My Most Favorite Nephew EVER!

Clearly, I love my nephew. :) My family and I went out to San Antonio, TX for Mark's graduation over Memorial Day Weekend. It was so nice to be with family and to see my adorable 6 month old nephew Colby. He is by far my favorite nephew. ;)

All of my pictures are of him. I guess I didn't have any interest in anything else. Really there just wasn't any time to take many pictures, and during graduation I was video taping for my mom. Here are a few, mostly of us swimming. Enjoy!

Whit and Colby

The Family... minus Courtney, Mark and Jon.

And dinner time with Grandma!

Shelby's Birthday Hike

So when I asked my lovely friend Shelby what she wanted to do for her birthday, she promptly stated, "I want to hike Horsetooth." Of all the things we could do, hiking is probably the thing that I'm the worst at, but since it was her birthday, I humored her. And Kimee came too.

Here is a picture of our lovely selves before the hike...

And here is me only halfway through...

I was being a little dramatic mind you, but clearly I was pretty tired. It was a really nice hike all things considered. We went up Arthur's Rock trail in Lory State Park. The day after I definitely felt like I had died. :) Here are a few more pictures of our adventure!

Which way!?

On top of a rock...

The deer that crossed our path...

Route to the summit!

A Zoo of Sorts...

This last Monday was the first one that Jon has had off school, since it's finals week and all. Therefore, it's the first real weekend we have been able to spend with each other since I started working on Saturday. I was planning on making it a very productive day: working on my substitute application, my application for school at UNC, and studying for the GRE. Amidst all of that, Jon asked me if I wanted to go to the Swetsville Zoo with him. I love Zoo's so naturally I said "YES!"

When we got there, this is what we found.
From the entrance, you can't really tell, but this is a Zoo of animals made entirely of old farm materials. It is literally amazing, and Jon said we had to go because they are shutting it down. A Wal*Mart is being built across the street and they need to widen the road, so the Swetsville Zoo was looking a little sad, but that didn't stop us from enjoying all the wonderful creations!

These guys are AWESOME!!!

This guy is super tall,






Jon looks super small!

And I'm taking off!

It was a really fun trip, and way cool to see all of that stuff. There is sooo much more that I didn't take pictures of, but if any of you are in Fort Collins in the near future (since it's closing) you should go to the Swetsville Zoo!

Happy Birthday To YOU!!!

Monday, May 4th, was Jon's birthday! We got to do a lot of stuff that week, even though Jon was stressed with finals. It was a good feeling to be able to treat him and show him how I do birthdays. I made him breakfast, which was awesome because I used the "I am Special Today" plate and made him waffles and sausage. Here is a pic of him about to eat!

After he got home from school we opened presents.

Before we began!

Bing likes to help!

And now, the grand finale!!!!

Since he had been wanting a bike for so long... I, along with my parents, got him this!!!!

That way he can ride his bike to school and get some exercise!!! It was a really fun and exciting day and I'm so glad he had a good birthday.

Happy Birthday Love! I love you so much!

Where to now?

I always thought that married life would be the same as single life, just you have someone else who is there with you. It's not. Everything you do affects the other person, and I've realized that me and Jon mold our lives after each other. It's not just my life any more, it's "our life" and that's great, but it leaves me always wondering what is next. For someone who likes things planned, I'm not doing so well in that aspect. It's hard to plan for what you don't know is coming.

It's weird how fast things happen. I've been married for almost 9 months now, and it's gone by so fast! My life now is really just day to day, nothing new or special which I think contributes to the passing time. Jon is in school, so he always has something going on, and I almost never do, yet I feel bored and busy at the same time. I don't know what to think about it, but I guess I miss school. I definitely don't miss the homework or the stress, but I want to go back for sure, I just don't know when that will be or where it will be.

I guess in times of doubt, I know where I should turn, but even with patriarchal blessings and the scriptures to help me, I still feel lost sometimes. I just don't know what the next years are going to bring. It's all so uncertain. I guess what happens will happen, and that is okay. I'm still smiling at least! :)

Our Little Family...

I love to think about me and Jon as a family now. It's so amazing how much the Lord has blessed my life, and I'm so grateful for all that I have. Of course I still have my family, my mom and dad and sisters, brother-in-law and recent nephew, but it's great to have my little family too, and that's always how I describe it. Our new little family.

Not so new anymore I guess. After more than six months of marriage, it doesn't feel very new, but many who have been married for longer might argue with that. I'm still deeply in love. I was watching a movie today and all of a sudden really missed Jon. He was just upstairs doing homework, yet I had this overwhelming desire for him to be with me watching the movie. I love that feeling, and I love my husband. And here is our first family picture!


This was taken at graduation time. We were going to make little cards out of it and send it out for Christmas, but we are lazy and didn't do it. :) Haha. Oh well. I try, but I can't be perfect. On a different note, it was great to spend Christmas just us. I missed spending it with my family for sure, but it was good to bond as an actual family.

So enough of that. Recently Jon and I got a dog. He is a Shih Tzu and really adorable. His name is Bing, which means 'soldier' in Chinese. He is around 3 months old now, so still a puppy, and still always getting in trouble. He and Jon both try my patience, but like Jon, he's hard not to love. He's basically just a little furball. We took some pictures of him so that you all can see him. His eyes look green in this picture because of the flash. They are actually brown. His hair is also cut around his face which we recently did. It grew so long that he couldn't see at all. We like his long hair though, so we didn't cut all of it. :)


And here is a picture of Jon holding him. He at least is manageable in the regard that we can just pick him up if he's doing something we don't want.

6 Months In...a Lifetime to Go!

It has definitely been a while since I've posted on my blog, and I supposed that is the story of my life. My journals have always had large gaps where I haven't written anything. I don't know why I thought a blog would be any easier.

So here goes. This is my attempt to catch up on the last 6 months of my life. Starting with my wedding! First, here is the invitation we sent out. It is simple and I love it (much thanks to my sister Courtney for editing it for me and making it absolutely perfect). I still have this invitation framed at work. :)
Next, Jon and I were married on August 8th, 2008 for time and all eternity in the Denver LDS Temple at 11:00am, Just like the announcement says. We took lots of pictures at the temple, and a good many of them are of me looking frazzled and tired. Whoever thought getting married would be so much work! Here are a few pictures of us outside the temple.

This is me, Jon and my mom in front of the temple.

This is me and my parents.

Me with my 3 wonderful sisters (also bridesmaids).

Me, Jon and both our parents.

And finally a good picture of just me and my husband.

Before we were married we had an open house in Fort Collins at the Fort Collins Institute of Religion. After the wedding we had lunch at CiCi's Pizza in Denver, and a reception in Grand Junction the following day. After lots of busy days planning a wedding, it was a great feeling to head off on our honeymoon for a couple of days. Destination: Estes Park, CO.

This is the view of the river from our suite.
Here are some elk!

As you can see from these lovely pictures, Estes Park is a really nice place, with lots of fun activities. Jon and I mostly just relaxed in our hotel room and watched the Olympics. :) We only went for a few days, but it was great! I'm glad our honeymoon wasn't busy or touristy. Plus we still had a few weeks after it was over before school started again.

Speaking of school, this was my last semester at CSU, and I'm relieved to say that I graduated!

I got my diploma today in the mail. (I was worried since it took so long to get here.) The best part is, my last semester I got all A's, (so did Jon!) and so I made the Dean's list, which I haven't ever done before. Not only that, but my final GPA ended up at a 3.5! It was really a great semester. Even though I was working a lot, I was focused and interested in my classes. I miss school a lot right now.

I'm still working at Center Partners for TiVo, and I don't really like working full time. I've been sick lately, and so that makes it about 10 times worse. I'm thinking about doing substitute teaching until I can go back to school and get my teacher licensure. Jon and I are looking at several different options, but hopefully I can go back soon. I miss the classroom, believe it or not.

So far, married life is awesome, and it certainly has its benefits with the tax return :) But really, I love my husband, and the last 6 months (effective tomorrow) have been amazing.