New Moon Party!

My cousin Laura rents out a theater and puts on "Twilight" party and this year a "New Moon" party with raffles, trivia, and a little gift bag of fun items. She gets the whole theater riled up and has them all screaming when Edward or Jacob come on screen and especially when they would get some action. This year I got all of my high school friends to join me and Joy to be apart of the action. Even Kathryn, my friend who had a baby two days prior came out for the movie! We did dinner at Carinos before and had a blast at the movie. 4 out of 7 of us got raffle prizes which was awesome! Thanks for the great party Laura! You are amazing and we can't wait for Eclipse in June!

Here are some fun pics from the night

Em and I had matching shirts (not planned) so we had to get a pic of our psychic powers :)
Oooo la la- Laura, Me, Jacob, Emily, Steph, Edward and Marie
The ladies
Marie and I showing off our HOTT black boots
This is a hideous picture of my double chin but cute of the darling Laura, our host who put this whole thing on. She dressed up as Alice.

Halloween in a flash

We decorate our work area each year for Halloween and came in 3rd place this year. For our "carn'evil".

Jack Sparrow came to our work and so he asked if I wanted a picture. He was the real thing- he had the lines down and acted just like Johnny Depp!

We had a monkey bike which was quite entertaining, and Cassie in the gorilla outfit

I was a gypsy

I had dry ice for my crystal ball but it didn't work as I had hoped it would.

Best overall costume went to Jennifer in our dept. She made this whole outfit herself.

My niece, a princess fairyMy nephew dressed up as Indiana Jones
Cute Sophie as a ladybug!

I was awarded "Painter of the Month" for November at Color Me Mine in Provo for a "Blessed" platter I painted.

Rexburg Temple/Midway detour

My Brother and sister in law just got sealed in the Rexburg Temple last weekend. We are so happy for them as they are about to have their first baby any week now. Congrats!!! Rexburg hasn't changed since I left there back in the college days- the wind still blows that freezing ice cold breeze. On the way home from WY, the provo canyon was closed so I decided to go up and over the mountain through Midway/Cascade Springs and came out through Sundance. It was a gorgeous ride but reminded me of Hana in Hawaii with all the curves and dirt roads. It took me an extra 1 1/2 hours to get home but worth the new ride. Especially in the Fall. What a view!

Antelope Hunting

Brandon and I went hunting with his dad, brother Toran, and brother Tyson and his family the last week in Sept. It was so much fun and such a great spot, we want to come back next year.
We had a great lake side camp spot and great, lazy hunting. By that, I mean sleep in til 9/10 am, and then hunting by driving around in the truck and "fencing" the antelope. it was pretty redneck and I loved it! Here's some pics from our weekend.

Thanksgiving Point Aug

Mom and Dad told us about $2 Tuesday at Thanksgiving Point instead of the $8 dollar fee they usually charge. Who would have thought they had such gorgeous gardens. You can't see a thing off the freeway but it took my breath away!

Fun change

Feels like HOME

So I was just telling Brandon how I really needed "CHANGE". So he went and got a really nice black leather sectional from a friend he was doing work for who was moving and getting rid of it. It's a really nice sectional. One side has two lazy boy recliners and the other side has a hide-a-bed that pops out. We love the change and Brandon laughs because I was against it at first, saying that all of our furniture is brown, and our carpet is brown. I had a certain couch style in mind, but this will work great for us for a long time. So, to make this black sectional feel comfortable in our "brown" living room, I decided to paint the lamp stand and a bookshelf black to make it fit in better. Spray paint is an awesome way to go. It was so easy and dried so quickly. It makes our home look new and more open. Here are a few of the new shots.

Bookshelf Before
Bookshelf after
Nightstand after

Summer Fun

Where did summer go? I know we have one month left, but I swear July just got skipped this year! :0 Here are some of the fun moments we've shared with friends, family and youth group.

Girls Camp Fundraiser Luau

I taught the girls the Hukilau Hula Dance...they did awesome!

We gave the YM in our ward free food and they helped us by dancing the Haka War Dance!

Entertainment for all ages

We had a great turn out. Thanks to great members and friends in our neighborhood.

Our hosts

We held a dessert auction that same night to earn some extra cash

Stephanie's baby shower back in November- I never got this cute picture up from our party.

My sister in law Joy made the most adorable summer dresses for all of my neices- here's Eva wearing it

And McKenzie....

We got together lots before my brother Keith headed out to Louisville KY for dental school for 4 years. So we dined out, had some great BBQ's and spent some great time together. We miss you Keith, Nat and Kenzie!

Joy and her adorable Sophie

We had been promising my neice and nephew a sleepover at my house forever and finally did it. It was so much fun with bubbles, movie, games and a picnic in the backyard.

They couldn't get enough of the bubbles. :)

FAMILY PICS

Taken by our good friends Ron and Kit Norris

Here are some of our faves

Keith, Nat and Kenzie

Kirk, Joy and their kids Eva, Sophie and Gideon

Mom and Dad with the grandkids

GRANDMA LOVELL'S FUNERAL- JULY

Me and Gideon

Gideon and Eva

House guests for a week- how do you keep 4 boys entertained for a week at our house?

Brandon created a water slide for them to keep busy day after day. It may have ruinned the grass for a bit, but it was worth it for the fun they had that week!

Porter, Pheonix, Parker, and Dawson

Then we had the Merritt reunion last week at Palisades Lake in Idaho. So much fun jet skiing, fishing and jumping off bridges. I had a really bad sun burn so I passed on this bridge jumping experience :) But it did bring back memories of college when we hit all the bridges around to go cool off from the summer heat by bridge jumping. This is my brother in law Shawn doing a back flip. You can't tell in this picture but the bridge was probably 30-35 feet but still fun to see the stunts.

Sorry for such a long post but I really wanted to catch up on some of the fun memories we've had so far. We just finished girls camp and one of my counselors has my CD of pics to make a movie, so as soon as I get that back I will have to post a few fun pics from that.

Hope you are all enjoying your summer! Hope to see or hear from you soon. Let the good times roll~

Trying to survive!

Well, it's that time again! Horrible finals are creeping up again and I am trying to stay focused on finishing papers and assignments for my portfolio and get ready for graduation!!! I am so looking forward to being done with school and being able to spend more time with Brandon and spending my time on what I want to. I finish on May 1st- so I am so close I can't hardly wait. My family is coming into town for Easter too so I am really trying to get things caught up before they come because I know I won't get much done while they are here. :) My brother Keith and Natalie and their adorable lil girl will be here all week starting Saturday so I am pumped to see them before they pack up and head to Louisville KY for 4 years for dental school. Good luck Keith and Congrats on graduation at BYU-I! We will miss having them close but are planning a trip to go out and cruise Louisville. My sister in law Shalynn got married in Twin Falls in March. Congrats Shalynn and Logan- I will have to post the pics I took of their wedding soon.

Work is super busy at Pinnacle, getting ready to unleash the crazy summer bang having close to 90 offices open through the country and 35 of them are my offices! Yikes...remind me how quick the summers fly by and how much more organized and on top of things we are this year compared to in years past. Young Womens is just as busy with our annual camp fundraiser coming up mid-May. We are planning a Luau food and entertainment, so any ideas, pass them my way! Brandon never reads blogs but I have to mention how amazing he has been to support me through all of my stress melt downs. He is so good to me and understanding...I am so lucky! I am aiming for balance in my life and wonder how those with kids do all of this but they do, and survive, so I know I am learning lots and am were I am right now for a reason. Sorry to all of my friends who have been neglected through this year...I honestly have been the worst friend and think of you all often, I just need to let you know! Thanks for putting up with my pathetic way of staying in touch. :)
Here are a couple update pics from the past couple of months to show you what we've been up to!

YW/YM Combined Mystery Dinner .....SO MUCH FUN!!!

My hubby the cop

Me with the Laurels...

The whole group- we had an amazing turn out and great costumes- 1920's
Caught in action

Me and McKenzie

Gideon and his favorite aunt- my family all surprised me for my b-day

I know everyone may be sick of Twilight, but I never posted my opening night pics with the cousins- so much fun! And NO- I am not wearing a wig as you can tell from other photos...I had dark and bangs for a month and a half but decided to grow the bangs out again and go lighter...

Cousin Kristy, me, Laura, and my sister in law Joy :)

Valentines Day!

Valentines Day

We had an amazing day today. We started it off with some service for the ward. Our YW and YM were asked by the First Presidency of the Church to collect food for a church wide food drive. We started at 9 am which was a bit of a damper at first to have to miss our chance to sleep in, but such a blessing! We love serving with the youth of the ward. We actually got a pretty decent group for it being Valentines Day and Brandon had picked up some Krispie Kreme's to thank them for their effort. It has been snowing all night so we had a lot of fun crusing around the neighborhood gathering all the food.
After that, Brandon and I played games (I got slaughtered in Canasta) and then we just relaxed. One thing I haven't been able to do for a really long time. Although I had a million things I wanted to work on, it was really nice to just focus on my honey and I- we needed that! I made him an amazing Mexican dinner. Homemade tortillas from a recipie I got from a friend at work -Thanks Sariah! And made some pretty amazing fajitias if I do say so myself.
We stuffed ourselves and then met up with good friends Dave and Alyssa for NEW IN TOWN- a hilarious movie, and chick flick of course!
After we got out we couldn't help but watch as people were sliding on the ice right outside the theater. Girls in the stilettos and heels were sliding all over the place and men couldn't stop the slickness of the sidewalk either. I felt guilty not warning them, but we were laughing so hard at the entertainment. Cars were getting stuck, or not stopping because they couldn't, it was SO SLICK!
This morning I awoke to some yummy heart shaped French toast made by my one and only! I even used the last of the Liliokoi syrup we got in Hawaii last time we went. It's my favorite!!! How perfect!
Brandon has somewhat figured out by my hints that he is getting his Ahi Poke- raw Hawaiian fish from one of our friends who should be getting home tomorrow from Hawaii. It's Brandon's favorite thing in the world, and I was excited that it would arrive right around Valentines Day.
I love you Brandon!!!

1 year anniversary for Gordon B

I have been dying to make a post to my ever neglected blog, but had a goal to get through New Beginnings and school this week and reward myself this weekend to catch up from months of neglect...but I couldn't help myself.

Today is the 1 year mark of when President Gordon B Hinkley passed away.

What sad day that was. But happy that he could once again be reunited with his sweetheart! :) I thought it was really neat how that day, kids dressed up to go to school in honor of him. I was listening to the radio this morning and some kids were dressing up again today to go to school in honor of our prophet. I wish I would have thought about doing that, but I have my art center painting with the preschool kids today and I don't think that would be a wise idea. One other thought I couldn't help to remember about today is that we were in Hawaii a year ago today. Boy, do I wish we were there now- with the huge snow storm we had yesterday and the 14 degrees it is right now, I would LOVE to be soakin' up the sun and swimming in the ocean in 80 degree weather.