The Stewart Family

Life is Crazy!

2010-12-30T08:21:00.000-08:00

It has been forever since I've blogged! Life has been so busy with work and the bake shop ( mostly the bake shop) that I just haven't had time -sorry!
Anyway, Devan is now going into Massage Therapy. It's wonderful! He just finished Swedish Massage and Hot Stone Massage is up next! We have a massage table in our house and I love making sure he gets enough practice in!
My position at work changed -I'm no longer working with our South East Asia and India offices. Now I'm working with our offices in Australia, New Zealand, Korea and Japan! It's a lot of fun and hopefully I'll be going on a trip soon!
At church both of our callings have changed. I'm no longer Young Women President, I'm now the Ward Music Chairperson, Ward Pianist, Primary Pianist, and Ward Choir Director! It's been interesting since I'm not very good at the piano and I've never conducted a choir before. Devan is no longer 2nd Counselor in the Young Men Presidency - he is now Assistant Scout Master.
Anyway, last night I went to Temple Square and I think I got a pretty good picture of the temple (at least for taking it on my cell phone) so I thought I'd share.

Kuala Lumpur and Mumbai (Bombay)

2010-09-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

The first part of August I got to go to Malaysia and India for work. My company has offices in those countries so I was sent to check out the offices and see how they do things there and to train the employees.

First I went to Malaysia. I stayed in the Hilton and it was super nice! Here's my room:

I didn't get to do a lot of sightseeing in Malaysia cause there just wasn't time but Jessie (she's over Distributor Services in the office there) took me to visit China Town where I bought most of my souvenirs.

It was pretty crowded! But they had a lot of cool stuff there at very cheap prices. They also had some interesting fruit they were selling that grows there in Malaysia. Some of it I had had before in Okinawa on my mission but a lot of the fruit I had never seen before. It was all yummy though! :)

I was in Malaysia on Sunday so I found an LDS church to go to. Malaysia has such a huge mix of different cultures that the services were in English (lucky for me). :) Everyone was very nice and a family from Utah (they've lived in a lot of foreign countries because of the dad's job) invited me over for lunch afterwards. Lunch was delicious and their apartment was super nice! Floor to ceiling windows in their living room! I was able to get a picture of the famous Twin Towers through their window.

Sunday night I flew to Mumbai (used to be known as Bombay). It is a very crowded place! There weren't really any lines at the airport -you basically have to push your way through to get through any of the "lines". There are so many cars on the street and horns are always honking -it reminds me of bumper cars. I didn't see many lines painted on the road -cars just drive where they can fit and they don't stop for pedestrians -it was quite scary trying to cross the street. The people in our office there were very nice -they gave me the traditional Indian welcome and put the red dot on my forehead and told me that it symbolizes the blessings of God.

I got to eat a lot of delicious food in India! I love Indian food but it was quite different from the food in Indian restaurants here -still delicious though! :) I also got to do some sightseeing with Radhika from the office there. Here's some pictures:

This one is the oldest train station in Bombay. I just thought it looked really cool. :)

Radhika took me to a place called The Great Bombay Store where I bought some cool souvenirs. This picture is a lego model of the Taj Mahal. I thought it was pretty sweet.

This is the Gateway to India which was erected way back when King George V visited Bombay.

This is a really nice hotel right by the Gateway to India. It was bombed by terrorists in 2008. They've obviously fixed it up again.

This is Radhika and me with the shoreline in the background. They call it "The Queen's Necklace". You can't see the whole shoreline but it goes around in a half circle and at night when all the lights are one it looks like a big sparkly necklace.

This is a picture of the lobby of the hotel I stayed in. The Intercontinental -super nice!

It was a lot of fun in both countries and I'm glad I got to go. This week I just got another promotion at work so I'm no longer working with those markets. My next trip will be to either Australia, New Zealand, Korea or Japan most likely!

Eleanor's Bake Shop

2010-08-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

So... my family just started a bakery!!! The Grand Opening is tomorrow from 8am-8pm and the address is 9495 S 560 W Bldg. D Sandy, UT 84070 Phone: (801) 563-7466. I totally should have blogged about this sooner but I've been so busy blogging and facebooking for the bakery that I totally forgot about my own blog. lol. Anyway, the food is delicious! Come on by! And if you come for the Grand Opening you get a free cake pop! We're also serving lunch from 11am-2pm. The rest of the hours we're open will be just baked goods. Check out our blog http://eleanorsbakeshop.blogspot.com/ and we're on facebook too! Just look up Eleanor's Bake Shop.

These are our cake pops! They are delicious! In fact, I've never met anyone who has tried them and doesn't like them! Come get a free one on Saturday.

This is the Ham & Swiss Arepa (one of our lunch menu items). It's amazing! You have to try it!

My New Haircut

2010-07-28T20:56:00.000-07:00

We just took a family picture but shortly afterwards I decided to chop my hair off so here's another family picture with my new look! I really like my new 'do. Especially since it's nice and cool for the summer time. What do you (the few readers that I might actually have) think?

Our New Family Picture

2010-06-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day Weekend in Colorado

2010-06-04T13:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Devan and I were able to fly out to Denver to visit his sister Jalayne, her husband Doug and their cute litte daughter Hailey. We had so much fun!

We got to visit Hammond's Candies -it was fun to be able to watch them make the candy and then we spent way too much in the store. But it sure was delicious! Here's some pictures (those of you who read Doug & Jalayne's blog may see some of the same pictures -sorry!).

We also went to see the Denver Botanic Gardens. I thought it was awesome! They had so many different types of gardens -my favorite was the Japanese garden because it's just so peaceful. It was perfect weather to walk around the gardens too. We also ended up with a good picture of Devan and me and it's going to be our new family picture. I'm not going to post it right now because I don't have the edited file (there were some people in the background) on this computer so I'll have to post it later. Anyway, here's some pictures:

What we like to call a "firework flower".

What a cute little family!

Isn't he cute! The background looks nice too. :)

Now he's just being a dork. lol

We also found out that Denver has a ton of gluten free restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores with GF food, etc... We went to this Italian restaurant called Abrusci's and they had almost everything gluten free. I ordered Baked Ravioli (GF), Devan ordered Linguini with Roasted Tomatoes (GF so he could share with me) and Jalayne ordered Chicken Parmesan (also GF). They were all delicious! I also ordered some GF bread for a starter that came out with the regular complimentary bread. It was delicious!

On Monday before flying home we went to a family BBQ for Memorial Day and we played Mad Gab. :) I love that game! My team won of course. :)

Anyway, we had tons of fun! Thanks Doug, Jalayne, and Hailey for letting us come visit!

Mother's Day FHE

2010-05-11T08:27:00.000-07:00

We had an awesome Mother's Day yesterday with lots of delicious food made by the men (Dad, Josh, and Devan). We started this new thing to help prepare Jamie and Ferrin (and hopefully Jessica) for missions. Once a month we pick a country and have food from that country for dinner and then someone gives a lesson using Preach my Gospel. We figure that will help with spiritual preparation and it will hopefully help them be less picky when it comes to food. Jamie and Ferrin are our two pickiest eaters.

Anyway, Sunday was German day. Dad made German Hot Potato Salad and Bratwursts. Josh made something with cabbage (I don't know what it was called but it was pretty darn good). Devan made Apple Streusel (we got the recipe from Sharon Schwartz so it was authentic). Everything was delicious!! Ferrin didn't like the cabbage but he did try it so that was a big step. lol

Daniel taught the lesson on Faith from chapter 6 of Preach my Gospel -Christlike Attributes. We had a good discussion on what faith is and how if we really have faith we are led to action -repentance, obedience, and diligent service. There is an attribute activity at the end of the chapter and we did the section on faith to see how strong our faith was. Daniel challenged us to complete the whole attribute activity later and find our weakest Christlike attribute. He then challenged us to read the Book of Mormon and look for things that pertain to our weakest attribute and mark those scriptures.

Laura will be teaching the lesson next month but I'm not sure what country we're doing. I think we're going to put the names of a bunch of countries in a bowl and draw one out to decide.

Paintballing

2010-05-11T08:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday we got a big group together and went paintballing in Morgan, Utah. We had 15 of us there: Mom, me, Devan, Laura, Daniel, Jamie, Ferrin, Jessica, my cousin Brock, two of Daniel's roommates, Marc (a friend from my work), and three of Devan's brothers. We went for Daniel's birthday. For those of you who know that Daniel's birthday is in February you may be wondering why we did this in May. We did celebrate Daniel's birthday on time but Devan and I wanted to take him paintballing for his birthday present and it didn't happen til now. It would have been a little cold to do it outside in February.

Anyway, we had a blast! It was an outdoor course and there was another group there so they mixed us up and split us into two teams. We played quite a few games and some of us ended up with some pretty nasty welts. Most of us didn't get any but Laura, who was only there for 30 minutes (the rest of us were there for 2 hours) got 3 welts!

I'll just tell one quick story that I remember from our paintballing. The last game we played was a form of Capture the Flag. Both teams started off at different forts and there was another fort in the middle with a flag in it. The object was to get to the tower, grab the flag and bring the flag to the opposing team's fort within 15 minutes. If you get shot then you're out so you have to be careful. I was at the top of my team's fort so I had a good view of pretty much everything. The other team was winning -they were able to shoot quite a few of our guys and they were getting closer to the fort with the flag. I was able to shoot some of the opposing team's guys from my tower but our men were dying quickly. We probably had about 4 guys left on our team when I ran out of ammo. We still had about 5 minutes left before the time was up and I was the only one in the tower so I just kept shooting my gun anyway hoping that the noise would hold them off for a while. Well, one of the guys on the other team was able to get to the flag and he was making his way closer to our fort/tower. I kept shooting but when there was about 5 seconds left he made a break for our fort and reached it at the last possible second and we lost. :( Afterwards people were asking how I could have possibly missed when he was coming straight for me. lol

Anyway, like I said, it was a lot of fun and I definitely wouldn't mind going again. :)

Three Years!!!

2010-04-08T10:39:00.000-07:00

Monday is our anniversary -we will have been married for three whole years! It's crazy to think about. Sometimes it seems like we've been married forever and other times it feels like its gone by so fast and we've barely been married at all.

I do love being married though. I've decided to celebrate by posting the top ten things I love about being married to Devan (in no particular order):

1. I love cooking for someone who will eat and enjoy (or at least pretend to enjoy) everything that I make.
2. I love having someone to help with the dishes.
3. I love that I never have to clean the bathroom (that's Devan's job). :)
4. I love having someone I can talk to about absolutely anything.
5. I love being able to get a nice big hug when I'm upset about something.
6. I love my in-laws! I now have two super-awesome families!
7. I love having someone to baby me when I'm sick (my mom just quarantined us -no fun at all).
8. I love being grown up and figuring things out with just the two of us (bills and fun stuff like that). :)
9. I love not having to say goodbye to Devan at night. I can fall asleep and he can still be there (unless he's off playing soldier).
10. I love having someone who cares as much about me as I care about him.

I love you Devan! You are the best husband ever! Thanks for making me such a lucky woman!

P.S. As I was reading the top ten that I chose I realized that my list had changed quite drastically from what it would have been if I wrote it right after I got married. There's only a few things that would have made both lists. I love different things about my marriage now but I still love it!

2010-03-26T07:16:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a while since I posted. Sorry! Life has been busy! I got a promotion at work. I started this Monday so today I'm finishing my first week on the new job. I am the International Coordinator for South East Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia) & India. Before I was training the customer service department. My new position is interesting. I'm hoping that it will get better as I get used to it and understand what is expected of me. I really miss training though. : ( Oh well.

Devan has been at Camp Williams for the past two weeks at Warrior Leadership Course with the Army National Guard. He has been learning all sorts of leadership skills and he's had a really good time with it. The pay is nice too. : )

Interesting things have been happening in the family as well. My brother who was engaged is no longer engaged thanks to her. I won't say much about that one though cause I'll just get angry. And my sister who has always insisted that she would never go on a mission is now planning on going. She is super excited about it and is going to get the papers started. She doesn't turn 21 until November so she has a little bit of time. It'll go fast though. I'm super excited for her!!! A mission is the best thing ever! Other than marriage and having kids (I wouldn't know about that one though, I just assume it's pretty great).

Anyway, that's my life right now. : )

Happy New Year!

2010-01-05T10:45:00.000-08:00

I know for a lot of people, 2009 is a year they wouldn't mind forgetting, but for me it was pretty darn good. Last January Devan and I were living in an apartment in Taylorsville. Devan was going to school at SLCC and working at the Driver License Division and I was working at 4Life as a phone rep. We were both teaching the 7-8 year olds in Primary.

Nothing really changed until March. In March I applied for a promotion to Distributor Services Trainer and I got it! That was a really good move for me, I love it! Also (I'm not sure if it was February or March) Devan and I started looking for a house.

In May I was called to be YW Camp Director and shortly thereafter we found the house we wanted. We had a great realtor and a great lender so the process of buying a house went really quickly once we found the one we liked. We actually ended up moving before Girl's Camp but we stayed in our old ward until camp was over. We moved into our new house the middle of July and camp was the first week of August.

In our new ward I was hoping for a little bit more of a low-key calling. At that point I didn't want to plan anything big, something like teaching or playing the piano was what I wanted and I actually got it. In September I was called to be the Laurel Advisor and Devan got the more challenging calling- 1st Counselor in the YM Presidency!

Devan's calling has been challenging with school and work happening at the same time, but it's been a good experience for him. I enjoyed my calling while it lasted, but it didn't last long. In December I was released and called to be the YW President (I wrote about it in a previous post)!

2009 has been a year of many challenges but they have all been good. I am very happy with the direction our lives are going and I can't wait to see what the new year has in store for us!

Happy New Year everyone!

Family Pictures

2009-12-15T11:44:00.000-08:00

The family all got together for Thanksgiving and we took a much needed family photo. The last family photo we had was about 12 years ago. We took the picture with my camera but my tripod had gone missing so we had to have someone else take it, luckily my cousin Jacob was willing to help and it turned out great. I did do a little bit of photoshopping (I reduced the size of some double chins and stuff like that) but I really like how it turned out, especially the silly picture. We have such a good looking family. ;)

Our Callings

2009-12-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

So, we started attending our new ward in August and in September I was called to be the Laurel advisor and Devan was called to be the 1st counselor in the Young Men's Presidency. I was pretty excited about it. I thought I was going to get a nice, low-key calling while Devan did all the work. And then, a few weeks ago the Bishop called me in and told me I was being released. That was quite a shocker! And then he told me something even more shocking, they wanted to call me to be the Young Women's President! So much for my low-key calling. Oh well, it'll be fun, especially since Devan is in Young Men's too. We might even be able to go to youth conference together.

Jamie & Her Roommates

2009-10-18T22:05:00.000-07:00

So my sister and her roommates wanted me to take some pictures of them so they could make a Christmas card to give to all their friends at college. We went out to Provo Canyon to take the pictures with the fall leaves. It was a lot of fun and I think the pictures turned out pretty well. If you can't tell by now, I really enjoy making photo collages.

Governor's Day

2009-10-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

For those of you who may know when Governor's Day is, you'll know I'm posting this kind of late (it was September 19th), but hey, later is better than never. Anyway, on Governor's Day all the soldiers in the Utah National Guard (both Army and Air Force) march for the Governor and he inspects the troops. They have all sorts of booths set up selling food and they had some rock-climbing and bull-riding (not real bulls of course) available free of charge. They also bring in some helicopters, howitzers, humvees, etc... for people to see and take pictures in front of. It is always pretty fun and afterwards we go out to lunch with the fam. Devan, two of his brothers, and his dad are all in the guard, so that makes it pretty fun. Here's some pictures of the fun day:

The family posing in front of a howitzer. You may think it looks like a tank, but really, it is much cooler than a tank. A tank doesn't shoot very far but a howitzer can blow something up that is 20 miles away. Pretty cool. That's what Devan does, he's in artillery.

Devan, his dad, his brother Nick, and his brother Rusty posing on top of the howitzer.

I couldn't get a picture of the whole field full of soldiers, but here's half of it. It kind of gives you an idea how many were there.

This is a picture of Devan. You can't see him very well, but if you click on the picture and look up close, I have outlined his face with a red circle.

My cute cousin and her cute baby!

2009-10-06T20:07:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I got the opportunity to take some pictures of my beautiful cousin and her adorable baby. Isn't he so cute!?! I just wanted to let you all see.

Sad Day

2009-10-06T19:57:00.000-07:00

Grandpa Turley (my dad's dad) passed away yesterday morning. A few weeks ago, he went to the hospital for the first time in his life and found out he had a bunch of heart problems. He needed open heart surgery but they decided he wouldn't live through the surgery so they sent him home so he could have a little bit of comfort. I still can't believe it, it doesn't seem real at all. Friday I will be flying out to Missouri for his funeral and I'm sure it will hit me then. He is such a wonderful grandpa, I will miss him so much. He has like 70 grandchildren and he was still able to know so much about each one of us and make us all feel loved. I hope I can be as good a person as he was. He was a great example to all who knew him. I know he is in a better place and I know I will see him again and I can't wait. It will be such a happy day! I'm so grateful for the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that my grandpa will be resurrected and I can be with him and the rest of my family for eternity.

We're Homeowners!!!

2009-07-16T11:30:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we signed all the papers, we'll be getting the keys Saturday night and moving in next week!!! We're so excited to finally own a home. Its in Magna in a quiet little neighborhood and Devan's sister Brina and her family live right around the corner. We'll be in the same ward!

Wedding Pictures

2009-07-12T07:40:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures from my cousin Vanessa's wedding. If you want to see more, check out my website www.photographybytreasa.com and click on the "weddings" tab.

Photography by Treasa

2009-06-23T21:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been enjoying photography for a little while now and I finally decided to start a business with it. I have created a website which you should all go check out http://www.photographybytreasa.com/. The pricing isn't on there yet because I still haven't worked all the kinks out of that but its coming. I'm pretty excited to get started! So if anybody wants some pictures, let me know! :)

Here's some photos of my beautiful cousin as a bride. (The wedding pictures will be coming later, I haven't finished all the editing yet).

Super Busy!

2009-05-21T08:55:00.000-07:00

A lot has happened since our Anniversary and I've been terrible at posting. In April, both my brother and my sister came home from their missions so we went on a family vacation at the end of the month. It was fun. First we went up to Park City and stayed in these really nice condos for $25 each! The All Seasons Resort Lodging is great, they have this deal for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. Since my dad and husband have been deployed to Iraq we were able to both get a two-bedroom condo with a kitchen and everything for just the $25 cleaning fee. We just hung out at the condos, watching movies and relaxing in the hot tub. The next day we went shopping at the Outlet Stores. Then later that day we headed down to Price and stayed in a motel there (not near as nice as the one in Park City, but it was decent). We spent the whole next day exploring Nine Mile Canyon and seeing the petroglyphs there. It was really cool! I'll have to post pictures of it later. That night we went home and slept in our own beds. The next day we were going to go hiking up by Logan, but it was raining all day so we just went to the church and played games. It was a great family vacation and a good time for Devan to get to know my brother and sister more since Daniel left on his mission less than a week after we got married and then Devan left for Iraq soon after that. Laura left for her mission while Devan was gone so he wasn't able to get to know either one of them before.
The week after our family vacation I went to Florida for work. We were having a convention there. The hotel we stayed at was really nice. It was 4.5 acres inside. My room had an inside balcony and the view was beautiful, it looked like I was looking outside. I didn't get to enjoy much of the room or Florida though because I worked 31 hours of overtime that week! It was exhausting! We were working from 7 am until 10 or 11 pm pretty much every day we were there. My feet were super swollen by the time I got back home, but the paycheck was really nice!
As soon as I got back from convention, I had to start working on a slide show video that I was making for Laura and Daniel of their missions because their homecoming was the next Sunday. I also got called as the Young Women Camp Director in my ward and I took Vanessa and Yahosh's engagement pictures. And we got pre-approved for a loan so we can start looking for a house. And we just got a gym membership at 24 hour fitness so we can get back in shape. Basically, life has been super busy lately, but its all been good stuff! We're loving it!

Engagement Photos

2009-05-19T20:18:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took engagement photos for the very first time! My cousin Vanessa and soon-to-be cousin Yahosh are getting married next month and they let me take their pictures! I was excited because now I can start building my portfolio so I can do stuff like this more often. Vanessa and Yahosh are the cutest couple so it was nice to be able to start with them. I was a little nervous because I really wanted them to turn out well, but I think I did a pretty good job. What do you think?

Our 2nd Anniversary!

2009-04-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Our anniversary was on April 12th, Easter. So we decided to celebrate it a little earlier so it wouldn't interfere with all the family stuff for Easter. The Friday night before Easter, we stayed at Castle Creek Inn in the Ivanhoe room. It was awesome! I'll post some pictures of it.

And Devan is so sweet! He has Fridays off but I have to work so he made dinner while I was at work and brought it with him to pick me up from work. We went straight to the Bed & Breakfast and ate the delicious homemade dinner on the balcony of our room. It was porcupine balls (ground beef mixed with rice, formed into balls with seasoned tomato sauce and green peppers poured on top and then baked in the oven). The room was awesome and so was breakfast the next morning. They even make sure its gluten-free for me.

I still can't believe its already been two years! Its been great, other than the year he was in Iraq. lol. We love being married and we can't wait til we can add kids to our family too!

Conference Weekend

2009-04-06T18:44:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was conference and I absolutely loved it! The talks were great, the weather was great, and Devan didn't have drill so I got to spend it with him! Sunday afternoon I was at my parent's house and I brought my camera because my little brother Ferrin needed a new picture. The most recent photo we had of him was when he was like 12. He's almost 16 now so he's changed quite a bit. Anyway, I took a couple pictures of Nolan as well because he's so cute and I thought this one was the best. He looks like he's ready to hook up the trailer. :)

Here are a couple of the pictures I took of Ferrin. I think they turned out pretty well.

The only problem was I fell and scraped my leg after I took the pictures. It looks pretty disgusting, but its really not that bad. It was definitely worth it.

The Ball

2009-03-15T13:23:00.000-07:00

Last night was the annual military ball at the Capitol. I went with Devan and his Dad and brothers. We had lots of fun. First we went out to dinner at P.F. Chang's. We had reservations, but they didn't have a table ready so we still had to wait 30 minutes to be seated so the manager came to our table later and let us know that he would be taking care of the soups and appetizers for everyone. Then when our checks came, we found out that they only took it off of Devan's parents' check. Devan and I had the regular price on ours and his brothers were actually being charged extra! I think the waitress had to take about 3 trips to and from our table with the checks before they finally got it figured out right! It was kind of crazy, but the food was really good and it was a lot of fun. I really do love P.F. Chang's! We finally got out of there and made it to the ball, which was a lot different than I expected. They had a rock band and a swing band there to play the songs, but they only played like two slow songs the whole time we were there! I enjoyed dancing to the other songs as well, but Devan doesn't like to dance much and I guess his family doesn't either cause I was pretty much the only one in our group that danced to the fast songs. Oh well, I still had lots of fun and I would want to go again sometime. Probably not every year, but sometime I would like to go again. Here's some pictures from the ball. We decided to take pictures before the dance so we didn't have to wait in line forever and because its a lot cheaper to take your own. Here they are!

I got a promotion!!

2009-03-15T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've been working as a customer service rep at a place called 4Life Research and for the longest time I've been wanting to be a trainer there. Well, the position finally opened up! 11 people applied for the position and I was the one chosen! I will be helping with the New Employee Training and the twice a month training that we have for everyone else in customer service. I will also be working on updating documents and things like that. I am so excited!

Who Wants to Live Forever

2009-02-11T14:40:00.000-08:00

Okay, rules:

1. Put your music library on shuffle.

2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.

3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG TITLE DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!

4. Tag 10 friends who might enjoy doing this. Post a comment on their blog that says "You've been tagged! See my blog for details."

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS, "IS THIS OKAY," YOU SAY?

When Spirit Speaks to Spirit

2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?

Greater Than Us All

3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?

You Raise Me Up

4)HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

I'm Movin' On

5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?

Better Now

6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?

You Don't Know Me

7) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?

I'm Going Slightly Mad

8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?

Every Day

9) WHAT IS 2+2?

The Miracle

10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?

Little Moments

11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Everybody Wants to Rule the World

12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?

Silence

13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?

Independent Women

14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?

Somebody to Love

15) WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?

Can't Buy Me Love

16) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?

Killer Queen

17) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?

When the Sand Runs Out

18) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?

What Hurts the Most

19) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?

Any Man of Mine

20) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?

You're Still the One

21) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?

Who Wants to Live Forever

I tag Janelle Ertmann, Melinda Mackay, Emily McKenzie, Stephanie Montano, Melanie Nelson, Julie Ross, Julie Carlson, Nikki Schwarz, Kim Stewart, Jalayne Main

Our Trip to Idaho

2009-02-03T14:31:00.000-08:00

Sunday my cousin Mandee was blessing her baby in Idaho. I hadn't seen her forever, I even had to miss her baby shower so I definitely wanted to go. Devan and I found a sub for primary and we headed up to his sister's house in Logan to stay the night so we wouldn't have to drive quite so far in the morning. The baby blessing was supposed to start at 11:30 so we left around 9 and drove up to Idaho Falls. We got there at about 11:20, but the exit number we had been told to take wasn't there so we tried to call someone but they all had their phones off already. We spent the next hour and a half driving around trying to find the place before we finally got a hold of someone. Turns out we were supposed to go to Twin Falls, not Idaho Falls! We were about 160 miles away from our destination but we didn't want to do all that travelling for no reason so we hurried on our way to Twin Falls. On the way, Devan got pulled over and ticketed for going 25 over. His first ticket ever! He was pretty sad about that. We finally got to Twin Falls just as everyone was leaving the place they were having the luncheon. We went with everyone to see the falls and then we went to my cousin's house to eat real quick before we had to leave again. It was so good to see her and her family. Their baby is so cute! Its too bad we weren't able to stay longer so we could visit more. After eating, we were back on the road again and got home at about 9:30 pm. We drove for a little over 10 hours that day for a trip that was supposed to be 6 hours. Its a good thing Devan doesn't get mad otherwise I would have gotten upset as well and we both would have been miserable. But Devan stayed calm so I could be calm as well. Our trip was actually quite enjoyable considering the circumstances. :)

This is totally unrelated but check out this "movie poster" that Marc (from work) made.

It cracks me up. Devan looks like a very nice phantom.

Sometimes the Lord Blesses Us in Our Stupidity

2009-01-29T16:29:00.000-08:00

Today I woke up, took Devan to school, came home and got ready for work, then I drove to work. I was at work for about an hour (it was about 10:30) when I looked at the calendar and realized what day it was. I was supposed to have jury duty this morning at 8:30! I had already asked for the day off and everything, I am just a total airhead. So I talked to my supervisor and told him I was leaving cause I was supposed to be at jury duty. He looked at his calendar and saw that I did have the day off, and then he laughed and said, "You're gonna get arrested!" I was thinking the same thing. I was in tears as I walked out of the building. I called my mom and she calmed me down a bit. We decided I would probably have to reschedule and pay a fine or something. I hurried home to get the address and phone number and I called the court as soon as I could and guess what? They had cancelled it! That was a huge relief!! I talked to my mom afterwards and she said, "Sometimes the Lord blesses us in our stupidity". I thought that was pretty funny, but its so true and I am very grateful.

Blessings!

2009-01-28T10:43:00.000-08:00

So lately we've had a lot of things going on that hurt us financially like the car and the doctors with no insurance. And on top of that, we usually get quite a bit of money from the GI Bill each month so Devan can work part-time and still afford to live while going to school but because the semester ended towards the beginning of December, he wasn't going to school the whole month so we only got a small portion of the money in January. That was a really bad time for that to happen because of all the other things going on. But we've been trying to live more frugally. The thought had crossed my mind to wait and pay tithing next month when we'll have more money, but I quickly tossed that thought aside and paid it anyway. A few days later, we got the rest of the money from the GI Bill because he had registered for the next semester. Now we can afford to pay rent on time. :) I love the Lord and the blessings He gives us!

Life

2009-01-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

Ok. So it's been a while since I posted. The insurance did end up paying for our repairs minus our $500 deductible. We got our car back about a week and a half after putting it in the shop. and then the next week I got this infection that had to be cut open and drained so I went to the doctors on December 30th and got that done. Little did I know, we didn't have insurance. We thought Devan's military insurance was good until the 31st and we were going to renew it, but we hadn't gotten around to it yet. Turns out it actually ended on the 27th. We had to pay for the whole thing ourselves. So things have been a little tough. but at least we still both have our jobs. We'd be in huge trouble if either of us got laid off. Anyway, the new year has been good so far. I got to take pictures for my cousin's Quinceñera and I think they turned out pretty well. It was a lot of fun. I'll have to post some of the pictures when I'm at home. Devan has started school again. It was nice to have the winter break so we had more time to spend together, but it is nice to have him working on school again and its kind of fun to be able to help him with his math. I've always been good at math, but I never enjoyed doing it. Now I've found out its much more pleasant if I'm helping someone else do it. I just didn't like doing it for my own homework. Anyway, that's my life right now.

I hate cars!

2008-12-22T09:55:00.000-08:00

Ok, so two months ago we got a new car and less than a month ago, we switched insurance companies from Progressive to Geico cause it was almost half as much. Well, last Thursday I was driving to work in a snowstorm. I am an excellent driver and I had no problem the whole way. Until I got to the parking lot area of my work place. It hadn't been plowed at all, there was a few inches of snow with ice underneath it. I started to slide so I tried to use the breaks and they locked. I tried to steer the slide, but the steering wheel wasn't behaving properly either. I ended up slamming into a curb and I guess I pretty much took out the whole undercarriage, enough to cost $1500 anyway. The car is currently in the shop. It is repaired but we can't pick it up because we are waiting for the insurance company to pay. Unfortunately we don't have a spare $1500 around Christmas time so we are without a car until they get things inspected and approved. And we can't get a rental car either. We do have rental reimbursement, but they will only reimburse until the car is repaired. Since its already repaired, the rental money would have to come from us. So we're having an interesting Christmas this year.

Our First Christmas Tree

2008-12-10T12:24:00.000-08:00

Last night we decorated our very first Christmas tree together. The tree was given to us by some friends of my grandparents so we were excited to get a real tree for free. Devan really likes the smell. Here's some pictures of the decorating.

We accidentally broke an ornament before we were even done decorating. One of the ornaments near the top of the tree fell off and hit this one that was near the bottom and it shattered. Sad!

And here is the finished tree. I'm not very good at decorating or designing things so its not very fancy, but it works for us. Devan really likes it. :) And we had lots of fun decorating it together! I love Christmas!

My Journal

2008-11-17T15:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I decided to copy my cousin Melanie and start posting excerpts from my journal. I've never been much of a journal writer, but the stuff I did write was pretty funny sometimes. Here is one of my first journal entries.
Sept. 6, 1997
Today was a BYU football game. We played against Washington and lost by 22 points. I wasn't happy, but I definitely think we can do better next time if we pass instead of run.
It has been pretty interesting to go back and read my earlier entries. I didn't write about boys much at all until high school. I did find one where I kind of wrote about some boys, but I didn't go into much detail. It didn't sound like I had a crush on anybody at all. Here's an example of one of those entries.
Oct. 28, 1997
I went to my first dance yesterday. I danced with 5 people. Jared Bevan, Curtis Bevan, my uncle Rick, my cousin Brett, and my dad. I know its pretty pathetic that three out of five I was related to. Oh well.
Here's a pretty interesting entry. It's pretty embarrassing, but oh well, that's what makes it funny.
Nov. 7, 1998
Mom and Janelle are such jerks! I wish I could hate them, but as Will Smith says in one of his songs, "Throughout life people will make you mad, disrespect you and treat you bad. Let God deal with the things they do cause hate in your heart will consume you too."
Hahaha. It cracks me up that I used Will Smith's words for inspiration. and my mom and Janelle didn't really do anything. Janelle was just being the mean older sister that she always was and my mom was taking her side.
Well, that's enough for today. I'll post some more later.

2008-11-16T11:35:00.000-08:00

So lately I've been having fun putting photos together in a montage. Here is one of my sister Jamie and my sister Jessica. What do you think? For those of you who know them, doesn't it show their personalities pretty well?

I've Been Tagged By Bonnie

2008-11-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

Here are the rules:

1. Post the rules on your blog

2Answer the six "8" items.

3. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website.

8 Favorite TV Shows:

(I don't even have TV, but I'll tell you what shows I would watch if I did.)

1. America's Next Top Model

2. The Office

3. Law & Order SVU

4. CSI

5. CSI Miami

6. Law & Order

7. ABC News

8. What I Like About You

8 Things I Did Yesterday:

1. ate breakfast (that my husband made for me)

2. went to work

3. read part of "The Host"

4. ate leftovers for lunch

5. called Devan during my break

6. wore my "I love my soldier" shirt cause it was Veteran's Day

7. Checked my bank account

8. went to the annual Veteran's Day Concert at the U

8 Things I Look Forward To:

1. staying at Anniversary Inn on Thursday night

2. Thanksgiving

3. my brother-in-law coming home from his military training

4. a pedicure that my supervisor is paying for

5. taking Friday off of work

6. getting a haircut

7. lunch

8. sleeping

8 Favorite Restaurants:

1. La Parrilla Latina

2. P.F. Chang's

3. Cafe Rio

4. Pier 49 (downtown location)

5. Carl's Jr.

6. Sizzler

7. Leatherby's

8. Spaghetti Mama's

8 Things On My Wish List:

1. a baby

2. Karaoke Revolution

3. a house

4. the movie "Newsies"

5. a car for Devan

6. a good president (too bad that one won't come true)

7. new clothes

8. to not have Celiac Disease

8 People I Tag:

1. Janelle

2. Emily

3. Melanie

4. Stephanie

5. Christine

6. Chante

7. Melinda

8. Genna

My Cute Brother-in-Law

2008-11-03T08:53:00.000-08:00

This is my adorable, almost 6-year old brother-in-law. He is a weird little kid, but he's so cute and very entertaining. Every time he hears some upbeat music, he starts to do a little jig. Fortunately I was able to capture his dance with the camera. Isn't he cute?

So what do you think? Should I photoshop out the shade from the tree?

Football!

2008-10-29T13:51:00.000-07:00

So, a while ago at work we had a tailgate party. They served us hotdogs and hamburgers and anybody who wanted to could sign up for 3-on-3 flag football. I, of course, jumped at the chance. I would have enjoyed it more if it was tackle, but you take what you can get. My team was with Bonnie and Arni-elei. We took the championship!!! I was amazing the first game that we played. The score was tied and my supervisor said that the next score would win. The opposing team had the ball and they were about 15 yards from the goal. Guess what happened next? I caught an interception! and then Arni-elei threw a pass to me and I caught it and ran about 40 yards for the winning touchdown! It was awesome. The championship game, I didn't play quite so well, but Bonnie and Arni-elei did and that made up for it. As most of you know, I like to brag, so for the rest of the day I was bugging my supervisor (who was on one of the other teams) and made him send out an email to the entire office announcing that we were the winners. Here's some of the pictures. I posted them at work so I couldn't crop them like I wanted so you can't see them very well, but it will have to do.

Halloween

2008-10-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

On the 25th we had a Halloween activity at the church for primary. Here are some pictures of the kids in our sunbeam class. Aren't they cute?

The first picture is of Ethan with his brother and sister. Ethan is in the middle. He is quite the handful, but he is very smart and cute. He just doesn't like to sit still as you can probably tell from the picture. The next one is Aubree. She is very sweet and almost always reverent. She knows our names and listens when we talk. The third picture is Rylee. She is super smart and can be very reverent, but can also be a handful at times. She knows a lot and likes to let her teachers know that. She thinks Devan is really weird and is always giving him a look that says, "What are you?". It's pretty funny. Here's a picture of her look. You can see it better when its zoomed in but I'm at work right now so I can't really edit my pictures.

Later that night we hung out with Bonnie and Marc (some friends from work) at Marc's house. We helped Marc make some delicious pumpkin stew and we played on his Wii and watched a movie. It was loads of fun. Here are some pictures of Devan and Marc cooking. Don't they make great chefs?

I got a new shift at work!

2008-10-22T13:49:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I started a new shift at work. Before I was working 11:30 to 8:00, which was ok, but I was getting home so late and then I had to cook dinner and we weren't eating til like 9:30. Not to mention the fact that I missed so many wedding receptions and bridal showers because of my late work schedule. As of yesterday I work 9:30 to 6:00. I think I'll like it a lot better, but there are some things that I need to get used to. For instance, I am bored to death at work right now. I used to be able to stop at the library before work and get a few books to get me through the week. But the library doesn't open til 10 so I can't do that anymore. I have to remember to stop after work. and now I can't go to my favorite store (Against the Grain) on any day except for Saturday cause its only open 10-6. But that's ok. These are just things that I have to get used to. I am very grateful to have a dayshift now because I can make dinner at a decent hour and I can go to enrichment night and I can go to wedding receptions and I can spend more time with Devan. On the whole, its a very good change for me. :)

There goes our car!

2008-10-14T08:57:00.000-07:00

The National Kidney Foundation had somebody come tow our car away on Saturday. I was sad to see it go. But, we got a really nice car on Friday. It is laser blue metallic and it has remote start. We can start it from inside our apartment so its warm by the time we have to leave. It has a sunroof, heated seats, etc... It is a 2006 Chevy Malibu Maxx and we love it! I will have to take some pictures of the new car and post it.

Our Car Died!!! :(

2008-10-09T13:28:00.000-07:00

Devan and I had just decided that we needed a new car and we started looking around. We were excited to be able to have two cars so that Devan wouldn't have to ride the bus all winter long. Then, this past weekend while Devan was heading to Spanish Fork for his guard drill, the car broke down. His parents brought one of their cars for him to use and then they came back later to tow our car to the shop. By that time the back window had been busted out somehow. Anyway, they took it to the shop and Jeff, the mechanic, checked it out. He said it looked pretty sick. The radiator was gushing, among other things. It doesn't even start. He said it would probably take about $800-$1000 to fix. The car is definitely not worth that much so we decided to donate it to the Kidney Foundation and now we definitely need to find a new car. The one that we were looking at before was really nice, but it turns out we weren't approved for the loan because we don't have enough credit references even though our credit score is dang good. So we went into our credit union to get pre-approved for another car that we were looking at. The credit union said it would be no problem so we went to the dealership this morning. It turns out they just sold the car. Fortunately they were able to find a couple more Malibu Maxx's for us to look at. Hopefully we'll be able to get one this weekend or early next week because right now we are borrowing my parents car. Anyway, thats whats going on right now. It's been crazy!

Sunrise

2008-09-29T20:47:00.000-07:00

Sunday, my little sister Jessica and I went up Ensign Peak early in the morning to see the sunrise. Isn't it beautiful? I was so tired afterwards, and its now Monday night and I'm still tired, but it was worth it. Plus it was fun to spend some time with my little sister.

Saturday, Devan and I went car shopping. We thought we wanted a Chevy Cobalt, but after looking around, we decided we want a Chevy Malibu Maxx. It is a Malibu with a hatchback. Its kinda funny because Devan and I both thought we hated the look of a hatchback, but we both fell in love with it. We don't know if they'll give it to us at the price we want though. If not, we'll have to find one at another dealership.

My New Camera

2008-09-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I started a photography class and bought a new camera. It is a really nice camera and it cost a lot of money, so I have to get good at photography or I'm in trouble. Anyway, these are a few of the pictures I took this weekend as I was trying out my camera. The sunflower and bumblebee one is for an assignment for my class. And in case anyone is wondering who the adorable little boy is, he's my nephew. He loved smiling for the camera as long as the flash was going off. It was very cute.

Devan's Birthday

2008-08-18T08:25:00.001-07:00

This is the cake Janelle made for his birthday. Devan loves Star Wars and Yoda is his favorite, so he absolutely loved the cake. His birthday was on Friday. He works for the state, so he has Fridays off and I took the day off for his birthday too. We went to see the computer-animated Star Wars movie that just came out. It was pretty good, Devan really liked it. We also rode Trax downtown to get pizza for lunch and then we tried out the swimming pool at our apartments for the first time since we've lived here. It was really nice and we were the only ones in the pool at the time. I got Devan a ClearPlay DVD player for his birthday so he can watch all of his war-related rated R movies, but we tried to watch a movie that night and the DVD player wouldn't work so I had to go exchange it this morning. Hopefully the new one will work. Anyway, school starts on Wednesday. Devan is going to school full-time so he can get done as soon as possible, and I'm auditing a personal finance class with him as well. We decided that would be a good one for both of us to attend, maybe we can learn how to budget better.

The best husband ever!

2008-07-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was sick and ended up staying home from work, but Devan didn't know I did because I decided I was too sick to go to work after he had already left and he accidentally left his cell phone at home, so I wasn't able to text him and let him know. Anyway, I was feeling better by evening time and decided to make dinner so I could have it ready when Devan came home and surprise him. He usually gets home around 7 and I don't usually get home til 8:30. 7 o'clock rolled around and he didn't show up so I decided maybe he missed the bus and took a later one. I decided to clean up the mess I made while I was waiting. As time went by and he still didn't show up, I started to worry. I got on the internet to see if there were any accidents involving TRAX or a bus, I was just freaking out. He finally came in the door around 8:30. He had stopped at Fashion Place Mall after work to buy some massage oil and some salt scrub and body butter and was hoping to beat me home and surprise me. He gave me a massage and a pedicure after dinner. I thought it was so sweet. Its not my birthday or our anniversary, he didn't even know I was sick. He just randomly thought of it. and its not as if it was easy for him to stop by the store. He doesn't have a car so he has to take the bus or TRAX everywhere. Anyway, I just think I am so blessed to have such a sweet, thoughtful husband. He is the best.

The Curious Innkeeper

2008-07-18T09:35:00.000-07:00

We only have one car, so Devan rides the bus and Trax to work. Last week he had a book with him, but he accidentally left it on the bus. He had given that book to me for Christmas last year, so he felt bad about it. There was also a paycheck stub that he had left in the book. Well, yesterday Devan got the mail and there was a large envelope with nothing but "The Curious Innkeeper" in the spot for a return address. He opened it up and it was my book! Somebody must have found it and mailed it to the address on the paycheck stub. Included was a note which said:
Dear friend,
In an absent-minded moment you left your book on the bus. Wouldn't you like to know the end of the story? Good luck in your search for truth.
-The Curious Innkeeper
(In case you're wondering what that last line meant, the book was a novel about somebody's search for truth). Anyway, its just little things like that that make me realize how many nice, good people there really are out there. About a month ago, Devan dropped his wallet at Wal-Mart. He didn't realize it til the next morning, but when he did realize it he called to see if it had been turned in. and guess what? Somebody had picked it up and turned it into the Customer Service desk. and there was nothing missing from it, not even a little cash. We've been very blessed to have the things that we loose fall into honest hands. Hopefully we won't press our luck and continue losing things.

Weekend in Park City

2008-07-16T09:41:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Devan and I had the opportunity to attend a marriage seminar in Park City put on and paid for by the National Guard. It was really nice. Friday we both took the day off work and just spent some time together before heading to Park City. We went and saw a movie and went to Pier 49 downtown for pizza because they have gluten-free pizza there. It was lots of fun. Then we headed out to Park City. We had two free nights at the Yarrow Hotel and meals were provided for breakfast on Saturday and Sunday and lunch on Saturday. We also got ice cream sundaes on Friday night. It was really good. During the day we attended the seminar and learned some good things about communication. We thought that we were just going for the free room, but we actually learned a lot about speaking and listening to each other better. We thought we were doing well before, but we were able to discuss some things that both of us were upset about and were finally able to understand each others point of view. They let us go in the afternoon and we were able to go have some fun. My favorite part was the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. I love chocolate! It was also good to meet some of the guys that Devan was deployed with. I found out that Devan is known as "the happiest guy on earth" and "the ever nice guy". They said he was always smiling, even over in Iraq.

4th of July

2008-07-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is the 4th of July and Devan has been asked to speak at the flag ceremony for our old ward. I have never heard him speak before so I am excited! I'm sure he'll do a great job. Our new ward is also having a flag ceremony and I signed up to help make breakfast for it. Our new ward's flag ceremony is at 7 and our old ward is having it at 8 so we will have to go to the first one, drop off the breakfast, and then hurry to the second one. It'll be a busy morning, but it will be really nice to have Devan home for Independence Day. We also just got a Wii. It is lots of fun! My favorite game is Rock Band and Devan likes Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

More Celiac Woes

2008-06-23T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the story. Sunday we had a family party at my grandma's house and she made two yellow cakes with fruit to put on the top. One of the cakes was gluten-free and the other one was not. We ate dinner and everything was delicious and then some of us were ready for dessert. My sister Jessica, who is also a Celiac, asked my grandma which cake was gluten-free. My grandma told her that the cake closest to the house was (we were eating outside). After that 3 or 4 of us celiacs got up and served ourselves some cake. Looking at the cakes, we were surprised to see that the gluten-free one was fluffier and looked more appetizing than the regular cake. I don't know why none of us realized that if it seems to good to be true it probably is, I guess we all still have hope that everything we eat will someday be just as good or better than normal food. Anyway, after we had all got our cake and started to eat it, we found out that my grandma had switched the cakes around after she had already told Jessica which one was gluten-free! It was delicious cake, but then we all got sick afterwards. Definitely not worth it!

I hate being a Celiac!

2008-06-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know, I have Celiacs disease, along with all the other females in my family. That means I can't have anything with wheat or gluten in it, which really includes more than you would think. Anyway, I get sick if I eat anything with gluten in it, my stomach hurts really bad. Sometimes it doesn't bother me as much, but other times I will get sick and I can't even figure out what it was that made me sick. It could be anything as small as a natural or artificial flavoring, or maybe it was something that was processed in a place where there is also wheat. Or maybe it was cooked on a pan that other non-gluten-free foods have been cooked on. It could be anything! Anyway, usually I don't think its that bad, I'm pretty used to it. But today I was sick all day long and I was in the mountains with nothing but an outhouse so it was pretty miserable. I'm just tired of it all and I wish I was normal! I'm sure I'll get over it by tomorrow though.

More Pictures

2008-06-19T08:44:00.000-07:00

This is Devan and his unit and the flags that the Young Men put in our yard to welcome him home.

I finally got around to posting pictures

2008-06-18T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ok, so here's an explanation for these crazy photos. The weekend before Devan got home, my sister Jamie, my cousin Ashlee (who was also my roommate while Devan was gone) and I decided to have some fun. We went to a chocolate factory, went out to dinner, went to a movie, and because we were doing all this fun stuff together we got kind of hyper. We found a video that my cousin Vanessa had bought from the DI for $1. It was called Darrin's Dance Grooves. We put in the video and learned the choreography for the chorus of "You Drive Me Crazy" by Britney Spears. When Devan got home, we dressed up all crazy and did the dance for him so he could see what his crazy wife had been up to the past year. While he was gone I didn't really feel like a wife since we had just barely gotten married before he left and I didn't have time to get used to it. Now that he's home, I feel like a wife so I am much more grown up and will never be doing anything like that again. :) As for the other picture, we went over to Devan's parents' house for Father's Day and Devan grilled the chicken. His sister Brina made him wear the cute apron with the bow and I thought it was adorable so I took a picture. He didn't like the first picture I took cause it was a close up so it didn't show the grill at all, just him with the cute apron. He made me take another one with the grill so he could look somewhat manly. :) He's funny.

My Birthday

2008-06-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

Things have been great since Devan got home. We moved about four days after he got home and we love our new apartment. We still haven't gotten everything unpacked and organized yet, but yesterday we went to our new ward and the bishopric asked if they could come over Thursday night so that will hopefully get me motivated enough to get things done. My birthday was on the first and it was great to have Devan home for that. He took me out to dinner and a movie the night before and he gave me my favorite movie- Phantom of the Opera and he gave me the soundtrack too! He also ordered me a white gold CTR ring because I can't wear sterling silver. It was a great birthday. Everything else has been going well too. Devan started his job at the Driver License Division today and I finished most of my training at work and now have my own computer and my own phone. We love our new ward, everyone seems very friendly and the bishopric seems very on top of things. All in all, its been a great couple of weeks!

Devan is coming home today!!

2008-05-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Devan is coming home today at about 2:00! I am so excited, I could barely sleep last night. This morning I got up and cleaned the house and got ready and now I am just waiting. I am so restless! Its pretty cool that he gets to come home on Memorial Day though. Most of the people in the neighborhood have a flag in their yard today and the young men put all the extra flags in our yard, I think there's about ten. I'll be making a huge sign to put out on the house too, so hopefully it will be a good homecoming. I got the whole week off work, so hopefully we should be able to have some fun together this week, and then we're moving on Friday! This coming Sunday is my birthday, and I think it will be the best birthday I've ever had. There's no birthday present that could rival having my husband come home after being gone for so long!

We're Moving!

2008-05-17T09:35:00.000-07:00

We've been looking for an apartment for the past month so we can move when Devan gets home. There was one that I really liked, mostly because its smoke-free and dog-free. Also, our home teacher works for a company that does security for a lot of different places and I was talking to him and found out that he does the security there. He said it was their quietest area, nothing ever happens. And my bishop's son used to live there and he really liked it. Basically, I heard nothing but good about this place, and I felt really good about it right from the beginning. So I called in a bunch of times until they had a vacancy and then I went in and applied right away so nobody else had a chance to get it before we did. Anyway, I just found out that we have been approved and can move in whenever they get it all cleaned out, probably sometime around the first week of June. Yay!!!!

Devan's comng home soon!!!

2008-05-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

I just heard from Devan and he said that their replacements are there and they are now training them so he should be back home soon!!! I am so excited! Of course, we don't know exactly when he's coming home, and we probably won't know until a day or two before he gets here. Thats just how the Army is, but I don't even care right now. I'm just so happy and excited that he'll be home and we'll have a normal life.
I also just got a new job. I'm going to be taking inbound calls for a company that sells health and wellness products in Japanese and English. I'm excited to finally be able to use the language I learned on my mission.

I've been tagged!

2008-05-07T21:03:00.000-07:00

A: The rules of the game are posted at the beginning.
B: Each player answers the questions about themselves
C: At the end of the post, the player then tags 3 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
I was 13 years old. I was probably getting beat up by my older sister, Janelle. She couldn't stand me back then. I probably was a little annoying though.
2. What was on my to-do list for today?
My plan was to apply for more jobs and call people and bug them til I get an interview. It worked! I have one tomorrow at 1.
3. What would I do if I suddenly became a billionaire?
Well, I'd for sure get a house for Devan and I. And a new car since mine is falling apart. And a car for Devan. (I'd pay my tithing first of course). And we'd use it to live on while Devan goes to school so he doesn't have to work at the same time. That would be really cool. Too bad I'm not gonna be a billionaire anytime soon.
4. 3 Bad habits...
I let the dishes pile up too much.
I'm on the computer too much.
I watch too much TV.
5. Places I have lived.....
Utah, Mississippi, England, Japan
6. Places I have worked...
Allgrunn Insurance (file clerk), CAO Group (production operator), Roberts (nanny), Granite School District (substitute teacher)
7. 3 Things people don't know about me....
I can solve a Rubik's cube in under 5 minutes, I know Japanese but have never seen any anime and probably never will, and I won the spelling bee in 9th grade.
I'm going to tag Christine. (everyone else I know has already been tagged).

Our Two Week Vacation

2008-05-02T21:16:00.000-07:00

Today I graduated from Salt Lake Community College with my Associate of Science! I never thought I'd get that far, but I did! Hooray! Devan wasn't able to be there because he is still in Iraq, but he sent me some beautiful flowers! Devan should be coming home soon, possibly as soon as the end of this month. We are looking for a new place to live and I am looking for a new job. Its been kinda crazy having Devan gone for a year while we were still newlyweds, but I think that we have both learned a lot from the experience. I don't think either one of us will be sad to see it end though. Last month Devan was able to come home for his two weeks leave and we were able to spend our first anniversary together. It was absolutely wonderful! Its not often that you get a two week vacation for your anniversary.