Cruise post... sort of

Yes, we did go on a cruise, and someday I'll post (more than this) about it. Unfortunately, our camera broke on the second day, so we are very limited on pictures. :( That just makes it less fun to post about, ya know? We did have a wonderful time! We ate way too much, loved the clear blue water and hilly (mountainous ?) islands we visited, and enjoyed being with the great people from Living Scriptures!

Retraction

In my last post I made the comment that Sonic is a great place to eat and I recommend it. Unfortunately, that no longer rings true. I do still enjoy their cheddar peppers and mozzarella sticks, but the sandwich I had today, the Chicken Club Toaster, is not treating me or Parker very well, and we both have stomach aches. :( I no longer recommend Sonic for your daily meals. Thank you.

PS. Parker and I learned how to make sushi last Saturday, and we're in the process of making a sofa table. Pictures to come. :)

New Post

I know it's far past time for a new post, but I honestly feel there's nothing of interest to write about. So... here's what we do.

• Parker and I go to school. It's hard.
• I still work 20 hours a week at the MTC. Parker's starting to recruit again and works a few hours each week as a TA for a construction class.
• Halloween is this weekend, and we have no plans for the holiday (but we're both really ok with that, neither of us love to dress up). We do have friends coming over tomorrow bringing homemade sushi! Love that! So festive, huh. We're not total scrooges though, we have candy to give away if someone knocks on our door. :)
• Parker won a Play Station 3 at work, and we traded it for a surround sound system (which I have mixed feelings about, but we don't need to get into that now) which is (SLOWLY) in the process of being hooked up as I type.
• We bought a new entertainment center. It's beautiful, and came with a matching CD case (that I don't really know what we'll do with, because we really have no need for it...). Pics to come someday, maybe when I finally post pictures of my living room.
• Speaking of living room, I decided it needed curtains, not just blinds, to make it more cozy. I found the perfect ones, and they were on clearance! Yay! Unfortunately, they are about 16 inches too short. Yes, I knew that before I bought them, and planned to find coordinating fabric to sew to the bottom. That's harder to do than I thought, but I finally bought the fabric today, so we're making progress. It's projects like this when I wish my mom lived closer. (Ok, I wish that a lot, but this time especially.)
• I have to find an internship asap! I'm supposed to graduate in April(!) but since all I have left to do is my internship and a 2 credit class, I don't really have another option for school next winter. Stress. Anyone have a friend in the public health business looking for an intern?
• Parker and I recently signed up for netflix. It's fun. We found out that we can watch Prison Break instantly, and have been addicted to it ever since. We're on already on the second season after about a week and a half. It's intense. We like it. I don't know how people actually waited a week between episodes, I'd go crazy.
• I had one of the craziest class periods ever this past Tuesday. It started when my teacher rolled a big cart of stuff into the classroom and pulled a couple packages of Depends out, opened them, and started handing them out saying "Ok, everyone go put your depends on." We all stared at her and didn't move in a sort of "Are you being serious right now?" sort of way. She wasn't kidding, and it got worse. If you want details you'll have to ask me personally, because I don't really want to type it all out. It would take a long time, and it's slightly embarrassing/crazy. Now you're all curious, huh. It's probably not as exciting as you're imagining.
• We've gone to the home BYU football games. I really like to go, and so far, we've had pretty good seats and decent weather.
• Parker's been duck hunting with his Grandpa in Corrine, UT at their duck club. Next weekend he's going pheasant hunting. I stay in the lovely trailer with his Grandma and admire the mountains, the marsh, and her cooking. I'm hoping next weekend she can help me with the above mentioned curtains.
• Sonic has been a daily stop for the last week. We have literally been there every single day (except Sunday, of course) and sometimes more than once. It's awful, and wonderful. They have these daily specials that are just hard to resist when you're super hungry and have half an hour between work and a 2 hour class. Fridays and Saturdays are my favorite, they have Cheddar peppers and mozzarella sticks for 75 cents. Delish. If you're in the Provo area, I highly recommend you check it out.

That's pretty much everything we do.

One more thing! We're going on a cruise over Thanksgiving to the Caribbean! I'm so excited. Bring on the SUN!

Daddy(Grandpa)/Daughter(Grandaughter) Activity :)

I know it's tiny, but the close up picture won't load right, it keeps rotating for some reason. :( Anyways, this is the picture I was referring to in my last post. Oh, and the picture I posted in my last picture was indeed my favorite picture of Grandpa that was discovered and sent to me by my lovely Aunt Cindy. I'm so glad I've got it now.

Grandpa

My dear Grandpa Talbot passed away on Wednesday. I sure will miss him, but I feel like I've been so blessed to have been able to say goodbye to him, to know that he's no longer sick, and most of all to know that I'll see him again someday. He was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called glioblastoma cerebri just over two weeks ago, and was quite healthy and able to do what he needed and wanted to do until then.

I have so many fond memories with him. I don't think I'll ever be able to see a rodeo without thinking of him now. (When I was going to school in Idaho I spent one weekend with my grandparents, where Grandpa and I stayed up late every night to watch the National Finals rodeo together.) I loved to play games with him, like Polyanna and Hand and Foot. I remember when I was young, 10 I think, and our family (exept Dad) was living with Grandma and Grandpa, our Achievement Day activity one week was a Daddy/Daughter Activity. I remember being a little sad that my dad wouldn't be able to go with me, but Grandpa was willing to go and I treasure the memory of our little outing together. I've kept a little memento from that evening... that I will try to post later because it's not working right now and I've already wasted 20 minutes trying to make it work.

I love you, Grandpa.

This one's for you, Mom!

Well, I was chatting with my mommy, and she was so kind complimentary about my blog and basically inspired me to attempt to post more often because she like it. :) I just feel like I don't have anything interesting or clever to say... but these things are important to me so... here you go.

First, Parker is driving as we speak, okay, as I type, on his way back HOME!!! It's been a long summer, and a short summer too. Long in that I feel like it's been a very very long time since we just had day to day life together, and short in that I've felt like my real life's just been on pause while Parker is gone, so it's like I skipped all of summer and we're going from spring straight to fall. I don't know if that makes any sense at all. It does in my head. Anyways, I'm super excited for him to be back. We're going to LAKE POWELL for a few days, then we'll be back home and start a new semester of school... speaking of school, Parker got accepted to his program!!! We're one big step closer to graduation!! I'm so proud... and excited... for graduation... someday. :)

Second, my Grandpa has been sick. The doctor's don't know exactly what's wrong yet, but they're in the middle of tests, and at this point they're treating him for Lyme disease and waiting for test results. It's been interesting to reflect on how important my Grandpa is to me. I feel like I can better empathize with others who have sick family members. It's scary, and I'm glad I'll be able to go visit in a couple weeks.

So there you have it. A few things I think about a lot... Parker, School and Grandpa.

And now I'm getting frustrated because I can't find my favorite picture of Grandpa (and I know I must have it somewhere because it's been on my fridge for months...) so we'll go with the second fav... still a cute one.

Medford Love

Oh how I love Medford. It was wonderful to return home for my little sister's wedding on August 7th. I had a wonderful time helping get things prepared for the reception and such. I love spending time with my Mommy. :) We did some yard work and ran errands to prepare. My Aunt Cindy's family came on Thursday along with cousins Heidi and Megan. Parker flew in Friday at 11:50 pm and was able to celebrate the day with us before leaving again on Sunday at 6:00 am (it was a quick trip for him to say the least!). I had such a wonderful time!!! I can't believe it's already over, and now it's just my two youngest sisters at home, the 3 older kids are married.

I was able to go to the temple with Anna when she went for the first time.
She looked GORGEOUS! Of course. She's always gorgeous, so as a BRIDE how could she not look fabulous!

I thought this one of Parker and Shanna was cute...

I love him!

Cousins picture! It was so nice to have them there, although we missed everyone who wasn't able to make it. :)

In-Laws

I've been thinking lately about how I have such wonderful in-laws. I've had a very fun weekend spending time with Parker's family while they were in town. We visited his grandparents, ate good food, and laughed a lot. :) I feel so blessed to have such wonderful brothers and sisters in-law who are so much fun to be around and always make me laugh.

I'm a little embarassed about this next one... it's not exactly flattering, but we sure laughed a lot that night!

This next picture was from my most recent trip to Sun Valley a week ago...

Thanks Shanna, Taylor, Bobby, and soon to be in-law, Drew, for being awesome! :)

I love, I hate. True story.

You want to know what I hate? Well I'll tell you. Sunburns. Mine is really awful now. The blisters are here, (and I think it's because of Zumba...they weren't there the hour before I was drenched in sweat) and... well, I won't go into more (unnecessary and disgusting) detail, but it's not pretty.

Want to know what I love!? Parker. It's true. And I love that my sister is getting married in 2 weeks which means he has to be in Medford, because let's face it, a sister-in-laws wedding is a must-be-there event. The plane ticket is purchased, and he'll be taking a break from Florida to party with me and the fam. Can't wait.

And, just for fun, I'll give you another love of mine... my in-laws. They're so great. I had a wonderful time in Sun Valley and I get hang with them tomorrow. Life is good!

Past Due

Well, people have been telling me I need to update my blog. I guess that means someone reads it. :) I don't really know what to write about, so I guess I'll just write about what we've been up to.

I finished spring term while working part time, and then took the summer term off of school and began working full time at the MTC Student Employment office. Parker worked in a few different areas, including Miami, Panama City Beach, and now Pensacola, Florida.

My family came out for a 3 week visit in June and July. It was sooo nice to have family around to hang with on the weekends. We took a weekend trip up to Idaho to visit my grandparents, go wedding dress shopping with Anna, and visit with Adam and Shanna. It was very fun.

My Grandparents celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary over the fourth of July weekend. This turned out to be my favorite weekend so far because PARKER CAME TO VISIT!! It was wonderful having him here. It makes me even more excited for him to come back permanently. I now realize just how much difference having him around makes in my day to day life. He is so helpful, and really just makes me happy. Sigh. Can't wait.

Now I'm here in Sun Valley with Parker's family for a long weekend. I have had so much fun!! They just make me laugh, and it's been very relaxing. I did get quite the painful sunburn on my legs when we went to the pool the first day. I don't know why I thought SPF 8 was a good idea. Note to self, it's not. I've eaten way too much while I've been here, and now I have to figure out how to get home tomorrow. Time to go back to reality...

And that's it. Oh, I forgot to mention I had a roommate for a month. My friend, Kristen, stayed with me while her husband was away in Oregon. It was nice to have some company. We had some late nights and good laughs reminiscing about old times in high school.

Now I really mean it. I don't have anything else to say. Hopefully when Parker is back I'll feel like I've got something interesting to post about.

It's Done- And I Love It!

I've finished my table make-over project, and I couldn't be more pleased. It took a long time, but I really enjoyed doing it, and I love the way it turned out. I've got my eyes peeled for another piece of furniture to paint. Ready for some before and after pics?

Before:

I didn't get a perfect before picture. I had taken off the handles and started sanding the right drawer before I realized I hadn't taken a picture, but you get the idea.

After:

These pictures don't really do it justice. :) With the flash, the color seems off, but without it's too dark, so I guess you'll just have to come see in person to get the real effect. I distressed the edges slightly, but that didn't really show up right in the pictures either. Regardless, you can mostly see the transformation.

PS. Parker's having a much better day today. :)

Rough Day

It's been a rough day. Parker locked his keys, wallet and phone in his car at 24 hour fitness, and to top it all off, his house in Miami got broken into and every one's laptops were stolen. I thought I was having a rough day with a C on my religion midterm and super sore I-don't-want-to ever-move-again muscles from zumba class yesterday, but I can't compete with that. One of the guys on his team has a birthday today too... what a rotten day to have your laptop stolen. :( I'm praying for a better day tomorrow!

At least I can be thankful I wasn't there. If I'd have been home while someone was trying to break in, I'm pretty sure

A. It wouldn't have happened, because my presence would have deterred them.
or
B. I'd be hysterically scared and scarred for life, to say the very least.

Two Things

First of all, my little sister is getting married. Her engagement pictures are ADORABLE. I love them. It makes me smile to see the huge grins she has in them. :D

Secondly, I do not recommend painting anything red if you're interested in a makeover craft project, such as painting a lovely desk/table thing. Although it will look great when it's done, (if you can get enough coats on the thing) it is time consuming and requires lots of patience.

Rexburg Weekend

Let me just start out by saying... I love Rexburg. I have so many wonderful, fun, memories there, so it was great to go back last weekend to visit Adam, Shanna, and Anna. We had a blast, and I took lots of pictures, so be prepared. :) I got there Friday evening and left Sunday afternoon, but we did a lot in the time we were together. A few highlights include:

• Being with my family!
• Riding around in Adam's huge diesel truck with the windows down, and music up. We (Adam, Anna and Me) had fun being together, laughing, and possibly racing another truck... maybe. ;)
• Rockband! Definately a fun game.
• Staying up late and sleeping in!
• Shanna's delicious Strawberry French toast for breakfast.
• A trip to the Ice Caves. Very cold, dark and cramped, but still an adventure. Even the ride out there, although bumpy and a little cramped with four of us in the truck, was fun.
• Sand dunes! We had a great time just playing in the sand and eating our snacks.
• Dinner at Big Judd's... wow. (If you've never been, pictures below may help explain.)
• Going to stake conference with Adam and Shanna which was a broadcast where President Monson and Elder Hales spoke. Pretty cool.

Picture time... beware, there's about a million of them. These first two are a little embarrassing. We're trying to get a good picture for our album cover.

They've "conquered the truck" just before we went in the cave.
This is a little hard to see, but we have to crawl down into this huge hole to get the cave entrance.
Anna had gloves, so she put all our rings on to keep them protected. That's some serious bling.

Us at the sand dunes... Here's a bunch of pictures of us just having fun...

We all buried our legs, because that's what you do with sand.

I love Anna's laughing smile in this one. She's cute. "Walk like an Egyptian." Pretty sure they don't actually walk like this, but I could be wrong. Adam wrote his name all huge in the sand, but it's very hard to see. He's proud of it though.The truck that got us everywhere. Love it!At Big Judd's and ready to eat!

Our monstrous Hickory burger, so tasty, and so huge. There are 2 pounds of hamburger on that thing... which we split 4 ways, but still 1/2 a pound each is more than enough. We shouldn't have let Adam convice us we needed the double! :)Don't worry, we cleaned our plates... mostly.

Thanks Shanna and Adam for letting me stay at your place and eat your food! I had a marvelous weekend!!!

Gone...

Parker left for Florida yesterday. It's hard, of course, but Parker is going to do great in Florida and he really enjoys his job. Time to look for plane tickets, I think it's time I visited him...

This pic was from last fall at a BYU football game... we really should try to take more pictures together, mostly because we seem to have a hard time getting good ones. :)

It's Been Ages

I feel like it's been a very long time since anything really blog worthy has happened. Parker left today for training in Ogden. He'll stay there for 3 days, come back just to switch cars with me, then leave for Florida. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention we got a new (to us) car. It's a 2003 hatch-back ford focus. It was a great deal, and we really like it, however it didn't pass the emissions test, and without that, we can't get it registered, and without it being registered we can't drive it. Bad news. It's a vicious cycle, really. I'm waiting to hear back from the shop on how much it will cost to improve. In other news, I've started a new semester, and after a week of classes, changed up my schedule. I feel very behind. Because I am. Sigh. Time for class!

Big Changes!

Lot's of changes are coming in the near future. Parker and I are officially done with the Winter semester, I start a new semester on Tuesday, Parker leaves for Florida in about a week (too bad I'm sick right now, not much fun for him to take care of me, but he's good, and does.) and the biggest news of all, my little sister is ENGAGED! Can't believe it, but it's true. We're excited for her. :) We love you, Anna, and we're excited to welcome Drew to our family. Congratulations to you!

What do you think?

There has been one wall in our living room that has been giving me problems. I didn't really know what to do with it with the couch and the TV where they are (and not able to move much). Here's what it looked like, you can even see where we touched up the paint. I don't know how to get rid of those glossy spots. :( Oh, and fyi, those chair's belonged to Parker's great, great grandma! Awesome. The table doesn't really go, but that's another project, let's focus on the wall.
After being inspired by this blog, (which I love!) specifically this wall in her house, I thought, "I can do that, or at least something like it." So i got to it, and looked at Ross and TJ Maxx for shelves and frames for cheap-ish. With Parker's help, we got started...

Once we were sort of done, it looked like this, but needed some rearranging. This took some time, a day or two to leave it then come back.

This is what it looks like now (minus the bag on the chair)! I wish I had more accent thing like she did, but for now, I like it, I think, and it definately makes the room feel more even, and less lopsided, (like everything in on the opposite wall, does that make sense?).

So, does it need something more? Does it need less? Is it too much? I hope it's not, because it's tough to rearrange... please just tell me it's fine. :)

School's Out!!

Parker and I will be done with this semester in a week! We finished classes yesterday, and now we've just got finals to take. Easy as pie. :) I'm so thankful to have a little break before spring semester starts on April 22 (I think? Is that a Tuesday?) Hopefully we can have a little stay at home vacation before he's off to Florida for the Summer!

Birthday Boy!

Parker and I had a wonderful evening on his birthday. I made him enchiladas for dinner...

Then he opened his present and saw the ice cream freezer and was super excited to try it out, so we got started...
We laughed at the fact that Parker hadn't noticed the buckets of ice (This pic only shows some of it) I'd been making in the freezer...
After about 40 minutes of churning the ice cream was done and we were ready for cake and strawberry icecream! Delish!