Another Season... Another Story...

AMD Halloween - 2009

2009-11-02T06:46:00.003-07:00

The biggest holiday at work has now come and gone. Although every year I swear it'll be the last that I end up dressing up for Halloween, I played along again this year. Amy (coworker) championed the "Golden Girls" theme and it seemed to turn out okay. I was just thankful that this year I got to wear a wig... meaning I didn't have to worry about getting color out of my hair.

For those who don't remember last year:

And this year... I was "Sophia"

We had a great "cast"
(From left to right) - Skip = Dorothy, Dave = Rose, Amy = Blanche, Me

Although I never really watched the show prior to Friday morning, by the end of the day, I loved it! I spent much of the day saying things like... "Picture it... Sicily... 1912"... and when I was asked if we had chores in Italy, i wisely replied "It was a chore just to cross the street without getting pregnant!" I then looked down at my ever growing belly and it just seemed comical. Sophia's character fit me pretty well. I enjoyed telling people to "shut up" and just being a little on the ornery side. One of my favorite parts was when Rose (Dave) thought she was my daughter (when it reality it's Dorothy) and "she" called me "Ma". I gave her a little slap in the face and let her know she was not my daughter. Good times.

While I' won't officially count myself out for next year, I certainly won't commit.

Wind Storm

2009-08-09T21:47:00.003-06:00

A couple days back, the wind was blowing like crazy. We had planned using our paint sprayer that evening, painting crown molding and a couple of doors. Our original intentions were to take the items outside and then spray them, so we wouldn't have to worry about the mess. With crazy high winds though, painting was out of the question.

Leave it to us to find something "safer" and more "conducive" in the tornado-like conditions. We decided it would be a perfect time for Trent to the roof of our two-story house and install a dish up there. The pictures don't do the conditions any justice... but I figured they should be posted regardless.
I should mention that this ladder was insanely heavy. Shortly after installing the dish and returning inside the safety of our home... we heard a huge crashing sound. The wind blew so hard that the heavy ladder fell... and collided with the ground. Luckily Trent wasn't still on the roof... cause I'm not sure I could have propped the ladder back up against the house.

Who needs to hold onto the ladder while ascending? Not a professional dish installer...
one hand carrying the dish, one carrying the tools.

A close look up top. It looks like he knows what he's doing.

From afar...

Although it's hard to tell... he's still up there.

New Blog

2009-07-23T07:48:00.004-06:00

A couple months back, I created a new blog to document our latest adventures. I haven't really shared this new blog with anyone, until now. If you'd like, feel free to check out our new blog:

http://hansenbabyblog.blogspot.com/

Lagoon with Morgan

2009-06-21T17:29:00.000-06:00

A few days back, Morgan was riding in Elizabeth's car with her in Farmington. Morgan saw the big ferris wheel and many of the other rides. She asked what they were and Elizabeth said "that's Lagoon". Morgan became very excited and exclaimed "I want to go to the goon!". We decided to take her there and had a wonderful time. I drove to Layton and picked her up from my mom's house. It was kind of rainy and cold. When we were getting ready to leave, she tripped down the stairs and got a tiny scrape on her knee. What a great beginning to our adventure!

It was raining really hard right before we got there. In fact, it was so bad that I somehow missed our exit, concentrating so hard on making sure we were safe. We got off the Centerville exit and back-tracked to Lagoon. We sat in the car for a while waiting for the rain to stop. Morgan ate her Happy Meal while we waited. (side note... did you know Happy Meals are over $4!! What a rip! Inflation has really got the best of them). I tried calling Elizabeth several times but she never picked up her phone. She was planning on meeting us there.

As we walked up to the park, Morgan exclaimed "I'm so excited! This is just like Disneyland! (which she has seen on tv before) I want to go on that big white ride!" (white roller coaster) I told her she could go on any ride she wanted.

She had a great time on several of the rides. I thought she would be really scared to go on many of the rides. Surprisingly, she wasn't afraid at all. Her favorite ride was the "fish ride"... also known as Odysea. She went on the "lady bug ride" which looked pretty scary. She was hesitant near the beginning of the ride but by the end she yelled out "let's go on that one again!" Morgan also enjoyed the show in the Rock U 2 the Top theatre. She especially liked listening to the two songs from The Little Mermaid. She got up and danced around for part of it. Overall, Morgan loved Lagoon. I think taking her may have even elevated me to "favorite status".

On the train

Morgan insisted on riding the zebra.

On Puff the Magic Dragon... while two kids in front of her in line chickened out and decided not to ride, Morgan didn't even flinch.

The favorite ride of the day. The rider can control whether it goes up or down. The decision on which way to go can leave you pretty wet. Morgan controlled the direction... and Elizabeth's pants got pretty soaked as a result.

After this ride, it started to rain a little. That was our queue to leave... even though Morgan really wanted to go one more time. Look how little she is compared to the chair!

Elizabeth & Jeff's Wedding

2009-05-10T09:48:00.003-06:00

My youngest and only sister married Jeffrey Toone yesterday in the Salt Lake Temple. Jeff and I served our missions together in Mongolia. It was fun seeing them date and get to know each other over the past 16 months and even better to see them marry each other. We are very happy for them and wish them the best.

Everything went perfectly. Despite bad traffic and road closures, no one planning on coming missed the sealing. The luncheon was at the Rodizio Grill in Trolley Square. The reception later that night was beautiful.

Congrats to Elizabeth and Jeff!

The bride, groom, Justin Alaris, Morgan, Maddie & Kelsi at the reception

The coolest cake in the world... courtesy of my mom, Aunt Colleen & Aunt Juanita

Trent eating a chicken heart with the bride and groom in the background

Efusjon

2009-04-29T17:56:00.006-06:00

I've always wanted to join an MLM as a "business venture" and today I decided to do it. I've looked at a variety of multi-level marketing companies and never found one that I was terribly interested in. The closest I came to joining one was with ACN. Unfortunately, ACN seemed to be extremely penetrated in society. After speaking with some friends, I concluded that "timing" is everything with multi-level marketing. I wanted to do something that wasn't completely overwhelming (time-wise) but that had potential to be successful. So what company is lucky to have me? Efusjon.

Efusjon is an energy drink company. Anyone who knows me well would probably guess I wouldn't be a good consumer of energy drinks. Initially, that's what I thought too. This company makes a very healthy drink called "Raw" which has no caffiene and is made of the acai berry, among other things. I found it surprisingly good. More than the taste of the product, the opportunity was the convincing factor for me to join.

I'm hopeful I'll find some degree of success with this "experiment"... but rest assured, I'll be grateful I did it regardless of the outcome. More frustrating than attempting something and failing is not trying... thus not knowing what could have been. If anyone has ever done an MLM and has any advice, I would be most grateful to hear it. Additionally, if Efusjon sparks your interest and you want to learn more... don't hesitate to ask. I don't claim to have all the answers... but I'm interested in learning them. If nothing else, be hopeful, as I am, that this will be a great decision!

Happy Easter!! - A little Late

2009-04-25T10:41:00.004-06:00

We had a great Easter a few weeks back. It has always been one of my favorite holidays. Growing up, my siblings and I anxiously awaited Easter. I dare say that I was typically the most excited for it. We never missed a visit from the mythical bunny who brought us baskets filled with all sorts of goodies. To add to the fun, our baskets would be hidden somewhere inside or outside of our house for us to find.

I would wake up early and begin my search. After ransacking the entire house (spotting my brother and sister's baskets along the way) I would be left empty-handed. It wasn't that I was forgotten by the bunny, just that I could never find my personal treasure. I think it (the bunny) had it out for me. My basket was always hidden at least 100 times harder than anyone else's. I can't even remember a single year where I was able to successfully locate my basket without hints from my mom. Some years, there were tears filled with frustrations. It's a wonder I like Easter at all!

Let the tradition continue... I begged my mom to get me an Easter basket this year. She told me, since I am now married, that wasn't her job anymore. With enough pleading and persuading, she was convinced. This year, just like every other, I had to have help to find my basket.

Who thought it was a good idea to hide it up in the tree? I'm way too old to be climbing in trees. It was quite a struggle for me. I'm just grateful I didn't injure myself.

After the Easter basket triumph, we went to my brother's house for dinner. Trent and I played with two of their girls, Morgan and Maddie, outside. They loved it when Trent blew bubbles for them and we had a good time in their playhouse as well.

That house was "cozier" than any other house I've ever been in... even in Mongolia. Morgan and Maddie really love it though!

Photo of the Day

2009-04-24T22:33:00.000-06:00

We woke up to a snowy surprise on April 14th... according to some, it shouldn't be snowing in the middle of April. The "surprise" element of weather is what makes it so exciting. However, after only two weeks without snow, people had already seemed to forget how to drive in it.

Photo of the Day

2009-04-19T22:58:00.003-06:00

This was supposed to be my photo of the day a two weeks ago. I finished the 2000 piece puzzle on 4/5/09... one week after starting it. I think Trent was especially grateful when I finished. I tend to have a one-dimensional focus whenever I'm working on a puzzle.

Doing this puzzle made me excited about puzzles. I haven't started any new ones yet but I did purchase a new one which I'm looking forward to doing. It'll be a hard one so I'm waiting until I have a lot of free time.

Photo of the Day

2009-04-04T22:28:00.001-06:00

Trent & I spent Saturday skiing at Deer Valley. We met up with my friend Tiffany and Uncle Phil & Tanner. After my third attempt... my skiing skills still leave a lot to be desired.

I lost control in the powder. One of my ski poles was lost in the wreckage. Luckily, with some effort, we were able to dig and recover it.

It was a nice powder day. What's that in Trent's hand? You don't think he'd try to hit me with that, do you?

Lastly, while my ski skills (or lack thereof) still leave a lot to be desired, Trent tends to forget that he's not on a snowboard anymore and things are done a little differently. Nice air though :)

Photo of the Day

2009-04-03T22:24:00.000-06:00

Bryner Mission Reunion... after returning home more than three years ago, it's fun to see these people every so often.

Photo of the Day

2009-03-30T22:51:00.001-06:00

2,000 Pieces... One person's pain is another's pleasure

Photo of the Day

2009-03-28T17:01:00.002-06:00

I just want to bring your attention to the fact that Trent's carrying two boards... what a gentleman.

Photo of the Day

2009-03-27T19:48:00.004-06:00

Although this picture has nothing to do with the occasion... happy wedding day to Jenn & Jack!

Frequent Posts

2009-03-26T19:25:00.003-06:00

After a lot of thinking... I've made the decision to increase the frequency of my blogging. Since coming home from my mission, I've been terrible at writing in a journal. In fact, my mission was the only time in my entire life I've been completely dedicated to documenting any sort of journal. I didn't miss a day while in the MTC or in Mongolia. It's fun looking back through it and reading about my successes and struggles. I wish I was always that dedicated to documenting. In an effort to become more committed, I'll start with the blog.

I'll also be posting a "photo of the day". Some days this will a picture taken that very day... and others it will be something from an "archived collection". Either way, it should give me more reason to take pictures. If a picture is really worth a thousand ~~years~~ words, that can't be a bad thing, right?

Today's Picture: The land I love!

Khailaast Branch... one of the very best.

A new addition!!

2009-03-02T19:22:00.003-07:00

Baby Kelsie was born Friday, February 27th in the afternoon. She weighed 5 lbs 6 0z and was 20 inches long. Trent & I visited her for the first time two days later. By that time, she weighed in at a whopping 5 lbs 2 oz. The blankets wrapped around her seemed to weigh more than she did. Big sisters Morgan and Maddie are very happy about their new addition. Morgan is often heard saying "Kelsie is my best best friend!!" When others ask if they can be her friend too, she says "No, Kelsie is my friend". Congratulations to Justin & Alaris.

What we love about winter...

2009-02-26T20:19:00.003-07:00

This video is from last season. We did a little hiking... and needed a break to rest. Trent didn't want to take a break... so he occupied himself doing other things.

New Job

2009-02-22T14:47:00.008-07:00

Tomorrow, I will begin my new job. I'm extremely excited for it as I've been looking forward to starting over the past month. I'll be working in the "Client Retention & Growth Group". I'm looking forward to helping construct the overall vision and direction of the group. It is a very needed element the company. I believe the formation of this group will help facilitate increased client satisfaction and provide many opportunities to grow our current client base.

A long time ago, my grandpa told me if you work hard... focusing on your responsibilities... while not letting the "politics" of a situation affect you, you will always be recognized and rewarded for your efforts. I've tried to apply his advice and it has paid dividends for me. While I will likely miss certain elements of working in finance (mostly the people I worked so closely with), I'm looking forward to growing my own abilities and working in a more "client facing" department. I'll have opportunities to dabble in all sorts of different organizations (sales, marketing, client services, product management, etc). Tomorrow is day one... of many many more days to come.

Jamaica!!!

2009-02-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

I just returned from an "all girls" cruise adventure. I went with my mom, Grandma, two of my mom's sisters (Colleen and Juanita), my grandma's sister (Linda) and her daughter (Michelle). We had all sorts of fun adventures on the cruise.

I will likely post more on our trip later but to start off, I wanted to highlight Jamaica. We loved Jamaica. Grandma & Aunt Linda wanted to shop in Jamaica and Michelle wanted to work on her tan. The rest of us wanted to see a little of the culture. We hired a "tour guide", Jeff, to drive us around and tell us about his country.

While there may have been a little skepticism about getting in a complete strangers car in a foreign place... especially when some people associate "dangerous" with it... Jeff was incredible and definitely a highlight of the trip.

Jeff drove us all over... to the jungle,
to the beach, he drove us through a small city, we saw the falls (with some nice "Rasta" guys),
we ate jerk,

and then we shopped. The people were very laid back and kind. Jeff's favorite thing to say (from my viewpoint b/c he said it in nearly every sentence) was "I understand... no problem mon". Jeff is 62 years old and has never left Jamaica. He said that people come from all over the world to Jamaica and tell him how beautiful it is... so what reason does he have to leave? Jamaica has some of the most beautiful horticulture I've ever seen. Crazy flowers were growing everywhere.

The weather was fantastic and by the end of the day, I felt like I could live there.

Beyond Cold

2009-01-19T18:55:00.000-07:00

I'm very convinced that I live in the coldest place in all of Utah. While I'm sure the folks up in Logan might have an argument against this, I'm willing to venture that Lehi is worse.

I have "proof" from my drive this morning. Two degrees??? Are you kidding me? Who lives in a place that's two degrees? Are we in Mongolia? This morning it sure did feel like it. The most amazing part of my morning commute is that as soon as I go over the Point of the Mountain, it's at least 15 degrees warmer.

Here's your proof:

Two freaking degrees... brrrr!

A driver's view of Thanksgiving Point. Cold and Foggy...

Four minutes later... over the point, the temperature jumped to 19. It must be nice to live in Salt Lake Valley

1st Christmas

2009-01-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

I realize that I have done a very poor job updating the blog. There is a legitimate excuse though. Shortly after Halloween, my computer hard drive decided to die. With no warning, I was out a computer. The screen on Trent's laptop doesn't work either. This predicament left any sort of blogging out of the question. I have since purchased a new computer so we should be good to go :)

We survived our first Christmas together (just barely, according to Trent). I think he's very happy it is over. I suppose I put a lot of pressure on him to make sure I got a lot of presents (and good ones at that). What can I say, my parents always got me everything I wanted. I suppose that makes me a little demanding and a little spoiled.

Regardless, it was a good Christmas. I'm already looking forward to Christmas 2009. Trent's excited for springtime so we can "get rid of this crappy weather". Our house seems to have more snow than Park City Mountain Resort. We thought Lehi didn't get much snow. I guess we were wrong. Trent is great at shoveling the driveway. He was really motivated to shovel it after his truck got stuck one morning and it took over a half hour to get it out. The fact that we got it out at all was a Christmas miracle.

Here are a couple pictures from the holiday. Enjoy!!

Thanks to Aunt Camille for the Christmas ornaments. Even though Katelyn says they're "old lady" ornaments, I thought they looked great and I love the concept of "free".

Trent admiring one of his many Christmas presents.

Halloween at AMD

2008-10-30T19:56:00.001-06:00

Halloween is still a day away but the celebration came early to AMD. My department decided to participate in the festivities and dress up with a "Peter Pan" theme. Also, my brother and Alaris came with their two little "animals". Morgan was dressed as a Monkey and Maddie was a chicken.... so cute! Here are some pictures from the party.

This is the accounting crew... Can you find me in the picture?

The cutest nieces ever. The startled look on Maddie's face is because she was absolutely terrified after looking at "captain hook"

For whatever reason... Morgan wasn't afraid of the costume (surprisingly). We had fun trick or treating together.

Maddie... now that was another story. When I tried to take her from Justin, she clung as tightly as possible to his shirt. I stole her away and she started screaming. I thought it was hilarious but she was really scared.

Movie Time

2008-10-28T19:18:00.000-06:00

Jenn... because I promised a post:

We've made some purchases to enhance our "movie watching" experiences. After shopping around a lot, all of our different purchases finally arrived and we were able to put it all together. What I really want to watch is... just football. On that screen? Football will look awesome!

Favorite Pastime...

2008-09-27T13:28:00.000-06:00

It's Saturday... and there is nothing I love more about Saturday's in the fall than BYU football. The Cougars have a bye this week so instead of watching them play, I thought I'd post another entry on this blog.

I have so many memories of watching the Cougars while growing up. In some ways, I feel like I had some of my most trying, growing experiences in what use to be known as Cougar Stadium. One of the greatest games I ever watched there was the BYU - Utah game in 2001. I went with my Grandma to the game. Those were the days of Luke Staley, Brandon Doman, and Reno Mahe. The Cougars were down with not much time left and pulled off a miracle victory of 24-21. I remember being so down during that game as I saw my favorite team losing. I thought for sure it was over. My grandma kept saying "you've got to have faith, Amanda. Just have faith." I don't know what is was that enabled the Cougs to come back... maybe it was my grandma's faith... but the point was that they did it. They were 12-0 after that game. They were denied the chance to play in a BCS bowl. After learning the BCS didn't want them, they still had one more regular season game. They lost to Hawaii and lost their bowl game as well finishing the season at 12-2.

One of the worst games I've ever attended at Lavell Edwards Stadium was the 2003 BYU-Utah game. The Cougars had one of their worst seasons, finishing 4-8 that year. The end of the season, playing Utah, was just a fitting element of the their terrible season. It was a cold miserable game. It snowed for much of it. I went with my brother and Alaris. It was a game with only defense, no offense. BYU was shut out... 3-0. BYU's NCAA record for most consecutive games without being shutout ended at 361 games. This streak extended over 28 years. I wouldn't have cared if BYU had lost 90-2... as long as they scored points. It took me weeks to get over that game. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure if I'm over it yet.

For every bad memory I have of BYU football, I have at least 5 or 6 good ones. The #11 Cougars are off to a terrific start and really, need to run the table to get the respect necessary in order to play in a BCS bowl game. This means that they have to take it one game at a time. I've enjoyed going to the games with Trent this season and all of last season. As much as he pretends not to really care about the games, he gets excited when the game gets exciting. I know, I saw him at the nail-biter against Utah last year. We even rushed the field after they won. Our favorite game this year was the UCLA - BYU game. Of course, it wasn't even close but people were still extremely energized. No one left early because they wanted to see if the Cougs could secure the shutout... which they did.

Here's to you BYU... keep winning!

Fishing for Food!

2008-09-24T21:46:00.001-06:00

Last Saturday after going to the BYU - Wyoming game, Trent decided he was sick of watching football for the day. I can never get sick of it, so I sat on the couch and watched a couple of the late games. Meanwhile, Trent decided to go fishing. We live quite close to the Jordan River so Trent took the new fishing pole I bought ($17 at Walmart) and went to the river. He was only gone about 10 or 15 minutes.

I was surprised he came back as early as he did. When I looked towards the kitchen where he was walking in, I noticed he actually caught a fish! It wasn't a very big one but he brought it home as his trophy regardless. Later, he told me the fish swallowed the hook and he wasn't able to get the hook out so he decided to kill the fish. I won't be too graphic in the details... let me just say, he used a rock. I think a part of him felt bad for potentially killing and wasting the fish so he decided to try and cook it for some yummy eating.

He gutted it (with much trial) right in our kitchen sink. I was dry heaving part of the time but kept wanting to get pictures of it. I won't post any of the gross ones because I don't want anyone to get sick from reading this. Trent really struggled getting the scales and skin off the fish. This was disappointing because of the "high quality" Ronco fileting knife he was using.

(This is totally unrelated to the story but several months back I got sucked into an infomercial -- it only took five minutes of watching -- then I called and bought Ronco knives. They are not all they are cracked up to be. They sounded so good on the infomercial!)

Since he couldn't get the skin off, he cut it into chunks and cooked it on the grill. He didn't use any spices or flavoring element at all. Disgusting. I give him props because he actually tried eating it. I don't think he liked it though as he threw the majority of it away. Yay for fishing!

Trent seems pretty proud of his catch!

The head looks dirty and disgusting because of the rock.

The finished product. Are you hungry?

Painting... oh the joys...

2008-09-19T20:39:00.000-06:00

Trent & I have spent much time over the last couple months painting our house.When we first moved in, all the walls were white and boring. Now, after a short two months, we are basically wrapping up the painting party. People say hindsight is 20/20... and using it, I think it would be worth it to pay a professional to paint. It's a ton of work! We used three colors in our house. The majority of it is a taupe color and then a lighter taupe. Our loft upstairs is dark "brick red". The contrast looks good.

To assist in our painting project, we purchased a paint sprayer. Many people told us it would be impossible to spray our house since it is fully finished with carpet. For the bedrooms, we taped and covered everything with plastic. Our taping job proved sufficient and my preference would have been to spray as much as possible. Although the precise taping takes A LOT of time... the spraying is fast and the paint coats very evenly. We had to make sure not to stay in the rooms too long though for fear of passing out. I have no doubt I killed many brain cells sucking in the paint fumes. The final "major" piece in our painting pursuit was our garage. Trent put up some really nice shelves to help organize everything and then we sprayed the entire thing white. Had we not owned a paint sprayer, painting the garage would have been out of the question. With the sprayer it was easy to coat the ceiling as well as all the high and low places.

That's not to say we sprayed our entire house. We actually rolled quite a bit. Our downstairs was all painted by hand. My mom came over one Saturday and helped me paint the kitchen. Trent & I spent a lot of Saturdays laboring, with the noise from college football games sounding in the background. Any time a good play was developing in the game, I would stop my painting and hustle towards the couch to see the outcome. I'm finding that I don't really need to see a game in order to visualize exactly what's taking place in my mind. I guess that comes with extreme familiarity to sports. Some people might argue my familiarity is too extreme. One thing that is not very extreme is my painting talent. We still have a little touch-up work to do but overall, a lengthy job well done.

Trent - Spraying the garage

Amanda's Turn...

Rolling the downstairs

Wedding Reception

2008-09-04T08:51:00.000-06:00

Although a wedding reception requires a lot of work and is often very stressful for those involved with planning it, the best part of a reception is not the food (surprisingly)... it's not the decorations... it's not the weather... or the colors... it's the people. The people.

There was a "stealing" theme at the reception... my cousin Tanner thought he would be funny and "steal" the bouquet

My niece was more interested in stealing the cup from Trent's nephew

Who knew that people in Utah danced??

Talking to Kaydee... what a cute family!

The flower girls... and part of the wedding party

The wedding party...

My brother's beautiful family

Mission Prez... and Sister Bryner

The cousins with the bride

Grandpa and Amanda

Laci & Mark

Alaris and the Peck with me

Stuart Summers... one of the coolest people I know

The Cottrell's... they have real dancing skills...

My sister conversing with her boyfriend's family

Long Time Overdue

2008-08-28T12:46:00.000-06:00

I'm almost embarrassed that it has taken me SOO long to update my blog. Trent and I have been married for two months now. Hard to believe. I guess time flies when you are having fun... and when you are just plain busy. Most recently, we've been up to our elbows in paint (quite literally... I'm not a very good painter) working on giving our upstairs more personality. We've finished all the rooms, the hall way, and now we just need to do touch-ups on the red color we put in our loft. Trent is also working on putting the last of the canned lighting in our house. Eventually, we'll get working on our "dirt pad" and hope it will someday turn into a beautiful lawn. I'll try to do some different posts later to cover some of the last couple months. For starters...

We had a great wedding. It was an unforgettable day. Things went just as planned (I heard that is very rare). There isn't anything that I would change about it. Here are some pictures that Jamie took outside of the temple after the ceremony. If you can't really see the pictures well... click on them to see a jumbo version!

Nice Socks

I like this picture because I look taller!

There will be more to come (hopefully). I just need to dedicate more time to the truly important things in life, like blogging.

Merging Worlds

2008-06-12T10:38:00.000-06:00

I have a countdown going (assisted by the little widget on the left side of our blog). Wow... only 16 days left until the wedding. Planning is in order and most things are complete. In the "planning process" I decided to gather pictures for a slideshow which will be shown at our luncheon and our Casper reception. Going through piles of old photographs facilitated floods of memories. I like to tell myself (or at least think) that I was a cute kid. Perhaps I'm biased, I don't know. I've decided to post some pictures on here so people who are less biased can provide an honest, accurate opinion. Is there really such thing as accuracy in an opinion?Only a couple days old... but I was blessed with lots of hair!

I often looked startled when getting my picture taken...

Trent's nephew McKay looks a lot like him :)

An athlete... at such a young age!

While some little girls had to wear dresses...

little boys got to play in the sand...

and little girls still wore dresses...

while little boys played with farm animals...

and still... more dresses.

Time's a Tickin'

2008-05-28T11:12:00.000-06:00

It's exactly one month from the day Trent and I will get married. Crazy!! The last few months have really flown by. It's hard to believe that we've been dating over 14 months. When we get married, it will be exactly 15 months and one week since the day we had our first date. Wedding plans are coming along pretty well. Most things appear to be under control. I really haven't done too much as far as planning is concerned... that's because I have the best mom in the world!! I know she's taken a lot on herself to plan and organize. I really appreciate all she has done and continues to do to make everything perfect.
Jamie took our engagement pictures. We really liked how they turned out. We should be getting our invitations really soon to mail out. I liked this picture... Trent didn't like it as much so it's not on the announcement.
Even when we're taking pictures, there is time to have a little friendly competition. Trent didn't even move as I tried to heave him into the water. It's a good thing for me that he didn't retaliate to my attack by pulling back... or I would have been swimming.
We both liked this picture... the color effects make it great. It was too small to use on the announcement though so I thought I'd post it here. Good times...

Graduation - A couple weeks back

2008-05-06T21:00:00.000-06:00

After many long years studying... I was finally able to graduate from BYU.

Trent got work off to come to the convocation Friday morning. Nice jacket Trent :)

My grandparents were both really proud of my graduation... probably since
I was their first grandchild to graduate from their alma mater.My brother even managed to get work off to be a support at the graduation.
He did a great job playing 'photographer' but was given a break a couple of times.

And that pretty much sums it up... Thanks for coming, Mom, Dad, Trent,
Justin, Grandma and Grandpa.

Tree Killer

2008-05-06T20:51:00.000-06:00

This is from a year ago. Trent decided to push boulders down the mountain.
If you are a huge "green" person, you probably shouldn't watch. You might be offended.

2008-04-29T18:00:00.000-06:00

This is my first attempt at blogging... I heard it can become very addicting. Since I'm already addicted to facebook, I figured I'd give it a shot :)

Winter has come and gone although sometimes it still feels like winter. Welcome to Utah! Trent and I spent a lot of time snowboarding up at Park City this year. A couple of times Jamie Jones (former MTC Comp) came up and took pictures for us. This was one of my favorites.

Now that winter is over... we are just getting ready for our wedding on June 28th. We are getting married in the Salt Lake Temple. After we're married, we'll be moving to our house in Lehi (hoping that it is built by then). I've found myself answering the question: "what're you going to do if your house isn't finished in time?" quite frequently. My patented answer is "we'll cross the bridge when we get to it". That's how we take things... one moment at a time.

sNOwBoaRD pICs

2008-04-29T16:41:00.000-06:00