Retrospect..

2008

January We drove up to Idaho in Whit’s cute red car. Unfortunately, the whole way up the ice was collecting on the windows inside! The towels and scrappers were kept handy. Once in Rexburg, we went to the Rexburg Temple Open House. Amazing! On the way home, we got lost. But, just a little…

February Whitney and I hopped in the car and drove to an unknown destination. We eventually ended up in Heber where we stopped at the Homestead to take pictures. Cold -but very fun!


March Jared’s car somehow ended up in the shop a few times in the month of March. Jared was not pleased to be car-less so, I baked him one. (Yes, It is a car cake.. trust me.)



April I was in a “sick as a dog” state for a good part of April. One day, Jared brought me home my favorite flower.


May Jared and I went to feed the ducks at Liberty Park where we saw a very talented roller blader! ...He even bladed backwards!

June My family was all together in June, when we traveled to Oregon to visit my grandmother and Aunt MoJo Jo jo. Jeremy was Jared’s shadow. We went on a picnic during a monsoon (or so it felt..) My dad was on a hamburger kick and we ate at my favorite small-town-truck-stop-restaurant, the Logger. (The Lucky Logger, as some call it…) This is where Aushi ordered the… Bubba Burger. (Name explains all) Oh, and to my great joy.. Jared loves Oregon.

July While hiking to Lake Mary, Curtis took a photo op and hopped in a cave-like-crack in the rocks. Suddenly, a girly scream is let out and Curtis Lo struggles to climb out of the rock as he explains that the wall moved!

“A wall of spiders!”

August Every morning, we climbed on the bus and the recording started. We’d get off the bus at our pre-determined stop and go on to see some of the most beautiful sites in the world! (Yes, in the world. I know this because I heard about 50 different accents and languages that weekend. If all of those fine tourists were in Zions, it must be a sight to see!) .. and it was! Special thanks to Curtis, our Sherpa.

September Jared and I decided to ditch a Motab performance with the fam and instead, we went and got engaged. (to my surprise, of course..) After the new clothes from Buckle, my favorite oriental chicken salad from Applebees, JT’s nervousness and a romantic carriage ride where he popped the question, we went to Temple Square. A friend joined us (by jumping on me and scaring me greatly..) He was the first to know of the good news! (Besides the carriage driver who.. Frankly, my dear, didn’t give a “darn"..)

October Kristie, Whitney and I hiked following the stream further into the woods where beautiful fall leaves surrounded us. When we decided to head back, we realized.. We were lost. This was very dangerous. Especially the jogger that snuck up on us and the sweet dear who, at first, we mistook for a bear.

November After dinner in my kitchen one night, Whitney and Kristie grabbed a small pack of sour skittles that were leftover from Halloween. Whitney put one in her mouth with a sour face that followed. When I looked over I saw that the skittles had ended up in her water. She claimed that it was good to drink sour skittle water and then eat the sweet remains. To my and ShayLee’s horror.. Kristie’s water then became green like Whit’s.

December Loud, stinky, and dirty construction at work = Awesome pink hard hats from the construction company. Yay!

2008 has given me great joys and sorrows but, that.. is what a good year is made of. A trial at the start of 08 has brought forth more blessings in a year than I could have ever imagined.

As the new year rolls in, It will bring forth many new adventures for me. I look forward to a new year of both joys and sorrows to learn and grow from.

Baby, it's cold outside...

Christmas Eve

Austin's well wrapped gift

Jared's favorite part of the evening...

Martinellis

Christmas Day

Kadenbug and his bow

Melissa's house this morning..

Dear Santa,

Everytime Jared and I go to Walmart (I'm sure you know how many possilbe trips you can take in one week!) Jared leads us to the electronic section and down the isle with TV's that all have the same thing on the screen...

He looks for the LCD's the and the 1080P's and then we leave the isle and go on our way shopping for the items we came for.

I'm pretty sure, Santa, that this is what he wants for Christmas..

Please please PLEASE let it snow!

Some pictures from a great weekend:

It finally has snowed. A little.

Before it did, Whitney, Curtis and I went up to the mountains
to play in the little snow that Utah had. Greatest snow on Earth. Psh.

(Mmm. I love them.) &the snow.

THIS is my favortie picture of Whitney. Of all time.

Even more than this..

(Yes, This is Roger Rabbit's door)

Or this...

Or this...

Or this...

Or this...

Or this...

Or even this...

Which tells you how much I love the picture way above.

Any...way..

We also went to see

Temple Lights with friends :)

With this to follow...

Dear Boltman...

My already non-private work space has been invaded. And today is just the first day of the construction site.

The ceiling was removed, plastic laid, and if you thought the tape was loud.. just wait for the tools to get started and the walls to go up! My co-workers even became traitors and shut their doors. Why would I call them that, you ask?

I have no door.

And yet, I still shouldn't complain because today, we ate delicious homemade "Oh Henries", listened to Brian Regan (funny) and even popped the plastic laid on the floor (we did that by... dancing)

....Pret-ty cool.

P.S. Plus.. When I got to work this morning, there was an email from someone who signed their name... "The Boltman" and so, I responded,

"Dear Boltman (POW!)"

Pow, like the superhero comic books, you know..

I did. Except for.. the "POW!" I wanted to though..

Oh, Arnold...

Things I'm Grateful For..

Just a few

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ... and all of the sweetness that comes with it. It brings the happiness into my life.

The Savior - "Jesus is my friend. He is my exemplar. He is my teacher. He is my healer. He is my leader. He is my Savior and my Redeemer. He is my God and my King." -President Gordon B. Hinckley

Jared - For his kindness, his love, his patience, his testimony, his encouragement, the hard work, the support, the humor, the fun times and the hugs during the hard. I'm a lucky girl.

My Family - My sweet and hilarious Mom.. The countless things she does for me everyday. I couldn't ask for a better friend. My Dad and his wonderful example of charity and selflessness... & his awesome sense of humor. Aushi and Jerm. They have my heart.

My funloving, eccentric, and now forgetful aunt, Deanne. I wish I could play and laugh with her everyday. haha.Kent, Jodi, and Nicole. A sweet and incredibly optimistic grandmother and my inspiring, wise, artistic Aunt Joleen.

My Friends - Oh, how they've blessed my life. I would be nothing without them. No, really..it's true.

The mountains - They inspire me everyday. I wish I could visit them with my camera daily.

I love Thanksgiving turkey. It's the only time in Los Angeles that you see natural breasts. ~Arnold Schwarzenegger

Group hugs in Abundance..

ShayLee and Kristie visited home a couple weeks ago and we had a delicious reunion. The sort of good time that leaves your soul feeling refreshed and at peace... just plain happy.

Almost on empty, I drove up Little Cottenwood Canyon. I drove and drove but, hadn't found an acceptable trail. Finally, I pulled off. (Thinking that I better stop soon before we can't drive for much longer.) It was a gorgeous day for mid-November.

We started up the trial and after hiking, eventually came to a waterfall coming off of a steep, smooth rock. It was beautiful. We decided to climb up higher and higher until we were as high as we could go. On a small ledge, we leaned against the rock wall of the mountain. We talked, laughed and cried about life and how sweet it really is. Over looking the miles of the beautiful mountains that belong to our hearts, we had one of those "I'll remember this moment forever"-kind of moments. Beautiful.

Didn't know I was so cheesy, did you?

We made it back to our car just in time, before the sun was too low and the cold too much to bear. "Let's spoil ourselves with a nice dinner," I suggest. We got into the Spaghetti Factory without a wait at all (there's a first time for everything..) You just can't beat that delicious Spumoni ice cream that I've loved my entire life. As we made our way home, ShayLee "tuned" the ipod to "This Kiss" by Faith Hill. We sang all the way.