My not so secret crush!

So I am totally crushing, and I'll give you three guesses to who it is on.

No, it's not Taylor Latuner
Nope, not Shia Labeouf either
It's not even Brad Pitt

It's my husband!!
I realized that I've been crushing on my husband and here are the signs that prove it.

Clue #1: When he walks by me I can't help but stare, and admire him.
Clue #2: When he tells me he’ll be home soon, I get butterflies and really excited.
Clue #3: I try to look cute for him when he comes home.
Clue #4: When he leaves I feel sad.
Clue #5: I think of ways to make him happy all day. Ex: his favorite foods for dinner, folding his laundry, putting the TV on Sports Center, etc.
Clue #6: When I’m falling asleep or first waking up, I imagine us running away together (Lame I know, but true).

So I guess it’s a good thing that my crush is on someone that I get to have forever! I know this is a lame blog, but I can’t help that I am totally in love with my best friend and sweetheart!!

I’m pretty lucky.

Kitchen Memories

This is my first year having my own neighbors, so I was excited to make my very own “neighbor treats” for Christmas. My mom has an awesome recipe for Toffee, so she talked me into making it. I see now that she had devised the plan for revenge right from the start. You see, years ago when I was a ornery, hormone-raging teenager I had a little tantrum. Also pertinent to the story is that fact that I hadn’t grown since I was in third grade. I wore tall wooden shoes (that my mother bought for me)and long pants, to give the illusion that I wasn’t as short as I really was. ANYWAY, I was having an irrational tantrum, when I made a kicking motion at my sister. Well, the big old wooden shoe came off and hit my mom right in the forehead. I felt so bad and was so embarrassed that I ran away and cried for hours, I was too prideful to say sorry right then. I’m sure my mom saw that as me not caring. She had a black eye and huge goose egg.
I’ve always felt bad for that.
Apparently so has my mom.
So my mom and I are making Toffee and you have to heat the sugar up to 300 degrees. I was surprised how long it took because water doesn’t take long to boil, but this was very much hotter than water boiling. I was stirring it often like the instructions called for, and when it hit 300 I poured it on the cookie sheet to harden. I hadn’t even started pouring when I felt a searing pain on my wrist. Keeping my wits I put the pot back down carefully and flung my wrist away from the scorching heat. My first instinct was to grab the burn, but as I did, my left hand started to burn. I pulled it off to see that the sizzling candy was still there continuously burning more and more flesh.
I yanked the molten candy off my arm and held the burn. We are not taught to do this, we are taught to put it under cold water. Well, I was taught to hold a burn. My mom told me to put it under cold water, but I knew better. I held it with tears welling up in my eyes. I had experience with burns and knew that it hurt to hold it, but it would be worth it. My mother rushed to our Aloe Vera plant to cut off a piece. She split it open with a knife and spread the naturally cool, healing, gel onto my owie. That was the only time I let go of it. My brain kept telling me to release the pressure, but I didn’t, I held strong. About 20 minutes later I finally let go. It was red where I had been holding and slowly little blisters started to form.
I thought I had failed, because I was under the impression that if I was to hold it, it wouldn’t leave a mark. This has always worked for me, and I lost a little faith in the procedure, UNTIL I got online and read some stories about candy/toffee/sugar burns. Some people go to the hospital and can have Third Degree Burns! One woman doesn’t have use of her hand, another almost lost blood flow to her hand, and another needed a skin graft. All these things considered, I feel like my knowledge of burn care took an ugly situation and flipped it for good.
So I know my mom didn’t really want me to get burned, but I somehow thought that if I linked the two stories, it would ease my conscience about the whole shoe-in-the-eye incident.
It didn’t work.

I'm So Lucky!

So I have the best Husband EVER!!
A couple of days ago I had a really bad day and my cute husband came home with these bad boys for me:
Isn’t he the best?

If only I could hide my face like an Ostrich!

I was substitute teaching my little brother Aaron’s class last week and a little boy came up and asked if he could use the restroom. I said, “You can go when she gets back.” and the ‘she’ said, “You mean ‘He’.” I was confused and said, “She asked first, and then you can go.” looking back to the little boy. Again the ‘she’ said, “You mean ‘He’.”
I was as confused as you probably are. The whole class was staring at me, and my little brother, sitting two feet away, started laughing. I realized just then that the ‘she’ was a ‘he’ and ‘he’ was correcting me. I was so embarrassed. I tried to cover it up and just dug myself deeper. I finally just said, “You can go after HE gets back.” That seemed to pacify the class, but Aaron was still snickering at my uncomfortableness. I glared my baby brother down, but couldn’t help but laugh myself.
Oops.
The funny thing is, that his name is Tristan and he was wearing boy clothes. Earlier in the day I made mental notes, like: “Hmm… I thought Tristan was a boy’s name” and “She sure dresses like a boy” Those clues should have tipped me off that it was a boy, but for some reason they didn’t and I made a fool of myself.

Morning Sickness

So about once a month since I got pregnant, I throw up all day long. Last time this happened I was at my brothers’ wrestling meet at Alta High. I was sitting in the bleachers when it hit. I rushed to the hall and asked an Alta Cheerleader where the bathroom was. She told me it was my first left. I walked very briskly to the first left and it branched both ways. I chose the door on the right because I was already there and it was coming out. I covered my mouth but it was coming. I ran in and noticed a row of urinals. Oh well, I thought, it’s too late now. I ran into the first stall. Of course it was clogged, but I couldn’t turn around now. I finally let it all out into the toilet and as more came I heard someone using the urinals. I barfed a few more times and figured the kid out there was gone by now. I came out of the stall to see a 10 year old boy grimacing at me. I mumbled…pregnant and…didn’t know it was the boys. I ran to the girl’s bathroom to clean the barf from my pants, coat and face from when I almost didn’t make it.
It all ended up being okay because no one came up to me and accused me of being a pervert for being in the wrong bathroom.

I hate Junior High

I usually substitute for Elementary kids because most of them are shorter than me. In this poor economy I excepted a job at the Junior High. Big Mistake. I was the sub for Girls Gym. It might sound fun, but I was so nauseous that I couldn’t even play the games with them. They were all taller than me, and they were all snots. I hate Junior High, and even more than that I hate Junior High girls.
To get to the point, I had a little office in the locker room where I kept my purse and coat. I kept this room locked because students aren’t allowed in there. There was one class period where I had two student aids. One was a Polynesian girl and she just sat in the office. When I went to lock it she told me she usually just sits in there. I figured whatever, I’ll be the cool sub.
At the end of the class I came into the office and she had the rap music way too loud. I went to grab some crackers out of my purse and some of my stuff was on the ground. I figured I must have kicked it. I’m so naïve.
At lunch time I went to get the lunch money Matt had given to me that morning. It just so happened that I put it in the same pocket that had mysteriously “spilled” earlier. I felt so stupid. I had trusted that girl to sit in the office and she steals a measly two dollars.
I talked to the vice principal and he told me she was a “hard student.” Code for “she’s been to my office before and she’s a trouble maker.”
I guess the worst part wasn’t that I wouldn’t get my two bucks back, it was when I found out that the girl is in my parents’ ward.

Do I ever blog about anything other than spiders?

Yesterday we spent the day at my parents’ house. My parents, very recently, got rid of a few of their children. One to marriage, two to missions, and one to college. With all the extra rooms, everyone moved out of the basement and upstairs. My mom made the basement into a guest’s quarters. Two bedrooms, a bath and a mini kitchen. The only problem is that they don’t have guests very often. Matt turned on the shower to get his hair wet so he could get it to work. Out of the faucet fell a huge spider. He tried to drown it, but it wasn’t working, it was too strong. The drain didn’t have a hole large enough for it to fit down anyway. I took matters into my own hands.

First I grabbed a bottle of Windex® and sprayed the sucker. It was still crawling around and that made me nervous so I grabbed the can of Clorox® and dumped it on it as it crawled around the drain. This guy was not giving up. With my last attempt I grabbed a bottle of hairspray. The spider was already slowing down with all the chemicals I had doused him with, but I sprayed the hairspray anyway. He stopped and just sat there.

You never know if a spider is really dead or not. They like to pretend and then they wait until you think they are dead to crawl away. Then they come back with a vengeance to get you. We were late for church, so I hoped it was dead. When we came back it was still in the same spot. It had all that time to get away. It was definitely dead. Then I remembered the way it started to slow in step as it was taking its last breaths which were probably filled with poisonous dust. I felt a tinge of guilt knowing that I had killed this poor little spider.

Then I remembered it was a big spider and I was glad it was dead.

Ghost House

Okay, so I’m pretty sure our apartment is haunted. Here is my reasoning.

When we first moved in I would hear the bathroom drawers open and shut when we were falling asleep. Sometimes I would hear the bathroom cupboards shutting too. I would make Matt go check to see what it was. There was never any sign of anything.

Last Tuesday I was taking a bath and I heard a kitchen cupboard close. I clean our house on Tuesdays, and I had just cleaned the kitchen. I have a small amount of OCD and I can’t leave a cupboard door open. Of course the cat on my shoulder was telling me that it was someone in my house. I called Matt to tell him I was scared. He said it was the people who live above us.

Sunday morning, while deciding if I should get out of bed or not, I heard something hit the floor in the kitchen. I told myself it was probably a rat. Rats are less scary than someone being in your house. When I got up, I did some investigating. Our mop was on the ground.

Yesterday while in the bathroom I heard dishes clinking around. I was determined to find out what it was. The rock on my shoulder convinced me that there were too many dishes in the sink and they fell. I jumped out of the bath and ran to the kitchen. There were two dishes in the sink. A bowl and a spoon.

You’re probably thinking It’s just the people above them. Well, I soon realized that we cannot hear ANYTHING that goes on except for walking. We never hear dishes or cupboards or babies crying or a television on. We only hear footsteps. It is very sound proof, with the exception of the feet hitting the floor.

Well, then It’s probably a rat. I have looked and looked for signs of a rat. There are no droppings, there aren’t any holes chewed through any bags, and how would a rat open a cupboard anyway?

Here’s the rest of the story. It turns out that the family above us used to have 5 children. They had a very adventurous daughter that would come into the basement and explore the catacombs. One day she got lost and she couldn’t find her way out. It was dark, but she could see a sliver of light shining down a hole. She tried climbing through it to get out and got stuck. Her spirit kept going and as she reached the light she noticed her body still stuck. She tried to get help, but it was no use. As the family searched the catacombs for her they never looked in that hole. The spirit never gave up trying to communicate with those around her. As the years passed the family eventually finished the basement. While excavating they found her body. They had a memorial service and went on with their lives. The spirit went back to its body one day to find a basement, and her body gone. Tormented by the separation of body and spirit, she continues to try and communicate with those around her, so that one day she can reunite with her body, and rest in peace.

That’s the best I got. If anyone else has a better theory, let me know.

The Attack

Today in my morning routine I took a bath. I was playing the impossible game of bubble breaker on my phone when the invasion hit. A close encounter. My head was just above the rim of the tub and my shoulders were resting on that rim. Inches from my elbow, crawling over the rim- a spider. I screamed as I pull my body to the wall, as far away as I can. As if the spider knew he had walked into the wrong room, it tried to turn around and leave. I remember it in slow motion. The spider’s back leg slips as it turns and it stumbles backward. I try to stand knowing it will tumble into my water. Down it falls and up I go, splashing water all over the place. My phone is probably ruined, but I can’t think about that now. I have to get away from the nasty dot that is swirling towards me. I finally rip the curtain open, and as the spider rides the waves closer to me I make the decision to jump out. Water is all over the bathroom, but I don’t care. I set the phone down not sure what action to take. How do I get it out? I glance at the toilet paper, but realize how silly that would be. I reach in and drain the bath water. Our plug is broken, so I have to hold it down the whole time. He isn’t curled into the little ball that he was before, in fact he’s swimming. His legs are out and paddling like crazy. I envision him crawling out of the water and charging me, so I splash him so he’ll drown. Apparently spiders can hold their breath. He reaches for the edge of the tub but can’t hold on. My eyes are glued to his actions. He struggles and struggles to reach the edge, but can’t keep hold of it. He rests in between tries and his rests lengthen in time. I think he is dead, but as he reaches the drain and swirls around, before his final dissent he makes one last attempt. The current pulls him down, too strong for his tired little body.

After drying the bathroom with a ShamWow® and searching every corner of the room, I crawl back into the tub to start the bath water once again. This time it isn’t the relaxing, soothing experience that it usually is. I keep peeking over the rim of the tub to make sure a spider isn’t crawling up the side.

I’m ruined.

The Ultrasound

Last week Matt and I went to our first doctor’s appointment. The verdict…It’s a Baby. The doctor called it a gummy bear. At that visit it was the size of a green olive, now it’s the size of a prune. It grows fast. We got to see its little heart beat. Last week it had a tail, now it has arms, elbows and legs, and it’s forming some knees and ankles. How amazing. Last week it looked like a salamander, now it looks somewhat human!

As hard as it is to form a little baby, I’m excited!

My First Heart Attack

So this morning I was getting ready to take a bath (my new favorite hobby) and I had a very normal interaction.
Cat: Make sure the front door is locked so no one comes in.
I locked all the doors and started the bath water.
Cat: Go turn on the lights. Scary things always happen in the dark.
Rock just rolled his eyes.
Rock: Keep the bathroom door open because there’s no fan.
Cat: Bad idea. Shut the door and lock it so no one can get in.
Rock: I thought that was why we locked the other doors.
I agree with Rock because I hate all the fog on the mirror and he’s right. There is no fan.
I open my book as I immerse in the warm water.
Rock: The air is cold, shut the curtain.
Cat: No! Then you won’t see them coming. You’ll scream too late.
Rock: Who is coming?
I shut the curtain to keep my arms warm.
When I’m finished I start to drain the water. This is the loudest noise in our whole house. I’m thinking about breakfast when the lights turn off in the bathroom.
Cat: I told you so.
Rock: says nothing but if he had a jaw, it would be hanging open.
They continue to bicker and I rip open the shower curtain, not sure what I’ll defend myself with.
Cat: No!
Too scared to think rationally I jump out of the shower. Matt is the only one with a key and he’s at work, in Midway. “Hello?” no one answers and Cat says: Why would they answer and give away their hiding spot. Rock then points out that my electrical toothbrush that usually has a little green light indicating that it’s charging, has no light.
I finally breathe out as I realize the power is out in the bathroom. I flash the lights to double check.
Phew.
Rock: You’re never right and never will be you stupid cat.

Shoulder Pals

I have these two different personalities that sit on opposite shoulders and whisper things to me and they are always at war. Most people have an Angel and a Devil, but that is not my problem. I have a cat on my left shoulder that nervously paces back and forth and cries at every noise. On my other shoulder sits a rock, stable and sturdy. My scaredy cat and reasonable rock are constantly fighting. Lucky for me, when Matt is home I can’t hear them as well, but every now and then I hear, Are the doors locked? Did you hear that? and Don’t worry, Matt’ll take care of it.

I get up, on average, two times a night to use the restroom. I don’t turn any lights on to save my retinas from burning and I leave all doors on the way open to keep an obstruction free return to bed. Scaredy Cat always says, What if someone runs at you with a knife? or What if someone is in the shower…with a knife? Then Reasonable Rock says, That’s crazy. How would they have gotten in? Why would they choose your house? You’re being ridiculous. Then Scaredy Cat says, What if there is a huge spider about to crawl on you? and Reasonable Rock says, They are more afraid of you then you are of them.
Cat: What if it’s a Hobo Spider.
Rock: Shut up you stupid cat.
Cat: You’ll be sorry when I’m right.
Rock: You’re never right, so how can you know that?
They are arguing so loudly that I’m totally awake now and when I crawl back into bed I can’t fall back asleep. Not that I could anyway because Cat says: Did you hear that? It was a rat.
Rock: It’s just an old house.
Cat: Old houses don’t make chewing and scampering noises. It’s a rat.
Rock: It’s Sara (lives above us) rocking her baby back to sleep.
Every night it’s the same story, sometimes only once but sometimes as many as three times a night, and if it’s not the rat then it’s a spider.
Cat: Did you feel that? It was a spider on your arm.
Rock: It’s just an itch.
Cat: Spider.
Rock: Arm hair brushing against the sheet.
Cat: Spider.

As if being pregnant isn’t hard enough, I can’t even get a good night’s sleep.

Mind Voyage

Don’t you love it when you have time to just think and your mind goes on a trail and you say to yourself, How did I get here? I love it. This morning when I woke up (for the final time, not the first time when Matt went to work.) I was still in bed and my mind went on a journey, one I will share.
I woke up and thought:
-I hate feeling sick. I wonder if I’ll feel like this the whole 9 months.
-Started thinking about my little raspberry growing and remembered my appointment on Tuesday.
-I don’t want to go to the Gynecologist(confession). Before I go I need to call Jefrilyn(my sister).
-I miss my sister and her cute family. I hate that they moved to Georgia.
-When Matt and I have enough money we’ll go to Georgia to visit, and for him to show me Mission stuff.
-Plane tickets are expensive.
-I heard Planes contribute to Free Radical Damage. We’ll take lots of Antioxidants before we go. People will probably think I’m crazy if I tell them that, but I learned about it at school.
-O2 is oxygen(we breath CO2), when it is just O it is a free radical and wreaks havoc in our body(CO is poisonous). Antioxidants link to these spare O molecules to keep them bound.
-I got the highest score in high school on the Chemistry final. Not a big deal you say, well there were a lot of smarty pants in that class. Made me feel smart.
-I love being told that I’m smart. My dad used to call me his smart cookie.
-I remember the first time I thought, I think I’m smarter than those other kids. I was in Kindergarten at Jim Bridger Elementary. A Room Helper(I think that’s the technical term) took me into a special room to read words on flash cards. I didn’t realize that at that age not all the kids could read. She started out with easy words like Cat and Log. I felt like a cheater because I didn’t sound out the words. I had memorized them. She got to harder words like That, and I felt like a bigger cheater because I memorized the TH and SH and didn’t sound those out either. I passed. We moved like a month later and I started school in Murray(I was in the highest reading group in first grade and got a hard back book, everyone else had soft).
-I only have three memories of Jim Bridger. The one I just told about reading, the halls, and my mean teacher. I’m not sure if she was mean all the time, but I only have one memory of her and she was mean. My desk was closest to the door and my back was to it. Ms. Taylor left the room and told us to be quiet. I was, but there were a lot of other kids talking. She came back in and was angry. She said, Everyone that was talking put your heads on your desk. EVERYONE put their heads down except me. I hadn’t been talking. She walked over and, from behind, shoved my head down. I don’t remember if I cried or not, but I remember wanting to.
My vague memory of the halls is that there were ramps. I hope someone can confirm that. I remember them slanting down then back up again. I was running to find David(my brother) and maybe that was a dream because it isn’t a real stable memory.
-How did I get here? Why am I thinking about this?
-Maybe I should get out of bed.

Al

I found this picture while looking for something else. You might look at it and see five very good looking people. Probably not. You might see four moderately disgusting people that haven’t showered in five days and one horribly revolting man that has literally been living in a van down by the river. This all started two summers ago. Matt, JoNeale, Daniel and I started the week off by driving to Moab. We saw Arches NP which was really cool to see considering it’s a symbol of the state I’ve lived in my whole life, and I had never seen it. That night, in order to save money, we found a playground in the middle of a ball diamond. We grabbed our tarp and slept under the stars, or more rather a tube tunnel-which Daniel slept in. The wood chips/tiny gravel pieces made for comfortable enough bedding. The worst part was the wakeup call by the sprinklers at 5 AM. Needless to say it was an adventure before our real adventure even started.
That morning we drove up to our drop off site with a man, large in stature- that could have been a pro wrestler, but had a passion for upholstery. We started our river trip with high spirits. That day was long and hot.
I was in charge of the map. It was my job to make sure we went far enough each day and didn’t pass our pickup spot. Written on the map in small letters was the word Allen next to where we would end our journey.

It was fun to be on the river, but we would stop whenever we felt like it to hike, eat, sleep, etc. Most of the time was spent rowing or swimming beside the boat. We saw an abandoned house, caves, a “post office” (just a bunch of rocks in a pile), and great rocks to jump into the river from.
The weather was mostly good, but one night the boys left their rain flap off and they woke up with dirt caked all over them! Our last night it rained liked crazy as we were trying to find a good place to pull over and sleep. So many memories. As you can imagine, we were pretty dirty and stanky after 5 days on that river.
Our last day we only had a couple of miles left on the trip so we took our time. We were the first ones to the dock and we unload our canoes. We sat for a while waiting for someone to come and help us. We waited for this so-called Allen to contact us.
Sure enough a river troll lurking in the trees emerged. He went around talking to all the groups that had finally made it. When it was our turn, he introduced himself as Al, and continued to tell us how he lived in this old trailer (pretty much just a van with a sink), and how he’d been doing research. I looked him up and down and thought what kind of research? How to make a shirt out of beard hair?
I can’t remember what he said, but something about plants. I do remember thinking- they already had a breakthrough with that- 20 years ago! I asked him how he did research and if he had the internet? He told me that there was no way to get service but that he had an encyclopedia. One encyclopedia. Probably from the 70s.
The reason I don’t remember that little bit is because I saved all the room in my memory for what happened next. He told us that he had a breakthrough. He said that Christ was just a man. He said that anytime in the New Testament when it mentioned dead it meant dead tired (he informed me that that is where that expression came from), so when it said dead it meant asleep. He told me that Jesus was a carpenter and what did he mainly make? This man knew, I don’t know how? It must have been through revelation that only this troll was allowed to know, but he told me that Christ made the first bed. They only had bed rolls before that.
He went on to say that the reason people were sick and had infirmities was from the ground. They had back problems and diseases from the earth. He claimed that the reason people followed him was so he would make them a bed and the reason people were healed was because he “raised” them from the dead-his interpretation: raised them off the ground while they were sleeping.
I must admit it must have taken him a while to come up with this idea. What I don’t understand is why he didn’t ever read the New Testament. His idea was only from the stories he had heard because he obviously never read it.
I wonder how Christ healed those blind men with his amazing bed making skills. I wonder why the other carpenters did jump on this very complex idea of a bed frame.
I think it’s funny that people will do all they can to humanize Christ’s divinity.
Very often I think back on Al and sometimes I feel bad for him and sometimes I can’t help but laugh. I mean just look at him!

Honeymoon!

Matt and I drove to California the day after we got married. Road Trip! We got on our ship right after Church!

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas.

It was so much fun. We went snorkeling, jumped off a 30 ft rock into the water (I dove in the second time. Bad idea. I landed on my back! So embarrassing and it hurt!), found a cave, and went parasailing!

The water was warm, the fish were beautiful, the coral was sharp (I hit my heel on some and had a large wound that didn’t heal for weeks and is still tender 2 months later!), and the sand was flesh burningly hot.
One of our favorite stops.

Our second stop was Mazatlan.

We were so badly burnt from the day before in Cabo that this stop was actually miserable. We took an air conditioned tour of the city. It was cool, but we had heat exhaustion so we couldn’t fully appreciate this city. The guide dropped us off at a Cathedral (with a Star of David on it because the Jews funded the building because the Mexican Catholics couldn’t afford it.) and we sat in the smoldering, humid church for about 5 minutes, briskly walked around the grounds, and went in the mall where it was air conditioned to find somewhere to sit.

We found our guide watching the America vs. Mexico Soccer game. We sat with him and 35 other Mexicans, as you can guess we were the only ones cheering for America. It was scary when we scored first. I cheered and then looked around at all the angry faces glaring me down. Oops.
Not our favorite stop.

Our last stop was Puerto Vallarta!

This was so much fun! First we drove up to this cute little ranch in the Sierra Madres.
They gave us breakfast, and then we went on a horseback ride up to a waterfall!
We crossed these old, rickety bridges that I thought might break and we would fall to our doom. Luckily we made it.After we rode our horses back to the ranch we went on the zip lines! 14 different platforms, some longer than others, some higher than others, some over water, some over rocks, and some through trees. We were with a man and his two kids. We had to watch the kids because our guide didn’t speak Spanish and the man threw up after like 5 of them. What a wimp.

After that we had lunch! So good! They served everyone fajitas, but only Matt and I got Chili Rellanos also! It was so cool. Now I’m hungry. I think I’ll make fajitas for dinner. Anyway, after lunch they put on some show where they served free tequila (heck yes! Oh wait, we didn’t drink that) and had a dancing horse.

Yes, I put it on here so everyone can enjoy.

If you actually watched that you’re a fool.

That was so much fun and our other favorite stop.

So, we thought all the fun was over now that we were off our boat. We were wrong. On our way home we stopped at Morrie and Michelle’s in Vegas for the night. They talked us into staying another night (not too hard) and we went to ….
Hoover DAM!! I had never been there so it was cool.

Well, we eventually made it back to our little apartment to start the boring lives that we now live.

Best Day Ever!

Matt and I got married on August 7! It was so cool. I loved getting married! It really is the best day.

We got married in the Salt Lake Temple, it was gorgeous! We had our parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and some cousins that were able to come. It’s awesome to see all these people that we love so much surrounding us.

Well, we were scheduled to be married at 10, so Matt and I (and our escorts) had to be there extra early-8:30- to check in and get ready and all that. Well, I got up early which is a feat for me. I was so excited, like Christmas. Jefrilyn did my hair, and we couldn’t quite get it right like before, so it took longer than when we practiced, and what we anticipated. Then I got to talk to JoNeale, so that took up some time. Anyway, we were running a little late, and we drove with my parents. We got to park under the conference center for free! Yah! Except so did the other 175 weddings so there was no where to park. I was so excited, and maybe this is bad, but I didn’t care that we were late. I was on cloud 9. Well we got there at around 9:30ish. We were so late, but they still let us get married! My family told me that it was the longest wedding they’d ever seen. Turns out that the guy that married us is my grandma’s best friend, Betty Blair’s brother. Kind of cool!

Then there was a delicious wedding lunch in Herriman. It was so fun to see all the Barnes’ there and eat the yummy food. Once again Matt and I were way late for it. Most people were almost done eating. Oh well, I loved it!

That night was the reception in my parent’s yard. Everyone pitched in and helped so so so much. It was so cool. A lot of people came to support us and there was a long line before Matt and I got there because, surprisingly, we were late. We had a good excuse though, we were helping get ready. We had yummy food and cake and even though we didn’t get everything ready in time and forgot about a lot of stuff, I thought it was the perfect day!!

(That night we stayed at the Anniversary Inn. David and Erin, and Jefrilyn and Paul paid for us to stay there and got us a fun basket of goods. We stayed in the Phantom of the Opera room. It was awesome!)

My Good Looking Husband…really

I have the best husband! I could be all sappy and list all the wonderful things he does, which I probably will do someday, but I was looking through some pictures and along with all his wonderful qualities, I realized how lucky I am to have such a good looking guy!!

At first I thought it might be cruel to publish all these, but it’s his own fault for not giving me a real smile!

So really, He is the best looking guy I've ever seen, to be nice, here are a few to prove it.

3 Years in a Blur

It’s crazy to me that three years ago I was getting back from Chicago with a crush on a cute boy that I had met out there. Here’s a walk down memory lane, or more like a list of the important things that have happened since, that made it go by so fast.

Matt started school at UVU 3 Augusts ago. He moved into Gomer’s house - my favorite house I’ve ever seen- with Mike. We did the commute thing where he lived in Provo and I lived with my parents in Murray. I transferred my credits to SLCC and graduated with my Associates.

That coming January I took off to Hawaii with JoNeale. I had no idea how hard THAT long distance relationship would be. Loved Hawaii and Laie and the PCC.

I got back on April 26th, I’m horrible with dates, but I remember that because if was Matt’s birthday. I was nervous to see how things would work out. We went to a Bee’s Game with the Barnes family and it felt like I hadn’t even left.

That summer Matt, my brother Daniel, my sister JoNeale and I took a river trip down the Green River. So much fun!!! I loved that! We met Al, a topic of some other blog. Such good memories from that.

That fall I started the Aesthetics program as Matt started his second year at UVU. I was once again in Murray and he in Provo.

In January I moved to Provo to check it out. I rode the bus everyday for over an hour to get back to Salt Lake for school. What was I thinking?

That summer Matt started working for Magleby. There was a summer company party that foretold the outcome of our relationship. I was given a name badge that said, “Kaycie Barnes, wife of Matt Barnes.”

That August I finished school as Matt started his third year at UVU.

In February, as our siblings left, weeks apart, on Missions for our Church-JoNa: Philippines, Daniel: Mexico, Eric: Mexico- I was getting ready to take off to the East coast.

In April I was living in a cute little apartment right off of Broadway in Manhattan. Living my dream. Cute Matt came out for my birthday and we left that second week in May. It was my shortest move, so we’ll see if I can get Matt back out there someday.

That summer we planned our wedding, and in August Matt started his fourth, and hopefully last, year at UVU.

Those three years were fast, but they were my favorite!

Engagement!

I was living in New York City, which had always been my dream. I had only been out there for a month when my cute boyfriend came to visit me for my birthday. It was so much fun!
The day before my birthday we went to Brooklyn and as we were crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, Matt proposed to me! So we packed up my stuff and I came home to plan our wedding.

That obviously isn't where the story starts, but that's where it gets good!