Officially... Married???

For Valentines Day, Briant got me a wedding band!!! I'm so excited, I've wanted one for a while now. Why haven't we gotten one before now, you ask? Well, let me explain.

When he got my ring, I loved it the way it was and I was satisfied without a band for several reasons.

#1 I hadn't really made up my mind what would look good with it. A small 2mm band with no diamonds or a bigger one with diamonds set in it.

#2 I wasn't sure if I wanted to cover up the pretty design that the setting already had.

#3 It's a three stone diamond... which signifies to me; Yesterday, Today & Forever. Wouldn't that just be self explanatory?

Well, at first I wore my ring everywhere; to work, cleaning, etc. Then I started accidentally knocking it on stuff and getting it really dirty and that quickly changed my mind about always having it on. This is when having a wedding band crossed my mind and started sounding like a good idea. Plus whenever I did wear it, everyone always asked when I was getting married or how long I'd been engaged.

Like I said, I started thinking about it a while ago, and went to look a couple of times but the price and selection always scared me away. Mostly because I was still contemplating (#1 reason above) what I really liked.

Well, in the end Briant solved all my woes. He went shopping and picked it out for me (without me knowing might I add... he's very good at surprises!). I like this method, then I don't have to worry. Plus, Briant has always had excellent taste in jewelry, so I trust his opinion whole heartedly! Don't you agree?

Here is the band all by itself. Me likes!

Activities & Projects

Several blogs that I follow are writing about all the sewing, building and other projects they have been up to. So naturally, I will copy them.

Sewing.....

We have a fax machine at work, but there is a problem. At Great Harvest we grind our own flour DAILY, so we get a lot of flour dust everywhere! As most of you now this doesn't really set well with electronics. So I volunteered to fix this problem and sew a cover for the fax machine.

After I measured wrong once (I was happy it was only one piece that I had to re-cut), broke a needle on my machine and had to run and get more, this was the finished product:

Food Storage.......

This is a project that I am starting to feel very strongly about. With practice, I feel like I'm getting alot better at it too. In our Sunday School class last week, we discussed Noah's Ark. Our teacher gave a quote by President Ezra Taft Bensen that said, "The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah." (Ensign, November 1987, 49). I know that Noah wasn't expected to build the ark in one day, and likewise we aren't expected to get all of our food storage all at once. It is a process that takes time, little by little. So I went down to my storage pantry under the stairs and first took invintory, then purchased food that I knew we would use.

I got some old crates from work that were probably going to end up in the trash, and used them for shelves. They will be very nice to carry cans in when we move away (not for a while, don't worry).

Next food storage project.... car kits and 72 hour kits!

Family Album........

Before we got married I discovered this really awesome program called Book Smart. First, you go to http://www.blurb.com/ and find the link to download Book Smart (which is free). Then, you make your book with this supper easy and supper easy to learn program. The books come in many sizes and varieties.

Then, when you are finished you upload it back up to blurb.com and order the book. They send it to you in about 10-15 days. As some of you may know I made our "sign in" book for our reception(book on the left) with this program. I liked it so much that I decided to make a photo album every year from all the photos we take (last years album on the right).
I really like this idea because, the book is pretty thin and easy to store, (well I guess depending on how many pages you have), your pictures never get taken out and lost because they are printed on the page, and they are pretty cheap.

Organizing Photos and backing up...

Never ending process. I'm trying to back up everything from the last couple years that I don't have a hard copy of. Now that I have a DVD burner this should be a piece of cake... right?

Babysitting........

A couple weeks ago Briant, yes Briant, volunteered to babysit. Isn't that cute? A friend from his work wanted to go see Avatar, so we watched their little girl for a few hours. She was very fun. We got to play with her (she found the remote early-- how do kids do that?), watch her watch Baby Einstein , and feed her. Briant had fun taking part in feeding her pears, but he refused to change her diaper! I even got to sing her to sleep!

She was much more interested in watching Briant try to play the keyboard.

(Before we got the real piano.)

Cross Country skiing........

We were able to go up to Kelly's again to go cross country skiing with the YM/YW in our ward. SO FUN! It was a beautiful day! Why couldn't it have been like that the last time we were up there!?!?

Learning how to copy and burn DVDs....

Thanks to Devin and his blog post, and Nero 9, I now can now copy DVDs. Don't worry, I only copy DVDs that I'm allowed to by law, I'm not a criminal!

I love the feeling of getting things done :) I love that when it is cold outside, I can find things to do inside! I haven't had the hours at work that I usually do the past couple weeks , because it is the slow season. The first week, I don't really feel like I accomplished much, in fact, I felt lazy and bored. My husband is very good at being efficient, so some days I sit back and watch him thinking, "I will never be that good." But then I started thinking of things I could do. I knew some of those things were projects Briant wouldn't do. I knew that I could make a difference in those areas. So now, with new motivation, I have set a few projects to do in front of me with goals to finish them before the snow melts.

Piano!!!

My brother, Kyle, has had this old piano for like 8 or 9 years. Recently he asked me if I would like it, so he could make room for another used piano he was offered. I absolutely accepted!!! Um duh, you don't turn down a free piano.

We had several hands helping us, for which I am ever so grateful!!! Pianos are heavy! It was quite the feat getting it in our house...

It may not be very pretty to look at, and it may not play like a grand ( or even a baby grand, which is what I want someday....) BUT I DON'T CARE! It's a piano!! Which is much more than I had before!

P.S. This does not mean in any way shape or form, that I need a calling that involves playing the piano!!!

Exercise

I understand the meaning of this 8 letter word, and the importance of implimenting it into our lives. I make goals every year to exercise more often becasuse I know how good it is for me. I love the feeling I have after I finish. I especially love that feeling if it was difficult along the way and I had to work really hard.

I had such an experience this weekend.

I've always said that, for me, the best way to exercise is to trick me into it. For example, when I go on a bike ride, I have a blast... but I'm still exercising. If I play volleyball and get really into it, I don't realize that I'm working out, all I'm think about is how much fun I'm having. Such has been the case recently for floor hockey with Briant and his buddies. I don't concentrate so much on how out of breath I am, but rather I engage myself in the game. While snowshoeing I try to focus my thoughts on the view.

It all started on Friday night...

Briant and I played floor hockey with some guys (and sometimes their wifes/girlfriends) that Briant works with.

This picture was taken last year, but we play with the same people. We try to play at least once every 1-2 months. I feel that I have learned alot about the game, and have improved my skill since I started. Don't get me wrong, Briant still kicks my butt big time, along with all the other guys, but I am starting to enjoy the sport. To be honest though, I never realized what a workout hockey can be.

It continued on Saturday...

Saturday morning, Briant and I went snowshoeing up at Kelly's Canyon. I go all the time, but I thought it would be fun to go with Briant who had never been. As we started up the hill, I commented to Briant that my legs were a little stiff from the previous night's hockey "workout". "Oh well," I said to my self, I do this all the time, I'll be fine.

The past week we've received a little bit of snow. Everyone knows that when it snows, you may only get a little in the valley, but you'll get a lot more in the mountains. That was the first thing we noticed when we got up there. Plus the wind was blowing, there was plenty of fog, and it looked like the mountain would be getting a lot more snow that day.

Because of the snow, a snowshoe trail has to be marked a little differently. Because the trail is constantly being snowed on and lost, they nail little yellow disks that have a picture of snowshoes on them to the trees. When you are in a valley with no trees, they have poles sticking up instead. But usually you just follow the path that others before you have made.

This first part of the trail is a pretty good climb uphill through the trees. The view was beautiful because of all the fresh fallen (and wind blown) snow. I couldn't help take this picture because of how the snow clung to the branch in such a way... It was really cool looking!Then we hit Cole's climb (an uphill stretch that has no tree cover and is rated 'most difficult') ... I like to call this suicide hill, because IT'S HARD! But once you get to the top and back into the trees, it is a breeze..... mostly flat. We passed another couple eating lunch, and soon found out that they were breaking our trail. Right after that the trail lead us to another little hill in the middle of a meadow. Because of the dense fog, it was really hard to see those little yellow disks and since I could see them better than Briant, I was up front breaking our path through the deep snow. But I lead us too far the right (because I couldn't see the marker) and we had to do a little backtracking to find the marker. By this time, the guy who was originally breaking our trail caught up to us and helped find the marker. I honestly thought this would be our only bump in the road because after that we continued on our way through the "easy" part in the trees. We were having a great time, talking and laughing, and I was noticing all the landmarks along the way that I'd seen before... Like Garney's Junction. Well, soon we came to the place where we were suppose to go downhill and back onto the service road. I look for those markers that would take us down but never found them. There are a couple hills that look like that one that goes down, so when I didn't see the markers I thought that it must just be the next hill, and we continued following the yellow disks. Pretty soon I started to not recognize the landmarks around me. I didn't really want to say anything outloud because I didn't want to worry Briant, but alas I did and we both got a little upset. There were still the yellow disks so we kept following them and later than I expected we came out on a service road. By this time, we were both very sore from all the trail breaking and tired from all the hiking... but very glad that we were not lost.

When I got home I went onto the internet and found this map. If you decide that you want to go snowshoeing up there, PLEASE print out the map... it could save you from worry. We traced our steps all the way and found the downward slope that we wanted to take early on (we found out it was called Corkscrew). But since we didn't see the markers we hiked an additional 1.5 miles or so. Toward the first part (when I couldn't find the markers in the meadow & the guys helped us), I said a silent prayer. I'm so greatful for a Father in Heaven who watches over us. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father answered my prayer and helping us see the signs, so that we didn't get lost! Next time I think we'll bring the map!

As I got out of bed this morning my body screamed at me not to move! Briant and I were so sore!!! I think that we got some pretty good exercise.

27 Reasons for 27 Years

About 6 months ago, give or take, the man of my heart wrote some nice things about me on our blog for my birthday. Well Briant, what comes around goes around, so sit back and enjoy while I try my hand at this...

27 Reasons Why I Love You,

and why everyone should wish you a
Happy Birthday on January 8th...

#1 You do housework! Most of the time you do this without even being asked, and when I do ask to help with specifics, you don't complain about helping.
#2 You hold the Priesthood. What a comfort that brings, knowing it can be used if needed.

#3 You are a very attractive man. I love your smile, it still gives me butterflies.

#4 You are a hard worker. You are very driven and ambitious. This is one of the reasons I feel in love with you. I am always impressed that you have a plan and a way for how you will accomplish it. You do what you put your mind to.

While we are talking about hard work, let me also say how efficient you are, whether it is for church callings, cleaning, or even at work (I'm sure), you are very effective.

#5 You are patient. I tend to have a bit of a wandering mind, but you never get mad at me. In fact you never get angry! You solve it or let it roll off your back.

#5.5 You check my posts for spelling and grammar errors before I publish, even though I'm sure it gets annoying that there are so many and I always spell defiantly wrong.

#6 You are always thinking of fun things to do and places to go. Because of you, we are always looking forward to something.

#7 You love Halloween. You get so excited when you finally figure out what your costume will be, and the ideas that keep coming after that. I have to admit, you come up with some pretty cleaver costumes.

#8 You are always looking for something to do. Even if it is a holiday or a day off, you constantly look for ways to keep yourself busy and get a head start.

#9 Your a great public speaker. You have a way with words, and can say something just right with little to no effort.

#10 You have some mighty fine footwork with a pair of skates! You can twist and turn so smooth, I'm still not sure how you do it!

#11 You are much better at budgeting than I am, and your a better saver!

#12 When you are watching TV and I am on the computer you come give me hugs during the commercials. They show me that you care and melt my heart.

#13 You stand over the crock pot until the contents are ready to eat.

#14 You are great with surprises! I am never disappointed, but am still in awe that you are able to get so much past me...

#15 You are very supportive. You are almost always up for what ever I want to do in life.

#16 I love your commentary on the videos we make and the funny things you add to my posts when I'm not looking.

#17 You love the beach and you want to go to Hawaii with me someday!

#18 You build snowmen with me, dance with me in the kitchen, and sometimes talk in a gay voice-- I love that spontaneous side of you.

#19 You have great taste in jewelry!!!

#20 You take your church calling seriously. You are always planning and preparing for upcoming events. You know how to make sure everyone has fun, but that they understand the point behind everything.

#21 You pretend the iron is a phone when you are checking to see if it is hot enough. "Hello?" Makes me laugh every time.

#22 You are terrific with kids. I can tell how much they love you!

#23 You are a great listener. I love that I can always be honest with you. I can tell you everything about me, good or bad, and you still love me.

#24 You have a great sense of humor! You make me and others laugh till we drop!

#25 I remember while we were dating, you would give the most wonderful spiritual thoughts, they gave me goosebumps... they still do.

#26 You are an Eagle Scout. I can see that leadership in you everyday.

#27 You are self motivated and you are always doing what is necessary to make our future better.

Resolutions

Well, this is a little late but I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy New Year! We had a great three day weekend! We went over to my parents for soup and rolls, then looked at pictures from Chris and Chantelle's trip to Dubai. What a cool place!

After dinner Chantelle and I went out with Esau to play in the snow and built a snow man...

Briant named him Mitch.

While Briant was watching Football with my dad, the rest of us put together a puzzle and just talked. It was a very relaxing day, which is just how I wanted it to be! It's always good to spend time with loved ones.

I have always loved New Years because it gives you the feeling of starting new. I love having the opportunity to make resolutions, giving yourself another chance to do better, and having a fresh start.

I was thinking about this a little more deeply today because our Stake President visited our Fast and Testimony Meeting this last Sunday. He got up to bare his testimony and said, "It is nice to have a New Year, but we don't need a new year to make new goals" (or something like that).

It is inevitable that we are going to screw up now and again. We are human, and we were sent here to learn and grow from those mistakes.

I gave a talk in church about New Years Resolutions when I was a young teenager. I really don't remember much about what I said but I do remember one thing I learned. I talked with my mom earlier that week about my topic and about what I should say. As we talked she told me that if you don't succeed with your goal, you should never give up; just change the goal so that it better suits you.

For example, you set a goal to read the BOM for 30 minutes everyday before you go to bed, but every time you try, you fall asleep. Instead of giving up, you can try to read you scriptures earlier in the day when you aren't tired, or read for 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes after school/work.

I have come to learn over the years that we change, our schedules change, and sometimes our Resolutions become outdated with what is going on in our lives. Don't me wrong I think it is a great time to set new goals each year, but I think it is also useful to set mini goals each week/month.

I think that taking the sacrament each week is a good time for setting new goals and starting anew. It is a time to take a deep breath and say to yourself, "Keep going, you can do it!" But it is also a time to remember that even though you can't make it all the way by yourself, we have someone who will help us reach our goals. Jesus Christ is our coach, our friend, our guidance counseler, our Savior. When I think about him while I set my goals, I feel like my goals are more reachable.

How grateful I am for a new year, for an opportunity to set new goals and try to be a better person, and for the help I receive from those that love me.

Briant's Most Memorable Moment of 2009

What a great year 2009 was! So before I get too deep into 2010, I'd like to share my most memorable moment of the past year. Yes, 2009 was highlighted by some great moments, but none of them quite stands out like this one. No, not even celebrating our 1 year anniversary was more memorable than this.

It was late one night and Melissa was in our bedroom reading a book. It must have been a captivating story; she had been in there on the bed reading the book for quite some time. Well I was getting tired, so I decided to hop in bed and go to sleep. I was able to break her attention from the book for just a second to ask her if I could turn off the bedroom light and if she could just turn on the lamp on her nightstand to continue reading. She did, so I got in bed and within a few minutes I was dozing off.

As I lay there slipping in and out of sleep, I began to hear some sniffles coming from beside me. I was on my stomach facing the opposite direction of Melissa, so I rolled over and looked at her. I could see she had tears in her eyes and was beginning to cry. I wondered to myself, "Did I do something to hurt her feelings? Did I forget to kiss her good night? Was she mad at me?" I quietly asked her if she was ok.

"Yes," she said.

"Did I do something that upset you?" I asked.

"No," she replied.

"Well, what's wrong?"

A moment of silence as tears were coming down her face.

And then, through her sniffles, she mustered the words I will never forget...

"Edward broke up with Bella."

Another moment of silence because I didn't know what to say. I rolled back over, thinking it would be best to just let my wife come to grips with the tragedy, the heartbreak, on her own. I would be there for support if she needed it, but I knew Melissa was strong and could overcome this heart-wrenching episode in her life by simply continuing to read "New Moon."