Ben & Natalie

Natalie's over it so Ben's blogging.

2009-07-19T14:30:00.001-06:00

Since Natalie is "over it" and I have a bit more time on my hands this weekend, I am guest-posting about our summer. There's much to cover so I'm going to proceed in three parts. First, this post will cover the New York/Boston/Providence trip. Part II will be Ben's 2-day Utah trip and 2-month San Francisco stay, and part III will cover Jake and Stephanie's recent visit to Colorado.

Ok, so... we went to NY. After finals in May, my brain was fried so Natalie thought it best to remove me from my immediate environment and took me on a 10-day excursion to the northeast. Free lodging at my siblings' places of residence made it all possible. Thanks guys. We started out at my sister Emily's flashy new apartment on the upper west side of Manhattan. Since Emily and her husband Zaur were just moving in to their new place, we gave them amateur advice and assistance on furniture arrangement and Zaur expertly cooked for us once his new kitchen was workable. Below is the view from Em's ritzy apartment.

By coincidence, our friends Dan & Andrea Hatch and Chris & Makelle Francis were enjoying a NY trip of their own. Along with my friend Cameron, who lives in Brooklyn, the guys went to a Mets game one day, saw the new stadium, and experienced 'Jackie Robinson Rotunda'. It was nice but it's ridiculous that the Mets are trying to claim Jackie Robinson's history. Get over it, Mets, you have no history; quit syphoning of the Dodgers. Anyway, after the game we did some quality sight-seeing while the girls went on some ridiculous quest for the 'Friends' apartment. They should be embarrassed. Natalie claims she didn't want to do it but her 'Friends' season 6 DVD tells me a different story. We did lots of stuff in NY over the next few days: Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge,

did the Little Italy thing,

did the Chinatown thing, very briefly did the Times Square thing because crowds piss me off. We also went to a street fair in Brooklyn. Natalie went to "Wicked" on Broadway with my sisters, it was great.

After a few days of NY we took an early train to Boston (Natalie was not pleased at how early). I took a couple shots of the city from the Custom House Tower in Boston.

We saw the all the sights we could in one day and met my sister Becky for her office hours that evening. Her husband Tad drove us around while Becky showed us Harvard and Cambridge. Then, they took us to their home in Providence, RI. Tad kindly gave us a comprehensive "Tad driving tour of Providence." We saw downtown, Brown University, the mob hangouts, and all things Roger Williams. It was great and we capped it all off with a "Spikes's Junkyard Dog". Tremendous.

Then it was back to NY for more of the same only this time we were running out of energy, my dad was there, and we stayed with my brother Jake and his wife Stephanie at their dorm/apartment. Jake and his wife Stephanie graduated from Columbia just after we left NY, but I was there for the cap and gown purchase. Congrats to them both.

The whole trip was great; I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Thank you, Natalie, for convincing me that we had the resources to do it and thank you to my sisters for being patient with me. I know it took forever for us to get out there.

Vacation Here We Come

2009-05-07T19:12:00.004-06:00

So we are off to NEW YORK CITY tomorrow night and we couldn't be more excited. Hopefully I will actually remember to take pictures so that I have something exciting to post about. ha ha Well, stay tuned for our exciting trip details but you will have to wait because we will be in NYC/NEW ENGLAND area for TEN DAYS! Hooray for us

On another note, Ben finished finals! Hooray & I have my husband back for a little bit. Great job Ben. I couldn't be more proud of how hard you worked. :)

Poor Pooch

2009-04-01T08:20:00.005-06:00

So Odie had a little accident at the dog park a weekend or two ago. Ben had his dad in town so they decided to take Odie out for a little adventure and he LOVES the dog park. When Ben was putting him into the car he noticed that his shorts were all bloody but he wasn't sure if it was from himself or from Odie. After putting Odie on the passenger seat and noticing more blood he obviously new it is was coming from the pooch. He called me at work and asked me to call the pet hospital inside Petsmart to get Odie in ASAP. It seems like Odie had broken his deux claw (I think that is what they call it) in half and blood was coming out of it like crazy. When Ben dropped him off they said that they would be putting him under anaesthesia to be able to go in and fix his claw. Since it would be a few hours Ben and his dad headed back to the apartment and I got to pick him up after I got off work. I went in to pick him up and he was so out of it and had this cute little cast thing on. It was so adorable but made me feel so badly for him. He had to wear this cast for about a week and he was also on pain medicine and antibiotics. He is all better now, which is nice, and running around like a mad man. How cute are these pics?

WOW!

2009-03-26T16:35:00.003-06:00

WOW and it is only 4:30 PM. So I will try to post some pics later but we had the worst snow storm today. It was so bad that they actually closed down the majority of the businesses in the area & Highway 36 that leads to Boulder. Last time I checked it was SPRING BREAK and the END OF MARCH. Now I guess we were really spoiled this winter because we only really got 2-3 snow storms that didn't really amount to much but today made up for all of that. We have received almost 18 inches SO FAR and it is still expected to keep coming through the night. To give you an idea of how bad it was/is: I left work today at just after noon (they were closing the bank to allow people to get home safely) and didn't get home until about 3:20 PM. Along the way I got stuck 3-4 times and had to be helped out each time by some very nice gentlemen. They also closed the highway that I take home and I had to try to come up with an alternate route which was pretty scary. I am so appreciative of those VERY nice guys that helped me.

After I FINALLY got home Ben & I decided to take a walk to the mailbox and we ended up helping an SUV that was in 4-wheel drive get "un-stuck". Ben was pretty much The Hulk helping this car out and almost pushed it out himself. It is a complete disaster here and this storm wasn't a surprise either. They have been talking about this storm for the past 2 days so where were the plows when we needed them. I will never understand the lovely snow plowing industry. I will post some pics as soon as I warm up a bit and relax.

P.S. Here are the pics from just a few minutes ago (7:30 PM) and still coming down.

And here is my poor car trapped in the snow. :(

Bachelor = Disappointment

2009-03-02T21:23:00.004-07:00

So I wasn't going to do a "bachelor" post but I went against my better judgement. So I was so disappointed in Jason. I don't mind that he has "changed" his mind and fell out of love (totally hate that saying and think it is a cop out) but for him to break another girl's heart on national television is a shame. I think that he should have had enough tact to do something like that in an intimate setting but I must be wrong. Every season I start watching the bachelor, I expect to be let down and disappointed but somehow I get sucked in to watching people fall in love. Everything seems to be so real but then you get let down.... or just me for that matter. I liked Melissa from the start and I hope she finds someone that will respect her enough to not embarrass her on national television. I guess all I can say at this point is that I am yet again disappointed.

Ok so I have another confession.... I kinda knew what was going to happen before tonight's finale but I wanted to see how Jason was going to go about making the "switch" happen. I guess I can't believe that he was pretty much making out with Molly shortly after breaking up with Melissa. Also, how could Melissa not know that Jason was "falling out of love" with her? I guess either Jason is a FAKE or a really good liar or bipolar. I guess those are the solutions I came up with to explain his behavior tonight. Thanks for letting me vent to all my blogging buddies about a stupid reality show. Why do I let myself get into these shows? Who knows but I probably won't change. ha ha Let me know your opinions. :)

BOO JASON & THE BACHELOR!!!!

M.I.A.

2009-01-30T10:19:00.003-07:00

So I know that I have totally sucked at blogging lately but I truly feel like I have nothing exciting to say. I have working at my new job now for 3 weeks and it has been a little bit of an adjustment to get back into whole 9 hour days. I do enjoy what I do so I know things should pick up once I am done with training. See, when you switch banks you have to go through ALL of their training all over again. I will not be done with training until the middle of March. Ben has started his new semester and will be super busy with his class load. It is nice to know that he is more than half way done but it still seems like he has so much more to go. (Don't tell him that I said that though)

We do have some fun things planned for this summer so I can't wait. We will be heading to NYC in May to see Ben's sisters and brother out there. Ben has not been back east so I am so excited to show him around and I have not been back since I left in 2002. We also want to see if we can hit up Boston and catch a Redsox game.

As for the weather out here in Colorado it is still a mess. Last week we had beautiful weather and actually hit 75 degrees one day. The very next day it dropped to 20 degrees and got colder over the weekend. I don't get it and I am thinking that I never will. :) We are having a beautiful day today so since I have the day off I better get out and enjoy it.

I never really blogged about our Christmas vacation because I didn't take any pictures. How lame is that? I enjoyed seeing old friends and catching up and getting to see most of my family. The weather didn't really cooperate with my sister and her family coming up from Lehi, so that was a bummer but everything else was pretty nice. I am pretty sure that we will not be able to be in Utah this coming Christmas so it was nice to be able to get there and enjoy the time that we did have.

I hope that my upcoming posts will come more frequently and be a whole lot more interesting. Thanks for still checking in and making sure that I am still around. :)

And We Are Off!!!

2008-12-22T11:10:00.002-07:00

So we are off to Utah for Christmas. We are excited to get to see family and friends while we are in town for just a short time since we were not planning on traveling this Christmas. We found a great deal and couldn't pass it up so Utah here we come. It will be a pretty jam packed trip with no time to relax and rest but it should be fun.

Onto some other good news.... I finally got a job. Hooray!! I am pretty excited and I will start the first week of January. Originally they were going to have me start on the day we flew back, which would have been a little crazy. I am going to be working for US Bank as a branch manager. I am pretty excited to have a paycheck coming in again although I have enjoyed my time off for the past few months. It is going to be a bit of a shock for me to have to get up early and work all day long but I am ready for the challenge. :)

Happy Holidays to everyone & we hope that you all enjoy this wonderful season with family and friends!!!

Finals Season

2008-12-15T13:21:00.006-07:00

So you all thought that it was Christmas season but not in our house. We are all about FINALS. Ben is taking his 4th final as I type this and he has 2 more and then he is done.... well, until January. It gets a little crazy around here when Ben is studying. He seems to go a bit crazy after studying for 10 hours straight and I get a bit lonely after sitting around and trying not to bother him for 10 hours straight. We are both pretty much losing our minds but after these finals he will be half way done with law school. Hooray!!

So since we will be in Utah over Christmas this year we haven't decorated our apartment which makes me a little sad. We usually buy a real Christmas tree around the 10th or 15th but we figured that it would be a waste of money since we will not be here for Christmas. To tell you the truth Odie has not been around a Christmas tree (since we went to Utah last year too) and I am afraid that he would eat it, tip it over, break all of my ornaments, and electrocute himself. It is really hard to get into the Christmas spirit when you don't have any decorations or presents wrapped. I still have about half of my Christmas shopping to do and somehow I always manage to be at the mall on Christmas Eve. I hope this year will be different but I highly doubt it. We are excited to see our friends and family this Christmas and we are really happy to be able to be there to share this wonderful season with them this year.

So wish Ben luck on the rest of his finals. He will be all done by Thursday night and I can hardly wait :) Happy Holidays and see some of you very soon.

Oh and P.S. we are not frozen here yet but just about. We are setting records here for how stinkin' cold it is. Last night it was a whopping NEGATIVE 10 DEGREES. You have to be kidding me with that. Last time it was that cold here..... 1901. Oh boy!!! I thought that it would get better by this afternoon but no such luck. It is gorgeous outside if you don't have to go out there. It is 2 degrees right now. What have I gotten myself into. :)

Colorado Weather Confusion

2008-12-04T15:47:00.002-07:00

So I was meaning to do a nice Thanksgiving week post but I haven't gotten around to doing it. I just thought that I would tell all of you about some really weird weather that has been going on around here. Well it was so nice before Thanksgiving (around 65 degrees) and then on Thanksgiving it snows. Well, I guess that is to be somewhat expected because we are Rocky Mountain Territory. Here is where the weirdness comes in. Our weather on Monday= 60 degrees Our weather on Tuesday= 75 degrees Our weather Wednesday= 25 degrees with this weird snow-like thing coming from the sky. Ben thought that it might be too cold to snow. That was only some wishful thinking/hoping on our part. Well, I wake up this morning to about 3-4 inches of snow and still snowing throughout the day and a high of 16 degrees. Are you kidding me? Where did that 75 degree day go and why was it teasing me? I sure do not like the snow so I am trying to be positive and hope for a short winter. Warm weather in February.... I think that sounds good to me. :) (I might get to that Thanksgiving post before Christmas)

I've Been Tagged

2008-11-20T10:46:00.003-07:00

8 Shows I Watch:
1. Days of our Lives
2. One Tree Hill
3. Biggest Loser
4. Heroes
5. Prison Break
6. Jon & Kate Plus 8
7. The Hills
8. Desperate Housewives

8 Restaurants That I Like To Eat At:
1. Café Rio
2. Mexican: Searching for that “Perfect” one in Colorado
3. Souper Salad
4. Training Table
5. Golden Isle
6. Olive Garden
7. Chilis: Chips & Salsa… YUMMY
8. Wingers

8 Things I Did Today:
1. Took Odie Out
2. Fed Odie
3. Woke Ben up for school
4. Worked Out
5. Watched TV
6. Fixed Breakfast/Lunch
7. Took Odie out again
8. Looked for jobs

8 Things I Am Looking Forward To:
1. Thanksgiving: My mom is coming ☺
2. Christmas
3. Getting a Job to keep my busy during the day
4. Ben to be done with school
5. Going to New York in May
6. Ben’s Internship in SF this summer
7. Having a family some day
8. The Economy not sucking anymore

8 Things On My Wish List:
1. Money
2. Getting a good job
3. That winter will not really ever begin (I am enjoying our 70-75 degree weather)
4. Losing some weight
5. More Money
6. New Clothes
7. A nice town house… some day
8. Having kids… some day

8 People I Tag:
1. Brienne
2. Shayla
3. Sherri
4. Aania
5. Hillary
6. Anna
7. Liz
8. Amber

Odie's Halloween

2008-10-31T15:56:00.006-06:00

So Ben finally gave in and let me buy a costume for Odie. We found the cutest ones at Target and since I don't have any kids that means I get to dress up my dog and take pictures like a proud parent. It was between a bee costume, a lobster, or a pumpkin. I decided on the bee and when we got home and put Odie in his costume he acted like he was dead. He just laid on the floor and wouldn't move. We couldn't get him to keep his little hat on but I figured the rest of the costume was pretty cute. He still doesn't know what to think of his costume so he just lays around and looks adorable. I think that this might be the start of many outfits for Odie.

This is Odie sulking that he has to wear a Halloween Costume and do a photo shoot.

Odie actually not sulking... only for a second though

This is Odie's favorite thing to do..... look out our front window and snoop on everyone

Here is Odie pouting that he has to be dressed up in a costume. Pretty cute huh?

Happy Halloween everyone! I hope everyone is safe and gets lots of candy. :)

New Pictures

2008-10-14T15:47:00.017-06:00

So these pictures are much delayed but better late than never, right?

Here is our Living Room. Nothing fancy but this is where we spend most of our time.

This is our Dining Room which is attached to our Living Room. Quaint but there are only two of us. This table was a Spokane find. We got a great deal on it but it didn't come with chairs. We bought the chairs later from Target. Pretty good match huh?

This is Odie's little corner. He doesn't spend much time in his cage now that I am not working. I bought him the bed to the side of the cage but he hasn't slept once in there so that is where I store his toys until he drags them all out into the Living Room.

Here is our Kitchen. Nothing fancy here. Our laundry room is behind the door at the far end. It is nice to have a separate room for our washer and dryer and to store some cleaning supplies.

Here is our Bathroom. I am not a huge fan of the cabinets but the best part of this Bathroom..... Behind the shower curtain is a HUGE, OVAL BATHTUB. It is awesome. It is so big that it takes forever to fill up and it hits my shoulders when I am sitting down. We love it!!

Here is Ben's Desk. It sits right off the kitchen area. He doesn't usually sit here to work but as you can see he keeps all of his books and other "stuff" here.

Here is our Bedroom. I will admit that it still needs a little TLC but it is not our main priority. I haven't really hung any pictures or put much thought into this room. Maybe this will be my little project while I am not working. I do love our bed and dresser. They both used to be that ugly yellow wood color (like the nightstand) and Ben sanded it all down and re-stained it a couple of years ago. I love the way it turned out. The pictures don't really do it justice because you can't see the grain of the wood. Good Job Ben!

So here is the view from our balcony. The first one is overlooking the other apartment buildings and the grassy area is where Odie could go out and play if he was a good dog. Ben & I are afraid to let him off his leash because he will run away. Oh well. He can look at the other dogs that are good and get to play on the grassy area with their owners. Maybe one day, Odie. So the second picture is the back view from our balcony. There is a funny story that goes along with this picture. When Ben & I were first arriving here and picking up our keys the sales lady was trying to "sell" us our apartment. Keep in mind that we have already paid our deposits and first months rent a few weeks prior to our arrival. She was telling us a little about our apartment and our great wrap around balcony. She told us that we have this great lake view and that we are going to enjoy it so much. Ben & I were so tired from our drive and we still had to move all of our stuff in so we just took the keys and left. I kept thinking to myself that I don't remember there being a lake in any of the pictures or maps but oh well. So when we finally get our stuff in the apartment we decided to check out this "lake view". This is pretty much what we saw. Now keep in mind you have to basically lean over our ledge to see it because we are not the back apartment. Isn't this "lake view" great? (Sorry that the pictures look so gloomy outside. It has just gotten super cold here and I am not too happy. After all, where did fall go?)

So there is our apartment. I hope that you all enjoy the fabulous pics that I have FINALLY posted. :)

Free Purses!!!!

2008-10-14T09:23:00.007-06:00

Check out these awesome purses! They are giving away a FREE handbag every hour on the day of their launch! What have you got to lose, it's FREE! http://handbagplanet.com

Thank You!!

2008-10-06T12:44:00.002-06:00

I don't know really how to start this post or exactly what I want to say. I just wanted to thank all of our family and friends for their great support over these past couple of weeks. Your thoughts and prayers have been greatly appreciated. It has been a very difficult time for myself and more so for Ben. Losing a parent is never easy & words can't express how much we will miss Ben's mom. Connie was a wonderful mother. She raised four great children and instilled in them a love for each other, respect for others, education, and most importantly a great and deep love for their mother.

The entire family was able to get together and share some great memories with each other. It was really nice to be able to feel closer to Ben's brother and sisters and most of all his dad. Ben has a great family and I am so lucky to be a part of it. I wish that I had the words to express to Ben to make it all better, but I don't. I do know that we can all be together again and that piece of the gospel seems so much more important than everything else at this point in our lives.

I am not even sure if this post makes sense but I really did just want to thank everyone for their love and support during this difficult time. Thank you for your phone calls, offers for food, text messages, friendships, and everything else that you have all done for us and for Ben's family. THANK YOU!!

Midnight Sun

2008-09-15T12:08:00.006-06:00

So I know this is probably not new to any of you BIG FANS out there but it is new to me, so you have to humor me. ha ha

WOW! So my sister, Carrie, totally made my day last week. We were texting back and forth and she was asking me how I liked Breaking Dawn. Well, I explained what I like & what I didn't like but we got on the subject of Edward of course. Well, I was talking about how I didn't like his casting in the movie but then I started looking at more and more pictures and he is TOTALLY growing on me. I am super excited and I can't wait until NOVEMBER 21st for the movie. Hooray. So, back to how she made my day.... Well, she mentioned that there was this partial book that Stephenie Meyer was thinking of publishing until it was illegally published before it was completed. What is this book you ask? MIDNIGHT SUN!!! This is the Twilight Book from Edward's perspective. Can you believe it? I read it in a couple of nights and it only took me a couple of nights because I didn't want it to end so I had to make it last.

There is a warning to this little link that I am going to post. Stephenie wasn't sure if she was going to continue on with finishing this book, but I read a little further and noticed that it will be her NEXT project. Hooray!! It does leave off WAY too early & I am now trying not to pull my hair out waiting for her to get on it and finish that stinkin' book. Now I guess I know how all of you big Twilight fans felt with the other books and having to wait for the next one to come out. Well, I think of myself as the smart one and was able to read all 4 book in a matter of a week. This is also a major reason why my apartment isn't completely unpacked yet because I started reading Twilight when we go to Colorado. So, I hope you enjoy Midnight Sun Draft and you can all thank me later..... well, actually my sister, Carrie.

http://stepheniemeyer.com/midnightsun.html

Tagged (Again)

2008-09-09T17:37:00.002-06:00

Man, I am on a roll with these tags. I am going to keep doing these until I get my apartment unpacked completely so that I can post some pictures.

The Rules: -Tell about 6 quirks of yours -Tag 6 fellow bloggers to do the same - 

1. I HATE when people chew with their mouths open or talk with their mouths full. I hate it sooo badly that I have stopped dating guys over this, stopped talking to friends, and just flipped out. This is my biggest pet peeve of ALL time.

2. I love moving. Now I didn’t say that I love unpacking but I love getting to live in new places. We have seen some cool spots and look at moving like a new adventure. Apparently we like moving so much that we just do it EVERY year since we have been married. Four years equals four moves. ☺

3. I so want plastic surgery. I have a list of things that I would want done if we had tons of money and felt like wasting some of it. I don’t want anything drastic done but a few things here and there and I would be happy.

4. Shayla, I too am addicted to reality TV shows. I watch the dumbest shows that waste my brain cells but I LOVE THEM. To see a list of all the shows I like you can visit Shayla’s blog and those are about all of them. Unlike Shayla though, I am not trying to get over this and I am embracing being a reality show junky.

5. I never thought that I would be “one of those dog people” but I totally am. I love my doggy and I don’t know what I would do without my little friend. The funny thing is that Ben is such a dog person now too. It took me 3 years to get him to give me a puppy but he loves this little guy. Odie is my first kid and always will be. He is totally spoiled rotten and he gets new toys every time I go to the store.

6. I yell at the TV when I watch tennis. I don’t know why I get so intense when I watch tennis but I always find myself yelling and getting all stressed out at set point or match point or break point. During this US Open I was so into it. Ben would study while I watched the US Open and he knew what was going on the entire time because I had to comment on every point. I never played tennis but I LOVE watching it.

Now its your turn I tag: Carrie Christensen, Annie, April, Sherri, Carrie Pace, and Mogan. You better all do my tag because I will be watching. Ha ha ☺

Tag Tag.... I'm It

2008-08-31T16:23:00.001-06:00

So, I have been a little behind on the whole blogging world. I have missed a few tags, so here you go Brie & Carrie. :) I promised that I would do them, but I didn't promise how quickly I would get them done.

Two Names You Go By:
1. Nat
2. Tallie (Ben calls me that all the time)
Two Things You are Wearing Right Now:
1. Gray & Green Striped Sweatshirt
2. Shorts
Two Things You Want Right Now:
1. My old job back
2. Be completely done unpacking
Two Things You Did Last Night:
1. Ate at a Mexican restaurant
2. Watched the US Open
Two Things You Ate Today:
1. Gummi Bears
2. Taco
Two Favorite Drinks:
1. Diet Coke
2. More Diet Coke
Five People I’m Tagging
1. Carrie
2. Shayla
3. Sherri
4. Anna
5. Annie

Tag #2

In honor of the Olympics opening ceremonies held on 8-8-08 (I told you I was behind)…… here are my 8’s

8 TV Shows I love to watch: So You Think You Can Dance, Prison Break, The Hills, Big Brother, American Idol, Biggest Loser, The Office, and Day of Our Lives

8 restaurants I love: Bj’s, Celia’s, Pizzeria Uno, Café Rio, The Mandarin, Training Table, Taco Bell, and El Matador

8 Things that Happened Today: Slept in, Worked Out, Watched Tennis, Laid around a lot, Watched more tennis, Took Odie out, and getting ready to watch the Colorado v. Colorado State football game

8 Things I am looking forward to: getting fully unpacked from our move, working out to lose some weight, Thanksgiving because my mom comes out to visit, Ben’s friend’s wedding in Seattle in a little more than a month, working again, Meeting new people here in CO, finishing all of the Twilight books (done in a week), and our Anniversary on the 2nd

8 Things I love about Summer: THE WEATHER, flip-flops, summer box office, The Olympics, The US Open, Vacations, and did I mention the warm weather???

8 Olympic Events I want to see: Gymnastics, Swimming, Volleyball, Diving, Water Polo, Soccer, Beach Volleyball, and Track and Field

8 Things on My Wish List: World Peace (ha ha), No more stupid election commercials, Ben to enjoy law school in CO and for him to do well, Lose some weight, Be a housewife, Labor Day Shopping Deals, and to be happy. ☺

So I am supposed to tag 8 people but since I am so late at completing this…. You are all of the hook.

Olympics

2008-08-11T12:38:00.000-06:00

So I love love love the Summer Olympics. I have enjoyed watching the Olympics so far and I love that I can TIVO everything. I love just about every event that comes with the summer Olympics & I have not been disappointed so far. The USA has done a great job so far & there is still so much more to come. YAY!!! Did anyone see the 400 freestyle relay last night? WOW! That was the most exciting race I have seen in a long time. GO USA!

MOVING.....

2008-07-29T17:13:00.000-06:00

So we are on the move again. Ben did such a great job in his first year of law school that he was able to apply to transfer schools. We heard from a few schools and have finally made our decision.............

Now, I have to tell you that I don't get this logo. The school is University of Colorado but they call is CU. I guess that is something that will take some getting used to. In all honesty, I thought that University of Colorado- Boulder was a completely different school from this CU that they speak of. ha ha. I guess I had a bit of a blond moment.

Well, we are excited to move again. Not necessarily for the packing, traveling, and then unpacking but we are excited to try out a new place. Now keep in mind that this will be 4 moves in our 4 years of marriage. This better slow down some time soon. :) On the good side, I have learned how to get rid of things that we haven't used in a while and pack things efficiently.

Dark Knight.....WOW

2008-07-22T10:56:00.001-06:00

So, Ben & I went to see the Dark Knight last night. We had heard that it was such a good movie and since it broke box office numbers, we thought that it must be good. It did not disappoint!!! It is a very dark movie, but we knew that going into it. I was so completely entertained through the entire movie, which is amazing for me. I still think that I must have A.D.D. :)Heath Ledger was absolutely amazing. You could not really tell it was him except for one scene. Christian Bale did an amazing job as well, but the star of the show is really the joker. I will not spoil it for any of you because you all should go see it. Now, keep in mind that it is not really a kids movie but it is a very good adult movie. Two very high Thumbs Up from me!! It honestly is one of the best movies I have seen in quite a while. :) ENJOY!!

Memory Tag

2008-07-08T16:03:00.000-06:00

Ok, so since I am so frustrated with The Bachelorette & I am not going to talk about it and just pretend it didn't happen..... Here is a fun tag that I stole from my sister's blog. Here are the rules:

1. Add a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. I can't wait to see what people remember.

What Was She Thinking???

2008-06-24T20:46:00.001-06:00

So I am totally addicted to The Bachelorette. I have loved Graham from the very beginning and thought that him & DeAnna would just be perfect together. He is super cute & they just had a connection. Well, last night..... SHE CUTS HIM! I just don't get it. It must be hard to have to try to get people to open up about their feelings... but come on. Maybe I like Graham so much because I can relate to him & his communication styles when it comes to expressing your feelings. It was always hard for me to tell someone how I was feeling when I was just dating them. This situation is dating times TEN & he must be scared of getting his heart broken too. She said at the end of the episode that she was doubting her decision.... ya think? Why would she keep Jesse? He is a fun guy & all but she is not going to be in a serious relationship with him. I just hope that she wakes up & goes back to get GRAHAM.

On the other hand, she does have a couple of good guys left. Jason.... ADORABLE & his son is even cuter. Jeremy, mister perfect or so he seems.... they have quite a bit in common and he is super cute as well. I don't know what my deal was last night, but I found myself crying through the entire episode. When Jason ran up to hug his son after being away from him for so long.... CRIED. When Jason was getting ready to leave his son with DeAnna..... CRIED. Graham handing a note to DeAnna after being cut... CRIED. Man, I don't know what my deal was or if this was just a really emotional episode. (Good thing I watched it when Ben was asleep or he probably would have made fun of me)

So I don't know if I can wait until Monday to see another episode. It is killing me & I can't remember a show that I have been this into in such a long time. Don't get me wrong... I have my favorites: So You Think You Can Dance, Days, The Hills, What Not To Wear, Big Brother (except for last season), etc. but I can't remember being THIS into a show. So, I have no choice & have to wait until Monday, the next Monday, & then the next Monday to find out who she chooses in the end. Is anyone else into this show as much as I am?

High School Flashback

2008-06-10T11:00:00.000-06:00

1. Did you date someone from your school? While I was in high school… No, but I married someone from my high school.
2. Did you win anything in Senior's Who's Who? Nope
3. What kind of car did you drive? I got a Honda Civic and then a basketball teammate rear ended me, totaling my car. I then drove my dad’s Land Cruiser & Audi.
4. It's Friday night...where are you? During basketball season…. At the games and on the off chance that we didn’t have a game, sleeping because we probably had early morning practice (literally 6:00 am)
5. Were you a party animal? My friends were. I pretty much ended up driving them around to different parties
6. Were you considered a flirt? Not in high school!
7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? Wow! The picture of me being in any of those groups, makes me laugh. I am not musically talented AT ALL
8. Were you a nerd? Not really, but I definitely took some nerdy classes: Calculus, Advanced Chemistry, Physics, etc
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? Nope
10. Can you sing the fight song? I know that we had one, but I remember laughing when they sang the song in an assembly because I didn’t know they had one and no one knew the words but the cheerleaders. 
11. Who were your favorite teachers? I like Mrs. Barclay. She was also my assistant basketball coach and math teacher
12. Where did you sit during lunch? We always went out to lunch
13. What was your school's full name? Murray High School
14. School mascot? The Spartan
15. Did you go to Homecoming and with who? So Yr: Nate Barney Jr Yr: Mike Neider Sr Yr: Ben Larsen
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Parts of it YES, but I was not a huge fan of high school.
17. What do you remember most about graduation? I remember helping someone sneak in a beach ball to blow up and throw around during the ceremony.
18. Where did you go senior skip day? Did we really have one of these?
19. Were you in any clubs? Ok so Ben makes fun of me all the time for being this club because he said it was totally nerdy so let me explain: My favorite teacher that was also my basketball coach was in charge of JETS. She didn’t have enough members so another basketball teammate and I joined to help her out. I only remember meeting twice and one of those meetings was for the yearbook picture.
20. Have you gained some weight since then? YEAH!! I was in the best shape ever. We had a drill sergeant for a basketball coach and ran for hours each day
21. Who was your prom date? Jr Prom was with Scott Asay
22. Are you planning on going to your reunion? No thanks

Now I tag: Anna, Carrie, Sherri, and really EVERYONE.

We are Back!!

2008-05-30T21:08:00.000-06:00

So earlier this week we got back from our vacation to Utah for Jake's Wedding. We had a better trip than we had originally anticipated. We got to see most of our friends, hang out with our families, and enjoy not being in school or working. Our trip home was quite busy & ended before we knew it. Here is what we were able to accomplish: Arrived in Logan at 2 am on Saturday morning to stay the night with my brother in his new apartment. We ended up talking until about 5 am and my poor brother had to get up at 8:30 am to get to work. Sorry Brian but we had a good time catching up. We met up with my friend, Brienne and her family for breakfast that morning at IHOP. Her little boy, Cooper, is getting so big and is really adorable. Brie looks fantastic and is due to have her baby girl any day now.

After lunch, we headed back down to Salt Lake to drop our stuff off at my mom's place and headed to my nephew's baseball game in Lehi. At the baseball game I got to see my sister, Carrie, and her family. I love my nephews and little niece so much. They are super cute and they are all growing up so quickly. So after the game, we pretty much headed back to my mom's to crash. It was a pretty eventful first day and we were exhausted.

We pretty much didn't do ANYTHING on Sunday. It was the only day of our entire trip that we were able to relax and not run from place to place. So, on Monday Ben & I took our moms out to dinner for a belated Mother's Day. It was nice to get both moms together and enjoy some good Mexican food.

Tuesday, we got to see my other nephew's baseball game in Taylorsville. Jesse had a really good couple of at bats. It was fun to get to see my sister and her boys. They are also getting so big! Other than the horrible wind storm that almost blew me over and didn't help with my allergies... the game was great. We also had a chance to see Ben's friend, Jimmy, that night. We met his adorable girl friend and watched American Idol. Jimmy is always fun to hang out with & we always have a good time. Never a dull moment with Jimmy Rex!

Wednesday was a pretty relaxed day from what I can remember. The days are all becoming a bit of a blur. I was supposed to get together with Shayla for dinner that night but she got too busy for me and had to reschedule. She is lucky that I was able to reschedule.... I am a pretty busy girl. Just Kidding!! Ben went with his brother Jake that night to Jake's Bachelor Party at SkyBar. I went home and hung out with my mom and got some much needed sleep.

Thursday, we got together with my dad & Angela for lunch at Ben's favorite place... NEILS. It was nice to catch up with my dad and Ben loved the food! Later that night, I got together with my bestest friend, Hallie. She just recently had a baby girl named Berkley and I had to go see her. We talked for hours and time flew by. Before I knew it, it was late and past every one's bedtime. Berkley is just adorable and Hallie looks great. Her house is super cute & she looks so happy. When Ben came to pick me up, Nick (Hallie's husband) ran out to the car to show off baby Berkley. He handed the baby through the car window so that Ben could hold her. The funny thing about this is.... Ben is not a big baby person. I ran out to see what Ben would do and he was holding Berkley and looked like a natural. After we left, Ben kept saying how tiny she was. Cute!

Here is the disclaimer to this picture: Hallie only let me post this picture if I mentioned that she just got out of the shower and didn't have any make-up on. Thanks for letting me post this picture. We have not had a picture of the two of us taken for such a long time. Love you!

Early Friday afternoon I was able to get together for lunch with Shayla. We went to Morelia to catch up and eat some more great Mexican food. It was so good to see her and hear about her new hubby. Thanks Shayla for getting together & catching up. So on Friday afternoon the wedding festivities began. In the afternoon we had family pictures with the Summerhays'. This was probably my favorite part of the trip. Apparently, we must be a hard family to photograph because he was really struggling to get us together and ALL looking good. He was trying for the "natural" shot and not counting to 3. Not a good decision!! The majority of the pictures didn't come out very well at all. I finally convinced the photographer to take a few more shots and to count to 3. We got a few pictures to choose from... which is nice. While we were hanging out waiting for Ben's dad to pay and choose frames and all that stuff.... I think that we all went a bit loopy. Ben's sisters, Emily & Becky (aka "The Beck" ha ha)started messing around and posing for some shots. I got out my camera and was able to capture a few of them. We were all laughing so hard.

After the family photo shoot, we had the wedding dinner at the Lion House. It was a nice dinner and we had to continue a bit of our fun from the family pictures. Somehow I got Jake to play a song on the piano that he learned when he was really young in front of everyone.... oh yeah, I know how.... TWENTY DOLLARS! Abraham Lincoln will forever be my favorite piano song. Becky caught it all on video, so we will be able to relive this memory over and over again.

So the wedding was on Saturday in the Timpanogos Temple. It turned out to be a beautiful day for the bride & groom. They looked so happy and it turned out to be a wonderful wedding. The reception was held later on that night. It was nice to get to see some old family friends and continue hanging out with Ben's family and mine too. There were some exciting events that occurred.... those to be shared at a later time. :)

So we ended up leaving on Sunday morning to get back to LOVELY Spokane. Ben was a superstar and drove the entire thing by himself. I was really grateful because I was exhausted and kept dozing off on the 10 hour drive home. All in all... It was a great trip back to Utah. We always wish that we had more time to spend with friends and family but I think that we did a pretty good job this trip of seeing as many people as possible. Oh yeah, and Odie did a great job on the road trip. He sat on my lap the entire drive.

Finals are OVER!!!

2008-05-12T13:05:00.000-06:00

So finals ended on Friday and I finally have my husband back. He is such a different person when he doesn't have to be worrying about finals or law school. I got home from work early on Friday to see my cute husband bought me flowers and ran some errands for me. We got together with some law school friends and their families for a BBQ on Friday night. It was fun to see everyone and how relieved all of us were to have finals over and done with. We have met some great people here in Spokane and we will miss them this summer. I missed the girls picture but here is a picture of the Law Students!!! (I stole this from Meg's blog... hope you don't mind)

Ben will be starting his internship on the 27th with the Attorney Generals office in their Torts division. He was supposed to start on the 19th but we will be in Utah for his brother's wedding. We are off to Utah on Friday afternoon for a week and a half. It will be nice to see family and friends. We are bringing our little Odie, so that should make for a great adventure. :) Odie doesn't do so well with car rides, but I am still crossing my fingers that it will be a smooth ride.

Finals!!!

2008-04-29T14:45:00.001-06:00

So Ben is preparing for his finals this week and next week. He has been studying so hard and I am very proud of him. He puts so much time into his studies that I know his finals will have a great outcome. Wish him luck!!! Also, wish me luck to get through the next couple of weeks without a husband. :) I might need to go see a girly movie or something to keep me busy. By the way, Odie is feeling better now and thank you for all of your comments. We appreciate it.

Update on Little Odie

2008-04-14T15:03:00.000-06:00

(The picture is blurry but it is the only one that I could find. Man, I need to get a new laptop)

So we took Odie to the vet again on Friday night. The vet looked in his ears again and said that the bacteria infection was gone but he still has a yeast infection in both ears. He gave us some new drops to use to fix the pH in his ears. We have to put the first drops in (that he hates) and then wait 5 minutes and put another set of drops in his little ears. Now this is not just a one person job. Ben has to HOLD him down and hold his face so that I can put the drops in. So, on Saturday I was getting ready to put his drops in his ears, Ben was holding him down and I lifted up his floppy ear to put in the drops.... One drop in and he FREAKS out and yelps and I still need to do the other ear. I thought that this might have just been a one time thing, but yesterday the same thing happened. I don't think that I am going to be able to do this for a whole week. I seriously don't know how parents would do this to their child because my heart just breaks to hurt my little dog. After you put the drops into his ears, he shakes his head frantically trying to get the drops out. He also rubs his head on the floor and blankets. It is really sad to watch and it continues for quite a long time. I really hope his little ears feel better soon.

Poor Little Odie

2008-04-02T11:03:00.000-06:00

Ok so I feel so bad for my cute little puppy. He woke up early on Sunday morning around 4:00 am scratching at his ear and shaking his head. He was up for about 40 minutes, which usually never happens. I knew something was wrong but it was too early in the morning to do anything or check anything out. That morning he was still scratching at his ear and shaking his head more and more. I checked out his little ear and it was pretty red in comparison to the other ear. I tried to call the vet on my way home on Monday night but I just missed them. They close at 6:00 pm and I called around 6:15 pm. I figured that one more day would not hurt so I gave them a call yesterday and they were able to get Odie in at 5:00 pm. By this time, his ear was almost a purple color and really irritated. The vet took some tests and he came back pretty confused. He said that he has a bacteria infection and a yeast infection (which is pretty common for dogs)in both ears. He was confused because you usually don't get both at the same time and so rapidly. He needs to see Odie next week to check his progress. He gave me some drops/ointment to put in his ears twice a day and then massage his ears. I feel sad because he won't even let us touch his head and Ben needs to hold him down so that I can put the drops in. :( I feel like such a bad puppy owner. I hope cute little Odie gets better soon!!
(I will post another picture of him later today because I didn't have my camera with me at work. This is from an older post)

Flashback Friday

2008-03-28T11:44:00.001-06:00

So my sister and some of her cute friends do this "Flashback Friday" thing and I thought it was a great idea. Here are some pictures of me when I was little. I don't think I look at all like I did when I was little. What do you think? Now don't make fun of any pictures or I will just have to keep my little photos to myself. ha ha Enjoy!! :)

I think I am about 2 in this picture or at least that is what my sister told me.

I think I am 4 or 5 in this picture. I guess I should ask my mom to be sure

This is my kindergarten picture from school.

Babysitting Adventure

2008-03-20T15:38:00.000-06:00

So this past weekend Ben and I babysat the cutest little girl. Her name is Addison and she is just too cute. Kind of funny how I came about babysitting her.... this wonderful world of blogging. So I found Nina's blog from my cousin’s blog. Now Nina and I played basketball together in high school, but I have not kept in touch like I should have so I had not spoken to Nina in a FEW years. So, when I found her blog I noticed that she lived in Missoula, Montana which is only about 3 hours away from us in Spokane. I said that next time she came to Spokane that I would be more than happy to watch her little girl. Well, I got a comment on my blog that she was coming into town, so I sent her an email and I watched Addie while she went the temple with her hubby. Addie was soooo adorable. She played with Odie really well. Their little relationship was kind of funny. In the beginning, Odie was chasing Addie around and jumping up on her. Towards the last little bit, Addie was chasing Odie around and grabbing his whiskers and ears. It was really cute and fun to watch. So if any of you have any kids that need babysitting.... let me know!! :)

A to Z.... All About Me

2008-03-11T10:20:00.001-06:00

A: Attached or single: Attached
B: Best Friend: That would have to be Ben!!
C: Cake or Pie: Neither really. I am not a big dessert person
D: Day of Choice: Saturday - no work wahoo!
E: Essential Items: Lately it has been my invisalign trays, chap stick, and cell phone.
F: Favorite Color: Green
G: Gummi Bears or Worms: Gummi just about anything will do but worms are the best
H: Hometown: Born in Oceanside, CA but grew up in Murray, UT
I: Indulgence(s): Diet Coke lately
J: January or July: July, hmm warm or cold? Not a hard decision
K: Kids: Nope, Nope, and Nope
L: Life is incomplete without: Family & Friends
M: Marriage Date: September 2, 2004
N: Number of Siblings: 2 sisters and 1 brother
O: Oranges or Apples: Oranges except I hate when you peel an orange and it gets under your nails
P: Phobias or Fears: Spiders
Q: Quote(s): “Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?”
R: Reason To Smile: When I arrive home and my puppy jumps all over me to welcome me home. He makes me feel so special
S: Season: Summer by far is the best!
T: Tag: You all know that you wanna do it….. I should not have to list all of your names
U: Unknown Fact About Me: I am currently wearing invisalign to straighten my teeth
V: Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Meat - yummy!
W: Worst Habit: Popping my knuckles and my neck. It feels so good though
X: X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Does anyone really want either one of these?
Y: Your Favorite Food: Mexican, but anything really spicy will do
Z: Zodiac: Gemini

Intramural Softball @ Gonzaga

2008-03-04T12:33:00.000-07:00

So Ben had his first intramural softball game yesterday. I went to watch the game and it turns out that I was the only one there watching except for the other students waiting to get tickets to the last basketball game of the season. (I don't think that they count)I must be a pretty dedicated fan because in the hour that the game lasted it snowed, rained, and hailed. I was soaking wet and frozen!Ben did such a good job though. He ended up going 3 for 4 with the winning hit. Hooray! It is so funny to watch these boys get together and have fun playing softball. It must be such a nice relief from law school. Now, don't get me wrong.... they take this very seriously. I guess these grad students have won the football, basketball, and hopefully now the softball championships, so watch out!! It is also nice for Ben to be able to get back into sports a bit. Intramural softball is quite different from Stanford or USF baseball but it is fun and such a good release from the hard work of law school. I guess they don't play again for a couple of weeks, but I will be sure to keep everyone posted on the excitement. :)

Trip to the ER

2008-02-22T11:00:00.001-07:00

So Ben had quite the eventful day yesterday. Here is how the day started: Ben woke up around 6 am not feeling well. He usually is pretty good sleeper so I should have known something was wrong. I asked him if he was ok and of course he said yes, so I left for work. I got down to work an hour later and noticed that I had a missed call and a text message from Ben. Text Message Read: "I think I am having a kidney stone." I got another call from Ben as I was about to check my voicemail and he told me that he was heading to the ER because of his kidney stone. Now, Ben has had a couple of kidney stones now so he knows to not wait around for it to go away. I had just driven an hour to get to work and I had some things that I HAD to do so I ran into work to update some numbers and called the regional office to tell them I was heading to the ER for Ben. I took off shortly after that and met Ben in his hospital room. He had just returned from getting his CT scan. He was not a happy camper at this point, so he needed a bit more pain medicine. Well about 4 1/2 hours later, he was finally released. I headed straight to the pharmacy to fill his prescriptions and got him into bed ASAP. Oh yeah.... Ben was also supposed to have an interview for a summer job/internship at 1 pm yesterday. I had to find a number to let them know that he was in the hospital and they were great about it. He got a call later in the afternoon to reschedule his interview. Whoo Hoo! So that was our eventful day yesterday. Ben is doing great now that the stone has passed. :)

My Hubby!

2008-02-01T16:38:00.000-07:00

What is his name? John Bennion Summerhays
How long have you been together? This is under debate but we have been married for 3 ½ years and together for a total of about 5 years.
How long did you date? Dated for 9 months but we have known each other for ages.
How old his he? 26
Who eats more? That would be Ben. I can give him a run for his money on a few things though.
Who said I love you first? I think he did
Who is taller? Yeah that is Ben by almost a foot
Who can sing better? I can’t carry a tune, so that would be BEN
Who is smarter? That would be BEN without a doubt
Who does the laundry? That would be me because I just taught Ben the other week how I like it done. He does help now!
Who pays the bills? I do!
Who sleeps in the right side? If you are looking at the bed then Ben does.
Who mows the lawn? Neither-right now cuz we don't have a lawn, but it will be Ben!
Who cooks dinner? I do for the most part. Ben does make a mean grilled cheese though
Who drives? Ben unless I get tricked into it
Who is more stubborn? If I said Ben like I want to, that would just be me being stubborn and not wanting to admit it. So, ME!
Who kissed who first? Ben kissed me on our first date after I asked him if he grabbed my butt. Funny story
Who asked who out first? Pretty sure Ben did. He ditched me on the first date though. He claimed he had a final due or something…. Whatever!
Who proposed? Ben did
Who has more friends? That would be Ben for now. I am catching up with all of the law school buddies’ wives. :)
Who is more sensitive? That would have to be me by a long shot
Who has more siblings? We are tied
Who wears the pants? I would have to say that we share the pants right now

Ok so I am tagging: Sherri, Julie, Annie (both of you) and Carrie. Enjoy!!

BoBo the Explorer & Other Delayed Christmas Photos

2008-01-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

OK. So I promised a few pictures from Christmas. Sorry that it took me until the end of January, but at least I did it. This first picture is probably the funniest picture I have ever seen. Here is the background: My little nephew Jaxon got a life size Dora the Explorer doll for Christmas. He loves Dora and he even got a personal video that has him as one of the characters. Well, his little brother Bo is about the same size as the life size Dora doll. All of my nephews love to dress up, but it is usually in sports outfits. Bo decided to put this outfit on during the holidays. We were so lucky to be there to take a picture of the event. To top things off he added his older brother's Napoleon Dynamite wig from Halloween. I think it just makes the outfit that much better.

Here is another picture of Ben holding my cute little niece, Bella. She loves to be held and is such a cute little girl. How sweet is this?

Here is another picture that is one of our favorites. We got together with Ben's friends and their wives for a little Christmas party. One of their friends couldn't be there due to him serving a tour in Iraq with the Army. Chris' wife Deidra was able to have Chris call while we were all there so that the boys could talk to their good friend. It was really nice to be able to hear his voice and it was pretty funny to see these grown men hovering over the phone while it was on speaker. We were really grateful for the opportunity to be able to talk to him and hear from him that all is well with him in Iraq.

Let's Play a Game

2008-01-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

So since my computer is still not up and running, I will try to be a little creative with my posts. I found this on my bestest friend’s blog and I thought I would try it out. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but when you don’t have a computer it makes it kind of difficult….. soooo

Let's play the name game.

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car) - Lab Cooper (Mini Cooper but just Mini didn’t sound right)
2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie) - Mint Macadamia (yeah not so scary)
3. YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name) N-Sum
4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal) - Green Leopard
5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born) - So I don’t have a middle name but my friend, Sherri gave me one so I will use that one…. Ann Oceanside
6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first)-Sumna
7. SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink) - The Pink Coke (wow I am not a very exciting superhero… Diet Coke didn’t sound right either)
8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers) - Len Julian
9. STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy) - Clinique Skittles (hmmm)
10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's & father's middle names)-Durham Sherman (man this game sucks for me)
11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter) - Palmer Portland
12. SPY NAME/BOND GIRL: (your favorite season/holiday, flower) - Summer Daisy
13. CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y")-Berry Tankie
14. HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree) - Diet Coke Willow or Egg roll Willow
15. YOUR ROCKSTAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby/craft, fave weather element + "Tour") - The Shopping Thunder Tour (sounds exciting right?)

Happy New Year's

2008-01-02T12:44:00.000-07:00

So I know that I have been a total blog slacker but I had a good reason. We were in Utah for the holidays and it was a bit crazy but FUN! Being home for Christmas was very exhausting. We had to be sure to spend time with everyone and not leave any member of the family out. We managed to do it, but I think we need a vacation from our vacation. It was very nice to see almost everyone while we were home. We didn't get to get together with all of our friends and that was disappointing but we did get to spend plenty of time with the families. For Christmas Eve we got together for some Mexican food with the Summerhays' and my family. This consisted of Emily & Zaur, Jake & Stephanie, Dan & Connie, my mom, Carrie & her family, and Lisa & her family. It was quite the adventure having 20+ people get together for dinner, but it was really nice to be able to see everyone before Christmas. After Christmas, I thought things would calm down a bit but then we had to visit everyone after Christmas to exchange gifts and see what everyone was so lucky to receive all before the 29th. We did enjoy seeing everyone and thanks to all of you that made arrangements for coming to see us to cut down on our travel.
As for New Year's, Ben and I were still recuperating from our trip home so we just hung out and acted like an old married couple. We watched some Curb Your Enthusiasm and Arrested Development on New Year's Eve and stayed in our pj's all day on New Year's Day. It was so nice to be able to just relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. Happy New Year's to everyone!!
As for pictures... they will be coming. I have a funny one of my nephew in a Dora The Explorer outfit and another cute one of Ben with my little niece. :)

Goin' Home for Christmas

2007-12-19T13:02:00.000-07:00

We are leaving for Utah on Friday to visit our family and friends over the holidays. I am really sad though because we have to board our cute little Odie. He is such a snuggler and I will miss taking naps with him and I hope that they treat him nice. I am so worried that they will not treat him well and we will pick him up on the 29th and he will be so mad at us and forget everything thing that he has learned. I guess we will just have to wait and see how that turns out. We are excited to be able to see our families during the Holidays after not being able to go home for the past 3 years. Ben's sister and her husband are flying in from New York and Ben's brother will also be home from school with his cute new fiance. I will also get to see all of my cute nephews and my cute little niece. Hooray & Happy Holidays!

The Hills Finale or Is It???

2007-12-11T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ok so of course I watched The Hills Finale last night. I am soooo disappointed that it was only a half hour. How can you really have a finale in just 30 minutes? I am excited that there is more to come and we get to see Whitney and Lauren in Paris. I did have to say that I had mixed feelings about the finale because I was glad it was taking a break but I don't want to have to wait until the summer to get more HILLS. Since we are heading to Utah on the 21st I would not be able to watch without being lame and having to "run home" to see the episodes so I guess it is a good thing. The after show was not as exciting as I thought it would be either. I always think that something exciting is going to happen and I get let down every time. I just have to say.... How cute is Brody Jenner? (Ben is going to just hate this post. I have told you all how much Ben loves the theme song to The Hills and I am sure that he was disappointed to miss the finale last night due to studying at the library.)

Ben's New Home Away from Home

2007-12-06T20:45:00.000-07:00

OK so Ben is in the middle of taking his finals right now. He is spending so much time at the library that I think he might have to pay rent this month. He is working so hard and I hope that his hard work pays off at grade time. :) I am sure that it will. 3 down and 3 more to go!! Wish him luck..... Ben is lucky to have a dedicated study group that is getting together daily and staying ALL day long. It is always nice to be able to bounce ideas off of one another. I will be happy to have my husband back in a week.

My countdown has already begun for our Christmas trip home..... Only 2 weeks left. We are so happy and lucky to get to visit our families this year. It has been 3 years since our last Christmas with all of the fam. I guess I better get my Christmas shopping done. I am such a last minute shopper and it drives me crazy. Every year I promise that I will not get things done so last minute, but every year I am at the mall on Christmas Eve. :) I am hoping to get 90% of the shopping out of the way before we board the plane. Since all of our presents must fit in our suitcases.... Looks like Gift Cards for EVERYONE. ha ha

Computer Crash

2007-11-30T10:17:00.000-07:00

Ok so I know I have been a total slacker on my posts but I have a very good reason. We have two laptops: the older one is mine and we got Ben a new one for school. My computer is basically only used for blogging and it is plugged in right by the couch so it is nice and convenient for me. Well, the other day when my mom was visiting I decided that I wanted to post something for Thanksgiving and I went to log onto my computer. I opened up my laptop and I saw this awful blue screen telling me that it was dumping all of my files...... So, I don't really have a computer until I take it in to get fixed. Please don't hate me because I am now a blog slacker. :)

SNOW, SNOW.... GO AWAY!

2007-11-20T11:30:00.000-07:00

OK so I am having a very traumatic week so far. Since we have been spoiled for the last 3 years living in San Francisco area...... we have not had any snow. Well, I was watching TV on Sunday night and this big snow advisory came up about every 15 minutes warning us of the snow to come. Spokane was expecting 2-4 inches and Northern Idaho was expecting 6-10 inches. I instantly went into a depression. I can't have snow with the commute I have to work. I have to unpack my coats and actually wear them. I have not had a chance to get my snow tires. Well, my commute on Monday was not as bad as I thought. The roads were slick but I made it safely to work and I got to leave early because this nasty fog set in. I woke up this morning thinking that it was going to be a better day.... not so much the case. In Spokane things were cold but not snowing so I started my commute. I got about half way down to work and the snow started coming down. The only good news is that I get to leave early when it snows but my drive gets very stressful and I feel like I need a massage after stressing out for an hour. I know this is just the beginning so my Winter Depression continues......

Hallie & Nick Peay's Wedding

2007-11-10T09:46:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pics from Hallie & Nick Peay's Wedding on November 4th. It turned out to be such a nice day up in Millcreek Canyon. Congrats to the happy couple!!

TAGGED!

2007-11-07T17:27:00.000-07:00

The Rules: Each player lists 6 facts/habits about themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags six 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. Have fun!

Man….. I don’t wanna write about myself. I love it when other people get tagged. Oh well. Here goes:

1.I am married to the cutest hub EVER. He treats me so well and he knows just how to make me feel special. I love his sense of humor and how we laugh about the dumbest things that no one else would think was funny. He is the best friend I have ever had and I am lucky that he is my husband too. He is also the biggest smarty pants I know. It is a little intimidating being married to him but he always tries to make me feel smart. I am telling you….. THE BEST!

2.I absolutely HATE when people talk with their mouth full or chew with their mouth open. When I was dating, I was known to dump guys because of this very disgusting habit or lack of manners. Gross!

3.I really love not living in Utah. I know this sounds bad but I really do like living away from everyone. It has given me and Ben a chance to have a married life and create our own traditions and just be far away from all the drama…… I do miss seeing my little niece and nephews grow up but we come back to visit and if my family would ever come to visit me, this wouldn’t be a problem. Don’t get me wrong, I love my family and I miss them too.

4.Man, three more of these things…… Wanna hear why I started working at a bank? Well you are going to hear it whether you want to or not. Ben and I just got married and I moved out to Palo Alto, CA where he was attending Stanford and I was looking for jobs. I had worked at a physical therapy office for more than 5 years and I had done their medical billing for the last 2-3 years. I was applying for medical billing because it paid so well in California but I was not sure if I wanted to work in a cubical all day long. I started thinking of what place of employment would have the best holidays….. Banks!! Banks get all of those crazy holidays off like Columbus Day, Veteran’s Day, and President’s Day. I will just apply and see what happens. Well, 2 ½ years later I am now a manager and working more hours than I originally had planned but still getting those AWESOME holidays.

5.Here is one for ya…. I am totally addicted to blogging. Shocking I know! I thought the idea of having a blog was lame and I would never have anything to post. I have found myself looking forward to the next post I have come up with. I am also a total blog stocker. The branch that I work at is super slow, so I find myself looking at all of my friend’s friend’s blogs. I get really irritated when it takes people a couple of days to make a post (even if I haven’t posted in a week or so). It really bugs me when I am soooo excited that I found a friend and she doesn’t EVER update her blog (TARA). Ha ha

6.Last one! Finally!! I feel weird saying this about myself but I think I am a very loyal person and also very forgiving. I have just a few really really good friends but I would do ANYTHING for those friends. If I had a friend call me at 2 am and needed something, I would be there ASAP. I also think that I can forgive just about anyone for anything. I think I learned this at an early age. Ben has told me before that he doesn’t know how I am so forgiving because he would never be able to forgive some of the people that I have for what they have done. I think there is a very fine line between being loyal/forgiving and being a pushover. I think I have been able to figure out this fine line and who to trust and who not to.

There you go!! I hope you enjoyed my short novel. This also takes care of Sherri’s tag and my sister, Carrie’s tag….. ha ha Two for one. I tag: Annie Cannon, Julie, Jenny, Andrea, Erin, Carrie Pace, and Annie Karren.

The Hills.....

2007-11-05T12:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I know I am really big geek for liking (actually LOVING) The Hills on MTV. I just can't seem to get enough and I can't wait until there is a new episode. Ben happens to HATE the hills but we have an arrangement that I can watch The Hills while he studies if I mute the theme song. Needless to say, I mute the theme song and watch to my little hearts content. I just think Brody and Lauren are the cutest. Be sure to watch tonight on MTV. ha ha Carrie, this is for you since you were too embarassed to admit you love The Hills :)

Coming Back to Utah

2007-11-01T12:54:00.000-06:00

I am coming back to Utah!! Don't get too excited though, it is just for the weekend. My friend, Hallie, is getting married this weekend. I will only be there for 2 days so that part is sad. Ben is not able to make it back with me. He is super busy with all of his classes. He also has a mid-term on Tuesday so he is gearing up for that as well. I am looking forward to seeing a couple friends and seeing my family, only if it is for 2 days. Don't worry though.... WE WILL BE BACK FOR CHRISTMAS!! We are really excited about getting to come back for Christmas this year. I think it has been 3 years since we were able to come home during the holidays. It is nice being the big boss at the bank. (getting to make your own schedule is priceless)

"Enriching" Evening

2007-10-29T20:50:00.000-06:00

OK so most of you that know me know that I am not a biggest fan of the church activities. I met a neighbor a few weeks back and she informed me that we have been attending the wrong ward for the past month or two. Kind of funny thing on how we picked which ward we were going to attend: Well our address doesn't exist on mapquest because our apartments are so new so when we went to look up our new ward on lds.org we had a choice between two. We decided to go to the ward that started at 8:30am because we would be done earlier and then we could watch more football. Well, it turns out we chose the wrong one. So back to my story and my craftiness..... I saw my neighbor in the parking lot one night after work and she invited me to enrichment at our ward. I was totally opposed until she started to described the cute projects that we would be doing. So needless to say, I went and was able to make these cute things for my apartment. I am not crafty at ALL but this is what I came up with. Not too shabby huh?

Accident Waiting to Happen

2007-10-23T16:14:00.000-06:00

OK so for those of you that don't know..... I have an HOUR drive to and from work every day. It turns out when I moved to Spokane, there weren't any manager openings except for in Colfax. I gladly took it with the hopes to only be here for one year and then just transfer up to Spokane and be closer to home when the time comes. So when I was driving home yesterday I was really really tired and got a little bored. I was trying to stay awake so I started looking at the scenery and noticed the beautiful sky. I don't know if it will completely show up in these photos, but I hope you get the idea. I know it is not the safest thing but these were taken as I was driving home from my cell phone. :)

Celebrity Look-Alikes

2007-10-19T13:01:00.000-06:00

Ok so I have been seeing these things on peoples blogs lately and I thought they were so cool that I just had to do one. Also, I was running short on thoughts for blog postings. :)

Hot Off The Press

2007-10-15T19:54:00.000-06:00

My sister just got some pictures back of my cute & only niece, Bella, and one of my many nephews, Bo. I think they turned out so cute that I just had to post a few. I hope my sister is not mad.

Isn't Odie Cute??

2007-10-14T17:18:00.000-06:00

This is an "Odie Ball". Ben and I just love with Odie comes up to snuggle with us and gets into the Odie Ball. Odie can be such a snuggler most of the time and has such a cute little personality. For all of you that have not seen him, which is all of you because no one ever comes to visit us, you are truly missing out. :)

Wedding Photos

2007-10-13T21:02:00.001-06:00

So I was talking to one of my friends that is getting married in November and it made me want to go through some of my wedding photos. I didn't realize we had so many and I didn't want to bore everyone with ALL of them. I just added a few and I hope you ENJOY!!

Seattle Conference

2007-10-12T12:01:00.000-06:00

OK so I know I have been a slacker on my posts. In all honesty, we are not very exciting people. ha ha Ben has just been crazy busy with a few midterms. He MIGHT be able to finally relax this weekend for a day. I know he is looking forward to relaxing and catching up on sleep. I just got back from a work conference in Seattle for the past 2 days. It was an experience. It was about 400 managers/divisional staff for two whole days. The first day went a little like this..... Woke up at 5am to get ready and catch a flight over to Seattle. We arrived at the hotel around 8:15am and were able to check into our rooms. We had to just drop off our stuff and get right up to the meetings. The meetings lasted from 10am-10pm. The food was not enjoyable at all. We finally got to bed around 11:30pm or so and had to do it ALL again the next day starting at 6:30 for breakfast. All I can really say is that it was an experience. Oh yeah... We were also confined like little kids and could NOT leave the hotel without telling our regional managers where we going. Now all of you need to keep in mind this is a meeting for BANK MANAGERS. I am glad it is Friday!!

Ben & Natalie

2007-10-01T11:57:00.001-06:00

I just noticed that there was not one single picture of me and Ben. I was going through some of our wedding pictures and saving them to my computer and I decided to post a couple. Enjoy!

Congrats to Ben

2007-09-28T10:16:00.000-06:00

I just got an email from Ben that he got into this club/group in Law School that he really wanted to get into called the "William O Douglas" group. (I don't know if "group" is the right word but you get the point.) It is a very competitive group to get into. They only allow 5 members from each year in law school and Ben is one of them. Hooray for him!! He worked really hard on his essay that he submitted about the First Amendment. You can tell I don't know about the details and the technical terms but I get the basics. ha ha I guess this committee or group looks really good on his resume because it is so hard to get into. I am so very proud of him. He works so hard and deserves to get rewarded for his efforts.

Our New Mini Cooper

2007-09-28T10:12:00.000-06:00

I forgot to publish some pictures of our new car. We have done such a good job with only one car for the past 3 years but we finally had to break down and get another one. With Ben in Law School now and the fact that I have to drive an hour to work, we thought it would be a good idea. I am the lucky one that gets to drive it each day. It is such a fun car to drive and spunky too. I am know as the "girl that drives the mini" in my small town at work.

Where I work.....

2007-09-25T16:25:00.000-06:00

This is a quick picture that I took on my way home. I work in a small town called Colfax. It is a farming community and about an hour south of Spokane. I hear about the price of wheat almost every day. I am not used to working in a town where everyone knows who you are. I think I read on the sign coming into town that the population in 2,280 to give you an idea of how big this town is. Funny huh?

One Last Trip to Alcatraz

2007-09-23T21:13:00.000-06:00

Here are a couple of pictures from our trip to Alcatraz before we left. Jake came out to help us move and since him and Ben had not been to Alcatraz we decided to head out. One of the pictures is just of the city from the "yard @ Alcatraz" and the other is Ben & Jake outside of the prison at the top of the hill. It was a pretty cool experience. I had been thru before but you always get to see something new each time you go through.

Pacifica

2007-09-23T21:05:00.000-06:00

Here is a beautiful sunset in Pacifica, California (where we just moved from). This picture was taken in our breezeway right outside our apartment. You can see the reason that it took me a couple of weeks to see Spokane as pretty. We love it in California and it is still quite a culture shock for us here in Spokane.

Our Little Odie

2007-09-23T20:59:00.000-06:00

Here is our little Odie. So nice and cute when he is sleeping!

Here we go......

2007-09-20T14:45:00.000-06:00

OK so I am trying out this blog thing. Our life is so boring now though and I am kind of embarrassed that I am setting one of these up. I am sorry if I bore you all to death. We are now living in Spokane, Washington and life here is QUITE different from San Francisco or even Utah. Spokane is quite the small/older town. I had to learn that Trees are beautiful, where I am used to looking at the ocean every day and hearing the waves crash thru my window at nights. Now I can open my window at night and here the lovely trains passing by.

Another significant life change is that Ben is now attending Law School at Gonzaga University. Congrats to him!! He spends most of his day going to class and reading afterwards for hours upon hours. It is truly amazing how much time he is putting in each and every day. Here is an example of his day: Gets up around 7:00 am to help me out with our puppy and quickly refresh on his previous day's reading, then heads to class for anywhere from 2-4 hours, comes home to take the puppy out for a potty break, and then he starts his reading for his next day of classes. His reading usually takes the rest of the night with a few breaks here and then because I need my attention. The rule of thumb for his reading is 2-3 hours per hour in the classroom. Craziness, but he is very dedicated and I am very proud of him

Let's see.... what else is new. Oh yeah! We got a puppy a few month ago. I had been begging for years to get a puppy and then Ben finally gave in. His name is Odie and he is puggle. He is the cutest thing ever. He has the cutest face and I will post pictures soon. He has quite the personality too. He loves to chew and I mean CHEW. He has a bone that he chews all day every day and it is almost gone. It is not one of those disposable/edible ones either. He love to chew it on my lap which is really adorable. He LOVES to lick Ben. I think it is really funny because he doesn't really lick me at all or I don't allow it. He will lick Ben until his tongue goes dry.

Well, if I haven't bored you to death and you are still reading..... CONGRATS! I will try to get some pictures on here as soon as possible.