Attention... Attention

Attention!

COMING SOON TO A CRIB NEAR YOU

BABY GARNER

SUMMER 2009

That’s right…. WE’RE EXPECTING and we are SO EXCITED!!!

For those of you who don’t know… we weren’t even sure if we were going to be able to have kids due to a medical condition that I have. So when we found out – we were very excited and feel very blessed and are grateful for the miracle that is happening in our lives!

Now for the story…..
I was feeling sick all the time and couldn’t even think about eating so I knew something was wrong. I just assumed I was coming down with the flu, but when I was talking to one of my best friends… she said “Lisa, I bet you are pregnant, because that is exactly how I felt when I first got pregnant.” Well to be honest, I was glad she brought that up because the thought had not even crossed my mind. So I decided to take a test on November 6th when I woke up and right before I took the test I got this amazing feeling. I knew what the outcome was going to be and I felt so peaceful. So I took the test and it was positive. Some women wait and do something cute to tell their husbands… but not me lol. I couldn’t wait and he was at school (he goes every morning at 6:30am) so I called him and said, “good morning, I just wanted to let you know you are going to be a daddy.” Of course he was so excited… he left school and came straight home! I will never forget that morning and the excitement we both felt! We are starting our family and although I know there are going to be rough times… I am still so excited and grateful for the opportunity we have to have this blessing in our lives! We were going to wait until Thanksgiving or Christmas to tell our parents and families… but because I was sick… we knew they would start to wonder what was going on… so when we celebrated my little sisters birthday, we gave her a card. In the card was an announcement we made that had a picture of us holding the positive test and that said…
We’re expecting!!!
Coming soon
Baby Garner
Summer 2009
She opened it up and started freaking out! My parents and brothers were of course trying to figure out what on earth we could have given her that would get this kind of reaction, so she read it out loud and the entire family started freaking out haha. After that no one wanted to give her their gifts because “nothing could beat that.” LOL.
The next day, we went over to see Dan’s family to tell them. We had the same announcement and when we walked in the door, Dan handed his mom the card and said, here… this was on your front porch. She opened it and started screaming as well. Of course the entire family did the same thing as my family…. Wanting to know what on earth would make her scream like this… so she read it out loud and the whole family congratulated us. This will be the first grandchild on both sides so both families are so excited and I’m sure our darling baby is going to get spoiled! We told the rest of our families (the extended families) the exciting News on Thanksgiving and are now sharing the news with everyone else!

Where we are now…..
Right now I am in my 12th week of pregnancy… next week I will be done with my first trimester and I am hoping that the nauseous feeling will go down after that. Although I have not had my official first doctor’s appointment, I did go to the doctors to get my blood drawn and had an ultra sound so they could figure out how far along I was and give me a due date. The ultra sound was so neat and even though the baby looked like a peanut… I saw the heartbeat which was very exciting!!! My due date is June 24th and I will have my first official doctor’s appointment on December 17th!

Time of year....

I LOVE this time of year. The Holidays are getting closer and there is just a "feeling" in the air. I know that sounds cheesy but it's true. This weekend I went to the Salt Lake family Christmas show at the South Town Expo Center. It was so much fun and so exciting! It really got me excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas. These past few weeks have been a little crazy and I know the Holidays make it even more crazy, but it's always a good crazy... a fun kind of crazy! I know this is a short meaningless post.... but I just love the Holidays and I'm so excited for the next couple of months!!!

Florida & Cedar City

Dan and I had the opportunity to go to Florida with my family for a week! It was such a fun vacation! We went to the Kennedy Space Center, Disney World (Epcot, Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Hollywood Studios), Universal Studios, and the Pirate Dinner Adventure show. We left Saturday October 25th and came home Saturday November 1st. Because we were going to be missing Halloween... we decided to do something at Universal Studios called the stay and scream. They had advertised that it was the country's premier Halloween event and I didn't know if I believed them... but after going - I do! After the park closed at 5:00pm they spent an hour and a half getting everything ready, and at 6:30 it opened and stayed open until midnight. Their theme this year was all the urban legends come true... and Bloody Mary was the main one. They had several haunted houses all throughout the theme park and we could not get to all of them, but on of the scariest ones was the fairy tales gone bad. All throughout the haunted house they had different fairy tales but haunted. It was very good.... in a very scary way! I was so glad we ended up doing it! It was a very long day but well worth it! I couldn't believe how many people were there! It truly was a "PREMIER" event and one I will never forget!

This week has been a very exciting week for sure. Not only was it crazy at work because I had been gone a week - but Tuesday was a historic day with the election and my sisters birthday (HAPPY SWEET 16 WHITNEY!!!) but Thursday was the U of U game against TCU! Dan and I have season tickets and so we have had the opportunity to go to every home game! We love it! And this game was amazing! Not only was the entire stadium in black for the BLACKOUT - but we won 13-10 so the U is still undefeated!!! THAT'S RIGHT!!! 10-0!!! It was pretty cold that night, but it ended up being such a great game that it didn't matter! Then on Friday after work, Dan and I drove to Cedar City to watch our cousin Steve in the play The Elephant Man. He had a major role and did an AMAZING job! We were lucky enough to go down when some of our other family was there as well so we got to spend the weekend with them! It was so much fun! We love spending time with our families!!!!

This time of year is so much fun with the Holidays coming up! And with Thanksgiving a few weeks away - I have been reflecting on my blessings and it is so neat to see how truly blessed I am! I love this time of year and the feeling it brings! Until next time....

Long overdue update - TREVOR'S HOME!

So first and foremost… My brother Trevor got home from his mission on Wednesday October 1, 2008! That was such a good day! I am not going to lie, his mission seemed like it lasted for 7 years rather than just 2. We had balloons and a sign for him at the airport and we had family and friends there with us to pick him up! It was so good to see him coming down the escalator!!! We knew from the pictures that he sent home that he had lost weight, but he looked so skinny haha! But it was so good to finally hug him and see him! He was able to meet Dan for the first time, which was weird to think that he missed my wedding AND he had never met my husband…but they instantly clicked and they get along great! When we left the airport to go home, Whitney, Dan, and I left a little bit earlier than everyone else and hurried home to put all the balloons in our front yard. My mom had blown up tonz of yellow balloons and we put them all over the front yard with a sign saying welcome home so when he drove up, he would see it. Then our family came back over to the house and we picked up chin wah (Trevor’s favorite Chinese restaurant) had dinner with everyone and just talked about mission experiences. He was supposed to be released at 7 but the stake president was driving home from being out of town, so he called and pushed it back to 8, and then called a little later and pushed it back to 9 haha, so that was funny! So at 9 he finally got released! It was such a great day! That weekend was conference weekend and so it was fun to have all the boys go to priesthood and then meet up with them for dinner on Saturday and then Sunday we spent the whole day at my parent’s house watching conference! Monday night Dan and I went over there again because for family night Trevor was going to make us these Mexican Hamburgers that him and his companions would make all the time on their mission, and they were so good!!! If anyone wants to know how to make it, just ask – it is interesting, but worth trying!

Other than that, things are going great for Dan and I! I got a promotion at work and have been extra busy but was so excited to finally get promoted because I was doing that job anyway! It’s always nice to know that you are valued at your work – I have had several people in my office in different departments try and get me to come work for them lol – so that has been a self esteem booster. J But Dan is doing great in school – one more semester and then he will be at the U and then off to law school he goes. I don’t know if I have mentioned this in any postings, but a while ago Dan realized that the career path he was on was not what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, so he did some soul searching and looked into some different things, and made the decision that he wants to be a lawyer and he has been so happy and excited about it since he made that decision, which makes me really excited! He is going to get his Bachelor’s degree in Economics which he is doing great in right now. He is going to be a real estate lawyer so he got his real estate license and is working in that area right now with my cousin to get some experience doing that and learn all about it before he goes to law school which I think is so smart! And that has been fun for me because he is currently in the process of selling 3 houses, all of which are over $800,000 - one is even over a million... so when he does open houses I love to go and look through them!!! They are all so gorgeous! But on the lawyer side of it, he has also had the opportunity to go to court with a real estate lawyer on one of the big cases that included Suncrest and some things that are going on with that area, it was good for him to see exactly what he would be doing and it just re-confirmed to him that it is really what he wants to do! So GO DAN!!! I’m proud of him for being courageous enough to change his career path and really find something that he is excited about and feels good about doing. The business he was in before had a lot of really sketchy things going on and a lot of dishonest people and didn’t want to be a part of it – so I admire him for stepping away from that and finding something where he feels like he can be of help to people and give people a voice that may not be heard in other circumstances!

Well that will be all for now! We have some fun things planned this weekend, including Trevor’s homecoming finally! And then next weekend, on Saturday, we leave to Florida! So I’ll do another post before we go and then I’ll post Florida pictures when we get back!!!

Alta Hawks Class of 2004

Hey! So for those of you who graduated from Alta in 2004, go to this link and add your blog! That way we can all stay in touch!!!

altahawks2004.blogspot.com

Congrats Aaron & Jasmine!

This weekend we were able to go to Boise Idaho for one of Dan’s best friends weddings! It was so much fun! They were married on Friday September 12 in the Boise Idaho Temple. It was fun to be able to go to the temple and be there for their wedding ceremony. It was absolutely beautiful and they both looked so happy! Congrats Aaron and Jasmine! We wish you both the best of luck in your new life together!

Swiss Days

So over Labor Day Weekend I went up to Midway with my mother-in-law and her friend to Swiss Days. This was my first year going and it was really fun!!! For those of you who don’t know what Swiss Day’s is – it is basically like a big Quilted Bear!!! Haha! But we had so much fun! We woke up early Saturday Morning and drove up there and spent the entire day looking at all the neat crafts and art and everything that was there! Basically I wanted to buy one thing from almost every booth – luckily I was able to practice some self control because that would have been a VERY expensive day if I hadn’t. But I did get so many cute ideas of things I can make to put in our house – and I am suddenly feeling really crafty! On our way back home we stopped at this Mexican restaurant called the Crazy Lizard or something like that – maybe Loco Lizard – I don’t remember – but they had THE BEST and I mean THE ABSOLUTE best enchiladas I have ever had!!! I am not a big enchilada fan to begin with – so normally I don’t get them, but the waiter strongly recommended it so I decided to try it and I am so glad I did. The only unfortunate part about this – is that this restaurant is ONLY in Park City – so when I want to eat those delicious things again, I have to go to Park City. So needless to say – Dan and I will probably be making several trips to Park City in the near future! Aw Yeah!!!

The First Day of the Rest of Our Lives

We were married: June 26, 2007 in the Salt Lake Temple

A few facts...
* When we got married: I was 21 (I turned 21 exactly one month before we got married…on May 26th) & Dan was 22.
* Our bridesmaids were: I didn’t have bridesmaids… only a maid of honor and it was my sister Whitney, and the Best Man was Dan’s brother Ryan.

*The weather was: PERFECT!!! I couldn’t have asked for better weather!
*We spent our wedding night (keep it clean): At La Quinta by the airport – we had a very early flight the next morning and didn’t’ want to chance missing it!!!
*One thing I will never forget: The overwhelmingly joyful feeling I had when we were sealed for time and all eternity! I’ll also never forget the look on Dan’s face when he saw me for the first time walking towards him in my wedding dress before we walked out of the temple. Oh and I’ll never forget the feeling I had all day – I was a princess married to my prince charming! It was awesome! Haha.

*Our Reception was at: Le Jardin (The Rose Shop) in Sandy!
*One favorite part of the Reception: Was seeing loved ones come and support us and wish us luck on our new adventure. I also LOVED LOVED LOVED our cake – the way it looked in the gazebo it was under and the way it tasted – I hate wedding cake but the lady that did mine was seriously a miracle worker and made the best cake I have ever tasted or looked at!!!

*Looking Back I would have....taken the time before the reception to look at all the decorations, pictures, and food and everything since I didn’t have a chance to do it all night!
*I wish: I could get married to Dan every year and have that special day and feeling again over and over again.
*We Honeymooned: In New York for a week! It was absolutely amazing!!!
*Our First Year of Marriage was: Wonderful! We have learned a lot about each other and we have grown as a couple! Our one year anniversary we stayed at the Anniversary Inn in the Treasure Island room. It was magical!
*We have been married: 1 year, 1 month, and 25 days.
*Life today is: Busy & Fun! Dan goes to school full time and works and I work full time, but we always manage to find time to play and go on fun vacations!!!
*Since Our Wedding we have added: on weight LOL!!!!

American Idol & Lake Powell

AMERICAN IDOL
Ok so I know this happened FOREVER ago – but I am just finally putting up pictures. So Dan and I were able to go to the American Idol concert and it was AWESOME! All of the top 10 did such amazing jobs and David Archuleta was unbelievable. He was so overwhelmed with the crowd SCREAMING for him that he even started to cry. It was so cute. Also – not to do with the American Idol Concert but to go along with American Idol…. I TRIED OUT when they were here in Salt Lake City. HAHA. My husband and little brother were hounding me to do it and so I did. I went by myself but I ran into a lot of people that I knew from high school and from other various singing things that I have done over the years. It was so much fun. It was a very very long day but I had a blast!!! I was able to overcome one of my biggest fears of singing in front of people and I am so proud of myself because of that!!!! I obviously didn’t make it – but it was fun to see the people that did (the really good people and the crazy ones haha) so it was fun and a great experience!!!!

LAKE POWELL
Dan and I were able to go to Lake Powell last week (August 2- August 9) with the Koch family. There were a total of 35 of us there. We had 2 houseboats, 2 boats, 2 wave runners, and LOTS of toys (i.e. wakeboards, tubes, skies, etc.). To save on gas, Dan and I rode with my family down there. On the way there our car overheated (smoke coming out of the engine and everything). It was so scary but we were truly being watched over and blessed. Right as soon as we pulled over someone saw us and flipped around to come help. He apparently knows a lot about cars and knew exactly what was wrong – he even had a special glove in has car so he would be able to touch the hot engine without getting burned. The next city (Kamas – where this guy was from) was only 3 min away – so he followed us there and told us where to go to get our car fixed. While he was following us he called a mechanic that he trusted and told him we were on our way- we got there at about 2:45pm and their shop closed at 3:00pm. They didn’t have the parts that we needed to fix the car and it was going to take 2-3 business days to get them in… but we called another distributor in Richmond and they had them… well my aunt and uncle that were also coming that were 3 hours behind us – were right by Richmond – so they were able to stop and get the parts for us! Well that left us with the problem that they wouldn’t be in Kamas until about 9:00pm and so we wouldn’t have anyone to fix it for us… but guess what – the mechanic was way awesome and stayed until my aunt and uncle got there. Needless to say – we were very very very blessed and had a lot of really nice people help us and we were able to get to Lake Powell late Saturday night. Sunday was awesome – we were all there by then and we wanted to “keep that day holy” so we didn’t do any wave running or wake boarding or anything like that – and that night we had a testimony meeting and it was so neat to hear all the testimonies of my cousin’s aunts and uncles. Then Monday the real party started – waking up at 6:30 to ski or wakeboard on the glass water – going hard all day swimming, tubing, wave running, wakeboarding, and then playing games, watching movies at night and sleeping out under the stars on top of the houseboat. It was awesome! We had so much fun! It was a much needed vacation! I got nice and tan too – so that was nice. I came back to work and everyone was telling me how cute I looked now that I’m tan LOL. And it was way fun for Dan because he had never been to Lake Powell before – so I was so glad that we were able to go. The only bad part of the trip is that my phone got dropped the first day there and the screen broke! So I can still receive and make calls – but I can’t see whose calling or read texts. So sad!!! So I am going to go get a new phone soon – but I don’t know if I want to stay with T-mobile or not – so anyone that reads this… who is your cell phone provider? And do you like them and would you recommend them? That’s all from here. OH wait – one more thing – TREVOR COMES HOME ON OCTOBER 1ST FROM HIS MISSION!!! I am so freaking excited! And then October 25th we leave for Florida for a week – so needless to say – I want September to FLY by!!!!

Update

So... I know I haven't updated in a while... we are in Lake Powell right now, but when we get back I will post pictures of the American Idol concert and our Lake Powell trip... so you all have that to look forward to :).

Random Facts

Random Fact #1 – My favorite channel is the Food Network. If I didn’t have anything to do and if I didn’t feel guilty for sitting in front of the TV for long periods of time, I would spend hours and hours watching the Food network. And sometimes when I cook, I pretend that I am the host of my own cooking show and I narrate everything that I’m doing. Not only do I narrate it – but I do it in an accent sometimes. LOL It makes cooking more fun and it makes Dan laugh so I enjoy it!

Random Fact #2 – Dan sings in the shower LOL HAHA but he only sings ONE song – and that is the National Anthem, so needless to say – I get sick of that song.

Random Fact #3 – Most of you probably know this – but my food CANNOT touch on my plate. I will go back 2 or 3 times to get everything I want before I will let anything on my plate touch. Everyone makes fun of me for it and I’m sure it drives people crazy – but that’s the way that I am!

Random Fact #4 – I hate brushing my teeth – yep that’s right – hate it. I gag pretty much every time I do it and I am currently working on a way to have clean and amazing teeth/breath without brushing. When I come up with something I’ll let you all know.

Random Fact #5 – Speaking of coming up with something, about 2 years ago I was talking to Dan and I was telling him about this amazing idea that I had to make a cell phone that had a mirror in it… well guess what – if you haven’t seen it yet, they have one now. So basically someone stole my idea and is making millions off of me. Just think, if I would have been serious about that and done something with it – I could have been a millionaire right now. I know, sad isn’t it?

Random Fact #6 – Dan has found a new passion and love besides me… and that is golf. He loves golf – he breathes it. When he watches TV he watches golf. When he reads, he reads golf books, when he is on the computer, he is looking at golf clubs, and in his spare time he is either on the golf course, at the driving range, putting green, or at a golf store. And I’m not going to lie – I enjoy it as well, but not to the extent he does hahaha.

Random Fact #7 – This is one of the things that I have always loved about Dan, whenever we are watching a movie or TV, and something comes on that has women dressed inappropriately or a sexual scenes come on, Dan will look at me rather than watching or looking at the beautiful women on the screen. How cute is that?!?!?! Now now... don't be jealous girls :)

Random Fact #8 – My favorite store in the whole world and where I love to hang out more than anywhere else is Costco. My mom tells me all the time that I am deranged – but I love going there – I find excuses to go there every week.

In conclusion, my life would be very boring without Costco and the food network. (ha-ha, ok not really, but it’s always fun to pretend.)

The Rules:
1 - Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
2 - People that are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
3 - At the end of your post tag 8 people and include their names. Don't forget to leave them a comment on their blog to tell them they've been tagged, and to comment back and read your blog for the whole story.

Cant Sleep & 4TH OF JULY!

So if you are looking at the posting time… it is almost 6:00 in the morning, but the problem is, I have been awake since before 5 and I can't sleep. I don't know why either because we partied so much this weekend, we didn't go to bed until 2 on the 4th and we woke up early and partied all day Saturday so you would think I would be exhausted right??? WELL I AM! But I can't sleep! So annoying! But I have been reading all of my friends blogs so that’s been fun - I mean what else am I supposed to do as this time of day when everyone else is sleeping?

I didn't take any pictures over the Holiday weekend. I am so bad at remembering to take my camera places, and when I do remember - I forget to get it out and take pictures. I always kick myself later when I realize I did it again. But the 4th was fun. It started off with a round of golf. It was amazing golf weather.... well it was a little windy... but it was overcast so it wasn't too hot - and thank heavens because I am still recovering from my way bad burn last week!!! After golf we went to Ihop and had brunch and then met my family at the dollar theater and saw Maid of Honor. I really liked it and Dan kept making fun of how excited I was getting towards the end of the movie because it was so cute. :) Then we went back to my parents house and played a hilarious game of pit! Then we ate dinner and headed out to Sandy city hall. For those of you who haven't been there before - they have a parade earlier on in the day and then they have entertainment and booths set up to watch and do until the fireworks go off. My family and I have been going for the last 5 or 6 years. We didn't go last year because Dan and I had just gotten back from our Honeymoon to New York and we were opening all our presents with both families and then we all went to the Bee's game. But anyway - so when we got there we ran into my aunt and uncle and their family. So that was fun because we ended up hanging out with them too and we played pit while we waited for the fireworks to start (as you can see, my family loves that game). I'm sure the people around us were getting very sick of us yelling numbers and ringing the bell... but we had a blast! Then we went back to my parent’s house and watched a movie and FINALLY went home around 2am.

Saturday started with a round of golf as well but my family came with us this time. It was fun. Then we went and had a bbq at my parents, played games, went Costco shopping lol and went and saw Get Smart.

I love the 4th of July. I love fireworks and as cheesy as this is going to sound, I love the "feeling" of the fourth of July. Everyone has so much fun and there just a feeling of pride in our country and where we live and the freedoms that we have. It’s just awesome. The 4th of July is my favorite holiday and it was so much fun this year - I can't wait for it to come around again next year and I can't wait for the 24th!!!

1 Year Anniversary

Last Thursday June 26th was Dan and mine 1 year anniversary. I took the day off of work that day and Dan was able to take half a day off. That morning as we were getting ready for the day we were listening to 97.1 (we always listen to that station) and as they were talking they gave a little “shout out” to Dan and I for our anniversary. That was fun little surprise that Dan set up because he knew I would be listening to that station and instead of just saying happy anniversary, he did it that way so it would be different and fun. He also gave me a bouquet of my favorite flowers… star lilies!!! Once he got off work we had lunch, went shopping, and then went and checked in at the Anniversary Inn. It was amazing. They first asked us what time we wanted breakfast brought to our room and what we would like to drink with our breakfast – we didn’t even know we were going to be getting breakfast haha so that was a nice surprise. Then we went up to the room to drop our luggage off and it was AWESOME! We were staying in the Treasure Island room – so it had a pirate theme. I wish so badly that I would have taken pictures, but it looked like the deck of a ship and there was a huge jetted tub in the middle of the “deck” and they had cheesecake and apple cider waiting for us when we got there. It was just really relaxing and romantic. After we dropped off our luggage we went to dinner at the olive garden and then went to the art festival and spent a few hours there before going back to the hotel. The next Morning we woke up and had breakfast, packed up, and went to Temple Square and took some pictures. My goal ever since we got married is to take a picture on or right around June 26th by the temple to show how our lives progress each year.

So we took some pictures, walked around for a little bit, and then headed to Lagoon. We got to Lagoon at about 12:30 – 1:00 and spent the rest of the day there. Dan’s family was also there because it was his dads work Lagoon Day and that is how we got the tickets so cheap. It was fun to go on rides with them and hang out with them. At the end of the night Dan played the game spill the milk. He won a small prize and I was excited… but then I saw this huge bear hanging from the roof and I asked what it would take to get one of those and the operator told us that you had to win 4 small prizes to get a big prize. Now we were already half way there because Dan had won one and his brother Ryan had also won one and he didn’t want it so he gave it to us. So in order to win you have to knock over all 5 of the heavy metal bottles, but not just knock over, but knock completely off the table. It’s actually really hard. We watched so many people spend so much money trying to do it – but when Dan heard that I wanted the bear he gave the guy another dollar, got another 3 balls and knocked them all off 2 more times and I got the bear!
Luckily we did that at the very end of the night because it is big and I don’t think I would have been able to carry that around all day. Haha. Well a little while ago Dan got me a brand new set of golf clubs so we could go golfing tougher – so on Saturday we went and hit a bucket of balls at River Oaks.
It’s a really nice set of clubs as you can see, and its really cute... the bag even has flowers on it!!! But at first I was kind of bugged that he got them for me because I have never golfed and have never been into it even though I worked at a golf store for 2 and a half years haha but it is actually so much fun! It is nice to be outside in a beautiful environment with Dan and just have fun. Then later on Saturday we went to Liberty Park with the entire Koch family to have a party. It was such a fun weekend and it was so fun on the 26th to remember the feelings that we had one year ago the same day as we were in the Temple getting sealed to each other for time and eternity. I love him so much and love learning more about him every day. Being married is such a blessing and it has been absolutely wonderful and we are so excited to continue our lives together. Thanks for an amazing anniversary honey – I love you!

Our Wedding Slideshow!!!

I am finally putting up wedding pictures (I know... a year later) I'll keep the slideshow at the bottom of the blog for a while - so check it out!!!

Cosmo!

Last Wednesday me and some of my girlfriends from cosmetology got together and had a little reunion. These girls are some of my best friends. We spent countless hours together in hair school and had a great time together! Ever since school got out and we have all gone our separate ways, it has been harder for us to find time to get together but when we do, it’s always a blast!!! We met at the gateway and had dinner and talked for hours. It was so good to catch up with all of them and see what’s going on in everyone’s lives!!! We all made a goal before we left to try and get together once a month to play bunko. None of us have played bunko before, but I have heard that it’s fun, so we will see. Thanks so much girls for taking the time out of your busy lives to come! It was so great seeing all of you!

GIRLFRIENDS

So today me and some of my cute girlfriends (BreAnne, Jill, and Andrea) got together to have lunch. It was so much fun. We went to this really cute place called Zinn Bistro and the food was delicious and the atmosphere was darling. It was so good to get together with them and talk about past times and upcoming events in our lives. Jill is going to be having her baby in a few weeks so this might be the last time that we were all able to get together before she has her baby girl, and BreAnne has two adorable kids, but finding a babysitter can be a challenge sometimes, so it was great for it to all work out, I mean I was even able to leave work for an hour and a half for it!!! How amazing is that?! But it was so fun to just relax and talk. We have been friends for so long and now that we are all married and some have kids, it can be hard to find time to just get together, so when it happens, I'm always really excited. Andrea and I are just getting to know each other - her and Jill were always really good friends growing up, but I never really got to know her, so it has been fun getting to know her better! But BreAnne, Jill, and I have been friends since grade school and they have both meant so much to me through the years. We have had a lot of really fun experiences together and they have always been such a great support to me! I am so lucky to have friends like them and looking back on junior high and high school, I realized that I wouldn't be where I am today without good friends like them. Oh... and P.S. Its 5:01 on Friday - so I am totally leaving work now (yes, I typed this up while I was at work haha) and I'm planning on having an awesome weekend!!! TGIF!!!

CONGRATS LANDON!!!

My adorable little brother (or should I say my handsome younger brother) Landon graduated from Alta high today. I was not able to go to the actual graduation, but we had a dinner with him tonight and some of our extended family to celebrate.

I am so proud of Landon. He has grown up to be such a fun and talented guy. He is so cute and so caring and so sweet! He has accomplished a lot and has developed some amazing talents.

Landon, I'm so proud of you and I can't wait to see all the great things you are going to do with your life. Congrats buddy! I love you!

Memorial Day Weekend & My Birthday

So this past weekend was so much fun! It actually started Thursday. I picked up Dan from work at about 2:00 and we headed out to Cedar City to visit our cousins. Before we left though we picked up the book Twilight on CD to listen to it on the way down. I have always wanted to read the book and I had started it but I have had a hard time finding time to read it so that was one of my b-day presents. We got to Cedar around 5:45 and went to dinner and then to a movie with Steve and Kammy. We spent the night there and then next day we just chilled with them until about 1:00 or so and then drove the rest of the way to “St. George”. Now I say it that way because we don’t actually go into St. George. We stay at this ranch called the Clear Creek Family Ranch that is about 5 min outside of Zion’s National Park. We go there because they have a log cabin big enough to fit the entire Koch family – which is about 60 people. So we got there Friday afternoon/eveningish and just talked, played games, had marshmallow wars with guns that we made, just a bunch of fun stuff and then went to bed. The next morning, we ate breakfast, packed lunches, and went to Zion’s to hike. We spent the majority of the day there and then went back to the lodge, played more games, watched a movie, played Mario cart on the wii – etc. Sunday we went to church and then took our huge family picture, had a “family home evening” with all of us… and then once again – played games. As you can tell – my family is big on playing games. Monday (my birthday) we just packed everything up and headed home. We went out to eat at wingers for my b-day dinner and then went and saw Indiana Jones. It was great. Then Tuesday Dan took me to lunch at Mimi’s Café, then we went and got a couples massage at Sanctuary Day Spa and then went and got pedicures (yes Dan got one too – but he wouldn’t let them paint his toe nails with anything but clear LOL) and then we went back home and watched school of rock (one of the best movies of all time) and then we went to Leatherbee’s with the Garners because it was Ryan’s birthday (how fun – his b-day is the day after mine) So as you can see I had an awesome b-day – I spent the weekend with my entire Koch family, hiked in Zion’s which is beautiful, saw Indiana Jones, got pampered, and finished a book that I have been dying to read!!! It doesn’t get any better than that. I have to say thanks to my amazing husband though. He made everything so perfect for me. He took Tuesday off to spend the day with me and the whole weekend he would do things to make my birthday better. I have such an amazing family and I couldn’t ask for anything more. And to make everything better – my parents are celebrating my birthday this Friday and Dan’s family is celebrating it with me this Sunday – so pretty much I have a week long birthday – can’t complain about that right?

Bubbles

Ok so this is a really funny/cute story. Last Wednesday after work I had to run a few errands and so I got home later than normal and Dan had taken a final so he got home earlier than normal. When I got home Dan was standing in the kitchen and I noticed that he had done all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. Now the way our house is set up, when you walk in the door there is an island in the kitchen that separates the family room from the kitchen so when I ran over to give Dan a hug – I noticed why he had such a mischievous look on his face…. There were bubbles spewing out of the dishwasher all over the floor haha! It reminded me of a movie. He had his pants rolled up and had several towels on the floor and was trying to clean it all up but the bubbles just kept coming out. I asked him what he had put in and he had put in the regular dishwashing detergent that we always use…but he wanted to get the dishes EXTRA clean so he also put in dawn, the other dishwashing soap that you use when you wash dishes by hand. It was so funny! We laughed while we cleaned it up, I have never seen anything like that actually happen, I have only seen stuff like that happen in movies. I love having little things like this happen it makes life fun and keeps you on your toes.

Mike's homecoming pictures

Here are some pictures!!! :)

MIKE IS HOME!!!

Dan's brother Mike is home from his mission!!! He got home today at 10:30 and we were all there waiting for him to come down! He looks so good. He is glowing! He is way tan and skinny haha and just looks so happy. It is amazing what missions can do to people. He has an amazing singing voice now and before he left he couldn't carry a tune haha. And he can play the piano and beat box and moon walk - haha, it's funny what else missionaries learn on the mission that is not mission related. But its so good to have him home. We are all so happy and he is so much fun to have around. Dan is so excited, he already has so much stuff planned for Mike and him to do. I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Promotion

Ok, so this blog is going to have a lot in it because a lot has happened since I updated last. First of all, Dan had an interview for a promotion earlier this week and Friday he found out that he got it!!! We are both so excited! He has wanted to move up and he has had several interviews for it, but it hadn't happened yet and it finally did. We understand now why it didn't - there was just no way that it would have worked out well with how much school Dan is doing and taking on a new job, but now that the semester is almost over, its perfect! He has to put in his two weeks’ notice at the current branch that he is at, so by then the semester will be all the way over so it couldn't have worked out better for him.

Our weekend was great, Friday we wanted to have a fun night and celebrate Dan’s success, and lucky for us, some of his mission buddies called and wanted to get together so we decided to drive out to Salem (past Spanish Fork - so about an hour drive for us) to meet up with them and have fun. Right before we got there - they called to say it was canceled - at first we were really bummed out since we had just driven an hour to see all of them and it wasn't going to happen, but we decided that it was going to be a fun night anyway and we ate dinner in Spanish Fork and started to drive home. We spotted Boondocks and thought it would be way fun to go there. At first we decided to play some arcade games for a while and then we would do some other stuff like batting cages or go carts or laser tag or whatever else we felt like doing while we were there, but... because of my freakish addiction to winning tickets - we ended up spending the entire night playing games and getting lots of tickets - we ended up with just shy of 1,000. It was so much fun - we laughed so hard that night and it was so much fun to just HAVE FUN! Saturday was a very fun day as well - Dan had basketball in the morning and then after that we went to the Clark Planetarium for one of Dan's classes and had so much fun there - then we went to lunch at the Sky Box and watched some of the Yankee vs. Red Sox game and then went to a wedding reception. After that we just went home, relaxed, and watched a movie. Today we have had a great day at church and just spending time with each other. Normally we switch off weeks of whose parent’s house we are going to go over to for dinner on Sundays - but this week we decided to stay home just the two of us. It has been awesome!!!

Dan is amazing and has done so well in school - he was on the Dean’s list last semester and he just received his promotion and I couldn't be more proud of him - he has worked so hard!

9 Monthaversary

Oh... today is mine and Dan's 9 monthaversary! :) Which means we have been married for 9 months haha. I can't believe it has been that long, but at the same time, that short! In three months we will have been married for a year! How awesome! I have loved all 9 months and can't wait for all the other thousands of 9 months that we get to spend together!!!

Easter Weekend

Easter was so much fun! We started the weekend off by going to the temple on Friday (yes we did go to the temple Wednesday too) and then went to the Olive garden for dinner. After diner we went to my parent’s house and watched a movie.

Saturday Dan had to work form 9:00 - 3:00 :( so I cleaned the house a little bit then hung out with my friend Jen. I wanted to get Dan an Easter basket so Jen was a good sport and came along with me. We went to two different stores and I got everything I needed. I decided to buy me an Easter basket too because I didn't think Dan would get me one (which is totally fine - he is a guy and they don't think about stuff like that) and I wanted us to open them together. So when 3:30 rolled around and Dan wasn't home from work and I hadn't heard from him - I started getting a little worried because he always calls me on his way home from work. I text him and I didn't get a response until almost 4 and he just said I'm almost home. When he walked in the door he was holding a sack behind his back and ran into our room. He hurried and got ready and we left to go to my grandma and Grandpa Koch's house for the annual Easter egg hunt. We spent a few hours there - had dinner and visited with the family and then went home. I decided to give him his Easter basket that night so that we weren’t doing that on Sunday and thinking more about the basket than what Easter really represents, so I got out his Easter basket and he told me to close my eyes cause he had one for me! I was so excited when he told me that!!! I mean I figured that was what was in the bag when he got home from work but I didn't want to assume. But the funniest part about it is that he got me pretty much the exact same thing I got myself. Haha. I really wanted the movie Enchanted so I bought it for me - and so did Dan. And he also got me really yummy candy and stuff, but I just thought it was so funny that we both got that. He is so cute!!!

Sunday we went to church with my parents and had dinner with them and my grandma and grandpa Koch and my grandma Wilcock, then we dyed Easter eggs and got dye all over our hands, but came up with some WAY cool designs and then my mom gave us our Easter baskets. She is so cute and she got us way too much candy haha, and also a scripture marking pen and a notebook to take notes in, and two backpacks for us to do our 72 hour kits in. I was way excited about that because I have started putting our 72 hour kits together but didn't have anything to put them in and now I do!!! Then we went to Dan's parent’s house and sat down with them while they had dinner. Aunt Sherry, Grandma Lockhart, and Grandpa Garner were all there too so it was fun to be with other family! After dinner Leesa gave us our basket - and once again - too much candy in it haha and some really cute Easter decorations which I really need and then we watched Enchanted with them and talked and just had fun. I love being so close to both of our families so that we are able to see them on Holidays. We had a great weekend!

I love to see the temple!

So this will be short, but on Wednesday night Dan and I went to the temple and it was great!!! I love the temple! I love the spirit that is felt there! I was lucky enough to run into someone I used to work with at the Sandy ACS named Doris Quinn. She is such a sweet lady and her and her cute husband were there. I couldn't believe how busy it was though on a Wednesday night at 6:30 or so. I have heard that the Jordan River Temple is the busiest temple in the world and I can believe it! There were so many people and I couldn't stop thinking about how blessed we are to have so many temples so close to us! And how amazing is it that it is busy all the time - that there are that many faithful members that go do temple work! I just love it! We are going to go tonight too... so if anyone reads this and wants to go to the temple with us... just let us know! We would love to see you there!!!

WONDERFUL weekend!

So this last weekend was very fun! Friday night Dan and I went and saw a movie and had dinner. Then Saturday morning while Dan was at basketball, I cut and colored Jen's hair, and we had a blast talking and catching up, and then we went to the ball field and Dan helped his dad coach Jake's (Dan's little brothers) baseball game and I spent time reading my book. :) Then we went and watched Ryan's (Dan's other little brothers) La cross game. After that Dan and I went to the park and had a picnic and played tennis. It was really cold and it even started to snow, but we had so much fun!!! After that we went to Dan's parents house and had pizza, watched a movie, and played ping pong! Sunday was great as well! After church we had dinner with the Garners and we were able to relax and have fun. I love the weekend - it is definitely something I always look forward to... as I'm sure everyone else does! I felt very unproductive though, I mean although we were busy and not at home, that meant that all the stuff that needed to get done at home was put off. But luckily Dan had the day off and I was going to get off work at 1:00, so we were able to go grocery shopping together, clean the house, and get some other projects done. I have always want to cook with Dan and he is always so busy, but we were able to make banana bread and cook dinner together and that was so much fun! I love getting to spend quality time with Dan, he is my best friend!

Oh and I almost forgot - this weekend we got invited to go to Lake Powell at the beginning of August with my dads side of the family! We are so excited! Dan has never been to Lake Powell and I used to go once a year when I was younger but I haven't been in a while - so it is going to be fun... we are so excited!

So the moral of the blog is this... weekends rock, my husband is wonderful and love is great, vacations are fun and we are so blessed that we are able to have the opportunity to be able to go on so many fun vacations! Life is great and we love all of you!

Snowboarding

Last Saturday (March 8) the Koch family (meaning my mom, dad, Landon, and Whitney) decided to take a ski/snowboarding trip up to Brighton and invited us to come. We were both very excited! I was excited because I haven't been skiing in years and Dan was excited because he has never been!!! Dan decided to snowboard since his friend Ryan was nice enough to lend all of his snowboarding gear to him, so I thought I would do it as all. So it was going to be an adventure for both of us, that was for sure. We were both so excited the night before and I couldn't wait to do something fun because we had both had a very stressful week!!! The morning started out really bad actually. Dan woke up and went to his Saturday morning basketball class and I was going to make a breakfast for him when he got home and have everything ready to go. But when I got up I felt so sick (like throw up sick) that I couldn't even do anything. I thought that maybe if I ate something and drank some water that it would go away, so I made some toast and tried to eat it, but I couldn't even get through half of it without feeling even more sick! I was trying to be positive but I knew I wouldn't be able to go snowboarding if I continued to feel like this. Dan got home and was so cute and got everything ready while I just sat there feeling sick and sorry for myself and he continued to give me words of encouragement that I would feel better and be able to go, so I trusted him and we headed off. We made a stop at the gas station and got tums and sprite and he gave me a blessing and we headed up the canyon. I felt so much better after the blessing and I know its because Dan is a worthy Priesthood holder and I am so grateful for that!!! So with my stomach feeling better and our lift tickets - we attempted to snow board. Whitney, Dan, and I were all doing it for the first time and boy was that interesting. We couldn't even get on the lift LOL. After the first run though we were doing much much better and we were able to continue to go. Dan had a one really bad fall and his goggles actually cut his face under his eye, but he is a trooper and kept going. We ended up having so much fun and after we went back to my parents house and had pizza and watched a movie! The next day we were both in so much pain!!! Our knees hurt and we both had head aches - but we didn't care because we had so much fun and we can't wait to do it again!!! We are so grateful for days like that when we are able to just have so much fun and not worry about work or school just for a little bit! Thanks Mom and Dad Koch for letting us come and for being such awesome parents! We are so grateful and we love you! The whole clan!

My mom told Dan and I to hold hands, but our knees hurt so bad from falling that we couldn't move... so this is what she got haha.

You can kind of see the cut on Dan's face in this picture! Poor guy!!!

Happiness

Yesterday I was over at my parent’s house cutting my dads hair and we started talking about happiness. My dad asked if I was happy and my reply was a huge YES! I have been so happy lately and I know that it is because of a lot of different aspects of my life, but being married has brought so much happiness and joy into my life. I never knew I could feel this way. And the blessings of being able to go to the temple and being able to become closer to our Heavenly Father and be in his home is so amazing!

Dan and I have had a great marriage so far. The first few months were nothing but bliss - I'm not going to lie, there were some little bumps as far as adjusting to being married goes after the first little bit, but we have been able to work through all that and our marriage is stronger and our love has grown so much! I never knew that I could love him more than I did on the day we got married, but I do. Our relationship and love has grown so much in the 8 months that we have been married and we are looking forward to the rest of eternity to spend together!

Now on another subject of why we are so happy - we have been so blessed with so many amazing friends in our lives and we've been lucky enough to keep a lot of them after high school and meet and make new friends and it has been so fun for us to continue to go on double dates and have get together’s with our friends and be able to share in their lives. A lot of our friends right now are pregnant and it is such a fun time of life for them adding to their families and we are so blessed to be able to share in that with them!

Dan and I have been able to do a lot of really fun things since we have been married and we have a lot of fun trips and events this year! At the beginning of this month we were able to go to Las Vegas with some of Dan's family for the weekend and had a Super Bowl party, Dan's brother Mike will be coming home from his mission in April, we will have our annual Koch family trip to St. George in May, our one year anniversary will be on June 26th, my brother Trevor will be coming home from his mission in September, and in October we are taking a trip with my family to Orlando Florida for a week (we are so excited for this and can't wait for October!)

We are so grateful as well to both of our families and all the love and support the have given to us and continue to give us. Are wedding was perfect because of all the hard work that was put in from both of our families and we love and appreciate all of you and want you to know that we couldn’t be more blessed to have you in our lives!

I know I have said the word blessed a lot but I just don’t know another word to describe it! Life is so good and I know it is because of the goodness of our Heavenly Father and we are going to strive to make him proud every day and continue to do the things that he wants us to do because when we are doing those things – that is when we are happy!

We love all of you!

The Fairytale Beginning

I'm sure everyone that will be reading this already knows our story, but I'm going to share it anyway so I hope you enjoy!

Dan and I were supposed to be set up on a blind date when we were both juniors in high school, he ended up going with someone else but a few months later we did go on a date and ended up having a lot of fun! For some strange reason though, he never called me after that date. Then, a few months after that, we ran into each other at the mall. (We both feel that was not a coincidence at all). That night he told me that he had received his mission call and would be leaving shortly to the Dominican Republic where he would serve for two years. We hung out a few times before he left and he asked for my address and off he went. We ended up writing the whole two years he was out and we got to know each other really well through letters. During that time I went to Ecuador and worked for 3 months in orphanages there and loved every second of it!!!

Dan got home from his mission on October 18th 2006 and we went on our first date on October 20th 2006. We dated other people for the first little bit while we were dating, but eventually we became a "steady" couple. On March 16th 2007 Dan proposed to me and we were married in the Salt Lake Temple on June 26, 2007 and lived happily ever after!