My Talented Dad

If any of you know my dad, he is a very talented and skilled woodworker. Every time I get the chance, I ask him to make me things. (There is something about my dad making me something out of wood that is so special to me! Maybe it's because I feel like I have a part of him in my house at all times. Who knows!) My dad loves to have a challenge and create things that he has never done before so in comes my request for floating shelves. My creative father put these together for me and they turned out so perfect! Everyone kept telling me it would be so much easier to just go buy them, but I really REALLY wanted my dad to make them for me. Because I am a little younger than my two sisters, I haven't had the chance very often to have my dad make me things for my house so this was a perfect time! With these floating shelves now hung on my walls, my bedroom is complete! Thanks dad I LOVE LOVE LOVE THEM!!!(And of course just a picture of the whole wall all put together.)

My birthday was this week and my mother-in-law picked this out for me to go on my night stand. Don't you think it matches perfectly with everything else? I just love it!

More pictures to come from my birthday and another wood piece my dad made me. Can't wait to paint it and put it in my entry way.

Valentine's Day

With Jedd loosing his job in January, we really should be saving our money. But we decided to splurge and go on a date for Valentine's Day. (at least I have a pay check coming in!!) We have all of a sudden made it a tradition to go to Olive Garden for Valentine's so that's exactly where we went. Of course we went during the middle of the day to miss the crowds. We then headed to see When in Rome. (note: DUMBEST MOVIE! I would not recommend it to ANYONE!) And we went to the matinee for two reasons, 1. it is cheaper and 2. again missing the crowds. We decided that we weren't going to get each other anything because our present was our date out, but Jedd surprised me with a sweater. I watch the Bachelor (pathetic I know!) and saw this sweater on one of the girls and fell in love with it so Jedd bought it for me. What a great hubby!!

I know, cheesiest picture ever, but if you can't tell it is a sweater that goes longer in the front and this royal blue is gorgeous! Happy Valentine's Day! (sorry I'm so late)

A Whole New Bedroom

When Jedd and I got married, Jedd brought his bed, headboard and all of his dressers that he used (my bed was a twin so thank goodness he had a queen!). Besides the mattress, everything were his parents, they actually got it for their wedding. I was so excited to have the furniture, but not particularly excited about the 70's look it had. So I asked Jedd's parents if they were ok if I just painted them to match my black and red themed room. They said of course so this has been my plan for the past year. When we moved out of our apartment in July I thought what a perfect time to paint. They sat in our storage shed instead. Then when we moved into our house in October, I thought ok this is the perfect time. They sat in our garage for 4 months. I was honestly planning on doing them when it got to be better weather and I could paint them in our garage, but Jedd decided he would paint them (with a TON of help from his mom!). Last week Jedd went and got the paint, and already had a full coat of paint on all of our furniture before I even got home from work on Thursday. His mother came to help us finish up the painting on Satuready and when we had family over on Sunday they helped us move it upstairs. (the dresser weighs 1000 pounds!) Here are some pictures of our bedroom. Oh ya, we also hung my mirror above our bed. We are still waiting for shelves to finish before we officially finish our one wall, but other than that, the bedroom is FINALLY done! I absolutely love it. What do you think??

Blah Blah Blah

No fun things going on in our lives and nothing to report. Just the same old thing. Get up, go to work (school), come home, cook dinner, go to bed. Repeat, repeat, repeat. I don't particularly care for the first few months of the year. Even though I really enjoy Valentine's Day, I just feel so BLAH until my birthday month gets here.....March!! So all of you who are reading this, enjoy the BLAH months of the year!

The Dreaded Machine

For an early Christmas present, Jedd and I decided to splurge the day after Thanksgiving and buy an elliptical. I was able to talk Jedd into getting this over a treadmill (I don't really like to run on a treadmill, actually I just don't like to run period.) So after some convincing, we bought this elliptical machine from Sears. And so begins the dreaded feelings towards this machine. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love this thing! And in just a few days of working on it, I feel so much better and can feel a difference in myself. But at 5:00 in the morning when I get on this machine, I hate it! And so began my New Year's Resolution. My resolution wasn't to loose weight (which it normally is), but to feel better about myself and if some pounds came off, that would just be an added bonus. Like anything else, you have lapses during the week and then you start all over again. But I am loving this machine and the way it makes me feel when I actually use it. It amazes me how much more energized I am when I get to school and how much better I sleep when I exercise. We right now are keeping our elliptical in our basement and thanks to my mother, we have a soft piece of carpet that we put it on. It seems to work really well for us. Because I talked Jedd into getting an elliptical, I decided to give in and let him get one of these with one of our gift cards we received from Target for Christmas. (thanks sis!) I have to say that I have NEVER EVER had a scale in my house for one reason: I DO NOT want to know my weight. I gauge my weight by how my clothes fit, but Jedd likes to work towards a goal so we picked this beauty up. And let's just say that every Saturday morning when it is our 'weigh in' time, I hate this stupid piece of plastic as well. But I am learning to like it and to use it as a tool, rather than think of it as a pure enemy of mine. So here's to feeling better about myself this year! Hopefully it lasts longer than my other resolutions (which usually last about a month!).

This Day 2 Years Ago....

January 19th, 2008 proved to be one of the most influential days of my life. For on this day, I met my best friend, and husband of mine. A blind date, that neither one of us was really truly excited about, was the beginning of our story. A date down to California Pizza Kitchen and then off to a bowling alley in Bountiful was where the magic began. Ending the date on a note that neither one of thought was good, we said our good-byes and both thought we would never see each other again. We both have our own versions of the story and what actually happened, and both of us feel pretty confident our story is the correct version. But I think there was help from above that brought us together. Now 2 years later, we are happier than we ever imagined possible.

I love you Sweetie! Happy 1st Date Day!

Disneyland 2009

BE AWARE.....BLOG OVERLOAD AND TONS OF PICTURES!! (don't feel bad if you just scroll down to see the pictures, or even if you don't finish I won't be hurt!!)

Our December was filled with parties, and tons of fun. We went to Disneyland the middle of December with Jedd's family and we had a blast. We were gone for about a week and I felt like when we got back, that I had missed all of December. Needless to say, when we got back I had a ton of shopping to do!
In December, we had family parties galore and had so much fun. I mostly decided to not take pictures of things this year, mainly because I wasn't in the mood, but we had a great holiday. Our Christmas was pretty much our trip to Disneyland and so here are my pictures of that. Sorry, I don't have pictures of anything else. ENJOY!!

First stop....Seaworld.

(Me trying to be a Flamingo with the flamingos behind us.....so stupid!)

Next stop....Disneyland!!

(Pretending to ride the tea-cups. They make both of us nauseous.)

(He swears he is strong enough to loosen this!)

(Of course you have to ride Dumbo! Luckily, Kallee wanted to go with me!)

(On the train......LET ME OUT OF HERE!!.....not really!)

(Look how fun it is decorated for Christmas!)

(Enough said.)

(In front of It's a Small World.)

(Nattie and I waiting to go see the princesses.) (I wanted to get a picture with Snow White too! I've decided in my next life, I am so going to be a princess at Disneyland. I could totally pull off Snow White!)

(All the older girls getting their picture with the princesses.)

(Waiting to ride Indiana Jones. Way fun ride.)

(Ya.........I rode that!)

(This is in California Adventures.)

(Look how fun, all decorated.)

(Yes, I was brave enough to ride this twice....TOWER OF TERROR. It was a blast!)

(Awe......so cute!)

(Bug's Life props. We pretended like I was getting in a wreck, Jedd's preparing for the hit.)

(Waiting for the Disneyland parade. It's a small world all lit up behind us)

(Probably one of my favorite pictures. The castle looked AMAZING!)

(The big Christmas tree.)

THE END!

We had such a fun time on our trip. We would totally go to Disneyland again.

Fun, Fun, Fun

It has been a while since I have updated. Things have been kind of crazy so here are a few things.

Temple Square

Before my brother left on his mission, my family all went down to Temple Square. Jedd and I arrived a little late (due to the awesome BYU/Utah game where BYU WON!) so we didn't get to hang out with a lot of the family, but we got to spend some time with a few of them. Here are just a few pictures from the night. (This tree was gorgeous, it was like a yellow/orange/red mix. I just loved it!)

Elder Downs

This is my little brother Taylor, the night before he went to the MTC, December 1st. Ok, I should probably say younger brother since he is over a foot taller than I am. He went to the Oklahoma City mission. I have been able to see Taylor grow and mature in the last few weeks since he got his mission call into a GREAT MISSIONARY. We are so proud of you Tay!

For your enjoyment

And last but not least.....this is what my husband wants to wear to Disneyland when we go his week. Um.....I don't think you will see me within a mile radius of this hottie!

I have found the biggest difference between Jedd and I. He wears things like this to get attention and to make people laugh. I wouldn't wear things like this because I would get attention and people would laugh. What a crack up.

Happy December!

Family Pictures

This Thanksgiving, my family was able to get together and take our last family picture for 2 years. (Tay leaves in 2 days for his mission!!). Here is the family. And here are updated pictures of each little family.

(Jerilyn and Jeremiah's was taken in the fall when the colors were gorgeous! LUCKY!)

Jerilyn and Jeremiah with their 2 kids Zach and Hailey. Jon and Holli with their 4 kids Jacob, Jackson, Jocelyn, and Mylee.Michael and Afton.Michelle and Brian and their 2 kids Ashton and Branson.And of course Jedd and I. Many of the pictures turned out so cute, how do you pick just one?? It was so fun to get together and celebrate with both Jedd's and my family this holiday season. We are so grateful to have such wonderful families who love and support us unconditionally! Also just a little tid-bit, we are so excited to welcome 2 more babies into my family. Jerilyn and Michelle are both pregnant and due in June!