1 Year Anniversary

Jeff and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary almost a month ago on June 13th! He gave me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, we went out to dinner and a movie and came home to our frozen cake top! Yes, we saved the top of our wedding cake, mummified in the freezer for an entire year. After it had thawed all day we unwrapped it and hoped for a decent tasting treat. To our surprise it was delicious! Almond-poppyseed, yummy. The frosting was great too and even had some of the scrolling left on the surface. I found the flower arrangement that topped it and put it back in the cake for a few pictures. Here are some pictures from the wedding cake 1 year ago and the cake as it stood so beautifully on our anniversary. (We did not smash it in each other's faces this year) Happy Anniversary last month Jeffrey!! I LOVE YOU!

Random things about me...

I wanted to do it too, so here you go.


10 years ago:

I was 11 and terrified of being a “Middle-schooler.” The thought of having to open a locker on the first day made me nervous and sure enough, I was late to homeroom on my first day of class because I couldn’t get my locker open… I remember being nearly the last person left in the hallway. On a not-so-frightened note I was excited to soon be 12 and entering Beehives with the rest of my friends!


5 years ago:

Sweet 16!… nearly 17 by this time. Mom, Dad, Kels and I had just returned from a trip to Nauvoo and Winter Quarters during the summer break. I was working at Mail ‘N’ Copy in Windsor, getting ready to start my Junior year of H.S., and excited to be a part of the brand new Windsor High Varsity Dance Team.

5 months ago:

Gosh, five months ago… school School SCHOOL!!! I was deep in Organic Chemistry, both lecture and lab, Physics lecture and lab, Humanities, and two dance classes to keep my sanity! Both Jeff and I were diving into classes and staying up late doing homework. Let the fun begin again in less than two months!


5 Things on my To-Do List:

1. Scrapbook wedding pictures
2. Paint the pot for my alovera plant and repot it
3. Declare Minor
4. Schedule appointment with Dr. Brown to discuss nutrition research
5. Set up dentist appointments


5 Snacks:
1. Fruit
2. Dad’s cookies
3. dry cereal in a cup
4. Soynuts
5. Boiled artichoke and hollandaise sauce


5 Billionaire things:
1. Two Grand Pianos, maybe even a Concert Grand…
2. Home gym with full dance floor and personal dance/weight trainer
3. Recording studio
4. Game room: billiards, air-hockey, Super Mario Bro’s, Pac Man and a popcorn machine
5. Reserve an entire amusement park when family is in town


5 Places I have Lived:
1. Windsor, CO
2. Provo, UT
3. ?…..
4. Some day these others will fill up with new locations
5. But I hope we don’t have too many moves


5 Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. I had an elderly imaginary friend named Toba who lived in a closet at Tozer school and looked like sunbonnet Sue
2. At the age of 14 I was four inches shorter and nearly 20 lbs more than I am now… a little on the ‘dense’ side as my brothers told me
3. I won the Harvest Festival Pageant in 2004 and became Miss Windsor 2004
4. I love the smell of coffee
5. I’ve saved and dried every rose ever given to me


5 Pet Peeves:
1. When my co-workers aren’t being proactive and are getting paid for sitting around
2. Two-faced people – being an entirely different person with me vs another individual
3. People arguing about things they know nothing about
4. Parents who have no control over their kids
5. Coffee can exhaust pipes, and over-sized ghetto spoilers

Slightly more acceptable than a chain letter?

I was tagged, so here you are...

10 years ago:
I was spending my days at summer basketball and volleyball practices prior to my freshman year at Tustin High. For all of my mom’s good intentions, I was happy to have escaped the clutches of rival Foothill High and be enrolled at a school with all of my friends. And I was procrastinating Boy Scout advancement at all costs.

5 years ago:
I was working at Anchor Blue in the Tustin Marketplace, a month before leaving for Brazil. By the time my visa had arrived, I was more than ready to leave. I secretly wondered if Ribeirão Preto would have real toothpaste and adequate sanitation. I went to three rock concerts that July to get it out of my system before I left for two years.

5 months ago:
The Junior Core of the Accounting program was rearing its ugly head at every turn. Amy and I had class on the night of Valentine’s Day, so we decided to go to dinner at Red Lobster two days before. I was starting to interview with some accounting firms for summer leadership programs.

5 Things on my To-Do List:
1. Apply for Pell Grant
2. Thank-you cards from the wedding (don’t judge me)
3. Convert some home video tapes to DVD
4. Finish my paper for the Religious Symposium in the fall
5. Plan CA/CO trips

5 Snacks:
1. Chips and salsa
2. Chex Mix
3. Gummi Bears
4. Crackers with Easy Cheese
5. Famous Amos chocolate chip cookies

5 Billionaire things:
1. Home gymnasium and pool
2. Full size home theater
3. Buy the Angels and remove the “Los Angeles”
4. Open a restaurant
5. Five-star member of the Cougar Club

5 Places I have Lived:
1. Tustin, CA
2. Provo, UT
3. Lins, Brazil
4. Espírito Santo do Pinhal, Brazil
5. São Carlos, Brazil

5 Things You Might Not Know About Me:
1. I have never chewed a piece of gum and never will
2. I was in a Bowling for Soup music video
3. I was nominated for Homecoming King
4. I met Fall Out Boy personally before they were big
5. I was cut from my 8th grade basketball and volleyball teams before the coach changed his mind and put me back on

5 Pet Peeves (this one was my idea):
1. Talking during movies
2. Errant candy wrappers (found anywhere except for the trash)
3. The bandwagon fan-mass currently calling itself “Red Sox Nation”
4. Excess posting of personal information on Facebook
5. When the volleyball is hit over on the second touch

I will not oblige anyone to pass this on, but feel free.

Tornado Pictures

Tornado in Windsor, CO May 22, 2008

Most of this information is going to be a repeat for my family, but a new update for Jeff's family.

As most of you heard there was a class 3 tornado that hit my home town of Windsor, CO on Thursday. I had just gotten home from class at 1pm and decided to watch some TV while eating my lunch. I turned the TV on and it was already set to the Weather Channel. The first thing I heard was, "Tornado in Windsor, Colorado." What? It didn't register at first but quickly I realized that it was going on and immediately called my dad for any information. He didn't answer his phone at first because ironically enough Kelsey had just heard the news too and was calling him from Idaho. They did indeed have a tornado and all of the schools were on lock-down so we couldn't get a hold of Mom for quite a while. I called Jeff at work to tell him what was going on and literally broke down into tears... sobbing tears. While I was talking to him I was watching the footage and had just seen video of damage done to a residential area. I didn't know the area from and arial perspective until I saw the landmarks of our town pool and few baseball diamonds in Chimney Park. That's when everything really hit me and I realized how real it was and how close our old home of 30yrs (just sold 1 month ago) was to the video I had seen. Jeff ran home and we watched the news and live footage online for hours. Thankfully everyone was fine and we were able to get a hold of my mom. She was helping keep the kids as calm as possible during the whole ordeal by playing games, telling stories, and even rocking some of the kids on her lap. Mom and Dad went to Windsor (since they now live in Johnstown, about 12 miles south of Windsor) the following day to check out our old house and take some pictures. Dad says that our home and along 1st street was the edge of the "Destruction Zone." Our home was not damage, thankfully! One of the shed doors was blown off, the east side of our fence was pulled up out of the ground and laid flat (still in one piece though), and the neighbors trampoline was in our Sumac tree. From what Dad reported the worst of the damage was just east and north of us a few blocks. There are a couple families from church that were in the Destruction Zone and lost their homes. When he and Mom went to see the damage the worst of it is blocked off and no one could get in. I'm grateful that my childhood home is still in tact and so grateful that everyone is safe. Above are some pictures that my parents took the day after and there are a few that I've gathered from other postings online from Windsor folks.

Primary President

A few weeks ago I was released as the Relief Society pianist, and called as the new Primary President!! We are in a married student ward and do not have an actual "Primary." I was confused because I knew we had a nursery and no Primary and wondered if a few of the kids were reaching Primary age. I could only think of a few kids that could possibly be getting close to "Sunbeam" age and wondered if the Bishopric was setting up a Primary Presidency for just a few kids. Last Sunday the stake expanded our ward boundaries and said we'd be getting some new families in our ward. This made my calling make more sense because I figured there must be some older kids in the new families our ward was gaining that would need to go to Primary. Well, this Sunday (today) Bishop told me to "go in" and see how things were done this week. Turns out that the Nursery IS the Primary!! So, I and the 3 other girls that I asked to be in the presidency are now the nursery leaders... as are our husbands! I'm a bit relieved because it won't be as extensive as I was anticipating having to start our ward off with their first ever Primary. Today there were 7 kids and I had a lot of fun. We didn't know if Jeff was supposed to come with me today or not, but now that we know he will be joining me in nursery. I think his favorite part will be snack time: gold fish and raisins. I really am excited to have this new calling and get to play with and teach the kids. I think Jeff will be great too. He's great with children.

Foot Poetry Tap Dance Ensemble

I have been wanting to post something on here and try out this blogging business but just have not had anything worth posting. Now that I've waited so long I have a few things to share!
Some of you know that I am in a tap dance ensemble called Foot Poetry. The BYU tap director organized it herself because the University will not organize one for us. We practice at a studio in Lindon between Orem and Pleasant Grove. It consists of 36 dancers, most currently at BYU, others have already graduated, and I believe a few are going to UVSC. It's quite the group. We typically practice each Saturday morning for a couple hours but practices have been cancelled for the rest of the summer. We were supposed to have our first performance on June 27th at the BYU tap dance workshop, but it got cancelled because not enough people signed up. Our first performance is now planned for sometime in September or October.
The website is still in progress, but if you want to look at it, it's http://www.footpoetry.com/