6 Months later: December

Last but not least, December!  Now, today is only Dec. 23, so it will be a catch up til then, and I will do a whole new blog to talk about the wonderful Christmas eve and day. This way I will be forced to blog more, and you get more interesting detailed things to read. lol. Hopefully with pictures as well. ;) Dec actually doesn't have to many big moment's either, just a few that are really awesome and stick out. For the most part it has simply been work, work, work. We haven't seen friends hardly at all this month. So sad... Work is taking over our lives...
  Alright so on Dec. 10 was the New Balance Christmas party. It was at the Sugarhouse location and we all got to bring a date, so Nick got to come and meet everyone, which was a lot of fun, plus it was fun for us to meet each other's spouses and significant other's if we hadn't yet before. We had soup from Zupas which was so amazing, and yummy bakery rolls, plus great hot chocolate and a ton of different things you could put into it.  We then played a silly 20 questions type game were you wore a headband on your head with a card on it you couldn't see, and you had to ask everyone question about it until you figured out what you were suppose to be. I got the Grinch and everyone thought that was hilarious! ;) It was a really funny game and we had a good time watching people try and figure out what they were. After that we did a white elephant type game. Nick and I started out with and awesome Jamba juice gift card and almost held onto it, but it got stolen toward the end and we ended up with a my little pony coloring and sticker set, which of course no one else wanted to steal from us. haha... Its ok though, we are going to give it to our 8 year old niece Kylie, who it will be prefect for. Suzy's (a manager at the Union park store) was the best though. After getting like 3 gift cards stolen from her, she ended up with a fuzzy red man thong! It was hilarious so see her open it! Everyone laughed so hard and for like 5 minutes! She was a great sport about it to. It was such a fun party and I'm so glad I got to go. Its been a fun new experience working at NB and you could see at the party the great camaraderie we all have there.
  On Dec 18 my cousin Dillon had his mission farewell. He has been called to Houston, Texas, Spanish speaking. He leaves for the MTC on Dec. 28, which was nice for his family because then he got one more Christmas at home before leaving for the next 2 years. We are all so proud of him, because it was a long road for him to get to this point, and I know because of that, it will help him be an even greater missionary. He gave an amazing talk on forgiveness and we were all so proud of him. :) After sacrament was over, we all went to his house for food and to just be together. It was really nice to hang out with family and friends and support Dillon. It turned out so well. Afterwards, around 5, Nick and I went and had dinner with my parents, which was nice, since my siblings stayed real late at Dillon's. I was glad we were there to hang out with them, so that they didn't eat alone. Plus, I had  really nice time hanging out and chatting with them for a few hours.
  Oh, also, at the beginning of Dec, Nick's really good friend Westley got engaged to his girlfriend Lindee. It was so exciting and we are so so happy for them! They are planning to get married in April and I can't wait! :D They are such a cute couple and are great together. Also, Nick and I had a blast getting to decorate the house for Christmas and we even had a tree. His mom gave us an old one of hers ( a fake white one that looks like it's been snowed on) to have and we have fun decorating it with some of my old ornaments plus a few other random Christmasy items we had. My dad called it a Charlie Brown tree, which I liked. It fits our tree well. I will make sure to take a picture and post it so everyone can see. It turned out really cute, which I must give nick credit for, for it was his idea to start throwing random stuff on, not mine. lol.
  Hope you all enjoyed this post, and I promise, I will blog again soon! Haha I will not let another 6 month lap again!

6 Months later: November

Alright, so I decided to make November and December separate blogs, because i saw how huge the other two looks, plus i remember more in Dec since its the most recent. So decided two would be better. Haha it would look less daunting.  November is quite the exciting month because Nick and I's anniversary is in it, as well as my awesome birthday. lol.  Nov. 10 was our 1 year anniversary! I cannot believe that one year has gone by already! It went by so quickly! After work we went to dinner at Goodwood to celebrate at I gave Nick his gift. He couldn't give me mine yet because the place he got it from messed up the order so it was delayed. I got him 3 videos that are some of his top favorites: Hercules, The fox and the hound, and Prince of Egypt. I was so excited to give them to him and he loved them. :) Mine turned out to be a quilt you can have made at Walmart using pictures from vacations and stuff. It is so cool!
  On Nov. 11 we got to go to a friend's wedding reception (Jenny and Adam) who got married 11-11-11, which was pretty cool. It was a really nice reception and fun to see them and other friends we knew there. Then on Nov. 12 Nick and I got to go to the U of U vs. UCLA game, with my grandpa and aunt Chrissy. It was such a blast! We got to use my parent's box seats, so we had a nice meal before the game started and hot chocolate and pop corn and such, to eat during the game. It was definitely cold, but it was so much fun! :D Earlier that day I also got to hang out with my friend Jess at her daughter's b.day party. She was turning 3 on the 14th. Holy Cow, its so weird she is that big already! It was quite a full and fun fill weekend that week. lol.
  On Nov. 20 we had an early Thanksgiving dinner at my Grandpa Petersen's, which was fun, because we then got to see that side of the family this year for Thanksgiving.  It was a really nice dinner and it was really nice seeing my Grandparent's, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. Nick had a real good time talking to my uncle Pete and cousin Tat's husband Jeff about hunting. Haha I thought he'd never come join me at the table to eat. ;)  Nov. 24 was of course Thanksgiving day itself. Nick and I spent most of the day with his family this year. It started at 1 so we showed up around 11 to help get everything ready. We were in charge of bringing the soda and ice cream for the fancy drink. It was a really nice get together and we stayed til around 4.30, when we found out my family's Thanksgiving at my Aunt Chrissy's had pretty much just started with the main food, so we decided to go down and say hi for a bit. We got there around 5ish and stayed for a few hours. It was fun getting to see her new house. You see, my aunt chrissy and her family just moved back to Utah from Arizona after like 15 years. We had a really nice time and I was glad we were able to do both. It worked out perfectly.
  Nov. 29 was my 24th birthday. I had to work unfortunately, so for most of the day it wasn't to exciting, but when i got home from work around 8.30, I found Nick had a very fancy dinner waiting for me. It was so sweet! He had even bought little individual packets of dip-in-dots so that we had dessert. It was so cute! I have such a sweet thoughtful hubby! :) After we ate he gave me present and was so excited for me to open it. lol. Turned out he had bought me...a NOOK!! I was so surprised! I had no idea he was planning that at all, plus i had always joked i would only ever love real books, so i never thought I'd get an e-reader. He got me the newest one too. the Nook Tablet, with all the bells and whistles. And, after having it a month now, I can say, it has won me over. Haha don't tell real books i said that! ;D I still like the feeling of holding a real book in my hand, but being able to carry multiple books with me and go online at the same time, all while having it fit nicely in my purse, is really really nice. I am definitely glad i have one now. lol. I can still even rent books from the library on it. So cool! I have definitely been converted. haha...
 So that is the exciting month of November! I hope you enjoyed reading it and I will try to do December asap as well as get pictures up in each blog as well that goes with some of the stories, so there is something to look at besides all these words you have to read. lol. Ttfn! (Ta Ta For Now!)

6 months later: September and October

Alright everyone, lets dive right in shall we? lol. On Sept. 4 it was Nick's 24th birthday. I got him some awesome minimus shoes (barefoot running shoes for those of you who don't know what they are. Like the 5 fingered toe shoes you probably see some people wearing, but with your toes enclosed together) as his gift. They sell them at NB, and since i work there, plus am family, I was able to get a discount, which was awesome. I was so excited for him to have them. :) We ended up spending his b.day weekend camping up with his brother Terry and his wife and kids, watching as Terry tried to bow hunt an elk, which is very difficult. It was a fun weekend and Stacey even brought up a cake for Nick's birthday, which was so sweet of her and really yummy! ; ) On Sept 10, Nick ran the Suncrest half marathon with my brother Chris,with really no training at all. He finished 20th out of about 400, which was pretty amazing for having no training. My brother i think was somewhat higher, but he hikes and works out religiously, so, he was a bit more prepared. lol. I was very proud of them both for doing something like that.
  On Sept. 17 my best friend Sadie's older sister Ashley got married. It was such a beautiful reception center that I had actually never heard of before. I went with my mom, which was a ton of fun. She did a lace wedding gown and it was so gorgeous! I am so so happy for her. She deserves to be happy and I really think her husband makes her so. :) On Sept. 24 Nick and I did the Dirty Dash race with his sister Tiff, her husband Stephan, and some of her friends from school. It was such a blast!! It was definitely a bit cold at the start, but I had so much fun getting covered in mud. I really hope I can do that again next year with a group of my friends. It would be so much fun and I think they would all love it! It was a good month and I had a lot of fun with friends as well, going to movies, dinner, and just hanging out at people's houses. Sometimes we didn't get together as often as we'd like, but we tried to.
  On to October! lol, aren't these 6 months just flying by? ;D Seriously though, they really did seem too... Ok so on Oct. 2, Nick and I finally got to go see one of Alli's volleyball games. Haha and of course, it ended up being one where she played for like 10 min at the start and then got pulled and she didn't play again for the rest of the match. It was ok though, cause it was still fun to see her play for a bit, as well as just simply support the team and cheer. At the start of Oct. we finally moved into the house we had bought last July and been renting out for the last year while we lived with his parents. Our renters had got a new job down in the Sandy area in the summer, and so they wanted to move closer to the new job. It is so nice finally being in our own place. Its not that it was bad living with Nick's parents, but we haven't lived alone since we got married, so its nice to finally have some space that is our very own as still newly weds.
  Its been fun to decorate the house, though right before we moved in, the fridge broke. So when we started living in the house, we had to use a mini fridge until we could order a new one, which took us like a month and a half. We finally got our new fridge (Yay!!) after Thanksgiving. Its been so great! lol. Oct 7 and 8th and 14 and 15 (fridays and saturdays) I went hunting with Nick. (Haha I know shocking right?) He had put in my name with his to see if i would pull out a hunting tag and I actually did. Haha I am not a huge camping person, especially when its cold, but I gave it a try for him. We got tags in an area he wasn't familiar with, so that made it harder. We saw some deer a few times and heard some elk, but never got anything. It was a very popular area and hugely crowded, so made it hard to find the proper area needed to wait for game. Lol I may just leave it to Nick and the boys next year. ;) On Halloween day Nick went duck hunting with my dad, and they both had a blast. I hung out with my mom and we went and saw a movie together. It was a fun Halloween. My mom also gave us extra Halloween decorations that she didn't need anymore so that we were able to decorate the house, which was fun. :) I really enjoy having a house that i can decorate for the holidays. Hope you all enjoyed Sept and Oct. Stay tuned for November and December! :)

6 month later! July and August. ;D

Hello everyone on blog world! I have been a giant blogging slacker and now suddenly realize that it has been 6 months since i last posted anything. This was brought to my attention by my cousin Tat who i never get to see enough, and who is much better at being faithful to her blog then i am. lol. I dedicate this first blog update to her. ; D haha....
   Ok, so since I am 6 months behind, I am going to update you all 2 months at a time, so it isn't one giant update blog you have to read. I last posted in June, so I am now going to update you on July and August. At the very start of july, Nick and i went to Jackson Hole from June 29 - July 3, with our friends Wes, his now fiancee Lindee, Ben, and his wife Amber joining us July 1. It was a great trip, and we had a blast going on long bike rides, relaxing, and enjoying summer up in Teton Village. When we got back, Nick got to help his friend Tyson launch huge fireworks for a 4th of July show, which he had a blast doing. July 7 I started my new job at my uncle's New Balance Shoe store in Sugerhouse, (though i was hired for the new store that would be in Midvale on Union Park Ave) where I work part-time Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, while still working at my dad's orthodontic office as a chairside assistant Mondays, Wenesdays, and Thursdays. Its a little hard on my social life working 6 days a week now, but I am making much better money, which is good since (spoiler for Oct month, lol, Nick and I moved into our own house). It was definitely a little scary learning all the foot and shoe information you need to know for New Balance, but I was doing fairly well after about a month. Plus, for the first 2 weeks they didn't make me help anyone on my own. What i did was shadow another girl named Avery and listen to her, and watch how she interacted with the customers and rang them up and everything, while making sure to continue to study all the shoe info and foot aliments at home.
  Since NB is designed for people with medical foot problems and lots of podiatrists send them to us, its amazing what we are expected to know, plus all the computer stuff as well. Luckly, now in Dec, after 5 months, the only thing i really still forget is gift cards, because I've only ever done a few. lol. So that's pretty much all for July. Once I got that job, all Nick and I did was work, hang out with friends after work occasionally, or simply head home and relax together watching a movie or TV. Haha so thrilling I know. But suddenly working full time took getting use to for my body, so I was extra tired a lot and just really liked relaxing at home with my hubby. :)
   Now, on to August! August 2, Nick's brother Chris had to come home from his mission early because of medical issues. While this was sad for him and the family, it was fun to get to have him home in time for his sister's wedding. On monday, August 8, Tiffany, his sister, got married to Stephan Latkiewicz, and they are so great together. :) It was a beautiful ceremony and we got tons of amazing pictures. The wedding and reception were held at Millennial Falls, and it was so beautiful! We are all so happy for them. August16 I started working at the Midvale New Balance, helping to set up the store by tagging and hanging clothes, placing displays, placing shoes on the wall in the women's and men's sections, and stocking shoes in back to be ready for the grand opening. On Friday and Saturday August 26 and 27, the new Union Park New Balance had it's Grand opening and it went so amazingly well. It far exceeded expectations, which was so great. Also on Aug. 26, my little sis Alli, who is 18 and has signed with the University of Utah to play on their volleyball team, had her very first game that night. I couldn't go because of work, but, i heard she did amazing. :) She ended up starting for most of the season even though she is just a freshmen, which is a huge deal. I am so very proud of her! :D
   After the amazing grand opening for NB fri and sat, a horrible thing happened that Sunday. Around 2 am, some people (probably after shoes, which are worth a lot) broke into the new NB store. Because we were so new, the motion sensor part of the alarm and the cameras were not set up yet, just the door alarm. Since they smashed the door glass with a rock and climbed through the hole, no alarm went off. Luckily, the shoes and inventory are kept in a back room that has separate locked door, so they couldn't get that, but they did steal the 2 laptops that we run our foot scanner machines with as well as 2000 dollars worth of clothing. It was awful! Right after the grand opening to have that happen.... Insurance covered it, but it was still a bit of a blow. They have not been caught yet, and we can only hope that Karma will catch up with them someday.
  So there ya go, that is all the big things that really happened in August. The rest was pretty much the same as July: work, hang with friends doing different awesome summer activities, and then hanging out at home relaxing.
 

Picture Blog

 Here are pictures from the hike Nick and I went on last Sunday at Bells Canyon. :)

Nick and I

The Resevoir

Half way there!

View of the valley

At the waterfall

Loved these rocks. It was suck an amazing hike! We had a blast together!

Ode de Nick

Alright so, my dear hubby is feeling left out because every post ever made on our blog is my point of view, so, since he himself still doesn't want to actually blog, I am going to do a blog dedicated to him.  Nick works for his dad at his mechanic shop Quick Lube (so if you ever have car trouble or need a simple oil change, look them up :D). He has been working there since he around 14 and is amazing with cars! Nick loves to look for deals on ksl that he will buy, fix up, and sell. He once bought a green dodge truck that he was in 2500 and sold it for 7100. It was one of his most amazing deals every! He is a very honest mechanic and salesman too so you know you are getting a fair deal.  He went to Jordan High and graduated in 2006 like I did (though I went to Olympus, Go Titans!) and his birthday is in the beginning of Sept so he is 3 months older then me. He absolutely loves the outdoors and loves to go hunting. I know that in October I lose him for most of the month, which he told me right at the start of dating. Haha.... There are 5 kids in his family and he is 2nd to youngest. There are 3 boys and 2 girls. He recently went on a week long trip in May with his brother Terry and his family to Lake Powell and they did a ton of swimming and had great luck fishing. They had a blast. I sadly could not go because i could not get work off, though luckily i didn't, because that's the week I got sick with my death cold, so I was better of being sick at home. lol He got some really awesome pictures of the trip too, so I am going to post some of them for you to see. I hope you all enjoyed getting to know my husband a little bit better. :) P.S. Nick and I have been married for 7 months today. :D

Nick with one of his catches

Terry and his kids

Brayden driving the boat. lol

They got a ton!

Life in June :)

Hi everyone!
Haha sorry that i haven't blogged in a bit again. I just forget and get busy. Haha.... I even have pictures of trips i would love to put up bt they haven't even been uploaded to the computer yet. lol. So when i last blogged i was quite sick, and now, over 3 weeks later, i am finally pretty much over it. I still have a slight cough thats holding on and my voice isn't 100% back yet (can't sing with the radio, lol) but other then that im pretty much good again. I sadly wasn't to much better down in Vegas like i had hoped, and I even lost my voice completely while there. I still had a good time with my friends and Jess' wedding went wonderfuly, but i wore-out quickly.  After Vegas i pretty much just worked, which was hard while sick but the extra money I made covering for Brett and Alyssa while they went out of town was really great. Its weird, now that we are into June, how cold it still is. It feels like late April or early May, its so weird. I am so ready for summer! Nick and I went for an awesome hike on sunday though when we actually had an 80 degree day and it was so great! We hiked all the way to the waterfall at Bells canyon and though it kicked my butt, I am proud of myself for making it all the way there, which i have never done before. I loved getting to spend time in the outdoors with my dear husband as well. It was really nice. : )  Makes me excited for all the other summer stuff we can do once the warm actually stays. Haha... Oh on June 2 Alli graduated from Olympus High school. It was a really nice greduation. I can't believe my baby sister is now going to be in college and my little baby bro matthew has graduated from 9th grade and will be a sophmore in high school. It makes me feel so old. lol. Though being married I guess I am. hahaha....;D Nick, me, my dad, and Chris also got to go to Les Mis the evening of June 2 and it was amazing! I am so glad I got to share it with Nick finally after making him listen to the music all the time. I loved it!! Someday in like 100 years i will maybe finally get pictures up as well. So ya, thats really all the updateing I have right now. bubye! :)

Life Updates!

  Realised that it has been a few weeks since i last blogged so, since Im sick and pretty much resting as much as possible, thought i would finally give an update. So I am pretty sure that I have finally found a 2nd job (Yay!) which will be working for my Uncle. (Haha apparently, since I already work for my dad, I just really enjoy working for family.) He owns New Balance shoe stores and they are opening a new one in August. I will be working as a sales clerk inside the store, helping customers and stuff like that. Its pretty exciting since I have been looking since i finished school in december with no luck. On May 6 was my official graduation from the U of U where I walked and everything. I hadn't been planning on doing it, but Nick and my mom convinced me to, and Im glad I did. It felt nice to be there celebrating my accomplishments and achievements after all my hard work. Nick, My whole family, my Grandpa Spurrier, and my best friend Sadie all came to support me. :) We ate at Red Robin before hand and made sure to take lot of great picture before and after I walked. It was really nice. On May 7 I participated in the Race For the Cure with my mother (for the 3rd year in a row) and a bunch of her former younger women who have done it every year with us as well. Its so great to see them all there in support of her (my mother, if you didn't know, had breast cancer in 2007 but had been great since finishing chemo and still great today). Seeing how many people show up for this and how its more every year, its such a touching and wonderful thing. You dont know these people at all, and yet you are all united by something that automatically brings you together as friends sharing the same cause.
      On Mother's day, Nick's family and I got to talk to his brother Chris, who is out on his mission in Virginia, which was really great. It was fun to hear his voice and up dates, as well as updating him ourselves on our own lives.  Work has been going well for both Nick and I and right now, Nick is at Lake Powell with his brother Terry and his family, camping and fishing. They will be back wednesday the 18, just as i leave the next day for Vegas (Yay!!) til Sun, the 22. Its sorta a bummer because i am definitely missing him while he is gone and then get to see him for just one night til i leave. lame.... but what can ya do?  So thats about everything right now. Oh and Im also uber sick right now, right before my fun vacation, all thanks to my dear sweet hubby, who gave it to me. The really awesome colds, complete with aches, chills, horrid sore throat, stiff neck and a fever the first 2 days. Now its more the cough and running nose, but i also still have a slight sore throat and my neck's very stiff. No bueno at all! Hopefully its down more by thurs when i leave. I am tired being achey. Well, thats all my updates. Until next time! ;D

Hawaii!!

The week of April 17-24 my family went to Hawaii for Easter. We went to the island of Oahu, which was a first for us all. Our hotel was just a few blocks from the beach, so we could walk there in just a few minutes. The weather there was amazing! It was 80's the entire time but also breezy for most the week, so that the heat didn't kill us. For the first few days, we just relaxed at the beach. The first beach day was so the first group of us could recover from the plane ride over, and the 2nd beach day was so my mom and sister (who came a day later due to her volleyball tournament) could recover and relax.  This beach didn't really have huge body surfing waves, but it felt great to float in and then just lay out on the sand. My dad had the unfortunate luck the first day to step on a sea urchin, so he had to spend most his time soaking his foot. Luckily that dissolved most the spines and he got the others out himself so he was good for the rest of the trip. Haha after that we all bought some water shoes so the same didn't happen to us. ;) We all got a tiny bit fried on Tuesday, so on Wednesday we decided to do Pearl Harbor. It was so amazing to get to see the museums and the memorial over the tomb of the USS Arizona. What an amazing part of our history. On Thursday we did the Polynesian Cultural Center. It was really cool. Before we got there, we stopped at the macadamia nut farm and tried free samples. They were super yummy. :) At the Center, we went to different villages that represented different places such as Fiji, Samoa, etc. and learned a bit about each of them. We then went to a  luau dinner, and then a show. It was an awesome day. On Friday we started out at a snorkeling bay and swam through some reefs. We saw some amazing fish, a few that were bigger then our heads! After that, we grabbed lunch and headed to a beach called Sandy Beach, that had waves over 8 feet high. It was a very popular body surfing beach and tons of teens - 30 years olds were there surfing, boogie-boarding, and body surfing. My dad and Nick immediately went into, and Alli went with them for a bit, but they waves were a bit much, even for her, so she just played in the brakes along the sand with Matthew. I watched with my ankles in the water, but never got in. Haha I knew one try would waste me.  That day we all came home pretty tired, and, even though we had all been good with sunscreen, we were all also pretty burned again as well. Haha was definitely an aloe vera day, with advil and lots of water as well.  Saturday we hiked to a waterfall and got to swim to it and take pictures under it.  We then rested at our beach again for a bit and went for the last time to eat at this amazing burger place we had discovered, that really has the best burgers ever. It was such a wonderful trip, and coming back to the cold weather was definitely hard. I so can't wait for summer here now!  

Day 30

A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the last 30 days!

This is the most recent picture of me that I have, and its of me and my best friend Sadie at the Festival of Colors.  So this is the final day of the 30 day challenge and it asks 3 good things that have happened to me during the last 30 days. 1. There have been some beautiful warm spring days in between the nasty weather we keep having. 2. I have actually been sticking to working about 3-4 times a week. 3. I have been getting more hours more at work. :) Also, on another plus note, I leave for Hawaii this Sunday with my family and will be there for a week! yay! Have loved doing this challenge because not only did i blog more, but it passed the time until the vacation as well. lol. Goodbye 30 day blog challenge, I have enjoyed you! :D

Day 29

Something you could never get tired of doing.

Something that I never EVER get tired of doing is reading. I love the feeling of getting lost in a good book, and can do so for hours and hours. Reading is a true passion on mine and is something that is really a huge part of who I am. It may sound cliche, but I could no sooner stop my love of reading, then i could stop breathing. I am a true bookworm. ;D My favorite authors to read are Jane Austen (who's books I can read over and over again), James Rollins (who's book Excavation i have read over 6 times), and Steve Berry. :) 

Day 28 & 27

Day 28-Your favorite movie.
Hmmm.....Its hard to pick one movie as my top favorite, so I may just make a list of my top favorites. Haha...not sure how anyone can pick just one movie. My top 5 fav. movies would have to be: 

          1. The Mummy

          2. The Mummy Returns

          3. National Treasure 1

                    4.Pirates of the Caribbean 1

                    5.Jurassic Park 1

I have tons and tons of runner ups as well, but of course, can't list everything. ;D These are my top favs because I never get tired of watching them and have loved them for years. 

Day 27-A picture of you last year and now and how have you changed since then?

Last year at this time, I was newly engaged (Nick had proposed in Baltimore on Easter day), my best friend Sadie was on her mission in Chile, I was still going to school at the U, living at home, and my hair was long and more of a redish brown.

This year, I am now happily married, my best friend sadie is home from her mission, I have graduated from the U with a BA in History, Nick and I are living at his parent's house as we rent out the house that we bought over the summer, so we can pay off the motgage faster, and my hair is darker and shorter. (I cut it after the honeymoon, but am growing it back out now, which Nick is very happy about. haha....;D) This year went by pretty quickly since for a majority of the time I was planning my wedding. Since getting married in Nov. I have also been enjoying learning to be a married couple with Nick and growing together as we figure out our life together. It has been an amazing first 5 months of marriage so far. :)

Day 26

A photo of somewhere you’ve been to.

I choose two photos, because they go together. The photos are of my sister and I at Versailles in France in July 2009. I had been there on a study abroad in Tours (which is 55 min from Paris) from May 31-July 4 and she, my mom, and my aunt luanne came to pick me up, and we spent a few more weeks in Paris and the South of France. In the first picture we are in front of the palace, and in the 2nd we are inside an art gallery section. It was such an amazing experience! :)  

Day 25

What’s in your purse?


My purse is is a nice large purse and often contains quite a lot of stuff in it. Hahaha.....
On an everyday basis, it contains: my wallet, my cel phone, work keys, hand lotions, headache medication, lip chap, my keys, gum, mints, my planner, checkbook, hand sanitizer, and a book (because i get off before Nick, and we usally carpool, so I read while i wait to either pick him up or get picked up by him). lol see... a lot. ;D

Day 24

A photo of something that means a lot to you.

I have always loved the Salt Lake temple and not only is it one of my favorite top favorite temples, but now it means even more to me because it is the temple in which Nick and I were sealed together for time and all eternity. It is such a beautiful temple and I absolutely love the sight of it!

I had to throw this picture in as well because the Hawaiin temple is one of my other top favorites and I get to see it for the first time in a few weeks. :D

Day 23

15 facts about you.
1. I was born 2 months premature and was in ICU for a month afterwards.
2. I am left handed, as are all the girls in my family (the boys are all rightys. Haha we are 50/50 exactly.)
3. I'm claustrophobic and scared of heights.
4. I love scary movies and haunted houses.
5. I got my hunter's safety licence at 15, and beat a majority of the grown men there.
6. I am a huge bookworm, and absolutely LOVE to read. James Rollins, Steve Berry, and Jane Austin are my favorite authors.
7. My favorite season is Fall. I love watching the leaves change colors and the slight chill in the air.
8. I went to France for 6 weeks on a study abroad and lived with a french family, taking classes at a french institute while there. (If i could live in France for a few years i totally would)
9. I am LDS and so proud and happy to be so! :D
10. I love history and have a great memory for facts and dates.
11. I can be shy at first meeting, but am very outgoing once i get to know you. :)
12. The only sea food that I will eat it clam chowder soup, I dislike everything else.
13. I am deathly allergic to penicillin.
14. I am the oldest of 4 kids, which goes girl, boy, girl, boy.
15. I knew after 4 months of dating Nick, that he was probably going to be the guy that I was going to marry...and I was right. :)

Day 22

A letter to someone who has hurt you recently.


Dear Ex-friend,
   I am sorry that our friendship had to end, we had a good few years. But you disliked my husband for no real reason, except that, once he was in my life, I suddenly had someone else to share more of my time with, which is owed a significant other. You were nice to him when we all hung out, but constantly made little jabbing jokes to him and about him, which were always on the meaner side. It also really bothered me that you had the nerve to say that Nick and I didn't have "real" jobs like you, because we worked for our dads. Just because we work for our parents, doesn't mean the job is not just as good as yours and that we are not just as independent as you. That remark (which you made more then once) always made me feel you were looking down on me. How is that being a true friend? Also, you never seemed to understand that life gets busy sometimes, and plans have to change, especially when one is planning a wedding and then trying to settle into married life (because my life is totally back to how it was before I was engaged now, if you had waited, things would have settled down). If I had to change plans on you, it was always, well "I have a friend in the same situation, and they are just as busy, yet they ALWAYS have time for me too." No matter what I said, I was always in the wrong. It was as if, toward the end, you had predetermined I was a bad friend who wasn't worth it anymore.  You always acted like you went through so much to stay my friend, yet those that I have been friends with for 6 years or more, can go weeks with out seeing me or talking to me, and when we do finally see each other, we pick right back up where we left off, and would do anything for one another. I guess we were just way more different then we thought, because I have never had any of the drama with them, like the drama I had with you.  I do hope you have a nice life however. Goodbye.


Sincerely,
Ashli Spurrier West

Day 21

A photo of something that makes you happy.

Besides this pictures itself making me happy, it is my dear husband Nick, who is featured in this picture, that makes me happy. He is my best friend and we have such great times together. I am so glad that i got to marry my best friend! :D

Day 20

The meaning behind your blog name.


The meaning behind my blog name is quite self explanatory. It is West, because that is my new last name and Nick and I's last name together. :) Since the blog was created to chronicle our married life together, West is the name that I picked for it, which i felt was perfect. :D

Day 19

Another picture of yourself.

The picture i picked is of me and my dear hubby at my 22 surprise birthday party, which Nick awesomely planned and i had absolutely no idea about! We went to the ice skating rink near my house, and had a blast! :)

Day 18

Something you crave a lot.


Hmmm....how do i pick just one thing? There are multiple different things that i crave a lot. lol. Guess I will just list them all. ;)  I crave a lot....The Old Spaghetti Factory spaghetti with brown butter and mazithera cheese, the ultimate  grilled cheese sandwiche from Zupas, orange chicken from Panda Express, fruit, and for some strange reason, breakfast food, which i could easily east as breakfast, lunch, and dinner! Hahaha.... My favorite lately has been to get a belgian waffle with strawberry surup on it. Mmmmm..... :p 

Day 17

A photo of you and your family.

This photo of my family was taking on the wonderful day that we added Nick into our family, as Nick and I became our own, new family unit. :) From left to right you have, my younger sister Alli, my dad Steve, my mom Lori, me and Nick, my younger brother Chris, and then the baby of the family, Matthew. :D

Day 16

Your celebrity crush.

My celebrity crush is Alex O'Loughlin. I came to know of him in the short lived (but awesome and before it's time) Vampire series Moonlight as the hero Mick St. John. Can't really describe what it is about him that I love, or what makes him my crush, but there is definitely something. ;) 

Day 15

Something you don’t leave the house without.


My cell phone is something that I never leave the house without. I feel absolutely naked and disconnected without my phone and am always sure that tons of people are suddenly gonna wanna contact me when I don't have it on me. Haha....  My purse is also something that I don't leave the house without as well if i can help it, though if I'm going somehwere that i don't want to have to carry it, then i of course don't take it. Haha this is why my cell is the top thing i never leave the house without. :)

Day 14

A TV show you’re currently addicted to.

The show that I am currently addicted to is The Vampire Diaries. I am totally in LOVE with it! I have always been a fan of vampires (before they became popular and the whole fraking world jumped on the band wagon) and this is one of the few things that I am greatful to the newfound Vampire mania for. This show is ten times better then Twilight but definitly way cleaner then that HBO show Trueblood. I really love the story line and am in love with the characters. It truly is my new show obession. Haha....;D

Though it is no longer on the air, I also wanna put in an ode to Charmed. I have loved this show from start to finish and I still love to watch them. I own the entire series on dvd and love to get them out every once and a while and watch my favorites again. :D I never get tired of this show.

Festival of Colors!

Today was the Holi Festival at the Sri Sir Radha Krishna Temple, which most people know as the Festival of Colors. At this festival, people buy bags of specially made chalk that comes in beautiful shades of pink, orange, green, purple, yellow, magenta, and blue and, at set intervals throw them at one another and into the air in a massive cloud of colored dust. It is the coolest thing to see as all the colors hit the air and mix together and cover the people below. It's cool in another was too because suddenly, there is no race or differences among the crowd. We all look exactly the same and suddenly everyone is instant friends. This was my first time, and I went with my best friend Sadie. We had a blast and definitely met out goal of not leaving until we were COMPLETELY covered. It was awesome! My poor hubby couldn't get off work to come :( but now that just gives us a great excuse to claim the day first next year and go again! It is definitely something i could make a habit off. :)

Before the first throw started

After round 1. ;)

The Hare Krishna Temple

The final shots, as we were leaving.

Haha as you can see, we got covered!

Day 13

Your favorite musician and why?


One band that I would say has always been a top fav of mine, is Linkin Park. I was first introduced to them in 7th grade, and I have just always really enjoyed the rhythm and beats of their music. I must say though, that i am much more of a loyal fan to their old music, then their newest cd. It didn't stick to their old sound, which is the very reason I love the so much. I also really love them, because Nick loves them as well and it is a fun thing that we share together. We both agree that their old cd's Hybrid theory and Meteora, were by far the best ones ever! ;)  (Besides Linkin Park, I also really love almost all country singers as well as being a big sucker for Broadway Musicals, with Les Mis, Phantom, and Aida being my favorite there. :D)

This song is called "Numb" and is from the Meteora Cd. It has always been one of my favorite Linkin Park songs.

Day 12

A photograph of the town you live in.

Ok, so this isn't my exact neighborhood, my camera is broken, so I googled Suncrest and stole it off the Internet. lol. It gives the basic idea though of the mountain top that I live on. ; ) I do love the beautiful views that we have, which are breathtaking (at night especially), but i could definitely do without the huge blizzards we get up here in the winter, while all you down in the valley just get simple little winter snow storms. We get fog with ours, and man does that making driving home scary! Haha luckily, Nick and I carpool most the time, so i only really had 2 times i was alone driving home in a winter storm. Plus, we always have to be on the look out for deer. It is definitely a new experience, but I love my ward, who is very welcoming and overall am really coming to love living up here. :)

Day 11

What’s in your makeup bag?


Haha I actually have two make up bags because they are small sized and I have had them forever. I have a good amount of make-up, because I like to be an extreme girlie-girlie sometimes, though other times Im more o'natural.        My makeup bags contain all the basics: eyeshadows, eyeliners, mascara, concealer, and foundation. Most of the stuff i just have one of, but the eyeshadow comes if various shades, which i have fun with sometimes, especially with costumes. Most the time I just wear brown though. :)
               

Day 10

A photo of your favorite place to eat.

One of my top all time favorite places to eat, that i never get tired of, is The Old Spaghetti Factory.  It has been a family favorite since I was little and holds tons of great memories for me. The one that we go to the most is the Spaghetti Factory in Trolley Square, which I love. I loved walking around the building and visiting all the interesting stores.  I never getting tired of the food and often crave the yummy yummy mazithra cheese. Mmmm so so good! :D

Day 9

A photo of the item you last purchased.

Mmmm yes, the last item that i bought today, was some Carmel Apple Pops. I was at the mall with two of my friends after we had lunch together and they had them at the Candy Barrel. You could get 4 for a dollar, so i got them so that we could all have one, cause my friend Jess also had her 2 year old daughter Phoebe with us. I figured we would all enjoy them and 4 for a dollar is a great deal. It made me happy. :)

Day 8

A song to match your mood.

The song that I have picked is "Do You Hear The People Sing" from the musical Les Miserables. It matches my mood for today because i watched the 25 anniversary of Les Mis that was recorded at my parent's house, which made my day, as it's one of my top favorite musicals of all time. It made me extremely excited on top of happy, because it reminded me that Les Mis is coming to Capital Theater this summer and my family has season tickets, so im super stoaked for that too!  I picked Do you hear the people sing as the song to feature because its such an upbeat song and, not only is it one of my favorites, but its a song in the musical that is full of such hope and passion and the possibility of a new tomorrow just over the horizon, and i really like that. :) So that is reason for my song choice. 

Day 7 & 6

Haha ok everyone, so apparently I am a 30 day blog challenge failure. This is the 2 time in a few days that I have spaced and had to do two at the same time. lol. I did have wedding stuff all day yesterday for my cousin, having been invited to the sealing, lunch and reception, so my mind was definitely somewhere else. haha.... Here ya go!

Day 7 - Your dream wedding.


My dream wedding has, of course, already happened. It was a nice winter day on Nov. 10, 2010 at the Salt Lake Temple, where i was sealed for time and all eternity to my best friend. :D

In front of the Salt Lake Temple

I loved my amazing dress!

My great cake

My wonderful hubby and I!

Day 6 - Something you'd like to keep as a pet.
Something that I would like to keep as a pet, that i think would be awesome to have, is:

...a wolf! Haha now i know that a wolf is pretty much cousin to the dog, but, i think a wolf is much more majestic and beautiful and i would just really love to have one as a pet. Then, if people tried to mess with me, instead of just having a dog to protect me, i could sick my wolf on them! lol ;)