The Grubers

The Great Escape

2012-01-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

July 5th, while still recovering from the surgery, we started our move out of the basement apartment. While the apartment itself was spacious and great, we were over the basement apartment idea.

We loved the spacious apartment, the pool table, the laundry room, and the amazing location...but we decided basement apartments are just not for us. Helping develop this opinion were eccentric/intense homeowners, 7:00 AM vacuum runs on Sunday mornings, midnight and later piano sing-alongs, ghost day-time visitors (coming home to the lights on..that we did not leave on), and a pool and hot tub that we were not comfortable using.

We were blessed with a perfect exit strategy when Jason's friend, Richard, offered an amazing opportunity. Richard's brother owned a house with his family in Alpine, and they were away for the summer months. He was out selling for Vivint Solar in Hawaii and in New Jersey. While they were away, they allowed us to stay and house-sit their home in Alpine. We were thrilled! This was a perfect chance to leave the basement apartment and stay in an actual house...for free! The length of stay was unknown, since the family was unsure how long they would be out selling. But we didn't care. One month, two months, three months....didn't matter...we were in!

George, Nancy, and Karl: Always the first to help!

Their home is an older house, but they completely remodeled the inside. It looks amazing! They did a great job. Most of our things ended up staying boxed up in the Gruber's garage. (The Tadje's did not leave for the summer expecting occupants).

I loved the way Cindy decorated the family room! So bright and so cute!

Our stay ended up being shorter than we originally hoped. We moved in the first week of July, and moved out mid-August. However, that short month and a half was such a blast. Lots of eating out and lots of 30 Rock. The house is right across the street from the new park in Alpine. We went on bike rides and played lots of tennis (Jason had a big job on his hands teaching me the game). I remember playing tennis one time with my friend Amy and we left after 30 minutes of frustration...never being able to return the ball back to each other. Yeah...we had no idea what we were doing!

Jason on his beach cruiser...you can see the tennis courts in the back.

We also lived just down the street from Jason's parents. Literally, a five minute walk...if that. We had lots of tennis dates with them. George and Nancy are actually dang good at tennis. They could totally kick our butts! It was really fun.

Lots of fun memories at the Tadje house!

Wisdom Teeth

2012-01-09T21:00:00.001-07:00

WARNING: The following pictures are very graphic in nature and may not be appropriate for children under 13.

Okay, they may not be graphic but they are definitely disturbing.

So, it was finally time for me to get my wisdom teeth out. I was supposed to get them out in 2007, but then I left for BYU-Hawaii and we didn't talk about it afterwards. Jason really wished I had gotten them out then...that way it wouldn't have been our responsibility to cover the bill...but that is the price you pay for negligence and procrastination.

The day finally came. I think I went to the place called Wisdom Teeth Only? Pretty sure. Anyways, I totally recommend going there. I had to get all four of mine out and two were impacted. It only took them 20 minutes. They sat me in the chair, put the IV in my arm, started putting a bib under my chin and I was completely out! I woke up, half asleep, in the car when Jason stopped at Walgreens to pick up my pain medication. I felt loopy and swollen, but totally fine.

On the way home...you can tell I'm out of it

I spent the rest of the weekend sleeping (a lot), watching TV, and attempting to eat. I had an array "drinkable" foods like applesauce, soup, Jamba Juice, and my favorite...chocolate pudding! It almost seemed like a holiday with all of the chocolate pudding I got to eat. I'm not going to lie, it was a little challenging to eat. The pain wasn't too bad because Jason was AMAZING at keeping me to my medication schedule. I only felt nauseous once! I was back to work Tuesday afternoon (4 days later). It did take me a good week or so before I was really comfortable eating solid foods...I was afraid it would never feel the same again, but my gums back there finally healed and before I knew it I was back to eating hamburgers, pizza, and all of that healthy stuff. The only problem now is the food that gets trapped there in empty space. Yum!

Here I am in all of my glory:

The glamorous chin bib! A recovering essential!

Jason's amazing wrapping skills...so cute

I was pretty tired and pretty out of it at first

Real nice, Jason...thanks

Oh yeah, I had a real puffer!

Back to the "Jason was AMAZING" comment...He seriously was! He always made sure I had an elevated bed ready for me, whether it was in the bedroom or on the couch. He set a timer for himself for the middle of the night (I had to take the pills every 3 or 4 hours) so he could wake me up, take the gauze out of my mouth with his own fingers, put fresh gauze in, change the ice packs for new ones, re-wrap the beautiful head wrap, and help me drink the pills down. The gauze was so nasty but he never complained! I felt so grateful to him. He really is the sweetest husband ever...I can't wait to see him as a dad!

Here are some nice shots from Sunday dinner at the Grubers:

Jason and his fireworks

Yeah...I looked like a monster...so I had some real fun chasing the kids around like a zombie:

The weekend of my recovery was over the 4th of July weekend, which made it nice for getting work off...but not so nice going out in public. Overall, however, it went pretty well. I tagged along but didn't contribute much as you can imagine. We spent the morning with the Grubers. We went to the Provo parade, had lunch at the fair set up there, and went to Bridal Veil Falls. In the afternoon, we met up with my family for the Sandy parade, a firework show in Sandy, and our own firework show at home.

Even though everything went smoothly (with no dry sockets), can I just say I'm so glad that is over and I never have to do that again?!?

June 2011

2012-01-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

June was just as exciting and busy as May....can I just say that I love summer? Even though it is stressful always being behind on my blog, it is fun to reflect back on all of the things we did and the places we went. While generally Jason and I feel like we are a boring, do-nothing couple, I look back at our photos and our calendar and realize we've had a jam packed year full of fun things and blessings!

Here is our June list of events:

1. Painting the Arbon's garage: While I was dreading and unhappy about the request to help with the garage painting, it turned out to be quite fun and very fulfilling. Thank goodness Jason was there...he's kind of a big deal when it comes to painting. He knows how to handle a brush! He seriously saved the day and made the process a lot quicker.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Notice: The door is cream color in this picture...since this picture, my mom painted it a deep red. It looks awesome.

2. Father's Day: Our first experience with an at-home Smoker. It was delicious!! My dad went to town, making pork shoulder, smoked chicken, beef brisket, ribs, you name it. It's a long process (requiring him to put meat in at 3 or 4 in the morning sometimes), but SO worth it! Some of the best meat I've ever had! We have one of those old yellow playhouses in the back yard that he keeps the smoker in....so cute...his own little Smokehouse! Since getting the smoker, my dad has made several feasts with it and it is always a treat and makes it feel like a special occasion.

3. Girl's Night Out: I had a girl's night out with the girls from Customer Marketing. So fun! We got dessert at Yogurtland and watched The Proposal at Brittany's house. Such a fun night.

4. Date night with Bri & Brad: I'm really close with my cousin, Bri, from Idaho; however, I hardly ever get to see her anymore. To our delight, they were in town one weekend for a business convention and so we met up for dinner at the amazing Rodizio Grill! It was especially fun because both Brad and Jason served their missions in Brazil. Just the kind of food they love!

5. Jaleah's Birthday Bash: A day at Seven Peaks and dinner at the Indian Palace.

6. Utah County Parade of Homes: Especially amazing homes this year!

7. Red Lobster: We had the pleasure of eating at Red Lobster, thanks to a gift card from work.

8. Date Night with Alisha & Kerstin: We had a fun FHE date at Alisha's house...we played Dance Central (I believe) on the Kinect. Such a hoot! Jason was especially good...too bad the video won't upload...it's hilarious!

9. Sheryl Crow Concert: Again, thanks to Vivint we were given four tickets to the Sheryl Crow Concert at the Butte Gardens in Salt Lake. Jaleah and Mark were able to come with us and we had a blast. Sheryl is dang good live! It was kind of funny...the crowd was full of drunk, middle-aged hippies. Quite a site.

We got there a little late, so not exactly the best view...However, we enjoyed our spot because we could lay down and enjoy the shade.

Mark & Jaleah

10. Date Night with Nate & Sarah: Watched Super 8, had pizza in the park, and enjoyed Coldstone.

11. Hiking in Provo Canyon: We don't do a whole lot of hiking...or anything physical for that matter, ha...but this was definitely a gorgeous and fun day.

Pictures of a whole lot of nothin'

12. Visits to our new favorite park: Timpanogos Park

June....completed!

Ode to Summer Birthdays

2012-01-08T16:26:00.001-07:00

We celebrate lots of family birthdays during the summer! I figured I would just knock them all out with one post. Let's begin:

June 3 - Kimberly's birthday

We celebrated with dinner at Texas Roadhouse. Yum!

June 5 - Mom's birthday

How cute is she!?

June 9 - Elsa Jane Gruber is born (a TRUE birthday)

June 18 - Karl's Birthday

Celebrated at La Jolla Groves. Love that place!

June 25 - Allison and Robby's Birthdays

June 29 - Amy's Birthday

July 31 - Nancy's Birthday (and Harry Potter, of course)

Celebrated in Jackson Hole, WY during Banks Family Reunion (future post)

August 19 - Max and Tyson's Birthdays

A delicious Mexican Fiesta!

P.S. Jason and I will be adding one more to the summer birthday list this summer :)

May Highlights

2012-01-02T16:40:00.001-07:00

Besides my birthday, Mother's Day, Girls Week, and the Jive Dance Recital, May was very eventful.

Let's begin the list, shall we?

1. Two work dinners: My department at Vivint (Customer Marketing) reached its goal two months in a row, and thus got to cash in on both of those in the month of May. We were treated to Texas Roadhouse at the beginning of the month, and at the end of the month we enjoyed a feast at Tucanos (this time bringing our spouses)!

2. Another work related prize: On top of our department goals at Vivint, my boss challenged the supervisors to another goal...which we destroyed. The prize this time was a brand new iPad 2! I think Jason was even more excited than I was!

3. Date nights: We saw Battle Los Angeles and Thor, we ate at Ruby River (thanks to a gift card), we enjoyed Frisbee, reading, and playing Tower Madness on the new iPad in the park, and we went bowling with Kerstin and Alisha (and husbands).

Holding Zoey Sainsbury

3. George's Birthday

Dinner, presents, and....golfing?...

4. Winning gift cards to Tucanos: As if we didn't go to Tucanos recently enough, we were invited to a fundraising luau for Timpview High. One of the reps on my team (Christian Hancock) is also an Assistant Coach for the football team at Timpview. Jason and I decided we would help out, so we purchased tickets to the luau he was helping to put on. At the luau, there were many baskets filled with prizes and random stuff that you could bid/auction for. We were about leave the luau when Christian told us he was allowed to get a prize for us free of charge. We kept our eyes out for a good prize that we would use...when finally the Tucanos gift cards went up for bid. We knew that was the prize for us. We definitely didn't leave the fundraiser empty handed or empty stomach-ed!

5. Friends getting married: We had two wedding receptions to attend in May. One for my friend from freshman year, Orrin Hancock, and another for Jason's friend, Jake Goeckeritz.

6. So You Think You Can Dance started: Need I say more?!?

7. Surf Trip: Jason took a long awaited surf trip with his friend, Mike Pacada. They surfed the shores of San Diego and San Clemente. The weather wasn't the best, but they had a great time!

Trying on the new wet suit - purchased from Whiskey Militia

They had to share a bed....so they felt a barrier was most comfortable

The new surf board Jason purchased off of KSL

Sadly there were no wives there to take surfing photos.

...And that pretty much sums up May 2011!!

Jive Dance Concert

2011-12-04T15:25:00.001-07:00

That's right, I did another year at Jive! Sadly, Bryton couldn't join us this past year due to pregnancy, so that left Jaleah and I holding up the dancing fort. We had a blast, as to be expected. The studio even upgraded their facilities so we actually had room to leap and practice our dances full out. That's a definite plus! Of course, the year didn't come without its stressful practices and frustrating encounters; but by concert time...all was the negative was forgotten as we had the time of our lives performing for friends and family.

Following suit with last year, the concert was held at the Covey Art Center and they had us perform FIVE seperate recitals! Two on Friday evening and three on Saturday. I still can't believe they do it that way...and charge $9 per person! But what can you do? Needless to say, I didn't go around selling tickets for my concert.

Due to last year's experience of bad choreography and extra practices, I opted out of dancing in the Opener and Finale...and of course this year it was actually decent, but that's just how it goes I guess. Our class of "retired" dances performed three numbers: a lyrical, hip hop, and character dance. Check out the pics:

Apologize

(Lyrical)

Jaleah, Randy, Cristal, Vicki, ...ah shoot I tried. Can't remember now

Jaleah and I

My Strongest Suit

(Character)

The Silver Girls!

Shazaam! Bustin' out of our suit jackets!

This Instant

(Hip Hop)

The dancers' lunch break at Guru's and Sammy's:

This year, two segments of the dances were recorded via cell phone:

My Strongest Suit

This Instant

Sadly, no video was taken of the lyrical dance, Apologize...which was my favorite and most technical of the dances.

My cheering section:

April, Mya, Karl, me, Nancy

Beautiful flowers from the hubby!

Girls Week - Vegas Edition

2011-11-25T10:36:00.001-07:00

That's right, it's that time of year. Time for the annual Gruber Girl's Week. And this year was my year for planning and hosting. The only real problem, Jason and my apartment isn't quite the size you would hope for to sleep five women. The only real solution, going to Vegas!! Of course! My responsibility became finding lodging and activities for our weekend in Las Vegas. While being fun and stressful, the trip was such a success and so enjoyable! I can't say enough how much I truly love my in-laws! I got so dang lucky!

GIRL’S WEEK ITINERARY – VEGAS EDITION

THURSDAY

7:00 AM Nancy, April, and Emily depart for Las Vegas
8:40 AM Amy arrives in Vegas
11:10 AM Alli arrives in Vegas
Lunch On your own (Alli and Amy at the airport?, Nancy, April, and Emily on the road)
1:15 PM Nancy, April, and Emily arrive at LAS airport
2:15 PM Arrive at Worldmark (unpack, get situated, tour of the resort, grocery shopping, change)
Surprise Gift: Jamberry Nails
6:00 PM Dinner – Cravings Buffet at Mirage.
8:00 PM Walk the strip, see Bellagio Fountain show (every 15 minutes), pick up O Tickets

Hitting the road

We've arrived!

I have to take a moment here and thank my parents for their generosity for allowing us to use some of their WorldMark discount points to stay at the WorldMark Las Vegas! This was the most perfect and beautiful place. Just outside the strip and away from the bussle, but just a ten minute drive from all the action. I stayed here once with my girlfriends on my Senior Trip and remember being so impressed and loving it! We couldn't have asked for a better place for a better price!

Going over the itinerary for the weekend

Doing our grocery shopping

Fun pregnancy cravings: Greek yogurt and coconut creme pie

A few things that are worthy to note: On this trip we had to be very conscious of our activities, we had two pregnant women and one pumping mother. One of the pregnant women was about 8 months pregnant, the other was about four months pregnant and still experiencing some morning sickness. What troopers! Seriously!

After grocery shopping and touring the beautiful resort, I surprised them with a fun gift. I wanted us all to have cute toenails for the weekend, so I got everyone their own Jamberry Nails set (I became obsessed with them the month before).

Here we are, preforming the labor required for applying the fun toe stickers:

The end result! Fabulous toenails!

Every Vegas vacation requires a buffet dinner! After a lot of time, comparing ratings, and comparing pricing I chose the Cravings buffet at the Mirage. It did not disappoint! So good!

Enjoying bottomless desserts!

Afterwards, we did a quick stretch of the strip. Pregnant feet can only take so much for one day, and I asked quite a lot of them :)

FRIDAY

8:00 AM Breakfast
9:15 AM Leave for Las Vegas Temple
10:00 AM Endowment session (every 30 minutes)
Lunch Nearby fast food: Subway
1:30 PM Pool Time
5:30 PM Dinner Out - Hard Rock Cafe
6:30 PM Leave for Bellagio
7:30 PM O (bring jacket, can get chilly)
10:00 PM Arrive home (hot tubing/footing OR games and Kettle Corn)

To get everyone excited for the Cirque du Soleil show that night, I surprised everyone with a goody bag that morning filled with treats that started with the letter "O": Orbit gum, Oreos, oranges, and orange gummy treats.

At the beautiful Las Vegas Temple - always a great experience!

After the temple session, we headed home to take advantage of the many resort amenities!

We laid out at the pool, went swimming in the lazy river (tubes and all), played Around the World on the ping pong table (a hoot!), and just enjoyed soaking up the sun!

Here are my lovely videos that I took to send my parents of the resort; however, they give a good idea of what the pool areas were like. We were so impressed and amazed. The resort had three separate and huge pool areas, each unique and each beautiful.

Dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe and our hilarious waitress...wish I could remember her name now...

Pictures at the Bellagio before the show

Ready for the long-awaited show!

Front row balcony seats, not bad for the cheapest tickets in the house!

Check out the amazing ceiling!

Huge theater!

How to describe the Cirque du Soleil show, O?! Dang near impossible! So amazing!!! I recommend it to everyone and can't wait to see it again! This show is unique because it is part aquatic. The stage is awesome; it can rise and fall, shift, become a huge pool of water, phenomenal! Add syncronized swimming, diving, and top notch acrobatics...Loved it! Since there is no photography from the show, I stole some pictures from Google to give you a taste:

No regrets seeing this show. Well worth the price!

After the show, we walked around the Bellagio Gardens. So gorgeous!

SATURDAY

-- Wake up at leisure -- Day of relaxation
10:30 AM Poolside Action, Workout room
Lunch by pool- Sandwiches
3:00 PM Free Afternoon/Evening - Walk strip, see Venetian
6:00 PM Dinner - Pizza at home, Nertz, Kettle Korn

Sadly, I remember close to nothing when it comes to Saturday...must have been napping next to the pool

Nothing better!

Waiting for our car from the Valet parking

Tip for Vegas vacationers: Valet parking is the bomb! So worth it. Pay a few dollars and you have no stress or hassle of parking. Especially if you have a carpool of people, just a buck a person and you're ready to go!

SUNDAY

8:00 AM Breakfast
8:45 AM Leave for Church
9:00 AM Church - Las Palmas Ward
10:30 AM Change, snack, and pack
11:45 AM Drop Alli off at airport
12:00 PM Nancy, April, Emily, AND Amy begin drive home

The Last Lunch - a meal of mourning!

Goodbye WorldMark!

Goodbye Vegas!

Goodbye weekend of paradise!

Next year...Nancy's turn!

A Day for Mothers

2011-11-25T10:22:00.001-07:00

I may not be a mother, but that doesn't mean that Jason forgot about me on Mother's Day! He's the best! That morning he surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and two adorable movies for the future days when I am a mother: Tangled and Up.

Too cute!

Speaking of cute, we had dinner with my family this year for Mother's Day...and here is my cute mother:

Mom with the gift from Camry, Kimberly, Jason and I

Short and sweet...just like Mother's Day.

Best Day of the Year

2011-11-17T13:09:00.001-07:00

That's right....my birthday!

Ok, ok.... it highly competes with Christmas, but it's all my own!

As most glorious holidays, it was centered around food and mealtimes. The Sunday before my birthday was spent with my family. That means you know there were lots of yummy mashed potatoes! If you know me at all, you know that I LOVE potatoes...in all their forms: baked, mashed, heavenly, FRIES, potato chips, tater tots, you name it. My mom is from Idaho, so I think I'm genetically predisposed! There is one exception, however. Sweet potatoes! Can those even count as potatoes? I call them yams. So gross!

Sadly, no pictures of potatoes.....

On Tuesday, the official day, Jason picked me up from work and took me to lunch. We went to Spicy Thai. Thai food has become a favorite of ours. Our favorite Thai places around here are Spicy Thai and Evergreen. Both are awesome! Anybody know of any other fantastic Thai restaurants around? My recommendation is to steer clear of Thai Mango! We went for their Grand Opening and were so disappointed. I may have already vented about this, but their Pad Thai tasted like dirty, old cat litter. I couldn't even finish one bite! We drove to McDonalds and threw it away.

Tuesday night, the Grubers treated me to a delicious dinner. Check out this cake Jason made and decorated for me! Impressive!

No need to count... that's 24 candles...and I was a good girl for all of them :)

Present time!

Sweet kicks from Jason! And Mya, my unwrapping helper.

The big surprise of the night...

My mom had kept and dried my wedding bouquet and in the process of storing it, George and Nancy found it and put it in a beautiful case. Now, I can always have it and display it in my home. So neat and so special!

Another successful birthday! Twenty-four has never felt so good!

Easter Time Once More

2011-11-15T15:20:00.001-07:00

And as usual it was crazy and eventful :)

At work, one of my reps had the great idea of doing a "Secret Bunny" with the team. What that means is we all drew names, kept it a secret, and with a simple $5 limit we exchanged gifts the Thursday before Easter. An idea that originally sounded cheesy and lame actually turned out to be very fun and thoughtful. It definitely contributed to the unity of the team. As they presented their gift, they were required to say a few nice things about the person they drew and the rest of the team was to guess who they thought the recipient was. My gift was this beautiful flower pot for my desk! I LOVED it!

The perfect companion for my desk phone (which was far too neglected ha)

Enough about work....who cares about that anyway, right?

Thanks to BYU graduation happening during Easter weekend, we got to see the Spencer and Tuttle families! With this convenience, we took the opportunity to throw April a baby shower. No place better to do that than La Jolla Groves in Provo. Such amazing food! If you get a chance to go there, get their Salmon dish! To die for!

Alli, Erin, April, Amy, Stacy, Khirsten, and me

Can I just say that I LOVE what they've done with the Riverwoods Mall? It is so much better. I still say they need some more "normal people" shops. But they're making progress!

Behold, pictures from the madness at that Grubers:

Capri, Alex, Mya, Clara, Oliver, and Harlan

Too much cuteness for one creek bench!

A Gruber favorite past time

This year, my family did something a little bit different for the Easter Holiday. Saturday evening, we met up with the fam in Draper for a Passover Dinner. So fun and so interesting! We had fun learning about and eating the kinds of food they ate at the Passover Feast at the time of Jesus, as well as other foods that were eaten at that time. Check out the menu:

Beitzah - roasted egg -- symbolic of roasted offerings sacrificed at the temple.

Maror - bitter herb - horse radish - symbolic of suffering under task masters
Haroset - fruit and nut mixture - symbolic of building material used by Israelite slaves
Karpas - parsley - symbolic of Israel's new life of freedom
Matzah - unleavened bread - represents Israel's quick escape
Zeroa - roasted shank bone of lamb

Other things we had representing the time of Jesus:

Lentil soup
Yogurt
Honey Comb

As you can see, we even semi-dressed up and ate on the floor.

We're legit! Ha

Thanks Mom for all of the hard work you put into this meal to make it so memorable and enjoyable! You rock!

Sunday dinner was spent with the Grubers. Dinner was delicious, as usual. However, I sadly have only one memory from that meal...or day for that matter. It all began when I was examining my next bite of delicious spinach salad. This isn't an unusual thing for me, Jason calls me an "examiner" whenever I'm eating a meal...always having to check my food out from all angles and with all of my senses before taking a bite. I think he exaggerates... but I digress. So, I was moving my salad around a bit while Jason and I were telling a story to the family. While I was "examining" I saw something dark and round in my salad that didn't seem normal. As I peered closer, my heart stopped and my head got very hot. I did not know how to respond to what I just saw. Should I tell someone? Should I exercise class and keep it to myself? April was sitting across the table from me and saw a look of alarm on my face. She mouthed to me, "Are you okay?" I just smiled and nodded. I then looked to my left where Jason was sitting two seats down from me and continuing our story. I looked at him with a funny expression and he knew something was up. This, of course, brought the table's attention to me. I looked down at my plate and said simply, "I'm a little concerned about this..." I then showed them all the lovely surprise on my plate. It was a small brown caterpillar that was starting to make it's way into my scalloped potatoes. As you can imagine, the table burst out in an uproar. Needless to say, nobody ate any salad after that. Word to the wise, thoroughly check your pre-washed salad bags.

My little salad friend

Other pleasant pictures from the afternoon:

April Showers...

2011-06-26T20:20:00.000-06:00

Cruising on through April...(will I ever catch up?)...we had several fun events. The first one that comes to mind is General Conference weekend. With the guys gone at Priesthood session, it is always a great opportunity to kick it with the girls. This time around, I joined my mom, sisters, and cousin-in-law for cinnamon roll baking, cupcake eating, and Tangled watching extravaganza! Every girls' dream, right?

Enjoying our cupcakes from The Sweet-tooth Fairy!

The cinnamon rolls in all their glory...

The following Sunday morning brought a beautiful WHITE surprise:

(too bad Christmas couldn't be like this)

While the morning session was amazing (as usual), the most memorable part was Bryan's famous food stand. This year, instead of going through all of the trouble of drawing fake money by hand, he had a dollar amount limit that he kept at the stand that we could use and subtract from every time we "purchased" something. He had all kinds of treats and sodas. Oreos, Nutter Butters, Redvines, etc. I'm pretty sure the stand would never have been allowed when I was a kid...but isn't this just another one of the joys of being the youngest child?....doing whatever you want, especially if it means not paying attention to conference? I'm pretty sure I was required to take notes when I was twelve years old! Oh well, I can't complain too much because I definitely benefited from his little stand.

Bryan's stand

After spending the morning session with my family, we drove to Alpine to enjoy the final session with the Grubers. Besides being spiritually fed, we were also physically fed to our hearts content due to the fact that we were also celebrating April's 30th birthday! Happy Birthday April!

The next Friday, Jason and I tried to make it up one more time for a night of skiing at Brighton; however, a combination of a freakish snow storm and a lack of "working" four-wheel drive in the Explorer did not let us have our way. We had driven a few miles up the canyon, when a pile up on the road caused us to stop, lose our momentum, and forced us to turn around and head back down the mountain (almost getting stuck and nearly drifting off the bank in the process). It was quite the stressful and scary situation to be honest. So, rather than hitting the slopes that night, we settled for the movie Source Code (great movie, by the way!).

The following day was very busy for me. I was in Draper by 9:45 am to attend "Women at the Well" - a special traveling program that some of my aunts from Idaho are a part of. It was a beautifully touching musical program that I am so glad that I did not miss! Immediately after the program, I met up with Jaleah to go to the What Women Want Expo in Sandy. That turned out to be such a blast! We made a few fun purchases, including feather extensions, Jamberry nails, Chick-fil-A, and cheap waxing. Jaleah and I were so excited about our Jamberry nails, that we went straight back to my parents house to put them on. Here's a little peek at the finished results:

They are heat activated stickers that you apply and shape onto your toenails

(or fingernails if you like)!

They have so many cute patterns...it was really hard to choose.

They stayed on for quite awhile, over a month for both me and Jaleah.

Here's the site if you want to check them out:

http://www.jamberrynails.com/nail-shields.html

All the while, Jason was skiing with Jaleah's husband, Mark. Doesn't get any better than that!

Right after that, Jason and I ran to Riverton to attend Alex's birthday party. Always a ball!

Speaking of balls....in an effort to cut down a bit on birthday gifts for the nieces and nephews, we decided to shop at All-a-Dollar for Alex's present. We found a couple decent race cars and a gun that shot plastic balls. To cut to the chase, Alex was not very impressed with our gifts. The race cars were no Hot Wheels, and when he finally attempted to shoot the gun, the ball shot forward an inch, at most, before falling to the ground (that is if the ball hadn't already rolled out of the hole before pulling the trigger). So pathetic! Luckily he had his Tron action figure that took most of his attention. We only hope this birthday flies quickly from his memory and he doesn't always remember us as Uncle Cheap and Aunt Penny Pincher! Sorry again, Alex!

Mya making our hair beautiful...

My favorite day in April was probably one of my dates with Jason. We started off the day with skiing at the Canyons. Now, to preface this...we had recently purchased an awesome deal through KSL that gave us unlimited Monday skiing to Brighton, one day of skiing at the Canyons, and unlimited skiing at Nordic Valley. On top of that, we got unlimited access to Trafalga in Orem and Lehi. Hence the day of skiing at the Canyons (a resort we probably wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise). We happened to go the last weekend it was open for the season...which was lucky and unlucky at the same time. If you have never been skiing at the Canyons, I must say it is quite impressive! Not only do you ride a lift from the parking lot to the base of lift, but several of the lifts have covers from the snow and wind. So awesome! There's even one lift that uses a pod-type car. So sweet! Another great thing about the Canyons is they have gigantic, amazing cabins lining some of the ski runs. The roads and runs kind of criss-cross all the way down creating bridges that you ski under. Very unique and very beautiful! The down side, while some of the day included little flurries of snow, the other part of the day was very warm...making the snow slushier and slower than I had ever ridden in.

After skiing for several hours, we stopped for some shopping at The Gateway mall. Which then led us to the perfect opportunity to hit up Cheesecake Factory on our way back home. (Oh, if only they had a Cheesecake Factory in Provo....seriously, they need to!)

After washing up and changing, we went to the Riverwoods to treat ourselves to caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. A perfect way to end an amazing day!

Love this picture of Jason!

Easter still to come....

March Onward

2011-05-29T18:34:00.000-06:00

To be honest, not a whole lot happened in the Gruber household in March. That's probably because we were busy watching all of the Lie To Me episodes that were available on Netflix. Love that show! Seriously, Netflix makes our world go round! I don't know what we would do without it....probably be all productive and stuff....lame! Jokes...but seriously we love it! After Lie To Me, we enjoyed the eighth season of 24 and pretty much finished up The Office and Parks and Recreation.

(from Google Images)

I would have to say that the most exciting thing that came about with March was Jason's participation in Mustache March. His mustache is a pure Wesley! What started out as a fun joke just to see if Jason would dare grow it out, turned into a look that I actually really like and would invite to return in the future. Little did we know just how much RED he has in his beard. Yep, we're definitely having a handful of ginger kids. Thanks for being such a good sport, Jason! Love you!

The mustache phase...

The full-on beard...he kept it well trimmed

So handsome! You get the idea....

Other than that, here are a few of the highlights from March:

1. Date Nights - Night skiing at Brighton with Jaleah and Mark Tuttle. I have to say, this was one of the most fun snowboarding sessions I have ever had!! Texas Roadhouse with Kerstin, Jed, Alisha, and Nate. Always a joy! Croquet at the new Provo Beach Resort with Mike and Kaitlyn Pacada. Yet another ski date with Jaleah and Mark (this time day skiing in some crazy powder...did I say crazy? Yes!). Game night with Nate, Sarah, Richard, and Camilla. Yogurtland and Tron with Mike and Kaitlyn Pacada (yet again). So, I guess, after looking at this list, we had a very successful month for fun dates!

2. Work Parties and Friends - My team at work met our production goal in February, so we were all treated to Texas Roadhouse! Yum! Have I mentioned that I love the people that I work with? They are my favorite thing about my job! We had another get together that month at Red Robin, just for the heck of it. Never before have I liked a job enough to want to spend time with my coworkers outside of work.

3. Fishing - Jason had a blast fishing (as usual) with Max on the Provo River.

4. Family Time - We had my family over one night for FHE and Hawaiian Haystacks. And, of course, lots of Sunday dinners with the Grubers.

Farewell March....some day I just might catch up!

February - The Month of Love

2011-04-24T22:47:00.000-06:00

February was quite an exciting month....at least for me.

First of all, it marked the big launch of the APX re-brand. Due to the movement towards home automation, APX officially became Vivint on February 1st. Of course, it made a huge impact on the day-to-day at work...but rather than focus on the business of it all, let's cut right to the fun.

That whole week at work could be described as a high school Spirit Week. There were games, food, prizes, Minute to Win-it, our own version of Wipe Out (which left many participants vomiting in the bathrooms...quite intense). There was a company kick-off and closing party, including our own rap theme song performed by our very own Customer Marketing rep, Prince Simpson (laser lighting and fog machines included). It was awesome! The closing party delivered Papa Johns for everyone and lots of grand prize give-aways. Two employees were drawn for a $5,000 shopping spree/trip, and one lucky employee won a $10,000 spree. Vivint sure knows how to treat their people right!

On the last day of Vivint week they had a professional photo booth take free pictures for everyone. My team and I jumped on the chance and came away with this shot (sadly, we were missing a few people...and we have added and lost some people since):

Mike, Zach, Stephen, Jaclyn, Christian, me, Ian, Casey, Richelle

Katalina, Micah, Renae

Also, if you would like to check out the Vivint rap, here is the YouTube link:

All in all, a fun week and proud to be a part of the Vivint family!

Another big event from February was my trip to the dentist! So somehow Jason and I went our whole marriage up to this point without visiting the dentist. Gross, I know! I finally got it done and have since returned to take care of a couple cavities and sealants. Before the year is over, I'm going to have to get my wisdom teeth pulled (apparently, I have two teeth that are impacted...so that means I'll have to go to an oral surgeon rather than just my dentist). I'm so mad I didn't get that taken care of while living with my parents. This just goes to show that procrastination definitely comes with a price! Any recommendations on where to get it done?

Ever heard of Nordic Valley or Wolf Creek? If not, your probably not alone. It's a ways north of Salt Lake in a small city called Eden. I compare the small country-like town to the feel of Midway. Anywho, in Bryan's new craze for skiing, Jason and I took Bryan, Tyson, and Kim to the Wolf Mountain Ski Resort (used to be Nordic Valley). It is a tiny resort, but one that holds a lot of memories for me and my family. Since the resort is so small and the terrain is so easy, I figured this would be a perfect time to actually try skiing. Jason ended up being the instructor for all four of us Arbon kids (poor Jason). He was very hesitant at first (given his recent experience with Bryan)...but luckily, things went a lot better than he could have hoped! To my complete surprise, I totally loved skiing! There wasn't as much stress or tension in my body as there usually is when I'm snowboarding. I quickly realized that all of my tension was focused in my hands...while tightly gripping to the poles :). I must say, I'm still better at snowboarding, but after this experience, I haven't completely counted skiing out. I'll be returning to it each season (is the plan).

A look at the resort...very small. Pretty much one large lift.

Here are some videos if you want in on the action:

Jason's dreams come true (minus me falling in the beginning)....

Mom, Dad, and Camry met up with us to bring us lunch and to check in to

Wolf Creek (where we spent the night hot tubing and playing games).

I had my second shot of skiing the very next weekend. Jason and I spent the day at Sundance (again, courtesy of my boss)! This time, my skiing wasn't as solid, but I still had a blast. Enjoy the phone pics:

Now we come to Valentine's Day! Jason and I had to work during the day, so Jason surprised me with a night of fine dining. He took me to a new restaurant in the Riverwoods called La Jolla Groves. It was so dang good and a very elegant and classy place. Thanks again Jason!

As if we hadn't already been skiing enough, Jason was able to go two more times that month...once with his high school buddies, Richard and Nate, and again on President's Day (taking advantage of the newly fallen snow at Snowbird). Here's a glimpse at the powder he was able to experience (again, phones pics):

Well, one thing's for sure, we weren't lacking snow or excitement in February.

A Quarter of a Century

2011-04-23T11:06:00.000-06:00

Jason was a little guilty this year for “milking” his birthday. To be fair, who can really help themselves when your birthday lands on a Friday of a holiday weekend? Add two families that live within 30 minutes into the equation…and that just adds to the cream!

Friday, January 14^th finally arrived, the day marking 25 years. We woke bright and early and began the day with a filling breakfast at Magleby’s. Jason ordered the All You Can Eat Pancakes and French Toast. For those who have not experienced such wonders, I highly recommend it. The syrup they use is heavenly! Given my early morning appetite, I ordered the fruit and cream (while, of course, snitching from Jason’s bountiful plate).

While work is both a blessing and a curse, we both had to fulfill our work duties during the day. So the next time we saw each other was 5:30 in the evening, which leads us to our next birthday event. We had a reservation to get to at Five Alls in Salt Lake.

Five Alls is an experience in and of itself. This is another recommendation I have to make for any who have not eaten there. I had first been to Five Alls on a date for the Junior Prom and loved it. Jason had never been, but I had mentioned to him over the years how much I had enjoyed it. He had no idea that we would be eating there.

After a successful attempt of disguising our destination, we arrived at Five Alls and were not disappointed. We enjoyed a Medieval Themed atmosphere with a delicious five course meal. To give you an idea of the amount of food that was consumed in that sitting, we were presented with meatballs, breadsticks with dip, exotic drinks, salad, breads with butter, soup, pineapple with coconut, Filet Mignon and New York Steak, creamed corn, baked potatoes with bacon, sour cream, cheese, and chives, and raspberry sorbet. Needless to say, I was feeling a little overloaded by the end (in an extremely good way)!

After slowly staggering to our car and driving home, Jason opened the presents that had been delivered to him up to that point. Following presents, we took advantage of Netflix yet again and watched Chaos Theory with Ryan Reynolds.

But wait, there’s more…after a few hours of sleep, we awoke Saturday morning to begin the next part of the celebration: Skiing at Brighton. It was so fun to go skiing just the two of us. I especially enjoyed the more beginner snowboarding-friendly terrain (compared to Snowbird that we have gone to most frequently). I was able to more easily keep up with him and gain more confidence in my carving…that is until the mountain became filled with training schools.

After the day on the slopes, we went to one of our favorite places...Jordan Commons....to enjoy a movie. Sadly, the movie didn't turn out as enjoyable as we would have hoped. We watched the third Chronicles of Narnia...so lame! We definitely felt like we wasted a memorable afternoon.

The following two Sundays were also spent in celebration of Jason, once with the Gruber family and the next with the Arbons.

*Funny how most of the highlights are centered on food…

Happy Birthday Jason!

Welcoming 2011

2011-04-17T18:46:00.000-06:00

January 2011...we still have lots of ground to cover.

The first day of the year was spent celebrating our 2nd anniversary. We were actually married on December 27th, but due to the family time with the Grubers for Christmas, we decided to postpone our celebration until afterwards. Therefore, that Saturday was spent watching Tangled and shopping. As everyone knows by now, Tangled was an adorable movie, a must see!!! That evening, Jason surprised me with dinner at The Foundry Grill... which has special significance since we went there the night that Jason proposed to me! We hadn't been since that night, so it was very special. He even got us the exact same seat we had right next to the fireplace.

Our 2nd Anniversary:

The night of our engagement:

What a difference two years can make!

Thanks Jason for such a fun surprise!

January also brought our first calling in our new ward. We were called as the Sunday School teachers for the 17 year olds. With this calling, Jason and I felt a lot of responsibility. There are only a few kids in the ward that are that age (we live in a "Newly Wed - Nearly Dead" ward); there are about three boys and one girl that come regularly. We felt the heavy responsibility because they are at a very pivotal time in their lives. They are seniors in high school, about to move on to college or to go on missions. It is very important that they have strong examples in their lives and that they develop testimonies of their own. So far, the class has gone really well, the kids are great....the challenge is getting them to speak up sometimes...but overall, it has been a very enjoyable and rewarding experience.

Another January arrival included our first smart phones! Our two year mark was coming up, and my dad shocked us both with the idea of adding a data package to our plan. We were thrilled and a little torn. Up to this point, we had planned on switching carriers and getting the iPhones (or I should say that was Jason's primary plan). However, my dad offered us an awesome deal that we couldn't pass up, so we took it. We are now the proud owners of the MyTouch 4G.

We absolutely love it!

Life changing...we'll never go back.

Words with Friends has been the recent app favorite

(sadly Jason dominates)

This winter season has also been the season of skiing! Before this year, Jason and I only managed to make it up a couple of times to enjoy the snow. This year, we have both gone close to ten times. I have definitely seen a huge improvement in my snowboarding. I feel so much more confident and it has become really enjoyable. I even gave in and tried skiing twice (but I'll talk about that in a later post when I cover February). My first day of hitting up the slopes this season was actually with my work. APX has really come through lately with several surprise perks; one of which included a free skiing day at Sundance. Sadly, the spouses were not invited, but my manager, three other supervisors, and I spent the morning shredding up the mountain and enjoyed a nice lunch at The Foundry Grill (I hadn't been for two years...and then I go twice within a week...funny how things work out).

Jason also took Bryan for his first day of skiing, ever! Little did Jason know how much work he truly had cut out for him. Jason took him to Sundance and it was quite the first experience. To give you an idea, it took Bryan an hour and a half to make it down the half way mark of the first lift. An hour and a half!!! That's with Jason skiing backwards and practically holding Bryan up. Thanks to his enduring spirit, they went at it again...this time only taking ten minutes to make it down the slope. Since then, Bryan has had a love for skiing and has asked time and time again to be taken to the mountain.

The final January arrival was Zoey Sainsbury. My friend, Kerstin, finally had her baby! She is the cutest little thing. Alisha and I brought Kerstin and Jed some dinner, and got to meet their sweet little munchkin.

I love the one-eyed monster!

That pretty much sums up our January of 2011...except for one crucial event:

Jason's Birthday!

...and that deserves a post of its own!

December's End

2011-04-12T21:50:00.000-06:00

The final wedding of the year. Briana got married on December 29th. This meant another drive to Idaho, but one that would not have been missed. They had a beautiful marriage in the Idaho Falls Temple. She looked gorgeous, of course, and he looked handsome.

A couple of my favorite photos, courtesy of her photographer:

The gang at the wedding dinner the night before

The reception.

The place looked so beautiful! A lot of work went into making that evening wonderful...

and it was a success!

(If only the weather could have been more kind...freezing temperatures while loading the decor)

Also, here's a glimpse of the road conditions on our drive back home the following day:

The snowy winds were like ghosts dancing across the asphalt.

So cool!

The final night of the year, we got to spend with our long lost friends...Zach and Kaari. After graduation, they moved back to California to start their "real lives"....leaving us behind. We hadn't seen them since April so that was a fun surprise. We brought in the new year with Olive Garden and reminiscing about old times.

In memory of Zach and Kaari:

And that concludes 2010....we did it!!!!

Christmas Time!

2011-04-10T21:23:00.000-06:00

The impossible task: to describe all of the joys and memories of the 2010 Christmas season in one post. Yes, I am about to attempt it.

Jason and I had an awesome Christmas season, including ward Christmas parties, work Christmas parties, dinner dates with friends, and all of that jazz. However, the real joys of Christmas time were centered around family.

Jason decided to carry on the Twelve Days of Christmas tradition and surprised me with many wonderful gifts, including: a chocolate orange, the Children of the Promise series (LOVE it...I recommend to all!), candy galore, air fresheners for my car, a coat stand, pillows, and more! I love it when Jason surprises me like that!

(apparently Jason was trying to go with the rhyming, rather than the song rhythm)

The Sunday before Christmas was spent with my family. My mom asked each of us to come prepared with something to present or share for a Christmas program. Some may call Jason and I lazy, but we found an awesome slide show on YouTube with pictures of Christ assigned to Christmas music (hey, why redo something that has already been done). I think pictures and music can have a greater impact than words if done correctly (that was my justification). It might even pass for a great Easter video as well!

My sisters, however, really stole the show with their part of the program. Camry is genius! She found an old family video of Kimberly and herself dancing to a Christmas song, played it for us, and then surprised us all with an exact reenactment of it. They had spent several hours watching the old dance, relearning the choreography, and preparing to dance it for us. It was hilarious! I'm jealous I didn't think of anything like that. Wish I had pictures or video from it...sadly I don't. Camry and Kimberly definitely get props for their creative and comical contribution to the program.

Christmas of 2009 was spent with my family, so that meant Christmas of 2010 was our year with the Grubers. That meant my first Christmas away from home, ever! That may not be a big deal for some, but I take Christmas very seriously...I look forward to the month of December all year! I make it point to get at least a week off of work around this time. I am so thankful to Mitch, the night team Supervisor, for taking over that week between Christmas and New Years. I was so nervous that with my new promotion to supervisor that I would have to miss out on a lot of the Christmas holiday. Mitch was so nice and didn't let me worry a second longer; he offered to cover for me for the entire holiday. I couldn't have been more thrilled or grateful!

The night before we headed out to Alpine, Jason and I had a mini-Christmas party, opening up the gifts from my parents and siblings. Here's a peak at our Christmas moments at home:

Our tree (Jason even set up a moving train around the tree)

If you look on top of the book shelf, you'll notice two white paper wreaths.

Bryan taught us how to make those in his part of the Christmas program.

Jason's gifts

Emily's gifts

(can't forget the famous Arbon Christmas cereal!)

And so the true Christmas gathering began. How do you sum up five days of utter happiness and bliss?!? Amy, Robby, Alli, Sean, April, Max, Karl, Nancy, George, and all of the grandkids were there to celebrate. That's seventeen people sleeping, eating, bathing, etc. in the same house! Complete chaos and complete joy! The Grubers totally took me in and made it an amazing "First Christmas Away From Home!" I absolutely loved it! George and Nancy were so thoughtful, they even got me my own box of Cocoa Puffs (my typical Christmas morning breakfast) just to make sure it was just right.

Let the pictures begin:

Love this picture of Capri!

Thanks to Alli we had night after night and bowl after bowl of the most amazing kettle corn I have ever had! She brought her Whirley Popper to share her special treat. Ironically enough, Jason and I had just given ours away at my work Christmas Party as a white elephant gift since we had never used it (never really knew how). Needless to say, after being treated by Alli, we totally regret giving it away and wish we still had ours!

We spent many hours watching stand up comedians like Brian Regan and Jim Gafagan.

Lots of kitchen time for all of the amazing meals!

The nieces and nephews

Mya, Clara, Oliver, Harlan, Alex, and Capri

This was a typical spotting...the kids getting into any and all of the food

(especially Capri....she never STOPS eating)

The big Christmas Eve feast

The traditional Party Poppers with their toys and crowns

Next comes the Christmas Eve Nativity Scene. I tried uploading the video of it, but it kept giving me an error (I'll try again later). Now, I'm quite used to a longer and more serious nativity, but I must say, after this year's little scene, it's going to be hard going back! The angels never tried to flatten the baby Jesus in previous years. Nor have they ever shown such lack of focus. So great!

The official cast

Jason and I brought our TV to put in the family room with the hope of providing hours of entertainment. It definitely got its share of attention. We played Mario Kart, a motorcycle stunt game, Super Mario Brothers, and more. This picture captures the real "excitement" of the video games. This is also where we enjoyed the evening hours of comedy shows and kettle corn.

I will be getting one of these chairs when I have kids! So awesome!

Christmas morning!

Clara being a diva

There are always competitions when the Gruber boys are together. In this intelligent contest, the purpose was to see who could blow the most air into the balloon. Jason still boasts about beating out all of the men. We're all so proud, Jason... :)

It was so different being in the "aunt" role this Christmas. Up to this point, I had always been on the "receiving" end of Christmas...Santa was coming to visit me. This year it was about Santa visiting the grand kids. Not that one way is better than the other, but it definitely made me excited to start my own Christmas traditions with my own family some day. There's something about seeing kids' eyes light up when they open their gifts that makes me so excited for that day. And I know that Jason is itchin' even more than I am. Maybe soon? We'll see.

Other fun holiday activities included swimming at the Lehi Rec Center, skiing at Brighton (just the boys), and sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

The time sadly came for Jason and I to leave the Gruber clan and head to Idaho for yet another cousin wedding. It was definitely sad to be the first ones to bid farewell. It was such a fun and memorable Christmas. Thanks again, Grubers, for sharing such a wonderful time with us!

The Big Event: Bryan's Birthday

2011-04-03T21:58:00.000-06:00

As we have learned through the years, Bryan takes great care in planning and preparing for big events. Add his birthday into the mix and you can only imagine the production.

This year, on top of his multiple friend parties (of course you have to have a separate party for school friends and church friends, right?) we had a special gathering in Midway. Not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but my parents are members of WorldMark....so they get to take advantage of time shares for their resorts across the country. They have a resort in Midway that my family often visits...very quaint and comfortable.

Anyhow, that was the destination of Bryan's birthday bash. Just as Thanksgiving included a written schedule for events, activities, meals, and shower slots....you guessed it....the schedules returned.

The weekend included games, games, and games, snowball fights, hot tubing, igloo making, movies, and lots of good food. There was also a town Gingerbread House exhibit. I've never seen so many amazing gingerbread houses! So clever, intricate, and detailed. It even inspired a gingerbread house of our own.

Sunday brought it's own array of activities. We accidentally attended a singles ward....weirdest and strangest ward I've ever been to. There was also a Christmas Cresche Exhibit. Don't know what that is? That's ok, I had no idea. The basic idea is a tour of international nativity scenes. Paintings, sculptures, you name it. They had an awesome collection that took them hours and days to assemble. If you ever get a chance to attend one...take it.

Add presents to the list, and that pretty much sums up the birthday weekend.

Here are some of the Gingerbread Contest favorites:

Other pictures from the weekend:

Happy Birthday Bryan!

Thanksgiving

2011-03-22T20:30:00.001-06:00

This year, it was my family's turn for Thanksgiving. We didn't follow the typical Thanksgiving routine with the extended Arbon family. My family decided to join my Grandma and Grandpa Rich in Idaho.

Remember that crazy blizzard that was supposed to hit Utah? Yeah, didn't really happen. I was actually kind of disappointed. One blessing though was the easy drive to Shelley, Idaho. There was only one ten mile stretch that caused us some icy-grief, but the rest was pretty smooth.

Here's a look at our holiday weekend with Grandma and Grandpa:

Thanks to the "some-what" storm, we had some nice snow and serious drifts to build snow caves

Had to get this picture of Bryan's "cave"....more of a rabbit hole.

...I had a good laugh...

...and of course, snow leads to snowball fights...

We even developed our own steal the flag/snowball game

So bitter cold!

Food time:

I couldn't forget to mention Bryan's contribution to the weekend. As I've mentioned, he's always coming up with crazy ideas. When Jason and I arrived to join up with my family for the weekend, Bryan had prepared and posted signs everywhere, including schedules, his front desk (with his open hours), labeled rooms, a sign-up sheet for showers, etc. Take a look at what I mean:

Another successful Thanksgiving. Thanks family!

Some of our Favorite Things

2011-03-07T23:46:00.000-07:00

November brought a handful of fun "events". Let's cut right to the list shall we?

1- Briana's Bridal Shower

With Bri's wedding fast approaching, it was time for yet another cousin bridal shower. Once again, my mom, sisters, and I, made the drive up to Shelley, Idaho. I love Bri so much, so I wouldn't have missed it for anything....especially with the responsibility of hosting one of the games. I kept it real simple...the Bubble Gum game...ask the fiance several questions about himself, the bride has to answer them...for every wrong answer...in pops another piece of bubble gum. Oh how I love when they get the answers wrong :)

Here are some shots from the shower:

Brooke, Bri, me, Kendra = The Gang

Each of us took turns hosting a game for the shower;

I think it gave the shower a special touch.

2- H. POTTER!

The first half of Harry Potter 7 finally came to theaters. Naturally, Jason and I saw it opening weekend. We went with Kerstin and Alisha (and husbands). In the past, I was all about the midnight showings and demonstrating Potter Pride through costumes (one year I went with Amy...I was Mrs. Weasley and she was Dobby...it was awesome!). For some reason, after you get married, you just can't seem to stay up as late as you used to. I start getting ready for bed around 10:30 and am thrilled if I get into bed before 11. I'm even hoping to make it an hour earlier.

My point is, even though Jason and I are devoted fans, we decided to go to a late-afternoon showing of the Deathly Hallows Part 1. We absolutely loved it! We hope to see it again soon.

3- Texas Roadhouse

I don't really consider Jason and I "big event" people. For example, we are definitely not the type to join in on Black Friday. However, when it comes to things that we are very passionate about, we don't mind joining the crowds. Just a few days or so after Harry Potter opened, we were on our way to another opening...Texas Roadhouse baby! One finally opened in Orem near the University Mall. Jason and I are frequent diners at Texas. It is currently the top on our list (with Cheesecake Factory close behind). So, of course, we were going to attend the Grand Opening. Serve us up with a twelve ounce medium rib-eye and a loaded baked potato...and we're two happy pandas! Even if it means weathering the hour and a half wait...it's worth it!

4- Thanksgiving

I heart turkey day...but I'll discuss the holiday a little bit more in my next post.

5- BYU vs U of U

Working at APX (now Vivint) definitely has its perks. Of course, there was the Nitro Circus party, but on top of that, my manager treated me with two tickets to the BYU/U of U game. Little did I know how horrible the seats were going to be, but we were still thrilled to be there.

As you can see from the picture below, we decided to dress in neutral colors...which turned out to be a very smart thing (given the game was at U of U). While waiting in line to enter the stadium, we pretty much thought we were going to get murdered if anyone found out we were BYU fans. Every one around us was in red and was shouting chants of "BYU sucks" and yelling to the few blue coats in the crowd to get to the back of the line. We even had an incident happen right in front of us with a lone BYU fan and an old drunk U of U fan. There were F bombs going off and pushing and shoving until it was finally broken up. I love BYU...but I wasn't about to die for the blue. I kept my head low and my voice down. Sorry, we're terrible.

The game was freezing cold, but at least most of the game was enjoyable (because it appeared that we were going to win). Of course we didn't in the end (typical Jason and Emily luck) so we left in a rage....but all in all, we were so glad that we were given the chance to go.

Halloween

2011-03-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

I thought Halloween was worth a little recognition, especially this year. While Jason and I didn't do anything special or creative (we even dressed the same as last year), my little brother Bryan sure knows how to entertain.

Bryan had been planning this night for over a month. To illustrate his vision, he had the front yard strewn with caution tape and all of the family vehicles were parked in the drive way resembling a near accident, or crime scene. He had all of his "police accessories" in use....his flashing lights, his police uniform. He had a "command center" built inside of the suburban. On top of the suburban there was a video camera streaming video onto a TV inside of the car. He had the creepy music playing on the porch through a speaker that was connected and wired to the inside of the car as well. That way he could control the music through his iPod while sitting at his command post. Now, why would he want to video the trick-or-treaters as they came to our house? Well, Bryan has been pretty obsessed with his fart machine....so he hid his fart machine underneath the scarecrow that was sitting on the porch. When the trick-or-treaters would come to the porch to select their candy, he would activate the fart machine from his remote and watch their reactions. On top of that, he had my brother, Tyson, hiding in another car that was facing the porch. As the trick-or-treaters turned to leave, Bryan would walkie-talkie Tyson telling him it was time, and Tyson would quickly flash on the brights and honk the horn. If the flashing police lights and creepy music wasn't enough to scare the kids away, the shock of the horn sure set them jumping and a screaming.

Quite a production for an 11 year-old....

I'm so sad that we don't have any other pictures...the daylight doesn't quite give it justice....but, it'll do.

October "Treats"

2011-02-20T17:51:00.000-07:00

Our First House-Warming Party

For our October date with Kerstin and Alisha (and husbands), we invited them over to our new pad for a dinner date. Everyone contributed to the dinner: Kerstin brought the delicious taco soup, Alisha brought the awesome breadsticks and salad, and I prepared the caramel apples. I had never made caramel apples before...the internet discussions made it sound like some big feat to make the caramel turn out just right. I don't know what the big huff is about, caramel is easy....you just buy the wrapped caramel candies and melt them in a pot :) Ok, ok homemade caramel may be the superior route, but I'm telling you...using the candy caramels is delicious and stress-free! We dipped them in a variety of goodies: candy bars, cinnamon dots, coconut, melted chocolate, powdered sugar, sprinkles, and then drizzled with more chocolate...they weren't the prettiest things you've ever seen, but they tasted great. Not bad for a first attempt.

Fishing with the Phillips

Fishing with the Phillips, or any time with the Phillips for that matter, is quite a memorable experience. Paul and Dan invited Jason to fish with them up in Heber. Of course, Jason didn't have to think twice about joining them. Since I was not there to join in on the fun, I can't say much of what happened...but they took lots of pictures to document the experience:

My cousin Dan

My cousin Paul

The following picture is not for the weak of stomach:

Who knew you could take so many pictures of fishing?!?

The fall colors are great, though!

Park City Coaster

Another October "treat" was our date with Jaleah and Bryton. Jaleah suggested we try out the Park City Coaster, so we went for it. After the first initial shock of the price of the ride (we should have done our research online), we decided since we already came all this way...we would enjoy the moment. Luckily, it did turn out to be REALLY fun. After waiting in a thirty minute line, we were welcomed into the carts by some witty employees. We were told that when our bodies tell us that we're going too fast and should pull on the brakes...DON'T....when our minds tell us we are being reckless and will probably die unless we slow down...DON'T...when our bodies feel like they are going to be flown from the car unless we pull on the brakes...DON'T. We were in complete control of the speed of our cart by pulling on the brakes...so you get the idea of how fast you could be going. Mine and Jason's goal was to go the entire track without using the brakes. In order to do that, we had to have the leaning down just right. There were many tempting times to pull it, and only once did I have to shout, "Don't use the brakes, you pansy!" (I get a bit brutal when I'm heated by adrenaline). Other than that slight moment of hesitancy, we were able to coast down the track successfully! Definitely a fun ride!

Me, Jaleah, and Bryton

Jaleah and Mark

Heading up the track

Jason Finally Experiences THRILLER

That's right, I finally got to take Jason to Thriller! I had been trying to for several years...but this was the year. Great news....he loved it! Just as I knew he would! Anyone who doesn't, doesn't appreciate good entertainment. I recommend it to all; dancer or not!

APX Knows How to Party

2011-02-08T21:42:00.000-07:00

With the season of summer sales over, it was time for the APX year-end party. They have always been pretty impressive in past, but this year's party definitely topped them all!

What do you get when you put mountains of dirt on the front lawn of the corporate building, all-you-can eat: J-Dawgs, drinks, popcorn, and candy, Travis Pastrana, and Nitro Circus? AMAZING!...and that pretty much sums up our night.

We invited Mike and Kaitlyn Pacada to join us on the night's adventure. After filling ourselves to our hearts desire on treats and J-Dawgs, we enjoyed an adrenaline loaded entrance with helicopters and skydiving. The Nitro Circus members landed on the arena with definite style. As if that wasn't enough, we watched amazing stunts, tricks, and flips on dirt bikes. Even the big time executives and sales managers hoped on miniature bikes and raced around the track. To top it all off, our own CEO landed an awesome jump!

It's kind of hard to put into words the truly amazing sight that it was....but lets just say... all the men in attendance were as giddy as school girls! It's not an evening that will be forgotten anytime soon.

Sadly, we didn't take any pictures...but I did manage to steal a couple online. Enjoy:

Thanks APX for another great party!!!

Peaches on the Porch

2011-02-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

Anyone heard of that?...Peaches on the Porch?

We were welcomed into the ward with some new and interesting traditions. Apparently, every year one of the families in the ward puts on Peaches on the Porch at one of their guest houses (this is the same family with the huge cabin up at Sundance that I mentioned previously...very wealthy). Every year, they have an overflowing amount of extra peaches, so they make all kinds of peach dishes and desserts...all of which were presented beautifully and tasted divine. There was everything from peach ice cream, to peach salsa, to peach juice, to peach parfaits and fruit tarts. I was totally impressed! Oh, how I love peaches!

Just wanted to give a little tribute to all of the peaches that were eaten that evening...and to preserve it as a memory and idea for future use.

Thanks again Ashtons!

Lake Powell 2010

2011-02-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

That's right...we have to make it to Powell at least once a year. We almost didn't make it, but the end of September brought a great surprise. It brought my new favorite time of year to go to Lake Powell.

Lucky for us, Jason's friend, Richard, went to work at Lake Powell again for the summer. He invited us to come while his family was visiting...that way we could enjoy the free houseboat! Last year we got to take advantage of The Weekender...this year, a full scale houseboat.

Due to a new baby, Nate and Sarah could not join us (as is our typical company). This year we went down with Trevor and Krista Cook. They were great friends to have along for the trip. Trevor was a sport driving all the way down and all the way back from Powell. They brought their laptop with lots of movies to choose from. After an hour or so of technical difficulties on the drive down, we finally got the video player working and we enjoyed the movie The Island...quite an interesting movie.

But enough about the drive.

Lake Powell at the end of September is perfect! Still hot, but not too hot. Not too crowded. The water is glass. Perfect!

It was a short trip...drove down Friday night after work and returned Monday evening. We spent Friday night in the girls' dormitories. Luckily, the summer season was over so we were able to stay their undetected...shhhh. Saturday, we got Richard to ourselves and rented a nice wakeboarding boat (free with Richard, of course). We spent a good part of the day wakeboarding and slalom water-skiing until it was time to check in with the houseboat. We loaded all of our stuff and ended the night watching Shawshank Redemption (a first for me).

Richard, Trevor, and Jason

Me and Krista

Sunday was spent cruising on the wakeboarding boat and finding an awesome campsite for the houseboat. Once the location was secured, we drove back to the dock to pick up the arriving family members.We loaded their things, and blew up a bi-jillion water toys (no exaggeration). Once all was ready, we enjoyed a good three hour drive in the houseboat to the campsite.

Not a big deal, just driving the houseboat...

The campsite

On Monday, we enjoyed more boat time and the famous Rainbow Bridge...I love it when it's a short hike!

Krista and T

Jason and me

Other activities included kayaking and a lot of fishing (more so coming from Jason and Trevor).

One memorable moment was Sunday night, after we were all laying down to sleep, the boys thought it would be a good time to go skinny dipping! All I can really say is I remember hearing three grown men giggling like three pre-pubescent school girls! They were shortly followed by a fourth (one of Richard's brothers). To set the stage right, imagine a full moonlit night in a canyon...their words echoing off the tall walls of red rock. Krista and I didn't have to strain too hard to hear what they were saying (not that they were trying to hide their squeals either). When Richard's brother crept up to them in the dark (catching them off guard), it was great to hear Jason exclaim, "Emily?!?"....as if I was crazy enough to join them. That one made me laugh pretty hard. Of course, Krista and I had to do our part, so we crept out of the houseboat and found their clothes lying on the sand, and moved them over by the fire pit (where a small fire was still glowing). That way they had no choice but to run by the glow of the fire to retrieve their clothes. It was evil I know, but it was hilarious to hear them shout out in confusion as to where their clothes had gone.

Now it's time to enjoy the water photos:

The trip was definitely too short, but I'm so glad we were able to go. Next year we better get at least a week!

More Wedding Bells

2011-01-27T19:53:00.000-07:00

We're getting down to the end of the list of cousin weddings this year (still one to come in December).

This one, however, has a bit of a story to it. My cousin Paul married Mandy on Thursday, September 23rd...this was a long awaited wedding. They met in September of 2009. Mandy had just been baptized a member of the LDS church a week before they met. After a few months of dating, they were engaged and decided they were willing to wait until September of 2010 in order to be married in the temple.

After what seemed like eternity, September 2010 finally came around, and what was expected to be a small simple wedding turned into a fancy (and delicious) celebration! All thanks to her grandparents. After the initial shock and rejection from Mandy's mother and grandparents about her becoming and marrying a Mormon, they were able to get over their ill-feelings and contribute to the wedding plans.

Mandy had a ladies luncheon that afternoon at The Garden that I was able to attend...which was fabulous!

Afterward, they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Then, they had a beautiful reception at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building in the Empire Room, where there were huge chandeliers, a live band, and a steak dinner!

Overall, it was another successful and beautiful wedding! Congrats Paul and Mandy! You guys are perfect for each other!

In the Name of Free Yogurt!!

2011-01-23T23:13:00.001-07:00

Once upon a time, a new frozen yogurt shop opened in the city of Provo. This frozen yogurt shop was one that competed and dominated against all other frozen yogurt shops (in the renowned opinion of Jason and Emily). They visited the shop often and referred all of their friends. The location was great, the flavors were perfect, the toppings were outstanding, and the price was just right.

The night before the "official" Grand Opening finally arrived...the night that Emily and Jason had long awaited. The night promised great rewards if one endured to the end. The official decree stated:

If you are among the first one hundred customers when it opens at 10:00 AM Saturday morning, you receive a free year supply of frozen yogurt.

Jason knew just what to do. He arrived at 4:30 Friday afternoon and secured the #11 spot in line, which is great...however, that means he was in it for the long haul until Saturday morning.

Emily on the other hand, had a commitment at a Relief Society Retreat located at a cabin up by Sundance. She was amazed by the enormity of the cabin and the luxuriousness of the furniture. After a pleasant meal, an unexpected turn of events happened that blessed her luck. Her ride to and from the retreat began demonstrating signs of extreme food allergens. They had no choice but to leave the retreat immediately. As much as Emily hated to eat and run... :)... she had to do what was best for her traveling companion.

Emily rushed home, gathered as many blankets and pillows that she could, and joined Jason at the beloved EarthFruits Yogurt at 7:00 PM. What could have been a long grueling night for Jason, became a fun date/adventure for the both of them as they camped on the sidewalk outside of the shop.

They had hopes of watching Netflix on the laptop that they had brought, but the Wi-Fi was not cooperating. The nice lads who ran the shop allowed them to go inside and physically plug in to their network, which provided a good hour of LOST entertainment...but there was only so much they could handle with the hard seats and the loud commotion from the customers.

The first round of ticket call finally arrived. You were required to be present the whole evening (or at least when they did the random number calls) if you wanted to be awarded the grand prize. Any ticket/number that was not present for the call had their number put back into a drawing for those attending without tickets (Emily being one of them for her late appearance). Luckily there were some missing numbers, and Emily was later called and given a ticket. Things were looking better than the two had imagined. As long as they stuck it out for the night, they would both received a year supply of free yogurt!

As easy as it sounds, it came with its challenges. First there was the hard, HARD ground...the blankets only pretended to be padding. Then add the over one hundred people surrounding them...playing games and doing all kinds of "zoobie" things. Then add the busy street of cars passing by at all hours of the night. Then add the slight nip of cool breeze that was brought on by the month of September.

Given all of these elements, the night still would not have been so bad if it hadn't been for the tent positioned directly beside Jason and Emily. The tent was full of fifteen year old boys and girls who gave no respect to public decency. Emily and Jason heard more perverted comments and vulgarities than either of them had ever heard from high prepubescent voices. The F word was used as a filler word and they loved having everyone hear their obscenities at four o'clock in the morning.

As much as Jason tried to knock some sense into the fools, they only fed on the attention. The only thing to do became to ignore them completely (which was a hard task for the ever-rising temper of Emily).

The sun finally rose, the clock finally approached ten...they could see the light at the end of the tunnel. Event tents were being assembled for the grand day's events. Live music, face painting, animals, dancing...the list went on for the agenda for the day.

Then, the door finally opened.

Jason and Emily took their stacks of free yogurt cards (104 cards to be exact when you add the two together...two for each week of the year). They used one of their cards and filled up a bowl of yogurt...and needless to say, they were out the door as quickly as they had entered without a second glance at the festivities.

They had put in their time at EarthFruits Yogurt. (17.5 hours to be exact).

(Sadly we have no pictures to document the experience)

Wrapping Up the Summer, Welcoming the Fall

2011-01-22T16:57:00.003-07:00

Just wanted to mention a few items of note that were brought on in the summer...

Jason moved on from his job in Remodeling to working with Showerzz and Tubzz, specializing in customer shower surrounds.

I was made Team Mentor in Customer Marketing at APX Alarm (and then Supervisor two months later).

We finished reading/listening to Harry Potter 5 and began Harry Potter 7 (very important).

The TV series LOST consumed most of our free time (finally finished in January of 2011).

The beginning of fall brought with it...

A new flat screen TV (finally! as pictured in the previous post's pictures), as well as a new X Box 360 (surprise). Needless to say, Jason has put in a lot of Halo hours.

(my favorite is when he wears the headset even when it's not plugged in...yeah, it happens)

My good friend Amy left on her mission to Tulsa, OK.

At the farewell

My cousin, Izac, returned from his mission in the Philippines.

Amy and Robby Tuttle had their 3rd child, Oliver (so cute).

..And so life began in a new apartment in a new ward...we're growing up.

A Place to Call Home

2011-01-10T18:42:00.007-07:00

Now that we have graduated, we decided it was time to move on. Henry Lin (our landlord) sent us a notice inquiring if we wanted to sign a new one-year rental agreement.

We didn’t want to do that…

...so our only option became finding a new apartment. It also gave us a deadline to find an apartment (end of August) and to get out of there. So we began our search…we thought we were done with KSL after finding our Accord, but we were right back at it again about a week later.

It turned out to be quite the process…checking the listing multiple times a day, calling those places that looked half-decent, visiting those places that might be worthwhile, being disgusted by the size and quality of the actual apartments when comparing them to their deceiving pictures, finding apartments that we loved but were above our price range…you know what I’m talking about.

One day, a basement apartment in Lehi popped up on KSL. It was absolutely beautiful and totally UNDER-priced! We jumped on it, drove up there that night to check it out, and were actually more impressed by what we physically saw. It had an immaculate kitchen with gorgeous white cabinets, not to mention it was huge! There were high ceilings and wood flooring. The back room had a sliding door that opened up to the back yard. The yard was pleasant with flowers, raspberry bushes, and strawberry bushes. It also looked over a huge canal and provided a gorgeous view (especially for sunsets). It was perfect.

To make a long story short, we drove to Highland the next afternoon to meet the owner of the house and to fill out an application. The problems started when my Google Maps did not give me accurate directions to her house. So, naturally, I called her for directions. To my utter horror, she decided to inform me that she would save us all some time because she had already sold it to someone (and this is after we had already driven from Provo to Thanksgiving Point). I was shocked. After hanging up the phone, I couldn’t help but sob! I was so disappointed. I had been so anxious the previous night and that day with excitement. (I couldn’t even sleep the night before). And then all my dreams were crushed in a single moment. Jason and I were both pretty bummed that whole week. As we looked at other apartments, we couldn’t help but compare them to the Lehi apartment.

We continued with patience, and the next week we found two awesome and spacious basement apartments (on the same day, I might add). We thought this story was finally going to have a happy ending...We loved them both, but knew we had to choose just one. We chose the Orem apartment.

We couldn't have been happier. The house was HUGE and had its own private pool and tennis court (that we had access to). It also came furnished with a living room set, pool table, and washer and dryer! The yard was beautiful and I couldn’t wait to move in.

Just four days after securing the apartment and paying our deposit, Jason got a call from the husband who owned the house. Up to this point, we had met with and made the agreement with the wife...not thinking twice about it. I guess, the husband had been out of town and the wife had posted the apartment without his knowledge. The husband had already promised the apartment to a BYU football player and his family. They hadn't cashed the check yet and we hadn't signed any papers so there was nothing we could do. Therefore, spousal miscommunication cost us not just one apartment, but two (the one we gave up to go with this one).

You can imagine my devastation at this point. Feelings of worthlessness and despair.

It meant another weekend of apartment searching, just when we thought we could celebrate.

We found a really nice spacious basement in Alpine that I was anxious to snatch (just in my desperation to have something set), but Jason kept his head and he knew that Alpine would not be wise with our work locations.

The end of August was approaching, and at this point, it looked like we were going to be living with his parents for the next little while. Two days before our move out date, Jason received another phone call. It was the husband over the Orem apartment. To our disbelief, the football player could not come up with the deposit and so we were offered the apartment once again.

I was scared to believe it at first, after all of the ups and downs we had been through, but it was true! The apartment was ours!

This is just evidence that when one door closes, another one opens (sometimes even better than you could have hoped)! Some hardships and struggles can literally be “blessings in disguise”. Now we live just five minutes away from my work and we are loving our apartment and loving more space than we know what to do with!

Doors that lead out to pool and tennis court

The room continues back and to the right...that's the space we're not sure what do with.

It is mostly empty for now....

makes a nice workout/exercise/stretching place

The door on the right is the one we enter from

Hope you enjoyed the tour!

My Call to Serve....on the Jury

2011-01-02T11:07:00.001-07:00

Jury Duty...

Yep, I got the lucky draw. And I was not happy.

The date range pretty much encompassed the entire summer, which made it kind of hard to take any spontaneous summer trips. The "call" finally came for the beginning of August, and while it was a nice break from work, it was a complete waste of time. All I can say is be sure to bring a book if you are ever to serve on Jury Duty.

I arrived early in the morning, only to sit and wait in silence for about 30 minutes (for who knows what). There were between 25 and 35 people there, with several empty seats scattered among the rows. The judge finally entered and gave his spill. We then had to watch a movie made in the early 90's about the "great rewards" of fulfilling your civic duty. Afterward, each of us took turns standing and answering questions from a giant cue card that listed about 15 different questions. The questions ranged from things like home town, occupation, hobbies, favorite magazine, favorite book, favorite music...things like that. Mind you, while you answer these questions, you are being evaluated by the defense and prosecutors...as if your value and personal integrity could be determined by your love for Harry Potter (which it can...;) jokes).

Then came the most painful part... waiting as everyone took a turn going into another room for an interview. It was no short process. It was particularly painful seeing some people return to their seats, gather their belongings, and bid farewell to those sitting around them. All I could think about was "What golden phrase are they saying that is allowing them to be dismissed?" I needed to learn that phrase.

When it was finally my turn, they took me into a room where my chair was in the center of a circle of chairs, the judge at his desk and the defense and prosecuting teams at my left and right. I must say it was quite intimidating! They asked me a series of questions, some quite personal, as I did my best to answer them honestly. After the uncomfortable interrogation, they asked me to wait outside the room as they assessed my interview. A few minutes passed, then a man in uniform escorted me back to my seat and asked me to stay.

Crap!

That meant I had to continue waiting while the others took their turn interviewing for possible jury member.

Once everyone had interviewed, there were about 14 of us remaining. If my calculations were correct, I still had a slight possibility of getting out of this whole thing.

We sat and waited some more...

The judge finally entered with the attorneys. He had good and bad news for us. Good news...we were all going home! Bad news...they were not able to get enough eligible jury members to form an adequate team. They would have to begin the entire process again with a new batch of candidates.

So at the end of the day, all I have to show for my experience with Jury Duty is a missed day of work, 4 wasted hours, and an $18 paycheck.

Oh, how I love the efficiency of our legal system!

Goodbye July, Hello August

2010-12-12T15:59:00.000-07:00

We ended the fun summer month of July with Nancy's birthday.

We enjoyed a nice filling breakfast and an afternoon of gifts.

The beginning of August brought our ward camp-out, the Parade of Homes, and Alpine Days.

For this year's ward camp-out, Jason and I didn't want to make the same mistake twice. Last year we brought all of our camping gear and stayed the night...which turned out to be a night of misery and no sleep! Not only did we feel like losers with no friends, there was a baby who cried ALL through the night! Tent walls don't exactly block out any noise. The baby could have been crying in our own tent for how loud it was. We heard a couple of families pack up and leave in the middle of the night, not able to bear it any longer (if only we had been as smart). So this year, we learned our lesson. We drove up for the BBQ, s'mores, and campfire talk, and left immediately after and slept soundly in our beds.

The Grubers love attending the Parade of Homes! As a result, this year I was introduced to the tradition. It is crazy the way some people live. I saw some of the most beautiful homes I have ever seen. Some were more impressive than others....but even the most meager of the homes put our sad apartment to shame. It kind of leaves you with mixed emotions...you feel excitement and awe for the things that you see and it gives you some great ideas, but at the same time you feel depressed and pathetic. You go back and forth from thinking, "Some day..." to "I'll never be able to have something this nice." Overall, it is so fun to see all of the luxuries, but just be prepared for the aftermath. You have to keep thinking, "There is no place like home," as you return home and walk into your front door.

The view from one of the homes in the Parade of Homes

Speaking of parades...next comes Alpine Days. For reasons unknown, I am such a fan of town festivals. I look forward to them every year. Luckily, Jason does as well. We always go to the parades...and we always leave the parade wondering why we go to them. I'm pretty sure I've expressed this before, but parades are just not what they used to be. I honestly don't care about the pee-wee and high school cheer teams. I don't care about the city "royalty". I don't care about the fifth marching band that passes by...and I especially don't care about the flag dancers that follow them. This is beginning to sound terribly heartless, but that's all that I recall seeing now days. Perhaps I'll feel a little bit more enthusiasm one day when my own daughter is marching in a big suit carrying a trombone. :)

Waiting for the excitement to begin...

(and how can I forget about the police vehicles and fire trucks)

The truth is, we'll continue to attend the parades, and we'll continue to purchase the overpriced food from festival vendors. As the Arbons know very well...it's all about TRADITION.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

So Long. Farewell.

2010-12-09T17:32:00.001-07:00

The day finally came. The day to replace the infamous Cadi! The registration was weeks away from expiring and we knew there was no way that thing was going to pass again in its current condition. We also knew we didn’t want to put any money into that car. That meant it was time to bring up the good old KSL car listing. We (and by that, I mean Jason) looked each day for about 3 weeks for a car that we liked and was within our price range. We didn’t want to be too picky (since anything would have been an upgrade from the ’88 Deville).

However, we really lucked out! One day we saw a ’99 Honda Accord that was located right there in Provo. We called them up and test drove it that night. By the next morning, we had cash in hand and exchanged it for the keys. We were thrilled! A great car for a great price (around $700 under what Blue Book was posting)!

Now we are riding in style and are enjoying the profit we made off of the Cadi!! That’s right! A profit! We got it for $150 and sold it for $440...so basically we got paid for driving a piece of junk around for a whole year! Now I can take back the tears that fell when I first laid eyes on her.

Here are the winning photos that drove all of the fanatic customers to our driveway:

Some lucky son-of-a-gun is now riding this bad boy around Provo with pride!

Thanks Cadi for all of the good memories!

Pioneer Day Weekend

2010-11-28T17:28:00.000-07:00

Jason and I had a great Pioneer Day Weekend. It started off with an outstanding evening in Deer Valley. We were invited to go with Jason’s parents to a performance by the Utah Symphony of classic Disney Songs. It was so much fun! Oh, how I love Disney. It made me realize how much I really need to watch those old classic movies again…now that I would actually know what was going on!

The Grubers brought a tasty dinner of KFC, watermelon, brownies, and snacks galore! We rented short chairs (yes, they had height limits on the chairs) and Karl was able to find a perfect spot on the grassy hill. I don’t know how he was able to get that sweet spot, but we were able to see the musicians, conductor, singers, and projector perfectly! There were four main singers, and they were all brilliant! I’m so glad….I always hate it when you get those lame-o/less-experienced performers and you can’t help but feel embarrassed or awkward for them. You know what I’m talking about! Luckily, I didn’t have to feel

embarrassed at all. It was seriously so good!

Yes, Jason....we're all impressed...

THANKS Grubers!

The next day, Jason got up at the crack of dawn to go fishing with his brother Max (big surprise there). Once he returned, we went and saw Inception…..BEST movie since Avatar! We absolutely loved it! It was one of those movies where your head is hurting by the end because you’re trying to figure it all out. Definitely recommend it! After the movie, we stuck around at the mall for some shopping (I had promised Jason some “half-birthday” presents that he needed to cash-in).

Afterward, we enjoyed a dinner at Kneaders and an awesome Banana Cream Pie Shake at Sammys (so bomb!).

Since our 4^th of July was “big firework” free, we wanted to make sure we got to see some for Pioneer Day. We ended up going to the fireworks in Spanish Fork with the Phillips boys and Mandy (Paul’s fiancé). The fireworks were decent to good (it doesn’t help when you’re peering up through branches in order to see them). Quality fireworks or not, we had a great time hanging out and observing the Spanish Fork folk!

Going Back to a Place That I Love

2010-11-28T17:10:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my previous posting, we attended Brooke's reception in July. I generally described the event, but here is the play by play of what went down that weekend:

Yet again, we were on our way to another wedding reception. This one was for my cousin, Brooke. (Not to be confused with my other cousin Brooke living in Utah). This Brooke is from my mom’s side and grew up in Idaho. I believe I have mentioned this before, but I am very close to my cousins from Idaho. Brooke, Brianna, Kendra, and I were always playing (or fighting) together, and have continued to have a great relationship. I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I would like, so whatever chance I get…I take.

Jason and I drove up to Shelley, Idaho that Friday night and spent the evening talking to the grandparents and searching for “night crawlers”! Sounds creepy right? And it was!

Jason had been planning to take advantage of the Snake River while in Idaho. When my grandpa caught wind of his plans, the night’s discussions became all about fishing! My Grandpa Rich was quite the Fishing King back in his day (and still would be if his physical strength was better). It was really cute to see him and Jason have something to really connect and talk about. Grandpa even lent him some of his homemade lures to use, and ended up letting him keep one and take it home. Rather than buying worms at the gas station nearby, Grandpa suggested we go in the yard and search for night crawlers. So we took a flashlight out and began searching through the wet dirt.

The worms we saw were huge! Perfect for fishing! The only thing we didn’t anticipate was how FAST they were. Every time Jason saw a big juicy one, he would quickly grab for it…but they would quickly zip out of his fingers. They almost appeared to be jumping out of his fingers! It was crazy. Sadly to say, no worms were caught.

The next morning, Jason got up at 5:00 AM to hit the river. He kindly asked if I was interested in joining him…anyone who knows me probably knows what my response was. So Jason set off to the river and I continued in my dreams…until…

I was suddenly awoken by my mother insisting I quickly get up and go outside. One of the ponies on my grandpa’s lot had gotten out in the night. The trick was trying to get the pony back in the gate before the other horses and ponies got out. My smart mother ran and grabbed a rope and was able to loop it around the pony’s neck, which is a surprise since these ponies are known for being feisty. We guided the pony inside of the gate and were able to pull the gate back in time. Mind you, the gate was very heavy and sticky with bugs and spider webs. It was nasty. What could have turned out to be a very scary and dramatic thing, turned out to go smoother than ever expected. It was definitely fun to see my mom at work in her element… doing the things she would have done growing up in that small town of Shelley, Idaho.

Since I was already up, my mom dropped me off near the bridge Jason was fishing under. I was glad I was able to get some time fishing with him. He kept going off on how BIG the Snake River was. It makes the Provo River look like a stream!

The rest of the day was spent helping the Hillams get their yard ready for the reception. It was quite the job. Even with over a dozen of us helping, the task seemed overwhelming. However, Aunt Arnae did a phenomenal job!! It was so pretty! She put SO much work and preparation into making all of the décor…and it turned out perfectly. It was rainy in the morning and very windy in the afternoon, but by the time evening came around, the weather became very pleasant. So lucky!

Most importantly, Brooke looked gorgeous! She was the type of gorgeous that makes you feel depressed, because you know you will never look that pretty. You know what I’m talking about. Brooke and Nate were so cute together and I was so glad I was able to be there to celebrate their marriage with them (see previous posting for lots of pictures).

After “taking down” the reception, we met up with several of my cousins (and their boyfriends) for game night. We played Boxers or Briefs, a very fun game! We were exhausted by the time we got to bed.

I couldn’t believe it when Sunday came around and we were driving home. The weekends you look forward to always go by the fastest.

One disappointment of the weekend, however, was the lack of Air-Soft battles going on. As an encore to our good times at the Spruces, Bryan got us hyped up about a big war we were going to have in Idaho. He brought all of the guns and promised a good fight. The turning point was when Bryan found out that Jason was going to be bringing his automatic gas powered air-soft gun. This was very concerning to Bryan…since it shoots faster and possibly harder. Whenever we suggested to Bryan that we play, he would say “No, not right now.” Jason did get one game in with Bryan and his friend, Ammon, but that lasted a whole 10 minutes. We’ll get you next time Bryan!

More Weddings!

2010-11-17T19:02:00.000-07:00

I am not kidding when I say this was the year of weddings! Thursday, July 15th and Saturday, July 17th marked the dates of two more cousins getting married.

Thursday evening was spent celebrating the marriage of Erin and Ryan. Erin is Jason's cousin and they have grown up being very close and great friends. They had a BEAUTIFUL wedding ceremony and reception at the Homestead in Midway. Everything was gorgeous! The dress, the scenery, even the food! I must say, it was absolutely the best food I have ever had at a reception! It was buffet style with multiple main courses: chicken, salmon, pasta, soup...you name it, it was there, and it was top notch!

Gino, Zion, Kirsten, Sierra, Nancy, George, Jim, Amy, Emily, April, Max, and Jason

The girls with the bride

Waiting for the walk down the aisle...

Wish I had gotten a picture of the food...but the family and the cake will have to do. Some other highlights of the evening include the awesome dance party and Uncle Lloyd's shining grill.

On to wedding #2 -

Now to be completely honest, Brooke and Nate officially got married two weeks before on a beach in Florida, but their reception that we could all attend was July 17th. As mentioned in my June posting, Brooke is one of my close cousins, so we drove to Idaho that weekend to be there.

Brooke was stunning (as expected)! They had the reception in the Hilliam's recently finished yard and it was beautiful! Aunt Arnae did an amazing job (as she always does).

Pictures from the actual wedding in Florida:

Pictures from the reception:

Amenae, Briana, me, Brooke, and Kendra

So pretty!

And more cousin weddings to come before the year is done...

July 4th Weekend

2010-11-07T15:19:00.013-07:00

The great thing about having the 4th of July fall on a Sunday is....you pretty much get to celebrate it Friday, Saturday, and Monday...right?

So, Friday night was spent with the Grubers up at Sundance where we enjoyed a special Patriotic Concert by the Utah Symphony! So good and so fun! It was especially fun because I remember going to this same concert with his family when Jason and I were dating (at that time we were accompanied by his grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins).

George, Nancy, me, Jason, and Karl

Saturday evening was spent with my family for an Arbon BBQ. We were welcomed by Bryan's Parking Company:

It was too cute to pass up a picture!

(This is a typical procedure whenever there is a family event.)

Monday through Wednesday was also spent with my family on our annual camping trip. Each year we go camping at the Spruces (beautiful campground). Last year, Jason and I were only able to show our faces for dinner one of the nights...and so this year we wanted to make sure we were actually able to camp with the family.

Typical camping activities for my family include hours of leisure reading, walking along/through the streams and rivers, card games, tin foil banana boats (YUM!), roasting marshmallows, delicious breakfasts of bacon and eggs, bike riding, scooter riding, and hiking to Doughnut Falls.

This year, we participated in most of these activities, but also added a few new activities that I'm sure will turn into "traditions": Grandma and Grandpa Arbon and the Apelu family came and visited us the first night and joined us for dinner and marshmallows; we played a game of baseball (and of course my team won...which will be a continuing tradition); and last but not least, we played HOURS of air-soft war!

Our air-soft wars could be described as a mix between paint-balling and capture the flag. We formed two teams and had the mission of stealing the other team's flag without getting hit by any air-soft gun bullets. If you got hit by a bullet, you had to wait there for so many seconds before returning to your base and trying again. Lucky for us, the campsites above and below us were vacant...so we were free to roam over a wide area.

We absolutely had a ball! We played round after round after round....after round....you get the idea. I'm pretty sure my parents weren't loving it..given the violent nature of the game and the fact that it took away from our typical card-playing, but it was definitely something that made the camping trip memorable and fun! Thanks Bryan for the brilliant idea!

Visit from Grandma and Grandpa Arbon and the Apelu family

Making banana boats

Jason stoking the fire...pretty good for a non-Eagle scout... :)

The beloved reading time

The special operation team!

...and the GLORIFIED version...

Gidget Photography

2010-10-08T17:38:00.000-06:00

My friend, Amy Stallings, is starting her own photography business called Gidget Photography. Lucky for us, she wanted to use us for a practice shoot! Jason and I are kind of awkward models, but she made the best with what she was given. :)

Here are a few of the photos from that shoot:

Amy did such an awesome job! I'm so pleased with these pictures! Thanks again for choosing us as a practice shoot. If you ever need to "practice" again...let us know!

June Fun

2010-10-06T18:01:00.000-06:00

June was packed with fun and exciting things. Besides birthdays galore and seeing Imogen live, we had many small memory makers.

1. The morning of the Imogen Heap concert, I had been in Idaho attending my cousin, Brooke's, bridal shower. (Yes, another cousin wedding...not to be confused with my other cousin Brooke, who was married in January):

Brooke and Nate...two beautiful people!

2. We visited the Lindon pool several times to take advantage of the Flo Rider (or I should say Jason took advantage of the Flo Rider...maybe I'll try it one of these days):

3. You can never forget Father's Day:

4. Nor can you escape the summer fishing with Jason:

Nothing screams sexy like the old Cadi and my man in waders...

Believe it or not, but I did do some fishing myself...

5. We "technically" purchased our cute beach cruisers in June.

6. Jason and I finally hiked the Y!!! I was determined to hike it before leaving Provo:

I was a sweaty mess!! Pretty sure I almost died around turn 7...

7. I attended my first Manti Pageant!

My family was so cute! They brought lemonade, popcorn, cookies, and other snacks to enjoy during the pageant. Loved it!

Yay for June!

Oh Immy...

2010-08-16T21:19:00.000-06:00

June 12, 2010...A very significant day...They day Amy and I finally saw Imogen Heap in concert. We have been long time fans of the brilliant singer and didn't want to miss the opportunity to see her. Needless to say, we were not disappointed!

I must say, she did bring a whole array of types of people. Waiting in line presented a great opportunity to make fun of "poor unfortunate souls" as well as listen in to several random conversations...apparently, we weren't as devoted of fans as we thought. For one, we had failed, up to this point, to call Imogen by her beloved pet name, "Immy." Now that we have been corrected, we will never be embarrassed again!

I love how legit the tickets were..ha!

This pin was on the back of this OLD lady standing in front of us in line...

...yes, it does say "HELP I think I'm a ROCK STAR"!!

It was so refreshing to go to a concert like this, after my years of Alternative concert-going. She was so...chill...for a lack of a better word. She came out before the concert even started (hair undone, no concert make-up on) just to talk to us and to introduce her opening acts. I had never seen anyone do that before for their own concert. It was pretty cool.

The stage at The Rail

"Immy" introducing the opening acts

(notice our great spots!)

One cool thing we learned about her concerts, is she always uses a local talent for one of her opening groups. She holds online auditions, and I believe allows voting, but then chooses a local representation. Salt Lake City was represented by Mr. Tim. He was pretty good/entertaining...I swear his section took FOREVER though! I was already tired of standing...and we were no where close to "Immy's" turn.

A talent that she brought with her from England was their very own "sound testers". I guess where she often performs, there are two violinists who play AMAZINGLY to test the sound of the concert hall. People can't help but stop and listen. They were truly amazing! The name of their duo: Geese.

(I tried including a video clip, but for some reason it wouldn't let me load it.

Hopefully I will be able at a later attempt)

I remember one of the numbers performed by Geese that was so beautiful, that Amy turned to me and said, "I feel like I'm in Rivendale!" I said, "That's funny, because I was just going to say that I feel like I'm in heaven!" Either way, it was kind of a "musical high" and it was awesome!

Too bad the next song was so dissonant that we seriously thought we were going crazy! I wish I had thought to get video of it...but our faces tell all:

Another of her English opening acts was a guy named Ben Christophers. Amy and I LOVED him at first...and then all of his stuff started sounding the same...Still, we generally enjoyed his music.

And then there was Immy:

She ended up being SO FUNNY! Not only in her hair, outfit, and crazy dance moves, but in the things she said and the conversation she made! Love it!

One thing that I did NOT love was this obnoxious girl standing behind me that was set on singing every song at the top of her lungs! I had to resort to cupping ear with my hand to the front...hoping she would kind of get the hint...yeah, she never did! You can barely make her face in the back of this picture:

Other fun pictures:

We've turned into old women...we had to sit down for the last hour.

But we still had a great view:

Another cool thing about her concert, is she incorporates all of the opening musicians into her show. She also does an impromptu song at every concert based on the wishes of the crowd: key signature, tempo, rhythm, melody, etc. It was very impressive.

Overall, it was a very long concert, but a very worthwhile concert! Frankly, I'm shocked that I had so much to write about it :)

Another Round of June Birthdays

2010-08-08T12:33:00.000-06:00

Just as it is every year, June is the month of birthdays! To give you an idea, here is the list of birthdays, just within our immediate families:

3 -   Kimberly
5 -   Alese (my mom)
18 - Karl
25 - Allison
       Robby
29 - Amy

Why not knock out all of these birthdays with one post?!? I think it's a great idea!

Kimberly's Birthday:

Family dinner at Texas Roadhouse,

Assembled her new Beach Cruiser,

And, of course, birthday cake

Mom's Birthday:

Afternoon at Lifetime Fitness

(including swimming, rock climbing, basketball, you name it. My family recently got a membership there...don't ask me why they waited until after I was married to get it. Bitter? Yes.)

Rumbi's Dinner at the park

(Rolling-down-the-hill contest included)

Allison's Birthday:

BBQ at the Grubers with family and friends

Homemade ice cream

More "Creek Time"

Funny/sad story concerning the big bouncy ball in this picture and the boy on Jason's shoulders in the following picture. Jason, Max, and I were taking turns kicking the ball to each other. Since it is a light ball, it takes some good power to get it anywhere far. On top of that, there was a slight breeze. Basically, it was my turn to kick, and we were trying to kick it as far as we could. With all of the strength I could, I kicked the ball, it curved with the wind, and pelted Zion right in the head (a few yards away from me). He instantly dropped, then ran crying to his mom. I felt so SO bad...but couldn't help but laugh so SO hard!

I've learned my lesson and will not be kicking any balls with ANY kids around!

Sorry, Zion!

Unfortunately, there is no representation for Karl, Robby, or Amy's birthdays. Karl was taken to Disneyland, and Robby and Amy live in Colorado.

Hope you guys enjoyed your birthdays! And we'll be at it again next year!