greatest thing in the world!!

what is the greatest thing in the world do you ask??

SHUTTERFLY!!!!

So as many of you know (or are about to find out) Ben and I ordered our guest book for our wedding from Shutterfly and we absolutely loved it. It's got all the photos that we love and it's hardbound so it will last a long time. We're also looking to order our wedding albums from them as well and we can't wait to see how they turn out! Which brings me to the purpose of this post...
HOLIDAY CARDS!!!
So we ordered our thank you cards from Costco and now that I think about it, I wish I would have remembered to order them from Shutterfly. They have so many great cards and designs for all times of the year! Especially Christmas/New Years! Here are some of my favorite designs that i made up with the pictures we took at ben's house during thanksgiving break...
They have tons more designs, but I have only played around with the two. And! By posting about these awesome cards I'm hoping to get 50 free holiday cards for my family's holiday pictures so we can send out an awesome card to our friends and family!

To find out how to be a part of this offer, click HERE!

Also, shutterfly ALWAYS is having deals and emailing you codes for free shipping or discounted prints.. it's the greatest website for ordering photos from (FOR ALL OCCASIONS). I'd recommend it to ANYONE AND EVERYONE. but hurry!!! ALL SUBMISSIONS MUST BE MADE BY THIS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10TH, 2010!!

p.s. a calendar is my next adventure.. see them HERE.

anyway, that's it for now.. i'll post again soon!
love, natalie and ben.. and SHUTTERFLY!

brief update.

I'm pretty sure my life is great (because i have an amazing husband who smiles and loves me all day) and yet i still pout about the littlest things. i've definitely hated christmas for the last few years and this year i was trying to love it and be festive, (especially b/c ben's family is super festive) and i wanted to be a precious married couple that has a precious christmas tree and all that crap, but every time i tried, i failed.


guess i'll have to start liking christmas NEXT YEAR..

Promise i'll blog more after finals.. when we clean our house i'll take a picture of it and post it.. sorry i'm lame. :/

at least my blog is precious and festive right??

oh man! i almost forgot!

and a very happy 3 months to my wonderful ben and i!i think it's awesome that our birthdays will fall on different anniversary months. it just gives us a double excuse to celebrate our special day! (the bday that is..)

this is the love of my life after he let me give him a haircut!! looks pretty good for my first hair cut on a guy, right? (I'm still trying to figure out what to do with that little hair flip in the front.)

and this is two Sundays ago.. we were looking pretty good, so i made ben take a pic.
He's such a good husband and I am so happy we are married till foreva-eva. and eternity.. :)

uh.. tuh-tuh-

guess what...


it's birthday month in the Foell Family!
I'm hoping Ethan had a very happy birthday on the 12th.
I'm hoping to have a very happy birthday tomorrow!! (on the 18th)
and I'm hoping Riley has a happy birthday on the 21st (even though the whole family will be in utah) :( here's for hoping.

so. uh tuh tuh... HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my brothers and myself. I'm excited to see what awaits me tomorrow (after i get over the bitterness of an 8am class).

Also.. just so you all know. the new RASCAL FLATTS CD came out on the 16th and Harry Potter 7.1 comes out at midnight on the 19th, which is kinda the 18th.... because you probably wont go to bed before you see the movie, so it feels like the same day. :) and as my friend carmen pointed out to me... YES. It was all meant for me. (just let me think this... even if it's not true... but it is, so i don't know why i'm even saying this.) ;) I'll try to clean my house and put up pictures of it.. sorry it's taken me 3 months to get them up.

I want my...

baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back, baby back....

So last wednesday (over a week ago) what i thought was my computer screen, finally went out. I wanted to cry.. i was in the middle of a 10-15 page paper that is already a week late (now 2 1/2 weeks late) and i couldn't even get to my files or anything because when i turned my computer on.. it still looked like this:

After a long and hard investigation, i finally discovered THIS. and guess what? before my screen went out it had "Distorted or scrambled video on the computer screen" and after it went out it had "No video on the computer screen (or external display) even though the computer is on." needless to say, i was so worried that my computer would cost money to get fixed.. Then i saw this at the bottom: "These computers were manufactured between approximately May 2007 and September 2008" guess when my computer was manufactured???? JUNE 16 2007!! Then i re-read this: If the NVIDIA graphics processor in your MacBook Pro has failed, or fails within four years of the original date of purchase, a repair will be done free of charge, even if your MacBook Pro is out of warranty.

guess when my four years gets up?? JUNE 16, 2011. and my warranty has been up for probably 2 years. so my baby (Ben) took me to the apple store so i could have them diagnose my other baby (Mr. Macbook Pro) and let me know if that's really what the problem was... turns out it was. THANK HEAVENS! guess how much the fix was if there hadn't been a recall???? ___? nope. HIGHER. ___? nope EVEN HIGHER! ____? nope... ok ok i'll tell you. $1, (yes, i just put a comma)... &1,187.50!! and i am paying $0.00! sweet right?!?! Apparently they have to replace the WHOLE MOTHERBOARD when this happens... (whatever that means--ben can explain it if you ask him) So yesterday i got a voicemail from the wonderful people at the apple store (they weren't so wonderful when they made me wait a 1/2 hour to be helped) that said my baby #2 was ready to be picked up.. it's just too bad the store is in salt lake because otherwise i'd have it back right now. but hey, at least he's safe. and now, probably looks like this:

(insert precious picture of ben and i on the desktop background) ;) and get this? before they took my baby (#2) away... they were able to magically turn the computer into a (very expensive) external hard drive so i could get my files off the computer and get this paper done.. but have i started? no. that's why ben is doing the dishes and i'm supposed to be doing my paper... (what a GREAT husband)--i'd better hop to it then. Next blog will include pictures of our home and will be done from by baby #2--Mr. Macbook Pro. :)

funny stuff.

So yesterday ben made us blue-blueberry pancakes they looked more blue than these, and there were tons of blueberries.. (we were finishing off a bag of frozen blueberries).
after we ate, we had two pancakes left.. so we decided to put them in a ziploc and freeze them for when we need a snack. (re-heating in the toaster oven is amazing.) right when ben put them in the freezer he says, "someone is going to look in our freezer and be like.. 'eww--gross! what is that?" then i thought to myself, "who would be looking in our freezer--and what do they need that is in there?"
then, when i went to get some meat out of the freezer so we could make rachel ray's sloppy lasagna for dinner... and i said, "eww what is that??!" ben said, "what?" then i held it up in disgust... he starts laughing so hard and before he could say anything, i realized that i was holding our blueberry pancakes... it was great. hahaha lasagna was good.. needed LESS noodles... but that's ok. :)
that's all for now.. no real pictures of our life until my computer gets fixed.. :( sad day. happy NOVEMBER!! b-day in t-minus 18 days!

I know that my Savior Loves Me.

Heavenly Father sure does have a sense of humor, because guess what? Brother and Sister Chambers got called to PRIMARY. Now, anyone who knows me knows that i really struggle with large groups of kids that are all the same age. They feed off of each other for entertainment and they love making adults mad! :) Well, three weeks ago we substituted the 9 year old girls--kill me now (that's my little sister's age and there were TWO of them) they were super giggly and wanted to play hangman (ben's idea) and of course, they wanted to think of the words instead of guess the letters. So Ben and I guessed letters for 30 minutes while the girls tried to spell "Nehemiah" and "Ecclesiastes." It was bearable--but the giggles were what almost killed me. (they're really high pitched too) Anyway, the next week when we got a call to come meet with the 2nd counselor, we knew it was going to be a call to primary... after Ben accepted (I just smiled and nodded, which apparently is saying yes..) ;) my first thought was, for real? are you kidding me? are you trying to kill these kids by putting them in my care? I'm going inactive... but after that first Sunday i thought, ok... 7 & 8 year olds wont be too bad.. And the primary program is in a few weeks so we wont have to prepare a lesson for about a month (sweet!).. then today, i realized we have the 6 & 7 year olds and that the counselor told us the wrong thing.. So, after getting really excited to have all these well-behaved 8 year olds (b/c it's the end of the year and everyone is almost 8) I was a little worried about having 6/7 year olds.. I soon realized that because our ward struggles with inactivity, we only had three little boys (who were really calm after they got separated from their 8 year old friends.. (but they don't sing at all..) So i thought, ok.. i can handle this... Then as we started to practice for the primary program, the kids sang this song and my heart just melted. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm still not a huge fan of certain kids because their parents are not able to (or just don't care to) dicipline them so they actually are able to learn in primary... but when the kids sing this song. AHH. I love them and want them to learn and grow so much. And when I tear up every time they sing it i realize that it's because I know that My Savior really does love me and he has put me and my children-hating self in this calling for a reason. Ben is really out of his element as well, but it's good for both of us.

this little kid is super precious singing this song. (i found him on YouTube) Just picture about 40 kids singing this song of all ages. They make this whole Primary business not so bad afterall... (when we have to teach lessons i might change my mind.. but for now--while it's ALL singing--I'll have a smile ON and tissue READY. :)

recently in the life of benalie. :)

Lots has been going on in the life of ben and natalie... here are just a few of the things we've been doing. :)

Chris and Rob helped Ben build a bed frame for our new king size bed!Proud boys after a successful finish!THANKS BOYS!! I love my new frame and the huge amount of storage space underneath! I've also been very domestic recently and tried to plan and cook meals so we only have to go shopping every two weeks. it's been really fun to eat a home cooked meal each night. What's nice is that ben likes to help me in the kitchen (and it usually tastes better when he helps--he sneaks in random spices and stuff when I'm not looking) haha.

this is my homemade chicken pot pie. We made one and a half pies and I pretty much ate the one pie all by myself while Ben and i split the 1/2 pie..

finished product.. DE. LISH. (this is the only meal i've taken pictures of, but we also LOVE the croc-pot and the cook book that has ALL croc-pot recipes. We use it like twice a week!

Ben also put shelves up next to our bed.. but this is the only picture i took of it.. You can see the finished product when i post pictures of our house.. they will come soon. promise. :)

Ben looks weird in this picture, (sorry hun), but he lucked out when he married a former jamba girl.. b/c we had delicious smoothies over conference weekend. we also cooked lil' smokeys for conference too. they were great. Also, i took a gift someone gave us and changed the picture to one i liked better.. so now we have this cute family proclamation to hang in our house. That's all for now.. I'll take more pictures of the rest of the house this weekend hopefully.. just depends on when i get the place cleaned. :)

honeymoon... finally.

So I'm finally getting some pictures up here...

These are a few from our honeymoon. We went to Anaheim, CA for 6 days and stayed in a beautiful timeshare and had such a great time wandering around the city. Our room had a sweet balcony that faced Disneyland/California Adventure and we got to watch the fireworks EVERY NIGHT! it was so awesome. By the end of the week we were making sure we got home to watch the fireworks. :) they were SO AWESOME.

The place also had a sweet pool and huge hot tubs that we were able to relax in in the evening.

We didn't go to all the amusement parks but we did have a chance to visit Universal Studios (it was Ben's first time) and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
these are at the Universal Studios "Water World" show.

Sorry these pictures look so the-same... that's what you get when there's only two of you and you each have crazy hair that "has a good side" haha.

After the Jurassic Park water ride we were looking at each other and how wet we were and it was about then we realized that our outfits were opposite of each other. we had a good laugh about it. :)

This is just a pretty picture of the sun behind the sign. and the palm trees were pretty too. but my camera wasn't the best at getting a good picture.

The next day we went to be beach and watched the sun set. it was pretty chilly, but still a good time. good think I keep blankets in my car b/c i get cold on road trips. We were also able to use our new camping chairs that someone bought us for a wedding present. We were happy we didn't send those with the rest of the gifts back to Utah. :)

Then two days later we went to Six Flags Magic Mountain and this is the only picture we got because it was such a busy day full of riding roller coasters.. and you don't want to lose your camera on those things so we left it in the lockers.
After six flags we drove to Henderson and I got to meet Ben's aunt and uncle and their super cute little kids. It was great. thanks Aunt Deana and Uncle David for letting us stay with you! then we came home and moved into our new (well, new to us) apartment. :) I'll post pictures next time... we're still decorating and such. probably will be for a long time. haha
Thanks for listening to me talk about my life. i'll try to be funny again sometime soon. key word: TRY. adios.

its good to be loved.

I absolutely love this song/video. Being that I just got married, it came out at the perfect time. I also love carrie underwood's music and her story. ahh!!.. just watch/listen to the video. try not to cry like i do every time i see this. Both her husband and mother are in this video, which makes it even more precious. :] i love country music and the stories that come from it.

I love my mom and dad and how supportive they are of Ben and me. It's the greatest feeling ever to know you are loved by so many people and to know that you love them back.

make sure someone knows they're loved today.

Dear Self...

Dear Self,

What were you thinking when you told Ben you'd be happy to help him with his math? Helping with his homework won't make yours go away. Suck it up and do your own homework.
Love, Natalie
p.s. if Ben ever reads this: dear Ben, it's not the math, it's the guilt i feel afterwards for letting myself be a good wife and help you. I should be a bad wife and just do my own homework. ugh. reality is setting in... i'd better go to sleep. 1 am never did treat me very well. love you.

Counting the days..

Days I've lived not married to Ben: 7,943.
Days I've lived knowing Ben: 622
Days I've lived Ben knowing me: 615
Days I've lived since my first date with Ben: 557
Days I've lived since my first kiss with Ben: 547
Days I've lived since Ben put a ring on it: 146
Days I've lived married to Ben: 32.

I'm hoping one day the last number will be bigger than the first. :)

♥ Happy 1 month to Ben and I ♥
(2 days late)

p.s. i'm trying to post about our new place but other things keep coming up. that's my goal this week (along with doing 3 weeks of reading and homework). we'll see. :/

I'm Moving...

for anyone who checks this blog... starting wednesday, this blog will be moving to benalie.blogspot.com

that's all.. i'll post better stuff later.. :)

wedding pictures and loving life.

Hey Everyone, We are one party away from celebrating our NEW marriage! here are the slideshows from the wedding, the first being just ben and i, the second being of our family pictures as well as reception pictures.

http://stephaniesmithphotography.com/natalieben/

http://stephaniesmithphotography.com/natalieandben/

ENJOY!

Oh yeah, and to see ALL 600-something of them.. you can visit this site, and create a log in. they're amazing so you'll probably want to do this as well. =]

http://www.pictage.com/901802

we don't have internet right now at the apt. so you probably won't be hearing from me for a while... we're working on it.. i'll post some pictures later and some lovely things about the 1st month of marriage and so forth later on...

p.s. EVERYTHING FOR MY MARRIAGE WAS PERFECT! THE SEALING, BOTH RECEPTIONS, PICTURES, EVERYTHING!! I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH GOOD THINGS ABOUT IT. IT WAS EXACTLY HOW I PLANNED. THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED OUT. WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH AND ARE SO GRATEFUL FOR YOUR SUPPORT. WE COULDN'T HAVE PULLED IT ALL OF WITHOUT YOU. special thanks to our parents. they're amazing and we love them.

love, natalie (& ben)

two days... & Wedding Pictures!!

I'm getting Married in TWO DAYS!!!! crazy right. i'm so excited to have benjamin lee chambers as my husband in a few days. we are going to have so much fun together. he is the best thing that has happened to me... EVER. He keeps me company while i clean, takes care of me when i scrape chunks of skin off my knees (literally), gives me hugs when i am sad for no reason, reminds me to take my medicine, lets me sleep when he drives even though i don't let him sleep when i drive (because he's great like that--and i'm mean). he also does super nice things for me like gives me amazing back massages, let's me sleep on his shoulder, doesn't mind it when i make faces at people... smiles at me when i'm sad, kisses my forehead, and it just all around awesome. And he comforts me when i'm freaked out by something scary or weird. AND he shares food with me! (more than i can say) and he doesn't care that i don't wear makeup and that my hair is crazy. i just love him. more stuff?? yes.. --he is great when it comes to this wedding stuff. he is so supportive and kind about everything. and he helps me plan our party which is so fun to do with him. We also take precious pictures with each other and he smiles for the camera. better than some people can say about their husbands. aren't we cute? ;)

can you believe i'm going to be somebody's wife in a few days. cool huh?

more pics to come! :) (after the actual wedding-these are just teasers from our bride&groom session)

really REALLY bad BAD dream. (sorry it's so long)

so, i had a super sad/scary dream last night... here is how it went...
DREAM:
first off, it all started at the wedding reception at my house, which apparently (in my dream) was happening before the sealing.. guess who was there... nobody. just a couple random people helping with food and ME. No ben, no family, no anyone. I was alone... my dress was huge and my G's were hanging out all over the place, the back of my dress was BLUE PAISLEY, the front the beaded stuff i chose, but it was sooo heavy and so stiff (exact opposite of what is being made for me). my dress is flowy and definitely NOT blue paisley. so, i'm in the house, there is a swimming pool in the boys' room, emma's room has the bunkbed (like normal) but she wont let me in to go change. a few guests arrive (i don't know who they were) and i'm still in gym shorts and have nasty hair no make up, and i look like i've been working in the back yard all day.. I finally get into my bogus dress, people like the flowers, food and all but still... what is missing?? yes. BEN. he was no where to be found.. 1/2 way through the dream i decided that i had been stood up. first time in my life and it had to be on my wedding day. so gay. well, a little while later, still not very many people at my party (which i guess is a good thing, since i'm being stood up) and the ben rolls up in this bogus van with his brother who is supposed to be on a mission... Apparently in my dream Tommy comes home because there was no companion to give him. kinda bittersweet b/c he can be there for the "dream wedding" but he had to come home from the mish... anyway. ben comes up and i don't even know what to do. i am so sad/mad/sad/sad/really sad/really mad. I felt like those girls that get sent home on the finale of "the bachelor"...
then he started to explain that he was doubting and really worried about getting married to me but then he finally decided that he would... so he came. i told him to go get dressed and he put on this BOGUS PINK/Purple/ugly striped suit (to go beautifully with my blue paisley dress). I wanted to die. I made him go change, but he ended up going swimming in the boys' room. it was weird. that's when i woke up.

REAL LIFE:
It was 7:45am (i have to work at 8am) so i didn't have any time to mentally recover from this horrible dream. I rushed to work and the first thing i did was text ben and have this conversation with him:
Natalie: Ben. You had better not stand me up at our wedding. I would die. then i'd kill you. I just woke up from the worst dream ever. My dress was blue paisley and your brother came home from his mish early b/c they didn't have a comp for him.
Ben: I'm sorry you had a bad dream. Do you really think i would stand you up?
Natalie: Well, i am a lot to handle sometimes... but no. It was just so real.
Ben: Natalie, if i was going to bail out i would have done it a long time ago. I need you to realize that i don't just love you for your strengths but for your weaknesses too. i love everything about you.
Natalie: BEST TEXT EVER. i love you.
Ben: oh yeah, and the fact that i pretty much can't live without you.
the convo goes on, but that's the end of the relevant stuff.
i'm sorry this is so long.. i just had to get it out of my system. i'm also sorry this post has no pictures... i'll try and find one by the end of it..

ok, so things i attribute bad dreams to:

• having to go pee (when i was little, if i would be screaming, my mom would wake me up [kinda] take me to the bathroom, i'd go, then she'd take me back to bed and i'd be fine again)

• not having my ring on (ben took it last night so it can be cleaned before the big day- i feel like people look at me and wonder if we broke it off)

• wearing my retainer (some days it makes me feel like i can't breathe--then i find it under my pillow when i wake up)

that's all. thanks for reading.. if you made it all the way through, i'll give you something good. like a frosty or something.. just call me. :)
p.s. i found a picture... these are my "shoes" for the wedding: stylish i know.. ;)

19 Days!! (the annoucement)

HERE IT IS!!!!

Announcements have been sent out and I really apologize if you didn't get one... After ordering, stuffing, stamping, sealing, mailing like a million invites some of them are bound to be lost/forgotten/returned to us... so hopefully that wasn't yours. =] Anyway, here's the info... We'd love for you to come to one of our events... below is our low-key second open house in Orem for our Northern Utah Family/Friends PLEASE COME if you can! Anyway, we're super excited to share in this life-changing event we are going to do... (sounds weird, but you know what i mean) Anyway. thanks for the love/support. You're the greatest. 19 days. i love ben. i'm eating poptarts. all that jazz. =] adios!

--OPEN HOUSE INFO--

Saturday, September 11, 2010 | 6:00 pm-8:00 pm
Draper Home
1176 West 560 North
Orem, Utah 84057

precious.

More Engagements!! hope you like them. i think we're pretty precious, but hey, that's just me. I'm not telling which one is on our announcements because i want it to be a surprise.. :) it's about the only secret i can keep.. (not a very good one, i know) haha anyway. hope you guys enjoy. I'm off to k-town, USA this weekend for the 4th.. it should be a blast! (if my camera decides to behave, we'll post some pictures when we get back. adios! hope everyone has a great LONG weekend!! i know i will!

aren't we just precious..? can't wait for this guy to be my husband. he's amazing in case anyone was wondering. but you probably already knew that.