Vacay

A couple weeks ago we went on a weekend getaway to Zion's National Park. I've lived in Utah for 4 years and Eric has lived here almost his entire life and the both of us had never been before. People apparently travel across the country to see Zion's so we thought we should go before we moved away.

Zion's had lots of different hikes to go on but we were limited on time so we stuck to Angels Landing.

There were little crevices to hide in on the hike we went on. I discovered this one :) The people behind us thought we were cool so then they copied me.

Eric had quite a bit of energy on the way up the mountain. He came across a falling tree and pushed it back up so people could walk on the trail without any problems. What a nice boy.

Pretty view huh?

That other view apparently wasn't good enough. We had to keep climbing the mountain and we made it to the very tip top! If you look closely you'll see a bus down there on the road. That's how high up we were. Look how tiny the road is!

In order to get to the very top you need to do a bit of rock climbing.

Luckily the chains were there to help us or I think Eric might have been a little too scared.

Once we got down from the mountain exhausted and about to collapse we came across this sign:

Good thing we started bright and early (at noon), brought plenty of water (2 bottles), and work out on a regular basis (every other month). I guess it's a good thing we didn't know what to expect or else we might have chickened out. What an accomplishment!

The day before Zion's we went to Kolob Canyons.

This picture didn't require a long and strenuous hike. All it took was a nice leisurely drive. Just our style!

We did start on a little trail but Eric made us turn back early. He wasn't in the mood for an adventure.

The good news is we did see a cactus with flowers, growing in a tree stump. How cool is that?!

Eric and I loved our little mini vacation. The mountains all ended up looking the same in the end but it was a great experience. Without this vacation we would have never learned just how much we like vacationing in an all inclusive resort. Thank you Zion's National Park!

New Addition!

My cousin Carin had her baby girl today so Eric and I were able to visit them at the hospital! Of course, I had to blog about it :)

This is Carin and her daughter Sarah. Sarah is one of the cutest newborns I've ever seen! She came out with a little pixie hair do.

I get in creative moods sometimes and make things. One day I made flower clips so I gave some to Sarah. She cried at first but I think she was eventually okay with it. It looked darn cute!

Congratulations Greenland family!

Round 2

Last semester one of my classes was assigned to write a complaint letter to a company we had a bad experience with. I was fully reimbursed with a promise for a future discount.

Just recently, Eric and I got a check from our old apartment complex. We moved out early so we could save more money, but the check ended up being over $125 less than we were expecting. I was pretty upset. I was venting to Eric when he didn't really want to hear it, so he told me to write a complaint letter while I was heated up.

The letter I wrote was a full page and pretty dang awesome if you ask me! I pulled out some legal terms from my old business law book and may have even threatened the apartment owners to take them to court, although I would never actually take it that far. I just wanted to see if anything would come from my letter. You miss 100% of the shots you don't take, after all.

As I was coming home from work last night Eric was sitting on the front porch and handed me an envelope. I opened it up and there was nothing but a check inside for $125. SUCCESS! (He opened it first because he didn't want me to be in a bad mood all night if there was no money)

Whoever said complaining doesn't get you anywhere was completely wrong. If I've learned one useful thing from my college education, it's that businesses don't want a bad reputation and are usually willing to reimburse you for a bad experience. So start complaining!!

Hello Idaho!

This last weekend I went to Idaho to visit my sister and her family. We had a great time shopping and hanging out. It took awhile for my niece to get used to me but now she loves me. If only she'll remember me next time I see her...but that's just wishful thinking.

I love this picture of Wendy and Amora. No, Wendy doesn't smile when she's sleeping, but it's still super cute!!

Amora is growing up so fast. I took some really cute videos of her showing off her skills with different body parts and animal sounds. The sounds a cat makes is by far my favorite. Just look at her facial expressions when she does it. LOVE IT!!

BiRtHdAy GiRl

24 years ago, one of my favorite people in the world was born.

Happy Birthday Wendy!!

She was a little concerned at first...

but then she realized we would be best friends for life.

I love you Wendy. Hope you have the best birthday ever!!

Design Star

For all of those who know Eric and me, you know how much we love watching HGTV. We decided it was time to actually test out our design skill by starting with his mom's office at work. The decorations have been the same for over 15 years, so anything we did would really be an improvement.

We started with garage saling (our new Saturday morning hobby) and found these awesome shadow boxes for a dollar a piece. They were dusty and dirty, but we saw definite potential, especially because the retail value is over $20 a piece at the Quilted Bear.

Taylor came over and helped us dust the boxes.

Once the dirt was off, Eric was able to spray paint them to look like new. He did a fantastic job.

After we hit the garage sales, Eric and I went shopping for decorations to go in the shadow boxes. It took awhile, but after we found an inspiration piece the ideas kept flowing. We even found this vase for a dollar. It was an ugly orange and yellow striped color, so what did we do? When you're on a budget, just paint it!

This is our final product. We set it all up downstairs on Mother's Day morning and brought his mom down for her surprise.

Eric got a great pic of her shocked face. We were glad to do something nice because his parents have been so great about letting us live with them this summer and everything else they do for us. Happy Mother's Day!

I plan on spending the summer doing more crafty projects. We'll keep you posted!

Graduation

A lot has happened with us in the past month. Eric and I graduated, we celebrated our one year anniversary, and moved in with his parents for the summer before we leave for Kansas. Because of the move I lost my laptop cord and haven't been able to upload any pics. I'm going to try my best to get caught up and blog lots this summer!

Before graduation we got to meet President Samuelson (president of BYU) and his wife.

Here we are in front of the infamous BYU sign. We had to wait in line for the picture opp because it's such a popular spot.

There's the campus in the background.

My name in the program under the Business Management Grad section. Eric's name won't be in the program until August so we'll have to swipe one of those when the time comes.

The fam right after graduation.

I've never rung the victory bell so this was the last chance for me to take advantage of that. Yay for graduating!!

Eric with Dallin, one of his good friends growing up.

Me and Ruby, my friend from supply chain classes.

Me and Tay Tay!!

Us with Riley and Chelsea, some other friends from Provo High School.

It feels good to finally be done with school forever! If only I didn't have to miss out on summer by sitting in an office all day. Eric is trying to finish up strong at BYU and then he'll get a few weeks of vacation in August.

Good Week

This last week has been pretty dang good. Sunday started off great with an Easter basket hunt and then all day of Conference!

Eric's basket was lost in the comforter...

while mine was hidden in the refrigerator.

On Monday we finished making the rest of our graduation announcements. We're pretty proud of the way they turned out. For anyone who wants to come, graduation is on the 22nd and 23rd of this month!

On Tuesday I went back to my blonde hair. Eric had never seen it before, so we figured it was about time for a change.

On Friday Eric won a printer at the graduation party. That continues our winning streak (or shall I say Eric's winning streak). Unfortunately we didn't win any of the big prizes, but we are still happy with the outcome.

And finally on Saturday Eric had his last day of work!!! There were many days when he hated his job, so I'm looking forward to having a much happier husband.

Winning Streak

Before last year, I had never really won anything as far as prizes go. But lately, it seems like Eric and I can't lose. At the beginning of March there was a graduation fair that Eric and I went to. The grad fair had a drawing for a few different kinds of iPods. A few days later Eric got a phone call telling him that he won the iPod nano!! Really?! The prize came in the form of a $150 gift card. We were stoked even though Eric had no desire to get an iPod nano. After tossing and turning about what he should spend the money on, we finally decided to put the money toward an iPod touch (something Eric had been talking about for for months). Okay so Eric really just wants an iPhone, but he is going to have to settle with the iPod touch for awhile.

Then today Eric and I went to the Finance Club's Closing Social (we're not a part of the club but there was free stuff). We got free Panda Express, pizza, and there was a raffle for gift cards and an iPod. We didn't win the iPod this time, but out of 70 or more people and about 10 prizes, Eric and I BOTH won something!! I won a free mini monster (I have no idea what that is) at the Pizza Pie Cafe and Eric won $20 to Tucanos.

I love free stuff. Needless to say, I am seriously wondering why I didn't take advantage of BYU events sooner. I encourage anyone who is still at BYU to attend anything with free stuff.

Catch Up

Last month was pretty dang crazy for us! I was sick constantly and Eric caught it for a short period. We also had midterms, school, work, and baby blessings to go to. Needless to say, I'm glad it's March.

The best thing about February was the Valentine's date Eric took me on. We were going cheap this year, but Eric translated that into just cheap for presents, so for dinner we went to Chef's Table. It was SOOOOO delicious. I wanted to go back every day for the rest of the month. I learned in a Services class that Chef's Table has a policy that the waiters must fold your napkin if you leave the table for any reason. Someone actually got fired for forgetting to fold a napkin one time. So knowing me and Eric, our eyes were focused on the waiter when we saw a guy at the table next to us stand up and go to the bathroom. Lo and behold, the waiter went right to the table and folded the napkin. I encourage everyone to watch for it whenever you go to Chef's Table. What great service!!

After dinner we went to our favorite date spot: Color Me Mine! I painted a napkin holder to match our vase and Eric painted a chips and salsa bowl with a Mario Brothers theme. Yes we are obsessed with that game and have already saved the princess and completed the star coin world.

And of course since it was Valentine's Day, Eric was a great husband and got me flowers. I especially liked how they looked a week later. It wasn't just a bouquet anymore, it was a full plant!

The next big event was my birthday. I went to class, went to the doctors, did hours of laundry, ordered my graduation cap and gown, and then went on a date with Eric. Big day huh?

First Eric took me to Pastorero. Now I don't know if 8 people actually look at my blog, but I learned that for every bad experience you have you will tell an average of 8 people. So here ya go: the food made me sick on my birthday. And then afterwards Eric said, "Didn't it make you sick last time we went too?" And I realized that it did. So now I vow never to eat there again. I'm assuming Eric never gets sick there because he's had far worse in Mexico, but what do I know?

After dinner we went to a play at BYU. Eric and I were so excited to go all week because the plays are usually pretty awesome. Usually. This was one major exception. It was slow and boring and it was a struggle to stay the whole time.

My birthday was redeemed when we got home and turned on some HGTV. My stomach hurt too much to eat my birthday cupcake (compliments of Taylor Peterson!) but it was very tasty the next day.

Oh yeah, Eric bought me some Taylor Swift guitar books because he supports my music career :) Too bad I suck so much that I can't play them.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday gifts and wishes. And Dad, I'm still waiting for my card in the mail!!

Our Apartment

Today I came to realize that the whole reason my blog exists is for my sister because she is the only person who cares about reading it. So Wendy, I promised you some apartment pics in September and I am just now getting around to it!!

The other week Eric and I got sick of our tiny apartment so we rearranged the furniture and made it into a brand new apartment!! Moving the furniture opened up a ton of space so we finally had room to bring the love sac in. Now if another couple comes over, no one will have to sit on the floor (not that anyone ever comes over)!!

This is the view when you walk through the front door. The living room is to the left, then the kitchen. If you look down the hall there is a door on the left that leads to the bathroom and straight down is our bedroom. I didn't take pictures because our room was messy at the time. Maybe in another 6 months you'll be lucky enough to see that.

We hung our wedding pictures up after Christmas and they didn't line up with anything because we needed to cover up something on the wall. Now they finally line up with the furniture!! That's progress right there.

And here's our living room. You can finally see the floor! It's great. Surprisingly, a week later the apartment is just as clean :)

I hate to say it but we our counting down the months until we move to Kansas. I'm tired of this tiny apartment and Eric and I are ready for a change in general.

22 Years

Since I claim March 3rd to be my day (because it's my birthday) I decided to give everyone a peek at where it all began. This is me right after I was born! My dad was sporting an awesome mustache and Wendy was still afraid of me. Times sure have changed these past 22 years...