up into one. He is the best surprise I have ever had.

The Day She Said "YES"

2008-08-11T20:14:00.009-06:00

This is the best of all. The day I asked her. Well this is a long story but I will try to keep it short. The back story to all this is when we started talking about marriage. I can't speak for her but as for me talking about marriage came easy with her. It seemed to just come natural. The first time I told her I loved her was a scary time for me. I don't know about her but I was freaking out that whole next week. But that did not compare to the week leading up to that day I asked her to marry me.

We went ring shopping to a few different places and she did not like most the rings she saw, they were not her style. We stopped at Jared's ("I went to Jared's" J/K) and she liked a ring there but she did not like some of the features about the ring and I took mental note. I went to Belliston Jewelry where I had them design a beautiful ring that I loved. All that week before I proposed, I spent getting everything in order for Saturday. I told her that I had a few things to do that Saturday morning, but that I would be home by noon. She kind of got mad that I was cancelling some of our plans to do OTHER things.

Well, Friday came and I drove down and recreated the first date. We went to Biaggi's and then to a movie. But the funny thing was I had just picked up the ring and raced down to Salt Lake and yes, you got it, I was late like the first date. She got into the truck and I looked over and there on in dashboard cubby was the ring in its box and I was freaking out that she saw it. I ran to the other side and jumped in and as she looked away I grabbed the box and put it in the driver side door cubby.

We went and ate Biaggi's and during dinner I pulled out a little black box like the ring box and I gave it to her. Her eyes got big and she opened it only to find peal earrings and I smiled and hopping that would save me from having to explain the little black box she might have seen. Well the movie was OK and I dropped her off and I went home, but, the whole day I kept saying that you are going to have a great day tomorrow hoping that she would not be to mad at me. She did not believe me and I would just smile.

The next day came and me and Todd (her dad) went all over Layton dropping off flowers, one bouquet at Olive Garden and another at a store in the Layton Hills Mall next to some jeans with her name as the style of jeans. I left another bouqute at her house and I arrived with another. The night before, I had given her another set of roses before the recreation of the first date. All together, I gave her five dozen roses. Well, Lyndsay, her sister, helped out a ton. She took Lexie to the places we had designed for her to go to. She received the first set at Olive Garden and she thought it was me trying to say I was sorry for cancelling plans but then she got the another set at the mall. Then she had a good idea of what was happening.

I showed up with the last and fifth set of roses. I took her to the Bountiful Temple to do a session and I asked her if we could walk over to the west side of the temple because I have never seen what it looks like and that's when I asked if she would marry me. To this day, I could swear that she took along time to answer, maybe time slowed way down. From the time I asked to the time she said Yes was the longest time of my life. But she said yes and I was happy. We kissed and we went to eat at the Melting Pot and went home and showed her family the ring...and that is the the story of how I proposed.

A Date to Remember

2008-08-11T19:35:00.003-06:00

The Date I remember the most is the Day I took her Snowboarding. Well on the first date you all know you go through the same questions. What you like to do and so on. Well she said she likes to snowboard. So I thought to myself that this would be a great date. So I had to drive to Las Vegas the next day after the first date. Well I called to see what see was doing and see was snowboarding with some friends. Well I asked if she would like to go boarding with me to Powder Mt. and she said yes.

The day came and the date was going great, then it happened, I saw her go into the woods off the main trail on a small path as I passed by her I went down the trail a little ways and sate up on the hill to see he came by me, But she never came. So I took off my board and started up the hill back to where I saw her. Then I saw her coming down the hill holding her arm bent and close to her like she had broke it. Will her hair was everywhere and she looked like she had just plowed in to something. I asked what had happened and she related to me what she did. I checked her for any major broken bone and deformities and saw none. She must be one tough woman because later the next week he saw a doctor and form she had crack the head of her humerus. I felt so bad I thought she will never go out with me again. So I called to check up on how she was doing and see if there was any thing I could do.

Well I feel in love with her right there because I know she could handle anything if she could handle snowboarding with a broken arm.

well I love you lexie.

The First Kiss

2008-08-11T19:18:00.002-06:00

The First Kiss did happen at the Apartment this I know for fact. Well I am a journal keeper but I record my feelings and thoughts of the day not so much of the what happened and where. It does state that I drove home and I thought the whole way home how I felt. Regardless of where it happened I know it was right. I am glad I kissed her. I am not the type to just jump in a kiss. I had to know for sure it was right. Well I am glad I kissed her where ever it may have happened I would not take it back.

The Great Debate

2008-08-08T13:39:00.002-06:00

So, I’m inviting everyone in to join on the debate. Craig, the journal keeper of the two of us, insists that our first kiss happened in my apartment. I, on the other hand, am pretty sure he kissed me in front of my parent’s house. Craig insists he would have never kissed me in front of my parent’s and remembers driving a long way home that night. Strangely, Craig’s journal does not record when or where he kissed me. Hmmm…

Tulips and Romance

2008-08-08T13:35:00.003-06:00

This has to have been one of my favorite dates with Craig. We spent the day wandering around Thanksgiving Point looking at the tulip gardens. It was such a fun day with just the two of us. When we first got there, I thought the gardens were just right behind the shops and we almost walked into the middle of a wedding. The flowers were very beautiful and it was one of the first warm days of the year. Sad that it took till May to have a warm day and tulips! I am so glad that we got to enjoy it, though. I remember just being really happy to have Craig with me and no distractions from anything else going on.

A Memorable Second Date of Firsts

2008-07-27T11:59:00.003-06:00

Our second date was probably the most memorable.

A little background: I have been snowboarding for a few years but am definitely not great at it yet. I like to look at it as having a high learning curve. My brothers were able to go off jumps and run all over the mountain on the first day. I, on the other hand,, am still not able to go off jumps and land them. I am finally at the point where I can go fast enough to keep up with them and even go (slowly) through the trees on the side trails. It just happens to have taken a few years to get there. I do have a lot of fun when I go and it has made the months of January and February a time I look forward to instead of endure.

Our second date was at Powder Mountain at the end of March. By that point we were having some warm days and the snow would get a little slushy some afternoons and then freeze overnight and turn crusty. We got up there around ten or so and took our first run down the mountain. I was determined to seem like a decent snowboard but felt pretty self-conscious, knowing Craig was so much better than me.

The second run was the memorable part of the day. We were about three-quarters of the way down the mountain and going at a pretty good pace when I decided to go off on the side of the trail in a little detour through a gully. Craig stayed on the path and went past me around the corner. I am not sure exactly how it happened, but I caught the front edge of my board and tumbled head over heels in a somersault. When I stopped, the world was spinning and it took a few minutes to sit up. I was pretty dazed but was finally able to turn around and put my goggles back on. I took off my board and slowly trudged out of the gully. When I got back to the trail, it was too difficult to reach down and fasten the foot straps. My right arm really hurt, especially when I tried to reach in any direction. So, I started walking down the hill again thinking how long it was taking to get anywhere.

Finally, I saw Craig walking back up the slope to look for me. He had been waiting for some time, just a little ways down the trail. I was still incredibly dazed and almost started to cry when I saw him. He checked my arm but it didn't seem like anything was out of place. He waited while I got my snowboard back on and followed behind while I made my dazed way slowly down the hill.

Once we got to the bottom, I sat for a while and finally came back out of the daze. Craig wanted me to get checked out by the ski patrol but I was sure I was fine. It was just a bad tumble.

We continued to snowboard the rest of the day. I had a hard time buckling my bindings as I didn't have any strength in my right hand. I couldn't stretch out my arms for balance so I kept falling. I kept thinking, "Don't let this bother you. Keep going. You don't want to wimp out."

We did have a good time and covered parts of the mountain I hadn't been on before. The thing that kept puzzling me the most was how far away from me Craig would sit when we got on the lift. There was always enough space for a whole extra person! I kept thinking, "This guy is never going to ask me out again. I'm not a very good snowboarder, especially after that crash today. If he was interested in me he wouldn't be sitting so far away." I didn't really get it.

After Craig dropped me off that night, I crashed. I was exhausted and my arm hurt a ton. The next morning, I had to have my mom help me put on another shirt. I couldn't even move it. It was Easter Sunday, so I spent the day with family and watched my nieces and nephews run around the yard looking for eggs and prizes and generally have a great time.

Monday my arm still hurt. I usually hurt worse the second day so I still thought I was just sore but was starting to be concerned that something else might be wrong. Tuesday was even worse and I decided I ought to make an appointment with a doctor. I thought that maybe I had dislocated my shoulder or something.

Wednesday, I visited the doctor and had my first ever X-Ray taken. The diagnosis: a broken arm. My first ever broken bone! The humerus was fractured near the shoulder. The doctor also recommended an MRI to confirm I hadn't torn any of the muscles in my shoulder. So on Friday, another first for me, an MRI. This came back negative. Yay!

During this week of broken trauma, Craig kept in touch to see how I was doing. Yay, again! Craig had gotten a little beat up himself on Saturday. His knee was really bothering him and he had severe sunburns on his face. Some second date, huh?