The Thorns

6 Month Pics

2012-01-21T12:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how big this little guy is getting! Here are just a few of his 6 month pics taken by Paige Davis Photography. If you're looking for a photographer...she is great!

Happy Half Birthday!

2012-01-04T15:16:00.000-08:00

I can't believe this little man is 6 months old today! He's growing so fast, and getting more and more scrumptious by the minute! Here are the stats:

Height: 27.6"---85 Percentile
Weight: 15.11lbs---15 Percentile
Head: 16.7"---25 Percentile

Still a long and skinny! He rolls, giggles, smiles, and has two bottom teeth! It is so fun to watch him learn new things and explore his little world. I could just play with him and kiss is little face off all day long! It's like that commercial..."You always went for the tall, dark, and handsome types. So who knew the love of your live would be short, chubby, and bald?!" Happy 6 Months Korvy!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-03T20:01:00.000-08:00

Oh boy! I didn't realize I hadn't posted for so long! Well, since it is now the first of the year, I guess I'll give a quick recap of our 2011 and finish it off with all of my random, unposted pics!

2011 began with me being 3 months pregnant and starting my second year of Grad school and an internship as a therapist at The Family Support Center. It also marked the beginning of Brady's last year at the U of U! We moved our way through spring trying to survive work and school, finishing our backyard, turning our office into a nursery, and watching me quadruple in size! We were also sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple, which was definitely one of the top highlights of our year!

Halfway through the year...the 4th of July to be exact...Korvin Brady Thorn was born...and we will never be the same! He has brought us pure bliss!

We spent the second half of the year continuing work and school, blessing Korvin, preparing for the holidays, and watching our baby boy grow bigger and bigger everyday! Now, as of the first of 2012, Brady is officially a University of Utah graduate, with a bachelors degree in Accounting! I have finished my Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy, and am now a Licensed Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. As for Korvy, he has gone from being a floppy, tiny, newborn to being a smily, giggly, 6 month old who rolls around, jabbers all day long, eats rice cereal, and has 2 bottom teeth!

2011 was a great year for us, full of exciting events. We can't wait to see what adventures lie ahead in 2012! Happy New Year everyone!

Sun Valley!

2011-10-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we finally got away for a few days. We went to Sun Valley, Idaho with Brady's family. It felt like we hadn't been on vacation in forever! It was Korvy's first trip, and I was a little nervous about how it would all go, but he was a champ! He slept perfectly on the car ride to and from Idaho, and slept through the night the whole time we were there! Perhaps we need to move there...maybe that would do the trick permanently!

We had lot's of fun swimming, shopping, eating, and just relaxing with family. Here's a few pics of our annual Sun Valley vaca!

Going out on the town!

Out to dinner in my handsome new shirt! I know it's not proper etiquette to go without shoes to a restaurant...but I just never can seem to keep them on!

Having a bath in the sink! Believe it or not, this is a first, because I have my own big bath at home!

Chillin' with Grandpa

Having a snooze!

Playing with the cousins...and keeping mom on her toys trying to save me from Mykah's "kisses"-aka licking and grabbing my face!

Great Nanna getting sticks for Mykah and Crew...poor Mykah got wacked!

Loving life!

2 Months Old!

2011-09-12T21:59:00.000-07:00

I can't believe my little bub is 10 weeks old today! This post is a tad late, but hey! What else is new?! We just had his 2 month appointment, and here are his stats:

24" long...75 percentile for length
10.2 lbs...10 percentile for weight

He's definitely a long and skinny! The doctor also gave him some medicine for acid reflux because he spits up...well...more like throws up like crazy. Poor little bub! I can't really tell if it's working or not, but we'll see. At least he's starting to be a happy baby! For the first few weeks he was super collicy, and if he was awake he was screaming. However, thanks to my sister-in-law/personal nurse who suggested giving him Culturel, he seems to have calmed down a ton, and is now smiling, cooing, and occasionally giving me a full on laugh! For those of you who have collic babies, that stuff is like a miracle drug!

So that's a little of Korvy at 2 months! Time is flying by and I'm loving every second of it!

Korvin's Newborn Pics

2011-09-01T23:25:00.000-07:00

I am so behind! You thought I was a bad blogger before...add a child to the mix and all free time pretty much just goes out the window! Anyway, now that Korvin is almost 9 weeks old, I guess it's about time I posted his newborn pictures. Ha! Here are a few of my favorites...

I'll try to add some more updated ones soon, but for now I must go to bed so that I can wake up for Swiss Days! Wahoo!

Korvin's Nursery

2011-07-28T14:33:00.000-07:00

I should've done this post forever ago, but I kept waiting for some last-minute touches that honestly didn't get finished until the night before I went into labor! Nothing like waiting until the last minute! Ha! Anyway, I'm finally posting pics of Korvin's nursery! It was quite the project. It was pretty much a blank slate, so we had to start from scratch. I found a picture online of the type of wood design I wanted in the room, and Brady & my dad didn't think it'd be a problem. Like most projects, however, it was much more than they bargained for! They had to rip out the baseboards and create new ones, cut all of the slats out individually, and basically put up a faux wall of solid wooden sheets to cover up the texture so that the slats could lay evenly! But their hard work paid off, because it turned out exactly how I envisioned it. Next came the paint, which was pretty nerve-wracking, because not only did the entire thing have to be painted, including the wood, but the colors were pretty bold! We decided to have a guy come and paint it for us to save us a few headaches, and he did an awesome job! Then, it was time for decorating! Yay! We got our furniture at USA Baby, Nanna & Grandpa Thorn gave us the rocking chair, and Nanna made all of the bedding, plus the window valance. What did I do you might ask? Well, I guess I was the supervisor! :0) I'm so happy with the way it turned out. I still need to come up with something to put above the crib, but I haven't been able to decide on what yet, and once we get Korvin's newborn pics I'll put some of those in there as well. Anyway, enough rambling! Here it is! :0)

More of Korvy!

2011-07-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Wow! I can't believe how fast time flies! My little bub is 3 weeks old already! We have been having so much fun together. It's amazing how such a little person can bring so much joy to your life, and make so many other things in life seem so unimportant. I'll admit motherhood has been much busier than I thought! It's crazy how everyday it seems like by the time I'm finally ready, picked up my house, and maybe done a load of laundry if I'm lucky, it's time for bed! The little man definitely keeps me hopping, but I can't imagine a better way to spend the day! I only hope I can figure out how to fit work and school in there again!

Anyway, Korvin is growing and developing just fabulously. He was back up to his exact birth weight at his 2 week appointment, and everything looked perfect. He's also started sleeping pretty good, thanks to the advice of our fabulous pediatrician. The first two weeks he was waking up every 3 hours, and would sometimes eat for 1-1.5 hours! However, our doctor told us to make sure he is eating every 3 hours exactly during the day, and to cut down feeding time to 20-25 minutes, because apparently after that they are using up more calories than they're getting. So now after his bedtime feeding he'll sleep for about 6 hours, eat, then sleep for about another 4 before getting back on his "every 3 hours" schedule. It's really nice that he's actually eating so well now though. In the hospital, it was completely traumatizing trying to figure out nursing. We tried everything, and he would hardly eat. It wasn't until the day before we went home that one of the nurses noticed he was tongue tied. The poor little man couldn't lift his tongue at all, which was making it impossible for him to nurse. So the morning before we left our pediatrician clipped his tongue, and he's done wonderfully ever since. I've decided that nursing is way more time-consuming and exhausting than I ever thought it'd be, but I'm glad that he can actually do it now since I know it's the best thing for him.

I guess those are the latest updates! Not that anyone wanted to know all that, but I like to keep a record for myself. :0) So for the fun part! Here are a few more pics of our little guy during these past 3 weeks!

Napping with Grandpa

Rocking with Aunt Madi...and Axel of course!

Ready for the 24th of July!

Meeting Great Grandpa Thorn

Rocking with Nanna at the cabin

Snuggling with Grandpa Thorn

He's Finally Here!

2011-07-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

The big day finally arrived! Towards the end, it felt like it was never going to happen. My doctor planned to go out of town for the 4th of July, so he told me he'd check me before he left, and that there was a good possibility that he could start me June 28 before he left. However, when he checked me, I was only about 70% effaced and not dilated at all. Hearing that news just added to my feeling of never-ending pregnancy, and it was so depressing that I had a total meltdown. My poor husband was so scared that the only thing he knew how to do was send me these...

I just don't know what I'd do without that guy! And little did I know how right he was! You know the phrase "When you least expect it, expect it"? Well, that's pretty much how bringing our guy into the world went! Just a few days later at 5:00am on the 4th of July I started having labor pains. I had had so much preterm labor that I wasn't getting my hopes up, even though these pains were much worse than anything I'd felt before. We were supposed to leave for a parade at about 8:00am, but by then my contractions were about 3 minutes apart. We debated on what to do, and I opted that we'd better at least get it checked out. Neither of us was very confident that it would be the real thing, but I made Brady bring our stuff anyway...just in case. When I went in I was dilated to a 3. I waited my 1 hour while they watched me, praying they wouldn't send me home. When the nurse checked again, I was dilated to a 4 and was officially admitted! I got my epidural about as soon as I got into my room, and it was heavenly! It made me feel better than I'd felt in weeks! Shortly after, my stand-in doctor came in to break my water and start me on some pitocin. I progressed at about a centimeter an hour until I got to a 6 and things started to slow down. So, my nurse said she'd up my pitocin about every 30 minutes, and that they'd try to have him here in a few hours. Well, 10 minutes all of a sudden I felt a weird pinching pain. I thought it was strange since I hadn't felt any pain since my epidural, so I knew something was up. On top of that, the baby's heart rate began to rise and fall like crazy. The nurse came in and said she was going to check me again really quick just to see what was happening. Her eyes got wide as she said, "Are you ready for this? Apparently all you needed was one big contraction because you're now a +2 and you're ready to push!" We couldn't believe it! She asked me to do a trial push, and warned me that we could be doing it for a long time. I pushed through one contraction and she said she was getting the doctor! I pushed through one more contraction to get him ready, the doctor came in, I pushed through one more and he was here! At 3:22 pm we welcomed Korvin Brady Thorn, 7 lb. 6 oz., 19" long, into the world. I was shocked that the whole thing went so smoothly, and I couldn't have asked for it to have gone any better! So here is a picture overload of our perfect angel baby during our hospital stay and our first days at home together!

Daddy's surprises for mommy! I love big bouquets and jewelry!

Baby Showers

2011-07-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I never posted about my baby showers! I thought I had...I guess that's what pregnancy brain does to ya! But I had so many fun showers! I can't express how much I appreciate so many thoughtful family and friends!

This and That

2011-06-02T21:19:00.000-07:00

I want to be better at posting more often, but it seems like I just don't have anything too exciting to post about these days. So sorry if this post is a little lame and random, but it's better than nothing I guess.

Last weekend for Memorial Day, we got to get away for a couple of days to Park City with Brady's family. We usually go to St. George for a family reunion, but Whitney was graduation and Erika was due with her baby any day, so we decided to stay close to home. Brady's parents rented an amazing condo for us to stay in. We shopped the outlets, took the kids swimming, and just hung out. Although it was a blizzard for most of the time, we still had a blast!

A couple of weeks ago I also had my first baby shower with Brady's family! It was really cute and fun, but it felt so weird to be having a baby shower! Does that mean I'm really having a baby?! I still can't believe it.

And here I was at 34 weeks! Just getting bigger and bigger! Pregnancy hasn't been nearly as bad as I expected, but I must say I am getting close to being ready. It's getting more and more difficult and tiring lugging this weight around, and he's sitting on my sciatic nerve, so I've been limping around for days. Oh yeah...notice the sign in the background? We went to Les Miserables, which was amazing as always, but it wasn't easy sitting in a tiny chair for that long! Ahh...the good old days when sitting, standing, walking, and moving were so much easier! The things we take for granted! Oh well...it's going to be so worth it!

Springtime Happenings in 2011

2011-05-06T23:54:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted in awhile, because our life has been same old, same old...until the past couple of weeks! We've been up to a few fun projects and events, and here they are!

We went to Vegas with a couple of our friends...

We went to Vegas to kickoff springtime a few weeks ago. It still wasn't super hot, but it sure beat the blizzard that was happening at home!

We celebrated Easter...

We put in our backyard!!!

And we got sealed!

Some of you will recall that when Brady and I got married, the First Presidency asked us to wait 1 year before we could be sealed in the temple...most likely because we'd both been married before. After we waited our year, we thought it would be easy peasy to get our sealing taken care of, but boy were we wrong! We'd never received Brady's letter, because he moved into our house during the time we'd requested it, so we figured we just needed to get a new copy of it sent to us. Well, there were all kinds of mix-ups and confusions, and Brady basically had to "re-apply". To top things off, our bishop kept getting confused, so everything just took FOREVER! However, we finally got everything straightened out, and we were sealed in the Oquirrh Mountain Temple on Friday, May 6. It was such a wonderful day! I'm so glad that we are finally bound together for eternity, and that our baby boy will be born under the covenant. We both feel so blessed to have the gospel in our lives. After all we've been through, I know I'm so grateful to get to spend forever with such a good, honest man that I know I'll always be able to trust and count on. I love you, Brady James!!!

Other than that, we've just been living life, and of course continuing to anticipate our new arrival! As of this post, I am officially 31 weeks! I can't believe how close it's getting! I need to post pics of some of our "preparations", but I'm waiting to finish up a few more things first. We went to the doctor today, and everything is looking good-right on schedule! Baby has turned head down and is getting himself ready to come into the world! Here is a belly pic that was taken at 29 weeks...

I always love when people post belly pics, and I've been the worst at it! I just hate taking pictures of myself...especially when I look like a stuffed sausage! Oh well. Best to document the journey at least somewhat I guess.

Well, there ya go! There are all the latest happenings in the Thorn household! Happy Springtime everyone! Hopefully it's actually going to start feeling like it now!

Birthdays & Boys!

2011-03-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

Well...it happened. This week I became 1/4 a century old. I don't know why, but this birthday was kind of a tough one for me! 25 isn't old...but for some reason it sure sounds like it! It's like you're suddenly a grown up or something! Anyway, no matter what the age, birthdays are always still fun! The Sunday before my birthday Brady threw a little party for me with my family. He even made dinner all by himself! :0) I got some clothes, jewelry, money, Burlesque, a glue gun (ha ha!), summer shoes, and my favorite thing that I've been wanting even since before I got pregnant...

a Petunia Pickle Bottom Cake Diaper Bag! I so love it...I can't stop staring! Now, even though I'm having a boy, I can have at least one girly thing, since it can double as a purse. I guess that's about all of the goods on this year's birthday! I wanted to post something more exciting...like the video we just got of our boy at about 22 weeks! He's so cute in there I can hardly stand it! However, I can't figure out how to get the DVD to work on my computer, so I guess no video. :0( But he's doing great so far, and moving around like a crazy man! I'm kind of excited too, because most people only get 1 ultrasound, but they couldn't get a good enough look at the cord last time to verify that there are 2 arteries, so we have to get another one next time. I'm not worried though, because he's growing like a mad man & everything looks normal.

Well...there are all the updates on the Thorn household for right now I guess! I hope life is blissful for all of our family and friends out there! Love you all! :0)

Slugs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

2011-02-17T18:23:00.000-08:00

Ugh! I've been the worst blogger ever! I'm so sorry! Not only has my life been incredibly crazy and busy, but I've also been losing my mind! Everyone said that when you get pregnant your mind goes, and I didn't believe them, but it's absolutely true! Anyway, it's not like anything too exciting has been going on anyway. I was tired and sick through the holidays, so I didn't take many pictures or do many crazy, exciting things.

The most exciting thing in our house is of course the continual growth of our little bubba! And we found out a few weeks ago that we're having a BOY!!! I'll be honest, we were both kind of secretly hoping for a girl-Brady most of all! So we were pretty shocked to find out we were having a boy. But after a couple of days of readjusting our thought processes-and purchasing very adorable baby boy clothes-we became very comfortable with the idea, and we couldn't be more excited! Sure the nursery won't get to be as frilly...and sure we'll be missing out on the leggings and boys for awhile...but seriously, is there anything cuter or sweeter than a little boy?! I think not!

We have it narrowed down to 2 names, but I don't think I'm ready to share yet! :0) I tend to like "different" names, and I'm kind of tired of sharing and having people go "No! Ew! How weird!", and then I feel like I can't use the names I like, so I think I'll just wait until we pick, and then everyone just has to go with it! :0)

I'm definitely growing quickly, and I've recently purchased my first couple pairs of maternity pants! :0) I've gotta say...talk about the best invention ever! They make such a difference! The good news is, our boy is measuring ahead of schedule, so hopefully I won't have to keep purchasing maternity pants for too long! My due date is still July 9, but we're expecting him somewhere around the last week or two of June.

And there you have it! If we ever get around to doing our nursery, I'll post pics! And I'll try to remember to take a belly pic sometime in the near future. :0) Until then, I'll just be trying to figure out strollers, car seats, bouncers, and just how to raise a child in general! Any tips or advice are always appreciated! :0)

It's My Turn Now?

2010-11-23T14:35:00.000-08:00

There are all sorts of milestones in life that seem like you will never reach. You know, like when you're little and you think about going to Junior High, then High School, then college, then getting married and so on and so forth, and it seems so far away and abstract that you pretty much decide to consider them things that happen to everyone else, but never to you. Well...I've gone through school, graduated from college, and even gotten married, so I guess it's time for the next milestone...having a baby! That's right, I'm jumping on the bandwagon, and I couldn't be more excited about it! It seems pretty surreal right now, but after going to my first appointment today and seeing that little blob on the screen with a flickering heartbeat, I'm getting a tad bit more of a reality check. I thought I was 8 weeks 5 days today, but the doctor measured me at 7 weeks 4 days, so as of right now my due date is July 9. However, the little nubin was so small that every time I breathed it got hidden, so he wasn't able to get the most accurate measurement. He said he'd try again next time and the due date might change. I was just so happy to hear that little heartbeat, and to hear that at 160 it was just perfect! So here's to the next big adventure in the life of Ashley & Brady! We can't wait to welcome our new addition!

Halloween Party 2010!

2010-11-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Friday night was our first, annual Halloween party, and boy was it a blast! My friend Hillary & I did it together, so it was double the friends-double the fun! We had so much food that I think we'll be eating left over soup and treats for weeks! The costumes were awesome, and everyone was a good sport to participate in the cheesy Halloween games. At least they got pretty good prizes! All in all, I'd say it was a success, and I can't wait to see how it goes next year!

Happy Halloweek!

2010-10-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

It's finally here! A week of Frightening fun! How great is it that this year we get to have an entire weekend of Halloween celebrations?! Well, if you're as obsessed with Halloween as I am, you'll think it's SPOOKTACULAR! I've been working all month to turn my house into a Deadly dwelling, so I thought I'd share a few pics with you to get you into the Spooky spirit! :0)

Along came a spider idea came from House of Smiths!

Vinyl Owl came from Wonderfully Wordy!
The EEK and Wreath ideas came from Eighteen25! You may think I'm crazy for dedicating a wall to Halloween, but this wall always drives me crazy! I've never known what to do with it. So, I got a little inspiration from all of the crafty crafters out there & went for it! The best thing about this wall? I created it mostly from stuff I already had or could easily create, so I think it only cost me about $20! I figure I can switch everything out for other holidays. When it's not a holiday...well...I don't know. Hopefully I'll think of something! :0)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN WEEK EVERYONE!!!

(I could not for the life of me get the last 2 to upload vertically! So I guess you'll just have to tilt your head. Sorry! :0) )

Wonderfully Wordy Giveaway!

2010-10-19T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone! You know how I've posted about Shelley Smith's Wonderfully Wordy vinyl a few times? Well...she's giving away a prize pack over at Sweet November! If you want to enter to win the prize pack, just head on over to Sweet November and follow the instructions. I'd say good luck...but I can't, because I want to be the winner of this awesome prize pack! In fact, I would be keeping it a secret to myself, except I get better odds if I post about the giveaway. :0) But seriously, head on over there and check it out! You won't be disappointed! :0)

F is for Fall

2010-10-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here we are...mid-October...and it's finally starting to feel like fall! I've been waiting for it to officially peek it's little head out, and I think it finally has! Here are some of the most wonderful things about this time of year...

You can finally bust out the boots! Everyone has their favorite clothing item, and I think this could be mine. I do enjoy me a good pair of boots! These little beauties are the new ones I'm sporting this year-the Bjorn "Yolanda" boot in grey. I got these at the Nordstrom sale 3 months ago, and I've just been lovingly admiring them as they've sat on a shelf in my closet, longing to meet my feet. :0) As it turns out, the Yolandas and my feet get along perfectly. They snuggle up together naturally and comfortably-like a match made in heaven!

You can put on your "snugglies" and cozy up by the fire. This is my favorite pastime in the world...especially when it involves a real fire at the cabin...and kicking Brady's trash at Phase 10! Apparently Axel loves it too. You can tell by his ecstatic expressions.

You can change your home decor! I kind of have a decorating addiction, and it gets worse when there is holiday decorating to be done. With the combination of Halloween being one of my favorite holidays & fall making me feel crafty & domestic...let's just say I get into trouble. :0) This is just a taste of what's been done so far. Let's be honest-I probably won't be done until October 31 when it's time to put everything away! More pics to come of my "haunted house". In the meantime, you should check out the crafty blogs I have posted under "Eye Candy" for some lovely, affordable Halloween ideas! (My shelf in particular was completely ~~copied~~ inspired by Shelley over at House of Smith's, and you can buy the awesome subway are vinyl from her store, Wonderfully Wordy!) But I must warn you...your head will start spinning & your body might feel a little tingly with all of the excitement!

Pumpkins!!! These are one of my favorite things of all time. They just make me happy! If I could decorate with pumpkins year 'round, I would. I wish I had a picture of a real pumpkin, but we haven't gone and gotten ours yet. However, as the sign states...I never met a pumpkin I didn't like!

You can start conjuring up a Halloween costume! This part of October can be very stressful...but totally fun and exciting! I'm pretty excited for our costumes this year! Again...stay tuned!

And finally...the days just feel a bit more lazy. What a better way to represent this than a pic of Lazy Daisy? She is loving being able to take naps in the middle of the patio without the hot sun beating down on her. No she's not in the process of rolling over...this is literally how she lays when she sleeps. She's simply lifting her head in a sleepy stupor to inquire why on earth we'd be bothering her with pictures when she's only gotten about 15.7 hours of sleep so far?!

HAPPY OCTOBER!!!

Winding Down Summer

2010-09-03T08:32:00.000-07:00

Is summer pretty much over already? Really?! I swear it just started, and all of a sudden it's September, the air is getting cooler, the mayhem of football rivalry is starting, and I'm fighting off the urge to wear boots and scarves! But I guess its okay, because fall is by far my favorite time of year! You know how they say spring is the time when everyone gets rejuvenated and feels more alive? Not so for me. Even though I live for warm weather, there is just something about fall that gets me going. I don't know if it's the fact that I can stomp on crunchy leaves as I walk around outside, make homemade soup and bread sticks, or decorate my house with pumpkins and warm colors, but something about autumn just makes me oh so happy! Last weekend, I really started feeling it when we spent the night at the Thorn cabin and it poured rain all night! We had to snuggle up by the fire and play Phase10 to keep our blood pumping, and when we woke up to the crisp, mountain air we decided we needed to have ourselves a hearty breakfast at Silver Fork Lodge. Now if that whole scenario doesn't scream fall-time, I don't know what does! (Kind of a fun side note-as we were eating breakfast, we realized we'd gotten engaged exactly 1 year ago that day! We were celebrating without even knowing it! :0) I can't believe it's already been that long, and that our 1 year anniversary is rapidly approaching!) Here are a couple of pics from breakfast. Kind of boring, but let's be honest-we look at blogs for the pics, and if on the off chance you are even taking the time to read my ramblings-you're probably not exactly sitting on the edge of your seat! :0)

Please don't judge me for my hideousness-I had just spent the night roughing it in the great outdoors! :0) Anyway, I guess that's my little kick-off to Fall 2010. My fall wreath is up, my jackets are out, and I'm ready for the fun festivities that this time of year brings! Happy Fall Everyone! It's upon us whether we like it or not! :0)

The Joys of Life...

2010-08-27T08:47:00.000-07:00

Apparently I need one of these...

Or better yet...with a catch basket...

Because as I was doing the laundry the other day, this is what I pulled out of the dryer...

REALLY?!?! A Popsicle stick, Creamie wrappers, multiple candy wrappers, a paper clip, 2 screws, 5 nails, and a Sharpie?! It's no wonder half of my shirts have holes in them! My poor laundry is taking a beating! You'd think you wouldn't have to worry as much about this stuff until you have little kids, but no-my husband is apparently 25 going on 5. I love you Brade, but can't you just throw your Popsicle sticks and other array of items in the trash?! It can't be comfortable walking around all day with this kind of stuff in your pockets! Perhaps I'll need to get him a man bag-like that Friends episode. :0) Anyway, I just thought this was too hilarious not to share!

But speaking of laundry...I have something I'd like to throw out to all of my fellow chicas! What is the exact purpose of a dryer? I mean, even though I wash all of my clothes in cold water, even when I put them in the dryer on the lowest heat setting, EVEN when I do all of that without even drying the clothes all the way, my husband still complains that his clothes get shrunk! So unless I take the clothes straight from the washing machine, drape them all over my house like an eye-sore, and wait for days for them to dry he thinks I don't know how to do laundry. And it's not like we have a crappy washer & dryer! They're practically new, GE front loaders. Am I missing something? Am I crazy, or is he? Weren't dryers created to make laundry and life easier and more efficient? Shouldn't I be able to just throw my clothes in the dryer, take them out a half hour later, and have wonderful, warm, fluffy clothes to wear?! It's really confusing & frustrating to me. If I could at least have something like THIS it might be helpful...

These babies are from Ballard Designs and oh so lovely, but they're almost $200 a piece! Yikes! But my laundry room is too long & skinny to get one of those drying racks from Wal-mart or even Bed, Bath, and Beyond that stand on the floor. Ultimately, however, I'd just like to be able to use my nice little dryer and not have to worry about it. So anyone that can make sense of this predicament for me, I'd sure appreciate it!

To leave you on a more happy note...here are a couple of other cute laundry room ideas that I'd like to implement in my own laundry room. These, along with the signs at the top, can all be found at the House of Smith's blog or on her Vinyl lettering site, Wonderfully Wordy. She's so creative, and doesn't her laundry room make doing laundry look like such a fun, happy thing? If only...

Happy Friday everyone...and Happy Laundry Doing! :0)

All Grown Up

2010-08-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

I seriously don't know how this happened...but my baby sissy got married on August 11! Not that I'm not super excited for her & Mike, it's just hard for me to wrap my brain around! I've been waiting to post about this until I had collected more pics from the reception & everything, but I'm tired of waiting. So, you get what you get I guess! Maybe I'll post more later. Anyway, it was a fabulous day! They had their dinner the night before at Market Street Grill, which I think was a much better choice that having a luncheon the day of. It was so much more relaxing! They got married in the Salt Lake Temple and had their reception that night at Noah's. Everything was just gorgeous! They got back last week from their honeymoon in Cancun, and are now setting up shop in our basement, which is mostly finished. Still trying to tie up a few loose ends-sorry guys! I'll try to remember to take pics of that too as soon as they're a little more settled in. So here's to the newly wed Mr. & Mrs. Blackhurst-Congrats you two!

What the...?

2010-08-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

So...the strangest thing that's ever happened to me happened this past week. It's just too crazy of a story not to share! It's kind of long and complicated, so bear with me.

As many of you know, we're finishing our basement. The time came to pick someone to paint it, and we discovered it was a fortune! So we did a little shopping around, and found a guy on KSL that was a really good deal, had a great portfolio, and said he was a returned missionary just trying to get his business going. So we hired him to do the job-for the sake of the story we'll call him Taquito.

So Thursday Taquito and his partner showed up to get started. Brady helped them most of the time, and spent about 3 hours with them swapping mission stories and what not. Thursday night (actually, Friday morning at 3AM) Brady came into our room asking me where our laptop was. I was delirious & told him we'd look for it the next day. Well, Friday came and went, and still no laptop. By Saturday, I knew it had to have been stolen, and I suspected the Peruvian painter, but Brady thought I was crazy. He couldn't believe it could be stolen, and if on the off chance it was, there was no way it could be the missionary painter. He thought if it was anyone it was the sheet rockers (yeah...clearly we hire high quality people!). So he called them, and they came over with all of their references and everything, swearing they didn't do it. Meanwhile, I went and peeked in the painter's van. I didn't see our laptop, but I did see an ipod and some Mac cords, so I knew he was a "Mac guy". I marched downstairs and asked him if he'd seen Brady bring it down there. He acted totally confused, and like he'd never heard of "Apple" or "Mac" in his life. Right away, I became even more suspicious, but Brady still thought I was crazy. We spent the rest of the night chatting it up with the guy, buying him dinner, etc. He finished most of the job, so we paid him (cash...we're idiots). However, he was due back Monday to paint our bathroom and do some other finish work, and we were going to pay him the rest of the money.

Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, Brady and I hear our dogs barking and going crazy. We thought that was really weird, since they never do that, but we figured maybe a deer was in our yard (it's been known to happen!). Also, we have an alarm that talks, and Brady heard it say "Basement door-open", but he checked it, it was locked, so we figured the wind rattled the door or something. Anyway, after waking up on Sunday, Brady goes outside to find our gate closed tight, but Daisy is in the front yard. He also notices our Harley trailer is open-luckily the Harley was in the garage and there was nothing in the trailer. So Brady goes over to our neighbor, and he said he'd seen someone super early in the morning peeking over our fence and go back in our yard. We've had so many workers coming and going, that he didn't think much of it. (At like 5am on Sunday morning? Umm...)

So, Monday morning Brady goes to file a police report for the laptop & the creeper trying to break into our house. Shockingly enough, Taquito also doesn't show up for work that day, and he won't return any of Brady's calls. The writing was on the wall at this point, and we figured our laptop was gone forever.

On Tuesday about five minutes before I was leaving work to go to Madi's wedding dinner, I decided to check KSL just to see if any laptops looked like mine. Sure enough...I found one in Sandy that had all sorts of pictures including this one:

There, right in front of me, was MY computer's serial number! I just about dropped to the floor! So Brady called the police, and to make an already long story somewhat shorter, Taquito had sold it to a guy, who then sold it to a used Mac store. The police verified the computer, and went and picked it up. They also arrested Taquito yesterday. He's done this twice before-stole $50,000 worth of merchandise from another family-but this time they can prove it! We're pretty sure he would've done that to us, because we think he had to be our Sunday morning creeper trying to break in, but the alarm probably scared him off. Brady is going to identify him in a line-up today, and he'll be going away! We should get our laptop back today or tomorrow. It's been wiped clean of all our stuff, but at least we get it back! We're also going to try and get back the money we paid him for the unfinished paint job, although I doubt that will happen.

Can you believe that?! It's seriously so sad that you just can't trust anyone anymore! This is the first time I've ever been robbed, and while it was only a laptop, it's amazing how unsafe and violated it can make you feel. I'm just glad the guy has been caught to he can no longer scam anyone else! Moral of the story: Don't hire a returned missionary, cash only, painter off KSL unless you know him! Sometimes going the cheaper route is just not worth it!

Bling Bling!

2010-08-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

I've been debating on whether or not to make this post. Not only does it force me to admit some embarrassing facts, but it gives away my newest gift idea! Oh well. It's just too cool not to share, and I think most of you will benefit from it more than me.

Babies generally like me for one reason and one reason only...I wear lot's of jewelry. If they start to cry, all I have to do is rip off my beaded bracelet or let them tug on my necklace and they're good to go. But this presents a couple of problems-I end up with slobbery jewelry, and I'm always terrified they'll rip it apart and swallow a bead or something. So here comes the embarrassing part...when I'm bored or just need a break, and I've pretty much blog and facebook stalked everyone I know, I start perusing random things...and it often turns out to be baby things. I'd come up with an excuse of that I'm constantly looking for baby gifts or something, but it's not true. I love babies and I can't wait to have one, so I daydream while looking at all things baby. What can I say? It makes me happy and excited...something that's not easy to be while chained to a desk all day! Anyway, today I came across these nifty beauties!

Big whoop...Tory Spelling has a cute, stone necklace that probably costs a million dollars right? Wrong! They're called "Teething Blings"! They're made for babies to be able to chew and suck on them without getting ruined or hurting Baby. They come in all sorts of colors and patterns, and they're only $20! They have matching bangle bracelets too! Isn't that just the coolest idea?! I don't know if they really work or not, but if movie stars use them then hey! Must not be too bad, right? You can order them online at http://www.smartmomjewelry.com/ or you can purchase them at a new store in Layton called Honey Bump Maternity (which also seems like a cool, mommy place!) http://www.honeybumpmaternity.com.

I also came across THIS site, which I thought was so cute! A little pricey maybe for something that will last for about five minutes, but totally worth it I think!

They have other cute things too, but these pretties are what really caught my eye. Aren't they to die for?! I wish I had a baby girl just so I could buy these shoes! But for now...I guess I'll have to live vicariously through all of you mommies out there. Happy shopping! :0)

Summer...Good Times!

2010-07-28T10:02:00.000-07:00

I'm finally updating! So sorry I fell off the blog wagon for awhile. I'm telling ya, you can't let yourself get behind or else it just gets too overwhelming, yet the photos keep piling up! So, besides the usual work & school, here's finally a sneak peak of what we've been up to this summer:

We've been playing on our new boat! These pics our from our first trip out to Lake Mead. We had quite the party as you can see! We're all trying to get the hang of becoming a boating family again. I even tried wakeboarding for the first time & got up for like a whole 5 seconds! (Pathetic? Yes...but quite the accomplishment for non-daring me!) I guess I still have a long way to go...

For the 4th we went to Logan to celebrate Chris's birthday & to watch Cruisin'! Too bad this will probably be our last year, because Shelbie & Chris will be moving soon. Now where am I going to find my favorite drink...the Texas Twister?! Anyway, we had lot's of fun seeing all of the cool cars, eating birthday cake, and just hanging out!

I threw two showers...each a week apart. Am I crazy? Probably. Did I go overboard? Yes...but it was so fun I couldn't help it! Was it worth it? Totally!!! First I had a baby shower for my friend, Amy, who is due in September. I can't wait to meet baby girl Shinsel! Then, I was nominated to give my sister's Bachelorette Shower-lucky me! It was a total riot! 40 giggling girls playing scandalous games & opening naughty gifts is priceless! I wish I got a pic of the food table & candy table after they were finished, because we filled them with chocolate covered strawberries, cupcakes, and catered Cafe Rio! Needless to say, I think I gained 20 lbs. in one sitting. But it was super fun...I just have to force myself not to think about what the whole shindig was for! My sweet, innocent, little Mads! Ahh!

What would summer be without a trip to St. George? We went down there for the 24th to swim, golf, eat, see Tarzan at Tuacahn, and relax! I know we took more pics than this...perhaps I'll have to add them later. But it's always fun going to one of my favorite places!

Other than that, we've been...

Chillin' at the cabin...

Doing yard work...(well, that's mostly Brady! :0) )

Finishing our basement so Madi & Mike can move in...

And getting ready for Madi's wedding!

I can't believe my baby sister is just 2 weeks away from tying the knot! I'm happy for her, but it kind of makes me sad at the same time! When did we all get so old?! Anyway, that's it for now. Hopefully it's not another two months before I blog again! But like I always say, I LOVE looking at everyone else's cute blogs...so none of you follow my bad example!!!

2010 AGC Summer Golf Tourny

2010-06-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

This is a shout out to the boys in my life....and the boy in Hillary's life! :0) These guys won the 2010 AGC Golf Tournament out of 350 players! They were 17 under with a bogie (whatever that means, right?). They even won some cash if I remember right. So good job boys! You're awesome!

P.S. Boating pics to come if I ever get the time and energy! Do those two things exist?

Funky Fashion!

2010-06-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

I'm in the market for some sort of fabulous new dress to wear to my sister's wedding dinner in a couple of months. It always takes me FOREVER to find dresses that I like, so I thought I'd get a jump on it. In the course of my digging, I came across a fabulous website that I just HAD to share!

If you're anything like me, you love to shop for all things funky & unique, and that includes anything....VINTAGE! I love things inspired from different eras, especially the 20s and 40s. I'm convinced I was born in the wrong time period. I was immediately in love when I found this site, and I can't wait to order something from it! I posted just a few of my favorites so that you could get the idea. Here's to timeless fashion! www.unique-vintage.com

Family Reunion!

2010-06-04T11:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe another year has gone by so fast! Memorial Day weekend was already time again for Brady's family reunion in St. George! It was so nice to get away from the cold weather and get some sun...finally! It was in the 90s the whole time & I couldn't have been happier! This year was particularly fun for me, because it was one of the first family events that I'd actually been to before, so I was finally part of some family memories. You see, by sister & brother in laws have all been with their spouses for years & years, so I always feel like the newby at everything. I think it made me feel even more part of the family. :0)

Anyway...we almost thought we'd never make it to St. George! Talk about a fiasco...the night before we realized we had a nail in our tire, but no open stores carried the tire we needed. So, Brady had it patched until we could get a new tire. Well, the patch only held until Provo and we started losing air quickly. We drove around & called everywhere & no one in Provo had the tire we needed! We ended up having to miss the annual cemetery stop and drive all the way back to Sandy to get a new tire! (Needless to say, we will NOT be listening to tire salesmen who suggest fancy, unique tires are a better choice than standard anymore!) After we finally got that fixed, we made it to about American Fork when Cody called & had forgotten his bike shoes, so we had to turn around AGAIN! So it ended up being about an 8 hour drive to St. George instead of a 3 1/2 hr. one...but hey! It'll be a good memory, right? Once we finally made it, we went boating, hung out by the pool, had a picnic, played games, the boys golfed & rode Harleys, shopped....basically anything you can think of that would mean "fun"! During our shopping...we also FINALLY found a great chair & 1/2 for our family room, which we've been searching for forever! (I'll try to take a pic later). So all in all it was a pretty successful vaca! Now...back to reality. Boo! But hopefully summer is going to decide to grace us with its presence soon so our days can all be a little brighter! :0)

It's always hard to come home from vacation...but at least we got to come home to this guy! I just love him!

For My Mother

2010-05-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

Since I was gone for most of Mother's Day, I didn't get a chance to post about my favorite woman. So, since Sunday was her birthday, I thought this would be another great opportunity to give her a shout out! We've had lots of fun these last couple of days celebrating her...umm...25 glorious years! ;0) We had a bbq on Sunday that was delicious...complete with presents and a fruit tart instead of cake. Then, last night we went bowling and stuffed our faces with pizza. Good times!

I know you all think your mom is the best there is...but I'm very sorry to say that, while yours may be a close second, mine tops them all! First of all, there is nothing this little lady can't do. I swear she's Superwoman! Whenever there's a project to be done, whether it be a party, Girls Camp, missionary packages, weddings, or even just cheering someone up, she goes all out and anything below 110% is unacceptable. Her talents seriously never cease to amaze me, and yet, she's so humble she refuses to believe she has any. She is beyond creative and can figure anything out....and I mean anything! Secondly, I'm pretty sure I've never met someone so hilarious. She has the ability to make anyone laugh their faces off! She makes everyone feel comfortable and it's just so fun to be around her. My mama has always been such a good example of how to live the gospel, how to be honest, how to care about and love others until you feel like you'll burst, and best of all....she gets me. I'm kind of a quirky, nerdy girl at heart, but my mom always knows what I'm talking about & she always finds me hilarious...even when everyone else is staring at me blankly. She's always been able to encourage me and make me feel good about myself, even during my lowest lows. She has been right by my side with overwhelming support during all of the trials and heartbreaks in my life, and even when I feel like everyone else has let me down and life doesn't make any sense, she's always there to turn to and help me keep moving forward. Anything I've learned to do well I've learned from her. She's my BFF and I couldn't imagine life without my sweet, warm-hearted Momsie! Happy Birthday/Late Mother's Day Mama Robyn!!! I love you!!!

The Big Apple!!!

2010-05-11T09:19:00.000-07:00

Remember how I won airline tickets at my work Christmas raffle? Well...Brady and I have been so busy with work and school that we decided to take the opportunity during our break between semesters to use the tickets and go to...New York! Brady had never been, and I hadn't been forever, so we were WAY excited! The weather was so nice and we had such a blast! Is there anything better than getting away with your sweetheart? I think not! So...without much further ado...here's our trip to NYC!

Day #1

We took the Red Eye flight on the 4th and got to NYC super early on the 5th. We couldn't check into our hotel right away, so we had breakfast at a cute little diner, picked up our trusty Metro passes, then walked around town to get our bearings. Then, we headed back to our hotel for a looong nap! Our hotel room was hilarious...the entire thing was probably smaller than our master bathroom! But the location was phenomenal so we can't complain. :) After we rested up, we headed off to the Empire State Building to take in the views of New York. It was breathtaking! Then it was off to Chevy's for a little Cinco de Mayo food! That place is one of my faves! They used to have one in Orem, but they got rid of it, so I was thrilled to get me some spicy chicken floutas! After we had our fill at Chevy's, we took a short jaunt down the street to the Majestic theater to watch The Phantom of the Opera! Phantom is a definite favorite for Brady & me, and we just couldn't get enough! Finally, we ended the night with a little perusing & ice cream-eating in Times Square!

P.S. The pic of the shoes is because Brady wouldn't let me bring any of my fun shoes! After the Las Vegas disaster, he knew I'd be dying if I didn't wear comfy shoes during our miles of walking. So...as a compromise...I got cute walking shoes. I was grateful that Brady won out on this one, because even with the comfy shoes, my feet were dead at the end of each night! Also, don't mind my ugly socks poking out of my shoes in every pic! I normally try not to dress so dorky, but Brady also made me wear these to prevent blisters...so I had to look like a 65 year old tourist the whole time! Ha ha ha!

Day #2

Day 2 consisted of a TON of site seeing! We took a subway ride down to the financial district where we saw the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, Ground Zero, Wall Street, and Trinity Church...which was probably Brady's favorite site given that National Treasure is his favorite movie! (We weren't lucky enough to find our own Templar Treasure in the catacombs though...shucks!) This was an interesting day to be on Wall Street since it was the day the market crashed by 1,000 points! There were reporters everywhere & people were going nuts! Funny story about Ground Zero...we walked around the entire block for probably 30 minutes in search of the huge gaping hole, only to find out that it was the ginormous construction site right in front of us! Apparently they've decided to build on the site, so there's not much to see of the tragic loss except the World Trade Center globe in Battery Park. Towards the evening we were dead tired! We headed back to our hotel to change & get some delicious sushi! By this point, our adrenaline boosted our energy because it was time to see Wicked!!! If you haven't seen this show...you MUST! It is one of the best Broadway shows ever! I've seen it 3 times now and it never gets old!

Day #3

Day 3 was a little more chill. We spent most of the day walking & shopping along 5th Avenue (my version of heaven). Eventually we made our way to Central Park and spent some time relaxing & enjoying the atmosphere. There were all kinds of bands, sidewalk booths, and even a zoo! It is seriously one of the most beautiful places. I wish I could spend every day there! As we made our way back to Times Square for dinner, we hit Rockefeller Center and Radio City Music Hall. I'd say a day well spent!

Day #4

Our last day was one of the best! Brady was super excited to see the Museum of Natural History...since another one of his favorite shows is Night at the Museum. I wasn't as excited....I wanted to see the Met. But, it ended up being a lot cooler than I thought! Plus, Brady had never seen dinosaurs before, so I was glad he got to see all the cool fossils they have there. We ate lunch at Serendipity...yes...the restaurant from the movie. It was one of our favorite places! It was so whimsical and fun...kind of like Alice in Wonderland. The food was also delicious...particularly the frrrozen hot chocolate! Then, we saw some more of Central Park & finished out the day with one final shopping spree!

We were very sad to leave New York, but it's also kind of nice to be home. It's definitely a trip we'll never forget, and I hope you all get to go very soon! It's totally worth it!!!

These Days...

2010-05-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

While we've been waiting for spring to come and stay for good...we've been passing the time by...

Playing with our baby! Axel is growing so much already! He's really playful and rambunctious! He loves to snuggle & give kisses...and he's getting better at the potty training thing!

Having fun with Brady's baby! He finally got his Harley! Now...no more complaining about having to drive the Black Widow! ;)

Hanging out at the Zoo! It was fun to watch our niece & nephew looking at the animals! I don't think they really knew what was going on...but it was nice to get out & enjoy at least one day of warm weather!

Planning Weddings!!! Well...this part just started. Madi & Mike (or as I've decided to call them...M&M) got engaged this past weekend! Mike took her to Olive Garden for dinner, and then to La Caille for dessert, where candles and a dozen roses awaited her. They're getting married August 12th in the Salt Lake Temple. We're excited to welcome in Mike as a new member of the clan! Congrats you two!

So...that's us for now! How have you been passing the time???

Our New Addition!

2010-04-20T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is the craziest story ever! I've wanted to get a puppy forever, but the answer has always been "No". I went to the women’s expo last weekend, and this lady came with the cutest, tiniest imperial shih tzu I’ve ever seen! He was seriously like ½ lb. Right then Brady called to tell me about the Harley he wanted to buy that day (a post yet to come!), and I told him about this cute dog, thinking nothing of it. He says “You should buy it!” What the?! Not at all the response I would’ve thought! I was freaking out! I think I caught him at a weak moment! So I talked to the lady about it, told her I’d think about it & call her later. My only concern was taking care of him while working full time. I called a couple of friends who’d raised puppies and worked full time, and they told me I could do it. So I called the lady and told her I’d pick him up the next day!

Brady and I stayed up all night thinking of names and we went to the pet store and got all the stuff we’d need. We were so excited! I’d seriously never seen a cuter dog before!

So Sunday we go to pick him up. Right when we walked in, the lady’s little girl had given it a treat that was too big for it & it started choking! The lady worked on him and got the treat out, but he wasn’t breathing. She tried to give him CPR, but it was too late and the poor little guy died right there in front of us! I’m seriously tearing up as I’m typing this. It was the saddest, most traumatizing thing I’ve ever seen. And they acted so nonchalant about it! The lady was like “Sorry, I guess he died. I’ll let you know if I breed anymore” as she’s holding it and just flopping it around! I had to just run out of there before I threw up! I was so devastated! I sobbed for about the next hour!

We went straight to my parent’s for dinner and I was seriously beside myself! I’ve never seen a creature die in front of me, especially not one that sweet and that I’d had my heart set on! However, my sweet hubby, eager to make things right, ran upstairs on KSL, found another breeder in Lehi, told them to bring their puppies to my parent’s house so I could pick one, and I had a new puppy within a couple of hours! Talk about a whirlwind! I think my sobbing (hence why I look dead in these pics) probably scared Brady and there was no way he was going to let me go home without a puppy after all that! It would be far too heartwrenching!

So we are now the proud parents of a 1.5 lb., 8 week old Imperial (tea cup) shih tzu named Axel. He’s a little bigger than the last one, and his colors are different, but he is the cuddliest, sweetest thing! I have to admit, I'm struggling so far! I haven't slept in two nights! He yaps when left alone (kennel or no kennel) and will only quiet down and sleep when he's laying in bed next to us; but then I still can't sleep because I'm afraid of squishing him! The potty training thing is also causing me anxiety! How will I potty train him when I'm hardly home during the day?! Plus, when I am home I take him outside frequently, but he always chooses to go right after I bring him inside! Ugh! My mom has been kind enough to babysit the last two days, but she can't do that forever, and he needs to get used to his new home. I just can't bear the thought of leaving him alone all day when he gets so sad just by me leaving the room! However, he's too precious not to adore, so I guess I'll have to suck it up until hopefully he matures a little and adjusts. I swear, it must be possible because so many of you have gotten puppies even though you work! Any suggestions anyone on how to make taking care of this sweet ball of fluff a little easier?????

Craft Time!

2010-04-06T21:32:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting a spring wreath for my front door, but I haven't been able to find one I like. Even when I do find one that looks even semi-decent, it's always between $70-100! For a wreath?! And they're not even that cute! It blows my mind! There is no way I'm paying that much. So...I decided to muster up some courage and make one. I've never made a wreath before, so it was definitely a new experience. I went to Hobby Lobby and found a stick wreath for $2.50! Then, I found flowers, greenery, ribbon, and wire all for around $22. So for $25.00 I made this...

I mean...it's not the most fabulous wreath in the world, but I think it turned out alright, especially for the price! I learned some things that I could do differently next time, so hopefully my next attempt will be even better. At least it adds some color to our bland front porch! Now I just need to hang the little decoration I just got for the wall and plant some flowers in our pots and we'll be set for spring! Hopefully it inspires the sun to come out more and warm us all up! :0)

Homecomings and Happenings!

2010-04-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

We have had a busy couple of weeks! It has been one big whirlwind of fun! Here are some things we've been up to:

Little Madi Moo turned 19! We had a great time celebrating at Red Lobster!

Elder Hendrickson returned from the Jacksonville, Florida Mission on March 31! We've had a great time welcoming him home! Although...I think we've all been a little more excited than him! He's still adjusting! :0)

We had our first Easter as a married couple! It was so fun to have Easter and Conference in the same weekend! We went to the Saturday morning session at the Conference center, then spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with family! I wish I'd gotten more pics of our Conference breakfast, Easter egg hunts, etc. but I just got burnt out! :0) So this is all you get! Sorry! But...Happy Easter Everyone! Now let's hope it starts getting warmer so it can officially feel like spring!!!

St. Patrick's Day 2010

2010-03-23T09:38:00.000-07:00

Happy Late St. Patty's Day! This year I decided to start a new tradition! We've never really celebrated St. Patrick's Day before, so I thought...why not?! Lot's of people celebrate it, and let's face it! It's a fun, happy holiday! So I decided to throw a little dinner party...complete with all things green! We had green pesto pasta, green salad w/green dressing, green bread, and green punch! To top it off, we even had a green mud pie for dessert! It was lot's of fun, and I look forward to refining this tradition in the years to come! May the Luck 'o the Irish be with you all year 'round!

24?!?!

2010-03-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

March 8th marked my 24th birthday! Yikes! I've gotta say...this one wasn't easy for me! I think it's the first time adulthood has hit me or something. "24" just starts to not sound young and spunky anymore. I think it might be the age where the young years start to fade, and you really start looking forward to your future as an adult. Or maybe it's just me. However, despite my tentative feelings about this birthday, it was still a pretty great day! My fam took me out for Birthday Lunch and my sweet husband took me to dinner & then threw a little party for me that night with our fams. He even ordered me a birthday cake with pink writing! I've gotta say...I was pretty impressed! My favorite part was his wrapping job! He gathered any random wrapping paper and bows we had and combined them all! Unfortunately there wasn't quite enough, so some of the packages were only half wrapped. But not to worry! To compensate, he added extra bows & red boingy things to the misfit gifts. I received lot's of lovely gifts...$, summer clothes, brightly colored flats & wedges, and fun accessories that will hopefully make me feel young again! :0) My mom also got me a gift card to Pier1, with which I finally bought some throw pillows for our bed! All in all, it was a fabulous birthday! Thanks everyone! I heart you all!!!

Face to Face Concert!

2010-02-23T08:24:00.000-08:00

This past weekend we went to the Elton John/Billy Joel concert! It was such a blast! We had our tickets for almost a year...and it was well worth the wait! I had forgotten about how many of their songs I know and love! They are both in their 60s and still had far more energy than I do on most days & they performed for 4 hours! Talk about getting your moneys worth! Needless to say...it was the best concert I've ever been to! Long live the 80s!

Valentine's Day Vaca!

2010-02-16T18:32:00.000-08:00

Since Valentine's Day was over a long weekend, we decided to celebrate it by taking a much-needed getaway. We stayed in St. George and went to the 2010 Home Show. Looking at homes is one of our guilty pleasures...so we hit the jackpot! One of the houses was even the same floor plan as ours, so we were excited to see our house decked out! Unfortunately, they did the inside super contemporary, which isn't really our style. But...we still got lots of ideas for our house in the very distant future! :0)

On Valentine's Day we drove to Vegas where the sun was shining! We shopped for awhile, went to dinner, and then...Phantom of the Opera! Brady had never seen it, so we thought it would be a good opportunity. We both loved it of course! How could you not?! The only downside to the day was my underestimation of the effect of cute-but-not-so-comfy shoes! I didn't think we'd be walking around as much as we did...and of course I wanted to wear my red high heels for Valentine's day! Needless to say...about halfway through our shopping my feet felt like they were going to fall off! I tried to fake it...but to no avail. For some reason, Brady wasn't buying my "I'm fine!" speech when I started walking like a cripple, so he made me buy some slippers. They felt so much better! I'm sure I looked absolutely ridiculous walking around in them, but hey! It's Vegas...so I couldn't have looked that out of place, right? ;)

All in all it was a fantastic weekend & I'm so glad I got to spend it with the love of my life! I hope all of you had just as much fun & got to spend Valentine's Day with the ones you love most! Happy Heart Day All! :)

AGC Convention 2010

2010-02-01T09:26:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was the annual AGC convention. Brady's dad is the President/CEO of AGC, so he hosts the event, and because Brady's clients are in the construction field...Brady gets to bring clients and I get to be his date! :0) (Of course I skip all the boring meetings & just get to go to the fun stuff!) Friday night was Western Night at Little America where there was a big buffet and country dancing! (Please notice that Brady and I looked like we were going to Girl's Pref in our matching shirts...NOT planned!) Then, Saturday night was the formal closing banquet at Little America where dinner was served & the BYU Young Ambassadors performed. The convention was particularly fun for us, because it marked 1 year of us being together! Western Night & the Banquet were our 2nd and 3rd dates together last year. So it was way funny to see people's reactions, because the first time they met me I was just "the date" and now I was "the wife". Ha ha! Good times!

The Holidays...At Last!

2010-01-29T12:38:00.000-08:00

     As my sister would say...Holy Cats! I haven't blogged in ages! I've been meaning to get these up for so long; there's just been too much going on. So by now, the holiday season is old news, and I'm sure you're all on to bigger and better things. But I thought I should post them anyway.
     The holidays were way fun this year! I had a week and a half off of work, so we just partied it up! Christmas was filled with all kinds of family parties, movie going, food, and good times. Our favorite things that Santa brought us were a camera for me (that I pray I learn how to use someday!) and a ping pong table for Brady! After Christmas, Brady and I did absolutely nothing except watch all 4 seasons of Criminal Minds! It's our newest addiction & it's amazing! I highly recommend it! It's hours upon hours of awesomeness!
     New Year's Eve we hadn't really planned on much...except Criminal Minds. :) But, a bunch of our family came over & we spent the night having competitions on the Wii, watching UP, and laughing our faces off!
   Brady also celebrated his 25th birthday on January 14th! Can I just say, it's kind of a pain to have a birthday right after Christmas...but it was still fun! We went to Texas Roadhouse & then had presents & dessert with our families. Good Times!
     Now it's back to real life. (Boo!) School and work have taken over our lives. I am enjoying my program so far, but it's a lot of work! It's hard to get back into school after 2 years! Anyway, we're just trying to enjoy life 1 day at a time! Happy Late Holidays Everyone! :0)

Wedding Day!!!

2009-12-18T09:16:00.000-08:00

Here are the pics from our wedding day! Wow! I can't believe we've already been married for 1 1/2 months! Time has just flown by! I guess time flies when you're having fun! :) Anyway, we got married on November 3rd, and it was the most amazing day! As I talked about in one of my earlier posts, I was worried that it wouldn't be, because we couldn't get sealed in the temple. But, as everyone had assured me, it was still the best day ever! I just felt so overwhelmingly blessed and grateful to be marrying the most awesome man in the world, and to finally have what I have always wanted. (And of course I cried over just about everything!) We had the ceremony at Heritage Gardens, and then had a family dinner party afterward. It couldn't have turned out more perfect. Of course, I think that's how everyone feels on their wedding day...I mean...it's your wedding day! But everything was really so beautiful, we had SO much fun, and I am just so thankful for all of our wonderful family and friends that have given us so much love and support. (P.S. Sorry the slide show is so long! It's hard when you have 100s of pics to choose from! :) )

Another New Chapter!

2009-12-16T07:48:00.000-08:00

In the words of Fiero from Wicked, "Maybe I'm brainless...maybe I'm wise." It's hard to say really. I will never understand why I have this constant feeling of needing to something with my life, but it's one of those things that just never seems to go away. So, in an attempt to satiate the hunger, I'm going back to school! Ahh! I've toyed with the idea of getting my Masters for a long time. And so, with the encouragement of a loving husband, I'm finally going to do it! I just got my official acceptance yesterday, and I'm starting in January! I'm going into the Masters of Marriage and Family Therapy program at Argosy University in Draper. I decided to go there, because I will only have class 1-2 nights a week for about 4 hours. I will never get a summer or holiday break of any kind, but this way I can still work full time, I won't have millions of tests and projects consuming my life, and I will still get done in 2 years. It's just a great way to be a full-time student without really feeling like one. And when I'm done (and after I get licensed through the state) I can be a full-fledged counselor! It will be great to at least have something that I love to do where I can create my own schedule. So, when I have kids, I can work as much or as little as I want...but at least I will always have options. I'm really excited to finally be doing this!...I just hope I can survive! :)

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

2009-12-08T08:10:00.000-08:00

I love holiday time! It's so fun when all the Christmas festivities start happening! This past weekend, we kicked of the season with a couple of our favorite traditions. One tradition we have in our family is every year we go out to a fancy, family Christmas dinner. We usually all vote on where we want to go, but this year, my Dad decided to surprise us. We went to Five Alls! It was SO delicious! I had filet with crab on top! Yum! Then we drove around and looked at a bunch of Christmas lights around town. Thanks Dad for an awesome night!

Saturday was Girl's Day Out at the festival of trees! The festival is so great every year. I cry almost every time. There were so many great trees, but I decided to take a picture of the Harley tree in honor of my Brady. :) After the festival, we went to lunch and worked on some Christmas shopping. I finally found a garland for my railing! I'll have to post a pic when it's all done...if I even get to finishing it this year! Thanks everyone for the fun weekend! I can't wait for more holiday fun!

Thanksgiving 'N Such

2009-12-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays everyone! I don't know about you, but I sure enjoyed my Thanksgiving break this year! It's the first time in years that I've had the Friday after Thanksgiving off of work, so I tried to take full advantage of the extra long weekend! We spent Wednesday night watching Friends and putting up our decorations! It was SOOO fun getting ready for our first Christmas together! Brady even put up Christmas lights on our house! I'll have to try to remember to take a pic of them. Then we spent the rest of the weekend sleeping, eating, shopping, going to movies, and hanging out with family. Good times! Now that we all have Thanksgiving under our belt, we can officially get into the Christmas spirit! Happy December All!!!

P.S. I threw in a couple of other random pics in the slide show because I didn't know what else to do with them...enjoy! :0)

Honeymoon in Oahu!

2009-11-30T13:35:00.000-08:00

I'm finally posting our honeymoon pics! Sorry it took me forever! We went to Oahu, Hawaii and stayed at the Turtle Bay Resort on the North Shore. We had a blast! It was about 85* the whole time, with a few showers here & there. We did just about everything there was to do-shopping in Waikiki, snorkeling in Haunama Bay, eating Dole Whips at the Dole plantation, visiting Pearl Harbor, playing in the waves on the beach, visiting the temple, seeing Punch Bowl, and of course stuffing our faces with lot's of yummy food! It was a trip we'll never forget! Hope you enjoy the pics of our Honeymoon in Paradise! :0)

Sharing is Good!

2009-11-11T12:40:00.000-08:00

We did it! Brady and I FINALLY got married last week on November 3rd! It was such a perfect and beautiful day! Everything went smoothly, and I couldn't have asked for it to be any better! Thank you SOOO much to all of you who helped to make it such a special day for us! We just got back yesterday from our honeymoon in Oahu, Hawaii and it was amazing! It was hard for us to leave the warm weather, but we're happy to be home and getting ready for the holidays! Woo hoo! So anyway, now that we're officially married, I thought it was only appropriate to make it our blog instead of just mine. Brady will be so happy I'm finally sharing! He blog stalks me all the time and has kept asking for me to add him as partial blog owner. I told him not until he made the committment! ;) (He wants to join my facebook too...but that's still iffy!) So...welcome to the new Thorn family blog! (He he he he...that sounds weird!) We've only been married 1 week today, but we are already loving it so far! Last night was our first official night at home when I didn't have to leave...and it was so lovely! I'm still in the process of making myself at home and moving all my stuff in, so I'll post more when I'm more organized. I will post pics of the wedding when I get them (which probably won't be for awhile), my new digs, and honeymoon pics very shortly! So here's to sharing blogs, homes, and hearts! Thanks again everyone! We love you all very very much!!!

Groomals!

2009-10-20T12:58:00.000-07:00

I just got my "groomals" back yesterday, and I love them! I don't know how I'll ever decide which ones I want printed! Here are some for you to look at and give me your opinion on which ones you like best. If any of you are looking for a photographer...Vanessa Millecam is the bomb!

He Never Said It Would Be Easy...He Only Said It Would Be Worth It

2009-10-12T15:45:00.000-07:00

I normally don't like to post things that don't have pictures to go along with them. Mostly I just feel like people would rather see those instead of read my ramblings! However, I need to make this post to get it out into the void, and there's just no happy, fun picture to go along with it. Sorry! Anyway, people keep asking me about my wedding plans and where we're getting married, so I thought I'd just put it out there to everyone at once. As most of you know, Brady and I were planning on getting married in the Salt Lake Temple. Because we've both been married before, Brady had to get a sealing clearance and I had to get a sealing cancellation, so we've been waiting on that before making a final plan. I got my letter back this past week. They canceled my previous sealing, but they won't let Brady and I be sealed for 1 yr., so we're going to have to have a civil ceremony at Heritage Gardens. You can imagine my shock! It is the weirdest thing, and neither of us can even begin to understand it. The only real explanation we've received is from Brady's mission president who said the first presidency is doing that a lot now, because so many people keep getting divorced and remarried, and don't take their covenants seriously. I guess that makes sense...but still! Any of you who know either of us knows that definitely wasn't the case! We're both perfectly worthy to go to the temple, we can do sealings for other people, but WE can't be sealed? Needless to say, I was a complete wreck for about a day. Then Brady, being the rock in my life that he is, helped me to calm down and realize that the important thing is that we're getting married, and we just need to move forward. It hardly seems fair after all the two of us have been through, but we have to have faith that the Lord has his reasons for everything. So there it is. When you hear I didn't get married in the temple, there is no need for speculation. It is what it is. I think we'll do a session together the night before we get married, still enjoy having a fabulous wedding day celebrating our love for each other, and look forward to next year when we can finally be sealed for all eternity. It will be an awesome anniversary present at least! And it's like Brady says...we get to have 2 celebrations! He he he! :) He's just the best. He's so positive and never let's anything cramp his style. So even though it won't be exactly what we planned...we still just can't wait for November 3rd! :)

Engagement Pics!

2009-10-04T23:17:00.000-07:00

It's almost here! Brady and I are less than 1 month away from our special day! I can't wait!!! We're so freaking excited! I hope the next few weeks go by fast! But at the same time...I still have tons to do, so maybe not too fast! ;) We got our engagement pictures back this weekend and they turned out so good! Our photographer is amazing! You should check out her website! www.vanessamillecam.com She was so cute and made us a little video of our pics! Here is the link! Hope you all enjoy! :) http://video214.com/play/F7V355QNozQkz4I1Kv3Emg/s/dark

We're Engaged!!!

2009-09-10T00:17:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry it has been so long since I've posted! And really I should've had this post up a week and a half ago! I've just been so busy! Anyway, for anyone that hasn't heard, Brady and I are officially engaged! I am so excited! I just couldn't be happier!

How did he do it you ask? Well...he took my family and I up to Sun Valley for the weekend as a nice little get away. The night we got there, after we got all settled in, Brady took me on a walk to "show me around". It was such a beautiful night! There was music playing, the grounds were lit up by soft lighting, and there were ponds and streams everywhere! After awhile, we stopped and sat in two little chairs by one of the ponds. We started talking about our future, and Brady was saying all of these nice things. (Don't tell him I said this, but he even got choked up.) Then, he asked if I was ready to go back to the condo. However, when we stood up to leave, he told me to hold on a second. I turned around, and he was getting on one knee...tears in his eyes, ring in hand. Well, obviously I said yes! How could one refuse such a man?! So we went back to my family, got some dinner, and spent the rest of the weekend celebrating! But it doesn't end there! The day after we got home, he met my parents and I for dinner, and when we went to leave, instead of his car being parked there, he surprised me with a Range Rover Sport! I was totally shocked! I didn't even believe him for about 5 minutes until he gave me the keys!

Brady is seriously the best guy ever. He is so loving and kind to everyone. He is always happy, positive, and so much fun...it's pretty hard to get him down! He works so hard and has such an unwavering testimony, and he's the only person I know that can calm me down or cheer me up in an instant. I just couldn't be happier, and I am so lucky and grateful to be marrying my favorite person and best friend. I can't wait to marry him on November 3rd! I love you so so much Brady James!!! :0)

Spring has Sprung!

2009-06-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

Okay, so again I've been a slacker and haven't posted forever! Sorry guys! To make life easier, I decided to do 1 big slide slow of a few things we've been up to so far this spring!

1. We moved Brady into his new house! Sorry the pics aren't great. Maybe I'll get more later.

2. We went to St. George...again! This time for the Knaras family reunion! It was way fun hanging out with the Thorns & Knaras's. I should've taken way more pictures...but I always feel dumb making a bunch of people stop what they're doing every 5 minutes to take my picture. So call me crazy...but I just opted for a few of little Crew boy in the pool. He's the funnest thing to look at anyway! ;)

3. Brady has been golfing quite a bit, and sometimes he let's me tag along! I wish I could play with him, but we all know that's just a disastrous thought! So I'm the cheerleader on the sidelines for now!

4. Madi Moo graduated from high school! Can you believe it?! I feel so old! Now she's off to live on her own & go to nursing school at UVU! Good luck Madsi!

5. Brady's cousin had his farewell...one of many family shindigs! It's always fun to get together with our families!

6. We've gone to Brady's happy little cabin near Park City a couple of times! It's way fun to get away for a night! But there's no running water...so a night is all I can take! But we love it! If you're wondering about the steak picture...funny story! On our first visit, Brady started the BBQ and the propane tank caught on fire & engulfed the whole thing in flames! Needless to say, our lives flashed before our eyes and the thing ended up torched! But luckily we got a new one, so we no longer have to cook our steaks on the mini stove! :)

So there you have it! I'll try to start being a lot better! But you guys better not slack because I love blog stalking all of you! So hopefully you're all having a Happy Spring! I think the rain is going to stop soon, and then it's on to summer! Here's to hoping! :0)

Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-05-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

This last weekend was my mom's birthday! We had a really fun day celebrating! Since Dad was golfing and Brady was working on his yard, we spent the day just us girls! We went to lunch, got pedicures, and went shopping in the sunshine at Gardner Village! Later, we met up with everyone for dinner, and then went to Angels & Demons. It was tons of fun! Happy 30th Birthday, Mom! ;0)

Ash & Brady Bonding Time!

2009-04-21T10:22:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those times when you need to get away to unwind, and you just want to sit and think about everything and nothing all at the same time? Brady & I seem to have those times quite often. It's just so nice to drive somewhere relaxing to take your mind off of everyday life, and think about things that your brain normally doesn't seem to have the time or energy to think about. Maybe that sounds weird & creepy...and you all now want to delete me from your blogs...but trust me! It's great! You should try it sometime! :0)

A Wicked Easter Weekend!

2009-04-15T13:40:00.000-07:00

Finally!!! We waited 4 months and finally WICKED rolled into town! It's only the best play ever! I've seen it before...but it was just as good, if not better the 2nd time around! Brady wasn't too sure about the whole thing at first...but after he got the chills in Defying Gravity he was sold! Needless to say...it was amazing!!! And right after Wicked, the Thorns & Hendricksons all packed up & went to St. George so that the boys could golf in an AGC golf tournament! Talk about the ultimate Easter weekend!!!

California Dreamin'

2009-04-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we all went to California for Madi's cheer nationals! Well...it wasn't so much about cheerleading as it was the free hotel for Brady and I! (Thanks parents!) We drove half way, and stayed in Las Vegas for a night on the way there. The only reason I'm throwing that in there is that the hotel was quite an experience! I wish we would've taken pictures! It's possible the thing was once used as a homeless shelter or something...and Brady definitely gave me some crap for booking it! Kinda funny. Anyway, California was so much fun! The weather was only nice 1 of the days, but who cares?! It's California! We did the whole hopper pass thing for a couple of days, ate at a bunch of fun places, and acted like a bunch of kids the whole time! It doesn't get much better than the Happiest Place On Earth!

Let's Play Catch-Up!

2009-03-22T14:33:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone! You asked for it! I know I've been a huge slacker on the blog thing. It's so funny...I get so bugged when no one updates their blogs...yet I've been the worst one! Ha! Anyway...in an attempt to redeem myself I have created all these slide shows to catch everyone up on my life!

The top slide is a little random. It has a bunch of stuff that when on at the first of the year. I went to Florida to watch the BCS Championship game with some friends which was a blast! Also, my wonderful friend Kim came into town from Kansas so I got to see her! I think the other pics are just from New Years and such...kind of old & boring.

The next slide is of my birthday! Can you believe I turned 23 this year?! I feel like I'm getting so old...at least in Mormon years! :) But it was still way fun! We all went to dinner & bowling to celebrate! I think there's another random picture in there of the Jazz game too with Brady. And who's Brady you may ask? No, he's not some random guy that just happens to be in all my pictures! We started dating in January & he's awesome! So for those of you that I don't get to talk to much...now you're no longer in the dark! :)

The last slide is of St. George! Brady took us there last weekend, since he had to go visit some clients. We had so much fun! It was great to get away & have a little sun in our lives! The boys got to go golfing at Sand Hollow while the girls shopped & got pedicures! And of course we hit up Fiesta Fun, swam, and shopped some more! We also got to stop in on our way there & visit our great grandma in Scipio. She's 98! Can you believe it?! And on our way home...the fun continued when we stopped in Beaver to hit up the gas station with the Big White Chair...then on to the historic Cove Fort! It doesn't get much better than that! ;) Thanks Brady for whisking us all away for a fun-filled weekend!!!

So there you go! A quick update on what has been going on with me! And I promise I'll start being much better! After all...I don't want to become a disgrace in the land of blogging! :0)

10 Honest Things About Me

2009-03-02T09:50:00.000-08:00

So...I was tagged by my wonderful friend, Kimi. I've never done one of these things before, but considering I've turned into the lamest blogger ever...I figured it would give me a good reason to start back up again. And not to worry...there really are more exciting posts to come! :)

#10 I'm afraid of the dark. More so of being alone in the dark. Yes...I still turn off my lights, run at sonic speed to my bed, and throw the covers over my head. I then shake like a leaf until I can get my tv turned on in order to fall asleep to something happy! I'm not sure how all that is going to save me from the scary monsters in my closet or under my bed...in fact...it probably puts me in a more vulnerable position! But it makes me feel better...and that's all that matters!

#9 Contention gives my anxiety. I guess that's why they've always called me the "peace maker" in my family...and why I usually get walked on a lot. I hate arguing & tension between people, so I panic & try to solve problems as quickly as possible...even if that means taking one for the team & not sticking up for myself. Pansy...I know.

#8 I have a weird quark...I hate it when cupboards and drawers are left open. I don't know what it is. It just makes me feel icky! There have even been times when I've walked by an open cupboard on my way to bed, crawled under the covers, and laid there for 10 minutes until dragging myself back out to close the cupboard! I'm so weird! I wonder if there are medications for my cupboard/drawer disease!

#7 My family is my life. There is nothing I wouldn't do for them. Even when we drive each other crazy, they are always my best friends and "go to" people. I've loved always being so close to them, and they've never let me down! They're always there no matter what. I love you guys!

#6 I'm a hopeless romantic! I've been hurt a lot, but every time I come out of it hopeful and ready for the real thing to happen! I'm like that girl in "He's Just Not That Into You" who just can't help but be so excited about love all the time! I eat up sappy chick flicks, I stare at happy couples, and flip through bridal magazines while waiting in line at the grocery store. What can I say?! I love love! :)

#5 I love to shop! I don't always spend tons of money...but dreaming is half the fun! I love finding good deals...sometimes the sale is more exciting to me than the purchase! Nordstrom is definitely my happy place! When I'm stressed, all I have to do is walk around Nordies for a little bit, and I feel much better!

#4 I'm a sucker for dogs! My mom always teases me that I'm going to become the "crazy cat lady" but with dogs! They just look at me with their huge, innocent eyes and I melt! But my favorite of all of them is my precious baby, Gizmo! Even though he's one of the brattiest dogs alive, I just love him!

#3 I have a hard time letting go. Relationships of any kind mean a lot to me, and care strongly about everyone in my life. That's why I try my best to at least stay on good terms with everyone I know, including exes. When I care about someone, the thought of them being gone out of my life forever gives me a pit in my stomach, and if they just disappear, I feel and grieve like they died. So...anyone considering becoming my friend, beware! I may latch on and you'll never be rid of me! ;)

#2 I've always been the child with weird things. I was born with a skin tag, which is a disgusting extra chunk of skin protruding from the side of my ear. They were able to cut it off, but now I'm left with a nubbin that looks like a zit...awesome. I have one hitchhiker thumb and one straight thumb, I have a "tumor" on my eye that's really just a disgusting lump of tissue, I pass out if I get overheated...the list goes on and on! Let's face it...I'm kind of a mess!

#1 I am what I say I am...for better or for worse. I'm a total nerd at heart...always have been. I'm not athletic or outdoorsy...in fact, I'm very girly! I'm a deep thinker. My mind is constantly running, pondering, considering, weighing, and analyzing. I'm really shy and get intimidated easily...until you get to know me, and then you won't be able to get me to shut up! I love traveling & experiencing new places! I can be patient and understanding of a lot of things for a long time...unless you push just the right buttons (don't worry...I only have a couple! :) ). I'm a sucker for a good musical...Phantom makes me cry every time! I love to help others anyway I can. I'm perfectly content just hanging out, eating yummy food, watching a movie, and pretty much just doing nothing. I am overly organized in some ways and totally cluttered & scatterbrained in others. I am easy going and passive...but if there is something I feel strongly about or if someone I care about is crossed-I'm not to be underestimated. I get happy and excited over the little, stupid things in life-a note from a friend, the first warm day I get to put my flip flops on, sparkly or fluffy things, hugs, a good song that I can sing at the top of my lungs, the smell outside when it's about to rain, a long drive somewhere with a special someone...let's just say I'm easily entertained! ;) I love hard, my heart and feelings are worn on my sleeve, I try my best to always do what's right, I love to give, and what I want most out of life is to find someone I can love with every part of me that I have, raise and adore our beautiful kids, and get us all back to live with our loving Heavenly Father. So there it is...take me or leave me!

I tag Rachael, Hillary, and Dani!

Festival of Trees!

2008-12-05T19:50:00.000-08:00

Well, I have officially participated in my first Christmas activity! My mom and I went to the Festival of Trees on Wednesday. I have to say, I wasn't as impressed this year as I have been in the past. But of course it was still fun! It breaks my heart every year to see all of the people the trees are dedicated to, and I felt extra bad this year, because there were quite a few that didn't sale! This horrible economy is even putting a downer on the Festival! :( But here were a few of my favorites! The one made of blown glass was awesome! They started the bidding at $25,000 and it sold for so much that they wouldn't tell us! My goal one day is going to be donating one of these trees! I just think it would be so fun! Let the Christmas festivities begin!

Happy Turkey Day!

2008-12-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was a little different this year! We decided to go to Little America with the Hennigars, Grandma, and Uncle Brad. It was so fun! I feel a tradition in the making! Everything was so festive, the food was delicious, and best of all? No maintenance! Rather than spending hours cleaning up, we went straight to the movie! We saw 4 Christmases which, needless to say, was a little awkward! Not a good movie. I wouldn't recommend it. After the movie, we went to visit Chad, Jill, and baby Kenzy, and guess what?! She can finally be held by people other than her parents! I can't believe how big she's getting! Although, I guess if you think about it she is now the size of most babies when they're first born! It was really fun being with everyone! Happy Holidays!

Flying South for the Winter!

2008-11-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Last weekend, my dad and I took a trip to Jacksonville to visit our Florida friends...as well as officially meet a few new ones! ;) We stayed at the Wainrights' Lake House which was so gorgeous! I can't believe people actually get to live in such beautiful places! I know I should've taken more pictures of the things that happened, but I was a little preoccupied. So let me at least give you all the play-by-play:

Day 1: Dad & I went to drop off a package at Riley's apartment. Of course I had to make a ginormous poster for he & his companion! We waited until we knew they would be gone, and drove over to drop the stuff off. As we pulled up, low and behold who comes flying around the corner?! Riley and his comp on their bikes! We got so scared we threw the car in reverse & drove off! So, we obeyed the rules & didn't stop to talk to him...but at least we caught a glimpse! :)
Later that night, we got settled in & Kendall took us for a drive around Live Oak...very exciting! ;) Then we met up with Wes & his business partner, Brad, for our first Southern dinner! Needless to say...most of it was fried. :)

Day 2: After much build up and anxiety, I met Adam at the Suwanee Airport (which is more of a parking lot with a little house/building in the middle) in the morning to go flying in his little plane! I know many of you were concerned for my safety, but not to worry! He is an excellent pilot & brought us back to earth safely!
That night, Adam & I went to Gainesville where he proudly introduced me to his blessed UF stadium. It's been an ongoing battle between Adam & I as to who's team has the best stadium...and while I bleed blue, I have to admit the Gators' house is pretty awesome! I only wish it had been lighter so I could've taken a picture you could actually see! Then, we walked across the street to watch the UF girl's basketball team, and what an event! I think we were 2 of maybe 100 people in the entire place, including the teams and coaches. Aren't we just awesome?! To conclude the evening, we met up with Adam's parents for dinner (who are AWESOME by the way!), and then made the hour journey back to Live Oak to hang out with my dad & the Wainrights. Fun, Fun, FUN!!!

Day 3: Saturday pretty much everyone was either hunting or at the Orlando temple for Jared & Briana's wedding ceremony. So dad & I took a journey to St. Augustine to visit the Golf Hall of Fame. It was actually pretty cool, and they had an 18 hole putting course that...well...was a little embarrassing for me...but fun nonetheless!
That night was the big wedding reception in Lake City! Since the groom was Adam's cousin, I met a lot of his extended family...what great people! It is very true what they say about Southern hospitality! They all act like they're your best friends! It's the best!

Day 4: Sunday was a day of MUCH worship. We went to sacrament meeting in the family ward in Lake City, and then went to all 3 meetings of the singles ward. Why you ask? Lake City was my brother's first area, so we were able to meet a lot of people that he knew & taught. And in the singles ward, we got to listen to Kendall give her first talk! (For those of you who don't remember who Kendall is, she was Riley's first baptism.)
After church, my dad wanted to go visit some people with the missionaries, so Wes let me tag along with he and some of his friends for dinner. We went to eat at Wes's dad's house...which I was very nervous about! You see...Wes's dad is a very affluent judge in Lake City, so I figured he's be kind of scary & intimidating! But he was the nicest guy ever! I'm telling you...the Southern hospitality thing never failed to disappoint!

Day 5 was just a sad day of leaving our Florida bliss to come back to the frozen tundra in which we reside. The trip was so fun though!!! I've never met so many enjoyable people! We really appreciate the Wainrights' for letting us stay with them, and we hope to see all of our Southern friends again very soon!!!

Pumpkin Carving & Halloween!!!

2008-11-02T22:11:00.000-08:00

On Thursday we had our annual Hendrickson Family Pumpkin Carving Night! Of course the Hyatt's joined us...it just wouldn't be the same without them! Everyone's pumpkins turned out great, and luckily there was no need this year for the use of toothpicks or repairing broken pokies! ;)

Of course Friday it was really time to celebrate! We had tons of food...but I think my contribution of BYU Creamery mint brownies were the biggest hit! :) Dad of course got his scary music going so as to frighten everyone with our "haunted house", and this year the creepy thing in the punch bowl was ice in the shape of hands! Unfortunately, it melted before most people got to see it, but I still thought it was a nice touch! The best part, of course, was that we got to see lot's of our favorite family & friends. Seriously...is there anything better than dressing up like a crazy & partying all night? I don't think so!

Witch-a-palooza!!!

2008-10-29T21:03:00.000-07:00

Last night we went to Witch-a-palooza at Gardner Village! It was a blast! We got there a little early so that we could walk around the shops & take pictures with all the witches & Halloween scenes! Then it was time for the main event! We went to the Gathering Place where they served us dinner & performed a fun show full of singing & dancing! What a party! I think we are definitely going to make it a yearly event! It was the ultimate girls night out & I highly recommend it! Happy Halloween!!!

Baby McKenzie & Conference Fun!

2008-10-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I'm the worst blogger ever! But, better late than never, right?! Here are some more pics of baby McKenzie! She finally got to come home 2 weeks ago, and we got to go visit her over conference weekend! She's so so sweet! We also went to the Saturday afternoon session of conference which was awesome! Afterward we went to gateway for dinner & shopping! The ultimate girls night! So, I hope you like all of my late pics! I promise I'll be better! :)

Little Angels

2008-09-15T19:41:00.001-07:00

Last week my cousin, Jill, gave birth to her & her husband's sweet little twins, Brayden & McKenzy. They were born almost 2 months premature. We are heart broken to say that little Brayden didn't make it. Something went wrong with his umbilical cord, & he passed away, which is what caused Jill to go into labor so early. We are all so sad that this little member of our family couldn't stay with us, but we are so blessed to have little McKenzy here and doing remarkably well. She is only 3.5 lbs. but she is breathing on her own & growing stronger everyday. We like to think of her as our precious angel baby. We had a graveside service for her brother on Saturday, which, as you can imagine, was extremely hard for everyone, especially mom & dad. But we know Brayden will always be with them, watching out for his beautiful sister, and we are very blessed to know that we will all get to be with him again someday.

A Bit of Randomness...

2008-09-15T19:33:00.000-07:00

My mom says I don't blog enough, but that's because there aren't too many hip & happenin' things going on! So I decided to take & post a few random pictures in order to make a contribution to the world of blogging. They aren't too thrilling, but I hope you enjoy! :)

Baby Shower for Kimmi & Baby Hallie!

2008-09-15T18:10:00.000-07:00

Last week I had a baby shower for my friend Kim. It was so much fun to see all of our friends that we haven't seen for a long time! It is so crazy that my friends are having babies! It makes me feel so old! But Kim is going to be the best mom ever! I can't wait until Baby Hallie comes and we get to dress her up in a million bows, dresses, and other girlie pretties!!!

Game 1!

2008-09-09T23:59:00.000-07:00

Okay...so this has taken me forever to post, but better late than never I guess! 2 Saturdays ago was Game 1 of the season! We were so pumped up! There's nothing better than an intense artistic display of athletic ability on a Saturday afternoon! Our boys played a little sloppy, but they pulled it off in the end! Here's to a winning season! Go Cougars!

Secondhand Serenade...Round 2!

2008-08-24T12:06:00.000-07:00

So, last night Madi, Amy, and I went to Secondhand Serenade...again!!! I love them so much! If I haven't said it before...John Vesely is...well...there aren't words! He's beautiful, talented, funny, and the list goes on and on! We had to wait 3 1/2 hours for him to come out! They had 6 lamo bands play before him...but as soon as he walked on stage it was all worth it! Can't wait for round 3!

Cheer Coach!

2008-08-08T15:56:00.000-07:00

Hey, all my fellow ex-cheerleaders! A good friend of mine called, and Mountain View High School needs a new cheer coach! There's quite randomly, and since school is starting in a couple of weeks they are in desperate need of one! I wouldn't have the time to do it, but if any of you are interested you better jump on it! You can go apply at Mountain View High School, or you can get in touch with me, and I'll give you the number of someone you can call! This would be a fun opportunity I'm sure for any of you interested in that type of thing! Get back in touch with your inner cheerleader!!! Go, Fight, Win!!!

Weekend in St. George!

2008-08-07T22:26:00.000-07:00

I went to St. George with my family this past weekend! Apparently it wasn't hot enough here so we needed to go where it was 114 degrees! We had so much fun though! Our first night there we went to Tuacan and saw Les Miserables...one of our faves! They did an amazing job!

Day #2 started early when Madi & I got in line at Barnes & Noble at 7:00am to get our wrist bands for Breaking Dawn! Of course our copies were reserved, but if you didn't have a wrist band, you would have to wait in line forever after midnight just to buy your book! So of course we were one of the first ones there & got the first round of wristbands! Anything for Edward! Later that day, we went bowling at the ghetto bowling ally that where we had to press the reset button everytime, but it was still way fun! After that, it was off to play #2...The Sound of Music! This one was also awesome even though we had to leave a little early...we couldn't miss the entire Breaking Dawn Party! So Madi & I went and joined the rest of the crazies at Barnes & Noble to get the best book of all time! I loved loved LOVED it!!! I just have to wonder though...when is Edward going to show up in my life and turn me into a vampire? Please tell me it's soon!!! :)

Since Madi & I stayed up reading until 4:00am, day #3 started off late! I think we woke up around noon and lounged around by the pool most of the day reading about our true love! Then we hit up a family tradition...Fiesta Fun! All I can say about it is good times...GOOOOD TIMES!!!

All in all the trip was a success. Although I have to say the best part was when my dad was getting ready, and instead of spraying his hair with hairspray...he douced himself with "Big Sexy Hair"! Needless to say, his was looking very pretty! Ha ha! Cute little dad! Thanks parents for a fabulous time as always...and thank you Madsi for once again serving as our entertainment, and sharing the ending of the Saga with me!!!

Memories!

2008-07-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

One of my girlfriends had this on her blog and it really gave me the warm fuzzies! :) So I thought it would be fun to do!!!

Here's how it works:

1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember, good or bad but be nice please! ;)

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Come on all my blog followers... I want to post something about you, let's see this on your blog!!!

Boston!!!

2008-06-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

So I'm finally posting pics from my Boston trip! I divided into 4 slides so that it would make more sense! It was everything I thought it would be! I miss it already! I think I would live there if I got the chance! It is so fun, lively, and different from anywhere else...and there's a little something for everyone! We did all kinds of fun things! The weather was pretty good, but really humid-hence, why our hair is a little flat 98% of the time! It ended way too fast, and it took us 12 hours to get home, because of all kinds of delays, but other than that it was pretty much perfect! Hope you all enjoy the slides! Maybe they will entice you to go there & you'll fall in love with it as much as I did!!!

Day 1!

2008-06-16T21:53:00.002-07:00

Our first night in Boston! Our flight was at 6:00am, and we didn't get much sleep the night before, so we look a little rough! But, when we got to our hotel we got all dressed up for our first night on the town! We ate at Legal Sea Foods...a hot comodity in Boston! Our food made us a little nervous, but it was amazing! It was the perfect way to kick off the trip and get the party started!

Day 2!

2008-06-16T21:53:00.001-07:00

Our first full day in the wonderful city of Boston! We did a bunch of shopping on the fabulous Newbury street, and in some of the local malls! I think they should just let movie stars shop there, so the rest of us don't have to feel bad about ourselves! We found a Chanel coat we liked and it was only $7,000.00! Can't imagine why we didn't make that purchase! But don't worry! We found plenty of other things to fit our fancy! But the best part of the whole day, and maybe the whole trip was the Red Sox game at Fenway Park! I've never seen something so incredible! EVERYONE is crazy! They love their Sox! There was all kinds of partying going on down Yawkey Way, and of course we had to get some Fenway Franks to get the full effect! After buying all our bling bling paraphenalia at the Fenway store, we sat back to enjoy a nice, relaxing baseball game...or so we thought! Manny Ramirez hit one over the Green Monster, then Coco Crisp charged the mound, getting him suspended for 7 games! I'm sure all you ESPN watchers saw how crazy that was! It was such a great game! I think it's safe to say we are all now true members of Red Sox Nation! After that, the fun continued! We went back to our hotel and watched Game 1 of the Celtics vs. Lakers, and Boston dominated! It was a great night for Bostonians...and Boston Lovers!!!

Day 3!

2008-06-16T21:52:00.001-07:00

This was an intense day of shopping sightseeing! We spent most of the day at Finnial Hall and Quincy Market where they have all sorts of shops and restaurants! Then we mosied on through the local market and into the North End where we saw some famous historical sights, ate at one of Rachel Ray's favorite Boston/Italian restaurants, and indulged in some scrumptious pastries! We even met some local Bostonians who have a nephew going to the U of U, and they asked me if I had served my mission yet! Ha ha! I explained to them that it's a little more important for boys, and that my brother was on one. Cool people though! Cool City! My feet were dying by the end of the day, but it was totally worth it!

Day 4!

2008-06-16T21:51:00.001-07:00

Our last day in Boston! How sad! Happily, however, it was the warmest day of the week! About 95 degrees! We took a tour of the city on the famous D.U.C.K.S! They are cars that convert to boats! It was great to learn about all of the history in Boston! After the tour, we took a trip to Cambridge to see Harvard. What an amazing campus! We definitely felt like little people though! Of course we finished off the day with last minute shopping, and having one last seafood dinner! We were so sad when it was over, but so happy we got to come!

Secondhand Serenade-"A Twist in My Story"

2008-06-11T23:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight I went and saw my favorite band...Secondhand Serenade! They're an acoustic rock group that is so amazing! I listen to them everyday, and sing in my car at the top of my lungs! I think I can relate to a lot of their songs! It was so much fun, and I loved every minute of it! I highly recommend everyone getting on bored the John Vesely train!!!

An P.S...Yes, I had a fabulous time in Boston! There is a massive post coming with lot's of pics, I'm just waiting to get my Mom's camera. Hers takes better pictures than mine!

Counting Down!

2008-05-31T23:07:00.000-07:00

I am so excited I can hardly stand it! I am going to Boston in less than a week! I have always wanted to go, and now I finally get to! I'm going with my parents & Madi, and our flight leaves at 6:00 A.M. Wednesday morning! It's very early, but that's okay, because ya know how you couldn't sleep the night before vacations when you were little? Yah...I'm still like that! It will be so great to get away and shop, eat sea food, and of course...the highlight...watch the Red Sox play at Fenway! Hopefully the weather is good, and I get to wear my new capris! It says it's supposed to be high 70s to low 80s so cross your fingers! I'll let ya know how it goes when I get back, and I'll be taking lot's of pictures! Go Sox!!!

The Cure!

2008-05-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

So I bought tickets to The Cure forever ago, and Friday was finally the day! I know, I know, it seems a little out of character for me, but I was introduced to them a couple of years ago, and I've loved them ever since! I'm actually kind of a closet "hard core" & "edgy" music lover. Anyway, Madi & I went together, and we had a blast! The concert definitely brought out all sorts of crazy people! But no one way crazier than the band! Robert Smith, the lead singer, sort of looked like a creepy, dark version of Hagrid, and Porl Thompson, the lead guitarist...well...we just couldn't quite figure him out! His mesh shirt, patent leather pants, and platform high heels said it all! But man, could he play! The evening was eventful, wild, and just one big party! Rock On!!!

Graduation Day!!!

2008-04-25T19:50:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been done with school for a little while, but today I am an official Brigham Young University graduate! It's so strange when a goal you've had your whole life gets accomplished! Where do you go now? Only time will tell! But I'll tell you where I'm gonna go first! On a much needed vacation! So for part of graduation celebration my dad is taking us to Boston on June 4th! I'm so so excited! But in all seriousness, I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to study at BYU. I have learned so much over the past few years that I will carry with me my whole life. It's been a roller coaster ride-I've experienced my highest highs and my lowest lows, but I have to say that it has all been worth it. I want to thank all of my family and friends that have helped me reach this goal, and who have supported me through everything I have gone through to get to this point. It's all a little bitter sweet. I am thrilled to be starting a new chapter in my life, but I will never forget these past four years-the friends I've made, the experiences I've had, and the lessons I've learned. Congratulations Class of 2008!

Finally!

2008-04-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

I got offered a new job today! The position is an Executive Assistant/Sales Coordinator for a training and consulting firm in Orem-Spencer Johnson Partners. Basically, they train companies and individuals that are experiencing change, and help them improve their business. My job will sort of be two jobs rolled into one. I will be the Executive Assistant to the VP of the company, and that is pretty much what it sounds like! The Sales Coordinator part involves a few things. I will coordinate all of the events, seminars, trainings, workshops, etc., and also be the go-to person for all the clients, acting as a liason between them and the other members of the company. The salary is great, and I also get full benefits: health, life, and dental insurance, PTO, a 401K, and a Money Purchase Pension Plan that pays out annually. Also, the people that I will be working with are great! Everyone that I have met so far has been extremely nice and down to earth. My official start date will be April 28, and I will be trained for a month before being released on my own! I know this job doesn't have much to do with my degree, other than I will be involved with people and relationships with them. I have planned on applying to some graduate schools to get my Masters degree in counseling, which I am still probably going to do & see what happens. Also, I may pursue my Interior Design interest more in the future, but until either of those things become more concrete, it will be nice to have the stability & gain more experience in the work force! I am so grateful for this opportunity, and am super excited to move forward with this part of my life!!!

Utah Jazz vs. San Antonio Spurs

2008-04-07T11:17:00.000-07:00

I went to the Jazz game on Friday night with my friend Steve Dahle! It was so much fun and our seats were awesome! We were about the third row right behind the San Antonio bench! I tell ya, that's the way to go! Games are so much more fun when you're right in the action! Look closely at the re-run of the game & you'll see us on T.V. cheering our little hearts out! We were a little worried about the Jazz at first, but they came through in the end and dominated the Spurs! I think we were their good luck charms! :)

Saying Goodbye at the MTC!

2008-03-30T23:01:00.000-07:00

Elder Riley James Hendrickson entered the Provo MTC on March 26. He will be there for 3 weeks before heading off to Jacksonville, Florida! The MTC is such a bittersweet thing. We were all so sad to see Riley go knowing that we won't get to see him again for 2 years. But at the same time we are all way excited for him and all of the awesome experiences he is about to have. It's so amazing to think that there are people out there who are about to have their lives changed forever by receiving the gift of the gospel. We love our Ry & wish him the best of luck! For anyone who wants to keep tabs on him over the next 2 years, he has a mission website where you can write him messages, look at pics, and read messages he posts. www.missionsite.net/elderhendrickson.

My Little Bro's Mission Farewell!!!

2008-03-16T21:38:00.000-07:00

Riley's mission farewell was Sunday, March 16. He gave an amazing talk, and we had so much fun with all of our family and friends that came to support him. I can't believe he's actually old enough to be going on a mission! He leaves March 26 for the Provo MTC. He'll be there fore 3 weeks, and then he's off to serve the people of Jacksonville, Florida! His mission also covers some of Georgia, so he'll be getting a good dose of southern culture! Good luck Ry! We love you & we're so proud of you!

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-03-14T22:33:00.001-07:00

Check out my Slide Show!

2008-03-13T20:23:00.001-07:00

Las Vegas

2008-01-04T17:20:00.001-08:00

Family Christmas Photo

2008-01-04T17:06:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Hendrickson Family!!! Baby it's cold outside!