Living and loving

Thanksgiving

2012-01-31T12:42:00.001-07:00

About 25 seconds after we spent the weekend with my family it was Thanksgiving, and we were once again up north in good 'ol BC. I had so much fun seeing so much of them!
We did Thanksgiving with my parents and grandparents, most of my siblings celebrated with the in laws this year, so it was kind of a smaller party. I had volunteered (foolishly) to bring something... I then panicked since I have basically no cooking skills what so ever. I ended up bringing a drink, and it was a hit! Wahooo! See grandma, I can do something in the kitchen, even if it is just pouring frozen raspberries in the punch bowl.
Food was good, the company was great, and everything was just dandy.
That night Todd and I drove up to Em and J's so that we could do some Black Friday shopping. I did not really need, or even want anything this year, but just wanted to spend some time with Em and the little nuggets.
As we set out on grey Thursday (not cool, not cool at all) it started to act like winter outside, so I gave my coat to McKell so her and Mer could stand in line. Em Todd and I stayed in the car and blasted the Christmas tunes. After a couple of stops we went back home to rest before the next stops... again this whole "Grey Thursday" thing was just crummy. I'm amazed I actually got up, I sort of threw myself from a sitting position (so comfy, I know) on the couch to a half kneeling on the floor and worked my way up from there.

Todd and I didn't really end up getting much of anything. I found some black dress pants and we got socks for Kell's birthday. Boring shoppers, I know.

Anyway we had a good weekend with the fam, and I got to spend lots of time with my best little bud (Braxton) and Todd got some time with his favorite in-Law (Justin) so all in all it was a good weekend.

Alaina Wood Fitness

2012-01-31T12:22:00.001-07:00

Check these out!

Go, Go, Go, Joe!

2012-01-21T08:53:00.001-07:00

McKell was in the High school play this year, and it just happened to be the same play we did my senior year, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat! Ti is such a fun show! We planned a month in advance to go and see her on the closing weekend. It also worked out that, that was the weekend I dyed my hair blond for my workout video.
*Side note: I was so stressed out at this point in time that I could hardly function...never again will I produce a video. It is still making me want to pull my hair out!

Anyway... Michelle did my hair, and it looked great! Then we went to the show and it was good. I thought they did not cast a very good Joseph though since the boy they cast was a high tenor and could not sing most of the songs in the baritone range... Anyway McKell was great, and the show was fun, and it was a good production. There is a lot of talent at good 'ol BEHS.

We got to hang out with the fam, and it was great fun. I sure to love my little B and Na!

Happy Halloween!

2012-01-21T08:46:00.002-07:00

This year Todd and I actually did something on Halloween! It was nothing short of a miracle, and we have friends now...
Anyway it was a costume party, and since I work every night of my life, and especially on nights that people want to do fun things I cam basically straight from the gym. I decided I would use this HUGE shirt that was my uniform for the NuSkin convention and stuff my belly to look pregnant. (I can do that now, because it would not be scandalous if I actually was preggers, right?)
Anyway, I guess it looked pretty real, because a month later I had a couple of people asking me how I looked so good being pregnant and all, and when the baby was due... gah
This is what a total lack of creativity, time, and ummmm motivation (?) for Halloween costumes does. Lesson learned next year I will just go as a personal trainer.

BYU Football Game

2012-01-21T08:40:00.001-07:00

This fall Todd's dad came to town, I can't remember why he came, but we always have fun when he does. Since it was football season and Jon (Todd's dad) is BYU alumni we all decided it would be fun to go to a game. Luckily there was a home game that very weekend! We scrambled and got some tickets, half were nose bleeds and the other half were pretty amazing. Jon let the kids (us) take the 50 yard line three rows back seats while he and his old collage roommate took the nose bleed seats.
Before the game we went out to dinner with most of Todd's family. It was good, but the coolest part was that a good handful of the BYU basketball team was there! It was buffet, so every time Todd and I got up (which we did more than we actually needed to) we were trying to get a good look at them without gawking... we ended up just gawking a little bit.
You all know that I don't LOVE football, but the game was really fun! We could hear the opposing team talking to each other and trying to pump each other up to come back for a win... did not work :)
Todd's family also went to high school with one of the players, he was younger than Todd by a few years, but he knew him, so that was pretty cool.
After the game Todd and I went to Denny's with Jon and his old collage roommate (Rick Price) we just talked and laughed, and waited for traffic to clear up. It was such a fun night, I love it when Jon comes to town!

Todd's Missions Reunion

2011-12-27T21:13:00.002-07:00

Over conference weekend Todd had a mission reunion. I was really excited since I have not met hardly any Todd's comps or his president, who he just loved while he was there. I had to go straight from the gym (per normal) so I hosted my sessions in a skirt, nice shirt, and tennis shoes... I looked awesome.

We somehow ended up at the wrong church building, we went in and I got some food (since I was famished) and Todd started to notice that everybody in the room was younger than us and that he did not recognize anybody! We asked one of the guys what mission this was for and he said some So Cal mission between 2009 and 2011... some of those little boys had been home for about 3 minutes!

We somehow managed to finally find the right church and went inside. There were not many people there, so we took a seat and started talking to some people.

Todd's mission president and his cute wife were hosting the event, and they were SO cute and so sweet. The evening was pretty un-eventful, I got a little bossy when they asked me to take a picture of all the missionaries and they were not lining up properly... (drives me crazy when people are off centered, and not looking at the camera and all that...)

Anyway....

Before Todd and I left we stopped and talked to President Robert Layton and his wife. They encouraged me to hurry up and learn Portuguese so that Todd and I could go to Brazil... this was all before we told them about how our sealer told us we would be returning one day to Brazil.

It was a great night, and I was so excited to finally meet Todd's missions president.

Todd's Work Party

2011-12-27T16:57:00.001-07:00

We went to Trafalga for Todd's work Fall party.We had such a great time! I found a hunting game and kicked Todd's butt at it for the first few rounds then he started to catch up to me... We had a great time!

We now own a Pass of All Passes so that we can go there anytime!

90 Day Fit

2011-12-13T13:36:00.001-07:00

90 Day Fit

A body transformation competition

I usually try not to mix my business with my personal blog... but in this case I think I need to!

Starting in January I am running a fitness (body transformation) competition.

The grand prize winner gets an iPad!

The prices are incredible (around $8 a session) normal rates would run $30+ per hour!

You can get a great discount for referring a friend, and I even have a "family rate" (this is for 2 people living under the same roof) even if you are not interested, I'm sure you know someone who needs a little extra motivation!

I also have an independent training program (I send you an amazing exercise program and you transform your body (and your life)

This is the program and the diet that I used (and still use) when I lost around 10 pounds in a month and a half! (If I can do that while working two jobs and planning a wedding, anybody can!)

You can find all the info you need here, or you can email, text, or call me!

awoodfitness@gmail.com

90 Day Fit Challenge

2011-12-05T19:51:00.001-07:00

This January I will be putting on a competition. The goal: to see who can change their body/life most drastically! It's going to be amazing! The grand prize winner will receive an iPad!
Registration and pricing details will be posted here soon.

The workout video, and many, many answered prayers

2011-11-23T10:56:00.001-07:00

Ok I know I am going WAY out of order... yet again. I'm sure you all are used to it by now. Things have been crazy of late. Lots of blessings, but lots and lots of prayers said in earnest for these blessings.

First of all, I ought to let you know, that I am no longer working at the NuSkin Call center! This came as such a huge blessing as I had come to the end of my rope (so to speak) and needed a new job for my emotional health... That being said I applied for a position as an End Of Month employee at the NuSkin retail store. I was very excited when I applied, and then felt a sudden pit in my stomach, just worried about re-scheduling my training clients and not making enough money and having a change in schedule over all.

I interviewed and it went well... the day they were set to call I felt at a loss. I sent the following email to Todd

So... this morning I was feeling very conflicted about the job, I assumed they were going to call today... I almost felt like. "I hope they don't offer me the job, so that I don't have to think about trying to plan and what not" I prayed on my way to work telling Heavenly Father how conflicted I was feeling and that I really needed His help. I had been praying all week for a confirmation of my decision to accept the job being correct, but had not felt very strongly either way.

While at work today. I started to get really upset by the rude callers and the annoyance of every second of our shift being monitored, having to send an email explaining that a call had cut 5 min into my shortened 10 min break, and getting in trouble because I had to go to the bathroom. I had rage... straight up anger at my situation and general un-happiness... I kept thinking, "I can not wait to get out of this h@$% hole!" It can't come soon enough.

When Celina (the supervisor) called to let me know they wanted me to work at the Provo Product Center, something said to me, "See Alaina, I do answer your prayers... just not how/when you think I should"

I know Heavenly Father loves and watches over us and I am so grateful that He hears and answers my prayers.

Love you Todd.

o-yeah

I GOT THE JOB!!!! no more call center!!!!!

I have now been working about two weeks at the PPC (Provo Product Center) and am loving it! I am working with great people, and am not dealing with all the stress that comes with working the phones. I miss my old team and especially my old manager, but am so happy to be here now!

Moving forward, as I mentioned a really long time ago I have been trying to film a workout video for (literally) months. Things kept coming up... I was finally ready to start moving forward and I could not find a guy, then I found a guy and got Kidney Stones... a month and a half later I'm finally better, but then my sweet girl got into a car accident! She's ok, but now both my guy and girl are working and doing 100 other things... sigh.

Scheduling nightmares ensued (have I ever mentioned how much I hate scheduling? Tell me when and where and I'll be there and I will be amazing at whatever needs to be done, but please don't make me schedule it!!) I digress...

Bless my wonderful friends for taking time out of their busy schedules to help me out on this video, they were really so amazing, and so great to work with.

Also one day I realized that we were all white with brown hair, so now I'm a blond... that's another story all together.

We had been rehearsing for just a few weeks when... the gym I work at is being impossible to book for shooting the video... sigh again my problem with scheduling... all the time. I find another place and make sure the everybody, (camera man, guy, and girl) are available for the times this studio is open email to book it, everything is finally working out, when...

"Sorry, Alaina, that is the ONE Thursday night that I don't have any availability."

Insert yelling screaming and all around temper tantrum... but what actually happened was a few hours of frustrated tears.

Why? Why does this have to be so difficult? Am I doing something wrong, am I not working hard enough? Why can I not just shoot a stinking workout video!

Ahhhhhhhhhhh

That was just a bit of my inner monologue... after several phone calls to every dance studio and workout facility within 20 miles of Provo I turned to the Lord. I begged Him to help me stop crying and to be able to find a place that would work and a time that would work. I clearly needed His help as I was getting nowhere.

The next morning I drove around to several locations to see if they would work, and found several that would almost work, but the schedule was wrong, or the cost was too much, or, I just did not like the mean old lady who managed the place.

Finally after running myself ragged I was explaining the situation to Nick (you will hear more about him later...) when I get the distinct feeling that I should try to schedule for a Monday. I had not done that since I usually train on Monday, but if Heavenly Father thought it was a good idea I was willing to give it try.

He knows everything afterall

I emailed to book the gym for the Monday in a couple of weeks (there was only an hour available, but I'll take what I can get) The response came almost immediately telling me that not only could I book for that night, but that I had THREE hours! I was dancing in the streets, much like Gene Kelly in Singin' In the Rain.

I spent the next week preparing and doing my painfully difficult, but amazingly effective water flushing diet.

I was being a nut, I was making sure I had three of everything, because nothing, I repeat NOTHING was going to stop this video from being filmed, dang it!

More roadblocks came, but for some reason, I felt very little to no stress... I felt like Heavenly Father is just watching over me and guiding me on this. I know that anything is possible when He is on my side. The diet was not even that bad... I was worried it was not working since I felt so great...

Included in my craziness for all bases to be covered, I insisted on buying a 16gb memory card for my digital SLR camera, because you just never know, ever. I told Todd I would return it right after the shoot.

Hello new favorite picture...
Every lion secretly wants to be a giraffe

Finally day of the shoot comes and I feel pretty good... I was not even that stressed about my drive from Provo to Lindon, sort of during rush hour.
Everything was ready and in place, I packed a bag of about 100 outfit options and one pair of shorts for my sweet guy, just in case.
I decided that a Jamba Juice would probably make me function better since I had been water flushing all week and needed something that was liquid and full of sugar (energy) to make this video work.
Got to the studio about 30 min early and just sat in the car listening to some Norah Jones.
I knew I was going to beat everybody there since they all have 9-5s, so I started setting up and trying to make the ballet studio look a little bit more like a gym. "Yeah we have this cool bar here to hang resistance bands from... everybody does that, right?"
Anyway my camera man was late, not only that but he was lost. I had to give him directions using words like, north, south, east, and west... that's a big deal for me, normally I just point toward the sky and say, "that's north, right?"
He finally got there, over an hour late. We now have a little under 2 hours to film, and I am still not freaking out. hmmm strange
He finally get there and we set up, start shooting, and he says "I have no sound."

I calmly go out to my car and get my amazing SLR camera with my amazing 16gig memory card, and we use that for sound. (Just another moment when Heavenly Father saved my butt)

We film and it goes well, I do the demo of all the exercises and we are finished, magically with almost 20 min to go!

As Dee had left she called my Todd to tell hm the lights for my car where on, strange they had not been on earlier... sigh

Camera man (Davi) and I go out to the car and I try to turn it on, after try two it turns on. Whew!

I still needed to pay the owner of the studio so I turned the car off and went back inside... she was not home so about 15 min later I left her a check and a note and called it good.

When I got back out to the car... it was dead! Dane it!!

Called Todd and told him, he suggested that we both pray and in about 5 minutes i would try it again.

I preyed that it would start, and then that it would keep running, and that it would run all the way back home, and that I would get home safely, I prayed for a lot of things during that 5 minutes. Turned the key and... tada! The car started! I revved the engine a few times and it was so good. I called Todd and we both prayed that the car would run all the way (it has died before while we were driving it... I was traumatized, thank goodness Todd was driving and not me) Anyway I made it home safe and sound and the car started for me again yesterday morning when my cute intern took some promo type pictures of me, for the video... sigh

Heavenly Father has been so prominent in my life lately. I realize that He always is, but I have just been much much more aware of it these past several weeks. I am so thankful for His guidance, love and support, even in little things like buying a memory card for my camera.

He truly does love me!

Mary Poppins and Real Salt Lake,all in one day?!

2011-11-08T15:40:00.001-07:00

Todd took me to see Mary Poppins (the musical)! It was so, so great! We went to the matinee show and decided to make a day of it. Our friends had managed to get some Real Salt Lake tickets for that same night. Show dinner and a game, a good Saturday for sure.

Anyway back to the show, as you may or may not know, the movie Mary Poppins, is one of the best ever made. I used to watch it at my grandparent's house when I was little and have always LOVED it. We also did a few Mary Poppins numbers during my days as a Young American, enduring me even more to the wonderful characters and music. Just love love love it... also Dick Van Dyke is one of my favorites, of all time.
The cast was just amazing and the show lived up to my incredibly high expectations of it. I was beyond thrilled.
After the game, Todd and I changed in the car and met our friends for a lovely dinner together. (we have made some amazing friends in this new ward) After dinner we went to the game. Todd and I love going to these RSL games. Our team won... or we tied... it's sad I can't really remember.
After the game Rachel, Nate, Todd and I stayed after to watch the short One Republic concert. I did not realize how many of their songs I knew! We had a great time, dancing around on the pro soccer field and pretending to be big soccer stars.
I love that Todd and I get to go out and so such fun things and that we have such great friends!

Latino Festival

2011-11-08T15:24:00.002-07:00

computer head...

We usually have a few birthday dinners... we love to celebrate, and get tons of birthday coupons. Our favorites include free dinner for the birthday person. We went out and had a huge meal at Tucanos, a yummy Bazillion BBQ place. After we decided to hop on down to the Latin Festival! One of my favorite events in Provo. My mom, grandma and DeeAura met us there. We had such a great time, and got one of my favorites, mango on a stick, YUM!!!

Todd's, not so surprising, surprise birthday party: Part II

2011-11-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

Todd rode the "birthday saddle" so funny

Finally it was time for the party. I was calling Todd to try and find out where he was, and update our dinner reservation. (Texas Roadhouse is kind of a huge pain in the butt... you have to have the exact number of people, and everybody has to be there in order to be seated) I went and met Todd at his sister (Jill's) place where we were picking David up. We then went together to the party that Todd was no longer going to be surprised about about and talked about the big BYU game.
Nobody was actually on time for the dinner (surprise surprise) so we got seated pretty late. Dinner was great! I had invited friends from all the different area of our lives, church, our old singles ward, Todd's old roommates, and everybody was getting along perfectly, thank heaven we have such cool friends.
All of the sudden I looked at the time and realized we had told people we were going to be home for cake and ice cream 20 min ago!!
We messaged our friends and apologized for being late. We finally headed home and started the last half of our party where even more friends came and partied! It was so much fun, my ice cream cake was a huge hit and was finished just a few minutes into the party.
We had such a great time... and our friends are awesome :)

Todd pretended to be surprised while we sang "Happy birthday" to him

Todd's, not so surprising, surprise birthday party

2011-11-08T14:45:00.002-07:00

This year I wanted to do something special for Todd on his birthday. He kept telling me not to do anything since I was still in the middle of kidney stone bliss. I sent out an email to a bunch of our friends inviting them to a dinner and to our place for cake and ice cream after. I explained that it was a surprise so please don't tell Todd.
As his birthday got closer I started feeding him with great ideas that would have matched my plans... "we should go to dinner to celebrate" "do you like this restaurant?" "any other plans for your birthday"
He kept not answering correctly... "actually, maybe we should go to lunch for my birthday" "did you know the first BYU football game of the season is on that day?" " I'm going to drive to Salt Lake to find you this ShiLinTing... and pick up David" "Don't you work anyway?"
It was all falling apart! I had to work until pretty late in the afternoon, Todd was determined to get me this crazy Chinese herb, he just told me about an invite to go out to a friend's house to watch the football game (the game was supposed to end about 20 min before all of our friends were meeting us for dinner) and Todd was going to go to Salt Lake sometime in the day to pick up his younger brother, David.
The night before I went and bought him the most random of birthday presents. I literally just walked around the store and picked things up that I had ever heard Todd say he wanted... a baseball, a largish breakfast bowl, a new towel in navy blue, a book... seriously about 20 things.
That night I wrapped all the gifts and while he was opening them i told him about the surprise party that he was potentially going to be in Salt Lake during. I told him that he had to come to his own surprise party no matter how badly he wanted to buy me some Chinese herbs.

*these pills were supposed to fix kidney stones overnight

I gave him a list of the people I had invited and told him who all had responded. I also told him that I had not invited any of his work friends... he created a Facebook even called "I ruined my own surprise party" to invite his work friends sort of last minute.

It was pretty funny...

The next morning Todd went to Salt lake to get me some herbs as well as pick David up. While he was gone I decided to make pancakes for them... but we were out of batter, so I improvised with raw coco powder and vanilla protein powder. Todd ate them and was not sick after (thank goodness) Then I went to work, and Todd went to a friends house to watch the game.

My shift ended right as the party was supposed to start so I was dying to leave early. (It's usually easy to get someone to cover my Saturday shifts, not this time though) I sent an IM to the supervisor that was working that said: "I have kidney stones, a bladder infection, and it's my husband's birthday. Think I can go home early?" My co-worker sent basically the same IM in response to mine, he wanted to go home and watch the BYU game.
I finally got to go home! I even had enough time to take a shower and do my hair!
Actual party/pictures to come soon

Help me name my workout video!

2011-11-07T15:29:00.000-07:00

I am making a workout video, and I need your help!
I need a name for the video, it's going to be a fat-blasting combo of resistance training and cardio.
The only things you need are: a resistance training band, and an exercise mat!
If your name is chosen for my video you will receive a free copy!
Either leave a comment on my blog or Facebook page!

Kidney Stones vs ShiLinTong + Oceans 11

2011-11-07T14:39:00.002-07:00

I had Kidney stones for... well over a month. I finally went to the Dr the day after our house warming party when I started peeing blood and was in so much pain that literally nothing made it feel better.

*side note, the house warming party was great! No we did not move, I had just been wanting one ever since we got married... so over a year later I finally made it happen. I served fresh veggies, ships and salsa. We watched the Oceans movies and had a great time. Except that Todd had to go to a meeting right when all of his friends showed up...awkward

How can you not love those faces?

Back on topic... Kidney stones. I went to the Dr and told him what was going on. He gave me some drugs and about $100 later I went home. (Gotta love less than amazing health insurance... but at least I have it) anyway in a basically drug induced coma I was called back to the Dr two more times to pick something up and give them a sample, since the staff was not on their A game when I had originally gone in.

You know how it is when you go to the Dr, and don't really find anything out? "well," he says "sounds like you proabbly either have kidney stones or gull bladder stones, this medicine will help with the pain and this medicine will help if it is kidney stones." Well thanks a lot, I could have just gone to my local drug dealer for that!

Fast forward to one week later when I am supposed to call the Dr and tell him that I am healed or that I am not. I was still in a ton of pain and basically living from ibuprofen to ibuprofen, not ideal. Dr. tells me to come in again to get a CT scan... I think, no thanks.

Basically $2000.00 later I would have been in the same place I am now, except with less money!

We (Todd and I) spent a good deal of time looking for more "natural" cures. I drank lemon/orange juice, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil until I was gagging on it. We ordered this crazy Chinese herb (that smells like brown sugar and black licorice) ShiLinTong. This only took us a few days to finally locate...

nothing seemed to be working.

I had already gotten one blessing from Todd, and decided I needed a second. Our home teachers are amazing, so we asked one of them to come and help Todd out with the blessing.

I have finally started feeling better! I never passed any stones (unless they passed before I saw the Dr) but about 2 months after I started feeling symptoms I am happy to say that I am better.

I am so thankful for the power of the priesthood in my life, and that I have a loving husband who is worthy to give me blessings.

I am also thankful for the wonderful friends who helped take care of Todd and I while I was sick (and still working two jobs just BTW)

Aida

2011-11-07T14:17:00.002-07:00

Todd had the amazing idea to take me to see the musical Aida! I was sooo excited, as it was one of the musicals that I have performed numbers from in the Young Americans, and the music is incredible!
We went that night and thought it was just great. I was a little disappointed in the way they did one of the numbers... but nobodies perfect I suppose. (I am a little bit of a snob when it comes to live performances) After being surrounded by such incredible performers and being a part of so many amazing shows. It almost makes me angry to see things that are just sub-par.
All in all it was just amazing, and I am so happy that Todd thought ot such a great date night for us! I am the luckiest girl in the world :)

Dinner with Kimmy Sue

2011-11-07T13:36:00.003-07:00

I went to Russia with this amazing girl named Kimberly Kimber. She is now married and has a new last name.
She is just great, and her and I helped one another remain sane (or at least something resembling that) during our stay in the icy country.
We try to get together as often as possible, and just recently she moved across the country to North Carolina (I think...)

We managed to have a nice dinner with her sweet hubs (Colt) and her before they left... literally a couple of days before.
Love and miss you, Kimmy Sue!

Anniversary, the first

2011-11-07T13:21:00.003-07:00

Todd and I have been married for one YEAR! Can you believe it? Time sure flies :)

We decided to re-visit our honey moon to celebrate. (I feel like we basically lived in Park City this Summer) Just the best.
Todd is such an amazing husband. He is just the most thoughtful and caring person I have ever met. I know I am a little biest, but he is also very handsome.
He got me a water purifier, and would not let me finish the laundry that I had started, because he did not want me to have to work.
We went to Park City, and were wildly disappointing that the amazing breakfast we had planned on feasting upon was not at all the same as it had been one year prior when we were first married... such a bummer, no European scones, or croissants the way they are supposed to taste. I was really sad about it... that only lasted for about 30 seconds. :)
We were pretty lazy on the Honey moon and so decided to go on walks and actaully spend time in Park City this time around.
We had such a great trip, and even went to the Farmer's market on Sunday. It was called the "Silly market" we saw lots of drag queens. Pretty exciting for little Utah.

I have learned a lot in this year of marriage, mainly, just how much I was missing out on before I was married. But Todd has also taught me a lot about being selfless and serving others. About putting your spouses needs above your own.
I thank our Heavenly Father everyday that for bringing such an amazing man into my life, and giving me the sense to do something about it. I don't know what I would do without him.

Aubs and Jase tie the knot!

2011-10-14T13:20:00.001-06:00

I just love love love these amazing ladies.

Our awesome friends Jason and Aubrey got married this Summer. Todd and I were lucky enough to be able to attend the beautiful ceremony and luncheon.

I think that marriage is just the greatest thing that we can have in this life. To be with the one that we love forever, can't think of much anything that beats that.

They were married in the Salt Lake City temple, Aubs looked beautiful and Jase looked so handsome, but mostly they both looked so happy!

We had a little bachelorette dinner for Aubs and the boys did a bachelor party... sometimes I get a little sad that Todd and I did not have any of those fun things (but we were the ones that insisted on getting married 6 weeks from the day we got engaged!) Anyway it was so much fun, and now Todd and I have some more married friends! yahooo!

Love you Jase and Aubs, and we are so happy for you!

Fitness Seminar Summer 2011

2011-10-12T15:38:00.000-06:00

As part of my re-certification for personal training I have to ear CEUs (continuing education units) Mostly they want you to do things like attend their seminars and take their online classes, all of these cost money. I decided to do all of the free stuff that I could this time, since next time I probably won't be able to (as I will have to earn more units) One of the choices to earn CEUs was to host, or be invited to host, a fitness seminar. I was not invited to any, so i decided to put one of my own on. I did everything last minute... so organized...
Emily was gracious enough to let Todd and I spend the weekend at their house and to invite all of her friends to come. We created a Facebook event and told everybody we could think of.
Finally the morning of the seminar arrived and my computer deleted my awesome power point presentation, minutes before the seminar was to begin. Thankfully I had printed handouts for everybody and had an great workout orginized.
As you look at the pictures I asked Meridith to walk around taking, you might notice that it's basically just my family there.... wah wah wah... short notice. I have had several requests since for a second round, and plan on giving people at least a months notice, you know, so they can show up :)
I did manage to earn all the CEUs required for my re-certification and just got notification that I am certified until December 2014!

Sibling Party

2011-09-29T17:29:00.002-06:00

We now have a tradition of getting together once every summer for a sibling party. This year was my year to plan. We decided to go to a Real Salt Lake game. Todd and I love those and fortunately so do the rest of my siblings. I can't remember who they played or who won, but it was a super fun game. We went to Chick Fil'A for dinner before and the employees there were super funny. "Can I please get anybody a refill on their drink?" O-yes thank you "My pleasure" When they cleared our trays and we said thank you once again "My Pleasure" so funny and awesome. Once at the game Mer asked the girl sitting in front of us to take a picture. She was youngish, but at least 12 or something. She was super shy and just pretended like it never happened... AWKWARD
Also the people behind us were... stupid. This guy was a huge know-it-all, but did not really know anything. Did not stop talking the entire game! Then the losers jumped into our picture! The nerve...

It was great, then the night ended and we left. sigh...
Love that family of mine!

Park City getaway

2011-09-28T22:06:00.000-06:00

This summer we were lucky enough to spend some time with Justin, Emily and their little nuggets in Park City. We originally had just planned on spending the weekend with them, but they talked us into coming back after we finished work on Monday. Honestly, it did not take much convincing.
Luckily Park City is not too far from Provo.
The weekend we spent with my mom, grandma, and Aunt Jenny (who we basically never get to see) so that was super fun. We did some touristy things, and Todd went home to play in a soccer game... he has an addiction :) at least it's a healthy one. We went to the Olympic City and did some shopping at the outlets. Man, I got some goooood deals... I am now addicted to outlet shopping. It was all in all an amazing weekend, everything was going perfectly.
We had dinner at this amazing Brazilian restaurant. They had this acia sherbet/gelato stuff that was to die for, not to mention the passion fruit vinaigrette that I wanted to drink. It was SO good. Seriously I have not had anything that good on my salad ever.
We left on Monday morning and drove back on Monday night. We were running behind schedule (per normal) and were texting Em and J to try and let them know when we would finally get there. Braxton was so so excited to have guests coming to see him. When we got there he came running out of the bathroom lower half naked (it's ok this guy's only 3 years old) We told him he needed to put his pants back on and he informed us that he had gone potty... this is usually good, except that it was not in the toilet... he was so excited to see us that he peed on the floor! LOL I was flattered that he loved us that much. Made me think of an excited little puppy.
Tuesday was the day that Murphy had his way with us... everything that could go wrong, did
It started off ok. We decided to go ride the Alpine Slide, got there, bought our tickets, rode the chair life to the top when... sudden down pour! It was raining so hard! They said we could wait for several hours or try and come back another time. We decided to come back another time...
In lieu of riding the slide we went home and had some lunch then decided to go back to the outlets since we had more time then when we had gone before. All of the amazing store wide (20% off everything) sales were done. Nobody had the things we wanted in the sizes we wanted... complete failure.
Things were getting a little tense, and Todd and I had a sort of half argument, not a real one, just a we are both tired one...
Later that night we decided to go to dinner at this place Todd and I found on our honeymoon. It was amazing, we got these scallops that made me feel like I could die happy. Once we arrived at the restaurant we were seated in a crowded hot corner (no AC) the boys, Justin and Todd, both looked like they were going to die. We were greeted by a server who promptly forgot about us. We had been sitting in the uncomfortable hot table for about 20 minutes when a bus boy came to give us bread. Justin informed him that we were hot, uncomfortable, and neglected... o-yeah and there were no scallops on the menu!
Todd and I felt awful since it's an expensive place and it had been our suggestion, and no scallops.... sigh. Our server came over and took our orders. The manager came a minute later and asked if we were ok. We told her, no we were not ok.
When we complained about being too hot she said "Welcome to Summer in Utah" this woman is clearly an idiot...
Finally we requested to be moved to an outside table. We moved and sat outside. It was a kind of chilly night, but much better than the sweaty "Welcome to Summer in Utah" corner table. About two minutes after we got settled it started pouring rain! We were at the only outdoor table with no umbrella... Not cool Murphy, not cool. We ran under a canopy carrying what we could, including the two little ones. The manager came out and moved us to a table that was covered. *Sigh
As soon as the food came Emily's daughter, Natalia, started freaking out. Just crying and screaming. We all offered to take her so Em could eat, but even Emily could not calm her down. Once I had eaten my fill I took the baby and let Emily get a couple bites of food in. The manager came over and told us that she was going to "take care of us" by the way the rest of the day had been going we figured she might give us one free dessert to share or something. But she ended up giving us like half off the total bill, not too bad.
Non-the less we will probably not go back to that place...
Wednesday morning we decided to go to the Alpine Slide, thank heaven for the clear weather! Justin, Todd, Braxton, and I all rode the slide. Braxton was super excited and spent the entire time we were in line debating on who he should ride with. I, in the end, was chosen, partially because I am not freakishly tall like my husband and brother-in-law are, also because Braxton loves me so much that it makes him pee. :)
I was a little worried that he would be nervous or scared, but he was yelling "woo hoo" and "rock and roll" the entire way down! He is so cute.
We then went swimming for about the 8th time, and it was awesome. Braxton swallowed so much water that he puked a little, and Todd gave me swimming lessons. So fun!
Then we had to go back home, and it was super sad.
We had such a great most of the week, thanks Em and J for letting us come and crash your vacation! We love you guys so much!

The diet and the photo shoot

2011-09-28T15:09:00.003-06:00

I did a fitness photo shoot for my business. It was rough, not gonna lie. It was a water flushing diet... meaning by the end of the week I had no water weight on my body... not gonna lie, I looked good. BUT I felt less awesome... I only have a couple of pictures so far from the shoot, my photographer and I are having a hard time connecting. We are both super busy all.the.time! Anyway here are the couple that I do have and... LOVE I am so excited to see the rest!!

I LOVE this one!

I sort of hate my face/hair in this one, but the lights look super cool.

Check this out~

2011-09-28T14:59:00.001-06:00

We drew these at Disney Land while we were there this April. We are both applying for jobs as Disney animators... very promising

Twilight Concert Series

2011-09-28T14:54:00.000-06:00

Salt Lake has this great Summer tradition of the Twilight Concert Series. Weekly concerts put on in a park in SLC. Todd and I went with his cousin Adam and his cutie pie wife to one. I had lofty goals of going to several, but that did not happen.

It was so much fun, I felt like I had, for just a moment, left Utah. There was so much diversity and all around awesome strangeness there that my people watching quota was met just in one night. I wish I had taken more pictures of some of the fun/funny things... but alas I only got these two of Todd and I being... well boring and normal.

His n' Hers

2011-09-28T14:43:00.000-06:00

We got these cute blankets from my California mom when we went out to visit in April. Our normal comforter was in the wash so we had his n' hers bedding for a couple of days.

My New Nephew!

2011-09-28T14:36:00.000-06:00

Kelsi had her baby a few days after the 4th of July. His name is Dezmen and he is so cute! We took just a couple of pictures at the hospital. I took them on my iPod so they are not the best quality...

I love Todd's face in this one

4th of July Festivities

2011-09-28T14:26:00.000-06:00

I love the 4th of July. This year we were going to go to Harbor Springs MI, but it did not work out... so sad
We ended up having an amazing time anyway. We stayed in Provo and watched the fireworks with Todd's family. His mom was in town because Kelsi was having a baby! So exciting, the first grandchild!
I won free tickets from work to go to the hot air balloon show! It's super early in the morning, and can with a free breakfast YUM... actually not, I did not really eat any.

That's not the point, I got 4 tickets decided to invite DeeAura, she brought a friend, who was super nice, but at the moment nameless in my brain... We took tons of pictures and had a great time. Also there was a storm trooper and a Darth Vader hot air balloon. super geeky cool hu? :)
Todd and I then went to Brigham City to watch their fireworks show. I love little BC... poor Todd was so tired he basically slept through the entire thing. Don't ask me how.

We both had to work the next morning and sadly departed and drove home to Provo.

Todd's Business trip

2011-09-16T15:29:00.000-06:00

This June Todd went on a business trip to the Snow Bird resort. I got to come along!
I was not able to be there for the entire trip... but I got to stay a night and a day. It was so nice! I sat in the hot tub and looked at the snow capped mountains, got a tan while reading, and took a shower in our shower with a window... that's right a window instead of a wall... the window at least went into the hotel room instead of the hallway, or outside. But still who on earth thought that was a good idea?
Our hotel was a huge concrete building so that it can withstand the heavy snowfall of Utah winters, springs, and falls... not to mention the occasional summer snow fall.
Anyway Todd and I had a nice dinner and spent every second of free time he had together, the bulk of the trip he was working, but it was nice to get away.
Sure love my sweet husband!

eyes glued to the sun

2011-09-16T15:19:00.001-06:00

When I was in Young Americans I was a part of so many amazing things and surrounded by so many amazing people that I could blog everyday for a year straight and not even skim the surface. Naturally with so much talent and everybody trying to succeed there was a small amount of drama...
I was once part of a tour cast that seemed to have more than it's fair share. The YA formula works, so tour/workshops always work... from the outside, the kids and the parents don't see the drama because tour works, it always works. That being said as a YA you can tell the difference between an ok show and an amazing show (the way shows should be) so we, as a cast knew, we knew that we were killing ourselves from the inside out.
I knew, but was in a healthy amount of denial, there was, after all, not much anything I could do to fix it. How did I handle it, you ask? Kept my eyes to the sun, sure the light can be blinding, but it's always bright. By the end of the tour I had totally forgotten about the drama, keeping myself pulled as far away as possible from all the cancerous drama. I had forgotten about it, that is, until the #&*@ hit the fan... Then it all came back and it hurt, everybody...
Now that I am no longer surrounded by performers and am not struggling to become the next stage director, or get that solo in the Christmas show my life has surprisingly about the same amount of drama!
My coping method is the same, keep my eyes to the sun, this has the same side effect(s) as it did back in my performance days, I go on and on in ignorant bliss until.... #&*@!!
I still don't have an answer for my dilemma, after all I have neither the time nor the energy to create or cultivate drama, but it keeps finding me. It must just be part of life, and/or I must be doing more than I know to attract drama.
I have been turning to the gospel for more... productive solutions to life's problems, and have found that there is a solution for basically anything. These solutions are simple in concept, but very difficult to apply.
One day I will be better, on my slow journey to perfection there have been several road bumps.

Dinner with Gallo

2011-09-16T14:13:00.000-06:00

My friend from YAs (Nick Gallo) was in town, well in Salt Lake shooting for the show he works on (Extreme Home Make Over) I know I have the coolest friends.

Anyway we messaged over Facebook and arraigned a night to meet up and have some grub. We went out on a Sunday night and had a great time catching up and gossiping about the friends that we have in common. Nick has always been a great friend, and I am so glad i got to spend a few hours with him! It had been far too long!

BBQ and the coolest garbage truck ever

2011-09-12T23:03:00.001-06:00

I know, I know these do not go together... but, it was a cool garbage truck and yummy pineapple...
Stop judging me, blogger world, at least I am blogging, right?
Anyway Dayvisson is an awesome cook and an amazing BBQer... especialy the pineapple, yummmm
Just the perfect way to begin summer!

Also one day Todd and I were driving on the freeway and saw that beauty, yes it does make sence to paint a garbage truck like a tiger, caught our attention anyway.

prisoner of my own fears

2011-09-08T21:58:00.001-06:00

So... when I was 16 I was in a pretty bad car accident. The car I was driving was totaled and I was told that a few inches meant the difference between the normal life I was lucky enough to have, and being paralyzed or even dead. Needless to say this was a very traumatic event in my young life, one that I feel even today I have not yet fully recovered from.
Fast forward to a couple of years ago when I moved to Provo. I was going to school in American Fork (a 20 min drive by freeway) I would leave for school a couple of hours early so I could work out, finish homework, and avoid traffic. Honestly the main reason for the early driving was to avoid traffic.
I got into another car accident while merging onto the freeway, this one was not my fault, and not nearly as bad. I was, however injured in the accident, physically and emotionally...
Today, Todd is stranded in San Diego CA, due to the huge power failure out there. This means he will not be flying in tonight as planned, and that the most convenient and logical solution is for me to drive to Salt Lake and pick him up tomorrow. I wish this was an idea that did not send me into a state of total and complete fear.
It's humiliating, which makes it even worse, but I can not drive (other than around town) without going into a panic attack like mode. My heart pounds out of my chest my breathing is shallow and rapid and I usually spend more time wiping the tears from off my face than checking my rear view mirror.
I have thought a few times, that I just need to force myself to get over this fear, I was finally getting slightly comfortable driving on the freeway when I got into my second accident, and now I feel like I'm back to square one...or worse, and honestly I would rather not feel like I'm dying, so driving (on the freeway, or even in bad weather conditions) is basically not worth it to me.
I feel like I am handicapped, I will drive 5 block out of my way to avoid having to drive through a major intersection with out a light, I make my poor husband drive everywhere, that we go together, regardless of how tired he is, or how much he does not want to go to whatever it is we are going to. Worst of all is the panic attacks I have while trying to merge... I literally feel like my heart is going to break through my rib cage, and that I may never be able to breath normally again. It's awful...
I am very much a prisoner of my own fears, and I do not know how to escape them.

The day I got fired

2011-08-16T11:26:00.002-06:00

As most of you know I had been interning/working for a company called Do Performance and Fitness. I started just to get the intern hours I needed to graduate from school, then the owner "hired" me on.
It was a new company and so we were not making any money... well we had some clients, but the owner was barley breaking even, so I was not making any money... I had been with the company for a little over a year when one day I came in to work and sat down to talk with the owner;
"I have bad news," he said. He is pretty sarcastic, so I expected him to say something pretty ridiculous, and did not take him seriously when he said..."today is the last day."
He explained that he was moving to Texas and would no longer be training, and if I wanted to I could take over any of the clients that decided to stay on.
I felt like crying... my stomach dropped to my toes and I just did not know what to do.
I immedeatly started thinking about how we were now going to have to budget our money a little bit tighter... just to realize that I was not getting paid anyway
Todd and I talked about several options, going and applying for a job at one of the chain gyms like Gold's or 24, but the trainers there make maybe 25% of what the clients are paying. We talked about other avenues as well, but nothing seemed to be the right thing to do...
Finally we decided that I would go into business myself. I decided not to spend every penny I make on building my business, but that I would do Facebook, a blog, and rely on word of mouth for advertising...
I started my business in June and am now into my 3rd month of training... It's been crazy.
I have a few clients and would love more!

My next project to tackle is an at home (via internet/email) training and nutrition program. O-yeah and I'm making a workout video. The fun never ends!

Drew and Jenn come to visit!

2011-08-01T13:55:00.000-06:00

My amazing friends from back in the YA days (Drew and Jen) called one day and said they wanted to come out to Utah to meet Todd and spend some QT with yours truly.
Todd and I were a little bit nervous (as we are basically the most boring couple ever) and were not sure how to entertain these two beautiful people.
After months of planning and anticipation the big day finally arrived, I gave Todd the DL on the couple as we drove to the airport to pick them up.
Friday night we did basically nothing... gave them the grand tour of our two bedroom (took about 45 seconds) and talked a bit before going to bed.
On Saturday we had big plans, a hike and picnic followed by Hobo (tin foil) dinners and roasted mallows up in the mountains. Leave it to Utah weather to do exactly what you don't want it to do. Our first attempt at a hike was foiled quickly by the 4 foot snow pack. Only in Utah, in the middle of May. After playing in the snow for a while we decided to go hike the Y, at least there was no snow there. We had a successful hike (nobody died or broke anything on the way up) and enjoyed the spoils of victory (hoagie sandwiches) atop the mountain. It started to look like rain so we proceeded to sprint down the mountain to try and beat the storm. Alas the storm beat us and it was a downpour! Soaked and tired we climbed into the car and headed home.
Todd had a soccer game so the other three of us stayed home showered, watched a movie, and napped. Realizing that out hopes of having a campfire had been/would be spoiled by the rain and general yuckiness of the day we opted for In-N-Out burger, a delicacy not available in Jen and Drew's new home of Iowa.
That night we stayed up playing games and eating our weight in chips n salsa.
*side note:Todd, who usually hates playing games of any kind (other than sports) had a blast and even encouraged us to continue playing into the wee hours of the morning!
The next morning we decided to sleep in a bit, Drew and Jan made breakfast of eggs and blueberry pancakes, so good! After breakfast we went to sacrament meeting and gawked at all the cute cute babies. Afterward we headed to Salt Lake so that they could see Temple Square (a Utah tourist must) After a few hours, several pictures, and a man from South Africa letting us use his camera lens we decided to head home. We made tinfoil dinners that night (in the oven) and roasted marshmallows (over the stove) and invited our neighbors (and friends) Bryce and Kristina over to play games. It was a great day/night!!
On Monday we went out for bottomless french toast then to the mall where they said they had to "run some errands translation was to buy us amazing gifts. Including, but not limited to the most comfortable amazing camping chairs ever!
Thank you so much for the fun fun weekend! We love you guys and hope that we can see you again soon!!

Omni friend's BBQ

2011-07-27T14:00:00.000-06:00

When Todd and I met we both lived in an apartment complex called the Omni. It was a great place to live, and we made some incredible friends while we were there.
I do miss having girl roommates all the time, and miss always having something to do when I got home from work and school, other than cook dinner...
We had a BBQ a while ago and it was so much fun, and brought my camera and was able to snag some pretty good pics :)

I love the one of Mitch because he looks terrible... hehe

California, here we come

2011-07-26T15:25:00.000-06:00

Funny thing about road trips. You start off so excited, thinking, this is the best idea ever! A few hours in and you want to kill whoever it was that tricked you into getting into the car in the fist place.

As we were leaving around 11pm, the right before we fell asleep around 4am

You do get to see some fun things while driving though...

Our destination; El Segundo, CA. My home away from home, and my family away from family. Todd and I went out over Easter weekend, and it was perfect!

We drove overnight, and stayed awake all day the next day, we were TIRED! To keep ourselves awake we went for a walk to the beach, and stopped to buy some water, and Volvic (a brand I had only only seen in Germany before that) We are looking at our best in these pictures for sure.

That night we went to the Dance Excellence Show, where we were able to see soooo many of my Young American friends, including Nico,Ali, and Bill and Robyn (our director and choreographer) Watching the YAs perform only made me miss it, and them more. The show was beautiful and they all loved Todd (can you blame them?) That night when we finally got home and in bed it felt like a miracle... until the next morning when we had to wake up again.

We had to get up a little early so we could go to...Disney Land!! My very good friends (Ivan and Andy) were meeting us there to spend the first part of the day with us. I love and miss those boys SO much. They are the kind of friends that you keep forever. Just a perfect day together. That evening we went to dinner with Ali and her husband John, another pair of friends you want to hang on to forever.

Just the perfect day.

The next morning was Easter, Todd and I went to the first part of church then we spent the entire day with my amazing family. These guys have taken me in and made me a member of their family. We have done Easters and Thanksgivings and just hanging out. They are amazing. I could probably write 5 pages just on how great these guys are! I wish I lived closer so I could see them more often.

The trip was far too short, but Todd and I had a fun time on the way home. We stopped at the apartment complex I lived in (almost 10 years ago) my New Kids Year, and then at one of Ivan, Andy, and my favorite restaurants Big Boy.

Such a fun fun trip, and now all I have to do is plan for the next one :)

Birthday Birthday, coming to Earth day! Part II

2011-07-13T15:05:00.000-06:00

My birthday is in April, therefore I expect nice weather... maybe a bit of rain, but all in all it should be not too hot, not too cold, right?
Nope I get a blizzard for my birthday! I wish I was kidding, but I'm not. Full on snow and wind and all it's wintry fury. I hate winter and I hate fury.
In spite of all that I had a great birthday!
The night before we went out to dinner at this Sushi and Japanese Steak house with a few friends. It was good and fun, and I got to see Michelle and catch up with her. Per normal DeeAura was out of town over my birthday weekend for work. I think she plans it that way ;)
The morning of my birthday I drove in the crappy weather (one of my least favorite things to do) to go to a Pilates class then shopping at Costco so I could have bell peppers with my breakfast.
That night Todd and I went and got a couple's massage and out to dinner at a nice restaurant, with really fresh sea food. It was YUMMMMMM It was a really good day.
I have to now look at all my pictures to figure out what I missed....
O-yeah I baked cookies.

This is my sweet humidifier

Happy birthday to me!

Trying to be better (really I am)

2011-07-11T15:35:00.001-06:00

I am always amazed at the things that are socially acceptable in this world and the things that are not.
As an example... I have a friend who has recently lost around 20 pounds. She looks amazing and is eating and behaving healthier than ever. I was looking at her Facebook pictures the other day and read a few comments like, "Girl, you need to eat a sandwich!" and "It's sick how skinny you are!"
I know these comments came from friends who are sort of complimenting her, but... it's just backwards to me. Can you imagine the outrage of the Facebook community if I started leaving comments like "Girl, you need to never eat a cupcake again... seriously for as long as you live" or "Wow you are probably about 30 pounds over weight and it's making me want to vomit." Think about it... so why is it then that when someone is doing something good, and trying to make progress in the right direction that it's totally ok to cut them down, and tell them that they must be making some kind of unhealthy, or otherwise detrimental life choice? And why is it not ok to say to the people who are... well, maybe not making the efforts, that they are the ones in the wrong?
I know I know... you never know what other people are going through, so maybe they really trying

WHY WORLD?!?!?!?

Moral of the story is... I'm working (probably not hard enough) but working, to improve, and there are moments when the only thing I want to do is to yell back at the accusers.

Sometimes it just feels good to rant... thank you blog world for listening :)

*In case you missed the whole read between the lines stuff, I'm not talking about weight loss...

Starting a business... sort of

2011-07-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally did it. About a month ago I went independent as a trainer!!
I am just taking baby steps, but could use all the support I can get. I have started a fitness blog as well as a Facebook page.
Follow the blog and like the facebook page for great fitness and nutrition advice.
Also if you have any fitness or nutrition questions I would love to answer them! I am always looking for a topic to blog on :)

Thanks!

Birthday Birthday, coming to Earth day!

2011-06-26T10:28:00.000-06:00

This year I got to celebrate my birthday for basically an entire month (score!) It all started because we had winter far into our normal Spring, and I was not feeling all that hot. I told Todd that I wanted practical gifts this year for my birthday. He went out and got me a Humidifier! It's so cute, it looks like a blue penguin! I know it's strange, but i am kind of in love with it... it keep my throught and sinuses from getting dried out over night, it's perfect.
The next thing was that Todd's mom came out for General Conference, and she thought we ought to celebrate by going to a nice dinner, at one of my FAVORITE places... The Cheese Cake Factory (seriously everything there is amazing)
I had to work on General Conference Saturday (don't even get me started on how much I hate working Saturdays) between session Todd went out and "de-winterized" my bike!
Poor guy, it was chained to a post, under the stairs, in the mud, by poky, snow covered bushes... I have never doubted that he loves me... ever
Anyway he worked on it, to get into working order after rusting all winter (I need covered parking for that thing)
Todd was REALLY excited about giving me my "real" birthday present and just could not wait, so about a week, or more, early he prested me with my gifts.
He is so cute when he gets excited :)
He brings in two boxes, one big and one pretty little...
I open the small one first (hoping for jewelry....ok not really) and it's a digital alarm clock. I gave my old one to Kevin before he left on his mission. I then open the big box, and imagine my surprise when it's another penguin humidifier! I try to act excited, and kind of ask why we got a second one, and where we were going to put it. Todd says something like how the one was not good enough... etc etc
*The thing is I would not put it past him to get two, just to make sure that I was perfectly comfortable and happy...
So I'm trying to think of a nice way I can return the second one without hurting his feelings, or maybe I should I just keep it? hmmm...
Finally Todd says, "but isn't it heavy?"
I open the box to find a show box and several text books....
I open the shoe box and take out about a lb of news paper along with a small box... this one is going to be good.
I open the small package to find......
a new iPod Touch!! I had been kind of coveting Todd's for months now, and it was just one of those things that was too expensive... but Todd got a GREAT deal on it!
I was/am so excited about it... it's so so nice!

ok this is getting WAY long... I will give you the rest of the birthday celebrations in the following post
I know my readers attention span is probably about as long as mine (goldfish style...)

Other times it's easy(er) to be Christlike

2011-06-25T10:56:00.001-06:00

How could you do anything but love that face?

With all the good in the world, and more specifically in my life, amazing family, and friends, the gospel of Christ in my life, the beautiful temple(s) so close to our house, and an amazing husband.

I feel plagued with guilt anytime I complain. I know I am blessed, sometimes I think I just need to remind myself.

Sometimes it's hard to be Christlike

2011-06-23T12:50:00.000-06:00

Sometimes it's really hard to be Christ like... I had a moment a while ago when I actually said to Todd, "you know it almost makes me wish I was not a member of the church, just so I could really lay into the people that hurt us."
That thought, of course was very short lived, I am so grateful for the Gospel and the knowledge I have of our Savoir and the atonement. Without these in my life I would be completely lost.
We have all been hurt by someone, be it friends, or a co-worker. I think, though, it's the hardest when the hurt comes from family, those that we love and trust the most.
I met a beautiful, amazing, woman over last weekend. She was a friend of DeeAura's and we were meeting her and another girl for a quick lunch. This girl walked into the restaurant, and I thought she was Carrie Underwood, only prettier... seriously that beautiful.
This girl had been through a major trauma. She was married for only a few months when her husband decided to leave her. Not only did he just up and leave but filed a FIVE page complaint about her. Outrageous accusations that she had been unfaithful, that she had mental disorder(s), and so on. Basically just destroyed her name and reputation.
It's been about a year since this all happened, and she has basically had to start her life over again. We sat and talked for a few hours (felt like minutes) and I was inspired by her amazing attitude, and the strong spirit I could feel while she was talking about her life. She was incredible, she had through all of this, going to court several times and trying to defend her name, and just recovering from the betrail, and assault on her character, come out stronger and (I dare say) an even better person.
The thing that amazed me most is that she is a huge advocate of marriage! And she has somehow been able to forgive this man.
When we are hurt by people who are close to us. We have to try to be as Christlike as possible about the whole situation. Not revolting against the people who hurt us...in spite of the attack on our characters, or whatever the offence has been.
I always try to quickly forgive offenders and do what I can to try to "fix" the problems.... but I have a very hard time trusting them again.
Bringing me to my next thought, does forgiveness imply trust? Do the two go hand in hand? In a perfect world people would apologize and never look back, but when there is no apology.... and even when there is, people are not perfect.
I suppose all we can do is our part, be loving, forgiving and hope for the best.

April Fools...April fails

2011-06-06T15:30:00.001-06:00

I am not really into the whole April Fools things... partialy because I am just not funny... also because I am not down right mean
This year I was just on Facebook and thought how funny it would be if I posted that I was pregnant... it is possible after all.... haha funny right?
Below I posted the thread and as you read you will understand the terrible guilt I felt... I still have a few people congratulate me, sigh lesson learned

Alaina Nelson Wood
Todd and I are going to have beautiful children, specifically one in about 7 months!

April 1 at 11:13am · ·

StephAnn Knotts, Miriam Otero, Stephanie Swearingen and 23 others like this.
- Charlotte Lee um, WHAT?!?
  April 1 at 11:14am ·
- Jenni Price Bell Not cool, Alaina, not cool! You fool. :)
  April 1 at 11:16am ·
- Emily M. Talley You know how much I wish it were true....
  April 1 at 11:18am · · 1 person
- Adryon Gross I almost passed out. Are you fooling me, love? I almost pulled this joke on Luke!!
  April 1 at 11:19am ·
- Charlotte Lee yeah, it's april fool's, but i want you to have a baby. so no fooling.... out with the truth!
  April 1 at 11:21am ·
- Jeff Blair Im so torn cuz I want it to be true so bad!!!
  April 1 at 11:26am · · 1 person
- Lauren Holloway why must you twist all of our hearts like this?! can't WAIT for you to be a mommy!!! ♥
  April 1 at 11:29am ·
- Alaina Nelson Wood hehe fools it is... but one day it will happen, just probably next year or so...
  April 1 at 11:31am · · 4 people
- Alaina Nelson Wood I love you guys! So many amazing Aunts and Uncles! just not yet... soonish though :)
  April 1 at 11:32am · · 2 people
- Cody Krieger Congrats!!!
  April 1 at 11:49am ·
- Sally Massey Many congrats. Xxx
  April 1 at 11:49am ·
- Whitney Joy Ostyn Is this an April Fools joke? If not, Congrats!
  April 1 at 11:50am ·
- Michael Marvin The best jokes are the ones that make you smile.
  April 1 at 11:51am · · 2 people
- Danae-Ben Ostler April fools!
  April 1 at 11:53am ·
- Emily M. Talley Lame, you shoulda played it longer, lol
  April 1 at 12:25pm ·
- DeeAura Thompson There is no way you would have told me this very important info on facebook. Fools. :)
  April 1 at 12:31pm ·
- Grace Livingston oh geez, I almost freaked out, but I have been with TJ and Don in Ya office all day and they have been pranking or have been pranked all day so my April Fool's senses were heighten...thus my freak out was put into check by reality....BUT I can't wait for it to be true!!
  April 1 at 12:51pm ·
- Jenna Kay Gerkovich What?! Congrats beautiful lady
  April 1 at 12:59pm ·
- Micha Bostel Alaina, what a nice surprise!!I should start knitting minisocks soon!!all the best from "granny" micha
  April 1 at 1:01pm ·
- John Nelson Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  April 1 at 1:11pm ·
- Justin Jensen DISLIKE.... April fools is better when the joke is funny, like Gmail Motion, see youtube for the videowww.youtube.com/watch?v=Bu927_ul_X0
  April 1 at 1:16pm · · 1 person
- Darl D. Flake I didnt believe it at any moment. :)
  April 1 at 1:38pm ·
- Leigh Scheffler You stinker!! But I can't wait for you to be a mommy, you will be amazing! xo
  April 1 at 1:48pm ·
- Michelle Toyn haha.. you know i joked about that once then found out i was pregnant with BreLeigh...... happy april fools day.
  April 1 at 1:56pm ·
- Michelle Matthews I didn't know Americans did April Fools jokes, too!
  April 1 at 2:22pm ·
- David Mossberg congrats... david is a good name by the way
  April 1 at 3:56pm ·
- Janni Richards You won't regret it...... Congrats girly!
  April 1 at 4:20pm ·
- Ronde Asay Congrats
  April 1 at 4:32pm ·
- Justin Dembowski CONGRATS!!
  April 1 at 4:38pm ·
- Staci Lane I came. I saw. I got excited. I erased. Mean :( Still love though. Yours was the only that got me
  April 1 at 6:19pm ·
- Jen Howard ‎:) Congrats on having a little Wood.
  April 1 at 6:33pm ·
- Jesten Lange I refuse to accept this as a prank. Go to the doctor, maybe you just fooled yourself
  April 1 at 6:36pm · · 1 person
- Kat Dull Congrats!
  April 1 at 6:45pm ·
- McKell Nelson AHHHH!!!!! :D OH MY GOODNESS REALLY?!?!
  April 1 at 9:25pm ·
- June Jeffery Nelson Congradulations?
  April 2 at 8:23am ·
- Jonathon Wright wow! congrats!
  April 2 at 12:16pm ·
- Rachel Eliza Nelson CONGRATS LAINS!!!!
  April 2 at 12:26pm ·

My beautiful niece, and the B-boy's birthday

2011-06-05T19:42:00.000-06:00

My older sister, Emily, just recently had her second child, a beautiful little girl! Her name is Natalia, and she is perfect! A couple of weeks after she was born Todd and I were finally able to drive up to Logan to meet her. This trip also happened to be my nephew's birthday.
I had such a great time, they let me sit and hold Natalia for hours (literally). She was still so young that all she did was sleep the entire time, but still, it was great.
After all the talking and ooh and ahs over Natalia were done it was time to get down to business and celebrate Braxton. He is now 3 years old! He is so much fun and has such a funny personality!
His cousin was there too and as you can see in one of the pictures she wanted in on the gift opening fun.
We had an amazing weekend hanging out with the family and celebrating my niece and nephew. We love you Braxton and Natalia!

I hope they call me on a mission

2011-06-03T14:31:00.000-06:00

Todd's brother David is living in Utah and going to a school here, he lives about an hour away from Provo. In February Todd's dad and brother (Kevin) came from California to take Kevin to the MTC.
While they were in town we got to spend some time with Todd's family, including a special visit to see David and the boarding school he is attending.
It was kind of a bitter sweet experience since most of David's family had not seen him for a while and it would be the last time that David and Kevin saw each other for at least two years.
The rest of the day, and the following were spent trying to get Kevin ready to enter the MTC. He (naturally) got sick, so much of our time was spent trying to heal him, and at least get him healthy enough that they would let him in the MTC. This included many bowels of soup, cups of tea and honey, and a few priesthood blessings. Not to mention In-N-Out, somewhat of a family tradition.
We (all of Todd's family that lives in Provo) to see Kevin off at the MTC. There were no tears shed,not even from Kevin's sisters, as we sent him off.

We are so proud of Kevin and his choice to serve the Lord and people of the Philippines for the next two years, and know that he is going to be an incredible missionary and bring many souls to the gospel of Christ.

Elder Wood

Lunch get together

2011-06-03T14:08:00.001-06:00

In February my friends from High school all decided to get together (for the first time in years) for a Sunday lunch. It was great to see them! Everybody brought there husbands and kids, except those of us that don't have kids... of the couple that don't have husbands.
It's crazy to see people, who are the same age as I am, with 3 or 4 kids and all done with school, and buying houses... I do not feel old enough for any of this stuff. But as is demonstrated by my (more advanced) friends, I clearly am old enough for those kinds of things.
I know one day Todd and I will move onto more "grownup" permanent things.

Until then we will just keep living and loving... each other

March MADNESS!!

2011-05-10T21:06:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Jimmer and Jackson Emery, I have a new found love of March Madness!
It all started when Jimmer started breaking records and dominating teams that BYU was supposed to lose to. Todd and I had wanted to go to s couple of games anyway, but it soon became a bit of an obsession...
Ask me if I want a Jimmer shirt, because I do, but I want a Jackson Emery shirt first...
Todd and I went to several BYU home games and watched or listened to as many of the away games as we could. Once March Madness began I made my first bracket... based on team names (Temple went all the way) I actually did pretty well since there were so many upsets this year.
It was so fun to see Todd get SO excited over big plays, I swear he's like a little kid sometimes ;)
This year was incredible for BYU. Jimmer scored a record breaking (or at least really exciting) 52 points in one game! Jackson Emery broke BYU's record for most steals, AND BYU made it to the sweet 16!
The best part was just spending time doing something really fun with my sweet hubby :)
PS: we also went to a Utah Jazz game... we were so hungry we spent $4 on a churro

Our first Married Valentine's Day

2011-05-08T18:12:00.001-06:00

Yes I do realize that it's May 8th today...
Valentine's Day was on a Monday this year: Strike one
NuSkin decided to launch a new operations system on Valentine's day: Strike two
All morning employees had to be to work at 6:30am on Valentine's Day:Strike three

Work was so long, and it was pretty busy since it was a Monday, and since all of the phone agents were trying to adjust to our brand new glitchy just full of glitches software...
After work I came home and got ready to go to my second job... the night before I had left a note for Todd hidden in the fridge where I was sure he would find it in the morning. I knew I would not have the energy to do much for him on the actual day. (For the record though, I bought a couple's massage for him/us as a gift)
Training at the gym was pretty normal, Monday's are always crazy since we have to compete for space with a couple of fighting classes as well as the normal Monday night (make up for the weekend) gym rush. I think I was at the gym without my intern too, making things just a bit more stressful.
I finally got home around 7:30 and just wanted to crash.

Todd was so cute. He had gone shopping for me and gotten me all my favorites. Mini Bell peppers, carrots, green grapes, strawberries, new socks and two new pillows! score. He wrote me a very sweet note and made a card for me. I really am such a lucky girl.
Todd really wanted to do something to celebrate, so we went out to dinner at a place called Pizza Factory (they have "pasta" made from squash or zucchini!) it was so good, and free of bad carbs! Yum!
We chatted and ate and had a very nice evening.
Hopefully next Valentine's day will be more relaxing!

I can explain... I should explain

2011-05-03T13:33:00.000-06:00

Yesterday's post was kind of an oops post... I had written it a couple of years ago for Todd's birthday (Sept 3, 09) I never published it since I knew it would embarrass Todd. Yesterday I was going through my old posts and thought I would post it to put in my new blog book I am working on. I thought it was post according to when it was written, not when I actually just pushed "publish"

Anyway sorry for any confusion!

I do love that Todd boy, he's pretty much the best :)

Happy Birthday Todd!

2011-05-02T13:39:00.000-06:00

Today is Todd's birthday... this gives me an excuse to tell you all how amazing he is!
If you don't know the full back ground, check out my previous posts they are basically all about him. :)

Things I like most about Todd:

*He is one of the kindest people I know
*He has a really strong testimony
*He is Temple worthy and goes often
*He really and truly cares about me (this is a bit different from some other boys I have known)
*He is a hard worker
*He is smart
*He is athletic
*He is one of the most self less people I have ever met
*He makes me happy, just by seeing him
*He is slightly awkward (in a good way)
*He doesn't love to dance, but he will do it for me :)
*He accepts me in spite of all my flaws
*He makes me want to be better
*He is very helpful and kind
*He takes really good care of me
*He will drive, always, when we go some where
*He can sing and kind of play the piano
*He is really funny
*He has a cool family
*He is tall
*He has big hands (don't ask me why this matters so much but it does)
*He has nice muscles

While I realize there are a few shallow things on this list of mine, they are just the icing on the cake. I got so lucky when I landed a great guy like Todd.

Rally For One

2011-04-01T10:24:00.000-06:00

In February my friends Rally For One came to UT! They are an amazing band, and all former Young Americans, this = amazing talent :)
They performed in a bar in Salt Lake (this is a bit out of Todd and my regular stomping ground) We got to the bar and hugged and introduced Todd to the boys. Once we got in Todd's dad called to tell him that he was in Salt Lake! So Jon came and watched the show with us! So random, and fun!
Morgan and I danced the entire time and went crazy screaming for the boys and their awesomeness! It was such a great night!

They are my favorite band, you should really check them out!

Living life in Peace

2011-03-25T23:11:00.000-06:00

I have learned in my 27 years that God doesn't always work the way we expect, or want, Him to, that although He is perfectly capable, He is not going to just remove trial from our lives. Instead He will buoy us up, help us meet our trials face on and soon become strong enough to overcome them.
This lesson was taught to me in a way that I, at the time, thought was harsh...
Five years ago today I was living what felt like a nightmare, and no matter how many times I begged our Heavenly Father to simply remove the trial, my request was never granted.
It took me a couple of years to finally see His loving hand on my shoulder as I tried to conquer life's heart ache on my own.
The lesson has never left me, and has in fact prepared me for other, much easier, trials I have since faced. I will forever be grateful that even if we turn our backs on Him, He will always be there with open arms when we finally decide to come back.

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one.

The most epic of reunions

2011-03-07T12:16:00.002-07:00

Feb 1st was an amazing day. I found out that a very dear frinend of mine was going to be in Salt Lake doing a show with the show choir she corographs for as well as dancing as part of her college ball room team.
Abby... I LOVE this girl. She and I were Young Americans together and went on a couple of tours.
Todd is a great husband and came with me to Salt Lake on a Tuesday night. There was food before the show, I think that helped ;)
Any way we were not able to see Abby before the show, so we went in and there she was on stage, being beautiful, and flawless in her performance. (Sometimes I forget how much better Young Americans are at performaing than everybody else in the known world)
Any way the show was a centinial performance for Dixie State college, and was just about 100 years long... I would not have minded if Abby had been on stage the entire time, or even just more than the 4 or 5 numbers she was in. There was a lot of tal k about the history of the school blah blah blah...
Finally the show ended with a beautiful song/dance done by the show choir with Abby and her amazing choreography.
We went to the lobby to see Abby and that was when we saw... Morgan! I had totally forgotten that she lived in Salt Lake!
Morgan and I hugged while Todd stood by confused... he has never met Morgan.
Abby finally came out, we hugged and talked about the show, she was so so grateful to us for coming "all the way from Provo" to see her. I was like Abby, I would drive much further than just an hour to see YOU!! Morgan AND Abby sigh, such a great day!

The not so Super Bowl

2011-03-04T12:50:00.001-07:00

I don't really care for/about football, so every year I find myself, not knowing who is playing in THE BIGGEST game of the year... or really caring for that matter. I, however married a man who loves loves loves sports and sports trivia and espn.com, I could go on.
This year we were invited to our friends' house to watch the epic game of games, we were among several of our friends from the pre-married apartment that were invited so it ended up being a reunion of sorts (this I loved)
So here is my highlight list of super/not so super moments in the bowl

*Lea Michele:
Can we talk for a minute about how amazing this girl is? A bit too much eye closing for my taste, but other than that flawless! She is the perfect example of why Broadway style performers are SO much better than these silly pop stars. She is totally at home doing a live show, and doesn't need the digital editing that some other people (cough Britney Spears cough) NEED.... also she is beautiful, not Britney, Lea

*Christina Aguilera:
First some respect, home girl can sang (yes there is an "a" where there should be an "i")
However... we are so used to looking at her naked body that we tend to lose track of the licks and runnnnns she is so good at, also when was the last time anybody noticed her lyrics (let's just say that is not why she is famous...) so put her in a black suit and don't do her hair, you might notice (her face looks kind of fat) then you might, just might actually listen to her sing, and ooops wrong words,not only that but just skipping some, I suppose some parts are not as important... right? She made up for though by adding some length with those infamous runs. You go girl.

*Wait, who is playing this game? I still don't know...

* Commercials!
Always the highlight always. Though I do wish for fewer beer commercials, and less naked ladies. But I suppose that is what football fans love, beer and exploiting women. I digress
Favorites:
Reply All: so funny but did not get any recognition the day after... so sad
The Force: So cute! Also I have a soft spot for Star Wars (don't judge)
The Best Part: awkward and delicious... Dorritos are my favorite

Least Favorites:
Every commercial with Eminem... he has too much anger and too much to prove to the world for my taste. Sorry your life was hard, don't yell at me about it... another tangent
Also the bud light (?) kitchen makeover one... yeah go beer... woo (said with sarcasm)

*Half Time show:

o-Fergie...

My favorite thing about the half time show is how disappointing it is every year. I mean it's a huge deal, and they pay a lot of money for these stars to well not sound that great.
I think Fergie must have known how badly it was going, she kept getting louder and louder and body rolling on anything that was standing still.

I was so glad when Usher dropped in (he is smokin hot) even if his song OMG is semi-stupid. Thank you for dancing for us kind sir

This is just another example of a time they should get a Broadway cast in there... they would kill it, I am sure of it.

*The end of the game:

Not gonna lie, still don't know who even played let alone won the game.... and I REALLY just wanted to watch Glee afterward.

Meg's reception

2011-03-02T15:06:00.000-07:00

A few days after the wedding we had Meg and Clint's reception. It was a pretty fun weekend, I love seeing family that we don't see all that often. Grandparents, cousins,aunts and uncles, I really do have an amazing family, this was also the first time that we had met most of Clint's family. The boys (Todd and Justin) were pretty much done with having to wear button up shirts and weddings in general,but it was a great time for us girls (my sisters and I) to hang out together.
Meg's photographer (Clint's sister) had to leave early, so they asked me to photograph the cake cutting and dances. It was pretty cool :)

I also got to see some old friends that I have not seen for a while, that is ALWAYS fun

Also I don't know if you noticed the pictures of my cute grandma sweeping the floor in her chair... SO funny!

Meg's wedding

2011-02-25T19:06:00.001-07:00

January was pretty crazy for Todd and I. Megan and Clint got married so we were back and forth between Brigham and Provo basically every weekend... lots and lots of driving.

Needless to say we were thrilled that Meg was getting married, but the driving got kind of annoying. Any way they got married on a Wednesday, so we both took the day off work and school. They were married in Bountiful, the same temple Todd and I were married in, it was nice to go back.

Afterward Mer stayed while I played around with my NEW camera (thank you NuSkin Christmas bonus!!)

It was fun but SO cold!

We then went out to lunch at AppleBees (?) or TGI Friday's, I wish I could remember, I got an amazing sandwich, and chocolate Lava cake, my favorite guilty pleasure.

We then sent Meg and Clint on their way (to the Honey moon that Clint had neglected to plan) ooops

Todd and I stopped at Ikea and I bought a Wok (LOVE it!!) I got sick of my high heels and decided to rock the sneakers with the dress... it works, right?

testing

2011-01-20T15:31:00.001-07:00

Ok, let's see if I can conquer blogger...

or at least write a blog that looks cuteish

Today I finally started taking down the Christmas decorations... I know it's almost February, but I need something to help me get through January (the saddest coldest month of the year)
I always get a little sad taking down the decorations it means this season that makes the snow and cold ok is now over, and I have to just deal with the cold until mid-June when I can finally wear my shorts. I took some fun pictures of our ornaments and statues.The tree is still up, I'm going to wait for Todd to get home and help me with that.... you might of also noticed that I got the picture on my banner fixed woot woot! Thanks for your tips... also you can look here for some more tips and helps... I have only just begun

I am fighting with Blogger! I need help... please

2011-01-17T13:48:00.000-07:00

Ok blog friends,whose blogs look so much better than mine, as you can see Blogger and i are NOT getting along right now!
My frustrations;

1: I want to put a picture in the header... I have one there now that is about 10 times too big... you can see it, it's all you can see until you scroll down about 3 pages... it's a great picture, I just want it to fit into the "natural" blog window

2: I can't figure out how to do fun cool fonts, or even underline anything.... yes I can see the B and the I on top of my page, but it hardly ever works... also I want to be able to do different fun fonts and sizes and maybe center something with out hitting the space bar a million times just to have it NOT be in the center...
I just did a post in my word program, BUT the font was too small and it was difficult to read. Also when I wasnted to edit the post it looked something like this....

I can't tell where the code ends and my blog begins....

3: I want more control over my pictures!!!! I usually just post a collage using Picassa, this works fine, but maybe I want to have a couple pictures through out the blog, or... picture in a place other than the top of the blog. When I add the pictures through Blogger it takes FOREVER (dramatic I know) then I have all this code and once again I have NO idea what's picture code, and what's Blog code, so I end up moving half of a picture to the middle of a sentence... This never works out

Do I have a super old and stupid version on Blogger? Am I the only one who can't make this thing work for me?!

HELP!

Thanks

Happy New Year?!

2011-01-17T13:27:00.011-07:00

I realize that it's almost February (thank goodness) but I need to post about our New Year's Eve!

We ended up going to the Provo Mall. It was semi-lame, but a little cool all at the same time.

We watched some dancers do ethnic dances (mostly Pacific island) then we climbed up a rock wall and took pictures in a photo booth (these were tragically lost) then we went and did this race with a bungee cord holding us ( I would have won had Todd not dove head first at the end)

When it got close to midnight there was a ball outside that was going to be dropped. Honestly it was kind of ghetto it was not even a ball, it was kind of a mooshed ALMOST ball shape. They had music playing for the good "party" atmosphere. We were outside about 45 second before I decided that the 8 year olds sitting inside with faces pressed against the windows were the smart ones. We headed inside and Todd got us a corn dog and lemon aid we were just eating and talking when all of the sudden the ball plummeted to the ground!

HAPPY NEW YEAR?!

We kissed, and then looked at our watches to confirm it was the New Year.

Todd then said

"We started off the New Year with a corn dog and lemonade... it's going to be a good year."

Christmas day and the rest of our California adventuare

2011-01-04T14:51:00.002-07:00

Christmas morning was kind of strange. I woke realativly early and could not fall back to sleep. Todd's mom got up at 5, so she was in the kitchen making her oatmeal and what not...
Todd finally woke up and we went downstairsrs to see what was going on. All the youngest siblings were still in bed (strange, I know)so we ate some breakfast and contiplated waking everybody else up. after a couple of hours the younger kids woke up (they are all between 16 and 21) and we woke dad up. Then we all gathered around the Christmas tree and started opening gifts. It was afternoon by time we had all finished, and Cheryl (Todd's mom) had been preparing a Christmas feast with turkey and apple pie from scratch! YUM! We gorged ourselves and after lunch/dinner we all kind of crashed. Todd showered and we watched movies and hung out. Ask me if I was still in PJs by 5 that evening when we decided we were going to the church to plat volleyball.
*I always felt like sports were something that you were not supposed to do on Christmas, like you should just spend the entire day with your family talking and singing carols, and eating leftover turkey. The Woods, though... they love sports more than almost anything, and they REALLY like volleyball (NOT my favorite)
Anyway the day after Christmas was Sunday so we went to church, that evening we went to the temple to watch a piano performance. Two grands four hands. Not bad
I then drug Todd and Kevin outside to take a million pictures :) Palm trees with Christmas lights! Beautiful
On Monday we went to San Francisco, i have been a few times, but there are some things I have never done, and I wanted to eat fish. We had an AMAZING lunch, honestly I thought I was going to pass out the food was SO good. Todd's meal required him to wear a bib, highlight of my day :)
We then walked around, taking another million pictures, including about a thousand silly ones of Kevin. We went to the famous pier 39 where we found 0 seals (lame) and to Ghirardelli square.
I think I forgot to mention that in one of these nights we went as a family to watch the new Narnia movie, and I LOVED it... I like all them though
Todd and I sadly packed out bags and got ready to go home, we brought a huge H&M shopping bag full of our Christmas gifts that were either too heavy or big to fit into our suitcases... and headed back to Utah to face the snow :(
We had such a great Holiday and are so thankful to the Woods for taking us in and celebrating this beautiful time with us!

A Little pre-Christmas California fun!

2011-01-03T13:37:00.005-07:00

Todd and I flew out to California to spend Christmas with his family this year. We left the Tuesday before Christmas and had to dig Todd's little Civic out of over a foot a snow... 30 minutes later we were on our way to the airport, thank heaven we planned on leaving early!
The drive was not too bad since the snow basically stopped once we got out of Prov. How sad is it that the most dangerous part of our drive is getting out of the driveway?!
When Todd's dad picked us up from the airport we were fully prepared for the annual "o-crap it's almost Christmas" shopping day. Instead we went with Jon to one of his client's houses to help him set up a printer. We were greeted and hugged (I was kissed) by his wife who is at least 100 years old and just cute, like only little old ladies can be. She then brought Todd and I snacks and offered us tea while we tried to get their brand new computer set up. We had to laugh because the most basic computer functions were nearly impossible for this very nice (pretty old) couple.
Once we left there we went to Panera Bread... if you have never been here it's a must, if for no other reason than to try their Cinnamon burst bagels! YUM! But there are not any in Utah :(
Todd and I spent the next couple of days being the only people healthy enough to pick people up from the airport and do the Christmas shopping. the flu, or something like it was going through each member of the family, not fun. We were glad to be healthy and did not mind helping out.
When we finally had some time for ourselves we spent the entire day taking pictures (one of my favorite things to do) by any water that was close (under an hours drive) we went to a park and just spent the day together.
Later we met one of Todd's oldest and dearest friends, Zack. Zack has never been in CA at the same time as Todd and I so it was great when we found out he was in town. He came over and just talked for a while. He and his brother Steve used to torture Todd's younger siblings, as well as any other small child they came across... Not in an evil way, just a crazy teenage boy way.
On Christmas Eve we did a White Elephant gift exchange. Todd's parents went to a second hand store and bought all of the gifts they then wrapped them and we drew numbers. There were some pretty crazy things! I got this Halloween light up cat, and Todd got magnet dress up dolls. It was a lot of fun.
Todd then read from Luke and we talked about the true meaning of Christmas and how lucky we all are for our blessings. It was not the traditional Nelson Christmas Eve, but it was great.
We went down town with the younger half of Todd's siblings (Kelsi was sick basically the entire trip, so she did not come) to see the Christmas tree and take more pictures. Todd managed to tie the lanyard to his shoe while driving... hehe
Afterwards we went back to the Wood's were Todd and I spent the night (we had been staying at Grandma's house the other nights) We watched The Santa Clause and Todd read The Night Before Christmas to me. (there are Nelson traditions that I could not part with)
We slept well and were among the first up on Christmas morning.
I will post about that next :)

Carriage ride at the Riverwoods

2010-12-31T14:15:00.001-07:00

This year I really wanted to do EVERYTHING Christmas that I could find. There are so many free or at least cheap and fun things to do. I found out about free carriage rides down at a shopping cneter in Provo and begged Todd to take me, then I made him go with me to DeeAura's after to hang out. He's a good man...
Anyway it was pretty fun, there were tons of lights equaling tons of picture ops for me. I do love to take pictures...
After our carriage ride, hot apple cider (my favorite) and about a million pictures. We went to Dee's where we were fed and entertained by Despicable Me (great movie) If you have not yet seen it, I recomend you do.
Also I love seeing Dee... she is one of my faoviortes. :)

Early Christmas with the fam

2010-12-31T13:58:00.001-07:00

This year Todd and I went to California to sped Christmas with his family. It's the first time I've missed Christmas with my family, so as you can imagine I was a little bit sad. I asked if we could do a kind of pre-Christmas and do the sibling gift exchange the Sunday before. (every year my siblings and I do a secrect Santa type of thing. We each draw one siblings name and then just buy a gift for that person... it's supposed to be a secrect, but everybody always knows who has them LONG before we do the gift excahnge) We usualy do this on Christmas Eve, but most of my siblings were planning on spedning Christmas, or at least part of Christmas, with their in-laws, so this worked out great.
Todd and I spent the night in Brigham (thanks for getting a queen size bed for the spare room, mom) then went to church with my fam. It was one of the better Christmas meetings I have ever been to. We just missed seeing one of my very close friends who bolted out the door moents before we could catch her :(
after church we got all ready and went to Grandpa and Grandma Nelson's house for some good home cooking and family fun. We kind of just hung out for a while. I helpled McKell with her homework and Todd got schooled by Mer's homework.
Once everybody had arrived we had dinner.
After dinner Grandpa read the Nativity from Luke in the bible. This is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. I love sitting around Grandpa while he reads the story of why we are all celebrating this wonderful season.
After that we exchanged our sibling gifts and Braxton got to open one of his early, so he would not be sad that everybody else got something.
Todd got a gift card and I got mittens, a hat, and a scarf. From Grandpa and Grandma Nelson we got this super cute glas Christmas tree that plays music and The Latter-Day Saint Family Encyclopedia. It's so cool! It's a reference for almost any topic that a "mormon" or Latter-Day Saint might want to know about. So cool!!

We came home on Sunday night and then got ready to go to California!!

Temple Square and White Christmas

2010-12-31T13:38:00.001-07:00

Dec 18 2010
As one of my Christmas gifts this year Todd bought us tickets to see White Christmas in Salt Lake. If you have ever been to Utah around Christmas time you know that temple Square in Salt Lake is a MUST. We budgeted about 45 min to walk around and look at the lights take a million pictures. I could of had longer, but there was a football game on so we stayed home to watch that.
Temple Square was beautiful, and my pictures turned out great! We also got some hot chocolate and rolls from the Lion House. YUM!
After that we ran back to our car and went to the theater to go watch the musical. It was such a gret production! All of the leads were AMAZING! Also there was a guy in the show that had been one of my town Kids (back when I was a Young American) I have not seen this guy sice he was in highschool and I was still touring. He is from Georgia originally and we have a mutual friend who told me he was going to be in the show.
Side note: I just need to let you know that I wanted to see the show before I knoew he was in it, but once I found out that was the deciding factor between wanting to see Nutcrakcer or that...
Anyway after the show we were trying to find him to say hello (he did not know we were coming) We went to the cast exit and talked to some of the performers who informed us that Tony is always the first to leave after the shows! Such a bummer!! One guy called him and I left him a voice mail telling him hello and that he did great. then todd and I drove to Brigham to have a pre-Christmas with my family.
All in all a great night, but such a bummer at the end!

Christmas River Boat Cruise

2010-12-31T13:04:00.002-07:00

I got half off ticket for the riverboat cruise. It was only a couple of dollars so we decided to go for it. It turned out to be pretty fun. We were on the Provo River close to Utah Lake. They had lights put up on the shore and over the water there were even a few things in the water. Our "captain" pulled us along using a rope they had over the river. In the middle of the about 20 min ride Santa came by on a kayak! It was so funny.
All in all it was a really good pre-Christmas FHE

I bring you good tidings of great joy

2010-12-25T02:40:00.003-07:00

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Brian Regan, CostCo and a Christmas canopy

2010-12-09T16:50:00.008-07:00

NuSkin, the company I work for, has an amazing Christmas part every year, it's kind of a big deal, there are prizes, our bonuses are announced and we get a CostCo gift card to spend the next morning. This year they announced that instead of having a formal dinner like they usually do we would be having hors d'oeuvres, and a show by BRIAN REGAN!! AND instead of our usual one guest ticket we would receive THREE! Woot woot.
So Todd and I decided to invite DeeAura and Jason, not only is Dee one of my best friends BUT she loves Mr. Brian Regan, and Jason is pretty cool too.
The warm up guy was ok... we could tell he was used to swearing and telling dirty-ish jokes. He warmed us up though, and Brian Regan was AMAZING! I was laughing so hard that I was crying and my abs got an incredible workout. Dee, Jason and Todd seemed to enjoy the show as well.
Once Brian was done (saddest part of the night) NuSkin's founders got up on stage, they are normally very funny, but after Brian, not so much.
They announced our Christmas bonus as well as our CostCo gift card and our gift for this year.
Last year our gift was an iPod Nano, so we (the employees) were very excited. This year... a Canopy, you read that right a canopy. Not sure what the 100s of college students are going to do with this different gift, but we are grateful. NuSkin is very generous.
The next morning Todd and I went to CostCo to pick up my gift card and try to decide what to spend it on, that morning I got string cheese...
After work that same day I picked up my blue NuSkin canopy, that barley fit in my car, and brought it home. Maybe Todd and I will go camping this summer

The most wonderful time of the year

2010-12-09T16:30:00.003-07:00

Todd and I are into the full swing of the Holiday season. This truly IS the most wonderful time of the year! Thanksgiving was spent with my family, and we had almost everybody there, it was so much fun. Todd was thrilled because my cousin John was there as well so there was someone else that was dying to watch foot ball.
A few highlights from the night;
*Braxton (my 2 year old nephew) makes noises when he likes his food. You can hear him in the next room "mmmmmm" it's really funny. We had blueberries, one of his favorites so while eating he says "MMMMMM....mmmmmmm, O-yeah mmmmm" I almost died laughing.

*Braxton and I were sort of playing ping-pong downstairs, it's a tough game for a two year old. He was having a really hard time, and I was trying to coach him, he got REALLY frustrated, and said, "I'm no good at ping-pong" while crawling off the chair he was standing on. (Two year olds say the best things!)

*Later on Braxton started getting the hang of the whole ping-pong thing, we had a pretty good rally of about 4 or 5 hits. Braxton slams is pattle down on the table and say "uh" and puts his hands up like he's fronting or something. He then proceeds to wiggle his rear and sing " I did it, I did it"

Clearly Braxton was my favorite part of the night.

On Black Friday I went shopping with Em, Justin, Mer and McKell. It was EARLY... but not sleep in the parking lot kind of early. Those people are nuts. I got a few good deals including an external hard drive, and pretty much ALL of Todd's Christmas gifts. Feels good to be done so early. We just hung out the rest of the day and had lunch with Stephen and Maddie, then went to Layton later to shop a bit more, and had dinner out while shopping. LONG day, geez

I had to work on Saturday so we came back to Provo on Saturday morning basically just in time to go to work.
Afterward Todd and I put up our first Christmas tree while watching Polar Express.
I'm so excited to share this season with my sweet sweet husband!

Fra-Gee-Lay (fragile)

2010-11-09T17:08:00.003-07:00

Todd and I have been married now for almost three months. He is an amazing guy, and a hard worker, i count my blessings everyday to have such a great husband. I, on the other hand feel that I have been NOT such a great wife! I swear to you, I have been sick basically every day that we have been married! Not only that but I freaking cry ALL THE TIME! I feel that there is no escaping this emotional instability, and that feeling far less than 100% only makes matters worse.
The level of sickness has ranged from a sniffle and sore throat (constantly) to lying in bed all weekend crying because I feel so awful.
At the beginning of the marriage I chalked it up to stress, Todd and I both were a little sick after planning our wedding in such a short time, work was hard, a lot of life changes were going on... now I have no excuse
This brings me to my next issue the CRYING, I feel so fragile as though the tiniest thing could set me off at any moment. If the universe is not in total and complete harmony I am going to cry, not just a little tear rolling down my cheek, but I can not control the tears or the sick sound that comes out of my mouth while this whole embarrassing thing is happening.
Todd hates to see me cry, or be sad, or have any kind of discomfort, so this has been rough on him too.
I feel terrible for him, because I was NOT this sick, crying mess while we were dating, now we are married and he has a new person, a less good version of me!
It's so frustrating. I am taking far too many vitamins and trying to not get so emotional about things, *sigh* what to do.

Todd thinks that it perhaps might be the fact that I am now on birth control, stupid estrogen.

Some more detailed updates....

2010-10-23T23:39:00.001-06:00

Todd and I also have a blog. I stole this post from there, as I am sure most of you have not read it on there yet... if you have prepare to be re-informed :)

Todd's Birthday was the Friday we left for California for our reception. We celebrated at Mimi's Cafe the night before with Kelsi and Dayvisson. Neither of us had been there before, but we enjoyed it. The service was very good until Kelsi didn't get her salad or dessert, but our waiter fixed that by giving us two desserts instead. Afterwards, we enjoyed the traditional ice cream cake that my mom used to make for me every birthday. Alaina made it, and it turned out great! It consisted of crushed oreo cookie crust, cookies and cream ice cream, and crushed Snickers bars.

We arrived with David in California at about 9 pm on Friday, September 3rd for our California reception. We (dad, Todd, Alaina, and Daivd) stopped at In-n-Out in Pinole to get the trip started off right. We brought Kevin home animal style fries and a Double-Double to reward him for all of his hard work in getting the house ready for the reception and 7 guests.

Mom, Dad, Alaina, and Todd left Saturday morning after cereal with all the guests (Justin, Emily, Braxton, Meridith, and McKell) to go up to Calistoga to be pampered with spa treatment while the house was being set up for the reception. Justin, Emily, Braxton, Meridith, and McKell went to Muir Woods. When we returned, we helped set up and then got ready for the party. Alaina and I received people for a few hours as the temperature steadily dropped. It was warm most of the day, but got cold suprisingly quickly, but that's one of the things that comes with leaving close to the coast I suppose. There were Costco sandwiches, wonderful fruit shishkabobs, pasta, cake, frappe, a chocolate fountain, and many other treats. Besides some cold weather, and a frozen Ipod (which Justin was eventually able to fix), we had a great night and got to see some of Todd's friends.

On Sunday we went to the old Benicia Ward for Fast sunday. Afterwards we had a nice lunch in the backyard. Justin's party went home early Monday morning, but our flight didn't leave until Monday night, so we helped a little with the party take down stuff, with some help from the Nelsons. Our flight arrived in Salt Lake late Sunday night when Kelsi and Dayvisson so graciously picked us up (in addition to also dropped us off Friday night). The had survived the wedding festivities! Now it was back to the real world with work and school.

Speaking of school, Todd began school the week before we went to California, on the last Monday of August. He is now starting his Masters program in Civil and Environmental Engineering at BYU. That means he only has to take 3 classes instead of the customary 4 to be a full time student. It also means he gets his own desk and computer (well, the power supply was bad on my computer, so they had to take it, and have not yet brought it back...but at least I have my own desk, right?). His work also changed offices that same friday when we left for California, so now he works in north Provo just across the street from the Days Market. The air conditioning actually works there...what luxury!

The weekend after the California rececption was Brigham City Peach Days. We went up Friday night and stayed with Justin's parents Leyland and Lisa, who had already opened their doors to us just a few weekends before for Stephen and Maddie's wedding weekend. Saturday morning was the parade with the Nelson Family, where I, amazingly enough, managed to not get any candy thrown in my eye. Afterwards, Todd went back to the Nelson residence to watch the BYU football team get reduced to tiny school girls by Air Force. I finally gave up on them about half way through the 4th quarter.

Alaina and I walked up to the carnival/market/party that is Peach Days and pick up a box of peaches for DeeAura at her request. Once the deed was done we started heading back. I am embarrassed to say, however, that I forgot a belt and Alaina, who had so thoughtfully packed my bag for the weekend, chose a looser pair of jeans that did not cooperate. I also didn't feel right having Alaina carrying this huge box of peaches while I was holding my pants up, so I struggled the entire walk back, which seemed to be about 5 miles in the Sahara to me, with one hand holding on for dear life to my pants, while the other tried not to drop the box of peaches. Kinda embarrassing, but also really funny... I just hope DeeAura really enjoyed those peaches...

After getting the traditional Navajo tacos and Peach cobbler, our Peach Days experience was complete and we were ready to return to Logan. In the morning, we went back to Brigham City for church at the River Ward. There was an interesting debate/heated discussion in Gospel Doctrine about the correct pronunciation of the Biblical prophet Hosea (I guess it's pronounced Ho-sha). We then had pot roast and carrots with biscuits and honey butter at the Nelson's house for Sunday dinner. After visiting for a bit, we returned to Provo and normal life.

Since then it's been mostly school and work. Todd is playing on two soccer teams, one in Lindon, one through BYU intramurals, and one BYU football intramural team. We've hiked the Y for FHE a few weeks ago, and then hiked Stewart Falls (up past Sundance) the Monday after. Anyone know of any other good hikes that can be done for FHE around Provo while the leaves are changing colors and it's still relatively warm outside?

Today we had a block party for our new ward, which we have only been able to attend twice due to all the craziness in our lives the last month or so. We had normal burgers, delicious turkey burgers, pineapple, watermelon, sun chips, and good new friends. I think I managed to learn all but 3 of their names...too bad there were only about 20 people there...

3 months of personal training for just $99

2010-10-22T11:49:00.002-06:00

My personal training company, Do Performance and Fitness, is offering an amazing deal this weekend.
3 months of training for just $99 PLUS a free massage! Amazing deal, right?
For more details click on the link below!

http://deals.mediaoneutah.com/

pictures form the last couple of months

2010-10-21T13:13:00.000-06:00

Here are some pictures from our first couple of Family Home Evenings (we went on hikes for both of them) Also Todd's brother Kevin came down for conference, and Todd and I went to a Fall harvest festival.

The first couple months of marriage

2010-10-21T12:48:00.007-06:00

ok I'm not gonna lie, the first month of marriage was hard, but not at all the way either of us expected it to be. We did not fight over whose stuff went where, or who slept on what side of the bed, or silly things like that. Also to make things even better, work has been hard for me, seems like everyday for almost a month I had at least one person really yell at me (this is not all that uncommon at a call center) but for whatever reason it has been a lot more lately than usual. Also I work as a personal trainer (this I love) but we are still trying to build up the business, so that we can actually start making some money (this I imagine is also pretty common with starting a new business) Todd has been working extra hard on a project for school, and taking what seem to be about a million huge tests, not to mention the 9 hour test he has next weekend that is stressing him out. So.... amid all of this craziness, I have managed to spend a good chunk of our first tow months as husband and wife sick, Todd is great, and he waits on me hand and foot when I don't feel well, but I NEVER get sick.... o-except for now, two months at a time LAME
Also both of our cars got broken into, they smashed the front passenger window out on Todd's car and took his radio, and sunglasses (both of which were pretty new) On my car they smashed the 1/4 window in the back and stole the GPS (this is really not good, as I always get lost) We have not replaced any of the stolen items yet, but fixing the windows was dang expensive! The little stupid 1/4 window cost twice as much as a windshield!!
My poor car has been having a pretty hard time, a couple of weeks later I could not start it. I put the key in the ignition and it would not move! Todd and I both tried for a really long time to fix it, but with no luck. Finally he googled it and was advised to HAMMER the key in there to make it work! (I was pretty worried that he was going to smash a huge hole in my dashboard)It worked, and the next day we took it to a locksmith to figure out what the heck was going on. He cleaned it out and sent us on our way.
A couple weeks after that I went out to my car and it would not start, AGAIN, this time it was the battery, so I walked part way to work then Todd met me and took me the rest of the way. When we tried to jump the car it would not take the jump. Dad and mom and Grandpa all came down to Provo with a possible replacement battery, it was too big, so we had to buy a new one. I don't even want to talk about how much money I have spent on my car in the last couple of months, but it is now in good health, and will hopefully stay that way for a while...
Work has finally calmed down a little bit and we are starting to get a few more customers at the personal training business, so life is looking up.
I am finally getting over being all worried that I am going to fart in my sleep and totally gross Todd out, and he becoming accustomed to the ridiculous amount of hair that I have (and shed)
Our only real problem was that we did not know how to show each other how much we love and care for one another. He was feeling neglected in some areas and I was feeling neglected in others. We have found a couple of great resources that have helped us to overcome these pretty small, but rather significant problems. One is a website put up by Utah State (http://utahmarriage.org/) the other is an incredible book called the Five Love Languages it was given to us as a gift and has given us some great ideas on how to show one another we care.

The Honeymoon... ain't over!

2010-10-17T16:37:00.002-06:00

On Saturday after Todd and I were married, had eaten amazing food at Maddox, and opened our gifts we took off in our newly decorated car for the honeymoon.
We spent the first night in Salt Lake at the Grand America Hotel. It was nice, we ordered room service and looked at the great view from our balcony. The next day was Sunday so Todd found a church near our hotel that we decided to go to for Sacrament meeting before driving to Park City.
This was probably the most diverse ward I had ever seen, it was ethnically diverse (something pretty rare in Utah) also there was quiet the rage of ages as well as income (from what I could tell) The meeting started off pretty normal, a prayer and a song, then the second counselor got up and explained that the bishop was out of town and the first counselor was sick that day, he further explained that he had lined up the Elders (missionaries) to speak, but that they had to back out at the last minute to do mission work. Leaving him to basically fend for himself this meeting. He was sweating, poor guy. He said that for the meeting today we were going to listen to the one speaker that was actually there would speak and after that we were going to have a sort of testimony meeting. In this meeting we would tell our favorite hymn and why we liked it, then the congregation would sing the song together.
After the scheduled speaker the first to stand was the organist (I would have done the same) She said that she was pretty good, but please go easy on her as she did not know EVERY hymn in the book. The meeting was pretty cool, complete with a black scraggly man in the front row rocking back and forth saying things like "amen" and " praise the Lord" Making things all the more interesting.
Todd and I then took off for Park City, we were actually staying in Dear Valley, just above Park City. The place was empty! We got to our hotel, the Goldener Hirsh, and were informed that we were the only guests that night. Also the continental breakfast would be brought to our room, if we wanted, and that there were chocolate covered strawberries and champaign in the room.... we asked for sparkling cinder instead :)
Todd had gotten us a package deal that included a couple of nights hour long massages and a dinner. The food was AMAZING! The place was a little European lodge, so the food was rich and there was lots of desserts. I had been on a very strict diet for the wedding and had decided to eat whatever/whenever I wanted. It was a great idea. For dinner we had, cheese fondue with fruit and bread, I ordered Lamb and Todd got Elk. Then for dessert, I got apple strudel and Todd got orange chocolate cake. The service was great, our waiter went and made us strawberry lemonade, even though it was not a drink they actually offered.
The next morning we found breakfast right outside our door when we woke up, scones, Muesli, yogurt, juice, croissants. The scones were to die for, and the croissants were flaky on the outside and soft in the middle, unlike typical American croissants that are just soft and buttery. I could have eaten about 10 of everything... literally, it was SO good.
We had the massages later on that day, and that is basically all we did on the honeymoon. We ate and slept, and told each other how much we love each other, we also rode the chair lifts and took about a million pictures of us. Todd (who usually is not the one wanting pictures) kept pulling out the camera, "let's take one here.... o-take a picture of me on this rock." He is so cute.
We also went into Park City for dinner the second night, I ordered Turn n' Surf, my first time ever ordering a steak, Todd got scallops, I wanted his dinner more than mine, and he basically gave me all of it, so so kind
We came home a day before we had to go back to work, so that we could get kind of settled in. (We are still not totally settled in.)
We now are basically in the routine of being married and living our lives. I still wake up each morning and feel so lucky to have this amazing guy lying next to me.

Wedding weekend bliss

2010-09-25T15:16:00.002-06:00

I have been a terrible blogger as of late... Life has been crazy.
Here is the catch up of the biggest weekend of my life!
On Thursday Maddie (Stephen's now wife) Went through the temple for the first time, and it was Stephen's birthday. Todd and I went up to Logan to celebrate with Maddie and her family. Also Nartan had been in town for a couple of days, so Mrs. Bigler, my former choir teacher, took him to Salt Lake to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir rehearse. A dream come true for him. Todd and I then drove to the airport to get Coko who had just flown in that night! It was such a great day, seeing Nartan, and Coko who had both come in all the way from Germany for my wedding! Such amazing beautiful friends!
Todd and I had our reception on Aug 13th. Todd spent the first half of the day sleeping while I ran around with my mom getting things ready, talking to the cake lady, making sure I liked the layout for the reception... I was kind of stressed out, as you can imagine! Michelle did my hair and make up and I looked incredible! I am so lucky to have such talented friends! Everything was PERFECT! The weather was amazing, the Price's yard was SO beautiful, Todd looked so good in his tux, both of our families were there, Coko and Nartan came from GERMANY, Bill and Rhonda came from Nebraska and Laura came from Washington. I really do have the most amazing friends. I could not believe people would travel that far to support me. It was amazing.
I was a little sad that nobody really wanted to dance at the end, I just don't understand people sometimes.
After the reception Todd and I drove to Bountiful to a hotel his family was staying at. I was to share a room with mom and Michelle and he was going to be with his brothers. I feel asleep instantly... I was SO tired!
The next morning while I was enjoying some breakfast Kevin, Todd's brother, asked me if I needed to get anything out of the car before he left for OUR wedding! I told him that if Todd left me here, I was simply not going to marry him, mostly because I had no other way of getting to the temple!
Todd said that it was bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding, and I told him he had seen me basically everyday for the past year, including last night in my wedding gown, so it did not matter. (the nerve of that boy, trying to leave me on our wedding day)
We got to the temple and had to check in and sign a paper saying we both really wanted to do this and show them the marriage licence thing we had to buy from the state and take care of some other business... it took longer than expected... we were a little late for our own wedding... oops.
Our sealer was amazing. He talked to us a bit before we went in for the official ceremony, and asked a few questions about our lives. He was a cute old man.
While performing the ceremony he reminded us how important it was to make one anther happy, and to focus our thoughts on the Lord. He reminded us that as we grew closer to our Father in Heaven we would grow closer to one another. He then said, "Now I am not a prophet, but I prophesy this, you are going back to Brasil" (where Todd served his mission) He then looked to me and said, "You had better learn Portuguese!" I tried to pick my jaw up off the ground... I could not believe what he just said! Kind of my dream come true! To go to a new place, speak a new language, all with the man I love. Hmmm I don't think it gets much better than this!
After the wedding we had our pictures taken by yet another very talented friend, Sarah Harris, she did a great job!
We then went to our luncheon at Maddox. They treated us so well, the manager was out in the dining room almost the entire time we were there, just making sure we had everything we needed. He was super, a great experience.
Todd and I then went with my family to open our wedding gifts. We got some pretty nice stuff!
After that we left for the... honeymoon!

Bridals

2010-08-28T11:51:00.000-06:00

I figure now that I've been married for two weeks it's safe to unvail my bridal pics to those of you who have not seen them :)

It's here!!

2010-08-13T09:15:00.002-06:00

Our reception is TONIGHT! I can not believe it, and tomorrow we will be married!! Time has gone so fast! I am so excited to be married to the love of my life!
Thank you all for your support and friendship! I'm excited to see some of you this evening!