By Small and Simple things

31 Weeks

2012-02-08T16:56:00.001-08:00

Wow I haven't done one of these for a while! Lots of things have changed...

How far along?: 31 weeks!!!

Total weight gain: At my last appointment I was still down three pounds. My doctor didn't say anything about it and said that everyone is different, so I guess I'm doing ok! Baby is happy and healthy and that's all that matters!

How big is baby?: About 16-17 inches and 2.5-3 pounds.

Sleep?: Sometimes I sleep harder than I've ever slept before, and sometimes I toss and turn all night long trying to get comfortable. I think it depends on if I have taken a nap that day or not.

How are you feeling physically?: Haha... Huge! My back hurts a lot at the end of the day, but that's just part of the deal, I guess. But I do feel pretty darn good for the most part! I have had an extremely easy pregnancy and I am so blessed!

How are you feeling emotionally?: Pretty good. I don't think I've had too many pregnancy hormonal out bursts... Dave said that I'm doing well. haha!

Best moment this week?: Last night I had my hand on my stomach and I felt her foot (or hand? arm? leg? I don't know what position she's in) so I pushed on it a little and it moved away. Then I found it again and pushed it again. It moved away again. It was so fun to interact and I know I was probably driving her crazy! So fun!

Movement?: All the time! She's fairly active. Mostly when I sit down and rest or lay down. I feel her all over too, that's why I don't know what position she's in. I haven't had too much problems with her getting under my ribs, but I feel her kick in my hips once and a while and that kinda hurts. I love love love feeling her move!

Food cravings?: Not really. I like junk food, but that's not new. I try to limit it and eat as healthy as possible. I get hungry quite often, make a big huge meal, and then I can only eat about three bites of it. I think my stomach is getting squished. Good thing Dave loves food.

What I miss: Getting off the couch easily, fitting in my kitchen when the washer is in there (we have a washer that hooks up to our kitchen faucet. So when we are doing laundry, it's a tight fit between our oven and the washer. I used to be able to squeeze past... but not any more.) Putting my shoes and socks on is a pretty hard chore. But I really love being pregnant and I'm thankful for it!

What I'm looking forward to: Seeing this sweet girl! Also I'm pretty excited for my baby shower next weekend!!

Random Thoughts: I just love being pregnant and feeling her move. I love my new body and even though I know I look like a huge cow, I feel pretty. :) Dave is so sweet and makes me feel so good. Best husband/new daddy ever!

Snow Day!

2012-01-18T23:07:00.000-08:00

Dave and I have a snow day tomorrow! The Moscow School district is closed and even U of I is closed!! Closing college campus is unheard of in Rexburg, but they're kinda whimps up here. Haha! But we definitely aren't complaining!

The last couple of days it's been snowing really hard and we have about a foot of snow on the ground. We had zero snow just a week ago. They aren't really good at plowing or anything up here, so the roads have been terrible. Well, it's also pretty warm and this evening instead of snowing, it's been misting. So it's covered all of the fluffy nice snow in about a quarter of an inch of ice. It's a hard crusty shell on everything.

Dave and I thought it was really cool, so we took a little video of it. Sorry it's kinda dark, but you can still hear the snow when Dave knocks on it. Pretty awesome. Enjoy!

2011 Year in Review!

2012-01-04T20:06:00.000-08:00

2011 Was such a great year! We has so many fun events and trips and reunions! I thought I would review some of the highlights of the year (kinda a catch up on blogging as well, I haven't been doing so good lately...).

At the first of the year, Dave got to go to Florida with his competition team at BYU-I. They did very well and came in second in the Nation.

My dearest little puppy dog Bodrie died. But he's much happier where he is.

In the summer we went to City of Rocks with Dave's family. It was so much fun!

We went to the Oregon Coast with my family! Also so much fun!

In August, Dave and I found out that we were pregnant! One of the very happiest, longest awaited day of our lives!!

I left my job at JD Premium so we could move to Moscow. I miss it there, but glad we are where we are supposed to be.
Dave and I moved to Moscow, ID so Dave can get his Architecture degree. We love our ward here and are starting to like the area as well.

We had lots of fun going to ward parties and getting to know people here in Moscow.

Halloween Party 2011

Our Friends Joel and Kaitlyn and their baby Tytus came to carve pumpkins

We found out our baby is a Girl!! We couldn't be happier!!

I found out that I take inconsistent pregnancy pictures. :)

We went to Rigby for three weeks to celebrate Christmas with family. Dave did a ton of traveling. He went to Vegas with Austin, Lucas, and Dad to watch Boise State win their bowl game. They had the time of their lives! But Dad hurt his ankle storming the field after the game. Get better soon Daddy! :)

We also went to Salt Lake to see Dave's family. He had a beard growing contest with his brothers. Dave won.

My little brother Lucas Clark Dahl left to serve the Lord in the Rapid City, South Dakota mission. We'll welcome him home at the end of 2013. We are so proud of him and his choices. Love you Luke!!

This is obviously not his missionary hair cut, but I love this picture of him.

Luke walking away at the MTC. Love you!

We celebrated New Years back in Rigby with my family. We loved the time we had with them.

We had such a fantastic year and 2012 is going to be even better! I can't wait to see what life has in store for us. Hopefully I can keep better track on my blog. Maybe that should be one of my resolutions.
Thank you to all of those people who helped make our year great. We love you all so very much. Happy New Year!!!

22 Weeks!

2011-12-04T21:26:00.000-08:00

Wow. Sorry I'm so bad at posting! I need to catch up soon! But here is a little pregnancy update in the mean time and my goal this week is to catch up!

How far along?: 22 weeks!!!

Total weight gain: I am still losing weight. even over Thanksgiving, I lost a pound or two. I think my metabolism is working a ton better than it ever has and I have some extra weight anyways, so I'm fine with the weight loss. If the baby is fine, then I am fine.

How big is baby?: About the size of a banana! About 3/4 of a pound and 10-11 inches long!

Sleep?: Still sleeping well. Hip pain is the only thing that is super sore. But I just roll over.

How are you feeling physically?: Great! I really don't feel bad at all! I'm so blessed to have such an easy pregnancy so far.

How are you feeling emotionally?: Just fine! The only thing that gets me going is our money situation, but that's stressful even if I wasn't pregnant. Lol.

Best moment this week?: Well, it was a few weeks ago, but we found out our little baby is a GIRL! We are so very excited! We are probably going to name her Brielle Shirlee. Dave and I both love the name and she is named after my grandma!

Movement?: Oh yes! She bumps me at least once a day, mostly at night. Dave even felt her move last week! He hasn't felt her move since, but I'm waiting for her to have a party one night and make sure he feels that.

Food cravings?: I like bland things. Plain bread is good. But I also crave chips and other salty things.

What I miss: Nothing! I'm so happy to be where I am!

What I'm looking forward to: To have a bump big enough that other people can tell that I'm pregnant. Family and friends can tell, but no one out on the streets would be able to. Sometimes I rub my belly, or put my hand on it so that people kinda know that I'm pregnant, not uber chubby. Haha!

Random Thoughts: I just wanted to tell about our anatomy scan that happened when I was 19 weeks. I was so very excited to find out what we were having!
We went in and I had to pee so so so very bad. They told me to come in with a full bladder, and that's not a problem at all for me. I drink half a glass of water and I have to go! But they called me in and measured my cervix and then I was allowed to pee. Haha.. pure joy. Lol.
The tech asked if I wanted to know the gender, and I was like "Ohhh yes!" So she found the baby and found a good heartbeat. Then she tried to find out the gender for us. Unfortunately, the baby was in the fetal position with it's feet tucked up underneath the bum, blocking the important parts. So the tech said she would come back to it. She measured everything! The heart had four beautiful chambers, the brain and head was measuring a day ahead of schedule, the chest looked great, she had good arms, cute little fingers, all measuring right on time. Then she measured the femur and the legs were behind schedule about a week. I was like "Oh no! The baby got my short legs!" It was pretty funny. We even measured the kidneys! Then we went back to seeing if we could find out the gender. Well, the little feet had kicked out, but now the umbilical cord was wrapped right where we needed to see! We tried and tried to see, but finally the tech had me sit up, go to the bathroom, and drink some water to see if we could get the baby to move the umbilical cord. Well, that worked and we saw that we had a beautiful baby girl! Everything looks very normal and she is doing just great!
On the way out of the hospital, Dave turned to me and said "That's right! Our girl doesn't spread her legs for anyone!!" It was pretty funny. Probably had to be there... haha!
We are so excited to have a little girl! We are so blessed!!

17 weeks!

2011-10-29T15:42:00.000-07:00

I am excited to document my pregnancy and the things that I am feeling. It will be fun to look back on, I think! So, here it is:

How far along?: 17 weeks!!!

Total weight gain: I have lost about 10 pounds. My doctor is mad at me... oops. But I've started eating a lot healthier, started drinking more water, stopped snacking as much, and my biggest food aversion is sweets! So that's what you get when you make all those changes, I guess.

How big is baby?: About the size of an avocado!

Sleep?: Pretty well, when my nose isn't super stuffy. Weird thing, though... I have some pretty bad hip pain. It's hard to sleep on my sides, and sleeping on your back and stomach is a no-no... so I toss and turn quite a bit.

How are you feeling physically?: Pretty good! I have a little bit of a cold right now, but I've been feeling just normal for the most part. My pants are getting a little bit tight, but that's ok!

How are you feeling emotionally?: Great! I had a bad dream and I was pretty nervous about our baby, but we had a great doctor's appointment and everything is very normal, so I feel better now!

Best moment this week?: Going to the doctor and hearing the heartbeat again (152 bpm). The nurse was listening to the heartbeat and we heard a *flump!* sound and she was like "Did you hear that? The baby kicked the doppler... It's getting mad at me for poking it!" Pretty much that was awesome! We also made an appointment for November 16th to find out if our baby is a boy or a girl! YAY!!

Movement?: Maybe?!?! I feel some tickles/butterflies, but just when I realize what is happening and I stop to feel it, it doesn't happen again. So I don't really know. I was eating cheetos on the way home from the doctor and I felt the flutters a couple of times in a row! Maybe the baby was still mad about being poked, haha!

Food cravings?: Still don't really like sweets at all. Salty things are amazing!

What I miss: I miss home.

What I'm looking forward to: Finding out if our sweet little one is a boy or a girl!

Random Thoughts: I told Dave that I have pregnancy diarrhea of the mouth. I just want to talk all about pregnancy and babies and I can't wait for someone to bring it up so I can talk about it more! I also think I have mommy-goggles on (kinda like beer-goggles, but not). Because I think our baby is the cutest, smartest, best baby in the world. But I think that's how everyone thinks about their babies... haha!

Our doctor appointment went so well yesterday! Besides the doctor getting mad at me for losing weight, everything was super normal and right on track! I am so glad that we are having such an uneventful pregnancy! It's the best thing ever! I can't wait to for sure feel those bumps and thumps and know that they are my baby!

And then there were three

2011-10-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

So I haven't posted very much lately because I was scared that I would somehow spill the beans that....

7 weeks, 3 days along

I'm Pregnant!!!

7 weeks, 3 days. Heartbeat of 171 bpm

That's right! Our little Waddoups is due on April 9th, 2012 and we couldn't be more excited! I'm almost 14 weeks along so we are out of the first trimester. We'll find out if our baby is a boy or a girl right before Thanksgiving.

Dave and I could not be more thrilled! We have been waiting a long time for this little one, and we feel so very blessed!The peace and joy I feel is totally indescribable. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to have a little one on the way and a sweet husband to share this with.

12 weeks, 3 days. Kinda hard to see but our baby is face down, the arrow pointing to the little belly.

This pregnancy has been shockingly easy. I've hardly been sick at all, which is so surprising. I only threw up once but I felt so much better after I did. I have had some crazy cravings though. Lots of salty foods. I love pop corn and chips. But I also love crunchy foods like apples, crackers, carrots. Carbs are amazing too. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing pregnancy so far. I've lost weight so far, just because I don't feel like eating anything until about 2:00 in the afternoon, but I'm working on eating breakfast better.

So, there's our big news! I'm so excited to be able to share our wonderful news with the world! I can't even explain how ecstatic we are! YAY!

12 weeks, 3 days. You can kinda see the outline of the body and an arm. Heartbeat of 164 bpm.

Dave's Birthday and Moscow so far

2011-08-26T20:43:00.000-07:00

Dave's birthday was last Wednesday and we decided to go to Coeur D'Alene and look around for the day. We went and walked on the board walk and kicked ourselves for not bringing swimming suites. We watched some crazy folks jump off the cliffs and we watched a water plane land in the water! It was pretty cool!

This is us on the dock at Lake Coeur D'Alene. We both want a cabin on the lake some day. It's so beautiful!

Dave loved this boat! It was made in the 1950's! It was absolutely gorgeous.

We had a great day exploring the city and the farmer's market. We also went to Dockside restaurant and had a delicious dessert called a Gooey. It is this huge ice cream sundae. Amazing! Hope Dave had a good birthday! It was fun to spend the day with just each other!

Last Saturday we went for a drive and found Spring Valley reservoir. It's about 30 minutes east of Moscow, past Troy. It was such a cute little pond and had lots of people swimming, BBQing, and fishing. It was beautiful and we'll definatly go back and swim some time!

Here is a part of it. It was so pretty with huge lodge pole pines all around.

Dave had fun fishing. Didn't catch anything, but we had fun people watching and getting out!

A family playing on the dock. It was so fun!

It was so nice to drive around and chat with Dave. I loved it.

Moscow has been a different experience for us. We're not in Rexburg anymore. People are a lot different, school is way different, even church and missionary work is different! But we are growing accustomed to the change and starting to like the people. Everyone in our ward is super nice and we've made a few friends already!
I miss Southern Idaho very much but I am enjoying the time that Dave and I have for it to be just us! We're definitely on our own now and relying on each other has brought us closer together.
Dave enjoys school and loves his tennis class. He's really going to like it here, I think.
I've been applying for jobs like crazy. I'm up to about 6 or 7 applications now. I had one interview, but didn't get hired. We're not too desperate for a job yet, but we will be in a month or two.
We've made our little town home a home and I like it here in my home. But we do have snakes living on our front porch and we're going to have to do something about that...

We're starting to like it here and we like exploring the hills. Once and a while we'll get a crazy hair and drive all the way to Washington, just for fun! (Ok, the Washington boarder is about 5 minutes away from our house.) :)

We're here!

2011-08-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

Well, we're alive and breathing! We're in Moscow and I just have to state this for the record... I'm bad at moving. Bless my poor husband's heart for dealing with me for the past week.
We finished packing up our home in Rexburg at the 8-Plex, our home since we've been married, on Thursday. We drove out of town around 4:30 in the afternoon. We made it to Drummond Montana at 9:00 with our slow moving truck. My aunt Kim and uncle Chris kindly fed us and put us up for the night. Then at 9:00 Friday morning we left for Moscow. We made it there at about 2:00 pm and got checked into our apartment. We have a cute little two bedroom town home that has a little patio and lots of nice windows (but a TINY kitchen). It's also subsidized, so that means NO RENT!! Until I get a job...
I had called the bishop earlier that day to see if we could get some help moving in. He said that he would try to get some people. So while we were checking into our apartment, the bishop showed up with 4 other guys to help! We got our truck unloaded in about half an hour with all that help! It was amazing!
But our living room was PACKED with stuff then... It was a disaster. But we got the essentials organized (the kitchen, the bedroom, and the TV... haha) for now and the rest of it will come this week. My goal is to have it all organized by Dave's birthday on Wednesday.
We met some of our neighbors who are LDS and they seem very nice. It's a bit of a culture shock for us up here... lots of tattoos, drinking, smoking, piercings, tiny shorts and tiny shirts. It's also different that not everyone in our complex is LDS... our ward is actually spread out to different complexes and even houses. Weird. We're not in Rexburg anymore!
I think we'll grow to like it here. So far, it's been a little rough, just getting used to a new place, so far away from everything I've known. But the town is cute and there's lots of nice people here. Once we start making some friends and getting to know the area, I think it will be great!

I'll post pictures of our place and what the area looks like as soon as I find my camera... I thought I saw it in a box somewhere around here....

Our Wonderful Summer Vacation!

2011-08-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Welp, we're back from Oregon! It was so fantastic! I was so sad to leave!
We left on Saturday, July 25th and traveled to Boise to my Grandpa and Grandma's house. It was so fun to see them! Then on Sunday, we went the rest of the way to Lincoln City, Oregon where my dad rented a Beach House for the week! We went through Portland and on the way there, we stopped at this beautiful waterfall! I can't remember what it's name was (Shannon, Shawnee... can you help me with that?) but it was so fun to hike up to the top bridge and take a good look at this awesome place! Here are some panoramas of it. Click the picture for a better look!

Dave and Me at the waterfall

We finally got to Lincoln City around dinner time and had enough time to run down and check out the beach before sundown. The boys in our family tried skimboarding and Lucas got really good at it! It was fun to watch them fall down in the freezing water! haha!!
The next two days we started going to lots and lots of beaches! Some of them were sandy and had warmish water, some were rocky where we found tons of agats and some of them we found some cool shells! I wish I could remember all the names of the beaches, and which days we were to which ones, but I can't. All I know is that we probably explored almost every beach from Tillamook to Newport!

Cute picture of me and Dave on the beach!!!

Way cool bridge that we got to drive over to get to Newport

Toesies!!!

I love the feel of the waves on my feet... and the sand...

I love this picture of Dave

Dave thought it was funny that his toenails didn't have sand on them.

The next morning we started out at the Devil's Punchbowl.

Funny picture of us at the Devil's punchbowl... it was bright outside.

We went to a beach that had a ton of fossils but Dave was more excited about this slug... It was huge.

The next day we went to the Tillamook Cheese factory! Delish! We sampled Banana Cinnamon ice cream and it was... eh... ok. There was so much cheese and ice cream! Probably that's what heaven is going to be like.
On the way back we stopped at the Haystack beach.

My adorable mommy and sister!!!

Daddy on the rocks.

The next morning we went Deep Sea fishing!! OK so the next picture is pretty bad, but in our defense, it was like 6:30 in the morning and pretty cold on the boat. Also, it's the only picture of Deep Sea fishing that we have. It's not a very conducive environment for photography.
We didn't catch very many fish, sadly, but we threw some crab pots in and we got lots of crab! It was quite a feast when we got home!

The next day we went to the Newport aquarium. There were so many fun things to see.

One of my favorites was this little family! The momma fish just had these babies (the little white specs) at 10:00 this morning! Both the mom and dad gaurded their little specs and if one of the other fish swam too close, the mom and dad would chase them away! Also, if one of their babies swam away, the mom or dad would go find it, suck it up in it's mouth, swim back over to the group and spit the baby back out! It was so cute!!

This was a HUGE snake! It's a 15 foot anaconda!

AHHHH!!!! Dave's in with the Paranas!!! Well, at least he's happy about it...

Gorgeous Jelly fish. Look, don't touch...

Dave! I said don't touch!!!

Way cool star fish

This fish wins the ugly fish award.

Oh my gosh, Dave!!! WATCH OUT!!!!

This is the only semi good pic I got of the shark tank. These leopard sharks were amazing!

We think this is one of the fish Dave caught while we were deep sea fishing! But we had to throw him back... Kinda pretty, though.

The next morning we woke up early to look around at low tide! It was sooooo cool! This is Dave trying to get on this big rock.

closer.... closer....

Ahhh!!! abort, abort!! He had to go back and get his swimming suit on... haha!

Low tide star fish

I found a starfish on the beach and rescued it! But when I picked it up, it left this cool mark in the sand.

We found tons of sea snails. Some of their shells were so bright with orange and white and purple! I really wanted one, but I didn't want to make a poor little snail homeless, so we searched for ones that were empty! We found some pretty good ones!

This starfish couldn't decide if he wanted to be orange or purple. Kinda cool!

We had such a fun time! It was so nice to relax and have a good time with my family!

In between all these adventures, we went shopping, out to eat, drove through some amazing country side, played uno, ate, talked, laughed and had such a great time!

Thanks Mom and Dad for such a wonderful vacation!!! We love you!!!

The Oregon Coast

2011-07-19T07:59:00.000-07:00

I'm getting really excited for my family's trip to the Oregon coast! We are leaving on Saturday, the 23rd, and we won't be back until Sunday the 31st! Then Dave and I move August 10th! We have a few busy weeks ahead of us.
My dad rented a house and you can view it if you click here. We are also going to go deep sea fishing and crabbing and walk on the beaches and collect sea shells and go shopping...
We are so glad to be able to go on this fabulous vacation! We really feel like we are in need of a break and this is exactly what the doctor ordered!
Here is the 10 day forecast of Lincoln City, where we are going to be staying. Perfect temperatures in the 60s and 70s... so nice!!

YAY!!

Thanks Daddy for renting this awesome house for us! We're going to have so much fun!! Can't wait!!

Note to self....

2011-07-05T10:30:00.000-07:00

Wear sunscreen...

Dave and I are seriously this red.
Anyone have sunburn remedies? It's so bad that we couldn't sleep last night...

We weren't even out for very long... but we were boating so sun + water = sore Waddoups...

Any help would greatly be appreciated. Even wearing shirts hurts!

Goings on...

2011-07-01T13:18:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!!!!

Independence day is one of my very most favoritest holidays! I LOVE fireworks and I LOVE bbqs and I LOVE getting together with family in the summer!!! I just LOVE the Fourth of July!! YAY!!
This year is going to be a pretty low key year, but I'm ok with that! We're not sure what we're doing on Saturday, hopefully hanging out with my family and watching the Rigby Fireworks! Then on Monday we're going to the Rexburg parade, having a BBQ with my family, then lighting our own fireworks! Yay!!

So last weekend was the family reunion extravaganza weekend! From Friday to Saturday we went to City of Rocks with Dave's family. It was so fun to see them! We have missed them. It was awesome to climb around on all the rocks and see this kinda weird place.
I even got to climb to the top of a rock called Bathtub! It was fun! Here we are at the top!

Here is a panoramic view from the top (click for a larger picture):

I think Dave had such a fun time with his brothers climbing! See them way way way up at the top?

Allen and Eric both had harnesses and everything to go serious climbing! They had such a fun time. Dave found out that he had a little more junk in his trunk than his brothers do, so we really had to struggle to get the harness on...

It's ok, sweetie, I like your junky trunk! :o)
But we got it on eventually and he was able to climb!

And repel back down!

Allen and Eric climbed alot too.

It was such a fun trip!

Saturday afternoon, we left City of Rocks to go to Boise for a Dahl family reunion! It was so much fun to get to see everyone! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures, but we had a great time chatting, playing cards, swimming, sitting by the fire, shopping, fishing, playing volleyball and football! We had a really fun BBQ with Anita's family and the burgers were DELISH!!

We had such a fun weekend and I can't wait to get more sun and play more! Summer is such a fun time!

Oh yes... and another thing I can't wait for is THIS:

Dave and I got midnight tickets and I just CAN NOT WAIT!!! Yes, I am a MAJOR Harry Potter geek... but I am not ashamed! So much better than being a stupid Twilight geek. Eww... But I digress...
This movie is going to be phenomenal. Even if it doesn't correlate exactly to the book (and I don't see any way they could be exact... there is so much action and depth in the book, I don't think they can capture it all in the film.) I think I am really going to enjoy it!

Check out the preview if you haven't already. It's amazing! I've only watched it about 18 times.

Now, a little update on Moscow:
We are on the list for 3 complexes. We have an apartment available for us in 2 of the complexes, but they are all $550 dollars a month (which isn't bad at all) but we are holding out for a few more weeks to see if any cheaper ones come available. Right now, Hillside Village is winning in the running because they have two bathrooms in the apartments and they allow us to stay on the waiting list for a less expensive apartment and if we find one, they don't make us pay a new deposit or anything, they just let us move! I think we're going to go this route. We've heard a lot of good things about this complex.
We're pretty set for moving in the first week or two of August, so we're doing good! Now we're just saving money, filling out paper work, and Dave is taking tests so he can test out of some of his classes!

I know the Lord is guiding us to where we need to be. Even if it's far away, Dave and I both feel that we are needed in Moscow and that we are meant to be there. I'm excited for this new chapter in our lives! But I am not excited to pack everything and move. Bummer...

So that's us for now! I will let you know how I like Harry Potter and I will keep you updated on our moving status!

Through His Eyes

2011-06-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I taught a Relief Society lesson a few weeks ago. I titled it “We are daughters of a King”. It was all about self worth and being daughters of God. What it means to be a daughter of God and how we should act since we are daughters of God. I shared an experience that I feel I should share here.

When I look in the mirror at home, I see many flaws. I need to lose weight, I have blemished skin, zits, bags under my eyes, imperfect hair, etc. Sometimes I get so down on myself that I cry. I am not pretty like those girls down the street, in the grocery store, on TV.

Sometimes the weight and pressures of the world are so much, so heavy. Sometimes the trials that I am going through consume every fiber and particulate of my being. They start to define me and I feel like I’m failing.

Dave and I go to the temple every month. As soon as I walk through the doors, I am comforted. I feel peace. Then I make my way into the dressing room. I change out of my street clothes that never seem to be in style. Then I put on my pure white temple dress. I put on my pure white stockings. I put on my little white slippers. I am pure again. Then I get to sit through a wonderful temple session and feel the spirit. My faith is strengthened. After the session, we walk back to the dressing room. As I take off the session clothing, and get back to my simple white dress, I look into the mirror.

There I see a daughter of God. A sweet girl who is doing the Lord’s work for the dead. A choice woman sent here to lift others and do good works. A princess with beautiful skin, a healthy glow, and a perfect countenance. A saved soul who is cherished and blessed. A strong spirit who can conquer any trial because I have the Lord on my side, He is with me, He will help me. I am beautiful. I am glowing. I am a daughter of God.

Sometimes I wish I could take those temple mirrors and install them in my own bathroom so I can see what God sees every day. So I can look through His eyes and see who I really am. That temple mirror is a window into the eternal perspective and I see beauty and love there.

It may seem funny that such a simple experience can strengthen someone’s faith. But every time I go to the temple I get excited to look in the mirrors. I want to see what I look like when the world and opinions of other’s are stripped from my appearance. I want to see what God sees in me. It gives me strength and helps me grow.

I know that we are all Children of God. If we work at it long enough, we can see Him and His love shine through our countenance. Someday, I hope to make those Temple mirrors become my bathroom mirror that I look into every day. Someday, I hope to see what God sees in everyone, not what the world and sins and temptations coat them in. I hope that I can love enough to see them as God sees them. God loves you. He can see the true YOU. YOU are beautiful.

Sale!!!

2011-06-09T15:58:00.000-07:00

Dave and I are moving to Moscow, ID next month so we decided that we needed to sell some of our things.

Check it out here: http://rexburgsale4you.blogspot.com/

Prices are negotiable. Let me know if you're interested in anything!

Thanks!

I want to get away... I wanna flyyyy away...

2011-05-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

So Dave and I flew away a few weeks ago. We didn’t go very far. But we still flew away.

It was so much fun!

So my company has a personal pilot to fly all of the head-honchos around to their meetings in Texas, Arizona, California, and Montana etc. His name is Sage and he’s awesome. I actually know him from a previous job. When he walked into JD Premium as their new pilot, I was shocked! But it’s cool to work with him again. Well, I kept asking Sage when he was going to take me on a plane ride. He always promised that it would be soon, but I never really thought it would happen because he flies Roger Ball’s (the owner of JD Premium and most of the Idaho Falls area) personal plane and I didn’t think I would ever be privileged enough to fly on Roger Ball’s plane. Well, just a few weeks ago he wandered into my office and asked if I wanted to go for a ride. I said HECK YES!!! When? Oh, how about later tonight? PERFECT! So I rounded up Dave and told him to come to Idaho Falls ASAP.

Here is our plane!!

Here we are by our plane... see how small it is?

So after some lessons from Sage about all the gauges and gizmos... we were ready for take off! Actually, Dave really did take off! Sage let him control everything and he really flew the plane!

We flew over Idaho Falls and headed off to the dry farms and mountains. We flew over the Idaho Falls Temple and I took a movie of it, but it's still on my camera. If I remember, I'll post it up here.

We flew over our local ski resort, Kelly Canyon

Then we went to go find my parent's house!

There it is!! (My Dad named our little homestead Willowstone. I made this picture and framed it for my mom for her birthday/mother's day. Click for larger view)

Then we took off towards Rexburg where we were gonna land and switch pilots (My turn to fly!)

Here's the Rexburg Temple

Then we landed at the Rexburg airport and it was my turn to fly the plane!

We flew back over Rexburg and got a good shot of the BYU-I campus

Then we flew out towards Menan and back towards Idaho Falls.

The Menan Butte

It was so much fun!

Thanks, Sage, for taking us on such a great adventure!!

Funny Newlyweds…

2011-04-04T15:17:00.000-07:00

I don’t know if we still qualify as newly weds. I’m gonna say yes. But maybe the cut-off time for being newly weds is a year. Or maybe it’s after you have kids. Whichever one comes first? I don’t know… but Dave and I are somewhere in between. Been married for a year and a half and no kids yet. So… Newlyweds…

Here’s our newest problem (ok, we have lots of problems and this is probably the least of them, but it’s the one that goes with the story…) I work from 8 to 5 every day. When I get home, I usually haven’t thought of anything for dinner. So that takes time to prepare. I also haven’t seen my husband all day, so I usually just want to cuddle and talk with him. But I also want to start getting a little more healthy and I want to go to the gym more. All of that condensed into a 3 or 4 hour time frame. I also have lots of relief society stuff to do and meetings to go to… excuses, excuses.

So it turned out that me going to the gym was not happening. I would rather make dinner, sit down and eat it with my husband, and then watch movies or talk to Dave for the rest of the night. The only time I could fit in going to the gym was RIGHT when I got home from work. But then Dinner would be pretty late...

One night Dave was kind enough to say that he would make dinner while I worked out! What a nice guy! Then dinner would be all nice and ready for us by the time I got home and we could eat and spend the rest of the night together. Lovely.
So I got ready and went to the gym while Dave decided that he was going to make potato soup! Yummy! When I came home about 30 minutes later, everything was smelling pretty good! So I took a look at the soup.
"Um... It's pretty runny... did you let it thicken before you put all the ingredients in it?" I said
"Yep! I thought I did." Dave stated.
"Alright, maybe we just need to get it hot again and boil. Maybe then it will thicken up..." I said. So we heated it up again. It started to thicken up a little bit, but not very much. But I noticed that it started to get a funny texture. So I took it off the heat and let it sit for a minute.
"Did you put all of the flour and butter in there?" I said.
"Yep! I thought I did." Dave stated.
"Ok, well, let's taste it and see if it needs any extra salt and pepper." So I took the wooden spoon that we had been stirring the soup with and had a big sip of the soup.

Immediately I knew something was wrong. But I wanted to boost Dave's confidence in cooking so he would be more likely to cook more dinners... I kinda liked not having to cook the dinner! So I thought, well, it's not THAT bad... just kinda... off. So I tasted the soup again to see if it was edible. Um.... no. Not edible. I turned to Dave
"This doesn't taste right.... It tastes.... sweet." Potato soup isn't supposed to be sweet.
Dave decided to take a taste of it. "Yeah... that's gross. What did I do?"
We went through Dave's cooking process to figure out what went wrong with our pot of soup. It sounded like he did everything right! I was so confused.
"You put the flour in, right?" Dave said he did and then even showed me what flour he put in. When he reached up in to the sugar cupboard instead of down to the flour, potatoes, and pancake cupboard, I knew immediately what happened.
Dave and I decided to buy our sugar in bulk at Winco recently. So we bought brown sugar, regular sugar and powder sugar. All of our sugar was in generic plastic bags from Winco. But we didn't buy flour in bulk because I had just bought a bag of flour from Broulims. So Dave, thinking that we had bought flour in bulk used powdered sugar instead of flour.
I started laughing. This was just such a funny little mistake to me, that I couldn't stop! But Dave was feeling really bad that he had ruined a whole pot of soup. I composed myself and called my Mom. She always knows how to fix things.
She suggested that I just add the flour. So I dissolved some flour and added it. The soup still tasted bad. So I added some salt and pepper. Still bad. More flour and some milk, still bad. More garlic powder, salt and pepper... still bad. More salt (What's the opposite of sweet? Salt! I thought adding more salt would balance out the sweetness)
We got to a point where we thought we could maybe choke down a bowl of it. It just needed a little bit more... masking. So I added more pepper.

BLECH!!! I overdid it and the resulting mess-in-a-pot tasted ok at first, but the aftertaste was a combo of sweetness that wasn't supposed to be there and an overwhelming salty/pepperness that left the WORST taste in our mouths!! Dave dumped the entire thing down the sink. It was so GROSS!!!

While we were cleaning up our mess, I decided to show Dave the difference between powder sugar and flour. So I got down the powder sugar that was just in a generic plastic bag and opened up the flour. I showed him how much whiter the sugar is and how the flour kinda clumps up a little bit. But when I grabbed the bag of powdered sugar to put it up in the cupboard again, I had accidentally placed it on a warm burner on the stove and the plastic bag had melted through. I lifted the powder sugar and sugar went POOF!!! all over the counter, stove, floor...

OK!!! EVERYONE OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!! WE ARE NOT MEANT TO COOK ANYTHING TONIGHT!!!
After we vacuumed up the sugar, we left the mess as-is and went out to eat.

Sheesh. Silly Newlyweds......

Needless to say, I have bought little containers and have labeled them "Sugar" "Flour" "Powder Sugar"... I have also made dinner every night since then. And no, I haven't gone to the gym regularly. But I am going to work on boosting Dave's confidence again... Tonight: Left over roast beef made into taco meat. I'll let you know how it goes...

Bodrie: My puppy, my friend

2011-03-21T10:38:00.000-07:00

Bodrie when he was a little older.

This is a tribute to my puppy Bodrie. He died Monday, March 14th. Bodrie had an aggressive cancer that would have made his last two weeks on Earth miserable so we decided to not have him suffer any more and ended his life before he was in too much pain. But Bodrie was an old dog with many ailments anyway... It was his time.

Goofy Family picture when Bodrie was still a puppy. (I wasn't choking him, I was making him smile...)

Our family got Bodrie when we moved from Idaho Falls to Rigby. I had been asking for a dog for years, but we finally had a yard big enough when we moved. It was December and I was at an achievement day activity (So I was 8 years old) when my dad came home with the cute cream colored puppy. My mom and dad told my brothers and sister not to tell me about the puppy and that they would surprise me. But when I came through the door, my little brother (about 3 years old) shouted immediately "We got a PUPPY!!" I looked around all confused and then my mom came out with the cute little puppy in her arms. I was speechless. I took him from her arms and cuddled him close. "Whats his name?" I asked. My dad answered "Bodrie." Bodrie and I were best friends ever since.

Bodrie being a part of our family.

Me, Bodrie and Fritz sitting on the porch

Rubbing Bodrie's belly while Kali and I were waiting for our turn to sled.

I remember that winter putting my puppy Bodrie in a sled and running around with him until he jumped off and sank in the snow. Then I would go find him and plop him in the sled again and run around.

Bodrie sledding with Lucas, Jessi and I think Miranda

I also remember a night that my parents were gone and my older brother and I brought Bodrie inside (he was an outside only dog) and Bodrie pooped all over the floor. I had to clean it because Austin didn't want to. We didn't let Bodrie inside any more after that.

Bodrie and Ginger in our family picture

Bodrie liked to fetch. He had some lab mix in him but not very much. I had to teach him how to fetch. But he got pretty good at it. So we would play fetch for a long time on hot summer days and sometimes Bodrie would get tired. When he got hot and tired, Bodrie would go take a swim in the canal. But when we were playing with a ball or a Frisbee, Bodrie would take that out to the canal too. I would run my fastest to the bridge to see if I could fish the ball or Frisbee out of the canal, but most of the time I missed them. We lost many balls and Frisbees.

Me and my pal Bodrie and a kitty

Bodrie went with me when I rode horses, played in the woods with me, followed me on four wheeler rides, he sat with me on the bridge, always had time for me to talk to him, loved me when I was having hard times and he was always happy to see me. Basically he was my partner in crime and permanent sidekick on all of my adventures.

Bodrie and Grandma when we went camping at Sheridan Creek.

Bodrie and Me on my horse Jasper on our way out for a ride.

Bodrie was a good dog too. He knew how to sit and lay down pretty well. But mostly he was the family's protector. He killed two badgers that came onto our property. He always pooped out in the field and not in the garage or on the lawn.

Bodrie letting a kitty play with his tail.

He would always make sure I was ok when I played outside. One time, my little sister was running towards one of her friends and she tripped and fell. Bodrie ran to her, stood over her and growled at her friend until Miranda was able to get up. He wanted to make sure she was ok.

Bodrie didn't mind cats. He let them brush against him.

Bodrie was a really funny dog and had a couple of weird quirks. One was that he was deathly afraid of ropes. He could not be tied up and when I took his collar off to brush him, I would have to sneak it around his neck or else he would cower away from it. Once he had the collar around his neck, he was fine. He was even scared of ropes on the ground or hung up. He would always cry out or whimper if he got mixed up in one. Another quirk was that he howled at car horns honking. At first we thought it was because it hurt his ears, but the vet told us that he did it once and got attention for it, so he did it from then on! It was kinda a funny party trick that our family had. Honk as you drive away and Bodrie will say goodbye too!! Bodrie also knew when he wanted to be fed and put to bed. He would come to our sliding glass door and scratch on it and whine until we got up and fed him and locked him in the garage for the night. He pretty much ran our family.

Bodrie got into something on one of his adventures and he was pretty guilty about it!

Bodrie loved to wander and explore. But he always came home at night. One time he didn't come home for two nights in a row and we started to get worried about him. The next day, my mom decided that she would go out and look for him. Our other dog, Max, was there and was following her around as she looked for him. It was winter and very cold. Mom called and called for Bodrie but didn't find him. Mom had a feeling that she should go look back in the woods for him. Max followed her out there and just when Mom thought that he would come home on his own, Max started barking and whining and then ran across the frozen river. Mom watched him as he found a little bush and barked and wagged his tail. Then Mom saw a little Bodrie face push through the bushes. Mom, relieved that she found Bodrie, started calling to him. But Bodrie didn't come. She could hear him whining and jumping around, then she would see his face poke through the bushes and look at her. Then it dawned on her. They had let a little neighbor boy set traps last fall for raccoons and porcupines. He must of forgot one of his traps out there. Bodrie was stuck in a trap! My mom rushed home and called my dad to tell him that she was going to cross the frozen river to go get Bodrie and if she didn't call back in an hour, send the search and rescue team out for her. Then she went out to get my Bodrie puppy. She was able to cross the river and get Bodrie out of the trap and back to the house safely. Bodrie was very sick and hungry and cold and his paw hurt him. But we nursed him back to health and he was fine after that! In the last year, Bodrie's foot got worse and worse and this last winter he wasn't able to put any weight on it at all. Stupid trap.

The last year of his life, Bodrie was pretty old and uncomfortable. His foot hurt him and he hobbled around on it. But he was always cheerful and happy to see the members of our family. Bodrie was such a good dog and was my best friend. He will always be remembered and will always be a big part of my childhood and an important member of our family.

I love you, Pup. You're such a good dog. Rest in Peace.

Dave's Florida Trip

2011-03-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

So this post is unacceptably late. But better late than never! I was going to do a Christmas post, but I decided that I was just way way way too late for that. So I'm just going back as far as Dave's trip to Florida. Then we are going to accept that I am a slacker and move on with life. Deal? Deal...Also Dave is going to contribute to this post as well.

Dave went with his competition team to Orlando, Florida for four days. I was desperately lonely. But I hung out with some friends and with my family and it turned out ok. I just wouldn't let go of Dave's bicep for about three days. But we have both since recovered and his bicep is still as nice and muscly as ever.

I don't know too much about the competition he was in, but this is a model of the house that they did. They did an awesome job with it.

We received a brand new laser cutter at school and tested it out on this
house. It turned out pretty sweet I think. The judges liked it anyway.

It's pretty nifty and also amazing that it got there safely. However, they didn't want to spend money on it to get it back home, so sadly, it didn't make it out of Orlando.

This was the convention center that the competitions were held in. HUGE. GORGEOUS. HUGE. That's how Dave described it. I married a man of many words...

The absolute enormity of this convention center cannot be conveyed with pictures. It freakin gigantified. The first two pictures are of the south wing of the building. There is an entire other building. Altogether this entire building was the size of a medium sized airport. Not even joking.

Here is some pictures of beautiful and warm and palm treeish Orlando. (Remember that I'm still in snowy and cold and non palm treeish Idaho when these pictures were taken)

Definitely not our hotel. This was one is called the Peabody and is down the street from the convention center. We were all very jealous of the pool area. It was all ok because our little hotel ended up having a hot tub and that turned out to be quite useful at 2 in the morning.

"Oh hey, I have a good idea... lets put this building upside down! Whaddya think, Fred?"

"Sounds like a good idea to me, Frank. hehehe... let's have it sit on another building too!"

**Disclaimer... Imaginary talking men, "Fred" and "Frank" will stop now. Remember that I haven't escaped snow, cold, icy roads and general freezingness since October and this is most definitely the cause of me making up imaginary talking men... end disclaimer**

This is a picture of the front of the conference center.

At the convention center there was a program called the solar decathalon. These models are from schools all over the world. There were some from China and Australia and a couple more countries along with several from the United States. These models are for buildings that are going to be actually constructed and displayed in Washington D.C. This was my absolute favorite part of the convention. These models were just amazing and the thought and planning that went into them was extraordinary. It was inspiring to see the creativity that can be expressed in the form of buildings. Just a great thing to see.

This one was one of my favorites.

Of course the team got a few hours of playing time. So they went to:

It was pretty chilly still. They didn't really get to swim. But they put their feet in the water and got to eat at Bubba Gump shrimp!!

Even though it wasn't the warmest day, the beach was so much fun! It was a nice relaxing little mini vacation after all our hard work. It was nice.

They did awesome on their presentation. Dave will have to say more about it. But the team got 2nd place in the Nation! Pretty amazing! Here they are with the plaque.

It is of my own opinion (David) that we should have gotten first. Of course I have a slight bit of prejudice in that area. It's just the only thing that we were able to judge against the other teams is the presentations. We saw the winning teams presentation and I honestly think our presentation was the better of the two. Its all good though. we came home with second place and that is still very good. It was a great experience and I had an absolute blast.

Awesome job team!!

A little slow...

2011-02-21T09:40:00.000-08:00

So I'm a week late with my goal. And I'm two blankets short. But I did do it. I finished something that I wanted to do.

I used to be such a determined person. I knew that if I really wanted something, I could work hard and get it. But I've had a goal for a while now and I've been working hard... and I haven't made it yet. Sometimes life just doesn't work the way that you want it to.

But I've realized that many of my other goals have gone by the wayside because of my inability to complete this one other specific goal. So I chose to remedy this. Just because one aspect of my life isn’t perfect, doesn’t mean that I have to neglect the other parts of me. I decided that I needed to make more goals and follow through with them. I needed to be a determined, confident person again.

So I started out small. I made a service project goal. My goal was to spend $20 dollars of my birthday money on fabric to make 4 blankets for the Calling All Angels service project. However, I didn't make 4 blankets because fabric was more than I had anticipated. But I was able to buy enough fabric for 2 blankets and my mom was able to help provide some fabric too. The struggle with this project was that I needed my mom's help with it (and I needed to use her sewing machine.) Both of us are pretty busy people. So it was hard for us to find time where we were both free for a couple of hours. We finally got to it on Saturday, cutting the fabric and pinning it together. I sewed one of the blankets together and then we decided to finish the other one on Sunday. When I started working on it on Sunday, I found that my mom had already cut it and pinned it together for me. She’s so nice. I don’t think I could live without my Mother. All I had to do was sew. So sew I did. After sewing the sides together, I turned the blankets right side out, ironed them, and then sewed around the outside one more time. I did little decorative stitches on the outside. I thought that they turned out pretty cute. I tied the blankets up with bows, placed them in Ziploc bags and gave them to my coworker to give to his sister-in-law. Done. Goal completed.

It felt good. Felt good to do a selfless act. Felt good to do some service. Felt good to complete something that I started. The pink blanket reminds me so much of my blanket.

Hopefully a mother will look at the blanket that I made surrounding her brand new little one and feel thankful. Hopefully the baby will feel loved and warm. Hopefully these blankets will soothe them, comfort them, make them feel safe.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
-Proverbs 3: 5-6

New Goal

2011-02-07T11:35:00.000-08:00

For my birthday, my Grandma Judy (my mom's mom) gave me $20 dollars. Sweet, I know! So I started thinking about what you could do with $20 dollars. Here are some things I thought of:

Half a tank of gas

Most of a dinner date with Dave

Lunch for a week

More beads (Mom gave me a "make your own jewelry starter kit" for my birthday, so now I'm a little obsessed with beads and other jewelry making stuff)

Put it in our bank account and have it help with bills

A shirt/outfit, skirt, pants... clothes

Put it towards our Savings

Spend it on ice cream or chocolate (very plausible)

Leave it in the card and find it in 6 months. Very nice surprise! (I've done this before)

Put it in my wallet and spend it on random little things till it’s gone. (Can you say 13 Mountain Dews??)

But I thought about it again and I said to myself (because sometimes I need someone who is stubborn and outspoken to talk to me. And I can’t find a more stubborn and outspoken person than me, so sometimes I need a good talking to from myself to me, get it? Good… lets move on…) “I want to make this money count. I want to look at something or do something and say ‘Remember that? I spent my birthday money on that. That was awesome.’”

So here’s what I decided to do. A Service Project! Yay! But I was a little discouraged. What the heck can I do for $20 bucks? It seems like a fair chunk of change for me, but can it really make a difference?

It would buy more than enough ingredients to make a bunch of cookies to take to our neighbors and ward members, so maybe I’ll do that! But then I thought, “Am I really doing them a service taking them a bunch of cookies? In the long run, isn’t that essentially a disservice?? More chub for them to work off at the gym, right? And heaven knows that I would have my fair share of sampling of those delicious things, and I REALLY don’t need the extra chub to work off at the gym.”

Sigh… back to square one. What to do with $20 bucks that’s going to be an actual service?? So I did what I do best. I surfed the net. I started reading the blogs on my blog reel. I skidded to a stop on one of the blogs that I regularly read and… Hallelujah! The heavens opened up and the angels sang and light shone down upon me! There on my screen was a service project, ripe for my serving!

It’s called Calling All Angels.

Neal and Angie Guymon are in charge of it. On May 30^th, 2009, Angie gave birth prematurely to their son, Jayden. Born at 23 weeks, he was just too small to survive. So they decided to do a service project on Jayden’s birthday. Angie says, “We decided to donate the blankets to a hospital particularly a NICU for premature babies as I know how meaningful the blankets that Jayden was wrapped in are to us. It is something physical I was able to take home with me and that I can pull out and hold when I’m missing him. We feel the blankets are symbolic because as we were waiting for Jayden to be born, the hospital staff, family and friends surrounded us with their support, love and warmth, just as blankets bring love and warmth to the babies they are wrapped around.”

I don’t know Neal or Angie. The only connection I have to them is that Angie is my coworker’s wife’s sister. So it’s a pretty long connection. But I thought that this service project was a worthy cause. And I did the math and I can do four (two girl and two boy) blankets for $20 bucks, if I do it right. So that’s what I’m going to do.

Blankets have a special meaning to me as well. Anyone who knows me knows that I have a security blanket. I call it my “Deetdee” because that’s how I pronounced “Blankie” when I was little. I slept with this blanket every night. EVERY NIGHT. I took it to church, to nursery, to primary, to the store, to Grandma’s house, I drug it around at home… everywhere. When I got older I stuffed it in my pillowcase and took it to sleepovers and to girl’s camp. I took it to college (yes… all four years) and slept with it under my pillow. When I had a hard day, I took it out and snuggled with it. It made me happy. I slept with it every single night until the night of October 16^th, 2009. The night I got married. I did NOT take my Deetdee on my honeymoon. I had a new Deetdee named Dave. But when Dave was gone to Florida, you bet I grabbed my Deetdee out from my shelf and slept with it. Needless to say, this thing its pretty dang ragged. I’m afraid that if I unfolded it, it would all fall apart.

My Grandma Judy made and gave me this Deetdee when I was born and I have never ever parted with it. It’s helped me through 21 years of my life and if I could spend $20 bucks (that Grandma Judy gave me for my 23^rd birthday) and offer just a piece of that comfort to a baby and his/her family… then, by golly, I’m gonna do it.

New Goal: By Next Monday, February 14^th, 2011, Valentine’s day, I will have four little receiving blankets to give to my coworker, to give to his wife, to give to her sister, to donate to a NICU For Calling All Angels Service Project. All for $20 bucks of birthday money.

Want to be a part of it? Watch this movie to see where you can send the blankets. Or, if you want, you can give them to me before MONDAY, March 28^th, 2011 and I’ll send them along. Leave a comment if you plan to participate.

23!!

2011-02-03T11:37:00.000-08:00

Karlee's 23 today!! Yay!

I'll have to start watching for wrinkles this year... :o)

oi...

2011-01-19T12:12:00.000-08:00

So yesterday was one of the worst days of my life.

I was very sick.

I have never felt pain so bad. My stomach acted like it didn't want to be trapped inside anymore. That sucker wanted OUT! But my skin was fighting pretty hard to keep it in. Also my back protested the whole ordeal by spasming and aching. Finally, my stomach got so fed up that it decided that it wanted to empty all of its contents as soon as possible... meaning RIGHT NOW! But my esophagus was having none of that and forced the contents of my stomach back down and my stomach screamed in protest...

And all of this was happening AT THE SAME TIME and ALL.... NIGHT.... LONG!! I was sweating and shaking and... oh man. No Bueno!! I kept my husband up all night too. Poor thing.

So we both called in sick the next day and after a desperate prayer at about 8:00 in the morning, I was finally able to sleep for about 3 hours. Whew!

Whatever that was... I so so so hope I never have to do it again.

About 7:00 last night I was feeling good enough to eat a little something and I didn't feel like my stomach was attacking everything anymore. So I went to bed and was able to sleep. Thank heavens. You don't really appreciate a good nights sleep until you completely miss out on one...

So I'm back at work today, and the only remnants of my terrible day is an aching back and an aversion to anything resembling food. For now, I'm on a Sprite and Gatorade diet.

But I have alot of fun blog postings coming up! Dave's Graduation and Dave's competition in Florida and some other random things. So... I guess what I'm trying to say is Don't give up on me! I've been sick and working and my husband and my camera were gone for a while...

Stay tuned... please.

:o)

Not fair....

2011-01-10T09:15:00.000-08:00

Well, I pretty much failed at the 30 day blog post. I lost motivation after New Years. But here is my reasoning...
This blog is for both Dave and me. I am the only one who writes in it, however. So instead of concentrating on me and whats going on with my life, I need to write about us and whats going on in our life. And many of the 30 day blog posts were all about me. It's not just me anymore... it's us.

So this week I resolve to catch up on blog posting. I'm going to have a lot of time on my hands this week, so I bet I'll be able to catch up...

Wanna know why I'll have all this time on my hands??

It's really not fair...

Dave gets to go to Orlando FL for 5 days. His 2 year competition team is going to the National Home Builders Association (I think that's what it's called) convention. They have a big presentation and a house plan that they have been working on for about 4 months. It's a pretty big deal in the Architecture/Construction field.

So... Dave gets to be here:

And the weather is going to be like this:

And I get to be here:

with weather like this:

Are you feeling bad for me yet???

Cuz I'm feeling pretty bad for me.

5 days without my hunny.... I'm gonna be pretty lonely.

Dave even says that he'll miss me.

But I say he gets the better end of the deal...

Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.

2010-12-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

So I'm boring. The last thing I bought was my prescription medicine.

But let me show you the last FUN things that I bought!!

This really cute vest:

and these really cute jeans:

and this really cute sweater:

and these really cute jeans!

YAY for new clothes!!! Yay for Christmas gift cards and money!! Yay for season end sales!!

**sniff sniff...** "I would like to thank...*sniff*... my wonderful husband... *sniffle*... for the awesome gift card that he gave me for Christmas... *sniff*... and my awesome mother-in-law... she gave us some money for Christmas.... and it made it possible for me to look so darn cute in my new clothes...*sniff*... I really could not be where I am today without them... they are so good to me! *sniffle* Thank you!!

Day 8 - A song to match your mood.

2010-12-27T12:14:00.000-08:00

I took a little Christmas break from posting every day. So I'm starting at day 8 and continuing on.

My rude alarm clock rang this morning and I thought "There is absolutely no way I am going to get up. I'm calling in sick." My nice warm bed and my husband's nice, strong arm wrapped around me was definitely calling my name and moving was the last thing I wanted to do.
After pushing snooze about 6 times, Dave's strong arms became a little too strong as he pushed me out of my warm, cozy bed and into the cold, hard world.
So I dedicate this song to today. May your covers be warm and cozy and may your husband not be as strong as mine. Go ahead and waste away the day.

Christmas is wonderful

2010-12-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

I'm going to take a little pause out of my 30 day blog posting for few Christmas posts.

I'm having a hard time getting into the Christmas spirit this year. I don't know what it is, but I find myself being a little bit of a Scrooge this year. Last night we had a huge extended family Christmas party in Pocatello. It was for my mom's side of the family.We had a huge dinner and then had a little program. We all sat in a big circle and each of the families had their own little Christmas story or thought to share. My Dad shared a little Christmas wish list that he wrote several years ago. This list was published in a few magazines and newspapers. I think this wish list captures a few of the things that I have been hoping and wishing for too, so I wanted to share it here. Please note that you do not have permission to copy or use or publish this poem except if you have special permission from me or my dad, Jason Dahl.

These Are My Wishes for the Christmas Season

By Jason Dahl

I wish people could see themselves Christmas shopping.

I wish for more kindness for drivers everywhere.

I wish I were as happy about snow in March as in December.

I wish there was a Santa Claus.

I wish that people could realize that:

What you do is more important than what you have;
What you say has meaning;
Bell ringers are people too;
The postman is a little stressed now;
Christmas is for kids;
Being a kid at heart counts as being a kid;
Your sled goes faster is you laugh and scream;
Marshmallows are a required ingredient in hot cocoa;
Reading to your children is a present.

I wish I knew the answers to all my children's questions.
I wish I were a wise man.
I wish i didn't have a belly like a bowl full of jelly.
I wish everyone could:

Hear the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in person;
Give more away than they keep;
Have a baby of their own around Christmas;
Smile;
See the Christ child;

I wish I had a sport utility vehicle.
I wish I could grow a long gray beard.
I am glad I'm not gray.
I wish everyone could experience:

Hunger, for empathy;
Poverty, for thankfulness;
Plenty, for generosity;
Repentance, for forgiveness.

I wish that everyone who asked "How are you?" wanted to know how I am.
I wish for solitude.
I wish for companionship.
I wish I could get more ties for Christmas. Really!
I wish there were more heroes.

I hope to get snow.
I hope to get rid of snow shortly thereafter.
I hope for pumpkin roll.

I wish childless couples could get their wish.
I wish parentless children could get their wish.
I wish parents and children would appreciate each other more.

I wish for food for the hungry, warmth for those who are cold.
I wish for homes for those without and toys for all.
I wish I would act on my wishes and not just wish them.

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

Also at the party my Grandpa made these wooden vials for all the priesthood holders in our family. The wood from these vials is made of wood from the Smith farm in New York, the Sacred Grove, and other well known Church History sites. They held oil for blessings. The oil still needed to be consecrated, so my grandpa invited all the Melchizedek Priesthood holders to come up to help consecrate the oil for blessing the sick and afflicted. Dave was able to go up and bless the oil.
In that circle of worthy men, Dave felt the awesome power the priesthood could have. He felt Christ's love for everyone. Dave was touched with the spirit of Christmas and the true love of Christ.

We wish you a very Merry Christmas full of Charity, Love, Happiness and the wonderful light of Christ. God bless you.

Day 7 - Your dream vacation

2010-12-16T15:44:00.000-08:00

So Dave is going to be an Architect. I think a wonderful vacation would be to see some of the great buildings, castles, structures in the World. Including but not limited to:

Palacio de Las Artes Reina Sofía in Valencia, Spain

Machu Picchu in Urubamba Valley, Peru

The Great Wall of China in... um... China

The Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Buckingham Palace in London, England

The Taj Mahal in Agra, India

The Coliseum in Rome, Italy

The Leaning Tower of Pisa in Pisa, Italy

Eiffel Tower in Paris, France

The Louvre in Paris, France

Falling Water in Mill Run, Pennsylvania

Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, CA

And of course, all of the wonderful Smithsonians, the White House, the Chrysler Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Space Needle... etc in America. I think we need to make a big long trip to New York (and surrounding areas) and Washington DC and Seattle to cover some of the other cool American Architecture.

Also, one other dream trip. I would love to research the Bible and find out everywhere Jesus walked and walk where He walked. That would be amazing. However, it's a little dangerous over there, so maybe we'll wait for the Second Coming for that vacation. :o)

Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.

2010-12-15T09:59:00.000-08:00

Dave and I kinda have a dream of owning a miniature farm. We want mini horses, goats and pigs. With the mini horses, I want to start a photography business where we dress up little kids and babies in cowboy stuff and have them ride and sit by the mini horses who are all decked out in tack. So dang cute!

So this is the smallest horse in the world and he was born this may. He looks so dang cute! I would love this little guy as a pet! He was born 14 inches tall and 6 pounds! Smaller than some human babies!

Also, with our miniature farm, we want to own Gladiator Danes, or Daniffs. These are Great Dane/Mastiff dogs. They can get HUGE! We thought that it would be fun to have all these miniature animals and then have a HUGE dog...

Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago

2010-12-15T08:04:00.000-08:00

So I found out that I never have pictures of JUST me. I'm always with someone. But this is the summer of 2008 right before I met Dave. I was working on a cattle/guest ranch all summer long. This is my friend Emilee and I believe we were at Mud Lake at a Rodeo.

So pretty much I wish I still looked like that. I was so super tan and working on a ranch all summer made me loose some weight, so I was looking pretty good. My hair was nice and long and almost my natural color too.

That's me two years ago!

Here's Dave two years ago. This is in May of 2008. Dave was living in Down Under and working, so he was able to grow some sweet facial hair.

He is pretty excited to graduate from BYU-I so he doesn't have to shave anymore. He says that he is growing a neck beard. I told him I wouldn't kiss him if he grew a neck beard. I think I only encouraged him, though.

Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of you and your best friend.

2010-12-13T11:10:00.000-08:00

Lucky for me I'm married to my best friend. Here are a few of my personal favorites.

And these are just a few. I'll post more when I get home on my own computer.

Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect date

2010-12-13T09:11:00.000-08:00

A perfect date.... hmmm....

So money isn't an issue, right? Well, it would be with Dave, of course.

Sometimes I think that my perfect date would be going to Wingers and ordering whatever we wanted and then snuggling with Dave in the movie theater with an awesome movie playing. Call me simple minded, but sometimes all I need is to have Dave with me. I'm a quality time type of girl and so this sounds good to me.

But in reality, I would love to go horseback riding in the summer, deep sea fishing or crabbing in the spring, snowboarding and a sleigh ride in the winter, and for a long peaceful fourwheeler ride in the mountains in the fall. So one of those would be a perfect date. With Dave.

So really, any fun activity where I got to spend some good time and some good laughs with Dave would be an ideal date.

But I wouldn't say no to Paris, a Cruise, Hawaii, or something equally exotic.

:o)

Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.

2010-12-11T13:20:00.000-08:00

At the Christmas party last night all of the employees received a box of chocolates. I love chocolate!

Wondering why they are all cracked and half bitten into? Well, about that....
I love chocolate, but I'm pretty picky about what goes into my chocolate. I don't like all the mushy coconut, fake chocolate, fruity yuckiness that you find in many chocolates. So I have to break them apart and see whats in them before I eat them. Dave doesn't mind eating the broken ones.... :o)

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.

2010-12-11T13:04:00.000-08:00

So I guess this isn't just a picture of me, it's of me and Dave over the Fourth of July. I really like this picture of us. We look so content and happy to be together. I am always so happy to be with Dave. Time with him over the past couple of weeks has been somewhat limited and I am thankful for every second I have with him.

I was supposed to post this yesterday... already a day behind on my 30 day blog challenge. Whoops! Oh well. So I guess I will tell you how my day was yesterday.

I was really glad it was Friday. It had been a long week at work. I was talking to Dave about it and I realized that School did terrible things to me. School trained me to expect my life to be turned upside down every three months. Just when you get used to all your classes, all of the people you see, all of the activity... it ends and you start a whole new schedule and a whole new life. So, here I am. I have worked at my job for 3 months now.... and I'm ready for a change. Terrible, I know!! So while I'm trying to get over being sick of my job, it was a slow week.
Our company party was that night though, so I had something to look forward to all day long. We were going to Mountain River Ranch! Everybody knows how much I love this place. It's my home away from home. I worked there for about four years. From age 15 to 19. I love the people there and I love the energy and the Christmas spirit. So I was so happy to go there!
When we got there I got to see alot of people that I knew and loved and of course I got to eat first and I got called on stage. It was such an amazing night of laughter and Christmas cheer. And of course, the prime rib was amazing!!

So yesterday was a great day.

30 day blog challenge!

2010-12-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

30 day blog challenge

I'm taking on a challenge...a 30 day blog challenge. For the next 30 days (starting tomorrow) I will be blog about something everyday. Hopefully I will stick with it!

Day 1 - A photo of yourself and a description of how your day was.
Day 2 - A photo of something you ate today.
Day 3 - Your idea of the perfect date.
Day 4 - Your favorite photograph of you and your best friend.
Day 5 - A photo of yourself two years ago.
Day 6 - A photo of an animal you'd love to keep as a pet.
Day 7 - Your dream vacation.
Day 8 - A song to match your mood.
Day 9 - A photo of the item you last purchased.
Day 10 - A photo of your favorite place to eat.
Day 11 - What's in your makeup bag.
Day 12 - A photograph of the town you live in.
Day 13 - Your favorite musician and why?
Day 14 - A TV show you're currently addicted to.
Day 15 - Something you don't leave the house without.
Day 16 - Your celebrity crush.
Day 17 - A photo of you and your family.
Day 18 - Something you crave a lot.
Day 19 - Another picture of yourself.
Day 20 - The meaning behind your blog name.
Day 21 - A photo of something that makes you happy.
Day 22 - 15 facts about you.
Day 23 - A photo of something that means a lot to you.
Day 24 - What's in your purse?
Day 25 - A photo of somewhere you've been to.
Day 26 - A picture of you last year and now and how you changed since then?
Day 27 - Your favorite movie.
Day 28 - Something you could never get tired of doing.

Day 29 – 10 things that you are thankful for
Day 30 - A photograph of yourself today + three good things that have happened in the past 30 days

B Slim!

2010-12-01T12:28:00.000-08:00

So my work is coming out with a weight reduction program and they are testing it on the employees. Lucky me! Haha... So for the month of December (yes... including Christmas... unfortunately..) I am on this pretty strict diet. (Only we're not allowed to call it a "diet" because that has bad connotations) Here is what it consists of:

First Week
Breakfast: one 8 ounce shake (chocolate or vanilla) mixed with water or skim milk
Mid Morning: 1 Day Burn capsule, 1 Appetite Control capsule, 1 Digestive Cleanse capsule
Lunch: one 8 ounce shake (chocolate or vanilla) mixed with water or skim milk
Mid Afternoon: 1 Day Burn capsule, light snack of fruit or veggies
Dinner: 500 calorie meal
Before bed: 1 tablespoon of Night Burn syrup stuff

Next Three Weeks
Breakfast: one 8 ounce shake (chocolate or vanilla) mixed with water or skim milk
Mid Morning: 1 Day Burn capsule, 1 Appetite Control capsule, 1 Digestive Cleanse capsule
Lunch: one 8 ounce shake (chocolate or vanilla) mixed with water or skim milk and a light 500 calorie meal with lots of fruits and veggies
Mid Afternoon: 1 Day Burn capsule, light snack of fruit or veggies

Dinner: 500 calorie meal with lots of fruits and veggies
Before bed: 1 tablespoon of Night Burn syrup stuff

I am not sure if I am going to couple this with an exercise program or not. Because of the extremely low caloric intake, if I start exercising more, my body might go into starvation mode and store fat instead of loose it. I think I might try just doing the diet and next month couple it with exercise if I didn't get to my goal.

My goal is to loose 20 pounds this month.

Sigh.... wish me luck....

Anniversary Trip

2010-11-18T23:08:00.000-08:00

For our first anniversary we went to Lagoon!

It was so super fun and I got a great deal on tickets! It was so much warmer than we expected it to be. (You never know what the weather is going to be like in the middle of October around here) We loved riding all of the rides and walking around. I loved watching people. That's what I do.

Here we are at the start of the day. It was a good idea that we got up semi early and went. It started getting SUPER busy towards the end.

I think the Colossus is one of my favorite rides. Also, I love Wicked! It is so super fast and you go straight up, and then straight down! It's awesome!

So I don't think that I can handle a full day of rides like I used to be able to. My legs got shaky towards the last and it was hard to walk after we got off the rides. Haha! So much fun, though!!

It was semi cold so there wasn't a line for Cliff Hanger (which has some water) so Dave rode it twice. I would have rode it too, but someone had to hold all our cell phones, cameras, keys, etc. And I didn't want to get too wet, either.

Getting ready to go!!

Here is a fun movie of the ride.

Dave is all wet getting off the ride!

It was such a fun day! I loved just being with Dave and not having to worry about a time schedule or anything like that. We just hung out and did whatever we wanted! It was awesome!

So Lagoon was my idea, so I told Dave that dinner was up to him. All he told me about dinner was that I had to bring some church clothes. Little did I know how much he had planned for me!

So we went back to our hotel with enough time to get cleaned up and dressed in our fancy clothes. I have no idea about any of the layout of SLC, so Dave had an easy job of getting me lost. Next thing I know, we are in a parking garage.
We head into the building and I find out that it's the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I had no idea what we were doing there.
When we were about to get on the elevator, I saw a sign that said "The Roof Restaurant" so I assumed that's where we were going, but I had no idea what was in store for me.

We walked in and I instantly understood why we had to dress up. I would have felt out of place if I had worn pants there. As we walked in, the hostess explained that this was a buffet, so please, help ourselves. But save room for dessert, that's the best part. So we were seated and not too long after that, a manager lady came and told us that we needed to be moved to have a better view of the temple. I was impressed and thought that Dave had slipped her a $20, but he claims that he didn't.
When we got to our new seats, I was dumbfounded. The temple was so close and so beautiful. I couldn't stop staring at it.
Like a dummy, I thought that we were just going to dinner, so I left my camera in the car. I really wish that I would have ran down to get it, but these pictures are right about where we were sitting and you can see how amazing the temple is from our table.

It was so amazing.

We definitely got our moneys worth in food, too. Dave and I both went back for fourths on the main meal and at least seconds on the dessert. We ate until we were quite literally very sick. It was awesome.

We got back to our hotel and did absolutely nothing. I felt like I was going to burst. It was such an amazing night.

All in all, it was the most awesome wedding anniversary that I have ever had. I don't think we'll be able to top it next year, but we'll sure as heck try!! :o)

In a Year

2010-11-18T22:24:00.000-08:00

In a year we have done so many things. This first year of marriage has been the best year of our lives. (Except Dave says that the first year he was alive was the another best year of his life. All he had to do was eat, sleep, poop, cry and giggle.) I love being married and I know Dave feels the same. We get along so well and any tussles or arguments that we have are short and minor. Most of the time we just wrestle it out and it's all good. Here is a little review of our last year...

We moved into our cute one bedroom basement apartment. It felt like home. We belonged there.

We finished a semester at school and were then blindsided by the economy and lack of jobs.

We were jobless for about a month. Dave searched for an internship and I was desperate for anything.

Dave found an internship at JHS Architects in Pocatello.Which was a miracle, because everywhere he had applied to had almost laughed at him when he applied. The economy was down and times were tough for architects.

A month later I found a designing job at South Industries which was a miracle because everywhere I had applied to had almost laughed at me when I applied. The economy was down and times were tough for contractors.

We moved from our cozy little downstairs apartment to our larger upstairs apartment. It has two bedrooms, a washer and dryer and a dishwasher. I thought that this was going to be an exceptional move, but we still miss our little #5 apartment. But #1 is starting to feel more and more like home as well.
With this move we took on the manager position for our little 8-plex. Mostly our job is to get $50 bucks taken off our rent, fill apartments, clean apartments, help everyone who locked themselves out, water the lawn, snow removal... etc.

We both started school in the spring. Dave finished his internship and I continued to work with Souths part time. Dave started working on the BYU-I grounds crew.

I graduated from college with a 3.475 GPA in July. It was a wonderful experience. I loved it.

South Industries cut their crew back to just family. I was jobless... again. Perfect timing, just when I graduated and right about when we started getting really desperate for some $$$ again... jeeze.

Dave started his last semester in the Architecture program at BYU-I.

We received a check in the mail for $2,500 dollars for Dave's damaged fingers. God loves us.

Dave found work with TJ which saved our lives. I tell him every day not to hurt himself... unless it's big enough to get workman's comp. :o)

I was hired as a customer service representative at JD Premium which I love. The people are awesome and I've been given some design opportunities here as well and it is just fantastic.

Dave gets the awesome opportunity to be the first class to graduate in the new BYU-I Auditorium. He is also on the 2 year construction/architecture team and gets to travel to Orlando FL in January for his competition.

Our life is wonderful and we are as happy as clams. (Where the heck did that saying ever come from? Are clams especially happy? To find out, click on this sentence.)

Here are some funny first-year-of-being-married stories:

1st funny story: Our wedding money got us through that month. We had enough money to pay our bills and not a penny more. Thank heavens for the blessings of tithing. A few funny stories that I would like to document about my new experiences of paying bills: I had never paid a bill before in my life. I didn't have a credit card, I didn't spend money I didn't have (except if the money was my dad's... thanks daddy!!). So when we started getting all these bills in the mail, I started realizing that they needed to be paid. So I lined them all up on the floor and then took out our wedding money. I started counting out all the money we needed and putting it in piles on top of the bills. When I discovered that we had just barely enough, I started stuffing the money inside the envelopes and getting ready to send the bills in. Dave looked over at me and asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was paying our bills. Then he started laughing. He said "Karlee... you can't pay bills with cash. I don't even think they would accept that." I was dumbfounded. EVERYONE takes cash... I thought. Guess not. (I'm much better at paying bills now...)

2nd funny story (funny now... not so funny then): During the tight time right after we got married and right after we paid our bills and right after we finished school and right BEFORE we got jobs... money was scarce. And by scarce, I mean scary scarce. I came home from job hunting one day and realized we didn't have any groceries. So I checked our bank account and we definitely didn't have enough money to get any groceries. I decided that we would just go get a $5 dollar pizza and hopefully we could squeeze a few meals out of it. (I obviously didn't know Dave as well as I do now...) So I started looking around for money. I didn't have any cash, Dave didn't have any cash, I couldn't find any spare wedding money. I looked through all the cards again and nothing was there.
I was distraught and frustrated that I couldn't find 5 measly dollars to use to buy a disgusting pizza. Finally I started digging through the couches, through our change jars and through our cars. I found 6 dollars in change. We went out and bought that pizza and it was gross.
But I stuck it to the man. The man who made it so we didn't have any money. Boy, was he ever sorry he made us poor...

So that's our first year in a really quick nutshell.

I love David, he loves me. We are a happy family.

Karma...

2010-10-23T18:10:00.000-07:00

Dave and I went to his boss's house to have dinner and watch a movie. We were excited to go over and hang out with their cute family. I made dinner rolls to take over there and we were going to have roast. Yummy!
Well, after dinner we were just sitting around the table talking. Dave and his boss TJ were trying to convince me to watch a scary movie. I was not thinking this was a good idea. I don't handle scary movies very well. I asked Dave to pass the water and fill up my glass. After he had filled it up, he was setting it down and accidentally knocked over TJ's empty glass. I started teasing Dave a little bit about how we have a spill every meal and how it's like I married a little kid. I reached over and touched Dave's face and told him I was glad that I married a little kid. Well, when I pulled my arm away to set it down, I knocked over my FULL glass of water all over my lap and all over the floor. After I mopped up their floor, my jeans were so soaked that I had to come home and put my jeans in the dryer.

Whose the kid now?

I know I get what I deserve, but I didn't expect the repercussions to happen so quickly.

Sigh.... Karma....

A year ago...

2010-10-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

A year ago I was nervous

I was scared

I was excited...

And I was happy.

A year ago I was making sure my nails were done, my hair was dyed, my eyebrows plucked.

I was trying oh so hard to shed an extra two pounds.

I drank Mt. Dew so it made those extra two pounds impossible to shed.

A year ago, I was praying for comfort. I was praying that this leap of faith would lead to a good life.

A year ago, I went to the temple for the first time.
I wanted to get my endowments done in the Idaho Falls temple so that all would be in order for our wedding.
Dave and I drove to the temple together.
I forgot my temple recommend on my desk.
I freaked out
Dave and I turned around and went back to Rexburg to get my recommend.
My dear roommate Stephanie brought it to me.
We hurried back to Rigby. My mom took us from there.
My mom calmed me down.
Crisis Averted.
I was able to focus on the temple
I wondered if my Dad and my big brother would make it there in time.
Austin shot an elk that night. They had to leave it in order to make it to the temple on time.
I wanted/needed them there.
Time stood still so they could make it.
They made it. It was a miracle.
I went through the temple and cried. Dave cried. My mom might have cried.

I felt peace.

A year ago, we made sure we had everything ready for the reception.
Mom ordered doughnuts
Mom made gallons of hot fudge
Mom made the center pieces
Mom adjusted my dress
Mom made sure the gym was reserved
Mom worked on all of the decorations
Mom bought frames, flowers, bowls, plates...

Mom was/is/forever will be my hero.

I made sure my dress fit just right.

A year ago, I was doing homework like crazy. I was missing school for my three day honeymoon, so I needed to get it done.

A year ago, I was getting ready for a very important day in my life.

A year ago, I had no idea what the next year had in store for me.

A year ago, I didn't know I was going to have the best year of my life.

A year ago... I was four days away from getting married to my very best friend.

A year ago, I was in love.

Today... I am ten times more in love than I was a year ago.

What a wonderful life...

Redesign

2010-09-29T09:02:00.000-07:00

Please excuse the redesign in progress. If something seems funny, just hang on for a week or two...

Are you excited to see something new? I am...

It's gonna be purrrrty.

I love ya'll

NEW JOB!!!

2010-09-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

I got a job as a customer service representative at JD Premium in Idaho Falls.
It's a full time job, with insurance and other benefits. Pretty nice. We'll see how I like it.

Right now I am just so thankful for having something.

Tractor Pull

2010-09-14T10:42:00.000-07:00

Dave and I went to a tractor pull with our friends, Jessie and Tanner Hoagland. It was really fun and very loud. Here we are.

And again

Here is an example of the trucks and tractors.

Now the fun part...
The MOVIES!!!

Good times were had by all!! Next time you see an add for a tractor pull, ya'll should go...

Catching Up

2010-09-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

Since I don't have a job and I'm graduated so I don't have school, I don't really have too much to do other than clean the house and look for jobs. So here I am catching up on our summer.

Right after graduation, (Way back in July... wow, I really am behind) Dave and I took a few days off to play. We went four wheeling and swimming.It was so much fun to get out and about and be outside. Here are some shots of our four wheeler ride.

We wanted to hit the top of this mountain. So we found a trail that maybe sort of headed that way.

We had to go through the forest to get there.

And cross streams. And thin, ricketty bridges. But it's all a part of the fun, right? :o)

"Dave, I think we're getting close to the top. Peak over that cliff and see..."

"Yep. We're almost there."

Yay we made it!

Now we get to go back through the forest to get back down. It was a really pretty place.

We had such a fun time! It is so pretty up at Kelly Canyon. I love Idaho.

Oh... the economy....

2010-09-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

So I lost my job on Tuesday.

I didn't like my job very much. I mean, it had it's ups and downs. But I did like the money my job brought in.

"But Karlee, why are you worried? You like change and you now have a chance to look for a job you'd enjoy!"

True.

However, I have been actively looking for a new job since May. Nothing has come up. I have had plenty of interviews, filled out plenty of applications. But no new job.
That's why I'm worried.

and nervous

and scared

But don't worry. We'll make it through.

Plus now I have alot more time to blog. Maybe I'll catch up on our summer.

If you hear of any job for a communications degree in the south eastern Idaho region, let me know.

Yay for Husbands!!!

2010-08-31T10:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday I had a no good, terrible, very bad, day. You know those days. Nothing seemed to work out. Something happens that's not good and makes you kinda grumpy (In my case it was waking up...) then the rest of the day just slides down a slippery slope of doom and despair after that. I hope that I'm not the only one with these kinds of days.

Besides waking up, something happened to me on that day that made me really sad. Then my tummy hurt and my head hurt. It was raining and cold outside and they still had the air conditioner on in my building, so I was freezing! Work was dragging on and I was struggling to stay vertical at my desk instead of curling up in a ball under my desk. The day lasted forever. I looked at the clock hoping that it would be 4:30 and I could go home. My hopes were destroyed when I realized that it was 10:00 in the morning. I let out an audible moan.

Lunch time eventually came and instead of sitting at my desk and reading a book like I usually did, I decided to take a drive. I found a church and hoped that I could absorb some peace from just being in the parking lot. Instead, I opened the irrigation gates behind my eyes and let my cheeks flood. If I had planted alphalpha on my cheeks, I would be ready for a third cutting. (Nope, I'm not a country girl...)

Well, I couldn't go back to work looking the way I did... so I sat and tried to make my eyes look presentable. When I thought that I looked alright, I rushed past everyone in the office and made it to my desk in the back. For the first time ever, I was glad that my desk faced a wall. But once I opened those flood gates, I just couldn't seem to get them closed. So I composed myself long enough to go tell my boss's wife that I had a headache and needed to go home. I jumped in my car and hurried home.

Dave was supposed to go pour cement for a new job that he had, but it was raining in the morning, so he wasn't able to go pour. He had the day off. When I got home, his car wasn't there. So I decided to take a bubble bath and wait until he came home. Bubble baths always make me feel a little better.

Dave came home and found me in the tub. He was holding something behind his back and grinning. He told me that I came home too early. I told him about the flood gates that I couldn't close. Then he showed me what he had behind his back.
It was a beautiful, happy, lovely sunflower with some purple filler flowers in a vase. He put it on the toilet for me to look at while I was in the bubble bath. It shined on me and made me smile.
I stayed in the tub soaking for a while. I thought things through, looked at my sunflower, and played in the bubbles. Then Dave came in with a bowl of chocolate ice cream! It's a full service spa! If you've never sat in a bubble bath and had soft chocolate ice cream, you NEED to. I'll tell ya, it's the best tastin' ice cream you'll ever have. Just don't drop it.

Needless to say, my dear husband brightened my day considerably. I am blessed to have such a good man.

After that, we went grocery shopping and I went to the gym with my friend Emilee. So it turned out to be a pretty good day.

Lesson learned: Do not despair. "We can rise above the enemies of despair, depression, discouragement, and despondency by remembering that God provides righteous alternatives" Pres. Benson.
Alternatives like a sun flower, a bubble bath, chocolate ice cream, and a sweet husband.

Thank you, Lord.

Graduation!!!

2010-08-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

Wow... I'm behind on blogging. Sorry about that. I'll catch up.

On July 23rd I graduated from BYU-I with a bachelors in communications and a minor in English.

Let me just say this: You really don't appreciate what you have till it's gone. I was so sick of school. So ready to be done and get on with bigger and better things in my life. Well... Now I really miss it. Dave is getting ready to go back to school in 2 weeks for his last semester in the associates of architecture program at BYU-I and I really just want to go back with him.

I catch myself thinking about what classes I am going to have and whether or not I will have alot of homework this semester. I wonder who I will meet in classes and who I will already know. I try to think about the teachers I have and if I had heard of them and if they will be good...

then I remember that I'm not going back. ever. That makes me nervous and scared. I worry about being so ready for a change because that is what I am accustomed to... Change. Every three months my life and schedule changes. From semester to semester to break... then it starts over. By the end of the three months, I am ready to start something new. Ready to switch up my schedule. Ready for change.

When that change doesn't come, when I'm still at the same job, doing the same thing, same 8:00-5:00 schedule... I'm scared that I'm going to get so sick of the same things that I'm going to rip my hair out!!...
Then I remember that I don't have to do homework ever again and that makes me happy.

ANYWAYS...

We'll get back to graduation.

Dave's Mom and Dad came down so they could come to graduation. It was awesome to have them there. It made me really feel like I was an important person in their family. They got there pretty early and we were able to hang out with them and talk for a while. We met my parents and then we all got ready to go to the banquet.
The banquet was in the brand new addition to the Manwaring Center called The Crossroads. Dave says that this addition makes him feel like he is in a real college. This place is HUGE!! and SUPER nice. They served us some yummy dinner and the speakers were short and sweet. There was a pretty musical number too. After that, they inducted us into the Alumni Association and everyone clapped and were happy for the graduates. Yay me!
Right after that, we had to go put our gowns on and line up in the Clark building. We snapped some quick pictures before Dave had to leave.

Dave, his parents and my parents got to go sit in the Hart and wait for us graduates to walk in. That was the longest and most horrible wait that I have ever had. I was stuck in the line on the stairs in the corner of the landing. People kept crowding me and I had to keep asking people to move so I wouldn't be stuck in the corner. It seemed like it lasted FOREVER! And it was so HOT!!! But, soon enough the line started moving and I got to know the people in front and behind me, so it was all fine after that.
We wound our way down to the Hart building and the best thing of all graduation happened then. On the way there, all the teachers and professors stood on either side of the line and applauded us as we walked through. All the teachers that I had gave me high fives. My conflict management (hardest class and hardest tests I have ever ever ever taken!) teacher hugged me and told me that I got an 86% on his last test and I had passed his class with B! My department head hugged me and said that out of all of her students, she was very proud of my improvements and accomplishments! After everything I have done over the last 4 years, this was worth it. All the work, sweat, tears, late nights, long papers, hard projects, dry classes, terrible tests, exhausting days, and desperate prayers, all of it became so real and so special. People actually appreciated how hard I had worked and how much I had done. It's so worth everything I went through just to have these people that I hold in such high esteem pat me on the back and tell me "well done". I could barely contain my emotions.

We walked into the Hart and sat through Graduation. It was long, but the speakers kept it spiritual and interesting.

Where's Karlee??

Soon, my name was called and I walked across the stage and accepted my diploma.

The department head Sister Bergstrom hugged me again and said that if I ever needed anything, let her know. I'm so lucky to have met so many great people in college.

Hey! Where's my diploma??
When it was over, it was dark outside, so we snapped some quick pictures in the hall. Terrible lighting, but that's all we had to work with.

My mommy and daddy!

Dave's mommy and daddy!

So, I'm graduated! I'm ready to start my next big adventure in life!

The Apocalyptic Sky

2010-07-29T14:19:00.000-07:00

A fire started out by the site and burned over 109,000 acres earlier this month. Read about it here. We didn't know about it until later that evening when the light outside started looking... orange and eerie. So we went and looked around outside and the 50 mph winds were blowing the smoke of the massive fire right towards Rexburg. It was casting a strange light over the whole town. Dave and I had been engrossed in homework for a while, so I convinced him to drive up to see if we could see where the fire was coming from. So we went to the temple and this is what we saw

(Click for larger view)
It was stunning. We went out and took pictures for a while, but then I had a group meeting I had to go to, so I bequeathed the camera to Dave and told him to make me proud. And he did.

NOT PHOTOSHOPPED!!!

Heaven and Hell

Yep... Math is gonna get bombed. That's the Math building on campus. And that's a hefty meteor heading right for it!! YAY!!!

Dave is amazing.

Best Deal EVER!

2010-07-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

So I got introduced to Bountiful Baskets last winter and I love it! You get a bunch of fruit and veggies that lasts Dave and I weeks for only $16 bucks! This is what came in the basic basket last time we got it (over a month ago)

A whole bunch of purple grapes (my favorite!)
three coconuts (still have two of them... don't really know what to do with them)
A cantaloupe (ate it for 4th of July... yum!)
8 apples (always yummy, but we seem to get alot of them at bountiful baskets, so we didn't eat these ones as well)
A bunch of bananas (if they go bad, I love making bread or ice cream with them. Bananas are always a good choice)
10 apricots (we ate most of them, but they were pretty ripe and we didn't get to the last of them before they went bad... oops.)

AND!!...
A whole bunch of beans (I ate all of them. Dave doesn't like beans... but I do!!)
2 heads of broccoli (Ate most of it last night. Still yummy!)
A bunch of lettuce (We eat salad alot when we get lettuce like this. I love it!)
11 red potatoes (Always good)
A stalk of celery (I love it, Dave doesn't)

All of that for about $16.50!!! Can't get any better than that! I love it! We are getting one this weekend and I can not wait.

We also get 5 loafs of 9 grain wheat bread. It is delicious to the taste and very desirable. 5 loafs for only $10.00!

If you want to get a bountiful basket , click here to go to their site. You have to register and everything and the first basket costs $3 extra dollars, but it's not bad at all. Then you can go to their pick up locations to see if they have one close to you. When you order, you have to get on at 7:30 Monday night and hurry to get the basket and the spot you want, they go quick! Then print out your receipt and bring it to your spot on Saturday morning! Make sure you bring your own basket to put all of this deliciousness in it! You never know what you're going to get each week, it's a big surprise! But you do know that 1/2 of it is fruit and 1/2 of it is veggies. I love that it's an adventure every time!

Anyways, you should check it out. Even if you have a garden now, remember this for winter, cuz it's good stuff!

My stress reflected.... in a cake...

2010-07-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

So I wanted to make a beautiful two layer rainbow chip cake for Dave and I. It would be great to snack on between finals and I wanted some sort of desert available to those who may be staying at our apartment during Friday's graduation madness...
This is what I imagined:

(only with rainbow chips in it.)

First problem:
Didn't have any round cake pans. But I had two square cake pans that were the same size! That'll work.

Second problem:
I guess you're supposed to flour the pan if you want the cake to fall out easily. I greased the pan... but I didn't flour it. Who knew? Not me....

Third problem:
I got the cakes out of the oven an they looked delicious. I wanted to frost it right away and eat it all up! But...! I didn't! I have self control... I can wait till the cake cools to frost it. Then I'll eat it all up! So I decided to let them cool over night and then frost them after my New Testament class. But, in order to let them cool down evenly, I thought that I probably needed to get them out of the pan. So I cut carefully around the edges, and turned the pan upside down onto a dish towel.

The cake didn't fall out. It stayed all stuck in there. So I thought, well, I'll just leave the pan like that. Then when the cake is ready, it'll fall out on it's own. Maybe it's a shy cake.

Fourth problem:
So the cake fell out... but not in one piece. It ripped in the middle and left the bottom of the cake in the pan and one of the corners didn't come out and little pieces were everywhere... what a MESS! So I flipped the pan back over and put the cake puzzle back together. Maybe if I leave it in the pan until it fully cools, it will work better. I didn't flip the other cake over because I learned my lesson with the first cake.
I'll just put the ripped cake on the bottom. Then I can kinda glue it together with the frosting and put the pretty cake on the top. No one will even notice.

Fifth problem:
I came home from class the next morning excited to make my less-than-perfect cake beautiful. So I got out a glass platter that my mom gave me and plopped the broken cake down on it. It crumbled a lot more and broke into a few new pieces. Well, that's fine. Like I said, the frosting will glue it together and it'll look great!

Sixth problem:
The frosting did not glue the cake together. It made it even worse. I kept trying the smooth it on thick and not get any crumbs in it, but it just wasn't happening. OK, that's fine. I'll just save the frosting for the top layer and smooth that all out, then frost the sides all nice and no one will even noticed the nasty bottom later.

Seventh problem:
So I thought that since the second cake was still nice and whole in the pan and really cool, I could get it out in one piece and have it look really nice.
heh heh heh..... WRONG!!
I carefully prodded and eased and coaxed that cake out of the pan. I thought it was all pretty much out so I flipped it over onto the towel. Dang it! The bottom of it didn't come out of the pan. Oh well, I'll just scrape that out and put it on top of the bottom layer, then put the mostly whole second layer on top of that! No one will even know!

Eighth problem:
I carefully topped the crumbling, gooey mess with my one pretty top of a cake. That part actually went pretty well. The top was all in one piece. So I started the frost it very carefully. The top of the cake went really well. Nice and smooth. Then I went to the sides of the cake. It was pretty crumbly from the bottom layer, so I just kinda pushed the crumbs in and hurried and frosted it. Then the crumbs would fall off again. So I hurried and pushed it back and tried to glue it again with frosting. Not working. Heck with it! I'll just frost it, crumbs and all! So I got done with two sides of the cake and.... ran out of frosting.

Ninth problem:
Great. Out of frosting... now what do I do? So I stood back and looked at my cake. GASP!! There's a big crack in the top! Why? Oh, because the bottom layer is pretty much crumbs so it wasn't supporting it very evenly, so it started the fall and crack. Hurry! Fill the crack with frosting! No one will know! Crap! There"s another crack! I need more frosting! Oh no! The corner is falling off! The cake is sliding off! Ahhhhh!!!

Tenth problem:
I attempted to make a layer cake. If I had never attempted this, then problems 1 through 9 wouldn't have existed.

Needless to say, my cake turned out horribly. It still tastes great! But it looks like the god of cakes threw up on my mom's platter.
See for yourself.

Top view

Side view (This was the side that I frosted to keep the crumbs up... so it has a lot of frosting)

Side view (Another frosting covered side)

Side view ( I didn't get frosting on this side...)

So you see... Here is the stress of my finals week, all wrapped up and served right back to me on a silver platter. Or glass... whatever.

After I got done being stressed about my ruined cake, I started laughing. And laughing and laughing and laughing. Then I went and picked up Dave from class. When he came home, he laughed at me. Then I threw a little piece of cake at him. Then he shoved my face into it. Then I rubbed some in his hair. And we laughed.

Then we took a shower.

2010-07-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

I might be procrastinating a 3000 word research paper right now.

It's due at midnight.

I have 400 words completed.

But I might not be procrastinating at all.

You never know.

I just had some thoughts. Some personal thoughts and a few sad thoughts. Thoughts that if I think about them too much, I get a knot in my throat.

But personal thoughts first:

I love my husband
I love the temple
I'm graduating from college in 10 DAYS!!! And I only have a 3000 word research paper to type, a 12 page booklet to design, 4 tests to study for and complete, a few 2 page papers to type, a negotiation to figure out, a magazine to design, and a rhetorical discourse paper to write! THAT'S ALL!!!
I also have a bunch of graduation events to attend. They cost money. That's something we don't have. Oh well... you only graduate from college once, right?
I wish that a certain someone and I would please get along so we can love each other and love our family.

Sad thoughts:
A father, friend, and husband in our ward passed away this last week. He has a 5 month old daughter. It is tragic. And even though I didn't know this individual very well, his death has deeply effected me.
I'm scared of a few things. Hospitals, Doctor's offices (including dentists, old folks homes, and eye doctors), and funerals. Since Dave had a class during this man's funeral this week, I felt like I couldn't go alone, so I didn't go. But this death and the effects of it have been haunting my thoughts.
What is his wife going to do? How can I help her? She has a tiny baby, who will help her raise the baby? What would I do if this happened to me? Why did this have to happen to her? They are so young. Why does she have to go through this? This is my very worst fear. More than hospitals and doctors, I fear the loss of my dear, good, sweet, honorable husband. I'm sure that this husband and wife planned on having more kids, planned on sending their boys on missions, planned on retiring and serving a mission together. They planned on holding their grandchildren.
Now their time is cut so very short. And it breaks my heart.

I'm so thankful for my husband. So thankful for the life we have. So thankful for the time we have. Life is so precious. Cherish it. Tell someone you love them today. Because you never know when they will be gone. I pray that Dave and I will grow old together. I pray that we will serve a mission together, that we can hold our grandchildren. I pray for time.

Please, Lord. Allow us more time.

Grandpa Waddoups

2010-06-22T16:08:00.000-07:00

(sorry about the wind and my shaky hand on these videos)

Good Things to Come

2010-06-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

This made me cry.
All is well.
Better days are ahead of us. Trust in the Lord and He will provide blessings for you. Don't quit. Keep walking. Keep trying. There is help and guidance ahead. Embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ and blessings will come. It will be alright in the end.

Have a happier day.

Memorial Day = a nice break from homework!

2010-06-06T22:02:00.000-07:00

For Memorial Day weekend, Dave and I worked really hard on Saturday so we could go with my family fishing and four wheeling. We got all our homework done and we were able to go! I was so excited to get outside and enjoy being away from school for a while. Midterms are starting up and everything was piling on. But we got it done and we were able to go!

We loaded up three four wheelers and three cars and headed out to a little stream called Sheridan Creek. Some of my fondest childhood camping dreams are at this very spot. It has been a very rainy spring for us in south east Idaho so when we got to our usual camping spot, it had a stream flowing through it. So we went a little upstream and parked our truck and trailer there. We ate a delicious lunch and then we were off. Mom, Miranda, Marla, and Taryn and Taylor all wanted to go on a four wheeler ride, so Dad, Kendal, Lucas, Austin and Kori and two of their friends and Dave and I grabbed our fishing poles and headed up stream.

Dave and I have to share my fishing pole, so while he was fishing, I snapped some pictures. It was very cloudy and raining off and on all day long, so the sky is blown out in some of my pictures. Sorry about that, but here are some of the fun ones.

I loved how the water looks so green. Everything is so green now. I love rain and the beautiful green that it makes. Green green green

More green moss.

I'm glad that the sky isn't blown out on this picture. It makes it a lot more interesting to look at. Plus the angle of the dead trees is very eye catching too. I like photography.

This was the size of fish we were catching. They're so cute! Dave caught about 7 or 8 and I caught 5. It was so much fun to catch these little guys! I liked catching them on the worm. We just waited till we felt a little nibble on the line and then jerked a little and we had one! This was one of the funnest fishing trips I've ever been on!

We should've kept this one and mounted it on our wall... It's a bruiser!! :o)

Pussy Willows remind me of my Grandma Dahl. Sheridan Creek reminds me of my Grandma Dahl. I missed her this year. I love you, Grandma.

All in all it was such a great day and a wonderful day to be outside. Even if it did rain on us most of the day, I was just excited to be up and about instead of sitting at school.

Speaking of sitting at school, Dave had a problem with his back. I'll let him tell the story.
Dave:
(When he gets around to it... don't worry... he'll get around to it by tomorrow)

Back to Karlee now:
Oh School... I complain about it and I whine about it... but really I am going to miss it. It's the only thing that I know how to do. I'm good at it. I'm going to miss the projects and the people and the professors and the communications classes. I am not going to miss the 60 pages I have to write for my English capstone or English classes in general. But I will miss the Spori Building, my home away from home.
It's midterms already and if I thought the first half of the semester was loaded, it's nothing like the second half. The vast majority of my classes are back-end heavy. I have to write and design a magazine, write seven discourse papers, write a syllabus and tests and quizzes for a class that I am creating, take countless tests and quizzes myself, and write countless synthesis and captures. I have a long six weeks ahead of me. But it's little outings like this that will probably keep me going. And Mountain Dew. I drink that sometimes and it helps. And it tastes yummy. And it makes me happy. And it keeps me awake so I can finish my homework. I think I could put one more fragmented sentence in here. But maybe not. Also Dave helps me alot. Even though he has his own work and school schedule to work through, he takes time to help me when I need him. He knows when he needs to tell me to stop messing around and do my homework and he knows when he needs to let me take and nap and relax a little. I don't know where I would be without my loving and caring husband. He means the world to me.

Here are some parting pictures of us. The first one is silly. We definitely weren't ready. But the second one is nice. We love each other. :o)

silly....

Nice... :o)

(A More Real) Love Story

2010-05-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

My modern day parable

2010-05-19T09:09:00.000-07:00

For New Testament class, Dave and I had to write a paper about a modern day parable. I asked my dad and he gave me some helpful :o) hints that I might need to use for my next paper, thanks though!!

This is what I came up with:

The Parable Of the Bench Press

I had taken a weight training class and really enjoyed how it felt. I felt healthier and more in shape. I hoped to keep going to the gym and lifting weights, but my professor had told the class that we couldn’t go weight lifting without a partner, and I didn’t have anyone to go with. Well, in relief society that next Sunday, I was talking to a group of women and one of them mentioned that she needed a work-out partner. I told her that I was trying to get to the gym to lift weights and she was excited to learn how. We set a time to go the next morning and we made a goal to make it to the gym three days a week.

Both my new work out partner and I started lifting at a low weight. We each did seven repetitions and then spotted for the other while they did their seven reps. We did three sets each of these seven reps. Then we went to the next lifting machine. It was fun to work out with a partner and she kept me going and pushing my limits.

Our work outs continued like this for a few weeks. Both my partner and I gradually increased the weights until we met and surpassed our goals on each machine. One day, my partner called in sick, but she encouraged me to go by myself. I knew that lifting weights was really helping me stay in shape, so I did go without my partner, telling myself to keep it light and easy today. I continued through our usual workout until I got to the bench press.

The bench press is the most dangerous weight lifting machine. When you get tired on the bench press, you can’t just let the weights down or they will crush your chest. You have to use all your strength to push the bar up just one more time and rest it on the pegs. It is important to have a partner there because if you can’t quite muster up the strength to lift the bar all the way up to the pegs, you can say “help!” and your spotter will take a little bit of the weight and help you lift the bar back onto the pegs. It is an unspoken rule of weight lifting that you don’t help your partner until they say “help!”

Well I hopped on and started at a higher weight than I did the last time. I thought to myself that I would quit at just two sets if I got tired so I wouldn’t be in any danger. I pushed through the two sets with a shorter break than I usually did with my partner. My arms were feeling tired, but I thought if I could just push through and do those last seven reps, my partner would be so impressed with how far I had progressed. I started pressing the weights from off my chest and as high as I could stretch my arms out. On the fourth press, I knew that I was getting exhausted. By the fifth, my arms were shaking. “Just two more. I can do it!” I thought. As I let the weights back down to my chest, I prepared to press the bar back up and my arms could not do it. I laid there, straining and squirming and pushing as hard as I could to keep the bar from coming down on my chest. I wanted to cry “help!” but my partner wasn’t there to take some of the weight off. I was all alone with way too much of a load for my own good.

Luckily, someone walking by saw my predicament and helped me lift the bar back onto the pegs. I thanked them and left the gym in a hurry, thankful to have avoided an accident.

Lifting on the bench press is like our lives. We start out small and light, with minimal responsibilities. Then, as we turn eight and reach the age of accountability, we are responsible for our own actions. We add some weight to the end of our bar. Then, as we mature and get older, we are expected to go to church every Sunday, pray and read scriptures every day. We add some weight to the end of our bar. After that has become easier for us, we add service, visiting teaching, church callings, temple attendance and missions onto our bar. We are able to lift it because we have slowly worked our way up to the weight of being faithful saints. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” (Eph. 2:19–21) It makes us feel good and strong and spiritually in shape. The little things are not such a chore to us because we are used to lifting all of it at the same time. Praying and reading scriptures every day isn’t hard because we are used to doing that and so much more.

However, if we stop spiritually working out every day, we lose our strength. If we stop attending the temple, going to all three meetings at church, and fulfilling our calling to the best of our ability it makes the weight so much harder to bear. We are out of spiritual shape. When we are ready to get back into spiritual shape, we cannot instantly pick up the same weight as we left off. We must work on it and slowly build back up the weight of being a true saint.

Sometimes we add just a little too much to our spiritual bar of weights. On top of scripture study, prayers, temple attendance, service, church, callings, and visiting/home teaching we place other righteous activities such as family time, school, work, and recreation onto our bar. Sometimes, it is all too much for us to handle. But we always have a spotting partner. Christ will always be with us and will always be aware of our needs. All we need to do is cry “Help!” in a sincere prayer and He will help us with the weight. He won’t take all of our weight away, but He will help us get our bar up to the peg and let us have a rest before we try it again. He might even take some of the weight off so we are able to keep doing our repetitions. We sometimes feel that we can do it alone, without the aid of our partner. But while we strain and squirm under our immense weight, He is waiting for us saying “Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail. … Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not” (D&C 6:34, 36). He is hoping we will humble ourselves and cry out to Him, because he will let us struggle until we pray “Lord, please help.” Struggling will help us realize that we need help. The help we need is that of Christ, and this help should be found in his Church. (Neil J. Flinders, Rom. 1:16.)

The Lord has so much more strength than we do and it is almost silly for us to think that we can do this alone, without our spotter. Without Christ, we would be crushed under our weights. Without Christ, our load is too heavy. Without Christ, our cornerstone, our faith, or Lord, we will fall. “In the strength of the Lord we can do and endure and overcome all things.” (David A. Bednar). With Christ, we prevail, we strive, we grow and we can do great and marvelous things.

Ok, Seriously...

2010-05-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

So school has started and Dave and I are a lot busier. I'm taking 18 credits and Dave is taking 16. We both have part time jobs and a lllloooottt of homework. Not to mention moving last weekend, becoming managers of our apartment complex, cleaning two apartments, not having hot water for five days, having internet problems and desperate students knocking on your door demanding it fixed as soon as possible.... sigh... It's been a busy couple of weeks.
But, seriously, I have been slacking in the blog department. I apologize.

So here are some pictures of the camping trip we took with Dave's family right before school started. We went to southern Utah and had a really great time and saw some really pretty country. I have more pictures than this, but our apartment is full of boxes... many many many boxes.... and I don't know where the CD or my camera are. So these are just the ones I found on my computer.

This is the first day when we hiked/climbed up a canyon. See that little road down there? yeah, we were there... before we climbed up. And up. And up.

We stopped climbing long enough to take a rest and snap some cheesy shots.

Dave found a crack in the rock and wiggled down in it. Hold on Dave!! Hold on!!

At the top of the canyon, Dave and Eric wanted a picture of a synchronized, one handed, hand stand. There were at least a dozen attempts at this. I'll spare you all the failed attempts and just show you a few of them. This is a good one.

This one is funny because they are in the exact same position. Are they brothers?

Hahahaha!! This one is funny because they look like a couple of kids playing horsey or something. But really, they both just fell over from their handstands. But we like to call this the buffalo picture!

Alan set up a slack line and after a few tries, he wasn't too bad at it!

The next day we walked up this canyon. It was so beautiful. I have more pictures, but they are in the vortex of the "spare room" in our new apartment. Our "spare room" can also be directly translated as "where we keep all the crap till be decide where to put it" or "over sized closet". Just to give you an idea of why I can't find the CD of pictures.

Dave climbed.

So did Eric.

The next day, we climbed up to this slot canyon (very narrow) and I squirmed/wiggled/struggled up as the Waddoups boys took their monkey arms and their monkey legs and climbed that canyon like a tree.

At the top, Waddoups boys....

And Girl!!

At the bottom.... me...
Then we hiked down and packed up and went home.
It was a great time. A whole new experience.

Well, when I finally get my apartment straightened out, I'll take pictures and post them. Maybe I'll tell you a little bit more about school too. But for now, here is a parting picture that I hope won't offend anyone. We laughed about it pretty hard while we were camping. Here is a fun game, too. Come up with a caption for it!! The winner for the best caption gets a gold star!! Sorry in advance, Alisa!!

Coming soon!!!

2010-04-22T12:35:00.000-07:00

Weekend with Waddoups!

Start of school adventures!!

Sorry it has taken me a little while to get pictures and everything up. This first week of school has been crazy! But I'm working on it and hopefully will have something up by the first of the week!!

Because it's Friday...

2010-04-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

And because I feel like it!

Also, there isn't very much for me to do at work...

Enjoy!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Spring at last!!!

2010-04-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Easter Bunnies.... Idaho style.

Happy Springtime!!!

not.....

Go Jazz GO!!!

2010-03-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

I found a really sweet deal on one of my coupon blogs (PYP) where we could get 6 Jazz tickets and 6 free hot dogs for $90 bucks! Dave and I both called around and actually got 8 people to go! Dave's two brothers, Eric and Allen, Our friends Daniel and Toni and their little boy Dilan and then my childhood friend Ariel and her husband Kyle. Since this deal said that each additional ticket is only $15 bucks (same price as the others) we decided that everyone we invited should go!

Well, it turned out that Kyle had to work, so they had to stay. It was a big bummer. So we were frantically searching for someone to take their place and I decided to invite my cousin, Kali. None of my friends who are in school were able to come since it was so close to finals and the last week of the semester, so I was worried that she might not be able to go, but, YAY!!! she made it!!! Kali invited her cousin/roommate Cheyenne to come with her. No big deal that Kali had a final at 7:45 the next morning, they trucked it on down to see the game anyways!! What troopers! It was awesome that they came!

Our seats were way way WAY up in the boondocks, but we didn't care! It was just fun to be there in the first place! Kali and Cheyenne we're so excited to be there! Kali said that this was something she could cross off her bucket list!!

Daniel and Toni were happy to be there too. But Dilan was unimpressed. All the noise bothered him and it was sad that Toni had to spend the vast majority of the game out in the food court with him. But they seemed like they had a good time anyways.

Dave and I were pretty excited too.

I didn't get a big group picture or a picture of Eric and Allen. Oops, sorry boys!!

Some pictures of the players warming up and the gym.

At the start of the game

Deron Williams (Dave's favorite player) coming out onto the court.

First couple seconds of the game and we SCORE!!

All in all, it was super fun!

Kali and Cheyenne had to hurry home to go to school the next morning, but Dave and I took the day off. We were able to sleep in a little, and take our time.
On the way home we stopped at Iggys to eat. (They closed the one in Idaho Falls, Saddest day of my life!!)
What an awesome extended weekend!!!

Happy April Fools day tomorrow!!! Play a fun joke on someone!

Happy Easter this weekend!! Find some eggs for me!!!

Ahhh.... Saturdays....

2010-03-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a great weekend for us to just relax and enjoy one of the first warm-ish Saturdays of the year. Dave and I slept in. Coming from a couple who wakes up at 6:00 every morning, sleeping in till 8:30 was marrrrrrvelous!!! I made eggs-in-a-hole (where you cut a hole in a piece of bread and then crack an egg in the hole and fry/toast it) for breakfast and I have never had these delicious things before! Dave and I ate three apiece.
Then we got ready and headed out to my mom's house to do laundry. After getting it started, Dave and I decided to go on a four wheeler ride.
We went back to the river and sat at the same spot we kissed on our 5th (?) date. It was fun to watch the wind blow the willows and a little beaver/muskrat/otter (we couldn't decide what it was... it only peeked it's nose above water) was swimming around in the water.

This is where we were.

We paused to take some pictures

And pull some faces

Please disregard that last picture

It is gross. :o)

I don't really know what we were thinking. Or doing. Or anything.

Dave Waddoups + Karlee Waddoups + Warm weather = Strange.

Dave decided to take a nap.

We headed back to my Mom's house so we wouldn't disturb the peace any longer.

Then we went to Five Guys in Idaho Falls with some friends.

Jennifer and Craig

Yikes.
Lindsey and Brandon

and I think ya'll know this face. How could you forget it?

After that we went back to Rexburg to Lindsey's apartment. She made us delicious sundaes and we watched Eagle Eye. It's a pretty good show.

All in all.... A very good Saturday.

And we're still ridiculously good lookin.

P.S. - Dave bought me a camera. :o)

Soda's Story

2010-03-16T21:56:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time there was an Australian Shepherd mix puppy named Soda.

She had a very good family who loved her very much. Soda was such a pretty dog. She was blue and white. Her eyes were blue too. (Well, one of them was half blue, half brown) The family trained her to be a very calm, obedient dog. Soda was very smart. She knew how to sit, stay, lay down, fetch and even play dead! Soda was so fun to have around.

Well, Soda's family decided to have a baby. It wasn't long before they brought home the cute little bundle to show Soda. Soda liked the baby. She was very careful not to bark or be noisy so the baby could sleep. Well, the baby started getting sick and Soda's family thought that the baby might be allergic to Soda. They went to the doctor and, sure enough, the baby had pet allergies. Soda had to go. The family was very sad to give away their beloved pet, but a baby is more important than a dog. Even if the dog was a very good dog like Soda.
The family gave Soda to an Animal Shelter and hoped that she would find another good home.

Soda was at a pet store on Saturday and the Animal Shelter was trying to find a good family to adopt her. Soon after Soda got there, the Dave and Karlee Waddoups family walked in. They got permission from their landlady to have a dog in their apartment, so they were looking for a little dog to adopt! As soon as Karlee saw Soda, she liked her very much. Dave took a little convincing, but he saw that Soda was very well behaved and started to like her too. Dave also knew that Soda made Karlee happy and he would do anything to see Karlee happy. After some serious thinking and debating, Dave and Karlee decided to adopt Soda.

Soda was so much fun to have in the Waddoups' apartment! She was a little (lot!) bigger than the dog they had in mind, but she was so well behaved that it didn't matter. It was funny when Dave and Karlee decided to watch a movie and Soda was so excited to see the movie too! She kept licking the TV and chasing the characters off of the screen. Since the Waddoups have surround sound, she thought the speakers were really strange! Soda's ears perked and her head tilted from side to side as she tried to figure them out! It was also so much fun to take Soda out to Karlee's parent's house and have her run and play with other dogs in a big yard. The Waddoups thought that it was fun taking Soda on a walk to the park too. Soda was a very good dog on a leash. She didn't even bark when other dogs barked at her!

Everything seemed fine, except Dave and Karlee had an uneasy feeling about adopting Soda. It just didn't seem quite right. Even though Soda was a perfect dog, the Waddoups weren't sure they were the perfect family for her. They were a little stressed about the choice they had made. Well, Dave thought that they should take Soda back so she could maybe go to a better family. Karlee felt guilty that they had to keep Soda locked up in a kennel all day while they were at work and wished that they had a yard where Soda could run and play. Soda also seemed to have a little bit of a gas problem and Karlee didn't like it when Soda made their living room stinky. (Karlee had a little bit of a sensitive nose.)

Dogs are expensive and the Waddoups family needed to save all the money they could to pay for school and eventually, they were going to move and they were worried about finding another apartment that would allow pets. The Waddoups family decided that they had made the wrong choice in adopting Soda and decided that it was best to take her back to the Animal Shelter where she could find an even better home. Karlee was very hesitant and didn't want to take Soda back to the Shelter, but Dave knew that Soda could find a better home with maybe a yard and some kids to play with.

After a tearful goodbye, (Karlee has a tender heart towards animals and had grown attached to Soda) Dave and Karlee took Soda back to the Shelter. Hopefully she will find a great home where she could live forever.
Dave and Karlee were blessed to know Soda and to have a great learning experience. Hopefully Soda's story has a happy ending and the Waddoups will some day be able to have a puppy again when they have a yard the puppy can play in. The Waddoups miss Soda very much, but know that they made the best decision for their family in the long run.

The End

We love you and miss you, Soda. Find a good family.

I can't help it

2010-03-10T12:03:00.000-08:00

I've always been a country girl. I love dogs and horses and room to run and a nice farmer tan. I love plaid shirts and cowboy boots. I like to pull my hair in a pony tail and get to work. I don't like wearing make-up when I'm tan enough to get away with it.

This is what I was used to.

And this

(I'm the far right)

And this

(I'm taking the picture)

I knew that one day I was gonna marry a sexy cowboy who would wisk me away to his thousand acre cattle ranch and we would live happily ever after with our horses, dogs and four children.

The end.

Well, not really...

I married a city boy.

I couldn't help it!

I fell in love...

I mean, look at him...

You'd fall in love too.

Also, he's going to be an architect (not a rancher). He's only been on a horse once or twice in his life. He's only rode a fourwheeler once before I met him.

And... He liked cats better than dogs...... (GASP!!)

Well, I've converted him to some things country. He's a natural on a fourwheeler, he likes my boots, and he likes my dogs. He even wants a goat when we get a yard.
I even got him to dress up in wranglers once. Talk about cheap dance club, right Dave?

*Cheap dance club.... no ball room... get it?* If you don't, go ask your mom.

He's also converted me to some things city. He's told me that I can survive without a huge ranch/farm and live in a quiet neighborhood on a four acre lot.

But... he can never talk me out of this.

No one can.

Because this is how it's gonna be. That's it.

Our kids WILL dress like this.

There's just no way around it.

It's how it's gonna be.

***This is a disclaimer from David Waddoups. This posting is not from Dave and Karlee Waddoups. It is from only Karlee. I do not endorse or encourage this kind of thinking and neither should anyone else. It will only cause trouble in the future.

This is cute kid clothing

End of disclaimer***

Photoshopping...

2010-03-03T15:35:00.000-08:00

I love Photoshop. This program is very dear to my heart. It makes all of my dreams come true.

So to show you some of my Photoshopping skills, I pulled some of our wedding pictures that I love and messed with them. I will post the "before" picture, then the "after" picture.

If anyone needs some pictures fixed, I can do that too. My mom's wedding pictures were glued (can you believe it?? GLUED??) into a frame. When she took them out, she ripped (GASP!) some spots on it. Well, I scanned those once-in-a-lifetime pictures in, messed around and got great results! I also resized them for a modern frame. They were some old fashioned odd shape. Anyways, when I have time and I'm on my lap top, I'll show you my mom's repaired wedding pictures.

But for now, here are some of our wedding pictures amped up a bit on this beautiful program. I'll put my favorite one first.

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Before

After

Anyways... it's kinda fun! If anyone wants me to edit some of their images, let me know! I can do alot more extreme than this, and I can tone it way down too. As you can tell, I'm into making pictures look warm. I don't know if it is because all of the fall leaves make me want to warm everything else up, or what. But it's fun nonetheless. I love doing anything/everything in Photoshop.

I gotta give a shout-out to my photographer, too. Lavinda from Forever Yours photography took my shots. Wouldn't have amazing shots to play around with if she wasn't there. She is AWESOME!! :o)

~*~ Karlee ~*~

It's been on my mind...

2010-03-01T14:55:00.000-08:00

I would like to formally apologize for the previous posting. I just re-read it. The sappy-ness and overall lovey-dovey-ness of it was enough to make me gag. Just a little bit.

Perhaps because it was just after Valentine's day and my husband and I did little to celebrate it.

Maybe I got bonked on the head and the initial reaction was for my fingers to vomit spouts of cheesy lines that I felt a compulsive need to publish.

Probably I don't really have an excuse.

But just for the record, it was uncharacteristic of me and from now on, I will resume my level-headed, sarcastic, slightly cynical self. I will never return to such posting as "Life is Bliss". *gag*

But never is a long time. So I should probably say that I will not return to the romantic and cheesy corner (ok, it's more than a corner... maybe a corner plus a small pantry) of my mind for a very very very long time. The End.

On to my original thoughts.

1- I probably should let Dave post on this blog. I should probably find my own blog to post musings such as the following. However, Dave is a dominant figure in all of my musings, so it fits under the category of "Dave and Karlee". hmm... Dave? Do you wanna post on my our blog?

Dave?

*crickets chirping*

Well, for now I think I will continue to be the voice of our relationship.

*snicker* That's funny. "voice of our relationship" teehee.... :o)

2- My sniffer is broken. I don't mean my nose. I don't mean the cartilage that my nose is made of.

It's my sniffer. The anatomically correct term for the sensors in my nose in which I smell things with. It's broken.
No, I haven't lost my sense of smell.
No, It isn't because Dave's socks smell so bad that I have become de-sensitized to lesser smells and therefore, smell nothing.

No... I smell EVERYTHING!! And everything STINKS!!!

My mom was kind enough to give us some left over broccoli soup. I love my mom's cheesy broccoli soup. It's de-lish to the 10th degree.

At 6:15 in the morning, I was packing Dave a lunch to take to work. I was going to give him some broccoli soup. I opened the container and started scooping some into a bowl. *hurk, gag* Dave, you're gonna have to do this... it stinks. And while you're doing yours, will you get a bowl for my lunch too?

Around 1:00 in the afternoon, I get my de-lish broccoli soup. I'm pretty excited about eating it. Plus, I'm kinda hungry. I pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds, get it out to stir it.... *aaackk!! gag!* I plug my nose so I can eat it. It tastes good. Smells way bad.

Sunday morning, Dave is in the shower, I am doing my make-up.
"Dave, does it smell like onions?"
"......... no........ ? "
"I smell onions"
"Did you wash your feet?"

After church, we get in the car to go home.
"OK, smell me. Do I stink?"
*sniff....sniff...* " ......... no ..... ? "
"I keep smelling onions."
"Did you put on deodorant?"

We get in bed ~~and snuggle up~~ --- Oops! Sorry! I promised no more lovey-dovey stuff!
"eewwgghhh.... Do our blankets stink?"
" ...... no..... ? "
"They smell like onions"
"Did you fart?"

One night I made spaghetti for dinner. I don't really like spaghetti. But I found this new fabulous way of making garlic bread that would make Dave swoon and the only thing I could think of to go with it was spaghetti. So I made some. I even ate a little. Then... it started to stink. Real bad.
*bleh... hurk... gag* Dave, you're gonna have to do the spaghetti dishes. They stink.

The garbage stinks
The car stinks
The house stinks
This store stinks
My office stinks
That cup stinks
The fridge stinks
This room stinks
My yogurt stinks
My sandwich stinks
My clothes stink
Our blankets stink
The school stinks
The shower stinks

Everything stinks

My sniffer, is therefore, broken. Its as plain as the nose on my face.

No... I'm not pregnant

But if I was, I'm sure it would stink.

3- We're moving in about a month. We are going to be the managers of our little 8-plex apartments. We are moving upstairs to the two bedroom apartment that has a dishwasher (YAY! No more stinky dishes!) and washer and dryer hook-ups (no more stinky clothes!!) ((With my luck, our fancy new appliances will stink)). I'm super excited for the extra room and appliances. Also, it's a ground level apartment instead of a basement apartment. I do like our basement apartment, but this apartment is going to be very nice. And the price is right! Only $50 bucks more than our other little apartment!
Can't get much better than that!!

4- I registered for school today. For... the... last... time. One more semester. I have mixed feelings. I love school. I love BYU-I. I love Idaho. I love Rexburg. It is home to me. To leave it forever is going to be like ripping a hole in my heart. There are so many classes I still want to take.
Ceramics
Photography
Black and White Photography
Digital Photography
Drawing
Animal Handling
Artificial Insemination (yes, I really do want to take this class)
Horse lab
Women's Choir
Multi Media Production
Web Design
Foods
Child Development (again... because I wasn't in the right frame of maturity the last time I took it. And it would raise my GPA if I took it again. It's one of my two C's.)
Book Making
Aerobics (again... because I need it)
Bowling (how could I go through four years at BYU-I and not taken bowling???)

Why do they only allow us to go to school for four years? Why do we have to take classes like Romantic American and British Literature and Rhetorical Studies that take up precious credits when I could take a useful class that applies to my life like Artificial Insemination? teehee... just kidding.

On the other hand, Graduating is a grand accomplishment. Ever since I was little and knew I could go to college, I knew I wanted to. I knew I wanted to graduate. My plan was to graduate, become a successful woman, get married, become more successful, have kids, be a successful mom.
Well, the order of things might be changed a little, but I am proud of the fact that I am actually going to graduate.

I am going to miss my college friends. Even though I am married now and they have wrote me off as a lost cause, I did spend the vast majority of my college days single and living with five other girls. I miss roommates and pillow talk. I miss the activeness and I miss people walking in and out of our apartment just to say hi.
To my roommates: Stephanie, Katie, Katie, Katie, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, Rachel, Hillary, Jill, Rikki, Holly, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Kera, Kelly, Ashley, Kimmy, Chelsea, Maria, Danika, Joni, Kori, Tiffany, Alisha, Pamla, Charmane, Jen, Tam, Kim, Alison.... and anyone else I might have forgot (sorry) I miss you and the good times we had. I love you all and I love all of our memories.
To my current (and eternal) roommate: I wouldn't trade you for the whole world. ~~You're my everything and I love you.~~ Sorry!! NO MORE MUSHY STUFF!! I promise.

On the other other hand, this semester I am taking 18 credits. *double gag* I will probably be so sick of school, I'll be ready to be done done done!! My classes are
Rhetorical Studies (Last English class... YAY!)
Persuasion (I'm excited for this class. Dave's gonna be the person I practice on... look out!)
Conflict Management (Also practicing on Dave. Poor thing)
Intro to Advertising (The other class I wanted to take overlapped. So I'm stuck with this. Oh well)
New Testament (Another hard class, but I'm excited for it.)
and... Ceramics (I'll probably end up dropping it so I only have 15 credits. Much more manageable)

5- I'm sick of work and ready to go back to school. Monolithic domes are BORING!!!!! Also, I found out that my permanent career has to be either active, or interactive with people. None of this sitting in an office all by myself crap. It simply won't do.

6- But we need the money so I guess I'll keep working for another month and a half.

7- I think I'm done.

8- I don't have a camera (still) so no pictures. Sorry

9- Dave says I apologize too much. Sorry.

10- I'm sorry for saying sorry again. It won't happen again. sorry