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)