ok ok ok ok ok ok.... SO. Here it is. The last few months in a nutshell. actually, in an oak tree (that's the only tree i could think of that grows nuts).
Here goes: This is our kitchen the day we moved in. Now, almost 5 months later, it looks the same, just minus all the crap on the counter. It's orange0-ish brown cupboards with a yellow stove. (my favorite color--of course) ;)
This is ben about to eat our first meal in our first apartment. please note the camping chairs match the flooring and we look less than presentable since we'd been moving all day..
This is the Hall before... Looks the same except there are aprons hanging on the breaker box and there is a brown rug that covers the peeling carpet that is struggling where it meets with the orange/brown-ish linoleum. sweet right?
This is the living room before we decorated/arranged/cleaned/actually unpacked. It's the only picture I have right now and I'm hoping that my youtube video loads so I can post it on here as the AFTER... don't worry. I love the carpet just as much as you do.
Well, it worked:
You can see that the room is clean in the video (except my horizontal surfaces--my mom taught me how to keep those nice and cluttery). It has a precious christmas tree and after my tantrum the day we couldn't find one Halie and Kendall came to the rescue. (more details when we get to christmas time). The NBC wall also has more frames on it now, but I'll post a picture in another few months when i get around to it.. :)
This is the Bathroom Before. Precious right? ;) NOT. I was so happy Ben knew how to drill things into the wall and helped me hang the curtain and such, because now it looks like....
THIS! Way better right? :)
You saw the before of the bedroom when i posted about Ben, Chris and Rob building our bedframe.. Here is the new room. matching lamps and everything.. ;)
ok: now, here are some of the delicious meals we eat.. We are proud dinner planners and love trying new recipes. First: Ultimate Hamburgers... after tasting this deliciousness, we want to try stuffed hamburgers like on triple-D.
Stuffed Chicken Breast.. this has spinach, ricotta cheese and some spices in it that make it delicious.
Stuffed pasta... YUM. This has pork, whipping cream, spinach, and some other stuff that I am too lazy to refer to right now, but it was amazing. 
The food isn't in chronological order, but who cares... Next we have my 22nd birthday.. Ben made me Chocolate cupcakes FROM SCRATCH (like not a cake mix--and NOT from a box!) crazy right. I always used boxes growing up.. He'll be disappointed when his cupcakes aren't as good as the ones I'm going to make for his birthday next week. ;)
Halie and Kendall joined us for the quiet evening at home eating cupcakes. :)
Ben took me to Harry Potter 7.1 for my birthday as well. It was awesome. We didn't go to the midnight showing because I probably would have broken down in tears out of exhaustion or I would have slept through the whole thing.. either way, friday night at 8 was a solid strategy.
Also, shout out to G-Pa D. who took us to siZZler that night for my bday. he really does love us grandkids.. :)
NOW... HERE IS CHRISTMAS. Remember that depressing day I had when we couldn't find a tree and stuff... well, halie and kendall came to the rescue and found us a tree at biglots for $16.01! What a steal right?? The ornaments cost us more than the tree, but we had so much fun decorating it till 2am and I had no problem being excited for christmas after that.. except when i thought about money and how we don't have any.. but that's ok. life is good and everything worked out great. the lord is really looking out for us (and ben.. good thing the lord is keeping me sane--or trying to--for ben's sake). So yeah, here is our tree, all lit up!
(see above video for full effect).
alright.. now, for GOING to the DARK SIDE... My hair was growing out of it's highlights and Ben's brother was getting married on the 16th, so ben helped me dye my hair a "dark blonde" (or so the package said)... did I mention we did this on the 15th around umm.. 9pm? well, we did. and it was FUN. (ben even thought so--for a while).
He also enjoyed a yummy cup of hot chocolate after he finished helping me.
The next day at the wedding... Finished product:
Pics of Rob (ben's brother) and Jami (the [now] wife) and how much fun they have together.. :)
the wedding party.. disclaimer: i love this pic except for the fact that i look like i'm pregnant... fyi: I'm NOT. :)
Ben pretending to be super excited that he gets to wear his church clothes all day and carry around my flowers.
us in like 25 degree weather outside the church. I just liked the tree and wanted a picture with it... cute right?
cutting the cake.
This is the video of what happened after they finally got it cut (well, the cutting is in here too).
First Dance (rob and jami)
Alright... now onto Christmas Vacation in Sacramento, CA.
We did some family names at the temple on thursday. It was a great experience and we got to do endowments AND sealings all right after another.. Long morning, but so great.
Can't remember which night, but this is us at the old sacramento christmas thing... it was fun to see some lights and spend time with friends and family.
holly and david joined the eitels/foells for this event and we all had a great time.. (it was kinda chilly though)
also, for a present for my mom, ben and i.. (ok, ok... mainly ben, I was moral support/board holder while the saw was going)... made these awesome can dispensers for my mom. He designed them and made four for her.. totally cool.
but before we could make them.. dad had a great opportunity to clean out the garage and find us some wood for the project. He was successful. and even better... he was a super duper clean garage. (sorry i don't have an after pic of that)... NOTE: this is not what our garage looks like 24/7... this is after some demolition of an organized mess that still fit 1 car in a 2 car garage. The garage can now fit 1.68 cars in the garage which is an improvement.. ;) haha.
Christmas morning was fun. Halie & Kendall made cinnamon rolls for everyone (DE-LISH) and then we opened presents.. we got awesome stuff from my parents and we are so grateful for their love and generosity in our life. Ben loves his pull-up bar and we both love our space heater. Thanks Mom and Dad!
and of course, christmas would not be complete without a wonderful family picture... this one is my favorite because of emma, dad, and ben. They are great. there is another one that is great, but after all this, i'm too lazy to put it up.. It is 12:30AM after all..
Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy back to school, happy 2011, happy life. Life is good. If you don't think so, come spend some time with my family, they'll help change your mind.
p.s. I cant forget to mention that we spent new years with ben's family in Kanab, but as usual, we didn't take any pics.. just a super long video of us opening christmas presents from ben's parents/siblings. We love them so much too and enjoy the time we get to spend with them. Thanks to them for the Printer and the awesome other gifts. We are really loving them.
I'm thinking we might do our own christmas next year because this year was so fun-filled (and I'm tired of driving during my whole break)... but yeah. after my 18 unit semester comes to a close maybe I'll post again..
Then again, I usually post when I'm avoiding homework... so maybe you'll hear from me more than you think... :)
If you made it this far, you have conquered THE BEAST (said like they do on Sandlot). Thanks for reading. Hope it wasn't too boring.. I try to be funny, but it doesn't always work. We're going to bed now.. I have school at 8am tomorrow.. which sucks, but I don't have work, so i'll probably be looking like white trash.. whatev. ;) adios.
This is ben about to eat our first meal in our first apartment. please note the camping chairs match the flooring and we look less than presentable since we'd been moving all day..
This is the Hall before... Looks the same except there are aprons hanging on the breaker box and there is a brown rug that covers the peeling carpet that is struggling where it meets with the orange/brown-ish linoleum. sweet right?
This is the living room before we decorated/arranged/cleaned/actually unpacked. It's the only picture I have right now and I'm hoping that my youtube video loads so I can post it on here as the AFTER... don't worry. I love the carpet just as much as you do.
Well, it worked:You can see that the room is clean in the video (except my horizontal surfaces--my mom taught me how to keep those nice and cluttery). It has a precious christmas tree and after my tantrum the day we couldn't find one Halie and Kendall came to the rescue. (more details when we get to christmas time). The NBC wall also has more frames on it now, but I'll post a picture in another few months when i get around to it.. :)
This is the Bathroom Before. Precious right? ;) NOT. I was so happy Ben knew how to drill things into the wall and helped me hang the curtain and such, because now it looks like....
THIS! Way better right? :)
You saw the before of the bedroom when i posted about Ben, Chris and Rob building our bedframe.. Here is the new room. matching lamps and everything.. ;)
ok: now, here are some of the delicious meals we eat.. We are proud dinner planners and love trying new recipes. First: Ultimate Hamburgers... after tasting this deliciousness, we want to try stuffed hamburgers like on triple-D.
Stuffed Chicken Breast.. this has spinach, ricotta cheese and some spices in it that make it delicious.
Stuffed pasta... YUM. This has pork, whipping cream, spinach, and some other stuff that I am too lazy to refer to right now, but it was amazing. 
The food isn't in chronological order, but who cares... Next we have my 22nd birthday.. Ben made me Chocolate cupcakes FROM SCRATCH (like not a cake mix--and NOT from a box!) crazy right. I always used boxes growing up.. He'll be disappointed when his cupcakes aren't as good as the ones I'm going to make for his birthday next week. ;)
Halie and Kendall joined us for the quiet evening at home eating cupcakes. :)
Ben took me to Harry Potter 7.1 for my birthday as well. It was awesome. We didn't go to the midnight showing because I probably would have broken down in tears out of exhaustion or I would have slept through the whole thing.. either way, friday night at 8 was a solid strategy.
Also, shout out to G-Pa D. who took us to siZZler that night for my bday. he really does love us grandkids.. :)NOW... HERE IS CHRISTMAS. Remember that depressing day I had when we couldn't find a tree and stuff... well, halie and kendall came to the rescue and found us a tree at biglots for $16.01! What a steal right?? The ornaments cost us more than the tree, but we had so much fun decorating it till 2am and I had no problem being excited for christmas after that.. except when i thought about money and how we don't have any.. but that's ok. life is good and everything worked out great. the lord is really looking out for us (and ben.. good thing the lord is keeping me sane--or trying to--for ben's sake). So yeah, here is our tree, all lit up!
(see above video for full effect).alright.. now, for GOING to the DARK SIDE... My hair was growing out of it's highlights and Ben's brother was getting married on the 16th, so ben helped me dye my hair a "dark blonde" (or so the package said)... did I mention we did this on the 15th around umm.. 9pm? well, we did. and it was FUN. (ben even thought so--for a while).
He also enjoyed a yummy cup of hot chocolate after he finished helping me.
The next day at the wedding... Finished product:
Pics of Rob (ben's brother) and Jami (the [now] wife) and how much fun they have together.. :)
the wedding party.. disclaimer: i love this pic except for the fact that i look like i'm pregnant... fyi: I'm NOT. :)
Ben pretending to be super excited that he gets to wear his church clothes all day and carry around my flowers.
us in like 25 degree weather outside the church. I just liked the tree and wanted a picture with it... cute right?
cutting the cake.
This is the video of what happened after they finally got it cut (well, the cutting is in here too).First Dance (rob and jami)
Alright... now onto Christmas Vacation in Sacramento, CA.We did some family names at the temple on thursday. It was a great experience and we got to do endowments AND sealings all right after another.. Long morning, but so great.
Can't remember which night, but this is us at the old sacramento christmas thing... it was fun to see some lights and spend time with friends and family.
holly and david joined the eitels/foells for this event and we all had a great time.. (it was kinda chilly though)
also, for a present for my mom, ben and i.. (ok, ok... mainly ben, I was moral support/board holder while the saw was going)... made these awesome can dispensers for my mom. He designed them and made four for her.. totally cool.
but before we could make them.. dad had a great opportunity to clean out the garage and find us some wood for the project. He was successful. and even better... he was a super duper clean garage. (sorry i don't have an after pic of that)... NOTE: this is not what our garage looks like 24/7... this is after some demolition of an organized mess that still fit 1 car in a 2 car garage. The garage can now fit 1.68 cars in the garage which is an improvement.. ;) haha.
Christmas morning was fun. Halie & Kendall made cinnamon rolls for everyone (DE-LISH) and then we opened presents.. we got awesome stuff from my parents and we are so grateful for their love and generosity in our life. Ben loves his pull-up bar and we both love our space heater. Thanks Mom and Dad!
and of course, christmas would not be complete without a wonderful family picture... this one is my favorite because of emma, dad, and ben. They are great. there is another one that is great, but after all this, i'm too lazy to put it up.. It is 12:30AM after all..Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, Happy back to school, happy 2011, happy life. Life is good. If you don't think so, come spend some time with my family, they'll help change your mind.
p.s. I cant forget to mention that we spent new years with ben's family in Kanab, but as usual, we didn't take any pics.. just a super long video of us opening christmas presents from ben's parents/siblings. We love them so much too and enjoy the time we get to spend with them. Thanks to them for the Printer and the awesome other gifts. We are really loving them.
I'm thinking we might do our own christmas next year because this year was so fun-filled (and I'm tired of driving during my whole break)... but yeah. after my 18 unit semester comes to a close maybe I'll post again..
Then again, I usually post when I'm avoiding homework... so maybe you'll hear from me more than you think... :)
If you made it this far, you have conquered THE BEAST (said like they do on Sandlot). Thanks for reading. Hope it wasn't too boring.. I try to be funny, but it doesn't always work. We're going to bed now.. I have school at 8am tomorrow.. which sucks, but I don't have work, so i'll probably be looking like white trash.. whatev. ;) adios.
